[ week one: investigation ]

[murderhost]

INVESTIGATION

On Friday morning, you wake up — groggy and uncertain over when you went to sleep, how you went to sleep, and how you got in your bed. Yet, you are in your bed (unless...?) and there is a sense of foreboding in the air. Some people might notice their roommates are not in their beds. Some people might notice their roommates are still sleeping. Let's hope the ones who aren't there just got up a bit earlier than everyone else and aren't, you know, the victim. Or victims.

But the doors are unlocked now and the house is accessible again. Time to go investigating.

HOW THIS WORKS: Below are top levels for every location in the house. Please reply with your character entering or interacting with the location and the mod journal will reply, sharing details over what your character will find in the location. We'll let everyone in the discord know when all points of interest have been found.

♥

Comments

[akademise]

[ Good morning library!! More has a book to return that he finished last night, but he is starting to get a foreboding feeling about this day... even so, it's time to put this random romantasy back on the shelves. ]

[combathatchet]

[Sure was a weird way to wake up this morning, feeling that annoying ball of dread in the pit of his stomach. It's gotten him to prowl the mansion again, and at some point, he catches More mid-book return.]

Hey, More.

[murderhost]

[ Library time! The very first thing they will notice upon walking in is that all of the books are on the floor, scattered around like someone tossed them without a care.

That's rude! (It's been like this for a few days.) ]

[akademise]

Good morning, Leon, it is good to see you.

[ LIKE. VERY GENUINELY. Everyone is understandably on edge.

The state of the library makes More sigh... ]

I'll have to tidy this today - such chaos... I wonder why our companions feel so rambunctious at times?

[ But he is... looking at the floor to find the floor section dedicated to romantasy. Order. ]

[combathatchet]

[He offers a smile, tired but appreciative. It's good to see him, too.]

Eh, it's a bunch of kids. [Leon some of these "kids" are in their twenties.] Can't expect them to keep the house in tip-top shape all the time; I think that was a lost cause since day one.

[Anyway! He's gonna help straighten up since he's here, walking over to pick up a book or two.]

[murderhost]

[ Bless them, tidying the library.

Other than the books everywhere, the library looks like it's in pretty good shape.

That said, there is a book sitting open at one of the tables near the middle of the room--the only book not on the floor.

And it looks like there's something (two somethings, really) sitting on top of the book... small and spherical. ]

[akademise]

[ closes my eyes, because apparently Tsukasa can not...

Okay, so More first is putting this book as well as a few other thematically similar ones back on the shelf while he's at it, but.

Hm? ]

Someone's been here since last night?

[ More is here often, and this is new. It's just an idle thought for now, as the book and its contents catch the corner of his eye, but it is surely about to turn to horror as he properly turns to face the table. ]

[combathatchet]

[More would know the state of the library—and any changes made to it—better than Leon. If he says someone's been here since last night, then he'll trust him on that.]

What is it?

[Putting the books away, he draws closer to More to also inspect what is surely a not at all worrisome sight, right.]

cw: eye stuff

[murderhost]

[ Yeah, totally.

Anyway, it's eyeballs. Two eyeballs, sitting gently atop the pages of an open cookbook. ]

[akademise]

[ It is not possible for More to go much paler than he already is, but his complexion is trying. But he does not yelp or anything so undignified - this isn't the first he's witnessed gore, it's just...

This is so deliberate. His voice wavers a little, but it's still steady enough. ]

-- I am afraid, it has begun. Why would... This is a step above what was asked, surely.

[ Out of curiosity: what recipe are we on? ]

[combathatchet]

[There's a brief moment of shock on Leon's face as he parses what he's seeing, but it is just that: brief. To say that he's been witness to such gory sights (much worse than this, at that) is an understatement, but he's not so heartless as to have no reaction at all.

Though his tone is always a little gruff these days, he was casual before. Now, every word is inlaid with telltale seriousness.]

...Fuck.

[A step above what was asked? Christ. He wonders.]

The more twisted, the higher the ratings, probably. Sick bastards.

[...And yet he leans in to inspect, all the same. Wh-what color are these eyeballs' irises?]

[murderhost]

[ Beneath the lingering blood and gore from the eyeballs, it appears to be a stew recipe!

The eyeballs are ~the color of the dawn~.

By which I mean they're a very pretty blue-grey! ]

[akademise]

[ More does not understand television, but he does know that people love violent spectacle, so he can only nod at that. ]

... I am no stranger to public executions, to death being made spectacle for onlookers, but this is simply sadistic.

[ Blue eyes... There is such a sinking feeling in his stomach. Are there any bloody trails around the table by the way? ]

[combathatchet]

[Sadistic is right. The color of those eyes... That feeling of dread from before? It's gnawing at him tenfold now.

All the same, Leon calmly picks up... one of the eyes... to investigate it. I'm sorry. Anything notable about it? Or just your run-of-the-mill plucked out(?) eye?]

...How many people here have blue eyes? [Gonna have to do a headcount after this,]

[murderhost]

[ I don't know what makes a plucked eye not run-of-the-mill, but yeah, these are regular old eyeballs. Nothing wrong with them, no trauma beyond the "yanking them out of someone's skull" type of trauma.

There's no blood or anything around the table -- or around the library at all, really.

It's just the eyeballs and the book.

That's all here! ]

[akademise]

A few, but...

[ It's a distinctive shade. More winces. ]

I believe-- We should go and alert the others. Make certain who is accounted for.

[ Let's not speak any specific death into existence. Every option would be horrible!! ]

[combathatchet]

[A very specific shade...]

You're right. Maybe there's still something we can do. [A GUY CAN STILL BE ALIVE WITH MISSING EYEBALLS, RIGHT. RIGHT-

It's time to go and spread this very worrisome news.]