hot_mess_express | The Fifteenth Trial: Ginger

The Fifteenth Trial: Ginger

The weird castle/steampunk aesthetic continues in the room, but there’s a bit more of an almost… Prop, vibe to the room. Everything feels real, the stone and the wood are solid, but there’s a certain look like it was taken right out of a fifth grade play with princesses and dragons in the way the stone walls are built, and even the gothic iron window looks vaguely cartoonish.

The room is large, and at one end is a set of five tables, each with the names and colors of the other teams.

Directly in front of you on another table is a big scroll. A quill pen and ink pot sit next to it.

A vase of lycoris and moon lilies decorates the table. There are chairs and couches if you want to sit.

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Thus reads the scroll on the table:

From the traits below, pick four that you believe your team as a whole exhibits the most strongly. You need only circle the words. Choosing more will do nothing, and the first four words circled will be the ones that are considered chosen. Attempting to cross out or underline a word will be the same as circling it.

Courageous
Strong
Cunning
Charitable
Just
Noble
Chivalrous
Kind
Aggressive
Humble
Useless
Lazy
Perverse
Wise
Academic
Spiteful
Rowdy
Sadistic
Masochistic
Tired

[Please turn in the words in order of most fitting to least, or in whatever order your team interacted with them if they were chosen randomly or on accident somehow.]

Five of the following objects correspond to one each of the other teams. There are extra objects that correspond to no team. Using what you know of the other teams, select the correct object to send to that team.

Only one object may be sent to each team.

There is only one correct object to send per team.

Choosing a correct object but sending it to the incorrect team will still count as an incorrect choice.

To send an object to a team, you must place it on the table for that team.

The objects that appear on the table are:

an unchecked to-do list

a gold crown

a steel sword

a ball gag

a sugar bowl filled with salt

a book on philosophy

a pillow

rock'em sock'em robots

a medal

Edited 2019-07-27 22:51 (UTC)

[List the objects chosen alongside the teams you are sending them to.]

Your chosen team trait: Courageous

The object for that trait: A Medal

The objects you were sent:

Steel Sword

A Medal

Gold Crown

A Medal

Edited 2019-07-28 00:41 (UTC)

You have been sent three wrong objects. The lights flicker a bit, dim, ominous. Stale bread and cold water grace the table.

Whether or not you touch the meager offerings, you must OOCly decide on one to three body parts. Each chosen limb or organ (eg. eye, arm, lungs), slowly and painfully becomes clockwork; made of ceramic, metal and gears. Even if you pick inner organs, it will not kill you, but it will be excruciatingly painful and feel strange and alien once the transformation is done.

Clockwork cannot be healed naturally. It will function in place of any organ or limb. It will be stronger than the parts it replaces, but never feel quite right. If you are already a robot this process changes your inorganic parts into organic ones. In the case of becoming flesh, they will be more sensitive, but somewhat weaker by default.

1 to 3 IC days must pass before clockwork transformation can be healed magically or via the train’s facilities. You are not required to heal clockwork transformation.

Optionally you may additionally choose from one of the following status effects, the status effects last 1 to 3 IC days before resolving themselves.

Level 1 Status effects

mini

frog (or other transmog eg. fairy, evil pepper, blade banana)

amnesia

charm (target whoever, can be multiple)

compulsion to tell the truth

Level 2 Status effects

gradual petrify (of somewhere non-fatal)

berserk

confuse (disoriented on who is friend or foe)

curse (skills and strength sealed/stats lowered)

fear

despair

hallucinate

poison (fever, illness, non-fatal)

And hey, while you’re being excruciatingly transformed, some soothing mood music.

Edited 2019-07-28 00:42 (UTC)

You aren't allowed in endgame yet, so now's the time to have a good hangout with your teammates, however that's going for you right now.

[ Uh! ]

Wh ... b-but! But I only got here yesterday, how am I supposed to-?!

[ WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK ]

Hey!!

[ And where are my teammates ]

[One is here! And looking over the list with a thoughtful frown.]

I'm not sure I could say what suits all of us.

[ oh thank god ]

Rufus! Thank goodness. [ Hand on her heart, wheeze ]

[ Okay, she’s not alone. That’s ... better? Maybe? ]

... Yeah. It seems silly. Teams are made up of people with all sorts of different traits.

I suppose we're meant to find common ground. If you'd like to tell me what you think applies to you, perhaps we could go from there? I know Rean quite well already.

W-Well ... [ Brings a hand to her chin, thoughtful. ] If this game is supposed to be about the teams trying to protect each other, based on what they know about each other, maybe the best thing to do is try to predict what they might think applies to you and Rean? Since more people know you guys.

You have a point. Then, for us I'd say...

Courageous, noble, chivalrous, and kind. Likely, Rean's the one who stands out most in everyone's minds.

[ Hm! After a moment of thought, she nods. ]

Sounds about right. Let’s go for those ones.

Alright, then. Any thoughts on order or should we just go down the list?

The first thing on that list that I think of for Rean is “kind” ... but I’ve only been here for a day. I’d just be randomising, mostly.

[ Why are none of these trials newbie friendly, it’s so rude. ]

So maybe straight down the list is best. Ah, unless you have any preferences?

Courageous
Noble
Chivalrous
Kind

I don't. They go well enough in that order, I think.

If you'd do the honors?

[ Salutes! ]

Here goes nothing.

[ Stares at the ball gag like ]

[ what ]

[ why ]

...Well. This should be interesting.

[ She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, then says, slowly ]

I want to find whoever’s idea this was and punch them repeatedly where the sun doesn’t shine.

[ BUT ]

So, uh. I guess we need to guess which of these items corresponds to which traits on the list, then guess which of the teams may or may not have picked said traits.

If you're lucky, you may get your chance to punch someone. A few of these trial administrators have shown their faces now and again.

In the meantime, to start I suspect the book is "wisdom", and that it belongs with Thyme.

Ah, really? Then I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I’d say ... the robots are either rowdy or aggressive, and the ball gag is either, uhm, perverse or masochistic ... Probably perverse.. The bowl of sugar filled with salt could be spiteful. Tiredness for the pillow ...

But I have no idea where they could belong. The only person I feel like I’ve made a real connection with outside of the team so far is Dusk, on Clover. [ It’s not nearly enough to go on. ]

I'm afraid I haven't put in the effort to know people that I should myself, but we'll have to do our best.

Hmm. The... inappropriate item to Licorice. The crown to Senna.

... Yeah. Yeah, we’ll do our best.

[ Takes another long look over the items, chewing on her lip. ] That’s three so far. There’s Jasmine and Clover left, right?

[ HUM. ]

The sword or the medal could be one of ours.

That seems likely. Perhaps the pillow to Jasmine... I can't say I know much about Clover.

I can’t speak for the rest of Clover, but for Dusk ... I’d say he’s kind, strong, cunning, and courageous. Maybe tired, if the bags under his eyes are anything to go by.

We could try to give them the medal, then.

It’s as good a guess as anything else! [ ahaha, ha, ha ]

We'll proceed with that, then. If nothing else this is certainly a reminder to work harder. I've been thoroughly useless here.

book - Thyme
gag - Licorice
crown - Senna
pillow - Jasmine
medal - Clover

Eh? No! You’re not useless at all, you’ve been really helpful.

[ Her right arm and leg are both turning to clockwork, and to add insult to injury, she’s developing one hell of a fever to boot ]

[ SO MAYBE ]

[ She’ll just lay on her face and curse like the most foulmouthed sailor in the universe!! ]

[Rufus is having some fun INTERNAL ORGAN transformations (heart, lungs), but he's going to do his best to pretend he's not and everything is f i n e!!

Although. He can't really pretend about having also been turned mini. He's a clockwork doll now it's cool.]

...Well. At least we seem to have a cohesive public image.

[We're knights now?]

Mmmmmotherfucking sonuva— Ow!

[ Punches the floor with her non-clockworky hand, ow, ow. ]

Yaaaay, team branding ...

Some more piano to see you back.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

The Fifteenth Trial: Ginger

Round 1

Traits

Decision

Discussion

Round 2

Objects

Decision

Discussion

Round 3

Results

Conclusion

Interact

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Endgame