Kirumi Tojo's Palace | The Ultimate Maid's Failures

[kandata]

By now everyone may be used to find themselves in bizarre locations, between going into palaces and visiting Nekyia. It might not come as a surprise that it has happened again.

What might come as a surprise, though...is how empty this place is.

All around you there's nothing more than a large, gray, featureless expanse. In the distance there seem to be bars, curving upwards to gather so, so high above you, possibly hundreds of miles above, so high it’s hard to distinguish.

It’s a cage. So unfathomably large. You could escape, were you to get to the edges of the cage, but...it would take forever. No matter how you look at it, you're trapped. The atmosphere is so...hopeless. Devoid of anything even remotely positive.

Not that you want to hang around for long, do you? After all, this is someone's palace. Not a place to stick around at. What to do, though?

It’s all so...empty. Silent. Featureless. A flat expanse of hard gray tiles.

Gather together, everyone. Gather and choose a direction. North, East, West, South. All directions look completely identical, but could it affect your time in this place, somehow? Probably not. But all treks start with the first step. Perhaps, if you get moving, you'll progress?

Comments

PHASE 1

[kandata]

[Your surroundings are completely different now. They're...not really an improvement from the featureless gray expanse, because every single person here knows what this place is:

A source of pain and unease for Kirumi Tojo. Sayaka explained to everyone the circumstances, so it's not hard to guess that in this abandoned building, blood was meant to be spilled.

Monokuma said he set everything up so everybody will see what kind of person Kirumi Tojo is. But even though he said that...at first glance, nothing seems to be about her? That may be because it's not easily seen. This is a big place, after all. There's so much that could be worth checking.

The hallways are large. Big windows fit on the walls, but you can't see outside unless you approach. In the room you're in, there's a bulletin board. You can see a hallway that goes deeper into the building, as well as two doors -- one featureless, the other with a piano motif.

Time to explore, everyone, and see...what little bits and pieces of Kirumi Tojo's psyche you find along the way. Monokuma wants you to kill her, and if he's anything like what Sayaka said...

...wouldn't it bring the most despair if you had to kill somebody you got to understand thoroughly?]

[finalmix]

[ ah. the terrifying ordeal of being Known.

anyway, joshua's heading over to the piano motif door because why wouldn't he. ]

[moodwrecker]

[She's drifting this way too, though if I'm asleep when things get rolling again Joshua can take the lead in exploring.]

[prozaic]

[He's here too nbd]

[kandata]

[Welcome, Aubrey, Joshua, Shalem! Pass through the door--

....or not. It doesn't budge.

When they try to enter, though, one of them probably pressed against the painted piano on the door, and when they did, there sounded a loud sound, like a piano key being pressed. Testing it a bit more will show that the piano keys drawn on the door can actually be played, even though they're merely painted on the door.

This impromptu piano sounds...off-key, though. Nobody has tended to this piano in a while.

One of the three also will see a round window on the door, about head-high, to look into the room]

[emptyself]

[ soujuurou will look at the bulletin board! ]

[kandata]

[Lo and behold the bulletin board, Soujuurou! It's currently covered with glass. Through the glass he'll see a folded piece of paper pinned to the corkboard, done so nobody can see the contents without unfolding the paper.

The outside of the paper has that damn bear's grin scribbled on it.

The bulletin board seems to not have a lock. It's...it really is a pane of glass on top of the board, for some reason]

[prozaic]

[Shalem is heading immediately for the door with the piano motif to try and open it-- sorry everyone, he was pinged by ART. He needs to see. Is there really a piano in there?]

[kandata]

GAther at the piano door, Shalem! Linking for organization, yup.

[destage]

[They don't have the same time that they would in the normal school world. If they want to save Kirumi, they need to learn about her and understand her as best as they can, but they can't take forever.

...Even so, Sayaka feels herself clam up a bit at first, her grip going to the sword she has with her and gripping it's handle tight. She's not sure what she should expect here, but she's prepped for the worst.

She'll go check the featureless hallway, first. What do we have here?]

[bloodweapon]

[Fray's accompanying Sayaka; after all, he doesn't want her to be alone for any more shitty bear jumpscares. He takes a brief moment to rest a hand on her shoulder as if to remind her that he's here before returning his attention to the hallway.

And since he has eyes (11) is there anything noteworthy here to be perceived?]

[kandata]

[Sayaka's steps don't echo while she walks. Walking down the hallway, this seems to lead to the foyer of the school. Looking up from the center of it, this building as two floors. Doesn't seem like there's a way to ascend to the second floor, though.

What there is, is a stairway that leads to the basement, a door that leads to a pair of bathrooms -- one for boys (this one broken) and one for girls -- and a door leading into the storeroom. There also is another hallway which seems to lead to once another wing of the school, further beyond this foyer.

You have options to explore, Sayaka!]

MECHANICS ADDENDUM

[kandata]

If you at any point want to roll for perception, you sure can! I don't have anything that requires a successful perception roll as something absolutely necessary to progress -- anything that seems to be in the way or locked will have its hints and keys in the setting somewhere -- but succeeding in rolling perception will be like a shortcut, letting you progress with somewhat less difficulty.

As usual, 1-10 fails, 11-20 succeeds.

[imperiosity]

[Well, isn't this place pleasant. There's plenty to check out it seems, but since some of the others have the other points of interest covered... he'll wander down that hallway. More specifically, he's going to go down the stairs to the basement because why not. Surely nothing can go wrong here!!!]

[kandata]

[You have reached the basement! There's two doors here -- and, mercifully, no further hallways to find, just these two places. One are wooden double doors, marked 'library'. The other...the other seems to be just a classroom. Generic classroom, from what Aaron will see through the door.

Curious thing, though, there's the stench of blood in the air. Fresh blood]

[moonshaded]

[I need to go to the store soon so I'll snap up something possibly less intensive while everyone fights over who's checking out the girls bathroom

You know, those windows are right there, and Kainé is half expecting that they just hold a view of the same empty tiled field that brought them here. Are they all barred like the image example? She'll check the barriers and see if she can see anything outside.

Her perception roll was a 4, though, so maybe her expectations will keep her from noticing anything to important.]

[beautifulknight]

[ What about if he helps her?

Argenti will come over since she seems to be looking for something important...??

Let's see what's happening with the windows/or outside of them, alright? (20) ]

[strawsandals]

[ Yoon finds himself exploring and runs into the area beside the bulletin board. Huh. What do we have here? ]

[finalmix]

[ tagging along! this means that he does miss shalem fighting with the fake ai, oops. ]

[idealitas]

[ Somehow, Yi Sang is left to explore the dining room.

Anything noteworthy upon first walking in there? ]

[kandata]

[Dining room! It's quite nice, if you ignore the really overgrown plants. The kitchen is over there, but there's this big wooden padlock nailed all over the entrance.

All else is as you see on that image. How do you explore, Yi Sang?]

Phase 1 Regroup

[kandata]

[prozaic]

[Immediately gets himself to a corner, wads his jacket up into a makeshift pillow and lies down. He is going to NAP.]

[moodwrecker]

[Alright well, Shalem might have a concussion but he's a jerk and Kainé can probably keep an eye on him, so!

Aubrey is looking around some more and probably stumbles on the Bathroom while doing so.]

PHASE 1 END

[kandata]

[After everyone saw Kirumi’s memory, there was a tune sounding through the speakers all over the school. Ding dong. It’s a school announcement, from Monokuma himself]

Alright, alright, a bear can accept when one is wrong. [Something tells you that was completely insincere] You all would have been decent to have in a killing game. Fine!

Everyone go to the exit. You’re all welcome to the inner areas of the palace. Yeah, go ahead! I noticed you bunch have such a good opinion of that maid girl, so…let me destroy that for you.

Your final investigation awaits!

[The transmission ends.

Just like Monokuma said, the doors that lead to the exit are now open. Soujuurou had earlier seen five portraits there and the doors boarded over, but now, it’s all open, showing…a cavern. No more school, it seems to be a cave of some sort?

The portraits are now laid against the wall near the exit. Five portraits, with additional photos above.

Five cases.

Case one: a picture of Aaron using Giant Slice on Eli.
Case two: Ai braining Shalem with a guitar, right on the head, followed by a picture of Aubrey and Kainé wrestling Ai.
Case three: Sayaka stabbing Mafuyu, while Fray seems ready to strike with his sword.
Case four: Argenti puncturing Soujuurou, who is hanging from a piece of guardrail on a second floor
Case five: several people attacking Arven at once.

Everyone fulfilled a killing game. Good thing Monokuma got rid of the trial portion of the killing game!

What’s ahead is the final investigation, so to speak.

And just like so far everything seems to be positive about Kirumi…

…all of you probably know Monokuma well enough to know he must really mean what he said about he now going to destroy that nice image people have of Kirumi Tojo.]