day one - afternoon

[guestcontrol]

dreamland day one 41 players remaining. [As the day wears on into the afternoon, the dead aren't getting any deader. It's late in the afternoon, and the air is beginning to cool, when the chimes play again over the park loudspeaker. "All of us here at Dreamland wish you luck, guests! Let's meet up in the Hall of Mirrors!" Wherever you are, it's time to make your way over to the House of Horrors, where you'll have to brave the funhouse to find the room on the top floor. Don't delay, or your guest identification bracelet will begin beeping. The House of Mirrors is a large room, more than capable of fitting a crowd. Tall mirrors line every wall, and the door you entered through seems to vanish into a mirror as well. The mirrors give the impression that many, many more are among your number, standing in the background. In the back is a jar filled with blank raffle tickets. You'll have to take a ticket, write down a name, and place it back in the jar. Hopefully you already know who you're voting for, but if not, you only have time for a brief discussion before you're out of time. rulebook character statuses private conversations graveyard Voting will close at 10 PM EST on Sept 24. Voting

Comments

[impheired]

For all we know, it could even be something more sinister than just an attempt at rousing panic. It could be the VIPs trying to force a lynch.

[fanbase]

Makes sense to me. What's a better way to freak people out than having them vote for an innocent... [ She pauses. ] ...being?

It's true that we've gotta find the VIPs fast, but we've got barely anything to go on and trusting some note that could be from any one of us is a dumb idea.

[impheired]

That and they guarantee that they end up with two innocent people dead in one day. Potentially three, if Ishtar was part of a pair. Which he wasn't, luckily.

[Why does that seem at least halfway terrible to say...]

But you're right, going along with it without any concrete evidence one way or the other is just stupid.

[fanbase]

Take it you didn't find anything important after we spoke?

[ She doesn't sound completely smug... just a little bit. It's amazing. She sighs, sounding a little down. ]

Those interviews were a total bust too.

[impheired]

I didn't, no...

[He sounds vaguely disappointed in himself but not completely disheartened.]

Well I figured they wouldn't point right at any of our VIPs but were they really a total bust? There wasn't anything useful you learned from that?

[This possibly comes off as at least backhandedly rude but he's honestly just curious here. He didn't think Clash's plan was completely terrible after all, just that it wouldn't accomplish what she thought it would.]

[fanbase]

I thought that there might be some hole in someone's story and they'd be upset at Malik, wether it was a VIP or the key bearer, so it'd at least lead us somewhere.

But it sounds like Royce didn't come back with anything. Just a bunch of people complaining how big of a jerk he was, which is no news to anyone at all.

[impheired]

I have a really hard time believing this was done by anybody other than a VIP. If the detonator did give out a key last night, I would think the person they gave it to would've held onto it y'know? Chances are, nobody except for the VIPs have any reason to play this game. So I can't see a non-VIP getting a key and deciding to use it that same night while the VIPs did nothing. I feel like...if a detonator's key was used, we would have had more than one body.

But that's just me. Anyway, that's a little disappointing to hear. I thought maybe we'd get lucky and you'd stumble across some unrelated, but still useful clue while you were interviewing people.

[fanbase]

I don't think the VIPs did nothing, just that the medical team chose to protect the right person. Maybe the detective did get lucky and maybe the medical team did too, but maybe the Detonator gave it to someone who they know would use it.

Our profiles are right at the touch of a hand. Someone could have looked through those and thought they would be the perfect person to give the key to. Or maybe they're friends. It's not a possibility that could be ruled out either.

Nobody knows how this game really works except for the people with roles, anything goes.

[eventhandler]

That is true. I did interview as much as I could, and it seems, ah, a wide variety of people were shocked, upset with his...declarations. Especially considering the dog.

But while people were offended, it does not seem like anyone would go as far as to...kill him.

However, I do not know everyone well enough to know if they would secretly act on their feelings or not. It seems unlikely, but...

[fanbase]

But it could still be a possibility.

It's not that weird to think that someone was mad he threatened a dog. They just might be good at hiding that part of themselves and have an easy time pretending to be someone they're not.

[eventhandler]

This is true. People can be...secretive. May lie about how upset they are.

[He frowns.] I am sorry the interviews were not a success. All I found is that Malik was not...popular. Which could have been a reason in and of itself, of course, for his death. He would not be...missed. Which is upsetting, very upsetting, if the VIPs did kill him for that reason alone...

[fanbase]

I still think it was a good idea. It's better than sitting around denying that it's happening in the first place. You never know what might come up, you might have heard something important and haven't even realized it yet.

Doesn't that seem a little weird to you though? Malik was obviously not a friend maker, but they got rid of him first. Probably because nobody liked him, but you'd think they go for someone else to really make an impact and show that they're serious about this.

[eventhandler]

Perhaps. We need to gather all clues, consequential or...well, the other one. Not consequential? Yes. If we put the pieces together, we can see patterns, and if we see patterns...well, we can do something about it.

[He nods at that second part, looking thoughtful.] Yes, why not...? There are several of us who are...popular. Likable. Such as Mabel, or Ibuki...someone who made an impact, a positive one. Why not kill one of those? It would produce, as they say, a great "shock factor". Show that they mean business. Why was Malik, as unlikable as he was, the target?

[belgian]

To make themselves feel better about doing it? People like to be able to justify their own actions.

[eventhandler]

That could be a reason, that could be a very good reason, but, do recall, we do not know why they are playing in this game in the first place. Is it blackmail? Are they being coerced? What do they get out of the deaths of others, I wonder...?

[belgian]

We can't tell yet. If it's blackmail or coercion and they really don't want to be doing what they're doing, then that would be even more reason for them choosing someone they feel less bad about killing.

...I guess it could be a strategy, too. Killing a kid or someone everyone liked would make people way angrier at them.

1/2

[fanbase]

[ She bristles when Mabel and Ibuki are mentioned. Clash looks somewhere between upset and angry. Not at him, but at the possibility of the VIPs playing a part in that. ]

It won't be Mabel or Ibuki!

[fanbase]

[ It takes a moment to gather herself, but she's still upset. ]

They're capable of taking out people who obviously has the skills for this kind of thing too. Like Miko or Levi, anyone who has that sort of advantage if they're not already a part of the VIPs.

An obnoxious guy who said he was going to cut a dog's paw off is the first to go? If this were a horror movie it'd make sense, but it's not.

[eventhandler]

[He blinks - he certainly does not want it to be Ibuki or Mabel, either. One's only a child, and to kill a teenage girl who only seems to act positively towards others? It would be...monstrous, really, to kill them without any reason.]

I hope it will not be. There are other children here, as well...and they are also in danger. What's the point of this...? This game, what's the point, it is just for the...pleasure of hurting others?

[He scowls.] Very little makes...any sense, there is not much sense to be made at all here. We do not know the motives of the VIPS, we do not know who that note was from...it is all vague and muddy, and very, very hard to figure out, with what little information we have.

[fanbase]

That's why I still think it's a high change that they key bearer did this. Maybe the VIPs were planning to off someone important and the medical team saved them, but someone either wanted to test the key out on someone we wouldn't miss or they were working independently to take Malik out.

It's either that or the VIPs decided to do us a favor. The only way to figure out who's got a pattern and how is... if we see it more often, which I don't think anyone wants.

[jingler]

Wouldn't it more advantageous for the VIPs to not force a lynch? They could recruit someone to their ranks if we do not vote today.

[impheired]

[He shrugs.]

Depends on which win condition they're going for. If they think it's easier to just kill us all off, then it would make more sense to try and kill as many people as possible every day and not bother with conversion.

[jingler]

That is true. We don't know what the VIPs plans are so we cannot be sure what they will do. And killing someone here today would speed up the process for them without a risk of the Conversion Busters stopping them.

[impheired]

And without the risk of them potentially converting somebody who might not play along. No matter which side you're on in this game, every move you can possibly make is incredibly risky. Especially this early on. So it's just a matter of cutting your risks and going for the best possible option at any given point.

So for now, they might think it's better to just keep their group as small as possible until they can figure out something more concrete. The fewer people who know a secret, the easier it is to keep, after all. I don't think it's a stretch to say something like that might be their line of thinking? Feel free to correct me if I'm way off here.

[ionicwoman]

You think it could be someone else just trying to mess with us...?