acatalepsy_logs | PHASE TWO of AKVOS (Log #2)

PHASE TWO of AKVOS (Log #2)

I ▫ main	IV ▫ premise			XI ▫ applications	XIV ▫ activity
II ▫ logs	V ▫ rules	VII ▫ bestiary	IX ▫ canon updates	XII ▫ taken	XV ▫ drop/hiatus
III ▫ ooc	VI ▫ faq	VIII ▫ setting	X ▫ mods	XIII ▫ reserves	XVI ▫ players

the tides shift.

Darkness has begun to spread, rapidly, throughout the entirety of Akvos. Different areas of the Kingdom are plagued by different instances of terror, but one thing remains clear: the Circle does have the available tools to help . . . of sorts. Many of you have discovered different areas of Akvos to focus on, but by and large? There are no shortage of people to help, of people to fight, and of creatures to save.

Hurry quickly, Circle members. Akvos needs your aid.

SHADOWS IN THE DARK.

Shadow creatures have begun to multiple en masse in the Depths of Markolos, and are spreading to every which corner of Akvos. They will be at their highest density in the Depths, and take the form of terrifying creatures with massive claws and gnashing teeth. They seem to be impervious to non-magical damage, so some unique tag-team action may be necessary in order to actually kill the things.

As the monsters multiply, mermaids from across Akvos will fall prey to their attacks, drifting listlessly in the currents of the sea as they fall unconscious, the life-force drained from them by a shadow creature. In order to wake them again, the shadow creature that drained them of their energy must be killed. Act quickly, and you may be able to rally the native forces necessary to stage a proper fight back. But the more you fight, the more exhausted you begin to get.

Those who cannot fight will not find themselves of a shortage of ways to help, though. Shelters are being set up within the Palace of Wahine, a fortress unto itself. Children are corralled there, the injured are kept in the impromptu hospital beds that are guarded by the Royal Guard that are still conscious from the onslaught. They will desperately accept help to care for the children whose parents are unconscious, or to console parents who have lost their children in the mayhem of the sudden attack upon their city.

Food still needs to be gathered, supplies still need to be run from door to door. People need to be evacuated. And from each area of Akvos, there are "runners" of powerful merfolk who have set up caravans drawn by dolphins to quickly whisk people from place to place. Each caravan is under threat of attack from shadows, though -- sign up for the evacuation committee, keep your heads down, and fight back as much as you can to protect these people from whatever the hell is going on.

THE SEVEN SEAS OF WHY.

In addition to the shadow creatures, each area is plagued by a different onslaught of dark magic. Each area has different needs, and each area will require your attention. Focus your energies where able, and do your best to stem the flow of chaos before it is too late. (Check here for a breakdown of types of effective magic.)

The Palace of Wahine is facing an onset of red algae, blooming through the alleyways and infecting mermaids rushing to seek cover. Inhaling the algae doesn't seem to do much to you, in small doses, but it causes violent coughing fits with the mermaids, preventing them from breathing properly underwater. Getting into contact with the red algae will turn your own skin a brilliant shade of pink, and it will cause it to itch uncontrollably (something that is, apparently, impossible to alleviate under the water). It will wear off within a few hours, but the same does not hold true for the mermaids. The healers in the community say that certain herbs in the Fields of Akvosia can be harvested in order to help cure the illness, but they are notoriously hard to find . . . and in the middle of the sharpest parts of the coral reef, naturally. Tread carefully, and be careful not to anger the shadow creatures in your quest.

The Depths of Markolos is the hotbed of chaos, and seems to be where the majority of the shadow monsters are lurking. In addition to the shadow monsters, ice is cascading out of control from the western wall of the depths. Melting it will do the trick, or controlling it to move it out of the way, but it seems to persist. Some of you may find your way to the far back wall, to discover what appears to be the source of whatever this ice seems to be . . . but it will be tough going, and will require some teamwork to make it there. The ice, too, seems to fight back against your forces, and may curl its way around your legs, your legs, to freeze you into place. Hopefully you have a buddy that can get you out of there, before you become a frozen popsicle under the sea.

The Fields of Akvosia's beautiful coral reef is quickly dying, and the mermaids are working as hard as they can to curb the death by harvesting the essential food sources they can before it is too late. Schools of fish desperately flock from reef to reef in search of shelter and food, and soon meet their demise the moment they settle in to a new habitat. Working to cure and reinvigorate the coral reef will be met with great relief from the merfolk, who are desperately trying to cure what they can. Beware the shadow monsters, here, and be on the hunt for herbs that can assist the merfolk falling ill in the Palace of Wahine. Caravans of dolphin-pulled carriages will be whipping by to refill supplies, too -- jump in and help guard them on their way back to civilization.

The Thunderdome has a fresh stock of weaponry that is particularly effective against the shadow monsters, electrified with old runes that the merfolk will happily give to the Circle free of charge to fight back against the monsters. In addition, the jellyfish of the Thunderdome are darkening at a rapid pace. Electricity seems to do the trick in reinvigorating them, but touching them will still turn you a brilliant shade of blue . . . so tread lightly, in that regard. The electrified weapons will do the trick to jab the jellyfish into feeble light in addition to magic already gifted by Astoria, but the mermaids are a bit busy trying to fight off the shadows that are growing increasingly prevalent in the Thunderdome. Help wanted?

THE WHISPERS OF KEA.

Throughout the duration of this battle, investigations taking place by members of the Circle will begin to unveil certain . . . clues. The Princess is still missing, but members of the Circle are getting close to unlocking where she is. King Kathashun, at the beginning of this journey, indicated that she was the key to stopping all of this, and while most of you have no idea who that guy is, he seems to be genuine. (Right? Right.)

But where is she? The Queen is unavailable, for the duration of this event, and who knows where this mysterious "King." is. But as the Circle battles for the life of Akvos, certain messages begin to pop up through your magical watches. Riddles, if you will -- pleas of assistance, begin to trickle through, popping up on your watches in a series of nonsensical words.

The only problem is that the messages seem to be all scrambled up.

lktmohidionl.

hsdpepelgnyeiaior.

herywaeoleeahhthpyveneto.

ehdtetirviarcaeshrasmaohmitnrn

Additionally, please feel free to write up and work with your own prompts! These are presented as jumping off points for your characters, not limitations. The idea of this world- as with all the others- is to explore. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them back on the various threads back in the OOC post from before!

NOTE: The Princess' messages will unlock a hint to their meaning (if they aren't solved by the time this happens) once this log hits over 750 comments. :) We are pretty sure this will happen well before the End Log for Akvos happens in January, so we won't be putting a time limit on it. ;) Have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Come on, let’s not make this into some after school special bullshit.

[Ugh, he’ll need to translate that, right.]

Don’t make it, uh... more than it is. Do you go around, like, baring your soul every single day? It’s not like I’m missing out on much.

[Except the option of touching anyone in any way ever without feeling like a piece of shit aftward, but Mr ‘knows best’ over there doesn’t need to know about that.]

Well, no, I don’t. Only to the people that matter.

[ Alphinaud and Minfilia… and Connor. Without really thinking much of it, a hand drifts up, fingertips brushing the edge of the broad strokes of warpaint on his face. His usual paint is hardy stuff, waterproof to a degree, but he had to barter himself something new from the merfolk, something that would last while being consistently submerged, so he doesn’t go about bearing his figurative and literal scars to everyone he sees. ]

You’re a private sort of person, Hank. I suppose I’m simply surprised that you don’t know how to close that door already.

[Between Arenvald's calm and genuine concession and the gesture - touching the big weird thing on your face while talking about personal confessions isn't quite a confession itself, but it's close - Hank's frustration is defused. A little. For now. The rest is still held back by the awareness that he can't afford to feel as shitty as he would after bitching out some guy who, for some reason, insists on trying to be genuinely fucking friendly to him.

It's a pain in the ass. It's weird. It's enough to get Hank sighing and speaking in a voice without any walls around it, although to look at him you'd think he was saying it to his shoe, not the guy right there near him.]

It, uh... It doesn't happen all the time. More often down here, but I don't know if that's me or this place. So, you're probably right. If it's not on all the time it probably is on me for- for not-

[He sighs again and rubs at his eyes, sounding slow and tired.]

Fuck, I don't know. If all you guys can just turn your shit on whenever you want- that is how it works, right? Then...

[He ends that sentence with a vague noise and a shrug. It probably is his fault, Hank knows that, and Arenvald knows that Hank knows that, and that's the only point Hank was trying to make. Yeah. He knows.]

[ The shift in Hank’s tone certainly catches his attention, though he has no idea what it quite means. For as much as he wants to try to get to know Hank, they haven’t made a whole lot of progress on that front. He has no idea if this is progress or resignation or what, but Hank certainly sounds… not unguarded, per say, but a bit more open. ]

I think there’s definitely something in the air— [ “air” ] –that’s strengthening our powers. I couldn’t do what you saw there, with the beam of light, before just recently.

[ Arenvald isn’t trying to place blame here, or insinuate that Hank was lazy or careless or whatever else he might think. That half-admission makes him frown, because now he’s wondering if he somehow gave Hank the wrong idea. ]

I first realized what my powers were when someone said something embarrassing to me. I lit right up in the middle of a clothing shop, which only made me more embarrassed. I had to learn how to control it after that, since it reacted to my mood. Sometimes it still gets the better of me.

You’ve got a harder time of it than the rest of us. It’s not like you glow or spontaneously make fruit out of nowhere or turn into a dog. I’m sorry, for what it’s worth, that you got stuck with something so… intrusive, and I don’t blame you for not wanting anything to do with it. If… if whatever advantage it gives you over these creatures isn’t enough motivation, then mayhap you ought to try for your own well-being.

[It's almost perfect technique, the way Arenvald gives that advice at the end there. Hank's kind of an expert on that by this point. He could probably start some stupid reality show, people come up to him giving the same old advice and he rates em out of ten. This one- it's good. Hank usually feels like Arenvald's advice is coming from a spot way up on some high horse, golden wisdom nuggets getting tossed down and hitting Hank in the face but there's none of that here, not an ounce of arrogance and he's not going the other way with it either, not going the pity route and pouring on the sympathy. The result is advice that hits that teeny tiny target spot, advice Hank can't bat away, can't get mad at, can't dismiss. It's simple, kind of conciliatory, mostly matter of fact: Maybe you should do something, to help yourself.

Right.

After a few seconds Hank looks up again, lips still twisted unhappily but voice normal enough.]

If it only works when you're feeling something, how the hell are you supposed to control that? What do you do, just think of - I don't know, your first crush and embarrass the monsters away, and then you stop feeling shit and it's done? Just like that?

[ He has… literally no idea what happened there, why this one piece of advice slid through the cracks to hit home, but an actual conversation is happening here. Headway is being made? Sort of? ]

It’s a bit different for me, I think. My powers react to my mood but they’re not dependent on it. I just had to learn to work around it. Which… uh, I guess that might work for you. Like… it’s less about not feeling things so others don’t feel it too, and more about learning how to block the connection?

[Hank crosses his arms over his chest, not looking any happier but clearly listening.]

Great, that's not vague at all. I- fuck, I don't mean you, I'm not bitching about you, it's just- [He sighs, coughs, then taps a hand against his side, trying to think how to explain so Arenvald doesn't think he's trying to be an ass again.] -this magic bullshit, I don't know.

[Well explained, Hank.]

Fuck. Um... I guess you had to uh, practice a whole lot before you figured that out, huh?

[He runs his tongue over his teeth, already about a hundred percent sure the answer's going to be yes, and that hearing it is not going to make him any more eager to buckle down and do it.

He's not going to do it anyway. Not really. He's just... listening. You've got to know exactly what it is you ought to do before you know how bad you're fucking shit up when you don't.]

Took me a good couple of weeks before it was passable, yeah.

[ Sorry Hank. He really wishes he could offer more concrete advice, but his own experience with magic is lacking. Sure, he’s usually surrounded by the stuff, but as for using it himself? Outside of his Echo, a gift over which he has no control, he has nothing to fall back on. ]

This is… this is going to sound really ridiculous, but bear with me a moment. When I use my powers, it feels like… a flower. [ Gods, that does sound stupid, but he presses onward. ] Something that blooms in my chest, and I can will it open or closed.

Mayhap you just… you just have to find that right sort of feeling, like closing a door or shuttering a lantern or something. You’re not going to know if it works until you try it on someone, sure, but if it does work, then you’ve only imposed once, instead of many times.

[He's right. It does sound ridiculous. But Hank doesn't look derisive when he hears it. If anything, he looks kind of resigned.]

Come on. You and me both know that's not how it's gonna go.

[Weeks. Yeah, that's about what he expected. And that's if his works anything like blossoming ray beam guy over there. Hank looks down, taking a slow, careful breath full of that good old refreshing salt water. Now he knows what his options are. So thats... fine.

After a second he looks up at Arenvald again, raising his eyebrows with a try at a little half smile.]

Sorry for trying to make you talk Connor out of pushing that whole thing, though. I was kind of assuming it was just me he doesn't listen to.

[ He gives a shrug. ] Mayhap it’ll go nowhere, but what’s it going to hurt to take a little time to yourself and try it out?

[ Arenvald is trying his best to remain optimistic, though it’s pretty clear where Hank stands on the issue of his powers. He did mean what he said – he can’t blame Hank for wanting nothing to do with something so invasive – but he still has to try. ]

Oh, trust me. I learned very early on into our friendship that he has a stubborn streak that’s a malm wide.

[He gives the suggestion a brief, polite little smile. Yeah. Thought exercises. Get to know your magic power via meditation, or some shit. Sure thing. Luckily he doesn't have to force out some 'sure, maybe, we'll see' bullshit because there's other stuff there he can focus on instead - something he's kind of curious about, actually.]

So uh, the friend thing. I guess it must have been you who turned him on to that in the first place, right? How'd that even happen?

[ The subject of Hank’s powers has clearly passed, and Arenvald elects to let it drift into the waves and away without a remark. At the end of the day, he can’t make Hank do anything.

He kicks off again as the conversation shifts, making his way back toward the relative safety of the Palace, turning to see if Hank follows. ]

It’s not as if I set out to put any ideas in his head. We’d known each other for a bit when he asked me for a favor back on Struxta. I asked him then if he considered us friends, since I certainly did at that point.

And that was that, huh?

[He thinks about that for a moment, moving after Arenvand as fast as his shitty swimming will let him.]

Huh.

[ He hangs back a little, waiting for Hank to catch up so he can keep pace with him. ]

I think so. Is that strange?

Yeah.

[Hank’s voice is decisive. It’s a split second decision, saying out loud something he’s pretty much only thought to himself since - well, since back in Detroit, sort of. But the topic’s come up now, so why not?]

Yeah, it is. Androids- Look, I know you don’t want to hear this part, the whole thing about, you know, what androids back home are for. But yeah. It is strange. I guess it might depend on how you introduced the whole thing to him. If he got some weird ideas about what ‘friends’ means that’d explain why he’s even interested.

I have heard it, you know. Not just from you, but from Connor, too. But I also know what I’ve seen.

[ No matter how vehemently Connor tries to deny it. More than just the moments spent fleeing the Storm in Struxta, he’s seen Connor’s own past, his memories, and he watched him change. ]

I didn’t put any weird ideas in his head. It’s been a while since he got into that mess in Struxta’s library, but I’m pretty sure the conversation was fairly simple. I asked if he thought we were friends, and, as objective as you please, he said we probably were. Then he asked the same thing of me. I said I definitely consider him a friend. That was the end of it.

[Hank tilts his chin up in a nod and gives a brief, polite smile.]

Good for you guys. All's well that ends well or, you know, whatever.

[ In response, Arenvald’s brows knit together. ]

Do you not believe me?

[He shrugs.]

Hey, if it's any consolation, I believe you about as much as I believe in anything else around here. Don't take it personal.

[Of Connor's two friends that Hank knows, one is already probably kind of pissed at him. He's pretty sure - without thinking too hard about why - that he'd kind of rather keep the other one from getting all offended on top of that.]

What do you mean "as much as you believe in anything else around here"?

[ Just how deep in denial is this man? ]

[As deep in denial as he can dig, and he's thinking about buying a better shovel.

But not so deep he doesn't know where this line of questioning is going. Hank thinks of Konoha again, realizes the danger of the guy getting all offended hasn't passed, and finds himself rolling his eyes.]

Pretty sure you know what I mean. What the hell do you guys want me to do, start jumping up and down, clapping my hands, 'oh, I do believe in mental breakdowns!'

[He sighs and, since pulling more water in his lungs is a great thing to do while he's thinking about how none of this can be happening, slows down as he coughs. It takes him a second to pull his shit back together, but only a second. Pulling his shit back together gets that defensive tone out of his voice, too, helps him remind himself it shouldn't have been there in the first place. So. That's fine.]

Sorry. Fuck, um- I just, I don't think you're a liar, is all I meant. You've probably never lied a day in your life. It's just, you know.

[He shrugs. Clearly, explaining himself is Hank's specialty.]

[ He’s ready to snap back, a knee-jerk reaction to that tone of Hank’s, but in the same instant that Hank pulls himself together, so too does Arenvald. He does not want to repeat their first meeting, doesn’t want some weird tension hanging between them. Hank is a mystery that Arenvald is not sure he possesses the skill to unravel, but getting under his skin more than he already has is just asking for things to go nowhere.

He breathes out a little laugh, a private joke at his own expense. Hank would be quite surprised to learn of the things Arenvald has done in his relatively short life. ]

It’s a weird situation and it’s easier to believe that none of this is real than it is to believe that it is real?

It's a little more than 'weird'. [He's quiet a couple seconds. Chill out, Hank, he tells himself. He's probably just trying to understand.] But, yeah. Yeah. And it's not just - I've seen what happens when people start believing in their- you know, their shit. It's not pretty. And it's never true. This- It can't-

[His voice cracking over that last word means it's time to stop thinking about it. Losing his shit when he first got here might of been kind of mostly fine because it was in front of Firo, who never seems to give a shit one way or the other. But that was his one freebie.]

I guess coming straight out of a D&D game means all this shit's normal for you but believe me, where I'm from thinkin stuff like this's real means something's really, really wrong.

[Godwilling Arenvald will just take that, because Hank's voice wasn't too steady all the way through that last part, either, and not talking about this anymore would actually be really cool.]

[ He gets it, sort of. Were he not a member of the Scions, were he not someone who came from a world of magic who did battle with gods on the regular, this would all be a lot to swallow. Logically, he understands why Hank would struggle to wrap his head around it.

But at the same time, it’s been months. ]

All this time and you’re still thinking you’re living in some sort of hallucination?

[ Sorry Hank, he’s not leaving it there. ]

[The look Hank gives him is halfway to offended, more than halfway to scared, and he looks ahead of him again, jaw tight, swallowing while he tries to get his shit together. He takes a breath of water and it's impossible and it should be killing him and he takes another, and by the third one he can use his breath full of water to make real human noise again, although the time spent on this particular topic's taking all the hard and steady edge out of a tone that ought to be righteously angry, or at least a little bit annoyed. He'll have to just settle for a tone that's trying too hard, and hope it still gets his point across.]

You think changing everything I know about the world's like boiling a frog? Leave me in here long enough and I'll just forget I'm not cool with it?

[He makes a breathy noise that he'd meant to be a laugh.]

Right. Jesus.

PHASE TWO of AKVOS (Log #2)

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