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magisteriaexe2024-11-17 04:12 pm
magisteriamods) wrote in magisteriaexe2024-11-17 04:12 pm
Event #003, Part I: The Symphony of Disruption
🌠The Symphony of Disruption đźŚ
Part I: The Darkness
OOC Notes: Here it is! The game's first "Intense Event"! Some special notes for this event --
* Death is possible, and PCs can also kill citizens or creatures in the distrct. This event will have special revive mechanics which will be explained later, and PCs will not have to go through the usual revival process for an in-game death. "Light Sentinels" can even kill fellow PCs as a means of saving them, and this will be briefly explained to them, though the means of revival and specifics around this won't be revealed until the event's second half.
* For the corruption element: your character does not necessarily have to be corrupted. If and how they are is up to player discretion, as is the extent and manifestation of the corruption. They can just get lucky or manage to resist through will power, however you want it. Characters can be brought back to themselves by the power of Light Sentinel allies, or by the alignment switch Blessing from the game's third TDM. If you wish to engage with the event both corrupted and un-corrupted via separate prompts/TLs, that is Fine.
Dark City
Locals familiar with the Supernatural Undercity will tell the Otherworlders that, during the autumn and winter seasons, it’s not unheard of for Magisteria to feel different. The spookier residents have a way of making their presence more known, and those with spooky potential have a way of going… more feral. The succubi and the demon women of the Entertainment District are known to come with a lot more bite, and only the biggest of daredevils would be advised to purchase their services during the apex of the season.
It’s different from year to year, but these seasonal changes are always mitigated by the Authorities of each district and their powers. The spooky season in Magisteria becomes a respectful celebration of the diversity of the undead, demons, succubi, and other creatures, and both locals and Otherworlders are encouraged to cede respectful distance to those who may be experiencing enhanced primal urges during these months.
This year, something is different. One night, a darkness falls which overtakes the Bios in the Entertainment District and the bright corners of High Rise Village.
The darkness is as heavy as a tangible thing. At night, the stars and moon disappear. When day comes, the sky is grey as slate.
A Grey Day
When dawn arrives, those living in High Rise Village will begin to hear notes of music. Dissonant, eerie, chaotic: disruptive. A symphony composed of a cacophony of sounds. Moreover, different people may hear different tunes. The only commonality is the lack of rhyme or reason, the lack of cohesion.
The songs play and weave through invisible algorithms, beckoning to the district’s citizens to unleash their inner turmoil, and other sides of themselves.
Holograms appear informing residents to take shelter and advising of the safest locations within the district. For weeks, most of the people and creatures of High Rise Village have been migrating to Evergreen Terrace, entrusting their protection to Arwyn. The apartments are brimming, full, and busy. The streets, by contrast, are ghostly, empty, and disorganized.
But not everyone can simply wait in the apartments and ride out the storm. After all, if this is an attack, someone(s) has to form a counter-strike. So Enforcers and other members of Magisteria’s various law enforcement agencies and vigilante groups are out and about, along with others who are not afraid of a conflict and who have sufficient training for battle.
No one demands that Otherworlders leave the safety of the apartments unless they have specifically expressed a will to do battle or unless they have a specific role to play in stopping – or ending – what’s coming, but should they enter High Rise Village, they will encounter the Chaos.
Chaos Comes to High Rise Village
Everything has the potential to become or manifest a twisted version of itself. The people, the animals, the buildings – even those in opposition, such as the fighters and those aligned with law enforcement. Even they can be Changed and altered by the chaos in the district.
Of course, those with powers are using them to resist in various ways, relying on their forces of will, but it’s like the whole district is in a trance, a hallucination, or perhaps a simulation.
But if that’s what this is, it feels all too real.
Throughout the district, spider-shaped lepidoperatives on thin, silver webs jump and move about. They’re fast and small and difficult to spot. Connected to the invisible mechanisms of Phantom Cipher’s Manifestation, these metallic insects can affect everything they touch by planting tokens on them: known as void imprints, wraith marks, and eclipse sigils, these tokens can induce a being to manifest or become a phantom version of themselves.
I. Alignment Shift(ed)
Otherworlders, natives, and creatures may become, or manifest (or both) different versions of themselves. In keeping with the spookier time of year, this other version could be a werewolf, a vampire, a ghostly manifestation, or a cryptid, or it could be One’s Self, Inversed: there is no apparent rhyme or reason to what you may become or what you may apparate. There may even be more than one “you” at a given time, depending on how far the effects of the corruption tokens reach.
Affected Otherworlders may find themselves attached to the silver webs, becoming like puppets. You may find that allies are now enemies, or enemies are allies. Nothing is as before, and everything is thrown into Chaos. Your actions may no longer be your own, and what you do or whom you fight may no longer be your choice.
II. Mecha Monstrosities
The district pulses with cyborgs and phantom creatures, and those who, like Phantom Cipher himself, seem to be a mixture of both. The Fractured have returned. Only now, they are walking about in the daylight, or what passes for daylight in the corrupted district.
Androids with barbs and spikes patrol the district, and many are not shy for conflict. Like Lysa’s “pet,” Grimm, these androids are powerful and can regenerate a certain number of times when attacked. Some will attack on sight, and others may try to “play” with the Otherworlders, or with citizens or creatures in the district, whether the latter are corrupted or not.
Of course, alignment-shifted PCs may also be able to ally destructively with such entities. Those on the path of destruction may find common ground in trying to take down the infrastructure of the district.
III. The Party of the Damned
All around, people, organic and inorganic, appear with skull-like features. There may even be faces you recognize, from work, from the clubs, from elsewhere in the district. But now, their features have changed.
These skull-faced citizens of Magisteria insist upon partying just as they do within the clubs in the evening. They dance and sing along with the music, encouraging Otherworlders to join them.
If anyone speaks to them or asks what is going on, the answer is the same:
Nothing. Nothing at all. This is who we are, who we’ve always been. Why do you look so strange, Otherworlders?
This is the paradise city… the city of all our dreams. Magisteria. Light and Darkness.
Bios and Umbra. This is what’s always been inside all of us, all along. Inside of you all... inside of Everyone...
Are you only just now seeing it? But this is what we’ve always been. The skin hangs over the bones, but the bones are inside, underneath…
They move and move, like puppets, but with a strange sense of freedom nonetheless. Beckoning. Whispering. Just let it out. Let out what has been inside of you, all along. It's inside of us all. The darkness that walks with the light. Bios and Umbra. Look at what we can become when not forced towards "Perfection." Inside of Magisteria, all along. And these party-goers do not slow or tire. Though their movements are haphazard, like zombies from films, still they keep moving, keep going, never growing exhausting, never ceasing...
IV. Elemental Nightmares
News comes that the source of the “hack” is Magisteria’s Elemental Control Center. This central zone is a bit like a giant brain that regulates elemental magic within the district. Now, the magic becomes chaotic. Giant tornadoes of raw elemental power sweep through the district. Alleys and buildings explode into gust-fed fires, and tides of water burst forth over the district. The ground trembles and all of the elements are out of control.
Those with magical powers are (if still in control of themselves) encouraged to work to stem these tides, to ebb the flow of the elemental disasters which are occurring throughout High Rise Village.
no subject
...He just has to determine which side of the proverbial river this girl is on. He opens his mouth to say something, but is cut off and her narrows his eyes, tense but not backing down for a second. Well, that...kind of answered his question - she's a threat, or may become one - and he sadly can't continue to let her wander around, for fear of harming herself and others. His eyes scan everything about her, the tendrils, her complexion, her body shape and size, everything. He looks almost sickly...like that thing is draining her life force, and his brows knit together. Here we fucking go again!!]
Yeah? Well, sorry to say, but it's my job to make sure people are safe - either from threats around them, or threats to themselves...and I'm real good at my job.
no subject
If Sakura were more in her right mind, she might think that this "Shadow" must not be the real or original version thereof. After all, that should be impossible, because the cursed contents of the Holy Grail are not here and certainly not within her, but whatever forces are manipulating the city, they seem to be creating some kind of scenario where one's worst nightmares and experiences can be replicated. And if that is so, there must be some way to drive these powers back down, to restore order...
... but Sakura is not thinking like that, right now. All she is thinking is how this boy is saying things that piss her right off. ]
You "hero" boys are all alike. You all make claims like that.
[ She shakes her head, frowning stubbornly. She does not move to attack -- not just yet, waiting to see what Katsuki does, but she's poised like a cat with its fur bristled, only the "fur" in this case would be her shadows, which dance around her menacingly, ready to move in whatever direction(s) it takes to defend their Master or safeguard any who tries to halt her. Sakura thinks that, like this, she might even be able to corrupt or control some of the locals, such as those "Fractured" beings. If matters get too difficult here, she definitely thinks she might try that. But for now... she's just... irritated. ]
But I bet while you were busy saving the world, you've disappointed some girl... but you always get to be the hero... -- but I bet you've let people down...
[ Of course, she has no idea who he is, has no idea if any of that is true. She's just feeling so jaded with all these Hero of Justice types and their promises and hearing this sort of thing from people who claim they're going to save her or others. She's glaring at Katsuki because she feels like she Knows His Type, even if she doesn't know him, and unfortunately he's now taking the brunt of her projected anger... anger from other sources... ]
Come on, then... Hero Boy...
no subject
Katsuki almost feels his brain go numb, and he actually does visibly roll his eyes as she talks. For fuck's sake, does he have to listen to this drivel?! Every goddamn time with these Villains and Villain-types, it's the same regurgitated cat puke over and over again... He wants to sigh, he wants to just bullrush this weirdo and knock her out - he's confident he could - just to shut her up. It's so much of nothing that he doesn't even really get phased by it - though he really never has let what others say about him dig too deep - and it seems more like she's venting her own frustrations at him than actually trying to poke at anything regarding his character. Like she even knows anything about him to begin with, so there's already one leg missing for her to stand on.
He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, just to see how those shadows react, but mostly because he's bored listening to her. One blond brow does raise though, and he seems to tune in enough to catch the latter half of what she said. Oh, okay - didn't quite hit the mark, but came pretty close, he'll give her that. Lips curl up just slightly, just enough to show off a small flash of his teeth in a wicked little grin, and he chuckles softly.]
Never claimed I didn't. I've let people down...I've pushed them down, and made damn fucking sure they stayed down. [He takes a bold step forward, then another, and another...his expression turning stern, and serious, as his palms start to glow, spark, and crackle...and then travel up his arms, ohis chest, shoulders, neck, face--he's glowing. Bright...too bright, almost blinding.] But y'know what? For every person I let down, or pushed down...took a while, but eventually...
I picked 'em back up.
[It's less a BOOM and more a THRUM - a pulse that rips itself from Katsuki's body, all over, as he turns himself into a living flash grenade. Every pore on his skin feels electric after, and his heart's already beating abnormally, but he needs to test this girl's limits - what she can and can't endure. A Stun Grenade is the most effective way to get a good read on that, and gives him a few seconds to rush forward and into her blind spot while she's, hopefully, actually blinded. And ya boy isn't going to hold back against some broad he just met. If she wants to tussle, he's coming at her with everything he's got.]
You ask for something bigger than you can swallow-- [He's going to take a swing - the usual strong, right hook.] --and you're bound to choke, moron.
no subject
She just... glares at him. Her expression is still petulant, something like a scowl.
... and then the light catches her off guard, and...
...
It's only a second. Perhaps less than a second. Fragments when life and everything flashes before you.
... the thing is, when Sakura had let the Shadow come forth, its magical energy was essentially infinite. But that was the true and fully developed Shadow. This is a facsimile. A fraud, as some might even call it. A mirage of what she had once been, what she had experienced in her darkest hours. A ... memory. That's what this is. She's caught in a half-formed memory. A dream, even. Yes... that's it. A dream. Here, Sakura has consumed no Servants. There's no mana, only Bios... and her Bios is not absolute: no, other Otherworlders are partaking in the same energy. And that's where she has made a grave error in underestimating the scale of difference between them. No Angra Mainyu -- "all the World's Evils" here, either ... ]
I... see...
[ Except she does not, because in another moment, that shocking flash overpowers the world.
Sakura sways and slides to her knees, but tendrils of darkness rush up and veil her in a cocoon, shielding her against the worst of the attack. In one sense, though, it's already over. She's not fighting back: rather, she's curling in on herself, staring into the darkness, transfixed as though she's seen a ghost.
That's right... that's how it always goes. The hero has to win, huh?
Although, she thinks, this is not the person she's been waiting for.
To defeat her, punish her... it's all happening again, isn't it? Almost like it was pre-ordained.
But Sakura isn't fighting back anymore. She's not even given up so much as just fallen into herself, fallen down, enmeshed into that dark bubble. Until her vision recovers, she just sees old familiar faces and hears their voices. It's almost like she isn't even here at all. ]
wrapped??
But she is still human by the looks of it, or some semblance of humanoid. Like most, they can't stare directly ay a bright light, or they'll pay the consequences. Never permanent, Katsuki's blasts are strong, but they're not like the damn sun by ANY means, but they do enough for what he needs. Once he sets off the point blank Stun Grenade, Katsuki waits to see what happens, but his body does twitch just a little before he holds himself back from just rushing forward to catch her. He can't be sloppy. even if he is a Hero. He has to make sure he's won before he can do any saving, because that's just how it is sometimes...you have to win to save, and save to win. The light dies down, and his eyes blink past the light he created, settling on the unmoving (but still breathing and unharmed) form of the young girl. He keeps himself low, still poised to attack or defends, just in case, but...it's easy enough to tell when someone's down for the count. He's unfortunately witnessed this before many times.
At the very least, he's not going to just leave her here, and approaches slowly, cautiously, but carefully. One hand settles on her shoulder - a passive gesture, just to see how she will react to touch - and if he's not immediately lashed out against, Katsuki will pick the girl up carefully into his arms after checking her for any immediate injuries he can patch up. He is trained in emergency first aid, after all. Wordlessly, he will then take her to a place where she can be properly helped or at least detained with...some relative comfort, until she's sorted out. People who are more in the know, actual doctors and nurses, should be able to do more, but he can at least stabilize her enough and get her from point a to point b.
Man--]
...What a damn pain.