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etrayamemes2025-03-28 09:16 am
etrayamods) wrote in 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:
 ⏵ 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:
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. 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. |
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...those are nice cufflinks. they pluck them off the sleeves and pocket them, swatting a drone buzzing into their business.
grumbling, they lift the groaning body up by the arms.] Do...some of your own work...nrh!!
[they spin and launch.]
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With that second body airborne, Barnabas chooses not to part them like a sea of red, and instead teleports—which means their unconscious body goes rag-dolling through where he once was and...off somewhere else. Probably down into that pit. Or, that would have been a viable theory if not for the sound of their body hitting one of the lower platforms, but then again that could have been the bottom of the pit! Who's to say? Not that Barnabas is concerned in either case! For he manifests besides Knife in a crackle of dark lightning, his sword lifted above his head as he swings it down at them.]
Raise your guard!
[Should the sword connect, it's a little more like getting hit with an Estoc—the blade blunt and not likely to cut seeing as he does not will it to do so. After all, he isn't looking to kill Knife, he's found this little orc interesting enough to push, and besides, they have the crowd to please for a little while.]
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reflexively, Knife drops to a crouch with a mind to escape. being a bigger shape is good for separating themself from their most comfortable shape, but when it comes to being wigglier, more evasive? not great.
that's a lot of words to say that when Knife drops to roll between Barnabas' legs it's more like they roll into them. which is fucking annoying, but fuck it, they'll tackle into him, they'll elbow him in the groin on the way to scrambling out of the way, they'll do whatever! fuck it!!
they don't wait around for results or retaliating, disengaging out of swing reach so they can clamber back onto their feet, muttering a spell between general swears that sounds a distant bell when they throw their arm back Barnabas' way, gloomy sparks flickering his way. it's more of a warning shot than a sure hit, hoping for space.]
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[Well. That was unexpected.
It is not often that Barnabas finds himself hit in the royal jewels, so to speak, and while most would find themselves crumpled up over the painful collision with those sensitive unmentionables and that beefy elbow...he's not quite like most.
That isn't to say he isn't impacted at all, and ordinarily he'd have evaded such a shot--had it not been the result of an orc roll-scrambling between his legs in a desperate effort to dodge his blade. Not unlike a spooked animal in execution, it's a wonder Barnabas could stay on his feet despite it all. The elbow hitting him earning them a grunt of surprise and a sudden exhale besides, yet he remains standing.
If anything, it's kind of testament that something is wrong with Barnabas. A nut shot should take normal people down, but so too should being impaled, and yet he can weather both with about the same reaction. Poor Knife learning about the former first hand (elbow?) here...
Yet that's not all, because there's that magical sound of a bell that follows, and while the magic seems to make its mark, Barnabas glows an eerie red and blue as black wisps around him. His sword raising in the air as everything grows tense, the air thick. Energy crackles around them, and streaks of blue magic quickly slithers, flowing like a pulse from elsewhere in the arena, towards his sword to be absorbed. He turns to face Knife once more.
His expression halfway between annoyed and amused--an almost rueful fascination to his eyes. The glow about him dissipates as he fully faces him, his sword lowered at his side.]
Do you yield?
[The way he's looking at Knife suggests he hopes not.]
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[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.]
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[Barnabas looks them over, his steely cat-like gaze sharp as a blade.]
But...if you wish to continue...
[He turns his sword, his wrist rotating so that the blade is facing Knife. He steps forward, slow and deliberate, his eyes locked upon them as he marches forward with that ominous blade held at the ready.]
no subject
one of their concealed knives clatters out of a sleeve.
a beat.
while scooting it closer with their toe:] This isn't a sword. So. [so the odds are still garbage!]