Big Sibling Program

Big Sibling Progr
Date	6/11/25
Storyteller	Doug
Tier	Trainee
Player Characters	Kora Caroli, Arumi, Uravas - "Cap'n Stardust", Ariyu ("little siblings") Illiam Elro, Pomba Bright-Eyed ("big siblings") Carrion, Mutt (took up antagonistic roles towards the end, hence the mention)
Rewards	200xp to each player character, a gift for each trainee (glasses for Kora, pointy hat for Arumi, Tailwind Wand for Uravas, Coyote Cloak for Ariyu)
Result	Success
Author	Joint write-up between Illiam (IlliamElro) and Kora (Naoki Kozo)
Downtime	0

Actual siblings (and a merfolk) took inspiration from far more storied associates. This team-building exercise was brought to you by Alex Trust! Paid for by the Alex Trust Fund (TM)

(Much of the writing in the report is recognized as Kora's, judging by the handwriting. For those reading, Illiam made additions to the log in the fashion of parenthesized italics.)

Log

Ariyu, Arumi, Uravas, and I were all present for what I suspected was a mentorship program. The other three thought it was meant as an exercise between siblings, but my psychic intuition was right! After all of us chatted, our host Alex Trust introduced us to our big "siblings" and assigned us as follows: Arumi and I with Illiam, then Ariyu + Uravas with Pomba. Illy was a familiar face, but I'd never met someone like Pomba before. (Pomba’s good people.)

Alex disappeared, but after the six of us mingled for a few, he came back with a big red bag. In it were four concealed items Alex gave to Illy and Pomba. Then he had them bestow those items - gifts - to the other four of us. Illiam presented Arumi and me with two puzzle boxes for us to solve. Pomba had no puzzle, instead opting to take a more straightforward approach. He provided a cloak for Ariyu, then a wand for Uravas. All of these gifts held something magical about them! (That was a fuckin’ GAMBLE, I’m really glad the puzzle boxes were a hit. Uravas was adorable, and thought that because I gave his sister a puzzle, that they were all puzzles. I didn’t correct him.)

Arumi and I both solved our puzzle boxes in a couple minutes. For us both, we did pretty well, all things considered! As it turned out, Arumi was rewarded for her efforts with a custom-made pointed hat. I got a nice pair of glasses. Wondering if they fit, I tried them on. Alex certainly liked the look! All of our gifts seemed difficult to utilize for their intended purposes, but there is untapped potential waiting to be unlocked!

Alex directed the more physically inclined trio out to another room, leaving Arumi, Illiam, and myself here. We talked about our backgrounds for a bit. According to Arumi, Uravas's pirate dreams were based on what he'd seen in picture books, and Ariyu is quite dependable! It turns out Arumi is the youngest sister of those three! Illiam talked about their father and how they lived in the area prior to beginning their adventure. (I… Have some fessing up to do at some point.)

Alex not-so-secretly got behind me and pulled out a black wig. This was easily the quirkiest part of the event, but one must respect Mr. Trust's commitment to the bit. Giving Illiam a prompt as if he was invisible to an audience, the host left. What is ultimately the key to our success when we work together? Teamwork! We have to trust each other to get to the next dawn, not *only* ourselves. Illiam had known a few friends who unfortunately lost their lives, though many others live to this day. They had always been capable in the art of magic. Illy once saw people helping, and it was only natural they wanted to join along. Illiam is, in fact, a witch! Their familiar was at the market at the time we'd been doing the "big sibling" program. The source of Illiam's power is an enigma even to themselves, though. (If anyone has any information on the source of my magics, please come to my shop with credible evidence.)

We may or may not have discussed something fun, before Illiam went over the importance of training in our magic. Arumi and I are two sides of the same coin: the other girl has to go out of her way to learn the spells she touts, while much of it comes to me naturally but should still be practiced. Illiam strongly recommended good communication in the form of spells! Speaking from experience, they brought up a time where they once overshot, and it resulted in them attending their own funeral! The comedy of it all! (Still not wholly proud of that mistake, but we live and we learn.) [Full disclosure, this is not their first telling of this story.]

Not long after, Alex brought the other team back. It sounds like Pomba did a really good job teaching Ariyu and Uravas. We were brought to a training room, where there were a lot of areas in which we could practice our abilities. Seemed like the room was a work in progress. Our mentors were brought over to the bleachers in the back, while us mentees were expected to do a few exercises. This next part worried me, but what we did catered to where we excel! Alex intentionally spurred us on to do something about the statues rumbling to life. It was on us to "defend" not only him, but also the "civilians" who were in the bleachers.

The statues were quick to rush us, but we largely handled their charge. Ariyu gave me a push to the crowd as she, Arumi, and Uravas fought back. As they made strides, I strode to Illiam and Pomba, cheering them on to believe in us! Illiam, at least, was respondent to Arumi as the rest of us felt more heroic in the moment. More statues appeared, as did an actual poppet hoisted by a rope over "certain death". Arumi was able to easily stall the new foes, but Ariyu was taken out in just one nasty uppercut! Oh no! Uravas was not doing much better.

Conveniently, a healing potion or two appeared in the sand behind them and to my left. Uravas got his sister back up with one of his own trinkets, and Pomba not-so-secretly used his tongue to sling a potion to freshen Uravas up. Were our big siblings allowed to step in this much? I could not do much about Ariyu, but I was able to subliminally message Uravas to stay back before he got slammed again. Once more I kept up our roaring crowd. (Note to Alex: Please let me heal them next time. That was terrifying, and I don’t remember things being this difficult when I was still a trainee.)

The statues continued their assault but this time to no avail. Uravas, empowered by the sense of heroism, at last took down the chipped statue and crumbled it! The other statue had gone down by my own magic after it was sufficiently weakened! All the while, Ariyu successfully got our huggable yet devastated teddy hostage saved. (Alex, what the FUCK, that was a PERSON. That was no regular teddy bear, folks. As stated above, that was a whole-ass poppet named Chestnut. Sure, the spikes were fake, but the trauma is REAL, MY GUY.)

Arumi's arcane knowledge really saved us from putting up in another statue scrap, but then they were destroyed from behind! Two VERRRRRRRY odd evildoers showed up. The most discernible thing about them was a tag - "BBEG" - on their persons. If anyone knows what such a sinister acronym should mean, please inform us! (We went on to explain that this stood for ‘Big Bad Evil Guy’. I don’t particularly approve of the acronym, but it was suitable for what was being explained.)

With the villains' arrival, we have new foes to contend with! Even Alex was afraid! (Okay, so Arumi and I recognized Mutt. She and someone new to me named Carrion were in on this game as well. Although... I wonder if Mutt was a bit too much in character?) But that wouldn't stop us from trying. Unfortunately, just about everything we'd tried at first had failed to dent them even slightly. Our mentors, no longer sitting on the sidelines, supported us and did far more than we could. (In all honesty, we didn’t do much more than we were used to. This was probably the swiftest glimpse into being a higher-tier adventurer than any of our stories could convey.)

But in the process, the "grave" knight threw Ariyu into the very pit we tried to save the poppet from! Speaking of, earlier the "grave knight" sent the poor teddy there as well. The dastardly swashbuckler was somewhat less successful, troubling Arumi but getting pinned by Pomba for most of the time. Note to self, do not trifle with a Bright-Eyed tribesman. (They are exceptional warriors, do NOT fuck with the Bright-Eyed clan.)

The rest of us attempted to get out of harm's way, Arumi toted her inner radiance by leaving the armored knight thunderstruck, and I even managed to scratch Carrion after crashing out. I blanked out not long after, and the villains got away.

My memory past this point was fuzzy, but I think Mr. Trust congratulated us? We sure put on a... performance. I'm positive Illiam can fill in the rest! That was fun, if also absolutely terrifying (good job, BBEGs)! (Alex, I swear to Gods if you hurt the newbies, I’ll personally make sure your dreams will give you no rest.)

Around the end of our episode, Arumi apparently lent her sister her old hat. The two have a matching combination now!

(In sum, I’d say this was a wholly successful mission. The trainees learned a lot, including the conflict of protective battle. Genuinely, I hope they continue to come to us for help of any kind, even if it has nothing to do with being an Associate of Onadbyr. The only part I was particularly uncomfortable with, was when Alex was putting Pomba and myself on a pedestal. I get that the newbies are supposed to like, LOOK UP TO US, but it’s truly strange to be seen like that when all I do is protect my own. This isn’t a position of glory, it’s a position of love. At least, that’s how it is for me.)