Welcome to Gaia! ::

The figure wasn't impressed with the threats of physical violence. Invisible eyes burned at them through the hood, weighing them, then flicking away dismissively. He clearly didn't see the humans as a danger to himself. "That's gratitude for ya," he muttered. "Try help out, offer some rewards, and whaddya get? Weapons waved in your face. Nice."

The glares at the initial respondents cut off as the figure took in the newest humans on the beach. They at least seemed up for the challenge of a game, rather than wanting to take him on instead. Fools.

"First things first, ladies and gentlemen. Today's little game will be played in pairs. No, don't move," he shook his head. "This isn't 'me and my BFF versus you and your BFF'. Just a moment... you, here, and you, over there..."

Weaving through them, the hood figure poked and prodded at various people. Under their own power or the figure's, they were moved to stand beside someone else. They might already know them, they might not. The figure didn't care.

He surveyed them with a keen eye. He frowned. "This won't do. Someone left over? We don't need a fifth wheel. So long, you are the weakest link, voted off the island - well, no, just go elsewhere on the island for a while."

A strong forced moved Diseased Candy away from the group.

"Much better," the figure said to himself. He clapped his hands once, just in case he didn't already have everyone's attention. "The name of the game, boys and girls, is Swords and Shields. If I just moved you about, you are the sword. If I didn't touch you, you are the shield. Guess who's doing what?"

The figure moved a short distance back. He crossed his arms over his chest. "The rules are simple. Sword attacks. Shield takes damage for both people. The winning pair gets the prize."

A knife waved lazily in the air. "What are you waiting for? Get to it."



(( THE RULES:

- Due to odd numbers, Diseased Candy has been cut from the game due to their concerns over time constraints, instead of the last person to sign up.
- Partners have been randomised. Check the list below to see your partner - the first of the pair is the shield, the second is the sword.
- Shields take damage aimed at their Sword at half strength. (Divide attack by two, then round up or down to the nearest integer if necessary -- .5 goes up.)
- Shields take damage aimed directly at themselves at normal strength.
- Swords cannot attack again until the damaged shield has responded. EG. Player A (sword) attacks Player B (sword). Player C (B's shield) takes the damage. B can respond/attack. A cannot attack again until C has responded with taking the damage.
- If a Shield has not responded within EIGHT hours, Swords can choose a new target. The hooded figure may choose to punish anyone who remains 'afk' for longer than that. (If RL is going to keep you away for 8+ hours, please PM me to discuss.)
- Players whose HP hits 0 are "unconscious" til otherwise notified. Do not move to the death thread until the game is over and the hooded figure leaves.
- The hooded figure can be attacked. Are his items lootable? Is he even killable? Who knows. Try it at your own risk.
- THE FIGURE STOLE YOUR MEDKITS. No healing unless you are a Sword with bandages. (Sorry Shields, you cannot attack, so you can't use bandages, either, since they are your 'weapon'.)


THE PLAYERS:

1. artificial insomnia
2. Chaos Flutterby
3. Bloodlust Dante
4. Kanth
5. SuketchiLT
6. Moving Pictures
7. Rabid Ice Weasel
8. demon_pachabel


Randomised into teams (offsite due to Gaia no longer offering that post function): 2, 1. 5, 6. 8, 4. 7, 3.


If you have any questions, or anything is unclear, please ask <3 ))

"Oh," the figure spoke up belatedly. "I forgot to mention... I'll be holding onto these for now."

One corner of his cloak lifted to show all the medkits the humans had been holding. When they checked, their kits were gone. It seemed the figure had stolen them while arranging the pairs.

"You'll be doing this without healing," he told the group.

"Let me make this clear, since apparently 'guess who does what' was too vague for you," the figure heaved a sigh. "The sword attacks. The shield defends. Shields don't attack, swords don't defend... Logic, people, do you have it?"

No doubt the Shields thought they had all the bad luck. Maybe they did. But rules were rules, and it was up to the pairs to decide what they would do within these rules.

"If your Sword has bandages, they can heal. If they want to do some actual goddamn damage, they've got fists for that, don't they?"

All this delay, all this fuss. The figure wasn't the most patient of... non-men.

"You'd better quickly decide how you're going to work as a pair. That is," the figure added as an afterthought, "if you're going to work as a pair."

Yep, Shields had the raw end of the deal. But that was part of the game.



(( If Shields are following the rules and playing the game, they cannot attack. Unless they decide to ignore the game and attack the hooded figure... though who knows how that would turn out. ))