CARNELIAN

[dramatispersonae]

[After the requisite amount of time, a blinding flash fills your vision. When it clears again, you find yourself standing (or sitting, for the less balanced among you) on the beach … except you’re a hell of a lot smaller. And the sand dunes are a hell of a lot bigger.

You and your knights are each approximately an inch tall, with exceptions made for the lucky dragons and other large non-humanoids, who are the correct size, proportionally. A large flat stretch of sand is on one side of you, with a fresh mound of easily moldable sand next to that. Not that there’s any shortage of sand on the beach. In addition to that, you will find a box full of tools that you can use to craft your sandcastles, including shovels in all shapes and sizes, buckets, cups, and other basic sand stuff. There is also a box labeled SPECIAL SUPPLIES, which has the following items in it:

+ One flag (in team colors)
+ One collapsible drawbridge (push the button to make it life-size)
+ One collapsible portcullis (same as the drawbridge)
+ One cute plastic dragon (person-height)
+ One packet of “instant moat” (just add water!)

You will find that all the tools work at amazing speeds with very little effort. Constructing an epic multi-story castle is very doable even within this short time frame.]

Comments

DISCUSSION

[dramatispersonae]

Re: DISCUSSION

[fighting_alena]

[gah!]

Sand castles we can walk into!?

Re: DISCUSSION

[antreegonist]

*blinking the flash out of his eyes*

It's like her last game all over again...cool.

Re: DISCUSSION

[thankyouverymooch]

You've played this before? Nice! Then this shouldn't be hard for you.

Re: DISCUSSION

[antreegonist]

It's been a while since she ran it! It was cabins last time.

Anyway, I could do exploration if you guys want; I've got enough fighting skills back to handle it, I think.

Re: DISCUSSION

[thankyouverymooch]

Works great for me, Mr. Knight! Alena seems like a creative type anyway, so keeping her here sounds good to me.

Re: DISCUSSION

[fighting_alena]

...Lynx? Was that a joke, or...

Re: DISCUSSION

[antreegonist]

Mithos, it's Mithos. Whatever works for you guys.

Re: DISCUSSION

[fighting_alena]

Are we exploring for a purpose, or is it purely to find dangerous things?

Re: DISCUSSION

[thankyouverymooch]

[ . . . surprised.]

Well, that explains what the machine was for. —Anyway! Any volunteers for exploration? I don't have a weapon with me and I'm still going through training, so I'd only slow things down.

Re: DISCUSSION

[godfatherly]

[ whup

and then i was here

posture's a lot better than that memory post, too ]

BUILD

[dramatispersonae]

Re: BUILD

[godfatherly]

[ Walking, marking a perimeter in a perfect circle with his footsteps. ]

Re: BUILD

[thankyouverymooch]

[ looking at ]

I'm guessing that's the area we'll build on? What's the plan, exactly?

Re: BUILD

[godfatherly]

[ Pauses, and starts to draw in the sand with one finger. ]

Re: BUILD

[thankyouverymooch]

Am I supposed to do the same or what?

Re: BUILD

[godfatherly]

No.

[ Pulls back and points at it, which is jerk for "look at it."

It's a picture of a castle compound. The design’s exterior is one low wall. The outside is smooth, but the inside of this wall slopes inward. There are some abstracted but recognizable waves drawn just inside that sloping wall to show a moat. On the other side of the moat, there’s another, higher wall. The bottom of this wall slopes, then goes straight upward on its outer face. Its inner face is straight and smooth as well. The draw bridge actually goes over the moat across the two walls.

On the inside of the second wall, there’s three conical towers with flat tops. In the center of those towers, and taller than them, is something like a round ziggurat… or a wedding cake with a lot of layers. It’s round, and has tiers that gradually get smaller, with a circular pathway that spirals along the whole thing. There’s a dragon drawn with a few quick stroke sat the top of the spiral-tiered-thing.

It’s obvious that ZERO THOUGHT has been put in to making this livable, or decorated, though it's all physically possible to do with sand and takes the moat eroding walls into account. It just looks cool. And circles!!!

Overall a less shitty version of this. ]

EXPLORE

[dramatispersonae]

Re: EXPLORE

[fighting_alena]

[AND SO, Alena and Mithos set out together to explore the sand!!]

Re: EXPLORE

[dramatispersonae]

[Something dark moves in the water over here. You’re not sure what it is, but it doesn’t look like much fun. And in this other direction, a deliciously buttery smell seems to permeate the air. If you’re the type to enjoy baked goods, then your mouth is probably watering.

Which way? Both ways?]

Re: EXPLORE

[antreegonist]

Somehow I get the feeling the watery way is extra dangerous.

Re: EXPLORE

[fighting_alena]

Me too.

Let's go that way!

Re: EXPLORE

[antreegonist]

*WATERWARDS WE GO THEN! keeping an eye out for driftwood or any foliage that might have drifted over, too, as per Shiny's request*

SUBMIT

[dramatispersonae]

[Final sandcastle descriptions go here! Make sure to note how many outside pieces you found and put in yours.]

Re: SUBMIT

[godfatherly]

[ The exterior of the sandcastle compound is one low wall. The outside is straight-up, and plastered with driftwood splinters and smooth, dried seaweed like a paper mache casing to keep it from collapsing outward. Gotta remember that sand is crumbly and stop it from crumbling outward when you need that wall for defense… though the seaweed isn’t terribly ugly. It’s got fairly neat patterns of circles and spirals to its application. The inward side of this wall is sloped outward, though, because the moat is on the other side of it. The sloping is designed so that the water doesn’t erode bottom of the wall away and make the whole thing collapse. Eel teeth are spaced evenly along the wall.

On the other side of the moat, there’s another, higher wall. The very bottom of this wall slopes, again to avoid erosion, but then it goes straight up. The inner side is straight-up, as well.

The drawbridge actually goes across the two walls. The portcullis is in the outer wall, aligned with the drawbridge, but it’s basically a trick portcullis unless you have a boat to sail the moat. A gold-and-carnelian ring is embedded in the sand above the portcullis and below the drawbridge, because a) yeah Carnelian is hella awesome and b) circles are hella awesome.

Within the inner ring, there are three equidistant conical towers with flat tops. Each of the towers has the same driftwood and seaweed shell as the outer wall to prevent crumbling. One has a circle pressed in its center, and lines radiating out from the circle. If a miniature person stood there, they’d be a human sundial. The second tower has a mock telescope of sand and driftwood splinters. The third is empty.

At the center of the towers is a large circular ziggurat… or maybe a wedding cake with lots of layers? It used to be the big pile of sand, but has been shaped into tiers, with a spiral ramp winding its way up the structure and between the levels. It was built to take advantage of what was already there, and to build something cool while bearing in mind that sand really wants to be a crumbly heap. On the very highest tier is the dragon, with the Carnelian flag clutched in its claws. There are paths between the towers and to the inner wall radiating from the ziggurat like a sun’s rays.

There is a very obvious theme of honoring the sky and CIRCLES!!1! to the whole compound, as well as making construction adjustments to handle the fact that the whole thing is built out of sand.

And here is a terrible visual reference.

BROUGHT IN FROM THE OUTSIDE:

- seaweed (coating outer wall and towers)
- driftwood (coating outer wall and towers)
- armful of giant eel teeth (along outer wall)
- carnelian and gold ring (embedded in outer wall) ]