Day 4: Monster Arrival

Afternoon: 12:00noon - Evening

[ IRL Timeframe: July 17th - July 31st, 2019 ]

It's monster time.

The bright, glowing blue fissures are still open throughout the ground, they haven't gone anywhere. At last, social media has started buzzing about the source of the cracks. They're all originating from the mountain up the slope from Craydon! There are a ton of theories, including a non-negligible amount talking about a 'Wizard death machine'! Guess the heroes will have to find out for themselves.

As usual, though, social media is the fastest source of information. Do they have an inside man? Is one of the heroes actually the one feeding all the information to social media? Either way, there are numerous discussions going on about the "door on the mountain". Apparently satellite pictures have traced the cracks all the way up to a glowing door in the side of the mountain. It's absolutely not a manmade door and it's definitely magic in some way, but why is it there now?

Monster Arrival: Craydon: The Game Show.

The Weather
Eerily still.
66°F / 19°C
Is... is that... air conditioning?

Prompts:

12:00pm The Game Show, Craydon: Garrot, Rory, Joanna, Haizea, Olivia, Luka, Gyre, Seth, and Zafika will all find themselves teleported from wherever they were to a new and fantastical location. The room is dark, the stage is set, the hero is seated in a contestant's chair. Suddenly, the spotlight is on them and the curtains open: The crowd goes wild! In front of the hero is a big television screen with the words "Welcome!!" on it and, beside it, is the fourth monster. They're entirely humanoid, standing at roughly six feet tall, wearing a positively striking suit and tie. All four of their eyes look surprisingly normal on their face. They look like a regular person just with a second set of eyes where their upper cheeks are. They settle their yellow pupils on the hero in the chair as they smile wide and their mouth squishes as the space opens up into existence. Looks like the mouth isn't a permanent feature, but there's a soft bubbling sound that follows it and then their voice breaks the strange noises up. Their voice is high, eager, and unmistakably excited about the news they're about to share.

"Are you ready for the show? Smile, you're on camera!" They say, hopping back and forth on their feet by the screen, barely able to contain their enthusiasm. Any hero who gives it even a moment of thought will realize two things: 1) Cameras don't work, and 2) That's not a real audience, this room is actually just dark and it's only them and the monster.

Oh god, it's only them. Where are all the others? One on One monster fight? Great!

1:15pm Lounge Time, Bamborough: Social media is going bananas! That monster that was roaming around Far Haven's train station has made his way to Bamborough! The effects of the earthquake here may be less apparent, but there are still things to fix. But Ten won't be found fixing anything this time. Instead he's sitting on a beach chair, under an umbrella, on the oceanfront at the Bamborough Resort. On the little table to his right is a tall glass of tea and a portable USB charger. Because, in his hand, he's fiddling with a cell phone. Where did he get a cell phone? Who brought him tea? What on earth is happening?

4:00pm International Bungalo of Burgers, Bamborough: The social media war of "Crepes or Burgers" has begun, it's been set off by the Wizard arriving at IBoB for dinner. Just like the morning, she's asked for a group table in the restaurant. Gail, Terrence, and Matilda have all received special invitations right into their pocket (or their hand if they lack pockets). Enjoy a little card that says "One free burger!" with a stylized tiny Wizard face to the side looking very surprised!

??:00pm Mountain Door, Craydon: [Exploration] [Not yet revealed]

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: 'Exploration' toplevels will unlock additional information as items in their descriptions are explored. If your character explores a feature, write [Character explores ____] at the end of your tag and send a ping on Discord to get a reply with further details regarding that item.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Wonderful, dear contestant Rory!" They clap their hands together and give a little bounce in place. They motion out towards the darkness and suddenly it's clear that there's an audience made up entirely of eyeless monster bodies. A large number of them are holding up signs that say "Go Rory!!" "Win!!" and "You can do it!!" along with glow sticks that they're waving around.

"Here's the word you'll be guessing, if you spin and get 'Letter' then you can guess any letter you want! But if you get 'Fight', well. We wouldn't want that!" They laugh slightly, motioning a hand up at the board which displays "Phrase" along with the following blanks:

"_ _ - _ _ _ _, _ _ _! _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ - _ _!" (2 4 3 3 3 2 2)

"Spin the wheel, dear contestant!"

Rory doubts those monsters genuinely want her to win. She wonders if they will all jump her instantly, were she to land on Fight.

Nevertheless, it doesn't look like she has a choice but to spin. Let's see how this goes...

For her first spin, Rory doesn't get to find out what "Fight" is because she lucks out in the best way possible. The wheel turns and slowly, slowly settles on the incredible "2 Letters" space! What a great start!

"Incredible, dear contestant Rory! What two letters will you choose?"

"_ _ - _ _ _ _, _ _ _! _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ - _ _!"

Rory gasps, having held her breath while the wheel was spinning. She gets two letters to begin with! Maybe this will go all right for her!

She furrows her brow as she tries to recall the best strategies for games like this. She was never a huge fan of hangman, but she did recall there were some favorable moves to start with. Mainly, vowels.

So, that's what she's going with. "A and E, please!" she says confidently.

"Oh, dear contestant..." Four responds, sounding utterly dejected as they wave a hand towards the board. A and E? Well.

One single letter flips over.

"What a shame, what a shame! But it's only the first turn, after all, would you like to guess what it says? If not, spin the wheel!"

"_ _ - _ _ _ _, _ _ _! _ _ _ - _ A _ - _ _ - _ _!"

Rory's confidence falters, but she refuses to give up. She did get one letter right and that's something to be positive about! Still not enough to guess anything whatsoever, however.

"It's okay, just spin again," she says with no particular tone in her voice.

There's nothing to fear, then! The wheel spins, around and around, until it settles on a "Letter" space. Looks like it's time to guess one more letter.

"How lucky, dear contestant! You get to guess another letter. Are you certain you're not cheating?" They ask, playfully. It isn't an accusation, just a joking inquiry.

Rory smiles widely at her luck. "Nopety nope! I only play fair!" she exclaims, her confidence returning.

"My next guess is 'I'!" If the sentence has only one A and no Es or Is? She might just have to accuse our dear host of cheating. That doesn't sound right.

"A fair player that likes vowels, I see!" They exclaim, giving a little laugh as they turn towards the board.

"You've found two more, are you any closer to uncovering the answer?" They smile wide in an overly creepy manner as they motion up towards the revealed letters.

"_ _ - _ _ _ _, _ I _! _ _ _ - _ A _ - _ _ - I _!"

"It's time for another spin if you can't guess it yet!" They look too pleased about saying this. If Rory's got a sense for bad things, this spin is probably going to be bad.

The all-too-familiar tinge of anxiety is there. Rory's first instinct is to suppress it, but something tells her this is a situation where she'd better listen instead.

She grits her teeth. There's no way she can guess anything based on three letters! She's going to have to fight!

"Bring it on," she says and braces herself. The dagger she previously summoned is in a very tight grip.

Edited 2019-07-25 16:14 (UTC)

Sure enough, the next wheel spin lands on "Fight" and Four gives an immediate laugh.

"Splendid, splendid contestant Rory!" They raise their hands up in a full-body shrug.

"But I'm not the one you'll be fighting!" They take a large step away, motioning a hand towards the darkness and the shuffling that's happening beyond it.

"If you want to continue, you'll have to defeat... them!" They smile wide, motioning towards the figure that steps out from the darkness. They've got the bright yellow skin of a monster, but no actual features. Instead, in the same way that Mimikyu is clearly fake but trying to be Pikachu, the figure has drawn-on features and cut-out fabrics that make them look like they're trying to be Luka. It's a cheap copycat of the princess, and he raises his hands up in fists like he's ready to fistfight!

"It's the Princess! What will our contestant do?" Four asks, feigning utter surprise as the fake-Princess' head rolls slightly to the side like it's actually a sack without any solid support, the hair flops weirdly over the front of its face.

Also some of the clothing might be made out of paper. This is absolutely not actually Luka.

...
Really.

Rory is taken aback for about half a second, before lunging forward with the dagger. Four would have to try harder if they wanted to fool her!

"Is that all you've got? A mockery of my friend?"

"Hurghlbl" The fake-Luka exclaims before the characteristic yellow goop bubbles out from the face. The entire body slumps down on the ground, reduced to a pile of clothing and yellow pudding. Oddly, there's no smell!

"Wonderful work, contestant Rory! The Princess has been defeated!" They exclaim, setting off a small handheld confetti popper in their hands.

"How do you feel, having defeated one of your friends?" They ask, leaning forward. They wait for a response, any response, before they motion a hand at the wheel. It's time for another spin, isn't it? Go ahead, Rory, spin, because this time it's going to be 'letter' again.

"I feel like he'd be offended by his lack of likeness there!" Rory huffs in indignation so that her friend, who is not present, doesn't have to. She wipes the goop off her dagger, onto her pants. She doesn't have TV manners exactly. "Let's spin!"

She doesn't even let Four speak when the wheel stops. She already knows it's time to break out of the vowel pattern. "S, please!"

"Oh no, that looked exactly like him dear contestant Rory! I'm so sad to hear you disagree." They once again sound utterly disappointed, folding their arms. Their pretend-Luka was the best pretend-Luka ever! Even real-Luka would be jealous of how pretend-Luka looked!

But when she spins, they're back to looking delighted and then she guesses "S" and...

"Oh, contestant Rory... why are you doing this to me? My heart can't take it, there isn't a single 'S' in your phrase at all!" They feign being hurt again before they dissolve into a little chuckle.

"Unless you can guess, it's time for another spin...!" Another spin, but when she goes to spin this one doesn't have a bad feeling either. Rory's going to be lucky enough to get another Letter.

"_ _ - _ _ _ _, _ I _! _ _ _ - _ A _ - _ _ - I _!"
Guessed Letters: A,E,I,S.

Now this is just making Rory frustrated more so than disappointed in herself. She thinks about her next move more carefully this time as the wheel spins and stops. It takes her a moment to reveal the letter she chose. There aren't that many letters she figures can go in the last slot, and she's determined to get that out of the way.

"T, this time!"

Rory's bet on that last slot pays off, because Four claps excitedly as the very last letter fills in. Unfortunately, no other letter fills in.

"Another letter joins the phrase!" They exclaim, excited as they look Rory over.

"I wonder when you'll be confident to guess? Or is it just time for... another spin?" They ask, smirking as they lean close to Rory and try to see if they can get a read on her. They're hoping to see the anxiousness rise up when she realizes the next spin is going to be 'fight'.

"_ _ - _ _ _ _, _ I _! _ _ _ - _ A _ - _ _ - I T!"
Guessed Letters: A,E,I,S,T.

Her anxiety doesn't really get the chance to show through before she recognizes the feeling and knows what's in store. Seeing as how pathetic the last fight was, she feels secure in her choice.

"Spin it, I've got this!"

The wheel spins and, just like she figured, it lands on 'Fight'. There's an immediate rummaging in the darkness and Four gives a surprised gasp.

"Looks like it's time to fight!"

And from the darkness emerges another fake hero. This time, however, the fake hero looks a little more real. The body is still very much yellow, and the features are very much drawn on, but it looks like this figure is wearing a pretty much spot-on outfit that matches Olivia's. Slowly, she pulls out a knife. Does Olivia actually use a knife? Who knows.

"You'd better not get killed, dear contestant!" They exclaim as the fake-Olivia lunges forward with the knife to try to stab Rory, oh geez!

Unfortunately for fake-Olivia, Rory had a knife ready herself! Therefore, if she lunges too close, she might just run right into her knife. (She might run into her knife ten times.)

"Alright, that's an improvement! Good job!" Rory compliments the better likeness of the monster. Still, it makes her wonder if it's going to continue like this, with each one becoming more and more convincing. She's not looking forward to too many more fights.

She had it coming, she only had herself to blame!

The fake-Olivia only lasts a few run-ins with Rory's knife before crumbling apart into a pile of indistinguishable goo. There's a soft bubbling as the figure melts against the ground, leaving no trace of the attacker.

And then confetti cannons go off and the air fills with colorful paper confetti.

"Splendid job, contestant Rory!" Four announces, clapping their hands.

"How do you feel after dispatching such a powerful ally?"

"It was a decent costume, I'll give you that!" Rory says in encouragement, though with a hint of impatience in her voice as well.

"Can I have another letter now?"

"You can; in fact, dear contestant, why don't you guess three letters for your incredible act of knight-killing bravery?" They offer, clapping their hands excitedly as they motion their hand out towards the board to remind everyone of what has, and hasn't, been guessed:

"_ _ - _ _ _ _, _ I _! _ _ _ - _ A _ - _ _ - I T!"
Guessed Letters: A,E,I,S,T.

Three?! She... She doesn't know. She didn't think she'd get this far.

"Okay, wow, um. Let me think," she mumbles, then purses her lips in thought.

"O... H... and B, please."

She's very unsure about this.

"Splendid, contestant Rory, you've uncovered four more letters!" They clasp their hands together, a wide smile appearing from ear to ear on their face.

"And that means you have three choices this time... Guess the phrase, spin the wheel, or answer a challenge question to guess four letters!" They offer, clearly more excited than they should be about that prospect.

"_ O - _ O _ _, _ I _! _ O _ - _ A _ - _ O - I T!"
Guessed Letters: A,E,I,S,T,O,H,B.

Day 4: Monster Arrival

Afternoon: 12:00noon - Evening

The Weather

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