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

[Having trouble with that there gauntlet, King? And with the hat. Arthur has one of those. He just left it somewhere, honestly.

Here he'll lift that gauntlet for you.]

Nice, I was hoping this'd turn up soon.

Oh, it’s yours?

[He’s...kind of surprised Arthur can lift it.]

Well, glad I could get it back you.

He didn’t need anything else to make him an eyesore.

Shush.

[Hat...]

[Lift it, slide panels and check things, he knows exactly what this piece of equipment is. Knows it like the back of his hand.]

Thanks! Looks like it's empty, but I might be able to fix that, depending what reagents we have - shut up, yarny - around...

I don’t know if I should be impressed or worried that you either made or got your hands on a gauntlet that can be used as a weapon.

[He’s going to say both, but trust that Arthur won’t do anything with it for now.]

So what are reagents? And who’s yarny?

[Is he talking to the hat?]

Built it myself! It's for alchemy! Reagents are the stuff I use to make my formulas. [It's fantasy chemistry, King.]

Yarny's the hat. I got one earlier. It was annoying, so I left it in the cat room.

YOU DID WHAT?!

Good idea, maybe I should try that.

[He stares at the hat, who goes silent, and apparently finds the ceiling more interesting to look at right now.

King turns back to Arthur, but not before picking up some vials.]

Any chance that’s what these are?

[It’s just a guess, but they look like fantasy world weapon stuff.]

[He may or may not have actually left it there, but it made the hat shut up.]

Oh, old-school! Those are just straight formulas, like I make without the gauntlet! Careful with those, you don't wanna be in range if they break.

[~~oh you kids and your ding dang slang!~~

He’s rearranges the vials in his paws, being careful with them.]

Let me guess, they explode if they do break?

The red ones do! Blue's for ice formulas, which freeze, and the volt formulas are yellow - those'll give electric shocks.

Ah. Lovely.

You want them, or should I keep them?

[He’s...okay, he feels like Arthur will use them, but hopefully he won’t throw them around willy-nilly?]

If you think you might need 'em you can keep 'em, otherwise I'll take them.

[He looks at the vials for a second, before looking back at Arthur.]

I think I’ll keep them, if that’s alright? I hope I won’t need them, but they’d probably make up for me trying to help in a fight.

[Since, for all they know, they might have to actually fight the person behind this game.]

Alright. [Corgis are small, and Arthur knows how tough it can be to fight when you just aren't physically made to. Plus, if something does go bad and they get used, he knows what they do.] We all have to be careful, right?

Yup. And if there’s one thing you can trust me on, it’s being careful with something dangerous like this.

[Gesturing to the vials, which he puts on a plate carefully. He’ll probably be getting a pillow for them later.]

So, anything else here you need?

Or can you leave already?

Shut up or you’re going in the furnace.

I think we're good. I got my gauntlet back, once I get my staff I'll be ready if we have to fight the Hosts or something.

A staff? I think...maybe ask Lala? I think she had one when I talked to her the other day.

[Might not be the same, but it could at least be a nice replacement.]

Mine is made of bones and is really cool-looking. [...] Dragon bones, for the record. I can ask her.

…not sure if it's yours, then. Didn't look at it for long, but I think it was made of normal wood. A bo staff, I think it's called?

Might be a nice thing to have while you're waiting for yours to show up, at least.

Hmm....well, it might work. It's kinda a last resort. I'm really not strong enough to be much of a threat, without my alchemy.

[Arthur has no idea how to use a bo staff properly or effectively....this will go well.]

…worse comes to worse, aim for someone's knees with it. It's not fatal and could probably knock them down if you hit them hard enough.

[The corgi is totally not speaking from experience. No way, nuh-uh, that's crazy talk.]

Knees, got it. I usually go for the head, but....the Labyrinth is pretty strictly kill-or-be-killed.

[I'm sorry his world is like this, King.]

[…King just...tries to think of something to say, and he's able to, but-]

You...can't just say that and not explain. At least a little bit.

[Can one kid PLEASE not make him worried about their life back home? PLEASE?!?]

Oh, uh, the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. I'm an explorer! The Labyrinth is this huge maze that goes way deep underground, and it's full of super-tough monsters and FOEs and all kinds of other hazards. But it's also full of mysteries, treasure, valuable materials, and rare ingredients for medicine. Most people who go in don't come out, but I'm the best and my guild's the best, so there's nothing to worry about!

[He takes a lot of pride in this. He is very comfortable with marching into near-certain death on a regular basis. He is hiding all the backstory and issues and there's that whole time limit thing he brought up before.]

[That is...what the...

King's head is just kind of...he is internally screaming because kids shouldn't be doing this kid of stuff why do kids keep going through deadly stuff like this is he going to have to worry about every kid he meets from now on, and this is so much to take in all at once, and he's about to say something-]

[And then there's just this loud PLOP! as something hits the floor behind King. He goes deathly still right after it, staring forward in horror, not sure what he should say anymore.]

…gross.

[The hat, on the other hand...]

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