auroraexpress | The Fourth Trial

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[pulls it out, yep, looking a little confused]

[reaches out and taps the buttons on Timur's chain. type him out a message!]

[. . .]

[wait, Timur doesn't know how to use this, does he?]

[no, but the thing about him is that he's a really quick study -- it only takes him a few words of experimental gibberish to get the idea]

is this what you meant

[...just give him a bit to figure out punctuation]

[TWO THUMBS UP 8Db]

This is what they call "problem solving."

a very useful device

[a bit of fumbling while he figures out line breaks]

what happened in the last round

[. . . u m. . .]

[poker face poker face poker face]

I think I got married.

[IS NOW THE TIME TO JOKE]

[is it though]

to the dragon or my teammate

Edited 2019-01-29 03:43 (UTC)

[EVEN LENGTHIER PAUSE. . . . . . . . .]

[presses a hand against his face, cheeks turning red]

Let's not talk about the dragon?? Maybe?

[....seriously. he frowns a bit, then taps at the device again]

all right

i dont envy you the effect if its what im guessing

i can try to help but it may not last long enough

[just. huffs out a breath, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand]

What do you think it is?

some positive emotion imposed on you towards it

im not going to try to guess what specifically

[it takes him a bit to get the last word right. typing is hard]

[MMMMMMM. his expression wrinkles, looking a bit put out]

It's a little more complicated than that, I'm pretty sure.

[. . .]

But you're not completely off base.

[he wishes the dragon was here and not so he could fight it like he wanted to earlier. he wishes it were here so he can SHOWER IT IN PRAISE AND PLEDGE HIS UNDYING LOYALTY TO IT and oh my god that's weird right?? that's so weird!!]

[that's absolutely weird, buddy]

reversed a feeling you had

its all right if you don't want to talk about it

i may not be able to help if its complex anyway

. . . little more complicated than that, too.

[stuffs his hands into his pockets and immediately takes that conversational out, because he'd rather not focus on these weird. . . feelings. . . that he can't even get angry about]

Don't worry about it; I'll ride it out until it's over.

[if it ends]

[pauses a bit but nods, lifting his Chain up to study it briefly before he types again]

so your world has devices like these

[relaxes a bit as the topic moves into safe territory]

They're called "cell phones" where I come from. Anyone who doesn't have one is socially ostracized.

[more joking]

[and yet]

are they rare

So rare that they hold tournaments where people fight each other for the right to carry one.

It gets brutal.

[Akira it's not nice to take advantage of someone's naivete like this]

one of those statements has to be false

if they were rare enough to fight for then winning one would be a badge of honor

not having one wouldnt be a mark of shame because most people wouldnt have one

and if they arent rare then why fight for them

Oops. Caught in a lie.

[holds up his hands, palms forward]

Kidding. They're not that rare, but they can be pretty expensive. But having one is practically required for staying in touch these days.

they seem useful for that

much easier than birds

Less messy, too.

[heh]

[looking amused]

no argument with that

. . . and you're sure you're okay after all of that?

[whoops, quick subject change. but all joking aside, Akira's concern for Timur's well-being was real]

[an almost startled smile, as if surprised by either the concern or the subject change]

good as new

barely even scorched thanks to all of you

thanks for your efforts

(no subject)

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