General Information The large stone cavern with the tiled floor and large yellow smiley face is likely familiar to at least several trainees, and may even feature in a few nightmares from time to time. Welcome to Deathsweeper, the training course that may only be attempted via c-type golem, and often acts as a testing ground for the Life Division's more painful creations. Stealth and detecting imminent danger are vital for Death Hunters and anyone who has to spend extended amounts of time near Caelius. The Deathsweeper chamber is full of hidden traps that only the finest of survival instincts can survive unscathed.
If you fail: you get to once again relive the sensation of dying. Painfully and sometimes quite strangely.
If you win: you have survived stepping 5 tiles into the room. Anything further is purely for peen and bragging rights.
Mechanics roll 1 d10 check for hp loss and death decide whether or not to use your bonuses if you survive, repeat. roll list: the traps are ICly constantly changing, so feel free to get creative as to what exactly those traps are! -50% HP is off your full HP, so if you hit -50% twice, then you are 100% KO'd
01. horrible death 02. - 50% HP 03. live 04. live 05. - 50% HP 06. - 50% HP 07. horrible death 08. - 50% HP 09. live 10. horrible death
Bonus Mechanics This bonus is consumable. All participants get a flag, this flag will allow your character to notice something about the area they're stepping into. OOCly this means you can adjust your rolled number, up or down, by one point. Instinctive moves are used in the same manner as flags. These are stackable, so if you have 1 flag + 1 instinctive move, you can use them up in order to adjust your roll by two.
(If you roll a 1, you may not move your number down to 0, -1, or 10. And 10 cannot be adjusted to 1 or 11.)
Trainees: 1 flag Death Trainees: 1 flag + 1 instinctive move Hunters: 1 flag + 1 instinctive move Death Hunters: 1 flag + 2 instinctive moves
Cassie had sent Dawson a few DM's on Twitter about the cheesecake, and it was quickly agreed that they'd share a slice - only if Cassie did some more training first. It wouldn't do to have a trainee just scrubbing pans and floorboards all day, or grabbing files for senior Hunters.
So she was in the external area of the Deathsweeper course, anxiously wringing her hands the more she looked at the room. She'd been assured the golems they'd slip into would keep her from actually dying, but the thought of the experience was still overwhelming.
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 10:31 pm
He was really, really, really glad they had cheesecake to look forward to, because a course called DEATHSWEEPER was not going to be giving off good feelings. And after his atrociously lengthy run with the Sun course, Dawson wondered if this too would be a constant loop of wow you suck - now with more death!
But he wasn't a fresh trainee anymore. So just like he had with Gretchen, Dawson put up a brave face and smiled as he approached Cassie, hoping that if he acted even remotely confident it would inspire something similar in her. And he was right: he caught Cassie wringing her hands.
"'Eyo!" he called cheerfully, switching to the Spongebob Pirate Voice to add, "Are ya ready, kid?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 10:07 pm
Cassie's face lit up when the big man appeared, and she broke out into a fit of giggles at the Spongebob voice. Everyone knew Spongebob, so of course it was okay to acknowledge a reference to the porous yellow square in public. The hand wringing stopped to bring her left palm to her mouth, the right hand staying by her side, not moving much at all.
"Aye-aye, Captain!" She reported back with a bright smile, taking a few paces over to Dawson with a chuckle. "Um, don't think we've ever formally met. Cassie Gordon, Death division." She held out her right hand - a habit - but it seemed strained, slow; as if a weight were attached to it.
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Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 12:02 am
With a Mr. Krabs ar-ar-ar laugh, he took Cassie's hand firmly and gave it a shake. "Dawson Grace," he said in kind. "Moon Division. Less on the medical stuff n' more on the construction n' general defense. In case no-one said it yet, welcome t'Deus!" After a second shake, he finally let her go. "M'sure they gave ya the spiel already, so jus' remember--s'not really gonna hurtcha, okay?"
It wasn't going to do Cassie s**t once they were actually experiencing the traps waiting for them, since the pain was still very real even if not damage was incurred, but, well, team spirit and all that.
Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 9:45 pm
"No specialty for me yet. I've gotten good at scrubbing toilets, though." Cassie told Dawson with a sardonic smile, flexing her left arm and cracking a grin. "And yeah, they've assured me it won't actually hurt us, but you know how the rumor mill works..."
Cassie sighed, mournfully gazing at the room in front of them and the pods beside them. "I'm more than a little scared, but I think we'll be okay. Yeah?"
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medigel rolled 1 10-sided dice:
4Total: 4 (1-10)
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:36 am
"It gets better," he assured Cassie, taking the lead towards the pods. "Jus' keep at it. Aight, lessee..."
Maybe within a minute of entering the pod, he awoke in his golem form and shuddered. It didn't feel much different than his usual body, but that didn't mean facing the dangers ahead was any less scary. Dawson was still cowardly at heart.
"Okay, uh..." He picked a tile at random, braced himself, and stepped on it. Nothing happened, thankfully.
Cassie nodded, following Dawson into the pod, emerging in her golem a few minutes later. It was surreal, knowing this wasn't actually her body, yet still being able to feel the tiles beneath her feet and stagnation of the chamber.
Dawson did fine, a small relief. The trainee followed him with a tentative step, and was suddenly nothing but a pile of ashes.
In the pod, Cassie's body convulsed and screamed. Her whole body hurt, her lungs were quickly filled with fire, organs melting - but it wasn't actually happening. An illusion, a painful one. Cassie thought she may actually die from the pain, but it subsided as soon as it started.
She was in the golem, facing forward. Everything hurt and her skin was prickling, the boiling sensation ever prevailing.
"...So that's what it feels like to die."
Status
Step: 1
HP: Blown to bits Flags: 1 Instinctive moves: 1
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medigel rolled 1 10-sided dice:
9Total: 9 (1-10)
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:55 pm
The sudden destruction of her golem caused Dawson such a fright that he leapt unwittingly to the tile behind him. When he realizes that, he gave a second belated jump and yelp, though once again he was spared from sharing a similar fate. The poor boy's heart was going a mile a minute until Cassie returned, and he heaved a breath and wiped at his forehead.
"You gonna be able t'keep up?" he asked not unkindly. "We can, like, pause fer a bit."
"N-nah, I'm good." Cassie assured Dawson, unsteady determination flicking her eyes to the tiles in front of her. Maybe the trick was to not go the obvious route? Instead of moving directly forward, maybe Cassie needed to take a step off the beaten path?
Nope, obviously not. A hatchet launched itself from a wall and cleaved itself into her shoulder, sticking there. Cassie wailed, falling on her rear.
"Keep-- I'm okay." She grunted, jerking the ax out of the golem's flesh.
Status
Step: 1
HP: 20 Flags: 1 Instinctive moves: 1
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medigel rolled 1 10-sided dice:
5Total: 5 (1-10)
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Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:03 am
Dawson cringed again in secondhand pain as she fell. No stupid ax puns were supplemented here.
"Makes ya wonder who takes the time t'make all these gizmos," he mused aloud as he tried another tile. Immediately spikes jutted out from the floor and pierced his feet, causing him to yelp.
"Are you okay, Mr. Dawson?" Cassie squeaked, looking on at the path before her in sheer terror. She didn't sign up for this, no one had told her that becoming a Hunter involved putting your life on the line off duty.
But this wasn't her life, she knew. It was just a golem...just a golem. It didn't nullify the pain at all, evidenced by the still searing pain in her shoulder. The girl took a tentative step forward, sucked in a breath - and only exhaled five seconds later, when nothing had happened.
Status
Step: 2
HP: 20 Flags: 1 Instinctive moves: 1
xmedigel
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medigel rolled 1 10-sided dice:
3Total: 3 (1-10)
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:40 am
Miraculously, hobbling around on one foot did not in fact, trigger another tile. Dawson remained safe as he moved away from the spikes, bending over to rub the bleeding holes with a grimace. Golem or not, this was a little unnerving.
"Oh, uh...Aw, no need for the Mr. part, sugar!" he told Cassie as he straightened back up and wiped his hands, putting up a smile. "Makes me feel old. Don' let the beard fool ya, I could still go to college."
"Oh, alright." Cassie nodded, having thought the man was at least in his thirties. Beards were just so gosh darned deceiving. "Just Dawson, then."
Cassie felt like continuing straight was just a trap in waiting, and side stepped to the left and straight into a landmine that ripped the golem's skin from its bones and left just a torso with no legs.
Cassie fell out of her pod in a mad scramble, hyperventilating, clutching the edges of the pod. "K-keep going, Dawson. I'll be-- I'll go back in, just give me a second."
At least she wasn't crying, this time.
Status
Step: 3
HP: 0 Flags: 1 Instinctive moves: 1
medigel
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medigel rolled 1 10-sided dice:
4Total: 4 (1-10)
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 12:51 pm
Dawson shuddered at the gruesome sight and felt a little lightheaded. Did the golems have to be viscerally accurate like that? Seriously? Grimacing, Dawson shook his head of the image and chose one more spot at random. Nothing once again. Was he lucky, playing smart, or just being pitied?
Either way, he somehow had passed. But he was a little too afraid to get off the board just yet.
"How 'bout I stick around fer moral support?" he offered.
