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?

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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.]

[moonshaded]

[And she will, as promised, be annoying his ass awake every so often, just leaning casually near that corner so she can do so.]

I'm gonna tell them what you saw. [If they want the details, they can grill him about it later.]

dining room recap

[idealitas]

[ Yi Sang will return! ]

The dining room had a memory of Kirumi talking with a young man named Shuichi. I assume he's a fellow student and participant in the killing game.

She's so dedicated to her occupation and role as a maid... it seemed difficult for her to understand Shuichi wanted to spend time with her than give her orders like her employers. She made him tea, and there was a tray of tea available in the room that was prepared by her, supposedly. It's very good.

[ Yi Sang has decent enough social intelligence to feel a bit sorry for the guy. ]

But there was a message on the teapot I found that said she wished to spend time with her like that, than be a maid.

[ As for other important room things. ]

The entry to the kitchen is locked with a wooden padlock. It seems like it could be broken with a tool meant for such like an axe, if a key isn't found.

[beautifulknight]

If necessary, and we find neither, my spear is large enough to destroy it.

[ His spear is very big and like, is even taller than him... ]

[vogelfrei]

Soujuurou and I saw a memory of her speaking to that same boy. She took him for her temporary master while they were stuck in the school - and she'd wanted to be employed by him for real after all this was over.

Apparently she serves those she sees potential in, because she wants them to reach that potential.

[prozaic]

What if we were to try to break the lock first, and then look for a key or an axe later. We have weapons, after all. [Like his staff.]

[imperiosity]

Eh, wouldn’t be the first time I broke in somewhere.

[Embarrassed or ashamed isn’t quite the word for it, but he does seem a touch awkward here.]

How big was it?

[moodwrecker]

[Glancing over at Shalem and Kainé with an unimpressed look for the former especially.]

We checked out the piano room first - we found a copy of Ai hanging around looking at the CDs. I guess that guy must've figured out how to open up the door, because the next thing I know, the Ai copy's attacking him and Kaine. When I went to help, Ai turned into a regular Shadow before we defeated her. She turned into some scraps of a T-shirt.

After that, I went to check out more of the area and found a bathroom with a mirror in it. I saw a silhouette of Kirumi, I think... It definitely sounded like her when I spoke to it.

I asked her where she was, and she didn't know. And when I told her about the body announcement, she talked about how when a body is discovered, there's an investigation and a debate over who did it.

...According to her, she shouldn't have wanted to be a part of all of it, and said that whoever we are, we shouldn't join them, either. That it wasn't worth it.

windows and preliminary piano evidence stuff

[moonshaded]

[Kainé's arms are crossed over her chest. She doesn't have a lot to throw in, and she looks a little restless with their continued premise.]

We looked out those huge windows in the entrance. I thought it'd look like the place we were before, but... There are more cameras outside. Tons of 'em, sunken into the darkness.

[She gestures down toward Shalem, brow furrowing.]

Then I saw him getting shitcrashed over the head by that Shadow that Aubrey mentioned. He said that before it attacked him, he found a memory and found a black band for people who are mourning. [She frowns, itchy. While Shalem is still, he looks...] Maybe toss him a bigger heal than I can.

[We may have to see if the dice will be kinder or if someone's going to get bitten.]

library results; drv3 spoiler tagging, just in case

[imperiosity]

[Welp, here he is back from his exploration. His bangs are a little wet and his clothes are kind of singed, but he's fine!! I don't know where they're doing this but he tosses the dumb shirt he got on the floor first, because hell if he wants to keep holding onto this!!!]

I checked out the library downstairs 'cause I could smell blood from inside. Thanks to that, I got ambushed by some ghosts posing as the kid, if you could even call it that. Anyway, that's how I ended with that shitty excuse for a prize.

[He nudges the shirt with his foot for emphasis, before holding out a piece of bloodstained sheet music. There is some writing on the back as well, where it says, 'I will keep your piano in perfect condition until the day we escape this school.']

But I think the real prize was this. One of the ghosts tried to burn it up, and when I touched it, there was a memory of the maid seeing one of her friends getting killed in some kinda messed up show. [There's a palpable disgust that seeps into his voice when he gets to the second half of that sentence, although he's back to being calm after he got that out of his system.] Don't even think I need to mention this, but she was pretty shaken up by it too.

Besides that, there was a puddle of blood left in the library, but no body. I assume it was based on something she actually saw while she was trapped in that game, and it was connected to the friend in her memory.

[prozaic]

The piano, unfortunately, is no more... Unless there is a second piano somewhere in the building. [Does the piano on the door even count...] If the music is important, then we must find an alternative.

[strawsandals]

Joshua and I ran into what looked like a dormitory. [ Thanks Mina, he knows what that is now! ] There were rooms leading to the upper floor, and near the entrance was a cobweb.

Kirumi had a journal that contained logs of her time at this school...and a memo that read: "It is odd how I remembered that bit about myself after watching the tablet. How?" I have both items with me in case we need them.

[ But he'd rather not show them to everyone, if he can help it.

(OOC: Also there's a whiteboard and we'll report back with the results) ]

[vogelfrei]

Kirumi mentioned a gap in her memories even before we came to her palace.

A significant event that she should recall, but can't. She seemed disturbed about it.

[ So... all of this is starting to feel pretty weird. ]

classroom + foyer

[beautifulknight]

I went into the classroom to find that there was not much, except this clipboard and picture of Miss Kirumi.

For some reason there is some darkness that does not enable me to see the rest of the clipboard...

[ But he will show the picture that also has 𝓅 𝑜 𝓇 𝓉 𝒶 𝒷 𝓁 𝑒 𝒹 𝒶 𝓇 𝓀 𝓃 𝑒 𝓈 𝓈 with it! ]

In the foyer I mostly saw that there were doors leading to an exit; these doors were closed as well as locked tight even when I pulled on them, and I was attacked by a false Soujuurou, who I defeated soundly.

[emptyself]

[moonshaded]

[𝓅 𝑜 𝓇 𝓉 𝒶 𝒷 𝓁 𝑒 𝒹 𝒶 𝓇 𝓀 𝓃 𝑒 𝓈 𝓈...

It was too dark for her to see much beside the cameras when she looked out the front windows, but it gets her thinking, at least a little.]

Hey, anyone still got that light from outside? Find anything to shine it on et?

[Probably not this darkness, since it kinda feels like this is just some fuzzy scuffed dream thing. But maybe someone more puzzle-oriented and with better rolls has seen things.]

[emptyself]

[ soujuurou seems to patiently listen to everyone give their explanations and after a while he sighs in relief. ]

Phew. You guys didn’t have a problem dealing with the Shadows after all. Looks like all that worrying was pointless.

[ apparently he knew all along!]

I found a map and McGillis got to try out a…robot.

[ yeah it did take him a minute to remember that word. ]

[beautifulknight]

[ HELP

It's fine, they all did fine, totally. ]

A...robot?

I wonder if it was one of those Exisals...

[vogelfrei]

I've also found a tape recording of the bear encouraging the group to kill each other. They were understandably disturbed it.

[ Anyone who wants to listen to Monokuma being creepy can do so, McGillis brought the recorder with him. ]

storeroom recap

[destage]

[It's a little difficult to carry, but thankfully, Sayaka has some help from Fray to carry an axe to the catherd.]

Fray and I wound up investigating the storage room; we found it in that weird, featureless hallway. Fray said that he found some footsteps leading into there, so it seemed like someone else had the idea of going in first...

But it was packed to the brim with just about everything! Useful items, weird ones, traffic...cones, for some reason--but there was also a note that said Weapon on it that we found. They weren't on the most stable shelves in the world, but the side I looked at had a lot of different cleaning supplies on it...

We found what I assumed was Mafuyu-san in there, and it wound up attacking us by trying to tip over all of the unstable shelves--and when that didn't work, it brought out an axe! Fray did a great job of making sure it didn't hurt anyone else, and it turned into this weird little paper guy before it was finished off.

Once we did and went to check on the axe, Tojo-san and another boy appeared...it was like we were listening in on a conversation she had here, like some kind of memory.

[Sayaka will sum it up at least--it seemed like Kirumi was very used to taking jobs to protect people, and surprisingly well suited to combat. She even saved a president's daughter, before teaching the criminal himself how to run his own butler business with Kirumi as his advisor.]

...Tojo-san's thoughts are written on the axe--that she wants to fight for our sakes. I think that about sums it up, unless there's something I missed...

[beautifulknight]

[ Argenti immediately turns his attention towards the duo, looking thoughtful as he listens to Sayaka's words closely.

He isn't entirely what to say on the memories but he is just going to give those thoughts for later and mull on them. He does focus on other matters, though, particularly since Sayaka has something else important too! ]

...I believe there is a wooden lock that can be used by that axe to break it open.

[ There is a small pause. ]

And it is quite odd how there appears to be fake versions of our dear companions being used against us...

🪓

[prozaic]

[Shalem does know that they were working on unlocking the kitchen... so that's where he heads after wringing the last clue from the music room. And, as he waits, he fiddles with the lock. No dice, of course, but that's fine, because he hears footsteps, and gives a low, theatrical bow before straightening up.]

I see you've procured the axe. Who would like the honour of going first?

[strawsandals]

[ CAN WE GET GOOD ROLLS. JUST THIS ONCE. ]

[destage]

...Well...let me see if I can. I've never used one of these before, and it's a little--heavy, but--!

[Sayaka will gladly (if struggling somewhat with the axe's weight) lift the axe and swing (10) it at the lock, aiming to give it a good bit of force!

...She's a little confused but she's got the spirit...]