FINAL INVESTIGATION

[whimsicalism]

No one is dead today. Why would they when the end is so close? You can practically taste it (or is that your stomach?) as the final Friday dawns. It's time to get some answers.

The Storyteller isn't talking to anyone but it's a good guess to see where she went. There's one final door that hasn't been checked, after all.

Comments

A CHALLENGER APPEARS

[whimsicalism]

[Do your thing, Mizuki.]

[ballooncaged]

[All of Mizuki's friends are here. She's almost overcome with relief that she hasn't lost yet another one - now they're going to see a completely different type of carnage. She breaks into a fast run. The ticking bomb is draped over the familiar yellow fabric between her thumb and index finger. She leaps at the end to make the toss midair, overhand throw be damned.]

THIS IS FOR EVERYONE YOU EVER SCARED!

[whimsicalism]

[The rusted door shakes at the force of the bomb before buckling completely. It flies backwards in the sudden blast. The area is opened up to... Wait, what is this?

Who is brave enough to walk in first?]

[imozon]

[There's a fine line between courage and stupidity, and walking into the maybe danger first is both the tendency of the youngest kid and the responsibility of the oldest kid, and somehow Dark Dream is all of those things so she'll go on.]

[whimsicalism]

[The entire area seems to be larger than the jungle you just left behind. In the distance a castle is settled in a place of honor. To the east is a marble library with the name I n v i d i a L i b r a r y carved in. To the west is... a desert? With sunken ruins?

Why does she live like this? You can't put your finger on it but there seems to be an aura of menace engulfing this entire area. You've truly entered the lair of one of the kings of Closetland.

It's time to end this.]

AREA ONE - The Castle

[whimsicalism]

[Hello Allen and Gilgamesh, this is your area.]

Mingle/Cross-Team Talk

[whimsicalism]

[If you want to talk with the other teams while investigating, reply here.]

AREA TWO - The Library

[whimsicalism]

[Hello Mizuki, DD, and part of Amdi! This is your area.]

Mingle/Cross-Team Talk

[whimsicalism]

[If you want to talk with the other teams while investigating, reply here.]

AREA THREE - The Ruins

[whimsicalism]

[Hello Nigel, Gavroche, and the rest of Amdi! This is your area.]

Mingle/Cross-Team Talk

[whimsicalism]

[If you want to talk with the other teams while investigating, reply here.]

Re: AREA ONE - The Castle

[xxxx_me]

[He's here! He's also got the World Key in his pocket, as usual. It's not technically a knife, but it works just as well as one, if this week's anything to go by.]

[whimsicalism]

[Other than the general aura of dread there doesn't seem to be any monsters. The first area of the castle is a courtyard with a statue of the Jabberwock. There's a side passage that draws attention by it's simplicity. While most of this castle is, well, whimsical it's just a normal wooden hallway.]

[nothingposh]

[........... Is there anything shiny here Gavroche can steal. Yes, this is his first priority.]

[whimsicalism]

[There are things in here, yes, and someone might consider them shiny. He can even take them. That is, there's scattered excavation tools around that probably have some resell value.

That is, the main ruin area is covered in some really weird writing. The tools seem to have been used to uncover this area.]

[golden_king]

You look ready to fight, Allen.

[ Anyway he'll start heading down towards that side passage without much preamble. Let's goo ]

[imozon]

[Wow, look at this big fancy building where Dark Dream will definitely not fall asleep just reading books' titles. While she's still conscious, is there anything interesting to look at out front?]

[whimsicalism]

[At the end of the hallway is a simple, rustic door. The hum of sewing machines can be heard. The word Gepetto is carved into it.

Open?]

[octopups]

[Amdi is standing far back from the blast. Five of his eight are wearing night-black hooded heavy cloaks cinched across their backs, clearly a bit oversized for them. It's an outfit that no one except Nigel will have seen before.

As he moves, the cloaks seem to sparkle with gold and silver, little glimpses of the inscrutable weave of wires and electronics just under the outer fabric. One of his members has its hood pulled back, revealing an inner lining of soft, densely-woven material a little like the surface of a speaker.

Notably, these are the first clothes he's warn that don't have those small cutouts at the shoulders and haunches for his tympana; it's solid fabric all the way down his backs. Except for the fore-tympanum of the unhooded member, five of have their thought-emitting surfaces completely covered.

Once the explosion is over, all of Amdi trot purposefully up into the hallway to join everyone else.]

[xxxx_me]

Just in case.

[He's not really much of a fighter otherwise. But... sure, let's open up the door and take a peek inside.]

[nothingposh]

[Huh. He's just gonna take whichever tool is sharpest for now. It's a secret tool for later.

What's this writing look like? Does it look like a warning?]

[whimsicalism]

[It looks incredibly fancy. Why does the Storyteller have such nice things and you don't? That's really unfair of her, isn't it?

Why didn't she give you a fancy bedroom? You only deserve the best.

...huh. Those are some weird thoughts, huh. No, there's nothing really on the outside though the more you linger more of those weird thoughts come to mind.]

[octopups]

[Four of the radio-cloaked Amdiranifani are here. Specifically, the cloaked-but-not-hooded Mid, along with the uncloaked Am, An, and In, wearing utility jackets. Am has a slingshot, with An at the ready to load and fire.

Because this group contains his uncloaked trio plus part-cloaked Mid acting as a transmitter, he will not be able to focus as much of his collective attention over here, but he can quickly jump in to help either of his teammates.]

[octopups]

[Amdi sends his radio cloaked Di-Ran-Fan-Ni quartet over here. Because all of them are fully cloaked over all their tympana, he has an easier time coordinating and investigating with these four.

Capitalizing on his small sizes, Amdi is going to examine the ruins for any promising-looking openings that would be too small for his teammates to get into.]

[whimsicalism]

[You have some kind of excavation tool! It's a secret, though.

There's a lot of it everywhere so it says many things that you're not sure about. The writing itself looks weird, though.]