122nd ♫ | phosphor burned a silent mayday, my hand slipped with a dirty splash

[phaiinein]

The Murder Game Meme



You know the script. You wake up in a place you've never seen before, with a whole bunch of complete strangers and there's a mysterious voice or a mascot or what have you ready to let you know how things are going to work around here.

The rules are simple: You're trapped here, with no hope of release or rescue. You've been provided with all the basic necessities you need to live comfortably, and all you have to do is settle down and live out the rest of your days here in peace. But if you can't do that -- if you're really so desperate to escape that you'll do anything -- then there's one teeny tiny thing you have to do first.

All you have to do is kill somebody.

But it's not quite that simple. Every death will be followed by a period of investigation, followed by a trial in which the survivors will attempt to solve the mystery and out the culprit. If the survivors guess correctly and out the culprit, the killer is executed and life goes on. But if the survivors guess wrong, then the culprit is free as a bird and everyone else is executed.

Even with the promise of freedom, can you really bring yourself to kill so many other people?

tl;dr: it's a murdergame meme. TIME TO HAVE A BIG OL' MURDERGAME BLAST.


Settings

1. High School A classic! Doesn't matter if you're too old or too young to be in high school -- you've been enrolled and the only way for you to graduate is to kill a fellow student. But hey, the faculties are nice!
2. Tropical Island Weren't you just hankering for a nice tropical vacation? No? Too bad! You're going to have a nice sunny vacation at the beach and if you don't like it, just kill someone and go home. Simple!
3. Prison It doesn't matter if you don't remember committing any crime; you've been tried and found guilty of something or other and now you can go ahead and rot away in jail. If you ever want to see the sunlight again, better put that criminal mind to good use and get rid of your inmates.
4. Mall A huge mall stuffed full of stores, places to eat and all the regular amenities like deadbolted doors and the threat of death. It's like Black Friday but even worse because you can't leave and all the rest of the shoppers might actually kill you for real this time.
5. City Holy shit, you've got the run of a whole city this time around! Maybe with all this room to keep out of each other's way, you'll be able to make sure no one starts killing people. But probably not.
6. Cruise Boat YOU'RE ON A BOAT, MOTHERFUCKER. The accommodation is all five star, even if there's no one around to act as wait staff. The only snag is that you still have this whole murder thing hanging over your head – but on the plus side, they have those little drinks with the umbrellas in, so...
7. Space Station THE FINAL FRONTIER... Maybe you're familiar with space stations like this or maybe all this future tech is fascinating to you. Not like it matters either way, of course, because you won't be getting out of here unless you lay down a murder on someone.
8. Wildcard! None of the above scratch your murder itch? Go wild and come up with your own setting!



Downtime

1. Excuse Me, Who Are You? You've just woken up in this weird place and you have no idea what's going on. But hey -- maybe this stranger's more informed than you. Or maybe you can put your heads together and investigate what's going on.
2. Social Link Go! Well, if you're going to be stuck in here for however long, you might as well get to know the people stuck in here with you. You've got plenty of rooms to explore together and there's enough to do to keep you occupied. How do you plan on passing time without killing each other?
3. Vending Machine Woes Somewhere in this place there's a mysterious vending machine that spits out all manner of bizarre items and occasionally dispenses items that belong to you and the other people trapped here. You've got a fat stack of tokens and nothing to lose.
4. The Corners of My Mind So as it turns out, your lovely hosts have been fiddling with your memories. Maybe you're just discovering this now or maybe you've had a particularly upsetting memory regain you're dealing with.
4. Wildcard! GO WILD AND BE FREE (or as free as you can be here, anyways)



PUTTING THE MURDER IN MURDER GAME

1. Motive Your mysterious overseer has decided there's not nearly enough murder going on and so they've ~helpfully~ given you a little push to do the deed. Maybe one of your loved ones is in danger, maybe they're offering more money than you could ever dream of or they're threatening to reveal your deepest darkest secrets. Whatever is it, would you kill for it?
2. Murder WELL APPARENTLY, YES. Are you a killer or are you being killed? Either way, someone's not walking away from this alive.
3. Body Discovery Rise and shine, murdergame! It's a brand new day and someone's dead. Better get investigating!
4. Trial You know how this one goes. Line up all your evidence and sniff out the killer -- or sit there and sweat and hope no one works out you're the murderer. Will they go down with a confession or put up a fight?
5. Afterparty You've survived another trial, but more of your friends have died. Even without the executions, trials are a stressful enough affair. It's time to destress and lick your wounds and support each other.
6. Mastermind It's the end. It's time to uncover all the mysteries behind this murder game -- and find out just who trapped you here. Are they really an unconnected party, or is the mastermind someone among you...?
7. Freedom Just as it says -- you're finally free, but at what cost? Have those you love been returned to you, or are you still reduced to just those who made it to the end? Are you on your own, or is anyone here to help you? And more importantly, how the hell are you going to get home?
8. Wildcard YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO


OPTIONAL FUN

Lots of murdergames have in-universe public profiles for other characters to get the skinny on yours. If you'd like to fill one out to post with your toplevel, peep at the code below!

<center><b>Name:</b> NAME | <b>TITLE (Super High School Level, Ultimate, Champion, etc)</b> <b>Age:</b> AGE | <b>Species:</b> SPECIES | <b>Occupation:</b> OCCUPATION <b>Likes:</b> LIKES <b>Dislikes:</b> DISLIKES <b>Traits:</b> A HANDFUL OF NOTABLE TRAITS <b>Trivia:</b> A PIECE OF TRIVIA</ul></center>

Comments

[selfreliar]

[I rolled tropical island and vending machine woes, but I wanted to ask--would you rather it be Yakko's or Aqua's item getting vended?]

[foolprocessing]

[Could it be Aqua’s, please?]

[selfreliar]

[Of course! Here's a starter, then.]

--

[While Aqua would never even try to match the energy of someone like Yakko Sakazaki (at least, not without a stage or a screen), there's something soothingly familiar about hanging around a sharp girl who speaks her mind. Maybe it's his closest thing to a comfort zone. So, given the new push among their group to maintain a buddy system, particularly when it comes to the younger characters among them, Aqua doesn't mind accompanying Yakko to try their luck at the gachapon.

At least, he doesn't mind until the capsule opens up to reveal an absolutely filthy ID badge holder on a lanyard--the kind doctors wear at hospitals worldwide. It looks like it's been all but buried in the dirt for years.

And inside the badge holder, nestled beside the ID itself, is a cutesy keychain proclaiming, "Ai will forever be my idol!!!"

Aqua isn't the most emotive, lively guy, but it's still obvious when he freezes up entirely.]

[foolprocessing]

((I do apologize for my icons, I'm going to get more and update them later.))

[If she could have punched their overseer she would have on the first day. There was something almost reassuring about having a threat that was obvious and physical. You could punch a creep, you couldn't punch a curse or a ghost.

The buddy system made sense, too. She couldn't quite get a read on Aqua but going to try the gachapon seemed like a fun idea. For someone who was from the eighties there were a lot of neat modern things that came out of it... and some not so fun things. She had been alone when she had gotten a bloodied hair ribbon.

That had been before the buddy system had been in place. She remembered the shock and revulsion then.]

Huh--?

[She couldn't see the ID properly but the memory of pulling out that hair ribbon was fresh in her mind.]

You recognize that... [It's an obvious statement but she says it more to herself than him.] The machine really is cruel.

[selfreliar]

[Yakko's voice snaps him back to reality. Crap. It's too late to pretend he doesn't recognize the keychain or that it hasn't rattled him. He passes a hand down a face he can feel has paled, covering his mouth a moment.]

...Y...yeah.

[Once he's sure he's more composed, Aqua lets his hand fall away. The shock lingers still at the edges of his expression; he looks a little like he might be sick. But who wouldn't?]

It belongs--belonged--to someone I know. A doctor at the hospital where I was born.

[Yakko said something about investigating her friend's death, right? Aqua studies her face for a moment, more direct than he tends to be outside of trials, and then seems to make a decision. If it's her, then...]

Years ago, he vanished without a trace. No one could get in contact with him. He didn't have any friends or family, so people moved on without much fuss, but... I'm sure he'd want someone to find out what happened to him. [He pauses, then adds:] ...They never found a body.

Talk of suicide

[foolprocessing]

That’s so horrible.

[Those words are soft, strangled. Almost unlike Yakko… yet fitting, too. She remembered the first days when she went back to school after she found out, after she had set up a memorial at where Michiyo had died.

Every student talked about her. Their words were cruel gossip, all assuming the story they had been fed. All coming up with reasons why Michiyo could have committed suicide. As if she hadn’t been a person, a friend… that it had been suspicious enough to investigate further.

Just thinking of that cold atmosphere made her blood boil silently.]

I’m sure he would have.

[Her voice raises again, sharp and clear.]

A life is a life. Just because there wasn’t a body found doesn’t mean he wasn’t gone, that he might have died! That’s so… cruel…!

[selfreliar]

[Aqua blinks. While he was hoping for a reaction like that, he hadn't expected it to be so strong. Nor for it to affect him like this, a secret pang in his chest.

He hides it by slipping the keychain out of the badge holder. The ID itself is illegible now, but Ai's chibi-style face has survived intact. Aqua closes his hand around it. When he looks up, his gaze is as clear as her voice.]

This probably sounds awful, but I'm sure he did. I can't say how I know... except that he had a really important patient in his care. There's no way he would have run out on them just then.

[Not when his favorite idol needed him most.]

...I'm probably the only one who remembers enough about him to think it was weird, how he never showed up again.

[foolprocessing]

Then that was reason enough to consider something happened, isn’t it?! People just… they don’t just abandon everything for no reason!

[She always had a strong sense of Justice but this reminded her too much of Michiyo.]

I don’t think it’s awful even if you can’t tell me why. I… I knew right away something was off about how Michiyo died. I don’t know much about medical things but we knew each other for a long time.

[They had drifted apart but something had nagged her about that death.]

…I understand. I was the one who put up flowers for Michiyo. I kept replacing the flowers until I decided I had to do something about it. To try to let her rest peacefully.

[selfreliar]

[His hand tightens slightly around the keychain.]

...Do you think it will? Put her spirit to rest, I mean.

[foolprocessing]

[Yakko shifts slightly as stands there, thinking. She closes her eyes in thought.

I think if not peacefully, then at least more at ease than she currently is.

[There is a very slight way she changes her phrasing there. Something that if Aqua wasn’t perceptive he’d miss entirely.]

[selfreliar]

[It's interesting, the way she words it. Using present tense for the dead isn't that strange, particularly if the death is recent. But Yakko puts it as though, not only is her friend still around, but she's aware of current events--and Yakko is aware of her feelings in turn.

Aqua knows better than to dismiss something like that as impossible. He doesn't want to push Yakko too hard and risk her shutting him out of this conversation, either. What he really wants to know, anyway, is...]

...What did you decide to do, then? Is it enough for her if you find out the truth, or...?

[foolprocessing]

I asked one of my classmates to use a spirit board to find out how she died.

[She opens her eyes with a wry little smile, rubbing the back of her neck.]

It didn’t give us much but finding out she died in an accident… that set us on the right path. I’m not sure what’ll happen after we find out the details. Honestly, I thought about looking into a rumor about a way to bring the dead back to life but that’s pretty weird, isn’t it?

[Yakko felt safe enough revealing that now. After all this whole conversation seemed like it was about showing a little more.]

[selfreliar]

[The faintest of wan smiles touches Aqua's mouth.]

Nah, it's not weird. You wouldn't be the first to wish for a convenient miracle like that.

It's not something that could ever happen in my world. Not unless you believe in reincarnation. [Ha.] As far as I know, there's no way to communicate with the dead, either, no matter how restless they must be.

[foolprocessing]

I didn’t think it was possible either but while we were doing the spirit board… I saw something. It wasn’t Michiyo but if there’s ghosts like that then she must be out there.

[The sound of kagura music still resonates in her ears sometimes.]

But I’m not sure the price is worth it. So maybe just finding out what happened will have to do.

[selfreliar]

The price? ...For bringing her back to life? That was part of the rumor you mentioned?

[He wasn't expecting the rumor she'd heard to contain actual details. His eyes widen a little, in spite of himself. Yakko has his attention.]

[foolprocessing]

It wasn’t. There was some excavation recently and a scroll containing what was said to be an ancient ritual was discovered. The Rite of Resurrection. The occult is kind of a fad right now so I thought I might as well ask the spirit board about it… then I learned more.

[She grows quiet. She remembers that night all too well.]

It’s, uh, a lot to talk about but basically I think I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. To complete the Rite you have to use a curse to find and kill the other people who found curses, too.

[She nervously tugs at her sleeve as she talks.]

I didn’t really believe too much in the supernatural until I found that curse. That’s what told me how to complete the Rite.

[selfreliar]

That's...

[What Yakko's describing lies well outside Aqua's realm of experience, but he rises gamely to the task of understanding it, frowning. He's always been a smart guy, after all.

His frown deepens. He doesn't like the logical connection he's coming to.]

Doesn't that mean others will try to kill you for it?

[foolprocessing]

Yeah…

[Her arms cross at the thought. Of remembering close calls.]

There’s a lot of conditions that makes avoiding them easier—it can only happen at night and certain things have to happen. Each curse is based on a different local legend… so there should be, uh, I think eight other people.

[She thinks.]

I should really get rid of it but I… don’t really want to, yet.

[selfreliar]

[Aqua's usually understated expression sharpens along stern lines, as though he has any right to chide her when she's a year his senior. Maybe it's the big brother in him.]

What? Why not? That's your life you're playing with, there, not something you should risk so easily.

[Or maybe she's actually struck a nerve.]

[foolprocessing]

[The way she winces is genuine. She’s heard similar things before but—]

I don’t know. Even here every time I think about giving up on it… it feels like it draws me back in. Maybe curses are like that?

[selfreliar]

[Seems like he might have more to say to that, Ticked-off Older Brother written all over his face. But Yakko isn't his sister, and she didn't have to tell him all this. Aqua forces the concern and anger out through his nose.

Mostly. He still looks kind of sour.]

...Fine. How do you get rid of it, then? Is there some kind of... purification ritual you'd have to do?

[foolprocessing]

The curses are channeled through an object called a curse stone. If someone took it from me, it would transfer to them.

[She knew that probably would be a better idea. She knows people who could handle it better but, well. She’s at least not flinching now.]

I don’t have it here so that’s a good thing, right?

[Yakko, no.]

[selfreliar]

[Note to self: if he gets any weird rocks out of the gachapon, he cannot return them to Yakko.]

I guess with any luck, someone will take it while you're gone. Then you'll only have to worry about surviving this deadly situation and not the one back home, too.

[foolprocessing]

[Or wooden sculptures! Especially creepy ones telling you to kill. Being from a horror canon is Fun.]

Mm… maybe my classmate will. She’s like a paranormal prodigy, she can handle that sort of stuff better than me.

[And who has been constantly asking Yakko to give it up.]

It’s kind of weird how I jumped from one to another. Though, one with a lot less ghosts.

[selfreliar]

I hope there aren't any. If there were a bunch of ghosts hanging around, I'd have to believe these 'games' have been going on here for a long time.

[...He wonders, what counts as a ghost? Something to chew on later, maybe.]

It's not like we need things here to be any more like a horror series.