ioduanlogs | [EVENT] ARCH RIVALS

Entry tags:

[EVENT] ARCH RIVALS

Characters: Open
Date: April 8th - 28th
Location: Aifaran
Situation: The mysterious ships emit mysterious toots
Warnings/Rating: Strange noises may cause headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Please consult your doctor should you experience any of these side effects.

After the arches arose from the decks of the two strange ships in the harbor last month, they've been quiet, exhibiting no other odd behavior, until suddenly on the morning of April 8th, they let out a low noise, at the very bottom edge of human hearing. Those with more sensitive ears like Arybar can hear it halfway across the city. The noise - a low, reverberating tone - lasts for one minute. Twelve hours later, it happens again, for another minute. Exactly twelve hours apart for the next few days, it happens for progressively longer periods of time - two minutes, three, five, eight, thirteen, twenty-one, thirty-four, fifty-five, eighty-nine...the final noise lasts for one hundred and forty four minutes, and causes mass headaches across the city. Some residents are so affected by the noise that they collapse.

I. CHAOS AND CONFUSION

The city of Aifaran has fallen into a sense of ill ease over the most recent guests. Many citizens are concerned about the secrecy over the other two ships and Melias's dodgy behaviour. Turning to leaders has yielded nothing, and rumour and speculation runs rampant on the networks. Some of it is easily dismissed as it sounds like some people might need to tighten their tinfoil hats, but there are others speculating that they may have had something to do with the recent storm - and also possibly the Narrakra.

If one were to dig deeper into these rumours, they would find that many of the progenitor accounts have been deleted. And for the particularly tech savvy, that they don't seem to link back to actual people at all...

II. AISLING UNLEASHED

Researchers at the Aisling Tower are in an uproar. Many are trying to discern what the sounds are and why the ships are emitting them. They aren't being secretive about this either - they say that these noises have had detrimental effects, causing those with sensitive hearing or psychic abilities to grow disoriented and pass out. Small plants that were seemingly healthy have withered.

They've handed out small devices they call Thaumatic Resonance Percepters (or, as they affectionately nickname them; TheRePes). They're fairly cheap and easy-to-make devices, partially mechanical and partially organic. They're compact and store and send the data automatically every hour so anyone who can simply just keep one on their person can collect the results. When the noises emit, they measure various frequencies including both the mundane and metaphysical effects of the peculiar noises.

III. FALTERED FESTIVITIES

After the high-pitched wail from the ships, all is silent. Well, from Melias's side anyway. After every flower at the festival has withered, there has been no sign of her or her compatriots. The ships are silent and utterly inert - even the waters around them seem unnaturally still.

While rumours and speculations had died down prior to the festival, they've returned with a vengeance, with many brave souls hanging around the docks as close to the ships as the Sentry will permit, taking notes and photographs and other footage in hopes of shedding light on anything. Other inhabitants of the city have started making a move further inland.

Some have noticed some unusual fissures in the landscape, albeit small. They're chalking it up to soil erosion from the storm.

---

OOC Notes: Melias will be available for threading upon request. Also please note if you want to investigate the rumours on the Xaxa Network!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

II:

Nita, in addition to her own investigations (which, while better than doing nothing, still leave her terribly unsatisfied with her unanswered questions), picks up one of the "TheRePes".

She also talks to it in the Speech, trying to help calibrate it - and reassure it that yes, it is being effective in some way!

III:

Even though the ships don't tell her much, Nita takes time out of each day to come visit them. If it is ever permitted to touch the ships, she tries to reach them that way.

Fat chance of that happening without looking suspicious, though.

Investigating the odd new fissures, though, is a somewhat more promising avenue. Something about sound, she thinks; resonance frequencies...

It'll come to her, she's sure. But when she's not at one of her small jobs, she's out and about, trying to learn what she can from people and the land.

As it turned out, people with sensitive hearing weren't the only victims of the odd sound pulses. Trahearne's batcat Duibhe hadn't fared well, either, going from being agitated and fearful to passing out for a short time after the final tone had sounded. Trahearne had rushed poor Duibhe to a veterinary clinic that had been packed with other concerned pet owners, and after a long wait and a check-up the vets told him that Duibhe would be fine, but he came out of there with some mild medications to soothe her should it happen again - and instructions on how to cut down earplugs for her, just in case.

Now he's walking back to the Bridge with her, which likely makes for an odd sight. The fluffy black batcat is hanging upside-down from a sash he's made of thick cloth, so that her long hind claws can dig into that instead of threatening to draw sap out of him. Her wings are wrapped around herself and she's squeaking quietly to herself. Upon seeing Nita up ahead, Trahearne stops fussing with Duibhe long enough to offer a friendly wave. With so little of the Bridge occupied, it's easy enough to recognize his neighbors.

Nita returns the wave - then double-takes at the batcat.

Oh, Powers, those ears! And I thought the pulses felt bad just for us.

"You need a hand over there?" Nita asks, not calling as loud as she might have otherwise.

Trahearne offers her a smile as he steps in closer, "No, the both of us are quite alright. I think that she's trying to catch up on the nap I interrupted."

In fact, Duibhe is starting to wake up more, blinking big golden eyes and extending her wings in a wide stretch. She's not much older than half a year, as you'd judge a normal cat.

"My name is Trahearne. I know we haven't yet met, but I'm fairly sure I live down the hall from you."

"Think she's changed her mind," Nita says.

And boy, is Duibhe cute.

"I'm Nita. I've seen you around, too. Have you two known each other long?"

Not going to imply he's her owner - goodness knows she's been told by cats before how they feel about that notion!

For all that she's awake now, Duibhe is still quite happy to hang there upside-down and blink lazily at her, with a few high-pitched and curious squeaks. Trahearne chuckles at that question, reaching up to pet Duibhe behind her ears.

"I adopted her back in October, and she's been growing fast since then. She just had a spot of trouble with all the noise lately, but her mender said there was no damage done." Trahearne still frowns to himself, casting a glance down the road, in the direction of the docks much further distant.

"I guess that's a good prognosis," Nita replies, unable to refrain from glancing in the ships' direction as well.

"... I could make some custom earplugs, if you want? Just in case," she offers.

Wizardry could be very useful - though it wouldn't be much more effective than the rest of the countermeasures going around, in this case.

"Really?" Trahearne asked, his expression brightening with a smile. "That would be quite useful indeed. I'm not always a good hand with arts and crafts, I'm afraid. I can't tell you how many ritual bones I've painted poorly."

He then dips his fingers into a pocket hidden behind one of the leaves that make up his clothing, handing her a folded piece of paper. "This is what her mender gave me regarding what can be safely used for earplugs."

Nita takes the piece of paper, making a wry face.

"Yeah, I can definitely do a better molding than this."

She turns her gaze down to look more directly at Duibhe.

/Are you all right with this? I'll be making a better-shaped muffler to dim the vibrations for you. It'll have to go deeper in your ears than this paper, but I'll be able to make sure it won't hurt you. You won't even be able to feel it once it's in, though you'll still be able to take them out. Does that sound good?/

When he hears the Speech, Trahearne looks stunned. He can tell that's magic, he can feel the power behind it, though it's like nothing he's ever heard before.

Duibhe's reaction is to suddenly flap her wings hard, pushing herself upright to perch on his shoulder before turning to make a series of excited, meowing squeaks at Nita. [To keep away the bad noise? Yes, please! The noise is scary, it hurts!]

"Is she... talking to you?" Trahearne asks, intrigued.

Trahearne's reaction is secondary to Duibhe's, for now; Nita nods, smiling.

"Yup," Nita confirms, before switching back to the Speech - and reaching for her Manual, since the 'earplugs' wizardry is going to need some modifying to work here.

/Good. You'll have to hold still while I make this, but you can talk as much as you want. It'll help me get the dimensions just right./

"I can't believe it," Trahearne mutters quietly to himself. There were rangers on his world with a fair amount of magical aptitude, but they hadn't been capable of directly speaking to their pets. He's almost dying to ask questions, but keeps silent for now, knowing that it's better to not split her concentration.

Duibhe steadies herself by leaning against Trahearne's neck, crouching down low with her claws hooked around the sash on his shoulder and some of his leaves underneath. She doesn't know what to expect, but she's hopeful as she mewls, [Okay, I will! I'm ready!]

That, and Duibhe might not have wanted to answer all the questions right then!

Nita keeps level with the batcat, acknowledging with an additional /Hold steady,/ before landing on the right spell and starting to fiddle with it.

The part about talking is mostly to iron out the usage of Duibhe's Name, which is essential for customizing the spell. She'll feel an odd ticking in her ears as Nita recites in the Speech - nothing painful, and even the intensity of the ticking fades over the course of the spellcasting.

The batcat will have to give an affirmative when the earplugs are at the right shape, but the calibration should go smoothly.

Anyone who knows Sheena that any time she's out an about in her regular attire means she's either training, or gathering information.

And today, it's the latter of the two.

She's using both her ability to draw and the yimo to take pictures of the fissures as well as the water. But, she's not stopping there. She's recording the boats before slowly panning the yimo towards herself and on as she begins to move slowly away from the docks, walking at a steady pace.

And so quietly that she doesn't make a sound as she passes people--only stopping when she senses she's passing Nita, a person she knows.

Looking up, she looks dazed for a moment before speaking.

"Oh. Hello. Are you doing some research, too?"

Nita's not sure what the look on Sheena's face is for - but then she asks a question, and she shakes out of her own observation zone to answer it.

"Yeah. Isn't there a frequency of sound that can crack even rock? I've been trying to graph if the cracks are spreading out from the boats or it's just at random."

It shouldn't have been at random, but Nita wasn't discounting anything just yet.

The look is because she had been concentrating hard on what she was doing.

Nita's question turns her expression thoughtful before she nods.

"Gnome doesn't do things that way, but I believe so. I mean, I've seen sound shatter glass--so why can't there be something stronger for rocks?"

Sheena may not be the brightest bulb in the pack, but things just seem to make sense, you know?

Then that put them squarely in the same boat.

"... Gnome?"

Still, Nita's glad for Sheena's agreement.

"And yeah, everything's got its resonance frequency. But the power behind it - not sure what was supplying it."

Very squarely.

"Hmmm? Oh. Gnome is the Summon Spirit of Earth back home, but I can call upon him here. In fact, if you saw a huge rodent with a propeller that looks like a bow on its head helping with the farms--that's him."

He's definitely the expert on the ground at home, but would he be able to help here after examining things? She may have to wait to ask him about that.

Sheena looks towards the ground then the water before turning back to Nita, her expression slightly confused--as though what she's about to say is kind of strange. Which it is.

"Maybe the world and the people themselves?"

Nita's eyes widen, just a fraction.

"I'll be sure to say hello when I see him, then. But, does he have any trouble getting here?"

Maybe this could help explain why wizardry worked here, even if she couldn't hear the peridexis or get any useful updates on her situation out of her Manual.

"I- transforming energy from one kind to another, maybe? Using ambient heat and kinetic energy..."

She'll have to think on that one, but Sheena may well be right.

Sheena chuckles.

"He's pretty informal, so 'hi' would probably work best. And don't be upset if he says 'Bleh!' It's what he says when he doesn't like something. Besides, I'm there with him, so if he gets too out of line, I can talk to him." She tilts her head. "Actually, no, I haven't had any trouble Summoning any of the Spirits. I wonder if I should start being concerned with all the weird things going on."

She thinks about what Nita's said, trying to put it into terms she can understand. "You mean like using mana for magic? Or using Lightning for electricity?"

How's she doing?

The mention of 'Bleh!' brings out a smile.

"Sounds like a being of few words, that one," Nita comments.

Still, she'd bet Sheena's right about the weirdness impacting future Summonings, so that smile drops away for a little bit.

"Sort of, in that it's one form of energy being used as fuel for another. If the mana and lightning aren't doing anything on their own, though, that's something different. Lightning is heat as well as light, but electricity can be used for lots more than that, even something as mundane as kinetic energy in a toaster!"

"That...would actually be Shadow," Sheena says. "He's not a big talker. Gnome, on the other hand..."

Confused the heck out of her when they first met since he was so informal. But, like the others, he lets her know when things are going wrong, so she's going to have to talk to all of the Spirits at some point.

"Hmmm. Mana is the source of all life and magic on my world, so it's basically always doing something, isn't it?" She tilts her head, confused. "And what's 'kinetic energy'? I don't think I've ever heard that word before."

"And Shadow's a Summon Spirit of, well, shadow?" Nita guesses.

Still, she takes the correction in good grace.

"I think I know what you mean, then. 'Life energy' definitely counts. And kinetics is motion, like this," she explains, adding a little arm-joint motion as emphasis.

"Darkness," Sheena confirms with a nod. "Luna is the Spirit of Light. Each Spirit has an opposing element that balances it. They have to, or the balance in the world will be very off."

Sheena wouldn't consider it a correction--more of a clarification since "mana" seems to mean different things on other worlds.

She tilts her head and listens intently to Nita's explanation. "So, when you say 'kinetic energy in a toaster', you're talking about the electricity moving through it, right?"

And surely not the toaster itself moving.

... Oh dear.

"Not quite," Nita explains.

"With toasters, you push a lever down on the side, and when it's done heating the bread the lever pops back up - that's kinetic energy."

At least the toaster didn't walk around...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[EVENT] ARCH RIVALS

Two Nita OTAs for the price of one! Melias is free to poke her.

III.

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Brain wants to fill that in as 'spot of bother' instead of trouble. XD

haha he'd totally say that too

X3

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