Ninth Birthday Bash - Day Three - Design Your Own Arena!

Z E R O G R A V I T Y

UNIFORMS

1: CORNUCOPIA

Upon rising from beneath the arena, tributes will first be surprised to find that everything feels light and airy, to the point that they genuinely worry they might float away. The next thing they will realize is that they are standing in a gigantic circle surrounding what appears to be the wreck site of a space ship. There are small fires here and there, as well as crates of items and weapons littering the ground.

2: CRATERS

Northeast of the cornucopia lies an expansive nothingness that seems just peculiar enough to tempt someone into checking it out. The floor is covered in gigantic craters, cracks, and fissures, but there are also lots of potential shelters, due to the tunnel-like caves that can be found if one looks hard enough. Just make sure they aren't already occupied.

3: NORTHERN LIGHTS

Near the northern border of the arena, one can find a constant stream of aurora borealis. They are rather strange for more than just the fact that they never go away, but also because they cannot be seen unless you are standing directly beneath them. You swear that only seconds ago the sky had been just as dark and lifeless as ever, yet the lights dance with assurance as a promise that they will never go away.

4: GHOST MOUNTAINS

Gravity is at its lowest resistance in the ghost mountains, and to prove it, gigantic pillars of rock and ivy float free from gravity, hovering only feet above the ground. It is astounding how lush the environment seems to be, just as it is terrifying that one weak vine or the snap of a safety harness could catapult you right into the sky.

5: ASTEROID BELT

As if this lop-sided arena weren't already odd enough, one can frequently observe shooting stars and large rocks as they crash onto the ground, which only seems to throw it more off-balance. In most spots, tributes can notice quite impossible things, such as their hair hanging to the right, or that they topple to one side despite stumbling toward the other. They appear to be standing straight up. Are they?

6: WATER ORBS

In order for a person to get safe water without sponsorship, they must first trek through the disastrous asteroid belt, but seeing these gigantic pools of water floating through the air almost makes it worth the while. The water is completely safe to drink, completely safe to fish in, and is also mostly safe to swim in. Mostly.

7: NEON PLAINS

If a person walks with a light enough step, this area seems to be the most normal of any in the arena. It still feels perfectly terrifying, with its jagged rocks stabbing into the ground and its moonless sky, but one misstep could change a person's opinion entirely. Tributes will notice that, despite there not being any visible light source, the plains seem to be bathed in a sort of lime green light. Step on an area of the ground that is weak enough, and the neon radiation that waits below the surface might just burn your leg off.

F L O R A & F A U N A

1: ARMORED SCORPIONS — 15 hp

These creatures, recognizable for their silvery, metallic exoskeleton, exclusively travel in pairs, as they mate for life. Their stings are also poisonous, and should you kill one scorpion, the other will make sure you know it.

2: INFERNO FISH — 10 hp

Though nonthreatening, these fiery little fish could certainly burn a hand if one were not careful. They were designed specifically to purify the water orbs by keeping them constantly heated. They can be eaten, but only raw, as their resistance to heat exceeds a natural fire's capabilities.

3: QUARAMS — 25 hp

Quarams are perhaps the most easily angered muttation to ever exist, and they also have no regard for self-preservation if it means taking down an enemy. Some have been known to tackle people off of cliff sides, and there have also been reported casss of the quarams cracking their own skulls— a nearly impossible feat— just to win a territory battle. Beating this four-horned creature certainly won't be the easiest thing.

4: DANTE'S IVY — no hp (roll)

Loosely based upon Devil's Snare from Harry Potter, this fast-growing plant has evolved in such a way that has made it carnivorous, meaning that, should a person accidentally step over one of its waiting vines, the violence that ensues won't be pretty.

Dice Roll: 1-50
1-20 = escape, 0 damage
21-30 = lash on foot, 3.5 damage
31-40 = cuts on legs, 5.0 damage
41-45 = deep cuts throughout body, 8.0 damage
46-49 = severe cuts, broken ribs, 10.0 damage
50 = consumed, 40 damage

5: VIOMELONS — no hp

Viomelons are completely harmless, edible fruits, which look like watermelons with purple fruit rather than red. It is said that their taste is closer to that of a cantaloupe, though, and the viomelons are frequently used by fitness nuts who are looking to stay healthy, as they contain an abnormal amount of healthy nutrients.

6: TRILOPEDE — 65 hp

The trilopede is named both for its almost insect-like appearance, as well as for its ability to unlock its jaw in such a way that it extends outward three times as far as it did before. Based on the aliens from the Alien franchise. Claws, teeth, barbed tails: something created directly from a child's worst dreams. The worst thing about this creature, though, is that the tributes will have to face it eventually.

7: PLAGA — 10 hp

Never will a person's lifetime with they see a single Plaga, and if they do, they should run while they can, because the others are not far behind. These birds are not venomous, but their rancid saliva could easily cause infection, and if a person is bitten by one, they are said to feel "zombie-like" for the following day or so. Most common side effects include: sluggishness, irritablility, and a seemingly insatiable hunger for meat. But these people are the lucky ones, as most people who wander in to a murder of plagas don't find their way back out.

8: HUNCHES — 30 hp

While staying hidden underground for the most part, the hunches have learned to live alongside humanity more than most creatures, and this is likely due to their near human intelligence. However, should a nest be disturbed, hunches are perfectly lethal. They have antennas that can detect slight changes in movement, meaning there is no sneaking up on them, and their claws can exceed three inches in length. They are slow while on foot, but hunches have the ability to curl into balls and roll on the ground up to ten miles per hour.

9: PORCELION — 10 hp

Porcelions are quite docile creatures of science. Always pink, the porcelions are made almost completely of, you guessed it, porcelain. Upon their original creation, porcelions were meant to live short lives. They were tasked with "eating" important files and documents and transporting them across enemy lines without being detected. Their lack of a pulse and their generally gentle nature seemed to make them nonthreatening, so when this was discovered, the porcelions were given longer lifespans and used as the more trendy cousin to a vault or piggy bank.

10: BLOOD SPORE — no hp

One whiff of this, and all a person's worst nightmares will begin appearing before them. Blood Spore was created to be the most potent, powerful hallucinogenic ever, and was thrown in no-man's-land and weaponized to inhibit a person's ability to see reason or think clearly. All victims know while hallucinating is fear. Terror. Genuine, authentic, primal terror. The effects usually work their way out of a person's system after a couple of hours, depending on the amount ingested. (Randomized attacks)

Chivalry is dead.

Theme: Urban Ruins

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair.

Cornucopia

Situated on a gently sloping hill, the Cornucopia is the first thing you see as you rise up into the Arena. On closer inspection, you notice that the horn of the Cornucopia is in fact the remains of a massive bronze bell, made green by decay and disuse. In the background, you can see several smaller, similar bells amidst a pile of rubble.

Suburbs

Leaving the grassy green of the Cornucopia, you come across a thick boulevard of asphalt. Brambles and weeds have sprung up in the cracks of the road and through windows and walls of the houses. A rusted lawnmower here and there in their clutches show that once, there had been people to keep them in check. As you walk along the road, the rows of houses seem identical and never-ending; only by the colored flowers climbing up their peeling paint can you tell that you are not in the same place.

Rolling Hills

A shallow jagged rift separates the Cornucopia from the hills to the east. Here, the trees have taken over. Houses built against the hillside are obscured from view by tall redwood trees, and some of the roofs have caved in from the weight of their branches and needles. From some of the windows, you see a view of the entire arena below you; the wide patios and detailed stonework show that at one point, these houses were reserved for the wealthy. Yet the people who may have lived in them are long since dead.

Burnt Hills

Abruptly, the forested hills give way to a vast meadow. Grasses and wildflowers sway gently in the wind; the tall skeletons of blackened trees rise from the landscape. It was not long ago that this area was ravaged by wildfire, but a few bushes and saplings have already begun taking over the meadow.

Artists' District

Paint has begun to peel from the murals and graffiti adorning whitewashed brick walls. Some of the larger pieces of lettering are still legible; the words seem familiar, but the spelling is so changed that you cannot make sense of the ancient writings. Lining the streets are empty shells of shops that once sold trinkets and clothing.

Downtown

The tall buildings here offer you welcome shade from the hot sun. Thick stone masonry stands next to sleek black frames once containing panes of glass, in an eclectic mix of architectural styles. You pass a cluster of plastic chairs and trash cans every couple hundred of feet; they only serve to taunt your hungry belly as you peer into the abandoned cafes and decayed kitchens. A laminated card blows toward you, and you pick it up, gazing wistfully at the steaming mug of coffee in full color, topped with spices and cream, a field of pumpkins in the background...

Marina

The air becomes colder as you head downhill, and a few wisps of fog blow towards you, carrying with it the scent of the sea. It is not long before you reach the cold ocean shore, and as soon as the sun sets you begin to shiver. There are a row of old yachts leaning against the remnants of what used to be a boat shack; do you dare use the run-down boats out in these chilly waters?