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!"

---

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.

---

Activity Check: December 2019

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

Comments

[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.

[wizardseason]

Six, meanwhile, apparently misses every single cue that Garrot might be out for blood. Instead, he asks the most seemingly off-the-wall question.

"Do you not like hands-on immersive experiences?" He tilts his head.

"Is that what it's called? The television used those words over and over again."

[daddykong]

Garrot stops for a moment, blinking his eyes in utter disbelief at how stupid Six seems to be. There's a chance this is just misguided idiocy and not, like, malicious. The fuckin' monsters had to start fuckin' showing personalities and talking this year, so it's not just putting 12 feral hogs out of their misery or whatever.

"N-no! This wasn't hands-on at all!" His voice wavers a bit, but then he takes on that stern, angry tone of a father reprimanding their child. "You restrained us and controlled our bodies. Without asking!"

Garrot notices suddenly that he's snarling with rage because the others, Gyre and Haizea in particular, seemed more shook up about it. And he can't have some of the other combat-capable Knights off their game. So he takes a few steps forward, glowering. If he can draw Six's attention and intimidate him, maybe the others can get out safely.

"What the fuck did you think was gonna happen?! That we'd be a literally captive audience?!" There is absolutely some spit coming from his mouth with those words because he might be shouting a little bit? And those hands are balled up into tight fists.

[wizardseason]

Six blinks in response to Garrot's exclamations. He has so many questions in this moment, but he's going to ask a loaded question to get some answers.

"But the television said it was fun for the whole family." He blinks, taking a step back because Garrot looks like he might actually just explode like a bomb?

"I should've made the restraints colorful." He adds, seeming distracted.

...

Colorful restraints??

[daddykong]

For a moment, Garrot's eyes go wide. Like if a child were to put a piece of baloney in a CD drive. But then he closes them and just exhales, loud and deep. Those fists loosen a bit, but not enough that he's casual again. Find your zen, Garrot, this monster is clearly not on Ten's level. Ten is apparently an outlier, between Four and Six!

"The colors aren't the problem, it's the restraints." Were he talking to a grown adult, Garrot would make humorous mention of fuzzy handcuffs or vibrants ropes. But he's not. He's talking to a monster who takes inspiration from television. "You didn't have to restrain us at all. You..." He squints a bit, taking another half-step forward. But now, those hands aren't fists at all. "Do you get restrained when you watch television, Six?"

Garrot truly hopes the answer isn't yes, because then he can just turn it around and not process what the monsters do in their downtime or how. But how is this line of thought so normal for Six?!

[wizardseason]

Six processes Garrot's words and scrunches up his eyebrows. What a strange question. He hesitates to make sure he's completely understood what Garrot's asking, and then...

"But this isn't a television show, it's an amusement show?" Why would he get restrained for television...?

...Wait.

"Did I accidentally make you all watch a television show...?"

...

.......???

???...???????...???????

[daddykong]

"N-no!" Garrot's eyes are wide and shocked and his jaw has started to naturally drop and his shoulders slump because holy fuck is Six misguided. Stupid? Definitely a pain in everyone's ass at least.

"You don't need restraints for an amusement show!" He groans, bringing a hand to rub gently at his temple. "It doesn't matter what color they are, you shouldn't have used them at all!" The statement's crescendo shifted to shouting, as Garrot's tired of civility and of coddling this Knight-killing monster just because he can't wrap his monster-goo-brain-thing around reality! Garrot was fully aware how pissed he was about that entire experience and he saw his allies react far worse. He'll drive home the point for them, if nothing else. But in the moments of silence his breaths are deep, and his entire body rises and falls with each movement of air.

Fucking try him, Six.

[wizardseason]

Six looks more confused than before.

"Then why did the people at..." He pauses, thinking.

"Lords...? Royals...? Kings...? Leader's! Leader's Landing, why were they all restrained?" He counters, looking at Garrot for answers. Garrot will, naturally, recognize the name 'Leader's Landing' as one of the more famous amusement parks with roller coasters in the world. They had multiple locations in several countries, and they all had roller coasters.

Explain your planetary customs! Why were those restraints okay!

[daddykong]

A dejected, baffled whine resonates from Garrot's throat as he tries to parse that statement. How is Six so stupid??? So he takes a half a step forward, leveling a serious, parental disdain kind of glare.

"They're restrained at Leader's Landing because otherwise, the rides go really fast and people could get hurt. Going fast is what makes them fun." He's utterly deadpan. "A stage show doesn't go anywhere and won't hurt anyone. We were just sitting there, you didn't need to do any of that." He takes another half-step forward, but he's still glaring.

[wizardseason]

Six makes a face when Garrot explains something that makes absolutely no sense. He tries to process it for a few moments before he comes to a conclusion and:

"So I should've made my show go fast." He confirms, nodding like Garrot's given him some sagely advice.

"Maybe for the epilogue."

[daddykong]

"No!" Garrot is shouting again, because even children aren't this absolutely infuriating. Children also don't have reality-warping magical powers, so like, it's really comparing apples to hand grenades. "Your show didn't need restraints or to go fast." He raises a hand as if to say one minute, takes a deep breath in, holds in, and lets it out.

"If you wanted to tell us that the Protector is the villain in your show, and that he's going to shoot us, then you could've just told us. No wires, no restraints, no bullshit. Just the show." Another bout of zen-like deep breathing.

[wizardseason]

Six looks briefly surprised when Garrot shouts. What the heck, Garrot? He's about to comment when Garrot holds up that finger and then he's left listening with his eyebrows scrunching up.

"But Four did a show, I thought that was a good idea." He answers, confused.

"And the others say knights don't listen very well."

[daddykong]

"It sounds like you don't listen very well, either." All that deep breathing and his discussion about not killing monsters with Gyre makes this quite a trying conversation. He wants to punch Six. At least twice. So (un?)luckily, his tone shifts to that of a chiding parent.

"Four's show was about playing a game. Four didn't tie us up or dangle us from wires." He scoffs, trying really hard to maintain composure. Fuckin hell, Six. "Four also didn't hang around and talk to us and we listened just fine. Wasn't I listening to you this morning?"

[wizardseason]

If Garrot had any intention of un-confusing Six, he doesn't succeed. The tone is lost on him and--

"You're right! I shouldn't hang around, that's why it's all so confusing!" He claps his hands together like he's had the greatest revelation in the universe.

"Thanks for the advice! Hold on, I'll be out of here in just a sec-" He follows, pulling out a small black device from his pocket and starting to tap away at it. Is that a tiny cell phone?

...

Who's he texting?

[daddykong]

What the fuck? Garrot sees that cell phone and his eyes go wide- Six is probably calling one of the monsters, maybe? But why? It's not something he'll let go, so he's got a hand up in a stop kind of gesture, and he's even taking a few steps towards Six!

"Wait! What- are you texting Ten?!" Ten's pretty smart, if nothing else. Ten can tell Six he was being stupid. "Where are you going? How?!" Truth be told, he's not against the idea of Six just disappearing so he can catch his breath, but this... this is super weird.

Probably more magic bullshit.

[wizardseason]

Six doesn't look up from his phone as he finishes the text. It's only after his fingers finish moving that he looks up at Garrot and tilts his head.

"Why would I be texting Ten?" He asks, sounding deeply confused.

All at once, it looks like the space around him is getting punched out with a hole-puncher. There's a flickering distortion in a circle around him as he flickers through it like it's a wall of water. Beyond the circle is somewhere that clearly looks like a lush garden.

And then it's like the hole gets plugged back with reality, or at least this place's version of reality? The distortion gets patched back over with what should've been there all along, like the hole was never there.

But Six is also not there anymore.

...

That was unmistakably more magic bullshit.