etrayamods: (Default)
∎ ETRAYA MODS ∎ ([personal profile] etrayamods) wrote in [community profile] etrayamemes2025-03-28 09:16 am
Entry tags:

TDM 007

content warnings for this TDM include: violence, potential death, body horror, physical transformation, loss of senses, loss of autonomy

⏵ arrival⏴



Arrival does not happen as Aurora usually plans for it. New characters are introduced to the AI, then informed of a mission that they are required to participate in before they can return to their home base of Etraya. A world called Aphaia is falling apart, and while there is nothing they can do to resolve this broken world, they can participate in the Gamerunner's Stratagem.

Their mission is simple: step through the glowing purple portal that Aurora creates once they've had time to listen to her, and survive until a similar portal reopens in front of them, allowing them to return to Etraya. The Gamerunner's Stratagem is something they have been working on building for quite some time. She informs all newcomers that they will not be present on this world that long: their exit will appear to them exactly when it's meant to, allowing them to meet the others who have been recruited to save their worlds. She provides each and every arrival with an earpiece, allowing them to communicate with the other Etrayans. Aurora suggests taking a bag full of supplies along with them, which she will fill with a few generic items as well as any specific items they may need: synthetic blood for vampires, protein bars for those who may burn through calories faster, medication for anyone who requires it.


⏵ aphaia ⏴


Aphaia is a neon-lit, chaotic planet. Cameras are everywhere, every action and inaction is judged by the 'audience'. Towering holograms advertise upcoming events while flashing leader boards track the most "popular" players. Contestants are thrown into challenges, many of which are games of skill, survival, and deception all to keep the viewers entertained. Not participating is an option! However, avoiding playing along and not putting on a show will quickly cause participants' score to go down, and scores that reach zero? Well.

Unfortunately, there are only so many resources left on Aphaia. Their wildlife has died off, their planet is falling apart, and most others in this galaxy were either destroyed from the inside out, or warring planets trying to gain control of remaining resources destroyed them to avoid others getting involved. Their natural resources are depleted, and only those who manage to keep their scores up are given the luxury of having any supplies. As soon as one steps foot on Aphaia, as soon as they breathe, they intake nanotechnology which tracks their oxygen consumption, their food, everything they do or need. As soon as their scores reach zero?

They disappear. There one moment, and completely gone the next. Their communicators go offline, and while everything they were carrying will be left behind, no one will be able to find them. They are simply--gone, erased from existence.

This is a death and counts as a death as outlined in the game FAQ! Please keep this in mind.

"Points" that go towards their total score will be assigned to contestants from the moment they drop down on planet. This will be visible using the HUD on their earpiece, and will be randomized at the beginning. For the sake of the TDM, we ask that no one be assigned Paragon initially, but you're free to use other ranks!

The possible rankings are:

100: PARAGON
99-80: LUMINARY
79-70: CHAMPION
69-50: CONTENDER
49-30: UNDERLING
30-0: SHADE

Ranks may change daily, or even hourly depending on the kind of situation one has found themselves in. Are they having a very public break up in which it comes out that they wronged their ex? They may go from a Champion to a Shade before they can even blink. Did they save a defenseless reporter from the big bad villain of the week? They may find themselves quickly elevated up to Luminary and given all the benefits that comes with being upper class. The world is their oyster, they only need to figure out how they'd like to utilize it!

Aphaia is broken up into four districts.

The Colosseum is a dynamic battle arena where combatants fight for entertainment, with shifting environments controlled by the audience. Victories earn points, while losses depend on performance.

The Symposium is a lavish social hub for top contestants, where alliances and betrayals are made under the audience’s watchful eye.

The Agora is the public center of Aphaia, where contestants engage with the audience through polls, interviews, and challenges to maintain popularity. It also houses the contestants in high-rise apartments.

And Backalleys provide hidden spaces with intentional blind spots for secret dealings, though the Gamerunner is always aware of what happens there.


⏵ st★rlight soirée ⏴


Something special is happening in the Colosseum. Lights flicker as the arena shifts, rearranging itself into a grand, glittering ballroom - if a ballroom had stadium seating, paparazzi drones, and an ever-changing floor plan designed to disorient those within it. Silver chandeliers pulse with artificial starlight, their glow refracted through the crystalline floors. Music swells, but it sounds - unnatural. It thrums through your veins, setting your blood alight with the urge to dance.

Why is the ballroom designed as if intentionally put together to throw off one's balance? Well, it's time for the Panopticon Prom, of course!

The Panopticon Prom isn't just an adventure in dancing and impressing your most recent crush. It's a test of endurance, cunning, grace, and charm. The floor beneath your feet moves as if it has a mind of it's own, shifting to the beat like a living creature all of it's own. It tilts, undulates, even vanishing in sections to keep dancers on edge. After all, it's difficult to keep up one's pace if they're falling through a hole in the floor to the foam pit below.

Drones zip through the air, catching every stumble, every misstep, and every attempt to throw off others on the dance floor. This is a competition, after all; and what fun is a dance battle without having the freedom to thwart someone else on their road to victory?

The rules are simple:
  • You must dance with a partner. This can be an ally, an enemy, or someone you intend on using as a stepping stone to victory. It matters not, as long as you have one hand (or limb) on them at all times.
  • The longer you last, the better your chances. Endurance is the name of the game, meaning one must pace themselves on the dance floor. While epic twirls and impressive moves will garner more attention, it may also hurt your chances in the long run.
  • You may sabotage others by throwing them off balance, but keep in mind: everything is televised, and it won't stay secret for long.
  • The arena adapts to the chaos. Expect sudden obstacles, environmental shifts, and sudden changes in the music's tempo. Gravity may shift, walls may close in, but participants can't let that stop them - they must continue to dance, if they wish to win.
The audience is watching. Who will make the final cut and become Prom King and Queen? Everyone is vying for the titles: it doesn't matter what rank you started at when you joined the Panopticon Prom. Whoever wins becomes a Paragon until their points drop. There aren't many opportunities to sail through the rankings, but this is a sure way to do it. As long as they can keep up.


⏵ casino royale ⏴


Out in the Agora, another popular quarterly event is being set up! The Casino Royale has been destroyed countless times, but it seems as if the Gamerunner just can't let it go - every time it gets knocked down, it gets rebuilt.

There is one rule. One must take a turn at the revolving wheel just inside the door as their entry fee, and whatever the wheel lands on, they must maintain until they exit the building for the night. Sometimes, this is easier: an effect they have no control over and cannot undo even if they wanted to. Sometimes, this is more difficult: an assigned task they must complete. Failure to abide by the wheel once means receiving a penalty. Twice? Certain death if caught by any employee.

The wheel's effects are as follows:

1 You must speak entirely in rhyme. 2 Your body has become unnaturally delicate. The smallest injury hurts like a fatal wound.
3 You must avoid stepping into any sources of light. Doing so causes massive burns to appear on any area of your skin where light has touched. 4 You have been transformed into an animal! You can still think as you had before, but you cannot speak or communicate easily.
5 You have been cursed with supernatural strength, but cannot control it. 6 Time doesn't flow normally for you anymore. Each mistake you make makes you visibly younger, slowly erasing your experiences, skills, or even memories.
7 You can no longer form your own words, but only repeat what others have said to you. 8 You cannot meet another person's gaze.
9 You can no longer turn around, physically or metaphorically. If you try to return where you came from, you'll find that the pathway no longer exists. 10 You are given a specific letter that you must avoid using out loud entirely. "A"? Better hope you know enough words without one.
11 Every time you speak, your words come true - but never in the way you intended. Trying to control this is futile; the monkey's paw curls with every new sentence. 12 Within the casino, you lose the ability to feel anything. No pain, no pleasure, no warmth, and no cold. At first it may feel like a blessing - until you realize you cannot feel hunger, or tell if you're injured.
13 Regardless of if you've drunken anything, you still act inebriated. The effect only gets worse the longer you stay. 14 No one can see you. You are invisible, even if you are still able to reach out and touch or converse with those around you.
15 Any special ability you have is gone. You are reduced down to what an average human being is capable of - regardless of if you are human. 16 Violent impulses become impossible to ignore. You are rage incarnate, and you will be heard.
17 Every time you make a decision - to walk into an area, to start a conversation, anything, a small thread pulls loose from your clothing or your skin. Keep making choices, and you may become entirely undone. 18 You may speak freely, but for every syllable you say, your ability to hear slowly fades. You may want to watch your word count - too many, and you may not be able to hear at all.
19 Perhaps you arrived with a friend, or beside a stranger. It matters not: whoever came in either just before or just after you, you feel a powerful urge to protect them to the point of aggression. 20 Love is in the air - at least it is for you. Every time you meet someone's gaze, you feel the need to try and make them fall in love with you, through whatever means necessary.


The casino is alive with the hum of conversation, the clink of glasses, and the steady whirl of the roulette wheels. Golden chandeliers cast a warm glow over velvet-lined tables, where fortunes are made and lost with the flick of a wrist. But something feels. . . off.

The dealers never blink. The cards never seem random. And the house always wins - always. Maybe it's just paranoia, or maybe this casino is something more than just a den of chance. Tonight, you're not here just to play; you're here on a mission.

You've arrived dressed to kill, blending into the sea of bodies filling the casino's floors. But you're not here to win points or boost your social standing - you're here to win intel. Somewhere in this casino is a single flash drive containing information on just how Aphaia maintains their system. The only problem? The House knows someone is coming for it. After all, they're well-aware of the game: whoever retrieves the flash drive will obtain information on how to flip the script, to change the rules of the game to fit their wants and needs, rather than following the current Gamerunner. After all, this is the Gamerunner's Stratagem that Aurora has sent them out on! Many apply for 'employment' within the Casino Royale in hopes of getting insider information on where the flash drive is hidden and what it looks like. However, it seems that even the employees have no clue where it has been hidden.

⏵ NOTES ⏴


This is an extension of our Aphaia Mission! We have included enough information in this post that catching up to current in game logs isn't necessary to play with it, but you are welcome to use any part of the Aphaia setting in your prompts as you'd like. Current players are also welcome to bring the events from this TDM into their in-game threads.

This mission can happen outside of time as needed! Incoming characters will find themselves introduced to Aphaia as they arrive. Current characters may find Aurora calling on them to visit Aphaia after the current mission for the Gamerunner's Stratagem.

Characters already in game are welcome to post to the TDM, too! Please mark them as current characters in your header. Threads can be kept as game canon as long as both characters get into the game!

Please direct all questions relating to this log to our mod queries comment! All other questions can be directed to our FAQ.

FULL NAVIGATION

limiterrings: (pic#17750801)

[personal profile] limiterrings 2025-04-13 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
What's stood out to you in this casino?

[ shadow occupies his space with another which is very rare for someone like him, but the elusive flash drive has made the hunt interesting. no video feed, no words from the employees, no hidden room within the casino... then again, he never asked for a map, but he thought doing his own look around would be enough. ]
fancyfixer: (Default)

Re: Casino

[personal profile] fancyfixer 2025-04-13 12:25 am (UTC)(link)

Shaan does a double take as he takes in Alex and tries to figure out what is going on. It doesn't help he lost his jacket and shirt a few choices ago and he winces as another thread on his pants falls off. "Are you drunk," he asks carefully, ever the dufftful servant.

He really hoped there weren't phones in here or he would never live this down in a million years.

fireboost: (pic#17773414)

[personal profile] fireboost 2025-04-13 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ blaze shakes her head. ]

Aside from the wheel, nothing particularly does. It all seems to be in its place.

[ at least, that's been her observation so far. while she can't claim to have seen the entirety of it, what she has managed to search has been lacking in anything that seems suspicious enough to investigate further. that's exactly why shadow's potential finding had intrigued her. ]
internationalrelations: (Default)

[personal profile] internationalrelations 2025-04-13 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
Uh-huh. Sure you did.

[Alex teased right back with an amused grin. He'd believe that Henry did know that, but it was more fun to give the prince a hard time about it.]

Maybe I'd be First Son, Once Removed. FSOTUS Two, Electric Boogaloo.

[Alex snickered at his own terrible jokes before he let his gaze leave Henry -- where he'd been desperately trying to not stare at Henry's infuriatingly perfect lips -- to look around at their elevated position.]

This can't be OSHA compliant.
lordfuckleroy: made by  <user name=inkonic> (pic#17789527)

[personal profile] lordfuckleroy 2025-04-13 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
Fox, Henry Fox.

[ He had always wanted to say it in exactly that way, because while he had never been too keen on the Bond Girls, he did enjoy the stories of espionage and double-agents. And if his emotions were working correctly, he'd already had a list of Bond Men that started regrettably with Alex. ]

I am not the biggest fan of this, not going to lie.

[ He said as he played his hand, he was not the worst at cards but he was likewise not the best. It appeared though that the chips were on the house and if you had substantial winnings with the House, your rank went up.

Also, he was noticing something very helpful, he actually had a poker face now. The dealer could not read him, he sat down a four-of-a-kind which absolutely beat the dealer. ]
rudelanguage: (pic#17730078)

[personal profile] rudelanguage 2025-04-13 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
It's...not supposed to be popular. [flashing signs like a billboard isn't smart, but it's not like Knife had been flapping their arms and hooting and hollering about it, either! calculated risks, okay!]

I'm looking for a portal out. Seen any?
lordfuckleroy: made by Nia @ <user name=hiraethe> (pic#17513311)

[personal profile] lordfuckleroy 2025-04-13 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ Shaan knew everything about him, it was actually pretty imperative that he did so, for protections sake. Bea, Pez and Shaan were the only ones who did; not even his prick of a brother knew about it. ]

Do we need to find you more clothing?

[ Henry didn't know that attempting to put on clothing within the natural order of things may of course end not quite in the way that was expected per the 'House Rules'. ]

Also, I was going to text Alex after he left but I wanted to give it a few days, I did not want to be too eager to talk to him after all was said and done.

[ Playing it cool, which was not Henry's best forte ] I suppose it bears asking, is there anyone else you see from home?
internationalrelations: (025)

[personal profile] internationalrelations 2025-04-13 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
"What? No, 'course not. Didn't even finish my drink... this is ser....serious. Gotta stay sharp," says the incredibly not-currently-sharp First Son. This right about when Alex notices that Shaan is not as put together as usual.

He takes a step back, looking the other man up, then down, then back up. Respectfully...ish. Of course respectful suffers when Alex wolf whistles in appreciation.

"Damn though, Shaan. This is a bold, new look. I dig it. You've been hitting the palace gym, huh? ...I assume the palace has a gym. Gem-encrusted dumbbells?"
rudelanguage: (pic#17730078)

[personal profile] rudelanguage 2025-04-13 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
[Knife squints. what the hell? they said 'please,' how is that not nice? that's like...nice 101, right? Soliton said so!

they look at Silco like they smell like shit. or might be stupid.]


Looking for someone. [they hold their hand out near Silco, lowering it a bit, palm down.] About that tall. Yellow hair. [the hand retracts and traces down each of their cheeks.] Markings. Talks fancy.

Seen 'im?
rudelanguage: (pic#17730078)

[personal profile] rudelanguage 2025-04-13 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Knife grimaces, not thrilled to have to mess any more with the earpiece than they already have to. but. y'know. can't just walk around stupid, right?

so they warily poke at the piece, triggering the info flash.

name: "Pending"
score: 12

they squint at it, then at Paine.]


...It's not zero. [so we stay winning, right?]
internationalrelations: (021)

[personal profile] internationalrelations 2025-04-13 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't like it here..." Alex grumbled, straight into the sad pining portion of drunkenness. Because here he was this close to the guy he'd been utterly obsessing over for the past weeks (and longer, if he was honest with himself, which he wasn't very good at being on this point even when he wasn't drunk to the point of being in danger of not keeping his feet under him) and said guy was an empty shell of himself.

He'd be happy even if Henry was giving him the chewing gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe treatment that had marked the first few years of their interactions.

"C'mon then. This..." A pause and he swayed on his feet. "I don't actually... know which... which way."
rudelanguage: (pic#17730072)

[personal profile] rudelanguage 2025-04-13 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Knife looks annoyed, huffing out loudly through their nose, masking the expression by rubbing their face with their signing hand until they can get it back to neutral.

grumbling:]
Nobody speaks Common...why call it Common if nobody commonly speaks it...
shadowsincryo: (And every word is calculated)

[personal profile] shadowsincryo 2025-04-13 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
'It lasts until you leave for the night. There's no other way to undo it.' Honestly, it could be worse. He could be something smaller and easier to squish. A rabbit is just frustrating. He starts to wash his face then sees his inky claws and curls his lip. The dealer helpfully offers him some water to clean his paw.

He dips the claw in ink again and keeps writing. 'Worse, you see that scoreboard and your name on it? Those points next to your name need to stay above zero or you vanish.' He cleans his paw. Then he washes his face.
lordfuckleroy: made by Nia @ <user name=hiraethe> (pic#16673748)

[personal profile] lordfuckleroy 2025-04-13 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ There had been some pop culture references while they were doing the 'bestie world tour' but the extent had not been previously revealed to him. While Alex was insufferable, it was a very cute insufferable-- the sort that could coax a smile to quirk at those same lips that Alex had been staring at so intently (that somehow Henry hadn't noticed? Because he was an idiot, the idiot prince point in fact.)

He rather thought that he could fall down this hole for days and still be surprised by the American. ]


Do you ever get tired with your mind running so fast? [ Another valid question, this time a more serious one. ] Because you just switched subjects as if you were Doctor Strange moving through dimensions.

[ Of course Henry would like Doctor Strange. ]
levelshift: <user name=patch-robots site=livejournal.com> (shrug)

[personal profile] levelshift 2025-04-13 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
I believe they aren't easy to reach. [He shrugs.] Not that it matters much, it's not like I've been doing any serious investigating into them.

[Mostly because... they basically have no way to investigate Echo.]
shadowsincryo: (Nothing but lies and crooked wings)

[personal profile] shadowsincryo 2025-04-13 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
'It isn't my favorite either. I like the dancing tournament better.' [He flips a little lever and paws at a couple buttons. Two to discard. The dealer passes him two cards and he sits with his tail curled over his paws.

Not bad. But not the best. He'll bluff it. He slides two more chips onto the table. Either he can win or his companion, and for now, he's playing to bring up Henry's points. His are high enough.]
Edited 2025-04-13 01:05 (UTC)
rudelanguage: (Default)

[personal profile] rudelanguage 2025-04-13 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
Probably. If...saving the world is true. [it's more Soliton's bag than Knife's, but they'll help him if it comes to it!

for now, the issue is just staying alive to be helpful to him.

bleaugh. information-gathering.]


I'm following you until then. Read the signs out loud as we go.
rudelanguage: (pic#17730072)

[personal profile] rudelanguage 2025-04-13 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
What?

[the outcry is a bit shriller than they'd have liked, but the indignation can't be stopped.]

The, the number goes down! If I fu-hhrhh...run! [how do people go more than 5 syllables without cussing is it even possible.]
heartofthedream: Smile (Default)

Action whenever is good for you! <3

[personal profile] heartofthedream 2025-04-13 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
Alright. Sounds good. I'll see you soon.

[ But she'll keep an eye on her best friend as promised, too. ]

definecat: (Default)

[personal profile] definecat 2025-04-13 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not a fan of copycats.

[They're still amused, ears forward and inviting the human to share in the joke. They're clearly the copy of a cat, here, right?]
internationalrelations: (063)

[personal profile] internationalrelations 2025-04-13 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Look at this guy, just casually name dropping Ganesh and Odin," Alex shakes his head in mock disbelief before a grin escapes. He sips his drink again, feeling that currently still-pleasant inebriation buoying a bit. Falling silent he tries to wrap his brain around the idea of dying over and over. ...he wouldn't want to remember that either. At all.

"Run from the redhead, got it. Noted. That definitely sounds safer. ...is that the sort of thing I need to worry about here? I think I'm like... way out of my league."

At least he is self aware. Alex Claremont-Diaz knows his strengths. He's bright enough, decently athletic, pretty, has extremely correct opinions. But he is not a fighter, is not qualified to take on otherworldly creatures or somehow represent his world in a campaign to save it from oblivion. Here he is though, and it's not like he has much of a choice.

So he'll have to fake it until he makes it. Roll with it. Stuff the panic attack right back into the pit of his stomach and not fall apart in front of some handsome monster hunter he's just doused in liquor. "It's a lot, yeah. Honestly this is the first time I haven't been shadowed by the Secret Service in years."
lordfuckleroy: ij @ saveface (pic#17552890)

[personal profile] lordfuckleroy 2025-04-13 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
There was a sad puppy feel to Alex Clairmont-Diaz which Henry would feel absolutely gutted about if he could feel anything. He'd already gotten a rank up from the House already when he was playing cards with Kaeya at the tables so he thought perhaps there was nothing to discover.

His arm slipped underneath Alex's arms and then he started to pull him toward the exit. He knew it, Shaan had already marked all exits for him in case of a need to escape or find cover. What a good Equerry.

The pushed past the Wheel of Hubris™ and finally out into the air of the Coliseum City. It would take a few moments for them to come back to normal, it wouldn't come right away that was for sure. But within a few moments they would start to feel some rationality return to them.
heartofthedream: Hellfire Gala Green (pic#16737831)

[personal profile] heartofthedream 2025-04-13 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
Yes.

[ She can feel it. In every breath. In every heartbeat. In every thought. (Of her own, and the other people on this planet.) If it weren't for whatever suppresses some of her powers here, she thinks she could fix this planet. Like the dwarf star. But no one is trying to save this planet. They are letting it die, and they are playing murder games on the casket as it lowers.

But that is all a little dark for saying to Nate right now. Or maybe ever. Like that.

But it's ripped right out by his next words. About Sinister. And for the flash of a moment, using the power of The Phoenix and every mutant who had ever been born part of it since the first one came forth, wasn't enough. For the idea that somewhere out there, another of him was still doing something to Nate. Had been. ]


I can't say you're safe here, but I can say—you're safe from him here.
internationalrelations: (039)

[personal profile] internationalrelations 2025-04-13 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
...holy shit, dude.

[That was Alex for impressed apparently. He's watching as the sword just fucking vanishes. He has to actively fight the urge to clap.]

That was extremely badass.

[Alex makes a mental note not to mess with Lumine.] So yeah, see. The only sword I've ever held is a plastic toy lightsaber so uh... I might need to learn a thing or two.
internationalrelations: (Default)

[personal profile] internationalrelations 2025-04-13 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
You guys actually asked to come here? Huh.

[It's got weird bad reality show with way too high stakes vibes. But Alex nods.]

I guess it makes sense to want to see a dying world. So... has anyone learned anything helpful?