Event Annex - The Senate Room

[pumpkinhollow]

CRY HAVOC, AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR.

W

elcome, esteemed guests, to the Senate Room.

The rules of the game are simple. You have a word over your head that you cannot see, and the same word written on a piece of paper in an envelope that also contains a key. There is a door out of this room. Each key opens the door for only one person. You can see the words above others' heads, but you cannot say them, nor can you say any direct synonyms that might give it away too easily, nor can you spell the word or its synonyms. You must find other ways to describe it to allow the other person to guess. More abstract. Get creative with it.

If you believe you know the word, speak it aloud and open your envelope to retrieve your key. If you are correct, you can leave without incident. If you are wrong, your organs will immediately fail and you will die.

Here are the words each participant has been assigned. Players can use them to refer to other players' characters to help them guess, and you can use them to check your answers when you guess, but you can also OOCly know your answer provided you don't use it to ICly cheat. Good luck.

Agent Connecticut

Fickle

Agni Azimar

Traitor (there is an additional document contained in this envelope)

Aloy

Obstinate

Ancient Fuelweaver

Ruined

Anzu Menelikov

Deceitful

Artemy Burakh

Tainted

Capochin Bastone

Inadequate

Cassandra de Rolo

Cynical

Dahlia Leeds

Insatiable

Daisy Tonner

Merciless

Elias Coldwood

Discarded

Ethan Winters

Insufficient

Felix Gaeta

Imprudent

Hector Monaque

Covetous

Jonathan Sims

Hubristic

Lev/Lyubov Morgenshtern

Weak

Luo Binghe

Alone

Marik Ishtar

Megalomaniacal

Mr. Ant Tenna

Histrionic

Papyrus

Ineffectual

Sasavachi Chunome

Misanthropic

Shen Qingqiu

Pretentious

Simon

Selfish

Violet Vespertine

Cowardly

✦Return to Event ✦

Comments

[apocryphalarchivist]

"That's a fair point. They may not want us peeking behind the curtains at whatever machinations are at work here."

Jon lifts a hand, scrubbing at his scruffy face. It's hard to think about such intricate moving pieces on less than half a night's worth of sleep; even worse-so when he can't See anything beyond what his two dubiously-mortal eyes can perceive.

"If I had to wager a guess, our host may be telling us this to make the consequences clear, if they're to be believed. It would hardly be a satisfactory punishment for these crimes if we all gleefully threw ourselves into the first sign of danger we saw to escape them, wouldn't it?"

[not_the_last]

Cassandra purses her lips. "This may be past experience talking --" and her gaze flicks across the room to Daisy and the Ancient Fuelweaver, the only others here who shared the experience in question -- "but I'm inclined to think you have something there, about trying to keep us from attempting escape. To forestall hope of circumventing the scenario."

[spaghettimonster]

"W-Well, dying to solve a puzzle isn't my first choice ever, so... I don't plan to test it either," Papyrus concludes, uneasy still. He followed her gaze, able to guess there's a story of another of these unsettling incidents there, but he doesn't pry.

Instead, he looks down to the envelope, skimming a reread of the words on it, before pressing a gloved hand down on it to cover it protectively. It doesn't feel like it's a letter inside - or at least, not just a letter. Something smaller, bulkier, harder...

"So I guess that means, playing the guessing game. Seems like saying the right word is a password for opening the envelope... Like disarming a bomb?" He really hopes that the object inside isn't a bomb. "Is it dangerous guessing the wrong word at all, or is it only perishable if you open it too early...?"

[apocryphalarchivist]

"From what I've heard of other conversations, since we've been talking... no, I don't believe incorrect guesses are an immediate death-sentence," Jon remarks, thoughtful. Has he heard anyone properly guess outside of contemplating, though? It's hard to say. "I don't imagine this is the sort of thing that gives you a better tell beyond what anyone else has to say, though... no sort of correct buzzer. I think we could theoretically open our envelopes at any time, and if we guess aloud, thinking it's right... we'd learn quickly if that isn't the case."

What a harrowing thought; a paranoid part of him notes that someone could potentially lead someone astray on purpose. He doesn't mention this possibility out loud. Some part of speaking it feels like it'd make it too real.

[not_the_last]

"No, guessing incorrectly aloud doesn't seem to carry any penalty, only opening the envelope without the correct word." Cassandra's mouth tightens slightly. "For which we have only each other's guidance to rely on. A trust exercise, in the hall of the King of Treachery. Do you suppose he finds that a good joke?"

A pause. "Although if anyone here were to attempt to mislead anyone else, it would be in full view of the entire room. Not an ideal situation for treachery, at least not of that kind."

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus can't help it, he stares at Cassandra, and the word above her head.

"...Definitely not more than once," he finally offers, too unsettled for it to be agreement. "But why would anyone... It's easier to win if we just help each other? And, and the envelopes don't even hint at rewards for treachery..."

Well, his envelope doesn't, at least. It presents a more straightforward, if dangerous, guessing game (with ominous claims). Now feeling unhappily curious about this, he tries to get a look at the others', whether theirs say otherwise.

[apocryphalarchivist]

"That's just it," Jon insists, lowering his voice a bit. This isn't a topic that he wants widely advertised, after all. "I imagine, if someone were to mislead someone else and cause their death, they'd be able to take the key from their envelope without ever having to dare open their own. Their freedom more easily attained at the cost of another's. It's the sort of thing the domain of Betrayal would like to see us turn to."

All the more reason to refrain. And, despite a knee-jerk reaction to turn his envelope away from Papyrus's gaze, he does eventually turn it towards him. He won't be handing it over, but he'll let the man read what it says, at least.

"I think being certain if someone accidentally misled another to opening their envelope under false pretenses versus deliberately doing so would be... tricky," he adds. "Not all of these words are terribly common. It may be a matter of... failing to get them to understand a denial. Mistaking it for agreement to move along. It's all— deeply fucking nebulous."