middaeg | Basement Bonanza Log

Entry tags:

Basement Bonanza Log

BASEMENT BONANZA

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 (

soozaphone ) if you'd prefer it be top-secret!!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Momo nods, waving a hand with a little less energy than his usual. It had been some years ago that happened, but it didn't make it any more pleasant to relive without warning.] I'm fine. It was just...sudden.

[The radio, apparently picking up on Mikasa's question too, tunes into something again. Momo immediately looks to it like he's half considering trying to blow it off the shelf if it's something as bad as the first, but in this case, it's supporting his answer. The voice is Momo again, but this time it's calm. Shy and gentle, but determined, as if still unsure of his worth but ready to see it through anyway.

"I want my words to ride on your music, Yuki. I want you to create a song for me. Without looking at the past anymore. I will only pester you about the future. I want to sing a song of the future, about my and Yuki's Re:vale, that will go on forever."

Momo lets out a breath through his teeth, as if still caught out by something.] ...That was recent. The first thing was a couple years ago now. I guess it tunes into people's memories or something. But it's okay now.

[He obviously doesn't really want to admit it was actually a thing that happened, considering his tone sounds a bit like he's dragging the truth out of himself, but he doesn't want Mikasa to worry.]

[She watches him, silently. Words of comfort weren't her strong point. Normally she said the wrong thing and cause more distress than before.

Unfortunately, her silence gave the radio more than enough time to start up again. It's words ringing out clearly without anyone speaking over it. The fae turned to stare.

Yeah, still not sure what to say to that. Her open mouth closing for a moment. Wanting to think about the future? He'd sounded pretty desperate to stay with Yuki there...But she had no words that'd help much. There's a small unsure noise, then she takes a step closer to it.]

...Do you want me to smash it?

[If it broke then it can't do anything else. Right? Either way she was rolling her shoulders. Something like this would probably be delicate.]

[Momo holds a hand out to stop her immediately, because he knows that kind of look and there's a reason he didn't just do that himself.] Don't, old-fashioned radios like that are built like bricks. You'd probably break a bone before you broke the radio.

[While this place did get a bit of a jump on radio technology, they did not pass the key phase of "radios you could kill a man with without all that much trouble". Which does make some sense considering what the anachronic technology here tends to be like.

The radio, blessedly, isn't tuning back into anything yet, though with Mikasa so close to it it may well start picking up some things that sound familiar.]

I won't break anything if I throw it at a wall. [Other than the radio. Though she does lean over his arm to peer at it. Like that would make it tell her it's secrets.]

How do you switch it off?

You probably won't break the radio either, though, and then it'll rebound somewhere and break something else... [Not to mention that the sheer weight of an old radio might make trying to hurl it at a wall a Bad Plan anyway.

He comes a bit closer to it, prodding at what looks most likely to be an off switch. Which does nothing, as the radio continues to sputter itself along.] Off switch isn't working, so either it's even more busted than it seems or they did something to it that makes it switch off a different way.

Is it really that tough? [D O U B T... But she leaves it, shoulders loosening from where she'd gotten ready to Grab. His answer getting a stare for now.] More magic?

It's weird that it'd stay on this long. Isn't it? Don't they need winding up?

Winding up...? [Momo looks very confused at that. The broadcast radios he's seen here have largely been magical equivalents to vacuum tube radios - hence his concerns about the weight and general heftiness of this one crunched into a relatively "small" (for that type of radio) container - so the idea of one of those needing winding up is putting a very weird mental image in his head.]

Are you sure you aren't thinking of a music box? Or a non-broadcast kind of radio? I've never heard of a radio that needed winding up, even here, but I've only ever worked with broadcast radio stuff.

[Since her world is a bit anachronic, he wonders if this is some kind of outdated military communications thing he's not aware of.]

[She's blinking at that, trying to get another look at the radio.]

Don't a lot of things need winding? The car I saw on the mainland had one, on the front... [Her lips purse thinking back on it.] I've not seen anything like this before.

[That's the point where she just completely loses Momo, who looks at her equally blankly before raising a hand to curl in front of his mouth, obviously trying not to laugh.]

It must be pretty different where you come from, but in my world, the only kind of wind-up car that exists is a kind of toy for kids. [He makes a small shape with his hands to indicate that a wind-up car isn't for driving, it's just a hand toy.] Cars in my world have always had engines powered by some kind of ignition source. In my time it's usually either petrol or gas, but it's basically the energy from burning through those fuel sources that makes them go.

[He's simplifying it considerably because he's not a mechanic and he imagines it's probably easier to understand in the form of "energy from burning things".]

[She was thinking of a very old style of car.] Really? They make toys that complicated? [But she shrugs again.] I've seen gas-powered lamps before, but they're expensive, we normally just use firewood. [Like many things, natural gas and the mechanics for the lamp where a luxury. They'd not been able to work properly at night until the commander had learnt how to make torches with the ice burst stone.]

I'm still not sure what this thing is... It's like the watches. Does it use the internet too?

It's not really that complicated. Remote control cars are more common these days. [But Momo gets the impression that most of the tech in his world is ridiculously complicated to anyone who isn't from a similarly tech-y world, which is fair.

He waves a hand at the internet thing.] Internet radio exists in my world, but that's a really recent thing. By default, radio is a type of communication that's sent out as...waves in the air, basically? That are picked up by a receiver and deciphered into something understandable. [When he says "receiver", he taps the radio.] This type of radio was popular about a hundred years ago in my world, but they were a lot bigger. And obviously not magic. I guess maybe this one is enchanted to "decode" brainwaves instead of radio waves?

[This is his choice of pseudomagicky explanation, because it makes about as much sense as anything else in this basement.] Anyway, if you want to know more about radio stuff I can always teach you how to tune into my radio show on an uncursed radio.

[He winks cheekily.]

Remote control..? [That is a new thing. Very new. She knew that the words meant though, enough to guess what a remote control car was. Though it did mean she was getting a very different picture of Momo's home to what she'd already seen.

The whole explanation though... That just sounds like a phone without cables. His wink just gets a line face. Eyes staring at him before she rolled her shoulders.]

Are you talking about that questions thing you did before? [Had he done it again, she didn't remember seeing it. But...the network. People posted some strange shit there so while she did read. Occasionally she just looked, had regrets and pretended she hadn't.] I tried cooking rice, you can make porrige with it.

Yeah, like a remote that can move the toy car around from a distance. [He mimes holding something flat with one hand and pressing directional buttons with the other, since it's been a while since he's played with remote control anything and it's the most basic impression he can think of.

As for her question, he tilts his hand.] Yeah, though only the ones who actually called in live were on the radio, not the ones who came to the question box on the Watches like you did unless I read them out. And those ones had to come in while I was live too. But rice is super versatile! We do sometimes make porridge from it where I come from, but we use it in a ton of our recipes as a base.

[She has no basis for this and hadn't even seen a remote. So it just gets a stare for a second...Yes. Then a nod. She understood, completely, 100%.]

Is it? I've been trying to cook it, and read the instructions. But the woodless fire is confusing to use sometimes. My housemate was helping but.... [A shrug as she pursed her lips.] She's gone now.

Went to bed and was gone the next morning.

Do you mean the stove...? [Momo's used to the fancy ceramic stovetops of modern eras, so he's at least thankful old-timey stovetops still exist here. He's just hoping she didn't try cooking rice in the actual oven part or something.]

Rice is pretty simple, you add a certain amount of water to the amount of rice you're cooking and then just the pan sit on the stove for a bit. [Momo classifies anything he can cook as simple, because he's not that good of a cook himself.] It sucks that your roommate disappeared, though. Are you living alone now?

If that's what you call it, Trucy used another word. [She just knew, that if she had a cookbook and it mentioned any heat, it was talking about the machine. And she'd gained just enough experience with it to not burn the house down. Which was an improvement.]

I know that part. I just don't know many recipes... [She was fine eating just a bowl of rice though. Used to just having a lump of bread and watery soup. But she'd gathered that wasn't how it was eaten by most.] No. Jean... [A sigh.]

Jean's gone now... But the first time he was here, he brought let a guy sleep on the chair. That guy came back.

[Did she know Howl's name? Yes. Did she call him 'that guy' just to be mean? Also yes. She didn't mind him. But thanks for the random lodger, then moving out and leaving him Jean...]

Stove usually just means the top part with the hot plates, she might've said oven or something if she was talking about the whole thing. [Or, since he doesn't know Trucy, it might've been something else entirely, but he's taking a potshot at what the remark might've meant.

It is a little disappointing to hear that Jean disappeared that suddenly, and Momo looks a little surprised to hear it. But at least it sounds like she has...some kind of new roommate.]

Is the guy nice, at least? I mean, in my world bringing people in to sleep on your chair is pretty hit or miss.

[People will be people, and it's hard to predict what some people are going to do in that situation.]

Setting up a log fire was easier... [It was a mutter, giving in. All these words, with the same purpose. Cooking food. Chopping wood, starting a fire, sure it might need more prep. It was less complicated though, in it's own way.

As to Howl. Mikasa gives a shrug.]

He's alright, I guess. A bit weird sometimes, and he dresses all fancy, like you do... ['Fancy', didn't casually walk around with mud and dust on his clothes.] Though he gets upset when I eat things, says they're innocent. [AS IF SHE DIDN'T ALREADY FEEL BAD FOR EATING ON A BUG.]

Only because you're more used to that! [Even though he's strong enough to do it, dragging around firewood is not Momo's idea of fun and especially not just to be able to cook dinner.

He can't help but grin when she describes his clothes as "fancy", though he supposes different places have different standards.] Maybe he's vegan? Someone who doesn't eat anything that came from an animal. My darling is vegetarian, which just means he doesn't eat meat, but some people go further with it. But anyway, I'm kinda worried if you think how I dress normally is "fancy"!

[Considering his usual attire back home involves covering most of himself with a large hoodie and whatever pants feel comfy, here he's pretty much just maintained similar habits except instead of a hoodie, he wears an oversized button-up over a sleeveless turtleneck or something he can make look vaguely modern aesthetic.]

[It was relaxing...Don't think to hard that one of her hobbies is swinging an aze around. The veggie talk though... That gets a tilt of the head.] I think most people from home were that then. We didn't have much of that stuff.

[Mikasa, it doesn't really count if it's not by choice.]

The stitching... [A vague gesture at him.] It's neater. It'd have taken more time... [Sad things, their clothes were wearable. But the stitching was wonky, some times different colours where they'd ran out of thread.]

Mmm, usually it's not so much a demand thing? A lot of people do it for moral reasons. Yuki just does it because he doesn't like the taste of meat, though. [Momo shrugs in a very "what can you do" sort of manner, because he and Yuki are opposites in some very strange ways and sometimes he just has to deal.

He does nod somewhat understandingly at what she says about the stitching though.] Mmm, how do I explain this...do any of the outside cities in your world have mass production? Like, making lots of something using machines. We have machines that people use to sew much faster in my time, so a lot of more common stuff is made that way. Handmade and especially tailored clothes are usually way more expensive since it's more of a time sink, so most people go for the cheaper stuff unless they're rich and can afford it. I get a little of both, since I was raised in a pretty average household and then suddenly got rich later on.

[Mikasa just stares at that. A moral choice at not eating meat. It was a luxury where she was from, to the point that most people would think you were crazy for rejecting even a scrap.

So hearing people did it purposefully... Probably would never make sense to her. Being choosey.

But she's looking at some shelves. Going to pick through them. Very gingerly. So she didn't get covered in anything.] I don't know. I didn't see much of it. We onl-[Gasp.

And she rapidly stepping back from that shelf, staring at it. Not blinking and then an almost transparent, blue tentacle just flops over the edge. Giving them a small wave before withdrawing again. While Mikasa held the hand it had reached for, rubbing it. Tapping a foot against the ground.] Huh?

[Momo is...somewhat less worried by the presence of tentacles since Yuki started having them, but Mikasa's step back draws his attention to it. The small wave before it disappears gets a laugh out of him, even if he tries to stifle it in consideration of the startle.]

Did it get you or was it just a jumpscare? What a friendly little guy.

[Clearly waving at them means it just wanted to say hello or something.]

A jumpscare..? [Damn you and your slang terms Momo. She was still rubbing at her hand, still tapping her foot in some kind of beat that only she knew. But then...

Then the tendril reappears. And there's more of them? Attached to some kind of flat surface?] What are they?

Just a term for something really sudden that scares you. [He's not explaining the movie connotations, it's not like people don't use it outside of that anyway.

Still, he approaches the shelf when more tentacles emerge, tilting his head a bit as the tendrils rearrange themselves. It's not until they collect a bit more under the flat surface that it clicks.]

...I think it might be a shoe? Like a high heel, but the kind of bizarro concept one the fashion designers in my world would come up with. You see the shape?

[He uses a finger to more clearly indicate the incline of the inner sole, then the shape of a heel and outer sole underneath.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject