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

heybub: (Default)

[personal profile] heybub 2025-04-02 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
It means I don't know!

[ He exhales, sharp and angry. Not at her. She hasn't done anything but ask. It just frustrates him that he doesn't have an answer. Not even to something as basic as 'where are you from?' ]

I don't remember.
bigpoofymammoth: (Default)

[personal profile] bigpoofymammoth 2025-04-02 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
[Manny doesn’t blame anyone for thinking that he’s an elephant. After all they’re essentially his tropical counterpart.]

My name is Manfred, but I have also been called Manny. And you are?
shoplifter: (pic#17732633)

[personal profile] shoplifter 2025-04-02 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
[She's at least not fazed by the outburst. If there was anything she knew, it was that her father had a habit of it when he was angry. And from the sounds of it, he has plenty to be upset about.]

You put your name down. Logan.

[There's a hidden question in the statement: how did you know your name?

It's at least somewhere to start.]
laserguy: (what do you think)

[personal profile] laserguy 2025-04-02 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Scott absolutely keeps looking, he just pretends to look away, at least for a few seconds. It's hard to see past his sunglasses anyway, like they're always guarding half of the mutant's expression. Still he's expressive enough, especially with the way Scott's mouth twitches into one of approval.

'thelightshines,' huh? Not what he expected at all from the grumpy space animal, but sure, it definitely works. It probably holds some meaning to him and Scott isn't that much of an asshole to poke fun at it.]


Yeah, that's a good name. [YEAH letting Shadow know that he sees the username, but look he's still helping him with the whole earpiece thing. And getting an idea, Scott starts typing up a message, before sending it to Shadow.]

and now you can send messages to others. pretty useful, i'll admit. it's like instant.
banworthy: (4)

[personal profile] banworthy 2025-04-02 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ Vincent frowns. Are we?

His head tilts slightly at the idea that they're there for the same reason. He wants to destroy their world if there is no saving it from the mad God she created. Will she agree to work with him with those terms? He isn't certain. However, if both of them are dead, the only thing that awaits them is Hell.

Slapping his forehead, he tilts his head up. However, Claudia was fine and willing to burn in Hell for what she's done. She's gone against doctrine. Something he always said she was doing but she denied. It's nice that he was told he was right in the end.

However, there is no Heaven left for the believers or those willing to walk the road, either!

Vincent has come to accept he may be punished for not doing more to stop Claudia. He has all the excuses he could bring about why he failed God, but in the end, he failed Her. His fear and love for her is absolute; he also accepts the fate that awaits him. He'll walk the road until God forgives him.

At least, he hopes that is what awaits.

Sliding his hand off his face, he breathes out slow and looks at her. Flicking the finger between the two of them, he steps forward before holding his hand out. There is no road that awaits you but perhaps, I can convince you to damn yourself another way. ]
heybub: (pic#8483828)

[personal profile] heybub 2025-04-02 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
[ Thing was? He didn't know if Logan was his name. ]

It was on the dog tags.
thelightshines: (fucked around and found out)

[personal profile] thelightshines 2025-04-02 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
[He glances back as the area unexpectedly lights up with flames. The cat's doing? The moment of surprise passes as he comes in to kick their assailant off their feet, just as Blaze falls from the ledge. It's one thing after another.

He doesn't miss a beat, blipping out of existence and reappearing on the street ground to catch Blaze in time before she hits the pavement. He doesn't give himself a moment to check on her, the jets coming to life beneath his shoes. Soon he was speeding off, not caring if he was bumping into anyone and more focus on finding a way out of this backalley maze before something else happens.]
banworthy: (pic#17599695)

[personal profile] banworthy 2025-04-02 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
Well, you weren't here but I suppose that's details?

[ James doesn't seem to recognize him. The two of them had a bad relationship from the start because the man's a tourist and rejects the gifts of God. However, if he says that aloud, it makes him sound crazy. He decides to instead lie about what he's done to him in particular. Why not? ]

That mean you don't remember me? Convenient. [ Some truth and some lie is always good. ] You were very difficult to work with and made life hard on me for reasons I can't even begin to understand. [ Because Vincent decided to make life difficult for him first, but hey, he should put up with it. What right does a sinner walking the road have to be upset about anything? ]

Perhaps, we just got on the wrong foot but you certainly didn't take my religion to heart. [ A beat. ] I am a priest, you know, and can only take so much blasphemy from a nonbeliever before even I get mad.
thelightshines: (rise above?)

[personal profile] thelightshines 2025-04-02 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
[Under any other circumstances, he would think it's cool to actually meet something he had only seen in books and television. Right now he's just wary of everything, but they don't seem to come off as a threat.]

Shadow. [His ears swerve slightly, listening to the patrons in the casino. Someone losing all their money, two at the bar laughing their drunk ass off, a disturbance being reported somewhere. That last one seem promising. He glances in the direction of the voice to see if he can get more details from here.]
devota: (⚖ but now we’ve come too far)

[personal profile] devota 2025-04-02 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
[She hasn't ever gone against doctrine. Everything she has done, she's done for the sake of everyone. Far more than just the people of the Order deserve to have a seat in Paradise. It's something that she feels about so, so strongly.

Even now, having been told that she may have doomed the world, she doesn't believe it. Claudia can't believe it; her own father didn't believe her, but he was a fool.]


I have already earned my place in Hell, what could you possibly offer me?

[She isn't entirely interested in whatever he has to offer, but she will at least listen, because it's Vincent. Claudia has always listened to him, even when he's been aggressive with her.]
resurrxion: (000000128)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-02 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ oh, thank god. there's a relieved laugh at this familiar voice. ]

Nnnnnnot unless we've made some secret death pact I forgot about?
resurrxion: (000000000086 - Copy)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-02 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
That was a friendly warning.

[ but that... sure was a thing that came over him. josh ruffles his fingers through his hair, lips quirking down into a little frown. ]

Not my fault he's a wuss.
resurrxion: (000000000430)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-02 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. We we---are friends.

[ as much as you can be friends with someone you've made a career out of avoiding, anyway.

... god she sounds so young. so much like gabby. which... well, that tracks. gabby is a clone. josh absently rubs the back of his neck, frowning. ]


I'm Josh. Nice to meet you, Laura. You got someone lookin' out for you?
heavensnight: (Yeah I know)

[personal profile] heavensnight 2025-04-02 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
What are you talking about?

[she is frowning, eyebrows furrowed at him. it wasn't unusual for James to simply forget things. it was what happened a lot.]

Don't you remember being here before? Lying to me?

[Maria had tried to keep her anger over James leveled but having her memories played back at her not even once but twice, thinking about what James had done to her, and how he had withheld information from her; it made her feel infuriated at what he'd done.]
resurrxion: (000000128)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-02 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
We can trade every other weekend?
vexant: (pic#14770540)

[personal profile] vexant 2025-04-02 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
Cheater.

( he says it, but it's with a grin. the kind of grin that says he definitely doesn't mind her helping them to the floor. all's fair in love and war, right? clearly this is. . . some kind of war. )

Care to fill me in on what you remember?

( it's not all that relevant, yet. but he knows that even those he's from the same side of the multiverse as have different memory sets than him. it's better to just - figure out where everyone's at first. while dancing, because why not. )
thelightshines: (Can the child within my heart)

[personal profile] thelightshines 2025-04-02 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Scott gets one hell of a grim expression at the compliment. How do you know if it is a not? Don't bring attention to it. If he wasn't so defensive, he probably thank Scott for saying that. It certainly better than "hedgehog", "revengeguac" or straight up putting his name "shadow" at first, cause he really couldn't think of anything else in the moment. "Starrynight" did come close though.

He blinks, attention onto the screen as writing suddenly appears from them.]
How did you do that?
sabigoe: (⚙ 71)

[personal profile] sabigoe 2025-04-02 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nodding obediently, Fio adjusts the supply bag around her arm and tightens her grip on the strap. She listens as Blaze describes her friends, hardly fazed to hear that it seems to be another band of talking animals. Like something out of one of her picture books. They sound like a fun group. Even if all she knows about them is the types of animals they are.

The memory of another talking cat briefly crosses her mind. Priyet is far different though... fluffy and bigger too. And that girl used to be human once. ]


Huh? Things I like? Um... [ Is she naming anything that she likes? She's not sure how important it is to know right now but since Blaze asked: ]

I like books! Picture books. I like to draw too. And I like— I like... veggie stew, apples, sweets... [ Trailing off into a murmur, pondering. What else? ]
futuremessiah: (hope12)

[personal profile] futuremessiah 2025-04-02 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
Then yes, I am well acquainted with the letter x.
sabigoe: (⚙ 67)

[personal profile] sabigoe 2025-04-02 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ It doesn't occur to her immediately that not only will she receive housing, she can also receive full meals with the help of Lars...

Fio rustles through the supply bag and pulls out a partially eaten protein bar. ]


Miss Aurora let me have this! [ Smiling. ] It's all crumbly and kind of tasty.

[ Not quite a meal, but it's something...? Not going to admit it would be satisfiying if she could have more to eat. Being far too accustomed to living a poor life in the past where her struggling family can afford very little, she always disliked asking for much more. ]
resurrxion: (000000130)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-02 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ it's still surreal to see him. any of them. for so long he'd dreamed of delving deeper into his powers, pulling from where they lay just outside his reach. he'd always pulled back at the last second, too afraid of what breaking the laws of life and death would do to his already shaky sanity.

and then the five had formed. and the burden had not been so great, but josh had not known how to face any of them. even now he's trying to keep a mask up, a little smile, something like the empty-headed idiot whose greatest sin was being a terrible boyfriend. not whatever the intervening years had made of him. ]


Been worse places with worse people. I'm good.

[ he doesn't feel like he has a right to wish he'd never left his hometown. he'd - well, he'd have been one of the guys with a gun that night if he hadn't. ]

What about you? I... [ a brief hesitation. he doesn't know where he wants to go with that sentence. ] should've checked in sooner, but, y'know...

[ 'been busy' doesn't sit right on his tongue, because it's not necessarily true. egg sees people, hope sees people. josh sits in arbor magna with the other people who feel out of sorts and hopes the feeling passes one day. ]
resurrxion: (000000143)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2025-04-02 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
Nooooooo, really?

[ he laughs, relieved. ]

Is it just us?
laserguy: (okay not bad)

i;

[personal profile] laserguy 2025-04-02 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
[Scott has no idea why he started off with a 'high score,' his rank all the way up to that of a Luminary. Maybe from all the games he won at the arcade back home? Sure, yeah right, but it's a stroke of luck that he's not questioning for once. Said numbers have been decreasing over time, so he knows that he can't wait around for long. He pretty much has a good idea what will happen to him if it ever hits 'zero.'

And the thought of dying on some foreign planet? Far away from home? No thanks. Honestly it's that determination that's bypassing the anger and loneliness that he's been carrying since he got here. Everything feels fucked up, but standing around and doing nothing about it won't get him anywhere. He doesn't have the cushion to simply find a room somewhere and sulk forever in it.

First step is to get out there and-- there's someone right in front of him. Asking him a question. Scott looks from Aerith's smile to the stuff she's carrying and--]


...You're delivering blood as someone's dinner? [The teen asks, almost slowly.]
banworthy: (pic#17599718)

[personal profile] banworthy 2025-04-02 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ He holds his hands out before gesturing above.

Perhaps, not Heaven, but a chance to get somewhere better than where they're both meant to go. ]
futuremessiah: (Default)

[personal profile] futuremessiah 2025-04-02 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
There are a few mutants here from home and other dimensions.

[Just a day ending in y for them.]

We aren’t all from the same time either, so I may not be exactly who you think I am. Not yet anyway.