allthekeys (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
allthekeys) wrote2011-08-02 09:57 pm
allthekeys) wrote2011-08-02 09:57 pm
Entry tags:
[Fifth House: Floor One]
First Story:
1. Outside Door:
The door seems to have swelled within its frame from exposure to the elements, but now with some effort it can be forced open. Occasionally, the house-guests are sure they can hear someone tapping on it, asking very quietly to be let in.
The door now opens onto a long, winding path which can be followed to The Lake or to the courtyard of the fourth house.
2. Plastic Hall:
The outside wall of this hallway is little more than a sheet of plastic, the insulation visible beneath it. The floor is covered with a drop cloth, though the walls have not been painted at all. It does little to keep the wind out, and the plastic sheeting constantly bulges as though something moves beneath it.
The hallways is never quiet, and anyone who pauses to listen for a moment might hear footsteps beginning behind them.
3. Bachelors Kitchen:
Though the room looks as though it will one day be a very nice one, it is still in the state of in completion that most of the house shares. Some of the cabinets are missing from the places they will go on the walls, and many of the counter tops are little more than boards laid over cupboards to provide a work space. The sink has been installed, but the dishwasher is still in its box.
The box itself looks a little ratty and has begun to rot away from the appliance with in. The fridge works, though it is a little empty at the moment. Though food can be found here, it is mostly simple, easy meals that can be microwaved.
A large, hand crafted table and chairs sits just inside the door, covered by plastic sheeting. It has yet to be varnished, and instead of this beautiful table the residents seem to have been using a folding card table and a few chairs. There are not many dishes, and the kitchen is a bit drafty, but it serves its purpose for the moment.
There is a phone mounted on the wall just inside the door, though the wire has been ripped from the wall. It still has the oddest habit of ringing, even though it should no longer be working. It looks almost as though someone has clawed the wall, and traces of blood can be found in the gouges.
4. Garage:
This room smells of old motor oil and metal. A larger chest freezer has been shoved to one side of the low stairs leading down into it, and on the other side is a washer and dryer.
The chest freezer has been completely wrapped in tape and is weighted down by several sacks of cement, it is impossible to open.
There are several work stations around the area, and everything is neatly stored, giving an indication of the sort of person that must have lived here. There are several large pieces of equipment, as well as smaller clamps and saws. Everything is very well used. There are bottles of oil and cleaner, and several neatly folded shop towels, all clearly well used. There is a loaded 9mm pistol in one of the drawers and a half full box of ammo.
A small space heater keeps the room warm, and lighting all seems to be situated in such a way that the it can easily be adjusted.
Sitting in the center of the room, the engine in pieces on one of the work tables is a 69 Ford Mustang. The car is stripped down nearly to the frame and is clearly in the midst of being worked on.
The garage door seems to be jammed, and will not open.
5. The Abandoned Nursery:
This room, like much of the house, seems half finished. Though it was clearly once meant for a baby.
The walls are half painted, the beginnings of a mural left untended -- although the lines show where the painter intended to go next. There is a paintbrush lying on top of an open can. It seems as though the painter intended to be back in only a moment, as nothing has been put away. The paint inside has turned rubbery over the time it has been left.
The baby furniture has been covered with plastic to keep it from being harmed by the paint, but has been left so long that the sharp edges have nearly worked their way through the covering.
There is a fireplace in the room, though it too has been covered by a heavy coating of dust. The room reeks of abandonment and something lost.
Oddly out of place is a small, brightly colored wooden top sitting in the middle of the room. The dust around it is heavy and undisturbed, showing that no one has gone anywhere near it in a very long time. But seemingly at random it is lifted and spun.
A closet is full of more hangings, though anyone pushing into the area will reveal a locked door. To either side of the door frame is a narrow hall, just wide enough for a single person to push their way through. The path to the right leads to a narrow ladder that reaches up into the darkness and a locked hatch, while the path to the right leads to another door.
When opened, it leads to another closet, full of clothes and clearly well used.
6. The Boarded Room:
This room looks the best tended of any in the house. A mannequin stands in the corner, covered with a heavy cloth. A yellowed, cracked piece of paper is pinned to it with the words "No peeking!" written on them. Beneath the drop cloth is a beautiful wedding dress, clearly expensive, the lace that has gone into its making seems handmade, and the gems that catch the dim light when the cloth is lifted seem real.
The room itself seems to have been left in a state of disarray. The bed unmade and clothes left fallen just short of the hamper. A heavy layer of dust has settled over everything, including the fallen clothes. Suitcases sit open next to the bed filled with clothes for a man and a woman, all meant for warmer weather. A journal has been tucked into one of the suitcases. The journal tells the story of what appears to be a former resident. Though it can easily be read, it cannot be taken from the room.
A fireplace has wood stacked neatly next to it, though it like everything else in the room is dusty and shows no signs of recent use. The dressers hold clothes and undergarments suited for a man and a woman, and the room has a lived in air that the rest of the house lacks.
The dressing table mirror has been covered by a heavy cloth, much like most of the furniture in the baby's room. Lifting it away reveals that something has been written on the dusty mirror in a shaky hand. It reads "I am the death of hopes and dreams".
The room has been boarded up from the inside and can only be reached from the nursery. A hammer and a half full box of nails have been left on a chair.
7. The Rough Hall:
Though this hallway is finished, it is as yet unpainted, and a few of the light fixtures are missing, leaving only exposed wires the light the way down the area. The lights that are up have a horrible tendency to flicker when the wrong floorboard is stepped upon. There are clearly some existing electric problems.
Any person traveling this hallway alone will find that they hear their name being called by someone they've lost.
At the end of the hallway is a room that has been boarded up, and no amount of prying will open it again.
8. Old Bedroom:
Everything in this room speaks of age. It reeks with the dust of a room that has been used for generations, never changed or altered as its occupants shifted, always left in static adequacy. It seems as though no one has ever bothered to redecorate it or change it from its threadbare normalcy. The walls themselves are stained and yellowed, with nothing to indicate what colour they might have been. The only sign of some sort of life in this room is the dusty antiques sitting on top of the vanity, the dresser, and the night-stand. There a few assorted knick-knacks and prized possessions, though all are heavily covered with dust. A jewellery box carries pearl earrings and a gold wedding band, old enough that the colour has long-since begun to fade. There is an old wedding photo in a frame, a married couple smiling in sepia, though the top halves of their faces have been worn away from years of oily fingers. The music box coughs and sputters its music, though the tune always sounds familiar through the dirt-clogged gears. It is sitting in the corner of a nearly perfectly preserved Elizabethan tea set. Even the bed has its own piece, a stunning Victorian doll with only a few scruffs and spots.
On one of the nightstands, pulled away from the bed to stand as almost a centre piece to the room, is a chess set. It is set up to be in the middle of a game; the black Queen is in check.
The bed is somehow still comfortable, in spite of the thin and worn sheets, and the tearing mattress. The chairs creak when they are used, but stand nonetheless. The dresser drawers splinter when opened too forcefully, the compartments nearly empty save for the barest minimum of clothing. A few books have been left among the under-shirts, the pages all faintly yellowed and delicate, in some places the words hard to read. They are all outdated, and carry the tell-tale smell of aged paper.
Staying in this room can imbue the tenant to feel their own weariness. Wear and tear becomes more noticeable, joints and muscles becoming stiff and tired.
9. The Bathroom:
This room is entirely finished, if one can ignore the bits of paint caught in the basin and the fact that the lights haven't been covered. The tile is done, the bath seems ready to be used, and nothing implies that it belongs to an otherwise unfinished house.
The mirror is long and stretches nearly the entire length of the bathroom, the floors seem to be heated from beneath, and there are plenty of towels.
Nothing seems to be wrong with the bathroom. Nothing at all.
Any person who has lost a romantic partner who enters will see the face of the spouse, or significant other, that they lost standing next to them in the mirror -- smiling quietly at them.
10. Pillow Room:
Though there is no actual furniture in the room, it gives off an almost welcoming air. Large pillows have been placed in stacks and piles around the room, thick, decadent blankets draped over them to create hidden corners and private nests. In one corner of the fort, there is a pile of a number of hand-made toys; stuffed animals sewn carefully from scraps of fabric and lost, mismatched buttons. Someone has left a stick of incense burning on a small shelf at the back of the room, music drifting through the air. The incense, however, has become old and stale, the music occasionally scratching and skipping. The toys, though clearly made with only love in mind, have begun to split at the seams, stuffing and thread bursting from their eyes and mouths. The pillows themselves are dusty and stiff from disuse.
The walls of the room are a plain, dirty off-white. In the corner, however, hidden behind many piles of bed clothes, are several sample sheafs of wallpapers. Each is brightly coloured and cheerful, images of clouds and suns, or friendly animals. At least, they likely would have been friendly behind the dark red-brown smudges obscuring their eyes and mouths.
The room was clearly relaxing, once, a safe haven and hideaway built within the walls. Even in its age, the room has an air of safety. As if someone has created this space just for you to get away from the dangers outside.
11. Empty Bedroom:
There is little in this room at all, only an old, dirty mattress thrown against one of the walls. The walls themselves are blank, unfinished drywall. The light hanging in this room is a bare bulb, and wires poke out of the walls where outlets seem meant to go.
The closet is a gaping, unshielded darkness that seems to pulse as the house-guests watch it. It is empty of anything, even a light switch. There is no place for anything to hide.
Still, somehow the guests get the impression of presence, as though something is watching them.
Turning around will reveal that someone has written on the door to the bedroom in black crayon.
"Don't sleep."
12. Patio:
While this was clearly intended to eventually be a place to entertain, at the moment it is merely a cleared area and a mound of cinderblocks half covered in dirt and dead grass. There is no furniture.
A sliding door leads into the rest of the house.
13. The Poet's Room:
This room was at one point clearly meant to be a library or a study of some sort. It is absolutely full of empty shelves, the hard wood more than capable of supporting as many books as the owner wanted. A large, eastern facing window provides ample light, and unlike many of the other rooms the floor and walls are finished. A window-seat shows signs of being started, though it is as yet unfinished, just the bare bones of the shape it would have taken.
Someone has painted poetry verses on the walls, the calligraphy designed to embrace the lines in the unpainted wood. On the door leading to the opposite wall someone has left a note. It reads "This is a home for all of your hopes and dreams. Fill the shelves with as many books as you can find, honey."
14. The Forgotten Storeroom
Though this room seems to be in the best repair of the entire house, it is full of jars that have been opened and forgotten. Sauces, soups and jams have been left to grow mouldy, and then past that point of decay to hard, crusty crumbs that no longer hold any resemblance to what they started as.
The worktables are sturdy, though that seems to be more as a result of their design than any care given in keeping them that way. Half finished projects, bits of string and nails, and other trash cover the surface. A pencil has been worn down to little more than a nub, but there seems to be nothing to show for it.
The drawers are full useful supplies, though many have been so badly treated by rats that they are unusable. There are flash-lights without batteries, and other odds and ends that have been completely destroyed. Still, there are candles and those might be useful. If they can only find a match that has not already been burnt.
A low, steady sound often fills the room. As though something hard and heavy slams against something equally hard and resonate. The source is never revealed, but beneath the worktables there are stains that seem to constantly grow and a soft scrabbling sound can be heard beneath the floor, even when the room seems still.
15. Mildewed Hallway:
This hallway was obviously finished at some point, but has since fallen into a state of disrepair. The walls are covered in creeping black mould and mildew. The moisture has caused the hardwood floor to warp and splinter. The smell of mildew and mould hangs heavy in the air, cut with the smell of something long dead. It is an unpleasant place to linger, and few will find themselves remaining here for long.
16. The Broom Cupboard:
This door is soggy and has visible mould covering it. It no longer seems to rest quite right in its frame, warped by the constant dampness, and will never entirely close. Opening the door releases more of the powerful stench of rot and mould into the hallway. Within the cupboard are the stairs leading to the basement, as well as shelves full of rat poison, lamp oil, and industrial strength cleaner. A mop and broom have long ago given themselves over to the creeping mould, and the steps leading down are slick with slime.
17. The Den:
The bones of this room seem quite pretty, though the paint splattering the floor and the skylight that has been left open help dim that impression.
It, like much of the rest of the house, seems half finished. The TV in the corner isn't even plugged in and the couch is still covered with a heavy cloth. There is a fireplace, but no fire within it, and no wood to coax it to life. Just above the mantel sits an empty picture frame, the scattered ashes on the hearth offering a clue to what might have happened to it.
An old rocking chair sits in the corner, rocking back and forth slowly, though nothing seems to be near enough to cause the movement.
If someone could get to the skylight, it might be a comfortable room.
18. Unfinished Stairs:
The stairs that seem like they might have been meant to lead to the second story are unfinished and stop just before they would connect, leaving a three foot gap that must be navigated. A good jump could get you into the second story, though it seems unlikely that you would want to go. Beyond it, there is little to be seen, and nothing that looks at all useful for the explorer.
19. The Workman's Room:
Lumber has been left stacked near power tools, clearly meant to finish the hallway outside the door. The leaky roof and constant exposure has rotted the pile to the point it is no longer useful for anything but firewood. The tools are rusted and will no longer work, but they were clearly once professional grade tools.
It is an area that has been clearly used to stage construction on the rest of the house, though perhaps not intended to remain a workroom forever. There are several sturdy workbenches, capable of supporting the shaping of wood or any crafting that the occupant needed. Safety goggles hang on a hook just inside the door, and dust has mixed itself liberally with the sawdust that already coated the room. There is something warm about the room, as though it has become a focus for the carpenter's creative energy.
Hammers and other hand tools have been neatly arranged inside a large tool box, better protected from the elements. Due to the exact nature of the arrangement, it is easy to see that one of the screwdrivers seems to be missing.
20. The Guest Bedroom:
This room, unlike most in the house, seems less to be in a state of half completion or disrepair, and more to have been left entirely alone. It is a vastly unremarkable room, left completely undecorated and mediocre. The bed is a hard, modest affair, dressed in plain white sheets. The dressers, all empty, are only the barest of necessities. The entire room seems utterly devoid of personality and, judging by the staleness of the sheets and the creaking of the dresser drawers, has remained unused for a long time.
The longer one stays in this room, the more that the room seems to reflect them. Or, at least, the person they once were. As the colours and decorations slowly spread across the walls and furniture like a slow moving stain, the occupant begins to feel more listless and less and less like themselves. The room becomes them, even as they become a shadow of their former selves.
The room locks from the outside.
21. The Lake
22. The Boathouse
Setting ♦ Game Play ♦ FAQ/Rules ♦ Timeline ♦ Bestiary ♦ Taken ♦ Wanted ♦ Reserves ♦ Apps ♦ Mod Contact ♦ Hiatus ♦ Drop ♦ Dedication
1. Outside Door:
The door seems to have swelled within its frame from exposure to the elements, but now with some effort it can be forced open. Occasionally, the house-guests are sure they can hear someone tapping on it, asking very quietly to be let in.
The door now opens onto a long, winding path which can be followed to The Lake or to the courtyard of the fourth house.
2. Plastic Hall:
The outside wall of this hallway is little more than a sheet of plastic, the insulation visible beneath it. The floor is covered with a drop cloth, though the walls have not been painted at all. It does little to keep the wind out, and the plastic sheeting constantly bulges as though something moves beneath it.
The hallways is never quiet, and anyone who pauses to listen for a moment might hear footsteps beginning behind them.
3. Bachelors Kitchen:
Though the room looks as though it will one day be a very nice one, it is still in the state of in completion that most of the house shares. Some of the cabinets are missing from the places they will go on the walls, and many of the counter tops are little more than boards laid over cupboards to provide a work space. The sink has been installed, but the dishwasher is still in its box.
The box itself looks a little ratty and has begun to rot away from the appliance with in. The fridge works, though it is a little empty at the moment. Though food can be found here, it is mostly simple, easy meals that can be microwaved.
A large, hand crafted table and chairs sits just inside the door, covered by plastic sheeting. It has yet to be varnished, and instead of this beautiful table the residents seem to have been using a folding card table and a few chairs. There are not many dishes, and the kitchen is a bit drafty, but it serves its purpose for the moment.
There is a phone mounted on the wall just inside the door, though the wire has been ripped from the wall. It still has the oddest habit of ringing, even though it should no longer be working. It looks almost as though someone has clawed the wall, and traces of blood can be found in the gouges.
4. Garage:
This room smells of old motor oil and metal. A larger chest freezer has been shoved to one side of the low stairs leading down into it, and on the other side is a washer and dryer.
The chest freezer has been completely wrapped in tape and is weighted down by several sacks of cement, it is impossible to open.
There are several work stations around the area, and everything is neatly stored, giving an indication of the sort of person that must have lived here. There are several large pieces of equipment, as well as smaller clamps and saws. Everything is very well used. There are bottles of oil and cleaner, and several neatly folded shop towels, all clearly well used. There is a loaded 9mm pistol in one of the drawers and a half full box of ammo.
A small space heater keeps the room warm, and lighting all seems to be situated in such a way that the it can easily be adjusted.
Sitting in the center of the room, the engine in pieces on one of the work tables is a 69 Ford Mustang. The car is stripped down nearly to the frame and is clearly in the midst of being worked on.
The garage door seems to be jammed, and will not open.
5. The Abandoned Nursery:
This room, like much of the house, seems half finished. Though it was clearly once meant for a baby.
The walls are half painted, the beginnings of a mural left untended -- although the lines show where the painter intended to go next. There is a paintbrush lying on top of an open can. It seems as though the painter intended to be back in only a moment, as nothing has been put away. The paint inside has turned rubbery over the time it has been left.
The baby furniture has been covered with plastic to keep it from being harmed by the paint, but has been left so long that the sharp edges have nearly worked their way through the covering.
There is a fireplace in the room, though it too has been covered by a heavy coating of dust. The room reeks of abandonment and something lost.
Oddly out of place is a small, brightly colored wooden top sitting in the middle of the room. The dust around it is heavy and undisturbed, showing that no one has gone anywhere near it in a very long time. But seemingly at random it is lifted and spun.
A closet is full of more hangings, though anyone pushing into the area will reveal a locked door. To either side of the door frame is a narrow hall, just wide enough for a single person to push their way through. The path to the right leads to a narrow ladder that reaches up into the darkness and a locked hatch, while the path to the right leads to another door.
When opened, it leads to another closet, full of clothes and clearly well used.
6. The Boarded Room:
This room looks the best tended of any in the house. A mannequin stands in the corner, covered with a heavy cloth. A yellowed, cracked piece of paper is pinned to it with the words "No peeking!" written on them. Beneath the drop cloth is a beautiful wedding dress, clearly expensive, the lace that has gone into its making seems handmade, and the gems that catch the dim light when the cloth is lifted seem real.
The room itself seems to have been left in a state of disarray. The bed unmade and clothes left fallen just short of the hamper. A heavy layer of dust has settled over everything, including the fallen clothes. Suitcases sit open next to the bed filled with clothes for a man and a woman, all meant for warmer weather. A journal has been tucked into one of the suitcases. The journal tells the story of what appears to be a former resident. Though it can easily be read, it cannot be taken from the room.
A fireplace has wood stacked neatly next to it, though it like everything else in the room is dusty and shows no signs of recent use. The dressers hold clothes and undergarments suited for a man and a woman, and the room has a lived in air that the rest of the house lacks.
The dressing table mirror has been covered by a heavy cloth, much like most of the furniture in the baby's room. Lifting it away reveals that something has been written on the dusty mirror in a shaky hand. It reads "I am the death of hopes and dreams".
The room has been boarded up from the inside and can only be reached from the nursery. A hammer and a half full box of nails have been left on a chair.
7. The Rough Hall:
Though this hallway is finished, it is as yet unpainted, and a few of the light fixtures are missing, leaving only exposed wires the light the way down the area. The lights that are up have a horrible tendency to flicker when the wrong floorboard is stepped upon. There are clearly some existing electric problems.
Any person traveling this hallway alone will find that they hear their name being called by someone they've lost.
At the end of the hallway is a room that has been boarded up, and no amount of prying will open it again.
8. Old Bedroom:
Everything in this room speaks of age. It reeks with the dust of a room that has been used for generations, never changed or altered as its occupants shifted, always left in static adequacy. It seems as though no one has ever bothered to redecorate it or change it from its threadbare normalcy. The walls themselves are stained and yellowed, with nothing to indicate what colour they might have been. The only sign of some sort of life in this room is the dusty antiques sitting on top of the vanity, the dresser, and the night-stand. There a few assorted knick-knacks and prized possessions, though all are heavily covered with dust. A jewellery box carries pearl earrings and a gold wedding band, old enough that the colour has long-since begun to fade. There is an old wedding photo in a frame, a married couple smiling in sepia, though the top halves of their faces have been worn away from years of oily fingers. The music box coughs and sputters its music, though the tune always sounds familiar through the dirt-clogged gears. It is sitting in the corner of a nearly perfectly preserved Elizabethan tea set. Even the bed has its own piece, a stunning Victorian doll with only a few scruffs and spots.
On one of the nightstands, pulled away from the bed to stand as almost a centre piece to the room, is a chess set. It is set up to be in the middle of a game; the black Queen is in check.
The bed is somehow still comfortable, in spite of the thin and worn sheets, and the tearing mattress. The chairs creak when they are used, but stand nonetheless. The dresser drawers splinter when opened too forcefully, the compartments nearly empty save for the barest minimum of clothing. A few books have been left among the under-shirts, the pages all faintly yellowed and delicate, in some places the words hard to read. They are all outdated, and carry the tell-tale smell of aged paper.
Staying in this room can imbue the tenant to feel their own weariness. Wear and tear becomes more noticeable, joints and muscles becoming stiff and tired.
9. The Bathroom:
This room is entirely finished, if one can ignore the bits of paint caught in the basin and the fact that the lights haven't been covered. The tile is done, the bath seems ready to be used, and nothing implies that it belongs to an otherwise unfinished house.
The mirror is long and stretches nearly the entire length of the bathroom, the floors seem to be heated from beneath, and there are plenty of towels.
Nothing seems to be wrong with the bathroom. Nothing at all.
Any person who has lost a romantic partner who enters will see the face of the spouse, or significant other, that they lost standing next to them in the mirror -- smiling quietly at them.
10. Pillow Room:
Though there is no actual furniture in the room, it gives off an almost welcoming air. Large pillows have been placed in stacks and piles around the room, thick, decadent blankets draped over them to create hidden corners and private nests. In one corner of the fort, there is a pile of a number of hand-made toys; stuffed animals sewn carefully from scraps of fabric and lost, mismatched buttons. Someone has left a stick of incense burning on a small shelf at the back of the room, music drifting through the air. The incense, however, has become old and stale, the music occasionally scratching and skipping. The toys, though clearly made with only love in mind, have begun to split at the seams, stuffing and thread bursting from their eyes and mouths. The pillows themselves are dusty and stiff from disuse.
The walls of the room are a plain, dirty off-white. In the corner, however, hidden behind many piles of bed clothes, are several sample sheafs of wallpapers. Each is brightly coloured and cheerful, images of clouds and suns, or friendly animals. At least, they likely would have been friendly behind the dark red-brown smudges obscuring their eyes and mouths.
The room was clearly relaxing, once, a safe haven and hideaway built within the walls. Even in its age, the room has an air of safety. As if someone has created this space just for you to get away from the dangers outside.
11. Empty Bedroom:
There is little in this room at all, only an old, dirty mattress thrown against one of the walls. The walls themselves are blank, unfinished drywall. The light hanging in this room is a bare bulb, and wires poke out of the walls where outlets seem meant to go.
The closet is a gaping, unshielded darkness that seems to pulse as the house-guests watch it. It is empty of anything, even a light switch. There is no place for anything to hide.
Still, somehow the guests get the impression of presence, as though something is watching them.
Turning around will reveal that someone has written on the door to the bedroom in black crayon.
"Don't sleep."
12. Patio:
While this was clearly intended to eventually be a place to entertain, at the moment it is merely a cleared area and a mound of cinderblocks half covered in dirt and dead grass. There is no furniture.
A sliding door leads into the rest of the house.
13. The Poet's Room:
This room was at one point clearly meant to be a library or a study of some sort. It is absolutely full of empty shelves, the hard wood more than capable of supporting as many books as the owner wanted. A large, eastern facing window provides ample light, and unlike many of the other rooms the floor and walls are finished. A window-seat shows signs of being started, though it is as yet unfinished, just the bare bones of the shape it would have taken.
Someone has painted poetry verses on the walls, the calligraphy designed to embrace the lines in the unpainted wood. On the door leading to the opposite wall someone has left a note. It reads "This is a home for all of your hopes and dreams. Fill the shelves with as many books as you can find, honey."
14. The Forgotten Storeroom
Though this room seems to be in the best repair of the entire house, it is full of jars that have been opened and forgotten. Sauces, soups and jams have been left to grow mouldy, and then past that point of decay to hard, crusty crumbs that no longer hold any resemblance to what they started as.
The worktables are sturdy, though that seems to be more as a result of their design than any care given in keeping them that way. Half finished projects, bits of string and nails, and other trash cover the surface. A pencil has been worn down to little more than a nub, but there seems to be nothing to show for it.
The drawers are full useful supplies, though many have been so badly treated by rats that they are unusable. There are flash-lights without batteries, and other odds and ends that have been completely destroyed. Still, there are candles and those might be useful. If they can only find a match that has not already been burnt.
A low, steady sound often fills the room. As though something hard and heavy slams against something equally hard and resonate. The source is never revealed, but beneath the worktables there are stains that seem to constantly grow and a soft scrabbling sound can be heard beneath the floor, even when the room seems still.
15. Mildewed Hallway:
This hallway was obviously finished at some point, but has since fallen into a state of disrepair. The walls are covered in creeping black mould and mildew. The moisture has caused the hardwood floor to warp and splinter. The smell of mildew and mould hangs heavy in the air, cut with the smell of something long dead. It is an unpleasant place to linger, and few will find themselves remaining here for long.
16. The Broom Cupboard:
This door is soggy and has visible mould covering it. It no longer seems to rest quite right in its frame, warped by the constant dampness, and will never entirely close. Opening the door releases more of the powerful stench of rot and mould into the hallway. Within the cupboard are the stairs leading to the basement, as well as shelves full of rat poison, lamp oil, and industrial strength cleaner. A mop and broom have long ago given themselves over to the creeping mould, and the steps leading down are slick with slime.
17. The Den:
The bones of this room seem quite pretty, though the paint splattering the floor and the skylight that has been left open help dim that impression.
It, like much of the rest of the house, seems half finished. The TV in the corner isn't even plugged in and the couch is still covered with a heavy cloth. There is a fireplace, but no fire within it, and no wood to coax it to life. Just above the mantel sits an empty picture frame, the scattered ashes on the hearth offering a clue to what might have happened to it.
An old rocking chair sits in the corner, rocking back and forth slowly, though nothing seems to be near enough to cause the movement.
If someone could get to the skylight, it might be a comfortable room.
18. Unfinished Stairs:
The stairs that seem like they might have been meant to lead to the second story are unfinished and stop just before they would connect, leaving a three foot gap that must be navigated. A good jump could get you into the second story, though it seems unlikely that you would want to go. Beyond it, there is little to be seen, and nothing that looks at all useful for the explorer.
19. The Workman's Room:
Lumber has been left stacked near power tools, clearly meant to finish the hallway outside the door. The leaky roof and constant exposure has rotted the pile to the point it is no longer useful for anything but firewood. The tools are rusted and will no longer work, but they were clearly once professional grade tools.
It is an area that has been clearly used to stage construction on the rest of the house, though perhaps not intended to remain a workroom forever. There are several sturdy workbenches, capable of supporting the shaping of wood or any crafting that the occupant needed. Safety goggles hang on a hook just inside the door, and dust has mixed itself liberally with the sawdust that already coated the room. There is something warm about the room, as though it has become a focus for the carpenter's creative energy.
Hammers and other hand tools have been neatly arranged inside a large tool box, better protected from the elements. Due to the exact nature of the arrangement, it is easy to see that one of the screwdrivers seems to be missing.
20. The Guest Bedroom:
This room, unlike most in the house, seems less to be in a state of half completion or disrepair, and more to have been left entirely alone. It is a vastly unremarkable room, left completely undecorated and mediocre. The bed is a hard, modest affair, dressed in plain white sheets. The dressers, all empty, are only the barest of necessities. The entire room seems utterly devoid of personality and, judging by the staleness of the sheets and the creaking of the dresser drawers, has remained unused for a long time.
The longer one stays in this room, the more that the room seems to reflect them. Or, at least, the person they once were. As the colours and decorations slowly spread across the walls and furniture like a slow moving stain, the occupant begins to feel more listless and less and less like themselves. The room becomes them, even as they become a shadow of their former selves.
The room locks from the outside.
21. The Lake
22. The Boathouse
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