Questionably Soteriological: A Puzzle/Mystery Quest with Kids, Science, and Fun!

> Lucy: CAGED, FADE
[X] Throw the infuriating portrait.
-[X] Stomp on it, just to rub in your point.
--[X] Spear it with the trident
The girl looks PUNCHABLE, not TRIDENTABLE
[X] PUNCH it.
-[X] Do it on camera. That'll show them!
You're not a VIOLENT PERSON. Your FISTICUFFS have never been especially high, and you've never once been in a FIGHT, even though you've dedicated YEARS OF YOUR LIFE to hunting down the WORST OF THE WORST in the world of CRIMINAL SCUM, the lunchbox-stealers and library-book-defacers and catnappers of your neighbourhood. Those kinds of people disgust you to your very core with their LAW-BREAKING DEPRAVITY, but you've managed to always treat even those DASTARDLY CRIMINALS with gentleness and civility. But this is a bit of a stressful situation, so you think that nobody could really blame you if you take it out on this portrait.

Plus, she does look really punchable. Pow! Blam! Wallop! You say these sound effects aloud as you brutalize the inanimate object, just so that anyone WATCHING can get the FULL IMPACT and understand how ANGRY YOU ARE. Hell yeah! You feel like nobody would even DREAM of messing with you after this! [+5 ÉLAN]
[X] Pick up the screwdriver
-[X] Try to pry the glass display case open
You take your TRUSTY SCREWDRIVER back into your and, and set about trying to PRY OPEN the GLASS DISPLAY CASE. Unfortunately, after a few minutes of struggling, it becomes apparent that the SCREWDRIVER is FAR TOO SMALL to get the LEVERAGE you'd need to open this.
[X] Try to pry open glass case with the Trident if the screwdriver fails
Unfortunately, the TRIDENT is just a DANG INCONVENIENT SHAPE for this sort of thing, and your efforts prove completely fruitless.
[X] EXAMINE the ASTRONOMY BOOK
[X] Use DFD on the ASTRONOMY BOOK
It's quite a STRANGE AND CONFUSING READ - although you struggle to understand a lot of the more technical language about ORBITAL MECHANICS, you glean that the general gist of it is centered around a theory that ascribes irregularities in the orbits of planets to the gravitational pull of an ENORMOUS NINTH PLANET far further away from the Sun than the others. The AUTHOR seems prone to going off on a great deal too many ideological tangents about the weakness and corruption of mankind, and honestly, in your humble opinion, seems like a bit of an EGOMANIACAL NARCISSIST.
[X] open up the HOLY BIBLE to see if it has been CONVENIENTLY HOLLOWED OUT.
[X] DFD the HOLY BIBLE
The HOLY BIBLE, as you cunningly predict before you even OPEN IT, has been HOLLOWED OUT in order to hide a SILVER KEY INSIDE THE PAGES.
[KEYS ENCOUNTERED: 2]
A passage in which an ANGEL appears before MARY AND JOSEPH has been ANNOTATED IN RED MARKER.
Bible passage said:
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people."
what does an angel look like, that the first words it must say upon arriving are 'do not be afraid'. i wish i was that terrifying. imagine a perfect being. how could such a being not be, inherently, terrifying? imagine being perfect. does it terrify you? it should.
[X] DFD the BLUE GEM
It seems FAIRLY INCONSEQUENTIAL. The thought of perhaps SWAPPING IT OUT for another GEM, crosses your mind, although you don't know where you could find such a thing, and this isn't really any time for fashion anyway. At least, not until you find a COOL TRENCHCOAT befitting a JUNIOR SLEUTH like you usually wear.
[X] DFD the MICROPHONE STAND
-[X] Take the MICROPHONE, move it to the ORGAN if possible
--[X] Put a BLANK RECORD into a VINYL PRESS. Try to RECORD MUSIC.
---[X] Play the C, A, G, E, D - F, A, D, E notes on the ORGAN (MOVEMENT 2 + MOVEMENT 1)
----[X] Pick up the WRITTEN RECORD out of VINYL PRESS
-----[X] Play it on the RECORD PLAYER in the other room.
The MICROPHONE looks OLD-FASHIONED to match the AESTHETIC OF THE CATHEDRAL, but a careful examination reveals it to be EXTREMELY MODERN. It is EASILY MOVED, although the EXCELLENT ACOUSTICS here mean that you think it would PROBABLY PICK UP ANY MUSIC YOU PLAYED HERE ANYWAY. The VINYL PRESS happily accepts a BLANK RECORD, and after some intense TRIAL AND ERROR, you find the button to RECORD MUSIC.

You sit down at the PIPE ORGAN, stretch, and, with a curious sense of apprehension, play the nine notes on the keys. C, A, G, E, D, F, A, D, E. Caged, fade, you think to yourself. You picture yourself, trapped in a series of rooms, solving puzzle after puzzle in some great old ouroboros, never getting closer to escaping. You think about the labyrinth of legend, and the Minotaur that lives in it. Caged, fade. The notes keep reverberating through the cathedral, and the echoes go on for so long that you feel as if they're building up into some cacophony, like the frantic whispers of a crowd before the first person cries out and a riot breaks out. Like tiny spiderweb cracks spreading on the ice as someone has just enough time to regret a risky step before they plunge into icy water, never to be seen again. You think about angels. Caged, fade.

There is someone behind you. You have never been more certain of anything in your entire life. There is someone behind you. You can hear their breathing, or is that just the echoes of the notes? There is someone behind you. You think about fear. Your hands are shaking. You don't want to turn around, but you know that each second that you don't turn around will just increase this terrible sense of uncertainty and certainty at the same time, this feeling of dread. That if you wait too long to turn around, you'll pass a certain point and the fear of seeing what's behind you will prevent you from ever turning around. You'll end up a statue, bones and ashes made into stone like the fossils your dad always took you to see in museums. You think about people who died in the eruption of Vesuvius, ancient Romans turned into stone, captured forever in the throes of their death. Caged, fade.

You turn around.

There is no one behind you. You laugh, first a little, then a lot. Silly you! Getting so worked up over nothing! Still laughing, you go to TURN OFF the VINYL PRESS. It seems like someone has already- no, no. It seems like it's the sort that TURNS OFF BY ITSELF after enough time passes. Yes, that makes much more sense. Your hands NO LONGER SHAKING, you take the (CAGED, FADE) RECORD and insert it into the RECORD PLAYER. Once more, the NOTES SOUND OUT, and you hear a resounding CLICK.

The ROUND PLATE bearing the MERCURY SYMBOL has come loose.

[-100 ÉLAN]
 
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> Lucy: Remember a thing or two
[X] DFD the PAIR OF PHOTOGRAPHS
The PAIR OF PHOTOGRAPHS depict the RED-HAIRED MAN that you've seen in PORTRAITS. He looks just as COLD AND SMUG in these PHOTOGRAPHS as he does in his PORTRAITS. In one of them, he has an arm around the RED-HAIRED GIRL from the PORTRAITS, who looks around your age and is presumably his DAUGHTER. She ALSO LOOKS SMUG.
[X] Examine the DOOR
-[X] Try to open it. (is the GOLDEN KEY from this door?)
The DOOR is ELECTRONIC and has NO KEYHOLE. Your excellent JUNIOR SLEUTH DEDUCTION SKILLS tell you that a door without a keyhole can probably not be opened with a key. God, sometimes your own intelligence astounds you. If you had to GUESS, you'd say that the THICK WIRES connecting the DOORFRAME to the WALL-MOUNTED CAMERA next to it might indicate something. But you don't want to LEAP TO CONCLUSIONS.
[X] DFD the SILVER KEY.
The CLASS MACHINATION [DEDUCTION FOR DUMMIES] has been activated!
Hmm. It certainly is a KEY, that's for sure. Definitely isn't any other thing that it is, a KEY is the thing that it is being, has been being, and presumably will continue to be be being. The letters GSC are etched into it.

Something FLICKERS in the back of your mind. A set of keys. A question. A test. There was a test, you think, and then suddenly you lose your train of thought. What were you thinking about? How cool you look in a trenchcoat, probably. You think about that a lot.
[X] DFD on the GOLDEN KEY.
The GOLDEN KEY is shaped like a KEY. It looks SUBSTANTIALLY MORE OLD-FASHIONED than the SILVER KEY, and is ABNORMALLY SMALL. On the side of it, the letters GSC have been carved.

It was a very, very, special test, you were told. Your teacher explained to the class, chipper as she always was, that today you'd all be doing a very special test, and the people who did best on the test would get to go on a very special field trip. You thought that a very special field trip sounded SUSPICIOUS, so of course, as any self-respecting JUNIOR SLEUTH would, you told yourself you HAD TO GO. You... you... your head hurts. What were you thinking about? Maybe you were thinking about HATS. You love HATS. They make you look COOL AND HARDBOILED, not that you don't LOOK LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME anyway.
[X] Put the MERCURY SYMBOL in the STAINED GLASS WINDOW.
You approach the STAINED GLASS WINDOW and press the MERCURY SYMBOL into the appropriate ROUND SLOT. Although NOTHING SEEMS TO HAPPEN, the MERCURY SYMBOL stays in the SLOT after you let go of it, and doesn't seem like it'll be leaving any time soon. You idly wonder how it STAYS AFFIXED. Magnets, probably. How do they work?
[X] DFD the GOLDEN KEY.
[X] Ask yourself the QUINTESSENTIAL QUESTION - WWSD? (What Would Sherlock Do?)
SHERLOCK HOLMES would KEEP HIS WITS ABOUT HIM and SOLVE THIS MYSTERY, you remind yourself. He certainly wouldn't PANIC, so that's not what you'll be doing either.
[+5 ÉLAN]
 
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> Lucy: Climb stairs like a JUNIOR SLEUTH
[X] Open the door with caution
Beyond the DOOR are a FLIGHT OF STAIRS. Squinting up into the darkness, you take one step, and then stop to take a deep breath before you take the next one. At the end of the staircase, you can make out a DIMLY LIT ROOM. God, you really wish this place wasn't so dark. Although you hate to admit it, the dark has always kind of freaked you out. But you have to get out of here, and you're not going to let some silly DARKNESS get in the way. You start to climb, and-
What was that?
You just felt something MOVING PAST YOU. Something FAST. You turn around. Nothing. Maybe it was just your IMAGINATION?
You sure hope so.

At the top of the STAIRS is a large room, as big as the MAIN ROOM and the SIDE ROOMS downstairs COMBINED. An INDOOR BALCONY overlooks the ROOMS DOWNSTAIRS, although it's ALMOST TOO DARK TO MAKE ANYTHING OUT. Against the BACK WALL is a MAHOGANY TABLE atop which sits an ORNATE CLOCK. Hanging from the ceiling on the left side of the room is a GOLDEN BIRDCAGE, while on the right, considerably higher up, hangs a MOBILE of the SUN AND MOON. On the the RIGHT WALL are a TAPESTRY and a BLACK-AND-WHITE ABSTRACT PAINTING. On the FLOOR is a PACK OF MARKERS, and there is a SAFE set into the LEFT WALL.

You crack your knuckles and adjust your DETECTIVE'S CROWN, detective's crowns being a thing since RIGHT NOW WHEN YOU DECIDED THEY WERE A THING. You're pretty sure that by this point you qualify as a PUZZLE MASTER.
 
> Lucy: Leave a POLITE NOTE
Hmm. Not sure what to do with the new info...
[X] REMOVE the HOLY BIBLE from your INVENTORY and set it down on the MAHOGANY TABLE.
[X] Take the ORNATE CLOCK and DFD it, then return it to the table.
The ORNATE CLOCK is TOO LARGE AND HEAVY to put it in your INVENTORY! Man, MECHANICAL ABSTRACTIONS can be one hell of a bitch to work with.
[X] Take the PACK OF MARKERS and DFD it, then place them on the table.
You haven't gotten this UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL with WRITING UTENSILS since the Adventure of the Copied Art Homework. A dastardly criminal indeed, the HOMEWORK FORGER, but you got him in the end. Ah, the days of your youth. It took you a week to crack that case. You bet if you took it on NOW, instead of when you were EIGHT, you'd be able to solve it in a DAY. They all seem to be WELL-USED and PART OF A SET, with the exception of the RED MARKER which seems TOTALLY UNUSED as if it has had to be REPLACED.
[X] Maybe RED MARKER will come back for his RED MARKER? Scrawl a message to them on the table next to the PACK OF MARKERS using a GREEN MARKER.
You're pretty sure the RED MARKER in the pack isn't the one you've been seeing notes written in - it barely seems to have been used at all. LEAVING A MESSAGE, however, seems like a good idea, and you resolve to yourself to TEACH THIS MYSTERIOUS PERSON PROPER GRAMMAR while you're at it. You take the GREEN MARKER and write a POLITE NOTE on the WALL.
Lucy's POLITE NOTE said:
Dear stranger
I hope that you are in good health while you read this! I would like to say 'how do you do?' and 'thank you very much for all your helpful notes', but of course, I don't know where to find you in person. Or even if you're alive. But let me introduce myself! I'm Lucy Calloway, and I'm a junior sleuth, at your service! I'm really good at solving mysteries, and I'm hoping to solve some here, like the mystery of how I got here, or who you are. If you could help me with those mysteries, it would be great!
All the best,
Lucy
There. That seems SUFFICIENTLY POLITE to let the MYSTERIOUS PERSON WITH THE RED MARKER know that you MEAN NO HARM. Perhaps once they discover that you're a JUNIOR SLEUTH, they'll feel comfortable enough to APPROACH YOU IN PERSON instead of just leaving CRYPTIC NOTES.
[X] Take the painting off the wall
-[X] DFD the painting
-[X] Examine the space behind the painting
[X] Take the markers
[X] Color the painting with the markers. Fill out the circles numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 with Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red respectively.
The PAINTING seems FAR TOO ABSTRACT for you to MAKE HEAD NOR TAIL OF IT. Behind the PAINTING is written a SERIES OF NUMBERS:
Writing on the wall said:
You start to FILL IN the DOTS by matching NUMBERS to COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW. After a few minutes of FRANTIC COLOURING, you are able to TAKE A STEP BACK and see that the COLOURED DOTS FORM NUMBERS, like one of those COLOUR BLINDNESS TESTS they have at the optician's. The numbers are:
Numbers on the painting said:
[X] Examine the GOLDEN BIRDCAGE (can you reach it?)
The GOLDEN BIRDCAGE is WELL WITHIN REACH. It is LOCKED with a SMALL GOLDEN PADLOCK, and inside a GOLDEN BIRD sits on a LOOSE-LOOKING BAR. The phrase 'GILDED CAGE' would come to mind if you weren't currently trapped in a MUCH-LESS THAN GILDED CAGE.
[X] Examine the SAFE
The SAFE has a THICK METAL DOOR as SAFES are wont to do, and bears a SIX-DIGIT COMBINATION LOCK.
[X] Take a marker and draw the SILLIEST MOUSTACHE on the PORTRAIT OF THE RED-HAIRED MAN in your possession. Not so smug now, huh?
You DRAW A MUSTACHE on the PORTRAIT OF A RED-HAIRED MAN and GIGGLE TO YOURSELF. Oh, wow. You are a COMIC GENIUS. You feel so, so proud of yourself.
 
> Lucy: Escape the cathedral
[X] Take and DFD the JUPITER SYMBOL
The ROUND PLATE bearing the JUPITER SYMBOL is much the same as the OTHER TWO - however, it doesn't give you the same TINGLING ELECTRIC FEELING as the SATURN SYMBOL.
[X] Insert the symbols we've got into the STAINED GLASS WINDOW
You walk up to the STAINED GLASS WINDOW and-
Wait, what?
Since you were last here, the EMPTY SLOT for the MOON has been filled by a ROUND PLATE bearing the MOON SYMBOL. There is a FRESH MESSAGE on the wall.
Writing on the wall said:
Huh. You're... not sure quite what to think. What? You're not even sure that this makes ANY SENSE AT ALL.
Oh well. You can't let yourself be BAMBOOZLED or TERRIFIED by this! You've got a PUZZLE TO FINISH. Like the MERCURY SYMBOL, the SATURN and JUPITER SYMBOLS fit in perfectly to the STAINED GLASS WINDOW. You hear a DISTANT HUM, and after a few seconds, a BRIGHT LIGHT shines through the STAINED GLASS WINDOW, colours projected against the walls of the CATHEDRAL.

There are so many colours. You know that they're caused by the colours of the STAINED GLASS WINDOW, but you can't help but feel like there's something more to them. Like this vibrant whirlwind kaleidoscope of colour is what the big bang looked like, is what the end of the world will look like, is what it would look like if you could look into the eyes of an angel. The colours wash over you, and for a second, you let yourself be lost in them, lost in the BLUE and YELLOW and GREEN and more, oh so many more. You swear that in the distance you can hear wind chimes, or are they bells? And then, slowly but surely, the colours drain.

Caged, fade. The sense of wonder and awe is gone, like a flower shriveling up in the winter, knowing it cannot survive the cold. The DOOR in the middle of the STAINED GLASS WINDOW swings OPEN.

Through it is a BRIGHTLY LIT room that looks a little like a LOUNGE. Two COUCHES face each other in the CENTER. You can see TWO DOORS, and... you can smell food cooking. You HAVEN'T EATEN in quite a while. Taking a few CAUTIOUS AND WARY STEPS into the LOUNGE, you look around, and see a TABLE with a HALF-EATEN BOWL OF SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE on it. It looks like it's STILL WARM. You are suddenly ACUTELY AWARE of how RAVENOUSLY HUNGRY you are.

[AREAS ESCAPED: 2!]
 
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> Who the hell are you?
[X] Examine the DOORS.
You walk up to the DOORS, deliberating over it for a few seconds before deciding to open the DOOR ON THE LEFT.
You reach out, take a hold of the doorknob, and pull the door open...

Only to be met with a familiar face. A RED-HAIRED GIRL of ABOUT YOUR AGE stands in a SMALL BEDROOM, eyes widening in shock for a few seconds before she crosses her arms and tilts her head to one side. She is wearing a PRIVATE SCHOOL UNIFORM and an UNPLEASANT SNEER. Her hair is tied up with BLUE RIBBONS, and on the front of her JACKET a NAMETAG has been stuck, bearing a SYMBOL: ♃, JUPITER.

"Who the hell are you?" The RED-HAIRED GIRL snaps.

You stare back for a few seconds, before quickly COLLECTING YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU. Taking a breath, you proceed to:

[] INTRODUCE YOURSELF
[] Ask her the SAME QUESTION
[] (Write-in)

And do it

[] POLITELY [The success of this will depend on a MOXIE CHECK]
[] FORCEFULLY [The success of this will depend on a MOXIE CHECK]
[] (Write-in)
 
> Lucy & Mari: Level up! (causticAccolade: reel at dizzying length of update and struggle with page formatting)
[X] What is this place and why are you here?
[X] Where is this building?
[x] How did you get here?

You've made up your mind: you're going to help her. After all, she might be KIND OF A RUDE JERK, but you're a JUNIOR SLEUTH, and you never TURN DOWN A CASE, especially when there's SOMEONE IN NEED. That's just how JUNIOR SLEUTHS operate. But you can't go into this case BLIND - plus, she seems to know at least a LITTLE more about the situation than you do. She responds to your flurry questions with a renewed and irritated scowl, refusing to meet your eyes as she speaks in a somewhat more muted way than before.

"We're at the Institute. It's in... Australia, I think, or some place like that, anyway. Someplace with a big desert. I'm not quite sure what floor or wing of the Institute we're in, though. I was never allowed to see most of it. And I came here with my Father, naturally. I wasn't supposed to be here, of course, I'm much too important for..." She pauses. "Anyway. I'm not entirely sure how I got myself trapped here. You're a detective, aren't you? Isn't it your job to work out things like that? Honestly, you can't really be very good at it, can you?" You GRACEFULLY IGNORE the RUDE COMMENTS.
[X] Does the acronym GSC mean anything to you?
"Of course. Those are the people Father works for. It stands for... well... the words are awfully long and there isn't much point in knowing the specifics, anyway. It would only bore you." You get the distinct impression that she can't remember.
[X] Forgive my curiosity, but what about your mother? Is she around? Maybe she would know...
"My mother is none of your business. She left when I was very little, anyway."

[X] Have you run across the person with the red marker? They must have been in the room behind me just a few moments ago.
"Doesn't ring a bell at all." She furrows her brow, leaning around you to look at the open door. "What's behind there?"

You give her a CONDENSED DESCRIPTION of your adventure so far, LEAVING OUT a few CERTAIN INCIDENTS involving PORTRAIT DEFACEMENT.

"Hmmm." She sits, deep in thought for a few seconds. "So then, you're definitely... and they're... I see. Bah. Nonsense, all of it. I haven't seen any such person and I can't imagine I will."
[X] Where has Mari seen him last?
"The last time I remember seeing him, he was having an argument with Dr. Paris and Mr. Stockholm. It was about... me, I think. Something of some sort has gone horribly wrong here, and they wanted... something or other, from me. He refused. I wasn't supposed to be listening, but I did anyway. The next thing I knew, I was here. I suppose if anything's happened to him, it's my fault." For a moment, the way she seems to cave in a little with those last words makes you want to GIVE HER A HUG, but then she returns to sneering dismissively at you and you feel a little less sympathetic.
[X] Is there anything to eat around here? One should not launch a search without a proper preparation!
"There was canned food in the bedroom." She gestures at the room behind her. "Mostly spaghetti, for some reason. If you want some, you'll have to make it yourself. I'm not going to cook for you, because I'm not a personal chef for grubby little urchins, no matter what sort of grown-up thing they claim to be, Detective." Despite her rudeness, she seems visibly relieved that you're willing to help her.

The answers aren't entirely satisfactory, no, but you're pretty sure they're the only ones you're going to get, at least for now. After pacing around the room a few times, you come back to her. "Okay, Mari." You flash her a winning smile even as she interrupts you.

"Don't call me 'Mari', Calloway."

"Okay. Marinette. We're going to find your father. Because I'm a junior sleuth, and a good sleuth never lets a client down." Seeing the hope in her eyes when you give her that promise makes you feel like a real, proper detective.

You remember the look on your classmate's faces when you returned the mysteriously vanished class pet safe and alive. You remember your mother's tears of relief when you found her wedding ring. You remember your father smiling and patting you on the head as your cunning investigations led him back to the car that he'd managed to lose in the parking lot for the third time in a week.

That's the real reward of being a JUNIOR SLEUTH, in your opinion. Not the adoration, or getting FILTHY CRIMINALS GROUNDED and PUT IN DETENTION, or even the cool outfits. (And you do wear some really cool outfits, you think to yourself. No, the real reward of being a JUNIOR SLEUTH is is the knowledge that you're doing GOOD IN THE WORLD.

[MARI BRIGHTON has JOINED YOUR PARTY!]
[You may now VIEW MARI'S CHARACTER SHEET!]

LUCY CALLOWAY has GAINED A LEVEL!
You have ascended from [CRIME-FIGHTING KINDERGARTENER] to [WATSONIAN WHIPPERSNAPPER]

Select ONE STAT INCREASE:
[] +5 NIMBLENESS
[] +5 ACUMEN
[] +5 MOXIE

Select ONE CLASS MACHINATION:
[] ROCK IT FOR ME: Your winning smile and way with words let you instill courage and faith into the hearts of even the most hopeless of pessimists, even if putting on a brave face for other people can be taxing for you. This CLASS MACHINATION allows you to sacrifice 10 ÉLAN to give a member of your PARTY a BONUS TO A ROLL equal to HALF YOUR MOXIE STAT, or to restore 20 ÉLAN to every member of your PARTY other than YOURSELF.
[] INTERROGATION FOR IMBECILES: Your sharp eye and deep empathy mean that you're a wizard when it comes to reading people. Although you can't rely on it to be 100% ACCURATE, this CLASS MACHINATION makes it easier to tell when someone is LYING or HIDING THEIR TRUE FEELINGS.

MARI BRIGHTON has GAINED A LEVEL!
She has ascended from [INTREPID INGENUE] to [RISK-TAKING RASCAL]

Select ONE CLASS MACHINATION:
[] HOLD MY JUICE BOX: You're an unusually reckless child, prone to doing incredibly dangerous things, either ignorant or, more worryingly, with complete and utter awareness of the peril involved. This CLASS MACHINATION halves the ÉLAN DAMAGE taken from being in DANGEROUS SITUATIONS.
[] PACK RAT: You're the sort of person who is always working on a project of some sort and invariably carrying almost a dozen random screws, sprockets and other ridiculous nonsense, to the point where people around you wonder where you keep it all. This CLASS MACHINATION expands your INVENTORY SIZE from FIVE SPACES to TEN SPACES.

Can I just say that the name Marinette is really cute? Because it is :D
Did you get it from Miraculous Ladybug?
I was honestly just trying to think of a 'posh' sort of name, but now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever heard the name Marinette before watching that show, so subconsciously, almost certainly.
>causticAccolade: regret only making one reservation post
Also! This should be obvious from the update, but I've added MARI's character sheet to the game mechanic post if you want to check it out.
 
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> Lucy: Take the case
x4 [X] +5 ACUMEN
x2 [X] +5 MOXIE
x1 [X] +5 NIMBLENESS

x5 [X] INTERROGATION FOR IMBECILES
x2 [X] ROCK IT FOR ME

x4 [X] HOLD MY JUICE BOX
x3 [X] PACK RAT

You are a JUNIOR SLEUTH, and the fact that you are not only NOW ON A CASE AGAIN but also NO LONGER ALONE is filling you with ENERGY and DETERMINATION. [+50 ÉLAN]

You've always been able to think more clearly when you were on a case. A mystery to solve gives you something on which to SHARPEN the RAZOR OF YOUR MIND. Your current case: a MISSING PERSON. You know that he is a DOCTOR who writes OBNOXIOUS BOOKS ABOUT ASTRONOMY and also LOOKS LIKE A LAME JERKFACE. He was last seen in his OFFICE, wherever that is, arguing with DR. PARIS and MR. STOCKHOLM, whoever they are. You clear your mind. It's time to think.

After a long silence, you decide that you need to HAVE A LOOK AROUND before you set off in search of Mari's father. The room you're in seems to be some sort of LOUNGE, with COUCHES, CHAIRS, and TABLES. Mari grudgingly moves aside to let you into the room behind her, which, while being a bit cramped, manages to fit inside it ONE BED, a COUNTER with a SINK, MICROWAVE and CAN OPENER atop it, and SEVERAL SHELVES stacked with CANNED FOOD. Logically, you presume, given that there's only ONE OTHER DOOR, it must be the way out - you turn to Mari to confirm this for you, and she nods uncomfortably.

"Yes. There's a corridor down that way, but... there are traps. I don't think I'm fast enough to get through them safely. Also, I... didn't want to go anywhere on my own." She allows a half-second of vulnerability to show before sneering at you. "Not that going somewhere with someone like you will be much better." Once more, you diplomatically ignore the insult, instead walking over to the LEFT DOOR and opening it. You wouldn't have noticed it if Mari hadn't mentioned traps, but there are slits in the walls that certainly seem very suspect.

"There should be some way to turn those off, but I think it's on the other end. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any point to..." She looks away, tapping her foot impatiently. "Anyway. If you're a detective, you ought to be able to do something about it, right? Then we can go look for my father. Hurry up, though. I don't have all day, now do I?"

You nod, your display of politeness absolutely astonishing. But then again, being a JUNIOR SLEUTH is all about the MOXIE. A true SLEUTH doesn't let people see anything they don't want them to see - in fact, a true SLEUTH does the opposite - once you know someone a little, it's quite easy to watch out for their TELLS, those tell-tale signs that not everything they're saying is true. Mari, you think, is being very reticent, and you're not entirely sure what she has to hide but you know it has to be something - that's not your concern right now, however. As you open a TIN OF PEACHES (after a great deal of frankly undignified struggle with the CAN OPENER) and eat what feels like the first meal you've had in a long, long time, you think to yourself. You have a plan, at least right now. You have no choice, you think, but to go down the CORRIDOR and DEACTIVATE THE TRAPS so that MARI CAN FOLLOW YOU. Before you set off, however, you want to do a few things.

You feel like after this, there might not be any turning back.

[] Before you set off down the corridor, you think you should probably... (Write-in)
 
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> Questionably Soteriological: Chapter 2: Begin
QUESTIONABLY SOTERIOLOGICAL: CHAPTER 2

"Everyone should be able to do one card trick, tell two jokes, and recite three poems, in case they are ever trapped in an elevator." - Lemony Snicket

INTERLUDE: DR. PARIS
A thin, blonde woman is sitting on a chair, surrounded by screens of all shapes and sizes. Some of these screens are flashing error messages. Most are not. The wailing of alarms fills the air, but the woman has gotten so used to them over the last few days that she barely hears them. It is easy, she muses, to become accustomed to things one cannot control. Mostly, the screens show footage from security cameras, but the screen she is watching at the moment does not. On it, data is flashing past her eyes at breakneck speeds, a constant stream of information that she doubts any other living person in the world could hope to understand. Her glasses reflect the light, creating a slightly eerie effect in the dark room. She frowns, lipstick-red lips twisting into a scowl of irritation.

"Ugh."

"Is everything all right, Dr. Paris?" The voice is male, and is swiftly followed into the room by its owner. He is tall, built like a model, with a grin so perfect and polished that it's uncomfortable to look at, like it doesn't quite fit on his face.

"Bloody hell, of course everything isn't alright, Roger. What's the status on the assets?" Her tone is frosty and commanding, almost regal in its haughtiness.

"Saturn's been making her way through the-"

"Call them 'it', Roger."

"-Its way through the initial chambers. Approaching the main facility, now with Jupiter in tow. Mercury and Mars are in the maze, they've been sticking together since they found each other. None of them have so much as entered the first stage yet, but it can only be a matter of time. I can't get Luna on the cameras anymore, they keep breaking, but I can follow the disturbances. I don't know how it's getting around the facility, but I think it's gotten into the maintenance tunnels. Venus is still under, thank God, but it took all of Dr. Helsinki's team to get it that way and he says he can't afford to take that many casualties again."

"Sol?" Her tone is resigned. She knows what the answer will be.

"Still loose, somewhere in the west wing. I haven't heard back from Marshal Kyoto's team in three hours. I think we can assume they're done for."

"Goddammit. Any sign of Brighton, the bastard?"

"None. I've been able to find Ankara, though. She's in the maze, for whatever reason."

"Soft-hearted idiot. This is all her fault." The hatred in her voice is like tar, choking, thick and boiling.

The man shrugs. "Any orders, Doc?"

"Don't call me 'doc', that's an order for you. Make sure Gaia's secure."

"Yes, ma'am." The man walks off, running a hand through his perfectly gelled hair as he does so. The woman's glare bores into his back, following him until he's gone and she can turn back to her screen, watching numbers and information fly past like a train passing a station without stopping. It will all be worth it, she tells herself. It will all be worth it. It will be perfect. It will be perfect. It will be perfect.

*******

LUCY AND MARI


"Here goes nothing."

The CLASS MACHINATION [ANALYSIS FOR AMATEURS] has been activated!

You look left. Right. Memorize the positions of the slits. Breathe in. Breathe out. Close your eyes. Keep the positions of the traps in your mind. Breathe in. Breathe out. You're getting out of here. You're going to solve this mystery, and it's going to be far from the last thing you do. Breathe in. Breathe out. You open your eyes, and take your first step into the corridor.

One, two, three seconds, and you feel the rush of air on your leg before you hear the click of the mechanism moving, and you step out of the way, a gleaming blade missing you by centimeters. Your foot comes down again - two clicks, this time, and in the one, two, three before the trap fires you twist your body, and one of the blades slides against your torso, a blade that would have gone right into your back and come out the other side if you'd gotten the angle wrong by just one degree. The blades retract, and you take another step forward, click click click, one two three, and all you can think is speed and angles and trajectories and mechanisms, and you lurch forward, lifting your foot off the ground a fraction of a second before a blade that would have handily severed your Achilles tendon slices through thin air instead.

In some compartmentalized part of your mind, you register Mari looking on with a mixture of awe and... what is that expression, on her face? No, you can't afford to let yourself be distracted, because in the time that you took to notice Mari there were four clicks, and one and two have already passed and in a blind panic you refocus, leaping forward as the space where you were just standing is impaled four times over. You're doing this on automatic, now, halfway down the corridor. Click, one, two, three, click, one, two, three, click, one, two three. Now, that the movements and the twists and the leaps are on automatic, it becomes almost easy, as you slip out of the way of each and every trap. You are calm. You are a detective, and you are not going to die here, damn it to heck. You are Lucy goshdarn Calloway, Junior Sleuth extraordinaire, and you are unstoppable in the pursuit of justice and knowledge and maybe a milkshake, now that you think of it, you could really do with a milkshake.

Click, click, click, click, click, click,
and it's six this time, and you don't let yourself wonder if you can make it because you know you can make it. You breathe in, breath out, and with a one, two, three, you leap past the flurry of blades, past the end of the corridor, landing on your hands and knees in a room that you're far too tired to look around in. You lie there for the next few minutes as you catch your breath and come down from the adrenaline high.

You nearly died. But... you didn't.

[ACUMEN CHECK: SUCCEEDED]
[-25 ÉLAN]

Mari is still awestruck, looking at you with wide eyes and a slightly slack jaw for a few seconds from across the corridor before she crosses her arms and tosses her hair, looking away from you. "Hurry up and turn it off, Calloway. Within the next century, if you can manage it."

You cast your eyes across the room for something that might deactivate the trap, and set your eyes on a LARGE LEVER, which you set about pulling. It takes ALL YOUR STRENGTH, but you're able to shift it, and after a few more cans of beans go mercifully unmutilated, she walks calmly through the corridor, head held high and hands folded primly behind her back as her shoes click against the floor. By the time she joins you, you've recovered enough to stand upright, and the two of you look around at the room you find yourself in.

It seems... very similar to the one you just left. TABLES, COUCHES, and TWO DOORS. One of the DOORS leads to a BEDROOM, which is EMPTY save ONE BED and A SINK and feels more like a prison cell than anything else. The other one, however, leads to something very unusual - it's a CORRIDOR, once more, but it's less like a hallway in a building and more like an attraction at a fancy aquarium. The WALLS and CEILING are both made of GLASS, through which a MURKY BLACKNESS is visible. You can see only a FEW FEET into the WATER, with how dirty it is. The LIGHTING seems to be of the EMERGENCY VARIETY, shining an unsettling red glow down the CORRIDOR, until they seem to GO OUT COMPLETELY about TWENTY METERS AHEAD. A SILVER THREAD is tied to the DOORHANDLE and extends far down the CORRIDOR, into the DARKNESS. A heavy-looking TWO-HANDED FLASHLIGHT sits just beyond the doorway.

This, you think to yourself, looks like a puzzle for a JUNIOR SLEUTH.
Also, Mari. Mari is here too.

[] (Write-in as usual)

Wow, I probably wrote way too much for this update - sorry if my prose is substandard, by the way, I welcome and honestly encourage any constructive criticism you might have. But hey, at least you got some plot, and now it's right back to your regularly scheduled collaborative puzzle solving!
 
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> Lucy & Mari: Encounter something unpleasant
[X] EXAMINE the SILVER THREAD
The SILVER THREAD is tied rather LOOSELY to the DOOR HANDLE and extends down the corridor AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE, off into the DARKNESS. It looks like it's intended as a NAVIGATION TOOL, although some paranoid part of you can't help but stop thinking about those CREEPY DEEP SEA FISH that use their tongues as lures to bait smaller fish into their mouths.
[X] Check the couches and tables for stuff
There is a distressing LACK OF STUFF. There's a certain SOULLESS QUALITY to the furniture, all PLASTIC and MASS-PRODUCED. Whatever this room is, it's certainly not somebody's home.
[X] Examine and search the ONE BED
-[X] Is there any indication who the room belonged to?
The BED is about the right size for SOMEONE OF YOUR AGE. It is FAR FROM PRISTINE and has OBVIOUSLY BEEN SLEPT in QUITE RECENTLY, at some point during the last few days AT LEAST. Other than that, the room is BLAND AND FEATURELESS.
[X] Examine THE SINK and turn the water on
-[X] Is the water from the 'aquarium'?
The SINK is unremarkable. A TAP and a BASIN, both made from STAINLESS STEEL. Although it shares a LITTLE OF THE MURKINESS with the water beyond the glass walls of the CORRIDOR, the water from the taps is MUCH CLEANER-LOOKING, seeming MOSTLY DRINKABLE to you.

"What the bloody hell are you even looking at? Do you just examine everything in every room you go into?" Mari gripes at you, standing near the entrance with her arms folded sulkily.

"Yes. That's how you solve a mystery. You have to be observant and pay attention to the details."

"That sound boring and lame." Mari does not seem interested in a lecture on proper junior sleuthing technique, so you decide to go back to meeting her rudeness with polite indifference.
[X] SET ASIDE the KEYS in your INVENTORY for now.
[X] PICK UP and DFD the FLASHLIGHT
You PUT DOWN the KEYS. You don't think you're going to be NEEDING THEM AGAIN any time soon. The FLASHLIGHT is INORDINATELY HEAVY, but you can just about lift it. It seems to be WORKING FINE, and you turn it off and on again a few times just to check. The light it shines is VERY BRIGHT, looking like a SEARCHLIGHT BEAM more than anything.
[X] Turn the FLASHLIGHT on and carefully walk along THE SILVER THREAD, illuminating THE DARKNESS. See where it leads.
-[X] That's assuming the FLASHLIGHT is working.
With the FLASHLIGHT ON, you keep one hand on the SILVER THREAD to make sure you don't LOSE YOUR WAY, gesturing to Mari to follow you.
[x] Ask Mari if you could hold her hand, you might feel better right after that near death experience if you do
You reach out to grab Mari's hand, but she flinches away from you instinctively before scowling. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We need to make sure we stay together in the dark."

"I'd rather get lost."

With a small sigh, you resign yourself to the fact that she's probably going to be this uncooperative for the foreseeable future.
[X] Shine the FLASHLIGHT through the glass, assuming it's working, to see if you can see anything other than murky blackness.
You SHINE the FLASHLIGHT through the GLASS into the MURKY BLACKNESS. You can still BARELY SEE ANYTHING through the DARK AND FILTHY WATER. With a shrug, you move the FLASHLIGHT BEAM until it points BACK DOWN THE CORRIDOR, and continue walking. The CORRIDOR, like the last one you went down, feels like it stretches on FOREVER, but you just keep walking, looking behind you every now and then to make sure Mari is still following. After a minute or so, you hear Mari's footsteps stop.

"Calloway." She whispers, a little urgency in her tone.

"What?"

"Look to your left."

You have no idea what she could be alerting you to, but you turn your head, looking out into a MURKY BLACKNESS that looks BLACKER THAN USUAL. Some kind of SHADOW is being cast on the GLASS, like SOMETHING HUGE moving in the water just beyond your range of sight. Curious, you cast your FLASHLIGHT BEAM out into the water. Nothing happens for one second. Five seconds. Ten seconds. And then, just as you're about to shine the FLASHLIGHT back down the CORRIDOR, something presses itself up against the glass. It's so large and alien that it takes you a few seconds to work out what it is, but when you do you nearly drop the flashlight.

An eye. A fish eye, by the looks of it, although from what you know about marine life you doubt that there are any fish in the world with eyes as big as your head. It seems to be looking directly at you. You're about to say something to Mari about how creepy that is before you hear a loud THUMP and the CORRIDOR SHAKES AROUND YOU with the impact of SOMETHING HEAVY impacting the glass.

This... is probably bad.

[] (Write-in voting as usual, yep. Lucy will probably flat-out refuse to do anything that isn't survival-oriented right now, she's a bit scared.)

There is never too much Lucy Calloway
Holy hell, that was incredible.
Aww, thanks, you guys are too nice.
 
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