( WEEK ONE - HUNTERS )

[abhoth]

At exactly 6:00 PM on Monday night, something very strange will happen to you. Regardless of whatever you were doing or whatever you were planning to do, you will find yourself stopping midway. Numbness spreads from your toes to the top of your head. You feel no control of your body. Thousands of shivers roam up your nerves, controlling your limbs like strings to a limp puppet. You're aware of your body moving - out of the room and into the first floor hallway. It's not until you stop in front of the unmarked room nestled between the Kitchen and Laundry that you regain control of your body. A soft click, and the door creaks open. Inside the room you'll find a small group of people and Craftly seated at a round table. Shelves of antiques line the walls and the smell of peppermint tea wafts through the air. A thin tendril slips across the table from Craftly's sleeve, hooking around his cup of tea. As smug as ever, he smiles to you. "Come in, Hunter. It's time for us to begin". Welcome, Hunters! As you should have been told by now, you represent the "detective" faction of this game. It's your job to ICly suspect those around you and discover who belongs to the "mafia" faction before it's far too late. For this first mingle (and all others, really), we encourage your characters to get to know each other, shitpost to your heart's content, and share your personal roles. Remember to check the Hunter's Handbook for IC rules and information. We hope you have fun with your role! :) ( quick navigation ) ic rulebook | locations | statuses | room assignments private conversations | ic profiles | graveyard | full navigation hunter's handbook

Comments

[ninjay]

[ jay is relieved because if someone like mabel had been in this and he had to deal with her hitting on him while signing a blood oath he would just give up ]

Let's do our best then, shall we? It looks like we can at least skip surface introductions, so I'd like to ask a question... Did the two of you receive anything yesterday?

[nowyouseeit]

[hhhesitation, but he pulls his feet off the table and leans forward with a nod]

I did, yeah. With a title attached to it.

[he reaches to his-- side?? like he's grabbing something attached to his belt? and then places whatever it is on the table]

Gangster.

[it's a handgun. he holds up four fingers]

Four shots. "Should I fire at those who have selected to speak the words of monsters, my aim will be true." I assume that's talking about these, uh. Prophets.

[thawedheart]

[Yukina's eyes widen slightly when the gun appears on the table.]

I wasn't given anything physical, but... they did give me a title. "The Paranoid". [She is not sure how she feels about that, honestly.] And with it, an ability... to turn the tables on the Prophets. If they come for me, I'll survive.

But I'll be considered that week's culprit, and... I imagine the other Prophets would try to have me executed for it.

[ninjay]

A double-edged sword then... [ at least kaito and he can try to shift the blame away from her, but if they try too hard it might become suspicious. ]

I'm the Explorer, apparently. I was given maps.

[ he pulls them out of his pocket, setting them on the table. ]

[nowyouseeit]

[WHAT THE HECK, WHY DID HE GET THE KILLER ROLE?? THANKS UNIVERSE!!]

A double-edge sword, but we might be able to use it to our advantage in a pinch.

[and it goes without saying they can use his handgun when they identify a Prophet. but he isn't thinking about that right now!! leans forward to peer at Jay's maps, regardless]

I was wondering what those burned and locked buildings were.

[thawedheart]

[She leans forward to get a better look at the maps... Huh. She doesn't have the faintest clue how they might get into the library, but...]

The safest way to take down the Prophets, actually... [She furrows her brows.] With the minimal amount of bloodshed... might be to deliberately have them target me.

[If the Prophets attack someone else, one of the Sacrifices will die. But if they go after her...]

After all... I don't exactly look to be capable of murder at all. They may have a hard time convincing the others.

[especially since she's been aggressively befriending everyone]

I can try to establish myself as... being willing to sneak around and break in to places. I may be able to convince them that I've overheard something they won't want others to hear, if so. If I'm careful about how I word things when we're around everyone. [She taps a finger to one of the burned buildings - the pet store.] Perhaps next week I could try breaking in here? It looks like it wouldn't be too hard to do, with the condition of the building.

...I'll see who I can get to come with me, too. We may be able to learn something from those who are eager to volunteer.

[ninjay]

[ he listens to yukina's plan, frowning slightly. ]

It would be preferable if they went after you before Kaito and me, because of that skill. But I don't think we should put too much attention on any of us purposefully. If anything, we should be acting more or less the same that we have been, especially if everyone else don't display drastic changes to their behavior.

[ he looks at them both. ]

We can adjust our actions accordingly by watching and interacting with the rest of the population. But don't sacrifice yourself unless we've run out of options. Even if you survive their attack, if people decide you're the culprit and vote for you, we can't save you. And our job will become a lot more difficult.

[nowyouseeit]

[he had opened his mouth to say something himself, but Jay cuts him off and pretty much puts it all into words better than he could have. so instead, he nods, and jerks his thumb at their cohort]

Yeah, what he said. We should lay low for now, and not tell anyone about what we're doing here, until we can start checking people for their roles or whatever.

. . . that said, I planned on investigating some of the locked buildings myself. Since Ponytail over there has the maps, it might be a good idea to go together.

[thawedheart]

[She doesn't really protest - instead, she just nods along. They have their reasons for preferring their way of doing things, just as she has her reasons for preferring hers.

But they do have to think of the group, so for now... it's fine.]

I think the three of us will make a good team. Do you have any building in particular you want to check out?

[ninjay]

It's Jay.

[ HIS NAME IS RIGHT ON HIS PROFILE goddammit kaito. ]

You said you want to go into the pet store, right? Besides that, I'd think that either the library or the church might be more useful, but I'm willing to go with whatever you prefer.

[nowyouseeit]

[LEAVE HIM ALONE NICKNAMES ARE MORE FUN]

My vote would be for the library, but the pet store is fine too. [pause] But we'll have to be careful. When I asked about the buildings, Craftly said this world works on the notion of "equivalent exchange."

[thawedheart]

It's not that I had any particular desire to see the pet store, really... it was just...

[She hesitates.]

...since I thought at the time I might have other people going with me, if I did accidentally end up bringing along a Prophet, I didn't want them to be some of the first to access anything especially useful. But if it's just us three, it should be fine. We can do the library.

[ninjay]

Alright, library it is then. We can pick a date for when to break in.

[ he at least gives yukina a sympathetic look before moving on. ]

Speaking of having to be careful though, did either of you take any supplies for yourselves? Craftly told me that while food and hygienic item will be restocked as we use them, other things won't be.

[nowyouseeit]

The earlier, the better. Monday-- or Tuesday.

[wraps his fingers around the handle of the handgun and draws it off of the table so he can reattach it to his belt]

I took some sutures from the clinic, but that's all. What about you guys?

[thawedheart]

I haven't taken anything. But...

[She glances down at her hands.]

Since it looks as though some level of violence will be unavoidable, starting tomorrow I'm going to try and clean up and organize the clinic. That way, if we do need to use it, it'll be easier to do so.

[ninjay]

That's a good idea, Yukina. [ ... ] I took disinfectant, bandages, a syringe, and gloves. Oh! And a knife.

[ tee hee :3c ]

[nowyouseeit]

[nods at Yukina, as if to echo Jay's sentiment]

It's good that this group has a spread of medical supplies to use too, just in case of emergencies.

[and then, to Jay]

So you're part of the reason there are no more knives in the kitchen, huh.

[thawedheart]

...

[WHY IS EVERYONE TAKING THINGS]

Maybe... I should take a scalpel? Just in case... [save her] I might do that... We may be able to store them here, even. So that we won't have to worry about someone else... finding them.

[ninjay]

I'm not a fan of being unarmed, especially when people might try to kill me. I'm sure everyone can learn to cut their food with forks.

[ unless the forks are gone too, and in which case, whoops ]

You might as well, Yukina. It's better for us to be over-prepared than not.

[nowyouseeit]

Watch us wake up tomorrow and the forks will be gone, too.

[a nod at Yukina]

But you've got a good idea. If we make sure we have access to this room at all times and no one else does, we should keep anything we don't want others to see or take in here.

[thawedheart]

I'll see what's there to take after I get the clinic organized, then.

[People may just poach anything useful before she's done WE JUST DON'T KNOW. But she'll be keeping an eye on it, at any rate.]

And I'll ask Craftly-san if we can use this space for storage. In the meantime... [They have a plan to explore some of the other buildings next week, but what else can they do until then?] We should get to know the others as best we can.

I imagine the next time we meet we'll be investigating people, so... we'll need to start thinking about who we want to investigate, too.

[ninjay]

Normally I would ask who do you all feel is suspicious, but if the Prophets were chosen at random and only given their new role now like we have, then the impressions we've made up til this point won't be very useful.

[ and if any of them are bloodthirsty it would be idiotic for any of them to reveal that so soon. ]

I suppose we can still make a list of people who we think might be more capable than others based on the little we know. Even if we have to completely trash the list by next week, it's better than nothing.

[nowyouseeit]

I don't know about that. Based on what Craftly told me, the type of people who would be Prophets are the type who are desperate enough to kill others for their own gain. He even said some might be doing it just for the chance to kill.

[deep exhale]

I don't think it hurts to start our list based on our impressions now. Like Ponytail said, we can start over from scratch next week if necessary.

[thawedheart]

[sweats. like, a lot...]

I don't know... I wouldn't be surprised if... the Prophets have known about their role in this even before we arrived here.

[Grabbing 42 sacrifices and choosing people who'd be willing to kill for profit at random? That seems like sort of a hit-or-miss kind of thing. On the other hand, if their own roles are as a result of Craftly's "little rebellion," then it makes sense that he would have been observing them to see who would be most amenable to it if he approached them.]

We didn't find out about this until today, but who's to say that they did? Craftly-san says we may have already spoken with the Prophets, even. That sort of made it sound to me like they're not finding out about this for the first time tonight...

[God, figuring this all out is hard.]

But it's a little difficult to tell, because... for the most part, the people here seem... well, not like killers. With a few exceptions, of course. [Some people are just so ready for murder already.] Suzaku-san, for example... he comes from the same place I do. And he... boasts, a lot, because he was very strong there. I don't think he would be unwilling to play a game like this, but I also think... he's not the type to make a deal with someone the way the Prophets seem to have. He likes to be the one in charge, not to owe his strength to others.

[ninjay]

[ he nods his head. those are all good points. ]

If they did know about their role since the beginning then that would definitely make this more difficult for us, since it means they would have been instantly on guard about hiding their identities. Unless they're morons, anyway.

[ please be morons. they're probably not, but one can dream. ]

In the case of Suzaku... would he agree to it for a reward? If there's something you want badly enough, I'm sure killing a few people won't feel like an unfair exchange. It's like a business transaction.