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

21rst

[want_to_belong]

It was early on, not long after Prompto had found Ignis. He was a mixed bag of emotions. Ecstatic that his friend was alive and, relatively, safe. At the same time he was worried about how upset Ignis was and wanted to comfort him. Either way, they didn't have the supplies to stay at the islet, nor did he think it was going to be the most protected place, so Prompto had left to get things ready at Monsun. Food, fire, resting areas... Anything and everything they might need. He wanted to make sure everything was set up for Ignis, leaving his fluffball of a chocobo behind with the other man for the time being. He needed something to hug more than Prompto did.

He didn't know everyone else at the camp well though he recognized most by now. Some he'd only seen, some he'd spoken to before. It was while he was trying to organize their food that he noticed Xion pop up. She still seemed so small and young to him.

"Hey," he greeted her casually. His smile was a little off, showing some of the strain of the emotional toll he'd been going through. At the same time it wasn't entirely fake. "You planning on fighting here?"

[attheclocktower]

"Prompto!" she'd been thoughtful, preoccupied, but seeing a friendly face did make her smile.

The day thus far had passed all too quickly, a frenzy of final preparations and fortifications. She wanted to run by all the major bases at least, see if there was anything else they needed. Which... sort of had to do with her answer, as it happened.

"I was planning on being all over the place, sort of," she replied, brushing a bit of hair behind her ear, "I figured it'd be a good idea if we kept in contact, so we knew if any one place needed supplies or help. I was going to try to fight on Chol too, though."

[want_to_belong]

He shot her a smile. "That's a good idea. We don't want anyone to get cut off from everyone else."

Standing up to face her with a small stash of bowls they'd made from coconuts, he pulled one from the stack and offered it to her. "Want to get some soup for the road? How are the other spots looking? It didn't feel like we had enough time to really do much... Oh, the kids are at the temple, aren't they?"

[attheclocktower]

"I..." she paused. How long had it been since she ate? She couldn't really remember honestly, "I could probably sit a bit."

She took the bowl gratefully, finding a moment to sit before answering his other questions. "I... I think they are? I didn't even think about trying to make sure everyone was going someplace like that." Most of her focus had been on trying to make sure that everywhere had enough defenders and supplies, or that there at least was somebody organizing all those things.

"Chol's the best off, for obvious reasons, though most of our supplies are at the Temple, I think. I tried to make sure this place got some help too, but I wanted to make sure you guys had enough. Those are all the major bases, I think," she finished, pausing for a moment to look worried. She hoped that was all the major bases, "And we're trying to have somebody at all the mana pools, to make sure nothing can use them as a point of entry that we don't want."

[want_to_belong]

He glanced at the mana pool in their vicinity.

"I think this one will be all right. If these things don't like light... Well, it's basically sitting there right by all our light sources. There's another one on the island somewhere, I hear. I don't think anyone really go to that one, so it probably doesn't matter if it's guarded or not. I doubt we could guard two places here even if we wanted to."

It was making him miss the safe havens. At least he knew nothing would happen while they were on those.

He scooped up a quick bowl of soup and plunked down by the fire with his legs crossed, holding it in both hands to warm his fingers.

"I think the islets would be too dangerous, too. Not enough space, and multiple mana pools..." He paused momentarily. Honestly, he didn't know how well Xion really knew him, but he figured he'd add it anyway. "We found Iggy there. He's okay. I was just going to make sure everything was ready for him here before we brought him over. Can't leave him over there by himself. All the animals will need to be kept safe, too."

[attheclocktower]

"Iggy?" The name wasn't immediately recognizable, although it hit her after a couple seconds, "Ignis? You mean he's okay?"

She'd been worried, truthfully. She hadn't seen him around during any of the planning or the preparation, and that seemed to be the kind of thing he'd take interest in. She'd wondered if she'd misjudged him, but no, it seemed he was missing instead.

Though that wasn't the only thing he was talking about. She shook her head, pulling herself back to the conversation.

"Y-yeah. I know we're going to try to cover as many of the mana pools as we can, though some'll be... hard. We'll at least have someone else at the other end," she sighed, filling her own bowl of soup.

[want_to_belong]

At first Prompto wondered if she had met Ignis at all. He seemed to get around very well and be quite the recognizable figured, so it surprised him, but then she seemed to recognize the name. "Yeah, Ignis. He's..." He paused. Ignis wasn't exactly doing 'great', but he wouldn't want other people to know that. "He's doing fine. Just needs some rest and some time to relax."

He nodded at her. "I figure if we keep the ones we're using well-lit, then they won't be able to sneak up on us. Not sure how much else we can do. Just hoping this doesn't last very long."

[attheclocktower]

Xion bit her lip. The news about Ignis... worried her more than a bit. But she didn't quite have the time to chase this down the way she wanted to. She'd definitely try to talk to him if she ran into him, though. The problem with the Mana pools was... a bit more complex than Prompto seemed to be realizing, she thought. Even the unused ones could still be found by monsters and utilized to get to Chol. That was the concern, at least, though the others knew more about that than she did. She'd have to trust them on it, and Prompto wasn't wrong - they needed to make sure ones that were being used couldn't be ambushed.

In the meantime.... "Well," she hesitated, "Muffet would know better, but we've got enough supplies to last at least a week, I think. So long as we're careful with it. I wish we could even guess though."

She doesn't dare use her Tower experience for this - the circumstances were too different. She should have asked Keith if the Jormun knew anything.

[want_to_belong]

"I think everyone has been stocking up, luckily. I hope it's enough."

He took a big drink of his soup - which was a bit on the hot side, but with the chill in the air he didn't mind the extra heat. As much as he wanted to stay positive, he was worried. He let out a sigh.

"It feels like we can never just settle down and relax anywhere. I wish we could at least make a safe haven, like back home. Then, even if the rest of the land was hostile, we'd at least know we'd be okay when we slept."

[attheclocktower]

"A safe haven... like... somewhere the monsters can't get into?" she asked, for confirmation. They had places like that in the Tower, so she can understand the feeling.

"Because it sounds like the Storyteller's Temple will be that least. Though we won't be able to fight there, and not everybody can go..." she trailed off. Yeah sorry Prompto, she's another one of those people who gives a Damn about Ardyn.

[want_to_belong]

"Yeah. Back home, daemons would come out at night. This is actually... kind of familiar, to be honest. But there were spots around the world with runes on them that kept the daemons away, so we could camp there. They weren't very big and they were basically just giant flat rocks, but they were at least safe."

Just not comfy.

He glanced towards the side of their tent, looking up a bit. "...I want to defend our home here. I like it here more than any other spot we've had. If we have to go back anywhere else... We really need to find a good way to secure the mana pools."

He wasn't too concerned about Ardyn at the moment. Daemons-like beings were the more clear and present danger.

[attheclocktower]

Xion nods, smiling a little sadly. There were places like that in the Tower, too, places where monsters either couldn't or wouldn't go. Except for everyone's own bedrooms, though, they weren't so clearly marked.

"Maybe we can talk to the Storyteller about it, after this is all over," she suggested, thoughtfully, "They must know something about them, or where we can learn more."

She was... reluctantly inclined to trust the Storyteller, but she knew that was not the case for everyone.

[want_to_belong]

He stayed quiet for a moment, eyes lingering on a nearby campfire. When he finally spoke it was quiet, like he was worried about someone overhearing, though he tried to keep a casual tone to it, "Hey, Xion... Can I ask you something? What... do you think about the Storyteller, exactly?"

He was curious. Naïve as he could be, that didn't mean he was blind to problems on the islands, or the potential that the Storyteller wasn't such a 'good' god. Especially not after some of the things Iggy had been put through. He was already blind, a god could at least give him a break!

[attheclocktower]

Funny, given how her thoughts had been just trending in that direction.

"I don't know," she said, voice frank, "You remember how I told you about the Tower, about Ruana and how she... how she caused everything, was the reason we were there. But... she wasn't the only one in charge. There were others, and for the longest time, they didn't know what was going on any more than we did. And for some of them, like Zo and Dax, who died saving and protecting us..."

She sighed, and shook her head. It was all so very complicated. "So, basically... When the Storyteller says they don't know why we're here, when they offer things like the favors.... I don't know if I can trust them, but I don't think it's a good idea to just... push them away entirely, either."

Because if the Storyteller is trapped in this circumstance as much as them, well... Helping each other could go a long way. It could hurt them a lot in the long run if they burned their bridges and were wrong.

[want_to_belong]

At the same time he listened to her he took in a deep breath thoughtfully.

"I don't know what to think, either. At first I thought he was good, but... Then he would put us in dangerous situations."

And he was more upset for Iggy than he was for himself. His gaze turned to the side. "I'm starting to wonder about him."

He wasn't that quick to judge harshly, but lives were at stake here. "...I'm not sure how we'd even go about finding out for sure, though. It's not like he would tell us. We had all kinds of legends and stuff back home, but the people here aren't from here, so it's not like anyone will happen to know anything about him."

Shaking his head like he was getting rid of those thoughts, he cracked her a small smirk. "It was a lot easier when we only had our own set of gods to deal with."

[attheclocktower]

Xion huffs a quiet, humorless laugh.

"I don't have gods in my own world, so I wouldn't know. But..." she pauses, trying to figure out how best to phrase this, "I talked to them, when they were warning us about... all this. They mentioned a time where they didn't give people a choice, and how they'd gotten hurt. They also talked about how... warning us now, and making their temple safe for those who didn't want to fight didn't make up for everything. I guess they must've been talking about that."

That's her guess anyway. And it means a lot to her personally, the idea that they realized that what had happened was wrong, and as sorry as there were, that wouldn't alone make up for what happened. Ruana, on the other hand, had insisted, up until the very end that she'd been saving them, and that they were ungrateful to her.

[want_to_belong]

"No gods?"

That was... so strange.

"Then who created your world and everything?" And screwed it over. He wasn't positive how to feel about the Storyteller's apology. In a way, he kind of wanted to accept it and move on. That's what he'd do with a lot of things. He just wasn't sure. Was he like Ramuh and always popping up to help, or was he like Leviathan and ready to eat them if things went wrong?

"I guess... We can't do much about it either way right now. I was just wondering if anyone else was thinking about it."

Now that it had cooled down, he little up his bowl and took a large chug. A little on the watery side - thinned to make it last longer in preparation for the coming ordeal - but it was still good enough.

"A little light on the chunks, but I'm sure Specs would say, 'You need to stay hydrated' anyway," he joked gently.