r/whowouldwin • u/OddDirective • Oct 18 '22
Event Character Scramble 16 Round 2: Rockin' Rockin'
Round 2: Rockin’ Rockin’
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DAY 4
The mission the Game Master gives this week is simple and also quite complex. “Topple the ruler of the A-East arena. You have three hours. Fail, and face erasure.” They aren’t being so forthcoming with information on what that means, so that’s a challenge your Players will have to overcome. Another hurdle is actually gaining access; there’s something in the way of getting in the actual arena, be it knowledge on the target or a situation set up by the Game Master preventing access to the arena. This leads into a scramble to get the multiple things needed to resolve this, but with some outside assistance (hint: your Reaper), your team could get past it quicker than others.
(Some examples of obstacles and situations preventing access: Separate clues to the identity of the ruler or what is meant by ‘the arena’, a techie that needs specific items to go on with the scheduled show tonight, a gourmand Support Reaper manning the barrier to the way in that needs ingredients, a Resident Evil-style lock puzzle, a heist-type setup for a specific back entrance, or having to cure certain people of Noise infestation so they can open the doors.)
Whatever way they get through it, the team reaches the inside of the arena to face off against the ruler of the arena- and their target meets them on stage. It’s a battle under the lights, and the amps are turned all the way to 11. It’s time to play!
The enemy team can factor into this in a couple ways- obviously, if a member of the enemy team is the ruler of A-East, that’s one way to do it, but they could be individuals keeping you from obtaining the things you need to get in, or they could be a rival team trying to take down the boss before your team can. Whatever the case, they’re going up against you at some point in this round, so prepare to face off!
Scramble Rules
Let ‘Em Know Who You Are: Every participant this season received four characters on their team, but many of them might not be a household name. To aid with readability, please give a brief introduction and summary of your characters, with enough information so the average reader can get excited for your team before starting.
This World Ends With You: Your writeup will depict a scenario where your team succeeds. Even if your team has a one in a million chance of overcoming the odds, show what they’d need to do to come out on top against the challenge in front of them!
Everybody Has Their Own World: Writers are allowed to make changes to their characters in their narrative to fit their story, such as allowing power stealers to gain more powers, teaching martial artists new techniques, or having characters gradually grow in strength between rounds. However, you are not beholden to following what your opponent is doing. When facing another team, you are only required to write their characters as they were submitted. This is to help with ease of research, and make things more fun for both sides.
Round Rules
Setting: This round’s original setting is A-East, in particular a music venue or other performance arena, which in the original games is in a more seedy area. The main thrust of the setting is a showy place for a ‘boss fight’, so any location with a stage would work excellently. With regards to getting there, however, there is a possibility your Players would have to search far and wide, in other locations around the city. If you can’t conceive of it another way, think of it like a fetch quest.
Key Points: The main idea of the round is the following. Your Players must enter into an arena of some description or renown, and defeat a single enemy there. That being said, there is a multi-part obstacle keeping them from getting in, which the Players and Reaper have to resolve on the way. After overcoming this, the team enters into the arena and faces off against the enemy or enemies there. The enemy team must oppose them at some point, but it can be during the multi-part obstacle and/or at the arena.
Post Limit: For this round, writers will be limited to 6 posts, or 60k characters. While it is fine to go a little bit over, anything that far surpasses this limit will be automatically disqualified. This limit does not include intro posts, or analysis of the matchup.
Due Date: Writeups will be due at 11:59 PM CST on Monday, October 31st. That’s about two weeks. At that point, the thread will be locked, and voting will go up for a few days afterwards.
Flavor Suggestions
peaceful day: Your Players participated in at least one other day before this, though they didn’t run into any trouble in terms of teams opposing them. Or maybe they did! Whatever happened that day is up to you, and you can describe it if you want; just be mindful of the space you’re working with and that you need to complete the round.
The One Star: Your team’s goal is to defeat one specific enemy- in the original game, it was a bat Noise boss fight, and another monster certainly would fit the description. That being said, there is also the option of making it a member of the enemy team, either a Player or their Reaper, which of course seems sensible. There’s also a third option of making it a different character entirely. Who or what the ruler is is totally up to you.
Kill the Itch: While the mission doesn’t specify lethality, this might be the first time your team has fought directly against the enemy team members, and erasure can be introduced by having to erase the other Players on the enemy side. How would your team react to them being the cause of others’ nonexistence- or would they try to take them down nonlethally? Would they not even fight the enemy team, for fear of erasing them? Or, alternatively, would they be a bit too enthusiastic about eliminating the competition?
1
u/Kyraryc Oct 31 '22
He was massive, even while sitting on the ground, and he woke up immediately.
"Well how about that," Thorkell said, "guess Thrawn was right. Do try to make this interesting for me."
He grabbed a couple of battleaxes, each one the size of a normal person. The psychotic smile on his face reminded Shiroe of some of the most vicious player killers he faced. He wanted nothing more than to tear them to shreds.
Hondo immediately fired on Thorkell. The threat of a dozen blaster bolts only seemed to further encourage Thorkell. He was surprisingly agile for his size, slipping through each shot and heading straight for Hondo.
Sugimoto tackled Thorkell before he could reach Hondo, but couldn't topple the giant. It did give the others a chance to catch their breath. Max jumped on Thorkell's left arm and Hondo on his right. Together, they halted Thorkell's advance and brought him to his knees.
"Don't let him alert Thrawn!" Shiroe yelled. He couldn't risk any aggressive action against Thorkell, or the Masters would kill him immediately. Even trying to help weigh him down might be considered an attack. So instead, he tried to find a communicator or anything similar, but couldn't see anything.
Thorkell laughed in joy. He threw Hondo off his arm. Not the outcome Hondo hoped for, but at least he took a battleaxe for his troubles. With one arm free, Thorkell punched Sugimoto in his back and gut-chucked him away the moment Sugimoto's grip weakened.
Thorkell grabbed the still-invisible Max off his other arm and held him up. "So what do we have here? You too much of a coward to show your face?"
He randomly patted Max down until he happened to grab the mask. Once that happened, Max reappeared, and Thorkell tossed the mask aside. "An old man? What a waste. I'm glad I died in my prime. I get to spend eternity here in Valhalla fighting at my peak, unlike you."
Valhalla. That's what Thorkell considered the afterlife. It shocked Shiroe that he never considered that possibility before. The constant life and death battles and respawning. It matched the legends of Valhalla.
But if this truly was Valhalla, then it had become a warped and twisted shadow of its glory. Most of the civilians Shiroe saw were elderly and could not have died in battle. Valhalla was said to overflow with pleasure, but this afterlife only had an abundance of suffering. No one went hungry in Valhalla, but here, with the obvious exception of the games, most deaths were due to starvation.
If he was in Valhalla, then something or someone must have been responsible for turning it into the abomination it was today. And that meant it could return to the warrior's paradise it was meant to be.
But for now, Shiroe had other things to focus on.
Thorkell slammed Max to the ground, embedding him in a Max-shaped hole. The impact was so intense that Max coughed up remnants of his squid pizza. Thorkell brought his axe over his head, to the point where the tip was nearly touching his own back.
With a mighty swing, he brought it down to end Max's afterlife. Sugimoto was fast enough to intercept it, slipping his rifle underneath the axe head to brace against the shaft. The ground itself fractured against the sheer strength.
"You want to kill someone? Try me! I'm Immortal!"
Thorkell laughed. "I always wanted to kill an immortal! But first things first, this fight is no place for the weak and feeble!"
A quick knee strike broke Sugimoto's focus. Thorkell took the opportunity to kick Sugimoto away so he could focus on finishing Max. That brief moment gave Max just enough time to recover and roll away. Thorkell's axe embedded its head fully in the ground.
Shiroe groaned. In this kind of fight, he was next to useless. Just about every spell he had that could help in a close-ranged brawl was locked out due to the Master's rules forbidding buffing or debuffing Players, and the few that were left had such long cooldowns that he'd only get a single shot on each of them. Unless he could find a weakness in Thorkell's fighting style, barking orders at his team would only cause further confusion.
All he could do was grab Max's fallen mask and keep a lookout for guards.
SIZZ! SIZZ!
Two shots from Hondo made contact with Thorkell's back. They burned through his shirt, revealing a set of chainmail beneath. A bunch of rings melted from the heat but served their function well enough to keep Thorkell alive.
Thorkell ripped up his axe, taking a chunk of concrete for the ride. He ripped off the concrete with one hand and threw the axe toward Hondo. Had Hondo not dropped to the ground, his head would have been severed instead of an air conditioning pipe.
Thorkell was upon him before Hondo could get back to his feet. A single uppercut knocked Hondo into the air, and a follow-up punch sent him tumbling away. Thorkell now had both his battleaxes back, just in time to use them to block Max's laser.
Shiroe adjusted his glasses. Thorkell was a beast, a raid boss in his own right. He was keeping them out of sync. Each of his blows stunned them just long enough for him to strike someone else. They needed to attack all at the same time to take him down.
"Mind bolt!" Shiroe yelled. Normally, this attack was useful for lowering enemy mana reserves. Here, even though he couldn't directly attack, its bright, pale light distracted Thorkell just long enough so Hondo could crawl away.
Thorkell laughed in joy. It was clear he was having the time of his life.
"Over there!"
Shiroe turned around in horror to see a squad of soldiers. Either his little light show had attracted more than just Thorkell's attention, or they ran out of time and the next patrol had arrived.
"Intruders in section 13! Requesting reinforcements!"
A second squad arrived from the other side. They were surrounded.
"Form up!" Shiroe ordered.
They were staring down the barrels of a half dozen guns, with more on the way. If Shiroe didn't time this perfectly, they'd be turned into Swiss cheese.
"Hold it all of you!" Thorkell yelled. "These guys are mine. No one else touches them!"
It didn't matter whether Thorkell would face them alone or not. Every path led to their defeat. They'd either die against Thorkell or die to the inevitable reinforcements that would arrive during said fight. And so, Shiroe took the only path that could let them survive.
"Flip Gate!"
A bright light enveloped them. When it subsided, they were safe and sound in a merchandise store. Max, Hondo, and Sugimoto licked their wounds and rested while Shiroe peeked through some blinds into the hallway.
"I don't see any soldiers," Shiroe whispered. "We'll be safe for the moment."
Safe? That was a joke. Thrawn somehow anticipated their infiltration plan and they completely lost the element of surprise. Shiroe's spell teleported them to safety, but it also made them utterly lost. Shiroe had no way of predicting exactly where the spell would send them, just that it should be a safe zone.
Shiroe took a deep breath. He can't focus on that, he needed to look ahead. Figure out their next move quickly.
Or perhaps it would be better to figure out Thrawn's next move. The way Shiroe saw it, Thrawn had three options. He could either withdraw his scouts to fortify the stage, deploy his defensive units to locate Shiroe, or simply continue with the current sweeps. Three wildly different approaches, with three wildly different counters.
If Shiroe's guess was wrong, there would be no way to win. But every time he thought he had it figured out, a new reason supporting another option popped into his mind. It was impossible to guess Thrawn's tactics.
Shiroe sighed. If he couldn't guess which one, he'd have to plan for all three at once. He hated those kinds of raid battles.