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]

It's definitely creepy and too much, what a terrible turn of events! Fortunately for Seth, his panicked wire-approach to getting all the fake people people away from him is pretty effective in actually shredding reality itself. The wires cut through what initially looks like air, but it turns out to be elaborate curtains hanging near him to look like the island itself. As the fabric is ripped up, it falls to the ground all around him and...

...behind the curtains that are around him is the game show stage.

It looks like Seth had been surrounded by a fake reality to make him think he'd escaped the game show.

But in reality, he was still here.

Beyond the shredded curtains that he's ripped apart with his wires, Four is still sitting in their host chair. Their hands are steepled in front of their face, fingers intertwined as they level their gaze and smile on him.

"Welcome back, dear contestant. Are you ready for question five?"

[silentwords]

Seth looks around in panicked confusion for the longest while. What? He was still here???
There's tears falling down his face, which looks pretty out of place with the dumbfounded confusion that's settling in.

It...wasn't over?

It takes him like, 15 whole minutes to process all of, this, before he then very shakily and uncertainly nods.

....it's not like he had much of a choice anyway, right?

[wizardseason]

Unfortunately for Seth, Four doesn't give him 15 minutes! They give him a minute, tops, before they're moving closer to him and kneeling with this big awful smile.

"Dear contestant, tell me you're alright, you look so very frightened! It's just a game, isn't it?" There's an unmistakably wicked tone in their voice. They both know it's more than just a game, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Seth was going to play, and Four was going to have fun.

[silentwords]

Seth absolutely stumbles backwards when Four approaches him, only to fall flat on his ass, as his attempt at processing all of this was interrupted.

Dear gods.
...He hated Four.
Sadistic son of a bitch.

It takes a moment but then...
Seth flips Four off.

His emotional resources were in the negatives and so anger and frustration moved to take the front of the stage, temporarily covering up his panic.
He'd still definitely have a meltdown later but for now...
He was just pissed.

[wizardseason]

"Oh?" Four says aloud, watching Seth's reactions.

"Ohhh? How interesting, dear contestant!" They exclaim, standing up suddenly and throwing their arms out in the air to their sides like they're showing something off.

"Dear audience, it looks like we've received a request to go to the lightning round!" They say dramatically, earning several loud gasps from the audience in response.

"And that means it's time for the last, and final question! The one with the most stakes! Dear contestant, this question is all or nothing... are you ready? Here it is!" They give a spin in place, motioning towards the board as the ninth, and final question appears. What happened to the ones in the middle? Why was this the end? This is all very unexpected!

Is this the final year of Knights, Monsters, the Wizard, and the Protector?
A.) Yes.
B.) No.

[silentwords]

Seth takes a moment to just stare angrily at the question, before then taking a deep breath...

And starting to sign rapid fire style.
"It better fucking be A, if I see or even hear of anymore Wizard related shenanigans after all of this absolute bullshit is over, I'm going to lose my goddamn mind! I've been ready to peace the fuck out the moment I was thrown into this tomfoolery and yesterday's shenanigans sure as hell just solidified that notion. But if I piece out I'd be doing the Wizard a favor and that's last thing I want. So I pick A, YES, and no I'm not changing the answer so just tell me am I right or wrong so we can get this over with, I'm goddamn tired, I haven't slept more than a few less than an hour naps since I woke up YESTERDAY."

....and there you have an example of Seth when he's ranting online, ladies, gentlemen and monster(s).

[wizardseason]

"Oh, dear contestant Seth, despite your foul language you'll be pleased to hear..." They lean forward, smiling wide as four confetti cannons aim directly at Seth's face.

"That you're correct, you've won!" And as they say it, the four confetti cannons fire more confetti than they've ever fired before, completely obscuring Seth in the multicolored paper.

When the colorful paper settles, Seth is right back where he came from. He's no longer in the game show, he's back out in the world. The only signs that he was even playing the game are the colorful paper piles laying all around him now, and a neatly-folded piece of paper in his hand. If he looks, the paper is a note from Four that reads:

"Thank you for the lovely time, dear contestant Seth! Our ratings were positively through the roof thanks to you! Congratulations on your victory and my defeat! I'll see you tomorrow, ta-ta!"

[silentwords]

Seth squeezes his eyes shut and grimaces as the confetti is shot directly at his face. Seriously?!

But then, he's out in the real world it appears. His eyes turn to the paper, staring at it for a few moments...

Before just, physically deflating and laying down right then there, uncaring of where he actually was, letting out a strangled mix between a groan and a sob.

Guess it was time for that meltdown that had been waiting to happen since last evening huh?