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

[autonomousthought]

[Sure is. Getting some real yanagisawa vibes over here. So let's check out those pod things. Can we see inside?]

[strangerpeople]

[Faintly, but they're empty.]

[autonomousthought]

[Alright then. She'd prefer to open them just to make sure, but... Any papers or anything here for her to read?]

[strangerpeople]

[No, but there is a console that seems to be accessible.]

[autonomousthought]

[She was gonna check that next anyway. Love this techy stuff. What's on this machine?]

EVIDENCE (vague Zero Escape spoilers)

[strangerpeople]

[It appears that it's some kind of input/output machine. According to the data, it's been used once since being set up here-a month and a half ago-to "output" one item from one timeline to this one.

However, because of energy limitations, the "nucleus" is recharging and will be functional again in...approximately eight and a half months.]

[autonomousthought]

[Well that's not concerning at all. If she pokes around the interface, can she find any more details? Can she hack this thing?

And to confirm, how big exactly are the pods? They look vaguely person-sized, are they roughly person-sized?]

[strangerpeople]

[They are indeed roughly person-sized!]