Alex arrived at the location. "This is the place?"

I'm sorry alex but I'll be postponing it. It's meant to be played with a few more players than just one... I hope it'll work out better next time.

You gave up pretty quick. Hasn't even been an hour yet.

keep in mind it's ten pm here, and I'm a busy guy. I was willing to give my night up if people showed interest, but it's pointless if I only have one player. Besides, the original post was posted two hours ago and I told people to come here at least like four hours ago. I think I've waited enough for today. But as you can see, i'm still here, still waiting, so if there's a sudden influx of people, I'll notice and I'll start the thing as planned. I'm just not getting my hopes up.

Oh I wasn't keeping track of this. If you'd like I could play whenever

i'm ready whenever

ok, cool ^^ I'd like to do it tomorrow evening, but I may be busy and I work on sunday so expect it to happen Monday.

what time evening? because i'm pretty sure you're 6 hours ahead of me, timewise, so i want to know when to clear a schedule

[Again, the crafter of this soul’s destiny dreadfully missed the hour of destiny. Many apologies. They will attempt to not make a third mistake when the promised time comes.]

ah, no worries, I should warn people with a bit more advance. All the times I give are based on GMT+1. Anyway, the next session could be today if there's enough people. it's now 4 PM, so let's say in four hours, at 8 PM GMT+1. I know it's a tad early for some but doing it in the evening for American folks means doing it at 2 AM for me and that's just not doable. Anyway, please tell me if that time is good for you all or not. If you want another time or day please say so ^^

[The teller of destiny has returned, hopefully soon enough. Are there more to join us?]

*pokes heads out of the land of alts that haven't been used in forever.*

I'm here as well, waiting for maybe one more player? that'd be cool I guess.

A flash of blinding light illuminates the street. Suddenly, in a blast of smoke, the door to the apartment in front of you springs open. As though it was beckoning you inside, a soft light springs on inside. Then, a scrambled voice resounds all around you. "Thank you ever so kindly for humoring me, dear contestants. The challenge I have prepared is as follows: A friend of mine is planning something teeeeeeerrible. In order to prevent it from happening, you'll need to figure out where he plans to strike, what he's planning and of course, find a way to prevent him from doing so. If you fail, his plan will go through and many will suffer, countless shall die! Isn't it just marvelous? But... if you manage to find it all and you manage to escape to tell the tale, you'll certainly be able to put a stop to his nefarious plan. Wouldn't that be amazing for you all? Of course, I don't want you to succeed... But I'd also feel reeeeeeeeally bad if you failed ! Thus, I shall assist you! Of course, no help ever comes free. Everytime you ask for a hint, I'll take something from you. Something you value deeply. And I won't stop at just taking that thing, I'll take your memories and feelings for it too! That way, it won't actually hurt too much! Well... In hindsight at least. The moment of taking usually stings a little. Teehee! I think I have said all I wanted to say.... So... if you're ready get inside, please do so. The game will start once you close the door. And of course... Once it closes, it won't ever open again."

“Ho... The castle ahead teems with demon spores... yet if I stand idle, all shall be lost. I accept your challenge, Keeper of Secrets!” Anghel boldly steps inside. He has a good idea of what the Keeper will take. His weapon (it’s just a pen), and certainly the lore transcribed in his papers (it’s just manga pages). High stakes, but he must do this!

The Young Girl outside the apartment gets a wicked grin on her face, she’s dressed in a mostly black and white skull motif with a studded leather ribbon and guitar shaped like an axe to fill the rocker motif. Sounds like fun, Tot Pop Rockin’ the scene The girl heads into the apartment after Anghel, eager to get this mission started. As for her most important things, probably a lock of her mentor’s hair followed by a scrapbook featuring her and the other members of her squad

*The Twins stare at the other two.* Irona: These people are odd. Braza: This may have been a mistake. Both: But as long as this game is fun, I suppose we can put up with them. Tee hee hee.

The room you entered in seems to be a lobby. There's a bunch of chairs surrounding a table in the middle of the room. There's a bunch of things on the table, as well as a small slip of paper. The walls have some neat gold and green wallpaper, very art deco, but other than that, there's nothing on them. There's actually nothing but that table, the chairs and a small wooden door on the right side of the room. What do you do?

Wooow paperwork. How.... Exciting Tot’s eyes quickly pass over the paper and desk, barely even paying any attention as she breathes out a sigh before heading over to the wooden door and turning the knob counterclockwise with her left hand

“Hm? What could this be?” Anghel examines the table, then pulls out the slip of paper in one swift motion.

*The Twins walk into the room.* Both: Gaudy. *With a sigh, they look around the room to see if there's anything out of the ordinary or if it really just is a gaudy room with a boring looking table.*

Tot tries to open the door, but to no avail. It seems to be locked. In fact, there's a small keyhole underneath the knob. On the table, Anghel finds a bunch of small oddly shaped wooden blocks, some bizarre metallic squares each locked inside the other and a small metallic octogone that could fit in the palm of your hand. The note you picked up reads: "You may think you're inside, but this is just the warm up room. I've prepared a few puzzles you can toy with to get those brain cells started. In fact, I highly recommend you look at the octagon. There's something inside you'll need to really start the game. Good luck now ! PS: Since I'm such a nice guy, each player gets one free hint. Use it wisely <3 PPS: Don't disappoint me." Other than what I previously describe, the twins don't really notice anything else in the room

Man, what a drag. Tot half-considered trying to just kick the door down, though she’s not quite an idiot she still preferred solving problems with brute force when she could, but something this obvious just doesn’t feel right, so she does the next best thing. She goes around to the chairs trying to flip them over to see if there’s anything useful on the bottom

You flip the chairs around, but all you see is flipped chair stuff. Nothing interesting there. now please wait for the others to post. I want to see if this turn based system is actually efficient or not.

Braza: Man, this place is boring. Irona: All this gaudy stuff hurts my eyes. Both: What do we do? There's nothing fun in here. *The twins finally make there way over to the table. With a motion of her hand, one of the metal squares flies over to Irona. She turns it over a few times to see what it was.*

"Fuck!" Said blinding flash of light sent Alex stumbling to the ground. He half considered entering the building, but ended up walking away. Too much to lose, I have dumber things to do.

“I suppose I should observe the treasure within.” Anghel tries to find an opening in the octagon, pulling at it to open if if no holes are present.

to make things a bit clearer, the metal squares are chained together. It's a puzzle where you need to separate them. What Irona is holding is a bunch of squares, though each of them has a few bumps and indentations making them pretty irregular and difficult to move. The other thing those squares have in common is the fact that they aren't closed. the end of each square is lower than where it starts, leaving a small gap. (so it looks like this ', where " ' "is the beginning of the square and the "," is the end. The gap is tight so you can't squeeze the squares out just by pushing it through.

I assume Anghel first observes what the octagon is about, so here's a description of it. the Octagon seems to be made of two pieces nested in each other; each forming one half of the octagon. Pulling them apart doesn't seem to work. There's probably a mechanism inside that prevents holds it together. On the octagon are some engravings : N W E S

Please wait for your turn again. it's currently tot's turn to act. You are free to speak though ^^ Oh and I may as well mention this: as long as they're in the lobby, anyone can just join the game !

Because of a mishap with the fabric of spacetime, Anghel acts now. "Ah, the Compass of the Four Winds! Maybe if I align the cosmic energies with this artifact..." Anghel starts spinning around in a circle in an attempt to get this "compass" to line up with the magnetic field. Is it a compass? Maybe.

The moment she does, a scrambled voice resounds again in the streets. "Using violence? In my Game?! Are you insane?!?! Do you want me to fucking slaughter you all immediately?!?!?!" The voice got angrier and angrier as the sentence continued but suddenly grew calm again. "But you haven't started the real game yet, so I suppose this one doesn't count. But my friend won't be happy to hear you tried to break his door... I hope nothing bad will happen to you." As far as the door is concerned, it's pretty sturdy and the hinges stood strong. The door didn't open.

Anghel spins around, turning and turning, but nothing happens. Well... you do hear a faint clicking noise coming from the object as it moves about. Clicking like something is moving inside of it. Edit: Also, looking back, the turn order was anghel, tot and then the twins, so my bad for making you wait ^^'

Irona: What are these? Braza: They're strange. Irona: Hey! Hey! What are these for? *Irona raises her hand with the squares in the air and moves it rapidly from side to side in order to try and get someone else in the rooms attention. Braza takes a moment to acknolidge the angry voice.* Braza: Murder? Maybe this will be fun after all. Hee hee hee.

[It is fine, let us continue with the turn order at present.]

(alright, so 1) Tot 2) Anghel 3) twins And let's add another rule: please clearly state when you perform your action for this turn by adding "Action:" before describing what you do. I don't mind it if you add in dialogue during or after it. just clearly state that that is indeed what your doing for your turn. So what's the twin's action in this case? is it flailing the object around? )

Tot giggles, something about how upset the voice got makes her want to try harder, her hand moves to the guitar on her back, only for her to take a sec’ and cool her jets instead I don’t have that much to add for now and I need to be driving home anyways so feel free to skip me for a few rounds

By sheer luck (I rolled a 4 ), Irona actually managed to get the last square out of the chain. There are still 6 squares chained together but it doesn't look like they actually do anything.

ok, Anghel's turn then.

"Hm... So the cosmic energies have nothing to do with it... but perhaps the power within." Action: Anghel holds the shape letter-face up, then tilts it in various directions to get the thing inside to move towards a letter. He tries two combinations: N-E-W-S and N-S-E-W.

As you move it around, you realize there are two distinct noises coming from the object. One is a clicking sound that happens when you you make the N / S side face the ground or the ceiling and the other is a clacking sound when you make the E / W side face the ground or ceiling. In other words when you tilt it with the N or the S facing upwards, you hear a clicking. When you tilt it with the E or the W side, it's a clacking noise. They're faint noises but clearly distinguishable.

"Unfortunately, the muses tell me nothing from this alone... If anyone else has an idea, please share your knowledge."

*Seeing she was being ignored, Irona stomps her foot on the ground. One of the squares then falls to the floor. Irona watches in confusion as it falls and bounces on the ground.* Irona: Where'd that come from? *She then looks at the squares and notices one of them missing. The gears in her mind turn for a second before she grins. Braza looks over to her.* Braza: Break the chains? Irona: Break the chains! * With an excited smile, Irona extends her hand. The squares would rise up in the air slightly before pulling apart.* -Action- Irona attempts to use her Metal control powers to pull the squares apart by force.

I managed to find a picture of the object I have in mind. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71dFmxpra1L._SX466_.jpg

As the familiar feeling of using their power rises within the twins, a sudden chill creeps up their spine, halting them instantly. At the same time a distorted voice rises again. "That's the second time you guys try to brute force one of my puzzles. I'm.... getting a little bit... ANNOYED. Ahem. Try breaking something one more time, and I'll find and mentally break someone you love over the course of the next coming three years. I'll do it slowly. I'll do it painfully. And I'll make sure to enjoy it just as much as I imagine you're enjoying my DELIGHTFUL PUZZLES."

"Demonic Twins of the Silver Stars, please do not tempt fate. Assist me instead by finishing the Web of Steel." Action: Anghel sets the octagon aside, and instead looks at the wooden blocks on the table. They may hold the final piece of the puzzle.

Both: If you didn't want us to break your stupid toys, you shouldn't have made them out of metal. Braza: Not like you said we had to do things by the book. Irona: Your so boring. -Action- The Twins pout. Irona drops the metal squares from the air, causing them to land hard back on the table.

Spoiler alert, they don't. The wooden blocks are like those of a puzzle. Each has a distinct shape. One looks like an L, another one like a short T, one looks like it could be a z and some don't look like any regular shape at all. They're made of plain wood. nothing special about them. (the goal of that puzzle is to make a cube out of it. it's like a tangram if you know what that is. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/412rGSTUkmL._SX425_.jpg

"Demonic Twins, I call upon thee to try the puzzle I could not complete." Action: Well, he's going to do it anyway. He feels like he needs to make some progress. He tries to piece them together as best as he can.

Alright, I take back what I said, this does actually have a use. Sorry for retconning stuff. How do you piece them together? What's your logic in trying to do this? The image I sent shows all the pieces you have.

The metal pieces the twins drop clatter as they drop on the table. ( please wait for me to answer the previous action. it's hard to follow everything otherwise. )

Irona: Demonic Twins? Braza: Silver Stars? *The Twins look at eachother and giggle.* Both: He has no idea. *Regardless, Braza grabs the wierd compass from the table. Irona goes back to fiddling with the squares, using her abilities to shift around the squares to try and seperate them (The Twins groan mentally) conventially. -Action- Braza inspects the compass. Irona starts using her powers to try and separate the squares with a bored expression on her face

By applying sound logic and efficient trial and error, you manage to start building a cube. As your fingers pass on the pieces, you actually feel like there's something engraved some parts of the pieces. You can make out the fact that they're strings of letters. but as they are, they don't seem to make sense. Once the cube is completed however, passing your hand on the now flat surface allows you to read the following sentence: "make the four little rods go back inside their respective quarter to unlock it." no need to apologize ^^ I'm the one who screwed up there by forgetting the basics of improv and GMing.

(uh, quick question to the twins, they control metal yes? does that mean they can analyse what the object's composition is? like, see what's inside for example? )

"Four rods. Four... rods... that is it!" Anghel stands up and takes the octagon from Braza. "There are four rods inside this device! If I can just get them in..." Action: Anghel tries tilting the device towards the N side, then tilts to E and W maintaining that same position. He then tilts back to S slightly to get the presumably last rod in.

ah, please wait a little anghel. I couldn't answer to the twins yet ^^' I'll get to you as soon as they answer. and hopefully they'll then wait for me to be able to answer you before continuing.

(I know it's a bit messy... I'm sorry.. but the turn based system is still my best answer to make everyone be capable of participating in the puzzles, all while allowing everyone to work on what they want. )

[That is alright. Innovation paves the way for new weaving of magical power!]

ah I see, then it just looks liek what I described earlier. You sense there's multiple metallic things inside the object, five in total. one at each cardinal point and one inside one of the pieces. Your turn anghel, just wait a sec'

As you manipulate the device, you can guess that indeed, those metallic rods are moving, but they're very slipper. It seems that the slightest nudge in a direction can move the rods back into the piece and block it, thus preventing it's separation. In other words, by using more than one movement, you cause the rods to move again.

[I believe that the twins are next within the order. Take it away, O Demonic Twins!]

*Irona humms in annoyance as she continues to try and mess with the squares. Braza frowns slightly as Anghel takes the octagon back* Braza: Aww. I wanted to play with that. -Actions- Irona continues to try and unconnect the squares from each other, slowly getting annoyed with the puzzle.

(ah, you could've probably taken the octagon) Irona, after messing with those squares for a bit, starts to get a feel for how it works. By twisting the squares in a certain way, she can pull them out if she places the two small holes against each other. the difficulty comes from their irregular shape and the fact that they're all intertwined. Slowly though, she manages to pull one then two then three squares out. Only a few more to go.

"I see. Actually, Twin of the Earthen Soul, is it possible for one of you to hold the mystic rods in place as I fit each into its proper seal?" Action: Anghel holds out the octagon. His plan is to basically shift a rod into its correct location, have a twin keep it there with magnetism, then rinse and repeat. Of course, this is a team effort, so there must be agreement.

if the twin agrees, I'm fine with it. Just one thing of note: once inside of the room, you won't be able to use any of your powers (because otherwise it's not a challenge anymore >:D)

*Irona smiles as the squares come undone and keeps at it. Meanwhile, Braza hums lightly.* Braza: Hmm. OK then, Mister wierd guy. I can try doing that. Whenever your ready. -Action- Irona keeps using her abilities to undo the last squares. Meanwhile, Braza prepares to enact Anghel's plan

As the rods fall into place, the two parts become undone and can now be lifted. It looks like one of the quarters of the octagon has two small vaguely square shaped indents. Meanwhile, Irona finally manages to free the last square from the chain. it has a slightly different shape, having two additional square shaped branches that don't connect to anything.

"Aha! We- almost solved the mystery. Twin of the Crystal Sky-" Probably Irona "-those squares will come of use here." Action: Anghel tries to fit that last square with those weird square shaped branches into the octagon's indents.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m06Z9L1Fyzg/T6z9ckoL3PI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/TIDml1kjdnk/s1600/IMG_2675.JPG This is what it looks like when it's undone. By the way, there's a real solution to it. if you want to try and figure out the right way to do it, feel free to tell me the answer you come up with.

Pressing the the two square branches inside the octagon makes a mechanism inside the quarter click and makes the cover underneath it fall on the table. Along with it, a small key falls as well.

"The day is ours!" Anghel triumphantly poses. The twins can take the key while our local chuuni is going off about demonic power.

Braza: Hey, we did it. Irona: We've won the day. Both: Suck it, booming voice guy. *Irona scoops up the key as the twins go over to the locked door to use it. -Action- *The Twins go to unlock the door.*

[ooc: i kinda missed this but can i still join in, because i wanted to originally but was busy today]

(yeah, your good to come ^^ this was only a warm up. as long as the door they'll open with the key they found doesn't close, anyone can still come in.) Putting the key in the hole, the twins slowly turn it inside the lock until they hear the satisfying clicking of the lock opening. Then, a voice resounds again. "Well, well ! It seems you all made it past the preliminaries ! And I haven't even had a chance to kill anyone yet! How sad... How joyous! I'm so happy for you !! I'm so sad for myself... Now keep going, and show me you can manage what's to come. Oh and this time... no more using your powers. You wouldn't want me to unleash some deadly virus like the plague or whatever inside the room while you're all stuck in there now would you? "

"A test of wits from the Keeper of Secrets. How fitting." Anghel proceeds through the open door.

Both: Sore loser. *The Twins give a side glance to Elm before snickering and proceeding forwards.*

just a heads up, I'll still stay around for 45 minutes. I'm getting quite tired, but I'll at least let you all discover the room. Also, the turn order from here on is 1)Tot (whenever they show up again) 2) Anghel 3) Twins 4) Elm.

The room you all just entered is engulfed in total darkness. That is, until the door suddenly closes behind and the lights finally flicker on. It turns out, you are all trapped in what seems to be a fancy little office. A desk with writing paraphernalia scattered on it stands in the middle of the room. It has five drawers. two on the left, two on the right and one larger but thinner in the middle. There are three chairs surrounding the desk, two in front of it, probably for guests, and one behind it. The door you came from is located on the eastern wall and the desk is facing the northern wall. On the southern wall, you can see a pair of paintings as well as what seems to be a university diploma hanging. On the western wall, there's first a large glass cabinet with various objects inside of it as well as a few drawers underneath the glass part. There's also an old rotary dial phone hanging right next to the cabinet. On the other side of that same wall is another door similar to the one you used to enter this room. On the northern wall, high up are three clocks hanging with small golden plaques on them. There are also a couple of shelves holding two books each. A bit lower is an old journal excerpt. and underneath it is a drop front secretary with four drawers, not counting the drop front. And lastly, on the eastern wall, there's the door you came from, of course, as well as a large world map.

Tot breathes out a sigh, heading through the door with a grin, looks like we've got somethin' started Yeah yeah, I won't break your precious toys. Yet. With a giggle, the girl looks around the office, she doesn't even bother checking the door this time, assuming its probably locked, instead she takes a look at the glass cabinet to see what kinda stuff is in there

"This next test is more complex. Keep your eyes open." Action: Anghel just goes ham on the drawers and tries to open all five.

Both: Aww. I thought we were done. *The Twins hang their heads in sadness.* -Action- The Twins are sad. Skip a turn.

The glass cabinet holds a plethora of items. There are four shelves with five items aligned as follows. On the last three shelves, those objects also have a small number in front of them. A wine glass, a frying pan, a handcuff, a syringe, a pair of scissors. 2: A decanter, 4: a machete, 0: a feather, 1: a cookie box, 9: a sextant 3: an envelope, 8: a pair of compasses, 5: ____, 6: a metronome, 2 : a rock 1: A small pocket watch, 3: a spork, 4: a large clock indicating noon, 9, a pencil, 5, a stick. Additionally, on the second shelf from the top, there's a small plaque that reads W=X on the third, a plaque reads N=X_ and on the last a plaque reads N=_X

By all five, I assume you mean the ones on the desk. As you start on the left side of the desk, you notices the upper drawer has no handle, but instead two thin pieces of wood with large X'es drawn on them. The second drawer on that side also lacks a handle... While inspecting that side, you also notice there seems to be a small wooden tablet you can flip up attached to the desk as an extension. The middle drawer contains a torn sheet of paper with a drawing of half a cabinet and half sentences on each of the three shelves drawn in the cabinet. They read as follows: 1st shelf: - of knowledge - of flight 2nd Shelf: - need me - have me 3rd shelf: - my hands - silent On the right side, the lower drawer doesn't seem to have anything inside it, though it seems you could pull it out. The upper drawer however has a small bell without it's ringer inside it. You can also pull this drawer out if you wanted to.

(I'll let elm and the twins take one more action, and then we'll wrap it up for today. Is that okay with you all? ) Edit: sorry it takes so long to write all of this ^^' the settings are pretty detailed and I wouldn't want to forget giving a vital piece of info. Not to mention I also need to add in red herrings so you won't find the answers immediately >:D

If you insist *The Twins decide to stop being sad and head over to the Diploma on the wall.* Braza: Hmm Irona: I see Both: So we're dealing with a nerd. -Action- The Twins inspect the paintings and Diploma

[That is alright! Travel to dreamland and prepare thyself for a new day.]

The leftmost painting is an impressionist depiction of a crowded park with people running, sleeping and generally doing park-stuff. The other one is the portrait of a stern looking old lady. Her eyes seem to intently gaze at you both... It feels a bit unsettling now that you take a closer look of it. Quickly shifting your attention to the diploma, you read that it's a chemistry degree from Harvard assigned to one J. Moriarty.

as we wait for elm, can I quickly ask what you're all thinking of this so far ? are you enjoying it? is there anything you'd like to see happen differently? that kind of stuff.

(well, it was never meant to be a secret who -redacted-'s friend is. :3)

(oh fuck sorry) (but yeah, it's pretty cool so far) Elm walks over to the wall with the 3 clocks and inspects the golden plaques.

Sorry fell asleep and didn't notice your edit. I'll answer it tomorrow if you don't mind.