"You would simply start giving accurate results to blend in with your earlier false ones, of course!" Ennea answered.

"What use are you to us, though?" Silver turns towards Twist. "You cannot spot a Killer in the act. Nero can very well be valuable for us, or even a target for the Killers next round. I'm not quite sure what you provide for the Prey. Perhaps I'm missing something?"

"It would only 'buy time' before inevitably unravelling everything and leading to calamity for either the killers or the scientists. At that point the Prey would not only expose me, but my whole team."

Nero scoffs. "And as for being useful... You can only be potentially useful, as you won't get useful information every time. I on the other hand, will always provide useful information no matter what. That's where we're different."

"If I follow the right person, I can," Twist answered. "Let's say I follow after someone, they visit someone else, and the person they visited winds up dead. Unless anyone else visited them, that makes them the culprit. I know it's a long shot and I'd have to get lucky, but it's better than nothing. Besides, like I said, like I've been saying, killing me just makes it all the much more easier for the killers or scientists to win. This is what they want."

He lightly chewed his bottom lip, letting out another sigh.

"Either Nero is bullshitting you all, or he's Prey like me. There aren't any other options. Keeping both of us alive could end up being beneficial too, but... who else is there to even vote for?"

Golf sighed and reluctantly changed his vote to Twist. "Personally I still dont believe you fully here but alas the same can be said for Twist unfortunately, no hard feelings of course."

Uno sighed defeatedly. "Honestly, I still have my doubts about Nero. But I cannot deny that he provides a bigger benefit to the town than Twist does. Either way, we'll have our answer once we finish this vote. Let's end this, we don't have much time left. I change my vote to Twist."

---

"... So that's it then, huh?" Twist asked, letting out a soft, mirthless chuckle. "Alright. Congrats, dumbasses. You killed the wrong person. Here's hoping you all lose because of the wool pulled over your eyes."

The time had come. Twist had accepted his fate, no longer seeing any alternative. He took this chance to give each player one last look in the eyes.

Then he suddenly flinched, grasping reflexively at his wrist, though he couldn't reach it with the bracelet in the way.

[Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFY2DaiScAQ]

Twist's whole body visibly tensed. His mouth opened to scream, but already his muscles were failing him and the most he could manage was a strangled gasp. His knees gave way, and his eyes, staring now into nothing, steadily lost their light. Then his body slowly toppled forward, landing with only a slight thump.

It was over in mere seconds. If nothing else, it was a mercifully swift death.

"You made your choice, then," the robot said, sounding almost solemn, before ruining it by screaming, "LET'S SEE IF IT WAS A GOOD ONE!"


[The next phase will begin tomorrow in 10-12 hours.]

Uno winced. "An unfortunate loss, but not a surprising one. We had to rely on very limited information this phase... next time, we should be more prepared. We should be able to tell whether Nero is telling the truth about his role soon... though his life may be in danger if that is the case. We will be more suitably equipped to deal with this situation in the future. Keep your wits about you, everyone. We're not out of the woods yet, not even close." They spoke, trying to maintain their composure but with a sharp tone.

---

"I believe overall our chances here were always slim... Considering the time limit and our lack of information." Silver sighs. "I'm thankful not to be him, but... This game is still going to continue..."

"I think it's important to keep track of certain things. Nero can provide us valuable information, if he's Prey. Yet the Roleblocker or Jailer, depending on their alignment, can easily mess with him..."

"...god damn it..." Nova grumbled, lowering her head. She spit her gum out the side of her mouth. It didn't taste so good anymore.

---

"...I-I knew we should have stuck to our guns!" Odin said, clamming up. "Twist! I know you're dead, but if you can hear me, I didn't vote for you!"

Golf looked down discouraged by the results and clenched his fist. "As sad as it may be we must also remember this likely wont be the last time we must doubt one another, and may even potentially end there lives with our own hands and as such information will be vital even if we must step over our own to do so...but still I want to hold out hope we can avoid doing that at all if possible."

Golf sighed once more. "I'm sorry twist, my uncertainty led me to change my vote at the end, while uno did so as well it was only soon after I did."

There’s an uncomfortable gulping noise coming from the television as it witnesses the fragility of human life. In a moment though, they already seem wound back up again and remorseless about what transpired.

“Alright now that we have irrefutable proof that I have greater intuition than all others here, I think it’s time that everyone revokes their right to vote without my objective approval. I promise to be fair with my assessments!”

"A tragic loss, but a necessary sacrifice..." Nero mutters, bowing his head slightly in respect.

"Whoever the real culprits are, you better be counting your days. Trust that we will avenge our fallen brethren, no matter what!" He declares, furrowing his eyebrows. "By the time we've all gathered sufficient information, there will be nowhere left for these fiends to hide."

“Look what you guys did. Now this kid’s father figure is going to be after us even if we do get outta here I don’t wanna be in the red with Giovanni Sommanetta! It’s a death sentence you morons!” TV-Head realizes the reality of their situation and seems even more panicked than usual, which is insane to think about because TV-Head is exclusively extremely panicked. They pace nervously.



“It was frankly the least necessary sacrifice ever made! We had big targets in our sights and threw away our chance!” They cry, literally punching the air in frustration. “The only good thing is now it’s never been more obvious who the bad guys around here are.”

"Really?" Nero responds, raising an eyebrow. "I do hope you're not talking about me. In my eyes we still have a ways to go in terms of identifying the culprits..."

The tone of Ash’s song seemed to turn distinctly gloomy. Crow cloaked herself in shadows, trying to hide the remorse on her face.

“This is...truly a cruel game we’re stuck in,” she said. “It’s inevitable that we’d make a mistake when we’ve been forced against a wall, but...we can’t afford to make the same mistake again. We’re going to have a chance soon to get more information, so let’s use it wisely.”

---

Before the players could begin discussing what to do next, the robot spoke up again.

"SO! Maybe the EAGLE EYED among you noticed what happened when Player 8 died? Their bracelet became detached, just as it would if they'd managed to escape. DEATH IS JUST ANOTHER KIND OF FREEDOM! I AM A POET!! I'd like one of you to pick it up, please." One of the braver players did so, examining it. "Just because someone died doesn't mean the Nonary Game can't continue. After all, you - wait, make that 'Nonary+ Game'," the robot corrected irritatingly, before continuing, "- After all, you still need to escape from here, and THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT THE PASSCODE! You'll have to bring that bracelet with you, A CONSTANT REMINDER OF THEIR DEATH, and activate it at their Trial when you find it. Of course A CORPSE can't complete a Trial, so it will just give you the code automatically. TRULY CONVENIENT! WHATEVER WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT??

“Speaking of CONVENIENT, there’s one last thing I should mention. You will have noticed that your Trials vary in length and content SIGNIFICANTLY. For fairness, the execution timers in your bracelets pause during most of then. BUT DON’T THINK YOU CAN ABUSE THE SYSTEM! Most of the Trials come WITH TIMERS OF THEIR OWN, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! If you happen to find a Trial without any obvious time limit, that will be one of the exceptions where the execution counter KEEPS GOING TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, DOOM O’CLOCK!!”

With that the robot had nothing left to say, so the players pulled themselves together and focused on the task at hand. After one player pointed it out, the group started by first voting for Joy so that they could go retrieve Cool Cat's bracelet as well. They found something interesting when they examined it: the display was now locked to a single screen, with a message that simply read, “Digit #6: 3.” Presumably then, if a player died after completing their Trial, their bracelet would automatically reveal their digit. This was a small relief, at least.

The players then swiftly returned to the Oubliette (thankfully there was no need to repeat any of the Joy puzzles) and moved onto the next vote, hyper-aware of the timer ticking towards the next execution.




After everything that had happened, for their next choice the players mostly voted in favour of getting the unsettling 'Fear' door out of the way, no longer willing to postpone the inevitable. After the vote went through, the dark green door opened similarly to before and the players went through the airlock-like system into the area beyond.



[Fear theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d56u2iptYzU]

Contrary to expectations, the area wasn't lit in a dark green light; in fact, it wasn't lit at all. After the second door closed behind them, the players were left in complete darkness. Not wanting to linger next to the pair of psychotic killers, the players quickly moved deeper into the room, feeling around as they went.

Seconds dragged on like eternities, and some of the players started wondering when someone would die horribly instead of if. It was almost a relief when the dark green light suddenly snapped on and the players found themselves surrounded by terrifying mannequins with TVs for heads: just a standard jump-scare instead of anything far, far worse. Screaming was cathartic after the tense silence.

The TVs had all switched on along with the dark green light. Each showed a different, repeating, staticy clip of one shadowy figure reaching out towards another, who spasmed for a few drawn-out seconds before collapsing to the floor, likely dead. Each must have been a different murder at the hands of the Witch. There were an unsettling number of these TV-headed mannequins; just how many people had the Witch killed this way already?

The light in this area was dim; it was hard to make out any details of what was around them. Only the lit-up TV screens stood out, making it all the harder to ignore the footage. They had to press on though, so the players fanned out to try and map out the area. It seemed there were three rooms in total, just like in the Joy area.

The main room they started in was strangely barren (other than the mannequins), with a single bed being the only apparent feature of a room that felt much too large. Two doors led out to other rooms: a dark and creepy public bathroom, where one stall was locked tight and an odd dripping could be heard from the pipes; and a kitchen with rusty utensils and unpowered electronics, though it seemed the gas stoves and taps still worked. And everywhere they went, the mannequins stood watching.

[The Exploration phase will end in 2½ days. During this time, please send me your actions!]

---

---

They found the first Trial quickly. There was very little in the bedroom to begin with, so it didn't take long for an investigation to reveal another door, difficult to see in the dim light, tucked away in one corner of the room. It was marked with a possibly-red 9, though due to the green light it only looked black, like decades-old blood. The players all looked expectantly at Nova, who was hesitating uncomfortably. When no-one made a move to help her, she groaned, walked up to the device next to the door and awkwardly pulled her leg up with her right hand, before doing a short hop to try and scan the bracelet on her ankle against the chest-height reader. Apparently the Game designers hadn't planned for this.

She just about managed it, causing the door to open. Beyond was a pitch-black room, too dark to even see how large it was. With great trepidation she stepped over the boundary, and then the door closed softly behind her with an odd sense of finality.

The players milled about uncertainly, waiting for something to happen, but there was nothing. The room was silent. Before long, one of the players moved on to nervously examine something else, causing a chain reaction as many of the other players started talking and/or investigating. They had no idea what was going on in that dark room, but standing around and waiting was doing nothing for their already-frayed nerves.

Last edited by KamiPanda on Wed Jul 07, 2021 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Uno grimaced as Nova entered her room. As the others finally managed to start speaking again, he commented, "I hope she'll be alright in there..." Though it came off a bit more grim than he'd intended. Turning around awkwardly, they went to take a look at the kitchen to see what was in there. "I see... it's been a while since I last properly cooked..."

---

Feeling the whole thing was out of their hands, TV-Head scuttles away to solve puzzles. They repeatedly jump every time they cross the path of one of the TV-Headed mannequins, “How did they make these things so creepy? Are the rest of y’all seeing these weird things?”

They go to the kitchen and pass by Uno, “Quit slacking! People are going to figure out real quick you’re one of the bad guys if you don’t hurry your butt up!”

TV-Head opens a fridge and just fully tosses around a bunch of dishes filled with rancid sludge before pulling out a comically large bottle of hot sauce, “Looks like I’ve found out next clue guys… someone has to drink this…”

"T-that's impossible!" Silver shouts. "How on earth can anyone drink that!? Can't we just pour it out?"

"I-I'm not slacking..!" Uno objected, feeling pressured by TV-Head. "Aha! What's this..? A puzzle? Hmm, this seems to be to my expertise..." Uno mumbled as he found an expert "Killer Battleships" puzzle on one of the shelves in the kitchen.

---

“Obviously we need to drink it! Why else would there be a bathroom puzzle in the same area?” TV-Head groans as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and they’re talking to a brick wall.

They yank the bottle away from the others and go to drink it. Bringing it up to the face, TV-Head pauses, contemplating their choice. They seem to be anxious about drinking it.

Realizing it all must be a part of the fear puzzle, they slowly tilt the bottle up and the hot sauce pours onto the screen of the television before they realize there’s no mouth and scream in horror.

“Oh for the love of...” Crow mumbled. “Give me that.”

Crow snatched the bottle of hot sauce from TV-Head, apparently believing that they had the right idea. She stared at the bottle with some hesitation, only to get smacked by a flailing TV-Head and spill some of the hot sauce into Ash’s cage.

The little mockingbird noticed the puddle of hot sauce and bobbed it’s head curiously. It quickly sipped it up, let out a tormented screech, and then breathed a massive ball of fire through the bars of the cage and toward the nearest person.

---

Alas, Odin had just entered the room, only to be met by a flaming ball of fire unleashed from a phoenix. He could only scream as he ran around the room, the flames engulfing his entire body.

Nero sits at a nearby table with his gaze focused on an open book, only paying attention to about half of what was currently happening.

"Careful now, I once heard that hot sauce was quite spicy." He mentions, oblivious to the chaos.

Golf walked into the room right away noticing said chaos ensuing, as such he was quick to act and grabbed what looked like a fire extinguisher and sprayed Odin with it...it turns out it was actually a foam dispenser filled with whipped cream.

Albatross scrunches his face up
"Whipped cream? Gross! If only it was cottage cheese then i could put it in my coffee! What kind of pervert puts whipped cream in a fire extinguisher? Oh no I spilt my coffee!" Where had albatross gotten the coffee? Totally unclear. It definitely had spilled to make it look as if Albatross had just taken a long piss on himself though.

"So we have hot sauce in the fridge... And whipped cream in the fire extinguisher... So that means...!" Ennea reasoned perfectly, ripping a kitchen drawer out of its slot in a manic fit of insight, dropping rusty knives and forks all over the floor.

"... Nevermind, I was wrong!" she smiled, dropping the drawer to the floor as well. "What a devious puzzle..."

"Oh? Is everything alright, Albatross?" Uno frowned, noticing the stain on his pants. "If you need to use the bathroom, you should probably go. There's no shame in doing so, and it is quite nearby too- GYAH!"

They had gotten distracted while speaking to Albatross and totally misplaced a piece in their battleship puzzle, electrocuting them. Oops.

---

Odin was no longer there. All that remained was a pile of ash.

Ash continued to tap its feet erratically, launching fireballs throughout the room, until Crow got his birdcage under the sink and poured water on him. Clouds of steam erupted from within the wire cage until Crow turned off the faucet. A drench Ash tried to shake himself dry, causing his feathers to stick outward cartoonishly.

“Now, now, Ash...you know I’ve told you not to incinerate people,” Crow said firmly. “It’s not remotely polite. Apologize to Odin right now.”

Ash coughed up a remorseful cloud of steam in the general direction of Odin’s remains.

---

"This is ridiculous..." Nova grumbled to herself.

The light in the previous room had been dim enough to give her eye strain, but she'd give about anything to have it now. The Trial room was so completely and utterly black, she could hold her one hand an inch from her nose and not see it. The only reason she could even tell which direction was up was because her feet were still able to touch the floor. At first, she'd tried to hug the wall of the room while she searched for... well, anything, really. That wound up being fruitless, so she had no choice but to venture into the vast darkness.

She didn't even know how long she'd been wandering. Minutes? Hours? There was no way to tell. How big was this room, anyway? Nova was, of course, anxious being alone and completely defenseless against anything that might come at her, but as she continued to find absolutely nothing, some irritation began seeping in, too. What was she even supposed to DO? Was this her Trial? Just walk around in total darkness until she lost her mi-

"OWW!" she yelped. Well, she'd finally found something, or rather, her toe had. Something heavy and metallic. After taking a moment to shake off the pain, she reached down in the direction of the obstruction. As she touched it with her hand, a monitor a couple feet away blinked to life. Only a single line of green text appeared on the black screen, but even that was nearly blinding after her eyes had attempted to adjust to the infinite darkness.

Your Trial will begin once you are seated.

After reading the simple message, Nova turned her attention back to the object in her way and, with the help of the faint illumination, could now vaguely make out the shape of a chair. Deciding she'd rather just get it over with than search around any longer, she obeyed the text. Almost immediately, metal restraints snapped around her legs, right arm, and her wrist; binding her hand to something she hadn't noticed before.

The grip of a revolver, attached firmly to the arm of the chair, aimed directly at her leg.

Ice raced through Nova's entire body, but before she could vocalize a protest, more text popped up.

Choose one of the following options.

A: Proceed with the Trial.

B: Give up on the Trial. You will still be given your hint as if you had cleared your Trial, however, the difficulty of another player's Trial will be drastically increased to compensate.

If you choose Option B, you will be forbidden to speak about anything that took place in this room. Failure to remain silent will cause your bracelet to activate, resulting in immediate execution.

Speak your choice now.

Nova swallowed hard as her eyes darted between the monitor, her leg, and the gun. So this Trial HAD been designed with her in mind, after all. As if losing both her arms hadn't been enough, now whoever was running this sick game was threatening to take her leg, too. "Bastards..." she hissed through ground teeth.

Invalid response.

She shot a nasty look at the monitor when she saw the new message; if it weren't just a machine programmed to run this Trial automatically, she'd swear it was being sarcastic.

...she really didn't want to go through with this, whatever it was. She didn't have to; she could walk away right now, none the worse for wear, and nobody would know she'd passed the buck... right? She wouldn't be able to tell anyone, but what if there was another way for them to find out? How would that make her look to the others? More importantly, what would happen to whoever attempted a more difficult Trial? They'd all seen how these could be potentially lethal already; would they have any chance of surviving? Would she be able to live with the knowledge that she'd condemned someone to die so she could keep her leg?

She didn't have any idea how long she'd mulled over her decision, but when she'd finally made it:

"...fine. I'll do it..." Nova sighed resignedly.

Invalid response.

"A!" she snapped.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7A7uhuxcyA

After confirming her choice, Nova could see a bit more dim light filtering into her room as one of the walls, surprisingly close to her, slowly slid away, revealing a window. She could barely make out the shapes of the other captives watching her. She wasn't sure how much they could see or hear; not that they could help her anyway.

The monitor continued:

Your Trial is simple.

Two of the six chambers in the revolver are loaded.

You may spin the cylinder as much as you wish.

Once you are satisfied, fire once.

That is all.

It was as she'd thought. She shook her head in an attempt to remove the frustration from her mind so she could focus on her trial. Now that she could see a little better, she was able to spot words written on the chambers of the gun cylinder. Up. Down. Charm. Strange. Top. Bottom. She had no idea what the words meant.

Nova bit her lip and agonized over the puzzle. It WAS a puzzle, right? The words had to be some sort of clue, but what? Maybe Charm and Strange were the loaded chambers since the others were all directions? Would it be that obvious? Maybe Down and Bottom since the gun was aimed that way? Again, that seemed like an obvious answer, but maybe that's what her captors wanted her to think?

She spent several minutes thinking over possibilities like that and would likely have started tearing her hair out if her one good hand wasn't bound to the revolver. It was no good. She couldn't figure out the meaning to the words, if there was any at all. Maybe this was all some cruel joke meant to torment her mentally before breaking her physically.

There was a two in three chance she'd be alright. Four out of six. 66.666~ percent. She'd just have to hope the odds would be in her favor. She spun the cylinder randomly, then inhaled a large breath and steeled herself as her shaky finger reached for the trigger. After an eternity passed, she pulled.

She didn't feel the recoil.

She didn't hear the bang.

She didn't even hear her own screaming.

All she knew was agony. The pain of searing hot metal slicing through her flesh, spilling her blood, shattering and splintering her femur.

Nova felt herself starting to pass out, her consciousness trying desperately to shut itself off to preserve her sanity. As she faded, she knew a terrible truth in her heart.

Even if she managed to escape, there was no saving her leg. She'd never walk on it again.















...what the hell was that?

Nova shook her head again, as if trying to dispel some nightmare from her mind. Her gaze immediately jumped to her leg. There was nothing wrong with it. Well, it was strapped down, of course, but clearly it was still intact. So what was that she'd just seen? Was the pressure getting to her? Was she hallucinating?

No, it felt much too real for that. She remembered the feeling of the bullet cutting through her leg... didn't she? So then...?

Nova moved her finger away from the trigger and stared at the cylinder of the gun for several seconds, then slowly rotated it over to the next chamber. Damn, now she had to mentally prepare herself again. She found herself really wishing she'd taken some gum out before starting this Trial.

She tried taking a deep breath once more as she readied her finger on the trigger. This time, though, she exhaled before firing. This time? This was the only time she was... no, never mind. It didn't matter now. What mattered was this was right. It had to be.



Click.



After pulling the trigger, Nova's restraints unlocked and the door out slid open again. She reached down and quickly pulled her left leg up to check her bracelet for her hint. Immediately, her eyes blinked in understanding. She sighed heavily, got to her feet, and made her way back to the exit, waving lightly to the others as she stepped through the doorway, looking thoroughly exhausted.

"P-piece... piece of... piece of FUCKING SHIT!" she snarled as she pounded the wall with her fist, tears forming in her eyes. "God damn it, that scared the hell out of me! I don't EVER want to have to go through something like that again!"

---

"There, there. It's over now. Oh, but you got the digit, right? It's a little hard to tell when the experience seems harrowing enough to warrant this reaction regardless of the outcome!" Ennea laughed. "... Oh! And I'm glad you're safe."

Nova wiped her eyes with the back of her hoodie sleeve and took a couple deep breaths before answering. "...thanks... Y-yeah, I got it... I'll tell you all what it is when it's time to go..."

She fished her gum out of her pocket and popped a piece into her mouth.

...then another one once she'd thought about it for a moment. This was a two-gum job.

---

A little later, as the players searched around for the next Trial, one stumbled upon a switch similar to the one in the library. The others gathered as it was flicked, revealing a hidden door just as before.

[Off-limits area theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBUOqjbe6tY]

The now-familiar sight of the well-lit space beyond put doubt into the players' minds: were they really meant to have found these hidden spaces? The comfortable atmosphere of the Scientists' work areas completely torpedoed the dark, creepy feelings the Fear area was trying to instil. They almost felt safe here, which was at odds with the Scientists' apparent Esper-related goals. Perhaps the robot, changed as it was by the hacking process, simply didn't care anymore so long as the Nonary+ Game itself functioned. It certainly didn't seem aligned with the Scientists anymore, after dragging them into their own Game.

Regardless, the feeling of safety here was only an illusion. The Witch and their Hacker partner might still kill them at any moment, and even now their bracelets were counting down towards the next execution. The players quickly split up to explore the new area, granting themselves a strict deadline. The most notable rooms here were a small medical ward, and some kind of generic workspace. There were doors leading further into the facility, but they were of course locked.

The medical ward contained numerous doses of Soporil β, all locked inside secure, transparent cabinets. There were patient notes detailing regular doses of the chemical to the Witch, as well as other health and examination reports. The Witch was clearly being carefully monitored and cared for here, though the impassionate tone and some of the content of the reports suggested they were treated more as an object than a person.

Searching the workstation once again revealed various files, both physical and digital, this time pertaining to the Witch. The players eagerly checked them over for anything that might help.


The revelations left the players chilled. Paranoia filled the air as the players re-evaluated what it meant for some of the people around them to be the Witch or the Scientists.

[The off-limits area has now been added to the area you can RP in!]

Crow’s expression turned grim as she looked through the files on the computer.

“This is appalling,” she said. “No wonder the Witch fought back after all this treatment. Our captors should have anticipated some pushback eventually.”

She shook her head and backed away from the computer. She stepped toward the Fear room and her gaze fell on the girl with the 9 bracelet.

“Nova, if you don’t mind my asking...” Crow said. “Why has your bracelet been placed on your ankle? Your arms look perfectly fine to me.”

---

Odin crawled into the room, still just a pile of dirt and rubble after being incinerated.

"I-I still don't believe in any witches or witchcraft, or black cats! They're all just myths!"

Odin, using his sixth sense he obtained while set ablaze, turned to Nova.

"Yes, that is rather curious. I'd much prefer my bracelet to be wrapped around my leg. I have eczema on my arms, so it's difficult to reach everywhere."

"Quite concerning..." Uno muttered. "It was only a lucky accident these scientists got into this game at all. Both our captors and this witch are truly dangerous."

---