History Main / DwindlingParty

* The Scions of the Seventh Dawn of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' have a bad habit of getting put out of commission. [[spoiler:All but two of the main Scions are captured by the Garleans partway through 2.0 with the other members murdered by said group. They're all rescued by the end of the 2.0 story. Then, at the end of Patch 2.55, the team is scattered after being accused of regicide. They don't get back together in a functioning capacity until Patch 3.4.]]

* In playwright [=Tarell Alvin McCraney=]'s ''Head of Passes'', the first act shows Shelah preparing for an event that brings friends and family into her home. A series of tragedies offstage cause onstage confrontations and accusals that eventually leave Shelah alone on stage at the end of the second act, having a blistering one-sided conversation with an unseen God.

* In ''Theatre/{{JB}}'', Scene One has J.B. enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner with his beloved wife Sarah and his five contented children. Over the following scenes, the number of their surviving children diminish from four to two to one to none. At last Sarah leaves him, though, as in Literature/TheBookOfJob, she comes back to him in the end.

* ''Comicbook/TheWickedAndTheDivine's'' premise makes this inevitable. All of the resurrected gods will be dead within two years. As of issue 13, [[spoiler:Lucifer, Inanna, Laura, and Tara are all dead]].

* In ''Videogame/EldenRing'' this happens to the Roundtable Hold. The Hold is a noncombat area and a hub of characters with questlines to progress and vendors that help you along your journey to become Elden Lord. But as you progress these questlines and explore more of the game world, the characters slowly leave the Roundtable hold. By the end of the game, the Hold is nearly empty, and you are basically the only one left who can attempt to ascend to the throne.
* In ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'':

* ''Videogame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning:'' When starting the Teeth of Naros [=DLC=], the player joins an expedition to discover a lost region in the titular area, made up of just three people other than the player. The mage runs away upon discovering the corpse of a Kollossae, the thief gets herself killed when she triggers a trap she was scouting for, and the expedition leader gets injured fighting off a small flock of [[FeatheredFiend pteryx]] and sends the player on ahead to find a place to set up camp. And when they do, the player ends up stumbling down a steep slope and cut off from the expedition leader, leaving them no choice but to keep going.

* In ''Videogame/MegaManBattleNetwork5TeamColonelAndTeamProtoMan'', the liberation team infiltrates the Dark Chip factory, but all of the Navis on the team except [=MegaMan=] get sucked into the Dark Galaxy in the order each one joined the team, with [=ProtoMan/Colonel=] getting sucked in last, thus leaving only Lan and [=MegaMan=] to defeat Dr. Regal. The entire team ends up being revived by [=MegaMan's=] voice soon afterwards.

* In ''WebComic/KillSixBillionDemons'', this is the default state of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder any devil heist]]. Before going on a caper all the members swear the Night Oath, which basically goes "we're all going to kill each other at some point during this; NothingPersonal". Protagonist Allison gets roped into one of these during book 3, in order to rob the Demiurge Mammon. [[spoiler:True to form, the devils all try to kill or rob each other and only Allison, Cio and Felicia walk away as part of the original crew, though Charon and Cat Master survive (and Oscar is implied to have survived, with Cio stating she's seen him survive worse).]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' Episode "Fear Itself", the group is stalked by a monster throughout their tower. [[spoiler:Raven is the only one to make it to the end, and it turns out the monsters were manifestations of her suppressed fear. Everyone else [[UnexplainedRecovery gets better]] though.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode "Failsafe", the Team is killed one-by-one. [[spoiler:Then they wake up, and find out that it was [[AllJustADream a mental simulation gone wrong]].]]

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* Invoked and defied in ''Fanfic/TheDresdenFillies'' -- [[spoiler: Trixie]] lures the group into her castle full of traps exactly for this purpose but Harry pushes his powers to the limit to keep everypony alive.

* ''Fanfic/AllMixedUp'' has a non-lethal variant -- the townspeople, the villains in Precinct 13579's RoguesGallery, and Odd Squad agents in the precinct all attacked by Mariana Mag one by one, until Otto is one of the few left standing. In terms of the main characters, he's the ''only'' one left standing.

* In ''Videogame/EldenRing'' this happens to the Roundtable Hold. The Hold is a noncombat area and a hub of NPCs with questlines to progress and vendors that help you along your journey to become Elden Lord. But as you progress these questlines and explore more of the game world, the NPCs slowly leave the Roundtable hold. By the end of the game, the Hold is nearly empty, and you are basically the only one left who can attempt to ascend to the throne.

* In ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon,'' Argonaut's expedition force to rescue Princess Ariadne gradually shrinks over the course of their quest as they pull YouShallNotPass to help him reach her in time. Crozzo perishes after using the last of his life force to raze the knights coming after them. Yuri falls defeating the other hero candidates that sided with the king as well as helping Galmus defeat the massive dragon. [[spoiler:It's subverted at the very end, as Crozzo somehow managed to survive and get to Yuri in time to heal him.]]

** In the first book, Gamma Squad consists of five members [[spoiler: and they're almost all slaughtered by Reanimated with John believed to be the only survivor for much of the book until he finds Jessica.]]
** In ''Literature/TheTowerofZhaal'' which is based on ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven.'' [[spoiler: In the end, only three out of the seven survive with one of them being hopelessly insane.]]

* In {{Azure Striker Gunvolt 3}}, the Dragon Saviors (Cayman, Apollo, and BB) assisting Kirin and Gunvolt are either preoccupied with or taken out by ATEM troops, Serpentine's illusions, and Sistina. Shiron (whom stayed behind) has completely lost signal and is unable to communicate with them. By the time Kirin and Gunvolt get close to reaching Prince Zed, they are the last two members remaining. Fortunately this is a non-fatal example, as the gang are alive and well by endgame.

* The final episodes of ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' see Sento, Ryuga, Kazumi and Gentoku mount an effective SuicideMission to stop the BigBad from destroying the Earth. The first to fall is Kazumi, who dies in a raging last stand against Evolt's mimics, followed by Gentoku sacrificing himself to cripple Evolt and buy Sento and Ryuga time. Ryuga then sacrifices himself to drag Evolt into the VoidBetweenTheWorlds so Sento can enact his plan, leaving Sento as the only person left to finish off Evolt.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation: Subverted in [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2951 SCP-2951]], an anomalous mine shaft that screws around with exploration team Mobile Task Force Trotter-5:

* In ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', the episode "Toys in the Attic" features a strange BlobMonster that slowly takes out the Bebop's crew one by one until it's merely Spike with a [[FireBreathingWeapon flamethrower]].

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' more and more of the characters die frequently.

* In "VideoGame/Azure Striker Gunvolt 3", the Dragon Saviors (Cayman, Apollo, and BB) assisting Kirin and Gunvolt are either preoccupied with or taken out by ATEM troops, Serpentine's illusions, and Sistina. Shiron has completely lost signal and is unable to communicate with them. By the time Kirin/Gunvolt get close to reaching Prince Zed, her and Gunvolt are the last two members remaining. Luckily this is a non-fatal example, as the gang are alive and well by endgame.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': The Tail section of Oceanic 815 had it particularly bad after the plane crashed. [[ArcNumber 23]] people survived the initial crash, only for several of them to die of their injuries shortly afterwards. Over the next few weeks many of them were either abducted or killed by The Others. By the time they reconnect with the main group of survivors they're down to ''four'', and three of them die shortly afterwards. Bernard Nadler is ultimately the only one of the "Tailies" to survive past the third season.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': The Tail section of Oceanic 815 had it particularly bad after the plane crashed. Only 23 people survived the initial crash, only for several of them to die of their injuries shortly afterwards. Over the next few weeks many of them were either abducted or killed by The Others. By the time they reconnect with the main group of survivors they're down to ''four'', and three of them die shortly afterwards. Bernard Nadler is ultimately the only one of the "Tailies" to survive past the third season.

* ''Series/{{1883}}'': The journey west is going to be very dangerous and many of the settlers lack the experience and/or toughness needed to survive it. By episode 3, the wagon train has lost almost a dozen people and they are only a few days travel from their starting point. One couple was ejected because they showed signs of smallpox and will presumably be dead in a few days. A man is accidently run over by a wagon and two people are killed by wildlife. A stupid argument with some cowboys turns violent resulting in people being accidently shot dead. One person commits suicide. Two families are ejected from the group for stealing supplies. The experienced characters lampshade the fact that the really dangerous part of the journey has not began year and they expect the attrition rate to be horrible.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}''. So to keep the cast count up, they keep bringing in new characters!

* In ''Anime/Danganronpa3'', the division heads of the Future Foundation, as well as a few others, are trapped in the Future Foundation headquarters together, with bracelets that will inject them with lethal poison if they perform certain Forbidden Actions, which vary from person to person. They're told that every so often, the bracelets on their arms will put them to sleep, and while everyone's unconscious, the "attacker" will kill someone ([[spoiler:In reality, the monitors will brainwash the person closest to them into committing suicide]]). Naturally, people start dying very quickly, whether from the "attacker," from violating their Forbidden Actions, or getting killed by one of the other participants.

* ''Film/EscapeRoom2019'': [[WarmUpBoss After the first room]], every room claims a member until Ben is the only one playing.

** In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' sixteen students are brought to an island which ''seems'' peaceful but quickly takes a dark turn as Monokuma appears and institutes the rules from the previous game. As before, the bodies start to pile up very fast. [[spoiler: Though the victims are only left comatose because they died in a virtual reality program, and EverybodyLives in the end.]]
** In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', as in the original, sixteen students find themselves trapped in a school, and are told that they can either leave by murdering a classmate and getting away with it, or killing the mastermind. Once again, most of the class ends up getting killed over the course of the game. This Killing Game has the most casualties, leaving only three to survive the end of ''Danganronpa''.