BETRAYAL AT THE HOUSE ON THE GAME TOWER - Session 4

[idolpro]

Who: Exael and the rest of you lot
When: To be inserted into the timeline after completion
What: Betrayal at the House on the Game Tower

[ The GAME ALERT and map show on the screen of your phones— idols, you know what to do!

The Game Tower elevator doors are open to receive, and close once they have you in their confines and the broadcast monitors click on. You can keep an eye on the city further and further below you, as watch with your host's introduction to today's game.

At the very least it's not Mukuro's face on the screen this time. Instead it's Exael again, pigtails bouncing as she hops up from a grand low bow— it looks like they cut part of her broadcast spiel for you guys. With a showman's flair, she twirls and splays her arms as the camera zooms out to focus on a grand mansion, more Hollywood glamor than anything belonging in Tokyo.

"Summer has come to Tokyo, and so has the season's specialty: The Trial of Courage! Step right up, and charge right in because waiting won't help you at all! Here is a place even angels fear to tread! Azzy's very own, The House of Mirth and Betrayal! This place has a sordid past that casts a shadow as long as the valley of death, and soon our Idols will be adding their own pages to the tale!"

The elevator stops atop the central tower of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building and then lurches unpleasantly, wrenching itself out of where elevators ought to go. The sudden movement jolts you, and when the doors open you spill out into into a room.

Hopefully, with not too much time missing. ]

Comments

INSTRUCTIONS

[idolpro]

IC INSTRUCTIONS:

[ Still have your minds? Try to hold onto those, as long as you can! As long as you're safe and sane, the goal is to explore as many rooms of the house as you can-- first come, first serve! Only the first person to explore a room gets the points for it.

If you lose your mind, you'll turn traitor to those around you, and you won't be able to help but try to do what the house wants you to do. With the house pushing upon you, both physical and mental distress are a danger to your sanity. Take care.

And take heart, too, even if you do turn traitor! It's another goal, and if you're doing badly at the other, this is a way to win! You haven't lost it all yet! Especially since the traitor goals are worth more points with the audience. ]

OOC Instructions:

Each team will have their traitor goal provided in a locked post of their starting room. Do not share your goal OOC, though do pay attention to other players' Do Not Wants when violence does occur.

Each room will be described with one paragraph of flavor text, which you can use to interact with each other but does not mechanically do anything or have dice rolls. Following the flavor text, the exits/entrances to the room will be listed, with one additional paragraph listing any other effects the room may have attached. Interacting with specific aspects listed after the entrances may give you stat bonuses, or stat detriments. Be aware of that! Flavor text from the first paragraph has no stat stuff attached.

Ping the runner the first time you enter a room, so we can get the description up for you.

The first time a room is entered, the first post will be descriptive. The second comment beneath that will be an event/item, unless the room does not have one attached, which would be noted in the first comment. Please wait for the second comment before responding to top-levels if you are the first person in a room.

If you are not the first person to go through a room, you can just comment beneath the top-level, there will not be another event/item for it.

Make rolls in the Discord roll channel as necessary. Rolls are made with 3 sided dice, minus the number of dice you're rolling, so zero is possible. Use the command .roll Xd3-X in the #dicebot channel on Discord, with X being the number of dice you're rolling.

If your character loses all of one stat, they lose the battle of the wills to the House. All their personal morals and concerns are overridden. If it helps, think of it as being possessed by a vengeful spirit. Those who have turned traitor do not get points for exploring rooms. The possessed do not need to reveal their status OOC to other players, as many Traitor goals need to be performed in certain areas-- it is up to player preference if you are going to overpower another PC and drag them there, or trick them to going somewhere with you. All traitor characters know the whole map. The insanity effect is temporary, and lasts only as long as the game does. Characters turn traitor on an individual basis; if a character hits a sanity break, it will not also impact their unitmates.

Stat sheet changes and traitor status both carry over into a new session. If your character ended a session with +2 might and -1 speed from their starting positions, they will start their next session with +2 might and -1 speed from their starting positions. If they turn traitor, they will remain a traitor until endgame.

Any team that completes a traitor goal is automatically a winner. If less than half the units complete their traitor goals, then the remaining winning units will be those who explored the most rooms.

SESSION 4 LINKS

[idolpro]

Stat cards reference reference sheet
This session's stat card page - PLEASE DO THIS FIRST BEFORE YOU START PLAYING.
This session's map - to be updated as rooms are unlocked.

UNIT ROOMS

[idolpro]

sensitIV
Taisho Roman Revolution
BAD END=DEAD END
future is now
WILD CITY
☆ZRAEL
Heart Soldier Senshi
AlcheME!
avante en garde

Chasm

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Chasm. As if an earthquake ran through the mansion years and years ago, the earth splits in two, pushed apart completely - if you want to cross, you'll have to jump. You could not cross, of course, but that means turning back and trying another way . . . If there is another way to go . . . !? Peeking over this cliff yields to seeing - nothing but darkness. That's really bad. Don't fall in-- who knows how deep in the Game Tower this goes.

You can go West or East. If you choose to go the direction you came from, you can leave freely; however, if you choose to go in the direction you were initially headed to, then you must roll for 3+ speed. If you fail, you will be able to get to the other side of the chasm, but you will lose 1 speed. ]

The Walls

[idolpro]

This room is warm. Flesh-like walls pulse with a steady heartbeat. Your own heart beats with the rhythm of the house. You are drawn into the walls... and emerge somewhere else.

Your character is moved to a place of the runner's choosing.

Abandoned Room

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Abandoned Room. It's… empty. There's a deadbolt on the outside, but inside is completely emptied out. A feeling of loneliness permeates it. A place no one comes. A place no one came. A place to be forgotten. A place something was forgotten. There's screws in the wall where a shattered glass mirror was broken, and now that it's gone save for broken shards on the floor there's no reason to stay.

There is one entrance, to the East. ]

Skeletons

[idolpro]

In the corner, there they are. Mother and child, still embracing.

First time character: Take 1 die of mental damage.

Each character can attempt a sanity roll once, to search the Skeletons:
5+: Draw an item card. Remove the Skeletons from the room.
0-4: You dig around, but find nothing. Take 1 die of mental damage.

Master Bedroom

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Master Bedroom. It's an exercise in decadence more than it is a room— the bed not immediately obvious for the clothes piled over it. Expensive clothes spill over the edge of it, drape off the back of every chair, drape over the couch, hang from the chandelier— dresses bedecked in jewels enough to weigh down a body like an anchor, black silk suit jackets, Italian and bespoke. Nothing in here could have been worn more than once, all of them torn in very exacting ways, the buttons all sliced from this shirt, the back of this dress split twain, seams splitting down to the waist. The wardrobe is empty save shoes, and the bedside chest of drawers has only knives and seam-rippers.

There are exits to the west and to the south.]

Jonah's Turn

[idolpro]

Two boys are playing with a wooden top. "Would you like a turn, Jonah?" one asks.
"No," says Jonah, "I want all the turns." Jonah takes the top and hits the other boy in the face. The boy falls. Jonah keeps hitting him as they fade from view.

If a character has the Puzzle Box, that character discards that item and draws a replacement item for it. If this happens, you gain 1 sanity; otherwise you take 1 die of mental damage.

Statuary Corridor

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Statuary Corridor. Marble statues of human, though all warped, figures form two lines down the hallway, unlabeled and unpainted. Compared to the rest of the house, this area is surprisingly clean and orderly; it might even be a nice space if the statues weren't all a little unsettling. This figure is so emaciated that she looks like barely more than a skeleton with skin stretched over it; that one has a second face on the back of his head; yet another has smooth, featureless eyes, and seems to be sprouting arrow shafts from various parts of her body. The line of them continues on in much the same vein, but one in particular might stick out as familiar: shorter-haired, rounder-cheeked, and given an uncharacteristically grim expression, while it may take a second look to place him, Mukuro's narrow eyes, immortalized in stone, stare unmistakably at the opposite wall.. The tension conveyed in the line of his mouth seems inappropriately solemn for the mess below his neck; what would otherwise be a very plain bust is made distinct by the gaping cavity carved out of his chest. The shape of his heart rests cradled in the pit; it's all functionally connected to the appropriate veins and arteries, but also messily and discernibly split into two separate halves.

There are two entrances, one to the East and one to the West. ]

Smoke

[idolpro]

Smoke billows around you. You cough, wiping away tears.

The Smoke in this room blocks line of sight from adjacent rooms. All characters rolls 2 fewer dice (minimum 1 die) on all trait rolls in this room.

Catacombs

[idolpro]

[ You enter the catacombs. It is what it is: a massive underground graveyard, and a mass graveyard. Both! There are several offshoots that presumably lead to coffins, tight niches in the wall like drawers meant to shut away human corpses; but far more distracting is the wall of skulls directly in front of you. Countless skulls, all human in various stages of fossilization, some of them broken or cracked or split completely in half while others are intact, but regardless . . . . it's creepy. It's too creepy. Are the skulls following your gaze? No way. . . . there's no way. Skulls don't have eyes in those empty sockets. Just remember, there's no way.

You can go North or South. If you choose to go the direction you came from, you can leave freely; however, if you choose to go in the direction you were initially headed to, then you must roll for 6+ sanity. If you fail, you lose 1 point of sanity to the overwhelming creepiness of the catacombs, and the general spooky vibe to the entire place. ]

Angry Being

[idolpro]

It emerges from the shadow on the wall next to you.

You must attempt a Speed roll:
5+ You get away. Gain 1 Speed.
2-4: Take 1 die of mental damage
0-1: Take 1 die of mental damage and 1 die of physical damage.

Furnace Room

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Furnace Room. Despite the rest of the mansion being rather lifeless, this room is still active, fires burning in the furnace so powerfully it's hard to believe it could possibly be tamed to be used for man's devices; the fires themselves seem to agree, since the flames keep shooting out of the furnace to spit out stray bits of soot and ash - it's not terribly harmful, but anything that hot is still going to burn. If this is your character's first time in this room for this session, take 1 point of physical damage.

You can hurry in two directions: South, or East. ]

Something Hidden

[idolpro]

There's something odd about this room, but what? It's tickling the back of your mind.

If you want to try to figure out what's odd, attempt a Knowledge roll.
4+: A section of wall slides away, revealing an alcove. You receive an item.
0-3: You can't figure it out, and that makes you a bit crazy. Lose 1 Sanity.

Junk Room

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Junk Room. It's difficult to wedge the door open to enter, so much are the multitudes of junk that have been heaped here. Among other things, suits ruined with cigarette burns, books with red wine staining and fusing the pages, half a motorcycle, and a pawn shop's worth of wrist-watches all in need of repair litter the floor. There's a stack of mirrors against the wall, so you can see how ridiculous you look as you pick your way through the mess, too. It's a trial and a half to wade through this room, and opening any of the doors promises to be equally arduous.

There are four entrances, one in each cardinal direction: to the north, east, south, and west.

To pull open a door you'll need to make a Might roll of 3+. If you fail, you'll lose one speed from tripping and hurting your ankle while yanking it open, but you'll still get out. ]

Drip... Drip... Drip...

[idolpro]

A rhythmic sound that needles at your brain. There is a drip in this room.

All characters roll 1 fewer die (min. 1) on all trait rolls while in this room.

Underground Lake

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Underground Lake. Aren't you supposed to be in the Game Tower? What on earth is this lake doing here!? It looks like a slice of the ocean, trapped and with a deep pulling tide. You could be irresponsible and take a swim, and check where the current would drag you out to but that's certainly not the wise thing to do. There's a shovel nearby.

You can go West or North. ]

Secret Passage

[idolpro]

A section of the wall slides away. Behind it a mouldering tunnel awaits.

There is a secret passage in this room. Roll 3 dice to find where it ends:
6: Any discovered room.
4-5: Any discovered upper floor rooms
2-3: Any existing ground floor room.
0-1: Any existing basement room.
You can then use the secret passage at any time, from either end.

Gardens

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Gardens. Wrought-iron gates divide it from the edge of the skyscraper, imposing points silhouetted against the dark sky, lit from beneath by motion activated lights in the soil that glow as you walk past them— announcing your presence to everyone out here. An apple tree dominates the center of the garden, roots buckling the paths and littering its fruit— all perfect, unblemished where it has fallen, all throughout the garden. Small sprouts spike from the ground, pale and strangled imitations of the central tree, none of them thriving.

There are two entrances: one to the east and one to the west. ]

Image in the Mirror

[idolpro]

There is an old mirror in this room. Your frightened reflection moves on its own. You realize it is you from another time. Your reflection writes on the mirror: THIS WILL HELP

Then it hands you an item through the mirror.

Gymnasium

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Gymnasium. A portion of the room is consumed by a vast swimming pool. Of what isn't, a third of this equipment is recognizably exercise equipment, a third is recognizably torture devices, and the remaining third could go either way. Or possibly that last third is bondage equiptment?

There are two entrances, one to the West and one to the North.

One of the treadmills has been left running, set to a training course. It… seems safe enough. Do you want to train? ]

Creepy Puppet

[idolpro]

You see one of those dolls that give you the creeps. It jumps at you with a tiny spear.

Roll a Might 4 attack for the Creepy Puppet. Defend against this attack as normal, by rolling dice equal to your Might.
If you take any damage from this attack, the unit with the Spear gains 2 might (unless you have the spear).

Upper Landing

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Upper Landing. An opulent staircase from the lower level curves an elegant line to the landing, to down below. The dark mahogany of the flooring almost hides the rust blotches and trail, where it looks like something bloody was dragged unwilling up them, leaving desperate scratches in the wood.

There is an entrance in all four cardinal directions: the north, east, south, and west, as well as the option to the take the stairs downstairs.

The room itself offers no particular dangers or advantages. ]

Re: Upper Landing

[haktualdragon]

[DOWN THE STAIRS.]

Servant's Quarters

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Servant's Quarters. Beds are crammed in close together, stacked in two-tall bunks set into cabinets-- capsule hotel-like. The spaces between rows are narrow and hard to navigate, labyrinthine with corners that are designed so you can't see who's coming around the next hall. It affords privacy, at those cost of peace of mind-- you can hear footsteps but now know how close they are, you know surely there must be an exit close but be unable to find it easily through the maze.

You may go North, East, South, or West. ]

Debris

[idolpro]

Plaster falls from the walls and ceiling.

You must attempt a Speed roll:
3+: You dodge the plaster. Gain 1 Speed
1-2: You're buried in debris. Take 1 die of physical damage.
0: You're buried in debris. Take 2 die of physical damage
Buried characters can either get someone else to try and free them (4+ for a success) or free themselves, at the cost of 2 might.

Grand Staircase

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Grand Staircase. An opulent staircase, it curves an elegant line to the upper landing, out of sight above. The dark mahogany of the flooring almost hides the rust blotches and trail, where it looks like something bloody was dragged unwilling up them, leaving desperate scratches in the wood. The landing below has a dark splotch where the blood starts at the bottom, where an altercation must have started in full-view of the front hall.

There is one entrance to the south, and one that leads to the second floor landing above.

The room itself offers no particular dangers or advantages. ]

Re: Grand Staircase

[haktualdragon]

[cool. continuing SOUTH.]

Basement Landing

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Basement Landing. Aside from piles and piles of coal here in this room, there's not really much else . . . It's really just coal, soot and dust coating everything. Your footprints leave dark tracks as you walk through it, on ground in ashes. What on earth are they burning down here, to need this much coal? How large must the furnace be?

You may go North, East, South, or West. However, you may not climb up the Coal Chute. ]

Re: Basement Landing

[bevoted]

[ ... alright. turning to Santa and Anubis. ]

South is the catacombs. I met Hiryuu from Heart there earlier, so that might be where their base is.

East is just a vault. We should stop by there first if we want another item. Someone can just run in and grab it and run out, if you want.

West is the stairs.... and I suspect Taisho is that way.

[ it's almost as if he's BEEN HERE FOR A REALLY LONG TIME. ]

Patio

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Patio. It stretches between the house and the gardens, an interstice between the two lit by the bright flicker of flames. What should be comfortable sunken seating area has a fire crackling in the firepit. It is made less comfortable by the stagnant pool that's formed at the bottom, at least three inches deep and smelling of a noxious mixture of booze, blood and motor oil. Besides it, there's a cooler of booze with bloody fingerprints on the latch sitting open, ice melting away in the summer night.

You can enter the house, or continue to the gardens. ]

Disquieting Sounds

[idolpro]

A baby's cry, lost and abandoned. A scream. The crack of breaking glass. Then silence.

Roll 6 dice. If you roll equal to or more than the number of traitor characters in this session, you gain 1 sanity. If not, take 1 die of mental damage.

Game Room

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Game Room. Globules of lights string the ceiling, dripping pools of light to illuminate a billiards table, a roulette wheel, a craps table. Someone's game of 52 pick-up scatters the floor near an overturned table crouching in the corner, one of its legs yanked out from beneath it. Throwing darts pincushion the line of target on the back wall— and the nearby taxidermied game. An Elk's head stuck with five darts dead center between the eyes stares straight at you.

There is an entrance to the East, and to the South. ]

Re: Game Room

[syncintohell]

[ Shu is going to pick up that yanked out table leg, test its heft in one hand, then leave to the EAST ]

Foyer

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Foyer. An extension of the entrance hall, the center of the hall is taken up by a fountain, water slopping over the sides through a grate in the floor as in waves as if displaced by some tultumous battle. The statues in the fountain are engaged in a still-frame war, gladitorial armies holding spears aloft with wounds that leak water to the fountain below. Watching over all this is a prominently placed painting of man. Beneath it is a plaque, no name or artist but instead are the words, "Do Unto Others."

The room itself offers no particular dangers or advantages. ]

Re: Foyer

[haktualdragon]

[WEEEEST.]

Larder

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Larder. A great plume of white bursts into your face as you open the door-- a sack of flour lands with a heavy thud. It's only that. It's landed heavy by the door, surrounded by many more sacks of flour, sugar. Crates of dried goods line shelves, alongside tins and spices. Something moves in the sack.

You may go West or East.

The tins don't look tampered with. You could risk eating something here to keep your strength up, you're probably not going to find much better in this mansion. ]

Amulet of the Ages

[idolpro]

Ancient silver and inlaid gems, inscribed with blessings.

Gain 1 Might, 1 speed, 1 knowledge, and 1 Sanity now.
Lose 3 might, 3 Speed, 3 Knowledge, and 3 Sanity if you lose the Amulet.

Entrance Hall

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Entrance Hall. High ceilings, marble floor, red carpet, imposing chandelier dripping black matte crystals and columns inscribed with strange glyphs lit with bright red LEDs that hurt your eyes to look at directly— it's the tackiest intersection between lifestyles of the rich and famous and haunted house you've ever seen.

There are entrances to the North, East, and West. To the South lies the front door— and a sheer drop off the skyscraper. Probably don't go that way.

The room itself offers no particular dangers or advantages. ]

Re: Entrance Hall

[motorcycle_noises]

Let's.... not go south. Does North look good to you?

Ballroom

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Ballroom. In the center lies a marble slab dance floor meant for many bodies -- perhaps literally. Crime-scene outlines are traced in tape across the dance floor. Above, the avante garde scrap metal chandelier glimmers like knives, and the ballroom speakers pump a low thrum of bass into the room like a heartbeat you can feel in your ears, throat, and all through you.

There are entrances to the West, North, and East. ]

[syncintohell]

[ Starts humming something, tapping the table leg against his own as he proceeds through

And leaves to the EAST, again ]

Stairs from the Basement

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Stairs from the Basement. They are, fortunately, neither narrow or steep. They wind a spiral deeper into the earth— you know yourself to the be at the top of the game tower, but it's hard to keep that in mind, so oppressive is the air down here.

You can exit to the east on the ground floor, or continue down to the room directly below.

The room itself offers no particular dangers or advantages. ]

Re: Stairs from the Basement

[haktualdragon]

[okay.

okay, okay. time to go down into the basement.

gets his spear ready before heading down.]

Library

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Library. Shelves form labyrinth corridors of books, between which are heaped precarious piles of paperbacks. Leather wing-back chairs provide privacy around the crackling fireplace at the back— if someone was sitting in one, you'd never be able to tell until you circled the full way around to the front to see. Expensive looking paintings line the walls, and you'd expect the shelves to be laden with rare editions. However, there's hardly any hardbacks at all, most everything is cheap spy novels and erotica. No accounting for taste, really.

There are entrances to the West and South.

There is one library shelf set apart from the others— a display case with a glass front and a thick book bound with tattooed hide inside. Cracks radiate outward, where it seems like someone smashed their fist through the glass to gain access. Do you want to read it? ]

[syncintohell]

[ There are . . . matters weighing on his mind. He bypasses the room, continuing to the south ]