The Mansion II [on hiatus]

[Greyblades]

If you don't want to sleep alone, at least stay at the rotunda to act as liaison between teams if one runs into more trouble than it can handle on its own.

I forgot to send in a sleep order and apparantly I was roped into someone else's orders.

[Winston Hughes]

Orders sent. Sorry for the lack of activity. Work is crazy right now, and I'm struggling to find brainspace for anything else.

[Montmorency]

I'll take a look through the Sunroom near the end of the round, when it will be close to mid-morning.

Searching outdoors is on the table, but not yet. We need the first floor searched at least, if not also the basement. I don't think leaving the house permanently right now will accomplish much for a Good Ending.

Wasn't it night last phase though? And we didn't see any monsters.

Dawn phase. Khaan was bitten the phase before the Dusk phase, but then he was just bitten - not attacked by a hulk.

Then again, the thing that bit him may have been that weak thing Jarema killed at the stairs, so as good a guess might be that we're dealing both with perma-big (improved) monsters, and perma-small (failed) monsters.

At any rate, keep with the plan.

[Winston Hughes]

Speaking of the Sunroom, weren't we going to try sunlight on the invisible ink?

[El Barto]

Let's stay clear of that front door. What room(s) can we see the front door from, if any?

I forgot to send in a sleep order and apparantly I was roped into someone else's orders.

I think that was me… I asked Zain to send in as my companion/bodyguard anyone who hadn't sent orders so that they wouldn't be GM-killed.

Speaking of the Sunroom, weren't we going to try sunlight on the invisible ink?

Yes, we should. I'll do that and then nip downstairs to join the gang (should take 5 minutes in-game time, at the most).

[Zain]

The amount of discussion has been very poor lately... Is the game not engaging enough or is everyone generally very busy lately?

[Golden1Knight]

Kinda busy, but gradually returning to normal routine.

So guys, what's the plan?

[Choxorn]

Also kinda busy.

[El Barto]

Shouldn't there have been an update… 12 hours ago?

[Beskar]

Crud, I didn't see Zain's message asking for orders.

[Zain]

I have taken a short hiatus to gauge the genuine interest in this game and am slightly disappointed. The write-ups take quite some time and I want people to enjoy them but it is difficult when it seems myself and maybe only a couple other players are interested.

Still on hiatus, let me know if you all want to continue.

[Choxorn]

I want to continue, I'm certainly having fun with this, I'm just busy IRL and don't have much time to be super active in it.

[Jarema]

I would like it to continue, I know I am not super-active here, but it is interesting.

I think that if there is too low level of activity you should just punish us. It would be funnier (for me at least) then putting game in hiatus. It is like reading half of the book...

[Winston Hughes]

I'm very much enjoying it, and I'm following everything that's said by host and players. It's just hard to work out something useful to say to help the team when RL is draining so much of your energy.

[Ironside]

Real life eats in sometimes and when the conversation has already covered the basic points, I don't have time to make a more through post.

I would prefer the game to continue. It is fun to try to beat a mystery.

[Myrddraal]

I'd echo what the others have said. It's interesting, but I've had a very busy few weeks.

I'd like the game to continue.

[El Barto]

If you don't continue then we'll hold that we've won because the spirit of the house fled and the house became non-evil again. :D

Perhaps we could have longer phases so that there's more time for puzzle-solving, now that there seems to be almost no enemies left to fight.

And by all means, have rocks fall and kill the inactives -or they drop into a comatose state from the stress induced by claustrophobia.

[GeneralHankerchief]

You've got a good game going on and I'd certainly like for it to continue, but one thing I've learned long ago is not to to anticipate or plan for a certain level of activity among the playerbase. In the span of a couple of months I've gone from hosting a super-active mafia game where the discussion was flying left and right to hosting another one that struggled to crack 350 posts, largely with the same group of players. Stuff fluctuates, it's better for your sanity if you just make the most out of your effort and the things that you can control and hope for the best with everything else.

[Zain]

Alright, I will continue (enjoying every minute of it), and appreciate the advice and encouragement.

Working on the write-up.

[Zain]

Phase 7

The team agreed to split up into two groups that they cleverly named Alpha and Beta. They moved out of the Study and down the stairs, torches in hand, as silently as they could. Waiting at the base of the stairs, they waited for signs of hostile action.

Prior to heading downstairs behind the group, Kieran Hurst (Greyblades) who had no slept yet, crawled into the bed in the Master Bedroom to rest. Also, Bradley Palmer (El Barto) chose to set the books in the rising sunlight in the sunroom in hopes of revealing the invisible ink. Choosing to investigate what was out there, he realized it was still too dark to see anything so he would check later.

"We're clear, Team Alpha, head left. Beta, head right. Rendezvous in the dining room." Jake Kelly (Montmorency) commanded, establishing his dominance with the "Man with a plan" attitude.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Alpha

Team Alpha, consisting of Leo Webb (Beskar), Callum Simmons (Choxorn), Faith Faulkner (GeneralHankerchief), Kyle Bevan (Ironside), Lola Richards (Myrddraal) and Leon Cartwright (seireikhaan) headed up the first hallway to explore the right side of the Mansion, beginning from the top and working their way down.

The Eastern hall contained three doors other than the one entering from the Great Room. They passed the two on their right and entered the dining room, where they then turned right into the Mud Room. All they saw there was another door, one entering the backyard, and a place for shoes, coats, and hats. Since their plans were to explore the Mansion, they passed up going outside for now. Heading south they entered the sitting room where only chairs and tables sat, one of many conversation places. The sitting room contained 6 doors, one in which they had entered through from the mud room, two more on their right which they concluded entered the Eastern hall, one on the far end, and two on their left. Entering the first door on their left, constantly using caution, they entered a bedroom, which appeared to be a standard guest bedroom. They also inspected the closet, to no avail of any oddities.

They traversed the hall and checked the other bed room, closet, and bathroom with no real oddities. All seemed clear, no hostiles or anything of note.

They entered the conservatory on the Southeastern side of the Mansion ground floor, it was a large room filled with dead plants in a tiled floor. The glass windows surrounding them were all boarded up, no sunlight shined through.

Inside, in the back corner, lay what appeared to be a corpse. Small, pale, and ragged. The group stopped, stunned, when it's head turned toward them.

They stepped back slightly with fear, some holding clubs, others torches. The small man had black eyes, no hair, and sharp features. It slowly sat up and then stood, eyeing them. Callum stood at the front of the pack, "We either kill it, or it kills us." He took a step toward it with his club when the small man's brows wrinkled angrily. It opened it's mouth wide, a deep bellow roared loudly filling their ears. It was an inhuman sound, almost animalistic. It's fingers tightened, skin over it's knuckled tearing revealing a slight orange glow. Callum stepped back, the sound catching him off guard. Leon stood right behind him, backing him up. The others stepped back, Leo carrying the revolver, but he froze in fear.

The small man roared again, this time his skin appearing to melt clear revealing the orange glow pulsing through it's veins. It's size doubled to over 7 feet tall, and he took a swipe at Callum who quickly dodged it.

Callum looked back at the group, "Kill or be killed!" He yelled.

He and Leon turned on the monster with their clubs, but the monster got to them first, knocking them both hard against the wall. Callum came to nearly immediately, but Leon did not get up.

Callum stood up, swung his club and the rest gathered with him. They outnumbered and overpowered the giant hostile, taking it down and killing it.

Once the dust had settled, Callum grabbed his head, "You okay?" Faith asked him.

"Yeah, just dizzy. Hit my head pretty hard there." He answered her.

They gathered around Leon's corpse, Faith checked his pulse, "He's dead." she said. They all stood silently, and slowly began to file back outside to the Great Room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*

Team Beta

Meanwhile Team Beta, consisting of Bradley, Charlie Wallace (Golden1Knight), Jack Foster (Jarema), Corey Parsons (Raith Kemmler), Hollie Daniels (Winston Hughes), and finally Jake himself, traversed the Mansion in a similar fashion but starting on the Western side.

They swept through the kitchen first, then the pantry...

"Plenty of food here, we should be good for another week or so." Jake said.

They all agreed, high hopes in that regard. They checked the storage room, nothing but dining supplies and other kitchen necessities. After coming around they entered the sitting room, chairs and tables, lamps and books, "Original owner must've loved to entertain." Charlie said.

"Or read..." Corey answered him.

They entered the billiard room, complete with billiards table, cues, and balls. Some in the pockets, some strewn about the table. The cue ball lay on the floor next to the wall. Corey ran over to grab it when a small man crawled out from beneath the table. It had already begun it's transformation, a bellow from it's mouth keying it's transformation. Corey quickly grabbed a pool cue and smacked it hard in the head, but hardly any effect. He ran back to the group, and together they beat down the monster.

Without any warning signs, another monster, the final one on this floor, came from inside the final bathroom adjoining the billiard room and grabbed Corey by the head. Throwing him across the room, his neck was snapped before he hit the floor. This one was larger, possibly 8 feet tall, and the rest of them agreed that retreat was their best option.

They ran back into the Great Room, meeting up with the other team which had just witnessed a death of their own. The entire remaining group teamed up and outnumbered the final hostile.

Catching their breath, waiting a moment, they went back and Faith checked Corey's pulse. "He's dead too." she whispered, filled with sadness.

"We killed three, but it cost us two. We won't last much longer at this rate." Jake said.

They began to make their way to the dining room for the final search when Leo said, "I'm trying the front door. Maybe we can leave."

He walked up and turned the knob, it turned freely and the door opened to the blinding but soft morning light. He opened it slowly, allowing their eyes to adjust. Everyone watched over his shoulder.

The scene became clear, nearly a dozen other corpses lie at the foot of the door, and out down the pathway to line of Humvees.

Small pale men dotted their field of view, at least eight or so were within immediate sight, including one only a few yards from them.

Leo calmly closed the door again, and locked it from the inside, "We can't compete with THAT! Not yet..."

"Did you see those Humvees though? We can get out of here!" Lola said, excitedly.

"If we can get there..." Kyle responded.

Jake spoke up this time, "It appears that we can leave, but not yet. We need to find better weapons, or maybe some armor, so we can get back those things to the vehicles. Let's check out the dining room, get some food, then go back."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And so they made their way to the North end of the Mansion, gathered enough food to last them a week, 70 units of food, and made their way to the Study.

"Where's Kieran?" Hollie asked.

"Asleep in the bedroom." Bradley answered her.

"I'm gonna check on him."

"We'll all go. Being alone is a death sentence here." Jake answered.

They entered the Bedroom and saw Kieran there, still. Sheets wrapped around his throat and tied to the bedpost. Faith ran up again, the designated medical officer, "Suicide."

They slowly, solemnly left the room. And then there were 10...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Bradley entered the sunroom, seeing that the pale yellow ink had revealed in the sunlight's heat, but he could not read it. "Heat reveals the ink, but I still can't read it..." He told the group. They realized this was their moment to look at their surroundings again.

What they hadn't noticed before shocked them, corpses dotted the ground outside just as it did outside the front door. Small pale men did as well, just standing there, appearing brain dead. Some houses in this well-to-do neighborhood appeared to have burnt to the ground, others had shattered windows as if they had been broken in to.

Smoke came from all around, miles away. "Guys, what's happened?" Lola asked.

"We need to get to the basement, there's nothing for us up here or on the first floor. Maybe there's a safe or gun closet down there, never know about these rich folks."

They divided up the food they had found evenly, 7 units each, and began planning their next move...


---------------------------------------------

Items added:
70 units of food

Players killed:
Greyblades
Raith Kemmler
seireikhaan

Players injured:
Choxorn

Discussion & Order Phase 8 has begun! Orders due on Saturday, February 6th at 3:00GMT



Stats will be updated in Stats & Storyline thread.

GM Commentary:
3 lost and confirmation that both the 1st and 2nd story are clear of hostiles. Outside looks scary, and a mysterious basement awaits. Down to 10 players, can any of you make it out alive?

Furthermore, Discussion and Order Phases are being merged, please discuss your plans and have your orders sent in to me prior to the deadline which from this point forward will be Saturday morning (or afternoon if you're in Europe).

Good luck everybody

[Montmorency]

Basement. Gear up. Assemble your plot armor, fellows.

[Jarema]

we must go to the basement, of course. Anything else?

[Myrddraal]

Regarding theories on the reason we are here:
We were obviously put here by someone, and it does appear to be a test. The blueprints and the note that led to the discovery of the secret bathroom were clearly targetted at us (and not just random discoveries). They are evidence enough that our captor is giving us hints, but testing is nonetheless.

Perhaps we are immunised againt the virus? Guinea pigs in a test of the 'cure' alluded to in the business journal?

If we get a chance, I would like to carefully examine the corpses in the lobby. If they have needle marks on their backs, it would confirm that they were victims of Mansion I.

I didn't act on the last sentence of this post last round, but I got a hint that that was a mistake. One which I won't repeat.

Whatever happens next, I'm checking those corpses.

[Myrddraal]

I don't get this whole 'heat reveals the ink thing'. Is it that the writing is scrambled? Is it code? Is it worth looking at the text in the mirror?

EDIT:

Incidentally, we can now confirm 100% that they are the same creatures as Mansion I. We can also confirm the same behaviour - any kind of perceived threat and they transform. They're very volatile, but I'm not sure their transformation is completely inevitable...

I'm kinda tempted to walk slowly out the front door and get to the humvees without a single threatening gesture, without even looking at the grey men...

[Montmorency]

I'm kinda tempted to walk slowly out the front door and get to the humvees without a single threatening gesture, without even looking at the grey men...

Shaun of the Dead and original Night of the Living Dead come to mind. Either way, not good odds.

[El Barto]

Why not wait until ngiht when the effers can't see us, eh?

[Choxorn]

Owww, my head. I wonder if the basement has any aspirin...

[Montmorency]

Why not wait until ngiht when the effers can't see us, eh?

We don't have nightvision. We don't have blind mechanics.

[El Barto]

We can just remember how many steps it takes for us to reach the humvees. We have all day to plan, watch, calculate, then slip out quietly. One after the other in single file, peep, peep, we're at the Humvees and home free.

Unless we find/invent an antidote, or a secret exit via the basement, or a Bren.


I think 3 or 4 of us should stay together trying to investigate these symbols and such while the rest make sure none of the monsters remain indoors. Then we can plan… could we use the billiards table as a mantlet to force our way through to the humvees? A testudo formation comes to mind.

[Greyblades]

...Wow, I dont remember putting that in my orders. :P