The First Trial

[hot_mess_express]

Who: All Brave Heroes
When: Day 4, morning
Where: The Witch's House

[ Something is amiss.

The jungle goes still, unsettling in its silence. Not a leaf shudders and not a beast makes a sound, as if everything alive outside is holding its breath in dead… or anticipation?

All of the lights on the Aurora begin to flicker. And while at first it may seem as though it is simply the beginnings of another power outage, the notion is quickly chased by the entire train abruptly swaying and shuddering-- as if something seized hold of it and started shaking it from the outside.


Come hither, Heroes. Prove thy worth.



If you step outside you will see it. There, sitting just in sight of the train, is a place that most certainly had never been there before. Or had it always been there?

Based on the outside, it seems like a place that no one has lived in for quite some time. The wooden shutters on the windows are barely hanging, rotting from age. The stones that make up the house look weathered and are covered in moss. The roof is missing shingles, any plantlife around the building appears to be dead . . . and yet the chimney has smoke coming out of it.

The air around the house seems to waver and the darkness of the world seems to be drawn, to gather around its worn silhouette.

Likewise, whether by compulsion or sheer curiosity, you are also drawn towards the house.

Entering is simple enough. You need only go through the front door to enter your first Trial. As you enter a voice greets you from nowhere, ]


“Welcome, children. This is the real beginning of your journey. Let’s see how strong you truly are. Oh, but do be careful, and . . . “

[ There is a chuckle. ]

“Don’t die. ♥”

[ The house that you entered is no longer a house. Rather, it is a moonlit clearing, with vegetation surrounding reminiscent to the jungle you just left. Around you, you may hear the familiar sounds of the beasts. They wait for you. They wait for you to fall so that they may feast.

But the beasts are the least of your concerns. As soon as you enter this clearing you feel it-- a burning hot sensation, the world spinning around you, and a sick twisting feeling in your gut.

You know immediately. You are sick. You’ve been poisoned.

Lining the edges of the clearing are seven cauldrons, and around each of them a circle of flowers growing in seven different colors. At the center of the clearing is a similar circle, in the middle of which lies a book full of blank pages, a collection of feathered pens, and a knife of which the handle is inlaid with a beautiful earthy gemstone.

To each cauldron is pinned a piece of parchment that reads “antidote” before a list of ingredients scrawled in a muddled mess of handwritings.

You may want to read these parchments carefully. Your time is already running out. ]

Instructions and Rules ☆ Q&A ☆ Ingredients and Turn-In ☆ Winners and Consequences ☆ Endgame

Comments

INSTRUCTIONS and RULES

[hot_mess_express]

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step one: Post! With a top-level comment and/OR respond to someone else's top-level under the same header.
Step two: Mingle! Discuss icly as well as oocly what ingredients you want to collect with the person you have tagged and perform the required actions!
Step three: Turn-in! Respond to the ingredients and turn-in top level that corresponds to your team with a link to the threads you are counting for ingredients. Turn-in is due by Dec 8th, 8pm PST.


RULES:

- FOR THIS GAME YOUR CHARACTER IS POISONED AND WEAKENED. Powers will not be turned off, however you should keep in mind your character’s current state. They probably wouldn't be able to wrestle a pig-monster on their own for example.
- Ingredients are shared by teams! You may split the workload between you and your unit members. Or you could not do that. Your choice really. Communicate with your team!
- In order for an ingredient to count as “gathered” you must have a thread with another player that either completes the required action or is leading to the completion of the required action. If you try to put an ingredient in the cauldron on your own the ingredient in question will burn up upon contact. So maybe don't try this with your own personal possessions. (Unless you want to I mean I'm not here to tell you how to live your life...)
- For the more … interpret-able ingredients, get creative. As long as it has some relation to the requested ingredient it will most likely work. The point is to interact and cooperate with your fellow Heroes. If you’re not sure feel free to ask under the q&a top level.
- Not all ingredients need be physically thrown into the cauldron. (Unless you want to. Again, I'm not here to tell you how to live your life......)
- You may venture into the jungle surrounding the clearing to acquire ingredients. Just don’t wander too far. Pay attention to your environment and the needs of your comrades.
- Failure to acquire all of the ingredients will result in an after-game consequence for your entire unit. The more ingredients you gather the less severe the consequence will be. Heroes that don’t attend the game will not be affected even if their team loses.
- This consequence is not permanent.

Q&A

[hot_mess_express]

Ask questions here!

Re: Q&A

[friskmanagement]

Will a ghost feel the effects of the poison as well?

(frozen comment) INGREDIENTS and TURN-IN

[hot_mess_express]

Remember to respond to the "Turn-In" comment for turn-in!

(frozen comment) GINGER

[hot_mess_express]

❥ the color of temptation
❥ a handmade gift
❥ the story yet written
❥ something willingly given
❥ the blood of thine ally

(frozen comment) THYME

[hot_mess_express]

❥ the color of shine
❥ a good laugh
❥ the uncredited author
❥ the kindness of a stranger
❥ the blood of the virtuous

(frozen comment) SENNA

[hot_mess_express]

❥ the color of pleasure
❥ a valuable treasure
❥ the scale of a snake
❥ something unknowingly taken
❥ the blood of thine love

WINNERS and CONSEQUENCES

[hot_mess_express]

[ The cauldrons boil and bubble as the earth shakes once again. And then, within the blink of an eye, every cauldron shudders and breaks apart-- dissolving into dirt.

Did you fail?

Maybe not quite. Left in each pile of dirt is a bottle made of crystal, in each unit's respective color. As well as a note.

Remember that you are not alone.


Should you drink from your unit's bottle you will find your health restored.... or maybe not quite fully.

For those who did not complete their antidotes, there may be… after effects.

But it seems that overall everyone was quite successful. In the once dark sky an array of stars shine in the colors apple green, terracotta red, violet… violet, and hot pink pink.

In the distance a worn cottage door appears. You may leave. ]

AFTER EFFECTS

[hot_mess_express]

0 ingredients gathered: severe after-effects (choose 2 severe effects + anything else you want just go wild honestly)
1-2 ingredients gathered: moderate after-effects (choose 2 mild effects and 2 severe effects)
3-4 ingredients gathered: mild after-effects (choose 1-2 mild effects !!optional!! +1 severe effect)
5 ingredients gathered: completely healed

bubble hiccups: annoying but harmless. also in your team color!
perpetually too cold: you’re freezing… all the time. better curl up to someone warm.
perpetually too hot: so take off all your clothes
heightened emotions: say goodbye to your reasonable emotional reactions to anything.

partial blindness: it’s like the whole world is fogged up! better hold someone’s hand,
partial paralysis: choose a limb or two and go
inability to lie: what it says on the package
stone growths: tiny little golden gemstones that grow from your skin. not painful, mostly just itchy. if you scratch them out it will hurt though. will shed on their own after a few days.


NOTE: these effects will only last for a minimum of two IC days, however you may play with them as long as you want within reason.

ENDGAME

[hot_mess_express]

[ congratulations to thyme, senna, licorice, and clover.

you may want to check on those who failed... ]

Re: ENDGAME

[unperturbed]

[OH GOOD nobody is dead!! Whew.

I mean he is now freezing cold and kind of half-hugging himself since one of his arms isn't working and also there are lil gold gemstones growing from his skin AND he just hiccuped a ginger-colored bubble but. y'know. that's not so bad.]

[vitellina]

This is bullshit and I still hate it!

[hissoff]

[ ... from the floor, probably. ]

You wouldn't happen to be a sinner, would you?

[hissoff]

[ well at least he manages to get to the cauldron circled in pink to grab the parchment and read it... before sliding to the ground.

he just lives here now. ]

This is a little far for a joke, isn't it....

[bitterwiththesweet]

Nnnnnot sure this is a joke, SB.

[unperturbed]

[Staggers a bit and puts a hand to his forehead as everything seems to spin around, but he does manage to stay on his feet for once. Whew. This is very not nice.]

[bowtiedbones]

Careful...! This is super gross.

[bowtiedbones]

Ummm... Sorry, wait, what? What is this?

[voreaciously]

A game, I suppose.

[She kind of looks like shit but also mildly annoyed.]

[bitterwiththesweet]

This is skronked up.

[bowtiedbones]

It's ridiculous! Who poisons someone on their first meeting? Or ever!?

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ I feel so sick. but. what other choice do I have really? ]

Can anyone here sing? Or thinks they can?

[nihilmancy]

Does it have to have words?

[nihilmancy]

[Tabby is breathing hard, leaning against her team's cauldron as she tries to catch her breath.]

Who did this?

[friskmanagement]

[You're sitting on the ground. The ground is nice. The ground is one of the few things that isn't spinning right now.]

I dunno, but whoever they are, I'd really like it if they'd stop.

[unaffective]

[ There's a moment or so where she's obviously taken aback, staggering, hand reaching to clutch at the fabric nearest her stomach, but -

this. at least it isn't the absolute first time she's ever felt like this, so she manages to paste a good-natured smile on top as she flags you - yes you! - down. ]

Good morning. If I may be so forward as to ask - is there anything within this place that you happen to consider as "valuable?"

[bowtiedbones]

Good morning.

[it's a bad bad morning but, manners!]

Oh, um, my phone? Or my Chain, technically, but it's a lot like my phone.

[voreaciously]

[For goodness sake. Some things never change. Se tries curing herself on the poison with her magic, but of course, it does not work. She did not expect it to.]

Very well, then. Let us be finished with this, quickly.

[dragonheartedgirl]

[ ??? ]

I don't think anyone's going to be doing anything very quickly.

[ We're all poisoned? ]

[friskmanagement]

[You try to stay on your feet, but eventually everything is spinning too much and you feel really hot and your legs feels like jelly, and you think you might throw up - yes, you're definitely going to throw up - it's going to happen any second now -

Making it worse?

Making it worse. Sorry.

Anyway, after a few minutes, you gave up on standing up, so now you're just kind of laying on the ground.]

I really wanna help you get your ingredients, but I think I'm gonna have to do it from down here.

[Can't be that many of these things that require being vertical, right?]

[vitellina]

Uh. You guys doing okay?

Rhetorical question, I know nobody is I'm just bad at starting conversations about not dying of poison.

[cawnflict]

[ "the blood of thine love"

excuse him????????????????????????????????????? wow. no. the rest is doable but he can't do that one. where's that stupid snake. he can make him do two of these— ]

These are pretty outlandish. Where did that snake go...?

[howlsitgoin]

[Just. Real casually walking up to him to try to pluck a feather.]

[aimforthestars]

...this is an unpleasant shopping trip.

[Disregard this wobbling, annoyed mess.]

What's the point of being poisoned BEFORE participating again?

[unperturbed]

[as if he would disregard this mess.]

To... judge how tough we are? I don't know, either.

[ruinatings]

[Oh no. He doesn't feel so good. He presses a hand to his temple, briefly, before purposefully dragging himself over to check these cauldrons.]

As if this wasn't already incredibly stupid...

[unperturbed]

[He bites down a "are you alright" since the answer is pretty obvious.]

I am not entirely sure what we are supposed to be "proving" with this.

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ keeled over by Senna's cauldron, squinting at the antidote ingredient list ]

you could at least have written this legibly what is even the POINT of this if I find you I am going to throw up on your shoes—

[ abruptly, without any real pause as she shifts gears ]

—does anyone want to trade?

[nihilmancy]

What do you think qualifies as the color of knowledge?

[stakesthesame]

[ staring... at licorice's ingredient list, ]

Man, what the blood. This is stupid. What does any of this junk even mean.

[nihilmancy]

I feel as if you are most qualified to gain access to that ingredient.

[marmitekeef]

[ UGH he feels terrible, what is this. This is terrible. Frowning in confusion at Licorice's list. ]

What the quiznak...

[nihilmancy]

[Not looking too well herself, as she approaches him.]

How are you holding up, Calico?