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

[idealitas]

[ Also with tubes of glue and his shard. ]

Agreed. Let's try to repair this, whatever it means.

[prozaic]

[Shalem goes off to gather the other shards first, before setting everything down. Then he tugs off his gloves so the leather won't be damaged by the glue he's handling.]

Get a piece and let us begin then. [Like an arts-and-crafts session for kids, but they're all... adult men...

But at least he find a piece that fits with his quickly.]

[imperiosity]

Feels like we’re putting together a damn puzzle…

[that’s not really all that high on the hobby list for him but he will persist!!!]

[kandata]

[Arts and crafts time! Thankfully, the pieces are large, so it's not too difficult to deal with. Soon...you have...



That vase looks absolutely nothing like what it was before.

You have an ELEGANT VASE. It's so imperfect, though. There are so many cracks, and empty spaces litter its surface. A particularly big one is perfectly shaped like a rounded rectangle, it's uncanny! Doesn't seem like there's more shards lying around, though.

You have a vase. From the painting comes a noise, too, but from what you see, nothing about its contents changed, it still looks as Aaron left it.]

[idealitas]

[ Frowns at this resulting vase for as much Yi Sang can frown. Palace logic at work, but... ]

I do not think I appreciate the symbolism behind this.

[ But he can turn to the sound that the painting had made. ]

Once more, will the flashlight reveal something...?

[prozaic]

Something behind it, perhaps, like a hidden compartment? Shine your light first, and if that does not work, I'll see about taking it off of the wall.

[imperiosity]

This one better not explode on us too.

[and I guess he’s still kind of holding the light at this point, so I choose you, flashlight!!! What does the painting reveal (if anything)]

[kandata]

[The painting explodes in Aaron's face.

Okay, no, it doesn't. The painting...nothing happens to it. Weird! But in Aaron's hand, the flashlight he was holding, it doesn't exist anymore. You don't have it anymore.. Instead, Aaron has something entirely different:

A shard of a vase. It's shaped like a rounded rectangle. Its pattern doesn't match the Elegant Vase at all -- it's painted to look like a tablet, with the outer face of the shard all black with a very colorful border, and the inner face like someone spilled a lot of paint on it]

[imperiosity]

[in an alternate universe, aaron was pelted with bits of pixel Kirumi and wooden frame

But this is not that universe, so while he is surprised at the disappearance of the flashlight, he will try slotting that shard in the corresponding hole in the vase. Let’s goooo]

[kandata]

[...huh? The shape is the right one, the size is the right one too, but...

...for some reason, getting the shard into the empty space is proving very difficult. Like it just refuses to get in.

Looks like you can't get it done without applying more strength. You're going to have to really, really force it in there! Probably would require too much force for one single person to do it!]

[prozaic]

[Well, looks like Aaron is having some trouble with that... Shalem steps forward to help.]

Here, allow me. [He puts his hand on one end of the shard and pushes down as much as he can (18).]

[idealitas]

[ Yi Sang will hold the vase down for those two, since it's kind of fragile-looking with all of those cracks (13). ]

[imperiosity]

[but what if he wanted to go full scorched earth and decided to break it again so they could piece the dumb thing together with the rectangle!!!!

but okay fine. Especially with Shalem and Yi Sang stepping in to help, he’ll keep pushing at it too.]

[kandata]

[Even with three adults pushing down, trying to force it in, it seems to resist. The surface of the vase seems to get tense, the cracks widen, and all of a sudden--

It goes in.There's a strong, resounding crack noise, almost deafening. The entire vase warps.



Congrats, people! You have a GROTESQUE VASE.

Something's peeking out of the vase. It's a tablet, the back with the same design Aaron had seen on the inner side of the shard. Doesn't take more than a touch for a video to play in the tablet.

It's...definitely from Monokuma.

You have obtained a motive video.

At the same time, from near where the ginbap and tteoboki was at, the rocks of the wall of the cavern move aside, unveiling a way deeper into the cavern.

Looks like you're done over here!]