❪ event ❫ hour of ruin

[natha]

HOUR OF RUIN     Sometime after midnight, after preparations have been put aside in favor of drinks and rest, a thunderous beating of wings shatters the air — the High Dragon Ysverai, once again risen. The sound echoes high off Namarak Mountain, but travels easily to both Wyver and Olympia: scream after scream rends the still night, as though a creature were dying rather than being born again. Having only had days to plan their defense against the creature, Olympia and Wyver snatch up their arms. The Royal Guard and the Knightryders can be seen on their steeds hurrying through the cities, because Ysverai doesn't remain isolated at the mountain's peak for long. There are pictures of Ysverai in abundance throughout both cities, but the creature that circles in the sky looks nothing like the majestic creature spoken of in history books. Even from far below, wounds and lacerations can be seen marring what should be smooth scales, and blood falls with every beat of the dragon's wings. The damage becomes more clear when moonlight illuminates Ysverai, revealing the rotting dragon for all to see. The sight of flesh peeling away and thick blood where it oozes from his cracked, greyish hide is as frightening as the power he possesses. REASON'S TRANSCENDENCE     Mad from the anguish of his forced revival, Ysverai will show none of his renowned wisdom or compassion, mindless and seeking to inflict his pain onto whatever emerges in his path. His very presence creates chaos: animals (Olympia | Wyver) domesticated and wild, flee from the merest hint of his approach, panicked and stampeding in wild droves. The reason is obvious: organic matter exposed too long to his presence begins to rot and decay. A field he lands in rots and lies fallow. Buildings crack and crumble, their supports pitted and corroded as though they've been left in disrepair for years. Even the ground that Ysverai walks upon is tainted; a corrosive sludge bubbles up in his massive, clawed footsteps, the ground beneath him putrefied and toxic, oozing corruption. This sludge can be tar-like, poisonous and sucking people in like quicksand; panic, and you'll only sink faster. Prolonged exposure to Ysverai takes a mental toll on anyone in his proximity as well. Effects similar to those from being near his heart — selfish desires and lowered inhibitions — will begin to fester in those around him. Every time Ysverai roars, pain will run through all those that hear him — a pain not just physical, but of true, anguished heartbreak. Those who hear Ysverai will feel (to a degree of your choosing) a sharing of his pain, the agony of flesh rotting from their bodies, blood oozing from under their skin, and a terrible, incandescent fury — and beneath that, a gut-wrenching sadness. This effect is further enhanced by any exposure to Ysverai's blood, and being drenched in greater quantities will cause one to become more in sync with the dragon. Finally, Ysverai is aggressive, attacking anyone and anything that approaches. He starts by breathing out a smog, acidic and putrefying — characters caught directly by this attack will find that medicine and healing magic of any kind hurts them for hours after exposure. The dragon will ignite the smog to breathe fire, if sparingly. IN WYVER     Ysverai's shadow falls over the near reaches of Wyver first. Upon hearing Ysverai's cry, the dragons in Wyver become completely frenzied, turning against their partners among the Knightryders without the slightest resistance. Those familiar with dragons might deduce that they're in pain, though they don't show any sign of injury. The dragons knock their riders off their backs in midair and dive at citizens, jaws wide. Any attempts to soothe them will be long fought, achieved with great difficulty, and will see them retreat into a cowering state. It's not just the airborne Knightryders taking to the defense of the city however, and people on the ground are mobilizing as well. On rooftops across the city are cannons set to fire harpoons. And if the spearheads alone aren't enough to injure the beast, they're coated with a paralyzing poison as well. Unfortunately, the soldiers stationed on the rooftops are prime targets to the frenzied dragons populating Wyver's skies, leaving the cannons open for ordinary citizens to use should they choose. Left alone too long, and cannons may fall under the control of the few remaining radicals that had opted not to flee the cities to join up with their leader Raysc, choosing instead to wait for an opportune moment to unleash their anger on the people of Wyver. These radicals will need to be dealt with before they can turn the cannons upon Wyver's defenders. IN OLYMPIA     In Olympia, the gryphon partners of the Royal Guard react with immediate hostility to anyone showing signs of Ysverai's influence. Their keen senses allow them to pick up the smell of Ysverai's blood and they attack anyone with so much as a drop of tainted blood on them. Those who bear lingering effects of Ysverai's mental attack and who remain in sync with the dragon after hearing Ysverai's cry are also targeted and must face the gryphons' wrath without mercy or restraint. The gryphons must be disabled, for Olympia will not look upon any injury to their prized steeds lightly. However, the gryphons also show some resistance to Ysverai's cry, which is a great boon in battle against the dragon — gryphons that have lost their riders will be available for use, able to carry two passengers at a time. The people of Olympia aren't planning to restrict their offense to pure brute force, and the mages of the city can be seen across Olympia wielding enchanted chains, using telekinesis in the hopes of restraining Ysverai and assisting in the airborne troops. But like the decaying buildings and wildlife, Ysverai is warping the magic around him, the chains faltering as they approach him, whipping back toward the city instead to cage whoever happens to be closest. It's not just the enchanted chains either, but other magic might behave erratically in his presence, as if the very essence of the spells have been corrupted. VIRTUOUS VERSE     Both cities realize they need to seek survival rather than victory against Ysverai, switching gears to carry out diversion efforts and evacuation plans. It falls to refugees to continue the offensive while the Royal Guard and the Knightryders devote their attention to ensuring the safety of the citizens as they flee. With official forces stretched thin, civilians and refugees alike will also need to step up to help herd citizens toward safety among a maze of collapsing buildings. Others will need to see to gathering resources for the evacuation, and while gathering non perishables is easy enough, it's considerably harder to wrangle livestock into cooperating amidst such chaos. Those fighting may be asked to act as bait for Ysverai. Chatter through official troops speaks of a switch in strategy: the objective now is capture the dragon's attention and draw him away from the populous cities and towards the South Outpost. Whether or not it's possible to defeat the dragon remains uncertain, but there's no question that it will be easier to battle him without worrying about civilians. THE RAGE     Luckily, the dragon is indiscriminate in his rage, and easily lured so long as a suitably infuriating target is before him. It doesn't take long to draw him to the South Outpost, but the trail of destruction he leaves in his wake is vast. Once there, the combined forces are greeted not just by Ysverai, but also by the appearance of Ysverai's master. How bravely you've all come to meet your doom! Great heroes, one and all, ha! I welcome you, bring your best. Show me the power that's protected Olympia and Wyver, all that you have to offer me, whatever pitiful excuse for valor you seek to cling to when the fear has you cowering in your beds. All will be for naught in the face of Ysverai's might! Let history witness the day the glory of war is reignited — the day that Wyver remembers its fangs once more! Come, Ysverai, last and greatest of the High Dragons! Come, and restore Wyver to its rightful place! Come, fulfill the promise as our protector that you could not in life! Raysc lifts a gleaming device as he issues his command. Red lights blink and blood, the same oozing liquid that drips from Ysverai's many wounds, runs in clear tubes through the device. Ysverai rears back as Raysc makes adjustments to a control panel — and then lunges forward, mouth agape. With a single swallow, Raysc meets his end. Raysc's attempt to control the dragon has only enraged him further, spurring Ysverai on to new heights of fury. It's become more vital than ever to face the dragon and take him down here and now. A few effective strategies are learned from research efforts and observed while defending Olympia and Wyver: goading the dragon into breathing fire will hurt him, burning him from the inside out, and attacks to his joints, eyes, wings, and exposed bone are effective. Ice is a natural repellent to dragons and can be used defensively or to weaken the dragon's hide. Healing spells will also react unnaturally to Ysverai's flesh, hastening his decay. However, while concentrated efforts will lock him down, Ysverai cannot be permanently killed in this state — his flesh constantly rots and spawns anew. Attacking him here is to protect civilians, keeping him busy to avoid mass destruction elsewhere. Therefore, the battle is one of attrition, a matter of a race against time. You must destroy his flesh faster than it is able to regenerate to have any hope of victory. Finally, when Ysverai is weakening, little more than bones with a few last vestiges of rotten meat hanging from a skeleton, the pathetic remnants of the last High Dragon takes to the skies. His wings are barely intact enough to carry him, yet desperation lifts him, higher and higher, until he lets out one great, earth-shaking roar. A roar that carries across the battlefield, sending all who hear it to their knees. A roar that shatters the swords in soldiers' hands, that rends apart the very air itself — Ysverai's last act, a great curse upon El Nysa, to bring down the sky. AND THE WORLD STOOD STILL     The terror of Ysverai's destruction hangs overhead — a tear in the sky, darkness pouring through, tendrils reaching down towards El Nysa to swallow up the planet in the dragon's final act of revenge. And yet nothing moves. A halo of brilliant light surrounds the rift in the sky, holding the grasping, hungry tendrils in check. And on the planet, not a creature moves. Not a blade of grass stirs. You're not able to even draw a breath. No matter where you are, not even the heart in your chest is beating. Everything has stopped — time has come to a standstill. In a wash of light, an aurora of transport, you find yourself delivered to Thesa Station. Darma stands before you, her expression solemn, perhaps even grim, though that may just be a trick of the station's harsh lighting. She explains what has happened in short order: planetside, time has been completely frozen. We have seen the birth and end of worlds. The rise and fall of civilizations infinite times over. We have seen all threads of possibilities that could have lead to this very moment... Or should have. Perhaps you might doubt our sincerity when we say this comes as a surprise to us, as well... Special technology has been used to blind us. To this day, we only know of one region capable of creating and utilizing such technology... you will find this technology in a city known as Nadril. We understand that you have created a life down in Wyver and Olympia, but now we must ask that you put that life on pause. We ask you to travel to Nadril and find the original Refugee, and with him, answers. As you will discover, he does not wish to speak to us. It is no matter. By now it is too late to keep the Nysan public unaware of our existence. We commend the efforts of those who wish to protect their comrades on the battlefield below, but a creature like poor Ysverai, twisted and warped, given unnatural life with terrible magic and technology, does not simply go down with manpower. Please, leave Ysverai to us. Time on the planet will remain stopped while we determine how to deal with the dragon. For now, rest and recover your strength. We have returned, and soon, there will be new refugees awakening. Perhaps you might like to prepare yourselves to greet them? I'm sorry that I can't answer more questions, but for now, all our attention must turn to finding a way to stop what Ysverai has wrought. A bank of monitors behind Darma displays the battlefield below: Ysverai's frozen, looming figure and the breach in the sky, and the Natha's halo, holding the destruction back. Though time passes normally on Thesa Station, El Nysa remains frozen, and all Refugees are unable to return to the planet until Ysverai's menace is dealt with. Luckily, with the Natha's return, full functionality has also returned to the station. The lights and environmentals are back to full power, access to all areas has been restored, the cafeteria is serving its normal offerings, and there's no evidence of any glitching or malfunctions. Doubtless, the period of rest is much needed after the hard-fought battle. For now, with time on El Nysa at a standstill, there's little else to be done but enjoy the reprieve aboard Thesa Station. FINAL OOC NOTE     Characters that reach an AC length action thread in this event will receive 2 rep for all factions, including Natha. Note that while these are split up for ease of processing, players may submit for all three. OLYMPIA | WYVER | NATHA Players can expect this event to run three days ICly before everyone is teleported to Thesa Station! From thereon, all characters will be grounded at the Station until the Test Drive Meme later this month. QUICK NAV premise ● faq ● lore ● map ● npcs ● bestiary taken ● atp/emp ● application ● rep/acp ● quest bulletin calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] elnysa nysalogs nysaisles nysaooc elnyan

Comments

[sheriffing]

He's no worse off than anyone else down there.

[ but they had been told to settle in; make homes, find jobs, take on pets. she's well within her rights to be bitter about all of that falling apart the second she'd gotten used to it. anything she's found here, even the good things, are tainted by every disaster they've suffered through.]

No, I haven't tried. I know the magic it'd take to uphold something like that, and I'd assume they're pretty wiped out.

[ not just freezing that world, but getting them up here, and keeping this place going. whether they're fighting dark magic or a part of it, being able to pull this off requires a lot of power.]

Killian's been frozen like this before. The world I was born in was frozen for over twenty-eight years during a curse - intentionally, so that he and a horrible queen there could catch up to us after I broke it.

[revlon]

Sometimes I forget that your world has shades of what most of us knew as bedtime stories.

[ It's not meant to be demeaning in any way, and she knows Emma won't take it as such. But it truly is something remarkable to know that Snow White and her prince existed in another world, that magic is as commonplace as breathing whereas in her world, such a thing would be explained away with hard facts and science. She is, after all, an agent with the Strategic Scientific Reserve.

Peggy shakes her head, smiling a little. ]

I envy you, sometimes. Your perspective must be such a help when it comes to understanding what's happening here. I realise some of it is technology that's advanced well beyond what we know, but magic, pure and simple — that exists, too.

[sheriffing]

[ shades is polite. the truth is they were overrun. she doesn't take offense to it - she wouldn't, sometimes its still as unbelievable to her as it probably is to the people she's shared her story with. and being so far away from it, being here, living in this world, just makes her wish hope and true love went a little farther to solve problems everywhere else.

she shrugs, slightly uncertain as to whether or not her perspective is all that helpful. everything's a little familiar and just a little off. the usual rules never seem to apply.] It exists, but sometimes it seems like darkness wins out a little too easily down there. [ for example:] Ysverai corrupted my magic. Everything I threw at him just made things worse.

[ she can't remember how much she's said to Peggy, but her magic's not really a secret anymore. she uses it when she needs to, and against him she'd thought she'd needed to. at least until she tried it.] Back home, it felt like good always won. There were losses - painful ones, but love always prevailed.

[revlon]

[ She had an inkling of Emma's abilities but nothing in any specific detail. She always supposed that would come up as necessary and it isn't her place to press for more otherwise. (Not when it has nothing to do with work, even with her natural curiosity being what it is.) So she listens quietly, takes it in; it's no surprise that Ysverai's presence was toxic to her magic, not when he was affecting everything around him. But it is a grim piece of news.

And now they're speaking of fairytale endings and how they don't always land they way they'd like. She smiles briefly but it's bittersweet. ]

Not always. [ She lost Steve in 1945. Good won with the end of the war, but not love. Not for her. ] But that could be a difference between worlds. And this one plays by different rules, it seems.

[sheriffing]

[ a difference of worlds, maybe a difference of perspective. it still shatters her a little, every time she checks in on Henry in stasis and finds his father beside him. she lost Neal when he sacrificed himself to save them from Zelena, but he loved them, and he gave his life protecting them. that's love, and she still carries it with her, even if he never wakes up.]

All worlds play by different rules. [ she pauses, debating whether or not to share the memory as it strikes. might as well keep the crazy train going, right?]

I met a guy once, a portal jumper. Where I'm from, that's a real thing. Anyway, the way he described other worlds, they were infinite; all lined up one land after another. Sometimes that makes me wonder about this place, you know? Infinite possibilities, and this is the only option left?

[revlon]

[ If she'd been told of a portal jumper a year ago, she'd have had a hard time believing it, even with the fantastical things she's seen and heard before waking up here. But she's since learned. So instead she huffs out a breath, almost amused, then starts unwrapping her hand — seems she's done for tonight. ]

You should speak with my friend about that. Maybe you've met — Jim Kirk? He and I have discussed our circumstances here at great length.

[sheriffing]

[ there's hard time believing and then there's Emma Swan, who hit that portal jumper in the face with a telescope. it's funny how you can go from believing in nothing to believing in everything, although Storybrooke was a good crash course in the unbelievable.]

I actually spoke to him through text before - misfired him when the network was acting up. I should try texting him on purpose.

[ if he's a friend of Peggy's it's worth a shot.]

Don't tell me you're going to stop hitting things on my account.

[revlon]

[ She laughs. ]

Hitting things with one hand is a rather dull affair, don't you think? And I don't think firing a gun on a spaceship is a wise idea.

[sheriffing]

Our options are limited here, aren't they? I could try to practice some of my magic abilities, but even those aren't entirely spaceship friendly.

[ pyrokinesis in an enclosed space probably isn't the best idea, nevermind teleporting.]

I feel like we need to prepare for a fight, I just wish I knew how.

[revlon]

I'm sure the Natha in their infinite wisdom will tell us how and when to prepare for this trip to Nadril.

[ If she sounds a little dry and irritable for a split second, don't mind her. The trip isn't what's troubling her; it's the Natha's reluctance to share any information or answer questions they deserve answered. Her expression flickers back into a proper smile as she shakes out her unwrapped hand, flexing it lightly. ]

It's interesting, though, isn't it? Knowing there are other refugees out there, that they've been out there all along. Mr Kirk and I had our theories about that but to know we weren't far off the mark makes me wonder what else the Natha are keeping from us.

[sheriffing]

They haven't missed an opportunity to tell us what to do yet.

[ for now, Emma's focus is on the trip rather than the Natha. they're deliberately mysterious no matter what the situation - and that might be fine if not for surprise landings and battles and hostage situations. it's the dangers around them that make her sound a little bitter; they'll tell them where to go and what to do, but generally not all of the risks involved.

not until they're in the middle of them and suddenly owed an apology.]

What else, who else, and how many worlds might be left standing? I've thought of that, too. Hopefully we can find the answers on our own when things slow down.