final investigation

[stagemanagers]

[It’s Thursday, and so you might very well expect nothing to happen today. Sure, there was no motive handed down on Tuesday, and the Phantom claims that his patron has chosen to end this show early. But he said by the end of the week; you’ve got a few more days yet before that.

So it may come as something of a surprise when all of the mirrors in all of the dressing rooms swing open simultaneously.

Nobody is there, and there is no announcement. But the intention seems clear. Gather your group, and bring anything you don’t want to leave behind. This means your important items and also your pets! Except for the horse...it seems he isn’t in his stall today.]




(( Welcome to the final investigation! You may all proceed together for right now - we’ll toss up toplevels for the separate groups when you reach your investigation areas! ))

Comments

[heathencall]

[This is as good of a sign as any to get going. Mephisto tucks his new glasses into his shirt, shrugs on his cape and dons his cat scarf. He looks around the room and... after pausing for a moment to think, reaches under the bed and grabs the small telescope charm.

Right. This is it. Into the unknoooooo -- no that's stupid.

Time to step into the space behind the mirror!!]

[madgiganticfeelings]

[HEY MEPHISTO, LITERALLY WHAT HAVE YOU SAID ABOUT GOING ALONE.

Christine had been woken suddenly back in her room, and after a little bit of disorientation that she was, in fact, not outside, had gone to check on Mephisto, since she probably shouldn't go into a creepy mirror passage without a buddy.

She's got her binder, flute, and that little bottle of Red with her, and Lion is snuffling around the room beside her.]

Mephisto! Wait for me! What happened to the buddy system?

[stagemanagers]

[The corridor you enter is not like the one Christine and Nana described.

For one thing, it's well-lit. This is because the walls are lined with golden arms holding candelabras in their hands. As you proceed, the arms will move back to allow your group more space to pass...they sort of just look like actual human arms spray-painted gold, to be entirely honest.

There should probably be some kind of dramatic chord here. Maybe it'll hit when you do something random and innocuous.]

[heathencall]

I assumed you would be following me. [He motions to the other opened doors and mirrors. Definitely not trying to sneak off alone.

Definitely not.

Anyway he's looking at those arms and... easing back a little bit. He definitely looks creeped out. Still gonna reach out and poke one though.]

Are we ready?

[stagemanagers]

[Feels metal? Moves like a person? Who knows, they're probably non-diegetic.]

[madgiganticfeelings]

Sure, sure. If you say so.

[She definitely doesn't believe him, but she pats her pockets. She does in fact have one of Mephisto's feathers pressed in her binder, and a couple bandages in her pockets in case Mephisto had needed, but... she can't think of anything else back there she dearly needs, so she nods.]

I guess we are. You think this is going to lead up to another entrance to the Phantom?

[heathencall]

I don't know.

[In any case, he's moving around so that he's closest to the arm wall. Just sorta holding out a protective arm to shield everyone.]

INVESTIGATION START

[stagemanagers]

[The man-made river you have to traverse to reach the Phantom's lair is fairly short, all things considered. Lined with stone walls and candles, it's practically impossible to lose your way. With the pole of the gondola, Christine can feel that the bottom is not quite even, and occasionally Horf might stumble a bit, but of course it's not a real river. There's nothing here that could really make your journey difficult.

The little cove that contains the Phantom's lair is absolutely littered with candles. They're just emerging improbably from the lake, all of them lit. But there's an easy enough path to get through and bring your boat (and horse) into shore.

The lair looks much as Christine and Nana left it, all those weeks ago. There's the tall mirrors, the even more candles, the weird turkey bed, the desk with papers scattered over it. But inspection of these papers will find that they're essentially nothing; they might have some music scrawled out on them, but everything of value seems to have been cleared from the open area of the lair.

Luckily, you've still got those draping curtains hiding the way into the inner rooms. It looks like there's two main directions you can take from here: a door to the left and a door to the right. Maybe, since you'll be so close together anyhow, there's no harm in splitting up.

AREA A: ANNE, NANA

[stagemanagers]

[It looks like your curtain hides a short hallway that ends like a T, with one doorway to either side. You can split up further, or you can both take one and then the other!]

[musacal]

[ Nana's got her backpack back on (which took a bit of maneuvering with the jacket over her shoulder because of COURSE she's wearing her stage girl outfit for this what do you take her for) and her wakizashi out because it's shorter than the katana and less awkward for this space. Who knows what they'll run into, you can't be too careful.

When she comes to the next set of doors though she frowns. ]

Do you want to check them out together or should we each take one?

[likemypicture]

[Standing next to Nana, Anne regrets wearing her flats. She tries not to pout about it too much-- sure, Nana may be taller, and be way more well equipped for something bad to happen-- but Anne has a crown and an airhorn, having left her portrait safely with the horse. Oh, and Tad Cooper, of course.]

We should stick together. I don't like the way this place feels.

[musacal]

[ She nods with a smile. Same wavelength-- well, except about th height stuff. ]

I agree.

[ Okay so, what's behind door #1 then? ]

Door #2

[stagemanagers]

[When Anne enters the second room across the hall, she'll find that it's just as neat and clean as the bedroom! Unfortunately, she does not have any cultural context for the wall full of televisions in here. There's something like a control panel beneath them, with a lot of buttons and switches and stuff, and a chair in front of it.

Good thing literal Anne of Cleves got this room, huh?]

[likemypicture]

[ICH BIN ANNA OF CLEVES JA!!!
WHEN SHE SAW THIS ROOM, SHE WAS LIKE——-]


Ja?

[She really is lacking the context here. It’s like the computers in the lab, or the smart phones they used during the show, right? Maybe? Why is modern tech so confusing!

She puts her hand on one of the screens. It’s solid, right?]

[stagemanagers]

[It's solid! There's screens showing pretty much every location in the Opera House - sans the bathrooms.]

AREA B: MEPHISTO, CHRISTINE, SANTANA

[stagemanagers]

[Your hallway is somewhat longer. As you proceed down it, the air starts to feel colder. There is only one door at the end.]

[madgiganticfeelings]

[Huh. Colder air gives Christine a very bad feeling, and she's picking up the pace almost immediately. Is this that cold storage the Phantom had been talking about?]

[heathencall]

[Mephisto is going to trail behind her, eyes narrowed and hunkered over as protectively as he can manage.]

[stagemanagers]

[~you open the door, and it looks like a morgue~

Which is to say that, yes, this sure does seem like it might be what the Phantom was referring to! The back wall is metal, lined with drawers, and there is a sort of metal cot in the center of the room that would presumably be for autopsies. Nothing of the sort is happening now; the cot is empty. Frankly, it doesn't look quite like the autopsy tables you might see on TV. There's no surgical tools around, just several unusual mechanisms attached to the cot itself.

The wall to the left side of the room has a door. There's a small window in it - you're not really at the right angle to see through that, but it definitely looks like there's a second adjoining room over there.]

Room 2, Electric Boogaloo

[heathencall]

[once he's totally sure Christine is secured, Mephisto is going to go ahead and open up that door. he looks... a lot wary as he peers in. Just going to do an ocular pat down of the situation before he steps into the unknoooooooown fray.]

[stagemanagers]

[This room has a desk, with a computer and some papers, as well as what appears to be a separate workstation with a lot of machines you do not recognize. Mephisto has, unfortunately, located a lab space.

At least there's one friend here! A human-looking skeleton dangles from a medical pole in the corner, like those medical skeletons tend to do. This guy looks a little charred, though, that's weird.]

[heathencall]

[Well shit. The skeleton makes him jump but... He's probably seen an anatomy skeleton before, right? Right.....

He'll leave the technology for now and go straight for those papers on the desk. What have we won!]

[madgiganticfeelings]

[Alright! Christine is done her poking around at terrible dead body notes, so it's time for her to snoop in here! She's going to poke around that workstation. Are the machines anything like the ones that were by the surgery table? Or are they just unfamiliar to Mephisto?]

[heathencall]

Be safe, everyone.

[He doesn't like splitting the party, but we do what we must!]

[likemypicture]

[She gives him a good glitter-filled hug]

You too, ja? Stay out of trouble. [And then she's bounding off after Nana.]