The inter-village examination is actually a great many things. First and foremost it is an exam, meaning that it will provide every level of examination (Genin, Chuunin and Jounin) for those interested in participating but the longest exam will most certainly be the Chuunin Exam.
- The Genin Exam will be a survival test -- survive in the wilds with your friends and you pass. (Simple)
- The Chuunin Exam will be similar (but not the same) to the manga Part II of the exam where players will have 1 scroll and will need to get a second scroll. There will be a movement system in use for this as well as a very large area of terrain to IC cover. The second scroll needed to pass can be obtained one of two ways: by finding one (by solving a riddle) or by taking a scroll from one of the other players. unlike the Chuunin Exam in the manga, it will be possible for everyone to pass in theory but there is a high likelihood that not everyone will.
- The Jounin Exam will be what Sandy Players refer to most commonly as a 'sausage measuring contest' which is where a player demonstrates their best combo against a dummy. If damage, debuff or heals exceed a certain minimum (which is a reasonable average a player should be able to reach mathematically with an average build, then they pass. We call it a sausage measuring contest because most commonly players who participate use this as a source of bragging rights.
But the Inter-village Exam does more than just this, it would not be a story if there was nothing else happening behind the scenes. This account (The Cabal) is one of the main village antagonists and every player being used is a pre-approved stated event NPC. Things will go wrong on a political and a world level assuming players react in the ways I have calculated them to. If they do not, then perhaps this event will be just an exam... Wouldn't that be nice, everything going 'right' for once. If things "go wrong" then outside parties will interfere with the examinees, the spectators, anyone of high political standing, etc.
Admin has already pre-approved certain aspects to make interaction easier for the player participants in terms of travel. But in the spirit of full-disclosure, events are intended to allow interaction between players not increase frictions between them. As sole-runner of the event (as this account is run by one person at this time), the free-travel permissions and additional event slots I have requested might be rescinded (not by the Administration but by myself) forcing normal travel between communities if it appears that frictions are too great between two communities I have been monitoring. I am a lover of pain and war, but not directly between player communities especially those with a disparity in activity and power because someone will be victimized and you are all intended to be my victims. Assuming that no community is being actively victimized by anyone besides me, on May 7th an additional event slot (pre-admin approved) will be offered to every player participant for the duration of the event. This would give every player 2 Event RP slots. With these Event RP slots they can interact in Sand while still RPing in their own community (essentially giving players free-travel) with these 2 Event Slots. These slots can be used to merely interact with the population, join a mission, participate in an exam, or whatever you want to do while visiting. Admin has also pre-approved this free-travel. It should be fair to warn that when the event ends, so does the additional event slot and the free-travel so you will want to have your story tied up before the event concludes so if you become wrapped up in the story and the politics you might want to consider having your PC visit the community for an extended stay.
OC: As for fun, what I consider 'fun' gives most men nightmares. I tend to try to give those I interact with the opportunity to let me know what they want out of an interaction. I am pretty much assertive enough as to bang on the door of your village and demand you take my note. I always have a story brewing and a plot but I truly excel at causing problems but it has always been my personal mantra that I am playing with my fellow RPer and not against them.
It was a fair question, her hands and feet appeared to be in a terrible state that she had never before seen. The pallid, dry patches of flesh that seemed to refuse to turn pink from the 'nip.' The water felt nice and warm as did the space, she could feel the snow melt away and the needling sensation of her returning tactile sense.
"Only in the sense that foolishness and overconfidence are contagious typically."
She cracked a thin smile.
"But since you don't seem to know that snow is actually frozen water and not dirt I suppose this fits in the area of ignorance. Much more easily cured. The 'Nip' is a little unofficial nickname for the earlier stages of frostbite."
That was water? No way! Her eyes widened by this revelation as she silently rebuked herself for bringing as much water as she had on this journey as provision.
"I thought it was crystalline sand," she admitted as she quietly wondered what 'snow' tasted like. It was edible, right? The water sloshed as the young physician laid his verdant hands on hers.
"Long story short you were very close to losing all sensation in your hands for the rest of your life and much longer after that and amputation would have been necessary. To be perfectly honest your hands were already at the point that most people would have given up with that shade of blue, but our village's medics have been dealing with this for a millennia so for us it is part of basic first aid training. As for documentation when visitors, merchants or clients want to come up to the village they have to get documentation from their local lord, city government, mayor, some of the larger merchant guilds have the necessary tools to make them, etcetera. There are a number of ways to get documentation and we even accept passports from the other shinobi villages. It is mostly to make sure we have a document that has the name and likeness of the visitor and the name of someone is vouching for the person in an official sense so someone can be held responsible if trouble arises... Hmm still not happy with how slowly your circulation is recovering... This isn't going to feel very good but please bear with it."
That would have been a terrible fate, the loss of her hands. She did not have a builder's hands but still her power was in her hands like it was for most shinobis.
"Then thank goodness you were here," she commented. He continued to go on about 'proper documentation' which seemed to her to be a ludicrous concept.
"It seems foolish," she admitted. People were liars and a shee t a paper could lie. A tongue could spin a false tale. Intuition and interaction were the closest thing one could find to the truth.
"Foolish to trust words written on a piece of paper and believe them to be true," she warned. He had shown her a kindness and she should show him in kind. It would have been easy for her to render a false name and identity of she had chosen and that would be no different for any other man, woman or assumed child to cross these frozen gates. These men and women were shinobi's, were they not? The use of henge being a remedial ninjutsu most learned during their tenure in the academy. She being no different as she was once a shinobi hopeful. Further, what would happen to this nice young doctor if she was to hurt him and take on his likeness. If she was to scale that gate and enter that village, would those papers have saved this village then?
"Take something that you know is theirs," she suggested. [OC: Back in the day your village had a protocol that involved taking blood, fingerprints, photos, etc. I forget exactly what really... I am so old.]
Searing pain came over her hands as the waters turned to blood. She instinctively tried to pull her hands from the water, but another pair were in her way. She did not scream, not that she was incapable of but it had been a long time since pain was something worth screaming over. Still she grit her teeth with the sudden wave of discomfort that came over her hands. It felt as if something was crawling inside of her along with this hot flushed sensation. The water's surface rippled and sloshed but the sanguine fluid never left the bowl.
"What are you doing to me," she asked through her teeth although it was a question that was not intended to be answered. He had already warned her that he was about to do something to her and that the discomfort would be notable.
"You can take your hands out now. I will fix that cata... uh ointment up for you here in a minute, you will just be applying it to your hands once a day for the next four days. I could have healed your hands up the rest of the way but medical jutsu causes cells to age faster in the long run and it is best to give the patient some responsibility for their health. I will radio for someone to bring you some proper clothing for the weather and some supplies. In the meantime I would suggest you take a shower or bath in the bathroom and use the laundry machines in there. The snow on your clothes is melting and will chill you to the bone here before long if it isn't already. After that we can enjoy a hot cup of tea or cocoa. I will be watching the gates until just before dawn in case if we have any other travelers silly enough coming up the mountain so late, but you can feel free to sleep on the couch and head back down in the morning. I'll deliver the letter to the Sennin of the Main after my watch is up. Oh and tell me immediately if you notice any other discolored areas on your person when you are in there."
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What Some Might Hope Would Have Happened Here:
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What Actually Happened Here:
She was released from the fire-blood water and when she looked at her hands, they were for the most part normal in appearance. Her long spider leg-like fingers and long unpainted nails. She opened and closed her hands and watched her hand comply with an absence of pain, a curious thing this blood-water. He went on to list the other things he planned to do as well as his ointment instructions. He listed off several amenities, a shower being among them. She looked down at her clothes, clothen and weighted by this melted snow now, she had barely noticed in her partially numbed state. She relinquished the cloak, it weighed more than she had realized as a noticeable respite was accomplished by discarding this one piece of soaked clothing. She balled the cloak up in her hands and wordlessly walked down the hall to where this washing machine was located. She closed the door and stepped out of the long robe that had covered her form for this long journey. She was quite pale and she looked still quite young but she wondered how old or how young she actually was. She was taken in her youth she would like to think and she was added to their ranks quite some time later after she was liberated from that hole where she scraped and fought to survive and lived because she wanted it more than anyone else. She was covered in these old scars, she could see them all in the mirror. It was one of the many reasons she kept herself covered so. Even in the privacy of this space she felt ashamed. She removed whatever garments she had and stuffed them into the washing machine.
She turned the knobs to the tub, it took her some time to determine how Kumo plumbing worked. The water was too hot then icy cold. The median being not where she expected between the two extremes, she finally found a suitable temperature.
Some suds and some hot water later she emerged from the shower much cleaner than before.
Why did the other thing not happen?
- Because he never offered -- duh!
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She did emerge from the bathroom eventually, a cloud of steam heralded her presence. Her clothes in the drier, she was wrapped in a towel and her bare feet padded out into the common space. Had he already radioed whomever it was he planned to radio? She did not overhear over the running water. Had they already arrived? She was unsure.
"Thank you," she announced as she took a seat. Little new information for the doctor would be obtained from this moment besides the fact that she was obviously female and that she appeared to be younger than one might have assumed considering the journey she undertook to reach Kumo independently. Somewhere between fifteen and eighteen perhaps. Curiously enough she also seemed to have been a 'survivor' one could say. She had a number of old scars that which appeared to have long ago turned silver after being healed. Many too rough and thick to have been surgical, she shifted the towel as she took her seat.
"Thank you again," she repeated.
"I have much to do before I can return to the Daimyo and I feel renewed now," she admitted.
"Before I leave, can I have a name?"
