CHAPTER ONE: Murray's Journey: Following

[Laraqua]

They're in a small corridor with a door at the other end and a door to the right that is labelled: Green Room. The wooden floorboards are scuffed raw of any polish and the white paint is peeling and fly-spattered around the sickly green light fixtures. The stale air clogs the lungs, making it almost hard to breathe, and his boot steps are like gunshots in the silent town.

Craig inched in after him, casting nervous looks around. "Okay...."

[Mr. Handy]

"Don't they ever clean this place?" mutters Murray. He peeks into the Green Room.

[Laraqua]

The Green Room is a mess of old newspapers, dirty coffee cups, and discarded candy bar wrappers. The walls are covered in posters of attractive men and women (by rural standards) before some rather complicated scenery pieces. They certainly put a lot of effort into their productions.

[Mr. Handy]

"Nothin'," says Murray. He takes out his map and opens it up. "Okay, if we go through this door at the end of the hall, we'll be in another hallway backstage with offices. This one is the director's office." He taps it on the map. "Sounds like someone in charge to me." He puts the map away and tries the door at the end.

[Laraqua]

The door opens easily, revealing a rather crooked corridor that heads left and right. Murray takes the right, heading toward the Director's Office, and walking around the walls surrounding the Green Room as he went. There's a bouquet of roses, mostly white with a single red, that have been crumpled and crushed against the carpeted floor. There's still a card attached to them that says 'Yours Truly, Julie' in a flowing, old-fashioned script. Directly in front of the crushed and trodden on flowers is a door marked with the words 'Director's Office' and the corridor itself continues to the left.

[Mr. Handy]

Murray makes sure the gun is put securely away and then knocks on the door to the director's office.

[Laraqua]

Silence. There's no response from anyone inside the office. Maybe there's no one in there.

Craig waits nervously. "Sure there's anyone in there?"

[Mr. Handy]

Murray shrugs again and tries the door to see if it's locked.

[Laraqua]

The door opens easily to reveal an old-fashioned office with two mahogany floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with all manner of books on theatrical productions. A table sits by the window, dominated by a large old-fashioned computer and printed and covered in yellowed pages from a screenplay. There's a spatter of blood across the pages and the thin, gauzy curtain that hangs before the window. There's an old filing cabinet with a wilted pot plant, surrounded by dead flies, in the corner to the right of the door they've entered through.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,My character sheet is not completely up to date. I lost 1 Sanity at one point, so I should be at 75. I also reloaded my gun, so there's 6 bullets in it and 10 spare.

"Blood," says Murray. "Not a good sign." He slips on his gloves before he starts poking around. He tries the drawers of the filing cabinet first to see if there's anything interesting in them.

[Laraqua]

The files are on plays, costs, costume expenses, and other odds and ends. There doesn't appear to be anything here of consequence. (Library Use Roll to be sure).

The speakers crackle and a smiling voice can be distantly heard:

"Hello there, Detective, can you hear me?" whispers a familiar voice. Jack?

"Of course you can. Welcome to Silent Hill, detective. I am your... tonight's... entertainment."

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Thanks!

Finding nothing of interest in the filing cabinet, Murray closes it. "I think that's Jack Fifer," he tells Craig. "He's the bartender from Annie's Bar. He's the fellow I met at the hospital who told me Ash was here. He probably came here looking for her too - or for me."

[Laraqua]

"Still looking for Ash?" Jack said, his words continuing even as Murray spoke. "I hope you aren't hoping that some silly documents will help you find where she is. She's not here anymore. But where is she now, I wonder..."

A soft chuckling.

"Just kidding. I know where she is. In fact, I just spoke with her right now. You were soooo slow, detective, yah know that? She's been waiting in this town for days for you, entrapped. If only you focused on what's important and cut corners whenever you could..." He tsked.

A short pause.

"You have no idea what you are getting into, don't you?"

"Ah, nevermind. I can't hear you anyways. The movie's about to start, Murray. I hope you enjoy the show."

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't remember him being so nutty," says Murray. "Maybe he thinks he's Jack Nicholson. He can't hear me, but he sure acts like he can see me." He checks his map again. "Let's go to the auditorium and see what sort of show he's putting on. The quickest way there looks to be through the backstage area."

[Laraqua]

Craig simply nods. "Maybe we should go the other way? Or keep looking for Rochelle? He doesn't sound stable."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah, you may be right," says Murray. "Who's Rochelle?"

[Laraqua]

"It wasn't Rochelle we were looking for?" asked Craig, obviously covering as best he can. "Coulda sworn you mentioned Rochelle."

[Mr. Handy]

"No, I said I was looking for Ash," says Murray, looking directly into Craig's eyes - and his soul. "So who's Rochelle?"

[Laraqua]

"Sh-she's missing, too," said Craig. "She's from Annie's Bar. I must've gotten the two confused because of ... because of hearing of Jack. He ... he got stabbed at Annie's Bar several nights ago."

This is obviously not the whole story. It seems almost like he's jumped a stepping stone. Maybe he was hoping Ash would lead him to Rochelle?

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, I'm good at finding people," says Murray. "I can help you find Rochelle as well as Ash, but Ash may be in danger and we need to find her first if we can. She may be able to help us find Rochelle at any rate. But you're going to need to level with me and tell me everything you know. I'll need all the information I can get in order to locate her."