15strangers | FINAL TRIAL

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FINAL TRIAL

FINAL TRIAL

[Soon after the final clue it found, the large set of double doors at the end of the hall finally open.

And beyond is what Nyaf-ya calls the Room of Reckoning. And this room is...]

[...rather impressive. Large, for certain. Maybe a bit too large for the space it would have to occupy beneath the mall, or to have light streaming from the windows, all things considered. But given everything else that the surviving strangers have encountered, this might not be the strangest thing with this situation overall.

There is a wooden throne at the top of the staircase, and at the bottom of the staircase are four large, comfortable-looking sitting pillows - one green, one orchid, one gold, and one pink. The red pillars surrounding the staircase are also decorated with markings that definitely don't look like they fit the aesthetic of the room.

There are also two low hot pot induction cooker tables in the great hall area before the staircase. One table has six spots, all with sitting pillows, each with a name written onto a paper placed carefully on a plate. When everyone sits at their place, they will find that the stove in the center is already heated and ready to go, and every imaginable ingredient for a proper barbecue and hot pot meal is available to them for cooking. A pitcher of their favorite drink is also next to each respective cup.

And, once everyone finds their place, their phone pings with a message.]

Once you've figured everything out, the Boss....wants to talk to you. She doesn't want to fight. Not this time. Please, take your time, but please be careful, ok? The rules of the Game are still in effect.

We're rooting for you. I know you'll find a way!

[So it's time, then. The objectives are simple in this trial.

It's time to finally answer the questions the Titled have about why they are here - and face the Masterminds behind the Game.

Good luck, Titled.]

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I'm pretty sure they just kept the bits about the murder and the executions out.

[ Relaxing... his jaw...

MMMMM YES THIS FOOD LOOKS GREAT, EH, JACK? He's not angry at all at the thought of them being tricked into this?? Haha... ]

Edited 2017-12-22 18:35 (UTC)

[Joey has to admit, she wasn't expecting this. A big hallway full of stuff like that followed by an enormous throne room? That is 100% guaranteed boss fight material. A message from Kana and a nice meal are completely the opposite of how she felt this should go...but on the other hand, isn't thinking and talking things out better? Isn't that what she's wanted, from video games and real life, since she was old enough to understand what her Pa was doing with those guns?]

I can almost believe I would have signed something like that, if I wasn't told about the trials first, yeah.

[Joey shrugs. She knows she has a tendency to rush into things if it means helping people, let alone the entire world.]

I guess the real question is why the trial and executions if this is a training exercise?

I bet those who have survived until now passed the test, or something like that.

[And the victims and culprits failed the test]

That's honestly amazing, then. I received a memory from the boss. She wasn't very nice, and I have a feeling he probably hates our little bonding sessions and how tight we're getting. She killed someone for answering her "final test" with an answer that she hated. Something about hating "stupidly selfless morons believing they can make a damn difference."

[ Croix almost feels pity for the woman. How low has her life gotten that she feels that's a valid way to think? ]

... She sounds sad. Does she really... not have anyone to believe in? At all? I guess she must really hate me. I'm a stupid, selfless moron.

Yeah. ...I think at this point, she probably doesn't like any of us. We're all the exact kind of people she despises. ...But it's not gong stop us. We'll win this game.

Maybe... we can change her mind. And even if we can't, we're going to find a way through.

... I don't know.

[ He has an idea, but it's clearly not one he's happy about... ]

I think it's a matter of considering what a composer does...

... As far as we could make out from the stuff we found, a Composer sets up their own game to stop what's attacking the world and fight back against it. Like the game here, but... less crazy? I don't know.

So the Boss here is a Composer and their way to train us and stop what's attacking this world was to get people to kill each other.

[Sigh. What a hassle that must be]

Let's make clear what's attacking the worlds. I bet that's an answer that needs to be said aloud for it to count.

Um... something about Noise Threshold and leaking negativity or something?

[ She'll pull up the document they found that she snapped a photo of before coming in here. ]

Honestly, it's hard to read all this, it sounds very... technical. More Croix's place than mine.

[ Croix will take that and read it, thank you! ]

Hm... So basically... These negative frequencies manifest normally in something called the Underground, but due to something happening and the change of a particular being who isn't named... Entire universes are disappearing.

[ She continues reading to give a clearer picture. ]

Through the game here, we're intended to be vetted for being Composers ourselves so that we can properly deal with these negative frequencies and save our own worlds. Normally, they'd be seeking out the guy who underwent the metamorphosis, but doing so would jeopardize too many universes.

[ Reading, reading... ]

We're all sufficiently ranked espers, or I guess we're powerful compared to others in our worlds... And we all had to be willing. Thus the contracts. Forcing us would doom our worlds in the long-run, it seems... Um... Basically, they were then told they couldn't fail. Likely because it would doom entire worlds and universes.

Do these things have a name? The negative things? I wonder... what they are. If they were the monsters I saw in someone's mind. They looked like the execution monsters. The ones that hurt Dio and...

[ She trails off. ]

They were very tattoo-like.

We may not have a name of those things, but it does give us a clear objective to ending this game for good.

[ The person whose name is redacted. If they could take him out... ]

Really, though, speaking of the esper ranking thing...

[ She'll pass around her phone, having brought up a photo of a document. ]

This seems important.

So our powers are called Psychs...

[ She frowns. ]

I guess this explains your "power", or lack thereof. It was a weird Psych. Imagination sounds a lot like how our magic works, don't you think?

Edited 2017-12-22 19:42 (UTC)

Yeah. I imagine that's why we were picked. ...If it had been ten years later, it might have been Diana and Akko instead. Like it or not, despite everything, we're probably two of the more powerful witches of our time.

[ Diana and Akko will outclass them eventually. ~~And one day the lesbians will be trees.~~ ]

... Yes, you're probably right. So in that case... I guess we're the best option, aren't we? Well, it explains why we're here, but... what about the others?

I don't know. But really... This whole thing reminds of of the Wild Hunt and its purpose.

... What do you mean?

(no subject)

scienceofmagic - 2017-12-22 20:04 (UTC) - Expand

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theirmagic - 2017-12-22 20:05 (UTC) - Expand

[ He was afraid of that, but... heh. There's a bitterness to his ghost of a humor-free smirk. ]

... Almost like we're being trained to handle death.

Naturally. We wouldn't have agreed to do anything so willingly if we were aware of those things being a part of it.

[ Oh he's not happy about this either. Not one damn bit. ]

...

[ "So willingly" are definitely the key words here for him... ]

Yeah.

...I think that might depend. If you knew that after this was all said and done, that you'd still have a chance to go back home regardless, and more than that--save your world--would you be desperate enough to risk it? Death doesn't seem to mean much in this game, or at all in regards to any of this.