epidemiology | 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

Yeah.

[ He still sounds unsure, but his healing should kick in shortly to keep him going.

Peter doesn't have anything to worry about. . . although Clark's not used to receiving it. In his world of cardboard, he doesn't have to think about other people trying to hurt him physically.

For thirty three years, nobody had been able to. There weren't any other Kryptonians, so he didn't have to worry about them either.

He looks incredulous. ]

Magic?

[ Clark is from outer space, but some things are harder to believe than others. ]

( it's kind of nice to have someone get that this whole magic thing is kind of bizarre. so thank you, Clark. Peter wishes he had better answers for you than an essential bibitty bopitty boo, but he doesn't. )

Magic. Yeah. I guess. ( he's really selling the theory well, isn't he?
) Hard to stomach, but so I've been told, anyway.

( and he hasn't been able to invalidate it, either, so that makes it a lot harder for him to hinge on his steadfast assumption that underneath everything Science is still the answer. )

You don't say.

[ Guess something else besides Krypton's atmosphere weakens him.

But Clark's not really used to being afraid. And it's not going to stop him from trying. ]

How do we fight it?

Good question. I'm not sure I've found a way, yet.

( which frustrates Peter to no end. he wants to help, he always wants to help, and in this one? he can't do as much as he wants. far from it. )

Nothing I've done to them has worked, but there are others here landing hits. Magical hits, I think. We might have to play backup on this one.

[ He wants to do something useful, and he's not going to be if this happens again. ]

As long as we can do something. [ He thinks. ] Clear the rubble so the others have a chance to land some hits?

That'll work. And drawing the occasional fire, if we can avoid getting hit by it.

( easier said than done, if someone as fast as Kal managed to get blindsided, but they'll both likely move smarter now that they know what the wizards were capable of. )

Can I bum a ride? Webs work only so well in a world with failing gravity. And not to be that guy, but you sort of owe me one. ( a promise is a promise, Clark!!! plus, you won't have to carry him far, just throw him at a problem like a damn projectile, he'll have no problem with it. )

[ In spite of everything around him, he smiles. ]

A promise is a promise, Peter. Hop on.

[ He didn't think this through, because he's not sure if he should carry Peter in his arms or on his back? But he reaches out for him anyway. ]

( how romantic! only, no, look. Peter has carried people in his arms before, okay, it's not that weird! it's only weird when you make it weird! or when it lasts long enough for people to really think about it!

maybe Peter is rethinking it, too, but only for half a second, because this is an opportunity to fly and no level of weirdness is going to deprive him of that. he slings an arm over Clark's impossibly wide shoulders and nods. )

Fair warning, if I see something that needs my help, I might jump. ( he'll try and give a warning but just to be fair. don't worry if your cargo disappears, Kal. )

[ It's great that he's not self-conscious about it, because this is how Clark will carry him everywhere now. It's too late for takebacks, Peter! ]

I don't mind dropping you off anywhere you need to be. I'm very fast.

( this is not a good time to grin like an idiot, but Peter is too enthralled by this for his own good. very fast is absolutely an understatement, though this was a kid who liked to risk his life on a daily basis via skateboard before he'd even had superpowers.

this is like a dream come true. )

Yeah? Okay, deal. See a problem, throw me at it! Ultimate frisbee, spider edition. ( is he serious? actually yeah he is a little bit serious... throw him gently Kal )

You got it.

[ One Spider Speedball special, coming right. . . soon. ]

( and thats how Spider-Man turned into a canonball... jury is out on how effective it was, though considering Peter was delightedly whooping the whole way, I guess at least he was into it.

hopefully Kal is ready to get asked for a quick flight on the regular, now that Peter knows what it is like. )

EVENT ★ CRUMBLING WORLD

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i am SO sorry for the wait!

welcome back <3

thank you!! <3

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wrap???