Epic Clash - COMPLETE!

Originally posted on MSPA by suomynonAyletamitlU.

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So in brief, if I understand it:
* everyone with a device is "it"
* Seven devices, seven players, six statues, a statue can only hold one device; therefore at least one player is 'it' at any time
* At the end everyone who's "it" dies, unless the round ends first
* No tagbacks
* The location of everything and everyone can be found out
* You can't swap devices with a statue (?), but if you give yours to a player, they become the it.

I'm not sure if you can remove them so as to put two in play, but I assume so, if you were cruel enough.

That's pretty twisted.

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

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So in brief, if I understand it:
* everyone with a device is "it"
* Seven devices, seven players, six statues, a statue can only hold one device; therefore at least one player is 'it' at any time
* At the end everyone who's "it" dies, unless the round ends first
* No tagbacks
* The location of everything and everyone can be found out
* You can't swap devices with a statue (?), but if you give yours to a player, they become the it.

I'm not sure if you can remove them so as to put two in play, but I assume so, if you were cruel enough.

That's pretty twisted.

That's about the gist of it. It's not just statues that can't be double-it, it's players too, so tagging a player who is already It does nothing.

To clarify the bit with the question mark, he was essentially saying you can't knock the device out of a statue's hand and then make it take your It-ness. The devices record the names regardless of whether they're being held by the appropriate person or not. So, if you have a device and you find a statue that has one as well, taking its device doesn't change anything because you're already It, and tagging it with your device afterwards doesn't change anything because it's still It even though it's not holding the device anymore.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.

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Walt, thoroughly rattled by the intermission, broke into a run as soon as the clock started, going in no particular direction. As he ran, a debate raged in his head.

"Let's ditch this thing," Bern suggested, leaning on his stool. He looked tense, but it seems The Overseer's display had just served to harden his resolve.

"We shouldn't be so hasty. Consider- having no device makes you a target, but having one this early in the game gives you an advantage. If everyone else has ditched their devices, we're in a position of power, we're a threat. Late in the game, it would be more risky, but now, we've got an hour of game time ahead of us."

"Listen to you!", Eric shouted, moving toward Greg. "How can you be so calm in all this?! We could be trapped here permanently if-"

"Do you think I don't know that?!", Greg shouted back, raising his voice above Eric's, "Do you think I don't realize what's at stake?! Our life, Eric, that's what! Yes, we could be trapped here permanently! That's why, instead of whining about it, I want to do our best not to DIE!"

Eric started to shout something back, stopped, then took a step back. "Alright, I see your point. I just... That transition was freaky. That guy's body, just hanging there..."

Bern stepped forward. "That's the point, numbnuts. They want to mess with our heads, and if we want to make it through this, we've got to keep our cool."

"...Right. Okay. Listen, I just... I'm gonna go zone out for a while."

"That's probably wise. We've been awake close to 12 hours, and we'll want to stay alert. We should probably sleep in shifts, and if you want to take the first one, go ahead."

"Yeah... Thanks, I'll do that," Eric replied, a little faintly. He turned and walked to his area of the room, pulled back the curtain, and went through the door.

One of the many advances made in Thomas' time is an understanding of sleep. Scientists have realized that sleep's sole purpose is to refresh the mind- archive new memories, that sort of thing. Because of this, Thomas doesn't have to sleep all at once- individual personalities can sleep at different times and switch out, allowing him to stay awake and refreshed indefinitely.


By this point, Walt had separated himself from the other competitors and found himself enveloped in mist so thick that he could barely see. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, eyes darting around, watching for movement.

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So, as I wrote this, I noticed that I haven't always been identifying the speaker. Are they distinct enough that you can tell, or should I make it more clear?

Originally posted on MSPA by suomynonAyletamitlU.

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RAGE!

You damned Nightmare and your fear! You asinine little shit and the worthless little bullshit you throw around to prove you're a god! How dare you even still live in a world that's still trying to exist. How dare you make more twisted mockeries of reality. How... dare...

Spender was thankful, for once, for the paralysis that the Overseer and his minion left on them. He would have been smashing against their restraints, swearing in languages that had never existed, and it wouldn't have done a damned thing.

Oh, but the fury inside him. Oh, he wanted to...

No

No, of course, not, but he really wanted to--

Nuh uh. You know what he is. He's an Anti. He don't matter no more.

Spender caught his thoughts and managed to capture as much of the details of the round as he could.

He wanted to shout that man down. He wanted to deck him full on with a fist the size and temperature of the sun. He was furious, but he let the seething pass through him and the cold reality settle in.

When the restraints lifted, he stood there for a moment, just resisting the urge to seethe in public, until he was sure he could resist the temptation. He set his face to be about what he thought neutral looked like, then flipped a vanishing coin into the air and flew into the sky--only far enough to be out of range. With the fog, the thrust effects from the flight spell's maneuvering was evident, but there was nobody in the state of mind to watch the gentle eddies, not even Spender.

Living or dying didn't matter. Depending on what those statues were, that might be worse, but all things considered, probably not all that much worse. The only problem was, if he didn't survive the round, would anyone else be able to stand up to the Overseer? Would they even try?

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Yes, he still has his device. He's mulling over what to do with it for the moment.

Originally posted on MSPA by McBatman.

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As quickly as it had started, the round was over, and his opponent was bested for him. He let out a rare sigh of relief, anxiety wasn't a friend of his anymore than a sane mind. Though, this was an interesting course of developments... an actual game! An honest to goodness game!

"Come on everyone, we can't let time go to waste, no no no!" Glere shouted, an eerie enthusiasm in his voice. Already two contestants had vanished into the mist, which rolled along the ground. He took a deep breath and exhaled. So very much fun!
"♫Tick tock, tick tock, minutes running round the clock. Try to be first and don't be last, for the round is fading fast. Do your dance and flash your tricks, hit each other with pointed sticks. Deliver to one the final blow, let this be your greatest show. Up to down and left to right, one last kiss and fight your fight, now's the time to say goodnight♫!" Glere sang eerily as he marched off into the fog.

He stopped after walking a ways and grunting. It was so very hard to see in all this yucky mist. Especially finding wax people, ear wax people? Beeswax people? CHEESEwax people? The possibilities were staggering! Either way, he looked at the device in his hand and tossed it up in the air, then catching it. He reached into his cloak, pulling out a small pair of boots with what looked like trampolines built into them. On the side was a faded word which read 'Moonshoe'. He slipped off his dress shoes, pulling out a neat looking shoebox from the folds of the cape, before delicately placing each shoe in. He would need to buff out the mud from the caves later. Carefully, he slid the box back into his cape. He then snapped on the Moonshoes and tried hopping once.

SPROING!

He popped up into the air a good 4 feet, before landing and making lighter hops until he finally settled down. He may not have had the technological, physical, or magical enhancements of some of the other competitors, but when you have Moonshoes, who needs it!?

Glere proceeded to hop back a ways before going full force, lunging repeatedly over the top of the mist, making loud "SPROING" sounds every time he would hit the ground. The game was a foot, and he was NOT going to lose.

Originally posted on MSPA by Alice.

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Michelle watched as the other contestants flew off in their different directions. This was the first time she'd really had the chance to take a good look at them. Back in the cave, she'd barely had the chance to stretch her legs and say hello, minutes would need to be managed better this round—all 60 of them, to be exact. She felt for her gun on her back, still back in its normal state, and took a deep breath. For a minute, she wondered where Nothing went; their conversation cut short previously left an unanswered question.

In the cavern, before the strange occurrence with Betsy, before she met the winged man, she ran across something. On her toes about the shifting gravity, the runner had to push the thoughts aside then, but now, seemingly stable, she watched it. It, that thing, dodged its device; that thing with that smirk on its face. That thing that she watched float off into the coliseum, training her eyes on, memorizing, clenching her teeth.

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“So, Nothing…what do you know about life after death?” Michelle played with her gun, using it as a cane, causing the man to feel uncomfortable on a few different levels. He wasn't sure how much he could trust her, but she hadn't seemed deadly yet—well[/background:1az6pzcr], he changed his thoughts as she began to casually trail the huge rifle along the floor, drawing shapes in the snow, [background=black]at least not malicious.

“Like heaven and the afterlife and such?”

Michelle shook her head, “No, like walking around after you're dead. Y'know, all decay and crap, eating your former species, living forever—” She switched to air quotes and an uppity voice, not seeing Nothing cringe when she said decay. “a ‘shell of your former being, inflicting death and infecting others'. And just generally being plain damn creepy and causing a lot of trouble for me.”

“Well,” the reaper relaxed more and laughed. “I know if I do my job properly, that shouldn't happen!”

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing… I don't suppose I've ever seen that happen, why?”

“Back where I'm from, that's all I see. They're a disgusting disease that can make even the nicest one of your group, a soulless, calculating monster. We call them Walkers.”

“Well, now that you say that, that kind of sounds like—” He tried to remember back to when they all first met.
“Exactly. That abomination,” she nearly spat the word. “In that girl's body. Do you think tha—”

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Damn. Michelle clenched her fists, eyes still following the creature. The cave had disappeared before she had the chance to finish asking—how bothersome. She waited for the Walker, Asteria, she thought she heard as its name, to get far enough ahead as for it to not see her, and then began to trail her, running along the tops of the various structures, staying up and out of sight. That man wanted a death. Well, the game was on.

Originally posted on MSPA by Wojjan.

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she is after me oh no!

Reserv~d Expired

Originally posted on MSPA by suomynonAyletamitlU.

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Yeah, that's, uh, more than three hours there, buddy.

Originally posted on MSPA by Alice.

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Yeah, that's, uh, more than three hours there, buddy.

I agree!

Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.

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Yeah, that's, uh, more than three hours there, buddy.

I agree!

Therefore someone else can post now. After three hours, the reserve is void.

Originally posted on MSPA by Odinod.

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The round had ended abruptly; right in the middle of his conversation with Michelle, he had been sucked into a blackness, trapped in a bed, had a dead man dance on his chest, and then deposited into this new place, this...wax coliseum. He looked at the device in his hands. It was blank; not even a "Mr. Nothing". Of course. Even the inanimate objects didn't have a name for him. He sighed and looked around at his surroundings.

Several contestants had already disappeared into the fog; Thomas, the man with four minds (Nothing idly wondered if that also meant he had four souls) disappeared into the mist, as did the zombie girl, Asteria, and Michelle (disappointing, because he had hoped to talk with her more). Spender just vanished completely; Nothing wasn't sure where he had gotten off to. And Glere was bouncing around, making loud SPROING sounds with every leap. At least he'll be easy to keep track of, Nothing thought with a grin.

Strangely, he didn't see Emilio about, but he wasn't really worried about that. That guy...he chuckled. That guy seemed like he would live forever. He could take care of himself. Mr. Nothing, however...he flexed his wings, watched the fog drift away from the wind they created. Well, he would definitely be easy to find in this form...it wasn't like he could keep his wings from moving air when he walked. However, now was not the time for reaping; besides that, Nothing didn't really like being in that form anyways. It always left him feeling drained and empty. But enough introspection; there was a task at hand. He glanced down at the blank device in his hand.

"Time to find a wax dummy, eh?" He walked in the direction that Thomas had gone, waving his wings at the mist ahead of him. Blowing it out of the way revealed his location, but as he was already it, he supposed it didn't matter all that much. Besides, he preferred being able to see rather than being hidden. As he moved forward, he called out. "Hey, Thomas! I'm coming your way! Please don't burn or crush or freeze or...well, the wind thing might not be that bad, considering our current situation. But, um, yeah. I come in peace, is what I'm trying to say!"

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

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I gotta point out- the real fun begins when only one person is It. You don't have to make finding a manikin extremely difficult.

Also, while it's alright to be polite, feel free to force the It to change hands multiple times by taking control of many characters. There's no need to shy away from being It- on the contrary, it opens a lot of writing potential.

Originally posted on MSPA by Babel.

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It was the strangest sensation. One word permeated through Emilio's mind - Wyrm. He was deep within the darkness, breathing in the stink of the beast. He smelled the decay of previous defeat; he tasted the open wound of the challenge in front of him. Each step brought him closer. Each pace stretched his attention a little tighter. He was honed in. He was driven. He was deep within the caverns, encased in total darkness.

And then, suddenly, there was light. A jump he had not anticipated. A game explained, as he fought against the natural sensation of disorientation that consumed him. He scanned his new environment. Saw the man who held true power. Lying paralyzed where he was, a lesser man would have felt something akin to helplessness. Emilio did not. He knew the game of death. He was confident enough in his own abilities.

That was why, when the others quickly disappeared into the mist, Emilio simply stayed where he was. Noted the screens made available. The device hung loosely in the palm of his free hand. His eyes traced out the movement in the fog. He closed his eyes. Felt the song stir inside of him. An utter calm went through his body. Every muscle relaxed. He allowed the mist to lead him. He did not simply disappear; he escaped all notice of being recognized. It was as though one had forgotten to even look for him. All at once, a different hunt was on.

The man of wax was relatively easy to find. It was obviously lost, wandering backwards through the mist and cursing at every form it encountered. Emilio watched it with ease, treading lightly behind him. The man he hunted seemed to be unusually nervous. He turned at every sound; crouched low at uncertain intervals – it was clear he was letting the fear of death overwhelm him. Emilio entertained the thought of an open attack, but decided against it. Patience was a virtue that suited him well.

It took awhile for the man to even realize Emilio was so close. There were times when he felt the chill of Emilio's breath on the back of his neck. On such occasions, the man would stand stock still, and then wildly swing behind him. But Emilio was part of the mist now. There would be not hitting him.

“I know you're there!” came the cry, choked through a desperate throat, “Come, then, and face me! Let us make this more than a game of cat and mouse.”

The wax figure paused, letting his words float emptily into the surrounding vapor. He shook a weapon menacingly into the nothingness. There was no immediate reply. Then, slowly:

“Do you know” Emilio allowed himself to say, “the name of Emilio Nahaz?”

See the hopeless beg for death, hear the harmless cry

The voice, calm, deadly. Came from nowhere in particular, but nevertheless caused the wax figure to spring in a meaningless direction.

Tears wasted on the knight, he knows your turn to die-

“I can see you, you bloody bastard! I know where you are!”

Mark in his intentions, sirs, the readiness to kill

“Show yourself! Show something! Show…. Anything!”

Sacrifice those profoundly weak, those with lesser will.

“I will not be ignored!” The wax figure was screaming now, “I will not allow you to –“

A spinning blade caught him in the shoulder. He flailed his weapon wildly, bellowing at the top of his lungs. He was parried easily and knocked soundly over the head with the hilt of a sword. All at once, he found himself disarmed, and pinned against the floor of the coliseum. He screamed in fear and hopelessness, he allowed himself to wail. Emilio showed no signs of emotion. All Emilio could do was calmly allow the device to touch the wax figure, who squirmed under his steady grasp. The name of Emilio Nahaz slowly morphed into something infinitely more meaningless. All the wax figure could do was weep.

“Hear the name of Emilio,” Emilio said, releasing all pressure from the wax, “and know that he has ended you.”

He left the man, quivering, clutching the device to his chest. It was a pity, yes, to have so lesser a man enter in competition against his will. But this was a game of death, and Emilio knew that mercy would only hold him down.

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Sorry for the delay guys. Took awhile.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.

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"Bern," Greg said, "I need to calm Walt down. Would you mind-"

"Sure thing." He walked over to where Walt was sitting and clasped his shoulder. All the colour seemed to drain into him, and Walt's eyes focused on the room again.

"W-what is it, Greg?", he asked, shaking a little.

"Two things. First, CALM DOWN." Greg said, grabbing Walt by the shoulders and shaking him a bit, "We can't afford to lose focus here."

"Sorry. I just- it's-"

"I know. That's what they want. They want to freak us out, and we can't let them."

"Right." Walt took a deep breath, then another. "Right... Okay. I'm good."

"Good. Now, my second thing: I'd like to bounce a few ideas off you."

"Okay, sure... Shoot."



Bern crept along as quietly as he could, keeping cloaked in the denser mist. Shadows loomed and faded around him as he walked, and sounds echoed eerily throughout the arena. Someone was singing, someone else was screaming pitifully, all of them muffled, vague voices coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

There was another voice, back the way he'd come. "Hey, Thomas! I'm coming your way!" It sounded familiar. That reaper guy, Bern thought to himself. I'll be damned if I trust some sort of angel of death in this competition.

Don't be so hasty, Bern. We heard him talking with Michelle, so we know he's at least willing to negotiate.

Well, you want to negotiate with this guy, be my guest, but I'm-

Eric's asleep, and we're both busy, Greg replied, you'll have to do it. Besides, you might get along. Just don't piss him off too much.

No promises, Bern said, looking around him for any sign of their pursuer.

"But, um, yeah. I come in peace, is what I'm trying to say!" The voice was closer now. Bern looked around, searching- there. He could see a faint shape moving in the mist. Right, he thought to himself, peaceful negotiations. Sure.

He concentrated for a few moments, and a campfire-sized flame burst into being in front of him, lighting the area with a hazy glow. "Over here," he said. "Come warm up for a bit."



"So," Greg said, standing back from the whiteboard, "do you think it'll work?"

"Well," Walt said, "if it works that way, it could be a good strategy, but... we just don't know."

"I guess we'll just have to find out."

Originally posted on MSPA by suomynonAyletamitlU.

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Out of habit, Spender momentarily focused on his thoughts and feelings to check his energy level; unlike the frigid cave from before, this place seemed to have some free energy, so his flight coin was drawing less and less on him. Given the Overseer's plans, that didn't surprise him.

With some shouting below and behind him, he let himself sway through the fog in a quieter direction, always listening; the fog seemed to eat up the noise past a certain distance, but below him, he thought he heard a sloppy scraping noise.

That's probably one of the wax Extras, then, huh?

He dropped down out of the sky; however living or dead the thing was, it certainly didn't hear his approach, although the rustling of his jacket was noisy enough to Spender's own ears.

He wanted to peg it with his It-box and scoot, but grit his teeth. Again, the Overseer was making rules and the Overseer was breaking them. What made some wax statues "living" while others were not?

His thoughts drifted to the gravity-crystal. It was still in his pocket-dimension, which reassured him, although why the spell had been allowed to last... he put the thought out of his mind. Was there a "life" or "player" essence to the statue? He didn't want to think that it was the remains of an actual living being, although it might have been. Even so, there were other statues--dead ones.

He let loose another Analysis coin and let the information flood over him. Before he could really soak it in, though, the statue turned and looked at him. Its face was partly melted, and its mouth hung open, as though a perpetual scream never quite escaped its lips.

Only now, it did.

A horrible, growling, rasping wail that might have echoed, or might have dissipated, flooded over Spender, and his mental control wavered. Is it really... alive?

The feeling of Nightmare--that cold terror, that neverending fear, that self-certain despair--started to come over Spender, but he pushed it back determination born of long practice. Trusting his instincts to recall anything else he might need to know, he took his device and plunged it into the statue's gaping maw, silencing most of its scream, the name on the device flipping obediently.

Then, three coins fell out of his sleeves and disappeared, his arms and hands half-consciously weaving back and forth as he mentally guided the spells. Threads of holographic metal wove themselves into existence, hanging delicately in midair for a moment before forming a steel coffin in the blink of an eye. Invisible spades, infinitely sharp, tore into the ground and left huge hunks of rock and stone on the floor as the coffin sank below the glassy surface. Finally, it was concealed, and the glassy surface returned, somehow untouched by the tools and coffin that had phased right through it.

He could still hear the scream, a little. His sensors still picked up the name on the device.

He flew away, resisting the urge to seethe, after leaving one last memorial engraved in stone atop the figure's cairn:

El'n T'abor r'Amet
May she know peace

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Note: He phased through the glassy floor, which I assume is designed to be pretty tough, then carved a hole in the floor on the other side. That way, even after his holograms end (if they ever do), she will still be "buried". That accounts for all three coins. Also, this act took a little of the grav crystal, as phasing requires creating a space that bridges the gap.

In that way he also took Miles' advice to heart--he didn't attack her, he just moved her into a position he figured she couldn't get out of.

I had no idea where I was going with this, I just sorta did it. I dunno.

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

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I've gotten a couple PMs questioning me about the particulars of the mechanics here. While your characters still only know what was told to them, here's a technical explanation:

There are seven devices. Each time a device touches someone, it records their name on its surface, except in two situations: 1) if that person was the last person whose name was recorded on the device or 2) if another device already has that person's name recorded on it. There are seven of you, and you all start with one device with your name on it. There are a whole bunch of wax statues, but only six of them are alive. The devices don't count touching a non-alive wax statue, but they do count touching a living statue or another player.

There are three screens. They are in different locations in the arena, not visible at the same time.

One screen shows the location of every person, including non-living wax persons. It identifies which of the map markers are not made of wax, but does not say any names or any other way of identifying which player is which, nor whether the players who are It have the devices with them or not.

One screen shows the locations of every device, but no players and no names.

One screen shows a list of names of people who are not It. It does not show any locations.

When the countdown ends, everyone whose name is recorded on a device loses.

So here's some examples of interactions, just to make sure we're clear.

There are three people, A, B, and C. There are 2 devices, 1 and 2.

A has device 1 and it says A on it. B has device 2 and it says B on it.

A throws 1 at B, hitting him. Because B is already recorded on 2, nothing changes. B is free to pick up 1. If the round ended, A and B would both lose.

B has 1 which has A on it and 2 which has B on it. He finds C and tags him with 2, without putting 1 down first. 2 changes to C. Now 1 is still touching B, and B is not recorded on any other devices. 1 changes to B. If the round ended, B and C would lose.

C takes 1 and 2 from B and runs. Now C has 1 which says B and 2 which says C. He hides 1 somewhere and finds A. He tags A with 2, but runs away with it. Since C was the last person to be recorded on 2, it doesn't change back to C even though he is still holding it. There are no tagbacks. C now has 2, which says A. 1, which still says B, is hidden somewhere. If the round ended, A and B would lose.

A looks on the map and finds 1, which says B. He picks it up. Since it said A immediately before it said B, it doesn't change because that would be a tagback, even though C held it in the interim. He finds C, still carrying 2 which says A, standing next to B. C throws 2 at B. While 2 is in midair, A touches C with 1, still holding onto it. 1 changes to C. If the round ended in this moment, A and C would lose.

If A sees 2 sailing through the air and drops 1 at C's feet, then 2 hits B and changes to B. If the round ended, B and C would lose. If A held onto 1 instead and ran, then when 2 hit B, it would change to B and 1 would change to A because it's touching him and he's no longer recorded elsewhere. If the round ended, A and B would lose.

Obviously I am using the most convoluted examples possible. I doubt the interactions will get that complicated, I just wanted to get all the bases covered.

Originally posted on MSPA by Wojjan.

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One more Q, what happened to that wax lady? Oh and who are the wax players, precisely?

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

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One more Q, what happened to that wax lady? Oh and who are the wax players, precisely?

Well, that's up to you to develop your as you see fit. We give you the bare skeleton of each round, it's up to you guys to reveal as many details as you need in the posts that you make. The only reason I went into excruciating detail about the rules of the actual game itself is because MyifanW and I worked pretty hard to develop a game that left a lot of opportunity for backstabbing and animosity to develop between players. It's going to force you guys to do things that potentially harm others. So the How of the setting is clearly laid out, but beyond "colosseum meets laser tag arena meets several different biomes plus wax statues," the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of the setting is up to you to reveal.

I can tell you the background I had in mind for this place and how I would answer those questions if I were in your position, but by no means is this the final word on the matter.

The gist of it is that some terrible semi-godlike overlord in a magitech universe comes to power on this particular planet. He builds a kingdom, with him as ruler, so naturally people are going to oppose him. Rather than doing the standard send-minions-to-crush-his-enemies schtick, he decides to use them to entertain the masses and build loyalty. Cue the construction of this place. Would-be heroes are amassed here to play this game with each other and whittle down their numbers. It's almost like a Grand Battle. The losers become wax statues. Random wax statues are "activated" and come to life each game, in a quantity one less than the number of heroes playing. The woman at the beginning was just some wax construct created to explain the rules to each new group of combatants, which Bryce blew up to make Miles do the explanation.

Maybe Bryce swapped some of the statues with wax duplicates of contestants in other Grand Battles for the lols. That seems like something he might do.

Originally posted on MSPA by McBatman.

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A high pitched shriek filled the air nearby, as Glere continued his springing jaunt through the area. He stopped making loud SPROING noises as he looked around. Suddenly, a figure flew by overhead, darting away quickly. He watched him fly off, raising a brow. Did that mean the people were already finding these waxen simulacrums? He looked around the mist, it was hard to see through the thick haze. He started doing a few high jumps, trying to see where he was. It seemed to be among a few ruins near a few trees, seemingly out of place amongst the Colosseum's arches and stone walls.
"Hellooooooooooooooooo!" Glere hollered into the mist, grinning slightly as he was greeted by a loud gurgling noise. He tossed the device up in the air and caught it again.

Found ya! He stepped deeper into the woods to find a wax figure caught in a snare, danging upside down, with its head hanging down into a pool of water. It continued to gurgle, in an excruciating manner. Glere walked over and poked it in the side, to be met with a sudden, spastic thrashing of the wax figure. Apparently he was in quite a bit of agony from the looks of it. Glere fished inside his cloak, pulling out a snorkel. He stuck his hands into the pool of water, sliding it around the figure's face, twisting the snorkel upside down to allow air passage. If these things even breathed. The thrashing suddenly stopped, but the figure continued to let out raspy gasps of agony. Apparently perpetually drowning was unpleasant. Who knew?

"Sorry old chum, no time to shoot the breeze, I haven't found a bullet that small." he said, slamming the device deep into the figure's side. It thrashed again, before going back to the previous rasping. Glere slid off the moonshoes, sliding them back into his cloak. He then pulled out a pair of sneakers and tied them on, then unfastening his cape again. He snapped it in front of him, and an old, rusted bike fell with a clang to the forest floor as his cape refastened itself. He stood it up, ringed the bell on the handlebars, and took off out of the forest back down one of the stone pathways into the mist.

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

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The first death, that of James Raven, was uneventful. He had shown himself to be a relative fool, experimenting with the strange nature of the cave ceaselessly and avoiding chances to attack others. This rampant bad decision making had, however, helped him on one point- He had, right before he died, found the Living Rocks (They speak a strange language, which cannot be translated, so their name for themselves was not used) entire hoard of magical weaponry.

The others had also been relatively boring, mostly getting to know one another. Spender and Thomas seemed to have made some alliance, as have Nothing (he has no true name) and Michelle.

This concludes Epic Clash, Round 1.

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Epic Clash, Round 2.



This stage takes place in a sadistic king's domed playing field, filled with wax figures. The place has been built with no rhyme or reason purposefully, to have the most variegated play. There is a white fog that is consistent throughout the entire field, which seem to focus around the wax figures. Here, a game is played. The current one is an altered game of tag. At the base of the statue that was explaining the rules, seven devices are in play. Each player starts with one of these devices. The last person to touch each device has their name implanted in the device. The person who's name was in the device previous can not be re-tagged, until the device changes hands more than once. At the end of this game, the players who's names are on the devices lose and become wax figures.

While there are seven real players, there are six wax players, who seem to be still capable of minute movement. It's possible that they can move only to differentiate them from the other, nonplayer wax figures. They are involved in the game the same way the real players are, and will have their names recorded in the devices if they are the last to touch them. It is expected that these six figures will have their names recorded on six of the devices, leaving one real player with a device, who will be the only loser.



There are three screens, at the ends of the dome, which display information. The first is a map, showing all the people in the dome. (I did not have color, so the wax figures are the stick figures with unfilled heads. In reality, the stick figures are color coded to differentiate between live players and wax men.)

The second is a list, displaying the names of the players who are not it. (The current names are the names of the six wax players.)

The final one is a map just like the first, but displaying the locations of the devices instead.

I, Miles Fawman, the Chronicler, and the Overseer have given much effort in finding a stage that seemed like it would best ruin any peace between players. Hopefully, our efforts shall not be wasted.

Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.

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I misunderstood what the first screen did. It differentiates between wax people and contestants, and doesn't show who's It or not It. That's totally my bad, it's what Miles said in the description in the first place. It shouldn't make much difference to the progression of the game so far, and I edited my rules post.

Originally posted on MSPA by Odinod.

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Ahaha Hyrulian shield. [img]images/smilies/apple.gif[/img] [img]images/smilies/icon_up.gif[/img]

Also, super-short post. Guess who the next eliminee's going to be? [img]images/smilies/pccool.gif[/img]

Once I manage to find a reason for Nothing to change forms, though, his character should get a lot more interesting. And not so boring. Yeah. Here's hopin'.

Mr. Nothing was wary, but he imagined that Thomas was acting the same way. And they both had their devices, still, so they didn't show any real threat to each-other. Well, besides the obvious "supposed to be killing everyone else" part of this whole deal. Nothing shook his head and sighed...How did I get into this mess? Well, it didn't really matter now, because there was only one way out of it, and that was outlasting everyone else; he just wasn't sure if he would be able to do that. A voice brought him from his thoughts.

"Over here,"it said."Come warm up for a bit." Nothing looked around, quickly finding the source of the voice. Thomas. And he had a fire going. Mildly disconcerting, but...Nothing really didn't have anything to lose. He walked over to the man, wiping some clinging moisture off of his suit. He held his device out in plain view, so that Thomas could see it. No reason to take any unnecessary risks.

Approaching the fire slowly, he glanced at the man who appeared to be the source of the flames. Four different people...such an interesting case. He wondered which he was talking to now. "So, uh...Thomas. This tag thing seems kinda silly, huh?" He chuckled nervously. Small talk was not his forte; the reaper part of him was much better at that. But he imagined that approaching Thomas as a walking, talking skeleton might not have been the most tactful choice.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.

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Short posts > no posts.

"Silly is an understatement," Bern said. "He just got done telling us to kill each other, then he drops us in a kids' game." He snorted. "Doesn't seem all that bright, if you ask us."

"Yeah, true...", Nothing agreed, trailing off.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments as both stood just stood there.

"So," Bern said, "you came looking for us. What was it you wanted, exactly? I didn't think grim reapers were the type to just chat."

Originally posted on MSPA by Wojjan.

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this took aaaages and I'm still not happy the way it turned out, also, is this move even allowed? I feel like I put a cactus on the chessboard that kills any piece on the chessboard.

"I hate mist. There's nothing but mist down there, and nothing than mist up here. I was hoping to at least see the sun once after coming back to life..." Asteira hated the sun with a passion of the sun itself. It was always too bright, doesn't work by any schedule, never keeps promises, and was considered the god of everything righteous. The only thing more wretched than the sun was the world's god-awful idea of it and myths surrounding it always ending happily. For her, it was an orb in the sky providing light and nothing more. But not anymore. After a dreaded amount of eternities underground, she was longing for just one ray. She took time to reassess the situation somewhere higher up, but was caught unaware by a new wax woman playing her recording. "What are you still doing here? Bryce blew you up!" "I am here to surveil the fight." "That would be a lot easier if you would just get that bloody mist out of the way!" The woman became irritated, but didn't gave way in the slightest. "Please don't object to my judgement, the fate of the wax contestants may verily befall any of you." "Cut it out, that high and mighty attitude." "Please don't object to my judgement, the fate of the wax contestants may verily befall any of you." "Oh, I get it. You're not a real person. No point conversing with you then." The woman didn't mind Asteira getting a better look on the surroundings from up there, for what it was worth. Noticing a wax statue in what might have very well been a corner, she headed over to the ground again. "Oh, this can get interesting! Now who do we have here..." Tapping the display of the orb on the wax statue displayed only a front name.

EURYALE

"It can't be... Euryale isn't from this day and age... How did she get here?"[/color] Asteira took no notice of the zombie survivor spying on her from above, and in all secrecy, reached for Girgid's lance. Lance was a tad misleading, for Girgid was an imp. What was to him a lance, was to her a chisel. And chisel she did. After a minute or two, Euryale was free once more.
"Who freed me, one of Medusa's sisters, most frightening of the Gorgons?"[/color] Having shaken off all wax remnants, Euryale stood in the veil of mist, in all her fiendish glory. Her snakes for hair danced in the wind of change and freedom, and a demonous grim appeared on her ugly face. "I'm Asteira, I am what people of your age considered a consul. I freed you, so you would free me. Trap anyone in stone with your gaze, to pass on the baton of doom - this ball, mind you - to a weak and harmless player." It was clear that Asteira's ways were in line of Euryale's. "There is an interesting story to that one. You see, I am actually the weakest, compared to my two siblings. My gaze only traps people in - you guessed it - wax. But why did it not work on you?" "You see, I died once." A puzzled Euryale did not press further on the subject. Asteira once again had to spark the conversation. She was tired of the small-talk. "Did you trap these people in sculptures? Did you create this devilish arena?" "I'm afraid so. Once my work was done, they tricked me into perceiving my own gaze. I was petrified, but not killed. I, unlike Medusa, had and have immortality."
A quick slip of footwear on top of the walls surrounding the playfield betrayed Michelle's position. "Craaap! It saw me!"
"I'll just be a second..." Asteira headed upward again, cornering Michelle on the border of the wax coliseum. "What in blazes do you think you're doing?!"

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Edited once for gamebreaking measures. Please reread.

Originally posted on MSPA by MyifanW.

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uh... You can't free the wax people. They're trapped. Also mostly dead.