(DM Notes of Doom: Actual Roleplay starts here. If you wish to enter the game, please post your details on the OOC Thread at any time. )
The weather over the meeting platform was bright and sunny, matching the mood of the curious spectators outside. Young children cheered beside their exhuberant parents, hanging off the backs of their fathers or crowding around the stand. Noble and peasant had traveled miles to reach the capital city of Rhime, standing side by side near the massive wooden structure. Attached to the platform were long chains holding a far greater monolith in place: Castle Oblivion. Its Gothic curves and magnificent stone towers could clearly be seen from this angle. The restraints were, of course, necessary to prevent the gravity-defying structure from floating away from Rhime itself. They would also allow the Heroes awkward passage to the final Task of the tournament.
Standing next to one another at the back of the platform were the Heroes, each planted on a symbol representing one of the ten Territories. The symbols were positioned in an odd circular formation, causing the rich and poor to face one another. This arrangement seemed a bit cruel at best: the poorer contestants could easily look upon everything they did not have. Facing the crowd in front of the contestants was a blue-haired man wearing an expensive but garish black and purple suit. His moon earrings glinted in the high sun, clearly marking him as one of the Dark. It was a bizarre setup: this man seemed far too exhuberant to be a noble of that faction.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" cried out the man to the crowd. "We are here to inaugurate the 163rd Hero of Legend tournament! These brave young men in the cusp of their youth will follow in the footsteps of the great Hero and attempt the impossible: to defeat Dread Lord Zuhnto! They are the most skilled and courageous of all combatants, having defeated dozens of other eager young men! We of Rhime salute the brave, and wish them well in their future. I am your humble host, Lord Eridias Michael Kage Belpheron of the Dark. It will be my job to help you loyal citizens follow the tournament's progress and to explain to the Heroes each objective. They're rather new at this, after all."
Most of Belpheron's initial speech was of course nonsense. Some of the noble contestants had been through the tournament multiple times, and the slaves from the Desolation hadn't exactly fought in a tournament to get here. Everyone knew that the strongest or most irritating trihal available were picked often against their will. But it made the tournament seem like a battle of courage and wits, which is exactly what Rhime's public wanted to hear.
