Battle Royale! Game Complete!

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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SpoilerShow

Schazer told me her plan for Round 2, so I may as well start it for her.

The moon, lurking overhead, vanishes with such suddenness one may've been excused for thinking it fell from the sky. The strange aura still lit up each contestant, with the exception of the now-motionless Xeno.

The seven had only a moment to contemplate this logical glitch, or pointedly ignore it and rush to get their affairs in order; before their inexplicable auras grew in intensity and swallowed up the landscape around them, leaving them alone in a white void. Prior proximity to other contestants was no longer relevant.

Without moving an inch in any direction, the light receded to reveal to seven pairs of eyes a magnificent vantage point over a completely different landscape.

Well, landscape was a bit of a misnomer, as they were so high up that an endless plain of swirling, wispy cloud was a substitute for ground zero.

The only thing emerging from this eerie, murmuring fog was a lone, monstrous pillar composed of translucent, pulsing, latticed crystal, which the contestants all found themselves sitting on its exterior; all roughly at the same altitude. The summit was an indeterminate, though not unattainable ascent above them, while the whispering mist swirled not twenty feet below where each of them perched.

The stone pulsed with a quietly resentful energy even the non-magical contestants could sense; radiating a contempt for the beings perched upon it out, far into the watery heliotrope sky.

The Composer's voice sang out, momentarily drowning out the silent song of hate the crystal spire hummed.

"Welcome, contestants, to the Hoodoo. Before we start this Act, let me warn you: The Ravven tears apart the soul, and the only refuge is in the soul of another."

There is a pause, and the Composer's tone loses some of its mysticality. "Actually, I lied. You should be safe at the summit.

Let Act Two begin."

SpoilerShow

Alright, so several key points about the Hoodoo (what I've christened the pillar, don'tcha know):
Size: About 500m diameter, indeterminate distance high. Walls are about three metres thick. The summit is much smaller, about 100m diameter, though the space you have to walk (and squabble) on is about ten metres wide.
It's not a solid structure, in fact it's more like a volcano, stretched stupidly tall and thin out of proportion. At least, that's how Schazer explained it. Therefore, it has an interior and exterior surface to climb. It's interspersed with decent holes in the structure, letting you slip between the two sides. You might be able to see someone on the other side, but visibility reduces with distance you have to "look through".
Also, the walls aren't vertical, just rather steeply sloped. This is both on the inside and outside.

The stone is singing a song which increases the difficulty to perform magic and exercise non-physical skills. They are still possible, just more exhausting or less effective. It's basically a safeguard against godmoding, which I'll explain more with the mechanic I have in mind for this round. Basically, Schazer's wanting to encourage more character interaction, characterisation, and teamwork amongst you all. Call it a team-building exercise where one of you dies.
Ideas for the handicap include, for example, Gadget's creations not having as much physical strength, or Mike's vectors being strong enough to hold him, but not lift him. Itzal can't transform into doves for long. Cobra's more athletic wolf form tires out quicker. You get the picture. I can't remember if Grimm can fly, but that'll be tiring too. Plus there's not a lot of shadows on this thing.
(Not trying to single you guys out or anything, but I'm just thinking about the most obvious ways to screw the mechanic I'm thinking about. Zeke and Whit are more melee, physical-based fighters so they pretty much only have brute strength to get them up the hill anyway :P Plus these were mostly Schazer's half-formed ideas on it.)

For this round, she's trying out a mechanic she peer-reviewed with me, taking a leaf out of Round II of GBI (which had the sticky bomb which went off after a certain amount of time, dictated by the time realistically taken for actions in peoples' posts.).
In this version, you have to post how much you climb in each post. To make it easier for Schazer if she ever comes back, just post your total distance climbed. She can probably keep track of it.

So, why bother with all this mountaineering when you're supposed to be killing each other? That fog. It will rise up the Hoodoo, keeping (very roughly) pace with the fastest climber. It won't swallow up anyone for a while, but that's not to say the stragglers shouldn't get complacent. It's malevolent. It's a threat. It'll shred the flesh off your bones if you get caught up in it.

The plan is once Schazer gets back she'll decide partway through the round when the leader's climbed a reasonable distance, that the summit is a concrete distance away. Once someone reaches the top, that fog starts rising a heck of a lot faster. By that point, hopefully enough writing would have occurred for me to pick an eliminee. (And if it's the guy who made it to the top first, well, hopefully that won't happen)

At least that's what I got out of her various descriptions.