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pajamabox2020-02-25 09:02 pm
wizardseason) wrote in pajamabox2020-02-25 09:02 pm
Day 8: Monster Arrival
Afternoon: 12:00noon - 5:00pm
[ IRL Timeframe: February 26th - March 11th, 2020 ]Just like the seventh day, if the heroes were hoping that this was going to ease up at all and give them a break:
It was all getting so much worse.
The light rain from the morning hasn't let up, still coming in brief waves over the island. It's not so much that you wish you had an umbrella, but also a little more than anyone's comfortable staying outside in for too long. The sun is still trying to peek through every now and then, occasionally at the same time as the drizzling rain.
- [1] -
At noon on the dot, the emergency broadcasting system goes off on every device on Harsen Island. Actually, it goes off across the entire planet. Before anyone can begin to wonder who it's from, the broadcast flickers on to show the Protector's face. He looks... rough. There's sand caked on to his robes, he still looks completely drenched from being in the ocean, and there are numerous cuts over his body from the fights he's been in. Careful eyes will note that his scabs don't look quite right, are those rainbow colors?
"People of the world, I am the Protector." He begins, reaching a hand up to his hair to pull some stray aquatic greenery off of himself.The feed cuts abruptly as a yellow fist comes into frame, aimed directly at the Protector's head. He barely sidesteps it, but then the video is gone. Anyone who has kept up with where the monsters planned to be will be able to assume it's Ten. Some may even know that for sure. Who has the better odds?
"It is with no satisfaction that I am reaching out to you in this manner. But I must sow hope before the last flickers of survival are snuffed out." He does his best to finish getting himself at least somewhat decent for the camera before continuing. Who's recording this...?
"The Wizard has set not two, but four knights against the world. The monkey, dragon, boar, and dog knights all stand together. Worse still, they have enticed the ox knight and the Princess to believe their lies." He shakes his head, sighing like someone who's been betrayed.
"They have killed the others, the rabbit, sheep, and snake knights were all cut down for trying to save this world." He lets out a deep exhale, either holding back tears or very believably pretending to.
"The last hope of the world lies in your hands. In four days: Midnight, on the last day: Blow up Harsen Island. Reduce it to ash and the world will spin on. They must not win. They will not. ... I will do what I can to turn the tide back, but do not mourn me if I am lost. The world is more important."
- [2] -
"Eight" arrives out of the Far Haven train depot almost immediately after the Protector's noon broadcast. How can anyone be sure?
It's streamed to the internet.
Social media somehow immediately picks up on the "#EightFightLive" stream with numerous accounts sharing it dozens of times (are... those fake accounts...?) in minutes. The stream begins, attached to the side of whoever this is' head, is this being filmed on a GoPro or something? No one has to wonder for long, because the movement slows to a stop as the video feed aims at a big mirror on a nearby wall.
The reflection shows two massive sets of train wheels with a platform and what looks like a big yellow snowman perched on it. The snowman's midsection, however, has eight giant arms sticking out of it. Each set of arms is holding, from bottom to top: Swords, Hammers, Axes, and the top set of arms are actually a huge set of yellow wings. The head of the snowman doesn't have a face, but it does have eight eyes painted on. The center of each eye looks like it's flickering and on fire? And hastily wrapped around where a "neck" would be between the top snowman orb and the body is, in fact, a GoPro.
Nice.
The whole body shudders slightly and the distorted voice of an automated subway announcer gurgls out the words: "Next stop: Far Haven. Stand clear of the closing doors. One coin per trip. Next stop: Far Haven."
Anyone watching the stream will realize that if "Eight" is on the rails and heading to Far Haven... then the next stop would be Bamborough. And then Craydon after that. Was he just going to ride the rails around the island until he was defeated? The stream shudders as "Eight" starts rolling along on the rails, in the direction of the train station.
Loyal viewers of the stream will also get treated to a cameo on the way: While rolling through Far Haven, the GoPro centers on the big yellow mass that is Ten fighting against a glowing-white-weapon armed Protector. Suddenly the stream shows nothing but bright orange flames in their direction, and the two scatter apart. Whatever results from the flamethrower isn't seen, because "Eight" is too busy rolling on the rails towards the next destination! Far Haven, toot toot!
- [3] -
#childfound
Sxicq is too damn easy to find on the island, especially when they're spotted standing side-by-side with a monster in one of Luka's fan T-shirts at the top of the mountain (hi Eight!). The two of them are knelt by the door that had exploded several days earlier, hands pressed into the ground. Whoever has a drone taking the pictures of them, it's good enough to show that there are blue cracks radiating out from whatever they're doing. That can't be bad!
- [4] -
It's bad.
At 2:00pm, the island is wracked with earthquakes. Well, not actual quakes, more like the whole island just starts vibrating. It's the kind of low vibration that makes everything rattle just a little bit and fills the air with a white noise that never really goes away, but nothing cracks and breaks. It's like someone turned the island into putty and started wiggling it into a new shape.
And social media confirms that as observers of the island check in with hashtags like: #mountainsinking #shrinkingmountain #deflatedharsen
Because the mountain is flattening out, shrinking down and disappearing. Everything on the island is weirdly adjusting, like the buildings are just sort of floating on top of this solid-ground-now-melting-but-still-solid situation. It makes absolutely no sense. Science can't explain it. Mountains don't melt. You can't just shrink a mountain into the earth. You can't flatten an island.
But that's what's happening. Slowly, but surely. It'll be done by Evening, and then the Island will have a new shape.
- [5] -
At this point, Eight has left a text with all the heroes again that if they want to go to the garden, he can help make that happen. All it takes is a text. Five and Six are staying there, with Seven, in the monster house. If anyone goes there, they'll get to find the most interesting tidbit of information: It's not rumbling there.
- [=] -
Social media is pretty much evenly split on today's news: #endoftheworld? #whatjusthappened.
The Weather
- Light rain.
- 68°F / 20°C
- A gentle breeze.
Prompts:
- 12:00pm Emergency Broadcast, Everywhere: Immediately following the Protector's emergency broadcast, all of the phones and tech on the island and in the world become accessible again. The discussion is immediate and unrelenting and, to make matters worse, the social media accounts of all the heroes... have been disabled. They've only got phone calls and texts to rely on. Do they text each other? Or someone back home? Who could have disabled their social media accounts? That's... really fucking bad, holy shit.
- 12:15pm Train Station, Far Haven: "Eight" finally rolls into the Far Haven train station at about 12:15pm, ready to fight. Any hero, at any train station, will find that they all have a new feature: Instead of the "upcoming arrivals" screens above the tracks advertising regular trains, they're advertising "Eight"'s arrival times? Anyone in Bamborough will see "12:45pm" and anyone in Craydon will see "1:15pm". Even more strange is that there's a hastily-added black pole with a coin slot on it. Someone has hand-written "Eight request" in yellow ink beside the coin slot. Someone's gotta fight "Eight" first at Far Haven... or make a request at another station! The fight is on!
- 12:30pm Mountain Door, Mountain: Does your character go to interrupt Sxicq and Eight on top of the mountain? That's a pretty rude thing to go do. They're busy, why would your character do that? Don't they have more important things to do, like, you know, killing "Eight"? Either way, if your character ends up atop the mountain, thread it here!
- 2:00pm Earthquakes, Harsen Island: Everything is shaking! This is probably the worst possible thing that could happen! What's up with this shaking?! Does your hero get up to anything during all this? Do they try to find out what's happening? Do they... geez, how do you even react to an hours-long earthquake everywhere?!
- ?:00pm The Garden: Did your hero ask to go to the Garden? What do they do there? Any garden threads go here!
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.
OOC Mortality Warning: Any hero who actively seeks out the Protector IC will be at a high risk of death in some manner. He is on the move, tread carefully!
no subject
And then Garbear. ]
Oh- yeah- uh- [ Honestly, with everything and everyone so on edge, he wasn't expecting this. At all. So his eyes go wide and he's slipped into a little grin and he's blushing. Someone isn't awkward around him! ] I'm think I'm ready.
[ But then he sighs, sternly looking the woman over. His gaze turns cold, and his tone takes on that force again. ]
But you're not. [ And he moves quickly, gauntlet hand flinging the suit jacket over his other arm as the armor suddenly disappears, and then the hand is holding a gnarly swordbreaker blade And he's offering the grip to her. And glaring. ]
Take it. [ Bossing people around like he's done is meaningless if he doesn't back it up. Garrot won't let her get hurt here. ]
no subject
She opens her mouth to explain herself despite his very intimidating cold stare when suddenly he manifests the new weapon.] I— What?
[Olivia blinks in confusion as she takes the sword, giving it a look over.] I mean, this is really cool and all but you're the heavy hitter anyway, right? [She knows better than to argue with an angry dad though, so she just adjusts her grip on the sword and lets out a little sigh.] Thanks, I guess.
I wasn't sure whether I should mask for this or not. I mean, I would love to, but I thought maybe people needed to see us. You know? [She's wearing that dark make up that covers half of her face, of course, but she can't help but feel exposed anyway. She's hardly looked like herself for more than a few hours ever since she got picked as a Knight.] I mean, I thought about masking as the Protector and making him look like a clumsy idiot. Or try to... talk to people? Fuck, I don't know.
no subject
Be comfortable and fight hard. [ There's an undeniable slap of compassion there, and then a wry little chuckle. ] People will piece it together if there's one Knight that looks different every time. Maybe they'll think your real face is just another disguise. [ Again, he's measured and even right now. He's furious and his blood is boiling and everything is falling apart around him, but he's directing all of that to... ]
But do not mask as him. [ If this were the Garrot of even a few hours ago, he'd be standing, looming over her, maybe cracking a few jokes. But aside from those few points of emphasis, he's mostly just... calm. But he fully intends to drive this matter all the way home, while staring her right in the eyes. ] If he sees you while you do it or if I see you like that while I'm angry, your life will be in danger. [ The
explanationthreatguarantee is delivered with more of that oppressive coldness, but at least he's up-front about it. And his anger. But then he... squats down a little bit, so they're... eye-to-eye? ]I just want you to be safe. [ It sounds like Garrot is literally straining to keep his emotions at bay right now. Especially his anger. And his eyes, though they dart to the blade she took, look sad and concerned. Garrot truly doesn't want any of the other heroes to die, least of all by his hand. ] Do you understand?
no subject
Right. No masking as a lying maniac, then. [But he did say "be comfortable", so her ears get slightly pointy and her teeth sharpen as she speaks.]
I'm ready when you are.
no subject
You look fierce. [ There's a smirk that one may call devilish on his face, as if the circumstances are the only thing keeping him from flirting. ] I'll distract it, you flank. Aim for the joints.
[ And then he... slides a coin into the slot. No time like the present. ]
no subject
[ Each set of arms is holding, from bottom to top: Swords, Hammers, Axes, and the top set of arms are actually a huge set of yellow wings. The head of the snowman doesn't have a face, but it does have eight eyes painted on. The center of each eye looks like it's flickering and on fire? And hastily wrapped around where a "neck" would be between the top snowman orb and the body is, in fact, a GoPro. It's slightly angled from the speed, and all of its arms are up-- ]
[ The brakes are screeching horribly and it's swinging outward with all the arms as it horribly comes to a stop here in the station. If Olivia and Garrot stay standing nearby, they'll get sliced into pieces in three places each! But if they literally take a single step back to dodge the attack they'll be safe. What an easy attack to dodge! ]
[ Also both of the screens above the train tracks are now displaying the words: "Eight is here!" ]
no subject
She flinches at the screeching sound, eyes wide as she watches "Eight" approach. She briefly wonders if the dummy actually resembles its creator at all, as she takes in the six arms, wings, eight painted-on eyes and... the GoPro. As she takes a wide step back to dodge him, she puts her shield up, making contact with at least one of the weapons to make it look like she had to uh, actually protect herself from a monster rather than just move away from an armed snowman. You know, for the sake of the audience watching at home.
She gives Garrot a quick "don't yell at me for that, I'm fine" look before running around to flank fake Eight as he had indicated. She's happy to be out of the camera's shot for now, too.]
no subject
While Olivia gives him that cheeky look, he just gives her a stern nod of his own. He's the distraction, he can't afford not to trust her. ]
Ready to die, you piece of shit?! [ A snarling, guttural challenge from someone who knows full well how to play an act for the crowd. Plus, he's pissed! So he takes a couple steps in the direction Olivia didn't move in, spinning his spear in an effort to get some glancing blows on those limbs.
And suddenly in the space behind him, almost lining up, are two more Garrots. ]
no subject
[ That attack, unfortunately for Garrot and his clones, is to rear up all of its armed weapons to absolutely mess the Garrot team up. Yellow blood splatters outward from the wounds Garrot had inflicted with those glancing blows, but they're too small to be any real damage. ]
[ But now there's six weapons swinging downwards to the three Garrots, six weapons angled just slightly to obliterate him. They're the kind of crushing blows that result in broken limbs if someone tried to block them. The only way out is to dodge... or to die! ]
[ Hopefully Olivia's up to something that'll also help Garrot not die. ]
no subject
As "Eight" prepares to attack though, she has to think fast! Maybe the sword is even good enough to take care of some of the limbs? She's not sure, but that's what she'll try!
She picks a side and takes a forceful swing with her sword, trying to damage the arms as much as she can before they can reach Garrot. It's an afterthought, but she even let's out a "hyah!" sort of sound when she attacks, for the sake of the camera. You know, the sort of sound a pixelated blonde boy dressed in green would be proud about.]
no subject
And suddenly, he's gone. Or at least the middle Garrot and one of the side closer to Olivia are, in a puff of golden-bronze dust. The third, the furthest, strafes further to keep "Eight's" back to her before dodge-rolling further out of the way.
But when he's stable again, and sure he's out of the line of fire, he'll be thrusting his trident-spear in an attempt to catch the closest elbow joint between a bunch of slicey, pointy bits.
Unlike Olivia, his enthusiasm isn't an afterthought, because it's trying to kill him. ]
no subject
[ Despite missing Garrot the first time, as all his Garrot-clones vanish, it seems that "Eight" is determined to get him at least once. In the massive shifting of its body, Garrot's spear ends up ripping up somewhere near an armpit joint and its body. Numerous injuries, all slices and stabs, result in another gushing outpouring of scented monster blood. The scent of freshly baked bread hangs heavily in the air. ]
[ And then the station monitors light up, displaying the text: "Please stand clear of the departing train." ]
[ A second later, all of "Eight"'s arms go horizontal, holding their various weapons at perfectly flat angles. They form a wall of slicing death. The wheels of the train car screech horribly, sparks flying off in every direction, and the momentum takes it as it begins to accelerate out of the station. The acceleration wobbles its body at a diagonal angle but it keeps its wall-of-blades attack coming. Hopefully the two knights don't get diced! ]
[ As an added bonus, the acceleration of the train car sends baked bread-scented monster blood splattering behind it! Surprise attack! ]