Taking Responsibility.

[wordsmithery]

Despite the lack of a body, despite the fact that you've initiated the investigation today of your own volition rather than due to some sense of formality and obligation (to the dead, to the rules, to the session), it seems that the Wordsmith is aware of your activities regardless; as such, when you finally leave that hidden area on the seventh floor and move back toward the stairs, you'll find that the elevator is already waiting for you. Perhaps it's unsettling, in its own way; perhaps it'll only serve to make you more determined. Either way, the ride up is swift and smooth as always; when the door opens, however, it becomes immediately obvious that the courtroom itself has changed. The podium circle is still standing in its spot toward the front of the room; three more have joined the ranks of the deceased since you were last here - Mikazuki, Watanuki, and Bruce Wayne's portraits have been set up on their podiums; however, theirs aren't the only ones that have been covered - all thirty podiums have been draped in black, the fabric spilling down over the wood, almost to the point of reaching the floor. That isn't the only difference, either - Kageshirou is far more visibly present today, in a way that's impossible to ignore. The walls in here appear cracked, much like the one in the foyer, dark silt and shadow spilling down to pool on the floor like contaminated water, like blood. A fair amount of it seems to be emanating from the lectern high above, the one place in this room that doesn't seem to have taken damage like the walls have; regardless, the darkness of the shadow entity spills down heavily from there, constantly pouring down like some sort of waterfall, thick and ugly and thankfully dissipating into the floor before it can touch the circle where you'll be standing. The circle is one of the few places in this room that's clear of it, actually. As repulsive as this all may be, however, the lectern remains empty, standing cold and unaffected by any of this; once everyone has found their place in the circle, the Wordsmith's voice can be heard addressing everyone, as always. "Welcome, Apprentices—I thought it likely you would want to find yourselves here today, and we have now gathered for what I am sure you need not be told may be one final time. Is there perhaps something you wished to discuss?" There are only eight of you left, and it seems you've reached the end of the line. There isn't much else to do but try to win, in any way you can. Best of luck to you.

Comments

[feistytrader]

[...Okay, first things first, he's heading over to crowd near Hanyuu's podium, because he is absolutely stranded over here. That's much better. ...Well, not much better, because Kageshirou is everywhere, but... At least he's close to everyone.]

Yeah. I want to know why the hell you're obsessed with keys.

[WHO PUTS A BOTTLE OF WINE IN A LOCKED CABINET IN A ROOM YOU CAN'T ACCESS WITHOUT A KEY THAT'S IN A BOX THAT YOU HAVE TO OPEN WITH ANOTHER KEY.]

[acherontiastyx]

Yeah, I'd say we do. First order of business.

What the fuck? This shit's creepier than usual.

[matchbreaker]

[ Well, with her bag full of shit and a cloak on over that white dress she has on for the final trial, Elda is here! She kinda walks past her own podium, tapping on it once before situating herself at podium 12 like she had been the last few trials. Sorry Gold, hope she's not standing in your ghost or something. She lets her thick cloak rest off the ground a bit now, she can pick it up soon if need be.

( basically, party by Hanyuu's podium ) ]

Also you left a lot of notes for us to find. Or at least, you left one in the chapel for some reason.

[iaspis]

[Well this setup certainly is unholy, isn't it?

Hopefully the group is all standing together because she doesn't really want to be an island right now.

Sorry to any ghost who gets crowded by a giant woman.]

I believe everyone should say what they found. Sportacus and I found a strange room that appeared to be an attempt at metal working, though I didn't see a forge. I'll let him explain what he found, but what I found was several attempts at creating hilts for weapons as well as a number of masses of... I don't know. Some sort of metal.

Most of the metal in the room was scrap.

There were also numerous weapons displayed in the corner.

[firstaid]

[Estelle decides being alone sucks, so she joins the upper left corner because it might be better to have a group effort this time since they're working together to win the day. Still wearing her team skull tanktop and her leggings she seems like she's truly ready for a fight.

Your innocent princess is gone.]

The Wordsmith's study is where I believe we searched. There were a lot of books so I looked through them-- [naturally she did.] --and he seems either educated, cultured, or wishes to appear educated and cultured. Quite frankly, a noble or a snob. [Given her title is Noble, she means them in opposite natures.]

There were mainly tragedies as well as a book on selling one's soul to a demon. There were also a good amount of books on the study of philosophy, specifically on metaphysics and the nature of one's soul. There seemed to be a vast amount about realizing a soul's potential through meeting a series of needs to reach self-actualization-- the best self one can be.

There were also a disturbing amount of things on the soul being connected to the body, but that the soul can be separated-- right now a common and known means being death.

It comes to make me wonder if the Wordsmith was truly interested in studying the nature of souls when they are separated from the human body. Or perhaps he was interested in self-actualization of the human soul as we fought through this 'game'.

[sportadork]

[well FIRST OFF before he does anything else

he takes an orange out of his bag and sorta underhand tosses it to kageshiruou. for u, bud.]

Someone had burned a design into the table in the room Jasper and I looked at-- it looked like the kind of circles Kimbley said he used for his magic. There were, uh, [shows the broken gem shard he'd found] lots of these... She says she didn't know them...

-- Oh, and a note! A very terrifying note!

[wordsmithery]

[It's long overdue, isn't it?]

[It's time to meet the Wordsmith himself.]