WEEK 4

[bathymetric]

Another trial, another week, and still you're probably running lower on answers than you'd like. And on people - you lost three since last Sunday. By the end of this week, you'll have been here for nearly a full month, yet still the days crawl on.

You wake up Sunday, again with no memory of Saturday, but this time with a simple message on your devices: You may resume requesting items, if you like. Enjoy. Guess it really was just a stealth motive after all, but at least it's being communicated that it's over! That's something, at least.

And when you leave your rooms on Sunday, there's another new area to explore! This one is... certainly more ambitious in its construction than the last one, to say the least. But hey, you have a pretty neat place to host parties, if you feel so inclined! That's... fun...

Hey, you gotta find the fun in situations like this where you can! Silver linings, right?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Week 4! Remember to turn in AC here, threads for regain coins here, and if you feel so inclined you can visit Angel's office hours over here! ]

Comments

[bolderfell]

[Why are you so damn scary, child.]

...Right. In the meantime, all we can do is keep searching this place for clues and weak points.

[emberserker]

And if things continue the way they have been, that shouldn't be a problem. This is solvable. It's just that no one has managed it before.

[bolderfell]

...Not any of us, anyway.

[emberserker]

What, do you think someone from a previous test survived?

[bolderfell]

It'd make sense. That letter about other subjects, the notes left behind that would help any set of prisoners as much as they help us... And Della found that, uh, clear pouch that seemed like it was already here for months. We can get those out of that machine. Others may have, too.

[emberserker]

I would have thought they were all dead, if he's still running it. After all, why keep going if you have a winner? But if someone did win, then left these clues...

[bolderfell]

Yeah. Why keep going...

[He trails off, following that thought somewhere that might or might not be relevant, then shakes his head.]

At the very least, we know one "subject" survived. The one from that letter, the one that's stable. Maybe it wasn't this test, but then why leave the letter for us to find? There must be some connection.

[emberserker]

I'm not sure it was the same test, but it probably was some kind of precursor. This might just be the more efficient way to do whatever it is he wants.

[bolderfell]

Too bad that letter reads as garbled nonsense with so much taken out of it. Not that I understand what's in it, either. "Stable exposure"? And what was with the fancy letters?

[emberserker]

They're Greek letters. Common signifiers, especially when a project is being tested and isn't fully ready yet. I assume this one we're in is the full version, hence the insipid titles we got instead.

[bolderfell]

Greek...?

[That's all Hornburgian to him.]

Hold on. If they're commonly used to talk about tests and projects, they're something scholars use as a matter of course, right?

[emberserker]

I suppose it depends on the faculty, but I believe so. I was never one for mundane pursuits. I've always known I was going to become a mage instead, despite what Mother has to say about the matter.

[bolderfell]

[...Well, his puzzlement over the Greek letters is a topic for another day, perhaps. Perhaps a Tuesday meeting kind of day.]

Your mother doesn't want you to be a mage?

[emberserker]

She wants to adopt Ernesta and let her do it, because apparently she's so much more talented than I am!

[Anna punches a wall and seethes.]

It won't matter anyway. Once I've gotten Ernesta out of the way, everything will be the way it should have been in the first place.

[bolderfell]

[...

The resemblance is uncanny.

Therion freezes in place a little bit, but it doesn't stop him from asking.]

When you say "out of the way"...

[emberserker]

She's my opponent, after all. We're both competing in GRANBELM.

[bolderfell]

...And there's only room for one at the top.

[emberserker]

That's why the winner is the Princeps Mage, after all. There can't very well be two.

[even though the subtitle of this canon is "The Two Princeps" but go off]

What's gotten into you?

[bolderfell]

...You... remind me of someone, just now.

[emberserker]

...

[Anna looks like she isn't sure how to take that information. She looks at him for a few seconds and shakes her head, turning to walk off.]

Very well. This place won't investigate itself. I'm sure you have something important to do with all your alcohol.