⇨ THE GAME CUBE

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone who gets caught in the game.
When: Day 97
Where: Hellbound Hallows, the game inside of a cube inside of a city inside of a computer.
What: On Day 97, a massive Game Cube drops on the city of Mainframe, forcing those caught inside to fight against the User for their lives. This log is 100% Hellbound Hallows gameplay. Plotting deets are here.
Warnings: Diablo-esque violence, characters dying, and edgy video game aesthetic gore.

HELLBOUND HALLOWS↴ The Game Cube drops close to the entrance of the carnival - so much so that it will end up pulling a lot of people from it in, out of sheer terrible luck. Alternatively, your character may have seen it coming down and understood what allowing the programs to fail would mean, dashing in to be caught beneath it out of sheer heroism. Maybe you entered the game for some reason in between. Either way, once the walls of the Cube have passed you, you'll find yourself in a new reality. You find yourself somewhere in the levels of a dungeon crawling game with a dark aesthetic. Some binomes and sprites from the city have been pulled in with you, and all oft them know what to do. It's time to Reboot. Use the icon button the Ringmaster gave each of you. Tap it twice and say "Reboot", and you'll be able to assume your new form. Maybe it's useful, maybe it's not, but it's probably better than nothing. Probably. Now, figure out where you fit in to the structure of setting, and wait for the Game to begin. ► LEVEL ONE: Level one is where the Users will enter. With a cold blue aesthetic, it appears to be some manner of underground fortress, filled with many hallways and grand archeways. In a standard game, the enemies here would be theoretically the easiest to defeat, but you are under no obligation to follow those rules. Level one is ruled over by Sora, rebooted into the form of a vampiric overlord. He must be defeated in order for the Users to gain access to level two. ► LEVEL TWO: The colour pallet shifts to purple here, the corridors becoming darker and only lit with scattered braziers and the occasional stream of lava. Banners and tapestries depicting some hellish god line the walls. The traps here are primarily fire based, with lava traps or geysers of flame becoming more common. Level two is ruled over by Yamato, who has rebooted into the form of a fiery hellbeast. He must be defeated to access level three. ► LEVEL THREE: As the colours shift into a sickly green, the Users will reach the final level. The architecture is shaped based on the screaming faces of the damned, and the rooms are large and dramatic, filled with vast obelisks and deep chasms. Subterranean plant life haunts the floors and shadows of this place, and poison traps become deadly and common. Level three is ruled over by the man Gongenzaka, the final boss of of the game. If he is defeated, the Users have won. Do not let this happen.

Comments

[whattaprick]

Literally nothing about this whole thing makes sense, Lambert would agree. They're monsters in body, but even that is only in a limited capacity; no gargoyle he's heard of has ever been literally stuck in one place the way he has, constrained by the rules of the game that he inherently understands from being 'Rebooted' but is no happier for the understanding.

"I can't even move unless they're close enough," Lambert mutters grumpily. He's not particularly happy about this state of affairs, nnnope. Not that he's a ranged fighter, but he's usually used to being able to close the distance, dammit. "Or if one of them hits me with a spell or arrow, and then they just keep moving away." Leaving Lambert circling furiously while the Users kite him (not that he'd know what such a term means) which is annoying as hell when he's too slow to catch up.

[anti_nonsense]

"Seriously?" So that's why he suddenly went inanimate on her. "That explains a few things, but... This world operates in stupid ways, I guess." Particularly when those 'Users' are involved...

"At least their mage is a total joke," she declares with a wave of a clawed hand. "They just use the same simple spells over and over, and the trajectory's so predictable, it's a wonder they manage to hit anything." Rita is, of course, comparing the party's mage to herself, confident that she could do much better. At least, she would if she could use her damn magic.

[whattaprick]

"How much they suck at fighting doesn't matter if we still can't beat them," Lambert points out sourly. Although ... "Since they're teaming up, so should we. If you can lure them to me, I can keep them distracted while you fight from a distance. How fast can you move?"

Based on what she looks like alone right now, he's guessing 'pretty fast.'

[anti_nonsense]

"Pretty fast," she replies, unknowingly echoing his thoughts. "Running and jumping are about the only things this body's good for."

As for that plan of his... "I guess it's worth a shot. As far as strategies go, it's not too different from how I normally fight..." Using her allies as shields while she attacks from a safe distance is about par for the course for Rita. "Once my health's finished recovering, I'll go catch up with them." Fortunately, it's been steadily replenishing ever since they got out of range of the Users. Seems like this world really does revolve around them.

[whattaprick]

"If things get hairy, I can always pull you out again." Even as immobile stone, though, Lambert's voice contains an ever so slight but definitely present smirk. "Though for a cat, you seem awfully scared of heights."

Not that Lambert is one to talk. Witchers are good at dealing with monsters, but he'll never be graceful at falling without breaking something.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita visibly bristles at that, gritting her fanged teeth and scowling at him. "Scared? Why would I be scared of something stupid like that? You're imagining things." And she might be protesting too much.

[whattaprick]

"Uh huh. Sure I am." Real convincing, Rita, and the light mocking in his tone makes it obvious he isn't in the least bit convinced. Still, if he's relying on her as an ally for the foreseeable future, he should at least try to get along.

"If it helps any, I'm not actually sure falling here can kill you." Because surely that's reassuring and will address all of Rita's worries and fear can be rationalized away.