etrayamemes | TDM 007

Entry tags:

!tdm

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⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lazy fucks.

[they sigh, tightening their jaw to stem a tide of free-form, off-the-cuff curses for those lingering around. why not just kill themselves instead of this lame shit? is there really nothing better to do?

bah.

maybe this...demoralized feeling starting to weigh on them is from the very air itself. Knife scowls, stalking ahead by merit of longer legs and a further stride. nothing's ever really mattered before, living or dying, but it extra doesn't matter here, and they tried to make it seem like it does by putting numbers to it all!

but it doesn't.

close to being terminated, huh? let them try.]

[He says nothing to that. He walks with them, eye shut and listening to the sounds of the world around him. This isn’t a topic he feels is his place to comment on.

He is one of the last of a dying people. People who caused a lot of problems for their world. It stings a little bit being here. He opens his eye as they reach the top of a staircase and can see the whole city from the rise they’re standing on.

His face is blank. He looks like that untouchable prince the announcer likes to call him.] Not our concern.

[Professional tone.] Our task is to survive. What they do to meet their end is their problem.

And then? [they press, though they hardly expect a good payout. better to ask than guess, anyway.] Then, back where I'm from?

No. You come back with us to Etraya. Once you’re tagged, you’re out here. [He looks at them, a little tired. A bit bitter. But he is resolute.] That’s why my investigation is so important.

I want to be sure we aren’t being tricked to do someone’s dirty work for what we think is a right cause.

[Knife's stride lengthens a bit while Kaeya's sighing out intentions, bringing them a bit closer into the man's space. it's the sort of thing Knife actively hates other people doing, therefore it stands to reason it would irritate others in turn were they to do so. perhaps.]

But you can do all the tricking for your own business. Yes?

[He clocks the shift in space and silently shapes magic at his core, imaging the shape it will take if he needs it. He isn’t Diluc who can set people on fire with a blink (he never would) but he can make them pay for an attempt to intimidate him. The air turns subtly colder around him and starts to drop.

The casual air remains. If he is bothered he isn’t showing it. Even his voice is the same.]

No. I can play nice and do the job if I’m saving my world and others. If they aren’t being honest, I’ll turn all my efforts to getting us all home and making sure they can’t take anyone else.

Noble. [said dryly.] Might...need to make a new city about it. [whatever that means, Knife! you can't be shady and divulge shit at the same time, it doesn't make fucking sense!

whatever. they're continuing to loom too close, just to see how long it takes for the other to do something about it. boundary testing. yanno.]

[He stares him down as the air gets colder and colder around him. Keep testing. You’ll just freeze.] Mm, maybe. But I suspect the other cities run by Aurora’s sisters are either on the same world or close by worlds.

Something to consider if this is all a sham.

[they tug up a corner of their collar, exhaling in a huff, seeing their breath.] Are the other places this cold?

[His lips curl upward in a small smile. He makes no move or gesture. His subtle work on the air continues.] Hm? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

The air feels fine to me. Maybe take a few steps back and see if there’s a difference.

[they grunt, pulling up the other end of the collar up to their nose. muffled:] No. Body heat helps. [pointing:] Can I borrow that.

[the fluff. on your coat. can they just. take that.]

[He pulls his cloak off and holds it out to him. The cold in the air now is like the bitter chill of a mountaintop. It radiates from his cloak and the man himself.] This? Are you sure? It’s been on me this whole time.

[His smile remains like a Cheshire Cat’s endless grin.]

[the half-orc snatches it up...balls the whole thing up, and stuffs it into his clothes. more clothes more warm.

fuck it, where their skin isn't showing to the world? they will some body hair. be a secret yeti. it's fine.

but by now? they can intuit there's magic nonsense afoot. pity they don't know a counterspell.

gruffly:] Do you...have a dispel skill?

[Sticking the cloak under their clothes is a bad idea. It is like having skin exposed to a raging blizzard. He rests his hands on his hips.] Not that kind of magic user.

[He adjusts his gloves like someone checking a watch. Without his cloak on he looks a little less flashy. But it’s fine. The air just keeps being colder, but there is no discernible source. Unless one counts what he said.]

What th--

[WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY'S CLOTHES! Knife yanks it away from their body and throws it away out of reflex, staggering backward and patting themself down.]

It's you-- Bah! Cold-blooded rotten--! [they hiss, locking their jaw to keep from freeform cursing.]

[He catches his cloak before it hits the ground. He shakes it once and pulls it on. The moment Knife left Kaeya’s personal space it is like hitting the outside during a humid summer in comparison.

Now Knife is far enough away he lets his magic be visible. Pale blue light spills out of him like fog wrapping a mountain top. It vanishes as he puts a finger to the side of his jaw.] I did say step back.

[their hand curls a fistful of fabric over their heart, jaw clenched until the compulsion for teeth to chatter, a growl in their breath.]

Is that. Just a thing. With you?

[He drops his hand from his face and fixes how his cloak sits on his back.] When I decide it is.

[He could drop the temperature fast and hard if he wanted to.] I did warn you about taking my cloak. It is saturated in my magic.

Well don't. On me. [they scowl.] Please.

Then do remember to respect personal space. [He sweeps a hand out. He knows why Knife stepped into it and waited to see what he would do. He isn’t rattled or irritated.

It had been a calm rebuke.]

[Knife just stands there glowering like Kaeya's a bad smell, standing where they are until the other moves. humility is not a coat Knife knows how to wear, and they sure as shit aren't learning to pull even a sleeve of it on now.]

[He walks on, as collected as ever. Just a knight on patrol. He gave his warning. Knife can decide what to do with it.] The arena is this way. Most trials are through there.

They change it based on what the challenge is.

[Knife walks two paces behind, at times mirroring Kaeya's cadence of step, the way the footfalls land. the swagger. it doesn't translate the same on their body as it is, but for future, hey. could be useful.]

How many different ones.

Too many to name. Whatever the game runner thinks of. [He clocks the mimicking. He has stayed alive so long because of his detail oriented mind.]

Suffice to say, expect anything. Sometimes you have to work with a partner or fail.

[Knife's heel scuffs the concrete, breaking the matched cadence in tandem with a grumbly exhale.]

Who's running things? Can we just kill them?

cw suicide ref

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