TerrorFest 2018 - Zero Escape

"QUIET."

Goatman yanked on Jacke's hair and brought the knife against his throat, the metal biting into his skin.

"You'll understand in time. You all will." He glanced at the pool of water nearby. "Even Join was made to understand, before the end."

He turned back to Jacke, releasing his hold on Jacke's hair and gently stroking his head.

"But before that, I need to know. Are you willing to help me dispense judgment on the others? On the people you thought were your teammates?" He leaned forward to whisper in Jacke's ear. "They sold you out... an innocent man. They left you to suffer the consequences of something you didn't do. Only you know what that's like now. Only you... out of all of them."

He pulled the knife away from Jacke's throat and held it out to him, just out of reach. "Absolve yourself of your guilt with their blood... or join them in judgment. The choice is yours."

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Room 1 – Remy and Cyrus

Cyrus punched the code into the door, his fingers steady and confident in his logic. Even so, the momentary pause after he'd entered the five digits caused his stomach to lurch as he waited for the panel light to change...

Green!

He and Remy sighed with relief as the door unlocked. Without wasting time, they threw open the door and headed into the darkness of the hallway beyond.

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Before Alecia could expound on her idea, Morgan cut in with a satisfied tone as he laid out his logic. Alecia waited patiently - well, perhaps a touch impatiently - as he went through all the steps before presenting his conclusion for the passcode.

"Perfect reasoned," she said, nodding. "Or nearly. I believe one of your digits is off. It should be

Spoiler:

Morgan expressed concern that it might be too easy, but Alecia wasn't quite so sure. Besides, difficult puzzles never really seemed to be the whole point to this. She'd been saying from the start that Goatman's motivations were more than they seemed.

"Maybe Goatman just didn't count on us being as good at this as we are," she offered, smiling.

She wasn't exactly ready to become friends with Morgan, but there was no reason to antagonize him either. Mollifying him could go a long way.

"If you want to do the honors," she said, gesturing toward the door. "But let me ask you something. If you're... As a medium, I mean, have you been able to get any reading on Goatman? Who he is? What he wants?"

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Kenny stared at Yu zi's crude joke and hand gesture, his eyes widening and his skin flushing as he finally seemed to understand. "Man, that's just..." He shook his head and grimaced.

Fortunately, Yu zi switched subjects to the puzzle. As he explained the solution, Kenny rubbed at his head and sighed.

"Hmm... okay. So then..." He brightened up. "Oh, wait, yeah! I get it. Good thinking!"

Following in Yu zi's footsteps, they reached the keypad, where Yu zi put in the code without hesitation. They waited, Kenny holding his breath, when the light finally came on.

Green.

"Whew!" Kenny grinned and threw up his hands. "We got it!"

He opened up the door and peered into the dark hallway.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I hope the others made it through as fast."

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B) Examine the right wall

For once, it was nice to see Luna struck mute. If he'd known that would have worked so well, he might have tried it sooner - ideally during that lecture she'd given him.

Not that she'd been entirely off base about that.

Of course, that didn't last long. "Do you typically hand out checks for this amount?" She asked, slipping the paper into the pocket of his coat, which still hung over her shoulders. "Because if that's the case, you might also need some financial consulting."

"What can I say? I'm a philanthropist," he said dryly.

She was sharp, he had to give her that. She realized right away that he'd just incentivized her into keeping him along. Truth be told, he wished that were the only reason he'd done it.

"I suppose it won't matter either way unless we make it out of this room first," he said, nodding toward the wall. "What did you find?"

As Luna turned to the wall to inspect it, she found a triangle with a single colored number on it.

Spoiler:

==========================================================


Rules:

1) You only have three chances to enter the 5-digit passcode. Failure will automatically set off the death trap in the room.
2) Answers and clues can only be communicated IC. Keep it realistic.

Discovered Information:

Room 1:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Room 2:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Room 3:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Room 4:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Morgan

Morgan turned a slight shade of red at the mistake he made, but he let go an light easy smile, as he said in a more chipper and lighthearted tone, "Ah ha ha, my mistake, better you caught it now."

Morgan began to walk over to the keypad to type in the code, when his face dimmed a bit at the mention of getting a reading on the goatman.  He felt a mixture of rage and excitement washed over him when he was asked the question, but he wanted to get out of here as much as her so... he'll be honest... mostly.  He was interested what a lawyer who specializes in calling out lies would say about the goatman's demeanor as well.

"Well, Alecia, I already know most of group doesn't believe me.  My 'spiritual' assessment won't be of much use.... However, I can give you my personal opinion from the information I've... obtained." Morgan stated with a serious and concerned expression, as a bit of caution filled his voice like he was walking on thin ice, as he continued to say "Have you noticed how he talks?  His response to Pierce when he offered money, how he killed Join just to make us vote someone out, his lapses of anger and the amount of profanities he tosses out.  It comes across as someone very vengeful."

"Something must of happened to him or maybe someone he loved that was unjust?" Morgan stated as suddenly shifted his gaze away from Alecia, and began punching in the code afraid that the gas could come pouring in at any moment just for mentioning that thing, as he uttered quickly with a hint of fear in his voice "The question is if he's doing this because we played a part in this 'event' or if he's just sending some sick message to get vengeance on the world like some evil spirit."

"For now, I think we should talk to everyone to see if we can find a common thread.  Think back to some of the defendants on your cases, and I'll think about some of my clients... It might help us if we can get some info on him." Morgan stated, as he hit the enter key at the same time he finished the sentence, as a look of realization crossed his face, as he stated "Oh wait... my mistake, it wasn't 'actually' confirmed the Goatman murdered Join.... besides the possession.  Still, the point stands."

Remy and Cyrus - Room 1

Remy held her breath while Cyrus typed in the code.

For a moment she was worried, but then the light turned green.

"Whew!" Remy exhaled. "We made it! Good job" With a grin, she gave Cyrus a light pet on the shoulder.

They opened the door. Once again there was a dark hallway before them.

Remy's expression was serious again and she turned around to face Cyrus.

"So... will you tell me the story of what happened, you know... in the video?" she asked.

Yù zǐ shuǐjīng - Room 3 - Exit - Kenny and Yù zǐ


Both of them cheered as the green light signaled their successful escape from the puzzle room.

"#First-Try! I'm right behind you."


Yù zǐ didn't waste any time to distance himself from the room and soon crossed the dark hallway, exiting into the new foyer.


~~Foyer~~

"So, Kenny, do you think the goatman sent us those letters specifically or it was just a random invite and he simply waited for enough people to accept and arrive to this mansion? I mean, do you think there are more people waiting their turn to experience the escape room?"


Yù zǐ looked around the room they were in now and continued, "The Last puzzle was easy, but the first one with Jacke... I don't know. It just seems there was a huge contrast between the other puzzle rooms. In the end, nothing happened to him, but then that whole Join thing happened after our puzzle room escape. So I am starting to wonder if something with a huge contrast to our experience will occur again now that we got out off a simple puzzle room. It's exciting, but at the same time I don't want anything really bad to happen as well. That Join business is very sketchy. I am really hoping it was just a trick and him along with Jacke will be waiting for us at the exit with a smile on his face and we all leave this place together... alive."


A worried look started to creep over Yù zǐ's face as his anxiety attack started to resurface as he thought more on the over the top experiences that he witnessed during his stay up to now. The Drowning room, Join's body in the monitor, his fight with Alecia and now this feeling of something bad might happen again if he believed in the pattern that he was seeing forming in his mind.

"No, no, no. I shouldn't think about such stuff. It's just-a-game. It can't be real. The goat man is just an entertainer with a twisted creative imagination. This is just a scary prank. We will all get out of here just fine."

Yù zǐ ended up unconciously nibling his lip in thought as he half mumbled his thoughts while looking down at the cold floor tiles, forgetting that he asked Kenny for his opinions.

Jacke

Jacke's rambling was cut short by the Goatman's actions, the edge of the blade drawing a small amount of blood. He shivered at his ominous words regarding Join. Just what was he going on about?

His uneasiness grew as the Goatman began stroking his head.

Jacke flinched away from the Goatman as he whispered into his ear. "Wait.. you want me to kill people? N-no way man! I ain't gonna kill anyone! I'm not a murderer!"

Cyrus Winter

With the lock turning green, the door opened and the two of them quickly made their way into the hallway leading to the next room. Once there were safe again for the time being, Remy finally asked him what he'd assumed had been on her mind from the beginning.

Cyrus gave her a small smile. "Honestly nothing too interesting about it. Leaving out the lengthy life story, basically, I was small and weak, and bullied horribly." He had a far away look in his eyes as he spoke, as if walking into a distance memory. "It went on from the start of middle school through most of high school. As usual in these cases, the institution did nothing, so I'd just endured it."

He turned to look her in the eye before continuing. "Now, it was purely bad luck running into them in high school, but that was bearable as well. But my father was a soldier and had gotten offed that week. I had happened to bring the last thing I had from him that day for various reasons and, well. Honestly, everything after they broke it is a bit fuzzy. I vaguely remember beating them down, but they were already in a bloody heap by the time I'd come to, no idea how I managed to rip a leg off a solid wooden chair. Not that I regret anything, they finally stopped bothering me after that."

Cyrus then turned back to face the way ahead, his face fading back to expressionless. "Naturally I joined the military myself once I graduated as well, though something like that never happened again." He added as he continued forward.

- Luna -

"Nothing useful." Luna responded to Pierce's inquiry about what she'd found. "In fact, we might want to warn the others about potentially bogus clues."

Turning back in his direction, she made her way towards the first wall, pausing for a moment to consider the equation on the floor.

"I propose that the letters of the code represent colors."

"If this is the case, the actual code would be violet, blue, red, green, and violet again."

With a flourish, Luna pulled the pen from her hair and quickly scratched five lines on the wall, drawing the letters of the code above them. "Two of the numbers were provided for us." She continued speaking as she drew a 4 beneath the B and a 7 beneath the R.

"Additionally, the equation on the ground seems to suggest that, much like a painter who has run out of certain colors, we mix them to achieve our goals." Off to the side, Luna wrote G = 9 and V = 11.

"But this is where the clue confuses me." She tapped her pen on the wall beside the 11. "We only need five digits, but by my math, we have seven."

Remy and Cyrus

There was a searching look in her eyes, almost as if she was trying to see if he was telling the truth.

However, before long, her expression turned sympathetic. Maybe she had been a bit too quick to judge him.

"I'm sorry they destroyed your father's memorabilia," she said, "and that you had to endure such wrong-doings, but using violence..." Remy shuddered at the thought.

Cyrus' expression lost all emotion again and she wondered how far he actually worked through his or if he was still carrying this around with him untreated.

Seeing that he was walking again, she quickly followed, not wanting to be left alone in the dark.

"Thank you for telling me though," she added.

As they were nearing the foyer another thought came to her mind.

"Why do you think the Goatman showed us the video clips without revealing the end result?"

Goatman paused as Jacke pulled away from him, hysterical as he refused to kill anyone.

"Murderer?" Goatman murmured, cocking his head. "Is the man who performs the lethal injection a murderer? Is the man who flips the electric chair's switch a murderer? Is the executioner who swings the sword a murderer? Do you call dispensing justice 'murder'?"

Goatman straightened up and stared down at Jacke through the cold, pitiless golden eyes of his mask. "What a shame. I thought you might have been the one I've been looking for."

Goatman lashed out suddenly, tossing the chair aside, where it landed with a teeth-rattling thunk next to the pool. Laying tied up on his side, Jacke could just make out things bobbing in the... water.

"You're just meat then, like the rest," Goatman growled. "Only one thing left for MEAT."

He stalked toward Jacke, then paused. It was hard for Jacke to see, but if he painfully craned his neck, he could make out in the distance a whole group of monitors. Goatman approached them, humming to himself.

"I'll deal with you later," he said. "For now, I have to find my third head."

With that, he left the room, leaving Jacke with nothing but darkness and the lapping of water beside him.

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As Kenny and Yu zi entered the foyer, they both let out sighs of relief. Dismal as these foyers were, there was a tiny sliver of reassurance that they were safe here.

"So, Kenny, do you think the Goatman sent us those letters specifically, or it was just a random invite and he simply waited for enough people to accept and arrive to this mansion? I mean, do you think there are more people waiting their turn to experience the escape room?"

Kenny frowned and glanced back the way they'd come. "Well, we weren't the first group to get these exclusive invites. I'd heard about it before. But... if I had to guess, I don't think it's random. It feels too... personal."

Yù zǐ looked around the room they were in now and continued, "The Last puzzle was easy, but the first one with Jacke... I don't know. It just seems there was a huge contrast between the other puzzle rooms. In the end, nothing happened to him, but then that whole Join thing happened after our puzzle room escape. So I am starting to wonder if something with a huge contrast to our experience will occur again now that we got out off a simple puzzle room. It's exciting, but at the same time I don't want anything really bad to happen as well. That Join business is very sketchy. I am really hoping it was just a trick and him along with Jacke will be waiting for us at the exit with a smile on his face and we all leave this place together... alive."

Kenny looked slightly sick. "Yu zi, I don't think...." He didn't get a chance to finish, however, as Yu zi suddenly seemed to go into a strange blend of denial and panic attack.

"No, no, no. I shouldn't think about such stuff. It's just-a-game. It can't be real. The goat man is just an entertainer with a twisted creative imagination. This is just a scary prank. We will all get out of here just fine."

Kenny bit his lip and stared down at his shoes. "Yeah... maybe."

One of the doors opened, and he whirled around in relief. Remy and Cyrus stepped through, and he beamed at them. "Hey, you guys made it."

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Interesting, Morgan seemed to forgo his cosmic claptrap and actually gave a more rational analysis of Goatman. The lawyer in her appreciated that, and actually found a lot of it pretty spot-on.

"I had noticed that, yes," she said, hugging her arms. "It's not an impersonal anger. It's a very direct kind of hate."

Vengeful, though... What could he possibly want revenge on all of them for? What could such a disparate group like them have in common?

"The question is if he's doing this because we played a part in this 'event' or if he's just sending some sick message to get vengeance on the world like some evil spirit."

Played a part in an event...? Something twisted in her stomach, a strange kind of foreboding. There wasn't anything concrete behind it, but...

"For now, I think we should talk to everyone to see if we can find a common thread.  Think back to some of the defendants on your cases, and I'll think about some of my clients... It might help us if we can get some info on him."

Alecia was so deep in thought it took her a moment to realize Morgan had entered the code. Before she could think to be worried, it lit up green and unlocked. Sighing with relief, Alecia nodded and let Morgan opened the door for them.

"You might be right," she said. "We need to thinking together about what's really happening here. I know we've butted heads since arriving here - I guess almost all of us have - but we need to put all that aside. We're only going to get out of here if we cooperate."

The two headed into the darkness of the hallway beyond, the door shutting behind them. Alecia didn't exactly trust him, per se, but she hoped he felt the same way that she did. Regardless of their differences, they all wanted to survive this. And they were going to need each other to do that.

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Pierce folded his arms as Luna suddenly declared her proposal. As she laid out the facts, he nodded along, finding it actually made sense.

"P + P = S," he mused. "Primary colors mixed together give a secondary color."

However, her math seemed to hit a roadblock. Pierce glanced at the equation, then at the supposed bogus clue she'd mentioned.

"Actually, that 'bogus clue' is the key to your dilemma," he said, pointing out the orange 3. "If your theory is correct, our red and yellow numbers should give us that orange number. But 7+5 gives us 12, not 3." He pointed down at the Y-shaped lines connecting the two spaces into one. "Not unless you combine the two numbers in the product."

Pierce plucked the pen from between Luna's fingers and crossed out the 11. "That would make green a 9, yes, but our violet would become a 2. That leaves us with the five digits we need - 24792."

He handed her back the pen, smiling. "I guess this is why you're the artist, and I'm the former mathlete. And for the record, I'll sue you for slander if you ever tell anyone that."

He almost sounded like he was... joking

Pierce strolled on ahead toward the exit door when a sudden hissing noise made him freeze. He turned around just in time to see a gust of gas blow upward from the floor, catching Luna in the face. She buckled and collapsed to the ground, dazed.

Swearing, Pierce raced to the door and jabbed the code into the door. He had to get this open fast, then hopefully drag Luna out of her before-

The light turned green, just as a panel slid open in the wall. Pierce's blood turned to ice in his veins as he stared into Goatman's soulless golden eyes from across the room. The world seemed to slow down as his gaze dropped to Luna, who seemed impossibly far away, as his hand groped for the handle of the door and pushed it open.

Before his eyes, he could see the room filling with water, Jacke's fists pounding on the glass. And he imagined she must have looked the same way, pounding helplessly for someone to save her as water filled the car sinking into the depths of the bay.

Dammit... He didn't want to die.

But...

He was sprinting. Sprinting toward Luna.

Gas kicked up around him. He tried not to inhale, but his lungs screamed for air as he pushed himself as fast as he could. Goatman stalked almost serenely toward Luna, knife raised, like the grim reaper himself.

Pierce got their first, however, hauling her up and dashing back for the door. His vision was getting blurry, his balance faltering. He pitched and fell, landing with a pained grunt against the wall as Goatman loomed closer.

With all his might, Pierce threw Luna past him into the hallway. He collapsed forward, so close to the threshold, but it didn't matter. Goatman would reach them. He could never crawl fast enough to get through.

His fingers rested on the cold metal of the door. Dammit... this is what it all lead up to, in the end.

"What about you, big shot? Given who you are, I know a bit, but what really gets your bald, millionaire self out of bed in the morning?"

"Habit..."

Habit, huh? Maybe that's one habit he should have broken today.

Pierce leaned against the door, his vision swimming, as Goatman stood silently overshadowing him. He waned to say something defiant, but words failed him. The best he could do was feebly flip of the sadistic bastard in the bad Halloween getup.

"Full of surprises, Mr. Ellison," Goatman chuckled humorlessly. "I think I'm going to enjoy you most of all..."

==========================================================


Rules:

1) You only have three chances to enter the 5-digit passcode. Failure will automatically set off the death trap in the room.
2) Answers and clues can only be communicated IC. Keep it realistic.

Discovered Information:

Room 1:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Room 2:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Room 3:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Room 4:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Morgan

"Looks like we've got it" Morgan stated, as no emotion or joy really crossed his face when the light turned green and his face turned pale.  He avoided Alecia's gaze and didn't even look at her at the mention of cooperating, as he felt rather empty, worried, like something was eating away at his soul... when a sudden realization hit him when Alecia talking about cooperating

"Assuming I'm not voted out...." Morgan thought to himself grimly.

If the goat man supposedly killed the slow ones before, what if he did it again?  Then the next vote he would surely be sent to death, so why was he even bothering giving her a recommendation?  As far as he was concerned, there was no benefit at all in this exchange. So, he might as well drag the rest of them down.... well most of them down.

"Right... cooperate.... I hope Yu Zi is alright."  Morgan uttered, as he quickly walked down the path to the foyer and entered to see four other people conversing among each other.  He glanced to see 4 other people talking to each other, as he quickly approached Yu Zi and stopped right in front of him giving him a quick look over realizing he seemed rather hysterical.

"Are you okay?  What's going going on?  Did something happen?" Morgan bombared in a series of concerned questions for his partner, as he glanced at between the two with a stern gaze that demanded a response.

Yù zǐ shuǐjīng - Foyer - Yù zǐ - Morgan - Others


"Huh?" Yù zǐ responded with a dazed look in his eyes but with Morgan's familiar voice filled with concern entered his ear, it seemed to release the man out of his stupor, and as the words became clearer, the recovering man shook his head to respond, "Ah, Morgan, You made it through. Thank the sparkling gems, that you are fine."


Yù zǐ peered his head to the side as he attempted to look behind Morgan's shoulder at the remaining people in the room. Noticing that they were short of two sent a sensation of nervous butterflies in his gut.

"Urrgh! the man in pain placed a hand onto his stomach "Is it just me or do you also have a bad feeling that something horrid is going to happen like it did when Jacke was the last person to exit into the foyer?"


He started to once again bite his lips in nervous anticipation of what might occur next.

Remy and Cyrus - Foyer

When Remy entered the foyer alongside Cyrus, she let out a sigh of relief. They had made it.

"Yes! We made it!" she exclaimed.

In the foyer, she could see that Yu Zi and Kenny as well as Morgan and Alecia had already arrived.

Wow, that was quick. She'd thought that her and Cyrus hadn't taken long to figure out the puzzle, but apparently, the others had been even faster.

Well, almost.

"Wait...," she said, slowly turning aound to stare into the black hallway. "Where are Luna and Pierce?"

Suddenly she felt cold shiver run down her spine. She noticed Jacke also wasn't in the foyer anymore. If they were to believe him, he and Join had solved the puzzle room... but as the last pair. And only one of them had returned...

Suddenly she gripped Cyrus' arm tightly. "W-what's taking them so long?"

Cyrus Winter

Noticing the missing persons, Cyrus let out a sigh. Letting Remy grab his arm, he put his other hand on hers to try and help her calm down. "I'm not sure about Jacke, but I fear you and I have the same thoughts about Luna and Pierce..." He said gently.

Jacke

Jacke yelped as the Goatman knocked his chair over, taking him with it. He was stunned for a moment from the impact.

By the time he got his senses back, the Goatman was leaving. Looking around him, Jacke noticed some shapes in the water...

Don't think about it, don't think about it...

Casting his eyes towards where the Goatman had left the room, he could make out lights on the wall. They looked like they could be monitors... Jacke tried throwing his weight towards that direction, maybe he could find out what was happening.

- Luna -

She couldn't help it. Her lips twitched at Pierce's mathlete joke. Unfortunate really, that crack in her composure cost her the focus to realize what was happening until a second too late.

A sickly sweet flavor coated her tongue as she inhaled the gas, and her vision blurred as she staggered, dropping to one knee. Two Pierces stood before her for a moment, but after a couple blinks, they merged back into one. It was the last thing she saw before her face hit the floor.

...

Luna's head swam as she sat bolt upright, but she forced the nausea down as she turned to look at her surroundings.

No blood on the floor.

No goat man.

No Pierce.

The door she lay beside seemed to laugh at her, and she swallowed back the bile of the sudden realization. Pierce had thrown her out of the room. Mr save himself had saved her, and didn't that just get her goat.

Luna couldn't help it. She laughed at her own private joke. Get her goat? Oh, she'd love to get her hands on this goat.

Rising on shaky legs, she kicked the metal door. Hard.

A metallic clang echoed down the hallway behind her, and she grit her teeth to ignore the sting in her toes.

"Bastard!" Her voice carried down the hall, and anyone in the foyer ahead would definitely be able to hear her screaming.

"You won't even fight a girl without gassing her first! When I get my hands on your wannabe furry ass, you'll be the one in hell, not us!"

Alecia frowned as Morgan immediately rushed for Yu zi to comfort him. Whether she liked it or not, they did seem to have a genuine connection. Hopefully, that wouldn't prove problematic in the long run, though. Maybe, just maybe, they'd made some progress together back there.

"Thank the sparling gems?" Kenny murmured, scratching his head. Shrugging, he turned to Alecia and smiled. "Glad to see you guys made it all right."

"You too." She smiled, though it was strained. Most of them had made it, but two were still missing. Luna and Pierce...

"Urrgh! Yu zi placed a hand onto his stomach "Is it just me or do you also have a bad feeling that something horrid is going to happen like it did when Jacke was the last person to exit into the foyer?"

Remy reacted immediately to this, gripping onto Cyrus' arm. "W-what's taking them so long?"[/quote]

Cyrus sighed. "I'm not sure about Jacke, but I fear you and I have the same thoughts about Luna and Pierce..."

Alecia strode into the center of the room and held up her hands. "Okay, let's not get worked up. We all finished pretty quickly, so let's not jump to conclusions. Maybe they just need a little more time."

Even as she said it, though, she didn't entirely believe it. Pierce was sharp as a knife, and Luna was an artist. If all of them had figured it out, then there's no reason it should take the two of them any longer.

Unless they were being deliberate. Possibly talking, forging an alliance. Possibly...

"Sounds like maybe you should be pursuing him then," she said quickly, making a pointed look at Pierce's suit jacket still wrapped around Luna.

"I won't lie. It's still a consideration." Luna responded as she pulled on her second shirt.

No. She shook her head. That was silly. They had more important things going on here. Surely they wouldn't stop to...

A metallic clang echoed down the hallway, followed by screeching. "Bastard!"

Everyone straightened up. That was Luna. Was she yelling at Pierce?

"You won't even fight a girl without gassing her first! When I get my hands on your wannabe furry ass, you'll be the one in hell, not us!"

Oh, no... The color drained from everyone's faces as they crowded around the last door. After several seconds, Luna opened the door. They all pulled her through, everyone talking over each other. Alecia stopped to stare down the hallway, empty and black, before shutting the door.

"Give her some air," she said, waving everyone back.

Luna stood there, still with Pierce's jacket around her, not saying a word. Her anger was evident, and the question on everyone's lips didn't really need to be asked. The answer was evident.

Pierce had been taken.

"What happened?" Alecia asked gently.

Luna swallowed, then proceeded to detail the events around the end of their time in the puzzle room with brisk, heated words. Once she'd finished, everyone glanced at each other.

Pierce... somehow, Alecia expected him to survive this if anyone would. To think he'd gotten Luna out over himself...

Her stomach twisted, and she glanced around at the others. "We're... back to odd numbers."

Unfortunately, there was no clear boogeyman here like last time, which meant this was going to get even more personal and ugly.

"I think-" she began, but a harsh static noise warbled through the room.

The monitors flickered to life, the blank red glow replaced with what looked like articles.

About her.

Crooked! Rigged! Falsifies evidence! Does anything to win!

These words jumped out at her, her face draining of color as she scanned the articles. How could...

The monitors on the other side of the room crackled to life. But these articles were different.

Fraud! Thief! Hoax! Morgan's face was plastered on all of them, detailing his shady business and phony powers. And to make matters worse, one monitor was dedicated to footage of the last foyer, playing his charade of Join's possession on loop.

Alecia exchanged looks with Morgan, feeling the eyes of everyone else on them.

Foyer

Just as Cyrus' words faded, Luna's voice carried down the hall. She sounded pissed.

Remy froze, feeling like all her fears had just turned into reality.

Luna recounted what happened to her in the room. Why had the Goatman once again waited until they had basically solved the puzzle. Was it only because they were the last to solve it? Remy felt a cold shock run down her back.

Please don't let that be the case, she thought to herself.

Suddenly the monitors flickered to life.

She braced herself for the worst.

This time they showed Alecia and Morgan. She paled upon those accusations. However, her conversation with Cyrus had taught her that there were always two sides to a story.

"Uhm... do you guys want to elaborate?" she asked quietly.

Morgan

Morgan breathed a sigh of relief when he realized nothing bad had happened to Yu Zi.  He have a slightly amused smile at one of Yu Zi's normal outlandish comments, as he retorted, "And thank the spirits that you weren't misguided by the fiendish will-o-wisps!"

Morgan's lit out a lighthearted but embarrassed laugh when he realized how absurd he sounded, but he was just happy to see that Yu Zi was safe and not hurt in any way.  However, he did agree that Luna and Pierce not being here yet was yet was quite.. concerning.  

"Yes, the goat man did take out the stragglers last time... it's probably...." Morgan was saying grimly as he was cut off by Luna's screaming from the down the corridor and busted through the door as he covered his face, as it turned a pale ghoulish white.

"DAMN IT" Morgan shouted as he slammed his foot into the wall of the foyer, as his arms shook from intense rage he was feeling.... He wouldn't let himself get voted out because of them!  He stood with his face towards the wall with his arms continuing to shake as he tried to control his temper. Once his anger was under control, turned noticed some articles plastered on the screen, the articles that were posted that called him a phony.  His face turned an even brighter red, but the image of almost being voted out flashed before his eyes.  He couldn't afford to lose his temper again.

"It's nothing you all haven't already thought, I can describe each of those cases in more detail for you if you wish.  The journalist who came into my office faking his mother's death, the 'sighting' of me at a celebrity's manor right before my reading for her, the mother who just couldn't believe her 'innocent' Joey died because he was involved in the drug business....  At the end of the day none of my readings have been inaccurate these people just like to make stuff up so they can get their second in the spotlight" Morgan stated as he flicked his hand to the side like it was nothing to him, as he turned his eyes to Alecia and stated with a nod "What's more important then causing a divide from these twisted articles is discussing why the goatman is targeting us.  Maybe, we can learn more about him."

"Oh and as for the video?  It should be obvious Jacke wasn't guilty now, the goatman has just been picking off the stragglers to further cause a divide." Morgan chimed in quickly before gesturing Alecia to speak what they talked about earlier.

Cyrus Winter

"...and yet, Mr. Church. Were you not the first to out someone based on the Goatman's providence? But I suppose it only matters when it's on you." Cyrus spoke while standing behind Luna, before going silent again. "But you're right, this isn't the time for division. We'll need as much information to go on as possible. For now, I'd think it's obvious to us he plans to pick off one person from those that are last to solve their puzzle."

The content of the monitors didn't really mean much to him. He'd been one of the first to be antagonized, and he'd long since figured out that the Goatman wanted to cause conflict between them. As such, he completely passed over the accusations on Alicia, true or not. Though, he couldn't hold the need to kick Mogan where it hurt.

- Luna -

After thanking Alecia for some space, Luna had recounted her story. Now, she stood amidst the others as the defaming articles flashed across the screens. Several things had become clear now.

No one was safe. Any measure of guilt, big or small, could be spread out on those monitors and blown out of proportion. None of them were innocent, herself included. The most guilty person in the building wasn't in this room though. No, he was watching them from behind a screen somewhere. Her eyes scanned the foyer, seeking the camera, but she couldn't find one. Of course the cretin would even hide that from them.

"While I don't trust Mr. Church as far as I could throw him," Luna spoke up, looking in the man's direction, "the fact that he's gotten away with his craft for this long without being put out of business means he's probably fairly intelligent."

She glanced at the others. "In fact, I'd say that no one in this room is dumb by any means. So, surely, we can come up with a better solution to all of this than just playing along with this sick game."

The rest of the group seemed to be silent waiting for explanation until Remy finally prompted the question. With that, Morgan launched into an elaborate smear campaign against the accusations before reinforcing that they shouldn't keep dividing themselves.

"Morgan's right," she said. "It's obvious the intention here is to divide us, but the question is why."

Luna suggested they not play into the game, but Alecia shook her head. At this point, there didn't seem to be any choice.

"The only reason we're still alive right now is because we're going along with the game," she said, pointing back the way they'd came. "We all saw what he did in the last foyer. The minute we refuse to cooperate, it's over. If we break the rules and forge on without leaving in pairs, it's over."

Kenny bit his trembling lip. "What are we supposed to do then?"

Alecia swallowed. "Keep playing until we can figure it out. He's trying to teach us a lesson. We need to figure that out."

She stepped forward, drawing everyone closer into a circle. If there were cameras, they could hopefully block the view to their faces this way.

"The only way this ends well for us is to make it to the end. There has to be an end. If we figure out the lesson he's trying to teach us by then, we might be able to make him think he's won, that he's taught us the lesson. At least one of us should be able to make it out, somehow. If they can just get to the lobby and our phones, they can call for help. But in the meantime, we have to keep playing along. Which means... someone still needs to stay behind."

They all looked at each other, waiting silently for someone to make the first move.

Morgan

"Hm.... I actually explained my situation immediately, stop acting lik... never-mind." Morgan stated his eyes showing a hint of anger, as he caught himself and then his gaze turned to Luna one with equal annoyance.  

Gotten away with his craft?  Excuse me?  Does everyone hate a magician because they say it's 'magic'?  He wasn't about to say that out loud, but it was clear he was going to be the one voted out.  He waited for a couple seconds in silence to see if anyone was quick to chime in for what felt like an eternity until he decided to break the ice.

"We could just pull lots... We all still have the letters from the first puzzle and it would avoid anyone being singled out making others resentful"  Morgan stated, as he pulled out the letter with his name on it and tore off his name so it was just a scrap of paper, and gently pulled off his cloak.  He then put his name in the hood of his cloak and held it out for the rest of the group to put their names in.

"I'll put my name in automatically.  I won't force anyone... and I'll have Kenny draw the name since I believe he's the most impartial one here.  If no one wants to put their name in, I'll stay behind."  Morgan stated, as he felt the heat flush to his face as he barely held himself together.  

This is the best method to avoid the vote, Luna and Cyrus obviously wouldn't do it but Remy and Kenny might guilt themselves into doing it, then the majority effect might force Luna and Cyrus to throw their own hats in to avoid looking like scum.

Cyrus Winter

"Why so nervous, Mr. Church? You seemed quite at home throwing others in the line of fire." Cyrus quipped while holding the other man's gaze, before adressing the whole congregation.

"Regardless, I disagree. A ballot? Why? So we can say 'it wasn't us, he was just unlucky', and shirk off any responsibility for the decision? So we don't have to bear the guilt and can deny it to ourselves when we know for a fact that it would, in fact, be us sending another to an execution?" He kept his voice as even as ever, but unlike his normal stiff and generally aloof state, it was obvious he was just a tad riled up. He'd seen many men die, and stared death in the face multiple times before. He knew intimately that the greatest disrespect when sending someone to almost certain death was to try and pretend you had nothing to do with such a decision.

Collecting himself before this could creep into his voice, he spoke again after a short pause. "I'm sorry, but I cannot and will not lie to myself. The responsibility will lie with all of us in the end. The rest of you can do as tou see fit." Then, he leaned against a wall and closed his eyes, waiting for the rest to chime in.

Morgan

"Nervous?  Who wouldn't be nervous in this situation?" Morgan stated with a look of bewilderment like he was talking to some kind of nutcase, but his face soon relaxed as he took a deep breath to regain his bearings "Understand, I'm not doing this to make us avoid responsibility.  Just look at what happened during the last vote and how much of a rift occurred between people, do you want to go through that again after the talk about working together?"

"I understand we're all afraid!  I was enraged and scared when I found out when we lost another."  Morgan stated gesturing to the indent to the wall from his outburst from earlier his voice beginning to crack like all his emotions were about the flow out, "But that's why I made it your choice to put your ballot in.  That way the only one who will be left behind are those who are prepared."

'Tears' began to flow down from Morgan's face, as he looked at the rest of the group and gave them a nod to show that he understood them.

"You may all see me as an untrustworthy hotheaded phony.  But, even I can't stomach the deaths of others, and Alecia has helped me understand that we need to move forward together and we won't do that by clawing at each other in the form of a hostile vote.  Especially after how close I was too.... "  Morgan rubbed the tears out of his eyes, them puffed slightly red as his face lit up red in embarrassment.  He quickly shoved the cloak into Kenny's hands to hold, as he quickly walked off to the corner of the room to hide his sorrow.

Well... that was a good performance... hopefully they bought it.

- Remy -

Remy watched the growing argument, the explanation of both Alecia and Morgan not really helping the situation.

Morgan and Cyrus, arguing again as well. They seemed to rub each other the wrong way entirel. Her eyes widening when she saw Morgan offer his name first by placing it in the hood.

When he started crying, she felt a pang of sympathy. However, it was quickly followed by impatience. She wanted to get out of here, just like the rest of them. And for that, they needed to work together. Creating even more rift by arguing really wasn't helping their chances.

"Oh, I've had enough!" she said and grabbed the hood from Kenny's hand. Quickly she pulled out Morgan's name and ripped the piece of paper apart.

"This isn't helping anyone," she said, her voice stronger than she acutally felt. "Cyrus is right. Maybe we can start taking responsiblity for once in our lives."

She crossed her arms, to avoid revealing her own nervousness.

"I will volunteer to stay behind. Nobody here has beef with me," she declared. "I don't feel like revenging anyone. I don't feel like throwing anyone under the bus. And I've certainly had enough of your arguments."

"Maybe, just maybe you can concentrate on saving our lives while you're in the next puzzle room!"