It's Curtains Act 3 Test Drive

[stagemanagers]

1) CURTAINS UP

You’ve just woken up in some kind of dorm room, which is certainly not where you went to bed last night. Actually, do you even remember going to sleep…? Regardless, this isn't where you last were, and worse still - there's other people waking up in the same room with you, in the same state.

Talk to your roommates! Go out and meet everyone from the other rooms! Most of these people may be strangers, but you’re gonna all have to get used to one another. And who knows? There may actually be a familiar face in the crowd.

2) THIS PETTY PACE

By now, you're acquainted with everybody here and you're slowly growing bored. Bored enough to kill? Hopefully not. You'd better try to find something else to do. You can always go hang out with your castmates, or maybe try and whip something up in the kitchen! There’s even a band room to keep you busy! I sure hope you like music.

3) BREAK A LEG

Comedies are fun and all, but that’s not quite what we’re about here. You’ve all just been handed this week’s motive. What do you make of it? Is it one that might actually tempt you to kill, or did you get off lightly this time? Either way, maybe you’d better look around the room and see who else is having a rough time.

4) I LOVE PLAY REHEARSAL

It's Club Day! What's Club Day, you ask? Come to the classroom on the poster to find out! It looks like this week's club is Bread Club. Be wary, when you enter the classroom you'll face a shower of various bread slices but be rewarded with a surprisingly fancy layout of spreads and jams to go with them. Don't mind the oddly threatening poster on the far wall. He's just here to supervise.

5) CURTAIN

It was bound to happen eventually. Someone is dead, and now it's time to go off and investigate. Were they close to you? Are you, perhaps, feeling guilty? Either way, it's probably best not to leave anyone alone right now.

6) CUE MUSIC

Feelings in a murder-school can get pretty gosh darn intense. Sometimes you’ve just got to let it out. And hey, if you sing a song about whatever’s going on in your head, maybe someone will hear and come help you? Either way, this is a musical – there’s not really any reason not to sing.

[Mod Note: The song mechanic is meant to be fluid and simple. You do not have to produce your own song lyrics, nor are you required to use show tunes (although we do encourage it!). If you want to rewrite existing lyrics to fit the situation, go for it! Anything goes - if Mumford and Sons expresses your character’s current emotions, then break out the banjos. We want to keep the musical mechanic as fun and simple as we can to encourage our players to use it as much as they like.]

6) WILDCARD

Make up your own prompt!

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Questions, comments, concerned? Reach the mods on plurk at slothbless (Lynny) and lluosogrwydd (Lu) and at our public mod plurk stagemanagers. Our official Act 3 FAQ can also be found here!

Comments

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus shakes his head - not disagreeing, necessarily, but unable to wrap his mind around the idea and struggling with the attempt. ]

What are any of us supposed to do here? [ he asks, glancing back at the body, regretting it immensely, and looking back at the Balladeer instead. ] I mean, find who did this? But, how?

[ They're not detectives, or at least he doesn't think anyone here is. What are they supposed to do about any of this? ]

[tellthestory]

Oh, you are. Everyone else is going to die if you don't.

[The Balladeer is a weird dude, who seems to know a lot of things he shouldn't and also rarely seems to recognize that it's weird! He tilts his head for a moment, then winces a little and adds ruefully:]

That probably wasn't my line. Just play along if the A.D. has a number about it later?

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus flinches a bit at the Everyone else is going to die if you don't, because that's a whole lot of pressure even if it's a general 'you' and not a specific one. He doesn't know what's going on here, but he's pretty sure if anyone is relying on him to figure it out then they're all in trouble. ]

...Your line? What? [ He blinks at the other man, owlishly. He's clearly missing something here. ]

[tellthestory]

Don't worry about it.

[It'll probably be fine. Not his fault, anyway, that he ended up in their show. But now, with no songs to sing about the murderer...hm. Should he help out? Does he even know how?]

Do you know what people usually do, with things like this?

[themuseabandonsyou]

Not really? [ Orpheus frowns and glances sidelong at the body again, before immediately regretting it and looking away again, pressing a hand over his mouth in an expression of distress. He stays like that for a moment, mind racing, before letting it drop back to his side. ]

I guess we... find clues? Look for some sign that'll tell us who did it? But I don't know how to do any of that. Won't I just... [ what's the term they always use in the mystery novels? ] contaminate the crime scene?

[tellthestory]

Not if you don't touch anything.

[Probably? Probably.

The Balladeer glances sidelong at Orpheus, and then back at the body. Obviously he doesn't, like, love this, but Orpheus seems a lot more bothered than he is. Maybe he should be the one to look at it, then. It seems a little...well, unfortunate; it's not like he knows anything about any of this. But, then, neither of them do.]

Okay. I'll check here, and you can look around the room.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Okay. I can do that.

[ Orpheus just sort of... glances around for a moment, before something catches his attention and he wanders over to it. Frowning, he looks down at the windowsill - or more specifically, the small red spatters staining the wood. ]

Hey? [ he says, looking back over at the Balladeer. ] I think this is blood?

[tellthestory]

[Meanwhile, the Balladeer crouches down by the body. He's...okay with looking at it, generally? But up close is a lot more intense. He sucks in a sharp breath through his teeth, not even quite sure where to start.

Frankly, Orpheus's interruption is a relief.]

Oh, yeah?

[themuseabandonsyou]

Yes, [ says Orpheus. ] I don't know whose it is? It could be the person who did it or, um. Theirs.

[ He gestures at the body, still trying not to look at it too hard. ]

Do you see anything?

[tellthestory]

Well. They were definitely stabbed.

[It doesn't take an expert to see that! The Balladeer feels sort of awkward not putting this to song, but somehow nothing's really coming to mind. This isn't the time to like, compose.]

Probably with a kitchen knife? I don't know if there's other knives around.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus grimaces. That does make sense, though, as troubling as it is. ]

I wonder how blood got all the way over here, then? The rest of the room is clean. [ Except for the slowly growing pool around the victim's body, that is. ] Maybe we should try looking for the knife, though? That might be helpful.

[tellthestory]

It's not like they could've gone out the window.

[So why hang around there? It doesn't look like that's where the stabbing happened, to his admittedly amateur eyes. Pretty much all the rest of the blood is right here.

At Orpheus's question, he stands again, reflexively wiping his hands on his jeans even though there isn't really any blood on them. Yeah, he...isn't sure what else he can look at here. Sure would be nice to leave!]

That's a good idea. Let's do that.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Okay. Um, hm. [ Orpheus looks around the classroom, trying to think. If he'd stabbed somebody, where would he hide the knife?

He pauses for a moment, looking thoughtful, then looks in the desk nearest the body. Nope! Nothing. (It may be a very good thing for Orpheus that he's never had occasion to hide a bloody knife.) ]

I guess I'll check the rest of these desks? [ he says, and despite sounding uncertain about the idea proceeds to start doing just that. ]

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer, meanwhile, goes to peer into the trashcan. It's empty - well, that would've been a bad hiding place, he guesses. It's right next to the door and small enough that it can't hide too much.]

None of the murderers I know even tried to get away with it. I don't really know what people do...they could've just taken it with them?

[That's basically what Booth did!]

[themuseabandonsyou]

You've known more than one murderer?

[ Orpheus sounds shocked at that, confused and concerned because to his mind murder has always been some faraway thing that only happens in newspapers and stories. The idea of actually having known someone who killed someone and wasn't a soldier or something just seemed entirely foreign to him.

Though he guesses, technically, he does know a murderer now, too. He just doesn't know who they are. Hm, not a comforting thought. ]

[tellthestory]

Yeah, my show's all about them. My first one, I mean.

[Technically he supposes his second one was shaping up kinda similarly...but hey, at least it was about catching them?]

I only recently met anyone who wasn't a murderer. [Like, he presumes? Hard to know that for sure.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

Your show? [ Orpheus's brow furrows a bit as he tries to figure out what that might mean. ] Are you a reporter? Like on the radio?

[ As for the rest of that, he has to be exaggerating, right? How can you go your whole life running into exclusively murderers? ]

[tellthestory]

...no, like a play.

[Is this really what he's doing right now? Maybe he doesn't even like being a character, it sort of sucks.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

You're... an actor, then?

[ Orpheus is clearly having some trouble getting his head around what the Balladeer is trying to tell him, frowning and generally looking sort of perplexed.. ]

[tellthestory]

...you know how plays will have a narrator sometimes, or a Greek chorus?

[wait is it weird to say that to a Questionably Greek guy]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Maybe a little! It's fine though don't worry about it- ]

Yes? [ Orpheus blinks, owlishly, as he tries to piece this all together. ] So you're in the chorus or a narrator, in a play about murderers? But those are just actors playing murderers, right?

[tellthestory]

[He snorts without quite meaning to.]

They are very proud murderers. No, it's...I'm not an actor playing the narrator, so why should they be actors?

[Of course, taken at another level, of course they're actors. But that's not really very relevant to him.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus thinks about that for a long moment, before shaking his head. Nope! Still not getting it. ]

I don't understand, [ he says, frowning and looking more than a little concerned. What does it all mean? Why bring up the chorus if this isn't about a play? Or maybe it is, but there are no actors? He's having a really difficult time with this. ]

[tellthestory]

[Yeah, he sort of expected that. The Balladeer just shrugs a little.]

Well, don't worry about it. It isn't that important.

[It's just like his entire existence and stuff, nbd! He pauses, glancing into the kitchen as they come up on it. Well, the murder weapon probably did come from here...]

Why don't we check in here?

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus thinks it sounds kind of important, if only because it seems like the Balladeer cares about it, but he drops it for now. ]

Oh, good idea. Maybe we can find out what kind of knife they used, by looking for the one that's missing?

[ It doesn't quite occur to Orpheus that they could've just... washed it off and put it back, or that he doesn't have the full kitchen inventory memorized and won't be able to tell if a knife is missing from the set unless it's obvious, but he's trying. ]