The Final Trial

[parasomniacs]

The Final Trial ‹ Mastermind ›

The dream world that they enter is shrouded in darkness. What was always an everlasting night has now taken even the stars from them. The only light comes from small, floating torches that flicker. Through what little light they have to guide them, they can see a small familiar form waiting up ahead.  Coming closer, they can indeed tell that Sheepy is waiting.

Now more than ever it is important that they arm themselves with the evidence that they have collected regarding the mastermind behind all this. Because this is the only chance they'll ever get to present it. Though death has always been the risk, now it's all or nothing.

Sheepy waits for them all to join her before grinning.

"Well, well, well... here we all are. Not all that many of you left, are there? Ah-- but then... maybe there won't be any of you left after this. Keheheheheh!! So let's make the most out of this last little session, shall we? Think you have it all figured out? Well let's find out. Like you were told, you gotta name all the remaining gunmen as well as the mastermind. So. Let's begin."

INVESTIGATION
VOTING
Cast
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Comments

[scythegun]

[..................................]

I don't know why I expected anything else.

[GIVE HIM A MOMENT, MAYBE HE'LL RECOVER...]

[parasomniacs]

Isn't that the right way to go about this?

Playing into your expectations.

[scythegun]

Oh no, I'm certain the reason you showed up like this is because it will throw us off-balance. We'll get distracted and you can use that time to put us back on the right track so we'll do what you want. Isn't that right?

[HE'S SO DONE WITH EVERYTHING]

[parasomniacs]

What I'd like you to do is vote out the two gunners, and as for the matter of the mastermind, vote for someone other than myself and all die.

Beatrice, for example. I calculated that as many as seven of you had more than ten percent of a chance at accepting a projection of her at face value.

[scythegun]

...I don't even know where to start with any of that.

[DEEP BREATHS. YOU CAN DO THIS, YEAGER.]

First of all! None of us are voting for the gunners. We're not going to kill any of our number and nothing you can say will change our minds. Secondly! We're definitely not voting for anyone but you. You've already revealed yourself and none of us want to die, so that would be stupid. Finally! What the hell made you decide that a frog would somehow be better?

[he almost did it, he almost had priorities...]

[parasomniacs]

My generative ability is limited. Over the course of the trial, I determined that the time I would be able to effectively imitate her would be shorter than the time you would spend asking questions.

However, your proposition about the vote leads us to an impasse. If the final result is to be determined by the votes you describe, then I would be defeated, but you would have abstained from the gunners' vote and be treated accordingly. Whereas if you refuse to vote altogether...

[The doll reaches into the evidence pile and pinches the surface of the smartphone between two webbed fingers. It pulls out an email and stretches it like a sticky film into an easily read projection about three feet across. The second one Sandra sent to someone other than herself, where she explained what happened to Yoshiko and Nunnally, their names bolded within the text.]

Do you understand the detriments of that path?

[scythegun]

[...........right, well, frog powers aside...]

Those are two options, ja. Neither of them are very kind to us. If this is an experiment, how exactly are you benefiting from forcing us to choose one of the two options presented to us, both of which will end in our deaths - or at the very least, two of our number's deaths? Surely you see how completely pointless all of that is. Unless you're telling me that this whole "experiment" thing is a farce...?

[parasomniacs]

Experiment is a loaded word.

That Sandra whom you all hated so much... more than each other... She was the one who actually wanted to compare conditions and calculate the significance of the difference between the results. But she knew what Ranarium needed. What I was generated to pursue singlemindedly.

It's not the first time that I put forth that choice you dislike so greatly, at any rate.