auroraexpress | The Eighteenth Trial

Entry tags:

The Eighteenth Trial

Who: Trialgoers
When: Day 41, morning
Where:

I hope you were expecting to suddenly find yourself in a very different body from the one you're used to. No? You weren't? Ah, that's too bad … It's happened, and you're just going to have to Deal With It. In your hands is a foldable waterproof map, a six-sided die, and a whistle that you can hang around your neck.

To add insult to injury, you cannot, no matter how hard you try, reveal who you are or what team you're on.

Mingle | Rules & Info | Whistles | Walkie Talkies
Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 3 | Zone 4 | Zone 5
Finish | Turn in

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

You're standing on a large, cobblestone plaza, overlooking two square miles of very … interesting, not to mention varied, terrain. You can see a dank, overgrown swamp, wreathed with patches of fog; a leafy green woodland with flashes of colourful flowers; a jagged desert canyon shimmering in a heat haze; an icy miniature mountain range above which a snow storm is brewing; the rooftops of quaint houses. The path is winding, and even from here you can see that it's divided into "squares" with faintly glowing borders. The squares are sized to be proportional to the course, which is to say, they're also Big.

There's plenty of space to mingle up here, with benches to sit on and old, battered-looking vending machines you can kick if you want some soda or candy to snack on before you begin your journey.

At the northern end of the plaza is a huge inflatable arch with the word "START" written in comic sans. Nobody can move beyond this point without first rolling their die, but you can see that you've got two choices: walk down what must be at least 500 steps to reach the first square, or take the equally long but infinitely more fun bouncy inflatable slide.

SQUARES SPREADSHEET & MAP

Aims of the Game
OBJECTIVE 1 - Make it around the board as quickly as you can. Keep track of how many turns you've taken.
OBJECTIVE 2 - Figure out the true identities of as many of the others as you can.

Rules & Information
✰ Powers and abilities are ON.

✰ Characters cannot reveal their true identity or which team they're on — any attempt to do so will be censored by an obnoxiously loud BLEEP sound (or pixellated out).

✰ Use 1D6 to move across the board. Whatever square you land on, use THIS SPREADSHEET to find out what happens!

CONSTITUTION AND HP:
The "Constitution" stat is effectively your character's HP, so please keep track of it! If it reaches 0 at any point, they will be "KO'd" and miss three turns - they will wake up fully refreshed. Please ignore the other two stats.

"BOSS BATTLE SQUARES":
This is very loosey-goosey and experimental, so let me know if it doesn't work…! Boss battle squares will be highlighted on the spreadsheet. You are welcome to NPC the boss battles yourselves but please feel free to hit me up if you'd like me to do it!

If a BOSS BATTLE is initiated:
Roll your 1D20 again! Add +2 to your roll if you whistle for help and somebody comes.
20 - critical success, defeat the boss or escape without damage!
19~17 - win or escape with 10% damage
16~12 - win or escape with 25% damage
11~5 - win or escape with 50% damage
4~2 - win or escape with 75% damage
1 - critical failure with 100% damage

While characters feel like they actually are inhabiting their new body, damage is video game-y and simulated! Damage and pain translates to "discomfort", and while it may be more or less severe depending on what actually happened, it will never be debilitating.
Example 1: Dusk gets hit by a car. It's very uncomfortable and throws him around, but there's no gore or broken bones.
Example 2: A moose bites 80H on the nose. Her nose remains in-tact, it's just very uncomfortable.
Example 3: Cat gets stuck in a blizzard. While she definitely feels very, very, very cold, there's no danger of Actual Frostbite.

IC Instructions
Each character will find themselves with one D6 die, a map, a whistle, and a walkie talkie.

The Die: To move across the course, they must roll their die and walk forward the corresponding number of squares. To cross a bridge, they must land on the square where the bridge starts. I.E. if the bridge is 4 squares away and they roll a 5, they're SOL. The same principle applies to trap squares: they only activate if someone lands specifically on that square.

The Map: The massive course is split into five zones, each with different terrain, plus the "start" and "finish" areas. Each zone has 11 squares, made distinct by the faintly glowing borders that surround them. The borders are red in Z1; orange in Z2; green in Z3; blue in Z4, and pink in Z5.

The Whistle: Blowing the whistle allows other characters to come to your character's aid, regardless of anyone's position on the board. They must return to their positions before they can roll again.

The Walkie Talkie: It's important to keep in touch! Characters can chat no matter where they are on the board.

QUESTIONS??
Feel free to ask them here.

[Oh god, why different body]

[OH GOD WHY DO I FEEL TERRIBLE]

[May just fall over from body disparity and lacking magical field.]

Edited 2019-09-05 23:06 (UTC)

Are you whistling for help? Link here so that somebody can come rescue you!

You're welcome to chat via walkie talkie in your threads, but you're equally welcome to do so here.

It's a swamp. A wet, marshy, dank, miserable swamp, wreathed in thick, drifting patches of cold fog. While there is solid ground here and there, a single unlucky step in the wrong direction could see you sinking waist-deep into gross swamp water.

Frogs bellow and insects buzz, and from time to time you might notice something a little … unsettling. Glowing eyes in a patch of shadow; a sinuous ripple of Something beneath the otherwise still water; a long, low gurgle …

On Square 11, just before murky swamplands transitions into a spring forest in full bloom, you find a rope-bridge … on a dauntingly steep but not completely unreasonable incline. Good thing it looks sturdy! If you're lucky enough to stop on this square, you may choose to take this shortcut instead of continuing on.

The ground rises gently, and as it does, a verdant forest springs up around you. The ground is solid but springy beneath your feet, and a huge variety of colourful flowers bloom all around you. Bright sunlight filters through the canopy. The warm, pleasantly scented air is probably a relief after the swamp.

Square 17 marks the beginning of a steep hill, cresting at Square 20, where you'll find the other end of the rope bridge you saw earlier. By the time you reach Square 21, the trees are starting to thin, going from lush, dense forest to steadily more scraggly woodlands.

As you emerge from the trees out into the bottom of a magnificent canyon, the air goes from "warm" and "pleasant" to … "wow I sure am in a desert" and "yikes why is the sun so bright". Here and there you may find some cute cacti or patches of hardy desert shrubs, or skeletons of long-dead creatures. There's a few small ridges you'll need to scramble over as you make your way forward, but overall this section is fairly level.

Square 27 is an interesting one, in that it's a huge skeletal spine laying across a ravine with a river rushing down below. It looks like there used to be a bridge, but, uh. Not anymore. Anyone just scampering along the spine will be fine, but those who have to roll here may be in for an Interesting Time.

Likewise, anyone landing on Square 29 had better watch out.

The canyon widens out into the foothills of a miniature mountain range. The sun has disappeared behind roiling dark clouds, and the temperature has dropped significantly. It feels like it could snow at any moment.

There's a steep drop to the west of Square 34 — if you look down, you can see a rope ladder descending down to the river. Square 35 is a steep, icy staircase leading up into the mountain proper. From there, it's a wintery trail along winding paths, peaking at Square 40. The descent on the other side is rapid, except for Square 42, which is a short but very, very, very dark tunnel.

You've made it through the mountain range! Heck yes! The weather out here is (mostly) mild but drizzly, and the terrain is pleasantly flat and grassy. All that's left is to follow the cobbled country road to and through the town. By Square 48 you'll have reached the town proper. It's pretty and quaint, and very quiet. There doesn't seem to be anybody living here…?

Just … watch out around Square 52. The ancient mine shaft may have been paved over, but the workmanship was a little on the shoddy side …

Beyond a huge inflatable archway emblazoned with the word ~FINISH~ is magnificent castle! A … small … magnificent castle, like the kind you'd find at a theme park. It's surrounded by a lush, manicured lawn, upon which rests a number of picnic blankets and baskets. Inside the baskets you'll find ice cold sodas, bottles of water, and a variety of picnic-friendly finger foods for all to enjoy.

[This is quite the predicament. Twirling around to check out new body.]

Oh, no.

No, no. Nope. Nope.

NOPE.

[ This person blinks once or twice, looking down at their body with a grimace. ]

Heeeeeey, this is! New! Just one question, how do I trade back?

Edited 2019-09-05 23:37 (UTC)

[hands up and not touching ANYTHING, not MOVING]

Nnno, no thank you.

[ They kneel down, poking at the other person. ]

Lost your center of balance, huh?

[ There's a grin coming from over here. ]

Having fun?

[ This person scrubs a hand down their face. ]

No kidding, right? I want a refund.

[ This person tucks their hands behind their head, nodding along. ]

Yeah, I'm with you on that one.

No.

Maybe.

How is she so peppy? I just want to take a nap.

Weeeell... Your options are one, she's faking it or two, she's just naturally that bubbly. I lean more towards two but one's not out of the question.

I hate everything about this.

It's... different.

I know she's bubbly, but there's only so much bubble can hide.

[Groans and pushing herself to sit up, hand on her head.] I feel like I'm sick or something.

[ Rolling a 5 would have been cooler if it didn't mean wading through a horrible swamp, eugh. It'd also be cooler if a crocoDILE HADN'T JUST LUNGED OUT OF NOWHERE OH MY DEAR SWEET - ]

Fuck!

[ They dodge, but only barely, a hard swat of the crocodile's tail sending them face-planting right into the water. They scramble frantically up onto the nearest scrap of (relatively) dry land, sputtering and fumbling with their die. ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 52

The Eighteenth Trial

MINGLE

Rules and Information

Re: MINGLE

WHISTLE LINKS

WALKIE TALKIE CHAT

ZONE 1 - SWAMP

ZONE 2 - FOREST

ZONE 3 - CANYON

ZONE 4 - MOUNTAINS

ZONE 5 - TOWN

~FINISH~

Re: MINGLE

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Turn 1