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.

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The Weather

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

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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]

Garrot's free to come to that conclusion given the information he's been given! But for the audience at home, well the ones behind the fourth wall, Four didn't say they were the one to kill the ones who played this game.

But that didn't mean the game wasn't also rigged.

Four's smile grows wider and wider with every passing moment, every single second that Garrot spends analyzing what his approach to this situation is going to be. Every case that's gone seems to delight Four, and they all fall open a moment after Garrot says what he'd said. The cases fall open to reveal 90-83, 80-79, 76-74, 72-65, 62-05, 03, and 02.

Ha ha, fucking what?

Several of those cases have entire number ranges in them, is that allowed?

"Oh, dear contestant, how dare you throw my number away!" they exclaim, absolutely hurt that he'd cast it out. But as they say it, case number four opens up to reveal a bright gold "100" inside of it. The former highest number.

But that means the only numbers that remain are 95 and... 4.

"Just two cases left!" They smile wide, a horrible shark-teeth-filled smile now. When did they get teeth? Why does this suddenly feel more dire?

"But the monster banker will let you trade cases... if you want. Are you holding the 95, or are you holding my dearest, most favorite number?"

Remaining: 95, 04.

Removed: 100-96, 94-05, 03-01.

Cases Left: 1 Case: 12.

[daddykong]

Though it's become difficult to retain any kind of measured demeanor, Garrot can't stop himself from sighing as he levels his best "are you fucking kidding me?" face at Four. So rigged, so dumb! The statistical chances of consecutively getting all six number-range cases (also, fucking what?!) is so small that, well, the 100 case coming right behind (and on case 4 no less!) is just. It's so dumb.

Maybe they're both stalling for time? So Garrot follows that sigh with a deep breath, trying to rally his senses in case they're not alone. But then he sees Four's smile, and the Monkey Knight reciprocates. A shark-toothed smile gets a jagged, monstrous smile from someone who had to be taught how to smile in a non-terrifying way.

"I think we both know which number is where," he's back to condescending, because he's pretty sure the answer is wherever Four wants, "and besides, I'd rather beat Twelve and Four at the same time. No deal."

And now he just needs an opening to strike; he's done all he could to stall. So as soon as (or, well, if) Four makes any indication of opening this last case, Garrot will try to catch him off-guard with a thrust of that scalpel-spear!

[wizardseason]

Garrot was a man with 1-in-a-million luck! That's just how this came to pass, obviously! Nothing was out of the ordinary here, and the cases were totally legitimate and fair in every way.

"Well then, dear contestant..." They suddenly stand up straight, their toothy smile vanishing behind this horrible ear-to-ear grin.

"You have a phone call."

And as they say it, all the lights go out. All that's left is Garrot standing under a spotlight, surrounded by darkness, without even the slightest whispers of an audience watching. Seconds of silence pass before there's the distinctive sound of three light switches being flipped. Three more spotlights come on, forming a square where each corner is a spotlight. To Garrot's left is his case, case 13. To his right is case 12, the final case. Ahead of him is an old rotary phone, and it stays silent until the moment he takes even a single step in any direction.

And then it rings.

[daddykong]

Garrot might have been more unsettled by Four's faces if he wasn't just utterly done with the monster's nonsense. A phone call, now?! It's probably just the Monster Banker trying to get in his head over a game that's still obviously just rigged. Or it's Four, hiding in the darkness and waiting for Garrot to lower his guard.

Fuck that.

The Monkey Knight takes a step towards case 13, ready to pick stick to his guns and end this bullshit. But then the phone rings, so Garrot... ignores it after a moment of scrutiny. His strides get him to the case he'd chosen, and it's. Fucking locked!! So Garrot huffs, and his giant scalpel-spear disappears as his eyes dart briefly to the phone, still ringing. Ugh. So he walks towards case 12, loudly groaning when it's also locked.

Why the fuck are the cases even here?!

A weapon rematerializes, this time a traditional, one-handed broadsword. He'll need to be able to defend himself while he's on the phone, after all. Deep breaths, Garrot, stay frosty, he reminds himself, taking special care to listen to his surroundings. Four's gonna do something dangerous, he's convinced. But his free hand picks up the phone, and his aggressive apathy is apparent from the get-go.

"What?" The Monster Banker, or just Four with a different voice, would have to be in on this bullshit to be on the other side of this magic phone that came from nowhere. So Garrot's got no patience for any of this; the only reason he didn't just hang up is because part of him hopes the Banker will be easier to work with.

And maybe easier to kill, if it comes down to it.

[wizardseason]

Four isn't going to do anything dangerous at all! Instead, they're the one speaking on the phone. They definitely act like the monster banker, though.

"This is the monster banker!" They exclaim, very clearly in Four's voice. Because it's Four.

"With your final offer. If you go open case twelve, right now, you'll lose the game and you'll be killed... by all the knights, and by your children. Doesn't that sound splendid? But if you want to keep your case, case thirteen, just go open it, and you'll win. It's that easy, dear contestant."

Click. The phone goes dead.
Click. Case twelve is unlocked.
Click. Case thirteen is unlocked.

What will Garrot do?