dramatispersonae | SAPPHIRE

You are one half of a story to be played out today: either a hero or a monster. You must invent a backstory, motivation, set of powers, and anything else necessary for your monster or hero to defeat its opponent. Both consistency and creativity will be factored into scoring; for best results, tie their powers into their archetype as well as the backstory and motivation you give them.

"Every year, the Dragon comes to terrorize the village. This time, a Knight has been sent to slay it."

You will be designing The Dragon. Ruby will be designing The Knight.

[ S C O R E ]

So we'll be making ourselves a troublesome pet... Well, then, in order to make a full story, there should be a reason for it to come only once a year.

If it were a migratory dragon which terrorized a number of places in a yearly schedule of travel, surely a town or city would send forces rather than a simple village... and venturing out for food only once a year doesn't sound like a natural behavior, not if this simple village is left still standing after all this time. No, this ritual reeks of a human grudge - a vengeful master dictating her monster's actions.

A witch flirting with occult magic, cast out of her home by her neighbors, who in her isolation came into the skill of taming dragons. Now, each year on the anniversary of her banishment, she sends her most powerful pet to remind them of their wrong against her.

[ yes this sounds good to me ]

As for powers... A dragon's natural strengths are its scales, claws, teeth, and fire, of course, but could a witch's powers not lend themselves to that as well?

Well, the focus, of course, is in defeating a hero... Hard scales hardened yet further which can be pierced by no blade...

[ hm ]

Excuse me, Persona, should I be assigning weaknesses as well?

[a muted grumbling]

Mmm, what is it she says of her stories...weaknesses add verisimilitude.

You may add weaknesses, and the strengths will be that much stronger.

Hm. Thank you.

Then an imperviousness to blades, but a weakness to fire, instilled by the effects of its master's curse, who wanted the sting of her flaming whip to land true. So despite its own inner heat, a great fire can melt through its solid scales and reach its vulnerable outer skin. I suppose the inside of its mouth can also be pierced- if a sword can be brought past its fangs. The dragon itself, of course, is so immense, only its wings can hold it up- its own crushing weight can be used as a weapon. A swing of its tail could knock over a grown man. Of course, then it would find difficulty in maneuvering itself in small spaces, or even simply keeping up with a particularly quick opponent.

Re: DISCUSSION

stageplay - 2014-09-10 01:38 (UTC) - Expand

Ages ago, a woman captivated by the allure of dark magic was cast out of her home village. In her time away, she nursed both her grudge and her skills, and taught herself even to tame dragons. Soon, she returned - in order to send her strongest dragon, imbued with her own power, to wreak havoc on the hometown which had rejected her.

This dragon is immense enough to crush its adversaries with its weight alone. Only its own powerful wings can carry it. This hinders its movements, especially in smaller spaces, but unless matched against a particularly agile opponent, capable of evading it, merely a swing of its tail can topple a grown man with ease. And, though its legs can be tied down, any attempt to bind its wings should prove futile against their sheer brute strength.

By the sorceress's power, this dragon's scales are impervious to any normal blades- only the inside of its mouth, if someone dares to approach its sharp teeth and fiery breath, is vulnerable to the edge of a sword. By the design of its own master, however, who wields a whip of flame in training her creatures, a flame of great heat can melt through its scales and scald its skin beneath.

It possesses no weakness to water, or to water magic, but due to the influence of its unholy master, blessed objects and weapons can deal fair damage against it.

The shadows on stage flicker and follow your cue...then fade for the time being.

A pot of tea and some cups appear for you to refresh yourselves with.

The players in this show have been created! Now it's time to plan your attack. You can see what your opponents designed; give an explanation of how your hero or monster attacks it.

Onceuponatime—as most of these stories begin—there was a knight who lived, er ... well. Shall we say that this knight lived in a quaint little town and/or village that was full of a variety of fine occupants. It was a small town, appropriately named Broxton, Oklahama, in the realm of Midgard! There was Joe's Eatery, which made the best cup of coffee this side of the Mississippi, as well as the fine purveyor of the shaken milk. Erm, so! This fine knight grew up as so many knights of the time did, frolicking with the mortals and aiding them in their daily lives. Ever since he was young, this hero was quite the charmer! Though he wasn't as handsome as one would think (his nose was a bit flat, his legs like two tree stumps, and his chest so hairy that it wasn't unlike a grassy field protruding from his shirt), he was well-liked. He learned to fight by trying to aid those that were in need of help, and frequently carried around a massive hammer, which he used to both build and tear down anything that was in his path!

This mighty hero of ours did hold a dark secret. Ever since he was a child, he had a problem with smelly gas. That's right, he could clear a room in point eight, flat! It was particularly a problem after large meals, where the fellow knight would consume large quantities of gaseous vegetables and several fowl.

Despite his terrible secret, he became the protector of Broxton, clever, witty, a bit homely, but oh so very charming! He made friends with everyone near him. They were all very taken with him. It was very good, since whenever he'd let one "slip," he'd, er ... blame it on the person standing beside him with a hearty bellow of "adios, asshole!"

It was something he never did face fully, but something else was very certain, he knew from the bottom of his knightly heart that true prosperity is made with those around you.

Edited 2014-09-10 01:59 (UTC)

*in addition to your story you appear to have received a bonus knight!

he drops into the auditorium and falls to his hands and knees, breathing hard as if he'd run a mile.*

[ uh ]

Are you okay?

*takes a few seconds to respond, as if he didn't hear, but then he looks up slowly and nods*

Where...where am I?

The Ring. We're in the middle of a game.

[ please tell me you're not BRAND new ]

*unfortunately...*

I didn't understand any of that, but it seems as though we should finish what we're doing before I ask a hundred questions.

[ OH DEAR ]

For the time being, the shortest explanation is that we're participating in this storytelling game in order to gain back our memories. The man running this game has the power to bring them back to us if we do well.

The curtains roll away to reveal the Ring once more. You may proceed to endgame.

[ ... that's it??

I'll keep. schooling newbie for a bit first ]

ROUND ONE

ASSIGNMENT

DISCUSSION

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ROUND TWO

OPPONENT

DISCUSSION

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SUBMISSION

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