WEEK 5

[bathymetric]

That's three murders now - and this last trial got more than slightly out of hand. It looks like you might be in for another tough week... or at least, maybe that's just the refusal of this place to change too much. You lose Saturday again, but maybe six-day weeks are starting to feel normal by now. Who knows? The cycle of day and night continues apace, changing so little.

Speaking of change, though, there's a new area to look through, the biggest and most complex yet. And the end of one wing of the facility, from the looks of it - though you can probably guess where more areas might start to open up.

And speaking of opening up (segues!), this week if you're out particularly late, you might sometimes see Angel out and about! So hey, maybe change is on the horizon.

Just gotta hope it's a change for the better, don't you?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Week 5! 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! Or, if you want Angel to come to you, that's now an option! Simply put a prompt after lights-out into your toplevel and indicate you want Angel in the subject line, same as investigations! ]

Comments

[emberserker]

[Anna looks at the carving, turning it over in mer mind. She sets down her fork and picks it up.]

...Very well.

[Doubtless he doesn't want gratitude for anything, any more than she normally gives it.]

Did you ask Ema about the purple stone?

[bolderfell]

Not yet. Only up and about just now. She's probably exploring whatever new wing opened up.

[emberserker]

I'll bet. It's an interesting one. Educational displays, more stolen goods, a ridiculous number of ways to kill someone. But in addition to that... this one has no windows anywhere and no obvious place that another wing could be grafted onto it.

[bolderfell]

[That makes his eyebrows shoot up.]

Really. I thought... Can I borrow one of your papers.

[He takes a seat at her table, drawing a pencil out from under his cloak.]

[emberserker]

There's plenty in our rooms.

[Still, she hands him a blank sheet of paper, turning the ones she was writing on over. ...not that he can probably read German anyway.]

Mapping it out, then?

[bolderfell]

Yeah.

[And he just works quietly on it for a while, using the mini-maps in his device for reference. He doesn't bother labeling the rooms like this, of course, but this isn't my tablet computer, ain't no one got time to make a whole brand new image.

Frowning, he taps the unmarked corner of the museum with the tip of the pencil.]

Well, that might be it... When I saw there was a tunnel south from last week's area, I thought the Professor might be leading us in a big circle.

[And he draws an arrow showing what he means. It leads to the remaining unlocked door on the south side of Area A.]

[emberserker]

I see. There is a locked door in the corner there, with a purple lock. Someone had a key like that, didn't they? So whatever's there instead of a blank space should be something to focus on.

[bolderfell]

Yeah. It feels like forever ago, but... if I remember, it was Birkin, Della, or Mira. Nira found a lock, not a key. As for the windows...

[He circles the areas without windows, then draws another line starting just under the tunnel to the trial room and continuing northeast, above the corners of the other wings.]

I'm... not sure what that could mean. We know the plateau drops off here. [He points to the line.] If it were a mountain, I'd assume these parts of the facility were built into its face, but there shouldn't be anything on a plateau to build into.

[emberserker]

Precisely! [She slams her hands onto the table.] There's a good deal to investigate in there, and thankfully nobody seems to be dragging their feet. If it isn't that there's rock past the walls, it could well be that there are hidden parts of the facility through them. Particularly as the rules still only say not to damage the windows. And that could well mean hidden passages to go along with the doors.

[bolderfell]

[He nods, hand on his chin, looking away as he thinks.]

We know where Angel's quarters are--or ought to be. We haven't found any hints to where the cooks and cleaners might live, or where the submarine unloads supplies. What else are we missing...

[...]

We don't know where he takes the killers for their executions.

[emberserker]

That's true. And the settings in them, the people -- it's all too elaborate to be practical. But what does it all mean?

[bolderfell]

It can't all be real. Right? I mean... that woman. She was bleeding even before the sword went through them both. So that wasn't where Zelos was really from, right? And she wasn't his real mother.

[emberserker]

But what do you suppose it is? Illusions? An elaborate reconstruction?

[bolderfell]

It's always on those screens. Couldn't it be like before, with those... movies?

[emberserker]

It's possible, but wouldn't the culprits notice if the people they saw were just actors? All of them seem to be people they knew.

[bolderfell]

Who's to say they're real, either?

[He holds up his hand and curls it closed.]

I tried to grab Alice the second the lights went out, after we voted for her. I thought maybe at least I'd hit... glass, like what happened to the guy who attacked Angel. But there was nothing. No proof she was physically taken to... wherever that was.

[emberserker]

So either they're still alive somehow, or he's killing them some other way? And either way, that ties into the plan. The con he's running.

[bolderfell]

...It's an angle I'm willing to explore.

Suspecting everything, mistrusting even what your senses tell you, doesn't exactly leave a lot to work with, speaking practically. It's like burgling a house you're not sure has a floor. But at least I'm used to that kind of twisted, doubtful thinking.

Send a thief to catch a thief, after all.

[emberserker]

If anything's possible, that either sets us back or puts us forward, and I'm not sure which. After all, if there's no floor, just find a way to cling to the ceiling, don't you think?

[bolderfell]

[His eyebrows rise, and then he smirks.]

Heh. You might make a good criminal yourself.

[emberserker]

When they say there are many paths, I don't think that's what they meant.

[bolderfell]

If you change your mind... well, you may not know where to find me. But if you do, I don't mind teaching a trick or two.

[emberserker]

I haven't lost my focus. [She looks away.] So there's no need to worry about that.

[bolderfell]

Figured. Offer stands, though.

[He slides the paper map over to her and stands, stretching.]

Guess I'll break fast and then see where Ema is.