WEEK 1

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 1

[Awaken.

Fifteen strangers have been gathered to the Depths.

When the strangers awaken, they will feel nauseous in their stomachs. No doubt confused. Maybe a little sick, Perhaps, even terrified. And certainly, there is a good reason for it - they are not where they were before. If they had powers back where they came from, they seem to be all gone. And it appears that someone has left...guidelines for them. All of them addressed to a specific Title.

Their Title. Somehow, each person knows, upon seeing this, this is their Title, even if it seems to make no sense whatsoever. And its clear that whoever wrote these things knew it as well. Who was it?

Its uncertain. So far, there seems to be no one else save for them, and those who dare to venture out of their rooms - save, for some reason, the individuals in rooms 1, 8 and 7 - in this hot and stuffy place. No...'intercessor' to be seen yet, certainly. No outward signs that there's anyone else aside from the people with 'Titles'.


So, Titled: welcome.

There are fifteen strangers in this place.]

Comments

[defriendestration]

[Nope. Nope. Just a whooole bunch of nopes.

If...this really wasn't sans' doing - and what reason would sans have to kill humans, anyways?? Who in all of Underground would, right?? - Papyrus does the next best thing to ensure he can fulfill his promise.

[Later, when it has become apparent that this is not sans' doing, Papyrus does the next best thing.

And that is...make a puzzle! Naturally! Just because he's here in a potential pool of murder with no visible means of escape, doesn't mean he also can't capture a human in the meantime! One thing at a time, after all!

Indeed, perhaps by showing the people in charge how you actually handle humans when they come into your domain, they can come to see the error of their ways with what they're doing! And who better to show them, than The Great Papyrus!!

So now, every bear trap that had been in the armory that morning, is now out in the open, all in a very careful maze-like square in front of the barrack doors, all armed and ready to take off legs. Or...they would be if not for two things.

The first is that the trap jaws weren't also very carefully wrapped in thick, thick layers of cloth. Some traps just have a whole roll worth of fabric wrapped around it. It's all clearly there to blunt the force of the snap of the traps. Honestly, with the amount put on each trap, its much more like being the victim will be cushioned than actually be trapped and hurt. At least, that seems to be the very obvious intention.

The second thing is that the maze is constructed in such away that someone can just...keep near the barrack doors and avoid the maze entirely. Hmm. A bit of a very obvious design flaw, but its creator doesn't seem to care.

In any case, standing in front of the maze, of course, is a very proud-looking Papyrus. Granted, he always seems to look proud, but he looks especially confident now, as he watches someone approach him.]

NYEH-HEH-HEH!

ARE YOU READY, HUMAN, TO SEE IF YOU CAN SURVIVE MY PUZZLE!

[lightnen]

[ The first thing he expected to see when he left his room to come out here was... well... not this.

He raised an eyebrow before shaking his head and without fail, looked around until he focused on Papyrus and exhaled a small sigh. Right. He'd heard there was some odd-looking, talking skeleton thing here and now it'd set this up? It was enough that he was feeling mischievous and decided that as he started toward the aforementioned skeleton, that every time he side-stepped a bear trap? He'd nudge it just so with his one foot enough to let it snap closed with nothing in it.

Doing this all the way up until he was standing almost practically in front of Papyrus with a smile on his face. ]

So. Was that supposed to be challenging at all or just a warm up?

[defriendestration]

WH--HEY!!

YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY ACTIVATE THE TRAPS UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE CAPTURED OR TRULY CANNOT AVOID THEM, HUMAN!! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?

[lightnen]

[ Killua just shrugs, his smile in place without any chance of wavering any. ]

So nobody else has to worry about being caught in them. Not that they'll actually harm anyone like how they are, you know.

[ He points to some of the unactivated bear traps. ]

Why are you doing this anyway?

[defriendestration]

SURELY ITS OBVIOUS, HUMAN? I AM TRYING TO SHOW THE NOT SANS WHO BROUGHT US HERE THAT THEY DON'T NEED ANYONE TO DIE! CERTAINLY NOT TO CAPTURE A HUMAN.

SEE? MY MAZE IS DESIGNED FOR THE HUMANS' COMFORT SHOULD THEY FAIL!

[lightnen]

So you're trying to capture one of us to prove your point? You really think it's going to be so easy?

[ Shaking his head, he glanced over to the 'maze' for a moment or two and then sighed. ]

I don't think anyone's going to fall for this maze, though.

[defriendestration]

THAT'S RIGHT! SURELY IF THEY SEE HOW TO PROPERLY DO THINGS WHEN IT COMES TO CAPTURING HUMANS, THEY'LL LET YOU GO AND THINK ON IT BEFORE THEY TRY AND CAPTURE YOU AGAIN!

[He looks at his handiwork.]

HMM...ARE YOU SUGGESTING I GIVE EVERYONE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DO THIS, HUMAN?

[goodnightbats]

[Harley comes out of her room in the morning still pulling one pigtail tight, not initially paying attention, but the traps are obvious enough that she notices before long, and then stops a long moment, staring as she slowly finishes tightening her hair.

A few moments later she walks to the side and around the bear traps to completely bypass them, and comes right over to Papyrus.]

Is this supposed to be some kind of trap? Because I'll be honest, it's pretty unimpressive.

[defriendestration]

ACK!!

NO NO NO, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO TRY AND SOLVE IT, NOT JUST GO AROUND IT!! HOW ARE WE GOING TO SHOW THE NOT SANS THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG IF WE CAN'T DO SOMETHING THIS SIMPLE??

[goodnightbats]

You're stuck on this Sans guy, huh? Besides, what do you care? You wrapped all the traps up anyway, it's not like they can do anything even if someone didn't walk around.

[defriendestration]

BUT THAT'S THE POINT, HUMAN! TO SHOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO GAIN EXP OR LOVE TO CAPTURE A HUMAN AND BRING THEM TO YOUR KING!

THERE'S A RIGHT WAY TO DO IT AND A WRONG WAY TO DO IT AFTER ALL AND THIS PLACE IS VERY VERY WRONG ON HOW YO DO IT!!

[goodnightbats]

Hang on. You've never loved someone?

[THAT IS SO SAD SHE IS SO SORRY]

[defriendestration]

EH!? OH, NO, NOT THAT LOVE! I MEAN LOVE.

LOVE AS IN THE ANAGRAM. LEVEL OF VIOLENCE. THAT'S WHAT THE LOVE I'M TALKING ABOUT STANDS FOR!

[zephyranthe]

[Fie isn't particularly happy being woken up again by a loud skeleton, but she'll reluctantly peek her head out the door to see what's up. A bear trap maze isn't something she expected to see in the hallways, but she just looks at Papyrus and yawns. It's too early for this...]

Mm, I don't feel like it, though.

[defriendestration]

OH! WELL!

YOU SHOULD GO BACK AND REST THEN. YOU SOUND TIRED!

[zephyranthe]

I can't sleep when you're making noise. [Is this going to be a habit? The Papyrus alarm clock?]

[defriendestration]

OH, I BET THAT WAS THE BEAR TRAPS MAKING ALL THAT NOISE. DON'T WORRY, MY NEXT PUZZLE WILL BE MUCH QUIETER!

[zephyranthe]

Nope. That was you making all that noise.

[And looking at the bear traps...]

How's this even supposed to be a puzzle?

[defriendestration]

EASY! YOU GO THROUGH THE MAZE TO GET OUT OF THIS AREA, AND DON'T GET CAUGHT! AND IF YOU DO GET CAUGHT, IT MEANS I'VE CAPTURED YOU! NYEH-HEH-HEH!

THEN I RELEASE YOU SO YOU CAN TRY AGAIN UNTIL YOU GET IT RIGHT. IT'S VERY FIENDISHLY CLEVER, ISN'T IT?

[bythewaves]

[ Talking skeleton.

Noisy talking skeleton.

With a poor sense of traps.

I could build a better. Even the Ambarussa could have done better, and that before their twentieth birthday Celegorm's ghost snorts in his ears, and Maglor looks at the trap, and then at Papyrus, and raises a very bored eyebrow.

And then he reaches over casually, and triggers the spring on his with a long knife, moving so quickly that the trap doesn't even catch him as he withdraws.

Yeah try harder. ]

[defriendestration]

[hfeifhqegorhwie]

WHAAAAAAT!?

I DON'T UNDERSTAND, HUMAN!! DO HUMANS JUST NOT HAVE PUZZLES ON THE SURFACE??!

[bythewaves]

[ Somewhere, the ghosts of his brothers are undoubtedly rolling on the floor in laughter.

Maglor smiles sweetly at Papyrus and saunters past, all graceful elegance and casual arrogance, very much the prince and not the bard ]

No son of Man am I, you speak to one of the Eldar, creature.

[defriendestration]

OH!






I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.

[bythewaves]

It means exactly what it sounds like. I am not human.

[defriendestration]

........................ARE YOU A DEMI-HUMAN??