RITUAL 13 - the MOST high-stakes ritual of war and bloodshed

[crittersheep]

WHO: All y’all!
WHERE: The pasture!
WHEN: Day 38, high noon

[ dang! it’s been a while since any of the little empty-vessel sheep gained sentience and personalities, right? well . . . today you might find yourself pulled towards the fountain area in the middle of the meadow, where two little Rose sheep are very active, very aware, and capering on the rim of the fountain! one is wearing a headband with fake kitty ears and the other is wearing a headband with fake puppy ears.

also there is blood on the ground and they have fully summoned a demon already, each twin patting the head of the respective animal they favor. oops. there's two large, empty pet food bowls sitting on the ground in front of them as well, which is a little weird.

they speak in unison:]

“Did you know; did you know?”

[the cat-eared one smiles, very sharp.]

"Some rituals lately had a bit of a bite--wouldn't you say, Tot?"

[the dog-eared one is more... well, hangdog, though you think it might be exaggerating a little.]

"It's so easy to let yourself get distracted by emotions..."

"That's no excuse, Tot! All that energy, all that conflict--for what? Nothing serious happened."

"How could there have been…? There was… no food involved. At all."

"Eeeeexactlyyyyyy!!"

[the cat-eared sheep hisses. the dog-eared one staggers in despair and looks on mournfully, little sheep hoof held up earnestly over its heart.]

"...what if they had a reminder of what's really worth fighting for, Tater?"

"You don't think-- the food bowl-- they might really-- after a thousand years?!"

"Take a deep breath…! Even waiting since the beginning of the universe, we remember what's important…”

[and, once again together:]

"We're all made of meat!"

[they beam at you, little fangies prominently on display.]

"--oh yeah, if you didn’t catch it, my name’s Tater! Meow!"

"And my name’s Tot… woof…!"

"Do your best; the CatDog Demon is very hungry! Eeheeheehee!"


RULES | ROOMS | ENDGAME | WINNERS & PRIZES & PENALTIES

Comments

[rules]

[crittersheep]

This is a game of strategy and competition against the other flocks. You are acquiring points for the twins and their respective demon halves! You’ll need to increase your supply and defend it from other teams using actions in each round. At the end you’ll turn your stash in either to Tater and the Cat, or to Tot and the Dog (who you give it to will be an IC choice!) There will be four winners: top scorer amongst those who give Tater points, top scorer amongst those who give Tot points, as well as two wildcards who impress both in a non-points capacity.

Be warned: YOU CAN GO INTO DEBT! Bribing the runners to complete round options with hypothetical future points if your points are insufficient is both possible and encouraged, but if you aren’t able to live up to your promises later and remain in the negatives by the end of the game, there could be (harmless) consequences.

There will be five rounds of 30 minutes each. Please work within the time constraint, as all teams need to finish a round before the game can move on to the next round. If you run out of time you may not like the results!

Oh, and if you try to steal from another flock... they’ll know who came calling. ♥

-

OOCly, your runners are SETH and TANZ! Ping the appropriate runner in Discord #game-alerts when your team has submitted their answer, and drop a link if you’re trying something that requires a customized response. (This is of special note if you either use the spying option or put something in your mouth.)

[rooms]

[crittersheep]

YOUR RUNNER IS SETH! PING SETH IF YOU DO STUFF:
DAFFODIL
ROSE
BLUEBELL

YOUR RUNNER IS TANZ! PING TANZ IF YOU DO STUFF:
LILY
THISTLE
CLOVER

PING BOTH OF US IF YOU DO STUFF:
WEEDS

[endgame]

[crittersheep]

[ after the ritual ends and you've disposed of your... offerings... in the bowl of your choice (or otherwise), the lights dim over the stage set, and an impassible velvet rope is erected at the stairs -- no matter what means you use to try, you can't pass it. Tater and Tot stand in front of it, bent over a scorecard with symbols on it that you cannot read. they're bickering intensely over them, the Cat Demon and Dog Demon looking over their shoulders and making soft growls and hissing noises to add their piece to the conversation. they ignore your interruptions.

behind them, in the one remaining floodlight, a strange animal (is it wearing a dark collar...?) waddles onto the stage, begins eating enthusiastically out of both of the bowls, and cleans them out. then it seizes up, falls over, and to all appearances, dies.




this might as well happen ]

Re: [endgame]

[secondbornsun]

[


what was the fucking point ]

[debug_mode]

...Hey! Anyone wanna go out for a hot dog?

[giggling!]

Re: [endgame]

[eonsadrift]

What a waste of time. And here I thought these demons couldn't get more incompetent.

Re: [endgame]

[strateelgic]

[Oh goodness.

At least their children are okay.]

Re: [endgame]

[adorabrawler]

[ staring at the thing(???) that just expired ]

... Okay, nevermind, maybe I won't ever touch a hotdog again.

Re: [endgame]

[aididitmyway]

This just keeps getting worse...

[shortforever]

Oh. I guess it's good that Rata didn't eat any of those.

Re: [endgame]

[pictureimperfect]

What were those hot dogs made out of.

Re: [endgame]

[hardpity]

...

Re: [endgame]

[leonheartedly]

[. . . really glad we didn't let Rata eat any]

Re: [endgame]

[catposting]

[ I missed another ritual didn't I ]

[ still a pixie btw ]

Re: [endgame]

[chasseurdebeaute]

[Otter turtle? Oh no!]

Re: [endgame]

[spinebuddyandme]

...Uh.

Re: [endgame]

[noarchitact]

[ he seems to have missed a ritual. ] What happened here?

Re: [endgame]

[mykidisthebest]

[why]

Re: [endgame]

[readytosqueeze]

Ya know...




[ simply doesn't finish his sentence, just lets it hang out there in space ]

[themanofyourdreams]

...

I didn't expect that part.

[worsethingshappen]

[it looked like whatever made the rest of the stage disappear got rid of the strange animal as well, but actually it just rolled under a clump of grass and if you walk too carelessly in the area (running is dangerous, kids!) you might just, trip over it

it is FULLY not breathing, folks

and like, bleeding from the mouth a little]

Re: [endgame]

[finalbows]

You know, they wouldn't make half bad supporting actors...

[winners & prizes & penalties]

[crittersheep]

winners & prizes

[crittersheep]

[ winners are Clover (Top Dog Donor Award), Daffodil (Top Cat Donor Award), Thistle (Dog's Choice: "Loyally Sticking to the Plan" Award) and Lily (Cat's Choice: "Unleashing Feline Vengeance" Award). if Lily is willing to illusion more tormented hotcats into existence to be consumed, the CatDog Demon may go away feeling a bit more positively towards the pasture -- everything on the stage disappeared without a trace in the hissy/whiny fit that ensued when they realized the food was gone.

winners get memory coins as usual, and also a big coil of sausage links. what are those made of? don’t worry about it. if you're brave enough to cook and try them, every sausage in the coil has a different flavor – sometimes nasty, sometimes nice, never anything you would actually expect of a sausage. they are the meat equivalent of every flavor beans.

Clover and Daffodil may (if they choose) find themselves haunted by the faint screaming voices of ghosts of hotcats past over the rest of the IC day, until they vanish at the stroke of midnight as if they'd never been.

Rose receives a sign for their barn.

Bluebell goes to debtor's prison.

Your Name gets a memory coin! She will also find the 20 tokens she won gone in endgame at some point. instead she’s holding a bag containing an equivalent number of uncooked hamburger patties, which have the same unpredictable qualities as the sausage links.

maybe it’s time to have a beach barbecue. ]

penalties

[crittersheep]

If your team hit negative hotdogs in the last round, then everyone who played (or didn't play, if you think you'll have fun with it) is subject to a penalty! Please pick one of your choice from the list below (different people on the same team can have different penalties!):

1. TRACKER (your sense of smell sure is sharp today! But only for unpleasant smells, and if you scent something very strong you’ll start sneezing.)
2. FISH BREATH (your breath smells powerfully like herring for the next little while . . . and tastes like it, too. Yikes! Maybe don’t go too near people with effect number 1.)
3. PUPPY EYES (whenever you see anyone eating anything at all today you’ll really, really want go over and try to get some of whatever they’re having. SHARE PLZ)
4. BIRDBRAINED (you have a sudden and intense craving -- craving, not hunger pangs -- for fowl flesh. The songbirds and scisters look irresistibly tasty!)
5. ROLL OVER (every time you see a pile of anything sufficiently soft, you just want to go jump in and roll in it and disarrange it! Pillows, mud, whatever . . . oh, jeez, there’s a lot of piles of sheep around, aren’t there? Or anyone under effect number 6 . . .)
6. CUDDLEBUTT (you really want to be snuggled! And petted! And nesting in a blanket pile with your favorite people for the next little while. Love me love me love me purrrr.)
7. BADGER BADGER (you fixate on chasing a person or animal type of your choice all over the pasture! and if they try to hide somewhere, you sure will want to try and scrabble at the door and bark yell them out.)
8. CRAZY HOUR (every so often you just get antsy! You feel like you’ve really gotta move! Run around, play around, rahhhh! These bouts of hyperactivity don’t last more than a few minutes each, but they keep happening.)

NOTE: All penalties will last a few IC hours, starting in endgame and wearing off sometime night 38! Urges, cravings, etc. are pretty strong but not absolutely irresistible; please play these in the spirit of comedy, not trauma.