❧ Paper Faces on Parade

[luministimods]

[at last, the final person has seemingly returned to town and at that moment, all preparations for the 701st Founder's Day Festival finally cease! music starts up that can be heard all around town, and all the fancy, sparkling decorations reach as far as the townhomes. oddly, the sky has darkened to look like night even though moments before, the sun was out and shining.

by now, the town square has been transformed into an extravagant outdoor ballroom for this gala, and everyone is decked out in full refinery; tuxedos and ballgowns are all around! and most special of all, everyone in the square are donning fancy masquerade masks; be they dancing, dining, or simply standing around and chatting to each other. from the small sea of people in the crowd, it's difficult to tell who is who. no one has done any announcements or welcome speech, and there don't seem to be any plans to.

at least there, anyway.

not too long after the festivities begin, a box with a special mask and a note are sent to each of the residents. each mask is different, but the notes are all the same:]

I know you've been busy, but why not try to relax?
Who knows, you just might get lucky and find me once and for all.
If you miss this opportunity, though...you'll truly regret it.


❧ Plot Details: Paper Faces on Parade **Quick-time Event**

Hear that, everyone? The murderer has called you out! Between all the clues and things found throughout town, people surely must have an idea or two about who it might be, but now you'll be able to find him or her for certain. Except...there is this funny little celebration going on. You won't be able to get anywhere without wearing the mask you were given, at least, but if you do try to go somewhere without it on, you'll just be told that you can't get in (and might get told off for attempting to ruin the spirit of the celebration, but that's if the person you run into is the kind to tell you off for something like that.) Don't worry, though; nothing's been done to the mask itself so it won't poison you or harm you in any way once you put it on or even touch it. It's just a mask, and you have your choice of what it looks like. If you want to get fancy and find one, here are a few links. If you wish to get completely dressed up like the rest of the townspeople, the shops in both plazas have completely restocked to accommodate everyone's possible choices.

The town square itself has been transformed so there are marble-like stone floors in the quadrants of the physical square itself fit for dancing and mingling (though the flower bushes and fountain have merely been decorated to blend with everything better), and there are plenty of tables covered in white silk cloths near tables piled high with fancy foods and drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). To the north of the square, however, are what appear to be three archways in front of the Town Hall. The fronts are curtained off, but curiously, none of the partygoers seem to notice this addition.

Will you go in beyond one of the curtains? Or will you be content to mingle and have fun with the other town residents?

The choice is yours, but know that what you decide to do here will lead to one of two things:


• Absolutely nothing. At least for a while, anyway.
  
  or
  
  
• A chance to escape from Luministi early--and to rescue your fellow residents from entrapment in a tiny little town--but there will be a second thing to do in order to accomplish this.


Know that if you do decide to go beyond the curtains, a wrong guess will have a slight consequence. Nothing too severe, though. There are only three archways to choose from, after all. There's even a clue in the note itself about which one is the correct one.

Just know that this plot will only last a week, so this where the quick-time event timing will come into play.

Before I bring this to a close, I do want to mention a little something about the clues and such that were given out in the last plot. Some of them might not seem like they go with solving the mystery of who killed Audrey Ardes, but hopefully now (and as we continue on in the game) they will start to make sense. If people want to discuss what all they've found--some information had been given over PMs, after all--and want to discuss things, you can definitely do so here!

And also, the second Activity Check has gone up! Head over here if you haven't already and check in! If you weren't able to get enough threads in for this time or anything, don't worry. Just give me a heads-up and everything will be a-okay~

That is it! How you want to tackle this plot is up to you guys! If anyone wants to do a joint entry, a full-on party entry, or even individual entries going into the curtained archways, I'm leaving it in your hands! Simply let me know when you do go into one (and which one it is--the left, center, or right one (or 1, 2, or 3 respectively)), and I can tell you which one is correct and set you on your way from there.

Have fun everyone! ♥

Comments

OOC - Fuu's clues

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

So, being the information monger Fuu is, I'm sure that she'd have used her time wisely to try and talk to as many people as possible over the past week. But... yay real life. For all that I would love to, it'd take forever to do threads with everyone... XD

So, I propose that if you feel that Fuu and your character would have spoken at any time over the past week, here's what she'd share with you, no strings attached.

-She was shot with an arrow and 'died' while investigating the Chrysalis with Hawk.
-The dress that Sophie charmed for her was not torn by the arrow.
-The two clues she received from the death were fingernails painted the same purple colour as Audrey's, and a small drawing of a flame on her ankle.
-The only thing found at the Chrysalis was a vial looking like the one the antidote came in last time. Hawk in turn gave the vial to Braxiatel. (It contains a tiny amount of the same nanobot poison used in last year's event (http://luministi.livejournal.com/9579.html).)
-The search of the garden yielded nothing to her.
-Only a couple things interesting at the library - At the Neptune sundial she took back the eye of the topiary dog that had been used in finding the antidote to the poison (it's now in her purse, along with an ever-growing assortment of oddities). There was something odd about some flaking of the copper around Neptune's trident, as if someone has been trying to move it, but it didn't move when she tried. And she might mention in passing that Resarci is going to have to pay huge fines on a book about leveraged buyouts, seeing as it's been out since last year. (She would have asked those investigating the lab to keep an eye out for it, but it won't be found.)

Please feel free to ask if you want any further details on anything!

And now it's everyone else's turn! While Fuu's good with giving out information, getting some in return is pretty sweet too.
She's particularly interested in hearing from the others who had died, to see if there is any theme to the tattoos given.

New characters, I'm sorry for not yet having tagged you, because for sure Fuu would be happy to bring you up to speed (if you can stand her doing so XD) If you you'd like her to do that, please let me know - we can play it out or hand-wave it.

So... I hope this is an okay way to do this...? (It might be nice to have all our hints in one place!) But if anyone would rather play out a dialogue to exchange information, I'm cool with that. ^.^
and sjkafld; I'm sorry this is so long.

Re: OOC - Fuu's clues

[collector]

I'd like to say for sure that Brax passed Fuu his information, which was mainly the information on the antidote and poison that he found at Resarci's. ALSO, he stole all that medical equipment because come on. What he didn't steal, the Doctor totally would.

Re: OOC - Fuu's clues

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Awesome *.*
And yes, totally would. XD

Re: OOC - Fuu's clues

[grandbellknight]

I'd like to think Croix would have offered up his own clues from his own death: the flash of memory featuring the back of someone's head - brown hair, unknown length; and a little symbol on his wrist.

During his investigation with Xion at the shops, they also found quite a handful (well, okay, Xion probably found it all- she's the investigator type, he's more of a soldier XD) They found:
- A bottle of chloroform
- Verita's basket, hidden in a bush, with some old notes about announcements from last season
- The shops look like they were abandoned in a hurry - stuff just left. Including bad food. Ew.
- Beginnings of the festival set-up, like Japanese lanterns, Chirstmas lights and such.
- And a hammer!

I hope this is alright?

Re: OOC - Fuu's clues

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Ohh, his symbol is so much different from the others! (The others that I know about being Fuu's flame and Hawk's sun, both on the ankle.)

...And a hammer! \o/ (lol, guessing that might be one of those things that will make sense later... XD)

Thank you!

[fortune_sought]

Sophie was part of Brax's and Croix's investigations. With Croix, they investigated the sheriff's office, where they found notes and Iussus' CAT with audio recordings from the previous murder investigations.

I am definitely game for throwing Sophie through a curtain. Should I do this by tagging into Fuu's entry and working toward it there? Also, she is assuming Audrey and Audrey are not the same and starting to wonder if Audrey killed herself.

Re: OOC - Fuu's clues -- is that like Blue's Clues???

[manicurious.livejournal.com]

Ichijou won't be able to provide Fuu with any information that she doesn't already know, since the only significant thing he came across was the nail polish discrepancy, and I suppose you could count his "Dead people aren't supposed to look so flawless unless they've been preserved somehow" thoughts.

He believes that the person who was killed was not actually Audrey (ANY of the "Audreys" we've seen, if there's even more than one), but rather a decoy of some sort - either a preserved body that strongly resembles her or a very detailed doll. Those who were actually daring enough to touch her could probably disprove the latter at least.

ALSO, I feel that it's important to note, since there's the possibility of an escape soonish: Ichijou still desperately does NOT want to escape Luministi, even with all the bad things that've been going on. He's ultra selfish and the people who are here have been rather nice to him (something he's not used to), and he doesn't want to give that up easily. So be ready for him to try to sabotage things if it comes down to it. :3c

[vengefulagent]

To make things even more interesting, Wash got a symbol carved into his armor (since he was wearing it when he died) that looks like this, and remembers hearing someone crying.

THEORY POST!

[lamb_of_gold]

Brought to you by 4 in the morning!

So a Sun, a Fire and two hands of a clock (?) pointing to the right. Maybe a sign to be somewhere at a specific time (3:15, perhaps, and in the afternoon, if the sun is any indication).

Alternately, it could be a warning against the Right curtain (the fire would indicate something of that nature, anyways.)

OR as was said above, something to do with the sundails. I don't know how we'd work flame into them, however, unless someone lit them up to force a specific shadow (or no shadow!)

CLEARLY, MORE PEOPLE NEED TO DIE B[

J/k, j/k. Anyways, Given what's known in this thread, are there any logical conclusions that we can come to, and possibly put forth? I admit, I haven't been paying much attention lately, and that's entirely my fault ;;orz.

[desertdaggers]

I wonder if the directions of the hands are purposeful? Lighting up the sundial still seems worth a shot!

:|a I don't know, really… but it's possible to tie flames and the sun into ideas of resurrection. A time? Things have been pretty drastic…

[millenia]

I mean.... part of me wants to say that they're pointing to the right just 'cause they're... pointing to the right. :|a and that it's nothing to do with anything. BUT I DON'T KNOW. (why am I so bad at this orz)

A warning against the right curtain... .... hmm. Maybe I'll throw Croix in the left or the center instead.

Re: THEORY POST!

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Yes... need more clues... o.o

I like the idea of forcing a specific shadow/no shadow!

As for over-arcing conclusions... not too much yet (I think?)

I don't think we know for certain yet who the assassin is.
We suspect that Audrey had a double of herself, and possibly killed herself.
Although that makes Audrey sound like the killer, personally, my money is still on Resarci having a hand in all this too, with all the mementos from last year popping up.

[desertdaggers]

Oooh, masks! *_* Haha, I think there's at least one mask armour piece in-game for Hawk…

'Get lucky' sounds so much like a challenge. :|a

How badly would townspeople react to someone trying to take off their masks?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

lol, I think our assassin saying 'get lucky' is pretty arrogant of him!

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Question for everyone...

Did anyone ever say that they searched Audrey's body? We had a couple people look her over, but did she have anything useful on her person?

[bit_impossible]

Mu had checked it out and Ichijou checked out her nails I believe(?), and it's something that Ten would have done. (And no, there wouldn't have been anything useful on her person other than what was in the description for her. Not even in her pockets. But! Because her nail beds didn't show any blue, it does mean that her fingernails were bare at the time she was murdered.)

OOC:

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie's investigations have been with Fuu at the Library and independently at the Sheriff's office, which have both been covered below, but he would have shared that information. He would have also shared that the Sheriff seems to like to collect old newspapers from Luministi but that they're mostly ads.

He hand-wrote some of his notes on the conversations and has been putting them on his own CAT slowly, now that Brax is showing him how.

Edit: As for curtains, I don't think anyone's doing the left curtain yet, so he'll probably go there if anyone wants to go with? Although if there's someone who is doing that and I've missed it, let me know. He'd be willing to go along as backup too.

[painlessfighter]

Hey Jamie, do you like kids? Would you like Natsuo here to accompany you through the left curtain 'cause he's bored? :3

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

Mind if Xion tags along with Jamie and Natsuo? =w= She wants to jump in headlong somewhere...

(inb4 Jamie's post becomes "Jamie babysits a crazy shota and an overenthusiastic loli in shota form")

[lamb_of_gold]

Also Mu was going to investigate the centre curtain, and will ACTUALLY wear his Cloth.

Helmet
And
all.

[desertdaggers]

Center sounds good, if Mu doesn't mind company?

[manicurious.livejournal.com]

If Mu is willing to be his knight in shining armor, Ichijou will be willing to join the center party AKA the group with the best hair.

[grandbellknight]

All systems go for the badass guys with fabulous hair! >D

[manicurious.livejournal.com]

FYI, Jchan, the suspense here is killing me. You're too good at this.

[bit_impossible]

Man, it's killing me too! I can't wait for all the groups to go in through the curtains~~