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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Comments

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...]

[nonbelligerent]

... Cinnabar's power was Rock n Roll, I believe.

[what if he stops to examine a black stain. is there any indication what it could be, or...?

also, he's going to start collecting the cinnabar pieces...]

[unfriendliest]

They did say they would fight back, if someone came for them.

[ kara is also going to kneel for a moment to check out one of the larger black stains, lighting a small fire in his hand so he has a light of his own to hold close to it. anything notable...? ]

[leaberator]

[ axel's mainly going to light it for Shess since Kara has his own light source and would also kill him, though he's looking further into the path to see if he can't see anything that isn't the black stains ]

They used plants too, right? [ so if they find like. vines or something. ] Are those stains from their mercury...?

[cyclists]

[The stains are, in fact, from their mercury. They seem to be smudgey and spread out wherever Cinnabar seemed to go. Strangely, there are no vines but as they keep looking around they'll find more powder, Cinna-chunks, and...a big tree branch? It's also covered in black stains.]

[nonbelligerent]

Probably.

[hm.

how is the branch stained? does it look like cinnabar was holding onto the branch?

actually, how is the pattern of the stains on the ground, too? are they roughly in a straight line?]

[unfriendliest]

[ well, kara doesn't know shit about mercury or poisons, so. he'll keep following the trail of stains on the ground to see where they lead. maybe whoever came from them left footprints? ]

how tf did i hit the wrong reply

[leaberator]

[ well since kara is following the trail axel sure can't so. he's gonna look at the branch with shess!!! does the branch look like it broken from a tree or cut from it?? is it leafy. if you give me a single leaf with a clue i'm gonna scream ]

[cyclists]

[It looks like Cinnabar wasn't holding the branch, given that the smudges are splattered on the branch itself. The pattern on the ground is also spread out, like a spray...

Luckily I don't hate Zia that much, but the branch looks like it broke off of a tree at some point and it's pretty branch-y and not leaf-y. Wild. It's a very thick, sturdy branch.

And as Kara disappears into the abyss away from Axel, he'll find that the mercury stains eventually stop somewhere nearby. But there's also a glint of something in the light. There are no discernible footprints, however.]

[nonbelligerent]

Can you take the branch?

[he's going to follow after kara.]

[unfriendliest]

[ brb disappearing into the abyss

but kara does go a little further after the stains stop, just to be sure - and when he sees whatever that is in the light, he immediately changes direction to get a closer look at it. ]

[leaberator]

... What am I, the pack mule...

[ it's muttered to himself in a low tone to make sure kara can't fucking hear it from wherever he is, but he grabs the branch and follows after Shess. I guess he's just carrying a branch and lighting the way still? Why did he come. ]

[cyclists]

[Congrats lads, you found a gun.]

[nonbelligerent]

[huh.]

Can you try and see how many shots it has...?

[also, no footprints... anyhow, anything else around here or no.]

[unfriendliest]

[ kara simply nods and picks it up, turning it over in his free hand to find where the bullets are. he's probably not as familiar with this particular type of gun since he's used to a revolver, but he keeps his finger off the trigger so he manages to find the magazine without shooting anyone.

so. how many bullets do we have? how many are missing? ]

[leaberator]

[ fucking shoot axel, kara. do it.

yeah anything else other than the gun to look at ]

... Great. Anyone kept track of who was supposed to own a gun?

[ it's a joke. ha ha. funny. ]

[cyclists]

[Kara, luckily, cannot shoot Axel because this gun seems to hold uno bullet. Except, you know, that bullet's missing. So where is it?

There's a very strange lack of obvious footprints, though if they look at some of the mercury smudges closer, they may see, like, a smeared half-print. The prints in the dirt also appear to be smudged. Otherwise there's nothing distinct.]

[nonbelligerent]

[well, shess has to wait for kara's answer before he can say anything about the gun, but.

... he's just going to take out a telescope. it's probably fine.]

[unfriendliest]

[ that seems odd. even mutsunokami's gun had six bullets. ]

One bullet, but it's missing. Who had a gun, besides Minato?

[ he's going to keep holding onto this and move onto examine the smudged... half-print. ]

[leaberator]

[ takes a picture of the smudged half-print next to kara's feeties so they can ATTEMPT to figure it out

say cheese ]

Didn't Minato have two...?

[ well. theoretically. ]

[cyclists]

[Have fun with your feeties. Anyway, if they look at the prints and etc, they will also find that the bullet they're looking for is nearby. So there's that. Smudges, and powder, and Cinna-pieces all on the ground.

Anyway that's it my dudes, you have your info.]