week one: trial

[getawaymods]

WEEK ONE: TRIAL

Morning dawns bright and early the day after the announcement of the dead, and as the sun tracks its way across the sky, the voice's message is likely not far from anyone's mind. The fire in the ruins still burns, though as the minutes tick by into hours, the flames slowly begin to subside.

Finally, the sun reaches its highest point just as the flames in the ruins sputter out. A low, deep thrumming sound echoes throughout the entire island, which turns into ringing, a drawn-out signal that grows louder and louder until it seems as though all other sounds on the island fall to a hush.

It is then that the lighthouse beacon becomes illuminated, drawing them all to the southern beach. That same voice as before rings, audible throughout the entire island.

"There are those of you who hope to escape from this with clean hands... well, I suggest you discard those hopes. You are all participants in this game, and you will all be complicit in the sacrifices that take place here, or else you will not have earned your passage home.

You have until the sun vanishes beneath the horizon. Choose your next sacrifice, and choose who will dispatch them. Speak the names of your choices into the conch. Failure to cooperate will result in a fate worse than death.

...perhaps you should investigate the deaths. Would it ease your conscience to condemn someone to death whose hands are already stained with the blood of a sacrifice? The bodies are out there, and the evidence as well... but you will have to find it yourselves.

Tick-tock, tick-tock! Your time starts... now."

Once the entire group has gathered, the lighthouse's beacon flickers out.

It is time to choose the next sacrifice... and hopefully, to catch a killer.

Good luck.

OOC NOTES

Welcome to your first trial, everyone! This trial will take place from 9am PST/12pm EST/4am NZST, and will last until 6pm PST/9pm EST/1pm NZST.

There will be a one-hour trial break from 1pm PST/4pm EST/8am NZST to 2pm PST/5pm EST/9am NZST. We recommend that you use this time to get something to eat if you haven't yet already, play some Animal Crossing, or even just take a quick nap. During this time, no mod tags will go out; we also ask that players refrain from starting any intensive threads such as interrogations, strip searches, hair or injury comparisons, etc. While we're not going to say you're not allowed to tag during this time, we also don't want anyone to miss out on anything important during an official break.

Please remember to have your character cast a vote on the voting page! Voting is mandatory, as it functions as the activity check for the game. If you do not cast a vote by the time trial is over, your character will be killed off. Please contact the mods prior to the end of the trial if something comes up and you are prevented from voting (i.e. 504 errors, etc).

If you have any questions, please go ahead and ask! Your mods and fellow players are always here to help. And most of all... have fun!

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Comments

[ahappyaccident]

What's wrong with it, exactly?

[ they're obviously having a Moment here, or rachel wouldn't hesitate, but. ]

If it's really true that only some of us can go home, then why shouldn't we let the ones who want to help the rest of you get back do it? I mean, if it comes down to it, I'd say the same. I'm supposed to be dead anyway, so it's not like there's anything for me to go back to.

[lacking]

[Ah.]

... Please, don't say that. Even if you think it's true! You're alive now, aren't you? I don't want to think of anyone here as disposable.

[ahappyaccident]

It's not that I think it's true, it is true. I died. There's no point in me trying to get back home to die for real when someone who could be alive in their own world gets stuck here.

It's not a matter of disposability. It's just realistic.

[lacking]

It's not realistic! Something like that... It's just too cruel. What if there's a way for you to return home, alive, and you squander it by offering yourself as a sacrifice? Don't give the island, the curse, or whatever this is, exactly what it wants.

[ahappyaccident]

I never said it wasn't cruel. That's just how it is sometimes.

[ she says it bluntly, not leaving any room for excuses. ]

I'm not going to get my hopes up for nothing. Like it or not, Neena, I'm dead back home. I'm not saying we give up and give it what it wants, just that if we don't have any other choice, there's no reason for me to leave here.

[lacking]

[....................]

Then let's try to solve this and find another solution, okay? We shouldn't think about that now.

[overruns]

[ while rachel has mentioned her death before, he still doesn't wholly understand it. there's weirder stuff going on though than a few corporeal dead people, he supposes... whatever it's fine, talking to the dead is totally normal. ]

Because we have no idea that playing along with this game will earn any of us freedom. I will not put my blind faith in some voice that promises liberation at the cost of others.

And besides—how could I live freely, knowing it was thanks to your death?

[ahappyaccident]

Because I died before we even got here, Dimitri. That's how.

[overruns]

[ it doesn't matter, everyone quit dying!!!!! or double-dying!!!!! ]

Even so, you are here now. You are as real as any of us. I would not see you die again solely to satisfy the rules of a game we never agreed to play!

[ahappyaccident]

Look, I'm with you on all that. But seriously, there's nothing for me to go back to. Even if I get off this island, what then?

I'm just saying. If some of us really have to die for the rest of you to get back, I'm not taking someone's spot.

[overruns]

[ He doesn't know what will happen to her after. Will she just... be trapped here? Stuck with the rest of these sad ghosts? Or perhaps move on, to wherever the Goddess intends the souls of the lost to travel? ]

I cannot say what awaits you after this. I truly wish I could. But until the very end, we must do what we can to ignore this ritual's demands. No matter what your circumstances are, I would not allow anyone to take my place in death.

[ahappyaccident]

Who says I wouldn't just be taking my own spot back?

[ she shakes her head. ]

Like I told Neena, I'm not saying we should just give up and do what the creepy disembodied voice wants. I'm just saying, if there are no other options, as someone who's already dead, I'm going to make sure one of you that isn't gets back to where you belong. That's all.

[overruns]

[ They're both going to be stubborn about this, and it isn't the time to argue. Besides, what Rachel says may be a real danger on the horizon if they don't figure this all out.

He just wants to believe it won't happen. It won't. ]

I cannot change your mind, Rachel. But for now, we can work together—I will keep your words in mind as we fight against fate.

[ He's not ready to sacrifice anyone, even in hypotheticals. ]