Place dead man bet of 1dd on fat xan
Collect some Deadman Dollars.
Put dead man bet of 1dd on Desmond Running.
3DD.
I'm asking you guys to keep track of Deadman Dollars and audience items yourselves. Cheaters found out will have their knees broken and money removed, while snitches will get large rewards.Buy 3 beers, start drinking. Place a 2DD bet on blue team winning. Find out how much weapons and hazards for the arena would cost.
Bets registered. Hazards... well, it depends on the idea, but gettin a good 'un in isn't likely to cost too much more than 15 DD. Are the weapons for the contestant vending machine, or for you? You start to inebriate yourself.
Take my usual spot, buy 3 beers for 1 DD, start sipping one.
Usual seat taken, inebriation commencing. All systems are go.
See how much a nice, shiny revolver would cost.
30 Deadman Dollars, the cheapest weapon you can fire at the contestants.
Observe.
Desmond waves. "Good sir! You, with the fat rolls! Would you please put an end to that incessant jiggling?"
2. He jiggles further, and begins to pray to himself. You feel even more seasick.
To cut a long story short, Jan's volunteering tops Xan's post-nomination jiggling. Zack Bridges fails to point at the goal, there being none in sight, instead making the sign of the cross over Desmond and muttering an anti-gadoid prayer, while Navarro's cowardly nomination of the vulnerable wins the day. Gosh, how are we ever going to get anyone to do the head-to-head challenge at this rate?
The contestants are hurried offstage by orderlies, while the host allows his cushion-balloon to sink gently to a few metres above the arena floor, which itself lowers suddenly to reveal a square hall with a polished wood floor and a hoop in each corner. One side of the hall is painted blue, the opposite red.
"Welcome back viewers, and if those in the audience could just turn their attention to the central arena once more, it's time for our fabulous first game, the Team Challenge! Now we traditionally start off each season with a nice lighthearted ballgame, and tonight is no exception, so let me introduce you to the wonderful new sport of Hiveball! Doors slide open, and the contestants are led into the hall, force projectors of some kind immobilising them after they have reached their allocated positions. Each of the "goalkeepers" (Zack and Jan) carry a flamethrower-like object, though nobody else is armed. Each contestant is nearest to his or her team's side.
RED END
----------------
|o g o|
L | x x |
E | |
F | | RIGHT
T | |
| x x |
|o g o|
----------------
BLUE END
o=hoop
x=contestant
g="goalkeeper"
"So here's how this works, folks," the host explains delightedly,
"each of the non-goalkeeping contestants will be thrown a "ball". It's quite important that they catch this ball, as if they drop it on the floor, at any point in the game, or let it be, you know, burnt to cinders, we run an arbitrarily large and random amount of electricity through their body! Instant disqualification, as is fainting, concussion, etc! But to score points? They just have to get their balls through the hoops in the corners opposite them! Don't try and put the ball through the wrong hoop, by the way. It won't turn out well."
"12 points for the first goal, 7 for the second, 4 for the third and 2 for the fourth. You can keep any points you score with, and the team with the most points wins! The game ends when all four balls have been dropped or scored with, and disqualifying an entire team is an instant victory! So let's chuck the balls in now! The first two contestants to recieve balls are on the
left. A grey ball the size of a football with thin, layered papery walls arcs towards Janeway, who catches it lightly and easily.
"Swarmer wasps!" A fluffy white mass of a similar size with long dark shapes writhing inside flies towards Desmond's face, who just manages to get his hands into it, sinking his fingers in slightly but not enough to touch anything.
Burrower worms! The next ball is launched in a parabola, due to land in between the two players on the
right side of the arena in several seconds, Navarro and Xan, a loosely held together mound of shifting earth. Meanwhile the final ball, a silvery pill-shape twisted into a spiralling cone at one end, is tossed gently into the middle of the arena, high above the others. After half a second of freefall, the top cracks open into hundreds of dissolving, glimmery fragments that rain down onto the arena floor like a shower of quicksilver, while several dozen iridescent, pearly-winged giant moths gush out, partially arresting the downwards progress, as they strive upwards held back by tiny wires, connecting them to the ball.
Everyone can move now, except for the goalkeepers.