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

[Hah, that got a discomforting laugh from him. Only looking at him when it's in their interest to do so.] Fuck off. [...He's not at critical to explode anytime soon, at least?]

[ oh, he needs a pack of smokes after this, this is why he chainsmokes, this has to be why. ]

No.

[ don't tell him what to do. ]

Numbers.

[ they'll stay here. ]

Bookcase has numbers which must mean something if you won't tell me. If you don't want to say, fine, but go there and figure it out.

[Rolling his eyes.] In case you forgotten what you're doing right now, I can't move. Still no.

I know what I'm doing.

[ pinning him down so he can't move, draining him so that he doesn't erupt taking this place down with him? ]

Aren't you happy I'm finally seeing it "your way". Don't be ungrateful.

[ isn't this what the other wanted from the start? besides, keeps him in place staring at him to make sure of a few things.

the look in his eyes, his posture, anything that gives off a semblance of what he knows is dangerous. he's done it all, he knows the signals.

besides, what he really needs the hedgehog to focus on is what he says next. ]

...Check the bookcase once I release you. [ he isn't his responsibility, why did maria say any of this. ] After this, do whatever you want to me.

[ shadow is lifting one hand, not letting the younger hedgehog go, but to direct his hand to his chest. ]

Pull them out, break me in two, decapitate my head from my body. I don't care, do whatever you need to get that look out of your eyes.

[ because it's one the other cannot control, not yet anyway. ]

[HE JUST. WANTS TO BE LEFT ALONE. NOT TO BE LOOKED AT LIKE SOME LAB RAT OR A FREAK. He doesn't want wealth, to hurt or control anyone. Just wants to walk around and not get jumped every few feet god damn. Is that really too much to ask??? He even die here! What is he supposed to do anymore?!

He isn't grateful to the other. Cause he knows that's not how they feel, that they don't mean any of it. They're only doing and saying these things because of Maria.

...

The light from his quills dim, the intensity from before leaving him. The intense glare at the other remains.] ...Six one one.

It doesn't suit you.

[ now when did anyone call him a freak! when!! shadow said get that damn look out of his eye. he can't wield it correctly, use it to his advantage, that sort of hatred isn't who he is.

the older hedgehog let's up, freeing the other from underneath him as he can still taste blood in his mouth. ]

...

[ he'll wade through the water slowly, his own quills pulsing in color as he's attempting to digest the extra energy flowing within him. slowly he'll make it to the bookshelf, search for 611, and if there's a book in that place. he's not using a light source since the pulsing of his own red streaks may just be enough. ]

[ Book number 611. If he pulls it out once he spots it, he'll find that it's a book on alien anatomies. One of the pages inside is dog-eared. ]

[Shadow remains laying on the table for a moment. Doesn't suit him. Who brought him to this very point to begin with? He scoffs as he moves to sit back up. The area is still dimly lit by the sparks coming off his fur, his body tensing when he sees where the water level was. Nearing the knees of the alien creature.

There's something else though. The light from his quill illuminates a familiar piece of paper, stuck to the side of the couch. He could probably grab it without leaving the table. The cake is knocked into the water as he shifts to reach for the folded paper. Was there still any writing on it after being in the water for so long?]

[ don't piss him off, bucko.

with the book in hand, shadow flips to the page with the dog-ear, flipping the ear up and getting a better look at what's written. ]

[ What's left of the note reads: ]

▒░u ░o▒'t m▒e░ t▓▓ ░ta▒dar▓s f▓r M▒░sa
B▒t ▓░▒'re c▓▒ta▒░ly ░ot d▒▒b
F▒n░ ▓e a▒on░st t▒e d▓u░ks,
Th░ p▓yo▒fs, a▓d u░▓d ▒um.

[ As for the book, the page Shadow flips to seems to be an anatomical diagram of the same type of alien that's seated in the chair behind him. In it, the stomach is circled in red and marked with an 'x'. ]

[ closing the book, the hedgehog turns around walking through the water to close the distance between him and the alien from before. he ignores the other hedgehog in favor of it, his own streaks still glowing faintly.

he lifts one hand, a green crackle embedded with a bit of gold from the energy he had took from the other forms into his hand creating another spear. it's the best way to use excess and it illuminates his surroundings while the glow in his quills finally dies down. shadow keeps in mind what was in the book, cutting at the initial layer of the stomach. ]

[ The material of its stomach peels away easily—revealing that the inside of its material is covered in white. None of the organs that were indicated in the book are present as he cuts it open either. Only a thick, lumpy green sludge that begins to spill out of the hollow opening inside of the figure. ]

[The words are still there on the paper, if not fully decipherable. He doesn't get an opportunity to try and figure it out for long, as he lifts his head when he hears the water being sloshed about. The other was returning from the bookshelf. Still wary after all that's happened, his attention stays on them. He watches curiously when they start to cut into the alien's stomach. ]

[ what is this? he's been through worse, his hand grabbing the green substance to slowly crush in his hand in case there's something inside of the sludge. if not, he drops his hand into the water to wash it off as he continues the same action to see if there's anything inside.

to make his search easier, he'll widen the cut that he's made to get his whole arm in there. ]

[ Shadow will find it after a few handfuls—he squeezes the bubbling sludge, and there's something solid inside it. Something metal. If he rinses it off with his hand in the water, he'll find that it's a very small little key. ]

[ yeah, he'll wash off the key in the water as he gets up away from the... body. he hasn't seen anything that would use this, but that's because he hasn't gotten a real good look around. standing off at the side, he tries to see if he remembers any other exits when entering the room. ]

[He watches as they pulled out a key after violating the alien. To what? He is as puzzled as the other, not remembering seeing anything that would take a key. Seeing them searching, he takes the opportunity to speak.] I have something. [The note still being held in his hand. Thinking about it, he wondered if the other balloons in the room carry a clue if he popped them as well.]

[ remember the last time shadow came near him and someone just punched? well, he's not stupid to follow that again even if the other is notifying something of interest. his eyes look over to the other, a brow raised in curiosity to show that he's listening.

if that doesn't help, a small grunt in reply to indicate the other can go ahead with his "something". ]

[Buddy you almost killed him. How did you expect him to respond? His hand is extended to present the note to them.]

I need to check something, so take it. [The needle he had obtain was left on the table after their little tussle. Picking it back up.

...He's not going to stab you with it, so try anything funny while he goes off to pop some balloons.]

[ it's so hard being the pockets around here so he'll take the note to look it over, the fact anything held up on it at all is amazing. the older hedgehog remains quiet trying to decipher what it is in front of him. ]

Mhm.

[ he responds acknowledging that the other has somewhere to go.

tbh i wish he did and it was a tranq, i think it'd be nice. ]

You don't meet the standards....
But you're ... [ catacually bc shadow can't say this aloud and i need it for ref. ] not dumb.
Fine he [ ...alonst... ] the.... drunks.
The payoffs, and ... [ ...urd ] rum.

[ Nothing appears to fall out of the other balloons. Looks like the two of you have to (frowns) work together. ]

[There's four popping sounds as the balloons in each corner are popped. Then nothing. In another moment, Shadow reappears above the table again, looking frustrated as he returns empty handed. Ears have fallen flat as he was in the water during that, aware it was near his knees when he stood in it.

He's not going to tell the other the lack of results of his search, so instead, he lifts his head and listens to the other try to decipher the note. He leans to one side, so the note was in view while they were reciting a bunch of words.] ...Amongst. [Fine he...? Or Find me?] Find me amongst the drunks?

[ ...

it's one of those puzzles, insert the proper letter, make sure it adds up right, but when it's said clearly aloud that shadow groans in annoyance. ]

You do it.

[ to show frustration at not filling in all the words is... embarrassing, but he won't allow that to show. instead, he's indifferent while folding the slip of paper with the key between for the other to take if he dares come close. ]

I haven't seen any bottles.

[ but he hasn't seen a lot. ]

[Oh-. And the key too? Ok, all right. After a moment to consider, he'll come forward and take both items from them. And there he sits on the table, quietly going over the writing, what the other has already tried. It may seem like nothing is happening, but he's been mumbling under his breath, trying different words until-]

You don't meet the standards for ...something. [His brows furrow. He still can't think of a word for those combinations of letters provided. Shaking his head, it's probably fine. He thinks he has the rest that it may not matter.]

But you're certainly not dumb
Find me amongst the drunks,
The payoffs, and used gum.

[...] Things that are found, under a table?

[ the only thing that makes sense is the table part, to have this said on national broadcast with aliens or both maria and blaze watching only feels worse. as long as they never bring it up then he doesn't have to be in a pissy mood.

his eyes glance at the table that the other is sitting on, then his gaze lowers to where the water has risen.

if there was anything under the table, it's sure as hell gone with the water. ]

Is that a song for a child?

[ reluctantly he'll ask because if it's for children... maybe this is a game for children. ]

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