etrayamemes | TDM 006

TDM 006

⏵ arrival ⏴
Arrival is absolutely not normal this month. Instead of a hospital bed, you wake in a tunnel with a large group of other people. These are the residents. A woman’s voice in an earpiece hurriedly clues you in with an apology.

I apologize; I had not planned to introduce you this way, but we are low on time. Please proceed down the hallway.

An image of a shattered pearl pops up on your personal HUD and rotates.

I am Aurora. You are joining many others on Etraya in order to save your world from destruction by completing missions. Your current mission is to find the pieces of this object that have become scattered in the library ahead of you.

For everyone else, coming in is much the same. The instruction goes out to head to designated areas immediately, where companion bots will escort the residents of Etraya down into the depths, the area beneath where much the same is explained.

⏵ disrobing ⏴

The tunnel eventually opens directly into the foreroom of an expansive library, painted in marvelous hues and patterns with skylights far above. There are wizards milling about, bearded and holding tomes, quietly chatting amongst themselves.

The reception area of the library has tall ceilings with equally tall doors Before you get too caught up in the scenery, a voice directs you forward. A gentleman, hunched and bespeckled craws out.

"Make a line! Make a line, everyone! You cannot enter the library dressed as you are... Come forward and give me your name."

The receptionist asks your given name and then hands over a box from underneath his counter. You can give him any name you want, he doesn’t seem to mind. It is tied with a tagged ribbon- labeling it accordingly. “The _____ robe of _______.”

	(First Letter of Given Name)				(Last Letter of Given Name)
A	Controlling	N	Helpful	A	Melodies	N	Light
B	Glimmering	O	Floating	B	Discretion	O	Mind-Reading
C	Wet	P	Handsome	C	Growth	P	Climbing
D	Gruesome	Q	Gullible	D	Grasping	Q	Jumping
E	Observant	R	Ratty	E	Flying	R	Hurting
F	Powerful	S	Adhesive	F	Reading	S	Guiding
G	Psychedelic	T	Sweltering	G	Dancing	T	Bug-Speaking
H	Swift	U	Cheerful	H	Shouting	U	Exploding
I	Voracious	V	Anxious	I	Extracting	V	Complaining
J	Soft	W	Likeable	J	Punishing	W	Dividing
K	Keen	X	Ruthless	K	Creeping	X	Slapping
L	Fabulous	Y	Dramatic	L	Walking	Y	Charming
M	Fair	Z	Demonic	M	Listening	Z	Combustion

As you read what the contents of the box may be, they form inside- Looking and behaving as your character expects them to. After all, magic is all in the wielder’s mind.

Don your robes and enter the library.

⏵ unfamiliar familiars ⏴

For those without a familiar (like one hatched from an egg not too long ago) you may borrow one from the library counter. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but they will all assist in the very important mission. As you roam the library, they will make little indications that you are closer or further from finding a piece of the pearl.


Pro	• Hardworking • Gives correct directions 75% of time • Won’t run away from you	• Very affectionate • Gives correct directions only when paired with another rat, toad, or personal pet.	• Gives correct directions 90% of the time
Con	• Must feed bookworms	• Will run away if too close to a cat	• Does not care for you • Sleepy • Will run ahead • Gets distracted by rats

⏵ the task at hand ⏴

With robes donned and creature in hand, you must now complete your mission. Find the pieces of the shattered pearl. As you enter the library, you may notice that it’s all very dim. There’s oil lamps around the place that may be moved with you to assist in your journey if your robes do not already emit light.

Break off and search the library. There is a directory at the front to point guests to all the different sections.

	Wings of the Library
A	General Works	B	Music
C	Philosophy, Religion	D	Fine Arts
E	History, Auxiliary Sciences	F	Language and Literature
G	Magic, General	H	Science
J	Geography, Anthopology	K	Medicine
M	Agriculture	N	Hobbies, Recreation
P	Social Science	Q	Military
R	Political Science	S	Practical Arts
T	Law	W	People
X	Education	Y	Spiders

Each section looks enough like the last, though the books within have immense power. Pick up the wrong book, and you might conjure a dragon or a historical figure! You must persist and avoid making too much noise or breaking too many things.

Or else the Librarian, a tall mass of knotted fabric will confiscate your robe and usher you back outside. Your name will be struck from the list, and you must pick a new one to re-enter the library to continue the search.

You can try to fight back against him- he may be set alight with the lamp. But should you be starting fires in here?

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Any thread with 15 comments between you and another may be submitted to find a piece of the pearl. There are 20 pieces altogether, and we will determine if the mission was successful by March 28th. A post will go live on the OOC comm for this!

This mission occurs out of time, similar to how the spaceship had. Meaning, those currently in game can experience these events any time between now, and March 14th.

Please direct all questions to our mod queries comment!

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Please pose any questions or comments here!

As the title says, please post threads here, and we will mark the pieces of the pearl off. We will tell you which room you eventually found it in if none is otherwise specified.

If a character doesn't have a surname, does the one they supply count as first or last?

The chart goes by just first name! But the receptionist will give a robe based solely on what a character tells him.

This isn't any part of the White School that Tim has been to before, though of course it's practically impossible to visit every part of the White School. When your university is spread out over multiple worlds, there's always some room or cupboard or something that you haven't found yet. Yet another world and some sort of world-saving quest isn't exactly out of the ordinary here, though he is a bit irritated that Yo-yo's not anywhere to be found.

Due to the fact that he gave his name as John Constantine to the receptionist (mostly to see if they'd notice it was a fake; they didn't), he's given the Soft Robe of Growth, which - if nothing else - is as soft as advertised. It settles quite nicely over the t-shirt and jeans he continues to wear as a student, even though it's not exactly the usual fashion at the School. As for familiars, he gets really irritated that they insist he borrow one from the library after rudely shutting his actual familiar out. He's too used to seeing rodents as food for Yo-yo to take on one as a familiar, and the toad (frog? what's the difference between the two, again?) just looks ugly (sorry, toad), so the cat it is.

Thus outfitted and ready to search, he heads for the directory, and immediately, the cat hops out of his arms and runs off somewhere. "Oh, bloody - I can't have been that bad," he mutters to himself before continuing, in something of a whisper-shout, "Cat! Come on, I can't lose you immediately. I'll find you something to eat. I've been a cat before, I know what tastes good!"

Cid, donned in sopping wet robes, watches this little drama unfold. He sighs, cigar in mouth, and a little bit of a chill on his skin. He dashes off with a bit of lightning on his heels. The sound that his robes make as he hurries to cut the cat off and catch it in his robes is remarkable, squelches aren’t usually so fast.

Cid holds the bottom of his robe low- scooping it up as it hits the wet fabric and catching the fleeing feline. He hurriedly folds and twists the bottom of the robe to prevent escape. …Though it is now in what amounts to a soggy bag, and the thrashing has only just begun.

“Sorry, did you say you’ve been a cat before?”

Are any of the books ones that characters would recognize?

Arrival

Wait, what?

[That isn't the communicator the Gullwings use, and it isn't one of the Gullwings on the other end. Paine fumbles at her ear until she digs the thing out.]

Who are you? Where is this? [When no response is forthcoming, she looks around. No Yuna, no Rikku. No Buddy or Shinra either--hell, even Brother would be a welcome sight.

Instead, she's in a crowd of strangers. It is a distinctly uncomfortable position. She clenches her teeth and takes a step towards the nearest one.] Did we all just get kidnapped here?

Clothing and critters

[With an explanation in hand--an explanation she has no intention of trusting at face value--Paine steps into the library. It looks like the sort of place that was talked about in stories of the time before Sin. Big, beautiful, the pride of a great civilization.

And she's here to find some sort of broken sphere. Well, pearl, but those are spherical, so in a sense she's still doing her job... and it probably has magical properties, who knows.

She's got the "handsome robe of flying" pulled over her head. Handsome + flying has apparently turned into a pretty close facsimile of her Psychic dressphere, only with a floor-length jacket. And held in her hand as she steps into the library? A toad. Well, it's less trouble than a monkey is. Probably.

She glances up at the other person at the table.]

...You think these are really going to work?

Your time starts now

All right, let's see if these togs live up to the name. [Not sure how else to proceed, she crouches and jumps--and to her suprise (and secret delight), she keeps going.] Hah!

[Drifting a few feet off the ground, she can't help but grin. Some part of her has always just liked flying.

She really hopes she can keep these. Also, Rikku should never have a set.

But it soon becomes clear that nothing is clear.]

"Handsome robe of flying." Didn't come with a handsome glove of lighting things up.

Arrival

[Amongst the group of new arrivals is a visibly disoriented barefoot teenager, a worn but warm blanket wrapped around him like a shroud. At least he has a blanket, which makes waking up on the cold ground easier, but like everyone else he's not expecting to wake up in a tunnel or surrounded by strangers far from where he expects to be. The twitch of surprise when the earpiece comes to life and a woman speaks is suppressed by the time the HUD pops up, and he raises a hand to try to poke the image - and freezes at the sight of his own hand. Pale, pink, clawless and unscaled. Shock clears the rest of the fog instantly.

The rest of what's said becomes irrelevant as he rakes unsteady hands through his hair, seeking horns that aren't there anymore, rubbing hands together to reassure himself it isn't an illusion and only warm skin instead of cool scales are there; running his tongue along his teeth draws only the faint sharp points he'd always had, not the damaging fangs he'd just had.

Human again.

The sound he makes might be strained, relieved laughter, but it has an edge of something like hysteria to it as he drags himself to his feet, swaying a little in place. If missions is what it took to stay human, then so be it.]

Robes! Creatures!

[At least there's a crowd to follow, and dutifully, Sephiroth follows, looking rather frayed around the edges but still moving as everyone enters ... .. a library.

He didn't really know what he was expecting but a library was not it. Nor is being told to form a queue, though the librarian(?) is right, he's DEFINITELY not dressed to be here. A blanket and a pair of pants isn't going to get him into most reasonable establishments, but it seems that's going to be changing.

The name he gives is John Doe, and summarily is handed a box tagged The Soft robe of Light. He does nothing for a minute, watching other people with theirs before carefully folding his blanket and setting it down then opening the box to take out the long wizardyish robe inside and immediately pulling it on over his head. It is indeed soft, almost luxriously so, ribboned with long strips of softly glowing green light. The entire thing feels almost weightless.]

... Are we to give these back later?

[The robes, or the enormous fat pleased-looking toad he selects?

Maybe both, by the way the amphibian is gently cradled in his hands.]

Task: Books

[Toad in hand, Sephiroth's picking his way through the library's many sections. The dimness of the lighting is no hindrance at all, but he's not picking up books, he's looking behind them, on them, to either side. They're seeking a broken pearl, aren't they? Why would that ever be IN a book?

Right now he's in the Spiders section, which has at the moment a rather large absence of spiders as he carefully investigates shelves. Given the glowing strips of color on his robes he is impossible to miss, for better or worse.

And he's still barefoot. That's fine, right?

Probably things would continue to be fine except he's taking to climbing the shelves like the subject he's chosen in his search. Things like ladders and stepstools are for other people.

Probably he shouldn't be doing that. A book's going to get kicked loose sooner or later.]

[OOC:Wildcard option! Want to do something else?? Send me a PM.]

[Gray haired woman, meet gray haired middling teenager, wearing little more than a blanket wrapped around him like a burrito and a pair of pants. At least he looks warm like that.]

I think so.

[He's doing his best to sound reasonably calm about all of this, but he's listening for a voice he can't hear, and it's neither the one on the earpiece or Paine's. Silence is not comfortable in this respect, he'd gotten used to the murmur of another's voice in the back of his mind. It had been reassurance. Now?

... Now there's a woman who is definitely NOT turning into a dragon, any more than he was a scaly monstrosity himself.]

... But it's better than turning into a monster, isn't it?

SCIENCES

[ The young girl is gently cradling her rat in two hands while a handful softly glowing orbs hang around her, absently stroking her temporary pet's little head as she peruses the literature in front of her. She's specifically found the mathematics section and is reading the book spines intently. Is she looking for pieces of the pearl? It sure looks like she's just reading book spines and not noticing anyone at all until they get quite close or address her. Anyone who doesn't speak first will get a little jump of surprise and then a very polite, ]

Excuse me. Am I in your way?

SOARING OVER AGRICULTURE

[ The young Archive is in the agriculture section and is still illuminated by her handful of softly glowing orbs, but this time she's suspended in the air by her robes and seems to be arguing stoically with a disembodied voice. Her little rat is running in circles under her, squeaking. ]

Take the book.

I am not going to take an unknown book from an unknown library.

Take the book right this instance.

No, I will not.

FINALLY ON TASK

[ Whatever section she's ended up in this time, the illuminated Archive is actually searching for the pearl shards now. She follows her little rat a very meandering and circular path, looping around sets of shelves and doubling back. This goes on for about fifteen minutes before she kneels down and holds out her hands for it to scurry onto. Once perched there, she lifts it up to eye level. ]

I don't think we're going in the right direction.

[[ ooc: The Archive does not have her ability to know all that is written in Etraya and she will not be fourth walling; all media she knows will be similar to but not the same as our media. And if you want a different prompt PM me! ]]

Edited 2025-01-02 23:40 (UTC)

I'm sorry, can you clarify the detals on the robes? [ As you read what the contents of the box may be, they form inside- Looking and behaving as your character expects them to. ] "they" would be the robes that appear in the box? behaving as we expect them to? meaning the robes do the things in the descriptors? or is it the characters? For instance, if you got the likeable robe of reading, what would be the result?

[Ragnvaldr, dressed in a tattered robe, enters the wing labeled as Spiders, sure there would be a challenge. There is almost disappointment as he rounds the corner and walks into a room that is apparently spider free. He looks up at the sound of shelf climbing, expecting to see a spider and only seeing… This other man.]

[And then a book does indeed get kicked down, landing pages down and splayed.]

[The book, titled “Spidre Swarms of The Troepiks” erupts with a black swarming mass.]

[Ragnvaldr springs into action, leaping over the growing swarm to climb the bookshelves as well… before throwing his oil lantern down below onto the swarm. They and the book burst into flame.]

[Something beeps and wimpers in Ragnvaldr’s pocket, and he pulls out a small mutant dog, no larger than the size of his hand.]

[He calls to the other man.]

Have you found it?

Certainly. These are books pulled in from all over the multiverse.

The character is handed a box. The box contains robes with a label. This label creates an expectation of function to the character opening the box.

Given the Likeable Robe of Reading, your character can interpret this in multiple ways. Perhaps they really like the robe itself and assists in Reading a book. Perhaps the robe makes the character more likable to others and enhances their ability to read other character’s intentions or emotions. It all depends on the IC mindset of the character.

This way, multiple characters with the same robe will have something that produces different effects.

If they hate their robe, they can get back in line, give a new name and receive a new robe. Does this help?

Edited 2025-01-03 00:24 (UTC)

[Well there sure are spiders NOW. Flaming spiders that scrabble in all directions as they seek to escape their flaming demise.

This is a perfectly reasonable method to handle creepy crawlies, but Sephiroth is also keenly aware that books burn too, and as Ragnvaldr goes up the shelves, the boy scurries back down them to work on snuffing out the flames .. and spiders .. before anything else catches alight.

That this means several of the frantic insects immediately climb HIM is ... missed in the moment. The toad is carefully set on a shelf where it is theoretically safe.]

I haven't seen any broken pearls, no. Are they supposed to be inside the books, hidden?

[Oh he hoped not, not with the difficulty there is in trying to extinguish an oil fire barehanded, or at least try to contain it before the whole shelf goes up.]

Yes, that is so helpful. Thank you!

Thank you!

I wonder...

[Pete scans the nearby shelves.]

We keep circling this set of shelves. So, just spitballing, what if our little global positioning rodent here has the right idea but can't point us that way because there's no way to go that way.

[He looks more intently now. Eyes behind a mask scan for a book that seems out of place. Less dusty, more dusty, or in the wrong section entirely.]

Tell me this doesn't strike you as the kinda place that'd have a secret passage behind a bookcase.

[Ragnvaldr’s lip quirks and he chuckles. This other fellow was quite brave, wasn’t he, to jump into the fray? ]

I have only as much information as you. Hopefully they are not within the books.

[But given their luck… Ragnvaldr holds his puppy up to the books, seeing if she will give him any indication. She goes quiet, falling back asleep. Well. He may as well help clean up the mess.]

[He hops down, landing on his feet to stalk over. He pulls out his flask, about to douse the flames…]

If the person receiving the robes just thinks the name is for flavor, does that mean the robe doesn't have an effect?

Library - Attempt 1

[ Ask anyone who knows her, and they might all agree that these librarians are not as smart as they look. Not only did they end up with a newcomer in the form of a feisty woman in a catsuit, but they did not think to check her initials. F. H. They made the mistake of giving her the POWERFUL robe of SHOUTING.

The tranquility of the library lasts for about 3.5 seconds when... ]

WHERE THE HELL AM I???

[ Every librarian in a 5 mile radius turns in Felicia's general direction and responds in unison with one big... ]

SHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

[ So much for keeping the peace. The woman, tall, athletic, and curvy with platinum blond hair goes wide-eyed when she sees what's coming for her next. In response to the noise, the 'librarian' flies at her, which prompts Felicia to make swift moves to escape. She's pretty fast and hard to catch, especially when she tries to use the first person she spots as cover. ]

Get that thing away from me!

Library - Attempt 2 - Spiders

[ After her first robe assignment went OH SO WELL, Felicia was given a new robe corresponding to two different initials. B.C. This is, at least, much quieter than the robe of shouting she previously got. And with it on, she's free to explore. Right now, she'd actually like to search for an exit, but with no obvious escape in sight, she'll have to play along and look for the missing pieces of pearl.

Her cat companion has run off. Funny enough, it doesn't like her, which is very unusual for a cat, since most adore her. Being the curious woman she is, Felicia had to check out the wing named for Spiders. Of all things to have an entire section of the library about.

When someone comes upon her, she's there, browsing the shelves. The robe around her is an iridescent, purple hue, and every flicker of lamp light moves the colors like a swirl of the cosmos. It wraps her in shooting stars. Combined with her long, silver-like hair and emerald green eyes, her visage is practically heavenly.

Hearing the sound of someone moving among the books, Felicia turns to look. Her guard is up a little, since she has no idea what the people are like in this place except those old-timers who kicked her out once already. ]

Hey. Looking for a pearl? Nothing but books here.

Have to at least make the attempt. I've got a theme to stick to.

[A very familiar theme actually, what with the red, blue, web pattern, and a strangely adorable jumping spider the size of a small kitten skittering from shoulder to shoulder.]

[He pulls on a book that looks slightly less dusty than it's companions, waits, and lets his shoulders droop when nothing happens.]

Not that one.

[This might be an arachnophobe's nightmare, but it seems they don't bother him too much.]

... Not in this one, at least. Does your little creature tell you where it is?

[The still on fire book is gingerly slammed shut with an oily squelch and a few more dead spiders; he can hear other people being hissed at over making a racket so he's doing his best to not be TOO noisy about the .. property destruction going on.

It cuts off the spilling of spiders everywhere but doesn't do anything for the others running around, or the fact that oil can't be put out by simply trying to swat the flames out. As Ragnvaldr heads in his direction, he's ALSO now an escape route for a few panicking spiders, but when he pulls out a flask, Sephiroth looks alarmed.]

Please don't put water on an oil fire.

Is there anything... magical about the bookworms (needed for the toads)? And roughly how difficult would it be to find some? Thank you!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 129

TDM 006

Mod Queries

Post links to threads with 15+ comments here

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Tim Hunter | DC Comics/Books of Magic

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Paine | Final Fantasy X-2

Sephiroth | FF7: Ever Crisis; CRAU

Arrival

The Archive | Dresden Files

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Books

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tw: spiders

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On Task.

tw: spiders, but not for long

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Felicia Hardy | Marvel 616

Attempt 2

tw: spiders, but they're on fire for the moment

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