[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/6zc773j.jpg[/img][/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center] [hr][center][color=silver]𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟟, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / 𝕌𝕊𝔸ℝ𝕀𝕃ℕ 𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕥 / / 𝕃𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 ℍ𝕒𝕝𝕝 ℤ: ℝ𝕠𝕠𝕞 𝟚𝟛 / / 𝟙𝟛𝟘𝟝[/color][/center][hr] As the young mages filed into the classroom, four previously occupied seats remained unfilled. Notably, the seats of Christmas Halvost, Lilianna Brandt, Gregory Irving, and Sophia Lemane. Just before the last student took their seat, Fredric strolled into the classroom, passing a small stack of papers to the guard stationed in the corner by the door. Despite his confrontation with Angel, he betrayed no hint that they'd ever spoken outside of a warm smile in her direction. He proceeded to address the rest of the class with his knuckles against his hips. [color=f7976a]"Welcome back, guys! Hope you all had a good lunch. For our first order of business, I'll go ahead and explain how these elective blocks are going to work after today."[/color] As Fredric spoke, the guard by the door stepped forward and began passing out a simple form. Below a line labeled 'Name' was a list of several subjects along with some instructions. Boxes big enough to write in lined up with each subject. [list]Art/Photography Creative Writing Woodworking P.E. Film Study Music Theory Home Ec Computer Science[/list] [color=f7976a]"With all the dirt that's been kicked up these past few days in addition to organizing our little experiment here, I'm afraid most of the available elective courses for this block are already near full. With that being the case, we can't guarantee everyone will get the electives they want most. Number the subjects from 1 to 8-- 1 being the subject you want most and 8 being the one you want least. Turn 'em in before you leave here today, if ya don't mind."[/color] [color=f7976a]"Now--"[/color] Fredric clapped his hands together once in excitement, [color=f7976a]"--on to the fun part."[/color] From his pockets, the man pulled four pieces of sturdy looking fabric attached to thick strips of velcro: purple, yellow, aqua blue, and white with red polka dots. [color=f7976a]"Rosa and I have been brainstorming names all day and the best we can come up with is 'Flag and Seek.' During your assessments, we couldn't help but notice how Red Team seemed to have some trouble keeping Mr. Halvost safe and sound, though Blue Team did a good job with Ms. Brandt. Healers are an essential asset to the team and need to be treated as such, especially since Dreamcatcher's monsters know this as well. Any tell you give them, any careless show of where your healer is, and they'll headhunt. And soon enough we're in this sorry situation where healers are prized commodities,"[/color] the glimmer of mischief in his eyes faded a bit at the statement, but returned after a blink. [color=f7976a]"In any case, Mr. Halvost and Ms. Brandt are our only healers and we needed four for our little game, so we've taken Mr. Irving and Ms. Lemane as well."[/color] [color=f7976a]"You want them back?"[/color] Fredric smiled and pulled a black dry erase marker from his pocket, tossing the flags to the guard who'd just finished passing out the elective forms, [color=f7976a]"Pay attention."[/color] Strolling up to the board, Fredric began drawing a finely detailed outline of a man with practiced precision. [color=f7976a]"You'll be divided into teams of four. Team One will go up against Team Two, and Team Three; Team Four. While one set of teams take their turn, the other set will anonymously evaluate them. You guys need to know how to utilize brutally honest criticism from your peers just as much as you need to recognize a good plan from a bad plan."[/color] Finishing the sillouette outline, Fredric began adding more lines as he spoke, [color=f7976a]"Now let's talk about the point system. Goes without saying, but the team with the most points at the end of the ten minute time period wins. You get points by stealing flags. Each player gets six flags. One for the chest, which is worth two points-- here."[/color] He drew a line connecting to the lines across the chest that he'd drawn, followed by '2 pts'. [color=f7976a]"One for the head-- also two points. And one for each wrist and ankle, one point each. Just in case you're wondering about the point distribution, think of it this way: failing to protect your head or chest is usually death."[/color] [color=f7976a]"Additionally--"[/color] Fredric drew a nigh perfect first aid cross off to the side, [color=f7976a]"Each team gets a 'healer'. Healers are like the golden snitch-- worth 32 points total if you can find them and bring them back to your safe point. The only way to even the board at that point is to nab the other team's healer or collect every single one of their flags. To help motivate you, we're offering a nice incentive: the two winning teams won't have to attend our pretend-school classes for a week. That means no pesky guards waking you up early, no boring teachers droning in your ears, and no forced socialization in the name of building teamwork. Unless you want to, of course."[/color] [color=f7976a]"The rules of Flag and Seek are as follows,"[/color] he continued, writing them down as he spoke, [color=f7976a]"If you lose all your flags, you're out. Shuffle yourself somewhere safe and wait until the round's over. No lethal methods or you get tazed and take a nap. No running out of Ground Zero or you get tazed and take a nap. No hiding your flags under your clothes. No putting lost flags back on. If you lose possession of the flags by any means, the points go to the other team. Yes, Mr. Francis, that means if you take off your flags to transform, those points immediately go to the other team once the game starts. But you get to be a dragon! So weigh the damage. Your objectives are simple: occupy the enemy and take their flags--and that means block them, distract them, hold them back, whatever you've got up your sleeves; find your healer and make sure the enemy never gets to them; find the enemy's healer and make sure you return to the marked point with them in tow, even if you have to knock them out to do so; and, of course, work with your team."[/color] At the latest mention of "team," Fredric drew two tables of two columns each on the adjacent whiteboard, lines perfectly straight and perpendicular. Each column had the lists of names comprising the teams with their designated healer as well. [u]Team One (The Abusement Park - polka dots):[/u] [list]Sander Angelique Marcus Grant Healer: Lilianna[/list] [u]Team Two (Multiple Scorgasms - aqua blue):[/u] [list]Callan Christopher Siena Kusari Healer: Christmas[/list] [u]Team Three (Victorious Secret - yellow):[/u] [list]Allison Lawrence Hazel Zoe Healer: Sophia[/list] [u]Team Four (The Mighty Mushroom Bruisers - purple):[/u] [list]Emma Brent Ernie Savannah Healer: Gregory[/list] When that was done, he leaned back, surveying the two boards and making sure the information was correct. A brief pause later and he turned around, expression somber. [color=f7976a]"It seems like fun and games, but try to take it a bit seriously. Lack of teamwork kills almost as often as Dreamcatcher's monsters do and I can't tell you--as in, I am not allowed to tell you--the number of groups we've lost so far just because they couldn't coordinate with each other,"[/color] he said, sitting down at the desk. [color=f7976a]"Not a single person here is under any illusions about your willingness,"[/color] Fredric leaned forward and rested his forearms against the desk's wooden surface with a short sigh. [color=f7976a]"But you all know where we would be without mages fighting those things. We're fighting fire with fire here because we don't have a choice. They've learned well enough by now to stay away from more densely populated cities where the chances of running into a large number of mages are high, but that hasn't stopped them from attacking smaller locales. And..."[/color] He stared out the window, expression blank and unreadable before he looked back at them. [color=f7976a]"...you should know that they've been behaving strangely in the last year. Everything we're doing might seem unfathomable and absurd because we can't tell you what we don't know, but trust me when I say we're doing the best we can with what we have. And you guys are what we have...on our side, at least,"[/color] he finished quietly, staring at each of them in turn before his face split into another wide smile. [color=f7976a]"Well, then. I hope you all copied that down, because you'll have the next..."[/color] he flicked his wrist upwards and checked the time, [color=f7976a]"two and a half hours of class and a break to ruminate on it!"[/color] A cheerful wave and wink later, Fredric was out of his seat and out of the room again as their pockmarked biology teacher coughed and wheezed his way into the room, afflicted by a cold so severe his lecture was barely comprehensible. To make matters worse, he had come in nearly forty minutes earlier than the intended class period thanks to Fredric's early exit, so the students had even more bonding time with their cold-ridden instructor. The remaining chemistry period passed soon enough (with an angry man in a black dress shirt and slacks and close-cropped hair barking about stoichiometry at them) and before long Fredric returned to notify them of the half-hour break before the mandatory training session. [color=f7976a]"Mandatory,"[/color] he stressed again, nodding meaningfully at their ankle cuffs. [color=f7976a]"I have plenty of pull, but not enough to save you from the Director's wrath."[/color] With that, classes concluded for the moment, the sky already losing its blue hue and verging on darker tones in the shorter autumn days. [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center] [hr][center][color=silver]𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟟, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / 𝕌𝕊𝔸ℝ𝕀𝕃ℕ 𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕥 / / 𝔾𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 ℤ𝕖𝕣𝕠 / / 𝟙𝟞𝟚𝟘[/color][/center][hr] The four designated "healers" had been snatched by guards near the end of lunch and taken away to a security outpost near Ground Zero where Rosa had explained the game to them as well--neglecting to mention which "healer" was on which team--with the warning that their role was to stay hidden at all costs or risk solitary confinement in a containment chamber. For the designated "healers," it was a lesson in learning where to be and who to trust, especially if they were alone in an unfamiliar environment. Even as she cheerily mentioned the consequences, however, Rosa placed several bowls of crackers, cookies, chips and salsa, and various other party snacks on a nearby table, adjacent to the main control desk, letting the four students eat as they liked while she turned to the various screens embedded in the floor-to-ceiling wall of monitors in the large security room. The screens displayed various hallways, classrooms, and buildings, but a particular batch of twenty screens on the right displayed Ground Zero up close and personal. They had added a few more cameras just for the occasion, tucked in corners of Ground Zero and marked for retrieval before the reset wiped them out of existence. After some deliberation, the staff mage picked out four locations for the healers, motioning for the guards to take Lilianna and Christmas towards Ground Zero while a different group led Gregory and Sophia to another room in the security outpost, locking them inside with several other guards and a quick [color=f7976a]"You're free to eat from the fridge. Now wait here."[/color] The two healers for the first round were escorted to a large clearing that might have been a plaza of some sort before whatever befell the nameless city. Several dead bodies dotted the expanse, freshly shot by the setup teams while the rest of the "people" in the looping town had been scared away, leaving that section free from interference. On either end of the plaza were bright orange circles drawn in spray paint on the ground with the words "SAFE POINT" in capital letters below the circle with "1" or "2" following the words. The cement sported cracks and small ruptures like something heavy had charged through the place--or many "something"s. A nearby building barely stood, half of its support structures collapsed inward from where a gaping hole had been smashed into its side. It had been a restaurant of some sort, the aperture revealing in a mockery of a window the rows of parallel aluminum counters and stove tops where pots and pans had been abandoned, their contents rotting and congealing. Cooking utensils littered the floor of the establishment, the patches of brown and red threatening temporary tetanus to anyone foolish enough to cut themselves on the knives and forks. Cars lay on the circular fringe of the plaza where a street wound around the location, their wheels stolen, windows smashed, and chassis rusting over, weathered by both time and the elements and fixed into that repeating moment of decay by the ghost's power. Several arching street lamps had been torn from their bases and lay twisted and bent across the marred concrete. On the asphalt of the roundabout that circled the plaza's perimeter, there was an open manhole. Further away, a five-story apartment building that had blissfully survived the destruction by a hair's breadth had been entirely abandoned, the evidence of its near obliteration in the scores of gashes decorating its red stucco walls. The guards split into two groups, one set taking Lilianna and depositing her in the defunct freezer of a dilapidated restaurant with orders to either remain hidden there or hide away elsewhere at her discretion. The abandoned dining establishment was located on the outskirts of the plaza, near of Team One's designated safe point and far from Team Two's goal. The other set lowered Christmas down a manhole where stagnant water and thick, viscous fluid discolored by waste and chemicals worked in tandem to make him nearly throw up his lunch. One guard lead him by gun and flashlight down the walkway extending along the large sewer pipe for several long minutes before they turned into a passageway on the right and then made several more lefts and rights until Christmas had no idea where he was in relation to the exit point. Once that was done, the guard handed him the flashlight with repeated orders to [color=f7976a]"Stay hidden"[/color] before flicking on a mounted light on the rifle, leaving Christmas behind in the near total darkness and fetid stench. [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center] [hr][center][color=silver]𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟟, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / 𝕌𝕊𝔸ℝ𝕀𝕃ℕ 𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕥 / / 𝔾𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 ℤ𝕖𝕣𝕠 / / 𝟙𝟞𝟜𝟘[/color][/center][hr] When the healers for the first round had been placed in their spots and the escorting guards gone from the area, the morning's group of escorts found the students at the end of the break period, this time herding them in a tight group towards the direction of Ground Zero, which had now been cleared of all other students. As they reached the periphery of the school grounds, just as the group drew closer to the security outpost that bordered Ground Zero, the entire group came to a halt at a loud order from the foremost soldier. Half the group was split apart and taken to the security outpost room where Rosa waited with snacks and a smile, leaving behind the members of Teams One and Two. From the security outpost building, two guards emerged hefting a large cooler, joining the remaining students on their march to Ground Zero. The first and second teams were then taken to the site of the game. Weaving through the rubble and skirting around the ghost's tower at the center, the group was eventually led to the same starting point as the healers and segregated once more into their respective teams, positioned on either side of the large plaza, right in front of their marked "SAFE POINT"s. Here, the guards finally wrapped the velcro strips around their foreheads, chests, wrists, and ankles: white with red polka dots for Team One and aqua blue for Team Two. The two guards carrying the cooler approached Sander, flicking open the lid once they had set the heavy box down. It opened to reveal 15 metallic, cylindrical canisters. They left the cooler at his feet and returned to the security outpost without a word, the suggestion clear. What the blood mage chose to do with it would be his decision. After several more minutes of preparation and checking, the soldiers stepped well away from the opposing teams. [color=f7976a]"Prep time! 5 minutes! Don't move from the starting point, yet!"[/color] one of them shouted as they jogged away from what would soon be sheer chaos. Five minutes later and their cuffs beeped slowly three times before an automated voice intoned lifelessly, [color=f7976a]"START."[/color] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center] [hr] [hider=OOC Interaction Tags/Notes] [@GreenGoat][@Diggerton][@Snagglepuss89][@PapiTan][@Piercing Light][@Lasrever][@Chasers115][@RedDusk][@Riffus Maximus][@VarionusNW][@Deathmyster][@ERode][@canaryrose][@dragonmancer][@Baklava][@banjoanjo] Flag and Seek : The Abusement Park VS Multiple Scorgasms [img]http://i.imgur.com/GD4gEa3.jpg[/img] IC Timer: 10 mins. (Not including the 5 minutes of prep time before START.) OOC Timer: One week per team. Week-long timer comes with the condition that if all members of one team post early, the other team may post early as well. The week-long timer is the absolute limit. Non-posters in combat are cleared for autohit/loss of flags/KO by the opposing team. [hr] Roughly 2 mins pass per complete set of posts (but don't stress about the timing; it's there to give players a general indicator of how much can be done, so keep things reasonable and it's never going to be a problem). // A complete set = One team set + second team set (this means two weeks pass at a maximum for one complete set). Consider the method used for the tutorial fight, but instead of player rounds and GM rounds, it's simply player rounds and opposing player rounds. BUT, if two players are full-on engaging in combat (versus running around each other or throwing things from afar), collab for the fight. A combined post will count for both player's posts during that complete set, and once everyone else has posted, the next set starts again. [hr] Players in the security room watching the game can open with a general reaction post to start, then post interactions and commentary as they see fit, but since timers are synced across the board here, keep in mind there's not too much to say between rounds. Save the scathing critique for those anonymous evals later. [hr] [@Kyrisse]: Large food freezer in a restaurant. Refer to map. [@January]: The fucking sewers, mate. [@Zombehs]: In a nondescript break room with several other soldiers. Three long tables with metal chairs. Two refrigerators of food in the back filled with various types of sandwiches and drinks. Feel free to write a reaction post, but otherwise Gregory's posts are exempt from the timer. [@VampireOracle]: In a nondescript break room with several other soldiers. Three long tables with metal chairs. Two refrigerators of food in the back filled with various types of sandwiches and drinks. Since Vampire is gone for a month, assume Sophia is silent for all interactions. 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