[Early in the morning--perhaps one or two--there's a series of violent explosions that seem to originate in the residential elevator shaft. The elevator itself plummets--anyone unlucky enough to be inside is killed either by the explosion or the fall, although they won't be able to recall which due to apparent unconsciousness.

Jason sends this message not long after the explosions quiet down.]

WHAT have you lot done this time? Are you trying to crack the Tower in half? HOW did you even get explosives? Do you know what you've just DONE? This is going to be a mess. It's your own fault, but given I'm on babysitting duties, I'm going to do my best to fix this as quickly as possible. It'll still take a week or so, though.

Until then--well, maybe you should figure out which of your revolutionaries had THIS bright idea and give them a talking to, because pretty soon you're all going to find out what that explosion broke.

(There will be no NPC response to this post.)

Does anyone else kind of want to stay here instead of go home? If there was a way to make it safe to live here, would anyone else stay?

Good afternoon. You'll notice soon enough, but I've made a few changes to your collar checkups. We wouldn't want last month's fiasco repeating, would we? Now, I'm busy, so I don't have time to chat with all of you about whatever injustice I've committed this week, so just talk among yourselves if you'd like, alright?

-J

(There will be no NPC response to this post.)

--ridiculous. I suppose you'd just let them get away with it. [Jason's voice crackles over the network, catching him mid-conversation. His anger is obvious.]

It's my month and I get to do what I want. [Zo sounds childishly petulant.]

Your month but my collar checkups. We're lucky we've at least trained some of them in learned helplessness or who knows how much worse it could have been! [Jason's anger only increases--he obviously doesn't know he's being recorded and broadcast.] And you know the rules.

Yes, but Riki already-- [Zo's petulance increases, but Jason cuts him off sharply.]

Riki's concerns aren't mine. They've interfered with my business, I'll punish them.

[Zo's tone darkens--still childishly angry, but there's an edge to it.] You know I have to approve whatever you're gonna do.

[Jason sighs, but his tone softens a little. It's difficult to tell why with just audio to go on, though.] I realize that. I'm hardly going to request experiment time; it's my turn next month anyway. All I want from you is--

[The feed cuts out.]

(There will be no NPC responses to this post.)

[There's an audible chime, like a cheery voicemail tone, from every terminal simultaneously, before text appears on the screen.]

Good afternoon, Tower of Animus. My name is The Observer. I've got a special message for you today, direct from one of our beloved administrators. Please read, listen to, and memorize this message, and reproduce it wherever you can!

( Cut for long but very important message. )

Wasn't that a special little message? Now, copy it down in your notes so you don't forget it! No matter whom you're allied with, be it Pandora, Ganondorf, your friends from home, or just yourself! There will be a test on this.

And the first section of the test is this - I want you to place at least one copy of this message somewhere in the tower. No points for hiding it! It has to be visible to everyone! In a few days I'll tell you all how you did, and I'll repeat this message for you lazy people who didn't see or hear this today.

That's all for now!

- The Observer

[All characters with mailboxes will find a copy of the message in their mail as of this evening.]

Hello, dears! Are you having fun? The game is going to end soon, so I'll help you out a little more. Here are the requirements for killing the five starting monsters! The catch? I took out any names that would make things too obvious, and I'm not going to tell you what requirement matches what monster. Remember, you have to meet these requirements before you can kill them--though usually you can have someone else do the actual killing, if you're squeamish.

One monster wants to atone for their sins. Another, quite similarly, wants to know their efforts to atone meant something! The third monster wants to be seen as an irreplaceable, worthwhile individual. Your fourth monster wants to feel as though they have a family again. And finally, the last monster would like someone specific--I won't say who, but it's someone very close to them--to save them.

Now, I'm really sorry, but I think I might have made part of this too difficult! All of the monsters that have been created without extra powers means it's quite hard to identify a lot of them! So I'm going to help you out.

All monsters that aren't the five original ones will be able to use all of their normal abilities while they're monsters! Isn't that great? You should be able to figure everything out a lot more easily now!

Happy Hunting! ♥

(Ruana will not be replying to this post.)

You're a bit slow, aren't you? Fine, fine, I'll give you some more hints.

First, remember, for our dear first five monsters, you need to fulfill a special requirement to kill them during the day. I won't tell you their specific requirements yet--you haven't even figured out who they are, I bet!--but I will tell you this:

If I was a monster so repulsive even I wanted to stop myself, I would need ... before I could stop.

And now, for the identities! Here are some clues for you to figure out!

The Laughing Monster's powers as plain as you can see
Are what he feels and what he is and who he longs to be

The Apathetic Monster never more wants for a sword
With speed unparalleled, it'll find its enemies gored

From blood comes the fire in the Crying Monster's veins
'Tis utterly powerless otherwise, or so the world does deign

Dearest Screaming Monster, what curses do you see?
Whose puppet strings direct this terrifying prophecy?

The Growling Monster on borrowed time lives on
Though borrowed time is stopped once it is called upon

((Ruana will not be replying to this post, but you can reply to each other and use it to try and figure out who's who.))

You get a hint today! Aren't you happy? When it comes to the first five, they have extra powers. You noticed, right? Well, one is based on something they had themselves, if they had them, and the other one is based on something someone close to them could do! So maybe that will help you out a little?

♥

Are you having fun, dears? I'll answer questions about the game we're playing, but only that. Anything else and I won't answer you. And, of course, I might not answer all your game questions, either. Mystery is fun, too!

♥

[There's a crackling throughout the Tower's staircase and--painfully--the power comes back on. A moment later, all of the glamour goes back up: everything and everyone looks the way it should, although the food remains nutrition bars and water.

And then Ruana's voice comes on over the network. It's low, sleepy--furious.]

You broke it. You broke it! How could you! How could you! After everything--and now--and now--

[She laughs, though it's not a pleasant sound.]

You're all going to die in one year, you know. For real. Everything will turn off, and you'll all die when I can't maintain you anymore. Maybe I'll send you back before that, and let you all walk around your ruined wastelands for the rest of eternity. Or maybe I won't. Maybe I'll let you die here.

But for now... [Another, high-pitched giggle.]

My darlings, let's play a game.

[While this recording is open for comments, Ruana will not be responding.]

The network connects to a new feed an hour later, at eleven. It's not as stumbling as the previous connection--while a blast of energy accompanies it, this is a more precise one. If Zo's connection was a sledgehammer, this connection is a scalpel. Ruana and Dax are sitting across from each other at a table. The display is off to the side, and so both are displayed in profile.

Neither seems especially cheerful at the moment.

"You should see all the damage they did downstairs," Ruana says; the tip of her left shoe taps against the floor rhythmically. "Jason's labs still have dead monsters in them, Riki is going to have to fix all his security, they went into my bedroom--" Ruana growls, but composes herself. "I know it was you."

"I wasn't under any impression I was being especially subtle," Dax says, and his tone is ice cold--efficently emotionless. "We can't keep doing this. We're hurting them--all of them."

"We're saving them."

"I'm sure a lot of them would have rather died. Some of them have told me as much."

"We're saving them! If we have to save them from themselves, too, then that's just part of--"

"I'm saving them!" Dax slams his hands down on the table. "From the monsters, when I can keep them down here. From Jason, when I can keep him from cutting out their veins or rearranging their nervous systems for fun! If I have to save them from you--"

"From me? Dax--"

"--it's not that much different from what I do all the time."

Dax slams a hand against the table again and it falls apart--chaotically rearranged, as Dax's powers are wont to do. Ruana shrieks with something more sinister than laughter.

"Is this a coup? Oh, dear." Ruana vanishes, reappears next to Dax. Her voice drops to something slower and sleepier than her normal trill. "You're being a very bad dog."

The entire room falls to pieces--Dax has used his abilities again. A moment later, Half of RUana falls apart, too, in a mix of pulped organs and shattered bones. But a moment later she reappears on the other side of the room, still regrowing bits of skin but otherwise looking fine.

The wall spikes suddenly through her chest and the feed cuts out again.

The feed comes back on an hour later. Ruana and Dax are sitting across from each other at a table. The display is off to the side, and so both are displayed in profile.



( Then the world falls apart. [extreme gore and distrubing content] )

The atmosphere of the Tower changes--reorganizes itself, finds a new sort of order with only the dull taste of blood in the back of your throat to mourn the old way of the world. What were Dax's powers if not control of order and chaos--and Ruana uses them now to rewrite things, to claw out the tumors the universe said were inoperable. It is not so much removing Nyarlathotep as tearing him out of the fabric of the universe, not so much closing a door as writing that door out of existence before and after and forever.

Nyarlathotep, and all the visitors who came with him, are shunted violently through the universe back to where they came from. It's a rough ride, the sort you might expect to get if you intruded and were tossed out, and there's no time to even register what's happening until it's happened.

Silence settles over the Tower, and the feed turns off.

The network comes on painfully--the terminals crackle with energy like there was some sort of wild power surge going through the Tower. Every terminal turns on at once. The display is broken at first, but slowly it stabilizes, the display just behind Zo's shoulder. White-hot energy pulses from him--it looks like he’s forced the display on somehow. Monitors flicker in and out of view in the room; it seems to be some sort of control center composed of floating screens and input devices. The room is large, making it hard to see the ends from the display, but aside from Zo there are two others in the room.

Riki looks a bit worse for wear and, as opposed to his usual stoic demeanor, has an expression approaching furious. Most of Zo's energy seems concentrated around him like a barrier, and the monitors whirl around behind RIki now, following some sort of unspoken command. The world shifts abruptly, providing a different angle on the confusing situation.

The laughter that echoes around the chamber is deep, dark and somehow primordial. There’s another figure looking exactly like Riki, but the features are twisted, the indifferent disposition morphed into a terrible smirk. From his hand a wave of dark energy smashes into the room, sending whatever was still standing flying over.

"Come now! Is this the best defense system this place has to offer to one of its grand administrators? Cowering behind a child? Well, I do suppose considering everything about this world, it should not be the least bit surprising."

He took another step.

"So tell me, how did your little ants enjoy their trip into the central throne?"

The various scattered objects freeze in place as Riki draws in his screens; the screens seem to be made of the air itself, or something similar, and he alters and pulls at them as easily as if they were tied to him by a thousand strings. "Not your business," he growls. Another swipe of his screens and the objects morph, shifting into swords that fly at the false Riki. "Stop wearing my face."

Zo shrinks back against the wall. His barriers don’t fall, but he obviously doesn't enjoy the violence taking place.

"Not my business? I am darkness that makes up the Collective Unconsciousness! My primary sources of power, the three poisons that make up life, Anger, Ignorance and Vengeance are ripe in this world!"

Nyarlathotep raises his other hand and catches the swords, looking almost bored.

"Humans are strange...I came here because of the despair that fills every orifice of this tower...the desire for all of you to put an end to this, and now you would try to whisk me away?"

The swords melt into a puddle of metal on the floor, and suddenly he is besides Zo, trying to violently push him away.

Zo shrieks, clearly terrified, but his barriers cover him as they cover Riki, and they crackle with raw energy in their owner’s defense. Riki alters something on his screens and the metal rises up, forming itself into some sort of great mercurial beast that lunges at Nyarlathotep. "Leave the kid out've it, you attacked me first."

"Hahaha! What’s this? Feeling sentimental about another?" Nyarlathotep had barely even flinched from touching the other. "But is not your personal interest simply tied to the tower itself? I suppose even a monkey will brand its tools when backed in a corner..."

At his turn, the giant creature is lit aflame, crying out as the fire causes the skin to bubble, crack and expand. Soon it has enlarged into strands of burned mercury before a slap from the other Riki makes it fall into dust.

"Ha ha ha! Do you not know where the term, 'mad as a hatter' comes from? I've given humanity much fun with that element!"

At his turn, he summons forth a demon, as it moves forward, casting a spell in an attempt to poison both of the tower residents.

Zo flinches at the monster, but steps forward nonetheless--or rather leaps in a burst of childish energy. "Stop--stop it! Stop it!"

The screen turns white and crackles--it’s barely possible to make out the figures, let alone what’s going on, but whatever Zo's done tears the demon into six or seven pieces. Then the light gets brighter--there’s a different sort of crackle. It sounds like the monitor itself is breaking, because it is. The screen warps and fills with static before the video cuts out completely.

They can hear the battle still going on, however, Nyarlathotep speaking for one final time.

"Hmph! Regardless of how much you struggle, the end will be the same! Just like the worlds of the disembodied souls you siphon into recycled bodies over and over, this one will also meet its end! Now the question is, how much are you willing to risk?"

Another explosion cracks apart what sound remains. The feed cuts out.

(OOC: The network is currently inactive. No new posts may be made until it is active again.)

--interesting, right? You see? [Ruana's voice, at first distorted from some sort of interference, flickers through the network.]

Mm. [Riki, if one can distinguish grunts.] Dangerous.

Not for us. [Ruana hums thoughtfully.] Well can't you just get that one ready first? It'd be real messy otherwise!

[Riki makes another noncommittal noise. There's silence, except for some typing.] Yeah. Should be possible, though I'll have to make adjustments.

[Ruana giggles, bubbly excitement obvious.] Perfect! I'll--

[The feed cuts out.]

[Following this post, characters will feel increasingly uneasy on floor fifty-six. This feeling will persist for an hour, growing worse and worse, until everyone feels like they absolutely have to leave the floor. Anyone who insists on ignoring this feeling will black out after an hour and a half and wake up on a random floor of the Tower.

Floor Fifty-Six is not accessible until further notice. Going up or down the staircase will result in ending up on floor fifty-seven or fifty-five. NPCs will not respond to this post, but characters can use it to talk among themselves.]

"--was necessary." Riki, looking distracted and hunched over some sort of monitor, doesn't seem to notice that one of the more out of the way displays is now displaying him.

Dax, his back to the display in question, doesn't notice either. "Maybe for you to finish your project, but surely if you had to distract them--"

"Couldn't watch the doors, needed to keep 'em from breaking in."

Dax doesn't seem to want to continue that line of thought--he opens his mouth, sighs, and switches subjects. "Your project isn't really necessary either. And the distribution of materials isn't efficient."

"You always say that." One of Riki's hands stretches out into the air beside him and a holographic monitor ripples into existence. There's a number of charts and status reports on the screen, but it's too small to see and is quickly pulled into Riki's field of vision and out of sight of the monitor. "Gone soft on us."

Dax's sigh then is especially put-upon. "Morality isn't "gone soft". I suppose it could be worse. Ruana's taking over next, after all. She's--worse than Jason, though I don't know if they realize that."

Riki glances sidelong at Dax, pausing from whatever task is at hand. "Shouldn't say that sort of thing."

Looks are exchanged between the two men. Then the display crackles and distorts and for a moment fingers torn and clawing and bleeding on the screen.

Ruana bursts into the room. "Good morning! Is there really going to be a wedding? Oh, that's so exciting! So romantic!" She drapes on Dax--though when did she even hoist herself up onto the taller man? It was as if she'd just appeared there. She smiles at Dax, all lovestruck teenager. "Don't you agree?"

The display flickers again, and hands reach out to Dax, cling and tug and tear and rip and bleed--and then the screen flickers back to normal, and Dax is standing there the same as always.

The video feed turns off.

[At first what Dax is saying is completely incomprehensible--a good ear for languages may notice it's the same language the worker units are speaking. Dax has some sort of device in his hand, though, and after fiddling with it a little eventually his words become understandable to anyone listening:]

--Testing, testing--aha, there we are. Alright--well, to get this out of the way for our new residents, I'm Dax, and I'm an administrator of the Tower. Anyway, as you may have noticed, we're having a few minor malfunctions when it comes to our usual translation process which wasn't helped by having to divert all that power to quarantining and scrubbing radiation. I'm using a portable device to translate this to all of you and to translate any of your responses, but it's a bit fussy.

We should have everything fixed within a day or two, however! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

[He sounds just a bit nervous about the prospect of Q&A, though. It's as if these situations often bring long discussions and arguments, or something.]