Final Trial

[bathymetric]

[ After a long while of investigation in areas that she definitely did not authorize you being in, the Mayor speaks up over the loudspeakers throughout the entire city. She's not using distortion at all, for what it's worth. ]

If you're all done rifling through my past and looting my things, there's a show that we really ought to get on the road, don't you think? Don't worry, I'm not going to come to you. You'll come to me.

[ And, one by one (along with your evidence), every single one of you is teleported into, rather than the underwater dome, a sectioned-off area of the Hall of the Founders. The walls around you are thick glass, and you can see beyond them that the Sparrows have begun restoring the statues. Massive stone renditions of the original Founders of New Rapture surround you, though some are still covered in cloth. A series of podiums have been set for you.

And within your final trial box is another box of frosted glass, ominous before you, just transparent enough to see a figure inside, sitting at a desk, her feet up as she lounges in a rolling office chair. ]

I love the dome, but there's nowhere for me to sit, you know? I was going to reveal this to all of you, it was going to be a whole big thing, but then you woke up early and ran off to do God-knows-what in a bunch of places I didn't need you in! Almost as if someone tipped you off to my plan.

[ Inside the glass case, the figure leans back in the chair further. ]

So you know what? Go ahead and talk amongst yourselves. Air my dirty laundry. Maybe I'll even join in in person. See if you can figure out what happened here, for starters.

[ Welcome to the final trial. ]

Comments

[visiblepattern]

I think it goes without saying, almost, that New Rapture was functional for a time. People were getting married here, and there are several mentions of there being other citizens besides just the Founders. But then things seem to have...collapsed.

[Just to start us off.]

[specialyellthing]

Hell of a wedding venue, ain’t it?

[inaclearing]

On purpose for...metaphorical forestry reasons, I guess.

[Brett, on a deep personal level, hates that we are now on Metaphorical Forest Things!]

Sounds like he fired all the regular workers on New Year's and...probably had a bunch of them killed. And then got the Founders to take each other out, too. Seems like such a waste.

[inaclearing]

Ah...

[Brett casts an extremely uneasy glance to his right - why does he have to be right next to the weird Mayor terrarium? But he shakes his head, swallows, and lays out his notes. If she wants to kill them all, she's just going to do it; might as well proceed.]

Floyd and I checked out this old laboratory. I'll let Floyd speak on what he found, but I looked at a work station belonging to an H. Jack. There were notes about something called a Vita-Chamber that can...resurrect people who died suddenly. Of...unnatural causes.

[He glances at the others, eyebrows slightly raised - are we just saying the things we have learned about our own dead out loud in front of the Mayor, or?]

I also found plans for an interdimensional gateway created by R.L. I have them here, if anyone thinks they can make anything more out of it. That's pretty much all I got.

Lastly, I found a storage room for those bird robots. I guess the Mayor's been in and out of there a lot - she smashed all the Corona-branded beer in there for...some reason. [He's not sure if that's relevant? It doesn't feel as relevant as all the other stuff, but it sure was weird.] They're controlled by music. There was a log about it...

[He swallows again, gripping the sides of his podium, and deliberately does not look to his right.]

She was wondering if she could do the same to us. And I think she did.

[howveryglib]

…

Do you believe that to be what happened on the missing weekdays?

[specialyellthing]

Hawkah! A vita-chamber, huh—- [Oh, but then she’d distracted—-]

I got the blueprints for those birds, right here.

But first, I gotta ask—-

What does this bitch have against Corona?!?

[onemillion]

[All of this is so much, but you know what, fine. We can play along for now, though Rossiu's gaze remains on the Mayor for a long moment before he addresses the others as if she isn't there.]

I investigated two of the Founders' offices that required the silver key. The first one [office #1] appeared to have belonged to a man by the name of Handsome Jack. He was presumably responsible for the designs of the robots [you know, these guys, the Sparrows] because I found a workbench with a robotic framework. While I'm hardly an expert, it was certainly very advanced - more than most of what we've seen here, actually.

That wasn't all present in his room - though someone had emptied the drawers and carved traitor in the front of one. They had also defaced his painting by slashing through it. However, a laptop was left behind with a message that seems to be discussing the idea of setting up a situation like this, with participants forced to murder one another. I've copied down the text.

[He did not copy down the flirty chat logs with Loki, but here's the relevant portion!]

The next office [#8] was mostly cleared out. There was barely anything left in it, and nothing to identify the former occupant. There were several things on the floor that seem to have been swept off the desk. This one had a laptop as well, continuing on with the same discussion.

[And here's the text for that one as well! Written neatly down, of course.]

The first part was from Frank Fontaine and the follow-up response from someone I was unable to identify.

[They used a burner email, but he is not going to try to explain what the hell an email is right now, this comment's already long enough.]

Finally, I found one more thing in this nameless person's room - a ring case and a ring. They seem to have been thrown at the wall at some point, given I found the ring outside the case.

[Here you go if you want to look at it! The ring has been restored to its rightful place inside the case.]

[visiblepattern]

Oh! I found one of those electronic...boxes...

[He trails off a bit, not sure how to describe what he means...]

I don't know if it's similar to the laptops you keep mentioning, but it had a part of a similar discussion on it as well. Regarding the rules and such.

[Text here!]

[howveryglib]

I am certain you can handle a minor inconvenience or two, Mayor Coding Textbooks.

[ok. mastermind has been sassed. It’s time to get to findings!]

I investigated the financial records, which were quite illuminating. There were wages listed for only twenty-four of the Founders, and it seemed as though they were all ones we were familiar with. However, as I alluded to before, there was a not insignificant amount of money being diverted to purchasing coding textbooks, which I presume is our esteemed mayor’s actual salary. Well done on negotiating something twofold greater than the others’. I also found charges to independent contractors named R. Lutece and R. Lutece near the city’s founding.

Speaking of contracts, I found those for the Founders; it seems as though while material assets were handled the typical way, intellectual property and patents were to be transferred to Fontaine Futuristics in the event of the signer’s death. He also ordered several additional bathyspheres, shut down the station to which we have access for maintenance, and set all work contracts besides the founders to expire December 31st.

Yes, it was certainly a death trap by design; I found a recording illuminating Fontaine’s philosophy. It is a good thing I brought my radio, because I do not feel like explaining it.

[he’s going to play that recording!! he’s so tired. Even if everyone is okay, technically…]

[inaclearing]

...I know it's a metaphor, but that's really not the case in most ecosystems...

[So not the point, but like. What the hell was that monologue.]

[capreelcious]

I found a buncha chemistry stuff belonging to an A. Wesker. So uh, you know that one plasmid motive thing? Turns out they're made of those glowing sea slugs we keep seein' at trials.

Apparently A. Wesker found out that the ADAM stuff could recreate and rewrite DNA temporarily or permanently. There were big side effects before they got around to messing with it, though. Looks like Wesker was trying to use it to cure terminal and genetic illnesses, but got stopped in the middle of the research for some reason.

[ A small pause to let it all sink in. He also takes out the folder he swiped from the office too. ]

There's also something about Big Daddies and Big Sisters in there, too. A bunch of people were heavily altered by ADAM and put into special diving suits, but it doesn't go into why. All the Big Daddies are dead, but the only Big Sister, Eleanor Lamb, isn't.

Aaaaand, the last thing I found was this empty audio log case!

[ He also takes out the empty audio log case, labeled "4/27 LUTECE MACHINE EXPERIMENT W/ C" and sets it down too. ]

[inaclearing]

She's mentioned ADAM to me. Said that she's a really quick healer because of it.

[And it's on her profile, of course, but that's a little extra.]

[specialyellthing]

Yeah, uh, speakin of Ellie—- She’s pretty hooked into that suit.

I don’t know if she could get out of it if she wanted to.

[sastruga]

[Mafuyu sets herself up at her podium, with her bag of ill gotten goods. Her hair is short, her dress is goth as fuck, her jacket is extremely stolen -- shouldn't have left it behind, Ms. Mayor. She looks a little... well, it's always hard to say, with Mafuyu, when she's not just forcing a smile.

Oh, that's it, her eyes are looking a little emptier again... Is she a bit shaken up?]

Mielle and I went through the Mayor's office... It seems she'd just left before we got there, yes?

[She spares a glance towards the box, briefly.]

Well, that's not important. Her computer was on, so I went through her files. First I found a recording where she talked about picking out our titles. It seems she really wanted us to hate her right away. I also found the software she's been using to create Fontaine's voice... I don't think that matters as much, now.

She had an audio diary, too. Talking about what happened every week... and comparing it to what had happened with the founders. And about how Fontaine had betrayed them.

As for the rest of her office... Well, Mielle will explain her own findings. I went through the bookcase. [And on cue, she drops some books she stole right there on her podium without even changing expression.] It was psychology books, mostly. [She holds up William Glasser's Choice Theory, specifically -- the one most read, so of course she took it.] But also the complete works of Franz Kafka and a book on taking care of Pokemon. Then I...

...

[Oh, she looks a little more hesitant about continuing, all of a sudden.]

There was the whiteboard... It had photos of all of us. They were kind of blurry, but I could recognize enough of us, still. Except... Except it was here. I mean, not this room, but...

It was us in New Rapture.

Not like it is now. It was clean and there were other people, there. But it was definitely New Rapture.

[inaclearing]

[WELL THAT'S SUPER FUCKING CREEPY]

...doing what?

[specialyellthing]

… I found a model of this place, with an expansion added on. It was labeled… “For Expansion by Founders”. There was somethin taped over, though. When I removed it, it changed the meanin’.

“For expansion by New Founders”.

… Is that us?

[capreelcious]

Wait- whaaaaaat?! What were we doin' here? I think I'd remember something like that.

[visiblepattern]

[Forrest remains resplendant in the gown he'd been wearing for the investigation; the cape is warm, and it brings strength with it. All the same, he's grateful that he's between Gaius and Zinda.]

I investigated two of the other offices requiring a silver key for entry. One belonged to a man named Gunnar Maelstrom - he seemed to be a psychologist of some sort, he had taken down psychological profiles on twenty-two of the other Founders. However, three files were noticeably missing among them - his own, one that I presume to belong to A. Wesker, and the final one likely belongs to The Mayor. He also had notes on people that I assume were candidates for assistant, like Eleanor. He noted that he specifically hadn't included Handsome Jack's daughter among them.

For what it's worth, Gunnar also seemed to be rather fond of marine life. He had several books about it on his shelves, along with psychology texts, and he kept an aquarium that was still functional and feeding what was inside. He kept jellyfish; they all had names, like Carmen. The office seemed well-kept otherwise, with the exception of his portrait, which had several slashes through it.

The second office I went into belonged to Alex Wesker - she didn't have much in her office, but she did have a book, The Castle by Franz Kafka, which had a note written on the title page. "By believing passionately in something that does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired," left by someone with the initial C.

She also had an area set up so she could work with plasmids. It appeared that someone had been in there as recently as a few weeks ago, making mixtures of...apparently sea slugs? That's disgusting, Floyd - I know it's not your fault but that's horrible.

Ah, anyway... She, or someone, was making mixtures of one we didn't receive - Hypnosis - and a stabilizing plasmid, and there was also a vial of Eleanor's blood in there.

I'm also fairly and uncomfortably sure the Mayor was in love with Alex in some way. The audio log I found seems to imply it.

[Audio log!]

[inaclearing]

...and she likes Kafka a lot.

[Comforting...?]

I really don't like the sound of that Hypnosis one. [...] Could I see the book?

[honeyedtea]

M... Mafuyu and I...

[ Mielle shoots her a look that very clearly says Where Do I Even Fucking Start before swallowing hard and going for the evidence that seems... safer. ]

We found what seemed to be the Mayor's office if the computer and the things she'd left behind [ She gestures to the stylin' jacket Mafuyu is now wearing and holds up the silver cross necklace for everyone to see were ] any indication. It seemed to be where she was monitoring the security footage from. There was a... garage? Attached? [ Said in a way that makes it clear she had to ask Mafuyu what the hell it was. ] Filled with cars and a half-empty bag of Pokemon food. We searched the office and found... well...

[ She summarizes the audio log. ]

And... there were these as well. [ She holds up the files for everyone to see and summarizes the contents. ] All this combined I think it's quite clear...

This is far from the first or only time a "game" like this has been underway.

[specialyellthing]

Careful, put that thing away—— [re: the cross—-]

Ah. Nevermind.

[inaclearing]

So...they put the Founders through all of that, and then just...erased their memories of it and sent them home again? To - what? See if they remembered? Observe other games like this?

[specialyellthing]

Found a bunch of blueprints-- didn't look like anyone had been in that room in a while. Gotta have a word with your cleanin' crew, Bitch. [...oh. look. even the mayor has a nickname, now. it's capitalized and everything.]

There was one for an underwater transit system, with highways and underwater cars. There was also one by Gunnar Maelstrom and Handsome Jack, that was like -- I think it was the plans for where the executions were done. No note on how handsome Jack was. [her hearts gonna be broken when she finds out, no one tell her--] The blueprints for the birds I mentioned earlier were there too, also by Handsome Jack, and... then the ones about Ellie.

Anyone know anything about plasma? It talked about plasma. [NO IT DIDNT--- but shes fishing the blueprints out of... tragically... her bra, where she kept them. So you can see the talk of plasmids yourself.]

There was also the model, For Expansion by New Founders.

[capreelcious]

You mean plasmids, right, Hawkfish? Stuff's made from the glowy sea slugs.

[inaclearing]

Okay, so...as far as what we do know, I think we have the situation with the old Founders pretty well in hand. We've known a fair bit about them for a while. With this, I think we can say definitively that they were brought here to build up New Rapture, create the murder game premise, and then be put through it themselves. Some very strange woods, there...

[What? Don't worry about it!]

More specifically, it sounds like Gunnar, Handsome Jack, and someone I think we can assume is the Mayor collaborated with Fontaine to come up with the rules and setup for this whole thing. Somebody sounds like they were upset with the first two about it, at least - maybe the others found out, or maybe there was infighting. Presumably everyone was revived using Vita-Chambers after their game ended, and then sent home with their memories wiped. Some of them recovered vague memories of this place, though it sounds like the majority probably didn't.

The Mayor - C, I guess we could call her - was one of them. She may have won that game, or else been the only survivor some other way, but it sounds like she wasn't in charge of what happened to the others afterwards. She wouldn't have sent Alex Wesker back to die if she were. Fontaine was probably the one responsible for that.

She was the one running the dimension machine built by the Luteces before, so...after she was left in charge of the city, she used it to observe the others and their games, when those happened. I guess eventually she decided to join in. Eleanor...well, having an assistant was a part of the plan all along. She was already a "Big Sister", so she must be from this world, though I'll admit I'm not clear on why she was chosen to do this. Could have been convenience.

[She must be from this world, after all; she's probably been around since the beginning. That feels a little inadequate, though.]

Then we have the plans for the expansion of New Rapture. A new area, underwater roads and cars...and somehow, we fit into that. I still don't understand that part very well. But we, or some versions of us, were intended to be a second group of Founders. And yet, she specifically wanted us to hate her from the start...

[Hm...]

[capreelcious]

Well, there's the whole thing about ADAM too. Eleanor's the only Big Sister survivor to take it and be able to heal fast, while all the other Big Daddies died. The whole research thing about being able to change or rewrite DNA is pretty important.

If Wesker's plan for the ADAM was to find a way to save people from dying due to natural causes and not just unnatural, then she could eventually be like... functionally immortal. Or you know, she could save a buncha people with it.

[ One of Floyd's more lucid moments, everyone. ]