FINAL INVESTIGATION

[umbralant]

FINAL INVESTIGATION

Time continues to pass. And before long, it's the end of the week once again. Maybe it feels strange to call it that when there's such little sense of time besides the changing phases of the moon, and maybe the exact day doesn't even matter to you anymore. But regardless of the day, regardless of the month, regardless of the year, one thing is certain:

The time for preparations is over.

Because as the moon in the sky shines blood red, it becomes clear that all of the fog and the tremors were nothing but omens for what was to come.

And so, on Friday morning, Survivors will find themselves waking up to the sensation of energy practically buzzing through the air, prickling and tingling on skin like static electricity. Those who venture outside will also find that the fog that's creeped up in the recent days has been dispelled entirely, which includes the impassable kind that once hid a number of the buildings. Despite this, the tremors themselves do not lessen, and in fact, the earth itself seems to be vibrating with this energy as well.

The feeling will only get worse as the day progresses, and those who have been marked by the manifestations may feel more restless than normal.

The clock is ticking and there are some new areas to explore. No one's coming to save you, so there's nothing to do but to save yourselves, right?

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[psychophant]

[Down we go!! Give us a moment to make it down here with light!!]

I don't know what else you expected...

[castle basements are always dungeons, aren't they??? Anyway, now that we've got some light down here, can we get a better idea of how many workbenches there are and what's on the closest ones?]

[umbralant]

[ There's two benches, one of which has a device of some kind, in the light it looks like it could be some kind of gauge but you'll need to look closer. On the other bench is something you're all exceedingly familiar with, skala! Or more accurately, a giant pile of skala.

Next to the scala is a blender. And while you're here, there's scuff marks on the floor surrounding the benches which track back to the stairs. ]

[inordertobelieve]

So that's... where we got our sludge.

[ Presumably? BUT WHY????

Mikami is going to leave that to Iago, who is an expert by now, and approach the device instead. What's its general shape etc? What's going on here? ]

[umbralant]

[ Why indeed, if only manager bats cared about their customer service rating. But onto the device! The device looks like a giant gauge with with a screen on the front (currently turned off) and a space on the bottom where it looks like you could insert something.

Notably there's no wires of any sort, but there is a power button in the corner.]

[inordertobelieve]

[ Does the bottom space seem the right side for Skala?]

[umbralant]

[ It can fit Skala, yes! It's a little larger than that, so you could jam other things into there as well. Going to try? ]

[inordertobelieve]

[ Yep. He's going to grab a few Skala from the table and insert one, then press power. Let's see.]

[umbralant]

[ The screen turns on to a numerical output with V as the unit of measurement. Inserting a small piece of skala causes the number to rise, and inserting a larger piece causes it to climb even higher. ]

[inordertobelieve]

This measures some component included in Skala. Volt...?

[ Saying this out loud for a while the benefit of his fellow investigators.

How much V does 1 Skala tend to hold? And is there anything else the gauge seems able to do aside from label V?]

[umbralant]

[ 1 skala is roughly 0.5 V! The small pieces give 0.4V, the larger ones 0.6 V. The gauge doesn't do anything else except measure V. ]

moves this here instead!!

[psychophant]

[deadeyeing the skala.........]

Why.

[But fine, apparently he's an expert now, so while Mikami's checking out the device, he'll go poke the skala! Is it exactly the same skala we're all used to? Is there anything else off about it?]

[umbralant]

[ It's the same skala you're used to, just a whole bunch of it. But seeing as he's poking the skala, moving it aside reveals a crumpled up piece of paper all the way at the bottom of the pile. ]

[psychophant]

[Oh boy, more paper!! What does it say? While we're at it, is the handwriting familiar? He's already found one of the Lady's notes before, he can definitely pick her handwriting out!! And of course, the most important question of all: what color is the ink!!!!!]

[umbralant]

[ Bingo, it's the Lady's handwriting, in black ink!: ]

Having to make a way of sustenance for someone like Ulquiorra is a challenge, but I believe I got the right combination of ingredients, these skala being the main component. This should have all the spiritual qualities he requires. That was interesting to work on -- he better be grateful.

[ Endgame spoilers: he was not grateful. ]

[psychophant]

[DEADEYES INTENSIFIES..........]

Why.

[Why does skala have "spiritual qualities", why did Ulquiorra need to eat money, why did he give it to us to deal with, why any of this!!!

Ugh okay, fine. If there's nothing else to see on the note, he'll pocket it and check out the blender. Anything noteworthy here?]

[umbralant]

[ Maybe he's the monopoly man bat.

Moving onto the blender, the only thing of note is that it's clean and doesn't look like it's been used recently. ]

[psychophant]

[Gods. He hates this. He would've preferred bodies over this!!!!! Probably.

Anyway, is there anywhere to plug the blender in, assuming it isn't plugged in already? Is there anything else to note about the blender/skala/anything over here?

Also while we're here, we aren't looking at exactly eighty-three skala, right. Just to double-check.]

[drydrown]

[So for the sake of efficiency and because he imagines he can't 100% get away with just standing here looking cute, what kind of scuff marks are we looking at? Like something was dragged across the floor? Like some kind of substance...?]

[umbralant]

[ With this party it's a possibility. The scuff marks look like things were dragged, yes! They're dirt scuff marks with sharp edges that vary in size, from big to small. Taken together, it seems like someone moved a pile of boxes from this room somewhat recently. ]

[drydrown]

[He'd get away with it, but Mikami would judge.

But all right. If the boxes were heavy enough to warrant dragging and left marks, and then were presumably brought up the stairs, well...RIP to the Lady's back? That said, are there still any boxes in here, or were they all cleared out?]

[umbralant]

[ All cleared out unfortunately, but hey now you know where her weak spot is. There's nothing else to see around, so it might be look cute time-- or he could venture upstairs. ]

[drydrown]

[He imagines Iago and Mikami will yell at him if he leaves...but on the other hand, he really doesn't like being idle, and they're busy so maybe they won't notice if he fucks off for just a little while, and if he comes across something he can't handle he can always come back here and get them.

Also, he's never made a good decision in his life.

So! Upstairs. Sure. Why the fuck not. Assuming nothing has changed in the entrance hall, there were more stairs heading up, right? Let's check those out.]

[umbralant]

[ This is a good choice, obviously. Heading up the stairs from the entrance hall leads Cumore to a really long corridor. There's a lot of closed (unlocked) doors in this hall but they're all pretty unexciting just like the unused rooms downstairs. At the end though, is one incredibly ornate door that just screams "look at me!", and one door from which rustling can be heard.

Hm. ]

[drydrown]

[...oh, good, there's possibly something alive in here.

Let's...take one making weird noises first, just because that's where the first thought goes. Clear out the monsters and then figure out what to do with everything else. Sword still out, fully prepared to stab some shit if needed. Let's fucking go.]

[psychophant]

[UGH THAT WAS A LOT OF STAIRS, but you know what, Cumore is in one piece and dealing with the cats, so he can yell at Cumore for being reckless later. For now... Let's see what's behind that ornate door! Assuming there aren't any traps, of course!!!]