hot_mess_express ([personal profile] hot_mess_express) wrote in [community profile] auroraexpress2018-12-07 06:50 pm

The First Trial

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 RulesQ&AIngredients and Turn-InWinners and ConsequencesEndgame
vitellina: (Sunshine came along with thee)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-08 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
What colour is knowledge?
nihilmancy: (Curious)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-08 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
Bbbbbbbbbblue????
vitellina: (Default)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-08 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
How'd you even decide that?
vitellina: (Default)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-08 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
Uh.

Do we have any blue.
nihilmancy: (Neutral)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-08 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know. Pink is also a possibility. Brains.
vitellina: (As the blackbird in the spring)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-08 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
Those are grey.
nihilmancy: (Neutral 2)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-08 08:21 am (UTC)(link)
Only when they're dried out and dead.
vitellina: (I give my all to thee)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-08 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
Really? They definitely feel always grey to me.


...Okay, maybe that just proves your point.
nihilmancy: (Neutral)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-08 08:42 am (UTC)(link)
I feel like it is important to think metaphorically for some of these, in any case. How is revenge an ingredient. Why does temperature matter.
vitellina: (Sunshine came along with thee)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-08 08:57 am (UTC)(link)
Because revenge is best served cold? Nobody wants warm revenge, Tabby.
nihilmancy: (Laugh)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-08 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I feel as if hot revenge probably inflicts more pain on the victim.
vitellina: (I give my all to thee)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-09 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
Are you just really into pain?
nihilmancy: (Curious)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-09 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
Hm, possibly.

[She leans into the cauldron and wordlessly sings the tune from her memory, competently enough.]

There. That should hopefully work.
vitellina: (Aura Lee! Aura Lee! Maid of golden hair!)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-09 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, let me yank one of your hairs.
nihilmancy: (Neutral)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-09 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
Are you saying I'm a beast.
vitellina: (-)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-09 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
I think 'likes pain' qualifies as a beastly quality. I guess we could also just take one from Mr. Literally A Cat.
nihilmancy: (Neutral 2)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-09 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
I only like to inflict pain on people I don't like. Probably. Calico is obviously more of a beast.
vitellina: (As the blackbird in the spring)

[personal profile] vitellina 2018-12-09 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
Fiiine. Anything else we still need?
nihilmancy: (Neutral)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2018-12-09 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
I don't believe so. We did... well.