January Event: Setting Fire to the Sky

[lifeaftr_mods]

JANUARY EVENT: SETTING FIRE TO THE SKY

Who: Everyone!
What: The sun dies, and the creatures of the night emerge from the depths
When: January 21st - January 28th
Where: Everywhere! Ensō, Monsun, Chol, and the Islets
Warnings: Character death, possible body horror and violence. Please mark any additional warnings as needed!

So We Can Take the World Back From the Heart-Attacked

The night of the 21st, the sun begins to dim. It dips in the horizon, sinks to nestle itself in the center of Chol like a star falling in slow motion, where it begins to smolder quietly - massive, smoking, and hot, like a massive egg. The night grows colder, the sky reduced to an inky black. The surface of the surrounding water is still but for the occasional ripple, the odd, strangely subdued wave, with not even the hollow lights of distant stars to glint off its reflective waves.

The Jormun gather around the sunken, dying sun with their scaled hands on their weapons, their expressions grim. They fan out across the island of Chol with arms in hand. Their fortifications have settled around the island's center in a dense ball of bristling weapons. They have been preparing for this. They are ready to fight.

Are you? No island is safe. From the well-trodden mainland of Ensō and its islets to the stark dichotomy of Monsun to the craggy shores of Chol, all manner of strange things have begun to haul themselves, dripping, from the watery dark.

No more preparation. No more running.

From here on out, it is fight or die.

One Maniac At a Time, We Will Take It Back

As the Storyteller has promised, there is sanctuary in their temple on Ensō, which will keep out the worst of the creatures. It will not, however, protect characters from the cold and dark, and so they will have to keep themselves warm some other way.

The Jormun fight fiercely, but they do not fight alone. Aside from the help that the willing of your number have offered, you may glimpse the Storyteller battling alongside the rest in a flurry of strange, shifting animal shapes: a heavy-antlered reindeer, a shrieking owl with outstretched talons, a slavering grizzly bear with the Storyteller's signature tome strapped across a broad, furry back, to name but a few. Those creatures that the Storyteller defeats will burst into a flurry of paper and dark, spattering ink, rather than being felled in the conventional manner. How odd.

As this is an event with a high risk of death, the Storyteller will impose death penalties for one week only. However, deaths succumbed during the event will count towards the character's total.

Then I'll Raise You Like a Phoenix

Come the sunrise on the 28th, the sun will launch itself into the air with a victorious shriek, its wings trailing plumes of fire behind it. The phoenix takes flight, reborn from the ashes. The shores of Chol are littered with corpses, both shadowy and scaled, along with an even smattering of crumpled paper and splotched inkstains. Despite the triumph of the fight, it did not come without its costs. The Jormun gather their dead and prepare to mourn them quietly. Those who perished in the fight will not see the sunrise from this unique perspective, watching the murk of the night tint to soft, milky yellow and pink, and then to a glorious new day.

Munin will greet the survivors with a mixture of solemnity and relief, thanking them profusely for their help. There is not much more that her people can offer you, at this point - they must grieve their dead, and she must return to the sea to prove that she has cemented her worth as a leader in the eyes of the other Jormun - but that does not mean that your stories will part forever.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] January 20th: Monthly Storytelling occurs as usual
[ ♆ ] January 21st: The dark arrives, the temperature drops further, and the first hostile creatures begin their assault
[ ♆ ] January 28th: The dark ends and the sun rises
[ ♆ ] January 30th: Those who perished are revived, suffering from a reduced death penalty

Event Specifics

[ ♆ ] If you have any questions, feel free to look over our OOC Info Post.
[ ♆ ] Feel free to make your own logs if necessary!
[ ♆ ] If your character perishes in this event, please let us know!
[ ♆ ] Item trades with the Jormun can be found on the OOC plotting post here! Even if you were only recently accepted, you are free to participate!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[encircling]

[ She nods. It's a good plan, she supposes, but... ]

All alone? It is too much for one person to face, especially if you're like me and using magic takes its toll on you.

[scourgingstars]

You needn't concern yourself with me. I'm not quite any one person.

[encircling]

[ Telling her to not worry is like telling her to not breathe. Oops. ]

I... am sure you are capable, but... Do you not get tired after too much?

[scourgingstars]

Eventually.

[meaning: 'and what's your point that clearly doesn't matter because i am helping people'.]

[...ardyn's best self is also kind of stupid.]

[encircling]

[ you all are going to give her white hairs prematurely ]

... [ She sighs. ] Well, even if you can easily take care of yourself... Would you mind terribly if I kept you company for a while?

[scourgingstars]

Not at all, my dear. I'd more than appreciate the companionship.

[encircling]

Thank you.

[ Perhaps if she talks with Ardyn she won't focus so much on how tired she is, haha!! ]

How have you been faring in the desert?

[scourgingstars]

Oh, fine. It might be in poor taste to remark upon how bright the sunlight usually is, at the moment.

[encircling]

... It may be, yes. You are not fond of the sun, I assume.

[scourgingstars]

Unfortunately not. I can stand in sunlight without being injured or anything so extreme, but it tends to be a bit of an uncomfortable annoyance these days.

[encircling]

If you do not mine my asking... Why is that?

[scourgingstars]

Hm...well, little point in even pretending to hide it, after that little incident with our memories.

[luckily he's on politeness island or he'd immediately start bitching about the storyteller]

Phrased simply, I am...not exactly human. This body is one comprised of something which thrives in darkness and can not truly exist in sunlight. Truthfully, I may be more similar to these twisted creatures wandering the night than I am to any of you.

[encircling]

... Perhaps in physiology, at least on this part of the island.

[ She, ah. Hasn't forgotten the fact that she'd gotten bad vibes from Ardyn the first couple times they'd spoken. She's still a little wary, and what exactly will happen if he ever leaves this place?

... mmm. She's thinking too much. ]

Were you born that way? Or did you become that way?

[scourgingstars]

[He tried to laugh off the alarmingly true remark, but it came out hollow and distinctly uncomfortable.]

The latter. It's...rather a very long story, and an unpleasant one.

[encircling]

I would not mind hearing it, if you were comfortable sharing it with me.

You listened to my own unpleasantness, after all.

[scourgingstars]

I'm afraid it...there are a great deal of complicated circumstances to the tale. But then again--if ever I really am to be forced off this island, perhaps it might be better were you to understand what it is that's likely to confront you. Let me condense it as much as possible to avoid a long-winded lecture.

My proper name is Ardyn Lucis Caelum. I was a healer some millennia ago, bearing the ailments of others to save them from an incurable plague that would someday bring ruin to our world.

[Ardyn took a probably too familiar dagger from the holster under his coat, lightly pricking one finger--his blood ran black and evaporated in trails of smokelike miasma as the cut stitched itself back together until there was no trace left.]

...Now I'm more plague than human.

[encircling]

[ She's a good listener, at least. Mira watches him, and when he pulls out the dagger-- It's startling, at the very least. She's never seen anyone heal so rapidly, nor has she ever seen anything like smoke come out of a wound. ]

For a while... I've had the suspicion you were a healer. Since that time in the crystal caverns, actually. [ Her voice is quiet and thoughtful, and she doesn't look disgusted or anything. Rather... she looks sympathetic. ] This plague... is it what buried who you used to be? The person you are, on this side of the island?

[scourgingstars]

...I was. My ailment in those caves was something else I took for another's sake, though it is not exactly something I often go out of my way to do these days.

[what's a feeling can you eat it]

Setting aside a more complex set of circumstances and a longer story, 'yes' is the short answer. [The dagger returned to its holster, Ardyn shrugging lightly and folding his arms.] It was given the name 'Starscourge', practically a sentient thing in its own right. I'm just glad it's not infected anyone else or spread at all, as that would be quite another problem to add to the list.