HALLOWEEN 2008
Think the mansion's done playing tricks on you? Not yet. But if you're willing to invest a little effort, you might find yourself in for a very special treat~ ♥
Over the next few days, the mansion's residents will find pieces of paper-- brown with age, smelling of old leather and ink-- slipped under their doors, in odd corners of the mansion. Each piece has a message scrawled on it:
"The beast's in its tower, all's right with the world."
"Treasures untold belong to the bold."
But what do they mean?
When they wake up on Halloween, the most immediate thing your characters will notice is that they're not in their own beds. They'll find themselves waking in or on any of the following: a stone plinth for corpses, a satin-lined coffin, stone sarcophagi, an oversize urn... Anywhere you'd normally lay the dead to rest, basically. Anything you can think of.
What's worse, they're already dressed up in a costume... and whatever costume that happens to be, it looks like it could use some repair. The kind of repair that involves throwing it into the trash, possibly burning it, and then getting a new set entirely. Whether they're a renaissance baron, a space-age captain, or a slutty witch, the only thing in common is that they've seen better days. Hems are tattered, stockings are split; they're covered in dust, and as your character gets up, they'll be picking off cobwebs. They'll even have a costume-appropriate treat bag!
And that's not the strangest thing...
After that rude awakening, when they step out they'll find that the mansion's decor has taken a turn for the decidedly... creepy. The floors are now oddly-stained dark wood, covered with rotting bits of carpet. Going up and down the stairs is harder than it used to be, given that they creak like a cacophony of tortured souls. Round a corner too fast and you might see a ghost passing through a wall. Carved pumpkins lined along the hallways provide most of the light; in open areas like the ballroom, cobweb-festered chandeliers do the job. Bats chitter overhead. The doors to the outside won't open.
Around the mansion-turned-haunted-house, characters will find the same message scratched over and over into the walls:
Find heart's desire
In the highest spire.
The only way is up.
Of course, it's not as straightforward as that. Up to a certain point, the stairs have given out, so there's nothing to do but try and open some of the other doors and see if there's another way up-- the ceiling's collapsed, in some parts. But exploring around leads to both pleasant and unpleasant surprises of the Halloween variety: opening a door could result in a cloud of bats swarming your face, or a skeleton reaching out to yank you in. Buckets of water splashing on you. Or, you might just find a lot of candy. Trip enough of the booby traps, and your characters will be ejected from the mansion, onto the grounds.
Outside, the makings for a Halloween party have been set up. Candy for the kids-- of course-- and all kinds of warm, spiced food. Pumpkin pies and bread are in evidence, and an assortmet or drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic alike). There's plenty to go around, and nothing ever seems to run out. A multitude of candles provides light.
Characters who take the time to look will realize the mansion's adopted the facade of an old castle for Halloween, and there is-- sure enough-- a single tower rising up to pierce the sky.
But what is 'heart's desire', anyway?
TL;DR: characters get stuck in a haunted house mansion for a day, but it's set up as a 'game' where characters search for an unspecified treasure. The place is booby-trapped like all get-out, but none of it is really threatening (plenty eerie, but nothing that would get you injured). Whenever someone trips more than five traps, a chute opens beneath them and they're thrown out from the mansion, where a Halloween party is in full swing on the grounds.
The treasure in the top of the tower is... a secret! To decide who gets to the 'highest spire', comment with the names of the characters you're offering up. We'll draw the 'winner' from a hat, like we usually do. :3
Expect your characters to run into (and by 'run into' I mean 'be commented on by') the ghosts, which will all be run from the account hollow_shades. Each particular ghost is looking for something-- if your character can figure it out, you might get a reward!
Over the next few days, the mansion's residents will find pieces of paper-- brown with age, smelling of old leather and ink-- slipped under their doors, in odd corners of the mansion. Each piece has a message scrawled on it:
"The beast's in its tower, all's right with the world."
"Treasures untold belong to the bold."
But what do they mean?
When they wake up on Halloween, the most immediate thing your characters will notice is that they're not in their own beds. They'll find themselves waking in or on any of the following: a stone plinth for corpses, a satin-lined coffin, stone sarcophagi, an oversize urn... Anywhere you'd normally lay the dead to rest, basically. Anything you can think of.
What's worse, they're already dressed up in a costume... and whatever costume that happens to be, it looks like it could use some repair. The kind of repair that involves throwing it into the trash, possibly burning it, and then getting a new set entirely. Whether they're a renaissance baron, a space-age captain, or a slutty witch, the only thing in common is that they've seen better days. Hems are tattered, stockings are split; they're covered in dust, and as your character gets up, they'll be picking off cobwebs. They'll even have a costume-appropriate treat bag!
And that's not the strangest thing...
After that rude awakening, when they step out they'll find that the mansion's decor has taken a turn for the decidedly... creepy. The floors are now oddly-stained dark wood, covered with rotting bits of carpet. Going up and down the stairs is harder than it used to be, given that they creak like a cacophony of tortured souls. Round a corner too fast and you might see a ghost passing through a wall. Carved pumpkins lined along the hallways provide most of the light; in open areas like the ballroom, cobweb-festered chandeliers do the job. Bats chitter overhead. The doors to the outside won't open.
Around the mansion-turned-haunted-house, characters will find the same message scratched over and over into the walls:
Find heart's desire
In the highest spire.
The only way is up.
Of course, it's not as straightforward as that. Up to a certain point, the stairs have given out, so there's nothing to do but try and open some of the other doors and see if there's another way up-- the ceiling's collapsed, in some parts. But exploring around leads to both pleasant and unpleasant surprises of the Halloween variety: opening a door could result in a cloud of bats swarming your face, or a skeleton reaching out to yank you in. Buckets of water splashing on you. Or, you might just find a lot of candy. Trip enough of the booby traps, and your characters will be ejected from the mansion, onto the grounds.
Outside, the makings for a Halloween party have been set up. Candy for the kids-- of course-- and all kinds of warm, spiced food. Pumpkin pies and bread are in evidence, and an assortmet or drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic alike). There's plenty to go around, and nothing ever seems to run out. A multitude of candles provides light.
Characters who take the time to look will realize the mansion's adopted the facade of an old castle for Halloween, and there is-- sure enough-- a single tower rising up to pierce the sky.
But what is 'heart's desire', anyway?
TL;DR: characters get stuck in a haunted house mansion for a day, but it's set up as a 'game' where characters search for an unspecified treasure. The place is booby-trapped like all get-out, but none of it is really threatening (plenty eerie, but nothing that would get you injured). Whenever someone trips more than five traps, a chute opens beneath them and they're thrown out from the mansion, where a Halloween party is in full swing on the grounds.
The treasure in the top of the tower is... a secret! To decide who gets to the 'highest spire', comment with the names of the characters you're offering up. We'll draw the 'winner' from a hat, like we usually do. :3
Expect your characters to run into (and by 'run into' I mean 'be commented on by') the ghosts, which will all be run from the account hollow_shades. Each particular ghost is looking for something-- if your character can figure it out, you might get a reward!