Al was not entirely sure what to expect when Noah invited him to a game of Jenga. Maybe cocoa with little marshmallows and some cookies with the tower precariously stacked on a small wobbly card table. He certainly wasn't expecting a lazer guided system staring him down with hungry piranha circling underfoot... he looked to Noah uncertainly, "are you sure we're in the right place for this?"
Life Hunter BATTLE ARENA
General Information The portal opens up into an observation room, and down the stairs, an odd chamber for something like hunter training. At the center of a piranha-filled pool stands a solid stone table and several chairs. The Life Arena was built underneath the demolitions and ballistics testing areas, and the chamber rumbles with the occasional explosions above. Pinpoint red lasers sweep across the room regularly, as if hidden snipers are searching for a nice target. In the center of the table sits a wooden tower, made up of smaller wooden blocks. Yes. That's right. The Life Hunters prefer to train via Jenga.
Note: Distraction techniques and Yo Momma jokes are considered viable weapons when playing competitively.
If you fail: you have knocked down the tower! A small dart hits the back of your neck. You come to several hours later, and hope Dr. H didn't do anything to your body while you were unconscious. When you look into the mirror...
If you win: you have reached 50 points! You get a sharpie marker to do with as you please. peen points go to those with the highest scores.
Group Play Playing in a group on any course means certain things can be shifted to make it a better experience for multiple people without holding anyone back. An approved group play alteration for the life arena goes as follows: When someone knocks the tower down, they are shot with a weaker dart. They will wake up 5 minutes later, the game can be reset back to the point before it fell by placing their hands on the table and saying the word, constructum. This allows them to start again where they left off instead of the beginning. They can take up to three of these darts before passing out for an hour, the game will not reset for them and they will need to try again from the beginning.
Mechanics - by carefully removing pieces of the tower, you earn points and advance to the next round. As the rounds continue, the odds grow steadily against you. Rolling a 1 at any point means you have knocked down the tower. Please do enjoy your mystery dart. Anything after reaching 50 points is purely for peen.
- you may roll pieces individually (suggested for group play) or in batches of 5 (basically, a full round.)
Round 1
Pieces: 5 Points per piece: 1 Trainee Roll: 1d10 Life Trainee Roll: 1d12 Hunter Roll: 1d12 Life Hunter Roll: 1d20
Round 2
Pieces: 5 Points per piece: 3 Trainee Roll: 1d8 Life Trainee Roll: 1d10 Hunter Roll: 1d10 Life Hunter Roll: 1d12
Round 3
Pieces: 5 Points per piece: 4 Trainee Roll: 1d6 Life Trainee Roll: 1d8 Hunter Roll: 1d8 Life Hunter Roll: 1d10
Round 4
Pieces: 5 Points per piece: 10 Trainee Roll: 1d4 Life Trainee Roll: 1d6 Hunter Roll: 1d6 Life Hunter Roll: 1d8
Bonus Mechanics Life Hunters train for precise hand eye coordination and exceptional judgement, thus they have a slightly lower chance of knocking down the tower.
Noah shot Al a wicked grin, the faint mad-scientist gleam surfacing in his eyes. "Absolutely sure," he said cheerfully. "It's good practice. But if you wanna chicken out now, you know, you better say before we start. Pretty sure the snipers will shoot you if you try to leave before it's done if you don't." I dare you, went unspoken.
Just to make the point, Noah sat down at the table, smiling a smile that would have been innocent if it had been less devious.
Al stared at Noah with wide bewildered eyes. The jerk knew just how to play him. "I'm no chicken," there was a clear huffy tone. He crossed his arms over his chest and appeared to be pouting rather seriously. He sulked over to the table where Noah sat and dropped himself in the seat across from him.
His arms remained crossed as he looked to the other expectantly. "So we just pull blocks and that's it - or?"
"I know you're not," Noah said, still grinning. "I figured you wouldn't, see. We pull blocks, but be real careful. If you knock the tower down, you get shot with a sedative dart. If you get hit with three, you gotta start over." He reached into his pocket and set two Sharpies on the side of the table. He didn't say anything about what the markers were for. Al was smart enough to figure that out on his own.
"I'll start." Noah leaned over the table, selected a block, and carefully drew it out of the side of the tower, then set it on top. An explosion sounded from overhead, but with only one block pulled, the tower was still stable enough that it barely wobbled.
Al's eyes managed to grow even wider at the explanation Noah had given him. They shot to the addition of the marker and slow dawning horror crept into his features. "You had better not," he warned Noah, though his tone wasn't at all serious. In fact, he was smirking just a little bit. This made Noah as much fair game as himself and he was eager to abuse that fact.
His attention turned to the tower once more, determination in his eyes as they focused keenly. He carefully withdrew a block and placed it alongside Noah's. He appeared to be unaware of the distant rumble that sounded above.
Noah giggled at the warning, his eyes dancing with glee. No promises were being made, Al. Fair was fair, though, and the fact that he'd brought two markers demonstrated that he was pretty much expecting to be drawn on too if he made a bad move.
He waited until Al had finished pulling his first piece, then carefully took several more, biting his lip with concentration as he teased each piece out of the tower.
Noah was still standing much to Al's disapproval. He had to be extra careful not to knock his stack... he rubbed his chin with his right hand while the left took extra care to remove blocks and place them on top. It took careful planning and placement but he managed to survive until the end. He sighed with relief and flashed Noah a wild toothy grin. Daring him. "Your turn."
"My turn," Noah agreed gravely, and took his pieces one at a time, with exaggerated care, slowly drawing each piece out of the tower and placing it back on the top. Then he made mystical wigglefingers at Al and said in an hokey, fake spooky voice, "Yoouuuuuu're gonna make it fall ooooover, I cuuuurse youuuuu~"
Al gasped exaggeratedly at Noah, "don't curse me!" He scrunched down and leaned in towards the tower to very very very carefully begin removing his blocks. "Just for that," he had reached the last block and the tower began to sway unpredictably. He froze and waited before replacing it on the top. Safe. "I'm writing something absolutely horrible on you."
He stayed close to the tower and pressed his index fingers to his temples, "and I'm going to jinx you to ensure it happens." He then squinted his eyes at the tower as he repeated softly over and over again, "fall fall fall fall fall..."
"Noooooo don't listen to him," Noah told the blocks. "You like me. I'm great." One by one, carefully, he slipped blocks out of the tower, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth in intense concentration. The tower was starting to look distinctly less than stable, and once, as a boom shook the whole chamber, it swayed dangerously. Two red aiming dots centered themselves expectantly on spots on Noah's neck. He froze with the block in hand and waited.
The tower stabilized, and, still holding his breath, Noah set the block delicately on top, then took the next piece with more confidence. The red dots stayed focused on him until he sat back in the chair with an exaggerated sigh of relief, grinning brightly at Al.
Al gave Noah's smug a** grin a look of dismay. Not fair. It was almost as if he'd been training just for this moment. He reached out for the next piece, intent on wiping that look off his face when everything around his hand crumbled. The tower had apparently heard his request for a fall - but assumed it to be for him. The horrified look on his face was frozen there even as a fire sounded out and he slumped over into unconsciousness. It took a few moments for the muscles in his face to finally relax, leaving him looking like he had just gone to sleep normally. He looked surprisingly peaceful.
Status
Round: 3
Pieces Taken: 10 Total Points: 20
Prolixity
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 3:47 pm
Noah did not draw anything on Al's face. He did, however, slip around to the other side of the table and draw a cheerful smiley face on the back of his friend's neck. He then scooted back to his chair, put the marker carefully back in the same spot he'd picked it up from, and sat waiting for Al to wake up, trying to look sympathetic and concerned.
It took some time before he came to and as soon as he realized where he was he licked his hands and rubbed his face in a worried frenzy. He was clearly shaking when he'd felt he had done all he could to save his face and looked to Noah, his voice a mere squeak. "What did you do?"
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 3:55 pm
"Hey," Noah protested. "I didn't draw anything on your face, I swear! Are you okay? You weren't out long or anything." Was his innocent face convincing? He had no idea.
Al frowned at him, "okay but you better not be lying." As if he could threaten. "At least it wasn't that bad, I barely feel hung over at all." He had a certain glint in his eye as attention suddenly shifted off him and back onto Noah and the game. "Your turn."
