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]

I know a few. It's not exactly the chummiest profession.

[emberserker]

That would explain it. What do you think of the Professor, then?

[bolderfell]

...I think he's after far more than our deaths. Or even the... psychology. Testing what we do in extreme circumstances. Might be that's how he gets his kicks, but scholars and doctors wouldn't give him coin for that--and he wouldn't be able to talk them out of their resources with just that, either. No matter how persuasive a liar he is.

I think some part of this setup--pushing us to kill, and then bringing us down into that round chamber to work it out, forcing us to choose either to kill again or die together--does something. Something we can't see that's worth the effort he's putting in.

I think it's damn suspicious that his "assistant" knows so little about his real intentions. And I think he's swindling a lot of people out of a lot of money.

[emberserker]

[She nods along.] That's the only way it makes sense, if he's telling the truth that we just can't see the full scope of his plan. How else would he have the resources? As for Angel, with so many of the clues going back to her and with how little she knows of what he really wants... She has to be the key to this, but how?

[bolderfell]

...You know magic. What do you make of her abilities?

[emberserker]

You mean how she's part machine and controls machines herself... or, at the Professor's whim, is controlled by them. We didn't have anyone at home who specialized in that kind of spell, that I know of -- it would be difficult, with magic sealed off, to invent such techniques. Aside from the use of ARMANOX, of course. Rin might have answers, however -- it's something far in her own wheelhouse.

The purple material, though... that's clearly related to her, but what is it? A magic stone, or a mechanical fuel source?

[bolderfell]

Can't it be both? A crystallization of magic that machines can use, the way they use... electricity?

[emberserker]

That's possible. I did hear somewhere once that computers have crystals inside, after all. And if Angel woke up with it melted, that might explain why it was frozen -- whatever it does, it does when it's heated.

[bolderfell]

[Oh. He hasn't thought of that.]

We could try heating it.

[emberserker]

I don't see why not. There is a kiln in the art room.

[bolderfell]

Plenty of wood for an open fire, too, if we want to watch it while it heats. Who has the stone? Ema, right?

[emberserker]

At the very least, she had it last. The only thing to caution about is it might be toxic. Angel clearly survived, but I'd rather not turn out skin, bones, and metal like her.

[bolderfell]

Huh. So would it be safer to put it in the kiln?

[emberserker]

Probably safer to cover our faces, wherever the thing ends up being lit up. Just to make sure we aren't breathing it in.

[bolderfell]

There are those... [He makes two circles with his hands and puts them together, like glasses or goggles.] The eye shields, from the woodworking room. And I have scarves to spare.

[emberserker]

Oh, the welding goggles. I suppose that'll work as well as any. I'd say tomorrow, then, but that's provided no one gets themselves killed. It is the deadline.

[bolderfell]

[Way to kill the mood, Anna.]

...Yeah. Sunday, then, probably.

[emberserker]

I'll be there. You can count on that.