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expiationlogs2023-09-11 06:30 am
- !event,
- ai tsf: mizuki date,
- arcane: caitlyn kiramman,
- arcane: jinx,
- arcane: silco,
- arcane: violet / vi,
- blazblue: ragna the bloodedge,
- bungo stray dogs: nikolai gogol,
- bungo stray dogs: sigma,
- final fantasy xiii2: noel kreiss,
- fire emblem three hopes: marianne,
- fma:b: pride,
- magia record: mitama yakumo,
- original: astralin turnont,
- persona 3 portable: kotone shiomi,
- persona 4: yosuke hanamura,
- persona 4: yu narukami,
- persona 5 royal: goro akechi,
- umineko wtc: ange ushiromiya,
- x-men movieverse: scott summers
{EVENT #4} ADVERSITY 2933165.9475
| MOD NOTES: Please direct any questions to the corresponding comment below. Note that character decisions and actions taken on these prompts will affect future events, storylines, and relationships with other peoples of Expiation. You can find the OOC poll here. Please pick from the corresponding options with the appropriate character journal. If you use a personal journal or a journal not part of Expiation, your votes will not be counted. Remember that if your character did something different than what is in the prompts given, leave a comment in the OOC poll entry and link to your comment in the option made available. We will provide an IC post in exactly ten days with the results of the poll that will wrap up the event. You may mingle on it if you like, but the most important purpose is to share the effects of character decisions on this event. The various prompts are, of course, optional. |
WHEN THE FOG ROLLS IN
On the night of September 10, an impenetrable fog covers the town of Aldrip. When characters wake in the morning, they find that Aldrip has disappeared, replaced by a large, enclosed maze.
Characters will wake up in one of three different levels of this maze, and they may—but don't have to—find that they are not alone. As they explore the maze, they will encounter trials and stumbling blocks both physical and mental. It seems the maze is testing them, poking at their fears, their past, their feelings. Confronting these questions about themselves and their very nature will allow them to progress through the maze in hopes of eventually finding the exit—and hopefully the town along with it.
While they do not all wake up in the same level of the maze, all characters do, in theory, have to complete all three trials in order to leave. This may not be so easy to achieve; due to the nature of these trials, if someone cannot get past one area, they may remain stuck there. Other characters are able to help them confront these issues, and may instead (or in addition) pass through that way if they choose to. Aside from the level where they wake up, characters may approach these levels in any order as they so choose.THE GROUPS
GROUP A:
Serah Farron
Elidibus
Nakahara Chuuya
Tsunayoshi Sawada
Rei Suwa
Caitlyn Kiramman
Ragna the Bloodedge
Kotone Shiomi
Monkey D. Luffy
Yuja Wightshade (WoL)
Yosuke Hanamura
Astralin Turnont
Dazai Osamu
Ange Ushiromiya
Hythlodaeus
Ethlyn
GROUP B:
Violet (Vi)
Silco
Mizuki Date
Claude von Riegan
Noel Kreiss
Kazuki Kurusu
G'raha Tia
Jinx
Marianne von Edmund
Goro Akechi
Sooyoung Han
Saito Sejima
Nikolai Gogol
Erichtonios
Emet-Selch
GROUP C:
Yu Narukami
Pride
Sigma
Usagi Tsukino
William G Maryblood
Scott Summers
Gundam Tanaka
Quentin Quire
Akira Kurusu
Mitama Yakumo
Med'an
Ken Amada
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Izuku "Deku" Midoriya
Echo
EXPLORING THE MAZE
The walls of the maze are made of stone slabs; tall, solid, and imposing. As far as one can see, there seem to be no cracks or seams in the wall. They're cool to the touch, perhaps a little dampened by the foggy weather. Some of the stones seem to glow with a dim, inner light. Most of the corridors are stable, but some are a little more risky. Walls or ceilings could collapse, leaving passages blocked and some Chosen trapped within tunnels or rooms of the maze.
Some corridors within the maze are less built up, as well, more like dug-out caverns that look somewhat like mining tunnels. In these tunnels, you can find the raw form of those glowing stones, which seem to light the darkness, allowing the Chosen to see at least a bit. They're enchanting, and some may have a hard time resisting trying to pull them out of the walls.
Occasionally, characters may find larger rooms with small tables of food, equipment, and supplies set up. These areas seem to be safety zones, untouched by the trials, where Chosen can eat, rest, treat any wounds, and replenish their energy.
ii. PERILS IN THE DARK
As the Chosen progress through the challenges of the maze—both illusions and real—the air itself may begin to feel more oppressive and heavy, making movement feel very difficult at times. As the week wears on, characters may find themselves worn out faster or feeling more sluggish than normal. More than that, they may find that their emotional lows become more intense: characters may become more easily frustrated, paranoid, scared, or impatient. In general, this seems to exacerbate the worst parts of their personalities.
On other occasions, Chosen may feel as if they are being watched. They get the feeling that something lurks in the shadows of the maze, that they are being watched or followed. They may hear something scratching or skittering across the walls. When they look…there is nothing there, nor any evidence of creatures stalking them through the halls. Characters who had bad luck in the Casino are particularly prone to this feeling; occasionally, they may feel as if someone—or something—is tugging at their hair or clothes, or breathing against their neck. Try to keep your head, Chosen. The hardest part is yet to come.
THE TRIALS
iii. A DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL [TRIAL A]
It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what location or event triggers the beginning of the trial; it seems to be different for every character. Chosen will find themselves in a long corridor, laced with fog. As they progress down this corridor, they begin to see and hear hallucinations and illusions that highlight their greatest insecurities: their flaws, their weaknesses, the darkness they suspect dwells within their soul.
These illusions may come in a variety of different forms. Perhaps they experience voices or images of peers issuing criticisms that they fear are accurate, or they may face a shadowy figure that bears their appearance that embodies all of their worst qualities. The form these illusions take is up to you, the players, and whether other characters are able to see those illusions can also be decided between players. Confronting, challenging, debunking, and/or accepting these criticisms and claims is the key to exiting this level.
Once they have confronted this challenge, the illusions and hallucinations stop immediately. The fog lifts, revealing a turn in the maze they didn't notice before. They may progress in their exploration.
iv. THE SHAPE OF YOUR FEARS [TRIAL B]
Similar to the first trial, this seems to trigger with little warning or fanfare. At some point in their exploration, characters will find their way blocked by something representing their deepest fears. This can be literal—a dark hallway for those who fear the dark, as an example—but can manifest in a myriad of other ways, too. A character could see someone from their past that represents this fear, or a monster, or an object or memory of something that connects to that fear. These fears will be made tangible and visible to anyone around them, leaving them exposed and vulnerable. In order to progress, they must be able to pass by these fears, and may do so in any way the player chooses, whether it requires fighting a monster, negotiating with an authority figure, finding a light in the darkness, or anything else players and characters can imagine.
The nature of this trial can be as massive or mundane as you, the player, chooses. Whether they need to simply turn on a light to abate their fear of the dark, or whether they need to take down a massive beast to confront something bigger, the area they find themselves in seems to accommodate the size of their trial. Once they have confronted this fear, it disappears, revealing a hallway that might not have been there before, allowing them to progress.
v. IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE [TRIAL C]
As with the first two trials, this one seems to emerge from the darkness when a character is ready to face it. They enter a room lined with obsidian mirrors. When they approach these mirrors, characters are confronted with memories related to the crime they have been charged with. This can be a specific moment or a series of moments related to their crime either directly or indirectly. Characters may become lost in these memories and may need help navigating through them from other people: the longer they remain lost in these memories, reliving them again and again, the more they run the risk of losing those memories entirely, either permanently or temporarily. Only by addressing the crime, the way they feel about it, the relationship that crime has to reality and to who the character is, can characters be free of this particular trial.
Once they have surpassed this trial, characters find themselves able to step back through these obsidian mirrors back into the maze, where they can continue their journey.
Navigating all three trials elicits no special fanfare or celebration. Upon completion of the third trial, they find themselves in a foggy corridor, where they will find an exit from the maze.
OPT-OUT AND AFTERMATH
Those characters (or players) who do not wish to interact with the maze will occasionally find quiet corridors that mysteriously place them outside the maze, unable to reenter. They will find that the town is, indeed, gone, as are their living quarters—hope you don't mind roughing it for a while. However, thanks to recent efforts to bolster the town's supplies, some of the underground storehouses organized by Claude and Marianne seem to remain intact and are available as temporary emergency shelter, should your character choose not to camp out.
After one week, the maze will disappear and life in Aldrip returns to normal. As for the locals? They don't seem to notice that anything strange has happened at all. Maze? What maze? Strange weather we're having this week, eh?
Just because there’s not a prompt for it doesn’t mean that your character’s actions aren’t acceptable. If you wish to do anything that hasn’t been directly addressed by the prompts, leave a message for the mod team to say what your character would do. If you choose to go down this path, note it as a comment on the OOC poll when it goes up, and leave a link to your threads so that we can take all actions into consideration for the next State of the Game.
C
He looks rather worse for wear. His own trials have worn him down. He can't really muster the energy to do more than step forward heavily and approach the young woman. ]
What's all this?
no subject
Emet? You look terrible... are you all right?
[She'll answer his question in a moment--she's only delaying because she wants to find that out first. Not because... she has no idea how to answer.]
no subject
[ The irritable emphasis only highlights that he is, most likely, not fine. Overcoming his initial trial had been...well, a trial, and he's not sure he's better off for it.
Emet-Selch tries to deflect attention off him by glancing around. ]
This looks like a battlefield.
no subject
All Jugdral is a battlefield.
[That was how she had left it. And clearly, that is how it remained, through her son's childhood and her daughter's. The vision of Leif is still there, fifteen in body, but far, far older in his soul--one look at his eyes makes that clear.]
My children... [She passes a hand over her eyes.] The son and daughter I told you of. This is how they grew up.
no subject
Not the life you desired for them, I take it. So, what was it? Famine? Greed? Revenge? ...Idiocy?
[ In the end, he thinks, the reasons for war boil down to very simple, base desires. ]
no subject
Yes! Yes. They were idiots. Their ancestors were ready to die in a hopeless battle to save the continent from darkness, and their great-grandchildren have handed it right back to the dark powers. Priests in dark robes offered them power and they betrayed everything their own grandsires stood for, just for that.
[She hopes, at least, that Lombard and Reptor suffered for their choice, but she doesn't expect it. That young lady next to the second coming of Loptous is undoubtedly Reptor's granddaughter, so he must have gotten just what he wanted.]
Why? Envy. Petty, trifling envy. And they've sacrificed my children to it now.
[She hates them. She will hate them for however many more years she has been granted in this second life.]
no subject
Mortal men have short memories. They soon forget the lessons of the past and the cautionary tales of their elders. Thus is progress made and unmade in the span of mere centuries. A blink of an eye or the snap of one's fingers compared to the longevity of a star.
[ But what manner of trial is this meant to be? A showcase of her regrets? ]
So - your children were the ones who took up the offer from their malignant benefactors?
no subject
No. She won't think that. If they are mixed up in it, she won't believe it was their own will.] Not them. My family's enemies... they took whatever was offered. They have made things worse for the whole continent... my children have grown up in suffering. I--my husband--we couldn't protect them.
[But she can't deny the truth in Emet-selch's words. She would have hoped that descendants of the Crusaders would know better. That they would have learned better. Since she was a child she was taught of Baldr's deeds and how important it was for her, personally, to uphold and honor his legacy by her own character. Somehow, the children's children of the other Crusaders failed to take that lesson.]
no subject
[ After all, conflict only happens when there is a perceived slight. It does not matter if it true or imagined: it is true to the one who has been hurt by it. ]
no subject
My father had no thought of making the other houses his enemy through his kindness.
[And that's just in Grannvale. Verdane, Agustria... neither of ,i>them had any good reason for declaring war either. It was they who were the provocators, not Grannvale, and certainly not her family.]
no subject
[ Emet-Selch does not look wholly surprised - or disgusted, or angry, even. Just even more tired. It really is the same sort of story no matter where you go, isn't it? No matter the time or place. ]
That still does not explain why they felt the need to call upon these dark forces you mentioned. A tad bit extreme, isn't it?
no subject
Perhaps it could have looked that way from the outside--to two men who didn't understand doing something without the promise of personal gain.
But yes, even so... their own ancestors only defeated that dark power because of intervention from the gods. And it was little more than a century ago--it was in the living memory of their grandfathers, if not their fathers.
no subject
[ He scoffs in disgust. Naturally, he is unsurprised. He knows firsthand how easily a grandson disregards or dismisses the cautionary tales of their sires. ]
Well, now I understand this sorry situation. But what I don't understand is what you're expected to do about it. What part do you play in this tale? This labyrinth clearly desires something from you yet I fail to see what.
no subject
[Gods, it's so bleak to say that out loud. The Loptrian Empire, she learned, was several hundred years of pain and misery, spread over an entire continent. Massacres, failed rebellions, betrayal. It would have continued for centuries more had the gods not intervened.
She doesn't expect another intervention. Not after they have thoroughly squandered the last desperate chance they were given to throw down Loptous.]
The parchment I received on arrival accused me of the crimes of the Grannvale Empire. I never understood why. I--[She sucks in a breath, but she's had to relive her death in here with more than one person. It isn't so terrible to say.] I died trying to stop the crimes of my homeland.
...I suppose I'm being charged with my failure.
no subject
It isn't as though he hasn't heard similar stories before. When the Ascians needed to plot their next great undertaking, he would hear stories passed down by survivors of the previous calamity. Yet as painful as they were, nothing could sway him from his course. If anything, seeing mortal men fall for the same temptations and the same bait century after century only served to reinforce his belief that the current world did not deserve to be guided by them.
Eventually, he mutters: ]
...If failing to stop the downfall of your home is a crime then I may as well just stay here in this miserable place.
no subject
She recalls Emet-Selch telling her of the loss of his son. Nothing could be worse than that. For months she has been praying that Travant would be pragmatic enough to preserve her daughter, and even if it seems he has turned her into an enemy of Leonster, that she is alive means more to Ethlyn than words could ever express.
But to lose home and family both....]
...just how much have you lost?
[It's a bleak question, and the asking is bleak as well. His son and his homeland both, and yet he still finds the strength to go on every day, making sardonic remarks.]
no subject
Everything. I have lost everything. I saw the end of my star. I saw three-quarters of my people give their lives to my god and the rest torn to pieces by another who rose to strike them down. Nothing remains of what I once knew: not a single memory nor even fanciful story. My existence - my people's existence! - isn't even considered a myth; as far as the world is concerned, we never existed at all.
[ He shakes his head, nails digging into his palm until they draw blood. ]
Your empire may crumble now or in the near future but history will still speak of it in the decades to come. My people's legacy will die with me. I know it does because I spent the last few bells attempting to change my fate in the maze to no avail.