lifeaftr | October Event: Crystal Clear

OCTOBER EVENT: CRYSTAL CLEAR

Who: Everyone!
What: Your exploration takes a turn.
When: October 20th - 26th
Where: The caverns situated underneath Ensō
Warnings: Character death, body horror, descriptions of illness. Please mark any additional warnings as needed!

Part I: Attack, Attack!
Congratulations! You've successfully gone where no Storyteller has gone or can go, and woken up in the network of subterranean caves buried beneath the island's mass, along with your designated supplies: a miner's cap, a week's worth of food, and both your knapsacks and their collective contents. And the further along you go, the vaster and more sprawling these almost labyrinthian tunnels seem to get. There’s certainly evidence that civilization once thrived here - old buildings hewed from the rock of the cave walls may very well contain old tools, or even salvageable supplies. Careful examination of structures and cavern walls alike will reveal sigils resembling those carved on the doors, each of which will need to be destroyed entirely at the Storyteller's behest. Whatever was down here was advanced enough to dwell without sunlight. But that raises a rather pertinent question...

If there were once people here, where did they all go?

Fortunately, one will soon discover that there's plenty of natural light underground, exhibited by the crystalline growths on the walls. None of them appear to be dangerous, and those attracted to shiny things might even find them useful for picking up or chipping away in order to better light their way. The crystal has about the thickness and hardness of quartz, and bathes its surroundings in a luminous green glow.

The closer you come to the center of the mass, however, the denser the crystalline growths seem to become, until one has to be quite ingenious in navigating them. Eventually, they'll simply be too dense to be squeezed through, even by the smallest and most agile of your number.

That’s when they it will start to become apparent.

Something in the crystal is moving.

Huge chunks of crystal are starting to detach from the center and move slowly, inexorably, toward those unfortunate enough to have explored the caverns. Unmistakably humanoid silhouettes, distorted by awful crystalline growths, most of which have completely swallowed any recognizable features.

...most.

The good news is that the creatures can be shattered, and beaten back. The bad news? Well...

Part II: Retreat, Retreat!
Those who get close enough to the crystalized beasts to get a good look at them will soon make a horrifying discovery - the fact that, underneath those thick layers of luminescent quartz, there was once something that might have been recognizable as human. These quartz monsters aren't native to this region, or indeed, to any region of the island at all. They were formed.

Formed out of the very crystal that you explorers have been touching, picking up, sleeping on, and just generally remaining in prolonged contact with ever since you set foot down here.

Indeed, anyone who has been in contact with the crystal for extended periods of time - sleeping on it or getting dealt a swipe from one of the crystalized monsters, for example - will find that tiny, quartz-like growths have started to sprout on their skin as well. Once the virus has taken root, it will spread rapidly until it has swallowed you whole. Indeed, the unpleasant symptoms will reveal themselves within twenty-four hours of the initial exposure: in addition to clusters of crystalline growths pocking the affected areas, the inflicted will begin to experience intense stabbing pains all over as the crystal begins to grow - both inside and out.

The transformation is slow and arduous and painful, and vocalization tends to be one of the first things to go once the crystals sprout in the mouth and throat. Within the span of about three days since the initial exposure, the transformation will have sheathed most of the physical body in crystal entirely, sealing the victim in a humanoid cast of glasslike green.

It has not been confirmed if the inflicted are sentient and aware of their state of being once they are completely consumed. Whatever their intentions, those are easily overridden by the virus's innate desire to spread to as many organisms as possible.

As this is an event with a high risk of death, the Storyteller will impose death penalties for one week only. Additionally, deaths succumbed during the event count towards the character's total. There is no known cure to the virus, but that doesn't mean characters can't or shouldn't try!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] October 20th: Spelunking begins. Points of interest will be provided.
[ ♆ ] October 22nd: The Quartzalcoatl make their presence known.
[ ♆ ] October 24th: The final sigils are broken, and the Storyteller will return all uninfected to the Islets.
[ ♆ ] October 26th: All deceased will be returned at midday, suffering from a reduced death penalty.

Event Specifics

[ ♆ ] If your character perishes in this event, please let us know!
[ ♆ ] For those who opted out, please see the top-level below!
[ ♆ ] Item claims can be found on the OOC plotting post here!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mickey blinks a few times, obviously not expecting to be rejected. But he doesn't give up that easily.

"We won't be in here forever, though! You can keep on teaching us once we get out! And I already know some fire magic, and if I can learn it, anyone can! It's not much, but it's a start!"

Well dang, can't argue with that logic, huh. The- kid? is spunky and she respects that. She crosses her arms and smiles indulgently down at him.

"Alright squirt, go ahead and show me what you got so far."

"Okay!"

Mickey removes his gloves - he'd like not to burn them again - and then holds out his hands, murmuring the spell a friend had taught him. And slowly, a small fire builds up in his palms! ... Good for a camp-fire, not so much for combat. Or anything else.

"Whaddya think?"

Hey, she's seen dinkier flames than this, little motes that flicker out of existence as soon as they appear. Summoning and maintaining a steady fire is trickier than it looks, he must've been practicing. Lup's smile widens into a grin.

"That's not bad at all! I'm thinking we can defs work with this." Not the least because it means that for all the bullshit limitations and straight up failures her and Taako have had to deal with, the arcane energy in this plane is still malleable enough to be channeled by novices. Makes it a little more worthy of a shot than she was expecting.

"Tell you what, why don't you take your idea to my brother and see if he can pencil you in? He's uhm," she gives an elegant little swirl of a finger to indicate the surrounding ruins, "he's around, probably avoiding doing any real work. You'll know him when you see him." She winks like she's the only one in on a joke, proud of herself for sending such a cute lil shipment of optimism and eagerness along to her brother. The joke here being, of course, that they're identical twins.

Mickey beams, the little bit of praise already making his day. "You got it!" He's already moving his feet, ready to go off and find him - but before he does so, he just has to say...

"... I'm happy for you, that you got to be here with your brother." And he says it with utmost sincerity. These two are very fortunate, and Mickey wants nothing for the best for both of them.

And again the kid takes her by surprise. She's spent a hundred years learning not to assume the worst of strangers, but meeting people like this with their obvious kindness and sincere concern for others, it's still a nice reminder why all those planes are worth fighting for. Her smile softens into something sincere too.

"Yeah, we're pretty lucky. Don't know what I'd do without him." She shrugs a little, like it's not a big deal, when of course it's anything but. "Don't tell him I said that though? Tell him Lup's expecting a full report on your academic progress, actually, that'll keep him in line."

Mickey chuckled, tipping his hat. "You got it! Thanks a million, Lup!" With that, he eagerly runs off, wanting to start his new lessons A.S.A.P.

October Event: Crystal Clear

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hey, wow

:D