epidemiology | PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION.

It's difficult to tell time without the presence of a sun or moon. There are no stars. The world is in constant blackness, the heavens barely visible from below and the only light artificial. It's been like this for months.

Suddenly, those who expressed interest in observing the sun (or lack thereof) will all at once receive a text message on their ALASTAIR jewellery from 82736775:

Get your shit and go look at the sky. Now's the time. If you need me, I'm around.

It's time to get to work.

OBSERVATION.

Find the highest point you can and point the telescopes at the sky. Should be easy, right?

Be mindful that there are still guards patrolling the city, looking for escaped prisoners, and some citizens would be very happy to tip them off to your presence. There are still animals in the forests to contend with, and there are still nosey citizens who may ask you too many questions. There are also your fellow ALASTAIR agents, who may not be very willing to share the spot they already staked out before you just showed up.

People and animals aren't all you need to look out for, either. Seven hours after the observation starts, there is a lightning storm. It lasts for 30 minutes, bolts of electricity arcing across the sky. It might be a good idea to scurry down someplace lower when this happens -- you know what they say about lightning and height.

82736775 doesn't contact anyone after the initial text, so observers are free to give up whenever they decide they've been sitting out in the freezing dark for long enough.

[ note: even if you didn't sign up, feel free to tag in! your character won't have a telescope but that doesn't mean they can't mingle. ]

[ previously: ic info | ooc info ]
[ direct questions here! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[clever by accident, and clever enough to raise his eyebrows high at the mention of a glider - which as far as he had seen, hadn't fallen with her, but which she had to have on hand somewhere - and, in measure, clever enough to let it drop until they found somewhere secure to put their feet. rickety stairs that sometimes sloped and sometimes felt close to giving out didn't qualify for Hideyoshi Nagachika, so he kept his questions (blinking under the soft light of yet another magic artifact) to himself.]

[ears kept open for the whistle of a breeze, another trick door they could persuade open. it doesn't happen until the base, and then, when it does --]

I looked into this family before climbing their walls. [he whispers into the dark, tailing behind her.] Didn't think it'd become relevant, but there were... reports... of staff having a high turn-over rate.

[the hallway's darkness thickens, the shadows beyond Aqua's hip-light folding upon itself into a pitch-black beast. Hideyoshi wonders briefly if he should feel nervous; decides thereafter to hold off on the adrenaline spike until the building tension breaks, whatever it might break for.]

[he doesn't mean to whisper in the quiet. nonetheless, his voice slides between them, his shoulders hunched up and head switching between forward and back.]

Worse, the staff who leave have a high chance of disappearing from Chantes...

[ Her voice also drops to a deathly whisper as gooseflesh prickles her skin. ]

You don't mean...? [ More?? Murder?! ]

Why would they just disappear? ...Do you think it might have something to do with the rest of Chantes? [ Missing servants, suns and queens...

Her concerned musings are cut off by a small twang as the 'wing' of one of her shoes catches against an invisible wire (impossible to see in the dark anyhow). Aqua goes still, listening to the distant noise of rusty gears—

—then pushes Hide to the ground, a Barrier spell shimmering up around them as a sudden barrage of arrows hurtles at them from unseen mechanisms. The projectiles clatter and pile harmlessly in a neat circle around them, and eventually the torrent ceases... Only to be replaced by a thundering creak of metal. ]

What the—

[ No time for sneaking about when there's a death trap closing in on them. Aqua quickly lights up the hallway with twin Fires aimed at opposite ends, revealing 1) several disturbing piles of bones and 2) a pair of spiked walls inching toward them. (Whatever mysteries there are on this floor to them discover... Well, they're certainly intent on remaining unearthed...) ]

Do you see an exit anywhere?

[ What do you spy with your little eye?????? ]

There's certainly a running theme.

[with a plot like a Scooby Doo episode, not that Hideyoshi would have nostalgia over that distinctly non-Japanese cartoon or that Michel wore any kind of mask to take off. his words bite into the tail end of the wire's pop; he freezes, eyes and ears straining. neither prove successful, as it's Aqua's push -- he lets out a hff! but no yelp, going down as easy as a sack of potatoes - and spellwork that keeps him from being speared in the chest.]

[the arrows in front of them are visible even in the dim light, and wide eyes stare as the wave crashes against the invisible wall. he almost lets out a sigh when the torrent ends, but then -- what the is right.]

Shit!

[underthebreath but vehement, spikes and bones and smooth walls filling his awareness as he follows his gut and her distraught demand. fuck, fuck, what the hell, was this all magicked?! he'd heard medieval torture chambers were messed up, but he hadn't thought that included booby traps for the whole castle!] Um -- [nothing on the sides, nothing above. the floor mismatched masonry, he stomped and spun, jaw tight but expression focused.] Um- uh--

[crk.]

[the spiked wall continued its slow, groaning slide toward them. dropping to his knees, Hideyoshi dug his fingers into the side of one wobbly stone, nails scrabbling at its sides to lift it out. it took some coaxing - a litany of muttered curses accompanied it - but then it popped up, to reveal.....]

[a button.]

[a stonework button that the blond smashed down on immediately. another thunderous crack and creak, and - edging dangerously close, but - the spiked walls shuddered to a stop, leaving behind absolute silence. Hideyoshi broke it with his own shuddery sigh of relief.]

[but then. they were still, apparently, stuck.]

There must be... some kind of door. -- Do you hear that?

[a quiet ticking had taken up in the walls. it didn't bode well in the least.]

PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

short and late, forgive me omo

if only you'll forgive me too...

considers politely . . .