<KiruGM> This is certainly a nice room!
<KiruGM> It's done up like a Viennese coffee house, dim and dark wood-paneled, with pine green wallpaper.
<KiruGM> Jiko, Echiko, and Aiko are sitting on the floor next to some plush chairs and about 30 red cups.
<Kita_Kiyone> "Oh, hello!"
* Aiko burps
<Jiko> "Helloooo! Hey, it's you!"
<Echiko> "Tell him!"
* Echiko punches Jiko
<Jiko> "I don't even think it's a good idea! She's married to the minotaur thing now."
* Echiko giggles
<Jiko> "I mean labyrinth thing."
<Echiko> "We're not gonna do that anymore! That's the surprise!"
<Jiko> "YES WE ARE."
<Echiko> "We're gonna do a whole new play, an interactive one. You can be in it!"
<Kita_Kiyone> "I can? Doesn't the theatre club have enough members?"
<Jiko> "We don't even need that many actors, just two."
<Aiko> "I don't like it!"
<Echiko> "Of course you don't."
<Aiko> "I think there should be a love story.
<Kita_Kiyone> "So, alright, two actors, new story, why don't you tell me about it?"
<Jiko> "How would a love story work in the Masque of the Red Death?"
* Kita_Kiyone sits down on the floor as well.
* Jiko stands up unsteadily
Jiko: "So there's a bunch of rich guys trapped in this palace, and that's all of us."
Echiko: "You…you're not telling it right! There's a plague that makes everybody bleed out and die, like Ebola, and that's why they all go in the palace."
* Echiko mimes a bloody, puking death with great verisimilliture
Jiko: "Right, so they're all in the palace, and there's a party, and there's all these different-colored rooms. Like one is green, and..."
* Jiko looks around
Jiko: "There's other colors as well. One is black."
Echiko: "That's the one where the guy appears who's dressed like a plague victim!"
Echiko: "All bloody and wrapped in a sheet, like he's dead."
Echiko: "And the prince goes--"
Jiko: "There's a prince, right? He put all the rich guys in the palace, and he's mad because it reminds them that death is outside."
Jiko: "So he rushes up and grabs the guy's clothes, only he's totally empty! Just a sheet and a mask!"
Echiko: "And then everyone dies!"
* Aiko looks sulkily drunk.
<Kita_Kiyone> "I'm not sure I get it this time."
Aiko: "I don't like it either."
* Jiko wobbles
Jiko: "Well, it's like...the plague was always with'm, I guess?"
Echiko: "And the best part is, everyone can play! They can all do their own death scenes!"
<Kita_Kiyone> "But what's the moral?"
* Jiko furrows her brow
Jiko: "You, uh...you can't build a wall to shut out human nature?"
* Echiko, in her best zombie voice: "Plague conquers alllll."
Aiko: "I think it's dumb."
<Kita_Kiyone> "Death's inevitable isn't much of a moral."
<KiruGM> The experimental theatre group fall to their internal squabbles, and you decide it's time to move on.
* Kita_Kiyone stands up and bows, and then walks back towards the general reception room.
<KiruGM> Sure you don't want to go through the other door in this room?
<KiruGM> It's so tantalizing.
* Kita_Kiyone pauses before exiting and turns into the /other/ room.
<KiruGM> This room is windowless and black, lit with a single orange fluorescent bulb like a streetlamp.
<KiruGM> When you come through the door, you can see a long row of shoes lined up against the far wall.
<Kita_Kiyone> "Well, this is unnerving now."
<KiruGM> At either end of the long oblong, there is an elevator with buttons for up and down.
<KiruGM> Tadashi is dragging a prone form towards one of the elevators.
<KiruGM> There are no other doors.
<Kita_Kiyone> "H-hey!"
* Tadashi blanches and drops his cargo.
<Kita_Kiyone> "What the hell are you doing!"
<Tadashi> "She passed out, so I was thinking...you know, get her to an exit or something."
<KiruGM> You can see that the prone form is Yoko, who seems to be somewhat the worse for drink.
<Kita_Kiyone> "And you thought the best exit to go through was through here, instead of bringing her out that way?"
<Tadashi> "Hey. Don't hassle me, man."
<Tadashi> "I don't even need this. I was just trying to help."
* Tadashi throws up his hands and makes to leave.
<Kita_Kiyone> "Yeah, I'm sure. How about you help me pick her up then."
* Kita_Kiyone moves to get Yoko up to her feet and leave.
* Tadashi flips you off as he leaves.
<Kita_Kiyone> "Ass."
* Yoko groans
<Yoko> "I feel weird."
<KiruGM> Lying beside Yoko is a key. It looks a lot like the key Demi uses to unlock the gate to the forest that leads to the Dueling Arena.
* Kita_Kiyone hms, tries to balance holding Yoko up and grab the key with her free hand.
<Kita_Kiyone> "Everything just has to pile on me, doesn't it."
<Inoki_Aoi> "I believe the word is 'drunk', Yoko-san."
* Inoki_Aoi steadies Kita with a politely-placed hand.
* Yoko slumps on Kiyone.
<Kita_Kiyone> "If you feel like you're going to throw up, don't on me, okay...?"
<Yoko> "I'm okay. I just wanna sit down."
Kita_Kiyone straightens back out after grabbing the key, and helps set Yoko down against the wall.
Inoki_Aoi stands unobtrusively off to the side, looking politely back towards the door.
<Yoko> "Whose shoes are these?"
<Kita_Kiyone> "I don't know. I figured they were some art piece."
<Kita_Kiyone> "Like everything else in here."
* Yoko picks up one beside her, and promptly falls backward through the wall.
<Yoko> "Owwwww!"
<Kita_Kiyone> "I... what?"
<KiruGM> Through the extremely unobtrusive secret door, you can now view another room and a very surprised-looking Sander
* Kita_Kiyone presses on the wall?
<KiruGM> The shoe appears to have been seated on a pressure switch.
* Kita_Kiyone helps Yoko back up, and looks at Sander.
<Kita_Kiyone> "And you are sitting in a secret room because?"
<Sander> "This isn't secret, it's two rooms from the front."
<Sander> "Though it's true nobody else is in here."
<Kita_Kiyone> "Behind a door with a pressure switch."
* Sander gestures toward other two clearly-marked doors.
<Sander> " I got tired of listening to Ruta talking about how great she is, so I came in here."
* Kita_Kiyone looks at the other two doors, rubs her temple.
* Sander looks past you at the black room.
<Kita_Kiyone> "This Gallery is making my head hurt, and I haven't even drank anything."
<Sander> "That one looks a lot more secret-y."
<Sander> "Well, which way did you go?"
<Kita_Kiyone> "Uh...northwest, northwest, through the gallery with all the nudes, this room?
<Sander> "Just around the outside and to the black and white rooms?"
<Kita_Kiyone> "That sounds about right."
<Sander> "That's about halfway, then."
* Sander gestures
<Kita_Kiyone> "Halfway to what?"
<Sander> "Through everything. It's pretty big."
<Kita_Kiyone> "This is why I joined track. Just have a big field."
<Sander> "I'd skip the Gold Room unless you want to talk to Ruta, then there's the Memorial--not much in there...weapons room, and the Clan Room."
<Sander> "Oh, and the library."
<Yoko> "Libary!"
<Sander> "Things tend to wind down around this time. If you're looking to get out, it's just east, south, south."
<Inoki_Aoi> "The library might be a quiet place one could sit down and have a glass of water."
* Sander nods
<Inoki_Aoi> "If one felt one needed to do something like that."
<Kita_Kiyone> Kiyone looks at Yoko, then back at Aoi.
<Sander> "Library's to the east."
<Kita_Kiyone> "She's your friend, right? Which do you think is better?"
<Inoki_Aoi> "Well, if you take her to the exit now, she has the unenviable task of walking back to her room in the dark, in her current condition."
<Inoki_Aoi> "It might be better for her to rest for a while."
<Kita_Kiyone> "Fair enough. Little help here?"
* Kita_Kiyone goes to help Yoko back up and walk towards the eastern library.
<Kita_Kiyone> "Thanks for the directions, Mr... uh..."
* Inoki_Aoi aids Kita with another politely-placed hand.
<Sander> "Goldbaum. Like the journalist."
* Sander waves
<KiruGM> You successfully maneuver Yoko into the library, which is cool and blue, with a domed roof painted with stars. She curls up on a divan peacefully, in the recovery position.
* Kita_Kiyone sits down, rubs her face again, and then takes a look at the key she picked up in the black room.
<KiruGM> Besides the room you just came through, there are doors to the south, through which you can see all the way into the foyer, and doors to the north through which a golden light emanates.
<Kita_Kiyone> "So, Inoki-kun, what do you figure this is for?"
* Inoki_Aoi clasps his hands behind his back and leans over to examine it.
<Inoki_Aoi> "Wasn't one of the doors in the foyer locked?"
<Kita_Kiyone> "The east door, yes."
* Inoki_Aoi smilingly shrugs.
<Inoki_Aoi> "Worth a try, no?"
<Kita_Kiyone> "I suppose. You're going to have to remember how to get back here though."
<KiruGM> Moving south, you pass through the room dedicated to honoring the Ohtori Clan, which is stuffed with students, into the foyer, where Chuck is picking at his nails.
<Kita_Kiyone> "I don't want to leave her sleeping there when they lock up some of these other doors."
<Shimabukuro_Kamiko> "ho ho ho ho ho ho!"
<Inoki_Aoi> "I suppose you are having a good time, Kamiko-sempai?"
* Shimabukuro_Kamiko , hanging on the arm of a soccer player, gives Inoki a glare that could glaciate Egypt.
* Inoki_Aoi murmurs "Not a good time for interrupting, at any rate."
* Kita_Kiyone tries the key on the eastern door in the foyer, back against the door itself to face Chuck.
<KiruGM> It opens with a groan, and you find yourself in the Weapons Room.
* Inoki_Aoi stands in such a way that if Chuck glances door-wards the first thing he sees is Kamiko's grimace.
<KiruGM> Glass cases of historical weaponry are set up all along the sides, backed with blonde wood. It recalls the time when the Ohtori clan operated a swordsman's school, back in the early 1600s.
<KiruGM> The front of each case has been smashed, and fragments of glass remain only in the corners of the doorframes.
<KiruGM> There is broken glass in the cases, glittering on the weapons like frost, but no glass on the floor below the cases.
<Kita_Kiyone> "Oh good, I've broken into a burglary."
<Shimabukuro_Kamiko> "HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO!!"
<KiruGM> Each of you who have been in one of the duels can see that the swords you had used are in one or another of the cases.
* Inoki_Aoi slips unobtrusively through the crowd and through the ajar eastern door, pushing it almost-shut behind him.
* Kita_Kiyone takes the key with her, and walks around the room as Inoki almost-closes the door.
* MaxFaust finds 'his' sword
<MaxFaust> "This is the blade that appeared in my locker..."
* Kita_Kiyone looks around Max's shoulder at the sword, to see if the glass is on top of the sword or not.
<MaxFaust> "Who would've done this? Kurouto? And why?"
<Inoki_Aoi> "Excellent questions."
* Inoki_Aoi leans over "his" sword, his hands clasped behind his back.
<Kita_Kiyone> "Maybe. I don't think Kurouto-sempai could be in charge of the entire duelling thing herself though.
<KiruGM> Max's sword is mounted vertically against the back of the case. No glass appears to be on it. The placard beside proclaims it to be the sword of one of the Ohtori school's most famous Western pupils, a wealthy Brazilian who studied here in the late 1800s.
<Kita_Kiyone> "At the least, our existence as student council and members of this suggest the administration are involved."
<Inoki_Aoi> "To the extent that the administration is ever involved in anything, I suppose."
* Inoki_Aoi peers around, looking for empty spaces.
<KiruGM> There are two empty slots where swords should be.
* Inoki_Aoi examines the placards.
<KiruGM> One is a katana c. 1590, owned by the first Lady Ohtori's first husband, a nobleman whose name has been lost to the ages.
<KiruGM> That would be exceptionally valuable on the open market.
<KiruGM> The other is a more modern piece, though still quite well-made, belonging to a student of the Ohtori school who sadly perished in the Sino-Japanese war.
<Inoki_Aoi> "One wonders if this means another duel is in the offing."
<Kita_Kiyone> "Well, you said these others were your swords?"
<MaxFaust> "Don't we have the key to the duelling platform? Could there be another?"
<Inoki_Aoi> "Normally, I'd say there can always be another key to a door."
<Inoki_Aoi> "That PARTICULAR door...?"
* Inoki_Aoi shrugs.
* MaxFaust grimaces
<Kita_Kiyone> "I picked this up because it certainly looked similar to the gate key Kurouto-sempai used."
<Inoki_Aoi> "....hm."
* Inoki_Aoi looks at the other doors in the room.
<KiruGM> The only door in this room is the one you came through.
<Kita_Kiyone> "So, okay. You guys get these blades. Then when you're done using them I'm guessing you handed them back to Kurouto-sempai?"
* MaxFaust shakes his head
<MaxFaust> "But I suppose she took it."
<Kita_Kiyone> "And if that's true, the she... returns them here?"
<Kita_Kiyone> "But she has to break into the cases themselves."
* Kita_Kiyone puts a finger to her chin, thinking over the possible reasons.
* Inoki_Aoi peers curiously at the placard for "his" sword.
<KiruGM> It's Meiji period. Its owner died during the Russo-Japanese war, but not in the war.
<KiruGM> It's a bit more Western-looking than many of the swords, except Max's.
<KiruGM> Which is clearly a cavalry sabre.
<Kita_Kiyone> "So, we have two swords missing. 'Your' swords are here. So that leaves... well, two options we can figure for."
<Inoki_Aoi> "Keeping in mind, of course, that none of us thus far have dueled each other."
<Kita_Kiyone> "So either myself or sempai are going to be involved."
<Kita_Kiyone> "Have you noticed anything about the people who you wind up facing?"
<MaxFaust> "Bad footwork."
* Inoki_Aoi stifles a chuckle
<Kita_Kiyone> "I meant, why were they selected to fight?"
* MaxFaust shrugs
<Inoki_Aoi> "Mine was... irritated? Jealous, maybe."
* Inoki_Aoi spreads his hands
* Kita_Kiyone sighs.
<Inoki_Aoi> "We are stabbing in the dark, as it were."
<Kita_Kiyone> "Fair enough."
* MaxFaust glances at his sword
<Kita_Kiyone> "We'll start from what we can figure out. As we get more information, we'll piece the rest of this together."
<MaxFaust> "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll become clear soon enough. One way or another."
<KiruGM> You hear the sound of gentle snoring from the direction of the foyer.
* Kita_Kiyone moves to the almost-closed door and peers out.
<KiruGM> Gentle from this distance, in any case.
<Inoki_Aoi> "I believe that may be a sign that the party is winding down."
<KiruGM> Chuck is asleep on one of the davenports in the Foyer.
<KiruGM> Like a beached whale.
* Kita_Kiyone quietly slips out of the armory room, waves at the juniors to exit.
* MaxFaust follows
* Kita_Kiyone locks the room with the key when they've all exited, and slips it into her jacket's inside-pocket.
<KiruGM> Guests are filing out in twos and threes.
* MaxFaust slips away
<Kita_Kiyone> "I'm going to check on... Yoko, you said?"
<KiruGM> You can see Yoko, a bit wobbly but basically compos mentis, coming from the north exit.
* Kita_Kiyone waves.
<Yoko> "Hey...thanks for helping me out, there."
<Yoko> "I don't really know what that was all about, but you guys were all over it."
<Yoko> "Think I can get back to my dorm on my own."
* Yoko smiles at Aoi
<Kita_Kiyone> "Well, alright. Feel better tomorrow."
<Yoko> "Unless you wanna walk me back."
<Kita_Kiyone> "That would be Inoki-kun's decision."
* Yoko doesn't get the desired response and makes her way out on her own, heels in hand.
<Kita_Kiyone> "For future reference, Inoki-kun, that's called interest."
* Inoki_Aoi turns out to, as you turn, to no longer be where he'd been standing. Or indeed anywhere within earshot.
<KiruGM> You each make your farewells and make your way back to your own homes, reflecting on what you saw at the party.
<KiruGM> Kseniya, you saw two tall girls, Haruka and Ayone.
<KiruGM> Both of them were fairly sinister.
<Shimabukuro_Kamiko> Three tall girls if you count Kamiko.
<KiruGM> Yes, Kamiko is also tall and sinister.
<KiruGM> She seems like the type to take out all of a child's blood.
<KiruGM> Anyhow, you've got a lot to think about.
<KiruGM> Is Demi stealing the swords you use to duel? And why?
<Shimabukuro_Kamiko> Why is Kita-san such a bitch to everyone she meets?
<KiruGM> Will the next duel answer these questions, or only create more?
<KiruGM> ~=TO BE CONTINUED=~
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