The Informant's Progression Thread

Type: Transformation

Rank: C

Description: Tobias is a human volcano. If he loses his temper (rare) or goes four weeks without erupting, Tobias “erupts” into a fantastic volcanic golem. This transformation is almost completely involuntary. The steps in his transformation are as follows:

1. Pre-Eruption: Preceding an eruption, Tobias will start to steam and leak ash from his pores. (Duration: 0.5-2 posts)
   
   
2. Eruption: He will start to spurt lava from his pores, or fissures will naturally form along his epidermis where build-up occurs. This stage is very painful for Tobias, and can almost debilitate him. His clothes will go up in flames, as will anything else attached to his person. White hot flames dance over glowing, white-yellow pools of lava as they form. (Duration: 1-2 posts)
   
   
3. Lava Mode: As the eruption slows, the lava will congeal into a semisolid, red-orange Lava Mode. Flames only occur wherever Tobias may come into contact with something, as he is still very hot. Eyes and mouth continue to burn white-hot.(Duration: 1-3 posts)
   
   
4. Cooling: As the lava cools, his skin will become purple before crusting over, until eventually form black plates of obsidian. Usually starts at his hands. (Duration: 1-2 posts)
   
   
5. Obsidian Mode: Maintains Obsidian Mode, where black lava rocks cover his body like an armor, for multiple days. His eyes and mouth will continue to glow for the duration of this form. (Duration: Up to 13 Days)
   
   
6. Shedding: Tobias will shed Obsidian Skin in fragments and flakes naturally. (Duration: 1 day) And he will look human once again (Duration: About 2 Weeks) until the next eruption.

Overall duration of a transformation can vary based-on the antecedent. For example, if Tobias loses his temper, the Pre-Eruption and Eruption can be shorter and more violent, and lava mode can smolder longer. Meanwhile, a monthly eruption will be slower, often taking the maximum amount of time at each stage.

Benefits:

1. Lava Mode [Burn]: As lava swallows Tobias’s form, his surface temperature burns at such extreme temperatures that he can liquefy soft metal, melt hard metal, and deal nasty burns to anyone who comes in contact with him. The range of the burn effect is limited to arm’s reach from Tobias.
   
   
2. Obsidian Mode [Durability]: Once the lava cools, a rough, obsidian armor takes its place, and covers Tobias from head-to-toe. This makes him as durable as hard metal itself! At its thickest, the armor is about 3cm. The thinnest sections are just under 1cm.
   
   
3. Flame Resistance: Tobias is resistant to fire or heat from outside sources, regardless of what form he is in. That being said, he will start to burn after 6 posts if he’s in human form.
   
   

Exhaustion and Weakness: Dousing Tobias with water while he is erupting can accelerate the cooling process. Small amounts of water will merely create steam, but large amounts will push him into Obsidian Mode.

His transformation only affects his epidermis, so he can still physically interact with his surroundings. Unfortunately, this also means that he’s still susceptible to physical attack. There are still challenges when it comes to interacting with one’s surroundings in either form-- while in lava mode, most objects will combust or melt in his grasp (if they are less durable than concrete), or become white hot to the touch. While in obsidian mode, his sense of touch is greatly reduced, which makes him more likely to accidentally break things.

Unlike many quirkers, Tobias’s transformation is not an “at-will” transformation that he can tap into whenever he wants. It can only be triggered once he loses his temper, or once he’s gone four weeks without erupting. And erupting is a step-by-step process that he must see through to the end. He cannot skip any part of the transformation.