When dawn finally comes, you find them.

They're hanging in the grand hall, bound - almost cocooned - in inky black thread. The bodies of the victims, the ones without their hearts, are now miraculously whole. Cold and untouched, as if those terrible wounds had never been carved into their flesh.

They hang in various positions of rest, some limbs tangled and suspended, others simply hanging limply. Their eyes all all closed. The searchlight's body is still dull silver. The singer's hair dangles long and dark. The oracle's robes pristine.

It's like they've been left here for you, within your reach. The rest is in your hands.

yourkeepers

[There's been a third murder, and a witness to the scene has named a culprit! The chase has taken the group to the Dining Hall - this is open to all, but please keep it to one free for all thread, though you may split off for one on one actions if its appropriate.]

When you arrive in the Dining Hall, the darkness is alive. Like the very shadows, the air around you, is living and breathing - you can feel its cold touch, its heartbeat. It grows ever stronger.

You can't see up on the table from the floor, but you can hear it. You can see the glow, like a void with brightness on its edges. You can hear someone bickering.

His dark work nearly completed, the shadow's keeper revelled in his victory. The spirit of the dagger sung in his head, guiding his hand as he burned intricate sigils and spirals into the wood of the table. It celebrated with him. It praised its imminent release. Effulgent darkness and the light of fire worked in tandem.

'At last,' the spirit said.

“I don’t think this is right,” the kitchen fire says from up top, as if speaking aloud to himself. “But okay. If you say so!” A beat. “Do you even know how hands work, Mr. Darkness Incarnate? Have you ever even had hands?”

His work is hasty as he moves across the wooden surface. All three hearts are with him, still glowing, positioned around him and enclosed in magical circles, connected by a series of lines. He uses a large tome for reference as he draws - the one written in High Tongues, the spellbook from the magical room.

“Oh, well, if you usually have so many hands, maybe that’s why you keep making mistakes like this when there’s only two!”

Little did he realize, his enemies, led by a rifle with vengeance in her heart, were already almost upon him. That his reckless efforts had at last betrayed his true motivations.

The darkness hissed its discomfort as the sacredness of their ritual was desecrated.

It speaks on the edges of your mind, like whispers just beneath your range of hearing. But as you enter the dining hall you feel...guided. Like something is describing your actions even as you commit to them..

”What’re you think you’re doing?” demanded Brimstone, barrel set on the table as she gestured for her comrades to cover the exits. There was murder in her steely eyes. The bastard was here!

And soon, there would be payback!

yourkeepers

It starts with a scream.

It pierces with a depth that you've never felt before - so high and terrible that it hits like a physical blow against your body and mind. It leaves a terrible headache in its wake, like you've just been blugeoned, if you're close enough to hear. And it fades all too abruptly.

It come from the lower grand hall, near to the others but seperate enough for privacy. The next thing you hear is a cry for help from Coolkid, the darkling teen. When you arrive, he's covered in glittering pink blood. Aria is cut upon at his feet.

She's dead, and her heart is taken, just like the others. Her eyes are still wide in death, as her long hair soaks in the blood of her gaping wounds.

The boy seems unfocused and disorientated. There's no one else there. Nothing but the dark.

grotesqueobserver

Grand Hall

In the Great Hall, candles have been arranged around a section of wall, illuminating what appears to be some kind of message.

PLEASE HELP

The Oracle and the Light have been murdered by a person or persons unknown. If you have ANY information that can help, PLEASE write it here. We need to consolidate information as much as possible.

ORACLE
--heart removed and placed in body of bird woman in hidden room
--last seen alive ???
--throat cut to prevent calling out, probable cause of death. Heart removed postmortem.

LIGHT
--last seen alive ~~???~~ after discovery of Oracle's heart, between hidden room and library. Intended to stand watch in grand hall?
--killed in hidden room, body left at murder scene --> Brought from GH to scene? Following someone? Maybe knew killer?
--definite signs of a struggle, nails broken -- struggling w/ something hard??
--gaping wounds in chest/neck, heart removed, heart still missing
--trail of ash/charcoal --> hearth room
--blood of victim on hearth room stairs -- from murder weapon??? heart???
--squawk box removed from throat and stored in same cavity Oracle's heart found -- why???

OTHER NOTES
--Motive: Some kind of ritual sacrifice? To what end?
--Murder Weapon: Magical dagger. Black (obsidian?), causes sickness and sensation of being watched when touched.
My key to the White Room was taken from me. [signed by a basic picture of a clock face]
It wasn't me, I have an ~~alleby~~ ~~allibi~~^?? (Alibi) [with a tiny arrow pointing to the clockface, signed by a shitty picture of a sword with fire on it. The last "Alibi" is written in the same handwriting as the original note.]
I know it wasn't you. [signed by a clock face]

we're gonna get you motherfucker

All those killed were fairest.
All those killed glowed.
Victims do not have burns.
Don't step out of the light.
Scary gecko ghost in gardens
Did the murderer cause the lights to go out?

A.

A small pile of charcoal has been left near one of the candles, giving plenty of material to write with, but there seems to be no one around.

((OOC: Post to write stuff on the wall! I will try to keep the OP updated with the notes people leave. If you would like to leave an anonymous note, post anon here!))

B.

The gargoyle has camped himself out near the board, and looks hopefully at those who come in. "I'm trying to get as much information as I can," he explains, gesturing to the wall. "I thought maybe if we gather all the information in one place we can stop who did this. Have you seen anything...you know, suspicious?"

crabhammer

The crab keeps on seeing people investigating things, but for all the diligent clue-rummaging that presumably is getting done here, he still has no idea what the hell is going on, and from what he can work out the people looking for clues don't seem to be doing much liasing with each other.

It's inefficient, and more to the point if he has no idea what's going on then other people must not, either – which means they're way more likely to wind up on the receiving end of another mystery homicide due to lack of information and the whole thing will start all over again.

He is very concerned, and also pretty damn irritated at how incorrectly he feels everybody is dealing with this. Irritation is convenient. Irritation is certainly easier to deal with than fear.

So, having left the hearth fire in the hearth room with moderate certainty that his double is sitting tight there for the time being, he quits his monster shape, removes the candles from his shoulders, and finds himself a decently sized metal pot.

He takes that up in one hand and one of the candles in the other. Then he sets off down the length of the grand hall, banging the bottom of the pot with the hard carapaced knuckles of his other hand and managing, just, not to extinguish the candle.

"HEY ASSHOLES," he yells in between bangs, "GET OUT HERE, I AM CALLING A HOUSE MEETING, IT IS NOT OPTIONAL!"

(ooc: feel free to make multiple new threads in response to this, but jumping into existing ones is also totally acceptable! EDIT: I am going to combine replies to some of these threads to avoid too much repetition, because I got more separate ones than I was anticipating C: New folks are still welcome to jump in!)

yourkeepers

The body glimmers as the light spreads over its features, like a statue of precious metals stained with blood. Golden hair soaks in a pool of red that paints the floor like a canvas, extending out around the head and shoulders of the victim, still lazily seeping and expanding.

It's the body of the the oracle, and she is very much dead.

Her entire throat and chest is a mess of gore. The blood coats the skin and cloth so that it's hard to make out details, but there is one thing certain - something has cut deep into her chest cavity, as it carving something out from inside.

The body is still warm, but you never heard her scream.

yourkeepers

You wake in darkness.

At first, it doesn't occur to you as abnormal. The lights in a few areas of the house do dim as nightfall comes. The gardens, especially, plunge into the natural hues of evening and night. But it doesn't take you long to realize that this is different.

The darkness is intense, much thicker than you've ever seen, and it consumes everything. Every room has been plunged into the artificial night, and only with the aid of candles or torches will you find your way. It's quiet in a way that feels unwholesome, and any questions to the house will go unanswered.

The silence endures.

The more you try to figure out what's happening, the more it occurs to you - you don't remember going to sleep. You hardly remember anything about the previous evening, and you don't know how it transitioned to way it is now. The idea of it unnerves you.

And that's before you find the body.

hand_of_courage

This was not the first night he'd opened the door to the white room. He'd found the key over a week before and almost every night he'd gone to it and opened it. Hoping something would change or there would be something in it because Mason had moved something. He had no suck luck, of course. It was just an empty white room.

So tonight, he sat down in the threshold, legs crossed, and stared into it, wondering what it was used for and why it was the only door that he could get a key from.

starmap

[ A - Anywhere (Afternoon/Evening) - Open to all! ]

The astronomer, having newly awakened, is taking every opportunity he can to touch as many things as possible. He's in the lounge, the dining hall, the hearth room, and more. In fact, he goes between rooms multiple times. He runs his dragon hands over couches, clocks, even food on the dining hall table. He can't stop himself, nor does he want to; being able to feel things is amazing to him.

Every so often, he comes across other residents of the house. If he notices them, he offers what resembles a short bow before continuing his tactile journey. If not, he doesn't stop. They might have to work a bit to get his attention.

[ B - Gardens (Night) - One only please! ]

After wandering through the wondrous gardens for some time, most of which was spent inspecting fluorescent blooms and berries, he finally settles down in a clearing. It's small but lush, containing a little pool at one of its edges. He chooses this place for a particular reason: not its foliage, but its view of the night sky.

He looks up, and there they are. The stars. The astronomer doesn't recognize them as the stars from his dream – or whatever the vision in his mind may be – but they are just as impressive. Upon closer inspection, he sees that he does know what these constellations are. They're familiar to him; he's seen them before, somewhere. His mind is still foggy, but were he to be prompted, he would surely remember things about these celestial bodies.

planted_blade

Honor, duty, chivalry, and those who were supposed to uphold such values. In her mind's eye she could see it, an army of men--of knights--in gleaming armor, swearing fealty to their cause. One that was just. One through which they would make their nation safe for the unfortunates, the outcasts, the rich and poor alike. Through their hard work and dedication, they would bring peace to the land and make it into ~~Avalon~~ something to be proud of.

Even if this goal would take a lifetime. She would not turn her back on it, never stray, not so long as it is the right path to take.

It was with this image in her mind that suddenly the sword became aware of herself. In one moment she had simply bee and content that way, but now?

Now she had a goal, a purpose, something to act on when it came to herself rather than as a tool. This was no nation--whatever that was--but if there were people here who needed help, she would help them. What good was a being such as herself if she did not do so?

She took up the blade near her, the one she recognized as herself. How strange it was to be the wielder instead of the wielded, but that was all right. There was nothing incongruous about it to her. She was a blade, nothing more and nothing less, but that vision of the men around the table left her with a desire to be so much more. What good was a sword if it just sat on a wall gathering dust? What good was a tool if left to rust?

And she began to stalk the halls, to get a basic lay of the land. Every person she came across she'd point her sword--herself--at them and demand of them:

"You there. What is your purpose here?"

Because they were unfamiliar to her and if she was to protect the people here, she would need to find out as much as she could.

(ooc: Info here since I haven't had time to edit proper icons for this journal yet)

sageprincess

Grand Hall; Morning

"I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time."

It's a voice she recognizes as her own yet finds completely unfamiliar that pulls her out of the darkness and calls her to wake. A voice and the image of a boy with innocent blue eyes (too innocent for the burden he carries, she finds herself thinking though not knowing why) wielding a gleaming sword that shines in the light. He's important, that boy, that "Hero of Time," and yet--

The Oracle opens her eyes, and finds herself sprawled on the floor in the Grand Hall. Gone is the boy, gone is the stone temple he stood within, and when she gasps at the state of the Hall (wilted plants and ashes everywhere), her voice is the feminine one she knows to be hers and not the more masculine one she heard. Was it just a dream, then? Or a vision, perhaps? But, no, it felt too personal to be either of those...

Her quickening thoughts are interrupted as she pulls herself up from the ground, however, her attention turning to herself instead of the mess that surrounds her. Her white robes are stained black with soot, and a cursory glance reveals her hands and hair are covered in the stuff as well.

What in the world happened here?

Inner Gardens; Afternoon

Following the trail of dead vines leads to the gardens (and how fortunate she had that hint - she hardly remembers there being that many doors in the Hall), which the Fairest looks on with some relief. Even if its clear whatever fiery rampage wrecked the Grand Hall also made its way through here, being in the garden means there's water, and water means she can finally start getting the smell of smoke off of her and out of her clothes.

Should you be the type to frequent the lake, you might notice her shedding her headdress and outer robes and dunking them into the water, scrubbing them clean before hanging them out to dry. Or maybe she's tilting her head underneath the waterfall, running her fingers through her hair to get rid of the grime. Either way, don't expect to sneak up on her very easily, or get away with spying...

[ooc; can do action or prose - I'll match you!]

yourkeepers

[For all your kissing needs.]

yourkeepers

Bewitched by the thorn's touch, you have been ensnared in the deepest of sleep. Fortunately for you, the world of Faerie doesn't end with the waking.

The world of your dreams is brighter now, more clear than you've ever witnessed it. You've been it before, you think, there fragments of yourself become reality. But now you are somehow more lucid in its presence, and it's more real - something you can reach out and touch.

You find yourself in this world, and you are not alone. Your dreams and those of other join at the edges, pulling into each other along similar threads.

And you are watched by something even greater.

yourkeepers

[General purpose event log for those fighting the vines! Please put the time of the day and location in your header. The breakdown of vine movement will go like this:

Morning: Garden will be completely filled with large quantities of vines spilling out into the Grand Hall.

Afternoon: Vines will have found their way to the other rooms, and will be fighting for dominance of the areas. At this point, everywhere will be infected, at least partially.

Night: Do or die time. Heavy saturation of vines will have moved into every room, will be blocking exits, and will start penetrating less obvious areas that people might be hiding.

Of course, the counter efforts will effect this to some degree, but ultimately the vines will be coming on pretty fast.

You can also make as many private or public logs as you want on your own - this is just for if you don't feel like it warrants its own post/for general mingling.]

hand_of_courage

Master Bedroom
It had been a few days since he became so aware of himself. During the actual daylight hours he spent most of his time sitting on the railing far above his body, watching over it in the Grand Hall as others came and went. But he'd noticed that for the most part, things got quieter when night fell. So he'd begun exploring past the Hall and the Library over the last two nights. And as he explored, he found things he wanted to take with him. Little things. Shiny things. Things he did not have enough hands to carry and still pick up new things. He needed a bag of some sort.

The timekeeper felt himself lucky to have stumbled upon the grand expanse that was the Master Bedroom. It had cloth upon cloth that he could quietly pilfer and turn into the much-needed bags and even a belt to attach them to! He was not particularly stealthy in his acquiring of the materials - he went for the sturdier, darker colored pillows and somewhat thick curtain pulls so he was rummaging around quite a bit. But at 5'3" he was also fairly short and hard to see from atop most furniture.

All he really needed was to find something to cut and sew the cloth. Until he could find that, tying them up in a throw blanket have to do.

Dining Hall
The timkeeper eventually found his way into the dining hall. There were knives there, sitting on the table, and he could use them to cut his fabric. Finding a needle might be harder, but he thought he should be able to fashion one out of some smaller pieces of metal. Maybe. It was with that intent that he began climbing up to the table top.

[[ooc: Action or prose is fine, I'll match you]]

yourkeepers

[Hello! Welcome to Changed's first Random Happenings log.

A random happenings log is an open log in which there is the opportunity to have your character discover clues, meet NPCs, and unearth plot or event related items. The catch? You won't know what you're getting until it falls on your lap. Particulars will usually be determined by what you have your character doing in your intro and the sorts of plot things the mods have at the ready.

For this one, all players will receive a similar scenario. However, this thread will only be accepting five participants. This is first come first serve. If you miss out, don't worry - there will be many more in the future.

The Rules:

Only tag into a Random Happenings log if you will have a significant amount of time to tag over the next few days. Since it is first come first serve, we want to make sure that the plot opportunities are given to those that will have the time to make something of them.

If you do tag into a Random Happenings log and fail to remain active in your thread, the mods reserve the right to retcon your thread and give the opportunity to another player.

In this circumstance, "active" is defined as "a few tags per day" but the more, the better.

Obviously, if mod availability is the one at fault, you will not be held accountable for their absence.

Any actions your character take in the thread can and will have plot consequences. Deals with NPCs will always be risky. Mysterious artifacts may have negative effects. You will not necessarily be told the full consequences of a plot thread when you choose to take it, but you may ask the mods to be given an idea of what you're signing onto.

This log is occurring in the library. To participate, please start an introduction thread with your character exploring the observed phenomenon.]

You see them again. The webs.

At first you only catch a glimpse of them - shimmering, crystalline threads hanging off of a nearby bookshelf. You expect them to disappear the next moment, like they always do, but this time they don't. Instead, you warily observe them spreading into larger and more ornate webs, leading a path to a wing of the library you never knew existed.

From what you can see through the webs, it's older and darker, filled with dusty wooden shelves and twisting stairwells you can't see the extend of. To see anymore, you'll have to enter - but who knows what else lurks inside?

mazeonry

[It doesn't take long after the initial, most violent outbursts for it to happen. A new voice speaks - one that seems to radiate throughout the house. From within, like a part of it. The voice is surprisingly young and on the masculine side, like a young man that has finally run out of patience and is now intent on taking it out on everyone else.]

That is IT! I've about had it with every single one of you! You had better get back to your places post haste or I am well done playing nice!

Come on now! Things, go sit somewhere and look pretty. You others - I don't know, go sit somewhere! I don't care! Just stop wrecking things!

[ooc: Mason can speak to every room in the house at once, but can also narrow it down to specific areas and people. If you reply to him, start a thread stating in the subject line where your character is at the time! He can, in fact, affect your surroundings, so be careful!

PS: characters will initially have no idea who Mason actually is.]

yourkeepers


	THE GRAND HALL

A maze of stairwells and doors, the Grand Hall is not vast in proportion so much as it is vast in sheer depth. Several layers deep and containing what must be thousands of doors, it is allegedy a portal to almost every room in the house. These tangled pathways are lit by a great number of ever-burning candles, as well as the shimmering blue light that streams in from the ornate stained glass that covers the entire upper ceiling - images chronicling historical events of strange alien worlds you've never seen. Every now and then, the glass itself will shift, animating the tale and ushering it on to the next chapter of the story.

Of the many doors in this hall, very few are unlocked - and those still closed are sealed with something far more powerful than what mere physical force can break.

Changed Social

Entries tagged with link

HEARTS IN DARKNESS: EPILOGUE

HEARTS IN DARKNESS: THE FINALE (OPEN TO ALL!)

HEARTS IN DARKNESS: THE THIRD OFFERING

What do you know? What do we know?

PLEASE HELP

THE GRAND HALL; OPEN

HEARTS IN DARKNESS: THE BODY

HEARTS IN DARKNESS: WAKING UP

Day 18 Night (Great Hall)

Did you make it to the Milky Way | Day 15 | OPEN

ITP: Witty name to be added; Day 10; Mid-day; The Inner Gardens

I think it turned ten o'clock but I don't really know | day 8

SLEEPING BEAUTIES EPILOGUE: THE KISS

SLEEPING BEAUTIES: DREAM LOG

SLEEPING BEAUTIES: VINE LOG

Making a necessity or three | The Master Bedroom & The Dining Hall

RANDOM HAPPENINGS LOG: THE LIBRARY [OPEN]

MASON LOG: THE FIRST [OPEN]

OPENING MINGLE LOG: THE GRAND HALL

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