GRAVEYARD

[umbralant]

Graveyard

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GY: FAQ

Gatchapon

Reflexively, you curl tighter. Just another minute. Just another minute of sleep is all you need, but the sun waits for no one. Wait. The sun? After many days and nights with only moonlight to guide you, your eyes snap open and your pupils contract at the light.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Bask in this euphoria for however long it lasts, until your memory snaps back against your mind like a rubber band. Weren't you dead? No matter how you met your end, you certainly remember dying in vivid detail. The pain that corresponds to the last moment's of your life chooses then to make itself known, trying to wriggle free from your skin almost literally. That mark on your skin wasn't there before either.

Take a moment to breathe and get your bearings, and really take everything into focus. The warm rays of sun that dance upon your skin are colorful and fragmented like a kaleidoscope, the effect of being filtered through stained glass. Of all the places to wake up, it seems you're inside a church that's no stranger to you, St. Mary's Basilica. While the odds are good you've woken up with company somewhere near by, the glint of gold from the altar will likely catch your attention regardless—embedded deep in the altar stands a golden staff, two sculpted wings draped down its sides.

While some things are the same, and some things are different, there are still more questions than answers. But the inscription engraved into the roof of the ceiling of the Church, now visible in proper lighting seems rather apt: Welcome to Krakow (again).

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Comments

[p_q]

[Well. There are still some conspicuously locked locations that they’ve got on their radar at least, so he’s going to pocket this key to try it later. Anything else in the mailbox or the post office of note? Otherwise he’ll probably continue his homecoming(??) tour(?) and head back over to the clocktower because his bat senses are tingling.

What’s in the lobby of his favorite abode?]

[umbralant]

[ Tourist trap city, pretty much. It's not that surprising that people have passed this location by in their earlier exploration attempts—after more than five weeks in Krakow it's more of a depressing home than a vacation.

But behind all the colorful pages of destination Krakow haunts, there's a single brochure of how the clock works. That...probably would have been useful last week, but only yolo now. Read it anyway? ]

[p_q]

[Only yolo now—

And yes he is an unnecessarily thorough bat who is going to read it anyway.]

[umbralant]

[ "In the past, this Clocktower operated by clockwork mechanisms that have since been decommissioned. Today, it runs via radio signal despite outward appearances. "

There's also a line about how the basement used to house a prison and torture chamber, yikes. ]

[p_q]

[Radio signal? It's probably small wonder it doesn't work here in the Twilight, then -- it was never meant to run using the gears in the first place. Which means... what happened to the radio signal mechanism?

Is there anything in the clock tower itself that could have been linked to the new way it's run, that he would have noticed in all his time here?

If not he's going to look around curiously for that now. The prison and torture chamber is read over with nary a blink; does it look like the same basement the cafe is in?]

[umbralant]

[Well, the picture of the clockwork in the brochure sure as heck doesn't show any of the newer mechanisms that were installed or the black box with the battery in it, so needless to say that's the main difference.

The picture of the basement that accompanies the line about the prison and torture chamber shows the basement cafe and stage, yes! What a delightful line to use to endorse visitations there, wouldn't you say.]

[p_q]

[Hmmm. Unhelpful, but maybe Dist can make heads or tails of whatever is going on here -- or maybe the only thing they really need to know is that the Lady has no idea how this clocktower works normally. Maybe. Who knows.

And considering the reason they're here and who Ulquiorra is, that's actually not a bad call to tourism for him. Too bad he's already been down there and it totally doesn't live up to its rep. Anything else interesting in the lobby area?]

[umbralant]

[The brochure also will mention that the clock tower does use an electronic receiver built into the very spire of the building, so there's that too.

And nope, nothing else to note in the lobby area!]

[p_q]

[So it's basically not meant to be accessed, then... probably. What a pain technology is in this day and age, especially when you're trying to communicate and/or deal with the technologically-challenged on the other side.

Okay! Is there anywhere in this clock tower where he can use this silver not-mailbox key, or is he going to have to scope out the rest of the Main Square for this?]

[umbralant]

[Nope, the clock tower doesn't have any locked doors for this key, so checking somewhere else would definitely be a better use of time!]

[p_q]

[Onward, then! He'll swing by the bookstore at least to compare the inventory with the bookstore in the Night, even though he spent a lot of time avoiding the Lady's office and its environs. Luckily, things are much less stifling here.

Are there any keyholes for general perusal here, by the by? Secret bookshelves? Notes shoved between the books? How much of a treasure trove is this ding-dang bookstore.]

[umbralant]

[The stock is more or less the same as the night side! The only real difference is the lack of a Lady and her office here, so there's no secret passages or keyholes hidden around! It's just a regular bookstore, sadly.]

[p_q]

[And if he uses the flame to peek at the Lady's office from the threshold of her door?]

[umbralant]

[It's...! Vacant, interestingly enough. Moreover, much of what was in the office is now gone, including the giant portrait of her in the back of the room and some bits of a generator are littered on the floor.]

[p_q]

[Not entirely surprising, given her loud winding down of her plans, and he’ll go ahead and step inside to compare the room in Twilight with what he remembers of the Night’s absolute chaos when he bothered to visit. He’ll also look around to see if there’s anything that’s been revealed in the Night with the cleanup effort.

Where’s the juicy gossip, y’all, are we too late...!]

[umbralant]

[Unfortunately y'all truly are too late...! Whatever he can see of the drawers that are still partially open reveal that there's absolutely nothing inside, and the generator bits continue to be sad and useless. Now it just looks like a regular old (messy) office instead of one occupied by a megalomaniac. Improvement??]

[p_q]

[Lame?? OK fine, he'll head back out to the Main Square and all its sights -- quick check on the stone lions outside the clocktower and the graffiti around the square in case there's anything interesting there, but otherwise he's probably done going through this square with a fine-toothed comb? Or a toothbrush.]

[umbralant]

[Nothing interesting to note in the square unless the lampposts really jump out at him or something! There's definitely nothing that corresponds to the key though, nor will he get even more keys by jamming his hand down a stone lion's gullet, so maybe Ulquiorra will find greener pastures elsewhere.]