BETRAYAL AT THE HOUSE ON THE GAME TOWER - Session 10

[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 10 LINKS

[idolpro]

How to play: Betrayal at the House on the Game Tower
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

GALLERY

[idolpro]

[ You enter the gallery. A wide brassy-railed mezzanine, it encircles the ballroom below like the spectator seats of some grand coliseum. Statues engaged in obscene and immoral acts are ensconced in recessed archways behind pulled back sequin curtains, all of them seeming like they could be party-goers caught at their absolute worst, and petrified— literally— by discovery.

There is an entrance to the north, and the south.

You may also choose to jump to the ballroom below . . . It'll hurt if you do. Take 1 die of physical damage if you choose to do this. ]

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.]

SKELETONS

[idolpro]

Mother and child, still embracing.

Take 1 die of mental damage. The skeletons are now established to be in this room until removed.
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.

Re: MASTER BEDROOM

[rollwillpowercheck]

[in an empty room in the betrayal house, no one can see you fist pump in celebration (except for the audience). he sets his stuff down on the couch and shoves all the clothes off one of the chairs so that he can drag it over to the door wedge it under the knob.]

Let's see what we've got here...

ORGAN ROOM

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Organ Room. The eponymous pipe organ unfurls against two walls, a grand parabola of pipes and excess. It squats just short of scraping the ceiling, golden devils adorning the alcoves of the thing, standing proudly atop pipes with spears held aloft and scaling the sides with spears held in their teeth. A mural of defeated angels adorns the floor, with there little choice but to trod on their defeated number to cross the room, so numerous are their painted numbers.

There is an entrance to the south, and to the west. ]

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.

CHARRED ROOM

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Charred Room. It's near-impossible to tell what this room was before— the furniture had all been gathered to a bonfire pile in the center of the room, and it smells strongly of kerosene. There's a recognizable table-leg, a twisted metal lamp ruined by the blaze, melted plastic that once belonged to something electronic— a speaker system, you think. Somehow, the speakers still work, a low bass beat reverberating through the room and it still will not stop. Static cuts through every now and then, with voices you can almost recognize.

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

A MOMENT OF HOPE

[idolpro]

Something feels strangely right about this room. Something is resisting the evil of the house and its owner.

This place is #Blessed.
Each character rolls 1 additional die (max 8) 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 can continue to the next room, but you lose 1 point of sanity to the overwhelming creepiness of the catacombs, and the general spooky vibe to the entire place. ]

DRIP... DRIP... DRIP...

[idolpro]

A rhymthmic 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.

BEDROOM

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Bedroom. The decor reeks of sleaze— black floors polished to a mirror shine reflect you from below, the walls leather panelled, set with studs and mounted with sturdy rings. Leather straps and braided cord hangs from the coat hanger, and the bed is rumpled, unmade. An ornate side-table is topped off with expensive bottles of booze, more half-emptied than full. A dresser drawer is open, everything inside looking to be made entirely of black lace.

The only entrance to this room is to the west. It's a dead-end. ]

Re: BEDROOM

[rollwillpowercheck]

[hmm. he was hoping for more in the way of clothing. but he rummages through the dresser drawer anyway, pulling black lacy things out and then making faces at them. is having non-bloody clothing worth walking around the house in lingerie? hopefully not. he does pick out a few things just in case this is the best he's going to get, though.

time to explore the rest of the room!]

DINING ROOM

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Dining Room. A wall of incandescent lights burn against one wall, the other three nothing but mirrors set into steel frames like windows— all of them opening to reveal booze behind them. There's no banquet table, but smaller tables and champagne cube, each with leather chairs with leather cuffs and chains at the feet and wrists clustered around in groups of three to five. Red curtains drop down from the ceiling, ready to be pulled around to create a small intimate private setting. None of the tables are laid with food— at least, not much of it. This one has a spread that's more than half rocks and jewelry, a few pieces of chocolate scattered throughout, this one has a chunk of raw meat, three slices carefully carved, then the main mass stabbed through with nine knives and two forks.

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

Re: DINING ROOM

[criminaljustice]

[. . . . he really wants to fucking smash the mirror and his tighented grip on Sanguine's hand shows that.

yes, they are holding hands because fuck splitting up.]

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. ]

PHONE CALL

[idolpro]

A phone rings in the room. You feel compelled to answer it.

Roll 2 dice. A sweet little granny voice says:
4: "Tea and cakes! Tea and Cakes! You were always my favorite!" Gain 1 Sanity.
3: "I'm always here for you, Pattycakes. Watching..." Gain 1 knowledge.
1-2: "I'm here, Sweetums! Give us a kiss!" Take 1 die of mental damage.
0: "Bad little children must be punished." Take 2 dice of physical damage.

BLOODY ROOM

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Bloody Room. How . . . how appropriately named. It looks like it used to be someone's bedroom - a child's, perhaps, from how the walls have bright colors and animal print, although the colors have long since faded and the animal print is peeling. Now it looks creepy with all of the blood - and there is a lot. Did a murder happen here? Did two? Three? No matter the number, it seems like it's not enough to explain the numerous bloody handprints that claw up all four walls, reaching even the ceiling, and after a certain point below it seems like the whole room was flooded with blood, matching mid-waist on average. That's really concerning!

Aside from . . . all the blood, there is a twin sized bed - the mystery, really, is how this bed ended up not being so bloody; although there are stains against the wood that indicate handprints, the sheets themselves are mostly clean and white except for one handprint on the corner. It's also entirely too big for a child, sized for an adult; across it, there is a vanity and several full-length mirrors aligned to allow someone to look at themself in every angle. Sitting on the vanity is a white veil, flowery and sheer; hanging on one of the mirrors is one near-perfectly intact bridal dress, completely in white - except for the bloody handprint square against the chest.

There is only one entrance and exit: the Furnace to the West. ]

Re: BLOODY ROOM

[furrytailprince]

[ Looking around for anything useful... ]

CREAKY HALLWAY

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Creaky Hallway. The door behind you squeaks so loud when you close it, and the floorboards protest beneath your weight. You would surely hear if someone were to approach you here.

The room is a cross-shaped intersection, doors in each of the cardinal directions.

The room itself offers no particular dangers or advantages. ]

Re: CREAKY HALLWAY

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Shifting to the side so they're not visible from (most) of the doorways]

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. ]

\

[made_up_names]

[ WHY THE BASEMENT. Why creepy things in the basement. No fair man.

He just sort of endures the weird noises before heading west. ]

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. ]

SILENCE

[idolpro]

Underground, everything goes silent. Even the sound of breathing is gone.

Each character in the basement must attempt a sanity roll:
4+: You wait calmly for your hearing to return.
1-3: You scream a silent scream. Take 1 die of mental damage.
0: You freak out. Take 2 die of mental damage.

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? ]

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.

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 tumultuous battle. The statues in the fountain are engaged in a still-frame war, gladiatorial 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

[motorcycle_noises]

[ Oh good, there's less people here. Sanguine lets out a deep, shuddering breath. ]

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. ]

[unbr8kable]

[east, what the hell]

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. ]

[unbr8kable]

[south]

CHAPEL

[idolpro]

[ You enter the Chapel. Dazzling chandeliers hang from the high ceilings, the rows of pews draped with gold-embroidered cloth; the candle holders look as if they could go on the market for hundreds of dollars. Such decadence for a place of God.

At the front of the Chapel's hall there is an altar with wilted flowers on the corner of either side that crumble into fine dust if touched. A holy book sits in the center of the altar - it's hard to read, but there's something that can barely be read: "...God did not spare angels ... but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…"


There is only one entrance, and consequently, one exit: to the East, back to the Organ Room.

There's a confessional in here, in the far corner. Confess? Each character can do this once per game. ]

Re: CHAPEL

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Well, there's definitely a lot going on here. As far as hide and seek goes, it looks like there are some good hiding places.]

[Just going to come and sit down on one of those pews for now. He figures he's got a little while before Intensity shows up. He was so slow last time.]

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. ]

[unbr8kable]

[why this]

[fine let's see what's west real quick]

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. ]

HANGED MEN

[idolpro]

A breeze chills the room. Before you three men hang from grayed ropes. They stare at you with cold, dead eyes. The trio swing silently, then fade into dust that falls to the ground. You start to choke.

You must attempt a roll for each trait:
2+: That Trait is unaffected.
0-1: Lose 1 from that trait.
If you roll a 2+ on all 4 rolls, gain 1 additional point in a trait of your choice.