Day 5: Afternoon

Afternoon: 12:00noon - Evening

[ IRL Timeframe: September 25th - October 9th, 2019 ]

It's monster time for four heroes!

When Five appears, it's in the form of a one-on-one fight. Not everyone will get the chance to raise their weapon and fight. Everyone else will be left to handle the goings-ons of the island in general. Harsen Island isn't a quiet place, and there's plenty happening on day five to keep everyone occupied. Now that the dust has settled on the mountain, anyone can go up to look at where the Child emerged from.

Or they can go see the Child themselves, social media is doing a good job tracking their path down to the piers in Far Haven. It's easy to track a glowing magic entity! If the Child isn't who they're interested in, they can find the Wizard, Ten, and the Protector in the hospital in Far Haven. What a popular city! It's the biggest place on Harsen Island, so that makes sense.

But all over the island, things are happening and events are unfolding... at this point, the heroes know more than anyone else does. They'd better be ready to work together!

Monster Arrival: Far Haven: The Duels: Gyre, Zafika, Luka, Olivia.

The Weather
Eerily still.
61°F / 16°C
Brrr, where'd that cool wind come from?

Prompts:

12:00pm The Child, Far Haven: [Continuation of the previous thread.]

Anyone who had interacted with the child, or chased them, is in for an unfortunate surprise. They've been targeted by Five and are about to have to deal with her. Olivia is the first to go toe to toe with her, and the encounter ends up allowing the Child to escape.

When Five appears, she's walking with the confidence of a killer who's sighted their mark. She's the most human-like by far, but there are still dead giveaways as to what she really is. For one, her bright yellow skin is a mark that she can't do away with. That aside, she looks like an assassin right out of a video game. Her head is obscured under a black hood, her mouth masked behind fabric, and her five amber eyes (two on the left and right, one vertically on her forehead) glint as she approaches. Her outfit is all black, pants, shoes, shirt, all leaving no sign of the skin beneath. Dangling from her neck is a circular metallic necklace. Instead of weapons grasped in each hand, she's dragging along two black bags. The sound of the fabric scratching along the ground announces her arrival.

"I challenge you to a duel." She says, her voice sounding all too much like a young child's. As she says it, the world around the two of them disappears. The ground at their feet lies under an inch of water, reflecting the cloudy sky above. There are dead trees sparsly jutting up from the ground and fractured pieces of buildings laying around. This is clearly a battlefield, a wide, lifeless expanse that exists solely to fight.

Anyone in Far Haven will be able to find the child at the end of the Far haven pier, staring out at the ocean. Social media isn't quiet about where they are. But the four who face off against Five won't be able to get there until they've dealt with her.

12:30pm Train Derailment, Bamborough: Unfortunately for anyone who gets the news about anything in Craydon or Far Haven, there's no way to get there. On its way into the train station, the train rolled over a handful of stray acorns and one of the sets of wheels hopped off of the tracks. It'll take a few hours at a minimum to get it back in place. Is your character stranded at the train station? Do they spy a fellow hero also stranded? Will they decide to take a long 4-5 hour power-walk along the tracks out to either of the other cities? Will they just wait for the train? Do they go rent a car to get out there? Roadtrip?! Or do they just go somewhere in Bamborough to kill time?

12:45pm Bed & Breakfast Helping Hand, Craydon: The owner of the Helping Hand Bed & Breakfast needs a helping hand! They threw their back out after carrying a large stack of firewood in for the wood oven. Looks like they're down for the count for at least the rest of the day. Care to lend a hand, perhaps with your fellow heroes, to get things taken care of? The laundry needs to be done, more firewood has to be cut, the food has to be cooked, the guests have to be checked in and out... Who's going to do all this if they can't even get up off the ground? They're in a rough spot! Social media was kind enough to report on what happened, but the one who reported it had to catch a flight and needed to head off. Good luck, heroes!

2:00pm Hospital Visit, Far Haven: Despite being the Wizard, the doctors at the Far Haven hospital insisted that there would be no visitors until at least 2pm. They'd rarely had an opportunity to speak to the Wizard in previous years and they weren't going to pass up an opportunity like this especially not after Ten arrived carrying the Wizard. Anyone who tried following after was left in the waiting room, forced to read bad magazines and sit in uncomfortable chairs. When the doctors finally allow visitors, they look pale. Like they've been told something awful, but they're unwilling to talk about what they talked about. Inside the hospital room, the Wizard is reclined back in a hospital bed with Ten at her side. She's looking conscious, at least, but she still looks pretty roughed up. Ten is playing defense against anyone who tries to get close.

Worse than that, the Protector arrives at the Hospital not long after the doctors allow people into the room. Though the doctors won't speak to the heroes, the Protector can be found tracking them down throughout the hospital. In the waiting room, in the lobby, in the halls, in the elevators. Whatever they were told, it looks like the Protector is making his way around the hospital to undo it. Anyone who sees him will notice that he has a sword scabbard dangling from his belt. Looks like he's ready to defend himself.

2:00pm Unlimited Tacos, Bamborough: One restaurant noticed that there were more people wandering aimlessly around Bamborough than normal because of the train being derailed. As a result, they put out signs advertising free tacos for the rest of the day! Any hero may show up and sit down to dine on tacos of all types and flavors. Unfortunately this taco shop only specializes in flour-shell options, but their flavors are on point! Dine in with your fellow heroes and discuss all the nonsense that's been happening... and it's only day five.

4:00pm Free Drinks, Far Haven: If your hero is just tired of everything having to be So Much All The Time, they can drop by one of Far Haven's brightest night life bars called "Reach". They're offering free drinks all night to celebrate the Wizard getting put in the hospital. Things are looking pretty easy for the team this year! The special drink being offered is the "Wizard Bomb" which drops a blue shot into a bubbly red drink. It's pretty tasty and, best of all, free! Which heroes will find each other here before the night crowd shows up? Sun's still out for now!

4:00pm Free Admission Meditation, Craydon: Heroes need to take a moment to breathe, and one of the locals in Craydon has realized that. They've offered any hero a free meditation session in their garden room. Incense will be lit, hot towels will be offered, and the gentle serene environment of their garden room (complete with the carefully-combed and designed zen sand pit) will make sure any stress just melts away. Does your hero run across someone else while walking in or leaving?

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: 'Child' toplevels will unlock additional information as the story progresses. Send a ping on Discord to get a reply with further details regarding this thread.

Activity Check: October 2019

[ IRL Timeframe: October 1st - October 31st, 2019 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He sighs aggressively, rubbing his brow in annoyance. He's had to talk to too many cryptic assholes in the past five days to deal with this one.

"Be specific," he says, a tinge of anger in his voice. The tinge vanishes after that at least, but he's really so sick of these conversations. "What am I doing that will kill us all? Trying to keep you safe? Who is the murderder, in your eyes? The Princess? I'm not on his side."

He sighs again, body going looser as he tries to calm down again. He glances up briefly, scans the horizon, wondering where the child is right now. "I'm not going to hurt them. Or let them get hurt."

When he lets that anger inch into his voice, she leaps to her feet and gets right up in his face. Like, nose-to-nose, and she brings her hands up to grab his arms in case he's going to try to get her. She's surprisingly strong, holding him in her grip as her sage-scented breath gets right up against him.

"Of course you're not, that idiot you call the Protector does plenty of hurting and murdering for all of you. And he gets thanked for it! Gratitude! Celebration!" She suddenly pushes him back, releasing him and stepping back from his personal space.

"If you're really not gonna let them get hurt, you're gonna get killed. He's going to kill you." She says, because she's seen it.

He doesn't fight her at all when she grabs him. He can tell she has no killing intent in her. He wonders if she's ever killed a knight in all these forty years. This is to say, he meets her gaze with this absolute calm, listening to her even as she squeezes down on him. He just wants the information. She can deliver it however she feels like it, and he takes a step back when she pushes him away.

"He's a fucking coward. I'm not on his side either," he says firmly, a hard, cold edge in his voice. He's got words for the Protector, but he actually has no idea the man is walking in the world just yet. Again, the anger fades out of his voice a second later, and he makes a sound that might have been a laugh in completely different circumstances.

"I'm already dead, kit'a," he repeats, with a little smirk.

Hey, Gyre? Don't call her out like this. It's fucking rude. Like, wow.

But then he drops his bombshell and she's mid-response to his first statement when she responds to it.

"Yeah, he iswhatthefUCK are you talking about!" Her voice jumps into a half-yell in the middle of the sentence, now pointing accusingly at him.

"I'm not dumb! You're alive and standing in front of me! You can't tell me the dead walk and talk and expect me to believe you."

He raises his hands to pacify her when she starts yelling, wondering just how many witnesses there are to this conversation by now. Not that he mind either way, smirking idly as he gestures for her to get closer.

"I'll tell you how I did it," he says conspiratorially, his voice dropped down into a soft, rasping whisper, "if you help me find the... your... hm, that person." The child, is who he means of course, but he's not sure what to call them when she got so flustered about that phrase earlier. He wants to get away from here is really the big thing.

There are, uh, a bunch. Lots of people standing in the windows overlooking the courtyard. It's not a full hospital, but there's enough folks there.

"That doesn't benefit me at all. You could be lying!" She counters, unswayed by him and unmoving. Sorry Gyre she's hung up on not trusting him just yet.

In that moment, the Princess throws open the doors to the courtyard. He's headed on a determined path, directly for Five, as he draws his sword from it's scabbard. He knows that Gyre's there, somewhere, but Gyre's presence is merely on the backburner for now.

"FIVE!" Luka shouts, holding his sword up. He's expecting an attack -- to continue the fight, and he'll gladly give her one should she engage. "I challenge you to a duel, and I'm going to kill you!"

Edited 2019-10-11 02:16 (UTC)

An electric shock races up his spine when he hears Luka's voice, and he looks over his shoulder to see him coming up the courtyard. It is a thoughtless movement to put himself between Five and the Princess, and his hands tighten into fists. He doesn't draw a weapon, but he takes in the space, the crowd in the windows of the hospital, and the sword.

He takes a deep breath, and uh turns back to her quickly, his voice still low. "Have you fulfilled your part of all this? I can keep him off you if you like, but you should go."

If there was one thing Five didn't want, it was to face off against Luka again. At his arrival, she looks at him wide-eyed trying to determine what to do next... but Gyre gives her an out. He steps between them and she quickly pulls her mask back up over her mouth. All five of her eyes narrow as Gyre turns back and asks her that question and then has the gall to ask her to run.

"I was done thirty years ago." She answers, not clarifying what thirty instead of forty meant. And then she's turning away. She'll take the opportunity to dash when it looks certain that Luka won't chase her.

"I'm leaving, Princess, we're done!"

Luka blinks and his stance falters when he hears Gyre. He lowers his sword, but only slightly.

"What are you saying? Go where?!" He begins to attempt to move around Gyre, toward Five. His steps are cautious because although he suspects it, he can't be sure that Gyre isn't standing at the end of his sword.

"She's going to get away!"

"Yes. You're going to let her," he says with this calm, cool air, like he's never been more certain of anything in his life. As he speaks, his brow furrows slightly and he raises a wall directly beside Luka. If he continues moving to circle around Gyre, he'll smoosh himself right into it.

Gyre takes the moment he thinks he's going to get here to turn halfway towards Five, keeping Luka in his peripheral in case the man surprises him. He reaches under the collar of his vest and draws an amethyst on a gold chain out from under his shirt. He darts a hand forward, taking Five's arm and setting the shiny little bundle into her palm, offering her this uncertain smile.

"Just bring it back when you're ready, okay? You or them," he says quickly, and he's not going to hear a word of protest on the subject! He's not interested in dying at Luka's hand, if it gets to a fight, so he's taking the option off the table, even if he knows it will put him on a timeline once Five gets out of here.

With that done, he faces the Princess fully, stance firm and strong and ready. "Stand down, Princess."

"Why!? She's a monster, Gyre! We need to kill her!" Luka clenches his teeth in frustration, but lowers his sword completely when he addresses Gyre.

"Oh, don't tell me you fell for her 'pity me' act. She lied to me, too. She manipulated me and played me for an absolute fool! She's doing the same to you, and you're falling for it hook, line and sinker if you're letting her get away."

"I don't wan--" She starts to protest as Gyre hands her the unknown jewelry. Why would she ever want this? But Luka is absolutely advancing and looking angry as all hell in this moment so she's hardly interested in staying. But Luka says something that makes her face scrunch up in immediate anger. She forcibly grabs the necklace from Gyre as she shouts at Luka.

"I said I don't want your fucking pity! you senseless murderer!" She hisses out the last word before turning on her heel and running. She is outta here, she wants no part of facing off against the righteous-vengeance-blinded Princess right now.

He glances over his shoulder when Five starts yelling, only letting out a held breath when she turns and runs finally. The moment she gets a yard away, he feels something sharp and uncomfortable in his chest, an arrow pointing him back towards his soul as she runs away with it. The impulse to chase her is there, but he holds himself still.

"No," he finally says, returning his attention to Luka. "We need to defeat them. She's been defeated. Her death is pointless, and cruel."

"And the only way to defeat them is to kill them. How else do you know they're really defeated, and not playing some stupid trick on you?"

He feels the pull of Five gaining distance, and impatiently taps a foot.

"They'll come back next year anyway! They're not really dead. They're not like us."

This is greeted by a stunned silence! His brain almost refuses to accept the phrasing, and his very first impulse is to try to spin it. He knows these people talk in circles sometimes, and he had not clocked the Princess as some heartless beast the way some of them so clearly were.

"They're..." he repeats, "not..." His voice is slow, soft, as if turning the words over in his head. And then adrenaline spikes up into his throat. His mind goes blank. All thought of his soul is consumed in the sudden, furious blaze of anger, the realization that Luka said exactly what he means for once.

So he reaches back, fist closed, to uhhh punch the Princess, directly in the nose, as hard as he can.

Edited 2019-10-11 21:53 (UTC)

Luka's sword is released from his grip and it clatters to the ground. His body follows shortly after, blood just beginning to trickle from his nose. Onlookers gasp and hurriedly whisper in the distance.

He's completely out cold, with nary a moment to even process what had happened. Coldcocking a blind man, Gyre? So not fair.

Look, he realizes he made a mistake in this awful game they're playing the second Luka's sword hits the ground. He doesn't regret doing it, but he does know it's likely going to cause him more problems then not in the long run. He sighs slowly, shoulders slumping down, bringing a hand up to clear his hair out of his eyes.

Fuck. Well now he's got to live with it. He glances up, scans the murmuring crowd, and then crouches at Luka's side. He takes the man's arm up, looping it around his shoulders, and stands, hiking him up in his grip so only Luka's shoes get dragged along the ground instead of his entire lower half.

Much as he was furious with him a moment again, the anger has passed and he's not going to just leave the guy out in the open air, especially not when there's a hospital right there. Hopefully no one bugs him on the walk up, and he can say the minimum number of words to get a doctor to take Luka away.

"Unhand the Princess." A voice cuts through the silence of the hospital hallway the instant that Gyre sets foot inside it. He didn't even get the chance to find a doctor, or even see a doctor. Instead, it's just the empty lobby with the Protector standing dead center in the middle of it.

Is this a boss arena?

He reaches down to pull his blade free of its scabbard and uh. It's probably the most terrifying thing Gyre's ever seen? It's probably the most terrifying thing anyone has seen. The blade looks like a rip in reality, like someone took a pair of scissors to the space it occupies and snipped away the layer to reveal something underneath. The place underneath looks like space just as much as it looks like hellfire. It's a terrifying mass of colors and impossible shapes that promise only beauty and pain. Whether he's moving the blade or keeping it still, the space beyond keeps spinning its promise of divine retribution.

"It is no pleasure of mine to meet you, traitor to this world. Consider your status as a knight revoked as of this moment." He lifts his blade to point it directly towards Gyre.

"I know you align yourself with the Wizard. Give up and I will be merciful."

Edited 2019-10-11 22:43 (UTC)

Just like when Luka approached him, he pauses inside the door and scans the boss arena, his gaze only settling on the sword once he's taken it all in. It is... terrifying, and he thinks about what it feels like to have fire pushed into his body. His breath catches, but he doesn't try to retreat, holding steady if only because his legs have locked up in fear.

He doesn't respond for a long moment, glancing at Luka, and then forcing himself to suck air in through his teeth. He says, "I am aligned only to myself. Who the fuck are you?" and he's entirely impressed with himself when his voice only shakes a little, even if a moment after he finishes, his knee buckles in sudden weakness. He manages to keep himself up, but only barely, brow furrowing as he tries to force his soul to stay in this body instead of leaving it like it very much wants to at this distance from his amethyst.

"I am the Protector, and I am going to kill you to save the world." He states simply, bringing his sword up over his head in preparation for a strike as he starts walking forward towards Gyre.

"You have one final opportunity to drop the Princess and turn yourself in. Do not waste it, you will not live to get another." He adds it as a fact. He's not slowing in his advance. In only a few more paces he's going to be within striking distance.

What now, Gyre?

"Oh. You," he says, and his face twists in clear disgust. He draws another deep breath, and casts a look around, taking a step back just so he has an extra moment before the Protector gets to him.

"Can you give me s-sixty..." he pauses briefly, realizes his timeline might not give him that long, " thirty seconds then, to find a bed for him? His nose is broken. He needs to be comfortable."

At Gyre's request, the Protector ceases his advance. He narrows his eyes, keeping his sword held high. He's clearly taking a moment to observe the situation around them, and that situation is: A lot of eyes. A lot of observers. A lot of witnesses.

He makes a "Hm" sound for a moment before acknowledging Gyre's request.

"Do so. Do not attempt deception." He answers. But uh... he's absolutely going to continue following Gyre, blade held at the ready. If Gyre makes any move to attack him, he's going to strike.

"Uh huh," he mutters and immediately turns away from him, walking down the hallway and towards the blocks of rooms he remembers from the previous evening. The third room down is empty and he wanders in, carefully scooping Luka up and laying him out over the covers. He takes a breath, feels his body go stiff and then limp and he nearly hits the ground, catching himself on the railing of the bed.

This is to say, it takes him a little longer then he thought it would, but he finally manages to force himself back up, breathing harder. His hands are shaking. There are black spots floating through his vision. He desperately wishes that Five would move a little bit slower, but he limps back out of the room, peering at the Protector as he takes a second to lean against the doorframe.

"I need to tell a doct-t-t--" he gets caught on the word, shaking his head very slightly, "A doctor. That he's in there." He's not going to wait for the Protector's permission as he begins back down the hallway, figuring the coward will follow him no matter where he goes.

When Gyre turns his back on the Protector, he starts following him from behind in a more casual pose. He doesn't need to be ready to strike, especially not with Gyre looking like he's on the edge of death. He follows him all the way to the room, and then narrows his eyes when Gyre comes back out.

"He will be tended to." He states, simply, followed with a near-emotionless command:

"Stop." But, Gyre being Gyre, he decides he's not going to stop? Well, the Protector knows exactly what to do about that. He rushes forward with his blade held high, bringing it down in an arcing slash very much intended to cleave Gyre in half from shoulder to hip.

Except that there's the horrifying sound of metal against screaming, crackling metal. Standing directly behind Gyre, wielding a glowing blue blade, is Ten. He's locked into a standoff with the Protector's blade, facing away from Gyre with only the back of his shirt visible.

Ten's wearing a T-shirt with big white text on the back:

"Run, stupid."

The front, facing the Protector? Says "You're stupid."

The Weather

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