lifeaftr | December Event: No Rest for the Wicked

DECEMBER EVENT: NO REST FOR THE WICKED

Who: Anyone and everyone
What: Your trials by fire
When: December 15th - 18th
Where: On Maati and Ensō
Warnings: Character deaths and violence are both likely - please mark as you go!

The Trials: Only Then Can We Begin

As noted in the OOC info post, your Trials will all begin on December 15th. As many of you will not be deposited into your trials with food and water (or any items of your own at all, in most cases), the Trials will last only as long as December 18th. If you've failed to complete your Trial by this deadline but have not used up all the deaths allotted to you, you will awaken by Maati's mana pool at the event's conclusion. If you have not failed your Trial by using up all your deaths, this will not count as a character death, and you will not need to submit for a penalty; you simply won't be able to obtain the reward you would get if you had succeeded!

When your character wakes in their allotted Trial, they will discover that their starting chamber has been inscribed with the name of the Trial, the names of those participating, and the number of deaths they have remaining - though the latter aren't labeled in any way. You'll simply have to learn it the hard way; every time your character suffers a death, the number will go down by one. If it wasn't obvious what those numbers stood for at first, by the time the dying starts properly, it certainly will be. And you probably don't want to see it go all the way down to zero...

Should you reach the end of your Trial, you will step out onto the rocky cliffs of Maati, exiting from one of the seven doors set into the cliffs at the seven points of the island's star shape. You see, those doors you discovered earlier weren't the entrances to the Trials at all. They were the exits. And set into the towering cliffs...why, those house the winding mazes that comprise the Trials themselves.

There will be a top-level below for each Trial. Remember to plan with your groups and communicate with your thread partners! Whether you choose to do mingle-style threads or lengthier group threads is up to you.

Once you know the outcome of your Trial, success OR failure, please do let us know so that we can ensure your character gets the reward that befits their triumph...or lackthereof.

Remember also to let us know if your character uses up ALL their deaths during this event. While death penalties will not be inflicted during Trial deaths, if you use up all the deaths allotted to you and die for real, your death penalty will NOT be reduced.

The Water: Don't Let Them Get Away

The rest of you have plenty to contend with as well, of course. If you've opted out of this month's event, be advise that the waters creeping across shores of Ensō, along with the rest of the island, aren't going to take evasion kindly. They'll seek you out, spread along every inch of the island if they can, until they can find you.

There is a top-level below, if you're intrigued! Though if you end up top-leveling yourself, we may very well reach out and find you anyway...

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] December 15th: The Trials on Maati begin, and the water begins to rise.
[ ♆ ] December 18th: The Trials reach their end.
[ ♆ ] December 19th: Those who have "perma"-died in their Trials are revived.
[ ♆ ] December 20th: The monthly Storytelling occurs.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Caves are, indeed, the worst. She will not argue that. Good hiding places? Perhaps. Otherwise? No. Just, no.

She stands up straight, her hands at her sides in closed fists. Though she smiles faintly at the attempt at levity. "Hm, perhaps an eight at lowest?" She muses, going along with it for now. When trapped with a complete stranger in a potentially dire situation, attempt to be polite and calm unless humor is used. "First island, yes. Though unfortunately this is not the first time I have awoken inside a cave."

And she still dislikes it. Allura doesn't even bother to look for her own Stone; it would have been on her armor's belt pouch, and said pouch is not present. Nor do her earrings work as communicators anymore. She tries to focus and call her bayard; nothing. Allura frowns as she looks around and takes in their surroundings. "Well, we won't learn anything further by staying here and I only see one way forward. Shall we?"

Well, that's the sense of humor confirmed, at least. Competence still tbd. Though he sorta feels like odds are good on that front as well? Just a hunch that he can't back up, maybe wishful thinking. Maybe that thing she just said about waking up in caves.

"Yeah sure, why not. May as well get whatever this is over with." He doesn't seem eager. Or maybe he's just hoping she'll go first, if he drags his heels enough. He throws the wall a last quick look on the way out, and it's not any more enlightening than when he woke up.

"So, 'Trial of the Trusting,' huh? Guess I understand those words separately. Don't think you're gonna like my track record for trust falls, though."

It's quite easy for her to notice the heel dragging, but it's fine; she can handle taking point, even without a weapon and feeling... weaker. She doesn't like this at all, but she'll lead. It's what she prepared for her entire life.

"Exactly what I was thinking," she replies, glancing back before leading the way into the halls. The only way to go after stepping out of the room is left, so she turns left. Blinking, but she keeps moving-- mindful of where she steps. It's dark, and the walls and floor are damp; not good for potential fights. Yet she could probably manage, even in her current state. Allura hopes it doesn't come to that. "I'll admit I'm not the most open of individuals, either. Yet I can work with others when the need arises."

And in her duty, it often did. Her own surrogate family were people she was slowly opening up to for phoebs. She glances back to the Taako. "Do you have any light source on hand?" If not, they'll mostly have to get by on hearing and smell in the dim light that they have.

Aw dunk, now she's being honest, while he was mostly just cracking a joke about the trust falls thing, more than admitting a character flaw to a stranger in a cave. Gross! Much like the setting itself, actually. Taako is visibly not a fan, mouth set in a moue of distaste and rubbing a half-imagined chill out of his arms. Couldn't he be tasked with trusting someone outside, in the sunlight maybe?

"I don't, weirdly enough. Light spells weren't really high on the story-shopping list." So maybe he's gonna pry a little bit, if not about his companion's ancestry then about her abilities. How hosed exactly is she gonna be, in this level of dark? "So, no dark vision, huh?" He sounds like he almost gets how to perform sympathy, an unusually high social roll.

Sorry Taako, but once she slides into mission mode, some jokes go right out the proverbial airlock. She's no fan of this, either; he can take comfort in that at least. Allura flexes her fingers, trying to call for some of her alchemy. Unfortunately, nothing happens.

"...Evidently not," she frowns, hoping her eyes will at least adjust soon. "Though I imagine if one were to trip on a rock further down these hallways, I could hear it." A complete miss. Congratulations. She's not that kind of 'elf', silly.

Evidently not what? Was she just gonna make the dark vision? Shit, and here he is getting by with storebought like a chump. This doesn't tell him anything about her abilities, though he's reasonably sure she like...has some. He's also reasonably sure it won't matter; if she had anything super useful up her sleeves, she probably doesn't now. Just kinda how it goes.

"Yeah, shame we don't have anyone else to send ahead and trip on rocks for us. Kinda inefficient, as echolocation goes, but it would be pretty funny." Trust him, he knows firsthand, which is why his grin is only at about three-quarters power. Nothing has even really gone to hell yet and it would still be nice if any of his crew were here, even nerfed. To trip on rocks, obviously. "Soooo. Good hearing, that's a skill. Anything else? Don't say wizard, I'm over all-wizard parties, one of us would have to change."

Nope, but she was going to see if she could make her hand into a flashlight of sorts. What she would do for a light arrow that actually exists right about now...

"Well, we can't be the only ones here." She has to point out. "Though at least I can hear them coming." Allura frowns in thought before pausing. "A wizard...?" Like in Monsters and Mana? Oh, boy. Now she misses Coran even more. "No, I'm an alchemist. Though I've studied weapons training since I was a child." And yes, she realizes she has none. "I was trying to see if I could use my alchemy to at least create a secondary light source, but it would seem not to be the case."

Whew. For a second there, he thought he was gonna have to go through the whole 'magic is real' thing, which is his least favorite cultural exchange, at least when there's no magic to demonstrate with. But if she's got alchemy then her hesitance is probably just semantics; he brightens considerably, abandoning most of his heel-dragging ways.

"Alchemy, nice. I do transmutation so I get it. That's how we have products for the store, unless it's stuff Ren-- acquires," but he digresses, now's not the time for advertising. "But yeah, that's not gonna mean jack here. Maybe there'll be loot, like weapons." He tries to put a positive spin on it? At least? Sometimes you find weapons in places, that's adventuring science. "For you. If it comes down to me meleeing, we're fucked." He laughs nervously, but super isn't joking. Taako is, at present, an unloaded glass cannon. Which is to say, a useless and fragile sculpture.

"Dark vision's working alright though, so." He sniffs, eyes dutifully forward. "At least there's that."

Oh, semantics, you wondrous thing. She nods slightly, but... "acquires?"

...You know what. She's not going to go into how wrong thievery is right now. Instead, she'll focus on something else. "We can hope," she says, actually quietly hoping there will be weapons somewhere. It will be easier to defend both of them. "So you can see, and I can still hear clearly." That's good to know. She accidentally kicks a small rock.

Allura blinks. "At least there are plenty of stones to toss, if it comes to that."

December Event: No Rest for the Wicked

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