The Mutewood

The Mutewood is the first round of The Grand Battle.

Description
The contestants begin their fight in a grassy field with a house in it - the setting of Deflun's MSPAFA of the same name. Here, macabre illusions haunt the minds of the contestants as they explore the abandoned house.

Summary
The characters' reactions to suddenly being thrown into a fight to the death are mixed; while Lutherion immediately starts to summon a troublesome army of undead, Nathan retreats to a safe distance, and Eximo ignores anyone who tries to interrupt its programmed cleansing of the house. The others fight to take down the necromancer, while trying to see through the illusions created by The Mutewood, including the typical bleeding eye in the violet sky, and showers of blood and guns in bathrooms and the like. Aeon uses these illusions to overpower Lutherion, leaving him at the group's mercy. Emily, despite her hatred of all things demonic, insists on trying to restore Lutherion to a human state to purify him before execution. The delay lets a cocky Dorukomets barge in, insisting he make the kill, but the undead necromancer overpowers him and assimilates him into his wightmaw arm.

Significant NPCs
The Lybrarian: The Lybrarian is a mysterious entity that controls the illusions that haunt the Mutewood. It attacks the minds of the various contestants before being counter-possessed by Aeon and forced to use its illusions as he sees fit.

Alan Theed: Dokuromets's sponsor, he is dismissed by the Director when his contestant loses.

Events
Warning: Significant Spoilers

The contestants are briefly introduced to each other by the Director prior to the round's start; they are also told the nature of the contest they've been abducted for, although Lutherion was forewarned by his Gentleman. Once they all arrive in the Mutewood, most of them banter a bit before proceeding; Eximo immediately breaks into the house and begins cleaning, ignoring everyone else, while Aeon merely observes, sizing up his opponents and making plans. Lutherion pays special attention to Amethyst, excited about what he can do with the power in her bones, and unleashes skeleton spiders to scout the house out. Nathan and Alcarith tentatively form an alliance for mutual protection while Eximo cleans and destroys Lutherion's spiders. Emily decides she must destroy the more demonic contestants, starting with Lutherion, and approaches Nathan for his help; he refuses, not knowing how to use his knife.

Lutherion becomes convinced Alcarith has been destroying his spiders and threatens her before returning to Amethyst; he proposes they team up, since the others are plotting against him, but she says she'll never work with him. She binds his feet to the ground and leaves; he notices Aeon, who has thus far managed to stay out of sight, which prompts Aeon to enter the house. Eximo recognizes that more people are entering the house and begins threatening them if they interfere with its cleansing. Lutherion realizes it was the vacuum that destroyed his spiders, but merely cackles rather than attacking. Dokuromets, the only contestant that hadn't yet entered the house, notices the hole left by Eximo; he decides to break an even bigger hole in the wall to prove his strength and superiority before entering. He spots Eximo, pulling out all the dirt it had vacuumed up and spreading it around.

Amethyst decides to attack him, reasoning that his confidence must mean he is a good fighter and the best strategy for her own survival is to eliminate the best fighters early on. Emily tries to protect the other fighters and the house from their battle. Lutherion summons a trio of skeletons to free him from Amethyst's bindings, then seeks out Eximo. The skeletons attack it, but it dispatches them easily, suffering only a punctured bag; it repairs itself quickly, most of its parts being made of necromantically-animated flesh. Lutherion is impressed, but still intent on destroying Eximo for attacking his minions; he prepares to summon a stronger minion, but is interrupted by an attack by Alcarith. Lutherion retreats and Eximo returns to its cleaning. Emily follows Lutherion and is attacked by the minion he was going to summon. She seals it in a cube of light and begins draining its life, but Lutherion sneaks up on her and pushes her down a flight of stairs. Alcarith hears the noise and comes to her aid, pulling her away into the house's kitchen.

Emily worries Lutherion may have poisoned her, and tells Alcarith to hold him off while she tries to cure herself. Aeon continues exploring the house and avoiding the other fighters, and is subjected to one of the Mutewood's signature illusions. Alcarith tricks Lutherion into falling into the cellar through a hole he creates while fighting her. Emily finishes identifying the poison, but before she can cure it she becomes trapped in a Mutewood illusion. Lutherion becomes convinced that the walls of the cellar are dripping blood and is terrified into inaction. Aeon continues to experience brief hallucinations, but through force of will counter-possesses the being that haunts the Mutewood: the Lybrarian. Emily frees herself from the illusion and destroys Lutherion's ghoul, then seeks out Alcarith again.

Lutherion stops hallucinating blood and creates a plant monster out of a jar of pickled beets, which proceeds to damage the house even more and start walloping Emily's light barriers. Dokuromets flees from Amethyst, shrouded by her flashy spells, and encounters Eximo. Emily battles the plant while Alcarith explores and Dorukomets faces down Eximo; Eximo rebuffs him with a blast of air, in the process dislodging a gun from atop the shower. Amethyst finds the battle and offers to help Emily kill the plant and Lutherion; they destroy it easily, but Lutherion retreats and summons an army of skeletons. Alcarith joins Emily and Amethyst, and they make plans to fight the skeletons. Aeon decides to intervene, using the power of the Mutewood to incapacitate and terrify Lutherion; Lutherion causes his skeletons to explode in an attempt to attack everything at once, and Aeon approaches to finish him off while he's still vulnerable. Emily decides that she should give Lutherion his last rites, and that she should restore him to real life before letting him be killed. Aeon thinks she's an idiot and insists she not mention him to Lutherion, but she keeps healing and he dispels the illusion. Lutherion seems to regain some sanity as he's healed, and lies calmly in the grass, explaining his power is fueled by the moon. Alcarith and Amethyst fall out, disagreeing on how to act in the battle; Alcarith leaves her alone.

Emily continues to heal Lutherion, when suddenly his madness returns and he acts as though her magic is hurting him terribly. She decides that she can't reasonably give him any peace before he dies and tells Aeon to finish him off. Aeon incapacitates him with a tidal wave of illusory blood, when Dokuromets shows up and decides to kill Lutherion to impress the other contestants. He insists he be allowed to kill Lutherion alone and unaided, so Aeon stops creating the illusion that kept him harmless. Lutherion promptly begins to absorb Dokuromets into his wightmaw arm; Dokuromets insists no-one intervene right up until he dies. Eximo finishes its cleaning as the round ends, and everyone disappears.

Alan Theed, Dokuromets's Gentleman, is dismissed from the Director's cadre, disappointed that his contestant died so quickly despite already being dead.