The clock strikes twelve. The gong of the grandfather clock in the foyer tolls out the time in slightly unnecessarily obnoxious loud noises. The ambiance of this old mansion demands respect, care, awe --
Okay, no, wait, why are you even in this stupid dusty house?
No reasons are forthcoming, because everyone knows that people just end up in places like this sometimes. That's just how the narrative device works. The hows and the whys don't matter -- all that matters is that you're all here, so you'd better get cracking and start exploring, because it's not like you can leave yet.
Or ever, maybe.
 Good day, sirs and madams. Might I interest you in a nice glass of blood...y mary?
|
PHASE I [ 02 15 ] All you see is white. The crash of thunder hits your ears next, punctuated by the piercing pitch of white noise in the background. After a few blinks, your vision comes back to you. Oh good, glad that you’ve joined us in the land of the living. Unlike the nondescript corpse at your feet – it looks like… a butler? Oh dear. You’ve already killed Murder Suspect Number One in most situations. How terribly ironic.
After all, who could’ve killed him but you? You might not remember, but there is definitely a murder weapon in your hand. It’s probably a knife or a poisoned glass of wine or-
Wait, is that a toaster? A full on toaster? Or maybe it’s a taser. Maybe you bludgeoned this poor guy with an entire encyclopedia. Either way, it looks like your murder weapon is a little unconventional, whether it’s a stranger’s pair of underwear or a hair curler. Are you really supposed to believe you committed a murder with these? (Yes.)
That said in the next second the double doors will be opening up. It’s pretty clear you’re not alone. Think quick!
PHASE II [ 0600 ] Exploring more around the compound, you’ll find plenty of those tall, oil portraits of people hung around the walls. When you start walking, they’re all strangers. However by the time that you feel like you’re wandering around for an hour, two hours, they might start looking a little bit more… familiar? Mom? Is that you?
You don’t have time to think about that, though. You were clearly framed! You don't’ have a motive for killing some random NPC –
“Or do you?” a portrait will ask.
Oh. Holy shit. Well it’d just be rude to leave, right? Whether you stick around for conversation or not, you’ll find that was just the beginning. The portraits are going to start grilling you. Welcome to CERES Central’s Roast of You. What was your motive? Don’t you know you should respect the servants? How would you feel if you were caught like that? Careful turning your back on them though, because if you ignore them for too long, the subjects in the portraits may just reach out and snatch you to join them in their portrait world.
At that point, the only way to get out is to swap places with some other poor, unsuspecting soul wandering around.
PHASE III [ 1045 ] You know what makes me hungry? Murder.
What’s the point of making a mansion this big anyway? Who’s even here? Either way, whether you’re looking for the kitchen to make a fine post-homicide sandwich or just trying to escape, you’ll eventually make it to a stairwell. The most finicky stairwell ever. Is that a trail of bloody footprints leading up the steps? What? No. Stop it, just climb.
Or well – don’t climb too quickly now. The staircases apparently have a mind of their own, swapping from one doorway to another. You definitely haven’t seen this before. It would seem that these stairs might even be interested in keeping you in a circle forever, no concern for whether or not you’re hungry or, god forbid, need to use the restroom.
However the portraits in the stairwell will provide a little tip: “The stairs are gossips, you know. Why don’t you tell us a little something about yourself? Make it good!”
Weirdly enough, sound advice – that is, if you’re interested in shouting out your most embarrassing secrets into the void so a mansion can keep talking shit about you. Oh well. Your alternative is just being a stair golem. There are worse fates.
PHASE IV [ 1430 ] This hall is oddly quiet.
Well, until you hear it – the soft sniffles coming from down the hall, the broken sobs. It sounds like someone’s crying. For one reason or another, your footsteps take you forward – there’s really no point in going back now after all, right? Yet as you continue to walk… walk… walk… the crying becomes louder and louder. More desperate, more despaired. In time, it’s clear that this person is wailing, screaming, “How could this happen?!”
Within the span of a breath, all the lights in the hallway go out, leaving you in pitch black.
It occurs to you then that you hear a second set of steps. When did you stop walking? A cold chill runs down your spine and you find yourself running then, despite the fact that it feels like this pitch black hallway goes on forever. The other footsteps pick up, remind you that you’re not alone. No, certainly not.
Best hope that you find some assistance soon – otherwise it looks like the Butler Association is going to ignite some righteous vigilante justice on your ass.
BONUS [ why o'clock ] You’re in the grand ballroom now, ready to present your case. Armed with a cob pipe (don’t smoke inside, it’s rude), a detective hat, and a single spotlight aimed right at you, you now have to explain how you came to the conclusion about the True Killer that is Obviously Not You. Rather, it’ll just be the character of whoever tags into this prompt – yes, you are suddenly so very sure that they’re the ones who are the ultimate mastermind of this entire game and… you’re just going to have to bullshit the reason why even if you know virtually nothing about them. It’s a dog eat dog world out there, you know?
Sorry about that.
Should you actually provide enough of a compelling case or they take pity on you, having a villainous breakdown for the sake of the plot, you’ll be awarded with a coupon that’ll give you three free scoops at your local ice cream parlor! (Note: you must buy the first two scoops in order to qualify.) Of course, if you’re not able to nail them down as the killer, you are obviously the killer yourself (citation needed).
From there, you’ll be dragged off to face your punishment: for six grueling hours you will be tickled mercilessly.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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Jack the Doppelganger // Borderlands
[Jack was, sadly, no stranger to seeing dead bodies. More often than not these days, he had been the cause of their death, so the sight wasn't unusual at all.
The rubber chicken was a bit strange, though.
He frowned as he studied the thing in his hand, glancing occasionally back and forth from it to the body at his feet. As a bludgeoning weapon, the floppy toy left a lot to be desired. Jack had known more than one person crazy enough - and determined enough - who might have made the best of the situation and managed. Until just now, he wouldn't have considered counting himself among that number. But there was no one else in sight, and the rubber chicken was looking more than a little ragged, so…
Shrugging, Jack dropped the chicken. It bounced and wobbled gently when it hit the floor, before falling as still as the corpse next to it. This was just one more thing to carefully not think about to add to the huge, overwhelming number of things that he had done that he also carefully did not think about. Not a big deal at all; he did it every day.
Helpfully, just as he was wondering what to do next, he caught the sound of someone's approach. Not particularly looking forward to an encounter, but also not having anything in particular to lose by it, he turned to greet the new arrival. Slipping into his employer's charismatic, smart-ass persona was easier than ever these days, he'd been doing it for so long. The voice modulation implant helped.]
He-eeey, how's it going? Don't mind the dead guy, he was like this when I got here.
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All in all, that wasn't a terribly reassuring thing to say. But if it's true — ]
Wait, how do you know he's dead for sure?!
[ Not to argue the fine points, but if they can still help this man, they should! It's enough of a thought that she should act if she has the capacity that sends Chihiro forward into the room, aware of Jack's presence, but not focused on him.
She's focused on the nondescript body lying at his feet, kneeling down and not sure what she should do next. Check if he's still breathing? Okay. Okay, she can do that, she knows what breathing sounds like. Though what next?
She'd deal with that when there was a "what next" she could recognise. ]
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[It's a little girl. A child. This is completely outside his realm of expertise, and very nearly outside his realm of experience. Assholish charisma has no place here.]
--Uh.
[Oh, now she's coming into the room, okay, well, that's fine, uh -- she's walking right towards the body. Can she do that? She's a kid...well, duh, of course she can do it, but should she? Should he interfere? Isn't that what adults do? Stop children from doing things they shouldn't? Like check out dead bodies...?]
I, uh...
[Actually, he doesn't know for sure whether or not the corpse is a corpse...he'd just assumed. It had that look to it, that floppy, boneless appearance throughout the frame, and that very specific pallor Jack was so unfortunately familiar with.]
He just, uh. Has that look to him. You know? That dead look. You probably don't know. I've seen it before. It's pretty obvious.
[And now he's babbling. In front of a kid. What a smooth SOB.]
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Cooler than she expected, yes, but not cold, and not breathing as far as she could tell when she tucked stray tendrils of her hair behind one ear and place her ear in close. She couldn't hear him breathing. A hand on his neck couldn't find a pulse, either, but she wasn't sure she knew where to feel for that. Wiping her other hand on her shirt, she reached up to her own neck and sought out where she could feel her pulse.
It took her a moment, but once she thought she had it, she moved her fingers on the man's neck to about the same place. There was not, sadly, any heartbeat to be detected. It was both incredibly unnerving and also distantly sad, but it left her with no idea what to do, considering that for all her adventures and for having seen Haku near death, she still hadn't dealt with anyone who'd actually crossed that threshold.
Which means that babbling Jack has ten year old Chihiro looking up at him and asking, managing to keep most of her distress out of her voice if not off her face: ]
I think he is dead. What are we going to do?
[ Legitimately, she doesn't understand what comes next. Please say you have ideas, Jack, because in all the growing up she's undergone lately, handling the end of life has not yet factored in. ]
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Her practical question catches him totally off-guard. He's no expert on kids, but based on limited observation as well as very spotty memories of his own childhood, he has the vague sense that he ought to be expecting fearful tears and/or hysterics. Because that's what kids do, right? Maybe?
...He has no clue.]
Uh. Do? Nothing, I think. I mean. He's dead, so.
[The only thing Jack's ever done with dead bodies in the past was to ignore them; dead men weren't his problem. Making people dead was unfortunately part of his job description. Cleaning up dead people, fortunately, was not.]
Maybe, uh. Find someone who knows him? To let them know?
[If it sounds like he's asking Chihiro what to do because he has no idea himself, it's because he is.]
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She could admit it still hadn't all stuck.
She nods when Jack suggests they find someone who knows the dead man. Not sure if they really should leave him like this or not, she settles for gingerly lifting his arms by the sleeves and settling then gently across his chest. Chihiro makes to stand, pauses, then couches down to try and close his eyes.
Her hand trembles. She manages it anyway.
When she stands then she carefully did not touch herself, keeping her hands away from her body. ]
Okay. I need to find a sink, too, but you're right. Let's find someone who knows him.
[ She takes a step back toward the door, then pauses again to bow to the dead man before exiting the room with or without Jack. ]
We'll let your friends know about you, sir.
[ The urge to find someplace to wash her hands has the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Her stomach is unsettled, and she swallows down saliva. She really, really wants to get the feeling of that poor dead man washed clean from her hands, but it may have been rude to say so. Instead she sets off down the hall toward any other door. There's bound to be a wash room somewhere, before or after they ffound the dead man's friends! ]
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He doesn't remember killing the guy, but that doesn't mean he hadn't done it, and that's uncomfortable, too, because if he had, then it hadn't been at the behest of his psycho boss. It had been something he'd done on his own.
And he'd really, really rather not think about that.]
Uh, yeah. Sure. Any sinks back the way you came from? Or should we go through that other door?
[Focusing on the girl is easier. Her company may not be comfortable, but it's definitely preferable to being alone with his thoughts.]
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She shakes her head as she replies. ]
I don't know, I didn't go through the other door. There wasn't a sink in where you were, so we've got to look elsewhere.
[ Meaning yes to the "other door," as she continues marching straight for it, only pausing as she tries to decide if she can or should use her hands to open the door herself.
She looks back over her shoulder to see Jack. ]
I think we should go through.
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[Since he can tell she's pretty reluctant to touch anything now that her hands are covered in dead guy cooties, Jack steps up, reaches out, and pushes the door open for them both. Beyond is what is probably a long hallway...it's so dark at the end that the visible architecture just seems to vanish into blackness. There are two visible doors close to the one they're just about to step through, however. Maybe one is a washroom.
He's not very happy to be stepping into the dark hall, but what other choice does he have? He definitely doesn't want to stay where he's at. Hopefully he - they - can find their way out of the building altogether. Even if leaving doesn't help in figuring out where the hell he is, he'll still be happy to get out.]
So, uh. What's your name, kiddo? I'm Jack.
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Chihiro follows after Jack, peering down the hall beyond him by leaning out and around his side. Her hands both stay high, around shoulder level, touching neither herself nor her surroundings. She didn't expect the halls to be this dark or... long... how big is this building? She guesses they may well be finding out the hard way. ]
It's nice to meet you, Jack-san. I'm Chihiro.
[ Slight emphasis on her name, as if she needs to make sure she's stating it clearly. It's hers; she'll own it.
She takes a step toward one of the nearby doors, glancing up at Jack to see if he's willing to open it. She has death cooties. She really needs a sink here, partner. ]
We should probably knock before entering. Right?
[ Unlike what she did when she surprised Jack at... his... dead man looming. Manners should count for something. ]
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Chihiro. Uh. Nice to meet you too.
[Weirdly enough, it actually is. Normally a little kid (8? 10? 12? he has no idea how to guess kid ages) wouldn't be his first pick for company, but this obviously isn't "normally." He's honestly kind of glad she turned up when she did.]
...Suuuure? I mean, I guess it couldn't hurt...
[The door to their left is the closest, so he turns, raises a hand, and knocks. The sound of his knuckles striking against the hard wood is sharp in the otherwise silent hall, and the sound almost seems to be absorbed by the nearby darkness.
Very creepy.
And, after waiting for several moments, there's no sound or answer from beyond the closed door.
So, he drops his hand to the knob, and twists it with a careful motion.]
so what happens if i cue the horror music
She doesn't like this feeling, and as the door opens with a soft, wet sound, she likes the water dripping down from the top of the frame even less. Darkness glitters at the threshold of the door, a soft hiss of water from a faucet reaching her ears as she realises the dark glistening at the threshold is water. Should Jack open the door any further, he'll find no resistance, only a sink with the faucet on and water overflowing the basin, spilling steadily over the lip and down the side. Should he step inside, he'll see the same happening in an old, claw-footed tub, no curtains in evidence. A light switch can be found on the wall by the door, and two towels. A hand sized one hung on a hook near the light, and a larger one, a wet mess on the floor.
The water reflects the weak light streaming in from behind them, a faint flickering that seems almost pleading in the strange mix of stillness and motion. The longer they stand at the door, the water threatens to spill past them and into the hall, dampening their shoes regardless of them entering the bathroom or not.
Chihiro admits to herself she doesn't like this. In fact: ]
Jack-san, I would really like to find a different rest room.
[ The steady hiss of water has no interruption but her voice; when she speaks, it cuts out, and all goes quiet but for a drip-drip-dripping of the faucet into the sink, echoed a half-second after by the drop-drop-dropping of the tub's freestanding faucet. The dark swirls across the surface of the waters, so many ringlets that hit edges before spilling over, taking with them their own watery secrets and longings, drowned as so many fallen leaves in the pond. There's a scent of mildew, almost sweet, wafting across the air, mingled in with the scent of summer rain in a garden. ]
I don't feel this one wants us here.
[ She takes a half step backward toward the center of the hall. In the waters, tendrils of thin, black hair stir, but it's nothing she sees. ]
lol...uh, horror? :'D
[The bathroom is terrifying in all the worst ways. Jack definitely prefers the adrenaline response he gets from the terror of being shot at to the spine-tingling horror that is currently the cause of a sudden and unpleasant case of the cold sweats. Separately, any one of the sights in the dark bathroom would be unremarkable. The drip of the water, the scent of mildew, the...black hair in the water...]
I...think you may be right.
[The water splashes as he pulls the door back into place, sloshing over the toes of his boots. It's an expected sensation, but all the same it causes him to jump. He resists the urge to hunch his shoulders as he pulls the door to. Closing it completely is a lot more difficult than opening it, for some reason, and he grunts quietly from the effort. It almost feels as though the bathroom is resisting his urge to shut it off again, although - he has to agree with Chihiro on this - the feeling of being unwanted is practically palpable.
He hesitates for a moment once he's pulled the door all the way closed. The soft "click" of the latch settling back into place is more unsettling than reassuring. He really doesn't feel good about the idea of turning his back on the door, but what else can he do?]
Let's...try the other one.
[He steps back, carefully avoiding Chihiro, before pivoting reluctantly away from Creepy Door #1 to stare dubiously for several moments at Creepy Door #2. It feels strange to be counted on in this capacity by someone...Chihiro's demands of his efforts and time are so...mundane, compared to what he's been used to. It's...a refreshing change.
And she'll probably even forgive him when he hesitates a bit longer than necessary to twist the knob of the second door before carefully pushing it open…]
/plays the off key violin
I'll keep an eye on the door.
[ "The" door meaning the one they'd just opened and found flooded. Proximity is a kind of reassurance. With Jack seeming no more at ease with the weird bathroom than she'd been, it's likewise a reminder that people of all ages had difficulty with the unknown. She wasn't the only one facing it, and if he was going to open the doors, she could at least watch the chancy one.
... Just in case.
The second door opens into a dusty bedroom, bed stripped of linens, a dresser against the far wall. No bathroom here, though there is an empty metal pitcher sitting in a dusty basin. The flooded bathroom door shudders as he opens the bedroom door, but nothing else; it doesn't creep open. ]
Is it a restroom?
screeeeeeee
[Some bedrooms have bathrooms attached, though, and so - once he can see there's nothing more alarming to this room than the amount of dust settled over it - he leans in a bit further, checking to see if this is one such room.
It's not.
Which means now they have no choice but to press forward, down the dark, black hallway. He withdraws from the room and pulls the door quietly shut behind him with a sigh, and turns back to look first at Chihiro, and then at the door to the haunted bathroom. The door itself still looks innocuous enough, but the wet carpet directly below it belies that innocence. And...Yeah, the moisture is definitely spreading. He's not sure if there are any long black hairs flowing out with the water, but he doesn't want to stick around to find out.
He drops his hand, fingers brushing against the gun holster strapped to his thigh. Most of his weapons have a bit of a glow to them, he thinks, somewhat belatedly. He doubts they'll be any good against ghosts, but maybe one can be used like a makeshift flashlight. So he curls his fingers around the pistol's hilt and withdraws it from its holster; it glows softly blue, as always, and though the light isn't strong enough to cut through the darkness, it does push it back a little way...not very far, but far enough to be comforting, at least.]
Let's - [his voice cracks, the modulation implant in his throat twanging painfully at the same time. He coughs involuntarily, makes a brief, unpleasant gurgling noise deep in his throat, and chokes off a swear. Then clears his throat to try again:] Let's keep looking.
[He reaches out briefly with his free hand to touch her shoulder, although whether he's looking to reassure or be reassured even he's not sure, and holds the pistol up next to his head, like a torch, index finger carefully curled over the trigger guard as he takes the first step deeper into the darkness of the hallway.]
no subject
An effort of will has Chihiro keeping her chin level, looking out into that dark. Her eyes seek familiar shapes, finding the corner between wall and flooring, tracing it forward until her eyes struggle to see. A chill breeze wafts by, tugging at the loose locks of hair by her ears, pulling at her ponytail with a playfulness that leaves goosebumps breaking out over her body.
She's being silly! It's just a draft, but the darkness, the damp scent that seems to creep all around them, the sound of wet, sucking footsteps that start behind them has her picking up her pace and bumping into Jack. ]
Maybe the next hall will have one. I don't know why the doors are all spaced so far apart, but I can't see any more in this hall. Can you?
[ She really wants to hurry out of this area, if they can. ]
no subject
The cold breeze is unexpected, and it sets the hairs on his arms and at the nape of his neck prickling uncomfortably. His own footsteps are quiet, muffled by the thick carpet lining the hallway floor, but in the dead silence, he almost thinks he can hear other footsteps--
--He jumps sharply when Chihiro bumps into him, and freezes in place while he tries to decide if the racing of his heart is just an unprecedented amount adrenaline and unease, or if he's having a heart attack.]
Uh.
[He gulps, looks down at his feet, then to Chihiro, and back to his feet. It's just as well she startled him into stopping when she did, because now that he is stopped, he can just make out the edge of a step, and a hint of a banister...a staircase leading down.]
No. But there's stairs...
[He hesitates briefly, and in the silence he's very, unpleasantly certain that he's not imagining those footsteps, wet and squelching and deliberate. Maybe it's the owner of the hair from the bath, looking for a dry towel? The former seems likely...the latter, doubtful.]
S-stay close, okay? You can hang on to my jacket if you want to.
[He lowers his pistol, aiming it and its light at the ground, which thankfully brings a small but helpful amount of definition to the steps in front of him. He reaches gingerly for the banister with his free hand; it feels normal under his fingertips, like smooth, dry, polished wood. He only hesitates for long enough to make sure Chihiro's on track to follow him, before stepping down.]
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Varric had seen a lot of weird shit in his days. Seen a lot of people killed by weird shit, no less. Sometimes his outlandish stories had truth in their outlandishness; not everything was liberal falsehoods. Still. A .... rubber chicken? At first he had thought it was a real chicken but. Nope. That thing is hanging way too oddly to be real (unless it's some new breed of organless chicken and in that case he really doesn't even wanna know). ]
It's going so-so. You know. Good as it can get in a weird old house. Been in so many yet I never get used to them.
[ Cool, keeping it casual. No big. ]
Right. Maybe he just died on his own? Shit like that happens all the time.
[ There's definitely a touch of sarcasm there. C'mon bro. C'mon. ]
o hai
Well, you know what they say...Heart disease is the number one killer of middle-aged men.
[SHRUG.]
So, uh. You don't live here?
/sliiiides in here
Being through ViViD a couple of times already, Yusuke already knew about dead people not actually staying dead in these parts, but there's still a cold lump in his stomach at the sight of a cooling body on the floor. His eyes flit to the victim, and then to the... squeaky toy that was inexplicably part of this picture, and finally on the speaker, suspicion coloring his gaze.
Being a smart-ass was harder to sell when you're dealing with a smart-ass yourself.]
Yeah? Must've been part of one helluva party, then. Probably chicken danced until he dropped.
Guess it's lucky you probably found the unfortunate bastard before anyone else did, huh?
/scoots over to c:
Not.]
Lucky for who, exactly? 'Cause I'm tellin' you, I'm certainly not feeling it.
/KIRA KIRA
You can try to figure out who offed the guy, or try to find some clues to what happened in this dump without anyone bothering you.
Or--
[And his eyes narrow.]
... you could get rid of any evidence that might point to you, right?
kyaaaa~
Or I could do none of the above, because all of that sounds like waaaay too much work.
There's probably some authorities around somewhere; let them figure it out.
[He's pretty sure he would remember it if he'd killed the guy. Pretty sure. But even if he had done it and gets caught, what's the worst that could happen? The death penalty? He's already died once, and it obviously didn't take. Maybe a second go would help it stick.]
no subject
His eyebrows raise in surprise at Jack's answer, though, and a small, bitten off snort of laughter escapes despite himself. This guy may be shifty, but he can't help but agree with his line of thinking.]
Look, I hear ya, detective work's a pain in the ass-- I get it.
But you're not doing a good job making yourself look innocent here, man. I doubt they bothered to program any police guys in this thing, and if they did? They'd probably be on your ass in a minute.
no subject
Well, it's been at least a minute since I nearly tripped over this guy, so if that's as long as it takes, I should be in the clear, huh?
Unless you really want to pin this on me, which I'm kiiiiiinda getting the feeling you do.