The excitement was blatantly obvious on the stony faces of the Gamemakers as they took their places in their chairs. A team of twenty of the Capitol's finest made up the team that would sit around the gamemaker's circle and decide the fate of the tributes. Their leaders sat above them, spread out so that no matter where you sat, you would be able to see at least one of them across from you.
Harry adjusted his headset, which he would use to communicate with his team and make the countdown for the arena.
The circle was glowing profusely as fourty-six hands flew over the controls, making the final preparations to launch the tributes into the arena. The hologram of the arena floated in the center, the Cornucopia in the center. Soon it would be filled with life, and death. Everything they had done this year had lead up to this point.
Harry glanced at his watch. It was time.
"Area one, are we clear for boarding of the tributes?" Harry said into his headset.
Claire's voice buzzed in his ear. "Area one is a go. Boarding tributes now."
Harry nodded, touching a portion of the table that would open the elevator shafts and turn on the tribute monitors.
Twenty-six screens flickered to life above the Gamemaker's heads, each displaying identical waiting rooms with twenty-six anxious looking tributes inside. Almost simultaneously, the tributes stepped into their respective tubes.
"Tributes are boarded,"Claire said over the headset.
"Confirmed. Areas two and three, bring the arena up. We're live," Harry said.
"Area two is a go," Rohe said.
"Area three is ready too," Mer said. She giggled over the headset. "This is so exciting!"
Harry nodded and entered a command into the table. He watched as the anxious faces of the tributes.
"The arena is live. Area three, put me over there now," Harry said.
Mer giggled. "The intercom system is live, and so are the cameras. We're ready."
With that, Harry took a deep breath and stood up, adjusting his tie. He wiped his hands, but this wasn't because of nerves, no. Harry didn't get nervous.
He made a few adjustments on his work area and his script appeared in front of him as the anthem plays as every single person in WattPanem begins watching. Every eye, from the Capitol to the desolate district thirteen was on him. The nation's symbol faded, signalling it was his turn.
He forced a smile on his face and began.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the start of the first ever Starving Artist Games," Harry said, looking into the camera in front of him. "We are the lucky few who will be here to witness it all happen, right here. From the interviews, to the training, to the parade, and not forgetting the reaping that started it all, it all comes down to this moment. As we speak, the tributes are preparing to enter the arena."
As he spoke, Mer's voice sounded through the headsets. "Tributes are launching in three, two, one..." The Gamemakers scoot closer to their tables and begin tapping furiously in their respective areas.
The camera switched over to the arena and Harry realized that he was holding his breath. He hoped the rest of the nation was doing the same.
Their minute starts now.
______________________________________
THE TASK:
For this round, you will write about everything your tribute does in the initial battle at the cornucopia. That means include everything your tribute does from rising into the arena to leaving the Cornucopia. You can choose between risking your life and making a break for the Cornucopia, or flee as soon as the countdown ends.
You MUST INCLUDE this decision in your entry. You cannot stay in the center of the arena, so do you go north, south, east, or west? State which way you go at the bottom of your entry (after your deaths) by simply writing "North", "South", "East", or "West"
THE ARENA:
The arena is split into five different biomes and is said to be the most diverse arena in the twenty-three years the Hunger Games have been held. The air is hot and humid during the day and cold and wet at night. There is quite a bit of water in the arena, and this is especially around the Cornucopia. Your elevators tunnel through fifteen feet of swamp water to bring you to the surface. You see patches of land between you and the Cornucopia, but don't be fooled. This land has floated to the top, and with one wrong step you will be plunged into the murky depths.
You look to the north and see lush, green mountains rolling into the distance. A white waterfall gushes over the side, and its run-off flows into the marsh. To the east is a desert, but it looks as if there is a stack of supplies a few miles out. To the south we have the jungle, which will provide safety from the sun but is filled with dangerous flora and fauna. Finally, to the west we have a large lake that is populated with islands. The islands seem small, but they are shaded with trees and may provide safety from other tributes.
DEATHS AND BALLOTS:
This is the first round that deaths and ballots will come into play, and I want to make sure you all understand. Remember, if you have questions, I will be posting a Q&A for task two here shortly.
From here on out, every task will eliminate a predetermined number of tributes from the competition until one remains standing. The only way that you will be at risk of elimination is based solely on your score. For this round, the bottom twelve tributes will be put up for voting, where the general public will vote for who they want to stay in the competition.
As you saw from last round, your quality of writing will affect your score. However, now other tributes will be able to damage it. With each task now comes ballots and in-entry kills.
In-entry kills are when you write about a tribute's death in your entry. For this round, you will only be able to kill or witness the death of five tributes in your entry.
Ballots don't have as much of creative potential. These will be listed right below your task under the label "BALLOTS" and will not count if it is not formatted this way. Think of them as your opportunity to vote against a fellow tribute without putting it in your entry. This could be used to kill off your alliance without mentioning it in your entry (although I wouldn't tell them that ;)) or later on it can be used to kill someone on the other side of the arena. You have two ballots this round (unless you are sponsored, than you get four this round)
These are like the task bonuses you saw in Task One, but with the opposite effect. Instead of receiving +1, you all will receive -1 for each Ballot and in-entry death that is used against you.
A Note on Formatting Your Entries
We had some confusion with the last task, and that is partially my fault. However, I noticed that quite a few of you disregarded what to put in the Subject area of your email. Please remember to format it like so:
District 12 Female: Katniss Everdeen
It isn't difficult, and it will give the Gamemakers an easier time organizing all twenty-six of you.
Other than your subject, I noticed that Wattpad is very touchy when it comes to copying and pasting your entries.
Some of you put spaces in between your paragraphs, and when I pasted it it put it into one block of text.
Others of you followed directions and left it as a block of text, and it spaced it out fine. Still others of you followed directions, but you ended up as a big block of text anyways.
I don't know the solution to this, so if you know what to do so it will give everyone the same result, please let me know!
Finally, the formatting for this task will be more difficult than the last, so please refer back to the chapter with the Entry checklist and make sure you follow everything to a T. Remember to include everything listed there.
MORE ON DEATH
There isn't a minimum of deaths, but if you wish to kill, you can only have five tributes die in your entry. You don't have to say their name in the entry, but please, PLEASE include their district and gender if you don't.
Whether you kill people in the entry or not, everyone gets two ballots that are different than your deaths.
Twelve people are going up for votes, and nine of them will die this task. No one is safe...
THE DEADLINE
This task's deadline is July 9th, 2015 at 12pm [CT]
There is NO word limit for this task, but if the Gamemakers get bored we will stop reading after 1000 words. So be concise.
You must hand in your completed entry to sagamemakers@gmail.com. Your entry books here on Wattpad do not count for anything. They are merely a way to get your followers to take notice of the competition and to come and vote for you if you ever are put up to it.
Like I stated above, no one is safe, so give us your best!