Day 4: Monster Arrival

[wizardseason]

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]

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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: '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.

Comments

[wizardseason]

Thank goodness. Ten takes the opportunity when Matilda teleports backwards to lift his tea up to his face. The red-white spiral straw touches against his yellow skin and, a moment later, gloops into it. Wherever he put that straw, it's allowing him to take a drink here while he watches them.

He lets Matilda work through her thoughts, work through the fact that he is in fact Ten and not Four, and then he nods at her before glancing to Terrence.

"Am I surprising?" He holds up the phone towards whichever of the two of them are still looking at him. All while drinking tea through a straw in his vaguely-chin-area.

What a weirdo.

[scandeled]

Matilda can only watch in horror as Ten's straw inserts into the skin of his face and drinks something. Terrence is close enough to her that he might hear the soft, strangled groan of despair inside of her throat-- but thankfully, his manners snap her out of it enough that she turns and offers the other knight a beam. "Good Afternoon!" She chirps, before turning her attention back to Ten, who can only make her pout.

"Astronomically so." She responds, though she finally drops her pose and stands up straight. "What's the point of being here if we're not fighting you? Shouldn't you be...in... Monster land?" Or wherever the hell these things come from.

[fop_lop]

Though he'd have put it in far more eloquent words, Matilda's own brand of straightforwardness had its own sort of charm. Terrence was wondering the exact same thing anyway, so it was just as well.

"...Yes, none of the rest of your kin seem to be out and about," he adds, folding his arms across his chest again like a disappointed teacher. "Or at least not as obviously so. What makes you special?" Fuck pleasantries, then. They were going to be trying to kill one another in less than a week regardless, after all. It was uncharacteristic of the rabbit knight, but then so was nearly everything about this year's Wizard and her monsters...

[wizardseason]

Ten's eyes go through a radial blink, going from the left side to the right side of his face in a wave pattern. 'Monster Land' huh? Fortunately, that was a fake place so he didn't really feel like addressing it. He shifts his glass of tea so the straw is a little more centered before he holds up his phone with his other hand with the next response.

"Everyone is on the island.
Not special, just not shy."

Not shy or not planning something. Four didn't want to spoil their surprise, so they hadn't let themselves be seen.

[scandeled]

Matilda's head tilts to the side, then down, and allll around, following Ten's blinks with her head. "They're... shy?" The word shy is mustered with a higher pitch than she's had the entire time, and she shoots Terrence a panicked look.

"Shouldn't you be plotting our deaths or something?"

[fop_lop]

Ten's response gets a frown out of Terrence. It's so straightforward, but that just makes it all the more vexing.

"Who knows," he shrugs, making an active effort to keep his voice and demeanor stable to balance out Matilda somewhat. "If she wanted, the Wizard could have killed all of us day one... It's pointless to speculate on what they spend their time with or why. That said, I'm not exactly a fan of the idea that they could be hiding about the island and watching us at any given time. I like my privacy." The irony of stating this as they accost the relaxing monster isn't lost, but it is ignored.

[wizardseason]

If Ten knew Terrence felt the answer was vexing, he'd engage him in a discussion about how, often, the truth was simple and straightforward while the lies were complex and deep. Not always, but enough that it ceased being disappointing and just became... predictable.

Much in the way that knights, like Matilda, assuming he was going to kill them became predictable. He shakes his head at her assumption. No, he definitely doesn't need to be plotting any deaths right now thanks.

At Terrence's words and to dismiss Matilda's fears, though, they're idly typing a response to hold up on their phone.

"All occupied.
Not hiding.
Too busy to spy."

[scandeled]

"They're all too busy. With what?" Too busy, but not plotting her death. Having a conversation with a monster like this is seriously creeping her out though, and her cheeks flush as she tries, and fails to look super tough.

[fop_lop]

"I'm curious about that myself," Terrence agrees, giving Ten a rather skeptical look. He'd said it was pointless to speculate, sure, and while he'd wager it's nearly as pointless to ask, they might as well try. "You've a proper year to prepare before we even appear, don't you? I can't imagine what could be left to occupy your time at this point..." In Ten's case, at least, it sure looks like a whole lotta' nothin'.

[wizardseason]

If someone asked Ten 'hey is Matilda being tough right now?' his answer would definitely be 'nah', sorry Matilda. Same for Terrence. Neither of these two were particularly intimidating. But he's idly writing a response on his phone already to hold up to these two.

"Depends.
Four practicing.
Seven financing.
Nine programming.
Twelve gardening."

[scandeled]

Matilda means to jerk back, away from Ten, but instead, she just manages to teleport back another yard or so, drawn back in exaggerated nonsense. "Gardening!" She announces, loudly, before she begins frantically typing into her phone.

How much is it going to be to get gallons upon gallons of weed killer onto the island?

[wizardseason]

Ten watches Matilda with an idle fascination. Teleporting would be fun to do, he thinks, but he's not really in a position to ask a knight for a favor right now. Especially not one whose first thought went to getting weed killer to kill Twelve's wonderful garden.

Extremely rude.

He just nods at Matilda. Yes. Gardening. Should he give more details? Is Matilda a gardener?

[fop_lop]

"Gardening isn't inherently malicious, I suppose... It's not like the Wizard sends possessed ramen after us either, or anything," he shrugs. His tone is neutral, but he's considering just how innocent the gardening of not just one of the Wizard's monsters, but the Wizard's final monster can actually be...

Still, Ten is pretty high up on the list as well. Terrence has no idea if there's any ill-will between monster siblings when it comes to power dynamics, nor does he particularly care about sparing any of their feelings... But it's probably best not to rile one of them up needlessly when it's only himself and another mostly noncombative knight in the area.

"Not that I'd blame you for not trusting us," he muses further, "but would it be possible for us to see Twelve's garden..?"

[wizardseason]

Ten immediately shakes his head. It's not his garden. Even as he answers it, he's typing up a response on his phone to force Microsoft Sam to narrate the message that he holds up:

"Only Twelve can allow that."