So I read this helpful advice once that said you should know exactly how your character will react when put in a box. Which inspired me to come up with this exercise, the Escape the Room Challenge!

If you wanna do it, read the scenario and respond with how your character reacts – most importantly, we want to know if they escape the room or not. And it doesn’t need to be in-depth or be in bullet point form. There aren’t really any rules, I just think it’s a cool way to understand your character better.

Here’s the scenario:

Your character wakes up blindfolded in a small room that looks like this.

There is nothing inside the room except for a mattress. What your character doesn’t know is that there is a secret panel* in the floor that hides the key to the door. The floorboard is slightly darker than the other ones, but the difference is so subtle that your character would need to be up close to see it.

* Note: Your character doesn't need hands to open the secret panel. The panel will respond to any part of your character's body that touches it.

This is what your character can see:

• The room is small and has a low wooden ceiling.

• The walls and floor are made of wood that looks aged.

• The floorboards are about the same width as the average human hand. The wall panels and ceiling tiles are the same width as well.

• There are no cobwebs or spiderwebs in the room. There is no mold, mildew, dust, or algae in the room. It appears to be spotless.

• The door is wooden and has a brass doorknob. The doorknob does not appear to be rusted.

• The door hinges do not appear to be rusted.

• Peering through the slight cracks between the door and the doorframe reveals nothing.

• There are no windows.

• There is a small white mattress big enough for one person. It has a few faded red stains on the surface. It is not ripped or damaged. There is no tag or logo on it.

• The blindfold is white and has no stains on it. It is not ripped or damaged. There is no tag or logo on it.

This is what your character can smell:

• The room smells like air freshener, specifically cinnamon.

• When smelling the walls and floor up close (and ceiling, if your character can reach it), they smell like aged wood.

• The mattress smells a little bit like bleach.

• The blindfold does not smell like anything.

This is what your character can feel:

• The walls and floor (and ceiling) may look aged, but they feel as smooth and solid as concrete. The panels do not creak or move when pushed on. There are no openings to reach into and yank them out.

• The door does not budge when pulled or pushed.

• The doorknob does not feel loose and neither do the door hinges.

• Your character is completely naked. The air surrounding them feels slightly cool.

• The mattress is scratchy and uncomfortable, probably made from some kind of cheap material. There are no springs inside the mattress.

• The blindfold feels like standard cloth.

Your character hears nothing in the room except for any sound that they make (i.e. breathing, moving around, speaking, etc.). Your character tastes nothing either, unless they try to lick or eat something in the room. Assume that everything tastes as it should (i.e. the mattress tastes like a mattress and not like a sugar cookie).

If your character tries to use any magical power, ability, or heightened sense, it does not work. They cannot detect any kind of magical signature or presence, but there is something about this room that represses anything beyond the abilities of an average human.

What does your character do?

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Here are two of my characters.

Jodehn does the following:

• When she wakes up, she keeps her eyes closed and focuses on her senses. She notes that she doesn’t feel any injuries and it doesn’t feel like she’s under the influence of anything. She does not feel fatigued and she can still feel her magic as usual. This reassures her.

• She notes that she is completely naked and the air is slightly cool. She notes the position she is in; on her back with hands at her side and legs together. She feels the blindfold tied tightly around her eyes and she feels the scratchy mattress underneath her.

• She hears nothing in the room except her own breathing. She assumes no one is with her, but just to be sure, she tries using her powers to detect anything. She realizes she can’t use them. This concerns her, especially because she can’t sense any magical presence. That not only means her captor knows she’s magical, but they have some kind of magical skill too.

• She shifts and pretends like she’s waking up. There’s no noticeable reaction, so she takes the blindfold off and notes her surroundings.

• She sees the door and suspects it might be a trap. She doesn’t risk trying to use her powers again.

• She looks at the mattress and sees what looks like blood stains. Those somewhat concern her; it might mean she’ll be tortured, but at least being immortal means she won’t die. Unless her captor can suppress her immortality too? It might be possible, but she pushes that thought aside.

• She finds no tag or logo on the mattress. She feels no springs inside either, which is disappointing. She could’ve used those as a weapon. Maybe a shitty weapon, but at least she’d feel armed.

• She smells the mattress and picks up traces of bleach. She smells the air freshener in the room too. Both things confuse her; her captor is powerful enough to suppress her magic, but they use cheap cleaning products and air fresheners? They could’ve easily used magic for that.

• She stands up and looks under the mattress, but finds nothing. Guess she’ll have to test the door. She takes the mattress and flings it towards the door. Nothing happens.

• She approaches the door and tries opening it. It’s locked. She pushes against it with one hand, but can already tell she can’t break this door down. She peers through the cracks between the door and doorframe. Just darkness.

• After assessing her surroundings, she thinks about her captor’s motive. Why put her in a room with a locked door and a mattress? Why bother blindfolding her? Why take her clothes? And why bother with the bleach and air freshener?

• She thinks her captor might be toying with her; perhaps they want her to find a way of escaping, or at least make her believe she can escape. The latter doesn’t give her much hope, so she chooses to believe the former.

• She tries to put herself in her captor’s position. What would she do? There’s nothing obvious in the room that could unlock the door or knock it down. That’d be too easy. But maybe there’s something hidden in the room.

• She knows she can’t yank the panels out. The walls and floor seem pretty solid, so trying to break them wouldn’t work. But her captor clearly has some magical prowess; maybe there’s a magical panel or switch somewhere?

• She stands by the door and surveys the room. Nothing unusual stands out, which means feeling around until something hopefully happens. She figures she’ll start with the floor because there’s less space to cover.

• As she’s crawling on the floor feeling around, she notices that one of the floorboards is slightly darker than the others. She waves her non-dominant hand over it (she won’t risk losing her dominant hand if it’s a trap) and when nothing happens, she touches the floorboard with the same hand. She crawls towards the opposite end of the room as she slides her hand across the floorboard. Finally, as she gets near the other side of the room (away from the mattress), the floorboard opens from under her hand and reveals a key.

• She waves her hand over the key and, when nothing happens, takes it in her dominant hand. The floorboard closes when she does.

• She stands up and waits for a moment, wondering if anything will happen. When nothing does, she easily unlocks the door and cautiously opens it.

• Jodehn escapes the room.

Donajee does the following:

• When she wakes up, she opens her eyes and realizes two things: she’s blindfolded and she’s completely naked. “…What the fuck?”

• She sits up and rips off the blindfold. She looks around the room and takes in what she sees: it’s a small room, everything’s wooden, there’s one door and no windows, and she’s sitting on a mattress. A really scratchy one too. What kind of captor bothers with a mattress if it isn’t even comfortable?

• She stands up and looks at the mattress. There are blood stains on it, but…she doesn’t feel any injuries, so probably not hers. Except, deities have faster regeneration, so maybe it is hers and she just healed already. Whatever. Either way, the shitstain who put her here is gonna pay.

• She goes over to the door and tries opening it. Locked. She bangs on the door and shouts. “Hey! I don’t know whatever it is you’re planning, but you better let me out if you wanna live!! And give me my damn clothes back!!”

• There’s no answer. She tries slamming against the door a few times, but it won’t budge, and her side’s starting to hurt. She looks at the mattress.

• After ripping the mattress open, she finds out there’s no springs in it. Damnit. She could have tried picking the lock.

• She throws the mattress at the door in anger. “Let me out, you sick fucks!!!”

• After more screaming and threatening, she realizes that either no one can hear her or no one cares. Hell, they’re probably laughing at her throwing a fit. That just pisses her off even more.

• Wait. If there were people nearby – or anything that can feel anger, really – she could try using her powers. If she consciously focuses on it, she can connect with her Projection and find out where she is.

• She closes her eyes and tries to focus. Nothing happens. It doesn’t feel like anything’s stopping her from Projecting, but it’s stopping her from connecting with any of her Projections. “You’re fucking shitting me…”

• She remembers something Omdarfeh taught her: “You must relax. Breathe. You are the deity of Rage. You do not let anger control you; you control it.” She takes a few deep breaths.

• She tries thinking about what she’s already tried. Breaking down the door won’t work and neither will any insults or threats. Hmm…she could try smashing the door open. She tries channeling energy into her fist, but nothing happens. Oh, great. Doesn’t any magic work in here?

• She doesn’t detect any magical signature or presence, which means she’s dealing with someone or something powerful. And they’ve done their research. Donajee realizes she won’t be able to get out of this with physical force.

• She huffs and slumps against the wall. What kind of disturbed fuckwit would want to leave her naked in a room with no means of escape? It’s messed up. Only someone like Tohdee would pull this shit.

• She remembers something Tohdee told her: “Donajee, you don’t understand. There’s no fun in just giving them what they want! Let them fight over it, that’s much more entertaining.”

• Hmm…that gives her an idea. Maybe there really isn’t a way of escaping, but maybe there is and she has to find it. She definitely wasn’t going to sit around and waste away, so she had to at least try.

• There was nothing else in the room except for the mattress, which didn’t have shit. So…maybe it was a part of the room? There could be some kind of magical switch or panel somewhere. Or maybe a camera. That creeped her out immensely, but at least she wouldn’t feel so…alone. It was better to know people were watching than to think there was absolutely no one and she was just stuck here by herself.

• She presses her hand against the wall, noticing how it fits the panel almost perfectly. Nothing happens. She tries multiple spots where she can reach, but still nothing. Ugh…this was going to take forever.

• She eventually gives up on the walls and looks at the floor. Squatting would take too long…fuck, she was going to have to crawl, wasn’t she? Fucking degrading.

• After crawling around and trying multiple spots, she gets to the far end of the room opposite the mattress. Finally, a space opens from under her hand and a key is revealed. “Yes!!” She snatches the key and makes for the door.

• Shoving the key in the lock, she opens it easily and slams the door open. “Fuck yeah!”

• Donajee escapes the room.

Not sure how much criticism I could offer on this; it's not really my type of humor. xD The narrator is too much of an asshole for me and I feel like the protagonist is unreasonably incompetent -- like the emotional reactions are normal, but taking an hour to get out of the room after putting the key in the keyhole? Even if they were blind (which isn't a detriment for everyone), they'd easily be able to exit, which makes me think that the writer just wanted the protagonist to look really pathetic for no good reason.

But it was an interesting twist! I'd definitely read a comic with the protagonist, maybe one exploring their relationship to the narrator. They remind me of my own protagonist, though maybe a bit more...extreme when it comes to not knowing what to do.