WEEK 7

[bathymetric]

Another Saturday gone and just like that you wake on Sunday, down five of your number. The largest dent taken out of you at once so far - it's surely noticeable, the head count being cut by a third. Almost enough to make you wonder how many of you will even be left by the next motive or two. Surely this isn't a sustainable rate for body counts to increase... right?

There's a new and, it looks like, final wing of the building to explore, bringing everything full circle. Maybe you'll get some more answers to some of the questions and mysteries of this place there - or at least, you can certainly hope for them. Time to turn your investigative eyes towards one last batch of rooms, who knows what you might find?

Angel remains around at night, her appearances much more common now that... well, she's certainly seen a downtick in necessary surveillance work, hasn't she? The app giving you a line to The Professor remains open, and well... whatever's going on with that ouija in the library continues to happen! You're not suffering from a shortage of leads, at least, even as things get more bizarre.

Something's going to have to give here, eventually. Right?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to your last player case week! AC is over here, regains as always are over here, and... well, enjoy! After this we get to take our big turn towards the Serious. ]

Comments

investigation, again...???

[mouflon]

[ Despite Redtext's suggestion to leave the vending machine alone, that's exactly where Rin is on Thursday afternoon. She doesn't make the attempt to hack it again, but she does pace around it, taking note of the details of its construction for the first time. Looking for lines where it might have been welded together, or panels might open up... Then she tries knocking on its sides, trying to gauge how hollow it is from the sound that echoes back.

After a while, she even starts talking to it. ]

Hello...? Can you hear me? If you can, at least give me some kind of response... Drop the temperature in here like you did a few days ago, or something!

[ ...Other than that, most of the time Rin can be found doing her usual Rin Things. She cooks a meal in the kitchen, and clocks some time on the light gun machines in the arcade. And...

And she visits the laboratory Birkin found. She is definitely taking stock of what kind of chemicals are still left in here, and... To those who have the necessary expertise, they are definitely the kinds that go into making homemade explosives. She's checking to see if they still have enough to make another bomb, is what I'm saying. ]

investigation!

[bathymetric]

[ The wending machine is calm, serene, and regal. In construction it seems like a perfectly normal vending machine, seams and all - but not hollow, from the sound of it, which might be a little strange?

Something inside does buzz a little - maybe that's something?

And as for the lab, there's plenty of supplies for any kind of chemical stuff you wanna do in here! Though the massive explosives using the household materials front might be a little limited, only because... man, whoever was here before used a LOT. ]

[mouflon]

[ ...That's fine, a smaller, controlled explosion is probably what she'll need if it ever becomes relevant, anyway :)

Anyway, as for the vending machine. I assume this... doesn't quite sound like machine buzzing? Rin is going to keep her ear pressed to the machine and try to gauge what general area the buzz seems to be coming from. ]

[bathymetric]

[ Probably? it's coming from somewhere inside, but it's hard to tell. Somewhere in the middle - just barely not quite where one might expect vending machine noises to come from. ]

[mouflon]

[ Rin gives the middle of the vending machine's front face a little knock. ]

Hello? If you can understand me, give me some kind of sign. I just want to talk.

[bathymetric]

[ The buzzing stops. There's a... creak from somewhere inside? ]

[mouflon]

[ hmmm... ]

Is there a way we can talk? Like... That spirit board, or morse code or something? Uh, buzz once for no and twice for yes or something.

[bathymetric]

[ There's a pause, and then some thumping in the machine. A coin comes out of the coin slot. ]

[mouflon]

[ !

Is it just a regular coin? ]

[bathymetric]

[ Yup! ]

Laboratory

[bolderfell]

[Therion does not at all have the necessary expertise. He hadn't seen this room yet, and now that he has, he still knows exactly the same amount of information than he did before he came in. What is any of this.]

Hey. Looking for anything in particular?

[mouflon]

Yes and no. [ She doesn't look at him, still lining up some jugs and bottles on the counter. ] Birkin mentioned that whoever was in here last put together explosives. I was wondering... Well, there's a chance we might need to do the same, if we can find a vulnerable spot that isn't vulnerable in the wrong ways. It looks like whatever supplies were in here weren't restocked at all, though.

[bolderfell]

Oh. Well... you might be able to do it with enough flour from the kitchen. Or sawdust. If you're sure setting off an explosion down here would be safe.

[mouflon]

That's the problem. [ sigh ] For the most part, what I want to do is get into that elevator while everything is still working the way it should. I'm not an explosives expert, though, so trying would be... risky.

[ She can make something that explodes! But, uh, the environment requires a certain degree of expertise. ]

[bolderfell]

[He sighs, too.]

Should've stolen Angel's card while I had the chance. Though it probably wouldn't work now.

[mouflon]

It wouldn't hurt if we were able to at least try, but honestly? Yeah. It's not worth kicking yourself over. Let's just put a pin in the idea for now.

[ Maybe the explosives will be a surprise that helps them later! Or maybe it will continue to be a terrible idea, who knows. ]

[bolderfell]

What would you want to check out in there, anyway? I looked around last time, but I didn't find anything of use.

[mouflon]

Spirit hacker, remember? I want to see what I can do with the podiums.

Plus, I'm pretty sure there's some sort of teleport pad under the floor. If we can take control of it, we should be able to get ourselves somewhere—maybe even to the main machine!

[bolderfell]

Huh. Do you think it's just in there? Maybe it's not teleporting, but there's what happened to Damien, too.

[mouflon]

The idea I kicked around with Nira is that all of us have been tagged, and the podiums just act like a beacon. Damien was just washed out, wasn't he? That's different than what happens after we vote.

If you asked me to guess, I'd say that the "courtroom" is the only place we can be teleported from, and the rest of the facility has other systems in place for punishment.

[bolderfell]

I see. I was wondering if those... systems might all be connected. Since they all use the same power in the walls, right?

[mouflon]

That's harder for me to say. They're all presumably hooked up to the same electrical grid, yeah, but that doesn't mean the systems themselves are connected. Especially since the courtroom is on a totally different level of the facility...

Plus, think about it. Delta supposedly designed this place for peaceful cohabitation, right? What purpose would the lower levels serve, in that case? Again, this is just a guess, but I think that part of the facility was probably added on to the plans later.

[bolderfell]

You've put a lot of thought into this, huh.

Doubt the new Assistant will let me anywhere near where she keeps her key, but I'll keep my eyes open. Getting you to technology you can use might be our best bet out of here at this point.

[mouflon]

Do you think so? I don't feel like I've been dwelling on it that much, but then again, what else do we have to think about in this place?

[ So maybe she has been thinking about it more than she realized, now that he mentions it. ]

Either way, I appreciate the thought. There's something in the systems here that... fights against me, so I can't make any promises, but...

[ This still might be the best opportunity they've been handed. ]

[bolderfell]

Something in the systems... like a guard?

['There's always a few guards,' said the agent in that recording. Therion knows, as they say, that feel.]