WEEK 2

[umbralant]

WEEK 2

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thursday

The first week is over, and two of your number are gone. Everything related to the case has been cleaned up, with nary a knife left at the Main Square nor a trace of the mud shapes that once painted the clock tower walls, although some stray graffiti still dots some storefronts.

However you may feel about the entire debacle on Friday, there’s no doubt that something has changed about the atmosphere, although whether it’s something tangible or just a trick of the mind is hard to say. Maybe it’s nothing. Either way, there are more palpable changes to the city, with some of the fog retreating away from a few of the surrounding areas, uncovering new buildings and streets along the way. The night, however, remains unchanged as always save for the slow waxing of the moon, leaving it bright and full as early as Thursday night. Regardless of if you take it as an omen or not, at least that means the streets will be lit up fairly well for the week, provided some inconvenient cloud cover doesn’t slide right in.

[[Welcome to Week 2! Note that new areas have been added, and can be found under the Week 2 tab on our Locations page. Once again, feel free to make top levels at your discretion, and remember to note it in your header if you plan on investigating any locations. You can also privately contact The Lady or Rembrandt.]]

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Comments

[twoasone]

[ Oh, he definitely came by... Though he had to summon that damned doppelganger to carry some of the evidence. Namely, a couple of unfinished works and a piece of pottery with the initials I.P. painted on the surface. ]

In case you haven't been paying attention, we have access to the studio of someone who used to create pottery and paintings in Krakow. A man who signed his work as "I.P."... Who may not be with us any more.

They say a picture says a thousand words, so I'll let his drafts do the talking.

[ Here he says something in Cantonese to his double, and it lays out the drafts in order... To show the gradual shift in style, to show the gradual addition of our blue eyed friends and revelation of such features as claws and fangs and scaled bodies... ]

A camera could have been better, but as Mikami said last week we'll have to work with what we got.

[bawcock]

[ Wow. ]

I ended up seeing one up close. I didn't get too good a look, but those scales definitely look familiar. They're not too friendly, so I don't recommend getting as close as I did.

[twoasone]

[ Oh! Now he's kind of jealous! ]

So you did? Was there any semblance of humanity at all, or is there no trace of it? Could you coax it out into the light?

[bawcock]

Not one that I noticed. It was a pretty dark space, after all.

[ He tries to think back and hmm... Not really? ] Light was... I dunno if I'd say it reacted specifically to light. Though it wasn't too fond of being stabbed.

[psychophant]

...What happened, exactly?

[bawcock]

I definitely stabbed it, I know that much. I'm not sure if there was blood, it recoiled too fast for me to tell.

[ Tightening his crossed arms here. ] After that, Rembrandt showed up and pulled me away from it. He seemed kind of angry that I was "intruding."

His eyes did something strange too. For a second, it looked like they turned red.

[psychophant]

Where did you find this in the first place? It sounds as if you ended up somewhere Rembrandt wasn't expecting.

[bawcock]

The mail chute.

[reanbeans]

...You didn't get hurt, did you?

[ Like, he's not bleeding but he wanted to be sure. ]

[bawcock]

[ How do you know he's not bleeding!! What if he's been spurting blood this whole time and nobody noticed, huh!!

Okay, no, he hasn't. While there aren't any signs of blood on him, he is wearing bandages on his right hand. He's got his usual glove on over them and the way he's crossed his arms is obscuring most of his hand. ] Nah, or at least not badly enough to mention.

Anyway, it looks like this time around everyone's got something to contribute. If everyone keeps up, I'll start thinking this ragtag group of villains and curs might not bad so bad after all! And it's all thanks to you setting this meeting up.

[reanbeans]

...Alright.

[ He'll frown for a second, because he's always been a worrywart, and so he'll keep it in mind if he happened to see the other having problems later on...like limping or something. Even if the wound wasn't visible. ]

Haha, I think the real credit should go to everyone else—without them, I don't think I'd easily have a meeting of substance.

[inordertobelieve]

Is the reason they didn't clean up the studio at all that they wanted us to find this? I don't enjoy the feeling of being spoonfed information slowly.

[twoasone]

I doubt that's the case. My theory is this artist encountered these creatures running amok and became obsessed with them. Said artist began to paint and sketch them in a fit of mania before they could no longer...

If what Rembrandt said is true, they probably weren't able to draw or clean after the transformation.

[inordertobelieve]

Oh, by 'they' I was referring to Rembrandt and the Lady. They've at least surface cleaned everything else we are using.

[twoasone]

... Wonderful. They're leaving breadcrumbs for us.

[deadlygoals]

That doesn't surprise me. The Lady likes watching people's reactions. While Rembrandt seems the type that wants us to work for the answers.

[twoasone]

I have to wonder what he has to gain from working with her.

[p_q]

There's no purpose in giving answers to sacrifices. Unless you mean to say all of this is simply playing with her food.

[Which could be a thing, certainly, given the Lady's, ah, all of her. The whole thing seems a little roundabout, though.]

[baitless]

...

[HE IS LOOKING VERY DISTINCTLY UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT THIS WHOLE THING, ACTUALLY, IT WAS BAD ENOUGH THAT THEY USED TO BE HUMAN BUT NOW SCALES AND CLAWS???]

Oh. That's. A bit...

[...it probably has nothing to do with his world, but. like, like. he kind of trails off because uhhhh]

[twoasone]

... I wonder if that's where these strange scales we have for currency are coming from?

[ He's saving his up, but... ]

[baitless]

...

...

...

You know, it would not surprise me.

[moonfang]

... Heheh.

Gross...

[notbymyside]

[yyyyeah that's horrifying.]

Whoever this is, he could have been charting a change in the people here. The form with the glowing eyes could simply be their final form. We don't know how many steps were between.

[twoasone]

[He doesn't seem that fazed, but he is still concerned.]

More like an increase in their numbers. See? There's only one or two pairs of eyes in this earlier painting, but in this later one they're practically obscuring the metro station.

[notbymyside]

That is definitely concerning. But if these are the people of the city transformed, then it makes sense. As more of them were transformed, more eyes joined the group.