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!

--

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

ROBO_head | Cytus II

[luolimasi]

1. My body keeps adapting, ever faster

[For those of you just waking up, you may be quite surprised to see a young man, sitting in the corner of the room. His back is straight, and his hands are still with both eyes closed. He could be considered to be sleeping, or perhaps meditating, but his sutras aren't exactly common.]

Warning: unauthorized boot loader. Starting power on self test... Found 1024 CPU cores. Memory integrity check... Initializing ELA for learning acceleration... Initializing IO peripherals, Eighties Enterprise persistent storage controller, Body-Hack sensor controller, TAKASHI Inc. extensive serial bus...

[He just keeps going on like that for several moments, until finally murmuring:]

Visual analyzer initialized.

[At that instant, he opens his eyes. His face is rather blank as he scans his surroundings.]

Environment scanning... complete. This unit's location appears to be in an educational complex. GPS indicates distance to Node 08 is...

[There's a slight narrowing of his eyes then, a confused quirk in his brow.]

This unit's directional parameters must be in need of repair... along with this unit's...

[He looks down at himself, and nearly jumps out of his seat, turning his hands over in faint surprise.]

This is not this unit's body.

Analyzing failures while my fingers break the record

[Once ROBO_head somewhat adjusts to his new 'situation,' he's quick to investigate. He has much to analyze if he has any hope of finding a way out of here and back to his apartment, after all.

He can be found poking his head into each room, usually offering a mechanical wave when he spots someone else.]

Hello. I assume you are new to this school. This unit is as well. Perhaps you would like to accompany this unit in a search of the facility?

[Once he reaches the band room, though, all bets are off. He makes a beeline to the instruments, studying each one with obvious fascination. It's quite easy to hear the commotion he's making rummaging around for different instruments, and fiddling with the keyboard's input. Perhaps you might hear him playing a song, though how he got the keyboard to make all those sounds is anyone's guess.]

analyzing

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer looks at ROBO_head, looks around for who he's talking to, and pretty quickly determines that there's no one else here.]

Oh...you mean me? Um...sure, I guess?

[luolimasi]

Yes, that is correct. You do not have an obligation to accompany me, but this area could be dangerous. My sensors have not yet detected any disturbances, though...

[Honestly, ROBO_head feels a little frazzled even trying to decide if it's safe to leave a human behind. His decision making skills seem dampened. Perhaps it's due to a new body?

Oh, and he's even being rude, by failing to move into his introduction protocols. He must remedy that.]

I apologize for my rudeness. This unit's name is ROBO_head. May I ask for your name?

[tellthestory]

No, it's too early for things to be dangerous.

[No one even knows who anyone is yet! If you kill off a character too quickly, the audience isn't going to care.]

Oh, I'm the Balladeer. [Is that a name? Well, more or less.] Nice to meet you!

[luolimasi]

Too early? This unit does not understand what the time of day has to do with it. Crimes are more likely to occur during certain hours, but that does not mean it is impossible for crimes to occur at a different time.

[ROBO_head quirks an eyebrow, just slightly, but well, his companions have names from Cherry to NEKOΦωΦ, so he can't really judge.]

This unit is grateful to have your companionship.

[tellthestory]

Too early in the show. Nothing's going to happen until next week. I haven't been in one like this before, but I know the format.

[He says it pretty confidently, at least. Far less confidently than he receives the thanks - grateful for his companionship? Since when has anyone ever been grateful for his companionship?]

Oh! Um...thanks, you too?

[luolimasi]

This unit was not aware it was taking part in a performance. This unit is busy preparing for ROBO_Radio_LIVE, so this unit likely would not have agreed to such an event.

[At least ROBO_head has come across someone who does know how this works. It means he doesn't need to worry about questions going unanswered.]

Do you know what exactly is in the 'format' for next week?

[tellthestory]

That's not...really how it works.

[What, like he agreed to be in his show?]

Well, I don't know much about this one. Whole different script, I'm sure, could be staged differently...but if I had to guess, they're going to offer you all something in return for killing someone.

[luolimasi]

...Why in the world would anyone put on a show like that? That's not even a performance, is it? If the threat is real, this unit refuses to partake in the event.

[He's not suited for destroying humans! Sure, he had the weapon capability, if necessary, but he much preferred just de-escalating such situations.]

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer frowns a little, looking puzzled.]

It's a murder mystery. People love murder mysteries! They write them all the time.

[luolimasi]

...This unit has heard of murder mysteries, but this unit believes they are more enjoyable to humans when they are purely fictional, and no loss of life actually occurs.

[Perhaps he's mistaken, but he thought that humans wouldn't want actual harm to be dealt to anyone.]

If the person who planned this event thinks as you do, this unit will have to convince him otherwise. No harm shall be allowed to come to any humans here.

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer...pretty plainly does not know how to respond to that! He's quiet for a moment, brow furrowed. Ultimately, though, he chooses not to say...well, any of the stuff he could say.]

Well, I hope you can do that. It'd be nice to be in a show where no one dies.

[luolimasi]

This unit will do his best, and has not failed missions of this nature in the past.

[He has a nagging feeling that he might... not be telling the truth, completely. But it feels right, so ROBO_head still says it. If only he could remember what happened to her...]

Analyzing

[kootwo]

Yes! The buddy system is important.

[This... lost sassy child sure looks a little young to be attending high school. But they're enthusiastic about exploring, at least?]

[luolimasi]

I have heard of the 'buddy system,' though I do not know how efficient it would be with a child who is so young. Are you here for education? I have not seen a facility for such a purpose outside of Node 08's Academy.

[At least they're eager, and ROBO_head is pretty sure he can defend them if need be, so he gestures with a hand as he starts walking down the hall.]

[kootwo]

Oh no, I am very old.

[Elaboration offered: none.]

Schools are for learning! So that must be why we are here.

[luolimasi]

Are you? You appear to be the age of an elementary school student, but perhaps appearances are misleading. Or this unit will have to update my age prediction algorithm.

[He frowns at the blunt explanation.]

This unit is often learning many things, but usually those are not taught via traditional methods. I have never attended a school.

Adapting

[humanitarianherbalist]

[The man in a griffin costume watching this is crouched on a bed in a catlike manner, head tilted to the side as he watches and listens to the strange vocabulary. Finally, when he outright states that last line, he stretches out before sitting up.]

This is not my body either. This is certainly an oddity.

[luolimasi]

Then there are others besides this unit who are in an odd situation here? This seems like it could be dangerous...

[The griffin costume could make this even weirder, but thankfully, ROBO_head isn't one to comment on such outfit choices.]

Have you just arrived here?

[humanitarianherbalist]

It certainly could be, especially if you look at the change in our physical capabilities.

[He nods at the second question.]

I awoke earlier than some, but that is all.

[luolimasi]

Indeed. This unit seems to still be functioning fairly normally despite my appearance, but this unit does not know if self-defense protocols will be at all hindered by my no-longer metal state...

[He shakes his head, trying to dismiss the nagging feeling of worry.]

Do you have any idea why we have been taken here?

[humanitarianherbalist]

[He blinks a few times as the other explains his situation.] You were made of metal before this? Like an automation?

[However, he also shakes his head at the other's question.] We seem to come from all sorts of places. There's no pattern I can see so far.

[luolimasi]

This unit was an automaton of sorts, yes. A robot specializing in creating music.

[He knows deep down that wasn't the main reason he was created... but it's not like he can remember, so he just frowns at the griffin man's response.]

So no one is from a place that is similar to Node 08... This unit does research on many other nodes, but... not sure if this is what this unit expected to see from other places.

[humanitarianherbalist]

Nodes? Is that another name for different countries, or continents? [His head tilts to the side curiously.]

[luolimasi]

...This unit has always known the Nodes as Nodes, though in history, before the Decommission, they were usually referred to as countries.

[Is this man somehow from the past, then?]