Week Four

[stagemanagers]

[Last week, Gershwin High School Academy University saw its very first intentional murder! What a milestone! And right after Spongebob's No Murder party, too - that doesn't seem like it bodes very well for anybody's future.

You all wake up this morning with yet another new memory returned to you. You'll also find that the school's external doors have now unlocked. Congratulations! You're free! Unfortunately, you also seem to be entirely in the middle of nowhere. So maybe it's more of a symbolic victory.

Still, you should look around and do some investigation! Maybe you'll find a fun surprise.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Be sure to submit your memory regains and your AC for this week! Hester's office hours and the merch booth also remain available! ))

Comments

[tellthestory]

Well...no, he's not.

[He thinks about this for a moment. The Phantom...maybe could run something like this, if he just selected a bunch of Parisians and locked the doors? The Balladeer has honestly no idea how he'd expand it, or even really why.]

Maybe. I don't...if it was the same as the show I know about, I don't know how he could've done all of that. He has a lot of secret passages in the Opera house, so he can get away with seeming like a supernatural being there, but he's just a man.

[mcfife]

What kind of show?

[Angus has only gotten more confused with the Balladeer's explanations, but nothing can hurt him after today's dream. It may as well end up not making any sense; it won't matter.]

Your performers don't kill each other.

[tellthestory]

The Phantom of the Opera, I mean. The show he's from.

[He guesses it is confusing when he also talks about both of his former shows pretty regularly.]

I mean, I haven't seen it. But it's really well-known.

[mcfife]

Is it based on a true story?

[Wait.]

Or would a man attempt to dress up as The Phantom to hide his identity?

[tellthestory]

It's based on a book, but I...doubt that was based on a true story. I mean, he burns down the Paris Opera House at the end.

[And THAT would be some kind of big historical event he'd know about, right???]

But...I guess someone could use it as a costume, if they wanted. It does come with a mask. Guess that kinda brings it back to square one.

[mcfife]

Phantom, Wizard...I heard someone mention Oz. Is he based on a legend, too?

[tellthestory]

Oh, that's an old movie. I wonder if there isn't a copy around in the library?

[He hasn't looked! There is, though.]

But...I don't know. He's not the greatest guy in the movie, but it's nothing like this. More a con artist than a mass murderer.

[mcfife]

But this is a real wizard. Not one from a book. He must obtain his power from somewhere.

...

He said that this has been done many times before. Do you think they all use code names? Throw us off their real identity?

[tellthestory]

Maybe? Seems like they both did. I'm pretty sure the Phantom of the Opera has an actual name, at least.

[Not sure about the Wizard of Oz?]

[mcfife]

It seems like they can't come up with their own title and must copy something from a book.

[No creativity, these villains!]

[tellthestory]

Not just that, he's got a whole bit going. That Phantom guy, too - you said it was literally in an opera house?

[mcfife]

Exactly that. Including apparent disappearing acts.

...Is Oz the name of the school the wizard haunts in the book?

[tellthestory]

Oh, no, it's a country he rules. The story's about a girl named Dorothy from Earth, whose house gets taken away by a tornado and dropped in Oz. She and her friends go to find the Wizard who's in charge, so he can send her back home with his magic, but it turns out he's just a con artist who pretends to be magical.

[mcfife]

...Oh.

How did no one else figure out he was a fraud? [Especially if he was in a position of power...?]

So would that mean that he wishes that we believed we were in Oz, just as the Phantom wanted us to believe we were in the opera house from the tale. [And if it's so far away from Earth, it would help deter them from escaping.] That's not impressive. We would know that this Wizard has no magic to be afraid o.

[tellthestory]

It's a children's movie.

[You probably aren't supposed to really think about it that hard.]

I don't know if this is supposed to be anything like Oz, though. There's...an Emerald City? But not everything here's green.

[mcfife]

There's the green lizards.

...

That's all.

[tellthestory]

He could've just painted the whole school!

[Which like, sounds horrible to live in, but.]

And the halls could've had yellow bricks. I'll have to try and find that movie, show it to everyone.