[spoiler=]The gears spun and turned, but it made no sense to Bl.An.c.. The bits of metal seemed to work in unison, and yet when he looked again, some were disconnected, moving on their own without reason. In fact, nothing had been making sense from the start. Random objects, a path that never ended. Light from the main cavern that continued to emerge from behind them despite having travelled for almost certainly a fair period of time. Had he not understood that earlier, he did so now.
As if coming in unison at his realisation, the cavern rumbled with an unearthly sound, as if it were growling, snarling. miniature bits of rock dislodged themselves from the ceiling, pelting against the four. The rain of stone grew worse, and pebbles grew to fist sized rock
And with a giant roar, the ceiling collapsed.
+++
“It seems to be working now.”
“‘Seems’ is not the word I wish to hear, Thirteen. Give me an adequate reply.”
“I can’t give more than that,” Thirteen replied sourly, “I’ve managed to reset the setting. we will know when we try to connect to the world again.”
“Audio first,” Seventeen said, “then the feed.”
“Audio.”
There was the flick of a switch, and several bouts of whirring sounds before they settled. Seventeen put on his headphones, notching the volume to the highest.
You disappoint.
He froze. It was a whisper, barely audible even with the volume settings. A woman’s...and none of the gladiators present were women.
“You hear that?” Thirteen grimaced, turning over to the other. It was clear at that point that it was no mishearing on either person's part.
“I wish I hadn’t,” Seventeen scowled, “the feed. Turn it on.”
Thirteen did so without complaint, himself having grasped the severity of the situation. The monitors flickered back to life, of the four gladiators in the same nondescript field, as if nothing had ever happened in the time the feed had failed.
“I’m not buying it,” Thirteen scowled, “that voice. Where could it have been from?”
“I can only say for certain that it was not speaking to us.”
“To the gladiators?”
Seventeen did not make a reply. He brought the microphone to his lips, tapping it once to test before speaking into it.
“The wait is over, gladiators. Allow me to explain the rules of this round to you. The rules are simple; each of you will start from a different place, acquire a certain key along the path, and finally reach the end with the key in hand. The catch is this; there are only three keys, and only three of you will come out victorious. For the unfortunate last...only death awaits.”
There was a muffled sound as he took a deep breath.
“You might wonder what the point of all this is. You came to the system to fight for money. You risk your lives so you may be paid; but then what does this tournament have to offer? Allow me to amend my statements prior; the winner will be a new champion. Not just the glory and fame, but a lump sum as well. Take that as your motivation, if not your will to survive.”
“And finally, I hope you understand that amongst the four of you, only one is a seasoned fighter. He goes by the name of Bl.An.C...knowing that only one will perish, do you not think the strongest should go, in order for you, the weak to have a chance to survive? That is, of course, for you to decide.”
“We will prepare the course in five minutes, and a final debriefing on the routes you are to take. Think of it as a time to prepare.”
There was a click as Seventeen switched off the microphone with an inaudible sigh.
“Watch over them for me, Thirteen. I want each of them to stay put and away from any cannons.”
Thirteen raised a questioning brow, “and where would you be going?”
“To examine things. I have...a hunch. Is all.”
[/spoiler]
General Information:
The host has generously given an inkling of the next round; only one will be eliminated. Of course, this paves way to the possibility of cooperation. Keep each other alive, and fail the others. Only one will live in the end, but what is wrong with a short lived alliance?
This is a preround. Your objective here is to decide whether your character should or should not form an alliance with others, and in making that decision, convince the other party to follow through or to evaluate them as a possibe ally. Regardless of which, it will once again be a roleplay which will begin on this thread, but there is no necessity for long winded prose; just speech will do. Again, please dictate a course of action which you believe is true to your character, not one which you believe is best. Your characters can discuss anything, but when you believe you have spoken enough or when the deadline is passed, you must state that you are done, and to whom you wish to propose an alliance to.
Finally, I have said it once before, but this necessitates repetition; do not in any circumstance dictate the speech or actions of any character but your own. Failure to comply means that the other writer has free will to ignore whatever was written of his character, as well as strict punishment later on. Do not make this harder than it should be.
Two days will be given, up to three if a consensus is not reached.
