Action: Come one, come all!

[ofthebeast]

Characters: ALL THE PEOPLE
Open? Yes.
Where: The Palace
When: The night of the 3RD
What: A masquerade ball and a very deep sleep.
Warnings: Part of a comm-wide plot!

The Prince Sif has felled an unknown beast, and presented its stuffed head to the King. This would be reason enough for a ball, but there are victories to celebrate. More heroes arrive every day. The kingdom was aptly defended when the forest wall fell. No one has tried to assassinate the king in several days.

All told, a good night for a party. The theme of the ball is a masquerade, and shops in town have been surprisingly (almost suspiciously) able to provide gowns and masks in ready supply.

The palace has been opened to heroes and townspeople alike, provided they can present themselves appropriately. The heroes have been strongly encouraged to attend, and those who do not come voluntarily may well be greeted with royal retainers at their doorstep, outfit and dance card in hand. Expect a very full dance card, heroes.

The banquet table is stacked full of food – roasts and cheeses, summer fruits and vegetables, rivers of wine and more ornate desserts than should be permitted in a time or war. This evening is about success – best to enjoy it.

In the center of the ball sits the beast’s head. A scaly, purple thing. Its eyes have been taken out and replaced with rubies, its mouth twisted in the same sort of anguished look on its face as when Sif killed it. There has never been a beast like this in Schwanheim before – if you like, come closer and take a look. The king is very generous with his gifts.

[ooc: The party is a LIE. Well. No, it isn’t! Enjoy the party. Your characters will be expected to wear full masquerade gear, or they will be shunted aside and dressed properly.

After the attendees go home, they will be plagued with dreams more tangible than they have ever felt. More information here]

Comments

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura nodded with a bit of a sheepish smile. "Un, true enough. Though really, everything else here seems to run on game and movie logic, so I don't know how much sense anything really makes."

[somewhatpointy]

"Considering how much sense bringing all of us here in the first place makes, that's understandable. Ryo crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "I mean, I fought monsters back home, fine, but some of the others I've seen don't look like they could stand up to much..."

Present company included, actually. Ryo wondered just how someone like Bakura would fare out there with the sorts of monsters this place apparently has. That beast head propped up there looks like it would even give him a hard time. He doubted everything there was this impressive, or otherwise this party wouldn't have been held, but still.

"Do you have any idea how they pick people, or is it all just luck?" Bad luck, probably.

[shiromadoushi]

"I think it's at random, to be honest," Bakura admitted. "Some people, like Alanna and Sif are really good fighters and heroes in their own worlds of their own abilities! Others..." he trailed off with a bit of a sheepish smile. "I'm not exactly the fighter type," he admitted. More the designated victim, if he were being honest about his situation. "Having magic helps, but I'm really not sure how good I'd be going up against something like that!" he nodded towards the head.

[somewhatpointy]

"Magic?" Well, that could change things, Ryo supposed. It wasn't anything he really understood,to be honest. Some of the Unknown back home had been in possession of abilities that were pretty much as good as magic, and they'd been absolutely brutal. "I dunno, magic can be pretty powerful stuff, I'd guess. Not like I know much about it. But I'd imagine it could get your enemies a few nasty surprises." He wondered if Bakura had just had it before coming here, or if he'd been given those abilities upon arriving. This place was funny that way.

"You know, if you want to learn how to fight, I could show you the basics, at least. How to throw a punch, break an enemy's grapple. Stuff like that." Ryo shrugged. "Just nothing with weapons. I'm not much for them."

[shiromadoushi]

"Really?" Bakura perked up slightly. "That could be really helpful, if you wouldn't mind it!"

Since he really hadn't had much luck with weapons training with either of the woman who had offered. They were... intimidating.

[somewhatpointy]

"Yeah, sure, we can do that. I'm not really sure where a good place to try would be; I'm still getting the lay of the land and all that." Granted, Ryo had no idea how good a teacher he would actually be, seeing as how he was more of a brawler than anyone who subscribed to a particular school of hand-to-hand combat. Still, it would be worth a shot.

[shiromadoushi]

"There's part of the courtyard that gets used for that sort of thing, or the fields between the town and the forest, for things that might be messy."

Read: Magical in nature or likely to backfire.

[somewhatpointy]

"Well, I don't plan on showing you anything too...extreme." It wasn't like there would be any need for Ryo to become Gills for something as simple as a training session, they wouldn't be using any weapons, and Ryo didn't know the first thing about magic so that was out. They'd be safe enough at the castle. "We shouldn't cause too much damage."

[shiromadoushi]

"So the castle grounds should be fine, then," Bakura nodded, unknowingly vocalizing what the other had thought of.

[somewhatpointy]

Ryo nodded. "We can set things up there, see how it goes. If things take a turn for the worse--though I don't see how--we can take it into the forest." Besides, the forest would have additional complications...though an attacking monster would potentially have educational benefits, it likely wouldn't help at all in the early lessons.

[shiromadoushi]

"To just outside of it," Bakura corrected. "I don't think inside it would be such a good idea, especially not if the witch is already annoyed with us."

[somewhatpointy]

Well, that was news to Ryo. "...witch?"

Of COURSE there would be a witch. It made as much sense as anything else in this place, particularly with the whole fairy tale bent it seemed to have. Still, he didn't seem all that concerned over the witch. He'd faced down the Overlord of Darkness back home. Fought countless Unknown. A simple annoyed witch didn't seem all that worrisome in comparison...as long as he didn't think too hard on all the possible things magic could theoretically do, because that was a pretty big unfamiliar factor. It had dragged his butt here, after all...

[shiromadoushi]

"The one with the candy house in the forest..." Bakura's rather aware how just... cliche that sounds and it's very clear on his face.

[somewhatpointy]

"..."

It seems that has left Ryo momentarily speechless before he heaves a bit of a sigh.

"...of course she's out there in the forest with a candy house."

Whoops, didn't mean to tense shift there, sorry!

[shiromadoushi]

"I think there's one of every cliche somewhere in this place, waiting to be found," Bakura smiled, looking down a bit sheepishly.

It's cool, I do that all the time jumping between logs and action posts!

[somewhatpointy]

Ryo shook his head. "It's certainly beginning to look that way. Any other potentially dangerous cliches I should be worried about?"

[shiromadoushi]

"Mmm..." Bakura pondered a moment. "Mostly just the things in the Forest, I think... I haven't really come up against too many things, thankfully!" And the ones he had were lost in that fog of memory loss from before he had woken up in said forest...

"Ah! Right, there's a lake in the forest you shouldn't drink from!"

[somewhatpointy]

At this point, Ryo was growing curious about the Forest. He wanted to try exploring it, to see what all was really out there. It might not have been the most well-advised course of action, but he'd never been one to take the cautious route.

"...I take it not drinking from it is something more than a simple case of it giving you serious stomach cramps."

[shiromadoushi]

Neither was Bakura, which was how he (assumed he) wound up in his situation. "Aaa... no. It knocks you out and makes you unable to remember things."

[somewhatpointy]

"That's...pretty bad." Ryo grimaced. "Granted, there are some things I'd probably be better off not knowing, but there's no way I'm going to hit up a magic forgetting pond for that." Because, really, no one wants to remember that time they died. It wasn't a very pleasant memory.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura would disagree with that, but he did get to see his sister very briefly when he died, and come back to life after, so it wasn't exactly that unpleasant of a thing for him.

"And I don't know if it'd be able to be used that specifically, though I really don't want to try it out again to find out!"

[somewhatpointy]

"Doesn't sound like it would be a good idea for anyone to try under any circumstances, really." Ryo shook his head. "I knew a guy back home with a bad case of amnesia. Wasn't really anything I'd care to experience myself."

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura nodded. "It's pretty disconcerting, even if you're used to forgetting things." Especially if that was the case...

[somewhatpointy]

"I'd imagine it would be." Ryo grimaced. "Anything else?"

[shiromadoushi]

"I think that covers most of it!" Bakura rubbed the back of his neck a bit sheepishly.