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

"Ack!" Haizea exclaims as she runs into the cloth. She absolutely gets tangled and flails for a moment before a strong gust blows it off of her. Straightening her hair and jacket as she goes, she starts to stalk back towards the fourth monster.

"Cute trick, but I got some of my own," she says, and shoots a gust of wind towards the monster. She puts a spin on the wind this time, making a small cyclone that she aims to trap the monster inside.

"Oh no, dear contestant, you simply must save your tricks for the show itself!" They give a laugh as they stand against the incoming gust of wind and-

Just like before, when the wind hits them all that's left is a tangled mess of fabric that gets twirled up into the cyclone and tumbles off to the side. When Four speaks again, they're directly behind Haizea.

"I hope you're good at guessing, because we have a world-sized show in store for you!"

Except when she goes to look, she's now standing alone in the center of the spotlight. The darkness is surrounding her in every direction.

"Are you ready?" Their voice says again, still behind her, and all around them the audience gives hushed whispers of surprise at this dramatic turn of events.

She curses when Four disappears again and internally panics a bit when the light goes off. The realization that she is utterly not in control of the situation is extremely upsetting to her, but she puts on a brave face.

"Alright, fucko, if you're too scared to face me in a real fight, then I guess I got no choice but to beat your ass senseless in whatever game you wanna play. Hit me with your best shot!"

When Haizea exclaims 'hit me with your best shot', the curtains on the stage that were hidden in darkness fly open to reveal a spotlight-covered stage with Haizea standing behind a little podium.

"That's right, dear contestant!" They exclaim as they walk out on the stage while holding a little corded microphone. They smile wide down at her, motioning outward dramatically with their hand.

"Welcome to the Monster is Right, a spectacular show about guessing!"

"Guessing??" Haizea exclaims incredulously. "That's just luck, ain't it? I've never been much for games of chance, I'd rather use skill," she says with a frown and crosses her arms.

She's putting up a brave front, but this makes her pretty nervous. What will happen if she guesses wrong?

"That's right, dear contestant Haizea! A game involving luck and skill!" They clasp their hands together and motion their hand out towards a pair of curtains that... weren't there a moment ago. A moment later they're opening to reveal a big mountain slope with a little man on top. The scale on the bottom is hard to read, but it looks like it's labelled with numbers from 1 to 100. How odd!

"You'll use your abilities to push this little man up the mountain to the value you think is correct!" They move over to where the little figure is at the base of the hill and make a show of blowing on it. It, of course, doesn't budge an inch because their breath isn't as strong as Haizea's storm.

Haizea stares at the slope with the man, looks back at Four, and then in one sweeping motion from her arm stirs up a wind that pushes the little man all the way up to the top of the mountain.

"Go big or go home I always say," she says succinctly and crosses her arms.

"But... dear contestant, I haven't even revealed what you're guessing the value of!" They stumble a little, looking at the 100-valued man now. They consider it for a moment before motioning towards a curtain that pulls open. Behind the curtain is a bowl of ramen with a "???" where the price sticker is below it.

"Here's your first item out of three to guess! How much do you think this is worth?" They ask, looking nervously back at the man on the slope. Please, Haizea, think of the ratings. Don't guess that this ramen is worth 100.

She has half a mind to shove it up to 100 again out of pure obstinance. But instead she sighs, rolls her eyes, and with a little flick of her finger sends a breeze to push the man up to the number 10.

"Can't see what kinda toppings are on it from here, but I think this is in the ballpark for a decent bowl of ramen."

Well if Haizea wanted to lose, she could do exactly that! Instead, she settles it up to number 10 and Four clasps their hands together and...

Confetti poppers detonate all around the stage! Endless streams of fluttering colorful paper fill the air, and a victory tune starts to play.

"Fantastic, dear contestant! Wonderful! Amazing!" They give a clap and a spin, taking a few steps back as they motion towards a new curtain on the stage. This one has a "2" on it. Two out of three. A moment later, the curtain pulls back to reveal the words:

"The lives of your fellow knights."

"Time for the second round, dear contestant, what do you think the value of this one is? Oh, do be clear! If you're even one off, it will be wrong!"

Haizea raises her eyebrows at this, then turns to Four angrily.

"You can't put the value of a life on a scale from 1 to 100! Let alone ALL those lives!" God, she wants to just FIGHT this thing already.

Haizea could absolutely choose to fight, what's the worst that could happen?

Four, meanwhile, just looks delighted by Haizea's plight. How wonderful!

"Oh, silly me dear contestant, let's see... how does this look?" They smile wide, an awful smile that spreads from ear to ear. Behind them, the scale suddenly extends... and extends... and extends...

It finally stops at 1000, the tip of the scale nearly at the ceiling of the room. It'd take quite a bit of wind to get it up there. Is that what those lives are worth?

"Much better!"

"No, if anything it's WORSE," she growls out, crossing her arms angrily. "You can't pay for a life with any amount of money," she says firmly.

She does truly believe this, she'd never trade a life for money. Is there something else she'd trade a life for?

...Possibly...

"But, dear contestant, you must guess a number!" They offer with a surprising gentleness. This is a game, isn't it?

"Otherwise there won't be anything to judge. The audience is eagerly awaiting your choice!" They lean forward as they extend their arms out with their palms up.

"I am especially eager, myself!" They're loving the drama that this horrible decision is stirring up, and they love that Haizea is resisting it. This is great television!

"What will it be, dear contestant! What is it, between 0 and 1000!"

She narrows her eyes as Four leans forwards, she wants to just knock their head off. But, she pauses, looks at the scale, and takes a deep breath to center herself.

Then, she stirs up some wind, and it is strong. Extremely so. She builds it up in a cyclone so that the force can concentrate and when it's at its peak, she shoots it off towards the scale pushing the little man up and up the mountain, all the way to 1000...

... And then, with all the force she can muster, the force of the wind breaks the end of the scale, and the little man flies off towards the stratosphere.

Four watches with the following emotions, in order, as the little man goes up and up and up and away!

Delight. Curiosity. Confusion. Horror. Anguish.

"Dear contestant, what have you done!!" They exclaim as they run over towards the scale, placing their hands on both sides of their head in utter despair. How could this happen!!

It made good television, that's how it happened.

"Whatever will we do!! We have to guess the value of something!" They say, turning towards the audience. There's murmuring in the shadows-- and then there's a hush that falls over the entire room as they turn slowly back towards Haizea...

...and the lights in the room go dark. Only two spotlights remain: One on Four, one on Haizea, and they're looking positively terrifying as their face is revealed to just be one big wide smiling nightmare of an expression. Their hands haven't left their head, and they pose the replacement value to be guessed:

"How much is your life worth?"

The little man is back on the scale.

...and he's glued at zero.

Oh no.

She actually grins at this. If this monster is finally ready to fight her, then that's a huge improvement over trying to compete in some silly game.

"My life? Who knows..." she trails off, and puts a finger on her chin pensively. "But I'm thinkin' it's worth more than yours!"

She wheels on Four suddenly, her arms swinging in a large arc to summon up a gust of wind that she aims towards them, hoping to curve it into a cyclone around them. Maybe this will stop their fast footwork they displayed before!

This wasn't what they wanted at all! But they are also completely unsurprised by it. They stand in the center of the sudden gusting cyclone all around them, their stance becoming one of an unamused shrug. Their expression looks very much like an exclamation of "oh no, you got me" a moment before it goes completely blank.

Their face is featureless, absent of any eyes or mouth at all, as the cyclone shreds them to pieces like paper. Bits of their outfit and body settle to the ground all around them and, a moment later, the spotlight that was on them goes off.

It is silent. Nothing moves. There is only the deafening sound of silence pressing in from all angles.

The last spotlight, the only light on the stage, goes off before long and Haizea's left in darkness.

...

And then Haizea is dropped as if the floor was a trapdoor. The world beneath is exactly where she'd been taken from: The rubble and debris of the city. She's left there, like none of it had ever happened, with no sign of the blackness she'd been dropped out of.

In her hand, she'll find an ornate Thank You note in an envelope. Her name is written on the outside, and within is a handwritten letter in fancy cursive letting: "Thank you, dear Contestant Haizea, for an incredible showing of energy and excitement! You helped make this a wonderful and unforgettable experience!"

The letter is, of course, signed with an elaborate "4"

Congratulations, Haizea?

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Day 4: Monster Arrival

Afternoon: 12:00noon - Evening

The Weather

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