[closed] Karma is a cruel mistress

[thornythaumaturge]

Characters: Rose Egbert and all her little victims.
Setting: All around the Tower, forward dated to between the 22nd and the 27th
Format: Prose to start, but either is accepted.
Summary: Puzzle murders here, puzzle murders there. Nobody is escaping without at least getting maimed. Threads will start being added for each puzzle after the 22nd.
Warnings: Character death. Character maiming. Specific warnings will be added as necessary.

22nd - John Lalonde/Jade Strider
23rd - Dave Strider
23rd - Eridan Ampora
23rd - Rei Ayanami
25th - Samus Aran
25th - John Egbert
25th - Rosa Ushiromiya
26th - Rose Strider
27th - Kyuubey
27th - David Lalonde

Comments

Library - 22nd - John Lalonde and Jade Strider

[thornythaumaturge]

The library was the perfect setting. There was a lesson to be learned and where better to study than a place like this? It had been a little difficult to install the equipment needed for this lesson, but nothing she couldn't overcome with a little ingenuity. And a ladder.

Now, in the middle of the room, sat the contraption and two of her dearest friends. John Lalonde and Jade Strider sat in two separate chairs positioned back to back and currently unconscious. Around their necks, just below the collars the tower gave to them, they wore a black collar each. These collars were each attached to a chain that ran up upward, the ends feeding into opposites sides of a new, rather sinister looking box fixed to ceiling.

"Haven't you both been sleeping long enough? I didn't hit you that hard." She gives a light tap to each of their foreheads, waiting for them to wake up.

[reddeadvirtuoso]

And then she kept sleeping anyway

Usually Jade was a pretty heavy sleeper, but getting knocked out against your will, being sat up and feeling some kind of weird...collar under your other collar around your neck was enough to rouse her after a bit of encouragement.

Though this was still Jade, so she was still pretty groggy despite the ever-mounting concerns. "The...fuck...?"

She shook her head to try and clear it and...where, were they? The library? And what the hell was Rose wearing? Wasn't that from some movie?

"Rose? You go a bit overboard with your Halloween costume this year or are you just trying something new?"

[grislytragedian]

Unfortunately for the other alt-sibling 'heavy sleeper' doesn't do him justice. Apparently John being difficult to rouse is a constant across all timelines, if not all universes.

So he snoozes on, completely unaware of the fact that he's right in the middle of a live rendition of one of his favorite movies.

Dormitory 5-13 - 23rd Morning - Dave Strider

[thornythaumaturge]

When a certain cool kid wakes up, he'll have a lovely view of the floor. The floor that is quite close to his face, in fact. In front of him is an unlit candle and a pair of wooden, painted feet. If he were to try and get up, he'd find that his head is quite stuck wherever it is. If he were to try and look up, he'll be able to crane his neck a little, but probably not enough to see more than the rest of this person's wooden legs. But the voice that speaks.

Now that should be familiar.

"Hello Dave. Are you ready to play?"

[knightime]

Dude. How fucking out of it was he. Which is to say, he usually doesn't normally sleep through anything since Bro kind of made it hard with all the stupid shit that happened in the apartment. But it might explain why he feels kind of like shit. That or his awkward position. What...is going on?

"How the fuck did you get me in this without waking me up?" He might as well ask while he can.

[thornythaumaturge]

"Magic." She crouches down, ducking her head so that he can see her smiling face. "I can levitate things and people, and when done very carefully it's not hard to transport people without waking them." She was far too cheerful for this whole thing probably but this is what he gets! This is what he deserves! "You didn't answer my question you know."

Dormitory 4-19 - 23rd Noon - Eridan Ampora (OU)

[thornythaumaturge]

Eridan was in no way difficult to sneak up on and knock unconscious, though transporting him to the desired dorm room without anyone noticing had been a bit more difficult. But in the end she managed and had set up the elaborate plan.

First he was seated in his 'throne', legs and waist belted into the chair so that he could lean forward, but couldn't get up and try to leave. In front of him a very elaborate board game was set up. The board itself was decorated with many, many 'paths', treasure at the end of some, while others crossed the board without ending anywhere sooner. The paths leading to treasure were purple, while the other ones were green. Every purple path had a series of shallow holes along their route.

Directly in front of him, at the 'start' of the board, sat ten wooden playing pieces, nine of these resembling pawns from chess. The tenth was dyed purple, a small crown sitting on its head.

All that was left was for the poor troll to wake up.

[wweh]

[Eridan soon comes to, groggy as usual... though the feel of cold metal on places other than his neck made him awake quicker than usual. Of course, he's going to try and squirm and leave. Because holy hell this is frightening.]

Wh-where the fuck am I?

[thornythaumaturge]

[[Rose approaches him from behind, standing at his side with a wave and a smile.]]

One of the many dormitory rooms. No need to worry, you haven't left the tower! How are you feeling?

[[It won't do any good to explain the game if he's groggy.]]

Dormitory 5-05 - 23rd Evening - Rei Ayanami

[thornythaumaturge]

Today was an unlucky day. It may not seem that way to Rei at first, but it was a very unlucky day. That trail of candy she comes across? Unlucky. That small girl that can be spotted flitting into the room the trail leads into? Very unlucky. And if she is to follow either of these temptations, she'll find herself in a room filled with peculiar contraptions. What might be even more peculiar is that if she steps further inside, she'll find herself rooted to the floor. It seems someone around here is a mage and doesn't want her going anywhere!

The door behind her shuts and the small girl giggles from behind Rei.

"Good evening, Rei. How do you feel about being they prey?"

Re: Dormitory 5-05 - 23rd Evening - Rei Ayanami

[terreifying]

As a person who had already died, Rei had no physical need for filling any candy quotas. However, she's still gathering up and eating the candy because free candy. When she arrives in the room, she just looks around curiously. She wants to examine the things up close, but her legs are rooted in place.

"Meow?"

[thornythaumaturge]

Well, she's at least free to examine that rather unpleasant looking box in front of her. It's a wooden one, big enough to accommodate her body, but along the inside and the cover are long, painful looking spikes. Just waiting for her, almost invitingly.

"Meow? Is that all you have to say?" Tsking, she moves to one side of the room, into Rei's view and in front of a long, twisting tube.

Floor 25 - 25th Morning - Samus Aran

[thornythaumaturge]

Because of a little...incident...Rose is feeling particularly unpleasant today. She has nothing properly prepared! Stupid ghosts.

That's okay though. Luckily, she is still equipped with her magic book. She feels a little guilt for this one, but not because of her victim. All the ice she's using is likely going to do damage to the field's plant life, considering she's freezing over almost the entire floor...but what can you do? Improvising is important when you're in this line of work!

Once her ice prison is set up, the player of this game was carefully fetched and placed within. Samus would wake up to find herself at the end of a long ice hallway. And for a moment she can see a door at the end, but that's replaced by the materialization of...more ice. A rather large block of it.

"Greetings Samus. I hope you don't mind that I didn't bring you a scarf."

Floor 10 - 25th Afternoon - John Egbert

[thornythaumaturge]

This one was simple enough. All it required was a chain, a lock, a little magic and a little surgery. With careful precision, a key was implanted into the forearm of John Egbert. Sure she was getting blood all over her bed, but eh. What could you do? Afterward a little healing magic was employed and then it was time to transport him to the aquarium. Once there, a chain was locked tightly around his feet and he was stood up. And that's how he would wake, with the help of his Rose counterparts magic to hold him up and her creepy pleasant smile.

"Funny we should meet like this, huh John?"

[heirterosexual]

He started when he first woke up, and his arm stung and his feet were kind of going numb. It took him a moment to even focus on Rose's face, at which point he shouted and tried to recoil. Except his feet weren't working...? He balked at the chain around them.

"What the hell?"

Dormitory 5-16 - 25th Evening - Rosa Ushiromiya

[thornythaumaturge]

It had originally been designed for a ghastly friend of hers, but as ghosts do he simply slipped through the bars like. Killing a ghost is hard. It's hard and nobody understands.

Unfortunately, however, it does leave unused traps laying around, waiting for unsuspecting victims to fall into them. And that is what Rosa will find herself ducking into when trying to hide. Oops?

Once stepping into the cage, the door trips and closes behind her, sealing her in. Rose, excited at the prospect of having caught her ghostly tormenter, comes out of hiding and....

"Oh shoot. You're not him."

Re: Dormitory 5-16 - 25th Evening - Rosa Ushiromiya

[worldend_dominator]

Rosa knows she shouldn't have come out of her room. However, the rooms were simply not equipped with the proper plumbing. Therefore, she had ventured into the restroom, and now, upon her return, she was locked within this contraption.

"Who are you? What are you? Let me out!"

The nightmare starts replaying in her mind. The nightmare of the Witch's Game.

Floor 29; Hedge Maze - 26th All Day - Rose Strider

[thornythaumaturge]

This one took a lot of planning and setting up. It took a lot of time as well. Today was completely devoted to this and she had to say it was her greatest game yet. First the traps needed to be set, various painful and fatal objects being placed around the maze. Metal boxes, wooden boxes, blades, spikes, just a real variety. Didn't want to bore her players, after all.

Next was obtaining everyone she needed. The players came first, five people bound and blindfolded arranged around the maze. They were informed upon waking that they would soon be receiving instructions on how to safely exit the maze, but for right now they were safe because she was keeping them safe. That basically meant keeping them in boxes with air holes. They couldn't use their arms, those tightly bound to their sides, but they were free to try and walk or look around.

The last piece needed was the star of this game; Rose Strider. She, like many of her victims, had been knocked unconscious and now hovered over the maze so she could survey the layout. And when she woke up, that's exactly what would greet her, along with Rose Egbert floating at her side but out of her reach.

"Good morning."

((OOC: Until the boxes are opened and the victims are let out, Rose and Rose will be talking to one another. Once the boxes are opened, the order should go Rose E (until she leaves the conversation) > Rose S > Genda > Feferi > Jade S > Dipper > David. Subject to change as needed!))

aww yeah let's get this party started

[restitchtime]

[she'd been careless, and that was all there was to it.

the Halloween tasks had prompted her to run around the tower like a madwoman, scooping up candy and making the rounds between her friends' rooms to ensure that they had enough sweets to survive. even with the help of time clones it had been exhausting (and pointless, that ever-present bitter voice in the back of her head pointed out) and she'd worn herself down without adequate rest.

because she really should have seen this coming.

it's difficult to tell when Rose comes to as the only outward indication is the change in her breathing. she remains perfectly still for some time, surveying what was below her and then with an invisible flick of her eyes behind her shade what was beside her. it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that her nightmare doppelganger was just out of range, although she can't help a moment of inward frustration at being bound. the desire to just smash the other girl's face in had been growing steadily since their last conversation.

her voice is tight and cutting when she finally deigns to reply. she's not going to give away anything to this bitch.]

It was until you oozed your way into it.

Floor 27 - 27th Morning - Kyuubey

[thornythaumaturge]

After escaping her first trap somehow (which, admittedly, hadn't originally been set for the little creature) Rose was determined to teach it that you can't simply walk away from something meant to kill you. Life doesn't work that way!

She understood that you wake up after being killed here, but this just...didn't seem like the same circumstance. So a trap had to be placed. And that started with a little leftover candy she'd began to hoard. A simple trail leading into the laboratory should be enough to attract it. Now the matter was trapping and killing it.

As for trapping, well...no harm in lying in wait with a box. Once he's working on the larger pile inside the room, she'll simply jump him with the box. That'll surely work!

[mephistofeels]

[Kyuu doesn't like having to be killed. It's a nuisance, and if ze can't get to the body, it's also a tremendous waste of resources...just like the candy trail. Tsk!

As expected, ze follows the trail on into the lab. Tsk, tsk!]

Dormitory 5-20 - 27th Afternoon - David Lalonde

[thornythaumaturge]

This one would be her favorite yet, she was sure. It had taken a little more work than some of the others - where do you even find a rack in a tower? Actually, she was sure if she had looked harder she could probably have done that - but once it was ready she knew it would be worth it.

Jade was first. She had to be attached to the rack, so she had to be hunted down. By now this was little challenge having done it twice previously, though it was difficult getting her chained in all by herself. Magic only helps so much.

David was after that. There was nothing really special that had to happen with him. He was chained to the floor, just out of reach of Jade, so that he couldn't get up and simply let her free. He was chained by his neck and ankles, leaving him in a kneeling position with his arms completely free.

The door was closed and she stood nearby, a scalpel in one hand.

"David~ Jade~ Wake up you two!"

[tortileghostwriter]

OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE

Two days running? Really?

He surveys his surroundings, giving his chains an experimental tug. No dice. Of course.

Rage and fear and a whole lot of other shit bubbles up within him, but damn if he's going to let the fear show. Rage? He can do rage. He can do rage just fine.

"Two days in a row, sister mine? I'm almost touched."

Dormitory 5-19 - 27th Evening - Rose Egbert

[thornythaumaturge]

This was likely going to be her favorite yet. While she hadn't ever had an...affinity, perse, for torture or death devices, there was one that had stuck rather vividly in her mind. Being drawn and quartered had always sounded like such an unpleasant way to go, and the way it had been done in medieval times was absolutely horrifying, but that's what made it so intriguing. When she wrote death into her stories, sometimes they would be drawn and quartered. Not always by horse, sometimes she modernized it or gave it more magical means of happening (if wizardry was involved), but it was always dramatic none the less. And it would be just as this time. Honestly, she had kind of wanted to use this for David and Jade, because televising that would have been delicious, but felt what she had done for theirs was more fitting. And certainly garnered reactions from the network!

This one had been somewhat difficult to build, taking a lot of time that morning and even a little more time right now, but the frame was sturdy and the crank system worked like a charm. All that was needed was to lure her victim in and push them into the device. Easy with her book! For now, though, she set her tome aside and stood tall to look at her newest masterpiece.

"Perfect."

[restitchtime]

Rose had been piecing herself back together since her resurrection, looking for a reason why she should even consider leaving her dorm room. There hadn't been anything particularly surprising revealed by her torture, nothing she hadn't known deep down in her heart, but the confirmation that for all her struggles to overcome her mountain of personal defects she was still a piece of shit had hit a lot harder than she'd ever admit to anyone. What was the point in trying to do anything when everything she touched folded in on itself like a house of cards?

And then she'd remembered that Rosie was still prowling the tower. It wasn't something she could dismiss like the other rational excuses to get out of bed because she knew just how horrible that girl was. She ought to - after all, she was her. And she knew that she'd promised to stop her if she'd gone on killing.

Rose Strider may be a lot of things, but she wasn't one to break promises.

It hadn't taken too long to locate the psychotic Egbert with the help of time clones. She stepped quietly into the room as the other girl admired her work (it almost made her want to gag) and situated herself between the spellbook and Rosie. This was going to be a fair confrontation and she was determined to keep it that way.

Slowly and deliberately she pressed one of the Stitches in Time to Rosie's neck, shades glinting in the only hint of an expression on her face. She won't hesitate to slash open the girl's throat because she knows that it won't kill her; if she wanted to make this talk that much more painful for herself, well, that was her call.

"Glad to hear it, because this is the end of the line."