trusthell | Take Responsibility.

And after all has been said and done and all clues have been found, those large steel doors at the end of the hallway open up.

The elevator both is and isn't a particularly nice one; it rides smoothly and quickly and it's obviously been kept-up, but there's nothing on the interior walls, lending a claustrophobic feeling to what's already a relatively small space, particularly with all of you in there. (Well. Almost all of you.) No distractions from what just happened, nothing to take your mind off of considering what might, just you and your fellow Survivors in an unadorned steel box. There's no visible panel for buttons, either; looks like it's pre-programmed; at least the ride is a relatively short one, though it's difficult to tell the distance traveled before the door opens again.

You would be forgiven for your initial thought being that it opens into a void.

It isn't complete darkness, but it's enough of a visual shift from the elevator that it probably takes your eyes some time to adjust; instead of the usual concrete and steel, the walls are a dark, heavy black, making the room look far smaller than it is. There aren't any corners to it, either; the room is tightly circular, complimenting the setup in the center of it.

In the center of the room is a circle of podiums, twenty-seven in total, arranged so that everyone standing at them can see each other. So everyone can look each other in the eyes, if they so choose. The podiums are interlocked - there's no cutting across the center of the circle, and for good reason, it looks like there's a lot of nothing down there where the floor should be, just a massive black pit in the center - and each is bearing the title of the person who's assigned to stand at it. No names, just adjectives, emblazoned across two brass panels on the very top and the front of each podium.

Affixed to the podium itself is a glass touchscreen panel; it's dark for now, but it'll probably be relevant later. At least the glass is shatterproof, in case things get heated.

In general, though, all of the podiums are identical, except for the one intended for Zagi. The podium that should bear Adaptable's title has had a black cloth draped over it, and a copy of Zagi's profile photo is sitting on top of it, framed and colorless, an image in greyscale.

It's hard to tell where the Kingmaker's voice comes from, when it does; it seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, like it's being piped in from someplace you can't see. But he's very definitely audible when he does speak.

"Adaptable has been taken from you. Looks like the guilty among you is attempting to end the exercise by carrying out Rule Seven. It's up to you whether they're held responsible for their actions or not."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The chair in the hallway was from the library, I believe. So whatever happened in the library, the fight started there, and the chair was the best option for a weapon in self-defense until Zagi could get to the kitchen knives.

That sounds about right.

But the entire hallway had blood, didn't it? Does that mean the dining area wasn't Zagi's first place to go to?

It is likely that is not Zagi-san's blood. I insist it is the culprit's.

I can't imagine that the killer would be in very good shape right now if all the blood in the hallway was theirs. It was quite a lot of blood.

None of us seem to be in bad shape right now, though.

[Which meant... something, clearly.]

Like somebody mentioned earlier, one of us seems to possess an accelerated healing factor, if that is indeed the case.

>[Bruce can't you just use 'healing fast' like a normal person.]

Edited 2016-03-05 18:23 (UTC)

M-maybe... the cuts were made after his death, to make it look like Adaptable's?

[Oh King. You're trying.]

There's too many cuts for it to seem plausible. And if the culprit did have time to do that, then why didn't he or she spent the time to clean up the scene instead?

They definitely cleaned up the body, that's for sure.

Wrong!

[HE SAYS, CHEERFULLY, GODDAMN.]

The kitchen is locked at night, remember? So Zagi probably already had the knives on him.

So he came prepared? He would've had to have them on him...before he came in to Truth or Dare, right?

It looks that way, sweetheart!

I'd like to think it was just to defend himself, not because he wanted to try anything...

Maybe! Or maybe not. Zagi was an interesting person like that.

You're right, of course. I forgot.

[For some reason that gets a hint of a smile?]

Don't worry, sweetheart - I've been asked to break doors down enough in this place to know!

Then the chair could be the culprit's attempt to defend themselves?

[At least until they turned into that monster]

Wait! Did the chair in the hallway have claw marks?

Yes.

[Pay attention.]

So it did, sweetheart. Keep up!

So Zagi probably swiped a couple of the knives from the kitchen, and was lookin' to find someone who was alone and headed to the library, where he attacked the culprit.