Young Writers Society

Posted!

Annabeth has reached her breaking point...I feel so bad that I enjoyed writing this

Poor Annabeth.

I blame all the fanfiction I read right before you posted this morning, but my first thought was "oh my god Hades needs to adopt Annabeth she doesn't deserve this-"

my second was me realizing that i also wanted to adopt annabeth, despite being three years older than her. she needs it.

I have no idea if this would be something that happens to Hades later on in his life/in more modern times, but there is a version of him that I've written that ends up becoming really close to a group of teens right Elias and Annabeth's age - so I think it's funny that he's gotten so protective and sweet towards them.

kaz is dadmode always now

also i finally replied and I love annabeth ok

boom pow i demand a group hug

maggie be like

Now I'm trying to remember what exactly we decided on. >> I think the last time Maggie almost left, the group was whisked off to prison/to see Bo.

Okay, so I just checked what we decided on earlier. I think part of the reason none of us could remember it right off the bat is because I was supposed to come up with a final boss and, uh, didn't.

This is what you suggested, @TheMulticoloredCyr:

So, maybe we could use that? Have them try to leave and discover something? Maybe that the world isn't 'fully rendered' outside of the bounds of the 'arena' so to speak, or maybe they run into some entity briefly before being swallowed up by the fog and placed right back in the hallway or something.

At this point, the characters may as well get some clue as to what's actually going on and how they might stop it. I do imagine they might be meeting some kind of 'final boss' or something once everyone's faced their 'demons'.

(Just wanted to throw that here because it gives some information on the setting of the encounter.)

(Also I know you said to DM you, but I thought it would be good to have it here so we could all remember it. I know I needed the refresher. >>)

I'm not sure if this would go against what @Valkyria has in mind for Annabeth, but maybe we could have Maggie somehow run into the Fouke Monster ahead of time? Kind of like how Maggie left back with Kaz and then the group ended up in prison/with Bo.

Also, I posted!

(And got us to a new page in the roleplay!)

Pretty sure what I meant there was that the 'monster' Maggie would meet wouldn't be part of the illusion that they're in. They would meet something related to who/what ever is the mastmind behind all of this so help set up the idea that there is someone/thing behind it and give a hint as to what that might be.

So, Maggie wouldn't meet the Fouke monster because if they did they'd kind of mess up the illusion. Given Maggie's general attitude toward 'monsters' in general, there is absolutely no chance they wouldn't try to warn them or otherwise interfere with the part of the plan where Annabeth faces her fear, which defeats the purpose.

Instead, they can get a little peek behind the curtain. Help set up the future boss battle once we get through this illusion, and then Maggie's, then I think we're done and we can have the boss battle.

Personally, I think it'd be cool to have something start to crumble in Maggie's. Maybe the group somehow breaks out of the illusion - most likely using information that Maggie gets in this little excursion - thus forcing the 'big boss' into a confrontation. That way, the characters have more agency and are the direct cause of something that happens, rather than being mostly passive victims of someone/thing's whims.

Oooh I like that! Giving our characters some agency sounds like a plan.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to come up with a specific big bad earlier, but I just had a cool idea for what the big bad could be like in the shower a few minutes ago!

(The magic of the shower, I guess. )

What if they never really left the first place they were in - the one with the rocks near the water and the cave? I don't think this would be something that the characters would know, but maybe breathing in the mist allowed the Big Bad to generate scenarios based on their fears. That would make it so what transpired is mostly the characters' fault, in a way. Like it's not something they could be outright blamed for, but then our Big Bad doesn't have to do a lot of scheming.

The Big Bad I just imagined was one that takes the setting into consideration - it would be a modified rock golem.

(I know golem isn't really the right word to use for something like this, but it was the only word that I've seen used to describe artificial life like what I was imagining.)

So something like this, but with rocks from the shore and from the cave:



But with some mist mixed in to tie it into the illusions/what they've experienced so far. Maybe this creature feeds on emotions, and just periodically kidnaps people through the power of ~magic~ and brings them to the island. When Maggie slips off, they could find the remnants of the people who came here before them. I don't think the creature outright kills them, but the island probably doesn't have many resources for its prey - so they just die of starvation.

We could also assume the group is outside of the cave, and Maggie finds the skeletons in the cave when they push past the mist/illusions. The creature could also be lurking in the deepest depths of the cave; Maggie could catch a glimpse of it before being returned to the mist.

Sounds good to me! I'll get to work on that post when I've got a spare few minutes.

i am empty brained but i support and endorse these ideas and also its exciting ... thaT THE END IS IN SIGHT????

am late but I APPROVE OF BIG BAD! I like how we end where we start, too

I do be liking the idea of rock monster generating visions/scenarios/whatever mashup of everyone's fears but when we get closer to that we can iron out da deets moar

It's gonna take me a bit to write that post - personal stuff going on - so just wanted to remind y'all that Maggie's little side quest shouldn't detract from the main plot. Y'all can keep going.