lynchpin_castle | Challenge Zones

Challenge Zones

Challenges and Challenge Zones

Challenges between Champions will take place in designated areas at designated times, since this is ultimately a formal contest and competition between the Forces of Creation, and the Forces of Unmaking. The landscape in the void will and can adapt to provide these designated areas. Sometimes, a designated area will have a ‘base’ form, and be used again and again in various ways, with different options. These specific zones are listed below.

The Labyrinth (Primarily Mental)

The labyrinth is, in its simplest form, a complex maze. Long have beings used it as a tool of mediation and focus, navigating its walls whether in the physical or mental realms. The Labyrinth is one of the main challenge-zones that always exists, but what form it takes depends on what the current challenge is. What form it takes may also have limits and restrictions to provide a proper challenge to the champions.

The base form of the Labyrinth is an enclosed and complex maze that resists attempts to break out via any means other than navigating it from start to finish. It’s layout-changes every time, but there are ways to help one learn one’s way. (String, marking the walls, etc)

The Labyrinth Zone may be reached via a teleportation pad within the Observation room of the Castle.

The Mirror Gallery (Primarily Spiritual)

The Mirror Gallery has many names, but this is the most common. Mirrors are reflections, and reflections can be distorted or far too accurate for comfort. This challenge zone also takes different forms, but the theme always remains the same in that champions have their spiritual mettle tested, be it facing their worst fears and flaws, temptation fulfilled but with great cost, or making choices that are life-altering.

The base form of the Mirror Gallery is a small building full of mirrors of various shapes, sizes, and types. Depending on what one wishes to gaze on, one may find the mirror they wish to test themselves and attempt to learn what challenges they may face. (i.e: fun-house mirrors, mirrors that show your opposite, mirrors that show what you desire most…)

The Mirror Gallery may be reached via a teleportation pad in the Tapestry gallery of the castle.

The Field (Primarily Physical)

The Field is a designated challenge zone, that adapts and changes as needed for the challenge provided. It is an interdimensional space which may resemble a racing track one time, or a sparring ring another. It can be a vast prairie, or an arctic wasteland. Depending on the climate/atmosphere of the zone, there may be additional challenges for champions here.

The base form of the Field is a large area with mountains, plains, some rivers, and plateaus. It is reachable via a teleportation pad outside of the Castle-grounds along a set path. Where it exists otherwise is not known.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Nothing here either." Visually it seemed peaceful, and safe enough. Moving them up and on solid ground, and taking a breath. Logic kept trying to tell him to let her go now, but emotion wasn't listening. Not with his heartrate higher, and he was too aware of how close they were and he'd missed her.

It had been difficult; his feelings were his problem, not hers--just because she might find someone else she wanted to spend time with. Besides, there was her whole 'code' thing, wasn't there?

It had him tangled in knots, and right then he was keeping his arm around her.

As they came up out of the ground and he didn't let go, she... seemed to not mind. Her arm tightened around his neck a moment, and she leaned back, to peek down at the long shaft. A brow raised. "I wonder if the water would have stopped right here? To let us up in here." She mused, leaning back and away again, closer to him once more before letting out a tired breath.

"I swear, the next time I hit a bed I am going to sleep for hours." She then glanced to him and gave him a faint smile. "I ah, thanks... for the lift." She said, and for some reason was reluctant to let him go, but... she thought maybe she was being clingy, and moved to shift her arm away from his neck and shoulder, to allow him room again.

Her comment brought a grin. "I know what you mean. After a warm shower though." Because that water had been cold, even if he'd dried them both and they'd survived. But he didn't mind her clinging, arm remaining around her waist and he knew he was blushing now. "...anytime." Softly, more emotion in his voice than he'd meant to reveal...

Then he's making himself step back, remove his arm. Taking a breath, and trying to be casual again. "It's nice having a partner to fly with."

She noticed he seemed to not want to let go, and she could feel how close they were and her own face lighting up again with a heat. As they stepped back she chuckled, head down a bit but grinning.

"I'm not sure I'm much of a good flying partner, but I can at least say I enjoy it more now than before?" She nudged him with her elbow as she pasted and started for the doors. "And a warm shower sounds amazing. That water was bone chilling." She had no hair to help her stay warm either. GO figure. "Let's see how much farther we are from a safe house."

"You enjoy it, that's what matters." Grinning with the elbow nudge, then moving to follow her. "Hopefully we're not far." Reaching up and rubbing his neck. "...rude as it might sound, I'm ready for food." He had been burning a lot of energy, but it had been worth it.

"How is that rude? You haven't stopped expelling energy since we started this thing." She asked, leading forward to the dead plant covered wooden doors. Two of them. She frowned as she started to slow to a stop, hands on either side, frowning. One wooden door, one metal door. Both had vines trailing over them, and writing on the doors.

"Tell me this isn't a riddle." She was bad at riddles.

"I think this is a puzzle, which is just as bad." Trunks moved closer, examining the doors. Reaching up to feel along the edges, leaning in close and trying to hear, trying to sense anything...nothing.

But he was able to clear the vines off, to make out the writing. On the Wooden door was a short verse. Look for me not lightly, for I am easy to be found. Seeking to escape me will only cause a frown.

"It's a riddle." Low-voiced and frustration evident. Moving to examine the words on the metal door too. Take away my first letter, and I still sound the same. Take away my last letter, I still sound the same. Even take away my letter in the middle, I will still sound the same. I am a five letter word. What am I?

Neither of them obviously offered any clues as to which way to go, and there didn't seem to be anything like a clue in the room. Not that he could find, anyways.

Ahsoka stood there, looking over the two. She helped clear a door as well, but it didn't really give them much to work with. She held a hand to one door, then moved to the other, concentrating both times.

She stepped back and frowned, rubbing at her head. "I hate riddles..." She mumbled, frowning over at him. "And I can't sense anything on either side of these doors, just that our object is... beyond. Or at least a good way to go is beyond."

Great.

"You and me both." Trunks added with some annoyance. "Honestly, give me something I can take apart and put back together. I'm not the genius Mom is, but I'm not bad with mechanical stuff. Or Math." Or technology and some science in general.

A huff, and then he blinked. "Nothing says we can't ask for help right? You have the comm now, Ahsoka." Even if part of his pride (that he rarely had, but did show up on occasion) stung at asking for help.

"I'm with you on that part. I can take apart a ship and a droid, and get them running again. I suppose I'm not terrible at riddles? But..." she lets out a breath, looking at the one again. "But we can do this. And yeah... we can also... try asking for help."

A pause then... "In a moment." because had a little bit of pride as well, reaching out a hand to push at his shoulder softly, a nudge. "Come on, at least let's give it a try, huh?"

"So next time we deal with clankers, we're taking 'em apart and reprogramming them instead of just blowing them up?" A hint of grin and teasing, letting himself not think about the riddles for a moment. "Besides, you still need to show me a speeder."

As for giving it a try though, he was biting his lip again. "Alright, so...what's easy to find, but trying to get away from it could be bad?" Yes--riddles were plays on words, but they'd get nowhere if they didn't try. Thinking outside the box, so to speak, had worked well for them so far.

She gave a half laugh to that. Was that him picking at her for not wanting to kill things? Naw, she smiled anyhow. "Take one apart, sure, put it back together to work for us? not so much." Though, she did give him a nod. "As soon as I can request things, we're going to show you what a speeder is. It's not flying, but it's fun."

A long sigh as she moved to look at that door. "Right. Okay. Well... traps sure as heck are easy to find and not at all easy to get out of." She rubbed her head and frowned. "Though I don't suppose it would be that easy, huh? A fight is easy to find. Running from it could be bad?" Someone was raised in a war.

She frowned at the other own. "Unless we're using galactic standard basic, I don't know if I can be of much help in this one?" She frowned, looking over the two doors, hand out again, closing her eyes. "It'd be really great if something could just guide me to the right choice." And in a mutter to herself... "Obi-wan wouldn't have this issue..."

Obi-wan would totally have this issue, so no, Ahsoka's fine. Trunks was staring at her, eyes wide but in a good way and he's grinning. "No, Ahsoka...think about what you're saying."

Forget the riddle on the metal door. "Think about it, and tell me if you're following my logic." Because she was smart. "Traps, running, fights...they're all kinds of trouble. People usually go looking for trouble, but then don't want it once they've found it right?"

Pointing at the first part, with the Look for me not lightly....

That wooden-door suddenly seems a lot more ominous.

She frowned, dropping her hand and looking over at him, brow raised. "Wait, you think this door is literally telling us not to seek out trouble? As in it might be trouble?" She questioned, looking at the wooden door, arms crossing.

"Look for me not lightly. Don't seek trouble?"

"It's the only thing I can think of that makes sense..." Hey, it was the best he had. "Unless you're right about the other one..." He's chewing on his lip thumb again, trying to think of five letter words with sounds.

Nope...that one was stumping him. Too many different kinds of pronunciations of words. Shaking his head with a sigh. "Besides, trying to get out of trouble is a pain. It'd make me frown."

She stood there, silent a moment, arms crossed and looking between either door. "Well, we can go with that, and assume this door is trouble, and ignore the riddle on this first one and push through. Or we can ask Tamaki and Himawari for help, or the others, to see if they know it?" She then dropped her hands to her hips and gave him a smile.

"OR... we could burst through one door and hope. If it springs a trap, I'm pretty sure we can handle it." Reckless, but not thoughtless.

That made him grin, arms crossed. "What, we haven't had enough adventure already?" Aside from some uncomfortable emotions and hormones interfering, it was actually fun working with her. Well, in spite of those anyways--or because of them.

At this point, Trunks wasn't even sure. But he did like working with her. The water had been cold, and they'd been panicky but it hadn't been so bad otherwise, and her trap had been very clever. There's a grin on his face though, nodding his head at the metal door. "The cautious part of me says we go with the one least likely to bring more trouble down on us. If you'd like me to be more reckless, I'm sure I can find a way to do that too."

It has been a 'fun' filled day. She at least wasn't cold anymore, still in his jacket and so far not even thinking about giving it back. More that she just kind of forgot she had it on and was comfortable in it.

"Hey, no one said anything about being reckless. Just that it was an idea." She said, and nodded to him in agreement. "So long as we can open the door with out solving it? I don't see why we shouldn't try. Let's... avoid trouble for now." She said, and giving him a shrug, she'd move towards the door, looking up to it before even trying to open it. If Trunks would rather her not, speak up fast.

Nope, not protesting at all. They've had enough unpleasant surprises, fun and 'fun' though it might've been. A determined push, has the door give way to a well-lit corridor. That was progress, as what air there was was clean and free flowing, lanterns lit with few shadows.

"Looks like you were right." LONG corridor though, but that was alright.

It curved slightly, then made a sharp turn, and then up a flight of steps onto another floor. Which then became not so fun--as there were long thin wires strung across the walls. Connecting each wall to each other, and several holes seen on the ceiling as well as the walls, and a few in the floor at various points. About half way between the start of this wire-maze and the end, was a small clear area about 3 feet wide. The whole corridor stood about 9-feet, with some kind of pit or hole at the end, before there was a ledge with a door.

The wires were too close together to easily get through without being very precise.

"Great..." Not that Trunks thought it sounded very great, honestly. Carefully moving to a few inches away from a wire, then as quickly as he could flicking it and moving back. Sure enough, the wire 'moved' and triggered a sharp knife that shot out of one hole on one wall, and stuck in the other side.

"Pretty sure you're the one that put that one together. I wonder what this door's riddle meant, anyhow." She shook her head and stood there a moment, peeking inside. Heading in she frowned at the corridor. "Huh, I suppose I was expecting something... else." Not that she really could think of what she was expecting at all.

Still, as they came in and cleared the door way, the door slammed shut behind them, making her jump, turning to look at it and frown. "Oh, don't think we wont open you if we have to, door." She told it, but then looked back to what Trunks was going. When he sprung a trap both brows shot up to see the sharp knife stick into the wall on the other side.

"Oh... this should be fun." And she snorted, arms crossing. "So much for door choices. Maybe that other door meant don't look for trouble, because the other door is full of it."

"Honestly, aside from the sensitivity of the wires, and how close they are, this isn't that bad." Trunks was studying it, trying to see what he could of what holes were oriented where and how.

This would require patience, balance, and agility, but they could manage it. "I'm pretty sure you won't have as much trouble with this as I will, and I'm still confident I could get through this without hitting a wire." She was slender curves, he was not. Slim compared to other fighters of his world, but still well-built.

"Or we could try tripping everything at once, and take our chances on deflecting blades."

"No, not that bad. I'm sure I can slide past most of these wires. And if something is coming at me, I can deflect. Pretty sure you can do the same. Still... what a pain in the butt." She sighed, resting her hands on her hips and looking off at the hall of traps.

She could also deflect with a Force Push, but...

"Setting them all should be pretty simple as well, but are they all knives?" What if something else some other kind of trap?

"That's the risk we take. We don't know, and I'd rather not chance it." Nope, going to be very careful, as he's already unbuckling the sword-belt and pulling that off. He has enough to worry about without accounting for it at over his shoulder.

A deep breath, eyes narrowed in concentration, and he moved to the first wire. It wasn't so bad--carefully step over this one with one foot, half-duck and twist, watch your hand, and follow. Just moving at a steady pace, belt looped around the sheathe as he carried the sword in one hand. Balancing, breathing, staying alert and this was definitely not something he'd have wanted to power through.

The wires were close enough together to make for some interesting contortions. Ty Lee would've had no trouble with this trap either, but Trunks wasn't doing badly. Tank on the battle field he might be, but it didn't mean he couldn't be agile too.

If this was Ty Lee and Logan, either she'd worm through it with ease, or he'd walk through it, cutting wired and taking the hits. None the less, it's not them. They were in the middle of climbing out of a monsters den, and working their way through something that seemed a lot like sewage, or Logan was and she was along for the ride.

That wasn't here though. Here Ahsoka stood back, watching as Trunk worked his way through first. She could have gone at the same time. There was room, but she also thought if he did trigger something on mistake, she could try to deflect the knife with the Force before he got hurt.

It also gave her a moment (beside watching him as his body slinked through) to snug up his jacket around her and get her lightsabers in hands, easier to move with them there than to try and compensate for them being on her hips.

"Looking good so far. You've done this kind of thing before?"

Biting his lip as he was a bit precariously balanced, free hand and arm tucked close to his chest, sort of sliding and twisting at the same time to get his foot over a wire onto solid ground, while not falling. "Not...really." But he was managing. "...Gohan, my master, had several inches of height on me, and several pounds of muscle."

The rest of him following through, and taking a breath, before continuing as this one required ducking low and carefully extending an arm or a leg first, and staying as low to the ground as possible, before having to suddenly having to move over another wire designed to prevent just that. "Not just because he was older. Goku's quite a bit taller, and broader as well."

Now that he'd met the other warrior, and seen the others too. "Actually the only ones shorter than me, are my father, and Goku's friend Krillin." Definitely moving at a steady pace, as this required agility and balance, and maybe a bit of strength too from how one had to hold oneself in weird positions. The low part and sudden high-trip-wire was the last part before that 3 foot wide rest area though.

Reaching it, and Trunks leaned against the wall, looking back at her. "I'm about the same size, if shorter, than one of the pure human warriors, Yamcha. From what little I have gleaned from my far-too-brief interaction with my father, and from Mom, Saiyans are usually more like Zarbon was, in build." A wry grin. "Guess I'm lucky to be an exception."

Edited 2017-05-30 00:25 (UTC)

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