A Different Haunted Mansion (D&D, see plotting thread)

[Elsa]

Harzinon didn’t want to disagree with Helen. He just wasn’t so sure about her comment on the first floor being looted. ”If the last visitors left in a hurry, they might’ve missed something. I think we should go floor by floor, though, so we don’t miss something.”

He listened further, noting that Basil was moving towards a door. He seemed to have made up his mind to disregard the trap door. Harzinon’s natural curiosity drew him towards it, but he would stick with the group.

”I’m not too surprised the stairs are falling apart. It’s been abandoned for 20 years, after all. I like what you’re saying about the trap door though. We should definitely check it out at some point.”

Basil led the way, which Elsa was fine with. She might have been the speaker for their group in town, and the undiscussed leader otherwise, but she wanted to keep an eye on everyone. She would be fine leading the way, but she preferred to stay in the back.

Harzinon and Helen discussed the terrible state of the stairs. ”It would be very easy for me to fix them, at least for our group. When I was on the North Mountain at home, I built a staircase between two cliffs.” Her words were nonchalant as they entered the hallway.

A double door on their left probably led back to the great hall. A single door stood at the far end of the hallway, and seven doors dotted the wall on their right. ”Should we peek inside them all?” Elsa asked. Life at the castle in Arendelle suggested these were guest bedrooms, and probably all the same.

First Floor Hall

[Basil]

It seems as likely as anything else

that stairwell and that trapdoor seems like something I'd go for...

I think we should go floor by floor, though, so we don’t miss something

Should we peek inside them all?

Well, Basil had asked for suggestions, and he certainly received them. How was a chap to make any sense out of all these conflicting plans? It was positively maddening!

"Then you choose," he said to all of them at once, making a dismissive gesture. Truth be told, Basil was speaking more testily than the situation called for. Were they not all in the same predicament through no fault of their own? But the detective was frustrated; he was done with trying to make sense of this labyrinth of doors.

Stepping to the side so that the others could pass if they liked, Basil rummaged his person for his pipe for some time before concluding that it, unlike himself, had not been transported to this realm.

[Mateo de Alva]

Even, and along with, his own put in, Mateo let the discussion go on as to where next and what all of the clues meant. The young wizard had a feeling that blinding the sun part would be clearer later. It was how clues with those adventures with Elena had gone as well. "Places like this, I think the clues, like the sun one, make more sense when you reach where they're important".

And everything, even the animal attacks seemed tied to magic spells. The didn't necessarily have to be trapped, though Helen's point could still be valid. It didn't matter either-way really and how they were able to attack them and if they just were.

He could almost agree with Basil's defeatist attitude, trying all the doors sounded time consuming. The mouse seemed one who liked clear direction, so no wonder all this uncertainty (and then debate of said uncertainty) would bother him. The fact that Elsa could fix the stairs was also not surprising to Mateo. He'd seen her make practice snowmen before, but then he was also used to magic.

The other rooms were probably busts if nothing had come out of them for them. Up or the trap door? "Up?", Mateo shrugged to show that, like with all of this he was just guessing as well. It seemed 'continuing' though.

[Deleted]

”If the last visitors left in a hurry, they might’ve missed something. I think we should go floor by floor, though, so we don’t miss something.”

It was possible that the visitors might've missed something if they left in a hurry. "Then why not start from the top floor?" The auburn haired mother of three wasn't really deterred much by everyone having different opinions on where to go next. She was used to Dash and Violet arguing about different things, and she even argued with her husband a few times due to differences in opinion. Fortunately for this group, Helen was very opinionated and steadfast in her beliefs, so this was going to get resolved easily by her if nothing else.

”I’m not too surprised the stairs are falling apart. It’s been abandoned for 20 years, after all. I like what you’re saying about the trap door though. We should definitely check it out at some point.”

"Yeah, we can go upstairs and then we can check it out once we head down again!" Helen agreed with Harzinon and Mateo with an excited smile. The superheroine liked making plans for investigating things. It felt like she hadn't done that in a while, so it was nice getting that feeling again. Even better was when Elsa suddenly spoke up regarding being able to fix the stairwell. She hadn't initially thought of Elsa being able to do that, given that she was still so used to Frozone's powers and only just recently saw her make clothing; Helen didn't know just what were the limitations of Elsa's powers, but if she said she could do it, then by all means she was up for it! "Alright. Elsa, could you show us the way up?" Helen asked if Elsa could try to fix the stairwell so that they could go up the stairs. She wasn't 100% sure if there would be anything for them up there, but it was worth a shot. 

[Elsa]

Harzinon grinned as Helen agreed with him, sort of. He'd meant start at the bottom and go up, but this way worked for him. He didn't usually join up with others while searching for stories, but this was one time he was glad he'd done so. Besides getting to spend time with Helen (and the others), he felt lucky to have their assistance. He wasn't sure what he would've done against that poltergeist without Elsa

Basil seemed annoyed that they'd all offered suggestions at once, and Harzinon couldn't quite figure why. Hadn't he just asked for their thoughts on where to go next? Still, Harzinon saw no problem with starting at the top and going down from there. "We know there are more than two floors in one of the towers; we'll have to find the rest of the stairs. Are we doing that first, or exploring the second floor first?" He had no preference, himself.

Elsa nodded at Helen's request. "Of course I can," she said. She held her hands out towards the stairs, directing a stream of ice at the left staircase, when one came in through the front door. Much like her time on the North Mountain, what was missing of the stairs appeared unpolished, much like freezer burnt food. When the stairs were finished, Elsa said, "I'll go first," and stepped forward. With her steps on the unrotten wood, nothing happened. But when Elsa placed her foot on the stairs she'd crafted, the frosty crystals swept off to the sides in a familiar manner. Satisfied, Elsa beckoned for the rest of her group to follow.

At the top of the stairs were more doors. More bedrooms? Elsa didn't know. Six doors lined the hall in front of her, with one door at each end of the hall to left and right. The right would lead back to the dining room--had there been a balcony there? She hadn't noticed, but she hadn't recalled the ceiling being low enough to allow another room above it. Though perhaps it was a small closet of some kind--Elsa knew her ability to estimate distances wasn't the best, and Basil would probably know better. Though, he may have noticed a balcony and not said anything, having seen no point. "Left, then? Or shall we explore this floor?"

"The tower to our left was the one that stretched higher than the others outside. That's either a tall room, or more stairs," said Harzinon.

[Basil]

The others proceeded up the stairs that Queen Elsa magically created, and Basil trailed along behind them. He scarcely listened to their debate on which door to open. As if it mattered, he thought to himself.

Then a new idea intruded itself upon his mind: this must be how the official police force felt as they went about solving a case, or trying to. The realisation froze him in mid step. Here he was, the premiere detective of his age, slogging along with no more skill or sagacity than a common police officer. Had he truly sunk so low?

Engulfed in one of those black moods that sometimes plagued him, Basil leaned against the landing wall, consumed by despair. His exalted mental powers were useless, his career was over.

[Mateo de Alva]

Up it was, and thankfully Elsa could mend the stairway like nothing with her ice magic. All of their skill sets just seemed so...needed or useful specifically...had everything, down to who of them got trapped here been planned and intentional as opposed to random?

They started with going up, before, as Harzinon pointed out, they next had a decision of direction before them.

"Left, then? Or shall we explore this floor?"

Mateo didn't exactly await out a response from Basil, but he found he felt the mouse would have one as the silence hit him as odd. He glanced over, and noticed the mouse seemed in a foul mood for some reason. Mateo hadn't enjoyed having to babysit him earlier (not that he would ever say that word out-loud in describing Basil's forced silence) but now that he wasn't being kicked and poked he was over it, and they were all a team.

"Hey, you alright?", he whispered to Basil, not wanting to call undue attention if the mouse was just bored or such, and as Harzinon was pointing out there were probably more stairs the other way, possibly leading just to tall ceilings and such.

[Deleted]

As soon as Elsa took the first step to secure the stairs, Elastigirl decided to be among the last to climb up the stairs only because she wanted to make sure she could grab onto anyone that should fall. Yet, upon being one of the last to try it out, the stairs were secure! Just like the clothing, it was very sturdy and not slippery at all! It was far different than what she was used to Frozone making. She was starting to get used to that now. 

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the super in blue cupped her chin in thought of Harzinon's suggestion about the towers. It might lead them closer to the riddle they found at the fountain about blocking out the sun. "Tower's worth checking out.. but we should probably secure the hallways, startin' with the left like Elsa said. Even though it's been a while since people were in this building, we still had those beetles attack us. We can't risk being blocked up in the tower until we secure the perimeter on this floor first. That way it'll be safe for us to come down." Helen reasoned, glancing between everyone to see what they thought.

Helen noticed Basil's mood but didn't give attention to it aside from lowering her eyelids half-mast with a frown. He had this apathetic look about him like her husband used to back then when he "supposedly" retired from superhero work, and Helen usually tried to just keep moving the rest of her family through that on her own, much like she was doing now with the rest of the group. The problem was, how do you prevent falling into more traps like the last time?

"I have an idea." The auburn haired superheroine added with a smirk. Helen was all about being efficient with less damage to buildings in comparison to other heroes, one of which happened to be her husband. "I'll stretch my arms to open every room in this hallway starting from the furthest room down to the ones next to us," She explained her idea to the rest of them quietly between them. "If there's anything in these rooms like the last time, we'll drag 'em out and take 'em down with more room out here." With more space out here, it was far better than taking them on in a smaller room. Of course, she needed a rogue-like animal to help her. "Basil, we'll need to find a safe room and you'd be the fastest to secure an area. Can you start at the end of the hallway to secure each room as I open them?" All Basil would have to do would be to follow along with Helen's opening of the doors using her stretched arms and use his keen eyes to see if there's any kind of creature or trap in each room from the furthest room down. "If anything happens, you'll be back in a snap." If anything dangerous should come out of those doors, at Basil's warning, Helen promised to grab him and then snap her elongated arms back to the rest of her body so that he'd be back safely with the remainder of the group.

[Elsa]

Harzinon admired Helen’s words. He wondered what made Elsa the social leader of their troup, while Basil seemed to be the planner and Helen the smart one. Mateo… Harzinon wasn’t exactly sure why he had joined the other three.

But Helen’s idea definitely had merit. Securing the hallways… Only, Harzinon didn’t know how he could help. He waited for Helen to give him some instruction on his part in this, but she didn’t. Her plan relied heavily on Basil. He supposed, as a mouse, that Basil was the best one to do the scouting. It would certainly be easiest for bringing him back to the troupe.

Elsa noticed Mateo checking in with Basil. She kept part of her attention towards them, wondering if and how she could help Basil recover his verve for solving mysteries. They were still within one, after all.

Helen quickly came up with a plan of action, which starred Basil. Elsa thought that was smart--it should help get him out of the down mood the mouse had spiraled into. And with the clothes Elsa had made for Helen, the latter could stretch some distance without pain. ”Helen, are you sure you can reach that far? You said it burned before, in the woods…” The hall looked at least three times the length Helen had stretched in the woods. ”I just don’t want you to hurt yourself.” Especially when the cause would be the clothes Elsa had fashioned for her.

((That hall is ~100 feet, based on the map and scale given. >.> ))

[Basil]

From his position leaning against the wall, Basil slid slowly down to sprawl upon the floor. It felt as if the power of movement had deserted him. As his cloak pooled around him, he looked like nothing so much as a stain on the mottled floor. How appropriate, he thought to himself. Just another blot upon the landscape.

Hey, you alright?

To young Mateo's question, the mouse replied, "Don't trouble yourself about me." He was not worth the effort.

Basil, we'll need to find a safe room and you'd be the fastest to secure an area. Can you start at the end of the hallway to secure each room as I open them?

"Surely you four can handle things without me. Better, no doubt." He was not a six-foot giant wielding a sword. He had no magical powers. He knew nothing of the world in which they found themselves. And his much-vaunted mental powers had aided the group not a jot.

[Mateo de Alva]

As they tried to figure the best course of action, Helen suggested opening the doors one by one and ensuring there wasn't anything that was going to come out after them. It made sense, especially with what had happened prior, and Mateo now being convinced this was the typical sort of booby-trapped mansion he and Elena might have come across back in Avalor.

It still didn't mean he wasn't nervous...

What if more things came out than he could help the others handle?

Yet it was a risk they would have to take, and since Knowing was better than Not Knowing, and being surprised.

Mateo gripped his staff subtly, and prepared for whatever this was going to bring, as Helen addressed Basil shortly after his own question thrown out amidst this preparation.

"Surely you four can handle things without me. Better, no doubt."

For a moment, Mateo wondered if another spell had perhaps come to affect Basil, like the fear one had him, but...no...he was too knowledgeable on spells both in general, but mostly here to not...feel it in the air if that were the case. Same as how he knew spells he shouldn't all along this mission.

"Now that's not true...", he began.

<<Cue Helen's more effective no doubt >>

[Deleted]

Hearing Basil's response, the ranger in blue planted her hands by her shapely hips with her thinned lips, her eyelids lowered half-mast in dissatisfaction. And everyone wondered why Elastigirl rejected the offer to being a leader to the super hero team: Heroes Incorporated.* Her no-nonsense behavior when her survival instincts kicked in simply had no patience for anyone that wasn't on the same level as her.

"Alright, enough! Knock it off!" Helen stretched to grab the mouse by the wall in attempts to have him straightened up in an upright position. Now she was talking to him like she did to her own kids when they were realistically freaking out about dying after that plane crash. "Look at me when I am talking to you!" She snapped at him, wanting him to hear her out for what she was about to say. "We do NOT have time for this kind of attitude! We need to solve this mystery so that we can get home! Now you can either help me or you can help us solve the riddles, but here's what we're NOT gonna do: We are NOT gonna be sitting around while the rest of us are depending on each other to stay as a team! Do you hear me?!" Helen argued, then took a breath to compose herself as she turned her attention over at Elsa and Mateo regarding what she needed them for. They were also important, given that Helen wouldn't be able to defend the attacks as quickly as they would be able to, given how much it was going to hurt. "Since you two have long-range attacks, I need you two to cover me. Prepare yourselves for anything that comes out of there. They should be easier to target with a wider space. Basil and I can secure the room as soon as they're all out in the hallway.." She tossed Basil a warning look. If Basil wasn't up for it, Helen might have to take him into the room with her in order to keep safe from the attacks if he wasn't going to help her look for any traps once inside the room. 

"Easy. Everything's gonna be fine. It'll be like strapping an RV to a rocket!..Yeah.." Helen psyched herself up under her breath, the way that she usually tried to do when she was convincing herself that things would be okay when the situation looked especially grim, like when the air control tower wasn't responding from nomanisan island. As usual, her self-reassurances usually ended with a wry sarcastic smile towards the end, just thinking about how painful of a stretch that was to carry that heavy vehicle and attach herself to a rocket.

Yeah. This was gonna hurt. A lot.

Elsa was intuitive to Helen's plight when she commented about it hurting back in the forest, recalling how it stung her. "Yeah..but don't worry! It's nothing I can't handle!" She reassured with a smile. As a super, even she had to brace herself for pain, but she wasn't used to telling civilians that, even if it was Elsa. "Harzinon? Do ya have anything inspiring to play?" Helen smirked, recalling that he seemed to have some sort of magic in that instrument of his. She wasn't sure what else he could do, given that she hadn't exactly seen him in combat except for that magic spell he must have conjured up, but anything he could do to help her, or even inspire Basil, would be useful at this point.

Once everything was set, Helen stretched her arms across the hall to reach the furthest door away, her expression growing more determined out of rebelliousness upon feeling the icy pain of the suit as soon as she was half way across the hall. She was using all of her inner strength and determination to get through this despite the pain. It was everything she was taught in the military. In efforts to combat the pain so that it wouldn't strain her arms, as soon as she reached a new limit, Helen clenched her teeth at the agonizing pain as she then stretched her abdomen so that her arms wouldn't have to stretch fully, mostly due to the icy pain that was practically numbing her hands at this point. Finally, she reached for the door and opened it, then retracted her body back as she tried to open each door as quickly as she could until she finally returned to her regular size. 

Helen staggered on her feet as she was out of breath, but it was only from breathing to keep from showing the pain that it felt like cold, stabbing knives constantly piercing against her flexible arms and abdomen. Although her head was bowed lowly, she was able to remain standing given that she hadn't stretched her feet. She had to keep standing. She could still use her legs to move, and at least that was something until she'd recover. Thankfully, her recovery time was a lot quicker than that of a regular civilian. Lifting her head up with a determined look on her face strained with pain, she waited for any creatures to come out before she would yell to Basil to come with her in order to secure the room that any of creatures came from.  With any hope, the rest of the three could hold off on their own at least until she'd recover. 

*This is in her NSA file (link at the bottom).