July Event Log

[kaisoumods]

JULY EVENT
Dominant Element: Water
Waning Element: Fire

Full Moon: July 9th - July 11th

※

As July rolls in, the Spirit Vein's colours shift to hues of blue as the water element takes dominance. And with it, comes the most miserable month of the summer. On sunny days, it'll be hot and extremely humid, with the air feeling like a swamp. However these hot days are interrupted with heavy storms that will let loose at least a couple times a week. Take care not to get caught in a downpour, and make sure you don't have anything outside that could be blown away by straight line winds.

Adventurers beware!

♪- I've Seen Things

ALERT: NO SPIRIT REALM ANOMALY DETECTED
Element Classification: Water
Danger Level: None! :)
Designation: N/A
Zodiac has not detected any Spirit Gate this month. Have a wonderful month's break! Please visit the Zodiac offices for more information, but there's nothing to worry about!

Well, that's a weird announcement. Should you decide to drop by the Zodiac offices, staff look a mixture of confused, unsure or completely relaxed. Professor Barbie greets you and tells you that for once, Zodiac hasn't picked up on any anomalies or temporary spirit gates. While some staff members believe this is a terrible sign and are starting to fret what it could mean, most of them are honestly glad for the chance to have a break for once. They assure you that they'll keep an eye on things and send out an alert if anything crops up- go enjoy July! Check out the convention!

So off you go to enjoy the month, and everything seems to be normal. That is until you're in a group- perhaps you're at home, perhaps your place of work. No matter where you are, you and the rest of your group start to hear the steady beat of drums. Not everyone reacts to it- not even within your group. It seems only a select number of you can hear them, but hear them you do. They beat a steady rhythm, one that gets quicker and louder if you choose to move in the direction of the sound. Eventually, you find a wooden box with the name Jumanji carved on the front, along with some jungle scenes.

Opening it up, you will find a wooden board game, with board spaces spiralling around the board, all congregating into a glass orb in the centre. Inside a small box in the games lid, you will find delicately carved jungle animals made of ivory. Once picked up, they will immediately fly off your hands to starting positions on the board. There's also a pair of ivory dice - just begging to be rolled. On the inside covers of the board, the game proclaims:

Jumanji
A game for those who seek to find
A way to leave their world behind
Roll your dice to move your token, doubles get another turn
The first player to reach the end wins

The OTHER side of the inside cover holds a dire warning:

Adventurers beware!
Do not begin unless you intend to finish
The exciting consequences of the game vanish
A player has reached Jumanji and called out it's name

Despite this, if you heard the drums, you do feel a strange compulsion to play. Even if you're not the sort of person who would normally play what looks like a genuinely sketchy game, you feel it couldn't possibly hurt. It's just a board game after all, what harm could there be in rolling the dice?

A game for those who seek to find

♪- Stampede!

And so roll the dice you do. There are seven games just like this, happening all around the city. And once that first dice is rolled? You have been caught in the game's trap. A barrier will form around the area you're in, keeping you, your fellow players, and any unlucky soul who happened to be in the space when the barrier went up tapped in that area. No one can get in, no one can get out.

If you're thinking at this point that perhaps you shouldn't have rolled the dice, it's far, far too late. Your little ivory token moves forward on the board of it's own free will, there's no pulling it off, no stopping it. The game has begun and it's clear that it does not intend to stop. Once the token has moved the requisite number of dice rolls, the orb in the centre swirls a little rhyme for you to read. Unfortunately, that's not all it does. Immediately, whatever you rolled is transported right into your area, and you will need to deal with it. The vast majority of what you roll will be actively out to prevent you from finishing the game- it's almost as if the game is purposefully making it as difficult as possible to complete, now its magic is being wrought on the world.

The designated game areas in the city are:

THE CRYSTAL TOWER
RANDOM PLAY
MEROPIDE: RANDOMISER WING
PERSEPHONE'S COTTAGE
CYGNUS ACADEMY
THE MORRIGAN
RIKU'S APPARTMENT

OOCly, please see your area-specific sheet found on each of your toplevels. This will allow you to see the dangers you have each to deal with as the game progresses, and how you want to play the game as a group. Please be sure to discuss with your game-mates about this so you're agreed on how you want to play!

A way to leave their world behind

♪- Monkey Mayhem

You can fight and avoid the dangers that the game spews out as best you can- but for the most part they remain exactly where they are. The more you roll, the more comes out of the game, dangers piling on top of one another to distract you and keep you from finishing. But finish you must- the game was very clear that the only way to get rid of everything that it releases into the world is to finish it. You start to realise the barriers that have been put up are the game's doing too. If you ever want to be free of the barriers and all the nonsense coming out of the game, you are going to have to play to the bitter end.

If you're lucky enough to have bystanders caught in your area with you, they will be able to help you battle through what the game brings on you. None of them can play for you. Once the game has chosen its players, they are the only ones who can complete the game- and they must do so in the correct order. What is a board game without rules, after all? And so you must work together, protecting yourselves, each other, and trying to keep the game itself out of harm's way. It will be a difficult task, one that only increases as the game moves on and more comes out of it. You will need to function as a team in order to survive this particular board game night.

In the jungle you must wait

♪- The Hunter

Perhaps you got it into your head that you'd cheat to try and finish the game. All it would take is making sure you drop the dice so they land a certain way, right? Or trying to tilt the game board at just the right moment to make sure your dice turn at the last second to a more favourable number. It would end the game quickly and you can all be free of it, right? And given how much danger the game is throwing at you, it's only fair that you can play dirty too, right?

Unfortunately, Jumanji very much does not approve of cheating. Any attempts to cheat in the game will result in an angry message appearing in the orb:

In the jungle you must wait, 'til the end frees you from this fate.

And then you feel your whole body being pulled. If you look down, you can see your body being pulled like taffy, even if it doesn't hurt, it's frightening to look at. It's even more frightening once you realise where you're being pulled to. Your whole self is being trapped into the orb in the centre of the game. No matter how much you fight it, no matter how others might try to pull you back, the game is determined to see you punished for your transgression.

When the game stops pulling you will find yourself in a massive jungle. Unlike the game, which only pulls dangers into the world based on dice rolls, this is where everything comes from. As such, there are countless dangers you will have to face. You will get almost no rest in this area, as almost everything is actively out to kill you. Nothing you do will get you out of the jungle- it seems to stretch on forever. All you can do is try to keep yourself (and anyone who was trapped with you) until someone managers to finish their game. Only then will you find yourself back in the area you were originally dragged away from.

Aftermath

When a player finally gets their token to the center orb, the whole thing glows a bright green. The word JUMANJI appears in middle of it. Speak the word out loud as the instructions told you, and a sudden whirlwind will pick up around you. Everything that was brought out of the game gets sucked into this whirlwind (causing extra damage as they slam into the area, of course), everything turning faster and faster, before being sucked into the orb. When the last danger vanishes away, all the damage that was caused by the game magically vanishes in the blink of an eye. Any injuries the game inflicted are gone. It's like it never happened at all. The barrier around you drops, and you're finally free. Of course, you now have seven extremely cursed board games to deal with, but at least for now, the ordeal is over.

OOC plotting post can be found here.

Comments

CRYSTAL TOWER

[kaisoumods]

↣ Game Kit

[burgersplease]

[There were only a few people living in the massive Crystal Tower, so it felt important to at least try to get to know each other. So they decided to arrange a hangout day, where they'd do a shared activity.

And well, lucky for them, Anby's found a solution to what they should do! While most seasoned Black Order members should probably be wary of a mysterious board game that comes with its own soundtrack.... that is frankly the exact thing that attracts Anby to it. Finding the board game, she picks it up and carries it over to the group- quietly sing along to the drums]

Bah bah bah BAH buh bah bah BUH bah-

[And so on. Finally she'll stop when she reaches the group, putting Jumanji on the table in the makeshift common area]

Found a game. I've never played it before but I like it's beat.

ROUND 1

[light_warden]

{The game will now begin.

Player Order: Dion > Noa > Anby > Jill > Husk}

Sidelines ~ Round by Round

[qilinzuo]

[ Reactions and all that jazz from the random pop-up Childe, for my personal convenience and not to disturb thread tag order! ]

RANDOM PLAY

[kaisoumods]

↣ Game Kit

Pregame

[wilder]

[It's well into the evening. The final customers of the night finally get rung up and escorted out by Zelos, who gives his best charming smile and wishes them goodnight... right before immediately slamming the door shut after them and flipping the close sign on as fast as he can]

Finally-! Can't customers ever take a hint that it's CLOSING time? Then of course it's always the ones who gotta ask absurd questions! [Mimicking their voice] "Excuse me, but you can tell me if anyone dies in this? But oh- no spoilers!" [Back to his normal voice] Make up your mind, sheesh!

[Anyway whose worked a closing shift with Zelos will know his griping is a normal part of the routine. Once he's got it out of his system, he'll stretch and turn back towards the other still in the store - to look at the others]

So, we're doing a family game night still, right? Oh hey- Vicky's still here! You should join us!

[YOU LOCKED VIKTOR IN ZELOS]

GAME START

[greatlydares]

Should tell the music store next door to turn down their hard rock, [Belle murmurs to herself, after sending Eous and Inky out the door with a list of things to get. It's not unheard of for their music to reach Belle's ears, though they've gotten better about it lately. Must just be a rough day, she decides. She'll tell them tomorrow.

She turns back to the back room, and digs up some old board games from the back of her closet. Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Risk, Cards Against Humanity, Brass: Birmingham...

She frowns, and brings out a wooden box.]

Jumanji?

[The engkanto stirs in the back of her brain. Belle, long practiced at ignoring her passenger, doesn't bother to listen to whatever warning the engkanto tries to send her way, and instead picks up the game and trudges over to the rest.]

Hey, did anyone throw money at a board game kickstarter recently? I found this game gathering dust in the back. Wanna try it out?

THE SIDELINES: ROUND 1

[wilder]

[So you guys are just hanging out, or working in the kitchen, when you notice some magical barriers go up- trapping everyone in. Totally not worrying!

Feel free to react and try to find each other! Dangers will be thrown your way as they roll]

MEROPIDE: RANDOMIZER WING

[kaisoumods]

↣ Game Kit

BEFORE THE GAME

[whiteshroud]

[It was rather fortunate that the Randomizer wing gave them a Rumpus Room the same day there was a planned game night. The room itself looks like it was decorated back in the 1950's, with retro decor and everything. There's a pile of board games in the corner... and a extremely omninous fortune telling machine - but don't worry about him.

Snacks and drinks have been provided courtesy of the cafeteria, so go ahead and make yourself feel settled in or have a look around. For most of the people here, they think this is just a normal social gathering. They have no way of knowing it was organized due to a concerning prophecy - so don't worry about it! Just relax and take a moment to enjoy yourself.

Because seriously, it's going to be your last chance to for awhile]

GAME START

[fuegor]

[Jenga's not gonna happen and Lighter pulled the detailed box out. He wasn't even thinking as he started setting the thing up, checking how to open the box and all that jazz. He was pretty worried at how bad Harumasa looked himself, not to mention how Varian looked wildly high strung.

But maybe if he set up the game for them it'd help a little.]

Here. I've never heard of "Jumanji" before. I figure if we're all going in blind, we can learn how the game works together. Then the others can come in and learn from us.

THE GAME: ROUND 1

[whiteshroud]

[The game has begun, with the players selected. Lighter has already gone, summoning the hunter Van Pelt. This is now the place for people to interact about the game itself, as well as roll the dice.

PLAYER TURN ORDER: Lighter > Maxima > Ghilley > Joshua ]

THE SIDELINES: ROUND 1

[whiteshroud]

[While there are four people have selected the game, there are six others who have been trapped in the area with them. At this time, Harumasa and Jun are currently out of commission due to injuries and health issues. It's up to the rest of you to help deal with their fallen comrades, as well as deal with whatever the game throws at them.

Note: thread order is less important here, and feel free to make your own sub-top level covering various things here! ]

PERSEPHONE'S COTTAGE

[kaisoumods]

↣ Game Kit

PREGAME/SETUP THREAD

[doubledollar]

[ The Cottage has come a long way from the very small, homely state it had been when Vash had been trusted to take care of it, years ago. While the size of the cottage itself didn't change--the garden certainly did. The family living here doing everything they could to make it thrive--planting more and building little houses for their kept livestock--creating little sitting areas out in the garden to hang out--it's a lively place now.

It's about mid-day when Vash gets the bright idea to have a family game day--grabbing a pile of board games from inside the cottage and placing them down on the long picnic table he and dante had built for outside gatherings. ]

--We haven't played any of these in months, and it's a beautiful day!! Why not break out one we haven't played before? Kni, Evie, wanna play a game with me?

Help me bully Dante and Nico to play, too...

[ Maybe he should go see if landlady and her girlfriend wanna play too, he swore he saw them walking through the olive trees less than an hour ago... ]

THE GAME: ROUND 1

[aslowburn]

[ Time to roll the dice, this is where the game rolls can be for people to reference back to.

PLAYER TURN ORDER: Eve > Vash > Kni > Dante ]

THE SIDELINES: ROUND 1

[aslowburn]

[This is for people on the sidelines who aren't dice rolling to interact with the game's various dangers and help the players out!

Note: thread order is less important here, and feel free to make your own sub-top level covering various things here! ]

CYGNUS ACADEMY

[kaisoumods]

↣ Game Kit

pre-game

[illucesco]

[There's a board game in a box on the table somewhere on the Cygnus Academy grounds, and Noctis is—asleep, again, head pillowed on his arms as he snores gently. He has a notebook in hand and a half-full cup of coffee nearby, but a peek at his handwriting shows that halfway down the page it grows into more of an incomprehensible scrawl as he gets sleepier.

He's fine. It's chill, probably.

Hey doesn't this board game look fun?]

GAME START

[twofoldfury]

[Time to roll the dice! This is where the game rolls can be for people to reference back to.

PLAYER TURN ORDER: Diarmuid > Blackwargreymon > Dan Heng > Waver > Noctis]

THE MORRIGAN

[kaisoumods]

↣ Game Kit

Pregame

[prunedworlds]

What was a winged, three-tailed fox doing on the ship? Well, sometimes she just dropped in like that. That sort of thing happened when the captain-owner was basically family.

"Hey, whatcha guys doing?"

The Game Begins

[goldace]

Ah, the Morrigan. It's been a while since Ace was last on this ship- it was one of the first things he did after the app showed up on his phone, after he found Sabo again in the wilds of this world. Hell, it was one of the first things Ace did with Sabo. He got the ship back to port, helped fix it up, cleared out the seagulls-- hell, as he walks through the innards of the ship he can still see the scars of the traps he and Sabo stumbled into, can trace his hand along the traces of fire they left as they fought those damn birds tooth and nail and--

BUM BA BA BUM BA BA BUM BA BA BUM

Ace hesitates, frowning as he tilts his head to the side and glances around him. Drums-- did Edward install a sound system in here? Did someone drop a speaker? A phone? It's strange, how compelled he feels to follow the rhythmic droning to its source, lifting some storage boxes, a spare bundle of rope for the rigging, until he reveals the intricately carved face of a... board game?

He can sense something stirring within him, that same odd sensation he's been getting since he was a kid just before anything weird or dangerous happened around him. But in the end, as he reaches out to touch the wooden box, that drumming abruptly ends and Ace is left tucking that game under his arm and jogging back up to the deck of the ship.

"Hey!" he hoists the game up above his head, grinning wide and bright. "Why are you holding out on us, old man? You have games on the ship!"

And he's just going to crouch down on the deck, getting the game unfolded and fishing out the tokens to look them over. It'll be up to someone else to do things like reading, he's going to start putting game pieces on the board, whistling in excited appreciation as they seem to just roll out of his hand and magnetize to the board.

"Looks like we've got five pieces-- who else is playing?"

RIKU'S APARTMENT

[kaisoumods]

↣ Game Kit

[fightbydawn]

[Riku has had a long and busy day, so far. He got up early, fed the strays on his patio at dawn, went to his morning class at the university, moved buildings to cover his pokemon daycare shift, and now that it's finally the late afternoon... he's able to start moving towards home. Home where more cats, more animals, and more insanity awaits him, but still. It's home.

So here he is, keying in the door code to the front of his apartment building, giving a tight-lipped smile to the security guard at the desk, knowing just how out of place he looks walking into this place wearing scrubs and a backpack and holding a bag of McDonald's, but hey. It's a little less of a pain to walk back to his apartment than it is to teleport to it.

But there's... something in the air, today. Something resonant and sinister, something sour that hits him like a wave, rattling around in his skull and making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He stops in the middle of the lobby, eyes closed against the wave of nausea washing over him, waiting for the pounding of blood in his head to fade as his body adjusts to whatever it is that's suddenly set him off. Waiting until the pounding of his heartbeat fades to the dull, muffled rhythm of... drums...

... strange, but not completely unheard of. And with that sound fading away, Riku is able to keep moving, to get into the elevator and scan his keycard to get up to the penthouse, stepping into the hallway as the echoing sounds of drums fade away to mere whispers. Still confused, still on edge, still casting his senses out for anything out of the ordinary, there's no way his nose won't pick up on the scents of two increasingly familiar notes. Both on the other side of his damn door.

With a sigh, annoyance outweighs the unease, and Riku gets his door open and moves inside, greeting his dream eater as he gets rushed by that fluffy blob of a bat before just moving to the kitchen to grab a bottled water from the fridge and get his backpack thrown onto one of the chairs at the counter.]

You do understand that you don't actually live here, right? [He's saying without even looking at the invaders in his home. Though he will glance over his shoulder a second later to say a much more pleasant: ] Hi, Ven.

CHEATERS NEVER PROPSER

[kaisoumods]

[For those players who chose to cheat- congratulations, enjoy your jungle purgatory until someone wins their game! ]