{OPEN}
Who: Everyone/Anyone!
What: Exploring the Casino, Take 1
Where: The Entertainment District
When: after this and this
( Read more... )
What: Exploring the Casino, Take 1
Where: The Entertainment District
When: after this and this
( Read more... )
[Arriving via the stairwell door (after successfully breaking it open) will place yourself in the middle of a large water-damaged room with two corridors to choose from in terms of exploring.
Which one you take doesn't really matter. You'll end up in the same place only in different sections. Open the door and step in, take a good look around. You'll realize pretty quickly that you've entered some type of unexplored(?) labyrinth.
Should you leave? Or should you stay, taking your chances that there's something more to be discovered down here?
Be careful, either way, for you may not be alone.
Note** For those entering the bottom floor by breaking in, you'll end up slipping in and falling into the center of the labyrinth, lucky you! Wonder what you'll find there!
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Some ground windows, no doubt leading into the basement. Bingo. Just what he was looking for.
Crouching down he pressed against the window momentarily, trying to see through the glass what might be on the other side, but even with his heightened senses, it was all blackness. Finally he glanced up to Max and Albedo, motioning to the windows. It didn't take much brain power to know what the albino was suggesting.]
You both ready for this?
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Far be it from her to suddenly follow the law.]
You can't get much more excited to jump into a pit of unknown darkness, [which was pretty much not at all, but necessity was necessity] so we might as well get this show on the road.
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Can you hear me?
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That Albedo was the one intruding never made it through his mind.
He watched the two converse, sparing a light glance for the communicator when it went off. Cheerfully-- ]
Do you want it broken?
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He gets up from his crouch to continue his add to his conversation with Elena.]
We're heading into the basement.
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Max watched Heine talk into the communicator for all of a few seconds. Elene hadn't screamed her head off for them to abandon the building, which she took as good an encouragement as any. Besides, she already knew damn well that Heine could take care of himself and made for a decent partner in dangerous shenanigans. Albedo had also proven himself to have some sort of power, which she'd only caught a glimpse of.
Good, she tried to convince herself. This is a good team. Even though she wouldn't be surprised if it turned into a disaster.
She turned away from Heine and to Albedo, who was given a small, devilish smile.]
Shall we?
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Still, he raised his eyebrows at her look, feigning shock at her suggestion. Then only grinned, intending on taking away her joy by acting first. Here, how quaint--they had become cohorts of a sort, and it seemed Albedo wouldn't need to stalk her movements to learn her patterns--she was letting him, as she had said, and it was... interesting.
He kept the smile on her as he stepped to the window in question, raised energy along his arm in a violet phosphorus, then rapped the window at the frame, breaking both hinges. The glow faded leaving blood along his knuckles--the wound itself already healing. He gave a mock bow. ]
After you.
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...?
Who is this? I don't remember you being at the meeting.
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[his expression was deadpan as he responded, the corners of his mouth twitching. She forgot him already? Unless she was talking about the background noise.
He glanced over his shoulder at the other two.]
Looks like it's time to go. [And with that he'll just hang up. Don't worry, Elena, you should have no problems reconnecting with the communicator once they're in the basement.]
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What a gentleman.
[Except her joy was mostly gone then, because all that was left was jumping right in with a couple of might-as-well-be strangers who both, for all she knew, got their kicks from disembowling puppies. But wasn't that just life?
Max scooted onto the broken window's sill and swung her legs into the new entry, looking up at Heine at his last words.
Looks like. [And without much else, she jumped through the frame and down into the shadows.]
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However, the man surprised him, and made it about himself instead. The focused gaze slipped from Albedo's expression and he raised his eyebrows in recognition. It seemed like there were still a few things of interest in this place.
The boy closed his eyes and shrugged, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He turned back to the window to follow Max's motion, slipping in and dropping down quietly. ]
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Once they land, however? They'll be in a rather empty room, the only light a dim shine from a doorway across the room. Seems like the only place to go so you might as well head that way, yes?
Once you do manage to get through the doorway and step into the light however, you'll find a rather peculiar situation. It's a perfectly square area area, complete with an enormously high ceiling. The ceiling it too far up to actually identify the in the dark, the light that was shown earlier only two torches burning bright from one side of the room (is that another door or a path? Something to check out perhaps.)
That one exit seems to be the only way to go other than going back into the room. But that's not all.
You'll notice you're not... quite alone. At least, not literally. You three will find this quiet area littered with bodies, torn limbs and torsos burnt so badly they're unidentifiable as human. Some are still in tact. There's blood splattered across the floor and walls and even a body or two impaled on opposite walls with a large stake of some sort.
And of course, there is the smell of death mixed with the smokiness from the charred bodies.
Maybe, if you can stomach it, you'll want to poke around the bodies and see if there are any useful clues, you might find something. Meanwhile, it's hard to suddenly keep yourself completely calm, the eerie feeling that something might be watching you this whole time.
objects that can be found in this room if you search:
1. Loose odds and ends such as casino coins, wallets, shoes, etc. things the dead really no longer need.
2. one of the charred but more in tact bodies has a scroll of some sort. Pry it out of the hand clutching it and unraveling it will give you a rather odd map. A map to a labyrinth. Or a partial map, anyway
3. On one of the impaled bodies on the wall, is an envelope with a smeared address. Opening it will give you a note to unfold. The words are slightly damaged from blood stains on the envelope itself, but it's still readable and is as follows:
Arietta,
Marcus and I have safely arrived. We're staying at the hotel adjacent to the casino and the entire experience has been glorious so far. The rooms are large and beautifully decorated, it's almost as if a single person could live in them! They're so much better than our small apartment, if only you could see. And the casino: there are no words, little sister, we must take you along next time! No ifs, ands, or buts. Do bring along Sean, as well. Marcus and I will treat you both!
We will be back in a week, don't get into any trouble while we are gone.
Love,
Ana
[cont. below]
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page 1: There have been a heavy amount of reports concerning disappearances of people arriving to this place. I'll be keeping journal entries of evidence to record whatever I find. There's something wrong about this place. It's almost too normal, somehow.
page 2: First day here. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Questioning a few quests led me nowhere. Everyone seems so happy. Perhaps it's because this has become a rather popular honeymoon choice despite the rumors. Some have said the rumors just make the stay all the more exciting. Kids these days.
page 3: Snuck into the casino the first hour it closed. Found nothing. No traces of anything, not even scuff marks on the floor. Going on day three and I already am wondering if this is a wild goose chase.
page 4: Still nothing.
page 5: This is ridiculous.
page 6: I need a partner for this, I can't seem to find anything wrong. The staff are all so friendly, too. Gives me the creeps.
page 7: I suppose it's time to call it quits and head back to headquarters.
page 7 addendum: A muffled scream just woke me. It sounded so close, I immediately jumped out of bed and opened my door, searching the hallways. There wasn't a soul in either direction. This is the first night this has happened. What could it have been?
page 8: As I was in line to check out this morning, I noticed a young man and woman at the customer service desk. As I listened it, they were panicking over a missing individual. Needless to say, I stepped out of line and immediately called HQ. Requested backup for this case as things started to get stranger and strange.
page 9: It's evening. No news yet of my partner arriving. No new sounds, either. Ah. Someone just starting knock [the page ends, merely a small smear of ink on the remaining space.]
page 10: I don't know what's going on. I don't even know what happened last night. There was a knock and before I could even get up my room was broken into. The rest is a blur. Now? I don't know where the hell I am.
pages 11-13: [unreadable, mostly doodles]
page 14: I'm lost. In the middle of what seems to be a literal labyrinth. How is this possible?
page 15: ran into two individuals, somehow, both claiming they were abducted and woke up in the same situation I did. We're going to try and make a map and figure this maze out before it's too late.
page 16: We suddenly hear people screaming and an unpleasant animalistic sound before their is silence.
page 17: We're not alone. We're [that's the end of the page]
page 18: [blank]
page 19: [smeared with blood stains w/ unreadable chicken scratch writing]
page 22: It's hopeless. Nothing we do works.
page 21: Erica and Carlos are dead. I'm next. If anyone finds this and can get out, take this journal with you and report it to the royal court. The map we were working on is in Erica's hand. Take it. This is an emergency, but the local law won't be able to do anything about this. I cannot imagine anyone else other than the Magisters being handling this, be careful there's [it ends, the page practically soaked in blood, but it's long dry. Rest of the pages are either blank, ripped out, or somehow destroyed and unreadable if there was text on them (but probably not judging from the entry on page 21.]
If you check the dates on the entries, you'll notice that according to the date on your communicators, this was written quite some time ago. Perhaps even before any natives arrived, or even before Nuadoria was destroyed?
5. There's something written near a dead body on the floor with what looks like blood, but it's mostly faded. You'll be able to make out a 't' and an 'a'.
So, what will you do, now?]
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In the pitch black he was silent, no bothering to call for the other two. He was quite positive they were fine if not already out of the room via where that light was coming (his slipping in the window had been a tiny bit of delay). Still, he smelled something (haha, do you smell it? Seems to be quite a party down here.). Eyes narrowed at the voice inside his head, stiffening a moment before he ignored it completely and slowly headed forward towards the light to step out of the pitch blackness.
From the smell of things, he'd expected something like this, although perhaps not quite as... intense. And in such a quantity. Heine's brow furrowed, a tingling sensation shooting down his spine. This was unnatural. How did all these bodies get here? He highly doubted several others had broken in only to die here in piling heaps. And then there was the charring of some bodies, and the limbs of others with torsos completely limbless, some with their heads still in tack, others not so much. It was almost impossible to tell how many actually were down here, so he glanced to the side, eying the corpse nailed to the wall.]
What the hell...? [He took another few steps forward, eyes still narrowed, searching the area once before finally stepping over to that burned corpse with the scroll in hand. Heine wasn't big on solving mysteries, probably because he couldn't give two shits about looking for clues, especially at a scene like this. To him, there was a much more important thing to find: who or what did this mess.
But, this scroll was an exception, for whatever reason. Probably because it was so obviously just there, the cream color contrasting the blackened vice around it. Crouching down, he casually wrapped a hand around the black-boned hand and squeezed, crushing it. It snapped, the pieces falling to the floor, breaking into further pieces. Heine didn't immediately stand up, instead opening the scroll first. He looked it over once, twice, maybe even a third before a 'tch escaped him in annoyance.
Rolling it back up he held it over his shoulder, head turning to look at Max and Albedo, staying in his position otherwise for the moment. He waved it a bit, signaling for one of them to take it.]
Don't suppose either one of you are good at reading half-drawn maps?
[Heine didn't think he'd ever used a map in his life, nevermind a shitty half-assed one like in his hands right now.]
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She’d stopped inside the room of bodies with a painful jolt of horror and a sickened churn in her stomach. Being raised around deformed and dying children didn’t even make sense of this, and she held the back of her hand over her nose and mouth for a moment and shut her eyes. When she opened them again the sight was slightly less of a shock, but she kept her hand raised partly to fend off the smell, and also to hold back the nausea.
She was aware of Albedo’s presence and Heine’s arrival, and by the time he’d appeared her attention had been drawn by what may or may not have been a journal peeking out from under what might have once been an arm. Gingerly she picked it up from the pile, trying not to retch, and turned to Heine at his question.]
Depends on how badly half-drawn.
[But she’s distracted by the stained contents of the journal as she flipped through it, and a troubled frown crossed her face. God, but it smelled, and being surrounded by gore was making her twitchy. Every time she even opened her mouth Max thought she might gag, so-for a few blessed moments-she would be quieter than usual.]
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