Pax RP

Spinner looked at the letters of the alphabet carefully, then the clue, then the letters of the alphabet again. It would be really helpful, he thought to himself, if I knew how to read.

Normally he would have no trouble admitting this, but somehow it felt kind of embarrassing when these people had entreated him so. They all appeared to have no trouble reading the written message, and even spoke of others who'd made it through.

It was difficult to move about too much in this space with these people, maybe he could just...

reach in carefully and...

just, kind of, twist around a bit...

and then if he maneuvered his claws just right...

Instead of pressing just one letter, Spinner pressed all of the letters at once with both of his claws.

((Oh uh, but CP... you kind of know this one ))

Swix grinned again, bouncing closer to Raven and now on tile G3. She did a somersault on the way over, the extra limbs streaming out behind her. Why not? It's not like she could do that sort of thing normally. May as well take advantage of what had been given.

"Very soon I'll be gone. Not from dying, but I will be gone from reality" she made a shrugging gesture and sent sparks flying from the torch "and I?ve been thinking about what would happen should I die beforehand. I think I have a pretty good idea of what will happen. How many mortals can say that? A paltry few I'm sure" Swix's eyes glittered strangely, apparently, thinking about that sort of morbidity made her feel so odd it literally shined out of her eyes.

"Oh." Raven hadn't quite expected that. "Well, good luck. Wherever you end up, make sure you enjoy yourself. If need anything and can get in touch, do so." Her sentiments conveyed, Raven yawned and stretched. "That said," she began after stretching. "This could very well be the last time we get to play together like this." Her eyes flashed dangerously and she bared her fangs. "Come get me darling." She purred happily.

(( Do you mean Swix will be gone as a character, or you entirely? D: D: D: ))

((Oooh, I may have to get popcorn for this.

Also, is anything happening in the fiery hole of doom or have I gone and missed a chunk of the RP again? XD))

((Oh dear 3kul. I hadn't thought of such a thing. Is there any kind of text he would understand? Or perhaps he could pick "randomly", with you pulling the strings as so his guess, ooc?))

There was a deep vibration, and the stone's surface got quite warm. Warm enough even that you quickly took your claw off with concern you may have broken it.

"I... don't think that's how it works..." One of the villagers eventually said helpfully as yhe roxk quickly cooled. "You need to pick one of the letters, based on what the riddle said."

((Oh... you're right. I do know that one. ))

The chasm:
<big><big><big>
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
1[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. X. X. [ ] [ ]
2[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ]
3[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ♡ [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
4[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
5[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. X. X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
6[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] â–¼ X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
7[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
8[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. X. X [ ] X. X. X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
9[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
0[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. X. X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
</big></big></big>

♡=Swixy
â–¼= Ravvy

((And yes Borg, you should have enough to go on, down there in the depths.

Think about things that may be behaving strangely, and investigate them. This one is more of an RP puzzle.))

((This quest is discriminatory against my illiterate character&#33; I'll see you in court CP

Just to be clear, Spinner does not know how to read or write in any languages.))

"Hrm, right then." Spinner grumbled, looking at all of the letters. He knew that these were letters, which meant that the long string of them above was the 'riddle' that the villager had referred to. Spinner counted them carefully (fortunately he could at least manage to count); there were 26 letters in total... which meant 25 chances to get this wrong.

He did not know how to read or write, but he had been taught the letters for his name by the one who raised him as a larva... But that was a long time ago, could he really remember them? He thought to himself, trying to remember the different mnemonics he'd been taught for each letter. 'S' looks like a snake... What kind of snake was it meant to look like again? There were a few letters that looked like snakes much to Spinner's frustration ("C", "G", "I", "J", "S", "U", and if the snake was meant to be curled up, "O" or "Q") , so he thought about the next one. 'P' looks like a leaf has been plucked... Once more, the description was too vague to pin to any one letter. How were these little poems supposed to help him again?

'I' looks like... He couldn't remember what I was supposed to look like, but he knew it had just one line in it, so that ruled out a lot (but not nearly enough, unfortunately). N looks like... Okay, wait, wait, I remember this one because he said there was two of them in my name. Spinner examined each letter very closely, looking for the familiar characteristics that he could remember. It has a... zigzag pattern like stitching, with two sharp pointy bits...

After some careful perusing, Spinner found a total of four characters that matched this description: "M", "N", "W" and "Z".

When he looked closer at them, he realized that "M" and "W" had too many points, so that left him with just "N" and "Z". They both looked so similar - how anybody remembered which was which was beyond him. This was the only letter that he could really remember fairly well (and even then he couldn't remember it perfectly), so he decided to go with it. It's not like anything bad would happen if he got it wrong, right?

Reaching out with one claw, very delicately this time, Spinner prodded the letter "N". If this one was wrong, he would try "Z". If that one was wrong... Well, maybe then he'd think about admitting his illiteracy to the townsfolk and asking them to explain what the rock said.

((:/))

With a claw, you finally select "N" after much deliberation. Of course, what looks like you deeply considering the intricacies of the riddle to the townsfolk, is actually you having trouble with the letters. It's a real issue, and perhaps you should have admited your problem before tempting magic.

The letter glows green, before dazzling you with a wave of nauseating magic. You have to stumble back- it's just so intense, you can swear you feel your organs shifting around under your carapace.

"Are you.. alright?" One of the villagers finally gets up the nerve to ask, while looking at you strangely.

It may not be immediately obvious, but you are a slight bit more compact.

... And seem to have lost all your hair.

((Awwh. Try again&#33;))

((I mean this Swix character... Possibly... Maybe... It's likely though ))

"It could be the last time we do get to play like this" she said, and offered a half bow with a flourish before looking up "then again it might not be". She took another leap to G5, then turned to face Raven once again, much closer now "Your turn"

The chasm:
<big><big><big>
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
1[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. X. X. [ ] [ ]
2[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ]
3[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
4[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
5[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ♡ X. X. X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
6[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] â–¼ X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
7[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
8[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. X. X [ ] X. X. X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
9[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
0[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] X. X. X. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
</big></big></big>

♡=Swixy
â–¼= Ravvy

Spinner ignored the human, staring dumbfounded at his now naked carapace.

It wasn't long before he collapsed, unconscious. The shock of losing all of his hair was simply too much for him to mentally process.

((Hmm, I wasn't really going to bother elaborating on this as I didn't expect it to be relevant, but having hair is kind of a big deal to Spinner. It's going to take him a while to recover from this...))

((Well... Ok. Is... He going to be alright?))

The townspeople all stepped back as you slammed rather roughly into the ground, relieved of your consciousness. This simply hadn't happened before. Sure, the magic effected everyone slightly differently, but...

"Is... is he dead?"

"Oh gods... Oh gods... he's dead...."

"Relax everyone, see if he has a pulse&#33;"

"How the heck do we do that?&#33;"

The villagers all look at each other, a complete loss at what to do. You're already taking up the whole room, so it's not like they can send someone in to fetch you.

There are a few more worried looks, before the lady that brought you here steps forward tentatively. She has to climb up onto your shell a little, but after a few slippery close calls, she knocks on your exoskeleton, worried.

"Mr... Crab? Are... you dead?"

Raven smirked. Moving around on this...jelly substance was tricky. It was so bouncy that had she tried to attack Swix, she would have sailed clean over the perfect torch positions. "Oh, what a shame." She drawled, twirling a strand of her hair in her fingers. "Then we better have fun, shouldn't we?" Shooting her a playful grin, Raven turned from Swix and jumped to H8.

((Sorry for the delay&#33; Xmas and all that and then my computer crapped out. I was planning on fixing it today by reinstalling the operating system but when I turned it on it was just... normal. Weird. Going to re-install it anyway, but I figured I'd reply while I had the chance. ))

"I suppose so" Swix said, and made a shrugging motion, sending sparks flying "though personally I think this would have been much more fun with more than one torch, but I suppose that can't be he helped" the woman leaped forwards once more, onto G7 this time. She offered Raven one of her big, mischievous grins and planted the torch on that square before leaping sideways to E7.

"Tricky Raven, very tricky" she called over, as a compliment.