⏳ THE SCORCHING ISLE: Oracle Event One ⏳

[beleos]

ARRIVAL

All Bearers have heard whispers of them - the Oracles. Mysterious and unknown entities of an abstract nature, they serve as the heart of each faction’s cause - both as a means to an end and a very real stepping stone in achieving their objectives. To claim an Oracle means growing ever closer to victory: to see your homes restored as they were, or to herald in a new one of your making.

So you go.

A Cornerstone has been set up for each faction; one for the Zenith and one for the Meridian in Yima’s manor and Heliopolis, respectively. They warn you that upon transportation, your safety cannot be guaranteed and there is no telling what waits for you beyond - to be prepared. To make sure you have whatever you deem necessary with you before you go, as there is no telling when - or how - you will be coming back. CONTINUED HERE...

NOTES

Upon your arrival, you woke up with an HOURGLASS NECKLACE. Please refer to the Time Mechanics on the OOC Summary and bottom of this post for details on its usage.

The COURTYARD is frozen in time. Player Characters and the Great Tree are the only signs of moving, free life in the courtyard. During the intro, time magic does not work.

Characters are free to investigate but cannot move beyond the courtyard if you choose a prompt during the intro. You may mingle among your fellow Bearers or speak with [MR. TIBBS] if you so choose. (Also? LOOK AT HIM HELP)

Iconoclasts and Stargazers will notice Aspect benefits/detriments now.

All characters will be weak for the 24 hours - think like mild flu - and unable to leave until Mr. Tibbs has dispersed them. This is the time in which any threads with the NPC will be carried out.

The INTRO concludes with said dispersal of PC’s once interactions concluded. They will be sent to a location around the castle of your choosing; they are free to move about freely from here. Your prompts can start with you waking alone or in the presence of others - whatever you’d like!

Your character will innately understand how to use time magic from this point forward. It will come naturally to them, like a skill they were born with.

CASTLE: OVERVIEW (p a s t)

The Scorching Isles is home to the Atirat, a people of sea-dwellers who have the ability to walk on land. (Think mermaids with the ability to shift back and forth between human and mermaid forms.) As such, much of the Scorching Isles is covered in large bodies of blue water and glistening pieces of ice to accommodate their lifestyle.

THE CASTLE, however, is what dominates the landscape and it's where the Shard-Bearers will be spending their time. The white castle with colorful glass windows is obscured by a thick layer of clouds and fog. Nearly every location on the island has a thin layer of fog that rolls through it, which gives the entire Island an inescapable chill. The castle has artfully built rooms with a CAVALCADE OF DECORATIVE ICE, lavish mirrors, and white plants accented with blue decorations. Several portions of the castle are submerged due to the aquatic nature of the native residents.

And everywhere you go, you find them - STATUESQUE BODIES FROZEN mid-movement. They are haunting reminders of the power in your Hourglass - the very real power to decide their fates.

The castle has many winding paths to explore, as castles often do. There are sleeping quarters, HALLWAYS, a wine cellar, and a few large rooms presumably for diplomatic affairs. Players can use these rooms at their own leisure for whatever purposes they see fit. (Exploration, combat, or supply gathering.)

However, many of these rooms will require some strategy to access their full potential! Atirat were much more comfortable being underwater than many Kenosians may be. Therefore, rooms of higher importance may be COMPLETELY SUBMERGED or require swimming through an underwater pathway to reach them. Very minimal supplies will be kept out in the open for all to reach. More desirable supplies - such as warm clothing, small weapons, treasure, and the like - will be located past or within one of these flooded areas.

Players may gather supplies within and preserve their Sand or use their Sand to make other rooms accessible and gather whatever lies within! The larger the asset you attempt to unfreeze, the more Sand it costs - and the more drained/vulnerable you will be as a consequence, so choose your path ahead wisely.

Currently, a pervasive fog is preventing you from wandering beyond the Castle's limits. Should you try to venture past it, your Sand will rapidly be stolen and you will find yourself suffering the same fate as the islanders if you don't move back to safety quickly... However, if you ask Mr. Tibbs what lays beyond the mist - he will tell you about the thriving farmland, the once-bustling village surrounding the castle, and the beautiful coral reefs beneath it. Sadly, they're beyond your reach - but maybe if the Bearers decide to unfreeze them when the week is up...

LIBRARY (s a f e z o n e)

The ROYAL LIBRARY - A treasure trove of knowledge, history, and glimpses of a fractured past scattered throughout. The lower floor of the Library is void of much reading material and contains several intricate-looking art pieces on decorative pedestals.

A spiral staircase dominates the center of the room, with its once delicate structure overtaken by sheets of formidable ice; it leads you toward the upper levels where a sea of books awaits. There are isles and isles of books, most perched on intricately carved shelves. Many books lay in piles or are discarded onto the floor, and scattered papers are common throughout.

Curious Kenosians may pick out books from the shelves and read on various topics, but players may also pass through this room on their way elsewhere. This area will function as a safe haven where violence and the taking of others' Sand is not allowed; do not disturb the books or Mr. Tibbs won’t be happy!

NOTES

Characters who wish to receive a book with lore specific to the island may comment [HERE]. You will be RNGed a book from a pre-written list of topics. The books may give you a deeper look into the island, its inhabitants, and its history! (Only 1 book per player! Please assume all other books they read are about commonly-available topics.)

THE EATING PARLOR (p a s t)

There are no basic amenities on the island. No hot water, no warm beds, and no salacious magazines (that you know of. heh heh). That would make the Eating Parlour a wise stop for anyone. After all, this could be the perfect chance to procure some provisions!

The EATING PARLOUR has all the equipment one would need for meal preparation. Dried plants hang from the ceiling, and the walls are lined with mason jars filled with every strange manner of presumably edible thing (Is that a head over there? Hmm… maybe you should check).

The parlour also comes with a garden under a massive windowed dome so that the inhabitants could have fresh produce at hand. Many plants have withered, but there are some salvageable plants if you know how to look for them. But beware… Some of the plants have a strange blue glow. These plants can spell potential disaster.

If someone should make contact with these glowing plants, they will crumble into glass shards - glass that will quickly burrow its way under the skin and curse that person with Blight. Blight will make all resources within that person's vicinity slowly age and eventually crumble to dust. (Which I relate to on a personal level tbh.) Iconoclasts will be immune to its effects.

NOTES

Please see the "Blight" section below for more information on its effects.

TREASURE ROOM (f u t u r e)

Faint singing can be heard coming from this room. Once you hear the song, it dulls your senses and leaves you in a haze. There is no stopping your feet from guiding you to it through the doors and into the Treasure room. The door slams shut at your back, sealed with a wall of ice and magic.

Players will find themselves lured to an icy chamber bordered by a ring of cold blue fire. There is a deep pond that surrounds the platform you’ve found yourself standing on. Beyond its glassy surface and crystal clear water, one can glimpse all manner of treasures - from crowns, jewels, ornate statues in various statues of repair, scepters, spears, and books that seem impervious to the water's cold chill.

As you come to your senses, you will find yourself frozen in place and at the mercy of a large statuesque being before you. This beautiful and horrifying figure in a perpetual song is the SIREN, the only Atirat you’ve seen in person. She measures nearly 20 feet (6 meters) from her head to the tip of her long-finned tail. She cradles an icy shard in her arms, singing to it as if it were a child.

She sits serenely in front of a large hourglass filled with white sand, which is bordered by a spear and a lance. Emblazoned in faint text at the base of where she sits reads: “The future lies in our hands.”

NOTES

Welcome to the Siren’s Chamber! Players must use their wit, charisma, or some good ol' fashioned elbow grease to escape the room or break the Siren’s magic. The Shard that the Siren holds contains dormant time magic that players may activate by using the Sand within their necklace. Players can access the future in 5-second intervals and use whatever they find in that time period to escape their predicament.

For example, if they activate the shard by using their time magic, that shard will begin to glow blue. The room around them will shift, and it could change to a point in the future where there is a sword nearby. If you can grab it, now you have a weapon! When the 5 seconds are up and time returns to the present, you will still have that weapon on your person. You may also try verbal communication if you’d like. If your character is someone who would try and talk their way out of a situation diplomatically, they may give it a try!

It is up to player discretion/creativity to think of a scenario you’d like. Each “future" does not have to be the same across player encounters! What one group experiences may be tailored to the player wants (because branching timelines exist). Let your imagination run free!

HALL OF MIRRORS (p r e s e n t)

Should you reach the rightmost wing of the massive castle Library, you will find a door hidden in the very back of one aisle against a wall; it looks as though the door used to be concealed by magicks that have since dissolved.

The stairwell leads down and into darkness. Once you reach the bottom, shimmering light cast from an unknown source beneath sheets of glistening ice will illuminate your new surroundings; you are in a maze of mirror-like ice. This labyrinth is silent save for the quiet creaking of shifting ice that may disquiet you and leave you uneasy regarding the stability of this area… but it holds beneath your feet.

Mr. Tibbs had told you that the “Kaleidoscope” - where your Sand is counted - rests through here, so eventually, you must brave the journey. Is it a trick of the light? Maybe the product of an especially active imagination…?

Did you just see one of your reflections move without you?

NOTES

Please refer to the OOC Summary for details on the Hall of Mirrors!

THE BLIGHT and TIME MECHANICS

BLIGHT

Blight is an infliction that will age supplies and infect people with a creeping disease that steals their Sand. For objects, this includes weapons, food, and items like cloth. It will take a few days to deteriorate things beyond use - so watching your supplies and acting accordingly is in your best interest. Generally, it will make it more difficult for PC's to get by given that their already scarce resources will dwindle and deteriorate - especially since it's 'contagious' through touch.

The Blight will not act quickly enough to severely hamper infected persons, but repeated exposure will cause effects to a person's body - notedly protruding VEINS in the face and extremities, a lower body temperature, and increased agitation. These effects start out mild and grow more severe with each 'dose.'

Characters must touch an object/person that is Blighted to become inflicted with Blight themselves. When that happens, it will become easily identifiable as Blighted from the faint blue, shimmering outline around the infected subject, as well as the WITHERED, FROSTBITTEN or ashy appearance it takes as it progresses.

However, there is one single perk with Blight. (Or is it a perk?) Players will feel reduced impact by the cold surroundings, making the climate around them somewhat more hospitable. Beware of falling victim to a chill you can't feel...

TIME

To use your Sand, each character is granted access to and innate knowledge of a spell they channel from their Shard that automatically manipulates their Hourglass. This allows the remote control of Sand (aka gathering and dispersing), as well as the ability to pull Fragments of time from Shards.

Fragments are literal pieces of you taken from your Shard. They manifest as memories or images displayed on little shards of broken glass (think of the memory being played out in real-time on the mirror's surface), and can be crushed to convert into Sand automatically, either voluntarily or by force. The only stipulation is that the parties must be close to one another, and the Fragment must be exchanged while both Bearers are still. This means someone has to give it to you, or you need to immobilize them before you take it - one way or another.

Once the Fragment is crushed, the memory and associated time of that person's life is lost and your character will suffer amnesia until the Oracle is claimed. How deep this goes is up to you; they could lose a large chunk of time - even all their memories surrounding a person or place for a big payload of Sand, or they could lose very little for a meager net gain.

Sand is automatically gathered or distributed by your Hourglass and added/subtracted to your running total. No need to micromanage. Convenient!

Please note that using Sand to unfreeze anything (resources, a door which can be then opened, etc) is an unpleasant experience. Each time you use Sand in this way, your character will be left feeling weakened and flu-like for an hour or two, which will leave them vulnerable. This effect stacks and scales up to outright KO-ing them for a few hours if they go crazy, so unfreezing too large of an area is off the table!

NOTES

• An OOC POST will be coming shortly explaining how Sand is going to be tallied and the Oracle claimed.
• Should your character attempt to unfreeze any NPC's, please respond [HERE]. NOTE: unfreezing NPC's may result in physical violence with CW's for severe mental instability/illness and a potential reference to self-harm.
• HAVE FUN!!!

CODING

Comments

[lifespanned]

Oh, can you really do that? That'd be a big help.

[ Is what she says, sweetly, clapping her hands together with a muted poff from the thick fabric of her gloves. What's she's thinking, though, is that that's probably a red flag. Letting a powerful magician like Akua cast a spell on her? Willingly? It'd be giving her a free opening to attack her, if that's what she really wanted to do.

Misa tucks her hands into the opposite sleeves of her coat, ostensibly to keep warm - in reality, to close her hand around the dagger that's hidden there. The fluffiness of her clothes obscure most motion from within — it's a fine, fur garment she'd looted from this place for a nice price of sand, after all — and besides, she makes no sudden or jerky movements that read as offensive. No, she just leans in a little closer with feigned interest (edging in on Akua's personal space, really), inwardly anticipating a strike to come at any moment. Actually, she'll just plan on acting like she mistook whatever comes next as an attack — that's a good enough excuse for her to make a move, she thinks. Her hourglass glints from around her neck, shimmering with the image of what's at the forefront of most her thoughts: the profile of her (cold, detached looking) boyfriend. ]

How does it work exactly? It just cancels out all the cold, or...?

[wolof]

I can.

[ She said, and her eyes drifted downwards, until her eye caught sight of... a man that she could only say looked to be unremarkable. Akua reached out, to place a hand on Misa's cheek, and her eyes followed her hands, watched the way she tucked them into her coat.

Now, call her paranoid, but Akua was Praesi, and thus, she knew there was always a chance. ]

You'll want to hold still, dear heart.

[ She said, and let her fingers draw to her chin, and then... she started to cast -- it's quick, and Misa will feel the edges of the cold fade, a warmth spread to her fingers and toes. Akua's lips curled, and then, there's a crack on the mirrored surface as Misa's mirror-shard cracked. ]

Not for free, though.

akua taking one look at light and being like 'mid' i'm crying

[lifespanned]

[ She feels it again — the same strange unfamiliarity she'd felt when they'd been playing in Springstar, when Akua reaches out to her so gently. Dear heart, she says. Misa has always been the pursuer, always been the person lavishing her significant others with affection, and never the other way around. Even in her day to day life, most people meet her affectionate enthusiasm with tolerance at best and outright disdain at worst. It's so surprising for another person to be the one treating her that way that it actually does distract her for a few moments against her will, caught up in the feeling of a warm hand at her cheek — not that she'd ever admit it.

For a split second, there's the thought that Akua might just give her the spell, and that'll be it. That'd be the most surprising turn of events of all, right? Misa thinks she might actually... well, hesitate on double crossing her, were that the case. It's not any different from what she's used to doing - playing along with the affections of others until it's the right moment to use it to her advantage. Maybe right now wouldn't be the right time for it.

But then, she actually hears the crack of her hourglass and a gasp of genuine surprise comes from her, feeling the break in the precious ornament more than anything. Her response is immediate: the dagger she'd been hiding is produced in a flash, gripped tight in her right hand. ]

No way —

[ It's then that she tries to get her revenge, swinging her blade out with all the confidence of someone who's done this before, but none of the technique or grace. Misa is ruthless in these matters, unflinching from the prospect of violence - but she lacks actual experience, and that much is evident in her attempt at payback. Her movements are jerky, forceful, and they aim for where she thinks she can hit first rather than where would be best strategically to strike. Given the difference in their heights and their proximity, her kneejerk target is Akua's abdomen, clumsily attempting a stabbing motion before she even formulates high level thoughts about the situation - or whether it's even smart to directly attack someone who outclasses her so much in strength, who could probably deflect something like this easily. It doesn't matter, in the heat of the moment — all she's thinking is that she has to prevent the broken shard from being stolen, or she at least has to make the woman pay for it. ]

misa she thinks you're gorgeous, u could do so much better

[wolof]

[ At Misa's exclamation, she smiled, a sharp smile of a Praesi. It's over confident -- and rightly so -- in that moment. Her fingers dipped to crack the last of the shard free, that picture of such an unremarkable and ignorable man something that she would take for herself -- free Misa of whatever thoughts she had of him -- and Misa will find that the cold does not touch her, but even as one hand grasped the shard to pull it free her other...

It whipped down, lightning fast. Misa pulling a knife was only a surprise as Akua didn't think she had it in her. The cute guise was enough for her to have thought maybe she couldn't, but she was Praesi, and not just that, Highborn. She'd suffered enough assassination attempts by the time she was six that she simply expected it as part of everyday life. She had been raised ingesting antitoxins and antivenoms before events, learning personal defense as something that she would need to know for normal life, and she had been trained in more forms of martial skills than even some who went to the war college.

Her hand snaked out, to grip Misa's wrist. The blade caught her abdomen still, but she tugged it off to the side, leaving a cut in her coat. ]

Now, now, Misa. You cannot expect to betray a Sahelian like that. You must be more clever than simply brandishing a knife dearest.

[ A Smile, and she leaned forward. ]

The last person to kill me had to burn me to cinders to take care of me.

[ Howl had certainly done that, hadn't he? She smiled sweetly, and held up the shard of memories, as she crushed it to pieces before her very eyes, and let it drift into her hourglass. ]

I hope you're not too disappointed, dear.

[lifespanned]

[ All things considered, she's not that surprised when her hand is caught, even if she does struggle against it. When she sees Light's face reflected back at her, perhaps the assumed reaction would be for her to beg and plead for Akua to return him. But that isn't what rises to the surface first at all: it's a cold, deep-seated resent. A bloodlust that would feel came on much too quickly and easily for the young woman for it to be truly something out of the ordinary for her. In her furious stare, watching the shard get crushed before her, there's only a possessiveness, and an unfiltered desire to lash out at the woman before her.

Because as soon as the shard is gone — she feels it. A shuddering, utter loss. Something so monumental and stabilizing that to be in absence of it makes her feel like tearing everything around her down. Misa is no stranger to losing memory. But here? There's no promise or scheme that it'll come back, is there? For all she knows, it could be lost forever.

She can't be certain what it was - a person? a place? a happening? - but she can be certain that this woman is at fault for this feeling of it being gone. She doesn't need the cinders, doesn't need the knife in her hand. "Akua Sahelian," that's all she needs. ]

Is that what you think? [ Her expression hardens. ] I'll kill you one day for what you just did.

[ And there it is again: all the confidence of someone assured that it isn't a question of if she'll be able to do it, but when. All the pretense of the fun, quirky idol washes away to sea the minute the memory of Light gets brought into the equation - to tear him away, even without her knowledge, peels back every layer that hides the impulsive, violent person she is at her core. She can't hold the threat in - and she doesn't want to, either. If there were ever any doubt to the depth of her obsession with the man in the shard, the mysterious Light Yagami... well, it wouldn't be necessary anymore.

Misa's free hand is quick to clutch at her own hourglass again, cracking off a large chunk haphazardly, and in the next instant, a towering figure materializes behind Misa herself, skeletal and otherworldly, and just as cold as the environment they're in. Bat-like wings sprout from the being's back, and an enormous, bony arm cradles her small body in it, pulling back with an inhuman strength - clearly trying to separate Misa from Akua herself. While the being makes no direct offensive move, it's clear that in the being's gaze is a fierce sense of protection - like she'll be willing to do whatever it takes to keep Misa safe. ]

[wolof]

[ Akua's hand moved, once the towering figure manifested. As she was drug out from Akua's reached, she reached out, just for a moment, to drag a finger against her chin, fond, almost, certainly not afraid of the threat.

There was a smile on her face, and Misa might think it demeaning, until she spoke. ]

Oh, Dear heart, I do hope you will. Only one other person has... captured my heart, so.

[ Captured it, kept it, cultivated it. Akua could only think in that moment of Catherine, the beat of crow's wings behind her, and an army like Calernia had never seen behind her. The flash of light against her mirror shard showed it, a woman with an eyepatch, tanned skin, and sharp, harsh features. No beauty compared to Akua, but it's clear from the way she said it, the fondness she said at being killed, that such a person was desired by the woman -- deeply so.

She stepped back, and looked the creature up and down, not willing to fight this thing that she didn't know, but oh wasn't it glorious, in the danger it proposed. ]

It seems you dance with those whom would protect you, Misa.

Perhaps next time, you will find use of your guard, and I will find the fight more dangerous.

[ It's said with a laugh, high and delighted. Iron sharpens iron, after all. What was the point of fighting if she would always dominate them? No, Akua wanted a challenge, to be challenged and challenge others, all in one. ]