WEEK 0 — ARRIVAL

[cartesio]

Week 0: Arrival

When you wake up you immediately feel something’s off. You sit on the bed and find it’s not your bed, and this isn’t your room either. You seem to be in a rather normal-looking motel room. To your side there’s a trunk, if you open it you’ll find a military uniform, the key to your room, a set of rules and a debit card. Don’t lose those items! Or do lose the rules, you'll find a brand new copy the next day under your pillow. There’s also a calendar on the wall, you can see today’s date. The year is unreadable, but the month and day are very clear:

March 28^th
There it says ‘Meet the Sergeant at the Lodge, 9:00 AM’. There’s also a circle around March 31st, with the word ‘END’ scrawled there.

For now leaving your motel room would be a good choice. When you reach the lobby, you see the receptionist’s desk— no one’s manning it. There’s a rack filled with maps, marking several locations in the town.

There are also many strangers here – and you’re one more. For now it may be a good idea to take a map and explore the town.

After all, looks like you’re stuck here in the boonies for a while.

Links

IC Rules
Room Assignments
Locations
Tasks (LOCKED currently)

March 28^th
March 29^th
March 30^th

Comments

Post-Meeting

[alfin]

[ He wanted her to rally everyone against him? Fine. He'll regret those words.

She climbed up on top of a bench in the park and glanced around before starting her speech. ]

I am Princess Alfin Reise Arnor of Erebonia!

[ If she wants to get things done, she can't hide her identity. The people need a banner to unite under, and she will do her best to be that banner. ]

Just like you, I have been taken captive by this 'Sergeant.' And just like you, I want to return home-- and bring this man to justice, so that something like this may never happen again!

[ Sure, say that in a mock round, Alfin. You're definitely going to be successful. ]

He may have kidnapped us, but we remain free to roam around this town, Cartesio! This Sergeant has underestimated us by leaving us our freedom, and that shall be his downfall! You heard him; there are twenty-two of us! Twenty-two! And there is only one of him! I ask you, what can one man do to twenty-two free men? Do not be afraid! We are the many, and we are strong!

[ She was doing her best, but as she spoke she heard a nagging voice in the back of her mind that she could do better. ]

We can fight back against the Sergeant! What are his rules, if we can defeat him? He is not a monster-- only a man! A coward that hides his face, and forces others to do his dirty work!

[ She recalls the words of her ancestor. ]

Let us rise up as one, and form the foundation for our escape!

[ Wait, that isn't quite right. Oh well. ]

[agoreable]

[ Lovepon is raising her hand as if she's in class. ]

I agree with executing the Sergeant, but he still has the police as well. Does that really make us the many?

[alfin]

[ The police... Where she's from the only 'police' are the Railway Military Police, so to her, she thought it was quite possible that the Sergeant and the police were unconnected. The RMP and the provincial army were enemies in the war, after all. And before that they hadn't exactly been allies. ]

The only mention of the police made thus far has been that they exist. We do not know if they are the Sergeant's allies. If they aren't we could make them our allies. Who would choose to follow a man intent on killing innocents, when they could help those innocents?

We are the many. Do not forget-- a police force is small. I doubt they have enough manpower to overpower twenty-two of us.

[ Or at least, that's what she assumed based off of her own home. She had never heard of more than five members of the RMP stationed at the same place. ]

[agoreable]

The rules state that the police would arrest us for sleeping outside at night, but not for killing one another. That doesn't sound trustworthy at all.

[ Lovepon isn't sure how much police there is either, so she doesn't comment on that bit. She's already made up the fantasy of a border police shooting them should they attempt to leave town, but that's starting to not seem accurate, so who knows what numbers there are or aren't.... ]

[londonstar]

[ waver listens to this. to all of it. and while he's aware that the princess means the best, her optimism only does one thing for him.

give him a huge headache. ]

My Lady, Princess, I do not wish to insult your efforts, but...

[ he considers his words carefully, not wishing to hurt her feelings. but he also thinks of the sergeant, and grimaces. ]

The Sergeant is not alone. Not only does he have the police, but there is also someone with even higher authority than him. I do not know how successful we would be if we tried to escape.

[semperperatus]

Hate to disagree with you as well, but he's right.

...

If we take down the Sergeant, and whoever is in charge of this place to escape, we need to be smart about it. He claimed to know who we are, had ways to get us to do what he wants. Just charging in with guns blazing isn't going to work because we don't know exactly what we're up against.

[alfin]

[ Alfin nodded. ]

You bring up a good point. Before we can make a plan of attack, we need more information. It will, however, be easier to get that information if we work together, no?

[semperperatus]

Of course it is. We also have to make sure we're ready if this fails. We need a defense, and we need to know who's good at what. We need to be prepared for whatever happens, good or bad.

[alfin]

[ Alfin looked Waver in the eyes. He was tall enough she didn't need to look down at him, despite her standing on the bench. It sounded like he had more information than her. ]

Have you confirmed that the police work for him? And who is this 'higher authority'?

[londonstar]

I do not have a concrete answer for either question.

[ he appreciates her bravery, being so young and still staring at him, unfaltering. in the back of his head, waver wonders if iskandar would have appreciated her. ]

Nevertheless, where I come from, the police divides itself into various ranks-- similar to military ranks. The rank of "sergeant" belongs to those between the ranks of Constable and Inspector. In other words, it wouldn't be a far stretch to assume that he belongs to the ranks of the police.

[ he pauses, and then moves to the next question. ]

As for the second question, he has confirmed that there is someone that gave him the order to do...[ he gestures ] this.

[alfin]

[ Of course, she already knew... most of that. She wasn't familiar with the rank of 'Constable' or 'Inspector,' however. ]

While it is a possibility, I see no reason to assume the worst. Until proven otherwise, I believe we should operate under the assumption that we can make allies outside of our group.

And if he does work for someone... That is still two people versus twenty-two. I believe the odds are still in our favor.

[ She wasn't about to give up that easily. ]

[beanstarscream]

He is also doing his absolute best to deprive us of any resources we could really use to take him down.

[londonstar]

[ he sighs. ]

And if he has the means to observe us, then I wouldn't be surprised if he cut the funds that he has so graciously given us.

[ note the heavy sarcasm over the word "graciously" ]

[alfin]

...Wait. We have funds?

[ A leader isn't supposed to show uncertainty, but she is genuinely surprised by this news. They were given funds???

Even if she had made note of the debit card, it wasn't something that existed on Zemuria. She would have assumed it a pass card of some kind, but not one for money. ]

[lasergun]

[ He'll just wait for some applause or cheers...

... no? Just her? ]

Oh, it's that easy? Huh. And here I was thinking that anyone who's got a whole city under his belt, managed to kidnap twenty-two people without any of us noticing, and has some of the best sunblock known to the galaxy would have planned around the fact that he's letting us roam around.

But no, no you're right. You found his blind spot.

[alfin]

[ Alfin had been prepared for people that didn't believe her, and she had also been prepared for rude people. She wasn't attending a school for nobles (and, technically, very rich commoners) for nothing, after all. ]

I do not believe this is his blindspot. I believe he has underestimated us. He likely thought that twenty-two strangers would not be able to work together... But we can prove him wrong! For do we not all share the common goal of escape? If we can put aside our differences and work together, we can do anything we put our minds to!

[lasergun]

[ He hasn't had enough alcohol for this! He's just rubbing his forehead with his hand. ]

Right. He doesn't want us to work together except for the fact that he's asking us to make a decision about how many people are going to die, which, you know, is kind of at least worth a group meeting.

[ Okay, he's not just going to keep shooting plans down. ] Also, did you notice we're all rooming in close-quarters? He couldn't care less about whether we work together or not. I'm saying there's a better way to go about this.

[snailedit]

[Mira's skeptical like the others, or perhaps even more so... she wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the town were in on this, for one reason or another. But eh, she has no real reason to try and stop her either. Unless it turns out to be a pain, she can at least see what she's thinking.]

What foundation are you talking about?

[alfin]

Why, our combined power of course! Together, we can form the foundation of our own world-- one where we can escape from this place.

[snailedit]

So... it's basically teamwork. All right, I was just checking.

[She didn't expect much more than that, really, but it's a pretty empty charge. It's clear that no one wants to volunteer to be the 'one person,' even to the point of testing what the Sergeant is willing to do.]

Well, it's not much to go off of, but whatever. Can't give up yet.

[clearities]

... Um.

[Sakura over here is also raising her hand like she's in class as well.]

I just wanted to say that Sergeant-san and whoever he's working for... they took something of mine that's really powerful, so I think they might be some sort of powerful magician, too.

[alfin]

A magician... You mean to suggest the Sergeant is a witch?

[ She hadn't even considered that possibility before. To be fair, she hadn't even known witches were real until a couple months ago. ]

Are you a witch?

[ It does sort of take one to know one, after all. And if this girl was a witch, that would improve their chances significantly. Even if she wasn't a powerful witch, if she at least knew some barrier spells, that could give them a fighting chance... ]

[clearities]

[Sakura shakes her head in response.]

Or at least, I wouldn't call myself a witch. [She's so glad Tomoyo isn't here, because then she would be giving Sakura some sort of witch costume.] I don't know if Sergeant-san is, but... maybe the person he's working for might be. I can't use any of my magic without the key or my cards, though.

[tresbienmoi]

My... you. Have such a way with words.

[It doesn't seem to have stirred the equally passionate uprising she desires, though.]

[ayuzawa]

I agree wholeheartedly with you, erm, Arnor-san. However...

[ oh boy ]

Seconding what the others have said--for the Sergeant to have forcibly taken us from our worlds like this, we are going up against someone who is powerful. And...perhaps it is in our best interests to evaluate the situation more thoroughly before running into danger haphazardly...