Part 78: Guard Duty

It's time to get started on another route.

In Round Two, Mouse will go explore with Snake and Rooster in the photography darkroom and find a Minor Trinket, and then the group votes to RUN once again. The results are posted – everyone ran, of course – and then everyone splits up once more.

For Round Three, Mouse decides to go explore with Dragon and Tiger, and the three go to the school gym, which results in them being able to find a supply closet full of weapons. They decide to warn the group about it when everyone groups up, and- after voting in side rooms- all return, only to witness the additional rules given after Round Three ends:

AMBITIOUS can only win if they finish first with no more than two other people, and HATEFUL wants to finish last, which will result in only the two of them surviving.

Like before, the Jade Emperor gives everyone 15 extra minutes to process this new information. Tiger tries to get the people with ambitious and hateful to speak up, but nobody comes forward. The group agrees the best course of action is to continue the Trinket Hunt, but before splitting up, Dragon and Tiger bring up the weapon closet.

The group decides that SOMETHING needs to be done about the weapons, but are divided on what the best plan of action is. Bunny mentions he found a bike chain with a lock attached that could be used to re-lock them up in a side room where nobody could get to them, but Tiger believes that having someone directly stand watch is probably the best course of action. Ox eventually turns to Mouse, looking for her insight, and this time, she decides...

[BGM: Final Squeal]


I think if we have to make a leap of faith, we should just have someone guard the weapons. It's really just the simplest option. The plan with the chainlock and everything all seems like it could get overly complicated.

I have to agree. While certainly the chainlock plan is well thought out, it seems like a little much. If we can just trust one person, then everything should be fine.

Well, if that's what the group wants, I'm not gonna argue against it. I mean, whatever gets the job done, right? If we are going with the guard plan, I say we should let Tiger be the guard.

Hell yeah! I won't let you down.

Why do you think it should be her?

If someone's going to guard the weapons, it should be someone who can actually guard the weapons, don't you think? If a traitor decides they don't have another option but to resort to violence, we need someone there who can properly fight back.



Plus, Tiger's been such a team player this whole time that I bet she'd have told us if she had the ambitious or hateful personality.

Of course! I'd never turn my back on you guys. If I had the opportunity, I'd take one of those personalities for whoever has it.

Laying it on a little thick, don't ya think?

Eh, I'm for it. Seems like a reasonable enough pick. No need to waste any more time debating it.

Hold on! I don't like this one bit! Why do we need a strong guard on patrol? They don't need to be strong, they've got a bunch of weapons! Horse might be tough, but he's not going to beat someone with a gun to his chest.

If anything, giving unfiltered access to all the weapons to someone strong is a liability, since if Tiger decides to go rogue it'll be difficult to stop her. And as for her being a trustworthy choice, I don't buy that either.

Sure, she might be all smiles on the outside, but that says nothing about whether or not she's willing to fuck us.



If anything, the fact that she seems so optimistic just makes me think she's good at feeding bullshit to people.

Then who would you have as guard?

Isn't it obvious?

Me!

You?

Of course. I'm the only person I can trust to not fuck me. Why would I want anyone else to be guard when they could be a traitor?

The fact that half of y'all aren't clambering to be chosen astounds me. But don't get it twisted, I ain't gonna turn against y'all. I'm not like that. Besides, Tiger's better at finding things than me, so she'd be better to look for the Trinkets. She was the one who found the weapons in the first place!

I don't know... I don't like letting Dragon be the guard.

Excuse me?

I'm sorry!



Actually, I think Dragon might be a wise choice. I would say she's less likely to be a traitor than Tiger.

How do you figure that?

If she was, I don't think she could lie about it so easily.

Hey, the hell's that supposed to mean?

As for Tiger, it's hard to get a read on her, so I'm more uneasy with letting her become guard.

Hard to get a read on me?

The worst thing we could do now is devolve into an argument over something so trivial.

I'd hardly call giving an arsenal's worth of weapons to someone trivial!



How about we just put it to a vote? That sound fair, right?

That seems like it would be for the best.

Fine. All in favor of Dragon being the guard, raise your hand!



The thread voted that it'd be better to back Tiger on this one.

I didn't raise my hand. The fact of the matter was, I trusted Dragon less than I trusted Tiger. Plus, her argument about Tiger being strong didn't make much sense considering Dragon looked like she could fight pretty well herself. Only Snake, Dragon, and Horse raised their hands.

Alright, and all in favor of me being the guard!

Ox, Tiger, Bunny, Sheep, Rooster, Monkey, Dog, Pig, and myself all raised their hand.

Then with a vote of 9 to 3, we'll let Tiger be the guard.

Fucking bullshit...

That's democracy, I suppose.

Thanks to everyone who voted for me! I'll be sure to not forget you!

That's a bad sign.

[BGM: Silence]


It certainly wasn't a great thing to say in a vote of 12 people, but that was besides the point. Regardless, the group was decided. Tiger would be the guard.

So what, should I just go up to the closet and chill there until everything's sorted out?

Is that really alright? The gym is kinda separated from the rest of the building. If something bad happened, it'd be hard to get other people.

How about we move the weapons to the front of the school? There's an office that'd be good to store the weapons in, and it's right near the cafeteria so Tiger won't be too separated from the group?

Couldn't we just keep the weapons in the cafeteria?

If it was just piled up, an avid traitor could make a run for one of the guns and fire. It's best if we put them in a room and have Tiger stand outside of it.

I like Pig's idea! I looked over there earlier, and it's got a nice vibe.

[BGM: Stripes]


Then we'll go with that.

And just like that, we were decided. Tiger, Dragon and I led the group to the gym. We made sure to take careful stock of everything in the closet before anyone was allowed to touch anything. Then the group carried the items down to the front office Pig talked about. We piled up all the weapons in the back of the room. An inventory was taken to make sure everything was there, and no one had pocketed anything.

When all was said and done, we exited the room and Tiger took a seat outside the room.



Is this okay, Tiger?

Of course! Why wouldn't it be?

Okay. I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable.

I'll be fine. You know, I wonder whose office this is?

It says it on that sign there – Mrs. Farley's.

Uh, I saw that. I was wondering what position she had in the school.

She was the vice principal, it says it on the same sign.

It does? Whoops.



So what do we do from here?

Exactly what we were doing before – look for Minor Trinkets. Of course, everyone should be on their guard for anything out of the ordinary, but without weapons it'll be difficult for a traitor to do anything too drastic.

For the sake of simplicity, whenever someone finds a Minor Trinket, come back here and give it to Tiger. She can keep track of our Trinket count, and when we get the 12th one she can tell that person to gather everyone, so we can leave.

Sounds like a plan, team!

...No, no, this doesn't feel right... We're lacking in motivation. What's missing?

Ooh! Ooh! What about a team chant!

Please no, I'm not a fan of music.

Not a fan of music? What kind of devil narc are you??

[BGM: Silence]


Are we dismissed, Teach?

Yes, please, leave. You people are impossible.

Not a hopeful message, but at least we were all on the same track. I watched the others all walk away, but I stayed behind. I wanted to talk with Tiger for a bit before beginning my search.

Mouse! Why aren't you going with the others?

I'll get to it. I just wanted to make sure everything was fine here.

[BGM: Befriend a Tiger]


Why wouldn't it be?

Well, you know...

…

...you're not secretly planning to kill us all, are you?

Mouse!

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.

No, I'm not going to kill you all. I'm offended! I thought you knew me better than that!

Well, I mean, I don't.

What?

I mean that's not a slight against you, I just mean we literally haven't spent that much time together. I don't know you that well.



Well let's fix that! What do you want to know?

...I mean, I didn't mean that in a literal, factual sense. But while we're here, I guess I am kind of curious – you said you were an Olympian? What's the story on that?

Great question! I thought going to the Olympics would be a once-in-a-lifetime, incredible experience, so I decided to go.

I was already pretty good at throwing stuff, so I decided to train for javelin.

And then I got really good at javelin. And then I qualified for the Olympics at javelin. And then I competed in the Olympics at javelin.

...Okay, I think I get the picture.

Didn't medal, which was a shame, but I like to think that even getting there is an honor.

Of course it is! But... is that all there is to it?



There wasn't some grander motivation at play, you just decided 'Hey, the Olympics are cool' one day?

Yep. That's how I make a lot of my decisions. You see, I want to live through 200 once-in-a-lifetime moments, so my life is as meaningful as 200 lives!

...I've still got about 142 moments left.

...I don't think that's how meaning in life works. And also, 200? Wouldn't 100 make more sense?

Yeah, uh, you know, it's twice as good a goal!

Twice as ambitious, perhaps.

Same difference.

...One of those once-in-a-lifetime moments wouldn't be murdering all of us, would it?

You kidding?



Getting kidnapped like this is already a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and I can't count that and killing you all as separate moments. That's double jeopardy!

That's your reasoning?

It's a part of it.

Oh. …Whelp, I should get to searching.

You do that! I'll get to guarding!

...You already are.

You've got me there!

Yup.

Yeah.

Cool.

Great.

….kay bye

[BGM: Silence]

Assurances partly made, I left Tiger for the Minor Trinket search. Having found previous success there, I decided to look on the second floor.

[BGM: See No Evil]


Walking down the hallway, I ran into Ox.

Oh, Mouse.

Ox! Have you had any success yet?

No, but I'm just getting started. Care to help me look around?

I would love to. Where should we look?

I was thinking about looking in that office over there.

I don't have a better idea, so sure.



We walked into the office, and began looking for a Minor Trinket.

Say Ox, can I ask you a question?

I'd prefer it if you focused on searching, but if you insist.

Do you actually think this plan is going to work? I mean, if two among us are going to try and sabotage it, couldn't things go really bad?

I doubt things will go flawlessly, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying to work together.

Yeah, but what if one of those two with the weird personalities find a Minor Trinket before us? They won't tell Tiger! And we'll be down a Trinket.

That's a real fear. But if we're still missing some at Round 7 or 8, I think we might have to abandon a few of us.

What?!



It's unlikely the traitors would be able to steal more than 1 or 2, so we'll still mostly get out. And if we rule out anyone who actually gave Tiger a Trinket, there are pretty good odds we can exclude a traitor.

I don't know... that all sounds pretty sketchy to me.

I'm not saying it's a good situation. But Mouse, if you think we can get through this without making some hard choices, I think you're going to wind up being hurt.

I'd start steeling yourself for the fallout sooner rather than later.

With that, Ox went back to wordlessly searching around the room. What else was there to say? Whether I liked it or not, he was right. Brian's game was inherently cruel. I needed to become cruel with it.

...Our search bore no results. The office didn't have any clues whatsoever.

[BGM: Stampede of Truth]


Well that was a waste.

I feared this might happen.

How about we search through the auditorium next? That seems like a place he'd be inclined to make significant somehow.

Sure. Actually, first, how much time do we have left in this round? Should we input our actions now?

Good idea. I'll go into a separate classroom, you do it here. We'll meet up in the auditorium.

Gotcha.

Ox left the room to let me use my tablet. Without much thought, I chose to run. Now wasn't the time to betray the group. ...What was I saying? I wasn't going to betray the group!

I left to meet Ox in the auditorium.