lostcarnival | ⇨ THE GAME CUBE

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Y-You have not thought to ask in all of this time??

A phrase like that comes with ease
To a zebra among ponies.

[She forgets, especially in the carnival, that most humans are used to being the only intelligent species they know. Zebra, pegasus, earth pony, griffin -- they're all relevant identifiers in Equestria.]

Auh....

[...Come to think that actually makes a large amount of sense...Except...]

I-If that is the case however, would it have been making sense even on the Carnival Grounds to begin with..!?

[He is a four-legged monstrosity there, Zecora!!]

Even then, did you plan
To stop thinking of yourself as a man?

[Her body goes away when it's dark! But she still calls herself a zebra!]

O-OF COURSE NOT..!! TO EVEN ENTERTAIN SUCH AN IDEA WOULD BE UNFORGIVABLE..!!

[Wow. Dragons can be flustered. Who'dve thunk.]

That is why I thought you repeated
The words: to not be defeated.

[Simple enough logic, isn't it?]

I- I see...

W-Well! [He coughs, correcting her with a nod.] In that case, now you know! I, the man Gongenzaka, do not speak as such in order to repeat a fact...but to show respect for those I speak with!

It is to say that I am, next to another, no more than a man-one who is no greater than they are!

[She doesn't have a mouth, but surely Gongenzaka can hear the smile in her words.]

You ignore credit that should be your own--
Since you're better than many I've known.

MNHH- T-There are still surely those who are of better character than myself, however..! More than that...to assume myself as greater than those I, the man Gongenzaka, am addressing, would be UNFORGIVABLE..!

I did not say everyone.
You excite so much at gentle fun!
But you must know humility
Is a rare virtue to see.

A-Aauh... I, the man Gongenzaka, do admit that it is not a virtue most often seen...

[His words appear to dissolve into bashful mumbling however, which is quite amusing to witness on a dragon's five faces.]

[Zecora laughs, but it's warm and all fondness.]

Gongenzaka, never change.
Not being 'the man' would be too strange.

[Phewwwww... The dragon just shakes his head, and sighs.]

I, the man Gongenzaka, shall make certain to never lose sight of myself then!

To yourself you should be true...

[Is that commotion down the hallway, closer to the entrance of this level of the Game? Zecora's eyes turn that way, and then vanish entirely as she points herself in that direction, leaving behind a farewell in the air.]

Good luck! We are counting on you!

⇨ THE GAME CUBE

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time to wrap up with an ironic echo i see-

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