Final Investigation.

[trustfellows]

Friday morning dawns like the rest of the week before it, with the chiming of the clock and the doors to the kitchen unlocking; once again, there's no announcement from Jericho, and everything seems to be largely quiet. Noticeably quiet, really, given that there are only eight of you left. However, quiet tends to be a good thing around here, overall; it means you're free to go about your business like you usually would. There are a couple of things to note, however, as your morning proceeds onward and begins to creep into afternoon. The first is that Rin's unlockable box has started making a strange mechanical whirring sound. The second is that sometime slightly after noon, the power to the building suddenly and abruptly goes out, casting everything into darkness. Interesting.

Comments

[trustfellows]

[Well, there's kind of a series of doors here; the one Cabanela found, the locked one beyond that, and then a...third beyond that because either someone wanted reasonably idiot-proof security or someone has a serious addiction to Professor Layton games and/or worked as a design tech on the fucking Death Star.

So. Starting out in the first section and making our way in, then? Because if so, you'll get between doors 1 and 2 with no problems, it's just an empty corridor that doesn't seem to be doing anything in particular.]

[heritrix]

[Oops I blundered there, I should have said the one Susan found. Rin opened the one Cabanela found, duh. SO SECOND SECTION.]

[trustfellows]

[...Don't worry, I'm a mod with the benefit of having several maps to keep track of everything, and I still don't know where you guys are half the time. So you know what, Team Spatial Awareness rides again.

Okay, so! Moving through into section 2 will...

...That sure is a louder mechanical sound coming from that box. And violent vibrating.]

[heritrix]

[We will ride into the dark because we took a wrong turn and missed the sunset. /fistpumps

ANYWAYS. The box vibrating more loudly nearly makes Rin jolt and drop it from under her arm. She fumbles to catch it, holding it like it could be a small bomb.]

Geez! Does this thing have to be so creepy? I can't tell if it's a bomb or a key.

[bloodbiter]

[Just... A small pause.]

This may not be the best time to ask, but what is a bomb?

[heritrix]

A device that explodes.

[This is such a casual conversation to have while still holding it in her hands.]

[bloodbiter]

Oh.

[This is fine.]

Perhaps you should not be holding it, then.

[heritrix]

[Don't worry, she's not for long!]

[trustfellows]

[...Given that there's light that seems to be coming from the inside of it, just visible from the inside through one of the joins where the wood connects, that is a good question. Lights from nowhere are either a very good or a very bad sign, so you may want to decide whether you're going to let it drop or not in short order.]

[bloodisthicker]

...maybe you should throw it at the door.

[evilfrenzy]

[UM.]

We should all back away from it for now at the very least.

[perpend]

...Agreeing with them. Let's assume it's a bomb.

[heritrix]

[You read her mind.]

[heritrix]

[FUCK IT, there's only one thing you can do at a time like this to make the best of either scenario.]

Duck for cover!

[Because Rin's going to chuck the box at the door.]

[trustfellows]

[THERE IT GOES sailing across the corridor, where it hits the door with a wooden thunk and...

...kind of bounces off awkwardly to the floor, as hard things do when they connect with another hard thing.

It vibrates some more, making loud clattering noises against the floor, before it just kind of...stops with a vaguely sad mechanical whurr. It sits there for a moment longer, and then it shifts again - splitting open at that corner join that was emitting light seconds earlier, the sides of the box falling away with a heavy clack against the ground.

Looks like there's something inside.]

[bloodbiter]

[After a few seconds of ducking and covering her head, she looks up, and:]

That's a bit anticlimactic, isn't it?

[Anyways, let's go check out what's inside.]

[notaccurate]

[Luca here had practically dove for cover, but now that things haven't exploded he's coming back to look.]

That is preferable to being on fire, if we're being honest here.

[evilfrenzy]

My thoughts exactly. Seriously, Adelina...are you telling me you wanted it to be a bomb?

[Personally Rideaux is fine with not being caught in an explosion.]

[bloodbiter]

That would have been quite inconvenient, admittedly.

[heritrix]

I can't say that went better than expected, but good. We're not all dead.

[Things are already looking up! What was it inside, Adelina?]

[bloodbiter]

That's certainly better than the alternative.

[As for what's inside... A key, and a gift (?) for you!]

[matchbreaker]

... Yeah, I'll say.

[ Elda remarks, popping her head in with Ball-Ditty in hand. She had considered going further up the stairs but nah, better to stick with everyone. ]

[trustfellows]

[First of all, it looks like there's a sensor of some sort in there! It's a small device affixed to one of the still-attached side, and it looks like it's wired into the box itself, with small wires threading into the wood. It looks like it's got a little light on it that was probably the source of the glowing earlier, and there are clear mechanical locking mechanisms built into the sides, keeping it bolted shut until the sensor picked up...something.

...YOU ARE GOING TO RECOGNIZE LIKE NONE OF THIS AND I APOLOGIZE but just for description's sake in the event that she passes it off to someone that would have any earthly clue what they're looking at, that is the box.

Perhaps more relevant to Adelina's interests, though, there's a gold key lying inside the box. Looks like that's what was rattling around.]

[bloodbiter]

[To everyone else:]

Ah, there's a key!

[She absolutely recognizes none of this, but realizes that it's probably important! So after taking the key, she's going to carefully pick up the box and hand it back to Rin.]

[hesperos]

[ That...could've gone worse than it did.

What's inside? ]