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!

★ At the very end of the first floor hallway is another door - this one is locked with a padlock. It has a message painted on the door.... Don't dead? Anyway, it seems you can't check just stroll in there! From the looks of it it would be ill-advised to attempt to break in. Occasionally there are muffled shrieks coming from beyond the door. Hmm!


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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.

★ A dumbwaiter sits at the end of the hallway of bedrooms. Inside of it is a typewriter, and a golden bell labeled as Virgo's. 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.

★ 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

[illomened]

[Grabs a little pinch of Sieghart's sleeve...]

Why was your head all the way out there?

[ercnerd]

[Hm.]

How should I know? I was blacked out. By the time I opened my eyes, it was already gone.

[illomened]

Oh, dear... Well, that isn't going to help us out very much, then.

[SIEG!! (Dimitri voice) He is a useless bear.]

I suppose this is the part where we're meant to look for evidence...?

[ercnerd]

[He looks over in the middle of handing off the head to Bucky.]

There should be something around here. Let's look around.

[illomened]

Mm, let's go back to the garden!

[Moving to latch on to one of Sieghart's arms to drag him off EXCEPT THEN BUCKY HAPPENS I GUESS.]

[ercnerd]

[After his outburst, he whirls around to do as Souji suggested. He makes no effort to shrug him off.]

. . . Let's go!

[illomened]

[SWEET SIEGHART........ That was so much... Souji will just reach up to gently pat his shoulder and then move to tug him out into the fresh outdoors where he doesn't have to see his disembodied corpse head be smooched and thrown around like a baseball.]

We need to get you an omamori...

[ercnerd]

[Even the omamori will turn on him.

Sieghart sighs once it's just them out by the flower patch.]

So? Where did you find the head earlier?

[illomened]

[EVEN THE OMAMORI...

He'll lead the way over to where there's a dent in the dirt by some daffodils, though.]

Here! It was just... tucked away. Not exactly hidden, but not exactly out in the open either?

[ercnerd]

Why daffodils . . . ?

[Muttering to himself, he crouches down to inspect the dirt.]

Who'd bother to carry a head this far?

[illomened]

Do you think daffodils were chosen for a reason...? It's a big strange to separate the head and the body by this much though, that's true.

[While Sieghart's nosin around over there, Souji will let go and go poke through some other patches of flowers. At some point, he appears to find something and leans down to get it.

But then there's a startled yelp??]

[ercnerd]

. . . Who knows?

[He's not going to think too much into it for now. He continues to nose around when he hears the yelp and snaps his head in Souji's direction. What the?]

[illomened]

[IT'S FINE. Souji's just blinking owlishly down at what appears to be a piece of paper with a partial footprint on it.]

--Ah, it was just... [Hm. Maybe he shouldn't be pushing himself so hard after Sunday??] ...I think the shadows might be playing tricks again.

[ercnerd]

[There's a beat before Sieghart makes his way over to Souji.]

Here, let me see.

[illomened]

[He'll just hold the paper out! It looks like a normal ass piece of paper with a print on it, but there are a few flurries of shadow skittering away into the flowers as they speak.]

Here. Goodness, are we meant to host an entire trial on our own...?

[ercnerd]

[He arches an eyebrows at the shadows among the flowers.]

I hope not. That'd be too many hours out the window.

[The window . . . ]

[illomened]

[The window........ His one braincell doesn't activate unfortunately, so he doesn't look up toward a window which is definitely hanging open overhead.]

Well, it isn't as though it can be reinforced, right?

[ercnerd]

We don't even know if the culprit's supposed to be one of ours.

[He feels perfectly fine, too. Maybe they should be more worried, but he's all right.]

Anyway, let's take this back and see what the others think.

[Except Bucky. Bucky has lost rights.]

[illomened]

Who else would it be?

[THE SHADOWS?? SAIZO??? Saizo can't be the culprit, he's the judge! He'll nod at that though, moving back to Sieghart's side. ONWARD TO DELIVER THE CLUE.]

[ercnerd]

That's the question, isn't it?

[He waves the paper with the partial print once they return to the group at large.]

Hey, we found something.