CHAPTER 6

[faentasy]

CHAPTER 6

monday

tuesday

wednesday

thursday

The dead now outnumber the living.

There's only one area that stayed a mystery until now. A new path revealed itself, leading to another town, surrounded by sturdy stone walls. Even from some distance away you can see the tower, rising high towards the skies. The path that leads to the city turns into gold before long, and the sky itself seems to take a beautiful tone, like it's painted with watercolors. It's such a peaceful-looking town, welcoming you with open gates. It must be nice to have another urban setting, after living in the same place for so long.

But no matter what you find it doesn't change the situation you're in. Now that your numbers are dwindling that's impossible to forget.

The story is nearing its end. There still are a handful of pages left. What will they bring?

[[Welcome to Week 6! Feel free to make top levels at your discretion, and remember to note it in your header if you plan on investigating any locations. However, please try to keep investigations to Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday! You can also privately contact Hamelin at your leisure.

In addition, a reminder that any Murder Proposals for this week are due by Tuesday 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST; this is the last week for murder proposals as week 7 is endgame. Also, please note the shop's discount on magnifying glasses! ]]

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WEDNESDAY

[faentasy]

A thing...?!

[faentasy]

[Okay, you all know the drill by now. This week however, our lovely pile of papers sits in the boutique amidst a circle of thread. Anyone here to check things out?

This mini-event is capped at 3 people, although anyone else is free to come in afterwards to mingle!]

[incompletely]

[ Sup! We're here today, what's going on? ]

[faentasy]

[Letters, letters, letters! Looks like there's about 11 of them this time, so there's quite a few to sort through. One of the ones on top look like this though:]

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🐈

[gemuinemanagement]

[Well. Today is a lot. He guesses letters from the dead could lift their spirits a bit, maybe? Hopefully?

Sure, what've we got here.]

[faentasy]

[Well Suga, that probably depends on how you feel about something like this:]

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🐇

[mirrite]

[Hello, what have we got here?]

[faentasy]

[Looks like there are some letters! Looks like Marcus is the lucky one today since he can find something more easily comprehensible:]

There is not much more time. You have two weeks left before the end arrives. Those not yet gone are doing what they can, but you must make a move.

We have solved murders by narrowing down profiles of culprits in the past – now is the time to start again. Both are predatory; one dignified and compelling, the other hiding the darkness well. Do not accuse rashly, but hesitance will do no favors with the end so near and our enemies closer. "No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused."

Have faith. I know you can do this.

- Titania 🐔

locked until further notice

[incompletely]

[ (OOC - Posted with mod permission! This is locked to the following people for the time being: Tenn, Makoto, Huaisang, Marcus, Phil, Suga, and Edelgard.)

Tenn has had it with this goddamn machine, and he is set on making sure this thing is tucked away somewhere -- somewhere they can retrieve it later and investigate it more thoroughly, because this is a huge yikes. It seems unsafe to keep this around, but...it's probably not a good idea to get rid of it entirely, either. And he knows there's no way he can do this alone, so Tenn sets out to gather his team when it's closer to midnight. It's time to team up to defeat the biggest evil in Aira Niluc.

Commence Operation Gumball. ]

dismantling: makoto, huaisang, tenn

[incompletely]

[biyishuangfei]

Well, I guess we better get started?

[ Stage 1 of all this...whatever this is.

Huaisang's not a mechanic. He's just here to look at stuff and take some directions; he'll be focusing on nabbing the small parts, and examining for any weirdness too. ]

hiding

[incompletely]

[incompletely]

[ After the pieces have been dismantled, it's time to carry them all over to their designated spot. Tenn looks at the squad and gives them all a nod, gesturing at the various parts that are now lying on the floor a few feet away from the almond cups on the ground. ]

Whoever wants to, take them. You know where to go from here.

explosion

[incompletely]

[incompletely]

[ While the pieces are being escorted out of the gelato bar, Tenn...uh. Well, he sure does pull out two candied cherry bombs. Maybe two was kind of overkill, but listen, he and Edelgard managed to make them together, so he just has an extra one, I guess!!

Anyway, when it looks like the pieces are generally out of the way, Tenn will turn to whoever's decided to stay behind to help with the explosion. ]

...I've never set off a bomb before.

[ And he's, uh, kind of scared to do so. ]

? | OPEN to anyone not in Tenn's crew

[faentasy]

[ It's late, but is anyone taking a stroll around the fountain? ]

1/2 ANNOUNCEMENT

[faentasy]

[ Beyond the paths and the cabins all one can usually see are the piles upon piles upon piles of snow. No matter the time of day that has never changed, always the same white, fluffy expanse.

Perhaps that's exactly why when Junko exited the ice maze she saw in the distance something that shouldn't be there: a person, standing at the top of one of the snow mounds, gazing at Junko. It could be anyone, for some reason trying to explore beyond the established area...if it wasn't for the strange lack of warm clothes. Even from where Junko is standing she can see this person has no coat, or...even any other clothes, really.

That's alarming enough! A ticket straight to hypothermia! Junko wastes no time in walking to them, trudging through the snow. The person didn't move, standing straight there until Junko was close enough to see who it was.

It was...it was Morgan. She had her back turned to Junko, but there was no doubt it was Morgan!

As soon as that realization dawned upon Junko Morgan walked off the mound, getting farther away from the habitated area. All Junko can see is white, all she can see is snow. Not even the will-o-wisps are here! Only snow, only ice, nothing else. Even if Junko called to Morgan she never turned around, inviting Junko to come along, until something started changing about the environment.

The predominant color never changed. It still was white. It just wasn't from snow anymore. The snow gradually led to this strange emptiness, emptiness that still felt solid when Junko stepped on it. Morgan kept walking, indifferent, while Junko something far away in the distance, something she couldn't distinguish. Was that where Morgan was going to? Could that be where the living were at?

She didn't get to wander any further.

Without warning, Junko's foot plunged through the white emptiness. As soon as that happened she felt something grasping her foot, pulling from it, the ambush catching her offguard enough -- she fell forward, phasing through the floor instead of hitting it! First she was seeing white, an intense white.

Then it was all pitch black.

Junko didn't appear again anywhere. ]

2/2

[begrimed]

[ Around midday, a certain voice and snicker finds it's way into everyone's ears. ]

I'd say this was a surprise, but honestly I was just waitin' for something like this to happen? Junko is dead but don't worry 'bout having to play detective, none of you killed her. At least none of you on this side, ahahaha!

But ah, that's what happens when you take everythin' at face value!

MEETING

[sempiternel]

[ A card taped to every door absurdly early that morning:



We have much to discuss.
Let us meet once again this evening at the lounge.

Y.E.

Food and drinks will be provided by the bakery. ☆ ]

blue cornflowers

[biyishuangfei]

[ He took out the blue cornflowers in their bottled form. ]

...I found these in Raven's room; apparently Hamelin had blown up his door just to get them back. They seemed to be something he was growing here because they reminded him of something.

I know he's the one who must have took them because the rest of the flowers were in his office in the form of a dried bouquet.

[gemuinemanagement]

[Suga has the notes he and Tenn found: word search, word search #2, note, script, word search #3, cipher, riddle, note #2.

He also has the decoding of the cipher, which he had to spend like an hour on:]

"Thank you for not paying attention to our letters! We heard you enjoyed the crossword though, so we've sent you some more puzzles to solve :) We urge you to find the traitors, or else we'll all become pretty little crystals. This is not as easy as a trial; there are no broken daggers here. How much more time are you going to waste?

PS. Even if you've forgotten about me, I won't be able to haunt you like I promised. I hope you're doing well."

mirrors

[sempiternel]

I think we should solve the puzzles, if only to see if there is any information we can actually confirm.

[ Not even throwing shade, really. ]

But related to the notes from the dead, I have something I'd like to bring up. After Lady Asahina's death, we received a note that said: protect the mirror in your room like your life depends on it. I promise, it’ll come in handy one day.

I have reason to believe, however, that the mirrors are very dangerous. In fact, I think the mirrors belong to the creature that is the source of the wickedness of this place. I do not think I am the only one who believes this.

I don't know if we should destroy them, but at the very least we should all cover up our mirrors.

ragdoll

[sempiternel]

[ At the certain point in the meeting, Yuri suddenly stands and leaves the lounge. She comes back a bit later, dragging in a torn ragdoll, it's big and looks like some of the stuffing has been lost. ]

My apologies, I forgot to bring this in after setting up all the food. I found this at the edge of the snowy area. It was half buried in the snow, but strangely enough, it was warm.

[ Yes, she dragged it all the way back here. You're welcome!! She'll... leave it on the rug where people can examine it if they want. There's no way she's lifting it onto a table. ]

[kowashi]

[ She's not grumpy, totally! ]

So there were earthquakes happening around the fountain area last night. I checked it out because they seem to come from the fountain itself, that's pretty weord. What do you know, there's a secret openen in the fountain that... Opened up. I could fit my arm in there and it was really weird.

[ deep breath. ]

By really weird is that I could hear this nice lullaby out of nowhere and the my arm felt warm. The fountain is really cold! But then it felt like it was inviting me somewhere. I don't know where exactly, because That's when Jack yanked me away and threw a croissant in there.

[ Sigh. Okay a bit more talk. ]

Whatever was there didn't care about the croissant, so I wanted to go back in, but Jack said no, discuss this with everyone first. So here I am. What do we do with the lullaby hole in the fountain?

[crimson_flamel]

We need to discuss the kraken in the room.

There's a traitor in our midst. Two of them. While I think we can agree that the dead don't know everything, and it is my belief that we are being allowed this information by someone who wants us to fight amongst ourselves as fuel for their little story, that doesn't change the fact that in our very small number, two of us are actively working for the enemy.

I'm not calling for a witchhunt, and I'm not calling for a mob execution. But we can't keep hiding from this, or delaying it to next week after four more of us are dead.

...And if you are the traitor, I will extend this offer now. I have no interest in vengeance as a motive. What's done is done. But it isn't too late to switch sides. If we have to force a confession out of you, then it is inevitable that there will be blood. If you come clean, however, and agree to work with me and those who also seek an end to this game, I will do everything in my power to protect you.

[Which isn't a lot considering Hamelin sends them to sleep every week but, you know. She can prevent a public execution at least.]