NARES - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 – Boom De Ya Da

[9:18 – Blue V.I.P. Room]

A sour, poisonous stench was filling the room. As Resistance opened the door, he instinctively covered his nose with his hand. His eyes immediately caught the liquified remains of their dinner on the bed and floor. And from below the bed...there was an arm sticking out.

Resistance carefully got closer, with a curious look on his face. Was it a trap?
To his surprise, the hand suddenly moved and a woman, covered in filth and dust, crawled from under the bed, just like the scene of a horror B-movie. Her face was red from too much vomiting, and when she saw Resistance, her eyes widened in fear.

Resistance: It’s alright...Resistance won’t hurt you.

Niorapth:  ...

Nio opened her mouth in an attempt to say something, but to her surprise, no voice came from her throat – which still felt like it was being burnt. Instead, Nio weakly mouthed the word ‘help’ desperately. She looked really pitiful.

Resistance: Just hang in here, okay? Resistance will come back with a glass of water.

Thankfully, the bleach in the chocolate wasn’t enough to kill her; furthermore, she only ate one small piece. But after that, Nio didn’t feel like trusting anyone just yet. So Nio just shook her head, made a gesture with her hand as if she was shooing a naughty dog, and mouthed the words ‘No thanks’.

Resistance: Well, if you’re sure...

Without any hesitation, Resistance left the room. Nio was again left alone in the room, in the middle of playing cards and toys.

After slowly closing the door behind him, Resistance weighed his options and went to explore the second floor further...

[9: 21 – Waiter’s Quarters]

Inside the small room (compared with the other rooms in the mansion) were three of the staff members, Cody, Kirby, and Bigwig. They had been talking about how they got their jobs and what they knew about the mansion. Unfortunately, all their stories were almost the same: they had applied for the job from a job vacancy website and were contacted through email, saying that they got the job. They had arrived this morning and were told not to go anywhere beside their appointed workplace. Half of their salary was already transferred to their accounts and none of them had ever met Raka before dinner. As they continued to talk-

Kirby: Wait, did you hear that?

Bigwig: What is it?

Kirby: …Must have been my feeling. Well, if you’d please continue…

Cody: Man, if I knew it was something like this, I’d never sign up for it.

Kirby: Yeah, me too. However, the salary is quite generous indeed, and the job’s only for two days, so I thought nothing could go wrong. Of course, this place really is in the middle of nowhere, huh? I had to ride my motorcycle for 3 hours from the station...

Bigwig: It is indeed unfortunate, however, as I said, we must act soon.

Cody: Any plans?

Bigwig: Let me think for a while. Meanwhile, why did you bring that with you?

Cody: Ah, this? I just think that we can possibly use alcohol as a bribe. And if a bottle of 1870 red wine can’t do it, nothing can. Besides, we can use it for self-defense too if we must.

Kirby: It’d be such a waste to break the bottle of such a fine wine...If it’s too heavy for you, I would’t mind bringing it instead.

Bigwig: Ah, I have come up with a plan. Remember how Mr. Raka said that he had traps set up around this mansion?

Kirby: Yes, of course. He did say so.

Bigwig: That’s probably why the email specifically instructed us not to touch anything beside what we had to. So, if we can use this traps...

Cody: Wait, so you’re saying we should collect the traps?

Bigwig: We have the advantage of at least the knowledge about some of the rooms’ layout, compared to the guests.

Kirby: Yes, of course. We do.

Cody: Well, I guess there’s no harm trying. We can also look for supplies and such while we’re there. Let’s go.

Kirby: Yes, of course. Shall we?

[9:10 – Dining Room]

Kazbar: So you’re saying we should follow that samurai guy and look for the old guy?

Pirate: Yeah.

Catastrophy: Don’t you think that’d be a litte...ah, risky?

Pirate: Don’t worry, if we do it carefully, we’ll manage.

Kazbar: [To his eyepatch] Why, I will protect you at all times, my dearest, so don’t you worry.
Catastrophy: Fine then. But first, I propose we do a toast.

Pirate: A toast?

Catastrophy: To celebrate our newfound alliance! Besides, we don’t know when we’ll be able to find opportunity to safely drink again.

Kazbar: Makes sense to me.

Pirate: Hmm…very well. But we shouldn’t get drunk before doing this, so let’s just do it with our after meal drinks.

All three of them lifted their cups.

Catastrophy: For victory!

At the same time, they drank their respective beverage (black coffee for Catastrophy, Darjeeling second flush tea for Kazbar, and tea with rum for Pirate), emptying their cups. Kazbar and Pirate immediately recognized something wrong with the taste of their drink.

Kazbar: Wait, that was-

Pirate: Damn it, when?!

Catastrophy: Ah, why is the world spinning?

Unknown to them, someone else had spiked their drinks with some strong vodka. Even the observant Catastrophy didn’t know, for there had been so many things happening earlier. Earlier, however, Nio nearly caught him in action.

Kazbar: Ahahaha, my eyepatch…I can’t live without you, my lovely, my soulmate…hic. The Mighty Eyepatch on the sky, doth I know you?

Pirate: Arrrrr, mateys, we must begin our voyage! A little drink is nothing compared to the rampaging waves of the ooocean…

Catastrophy: I…I…Mama, I just killed a man. Put a gun against his head...

Pirate had to forcefully pull out Kazbar and Catastrophy out of their seat.

Pirate: Stand up tall, mateys! When we get the treasurrre, you’ll be able to buy as many eyepatches as you want, Akbarrr. And you can, I don’t know, buy handkerchief or something, Carastarophy..

His words apparently were apparently enough to motivate his friends, as they began to drunkenly walk through the door.

Catastrophy: For Virginia Company!

===
[9:26 – Red V.I.P. Room]

It had been twenty minutes since Nio went out, and there was no sign of her. Milk began to worry. But before he could do anything, Orochimaru called him in a hushed tone.

Orochimaru: Milk, someone just passed by!

Milk: What?! Who was it?

Orochimaru: I think it was that guy who hang around the insane guy…

Milk: Oh, Resistance? Was he carrying any weapon?!

Orochimaru: Nope.

Milk looked at the letter opener on his hand. Not a very reliable weapon, but he also had Orochimaru by his side.

Milk: Let’s ask him if he saw Nio!

Orochimaru: Are you sure?

Milk: Don’t worry, we’re two against one!

Milk and Orochimaru opened the door quietly. Fortunate for them, Resistance was still on the hallway.

Milk: Hey, Resistance!!

Resistance turned around and looked at the letter opener with obvious worry and dislike. Milk also looked at it and carefully placed it on the ground to show that they came in peace.

Milk: We come in peace, yo!

Orochimaru: …seriously? >_>

Milk: Hey, shut up. By the way, did you see Nio? She’s the girl with the black hair!

Resistance: Resistance…did see her. She was hurting a lot. If you hurry, she might survive.

Orochimaru: Who…who did it?

Resistance: It was the waiter. She ate some poisoned chocolate. She’s in the room by the trophy case.

Milk: Thanks, dude! But…why did you tell us?

Resistance: Oh, perhaps Resistance lied and is leading you to a trap? There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there? [Chuckles]

Orochimaru: Why, you little…

Orochimaru picked the letter opener and pointed it menacingly at Resistance.

Milk: Not now! We’ve gotta save Nio!

Resistance: That’s right…Resistance wonders if someone else already reached here…you should hurry. See you. [chuckle]

Orochimaru: Dammit. What should we do now?

Milk: Let’s hope that it’s not a trap. I’ll get her some water. You should go and take a look.

Even before he finished his words, Milk had run downstairs. Orochimaru sighed and started to walk down the hallway…

===
[9: 20 – Kitchen]

Jdizzy had left the room just now, carrying with him a butcher knife still stained with the blood from dinner’s preparation. Now, inside the room were the duo of ImTheMacheteGuy and XIII_rocks, facing off the pair JeffreyRaze and masterplum.

Jeffrey: If you don’t believe us, why don’t you taste the food yourself?

Machete: Like hell we will.

Plum: Well, have it your way, then. Let’s go, Jeff.

Jeffrey: Yeah, no use talking to them.

Suddenly, they heard some kind of sound from faraway – it could have been either a gunshot or a small explosion. All four of them looked at each other. But nothing happened.

Plum: Well, then, adios.

Jeffrey and Plum left the kitchen.

Machete: Dammit, f*** those guys. What do you think we should do next, XIII?

XIII put a saucepan on his head, just like how one would wear a hat.

XIII: The same thing we do every night, Machete. Try to take over the world!

Machete: Right, forget I asked. I’ll just hold on to this kitchen knife for the time being.

XIII took the saucepan off his head and wield it like a weapon.

XIII: Then I’ll use this. We should be careful next time we see those guys. Let’s just write a note for people who may come to the kitchen – we must let them know that the food may be poisoned.

Machete: …I’m getting a headache.
===
[9:21 – Green V.I.P. Room]

After Natwaf left Nio, he followed the hallway only to find the locked door leading to Raka’s room. So he decided to go the other way and entered the green V.I.P. room (as he passed the Blue V.I.P. room, he didn’t know that Resistance was inside it).
This V.I.P. room was a luxurious room that reminded him of a high-end hotel room, but everything there was green. In the middle of the room, there was a large painting of a beautiful woman. It was almost like an altar, as there were flowers and ornaments that looked like they could be ceremonial tools.

Among them was a keris – not female rappers, but a ceremonial blade with a crooked edge – and it was sharpened pretty well too. Natwaf took the keris and hid it below the bed. As Natwaf was about to left the room, he heard a female voice from behind him. He jumped and turned around.

???: You have disgraced my altar…you shall not leave this room alive!

The voice came from the direction of the painting. Suddenly…

Natwaf: Wait, what the hell?!

A torrent of water suddenly bursted out from under the bed, the ceiling, under the floor and it looked like as if water was bursting out from the painting itself. Natwaf almost considered putting back the keris back to the altar, but when he tried to open the door…

Natwaf: …It’s open?! It must be my lucky day.

He went out from the room and bashed the door closed. Even though the water was already as high as his ankle when he stepped out from the room, there was no more water coming out after he closed the door. The vicious torrent couldn’t be heard either. However, some water escaped with him and the carpet in front of the door was wet.

He knew that the trap must have designed to…well, trap the unlucky victim inside the room. Somehow, the lock mechanism wasn’t working. Natwaf laughed at his good luck and began to slowly sing a line.

Natwaf: O Fortuna; velut luna statu variabilis semper crescis aut decrescis.

He continued the other way, heading towards the gallery…
===
[9:36 – Blue V.I.P. Room]

Niorapth had cleaned up a bit with underwear she found inside the wardrobe. Orochimaru was looking at her with concern – not only for her physical health, but also for her mental health.

Nio: (Well, at least I got to rub my face with a shota underwear…)

The door opened and Milk came inside with a glass of water in his hand. He looked at the underwear on Nio’s hand and looked at Orochimaru with a questioning expression. Orochimaru shrugged.

Milk: Well, at least you’re okay! It’s great to see you alive! Drink this, it’s only water!!

Nio looked at him warily but took the glass. After sniffing and tasting it a bit, she slowly emptied the glass. The water was refreshing and she was really thankful for her teammates. Silently, she mouthed ‘thanks’ to Milk. Milk looked even more confused.

Orochimaru: She lost her voice.

Milk: Oh, I…I’m so sorry!

Nio: {...it’s okay...}

Orochimaru: By the way, Milk, did you meet anyone when you went downstairs?

Milk: Not really meet, but I saw three people leaving the dining room and into the living room! Oh, and the carpet in front of the V.I.P. room with the green door was wet for some reason?!

Orochimaru:  I wonder why…

Milk: It’s probably a trap! Are you feeling better, Nio?

Nio nodded.

Milk: Awesome! Fantastico! Then we should move!

Orochimaru: Where to?

Milk: I dunno, do you have any idea?

Nio poked Milk’s shoulder and making gestures, pretending to open a faucet and washing her face.

Milk: Oh, you want to go to the bathroom? Okay, let’s go there. I think I need to use it too!

===
[9: 17 –  Library]

The drunken trio loudly opened the library door. Inside the vast room were rows and columns of bookshelves, and on the middle of the room was multiple reading tables. Alongside the walls were comfortable-looking armchairs and sofas. The light in the library was dimmer than any of the other rooms they had visited – perhaps for effect?

Catastrophy: Heyyy, Captainnn, *hic* this library is larger than my pent!

Pirate: Arrr, is dat so? Ahahaha. Damn, we lost that old man and the samurai guy.

Kazbar: Eyepatch eyepatch eyepatch…

Pirate: Shut ‘yer trap, matey. I’m sick of your eyepatch.

Pirate staggered and laid down on one of the sofas.

Pirate: …arr, I think I need to lay me down.

Kazbar: Roger, Cap’n!

Kazbar followed suit, but he fell down onto the carpet instead.

Catastrophy, however, was still full of energy for some reason. He began to read the book titles out loud and laughing to himself.

Catastrophy: Kitab Al-Azif…Necronomicon…Voynich’s Manuscript…Tales of Beedle The Bard…ahahaha, they’re so…funny!

Catastrophy began to laugh uncontrollably and took a book from the shelf.

Catastrophy: Captain, look, this book’s title keep changing!

Pirate: Yer just drunk, sailor! Therrre’s no way a book can change its title.

But indeed, the book’s title keep changing…it said 00:27 just now…but now it said 00:26. The book’s cover was rather odd itself; it wasn’t wholly made of paper. The part with the title was made of hard plastic, just like an alarm clock’s display. Where had he seen this before? Pirate pondered

Pirate sat up straight, something just clicked on his head.

Pirate: Thrrrow it away! *hic*

Catastrophy: Why, Cap’n? It’s such a funny book!

Pirate: Throw it away, dammit!

Catastrophy: No way, it’s mine!

The drunken Catastrophy ran away with the book. The title, 00:11, flashed red.

Pirate: You stupid git!

Kazbar: Should we go after him, eyepatch? I mean…Captain?

Pirate: It may be too late. *hic* Duck!

Kazbar: Where? I don’t see any-

Pirate pulled Kazbar and rolled under the nearest coach. They could see Catastrophy, but he was already on the other side of the library. A red light could be seen blinking from the book he held on his hand.

Catastrophy: What are you playing, Cap’n? I want to play too—

The explosion shook the library, and books fell down from their place. Catastrophy was reduced to a mess of flesh, blood, and bone. Pirate puked out his dinner – and not only from drunkenness. Kazbar’s face became pale.

Kazbar: I…what…but he…we just…

===
[9:20 – Female Restroom, 1F]

The distant sound startled Genny. She had found back her strength, and she had been stretching to lose that limp feel on her limbs. She had also found a bottle of ceramic cleaner – the weight made it suited for an emergency weapon.

Genny: What was that?

Genny stayed still for a moment but there was no other sound. Having decided that it must had been her feeling, she peeked out from the bathroom door. The hallway seemed empty. She carefully stepped out of the bathroom.

Having looked at the map (it seemed like there was a map in each room), she decided to go to look for Raka. However, it had been nearly half an hour since her encounter with him. He must had gone somewhere, mostly likely his room. Genny made her way safely to the dining room – but she realized she wasn’t alone; The insane guy and one of the guys from the bar were there; they were hiding a saucepan and a kitchen knife, respectively. They had seen her, and were assuming a defensive position.

Genny: Uhh….hi, guys?
Machete: Hello there, Missy. You’re not here to attack us, right?

Genny: Of course not. I was just going to go somewhere else.

Machete: Good then. Listen, you mustn’t believe the guys named JeffreyRaze and masterplum, okay? They just tried – or even succeeded – in poisoning the food in the kitchen.

XIII: C’est vrair; je suis Dreizehn.

Machete: Please don’t pay him any mind; he can be rather…unusual sometimes, but he’s a good guy.

Genny: Oh, uh…okay.

Machete: Actually, why don’t we go together? Three heads is better than two!

Genny: Where do you want to go?

Machete: We’re thinking of going to the armory, there should be something worthwhile there.

Genny: The armory huh…that’s not a bad idea.

XIII: Si.

Genny: Well, let’s talk about it more in the living room…I feel kinda nervous here, since there’s the stairs…someone could pop up any minute.

===
[9:27 – Inner Court]

The inner court was lit mostly by the full moon shining brightly on the velvet night sky, although the soft light of the garden lights certainly helped.

Kirby: Guys, guys, can’t we just try to climb the wall?

The inner court was surrounded by stone walls, and on top of them was thick fence.

Cody: Well, it does look promising, but I bet those are electric fence. Or maybe something ominous is waiting beyond those walls, like piranha or something. Just focus on finding traps.

Kirby: Okay then…

Bigwig: Ah, perhaps this is…? If you would please come here for a sec…

Kirby and Cody went to look at Bigwig’s find. It was a nearly impossible to see wire, stretched between two trees on the height of one’s ankle. Following the wire, it seemed the contraption would make a spiked log swing towards the victim.

Cody: That’s cool, but I don’t think we can carry something like this with us.

Bigwig: Indeed…perhaps it is time for another plan…
===
[9: 15 – V.I.P.Hallway (In front of Raka’s room and between the Pink and Black V.I.P. rooms]

A lone man wearing samurai armor could be seen trying to slash the doorknob with his replica katana. He was already covered in sweat. After a few more minutes of struggling, he sighed and stopped his assault.

Sluggg: Thou art a worthy opponent. I shalt hone my skills and come back.

Before he could leave, the door at the other end of the hallway opened. Jdizzy, carrying a butcher knife on his hand, entered the hallway. When he found that metalslugg was here, a nasty smile blossomed.

Sluggg: Art thou here to take tis life of mine?

Jdizzy: What? That’s absurd. I’m just here to paint the walls…WITH YOUR BLOOD.

Sluggg: Those words of thee shan’t deceive nor intimidate me. I shalt fight with my honor!
===
[9:20 – Play Room]

The cheerful Play Room was decorated with sickeningly sweet things. The baby pink wall was decorated with pictures of flowers and clouds with happy smiling faces. All around the room were various kinds of toys for children, things everyone had wanted when they were little, legos, Barbies, Play-Dohs, toy cars, hero figures, and everything a child could imagine. Also there were colourful comic books, story books, crayons, and much more. Being hung on the wall were twenty-two pictures which must have been made by an aspiring child, with a different person on each of them.

Selections of cheerful children songs were played nonstop in the room. Edwardsdv thought he was going to become crazy if he had to stay in the room for more than an hour. But his wounds still rather hurt, even though he had tried to stop the bleeding with tissues and diapers he found in a box on the corner of the room.

Then, the door from the music room opened. Edwardsdv quickly hid behind the giant teddy bear he was leaning to. He carefully peeked out…

It was bbbtime, one of the guys from the coffee table. He almost called for help, but then he saw what he was carrying – a really fabulous sword covered in precious stones. Fabulous, perhaps, but it was still a weapon. …should he try his luck?
===
[9:45 – Dining Room]

Being forgotten for nearly one hour, Mega Mana woke up from his coma. The dinner had been so good his brain just stopped working for a moment there. He had fallen under the dinner table so nobody had noticed him. He tried to stand up but he hit his head on the dining table instead.

Mega Mana: Ouch. I must have fallen into a coma again!

He crawled out from under the dinner table and looked around. The dining room was empty.

Mega Mana: Huh, where’s everyone else?
=============================================================

!Dead!:
21st Catastrophy – Blown up from a bomb-book while being drunk.

Status:
Niorapth – Recovering from poison, but lost her voice due to the poison burning her throat.
Edwardsdv – Bleeding from Space Invaders attack.

Healthy:
Everybody else.

Whereabouts:
Mega Mana: Dining Room, 1F
Niorapth: Ladies’ Restroom, 2F
muddersmilk, Orochimaru_Fan: Gents’ Restroom, 2F
Edwardsdv, bbbtime: Play Room, B1
Kirbydamasta, Bigwig_rah, codynumbers: Inner Court, 1F
GenesisSaga, ImTheMacheteGuy, XII_rocks: Living Room, 1F
JeffreyRaze, masterplum: Parlour, 1F
metalsluggg, jdizzy: Hallway between Raka’s Room and Balcony, 2F
Pirateking2000, Emporer_Kazbar: Library, 1F
Natwaf_akidna: Gallery, 2F
Resistance_pro: Computer Room, 2F