Day 7: Evening

Aftern-Evening: 3pm - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: January 22 - January 29, 2020. ]

After all of Seven's fights, ending in Luka taking Ten's hand as the other heroes arrive. The knights will be treated to the sight of something entirely unexplainable: Seven is wounded, laying on the asphalt with a bright white crossbow bolt sticking out of their body. They're still pouring black goop off of their body, but they appear to be wrapped in some kind of cloth tarp. Five is kneeling over them, dressed in a skin-covering assassin outfit that only reveals her five eyes peering out. In her hand is a phone, and that's really all that can be seen before she and Seven disappear into a portal in the ground.

Luka, meanwhile, is standing with Ten's hand in his and his crossbow laid on the ground and not in his hand. No matter what the arriving heroes cry out in order to get his attention, it's too late to stop him. Abruptly, the portal opens and both the Princess and Ten disappear into the ground.

Naturally, the hashtag #princessnapped is forged.

That doesn't prove to be the only hashtag to get some heavy use this evening. The #wizardfound and #robotwizard hashtags find a sudden, new reason to actively discuss what's going on.

The remaining heroes: Garrot, Gyre, Haizea, Matilda, Olivia, (and... where's Terrence?) will find that the events from earlier in the day have caught up to them. There's a crack like thunder as both the Wizard and the Protector flicker into existence and both land in the superhero pose in the center of the intersection that Luka just disappeared from.

The Protector, if possible, is looking even worse than before. He's sporting a black eye and numerous cuts on his forehead, cheeks, and arms. It looks like he's been lit on fire at least once, but even so he's holding his rapier out in anticipation of the next strike.

The Wizard, meanwhile, is finally openly visible to everyone after her absence. She looks rough. It's as if the areas where she'd been harmed have been replaced or repaired with robotics. The left side of her face is no longer bandaged, instead revealing that she now has a robotic eye with a glowing yellow ring. The cables that were visible in the video before are very clearly plugged in just behind her ear, trailing down over her shoulder and down her back beneath the robes.

And of course she's still wearing pajamas. But they look like they've seen better days, charred and ripped and shredded at every edge. In her hand, though, is a massive axe. One side of its head is a giant half-circle axe head while the other side is a heavy weight like a hammer. The entire weapon is jet black, but it has a glossy shine.

What's the worst that could happen?

The Weather
Cloudy, breezy.
48°F / 9°C
Brrr.

Prompts:

3:00pm The Garden, Unknown Location: When Luka falls through the portal with Ten, he'll become immediately aware that the monster has slipped himself closer and snuck his feet beneath Luka's to stabilize him. Despite the falling, he seems surprisingly stable in the air.

And then there's the soft crunch of grass beneath his feet and he shifts slightly, waiting for Luka to step back on his own. Wherever they are, the air is filled with the scents of wildflowers and scents that are both beautiful and entrancing in their complexity. It's clear that there are dozens, if not hundreds of flowers and plants in the immediate vicinity. There's the gentle warmth of sunlight on Luka's skin, clearly advertising that they're outside (or in a very clever indoor garden). But most calming is the gentle sounds of moving water. If Luka focuses, he'll be able to pick out that there's a small waterfall, several waterways, and multiple water features with water tumbling down over rocks. And, of course, a pool or a pond with fish gently swimming about beneath the surface.

But he'll be interrupted twice before he can lose himself. The first is Ten.

"We're here." He says, but if Luka's not shaken enough he'll realize that he doesn't hear Seven and his Seven sense isn't going wild. But the second distraction happens as Luka's phone bloops from an unknown sender with a text:

"Welcome to the Garden, Princess." The text reads... with no explanation of who or how they sent him the text. That's totally normal!

3:00pm Street Intersection, Bamborough: With the arrival of the Wizard and the Protector, it's very clear that shit is about to go down. But that absolutely isn't what the Wizard has in mind for this situation. She's the one running this game, and she isn't about to get five heroes wrapped up in her duel with the Protector. Before anyone can take an opportunity to make any attacks, and especially not the Protector, she snaps the fingers of her free hand five times.

And reality fractures. The way that the cracks in midair begin to fold and reflect the area and people around them, it's like the world is folding up into a trick mirror house. It's... actually exactly that. Reality twists and folds, forming reflections and containers out of the air itself until every single hero is enclosed in one. The hero in the middle of their own box, reflected on two opposite walls. But on the opposite two walls, the Wizard is visible beyond in one of them and the Protector is visible beyond in the other room. Uh. This conversation might get awkward. Worse is that they can't get distracted by their Seven senses, because no one can feel them anymore.

3:15pm To Everyone: In the middle of the earlier events, every hero in Bamborough receives a text from an unknown sender. The only one who's spared this text is Luka, because he got a text earlier. The text reads: "I can give you one teleport to anywhere today. Tell me when and to where. Don't be unreasonable!"

8:00pm Onward, Everywhere: The day is done, the events are finished. How does your character get home? Do they go home alone? Do they seek the company of their fellow heroes? Do they stay alone, or do they get a room together? Either way, it's a rough night for everyone.

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: January 2020

[ IRL Timeframe: January 1st - January 31st, 2020 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Look, there's no beating around the bush here, these three are a mess. Luka got to deal with monsters and with Knights well, having a hard time. Gyre got into it with Seven and got vomited on. Garrot learned the horrible truth of his father's death and is currently putting off that ugly-sobbing breakdown with a military-strength sedative, making him high as fuck.

And they think they're going to get anything out of snooping at the weird magic room atop the mountain? The one with all the dead bodies? Yeah, alright losers.

So the trio makes their entrance, teleported in by the ever-convenient work of Eight. Otherwise, they'd never manage to make it up there. And making it back down? They'll burn that bridge when they get to it. As they touch down upon the ground, it's readily apparent that Garrot's got his arms wrapped tightly around the shoulders of both other men, with enough squeeze for it to almost be a hug!

"Look, I don't know about you two, but I've operated on enough bodies with weird injuries that I could handle this with one eye closed." He then proceeds to close both of his eyes! Garrot also takes time to smile, and a goofy, addled chuckle rhythmically reverberates. "Well, the dead bodies part. Dunno about the weird magic stuff." A beat passes. "Or walking on my own."

Someone stop him before he does something stupid.

"That... doesn't sound advisable." Luka replies, ending in a soft laugh. "I think it's probably best to keep the lack of vision thing to me for now."

When Garrot jokes about not walking on his own, Luka presses a firm hand to his ribcage, just in case.

"You be the eyes and I'll be the legs. Or... one leg, at least. I can't support all your weight on my own, and I don't recall this place having very friendly terrain."

Gyre mirrors Luka in pressing a hand against Garrot to keep him upright. He shifts very slightly in the now familiar position under his arm, trying to tug him a little closer.

"I can keep him upright, if you need your hands to get through here," he offers to Luka, leaning out to look around this giant man's giant chest at the princess. He glances up at Garrot at that, tugging almost playfully on the back of his shirt.

"You can support yourself a little bit, right?"

Garrot wants to make any number of remarks or gestures towards either of the men he has his arms around. But then Gyre asks if he can support himself and, well, now he has to.

"Yeah!" His response is loud and eager as he slips from between the two and takes a few teetering steps forward. He takes a moment to regain his balance, raises a hand, and-

"I'm totally fine on my own!" Suddenly he's holding an IV tripod turned quarterstaff. It's a stick with spokes at the bottom. He sounds a little defensive, but still mostly earnest. Maybe he doesn't want to be a burden on the mountain again?

"See? Perfect!" The pole does actually seem to be helping a lot, even as he leans into it a little. "So let's go." And then he... stands there for a few awkward moments before turning and leisurely progressing further in.

“Hmmmmm.” Garrot’s insistence that he’s Totally Fine sounded rather suspect to Luka. He doesn’t pick up on the fact that he’d summoned a staff to use for support. Luka takes a step closer to Gyre, leaning slightly to whisper to him.

“Is that true? Does he look okay?” Luka’s not sure of his exact proximity to Gyre, so the whisper comes out relatively loud, defeating its purpose. “Maybe he shouldn’t be leading us, at the very least.”

Gyre does not even try to whisper, simply declaring, "No! No he does not look okay. Can you come up behind him? I'll lead."

He jogs a few steps forward, coming around Garrot, and grabbing his elbow in the hopes he can get him to stop for a second.

"The uh..." he pauses a moment, and then gestures vaguely at the cane, unwilling to guess and hope he gets the right word for it, "It's a good idea, but you're not fine on your own. Hold onto me. I don't want you to fall again."

Garrot's ears droop and he lets out a long, dejected, high-pitched, absolutely childish whine. Not only are they not following him into the mountain, but they're doubting him! Openly! Loudly! Were he not absolutely stoned, he might get angry.

"Fiiiiiine." Garrot rolls his eyes, using his free hand to reach around Gyre's back and snatch his shoulder, pulling him in nice and close. "You can just tell me when you miss me." He takes one exaggerated step forward, and between Gyre's new misfortune and his walking stick, he's actually completely stable. And since Garrot knows it, he turns to look back to Luka.

"C'mon, Princess!" He still sounds excited and upbeat. Fuckin' drugs. "If you need to grab a stick too, I got one for ya. In my pocket." A beat passes, and he just starts giggling. "That sounded, like, totally fuckin' dirty." His non-Gyre'd hand lets the tripod pole sit as he starts rummaging around, looking for... something? At least he's not charging ahead.

Luka remains a few feet behind the two, staying close while still leaving a small distance between them. Traversing the mountains interior was a dreadful task even with the help of Ten, and going through it again was not something Luka was particularly excited about.

“I don’t know how much your pocket stick is going to help me right now. “ Luka says, his frown cracking into an amused smirk. It was immature humor, sure, but it distracted Luka from the dank surroundings and his annoyance at dealing with it. “Kind of a primitive method to get around too, isn’t it?”

Gyre grunts as he's tugged up under Garrot's arm, scowling at the air for a beat until he realizes just how much more stable the man feels now. He wraps an arm loosely around his back, holding his side gently as he waits for them to finish talking about grabbing each other's pants sticks.

"I don't think we'll be getting much of anywhere if that's what you two are interested it," he says dryly, down into the cave as if he wouldn't uh actually drop everything to do that instead. The more he thinks about looking at a dead body, the less he actually wants to do it. But the information is important. Ugh.

"I'm just trying to help. We gotta get in there." He shrugs a bit, letting his compact quarterstaff rest in the pocket it ended up hiding in. Garrot is utterly unbothered by their additional jokes as a memory bubbles up to the forefront of his addled mind. "But if Luka really wants something primitive, I could give him a ride." There's a beat of silence from Garrot as he keeps walking, but then he starts stifling a laugh. "Hehehehehe, the Princess could ride me."

The laughter, deep and gentle, continues. This is who the Monkey Knight has decided to be right now. It's that or make jokes about the dead bodies of their allies that they're gonna see. And that's both difficult and in bad taste.

Edited 2020-02-06 20:26 (UTC)

"I wouldn't say no, but you're in no condition to be ridden right now." He can't help but laugh along with Garrot - the Monkey Knight's giggling was rather infectious. "Maybe later."

Luka quickens his steps, hoping that the two in front of him would be enough warning for any undetectable obstacles or hazards in the path ahead. He was fine with the flippant joking, to be honest, he wasn't particularly eager to face what he knew was awaiting them deeper in the mountain anyway.

Gyre listens to the two of them and despite himself, he smiles faintly, making a low amused noise as he helps Garrot down a particularly steep bit of the cave floor.

"Oh, will you be bringing a new act for my next show, princess?" he murmurs teasingly. He's not speaking very loudly, and his heart isn't in it, but he's really trying to keep the mood up before they get where they're going.

"Sounds fun."

Unfortunately, Garrot is right there, and descending down part of the cave meant he was basically clinging to Gyre for dear life. They get back on stable ground, and he gives Gyre a gentle little squeeze as he looks to him and smiles. And then, well, he hears that. His grip tightens to keep steady as his head whirls around, glaring at Luka as he huffs.

"He gets shows?! I want a show, give me a show!" Seven-foot, grown-ass man having a melodramatic, whining tantrum. The rest of his body spins around as he lets go of his cane, his other arm bringing Gyre along for the ride. "That's the chance of a lifetime. I'll get on my knees and beg if you want. Right now!" He can't help but laugh as he says it, plenty loud as he squats down a little, clearly feeding into the collective act. That said, his free hand still reaches out towards Luka, ready to snatch him up if that steep bit causes any problems.

This is hardly the first time he's been on drugs.

Luka's stopped in his tracks, alerted by Garrot's sudden and very physical reaction. After a fleeting moment of stunned silence, Luka starts laughing again.

"Oh yeah, Gyre gets private shows." His voice is dripping with innuendo, if only to tease Garrot a little more.

Luka attempts to ease down the steep part of the path, his arms feeling for something to stabilize him. In the moment, he regrets declining that stick. He's so focused on not slipping and falling on his ass here that there's a notable pause in the conversation while he makes his way through it.

"They're reaaaallly exclusive though. I can tell you understand that much." He continues when he feels the ground beneath him leveling out. "But since you're a knight maybe I can make an exception for you... only a little begging required."

Gyre realizes he has made a mistake about a millisecond before Garrot whips around. He clings to him, first to keep the other stable while he swings his head around, and then because he's being yanked around. He stumbles over himself, yelping as he's dragged into the cane which catches his feet so that he's nearly collapsed by the time Garrot has stopped.

He struggles back up to his feet, hovering beside this drugged man who's decided to stoop down low like that. He honestly doubts Garrot could get back up if he actually started begging on his knees.

"You can beg later, when you're not about to fall over," he says, fully in parent mode despite the teasing just a moment ago.

"I dunno, man..." Garrot takes a moment to awkwardly return to a standing position. Except he's high so one moment became like ten, a similar amount of uncomfortable shuffling as the others have had to do. Standing is hard, okay?

"I'll beg, but like..." He squeezes Gyre in close again, becoming more aware of how the poor guy got slapped into that cane. "Gyre would never beg." Is this??? A double standard??? There's a fake little huff as Garrot gently rotates himself and Gyre so they're facing forward again. Luka seems like he's got this.

"So, uh..." He trails off as his free hand grasps for the cane again. It's too far and he doesn't want to stretch. But when he keeps talking, there's a judging, husky sort of tone to his voice. "What'd he have to do to impress you?"

It is abundantly clear that he thinks these two have had some kind of sexcapade. In fact, it's so captivating he's almost forgotten where they're going.

"Hey, what makes you think I couldn't make Gyre beg if I wanted to?" His tone is playfully indignant, and he's wearing an expression that shows just how much he's enjoying this. Luka is in absolutely no hurry to clarify the exact details of that camp visit just yet. It would spoil the fun.

"I learned a lot of impressive things about him that day. Didn't I, Gyre?" It was the same day he'd pulled Gyre's head from the rubble of the hospital, and the same day Gyre would later knock him unconscious. "Maybe you saw some of those things. They weren't as private as they should have been. But I don't recommend trying to replicate his methods, they just wouldn't work for you."

He lets himself get dragged around again, rolling his eyes a little that Garrot is so insistently forcing him around. If the guy wasn't relying on him to stay upright, he might protest a little more. Instead, he reaches out and grabs the cane when Garrot gives up on it, setting it into front of him so he can take it when he's ready.

Or when he's done being petty, he supposes. It's very strange to be the center of a conversation that's being had around you, instead of to you, and he's tensely silent when Garrot asks for an explanation like that. He glances over his shoulder as Luka responds, noting that he seems to be enjoying himself at least. That makes him relax very slightly at least.

"Mmmhm," he agrees to the question directed at him. He did indeed reveal quite a bit of himself that day, though perhaps not as much as Luka is letting Garrot think.

"I'm sure you'll find your own way in," he teases Garrot gently, playing along with Luka even if he's keeping his focus mostly on moving forward. They can banter. He's still pretty in his own head about where they're going.

Being Excluded reminds him of hiding his love life from his kids. It's a good and wholesome reminder, and it makes him... sigh and smile, warm and calm.

"I mean obviously I will." He's peak lazy self-assured, and reaches up with his free hand to ruffle Gyre's hair a little bit, taking extra care to let his claws gently caress the elf's scalp here and there.

"I'm just glad you two have found your way into each other's hearts and minds..." Garrot stifles a laugh, the spare hand now grabbing that cane again. "...and butts." He made the joke, he can't just stand around now! "It means I don't have to worry about either of you as much."

And then he starts pressing onward once more. If he doesn't need to worry about them, he can worry about, well his own needs. Like... the truth.

"Very presumptuous, Garrot!" Luka chimes in, not clarifying if he means Garrot's confidence about winning him over or his conclusion that he and Gyre had already hooked up. Spoiler: it's both.

"But if thinking about Gyre and I together helps you sleep at night..." He winks for emphasis though the gesture probably goes unnoticed. "Well, I wouldn't want to take that away from you."

Well. He's briefly disabled by being scritched on the head, his eyes fluttering closed, his breath rumbling in his chest in some weird elven purr. He can't help pushing his head forcefully up into Garrot's palm, grunting in something like surprise when he's released again.

This is to say, he basically misses the last chunk of the conversation, blinking unevenly as he tries to figure out where they are and what he's doing again. Right. The cave. Seth's body. He takes the next few steps in fuzzy silence, too embarrassed to admit he didn't hear the last bit of teasing. Instead, he shifts as they emerge out into the high walkway above the platform below, deciding to change the subject while he has the chance.

"We're here," he says back to Luka, "Be careful of the edge. We're going to keep going down, but it should be smoother." He glances up at Garrot after that, looking him over, looking his cane over.

"How are you doing?"

Edited 2020-02-09 20:42 (UTC)

Just like last time, the corridor suddenly opens up at the bottom into a wide-open cavern, the walls spreading out too far in every direction and disappearing into the darkness of the cavern. The walkway into the space narrows as it crosses over a massive pit that surrounds a central circular platform. There aren’t any other walkways leading to the middle.

The circular platform in the center has twenty-seven metal rings that make up the floor, smaller ones in the middle surrounded by one massive ring around the outside. It'd take a lot of counting to see the 27 rings but, believe me, they're there. What the heroes will be able to spot, though, is that a few of the rings on the floor are rotating very, very slowly. It would be easy to miss, but once noticed it’s clear that there are exactly thirteen rings moving and fourteen that are not.

Surrounding the center platform are twenty-seven raised platforms in a big circle around the center.

On the monster side: Floating above three in a row are bright yellow blobs with one, two, and three eyes respectively. The fourth and fifth have the slain bodies of Four and Five. Four is wearing the game show garb they’d worn on the day of their games. Five is wearing a set of heavy black robes, not the assassin garb she’d worn on her day. In the sixth and seventh, though, are black metallic boxes. If the heroes pay enough attention, they'll recognize that they're the same black metal that the Wizard's left side was now made of. If they get close enough, they'll hear a familiar metallic hum coming from them. If they look real close, they'll see that they each have eyes drawn onto them: Six and Seven.

On the hero side: There are six occupied platforms each with knights floating in them. Web, with Aqrisqi floating above them. Rory, with Sefaq floating above her. Gail, with Giqra floating above him. Joanna, with Fius floating above her. Zafika, with Muraj floating above them. Seth, with Qus floating above him.

Most startling of all, here, is that Seth has a single red mark above where his heart is like he’d been stabbed with a blade. The mark matches the wound on both Joanna and Zafika. Worst of all is that the wound doesn't look like something that the terrifying beast Seven was could've inflicted.

So that's great.

Garrot sighs, his drug-addled mind making him seem more wistful than exhausted. Truth be told, he doesn't want to be here. But he needs to keep them safe.

"I'm fine." Though he still sounds chipper, there's a sharp edge to his words. There's a pit, a thin walkway, no guardrails, Luka's blind, and he's high... with poor balance. "I don't know how much sleep I'll get tonight." The words are surprisingly... dry given his mood.

But suddenly, he lets go of Gyre and recalls his cane. And a moment later, he's... dropped down on all fours?

"I'm not walking that!" There's a snarky little laugh as he says it; he's not stupid. Then, a long spool of fine rope, a mockup of his favorite brand for the bedroom, appears in one hand. "And neither are you, Princess! Your steed awaits!" For emphasis, he slaps his own behind and then locks his eyes onto Gyre's.

"Your other Knight will get you nice and safe, and then he'll watch our asses the whole way across in case something goes wrong." Finally, Garrot tosses some of the rope towards Gyre. Wild elf hermit better be able to tie good knots...

Luka waits hesitantly behind the two knights. He presumes by Garrot's reaction that they've arrived to the strange ritual room they'd visited last time. Luka recalls Ten helping him across the precarious bridge, and cringes thinking of doing that again with these two as his only hope.

"Wait, you want to carry me?" Luka asks, incredulous. Garrot had done an alright job carrying him up the mountain the previous day, but there was a lot more at risk here. Not to mention Garrot being pumped full of sedative. "Why do I feel like it would be safer just to walk on my own?"

Luka is unaware of the details of Garrot's plan that make it slightly less of a bad idea: the rope, and the fact that Garrot's dropped on all fours. At the moment he's imagining being princess-carried by a massive, doped up half-bugbear across what amounts to a highwire over certain death.

Gyre watches this idiot man drop down onto all fours, staring at his ass as he slaps it with this utterly incredulous look. He, of course, catches the rope as it's tossed to him, glancing towards Luka to get his impression before he uh acts as the parent of this unruly group.

"I believe he wants you to ride him, princess. He gave me a rope to tie the two of you together," he says dryly, describing the situation with an obvious distaste. This seems dangerous to him!! Maybe more dangerous then the two of them just uh walking across with a little help.

"What happens if you slip Garrot? Then we lose two people instead of just one. I can walk you both across, one at a time."

The Weather

Prompts:

Procedure:

The Mountaintop: Garrot + Gyre + Luka

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