Destiny City is a large place, with a large population. It’s not uncommon to find a lost item here or there. Maybe a keychain, an earring, a book.
But, a six sided die? That’s different.
While traveling through Destiny City, you find a strange little object. It looks like old, stained wood, but something shiny in it catches your eye. How could you resist picking it up? It looks like a normal die in terms of shape, and each side has a gilded number, one through six, carved into it. The most interesting part of it all is that the dice seems to be made of old, stained wood with fossilized opal throughout the whole piece. Something about it called to you, and while you are investigating it, a harsh wind slams into you. Darkness falls all around you–and then, slowly, a path illuminates. It’s black all around you; there’s no light, but you can see clearly marked spaces.
A line of squares unwind in front of you, each clearly marked.
You can’t see anything around you, can’t feel anything else–just the gameboard.
You don’t recognize the game, but you don’t really need instructions to know how to play–you have a die, and you have a path. In the distance, you can barely make out a dark wooden platform at the end of the path, but it seems to have the same fossilized opal inlay as the die–and pretty golden symbols along the rim.
You can’t step out of your square. Trying to leave the gameboard results in you walking to an invisible barrier and it feels like slamming into a glass wall. You cannot leave your space–unless the die says you can. If you want to get out of here, you’re going to have to roll your way there–but it isn’t so easy.
Strange gold markings differ from one square to the next. There’s no telling what they mean–you’re going to have to land on them to find out.
Though, judging by the tension in the air, it’s probably not going to be anything good.
As was customary at this point, Antisana spent most of the night powered and wandering. He didn't want to go home. It was as unsafe there as anywhere else, and he had effectively been killed in his own house, already. So the illusion of being safe and sound barricaded in his own familiar abode was entirely dispelled.
It had been quiet in the cabin in the woods he'd rented over the summer. Remarkably peaceful. And despite a certain corrupt's warning that distance from the populace did him no favors if none of his allies could get to him quickly, Antisana was so tempted by how serine those few weeks had been. The benefits seemed well worth the risk. Maybe he should look deeper into what it would take to move permanently... Ideally sooner, rather than later.
Lost in thought, and fingers swishing idly around the hovering wisp that seemed so intent to glue itself to him, Antisana paid no mind to the litter on the ground. The two of his boot caught a pebble and sent it skittering across the sidewalk in front of him-
Except it was no pebble. As his eye was drawn to the movement, he noticed it was actually... some intricately-crafted die.
It immediately made an uneasyness bloom in his chest- something there that shouldn't be- But that was ridiculous. Ridiculous! He chided himself for being frightened of a toy, even one that looked as bizarre and almost-otherworldly as this one. He wasn't interested in anyone else's discarded trash and had no patience for the clutter that arose from keeping piles of small trinkets, so Antisana couldn't say why he paused to pick it up for closer inspection.
As a sharp wind picked up, tousling his violet hair and making him hunch away from it, that feeling? The one where he'd been wary of anything abnormal? Yeah, he wished he'd listened to that feeling.
A neat line of spaces lay out in front of him, and as Antisana tried to retreat away from them, he found his back against something solid and invisible. The only way was forward, and the only way forward was with the die.
1st Prompt (Space 4)
Something smells rotten. You can’t see very far into the darkness, but if you squint closely a dark form seems to be dragging itself along the ground. Sometimes you see a pale hand almost close enough to grab you–or, maybe something does grab you. It’s cold, and frightening, and it’s trying to drag you out of bounds.
Single player board game had to be the saddest thing a man could do on a Tuesday night, but Antisana consoled himself with the knowledge that this hadn't been his activity of choice (what he'd actually chosen to do was wander the streets alone, which was somehow better, right?). But regardless of where he was at in his willingness to participate, he gained nothing from sitting around waiting. If he wanted to leave, he had to make it to the end.
He let the die drop from his open palm to the ground, and as it settled, he felt compelled to move forward, passing the edges of lit spaces as if he were a pawn across a board. Nothing antagonized him as he walked, and he couldn't see what would happen when he stopped, so it felt like maybe it would simply be nothing?
A game of patience more than adventure?
It wasn't until he paused on his designated space that the horrific scent of decay wafted over to him, and the dregs of paranoia that he'd been tamping down started to resurface. He was alone, alone, alone in this, being mentally manipulated by something, even though he felt no monster nearby. Antisana touched the back of his hand to his nose as a shield against the stench and moved as if to advance from his square-
Jumped to flee his square as something moved at the edge of his vision-
But there was a barrier there that kept him from going very far. Because he had to roll, of course. The thing- burbling and unsteady- dragging itself from the corner of the imaginary board didn't seem to have that problem as it lurched toward him, but all Antisana had to do was throw a die to escape. Presumably. And hopefully everything that popped up wouldn't be tailing him all across the game until it caught him.
Something is twitching and flapping above you, and while you might be minding your own business, something is a little too invested in what you’re doing. You can’t see them, but you suddenly hear shrill, high pierced noises that are disorienting and confusing. They can bring about dizziness and pain and can cause vertigo if you’re stuck in them for too long.
The only positive was that he didn't have to wait for anyone else to take their 'turn.' So long as he just... kept going, this could be over in minutes. Antisana was still looking warily over his shoulder as he walked with his next roll. The smell had all but vanished, the lurching figure gone. But he didn't trust anything that was happening here, not that he was seeing or feeling or thinking. It was all bad, all dangerous, unknowable outcome. He new that.
As he made it to the next space, he paused only for a second to pick up the die that had been very conveniently removed from the old square to sit unobtrusively beside him in the next. There was nothing keeping him from getting out of here, so he just...
Something flittered above him. For just a blink of a moment, Antisana shot a fearful look over his shoulder as if expecting something to come careening out of the sky at him. Nothing so obvious happened. There was just a movement like something was there, though he couldn't see or identify it. A bird? A Bat? Some kind of moderator? Before he could settle on an answer, a scream that felt supersonic pierced through the air, making him drop the die to clap his hands over his ears, for all the good it did.
It was just an instant where it felt like all thought, all motive had been clear screeched out of his mind, and it was of no power of Antisana's own that he was pressed forward.
The smell of smoke is in the air. You can’t see what’s burning, but you can hear distant screams, and–carnival music? It feels like people are running past you, and the air fills with panic and alarm–but there’s nowhere for you to go, and the smoke is so thick. You’d better roll quickly so you can get out of here.
The shrill sounds lasted only as long as he was in his square; once he was pushed out of it, the noise died as Antisana was coaxed further along the board. His vision still swam a bit from the dizziness, but it was rapidly returning to normal in time for him to pause inside of his next designated space.
By this point, it was starting to become apparent that he didn't know what he ought to expect, and if the hallucinations (or whatever they were) were coming from a youma or a group of youma, it was far more elaborate than anything they'd ever done to him before. Elaborate. Intricate. Probably too much so for one of Chaos' mindless creatures. If not them, then what else could- or would- even do this?
The outskirts of the board was dark, save for the little glowing path, so when smoke drifted through the air, accompanied by screaming and the sensation of being shoved, Antisana couldn't say with any clarity if that was something actually happening in real time. This whole game felt like what he imagined being drugged was like: just confusing and chaotic and nonsensical. The 'people' screaming around him didn't touch him. The smoke didn't sting his throat. It was just an overall unpleasant and unsettling sensation.
The ground is sticky. You land on this and immediately dip, as though you’ve stepped on a trampoline. Close inspection reveals that you are standing on an intricately woven web–and your shoes are stuck. And something is skittering just on the horizon.
Antisana had barely taken a full step forward into his next space when he felt the ground shift beneath him, sinking beneath his weight. He was at the very outermost edge of the square, back pressed to the barrier that kept him contained, and he now felt hesitant to fully trust himself to the unsteady terrain. He wasn't off-balance despite the shift from solidity, but when he tried to shuffle to the side to skirt the edge of the square, he effectively went nowhere. His boots were- glued?- to the ground. That ground the gleamed like spider-silk and was laid with tendrils of white webbing.
A spider web?
Fitting for the season, he supposed. But that it didn't break beneath his weight and that it encompassed the entire square made Antisana plainly aware that the web was large, presumably crafted by something equally as sizable.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when something skittered along the out-of-bounds darkness, and though Antisana hadn't yet come face to face with something that would wound him, now did not seem the time to break the trend. He slipped his feet from his boots, leaving them stuck as he stood atop them instead of inside of them. He didn't have much leeway here in terms of discardable things, but he shucked off his vest and tossed in to the ground in front of him.
A point he could jump to without fear of getting stuck, since it seemed like bad news if the webbing got on his skin.
Without his boots and the tiny, tight little vest, the rest of his makeshift platforms had to come from whatever he kept in his space pocket. Unfortunate, since that was usually stuff he considered useful- ...but it would be here too. A backpack he'd packed for spelunking at his wonder. A blanket to keep the chill off. A tee shirt in case he wanted for more coverage than his uniform provided.
All lost to the Web now, but at least he was moving on.
Something howls in the distance. It’s loud and echoes with such ferocity it seems to shake you. On the other side of you–another howl. Closer. This one is loud enough to hurt your ears. The ground trembles with the force of something charging at you. A growl, a snarl. Yellow eyes staring you down. There’s not just one monster out there–there’s several, and they’re all coming for you.
He heard rumbling before he even made it into his square, but whatever hesitation he had was forced to the wayside as that invisible power shoved him forward. As he stepped foot onto his next space, a howl, something low and echoing, reverberated through the area. But it was far off, hardly dangerous?
The second felt like it was beside him, and Antisana's slate gaze swiveled to look for- whatever it was. Werewolf. Youma. Monster. The edge of the board was all that greeted him. When he turned back to continue on his way, a force like a weight smashed into his back, throwing him to the ground as something like talons tore into his bare shoulders. Teeth felt like they were at his neck, breath skating down his spine as Antisana threw at his arms to try and claw himself forward along the ground.
He had no weapon, no magic, no ability besides just whatever strength he had in his body, so he couldn't rely on much to get him out of this besides just brute force and willpower.
A sharp snarl of his own tumbled past his lips as he threw his elbow back into what he hoped was the still-invisible creature's face. A few seconds without claws holding him down would surely be enough for him to sprint toward the exit. Antisana didn't turn back as he lurched himself off the ground. The wounds stung. He was sure there was blood dripping from gashes down his back, and if this lasted much longer, something would finish him.
You’re so close! Almost at the end! But the space you’re standing on shifts and shakes and seems to crumble beneath you. You have to hold on; there’s nowhere to fall but down into the deep abyss. If you manage to hang on for long enough, you find some invisible purchase and can pull yourself back up, but it’s quite the ordeal. Make sure you don’t get cut on falling spaces! The ground restores itself once you roll again.
"Come on, come on, come on..." The words were a soft mantra as Antisana ran for the end. No more wary hesitation. No more scoping of the terrain. He hadn't had much to give to begin with, and now he was half-naked, barefoot, and clawed half to pieces, and he didn't know what he should be expecting to fight once he reached the end of the board.
He could see the end, but as he jumped for it, the ground crumbled beneath him.
Antisana struggled to maintain his footing and just press onward regardless, but there was little fight to be had with gravity, and for all his struggle, he was left scrabbling desperately at the side of a cliff, with darkness stretching into apparent infinity beneath him. A part of him couldn't help but lament that 'Yes, obviously the end would be out of reach, and there had certainly never been any hope of escaping this.'.
But he struggled, anyway, fingers clawing and crumbling stone and legs kicking at empty air. He worked out; he could support himself easily in most situations. Why did it feel like it was trying to suck him in?
With a heave, he lurched himself back to solid ground and out of the space. The end was in sight. Now just to figure out what that meant.
The end; once you have arrived here you are free to leave. You will see be basked in the glow of a beautiful, opalescent aura that will take you back home. If you arrived with a guest, you can leave without them or choose to stay until they make it to the end as well. When you arrive back in Destiny City, you may choose to keep the six sided die–if nothing else, it’s pretty! Though, it doesn’t seem to have any magical qualities, that might be for the best.
He stepped onto the square- the last space, and Antisana was sure something would emerge as the dungeon "boss." The final level. The big bad. Something to that effect. He'd played his fair share of games. He knew how this ended, and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.
The aura that flickered to life around him was warm, and dampened the worst of the scratches, scrapes, and bruises he'd gotten along the way. He didn't feel any more rejuvenated, just less injured. Not ideal but still more than he'd expected.
He sucked in a breath as he felt a tug similar to that which had brought him here, and-
He was home. Back in Destiny City, exactly as he'd left it. Or at least some derivative of it that looked, felt, and behaved the same. Which, for all intents and purposes, suited him just fine. If there was something to fight, it would be on terrain he was familiar with and not some warpy board. Or maybe that was the ruse. A sense of security, when in actuality he'd brought some evil back with him: something that could infect this world and his, like the Blight...
It could just be safety. But that would be anticlimactic.
