Day 6: Evening Monster

[wizardseason]

Evening: Evening - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: December 4th - December 18th, 2019 ]

Three significant things happen when the heroes have finished their venture into the mountain.

First: Just outside the mountain cave entrance are four doors just... freely standing there. The heroes will be able to walk around them, walk past them, and generally inspect them. But they just look like normal doors. Three are marked "Bamborough", "Craydon", and "Far Haven" and sure enough if the heroes open them they'll find the marked city just past the door.

What?

The fourth door is marked "Guest List" and has the names of all the heroes scrawled down below it. Six had said everyone was invited, after all.

Second: The Wizard and Protector's fight has ended, but social media is losing their collective mind over the crater the two had left behind. A significant part of the beach is now gone, filled in with water in the empty space the battle left behind. How did it end? Who won? Is it all over?

Third: Six's show has started. Luka's princess senses will point him straight to the door with the guest list on it, and he'll know he's meant to enter. Courtesy of some time nonsense, even if the heroes take their time entering from the mountain-side of the door... they'll all arrive at the same time in the monster space. They won't all arrive back on the mountain at the same time, though, instead they'll go back at the end in the order they went through in. First in, first out, after a shared same-time-Six-showdown fight.

But is it a fight?

Monster Arrival: ???: Where is this?

---

The Weather

• Cloudy.
• 52°F / 11°C
• Still chilly!

---

Prompts:

• 5:00pm Mountain, General Post: Any character interactions atop the mountain or in any of the towns before the heroes go to face Six can be added here. Five and Ten both say they won't be joining the heroes to watch the show, they weren't invited.


• 5:30pm Onward: Monster Theatre: When the heroes arrive in Six's space, they'll be surprised to see that it's set up very much like a movie theatre. There are exactly enough plush, reclining chairs for all the heroes to have one each. At the front of the room is a big red curtain that's down, with a sign over it stating "Take your seats, the show will be starting soon!"

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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.

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Activity Check: December 2019

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

Comments

5:00pm Mountain, General Post

[wizardseason]

Any character interactions atop the mountain or in any of the towns before the heroes go to face Six can be added here. Five and Ten both say they won't be joining the heroes to watch the show, they weren't invited.

5:30pm Onward: Monster Theatre

[wizardseason]

When the heroes arrive in Six's space, they'll be surprised to see that it's set up very much like a movie theatre. There are exactly enough plush, reclining chairs for all the heroes to have one each. At the front of the room is a big red curtain that's down, with a sign over it stating "Take your seats, the show will be starting soon!"

Part 1: Take your Seats

[wizardseason]

One of the seats is especially fancy, decorated with golden-threaded blankets and fancy pillows: The Princess' seat practically radiates "royalty" and has a little card with his name on it. It also smells gently of roses and is the warmest location in the room.

The reclining seats for the other heroes are nice, too, but they're nothing like the one for Luka. At least every seat has the hero's name on a little card on it. Additionally, as a personal touch, there's a small sketch of each hero beside their name.

All the sketches are absolutely terrible.

What will the heroes do? Take their seats? If any of them try to be mischievous with the curtain, they'll only find another curtain behind it.

[fop_lop]

"Ah, well that's... Charming," Terrence lies through a forced smile upon seeing the 'illustration' of him in the chair, sounding as if he's trying to encourage a small child while sparing their feelings from the truth. They're in some kind of bizarre space possibly controlled by Six, after all, and the other monsters have seemed rather childish, so tact seems apropos.

Terrence gently folds the paper and slides it into the pocket of his jacket before taking a seat in his assigned chair, not really even bothering to confer with any of the other knights first. There doesn't seem to be any immediate danger, so no reason not to play along for now, right? Four seemed to follow the rules he set, at least, so here's hoping Six follows suit.

[eutychia]

When Luka finds his seat, he's pleasantly surprised. It's almost exactly as over the top as he'd imagined, perhaps even more so. The card, though a nice touch, isn't much use to him and he tosses it over his shoulder nonchalantly. He pulls a pillow into his lap as he sinks into the velvety soft, warm chair.

"I think I like this Six guy, he really honored my request." Luka laughs. "Now if only we could get someone to bring us drinks, it would be the perfect monster battle~"

[tropicalstorm]

"Looks like I made it to his show after all," Haizea says to herself, before making her way to her seat. She picks up the terrible drawing and smiles at it fondly. If she could, she'd put it up on her fridge back home.

"I hope y'all like puppets!" She calls to her fellow knights once she's settled in. She doesn't mind them, personally, and is kind of morbidly curious about what a monster puppet show is going to be like.

Part 2: The curtain rises

[wizardseason]

The show, as promised, is starting soon. The lights in the room dim, and the quiet sounds of a violin start fading in over the speakers. With all the heroes in their seats, it's time for the show to begin.

It's time for the fight to begin.

The curtain begins to be drawn back, the ropes pulling the fabric open slowly. The seats that the heroes are sitting in shudder just as the curtains are opening. Restraints slide out from their hidden compartments and strap the heroes' wrists and ankles to their seats, pulling them tight against the fabric of the comfortable chairs.

The words "take your seats" on the sign glows an ominous red.

The curtains pull back, revealing only a single individual standing below a bright spotlight. Six's cowboy hat is bright under the light, his face shrouded in darkness below it. His sunglasses obscure his eyes, and he stands stoic with his arms folded. The stage all around him is empty.

"This story begins like no other." He speaks, his voice loud but not oppressive, amplified by a speaker that he's definitely clipped to his collar.

"With our heroes imprisoned, trapped, unsure what to do." He continues, as an ominous music starts playing over the speakers. It's all deep drum beats and cymbals being slid against each other.

But are our heroes imprisoned, trapped, and unsure what to do?

What are they doing here, as the show begins?

Will they escape? Or are they along for the ride?

Open

[daddykong]

Garrot was willing to play along with the show, at least as long as Six didn't do anything aggressive. Four, despite being threatening, didn't act on any of it. But when those restraints appear?

"《You piss-drowned little sewer rat.》" The insult, oft used in unsavory circles to call someone a liar and a coward, is growled out in a deep and guttural Koskenkorvan. It's the first time today that Garrot's felt sure about anything.

His wrists might be bound, but his hands aren't, so both snap their fingers. Barely-visible clouds of golden-bronze dust form before his chair, and suddenly there are two Garrots; one facing the rest of the audience and one facing the stage.

"Who needs a hand?" The one facing the group is doing the talking, adhering to the Law of Conservation of Hands before snapping his fingers again and causing the Garrot in the seat to disappear. "I've got plenty to go around." The Monkey Knight is smirking, clearly pleased with himself as both Garrots do little jazz hands.

[sustainer]

"I do," Gyre answers immediately from the dark. His voice is incredibly strained. He wasn't overjoyed about the idea of sitting down in this weird room to begin with, but the second he's strapped down, his whole body goes completely rigid. He does not like this. He's trying very hard to keep his mind from going to the darkest places it can. The idea of being trapped in one spot is such a primal fear for him, and he is only barely keeping his voice under control.

Even as he asks for help, he's also clenching his fists, shifting his legs against the bindings. He manages to get a half an inch between his back and the chair, and he holds himself there, refusing to be pulled back into place even though he's clearly shivering with the effort of it. Please help him.

[eutychia]

Luka tenses immediately when he suddenly finds himself restrained. It’s a jarring transition from his previous state of delight and relaxation, snapping instantaneously into a stomach-churning cold sweat. His instinct is to pull against them, but this only heightens Luka’s anxiety when he realizes just how tightly Six has them bound.

“Oh, Siiiix~!” He calls out when he hears the monster on stage. Luka’s tone is sing-songy, an attempt to hide his growing panic. His voice is as loud as he can make it in spite of his shallow breath. “ You know, I’m absolutely loathe to interrupt a performance but— this?”

He makes an attempt to gesture to the restraints on his arms and legs.

“Not cool. This kind of thing requires a discussion beforehand.” He laughs. “This isn’t the fabulous show I was expecting.”

[wizardseason]

As Luka calls out to Six, an obvious change happens in the room. A spotlight clicks on, aiming very directly towards Luka and illuminating him in his seat. The light's so bright that he'll feel its intensity on his skin.

The good news is that it makes it much harder to notice Garrot happening in the background. Whatever he's up to off to the side will be happening, but it won't be obvious here in Six's conversation.

"I said you would be a part of the story, princess!" He smiles, spreading his hands to his sides with his palms up.

"In fact, everyone is. We're just preparing for the fabulous first act." He continues, sounding deeply pleased with himself as he steals Luka's adjective. He liked the idea of his show being fabulous.

"All you have to do is relax, I'll put you all down when the show is over."

Put them down?

...?

What is Six talking about?

open

[scandeled]

Oh, great. Matilda hasn’t involved herself in monster fighting the past two days— unless you count her attempted battles with Ten. She had begun to think she could escape all of this fighting nonsense, but apparently she was wrong.

See, the show had been okay until the restraints happened. She’d been into it, even- near the edge of her seat in anticipation. So when she finds herself pulled back just so, unable to move- she panics, and struggles against the restraints. Then, she remembers who she is, and smiles.

The Dog Knight, with fantastic powers of teleportation at her disposal.

She closes her eyes, and vanishes from where she sits. Then, she reappears, off to the side— only, the chair has come with her. She wails in despair.

“What??? Why did this hinderance of continent come with me!”

[tropicalstorm]

When the restraints snap onto her wrists and ankles, Haizea's entire body tenses and her blood runs cold. This was a MISTAKE cooperating with a MONSTER was a MISTAKE. 

"Let me out of this RIGHT NOW or I'll do more than ruin your little show!" Haizea growls and strains against her restraints. "I'll not be held!" She's angry and seems a little unhinged as she rocks back and forth on the chair, trying to upend it. 

Normally she likes to gesture more fully when using her powers, but she is able to use her hands and stir up a swirling gale around herself. At the very least, she won't be easily approached like this. 

Open

[silentwords]

Seth...really doesn't appreciate the restraints. The moment they snap on a sense of panic fills him, instinctively trying to get out of them. And when that doesn't work he almost starts panicking even more, before remembering his decision to try and be better, and how panic didn't really do any good.
So he instead starts doing breathing exersizes to try and calm down somewhat.
He's still super unnerved and on the edge but there's not really anything he can do right now but go along...right?

[fop_lop]

Much like the other knights, Terrence isn't exactly a fan of being tied up against his will. Tied up consensually, sure, but not like this! That said, he's evidently a fair bit more okay with it than some of his fellows seem to be. That, combined with the fact that he has one of the less useful powers for helping them immediately escape, leads to the pragmatic decision to simply stay quiet for the moment.

Garrot(s) is/are on the move, so he'll be freed eventually. For now it's more reasonable to just let him/them help out the ones who are panicking or have abilities with more short-term impact first.

Part 3: The show gets faster

[wizardseason]

Unfortunately for all the heroes, their Princess decided to ask the most important question. Who was the enemy? As he asks that, it doesn't matter what's all happening in the background.

It doesn't matter that Garrot and Gyre are grumbling up a storm. It definitely doesn't matter that Matilda is teleporting around the room like a cat being chased by a bag she put her head into out of curiosity. It probably isn't a bad thing that Haizea is yelling up a storm and Seth is along for the ride.

What does matter is that Six stands up from where he'd knelt at the edge of the stage. The red-lit "take your seats" sign goes out as he raises up his arms. There's a faint sound of wires being pulled over pulleys and the faint glinting of wires in the air a moment before the literal worst thing in the universe happens.

Every single hero is released from their bindings, only to be lifted up like a puppet dangling from wires in the ceiling. What is this Junji Ito nonsense???

"The villain is clear, take a look for yourself-" Six begins to explain, shifting his hands as he takes a step back to get out of the way of... another curtain. The wall of blackness that could've been easily mistaken for a back wall suddenly shifts and pulls open, the curtains revealing a strung-up puppet with the word "Protector" painted on its chest. It's dangling over a pile of bodies and has a golden dollar sign necklace around its neck, a jeweled crown, and an ornate rapier in one hand. It's not like Six discussed good villains with the princess.

"Hello. I am the Protector. I am a bad man." Comes a robotic voice from the dangling puppet.

Uh.

Great?

[eutychia]

"Ugh, again?!" Luka shouts with sheer exasperation as the mysterious tethers take hold of him.

They'd only just been freed from the shackled chairs! At the very least, this form of restraint did allow for some arm movement, and Luka uses this limited arm movement to attempt to slice the wires suspending him with the rapier.

"Six, I'm starting to think you might have a thing for tying people up." He says as he jabs at the air around and above him. This must look terribly silly, he thinks. If only he had a weapon more suited for slashing.

But then Luka hears Six introduce the villain of his show, and he stops struggling.

"Okay now, you've got that all wrong. That sounds nothing like him!"

[fop_lop]

Oh, well now that's... Not good.

Here Terrence was, politely waiting his turn to be rescued while surprisingly amused by the Princess's antics, when Six had to go and escalate things - literally. The rabbit knight hadn't even attempted to break free of the chair's restraints, but this was something else entirely.

Thankfully, the strings left just enough freedom of movement for the knight to reach into his jacket pocket and retrieve his shortsword to flail awkwardly about at them. Were it not for his preoccupation, he might find the Protector facsimile funny.

Part 4: Getting strung along (Final)

[wizardseason]

Luka's swing above himself to destroy the wires works successfully, as do anyone else's attempts to struggle out of their bindings. It's surprisingly easy to get free, but the show proceeds onward without their involvement. Unseen speakers make Six's voice boom, filling the space as he tells his tale.

"But it's exactly like him!" Six counters Luka's claim that the Protector dummy is unlike the Protector.

"Yes, I am the bad man. I have done bad things but I am the good guy so I am good." The Protector dummy explains, sounding... utterly dumb.

"Our story is simple... Eleven monsters have been killed, one remains, and the Protector is addressing the fighters!" Six exclaims, motioning behind him as matching dummies slide forward from the curtains behind him. The dummies look like all the heroes in the audience. Garrot. Gyre. Haizea. Luka. Matilda. Olivia. Seth. Terrence. One dummy to match each of them, with the symbol of their animal companion drawn onto their body.

"Good heroes. Be careful. The twelfth will murder you." The Protector dummy explains, arms shifting and... pulling out two guns?

....???????!

"Look out, there is danger, be careful!" The Protector dummy exclaims before... just fucking shooting all the hero dummies. The bullets impact their dummy bodies and send them clattering to the floor.

"Oh! No! How could the Wizard have done this!" The dummy exclaims, soundly utterly monotone. A few moments later, the lights turn off on the stage, all the wires on the heroes go slack, all the chairs release the heroes, and there are no remaining limitations on anyone.

It's just them in the room and Six at the edge of the stage. The door to the room unlocks. The red sign goes dark.

"So!" He starts, sounding delighted. "What did you think?"

[eutychia]

"I have some criticisms." Luka says immediately, raising his hand in the air. But he doesn't wait for Six to call on him. After all, the monster openly asked for their thoughts. "The characterization is off. Did the Protector shoot all of us? He wouldn't do that. Not to me, at least."

Luka folds his arms as he sits back down into the chair that once had him shackled.

"Speaking of me," he continues. "I should have played a bigger part. I'd rewrite that ending, too. It's depressing."

[scandeled]

Matilda is completely drawn into this ridiculous nonsense-- even while she wriggles and chops her own way out of her binds. There's some grumbling at any appearance of the Protector, something about stolen aesthetics-- but the biggest reaction out of her happens when the protector dummy shoots the hero dummies.

"Nooooooooo!" Matilda wails, the agony in her voice so real that she may have just seen all of her friends get shot for real. She's great fun to take to the movies or theater, really. She's reduced to pouting and some sniffling as the show ends-- and when Six asks what they thought, she knows exactly what to do.

She teleports right out of her seat, onto the stage, fumbling around a little in the dark to find her dummy-- then teleports back, with the absurd Matilda-dummy, into her seat, to pout. "How was that a fight?"

[fop_lop]

After cutting himself down...

Ahem.

[tropicalstorm]

Haizea had been screaming bloody murder and swirling herself around on the strings with her wind powers the whole time, when she finally gets free, she's honestly pretty dizzy. Stumbling, she stalks over to Six, pointing accusitorily.

"I think-" she starts, trips a little before getting her bearings again, then continues, "that you owe me an apology! You could have WARNED us that you wanted us to act in your show! Didn't have to tie me up like that!!"

She's honestly pretty mad, and part of her is ready for a fight just because of the absolute indignity of it all, but she's containing herself for now. They'd had such a nice chat before! Why this!!

[daddykong]

"I think..." Garrot's been doing some deep breathing since getting flung around like a ragdoll twice over. The production ended, the lights went out, and by all indications they were free to go. But this is a man possessed. His eyes glow teal again, looking at himself and his dissipating clone and his allies to see if those strings are really gone. But since he can multitask...

"...that if you wanted us to appreciate all your effort," if it could be called that, how shoddy, "then you wouldn't have tied us up. Do you want us to focus on the Protector, or on being tied up?" Garrot takes a step forward, closing the distance just a bit for now. In a show of intimidation, he's even cracking his knuckles.

Someone might be out for blood.

[sustainer]

Gyre struggled until he freed himself, collapsing onto the floor and staying there for several seconds. There is a pure animal fear in him that he might be tied up again, or chained down, or restricted in some other way. He barely hears the play over the pounding in his ears, drawing quick uneven breaths as he tries to collect himself.

By the time he can hear again, the play is done and Six is asking what they thinks. What they think!! Like this was a fun game for all of them!

He's on his feet a second later, grabbing a broken chunk of his armrest off the floor and winging it at Six's body as hard as he can. He doesn't want to hurt him badly, but he does want to wind him. Because holy shit. Uncool.

"FUCK YOU!"