And with the sweat of your brow...

[bathymetric]

Fun Fact: Did you know that if the multiverse is real, there could be an almost infinite square mileage of completely unexplored ocean out there?

No reason.

...

You wake in one of 25 rooms with a sense of unease that doesn't quite track with how nice the accommodations are. Maybe it has something to do with the giant window leading out to the sea. The temperature is low, which might make you wish you had woken up under the luxurious covers instead of atop them. The lights, too, are low. But next to your bed is a small personal radio, and it's playing a song for you. There's also a small note printed on folded cardstock next to it.

Dear Prospective Citizen,

Welcome to the Helios Suites at New Rapture. The time should currently be 12:00 PM. Please take a moment to get your bearings and become acquainted with your new environment, then meet in the hotel lobby at 1:30 PM sharp for an orientation with Mayor Fontaine.

With only that for guidance, there's only the one thing to do: get out there and start exploring... well, it's hardly a full city, but it's something! And in the halls (or on the wall of your suite or the lobby), you very well may find up to 24 other captives.

What you do until your meeting with Mayor Fontaine, well... that's up to you. Every room certainly gives you something to talk about.

Comments

[sixthnonsense]

I guess it's a good thing if I can be helpful...

[Because boy was he ever not very helpful during his last game! But to answer her question:]

Yeeeeah, I'm sure the fountain guy will start tossing out motives if we don't kill fast enough for his liking. It's a bad time.

[prompocalypse]

Hmm. I guess if he has the amount of reach necessary to get us here, he's going to have ways to give us things to tempt us into following along...

Any examples?

[sixthnonsense]

Yeah, he's probably got a wide variety... In my game, the mastermind went the whole nine yards. Bribery, blackmail, kidnapping our loved ones, you name it.

[He says it so casually, but like. It sure did happen. Anything to get teenagers to kill each other!!]

[prompocalypse]

Yeah, that's about what I'd expect.

[If he expects her to be shocked, well. He clearly didn't go to Aguefort.]

I guess at least he probably won't just mind control us into doing it if he's gone through all this effort. Unless... Well, we probably won't know until we meet him.

Was he behind yours as well?

[sixthnonsense]

Eugh... I don't wanna imagine him going the mind control route. Talk about the worst invasion of privacy.

[He even shudders for good measure.]

But no, I've never heard of this guy. Doesn't mean he can't be in on Ultimate Despair, though... These rules are so eerily familiar.

[prompocalypse]

...Ultimate Despair? [What a tacky name, wow. Time to retroactively make fun of Junko only a day after she died.]

[sixthnonsense]

[It's what she deserves.]

The organization created by the mastermind. She said she had people all over the outside world raining down destruction in the name of despair or something. She was even broadcasting the killing game for everyone to see.

I never did get to find out if she was actually telling the truth or not.

[prompocalypse]

I mean, her evil plan sounds completely stupid.

Kind of no wonder her plan failed, jeez. Evil for evil's sake never makes sense to me. Like, get a hobby?

[sixthnonsense]

Tell me about it.

[And yet...]

But it almost worked. You had to be there, though... It really did feel as hopeless as she described at that point.