[elevator] [cerberus]

[guillotineroom]

[ When you open your eyes again the first thing that you, and your teammates, may notice is that you are confined within an iron cage, rectangle in shape. Further inspection will reveal that outside of the cage is a large structure of sorts, reaching far above you. It kind of looks like an unfinished clock tower, really... there are spots that look finished and bolted tightly, and others that look like they had been left once and the work never thought of again.

Also, it's pretty chilly. You might get to notice that.

It's foggy and windy—the kind of wind that howls and roars, jostling your cage against the tall shaft, and every so often you feel as though you might have had the ghost of a raindrop on you. The tower-like build creaks horribly ominously in the wind, and you can see the rusted metals swaying slightly. But if you decide to look around...

Flapping above you (and not helping with the wind) is a harpy-like creature, iron chains wrapped around their talons. Though, maybe it's more like a lion? The chains are bolted to the top of your cage. There are also little indicators on the structure, the same distance apart, that seem to be declaring different levels or heights. They look horribly unhappy to be here, but they're also impressive at ignoring any call you might have for them.

There's a door to the cage, but it won't open, even if it's just a simple-looking locking mechanism. If you peer out, it's too foggy on the ground to make out very much, but you can make out nine other, tower-like structures with similarly flapping harpies. Each one, including your own, has an emblazoned emblem of every team's patron monster, so that you can see where everyone is—it's just difficult to make out exactly who may be in each one. Even more difficult to try and communicate like this.

Attached to the door is an aged metal panel with a screen and four buttons; two to choose between the team names that appear on the dark green and black screen, and two to choose whether you wish for that team to go up or down.

After a moment, a little speaker in the corner starts playing an incredibly bad quality version of this.]

Comments

ROUND 1

[guillotineroom]

TURN IN

[guillotineroom]

Please fill this out and respond to this comment with your choices!

<b>TEAM TO RAISE:</b> <b>TEAM TO LOWER:</b>

Re: TURN IN

[cultfavorite]

TEAM TO RAISE: Yatagarasu
TEAM TO LOWER: Bugbear

DISCUSSION

[guillotineroom]

Re: DISCUSSION

[moonlit_knight]

[They don't expect it to work, but they are going to try and kick the cage door in anyway]

[messianic]

[ watches! He also doesn't expect it to work but also, like, if anyone could it'd be Selena?

No dice though... ]

Re: DISCUSSION

[lonesummit]

[Frowning when it doesn't work. He knew it wouldn't, but one can hope.]

My thoughts precisely. There is no way to make this end well, I think.

[Even if they live, there will be so much devastation...]

Re: DISCUSSION

[featherbeaned]

[ is now a good time to mention that your fluffball is KINDA CLAUSTROPHOBIC- ]

[ Because. Because she sure is that thing! Her ears pin and her tail quivers; it would absolutely be lashing up a storm if she wasn't worried about accidentally smacking a teammate with it. ]

Oh. This is one of the bad ones, isn't it?

[ BABY'S FIRST TRAUMA GAME ]

[messianic]

[ oh no... immediately coming over to try to give the baby fluff a few pets. ]

Mm... it is one of the bad ones. Looks like we've got our work cut out for us.

Re: DISCUSSION

[moonlit_knight]

[thank you for sparing us from tail bruises]

Looks like it.

[menphina]

[ She has to focus. And seeing Unisonya look tense will help her forget her own trouble there. ]

Aye. We'll do better with a clear head though. Alright?

Re: DISCUSSION

[lonesummit]

Unfortunately yes, Miss Unisonya.

But we will endure it together, come what may.

Re: DISCUSSION

[crimeson]

Ugh. What a nasty kind of nostalgia.

[messianic]

Nostalgia...?

Re: DISCUSSION

[moonlit_knight]

What kind of nostalgia do you have.

Re: DISCUSSION

[fujimaru]

[ She's peering out into the mist, trying to see what she can, though she winces when the music starts up. ]

I feel like this is just insult to injury...

[messianic]

[ Minato is inspecting the elevator with tired nostalgia. ]

At least my elevator didn't have elevator music...

Anyway yeah, it's... pretty bad.

[eggstinction]

A cage—?

[goes to one side, rattles the door. goes to the other side, rattles the bars. CLIMBS THE CEILING, RATTLES THE ROOF.]

[menphina]

[ Someone looks very on edge but at least this isn't a closed up box. It's fine, it's fine.

Feel free to notice her breathing is slightly shallow though and tail tense and curled.

Ears are also. Flat. ]

Re: DISCUSSION

[cultfavorite]

[Oh cool it's this kind of thing today huh. Cool! Cool cool!

After doing a slow walk around the perimeter and straining his eyes out into the fog, Saturn stops to look up at the harpy:]

Excuse me! You there. Listen, you! Look at me!

[But it doesn't, and he's tense for a moment as if he's trying to do something, but nothing happens, and he sags in place.]

Ugh. Of course not.

Re: DISCUSSION

[peacetalks]

... ah. I suppose it has been some time since our last incident. Very well, then.

[aymeric clears his throat before raising his voice so everyone can hear him, looking weary]

In the event that we are unable to escape our confines, as I suspect we will not, we will need to make a decision, lest our votes be cast randomly. I propose we honor our alliance with Bugbear and choose to lower them for the time being. As for the team to raise, we have a few options. One option would be to choose a team that is relatively popular and well-liked, and rely on the odds of another team that might have a close bond with them choosing to lower them in another round. Another option would be to pick a team in the opposite vein, relying instead on the likelihood that they are not to be targeted for any ill reason. Neither of these are particularly sound strategies, so we may of course eschew such reasoning entirely, and choose at random.

Have the rest of you any thoughts?

Re: DISCUSSION

[cultfavorite]

[Now that he's gathered his final-ish thoughts after talking to everyone, it's time:]

All right. I think we all share feelings in common for the most part . . . we're decided to lower Bugbear. I think that's a good idea. As for who to raise . . . I have two suggestions. One is to also raise Bugbear, so that we can be certain we're blunting the damage we're dealing out to the team we choose. It's the only method we have of doing that. I also think Bugbear might appreciate the irony of it . . . but I understand it's a risk. I'd like to think the other teams won't target them again after all they've been through, but I can't be certain of that. We could end up adding to a pile.

My other suggestion is Yatagarasu. They're a team with an alliance, so they're sure to have Tsuchigumo lowering them. I think it's very likely Sphinx will lower them as well. And their alliance is less public than that of Phoenix and Basilisk, meaning fewer teams are likely to share this same thought process and target them because it's "safe."

. . . I'm not firm on either of these suggestions. I can be swayed easily enough. But there's my logic.

let's voting

[fujimaru]

[ Currently, Ritsuka doesn't look like she's having a great time, but she's at least steady on her feet as she lifts a hand. ]

I've been thinking about this, and I've got a suggestion--the rules say "no abstaining," but there's nothing that says that you have to make both of the choices. If we just vote on a team to lower, and leave out any option to raise anyone, we're not technically abstaining.

I don't really know what's going to happen if we try it. Maybe we'll end up in trouble, or maybe it'll be fine... maybe it'll backfire on another team. But in my opinion, it's not that much more of a gamble than just randomly picking a team to raise, and probably the safest time to do it would be now, in the first round.

I know Saturn is against it, and that's fine. But we're a full house today, so I think we should put it up for a vote. Either we just avoid raising anyone this round and see what happens, or we pick... let's say Yatagarasu. And see where it goes from there.

And if it comes down to personal consequences, I'm willing to take responsibility, since it was my idea.

RESULTS

[guillotineroom]

Re: RESULTS

[guillotineroom]

[ There's a jolt, and the cage bangs against the side of the elevator shaft a couple of times before it begins rising quickly and awkwardly. You pass a floor, and then another quickly... and only after some time does the cage settle, indicating that you have stopped moving upward.

If you look out, the approximate heights of other elevators looks a bit like this...


Now that you're a bit higher, there's a little less fog! You can peer up and down the elevator shaft and count, approximately, 14 levels, including the bottom one. ]