Round 4 graveyard

[foundationmods]

[When your character dies, however that may be, they will feel themselves floating. For a moment or two they will linger at the site of their death, hovering just above everyone, watching.

Then they will feel a pull and they will get tugged all the way to the studio, through a wall, through the hall, through a door.

The place they end up in looks to be a backstage area. There is an area for storing supplies, a coat rack full of empty prinny costumes, a lounge area, and a place to rest. All of these areas are marked by a green border between the described rooms and the doors that go elsewhere. You will see prinnies come and go, hurrying around as they do their work for the day. But within those borders, some of the prinnies will take off their suits, revealing the human souls within. Men, women, old, young, there is a large mix. They are all very dead, though, and seem used to being dead.

And among all of the dead is one living girl, one who seems to be running the show behind the set. She can be found giving instructions to prinnies and telling them where to put things, but she will always take time to give everyone who arrives the same warning:]

Hi there! I'm Marona, and this is the backstage area. There's a lot to do yet, so if you could help us out I would really appreciate it.

All the areas with the green on the floor are safe to be in as ghosts. Your souls won't get pulled away as long as you stay in the safe areas. If you want to go outside of there, though, you have to put on a prinny suit. And if you do that, you have to follow the rules of the prinnies: no killing anyone, follow the orders you're given by the living, and try not to blow up too much.

If you have any questions, I'll be here! But you can come and go as you like. Just don't give Mr. Dazai too much trouble, okay?

Comments

mod ping!

[visionem]

[ All that walking in heels was for this. He gives a prinny nod then turns to look as best he can. ]

Yes, but the visibility is still poor due to the amount of foliage present. I believe it is best to simply walk in one direction until we find a waymarker or item of interest.

[ So...off they go!!! What does this party of two penguins and a traumatized ogre stumble upon? ]

[foundationmods]

[There's a couple things they can see out in the forest. Thankfully being prinnies means that the wolves will largely leave them alone, so they can investigate as they see fit.

But the first thing they will notice are the power lines running from the box in the tree (the one that connects to both the house and the studio) out into the woods, generally alongside the road that leads to site 4. That seems to be the wired connection between the two areas.

They will also notice many hidden buildings tucked away up in the trees. They're very small, about 5 feet by 5 feet at most, and are all well-disguised. They will also notice that people with guns are up in them, but they seem to pay the prinnies no mind.]

[visionem]

[ Hmm... let's check out the power lines and that box first. Guarded buildings can come later and probably more awkwardly since he'll have to dismiss ogre.

Since Alcor is a techie and also a zillion years old, what's he dealing with here? ]

[foundationmods]

[Two lines for electrical current, one line for internet. Alcor will even know what ones are which based on the wire quality.

And given how far out in the middle of nowhere this place is, cutting either the power or internet (or both) would take days to repair. However, if that path is taken, they will want to be careful to make it look like an accident. A tree falling on the lines or something like that. If it looks deliberately sabotaged, something bad will probably happen.]

[visionem]

[ So are you telling me he can't just cut off just Silver's internet access and take away all his toys? Boo. Right, well there's no reason to do that right now so he'll leave it. But for reporting back, is there an easy way to identify the wires for anyone who's a non techy?

aka if for some reason someone like nora winds up out here he wants to make sure he can give clear directions. ]

[foundationmods]

[Oh no, quite the opposite! He can cut off just the internet access and leave the power if he wants.

And there is an easy way to identify the wires! The power ones are solid black, the internet one is black with a blue stripe running along it.

Additionally, if he looks further down the line, he will see where a tree is leaning dangerously close to the wires. It could provide the perfect excuse for breaking a line without making it obvious that the line was broken on purpose.]

[visionem]

[ All good info to know, especially that leaning tree. He could make that look like an accident now even, because lightning magic is useful, but it seems pointless to do it just cause. Chaotic star has standards after all.

Is there anything else of note out here before they do terrible zelda-esque espionage on the guarded building? He'll have ogre lift him up real high just to be sure he's not missing anything. ]

[foundationmods]

[Nothing else to note of the power lines! Go infiltrate those buildings.]

[merirut]

[Welp, good thing Alcor was here because Sandalphon definitely wouldn't have been able to tell those lines apart. Infiltrating a building though... while he's not the sneakiest around, it's still more his speed than anything related to technology.

First off before attempting any kind of actual entry though: any obvious ways up or anything? Like ladders or whatnot?]

[foundationmods]

[There are ladders going to each building, yes. They are hidden among the bark of the trees.]

[merirut]

[Handy! And also logical because he doubts those guys know how to fly anyways. Are there any apparent blind spots they could use to approach one of those ladders or does it just seem like people don't care about prinnies wandering around... because if it's the latter, he might just make a beeline to the ladder.]

[visionem]

[ Alcor's gonna let sandy handle the scouting because he's no good at that kinda stuff when he's stuck on the ground. He will dismiss ogre though, so now they're just two prinnies and he's going to have to figure out some way how to walk very shortly but.

It's fine? It's fine. ]

[foundationmods]

[The houses tend to be on one side of the tree, so if they approach from the other side they should be in a blind spot. Once they get right under it, they can climb up the ladder undisturbed.]

[merirut]

[Success?! Okay well... Sandy's definitely going first because he doesn't trust Alcor not to fall on top of him by overthinking the use of his limbs when climbing a ladder. With that said, he'll at least be cautious enough to not just rush all the way up there.

So first things first, when they reach the top of the ladder, does it seem like anyone is around? He doesn't mind eavesdropping on conversations, but if there's no one there, he will enter the treehouse.]

[visionem]

[ This is a very fair assumption to make, and it may have happened if Alcor went first but worst scenario avoided! Now they just have a second worst scenario of a box trying to figure out how to use a ladder. He watches Sandy intently the entire time, making note of which rungs he used for each leg and flipper respectively. Using a ladder is more linear than walking because there are only so many options and one clear destination in mind.

When its finally his turn he takes a deep breath, successfully takes the few steps forward to reach the ladder—actually no he definitely wobbled a bit and kind of faceplanted into the rungs.

Left flipper, right flipper, left leg, right leg....left flipper, right flipper, left leg, right leg...

...................

Nearing the top he's memorized the exact flipper holds, the texture of the ladder under his flippers, and the exact height he needs to use to reach each rung.

Finally, he reaches the top and stands there triumphant, having conquered his personal Mount Everest. ]

[foundationmods]

[Congratulations, Alcor.

And when they reach the top, there is indeed one man sitting up in the tree house. Said man is currently holding a sandwich missing a couple bites from it, indicating that he was probably just eating.

He's also staring at the two prinnies now in his hiding place.]

Uh.

You guys need something?

[merirut]

[Oh shit they've been discovered--

Well actually never mind. It's honestly really weird to him how indifferent everyone is to the prinnies, but he won't look a gift horse in the mouth. How to approach this though. He looks at Alcor and then back at the man, patting Alcor on the back with a flipper in hopes of unbalancing him into stumbling/falling forward.]

...Can we rest here for a bit?

[visionem]

[ Sandy, just hoping is more than enough. Down Alcor goes face first onto the floor, but at least he still has the echos of congratulations resonating in his mind. ]

Climbing a ladder is an arduous task, dood.

[foundationmods]

That doesn't explain why you climbed it in the first place.

[But to this guy, a prinny is not a threat. They're just weird. So he sighs, and he pats the ground near him.]

Come on, go ahead and sit down for a bit. Are you hungry? Do you guys even eat?

[merirut]

[Uh. Hm.] It looked like it'd be fun.

[Unless you're a lavender prinny that can barely walk, but meh. Meh! He'll at least have the grace to roll Alcor over beside the guy though, before settling down himself albeit a little gingerly.

What are they even doing here, really.]

I don't need food, but coffee would be appreciated. [A long pause.] Dood.

[visionem]

Ah, if you're offering I wouldn't want to decline the invitation, dood. [ ty sandy you're a bro. Lavender prinny does sit up once he's in place, he's got that down pat! ]

[foundationmods]

[Sitting up is the easy part, right?

But yeah, the guy will pass a cup of coffee to Sandy and another sandwich to Alcor.]

It's not that great, the Foundation doesn't exactly give us anything good. That one black-haired kid at the house, Kurusu? He can make some good shit. You should ask him sometime.

[Not that this man has had coffee made by that particular Akira, but. Akirenbucks.]

[merirut]

I'll do that, thanks.

[He does mean it, though. It's been a bit since he's had coffee because he hasn't made it a priority since he died, so it is nice. As he stares deeply into the coffee cup, he comes to a pause as he contemplates how he's going to do this with a beak uh. ...Maybe he'll hold off until it cools down a little more.

So while that's happening, he'll take a look at their surroundings as they chat. Anything suspicious or notable here?]

But is this what you do here all the time? Eat and drink coffee all day?

[visionem]

[ It is, it is. Luckily he has ample experience eating...but not with flippers. Some minor fumbling before he just decides to go for it which is awkward but hey enthusiasm? ]

I would think it might be monotonous staying here day in and day out dood. Do you have times where you may take a respite, dood?

[foundationmods]

[There are several kinds of rifles and ammunition up there. This is clearly a bunker for sniping people.]

Yeah, staying up here kinda sucks. But we have to keep the perimeter, you know? Nobody's tried running away from this containment procedure, but it happens all the time.

Honestly? I'm glad they haven't tried to run. There's kids in there. I don't think I can shoot kids.