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]

I found the scroll inside a sword in the weapons hall. The case it was in unlocked after I checked the flag in that pirate display. Almost like a game, like someone was waiting for me to find it.

[mouflon]

Yeah, like a game...

[ There's a sour expression that crosses over Rin's face. ]

I've been wondering since the beginning if there's some win condition besides the one he's told us. The more things like that we find, the more I feel sure there is.

[emberserker]

But why? What would be the point of allowing everyone to win with a hidden escape mechanism?

[mouflon]

What's the point of making it so only one person can win, Fugo?

He's said from the beginning that his goal isn't to make us kill each other. It's to see what we do with options we've been given. The fact that he'll dance around the subject and talk about how interesting it is for us to jump to the conclusions he's set us up for has to mean there's a hidden option.

[emberserker]

So it's not a game to whittle down to one, he simply wants us to believe it is. And his study, whatever purpose he needs all this for, has something we're missing -- and if we find what that is, you suppose we can turn it around?

[mouflon]

Something like that. I've talked about the idea with Birkin before, too. He suggested that the real point isn't for us to kill one another, but for us to go a certain number of weeks without anyone being killed.

I think there's a lot of merits to the idea. Like, for example, that it makes the game... Not actually indefinite, but close enough to it that telling us so barely counts as a lie. But with all of these puzzles cropping up, it makes me wonder if there's actually something else we're supposed to find...

[emberserker]

And if it truly isn't him hiding the clues and activating the puzzles -- again, assuming Angel's word is worth far more than I actually ascribe to it -- then it's somebody else with a vested interest in the outcome.

[mouflon]

Even if we assume she's telling the truth, just saying the Professor didn't hide the clues doesn't tell us much. That doesn't mean that he doesn't know about them, or that they're necessarily working against his interests or the purpose of this exercise.

I mean, the half of the coordinates I found were written out in shower titles, for god's sake. Whoever left them must have been involved in the construction of this place... Or possible reconstruction, if it's gone through any renovations between trials.

[emberserker]

If it has, that would explain how some rooms look newer than others, even within the same wing.

[mouflon]

So do you think maybe the place was flooded to kill off a set of "failed lab rats", once? Or that... Maybe one of the people who worked on renovations saw what it was being used for, and found a way to leave clues behind so we'd have a better chance of figuring out whatever it is we need to figure out?

[ Though, that leaves behind another question: Whether they're pointing the way to a second win condition or something else entirely, why the song and dance? Why not just tell them what they need to know? ]

[emberserker]

If it was flooded, wouldn't we have seen signs of that? Not to mention what Mira brought up at the meeting. That ransacked display devoted to them, or perhaps to the people they knew. They rebelled.

[mouflon]

That's a fair point... It probably is only the trial room that gets flooded if the conditions for failure are met, then.

[ sigh!! ]

I wonder how they managed to block off that room. Or why the renovator did it, I guess.

[emberserker]

Ugh, there are still too many hanging questions! At least we're finding doors for the keys now.

[mouflon]

Well, you're right about that, at least. This is the first time in weeks that I feel like we've made a real step, though.

[ Which is good, because stagnation makes her feel like she's going to literally explode. ]

[emberserker]

Far better than the alternative. All we need to do is keep pressing and keep studying. And not get ourselves killed in the meantime.

[mouflon]

I don't need you to tell me that. But hey, can do. I can't speak for anyone else here, but I don't plan on dying anytime soon.

[emberserker]

You'd better not, for your own sake. I'm sure you know enough about staying alive at this point, though.

[mouflon]

[ She snorts. ]

Yeah, you don't have to worry about that. I've survived worse than you people.