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

[diplomacycheck]

Everything about this feels wrong, but she doesn't have a choice. If she had her bayard, she would have been able to pull him out by temporarily tying the end of it's whip form into a slip knot and pull him up. Unfortunately, no magic, even if it hadn't been taken away like her armor save for the plain black space suit.

She frowns. Something deep within her bristles at the short response, but she stows it for the time being. Deep breaths, Allura. You carry the last of your family's royal lineage. Act like it.

"...I can almost reach him with this stick," she slightly lifts it. "However, if he grabs onto it, he'll likely pull me down with him. If you can keep me from doing so while we pull him up, we can open that barrier and be one step closer to getting out of here."

It's a very simple plan, but sometimes simple works best with a trio of strangers.

This is a normal tag about a normal human person with normal reactions

[cacoethes_mori]

Foster makes eye contact with Taako and... doesn't wave, or greet him in any way, actually, studying the trapped elf in his pit until Allura reclaims his attention by suggesting the stick.

Then he laughs--and sobers within seconds, like someone turned a switch on and then off again almost immediately.

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" His smile probably doesn't carry the 'helpful' connotation he intends it to. Or at the very least, not the way he intends it to.

"Mmm. You said you need three, right? Too bad. You could have dropped me in the pit to boost Taako up and then left me, haha!" He glances back into the hole with a thoughtful look.

"But, since that isn't an option--" He smiles: first at Taako, purposefully, and then at Allura more brightly, more benignly.

"I guess it's a good thing he's a skinny cook."

[ohshitsweetflips]

Oh boy, being stared down inscrutably in a pit. Not great, turns out, but Taako is nothing if not immune to disapproval (?) sometimes (??). Or, well, he is if that's even what's happening here. Are they laughing at him? Actually, you know what? He's filing all of this under 'deal with later or never' thanks. "What, was 'cavalry' the straw that broke your back? I can stop any time," he mutters, probably untruthfully, tucking his hands into his sleeves.

Good thing he already determined to unpack none of this, because he's really not sure where he'd unpack that look to, if called upon to do so. Allura, to her credit, only seems a little mad, anyway. Most importantly, they need him, because he's the only third person around. Is this Taako at his best? Probably not! But it's what they have and that's the boat they're all on, here.

Skinny cook is unfortunately his last straw and he flings his arms out like they're spring loaded. "If you wanna drag me how about out of this pit, I promise there will be plenty of time to roast ch'boy while we're trapped in puzzle hell, let's go before something eats one of you and I live in a hole forever! I've paid my debt to society and learned valuable lessons! I think I maybe died and this is hell!"

[diplomacycheck]

Allura's gaze narrows slightly; danger, Will Robinson since someone still hasn't given her a name of any sort.. "Well, I could always whack you over the head with it, but that wouldn't be conducive to getting us all out of here."

Despite him high-tailing it at the first sign of trouble, at the very least Taako seems a semi-decent sort and easy to get along with. This asshole, on the other hand...

One breath in, one breath out. At least the smile aimed at her is slightly more benign. At this point she'll take what she can get.

"That is enough." Calm, almost cold like ice. "None of us are happy we're in this situation, but we need to work together if we are to get out of here. She points to the dead body on the other side of the hole. "In case you haven't noticed, there are far more brainless creatures here who are more than content to attack on sight."

The least they can do is act better than savage beasts. Allura kneels down, holding the stick tight. It's a good thing it's bent on one end; it keeps her from dropping it. "This is not hell." Hell is knowing that one's entire people are gone and it's been ten thousand years. "Grab on and hold on tight."

Everything inside her screams that this is foolish to trust the strange centaur, but either they do so or they will remained trapped in here.

[cacoethes_mori]

Taako's eruption actually triggers another outburst of laughter from Foster more than Allura's response--but this time it's less at anyone's specific plight and more just... the familiarity of it, of Taako's fit of temper, the particular way he lets loose, the word play and self-deprecation and outright antagonism aimed at anyone and anything involved in this... this.

(Foster is fully aware that he probably makes up like half of Taako's current irritation, but that doesn't really deter him in any way.)

"No," he agrees with Allura, although more because he has physically been to hell, more than one of them in fact. "It's not."

The second time he went to hell actually involved Taako. The other Taako.

He hesitates to lay his paws on Allura, though--in part because he doesn't know where, but more because he actually has reservations about touching other people, regardless of purpose. Even with explicit instructions, it... seems inappropriate of him to lay hand (or paw) on anyone in any way. So he hesitates, struggling to shift barriers both instinctive and conceptual before finally putting his claws around her waist--if she waits long enough, anyway.

If not, yelling at him will certainly get him there.

Either way, he's holding her more by his padded digits than with the full grasp of his paws. It's a weirdly ginger way to do it, even if his grip is firm. But Taako's light and Allura is strong--and Foster is, if nothing else, a nine foot tall centaur with three-inch-claws, so it's not like she's gonna slip out of his hold.