Spooky Simulacrum

[polliwoggi]

Lady Angel Heart

Finding nothing of particular interest, you head towards the open cabinet instead. After all, you're here to enjoy a haunted house, not solve puzzles, right? Who would ever think to solve puzzles in a creepy environment while trying to avoid a horrible fate? That's just dumb.

The door creaks open with a low squeak, though you're greeted with nothing much but bottles and packs of gauze beyond. The bottles seem mostly empty, though one does have something in it - pebbles. You suppose it makes sense; they couldn't keep real medicine in a place that people would be wandering around, right? That could be dangerous! However, that's unfortunately the most interesting thing on the shelves, so soon you close that as well.

You are startled, then, when the space behind where the cabinet door had blocked your vision is now filled with a person! You have little time to react as you are quite literally bagged - not by them, but by someone behind you, but though you may fight it is to no avail as you are quite literally carried away.

When you're let free, it's unceremoniously - you're dumped onto the floor of a dingy, undecorated hallway, faced with two dogs - one tall and quite burly, the other rather short with a crooked grin.

"That's three tonight, Bruno," the little one says, before turning bright, smiling eyes towards you once more. "Uh, contestants out! We keep a pool of who gets the most, ya know? Uh - I mean, you're out, kid. C'mon, let's get you to the Lounge - we gotta get back to scares so we stay ahead of the game!"

DEAD END

 

[oceyyyy]

Relieved that their new friend was not a creepy mummy/vampire/corpse, Spoop turns back to the room.

Neither wanting to sieve through someone's dirty laundry (it could be a poor staff members napping spot...) the two players peer down the drain in the middle of the room.  

[dickory]

Hmmm. They are talking about catches? Catering? Yes! These must be the servants! Of course, whoever can afford to live here in this giant mansion obviously needs a lot of servants to bring food and throw out guests when they get tired of them, obviously. So obvious.

Zilch shuffles around, when he hears the clatter of a grate and a rattling hiss come from behind him. Aha, has he outwitted this particular servant? He squints around, and pauses for a moment to 'think'. Yes, if he is below the servants quarters there might be some room layouts or ways into staff passages up there. They would have to know the quickest ways around the place, he concludes to himself.

If they aren't lazy they should clear out eventually to do something, he hopes. With this in mind he lies in wait under the vent, ready to try and pry it open when he thinks the coast is clear. His goal is clear in his mind...

B!!!  

[polliwoggi]

Despite the oddity of the room that you find yourself in, you remain - mostly - calm, choosing to look for a way out instead of panicking. You investigate the grate, first, and find upon closer inspection that the stickiness around it actually smells faintly of raspberries. Perhaps emboldened by this discovery, after a bit of fiddling around and experimentation involving a paper clip you find elsewhere in the room and a really long hair, you manage to fish something out from under the grate.

The key!

With this key you are able to escape the trap room, fleeing down a secret hallway and further into the bowels of the establishment. You certainly have a great many adventures -- wait, no, no you don't. Actually it's quite a boring walk down a plain hall, the creepy sounds and effects of the house slowly fading as you walk. Eventually, you reach a door, and nothing else.

When you pass through it, it takes you a moment to understand where you are; you appear to be in a room decorated for a party that never happened. On the far side of it, a lone cub seems to be sweeping the floor; you clear your throat, and she jumps, whirling around with wide eyes.

"W-woah! I - how did you get -- how long have you been here!?"

You've clearly startled her, and after a bit of chatter you find out you've been in the Simulacrum a while, apparently. No one won this prize, and she's been cleaning up for the shutting down! After a bit more talk, she hands you the sparkling ticket sitting on the middle of one of the tables, giving a slight shrug as well.

"Sorry we didn't get to host your celebration party, but uh, congrats?"

oceyyyy

You wait under the grate, peering up into the room above. It seems, for a while, like there's always going to be someone there, but eventually it does fall silent. You skillfully push the vent up after a bit of fighting, and have just enough room to crawl up before you hear the door opening again. You manage to get the grating mostly secure, but freeze when the entrance to the room opens - thankfully, being as how you're kind of invisible, you aren't spotted. In fact, no one notices you or the misplaced vent at all, since it's off in the corner of the room.

You watch the flow of animals for a while, people coming in and out; this is definitely some kind of resting room - you snatch a few snacks from a nearby table between visits, even. You learn in your eavesdropping that the house is going to close soon, and it seems like there wasn't any official winner this year. At some point you hear mention of a late-comer, but it seems like nothing that's going to be announced. You have to wonder how long you've been here, but your interest is taken by something else.

One group brings in a small stack of glittering, holographic tickets and leaves it on the table, one of the dragons among them muttering about how the management was awful this year.

"I didn't vote for him."

"Did anyone vote for him? When was the last time we had a mayoral election?"

"...we have elections?"

Unconcerned with the undercurrents of dictatorship in Big City, you find yourself far more interested in those glittery tickets! Those have to be important, you decide between bites of fried chicken and miniature roast beef sandwiches, and once you're done pilfering food and eavesdropping, you slip one of them into your ... pocket?

We hope, with all complete sincerity, that you slip it into a pocket, and eventually make your way out among the staff corridors, unnoticed.

dickory

Congratulations, ticket holders! You've ... made it through the Simulacrum, we guess? Wow, has it really been that long? Well, whatever - you made it, and one way or another you've come out with a prize. Neither of you is the primary winner, so it's up to you to decide who gets what from the prize pool - or, you know, roll for it in Discord. Fight to the death. Contact Vari if you just can't settle it. Whatever.

But wait, what have you won? Well, here you go: your choice of ONE of the monsters below, each!

 

[oceyyyy]

What fab creatures * u* ty!!