⇨ HEARTSTONE MANOR

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 170 - Day ???
Where: Heartstone Manor
What: The carnival arrives at the Heartstone Manor. Do your best to play along, and try not to get too far ahead of the schedule with threading if you can avoid it, in case something that would affect your character happens early on.
Warnings: Individually marked! Could be a lot of things.

BEAUTIES AND THE BEAST↴ When the carnival arrives at the Manor, everyone will be taken into the Throne Room to greet the Prince for the first time. He will be lounging on his throne, and will take a look at the guests that the Ringmaster has brought before eventually dismissing everyone so that he can talk to her alone. After that, they will be given a brief tour of the Manor by some of the servants, and then brought to their rooms to start picking out clothes for tomorrow. On the first night they will be permitted to wear regular clothes, but starting the next morning the dress code will be enforced. There will be a number of servants helping guests with clothing, and making alterations to suit the non-humanoid features they may have. The tailors work with fabric by hand, but their stitching is impossibly quick and accurate, with changes being made to complex clothing at unbelievable speed. Some guests may note while working with them that one of the seamstresses has wooden mannequin-esque hands instead of human ones, and another has two sets of arms. The arms are one of the most obviously inhuman traits that they'll see while first touring the building. Come the morning of Day 171, the daily routine will begin. ⇨ THE DAILY SCHEDULE ⇦ ► FIVE MEALS A DAY: Between breakfast, lunch, tea, supper, and evening drinks, the meals you are required to attend are frequent and long. Each meal (except drinks and tea) will have multiple rounds, and use all of the fancy cutlery. It will be difficult to keep up for those that are untrained. The food will vary greatly, but will generally to be palatable to those that are into whatever kind of food it might be. Some of them are odd delicacies that are very much an acquired taste, however. People who cannot eat will be given a pass once the Ringmaster explains it, but will be looked down on for it. ► DAILY ACTIVITIES: There are scheduled activities for every morning and afternoon, and everyone is required to attend. Descriptions of each activity are provided on the "Event Descriptions" tab of the spreadsheet linked up above. There is only one hour of free time scheduled per day, after supper, and beyond that the servants will almost constantly have you on the go. The Prince and Ringmaster will not be present for most of the activities, but they will be there for every meal. If you character refuses to follow the schedule or makes a huge mess out of proceedings, make sure to report it here. ► AFTER CURFEW: At 11PM, everyone is expected to return to their quarters and spend the rest of the night there. Wandering after curfew is unacceptable by the Prince's rules, and if you do it there will be the chance of discover. Based on your character's stealth abilities, there will be dice rolling to determine if they are discovered or not, and by whom. Make sure you report any after curfew activity to the mod post here. This can also take place as an investigation if they are actually looking for something instead of just farting around. ► ROOM AND BOARD: The servants will remain upbeat for most of the time the guests are here, unless something is done to provoke them. They will be present at every activity, and there will be a variety of different individuals. One frequently spotted character will be the butler, a man with dark hair and small, sharp horns. He seems to be the main organizer of things. ► ODDITIES: Even beyond the obvious, there is something off about the Manor. Doors, windows, and other household objects will sometimes move seemingly without cause, and other times there will be banging sounds in the walls, or mysterious voices heard at a distance. It feels like you're being haunted. If you have a moment to wander the corridors, then you'll sometimes see open doors abruptly slam shut the moment you lay eyes on them, and wall sconces turn off or on. It's weird, man. ► THE HUNT: The Hunt activity will have its own event post, and some sign ups for those that will participate meaningfully. There will be some dice rolling to determine who hunts the most impressive game, and rewards handed out accordingly. Before that post goes up, however, you can do some investigations for the start of the event, if your character is interested in looking into the specifics of the contest and overall context. MAKE SURE THAT ALL DECORUM VIOLATIONS ARE REPORTED HERE.

Comments

⇨ INVESTIGATION THREADS

[ringleaders]

Not all locations will have much to investigate, necessarily, but this is the section where people can make investigation requests for if their character wants to learn more about a setting than is immediately apparent. This can also be used to cover the broad strokes of interacting with various available NPCS.

Like before, you must be specific about what your character is doing to find new information, and you must keep your requests to one or two actions per comment. No big laundry lists of things your character is doing - it is much easier to handle taking it one topic at a time.

[puddingemote]

So if Tamaki tries to investigate one of the Oddities (like a door slamming shut), is it possible his Necromancy magical affinity could help him see what's going on, or lure something out? Or will it not work because whatever it is is not actually a ghost?

[pipers_son]

I now demand a roll for how alike the butler is to Joker physically to make a "weirded out" check. Like, past fae bullshit.

On a more general level, he'll be trying to pick up various things about the servants, and the butler himself. Things like if they seem happy or faking it (which Joker is all an expert about), if they seem scared at correcting any nonsense that shows up (like if things get knocked over) or just business-like about it, if they do anything besides obsessively attend to people (especially during the like one hour of free time that's had)....

You get the idea. Any general observations and anything that could come about of trying to eavesdrop. His long ears have to be good for something, right?

[chronosynthesis]

As per Lambert's direction, Syrlya's going to be particularly attentive to the servants to try and info gather. His hearing is average but he will be trying to listen in on anything they happen to be saying around the carnival members during their actual activity time, or when being guided around the halls/that hour of free time.

If he gets the chance to speak with any of the servants, he'll ask short, innocuous questions about the prince--really basic stuff such as likes or dislikes, or how long they've worked for him.

[hippocarnival]

So, butler man. How would he respond to Yuya trying to make polite small talk? He'll want to exchange names and just get to know the butler himself a little better: what's his job, his favorite part of the castle, does he play croquet, etc. If he's rebuffed he'll edge away from the conversation but he's at least trying to be friendly.

[anti_nonsense]

Can Rita's third eye ability pick up any magic that's out of the ordinary (in nature, location or intensity) around the manor during their activities, when interacting with servants, or when observing the oddities?

I'm guessing there will be a general sense of fae magic being present all around since hey, it's a fae realm, but would anything seem conspicuous or out of place?

[stillwinningthehardway]

One of Scout's talents is that she can focus and sense generally where people are in a large-room-sized-space around her, and if they're particularly powerful she can sense them from a bit further away. If something really good or really bad has happened in a particular place she can pick up on it, too.

Can she sense the servants and the Prince like this? Are there lingering effects of massive tragedies or triumphs in the spaces she'll be moving through?

At some point she'll probably be breaking curfew, but not carelessly and not for a while.

ETA: If Julien makes some effort to convince the staff that his bird body can be treated like some kind of magic pet ("he feels it when I get anxious, we have a bond") would that work? Can it be left in the stables instead of going to most events, or is it recognized as a person anyway and begrudgingly treated as such?

[soft_focus]

Okay, tried REALLY HARD to keep this to two main things going on, but here we go-

FIRST, Reira's empathy is a free action is constantly going on; it's tricky for her to truly identify feelings foreign to what she's understanding herself (so she can understand what fear and anger are, but not, say....that the specific nuances between could be disgust, or similar), but there IS one constant; and that constant is that general negativity makes Reira feel antsy, and uncomfortable. If someone around her feels flat out depressed, or irritated, it starts to cause a slight paint that she can only somewhat keep underwraps.

But if someone starts to exhibit hate of a fairly concentrated sort (So nothing like 'ew I don't like broccoli' is going to do this-but the kind of loathing reserved for the guy who ruined your life...would)-or anger that goes quite a bit beyond mere annoyance-then Reira feels pain.

What kinds of feelings will Reira pick up on around the Servants, and around these mandatory meals with the Prince, from our various NPCs? She'll be trying her level best to bite down on any serious reactions, but depending on, it mighttttt leave her standing or sitting stock still staring at the ground with a nervous sweat at certain periods....

TL;DR this affects both what she's doing here and how functional she is over all haha...

SECOND THING THOUGH, on a more general note; Hunting and Furnishings! Hunting is the big one; Gongenzaka will ask a servant-since boy howdy he ain't getting near anyone else he bets-what will be done with the animals captured during the Hunt. Before all of this, he will also be asking ah...exactly what should be done regarding his Seating Issues. Is there just going to be a sort of empty space where a chair would go, because chairs and him just. Don't mix.

Bonus Fashion Question: just how Done were those seamstresses with this guy-

(And also, how well would they take to Carly making suggestions of her own....)

[whattaprick]

Lambert's interested in the history of the manor. He'll ask the servants (somewhat stiffly, since he doubts mind-whammy would work well which means he has to rely on being polite) how long the Manor has been in its current location, if it was built by the Prince this way, if the Ball and the Hunt are regular activities (assuming they know those are coming up ahead of time). Also, it's got an interesting name, who came up with it?

After Hours: Lambert will, of course, be making active use of the stealth gem he was given to conduct his general surveillance activities, dodging servants while trying to make sure nobody is breaking curfew. In the event the nights are uneventful, he's going to return an hour before the servants come to wake them to meditate in lieu of sleep. When he isn't patrolling, he'll keep an eye out for an increase in oddities, or if anything else substantially changes about the Manor -- he can pick up on the presence of active magic, and he has sharper senses (can focus on a source of noise, can smell blood and track strong scents).

[atouts]

~After curfew, oooo~, Childermass is going to get to work. Through a combination of setting himself invisible, moving via shadows, and flitting about as a crow while invisible and moving through shadows, he's going to set about exploring the castle. Things he will look for:

- Rooms that aren't a part of what they've already seen and if there are ways in. If he can see through, say, a grate or a window into a locked room and know where a shadow lets out, he might be able to get in that way and vice versa. In theory, he could try shadow-stepping into it blind, but he'd rather not because that's an awful idea.

- Servant's quarters, because servants know everything and that's eavesdropping central. If all he gets are "they're sleeping lol" after hours, he'll make an attempt during his sole free hour the next day, assuming he finds the place at all of course.

He will prioritize remaining unseen over anything else if things get risky. He will also seriously regret all of this in the morning, b/c what is sleep ha ha....

[periphrasing]

Peridot is pretty spooked by the Ringmaster's warning, enough to be super wary of straying too far off the path of THE RULES... But that just means she's coming up with a more clever way of investigating things that doesn't involve leaving her room after curfew.

Since she doesn't sleep, each night Peridot will be taking up post near the door to her room and putting her bat ears on. Her main motivation is to keep an ear out for danger, but she'll be listening for any passing footsteps in general. If she hears someone, that's when the first of the two devices she made specially for this little trip will come into play. It's basically like an endoscope, a teeny-tiny camera that she can feed under the door (or through a miniscule hole, which she will burn into the door if she has to) to peep out into the hallway and see who's going by.

Obviously whether she sees any player character activity will be decided by dice roll, but would she catch any weird servant activity while doing this? Or anything else suspicious?

[kingsroads]

1: During the night, Strange plans on scrying on carnival members to see if anyone's snuck out of their room. If he scrys on the Ringmaster and the Prince, would he see anything in the first place? If so, what?

2: How acquiescing will the servants be if they're asked to fetch items for carnival members? These would range from something small (a pencil) to something they might not be willing to give (a bottle of wine).

[prazerbutterfly]

1) Due to Childermass' assignment, Tyki won't approach the servants directly unless he needs something like a drink or assistance. He'll instead hail them or make a gesture that implies he needs something since he's use to that kind of etiquette at home. While being helped he'll comment how neat and tidy everything is without directly complimenting.

Then he'll lead into questioning without actual questions about the Prince's likes and dislikes in casual tones of just idle curiosity. He'll base it more on hobbies and particular tastes in people in general since he runs quite a clean house. He won't be overly friendly given they are servants.

2) After curfew on the 2nd night - Tyki will be using his Power to Choose to navigate through walls thick enough to house his entire body and the carnival resident's rooms. He'll take care to avoid wide open spaces and supervisor rooms if he's managed to take note of which room they enter throughout the free time period before curfew.

He's looking for hidden passageways and hidden doors within walls especially grates and ways to listen in on servant quarters or rooms with conversations. If he finds something big he won't risk entry. He'll simply take note of where it is.

[dressedtothe]

1) Will the horses be able to carry 9S' heavy-for-his-size ass? He weighs 286lb/129.9kg. Also, would it be acceptable in the eyes of their gracious host for him to ride Gongenzaka in place of a horse during the Hunt?

2) 9S will have his small hovering robot buddy with him, but after Day 170, it will noticeably not be around him. His claim will be that he needs it for his personal maintenance as an inorganic being, and will presumably be leaving it in his room.

(spoilers it's not staying in the room)

On Day 172, the robot buddy will be made unnoticeable by Scout's cloaking abilities, which is fae granted. 9S will be parking the robot buddy outside the kitchen, but somewhere it might be less likely to be discovered (under a table, behind a flowerpot, or up high in the ceiling, etc.).

Is there any juicy kitchen gossip that the robot buddy will overhear?

If the robot buddy is discovered and he's confronted over it, he'll claim that one of the other Carnival members Lapis must've played a prank and took it from his room and hid it from him on purpose.

[criticallyfucked]

Foster will actually pre-emptively inquire about the hunt, as that sounds like something he might be remotely competent at. Mostly, he wants to know what they're hunting.

It better not be bears

[dontpokethat]

So Ginko is definitely going to be seeing what he can find out about the fae from the library (he kind of doubts there will be much in the way of Sensitive Information just sitting around, but he figures it can't hurt to look). He'll particularly be seeking out anything that looks like a history or magic book; what might he find out, if anything?

Also is he allowed to have paper and a pen in the library so he can take notes like the big nerd he is.

[tacosgay]

If Taako hears that banging on the walls and attempts to use Clairvoyance to investigate, would he see anything unusual on the other side of the wall?

Also, if he uses Arcane Eye to try and investigate things like the distant voices, would he be able to catch sight of anything?

[criticallyfucked]

Once Foster learns Reira is missing, he'll attempt to call the undead sparrow he'd given her back to him.

Question one: will it actually return to him?

[dorkypantsuit]

How do the servants respond to flirting >;)

Re: ⇨ INVESTIGATION THREADS

[dorkypantsuit]

During free time can they find paper and writing utensils to use?

[destiny_key]

Okay so, starting the evening of Day 173, Sora is gonna be breaking curfew to investigate. He hasn't been paying much attention to the intricate goings-on up until this point, but when people start disappearing, that's when he feels like he should start stepping in.

He's not sure what he's looking for in specific, but he'll be looking for anything suspicious, any sort of secret passages, any trace of the missing people, anything like that. Mostly, he'll be avoiding getting caught. He's also dragging Rita and Rin along with him.

Since he did get the 2nd tier Daemon spell, he'll be sending Rohan to check around corners and into places Sora and the others can't fit/can't get into for some reason. All three of them have the ability to glide/levitate, so they can stay off the floor and avoid footsteps if they need to. Other than that, I don't know that they have any special sneaking powers.

[kingsroads]

FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THIS UNTIL THINGS GET LESS CHAOTIC ON YOUR END because magic is dumb and works weird and that can be used as a convenient excuse.

Childermass gave Lambert Leflamme's name and then Lambert gave it to Strange. Assuming that hunting party doesn't roll any 1's on dealing with horse lady, sometime either the night of Day 173 or the night of Day 174, Strange is going to use scrying magic to creep on Leflamme.

He'll be scrying at like midnight or so and is mostly looking for just who the hell this Leflamme person is and what they look like (that being said, if they're doing anything cool and not just sleeping, Strange would make note of that as well).

[criticallyfucked]

Foster is taking his hounds from the hunt and regraving them, then re-animating them as regular mice, but with thumbs.

On night 173, he's going to try sending the mice (which have no souls, they're just little bodies) to follow the servants to the kitchens and basements (respectively,) to see if there's a way in or out.

Dream Investigation, 173

[whattaprick]

Prior to running off for secret after hours nightrunner conference on Day 173, Lambert will ask Steven if he can try stepping into one of the servant's dreams, with Peridot standing guard to wake him up if anything happens. He will specifically ask Steven to see if he can step into the butler's dreams, but if not, any servant's will do. If Steven at all senses trouble or the dreamer appears to be waking, get out of there ASAP. He'll direct Steven to inquire about the following:

1. Do they know what the Prince wants from the carnival/the Ringmaster?
2. What is keeping the servants bound to the Prince's service, when there are so many of them?
3. Is there a part of the manor even the servants aren't allowed in, or they're afraid to go?

He'll expect a debrief in the early hours of Day 174.

Questioning Servants

[whattaprick]

Moved over from hunt thread for ease of responses. Part 1 is during the tail end of the hunt:

1. Are all the animals out here like the bicorn? Where were they before the hunt began?
2. Was the bicorn planning on going somewhere specific when she ran?
3. People are going missing after breaking curfew. Do they have any idea what’s happening to them, if he’s done this before?

At this point, they’ll have to disperse because of the hunt ending/invisibility being more difficult to maintain. Childermass pockets the servants in shadow. In free time, the nightrunners will be directed to Syr and Scout’s room for a quick discussion because the Acquisitioner has something of import to share. After curfew, they will be mirror teleporting/shadowstepping into that room again to question the bunny girl and the bicorn further.

4. What is the prince trying to gain out of RM?
5. Hey servants, do you know where any secret passages are and how to enter them? (If so, please mark them on this convenient map.)
6. Where might the Prince keep especially prized, rare, or magical objects?
7. Can/will any of the other servants help?
8. how is the Prince keeping you here, how do you think we can help you?