Arc II, Chapter 47: Reply the Departed, Classic

Arc II, Chapter 47: Reply the Departed, Classic

Antoine laid back on the overstuffed chair I had grown fond of in our time at the hilltop suite that had once been Jedediah Geists home. Every few moments, it looked like Antoine was about to get up and go somewhere else, but he didnt.

We sat and had the same conversation we had been having ever since the second Tutorial storyline. It was going nowhere.

Thats it, Antoine finally said as he started to get up, Im making myself something to eat. I cant think about this anymore.

At last, I had the chance to reclaim my seat.

Or so I thought.nove(l)bi(n.)com

I ordered room service, Bobby said, They make pizza from scratch in the kitchens.

Antoine plopped back down in the chair. Thanks, man, he said.

Bobby nodded.

And so I never did get to sit in that chair again.

What a pity.

We had gone over all of the information we had gathered a half dozen times.

After Lillian Geist made her appearance, we were more certain than ever that the news articles attached to the junior high history display at the Centennial were more than just story flavor. They were some kind of checklist.

Kimberly had written the information we had on the wall with a marker.

Geist Buys Town (1922): Bartholomew Geist acquires bankrupt township with help of Silas Dyrkon, plans revival.Carousel Revival (1924): Geist seeks partners for agricultural, industrial, tourism boost, etc.Film Sets & Criticism (1934): Geist family's film set projects in Carousel face local safety concerns.Asylum Project (1964): Cherise Geists asylum construction speculated as film set/tax write-off.Pageant Win (1972): Lillian Geist wins Miss Carousel, highlighting familys local influence.Factory Fire (1984): No injuries in Geist factory blaze due to upstanding citizen; Bensen Geist plans innovative rebuild.Film Set Tragedy (1984): Fatal accident on Geist horror film set kills 4, including Carlyle Geist.Manor Blaze (1984): Mysterious fire destroys Geist Manor during event; all family members present affected.

Some of these were just background, but we still knew nothing about the movie sets, the asylum, or the various fires except that they happened.

When we tell Camden about this, were going to pretend we figured it out a lot sooner, I said.

I pulled my hair as I looked over the info.

Yeah, everyone else gets to die and we have to play a game, Antoine said.

Kimberly was still writing things on the wall. She was convinced that if we just saw it all in front of us, we would stop going in circles.

She wrote about the events of The Ten Second Game and Cold Blooded Things. She wrote what the Paragons had told us and what Howard Halle had told me.

What are we missing? I said in frustration.

Are we thinking that Madam Celia was talking about a player or something else? Kimberly asked. I had told them everything I could remember about my chat with the Psychic.

I think it's from the Throughline, I said. She was in character when she said it. If she was talking about a player, I dont think she would have mentioned it at all. She had to be talking about a character in the story, someone who knew about storylines from the sound of it, someone who thought they could change the past by triggering one.

Kimberly started to write things out on a numbered list.

1. Mystery Woman X changed the past (storyline?)

2. X also wants to save the people who died somehow at the original centennial, where the time capsule is from.

3. Celia tells X to contact Jeds ghost.

4. X steals the murder weapon.

5.

6. Continuity loop

7. Thirty years pass

8. Game starts

What do we know? Kimberly asked. She does the ritual?

She had to have, Antoine said. It would be weird if she didnt.

Which means the fireplace poker was brought here to the hotel, Dina added. Where Jed Geist died. But its not here now. Weve torn the place apart looking.

Anymore? Antoine asked. You mean

Based on the dates of the printout for the rules, the Ten Second Game appeared to have taken place in the modern day, I said. But the fireplace pokerthe murder weaponobviously wouldnt be here in the modern day.

Of course not, Dina said. The hotel was renovated. In fact, NPCs were literally renovating it the moment we showed up for the first time. The Stranger even pointed it out.

Isaac sat up from his place on the rug. You guys just realized something important, didnt you? I was paying attention. Can you go over that again?

Carousel didnt give us a rebooted version of the first storyline because it wanted to make things harder, I said.

It was trying to hide something inside the original storyline, Bobby said.

Yes, I said. The original storyline, Reply the Departed, must have had the information we need to find the murder weapon, but Carousel hid it under an extra layer because we cheated.

That would explain why the second storyline wasnt changed to be harder, Antoine said. Carousel was just trying to throw us off the trail from the beginning. Something about Reply the Departed would have made this game too easy for someone who knew what to look for.

Antoine was getting excited about our recent theory. We were starting to connect the dots where, before, there were too many to see a pattern. He almost jumped up out of his seat, but before he did, Kimberly ran to him and jumbled into his lap.

He sat there eating pizza until it was time to pack. We had to leave for a bit, and that meant Carousel was liable to reset the place. We didnt know what would happen to our stuff if we left it there.

The thing was, even if we knew we were supposed to play through the original Reply the Departed storyline, we had little idea of how to do so. There was no Omen any longer. The board game itself had been cleared out when the suite was repaired after we played The Ten Second Game there.

Where are we going exactly? Cassie asked as we were moving out the door.

Pawn shop, Dina said.

If youd told me that, I would have dressed up, Isaac said.

The pawn shop sells items from storylines you recently did, Kimberly explained.

Truthfully, I didnt know if this was the right path to take. If we assumed the things we were shown were clues, then the pawn shop made sense as a place to start.

Getting there was far easier this time around. There were no Omens to navigate, just the occasional construction barrier from the repairs being made to town square.

Despite the enormous damage many of the buildings had taken, Happened A Pawn was completely untouched. The frogs hadnt even broken a window.

That was reassuring.

We entered the store to find that most of the shelves were empty. No tropes were for sale, and no specialty items were available.

All the pawn shop carried were a few odds and ends. In the back of the store, under the Games section, was the singular item in the store that registered on the red wallpaper.

An old rectangular box read, Reply the Departed: A game not for the faintly-hearted, to seek replies from the departed.

We might just be onto something, I said.

I picked up the box. On the red wallpaper, it read, Reply the Departed.

It was an Omen. My, I dont like it here. The trope told me it was triggered by taking it to Jedediah Geists house and playing the game.

The difficulty was, Im getting goosebumps. That was a low difficulty. Made sense for a first storyline.

Dont worry, a voice boomed from across the room. It came from a tall, bald man wearing a Hawaiian shirt. It was Tar Bellows, level 50. He was a Paragon and owner of the pawn shop. Its hard to play without all the pieces.

Tell me about it, I said.

Tar smiled.

Now, you kids wouldnt be thinking of taking that game into the old abandoned Geist place up on Overlook Hill Road, would you?

Overlook Hill Road was the road the resort was on, the same resort that had renovated Jed Geists house into the suite we were staying in.

Abandoned? Antoine asked.

Yeah, Tar answered. Its been abandoned ever since Jed Geist was skewered with a kitchen knife. Never mind. I thought thats where you all were going.

The abandoned Jed Geist place. That was more like it. We paid for the board game and left. It just so happened to cost every penny we had.