Mansion on Haunted Hill [Closed]

Cuppa jumped in surprise as the door opened, almost scared out of her little shoesies before the turret popped up to scare her yet again, a shocked look on her face as she slowly pulled herself together once more. "Tha' were a surprise." She managed before following everypony in.

Upon the request to put all their equipment into the boxes, Cuppa gave a small frown before complying with a nod. "Ah guess tha's fair, dun wanna be breakin' anythin' in the house." She said as she dumped her pistols and shotgun into a box neatly, then placing her saddlebags in just to be sure that she got everything, she basically put everything in there, even her shoes and her nurse uniform, so to make sure she didn't track dirt into the house. Anyway, she had a bit of magic in case things got a little bit hairy... Which they wouldn't, right?

Closing the box, Cuppa looked around at the others, briefly taking note of the maddening amount of scars on Kestrel. But she didn't say anything, scars had stories, and it seemed Kestrel had a lot of those. Even Cuppa had a few scars littering her sides and flanks.

Kestrel: Sneak Roll succeeded.
Ginger Ale: Sneak Roll succeeded.

As it appeared that all the ponies, zebras and griffons obediantly deposited their weapons and armor into the boxes, Bane Silver then went back into the door for a moment and returned with several boxes with Prewar formal clothes for each of the new arrivals. Since sooth sight knew exactly who he was inviting, each of the sets of clothes was fitted and for the appropriate species for each of the guests.

"For those of you who already have unarmored clothes, you can go ahead and wear those-..." Bane Silver cut herself off as the large dark-colored griffon was removing his armor and equipment, she had never truly seen a creature who was so badly scarred, it actually disturbed her quite a bit, "Kestrel is you name, correct? You can-.. You can keep your mask if you like." she said with a bit of a stutter. She more wanted him to keep it on for her own sake rather than than as a mark of good will.

She then looked around to the others, "Well, now that you're all here, a vast majority of you, anyways, I suppose it's time to officially welcome you all to Crystal Hill Mansion. She opened the door to the true interior of the mansion fully. Inside, it was as if time had just stopped a few hours before the bombs had dropped. Pristine paintings lined the walls, the glass panes in their frames still shining in the light of the main hall's two fireplaces located to the left and to the right. Farther than the two fireplaces were two halls that lead in opposite directions, lit by old-styled electric lights. Especially to note was the collection of pre-war relics, armor and weapons that hung from the walls and were placed on display racks. Whoever owned this mansion before the war was quite an avid collector, and perhaps even a few after the bombs.

Item	Condition
4x Pre-war Guard Spear	Pristine
2x Pre-war Equestrian Unicorn Royal Guard Armor	Pristine
1x Flag of the Principality of Equestria	Pristine
2x Ceremonial Longsword	Pristine
4x Golden Service Rifles	Pristine
1x Hellsing (Pony Version)	Several of the barrels are bent
1x Dragon Skull (Adolesent)	Spooky
1x Ancient Unicorn Tribe Bow	Pristine, lacks a string

"Please, come in when you're ready." Bane Silver said.

Dash got the prewar clothes on then trotted in and looked around at the place. He was completely blown away. Everything from the shiny marble floors and immaculate condition of everything made Dash wish he could live here, or at least work here. He could only guess that these sorts of places evoked these sorts of feelings even back before the war, "Damn." Dash said, "Was this place always like this?" he whispered.

Kestrel offered a nod to his host and went about pulling on the suit. He hadn't missed the reaction from the mare, but nor did it really bother him. He'd heard a thousand stutters and gasps because of his appearance before.

He knew he looked like a monster.

Pulling on the suit helped things quite a bit however, not to mention helped hide the weapons he had thus far managed to sneak past notice. The suit seemed tailor fitted, hugging the correct muscle groups just firmly enough to remain taught. Whoever had brought the team here certainly had a lot of caps...not to mention some damn good connections.

Kestrels measurements weren't exactly well known.

Checking first to be sure all was well and his revolver was secured properly, the griffon began to follow after Mrs. Silver; sharp predatory eyes scanning over the many relics and trophies adorning the walls.

Impressive, if a bit gaudy.

Once Winter was finished, she took the time to look around at some of the various different things on the walls. She glanced at a few of the paintings and took time to appreciate them individually before she noticed the skull. Winter looked away rather quickly, finding the item a little unsettling as she looked around to see the familiar form of Happy Trails and now that she noticed, quite a few of the people here were ponies that she knew. She trotted over and bumped Trails' arm as she approached, "Hello Trails, funny to catch you here in a place like this?" she asked, an eyebrow slightly raised.

Blast had finished removing his armor and putting on his Equestrian Army uniform, he placed everything in a bag and hoped he wouldn't be needing it. Blast entered the next room and was surprised by its condition. He stopped to look over the collection and was genuinely impressed that is, until he spied the golden service rifles. Blast had seen rich ponies wielding these weapons before, he trotted up to Bane Silver, "Ma'am are those service rifles solid gold or just gold plated?" Blast smiled and hoped the answer wasn't solid because there is nothing worse than a gun that never works.

As Aqui slipped on the clothes he couldn't help but admire every piece of equipment he could see. It was all so much better then anything he had ever seen, better condition and better quality even. Taking time to look at everything he walked with the group, following the mare. It was clear that anything done to this house would be noticed in a heartbeat. He couldn't shake the feeling that something about the house was just unsettling to him. Shrugging it off for the time being he continued to admire everything as they went.

Ale walked through the door his pistol tucked away in his vest. When he saw the interior of the mansion he let out a whistle. "Talk about living in style." As he walked through he took note of the various knick knacks on the wall. The guard armor and bow caught ale's eye and he walked up to them. "Sheesh wonder how old these are?" ale thought as he got as closer to the bow, being careful not to trip any other security measures. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something else even more impressive and made his way over to it. A hellsing, custom built for pony use, the condition was a little iffy but nothing some TLC couldn't fix. "Ale turned to bane silver and said, "Forget the caps, i'll take that for spending the night in this place."

Trails smiled as the mare told them to switch to the unarmored clothing provided. If he was going to suit up, he'd do it with some damn style. The stallion pulled out his neatly pressed from his saddlebags and put it on. All of it fit like a glove, flattering him far better than any of the supplied clothing would. With that done he slipped another pack from his bags and stashed in his jacket pocket. Smoking would no doubt be needed to handle a host with this many demands.

Unlike Dash, Trails was unimpressed by the interior. He'd seen ponies with wealth before and wasn't one to be impressed by it. The trinkets their had hung failed to impress too. The stallion knew their value from talking with 'treasure hunters' during his caravaning days. Altogether the royal guard stuff only valued a couple thousand caps. The service rifles were only worth their gold plating, which was more valuable if melted back down into ingots. And the dragon skull and bow were both absolutely worthless. One because dragon scales were the real valuable bits and their bones were easy to come by if you knew where to look. The other because the strings were what gave the bows their unique properties.

To say the least, Trails saw their host as all hat and no cattle thusfar. Looking to impress them with his tacky decorations and hide deep wealth. This pony probably had caps, probably had plenty, but none of that counted for shit. Wealth on its own was only good to look at, none of it had any purpose until it was applied. Maybe the stallion behind the shit would be more impressive. He wasn't holding his breath though.

He was distracted from his mentally calling bullshit on their host by Bell bounding up and talking to him. "Howdy Bell," he answered with a smile. "always nice to bump into a friendly face. Especially when its one you never get to see. Don't know about you, but I'm having my doubts on this buck's ability to make good on his promises."

Rad put on the clothes he was given, and after taking one look at the interior of the mansion just wanted to touch EVERYTHING! He was very much one to be impressed by fancy or shiny looking things, and couldn't help but walk up and look at everything closely. He barely resisted touching thing, the thing that tipped the balance being the thought that some huge gun might pop out the floor and blow his arse through his mouth if he touched something. "This place is amazin! Where did ya get all this? And can I have a souvenier?" Rad had never been tought things such as etiquette and as such didn't display any as he bounced from display to display in complete wonder, much like a foal in a candy shop.

"Oh yes," Bane Silver answered Dash, ",over the years, each owner of this mansion has taken exquisite care of each of the relics you see. That dragon skull there was taken as a trophy by my husband's ancestor around 300 years ago. He wore a suit of Royal Guard armor like one of the two you see there, but the suit he wore into that particular battle was quite damaged, as you could imagine."

Shen then looked to Ginger Ale talking about the Hellsing that was displayed, and how he'd want it instead of the cap reward, "Oh, I doubt my husband would want to part with that. It was one of the few items that arrived into the collection during his lifetime. He maintains several weapons of his own, he said to me one time that he'd probably get around to fixing up that one as well."

Dash rubbed behind his ear with a fore hoof, The place was over 300 years old and had all sorts of neat stuff in it. This place seemed more fun than spooky. He could only guess what sorts of stuff the host, Sooth Sight kept in places closer to where he frequented in the mansion, more secure and where he could see them. He saw that up ahead was yet another set of doors, light washed in through the top, sides and bottom of the doors, signifying that it was more brightly lit within. Likely a combination of both electric and fireplace light.

[Everyone]
There was a sudden chill in the air even though the room seemed quite cozy and actually was up until the chill had settled. There was no apparent source of this chill as well, no windows for drafts nor vents near the floor. More unsettling was that the all of the lights dimmed for what seemed to be a fraction of a second.

[Perception 10]
Whispering could also be heard, barely audibly, almost to the point that one would wonder if they had actually heard it. Also, down the two halls, the shadows rippled in an unnatural way, but only just slightly.

Dash shivered and blinked. He looked around to the others to see if anyone else had noticed anything.

Ale was disappointed to hear that the hellsing was "off the market" for lack of a better term. "Shame, a weapon like that needs to be out there, seeing action. Not sitting in some trophy case where only a few would see it and not really know its true potential." He turned and walked away from the rifle and back towards the others. when he felt a sudden chill. He gripped his vest in an attempt to stave off the cold. "Sheesh, somepony close...that... window." The windows were closed and there was no other place that the wind could have come from. He trotted over to the window to see if there was a bad seal or anything but it looked solid, hell it looked bulletproof, probably was. "O.k. that was creepy." Ale said to dash. "This house isn't really haunted, is it?" he asked silver.

Aquilinus's ears perked up right as the chill swept through the room, he could hear voices though just barely. As he looked around the hall he saw something in the shadows though it was gone as quick as it came he knew he heard something. Looking to the other ponies he saw Dash looking with the same look in his eyes. Walking over to Dash, "Did you hear something too Dash?" Watching the group Aqui wasn't sure if they were the only two.

Trails shrugged off the chill, choosing a more rational explanation than ghosts.

"You're 'lovely' home needs better insulation. Drafts like that make winter miserable no doubt. When was the last time you went through and glazed the windows?" Then the lights dimmed spurring on the stallions criticism of the house. "Looks like you need to upgrade the wiring too, surges like that are signs of failing connections. You know a good electrician? If not there's a buck in Stableton who's good at tinkering, might be up to the challenge."

Rad shivered at the chill, and looked around for the source when the lights flickered too. As he tried to figure it out only one conclusion came to him. "That's some clever effects! Really makes the place seem haunted, ya certainly spared no effort here eh?" Rad couldn't help but snicker at Trails suggestion of insulation and electricity. "Even if there were a problem or to, it's still better than anywhere else I've been, for one the windows are intact, and two the lights work! Anyway, I can't wait to see what else they've prepared for us in this haunted house..."

Winter felt the cool chill in the air, but it didn't do much to the mare... there was more to the reason for why she was called Winter Bell. That didn't stop her giving Trails a half amused look at the non intentional pun, "I'm not miserable just yet Happy" she said, making a small quip before she turned to the one called Bane Silver. She trotted forth towards the mare and gave her politest smile, the same one she donned when addressing the ponies in Tenpony, "You have a lovely home here Mrs Silver, and it's a pleasure to meet you" she said with a gentle tip of her head.

Kestrel had taken up his usual position in the back of the group as they were led deeper into the mansion. His eyes occasionally flickering to the sides to scan the hallway for any threats, none made themselves obvious though. All Kestrel had noticed was a rather pointless waste of electricity and a lot of decoration.

The peace was apparently not meant to last however.

Without warning the lights dimmed bathing the world in shadow and an unnatural and sudden chill flooded the air. Kestrel slowed to a stop and instinctively began scanning the world about him. To most the darkness was a bane, but to Kes the night and shadows of the Wastes were a boon; one that sharpened the senses and helped focus his mind.

His sharp vision showed no windows or doors to be open. The Breeze had come from nowhere it seemed. There, in the darkness beyond the group, Kestrel could hear a faint whispering. Even with his well tuned senses it was barely audible. Had Kes not learned to trust his sense he might have passed it off as nothing, but he knew better.

Narrowing his gaze further and focusing ahead Kes began scanning for the source of the sound, but there was noth- There. A strange rippling of shadow at the end of the hall.

Any doubt that something was amiss here was quickly removed by the sight. Kes had seen many things in his life, most having logical explanations. Ghouls were the product of radiation, wind howled, dust danced, Bolts and bullets traveled in arcs because of gravity.

Listening to the others it would seem they too had noticed something and were currently trying to explain it all away. Trails was quick to pass it off as the house, Dash was wondering if he was the only one that had noticed anything, and the others were pursuing various other methods of explanation.

Kestrel was not so quick to start guessing however. Perhaps what had just happened had a logical, scientific explanation. The possibility for it being something else, something Supernatural was not cast out of the griffons mind however.

After all, shadows didn't just move like that. Not on their own.

Keeping his beak shut and face stoic as ever for now, Kestrel waited for the others to start moving again. Explanations would come in time no doubt. They always did.

Lightning flew in the sky over Stableton heading toward the mansion. For once in Lightning's life, he was actually late to something. Surprising. Due to this delay, the pegasus did not have the time to dress up to the party. Instead, he was wearing his normal clothing that he always had on a normal basis. His mercenary outfit and his deputy badge which hung on his chest. His .45 pistol was in a holster but for this occasion, Lightning took his pistol out and stuck it in a pocket. He wanted a weapon close to him when he had to visit a pony that he didn't know. Upon arrival, Lightning straighten his clothing and knocked on the door.

(Sneak 68, sneaking in .45 pistol with prism sight)

Lightning Flash: Sneak roll succeeded.

Dash looked over at Aquilinus, "Heard something? There was a sound too?" Dash asked, he hadn't heard the whispering nor had he seen the unnatural rippling of the shadows. He then heard a few of the ponies comment about how their hosts may have set something up to spook them in spirit of the party. It made Dash calm down a little bit.

If that was the case then there had to be some damn fine special effects triggers in place to get any of them to give up this prize that their host had set up for so simple a task. However, from what he had seen, there wasn't really a way for the chill to have happened. At least the lights could have been rigged.


Bane Silver turned when it seemed that the other ponies had noticed something amiss. Her face twitched ever so slightly, but she then shook her head when Trails commented at the draft, "Well, incase you haven't noticed, there is no way for there to be a draft in this room. Do you still notice such a thing?... Or perhaps..." She then smirked and looked to address everypony, "It was the spirits from the mansion's past giving a true greeting to you all..."

She then looked to Winter, "Why thank you. I have only been a resident for around 20 years now, my husband and his ancestors are the ones who truly put their blood and sweat into this house. And yet others still have put even more than blood and sweat into it, if you haven't heard the legends." Her vision flicked the door as she heard a knock, "Excuse me, I should get that."

She trotted back into the entryway, "Activate security Turret." she said, and the carpeted panel once again rotated, revealing the massive turret. She then opened the door, which hadn't yet been rebolted, "Ah, you must be Lightning Flash, one of the invitees." she said to the blue Pegasus. She then looked back to the turret, "Deactivate." she said, and the turret once again went into storage mode.

Lightning waited patiently (somewhat) at the door as he could hear some voices inside but he couldn't make out who it was or what they were saying. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a turret popped out and with..."lightning" speed, the pegasus reacted instantly. Leaping into a backflip and into the air, Lightning was ready to take off and perform some aerial maneuvers if needed but thankfully, the pony in charge of the house came out and when she deactivated the turret, Lightning sheepishly landed and cleared his throat, "....Uhh...hello!....Nice turret...."

Slowly regaining his composure, Lightning straightened up and said, "Um, yes. I am Lightning Flash. But please, just call me Lightning." He would walk to the door and noticed a chest filled with weapons. The pegasus could put two and two together and knew that he had to give up his weapons. Without a word, he gave up his sword, his SMG, his sniper rifle, all of his ammo except his .45 pistol which he was keeping on him. He didn't want to give it up and he wasn't going to tell the hostess that he was carrying a weapon. Once he completed that task, Lightning would turn and look at the female unicorn and say, "You have a lovely home."

An almost emaciated-looking unicorn stumbles up to the door. Her sickly yellow eye sees a skewed view of the scene before her. The dying trees so beautiful, the mansion a jewelry box. She watches it for a moment, waiting for it to open and the ballerina to rise up and start twirling. As she gets closer, she sees the gathered group. "I seem to be late." She stares at the group with a wide, blank eye. She wasn't used to getting mail. She never got mail. "What a pretty mansion..." Seeing the box, she places her knife and pistol among the rest. The letter was simple enough, and she could use the caps. This would be fun. So long since she'd been on the receiving end of the supernatural.

"Ma'am do you know anything about home maintenance, or do you think everything magically stays perfect?" Trails retorted, his voice was more than a little condescending. "After 200 years the original insulation, and seals around the windows, will have degraded to the point that they're both completely useless and basically dust. Unless you have replaced both these things, which clearly you haven't, it's possible to feel the effects of a draft literally anywhere in your home. If you want to blame your poor housekeeping on 'spirits' that's fine too, though."

Cuppa wiggled into the clothing pre-prepared by the host of the house, gazing around at everything and simply seeming quite interested in everything before things made a brief change for the weird, though she had rationalised the cold as the clothing being unfamiliar on her body. The flickering lights could just be a fault in the power supply or something, right?

Then Trails, seemingly one well suited to criticising and generally talking, decided it would be worth attempting to explain all the faults in the house from just this one room.

"That's mighty rude o' ya, Mr. Trails. Yer invited t' this nice house an' offered caps an' a rare chance o' finding somethin' ya really want, an all ya can bring yerself t' do first is criticise yer host an' her house-keepin'?" She said with a frown before smiling to Bane Silver and giving a small nod. "It's a nice, fancy house, ah have t' admit, a wee bit cold, but better than anythin' ah've seen. Ah'd be happy wi' jus' a sturdy roof over muh head."

Bane Silver watched as Lightning entered. She raised an eyebrow when he seemed to compliment the security turret they had. Odd thing to comment on, she thought. She then saw another guest enter the mansion, another invitee she recognized, "And Deus Crux, welcome as well. For you two who missed it, my name is Bane Silver." She then lead the two ponies back into the main hall when they were finished putting their equipment into the locked chests, "And thank you for the compliment Deus, at least most in your group know how to properly appreciate a house which has had alot of work go into it."

Bane Silver eyed Trails with a tinge of diapproval, "If you wish, I could provide for you all the logs of repairs and improvements that have been made to the mansion over the course of the years, if that will help you dispel any doubts as to the state of repair the house is in. I, myself, didn't feel a draft."

She then crossed the room to the other side and to a large set of double doors that undoubtedly lead to the dining room, "Beyond this room, you shall meet your true host, Sooth Sight. He shall explain not just the rules of the party we are having here, but also the rules for you all simply being allowed in his mansion. Do you all have any more questions before we proceed?"

"I'm just trying to give reasonable explanations for this. Not trying to insult her home, which is a lovely example of Victorian architecture." Trails said in an apologetic voice. "I do admire the craftsmanship in the mouldings, and the obvious skill and care which was put in its initial construction for it to still be standing this day. Most ponies in prewar Equestria just slapped their homes together as fast as they could with the population boom and all. Your husband's ancestors cared, and it shows. I do however have one question, can you forgive my rudeness? I assure you it was accidental, sometimes life in the wastes makes a man forget himself."

Kestrel considered his options for a moment before speaking up. "Why did you choose who you and your husband did?" he asked, voice low and even almost unsettlingly so.