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HAPPY HALLOWEEN BITCHES 🎃
Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion...though you may have once known it as the Crimson Phoenix dorm. As you approach, you may find that the area is hardly recognizable. There are several tables set up outside hosting all sorts of activities, and at the front and center is a small, cheerfully crackling bonfire. Scattered around the outside are several fake tombstones with equally fake inscriptions painted on them and lit by soft glowing lights with various skeletons posed around the graveyard. In the front on the way to the main door is a twelve-foot skeleton dressed as a witch, and from here you can see three inflatable pumpkins on the roof. Approaching the dorm itself, you'll find that the outside has been decked out in lights and decor, and the inside is just as elaborate and extra. Terrible idea to give teenagers unlimited money and time on their hands, huh?
As you enter through the lobby, you'll find that you may be guided to enter a haunted maze. Adventurers beware...
...but for those of you who are more interested in the festivities upstairs, residents of Phoenix dorm will happily shuttle you up to the second floor in an elevator decked out with floating candles. Upon reaching this floor, you'll be greeted with the lounge. There are plenty of couches with red cushions and blankets for maximum comfort, and the entire floor is equally decorated. Various horror movies play on mute from the TV mounted against the wall, and music seems to reverberate throughout the dorm everywhere you go. Loud enough to enjoy, but not loud enough to disrupt conversation. Hanging from the ceiling there also appears to be a large pinata in the shape of the moon, a large wooden stick leaning against the wall with a bandana draped over the top...batter up!
The four bedrooms appear to be blocked off with caution tape, but the two bathrooms and the kitchen are open to everyone. And while there's a third floor...there's nothing of interest up there other than space and more decor to admire as you mingle.
The party's just getting started. Have fun and get spooky.
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[ hung would be correct! temenos's eyes flicker with that eerily bright blue, and he lowers his voice a touch to draw in his audience as he begins his tale. ]
There is a beautiful kingdom in the northwest of the Leaflands called Timberain. It is a place where many of the nobility of the Leaflands make their home. I made my way there with my companions in the middle of the night, traversing to complete a mission for our dearest apothecary.
As we made our way from dirt paths to the paved streets, we came upon a lake, with a pavilion rising out of the very center of it, just outside of town. We had only our lantern lights to guide us, and the light of the stars above, yet our steps were true - and as the wind whistled through the trees, we realized there was a young girl standing in the gazebo, in the middle of the night.
My companions are a quite kindhearted bunch. We thought perhaps she might have gotten stuck there; our merchant got small boats for us to paddle out to join her. Yet, as we slipped out into the pitch dark water, just as soon as our oars hit the water, she was gone - as if she was never there at all.
But that is only the very beginning of this tale. Surely, it was just a hallucination - a long, long evening of travel with little rest can lead the mind to think strange things. I certainly thought so: I imagine by now, you'd know me as a cynic.
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me like i hate this fucking HOUSE
hung, clueless: ]
Was there anything there..? Or did she just up and vanish completely.
[ looks at everyone else gathered around like !! story time!! ]
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Unshaken, if a touch concerned, we carried on on our journey. Just outside of the city, we went off the beaten path as we often do, and found a set of overgrown hedges - as if perhaps the outward garden of a home. They were tucked underneath a set of trees that whistled softly in the oncoming winds, nearly hidden away by the growth of the forest around it. It is not unusual for us to make home visits, either, as we have often done so with Castti in tow, but the tangled and twisted hedges felt eerie. The whole world seemed to slow down as we came closer, and closer.
And as I stepped up to the hedges, I heard a voice. Female - a rasp, low and pained.
"Give it back...", it said. "My treasure..."
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hung's holding his tail end between both hands as he listens just o - o, to borrow from char. ]
Why do people always go towards creepy houses... [ he would not die first in a horror movie, maybe only third. ] Treasure..?
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[ something something seek the truth. ]
At any rate. The voice echoed as we came closer to the hedges. One of our companions paused as we got closer, and reached to her bag, and pulled forth a small, unusual box.
Many weeks beforehand, we'd found a young man in the city of Merry Hills, who could only speak three words. [ here, temenos lowers his voice to match the tale, to summon up the image of the soft, unsettling voice of the young man. ] "Give it back... Give it back..."
Throné has a penchant for removing valuables from unsuspecting men and women: in this case, she utilized those very skills to remove the box from the young man's possession. It was engraved, but the engraving had been worn away - only a "W" and a "ws" remained.
The man thanked her profusely for freeing him from the box. He informed us he was a young collector, and that ever since he'd come into possession of the box, it haunted his every waking moment - the very moment he stopped speaking, he passed out in the center of the street, as if finally relieved of a great burden.
Though it never haunted us quite the same, we all understood the moment Throne took out the box. A wind whistled through the trees, like the frigid fingers of death itself, stroking your cheek and leaving a sting that echoes behind.
And we heard her voice again.
"That's it..." she sighed, "That is my treasure... Give it back..."
And like it was whispering in our ears: "Please..."
There was a rustle in the woods, and we all felt as if we were able to move forward.
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Oh no... [ softly, but with feeling. maybe he even feels the shiver? ] Did you - did you go in to give it back?
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[ that comes with a light chuckle. he hums - the blue in his eyes flickers. ]
And so we did. Spurred on by the voice, we rounded the corner, and headed down the path. Crumbling stone pedestals - relics, perhaps - led the way, and curiously, the candelabras on the pedestals were lit, almost beckoning us inside.
There before us was a rusted old gate, covered in curling, drooping ivy, near overgrown. As we approached, we slipped through the open gate, and gazed upon a massive mansion. It must have been glorious, in its older days - but, in the state we found it, it was decrepit. The entrances and windows had been boarded up, and that same, sprawling ivy grew over the house like a living creature, breaking in through brick and board alike. A wrecked cart stood in front of the door: even the trees in the yard were dead. And yet, despite all of the warning signs, the home beckoned. The woman beckoned.
And so, we found our way inside. Clambering the side of the mansion, one by one, we slipped through a crack in the wall.
The interior was worse than the exterior. It looked as if it had been ravaged: the floors were treacherous and rotting, and the wallpaper rotted from the walls, paintings worth hundreds of leaves askew and dropping to the floor.
But worst of all, in the home, it was silent. Despite the holes in the walls, we heard no wind. Despite the state of rot, there were no vermin. No creatures. It was utterly - [ pause ] completely - [ pause ] silent; the only thing that echoed through the mansion were our footsteps.
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[ his voice softens as he's telling the story, here, dramatic. ]
And up the second set of stairs on the other side, to get around the impasse. As we reached the landing, Agnea, my youngest companion, gasped, and we all turned - just below us, where we'd been standing, was a woman. She stared at us, and we stared back - for a moment, no one moved.
And just like the woman in the pavilion - when we turned to try and make our way to her, she was gone.
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temenos continues, leaning forward, voice lower. ] We found we couldn't get to her - there was another crevice in the floor - and we started to back away. Perhaps it would be best to see if we could reach the woman. She was our voice, after all. She must have been.
So, we turned on our heels to find another way, perhaps up the stairs and over the railing, and - [ loudly: ] Slam! A door slammed shut that had been open on the top floor mere seconds before.
We whirled around. The woman was there when she hadn't been before, on the floor below, staring up at us.
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Ah!
[ FRICK, holding onto jolyne now. ]
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What next what next what next...!?
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his tail wags behind him and the ears on his head flick forward. pleased. ]
Undeterred, we carried on. Another room in the house, at the far, far east end of the mansion was wide open - inside, lit candles surrounded a ladder, despite no humans, no monsters. That woman was our goal: we had to get to her. One by one, we went down the ladder to the first floor.
As we rushed towards where we saw the woman, now safely around the obstruction from before, another sound rang from the walls and echoed and bounced in the cavernous doorway: childish, delighted laughter.
[ a pause, for dramatic effect. ]
You could practically feel it spurring you on; the woman was gone, but we saw another door wide open and followed through it, and then found ourselves transported back to the front foyer, as if nothing had happened. And once again, in that foyer, there was a presence. Ominous. Haunting, but bittersweet - almost desperate, like the minor keys played on a piano. Forward, it urged us. Back up the stairs. Give it back.
[ softly, each word enunciated. ] Give. It. Back.
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and she just, quietly... ]
I'm not scared...
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he flashes her a smile. c: ]