etrayalogs | MISSION 009

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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⏴

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"Rice treats?" Judging from the puzzled expression, he has not tried them before. "Sure, I'll have one. But why are they called rice treats?" There's no rice in that list of ingredients.

Vax accepts the bag and places it on the table to open it and have a look at these misnamed snacks. "There's water in the cooler, if you want one." At least he has that while he's stuck sitting out here helping people with their bows and swords.

There's nothing but jovial laughter and a teasing energy behind Heather's movements as she began to fish around in the bag for the perfect treat for Vax to try. Though she had initially been teasing just a bit before about getting him the most toughest treats from the batch, she genuinely wanted to impress him-

and subtly thank him for the kindness he showed her before during the last mission. Soon though she handed him the bag and held out the one she fished for him.

"So the cereal apparently is made of rice? Not sure how that works myself to be honest but every kid in my world has made at least one batch of these at home with their parents.", a subtle comment, she's not trying to dredge up her own past here, she promises.

"Oh great, yeah I should probably drink a bottle or two in preparation for our training. So what did you have in mind? Just using our swords for some practice dueling?"

Once the bag is set down, Vax accepts the treat, which also does not appear as he had anticipated. Looks simple enough. He turns to lean against the table and unwraps it as she explains. So, it's a treat popular with children. At least that gives him an idea of what it might taste like.

After the first bite, there's a surprised look as he chews. "Its schtickier than I ekshpeckted." His words muffle together as it navigates the melted marshmallow, but the smile on the corners of his mouth means he likes it, or it's fun enough to eat. Once he chews the rest of the bite and swallows, he answers her question.

"Ah, yeah, something like that. Swordplay is not my forte, but you brought your own. Should I be worried?" Maybe she's going to turn out to be a sword fighting legendary warrior or something.

Edited 2025-06-03 13:37 (UTC)

Although she normally wasn't one to gawk at someone while they were eating, given that this was a new treat for him, she couldn't help but look at him with a soft curiosity as she assessed what he might have thought about the treat. Once he actually did scarf it down and spoke while trying to chew through it, she couldn't help but laugh a bit at how amusing it was.

"Uh yeah, that's why you chew first then swallow to avoid choking on all that fluff.", to make her point she even waved her hand around a bit in a playful manner. In turn she grabbed her own snack, chewed it down and smiled at him once she was finished eating.

"Well I can't claim I'm an expert by any means, I'm not going around pretending like I'm the last samurai or something like that, but this sword helped me out a lot back home. It really....kept me protected.", she said. While she won't be telling Vax this, and frankly because she wasn't sure if it was his or not, but her father had found one of his own during his initial visit to that town. He had mentioned it to her and her finding one as well was....interesting to say the least.

"So what should we start off with first?"

Vax continues to chew and reaches for his water bottle to have a drink. "Lesson learned. It's fun to eat, though. I'll bet kids love this stuff." Although he wouldn't say he has a sweet tooth, he did enjoy trying something new, especially since Heather brought it out here for him.

"I’m no expert, either." He prefers shorter blades. "But I know a bit. We can go over a few things." The guy in charge of Vax's cabin really seems to know his stuff when it comes to swords, but since it's just Vax out here for now, he'll do his best.

Vax sets the water bottle on the table and walks over to where the practice swords are set up. He takes one that's an actual blade, since he doesn't want her slicing the wooden ones in half. His blade has a protective guard over it, so it won't do any actual cutting.

"Do you know any basics?"

"Yeah especially when people go crazy and add chocolate to them or pretzels or whatever else goes with marshmallows and rice.", she said. Truthfully given the food here had a tendency to randomly be afflicted with questionable substances that influenced moods or made them randomly spill secrets, Heather was more than happy to indulge in treats prepared by someone else who seemed hellbent on ensuring everything was clean and perfect.

"Well show me what you've got.", she said before she followed along behind him, nearly skipping as she moved along. It was a vast difference in behavior from the last time he saw her, and while more had gone down since then, she was forcing herself to forget the fact Claudia was here. They were at camp, the woman seemed to be behaving for now and while the fact that she had done something grave against Heather was still looming in her mind, she was going to focus on this.

"Okay so by basics you mean like....what? Knowing how to stab and slice stuff up? Because I've been practicing with beer cans you know? Swinging and aiming, slicing and dicing?" That probably didn't count but she was here to train for a reason.

Vax wishes he were better with a sword so he might train her properly. He tries to recall what little he might have learned in the past. Syngorn soldiers are trained in various weapons like spears, swords, and bows. His life among the elves was short-lived, but Vax was expected to assimilate to their ways. He was just bad at it.

"Like how to grip your sword." He demonstrates by placing his dominant right hand above the other on the pommel. "And how to stand." His feet position about shoulder width apart, his right foot slightly forward.

"And how to block." That's when he makes his first real move and thrusts the sword forward at Heather. If she doesn't know how to block, he's certain she knows how to get out of the way.

As they came to where they needed to be, she stood there with her Katana now swung forward and in her hands, holding it tightly as she listened to what Vax had to say. She could be playful and even downright sassy to the point where she could disobey orders but Vax was a friend of hers and had shown her grace during a difficult time. She was going to give him all of her attention and put in as much effort as she could.

"I'll be honest I'm actually kinda bad at all three of those things. I don't really come from a world where I have to fight often and I guess I just never thought about my form." Sure she knew how to get out of the way, but blocking was a smarter move; less energy exerted or something.

"Okay so let's start with the sword gripping yeah?"

"So you were just waving that thing around and whacking things with it?" He teases her a bit.

Vax is a little surprised at how seriously she's taking this. Guess she really does want to learn. All the more reason for her to get a skilled teacher, at the very least, later on down the line. For now, he'll do what he can.

"Alright." He lowers his sword and steps around to her side, not only to observe her but to also get a look at that blade she carries. For now, he rests his blade back on the rack.

"You want to put your primary hand on the grip first, higher than the other and grip it like a hammer, you want your hold to be strong, but you don't want to lock it up. Your first hand kind of applies your strength and the other your direction."

If she should need more direct help, he'll assist with adjusting her fingers and her grip.

"Pretty much.", she said with a casual and almost lazy shrug. There was a smile on her face in turn, a soft little laugh escaping her. When she thought back on it, she wasn't entirely sure how or why she was able to survive fighting those monsters with how little experience she had with swords and fighting with them, but that was a question for a different time. For now she watched Vax a bit more closely, setting aside humor temporarily.

"Like a hammer huh? Only I'm not suppose to whack at things as if it were one, right?" With the sword coming forward, she began to grip the handle as she followed his instructions. She held it tightly, squeezing her fingers but her pose itself was a bit weak.

"I'm not sure how I should stand for this kind of thing I mean...if I'm in the heat of the moment, will my enemy even give me time to hold things properly?"

Vax observes her hand placement and stance. "When you've practiced enough, the grip and stance are second nature." But she seems to need a bit more help, so he steps closer and reaches for her hands, taking her right hand and edging it up a little closer to the top. "Make sure you keep your thumb down." He adjusts the position of her fingers and then does the same for her second hand.

Once that looks in order, the half-elf walks behind her. "Put your right leg forward a little so you have a strong and steady stance." His hands are set on her hips and he adjusts the angle so she's facing straight at her sword. "Square your hips so you don't lose your balance. It's a good thing that sword is light." Hopefully she won't mind all of his attempts to maneuver her, but he's only trying to help.

"Ah so kinda like muscle memory right?", she said, shaking her shoulders a bit as she relaxed herself to get into proper position. As he came over and began to guide her in order to take proper form, she looked onward and focused, following his guidance without much resistance. She did as he instructed, putting her right leg a bit forward, squaring her hips in order to maintain her balance and she held the katana before her with a more confident stance than previously. Though she had been just a bit silly before, she was now more focused and concentrated.

"It's true that it's light and sharp but this is the sword I actually used back in my world. I often found that it would get stuck in the thicker enemies you know? I wonder....do you think there's a solution to that with my movements or it's just a con of using a katana?"

"Exactly." Vax can see that she's a quick study, and she's taking his tips seriously. "Thicker enemies? What kind of barbarians were you fighting?" He's surprised to hear she had to fight anything that big.

As for how to fix the problem, Vax frowns a little in thought. "Well, when you strike, you have to think about what you're going for. If you plan to cut off a body part, it takes a lot of strength." She's not the size of his friend Grog back home who hacks off limbs like they're paper. "But slicing someone with one of those still does a lot of damage. It can help if you have the right technique."

Vax gestures to where one of the wooden poles are for practice. He stands in front of it and assumes the stance, then lifts both hands over his head as if he's holding an imaginary sword. "If you raise your hands like this, you can come down hard, but you don't want your sword to get stuck in somebody's shoulder, so if you go in a diagonal slice, you can cut into them and away from them." He swoops his arms down in a diagonal strike.

"Give it a try. Cut the pole." He steps aside to give her room.

"Let's just say what we've been forced to fight here doesn't really compare to the monsters in my world.", she said, still keeping a jovial tone of voice as she held a firm stance with the katana in hand. The more time she had between the events she faced home and being here, the easier it was to cope with the difficulties of it all. What was once stressful to look back upon, was now easier to dismiss with laughter, a lighter tone of voice.

"I see what you mean, still not useful getting stuck in an enemy when a bunch more are trying to crawl up you....", she said, mind wandering to those horrible enemies who seemed hell bent on climbing her and knocking her down to attack her. It's not something she'll go too into detail with Vax but for now she turned her head towards the pole and then back to him, watching his guiding movements.

"Ah gotcha, okay let me try it out then. Watch, and tell me what I'm doing wrong if I fail at it okay?", she said, before making her way over towards one of the poles. She stood before it, breathing in a bit before turning back to him.

"Hopefully my sword doesn't break, took way too many points to get this bad boy."

She's fought stuff worse than what they've already faced in Etraya? He presumes that counts for anything on a mission, too. Vax didn't realize her world was so dangerous. Even if Heather's tone is light, his expression is serious.

"Well, if you're faced with anything like that here, you can call for help. I get around pretty fast." Probably faster than she thinks.

Vax nods and stands clear, keeping an eye on her form. "If it breaks, it's not much of a sword." But he doubts it will. The steel looks strong enough to cut a wooden pole. He hopes.

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MISSION 009

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