week seven: trial

[cyclists]

Week Seven: Trial
9 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, Squall, Kaoru, Grim Eyes and Milla'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 less this week, looking back at Lune for a moment before they square their shoulders and face the participants again.

"It's going to be harder this week than last, especially with so few of you. But I'll be handling things today, so...please ask for whatever you need. I'll do my best."

✩★✩

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the seventh 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

GATEWAY FOREST;

[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:]

Search as far as you can. [As they enter the area though, they'll see that this forest sure is wreckt, immediately obvious thanks to the gouges and indents in the ground and the trees knocked to the side carelessly.]

[foodbin]

...Well, that's not great.

[In they go, though, to examine some of the damage more closely. For her part, she's going to look over the trees - are they completely knocked over? How large are the marks on them?]

[nonbelligerent]

[shess will take a look at the gouges in the ground, then.]

[cyclists]

[The trees are pushed over like something heavy moved through. As she examines some of them, she'll find they aren't so much marked as they are just damaged from being in the way. However, as she ventures further into the forest, she'll find that a spear seems to be sticking out of a tree from way up high.

Shess will be able to see that the gouges look like something that was dragged through the dirt, heavy and wide. He'll also, if he keeps going, find a blood splatter and a trail of blood leading in another direction.]

[foodbin]

[Time to climb a tree and grab that spear!! How hard is it stuck into the wood? Can she just grab it out once she’s up there?]

[nonbelligerent]

[cool. anything noteworthy about the blood splatter? otherwise, he'll follow the trail.]

[cyclists]

[It's pretty stuck in there, like it was thrown heavily to aim at something and missed its target. But with some effort she can pull it out. Shess will find that it's just a lot of blood, but as he follows the trail it'll lead him past more indents and gougemarks in the ground, right to a tree. They seem to stop just outside of the tree though? Weird.]

[foodbin]

[After she comes down with the spear in hand, she's looking over it - is it damaged at all? Are there any distinguishing marks?]

[nonbelligerent]

[what happens if he presses on the tree with his hand?]

[cyclists]

[The spear isn't damaged at all, but Emma may recognize it as a spear belonging to Grim Eyes. As for Shess, if he presses on the tree his hand will phase right through.]

[foodbin]

[Cool. Before she heads over to tell Shess what she found, she's giving a final look to the trees - is there anything else notable about how they were damaged? Any blood?]

[nonbelligerent]

[...

he writes a note—"going inside the tree - shess"—and sticks it somewhere for emma to find, before, well. he does just that.

time to die!]

[cyclists]

[No blood ON the trees...they seem fine, just sad and broken. However, there appear to be some unidentifiable prints leading in the opposite direction.

INSIDE the tree, however, there sure is blood. Nice. It looks like enough to show someone was bleeding already when they entered this chamber.]

[foodbin]

[Hm.

Unidentifiable in that they don't look human, or is there something else that makes them difficult to distinguish? What direction do they lead in?]

[nonbelligerent]

[great.

now can he get out.]

[cyclists]

[Unidentifiable as in they kind of look like the indents in the ground and then other prints are hard to distinguish! Some of the dirt looks moved around, etc. They're leading to another part of the forest on a cleared pathway, but the indents eventually stop. In her path, she'll also find something shiny to the side in a nearby bush.

Also. No. Shess can stay there until Emma remembers he's in the tree.]

[foodbin]

["until emma remembers he's in the tree" which is never because she doesn't even realize yet

anyways there's something shiny so it's time to get that instead. bye shess.]

[nonbelligerent]

[sighs.

how much blood is in here, anyway? does it seem like someone bled to death, or they got out eventually.]

[cyclists]

[As she goes and ABANDONS HER SEARCH PARTNER, she'll come across what looks like...a toy wheel? Hm.

Shess, meanwhile, will have the wonderful experience of being in a chamber where someone definitely bled to death. That's great.]

[foodbin]

[Well, here she comes, looking over the toy wheel as she goes. Is it possible to tell what it might have been from?]

Hey, Shess, I found a...

[looks around]

Uh. Shess...?

[she's going to see the note in five seconds but first she has to sweat]

[nonbelligerent]

[this is fine.]

Inside the tree.

[but also please find the note if she can't hear him.]

[cyclists]

[It came from a toy, probably. Maybe a toy vehicle? But also lmfao please consider rescuing your Shess.]

[foodbin]

[walks over and sees the note

closes her eyes]

Please tell me you can get out.

[no.]

[nonbelligerent]

No. But it seems like someone bled to death inside here.

Please don't get stuck inside yourself.

[foodbin]

...Yeah, that figures.

[...]

Do you want me to go back and get help, or...