Finished Convicted IV: Party Gone Wrong

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An update? :eek: If you didn't forget this existed, thank you. March was c h a o t i c for me and even though I had the first half of the chapter done not too long after last chapter, the time for the second half was just impossible to find. I apologize to all two of my fans.

Chapter 4
The Fountain

A circle around Pete’s body slowly formed as the Pokémon realized Pete couldn’t knock them down anymore. Or anything else, really.

"It's raa dumb to reckon I'd use me poffins to kill a brudda,” argued Aromatisse, “cos I couldn’t know who'd eat which one, now could I?”

“Well, if you’re just looking to thin out the herd, that wouldn’t matter too much,” accused Kadabra. “I haven’t been able to establish a pattern for the killings yet, and it might still be too early, but my working theory is that the murderer is trying to cut down on numbers for now.”

“For now?” inquired a concerned Froslass, accidentally freezing some of the ground beneath her in her dread. “What happens after?”

“Well...I think it’s no accident we all ended up here. We’ve established we all had reasons to want Alolan Exeggutor dead, and we just so happen to all be here in the same party? I’m just saying, someone went a long way to get us all here.”

Overly eager to find the one responsible before it was too late, Kuurama couldn’t help but add her own two cents in the most accusatory way possible. “So what you’re saying,” she said, throwing a dirty look at Candice, “is we should look at the one who organized the party and invited us all in the first place?”

“Unlikely. You see–”

“Listen, I might have cared about what happened to you at first, but you’re on your own now. We’re all out of foxes where I come from, and I suppose we’ll soon be out of foxes around here too. Either you trust me or you don’t. When you figure out you need my help, come find me. You know where I’ll be.”

With these words, Candice went back up the stairs at a normal pace, but as soon as she was out of sight her stride became heavy with anger, made all the more obvious by the loud bang the door made as she slammed it behind her.

“Well, someone ought to pull the stick out of her–”

“Z! What did we just talk about in the bathroom?” scolded a very frustrated Deino.

“I...can’t remember? Our talk just conveniently ended right before dinner. It’s like it never happened.”

“Well, you better fill that hole soon. We made some progress there.”

“Way to go, Kuurama. She was just about the most useful one of us, and now she won’t help us.”

“What part of ‘she could be the one killing us one by one’ escapes your understanding?”

“It’s like I said, highly unlikely. The ones that were killed–”

“Why’re we listenin’ to this nerd anyway? Where I'm from, if you don't got clout like that guy you do bare daring tings to geddit. So I reckon he's the killer and all this' just to inflate his street cred.

You think...you think Kadabra’s the killer?” The mere thought of one of her only allies not being her ally at all shook Karta out of her stupor. “I get what you mean, but isn’t killing a bunch of innocent Pokémon a bit, um...overkill?”

“No,” said Ejy, who had remained silent until then, “Alolan Exeggutor was the scum of the Earth, quite literally. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

After a few seconds of looking around expectantly, Ejy was defeated by all the confused looks.

“We’re the only ones to know Alolan Exeggutor’s dead, at least for now,” they elaborated. “If we’re alive when word gets out, nothing’s stopping us from simply telling the police who was present at the time and drastically narrow down their suspect list.”

“Hm...interesting view,” complimented Kadabra. “I suppose that’s true.”

Interesting view? Seriously? We’re all gonna die, and you think it’s interesting? Maybe Aromatisse was right after all.”

“Well, if you look at it this way, Kuurama– I think it’s Kuurama? Anyways– it’s a good thing. The fact that this is happening at all means the murderer has screwed up or isn’t confident enough that they won’t. And if we can catch on before we’re all dead, that solves the problem!”

“Well, how exactly are we supposed to do that, kid? I like being murdered as much as the next person, but how can we stop the killer? We’re already down two.”

“I...might just be able to help with that,” said Ejy triumphantly.

“Well, we’re listening. And I don’t mean just both my heads.”

“It’s...it’s easier if I show you.”
Ejy walked up to the wall, overly aware of their every movement, fearing a misstep knowing that everyone was watching them.

“Alright, I can’t see where I’m going, so I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll give it a shot.”

Ejy started focusing, and a purple light enveloped their body slowly as their tiny legs started to lift off the ground. They were still new to this teleporting business, so they really had to focus. They closed their eyes, and muttered their safe words.

“Embrace…tranquility…”

When they opened their eyes, they couldn’t be sure of where they were. One thing was for sure: it was most definitely not the outside of Alolan Exeggutor’s house.


“Alright...now that they’re gone, anyone wanna tell me what the hell that was about? I mean, tiny bro is bloody gone! Just vanished into thin air!”

“Ah, so this is the power of the Elgyem. You see, Elgyem are an alien race–”

“We all watch the news, love, but hearing about it on TV and seeing it firsthand are two completely different things.”

Hearing those words from Froslass made Kadabra lose his train of thought for a second, something that was definitely not lost on his audience.

“Er, yes, well, I guess not, but...”

Karta saw where this was going, and swiftly came to the rescue. “Apparently our pink friend here has been living under a rock. Isn’t that right, Patrick?”

The look of relief earned from Kadabra quickly turned into one of confusion at the mention of ‘Patrick’, but Karta followed up before anyone could question the subject.

“Just kidding. Anyways, Elgyem–and their evolution, Beheeyem–came to our planet after their planet was mysteriously destroyed.”

Not mysteriously.

“What do you mean, not mysteriously?’’ asked Karta, looking at Kadabra.

“What are you going on about? I haven’t said a thing.”

It was Alolan Exeggutor.

“I hear it too,” added Froslass.

“I swear mate, I’ve had enuff Psychic mind tricks for today. Cut it out.”

Guys, can’t you see me? I’m right here!

Suddenly, a chill went down all of their spines, as an immense feeling of dread, of not knowing what happens next, of complete helplessness, settled in their gut. Panicked looks were exchanged in the room for what seemed like forever, no one daring to break the silence.

After a few moments, the sensation passed, but the lingering anxiety stayed with most of them for a few hours. Psychologically beaten, everyone found their own corner to sit down and contemplate reality, and a few continued their work on the murder.

Karta thought about going up with Candice, but she decided to give her some space and went to the basement instead, looking for comfort in the shadows.

Kuurama and Aromatisse disappeared through the living room, heading for the drinks room. Zweilous followed soon after, catching Aromatisse’s attention and dragging him upstairs to Exeggutor’s room. “Furniture doesn’t make itself”, after all.

Thinking it was a dumb idea, Kuurama went to the drinks room anyway. “I could sure use one of these right about now,” she said as she opened the door, and proceeded to drink her worries away.

Finally, Kadabra and Froslass stayed in the kitchen. Or rather, Froslass stayed in the kitchen, and Kadabra stayed with Froslass.

“Are you feeling better?” Kadabra asked after some minutes of silence. Froslass was going through the counters, floating up and down, looking for something.

“I’m feeling ok, thanks.”

More silence as Froslass weighted her options.

“That’s the problem,” she ended up confessing. She gave up her search and sat at the table, across from Kadabra.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean my ex is dead. Sure, he was a scumbag, but he’s frickin’ dead. And now two others are too. I didn’t know them before, but they were still alive and deserving to live as much as any of us.”

“Just because something happened to them doesn’t mean they deserved it,” he said nodding in understanding. “Bad things happen to good Pokémon, but it’s not your fault. It’s only the killer’s.”

“I know that, don’t get me wrong.” Froslass let out a defeated sigh, a trace of guilt cracking her voice. “It’s just, three Pokémon are dead. Two of our own are dead, and all I can think is ‘Im glad it wasn’t me’.”

“Look, it’s ok. Thinking that doesn’t make you a monster,” comforted Kadabra, reaching for her cold hand. “It makes you alive. We’re all glad it wasn’t us, but that doesn’t mean we wanted them dead, or that we had any part in it. It just means we’re alive, that’s all.”

Froslass looked up at Kadabra’s eyes, and held his newfound merciful gaze.


In the basement, Karta wandered around the seemingly endless hallway, coming across more than a few rooms with various purposes.

A training room, a gaming room, a music room, he even had his own drum kit! Tree dude really did have it all.

She kept walking, curiosity slowly replacing the fear and hopelessness she had felt not too long ago. Deciding the other rooms weren’t that interesting, she settled on the gaming room and turned on the TV, only to remember they had no phone or TV access.

Damn, that’s right. No TV or nothing. Guess a nap can’t hurt.

Tired form the day’s events, Karta hid behind the TV and finally allowed herself to relax. She certainly had a lot to process…


“Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty.”

Confused, Kuurama slowly opened her eyes.

“Uh uh,” the voice said, petting the Ninetails’ head. “Don’t you worry, I’ve pumped you so full of drugs you can hardly generate a thought. Does not mix well with whatever it is you were drinking earlier.”

“What...you?” she asked weakly. “Why...me?” Whoever was talking to her wasn’t kidding, it was really hard to put together even those single words.

“Of course you’d say that. They all do. The ones who see it coming, anyway. Bad call on Candice, by the way. We could’ve helped you. Oh, this could’ve all been avoided. Such a shame.”

The sheer arrogance in this voice was driving Kuurama crazy. She started to struggle and flail around, only to discover her legs were all bound. Bound with a very soft, kinda warm material…

“Heh. Don’t bother. Let’s just say...you’d only be hurting yourself if you were to break free. I don’t like the way you’re looking at me, though. Don’t give me such a...cold look.”

With these words, Kuurama felt her head numb from the inside out. This only lasted for a few seconds however, as the numbness was almost immediately replaced by a burning sensation. Realizing what was happening, Kuurama tried to fight it as much as she could. Her desperate grunts only seemed to please her captor, however, as she could still see a sly smile form on their face.

It was the last thing she saw. She felt every single droplet of fluid in her eyes turn into solid ice, expanding into the optic nerves and freezing all the way into her brain. She started to shake violently in shock, but still able to cry for help.

“No point, no one can hear you. Everyone is off doing their own thing, and I didn’t have to lift a finger. Thanks for the ice, by the way. Makes it easy to get everyone off my tail.”

She tried to scream again, but the only that came from her throat was a burning sensation, followed by icicles protruding from all around her neck, made from her own saliva.


Getting out of her spot, Karta decided it was time to get back with the others. As she did, however, she heard a door bang behind her. She turned around almost immediately, but there was nothing to be seen except for a small stream of blood underneath it.

Oh no, she thought. I was right here, damn it!

Against her better judgment, she went in the room. There, she found Ninetails or, more accurately, nine tails tied around Kuurama’s limbs, tying them together behind a column. Gigantic ice spikes were coming out of her eyes, frozen blood giving them scarlet highlights.

Kuurama’s expression was quite literally frozen, her mouth kept open by an equally titanic icicle formation coming out of her throat resembling an Ice-type Flamethrower. More ice protruded around her neck, almost like a Growlithe collar. Those had blood mixed in them too.
Karta couldn’t help but get closer, both in awe and in fear of the incredibly violent death. She was reaching for one of the icicles, when she heard a voice behind her.

“Karta?” asked Ejy. “What did you do?”

Accused: Karta the Violet
Dead: Kuurama the Ninetails

KARTA CONFIRMED!!!! Just kidding April Fools. Ha ha. Or is it? *laughs in Canadian*
 
I didn’t forget but I’m dead so...
o_O
Also, an “Ice type Flamethrower” is literally Ice Beam but whatever

Imma draw this scene though
 
This is great @Vom! I was not expecting each chapter to continue from where the previous chapter left off, for whatever reason, but I'm pleasantly surprised! Each chapter flows seamlessly, even despite the Turtwig's different writing style. I'm enjoying the pacing of each chapter - just short enough to be consumable, but long enough to be packed with character-building, leads and red herrings. I've got a few suspicions of my own and I'm confident enough to rule out a few characters, much unlike my previous attempt at the game. Everyone's character's profiles were brilliant, though I'm especially intrigued by Aromatisse and Elgyem's stories, and that Dieno / Zwelious idea is a stroke of genuis by T_E and very well executed by Vom and @Turtwig.

“I have nothing against Exeggutor or the edgy guy, but it sure sounds like you have some mixed feelings, Froslass.”

“Are you saying ‘edgy’ or Ejy?” Elgyem asked with a hand to their forehead.​
Someone needs a pay rise!
 
Glad to hear you're enjoying it @bbninjas ! :D Also good to see I'm doing a better job clue-wise lol.

On a less pleasant note, I said so on the server, but I can't actually write the next chapter until everyone who had submissions to do has done them. It's been about two weeks–the time it would've taken to get a whole chapter up–so if you don't submit anything in the next couple days, I will choose for you and you might not like it. You know who you are. :L
 
Chapter 5
The Revenant

“Everyone, stay calm!”

The others entered the room to the chilling sight of Karta reaching towards the corpse, before turning around and adjusting the stray hat she had found and put on her head.

“If we all stay in one place, the criminal’s hands will be tied!”

Zweilous rolled his eyes. “That was the plan, short-stack.”

“This is ridiculous, I’m leaving.” Candice pushed her way through the crowd, wondering why she had even bothered to come.

“Well I guess it can’t be helped…” Karta sat down, deep in thought.

“I see… Using the dark power in my devil’s eye, I shall expose all your sins in the light! You’re the killer!,” she said triumphantly, thrusting her finger at Kadabra.

“No I’m not.”

“Then… you?” The finger moved to Froslass.

“Not me.”

“What about you?” Then to Aromatisse.

“T’wasn’t me.”

“Was it you?” To Deino and Zweilous.

“Nope.”

“Wasn’t me either.”

“Then… it was Candice!” Karta cheered.

The group was not particularly amused by Karta’s repeated guesses.

“You…you really have no clue as to who the murderer is, do you?” asked Kadabra.

“I-I…”

Karta’s excuses were interrupted by Kadabra’s harsh, suddenly turned raspy, voice.

“If you don’t know anything,” he scolded, coughing, “why on earth is your first thought to accuse literally everyone else?”

With these words, Kadabra started to lose balance and fell to his knees, gasping for air.

“Kadabra!” exclaimed Froslass, rushing to his aid. “What’s wrong? You didn’t even eat anything!”

Helpless, he kept gasping for air, panicked, gesturing to his throat.

“I think he’s choking on something! Ejy, Karta, please do something! You can drag it out with your psychic powers, right?”

After realizing Ejy was mysteriously missing, Froslass turned to Karta. “Right? You gotta do something!”

The lights started to fail, and the room was growing colder by the second.

Locking eyes with Froslass, Karta saw despair. She saw raw, true despair at the prospect of unavoidable loss. She saw herself, standing helplessly before Alolan Exeggutor that night at the party, watching her sister leave her behind.

Sister…

“Karta!” Froslass snapped her back to reality. “What the hell are you doing!? Help me out here!”

The corners of the room had started to freeze, and lightbulbs were popping left and right.

Turning back to Kadabra, Froslass smiled.

“Everything’s gonna be just fine,” she said to him. “We’re gonna get you through this.”

She was about to turn to Karta again to ask what was taking so long, but Kadabra reached for her arm before she could. She could feel her heart beating stronger, stronger and stronger as she saw Kadabra’s expression turn from fear and anger into acceptance. Acceptance that the end was...inevitable.

“It...it was you, wasn’t it?” he asked. “It was always...you.”

The walls were covered in ice, and now the floor was starting to freeze over too.

“What? Don’t try to speak!”

“I’m not. This is...telepathy. I’m sorry if...you can feel these emotions too. Side effects, you know...”

“Shut up! You can tell me later. You can tell everyone later.” She tried to shush him, doing her best efforts to keep a relatively normal-looking smile on her face.

“What I’ve been looking for, what...most of us...”

Froslass saw Kadabra’s spirit left his body in the form of a small ball of white light, which circled around her a few times, dimming with each lap, until it faded completely.

Defeated and still flooded in emotions, both hers and Kadabra’s, she couldn’t manage to move. She remained in place, incapable of putting enough thoughts together to even decide on what to do right at that moment.

After a few minutes, Froslass finally lifted herself off the ground, and turned around to see why nobody had done anything to help.

“What...what the hell is this place?”

The room was barely recognizable, covered entirely with a very thick, crimson-stained layer of ice. There were stalactites and stalagmites, underneath which popped lightbulbs were visible. The only part of the room not covered in ice was a little circle around where she and Kadabra had been.

It didn’t dawn upon Froslass where she was, however, until she saw Kuurama’s body, now completely frozen. Not seeing anything else of interest in the room, she phased through the ice and went back into the hallway. The hallway, though, was a sight to behold.

It was completely covered in ice, but unlike the room where she had just been, this ice was clear, shiny even, so clear that she could see her image reflected a thousand times across it.

The lights were still slightly functional, turning on for a few seconds at a time before going dark again. As she was still trying to grasp exactly where everyone else had gone, she heard a noise from behind her. It was a sound she was very familiar with: it was ice cracking, and it definitely came from the room.

She froze in place. All the adrenaline pumping through her veins was starting to take over. Her first instinct was of course to go back and see what it was, but she still retained just enough common sense to make a decision.

Oh hell no, that’s some horror movie crap, she thought, before deciding it wasn’t worth it and phasing upwards since she couldn’t tell which way to go in the hallway.

Where the hell is everyone?


“Do you think it’s over?” asked an anxious Karta, struggling to keep her hat in place in such a confined space.

“Sh! She’s gonna hear you!” Zweilous whispered angrily. “The back of this TV is uncomfortable enough as it is, it doesn’t need your constant mumbling.”

“Damn, Z, she’s just a kid,” reprimanded Deino.

“A kid who’s gonna get us killed!”

Before they could continue arguing, they heard a loud crash at the other end of the hallway.

“What the hell was that?”

Moments later, they saw Kadabra walk by the door.

Terrified, Karta’s eyes opened wide, and as she was opening her mouth, Zweilous gave her a hard hit on the back of the head, knocking her out. Slightly more concerned about the walking dead finding them, Deino managed to limit his remarks to a simple, but effective, disapproving glare.

As they heard the icy noise fade, and Kadabra disappeared up the stairs, Deino and Zweilous agreed that it was safe to talk again.

“What the hell was that?”

“What can I say, except you’re welcome? Didn’t you see her face? She would’ve gotten us all killed.”

“And how do you figure that? You can’t punish someone for something they haven’t done!”

“Yet,” answered Zweilous calmly. “She was going to, I don’t really care if you believe me or not. Either way, whatever it was, it went right by us. We should get back to warn the others.”

“And what about Karta? She can’t exactly come with us,” Deino remarked snarkily, tilting his head towards the unconscious little body.

“Well, she’s tiny, we can carry her.”

And before Deino could object, Zweilous bit Karta softly lifting her off the floor, and they proceeded to go back upstairs, where another surprise was waiting for them.

“Watch out!” Candice shouted, and a wall of ice swiftly raised right in front of Deino and Zweilous, completely blocking the way for them to actually get on the floor, forcing them to stay on the stairs.

“What the hell, Candice!” barked Zweilous, who wasn’t exactly in the best mood from the argument with Deino. “I can’t see a–”

Before he could finish his complaint, he heard something hit the other side of the barrier of ice in front of him. Whatever it was, it left a very visible crack on the opposite side of where it landed, and remained stuck in the wall.

“Not a good time, guys,” said Candice, who sounded like she was doing some kind of intense physical activity. “We’re in a bit of a pickle here.”

And they were. Aromatisse, Froslass and herself were facing off against what seemed to be a reanimated Kadabra.

“What'd ya do that for, you twat? We need all hands on deck ’ere!”

“I can’t fight if I’m worried about keeping three more heads alive,” she replied, dodging a knife. “It’s already bad enough with you two!”

“I don’t understand,” said Froslass, who was manoeuvering in the air, sending Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball. “He died. I saw him die. I cried because of his death. How is this possible?”

“Dunno,” replied the Fairy Dust dealer. “I guess it shouldn’t, really, but here we are. How’s that thing movin’ so bloody fast anyway!? I can’t land a single attack!”

“It’s moving way too fast to be just a reanimated corpse,” Candice added, surfing around the room on an ice track she continuously created and destroyed as she moved forward within it. “I don’t care what it is, it has no business dodging our attacks like that.”

Kadabra was, in fact, relentlessly throwing knives at them from the kitchen, with a speed and agility that were more suited to an Infernape, and with such strength that it might as well have been a Machamp throwing those knives.

They sliced through the air so fast the entire room could hear them, and many of them had destroyed parts of the wall where they landed, if they didn’t go through the wall outright.

“This wanker ain’t messin’ ‘round, and I’m done hurling things at it. I’m gonna bash its brains in. Cover me!”

Having had enough of missing skillshots, Aromatisse decided to engage in melee combat, and Candice and Froslass followed to help, each knocking flying knives right off the air with their ranged attacks, ensuring that Aromatisse could get to his target unscathed.

“You’re done!”

Once Aromatisse was in range, a change anticipated by none happened. Aromatisse was landing every single attack, which Kadabra seemed to react too late to. This stopped him from retaliating and, seeing this, Candice and Froslass joined in.

Against the three of them, Kadabra stood no chance. Attack after attack, the Pokémon was less and less recognizable. With each blow, they could hear cracks inside, yet their opponent didn’t seem to feel a thing.

“It’s like, we’re hittin’ it, but we ain’t doin’ nothin’!” said Aromatisse in between heavy breaths.

The length of the fight was starting to wear them down.

“I swear we’ve broken every single miserable bone, but this mother’s still fighting us!”

Candice’s words brought tears to Froslass’ eyes, who had managed to keep her composure so far. Candice could see it, it was getting to be a little too much for Froslass.

That was all the opportunity Kadabra needed. He mercilessly threw Froslass across the room, not before flinging her around to knock Candice and Aromatisse back. All three landed through the kitchen window, but the metal barricade behind it stopped them from being thrown outside.

After a few seconds, Aromatisse came back to his senses and looked around. Froslass and Candice weren’t getting up. He saw Kadabra still standing in the kitchen, watching them.

His expression wasn’t something he had seen before. It was blank, ice-cold. It wasn’t particularly hateful or cruel, but this total lack of emotion rattled him more than anything else. He almost couldn’t look away...


Ejy was still floating around, wherever it is they were. They couldn’t make out anything, it was too dark. Or perhaps, that darkness was all there was.

“What did I get myself into now? Dumb Ejy...”

They had seen a glimpse of the group discussion before, and apparently they heard them, if one was to go by their expressions of general confusion and the accusatory looks shared around the room.

But that had been a while ago.

Now all they saw were the occasional glimpses of light, and every time they saw one, Ejy’s heart skipped a beat. Thought of cries for help flooded their head whenever this happened, and they even felt a little bit scared.

“At this rate I’ll never find my way back...”

Just as they said this, a bright light started to shine right in front of them, stopping them right in their tracks.

“Ejy?” said a voice from inside the light. “What the hell are you doing here? Where are we?”

The little Pokémon recognized the voice immediately.

“Kadabra!” they said, relieved. “You found me! I’m not exactly sure where we are right now. Actually, how did you even get here?”

Kadabra was stumped. How did he?

“I...don’t know. I just remember being in the basement, after finding Kuurama’s body–”

A metaphorical light switch turned on inside Kadabra’s head.

“Kuurama! The murders!” he exclaimed suddenly, startling Ejy.

“Kuurama’s dead?”

“Yes, most definitely. Wait...the others will be too, soon. I don’t know what’s going on, but...I’d bet they need you.”

“But how do I get to them?”

Another metaphorical light switch turns on.

“Ejy, this...this has got to be the afterlife. Or part of it, anyway. I just remembered, I’m dead too. Choked on something, too. Damn.”

Ejy’s blood ran cold.
“Wait, so if you’re dead, that means...”

“You’ve been here a while. Better wake up before you forget how to.”

Kadabre extended his hand over Ejy’s forehead, and a bright flash followed.


“Tiny bro?” was the first thing Ejy heard before completely regaining consciousness.

“Aromatisse?” they said, before noticing the room around them was more or less completely destroyed. “What’s going on?”

“No time to explain, kiddo. Zombie over there. We kill zombie or zombie kills us. Let’s go.”

“What’s he doing?”

“Dunno, he’s kinda jus’ been starin’ for a bit. I say we get a move on before it does.”

Ejy agreed, deciding all their other questions could wait. Both of them rushed towards it.

As they got closer to Kadabra, Kadabra swiftly swung a butcher knife in front of him, barely missing Aromatisse, and completely missing Ejy, who had vanished.

“Not this crap again, holy...”

Before he could finish his sentence, Ejy reappeared behind Kadabra. Almost as soon as they appeared, Kadabra turned around, attempting to grab them. Luckily for Ejy, their reflexes were impeccable, and they disappeared and reappeared again, getting little punches in here and there when they could, while Aromatisse kept Kadabra busy.

“I gotta say, not bad, mate,” complimented Aromatisse. “You might wanna switch it ‘round tho. You’re gettin’ a bit–”

Ejy reappeared behind Kadabra again, but this time, Kadabra had reacted preemptively, and grabbed Ejy the second they reappeared.

“–predictable. Damn it! Let tiny bro go, you son of–”

A loud snappy, crunchy sound was heard over Aromatisse’s words. Taking advantage of the shock, Kadabra threw Aromatisse back against the wall, and...Ejy’s head and spine after him.
***DO NOT READ BEFORE READING CHAPTER***

So, double murder today. Bit overdue, but hey, I blame Turtwig. And he blames Trump somehow, so...anyways, you may have noticed there was no one formally accused in this chapter. That's because the size of the cast has been reduced enough from the beginning chapters that if you've been paying attention you should have some idea of who the murderer is. And so, for this time, I want you guys to tell me either here or on Discord (privately) who you think the murderer is, along with some sort of plausible reason. It can be as long or as short as you want–you can show me your murder board connected with red strings, or you can tell me you have no idea.

Either way, make sure you tell me something. These will not count as your official accusation, I kind of just wanna see where everyone stands right now. This means I won't tell you if you're right or wrong, so you won't lose (or win) the game from this exercise. Based on the general consensus, this will affect the next chapter. You're free (and even encouraged) to discuss as a big group on the server, I'd love to see where your minds are. That is all.
 
I will not tolerate this slander in my liberal minecraft server.

Also @Vom you mention murder boards so casually as if you have one or something

I'm super excited to hear everyone's excuses thoughts on the discord server considering the clues and deaths so far! Great chapter.
 
So. I'm back on the Beach, school finishes in a week or so (I think?) and Turtwig is already done school. So, in theory, we could probably wrap this up before anything else crazy happens. However, the elephant in the room: this game is kind of dead. And I realize it's partly due to my lack of constant updates, but even before that, there was always a lack of interaction. I don't know how Turtwig's games went in this aspect, but both in this game and the last one nobody ever bothered to guess. Maybe it's something to do with the risk/reward, maybe the mechanic needs some tweaking, maybe the story itself is just not interesting. It could be a million different things, but let me tell you: it's extremely taxing to write something like this when it feels like nobody cares.

Even in the last update, I specifically asked people to send me literally anything, risk-free. Even after I did a mass tag on the Discord, literally no one said anything. I didn't personally chase after anybody because it felt hypocritical of me to chase after people for deadlines, even this post makes me feel a little bad. The chapter before that? Had to make a post on here to get a single submission. I'm sorry if I sound harsh or anything, it's really not my intention. I'm just trying to show the events that led us here.

I tried to make this version more malleable to what you see your character doing while retaining the narrative aspect, kinda like an RPG I guess, but only one person actually submitted an action to drive the plot forward. Again, this could be a mechanic thing rather than an engagement one, but either way, this was the result. Honestly, it drove me a little bit crazy that I gave this huge freedom to do literally almost anything, and it felt like nobody cared. I asked everybody if I was doing a good job with the story, clues, etc., and I got positive responses every single time. The results, however, beg to differ. I tried, I really did, but...it feels like it was not enough.

And maybe it wasn't, but nobody ever told me that so I really didn't know where to go from there. Just for the record, in the future, I wanna let y'all know that it's okay to tell me if I'm falling short in any areas. I'd really rather know than have a false sense of acceptance or whatever but then see something else entirely when it comes down to it. As a writer, a host, and now as a mod, it's really important to have accurate feedback and data to see what the best move is. Never be afraid or intimidated (I'm really not intimidating, I promise!) to tell me what you think, whether it be constructive criticism, a suggestion, an idea, anything. This is how we grow as people.

So, if for whatever reason, you didn't give me your honest opinion before, that's fine. I trust that you had good intentions - I don't think anybody in this game has any motive to see to it that it doesn't succeed. However, I really want your honest opinion now, because I need to know if this will be worth the time and emotional investment: should Turtwig and I finish the game? It's been quite a while, and some folks aren't even around anymore, but I'm not walking away and leaving this up in the air. If you tell me you want to see this through, then I stand with you and it will be done. If you tell me you don't, then that's fine too and I'll understand. I'm just someone who really pours her heart into things and I don't want to pour it into the void if I know better.

So, I ask once again: please, be honest here: would you care for the game to get a proper end? That's not to say the game will end next chapter - if there is enough interest, it will continue on as it was planned so there'll still be a couple chapters before you're forced to make a guess. If there isn't, well, I'd appreciate it if you could either post or message me with what went wrong. Even if what went wrong is me - I know I'm not perfect, so that is certainly a possibility.

That is all for now, I guess - I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
 
I think you hit the nail on the head with why people don't want to submit accusations tbh -- the stakes are too high. We've created OCs that we really like and want to see in action, so when the stakes are that your character dies and is gone for good that's often too high a price to pay unless you have absolute certainty in your accusation. And the nature of the game is that players should never be 100% certain in their accusation, so it's sensible to slowly collate clues and then apply them once the potential suspect pool is as small as possible.

I recall in a previous season there were some death mechanics attempted, and I think one of the simplest ones is to have them submit accusations of their own while dead -- one per chapter. The earliest deceased to get it wins bronze, while players who guess the murderer correctly upon their death get silver. The player who survives until they guess the murderer while still in the game with the risk involved gets gold.

I will say that the clues in this version of Convicted are still pretty hard to piece together -- at least for me, at this stage. But that's also true for every Convicted, and the nature of the game is that the clues make more sense once the murderer is revealed and you look back like "how the heck did I miss that?". We don't know who the murderer is, after all, and it's a lot easier to compile a case when you already have a good idea of the suspect.

Overall though this was a really great story and I have memories of putting up with the garbage that is PB on mobile just to read it on train journeys right after you posted new chapters. I'd definitely be keen to see it finished!
 
Celever's points are really insightful - the story so far has been fantastic. Convicted is also a genius idea and it's so cool to see @Turtwig and yourself work hard at making it a such high quality game.

Generally though, I don't think the lack of engagement has anything to do with your writing or how you go about hosting. I think it's just the nature of the forum, in that they don't lend themselves to the Convicted format anymore. People don't seem to want to spend much time reading block of text, thinking deeply about something, or making some other time commitment to something. Mafia is case in point.

If you're writing Convicted for the sake of other people, then it might be the time move on. But if you're writing Conficted for your own sake, because it's something you enjoy doing and you don't really mind if many people actually read it, then you could keep going.
 
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