'Seed of Chaos' System

A constant hum of chatter filled the establishment as patrons dined, laughed at the misfortune of Game participants, and cast lots regarding who would die first or last the longest. Some patrons cheered on individuals they liked, while others mocked participants unilaterally. There were even those who simply enjoyed the diversity of Paranormal Events the players came up with. 

Zorhellian, having predicted these types, had distributed magical devices allowing patrons to view the Paranormal Event details of any participant. If they paid extra, patrons could also "Rental Summon" exact replicas of their Brainstorming Logs or Paranormal Event Journals. These physical copies would appear for a set time according to how much they paid. A fair number of the patrons enjoyed browsing through them, as it allowed for a different level of "immersion" in the Stories participants acted out. 

There was something special about being able to feel and touch a plot-significant prop you saw on the screen. Some patrons even liked specific Logs or Journals enough to purchase copies to take home as souvenirs. Ever since the first time this Story was held, bringing home these souvenirs from the Soul Harvesting Story had become a kind of tradition for the Storytelling Games. What's more, you could only purchase them while the corresponding participant was still alive -- which created a very interesting dynamic once participants started dying. Sometimes, absolute geniuses would die in unfortunate ways, and their Logs would become highly sought commodities simply because of their rarity. Copies of the Log of the first participant to die also became popular occasionally.

Not that Zorhellian's business acumen had all that much to do with Orochi. Since he was the adopted son of Krogor the Chaos Dragon, and therefore a kind of almost-royalty within Toltura's Army, Zorhellian would have to privately acquiesce to whatever request Orochi made, so long as it wasn't too outlandish. That was how the spoiled brat had landed himself a private booth to watch the Games to begin with in the first place.

Currently, Orochi was scrolling through a list of Paranormal Events on the distributed magical device; the device consisted of two metallic cylinders connected by a sheet of stiff, lukewarm plasma that acted as a screen. It was called a Patron Assist Device (PAD). He didn't know how the thing worked, or why it even held its form, but he thought it was pretty damn cool. Muttering to himself as he scrolled, he occasionally opened details of Events that looked interesting. The software was designed so that patrons could browse events by different categories (such as Savior name, Event theme, Soul Harvest count, time since begun, etc.), but Orochi was currently looking through the events after randomizing the display order. Things tended to be much more interesting when you couldn't tell what was next, after all.

Muttering to himself, he read off the names of a few Paranormal Events, "Ghost Circus, The Bell That Doesn't Ring, Haunted FM, ooh, Dreamer's Casino? What's that?"

When he clicked on the Event name, a short description came up:

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Dreamer's Casino

A casino you can only visit while dreaming. The only collateral you can gamble with is your life -- but you can make any one wish if you win. People who harbor a clear, burning wish dream of the sound of a flute and are offered the chance to enter. Once they do, they cannot leave until they either win or lose -- but it's rigged and nearly impossible to win.

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"Intriguing," he commented. As he was about to pull up the live feed to watch the Event, however, a notification popped down from the top of the screen:

╠▹ NOTICE: An emergency participant expulsion has occurred to ensure Story fairness. Thank you for your patronage and understanding.

More curious than anything else, Orochi clicked on the notification to see if more details would appear. 

╠▹Magical complications caused by the participant known as "Alesha Williams," who has been playing the role of "Derek E. Remington" in the current Story, have necessitated her immediate expulsion from this Story. Please be assured that this is a last resort and is not a decision that we made lightly. In order to ensure fairness for all participants, her expulsion from this Story and therefore her automatic survival will be severely penalized in the next Story. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Patron Support. Thank you.

Orochi threw the device to the ground in anger. Magical complications? Expulsion from a Story? Severely penalized? Just what had happened for the ever-so-calm, always-in-control Zorhellian to resort to such a thing? Orochi had never heard of a Story having magical complications before; nothing ever went wrong with that perfectionist's Games. He was boring sometimes, except for when he was reacting to Orochi's antics, but that steady, meticulous nature was exactly what made Zorhellian's games run so smoothly. 

Determined to get to the bottom of whatever was going on, Orochi pressed a button that would summon an attendant. 

A few hours later, he plopped back down on the cushioned couch in his private room. That damn Zorhellian hadn't spilled a thing! Whatever had happened, it had clearly upset the Chaos Demon quite a lot, and his lips had been sealed on the matter. In the end, Zorhellian had shoved a copy each of Derek's Brainstorming Log and Paranormal Event Journal into his arms and yelled at him to go away. 

It certainly wasn't the outcome Orochi had hoped for. He still felt miffed about her expulsion. Actually, that wasn't really the problem; her guaranteed survival this round was somewhat of a relief, in fact, since this Story was famous for killing off 98% of participants every time it was held. Killing anyone who didn't reach 1,000 kills in the first week, then 50% of participants every month for 6 months after that unless the early End condition was met? The minimum casualty rate was insane. So the fact that his favorite participant was suddenly exempted from such terrible survival odds was a hugely unexpected gain. That only made him worry more about whatever penalties she'd be given in the next Story, though. Everyone knew how deadly the Soul Harvest Story was, so they would be expecting her to be given penalties significant enough to match the benefit of escaping such a death trap. They'd certainly be nothing to sneeze at.

Still, since Alesha had been expelled from the Story, Derek's Log and Journal were no longer available for purchase, even though the "Derek" identity was still technically functioning within the Story world. That meant he was probably the only one who had copies!! It had only been a few days since the Story's beginning, so almost no one had purchased souvenirs yet. It was too early in the Story to tell who was going to be a standout participant, after all. 

This only made his copies of Derek's Paranormal Event books all the more precious. If Alesha weren't his favorite participant, he might have been inclined to sell them once their price rose; but as things were, he wanted to treasure them. Sure, she wouldn't have remembered anything about "Alesha Williams" while in this particular Story, but that didn't change the fact that her identity greatly influenced "Derek's" choices. 

That was one of the peculiarities of the Soul Harvest Story. While in the other Stories, participants would remember themselves, but be forced to roleplay as whatever identity they were given. They'd be given varying levels of "support" to help them play their roles, of course, such as the serial killer's instincts or werewolf transformation in Werewolf Survival, but they would, fundamentally, still be themselves. That wasn't the case at all for Soul Harvest, though.

In Soul Harvest, the identity of the role they took on would take precedence, almost completely erasing whoever they were before entering the Story. There would, however, be echoes of their old selves. An old man in a little boy's body would end up with wisdom and knowledge a little boy shouldn't have. A little girl in a yakuza's body would somehow feel reluctant to kill, no matter how frequently the yakuza identity had "memories" of doing so before. This kind of internal psychological conflict, and the incongruous behaviors it caused the participants to engage in, was immensely intriguing to the sadistic patrons of Zorhellian's Games. 

What Orochi was most interested in was how Alesha's knowledge and beliefs had influenced the Derek identity's choices with regards to the Paranormal Events he designed. Now that he had his hands on Derek's Brainstorming Log and Paranormal Event Journal, he could study them and try to figure it out.