auroraexpress | The Twenty-Fifth Trial [Mirror]

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The Twenty-Fifth Trial [Mirror] - Winners and Endgame

Who: Heroes
When:Day 52, night
Where: near the Train

The rain falls harder, and the snake sneers at you as you exit the temples... Lightning strikes and the snake laughs like thunder... But that's all, the mocking laughter rings in your ears as the scenery shifts back to the normal Train area. Those who revive will do so near the Train as the winners and survivors reappear.

Ginger and Licorice double win for both surviving and targeting a Priest! For these teams they get 800 points.

Jasmine wins for surviving! They get 500 points.

Everyone on a winning team is revived and fully healed.

Everyone else... Is revived. And healed. However in whatever death wounds they received they have, instead of scars, white scales for their skin.

Smaller wounds will regenerate in a one to two days and will leave scales instead of scars unless healed otherwise.

All Kami remain hungry and able to shift to their monster form for the next day or so. Only meat will relieve this hunger.

Any Kami that were mad at the end of the game will retain a bit of mental instability for a day, in whatever form you prefer.

Priests, if they normally have powers, will find themselves somewhat weaker for a day.

It is not ICly known that these effects will wear off.

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Eating each other...?

Perhaps I should have joined. My brother believes any risks I take will succeed, one way or another.

Do you wish to have the wounds covered until you receive a permanent solution tomorrow?

No, it's better you weren't there.

We did take a risk. We passed the first round and I was fine. Hating everything, but I was fine. [Because SOMEONE passed her sanity check.] Everyone, but one on a team was made into a monster. But that one was able to help keep the monsters sane.

Not having them was a huge leap in difficulty. The difference between an apple and a mountain.

Isuzu was taken the first round. The risks weren't a problem, it was what other people decided that was a problem. We were even doing well because we restrained my monster form as best we could and it neutralized some of my threat level.

Another person being there would have made it harder to neutralize and just mean more people hurt.

...yeah. Illusions aren't a specialty, I'd have to focus to keep it up. [And she hates them.] Focus on making it a bond. I think that counts as comforting someone?

[I am certain you would have overcome the madness, brother. The same as you did before. Loki can practically hear Thor's reassuring voice in his head. He bows his head. Maybe Solar was right. Maybe it was better not to know how he might have coped.]

I think I need to know more about trials before the next one, so I can properly prepare. But that can wait until you are ready to talk about what occurred.

[Nod and a bit of a smile.] Of course, it is simple. [And as he speaks, her coat is its normal unbroken orange.] It will likely fail if you stray too far, but as we are housemates and you will not need it past tomorrow, I doubt that will be a problem.

[She can see those gears turning.]

....you being there wouldn't have helped. There was no information to work with the first round, who was a monster and who wasn't. They were randomly selected. We couldn't influence people to choose us or leave us alone. You would have just suffered the madness too, whether you resisted or not. You'd still have to deal with it.

The only possible way your presence could have helped was if it meant Isuzu wasn't taken the first round and that's only a positive if the monster could resist through the second round too and we weren't chosen again.

Too much of the game was dependent on what other people decided to do, not what we could do, and we didn't have a chance to influence them.

I'm fine to talk about it. It's easier to be doing things. Though it might help I never ate anyone. Never even got a bite.

[She looks down. She can still feel it, but at least she doesn't have to see it in a mirror.] Yeah. After healing, I think I'm at least going to try and sleep. I'm....really tired. [And hungry.] And awake time will be working on a design. Tomorrow I'll need to go to Jasmine. 80H is going to do the work.

I will trust your judgment. I am not thinking of the past, but the future. If we stand a better chance of winning a trial simply by having more members, then it is for everyone's good that I go in, and I much prefer to be prepared as best I can.

Is it unusual, to not be given instructions at the start of a trial?

There is no way having more people would have made this trial better. It just changes the brand of awful more likely to occur. At least less people means less people traumatized.

That's the problem with trials. There's a lot of variations. It's hard to account for all eventualities. This time, less was better overall. Just...a question if the people are able to deal with things with less people. Emotionally.

We get instructions right when the trial starts. Not before. When it started, we were all isolated in different rooms. Which happens often enough with trials.

Hmm... That would prevent cheating. Or sabotage of other teams, or an attempt to undermine the game entirely.

How many trials have you participated in, and what were the challenges? There may be some pattern, and we may be able to predict which ones will be... difficult.

....gonna say, cheating with magical game masters? Typically doesn't go well.

Clever undermining goes okay because that's within rules, but I'd hesitate to straight up cheat. Not without a clear idea of consequences.

Five trials. Been six since I arrived, Penric was in one alone.

A bad one.

And the pattern for all those are pretty obvious. One was design a spaceship and do mock battles with them, another was use three cards to represent a word and get another team to guess the word. Former was being able to read what stats a team would go for, the latter communication.

The rest were do an assortment of bonding tasks because such and such framing device. Bingo, board game, color coded candy. Tasks were hugs or pranks or tell something about yourself. Dumb things, vulnerable things, whatever might be bonding.

Any game master who includes the God of Mischief should expect him to cheat. But, I will endeavor to stay within the rules unless the risks and rewards and great enough.

So... the benign ones are more common, by far. That is good to know. But still, why the bad ones hidden among them? To lull us into a false sense of security?

Breaking bad games about the only one that is worth it. You could match a trial win with a a couple of hugs. Winning is more about pride then real reward unless you really hate the bond tasks.

...the people on the train can run trials. The candy was someone on Jasmine. What ran this one was a darkness hidden in someone. Not them, one of the people's heads I've been in. But apparently their subconscious joyrider got out enough for this.

I don't know who ran the last. Supposedly those of the Prince's court who run trials believe the best bonding is life or death stress.

Well, I do have a strong sense of pride, as a god should. But I also understand the value of holding back your strength until it counts. I may test the bounds of the lesser games, though.

[Sudden look of worry.] Things... inside us may run games. And you have sensed whatever it was in our fellow passenger that caused this? [He lowers his voice so only Solar can hear.] Tell me, did you sense anything similar inside my head, in your brief glimpse within?

So do I. I hate losing. Just not so much as to invoke the warning of old fairy tales.

I'm on board with cleverness though.

[....well, ain't that a question.]

[Because the thing is, she DID sense something. Much like when she sensed the snake in Sousei, there had been....something else. She didn't know what that something else was.]

[And with Loki, there had also been a Something Else, but was it the same? Was it different? Was it a parasite from the train?]

I....don't know for sure.

Ah, but I am of the beings that inspire those old fairy tales. I grant you permission and protection from consequences. [Is he joking, serious, or just completely full of himself? You decide!]

[His laughter after, though, is very much not because of a joke or good nature.]

Of course. I suppose I may never know for certain. That may be his revenge in the end.

Well. If I do have Something in my head, I believe I can predict what sort of trial it would run. And I know how it could be beaten.

According to some of the train denizens, so am I. Might be better to respect those rules for mythical peace.

Whose revenge?

I think there was something present. The problem is I don't know the source. Even the bat could be a possibility.

Oh? And what's that?

[He's a little reluctant to say this, but since she has already seen a memory with the salient bits...]

Thanos. The one who thought to turn me into his pawn and present it as a favor. I believe that I have successfully escaped his grasp, but I also believed that my thoughts and actions were my own, yet there was... evidence to the contrary that I cannot dispute. I have resigned myself to looking over my shoulder for him until one of us perishes, but I did not expect to have to suspect my own mind as well.

It is likely that he used the Mind Stone to influence me without my knowledge. It is also possible that some part of that influence might be left, and that is what caused your magic to turn dark. According to... observations of others, while being influenced I was driven far more by hate and inclined towards destruction. Unfortunately for Thanos, I had more hatred for him and will to destroy what he desired than for the targets he gave me. If there is still any trace of the Mind Stone's touch in my mind, it will likely attempt to replicate my mission: retrieve an item of great power and subjugate the ones holding it. And it can be beaten by hating something more than the ineffectual enemy, such as the one forcing you to dance to its tune.

So rebel against you as a game master would be the idea. The secret winning path. Depending on what the dangers are, that should be possible to convince other people to do.

[Rubbing her chin with a hoof.] It's not a common curse type, but it's certainly doable. Leaving something in someone's subconscious.

What is this stone? Just a powerful magical item, or we talking something deeper? Was it made or just came into existence through cosmic forces?

[Loki looks thoughtful. Congratulations, Solar, you've just given him an idea for how to run a trial all on his own.] That would be advisable, yes.

The Mind Stone... it is one of the Infinity Stones, the most powerful and mysterious artifacts in the universe. Even we gods do not understand all that they are capable of. I only possessed it briefly and did not explore its uses beyond what I had been taught. Thanos has possessed it for an unknown amount of time, I can hardly guess what secrets he has unlocked.

Got it. Does it have to be hate, the emotional part? Because some people here might be real good at hate, but others are gonna be incapable. I'm not even sure I could get that much hate, takes a lot for me to really hate something. At least with the levels I think you're tlaking about.

... [Frowning.] Well, that is rather difficult.

Most of the spells made for mind exploration were made with searching for mental parasites in mind. And really, that's the only use most of them are since they're hard to make useful on an unwilling host. They're usually bring a pony to a more generalized mental scape. Less intimate details of the person, but easier to notice any major disruptions.

But if the parasite is made by something that powerful, I'm not sure how well those would work to getting it out.

[He purses his lips.] I do not know. [He didn't even try anything but hate and spite. But there was his positive reaction to Thor reaching out to him...] Perhaps. Support of another may also be necessary.

I think what he used was... more than a spell. Something primal. And of course subtle. Perhaps if Odin had been more interested in knowing the whole story, we would all have answers and methods of countering the Mind Stone's control, but that old fool...

[He's getting worked up, very angry. He takes a breath and regains the facade of calm.]

Well. If I do have an invader in my mind, and we do manage to contain it, I doubt whatever is hiding within your friend will be a challenge.

[Nods.] That should be doable then. It's rare to have someone both incapable of hating and incapable of working with others.

Not all parasites are spells. Sometimes they're magical creatures. Sometimes they're worse. The spells I know might still mean I can find it, but getting it out is another matter.

Too afraid of power to pursue knowledge? [She rolls her eyes.] I never understood that. The best way to control something dangerous is to know it.

It might be similar. It was the same kind of feelings. The thing in him is definitely old. It depends how things are translating, magic and power can differ between worlds.

Hah. That is true. It is far more rare than someone who is capable of both.

I think I should like to review what those spells are before you use them on me.

[He growls softly.] Oh, he is far worse. He is too afraid of being wrong to pursue new knowledge, as it would mean admitting that he did not know everything of import. And he would rather believe the worst of me if that is a possibility. It is simpler for him to decide that I am lying and attempting to trick others than to investigate whether I have found a power and a threat he did not anticipate.

Hmm. But he is not old himself, correct? Then the question becomes how and why did it get in him.

Oh yeah. Plenty who can hate and be professional.

It shouldn't be no problem. I just need enough paper to write them all down. Spells like that are usually built up on other ones, so getting all of it takes time.

....that....he....he does know that the world is a constant flux of change, right? Especially if you live centuries, things sometimes have to be born first.

He isn't the first host. He isn't the first host by a far bit. When one dies, old god gets shoved into a new one. It's a....rather barbaric practice.

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The Twenty-Fifth Trial [Mirror] - Winners and Endgame

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