April Event: Young Volcanoes

[lifeaftr_mods]

APRIL EVENT: YOUNG VOLCANOES

Who: Anyone and everyone!
What: A festival, and an eruption
When: April 10th - April 14th
Where: Primarily Cahypdo
Warnings: Natural disasters (volcanic eruptions), ifestiphobia (fear of lava); ICly, some events may appear reminiscent of ableism or ageism

The Festival of Cycles: Before It Has Begun

Don't worry about the concerning noises that the mountains might be making; the night sky makes it difficult to tell that there's an outpouring of smoke beginning to gather at the top of Mount Tharama. The Roaka, for their part, are doing everything they can to celebrate - and they'd be honored if you were to join them for the celebration.

One of the Roaka's most important customs involves implementation of a plant that they refer to as Living Lanterns. This variety of seedling is a deep red, and grows to a modest height, boasting a long stem with several buds. Its one quirk is that it must be warmed with open flame close by to convince it to bloom. Once it does, though, it grows several large, red flowers that glow brightly with inner light.

The Roaka, as is custom during a Festival of Cycles, have grown a great deal of these organic lights. Certain members of their group select a lantern and tie it to what appears to be an overgrown dandelion of some sort - large enough for it to send the lantern soaring into the sky when the Roaka throw it up into a strong breeze.

The effect is both striking and beautiful, as the sky is set alight with a forest of brilliantly red glows. The Roaka's unique appearance probably makes their choice in diet unsurprising: while their tables will be heavy with all manner of fruits, vegetables, and seafood, they do not consume red meat. One of the most common types of Roaka delicacies are skewers of vegetables and seafood, roasted over an open flame, but there are plenty of others - cioppino-style soups made from mussels, crabs, and shrimp, soaked in tomato-y broth; lobsters drizzled in chile-honey sauce; salads of every conceivable type; shrimp sizzled in onions and ginger; an ice cream-like dish made from coconut milk and festooned with chopped pineapple and mango; and as many others as you can feasibly think of! All dishes are welcome to be sampled at your leisure, and have been prepared with the utmost care.

And drinks, of course, alcoholic and otherwise, are to be found in generous abundance. Get drunk off of palm wines, coconut rums, and all manner of mixed drinks. For those that don't prefer to booze it up, there are smoothie-like blends made from banana, coconut, fig, papaya, apple, mango, persimmon, and every combination of the aforementioned.

The Youngdrink, distinctive due to how it is served from the opened half of a watermelon, features prominently. None of the adult Roaka will so much as touch that delicious, slushy treat, but they don't see fit to warn you that partaking in even a small amount of it will put you to sleep very, very quickly. You see, it doesn't occur to them that you would drink it unless you were one of their young.

If you take even a few sips, you'll find yourself grouped in with those that are to be transported to the underbelly of Mount Alysum, for protection from the oncoming eruption.

The Eruption: It's All Over Now

The day following the Festival is thick with clouds, as Mount Tharama spills its ashen preparations into the sky. Either you wake in the hidden caverns beneath Mount Alysum, and must make your way back out again, or you have awakened at the foot of a volcano about to erupt with a sizable portion of your number missing. If you have ended up in Mount Alysum, you are advised to find a way out of those hidden chambers as quickly as possible, before the tunnels cave in and leave you trapped within. The young Roaka gathered underneath with you won't seem very concerned about their fates. Given their hardy bark-skin, it's unlikely that any cave-ins will prove much of a danger to them, and the older Roaka outside will no doubt see fit to dig them out once the danger has passed. But you, who probably needs oxygen, or at the very least would probably prefer not to be trapped down here, should try and make your way out of here as fast as you can.

If you were not among those taken to Mount Alysum, you are faced with two very pertinent options: to either try and divert the lava's flow so that it does not set you on fire or consume the mana pool, or set out in search of your missing brethren. Either way, the Roaka aren't going to be of much help to you. This is their custom, and they're not quite sure why you might be startled by any of this. They know so little about other species and customs...why should you be alarmed, if their old and dying Roaka start to explode, violently, once the lava swallows them?

This log is for the first part of the event, dealing with the festival and the subsequent eruption. A second log, dealing with the aftermath, will be going up in the comms on April 15th!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] April 10th: The Festival of Cycles occurs.
[ ♆ ] April 11th - 12th: Characters who partook in the Youngdrink wake beneath Mount Alysum, and the eruption begins.
[ ♆ ] April 15th: The eruption ends. Character ages may begin to be affected by the ash in the air.
[ ♆ ] April 20th: The monthly Storytelling occurs.
[ ♆ ] April 30th: The effects of the ash wear off, and affected characters are restored to normal.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )