FINAL INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

FINAL INVESTIGATION

[How much time has passed? Who knows?

What all of you, the dead, do know is that this morning, something is different. You feel a presence among you.

No. Not just feel it. You hear it. A mysterious female voice purrs in your mind. In every mind.]

Good day, my little birds. How lovely it is to see you. All of you, trapped in this cage that held you in life. Such a pity, though, that you should be cut off from the world by such...unfortunate circumstances. I suppose that would normally not matter to me, as you are as foreign to me as I am to you.

Of course, nothing about this place is...normal for you, is it? Perhaps you wish for some answers as to why you were given up to such a perfidious situation. Perhaps I will answer your questions.

For a price. Find the items I seek, and we shall meet.

[A list appears in your hands, with a list of places to go. All doors to the Depths - save that 16th door - are now open to you.

Good luck.]

Comments

EVIDENCE LOG

[strangerpeople]

ROOM 4 0/1


ROOM 13 0/1


DINING ROOM 0/1


ARMORY 0/1


CONSERVATEX 0/1


LIBRARY 0/1


2ND FLOOR HALLWAY 0/2


WORKSHOP 0/1


3RD FLOOR HALLWAY 0/1


STRANGE WALL 0/1


DEBATE HALL 0/10



TOTAL CLUES: 0/20

Conservatex

[pursuitofbeauty]

Yusuke remains tense the entire time the voice speaks to him, though he manages not to startle when the list appears in his hands. Several rooms are indicated, but hopefully with McBurn's help they can do what the voice requires.

He might as well start where he is right now. Since he's sitting under the tree, he begins his search there.

[strangerpeople]

[There is a shattered set of mail under the tree.]

[pursuitofbeauty]

Curious. So he'll gently pick it up to examine it, searching for anything that might be hidden inside what's left of the structure or maybe caught between the rings/scales.

Room 4

[almightyconflagration]

[Well, McBurn decide to go take a look at his old room first. Enough weird crap appeared there that it wouldn't shock him for more to show up. If he knew which one Sparkles had, he'd probably check that one next. So anything weird here?]

[strangerpeople]

[There is a shattered ebony blade on the floor, right by the bed.]

[almightyconflagration]

[Well, he'll go ahead and take a look at it. Anything interesting about the blade or anything else of note in the room?]

Library

[pursuitofbeauty]

Since it's on the same floor, Yusuke is off to the library next. He's... been avoiding it since his arrival, that and the armory bring back too many painful memories.

So when he steps inside, he pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath before looking around for anything out of the ordinary.

[strangerpeople]

[So many books and tools for academia to look through!

Or that broken skull on the table. That might be something to notice.]

[pursuitofbeauty]

That's certainly morbid. Is it human?

Yusuke picks it up to see if there's anything on or inside it, expecting it to vanish just as the mail did.

2nd Floor Hall

[pursuitofbeauty]

Checking the list, this is the next place he examines, in preparation for heading down to the third floor.

So what weirdness will he pick up and watch vanish in this space?

[strangerpeople]

[Two weirdnesses, actually.

The first is what looks like a broken star talisman.]

[pursuitofbeauty]

This time, Yusuke will examine it closely for any sort of unusual markings before trying to pick it up, though he still expects it to disappears.

Workshop

[pursuitofbeauty]

Once he finishes in the 2nd floor hall, it's down to the 3rd floor. As McBurn passes him to the 4th floor, Yusuke suggests they meet in the debate hall.

Then he's alone in the workshop. What will he find here?

[strangerpeople]

[On the forge, another broken star.]

[pursuitofbeauty]

Is it the exact same type as the other star he found?

Strange Wall

[almightyconflagration]

[With Yusuke taking care of the third floor, McBurn heads on up to the fourth floor to investigate by the wall. So what does he find there?]

[strangerpeople]

[A broken set of ebony mail.]

[almightyconflagration]

[And it probably goes with the swords. McBurn will go ahead and touch with his foot to make it go away like the rest.]

Debate Hall

[pursuitofbeauty]

Once Yusuke and McBurn have finished examining the other areas on the list, they meet up at the debate hall. Yusuke is quieter than usual when they step inside, his eyes darting first to the site of his and Futaba's seats, then to the stage where he met his end.

Some terrified part of him expects the dragon to appear. If he and McBurn are dead and so is the dragon, wouldn't logic dictate that it could end up in the same place they're trapped?

"There's quite a lot of space to examine. Where should we begin?"

[almightyconflagration]

Unlike Yusuke, McBurn isn't scared of the dragon showing. If it did, he'd just deal with it again. Not like they have much to worry about with them both being dead and all.

"We should split up. You take one side, I'll take the other. We'll meet up at the stage."

[pursuitofbeauty]

A moment of hesitation, followed by a quick nod, and Yusuke splits off to check the right side of the hall.

It's probably very telling how worried he is about Futaba when his fingers brush over the edge of seat number 6. With the way the other dead have vanished, there's a chance she's dead and gone as well and he won't know for certain. He hopes he's wrong.

But he has a job to do. What does he notice first over here?

LADY OF MURK

[strangerpeople]

[As soon as the final artifact if picked up, the great purple murk pushes forward, enveloping the entire Debate Hall with a dark twilight. The talking ravens who had been floating around suddenly appear, standing on the stage alongside the dead who were gathered.]

Well, well.

[From the purple that has now enveloped the stage, a giant woman floats into view with wisps or purple light. The ravens seem drawn to her; several of them end up on her shoulders.

At least one sounds confused, saying "wait, why did I do this?"]

You have done what was expected of you. Your services have been...adequate for the job done.

I wonder, what were you expecting to appear? A dragon, perhaps?

[almightyconflagration]

At least a dragon would make for an entertaining fight.

[This lady is just reminding him a bit too much of Abyss.]

[strangerpeople]

I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. I'm not here to fight you. I'm simply here because of the deal made.