lostcarnival | ⇨ HEARTSTONE MANOR

Entry tags:

⇨ HEARTSTONE MANOR

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.

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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.

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?

He can tell that's it's probably not actually necromancy related. At least, there aren't any ghosts causing these things.

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?

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.

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.

I rolled a 6/10, so if you cast them as brothers in a movie it'd be pretty believable.

They act basically like Joker does, so that could suggest that they are faking it. Of course, that could also mean that Joker is just too good of an actor. They don't talk around the guests very much, and if they do it's all related to the task at hand. You don't really seem them talking to each other much, at least in public. If they have any time to themselves, they take advantage of it somewhere that the guests aren't present.

They are cheerful and encouraging about fixing mistakes more than they are stern or nervous. If you knock stuff over they might laugh and be like "oh that's okay!" and put it right. Mistakes they are happy to try to gloss over, but active resistance will make them more edgy. Of course, if the Prince gets mad at something they will stop finding it even remotely funny. On the first day or two the servants will mostly correct decorum mistakes, but over time they will become less patient, once it seems like the guests should have learned.

It's not immediately clear where the servant quarters are.

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?

They actually seem pretty cautious about not chatting together when the guests are anywhere near. If they talk among themselves, then they must do it somewhere private, like servant quarters. They only really talk to guests and only about the tasks at hand.

You can talk to them, but their answers will mostly be useless. Likes will be things like horseback riding, books, and music, and dislikes will be things like certain foods or "messes." As for how long, their answers will universally very vague: think things like "a while", or "a long time" or "ah, I can't remember off the top of my head!"

Butler man is not very interested in small talk. He'll answer, but the answers will be vague and not actually personal (thought maybe creating the illusion of intimacy), and then he'll just be directing you back to other activities you could be doing. The servants aren't really supposed to be talking to guests about that sort of thing, so the fact that Yuuya is engaging him is treated as somewhat socially inappropriate.

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?

Edited 2017-10-05 19:34 (UTC)

The odd events don't seem to correlate with any additional surges of magic. The castle is entirely magic all the time, it seems, so it's hard to pick out anything unusual based on that. The servants look about as magic as some of the carnival members.

It's all very fae, too.

Unsettling and vague, but nothing he can do with that.

Are they able to attend the library during the hour of free time? Or if it's just for that reading period on 172, what kind of magic-based text does it have, if any? Textbooks, scrolls, actual spells, etc.

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....)

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).

~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....

[Prompts per every few days nested below!]

[171 | ARCHERY]

[Archery is new for Yuya, but he has the strength and coordination to pick up on it pretty quickly. After a few bungles with holding the arrow, and one shot straight into the ground, Yuya gets the hang of consistently hitting the targets. It's not always a bullseye, but he's also not losing any arrows in the foliage beyond.

There's at least one in the center at a bit of an angle, as Yuya draws the string back on another shot. He's taking each one seriously--he's not as good as a friend he knows, but he's proud enough to give it a real effort.]

Hey. [He shifts his hold slightly, glancing over to the person next to him.] What if I get it exactly in the center?

[172 | FREETIME]

[There's less activity the next day, and while Yuya liked the performance he's glad to have time for finally pull himself away from the servants and a chair and get to roam on his own.

He escapes down one of the halls, glancing around for the servants. When he doesn't immediately see any he lets out a sigh of relief and lets his posture slump.] I hope this is working...

[WILDCARD]

[For all other activities and free time for the day! You're free to reference any of the required activities since... everyone has to be there.]

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?

Edited 2017-10-06 03:06 (UTC)

[Will be updated periodically with different starters for different days as the event progresses.]

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).

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.

[MEAL TIME (171 or 172)] [CW for... Disgusting discussion of food? Emeto maybe?]

You may have heard about this already by now, but gems? They don't need to eat. And Peridot? She physically can't eat. At least, she never used to be able to, and it's a real hassle getting herself into a state where she can do it now.

Point is, it's sort of a big ordeal for her, and she's been fretting about it pretty hard since it was announced that they would be coming here. Sure, maybe the Prince will understand if the Ringmaster just explains her situation, but man she does not want to get singled out here. So she's making the effort, tweaking her bat transformation spell to try and give herself... something that'll pass as a stomach, at least to hold chewed up food long enough to give the illusion of eating.

As it turns out? Food is actually pretty rad. Taste is a whole new sense she's scarcely gotten to experience until now (save for her time in Portland), and she is intoxicated by it to the extent that her enthusiasm is actually putting her table manners in jeopardy. Unfortunately for everyone else, this means you may get treated to the sight of a bossy little green gem greedily stuffing her mouth full of a frankly LUDICROUS number of biscuits at tea time, pausing only to snicker delightedly about it. As far as dinner is concerned... Did anyone tell her its rude to wipe sauce off of her plate with her fingers so that she can lick it? Or that she shouldn't be eating the bed of lettuce that roasted pheasant is resting on?

PROBABLY NOT.

[CROQUET]

So this whole affair has been incredibly stuffy so far, so it's a massive relief when the whole group breaks to play some kind of earthling game. It only gets better, in Peridot's opinion, when she lays eyes on the mallets.

Things promptly gets worse again when it is explained what the mallets are actually for.

"This is such a load of muddy, cruddy, uninspired DIRT," the engineer hisses to you. "Did humans seriously come up with this? Ugh. Leave it to a bunch of Earthling CLODS to take a sport that involves mallets and make it COMPLETELY BORING by putting in a rule that prohibits you from hitting the other players with them!"

[ARCHERY]

Peridot hasn't touched a bow or an arrow before in her THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF LIFE, someone please show her how to do this nonsense because she is getting frustrated up to the point where she's about to let out a stream of extremely inappropriate space rock swears.

[FREETIME/WILDCARD]

If you want to grab Peridot off schedule, she can be found either in her room or prowling around the castle halls, grumbling to herself and fidgeting with some kind of remote control. Spooky.

She can sense their general presence when nearby, yes. Of course, in the castle there seems to be a lot of "presences" that don't actually map to where visible people are standing. It's not really clear why. It's more obvious when there are fewer people around her, but most of the castle resonates with the feeling of "life" regardless of whether there are people around.

No specific, large-scale tragedies or triumphs. Any events like that just seems to be spread out over time.

Julien can convince them of that, yeah. The bird can stay in the stable while his human body does the other stuff. They will happily treat his bird half as an animal.

Honestly, it seems like the nature of Reira's ability would make it hard for her to single anything out when in the crowd. She'd probably have a hard time not being overwhelmed by the negativity of the carnival members alone. The Ringmaster herself seems pretty pissed off the entire time, approaching the levels of 'hate' that might make Reira uncomfortable.

The servants won't stick out much in comparison to everything else. If they were to be angry or upset, it'd probably need an actual stimulus rather than everyday affairs.

Gon can just ride himself, and can not use a chair. The seamstresses didn't seem to have any particular opinion of him, they just got the job done, in their standard cheerful way.

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⇨ HEARTSTONE MANOR

⇨ INVESTIGATION THREADS

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Yuya | OTA

170-172

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Peridot | OTA

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170-172

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