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.

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"Is it really a favor though?" Luka purses his lips, half in disappointment, half in frustration.

"Fine." He sighs. "I suppose your defeat is the only thing I can't buy on my own anyway, right? Can we at least make a show of it when the time comes?"

Luka leans back in his chair. He hopes the Protector is faring as well as he can be given the situation, but being unable to communicate with him discreetly has left Luka in the dark for now.

As if it was all an act, because it's all an act, Four immediately resumes their radiantly jubilant behavior.

"But of course, dear contestant Luka! I hope you will choose something adequately flashy, a ceremonial sword perhaps? I'm eager to see what you choose!" They laugh.

The Protector, on the other hand, has been eerily silent as he considers his situation. But at the commentary that Luka will kill Four in the end, his steeled gaze looks up to Luka and his voice is colder than the arctic as he speaks.

"Let us get this over with." He folds his hands in front of him, waiting for Four to explain-- except there's a thump as a small stack of paper appears in front of the Protector.

"You'll choose three at random for our dear Princess to guess! And you, dear contestant Luka, will only have sixty seconds to get them all correct! Are you prepared for the challenge?"

"Oh, I'm ready as ever, darling!" Luka says confidently. "And put a pin in that ceremonial sword idea, hm? I'm thinking an opal and pearl hilt?"

His comment seems partially directed at the Protector, though he isn't sure he can supply any weapons in his current state.

Luka turns toward him. "We'll have his head on a platter in no time."

As if prepared in advance, a ceremonial sword pops into existence at Luka's side. It's got an opal and pearl hilt as requested. Did the Protector put that there? Did Four? No one owns up to it, but it's absolutely there and ready in a jeweled hilt for him.

"Then let the game begin, dear contestant! The countdown will begin when--" They start to exclaim, except they're cut off as the Protector grabs a page and looks it over to begin reading. He can see that the page says "A Knight" but Luka will have to guess that and the viewers outside the fourth wall will either have to guess it or highlight that text to cheat.

"Someone who fights to save the world. Someone who is doing the right thing." He begins explaining, waiting for Luka to jump in with the right answer so he can move on to the next one.

"Hmmmm..." Luka taps his chin in an overdramatic fashion. "Me?"

The protector makes an immediate "Mmn." sound of disapproval before actually voicing the negative answer.

"No." He runs his fingers over the paper, crinkling it a little before he elaborates further.

"There are twelve every year. They're doing the right thing."

"Oh, easy! That would be the Knights." Luka claps his hands together and waits for Four's response eagerly.

Four eagerly jumps on the opportunity to be excited in this moment. They ring a bell somewhere, Luka will realize that the bell sound is not coming from the direction that Four is currently speaking from. Instead it seems to be off in the distance, the same distance out that the audience seems to be whispering in hushed murmurs. Four's not over there, who's ringing that?

"That is correct, dear contestant Luka! Now--"

"Quiet." The Protector snaps in, shooting a glare at Four just long enough to ensure they've gone silent and then he turns back to Luka. His next word for the audience to know and for Luka to guess is "The Wizard" but Luka won't know the word until he guesses it. If only he could cheat like the audience at home, but Four would hate that!

"The one you have sworn to defeat. The one that will destroy the world. The villain." He explains, readying himself to move on to the third word.

Off to the side, Four mutters "That's not very nice."

Edited 2019-08-11 18:54 (UTC)

Luka picks up on the bell's sound in the distance, keeping still as he calculates about how far away it seems to be emanating from. How big was this place, anyway? He wonders, before the Protector's voice pulls him back into the present moment.

He rolls his eyes at the obvious clue. "The Wizard?"

This is way too easy, he thinks -- suspiciously easy. If it were really this simple it would be the easiest monster battle yet. There has to be some kind of catch, but Luka isn't sure exactly what yet. He thinks again to the feeling pulsing from beneath him, wondering if it wouldn't be better to just cut this game show short. It could use a little more drama anyway.

He tries to give the Protector a meaningful look, making a series of hand gestures in attempt to communicate what he's thinking. But Luka has no idea if the Protector's even looking at him. He can only hope that he was, and that he understood, otherwise he just looked like a fool in vain.

Luka's assumption that it's too easy is exactly right. The catch is the third question, and the Protector makes a sound as he pulls forth the page to look at it. He catches Luka making expressions and catches his desire decides that there's a proper way to handle it.

"A splendid second answer, quick to the third!" They exclaim as the Protector decides on what to say. The words on the Protector's last page are "The Protector is a doo-doo head" and how Luka's going to get that without cheating is anyone's guess. Have fun dreading what's next, audience!

"Six words. Soon. Childish insult. Distracted. About me." He chains together a number of words and it would sound like nonsense to anyone else, but he deliberately changes the way he says 'Soon' and 'Distracted', hoping that Luka picks up on his willingness to upturn this game show when Four was distracted. Probably when they were celebrating getting the third word right. The rest of it, though, is actual hints for the question.

Off to the side, Four is gleefully clapping their hands softly at how this is all unfolding.

It takes him a moment to think through. Luka's entirely focused on answering the question correctly at first, but as he pieces through all of the Protector's hints, he picks up on the message.

"A childish insult about you... hmmm," Luka taps his chin, as if deep in thought. He is in fact deep in thought, but he's wondering just how to get Four properly distracted. "The Protector... is... a...."

Luka absentmindedly feels the length of the ceremonial sword's hilt as he tries to conjure up a suitable childish insult. He was eager to make use of the thing, if he could.

"...butt head?"

The ceremonial sword feels quite real and it's just waiting to be used! Slice up that monster, Luka! Or at least, do so when they're distracted. That shouldn't be too hard!

"Close. Different fifth word." He answers, considering how to explain the next bit. He doesn't seem to need any other hint drops, though, because he sees Luka's hand on the hilt of that weapon.

"A childish word. Made up of the same word twice." He clarifies, shooting a narrow-eyed look at Four.

Luka grimaces considering the options. Four's really going to make him say this on live tv, huh? His head on a platter was looking more and more appealing.

"Uhh.... poo-poo? Doo-doo, pee-pee?"

It had better have been one of those, because it's all Luka could think of. If the goal of the show was to get exploitable sound bites of Luka saying stupid stuff, he was over it.

His hand grips the sword as he waits for some kind of signal to attack.

There are murmured chuckles in the audience as Luka says the words. The whole world now has footage of him saying quite silly things, and the memes were already in progress. But thankfully he got it right, and there's the popping and celebratory sounds of horns as he guesses correctly.

"Splendid work, dear contestant, three guessed correctly in only..." They make a show of checking their watch. They aren't wearing a watch.

"Forty-nine seconds! You've proven yourself astute and undefeatable!" They place a hand over their chest, waving out towards the audience and turning to face them as they roar in applause. It's with their back turned to both the Protector and the Princess, and hidden in the roar of the audience's cheers, that the Protector decides to make his move.

"Luka. They're distracted." The Protector instructs, his eyes glancing down to the blade in Luka's grip

Luka doesn't hesitate, quickly standing from his seated position with the sword still firmly in his hand. Though the applause isn't necessarily for him (or what he's about to do), he's emboldened by the roar of the crowd.

He approaches Four, guided by the monster's pull, and swiftly thrusts the sword in their direction.

[Luka attempts to stab Four in the chest area from melee range.]

Luka's swift action against Four's temporarily distracted state pays off, because the stab strikes true. The blade pierces through their body and there's the sound of buttons hitting the floor as they're torn away from the fabric.

"Oh dear!" They exclaim, gripping the blade where it's stabbed through them. For the audience both here and at home, they get the sight of Four's four eyes and mouth curling into this absolutely horrible smile like they'd planned this all along.

"It looks like this game is going out... with a bang!" And as they say it, their entire body bursts into confetti around the sword. Paper particles fill the air and a moment later, each member of the audience starts bursting too. One after another, burst after burst after burst. From behind Luka, the Protector's insistent voice cuts through the bangs filling the air.

"We have to run."

Luka has no time to seethe over his dramatic moment being turned back on him. "To where? I have no idea where we are. Or where they went."

He recalls the bell in the distance from earlier. "Maybe whoever was sounding that bell needs a good stabbing too."

This dramatic moment was entirely Four's! But Luka can certainly feel like he'd had his thunder stolen. That was fine, there was nothing wrong with that. All that mattered in this moment was that the game show had come to an end.

The audience members, one by one, are all bursting. Even the ones in the direction of the the bell ringing.

"They're gone." The Protector answers, reaching for Luka's hand to lead him away from here.

"There's a door. An escape. The monster is likely hiding another trick behind it but it's all there is."

Luka sighs and allows the Protector to lead him. "We don't have a choice. But if that's where he is I want to go there no matter what. I'm not finished with him."

The Protector makes an affirming "Mmhm" sound, clearly equally as annoyed at the prospect of being subjected to more of Four's games. He makes short work of getting to the door and turning the handle, advancing through it...

...and arriving in Luka's bedroom.

The door swings shut behind them both, and if it's reopened it will just reveal what was normally there instead of a game show stage. There's a soft weight in Luka's hand as the Protector pulls away and looks around.

"I know this room." He remarks, since he's seen it from the inside of Luka's brain. But now he's not in Luka's brain.

The letter, when Luka brings it up to read it, has fancy ornate lettering with braille beneath it... but more importantly, when it's acknowledged it'll start playing an audio-recording of Four's voice. Luka will be able to feel the overworked speaker in the letter vibrating just a little so he'll know it's there and not actually them.

"Congratulations on defeating me, dear contestant Luka!" There's a clap sound recorded in the audio, apparently they just loved doing that.

"I can't wait to see you again tomorrow, but for now take time to kick up your feet and relax, You did so wonderfully, amazingly well. I had such fun, you have no idea! Ta-ta for now~"

And the recording ends.

But it'll replay if he opens it again, like a birthday card with a battery that never dies and you open it again ten months later and scare the crap out of yourself. You know the type.

"That wasn't defeat. Not how I wanted it." Luka scoffs back at the recording, as if it could hear. "This is bullshit."

He throws the card down carelessly, and it lands in such a position that the recording plays again.

"Ugh, shut up already." He grumbles as he kicks it away. He takes in his surroundings, recognizing the room through the familiarity he's gained with it over the past few days.

"At least they did us the service of bringing us back somewhere decent... if that's really where we are." Luka heads to the door, surprised when it opens to a seemingly normal outside world.

"I want to look for them." He says, turning over in the Protector's direction. "Are you in?"

Edited 2019-08-15 02:18 (UTC)

The recording can't hear Luka's scoff, but it can have its feelings hurt by being thrown down and kicked away. It's just doing its best! It plays the recording a third time, for good measure, but it's beneath the bed at this point and the sound is muffled.

"This seems to be your current room." He answers, considering Luka's question for only a moment before nodding.

"I will go with you."

Luka feels pleased with that response, though he's not entirely sure why.

"Any leads on where they might be?" Luka asks, already heading out the door. "I don't feel anything."

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Day 4: Monster Arrival

Afternoon: 12:00noon - Evening

The Weather

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