You are limited to 1000 words maximum, you can only go a little over. You can have your OC start in a different location but the OC must meet Claire and you must have enough words left in your story to write in a meaningful reply that is focused around advancing Claire’s story.
I guess what I mean to say is, your replies should always be doing something with Claire. You are also forced to take Claire where the previous writer said Claire was going so it makes it even harder to introduce an OC in a location that you want.
On another note I got my reply up. Be sure to read it for consistency since I basically chose Claire and Thomas’ next destination and introduced my OC Bale who will NOT be traveling with Claire or Thomas.
It is very hard to write something fancy with such a small word limit but it is what it is.