Host spotted.

Expecting Cell Service underground? Maybe she isn't as smart as she looks!

Ok, so it is probably a magic cell phone and maybe magic cell phones work underground. But I still am amused.

Well, that answers that question.

So Maria is really the host I guess?

Who was she trying to call? Is Maria the host?

Shalhia's powers are so disturbing

Timely done (but be careful of what you wish for Maria).

Oh no...

Oh Hey easy out to the Smile employee who's definitely not making it out of this.

Ah, there's our fake contestant.

Host

I've been suspecting for a while that Maria was the Host of the show.

This is seeming more and more like it might be hinting in that direction.

At the very least, she seems to have a communicator of some sort and I doubt she's trying to call Infinite's old gang.

Why do I suspect this isn't the encounter Maria desired all that much?

If I had to guess Maria, Ghoul-related death.

Maria, dear, who where you calling ?
Maybe smile or the other organizers ?

@Garrulous While it seems like an absurd oversight for Smile, the fact of the matter is our-world level tech is significantly more of a mystery to the folks here. There's no way Maria knows how her communicator works.

Which isn't to say I think Smile messed up or didn't know it doesn't work in caves. I think they very much did! But it wouldn't be completely unthinkable for the group as a whole to be oblivious - a single member not knowing? Not suprising.

If this ghosting was a last-minute decision it probably should work in the caves. I suspect the technomancer's tech can and does surpass ours, or at least work on different fundamental laws - If nothing else, it lasts far better. (unless someone's figured out how to make it, and is pretending they found technomancer sites or something?)

If it was a set-up, it probably doesn't.

If maria isn't the host, this becomes evidence that she's the one who (knowingly) entered under false pretenses.

Well looking like all the staff are worm food is becoming the most likely option (also probably why our fav paladin still has a non-exploded body). But is this due to the infin ghoul, the ones who led tobi here or something else fun times ahead!

I seems as if commenters of previous pages were right, maybe Shalia wasn't able to start a vote because people at Smile aren't alive anymore.

@RandomFan No need for technomancer tech for communications to work underground. They just need dedicated communication relays. And since Smile did set up an extensive com network for their "game", they could easily have arranged relays for their radios.

Although the question is
- Does the network extend all the way to the mines, and does it still work (the ghoul and explosives did some damages)
- Is there still someone alive to take the com? (IIRC, Mariah isn't aware that the ghoul killed at least a Smile employee)
- Or, as you said, is Mariah being set-up to be killed? Isolating her from potential allies would be the first step.