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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.

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?

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:
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!

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.

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:
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
I knew you weren't fine.
[However, the archer is strong enough to lift a hand and very gently chop the back of Lighter's head. Because that hasn't slipped by him at all.]
C'mon, Lighter, if anyone needs a lecture on that... should be me. I just got one life.
[He drops his hand to continue weakly clinging to the other man.]
'Sides, he didn't do anything wrong saving your life.... It's worth saving in his eyes.... Right, Jun?
[Harumasa very much doesn't like the fact that Jun got injured like this for them, but he recognizes that it's not wrong for his little brother to save someone's life.]
no subject
I'm sorry we didn't tell you. We didn't want you getting freaked out by it or... or anything. We thought we could stop it if we were just careful.
[The lecture is both needed... and not. Varian is upset about it, and he will continue to be so for quite some time. But his upset comes from what could have been the result of it, rather than Jun doing what he felt he needed to do. ]
Trust me, we've had this conversation before. I'm not- Jun did what he felt he needed to do. I'm not happy about it. I'm never gonna be happy when he risks his life and I- I have to deal with the potential of him dying on me. I'm always gonna super hate that. But that's because I love him and no one wants to see the person they love nearly dying.
[That is, in fact, always gonna be soul crushing for him!! ]
But I'm never gonna be angry at him for the actual action. That's... it's just what he does. It's his duty, and I get it. Even if I don't like it when it ends like this, I still get it.
[He casts Haru a fucking LOOK. ]
And your one life is precious to all of us. Don't make me fight you too, I'm in a bad mood and I'll fight you right here and now.
no subject
He appreciates the other two backing him up, but.... there is something that keeps hitting him strange. He had made it clear he did this to save Lighter's life. He didn't do this for thanks or praise, but.....]
... Lighter, why do you sound like you think I made a mistake with saving your life?
no subject
Well, I'd rather not need to repeat myself, y'know? You still heard what I told Jun. I'm not saying you shouldn't protect people. I'm just saying you should go back to the drawing board on ways to do it.
[A sense of duty can be kept while also keeping the blood pressure of your loved ones in mind.
When Jun asked that question, though. Lighter froze.
He didn't speak for a long moment, pushing his sunglasses further up his face instead. Getting one last glimpse in on the group who was stable for the moment at least.
Then turning around towards where the rest of the actual players were.]
C'mon, we're gonna find somewhere for you both to rest. After that, well, I've got a game to win. And a prize of us escaping to cash in.
["Because you did."
Son...]
no subject
Harumasa closes his eyes. Knowing that history loves to repeat itself in their lives, he can guess that it's true for Lighter as well. A fucked up cycle that he can never say for certain why it keeps repeating.
The archer makes a hand signal to Jun. An old one that they used to mean "talk later."]
I'm going wherever you're taking me at the moment. Not like I can leave.
[Although he sounds exhausted, there's the old teasing lilt to his voice again.]