GRAVEYARD.

[guestservices]

GRAVEYARD

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today...

...to be super dead. No, did you think you were getting a funeral? Sorry.

When you wake up, no matter how you died, you'll find yourself all in one piece, inside of a fairly large box that upon further inspection may in fact be a coffin. However, throwing the lid off isn't too difficult, and as you step out of your own grave, you'll find yourself standing in a cemetery behind a large mansion, where an iron gate stands between you and the entrance. Thankfully, the moment you approach, dirty and tired as you are, the gate swings open, and you're allowed immediate entrance into the mansion.

The mansion itself is a little dusty, and the furnishings are vintage at best, but... hey, it's home. Why don't you explore a little?

★

FIRST FLOOR.

★ On the first floor is a parlor and sitting area. On one of the tables is a phone, which as of Week 3, Saturday has a dial tone and can be used to contact hotel staff. In addition to that is a kitchen stocked with food - not to mention a large wine cellar full to the bursting with every kind of wine you could imagine. Vintage!

★ Walking down a long hallway, you'll find a laundry room with a washbin and a washboard, a few closets full of dusty old clothes, a large library, and an ornate dining room with a crystal chandelier.

Of note, the dining room in particular has a very tall wall of what look like portraits to one side. If you walk closer, however, you may notice that the portraits are moving - and appear to actually be holding black and white images of your friends (and enemies?) back in the hotel, so you can monitor their activities. That's nice! There are record players set up beneath the portraits, which come with blank records set in there already; if you turn them on while the blank records are set there, you will be able to hear what is being said by the people in the portraits.

★ At the very end of the first floor hallway is another door - it is locked up tight with a padlock, and has a message painted on it.... Don't dead? Inside here is the basement that the dead locked Qi Rong into on Friday of Week 5. In theory you might be able to take the key from someone and go in, since it hasn't been returned to Virgo; inside here is a dark, dank basement illuminated by a lantern giving off a dim green glow. There are barrels of stale water and sour wine, boxes containing stale crackers, extremely questionable jerky, and other rotted foodstuffs, and... uh... there are some unpleasant-looking rats skittering around. Icky. In practice, why would you want to? Just keep it locked.

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★

SECOND FLOOR.

★ On the second floor of the mansion is a series of bedrooms. Just like the hotel, you'll find a room already booked with your name on a nameplate on the door - and a portrait of yourself, as well as your hostage, hanging just above the nameplate. The inside of the rooms are simple - a bed with red covers, a desk with a typewriter, and a small bathroom with a toilet and a clawfoot tub. Provided that you didn't give your belongings away, you'll find all of them on your bed, waiting for you upon your arrival. This includes tickets (so long as they weren't looted from your body and used to pay for hints) and other things that may have been evidence in your case but belonged to you beforehand.

★ A dumbwaiter sits at the end of the hallway of bedrooms. Inside of it is a typewriter, and a space where there once sat a golden bell labeled as Virgo's; however, the bell is currently missing. An unlabeled bell sits to the side of it. A small sign above the dumbwaiter says: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STAFF BY LEAVING A MESSAGE. VIRGO MAY ALSO BE SENT A TIP AND RUNG. PULL THE LEVER TO PRESS SEND. - STAFF

It seems you can reach out to the hotel staff by leaving a message or ringing the bell, though your options are limited for the latter. Sure enough, a lever in the wall next to the dumbwaiter is currently set to the "down" position. Push it to "up" and watch your message disappear.

★ Beside the dumbwaiter is one last bedroom. This room is marked with a plaque that says "Dream Suite", and has several familiar constellations decorating the door. Occasionally, when you ring the bell by the dumbwaiter while thinking of a member of Hotel Staff on the living side, the corresponding constellation on the door will light up, and you'll feel as though you should walk in. Inside, there is a line of comfortable beds. Lie down in one, and you'll have a dreamlike "in person" audience with the NPC you had attempted to contact.

★

OUTDOORS.

★ Outside of the mansion is a small garage. The ground here is worn down and thin, and you can almost make out what look like railroad tracks embedded in the dirt. Inside of the garage is a rattly old car that moves along those little railroad tracks, from the garage to the mansion front, and then back all the way around to the cemetery.

★ On the grounds, there is a garden full of flowers. There are also the remnants of gardening supplies and supplies to package and send bouquets, but none of these supplies are in useable condition now.

★ A "bumper cars" rink has been made by clearing out all of the rocks, weeds and grass in a sizeable area. There are some small slopes and dips, and a bumper barrier along the outside of the rink which was made by piling up compacted dead leaves from the graveyard. There are two "cars": laundry baskets that have rudimentary jar lid wheels with ladle axles and nails stolen from a dining room chair. They have been padded with some old clothing, like that will save anyone. Since we don't have electricity in hell, each "car" has one paddle made from tree branches broken down into the appropriate size, presumably used to push the cars around.

★ The cemetery where you first awaken is a direct copy of the cemetery outside of the hotel - right down to the placement of statues, mausoleums, and the creepy atmosphere. Your grave remains after you wake up in it, in case you want to take a dirt nap.

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N̸A̵V̴I̶G̶A̶T̴I̴O̸N̷.̷

█ LOCATIONS █ STATUSES █ PROFILES █ AUDIENCES
█ REPORTING █ PRIVATE CONVOS █ MURDER

Comments

[agleam]

[pausing awkwardly at that first part before moving on to the question,,]

[thinking... thinking...]

Oh - Lup knows one of the staff. I didn't get the chance to ask her if it was from back home or from her last group, but her and Jason broke into Aquila's room. It was weird, though - Jason said that Lup is convinced that she knows Aquila, but that they're pretending to be someone else for some reason? Like, the decor and stuff in the room isn't anything like she would have expected. Jason guessed it might have to do something with the contract they have to follow.

Also, a few of the trips people have gone on during Thursdays are starting to make us think that the person in charge is trying to find a way to extend the contracts, or break them through some kind of loophole.

[illomened]

[STOP a little murder is fine as a treat.

Anyway Souji is very grateful but also closing his eyes for a moment bEFORE JUST REPEATING:]

There are many places on hotel grounds that fall under the jurisdiction and watch of the hotel owner, so we should really consider this when speaking of certain things... But that's good to know, about the contracts. A bit strange, though? Are those two things not exactly opposed? And would that not indicate that breaking the contract shouldn't be our aim...?

[agleam]

...Then maybe we should pick a different place to talk about this stuff next time? Or can I answer?

[help]

[illomened]

[HELP]

I'm certain that information of these Thursday mishaps have already been spoken of in quite an open way on your side, so speaking of what you've learned ought to be fine.

[He is very pointedly not talking about their sweet sweet staff though IT'S FINE.]

[agleam]

Right. Got it.

[a little apologetically... before:]

So - in the one I went on a few weeks ago, the idea of making a deal and providing entertainment was really important. There was a big party, and the hosts of the party promised us something important if we went along with their game in an entertaining way. But - at the very end, they agreed we had done what they wanted, but they just tried to kill us instead of giving us anything they had promised. And Harrow said that during hers, she was on a really awful show, and they had to find a way to stop it from being extended for another few seasons. It seems... relevant to our situation.

[illomened]

[He just inclines his head a little, smiling reassuringly in response to the apologetic tone before focusing on the REST OF THIS help.]

I see... They do seem relevant. I think these ventures usually provide useful information in that way, so... --Do we have any other information on the contracts, beyond reading them?

[agleam]

Ah - yeah, we have a theory about how he might be trying to create a loophole to keep us here because of something written in it, but...

[giving him a questioning look and waiting for him to say that's not off limits,,]

[illomened]

[He gave a little general rundown of things that are Less Safe, and seems to not think this is much of a problem... probably......]

But...? Ah-- and speaking of, do you know anything about the owner himself?

[As long as they're things the staff hasn't explicitly dodged or been like hHHHNOOO about, it should be fine, presumably, and he figures these things are well-circulated anyway.]

[agleam]

Okay. Um - so one of the things written in the contract is really specific. It says that people are only going to be able to leave safely if they're in the lobby of the hotel at a certain time. At first we thought that was just a way to make sure everyone who died couldn't leave safely, but then we wondered why he would specify just the lobby, so... We wonder if he might be planning to block it off somehow right before that time comes, so he can use that to say nobody fulfilled the terms of their contract.

[he sounds very unamused as he says that, before he continues.]

The thing about him finding all of this entertaining is pretty common knowledge... You probably know that he calls himself the Nightman, too, but just in case. [edgelord mastermind.....] Other than that, I don't know too much.

[illomened]

I... didn't know that he calls himself that.

[HELP. People tend to forget that Souji has absolutely zero information about the living side and no one tells him anything... That truly is supreme edgelord though, wowie. i personally cant believe anna's secretly playing an npc here]

But I see - that's all very good to know. Thank you for sharing, Rupert-kun. That does sound like the sort of easy-to-create loophole that could easily get everyone into trouble.

[agleam]

...Oh! Well - now you do.

[nods slowly...]

Yeah. It sounds like a few people there were at least aware it's a possibility, so they'll be on the lookout for ways to make sure it doesn't happen. Everyone I talked when I was still back there always sounded like they were going to do everything in their power to get us all back, too, so...

[frostythehitman]

How are you so sure that the owner is actually listening in on us here?

[illomened]

I had a hunch for some time, but I've confirmed with staff just recently.

[callalilies]

It's all in our contract... have you gotten to read it in full?

[illomened]

[Shaking his head!]

I didn't know there was a way for us to access it until Rupert-kun mentioned it to me yesterday. [NO ONE TELLS HIM ANYTHING HELP.] But I will ask to see it... a bit later, perhaps.

[He's afraid of having to look the staff in their nonexistent eyes.]

[callalilies]

[ he nods firmly. ]

Have you known the staff for your whole stay? Or only Virgo?

[illomened]

The staff on its whole, yes. [A little nod in return.] Though we were only able to communicate with them by typewriter at first... Our options have certainly grown since then. The dream suite is my personal favorite.

[Unsurprising, since it's as close to face-to-face as you can get. And, after a pause:]

Dreams are also a private thing, even in a well-watched place.

[callalilies]

It's a shame we can't dream with each other that way.

[illomened]

It would really make some things much more convenient... Though- [Just in case anyone has IDEAS.] -even such a private thing isn't perfectly private. It's really quite a nuisance, isn't it?

[frostythehitman]

Did they say exactly how? Is it audio only, do they have visual too? Are there any blind spots, that sort of thing?

[illomened]

It's both, so do take care. It would seem that the only place that offers some privacy is in one's dreams... Otherwise, you could say it's simply a matter of creativity in communication, I suppose.

[frostythehitman]

What, like the bouquets?

You think the owner knows flower language?

[illomened]

Maybe they don't! There are other things, too. [Reaching out to patpat Bucky's shoulder.]

[frostythehitman]

So they found an employee's room, but not the mailroom.

[agleam]

Let's talk about the Thursday part instead, I decided!

[with a glance towards souji.......]