[center][h3]Minigame Roulette - Witch One[/h3]
Level 13 Ms Fortune (163/130) Level 8 Goldlewis (93/80) Level 7 Sandalphon (54/70)
Roland, Sectonia, and the Robot Girls’ [@Archmage MC], Midna and the Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Geralt and Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Pit and the Octopath Travelers’ [@Yankee], Roxas and Ganondorf’s [@Double], Juri’s [@Zoey Boey]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1596[/center]

Having never participated in a game like this, Sandalphon absorbed the rules of the upcoming game from Ballyhoo with an expression far greater seriousness than one might expect of someone about to engage in a game of glorified hide-and-seek. Concentrating completely, she internalized both the tasks and objectives of the two teams and the advantages both brought to the table, since she couldn’t be sure which side she’d be on until the competition began. Her daily operations in DespoRHado had demanded subversiveness from her from time to time, but never had she been obliged to hide her physical form. Even without the potential spirit rewards, this minigame roulette offered a lot in terms of novel experiences.

Her powers of perception had made her wise to one other important detail about the Witch One minigame as well: that this would be the Seekers’ last one on the house before Ballyhoo’s Big Top started demanding recompense. Having immersed herself in the modern world of computers and software since her arrival in Midgar, and found herself remarkably suited for it, the archangel had experienced her fair share of shady free trials. If he considered that little aside -barely a slip of the tongue- sufficient warning and planned to pull everyone into a fifth game right after this, Sandalphon would need to intercede. Without full knowledge of the price point per person per minigame, she and the others could not afford to be caught up in all the excitement. With that in mind, Witch One would be the group’s final minigame today, and after doing poorly in two of them Sandalphon wanted to end on a strong note. With only two teams in play, after all, this last game was for all the marbles.

When she and the others arrived in Morgenstund, the archangel spared only a moment to look around. Given the quantity of allies at her side, it looked like she’d been assigned the role of ‘hider’. While Sandalphon would have preferred the role of predator versus prey, she could only play the hand the gamemasters dealt her, and that meant finding the perfect spot to hide. 

Despite the festive autumnal atmosphere, Sandalphon scoped out the town through a strictly tactical lens. Theoretically it would only take one hider to win the game for the whole team by avoiding the seekers for six minutes, but this town didn’t seem that large, and its overall quantity of sufficiently sized objects would be limited. While using the unicorn horns on ordinary items would endanger the Seekers, she didn’t see any reason why they couldn’t use their hands or other weapons to sniff out illusions, blitzing through all the viable objects in each building one at a time. This would not be as easy as it seemed, especially given the roster of Seekers. By process of elimination she identified Kamek, Rika, Geralt, and Pit as her opponents. The first two she knew less about, but one could fly and the other could at the very least jump high and fall slow, which ruled out hiding on rooftops. Pit certainly had a lot of energy, and if his light arrows could seek targets, hiding in an isolated spot could be a bad idea. Geralt, as mentioned by Zenkichi, possessed superhuman senses, and of the four she most likely wielded the greatest intellect, making her the biggest threat. [i]My apologies, Pit.[/i] With all that in mind, a target-saturated environment or a hard-to-find nook indoors would be best. Of course, finding somewhere sizable enough to accommodate her -not to mention her halo- would be difficult.

Around her, the other Seekers scattered. For a moment she considered trying to rally everyone to actually fight the Seekers rather than hide from them, given the hiders’ far greater numbers, but after Ganondorf’s outcry Sandalphon quickly decided against it. Time was not on their side. As the others spread out around the town, the archangel gravitated toward the library, the building with the most indoor space. Moving with unusual vigor -for her at least- she followed in the footsteps of Bowser, Midna, and Junior, a contingency plan forming in her head. [i]Zenkichi, Goldlewis, Roxas, Roland, Blazermate, and now Ganondorf…perhaps even Pit or Geralt, if need be.[/i] Once inside the library, she ignored the chaos caused by the Koopa Troop and headed up to the second floor to search for a suitable prop. Unfortunately she could not find many good options, especially given the second floor’s limited area. Most of it happened to be a balcony that ringed the central atrium. In the reading nook above the doorway, however, Sandalphon’s ship came in. She found a grandfather clock, blocky but tall and thin, perfect for her to hide inside. She couldn’t say the same for her halo, though.

“Hmm,” the archangel mumbled, eyeing the rug next to the coffee table. With reluctance she took it and threw it into the air, draping it over her halo. Doing this felt a little sacrilegious, but Sandalphon knew of no specific prohibitions, so it should be fine. After that, she used her Mimic Veil to assume the appearance of the grandfather clock, then headed over to another reading nook to get some distance from the original. Two in the same area would be highly suspect, after all, and any attempts to destroy or displace the original would be clumsy and obvious. The archangel did not feel confident about this disguise, but hopefully this strategy would give her contingency plans the buffer they needed.

Compared to Sandalphon, Nadia did a lot less planning and overthinking. Instead she grinned at Therion, told him “You too!” and darted off the moment she arrived, scouring Morgenstund for the perfect hiding spot. While typically the cat instead of the mouse, she figured she could play the part of prey well enough–after all, she just needed to think like the hunter. [i]If I were a seeker, where would I look…?[/i] Of course, compared to the average hider Nadia wielded one major advantage: she could make herself very small indeed. Instead of a hidey-hole, she needed the spot that would allow her to pull off her idea the best.

Her first stop was the Potter’s House. All those jars, vases, urns, and pots would be perfect for the scheme she had cooking–a plan so simple and yet so devious that she could not help but snicker as she scampered around. Unfortunately, there turned out to be a couple problems with her first choice, and their names were Roland and Therion. Both of them turned up at the Potter’s House as well. Even if it seemed to be a promising location, too many hiders in proximity only worsened the chances for everyone. That would be putting too many eggs in one basket, and while Nadia wouldn’t hesitate one nanosecond to give away a friend if it meant escaping, it would be better not to give herself any disadvantages.

Leaving the guys to it, Nadia skipped the workshop and moved on to greener pastures, literally. The moment she slipped into the Botanist’s House, a gleeful smile spread across her space. “Purr-fect.” This building, half a residence and half an overgrown greenhouse, was just what she needed. With plants and pots of all shapes and sizes it presented a lot of visual clutter, but that wasn’t the only sense it stymied. This place was a smorgasbord of earthy, floral, and herbal smells, cut by the heady aromas of burning incense that also contributed to a smoky haze. Those smoldering spices, gums, and resins made for a potent mixture; just one deep breath of the dwelling’s funky bouquet proved enough to confound the feral’s own sense of smell. This was going to be easy.

With only so much time on the clock, Nadia moved quickly. She selected a hanging pot by the entrance, reached down, and detached her lower leg to stow her foot out of sight. After hopping over to a tall, grassy shrub, she planted her tails inside it. Bit by bit she scattered herself throughout the interior, ferreting away each part of herself in a plant or pot just large enough to contain it. Her torso, the largest part of herself, she inserted between bags of dirt and fertilizer beneath a table, where she hoped nobody would look. Finally, she hopped her head into an empty spot on a shelf of succulents, wearing the Mimic Veil stripped off her now-discarded witch’s hat. Once her hand -hidden in a potted rosebush- snapped, the illusion of a clay pot appeared around her head. Just in time, the cat burglar was good to go.

Meanwhile, Goldlewis had a much tougher time. He couldn’t find any objects anywhere both big enough to hide in and not hilariously obvious. Keenly aware of the clock ticking down, he jogged around and examined several abodes in quick succession, but he couldn’t find any feasible spots. After a couple tries he gave up on the houses and headed for the central tower, the largest building not occupied by Bowser. In addition to a small dormitory with bunk beds, the barracks included an armory, and it was there that the veteran found his best bet. Arrayed within were suits of armor of all shapes and sizes, and when Goldlewis used his Mimic Veil in there, a suitably corpulent armor appeared around him. This wasn’t great still, but with time running out he couldn’t find a better option now. He just needed to stand still and hope that whoever stumbled in here was…well, stupid.