![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Basement Bonanza Log
The House
The house is much like the rest of the housing around it. Victorian style with some side yards, an outside that's desperately in need of paint, and wild, fancy architecture. Along the side is a fenced yard containing a small kitchen garden, complete with a recently added chicken coop in the back.
The front door leads to a small foyer, whereas the side door by the garden goes straight into the kitchen. In the kitchen, there will be a number of foods available for anyone chipping in to snack on, with options for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. (No blood, sorry vampires, but if you get peckish you might find someone willing to let you have a bite.) Shinjiro will aggressively shoo away anyone who shows up just to get food without actually contributing. It's for people who help only!!
The interior is weird, as to be expected. They've made it mostly liveable, most of the furniture in the living spaces in new, but there's still Victorian Classics such as too many patterns and portraits of strangers on the wall, and bad wallpaper in surprisingly cozy places. There's even a restroom on the ground floor, complete with fireplace by the tub. People taking a break are welcome to tool around on the ground floor, where things are markedly more normal. Any attempts to go upstairs, where the residents bedrooms are, will be dissuaded.
There's a dog to pet (Koromaru, an incredibly intelligent white shiba inu) or a Petal Wolf (Bela) or, if you want to risk a few fingers, Fie's hyena (Alfin). The hyena occasionally breaks out into mad giggles in other people's voices, occasionally parroting contextless statements in perfect mimicry of the people who live there. Scrounging around somewhere will be Louis's cat, Juniper, and then there's the coop full of chickens outside, a snapping turtle in the pond...
But you people aren't here for the relatively normal living space.
THE BASEMENT.
The air is cooler in the basement, and with that soft scent of wet stone. It's not disgusting or overwhelming, despite how locked up and sealed the area had been, and for who knows how long. More than anything else, it's just dark. They've carried a few magitech lanterns down to the foot of the stairs, at least, in initially scoping it out to try and see what's down there: and even from just stepping off the stairs, it's clear to see that this is some sort of wild magical hoarder situation.
Walls are packed with everything from displays of oddities and curiosities to books and containers of liquids, the labels long since faded and peeled, to even rusted lockboxes, worryingly rectangular and human-lengthed, each with stiff, sturdy locks. In another corner, there's more shelves cluttered and overflowing with wet specimens preserved in jars. Many are completely unidentifiable. Many are absolutely identifiable, and it's unclear which is worse. There's everything from animals to plants to fish to even pieces of monsters or humans/witches alike.
Scattered throughout, there's lumpy sheets covering what can only be assumed to be furniture, as well as household items, baubles, trinkets, books, scrolls, and just general things crammed in any and every nook and cranny that can be found. If there was any sort of organization, it was lost well before the prior owner stopped their collecting.
In one corner, there's an iron spiral staircase that just leads into the ceiling, going nowhere. A few iron Maidens and sarcophagi can be found stored away, some of them haphazardly fallen over.
It's absolute chaos of junk layered on top of junk, pinned down by even more junk. And it's clearly going to take a lot of trips up and down those stone stairs to even begin to unearth some of the wild things stashed away.
Maybe if you're lucky, you'll unearth a friend to help light your way.
The Stuff.
I've gone ahead and written up some examples for people to run wild with-- and for anything else, feel free to either make things up, OR request something in the top thread!
Some of the Major Attractions of the Basement include:
An Iron Maiden. - Unlike many others, there's no spikes visible within. In fact, it looks almost welcoming. There's a faint enchantment to it, gently pulling at the senses of whomever gets too close. It's plush, and soft inside. Doesn't it look warm? The rest of the basement is so musty and damp and cold. Surely taking a rest would be fine.
Once someone steps into it, however, the doors close shut, and the victim is forced to rewatch their most embarrassing memory. When said memory has played out, however, they are released, no worse for the wear, and immune to the Maiden's Seduction for the next several days. Good thing you're the only one who saw that memory..... right??
A helpful (if creepy) teapot. - This teapot has one job, and it will perform it. It will serve you tea. It will not stop until it has served you tea. No, it doesn't even know what tea is. It also doesn't seem to care if you have a container to hold a beverage or not. It. Will. Serve. You. Tea.
...However, who knows what liquid is actually within it. Feel free to use this skittering, crawling friend for anything. It could be as benign as incessantly following your character like an annoying and needy dog. It could be as horrifying as using force and chitinous claws to make your character ingest something. (Which could be delicious tea. Or could be anything else. Up to you!)
A speaker of secrets. - A jarringly hideous piece of taxidermy, the ravens screech the secrets of whomever touches it. Sometimes they're wrong, though. It's anyone's guess if they're yelling your deepest secrets, or if they're just making things up. Anyway, here's hoping whoever you're with doesn't just think you're using it as an excuse. (Or, if what they speak is true, hopefully people believe your excuse. Good luck carrying this thing all the way up and through the house.)
Vaguely Insulting Dishware. - What it says on the tin. The text seems to shift and change to insult you, specifically, and often times very passive aggressively.
A beautiful, floral chair - Like a flower in full bloom, this is another object that anyone nearby could find themselves magically drawn towards. It even smells soft and sweet- almost like fresh rain and honeysuckle. It's pristine looking, in comparison to all the objects around it, covered with dust and debris, and looks soft and pillowy and inviting. It's wide enough that someone could crawl onto and drape themselves across it.
At which point the petals will pull closed, enveloping them in a sweet cocoon of which they come out.... different. The effects are, as always, up to the player, as is the duration of them. (Transmutation spells are finite, of course, and the effects aren't strong enough to last more than a few days.)
A giant crystal. - It'll take a team to move this humongous chunk of rock-- Or maybe just a duo of dragon or chimera. The first person to touch it, however, will find that it is not only reflective, but it projects. The light hitting it is projected in prisms, and all take a form based on the person who touches it. This could be a warped, twisted reflection showing how one thinks of themself. It could be a projection of deepest fantasies. It could just be whatever you're thinking at the moment. Or maybe it's a mockery. Play around at your hearts content!
Potions of any and all type! - You're not the type to just drink mysterious liquids in someone's basement (Unless you are, in which case, go for it!) but so many of these are cracked and worn. It's entirely possible some of them work on contact or inhalation. The effects can be almost anything, from Alice in Wonderland style shrinking and growing, to floating or glowing or transmuting. Perhaps one is a mood enhancer! Another could be poison. And a third could make the tips of your fingers grow hair. It's a mixed bag.
Cursed jewelry of any and all types - Same thing as the potions, these can be enchanted to have effects as minor as making your hair always look perfect (though there's a smell of cod liver that won't go away--) to as major as clamping in and biting through the skin, drinking your blood to fuel its dark powers. (Said dark powers could be anything from animatronic taxidermy coming alive to mimic your every move, to a spell to charm everyone around you, to the ability to speak with termites.) Again, go wild! And if you have trouble getting that jewelry off, there's gotta be some bolt cutters somewhere around here.... right?
There is MUCH MUCH ELSE that can be found! If you would like to be assigned a random Thing, feel free to give me the general vibe of what you're wanting, and I'll come up with something crazy for you! If you would like more than one thing, THAT IS FINE TOO!
FINAL OOC NOTES
In a list format because i'm lazy:
--NO EFFECT IN THE BASEMENT CAN BE GAMEBREAKING. Mind control, dreamwalking, and memory alteration are no-go.
--The contents of the unenchanted books in the basement are mostly nonsense or boring, but you can absolutely find some sort of burn book with hot deets on (non-plot) NPCs
--Any effect will eventually wear off. The process can be expedited with a witch. It's your choice how skilled that witch needs to be.
--"But susan someone else in a previous thread already took care of the item i was gonna use!" it's magic there can be two of them. or it can teleport itself repeatedly back into the basement. i'm not going to keep track and time isn't real.
--Mark any explicit content, plzkthx.
--Let me know if your character is enough of a jerk to try going to the second floor of the house. because a witch lives here and nearly all of them are mistrustful as hell so you know that's not gonna work out. (I'll let you know exactly how, if your character would try it.)
--If you're gonna die, talk to the mods about it first. if you're gonna kill anyone then double talk to the mods about it first.
--Go wild like you graduated from crazy go nuts university
And most importantly:
--FEEL FREE TO ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS! I'm available in the top comments here, though you are welcome to PM me, or shoot me a DM on discord (Soozaphone#3966), or shoot me a private plurk (
louis 🦌 beastars 🦌 ota
[ He's been down in the basement a bit - off and on. But throughout the day he can be found on the main level of the house. He's in the living room mostly, lounging easily on the new living room couch. He has his legs propped up on one arm of it, leaning onto it with a stack of pillows behind his head.
His nose is shoved in a book - something about hexes, clearly, that is the information that's going to be useful today, right? If he hears footsteps while he's up here, his ears will shift, and he'll sit up straight - ]
Are you looking for something?
ii. a couple of trinkets
a. measuring cup
[ He's nothing if not entirely amused by the adorable measuring cups shaped like chickens that he'd found. They look like the chickens here and in most worlds, at least, so they're slightly less terrifying to him when they pick up their feet and start moving about the basement when he locates them. One - the quarter cup, starts wondering away and Louis starts to move after it - ]
Hey - someone catch that -- [ he hesitates ] chicken?
b. gibberish
[ He's seen things like this in some television shows back home, but he's never held one himself, no reason to. Most of the shows that he saw were those black and white shows that he wasn't really into when he was young. He fiddles with the cipher wheel, which can make you speak and write in the cipher it's set to automatically. If he were trying to trick someone, it'd be great.
There's one major problem that he notices right away - when he talks - it sounds like...gibberish. So, a nearby guest may get this shoved in their direction while he tries to think of a way to get rid of the hex. There's no way some of his magic words will work if they come out sounding like nonsense. ]
iii. you could die (but you probably won't)
[ He found this interesting piece buried under some burlap and under several under trinkets that he has shoved to the side. It caught his eye since it looked pretty interesting. It's not like he's seen a human skull, before! He's squatting down in front of it when he touches it.
When touching it, he sees a small vision of a nonsensical series of events which led to a single statue from atop a self crashing into him. It was still surprising enough that he stumbles back, knocking over a few smaller objects with a klunk behind him. He's left blinking.
This lovely piece will show you possible ways to get killed right that instant. And while they'll not happen, they sure feel like they could. When someone approaches - he'll warn. ]
Hey, don't get too close to that.
[ Because you'll see it, too, if you get too close. ]
iv. a chair like him
[ Louis. Loves. It. If for nothing else than the pure hilarity of it. But, he is a noodle, and not necessarily the most equipped to bring it up, so he's pulled it off to the side and settled into the lovely chair there's an amused air about him. Clearly, he thinks this is funny. As he settles into the chair, he's watching some of the nonsense (though, if asked for help, he'll certainly help). ]
This chair was made for me, I think.
[ And then, he'll ask - ]
Maybe you can help me bring it upstairs when you're done hunting, hm?
no subject
[Deer person with a deer chair. It just sort of lent itself to that vibe but even as he tilted his head at it, eyes going from the actual deer to the chair, he supposed he could see the amusing nature of it too.
Besides, who was he to tell someone they couldn't have a chair that they wanted? It was his house, anyway.]
Eh, whatever. I can help you out now, anyway. Partner's the one that's more interested in this stuff so I'll leave the hunting to him.
[He gave the chair a test lift. Yosuke was pretty scrawny himself, but he didn't spend a year fighting off Shadows and not gain some strength. He just couldn't match Yu even before the monster changes. the chair was still on the heavy side, but nothing too terrible and as long as Louis helped out, it should be easy enough.]
So, where do you want it?
no subject
I guess it is a little bit. It's going all the way up to my room. I'll -- navigate you past the traps.
[ The many, many traps that are inevitably set up by a distrusting couple. He had to be talked down on a few of them. Louis isn't physically strong at all, but he...can help. It's fine, at least he's not going to try and see if he can make Yosuke do it all on his own. It's the awkward shape and size that makes it weird to carry, and of course - he's a noodle. ]
no subject
[He supposed having a bunch of strangers in the house would warrant some precaution but... still, he made a face. He found a good position to hoist the chair up a bit, although he was going to need a hand to keep it up. He, too, is a noodle.]
Let me guess... Aragaki and/or Fie?
[He didn't exactly know everyone in this house that well but the new guy with blue hair seemed too quiet for that and he wasn't sure what Louis would need the traps for.]
no subject
[ They're not very trusting people, Yosuke. It's fine. Louis shifts, moving his weight to take the opposite side and - he lifts it up. It looks like he'll be taking the lead. Just so, you know, he doesn't get stamped with a 'NOSY' print on his forehead or something. ]
Mostly Fie and I.
[ He's pretty sure that they had to be talked down from making them death traps. ]
I like my privacy and I don't like uninvited guests. Since you're invited, though, no hexes.
no subject
[Good thing he didn't wander up there! He begins the trek up from the basement. Hopefully his room wasn't too far.]
Do you guys get a lot of uninvited guests or something?
no subject
Don't tell anyone, but they're only there for today. We have some people here that are all too curious... or, we'll just say nosy.
[ And he starts up the basement stairs, holding securely onto the chair. It was awkward, but...the combined efforts would make it easier. ]
I hope to give a non-lethal method of discouraging that behavior. Don't you find it tempting to explore new places? Check things out?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
iv
[It's almost insulting!! It still amuses her, of course, but he still should be scolded. Fie walks over and crouches down to get a better look at the thing. She pokes it at certain spots for who knows what reason, then just sits on the floor next to it and him.]
So is this one enchanted like most other things here?
no subject
[ A joke, of course. He shifts his attention towards her. Oh, she knows him well, doesn't she? He'd certainly use his powers for evil. Those words and tone where he absolutely is good at getting people to do his bidding. Or whatever. ]
But - you will, won't you? Help me get this upstairs.
[ "Help". ]
no subject
[Not that he's really "normal" now, but that's for the better. She likes him as he is, not how different places might dictate he should be.
Fie snorts and waves her hand dismissively.]
Yes, I'll carry it upstairs for you. [For him, not with him. She still knows better.] That goes without saying, doesn't it?
no subject
[ He's grinning because he had a feeling. It's okay if she doesn't, he'll find someone else to offer. But he's glad for Fie because it means he doesn't have to be toting it up steps. ]
I mean, I don't know if it does. Maybe you change your mind on me and decide you don't want to.
[ He shakes his head. ]
I'd be normal for a deer in this world, too. I mean, the ones out in the woods and stuff. For all we know that this chair does nothing and it's just an aesthetic. One that I'm going to keep in my room because maybe I should actually decorate after a year here.
A
I'll get it!
[Maybe. It's a sneaky little one.]
no subject
When Yu takes off after it, Louis steps and tries to corner it from the other side.
The...measuring cup (of all things) is corner. And dives head-first towards Yu. ]
It's good that he can't climb.
no subject
Yeah. I've g--mhhhfm!
[It is, a little hard to say anything when, somewhat triumphantly, he manages to grab the thing with his teeth in his open mouth. His eyes grow bigger in surprise as if his body is still "wait I actually caught it?"
The tail behind him began to wag.]
no subject
Alright, you can drop it. I'm going to have to lock these in my room unless I'm going to mess with Shinjiro.
[ More likely and often than one may think. ]
You did good.
iii.
...oh. It's a little weird, meeting someone in person for the first time when your only experience with him is fond and comforting and vicariously experienced through someone close to him. It leaves Soren a little more stunned than if it had just been a normal encounter with Louis warning him of a death simulation skull. Perhaps that is also what drives him to care a little more about what happened to him at a base level than he would a perfect stranger, for his heart does that flippy thing it does when he's worried about someone he actually gives a shit about. ]
What's wrong? What...
[ Whoops! Too close! Another vision overcomes him, this time of Louis springing up, yanking him by the neck, ramming him up against the wall, and headbutting him right in the weak spot. His lights go out and he doesn't get to experience how he actually dies at the hands of him, just how far his consciousness would allow. Because of this, he gasps and his hands fly to his throat protectively, and he stares dumbfounded at the deer. Then the skull. He takes a step back. ]
...Oh...
no subject
What did you see?
[ He's working his way through spells that can work. ]
no subject
[ He remains where he is and keeps his eyes fixed to the skull for a solid moment before allowing his focus to settle on the deer who is not, in fact, lunging for him at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. It'll take a bit for the shock to wear off. He heaves a conciliatory breath to shake loose some of the adrenaline. ]
You threw me against the wall and rammed your head into mine. I blacked out and snapped out of it. It felt quite real. I'm glad it's not. ...I take it the skull made you see something, too?
no subject
[ There's a long pause, working through his spells that dispel illusions. He thinks that might be the first place to start. He's not sure that it will work yet, he might have to try a few things. It may even take a few different ones to fully work. ]
I got crushed with a statue. A statue. So it's all very unrealistic. I'm not going to attack you, though.
[ Then, amused. ]
If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already. Just to be sure. You're a monster, yeah? Or can you do magic? Asking because this could take a few tries.
no subject
[ ^ Sarcasm. For a flashing second, it seems absurd to ask someone who is so obviously a monster if he can do magic, but Louis is a witch who would get mistaken for a monster well over half the time. Soren's own bondmate receives similar treatment. He answers his question like it's a perfectly reasonable thing to ask, because it is. ]
I'm a monster, so I can't help with the casting. However, I've done my own unofficial share of magic studies, so if you need any pointers or a quick crash course on a new spell, I might be of some service there.
[ Provided they're not the same ones Louis has in mind. That, or a temporary Bond to help increase the efficacy of his magic... but he doesn't offer for a couple of reasons: he has at least one already, and he doesn't want to end up feeling weirder than he already did running into him so suddenly. ]
ii - a?
[Enchanted objects that move- well, at least they look like something that should move? Thancred moves after the cup, wings opening slightly, intending to get a grasp of how fast it can move to start with.]
no subject
I stopped asking. We probably should have cracked open this basement a year ago, but - who would have thought there'd be objects like this. Maybe if you stand on one side of the shelf and I move to the other - we can corner it?
no subject
[He nods, already shifting towards the other side.]
That'll work. On your mark, then.
no subject
[ He's playing, mostly. He's already making his way to the opposite side of the shelf and ducking down a little to make sure he's ready to scoop it up. He can see the measuring cup (of all things) seeming to decide which one of them it's going to chance it with. It doesn't move for a moment.
Louis doesn't think that measuring cups should be able to decide and chance it at all. Who in their right mind - Oh, there it goes.
It decides it's going to chance it with Thancred. So - he'll start maneuvering so if it decides the chance wasn't worth it, it'll try again, he can catch it on the way back. ]
Go.
no subject
Thancred keeps his eyes on it, wings dropping a little to try to make a shroud.]
Steady- steady- now-
[He waits until the cup tries to try past before making his move, aiming to try to scoop it up- but it manages to slip through his hands, darting away from a second grab.]
It's coming your way!
[Maybe- he reaches out to try to guide it a little, watching Louis' hands.]