Clover

[hot_mess_express]

You find yourselves in a much smaller chamber than the one you just left, though it's still in no way claustrophobic. Before you are two doors. The door to the right is inscribed with the image of an ornate silver key; the door to the left with two golden keys crossed over one another.

The door behind you … is gone. And is it just you, or is the sound of water just a little bit louder in here?

Comments

ROUND 0

[hot_mess_express]

Now you must choose which path you will follow.

Decision

[hot_mess_express]

[featherbeaned]

[ ... okay fine she's going for one key but she sure doesn't like it!! ]

[featherbeaned]

What? No, no. Nnnno.

[ she's barely figured out walking on two legs, and now this? ]

[ rude and unfair ]

[featherbeaned]

[ time to spend some quality time wobbling around banging on the walls! where did that door go! she's not having fun with this!! ]

[featherbeaned]

[ until eventually, ]

Fine! [ grumble, growl ]

ROUND 1

[hot_mess_express]

The door locks behind you, and you find yourself in another chamber identical to the one before it. Floating inside a clear, crystalline bubble, far above your reach, is a single key.

Tepid water swirls around your ankles … or, you could've sworn it did? Maybe? You must've been imagining things.

Awaiting you, on a stone pedestal in the middle of the room, is a small crystal vial full of a blue liquid. There’s barely enough for a single mouthful. You know that you can send it away to another team by speaking their name clearly and with intention.

Decision

[hot_mess_express]

[featherbeaned]

[ welp ]

[ bottoms up ]

[hot_mess_express]

The liquid tastes of warm, cloying sweetness. Almost immediately, you feel your inhibitions lower, and your impulse control falter dramatically.

The bubble holding the key shimmers and vanishes, leaving them to drop to the floor.

[featherbeaned]

[ ... smacks her lips! ]

Tasty.

[featherbeaned]

[ She's tempted, more than a little, to smash that little vial to pieces. Damn the consequences. She's a strong and independent dragon who can make her own decisions! ]

[featherbeaned]

[ ... On the other hand, she doesn't want to die. ]

[featherbeaned]

[ She doesn't really want to hurt the other people here, either ... not unless she really, really had to. ]

[ g r o w l s ]

DOOR DECISION

[hot_mess_express]

[featherbeaned]

[ She's going left / 2 keys this time! ]

ROUND 2

[hot_mess_express]

The door locks behind you, and you find yourself in another chamber identical to the one before it. Floating inside a clear, crystalline bubble, far above your reach, are two keys in your team's colour.

On the pedestal this time is a small crystal vial filled with … blood? That's blood, isn't it? There’s barely enough for a single mouthful. You know that you can send it away to another team by speaking their name clearly and with intention.

Your clothes are dry, you are dry, but you could've sworn you felt cool water swirl around your waist just now. The feeling vanishes as soon as you try to focus on it.

DECISION

[hot_mess_express]

(Please include the door you'll take next!)

[featherbeaned]

[ Blood? Blood is fine, it's not like she doesn't eat things raw all the time. Knocks it back in one! ]

[hot_mess_express]

The potion tastes exactly like blood, and the moment it passes your lips you feel thorns: stabbing pains spreading throughout your body, the worst of it centered around your ribs and lungs. It’s getting harder to breathe … and as time goes by, coughs will come, light at first but quickly intensifying. By the middle of the third round, you’ll be coughing up blood. It'll be touch and go as to whether you'll make it to the end of the fourth …

The bubble holding the keys shimmers and vanishes, leaving them to drop to the floor.

[featherbeaned]

[ HRK ]

[featherbeaned]

[ She's going for the 2 key door, with her arms wrapped around herself ]

ROUND 3

[hot_mess_express]

The door locks behind you, and you find yourself in another chamber identical to the one before it. Floating inside a clear, crystalline bubble, far above your reach, are two keys.

On the pedestal this time is a small crystal vial containing a sliver of raw flesh, small enough that you might be able to gulp it without chewing. You know that you can send it away to another team by speaking their name clearly and with intention.

There's water up to your neck, cold and still. Or … wait, is there? No. There's nothing there. Maybe you were imagining things …

Trial Decision

[hot_mess_express]

[featherbeaned]

[ did you know that swallowing something when you're hacking up a lung is hard? because it is. it's really hard! ]

[hot_mess_express]

You eat, and feel your guts turn. There’s a sudden biting cramp, a need in the pit of your stomach — hunger. Hunger for flesh, hunger for blood; it doesn’t matter whose. Your instincts tell you that just a few good mouthfuls will be enough to let you keep your mind, though it won’t rid you of the cravings completely by any means. The longer you try to resist, the more difficult it becomes …

[featherbeaned]

[ oooooohhhhhhh fuck me ]

Door Decision

[hot_mess_express]

[featherbeaned]

[ what do you mean, make a decision ]

[ she's too busy gnawing on herself to go anywhere ]

[featherbeaned]

[ In a minute. In a minute ... ]

[ For the time being she has to sit down, coughing wetly into her hands. Stars above she chose the wrong time to figure out how shapeshifting works. ]

Ahhh ... I wonder - if the meat will betray me too ...

RESULTS

[hot_mess_express]

You have 5 KEYS. Water trickles in, slowly at first, but within a few minutes it'll be above your heads. Soon enough it'll fill the entire room. Some time later, when everyone is still and gone, the door opens and a current carries you away …

endgame & revivals