Day 021

[allthekeys]

|| THREAT DOWN

|| DAY 021: GENERAL As the sun rises, the air begins to warm. The heat during the early hours of morning is oppressive and sweltering, seeming likely to become utterly unbearable as the day draws on. Thick grey clouds soon roll over the sky, however, and shortly after daybreak, showers of rain begin to fall. They persist throughout the day, providing relief from the hot weather. || THE TOWN The Townspeople begin to bring out decorations and foods from the recent summer harvests as dawn comes over the castle walls. The Harvest Festival, as it appears to be, features what wares the traveling merchants have left, as well as what they've managed to produce during their stay in the former apothecary, and the local shopkeepers' goods as well. Instruments are produced, and music continues in the town square throughout the day. Games are played, as well. Though normal wares can be purchased today, special items are in the shops as well, traditional goods for the midsummer festival. The cheese house stocks fresh and dried vegetable and herb and spice wreathes, and the butcher's shop has newly slaughtered though no more identifiable than ever meat and sausages, cut in shapes most unusual. The monks do not participate in the festival, preoccupied as they are rebuilding their monastery, but occasionally Treasa glances over through the broken gate. At the center of town, accompanying the music, a bonfire is lit as if to challenge the heat of the day. Small figures of bound twigs are occasionally tossed in by townspeople and traveller alike. Though the figures are not all humanoid, many are. The Ready Wailers are for once not occupying their makeshift stage. They instead wander through town with their instruments to mingle with the festival-goers as they play—and to join along with any other musicians they may encounter. The faceless Gamesmen have set up booths for their skill games along one side of the town square. Once again, all of them offer the chance to win a prize in exchange for a few coppers—although just what these prizes might be remain a mystery until they are rewarded. The games that are available test a wide variety of different skills, from strength to dexterity to logic. After leaving the booths, however, it is also once again impossible to remember what exactly any of them had been. A rather plain-looking brown sparrow flutters back and forth between these booths, every so often landing on some out-of-reach perch to peer downwards at the happenings below. It remains in the area throughout the day and seems to be observing the games, perhaps giving one the impression that it is curious. Several Guards occasionally make their way down the road and march through the town, alert and with purpose. If they spot any of the castle’s former residents, those who have moved out to reside in the town, they will attempt to seize them, forcibly drag them back to the castle, and put them to work cleaning the Third Floor. || CASTLE With the first signs of daylight, the Walking Dead shuffle back to the Poppy Room and vanish into wherever they had come from. They do not emerge again. The Musicians’ Parlor is locked, with one Guard stationed at its entrance. At the first emergence of sunrise, the sound of orchestral music begins to play from within the room. It becomes louder and livelier as the morning goes on, soon ringing through the entire castle. The Lady has come down from her quarters on the third floor to sit in the Throne Room. She is once again accompanied by the group of finely dressed corpse dancers—if they could be called dancers at all—who had joined her some time ago. Although they are clearly quite dead by appearance, they waltz across the room with stiff, forced, shambling steps, moaning and limping as though the unnatural movement pains them. The Lady watches her performers with a faint smirk upon her mirrored face, seemingly amused. She is passive in her observation, however, and it might appear as though she is preoccupied with something else. In the Exotic Zoo, the cage that normally houses the Pixies is strangely open. The small flying creatures are nowhere to be seen or found—within the zoo area itself, that is. With free reign of the castle, they are wreaking havoc elsewhere. They zip through as much of the castle as they can, knocking over anything that seems breakable or likely to cause a mess—or injure anyone who is unfortunate enough to be in their general vicinity. Within a matter of hours, most of the rooms have been torn apart, leaving a very difficult job for those who have been tasked with cleaning indoors. Some of the Guards can be spotted running around the castle to make rather amusingly clumsy attempts at catching them, with little or no success. They will gladly enlist help from any of the servants, who are hopefully quicker and more nimble than the lumbering suits of armor that are currently leading the pursuit. The Steward has shut himself in his room, obviously in a foul mood again. Th door is not locked, however, and anyone who attempts to enter will see that he is sitting at his desk and flipping through the ledger in a rather impatient manner—occasionally with enough force to tear the pages. If they linger to watch, he will quickly chase them out. The Cook is also in a particularly foul mood. Those who are on kitchen duty will quickly realize why: the Wine Cellar is still flooded with the contents of its punctured casks, and during their shifts, they will be stringently ordered to clean it up. || GARDENS AND YARD In the Garden, the Green Man periodically patrols, tending to the overgrowth and increasingly strange plant life; at times he fumbles with half-broken tools, going through old motions that seem to have no real effect either way on the plants. He is never seen outside the garden, all of the tools coming from somewhere within. Three Guards are waiting patiently outside the Garden. As soon as they notice that the younger Hibari has moved outside of it, they will attempt to guide him to the castle. They will only use force if he refuses. || THE RUINS In the Ruins, phantoms pass through the streets, insubstantial figures of townsfolk going about their business. These phantoms seem unaware of any current presence around them, walking the streets and doing tasks, sometimes soundlessly interacting with each other, speaking with no words heard. In some places where the buildings are particularly damaged, they go through the motions of working trades where tools are broken or missing, or pass through rubble as if a passage were still clear. Not far from the wall, a Bell Tower chimes periodically; it seems as though it should be chiming the hour, but there is no rhyme or reason to its tones, occurring at irregular times and in varying numbers. The lower floor has a shrine with a mural of seven figures facing against a vast darkness; candles flicker around the table of the shrine. There is neither a mechanism to ring the bell, nor a bellringer. The chores for the day have been assigned: Dorm 18: Second Floor Dorm 19: Basement Dorm 20: Groundskeeping - Yard/Road, Stables Dorm 21: Basement Dorm 22: Second Floor Dorm 23: Kitchen Dorm 24: Groundskeeping - Garden Dorm 25: Groundskeeping - Yard/Road, Stables Dorm 26: Kitchen Dorm 27: Groundskeeping - Garden [ ooc: if you want to play a game, comment to the post with what skill your character is demonstrating and a dice roll results out of 100. We'll reply letting you know how you did and if you've won a prize! Feel free to try more than once, too!]

Comments

[spare_parts]

Dist would like to try the games! Using D&D stats for simplicity, he tries three: dexterity(96 lmao), intelligence(24), perception(86)! Not... a great spread, whoops.

[allthekeys]

Dist loses the dexterity game terribly. He gains nothing save for perhaps some embarrassment over his failure.

He wins the intelligence game, however! He is given an exquisite bejeweled hairbrush, perfect for either a human or a cat.

He does not seem successful with the perception game--but then, the gamekeeper blunders and causes him to win. He is reluctantly given a slice of freshly baked bread.

[shuttersense]

Rei tries five different games, with the rolls as follows: 91,45,41,64,91

Masaki tries three different games for now. Her rolls are: 60,57,75

[allthekeys]

Rei wins her second game but regrettably loses all the rest. As a prize, she is given a colorfully patterned knit blanket, made with love and care.

[allthekeys]

Masaki's luck leaves much to be desired today. She loses all three of her games.

[drammaturga]

Hope will play 3 games. She rolls: 42, 6 and 8.

Deniro will play five games. He rolls: 8, 18, 45, 95, 95

Syhr will play 3 games. She rolls: 24, 84, 75

Nemesis will also play 5 games. She rolls: 37, 79, 18, 16, 100

(Apparently Nemesis tripped somewhere on the last one and misses entirely.)

[allthekeys]

Hope loses her first game but excels at the rest. The gamekeeper is quite impressed, and she is given a lovely silk scarf.

[allthekeys]

Deniro wins two of the five games he attempts. He receives a small knife with an intricately carved wooden handle and a muffin.

[allthekeys]

Syhr wins just one of the three games. The gamekeeper gives her a very large wool cloak that will perhaps come in handy when the weather is colder.

[allthekeys]

Nemesis wins three out of her five games, however, her final loss is so utterly painful that the gamekeeper appears to cringe in secondhand embarrassment--even without the lack of any visible facial features.

Regardless, she is given three prizes: a prettily embroidered pillowcase, a wooden music box, and a large serrated tooth.

[solitarynuvola]

Hibari tries three different games of no particular category: 71, 87, 70. He also tries a strength game (14) and a dexterity game (54).

Hibird rolled a 30 on an intelligence game.

He's also interested in the sparrow, and will be bringing his birds with him to the square.

He will also set up a small area near the Baker's stall that has cold drinks.

[allthekeys]

Hibari unfortunately loses most of the games he plays, however, he does manage to win the strength game. He receives a pair of fine, sturdy leather boots as a prize.

The intelligence game's puzzles are simply beyond Hibird's abilities, and he loses as a result. Despite his failure, the gamekeeper is willing to offer him a handful of seeds.

Games games games yay

[whiteofcrime]

Kaito attempts a dexterity game (12), an agility game twice (50, 1) and an intelligence game (4). Yes, I know.

Mukuro tries his hand at a strength game (29).

Shougo attempts an intelligence game (14).

[allthekeys]

Lucky Kaito wins all of his games. The gamekeeper seems a bit exasperated at the end, but begrudgingly compliments him and gives him several prizes for his victories: a muffin, a pair of thick wool socks, an unidentifiable yet unquestionably delicious fruit, a well-polished glass lantern, and a deck of playing cards featuring the Leitner crest.

[allthekeys]

Mukuro just barely manages to win the strength game by the skin of his teeth. He receives a heavy iron skillet as a prize.

[allthekeys]

Shougo wins the intelligence game. He is given a puzzle box, perhaps with the expectation that he would also be intelligent enough to solve it.

Was the gamekeeper correct?

[neverasked4this]

Haha, guess who's a sucker for carnival games! (yes, this is canon XD) Darnell will try a strength game and a dexterity game, and the rest are logic/puzzle/mental challenges. He'll play seven in all

Rolls: 6, 13, 65, 10, 17, 66, 23

NPC requests (day 21)

[whiteofcrime]

On a separate note, would like to ask for Mukuro to meet with the Lady again. Am also interested in knowing whether Tanner would be amongst the guards who have probably grabbed Kaito and dragged him up to the castle to clean the third floor. He would just like to say hi to him and chatter, nothing complicated.

Carnival Games

[masterofthewhip]

Richter played 3 games. The results stand thus:

@Byakuran Why (Art): 3d100 Strength, dex, logic for Richter = (31+65+67) = 163
@Nothing: 3d100 richter = (88+8+68) = 164

He won Logic (barely) and Strength, but lost Dexterity.

[whattail]

Yama tried a dexterity game (3), strength (73), and intelligence (76)

[allthekeys]

Yamamoto wins the dexterity game in a rather impressive display. He receives a leather satchel of very fine quality.

Although he performs somewhat poorly on the strength game, he ends up winning due to an ill-timed blunder on the gamekeeper's part. As a prize, he is reluctantly given a slice of fresh bread.

He loses the intelligence game.