etrayalogs | MISSION 009

⏵ CAMP ETRAYA ⏴
On May 16th, Aurora and the companion bots direct those not heading off to Solmara to make their way to Camp Etraya.

Nestled away from everything else in a large clearing full of wildflowers and redwoods, Camp Etraya is a nostalgic summer camp experience put together just for it's residents! Cabins are assigned, scary stories are told around campfires, gossiping happens among friends on the trails surrounding the cabins - and don't be surprised when something goes awry. After all, this is still Etraya.

While the rest of Etraya is still accessible and will not be blocked off, characters are discouraged from venturing far from camp for too long: Aurora will specify that they are on a mission, and that missions do require participation, but she has intentionally left them the freedom to wander. Not sleeping in their assigned cabins, not participating in events, and staying away from Camp Etraya will end with her having to take more extensive security measures, so please be on your best behavior! The last thing she wants to do is start enforcing boundaries, but she will if she has to.

Camp is set up much like your generic summer camp! Each cabin is named, housing is assigned to characters as they arrive, there are camp counselors, and rotating daily tasks and chores. There are also multiple activities that characters are expected to participate in, and each activity is worth points that goes toward their camp graduation score. This score will be visible on their earpiece, and follows the A-F grading system. We are not be monitoring this, and are leaving character scores up to players. We do, however, ask that you please report your characters' camp grade HERE for rewards and demerits to be handed out after the mission itself.

Cabin assignments can be found here, which also has their roles, and chores assigned to that cabin. Those who are participating in Solmara have received an assigned cabin, too, but their absence toward the beginning will not harm the cabin's ability to compete given how spread out their assignments are.

⏵ WELCOME TO CAMP ⏴

Camp life is meant to instill a sense of belonging, connection with nature, encouragement towards the creative, all on top of a firm foundation of responsibility. Upon arriving, campers will be escorted towards a table of white t-shirts and countless buckets of dye!

Each Etrayan will be invited to make three Tie-Dyed shirts- as well as required to wear one as part of their summer uniform. Camp counselors must wear 80s basketball shorts or cut-off jeans. Campers may wear cargo shorts or a skort. For those with physical limitations to what they can wear, accommodations will be provided.

Here, bonding is the camp runners' priority. They will be pushed into various ice-breaker activities, such as trust falls, two truths and a lie, and Never have I Ever. As the sun goes down, there will be weenies roasting over the bonfire, followed by s’mores and a sing-a-long! With the stars well-visible, it’s off to bed with campers.

Each day after will start much the same: with the ringing of the bell and raising of the flag (Aurora, while unfamiliar with flag designs but an understanding of the concept, has chosen a rainbow flag for the camp. Rainbows make people happy, right?), followed by a meal at the Great Hall, morning assembly, activities with counselors, chores, free time, and then an evening winding down by the great fire. An hour after sun down, campers will be escorted back to their cabins for curfew. Camp Counselors are expected to keep track of their campers, and ensure they're all within their cabins for bedtime. This is part of their grade, too! Curfew lifts an hour before the first bell.

⏵ CAMP ACTIVITIES ⏴

As with most summer camps, Camp Etraya offers a wide variety of activities to participate in. While some of these activities may be mandatory, others are optional. We'll be leaving this up to individual player discretion: perhaps Viktor is mandated to report to arts and crafts, whilst it's optional for Silco to show. Silco, on the other hand, may be mandated to report to the archery contest. Characters are encouraged to participate in a minimum of one camp activity per day.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of camp activities.

Three-Legged Race - You and a partner are tied together at your ankles, and you must race others to the finish line. Those with abilities that would give them an advantage will find that the rope that ties them together hinders those abilities from functioning.
Archery - This can be more traditional, magical, or include moving targets! If you're particularly unlucky, your target may even shoot back.
Softball - What instills a sense of camaraderie better than a bit of team sports? Games will be held on Wednesdays, the field is otherwise available for practice.
Dodge Ball - Standing diametrically opposed to Softball is dodge ball, the bully’s sport. This is a great opportunity to claim dominance or be sent to the Nurse’s Office.
Obstacle Course - You are directed into a large maze with multiple obstacles for them to overcome, such as rock climbing walls, ramps, tires, and nets.
Capture the Flag - Small teams are put together in order to take the flag from a particular bot, whose entire goal is to avoid being caught.
Canoe Race - Canoes are placed into the rivers just off of the camp, and characters must race to the finish line.
Chocobo Riding - Learn how to care for and ride these magnificent birds! Newbies will be taken around the corral, whereas more experienced riders can take the trail around the lake.
Arts and Crafts - Make friendship bracelets, bead lizards, paint rocks, learn origami! Or perhaps you're tasked with putting together an enchanted necklace. Don't know how to do enchantments? Now is as good of a time as any to learn.
Campfire stories - Share scary stories amongst yourselves around the campfire late into the night. If you're particularly unlucky, you may just hear the thing you were just warning others about..

⏵ NIGHT TIME ⏴

Once campers have been put to bed, the counselors can still stay up. Unwind with hidden beers and the strumming of a guitar. Don’t get too comfortable, though, since without supervision, no one is keeping the campers in bed.

After dark, should campers evade their counselors, they can go exploring in the dark. Eerie lights glimmer from the lake. There’s rumors of a headless spectre walking from the archery field to the edge of the forest. Should you behave, you still might hear a scratching at your bunk house window.

And on the very last night of camp, there will be a talent show. Show off your hidden talent and bask in the excitement of wowing your fellow campers!

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Welcome to Camp Etraya! Please enjoy the s'mores and campfire songs. :)

Camp will last approximately two weeks, going from May 16th to May 30th.

For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the plotting post. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Vax shrugs, since he can't really pinpont one specific reason. "Guess I don't like being told what time to go to bed." The people in his cabin are nice, and it's not the counsellors faults they're in charge. Vax hopes he's not giving his own counsellor too much of a hard time by sneaking out.

"And when someone says to stay in one place, I have to find out why." Is Aurora and Echo keeping something from them? Maybe. Maybe not.

That got a little chuckle out of Paine. It was pretty infantilizing. The last time she'd been assigned to a group and had such strict daily routine was... well, it was when she'd been a Crusader.

And boy, had that not ended well. No wonder she was feeling so edgy about the scheduling.

"Right. Find out what's so dangerous about the other places that we're not supposed to go there. We're all a little old for 'because I said so.'" She crossed her arms, staring at the city, and stepped forward again. "This isn't the kind of place where surprises are a good thing."

"That's all this place is. Because I said so. Your world will end if you're not worthy enough. As if anyone here has the right to judge us." Vax can't stand the idea of being judged by something that won't even face him. At least his Matron has the courtesy to speak to him directly.

"It's going to be a long walk back." So they might as well. At least they're not alone in case anything decides to surprise them. "You ever deal with anything like this back where you're from?"

Yeah. That was a lot of it. That a whole planet's worth of people had to be judged on the actions of one, maybe two people? Spira'd gotten her. What if Aurora and Echo had scooped up some random New Yevon cleric or a hotheaded Youth Leaguer? Hell, what if it was a good person who was just kind of hapless, like Clasko? Or a kid like Shinra? Paine had way too many questions and still not enough good answers. The best thing she could say about the situation was that she believed the story now...

...and the story really sucked.

"Something like it." She could talk about Spira, she decided. It wasn't exactly her own story--it was a thousand years that she'd just been born in the right part of. "Big monster for a thousand years. Church said that we had to follow its teachings if we ever wanted it to go away. And then we all found out that it was a great big lie, and it was their founder who started it in the first place."

That would do for an ultra-condensed version.

The story is more than he expected, even the condensed version. Just the idea of it sounds a bit like one of those horror movies he's heard about. It kind of makes him wonder just how similar Etraya will end up being to those events, though.

"What if the worlds ending is also a big lie?" He's not really asking the question so much as thinking about the possibility. No one can see or speak to Echo, just like the mystery monster from her world. Here, they're told to go on ridiculous missions in order to somehow prove themselves and their worlds. Obey without question or face some unknown consequence that might impact everyone in their universe.

"I'm reminded again of how much this place sucks. The sad part is, it could be even worse." Judging from what little he knows about the other world some people went to help.

"That was my big question at first," Paine said. "It sounds pretty far-fetched--some threat that can somehow destroy an entire universe, stars, planets, and all?" Even Sin it all its terror had never been able to do that--just civilization.

"But after getting sent to Aphaia... it's a lot more believable. It's happening to at least one place, and if something can unravel one world like that, why couldn't it do more?"

As they walk, Vax frowns at the ground. When he spots a small stone, he kicks it. Hard. Sends it flying into the dark and clattering away.

"Just because one planet fucked itself doesn't mean existence is unraveling. We don't know what happened to Aphaia before it got to that state. What they might have done to their world to get that far. Maybe Aurora is just showing us what she thinks will put us in line."

No matter what, Vax can't trust her. Perhaps he's too stubborn.

Paine watched the stone fly off into the foliage. He made a good point, too. People want proof, Aurora obligingly sends them off to a world in its death throws, everyone comes away convinced and follows her unflinchingly from then on.

It would be a pretty good plan.

"You could be right." She bent down to pick up a stone herself, but she didn't throw it or kick it--instead turning it over between her fingers, watching the minerals it held glint in the moonlight. "You've been here longer than me. Did you ever see anything else like Aphaia before she sent us there?"

Vax shakes his head. "No, not like that. I'm sure they wanted to be as convincing as possible. When more people started asking for proof, that was the result."

"Maybe all the fighting we had to participate in was a good way to keep us from asking too many questions about the place." Who knows.

"The fighting, and the score countdown," Paine agreed. It was hard to completely devote yourself to fact-finding when the number that decided your actual survival was going down, literally in front of your very eyes.

It was awfully conveniently timed, and she'd thought so herself... still, the doom engulfing Aphaia had seemed real enough. She still believed that that world, if nothing else, was heading for oblivion. "I did my best to search for answers. They didn't have much in the way of historical records--I couldn't find anything about the time before they started spiraling towards death."

MISSION 009

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject