FINAL TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

FINAL TRIAL
(1 of Hekatombaion)


[When the time comes, Charon arrives on a boat, hrrhrrhrring a little tune as he rows. No need to worry about space, even with all of the shades coming with. Fluffles, unsurprisingly, doesn't go; he does see everyone off, at least, before he falls asleep.

With a final hnnnngrrrgh, they're off. Charon is the master of the Styx, in his own way, deftly avoiding roots and branches from the Qliphoth as he guides his charges up through the layers of the underworld. From the dark and gloomy green of Tartarus, to the lava-flooded Asphodel and it's giant many-headed bone snake, sadly snarled in demonic roots (without thinking, Zack waves to it), on through the lazy rivers of Elysium, and lastly through the pitch stink of the corridors of a temple separating the underworld from the living world.

Throughout, there is eerie quiet. No shades appear to watch their procession-indeed the few wisps around seem to be fleeing, hiding. No rats try to bite Zack's face off. Aside from Lernie, there's truly nothing but tree, tree, and more tree.

Finally, though, the surface air hits, and it is...not cold, but not warm, either. Though, as everyone disembarks, that's probably not what catches everyone's attention. No-it is the barren fields of ancient Greece, just outside the entrance to the underworld-and there is only one thing alive in the area.

It is late afternoon, and the silhouette of the new moon is the only thing that emits real light now in the grey. Indeed, if there is a sun, it is blocked out by the massive, massive roots in the sky, swirling into the stratosphere. The roots in the underworld were in fact more akin to greedy branches; the roots in the sky of the world of life, however, are far more massive, and it's clear the tree is fully grown. And-if the dead grass and trees and barren lands around the Temple of Styx are any indication-it isn't simply feeding on human blood-it's affecting the life of the earth itself, greedily lapping up what it can as it further embeds itself, further spreads, further grows. Further destroys.

It won't stop. There is obsession and power, and Delta is right-it will never stop unless someone intervenes.

Wordlessly Delta points to a Spire of blood in front of them. Yup-they need to enter it to get to where they need to go. Lovely.]

Through here is the core of the tree where the fruit of the Qliphoth is being cultivated. Come.

[Well, no turning back. With luck, the Catillac has some extra towels.



So, immediately after squishing into the...blood elevator?...everyone is schllllorped on a ride akin to w water slide, going up and down, left and right, up, up, up, then down, down, down....down.......


d


o


w


n



into the depths.

And when they emerge...]





[Bright flowers grow on the vines. There is distant birdsong, and the sun shines among fat, lazy clouds. But you can see the shine of glass in the corner of your eye; the air is too perfect to breath, too cold to touch. You don't feel the grass or dirt underfoot that you can clearly see The smell of blood is everywhere.

An illusion? A dream? A delusion? Something else? Who knows. There is a patio table laid out with tea, and four seats. It's almost as if the owner simply got up and left for a moment. It's all strange, all...wrong.

Still. You're finally here. You're in the core. You freed a possible god from the grip of forced ignorance. And you have-you hope-everything you need to end this. But there is still one question:



Who is the true Mastermind, and what is their goal in doing all of this?



It is time, Strangers. By the seas, the heavens and the earth, by blood and darkness, it's up to you.




Good luck.]

Comments

[somuchshipping]

...Could the redacted name be the same as the queen Hypnos kept on talking about?

[lovedthemost]

It would be a useful way to hide it. We can assume she's the one that sent the tree to put the gods to sleep, I would think.

[voidseeing]

It's possible. For whatever reason, it's clear that they didn't want this person's name recorded officially.

[lovedthemost]

I wonder if speaking her name, should we discover it, would invoke something.

[voidseeing]

That's what I was thinking. It isn't as though we wouldn't be able to figure out just who the [Redacted] was meant to be given the circumstances, so I doubt it was just to conceal her identity or her relation to the game.

[somuchshipping]

[...Oh... Kind of like how some v1s are afraid to say "Fortuna", even though it's the name of the game. Hermes even said it multiple times here, but nothing bad happened...]

[lovedthemost]

I'm sure we can at least narrow the field. It's a queen, and there was a tree involved, and I'm assuming some relation to the underworld or the gods, considering the tree she sent was powerful enough to put them to sleep.

[voidseeing]

... I think I know what it might be. I'm not going to say it out loud just to be safe.

[lovedthemost]

[eyebrow arch]

...the best-known queen of the underworld in Greek mythology would have been my guess.

[just maybe trying to talk around it a bit and see if they're on the same page.]

[somuchshipping]

[...

[Cultist], [Strangely Graceful], [Popular], [Connections], [Plant Communer], [Inspirational], [Manipulative], [Call The Cavalry]

Yeah, Hermes knows who.]

But why would she just do this?

[voidseeing]

No, I was thinking someone else... someone who was very close to said queen.

[hatesdeerstalkers]

...Except, going by the evidence presented, she has been in the garden trapped under the roots.

[yesorwoof]

[Makima nods, confirming that Kira's papers are in the pile.]

And wasn't the other man on the desk? Why would they be apart?

[hatesdeerstalkers]

It implies that whatever happened was too fast for them to react to, as it seems she was going about in the garden while he was doing his work.

[yesorwoof]

That would make perfectly good sense. Especially if, in spite of everything Zack's dad did to earn his ire, the three were happy and healthy enough to stand for a portrait together.

Though...

What if someone wanted them to be apart?

[Demeter is still on her mind. Though... why would she be an Umbra Witch. But they've definitely mentioned "Eva" out loud by now so?]

[exequte]

It's possible, but....

It's also possible that whoever did this simply didn't want to give them time to react. Gods are powerful foes, after all.