thelockedplace | MINGLE

MINGLE LOG | WEEK 1
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Greetings, house guests. You must be a little more familiar with how things work around here now. There is no escape.

One thing does seem to have changed: characters can now freely investigate the now unlocked Crypt.

On Sunday, nothing much at all happens. Better take the time to rest, recuperate, and decide your next steps. Maybe you have people you want to talk to after that … shit show? Now’s the time: unload those feelings.

Alternatively, with the pantry open with plenty of food available, why not wander into the kitchen for a snack and a chat with whoever is there?

(Don't forget to check out the post-trial afterparty!)

Come Monday, everyone will make up to a most unpleasant surprise: their motive for the week.

Unfortunately for those characters with questions about the motive, Pratibha is nowhere to be found afterwards. Additionally, all the profile entries for Leona, Phoenix, and Yoojin have changed. It’s a fairly clear indicator that they are dead. Enjoy this useful information!

On Tuesday, there are two noticeable changes. The first is that there is a new puzzle. The second thing? Pratibha’s presence. She's finally back. Why was she missing on Sunday and Monday? Why does she seem so … out of it? She’s all curled up in the laundry room this time, intermittently snoozing in the little nook off to one side.

On Wednesday, Pratibha is gone again. And so, unfortunately, is one of your own. What happened? Who is it? All subsequent headers, including Wednesday's, will be frozen until a Wednesday event can take place. We will announce to the playerbase once Wednesday's thread is live for you to investigate!

Thursday brings a very specific change: after 9 PM, no one get into, or out of, your rooms. Plan wisely. You may get stuck in the halls, which might be fine … except we know what happened last Thursday night.

Thursday also brings with it another new puzzle.

Friday is investigation time The investigation post will go live at 3 PM EST, 5/9.

Saturday is the day of your “first” real ritual. You may find the ritual post here at 12 PM EST, 5/10.

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

code bases by tricklet

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, uh. Yeah, sorry about that. [ Leon grimaces. Of course someone was around to overhear his outburst. How embarrassing. ] Think it might just be sinking in for everybody how bad our situation really is. There's a lot to be stressed about.

You mean how we have to play by the rules or else the house will eat us, you mean?

I think it just makes me more determined to get out of here and get back to my family. In order to do that, cooler heads are going to have to prevail. Not to mention that there has to be a trick we can't comprehend to how this manor organizes itself.

[ Leon just looks away at that, frowning. It's hard not to feel a little like he's being scolded, but he shoves that childish notion down as best he can and ignores it for now. ]

Mm. If there is a trick to it, it's probably beyond me. Spent two days trying to figure out the hallway situation, and all I've got to show for it is a lot of wasted ink and paper.

[ And people overhearing him throwing a fit about it, apparently, which is all the more reason to stop sulking about it now. He's fine. Time to change the subject. ]

What've you been up to, though? Finding anything useful?

[Snake will nag you if he has to. He tracks Leon as being someone who deals with high stress situations, at least if his profile is true.]

I can confirm that the manor does an amazing job of confounding the other senses as well...

Wait a moment.

[What else haven't they tried? It occurs to Snake he's got something very obvious on his own person that might have a clue.]

What about my laptop? We know it doesn't have internet access but maybe there's something on there that I simply don't know about because it's built for voice to text.

Yeah?

[ That is something, potentially. It's not likely their captors left anything too important on there that wasn't in everybody else's journal, but it's not impossible either. ]

You want me to take a look? I'm probably not the most tech-savvy person here, but I could give it a once-over.

All right, as long as you promise not to add any weird messages to it.

[If Leon does scroll through the profiles, there's also an extensive note past each of them that breaks down their physical description in a comical way. Someone clearly conveyed this info and Snake took this person at their word. The only other interesting addition to the profiles is a quick note under Viktor, calling him an "abelist asshole."

Other than that, nothing really spicy to find here. If Snake has any other personal thoughts on the people of this manor, he's keeping them to himself.]

Of course. Promise. [ he says, seriously. He may be from the dark ages of 2004, but he can figure that messing with someone else's assistive device would be a grade-A asshole move.

In any case, he scrolls through the profiles, doing his best to hide his bemusement at the notes, and tries a few keyboard shortcuts that he thinks might open up other programs or hidden files. No dice. ]

Damn. Nothing I could find but the profiles that're in everyone else's journals. [ He sighs, a little disappointed but not surprised. ] Was worth a shot, at least. Maybe someone who's more familiar with this stuff could still find something we missed.

Well, at least there wasn't a program blatantly there that eluded my knowledge. You do bring up a good point, however.

Among everyone in this manor, who do you think would have the best chance to figure out if there's anything additional on the laptop?

Good question. [ Leon has to think about that a moment. ] Otto's an engineer, he probably knows his way around things. And Octavia's from space, apparently? Haven't talked to her yet myself, but maybe she'd know something.

[ It does not occur to Leon that to someone from the spacefaring era this laptop would likely be as indecipherable as an astrolabe is to him, if not more so in its complexity. ]

Well, it's certainly something to consider if we find ourselves out of options.

Thank you for checking my laptop anyway, Leon.

No problem. Least I could do. [ He gives Light a thumbs up, mostly out of habit. ] Anyway, uh. Thanks. For checking in on me. It's probably a good idea to do that for each other, here. How're you holding up?

Stressed, but coping. There's just something in the air and no, I don't have superhuman senses. But it doesn't take those to feel there's something going on.

The only thing I can think of is doing a thorough investigation of one of the rooms we do have access to. Just to see if there's some puzzle or trick to it.

Yeah? Makes sense. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a hidden door or passageway we haven’t found yet, or some trick to opening all these locked doors. Mansion’s fancy enough for it.

[ Why do rich people love building puzzle dungeons so much anyway? It’s a mystery. ]

Got any ideas about where to start checking? There was a stairway to nowhere that looked promising to me, earlier this morning, but it might be gone now.

Hmmmmm.

[It could be anywhere if they were talking secrets and passages. But sometimes the best solutions were the obvious ones. Or the ones you recall thanks to your sister.]

I'm reminded of books my sister would read to me. Gothic ones with secret servant's passages. Those were always hidden in the kitchen through some cunning means.

Sounds like as good a place to start looking as any. You want to go do that now?

[ He's up for it - not like he was doing anything more important anyway. ]

Of course.

[And off they go to the kitchen. Snake hadn't even bothered attempting this before, but with the idea that they came up with, it certainly can't hurt. So he's feeling around in drawers for false bottoms or buttons.]

I'm struck now with a thought. My parents have what's essentially a junk drawer in our kitchen with all manner of things. Is there anything like that here?

Hmm. [ Leon's pretty sure he's seen something like that around before. It takes a few tries - of course it does - but after some searching he rattles open a drawer full of odds and ends. Or rather, he gets it halfway open - something jams in it as he pulls. ]

Found it. Just - fuck, one second. [ He reaches in and pulls out some kind of overly elaborate egg beater that had managed to get caught in there sideways. ] Got it. Right. You think we could find a key or something in here? Or is there something else you're looking for?

MINGLE | WEEK ONE

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