[Deleted]

It was nighttime in the Life Sphere. As such, it was dark, with only some well-placed street lights providing any visibility. It was an ominous aesthetic, which was rather appropriate for what the mischievous specter known as the Snatcher had in mind. In the Rainbow Square, tucked in between a couple larger buildings, was a comparatively small one. The walls of the building were painted a dark navy blue, and there didn’t seem to be any windows, making it impossible to see what was inside without going in through the front door. Said front door was rather plain looking, with the exception of its coloration, which was a bright yellow. Above the front door there was a neon-lit sign, also a bright yellow. The sign read as such:



Snatcher’s Haunted House!

Open 7PM - 3:33AM

30 coins per adult, 15 coins per child



Below the neon sign was a smaller sign, reading “Coming Soon!”



Yes, indeed. The Snatcher, the living shadow that Hat Kid had befriended long ago, decided to create a for-profit horror attraction right in Rainbow Square. Of course, as the sign above the door noted, it wasn’t ready. The Snatcher needed to make sure it would appeal to the public, so he had created a mission briefing to gather some “Beta-Testers.” Said Beta-Testers would include Hat Kid, as well as a couple other weirdos.



Hat Kid herself was sitting on a bench, conveniently placed in front of the unfinished horror attraction. She was eagerly awaiting the arrival of her fellow Beta-Testers, who wouldn’t be showing up for a little while. She passed the time by playing some games on a smartphone, like one might expect from a little kid with time to kill.



After nearly half an hour of this, Hat Kid realized that it was nearly 9PM. Her teammates would be arriving soon. She put her phone away and looked around. The Rainbow Square was pretty quiet at this point. If anyone was going to appear, it would probably be her fellow Testers...

Mission Start!

[Glimmericious]

...Was that the place?  When Tatsuya had imagined a haunted house in the Life Sphere, he had expected something a little bit more menacing.  Between the actual sci-fi technology and magic, the navy blue and yellow-doored house was somewhat underwhelming.  Nonetheless, though, he'd already taken the job, might as well humor them.  The dark and foreboding atmosphere of the Life Sphere at night only slightly improved the issue.

Approaching the house, he'd eventually come to notice a child present in the square.  To be honest, his first instinct was to ask if she'd run away from home or lost her parents, but it was probably better to not judge based on appearances in this place.  For all he knew, she could be another one of these 'beta testers.'  The mission discussing 'lethality' made seeing a kid here a little bit weird, and left an uncomfortable pit in his stomach, but he attempted to shrug it off for the time being.  Hopefully, the one who made the mission was just being dramatic.

...And now for the hard part.  Making friends or at least attempting to communicate with the child.  "...Yo.  Here to check this place out?  Or are you lost?"

[Deleted]

"... I daresay, this haunted house already leaves a good first impression!" The voice of Heimerdinger would begin to become apparent, as he still had a page of an advertisement for the house in question in his hands. Slowly walking up to Tatsuya and Hat Kid, the small yordle scientist would look up at the two, curious.

"Hmm hmm! I can't say I expected to see any other individuals around here today! Tell me you two, do you happen to be Beta Testers as well?"

[Deleted]

Hat Kid's attention was grabbed by the first of her fellow testers. The man seemed to be a bit concerned about her. Admittedly, Hat Kid being all alone at night probably wouldn't sit well for most people, even if they knew that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. She did her best to put him at ease.

"Oh, I'm fine, don't worry about me. I'm Hat Kid. I'm here for the testing. I just thought I'd come here a little early and say hi to my friend Snatcher. He's waiting for us inside," she explained.

She would've spoken further to Tatsuya, but their third, Heimerdinger, arrived swiftly. He appeared quite short, about on par with Hat Kid, and had a high voice that Hat Kid found herself pleasantly amused by. He seemed friendly, and the fact that he was the third and final tester meant that they could all begin, so his presence was very much appreciated.

"Hey! Yeah, we are, actually. Name's Hat Kid. C'mon, since we're all here, let's go inside and I'll introduce you two to my friend!"

With that, Hat Kid dashed over to the building she was sitting in front of and swung open the door, revealing the building's contents.

The first thing that was notable was the size of the room. The building was actually pretty small from the outside, and some inquisitive folk may have wondered how a horror attraction could fit in such a small space. This didn't seem to be an issue, however, since already it could be inferred that the actual scale of the attraction was much bigger than the building it took place in. How? It was hard to say. Probably magic, or whatever crazy alien technology they were putting in phone boxes these days.

The room awaiting the group behind the door was, specifically, a waiting room. It was decently sized, too, again, being noticeably larger than the building it was inside of. Snatcher must've been anticipating long lines for his attraction, since the waiting room was not only decently large, but was also decently well-furnished. To the sides of the room, it could be seen that some couches, chairs, and tables had been placed here and there to give people a place to sit, as well as place their things. There were even some items to entertain people while they waited, such as a jigsaw puzzle that someone had apparently been working on before the group arrived. There was also a song that was playing in the room from a speaker system. A song about monsters...mashing? Okay, Hat Kid thought.

At the opposite end of the room, and to the left, was a door. Not a gaudy yellow like the one used to enter, but a simple wooden door. To the right of it was a sign affixed to the wall, detailing the rules that the customers would have to follow, such as "No groups larger than four at a time," and "No using any special abilities, magical, technological, or otherwise." To the right of that was the Snatcher, some sort of shadowy specter, sitting(?) behind a desk and reading a magazine.

Seeing her good friend, Hat Kid skipped over to the Snatcher, while also calling out to him to get his attention.

"Hey Snatcher! These are the testers!" Hat Kid said, pointing to her two companions. Snatcher looked up from his magazine and got a good look at the group.

"Oh. Good! Good, good, good. Finally, I've been waiting forever for the three of you to meet up. So! You all know why you're here, right? You're supposed to make sure that this attraction is enjoyable, as well as safe, so that I can make a profit off of this. To do this, you'll be giving me whatever feedback you think is necessary. This feedback can be about anything, like the aesthetic, the audio, as well as, of course, the scares. You'll be doing this at the end, though. You can keep notes, but you won't be asked to give feedback until you get the full experience."

The Snatcher then paused to look around the room, before continuing.

"Actually, I suppose a bit of constructive criticism right now couldn't hurt. What do you think about this waiting room? It's technically part of the experience, too."

Hat Kid volunteered to give constructive criticism first, eager to help out.

"Oh, well, maybe you could have some reading material?"

Snatcher stared at Hat Kid like she had grown a second head. "Wow, kid. That's good constructive criticism. You hear that, you two?" Snatcher said, speaking specifically to Tatsuya and Heimerdinger. "Let this be the standard for constructive criticism. I expect articulation. And as a response to that, yeah, I thought of that, too. I'm looking to get a magazine rack installed next to one of the couches, not sure which. Already got some magazines to place in it. Got 'em in my desk drawer if any of you wanna take a peek. Anyhow, You two have anything you wanna say about this room? It's not as important as the feedback you'll be giving at the end, but it's something. You got any suggestions, make them now. I don't have all night."

[Glimmericious]

Well, it was somewhat relieving that she was here for the testing, and her being fairly well-spoken gave him some hope that she knew what she was doing, and he certainly wasn't in a position a child being here, given that he was only a teenager myself, but as the oldest here (at least, he assumed,) he was still a little anxious.

At least, he had concluded before the new one rolled in.  How old was this guy?  Fuck if Tatsuya knew, but he vaguely reminded him of what a demon or Persona looked like, so Tatsuya decided to err on the side of safety and assume 'really, really old.'  "Yes, we're both beta testers.  I'm Tatsuya Suou."  He cordially introduced himself, before following Hat Kid into the haunted house to meet her friend.

Heading into the house, he wasn't super sure what he'd been expecting, but that sure was a shadow-y specter just chilling in the room.  Like, sure, it made sense, ghost makes haunted house, but it was just so on-the-nose that he was a little surprised.  Also, what?  This room was way bigger than the house appeared to be outside.  That was weird as hell.  As for feedback, though?  Well...

"Off of the top of my head, I'd have to say that the house is unimposing from the outside.  If you really wanna sell aesthetics, I've seen way scarier-looking places, like an abandoned bomb shelter or abandoned factory.  Navy blue house with yellow door just feels... uninspired."  He had only his own experiences to go off of for that one.  "As for the waiting room... maybe an area for people who have already made their way through to watch their friends go through it?"  Could be fun, especially if large groups come through and get split up.

[Deleted]

As Heimerdinger listened to the exchanges behind had, he would eventually find it to be his turn to speak up, in which he would clear his throat and begin talking.

"Mmm, yes yes! My colleague has some very good points as well, if I do say so myself. Now, allow a brief introduction before I get to my own end of the bargain; I am Professor Cecil B. Heimerdinger, esteemed scientist of Piltover, at your service! Now, let's see here..."

Pulling up a few holographic dataslates, Heimerdinger would begin fiddling his fingers on the touch-sensitive screens as he talked, bringing up diagrams of what he has seen so far: Specifically, the outside of the house, and the waiting room interior.

"To add onto my colleague's criticism of the exterior, I do say that personally I find modest yet mysterious to be a perfectly good approach! However, I can agree that it is currently a bit bland. My estimates show that adding some fake windows, with equally false silhouettes and room expectations would increase the paranoia of most approaching civilians by roughly 12%! In addition to this, adding a few decorations like dead trees, ominous noises coming from the left and right, and maybe some horror-themed graffiti on the walls would improve the atmosphere by a good margin!

As for the waiting room itself, I do agree that for the size of the room, there is little else to curb the impatience people may have for waiting in line. Boredom overtaking the civilians would mean they would be on average 37% less receptive to the fun and scares inside, and we can't have that! For maximum efficiency, I would suggest that there be a few horrific decorations on the walls, and perhaps even hanging video feed giving an overview of the rules: Commentary is highly encouraged for this one!"

[Deleted]

The Snatcher listened to Tatsuya's feedback attentively. The man had a good point. If Snatcher wanted people to notice the place, he'd need to do a bit more than hand out flyers. As for how he felt about the critique on the place's color scheme, though...

"I mean, I guess it's nothing too special, but... I mean, look at me. Dark body, yellow facial features. These colors are just...me! ...But you’re right. It’s boring, it’s dull, and it’s not like I even have much space to work with outside. I’ll try to spruce it up, but I’m not going to make it look like an abandoned bomb shelter or anything like that. This place shouldn’t look dilapidated, I’m sorry. As for the whole ‘watch people go through it’ thing, sure. I already have a camera system set up, so plugging in another monitor shouldn’t hurt. I mean, people might try to use it to cheat, but hey, it’s their loss, right? They’re going in there and I already have their money.”

Tatsuya’s feedback was nice. He wasn’t expecting anything groundbreaking, but it was nice to know that the guy cared enough to actually give feedback. Cecil, on the other hand, took it to a whole new level. He actually brought holographic diagrams to give his own suggestions on how to improve the place’s aesthetic. Not only that, but the level of detail was truly impressive. Snatcher actually stopped halfway through Cecil’s speech and opened the drawer of his desk, fetched a pencil and sheet of paper, and began frantically writing down everything the man said.

“Alright, then, let’s see,” Snatcher said quietly to himself, looking over everything he had written down. “Fake windows, shouldn’t be too hard. Dead trees, may have to stop by Harvest Acres. Ominous noises, maybe, but I don’t want any noise complaints. Graffiti, should have some paint left. Decorations, should have some plastic spiders I can hang up… Alright! Awesome! Thank you…uh, sir.” Snatcher found himself unsure of what exactly Cecil was. He didn’t look human, as he was much too hairy, and while he seemed rather old, he also had the stature and high voice of a young child. What was it with old people and being short? That never made sense to Snatcher.

“Now, we’ve spent long enough talking about this, and we haven’t even gotten you three started on the actual attraction. So I’m just going to explain the rules, at least the ones that apply to you three, in case you haven’t already read that sign on the wall:

First off, you can’t use any items or abilities that you have, especially while solving puzzles. This includes your bubble shields. I want to make sure this is fair and safe for anyone, not just adventurers like you. If you use any items or abilities you brought with you while you’re in there, you’re out.

Second, once you get to a room with a puzzle in it, you’ll have a limited time to solve the puzzle. If you don’t solve it in time, a cloud of smoke will be released into the room. This smoke contains a substance that, while mildly irritating, won’t hurt you…at least, that’s the intent. I’m not sure if it’s actually safe, cuz, y’know, I’m a ghost.

Third, I’ll be speaking to you three through a speaker system. I’ll be giving you basic information regarding the attraction when necessary, but I won’t be helping you solve the puzzles. No hints.

Anyway, let’s get started. We’ve spent enough time talking. If we don’t get a move on, we’ll probably be here until Halloween. Then again, it seems like it takes forever for anything to get done on Li anyway, so we might be here until Halloween anyway.”

Snatcher floated over to the door leading into the attraction and opened it, before herding the group through it and slamming the door.

The beginning of the attraction proper seemed to be a simple hallway. The walls were painted a dark purple, and the floor was a deep blue carpet. Rather ironically, given the feedback regarding the exterior of the attraction, the hallway seemed to have some nice decorations in it. Some paintings were hanging on the walls, depicting various things such as a victorian-style mansion, a sunset on a hillside, and a smiling woman, whose eyes seemed to follow one’s gaze at all times. At the end of the hallway, there was a wooden nightstand with a potted plant placed atop it.

“Yeah, I kinda wanted to give the first part of this attraction a traditional ‘haunted house’ look, what with the name,” the voice of Snatcher could be heard saying through a speaker somewhere in the room. “Now, lemme explain this one. You’re in a hallway, right? And at the end of the hallway, there’s another hallway that intersects it.”

A cursory glance would reveal this to be true. At both ends of this intersecting hallway were identical wooden doors.

“Yeah, the girl came up with this one, not me. Basically, I’m going to need the two of you to open one of those doors each. One of them leads to the first puzzle room, while the other one doesn’t. Each of you will have to open a door. You’ll see why.”

With that, Snatcher’s voice cut out, and was soon replaced with what sounded like stock horror ambience. Presumably, an attempt to set the mood.

[Deleted]

"How interesting!" The voice of the yordle would pipe up as he began walking his way jauntily through the corridor, a hand cusped under his chin as he eyed the decoration with awe. "Now this is much more like it! A truly eye-catching beginning with just the right hint of spookiness! Mr. Snatcher, I must say you've outdone yourself on this one. I can already feel the chills reverberating down my spine!"

... A thought came to him as he stood in the middle of an intersection, his brow furrowing some. "Mr. Snatcher, a brief question if you will. Are we still allowed to take notes of what we see to help us solve the puzzles ahead? Like, for example, writing down clues we find on an electronic screen or piece of paper? Also, Mr. Tatsuya, I am feeling very left-door-ish in this matter of 50/50 chance."