WEEK ZERO TRIAL

[cyclists]

Week Zero: Trial
31 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 a glass box perfectly centered before the benches in the room. Now that the trial is in session, Tsurumaru's coffin is open, and his body will be available for examination.

Lune and Sol are seated in their thrones, patiently waiting for the last participant to settle. Before Lune gets a chance to speak, Sol draws everyone's attention.

"Yesterday…something really bad happened. The instability of the core has manifested into something bigger than we thought, and it's hidden among us. Today, it'll be your job to find it, and determine what to do with it."

They gesture to the open space between them and the participants then.

"Lune and I will help you as much as we can. But the final decision is yours and yours alone."

With that said, they settle back in their seat.

"Oh. And you have nine hours…let's get going."

Incidentally, anyone who did not dance with their partner during Wednesday's party will soon find that they are now sharing a new article of clothing. Congratulations.

✩★✩

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first trial!

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!

main navigation.

locations ✧ powers ✧ profiles
private conversations ✧ audiences ✧ faq

Comments

[hashtaghelping]

No one really mentioned anything I didn't see, or seemed surprised by what I was saying when I talked to them yesterday.

[...]

So, probably? We should probably compare them now, though. Who wants to go first?

[forefall]

[ Four's grumpy because someone wouldn't dance with her earlier this week, and now she looks like.... stuck, but she is trying her best to not sound annoyed. Haha. ]

The victim... underneath a tree, the sounds of a beast, metal, too much screaming.... the inevitable end. It was gruesome. I'd rather not have another dream like that.

[hashtaghelping]

[high five. so's swift wind. saix is probably having a good time]

Yeah, that lines up with what I saw.

[forefall]

[ i still can't wrap my mind around this image, which i'm sure is majestic and beautiful.... how big is this shirt.... how do swift wind's wings fit.... ]

A shared dream....

Is it convenience that we must all experience it? Will this happen again?

[hashtaghelping]

[your guess is as good as mine. maybe they were kind and cut wing holes in the shirt]

Oh, we better not. I'll stomp on any would-be killers before they can even think about trying!

[


then you'd be a killer, buddy]

[forefall]

[ ... ]

That would make you a would-be killer.

[hashtaghelping]

Really?

[autocatalysis]

It started with a man underneath a tree. Can't tell if before that he was running and ended up getting cornered there, or if he was just relaxing until something happened across him, but.

[hashtaghelping]

Too bad we can't ask him about it.

[autocatalysis]

Yes, but what we can do, probably, is try to figure out where that happened and retrace his steps.

[ disturbed brush from a hasty flight if that wasn't where it started etc etc, why a tree, something something ]

[hashtaghelping]

So, what, try and find that specific tree from our dreams and work back from there?

[autocatalysis]

There are thirty- one of us. It shouldn't take too much time to canvass the village, and... well. For the elemental areas I suppose we can eliminate the fire grounds from the list.

[ but it is said in the tone of someone acknowledging the point that yes, this is a larger than optimal undertaking if this is all the information they have to go off of. ]

[hashtaghelping]

Not a bad idea. Let's give it a shot!

[televised]

But whatever happened before led to him getting ripped to shreds. If it were that easy to get mauled by the wildlife, it wouldn't have taken a whole week for someone to show up dead.

[hashtaghelping]

Well... you know, I'm speaking from experience here.

Wild animals aren't all that fond of light.

Maybe they didn't have the chance to before it got all dark.

[autocatalysis]

Are we to think that under cover of darkness, they just got that much more aggressive?

[ possible, but also- ]

One of the elements here has affinity with animals.

[hashtaghelping]

Oooooh. Good point!

[wait,]

Yikes, that means it was definitely one of us that got corrupted and not one of the animals, then. Not great. Bad!

[leaberator]

I don't think they'll let us vote for "a wild coyote did it", either.

[ axel it was CLEARLY a bear ]

[televised]

We don't have coyotes.

[........... PROBABLY??]

But you're right. I don't think they would, either... So perhaps agitated the beasts into becoming violent.

[leaberator]

[ according to niji we do listen you think i read outside of the threads i do, no, ]

People who fall under "earth" can have an animal affinity, but... would that seriously be enough to control one into doing that?

[televised]

I don't know. But that sounds like a question for those tasked with "guiding" us, doesn't it?

[compendiem]

[ Minato remains silent for the most part; he's just here to listen in on story time. But he does have some more apples in his bag and he dumps them all out for Swift Wind. Can't think properly before breakfast, or something, right? ]

[hashtaghelping]

[IT'S CHOW TIME]

Hey, thanks, dude!

[televised]

[She huffs, lightly.]

It's really convenient that we all got a sneak peak into whatever happened to that man, huh.

[hashtaghelping]

Inconvenient, too. I'm gonna have nightmares about that for weeks, ugh.