Big Trouble in the Big House

[divus]

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[requiemed]

[She's looking with mild dismay down at her converse, but when Ray speaks up, she glances his way.]

I'm fine, but... Can I keep it until we leave? You have a gun. [But, hm.] Appease it with what? Leopards aren't exactly known for eating grapes.

[stares directly at ty]

You think we should head into that room next? Maybe it'll have less death vines.

[divus]

[Someone save the distressed roomba. As it is, the house goes quiet, and somewhere above them they'll hear a lock very faintly click open.

The door to the next room, near the stairs, also clicks open. They can either investigate or they can head straight upstairs. That's up to them, but at least there aren't leopards in other parts of the house.]

[tootsiepop]

[He's fine. It's fine.]

I don't see how we were meant to appease a disembodied head. [STARES AT TY MORE INTENSELY

But

anyway—]

... Is someone else in the house with us? [Well. It's probably magical bullshit.] We should finish investigating downstairs before we head to another floor.

[selfimmolates]

I mean, it's also just as likely that Cunning is screwing with us.

[but sure, let's go.]

[requiemed]

...Yeah, I guess that checks out.

[smh @ cunning

but yes, through the other door they go, probably.]

[divus]

[As they venture through the other door, they'll find themselves wandering down a flight of stairs. For a house this big, it also seems to have a basement.

Careful, it's dark. Also there's lots of boxes? Like if you walk down the stairs you're immediately going to crash knee-first into a stack of boxes. That's probably nothing though, right?]

[tootsiepop]

[Well.

This sure is a spoopy basement. Connor pauses at the doorway, checking first to make sure there aren't any obvious light switches available. After finding none, he sighs.]

I wouldn't suppose Ray is carrying a flashlight with him as well?

[... And whatever the answer is, he's going to insist on going first. It's fine if he gets stabbed by a basement monster? Anyway— On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is their encounter with the boxes going to be, y'all.]

[selfimmolates]

[i can't answer that question because ray possibly would've thought to but i, oocly, did not so unless ty gives me retroactive permission to say he made one or something,

but ray is going to be careful as he goes down the stairs, i dunno about the rest of you!!]

[requiemed]

[Zoe’s also walking pretty carefully down these incredibly ominous basement stairs, so there will probably not be any accidental roomba stabbing.]

Do you guys see anything?

[divus]

[Nope, no lights for you guys, good luck. Luckily for them there's only a big box at the foot of the stairs, but there seem to be small glass jars scattered around the stairs themselves. They'll have to navigate those carefully to get to the bottom.

There's no leopard head or anything in the room, but they'll hear what sounds like gentle babbling of words that don't make sense. It's more nonsense than actual sentences, but it's coming from a back corner.

There are still mountains of boxes and jars though. Persist? Or head upstairs again and leave?]

[tootsiepop]

No... I can barely make out what's in front of me. [...] But I think I can hear something.

[Presumably, his LED will help a teensy bit with the lighting situation. Other than that, uh. He's squinting in the dark, mindful of his step. Is there any visible writing on the boxes, or anything else of note on them? Or is it too way too dark to notice any details even with the LED?]

[selfimmolates]

Yeah...

[ he puts his gun away (because apparently it pissed off the leopard??), though he's still alert as he heads towards the source of the babbling.]

Hello...?

[look, it's his attempt at the pacifist route. place your bets on how long this'll last.]

[requiemed]

[She’s heading with Ray towards the source of that voice, concerned, as she speaks up too.]

Are you okay?

[divus]

[The words seem to blend together, turning into echoes about the son of Poseidon that make zero sense in context. Even as Ray and Zoe search, they're not going to find anything. The words are louder the closer they get, but they aren't actually increasing in volume. Heading for a back corner where the sound is, they'll feel the air grow warmer as if something should be there.

Connor, meanwhile, will be able to see that the boxes are labeled "STRAWBERRY PRESERVES" and "AMBROSIA". If he shines his light on the jars, he'll see that they're definitely strawberry preserves.

Once Zoe and Ray are close enough, they'll also hear: "There's no way out."

So that's cheerful.]

[tootsiepop]

[i'm so glad that zoe and ray are living a horror story while meanwhile, connor, squinting at strawberry preserves.

If he starts carefully digging through the boxes, will there be anything in there beside strawberry preserves, like the ambrosia? Or nah? Assuming they can be opened in the first place, that is.]

Zoe, Ray. Sound off if you found anything.

[Because he sure did not hear that cheerful endnote.]

[selfimmolates]

[ignoring connor for now, sorry connor. instead, in a surprisingly comforting voice (considering how much of a dick he usually is)—]

It's all right. We'll find one.

[hopefully that wasn't, like. a threatening kind of "there's no way out" or else what he just said was completely pointless.]

[requiemed]

There's a voice...

[That's said for Connor's benefit before she gets back to this possibly ominous ghost voice.]

Are you stuck here? Maybe we can help you.

[divus]

[The disembodied voice's only response is an almost incoherent sob that it's "so dark, too dark." It seems like it's no longer even speaking full sentences, wavering in and out. It doesn't sound threatening at least? It just sounds sad and kind of horrified.

Regardless, even as Zoe and Ray get closer they'll only find a wall, though stepping through that space will also instill a brief sense of terror through them. The room will feel too dark suddenly, and the door upstairs will begin to close.

Connor, on the other hand, will definitely find jars of preserves but also boxes of what look like little golden-brown squares? They look soft to eat. Those may be worth investigating.]

[tootsiepop]

[Nice. He'll take one of the pastry boxes, looking it over with the intent of sampling one of the golden-brown squares. It's while he's prying one of the boxes open that he notices the room feels a teeny bit darker than before — and he looks up in time to see the door closing on them.

...

Hm. Would he even get close enough to hold the door open if he ran for it, considering all the junk laying around? Thanks for having the messiest basement, Cunning.]

Hey! I don't mean to alarm you. [Uh.] But the door—

[As in, it's totally the right time to be alarmed.]

[selfimmolates]

[UH

there's a moment of panic—ray's first instinct is to bolt for the door—but the cogs in his head are still turning. He whirls around, but holds himself back.]

"There's no way out." Which means the way we came from doesn't count. We haven't messed up yet—there was no signal, like that roar in the previous room.

Maybe we're supposed to find another way. Bring light.

[requiemed]

[Likewise, there’s a moment of panic for her, half because of that sudden spike of terror and half because of the door. She turns back and takes a step towards it, but when she hears Ray, she pauses.]

Like... A secret exit or something?

[divus]

[Connor: I don't mean to alarm you.
Ray and Zoe: alarmed.

Anyway, so maybe don't sample the food in the box yet as the door swings shut and sends them into the dark sans the LED light. The boxes are stacked up and in the way, and the voice seems to whisper one last thing before stopping entirely.

"The earth...underneath."

Ray seems to have the right idea, as does Zoe, though there's no indication of where they should be looking. Another light source will help, but that's if they can wade their way through boxes and jars. They can move them, or they can just break everything. It's a choice, really.

They can also try the door again, actually.]

[tootsiepop]

[Now that they're submerged in complete darkness, his LED spins yellow — processing speed kicking up. Finding a secret exit is good and all, but. Hm.]

Or we could confirm that the door is, in fact, locked.

[He's stealing one of the pastry boxes either way, though.]

[selfimmolates]

You do that, then. You're the one with a light, anyway.

[ray will focus on moving around any boxes he can feel in the dark.]

[requiemed]

Don’t burn yourself again.

[She’s carefully starting to push some boxes aside, too, as she addresses Ray.]

What do you think it meant by the earth underneath?