Day 7: Monster Arrival

[wizardseason]

Afternoon: 12:00noon - 5:00pm

[ IRL Timeframe: January 8th, 2020 - January 22nd, 2020 ]

If the heroes were desperate for a break...

They weren't going to get one.

The seventh day is shaken up under an hour after Luka, Olivia, and Garrot finish their meeting with the Protector. Every single hero is pinged with an urgent notification on social media. Not only are all of them pinged with "#heroes" but they're also directly tagged, detonating their inboxes with panic and confusion.

To make matters worse, several tags are trending: #seth, #murder, #monster?, #protectorfight, #whatjusthappened, and two more.

The post that triggered it all was uploaded by none other than the rat knight, Seth, and... it's a lot. The video opens with Seth glancing down at the camera, giving a little thumbs up before he swipes at the screen to pull up a different app while it records. There's blurry motion as he enters a room, but then the camera focuses in on two figures in the room. The first is the Protector, a pipe in his hand that's slowly smoking and a sword in the other that's extended out and pierced just slightly into the other figure.

The other figure is something bestial, a mass with multiple different legs jutting out of it. Some legs appear reptilian, with big claws, others look like mammal feet with texturing on the outside, one is even avian with claws breaking the tiles beneath it. The skin of the creature is yellow, obscured beneath a slow cascade of some kind of black or metallic fluid dripping off of the monster's(?) body. The central mass doesn't seem to match up with what a body should be, but there's very clearly a neck and a head jutting out towards the Protector. Though the Protector's blade appears to have pierced the neck in the back, it certainly couldn't be deep with how thick it was. And the monster's(?) head is a nightmare filled with two, perhaps three, rows of sharp teeth that are gaped just slightly as they breathe out a horrible black steam on the ground.

"Rat knight." The Protector states, the slightest note of surprise in his voice, before all hell breaks loose.

The video blurs, presumably as Seth tries to run, and there's a clattering as he slides on something and hits the floor. His phone, still recording, can't keep up with all the movement in the room. Social media is kind enough to provide still-frames of the three clearest moments:

1. The Monster rearing its head back, an arc of yellow in the air as it turns towards Seth. The Protector's blade at the other end of the yellow, ripped free of the monster's neck by the movement.
2. Seth's face, panicked as he attempts to get to his feet but very clearly losing control of his phone. The Protector and monster are squared off to fight each other in the background. The monster has multiple limbs outstretched, apparently leaping towards the Protector from somewhere near Seth.
3. A very controversial image, with numerous individuals stating it should be deleted. Seth's body laying prone, the camera recording from the side as blood is spreading from an unseen wound. In the background, the Protector has stuck his blade back into the monster's neck and is pressing them down with force.

But the video doesn't end there, and those aren't the only stills provided.

The final scene that unfolds begins with Seth's body disappearing.

Right in frame of the camera, someone's foot settles down onto the floor. There is no soul that would see the crocs on that foot and not know that it belonged to the Wizard. But the Wizard's dead. There's a crackling flash from above the camera as something magic goes off and the Protector, who had barely started to raise his hand to react and defend himself, gets blown through the far wall. Sunlight streams in from the hole and, without hesitation, the monster thrashes on the ground and leaps out after him.

The final still taken in the last moments of motion in the video spurs on the last two trending hashtags. The croc-wearing arrival reaches down to take the phone, lifting it up to her face and swiping to post the video. It's mostly just her hand, but at the end the camera catches sight of her. Social media has a lot to say about the last still: The final image is of the Wizard's face, very much alive, but very, very rough. The entire left side of her face is bandaged diagonally, up across her forehead and down over her left cheek. Jutting out of the bandages on the left side of her face are thick, black cables that appear to disappear under the bandages. What are they? Where are they going? There's no mistake that she's still injured, numerous cuts scabbed over with strange alien colorations on her skin, but considering that she was supposed to be dead: She looks very much not dead.

So the last two hashtags that are taking social media by storm? #wizardfound and #robotwizard

Monster Arrival: Train Tracks: Seven.

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The Weather

• Overcast.
• 66°F / 19°C
• There's a slow breeze.

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Prompts:

• 12:30pm Everywhere, All Cities: "Did you see the video?!": The heroes are probably as unsettled as social media is. What did that video mean? Did Seth really just die? Did the Protector just die? Was that Seven? Was that the Wizard?! What does any of this mean? Wether by text or in person, surely the heroes need to take a moment to discuss this with each other!


• 12:45pm After the Funeral, Craydon: Why would anything be chill today? As the funeral comes to a close, Five, Six, and Ten have stayed nearby. But their departure is forced as Sxicq arrives, their blue eyes locked on the three of them as they advance. Ten nudges at Five, who pulls out her phone. She quickly, and loudly, announces "Okaywe'redoneherebye!" to anyone still there, and the three of them vanish through a portal. Sxicq walks all the way to where they vanished and stands on the spot, staring down at the ground. Uh. Congratulations, funeral-goers? Sxicq is here now and examining... dirt. Those monsters sure did leave in a hurry.


• 1:00pm Train Tracks, Bamborough: It's the monster. The initial reports are of a "rampaging beast" ripping through the woods on its way down to the city. The first picture taken reveals that it's the horrid leg-mass with teeth that Seven apparently is. Buildings in the path are evacuated of any possible citizens, but the route changes all of a sudden and Seven makes their way right to the train tracks. They're running along them, in the direction of Craydon, and there is absolutely a train coming. Every part of this is bad, and to make matters even worse: Every hero can feel a strange pulling, a strange tug telling them exactly where Seven is in this moment. Before, it was just the Princess. Now, it was everyone? What changed?
  
  Unbeknownst to the heroes, Seven is going to break away from the tracks when they reach Craydon. They're going to seek out every knight. They're going to fight everyone.

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Procedure:

Reply to the appropriate toplevel comments for events below. Indicate if a post is a private conversation with "Private" in the subject otherwise all threads should be open to interaction with others. Plan OOCly how you'd like to toss everyone around.

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Activity Check: January 2020

[ IRL Timeframe: January 1st - January 31st, 2020 ]