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Miss Conception Vice Captain
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 Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:21 pm
 Emerging from the Box Office with your ticket firmly in hand, you pass beneath a grand, marble archway, decorated with (presumably) fake cobwebs and spiders. Once across the threshold, you find yourself suddenly transported to the luxurious days of old. The size and grandeur of the room steal your breath away and you can’t help but freeze in your tracks, trying to take in your surroundings. Above you swing three gigantic golden chandeliers, adorned with hundreds of flickering candles. Though the old theater has been remodeled to accommodate electricity, the candles add a more authentic (and daresay spooky?) feel to the place. The lighting in here is atmospherically dim, but not too dark: wouldn’t want anyone tripping! Rich wine-red carpets, though faded, hint at the beauty this place held in its prime. Signs of age show in the peeling paint and chipped statuettes, but you don't let such minor details dampen your spirits. Pillars of gold and white line the perimeter and a stunning pair of curved staircases lead to the auditorium’s upper balconies. Beneath these staircases reside two general admission entryways, sectioned off by velvet curtains during the downtime between performances. Two escorts can usually be found flanking these doors, ready and willing to hand out programs for the evening.
Accenting the classy feel of the room is a polished, jet-black grand piano, artfully offset to one side and continually played by a number of rotating staff members. Some regulars say they hardly notice the piano anymore; it’s merely become a permanent background track to the party. Silence would be startling. Perhaps it's just the wind, but others claim to have heard the dismal drone of the keys without a living soul present at the instrument. Fortunately, a lack of evidence to support their ghost stories disproves them quite quickly. What is that song the piano's playing, anyway? It sounds oddly familiar…
Once you have adapted to the sheer magnificence of the room, you begin to notice festive tables and decorative booths peppered along the sidelines. Some are hosting games and events, others offer to hand out or sell their goods, and more still organize activities and events. A particularly large booth seems devoted to helping you cut up burlap sheets and transform them into ghost costumes, and many guests are already hard at work on their own. Yet, there’s plenty of open stalls. Why not host your own activity?
Before you run off to partake in the Halloween merriment, you spot a large notice board just outside the entrance to the auditorium. Better take a look.The foyer is where the bulk of the party takes place. All the booths and activities take place in the foyer, whereas performances and such will happen in the auditorium. This thread contains plenty of important information and will be updated from time to time. Check back often!
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:32 pm
 One sheet of paper hanging on the notice board details the layout of the Durem Theatre, and gives descriptions of the major rooms. The Foyer seems to be the central location from which most parts of the building branch, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find what you're looking for. If you'd like a personal map, feel free to ask any escort. They should have one handy for you. If a room is listed here but is not present in the main forum, you are free to lift the description from this thread and post it in a new topic yourself. This way, we keep unused rooms to a minimum. Only create the topic if you plan to role-play in the said room however! The Box OfficeYou enter the old-fashioned building door and are shocked. All around you, you see Halloween decorations: left, right, all around. The carpets are a beauty to look at. Everywhere you turn, people are wearing costumes. Everyone is possessed with the holiday spirit; from barons, ghosts, and vampires, to just plain people in masks. The employees, of course, are wearing their finest Halloween attire. You can see little children running around, holding buckets in their hands, many of them wearing ghost sheets. Several are the employees' children. The employees thought it would be cute to have the children “spook” the customers while they waited in line. You pass them all until you reach glass doors, and inside you spot a ticket booth. Now, this is a splendid booth: a banner hangs from the top saying “Happy Halloween!” and a black cat sits on the front window, relaxing. Pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns rest on the sides, and home-made decorations (mostly from the kids) are plastered all over the sides. On one side, there is a statue of a grotesque butler and once you pass by it, it comes alive and speaks different phrases each time.
As you approach the window and grab your ticket, the cat leaps away and the statue says “hope the eyeball stew is to your liking, madam.”The FoyerYou are here.The TheaterAh, the theater room. The heart of this establishment. It's where shows have been played, laughter arose, and tears shed. Just coming in here gives you the purging feeling the actors try their hardest to obtain.
The architecture of this place is just stunning. Across the walls stand statues of pewter, and classic paintings, with frames encrusted with what seemed to be specs of gold. Is it real? Maybe not, but it is pretty. The seats are adorned in a luxurious red velvet, and the floor, though a bit scoffed, is what seems to be granite. There is a balcony level, with a golden rail surrounding the edge of the landing. Letterbox seating in the back is reserved for what you assume to be for royalty (or at least someone with a lot of money). You can't see it well, but the seats are like thrones for a king. Yes, this place sure is quaint but it does have an elegant touch to it.
The lights onstage suddenly flicker on, and there are some familiar faces there setting up the next show. Below the stage, a cacophony of sound emerges from the pit where the orchestra is warming up. Silly you! You forgot you were at a Halloween party, didn't you? Instead of paying attention the large, soulless statues on the walls, you notice the banners and balloons.
Yes, this place has cleaned up nicely since it was abandoned, but you just can't shake an eerie feeling you have in the pit of your stomach. There is a strong scent in the air, and as you take a whiff you conclude that it isn't the upholstery or the pumpkin cookies. What could it be? You decide to shrug it off and continue ogling the theater instead, scoping out your seat as designated by your ticket.The Banquet HallFollowing the scent of cooking food, you wander through a gilded doorway into the Banquet Hall, your stomach grumbling. Within the airy room are dozens upon dozens of decorated tables, all arranged neatly and complete with flawless place settings. An overload of gold and white make you feel as though you're dining in a palace, but the large buffet table at the front of the room reminds you that this is still just a Halloween party. Spooky party favors adorn the room as well: black and orange streamers, cobwebs, and little paper ghosties hanging from the chandeliers. You're so hungry you barely notice, however.
Plate in hand, you approach the buffet licking your lips. There's enough food here to feed an army, and then some! The kitchen staff are hard at work replenishing the supply whenever it seems to dwindle, and the variety is something to shake a stick at. From cute, pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies to the most elegant of gourmet pastas, everything you can imagine is laid out before you. The kitchen staff are known to take requests sometimes, as well. Bon appetit!
If you feel like dancing once you've had your fill, there is a lacquered wood portion of the floor specifically for that purpose. Classical music plays from well-hidden speakers, and a romantic lighting makes this area a popular destination for couples.The KitchensPerhaps you are drawn to the kitchens by the tantalizing scent of chocolate and popcorn, perhaps you are just hungry, or perhaps you just became lost. It's so very easy to get turned around in these old theaters that are filled with doors and corridors. At any rate, the only thing that matters is that you're here in the kitchens.
The kitchens themselves are large and cluttered, filled with old marble counters that have weathered the years gracefully except for a few chips, wood floors, and countless food products. Old popcorn carts are stacked up in one corner, not very far away from where a newer one is gleefully popping out corn. Along one wall are the stoves: large, black monstrosities full of simmering pots of savory sauces, delicate soups, and countless more delicious morsels.
The highlight of the room is a large table on which newly made treats are set out before they meet their ultimate fate in the rest of the rooms. There's just about every dessert one could ever think of: popcorn balls, bat-shaped cookies with button eyes, Halloween cupcakes, marshmallow ghosts, bowls of candy corn, candy skulls, candy witches, candy everything, and so much more.
The head cook of the theater is an irascible old vampire that flits around the kitchen, wooden spoon in hand, like a moth like a flighty grasshopper. You might be a bit grumpy too if you had a few dozen more pans of pumpkin seeds to cook and not nearly enough time to do it. It's best if you don't make him mad, so resist the urge to steal one of the orange and black shaped cookies off the table. It's not polite to take before asking.
But if you stay and help out for a bit, maybe he'll send you off with a bag of treats. Maybe.The RestroomsThe swinging door doesn't even make a noise as it shuts behind. The bathroom smells of fresh roses, and... something else. Almond? Something acrid. The harsh light reflecting off the tiles takes a little while to adjust to, but you soon see how lavishly the bathroom is decorated. Gold-framed mirrors cover the wall to your right, beneath which is a seemingly endless row of basins. The stalls have writing scrawled on the inside wall. Crude messages, mostly. The rumor going around is that a ghost haunts the stalls and writes messages back to people. But that's just silly superstition. Right...?The Script LibraryJudging from the name of the room, you expect something much more impressive than what you find when you stumble across the Script Library. Instead of a huge, cavernous area with hoards of ancient and rare volumes, you see only what looks like an abandoned wine cellar. The corridor is rather narrow and long, and everything is made of a gray, decaying stone. The smell of dust is almost overwhelming and you resist the urge to sneeze, thinking you might upset some spirit that dwells here. The wine racks themselves resemble crumbling honeycombs, and the slots where the bottles should be are stuffed with rolled-up manuscripts, play booklets, papyrus, and more. The entirety of each wall is completely overrun with these papers, and you wonder if there is any sort of rhyme or reason to this "library" at all. The only mystery here is how the actors possibly manage to find the scripts they need.The GardenTowering swirls of topiary stand menacingly over you as you step out into the open air. A greenhouse overtaken by the very plants it once housed stands shakily to the side, held up by ivy and branches alone, save for cobwebs where needed.
Flowerbeds stud the edges of the stone walkway, some daring to spill onto the path and grow between the cracks. Where they do not tread, fallen leaves do.
As you walk, you step down and into the main gardens. The cobbled path stretches in an arch in either direction, encircling a dilapidated fountain that seems to have been made fit to run again despite the surface layer of algae and being nearly overtaken by an encroaching white rose bush. Coming to the side of the fountain, you notice stone benches, some cracked, but others withstanding like a minute stone henge all arranged around the flowery culdesac with care.
As looming as the outer walls and their thorny natural defenses are, it is quite open, yet private near the center. Aside from the trickle of the water and rustle of wind in the leaflitter, it is silent out here. A little too much so, even.The North WingIn the distance looms a doorway surrounded by dead branches, which leads to a huge oak door that clashes again and again from a spectral wind. You recall that for a long time there was no one around to care for this old building, an extension of the Durem Theatre which now serves as a hotel.
Upon entering, the musty smell and rough texture of the red carpet overwhelms your senses, and a film of brown dust blankets the entire environment. The first thing you notice is the enormous chandelier that decorates the lobby. Another interesting aspect of the room is the huge grandstand railing, of Art Nouveau style, which is also made of oak and whose surface is covered by the same red carpet. Ascending the stairs, you can hear the creak of wood as it nearly collapses beneath your feet due to the acquired mold and mildew from many broken windows. Every step you take releases a scent of putrefaction that permeates the North Wing.
One notary window at the end of the hallway beckons you forward, shaded by wrinkled curtains and half-broken by the elements. Within the glass move ghostly shadows, recounting a tragic mystery or possibly a happy past. As you continue down the hall you notice the hotel has a strange numbering system, starting at 111 and skipping any number that contains a four.
Every door is preceded by a marble table containing a ceramic vase and dried flowers, and every few feet a beautiful painting adorns the walls. It is rumored that these paintings change if there is new moon, whose light falls through the cracked window of wind-whispered secrets. The rooms themselves are simple but classy, maintained well, and quite cozy. The suites are worthy of bragging rights, if you have the money, and the entire area holds an aura of mystery.
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Miss Conception Vice Captain
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Miss Conception Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:41 pm
 Beneath the map, another parchment states the tentative schedule of events for the party. Read it carefully, you don't want to miss anything! Any specific times are listed in Pacific Time, which is -8 GMT. To find out what that corresponds to in your time zone, this website may prove useful.Friday the 23rd• Pumpkin festival! This is the prelude to the main party.
Enter the foyer and carve your pumpkins, make ghost sheets, and enjoy yourself while the staff finishes setting up the party.
• The real fun begins at 6:00 PM Pacific time with a magic show in the theater!Saturday the 24th• Enjoy yourself! Supposedly, there's a full moon tonight. More events will be added as they are booked. Sunday the 25th• Events will be added as they are booked.
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:43 pm
 Beside the program, a pamphlet of information about the history of the Durem Theatre is printed. This would prove interesting, if most of the information hadn't been torn out. Better check back later.
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Miss Conception Vice Captain
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