[PolarStarQuote]

"Welp, You heard the Cute Patoot, Monokuma, Lets go explorin'!"

Junko ordered, as her Monochromatic bear hopped up, making some strange popping noise with its feet as it waddled over to the West Wing, with Junko's Hand on her Hip as he followed along. Best send the disposable minion first, after all, as she opened the door to the west wing and walked inside, closing the door....


Junko spun around, breathing in the smell of musky dusty furniture and the like as she happily walked through these empty rooms, awaiting whatever monster or horror would leap out at her!

[Mari]

Music	Map	Status (New!)
	First Floor	An eldritch figure is stalking everyone from the darkness You feel something beginning to faintly claw at your mind. There are anomalous noises coming from upstairs.

Ciel and Ringo

"

Nothing that'll hurt us, anyway. It might be an indication that there's someone or something causing it, though. I know I don't have to ask you twice, but let's be on our guard~

"

Ciel seemed happy to hold Ringo's hand, even if she could feel her circulation getting cut off at times. She wouldn't have let go anyway, not wanting Ringo to get separated from her. If they were dealing with magic, their perceptions could very well deceive them in other ways. She proceeded to lead Ringo through the center hall, directly through a set of twin doors into... the grand ballroom.

The room was partially collapsed, illuminated solely by a hole in the roof allowing moonlight in. This made it considerably darker than other areas of the house that had windows to do a more efficient job of this. Ciel hesitated a moment before stepping into the center of the room and turning to face Ringo.

"

This place must have been quite pretty before it was left to fall into disrepair. Can you imagine what sort of things it might have been used for..? I wonder...

"

Ciel trailed off as a thumb was heard from somewhere else in the house. It could be heard throughout the rest of the house, but drew little concern from the scientist. It was probably just Junko or Rosalyn moving something. ...Yet, the acoustics almost made it sound like it was coming from above them? A trick of the ears, most likely caused by the heavy muffling of the walls.

"

You seemed really scared of that girl and her 'crazy bear' friend back there. Is everything alright..?

"

Now seemed as good a time as any to question Ringo about her feelings. As much as they didn't need a distraction, some things were important enough to get distracted by. Looking about the room, Ringo would be able to pick up on foosteps in the layer of dust on the floor. Someone had been here before them. The footsteps appeared to have been left by a barefoot human. ...What sort of fool with a deathwish walked barefoot through an abandoned house? That was just asking for glass-foot-syndrome or some other terribleness. She would also be able to see what appeared to be the remains of a thoroughly destroyed grand piano. Thankfully, not even a ghost would be playing that thing. Most of its strings had been removed! ...Wait, but what about the harpischord? One might confuse the two, but it was a very distinct instrument. No such harpischord was to be found here.

---

Rosalyn

Rosalyn finds that the others have already moved on, sadly. She can go back and explore on her own, or alternatively attempt to find them. The sound of a thud comes from somewhere above her, heard more clearly from the nearby staircase leading upwards. Was that one of the other girls, or something else..? If she chose to tune in, she could also hear a dragging sound, as if something heavy were being moved.

---

Junko

The first thing Junko finds is ... an entirely vacant room with a door on each end! There isn't a single thing in here, oddly enough, which of course means there was plenty of room for despair. How nice! ...She could linger here and see if anything happens, ooor she could proceed onwards to the West Rotunda. It all depended upon whether she paid any weight to the idea that rooms were never truly empty.

[Deleted]

As Rosalyn went back into the entrance hall to find her partners, she would find that they have already left to investigate different parts of the mansion, perfect. "Crap, now what should I do?" Rosalyn thought as she heard some strange noises upstairs, she looked up at the ceiling and shrugged, deciding to head upstairs to investigate the noise, with her glow stick waving in front of her, Rosalyn walked towards the stairs and began to climb upstairs to the next floor.

"Ok spooky mansion, lets hope I find some answers upstairs."

[Rina]

Ringo nodded affirmatively, continuing down to the hall and arriving at the ruinous-looking ballroom. The place has certainly seen better days, and it's not that hard to imagine it being much more ornate a time ago. All that is left is what's left the walls and bits of the ceiling. It's so worn down that even the moon is shining through it. Ringo took a deep breath to ease herself a bit, though the noises doesn't make her calm down completely. It could might as well be someone else's doing, but who knows? Ringo turned back to Ciel, asking about her connections with Junko.

"Y-You see...she murdered a thief in front of me when I intended to apprehend him. And she has taken great interest in my intellect, so I'm afraid she might used me for some of her nefarious schemes in the future..."

Explaining herself, she tried to take her mind off of Junko by searching the ballroom to notice...footsteps? Who passed by here?

"Hey...who could have passed by here? There's footprints."

[PolarStarQuote]

"Boring. Proceeding onward." Junko stated in a monotone of voice, heading up to the North side of the vacant room, toward the kitchen. She surely did not want to wait around for something to happen to her, she wanted a room with all the interesting stuff in it!

"Perchance this is the Eatery. I am quite famished~"

[Mari]

Music	Map (New!)	Status (New!)
	First Floor Second Floor	An eldritch figure is stalking everyone from the darkness You feel something beginning to faintly claw at your mind. The odd noises from upstairs have ceased.

Ciel and Ringo

"

. . . That's horrible! You weren't kidding when you said crazy. ...I can only imagine how upseting it was for you.

"

Ciel's alarm was genuine. She had seen many people die in front of her, including some of her closest friends, but she still remembered the first time she had to face death up close and personal. It was something she'd never truly gotten used to and a feeling that had haunted her every day during the war. These, of course, were feelings she had kept to herself. Aside from passing mentions of just how oppressive her world had been, she didn't want to burden Ringo with those feelings. The idea occured to her that maybe it was unhealthy to keep them to herself, but ... Well, this wasn't the time or place for that, regardless.

Taking Ringo's clue to mind, Ciel hesitated a moment to inspect the layer of dust on the floor. She carefully crouched down, making a point not to drag Ringo down with her, and gently dragged the pointer finger of her free hand through the dust. The scientist had noticed that while the footprints ere very clearly visible, there was still a small layer of dust on the ground. Inspecting the dust that was now on her glove, she also took a moment to inspect the mark on the floor. It was quite shallow, indicating that the secondary layer was quite shallow... "It seems like these footsteps were made some time ago, maybe a couple of weeks..? They're not quite fresh." Ciel mused aloud. This was, perhaps, a relief because it meant that whatever had made the footsteps probably wasn't waiting at the end of them. Ciel moved to stand back up. "Perhaps following them will tell us something about the nature of whoever made them. Or maybe that's too much of a stretch..?" Ciel mused aloud, questioning whether it was worth pursuing these footsteps. They currently seemed to pace over towards the broken grand piano. Before the girls could move to investiage, however, Ciel became visibly distressed by something or another and turned to address Ringo.

"

...But um--Before we move on, Ringo. ...It would make me feel a lot better if you stayed with over with me for a while after this. I'm worried that Junko might be stalking you and I don't want anything to happen to you.

"

To say concern was written all over Ciel's face was an understatement. She was scared on Ringo's behalf. Having a murderer show interest in you and show up on missions to bother you was a very worrying thing. It perhaps said something about Ciel's feelings towards Ringo, or perhaps just Ciel herself, that she was more worried about Ringo's safety than she was about the prospect of inadvertantly attracting this same queen of despair to her home instead. Ciel's very apparent distress would vanish after a moment, a flustered blush and a smile replacing it as she attempted to reassure Ringo by recomposing yourself.

"

...Besides, I'm interested in your intellect too! I can't let her have you, especially when she'd probably take all the other great things about you for granted~

"

---

Rosalyn

Rosalyn emerged onto the second floor. It's one long hallway lined with doors, leaving it unclear what exactly might lay in wait up here. There was, however, one door that was open. The door to the master bedroom was ajar and a small dresser was not far off, standing in the hallway and looking out of place... She had plenty of options, but other than the dresser in the hall which she could inspect there was not much to investigate inside the hall itself.

((Rosalyn, the second floor map has been added Something is wrong up here, and the headache-inducing sensation you began feeling earlier is getting a bit weaker for reasons unclear...))

---

Junko

Meanwhile, Junko enters the West Rotunda. The room is very odd. It looked vaguely like a church, with a handful of pews laid out before a raised platform upon which lays a very humble podium for speaking. Several very old drapes hung at the four ends of the room, enshrining it with a family emblem of some sort. The emblem itself was rather abstract, posing no real apparent meaning other than a pattern of colors. There was a book laying open upon the podium, as if it had been left in a hurry. A great weight weighs down upon Junko in this room, as if the atmosphere itself were heavier than it ought to be...

[Deleted]

As Rosalyn reached the second floor she noticed how abandoned it looked as she began to look left and right, wondering where to go next, that was when she noticed the opened door to the bedroom as she walked towards it, holding out her raygun as she looked at the other doors down the hall. "Closed doors, except for one, as if the ominous signs arent ominous enough." Rosalyn thought to herself as she stopped and turned towards the dresser.

She noticed how out of place it was and in an instant, she quickly opened the doors to the dresser and aimed her raygun at each one she opened.

"Where are you creepy figure roaming this mansion, I know there's a ghost here since I obviously saw one at that room downstairs."

[Rina]

"C-Considering my home town of Suzuran is rather peaceful, it r-really is a shock to me...But let's not digress to that. Please."

Ringo REALLY wanted to get these unnecessary stresses out of her mind. Moving away from the rather heavy topic, she went back to the footsteps. So they've been left here for a while? That does bring a question as to how long ago. Hypothesizing two weeks is reasonable, but later discoveries could prove otherwise. Following them would probably give a clue, but as it stands, it's the only lead they have right now. It is potentially dangerous, but what else can they do to investigate?

Oh hold up, Ciel has something to request.

"S-Sure. That sounds like a good idea. I don't really feel safe in my own room, myself..."

It's understandable that she'd be concerned about her. Ringo has a murderer on her tail, of course! But then...

"Eh- Really? I mean, I'm just a student that is focused on sciences."

[PolarStarQuote]

"Ooh, now thats what im talking about! This is Despair!" Junko said, giggling almost fearlessly at the presence of this heavy atmosphere on her shoulders. "It feels like somethings gonna kill me in a minuite, sooo, i can imagine sticking around here for a moment or two~" Junko said, as she walked closer to the podium in the room, grabbing the book and reading into it, walking across the Pews in the Rotunda.

Junko sighed, reading as she hummed, grabbing her Baseball bat and twirling it around her hand happily...

[Mari]

Music	Map	Status
	First Floor Second Floor	An eldritch figure is stalking everyone from the darkness You feel something faintly clawing at your mind.

Ciel and Ringo

Ciel nodded in appreciation when Ringo agreed to stay with her for a while. That was one worry off of her mind, with only a few leftover as she began trailing the footsteps.

"

And so modest too. You're quite the stunning individual if you don't mind me saying, Ringo. Hasn't anyone ever told you that before..? ...Think about it this way. The difference between a brilliant student focused on her studies and someone who changes the world for the better is that the latter studies unexplored territory, the things we don't already know, rather than the curriculum laid out for them. The fact that you're here with me now in this place full of unknowns means you're on the right path. I think you have a lot of potential.

"

...For a scientist, Ciel had a very romantic way of looking at the world, and Ringo for that matter. A part of it was just her natural inclination, but there was definitely also an element of affection there that wasn't negligable. Back on the path, the trail seemed to wind rather confusingly about the room. This bothered Ciel a little.

"

...Whoever made these tracks seemed a bit lost. They could have been drunk, ...or hurt.

"

Following the trail a bit further, Ciel and Ringo come to ... the broken piano. To Ciel's distress, the footsteps end directly at the piano, as if someone had sat down to play it and simply never left. Or... A much more horrible idea occured to her, but she decided not to voice that one. Reaching out, Ciel pressed a finger to the Piano's wood. It gave without much effort under her hand. This wood was heavily rotted and would likely collapse like the door had if they applied too much pressure or were otherwise rough with it.

---

Rosalyn

The dresser drawers were filled with some rather raggedy clothing, as well as a letter that appeared to have been sealed shut with staples for some reason that wasn't apparently clear. Some recklessly hopeful person had tried... somewhat lazily to prevent anyone from opening it. ...The sound of a door creaking could be heard from down the hall. One of the doors at the opposite end of the door had just opened! The sound of footsteps could be heard, and from the sound of it.... They were approaching Rosalyn. The windows illuminated the room enough to see in the hallway, but in spite of what Rosalyn was hearing she wouldn't be able to see anything approaching her.

---

Junko

The book junko had just picked up appeared to be handwritten. Ciel would probably consider it a treasure if she had been lucky enough to find it herself. But wait--What was this? It looked like... a diary. It happened to be open to the most recent page, meaning all the pages beyond it were... probably blank. In contrast, there was plenty of stuff to read before it if Junko was so inclined.

I've lost all track of time. Days have become weeks, weeks seconds and seconds hours. It feels like ages ago I began documenting this phenomenon, but it's too difficult to figure out what's going on from inside the mansion. It feels like forever since the last time I left. A week? Two weeks? Sleep is erratic at best. My legs will not carry me to the front door anymore. I fear my health may have given up on me, but I always suspected I might die here. It's almost a relief to finally know there's no escaping my fate. I can stop trying. I just hope that I will find freedom in my passing. ...I'm ready to move on. If anyone finds themselves trapped here as I once did, I wish you better luck than I did in escaping. Beware the basement, and if you're so inclined check the table of contents. I've marked several pages with what little I've managed to uncover about this mansion.

[Deleted]

Rosalyn proceeded to throw the old clothes on the ground before noticing the letter. "Huh?" Rosalyn said as she grabbed the letter and looked at it. "That's strange why did someone try to staple it shut, maybe it's a chain mail." Rosalyn thought as she proceeded to remove the staples from the mail, however that was when a door near her started to open and footsteps were heard coming towards Rosalyn.

However when she looked up she noticed that nobody was there, yet the footsteps were coming towards it, could it be...

A ghost?

"Welp, I guess it's time to use my infrared invention, Ghost Bat." Rosalyn thought as she opened her brown bag to put the letter she just got in it before taking out a device shaped like a bat and aimed it at the hall in front of her, taking a few steps back away from the noise in front of it and putting her raygun and glowstick in her pocket.

"If this thing detects a ghost, then it will glow red, if not then it will not glow...Come on, glow."

[Rina]

"I suppose so...I still do have a future ahead of me, at least.

Shaking off the talk about getting stalked and possibly kidnapped, Ringo turned back to the footsteps, realizing that htere's no real correlation to a solid trail. Where did this person go to make themselves move so strangely???

"You're right. They seem so haphazard, it couldn't have been made under normal circumstances."

Continuing down the trail, she came across the piano, which seemed intact at first. However, watching Ciel touch it caused the wood to cave in with such light pressure. Touching the keys would likely not make a sound at all, either. Rather, it would make the sound of collapsing wood than piano notes. That's how fragile it is.

"Did...is the piano inhabited by something..."

[PolarStarQuote]

This was like reading a Porno mag! Woo! Junko was panting excitedly, her eyes spinning into black and white spirals of enjoying-this-way-too-much as she stared longingly at the pages of someone who must of truly felt despair in this building...This building, Ohohohohoooo, THIS BUILDING! Junko's excitement couldnt help but rise at this point as she started furiously flipping through the pages, before giving it to monokuma. "Keep it, i wanna have it with me every night, so you can read it to me like a bedtime story~" Junko said giddily as she skipped around happily.

"Well, time for the obvious set up's for this kinda stuff! To the Dining Hall!" Junko declared, running to the dining hall door and opening it up.



"Hellooo~?? Ghosts? Demons? Monsters?? The Queen demands your attention, and wants to give you a huuug~!!!"

[Mari]

Music	Map	Status
	First Floor Second Floor	An eldritch figure is stalking everyone from the darkness You feel something faintly clawing at your mind.

Ciel and Ringo

Ciel ever so carefully grabbed the broken hood of the piano, bending over and leaning down close to get a better look at the inside. The hood bent unhealthily as she lifted it. One really ought to make something as nice as a piano out of better mateiral... Or perhaps something outside the normal environment had damaged the wood? She couldn't tell looking at it. Ciel was searching for a body, and to that end she made a point not to give Ringo a good view inside on the off chance she felt the need to protect the other from an awful visage. The legs of the piano had been crushed, almost as if it had been dropped from a height. To her relief and confusion, however, she found no such body inside. After making sure she wasn't about to expose Ringo to something awful, she would lift the lid more fully and stand back up. The piano's strings had been scavenged or broken for the most part, with only a few remaining.

"

It doesn't seem that there's anyone inhabiting it, but--

"

Ciel's observations were cut off by a shriek as she suddenly lurched towards the piano, staggering uncontrollably as if she'd been pushed... by an unseen force. The piano's hood almost seemed to tear itself out of Ciel's grasp in invitation, the blonde falling into it's casing and clamping down onto her thighs as she landed upon it. In one horrifying moment, the piano began to stand up, it's legs creaking and splintering under the strain of its great weight as it rose back into a standing position. The living instrument bounced it's front end into the air and finished swallowing Ciel with a terrible thud, leaving the distended underside of its casing as the only remaining hint of her presence. It then settled it's front legs back down with a crack and a cacophony of piano notes that drowned out Ciel's muffled fright. The piano then began to ever so slowly waddle it's way towards Ringo, each 'step' accompanied by another horrible clash of musical notes.

Mad Piano Attacks! ...Slowly. There's really nothing stopping you from running away, actually.

---

Rosalyn

Rosalyn is able to remove the stables from the letter, however it is damaged in the process. It is, however, still readable if she so chooses. ...Little is stopping her, other than the quickly approaching spectral footsteps. Rosalyn's device ... begins to glow. There's an infrared anomaly in the area. The footsteps draw closer, but there is still no visual indication that anyone is near Rosalyn. In just a few seconds, the footsteps would reach her. The only route of escape is into the nearby opened master bedroom. Alternatively, she could attempt to open the baby's room or the storage room. However, there is no garauntee that they are unlocked...

---

Junko

...One had to wonder if whoever wrote that book was still watching over this place in some form, and if he was--What would he feel watching Junko get a thrill from reading it? A cruel fate, no doubt, but Junko was free to take the book. As for the dining hall... Junko emerges into the dining hall and finds the tables neatly set as if ready for a mela. She catches a glimpse of a shadowy form siting at the end of the table. It lingers just long enough for Junko to get a clear view of it's inhuman features. It almost looked like it had claws and a snout, but in the time it took to observe this the figure dissipated into the air, leaving only a mystery in its wake. A soft thud could be heard from somewhere in the room, perhaps under the table or behind some of the furniture? After a couple of long moments, the sound would be heard again. Something was moving in here.

[Deleted]

Rosalyn gasped when the bat glowed, causing it to put it away and took a few steps back, before running into the master bedroom, not wanting to be at the mercy of the ghost. "I'm not getting possessed or killed by a ghost tonight." Rosalyn thought as she ran into the master bedroom and closed it behind her, now that she was safe, she decided to check out the letter she just found.

Rosalyn reopened her brown bag to take out letter and began to read.

"Ok letter, let's see what interesting things you have here."