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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.
no subject
"No."
And yet he says it with such firmness one may wonder if they imagined things.
"They were necessary sacrifices. And it hardly matters when their souls are reborn in another body later. They aren't truly dead."
no subject
"Do you think those people would feel the same way about it, if you'd ask?"
She doesn't seem surprised by his answer though. Not a single muscle in Ange's face moves, still staring at him with the same expression as before. She's used to hearing people talk like this, after all. Maybe not while directly standing next to an unending pile of bodies, but.. you know, shit happens in this maze.
no subject
"Of course not," he replies eventually. "Plenty of them went to their deaths cursing me or others, wailing about the unfairness of it all, weeping and laying out their regrets. Hah!"
He shakes his head irritably. "They don't know any better. They're akin to children."
no subject
There's a piece of her that feels like a comparison to her own abusive aunt-turned-mother would be very apt here, but she's pretty sure she doesn't want to get into something that personal right now, especially considering the situation. So instead she stands there silent for a moment, staring at the bodies, and then slowly shakes her head.
"They're still people, you know." There's nothing spirited in her voice, though her tone doesn't waver either. It's just calm, like she's stating a fact. "They still had their own thoughts and feelings. Their own lives going on. Of course they'd be mad that you were disrupting all of that."
no subject
"They won't remember their suffering in the next life," he says dismissively. "That is perhaps the only boon of their short lives. They suffer, they die, and then they are reborn a clean slate. Once the star is restored to its rightful state and their souls are whole again, they will have all the time in the world to pursue their life goals."
no subject
One might think that Ange should probably be a little more careful of saying this stuff in front of a guy who's apparently capable of causing what they're witnessing right now in the first place - but she's never been good at holding back in front of danger.
Not danger that's aimed just at her, anyway.
Besides, she figures that if Emet-Selch hated people being blunt with him, he would've killed her a long time ago. It makes speaking like this to him relatively easily.
Maybe it's why she even bothers to point it out to him at all. Even if he might disagree with what she's saying, he's still bothering to talk about it at all. Maybe he might even realise the point of what she's saying here eventually, she thinks.
"What if you can't do it? If you can't reach your grand goal, all those people will have died for nothing."
no subject
On some level he had already suspected his people would censure him for his deeds. In the stories mortals tell one another, heroes are always mighty, lauded people showered with accolades and admiration? For what? Killing the enemy. Triumphing in war. Destroying native wildlife. It makes him want to laugh and laugh until he can laugh no more.
There will be no heroes in the story he writes.
"...Well," he says eventually, "'tis rather too late for regrets now, isn't it? I already know I fail. I was told so in no uncertain terms, and 'twas impressed on me a short time ago that nothing I do can change that fate. So yes, they died for nothing."
no subject
Well, that puts his reaction in an entirely different context. Ange kind of expected him to be in a position where he he was still figuring he could figure out some way to reach his grand goals all the same-- but apparently he isn't. It's already too late for that.
There's a pause, just silence hanging in the air, and then she says:
"Well, that sucks."
Very eloquent, yes-- but what else is anyone at all supposed to say in the face of all of this? It's all happening on a greater level than Ange can even fully wrap her head around, being very much mortal, despite recent experiences back home, and short-lived.
"It's probably time to feel at least a little bad about it then."
no subject
"I don't regret this at all. Not one bit," he states. "I do not regret the choices which led me to this result and I would do it again given the chance. The alternative would be to let my star perish and I would sacrifice everything before I allow that to happen. Do you think the mighty hero in stories ever regrets slaying a family of beasts to save some insignificant little town along their journey? No."
no subject
Of course they aren't the same thing. Even if she isn't sure whether or not Emet-Selch knows as much on an emotional level - it's kind of hard to get the exact right idea of him when it comes to that so far, in Ange's opinion - he has to at least know as much on a logical level.
Maybe she's appealing to that here. Or maybe she's trying to see just how much of that emotional level actually exists in the other's mind.
"I'm not trying to speak for those people, you know. I don't even know them. I only know that I'd be pretty pissed if someone killed me for something that didn't even work out in the end."
cw: mention of suicide
Does Etheirys not have 'beastmen'? Does the chocobo not scream when slaughtered for meat? What difference is there between man and beast in the end? Emet-Selch finds his thoughts veering close to truths he would rather not acknowledge and wrenches them away.
"...And how do you think my own people feel, having offered their lives to save our star, only for me to fail before seeing our world restored? Don't you think they would be just as aggrieved to know that they gave their lives for nothing? Do you think a simple apology will erase their sacrifice and ease their despair? There is no way to atone for all of this."
His arm sweeps out, taking in the mountain of dead. Then falls back to his side.
"I would be better off killing myself," he mutters.
no subject
Yet he seems to think about these sorts of things a little bit differently. Just a touch. It's almost like there is some regret or pain mixed in there, but he can't fully admit to it for some reason.
After contemplating that, Ange exhales and speaks up.
"Back home I'm looking for the culprit of a crime that affected my entire life." It's not quite opening up when you're basically omitting all the important details, right? This is just all she has to say for her following argument to make sense. It's just practical. "It's pretty likely that said culprit is already dead by now though."
Regardless of who it is, considering she's the last technically-involved person alive now.
"Nothing pisses me off more than that thought. So I think dying is just about the worst thing you could do for all those people."
no subject
"What, are you saying I should stay alive solely to be the subject of ire? How utterly ridiculous. You say that you're a victim - surely you wished all manner of unpleasant things upon the perpetrator, including death. Why do you care that they're dead now? People in your circumstances usually wish the most painful deaths upon those who have wronged them."
no subject
Please, Emet-Selch. Ange certainly isn't saying this out of some sense of mercy towards the person who wronged her, not in the slightest.
It's actually the exact opposite, if her tone as she says that is to be believed. Ange doesn't think a painful death is the worst thing you could wish upon someone. Far from it. She's lived through a hell far worse than that herself, after all.
no subject
He thinks about the burden of both guilt and duty weighing down his shoulders, growing heavier with every turn of the century. But that's only one aspect of it all.
He gestures widely. "I have lived a 'mortal' life over and over and experienced all of its ups and downs in almost every way possible. Do you know what it's like to remember being shot multiple times in every part of your body? To be decapitated? Strangled? Have you ever laid in bed, stricken by incurable illness, forced to wait out death knowing that you can do naught about your failing body? Have you ever set foot on multiple battlefields and climbed a mountain of corpses as fire flew overhead? Drowned in lakes, oceans, and even rivers? Been crushed by a rock slide? Buried in sand?"
His hands drop. "And those are simply the violent deaths. I can't begin to describe to you the heartache of losing family, or of saying farewell, knowing full well you will outlive everyone you ever know. So no, I don't need you to tell me that death is not the worst fate one can wish on another. I would not wish my life upon anyone else on the star."
no subject
At least she does manage to keep her poker face, even as he lists it out like that. After all, a whole lot of that is actually stuff she's very well aquaintanced with, even if she doesn't say so. It's the downside of being stuck with a bunch of witches who think killing and reviving people in horrible ways is just the most fun activity ever.
It does make her pause. Just for a moment or so, just thinking, processing.
Then she glances at the mountain of bodies, adding: "Maybe they're already satisfied then."
Not like she can speak for them, or even know what they're thinking. But when Ange thinks of the worst possible she knows, the one who caused her own life to be miserable-- She thinks she'd be satisfied if that person had gone through all that.
no subject
He scoffs and crosses his arms. "And yet that isn't enough to let me pass."
As if sensing the inefficacy of its current approach, the mountain of bodies wavers. A cold wind blasts past them both, sweeping aside the current scene and replacing it with one of a battlefield.
Blood and mud and snow mingle as a sludge, making footing treacherous for both sides. Fireballs soar overhead, opposed by the more modern rattle of machine gun fire. A few minutes of observation show is enough to show that it's essentially a battle between those with magic and those without - and those without all share the same feature of a white 'pearl' in their forehead.
There is a figure at the magick-less army's head shouting commands. It's Emet-Selch, older than his present face, with slightly longer hair and an ornate suit of armour. His army ruthlessly cuts down every mage and guns down every warrior in their path. Mere steel weapons and incantations aren't enough against an advancing line of machinery.
no subject
Ange doesn't look massively surprised, but she does blink - once, then twice - at the sudden change of scenery. It's very easy to recognize this for what it is, the moment she spots Emet-Selch like that. It must be his world. Something that happened there, or something that will happen.
It certainly isn't familiar to her, after all. She's never been on any battlegrounds before, let alone any that had this sort of scale to it.
"Guess it's trying to tell you something else," she says, still staring at what's going on than at the other man. "Maybe something in here is saying what you have to do to actually pass."
no subject
"What do you want from me?!" he shouts at the scene. It's perhaps the most anger he's openly displayed in front of anyone before. "Fine! Yes, I ordered that massacre! And I ordered thousands more like it as well! What else was I supposed to do?! If I could have brought about the Calamities by my own power then I wouldn't have needed to use such roundabout methods!!"
Some nameless enemy soldier charges at him. Emet-Selch cuts them down with a magicked blade that has suddenly appeared in his hand and the person falls with a muted gurgle.
"I had to kill my own people over and over again to bring them back!" he seethes. "There - I've said it. Now let me pass!"
The battlefield ripples, wavers, slowly fades to black. Eventually he and Ange are both left standing in front of a black mirror. Emet-Selch continues to grip his dark sword, glaring at his muted reflection.
no subject
Ange glances over at the mirror, then at Emet-Selch. She's quiet for a moment or two, like she's giving the man a chance to calm down slightly before she speaks up again with:
".. that's it? It just wanted you to acknowledge it?"
Since that does seem to be what stopped the entire ordeal..
no subject
He doesn't know what this girl will think of him now. He's never made any pretence of being a particularly nice person but that doesn't mean he tries to be cruel. He makes a short, sharp gesture to the corridor ahead then folds his arms.
"Well, you're free to proceed. Don't worry, I won't stab you from behind."