FINAL WEEK

[strangerpeople]

FINAL WEEK

[There are no new floors that open today.

No food, if you didn't bring any with you. No way to figure out how much more anyone can take of this. There's just no way to know. Half of your number are gone. Half of your number either betrayed, or were betrayed. It is overwhelming and terrible-and who knows what more is to come.

You can feel the shift in the air. The fear, the strain, the tension, between everyone who is left. What can anyone do? Is there any way out of this? Is everyone truly condemned, after all? Who will betray whom?

What will happen next?


There are seven strangers left in this place.]

((OOC NOTE: This post is your last chance to have your characters explore the Mansion and all of its corners for possible clues. After the Final Investigation is open on Thursday, the Mansion will still be accessible, but the Strangers will be unable to uncover any new clues-or alter their Nightmare levels-in Investigations or Encounters.

You have been warned.))

Comments

TPN SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[joinhands]

[Huh, sure, first is different from singleminded. Then Krone goes for it, unbuttoning her high-collared shirt and tugging down the opening to reveal two very salient features.

The second is a decade-old stitches-scar half a foot long down the center of her upper chest, close to the heart.

The first is the number 18684 printed on her neck in very dark brown ink letters over one inch high.]

There are monsters in my world that like to eat human brains. They set up farms, where children grow up in ignorant bliss until about twelve years old. The monsters let a very small handful of those children survive, so future generations of these children can be raised by humans and not know about monsters until the moment they're being killed.

Stress isn't good for human brain development.

[She begins buttoning her shirt back up at this point.]

And when I chose to raise others to be eaten, instead of get eaten myself, they put a chip into her heart that could electrocute me the moment I set off the plantation.

[incendiarize]

[On their own, the tattoo and scar are alarming. Arthur looks to be thinking very hard, or just paying close attention, as she explains. The whole situation sounds terrible...but he cobbles together the things he knows, and it all lines up.

Part of him wants to be outraged, or at least to shout about it, but he reigns the impulsiveness in for once. It's another world, he can't touch it.

It feels like M.I.K.E.'s display all over again. What would Simon do?]

That's-- [hmm no] But... [nah] ...So....your Lady'll let you live free? I get that.

[joinhands]

[Well... He's... Trying his best.]

No.

[What?]

I know it's not true freedom. I know it's not "right". Just a little more comfort than I had before. But it's worth it so far...

[incendiarize]

....you know....I know my world's best doctors? And some of the others came from worlds with way different technology. If someone in another world could do something about the chip thingy, you wouldn't have to worry anymore....right?

[This place isn't the "plantation" as far as he knows, and Krone is still alive. Which means maybe there's time, maybe if she's in another world, the thingy can't zap her.]

I still don't really get it, but I can't blame you.

[joinhands]

That's an incredibly sweet offer, but we have to get out first!

Don't you get it? Maybe I am already out of the range of the tracker, but I know exactly how far some people to go to secure the merchandise!

If it were that simple I'd already be far away on Eric's white horse.

[incendiarize]

Then we'll find a way out. I'm sure I can find something to blow up. [All he's seen since his fight with Emma's killer is bloody, tendon-like roots and pools of acid, but he's holding to the knowledge they're not out of the mansion. And with any luck, he'll find some gather points anyway.]

Pffft, like I wouldn't fight 'em. I've seen way worse than some monsters! --Oh yeah, fair's fair!

[He'll unbutton his own red coat and remove the shirt under it - revealing he isn't necessarily all talk. He has a handful of scars from various kinds of attacks (what one might expect of a jrpg party members). Cuts, shocks, claw marks - the Labyrinth is a very dangerous place. But those scars are relatively few, compared to the decade-old burn scars.]

I've seen loads of action. Even died a few times 'cause that's how my power works. It's kinda funny. The weirdo yesterday kept goin' on and on about fear, but ever since then, I'm not afraid of anything. Even though all I see is walls of flesh, or fire and corpses, or armies of vengeful spirits.

Also, there's no way Eric wouldn't fight your monsters, too.

[joinhands]

...yet he's already doing just that~

[Arthur has got a point there. He's gotten hundreds of points in his life, yikes.]

You understand what you're missing. Not having fear is really a lot like not having eyes. Means you have to be careful.

[She gathers up the big toblerone in her arms.]

Aren't you good at physics? The conservation of energy in matter or something like that... There's not enough gunpowder in the mansion or magic in our new bodies to bring them down. Not that boy Soul, not his little girlfriend...

[Krone turns on her heel. She's getting ready to walk away carrying the toblerone in all seriousness.]

You saw what happened to them.

[incendiarize]

[...Ooh.

Arthur's not the brightest, but he can tell there's a lot to unpack here. New bodies. Soul - as a name. And....that's the partner? The pigtailed girl's partner, who's on the wheel.

This seems like useful information. Arthur grins.]

Physics, sure, but I specialize in alchemy. And no one knows more about fire than me!

[He didn't get the chocolate, but he'll let her go. He has new stuff to think about.]