lifeaftr | February Undercurrent: Behind the Curtain

FEBRUARY UNDERCURRENT

Who: Everyone!
What: A sea of clouds in the moonlight...
When: February 3rd to February 15th
Where: The Floating Islands above Ensō
Warnings: Please mark anything as it comes up!

The Earth is Spinning

Far above all your heads, suspended impossibly over Ensō, there is a scattered collection of strange floating islands. Almost two years ago, adventurers had the opportunity to visit them when the heat of the phoenix-sun of LifeAftr burned away the clouds that shielded them. This time, it will be Water that gusts those clouds to the side - clouds are, after all, a form of water. Once more, these islands will become accessible. Just like before, all islands are accessible via mana pool - but those of you capable of flight will be able to reach them without needing those helping hands.

Additionally, the islands will be hanging very low over Ensō, casting noticeable shadows over much of the landmass, and parts of them will be trailing to the ground. Ladders, long tresses of ivy and vines, and ropes hang off the edges of these islands to brush against Ensō's floor, to make for easy climbing. You might also find that some of these trailing protrusions might take a more...active approach. If someone walks by, you might very well find yourself grabbed by these vines or ladders and more or less hoisted up to the floating islands, whether that was your intention or not. It's almost like they want you up there, for whatever reason.

This time, these islands will not be subject to the whims and desires of the islanders. The landscape will not shift to accommodate your memories and thoughts. This time, when travelers reach the islands, they will find that they have formed into four distinct locations. Each of the four islands are separate and more or less their own small patch of land, visible but quite isolated from all the rest.

Just like before, the mana pools will be more than slightly glitchy for the duration of this event - it is entirely possible that someone simply attempting to travel by them, or stay near them to rejuvenate their energies will find themselves whisked up into the landmasses hovering in the sky. It seems that these islands have an inherent effect on the mana pool network.

The Water will communicate to all adventurers in whatever way possible that they are strongly advised to visit the islands above, if they seek answers. Those who pass near bodies of water on any island will likely hear the Water's quiet urging to do just that. Though even if they don't listen, there's every chance that they might end up there anyway!

So what are the islands up here like, this go around? Funny you should ask...

The Island of Stone This first island is the biggest of the five, and also the most central. It is the one you are most likely to end up upon if you travel here by accident. Much of it is comprised of a terrain of earth and stone. The upper clouds frequently gust through the area, lending it a strange and otherworldly look.

Immediately behind the mana pool, travelers will see a large carving mounted on a stone dais. It appears to be in the shape of a bear, carved from oak wood. Its eyes are set with a pair of emeralds. Below it is written a name: ZEMJIN.

On this island, travelers will find what essentially amounts of a great deal of building blocks. Almost all of them are different types of earth and rock - from sandstone to fired clay to granite to obsidian to even some of your less common materials, such as iron or titanium or gold - and a great variety of sizes and shapes.

Each of these blocks defy ordinary size and weight restraints; as long as they remain on the island, virtually anyone can pick them up and move them around as you please, regardless of how much you should be capable of lifting. You can build tall structures of diamond or small huts from marble - the only limit is your imagination!

Well, that and reason. If any of your building materials fall off the island, they'll almost immediately dissipate into nothingness. However, there's nothing stopping you from building a bridge to another island...and that'd work, too.

The Island of Color This island is one of the most striking, as once one sets foot on it, they will note that it's almost entirely devoid of color. At least, all the solid parts of it are. The island hosts broad boulders, grassy meadows, beautiful trees...but they're all in shades of gray and white, save for the spot just behind the mana pool.

There, travelers will see a small statue mounted on a stone dais. It appears to be in the shape of a seal, a delicate shape made from expertly carved and polished sunstone. All around it, bright golden marigold flowers are in full bloom. Below it is written a name: JARUSKA.

Further inspection reveals that the island isn't entirely colorless. In fact, all over the island, one can find deep wells that look as though they might contain water. Instead, they contain color, in every shade imaginable. One simply has to lower the bucket into the well, concentrating on the color they'd like to see, and when hoisting it up, they'll find it filled to the brim with it. The wells are lined with buckets and primitive, oddly skeletal tools with which one can use to decorate this island to their heart's desire.

Fill in the empty outlines! Use inks and powders to breathe new life into this monochrome land! The entire space is your blank canvas, and you don't even have to indulge in conventionality - you can very well make the grass pink and the trees blue if you like.

The only real drawback is the capacity of these colors to stain. They're rather inconveniently bright and tend to glow, and only sustained scrubbing will remove them. The color tends to bleed into whatever you touch, if you don't do a thorough enough job of washing all that away, even if you depart this place.

What's more? You can use these colors to paint new structures into place. You can paint new trees, new flowers, new anything of any color you like. Such as, say...a bridge to another island.

The Island of Stars This island is among the most striking, and will probably be quite visible from a distance. Once one sets foot upon it, it'll be obvious why: the landscape here looks like an inverted night sky. The ground is a deep, swirled pool of blues and purples and blacks, stippled with bright pinpricks. It looks very much like you're standing on the night sky itself.

Immediately behind the mana pool, travelers will see a small statue mounted on a stone dais. It is in the shape of a turtle, an artfully crafted likeness made from the deep indigo blue of polished iolite. Thready blooms of red-and-green tillandsia sprout about it in colorful abandon. Below it is written a name: TSAMAYAR.

All around this island, twisting pathways, roads, and tunnels unravel in and around the starry landscape. Some are simplistic, and look like they are made of ordinary (if strangely celestial) gravel. Others are made of dark, paved stone. Still others look a little like they're cobbled with fancier materials, such as polished obsidian or marble.

And all over, you'll be able to find a vast collection of rather primitive but nonetheless fully functional bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and other forms of self-powered travel. And unlike any of the other islands, if you manage to get these vehicles off the island somehow, and back to Ensō fully intact? You can keep them.

It's no Rainbow Road, but it can make for a beautiful place to ride a bike, take a load off, and simply take in the sights. And, at some point, you might realize that you recognize some of the stars set into the ground. Maybe some of them are constellations you know. And what could that mean, exactly...?

The Island of Webs The final island is the most mysterious, and potentially the most off-putting. It's thick with mist and fog, and almost everything is dead and black, as though all of its color has been sapped away. Only this place doesn't have any colorful pools of ink and dyes to bring luster and life back to its scenery; it is simply bereft.

Immediately behind the mana pool, travelers will see a small statue mounted on a stone dais. It appears to be in the delicate likeness of a spider that has been carved from the rainbow blue-greens of labradorite. All around the statue, heavy twines of ivy have climbed up along the dais and threaded around the spider's legs. Below it is written a name: OSORU.

The most obvious and probably unnerving aspect of this island are the thick webs that hang from almost every surface. Almost everything is draped in limp, dead trailings of a whitish material that seems almost silklike. It isn't sticky; travelers can touch and handle it easily, to no ill effect. More unsettling is likely to be the buildings that can be found on this place - for they are all almost certainly ones that many of you will recognize.

The Storyteller's Temple. Chunks of the city of Ai'tuoh. A windmill from Nuidan. Parts of the sunken city of Tempide, and so many others. All structures that were found in LifeAftr in varying stages of ruin - now in pristine condition. They look as neat and tidy as if they were just constructed, though all are empty.

Perhaps even worse is the fact that those weblike strands seem to have a life of their own. As the days progress, they start to slither toward the island's very edge, straining to try and reach the other islands. You can help them, if you wish, by building or painting bridges between those islands and this one. Because, as it happens, this appears to be what this place wants more than anything - to draw all these separate pieces together, into one cohesive whole.

If you wish to fully uncover the secrets of this island, please let us know if you are interested in NPC interaction in the subject line of your top-level.

Your Eyes are Shining in the Glittering Light

Of course, there's a lot going on in the background as well. You're free to use this log as a catch-all for the duration of February's Undercurrent Event, as well as any of the other minor events listed on our Monthly Rundown post. And, of course, you are always free to create your own individual logs and posts as needed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them over on the Questions header on our Monthly Rundown post!

February Timeline

[ ♆ ] February 1st: "Free Real Estate" begins and lasts until February 5th
[ ♆ ] February 3rd: "Behind the Curtain" begins and lasts until February 15th
[ ♆ ] February 6th: "No Yan is an Island" begins and lasts until February 12th
[ ♆ ] February 13th: "A Rainbow, Not a Painbow" begins and lasts until February 29th
[ ♆ ] February 16th: "The Sound Resounds" begins and lasts until February 27th

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Fae?" He denotes, quite curiously. There's a lot of other things he can and will probably comment on, but knowing more about his fellow, well, prisoners, as it were, is a bit more actionable than moaning about things they can't change and can barely understand.

"You mean the creatures on these islands?"

Edited (Wording) 2020-04-10 10:07 (UTC)

"Eehh... apparently not?" She makes kind of a hand-wobbling gesture. "Fae are a whole big thing where I'm from, and some of the shit here has the same vibe - like the rabbit. The Storyteller - even sounds like something some fae might call themself."

ANYWAY.

"But it's seeming like that's not actually what they are. 'S fucked up, something shouldn't be able to seem that much like a fae and not be one."

"Hm, yes, you do raise a good point. It's quite confusing." But so is everything else. While most of Aziraphale's powers are gone, he can at least somewhat recognize creatures when they're magic, although that wasn't a perfect method to begin with.

"Although I suppose that, in the end, it doesn't make much of a difference. That is, unless ways to ward off Fae could work on them. But I doubt it. "

"Dooon't think so at this point - though I guess I can't test that with any, y'know, depth. Need someone who actually knows shit about wards for that."

Too bad the only people here from her world are herself and... a literal child. Neither of them is a great source of magic info, unless someone really wants to know about lycanthropy or grade-school rituals.

"With so many beings from so many different places, I suppose one can assume that anything that would have worked would have already been discovered." And considering how an actual angel and a couple of actual demons are stuck here and entirely helpless as far as this situation goes, it's fair to assume that there really isn't much at their disposal. At least not yet...

But the defeated tone of what he said feels a bit much. "Still, perhaps we can find the answers with them."

"Probably our best bet at this point. Fuck." Erika sighs and shoves her fingers through her hair. She is, to say the least, not a fan of of the idea of trying to work with... this. Just, this. This place, these "gods", all of it.

But it's seeming like they don't have much choice if they're going to figure out what the hell is going on here, let alone get out.

"...Guess that's a perk of those floating islands being back. There was enough weird shit going on on them last time, maybe we can find more this time."

Aziraphale doesn't like it either. He has no will to deal with any so-called 'gods' that seem to spend more of their time fighting among themselves and seen to hold very little interest in helping everyone get back to their homes. It's not that he isn't aware that creatures of a higher power can be petty and aloof, but he really doesn't like beyond on this side of the whole thing.

"Yes, well, all of the islands seem to have their own curiosities. In fact, it feels like Enso might be one of the more normal ones, although I suppose that doesn't hold much meaning."

"You're probably right there, even if it is just relative. At least it just has some weird-ass wildlife. And... the occasional death of the sun, but I think that affected everything here, not just Enso."

The bar is so goddamn low.

Sometimes, it feels like he's been here so very long. He's always been bad at keeping track of time, and now having to sleep hasn't actually helped at all. And he's existed for so very long, that his concept of a short or long amount of time isn't quite the same as a human. But then he also hears snippets about happenings from before he and Crowley showed up here, and any sense of time he might've had began to gather goes straight out the window.

"The sun...died?"

"Yeah. The sun's a bird and it died, but now it's fine."

She knows it sounds like a joke. Even knowing about phoenixes already, it sounds like a joke. Her tone, however, is deadly serious, because it is not a joke.

"Oh." He replies in an almost comically neutral tone. Because, really, what else are you supposed to say to that?

"This place has such a...colorful history."

"That sure is a word for it!" There are lots of words she could use for this place's history. Most of them are not nearly as nice as "colorful".

"I'd say it's something you get used to, but that's... probably only about half true."

Aziraphale's tendency to hold himself to a standard of politeness and good manners helps in keeping him from using the sort of words he finds more adequate to describe the whole situation.

"Yes, it's... Well, it is what it is, isn't it?" With all the good cheer of someone who's had a nasty day but is too tired to do anything about it. Nasty days. Many of them.

February Undercurrent: Behind the Curtain

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