The Fourth Trial

[hot_mess_express]

Who: Heroes
When: Day 9, Midday
Where: The Dragon's Tower


Come hither, Heroes. Prove thy worth.

The earth rumbles beneath your feet with a mighty roar. This time a crumbling stone tower looms above you, unscalable and unbreachable. At the top of the tower is a single window with a single light, beckoning. The only entrance at the base is an arched wooden door which creaks in protest when you open it.


Upon entering the tower you will find yourself in a large room with high walls constructed of dark, uneven brick stone. The ceiling is so high that you cannot see anything but darkness as torches lining the walls serve as the only source of light. The room itself is achingly cold. It’s reminiscent of a dungeon… or a treasure room.

But the only treasure to be found lies in the middle of the room; a small pile of seven bracelets, each one inlaid with a beautiful jewel corresponding to each team’s color. It may be fairly obvious, but just in case anyone is slow on the uptake:

“What is it that you treasure in this world? What are you willing to give up? Until you can decide that much, you will not be allowed to leave this room. It matters not to me if you rot in here.

However, I will tell you this much; should you decide who among you is most precious, only they may bear the weight of your altruism.”


Mingle | Pre-Game Rules | Hostages | Rooms | Endgame

Comments

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ nope nope NOPE SHE OUTIE

she might be spotted as she stumbles through the door and then bolts away from the bigger crowd of people, but after that she just sort of seems to vanish? weird.

on the other hand, it isn't so difficult to stumble over her in some out-of-the-way corner later— mostly because there's a conspicuously out of place chill to the nearby area, cold enough to actually make breath visible. extra weird!

(...there's also a faint but pervasive feeling of dread, but let's be real. like half of the people here would barely notice that.) ]

[cawnflict]

[ EVENTUALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he will stumble— ]

There you are. Why did you take off like that?

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ so about that pervasive feeling of dread, which just intensified dramatically,

she lifts her head at the sound of his voice to fix him with a dead-eyed stare— literally dead-eyed. they've gone from the same neon blue as her hair to a dark, dull color, clouded over the way a corpse's would be. ]

... it hurt.

[ her wrists are pretty obviously at the very least mangled from the cuffs cutting into them, if not outright broken from the drop, so this declaration is probably not all that surprising. ]

[cawnflict]

...I imagine it did.

[ he TRIED....... but aside from saving her life, it didn't have the intended effect.

That's not a great feeling.

"She'll be fine," he said to someone, earlier. Now he's crouching down in front of her, balancing his elbows on his thighs. ]

Don't you want to get those fixed?

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ half-mumbled, glancing down ]

It still...

[ ...trailing off and re-focusing on him. girl is Not Okay ]

No.

[cawnflict]

[ No?

That's—unexpected. His eyes narrow slightly, looking her over. ]

You really should have someone look at them for you. I didn't stab that guy just for you to get an infection.

[ghostfromthemachine]

You shouldn't have stabbed him like that at all.

[ flexing her fingers a little and— not flinching, exactly, but stiffening before letting herself relax. it still hurts— it really hurts, but... it doesn't actually matter, does it...? ]

That wasn't necessary.

[cawnflict]

It was. Nobody is going to be satisfied with cuts when they're threatening something much worse.

[ghostfromthemachine]

... "Only they may bear the weight of your altruism." "What will you sacrifice."

[ it's an eerily good mimicry, the inflection spot on for the dragon's voice aside from the words she emphasizes. ]

What part of that phrasing made you think they would be satisfied with you selfishly choosing to inflict more suffering on someone than they'd been led to expect?

[cawnflict]

[ It's... creepy. He doesn't find many things creepy anymore—having the power to move the dead quickly eliminates the usual lists of creep factors.

But there's something chilling about the way she says it that has him pausing. ]

None of these trials have given me any reason to believe in altruism here. So, I sacrificed one of them instead.

[ In less words... he just didn't care. Reason and all of that fancy bullshit don't work. ]

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ echoing him ]

So, you sacrificed someone I liked. And I paid for it, regardless.

[ exhaling roughly, but it doesn't really sound pained at all— satisfied, if anything. like she'd finally been able to make up her mind about something bothering her.

the temperature drops a little further, and at the same time the air goes absolutely thick with static. ]

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised...? But... mm. That puts you in debt.

[ she flexes her fingers again, idly—with no flinch at all this time— and then lashes out, grabbing for his wrists completely heedless of the injuries to her own. ]

[assassinatedassassin]

Hey-!

[aaand she's gone. He was not fast enough. Goodbye. But he'll watch her go with some worry.]

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ literally ghosted... sorry teammate... ]

[unaffective]

[ she would be used to it but less so in this body but she also wants to say something but also, literally ghosted . . . ]

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ LITERALLY GHOSTED,

on the other hand, idk if amane can see dead people (ASIDE FROM, YOU KNOW, #forest) but if so she'd have a much easier time following ]

[bowtiedbones]

[this sure is a ghostly chill, but I sure do not have Isildur summoned. weird weird!]

Um...?

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ something audibly shifts at the sound of her voice—

—oh, it's that one girl on Senna. she's literally wedged herself into an unhappy loose huddle in the corner, where it'd be easy to overlook her, even with Senna's overall color scheme and. her hair, in general,

though for some reason that seems to be a lot duller than Eliza might remember. as are her eyes, which have gone a dull dark blue-grey— very visibly so, with the bleary just-shy-of-hostile squint she's getting. ]

[bowtiedbones]

[waves, like, hi...]

Are you okay?

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ HOSTILE AND SQUINT INTENSIFY and then very abruptly de-intensify. right, she... knows you... ]

...no.

[ it's not the easiest angle to see at, since she's got her arms gingerly in her lap, but her wrists are in fact visibly kind of mangled. mistakes were made, ]

[bowtiedbones]

[speaking gently, assuming Kaiko is in some degree of shock rather than y'know, haunting it up.]

You should probably get on board the train. We can get you patched up at the clinic.

[ghostfromthemachine]

[ por que no los dos tbh. though the temperature taking another dip alongside the whole Bad Mojo feeling taking a hike might be a tip-off ]

I don't— no. No. There's too many people—

[bowtiedbones]

Okay. If you don't want to come inside, can I bring you a first aid kit out here?

[ghostfromthemachine]

[

]

I don't think you should touch me right now.

[bowtiedbones]

[...considering that aura more closely now]

Would it better if I have my familiar here?

[ghostfromthemachine]

I don't know.

...Something's— something's wrong with me.