Taking Responsibility.

[transmittable]

Despite the lack of a body this week, you've had more than enough to explore and investigate; some of it may have answered some questions, while the rest...well, the rest may have just raised more. However you feel about it, the fact remains that as soon as you all step out of that new section above the third and make your way back toward one of the primary hallways, the lights quite suddenly go out, casting the hospital into complete darkness. Several seconds pass before something seems to happen and what sound like backup generators kick back on; the lights struggle their way back to life, only to immediately flicker and die again. It happens twice more before the power seems to stay on for good - they're feeble, but they're on, and at least it's enough to see by. It seems the power is stronger in one place in particular, however, and it shouldn't be a surprise which it is; the courtroom remains just as illuminated as ever, the seats ringing the old operating theater remaining as starkly unoccupied as they always do, and the podium circle that awaits you seems to have been set up in its final configuration. Sakura Kashima's portrait has joined the ranks of the deceased, her podium draped in black cloth. A final reminder of all you've lost here. Perhaps it's upsetting. Perhaps it'll only serve to make you more determined. The public-address system remains eerily silent, even after you've found your places in the circle; once in a while the quiet is broken by soft bursts of static, by a heavy, electric-sounding humming noise. Occasionally, whispers can be heard; whatever they're saying, it's probably not for you. Regardless, however, one thing is obvious: this is the end of the line, wherever it may have taken you. Eight Patients remain. Good luck.

Comments

[dangerousfool]

Lovecraft and I found a memorial underwater, someone who died. A transmission was saying over and over that Void drowned. From that I conclude this Submerged person is the same Void who drowned.

[ossifragant]

If they did, they must have drowned after their game, because according to George's chalkboard friend, Submerged won their game.

[arebetter]

Won? Without being part of a case?

[ossifragant]

Not a case that was recorded, at least.

[positivespin]

How many cases were recorded then?

[ossifragant]

As far as I can tell, just the two-- the one with three cases, and the fox guy who killed everyone.

That might have been the round before us, actually? There was a recording from the Risen, something about "not having enough time to soak", whatever the hell that means. And them needing to use "a kinder face" to make the next group "more agreeable." I get the feeling that's about Misty. And us.

[cthulwho]

...Um.

[This makes what he found rather ominous.]

I also found something that mentions "soaking". It was on the blackboard in the submarine with the notes about a minimum of four games being needed though it is apparently less efficient to them. There was the line..."Let them soak." A date followed.

[georgeous]

If soaking is the goal, then Submerged may have achieved... maximum soaking?

[cthulwho]

It...fits the title, I suppose. Perhaps we should try to figure out what soaking means to the Risen.

[ossifragant]

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

That... puts this into a whole different perspective, doesn't it?

What was the date?

[cthulwho]

It certainly does...

[And here he would've been totally fine with being soaked. But since the Risen want that...maybe not this time.]

The date was October 25th, 1943. It was circled multiple times and was even the password for the safe containing the documents that Wheatley presented, so...it must be important.

[journalname]

That was quite a long time ago, by my world's standards.

I am not sure our experiences relate at all, but did anything very significant happen in 1943 that anyone is aware of?

[ossifragant]

1943 hasn't even happened in my world.

[dangerousfool]

That's the year the founder of Aperture Science founded his company!

[...]

...but I'm not sure he had anything to do with everything here, so it doesn't really matter...I think?

[ossifragant]

I wonder what it means...?

[Greed's immediate thought is that it's a weirdly specific future date, but with how things have been going around here...]

I doubt it was anything good.

[georgeous]

That fits the time period of the Risen's favourite music. Rin's notes also mentioned them liking old American things....

She also said they like what is familiar to them. Since we're all from different years, maybe they were from 1943?

[journalname]

That seems reasonable. And they have referenced a terrible event in their past to me, before.

Perhaps that is the day they were betrayed.

[georgeous]

Which begs the question... have the Risen once been human?

We know them as bodyless ghosts, but they have so much association with earth human history that it's hard to imagine they've always existed as such.

[ossifragant]

Sounds likely.

Maybe that was the date they died?

[georgeous]

Are they Void?

[journalname]

They said they did not remember specifics about their former lives. Perhaps they needed to take on a new name?

[dangerousfool]

I don't think Void is more than one person. There was a jacket over the memorial, and if I remember right, humans leave mementos on the graves, stuff belonging to the person who died.

[cthulwho]

Oh... That would be something significant enough.

[Lovecraft seems pretty somber about this. To actually be dealing with spirits...]

[ossifragant]

It would be.

Can't say I blame them. I could tell you the exact date when I...

Depending what happened to them, it would be enough to drive anyone mad.

[journalname]

Unless it was a world where humans lived alongside another...but no. I think you are likely correct.

Whatever happened to them changed them. They were different before it; they would have understood things like compassion. If they ceased to be human, that was when.