expiationlogs | {EVENT #4} ADVERSITY 2933165.9475

{EVENT #4} ADVERSITY 2933165.9475

AN EXAMINATION OF SPIRIT

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

i. A WINDING LABYRINTH

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?

WHAT ELSE YA GOT? (WILDCARD)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I. I Don't See You, Opening (Perils in the Dark)

[ It takes some time, but Hythlodaeus's easygoing nature is eventually worn down by the maze. It's endless, meandering and pointless, and he finds himself more and more annoyed by it. It reminds him of the worst, dullest days at the Bureau, the waves of pointless concepts that are made only to seek selfish acknowledgement of their creators' nonexistent ingenuity flooding his desk. The memories pound insistently against his mind; it feels like a headache that is not strong enough to warrant rest yet unpleasant enough to make a minute last an eternity of low-grade torment.

In addition to that, his eyes seem to be playing tricks on him. Or so Hythlodaeus had assumed the first couple of times, but now he is certain that there is something following him. He can feel the presence, but he can never truly catch sight of it. That, too, is annoying, especially to someone who's always been very, very keen of eye.

The frustration builds up. To the point that when there is yet another sound behind him, Hythlodaeus spins around, an arrow instantly drawn - but instead of some shadowy figure it's pointing at you.

OOC note: you can also assume Hythlodaeus does (try to) shoot your character because he's too wound up to think :D Whatever is more fun for you! ]

II. Trials Roulette (insert duty finder sfx here) - Trial A

[ This room seems to be some sort of... classroom, perhaps, or maybe a strange laboratory. The desks seem to be full of glowing, wiry... things, that you might eventually recognize as some kind of skeletons of things: cups, books, figurines(?) of various animals, even small furniture. They all look like someone tried to make them from the ground up, putting together that wiry framework and then growing the "flesh" of material over it. Almost all are unfinished. Here a bonsai-looking shrub in a pot is missing half of itself, the glowing "wire" sticking out of a trunk that's turned into an ugly knot of bark as the living part tried to heal. There some kind of crystal lamp has its base beautifully done, but the crystal itself looks like the cheapest plastic imitation of glass you've ever seen. Next to it, some sort of figurine of a bird similary to the tree has the glowy structure sketched out, but the only thing that's actually finished is a piece of the wing. The feathers are beautiful, but there's a bit of flesh and bone molded out underneath them too.

There's a young man, probably barely out of his teen years, sitting behind one of the desks, his back turned to you, lavender hair tied into a ponytail. He seems to be staring down at the desk. Another youth, white-haired, stands before him, glowering with his arms folded; next to him is someone else, but their face is hidden by a white half-mask. In contrast to the white-haired man, they're smiling. ]

"You can see it, can you not? Then why, pray tell, do you struggle so? You are no longer a child, yet you cannot complete even the simplest of creations! This has gone far beyond one of your jests, Hythlodaeus."

[ The white-haired man sounds genuinely angry and frustrated as he scolds the young Hythlodaeus. When he does not get an answer, he turns around as though ready to storm off. ]

"You are an embarrassment to be around."

[ The masked person next to him giggles, as though they find this funny. ]

[ And then the scene shifts slightly. Hythlodaeus still stares down at his hands, but he is older now, the real him. But that does not make it any better. ]

... Mayhap I am.

III. Wildcard! HMU with anything

[ What it says on the tin :) Feel free to PM this journal to work stuff out if you'd like! ]

[ Were Hades around to witness it, he would surely comment on the irony of the situation. Instead here he is, having accidentally wandered ahead and lost sight of Hythlodaeus in this vast labyrinth. Even when he had finally resorted to raising his voice (no, it absolutely did NOT tremble) and calling his friend's name, he received nothing but silence in response.

Eventually he rounds a corner and spots his erstwhile friend standing very still, staring at their hands. He hurries over, anxious to not be left alone again. ]

There you are. What do you think you're doing?

[ He tries to sound snappish but it ends up coming out relieved. ]

Edited 2023-10-07 01:13 (UTC)

Even though Hades's voice is not actually scolding, Hythlodaeus still startles. The question is too similar to what this memory of his fears would ask - perhaps even something Hades has said before on watching Hythlodaeus's attempts to create something.

"I merely..." Hythlodaeus begins, an ashamed look in his eyes, but another voice interrupts him.

"What are you bothering with him for?"

By fate or coincidence, it seems that the labyrinth chose a very similar way of forcing both Hades and Hythlodaeus to confront their doubts. A younger version of Hades steps out of the shadows again, giving his older counterpart an unimpressed look.

"Whatever hopes you may have for him, you know he never applies himself properly."

He is taken aback by the appearance of a younger him. He hasn't seen his own face in what feels like centuries, ever concealed by his mask of office or replaced by whatever fleshy vessel he has clothed himself in at the time. His eyes roam the white hair, the thin, unimpressed line of his mouth, his starbright eyes...

Eventually, he speaks. "I don't know what you're talking about but if you intend to hinder our search for the exit, I shall not show mercy."

Hythlodaeus's mouth stays open as he looks between the two versions of Hades. He'd expected himself to be reasonable enough to fully understand that the younger one is an illusion, and yet the real Hades's response makes him realize that he would never be able to raise a hand at the vision. It's too similar to someone too dear to him.

The illusion of Hades, meanwhile, purses its lips, then shoots another glare in Hythlodaeus's direction before looking back to the real Hades.

"You are placing your trust in someone who is incapable of holding it up. You would be better served saving yourself the disappointment and leaving him once you've found your exit."

"Why in the seven hells would I do that?" he growls.

Something about this image of himself rankles Hades. Is it because it holds up a mirror to the man he once was? Or the man he's afraid to become?

He marches around his younger self and takes Hythlodaeus' arm, tossing down a glare just as heated. "I need him and I'll not let you tell me otherwise."

Hythlodaeus makes a small noise of surprise at Hades being so openly physical again. He feels unexpectedly flustered, but the contact is welcome, especially right now. He lets his other hand rise, carefully resting it over Hades's arm.

The illusion of young Hades, though, shows no sign of relenting. It crosses its arms and steps closer again.

"You do not need him. He is merely good at charming people, because he has naught else to offer. What you need is someone like Azem. No less irresponsible, certainly, but at least they can challenge you. Drive you to become better. Hah... match you when it comes to creation magicks, at the very least. What has your friend here ever created? Has he ever brought aught good to the star? To his people?"

Much like the real Hades, perhaps, the shade's voice grows louder and more agitated by the end of the tirade.

"And how else would I have met Azem if not for Hythlodaeus?" he snaps back. "Had we not been acquainted, he would have never thought to recommend me to the seat of Emet-Selch in his stead. Had I not become Emet-Selch, I would never have cause to meet Azem, much less befriend such an onerous and frustrating personality!"

He flings his other arm out in a wide gesture. He realises suddenly that he is inexplicably angry at himself. At this situation. "Not every citizen need develop new creations to contribute to a society. Some make art, some keep order, and others forge new connections between individuals. Who are you to say he gives nothing?!"

"... He's me."

The young Hades continues to glare unimpressedly. The response comes, instead, from Hythlodaeus's lips. He gives his friend a brief apologetic glance before looking down, as though ashamed.

"I have always feared that one day... you would think me useless. There is so little I can do without you, after all."

Hades stares at Hythlodaeus silently. This is how his friend had felt? Hythlodaeus had never once expressed this fear with him. He can understand why, but at the same time...he had thought that there were few secrets between them. Hythlodaeus may have had many friends, yes, yet there had been few who could claim to know the man as well as Hades (and Azem) did.

His grip does slacken a little but he does not let go entirely. Comfort is not something he is used to giving. However, he can see that Hythlodaeus needs it right now. Some sort of reassurance that they are not useless, that Hades will never leave him behind.

"You are not useless," he mutters. "'Twas only when you were gone that I realised...I needed you. Both you and Azem. The nights were long and lonely without the warmth of your humour and company. I had no-one to vent my frustrations to. I had no-one to consult. I couldn't bear to speak to anyone for a long time after the Sundering. All I kept seeing were sickly, pale souls in need of restoring. Any single one I befriended would die before a century had passed. You know how little a century means to our people, Hythlodaeus. I was at a loss.

"So I pretended to be you when I stepped into the flesh of others. I tried to mimic your charm, your wit, your banter - and I hated every moment I had their eyes on me. I wanted to shrink into the background and pull on strings from the shadows. But I couldn't always. Whenever the eyes of the masses rested upon me, I felt the weight of their expectations. They never knew I was plotting their deaths in service to Zodiark, so by necessity, I kept them all at a distance."

Edited 2023-10-10 16:54 (UTC)

Hythlodaeus stares, mouth half-open, as Hades speaks of the things he's gone through. He still struggles to understand and accept what's happened to their home and people. It sounds like merely some horrible dream... yet the exhausted despair in Hades's voice is real. A wave of shame washes over Hythlodaeus; his own doubts seem so insignificant by comparison.

"And you would entrust those worries to a man who's only ever known peace and comfort?" The shadow seemingly senses that shame, but Hythlodaeus does not pay attention to it. Instead he thinks about the rest of Hades's words, the unusual openness of them; the things he'd always known and hoped that they would always stay true. He thinks about the cruel reality Hades describes, too; and there are a lot of things he could say, or things that would deserve to be said. But here and now, and as Hades's friend, there is only one thing he can think to say.

"... That must have been such a horrible burden on you."

He squeezes Hades's arm. Hythlodaeus knows how kind and sentimental his friend is, and it only feels him with sadness to think of what he's been through.

He shakes his head, gaze fixed on where their hands clasp each other's arms.

"I'm telling you this because I-- because you said you would stay by my side. Because you refused to give me up. Night after night for thousands upon thousands of years I stared up at the prison Hydaelyn wrought for Zodiark and the souls he'd taken, seeing you above and Azem below yet with neither within my grasp.

"I don't care that you haven't the control over vast quantities of aether like I do. You were a bard, weren't you? You had the sharpest eyes any knew of in Etheirys, didn't you? How could you say you contributed naught of worth when you have your own unique talents?!"

Hades is ashamed to feel himself choking up. "Play a song for me when we find our way out, Hythlodaeus. I haven't heard you sing in millennia."

He doesn't have his friend's way with words, especially when it comes to reassurance or comfort. He can only hope his bullish feelings break through.

They do. Hythlodaeus finds himself blinking away nascent tears at the despair and desperation in Hades's voice... but more than that he can feel a warmth spreading through him. His friend does need him, and there are things Hythlodaeus can give to one of the most important people in his life. And even though it still would have been nice to be more capable with manipulation of aether, he is not useless. After all, didn't he realize long ago that what he wanted was to support Hades and Azem, to be the catalyst that lets them shine the brightest?

Hythlodaeus sighs internally. In truth, he knows that his fears are mostly foolish and unfounded, but in his darkest hours the doubts do come through. But he doesn't have to let them win; he is no longer a child struggling to find himself.

He gazes down at their joined arms, a soft smile finally appearing on his face... and then starts to hum, quietly at first. It's a simple song, a lullaby that would be one of the first songs a child would know, and one that he would occasionally jokingly sing to both Hades and Azem when he felt they were in need of getting some rest instead of continuing to work.

As Hythlodaeus's voice slowly grows bolder, the shade of the maze seems to realize there is nothing it can do anymore to throw him off. The figure of young Hades fades away into the shadows with one final whisper.

"Pray that you won't meet with disappointment."

Hythlodaeus | FFXIV | OTA!

Trial A

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Perils in the Dark

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