December Event: No Rest for the Wicked

[lifeaftr_mods]

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.

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[piercetheheart]

[Okay the little floaty thing is weird and the text is also weird but... well it's reminiscent enough of Iggy's bracelet that he has to assume it's something along the same lines.]

Mute?

[All he needs is a confirmation and he's already considering the actual question, raising his hand to show the hourglass mark and frowning.]

You too?

[hyperlit]

[Mute, yes - rendered incapable of speech thanks to the illness that has torn apart their vocal cords, that currently ravages their lungs, that torments their bloodstream.]

[The Drifter's hands are gloved, but they nod. Yes. Them too.]

hourglass

[piercetheheart]

[It says a lot about how much Gladio has grown that he just sighs heavily and scrubs a hand through his hair, loose and wild from sleep.]

Dammit.

[He looks around at the group even though he knows Ignis won't be here. He has a King, a boyfriend, and chocobo(y)s to protect.]

We've gotta get back to the others.

[hyperlit]

[They don't question what he means by "the others" - they simply assume that, like most people here, he has grown to have those he would prefer to protect. Or he arrived with them.]

[The row of names on the wall draws their eye next, as well as the numbers beside them. The Drifter reaches up, running a gloved, slightly pointed fingertip beneath their name and its corresponding number: ten.]

names

[piercetheheart]

Drifter, huh?

[He nods, stepping up to tap the wall next to his own. Of course the wall has all of it. Gladiolus Amicitia.]

Just Gladio. Any idea on the numbers? This hourglass motif makes me think maybe it's something to do with time?

[Then he looks up further. Trial of the Patient. It feels ominous. Almost like being back on the Tempering Grounds and that makes him think of something else.]

Or tries.

[hyperlit]

[They shake their head, once. Time, or tries - both don't bode terribly well. They glance toward the room's perimeter, and find no obvious exits. Or, indeed, any way they may have been deposited in here in the first place.]

no way out

[piercetheheart]

There's always a way out. Just... gotta find it.

[Ugh this part is always easier with Noct or Prom around. Prompto's got a good eye and Noctis is uncannily good at shimmying through passages.

Please don't make it be some little gap they have to squeeze through when he's in nothing but leather shorts.]

[hyperlit]

[No way out. But the Drifter points, at the only route that presents itself as obvious to them - the route that would take them out of the room in which they all awoke.]

a way forward

[piercetheheart]

Whatever, I'll take it.

[Is everyone up? Everyone's up, right? They should totally get this party moving.

Patient? Him? Not really.

Still he's not going to leave anyone behind so he's not going to go through to the next room without everyone being together and on board.]

[hyperlit]

[The Drifter is not nearly so...well, patient. They don't take much of anything into account before making an unerring line forward, trotting off in the direction of the next room. Plainly, they aren't going to stop and wait on anyone unless someone has a good reason for them to.]

[piercetheheart]

Whoa, hey- Drif

[And Gladio is just trotting up to them, reaching for their shoulder before thinking better of it. So maybe Laurent shanking him did teach him something. Instead he jogs a couple steps to get ahead of the other.]

We should keep together.

[hyperlit]

[They're not quite as predisposed to violence upon the initiation of physical contact, but they don't take very kindly to it, either. Their eyes narrow faintly when he blocks their route.]

way forward

[Obviously they should go forward, right?]

[piercetheheart]

Yeah it's a way forward but we don't know what's out there and there's-

[A glance around, quick mental calculation.]

Half a dozen of us. Don't wanna leave anyone behind, right?

[hyperlit]

[They make most of their journeys alone. They have always worked alone, unless circumstances...demand otherwise. They don't currently demand as such, and so...]

they can follow

[piercetheheart]

It'll be safer with backup.

[He's not used to having a party of less than 4 okay.]

[hyperlit]

then you wait

[The Drifter isn't planning to. They don't frame it like a challenge, but rather like a fact - as though they can't imagine any other set of events.]

[piercetheheart]

[He honestly doesn't know what to say to that?! Which leaves him kind of standing there helplessly for a moment before trying to save face at least a little.]

Alright, fine. You wanna risk it, be my guest.

[hyperlit]

[The Drifter doesn't acknowledge that in the slightest, other than to nod once, shortly, and step around him to move on.]

[They'll probably be dead in something like thirty seconds, or they'll stall out and need help, so at least there's that.]