//SCENARIOS.EXE
PHASE I [ 16 00 ] At 4:00 PM, the lightly falling snow will stop and no sounds will be heard.
What will be heard is faint sound of ‘hohoho’ and ‘sleigh bells’ faintly in the distance distinctly in one direction but when you turn that way it seems to disappear and you can’t pick up a trace of sound. It will keep occurring intermittently no matter where you are and each interval of 15 minutes, it will sound as if it’s gotten closer but the same things will occur.
by 6:00 pm, when it sounds really close (like right behind the character or next to them), when they turn they’ll hear the sound of laughter that comes from someone they greatly admire or care about to one side of them. However, unlike how everything else has disappeared, that person remains and even seems to recognize they are there. At first, it seems well enough as they will ask innocent questions such as “What are you looking around for?” and if told the truth, their important person will kindly brush them off as joking and tell them they are imagining it. If told ‘nothing’, the important person will prod them with curiosity (you can have it be annoying, whiny, friendly--however that character would most likely nag them to let them in, including things said such as “you can tell me”).
Regardless of choice from there, the person will eventually decide to assist in locating this sound, as your character will hear it once more and from the sudden surprise on the other person’s face it seems they may have heard it, too.
At 6:30pm, the person will give up, suggesting you guys go back (go home, go shop, go eat, whatever the character would suggest as something fun and interesting. if they are the type of character who would just simply part ways with the other and say they will meet them back somewhere else, that’s fine, too!) In the end, they will start to walk past the PC if they are in front of them, but as soon as they are behind him the PC will get a hand on the shoulder and pulled to be whispered to by that person in the ear (or any variant of it at the player’s discretion to sound more like said individual): “You always did have a habit of looking for the things you can never find. A trait of only the most worthless.” followed by a strong wind that drowns out laughter of the person when they came, but this time much crueler. The wind is gale force so the character will not in any way be able to turn around fast enough to see whether the person walks off or disappears.
Looking to the ground, there are footprints, though, that suggest that person was there. Unfortunately, the snow is light and not wet, so unless the character looks quickly they may miss the evidence. And with the wind starts the heavy wet snow, increasing until blizzard conditions are reached.
OOC NOTES:
- If doing this prompt, people who tag into other people’s top levels can choose if they also have an important person that’s come to them in the same way or they can simply be alone.
- Both characters can see each other’s important persons (assuming the individual tagging the top level has one), and they will treat the other PC polite enough but would do what they normally do with strangers while around their PC. Players might want to take the opportunity to do some simple ‘npcing’ of their character’s important person in relation to the tags their top levels receive or the tagged into, but it is by no means required. Just one more potential thing you can add to your threads if it helps or will be more fun/interesting ).
- If any player-characters would happen to have the same important person, the player-character entering the thread will have their version start to slow down in their movements until they are behind them and no longer keeping up. When they turn around to look for them, they won’t be there any longer, but they will be fully acknowledged by the spectre and act as if the newly arrived isn’t remembering correctly (they ran ahead to find the player they are with now or etc.)
- The spectre should at least be believable to be able to cause doubt on whether it is real or in their heads or some other type of trick. If directly asked, the NPC will never quite say one way or another, but sort of be sympathetic to their uncertainty or laugh it off or dismiss it… again, however that character’s NPC would react to being doubted.
- It doesn’t have to be their “MOST IMPORTANT” person. Just someone that they are close enough to that their opinions matter/the player character really misses/they would be bothered by them not finding them worth anything/etc.
PHASE II [ 1700 ] Now that blizzard conditions have suddenly come into play, including white outs, all that lighting doesn’t seem to be much help (and that’s before any lighting finally ends up blowing out due to the conditions). You might want to look for that person that was with you, because you swore you saw footprints in the dry snow before it was all erased with the force of the wind.
Traveling outside may be more dangerous than you intend, however, not because of the cold, but because you can’t see who’s (or what) coming at you nor who’s (or what) coming behind you… or from any other direction, either.
Pretty convenient for an accidental murder in the form of a hit and run by a moving vehicle.
...Or a sleigh speeding forward by the work of nine reindeer and equipped with saw-blades used for ice cutting in place of the normal runners. You will want to get out of the streets as fast as you can because, while you will not be consistently chased, increased attempts at various times will be made on your life the longer you stay out.
While your character is welcome to run into the nearest place they can or continue to stay outside despite being an intended murder victim, the combination of the disorienting whiteout along with the sleigh attacks will strategically attempt to push characters towards the large mall that has been now shut down for the evening. They will find the doors unlocked and most likely others there that have be also driven here by the same situation. Somethings not right, though. Because the mall suddenly doesn’t look the way it once did, especially if you were just there earlier in the day. You are about to find out that the lot of you aren’t much safer, inside, either. Be prepared to run or fight your way out.
PHASE III [ xxxx ]
Depending which side of the mall you enter from depends on the layout of the mall and what you’ll be finding. Please note Cerealia’s mall is incredibly large so it would be quite the effort to go from one end to the other. However, it is possible, and if you reach the middle of the mall, the two variations of the mall will collide with one another. Once you step over into the other version, whatever dangers you faced from the other side will cease. However, now you have the other sides dangers to face, as well.
3A: WARM
The mall looks as if it’s been abandoned suddenly—there are no guards or any sign of movement initially. Despite the power being out, you will actually be able to search if your characters want to and get the power to turn back on. Be aware that turning the power back on in the mall will result in a change noted below for both prompt 3A and 3B.**
Regardless of whether you turn the lights on first or stay in the dark, you will find the multi-levels of the mall scattered with various gifts, left for all of you as gratitude for complying with coming to the mall. These may or may not be your definition of a gift, however. Every package is addressed to someone who has shown up at the mall, yourself included. While wandering by a gift that doesn’t have your name on it will do nothing, doing the same for one that does… Merry Christmas to you! Santa’s elves will be busting out of the packages and will solely be focused on you and you alone. They’ll be sporting just about anything and everything you could think of they could use to harm you, but it’ll be in the form of a creepy toy or candy (to try and choke/suffocate you with if they manage to get close enough to you to do it)—basically anything that could be harmless but is now not, but they will avoid any direct death methods. Their intention is incapacitate you to the point they can eat you. Note they are not easy to kill, but they are killable. However, there will always be at least one elf out chasing you. You might want to team up to take these guys out. (think of them as the hardest normal enemy on a map for your level).
Whether you turned the lights on yourself or not, at some point the lights will come on and make your lives more festive: different elves will be appearing on the upper floors with just about and every possible projectile weapon. There is probably even a canon or two, as well, so watch out! But probably nothing bigger than a canon… and no rocket launchers because there would be no fun in that if everyone died too quickly during playtime. These types of elves are more numerous but they are easier to dispatch and do not have a specific target. They also don’t care if they kill you, but they are more likely to try and slow you down so they can watch you become dinner for one of the bigger ones.
3B: COLD
The other side of the mall looks like quite a bit different and in heavy disrepair.
It is also possible (although more difficult) from this side of the mall to turn on lights (even if the lights will be a lot less numerous than on the other side of the mall.) There are no christmas decorations here, just the snow littering the wrecked structure. Even though it is clear there is a hole in the roof, for some reason the blizzard outside is not through it. Instead it’s just a quiet and light snowfall.
But this is side of the mall where there are LESS, but quite a bit more dangerous enemies. The elves that appear are identical to the ones in packages on the other side of the mall, however, they do not sport weapons other than their sharp teeth and claws (despite pictures, these features aren’t super noticeable on the ones on the other side of the mall like this side until they get at your throat). They are also faster and while they also want to eat you, they don’t care if they rip you apart in the process before getting to eat. All-in-all this would be a lot more of a visually gruesome death to experience as well as watch as the victim will end up in pieces. Since these are a little stronger than their counterparts hiding in the presents, there also aren’t as many (probably 1 for every two characters at all times). They would be the strength of a small mini-boss.
But, it won’t be long because you hear some inhuman snorts and growls that don’t sound very animallike, either. looking up you’ll find that it looks like Santa’s let his 9 reindeer out for the hunt and they’re coming in after you.
There’s only 9 of them (you know dasher, dancer…etc. etc..), but they are each the strength of a harder mini-boss. They withstand a lot of damage and the more injury they take, the more aggressive/frenzied they become. They will eat you/tear you apart/trample you/impale you with their antlers, whatever. While you’ll see them come in from the roof, they act like predators and use the shadows and disrepair of the mall to their advantage to try and corner you and otherwise surprise you. Your best chance with them is to stick together as one of you alone won’t be able to kill one of them), but they will make every effort they possibly can to separate all of you to take you each out one by one (and, why yes, the reindeer will gang up on you once they separate you like a little lamb from its heard…).
This side of the mall is definitely a team-effort survival trip. Each reindeer is slightly different in its methods, but who can really tell the difference when things are at this stage? Rudolph IS THE BOSS OF THE PACK… taking him out first will help your characters greatly, although he’s also the most difficult (and your characters would have to icly figure out killing him will actually help them out, too).
***CONCERNING TURNING ON THE LIGHTS (PROMPTS 3A + 3B): If characters on either side end up turning the lights on manually, they will also end up releasing a creature that is unkillable and will stalk your characters until you are too far away from it and it gives chase to another (so you have to run away when it finds you). The trick to encountering it the least amount of times is to constantly keep moving, although this will make any strategic things difficult against other problems being faced. It is possible to stun it/slow it down temporarily to aid in characters escaping when it shows up if the character has the ability to do it (summons, magic weapons, superhuman strength characters, etc).
This monster is also the only one that will not cease its attacks and ignore you should you cross between the center of the mall. So, yes, if it’s chasing you and you run straight through… it’s gonna CHASE YOU STRAIGHT THROUGH into the other version/side of the mall, so don’t stop D: !!
PHASE IV [ xxxx ]
And if you didn’t run to the mall, or didn’t get chased by santa’s killer sleigh, or heck, maybe you stayed inside your apartment all day? Don’t feel too safe for too long. If you aren’t celebrating christmas properly, aka in an area (a building, an office, a bathroom stall, your apartment, your bed etc etc) that is lacking either a Christmas Tree or the proper milk and cookies for Santa to assist him while he is so busy this night, he’s not going to be happy. Which means, he’s going to come punish you for your lack of respect for the hardworking. It doesn’t pay to be impolite to your elders, you know. This is why we can’t have nice things.
The room/area has to have both the Christmas Tree and the milk & cookies in order to be safe. This is literally the only way to keep Santa from coming at you with a machete like a jolly serial-killer. He starts with a machete, but he can pull just about anything out of his toy sac (semi-automatic machine gun, you got it…). Because Santa is magical, he is unkillable and you can’t injure him, either. The best you can do is break his weapons to stall him and hide, but he’ll stalk around looking for you, telling you what a naughty boy/girl you’ve been and now you’re hiding from the consequences! You can hide from him under beds, in lockers, closets, etc, and while he won’t open any of those things unless you make noise to alert him, he will leave. Don’t stay in the hiding spot for too long, though, because he will come back and that time he will find you.
The trick to getting off of Santa’s murder list? While he disappears once he’s lost sight of you (maybe 15-20 minutes is the grace period that he’ll leave you alone), get a christmas tree and get those milk and cookies out. OR run to a place that has both of these things.
While Santa is chasing/stalking you, he will talk to you and give hints on what the characters need to do to be spared (things along the lines of “good little girls and boys always leave Santa milk and cookies for his long journey” and “where is your christmas spirit? not even a christmas tree for old santa to put his gifts under.” etc etc.).
Once you complete this, he will return and be planning to be murderous once more, but once he sees the tree and cookies he will immediately stop and be extremely jolly and forget you in favor of the cookies in milk as well as putting a couple presents under the tree like he didn’t just terrorize the living snot out of you with sharp objects. And then he’ll be heard with his trademark commentary for those familiar with the Santa Claus lore: “MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL GOOD NIGHT…” and disappear without (anymore, or at least, yours) bloodshed.
BONUS [ whyo'clock ]
{ there isn't a bonus this event, apologies! but we will do our best to remedy this for you guys on the upcoming test drive by connecting it to something appropriately traumatizing for mental processing. Please stay with us :D! }
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with trigger-y or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ]
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Wrapping her cloak around her she just walks forward in the snow, hoping home is in this direction.]
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Thanks. [ How does Lily keep making friends with giant swordsmen like this ]
You know where she might have gone? Haven't heard anything from her in a while.
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Like how a certain Demon King was important to him.
He shakes his head a little to dismiss the thought before straightening up. ]
Do you have any magic to ward off the snow? [ Not that he's actually affected by the cold, but his already-impaired vision is proving to be quite useless. ] I can sense humans at a short distance, but further range would be helpful.
[ Saying this as if he isn't one. Which he isn't. ]
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Magic? [ Oh, so he’s one of those. Like. Magical types. Magic only confuses Koujaku and his more pertinent abilities are kind of useless to them right now, if not outright dangerous to anyone within his immediate vicinity.
Unless they get in a fight anyway. ]
No, I ain’t got anything like that. Just a sword. [ For slashing at the weather??
But wait— ]
How close d’ya have to be? [ Because Cyclops, your depth perception must be pretty fucking screwed right now. Whereas Koujaku can just brush his bangs aside for a change. ]
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I have a sword, too. [ One hand taps his true form, sheathed at his side - but ready to be drawn at a second's notice. If Koujaku is a connoisseur of swords, he would be able to tell that it is a very fancy and expensive one. ] In case something happens.
[ He closes his remaining eye at the other's question, holding one hand out in front of him in a vague gesture like how humans squinted when they strained their eyesight. ]
About five hundred... what was it metres? There's no one other than us in this immediate area.
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Of course, he can also believe that the guy’s a wacko and is just messing with him, but ‘tis the season, after all. While Koujaku does not have a sophisticated enough understanding of swords to be able to identify Mitsutada’s true form for the treasure that it is, he still does so want to believe that this stranger is simply an upright and honorable man who’s willing to defend the weak at a moment’s notice.
He has his suspicions that this guy might also be Shinsengumi, but… ]
Guess we haven’t got a choice, then. [ Not with their fucked up Cerevice receptions and this blustery weather to deal with. Koujaku decides to try for the next best thing. Just in case it might work.
He takes a deep breath, cups his hands together in front of his face, and yells, ]
LILYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
[ Koujaku maybe echolocation isn’t such a bright idea— ]
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Wait.
[ He sucks in a deep breath, frowning in a bid to focus his spirit sense a bit more. It takes a few moments, but he manages to get something. ]
There's... someone up front. I don't know who it is, but they're coming this way. Just got within my range...
[ Not a human, too - in a slight similar way like how Lily isn't quite human, but the signal is too faint for him to make out anything else... ]
They're leaving! Come on!
[ So he tears down the street in the vague direction of whatever had pinged his radar. If he gets closer, he might be able to tell more. ]
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The sound of her name finally perks her ears, it's faint in the wind but she stops and looks around.]
H-Huh?
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He keeps getting outclassed like that lately…
Ahem, but yes. That little blip on the radar might just be Lily—or an enemy they would have to beat up, regardless, so heigh ho Silver and away!! ]
Is that a good or a bad thing? [ He has to ask, as soon as catches up to Mitsutada's pace. No harm in being absolutely sure that they're not chasing after another demonic Santa while unprepared or something. Getting a stealthy advantage on it might not be all that honorable, but when your schedule's tight and there's a little girl out there somewhere, maybe catching the attention of the wrong person wouldn't be such a hot idea. ]
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Whoever pinged his radar has stopped again, which is good for the both of them - because as he comes closer, the mental picture he gets is becoming clearer - ]
It's her! [ And then, raising his voice: ] LILY-CHAN!
[ There's still some distance to cover before they get within visible range, but it should be loud enough.
Or is it? ]
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YES!?
[For once she tries to call back as loud as she can. This was a lot harder than she thought it would be.]
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He hears her too, so she can’t be far and—for what it’s worth—at least he’s in red, too. Not to mention that Lily’s got both her cape and her bright blond hair to catch his eye, even all the way out here.
He’ll leave it to the expert to locate her properly though, as he turns in the direction of that feeble noise and hopes for the best. ]
LILYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! WHERE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE YOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
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[ Mitsutada doesn't waste anymore breath, letting his spirit sense guide him as both of them tear through the snow. Lily comes into view - her scarlet cape first, then her hair, and finally her full shivering form directly in front of them. ]
Lily-chan! Are you alright?
[ He immediately starts taking off his jacket to place over her shoulders. ]
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Face wet from tears and snow, she is thankful for the jacket. Shivering into the jacket she tries to bury her face into them both and away from the howling winds.]
Master Glen was here and....the snow...and I didn't know where home was...!
[Talking through tears and far too fast it might be hard to piece what she was saying together.]
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We're getting you home. [ He says this firmly, even harshly, if only to snap her out of whatever delusions she seems to have succumbed to in the snow. He grasps her shoulders in his to steady her as he looks into her eyes, hoping against hope that she's still there. Whoever this "Master Glen" is, he can ask about it later. It's not unusual for her to just mention the names of certain acquaintances at random. It's caused enough trouble between them before.
Crap, all he wants to do right now is hug her close but really the important thing is to get her inside. And maybe see if there's a doctor to check her out, just in case. He pulls out his Cerevice once more, but—nope. Signal's even spottier over here. Hopefully he and Mitsutada can remember their way back. It's easy to lose your bearings when you can only see a little in front of you at a time.
He turns to Mitsutada—hell, outright deferring to him, even, since the guy seems to know what he's doing better than Koujaku does. ]
I'll carry her. [ So get on his back, princess. ] Is there anything else we're missing?
[ Anyone he might have sensed needs help, for example…? ]
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He frowns, though it is more out of focus than anything else. A quick scan through his spirit sense tells him all they can do, though. ]
... no. No one else around. We are alone.
[ Which in itself brings so many questions, but he honestly doesn't have the time to address that right now. ]
Let's go home, Lily-chan. And...?
[ Prompting Koujaku to give his name, while he sets off in the vague direction he had come from. ]
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Still with Mitsutada and Koujaku in front of her, she couldn't really run off into the snow again. Especially not when Koujaku grabs her shoulders and seemed to be scolding her like someone would do out of concern for a child. It made her feel worse because she made the both come out into the cold then. They could get hurt. She could die from this but she could get hurt and have to recover...but Koujaku could die, he was human right?
Lily looks to Mitsutada when he mentioned not sensing anyone else and it only confirmed that the Master Glen she saw might have been fake. Eyes welling up again, she pulled her hood over her head as she climbed onto Koujaku's offered back.]
O-Okay...Kou...Mitsu...I'm sorry.
[She shivers against Koujaku as she looks at the two of them.]
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When a little girl can survive the cold better than you can…He sighs, expression softening as he turns to her. ]
It'll be all right, kiddo. I'll come back for Master Glen later. [ And it's not a we because he's already troubled this gallant stranger quite well enough!
He turns to Mitsutada, now known only as "Mitsu" to him for the time being. ]
And thanks for your help.
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[ And he realizes that he's been saying this a lot nowadays. Certainly tells him a lot about the efficiency of this CERES... ]
I'm Shokudaikiri Mitsutada, the spirit of Date Masamune's sword. [ Again, leaving out the 'favourite' now. ] Call me Mitsutada.
[ When Koujaku thanks him for helping, he just cracks a smile. ]
No need to thank me, I'm just doing my part to watch out for each other.
[ Lily is his friend, too. And he's not going to let her suffer in this kind of place. ]
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Nuzzling a little more into his back, she tries to keep warm against him for now. They both seem to have just met because of her, so that wasn't a bad thing at least.]
He's gone...he vanished...
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Right. Mitsutada's probably had enough of him staring for a while. He turns his gaze sheepishly away. ]
Mitsutada it is. You do your master honor. [ He…guesses?? It's not so hard to believe given the kind of people he's run into lately, but what are the chances of tsukumogami…
Well. They can save the niceties for…well, slightly better circumstances, anyway.
Also: Lily should totally knock Koujaku in the head, anyway. At least for thinking it. ]
A lot of things vanished in the snow, Lily. [ So it's a really, really good thing that she's technically un-vanished now. Tough shit for whoever's out here, though. Koujaku can barely even see every step he's taking. ]
You still doing okay back there, though?
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You'd really think so? Thanks.
[ This is said with a grateful nod. But he falls silent as soon as Koujaku starts talking to Lily, because he is very sure that Nobunaga vanished in the snow as well. That in itself would raise so many questions, because he knows the Demon King's aura very well - and it is the sort that would unnerve even the spiritually blind.
So he turns his attention to Lily as well, because she is very real and with them right here. ]
How's Bandersnatch? Is he okay too?
[ If not, they might need to find the Chain as well. ]
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Shivering against his back Lily begins to nod off a little bit. Worn out from searching and crying, she just wants to be warm and luckily Koujaku's back is really warm right now.
She will yell if she hears him say something mean about Master Glen though...]
Mn...
[Blinking a little more awake at the mention of her chain, she nods.]
He's okay...he can hide in shadows if he wants but I didn't call him yet...
[It makes her happy that he care enough to ask about her chain.]
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Besides…sword or no, he at least owes Mitsutada a drink for helping him rescue her. ]
What's a… [ He blinks, sighs. He can't even pronounce…whatever it is Mitsutada just said. But if it's important to Lily then he'll be hunting he—it—whatever alongside the Gleninator. ]
Never mind. [ A pause, then— ]
Hey, Mitsutada…are you looking for somebody else too?