FIRST TRIAL

[bathymetric]

Alright, that seems like more than enough time to poke around the crime scene. Gather at the vault door, won’t you? It seems that for many of you it will be a short walk.

[ Once you’re all gathered at the vault door, Angel meets you there and quietly taps a keycard to the side of it. There’s an enormous whirring and grinding from inside as various mechanisms within the door move and whir - until with one last shuddering thud, the door starts to swing inwards, revealing a fully-glass tunnel leading off the side of the plateau the base is built on. Small lights built into the floor illuminate as you walk forward, until finally they light up an enormous elevator, perfectly capable of holding the twenty-four of you.

Angel comes too, putting a few numbers into a keypad just outside the door and inserting her card key once everyone is inside. She’ll gestures to get in if anyone seems unsure, but doesn’t really speak or enter the car herself. ]

Going down.

[ And down the elevator goes, leaving the lights of the facility behind - from here everyone can even see some parts of the facility you don’t have access to, it’s bigger than you realized. But it’s a long and uncomfortable ride to the depths, at least a minute or two before the elevator stops.

When the doors open, enough lights flash on to show that you’ve reached the ocean floor, some distance below even the depths you knew before. Lights around the outside of the massive glass dome you've found yourselves in illuminate the barren depths of the sea, with little if any ocean life to currently disrupt it.

At the top of the dome, among the lights, is an outward-facing circle of five or six different screens, each showing the telltale spiral that indicates The Professor is as present as he ever is.

Below them, of course, are the podiums, a circle of simple metal stands with some kind of video screen embedded into each, though they’re turned off for now. Each of your names is carved into one of them, though the podium constructed for Aela seems to have been just set to display a blank red light.

The screens lower down until they’re too close to eye level for anyone’s comfort. ]

Welcome to the trial room. You have as long as you need to discover who among you killed The Huntress. Once you have, I will explain further action. Take your places.

[ The screens rise back up - welcome to your first trial. ]

Comments

[fivestagegod]

Okay. Fine. I really hate to bring this up so bluntly, but it's been a while since I've been rude to you and your carrying on here has put my life in danger, so screw you too.

Your family is dead because of you.

[Jesus Christ, Birkin.]

Either you killed them, or they died because of you or something. You're the only one left for some reason. How badly did you screw up?

Did she ask you to face her? Was it honorable, like you said? Did you agree to fight her because you don't care about dying and this way her family won't end up like yours did?

1/2

[onefuture]

[...

Lif wasn't expecting Birkin to come at him like that. Nor to get to the heart of the matter so easily. Or...anything, really, and the absurdity of the situation gets him to laugh. It gets him to laugh openly, freely, in a way that's not exactly nice.]

For a man with the constitution of a toothpick, you certainly talk like you're as big of a in the room as Rose or Jasper is.

2/2

[onefuture]

[But you know what.]

I don't believe there was a single bit of honor involved in what traspired.

[Lif's arms are still firmly crossed, but he's still perhaps surprisingly rigid, all considered.]

[fivestagegod]

Great. So you regret it now. Good to know.

[God, he has just decided to go This Fuckin' Guy all over this MTB.]

Aela's dead. You think you deserve to die for it - the culprit deserves whatever they get, wasn't it? But here you are, arguing with us anyway.

What do you want, Lif? You want to find some magical way for your parents and your sister to end up like you, is that it? Something brought you back. Why not them?

[emberserker]

What -- undead?

[bolderfell]

...You can see his skeleton, Anna.

[emberserker]

Well, yes, but it's still a jump from that to applying it to others. Though if that's what he wants, so be it.

[onefuture]

Regret? I don't have a single regret over any of this.

[...This would look very convincing if you could actually look at people when you're talking, Lif. Either way, he's avoiding Birkin's gaze, trying very hard to keep that calm.]

And why shouldn't I? You lot spent hours meandering about like a bunch of chickens with their head cut off. Quite frankly, if the evidence hadn't pointed in my direction, this wouldn't be happening.

[...]

As for the rest? Well...I had already found it, prior to meeting all of you here.

[philoxenia]

[ ... that, if nothing else, gets her to finally say something. And look at him. ]

Are you certain you don't regret it?

[onefuture]

[And that...

That sees Lif hesitate, but no.

No hesitation.]

As certain as can be; you can be assured of that.

[fivestagegod]

Excuse me, who was stupid enough to leave evidence lying around to begin with? To say nothing of taking the Professor at his word about anything. Don't try to act superior when you're the one who put yourself on the chopping block - you're going up against people who are smarter than you and better than you, and you know it.

But fine, keep trying to screw us around. We can stand here all day and try to solve your stupid puzzle regarding how you did it. At the end of the day, you're still dying. Again.

[onefuture]

[In any case...Lif seems peaceful, after that.]

...You know what? Good. If that's the mindset you continue to go into these trials with, perhaps you'll find your way out of this damned place in due time.

It's perhaps an example all of them could use. No mercy, no forgiveness.

[baitless]

[well damn hearing that just kind of makes him whip around...]

...I know he’s being unreasonable, but is that necessary?

[nothingcanstop]

[ BIG SAME FRIEND ]

[hardnosed]

Do you think taking it easy on him's going to change anything? You think it'll make them any less dead?

This is a battlefield, whether or not you act like it.

[baitless]

He’d as good as confessed. It’s not like we’re not going to kill him after all this, so...

[fivestagegod]

Absolutely. Did you miss the part where he's put all of our lives on the line and is deciding to be an unrepentant asshole about it? He wants to act like a big man, he can take the consequences.

[onefuture]

...He's not wrong, at any rate.

[Lif can at least admit that much.]

Whatever may come of this, I deserve it. Each and every last bit.

[baitless]

...

[sigh...]

I see. May whatever deity is watching have mercy on you.

[obstagoodboy]

His family, huh...

[His expression grows a soft instead of the vague pained look he's had all trial. He can sympathize with that.]

[philoxenia]

[ ... yeah that's a mood, piers ]

[bogwife]

[big. ass. mood.]

[bolderfell]

[Can't relate.]

[pimpplan]

[ laughs nervously and stares into the distance ]

[thieviusraccoonus]

[Sure is a mood in here.]