WEEK THREE

[lesmodsalouette]

WEEK THREE

28 Guests

You awaken smothered in wonderfully soft blankets. If you are lucky, there is a warm body next to you, but... those are becoming shorter and shorter in supply, aren't they?

It's Monday at Château Ambregris, and you have just arrived here. Whatever clothes you are wearing, whatever injuries you are sporting... They are once again accurate to how you were before this tale began. Whether this leaves you with any urgent matters to take care of or relieved of ailing you had contracted in the 'last' week, the gong of the numerous clocks chimes out indifferently to the hour. Gone is the urgent summons of the past two weeks, with no Witch to greet you.

Rise and shine, and face your 'first' day in your 'new' home! And though you may now think yourself quite familiar with it, maybe another look around wouldn't hurt?

TIME LOOP:

-Characters wake up with the clothes they had with them at their canon point, like in the intro log.
-The state of their bodies is exactly the same as it was on the intro log (for better or worse).
-Any items they accumulated last week are also reset (sorry you'll need to build up your weapon cache again), except items that were given out as event rewards. Please note that the item uses are not reset.

LOCATIONS UPDATED:
- library, gardens
- mud bath → aquarium
- menagerie → photography studio
- grotto → greenhouse

WEEKLY EFFECT

This week every character will have a spirit animal that follows them around like a familiar. The choice of animal is up to you (natural or supernatural), but it should represent them in some way. The animal is restricted in size to that of a large dog and is incorporeal, though it can interact with other spirit animals. As the animal is a representation of their heart and inner self, it might be better at expressing itself than it's owner.

Yes, this is basically daemons. This palace clearly needs more animals for emotional support!

(OOC: Murder proposals and counter proposals are open! )

MONDAY • TUESDAY • WEDNESDAY • THURSDAY

Locations Proposals PCS Curfew Witch Contact Main Nav

Comments

chara's theory

[the_obedient_servant]

I will elaborate on what it is that I am implying now. If anyone has any information that can contradict me, I would be happy to hear it.

I believe that the point of these games isn't the deaths themselves - I believe in fact that our assigned villain revealed it at the end of last trial, when he asked for us to unleash our emotions at the despair of losing and choosing the wrong culprit, thus sending an innocent to their death. [YMMV on how much "innocence" matters here.]

It is as the overgrown lizard said, this would be much simpler if he had just killed us all himself. But if he was looking to extract emotions (the source of all human magic) to complete this ritual of his, likely to "save" the Goddess he always speaks about - then everything he has done and every way that the game has shaped itself makes sense, does it not? We live in communal residences, we are given weekly events to get to know each-other more - and our memories of the previous week aren't even erased.

How ineffective would it be to extract outpouring emotions after one week given to the players to care?

I think we have been doing this a long while - and I think our memories will only be erased once the game is rendered unplayable, and we will all be brought back to the start to repeat the cycle. When time repeats in this way, there is almost always some variant of... loss. Nostalgia. An attempt to reclaim something that once felt so much stronger.

That is what I believe is happening.

[distain]

[Right, that was what she was trying to recall.]

"I think I'll be able to get some anyway."

Perhaps we already aren't providing exactly what he wants to his expectations.

[allrounder]

I have to wonder... is he growing impatient?

[distain]

Or frustrated? Some days I wonder if he's getting anything near what he wants from us, and sometimes I think we're playing exactly into his hand. He craves our "participation" but will just as soon mock us for it.

[snakeblood]

[ Not a contradiction, but... ] I asked him if emotions was what he was after outright. He neither confirmed or denied.

"I enjoy them," he said.

[simulacres]

He admires humans and likes to see them express themselves as they want. So I think part of this is, well, to get genuine reactions out of us.

[ like a big bully trying to make their classmates cry. ]

[snakeblood]

Admires? [ He laughs at that. ] What is he, a psychopath?

[arbalestrier]

[He has very little to contribute to this conversation overall, but this catches his attention.]

Doesn't that contradict the information on his profile?

[oncefallen]

[This is literally what he was just saying to Hwylryn so yeah. He's in agreement here.]

That's my theory as well. The fact that he chose Hwylryn to kill Chu Wenshan rather than doing it himself lends further credence to that, as does him making all of us watch it happen.

[And the fact that he's here amongst the group makes him even more certain, not that he's going to say as much out loud.]

If what he's after are strong emotions, what better way to orchestrate them?

[perfectpower]

[He nods along as he listens. It's not a bad theory.]

That would explain why our memories aren't resetting with the weekly resets. People get more emotional about people they care about.

So, what are we going to do to test this? Show no emotions at whatever happens tomorrow?

[the_obedient_servant]

I'm not sure it would be that easy.

I can't really say what would be required to test this. You lot have already formed bonds. The emotional responses are inevitable.

[perfectpower]

Maybe giving the opposite emotion to what he wants could do some damage then.

[antemeridian]

This has been my working hypothesis for a while now, after he told us to 'try to get along' that first week.

But that might be because I have some familiarity with the concept of entities exploiting a population and harvesting energy based off of the conversion of emotions.

[the_obedient_servant]

I can't say I have experience with such entities, so much as entities that have a personal and somewhat voyeuristic infatuation with the emotional responses of their toys.

I also think the dead are on the other side of the mirrors.

[antemeridian]

Mmm. That sounds wasteful in a way even the Incubators would disapprove of. Or maybe they just wouldn't understand. They always claimed such utilitarian motives for what they do, after all.

What leads you to believe the latter, though?

[ not disbelief or doubt, just business. ]

[snakeblood]

[ He doesn't say anything, but just makes a face like yeah, of course, they're dead? ]

[coldseep]

( As much as I wish Hwylryn were useful, he has nothing to add to this just yet, but he's definitely listening to all this. )

[diel]

Assigned villain is a nice word for it. He's told me before that he's dutybound to us in some ways.

[ provide food, answer calls, etc. ]

Two things to consider: if he had the magic along with the know-how, it would not have taken him this long to save that woman. [ every time he mentions her, he sounds faintly bored tbh. ] And he's implied it's been a long, long time. And second: where, then, did this miracle chance come from?

To borrow your phrasing: who is the real villain? What if the little Witch is just another player?

[antemeridian]

[ yoru's not going to be able to see this but homura is closing her eyes so deeply at this. ]

[diel]

[ mood tho ]

[snakeblood]

"Almost two thousand years."

I've been wondering if his mother dearest was the one behind it, but if he's trying to save her, I guess not. There's his father too. He doesn't seem as touchy about it though.

[diel]

?

What do you mean? Did he tell you he was trying to save his mom?

[oncefallen]

Which of the two do you believe he lacks-- the magic, or the know-how?

[caporegrimme]

It's not impossible he's just another player, but that shouldn't stop us from saving ourselves first. We'll figure out if he's another victim only after we figure out how to stop the cycle of murders.

[If it turns out Ish is another pawn, then that'll have to be dealt with only after everyone else is saved. Can't take for granted Ish needs help]

casually spoiling 999 lmao (major spoilers)

[fourtuity]

[ clover's staying quiet because this is mostly ish talk and she fucking hates the guy too much to even talk about him without venom. but something about this annoys the hell out of her! ]

Is it even a question? You can still be just another player and a villain at the same time. Last stupid incident I was in, the mastermind and their secretary were simultaneously players while moving stuff behind the scenes. I'm pretty sure now that it was done to save the mastermind in the past and get revenge for dying back then. Which, yeah, I get. But also that doesn't change the bullshit they put us through. Sheesh!

[ somehow she has managed to say almost all of that in one breath. ]