graveyard part five

[gamehead]

hunter's game the graveyard You wake up in an unfamiliar cabin. At first, it almost seems like you're in an entirely different place and that everything had been just a dream. The interior of the cabin looks nothing like the run-down, old-timey shacks that you had been living in before. Everything in here is sleek and modern, from the enormous flat-screen TV mounted on the wall to the fridge and mini-bars stocked with all your favorite foods. There aren't any individual rooms in here, just a common area large enough to house everyone comfortably, no matter how many more people join you...and there will be plenty more people joining you before the week is over. Because if you look outside the window, it quickly becomes clear that not only are you still in Prayer's Pass, but that you are no longer among the realm of the living. Judging from the tombstones directly outside, you're now in what had been the abandoned broken-down cabin in the graveyard. The cabin's not all that changed; the world outside has gone completely grey and everything you see appears to be faded and blurry. The only things that remain sharp and in color are what's inside the cabin, including your fellow ghosts. Occasionally, people who are still alive may enter, but it's clear that what they're seeing is completely different from what you're seeing. The door's unlocked; however, a mysterious force prevents you from stepping beyond the threshold, no matter how hard you may try. After all, this cabin is a cage for the dead - a gilded one, perhaps, but a cage nonetheless. On the flat-screen TV plays everything that is currently happening in the town. It will shut off once night starts...and something else will appear instead. (The graveyard so far)

Comments

AFTER CRITTER'S DOUCHEBAGGERY

[bloodofgrima]

[Robin is almost too stunned at what just happened to actually speak.

That wasn't... that... it...]

Gods bless it!!

[It's one of the few times she's ever lost her temper enough to yell, but everything is bubbling back up now -- frustration, anger, helplessness...]

Then what does it want?

[condescent]

[He rewinds the TV until the blackboard in the school is visible again and points at it.]

'The Hunters have to be stopped. Don't make the wrong choice.' I think that makes it fairly clear, don't you? What a pity the Doctor couldn't have mentioned that little tidbit in the middle of all his sanctimony.

[bloodofgrima]

[The Hunters...]

Yes, I saw that. But if the wolves aren't the real hunters, then who is? Critter? All of us? Or someone else?

[Dammit Joshua she's a battlefield tactician, not an intricate politics one.]

[condescent]

Maybe we're thinking about this too hard and the hunters mean exactly that and nothing more. That was the last clue, after all - perhaps once the prey win now that all of them have been unlocked, there'll be some bonus level.

[bloodofgrima]

...What?

[Sorry she's from a medieval country did you expect her to understand your game reference.]

[yvnyet_uv_mekrdhehk]

Oh, like overtime!

[Like in blitzball!]

[expiatrice]

That's what I'm expecting, too. Those extra rooms in the town hall made it rather clear, didn't they? Scavenger, wolf, or prey victory isn't the answer, but within the contextual frame of the game, those three are theoretically the only possible answers. Whichever side wins the current game, this 'choice' likely comes after.

[encored]

Who knows, but at least Sharon's kill for the night is all set. Maybe tomorrow they'll be able to work something out since they won't have to try to think through the Doctor's theatrics.

[bloodofgrima]

Mmm...

[Robin just muses for a moment, sighing.]

I suppose we can ask him what he thought he could do when he's here tomorrow.

[encored]

If he can peel himself off of the ground by the time people are done punching him for his arrogance.

[bloodofgrima]

I still don't see the necessity of it, but as this may be our last bit of existence, I can't say I disapprove of something that would comfort them.

[She's still musing over that thought she brought up to Kanaya. It's almost too much to hope...]

[condescent]

You really think she'll target him? Insisting on everyone voting for him, claiming to be a hunter, being completely useless in terms of both the clues and the actual game...he'll be of more use to her side alive than dead.

No, it'll be Beat or Gundam down here tomorrow, mark my words. Let's just hope it's Syo who comes out to play during the next trial and that she's smart enough to figure out who the last hunter is.

[encored]

[he laces his fingers together, resting his chin atop.] Let's make a wager, then. That woman is playing for the supposed true game now and the Doctor is only muddling things up. She'll aim for him, unless the death of that abstainer changes her resolve.

I do hope Syo joins the party, though. She's much livelier than the other child and I've given both of them a note with Sharon's name on it, so that much shouldn't be a problem.

[axeforasong]

I second Doctor; is silly to expect Wolf victory now. There is an... incentive to win, but we can't speak of it and Critter can revoke it if it feels game is thrown.

Which would have to be for Sharon to be last one standing.

Re: AFTER CRITTER'S DOUCHEBAGGERY

[hintcoinplz]

There's got to be a way to stop Critter itself. Otherwise it's just going to throw more temper tantrums and keep killing people.

[bloodofgrima]

There is always a way to stop someone or something. [Grima comes to mind.] The problem is, often times the solution is almost impossible to see... and there is no divine help here.

[hintcoinplz]

Sometimes there's also an overlooked solution...what do we know about the clues we've unlocked so far?

[bloodofgrima]

Sharon put it together well.

[Robin rewinds it to where Luke can see the glimpses of her journal there.]

From what I can glean from what we can see, playing the game is the worst that we could have done. With that and the various rooms in the Town Hall, there were many groups who had tried to do just that and... well, those rooms speak for themselves. Whatever the first game was -- whether it was Abigail or not -- it was just as brutal.

But whatever Abigail and that party did seems to be important somehow. They murdered wolves just for being wolves -- wasn't that what the prey did at the start? Find the wolves, nevermind why they do what they do.

[She taps the TV on some of Sharon's copied notes, shaking her head.]

Unfortunately, the actual diary entries... I can't make sense of those any more than the rest here. My expertise is with the battlefield and armies, not piecing together old history. If you have any insight, I'd like to hear it.

...But it's that message that makes me the most suspicious.

"They're all dead." Wouldn't that suggest a wolf's victory? But that means that the prey would have died for that, wouldn't it? And if it is a prey victory, does that mean the wolf has to get away at the trial, too? That would be an impossibility -- the trial would be a stalemate because both prey and hunter would know who each other are.

So what does that "wrong choice" mean? Was it the prey victory, if there was some special condition for the wolf to win besides the outnumbering? Or was it the victory for the pack?

Or was it, as Sharon suggested, playing the game at all? But how do we "be better than human?" Today proved that voting for yourself was not the right answer. Is abstaining? Or is it something else?

[Robin just sighs. So many questions, not enough answers.]

[terryplz]

[He frowns.]

I'm worried about Sharon. The three closest people to her have been eliminated by Critter. ...There may be conflicting wishes on her part.

[As long as she lives, the game goes on. But after today there's no assurance that they will continue to abstain.]

[bloodofgrima]

[Robin makes a soft noise at that. Help her, Bruce, please, she feels so completely lost that it's only a determination to see this through that keeps her from fading again.]

Voting for themselves didn't work. They might try abstaining, but then again, they might decide to cut their losses and just end this with those left alive...

[She makes an almost feral growl in her throat, just collapsing onto the couch and rubbing her face with both her hands. God dammit, she's only ever felt this helpless with... with Emmeryn, when all she could do was advise Chrom to sacrifice his gods damned sister for the good of Ylisse...]

[terryplz]

[Sorry he isn't very good at comforting Robin. Not to mention his son just gave up his memories for Lithuania - not in a very good state of mind right now either.]

Critter said something about a real game needing to be played, but it gives very little indication of how that can even come about. It noticeably didn't appear during the day at all until the execution was held. I wonder what it must be thinking.

[bloodofgrima]

That we're all stupid, foolish humans who couldn't determine our head from that of a horse's ass?

[Sorry, remembering Emmeryn just made her even worse. Still, she tries to smile weakly at Bruce -- she can tell he's not in a good spot either and her inner leader is telling her to try and offer at least some comfort.]

I almost wish Chrom had come here instead of me. I'd hate for him to have to suffer such a thing, but at least he would have been of some help here...

[axeforasong]

DAMNIT!

[IT'S 'KEEP MAYU AWAY FROM THE TV AGAIN' TIME]

Why why why why-

[bloodofgrima]

[Yes, Robin is keeping her away now. It gives her something to focus on besides her own anger.]

Easy, Mayu!

[axeforasong]

[...she falls silent as easily as last time]





...I was so sure it would work.