epidemiology | EVENT ★ CRUMBLING WORLD

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EVENT ★ CRUMBLING WORLD

Are you prepared for the fight of your life? You better be.

The Oska staff and the others who are staying behind gather in the courtyard to wish the recruits luck. It's a much more formal affair than rifting out to missions usually is, with recruits casting spells on each other for luck and for strength, and still others passing around potions and elixirs for healing and stamina.

In addition to Audentes and the guests' teams, there are also a number of ex-convicts from the Asterion Prison ready to rift out as well, and familiar teams like Mariposa, Squirrel Fucker, and Unicorn. The undead catlike humanoid Pomarr stands near a brother and sister recruited from Q-65. A handful of former Zymandis agents look uncomfortable in their new purple uniforms but grimly ready for action, with Mavahari at the head of their team.

And Team Kittypaw, Audentes's big sister team, is of course ready to get their hands (and paws) dirty right alongside everyone else.

A green-skinned alien who works in the Medical Center steps forward and gives a brief statement of hope and a wish for luck. Then the recruits flagged for the rift begin to glow, the world flickers white, and it's time for the crumbling world.

THE LAND AND SKY

When the contingent of ALASTAIR teams rifts in, it's onto a series of unsteady, crumbling stretches of land. Why the land is so unsteady is quickly apparent: they are floating platforms, unused to the sudden weight of so many bodies. The platforms are so wobbly that some unlucky ones may lose their footing and actually go sliding toward the edge. This is not a soft landing by any means.

Once you get your bearings, you'll want to start toward a castle rising in the distance: the Ophiel AI still active inside the ex-Zymandis agents' jewelcomms pinpoints it as the location of the TIMELINE.exe's signal. But don't expect an easy stroll to reach it. The entire landscape is separated into floating, drifting chunks of crumbling earth, with no way to travel between them but to jump.

Making things even more difficult is the steam rolling over the platforms, obscuring the edges and reducing visibility all around. As the planet cracks apart, its surface peels back to let lava heat up the atmosphere, causing the steam and filling the air with oppressive heat and humidity. The lava occasionally burbles up into geysers, so be careful when jumping from platform to platform, and make sure you time it right.

Patrolling some of the larger platforms are Zymandis robot guards. If you avoid the large platforms and take advantage of the camouflage provided by the steam, you might be able to avoid the robots . . . but if the steam clears, look out: they're equipped with laser weapons and can rocket boost short distances to whatever platform you may be hiding on. And not only is their close proximity bad for you, but their extra weight is bad for the already-fragile platforms.

Make it past all these obstacles -- the platforms, the steam, the lava, the robots -- and you'll find the biggest platform where the castle sits, itself a crumbling mass of stone.

THE CASTLE

The castle is made of dark and brittle stone, and is palpably thrumming with magic and electricity, like a dark twin to Oska's own castle. It's situated on a platform floating high above the others, fortuitously far enough from the lava below that there's a respite from the humidity and heat. But this far up in the sky, the opposite appears to be the problem: the wind is cold and biting, threatening to push anyone right off the ledge. Best push on into the castle itself.

Just beyond the massive gated door is the grand hall of the castle, though in its crumbling state, it's objectively not very grand at all. Elaborate stained glass windows once filled the walls and ceiling, most of the panes now on the ground in jagged piles of glass alongside stone rubble. It's probably best not to stand in one place for too long -- you never know when some other structure in the castle will collapse.

Some time may be spent exploring the grand hall before moving on, though there's not much to find. A rusted halberd here, a pile of useless debris there. The Ophiel AI urges everyone to move on to find the TIMELINE.exe, but there's suddenly a noticeable chill in the air and from the staircase descends a trio of white-robed figures.

The figures are spirit wizards, Ophiel quickly explains; they have no physical body but are instead formed by pure spiritual energy. As long as one lives, they will keep reforming as three, so all of them will need to be taken out all at once. Physical attacks won't be very effective against beings without a physical form, Ophiel continues; burn them away with magic and the elements and you might stand a chance.

The spirit wizards can fling people about with wind magic, electrocute with lightning magic, and engulf anything in flames. Lacking a physical form, they can also teleport, so protecting one another is an important strategy to survive the battle.

The other teams are all practiced warriors in one way or another, but with so many people in one place, all fighting the same enemy, some organization is called for before it becomes an all-out catastrophe. The castle, after all, can only withstand so much accidental fire before it's game over.

OOC NOTES

Welcome to the last mission of the season! This log will ICly last three hours, with the next log picking up immediately afterward. If you have any questions about this log, please direct them to the dossier.

Because this log is going up near the end of the month, you may use threads started in October for November AC, provided you don't use the same thread for October AC as well.

NOTE: November is the last month for AC Bonus Bank! The Bonus Bank will close on December 5th, 23:59 UTC. To celebrate the finale, we are removing the coin cap, meaning you can submit more than 100 coins with no upper limit. Coin balances will not transfer to Season 2.

If you have questions about the game in general, please use the game FAQ.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( it's not that he minds her trying except--okay

he does mind her trying. having someone else's power surround him feels. . dirty, in a way. unclean. jon's lips twist into a snarl, shaking his head to get the bits of cement out of his hair before his eyes glow a bright, bright red, a burst of telekinetic power trying to disperse her shield around him. jon doesn't need help, thank you.

and he's certainly not accepting it from a little girl.

one step forward, then another, and another until he's just barely a hair's breath away from her. his voice is low when he speaks; there's no outright rage or disdain behind it, but. )

Back off. I don't need your help. ( he's strong enough on his own, capable enough by himself, jon doesn't need anyone for shit like this. especially not someone so small, so weak, who is only going to hurt herself dicking around this close to ghosts. there is something off about her, he can tell that. feels it in his bones.

but there's no time to investigate it now. )

[Gosh, so rude.... after her dramatic shounen appearance and everything]

[The shield disperses easily; she's not adept at using it, and it isn't powerful enough to stand the real deal, but Maya clearly wasn't expecting it to break as easily as it does, and she also isn't expecting the guy to get aggressively up in her space. Her eyes widen and she leans back a little from him out of reflex, stammering because he's caught her offguard]

Huh? B-but I-- I was just trying to....

[Then the indignation kicks in and she's puffing her cheeks out like an angry hamster (extremely intimidating, right) and standing her ground. She refuses to do nothing!! Besides, he was getting his ass kicked]

There are three of them and one of you! And one of them just threw you into a wall! Let me help!

[She's not a fighter, but she has like, two special skills, and one of them is usable in this situation, so she's going to use it]

( dramatic shounen entrances are the worst. no one likes them. they're about as bad as superhero landings.

jon isn't a particularly large person, but in comparison to her, he's fairly tall. probably not abnormal for someone so. . small, really. she backs up, and he takes another step forward, looming with furrowed brows and pursed lips. the magical ghost-things are important to deal with if they want to continue through, but--if she gets in his way and fucks shit up. .

that's a little more important to deal with right now, isn't it. he's not having this girl's blood soak into his already stained hands. )

I don't need your help. ( he repeats, voice steady. ) Your skill set might be useful for someone else, but a shield's the last thing I need. I'm invulnerable. ( it's a lie. he's only invulnerable for as long as he has the mental capacity to keep up his telekinetic shields. and even then, magic is something he's particularly weak against. ) If you're insistent on needing to get in the way, go get in someone else's space. Not mine.

( so it's not his fucking fault if anything happens to her. )

[Yeah, Maya's short enough that even average sized people can loom, and that's exactly what this cranky new guy is going. She clenches her fists at her side while he's using his superior height, and even if she stands her ground she can't help but feel a little intimidated, because she's Maya and she's intimidated by bread]

[it hurts, too, what he's saying, because, well -- he's right. Or at least she thinks he is, she does get in the way and she knows she's not suited for this kind of mission but it's not like it's optional. She was dragged along in this against her wishes, but that doesn't mean she's going to just hide in a corner while people are getting hurt, or worse. And even if this guy talks tough, he hasn't managed to do more than get himself smashed into a wall so far.]

[But yeah, the sharp commentary does take the wind out of her sails. She gets a look on her face like he just slapped her, stunned and hurt, then dips her head. But Maya Fey is nothing if not stubborn as hell, and she can be petulant, too. She's not looking him in the eye anymore, but she does mutter out:]

You're the one getting in my space. And....... prove it, if you're so good! Take them out without getting smacked around again!

[If he can do that, then she'll leave.]

( maybe he feels a little bad. more than a little bad, actually; he'd been trying to get her away from him, but getting that kind of expression on her face wasn't his intended goal at all. he wanted her angry at him, pissed and livid enough to stomp off in the opposite direction and leave him alone. getting someone angry at him is one thing, getting them genuinely upset and what he's saying is--another.

lips curl up into an unpleasant snarl because despite the fact he had hurt her, she's not backing down. she is absolutely nothing like niti; the tone of her voice, the way she responds, it's all different. but in this moment, her strength of will reminds him of her.

a hand raises, palm moving to press against her forehead and it's far from a nice gesture, sure, but there's no intent to harm behind it either. jon moves around her, towards the ongoing fight with the spirits. )

Fine. Stay here. Don't move. ( he can't keep a diligent ear out for her moving around and fight three things at once. if she stays in place, though, he should be able to keep track of maya just fine. )

[Why is this guy so weird!! She flinches when he pushes her forehead, evidently expecting something worse than.... whatever that was, and puffs her cheeks again, giving the impression of a sulky child.]

[Still, he caved. Isn't that a good thing? She's convinced this guy can't take on the harry potter trio on his own despite his acting tough, and standing still not moving is kind of the opposite of what she's trying to do here, but just because she's going to agree to stand still doesn't mean it's going to stay that way. She'll step in if she has to, or that's what she's telling herself]

Okay, go do your glow-y explode-y thing then! I'll be right here.

[For Now]

( he was socialized even more badly than maya was. the three spirits aren't a big deal; he's taken down bigger and badder things before, it's just the timing that makes them really fucking hard to deal with. he's got reaction time that can make up for that, yes; not quite as fast as the flash but faster than a speeding bullet for certain.

a heel presses into the ground, leaves a nice, foot-sized imprint into the ground below him as he jumps at one of the spirits--nothing more than a blur of red and black as he shoves a glowing red fist right through it's face. it--kills it, but it won't last for long. that's fine. jon turns his attention to the next one, extends that glowing hand out towards the next one and wraps telekinetic energy around it, gripping down hard as he. throws it towards the last remaining one before the first reforms.

it's hard to hit shit all at once when it's spread out, so he's aiming to pull them all in close together. )

[Maya's very restless as all this is happening, shifting her weight from foot to foot and keeping her fists clenched as she watches him jumping and butt-kicking and all. She's watching in case of any slipups or sneak attacks or anything, ready to leap in at a moment's notice, and even starts running towards them when she thinks it's gearing up to attack -- then freezing back in place when he wrestles them telekinetically. From the look of things, he really does have it under control. She wants to help, but he's right in that if she gets involved right now, she'd only be in the way. So there's not much else for her to do but spectate, until the second where she thinks he's in trouble. But as long as he's handling it....]

[But is he handling it?]

( jon is doing his best to handle it. he takes them out two at a time but that still leaves the last one that he can’t quite seem to the timing right for. they’re not close enough for him to dispel them all at once, they keep moving out of his range, or they’re just half a second away from him being able to hit all three at once. or even worse: some asshole hits one when he’s trying to take them out, and it fucks him over entirely.

it’s irritating. she moves though, and he definitely takes note of that. his head turns back to where he left maya, narrows his eyes at the distinctively maya-lacking zone, and--shifts back to land near where she ran off to. ) What part of stay don’t you understand?

I just moved like two feet! [Or four, or six, but details. She rolls her eyes.] And I'm not a dog!

[And even if she were, she'd need to be bribed to obey basic commands. She does look a little irritated, though. What does it matter if she moves slightly, it's not like she's getting involved in the---]

[Hang on a second]

Oh, oh, I have an idea!

[The problem was he couldn't get them all together to take out all at once, and other people interrupted. He needs something to get them all in the same place at once, and]

[Well, she can tell where they are by their spiritual power, so that's something]

You need to take 'em out together, right? So, you need something to bring them close enough to smack down in a few hits, otherwise they're gonna disperse. Something like... me! I can be bait! I know where they are, so I just gotta get them all worked up so they go after me and you can swoop in and take 'em out with one hit!

[And she wouldn't be getting in his way (because that's the main concern here, right?? not her safety), so it's a perfect plan that works out great for everyone, surely]

No. ( jon may have, at some point in his life, been a genocidal asshole who killed anyone who even mildly displayed metahuman abilities, but he’s been getting better, okay? and there’s no way in hell he’s going to send a small assed girl forward to lure in a bunch of magic-wielding ghosts. if they were regular ghosts--sure, okay, he could get in there and block her off before their attacks hit. but his resistance towards magic-based attacks is non-existent.

the last thing he’s going to do is get her killed. ) You’re not running in there. I’m not following you through that. If you run in, you’re on your own. I’m not helping. ( if she does stupid bullshit and gets herself hurt, it won’t be on him. jon raises his arms, crosses them over his chest. uses his own body to keep her from taking off towards them. )

If you want to be suicidal, that’s not my business. But I’m not helping you do it.

Edited 2017-11-14 15:51 (UTC)

[This time, she doesn't let her hurt feelings show. She stands her ground, folding her arms right back at him like a small girl mirror. First she's in the way, now she's suicidal? She has to wonder if he's trying against anything she suggests on principle]

Weren't you the one who said you were invulnerable and super strong and didn't need help, Mr. Big Tough Superguy? Can't you take them out at once if they're all in the same place? All I'd be doing is getting them together for you.

[She has no intention of dying here, but]

Besides, do you have a better plan?

[because as far as she sees it, whatever he's doing right now isn't working, and they're wasting time]

I am invulnerable, I am strong. ( it’s about all he’s got going for him, really. her hissy fits really only aid in setting off that bratty side of him--lips twisting down. the point of it is: she’s small, weak as far as jon is concerned, and maybe he’s new to this whole morals thing, but letting a small girl who hasn’t done jack shit wrong as far as he can see get hurt isn’t something he feels like allowing.

so yes, he’s arguing against her on principle. but he doesn’t have a better plan, no. )

Explain that shit you used earlier. The shield.

Soooo, it shouldn't be a problem for you, then, should it, Mr. Hot Shot?

[She does notice that!! He certainly isn't offering any alternatives, he just seems to be arguing with her for the sake of arguing. And they're wasting time, the both of them!!]

[She does glance away and deflate a little, when he asks about the shield]

It's-- ALASTAIR-- it's their magic, or whatever. I just got it out of the blue. It's a shield, made of spiritual energy.... If I concentrate, I can activate it.

[Usually when someone else is in danger. She's not so good at calling it up to protect herself, but she's been practicing]

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EVENT ★ CRUMBLING WORLD

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