WEEK SEVEN - MINGLE

[hellscapes]

Rise and shine, little deadlings. Change is coming. Satan's grace has shined upon you...and you made it. Congratulations to those of you who wake up in Gehenna this morning.

For those of you who slept in the dorm last night, when you make your way downstairs to head off for the day you'll be greeted with a new message on the white board in the common room.

Four Days Until Satan's House Party!! Congrats on Your Invite!!

The countdown continues...

It's funny. You've all played along for so long. It's been so many weeks of hard work, of training, of experiencing new things and trying to figure out the best game strategy for the drink-off, but at the same time you've lost so much. It may even feel as though all of this was for naught. Some of you may have even lost hope along the way. But hey. Haven't you heard? The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Walking out of the dorm, it's immediately obvious something is different. It's in the atmosphere, and unlike before, you can hear ambient sounds in the distance and all around you. It's the sound of other people. Other establishments. Other islands and other residents, all things you haven't experienced before in your isolated dimension. Bicker is popping off from a million accounts, no longer just you newbies. Anywhere you go there are strangers, human and demon alike, just living their afterlives. At the dock, the ferry is happily floating on the lava, waiting for you to climb aboard. While there are still several unknowable islands on the horizon, the ferry can now shuttle you between all of the previous islands and the largest island in all of Hell. This island can be seen from just about every other point of this realm, but it's even larger than life when you finally arrive. Should you find yourselves returning to more familiar bars, you may find that along with new faces - real bartenders, thank God - new menu items await you as well.

But maybe you'll be too busy for that. After all, for some of you it isn't just your surroundings that are different when you wake up. You may feel better than ever, like a part of you has been revitalized, or... like a part of you has been switched back on. Abilities you once had in your living life have been returned to your possession, but do keep in mind the rules and regulations of Hell. Don't abuse them, now! Be a good neighbor.

Everywhere you look there's the buzz and excitement of the upcoming party, and everywhere you travel feels more open than before. You're less limited, less isolated, and perhaps you'll even run into a familiar face in the crowds, if you're lucky.

But there are a few consequences that come with being abruptly ejected from a quarantine zone and into the real realm of Hell. Some things need to be recalibrated, and throughout the course of the week you may find yourself experiencing different effects you underwent during your previous weeks here. Maybe one day you find yourself experiencing a loss of your senses. Maybe the next you're falling back into those memory-sharing holes. And maybe another you're t-posing each other to assert your dominance without realizing how stupid you look.

It almost seems as though it's simply meant to be an annoyance...for everyone involved.

And speaking of annoyances? Don't forget to check out what's new on Bicker. You can always contact each other via public Beeks or by sliding into their DMs.

Likewise, you'll find that your personal demons' accounts are live and active and despite what some of them may say, their DMs are also open.

Enjoy the week of pregaming!

Good morning everybody, and welcome to your week seven mingle, aka the final mingle for endgame week! A few notes for clarity.

-This week's effect is everything. That is to say, you are free to either not be affected by anything at all, or you may play with the different effects that have come up during the course of the game to play out with people you may have missed opportunities with! As a reminder, the effects are:

-Rumor Mill (aka the compulsion to tell a lie or spread a rumor about someone)
-Emotional Overload (aka experiencing intense emotions and the inability to calm down until they're shared)
-Loss (aka loss of senses, memories, abilities, etc.)
-Memshare (self-explanatory)
-Heightened insecurities
-Overconfidence
-Touch

-As noted in the blurb above, those of you who have powers in your canons now have access to these again (outside of anything game-breaking.) Any items from home may be unnerfed as well. Please use your powers responsibly! Abuse of powers or harming random residents will be flagged to the HPD and your powers will be shut down for 24 hours.

-If you "die" you come back within three hours. All injuries, including old ones, now heal at an accelerated rate, but the specific time and amount is up to you oocly.

-Also as noted in the blurb above... Hell has a few more residents than usual! That is to say, along with now being populated with its own residents, characters who have died and were in the graveyard are now available to you once more. There is no longer a barrier between you guys. Be free.

-Audiences for the personal demons are now open! Please submit all requests under the correct weekly header.

-Please submit all PC submissions under the correct weekly header.

-The Bicker poll is public! All replies will be public, and players may also post their own Beeks in their toplevels that will be considered public. You are free to reply directly to the appropriate toplevels, or you may create Beeks in your own toplevels with other prompts. Be free.

-Finally, we will not have a trial this Saturday but we will be having our endgame event, aka SATAN'S PARTY. Please let us know if you will not be available, but otherwise we'll see you then!

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Comments

[engineers]

[ too late ]

Was it Socratic democracy that says if we put too many people onto making choices, it'll end up adverse selection...? I think our brainstorming session's probably coming to a close.

[outsidebones]

Yes, though I feel we have several different beginnings of a plan but not one complete one.

Most of what we've settled on is creating drama, but not what we actually propose as far as rules for the competition, and I fear it will not be enough.

[tearduct]

I know the demons are interested in the worst, but... what if we used what Lavi said earlier except... not a pre-game. If Satan is holding a drinking party, there has to be party games, right?

Can we trick the guidelines some way through a party game...? Or maybe winning one... I don't know.

[outsidebones]

Hmm. So perhaps a competition before the competition, but not a drinking competition? Rather, we use a different game to change the stakes?

[...]

We play Truth or Dare and dare him to let us all leave...?

[engineers]

[ help ]

Why don't we invent a game, or at least make a twist on one? We could call it Satan's Cup instead of King's Cup.

[outsidebones]

And what are the rules to Satan's cup...?

[engineers]

That's the question. I like the line of thinking of using truth or dare, to be quite honest - I think what Filbo said was smart. King's Cup itself gives us the widest breadth of options of all the ones we played before.

We could use the rule of the 'king' to add new rules to the game as we normally do, and bit by bit, we can build on the rules to our benefit during until we've successfully created something of a trap. It gives us a total of four kings, with an approximately 7.9% chance of drawing one, to build in a little bit of competitive edge. Let Satan build his own rules in the deck if he picks one - he can ultimately decide what he sees as harsh, based on his own perception. If we work with the idea of it being beneficial to him, lets trust him enough to work with us in a fair game.

To make it Satan's cup, why don't we add the jokers in? That's two extra cards. We could pin life or death on luck, so to speak; I'm open to suggestions for what to do with them.

[outsidebones]

[she nods.]

I don't think it's a bad idea, but I don't think our goal should be to trap him. He can see everything we plan, so we're unlikely to have success, and we risk alienating someone who is potentially an ally. If anything, we may want him to agree to play this for the stakes we propose in advance of the party.

[engineers]

[ he nods! ]

That's what I mean - I guess I should've said [ airquotes ] "trap". One agreed upon in advance. What's politics without a little smoke and mirrors, anyway?

[tearduct]

I kinda like this. It gives us a chance to mix other things up in it, like the party we had. It isn't just one or the other. That way, it's still interesting for the watchers...?

[tearduct]

[Raises his brows slowly, amused.]

Maybe the demons will be satisfied with a high-stake competition even if there's no bloodshed. Or we could promise our brutal demise if we lose. We just... have to make sure to win.

[outsidebones]

Well. If they want bloodshed to be part of the competition, that's easy enough. Some of us are rather sturdy now.

[tearduct]

Mm.

[Nods in agreement.]

[hardrocklife]

Any competition involving violence would be fine for some of us, but...

[glancing at some of the normies here. considering.]

... Hm. Well, we may have the means to protect the more vulnerable among us, if it comes to that.

[ontrend]

[jokingly:]

Someone grab me a chainsaw from the scarecrows and I'm all set!

[outsidebones]

Yes. We can plan the violence out to ensure it falls upon those who can handle it.

[greatvalue]

... Could be a competition where the non-combatants are represented by those of us who are better in a fight.

[cavaliered]

[waves absently.]

I've got no issue with representing people who can't lift a sword.

[astika]

It's not necessarily a bad line of thinking. After all, for all of the alleged desire for suffering, Hell still implemented punishments and rules against excessive violence—so it's not like bloodshed is all that matters here.

[tearduct]

If there are enough of us, so most could just play in the competition normally. As long as we win... we can each ask for what we want for everyone. If it'd even work.

[ontrend]

I like this one! High risk, high reward!

[failbo]

Dunno, kinda thinking if we dared him that so straightforward he would end up looking like, uh, a fool for falling for it.

[And given Satan's circumstances Filbo sympathizes and therefore tries to dissuade from making him look bad, come on, Filbo, you were afraid of the guy until, like, two hours ago]

Maybe...use it to nudge it to the result we want, though? Something along the lines of daring him to have a handicap of some sort instead? Or give us a bit of an advantage?

[outsidebones]

[she nods.]

That's a little more realistic, I think. If we dare him to allow us to tag team with the dead, or dare him to add an additional victory prize where we can determine the fate of the rest of us.

[failbo]

Yeah, that works better.

[Sounds like a plan to him, he's all in on this]

[toyska]

That's not a bad idea. This whole thing is a game anyway, so it's essentially just a matter of raising the stakes and twisting the rules we're already working under.