NIGHTMARE PLOT: DAY ONE — NIGHT TIME

[these_balls]

Who: Nightmare Plot participants!
Where: ???
When: Friday, October 25 — NIGHT TIME
Summary: Night falls, monsters attack, and Bad Boys 2 accurately sums it up.
Rating: PG in general; please mark threads that go higher accordingly!
Log:



STILL HERE. BUT THIS TIME IT'S OUT TO GET YOU.

KEY:

• RED areas are inaccessible regions of the castle! How they're inaccessible will vary from place to place (and from person to person), so players are encouraged to be creative in making up reasons why their characters can't get in to those areas if they try. For example, they might find the door to be locked or jammed; they might find a section of wall has collapsed and blocked off the corridor; they might just run into an invisible wall or a lingering patch of obscuring fog that ultimately deters them. They might even discover a rather unpleasant-looking monster hanging around and decide they'd rather not take the chance; the sky's the limit here, but the reasons for the same door being blocked can vary from person to person, and we encourage you to use this to add to the IC confusion if you so desire!

• BROWN areas are secret passages! It won't be immediately obvious that these areas exist (naturally, being secret), but with some diligence and careful inspection, characters can find the opening and get inside. Whether it's from lifting a secret latch or just figuring out the wall is hollow and bashing the thing down, of course, is up to player discretion!

• AREA A — the Spooky Garden. — ROOM CHANGES — 10/28/13
The obvious object of note here is the pretty fountain bubbling merrily away in the center of this odd little patch of indoor flora; it's made of white marble and is your standard three-tier affair, surrounded by a modest "courtyard" of grass and wildflowers. The animal sculptures are probably Pokemon you recognize...though on second glance they look more like something you're pretty sure you saw back home...and come to think of it, on third glance they're starting to get a little unsettling somehow. Strange! However, if you can stand the spooky company, it's a fairly quiet place to sit and unwind. Maybe you'll be generous and throw P10 into the waters? Or maybe you'll dig in there and retrieve other people's contributions for your own benefit. Either way, be careful when you look into the water; who knows what faces you might see reflected!

• AREA B — the Grand Hall. — ROOM CHANGES — 10/28/13
This is where you and your fellow inmates visitors have woken up; everyone will originate here upon the start of the plot, but there's absolutely no restriction on how long you have to stay there, so feel free to take off running as soon as you like. If you decide to stay, though, you'll notice it's a fairly big room, generally rectangular, with walls of gray stone and a healthy coating of dust and cobwebs over most every surface. All things considered, there's not a lot actually in here: some scattered rubble, scraps of wood, tattered cloth, empty sconces on the wall. Poke around a bit and you might find a candle or some other helpful odds and ends, but by and large this seems to be a token Big Empty Room — not particularly helpful for anything but holding people, all things considered.

• AREA C — the Overgrown Tower.
Watch your head as you enter this room; contrary to what you might expect from a tower room, the ceiling is surprisingly low, and the dangling vines might give you a fright if you walk into one without paying attention! There isn't much of note in this room, outside of the plants seeping through the cracks in the cold gray stone and the delicate scent of flowers lingering in the air; not much, that is, save for the wooden rocking horse standing stationary in the center of the room — what could that be doing there?

• AREA D — the Wine Cellar.
Pretty self-explanatory, this one; this room is stocked full of creaky old wine casks and dusty bottles of what is presumably ridiculously well-aged alcohol, along with assorted bottling tools and the other odds and ends you might find in an old-school winery. Alas, no free shot at hitting the bottle for you, minors; characters who would not ordinarily be eligible to drink in Route will find that even if they crack one of these bottles open, the liquid inside turns to old water — or refuses to come out at all.

• AREA E — the Kitchen. — ROOM CHANGES — 10/28/13
Like the Wine Cellar, this is also pretty self-explanatory; search the cupboards and you might find food. Whether or not you're willing to try eating it is entirely up to you — who knows what might be in it, or how long it's been there, after all — but no one's likely to starve; when characters aren't in the Kitchen, they won't find themselves to be particularly hungry, regardless of how long it's been since they've last eaten. When they go inside, hunger will set in, but if they'd rather not eat to remedy the problem, then alleviating it is as simple as just leaving the room.

• AREA F — the Hall of Tapestries. — ROOM CHANGES — 10/28/13
A nice, long, intimidating hallway with a high arched ceiling and faded tapestries lining the walls. Visitors with a healthy sense of paranoia might notice that this room is a classic example of a "kill box"; there's only one exit on either end and nowhere to hide in the middle. But certainly there's no reason to be frightened while walking alone down this long, empty, echoing corridor — though depending on your nerves, it might be a reason to pick up your pace.

• AREA G — the Decaying Library.
Though it doesn't seem to have seen a caretaker in quite some time, the library comes fully stocked with enough books to keep the literary-inclined busy for a while. There's at least some valid information to be found, most of it detailing a region that doesn't seem to be Johto or Kanto. Descriptions of Mount Coronet and the ruins of Celestic Town, as well as details about what appear to be the creation of the world can be found here, among other things — including the demented ramblings of a man who seems determined to destroy the world and remake it in his image, and the surely coincidental story of a tragedy that occurred in a large manor not entirely unlike the one you've awakened in...

• AREA H — the Hidden Dungeon.
Hopefully you'll never have reason to visit here, but if you've taken up residence in a set of our finest wall manacles, well...enjoy your stay, we suppose. This room is only accessible through the secret passage designated in brown; in the event that your character suffers a critical injury during the course of this plot, after whiting out they will end up in this room, presumably in chains. Hopefully they've got a friend who can pick locks, or who'll otherwise come to spring them from their confinement! If not, it might be a loooooong wait until someone happens by.

• AREA I — the Haunted Terrace.
This area is also accessible by secret passage, and if you've had the misfortune of coming here at night, you'll find it's quite the unappealing place to be — some of the patches of fog lurking about are actually monsters that will attack anyone who gets too close! The good news is, they'll only follow player characters as far as the end of the secret passage before turning back, but anything on the terrace or in the passage is fair game for an attack if you're not careful!

~

☆ NOTES ☆

• Remember, your chances of having a random encounter with a malevolent entity somewhere in the castle during the nighttime hours are approximately 50/50, with two exceptions: the chances of encountering a monster in the Haunted Terrace are 100%; the chances of encountering one in the Overgrown Tower are 0%. Aside from those two stipulations, it's up to player discretion whether or not you run into one, and how the encounter goes if you do!

• The monsters will be influenced by but not identical to spooky things that your characters have seen in their own canons. For example, Luke Skywalker may see hooded figures in black cloaks with glowing eyes; he may not see Emperor Palpatine. Leon Kennedy may see a shambling monster with protruding spikes; he may not see an Iron Maiden. TL;DR: your character may see a generic monster with similar attributes to things they've seen in canon; they may not see specific monsters, people, and etc. from their canons.

• Characters are allowed to fight the monsters! You can flee from them, fight them, attempt to talk to them (but why would you), whatever! If they attack you, it will hurt but leave no apparent physical damage; characters will just find themselves exhausted and in pain. If a character is subject to too many attacks, they will white out and appear in shackles in Area H, the Hidden Dungeon, and they will either have to break out or someone will have to come rescue them.

• This log is for NIGHTTIME INTERACTIONS ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 only! The log for Day One interactions is here, and other interactions throughout the course of the plot should be made in characters' own journals.

• If you have any questions, you can always ask us here at the INQUIRIES HOTLINE!

~

☆ QUICK LINKS ☆

AREA A — the Spooky Garden | AREA B — the Grand Hall | AREA C — the Overgrown Tower | AREA D — the Wine Cellar | AREA E — the Kitchen

AREA F — the Hall of Tapestries | AREA G — the Decaying Library | AREA H — the Hidden Dungeon | AREA I — the Haunted Terrace

GENERAL — Other Castle Locations

Comments

[timelymaid]

...Well, what have they looked like to you?

[ She hadn't questioned it. WHEN HAS ROUTE EVER MADE SENSE... ]

[enjoymyatelier]

...I can't quite make them out, to be honest. They seem like the vague outline of a person, with no real defining features... it's honestly kind of difficult to explain.

[timelymaid]

...Hmm. Then...if that's the case, they probably do look different. Perhaps we should begin asking everyone else what they see?

[enjoymyatelier]

Perhaps, yes, but I'd imagine the vast majority of people are going to be preoccupied with things that aren't answering questions for inquiring minds.

[timelymaid]

Oh, true! Like, you know. Finding a way out, or discovering why we have no Pokemon.

[enjoymyatelier]

Precisely. I've heard some theories to the latter, at least; I initially assumed that they were all left back where we were, but... they were involved in those strange nightmares everyone seemed to have. At least, certain ones were...

[timelymaid]

Three of mine were. ...Some of my main ones, too.

[ Including her starter. ]

[enjoymyatelier]

The ones that appeared in the nightmares are ones that I wasn't training at the time, so I honestly couldn't say for sure if those are the ones that are gone. Perhaps they simply showed us the ones we were most attached to?

[timelymaid]

So they were the ones you're the most attached to?

[enjoymyatelier]

Artemisia and Cezanne are, yes. Bernini... well, he can be something of a headache at times, but I wouldn't actually want to have him stolen or anything of that nature.

[timelymaid]

I don't think any of us would want that of any of our Pokemon...which makes this all the more galling.

[enjoymyatelier]

There are some that I wouldn't be terribly broken up about losing, but even then, it's the principle of the thing. I have absolutely no tolerance for thieves who have the gall to steal things from me and expect to get away with it.

[...you sound a little bitter, dude]

[timelymaid]

Have you had things stolen from you before...?

[enjoymyatelier]

Only once, but it's an experience I'll not allow to repeat without inflicting proper retribution on the culprit.

[timelymaid]

[ Yeah, you sound a little bitter, Kayneth... ]

Well, in this scenario you'll certainly have a lot of help. I don't think any of us are best pleased about all this.

[enjoymyatelier]

Thank heavens for small miracles, I suppose.

In any case... other than whatever specters we're up against, have you found anything new? It wouldn't surprise me much if that wasn't the only change this place undergoes at night.

[timelymaid]

Not really, unfortunately...I'm going to have to look around further, but so far I haven't spotted anything drastically different. You?

[enjoymyatelier]

Well, I'll admit, I've had some difficulty focusing on anything for... well... a variety of reasons, so I haven't noticed much yet. Mostly, everything just seems somehow even more foreboding than it did before.

[timelymaid]

In that case, I suppose we'd best hop to it, lest we...well, miss something.

[enjoymyatelier]

Yes, certainly. I get the feeling that staying in one place for this long isn't a terribly good idea, anyway.

[...but which way to head, one wonders...]

[timelymaid]

..Well, we could always try the tower or something? Or the garden?

[enjoymyatelier]

[...he doesn't want to think about the garden right now...]

My vote is for the tower at this point, honestly.

[timelymaid]

Then I'd say that seems like a good place to go, sure! Probably more easily defensible than this hallway, too.

[enjoymyatelier]

Yes, I agree. Let's get out of here, then, as I'm surprised we haven't been attacked already...

[...as if on cue, a something moves in the darkness outside of Kayneth's range of vision but quite possibly within Aradia's range of vision...]

[timelymaid]

[ Aradia whirls without responding to smack at whatever it is with her chair leg. Her entire species' culture was crafted solely so she and her friends would be good at this: fighting things and winning a game.

THANKS FOR JINXING IT, THOUGH, KAYNETH. ]