No Backward Glances

[stagemanagers]

Today is the day of the promised grand finale. And, strangely, nothing about the Opera seems especially different this morning. The theatre doors remain locked. There's no smell of blood in the air, no trashed rooms, and no dead bodies to find. In the lobbies, the crystal chandeliers are still in their places, not swung about by any mysterious force.

But there's little things. It may take a while to notice, but the lock on one of the doors in the second floor lobby - the one leading to Boxes 5 through 8 - is missing. Should anyone try it, it opens easily and without a sound.

Meanwhile, down on the first floor, the graffiti on the box office walls has once again been cleaned up. In the process, it seems, the box office door was left slightly ajar.



(( As a reminder, these are your teams. Group A gets the second floor, which will involve the area indicated in red, and Group B gets the first floor, with the areas in blue here and down the left to here. Good luck, everyone! ))

Comments

[catliketread]

...Well. That would probably be the best idea. Should we check the walls for light switches...?

[dechagny]

I can attempt that.

[PATTING THE WALL NEARBY THE DOOR FOR LIGHT SWITCHES...]

[stagemanagers]

[Bless you, Billy The, for having the most common sense in the opera house. There's a switch on the wall just near the door.]

[dechagny]

A-hah!

[Flipping that switch!]

[stagemanagers]

[The light illuminates a very short hallway. There are four doors with gold plaques on them reading Box 5, Box 6, Box 7, and Box 8.

Three of the doors are closed but the door to Box 5 is ajar.]

You... didn't see that. You can't prove anything

[dontfeedplants]

Oh hey, that door's open.

[Brillaint observation there.

He's just going to head to the Box 5 door and look inside.]

[stagemanagers]

[It's a beautiful theatre box, decorated in much the same way as the court room. Gold accents, plush red velvet, the works.

But while there's space for at least four chairs there's only one in the box. It's pulled up right to the edge of the box and on the floor next to it is something long wrapped in a blanket.]

[dechagny]

[COMING RIGHT THE FUCK IN and honing in on that weird long thing. Raoul crouches by it and unwraps it from the blanket.

What horrible thing does he win this time?]

[stagemanagers]

[It's a rifle, a Mannlicher-Carcano to be exact. 6.5 millimeter. Stopping range 900 yards. The sight's already been adjusted.

Three guesses why this is here.]

[dontfeedplants]

[Wow, that sure is a gun. It only takes him a moment to realize the significance of it.]

Oh my god...

At... at least Hans isn't here to see this?

[That would be a wound they wouldn't want to open right now.]

[allicareabout]

[Coming back in from the hallway after checking one of the other doors, and- ...ah.]

Well, he's going to have to see it eventually - we're not leaving it here.

[dontfeedplants]

I guess he'll have to. We should at least let him down easy about this.

... So you know if there are still bullets in there?

[You know, maybe something to defend themselves could be nice?]

[dechagny]

[...Okay so Raoul isn't sure what kind of gun it is, but he does know it is definitely a gun.]

...We should still bring this with us. In case...it's needed for the trial.

[Put the Balladeer's murderer up on that stage for a change]

[allicareabout]

...I'm going to pretend that I didn't just hear you suggest that, and if I did, you were definitely talking about submitting it as evidence.

[dechagny]

[A little put off,] Of course I meant evidence.

[stagemanagers]

[Well, that lovely find and the little makeshift sniper's nest seem to be the only things present in this box.

...but how was Management getting in and out of here, anyway? They sure weren't coming in via the lobby. If only someone present had experience with creepy box dwellers...]

[catliketread]

[While Seymour's checking that out, the Pirate King is going to try the door to Box 6. Is it locked?]

[stagemanagers]

[It is locked. Sorry, PK.]

[catliketread]

[WELL THAT'S UNFORTUNATE, he'll head back over to Seymour, then!]

[dieformymusic]

...that works.

Be safe, Seymour.

...everyone.

[He'll test Box 7 in lieu of the other two.]

[stagemanagers]

[Just like box 6, it is locked.]

[dieformymusic]

[Welp given that trying to bust down these doors goes nowhere back to then party.]

[allicareabout]

[JUST GONNA TAKE A WILD GUESS HERE AND ASSUME THAT BOX EIGHT IS ALSO LOCKED but you know what, no harm in being thorough and checking anyway.]

[stagemanagers]

[Rightio, Billy. It was a nice try though.]

[allicareabout]

[Utterly legit tbh and thank you for indulging, back to Box Five it is! o/]