Day 1: Monster Arrival

[wizardseason]

Afternoon: 12:00pm - Onward

[ IRL Timeframe: February 24th - March 10th, 2019 ]

Everything changes when the Wizard wishes it to. In an instant, every non-knight, non-princess person in attendance at the Craydon welcoming party disappears. She knows where they went, she teleported them, but that doesn't mean she's telling the knights. The only indication she gives that she did anything is that she walks towards the door to leave. If anyone moves to get in her way, she'll just teleport to the other side of them. If anyone tries to attack her, their weapon'll just turn to sparkles.

If this were a video game, the stressful music would be playing now. The Princess, Luka, is treated to something to add to the stress. The protector finally makes his appearance but only to him and only in his head. He's the same height as Luka with dark skin and vivid blue eyes that match the color of the sky. He has wicked winged white eyeliner to accent his eyes and curly black hair with white tips piled on top of his head, it's a wonder how it stays up there. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, he's wearing a pajama robe that looks either blue or silver depending how it's touched or how it moves. Most importantly is that he's got brass knuckles on both his hands, like he's ready to fight. But he's not here to fight, he's here to give a whisper about what comes next.

"The monster is here." Comes his voice, pointing Luka to just outside the Craydon multipurpose center. The pull towards the monster is persistent and it won't let up until it's defeated.

Outside is, to everyone's surprise (except perhaps Luka), the first monster. It looks like a yellow ball with an eye in the middle, standing four feet high and four feet wide with an eye that's almost that big too. It's standing on two feet and appears to have no arms whatsoever. It blinks curiously at the approaching princess-knight team and then blinks up at the Wizard beside it...

The Wizard is standing beside the first monster, holding her hand out as her massive hammer manifests in her hand. The hammer's handle flickers into existence and ends up beind close to seven feet long before the head of the hammer pops into existence. It's a massive beast of a weapon, easily the size of a refrigerator attached to the end of the pole with slightly bigger ends for where she hits things with it. Just below where the handle connects is a pair of flowing wings that seem to be extended out to support the head of the hammer, the end tip has a single metal feather dangling off of it. The head of the hammer curves slightly inward away from the ends but mostly it's just a giant rectangular block of bashing.

"Fore." The Wizard says with this awful amusement before she swings her hammer like a golf club down at the monster, acting like she's going to send it flying into the princess-knight team like a cannonball. When her hammer impacts the monster, it flickers slightly and pops like fireworks. Within sight but still rather far away, the first monster flickers and blips back into existence on the road, blinks, and then runs off into the woods. Catch this little buddy if you can!

Monster Kill Opportunity: Craydon: Everyone.

---

The Weather

• Sunny.
• 70°F / 21°C
• Quite breezy, all the trees are rustling.

---

Prompts:

• The monster!! GET IT: Who needs a plan? You run off immediately, sprinting after the monster as it bounds off into the woods. Characters who choose this option are free to catch the monster numerous times and deal attacks to it. However they will be unable to defeat the monster in any of these prompts. The monster's priority in this is to escape and it will not attack back. But what were those sparkles? What's going on? Feel free to do team-threads together in pursuit of the monster.


• The monster!! We need a PLAN!: Since you didn't run off, you and your fellow knights, the princess, and the Wizard are now standing outside of the Craydon multipurpose center. Though the Wizard is just going to go back inside to get crackers with cheese and meat on top. What will you do with your companions? Will you confront the Wizard? What kind of plan will you come up with for what just happened?


• The gear train: Wether you saw the locals posting pictures on social media or you worked with Luka's new ability to find the monster, it's taken up sitting on top of the gear train as it makes its way up and down the mountain town of Craydon. It doesn't move very fast but it is a hazard and, perhaps, even more of one because the Monster is involved. The first monster is contentedly sitting on top of the train car, staring up towards the sky. What will you do about that? The monster can be severely injured in this thread but cannot be killed.


• The showdown: There are trails of, and pools of, yellow ?blood? trailing throughout Craydon from the injuries that the first monster has sustained. The knights have been relentless in pursuing it through the forest and on the train and now it's come to a stop in the center of the train station at the base of Craydon. This train station is home to the last stop on the gear train upstairs and the transfer point for the Harsen Island train station downstairs. The first monster clearly isn't getting on board to go to Bamborough or Far Haven, but it's absolutely standing on the platform waiting for a fight. It's the final showdown!

---

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.

IMPORTANT: When making an attack against the Monster, please add a short summary such as the following to the bottom of your comment in brackets. This will help show at-a-glance what's going on and will show me that I need to reply with the Monster:

• [Rory stabs the Monster in the leg]
• [Seth pours acid on the Monster's face]
• [Web throws a big rock at the Monster from behind]

Comments

The monster!! We need a PLAN!

[wizardseason]

Since you didn't run off, you and your fellow knights, the princess, and the Wizard are now standing outside of the Craydon multipurpose center. Though the Wizard is just going to go back inside to get crackers with cheese and meat on top. What will you do with your companions? Will you confront the Wizard? What kind of plan will you come up with for what just happened?

[eutychia]

Luka barely has time to process what just happened. He finds himself outside the multipurpose center, but can't remember how he got there in all the commotion.

The presence and voice of the Protector are still fresh in his mind, but Luka can only find himself bemoaning the fact that the first monster showed up before he even had time to get in a costume change. Not that many people would be seeing him, but it's the thought that counts.

"Why did it have to be NOW?", he says, exasperation evident in his voice.

[disguiseself]

[Olivia's first instinct upon seeing the monster was to exclaim "that's fucking AWESOME!"

Her second instinct had been to stand between it and Luka, producing two daggers seemingly out of nowhere. She watched as the Wizard golf-ed it away and as the monster made its escape, but she didn't relax her protective stance.]

No rest for the wicked, huh? [She says, assuming that he's annoyed that they have to fight so early on. She licks her lips, her slit pupils trying to catch any movement from the monster.] It's some kind of ball. With an eye. An eyeball. With legs. Real ugly. What's the plan?

[eutychia]

He squints. "It ran off... I think. Some of the Knights with it, too. Where did all the locals go? This is a mess."

[disguiseself]

The people just - disappeared, I don't know. The Wizard did something.

[She looks around the room, quickly counting heads.] Ah... looks like blondie went after it.

[eutychia]

"Are you going to follow?" He asks, a bit frantic.

"We have no idea where this thing is going, or what it's capable of yet."

[sustainer]

Well he didn't intend to be standing next to the princess while all this went down, but hey, he's here now. The gears in his head are turning as he takes this whole scene in, and it's only Luka's voice that pulls him suddenly out of it.

"Had to happen sometime," he says back, his voice utterly neutral. He's not snarking. He's just talking, and he turns more fully towards Luka.

"Do you know where the other people went?" The princess is supposed to have specialized knowledge about this game or something, right? He has no idea how this is supposed to work.

[eutychia]

He shakes his head. He doesn't recognize this voice, but decides the exact identity of who he's speaking to at the moment isn't as pressing as forming a plan.

"I just stopped hearing them. But I know where that thing's going," he says, confidently pointing in the direction the monster (and pursuant knights) scrambled off in. "I can feel it moving."

[sustainer]

"Oh." Oh hey, that's useful too. He nods quickly, having not quite looked at Luka long enough to realize he's blind.

"That's useful, too. How well can you feel it? Could you track it if you went with someone?"

[eutychia]

"Strongly. But less now that the thing's got some distance on us. I know I could track it with someone or even on my own."

[zafika]

Zafika rushes to the main hall of the Multipurpose Centre, having followed behind Garrot. Stay behind? Screw that. They're staying behind for long enough to form a plan with some of the other Knights. So, for once, they just leave their blindfold hanging around their neck, and go look for the Knights that hadn't ran off.

Most importantly, they need to find Haizea and Gyre, they know Haizea can fight, and they have a feeling that Gyre can too, despite not having talked about those things with him. He's a wild elf for fuck's sake. Aside from those two, they'll honestly round up any of the other Knights that can fight.

"Muraj, I'm going to need that dagger soon."

[silentwords]

Seth had actually been trying to find Zafika, they were the one they had gotten the best along with so far and so were the best option of who to stick to as far as Seth's tired, exhausted mind was concerned.

Having had no less than 2 mental breakdown's in the span of the past a little over an hour or so...he was done.
His energy to be anxious was gone.

So when he spotted Zafika he quickly made his way over to them, expression eerily blank, phone already out.

[zafika]

Zafika notices Seth approach them, and since their blindfold is off for once, they notice his expression, but right now they don't have any time to ask him if he's alright, the monster is their first priority. But they also know that Seth can't fight, so they have to do something about that.

"Seth, good timing. Can you round up some Knights who can't fight and have them look for the people who disappeared in here? I'm going to look for Haizea and Gyre, and anyone else who stayed behind and knows how to fight, and plan with them on what to do about the monster."

[silentwords]

Seth's quick to start typing.

"The people who disappeared are fine. They're already eagerly tweeting about the first monster's appearance and Garrot is actually streaming the chase, don't ask me how, probably has his animal companion on it. I can still help you round up the Knights who have stayed here though."

Seth fills Zafika in. Oh yeah, he really is the social media master, already up to speed thanks to it...not like he'd been doing much else after his latest breakdown due to the wizard bullying him.

[sustainer]

Gyre won't be hard to find. All the people have up and vanished, and now the fourteen of them are all starkly revealed to each other. He had followed the wizard out when she decided to make her move, and he hasn't figured out what to do just yet. He seems to be taking in details, noting who runs off and who stays, working through his thoughts.

As Zafika approaches him, his eyes focus and drop to them, a grim expression settling on his face.

"At least a couple of us stayed," he mutters, glancing pointedly towards the trees where at least two of their good fighters have just run the fuck off. "What're you thinking?"

[zafika]

Zafika stops next to Gyre and sighs, running a hand through their hair as they look in the direction the monster disappeared to. "The loudest ones seem to have gone after it.. I think I saw Rory run after it, as well as Garrot..."

"The ones who stayed behind should form a plan, the ones chasing it can keep an eye on it and inform us on its location. But most importantly, they can try to incapacitate it and blind it, so its mobility is cut down. That huge eye is an easy enough target, the legs less so, but even if we can just blind it, it should be of some help."

Their behaviour has changed, they seem much more serious, and it's clear that they're used to making plans for how to take something, or someone, down. "Its ability to teleport is annoying, but if the Knights chasing it can herd it to a specific location, the rest of the Knights here who can fight can go there, maybe set a trap, or just prepare to take it down."

[sustainer]

"We should've made a plan before this," he mutters, clearly grumpy that they were all caught so off-guard. He should've known a full day of partying would get some of them too relaxed, ugh.

That's the only thing he'll say to complain though, clearly listening intently to Zafika despite his wandering eyes. He wants to know as much as he can before they make a move, but he nods to their plan after a moment.

"I can take out its eye if they don't, but..." He pauses a moment to chew his lip, trying to figure out how they're going to get messages between each other? While he has a phone, he uses it so little, it doesn't even occur to him that it's an option, and he turns a curious eye onto them. "Can you contact them somehow?

[tropicalstorm]

Haizea stares after the crew that immediately ran off in frustration. She gets it, she wants to pummel that thing too, but what's the point of there being so many of them if they don't work together properly? As the other knights start to discuss among themselves, Haizea decides they all gotta get on the same page and quick.

Looking around, she finds an empty glass bottle and grabs it, then stalks over to a table and smashes the bottle against it, shattering it into a million pieces and making a high pitched, hard to ignore crashing sound. She then jumps on the table and cups her hands around her mouth before shouting.

"LISTEN UP!" She yells, and then continues in a loud, but less booming voice once she's satisfied she's got everyone's attention. "If we're gonna take that thing down, we gotta get coordinated and fast. We should all got cell phones, and I know for a fact that I at least don't got all y'alls numbers, so let's fix that right quick. Then I think we can take advantage of the crew that's chasing it and try and surround it, maybe pull off some kinda pincer maneuver. How's that sound to everyone?"

[zafika]

Zafika nearly gets a heart attack when they hear the loud, high pitched shattering sound, and their hands nearly fly up to cover their ears, but they catch themselves in the middle of the action. Instead, they turn to look Haizea's way, slightly irritated by the bottle laying in pieces at her feet, but they get it that she needed everyone's attention.

They glance in Gyre's way briefly, before they walk over to the table Haizea is standing on, so they won't have to raise their voice to talk to her, and she won't have to keep yelling much longer. "Sounds good to me. I was talking with Gyre, and one option is to incapacitate it, damage its legs and blind it, and try to herd it to a set location so the ones who are still here can go and set up an ambush. It'll still be able to teleport, but at least it should be less of a threat if it can't move otherwise."

[disguiseself]

[Olivia hisses at the sound of glass breaking, instinctively shifting to stand between the source and Luka.

She glares at the other Knights as she listens to them speak. If she has any opinions in favor or against the plan, she doesn't voice it or show it.]

[silentwords]

Seth had gathered who he could and was now just kind of standing there, he had admittedly kind of freaked out over the sudden loud noise, but in the end was just kind of annoyed.

At the mention that they don't all yet have each others numbers, Seth admittedly kind of got an idea. Maybe his social media skills could come in handy after all.

"I could just make us all a group chat you know, easier than everyone having to give everyone else their number."

[fop_lop]

A short time after Haizea rallies the troops, her phone will ring. It's Terrence! Good thing they met earlier.

[tropicalstorm]

She raises her eyebrows when her phone goes off. How convenient!

“Hey Terrence, y’all still alive?”

[fop_lop]

"Somehow!" he offers, though the sounds of [Muffled crashing foliage in the distance.] aren't exactly convincing. Best not to mention his current situation atop Garrot.

"It doesn't seem terribly aggressive, at any rate, but it is quite adept at absconding... Ah, is everyone else still back at the rec center?" He doesn't vocalize it, but Terrence is awash with a sense of shame that he is part of Team Leeroy while Haizea is not.

Late to the party

[fauntofwisdom]

Joanna's private talk with the wizard was brief but significant to her, and she's barely had time to process it before everyone vanished. Nearly everyone, that is; the knights remain, except the ones running off so quickly they might as well have vanished.

When everyone gets outside, and the others group up and start talking, Joanna steps her way off to the side to regret politely nibbling food all through the morning.

Somehow, in all the mess of meeting and greeting the island's residents, she hadn't realized today would be the first of the fights - she hasn't even spoken more than a greeting to most of the others, how can they work together to fight a monster? But she can't hide over these bushes for long, and wipes her face - then walks to rejoin the others.

"Did the others mention a plan, before they left?" the faun asks, loud enough to carry over to them.