auroraexpress | The Twenty-Fifth Trial [Mirror]

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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

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