expiationooc | CR MEME/PLOT WITH ME: SEPTEMBER 2023

CR MEME/PLOT WITH ME

Welcome to Expiation's CR meme! This is a post where players can plot with each other on the direction they'd like to go for the month, and so on and so forth. There's a form below for you to fill out below, so get plotting!

The SOTG for September is here, with changes and where the game is going for the month.

SEPTEMBER EVENT SUMMARY

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EVENT SUMMARY: THE MAZE
On the night of September 10, an impenetrable fog covers the town of Aldrip. When characters wake in the morning, they find that Aldrip has disappeared, replaced by a large, enclosed maze.

Characters will wake up in one of three different levels of this maze, and they may—but don't have to—find that they are not alone. As they explore the maze, they will encounter trials and stumbling blocks both physical and mental. It seems the maze is testing them, poking at their fears, their past, their feelings. Confronting these questions about themselves and their very nature will allow them to progress through the maze in hopes of eventually finding the exit—and hopefully the town along with it.

While they do not all wake up in the same level of the maze, all characters do, in theory, have to complete all three trials in order to leave. This may not be so easy to achieve; due to the nature of these trials, if someone cannot get past one area, they may remain stuck there. Other characters are able to help them confront these issues, and may instead (or in addition) pass through that way if they choose to. Aside from the level where they wake up, characters may approach these levels in any order as they so choose.

Characters wake up in the groupings listed below. Each group letter corresponds to the letter of the trial where they wake up. After you leave your initial trial, you may meet with characters outside your group!

TRIAL A
While exploring the maze, characters begin to experience hallucinations and illusions that highlight their greatest insecurities. These illusions may come in a variety of different forms. Perhaps they experience voices or images of peers issuing criticisms that they fear are accurate, or they may face a shadowy figure that bears their appearance that embodies all of their worst qualities. The form these illusions take is up to you, the players, and whether other characters are able to see those illusions can also be decided between players. Confronting, challenging, debunking, and/or accepting these criticisms and claims is the key to exiting this level.

TRIAL B
During their time in this level of the maze, characters will at some point find their way blocked by representations of their deepest fears. This can be literal—a dark hallway for those who fear the dark, as an example—but can manifest in a myriad of other ways, too. A character could see someone from their past that represents this fear, or a monster, or an object or memory of something that connects to that fear. These fears will be made tangible and visible to anyone around them, leaving them exposed and vulnerable. In order to progress, they must be able to pass by these fears, and may do so in any way the player chooses, whether it requires fighting a monster, negotiating with an authority figure, finding a light in the darkness, or anything else players and characters can imagine.

TRIAL C
On this level, characters are confronted with memories related to the crime they have been charged with. This can be a specific moment or a series of moments related to their crime either directly or indirectly. Characters may become lost in these memories and may need help navigating through them from other people: the longer they remain lost in these memories, reliving them again and again, the more they run the risk of losing those memories entirely, either permanently or temporarily. Only by addressing the crime, the way they feel about it, the relationship that crime has to reality and to who the character is, can characters be free of this particular trial.

ADDITIONAL INFO
Those characters (or players) who do not wish to interact with the maze will occasionally find quiet corridors that mysteriously place them outside the maze, unable to reenter. They will find that the town is, indeed, gone, as are their living quarters—hope you don't mind roughing it for a while. However, due to recent efforts to bolster the town's supplies, some of the underground storehouses organized by Claude and Marianne seem to remain intact and are available as temporary emergency shelter, should your character choose not to camp out.

After a week, the maze will disappear and life in Aldrip returns to normal. As for the locals? They don't seem to notice that anything strange has happened at all. Maze? What maze? Strange weather we're having this week, eh?

EVENT GROUPINGS

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GROUP A:
Serah Farron
Elidibus
Nakahara Chuuya
Tsunayoshi Sawada
Rei Suwa
Caitlyn Kiramman
Ragna the Bloodedge
Kotone Shiomi
Monkey D. Luffy
Yuja Wightshade (WoL)
Yosuke Hanamura
Astralin Turnont
Dazai Osamu
Ange Ushiromiya
Hythlodaeus
Ethlyn

GROUP B:
Violet (Vi)
Silco
Ekko
Mizuki Date
Claude von Riegan
Noel Kreiss
Kazuki Kurusu
G'raha Tia
Jinx
Marianne von Edmund
Goro Akechi
Sooyoung Han
Saito Sejima
Nikolai Gogol
Erichtonios
Emet-Selch

GROUP C:
Yu Narukami
Pride
Sigma
Usagi Tsukino
William G Maryblood
Scott Summers
Gundam Tanaka
Quentin Quire
Akira Kurusu
Mitama Yakumo
Med'an
Ken Amada
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Izuku "Deku" Midoriya
Echo

Player:
Contact:

Character:
Canon:
Canon Point:

Crime: The crime your character was accused of when they arrived.

Background/Personality: A brief insight into your character's history is fine here. You can talk about their personality as well.

Abilities: Any abilities that you feel is important to note about your character. Bullet points and concise descriptions are okay.

Plans: What kinds of things do you want to do in the game? Any kind of CR you want to specifically pursue? Any special character discovery or exploration you want to do? This is the place to put all of that.

???: Questions? Comments? Memes? Put them here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Player: Chips
Contact: DM this journal or my other character

emet_sulk

Character: William G Maryblood
Canon: The Faraway Paladin
Canon Point: Before entering the Iron Mountain

Crime: Being a monster in human guise

Background/Personality: William was adopted and raised by a family of undead heroes after they rescued him from a group of demons intending to use him as a sacrifice. He grew up isolated from the world, but they taught him everything they knew so that he would be able to survive once he reached the age of maturity and left home. His middle and surname is a tribute to them: Au(G)ustus, Mary, and Blood. William's martial prowess and piety eventually earnt him the honour of being annointed a paladin. It is his life's goal to restore the name of his patron goddess, Gracefeel, and to fight against her sworn enemy, the god of undeath, Stagnate.

Abilities: He possesses the very typical abilities you would associate with a paladin. Wards against toxins, dark magic, the ability to steel his allies against fear etc., and also the power to lay the dead to rest. His physical strength is monstrous. He's not necessarily a spectacular mage but he's very good at adapting lesser spells to situations, which is more important than brute strength (as Gus taught him).

Plans:
William will be starting out with Trial C, which is related to his supposed crime: that of being a monster in human guise. This crime is related to a moment early in his career as a paladin where he made an error of judgement and found his band of adventurers surrounded by a large horde of monsters. During the fight, William overestimated how strong his companions were and this led to his good friend Menel being attacked by a chimera and left for dead.

When William saw his friend fall and the party starting to fall apart, he went berserk. Using the power of his life-stealing (i.e. vampiric regen) demonblade, he single-handedly cut down all their enemies. Although this prevented anyone else dying, it felt to him like a betrayal of his oaths to his adopted family (to use the demonblade without succumbing to its tempting power). This moment is also when he realised that his strength is monstrous compared to the average fighter.

Although William has already made his peace with that situation, it's still a rather graphic and shocking vision and paints him as quite a different person to how he currently is.

For Trial A, his greatest insecurities relate to not being able to lead a fulfilling life or failing to live up to Gracefeel's hopes for him. This would likely manifest in visions of his goddess turning away from him or abandoning him to the opposing god of undeath, Stagnate.

For Trial B, his deepest fears currently relate to the dragon he had been about to face in the Rust/Iron Mountain. He knows he's going to die. Gracefeel has told him so, and even Stagnate has told him so. Although he knows he has to go there, he knows he goes there to martyr himself - and that frightens him.

Needless to say, be prepared to see a huge-ass dragon.

I would be VERY interested in Ethlyn seeing Trial B for William. :> but also these two need to just have a chill hang sometime

:eyes: lmao god, yes, their encounters have zero chill. The dragon is absolutely terrifying, like world-ending level of terrifying, but since William hasn't actually seen it yet the maze will likely throw an abstract interpretation of the dragon at him. So it'll be less about actually defeating it and perhaps more about accepting that it's the right thing to do?

Also I know I already have Emet signed up as a healer for the Artzenritter but I debated whether William would join as well as a proper member since he fits the bill.

CR MEME/PLOT WITH ME: SEPTEMBER 2023

William G Maryblood | The Faraway Paladin

Re: William G Maryblood | The Faraway Paladin

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