dormheads | (ROLE) CULT 5.0

cult.

On Monday at 10 PM, Otome, Luxanna, Dimitri, and Manwol receive an encrypted e-mail.

d4rkness@Wiwaldi.edu

Come to classroom 1304; see attached map.

No one is in the halls as they creep to the abandoned classroom circled on the map. The normally locked door opens, revealing the room inside.

There are no windows and the lights are off, leaving the room cast in near darkness. Only a handful of candles, in what's probably a fire hazard, keep it illuminated; the fog being emitted from a personal fog machine doesn't help with visibility. What was once the teacher's desk has been pushed to the center of the room, with chairs seated around it. For some reason, there are cat decorations everywhere, mixed in with various (garish) occult items and patterns.

As of Week 3, a lamp has been added to the room to give it some light.

There is a cat-shaped bulletin board hanging on the wall, which reads:

» This world is trying to assimilate all of you, who started this year, into its setting. If it succeeds, you'll remain trapped in this school, your souls drained until you cease to exist.

» Each week, this place will make active efforts on a few select students. Once the weekend hits, they'll all be beyond saving. However, if any one of them is killed before then, they'll all be freed from the link, at least for the remainder of the week.

» Death isn't necessarily permanent. Those who died can potentially be saved. However, no such option exists for the fully assimilated.

» At the start of the week you'll be informed if you may recruit one person to join the cult. Provide a list of 4-8 people you want to recruit and you'll be told which one of them is approved. If you extend an invitation and they accept, they will join the cult the following week.

» Preventing the assimilation aside, even the original cult was meant to be a secret, so it's important that word doesn't spread. If anyone else learns about your involvement in the cult or your task, whether from your mouth or another's, this world may enact consequences. No guarantee on who they might affect, so it's up to you to decide if risking harm upon another is worth it.

As of Week 3, more notes have been added.

A summary of what the others were told previously:

» This world is forced to act according to an internal logic. It isn't always aware of everything going on, and it can't break whatever rules it wishes. This would presumably be why you all arrived here with your minds intact, rather than already assimilated; it's possible that this defence mechanism has manifested in other ways as well, to try and correct things to how they should be.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's difficult to work with the others when saying the wrong thing risks...

[ well. ]

... There's little else to do but endure and work with the constraints.

[as callous as that might sound, though it's not meant unkindly.]

Everyone has been getting more info, at least. And for better or for worse, now that things have reached this point, the world might eventually escalate—just not at us, specifically. It might, for example, double down on trying to prevent us from returning home.

But if it tries making a move more openly, that could be an opportunity.

[ no, she wouldn't take it as unkind anyway. ]

... For whatever losses we endure, more comes to light each time. [ even in the case of adora, which she does not want to say out loud. acknowledging that at least they've been told this is for a good reason isn't an even enough trade to want to speak it. ]

What can it do to prevent our return home? We're already trapped here quite well.

Initially, my assumption was that if it wanted to prevent those alive from returning home, it would have to provide a justification. In terms of what makes "sense" for the setting... it can only come up with so many reasons that students can't leave campus after graduating, if said students want to.

But if it's desperate enough, it might try to forcefully go against that. [a beat] Keep in mind, though, that that's only a guess. That might not be where it focuses its efforts.