forum House of Chaos (RP as your characters, everyone is welcome)

Started September 10, 2020 by @bluebee55

tune

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Would you like to see the ocean? Right here, in this house?”

"I… don't know. It sounds scary."

He laughed, the first time since Sabel. “Nothing scary or painful I give you my word. It may be a bit strange at first but you will get used to it.” He looked around trying to find words to explain the process. “It is like putting a painting of the ocean in your mind, but you can feel the ocean, taste the air, and hear the gulls.” He smiled, “I have done it many times before, it will be easy and painless.”

Mashka hugged herself, her skin becoming slightly dimmer, less glimmering. "I don't know…"

He raised his hands apologetically, catching sight of the dimming glow. “I beg your pardon. It was very foolish of me to ask. You need not do anything you do not want to do.”

Mashka rubbed her arms with her fingers and looked down, unsure of what to say.

(Sorry, I was waiting to see if anyone else wanted to join or do something.)

As the silence grew Arwood glanced about the room. Why had they been called to this place? Some of the people around him seemed magical while others seemed human. Did his father have anything to do with it? Calling them into this place by some dark power, or was Isleda playing some game? Was he really still in bed and this place and these people were a fabrication of his mind? He found himself mumbling his thoughts under his breath and turned back to the woman. The silence must have been awkward. “You must have read many books.” He pointed, “do you have a favorite one?”

Mashka's emerald eyes fairly glowed, her skin becoming shimmering again. "All of them," she said. "Every book in Mansion's library."
Stirred by her passion, the planks at her feet suddenly remembered they had once been part of a living tree and sprouted twigs and leaves. The air began to feel sticky-hot.

With a flash and a bang, several people hit the ground.

"God dammit Felix, what'd you go and do that for?" Jarrod grumbled, rubbing his now bruised head.

"What? I didn't do anything! I was about to win the whole pot and boom, I'm here." Felix sat up and crossed his arms, scowling at the floor.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Austin growled. He glared at Felix, who put his hands in the air in mock surrender.

"What just happened? What are all of you doing at- never mind, I'm clearly not at my house anymore. " Mel stood up and looked around. "It does look like we're in some sort of house though."

"It looks like some god might be fucking with us or something. I'm not sure who though." Jarrod noticed that they looked like they were in the foyer for some mansion, but there didn't seem to be a door leading outside..

"Alright gang, lets split up!" Felix shouted.

"NO" Everyone shouted back at him, even Em, who had been sitting silently on the ground until now.

"Alright ground rules, no splitting up, no touching anything. We don't know what this place is, we're going to treat it like a death trap until we do know what it is. Got that everyone?" Jarrod stared at everyone until they nodded.

"This better not be a prank of yours Felix, or I swear-" Austin began, but Jarrod cut him off.

"It's not, otherwise he'd be red from holding in his laughter right about now."

Felix shrugged. "I'm not even sure how this would be funny, other than your faces maybe. But it's a bad prank if that's what it is."

"Why aren't there any doors?" Em asked. It was the first thing she'd sad for a while. Everyone gave this thought. She was right, sort of. There were doors, but the only lead deeper into the mansion it looked like. There was no doors outside. The windows were covered in grime or something, and no light was streaming in.

Felix grabbed a chair and threw it at a nearby window. The window shattered and the chair fell through. Everyone rushed over to it, listening to the chair hitting things further and further away, but never hearing a final thud. They then looked around outside and saw that the mansion seemed to extend out into carpeted catwalks and protrusions of rooms, looking like a maze, but from the outside. There was nothing else, not up, not down, nor left and right. Just more catwalks and more catwalks and more catwalks. Up above, a few determined rays of light gleamed, but looked as if they'd been traveling for miles.

Everyone then stood back and watched as the window seemed to heal itself, grime and all, until it was back in it's previous state. Em tugged on Austin's sleeve and pointed to the chair that Felix had thrown, which had reappeared in it's original spot, completely undamaged.

"Well. That answers one question. I don't think we'll be leaving for a while." Jarrod started. The others started to bitch and whine as one does when told that they'd be staying indoors for an unspecified amount of time just out of the blue.

"Feels great to be back in hell, whatever part of hell looks like a maze of a mansion." Austin grumbled, starting to look panicked.

"There isn't a part of hell that looks like this yet. Although it does look like Hell, that's for sure. But there isn't a mansion looking bit yet, meaning that this is some trick made by an elder god. Bastards." Felix chimed in.

Mashka heard a crash and winced; the twigs at her feet stopped growing and quivered in the now-cooling air. Nervousness swirled around her like mist, and she scurried off to find the source of the sound.
Crashes meant Mansion was hurt, and she couldn't let that happen. Not even in this house.

Willow went to the noise, even though her instincts told her not to. She saw the people sitting there and she froze, not sure what to do with so many of them. She couldn't fight so many, and she decided she didn't want to try. Her hands spread out in front of her in a gesture of peace.

Arwood ran after Mashka clutching the hilt of his sword and continually glanced over his shoulder. Whatever had been conjured must have been large to make that loud of a crash, and if this was one of Vladimirs “games” he wasn’t about to be caught by surprise.
Just before they rounded the corner Arwood grabbed Mashka’s arm stopping her.
“We do not know what it was.” He whispered, “It would be wise to proceed with caution.”

Mashka yanked her arm out of his grasp with surprising strength. Her emerald eyes were blazing.
"The house could be hurt," she said. "I have to help it."

"Welp." Felix said, "I think we should go deeper into the mansion. Maybe there's some way to get out further in. There was a bit of light a long ways up, we could find stairs."

"I hate to agree, but that's probably the best move right now." Jarrod sighed.

They all turned to start exploring and saw the girl.

"Oh. Hi." Jarrod started.

"Shut up Jarrod, we don't know what she could be. We don't know anything about this place, remember? Death trap." Austin interrupted. "If she's peaceful, she'll talk. Now." Austin narrowed his eyes.

"Hi." she said. "Peaceful. Um… I mean, yes I am peaceful." she groaned internally, her English was worse than she remembered.

Mashka hurried to the source of the noise and saw the newcomers; not even pausing for thought, she rushed right up to them, her chocolate-coloured curls flying around her face. The air around her was sticky and tense with worry.
"Is the house all right?" she asked. "I heard a crash."

“Then we will help it.” His voice was low but clear, his eyes locked onto hers.“But if we go charging into that room like the Caverly itself we are sure to come face to face with spears and swords…or something far worse.“ He was silent for a moment, “and if that were to happen we will be wholly useless to Mansion if we are dead.”
He glanced at the entrance to the room, it was just wide enough for two people to walk abreast, and he had yet to explore this part of the house. “We will help it,” he promised, “but we must proceed with care, and if possible, we proceed silently.”

It was too late. Mashka tore herself from his grip and hurried away, following the sound.

(Sorry, I didn't reload the page before I posted ^^)

While he hated it when people jumped into situations without a thought of what their actions might hold, he hated being capable of helping someone and failing to do so.
Unsheathing the small knife concealed in his armguard Arwood followed Mashka in quick silent strides.
He wasn’t willing to have another preventable death on his conscience.

Mashka, having discovered that there had been no damage done to the house, sighed, relieved, and turned to the newcomers, unsure of how to address them.

There were about half a dozen people in the foyer, some joking, others seemed to be arguing. Putting his knife back in its sheath Arwood walked inside and stood off to one side, looking about the room, nothing.
Would this vision ever come to an end? Taking a deep breath Arwood inclined his head in greeting.
“Welcome, to the mansion with no escape.” He smiled thinly but the ice blue eyes held no humor.

Willow's arms fell to her sides and she checked to make sure her sword was still there. It was. Good, she hoped she wouldn't have to use it, especially since there was nowhere to run to if she did. Maybe she could hide? She didn't really know much about houses, did they have hiding places? She halfway smiled, wincing because the bruise on her jaw didn't like that very much.

A curiously unsure Mashka retreated into a corner and decided to watch. She became as still as the stars she'd seen through Mansion's windows every night. The air around her stilled, like the air in an unsure forest. Her skin dimmed slightly, but her cheeks shimmered, curiosity etched into her eyes and hair and fingers.

Austin started backing up, and Em ran over to him as well. There were a lot of new people all of a sudden and he didn't like it. Mel walked over to the pair and started whispering to them what must have been reassurance, because the two relaxed, but only a little.

"Oh, hello- Mansion with No Escape?" Jarrod said.

"Are you the asshole god who brought us here? Not cool man, I was about to win $3k easy!" Felix said, rolling up his already rolled up sleeves. Jarrod grabbed Felix by the shoulder and yanked him back.

"Felix, back off." Jarrod turned to the smiling man. "Do you own this place? What do you mean a mansion with no escape? Listen, I have bills and finances that need to be done by the end of this week, so if I don't get home, this guy," Jarrod shook Felix, "and I are in deep shit."

"Mansions with no escape aren't all that bad," Mashka murmured softly.

“No, I am not the…god who brought you here, I do not have that type of power.” He turned to the man who had spoken last. “As far as I know, we can not get out of this mansion, the doors lead ever on with no end in sight, and maybe the windows as well.” As the man’s last phrase sank in, Arwood felt his throat thicken and his mouth grow dry, his blue eyes slowly dimming as he looked into space. “Every one of us has left something or someone dear to them behind in this situation.” His eyes flicked back to the man planting the slight smile back on his face, “Maskahs right, the mansion is not too bad…I do not think I caught your name?”

"You may call me Jarrod." Jarrod knew enough to be careful giving names out to strangers, but he also knew the decorum necessary for letting fae know your name. If you don't use the right words you could lose your soul or something. "My companions are known as Felix," Jarrod shook Felix again.

"Quit that!" He shouted, wrenching himself away.

"Austin, Emily, and Melissa." Jarrod finished gesturing to the respective people. Mel gave a small wave, but Austin just glowered. Em decided not to do anything.

Mashka watched, curious. This was apparently something to do when you met new people: tell them your name. Interesting.
"I'm Mashka," she said.

“Well met.” He inclined his head respectfully toward each person addressed. “You may address me as…some call me Hemlock.”
“I expect you have no idea why you were called here?”