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kaisou2025-07-13 02:41 pm
July Event Log
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!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:
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:
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 findAnd 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:
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 behindYou 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 waitPerhaps 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:
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.
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.
no subject
And that was always to confirm the state of the vulnerable.]
If Ghilley's got to play the game too, we'd better leave pulling Jun along to the others... nothing's gonna start until these two are in the clear. As much as they can be.
[He looked at Maxima.] Did you manage to stop the bleeding?
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I think he'll make it until we can get him to a proper medical facility. [He directs a narrowed stare at Joshua. Ghilley he can trust, especially in this mood, but he doesn't know Joshua well enough to just take him at his word.] ...Why would we sit down and play a game while our friends are wounded and ill? How do you know that will earn us our freedom? Surely with the number of people we have here, we can find a way around a magical barrier.
no subject
[ he sheathes his Pride sword in case he needs to use his hands for... other hands. helpful things? he's still sort of Back and Away from himself, trying to take in information.
Maxima has a healthy skepticism--and Ghilley's a little too used to But Thou Must Otherwise Everything's Going to Hell in Thine Own Handbasket to really commit to interrogating anything but what he can pick up with his physical senses. he was never much of a spellcaster. aether-reading was always Sht--
hm. that's a crackle of static and a weird pang that he can't afford to be feeling. he makes his way over to the corpse cooling on the floor (not Jun, despite his best efforts) and takes a moment to poke at the thing--maybe find some sort of affiliation, or explanation as to how a man could've just materialized in some place as well-fortified and lousy with magical type as the Fortress...
and then he's staring at it for too long, and. well. physical senses. ]
This corpse looks like Wriothesley with a stupid mustache. Same eye color, same patches of gray in the hair.
[ it'd sound like one of his insane mantis shrimp logic statements if all of the lackadaisical cheer hadn't been bled out of his voice. he takes his hand away from the dead man's eyes, wiping the... corpse off his hands on his pants. he's gonna have to burn these jeans later. ]
no subject
It's simple. The game's rules say so on the other side of the board.
[He points to the indicated spot before reading it aloud:]
"Adventurers beware! Do not begin unless you intend to finish. The exciting consequences of the game vanish when a player has reached Jumanji and called out it's name."
[Then the blond looks up at Maxima.]
The 'consequences' are most likely the value of the dice rolled or it could be the specific value on the dice itself. Lighter rolled a four with a one and a three, and then that intruder showed up as the game warned it would with that ominous poem. Until we roll double twos, we won't know which of these possibilities is true.
[He crosses his arms. As Ghilley points out that the corpse of that strange hunter looks like Wriothesley, he strides over to inspect it himself. Joshua kneels down as he examines it for a moment before humming softly.]
In every way, it looks like our dear Duke with facial hair. Perhaps this hunter generated by the game has taken on a form that's personally tied to the player who rolled him.
But this is speculation. Hopefully, we don't figure out the truth of this particular mystery.
no subject
[Dammit. If Lighter had paid more attention, looked at the box a little closer.
No, that didn't matter right now. He couldn't afford thoughts like that. Whether they liked it or not, there was clearly something more magic aligned happening here. An elaborate and cruel game.
He didn't have a clue why this assailant would look like Wriothesley. But maybe it was because Lighter was one of the tenants here. Shitty colonizing English lord. Landlord. There was something there but he didn't care right now.]
If playing is what's gonna let us out, we play to win. Until we find another option for getting out, this is our best bet to get those two to a hospital.
no subject
A moment's focus shifts him from his casual wear into the thief garb granted by his Dressphere; exposed as it is, if he's going to be doing this he will at least be armed. That accomplished, he picks up the dice with a grim expression.]
Then...is everyone ready? Who knows what else might happen once I roll my turn, we may need to move quickly.
[After getting nods of consent from everyone around, he steels himself and rolls the dice, watching full of dread as they turn in the air and land in the wooden box. A two and a four. His token slides forward into the first of six spaces on its own, as the text begins to swirl inside the display once again:
Don't be fooled, I'm not a bird
You'll have regrets if my spores are stirred
There's a sound from the Entrance Hall. He turns toward the noise just in time to see some sort of avian fungus creature stick its head and neck through the Rumpus Room doorway and cry out in territorial anger. It's huge enough that it has to squeeze itself carefully through the doorway, and its tail is still stuck - not for long, but maybe for just long enough.]
Get the wounded to the next room, now! [For Maxima's part, he's drawing his daggers and imbuing them with blue flames, ready to cover the others' retreat.]
no subject
Playing along was usually the worst option, but it was the only option. How familiar. How rankling. He breathes out slow, rolling his neck for a crack that doesn't come, shifting up on the balls of his feet so he can be ready to move, ready to take his turn--
The next poem comes, singsong and wry, and the meaning behind it comes shrilling in before anyone can ask too inane of a question. His hand goes to his sword as he turns to face the thing, tensing to once again put himself on the frontline--
'Get the wounded to the next room, now!'
Right. It's a war of speed, not attrition. Sometimes you move parallel to find a better foothold. That's why Maxima would be an unholy demon at Risk.
He drops his hand from his weapon and pivots, sprinting for the cluster of the prone and their impromptu minders.
Time to move as friends. ]
Going!
no subject
There's no time to ponder, though. Not when they have two people in critical condition.
For now, he'll play by this game's rules. It's hard to say how this thing will react if Joshua uses any of his abilities as the Composer, so it's best to save it until they need it.
He watches Maxima roll the dice and notes the numbers. Every piece of information they get will be important. Even if he's not participating as a combatant, he can at least do this much.
Joshua hears the terrible screech of the fungal avian. He sees Ghilley run over to help Jun and he can tell that others are already moving to assist their sick archer. That leaves someone needing to go for the door and someone to go for the board game.
Grimly, the blond folds up the board game with his telekinesis and grabs it.]
Someone open a door!
[And they'll have to pray that there's something beneficial to them on the other side of it.]
no subject
It was the least he could do.
Then he heard a crack in wood, the sound of punching a surface all too familiar to him. Then another, then complete splintering.
This way! he heard the kid among them say and he whipped towards the newly made exit. Rather than carrying Harumasa on piggyback, he switched to a more front friendly princess carry as he turned around. Everything to keep the enemy's eyes on him while making their retreat, covering Haru's head to keep any of the broken wall from falling over him.]
Move!
no subject
(Metaphorically speaking. The literal board seems to be handling its own arrangements, much to all of their dismay.)
Wriothesley is here and in good condition so far. Furina is hanging back but her creatures are here to help fight, and thank goodness for that, the two of them can only do so much against an enemy this big. With the door broken, they'll need to take it down entirely, and he's not about to overestimate his own usefulness in that regard.]
Once they're secured enough, we could use backup!
[Maybe it's just as well that they're fighting instead of running. They'd have to abandon all of their food if they just fled, and who knows how long they're going to be stuck like this.]
no subject
he has things to think. the sounds of a brawl the room over makes him twinge, fox-ear flicking towards it even as he busies himself with wading into the Cornucopia of Stuff that's popping up, dutifully bringing things out like a dog fetching a stuffed toy whenever someone's at the door because that's how he was tricked into not barking.
there's enough cooks in the kitchen. he trusts that. he has to trust that. his ears continue to twitch like mad and he turns his attention instead to Joshua, the last player and current bearer of the game. ]
Hey. Can you look at that thing and like--
[ he runs his tongue over his teeth, sifting through words until he finds the thing that's nipping at the back of his mind. ]
Are we under a time limit, as far as you can tell? Some secret shitty hourglass that gives us x number of minutes before the whole thing falls apart?
[ because yeah, they're under the time limit of, y'know. people expiring. but it's more than a passing worry that an object made sadistically enough to have an option that shoots people in their dying places would give you like, 60 minutes to figure out all of its bullshit puzzles. ]
no subject
If this thing is intent on maintaining the rules it's laid out for them, then most likely cheating will be met with severe punishment. They'll have to play it fair and square to minimize any further risk to their players. Any hostile consequences seem to focus first on the player who rolled for it, but from the sounds of the the bird might be able to change focus because it's an animal. The hunter....
His thinking is interrupted by Ghilley asking a very pertinent question. That's an easy question to answer since that's also a concern he had.]
No, the only time limit we have is from our sick and injured. The game doesn't seem to care how long it takes the players to reach the end.
[Glancing out the door, he frowns slightly.]
I'll open up another door just in case we need to retreat further.
no subject
The way is clear, we can move on.
no subject
It seems like a good idea to keep a safe area here. Somewhere we can guard and retreat to if necessary, while we take the fighting elsewhere.
[He assumes there will be more fighting. There's been plenty so far.]
I think Wriothesley is going to open another door from the entrance hall - we can take the game in that direction to avoid putting this area in danger.
ROUND 2
[ he'll leave Varian and Jun behind with... it's not quite reluctance--Jun's comfortable and Varian's in his element, but that doesn't mean he has to like splitting the party. the static hum rises in the back of his head again, a warning and a comfort both as. well.
the people around him are highly capable. he has to trust that they can do what they mean to do, and will do it safely with no problems. that doesn't mean he trusts the fates and everything between to play along with the script, and he flexes his fingers and gives his hands a little shake for lack of anything better to do with them as he crosses rooms and bird chunks and hallways and ends up facing down a closet. ]
My turn, then.
[ he'll snag the board from Joshua as he waits for people to finish picking the closet clean, thank you imps in the walls that stock this weird-ass wing with Stuff and Things--and then he's in the closet with stuff kicked to the sides to keep the floor fairly clean, staring at Maxima. Maxima stares politely back. Ghilley opens the gameboard and tries to do some arcane shit where he balances the gameboard on one hand and rolls with the other and then Maxima helps himself to it, and they have another staredown, and no matter how much staring Ghilley does, the man doesn't leave and they're burning time and fine.
he takes the dice in hand, giving them a few shakes, and lets them clatter in the tray.
At night they fly, you better run
These winged things are not much fun.
Ghilley stares at it for a moment, watching his piece zip along the board--and then his ears snap back at the first sign of chittering and far, far too many rustling things squeaking out disgruntled fury at being awoken, ears pinning down as he grabs at Maxima on instinct and tries to half-drag half-throw the man in front of him. ]
Move! Get away from the door!
[ they're not coming out alone. (3) ]
no subject
The second Ghilley and Maxima are both out of the closet, Joshua slams the door shut. It doesn't keep all of them inside, unfortunately. More than half of the colony has escaped out of the closet and is currently wreaking havoc. Instinctively, he covers his head.
This has gone from severe danger to annoying so fast it's not even funny.]
ROUND 3
because you roll again with doubles, and then he'd immediately stopped thinking about game mechanics because rabies and Maxima was right there in the line of fire--
so it's not exactly the most graceful of heaps that he ends up tripping into, dice in his hand and letting go of Maxima and he's just. the tiger was so loud and it's the sort of thing that rattles the little bones in your ear and Ghilley just needed a minute because they probably have to deal with the bats some so he dropped the dice into the board for safekeeping
and failed to see the number that landed, the poem that glowed up at them from the center dome.
A slithering serpent disguised on the ground.
It will wrap you up and drag you down.
he sees movement out of the corner of his eye, though, as something big and sinewy strikes--and it's years of borrowed memories and chasing monsters (13) that gets him out of the way of the absolutely gargantuan nope rope that'd come looking for the dining hall.
but that does nothing for-- ]
Maxima! [ Ghilley doesn't really use first names.
but there's no spaces in him for strange nicknames or three-layers-deep joke references as a giant snake bears down on his friend and he's not going to get to his feet in time to stop it. ]
no subject
The game board is right there, so he sees the dice and the presence of text in the display, and realizes what must have happened at the same exact moment that Ghilley cries his name. That's just barely enough time to pivot, with his hand still extended, and manage to grab the snake's body as it attacks. (13) Unfortunately the place where he grabbed it is far enough below the head that it still has room to maneuver: still in his thief garb, he has nothing to block the fangs of an angry snake now determined to win its freedom, as it sinks a bite deep into the meat of his shoulder.]
Argh!
[The rest of the snake is unexpectedly mobile, too: he's not used to dealing with them, and doesn't think to move his feet until it's already coiling the remainder of its length around his legs. He sinks to the ground in slow motion as he struggles against the pressure forcing his knees to bend, unable to break its grip.] Someone, help-!
no subject
[When Lighter was told to watch for snakes when walking around, he didn't think he'd need to take the damned advice here! It's hard to ignore the way his stomach dropped on seeing this massive snake suddenly bite deep into Maxima's shoulder. Hard to ignore the surge of panic watching so closely as someone else he cared about took a severe blow.
But a Mercenary Leader can't panic. Fear wouldn't win. His focus overcame all as once again a surge of fire burned within Lighter and engulfed him in distracting light.]
Come at me!
[Indeed, the massive snake's attention turned to Lighter immediately allowing Maxima to free himself. Lighter walked back, leading the python's length further away from his friend. The more breathing room the better.
He didn't realize it, but the air around him started getting cooler.]
That's right, follow me. Show me what you've got.
[The seemingly reckless display was for the snake to strike its full length at Lighter. And when it and tried to wrap around him, he performed a perfectly timed dodge prepared to reach its tail to wrangle. Instead, though, the moment he dodged there was a Lighter-shaped construct of ice and frozen fog that the snake had focused on instead. Tried to constrict, even. Of course it wasn't a good match for sheer Cryo.
Keen eyed could see a light blue charm that dangled off his belt loop, previously covered by his clothes. And Lighter himself only let himself be confused for a split second before he rallied others with a weak spot exposed.]
Aim for the head!
SIDELINES
but Maxima's skin painted red sends a tremor through his fingers and he grasps his borrowed bow like it's the only tether he's got in the world rapidly shifting to the side--
and then Lighter taunts the creature, bringing it away in pursuit--and more importantly, positioning the thing where there's not a friend to be fired upon. he steels himself as the creature lunges for Lighter and gets a maw full of ice for its trouble, running his thumb over the button that makes the bowstring sing to life with electricity.
he doesn't need anything fancy. just a straight shot that he pulls and holds as the extent of his ability to manipulate aether does its work, the arrow pulsing light and crackling lightning as he lets Dormant Tide resonate and amplify--and then he looses the shot, aimed for the back of the serpent's head, face all concentration and lethal intent as the arrow strikes true in the thing's skull and bursts, light and lighting crackling bright on impact (18).
the snake thrashes, bloodied maw gaping as it coils through it's death throes, and Ghilley lets his posture relax, thumb flicking the toggle for the electric string. ]
Motherfucking snakes in my motherfucking fortress. [ it's a mutter to himself, rolling his shoulders as he drops out of his stance and makes his way towards Maxima. he's not... good at the care thing, but he can stand back a little ways and look suitably constipated about it? ]
no subject
...It doesn't feel like there's venom in the bite, at least. [He'll conjure the soup pot from his Geo Vision again; the first pulse of energy that washes out from it eases a little of the pain, and the bleeding slows down a little, but it'll take a while before it stops if this is all he has.]
no subject
[Said as Lighter went over to Maxima's side, a hand put over the man's intact shoulder as if he didn't just form an ice decoy of himself. Instead, he started to prepare some of the makeshift bandages they'd gotten from Jun's closet to dress that wound.
Maybe they're the silk ropes but he'll tuck that thought away for later to probably forget about.]
We've gotta get this cleaned up before we dress it. [Said looking towards Furina. She was still carrying Harumasa but he could hold the sick man while she cleaned the injury at least.]
no subject
Hold still.
[ the horns on her head and tips of silk-like fins glow gently as she draws shimmering water from somewhere unseen, directing it to the wound gently clean it. the glow then grows brighter with a gentle hum fills the immediate area, her Holy Song seeping into the shimmering waters making even that glow─ healing the wound enough to not only stop the bleeding but close it over as well. ]
There that... that should help.
SIDELINES
He's annoyed.
He's in pain.
He feels helpless.
And tiger isn't going to tolerate any more of this nonsense. He's proud, powerful, and he will put these foolish prey animals in their place and remind them that he is at the very top of the food chain.
Harumasa has enough wherewithal to plug Furina's dragon ears for her as he goes from growling to suddenly roaring viciously. He roars so rarely that most people here probably have never heard him make this sound, but it is primal and furious. It's more than enough to make the bats either freeze in abject fear or fly away in panic from the perceived apex predator (Natural 20).]