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

[strangerpeople]

[Welcome to the (other) bedroom, Kira. It's not a weapon room, but. It's not bad!


Let's get investimagating, shall we?]

[yesorwoof]

Hmmm.

[Makima disembarks. Does any of this look the same as the alchemy lab she briefly visited...? There was a pentagram on the floor there... Were the type of candles the same...]

[strangerpeople]

[Nope.

Actually, this looks a lot like a teenaged or college-aged boy'a room than anything else.]

[yesorwoof]

[The lush bearskin rug does not scream teenager to her. Not does the mysterious pool. However, the bed is a bit quaint and gets those gears turning in her head. These are the things Makima is poking at.

It's a gamble but... She might even be able to recognize Zack's scent. She's no bloodhound that can go running on a trail with just a pen held under the suspect's armpit, but if the begging is that adolescent in nature, she can try to get some confidence in a guess.]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[She can smell Zack. It permeates. It percolates.

But she can smell something else as well-someone else has been sleeping in this bed.]

[yesorwoof]

When would Zack-kun have slept in here? Did he not become a shade like most of the others, and he was here during the time we believed he had died?

[Makima uses all her femme fatale energy to lean over the bed without further disturbing it. Is there anything she can deduce like the outline on the bed? Order that the figures were present - is the idea that Zack just stank up the entire room and Thing 2 occupied the bed? Both in the bed? Attributes of the other person - human, godlike, maybe male or female?]

[hatesdeerstalkers]

[Clearly, Makima will be better than Kira - she's normally so pragmatic and someone he respects, given her intelligence. Perhaps he could even assist -

He floats in.

Sees her leaning over and sniffing the bed.

...

...

{Moriarty has left the Area.}]

[yesorwoof]

[Makima is quite oblivious to the scentless shade entering the room. With only Kira around, she was pretty comfortable and even spreading both arms over the bed rather than hiding her amputation.

This room is full of mysteries...]

[strangerpeople]

[A bit hard to tell. I mean, yeah, Zack's stench is most demonstrable in the room, but for whatever reason all you get of the other person is a stench akin to the ship, Makima.



Also, watch your nose-don't want to bump your sniffer on that tape recorder there.]

[yesorwoof]

[... Makima has some very unpleasant chainsaw man typical violence thoughts about this situation. But she'll set them aside.

She straightens back up, holding the tape recorder. Can we press play...?]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[Indeed you can.]




--You. You are a twin.

...I would appreciate it if you returned that photo to me.

In time. I would like to ask you a hypothetical question. You are the parent of twins. You and your children are being held hostage. Both of your children have a knife at their throat. There is no way to save both. If you spare one, you condemn the other. Even if you sacrifice yourself, only one child will survive.

[silence]

No response? Then I shall continue. The same scenario, but you are told more information: one of your children will grow up to be known as a mass murderer. The other child will not be of such a cruel disposition, but will nevertheless suffer grievously throughout their life, ultimately taking just as many lives as the mass murderer. Both children will cause suffering, regardless of which one survives.

Which do you spare?

...Do you have a point?

You know that I do. Brother. Or should I call you Delta Klim?

[the sound of rustling clothes and a creaking chair]

You know how I can save those twins from that fate. You will aid me however I want…

[a baby's cry]

...and while I suspect you have no regrets about your own life ending...I do not think you will wish to refuse, now that you know of her.

[yesorwoof]

[Makima listens to this entire thing first. She glances at Kira during a certain part that real ones will be able to immediately guess. Then, she plays the tape again and sets to transcribing it (a bit troublesome switching her one good hand from the button to the pencil).

...she hasn't actually admitted to Kira yet that she could use help recognizing the voices but he's in the room so it'll get to them all hopefully. But what's interesting is that, just from the pretence in the analogy, she was really reminded at first of Zero in the game - Delta Klim. But instead, it was someone else speaking the bulk of the dialogue to Delta, who objected almost at the last second...?

Her eyes wander as she transcribes. Where is more stuff to pick up or did Kira get it all? Will she have to get under the bed?]

[onychomance]

[Kira's eye is attracted to the enormous mirror. To think that this all started with him panicking over Kosaku's stupid face... He'll investigate near there.]

[strangerpeople]

[There is darkness in the mirror. Power, too. You can feel it emanate from it.

That said, there's a long scroll on the desk that might catch his attention.]

[onychomance]

[He can feel the power... if this is a magic mirror, Kira wonders if he could see his real face again if he stepped up to it. It's tempting, though he's not sure how much it could do for him, so he goes over to read the scroll before trying.]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[It seems to be a list of...minor prophecies?]

CW hand. It's always this cw

[onychomance]

[Now this is really up his alley. Kira absorbs the prophecies as best he can, then ... Opens his jacket to peer inside and look at Makima's hand, whispering to it] It looks like we may not always find each other.... But that's alright, my dear. Let us live in the glorious present...

[is there anything else on the table to look at? If not, he's going to look at the mirror now]

[strangerpeople]

[There is, actually!]

[onychomance]

[Kira reaches for whatever this is.]

EVIDENCE

[strangerpeople]

[It's a purple-bound journal. It's a bit decrepit and musty, as if the book had been forgotten for years before being found and picked up again.

There's actually a lot written in here, and whoever wrote in it originally had very delicate handwriting. It's almost impossible to tell what was actually written before, though, because someone has defaced every single page with increasingly angry-even unhinged and despairing-writing in red ink.

Here's a sample:]

THEY WERE AFTER ME. NOT THEM. AFTER ME. NOT THEM. AFTER ME, NOT THEM. NOT THEM. WHY. WHY. WHY. CONTRACTS. I MUST BREAK. BREAK IT. BUT I CANNOT. THEY WERE AFTER ME. NOT THEM. UNGRATEFUL. I DID THIS FOR THEM. NOT THEM.

THEY WERE AFTER ME!!! NOT THEM!!!

[onychomance]

What the hell? Contracts...?!

[does the handwriting look at all familiar?]

[hatesdeerstalkers]

[Floats in

Sees that

...

Floats out silently because he doesn't want to deal with whatever that's all about right now, no sir]

[onychomance]

........?

[Kira has been doing that exact thing to the other couples all the time. It feels odd to be on the receiving end for once.]

[hatesdeerstalkers]

[....Actually no. You know what, he's coming back in, and though he has no expression beyond two glowing eyes, the aura of 'societal disapproval and disappointment' is coming off of his form in waves.

VICTORIAN BRITISH CHATISIZEMENT, GO!]

...One would normally do such things in private, not in a public area where anyone could come upon them.

I'm disappointed in you, Kira. Out of all our fellow companions, I had hoped you would understand the importance of keeping your private affairs private.

[And then he floats right back out before letting Kira get a word in.

MIC: DROPPED
KINK: SHAMED
MORIARTY HAS VOLUNTARILY LEFT THE AREA]

[onychomance]

... I was whispering.

[He just says this in a low, indignant voice because christ. You'd think he had dropped trou in here]