WEEK ZERO: INVESTIGATION

[retellers]

WEEK ZERO: INVESTIGATION (?? remain) On Friday morning at 7am, all the doors will unlock and the participants may traverse between areas again. Participants will find that, as they leave wherever they slept, everything feels... unclear? Did they see whoever they were with? They can no longer remember. Even for those who spent the night alone, they can feel that something is off. It doesn't seem as though the Leaders are around. However, an alert will notify the participants to a new message on their PHS. Hello everyone. Apparently something happened last night while everyone was asleep. We're not sure what's going on, but there has been a huge disturbance with nova and the six of us are going to check it out. But it seems like something also happened in the town. Can you all please go and try to find the source of it? Sorry for troubling you! Time to investigate. ༶•┈┈⛧┈｡o°✥✣ 　　 ✣✥°o｡┈⛧┈┈•༶ Welcome to your first investigation! We will be posting top-levels for searchable locations—one set at 6pm EST and another set at 7pm EST. Each location will contain evidence to find, though it's up to your efforts as to whether you find all of it. Please coordinate investigation groups on Discord, as we ask that group threads consist of no more than 2-3 characters. We will stop tagging each top-level two hours after it went up, i.e. at 8pm and 9pm EST, respectively. Don't worry if you don't find everything! Characters will get the chance to revisit locations tomorrow at trial. At 9pm EST, an announcement will go up, confirming the victim(s). If you have any questions at any time, please let us know by pinging us on Discord!

NAVIGATION locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

Comments

[supremity]

I did, as well, yes. I'll be interested to know what happened with the nova, supposedly.

[ With a soft click of his tongue, Hua Cheng meanders along behind them, leaving Alex to get her water and Xie Lian to look around with her at the fridge and off to the pantry. Considering where he, Sora, and Hansa found things during their scavenger hunt... ]

But no harm in checking. Just in case. [ What about the counters and sink, the ovens? Sure. ]

[retellers]

[ There's nothing out of place in the cupboards, pantry or in the fridge. Well, maybe a complete lack of kitchen knives, because you are all monsters, but that was known.

There is, however, a box of cereal left out on the counter, as well as a few dirty dishes in the sink. It's in the rules to clean up after yourselves? You guys are the worst. ]

[chanteuser]

Or I guess specifically what happens to cause a huge disturbance in it? It doesn't sound especially reassuring either way.

[ she takes her water and finishes it quickly before setting her glass down. ]

-- Oh. Someone left this here overnight?

[ she's gonna peer in the box just in case, and then take a look in the walk in freezer to see if there's anything nova-ish hiding in there. ]

[dianxias]

Mm. Especially if it has something to do with last night, and being locked in...? I couldn't leave my room. I don't even remember falling asleep, actually.

[ hm! that's weird.

anyway! xie lian glances over at the sink while alex is peering at the box. what kind of dishes are in the sink? is it wet like it's been used recently? is there anything on said dirty dishes that we can see? like HOW are they dirty. ]

[supremity]

[ Mods: you're all knife thieving monsters
Hua Cheng: checks the silverware and utensils and knife blocks and all that ]

Strange, gege. I was locked in mine as well. [ "Strange" more like "oh fuck this." There's tomfoolery afoot that he is not a fan of. ]

Anything in the cold storage, Alex?

[retellers]

[ Alex finds the dead body of Pikachu in the freezer. I'm just kidding, there's like, popsicles and shit. It's normal.

The cereal box is partially still open, like whoever closed it really did not care about the cereal getting stale. Or they were just lazy about it. The box is partially empty.

In the sink, there are two cups with a few dregs of dark liquid at the bottom. There's also two bowls with milk residue, which I was going to try to obfuscate but realized that would mean writing the words "sticky white residue", and two spoons in the bowls.

There's nothing missing in the dishes except... well, the dishes that are in the sink. And the aforementioned missing knives. ]

[chanteuser]

Uhhh... did you want a popsicle? There's plenty of those.

[ what if she lifts some boxes and shifts so stuff in the freezer after like 18 months i don't trust anyone anymore. when she does emerge she holds out a popsicle to hua cheng.

it's lemon flavoured.

also she's going to check in the ovens, plural, because why not. ]

[dianxias]

[ oh, hm....can food and drink be nova related? xie lian examines the cup and sticks his finger in it because





he's going to taste the liquid in the cup yeah ]

[supremity]

A what? [ Hua Cheng accepts it from her, because it's innocuous and he's half-distracted checking the fucking ceiling/lights because they found a goddamn carrot in a roof gutter.

But, also... ]




Gege! [ SO HELP ME YOU ]

[retellers]

[ Hua Cheng looking at the ceiling is SO valid. Unfortunately, there's nothing there, but he's officially my favorite. There's also nothing out of place in the freezer even if you move stuff around.

Xie Lian tastes the liquid in the cup. It's bitter. strong and unfamiliar, even upsetting. Maybe he shouldn't have tasted that.

The oven has another corpse in it. This time it's Virid. He's cooked to perfection.

THERE'S NOTHING THERE ]

[chanteuser]

[ well. she spins away from the oven-- ]

Xie Lian! You don't even know what's in those mugs?!

[ hold she's running over-- for the sake of my curiosity, we'll say she knocks the cereal box over on the floor so everything spills everywhere and the can collect the prize in the box -- to check XL over, and give the liquid a cautious sniff.

does it

smell like something bad? ]

[dianxias]

[ xie lian falls to the floor in dramatics and then stops breathing! xie lian is dead!


no he's not he's just standing there, finger still at his lips, looking thoughtful. ]

Oh, the - [ ... ] What...? It's in the sink...

[ it could be poison! alex makes a valid point!

even if it was poison, he'd continue doing exactly what he was doing? wow. unfortunate. anyway, once he's tasted the liquid he pauses, smacking his lips together once or twice.

thoughtfully: ] What an odd taste. [ a normal person might say it tastes bad. ]

Be careful. [ ?????? ???? ] San Lang, come smell this, is it familiar to you? [ ???? ]

[supremity]

[ Pretending that Snow's icon is flipped so that the eye is on the correct side, we watch this murder in agony -




Hua Cheng ignores the fallen cereal, going to pluck the mug out of Xie Lian's hands so that he isn't tempted to lick it again to try to discern its taste. He spares a second look at the sink when Xie Lian mentions it, bringing the mug up to. Sniff.

Murder DM, Alex, help an ancient chinese gay out, wouldja. ]

[retellers]

[ There's been a murder. It was... a cereal killer. YEAAAAAA

The cereal spills all over the ground. It's a mess. They scrunch under their feet as they run to stop Xie Lian from tasting up more of that bitter smelling liquid.

Or, as Alex can recognize because she's not an ancient china gay, disgusting coffee dregs. It's freezing cold coffee. ]

[chanteuser]

Someone didn't bother to clean up their coffee, it looks like.

[ disgusting! do they smell just like coffee only? or coffee and... something fatal? are there any marks on the cup? did someone conveniently siiiiip while wearing lipstick?

also: ]

Oh dear. I'll have to sweep that up before I leave here. [ she's a killer now... murderer of cereal... ]

[dianxias]

[ A CEREAL KILLER!!! I KNEW IT!

thank god for alex. xie lian looks quite curious. ] So, some kind of grain and coffee...? Maybe someone was having a meal? What in the world would that have to do with nova?

[ san lang explain!

he's not going to eat the floor cereal, thanks. was there anything in the box at all besides said cereal? what kind of cereal is it. ]

[supremity]

[ Hua Cheng crinkles his nose, because cold coffee is acrid. He's seen enough people drinking this when it's fresh to know what it is after Alex says it, at least. ]

Somehow I doubt this has much to do with nova, unless they were freely wandering around and having a meal while we were locked in our rooms and saw something, gege. [ As an aside, to Alex: ] Don't you drink this in the morning?

[ Shitty meal. Alex and Xie Lian can look at the cereal, he's putting this away in the sink. ]

[retellers]

[ There's no lipstick on the coffee cups! Nothing distinct on either of them at all except the coffee, really. Just two regular mugs that weren't rinsed out.

There was nothing in the box except cereal. It's a generic kind of sugar-y cereal. Brands are banned for copyright reasons, but they're loopy and pretend to be fruit. One might almost call them ... fruit circles.

Xie Lian tasted it and the other smelled it, but it really does only smell and taste like cold coffee dregs. Not particularly pleasant, but nothing out of the ordinary there. ]

[chanteuser]

[ kisses zia on the forehead. also alex glances over at countertops to make sure nothing has been missed there like idek a head. ]

Yeah. This is a pretty common breakfast combination - cereal and coffee. Maybe someone wasn't locked in somewhere and that's how they could come here early in the morning for breakfast?

[ ... ]

Someones, plural. Apparently.

[dianxias]

...I don't know about you, but I couldn't get out of my room, no matter how hard I tried to. Why would someone not be locked in while the rest of us were...? Since we all just woke up, this had to have happened a little while ago.

[ ?????


did we check everything? are there any appliances that are still hot? has the microwave been re-exploded?? ]

Perhaps the disturbance was caused by someone among us, somehow.

[supremity]

I couldn't, either, despite every attempt to - and trust me when I say I spent much of my time before falling asleep doing that. But -

[ He gestures his thumb over his shoulder, towards the door they came through. Sort of, you know - referencing the fact they stepped over someone fast asleep on the way here.(Thanks Ari for that question.) ]

Maybe not all of us were locked up. [ Dryly. ] So it'd be best to find out where everyone actually was, I think, when that timeframe happened.

[retellers]

[ Looking at all the appliances, the coffee pot shows signs of use! The coffee left in it is just as cold as what was in the cups. Otherwise, all the appliances look fine and normal! The microwave is safe.

What a fun kitchen trip. ]