ROUND 3 INTRO LOG

[foundationmods]

Welcome to The Island. The Witch extends her greetings to you on this fine day, and is pleased to finally begin the game. Please, take a seat.

Though this game may be more difficult than originally expected, there are high hopes placed upon you. Fight well against what awaits you in order to reach a truly sparkling end.

The difficulty level is challenging, but also depends on you. Think deeply on your moves as you play.

You wake with a start - even if you don't remember falling asleep in the first place - and find yourself standing on the dock of what looks like an island. There's a noise behind you - and if you turn to look, you'll see a plain white boat taking off and leaving you all behind, not stopping for a second if you try to flag them down or scream at them.

It doesn't look like you can swim to shore, either - there's nothing but sea in all directions, and something tells you trying to swim out will end up badly. However, a small dip, if you were so inclined, would be fine. It's not like the weather is bad for it - it feels like it's summer, despite it having been firmly springish at the Foundation.

...Speaking of, what happened? The last thing you remember is being...wherever you were, and then seeing a yellow bird come towards you. Perhaps it was in the corner of your eye, or landed on your shoulder...regardless, all of you saw the bird before you were whisked away to this strange island.

Is it a new SCP? Something like this isn't outside the realm of their abilities, after all.

And there's something else. Your abilities are blocked, beyond those natural to your body. Try as you might, you just can't use any of your more supernatural or superhuman skills - though all of your physical abilities are intact, of course.

There is also a...letter? on your person, as if it was there all along - in your pocket or in your hand. It is...a remarkably plain envelope, and even the letter itself is plain parchment.

It reads:

'To the players in this game,

First and foremost, let me begin with an apology: for many of you, this is not a good time to bring you here, and forcing you to play in this game instead of asking nicely is quite rude of me. For that, you have my apologies.

However, as you will soon find out, this game is quite necessary. I hand-picked all of you because I felt you were the best for this task, strange circumstances notwithstanding, and I am sure you will excel beyond even my expectations. Please give me some consideration and play this game to your best efforts. Success will be greatly rewarded.

I will be watching, and I will intervene if needed. But I think all of you are up to this task. I am in your debt for this.

- The Witch of ██████████'

...hm.

If you decide to head up the path, you'll find Goat....men? waiting for you near the doors to the mansion. Despite their bright red eyes, they merely bow politely and wordlessly bring you into the mansion, showing you your rooms and then stating that they will prepare food for you or anything else you should need whenever you want, in surprisingly deep voices.

As they leave, you can't help but wonder...

Where are you now?

Round Calendar!
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Comments

[sotoshini]

[ He didn't sign up for this protag unlife. ]

...nevermind. [ Moving on, maybe one day they'll clear this up. ]

Sounds boring.

[anonnomnomnom]

[Some achieve protaghood, some have protaghood thrust upon them, and some come to laugh at every variety of protag.]

Hmm.

[He lets that pass because yeah, confusing!! That, and apparently he needs to consider the next answer a little bit.]

It gets to be kind of a drag. Not as much as the Foundation... but it's still mostly old people talking about boring old traditional things. I think I almost like this better.

[sotoshini]

The Foundation isn't tough competition. 

[anonnomnomnom]

It really isn't, is it? They play it up like they're doing you some kind of favor, but on top of being boring they don't even have any creative threats yet, and on top of that they really think they can control half the SCPs they have around.

It's actually pretty funny to watch!

[But like, from the outside!]

[sotoshini]

Yeah. Reminds me of another leader I knew. 

[anonnomnomnom]

They're probably not a very good leader, then.

[Always up for dragging people he barely knows--]

[sotoshini]

They weren't. That's why they're dead. [ Oh so casually. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

Hahaha, that's what you get!

[Why is he so cheerful about some rando getting fridged.

Oh, right, because they're currently serving as a stand-in for the Foundation. Poor rando probably doesn't actually deserve this particular comparison.]

Tell me how it went! It was their own fault, wasn't it?

[sotoshini]

[ A beat of hesitation but then— ]

He was arrogant and thought he could predict what everyone would do and what they liked. He wasn't wrong really—at least until he met me.

I blew him up. [ His tone is still level, but the slight curve on his lips betrays how he really feels. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

No matter how good you get -- it never pays to get too confident or too relaxed, because you never know where a real challenge will come from.

[Some of it sounds like he might be reciting advice, but the last bit is all him, brightening as he talks about challenges. Natsuno gets a smile back.]

Oh, was he a jinrou sort of guy, too? He must have been pretty hard to kill.

[sotoshini]

[ Complacency breeds mediocrity. It's not something Natsuno's thought through a lot, but he does agree and nods. ]

Yeah, our fight went on a while. He was a more experienced fighter, but he kept thinking he could change my mind. Took him getting thrown in a river, hit by several cars, shot at multiples times and falling into a ravine for him to take me seriously.

[anonnomnomnom]

Well, it's always a good idea to try and change someone's mind with the direct method, but you seem to be the stubborn type, too! It would be interesting to see what would change your mind.

[That might be a compliment, maybe?? His eyes are definitely sparkling at the description of the fight. Oh boy.]

What was the fight all about?

[sotoshini]

[ It's a blink and you miss it thing, but for a moment there's a bittersweet smile on his lips. Not disagreeing with any of that, even if the compliment(?) makes him feel odd. ]

For him it was about camaraderie, society, leadership, philosophy.... there was probably more but I stopped paying attention. For me— I just didn't like him. [ Shoving a hand into his pocket, he looks back towards the door and the goatmen. Talking about Takumi in detail brings up some things he doesn't want to think about at the moment. The important thing is that Takumi is dead. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

[Bold of you to think he blinks.




That is to say, yeah, he spots it with a minute tilt of his head and absorbs it just as he does with everything else. Unerringly, curiously.]

Ooh. Was he trying to recruit you to his team? You know, in our tournament, we had a whole extra inter-round round just for trying to recruit people. I hear there were some real battles at that point.

[sotoshini]

He wasn't trying, he thought I had to be because we're both jinrou. [ And that's what still pisses him off the most, somehow. ]

Sounds like they did it somewhat properly, at least. More than Takumi or the goatmen can say about themselves. [ Give him a proper invitation inside you guys. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

Well, he just sounds full of himself. I would've blown him up too.

[So like, big mood?? Just blow up the people you don't like, it's fine. Truly they are a match made in hell. There's a brief pause and then a tilt of his head, slightly confused.]

Oh, did Takumi do something harebrained here already?

[tfw the only Takumi you know is actually the diginerd but also context clues make this only vaguely less confusing]

rolling with this

[sotoshini]

[ Natsuno doesn't laugh, but he doesn't try to hide the amused smirk on his face either. Yeah, he deserved it. Hearing the name echoed back at him he stops and tilts his head. ]

Did I say Takumi? I think his name was Tatsumi. [ Honestly he barely paid attention to anything about the guy besides what he needed to know to kill him. ]

Is there a Takumi you know?

so rude I love it

[anonnomnomnom]

[Anon just grins in response, because this is the worst feedback loop already.]

I usually like to ask my opponents' names, but sometimes there's just no time because they go out so quick! It's too bad, but it happens.

[He definitely still learned the names of some short-lived opponents but eh. It's the principle of the thing. More importantly:]

There is a Takumi! He's a real interesting guy who ended up as some kind of digital ghost, or something. It's pretty complicated, but it gave him all these cool computer powers. You can recognize him a mile off with the goggles.

[sotoshini]

It can't be helped. [ 仕方がない through and through. ]

Sounds weird. Maybe I'll take another look around and see him. [ Y'know, because he still can't get through the front door and he's definitely not fessing up at this point. Ann will get him in later, it's fine, it's fine. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

Knowing him, he could be just about anywhere. He likes getting into everything, so I'm sure the goat butlers are going to catch his interest sooner or later.

[And then Natsuno was stuck outside for another long while, but at least he probably didn't get yet another redheaded doggo sniffing around him just yet!

Run while you can, Natsuno.]

[sotoshini]

Hm, we'll see. [ A beat. ] Later. [ Walking casually off like he has a purpose and isn't just going to circle back in 5 minutes. Weeks later he still won't have really chatted with Takumi it's nbd. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

[Anon waves him off, and cheerfully goes on his way.

He might not even enter the mansion, but at least Natsuno's fake exeunt stage right means they don't just walk into each other five minutes later. What a nerd.]