In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
Griswold didn't particularly seemed interested in what Mania had to say. He would offer a few choice words, before recommending everyone split up. Mania would frown beneath the kitsune mask as he watched the ebony, feather cloaked woman profess her dislike for Griswold's idea and follow him into the nearby room. Mania was left to his own devices as he would watch Magnus and Victoria pass him. They were as chatty as two peas in a pod Mania mused as he decided everyone had already settled on a partner so to say for the event. Mania had been left out of the equation much to his dissatisfaction, so he would go it alone and try to unearth any clues he could find. Despite the situation Mania was cool as a cucumber as he would slip into the opposite room Griswold did.
It was a study and held what one might expect to find in such a place. Gaudy, horrid decorations?
Check!
A desk with miscellaneous items atop its surface?
Check!
Mania would peruse the drawers of the desk to see if he could find anything important, but all he found was dissertations about magic theory and the like. Though it had absolutely no relevance towards his goals, Mania would find his curiosity piqued. So, he would spend a few minutes reading through the various notes, consuming the information like the glutton for knowledge he truly was. Moving on, he would look through the room, being sure to check every nook and cranny to find anything useful. His endeavors would prove unrewarded as he would sigh and exit the room. It was supposed to be a game of wits and mystery, but it felt more like a pick your friend among the group and wandering around a terribly decorated mansion.
The rogue would scoff before remembering Nix had gone ahead of the group. He remembered her childlike amusement as she pranced down the hall. He wondered what she was up to? Like himself, she wasn't paired with another, so he assumed she was probably still alone. It gave the Magic Knight plenty of motive to act with a certain level of autonomy. Meaning if she was the one given the role of sabotaging the game for everyone, she would be able to operate without issue. The thought displeased Mania, so he would set out to find the girl wherever she went, but the mansion was huge. He wasn't quite sure if he could before they'd lose a player. There was a certain level of safety having a partner unless that partner was being deceitful.
A cheery tune would be produced from Mania's pressed lips as he made his way through the spookily decorated house. There wasn't really anything of interest that would catch the rogue's eye. Slowly ambling from one room to the next he would stop here and there, noting anything he felt was important to the game; however, there wasn't much for him to discern. Everything appeared ordinarily plain he would muse as he closely examined a photograph of people he saw before. Placing it back on the table Mania would peek his head in the dining room, looking for the younger Magic Knight who he was sure came this way. She would be long gone though as he entered, looking at the table he would casually rub his chin.
"Quite the prankster I see. She must have come through here... Who else would put the plate underneath the seat cushion?"
Mania was impressed by her childish malevolence, she had gotten quite a lot done before any of the other participants had even made a move it seemed.
The red-haired witch had been up mischief Mania mused as he glanced at the silverware rearranged on the table. She was quite the trickster, but what other devilish machinations had she been up to? Mania would pick up a fork that was placed on the incorrect side, inspecting it briefly whilst turning his attention away from the table and towards the exit. Back down the staircase Mania would descend as he continued to search for Nix throughout the dimly lit house of horrors - or lack thereof the rogue mentally proclaimed. "Where could that mischievous girl have gone?" She couldn't have gotten far he thought as he would quietly approach one of the many common rooms, poking his head inside he had found his query. The red-haired girl would attempt to grab a book from the shelf, there would be the faint sound of a mechanism as the bookshelf moved.
Easily sliding out of place it would reveal a secret room, cast in black shadows. Mania couldn't tell if she had found it on purpose or pure luck, but he figured he should follow her and ascertained whether or not she was indeed the saboteur. Mania waited patiently for her to vanish into the darkness of the room before he would make his move. Lithely, like a cat the rogue would step into the room and pick up the book she had removed and left behind. He had wanted to confirm if the book had any connection to the game or a clue, but it was just a simple self-help book designed at outlining ways one could improve themselves. Mania wasn't particularly interested so he would toss it onto the sofa and slip into the darkness behind the girl. It was quite dark as he stepped through, he would place his hand on the side of the walls to guide himself.
It was from here that Mania had two options. He could either skulk around the shadows and spy on Nix, or he could maybe liven things up a bit and try to spook her. The latter was boring Mania mused, a smile pressing his devilish lips as he silently attempted to sneak up on Nix and give her a good scare. It was the spooky season after all and what was tonight without a little horror and jump scares? Tiptoeing behind Nix, Mania would attempt to grab her shoulders as he screamed in the evilest, horrifying voice he could manage.
TLDR; Mania tracked down Nix after roaming around on his own for a bit and saw that she stumbled upon a secret door. He would sneak up behind Nix and attempt to scare the girl.
Wandering about the room, Griswold had heard what the woman had told him quite clearly, though he did not really care. As it were, he had merely spoken his mind about something he had never done before, which in this case came in the form of some type of game he had never played before in his life. That said, there were a plethora of games he had never played or even remotely heard of, and this was just one of the many. For all he cared, every single person involved could have walked right after him into the room of his choosing and it wouldn’t have changed a damned thing about his approach. This wasn’t so much because he disliked any of them, it was just because he generally disliked crowds of humans, as they often got loud and obnoxious. Still, over the last two years at least, he had been getting better at managing that much.
“You can make whatever choice you want, I don’t really mind. That said, I’m going to be following my instincts for whatever good it’ll do me, so if you want to leave at some point, don’t mind me. You do you.”
Making it quite clear that he neither cared about what she wanted to do while inside of the building while at the same time declaring that he was not much of a team player, and therefore wouldn’t fault her for wanting to leave if looking around this room amounted to nothing, he went about looking through the curiosities that piqued his interest. Having been through his fair share of dungeons and labyrinths built by mad men and women, so all of these bookcases surrounding him likely insinuated that there was going to be one of the “fake books that opened a secret passage” somewhere among them. So with that thought in mind, he began moving up to the bookcases, but going about it in a far more clever manner than by just going over every single individual book. After all, that would take him hours to go through.
Using his physical strength to quite literally shake each of the shelves and see how many of the books would move and which would remain stationary, he oddly took note of the fact that they all moved. With the point being that he was looking for those that did not in fact move, due to them being locked in place and attached to whatever mechanism opened the supposed secret passage, he was visibly bothered by this outcome. Bringing his hand to his chin and running his fingers through his beard for a bit as he pondered on what to do now, not even taking into account the fact that he had been asked as to what his name was. Since all of the books were actually just books and all of the curiosities were just loose objects, the next thing his mind went over to was the doe head on the wall, as it was odd that it was placed facing directly at the stag.
Walking on over to it and running his hands along the sides, it seemed that he could just dismount the stuffed head, meaning he was clearly in the wrong here. Hanging it back as there was nothing behind it, he was just about to consider the idea of physically forcing his way through the walls until he got outside. But there were still two things left in the room that seemed interesting, these being the strange glass table construct in the center of the room that had the reptilian skeleton inside of it, as well as the stag head mounted right above the door. After a few moments of pondering and looking around the room, Griswold made his way over to the stag head without really saying a word. Whenever he was pondering and trying to work out a solution in his head, one would usually not hear a word from him as he just ran the figurative numbers.
Not even doing anything along the lines of talking to himself or thinking out loud, he just looked the stag straight in the eyes, hoping to find something there. Doing the same as he had done with the doe, he let his fingers run along the mounting on the wall, finding that this one was actually stuck in place. Believing to be on to something, he looked over anything that might be out of place with the animal, a thing he was just about cut out for. As a man of the wilds that had spent his youth in an elven enclave located within the fringe’s many forests, he knew quite well what the average stag looked like. And as far as he could tell, none of them had a circular dent at the base of their antler one right side, but lacked one on the left. Going with his gut and giving the antler a good tug and a twist, a grinding of gears could be heard from behind as the strange glass table clicked open.
As the glass casing containing the crocodile or alligator skeleton got lowered into the floor and pulled to the side, it showed a staircase heading down into the floor. Not having to think twice about what this meant, it was likely that this was just going to be the next stage in the game. Hoping that it was this place that would act as his ticket out of the place, he looked over to the woman and just gestured over to the stairs with a somewhat demanding nod of his head. Once he had done so, he wandered over to it and lowered himself down into the hole, after which he set foot on a hardwood floor. With his arrival, several torches lit themselves up, showing the contents of the room to Griswold and Circe, if she were to follow him down. Should she remain up for too long, the glass casing would close itself off again and go back to concealing the stairs.
This next room was by itself quite simple, a square space filled with several boxes and crates, as well as a single door that was placed diagonally and in possession of windows. From the look of things, it was clear that behind the windows, he could see light coming in from the outside, meaning there was a very good chance that this door was the way out. This left the crates and boxes, as well as their contents, for whatever good it would do them. But one thing at least was clear, there was a key hidden in this room that would get that door open, meaning the two of them just needed to find it.
"Somewhere in this room, a key fitting that door has to be hidden. It's quite clear that the outside world is right there, which just means we need to get to that key and get the damned thing open. So i'd say it's about time to get our hands dirty. Also, you can call me Griswold."
Circe pressed her fingertips against the walls' open spaces, listened as she knocked for hollow sounds. It didn't take long to find a place where the wallpaper bubbled up ever so slightly. It was at this point where the bearded man began shaking full bookshelves and she jumped, startled at the loud sound. She stared at him in disbelief. She had thought he was more brains than brawn, but given how he ignored her request for a name and was full on shaking entire shelves, Circe admitted she might have been mistaken with her intuition. Her golden eyes sifted back to the way they had come from, hearing footsteps as the others moved around and left the room in order to traipse where they had chosen. Her annoyance with being ignored was quickly forgiven when she realized that she herself had declined to speak to the others who had greeted the group just several minutes prior. It was just a game; nobody ought to take it too seriously, including herself. She used a fingernail to cut the wall paper just slightly and pulled out a tiny scroll of paper.
The man wandered around the room examining things in a less aggressive manner and she dropped her eyes to open her little discovery. Circe grasped the small wooden handles and twirled the scroll open: it was a long thin sheet of paper. The discovery made her heart race. Had she found a clue?! A real and helpful clue?! It didn't take long for her excitement to drop to disappointment. The paper appeared to be blank except for a tiny scrawled series of shapes. The dark haired woman lifted her head at the sound of gears churning and watched as the glass case shifted into motion, lowering at a steady speed. The man peered into the dark hole and gave her a nod of his head, a silent demand for her to follow. She gave a shrug, and lowered her little scroll for the moment. Circe didn't need more encouragement and didn't want to be left alone considering that he had found such a substantially important clue. "Nice work," Circe complimented as he lowered himself into the gap. She clamored down after him. An array of torches glowed and revealed the room to them. A grinding could be heard again and when she looked back, the hole had been closed over once more.
"I suppose we are stuck down here until we find the way out." There was a single door, some crates and boxes, but very little else to suggest what they should do to escape next. Holding her scroll in her left hand, Circe took a hesitating step towards the crates and in the light she gasped. Finally, the man had spoken to her but it was not that which caught her attention. "Griswold," She said quickly, shaking her scroll at him. "Look! I found this hidden behind the wallpaper upstairs. The symbols on it match the designs on some of these boxes!" Her scroll showed him in the firelight, as much as it could given her shaking the paper around, the designs of a cloud, a mountain, and a bird. The crates had many designs upon them: various animals, letters, pictures, and even numbers. Past the little scroll she was thankful to have found, Circe didn't really know what it all meant. But it just had to be important!
"Could it be a clue to find the key you think is in here?" Circe questioned, looking about with her golden eyes, "I suppose we are at least alone in here. That's reassuring."
Post by Victoria Dubois on Nov 5, 2021 13:33:54 GMT -5
When the doors closed, Victoria noticed that Magnus shivered from the feeling of having his magic cut off. She also noted that none of the others gave any sort of reaction to their magics being restricted. She wasn't really surprised that Griswold didn't have any issues given the amount of experience he had as a royal knight though the fact that the others didn't surprise her. It spoke of either experiencing it before or having better control of their body's reactions; neither of which bode well for her picking up anything from either of them if one of them was the traitor. Still, she had signed up for this event with the understanding that it most likely wouldn't be easy so she would simply have to persevere and make due. Luckily Magnus ended up agreeing to team up with her so she'd possibly end up having another set of eyes and ears on the lookout for both clues as well as their mystery pursuer.
As she moved out of the room, Victoria took a mental note of the Kitsune masked boy electing to go on his own rather after being rebuffed by Griswold though the feather-cloaked girl had decided to plow on ahead regardless of the Royal Knight's wishes and simply elected to go on their own. Such uncouth behavior could only belong to a commoner no doubt and given how cheap her costume's feathers looked, Victoria was sure that she was correct in her guess. Naturally, she made sure that none of these thoughts appeared on her face, something that was easier since the only other person nearby was Magnus who she noted was moving rather slowly through the hallway. "He is rather old so it makes sense that he's unable to keep up as well." she mused before slowing down her walking speed to be considerate to him as the pair continued to spy on the witch costumed girl. That spying was sadly cut short when the girl decided to move back towards the dining room door, sending the pair scrambling to go hide in a nearby room to avoid being caught.
Once the footsteps petered out, Victoria glanced around the room, noticing that they were in a servant's quarter. Deciding that this was as good a place as any to start searching for clues and began to open drawers as well as moving around different objects to see if anything happened. With as large a mansion as this, she wouldn't be surprised to find out that there were secret doors and passages throughout the infrastructure. Magnus moved to do the same on the other side of the room and Victoria couldn't help but notice that he was very methodical with his searching; putting everything back exactly in the place that he found it and closing every drawer that he opened. She wondered if he was naturally like this or if he was this considerate given the fact that this was someone else's residence and it gave them less work to do. Regardless of his reasoning behind it, it gave her more insight into his personality as a thoughtful and kind gentleman.
"You're welcome. It really is an exquisitely done costume and fits you rather well. I assume that it was costume made?" she asked him in a hushed tone as she moved to begin knocking on the walls. It made sense for a member of the Aurelius to have such a fine and fitted costume given what that noble family specialized in. Meeting up with him actually worked in her favor as she had been thinking lately that she could use a high-end butler to work for her. She was pulled from her musing as Magnus' voice reached her ears from across the room asking about her joining the Blue Roses. "It's been a few weeks since I joined the Blue Roses honestly. I joined as soon as I was able to after receive my grimoire." she responded back as she moved away from the wall. There didn't seem to be any hidden passageways in the room so they would have to go elsewhere if they wanted to find any other clues. "I don't think there are any clues in here. We should probably move back to the dining room, there's most likely something in there I feel." she proposed to Magnus.
If he agreed, the pair would move back out of the room and move back towards the dining room, checking the room before entering. She moved towards the walls and began knocking on them, wanting to see if there was a passageway hidden somewhere. As she peered behind a cabinet, she noted that there was a groove in the wall indicating that the wall was false."I think I found a passage behind this cabinet. Can you move it, Magnus?" she asked, turning to look at Magnus. Once the cabinet was moved, she grabbed one of the candlesticks nearby and moved forward, trying to be as silent as possible in the stone corridor. After a few minutes, they reached the end of the corridor with another false wall in front of them and the smell of flowers wafting through the cracks. She assumed that beyond this door was some sort of garden or greenhouse; she wasn't sure which as she didn't remember what the structure was like from the outside. Putting an ear to the door, she tried to see if she could hear anything moving through the room. "I don't hear anything moving around so I think it's safe. I think this is a garden though so we should be on our guard. There will most likely be some sort of clue or something out here." she stated before slowly sliding the wall out and stepping in.
It was a rather large greenhouse as she had suspected and beautifully done with dozens of different types of flowers scattered throughout the room. It seemed to be a rectangular room that extended back about 10 meters. There were even some bushes and trees throughout the area that she could see, extending up a few meters as well. All and all it was a beautiful room that she took mental notes on to remake back at her family's mansion; though with some difference due to her personal tastes, when a rustling sound from a corner of the room drew her attention and set her on edge.
Post by Magnus C. Aurelius✾ on Nov 6, 2021 16:46:15 GMT -5
"It was indeed, haha. You flatter me so Ms. Dubois, I'm truly honored by your words." Magnus said the rosy blush on his cheeks increasing even further. He was always one to love compliments, the more the merrier. It was an easy way to get on his good side, however, he would never openly admit that out loud, at least not in a serious manner. Magnus often enjoyed when people viewed him with wonderment, it was why he had used so many fine materials and patterns to adorn such a costume and why he was so proud of it. He bowed slightly.
Magnus listened attentively to Victoria's words, his eyes widened at the thought of such a young girl joining the Blue Roses before it snapped back to him that young people with talent, especially nobles often commonly joined the Magic Knights. It was then that a sour feeling began to bubble up in his stomach as he thought back to all the news of the young magic knights that had been lost over the past couple of decades. "I see, thank you for the information. I had only asked because I wanted to know if you had gotten a chance to meet an old acquaintance of mine before..." Magnus trailed off his eye looking into the distance, starring not at the walls in front of him as he moved with Victoria, but to the past before quickly musing the words "Nevermind, it's not important to the task at hand." He said with a smile trying to smoothly move over to a different topic of conversation. He didn't want to dwell on the emotions he felt about the loss of his savior from the past.
Magnus wasn't angry at fate, the woman had helped him in his time of need. Instead, he was simply disappointed he wouldn't be able to tell the woman how grateful he was for her help. He had decided months ago that he would work on improving his strength so that he could live out his daughters' dreams, and so that he could repay that woman's kindness and assistance by helping others the way she was able to help him and his wonder. "I do hope you find the Blue Rose squad to your enjoyment and standards. I personally believe the Blue Rose is the best Magic Knights, and even one day wish to join them myself." He said rubbing the side of his face slightly as he assisted Victoria and checking the room for hidden passageways figuring that's what she was doing.
"I agree, after you, Milady." He said waving his gloved hand in front of him with a slight bow as he stood the side, his eye scanning the passageway in front of her. In all of his conversation he had nearly forgotten the roles of the game, it wasn't until Victoria walked past him that he realized she herself could possibly be the saboteur, however, as much as he wanted to be his personal biased kept him from believing that Victoria was actually such a person.
As he moved toward the dining room, he assisted Victoria in checking the room using his imposing height. Though the fact remained that Magnus for as large as he was stood out like a sore thumb. Magnus also moved toward the walls, the opposite of Victoria, choosing to tap his fingers lightly across the wall starting from his chest outward, almost as if it was a piano, all sans for his thumb as he simply glided them across the walls, following the thumping of his other fingers, feeling for cracks or seams in the wall itself. Alas, he found nothing, however, Victoria seemed to stumble upon something herself. Magnus made his way over choosing to grand her request for assistance in moving the cabinet. "Of course, Milady. I'll be happy to be of service." He said with a gentle smile, that some would befit from his size and stature. Though he was in fact, a gentle giant to some degree. He stretched out his arms, bent his knee's and leaned to the cabinet, choosing to wrap both of his arms on both ends of the cabinet using his large body to brace the contents of it and keep it from spilling out. Without a deep breath and exhale he lifted the cabinet which was lighter than he anticipated almost as if it was made to be removed.
His eye locked onto the grove in the wall, which seemed to widen and expand as the cabinet was removed revealing a stone corridor. Even though the corridor seemed fine for Victoria to make her way through, Magnus on the other hand had a tough time trying to squeeze his large body through such a space, he was cautious and careful not to scuff or dirty his costume. Having allowed Victoria to go first she was able to make her way through with ease and came to another false wall pushing it out of the way. Magnus trailed behind slowly as Victoria spoke. "Of course Milady, on guard, it is," Magnus said with a smile, the thought of the garden made him happy as he adored flowers and gardens. As he made his way into the garden he took into the gorgeous sight of a variety of different flowers. Some of which he found would be good for herbology "Chamomile, echinacea, Feverfew, ginseng, roses, lily's so many gorgeous plants. If only I could use my magic. I would enjoy painting this. I wonder who came up with this roo-" he recited to himself aloud as he looked around the garden before stopping abruptly as rustling could be heard from the corner of the room. "Please get behind me, Milady." Magnus said, as a statement rather than a question, he hoped she would forgive the impudence as this was for her personal safety.
Unimaginably Nix was being followed, by whom she could not see for her sight was dimmed by the low light of the room. She had bumped into a wall half a dozen times wandering around in the dark. It was not the greatest predicament she had ever quarrelled with, a dull wooden thunk as she hit her foot against the bottom of a stair metaphorically illuminated a path out of the room for her. She unsteadily put one foot in front of the other and ascended into the darkness, not knowing where she might end up. But as she did so some horrible person grabbed her by the shoulder and yelled at her for no good reason. What a roguish thing to do, but while that did elicit a squeal of surprise, she wasn’t frightened. Nix was never afraid, not even for a second. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t, she wouldn’t tel whoever it was. Jumping in her fright she blinked to try and adjust her eyes, she focused on the stair case and listened for anyone else’s footsteps, “You’re horrible!” Leaning on the wall she managed to get a hold of what seemed like a wall mount for a torch, striking a match from her dwindling supply she incandescently could see only just in front of her. It was a young man whom she hadn’t been acquainted with. Nix attempted to get the torch down from its holder but it was affixed quite solidly to the mount, using her great amount of strength she lifted it minutely and that revealed that the staircase was infact a slippery slide. Which while surprising was pretty neat, she giggled with delight as she tumbled first then slid downwards in a spiral down the staircase. Bruises were of little concern to the young witch, the man who had had been following her probably would have heard her giggling. If he had been following too closely, which he was, they may have also been treated to sliding down the slipper dip that the staircase turned out to be. Nix hoped he were having as much fun as her. The room that she landed in however was different than the room she had been in, it was pretty cool too. Being that it was filled with neat stuff. A skeleton of some terrifying beast which Nix looked at it with wide eyed amusement, the man who had scared her; however gracefully he had arrived, and a plethora of other interesting things.
Nix's response elicited a smile from Mania beneath his decorative kitsune mask. Mania felt her tremble as he grabbed her shoulders, though the rogue couldn't decipher whether or not her fear had been genuine. Honestly, it would matter very little to Mania, he would be more than satisfied as she had squealed out aloud. It happened just as the rogue imagined, he would be chuckling as Nix disparaged him from teasing her. If anybody was going to appreciate Mania's actions he would have guessed Nix would have been high atop that list. Or at least top three Mania would muse, laughter still ringing out from him in the sable dark room. Nix had called the rogue horrible, but those were lighthearted playful words to Mania who had been called far worse by nobles and those cut from the same cloth.
"Ya really think so-?"
Before the rogue could finish his words the flooring had become compromised, transforming into a slide that descended into the unknown black Mania and Nix would be taken for an unexpected ride. Nix was giggling gleefully down the quick slanted slope, her genuine happiness would bring a smile to the fox-faced rogue. Mania was also having a good time and though it was unexpected he enjoyed the thrill the slide provided. From the darkness, Nix would arrive first, followed thereafter by Mania who would be thrown to his feet. The rogue stumbled clumsily forward within the well-light room. There were lots of peculiar items housed inside and Nix was energetically already looking around. Compelled by an almost childlike curiosity the rogue watched Nix marvel at the unknown skeletal remains.
Grabbing his chin, Mania would inspect the skeleton, attempting to draw from his memories to put a name to the remains. The rogue was at a loss for words as he circled closer to get a better look.
"If you stare too long, you'll bring it to life!"
Mania was of course joking as he spoke, but he would be perusing the plentiful trinkets and items within the hidden room. There was a rack of multicolored vials, that glowed. Mania would be drawn curiously towards them and so he would further investigate, eyeing the colored liquid as he picked up one for closer inspection. Mania could tell it was used to put something to sleep, though what exactly was the name of the guessing game Mania mused as he regarded the innocuous-looking vial with a raised brow. The next one had been quite different, this one was an anti-poison. Mania couldn't understand why there was such a thing inside the mansion, but he could tell their vials weren't meant to be played with.
"Just a heads up, I wanted drink or try anything in this room."
Stating coolly Mania would continue navigating the newly found room. It still held plenty for the rogue to discover as he would grab a book from the wall and casually sift through the pages. The red-haired girl was no doubt someone who grew bored easily Mania thought, figuring they should keep moving, though now that they had gone for that wild ride the rogue's sense of direction was jumbled. He didn't have the foggiest clue as to where inside the mansion they were, but luckily it mattered little to winning the game. They only would need to keep moving and hopefully survive the night. Mania would think about the other players, wondering how the game was going for them. Had anybody been eliminated yet? Were there any juicy betrayals he had missed?
As the rogue pondered such thoughts, he realized that this room was quite large, but it lacked a visible exit. Mania was confused, but with how many secret devices and doorways he and Nix had found he could only surmise that plenty more was left to be discovered. Mania would wander through the room, his hazel eyes scouring the place for anything that seemed like it could house a secret mechanism for their escape. Sadly on his own, the foxed face rogue seemed unable to discern anything that could prove useful. He would sigh and admire a large plant. Mania could tell it was poisonous as he curiously and carefully lifted the pot in which it had been planted. Nope, there was nothing beneath that he thought as he fervently looked high and low.
"Hey Nix, you seem quite good at finding hidden levers and secret mechanisms. Help me find a way out of this room? I say we try to find something more fun, like maybe spooking the others. Though.. we have no way of knowing who the traitor is. Let alone the something lurking in the mansion. I'm hoping we can get through the night without seeing it."
The rogue had started rambling as he tried various things, hoping to produce the desired effect of revealing a new doorway or exit. Making his way back to the slide Mania would peer upwards, looking into the darkness to no avail. Mania highly doubted the two of them were escaping from whence they came. That was unless Nix or himself could grow webbed hands and feet to stick to the smooth, polished surface. Almost defeated Mania would decide to look over the room a final time. His hazel eyes would fall over every corner of the room, there were lots to see, but most of the items were miscellaneous in nature. This had brought Mania back to the red-haired girl and the display of the skeletal beast.
The rogue thumbed his chin whilst his foot would tap the ground rhythmically.
"So any ideas my playful friend?"
Mania would ask as he comically tried to pull books at random from the shelf. Half hoping a door would swing wide open, revealing itself, but with each time he would become broken-hearted. Mania felt foolish and would shelf the idea as he returned the books back. Lastly, Mania inspected the floorboards, listening for the sound of hollow wood, but still, he would come up empty. Defeated he would look back at Nix like a dog who was waiting for a treat. WC: 1,019 TWC: 6,042
“Well, that’s quite interesting… I had not thought of checking behind the wallpaper at all, so actually finding the right crate could have taken a lot of time.”
Looking over the symbols, he wondered what it really meant, as there were quite a lot of boxes and crates surrounding them that had a plethora of markings on them. So while he could go around, smashing crates all willy nilly, hoping to find the right key, there was a good chance that they would just be misled. Up until now, the way in which the rooms had been ordered made it fairly difficult to figure out exactly what to look for, which was to be expected of a house that aimed to trick people into using their minds instead of their magic. In a way, Griswold hoped every single magic knight in the country would pass through this place at some point, as making them use their brains every once in a while instead of having them blowing up every single problem with magic made for quite a bit of collateral damage for the civilians to deal with in the aftermath.
But that was when he got an idea.
Picking up a random box, he lifted it over his head and smashed it onto the ground. Shattering it into a lot of pieces, there was one thing that stood out, which was a key laying amidst the shards and pieces of wood. Picking it up and holding it in the light to show it to the woman, it more or less confirmed his suspicions. This place was designed to have people searching for A key, which they believed would then lead them out through the only door in the room after the ceiling closed back up. If someone was to go through the room like an indoor hurricane, smashing every last one of the crates, they would be left with a multitude of keys and no idea as to which one would actually be the right one that let them out. It was really quite clever, though it was even more clever to hide what seemed to be the appropriate markings on the back of a section of wallpaper.
With a flick of his wrist and a resulting burst of his innate strength, he tossed the key he held in his hand across the room, causing it to stick halfway into a wall. It was clearly not the right one as the box he had shattered to find it had none of the symbols on it that were contained on the piece of wallpaper. Checking the piece of paper a second time to really get into the symbols, he started looking around to find one with the imprint of a cloud, a mountain and a bird. Not really sure whether or not these things actually had any meaning or if they were just there to confuse the people that might end up getting stuck in this room, especially with the way out being right next to them. Had he been a more competitive person, he would likely have tried smashing the door open with his fists, just to be the first person to make it out.
But the way things were right now, it seemed like this current tag team had done a pretty good job at setting them along the path towards finishing this game quite quickly. So whether he was the first to get out or the last, as long as he was not going to be stuck in here for the rest of the night and forced to miss out on everything else, Griswold wouldn’t need to see whether his fists were sturdier than the door that kept him in this room. Which was probably a good thing, as there was always a chance of there being some kind of a trap on the door.
So as he went about looking for the proper crate, he imagined Circe would be doing the same, allowing them to not just save time, but save one another a good bit of effort too. So as the minutes went by, Griswold began stacking the crates and boxes he had been through on one side of the room, making sure not to go through the same stuff twice and making sure Circe knew what the plan was. Still, even as he got the ones he had gone through out of the way, finding the one they needed still took a lot of effort, making it quite the lucky break that he had been training for things like these. Carrying boxes from one place to the next was nothing compared to wrangling wolves or having to run around with cubs to make sure mama bear would leave her den and go somewhere that was safer for her, her cubs and the people living in the nearby town.
“This might be the one we’re looking for.”
Holding up a crate that seemed to hold all of the required symbols on the lid, Griswold looked it over for a bit before smashing it on the floor in front of him, revealing that there was indeed a key inside of it. Looking exactly like the last one, it was no wonder that this place was supposed to be keeping people in for a while. After all, those that had no idea what they were looking for would open up a crate to find a key and just decide to stick it into the lock, only to find that it was not budging and would get them nowhere. Picking up the key and looking at it properly, it really did seem just like the one he had tossed into the wall before, so he could only hope that this was not some kind of misdirection posed by the wallpaper. So as he made his way towards the door and grabbed hold of the lock, the pushed the key in and twisted it.
Feeling a rather satisfying click as the lock simply seemed to disappear, opening them up to the possibility that the thing had in fact been a kind of illusion all along, he looked over his shoulder to Circe. Tugging at the door, it swung open, allowing them to go up a few steps from the basement door and effectively set foot outside of the building. Having quite honestly expecting more, part of him seemed to have forgotten that this was not some kind of a dungeon where they would be facing some kind of hostile creature at the end. So with that realization, he just shrugged as he began leading the way around the building and back to the front. Once there, it seemed like the two people in charge of the place had actually managed to look after his belongings quite well. Thanking them for their efforts, he re-attached the harness along with the scabbards as he had felt rather nude without them.
“Well, it would seem like this is it as far as this activity goes. I imagine there might still be a couple more out there that I have not seen yet, so I imagine I’ll be seeing you around. If not, good luck with your future endeavours.”
And with that, Griswold kindly nodded at Circe and the two activity guides before turning and wandering back to the festival grounds. Knowing that there were still some things out there such as the competition where a judge would determine the best dressed attendees, which was something he felt he should stop by if for no reason other than the fact that he had been hoisted into one of Hania’s outfits just to be allowed entry. That, and there was still the final building he had to check out before he could truly say he had been there and done that. Putting some spring in his step, Griswold left the place behind in order to go back to doing some sightseeing.
Circe Vitalis was relieved when Griswold had acknowledged her efforts and involvement in a positive manner. She hated the idea that she was just tagging along while he did all the important discoveries to achieve freedom from this activity. Her golden eyes looked around at the room and she let out a nervous half laugh, "It certainly would have taken a long time. There are so many boxes and crates down here. To anyone else, I am sure it would just appear as simple storage." She watched as he lifted and broke a random box, a bit surprised at the randomness of it, until a small metal object clattered to the floor. A key! "Could that mean there are keys in all these boxes?" She asked aloud, though not expecting an actual answer. Griswold flung the key into a wall and she blinked, thinking to herself that she was glad to not be his enemy in a dungeon somewhere.
When he began moving boxes to look for the symbols upon her paper, Circe tucked the paper into her pocket and joined him. She moved the boxes carefully, organizing them with their various symbols facing outwards, and tucking them tightly together against the wall and the side of the stairs. She caught sight of a cloud symbol with a little thrill, but there had been no mountain on the crate. With a huff, she slid it into place as discarded and continued searching with a vengeance. Griswold was faster than she, but Circe didn't feel annoyed with that. As long as they were both doing their best, she was certain he would not judge her for working at a slower pace.
When he pulled up a crate and exclaimed that he thought he had found the right one, Circe paused her work to stand beside him. She examined the symbols with a nod, "Yes, I think you are right! Go on and open it!" When he smashed it on the floor, Circe tried not to laugh. There had to have been a less destructive way to get they crate open but it was his find. There was a key inside and Circe clasped her hands with a small smile. Griswold unlocked the door and led them out into the fresh night air. Circe stretched a bit and then offered him a pat on the shoulder, "You did very well in there. I hope we have the chance to meet again. Have an enjoyable night, Griswold." Circe gave him a short bow and reclaimed her own items from the couple. She had left her staff with them, but hadn't carried anything else. By this point the paint on her face had dried into an itchy crackling form on her skin. She touched it with her fingertips and frowned as some of the dried paint peeled and crumbled away.
"I don't think I can handle wearing this cultural decor anymore," Circe uttered. She went off to go find a place to wash her face clean and hopefully attend another aspect of this festival.
Post by Victoria Dubois on Nov 15, 2021 16:15:01 GMT -5
As she continued knocking on the walls, Victoria really considered continuing to compliment Magnus; if only because he looked so cute when he blushed, but this wasn't the time for her to focus on that. What was most important was solving this mystery so that they could all leave out of here. There would be time after the event if she wanted to continue having a conversation with him. "I thought so," she said with a small coy smile on her face, "I have a rather good eye for details regarding anything to do with clothing." She also considered asking for a business card as any tailor that made clothing this well as the one who made Magnus' clothing was definitely one that she would service. But again, it would be better served to wait until after this was over and they weren't on a time clock.
As she answered him regarding her joining with the Blue Roses, she noted that Magnus' eyes widened at her words. Was it really that hard to believe that she had become a magic knight so easily? She was of noble linage, it was only natural that she would make it through the exams. She was curious to know who this old acquaintance of his was but she recognized the small look of grief that briefly entered his eye and thought better of it. Growing up, she had seen that look in the eyes of numerous citizens around the Clover Kingdom; those who suffered from the daemon attacks. She wondered if his acquaintance had died in one of those assaults as there the magic knights had been part of the front line on the attacks and given how old Magnus appeared, it was likely that his acquaintance was around a similar age.
"I agree with that." Victoria responded back to Magnus, content to allow the conversation to move past his small emotional response. "The Blue Roses embodies everything that I feel a noblewoman like myself should stand for and embody. Strength, poise, and excellence; making sure that one remains beautiful and graceful when in battle." she said in a cheery tone, flipping some of her hair back behind her shoulders. "I feel that you would be a good fit for the squad from what I've seen so far. Polite and a good eye for detail as well." she said, giving Magnus a speculative glance. When she eventually took over the squad, she would love to have someone like Magnus working under her. He would be the perfect charismatic person to serve as a contrast to her public personality. But she would have to hold some judgment until she saw what he was capable of in battle. He even behaved like a perfect butler and bodyguard with his checking the hallway before they moved back out.
As they moved back into the dining room, Victoria quickly discovered a secret passageway behind one of the cabinets and called Magnus over to move it. Watching him, she was surprised at how easily he managed to move the cabinet. She figured that it was probably lighter than usual; a given for a game like this, but it still spoke a lot about his own strength that he was able to do it with ease. "Excellently done. Thank you, Magnus." she said, patting him on the shoulder as she moved into the passageway. As she reached the exit, Victoria made sure to give Magnus a warning before opening the door into the greenhouse. As she glanced around, she heard Magnus' comment about his magic and paint but before she could ask, a rustling in a bush in the corner drew both of their attention. She glanced at Magnus before following his advice, moving behind him. If he wished to take point in this then that was fine, though she made sure to keep an eye open in case this turned out to be a trap of some sort. She also picked up a nearby pick, gripping it firmly as she readied herself for an attack.
They didn't have to wait long to find out what was making that sound as the husband moved out from the bushes, flinching back in surprise at their appearance. "How did you two get in here? The door was supposed to be locked." he asked, suspicion in his tone. Victoria's eyes narrowed back in response, tightening her grip on the pick. We came in through the side passageway." she fired back in a slightly snarky tone, glancing back briefly at the exit they entered through. "Why are in inside here? I would have thought that with an active game going on, you would be waiting outside with your wife." she stated in her own suspicious tone.
Nix inquisitively looked around the enclosed room and Mania could not tell if it was simply luck or wanderlust, but she had found a hidden mechanism that unlocked the door. Mania regarded the red-haired girl with fascination as he exited the room. It led to a small foyer that went outside of the mansion. Mania smiled at her.
"Excellent work Nix, you sure have a penchant for revealing secrets I must say."
Smiling beneath his Kitsune mask Mania would exit and join the nightly festivities once more.
Post by Magnus C. Aurelius✾ on Nov 30, 2021 17:27:55 GMT -5
Magnus gave a smile back in return for Victoria's words. He was flattered that she enjoyed his costume and the fact that she was such a refined young lady herself made it all the better. He had hoped his costume would be a hit with the younger crowd, mostly due to the fact that even though he was old he still liked to dress to impress. Magnus followed behind Victoria letting her lead the way as she spoke. "That for sure is something I cannot deny," Magnus said with another smile in tow. As he glanced around the hall he found himself getting increasingly more interested in just who designed this house for the game, and if anyone was still in control of it through magic, to which he was sure most likely the case unless this house itself was a magic item, and if it was he desired to have one for himself on the day. He enjoyed the general appearance and spacious areas it provided, considering that not once did he have to lean over to fit in through a door frame or anything of the sorts yet. Either the magic made it possible or it was just built with having an extra height in mind to which he greatly appreciated.
Magnus smiled once more with Victoria's responses, it seemed this habit of smiling at the young woman's comments had taken hold to make it into more of a habit than anything else. Magnus visibly brightened at Victoria's words, hearing a Blue Rose noblewoman comment on the fact that he'd make a good Blue Rose Magic Knight made him even more excited than he had even imagined. He, however, had to make sure to contain such excitement and continued to make his way through the house, going down and up the hallways alongside Victoria as it ebbed and flowed, trying his best to hide his large body at times when some of the other participants would past them by.
As they made it to the greenhouse, Victoria once again praised Magnus with a slight blush of his rosy cheeks he commented a simple "Thank you for your praise." He did so with his gloved hand placed eloquently over his shoulder and made sure to bow his head slightly. As they spent time in the greenhouse Magnus would consistently mumble the different types of flowers under his breath, constantly giving small factoids and details about the plants around them. He was no florist but his daughters magic being plant-based and his hunt to find her mother (which ended poorly) had led to him learning a lot about plants and their uses for medicinal purposes, which came in rather handy considering that most of the time during his travel he was as weak as a child when it came to magic and even before he took hold of the curse on his daughter and placed it on himself he never truly had the penchant for healing magic. Alas, he would have to leave such talents up to others more befitting of it. Though it did pain him slightly to know that being able to directly help people in one of the most skillful and important ways especially in battle was something he would never be able to truly accomplish. No, the most he could do was dispel curses and hex's as strong as his magic was using his defensive magic something he had trained extensively in an attempt to gain some form of healing magic spell. Unfortunately, it didn't work out the way he planned but it was better than not, it at least gave his defensive spells a bit of an edge. Something that he greatly admired.
He was snapped out of his mental musings by a voice, a man spoke saying the door was supposed to be locked. Victoria was quick to respond in a rather snarky way at that. The contrast from her polite and soft tone till now was startling to Magnus, but considering the girl was a noble he wasn't surprised. Nobles often held back most of their ruder or harsher personalities in the face of others they believed sat at or near similar statures of one another. After all one wrong word could lead to a political downfall and the ruining of one's social status.
Magnus stepped in between Victoria and the couple especially with the look on the male's eyes becoming increasingly irritated with annoyance at the young girl that was Victoria. He probably figured that because she was younger than him it was okay to talk to her whichever way she liked. "I'd appreciate it if we could drop this here and go about our ways of enjoying this game..." Magnus said in a stern tone, yet a smile still remained on his face, though unlike before with Victoria this was different and hid behind it a bite that was much worse than its bark. It seemed the man was able to pick up on it, or perhaps it was simply due to Magnus's large imposing stature, but either way, the situation had been quelled as the couple made their way to the exit. Magnus looked down at Victoria and began to speak himself. "Maybe it's best we look somewhere else," Magnus said making his way out of the room, presumably with Victoria in tow. However, as they left and made it partway down the hallway, this time choosing to take the more obvious exit a shriek was heard from the couple. With that startling him, Magnus grasped Victoria's hand and began to run down the large hallway, from room to room. Time passed and eventually, he would stumble upon the exit that Griswold used to exit, though he knew not of who the man was at this point in time, there was an air of mystery and stoicism about him that Magnus enjoyed from the little bit he was able to glance/ notice of the man. Leaving out of the magical house, most likely with Victoria in tow. He turned to her and spoke, "Until we meet again in the future, Milady. Hopefully, I'm able to join the Blue Roses soon. In the meantime, if you ever need any Estate Managers, tailors, or anything of the sort, I and the Aurelius family will be happy to assist you." Magnus said with a bow, his hand placed once again over his chest. He gave his information to Victoria and now it was off to play the next game. He was thinking pumpkin carving could be fun.
Post by Victoria Dubois on Nov 30, 2021 18:42:19 GMT -5
Victoria didn't very much care for the way that the owner of the mansion was speaking to her, a sentiment Magnus seemed to share as well given the stern tone he spoke in. She elected to let him take the lead on this as she knew that if she spoke to the man again, her words would be harsh and a bit cruel and this wasn't the impression that she wanted to give to Magnus so soon after meeting him.
"I find myself in agreement with you Magnus, Victoria stated as she followed him out of the room. Before exiting, she made sure to give the man a glare over her shoulder letting him know that she took umbrage to his tone and that there would be retribution for it.
A shriek emerged from the room they had just left and Victoria barely had time to process it before Magnus seized her hand and the pair began running, quickly making their way out of the exit. "I wish you the best of luck as well Magnus. I look forward to see someone like you in the ranks of the Blue Rose squad. And I'll be sure to keep you offer in mind," she stated, taking his card while giving him one of her own with a curtsy before making her way back to the main courtyard.
