Makedewa, Maine
@venture Paddleboats, Venture Lake

Brad "Venture," a man in his late thirties, wiry, white, and sporting dreads, stands on the upper deck of his "castle" and takes a hit as he watches the sun set over his tiny lakeside kingdom.

Great view as always!


There's a bit of a cold wind picking up. Weird. He doesn't know much about weather, but he knows enough to know that's a sign that summer's ending soon, a couple weeks ahead of schedule, and for a second, that cool breeze fills him with an uncharacteristic dread.

He looks down at his joint before shrugging off the feeling. Summer may be ending, but there's always another 'venture around the corner!


He smirks as he hears the familiar sound of footsteps behind him and turns to see a young man in his "Venture Guide" uniform behind him. "Hey kid. Heading out?"

The wind is picking up. It's almost downright chilly. Still, the way the spire of the theater catches what's left of the sun's rays has you looking at the theater in a way you really never have before.

You're actually somewhat in awe of it. It's like you're seeing it for the first time, now that you've stopped to think about it.

Maybe in your lifetime it hasn't really stood out as someplace beautiful, but tonight... you can see the structure underneath the dust and disrepair and imagine what it would have looked like in its prime. Sitting polished in the middle of this part of town, with all the gelding still in place and the reliefs less worn, this place would have been an absolute jewel.

You can see the way things could be, with the marquee alight once more, the dirt all swept away. It's a shame no one's been doing upkeep.

And as you study the building a little more, you wonder about the inside. And that's when you notice: there are lights on. The bulbs that aren't broken are at full brightness on the inside. You can barely see it past the layer of grime on the window, but... you've never seen the lights on in there before.

And as you walk closer, to look through the window and see what's inside, you don't notice something...

















































...Until that something catches your leg, and pulls you under.

To Be Continued.... TOMORROW!

CONTINUED.... SIGNIFICANTLY LATER THAN PLANNED SORRY

Levi...

One second, you're outside of the theater, peeking in. The next... you aren't sure where you are. It's like your senses just shorted out for a moment, like a film gone off its reel.

Then you're on a stage in the middle of the theater, a light shining right on you. You can't quite tell, but you think it's the old projector, somehow turned on...

You feel like your legs are stuck in place. You can just barely move them, but it's like gum and old soda spills stuck to the bottom of your shoe, if the messy theater floor was somehow winning. You can pivot around though, and your arms are free, though they're feeling a bit heavy and tingly, like you slept on them wrong.

You also notice is that it is absolutely freezing in here, and you can't hear anything.

You do your best to take a look around.

You're up on stage facing out into the auditorium. You're front and center. If there was audience, you would look like the star of the show, but you're alone.

The lights are on, but dimmed, the way they would have been back when a movie was playing. The aisle lights are the brightest things, but the light bouncing off the screen behind you from the projector lets you see at least a enough to get an idea of what's around you.

The whole interior looks about as condemned as you would expect from the outside. It doesn't look like there's an immediate danger of collapse or anything, but you get the impression it's definitely not safe for you to be in here. Some bits and pieces of this place have already fallen apart. Parts of the balcony have collapsed, though the part with the projector and other equipment seems solid. You can see some old lighting that used to be housed above the stage now sits shattered right on top of it. There's dust over everything, and you can smell mildew and mold everywhere around you.

(The curtain looks fine though from what you can see. It's a pretty nice curtain.)

From where you're standing, you can pivot just enough to see that the movie screen behind you is displaying some sort of film, but you can't turn enough to really see what's playing. You can tell its black and white, but thats about the best you can manage to discern. You can't hear anything of the movie.

The second you turn your phone on, everything goes to shit. There's a sudden flash, and it's not just on your screen. When it subsides, your phone is behaving strangely. It's glitching out. Its catching into the CEO signal then cutting off a moment later. It's blacking out, then flashing brighter than you've ever seen it just a moment later. The interface is glitching and apps are opening and closing and you can tell something is seriously wrong with it.

You manage to get a signal just long enough to dial 911, but you can't tell if anyone picked up on the other line…. And when you try to shout into the phone the words get lost somewhere between your throat and the air.

Then you lose the signal, and your phone goes dark, and you can't turn it back on.

But for a second, as you try, it flashes back on, and you hear music.

It's not your ringtone, and it's not coming from the phone. It's like a band is playing somewhere nearby, but only for a second, and so muffled you can't place a direction.

Then it's quiet again, and your phone is dead.

What do you do?

That... doesn't work too well. Your feet seem to be anchored in place and no amount of sliding seems to be helping. Instead, all you do is lose your balance and find yourself kneeling into a squat to keep yourself from falling all the way. With the way you seem locked into place, you feel like a real fall might end with your legs moving in ways they shouldn't.

Your new vantage point a few feet lower to the ground does provide you with a better view of things, though, without the projector directly facing you. You see something odd about the beam of light and the way the dust in the room moves in front of it. It almost looks like a figure made of dust particles... and it almost seems to be circling above you.

The figure stops, and moves closer to you, like particles of light separating themselves from the projector beam in the black and white shape of a woman. Then a moment later, the figure flickers out of existence.... but you can't move your arm. It's like something is grabbing it. Something cold with an ironclad grip.

Levi, as you're struggling with trying to shake your arm away from whatever force is holding you, you see movement out of the corner of your eye, and from the shifting of the light around you, you can tell that whatever presense trapped you here has noticed it too.

It's enough of a distraction to free your arm, but your legs still feel as if they are stuck to the floor with the force of a thousand showings' worth of uncleaned Coke and Moxie spills.

[...]

Meanwhile, Emily, you enter the theater, and at once you're faced with the sort of situation destiny and fantasy is made of.

Up on the movie screen, a film is playing. It's something old, black and white and silent like everything else in the theater, but in this case, the silence feels like it belongs. You see a credit appear in cursive on the screen, "And starring.... Gwendoline Hartford as herself!" as a small scene begins to play on the screen.

But what really grabs your attention is the scene in front of the screen. The light from the old spotlight is shining down onto the stage from the balcony above you, and in the light is what appears to be a young man in his teeens, probably....

...fighting what looks like a ghost?

They both turn to watch you enter, and the boy manages to wrestle his arm free with the distraction.

Yeah, this definitely looks like the sort of situation that requires a hero. Seems like you're that hero.

What do you do?



REMINDER: Until I let you know the situation has changed, the theater is preventing all sound from being heard. While you can try to speak, no one will be able to hear what is said. HOWEVER, lip reading if your character is able, as well as pantomime and gesturing are all valid.

Just remember that if you are focusing on trying to communicate, you may be more easily distracted away from the main threat.

Emily, from where you're standing, you can see almost all of the movie theater auditorium, with the exception of the service balcony above you. What you can see is that it has collapsed on both sides of it into the main floor, leaving quite a bit of debris and destroyed seating to your right. The damage on the left side is a lot less severe, and the balcony that has collapsed hasn't quite reached the floor, leaving it slumping and sloped like an access ramp, though you can tell its barely hanging on by a thread.

There is an aisle between you and the lower set of seating, which, from where you are, actually looks relatively new and well kept, especially in the center and closer to the stage.

The stage itself also looks relatively new and maintained, as do the curtains and the screen, which is still playing some sort of old movie. It looks like some kind of romance is playing out, with the young ingénue falling for a handsome older man in a white tie getup. Everything on the screen screams 1920s, from the styles on screen to the film itself.

A dialogue card appears on the screen in a flowery print. "Darling, you're gonna be a star."

The woman on the screen swoons.

You try not to get distracted by that, though, as you see the young man wave frantically, mouthing for you to help him.

The ghost seems to be watching you, but circling protectively around the boy, like a beast around its prey. As it moves, the spotlight from the balcony tracks along with the ghost.

Emily, you walk over to the air of the chair and pull...


...and almost knock yourself back from the force of the recoil of it. You did not expect that to work as easily as it did. It seems like you don't know your own strength.

The ghost visibly jerks when you do that, all "eyes" on you

[...]

On the screen, from the glimpse you get, Emily, it looks like the whirlwind romance has gone sour. The couple are arguing. The woman is crying.

It's pretty melodramatic.

[...]

Levi, you feel the presence around you moving and circling, watching you, but more importantly, watching the woman who just ran in here, your would-be rescuer.

And as the presence's focus switches from you, to the woman, you feel the stickiness of your shoes start to lessen. You feel your foot shift,just slightly. You still feel as if you stepped in old soda, but its at a far more normal level.

You're pretty sure you can move again, but the ...ghost? is right there, circling you. You could make a run for it or you could wait for a better opening.

What do you do?