Betrayal at House on the Hill

[angelcage]

[ You sleep, the ground cold beneath your cheek. The ground is hard as stone, cold marble beneath a fine layer of dust that doesn't come anywhere near acting as a cushion. The dust stirs with your breathing.


>> Wake up ]

Comments

[angelcage]

[ Nothing useful, really.

But in the rest of the charred room, sitting strangely pristine in the center of the bonfire— apparently immune to burning— is a somber mask. ]

[aliiiens]

[Okay, clearly Yuma is not going to be any help. Sigh, he'll have to do this solo.

--Well, except as he goes further in he can see that the dagger is indeed just in the middle of the floor like Yuma said, so he was some help after all. It doesn't look...too sinister? Forget caution, III decides to just reach out and pick it up, with his arm still awkwardly extended behind him. This handcuff thing is really annoying.]

[court_chesster]

[Grabs a chair leg and tries to push the mask out of the fire.]

[angelcage]

[ It's less a dagger and more a twisted shard of iron with a hilt, grooves set into it shaped in mysterious symbols, stained with blood. Despite the state of the room, it's not wet. ]

[angelcage]

[ It clatters on the floor.

If Simon approaches, he'll notice it's not even hot. ]

[aliiiens]

[Well, that was oddly underwhelming, but at least this thing is pretty cool looking. In other circumstances he might stop to analyze it, but he'll just pocket it for now. Don't you feel silly Yuma??]

There's no point in going back the way we came. Have you gone through any of the other doors?

[court_chesster]

[I'm not here to not steal things. Gonna pick up that mask!]

Re: BASEMENT LANDING - BASEMENT LEVEL

[withintreason]

[ WHAT THE FUCK ]

Ugh -- what an annoyance--!

[ I GUESS I'M

GOING TO GO, LIKE, WEST? SURE. WEST ]

[angelcage]

[ Its cool in his hand. Nondescript. The perfect thing to hide your face and intentions. ]

[trashenough]

[ No he feels completely justified. There's no way he's getting his deposit back.

At the question, he shakes his head. ]

No, I went straight back downstairs.

[ As it is, the door they entered is on the western wall; there are two more doors, on the eastern and southern walls.

Pick a door, III, so this wet blanket can dry out and stop being so miserable. And nasally. ]

STOREROOM - BASEMENT LEVEL

[angelcage]

[ The door opens to a store room-- one forgotten sometime in the 1930s. It's all neat, organized. Waiting. Crates. A grandfather clock, perfectly still, no passage of time marked in this room. Rolls of rugs. Two tufted couches. Candelabras, matte but unrusted. Empty cabinets. Empty trunks. Empty portrait frames.

A wardrobe, doors thrown open— this one thing, different than all the rest. There's claw marks on the door, like someone had tried in vain to get out, trying to catch any attention they could manage, force it open. Some of the scratch marks are rusty with the remnants of old blood. ]

[angelcage]

[ You escape from the landing to the storeroom— strangely pristine, after the room that came before. ]

Re: STOREROOM - BASEMENT LEVEL

[withintreason]

[ creepy

taking . . . a step in . . . btw did the madman fall in with us or like, ]

BELL

[angelcage]

[ Yeah he's still following you. Like you'd be so lucky.

Also, within the wardrobe: there's a resonant clang. Something tumbles from it onto the floor, coming to lie at your feet. A brass bell. ]

[aliiiens]

[Well, might as well do this methodically then. The north door leads to a wall, which is annoying, so instead he leads them straight across, through the east door. Yes, they're stepping through all the blood.]

Re: BELL

[withintreason]

[ hm. a little startled by the bell, looking down at it ]

What -- ?

[ tilting . . . head . . . and taking a step back, looking around to try to find. something that! might have! moved that thing!! ]

STATUARY CORRIDOR - UPPER FLOOR

[angelcage]

[ You enter a long narrow corridor, the floor between one end and the other lined with statuary. Monsters from myth: all carefully defanged. Medusa, recognizable only by the stone snakes that surround the shattered heap that once was her head on the floor besides her pedestal. A hell hound's statue, muzzled with leather carefully placed over its mouth. A basilisk, rooster feathers and blood poured on its stone. And many, many shards of statues destroyed entirely litter the floor.


There are two doors here: the one you entered through, and one at the far end of the corridor. ]

[court_chesster]

[I like it and I'm keeping it. Into the bag it goes, and Simon heads west.]

[angelcage]

[ The eastern door leads to the Statuary Corridor ]

[angelcage]

[ The wardrobe remains still.

As does the rest of the room.

The bell rolls at Mordred's feet, still resonating. ]

[withintreason]

[ uhmmmm

stabbing it probably won't help

idk if i want to pick this up though

nnnnudges it with her foot. ]

[aliiiens]

[Well that is...not what he expected. He heads for the basilisk statue first; anything organic is worth investigating, to see how long it seems to have been there.

Something must have smashed these, regardless. That's not something he wants to think about.]

[angelcage]

[ The low hum of vibration through the brass dies. ]

[withintreason]

........ How creepy.

[ kicks it away, and just turns around to leave ]

[trashenough]

[ When the door closes behind them, Yuma lets go of his nose and lets out an exaggerated exhale, breathing in the cleaner scent of the less macabre room. He's still an easy weight to pull along, but he gives this room a more attentive look-over. ]

Woah...

[ But while III is looking for blood, Yuma's gaze flicks from one pile of rubble to another, settling finally on the mess of the broken Medusa. ]

What in the world happened here... ?

[ And in the other room. And in this whole damn house, really. ]