etrayalogs | MISSION 002

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: May 3rd-28th
WHERE: Within the Labyrinth
WHAT: The second Mission
NOTES\WARNINGS: Potential death, violence, injury. Please add additional warnings as needed within threads.

⏵ into the labyrinth ⏴

Aurora's announced time for the mission was correct: four days after, as she had promised, the door to the Labyrinth opens, connected to Etraya's atmospheric bubble by its entrance point. Characters are directed to come to the entrance on May 3rd, and warned that they may want to bring medical supplies, weaponry, and any important artifacts along with them. She warns that large vehicles will not fit within the limited space available, and smaller ones may be difficult to remove, thus advises those to stay behind. Aurora also offers to watch over any companion animals and keep them safe while competitors complete the Labyrinth.

They are given a short amount of time outside of the entrance to speak with one another, to plan and organize themselves, before they are ushered into it in groups of two to four. Once passed the entrance, they'll find that they are unable to turn around and exit out of it: a barrier keeps them from going back into the city proper, and as soon as they are far enough forward, the walls around them shift, closing them in, moving in complex patterns meant to separate them and bring them together.

Characters with extraordinary abilities may find some of them inaccessible: super strength may be downgraded to closer to ordinary strength, magic may prove to be less predictable than it should be, and regardless of how strong, fast, or clever characters are: passing over the Labyrinth walls or destroying them proves to be impossible. While one may be able to run through the pathways at superhuman speeds, the pathways compensate for it by running them in circles, refusing to allow them to make any progress on their own.

⏵ pathways collide ⏴

Junctures of the Labyrinth often present competitors with choices, some that may have consequences: a left turn down a darker path may prove to be harmless, whereas the well-lit path may be full of traps intent on slowing them down: a trip wire that activates a swinging massive axe, or arrows that shoot straight out of the wall as soon as one gets close enough.

Other junctures may present characters with choices that have consequences: they can choose the shortest pathway, but at great personal risk to themselves or their partner (ie, you can go this way, but your arm isn’t going with you) or they can choose the lengthy pathway full of traps and trials they’ll have to surpass to get to the end.

⏵ balancing act ⏴

The pathway opens up into a massive space, but it's not one with an easy path out: instead, competitors will find an obstacle course that will not let them continue forward until they complete it. Many of the tasks involve things that one cannot do on their own: they must walk across multiple wooden boards balanced precariously on a tall beam, but to ensure it's balanced, there must be one person on both sides of the boards and make sure that they're walking on the board in just the right space to ensure their weight doesn't cause it to sink too far on the opposite side. If a smaller child is on one end, they may want to stand significantly further away from the beam than the larger person on the other half.

⏵ help! i'm bleeding! ⏴

A large garden area spawns off of a pathway. The peaceful chirping of birds can be heard among blooming cherry blossom trees, and it all seems utterly peaceful and calm. An area one might wish to take a breather in, enjoy the sunshine reflecting from above, and get a good nap in. Or would, except a companion bot whose abdomen is covered in ketchup appears to be struggling across the ground, crying out for help. They state they are bleeding profusely and require immediate medical attention, otherwise, they will die.

The companion bot also carries a bag of medical supplies and MREs, which player characters are welcome to utilize. The pathway out of this open space will not open until after the companion bot no longer states they are dying. Whether it's because they're "dead", or because those who came across them offered "medical attention" and patched them up until they've stated they're good and no longer need assistance - well, both will technically suffice.

⏵ choice is an illusion ⏴

After walking down an additional pathway, characters will find themselves trapped within a glass box. In front of them is a pedestal with two buttons: one red, and one green, as well as a tablet above it displaying the image of another group of characters. The tablet states hindering them will help you. You may either choose to make the second group's time through the maze more difficult, or hinder your progress by pressing the green button and helping the other group forward.

Characters are given two minutes to decide which path to take; the timer, on the tablet, counts down regardless of any attempt to break or hack it.

Pressing the green button will drop several squishmallows into the glass box. Inside one of them is a key that unlocks the roof of the glass box. Pressing the red button, while it promises to hinder the other group, actually. . . causes a toxic yellow gas to flood the glass box. The gas will burn the lungs of those who breathe it in, but it also begins slowly melting the glass box. This gas will make breathing difficult for the next 24 hours, but will not kill those who inhale it. Healing factors will not offset the gas.

⏵ who deserves the knife? ⏴

A group of two characters will walk through one corridor and find themselves strapped to two chairs, the backs of which are leaning against each other. In front of the both of them are drills, slowly approaching their chests. They cannot go sideways but can push forward and backward. They can push backward and get themselves further away from the threat of injury - forcing the person behind them to suffer but allowing themselves to escape - or they can push into the drill and free the person they're with. Alternatively, they can choose not to push either way, potentially sacrificing them both.

Three options, but they are left with minimal time to decide as the drill continues to press closer. If they choose to go out together, they'll find that as the drills press against their chest - they simply stop. Minimal blood will be spilled, and they will have all the time they need to figure out how to squirm out of their bindings.

⏵ the Siren waits for thee ⏴
A seemingly harmless pathway turns into much more trouble than it's worth. A few steps through a corridor, and suddenly competitors will find the floor falling out from under them, revealing a body of water and - no solid ground on either side of it. There are the walls, but they lack any good climbing holds. Within the water are numerous Sirens - beautiful androgynous creatures that sing soft songs meant to entice others into following them deep into the water. While they may look beautiful, their mouths are full of razor-sharp teeth, and their intentions certainly aren't innocent. However, the Sirens can only touch competitors once they have initiated touch first. They will do their best to encourage this: holding out their hands, crying out for help, pretending to drown, or trying to coax them into coming in close enough for a kiss. As long as they remain on the path, they're harmless. But the moment they reach out for the Sirens... getting away from them will not be easy. Their tails are powerful, built for moving swiftly throughout the water and dragging others along with them. They bite hard and will dig their teeth deep into flesh to discourage struggling.

If one gets captured by them? They're lunch. Or worse yet: if they get bitten but manage to escape, they may find themselves becoming a bit.. scaley around the neck, eyes shifting color to a too-soft green, and an almost impossible-to-resist urge to take a bite out of their friends.

This effect will continue until May 28th regardless of when the character reaches the end of the Labyrinth. After May 28th, they will find that their scales slowly begin to shed, their eyes begin to turn back to their normal shade, and any other new features slowly turn back to how they were before they were infected.

⏵ don't forget your ball of twine ⏴

The Labyrinth is large, and there are many challenges around each corner. There may be space for breaks in between monsters, challenges, riddles, places to sit and recuperate between battles and mind games. It's not all chaos and challenges meant to test one's strength of will.

⏵ NOTES ⏴
May's mission is completing a massive Labyrinth. All characters must enter the Labyrinth; whether or not they participate once they're inside is up to them, but no one will be permitted to stay behind in the city.

The duo who completes the Labyrinth first will be allowed to assist in choosing the next mission. Sign-ups for this are here. We will contact the chosen characters on May 13th.

This mission will cover the time between May 3rd and May 28th. After May 28th, any characters who have not yet exited the Labyrinth will be gathered by the companion bots and brought back into the city. The companion bots will be aiming for nonviolent intervention. If more is needed, please let us know here.

The first to exit will be returning to the city on May 15th.

There will be powercapping during this mission, but the extent of which is fully up to players. We want the Labyrinth to be challenging but don't want to hinder gameplay too much. If you have any questions relating to this or want assistance coming up with ways to powercap your character, please feel free to ask us here. We will be largely leaving this up to player discretion.

Food is scarce within the Labyrinth, but not impossible to find. There are chests (or maybe they're mimics?) strewn throughout with various useful items. One might have a sword, another might have a fresh chicken nugget Happy Meal from McDonalds. Or an entire birthday cake, candles included.

Large vehicles will not fit in the Labyrinth and must be left behind in the city.

Numerous challenges are throughout the Labyrinth. You are welcome to make your own, but we will also provide several you may utilize! Please feel free to throw down wildcards, or your own challenges into your prompts! The limitation is that characters must remain themselves throughout the challenges. There are no mirror replicas, nothing within the Labyrinth will affect their personalities or core values. It’s meant to challenge, not change them.

Deaths that occur within the Labyrinth will last 24 hours. Please report these on our Death Tracker.

All new locations will appear after player characters have returned to the city. Feel free to note the differences from the May 3rd map, versus what characters will be returning to on May 15th.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

balance beams and crushed athletic dreams

( she can't have been separated from her friends for that long, maybe an hour and a half. that's enough time for the stitch in her side to relax, to catch her breath, to mourn openly in a flurry of curse words that she hadn't kept a better grip on rita's hand or natsuno's jacket as they'd run. it's enough time for clarke to feel her fear grow in size, double over on itself and reform into the type of paranoia where all of one's senses seem heightened. every skitter of a pebble across the ground in the distance sounds like the warning bell for impending attack, the way the wind whips around the corners begins to set her teeth on edge the same way a human scream would, she could swear the darkness down some corridors practically pulsated like this whole place is a giant living organism with its own heartbeat.

but she can't stop moving. to allow herself to freeze in place is to allow fear to win, and when fear wins death follows. so clarke pushes on alone, fingers curled around the handle of her knife in lieu of anyone else to cling to. nothing happens for a long time, and eventually the rapid race of her heartbeat drops back near baseline. the stone hallways twist and turn without reason and clarke's only plan is to follow her gut when it came to deciding which fork in the path to choose. except apparently her gut sucks because one wrong turn leads her to the edge of a massive clearing. it reminds her a little of a long abandoned zoo enclosure, just without the overgrowth of moss and plant-life on every staged bit of enrichment. big wooden fixtures had been built here; some vertical with large coils of rope piled next to them, some a simple straight length of wood elevated off the ground with a bunch of planks stacked, one's just a wall juuuust high enough that she wouldn't even be able to jump and grab the lip of the edge above...

clarke's still trying to parse out what exactly she's looking at here when she hears something behind her, whole-body startles and white knuckles her knife just to whip her head around and at least recognize the other as human first, and familiar second. it's the girl who'd returned her bracelet to her, which is now securely tied around her wrist and barely peeks out beneath the cuff of her jacket. what was her name again...? )

Oh, hi — ( she has to pause and then acknowledge with an ounce of awkwardness, because last they'd crossed paths had been weird, right? ) ...again. You can go through first, I still need to... decide my approach.

( aka stand here awkwardly, envisioning herself falling off every balance beam, trying to take stock of what she has on hand that could be used to shield the palms of her hands against the rope wall, eyeballing the lengths of wood set out to make a bridge across a deep trench and — not for the first time — wishing she'd at least taken a brief apprenticeship in engineering. this section truly looks impossible at first glance, and it hasn't quite occurred to clarke that these are tasks meant to be summited together. )

[ Meanwhile, Rin has gotten separated from Aang, and her heart races as she makes her way through the labyrinth, trying to find him again. Aang seems plenty capable of fending for himself, but that doesn't stop her worrying. Capable as he is, he's still a child, and he's been so nice to her. It would just about break her to see him hurt.

When she comes into the clearing, she first notices the girl in front of her. Ah -- the one she'd returned the bracelet to. The one she'd met twice, because of whatever happened that duplicated them, flesh and blood, into a worse version of themselves. It's still very hard to wrap her head around that. Is this the original version, then? She's pretty sure the doubles are gone, but then again -- can she be sure?

She approaches with apprehension, only for the girl to turn around, and she sees the knife in her hand, braces herself to nearly grab her own sword, which is slung through the bag at her hip -- but then the girl seems to recognize her and lets up.

Rin relaxes a fraction. ]

Ah -- hello.

[ And it's only then that she sees what lies beyond. She has to do a double take and blink a few times to make sure she's got this right. Some type of obstacle course? It looks very precarious.

Rin gulps. ]

... I think I'm gonna need a moment, too.

( that gulp sure came out pretty audible, and triggers the salivatory glands in the back of clarke's mouth as she wonders if following suit would do anything to alleviate the lump of anxiety currently lodged in her throat.

but simultaneously, this is the closest to what she'd consider a funny moment since entering the labyrinth. here stand two young women, on the edge of an expansive seemingly half-built obstacle course, and neither with any idea of how to approach it — both seemingly daunted by the prospect. misery loves company, she thinks to herself, followed by the new adage: and echo loves teamwork. which, if clarke squints and scans the arena once more...

yeah, she thinks she can see it. and it makes perfect sense. and she hates it, but — where else can they go? )

Let's take our moments. Then, maybe if we put our heads together, we could figure it out as we go?

( alliances are formed under the strangest of circumstances, if not always the most dire. and this is a gently voiced offer of one, despite the fact they don't know each other very well. )

[ Well, at least Clarke seems friendly enough. It could be worse, Rin, it could be so much worse. And this obstacle course... well, some of it looks like you could fall and hurt yourself pretty easily. Her eyes scan the obstacles, already trying to figure out how exactly they work.

Either way, it is hardly a disadvantage to have company. Though Rin is aware that Echo likes to stick them together, so there being two of them here at the same time is probably deliberate.

She nods. ]

Alright. Have you done something like this before?

Never in my life.

( the words are already out of her mouth before clarke wonders if she should have lied. or, stretched the truth. she'd run through wooded areas at a desperate, breakneck speed with no time to question if her balance was adequate enough for the log she was trying to traverse. she's jumped off the side of a dam, sprinted up a stairwell in the middle of a violent storm that rocked the boat from side to side... but running for her life doesn't exactly lend to this organized format. the adrenaline is lacking. )

At least, not exactly. I had to jump a few hurdles the first day.

( "jump", aka heave herself bodily over, fall on her ass, and subsequently give up and crawl under them. )

What about you?

MISSION 002

rin

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