RUBY.

[dramatispersonae]

[The inside of the tent is spacious, but spare. In the center of the hard-packed dirt floor, as promised, there is a heavy oaken trapdoor with an iron ring set into it.

Apart from that, there is nothing.]

Comments

RULES

[dramatispersonae]

[OOC: Discuss as a team, but choose as individuals: do you venture back into Camelot? What will you try to save? How many of you will be going this time, and who will it be?

After every trip, players will be asked if they’ll be making the trip again. Each new trip starts a new round. After five rounds, when everyone in the team is satisfied that they’ve made enough trips, or are rendered unable to make further trips, inform Mordred and you’ll progress to the final round. Status effects, some mental and some physical, will be handed out each round, increasing in severity rapidly. Anyone who finds their status effects too rough to role-play may request catatonia instead, but that will effectively remove them from play until endgame.

This is not an exploradora, but a game about choices. If you choose to venture into Camelot, once you’ve picked your route, the journey itself will be handwaved except for the status effect and the success or failure of your salvage attempt.]

ROUND ONE: IN THE TENT

[dramatispersonae]

DISCUSS

[dramatispersonae]

Re: DISCUSS

[abandon_hope]

[ this looks like a game?? but Nico is still a little panicky. ]

We - we have to get the rest of our teammates out first, right?

Re: DISCUSS

[hallucinogenetic]

[unsheathing Mugen with a rasp of metal]

This is fucking bullshit.

SUBMIT

[dramatispersonae]

Do you venture back into Camelot?
What will you try to save?
How many of you will be going this time, and who will it be?

Re: SUBMIT

[badnewsboy]

Do you venture back into Camelot? Yes.
What will you try to save? The rest of Ruby & a Sterling Knight.
How many of you will be going this time, and who will it be? 5; kanda, nico, tavros, loki & gold.
tavros & gold to sterling
loki, nico & kanda to ruby!

Round One

[dramatispersonae]

[Following the dank, cramped, serpentine coils of the tunnel will lead eventually to a cellar beneath one of the abandoned buildings in the lower city. The fire has not yet reached this point, but bristling shadows move past in the street in front of the house - traveling that way is sure to mean a fight.

The back door, however, is quiet, save for the buzzing of flies. A tacky, red-brown substance has leaked over the threshold - unmistakably blood. Even cracking the door lets in a charnel aroma. There’s no threat that way, and you can sneak to your destination… but you’ll be picking a path through the abandoned dead, which is an experience that carries its own negative weight.

Front door or back door?]

Re: Round One

[abandon_hope]

[ eh, dead people aren't so bad. quieted now that they're actually out here and doing stuff. ]

... I think we should go the back way.

Re: Round One

[badnewsboy]

[lots of dead people, he remembers junk like this]

The creepy way with the flies?

[purses his lips]

As you say.

Re: Round One

[thatsmycue]

[b. . . blood. . . ]

[wrinkling his nose, surveying the damage]

Khhh. . .

Re: Round One

[pchaaair]

It is pretty bad, isn't it?

Front.

[hallucinogenetic]

RESULTS

[dramatispersonae]

[ You drag back the unconscious bodies of your teammates and one sterling knight with you. ]

[You return from your trip, but not unscathed. Numerous scratches mark your body, and the blood from them is darker and thicker than you would expect. Nothing crippling, nothing life-threatening, but you might not be so lucky if you tried it again.]

ROUND TWO: In the Tent

[dramatispersonae]

DISCUSS

[dramatispersonae]

Re: DISCUSS

[badnewsboy]

[wiping the blood from his cheek]

Ah, well, not to say that wasn't awful.

Re: DISCUSS

[hallucinogenetic]

[totally unbothered, just watching the others]

SUBMIT

[dramatispersonae]

Do you venture back into Camelot?
What will you try to save?
How many of you will be going this time, and who will it be?

FINAL ROUND: What is saved?

[dramatispersonae]

[When the survivors of Camelot have finished, for one reason or another, with their trips into the city, the Ring has become yet more unpleasant. An ashy wind is blowing from Camelot, and amidst the hot grey snow, embers are catching among the tents, slowly eating red-rimmed holes in the fabric. The pulse of the light with each new gust of wind makes it look as if they are breathing. Mordred is standing on the closed trap-door leading to his new realm, eyeing the collection of rescued items and battered survivors.]

Was it worth it? Did all of that effort… really do any good? Look at what you saved. Consider what you lost. And consider… some among you have been marked by Darkness, now. You can see it in the way they act. If you come into the next realm with it, you’ll carry the Darkness with you. I’m not so heartless as to stop you… but you’ll be putting all that you are, and all that’s in you, into that creation. Would you want to bring with you the seeds of another Jabberwock?

[He grins, suddenly.]

Another me?

[He gestures, and his black knights heft a clattering parcel amidst the heroes.

Fourteen swords.]

Choose for yourselves. You can bring the infection with you… leave it behind to fester… or show mercy, and end it now. I leave the responsibility… entirely in your hands.

Follow me when you’re ready.

[Rules: decide whether to bring along, leave behind, or kill your insane or corrupted teammates. When you’ve reached your decision &/or carried it out, report to Mordred.]

Re: FINAL ROUND: What is saved?

[abandon_hope]

...

What infection?

Re: FINAL ROUND: What is saved?

[thatsmycue]

. . . [uuuuuh]

What darkness? All we got were some scratches.

Re: FINAL ROUND: What is saved?

[pchaaair]

...

I have been infected with Darkness before, and I do not feel Darkness infected now.

Re: FINAL ROUND: What is saved?

[hallucinogenetic]

Go fuck yourself.

HEY MORDRED

[hallucinogenetic]

[tying his hair back]

Pick up a sword, then. There's only one thing we're not interested in bringing with us.

Give back what you've taken from me, and I'll take you on—unless you're such a knight that would decline a swordsman's challenge?