Final Investigation.

[trustwellness]

The Wordsmith's message earlier this week was an ominous one; try as one might, it's difficult to ignore completely, especially with such few details provided to the group. "The end" is such a vague description; however, it does mean one thing, and that's the promise that all of this will come to a close, one way or another. He's promised you one other thing, however – that being that the only way to leave the building is by way of Rule Seven. The chimes ring out, as they always do, on Friday morning; a thorough check of the building will bring with it the realization that no one has died as of last night. There are no bodies to be found in any of the rooms; Kageshirou remains in the foyer, but in general it doesn't seem that anything has changed. However, it's plain that you're all getting restless, and perhaps understandably so; there's only one thing to do in that sort of circumstance, isn't there? After all, you've gotten good at this game; you know what happens on Fridays around here. There are a lot of places to check; just as a bit of advice, you might want to start on the lowest floor first. Other than that, however? You're on your own. Best of luck to you. >Explore?

Comments

[trustwellness]

[It looks like you've found a library of sorts - it's closer to a private study than anything, but either way, it looks like the Wordsmith is living up to his title.]

[acherontiastyx]

Oh, snap. Books. You wanna take the left side of the room, then?

[...he's already kind of heading to the right.]

[firstaid]

[A library? Well, there goes Estelle investigating the books immediately. How many shelves of books are there? What are their titles? She's engaged because BOOKS!]

Oh, huh? Sure...

[Good luck with her, Guzma.]

[acherontiastyx]

...alright. You have fun.

[...is there anything in the room that's not a book, then, since Estelle has that covered.]

[trustwellness]

[We've got a desk over here, if you'd like to go check that out.]

[acherontiastyx]

[yeah. he's gonna go check out this desk and see what's in it. well. is there anything on it, first off?]

[trustwellness]

[There are! There are some flowers here, for one thing, they look like this.

There is also a book set aside from the others here.]

[acherontiastyx]

[...he doesn't know anything about flowers. uh. hm. okay.

ANYWAY, what's this book.]

[trustwellness]

[You will notice a few things about it right away - those things being that it seems far older than the rest, and looks like it's been incredibly beat-up.

There doesn't appear to be a title on the spine, either.]

[acherontiastyx]

[...so he's probably gonna have to open this one up, then. Hopefully it's some easy reading.

...

It's probably not easy reading.]

[trustwellness]

[...It is the exact opposite of easy reading, given that it's in a language that no one here is going to be able to identify.]

[acherontiastyx]

[...okay. moonspeak. got it.

...he's going to flip through and see if there's anything comprehensible in it.]

[trustwellness]

[In doing that, you'll find a slip of paper folded up inside of it, tucked between two of the pages!]

[acherontiastyx]

...jackpot.

[LET'S LOOK AT THIS PAPER.]

[trustwellness]

[Good job, Estelle.

They all seem to have a few things in common - they're all on the old side, and they largely seem to be tragedies.

(They're also highly pretentious, but that's kind of a matter of subjective taste.)

There's also Faust here, because why the hell wouldn't there be Faust.]

[firstaid]

[Estelle definitely takes book out from the shelf and carefully skims through it.

What kind of pretentious are we talking about? Like large words, snobbish, someone who would has them because they want to appear well educated?

She'll put the book back and pick up Faust because I'm sure it caught her interest one way or another. Opening it, she leafs carefully through the pages.]

[trustwellness]

[With regards to the pretentiousness... All of the above, really. Somebody's trying to look cultured, at the very least.

There's nothing actually in Faust itself - that seems fine - but that doesn't mean there's nothing interesting on the shelves; they're just mostly tragedies, some of them are...something else.]

[firstaid]

[Well, Estelle picks up on this while leafing through these books. The tragedies and well... this Faust book is a little eerie so putting that back.

Are there any books that stand out? Like is there a newer looking one, or one that has a bright color? One with a large spine? Or all they all pretty much the same looking?]

[trustwellness]

[Some of them seem a little different in terms of title - among all the things that are obviously named as one would expect fiction to be, there are several that seem a bit more to-the-point.

Namely, once you've hit a certain section we've got a lot of books on philosophy as relates to spirituality and metaphysics.]

[firstaid]

[That is an interesting section relating to philosophy. She's read some back home, but these seem different to her.

She'll pull a book out of that section and actually start carefully reading through it. She's read a lot of tragedies (and heck, she actually likes tragedies), but this...

It's different...

It's intriguing. Maybe because this is how the Wordsmith thinks or wants to think? So she's being a little more careful reading these books.]

[trustwellness]

[They're kind of an interesting read, to be honest, if a little dense.

Some of them relate to the nature of souls themselves - we've got things regarding spiritual composition as thought by Socrates and Plato, the concepts of logos, thymos, and eros and how the interplay between all of those parts (reason, anger as relates to external stimuli, and emotion) affect the strength and status of one's immortal soul. Normally reason regulates the others, but disrupting the balance could lead to changes and unforeseen effects.

...Do you want to keep going?]

[firstaid]

[It's honestly really interesting and Estelle is rather taken in by this. Especially about disrupting the balance. Did the Wordsmith wish to achieve this by creating this game? Yes, she'll keep going and read more, especially if it potentially gets into the mind of their captor.

And it's clear she's into this because she's sitting down on the floor now reading this book. She might be grabbing a few more philosophy books along with it in case she keeps finding this interesting.]

[trustwellness]

[...Estelle, you are wonderful and you should feel good. Onward we go, then!

There are a few things here regarding the actualization of the human soul - the notion that a person's soul is not separate from the body, but in fact consists of a person's purpose being fulfilled, said purpose being living a fully functional human life in accordance with reason. Reason is the faculty of the soul most relevant to (and unique to) humanity.

It looks like it contradicts the former thing she was reading, but there are allowances for them to be compatible - for example, the active mind is considered immortal, despite the soul as a whole being mortal and bound to the body's ability to be alive.

>Keep going?]

[firstaid]

[Actualization, huh? Like self-actualization? In any case, this kind of reading really hits her. Living a functional human life within reason... she's sure she never lived a functional life until she left the castle. Perhaps that's why she found meaning in living when she got to explore and find her place in society as a healer-- not as a princess.

So is it perhaps realizing ones' potential that allows their soul to soar, in a sense? But the reason part... there's a lot of things about reason, it seems.

Our friend here must be a logical kind. Who likes tragedies and is a cultured, pretentious shit.

However, she can resonate with having an active mind-- her's is certainly active.

So yes, she's reading still. Uh, yeah. She's forgotten why she came here and that Guzma is there...

>Keep going!]

[trustwellness]

[I mean, maybe he'll carry her down to the courtroom if she absolutely can't put the books down. Just set her down at a podium and let her go, who knows.

Either way! Yes, the books are also big on self-actualization being achieved through finding purpose and function; there's also some things regarding the nature of the soul as relates to the body - namely, how they're both considered separate from the body, and yet integrally connected.

...As well as the notion that that connection can be disrupted or severed through happy things like "dying", and that even beyond that it can still be considered metaphysically viable in various ways.

Can't destroy energy and all that, etc.]