Day 3: Monster Arrival

[wizardseason]

Morning-Afternoon: 11:00am - Evening

[ IRL Timeframe: May 8th - May 22nd May 29th, 2019 ]

It's monster time.

Wherever your hero is when 11am rolls around, they're in for a change. At 11am on the dot everyone will start growing more and more transparent until, at 11:15am, they pass out momentarily. When they wake, they'll find that they aren't where they were before. More importantly, they'll find that the world is not as they left it. When they look around, or on their phones, they'll see that the date is 01 AW and the specific day is one day after the Wizard was defeated, the first time, by the first set of knights. The newspapers all around the city reflect a dramatic change in the world, though several characters may remember the change if they were alive for it.

While the island is still devoid of its inhabitants, the characters will find that they are now able to locate each other. They can text freely, they can team up, but even if they do they'll feel an inexplicable pull towards those they woke up with. More importantly, they'll each feel a pull towards another presence.

All six teams of heroes will feel a presence following them, an unmistakably menacing feeling that, if they stay still, gets closer and closer with each passing moment.

Third Morning Event: All Cities: The Past.

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The Weather

• Alive, but with what?
• 64°F / 18°C
• There is only wind, the air crackles with electricity.

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Prompts:

• 11:00am Bamborough: The heroes have been shaken up, at 11am on the dot everyone will start growing more and more transparent until, at 11:15am, they pass out momentarily. When they wake, they'll find that they aren't where they were before. Haizea and Olivia will wake on the edge of the fountain in Bamborough's resort hotel lobby. If they're unlucky, a hand, a foot, or their entire body may end up tumbling into the water of the fountain. Down by the water, Joanna and Web will wake up on their backs in the sand with the ocean water lapping at their feet and legs. If they stay laying there for too long, they'll end up underwater. How did Web make it from Far Haven to Bamborough this quickly?


• 11:00am Craydon: The heroes have been shaken up, at 11am on the dot everyone will start growing more and more transparent until, at 11:15am, they pass out momentarily. When they wake, they'll find that they aren't where they were before. Gail and Seth wake up in hanging hammocks in one of Craydon's fancier cabins, with a small assortment of fruits, veggies, and little bite-sized sandwiches laid out on a platter in the middle of the cabin. How anyone got Gail into a hammock is anyone's guess, but somehow he's going to have to make it down. Fortunately there's a little ladder on the wall, maybe that will help? Gyre, Rory, and Luka, meanwhile, wake up on the floor of the cog train as it's making the last leg of its trip up into Craydon's central train station. If they stay laying on the floor for too long, the train will take them all the way back to the base of the mountain. How did Luka make it from Far Haven to Craydon this quickly?


• 11:00am Far Haven: The heroes have been shaken up, at 11am on the dot everyone will start growing more and more transparent until, at 11:15am, they pass out momentarily. When they wake, they'll find that they aren't where they were before. Zafika and Matilda wake up in the elevator of one of the tallest buildings in town. The soft 'ding' of the elevator stopping at every single floor on its way down to the lobby is a gentle wake-up call for them both. The elevator is set to stop at every floor all the way down, and it's at about floor 15 when they start waking up. If they wait too long, it'll go all the way back up to floor 56. Terrence and Garrot, meanwhile, wake up on the roof of the local theatre. The sounds of still-airing movies are audible beneath them and the constant thrum of the air systems around them will bring them back to consciousness pretty quickly. Not to mention the unrelenting wind blowing from the storm. How did Garrot make it from Bamborough to Far Haven this quickly?


• 12:00noon, The Monster [Phase 1], Bamborough, Craydon, Far Haven: The third monster is here? If your characters stay put, they'll feel a menacing presence getting closer and closer but they won't see anything. If they stay long enough, something invisible will start shoving them. A shove here, a push there, the attacks will come from multiple directions and will persist until your character falls over. Whatever's happening, something's here and it's insistent. How are the heroes supposed to fight something they can't see?


• 1:00pm, The Monster [Phase 2]: For most of the heroes, the hour between noon and 1pm is spent being filled with more questions and no answers. Why were there invisible monsters shoving them around? Any heroes that tried to attack them just swished through empty air. Why couldn't they be hurt?
  
  There isn't an answer to that question, because the real third monster arrives just in time to distract the heroes. At 1pm on the dot, every hero's monster pull will aggressively alert them to an approaching presence. In the same way that someone hears a plane approaching from the engines, it's a feeling that practically advertises the arrival of something horrible.
  
  All six groups of heroes will be treated to a monster that is easily the stuff of nightmares. Imagine a child with yellow skin, but no face, no hair, no details of any kind. Except for eyes, three eyes (two humanoid, one forehead) this time. Just very clearly the shape of a child. The legs are entirely humanoid, but the arm is a mass of arms, all in varying lengths and with such weight that the body is leaned over and using that arm mass as another leg.
  
  Also every child is split in half from the head down, meaning each half-child has one leg, a half body, half neck, half head, one and a half eyes, and a mass of arms. The teams of Haizea, Olivia, Gail, Seth, Zafika, and Matilda will all be treated to the left-half children. The teams of Joanna, Web, Gyre, Rory, Luka, Terrence, and Garrot will be treated to the right-half children.
  
  These monsters will arrive slowly lumbering down the street, one and a half eyes scanning around them as they approach. The air around the monsters steams as if the ground were on fire, the monsters' image rippling in the rapidly rising air.
  
  The Princess will discover that he has an advantage in this scenario. He can feel that there's something more to this, that there's something in the ground that he can control. If he tries to focus on it, he'll find that he can set the ground ablaze simply by focusing on it. The range isn't overly far, though, no more than thirty feet. He'll have to plan carefully if he wants to heat things up!
  
  
• ?:00pm, The Monster [Phase 3]: Unknown. Will be revealed if triggered or no later than May 22nd.

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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.

Important: If your character makes an attack against the monster (or stays still for longer than 3 in-game minutes), write [Character does ____] at the end of your tag and send a ping on Discord to get a reply to the action.

Comments

[roaryrory]

Wait... so... that was it?

Rory stands still where she cut the monster's arm off, eyes wide open. They did it, they beat the monster! A huge wave of relief washes over her, but she also has way too much leftover adrenaline for a fight so relatively short compared to how long they spent running away from the abomination. What the heck, never mind that thought, this is cause for celebration!

She rushes to hug each of the boys, starting with Luka. "Oh wow, what was that ground thing you did?! It was awesome!!! You were the best!"
Once she's done complimenting him, she goes to Gyre. The interesting combination of smells hits her hard and makes her gag, yet she still pulls the wild elf close for a strong, Rory-brand embrace. "Good job finishing it off! We did so good, team!"

[eutychia]

Luka's still processing the past few minutes as Rory scoops him up into a hug. The sudden heat, the screeching, the sounds--- the smells. Oh god, the smells. But whatever Luka had done had seemed to help, as the pull of the monster had disappeared.

"I don't know what that was. It felt great, though."

After Rory set him down, Luka turns in Gyre's direction. "Are you covered in it's guts? It smells putrid."

[sustainer]

Holy shit what an awful smell. He actually gags so hard, he lets go of the sword, covering his mouth and closing his nose. Why do they all smell so bad?? What living thing smells like this on the inside ugh.

This is to say, he misses most of the conversation up until Rory suddenly hugs him. Despite the heat in the air and the scent clinging to his nose, he melts into the touch a little, loosely wrapping an arm around her and reaching up to pat her on the head. You did good Rory, though he doesn't say so, only offering her a smile before he turns his attention in Luka's direction.

"When you touched the ground, the monster lit on fire. It's... It melted, I guess, when it died," he says, thoughtfully? Like he's turning the events over in his head still. "Let's get away from here. It's hot."

[roaryrory]

"Hot, and smelly!" Rory agrees and makes a face. "We all need a really nice bath, and probably some food! I know all that fleeing made me hungry, wow."

She lets go of Gyre after returning the head pats, then returns her sword to Sefaq and stretches her arms.