Castle Whimsical

FINAL TRIAL

It's time to run.

Armed with whatever they've managed to accumulate to defend themselves (or whatever they've might use to go on the offensive), as well as any information they've collected, the students can regroup after their final escalation and begin their descent back down into the school, accompanied by the sound of klaxon.

Near the fourth floor, a bloody trail follows you. The eager young slime that Adorabat befriended joins you on your flight. What use the creature might be is up to debate yet her presence is proof that at least not all monsters are hungry for your destruction.

By the time everyone reaches the third floor, however, their path is suddenly blocked. The already sporadic lights flicker once, then go off completely, and the hallways fill completely with purple mist that swirls apart as Kakuya, in her kitsune doll form, appears in the shadow of the hallway. The wall panels that once peeled away to allow access up from the lower floors slam shut again.

Being cut off from the lower floors might allow the students more of a chance to confront their captor face-to-face, for better or for worse. As the blaring sirens and shaking infrastructure demonstrate, there are hungry, desperate things eager to make their way through the entire school and devour everything in their paths.

"...Do you think you're clever?"

The doll speaks and her voice echoes in your mind. Her lips, as always, never move. Their constant painted smile betrays the seething anger emanating from her. As she speaks, it becomes difficult to even move. Kakuya is no longer above showing how strong she is. "Do you... think... you're smarter than Kakuya?" Two solid thuds collide with the floor as she moves closer. "Do...you think you're better than... the ice woman who strayed from her... path?" The cold autumn wind swirls the mist around as she walks forward. "Perhaps you... think you're stronger... than the stone lion? More quick witted than... the young samurai with his sickle? More righteous than... than the deluded martyr? More cunning than the... apprentice siren?"

Kakuya's smile looks more like a sneer as she looks at everyone before her, unable to move. The lights of her fox fire lighting up the fog swirling around."The laughing game... the defeat the oni game... tag... the keeping your balance game... the get away game... All five... failed and disappeared... Kakuya doubts you will have better luck. Now... Let's play... for the last time."

As soon as she speaks, she lets her grip on everyone loosen. You may finally act. The fox-like game master wills it to be so. One way or another, there's no going back to the status quo of this game. The semester is about to end, and only one questions remains:

What will be your final move?


Welcome to your final "trial" for Round 2! Today, characters will go through their last confrontation with Kakuya in their final attempt to escape from Ira Academy. This will happen in two phases. One, is the first confrontation with Kakuya and trying to figure out how to escape her or calm her down. Two, is the final confrontation that will finally decide the fate of the game.

Since characters have uncovered the power of belief as a weapon to be used against the horrors of Closetland, this power may be tapped into during a time of great need during this final trial. We would like all players to have the option to use this power equally if desired and to make the most room for a collaborative experience where everyone can shine as possible. Please ping the mods directly if you plan to invoke the power of belief so we everyone can work together on this finale!

As a note, even though they weren't mentioned any pets obtained during the game are safe. They will be returned after the finale.

WEEK SIX

OOC NOTES

INVESTIGATION

THIRD TRIAL

Still hungry, and perhaps with some new fashionable shoe colors, the students are herded into the elevator, which is lined with a plastic tarp this week. With the elevator becoming a perpetually emptier space, there's plenty of room for the Prefect herself to squeeze in next to everyone else, standing at the front of the group and ineffectively covering the side of her head with her free hand as soon as the tearing screen of metal and high-buzzing florescent lights kicks in.

The descent this time takes the group of students past several new chambers. The first is occupied by a grotesque caricature of a lunch lady, who ladles unidentifiable pitch black goop onto a constantly rotating line of trays as she smiles at the group with a single tooth. The clown, ever present for the show with his dwindling collection of balloons, rides a tiny tricycle through pools of spilled acrylic paint, the wheels squeaking as they paint out blood red patterns on the cell floor. The last chamber the students will see before arriving in the trial room is completely empty, save for a cloudy grey fog that blinks inside it like a thundercloud.

Instead of the usual black ram emblem on the telecom screen, the Principal's flame-wreathed silhouette is visible this week, though his chair is turned away from the camera and only the outline of his back seems to be visible. There's an empty container of Rocky Road ice cream sitting next to him on a side table, the spoon still balanced in the carton. The entire trial room itself smells like the lunch time rush at a cafeteria or fast food restaurant, the smells of grilling meat, roasting vegetables, and sweet dessert occasionally passing through a chamber that is completely devoid of any actual food.

With some hesitation, Nanami goes to the desk next to the podiums and takes her old seat. She glances back at the projector screen, then her shoulders slump forward and she leans down against the desk.

"It's happened again. Valmont, the... Boss...Baby. Has been killed. Maybe this really will go on forever, until no one is left... Anyway, you need to find out what happened if you want to live and not starve. ...Don't forget the rules. Get started."

As she finishes speaking a sheep walks around the trial room, handing everyone an apple and some graham crackers. Of course, even Nanami gets a small treat. The Little Brother glances at the shape of Father in his chair before quietly placing a finger to it's robotic face only for the angry voice of your Principal rings out. "Hey! Don't--ah, forget it. That'll get you through the trial. Maybe you'll bust a gut or something. What are you waiting for?! You heard Miss Kiryuu, start already!"

Investigation | Podium Layout | Locations | IC Profiles | IC Rules | IC Evidence Presentation | Evidence List | NPC Questions | Dorm Map | Paint Map


Welcome to the third trial! Consider this your reminder to make sure to get in your Week 2 AC by tomorrow's weekly post and to start getting your Week 3 AC ready to submit. Make sure to get your regains in by tomorrow night!

Remember, if you can carry it you probably can bring it. We mainly want to discourage corpse desecration, if we can, so while the body itself isn't allowed into the trial most things are. If your character has access to a piece of evidence and you don't know if you can bring it in, you can either ask the mods privately if that's possible or by pinging them in the post itself. If a piece of evidence is forgotten, you can either assume retroactively that someone did or that the sheep brought it in to make sure that everything is tidy.

As always, just put MODS in the header of your comment to get our attention for any clarification.

Good luck!

SECOND TRIAL

((CW implied cannibalism from monsters, clowns.))

Once all of the relevant rooms have been searched, it's time to dry tears and gather up evidence. The sheep, whirring dully and many of them hanging their heads, gradually round the remaining children up and begin herding them to the elevator doors. Even with only two extra people missing, it's much roomier inside once the doors are closed. Once everyone is loaded, the car begins its shrieking descent, lights and sounds grating equally as the students are once more shuttled down to the containment area.

Some of the cells on the way down contain familiar charges, but other denizens seem to have been moved. Or perhaps the layout of the containment area changed recently? Today, a large cell is home not only to an elderly woman but her large rickety home. She sits on her porch with a certain grace, even if there's a glint in her eye that feels more malicious than kindly as she beckons at you with a gnarled finger. The sudden scrambling of her home's talons might startle the unprepared. Another cell contains nothing more than a constantly roaring fire, the blaze stretched wall to wall and pulsing rhythmically at its core every so often, as it if it had its own beating heart.

For anyone worried the clown wouldn't be returning: Have no fear! The gang's friend is here again, though there are two fewer intact balloons now gripped in his hand. He's even taken efforts to look beautiful for everyone observing through the cell doors, and the red makeup around his lips is bright and freshly applied. Beautiful! Until he draws the flat of his knife across his mouth, and the source becomes obvious, just as bright as it was a week ago.

In the courtroom--the depressing, angular nightmare that passes for one--the stone podiums stand waiting for their respective students once more. With a couple more empty than the last time the group was down here, they're looking more and more like gravestones.

The desk is still down here, albeit empty this time. But the projector screen is exactly the same, the ram's head looking out at the sick entertainment on offer. For someone who's turned all of this into his own person theater, one would think he'd sound delighted by the death and destruction. Instead, his strong voice is just as clipped and angry as it always is. He barks out a command.

"Time to actually use those minds of yours! I guess this witch hunt is about to begin. Find out what happened to Thomasin or it'll be your necks on the line!"


Investigation | Podium Layout | Locations | IC Profiles | IC Rules | IC Evidence Presentation | Evidence List | NPC Questions


Welcome to your second trial for Round 2! As we know that trials and any afterparties can get busy, we'd like to quickly remind everyone to make sure their Week 1 AC is squared away by tomorrow's weekly post and to start collecting their Week 2 threads to submit. Make sure to get your regains in by tomorrow night as well!

As a clarification for what evidence can be brought in, a rule of thumb is that if you can carry it you probably can bring it. We mainly want to discourage corpse desecration, if we can, so while the body itself isn't allowed into the trial most things are. If your character has access to a piece of evidence and you don't know if you can bring it in, you can either ask the mods privately if that's possible or by pinging them in the post itself. If a piece of evidence is forgotten, you can either assume retroactively that someone did or that the sheep brought it in to make sure that everything is tidy.

As always, just put MODS in the header of your comment to get our attention for any clarification.

Good luck!

FIRST TRIAL

After all the evidence is collected, the students themselves are as well. The Little Brother units gather them up in orderly fashion, encouraging the line to proceed two-by-two up the hallway beyond the music room and into the newly opened area. When grouped up together, the class just barely fits into the glass-paneled section of the decontamination chamber. It's hard not to wonder if the entire student body was never meant to make it this far in the first place. A short burst of pressurized air later and the panels lift - and, for the first time, the door to the containment facility opens before you. Behind it, an elevator beckons the class in. A Little Brother unit reaches inside, pushes a button, and the lift's real, see-through door closes before the lift begins to lower.

As the elevator descends, the car passes floor after floor of cellblocks. Start florescent lighting casts stark highlights onto each of them, and in those closest to the elevator car, shape after shape is visible. A wolf the size of an elephant with blood-tinged saliva dripping from it's massive fangs. A clown holding 20 multicolored balloons in one hand, a popped and shredded 21st hanging from the other out to you with a gap-toothed grin. A pit of writhing snakes with no beginning and no end. The feeling is comparable to the hungry, lingering gaze from outside the academy's fence. Looking out at the many cells, it's as if there's no barrier between them and the assembled students at all.

The car's moving too fast to see all of them clearly, but careful attention reveals one final detail: Some of them are completely empty. The other noticeable thing is the noise. Snarls, roars, sly chuckles, hissing, and even someone humming a haunting lullaby... they all mix together into a cacophony as you near the final destination.

When the elevator comes to a complete stop, the group is let out into a black-floored room illuminated by the same stark florescent lighting. Luckily, as soon as you go through the doorway the noise suddenly stops. The steep walls extend some two or three stories above without interruption, throwing stern, exaggerating angles reminiscent of brutalism. 21 stone podiums stand in a densely illuminated circle in the center of the room. Each one bears a name of one of the students in the class.

The Prefect is already waiting for everyone, sitting at a long desk backed by a projector screen bearing the same ram insignia from the post-spelling bee dance. Her hands are folded in front of her, and she barely moves.

"Looks like somebody attempted the alternative capstone. A week ago, I never would have believed it... but I know better now. Those who fall behind... just weaken the herd.

Luz, The Owlette, is dead. What a stupid title... I really hated it." The Prefect's expression staggers for a moment, then settles again. "Her murderer's still here, and the only way to prove that you deserve another chance in this school is to find them. Get the exam started."

There's a flicker on the screen behind her as the Principal speaks. "You heard Miss Kiryuu. We're beginning the exam, don't just stand around staring at each other!"

Investigation | Podium Layout | Locations | IC Profiles | IC Rules | Evidence | NPC Questions


While played out OOCly on Saturdays, trials ICLY take place the afternoon after investigations are concluded. This means that characters will have only a brief period of rest to gather their thoughts before being brought down. While the podium layout graphic shows room numbers, the real stone does bear characters' names.

The victim's body will not be available for reexamination during the trial but other pieces of evidence small enough to carry/move with you can be brought down into the trial. If you need mod input or NPC input in the middle of a thread please put 'MODS' in the header so we can see. Trials play out until the killer is caught or until around 8pm Eastern, at which point we'll try to wrap up. Good luck!

Week Zero

OOC Notes