week six: trial

[cyclists]

Week Six: Trial
14 in Competition

It may be difficult to sleep with the light shining so brightly throughout the night, but the participants can rest easy knowing they will not be plagued by unwanted, disturbing dreams. Early the next day, a bell chimes and all will feel compelled to enter the main meeting hall.

The hall looks mostly the same as it always has, the two thrones for Lune and Sol at the head of the room and scrolls hanging from the walls. The metal box sits on a table near the front, along with the glass boxes perfectly centered before the benches in the room. Now that the trial is in session, Julius and Cinnabar's coffins are open, and their bodies will be available for examination.

Lune and Sol are seated in their thrones, patiently waiting for the last participant to settle. It's only when everyone has gathered that Sol speaks first. They hesitate, looking back at Lune for a moment before they square their shoulders and face the participants again.

"Lune's going to be here to supervise, but I'll be the one taking care of things today. I know things have been kinda tough, but…trust your instincts and ask for whatever you need. I'll do my best."

✩★✩

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the sixth trial!

Things will proceed as normal, but for this trial and the next all NPC interactions will be via Sol while Dana is out of town! This means questions and locations will be handled by them.

We'll go over a few notes briefly as we will be playing this trial a bit differently than other games.

As noted, there was no investigation period on Friday. However, today participants will have the chance to investigate areas in the game setting as they see fit! This can be done by providing the name of the location you want to visit to the host header comment. To help with the ease of the trial and for IC mechanics, only one location may be visited at a time. In addition, these locations can be manipulated and adjusted upon request to test theories and solve puzzles, so please feel free to ask if you're searching for clues! Your host will also be accompanying you on these visits.

Most importantly, before the trial is over, please place your character's vote over on the voting page. Voting will close at 9pm EST/6pm PST, and will serve as our activity check for the week, so please be sure you get your vote in before it ends unless you have contacted us previously.

If you have any questions at any time, please let do us know by pinging us on Discord! Dana and Ty will be in the chat and available for all questions. Thank you, and have fun!

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LOCATION INVESTIGATION

[cyclists]

[For sake of organization, all areas being examined will be provided beneath this toplevel. A mod reply with the location in the header will be supplied to individual groups as the trial proceeds]

AIR ZONE, EARLIER:

[cyclists]

[Sol turns and heads out of the meeting hall toward the gateway opening, the sun still high in the sky. Though as they enter the edge of it, they will raise a hand from their robe, two fingers extended. The tips of them glow with a dark fire, and Sol will move their hands in a counter-clockwise circle. It's a bit clumsier than Lune's movements in weeks prior, but it seems to have the desired effect.

As they do this, the area in front of them will seem to rewind. They'll watch the color of the sky change from bright and then return to the darkness that cased over everything on Thursday evening.

A glance back to their exploring party and Sol will incline their head to gesture forward:]

Watch your step. [And there's a gesture to the small trail of black leading them forward through the air zone.]

[nonbelligerent]

Try not to kill each other, you two.

[shess is going to follow that trail of black.]

[unfriendliest]

[ alright! time to ignore one of the investigation members entirely! this is fine!

that is to say kara will just follow the trail, frowning intensely ]

[leaberator]

[ axel trails behind with a look like he deeply regrets all his life choices again.

anyway he could use fire to light the way but 1) kara could also do that 2) he has a cellphone. he's turning on the flashlight, you absolute weirdoes. ]

[cyclists]

[As they follow the trail into the airzone, they'll also come across areas where the dirt looks upturned and spread out, like someone tried to unearth it and throw it around. Black stains continue to mark the area, though they're getting progressively bigger as they venture forward.

With the light, it's easier to see, but they're also bound to start stepping on small pieces of...cinnabar...yikes...]

AIR ZONE, LATER:

[cyclists]

[Sol turns and heads out of the meeting hall toward the gateway opening, the sun still high in the sky. Though as they enter the edge of it, they will raise a hand from their robe, two fingers extended. The tips of them glow with a dark fire, and Sol will move their hands in a counter-clockwise circle. It's a bit clumsier than Lune's movements in weeks prior, but it seems to have the desired effect.

As they do this, the area in front of them will seem to rewind. They'll watch the color of the sky change from bright and then return to the darkness that cased over everything on Thursday evening.

A glance back to their exploring party and Sol will incline their head to gesture forward:]

Good luck. [Because immediately they'll find trails of blood and three sets of footsteps on the ground, running into the forest area of the air zone.]

[televised]

[why is sol sassier than usual.

Anyway, she takes note of the general size and shape of the footsteps on the ground before moving along. Time to follow the murder brick road.]

I can't believe we have to check this place twice.

[foodbin]

Looks like it was popular.

[She hates it, thanks!

But she's also going to look at that blood trail. How large is it, and does it look more concentrated or spread out?]

[omegathree]

[He kneels down and takes a trace of the three footsteps with some paper he's been keeping in his jacket.

Do the footsteps look like they were running or walking?]

Perhaps they wanted to keep it contained after last week.

[The Minato body hunt.]

[cyclists]

[The footprints are harder to tell, given that it looks like they're going in a few different places but maybe later North and Val can get a foot comparison. They look to be running around. The blood trail doesn't seem too large, like someone was bleeding and on the move.

As they head further into the forest, uh, they'll find there's a tree that's gently burning and scorched, partially split as though it was hit with something. Other trees look almost...fossilized? Like encased in a rocky-ish texture. There's a lot going on here, the place is a mess. There's also a nearby tree that looks impaled, but not in the same way that the burning tree is.

There's also a powder-y substance spread on the ground. And some water? What the fuck happened here.]

VILLAGE - HOUSING

[cyclists]

[Sol turns and heads out of the meeting hall toward the gateway opening, the sun still high in the sky. Though as they enter the edge of it, they will raise a hand from their robe, two fingers extended. The tips of them glow with a dark fire, and Sol will move their hands in a counter-clockwise circle. It's a bit clumsier than Lune's movements in weeks prior, but it seems to have the desired effect.

As they do this, the area in front of them will seem to rewind. They'll watch the color of the sky change from bright and then return to the darkness that cased over everything on Thursday evening.

A glance back to their exploring party and Sol will incline their head to gesture forward:]

Take a good look. [Because the first thing they'll see is the door of Julius and Grim Eyes' house has been kicked the fuck in.]

[nonbelligerent]

[well, that sure is something.

first, shess is going to look around the area to see if there's anything else.]

[televised]

[... WELL, THEN.

While Shess looks at their surroundings, North walks towards Julius' and Grim Eyes' house. How beat up is the door, exactly? And glancing inside, does it look like the house was ransaked?]

[whitewalls]

[ welp

she's going to follow after north then. are there any broken windows or is it just the busted door ]

[cyclists]

[As Shess looks, he'll notice there are three sets of footprints on the ground, all quick and hurried like they were running. One set of prints is set apart from the other two, running in a different path than the remaining prints. He'll also see the door of another house slightly cracked open.

The door is pretty beat up and left wide open like someone smashed right into it and didn't bother with lockpicking. Inside doesn't even look ransacked, but there are two very distressed startled kitties (a large maine coon and a small grey tabby) staring at both girls. The windows are in tact, too.]

FIRE ZONE

[cyclists]

[Sol turns and heads out of the meeting hall toward the gateway opening, the sun still high in the sky. Though as they enter the edge of it, they will raise a hand from their robe, two fingers extended. The tips of them glow with a dark fire, and Sol will move their hands in a counter-clockwise circle. It's a bit clumsier than Lune's movements in weeks prior, but it seems to have the desired effect.

As they do this, the area in front of them will seem to rewind. They'll watch the color of the sky change from bright and then return to the darkness that cased over everything on Thursday evening.

A glance back to their exploring party and Sol will incline their head to gesture forward:]

At least there's a trail... [And indeed there are drops of water and blood leading through the fire region.]

[omegathree]

I appreciate it, Sol.

[He hates this so much. If he bends down and sniffs the blood, it's human blood, right?

Is it a steady trial, of blood, or are there large gaps between the blood and water?]

[foodbin]

[Bad!

If she looks around the area, is there anything else immediately noticeable other than the blood and water?]

[unfriendliest]

[ hm.

well. i guess kara will follow the trail, and see if there are any footprints or anything around while they're at it. ]

[cyclists]

[It's human blood, yay! It leads from the air area into the fire area, dripping as though someone was bleeding and fighting. There's a large pool of blood near the volcano's edge, and footprints as though someone was grappling with someone else. The footprints also slip and disappear into the volcano itself.

If Emma looks around, she'll find a throwing knife stabbed into the ground near the volcano, and to the side there's a glint of something shiny. While Kara walks around and looks for the footprints, he'll come across a scythe that's been snapped in half and stained with blood, thrown off to the side. There's also a pair of extra large gloves nearby, also stained red.]

FIRE AREA REDUX

[unfriendliest]

[ sol gives them a portal and kara is walking through it much faster than he normally would, yikes. onward!! he doesn't stop until they're a safe distance away, just in case. ]

You'll all have to be close, for mine.

[ who's going first, him or kaoru ]

[twinsightful]

[He looks up at the sky.]

Mine should be fast. Want me to get it out of the way? Distance isn't a problem.

[whitewalls]

Go ahead.

[ she's just here to judge you filthy fires ]

[televised]

Do whatever you need to do.

[she's here to babysit. somehow.]