15strangers | (no subject)

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[The blight would not stop.

The world's leading experts have been trying to find a cure, to no avail. Th blight keeps changing, keeps foiling all attempts at being fully understood. It's almost sentient, or at least more sentient than any disease that's been encountered before. People fear the disease jumping from what's left of the grapes into other plants, into animals, or even humans.

You can only watch as entire economies and ecosystems collapse. You can only bury your head in your hands as your own business comes to its end. The destruction of the clusters of grapes has not simply destroyed the wine industry, either-other businesses are being destroyed by the plague. Food, transport, retail, nothing is untouched.

You look on your own vineyard, its yield almost entirely blackened and dead.

This can't keep going on.

-

A week has passed since everyone's arrival. No one has died, yet. But surely no one is holding their breath to see if they would survive this unscathed. They are veterans of the game, and they must know that whoever it is that is in charge demands their pound of flesh. The question is when it will happen.

It is the second week, after all-and when the second week of the game comes, death is not far behind. Not even when you wake up, feeling something different in your mind as you remember the truths you originally woke up with, deep in your mind. You feel...lighter, somehow, when you realize there is a change.

Even so, there are 15 strangers left in this place.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[~~I mean it's not like he read that he only read the ones for the names he didn't yet.~~]

Well, I'm...not sure how much I could help, I could do what I can, and maybe get you some people that would be helpful, if you want.

[He's still reluctant for going on adventures, but...he doesn't want any more kids suffering, so helping out will have to be the compromise.]

The problem's ancient, and there should be five left. Each one will take out a whole continent. They're a huge pain to even get to, let alone fight, plus they can regenerate - we could only beat the one we did thanks to two different pieces of special help. And there's a lot we don't know-

Actually, this whole other times and universes thing might help a lot.

If it's a fight, I might not be much help, but...remember the therapy dog I told you about? His name's Mungo, and I'm pretty sure he's the canine equivalent of Hercules. He regularly breaks doors just by trying to open them, can break your ribs if he's not careful hugging you, and I'm pretty sure he broke another dog's wrist just by having him punch him in the stomach.

He's also a trained police dog, so he should be ready for fights when the time comes.

Does he sound like he could be helpful with that?

[He feels bad for volunteering others for these adventures, but...he can't really do much as himself, can he? So the next best thing: Get someone else that could (And probably would) help!]

More in a fight is always useful. It'll still take time to get through the Yggdrasil Labyrinths, though...

[He's a librarian, he knows the most important part is the hardest to get: information.]

It'd be nice if we knew more about the Old World, but we've got what we've got.

[…okay, this is getting ridiculous but-]

Do either of those involve magic? Because, even if Sabrina and Tarot aren't as powerful now, Tarot's still a psychic, and I'm pretty sure that they've researched magic so much they could write books about it.

[At the very least they're both smart, so they could help with that stuff.]

Uhh....maybe? The Old World's supposed to have discovered all the secrets of the universe with science, but a lot of their stuff looks like magic to me. We've got nothing anywhere near that advanced.

Well, I can try to get them to help you with that stuff then.

[He's gonna owe a lot of favors, but...it'll all probably be worth it, if he's being honest.]

But...I guess the point here is that we still shouldn't give up hope for our homes, you know? Even if the situation wasn't the best, we just have to keep going.

[He feels a bit like a broken record at this point, but this is an important message; one that he may need just as much as Arthur.]

Yeah. Even if it went bad, and Etria's gone - I just have to go back to the Library and start working on saving the rest of the world. There's always something more to do.

[True justice for all. It's cheesy as hell, but the Highlanders mean it every time they say it. But justice never comes without hard work, and risk, and sometimes sacrifice. You just do the best you can.]

Exactly.

[He gets a small smile. He's still worried about Arthur's world, but at least he didn't leave the situation worse than he found it.]

Now, should I leave you to your umbrella javelin throwing?

Yeah! See ya later!

[He's got some more pretending he's an awesome warrior with actual muscles to do.]

Alright. Try not to hurt anyone.

[And he'll go back on his way, to wherever he was planning on going.]