Second Investigation

[wringmaster]

Investigation 2

Your days in the Cirque de l'Ardeur are coming to an end. It will be less than 48 hours until you're allowed to leave if you choose so. With the finish line in sight, all one must do now is survive until then.

However...one or more people may not have gotten to.

When everyone wakes up, nothing seems off. There are no burning tents right now. Despite that, as soon as they get wandering around, they'll notice something awful happened last night.

It's time for the second performance of the Cirque de l'Ardeur to begin.

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[wringmaster]

[ The beer garden has seen better days. The damage isn't extensive, but some of the roses hanging on the trellis here have fallen onto the floor, and there's petals and leaves strewn about on the ground.

More eye-catching is that there seems to be a mess happening over by one of the tables. ]

[azaroth]

[Okay, check out the table for now...]

[wringmaster]

[ On the table is a pile of assorted boardgames! Looks like someone was bored? They're stacked pretty orderly and not messy at all except... there's a bunch of bright red plastic monkeys scattered around the table and onto the floor.

may the monkeys rest in pieces. ]

[azaroth]

[Raven weeps for the monkeys???

Can she find the rest of the monkey boardgame?]

[wringmaster]

[ She can! It looks like it rolled under the table. There is a lone surviving monkey inside.

While she's kneeling to assess the monkey carnage, she'll notice something else on the floor: a book. ]

[azaroth]

[OHOHO???

She picks up the book and the monkey container, let's get a look at the title and blurb....]

[wringmaster]

[ There is no title and blurb, actually. What there is instead is a star embossed on the front. The book is leather bound and looks pretty old.

Open it? ]

[azaroth]

[Yes, time to open it and have a read...]

[wringmaster]

[ Raven opens the book expecting a story of some sort. What she finds is...

Herself getting sucked into the book, goodbye.

Raven is missing(?) ]

[wringmaster]

[ Wherever she is, she finds herself in a sleigh in the middle of a forest, a blizzard pressing down on her.

This is now a christmas murdergame. ]

1/??

[azaroth]

[What the fuck.]

2/??

[azaroth]

What the fuck. [This time she speaks aloud.

Looking around herself. She's in a thin cape and fucking tights??? Why would you do this to her, book??]

3/3

[azaroth]

[Wait no, this entirely tracks for strange books you find on the ground. Great! Love this!

Okay... time to... start moving. Is she on a slope she can sleigh down on? Also.]

HELLO!? [She manages to yell that out pretty loudly!]

[wringmaster]

[ Her yell echoes across the forest. The sleigh is moving actually, but the scenery doesn't seem to be changing much, though the sky above her, the aurora, is slowly fading. ]

[azaroth]

[She's COLD. She'll just... look around? For any landmarks? As she sleighs down to her doom???]

[wringmaster]

[ F. And then Raven peacefully sleighed to her doom.

Actually she will faintly hear Clover talking. ]

[azaroth]

Clover!? [She's going to look around wildly.]

Don't read the book!

[fourtuity]

[ Unfortunately, this is also part-sitcom now, so she hears nothing. Oh no, she's got earmuffs on, she can't hear! This bodes well. ]

She's not waking up... Umm, what's in this book anyway?

[ She reaches out to poke at Sir Bookingham's sides, because obviously that's a good idea. ]

[wringmaster]

[ Sir Bookingham squeaks! Ok no he doesn't. But what does happen is that...

Raven is no longer in the forest! At least to her eyes. To clover, she'll suddenly snap to, no longer catatonic.

Sir Bookingham falls limply to the dirt, and though looking in it's direction will no longer cause one to go singing jinglebells, there are words written on its pages. ]

[azaroth]

Oh my god.

[Raven stumbles back, dazed. Thank god it's not cold anymore??? She hugs her cape around herself.]

Um. It sucked me inside. Thank you. [She'll... hesitantly glance at the words??]

[fourtuity]

"Oh my god" is right. Are you okay?

[ She'll fuss for a bit, because yeah, this was all very alarming. ]

I could've sworn I saw the book do that, but then you were still sort of here, yet not here. What the hell, Sir Bookingham?

[ This is when she turns to look at the book and notice whatever likely-cursed words are written on it now. ]

[wringmaster]

[Casting a look at the book makes Clover find herself riding a sleigh--

Okay no. There sure are a lot of words, though!

[wringmaster]

["There’s a large clearing in the middle of the forest, and the paths are just barely large enough for a sleigh to pass through. You find yourself in one anyways, traveling to… somewhere. It’s hard to tell, and there’s no sign of what your destination could be. The trees are tall, their needles still a deep green, and there’s snow everywhere. It’s still falling from the sky, but it’s gentle. Not yet a blizzard, but it seems like the winds are picking up.

It’s night, but the sky is lit up with an aurora. It seems to be centered over something, but perhaps that’s just your imagination…?

The sleigh ride seems to go for ages, and the reindeer pulling the sleigh don’t seem to listen to instructions. Still, it’s quiet, and there’s nobody else around. There aren’t even any other animals, and it seems like the aurora is getting dimmer and darker the further you go."

Well! How descriptive]

[azaroth]

That's where it took me...

[She's going to pick it up and shut it, and then wrap it up in her cloak.]

This seems like an important clue.

[fourtuity]

Looks like it. Wonder what it was doing here...

[ All she managed to speed read were words like sleigh and reindeer, so time for her best educated guess. ]

Wait, so they wanted to make you Santa Claus? ...Raven Claus?