Welcome to Murderworld - [modplot] [Arena Start]

[legionnpcs]

Who| Everyone in Murderworld plot
What| Arena Start
Where| All throughout the Arena
When| N/a
Warnings/Notes| Just the usual psycho supervillain monologue stuff

They all wake up scattered throughout Murderworld, some of them alone, some of them with partners, some of them clustered together. Each will find themselves in strange new surrounds. None of them will have any recollection of how they got there. One minute they were on their spy mission, then there was the feeling of being stunned from behind.

They awaken at the exact same time as their captor gives their nervous systems a jolt via the nanites in the air. For a moment, they just hear a man's jeering

"Wakey wakey."

When they're all awake, the voice continues on.

"You know, I'm jealous of you Legionnaires. After this, you're going to go down in infamy. Footage of your every move is being streamed live to Harrub's political and financial elite, and after that daring attempt at spying and what I'm sure will be your equally daring attempts at escape and rescue, this is going to be an arena they never forget."

Near each of them, a huge, colorful hologram sparks to life, revealing the image of a man.

"Who's the badass bogeyman with his own planetoid?"



"Now I know what you're wondering. The four W's. Who am I? Oh, I'm just someone that fell through that space rift on Phelolu and got recruited by parties with certain...interests. Since then, I've been working for the Harrubian government. The name's Arcade."

"What is this? This happens to be my best work yet. The Harrubians in charge used to get rid of political dissidents and their families the old-fashioned way -- with a bullet to the back of the melon and a shallow, unmarked grave -- but I've spiced things up. Now they fight for their lives in my arenas -- a little idea I got from a series of kids' books I read in the pen. Once a month, a sizable number of Harrubian deplorables enter, and by the end of the month, only one leaves."

"'Why me?' you're probably asking, but you already know the answer to that one. You nosed in just a little too much around Harrub and now the Harrubian government wants you gone. Lucky for them and unlucky for you, a few members of the UP council wanted you gone just as much and tipped them off about your spying. Politicians, amirite? Can't live with 'em -- and in your case, Legionnaires, that's especially true. The UP biting the hand that protects them, when this isn't even your home universe -- that has got to hurt."

"Where are you? This is my master work. See, I really love watching people die -- I'm a little sick in the head, what're you gonna do? For years, I used to build these elaborate superhero death traps, but my dead-superhero-to-deathtrap ratio was embarrassingly low. So when I got pulled into this universe, I decided to shake things up a bit. This planetoid is filled with my mercenary Tributes that...help things along, as well as traps, monsters, dangerous terrain, and paranoid dissidents so desperate to save their own miserable lives they'll knock your brains out with a rock over a hunk of cheese."

"An impenetrable shield is around the entire arena, blocking off all communication and attempts at escape. You're completely cut off. Only the Harrubian government knows you're here. Nobody's coming to get you, and even if they tried, trust me, they wouldn't even know where to look. You want food? You want medicine, you want water? It's all here but you'll have to fight for it.'

"The arena started 10 days ago and there are are 20 left. One way or another, in 20 days, only one of you Legionnaires or political dissidents is walking out alive -- admittedly, the lucky winner will be walking out into being locked in some hole-in-the-ground Harrubian political prison for the rest of your natural life, but you'll still be far less defunct than everyone else."

"Kill or be killed, it'll be great. Now, I know what you're thinking: 'you can't make me kill my friends or innocent Harrubians.' That's true, I can't make you do anything, and there wouldn't be much fun if I could. But life's a game, kids -- you're either playing or you're losing it. This game will crack you open and let the real you out. The you that you keep crammed down where nobody else can see."

His voice goes extra sinister.

"Deep down maybe a few of you are real, genuine, big damn heroes, I'll grant you that. But the rest? Cowards. Liars. Cheats. Thieves. And at least one natural born bone-and-gristle killer or two. So, remember, kids: play unfair, get messy, and make mistakes -- preferably some fatal ones, they're great for the ratings."

Arcade turns away from whatever is filming him for the hologram, and then turns back.

"Oh, and before I forget... Welcome to Murderworld."

He holds his hands up and makes finger guns at the camera. The holograms of Arcade explode into a million pieces and fade away, leaving all the Legionnaires to face the dangerous forces around them.

[ooc: Player can use this post to establish their characters' initial reactions to arriving in the arena, but otherwise, threading for the plot will take place in posts players make for themselves.]

Comments

closed to Dipper and Mabel

[captainbuzzkill]

Dipper woke up in a strange little room. Arcade's hologram did its whole little spiel and he was left there, trapped and wondering if everyone else was getting a start in this death arena like this. He was in some kind of strange little chamber, with material on the walls that looked like soundproofing. A clear forcefield separated him from a pedestal on the other side of the room, that had a big, red button on it. Beyond that was a clear door that looked firmly shut and locked. Outside of the door was a wooded, grassy area and he could see two packs laying in the grass.

Dipper tried to use his telekinesis but there was something about the room that was dampening his powers.

So then he pounded on the forcefield, and started to yell for his sister, trying to see if she was nearby.

"Mabel! Can you hear me?!"

[bleventeen]

"Auuuuuuuuuuugh! So boring!"

What a horribly long speech. He could have at least left her some snacks so getting through the entire thing would have been less torturous. But no, there she is. Hungry, alone, and bored inside her own cell identical to Dipper's.

"If I wanted to hear a boring speech, I would have stayed home and watched school TV with Dipper." She gets halfway through an eyeroll before she realizes Dipper didn't stay home. "Waaaaiiiit a minute. Dipper?"

Yeah, she's going to start trying to kick her forcefield, as futile as that is.

"Come back, you freaky boring speech guy! Tell me where my brother is!"

[legionnpcs]

The hologram does come back, appearing in both of their chambers simultaneously (not that they know it).

"Twins! Gotta love twins. The Harrubians love when siblings get involved in this. Either they rip each other apart, or there are stunning displays of self-sacrifice. That's why this whole getup."

He gestures around the room at the forcefield and the button.

"See, right now, your twin sibling is in the chamber next door. They've got the same forcefield, the same button, the same clear door to freedom -- and the same vent that will open and pour poison gas into the room."

Arcade waves his arms.

"But this is your chance to keep that from happening, kiddo. All you have to do is 'volunteer' as Tribute. In a few seconds, I'm going to drop the forcefields that let you reach your buttons. If neither of you hits one, you both die. But if you hit the button before your sibling does, poison gas will pour into your chamber and kill you -- but your beloved twin goes free."

Arcade snaps his fingers and both forcefields drop.

"They can go out into the world on a quest for vengeance, forever carrying the pain of being too afraid to--"

[captainbuzzkill]

The very moment the force-field dropped, without even a nanosecond's hesitation, Dipper lunged forward and slammed his hand down on the button as hard as he could, not knowing that at the exact same time...

[bleventeen]

Mabel is slamming a fist into her own button!

"Blah blah blah! I'd rather die from poison than have to hear you anymore!"

OTA

[blue_flame]

Azula listens carefully to the announcement, looking any signs of weakness. There is only one that she can find and it's not something she wants to rely on. The Legion is very strict with is no-killing policy and even if this Arcade thinks he can get around that, most of the Legionnaires she'd met so far were hopelessly heroic.

Of course, the maximize the effect, she is going to have to follow the rule too. Think of it as practice. Think of all of this as practice.

OTA

[jonesiseverywhere]

"See this?" Casey holds up his hockey stick for the hologram to see. "When I catch up to you, you better hope I don't stick it where I wanna stick it right now."

Still, he picks up the first aid kit and the...he guesses that's some kind of food? He's not a murderer, but he's totally not a medic either. He can probably smack the case at someone if he needs to but whatever, the point is, he wants the (murder)world to know he's going to use these to survive and he's going to kick Arcade's ass.

OTA

[deafleppard]

Gwen wasn't really sure of herself as a spy. Hell, she was pretty sure she'd be awful at it, and wouldn't you know, this was exactly the reason why. Well, maybe not this specifically but... yeah. Honestly, it was all pretty impressive. Like, stupid villain name aside, Arcade had gone all out on this.

Now if only he could've dropped him off somewhere less frigid and miserable.

She supposed the first aid kit and rope hammock would be put to good use. And she still had her web shooters, too! Alright, she could work with this. Gwen was so busy assessing her situation and belonging that she failed to notice the pair of rabbits coming up behind her...

[mylawn]

76, on the other hand, is more ready for this than he wants to admit. Being thrown into a kill-or-be-killed murder arena is sadly not the worst thing that's ever happened to him, and he has to take a moment to think about how that even became to be the case.

Not too long, however, because he's in a death arena with a lot of things that want to kill him. He's content to work alone, but it's not long before he happens upon a fellow Legionnaire, one who seems largely oblivious to the creeping threat. If he can call it a threat--they don't look like a threat, but he's not about to take his chances.

Good thing he's shown up, either way. 76 is able to pick off the creatures from mid-range, and doesn't waste any time after that, closing the distance between himself and Gwen, all but pulling her along.

"We should move."

[deafleppard]

Gwen just ducked out of reflex after hearing the gunshots. She turned to look and saw both 76 as well as the dead... rabbits? Wow, okay, someone clearly wasn't a fan. She didn't even have time to fully process why that had just happened, instead being pulled away from the scene.

"Woah, wait what? What was that all about?" She held onto the items with her other arms, looking back over her shoulder as more rabbits appeared.

"They were just a couple of..." And those same rabbits promptly began to bare their teeth.

Their many teeth. Many sharp teeth.

"... We should definitely move!"

[mylawn]

76 did little more than grunt in response, springing into action and pulling on her sleeve. Unless she, too, could run at speeds surpassing that of a normal human, she might find it a bit difficult to keep up.

But he wasn't really thinking about that. He supposed he could just turn around and start shooting, but it seemed that killing the first two only got the attention of more, and who knew how easily they'd be overwhelmed?

"Higher ground. Let's go."

At the very least, they could get themselves the tactical advantage.

[deafleppard]

Gwen was able to keep up well enough, maintaining a good pace with 76 as they continued to run away from the murder rabbits. Because you know, those were a thing now. She had also decided just now on the name "murder rabbits" as it seemed to fit in with the overall theme. That, and... "Murderworld". So yeah.

"No problem, I can just-!" Or, not, because there were no buildings or anything that she could use her web shooters on.

Why.

"Nnnrgh, scratch that. Higher ground sounds better."

[captainbuzzkill]

When Dipper found Gwen, his teeth were already chattering.

"Hey, look, there are bunnies here. I guess this place isn't so --"

That was when he saw the teeth.

"Bad! Bad bunnies! The bunnies are bad!"

[deafleppard]

"Huh? What are you-" And then Gwen turned around to face the rabbits

And their teeth.

"Oh for the love of... Why?! Why rabbits?!"

[captainbuzzkill]

"Probably to crush our spirits by making us think everything good in the world is horrible. Or whatever."

The bunnies hopped towards them in jumps that were far too powerful for normal bunnies and Dipper tossed up a teke shield so they slammed head first into it and fell away injured.

"At least they're not that hard to beat?"

He didn't see the bunnies coming up behind him. Lots of bunnies.

[deafleppard]

"That's great, now let's get out of here before-" And that was when Gwen turned around to spot the extra set of rabbits. The extra many sets of murderous nightmare-inducing rabbits.

"Aw, man, there's more of you." Of course there were more.

"Uh, Dipper?" Hold that thought, as one of them actually tried to jump towards before behind pushed back with some webbing from her shooters.

Temperate Zone - OTA

[fourstars]

The entire scenario was more uncomfortably familiar than Gohan wanted to admit. Public event, organized by a madman, where people fought for their lives... it was so much like the Cell Games, that Gohan was having a hard time quelling his temper at the thought. The fact that this had been going on without anyone noticing, with countless people probably dead as a result... how could they have missed this? How?

Whatever the case, Gohan wasn't going to play this game. Not this time.

"Murderworld, huh?" Gohan murmured to himself, glancing down at the supplies he was left with. Making a mental assessment of the area, and already thinking of how he can set up a habitable camp until he could think of a better plan. "Enjoy it while you can, because there won't be another one."

[deafleppard]

Gwen had spent a bit of time inside Murderworld already. She had lucked out on some initial supplies and still had her web shooters to work with. No convenient ring-powered flight, though. Kind of a bummer. But at least she'd finally gotten out of the freezing cold and the rabbits that kept on chasing and wanting to eat her.

So. Many. Rabbits.

Fortunately she had been randomly teleported teleported away from all of that and into... a forest? Okay, sure. Why not.

Thanks, Murderworld!

Anyways, she kept on walking through the oversized trees and mushrooms and found her way to a sort of camp. "Oh, wow, hey there. Glad to see it's you. I mean, not that you actually ended up here, too. But you know what I mean."

Please know what she meant.

[fourstars]

The camp was a lot more respectable at this point. It wasn't exactly pretty to look at, but it was a clearly designated area, with a properly set up campfire, as well as various fruits and berries collected off to the side. The whole thing looked very much like whoever set it up actually knew what they were doing.

So, you know. Imagine how Gwen must feel knowing that that was Gohan.

"I-I get what you mean..." Gohan said with a sheepish chuckle, sitting by the campfire and eating some of the berries. "Um, come sit down! If you haven't eaten yet, I have a bunch of fruits and berries! So uh... yeah, feel free!"

[deafleppard]

"Yeah, I..." Nope, she didn't even think to finish that thought. Instead, Gwen just walked towards the campfire and plopped herself down on the ground, her supplies falling to her side as arms and legs were all stretched out.

"Ugh. Just so much 'ugh' right now."

She'd hit up those fruits and berries in a bit. Just give her a bit more time to hate everything.

escher zone, ota

[headinjuries]

It was dark.

(Which, at first, was because Sam hadn't opened his eyes yet, but once he did so - yeah, it was still dark.)

And the hologram of Arcade, in contrast, was too bright, leaving Sam squinting at it while his eyes tried to adjust, and mostly distracting him from going Tom Servo on the opening monologue. At least, until the end, and - "Dude. Fingerguns, really? Are you trying to look like a total douche?"

He pushed himself up to a sitting position with both hands, frowning at the way the ground felt beneath them - there was just a little too much give, like it wasn't really ground at all, maybe more like -

"No way." He held up one hand, now glowing with the blue light of the Nova Force, and squinted at the floor, then the walls. "Ew. That's disgusting."

≫ time to die

[fantasmaniac]

① ＩＮＤＵＳＴＲＩＡＬ  ＺＯＮＥ :: closed to soldier76
Being blown away by a teleporter is definitely something new. Disoriented and confused, he remains as still as possible to regain his proper thoughts and billows out black smoke in thick rolling curls by his feet, like he’s breathing out heavily. Fortunately, he’d taken the tarp he found in the car and made sure all his shit was strapped to his person. Even though the damn bazooka only has one measly round in it, it’s better than no weapon at all. The other items he’d received… er, well, he’s not even entirely sure what they are. He didn’t have much time to look them over. All he knew is that one was heavy, like a book, and the others were some sort of syringe pack. Contents unknown for now.

Better take a look. While it’s definitely a dark and eerie place he’d ended up in, it’s quiet enough that he can still be on the alert for any sounds that approach. He grips the edge of the heavy item first, pulling it out of the tarp just enough to read the title on the front.

“My First Death Arena.”

How fucking cute. Silently, he shoves it back in and takes out the syringe set instead. Health enzymes? Seems useful enough, but he figures it’ll definitely help if he takes a lot of damage. While his body does regenerate over time and quicker than a normal human being, danger doesn’t wait for anyone.

Suddenly, the loud creaking sounds of gears shifting and metal shrieking jar him out of his thoughts. Swiftly, he moves off to the side and presses up against a steel beam. Slinging the tarp over his shoulder, he concentrates his focus on his lower body to ghost over to a wall by a heavy looking door, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. Unfortunately, it’s all echoes in here, the sound bouncing off all the numerous walls and floors and ceilings.


② ＮＯＣＴＵＲＮＡＬ  ＺＯＮＥ :: open to all
It's the first form of shelter he spots, the entrance to a cave or something, as he'd been dodging traps left and right while running through the urban district. It's not long until he realizes he's not in a city anymore (and narrowly escaping a trap infused with crackling electricity snapping at his heels), and inside a dark cavern. It's an abrupt change of scenery, but it's quiet- almost peacefully so- as he mists through the tunnels at a cautious pace.

He's good at keeping quiet, and the fact that he can keep his feet from touching the floor by turning it into smoke gives him an extra advantage. Basically, anyone in the near vicinity of him will ping his radar, but he won't let them see his reaction to them. If they could see him at all. He's pretty much a floating mask at this point, what with how dim the lighting is inside the cavern and with how much black he wears, on top of the fact that he's actually highly trained in stealth.

The entire cave will be deathly silent until you make your move, stranger. He'll only react once the other party realizes he's here and either A) Shriek, B) Strike him, or C) Run. Maybe your character does something completely different?

[mylawn]

76 is much more in his element than he wants to admit--he'd almost be ashamed of himself if he wasn't running completely on survival instincts. As it is, he's given himself over to more feral inclinations because that's what's going to help him stay alive. He's under no illusions about the situation, and will treat it accordingly. 76 has his gun and all of his training. No one should want to mess with him.

But instead of going on the offensive, he stakes out in the industrial zone, securing a temporary safehouse for himself while he takes stock of things. Lets the tributes come to him.

It is not, however, a tribute that finds its way into zone, and he allows himself to entertain the thought of killing Reaper while it's permitted (though now that they're both Legionnaires, he's not sure how well that will go over). He uses the natural noises of the zone to disguise his footsteps, sticking to the shadows and trying to keep Reaper somewhere in his vision as he orients himself.

Reaper may or may not feel like he is being stalked. Mostly because he is.

[fantasmaniac]

At first, the lurching and clanging of the mechanics distract him, throw him off, but it doesn't take long for him to gather his bearings. He can sense someone following him, but he's careful not to let on that he knows. Every so often, he slows in his steps to glance deliberately over his shoulder like he's expecting someone to show up in his peripherals. The man eludes him; he seems like a sharp guy.

The tarp slung over his shoulder jostles with the few items he's acquired, the bazooka clinking against the plastic syringes within the tight confines. Begrudgingly he keeps them, knowing that they'll come in handy, somewhere in the future. He doesn't want to use the bazooka on some asshole tailing him like this, not even as a last resort. Hell, he can't remember the last time there was a 'last resort' for him. It's not like the guy could kill him.

Maybe. It's hard to say anymore. Things about him have changed already, regarding his physical inability to respawn endless guns. Who knows what else about him has been altered?

"And down the rabbit hole he goes." It's murmured under his breath in a ragged way, like whispering a curse for his pursuer, and with another sharp turn of the corridor, he suddenly leaves his tarp o' stuff on the ground. A bit of a distraction. Reaper himself nowhere to be seen. He hasn't entered any of the rooms yet, using the twisting maze to his advantage first before resorting to finding a 'kill room', so to speak.

[mylawn]

76 has already taken note of what Reaper is packing, finding that the rocket launcher is by far the most interesting thing. If he decides it's worth using on him, then he's a little bit screwed, so he has to play this carefully--not do anything to make Reaper want to use it.

The problem is that for as much as he can use the shadows, Reaper can use them tenfold, and 76 keeps stalking him through the zone, he imagines that's what is about to happen. He can't keep Reaper from dissolving into a cloud of black smoke--effectively keeping him off his visor, but at the very least he's prepared for that particular trick.

They know each other too well, of course, and he likes to think that although Reaper's detected that he's being followed, he's not sure who it is just yet. 76 does his best to keep up, but he has a moment of pause when he comes across the tarp o' stuff on the ground. He's instantly on edge, scanning the area for any signs of life before slowly taking off in the direction he thinks Reaper is most likely to go.