*Himeno faces the tree armed with only some knives, wire, a frame with a map, and... oh, right. The pineapple can and fuses are gone. Hopefully the power was still on. First things first: get up to that gate to the tower...*

Tch... *Kotori clutches her map, fingering the ring on her finger as she looks over the two pages of sheet music, hoping that the sheet from the daughters room shows her the missing notes* Gotta open that piano door, then I gotta find Mr. Bittles, and find a way up that staircase...

*Gamma walks into the woods, looking around at the mist* This is the spot, yes? Should probably test. Shiranui..... *Gamma grins as absolutely nothing is summoned* Yep, this is it. The place with the strange mist... If I'm lucky it'll be just what I need.

*Himeno glances at... Gamma, if she remembers correctly, but pays him no mind as she opens the door. It takes a moment to force herself to grab the handle.*

Gamma arrives at the tree just in time to see Himeno enter the tree. Kotori is still stalling behind, thinking out loud. Himeno, swiftly climbs the stairs and enters through the hatch to enter the lobby.

*Himeno looks around. Same as last time, even after... four? Five? It was getting harder to keep her adventures straight. She sighs and flicks the lightswitch on and, if the lights turn on, proceeds to climb up the ladder to the second floor.* SAN: 17

*Gamma sighs and follows in after Himeno* Well, I see you people are great for conversation. Regardless, There's obviously something important in there. So if you're all investigating I guess I'll help out.

A spooky pire appears in the corner of the room. It appears to be ready to go as it fickers silently in the wind. "Fire..."

( Yo fire, do you know how this thread works ? )

Ooc: ignore me of you want, I'm drunk as you know

*Kotori decides, screw it, and begins heading towards the Piano Room*

*The wind blows through and carries Fire away to a land unknown or something, the whistling of the wind almost sounds like its speaking* sorry sir gm please ignore

Ooc: also please be careful with revealing me, I'm one of the few users that starts with that letter.

( ok ^^ have fun watching the players die then)

I LOVE this tree house! *Flonne skips merrily and foolishly into the tree house*

Kotori hurriedly climbs the stairs. The questions plaguing her mind may soon find an answer, and this perspective fuels her motivation. She reached the Piano room, which lays silent upon her arrival. Meanwhile, Himeno flips the light switch upon which the room instantly brightens. She notices Kotori speeding past her towards the piano room but she decides to ignore it and heads for the second floor instead. Gamma enters the tree, trying to follow Himeno. He runs up the stairs after her, not paying much attention to his surroundings. Before long, he reaches a ladder, leading up to an opened hatch. from where he stands, he can see the light from the entrance lobby pouring in and lighting up the inside of the tree. However, he lost Himeno from his sight.

*Sits on the bench, then places both sheets in front of her, attempting to play the song in it's entirety, hopefully using one sheet to fill in the gaps of the other* S:17

*Gamma sighs and takes a look around the room* What a bother, can't even be polite enough to say hello. Ah well, lets see what we've got.

*Himeno, immediately upon reaching the second floor, heads over to the locked gate sealing her off from the stairs. She takes out the wire and inserts it into the lock. Lockpicking this thing, take two...* SAN: 16

OOC: Forgot to mention, San 17

( oh damn, sorry flonne, I didn't spot you there ! I'll add you starting next update. )

Flonne merrily skips into the tree. On her left, a pair of metallic doors with a couple of buttons next to them. On her right, a long flight of stairs ascending to the top of the tree. Kotori sits down, placing the sheets on the sheet holder. Combining both rows of notes, a coherent and melodious music begins resonating throughout the house. The sound of a heavy door laboriously being opened can be heard behind her. At the same time, a faint yet discomforting smell makes wafts to her nose. Himeno once again tries to pry the gate open. She sticks the wire in the lockpad, but her impatience makes the handling of the wire a lot harder. It ends up breaking before she was even able to make a single piece of the lock click. [ 3 attempts remaining]

[sorry, clicked too fast, please wait until I give gamma's update]

Gamma looks around the lobby. Around him, boxes and and empties toolkits are strewn about. All the toolkits have been pillaged, none of them were left intact. The square shaped room has four doors, one on each side. The west door has a small switch, presumably for the lighting, next to it. There's also a ladder in the south east corner.

Darn it... *She takes the now-broken wire out and adjusts it. She'll only have a few more attempts before the entire wire will be too small to use... She glares at the lock as if to intimidate it into opening as she tries again* SAN: 15

*Gamma briefly glances around the lobby, before sighing and heading to climb up the ladder* If it lives in a tree, its probably near the top. That's how these things always work. SAN:16

*Kotori punches the air in victory, then walks into the door* Ha! Take THAT stupid door! Teach you to cheat on my with the doorframe!

*Flonne naruto runs up the stairs, carelessly, but still trying not to trip* Nin, nin, nin, nin. SAN: 17

Himeno tries to unlock the lock once again, but the lock wins again. It seems getting up top won't be as easy this time. Gamma climbs the ladder up. the first thing he sees, and hears, is Himeno messing fiddling with a pad lock. She's squatting on a flight of stairs that leads to the top of the tower. But with the makeshift barricade and the pad lock holding it in place, getting up there will be hard. Southward and westward are hallways, both hosting two rooms. Two of the rooms are at the end of their respective hallways, the other two being to the west side of the hallway for the south one and to the southside of the hallway for the west one. Kotori, pumped up by her victory over the door gains a sanity point! She proudly walks through the now revealed secret passage. A surprisingly long and narrow hallway awaits her there. The lights grow dimmer inside the passage, and the further in she goes, the stronger the nauseating stench becomes. It stays however unidentifiable. Soon, a small wooden appears. The door knob seems rusty.

( damnit flonne OAO Please wait while I add flonne to the update)

Flonne runs up the stairs, but, in her fit of carelessness, she stumbles and falls face first on the sharp bit of the stairs. Bleeding from her forehead, she looses a sanity point. She eventually reads the top of the stairs, and heads up into the lobby. Around her, boxes and and emptied toolkits are strewn about. All the toolkits have been pillaged, none of them were left intact. The square shaped room has four doors, one on each side. The west door has a small switch, presumably for the lighting, next to it. There's also a ladder in the south east corner.

*Kotori returns to form, kicking the door off its hinges, and immediately surveys the area* S:17

*Gamma waves to Himeno, before walking off to the far west door* Well then, looks like we have the same idea after all. I'll see what I can find, good luck with that lock.

SAN:15

Owie! *Flonne proceeds up the stairs and is drawn to the switch. She flips it on, then off, then on again* SAN: 15

Alright. *Himeno gives Gamma a small nod, then returns to fighting that god-forsaken lock* SAN 14

Gamma enters the father's work room. Wooden tables clattered with woodworking tools fill the room. One of the tables is especially clattered. On the western wall, saw blades are aligned and other tools hang on the eastern wall. Blue prints and designs are hanging on the northern wall. As Flonne plays with the switch, the lights turn off, on, then off again. [ they started on ''on'' ] Himeno tries to unlock the padlock once more. What beautiful determination. However, determination doesn't make you more skilled. As her tools break once more, she realizes this is her last chance at lockpicking the lock. Kotori kicks the door down and rushes in. The sight she is greeted with however immediately makes her stagger back. the nauseating stench of decaying corpses, rotting blood and old chemical concoctions permeates the air, making it hard to breathe. All around her are cages filled with corpses of animals. Most are mutilated, with missing limbs or simply ripped apart. Buckets filled with gore and blood are eaten by flies and maggots and in the center of the room is a large operation table, covered in dried purple blood. A piece notebook rests next to a bucket containing a deep purple liquid on the side of the table. Various dissection, embalming and torture tools are lined up on the wall. There's even an iron maiden in one corner with special pipes to recover the blood from the victim in a bucket standing behind it. The overall experience makes her loose two sanity points.

*Himeno's not stopping just yet. She has one more chance, and she's not letting a box of gears or whatever beat her. One last attempt, and...* SAN: 13

*Kotori covers her face and reads the journal through tears eyeing the purple liquid* S:14

*Gamma takes a quick glance at the tools on the eastern wall, looking for anything that could cut effectively, before heading to the particularly cluttered workbench and inspecting it for anything worthwhile*

S:14, *sigh* I keep forgetting this somehow

Oh, the lights were already on... *Flonne rushes through the west door and reaches her arms up as she smiles innocently* Hi everyone! My name's Flonne!

SAN:14

In her last attempt, Himeno does her best to get through the door's defenses. But.... It simply doesn't work. Luck didn't side with her, and with no left wire, she's forced to either look for some more or do something else. Looking around a bit, Gamma spots a particularly sharp plane ( those tools you use to plane the wood) He then heads off to the workbench. While he searches through the clutter, he can't help but notice the various blueprints for various wooden commodities hanging in front of him. Some designs are pretty out there, but most of it seems to be drawn with a lot of passion. He eventually finds a couple of strands of metal wire and a pair of pliers as well. Flonne rushes through the western door, and heads straight into the living room, shouting out her name. But only the cold wind answers her with a bone chilling "whoooooooooooo". On the north-west side is a large oaken table with filled plates on it. In the center and eastern center of the room are two couches standing in front of a CRT tv with a broken screen. There's a frame behind one of the couches. The western wall has a windowed door hidden by a set of curtains. There are also two doors, not counting the one she came from. One is goes north and the other one goes south.

Flipping through the journal, she finds various records of experiments on animals, as well as one series of major experiments involving many genetic manipulations. The last entry reads as follows "I did it! After much cross breeding, gene implants and other manipulations, i managed to create the ultimate killer. It secretes from its pores a faint mist capable of rendering any and all forms of spiritual powers void! Combining the "ingredients" my employer gave me to make this was an arduous task, but I finally did it! The mist is enveloping the room as I write these lines. I only need to see if the high power acid glands implanted in its fangs are operational and whether the mist has any side effects aside from cancelling out magic". But as you read, you can feel the burning fumes emanating from the bucket slowly burning away at your face. Simply staying close could prove dangerous given enough time.

[ since I have school tomorrow, I'll go to sleep for now. Post your updates today, and I'll continue tomorrow ^^ ]

*Gamma shrugs and grabs the metal wires and pliers before heading back towards the locked gate, taking the plane as he goes* Ok, these might prove useful. And if not, oh well. Better than nothing at least.

*Himeno tosses away the now-useless wire and looks at her map again. Now that she thinks about it, she hadn't explored the second floor much. She heads to the south hallway, then enters the western door there.* SAN: 12 ooc: sleep tight, Liam

*Flonne looks at the TV* Oooooooh! Maybe I can catch the regularly aired running of "Super Space Mech: The Animated Series"! *She tries to turn it on* SAN: 13

Anything actually useful here? Other than the grape juice? *Kotori looks around the room a bit more, looking for anything useful, then rips a page out of the book and drops it into the purple, to see its reaction*

S:13

Gamma, now heavy with tools, heads back to the previously described staircase. As he does, he briefly spots... Himeno swiftly walking towards the bath room. There's a bath tub filled with brownish purple water. On the other side of the tub is a note. The place is rather small and nothing else stands out, excluding the smell. The vapor coming out of the tub has a really strong smell, the smell of a highly volatile stripping solution. Staying here could be dangerous for your lungs. ( staying more then three turns here will also burn your sanity.) Running towards the tv, Flonne quickly realizes that the glass of the tv is completely broken. There isn't much to be seen there. The wind however, intensifies in the room. It's getting pretty cold. The paper doesn't even have time to touch the liquid. It dissolves almost instantly. Could this be what the note was referring to?

*Gamma shrugs as he sees Himeno run off* Oh well, gives me space to work. *Gamma moves over to the locked staircase and closely inspects the padlock, looking for anything out of the ordinary* San:12

*Grabs the note and walks out into the hall before reading it*

S:12

ooc: here, was doing homework ic: *Himeno coughs a little as she enters the room.* Note to self: don't stay long. *She holds her breath as she reaches over the tub for the note, as to not breathe in the fumes from the liquid.* SAN: 11

Huh? It's cold in here. Speaking of which, I should get Laharl to try and wear a shirt later... *Flonne looks at the frame behind the couch* SAN: 12

OOC: ? Sorry, misread Himeno's as my own. What's happening with me?

( not my fault this time!)

*Kotori stops being an idiot and leaves, heading to the playroom*

OOC: you saw the paper dissolve into stuff

S:12

Next to the padlock, there are a bunch of small broken strands of metal wire, not unlike the ones you have. Other then that, it's a study padlock. Probably won't break anytime soon. Just as she grabs hold of the note, something grabs a hold of her hand. A burning feeling courses through her arm as the murky purple water burns through her skin. I wrote a hand, but it's really just a thing that looks like a hand. it's long and ends with five branching " things" purple and red and above all bloated beyond belief. the arm too was scarred and molten to really be called an arm. Despite that, the bottom of the tub was still too murky to be seen. The frame turns out to be a blueprint of the house. Seems pretty useful. ( I'll send it to you on discord) Various toys are strewn around as you enter the playroom, with a table covered in drawings on the north-west corner. above that side of the room are shelves with dolls. their beady eyes fixed on you for some reason. You can't help but feel as though they peer straight into your soul. there's a curtained window on the south wall and another door on the northern wall.

*Kotori pulls the curtain down and wraps it around herself, making herself a cape and jumping around a little bit, having fun, the atmosphere of a toy room getting to her head, then she realizes what she's here for and checks the dolls, keeping her "cape" on*

S:11

Gah! *Himeno attempts to jerk her arm back, and falls into a coughing fit from the fumes. She fumbles for her knife with her left hand and attempts to jab it into whatever counts as this thing's wrist.* SAN: 10

( I'm sorry but I gotta go. My computer is dying and it needs to charge in my room)

*Gamma grins with the knowledge this padlock is nothing unusual. He takes out his own copper wire and slips it into the lock. Taking note of how far the wire goes, he sits down, sets the wire on the floor, and cuts off the amount of copper required to fit in there and leaves roughly 4 inches leeway. He then bends the copper slightly to form a hook and sticks it in the lock, pushing up into the roof of the lock in order to push in the pins like a key would. Gamma then bundled up the remainder of his wire to make a solid area with which to turn the lock* San: 11 OOC: and enjoy your description of how locks are actually picked. It's a slow process, so it'll probably take two maybe 3 rounds.