Trinity Tourney OCT
note is an Original Character Tournament which takes place in the magical kingdom of Sarun. Bored of facing the same challengers year after year, the three Champions of Sarun decide to expand the scope of their annual tournament to include any team who thinks themselves a match for them. However, it soon turns out that they've also let in some uninvited guests: the Mist Claws, a league of bandits set on reviving an ancient threat to Sarun's peace. Now the Champions must keep the Mist Claws from ruining the festival—even if it means using the tournament itself to keep them in check.
The tournament released its official roster on November 21, 2011, and was officially won by LavinaArrow on March 28, 2013, with TenLongFingers as the runner up. Houkou-NRL and MacabreAustereRelume placed third.
The roster for the tournaments second season was released on August 2nd 2016. Season 2 concluded in May 2018 and was won by MacabreAustereRelume , with TheTinkerThinker as the runner up.
General Tropes:
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Bonus Material: Includes one-shots written by the judges which usually feature a closer look at various NPCs. Competitor-written spectator entries also exist. - The Captain: One member of each team is designated the Captain. Usually these are the leaders of the group, although in some instances it was the one who made the decision to participate in the tournament or the one who spoke up first. (Or, in the case of the Champion's team, determined by Rock–Paper–Scissors....)
- Fleur-de-lis: A red, orange, and purple Fleur de Lis is a prominent symbol which is usually associated with the Champions and frequently seen on uniforms.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: Humans? Check. Most of the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism? Also check.
- Power Trio: Required by the tournament format. Every single team in the tournament falls under this trope.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Enfoced by the writer-level tournament rules, then justified by the In-Universe parallel of the same rule.
Tropes by Round:
Note: Only tropes found in the winning (canon) entries, plot entries, one-shots and spectator entries will be included. Season One and Season Two Tropes should be organized in the according sections. open/close all folders
Season One
Audition
- Accidental Misnaming: To Mr. Smithy's immense frustration, Kirby just can't understand that he is a gnome rather than a "Guh-nome," because "That's not how you spell it, dummy."
- A Macguffin Full Of Money: Money means Food, and that's all the motivation the starving Eurasian Oddities need to join the tournament. Everatt is also only in the tournament for the chance at the monetary prize.
- Berserk Button: Rafi calls David "gay boy," and David attacks.
- Big Entrance: Team Hindenburger arrives by causing an explosion in the middle of Lotti's speech and emerging from under the earth in a kind of giant, burger-shaped, underground tank.
- Calling Your Attacks: Team New Worlds develops a strategic attack before arriving, which they call the Electric Frenzy.
- Cue the Flying Pigs: The unlikely union between the dragon people and steampunk robot who form Team Chaospunks is lampshaded when a pig flies overhead upon their arrival.
- Mission Briefing: The Steel King decides that Leslie, Chrome, and Nina's involvement in the tournament will be "a mission."
- Plot Coupon: Most of the competitors received a plot coupon in the form of a tournament invite. Acquiring an invitation was usually necessary in order to compete or even (sometimes) to enter Sarun.
- The Taxi: The Steam Junk Team arrives in Sarun - and escapes a mob of people hunting for them - by riding off in a cab. No further explanation is given, except that the driver's fee was apparently "outrageous."
Round 1
- At Arm's Length: Worked quite well for Hard Rock against Wolfboy, if only briefly.
- Berserk Button: King was pretty calm until Ruli scuffed his crown and called it a "stupid hat."
- Break Them by Talking: Worked quite well against Ruli. Failed against Wallace.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mary's muffin serves as one, as well as the writing she scrawls on the ground, which later turns out to activate a trap.
- Drawing Straws: Ariadne's and Teagan's teams draw straws to determine a member from both groups to sit out for the round. It is an effort on Ariadne's part to remove Kami from the match, and it remarkably works.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Shause submerges Ketsuki in water so as to keep him from using his air blade, leading to Shause's victory.
- Food and Animal Attraction: Vurr is distracted from attacking Mary by her muffin, which she then offers to him. Later, when it seems the Sarun guards will have to use Digger to force Vurr out of the ring, they end up luring him out with food instead.
- Grenade Tag: Hank slipped a grenade into Maria's pocket during a close-range scuffle in their match.
- Holding Both Sides of the Conversation: When Rufus creates illusion duplicates of his body, he seems to be talking to himself.
- Non-Fatal Explosions: Maria and Hank get caught in an explosion of the latter's grenade. Are they even still alive? Yes.
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: Or so Shirotsuki claims to Austere after being antagonized by him ever since their teams were matched up. This newfound resolve does not, however, make her voltage-proof, as physically attacking Austere soon proves.
- Not Himself: As the demon inside Theo takes control during his fight against Rose, he suddenly becomes frightfully vicious.
- Opt Out: Yuki takes one look at Frank and hops out of the ring without even fighting him.
- Public Secret Message: Shirotsuki realizes LancRose will be listening in on her team's every word. To catch him off guard, she gives Blaze the pre-round instruction to join her in attacking him - when she says NOT to attack.
- Screaming Warrior: As soon as the match begins, Flagon makes a dash toward Von Tock, all the while yelling at the top of his lungs.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Zuru was just being a hospitable opposing captain when he bought Alyx some coffee the morning of their teams' fight... wasn't he? And surely Vade's sluggishness in the ring was unrelated to the juice he had while talking to Alexander... right?
Round 2
- Accidental Misnaming: Mostly a dig at LancRose's aforementioned tenancy to introduce himself by (and remind everyone of) his full name, Chance calls him by the nickname "Lanny" - and LancRose makes no attempt to hide how much he loathes it.
- Derailed for Details: When Mary tries to tell Bennett about the creepy voices in the Dragon's Cave, Bennett catches that she saw Tin and rushes to check on Rufus. Mary doesn't get to finish her story.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Human Austere is shown with comparatively normal hair in the Round 2 Spectator Entry flashback.
- Find the Cure!: This became the premise of Round 2 after Lottatelum fell ill.
- Flower from the Mountaintop: A rare fern that grows on the cliffside is one of the ingredients required for Lottatelum's medicine.
- Giant Spider: Spider venom is another required ingredient - specifically, the venom is to be acquired from an oversized, talking spider named Aras.
- Guns Akimbo: LancRose decides to buy a rifle with the intent of shooting at the members of Team Chance on their way back to the arena, but ends up using it in one hand and his pistol in the other to hold both Ginko and Vincent hostage.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Yuki's played enough RPG's to know that the items the teams must find are for a healing potion ("or something").
- Is This Thing Still On?: Alto spontaneously breaks out into song when Chance destroys the cameras in the spider's cave used to watch the match. When Gebroken reminds him that he should go to the cave to make sure the rules are being followed, Alto promptly objects and then asks if his mike was off.
- Kevlard: Dai was described as "blubbery" in Round 2, and didn't suffer from the Ashburn bee stings as much as his opponents.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: "Ah, Captain Chance! My name is Estevan Marshall LancRose, and if you do not give me what I want..."
Round 3
- Backup from Otherworld: King manages to convince the ghosts to attack Styx when he is nearly beaten.
- Choke Holds: During their rounds, Maria subdues Wolfboy with a choke hold, and Zee does this as well as pin Rafi, utilizing her hammer in the process.
- Defeat by Modesty: Along with removing his sandals and rendering him unable to move, Rufus manages to de-pants Akira using the Untie spell. Bennett then carried the embarrassed swordsman from the ring.
- Doppleganger Spin: Used by Everatt to confuse Bennett.
- Electromagnetic Ghosts: Upset with Team Steam Junk being so quick to dismiss their existence, a number of ghosts interfere with their ability to fight, including by turning off Austere's generator.
- Emotion Control: Although Zee plans on not participating any further in the tournament, Domino provokes Zee into attacking Rafi by manipulating her thoughts into a blind rage. He also manipulates LancRose into uncharacteristic cheerfulness when influencing him to steal Sadie's belt.
- Ghost Story: When Azul is kidnapped, the ghosts of the town are free to roam about - and they do. Many cause havoc by interfering with three of the four matches.
- Girls Have Cooties: Theo doesn't want to touch "Mary" (actually Rufus in Mary's form) during their match because he's worried that he'll catch cooties. Their confrontation soon turns into a game of tag.
- A Handful for an Eye: David attempts to blind Austere with cooking spray.
- Holding Your Shoulder Means Injury: Rufus' achey scar justifies him massaging his shoulder, but that was exactly what clued Everatt into Rufus's weak point.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Everatt convinces "Mary" to leave the ring during the match. Of course, it was actually Rufus (using illusions to take Mary's form), and the only reason he agreed was so he could attack when Everatt dropped his guard.
- It's All My Fault: Gebroken-ogen certainly feels this way after his failure to report the Mist Claws' plans and his resistance against Venom's Death leads to the death of Emily and her father.
- Kidnapped Scientist: The Mist Claws steal Azul to try to use his abilities as a Necromancer for their own reasons, making him a Kidnapped Scientist.
- Kill It with Fire: Although immune to physical attacks, the ghosts flooding Sarun remain vulnerable to fire and magic, the former of which was used to drive them off during some matches.
- Not Himself: LancRose puts on the Belt of a Thousand Demons, making his personality become the extreme opposite.
- Shell Game: Alto loses track of which "Rufus" is which during the brief window between Rufus and Bennett each dispelling the illusions disguising them.
- Sickening "Crunch!": Maria, unable to feel pain, is largely oblivious to the injuries she sustains while fighting Wolfboy - until her leg snaps, and she goes out not because she can no longer fight, but because she can no longer stand.
- Swapped Roles: The Freemen use illusions to switch places with each other: Bennett acts as Rufus, who acts as Mary, who acts as Bennett. The tactic effectively fools everyone for a while.
Round 4
- The Chase: In order to win their match, a given team has to capture their respective Championnote . Of course, the Champions will be using their familiarity with the mazes to evade them at every turn.
- Dramatic Irony: LancRose nonchalantly explains to Zee exactly why shooting at Mary was a good idea... while Bennett appears behind him, his sword transformed into a giant hammer and ready to strike.
- Dying Declaration of Love: In the face of her death, Gebroken-ogen confesses his love to Emily.
- Fiery Cover-Up: After killing a couple incompetent accomplices, Master set the house they were talking in ablaze.
- Heads or Tails?: Both sets of teams use a coin toss to determine which will be the first to enter the maze. However, it was only truly a fair chance in one matchup, as Zuru uses an illusion to ensure that the outcome will be in his favor.
- Hedge Maze: Round 4's match takes place in the castle garden's two hedge mazes.
- Last Request: Inverted during the Dying Declaration of Love. As she tries to reveal her own feelings for him, Gebroken-ogen insists that Emily call him by his real name.
- Right Behind Me: Mary sees red magic above her, and as she wonders whose magic it is, Master appears behind her and says "Hello, Mary." Both of them disappear from the round after this moment.
- The Magic Versus Technology War: The Free-Spirited Freemen, a team of spellcasters, is paired against The Steam Junk Team, a trio of cyborgs.
- Would Hurt a Child: LancRose shoots at Mary, much to the disgust of Zee and fury of Bennett.
Round 5
- Boss Battle: Specifically The Dragon, who interrupts the match and becomes the main target.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Upon seeing Arkhein being released and emerging from the mountains, Two Guards witnessing the event have the following conversation:
- Climax Boss: Arkhein, also counts as a Baitand Switch Boss for the Contestants.
- Final Battle: Due to Arkhein and the Mist Claws advancing onto Sarun, Round Five turns from a competition into a War Zone for everyone.
- Wham Episode: many revelations come out before, during and after this Round, the most prominent are ones concerning Gebroken
Round 6 (Bonus Round)
- The Reveal: Finally, the contestants and spectators get their first glimpse of the champions unmasked.
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose/Morton's Fork: A meta example. No matter whether you read the Champions' entries or the Freemen's, the Champions end up winning in terms of the story.
- Good Is Not Nice/Beware the Nice Ones: Webs vs. Bennett in the Freemen's entries—while Webs is generally The Only Sane Man of the champions with a Not So Above It All flair and is respectful to her opponents, it does not stop her from pummeling Bennett to the ground of the arena with her gloves once she's disarmed of her sword.Webs: Will you Yield?Bennett: I could Still get up.
Spectator Entries
Season Two
Audition
Round One
Round Two
Round Three
Azure's Sidequests
Dominic's Sidequests
Spectator Entries
- The Duchess sat on the dais again, cool and calm, with a patient sigh.
The game was set, the players and pieces ready.
All she had to do now, was wait.
