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?"

Levi looks at the joint in Venture's hand with a bit of longing before making eye contact and nodding.

Yeah. I'd stay and hang but I wanna stop by Sherry's before she closes. I sprayed down the kayaks, the register's in the safe, and the shed is locked. You want anything? Pineapple ginger?

"Nah man, I'm all good. Catch you later," comes the reply Levi expected. He nods again and turns to leave.

Alright man, see you! Not sure what's for dinner, but be prepared for pesto! He descends down the ladder to the main floor, glancing briefly at the wall of customer Polaroids and exits through the front door. As the bells chime behind him, a thought crosses his mind. Damn, I hope he remembers to lock that door. But then a more important thought takes its place. I am so fucking thirsty. I hope she still has some of that lemon blueberry shit. Levi begins the walk home by zipping up his hoodie and putting in his ear buds. Was it this cold yesterday?


Levi has walked the streets of Makedewa so many times that it's easy for him to zone out. Muscle memory allows him to walk without worrying about the uneven cobblestones, and the unchanging scenery, although charming, was mundane to Levi. As a familiar melody played in his ears, he made his way towards The Maine Squeeze, lost in his own thoughts. I think I need new shoes. What's on tonight? Probably nothing. Why is summer TV so bad? I wonder how C9 did today, I need to remember not to spoil myself - stay off Twitter. Do I need to pick up toilet paper? I think we're okay. Don't need dog food, I saw a full bag the other day. What kind of breed is Garfy again? I should know more about dogs. We need to make sure to keep the garbage lids sealed, I'm tired of dealing with the racoons. I wanna see Infinity War again, I wonder how long it would take to download. Maybe I should make the trip out to see it in the theater this weekend. I just wish we had one here in Makadewa. One that isn't a shit hole. Actually...



Levi stopped walking and looked up. As if by fate, he found himself in front of the Beaumont, or as the adolescent community sometimes called it, the B-hole. It actually had a quite striking exterior. If it wasn't so poorly run throughout the years it may have actually been profitable. People don't really like to drive 45 minutes just for a movie, so it makes sense to have one in town.

Mom took me to see that Narnia movie back in the day. What a mess. Even as a little kid I remember the sound being out of sync, and then just cutting out entirely. She was so mad. I wonder if under the right management, this could be the next @venture...

He looked up at the cursive text "Beaumont" scrawled above the marquee (which some kids had rearranged and removed letters to just spell "BUTT 2DAY")

I wonder how much a place like this goes for. Who even owns it?

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.

What the fuck...? Where am I?

Levi struggles to reach his hand up to his face and try to shade his eyes from the light to get a look around him. He tries to call out, "Hello?" but it's like the word gets caught in his throat.

What's going on? Have I been drugged?

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.

What is going on?? Levi reaches for his phone to call 911.

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?

Levi panics. This is so fucked up. What is going on??? Just my luck to be in this fucking mess.

He tries to pivot on each leg alternatively in an attempt to make it off the stage.

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.

Still panicking, Levi reaches into his pocket and withdraws his trusty Leatherman, and unsheaths the blade, flailing it wildly at the figure.

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 takes in the scene in front of her with horror.

Well, I was right that someone needed me.

Emily opens her mouth to speak to the boy but nothing comes out. She reflexively puts her hand to her throat.. and yet she instinctively knows nothing is wrong with her voice. It's the theater. Or, something in the theater, rather.

Emily notices both the boy and the ... ghost have both noticed her. The boy's eyes are pleading with her for help. The ghost doesn't look pleased.

Ghost? Yes, there is no other explanation and she can feel the spirit's energy, although she's not sure how.

Trust yourself.

Mr. Robinson's words come back to her.

Emily quickly surveys her surroundings.

[OOC: Do I need you to give me the layout of the theater and exactly where I'm standing?]