Lost Souls

[shimmershimmer]

[You don't wake up, exactly, but at some point you come to. There's something wrong with you, a numbness and translucency. Should you try to touch something, your hand will pass through it. Why, it's as if you were a ghost. So that's the bad news. Sorry about that. The good news is that mentally, you've woken up entirely. You remember the real truth of who you are, your relationship to your so-called "family," and all the other lies you've been fed by the Shimmering Lady.

You can move freely around what you will soon realize to be the village. The reason why it may take moment of realization is simply because it doesn't look anything like you remember it. The sky is black, the grass is dead, and the cottages are run-down and shoddy concrete buildings. The pond is dirty, and there are no animals whatsoever, anywhere.

And the temple. It's more like a storehouse than a temple. The Shimmering Lady is there, or that mass of flesh and tendrils that calls itself the Shimmering Lady...

She doesn't seem to see or hear you. When the others exit their "homes," neither will they. And there's some strange force keeping you within the walls...]

((Popcorn, mingle, curse the Lady, etc! Also! There will be a special thing for you to do here once Night 01 starts. Watch for it~ :>))

Comments

Trial 4: Connor tho

[ill_hearted_gentleman]

[ Well that conversation Connor just had with the Lady was. A thing. Truly unrivaled in the quality of its thingness. And both very enlightening and very unenlightening at the same time, but either way, Oswin's gone ghastly pale by the end of it. He doesn't even care about being totally wrong about whether or not the Gentleman exists, that kind of pales in comparison to how one of them's going to eat the survivors if they win and they don't know which one it is. ]

[irenicly]

The Gentleman told us he was trapped in the barn because of the Lady. I don't know if he was lying or not, but...

[If the Gentleman is the one who won't eat the survivors, the odds aren't good.]

[ill_hearted_gentleman]

...I... I doubt he is staying there of his own volition. But... is it because he is a danger to us or a danger to her...?

[ Usually Oswin speaks with firm confidence, but this clearly has him distinctly rattled. ]

[irenicly]

In my dreams, I saw the barn as a beautiful temple.

Kimblee-san told me he was likely the same species as the Lady, and that may be true. If it is, Yao-san may be dead. That's what I thought happened this morning, but it's likely I'm wrong.

There's one way to know for sure: we need to look for the Gentleman.

[ill_hearted_gentleman]

...Ah, yes, the barn, of course. We should go see this Gentleman with our own eyes. We may learn something. [ Hopefully something that isn't "he can eat ghosts, too." ]

[irenicly]

If we're lucky, he won't be able to see us.

[ill_hearted_gentleman]

I... It does not seem that the Lady can, so... perhaps....

[irenicly]

[But is the Lady pretending she can't see them? This isn't good.]

Oswin-san, if the Major and Clover-chan are taken out today, there's only one demon left. I think if either the Lady or the Gentleman win, the villagers are going to die, but the Gentleman is trapped so he probably only eats people who come to him.

Today's probably our only chance to save them.

[ill_hearted_gentleman]

...They may react as poorly as the Major did. It is a great risk. If... If the Gentleman truly is the lesser of the two evils, it may be better for us to awaken important people among the villagers instead. The demons can do nothing about Bobby Fulbright as long as the Templar remains unknown, but if we awaken him, he may act similarly to Connor and oppose the Lady.

[irenicly]

[He nods.]

Tonight, all of us should try to save a villager if it's possible; Fulbright-san's good at what he does. I hope he does a better job than the Major.

[ill_hearted_gentleman]

[ Oswin nods in return. The shock's worn off enough by now for him to return to his usual firmness. ]

The Lady was cautious last night, and will likely be the same tonight. It may be difficult, but we must do everything we can to protect the people here.

[irenicly]

We'll keep trying until we succeed.

[fauxlosophical]

[WOW, OSWIN

IT'S ALMOST LIKE THERE WAS A REASON HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE PUT IN THE FUCKING BARN]

...They're the same species. If I had to guess, female-dominated; she's larger than he is. More imposing.

[ill_hearted_gentleman]

[ LOOK KIMBLEE COULD'VE BEEN WRONG ABOUT THAT, OKAY, IT'S NOT LIKE LISTENING TO HIM HAS EVER PROVEN TO BE A GOOD IDEA BEFORE ]

If she truly is female....

[ He hasn't exactly gone looking for any bits and isn't too keen on trying. ]

[steel_over_blood]

[ Bulat has worked for some pretty terrible people but at least the Minister never ate anybody. Probably. There are rumors. Lies, murder, corruption in the ranks as far as you can see... this is starting to feel just like home. Home but with much less in the way of reliable allies, everyone's back against the wall, and also he can't do a damn thing because he's in a coma waiting to be eaten? Well, there's nothing for it. This is the worst situation, and now they have to deal with it. ]

The way things stand, we have two matters to settle. Which monster we should believe, and how to best support our side once the Lady starts dragging people around tonight.

[ Because our nightly shenanigans have such an excellent success rate. ]

[ill_hearted_gentleman]

[ Oswin is... considerably less used to anything approaching this level of general bullshit, give him a moment here. Can disembodied spirits still get headaches because Oswin thinks he feels a monster of one coming on. ]

...Connor seems to have allied himself with the Gentleman, but.... [ what's the politest way to say he seems really gullible... ] he also saw fit to place his trust in Kimblee. I would like to see the Gentleman myself before I make a decision.

[irenicly]

Bulat-san, Oswin-san, I'm willing to take you to the Gentleman. I don't know what's going to happen, so we have to be careful, but it's our only lead at the moment.

[steel_over_blood]

I've been wondering what the man behind the demons is like, yeah. Let's pay him a call.

[irenicly]

I'll lead the way.