FINAL INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

FINAL INVESTIGATION


[Fifteen X-Passes. Six weeks. Freedom at last.



But it's not the end. Of course it's not. There are questions to answer, and souls to save. And now that the group is outside, they can see where they are.

They are inside a massive cavern, illuminated in an eerie green light, standing on a stone path. On one side is the ship-or rather, a massive, ship-shaped tangle of bloody branches, the trunk-like roots snaking out and into the river its buoyed on, as well as into the ceiling of stalactites. Said river is wine dark, but it's clearly not water. No-it is blood.

And on the other side of their little pathway? A root-encrusted palace. It sits over a labyrinthine city, bathed in emerald, and all is eerily silent save for some sounds coming from within the castle. It's clear the infestation somehow started here. And it is here that answers are likely to be found.

The doors are right in front of the group-and they are already open, covered in branches. From the outside, it seems little more than a ruin. Once everyone goes in, though?




It's even worse. The tree has taken over. Whatever lives here is no longer in charge. There's no easy way to disentangle the Qilphoth from this place. But there is life here, somehow. You can see figures entangled within the roots as you explore. And-they are still, somehow, alive. More than alive. They are beings that bleed ichor instead of blood-beings of incredible divinity and power. They are gods. And they are hostage to the tree, forever and ever, trapped in induced ennui, unless something is done.


So welcome, Strangers, to the House of Hades.]







[Once you enter, the investigation shall begin.


Good luck.]



((OoC: And here are team assignments!))

Comments

AREA 4

[strangerpeople]

[godspiousjasper]

[ As much as he'd love to talk with the dead there with them, he knows things still need to be looked into. So once he informed Alastor and Hermes where he was going, he headed into one of the rooms to start looking around.

He would do his utmost to get to the end of all this. For everyone's sakes. ]

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes will definitely follow Roland into the room, where none of the dead can see his front legs.]

[strangerpeople]

[Huh! It's a lounge/kitchen of some kind! Nice.



There is something on the bar beneath the roots, which sticks out almost immediately.]

[godspiousjasper]

[ Flashing a reassuring smile at Hermes, Roland stepped forwards to go and see what was on the bar. ]

Hm?

[somuchshipping]

Whatcha find?

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[It’s…partly buried, but it looks to bee a…head. And…snakes..

One of them is curled around a feather duster, which has…been collecting dust. Go figure.]

[godspiousjasper]

I'm not sure... but the poor thing doesn't look like it's doing too well.

[ Going to try and uncover the head itself to look at it a bit more closely. Provided it's not the roots half burying it. ]

[strangerpeople]

[It's unconscious. And...yeah, it is the roots half-burying it. :(]

[godspiousjasper]

[ Is there any way to possibly cut away those roots at all?

Because he's tempted to. ]

[strangerpeople]

[No. These seem to be among the roots that are strongest and most durable. It's...unfortunate.

Still, the head is being helpful-if inadvertently-because the snake holding the feather duster seems to be pointing to something.]

[godspiousjasper]

You poor thing...

[ Roland sighed, but he's going to follow the direction the feather duster is pointing at. Just what is over there, anyway? ]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[A book!]

[godspiousjasper]

[ Going to go over and pick it up. Is there any pages in this book that look like were of any particular focus? ]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[Yes. Two, in fact.

The two names that seem to have been annotated, studied and circled are Aidan and Zack.]

[godspiousjasper]

[ The first one is noted, but the second one catches his attention as it's the most familiar to him. It couldn't be...!

Of all names... why did Zack's name pop up here?

It might not be easy to get Hermes to actively look around entirely, but he's going to make sure that there's nothing nearby before he goes to check on the aforementioned robot. ]

[somuchshipping]

[While Roland examines the head, Hermes will start opening up some cabinets.]

[strangerpeople]

[There's a lot of purple-colored drinks in this place! One or two bright gold ones, too.















>Hoard?]

HERMES NO

[somuchshipping]

[Yes. One of each.]

[godspiousjasper]

...Hermes?

[ Sir he looked away for JUST a moment. Going to come and see what you've taken, eying the bottles. Maybe they could be useful, though. ]

Perhaps we should grab that other gold and another purple one too.

[somuchshipping]

Whaaaaaaat? There's plenty more!

[But he will, in fact, hand you a gold and a purple, even if he's keeping a pair of his own in Ritsu's car.]

[godspiousjasper]

I know, but we should be careful how much we take since this isn't exactly OUR home here.

[ It's mostly him wanting one since he suspected they might come in handy later for whatever confrontation they were likely to encounter later. All the same, he accepts the bottles with a smile. ]

Thank you.

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes checks inside the fridge.]

So what have you found so far?

[strangerpeople]

[Huh, there are fish in here! Looks like they're cookable, too!]

AREA CLEAR

[strangerpeople]