But For A Stone (A Matou Shinji Series AU)

[Skull Leader]

I was assuming that Shinji is intelligent enough to set things down to open stuff and then pick them pack up again but if I had to leave an item it would be the potion.

[Daiki]

That feeling when you don't have enough slots.

I'm fine with dropping the potion. Likely to bite us later but, being overburdened is likely to screw us as much.

While we all understand that it's technically possible to pick all three items and move while carrying them, the issue is mainly about being able to move at a steady pace. If having the three on us is impractical, it's better to live some behind since it forces Shinji to go through extra steps whenever he does an action.

Remember the context, Shinji is in a hostile environment. Being able to move fast without being detected is key. Once we have secured a wand and the partner, things might be different.

[Skull Leader]

That feeling when you don't have enough slots.

Considering that the other person from the sounds of it is close by we should have more hands soon. I am fine with leaving the unknown potion at this moment.

Modify my answer to

[X] Grab the knife and the rope and check the door

[Daiki]

[X] Grab the knife and the rope and check the door.

Let's go with that.

[alfheimwanderer]

[X] Grab the items and check ye door

---

A jet-black knife with a handle of worn bone. A length of rope, woven of some oddly shimmering fibre. A mysterious vial of black liquid, icy cold to the touch.

The only three items of note in the cabinet - and while Shinji has no idea what the potion could possibly be, and having no articles of clothing other than his underwear, has no real place to stash much, he doesn't want to just leave anything potentially useful behind. After all, the boy realizes that he's probably working under a time limit - if he doesn't escape before this "Wormtail" gathers the others for whatever ritual his kidnappers have in mind, he is likely done for.

So he winds the rope around his body, feeling it latch on a bit more tightly than he would have expected and picks up the knife so he's not completely defenseless - even as he feels like something inside him is being pulled into the knife, slowly. The potion...he is less clear about, and the sheer coldness of it is concerning, but he picks it up anyway, even as it numbs his fingers.

'I guess I could throw it, if I had no other option.'

He wasn't going to drink some unknown concoction, he didn't want to risk getting the liquid on his skin, when he didn't know if it was a poison - and he certainly wasn't going to stuff it down his drawers. White-hot cold was not a good thing to have next to...rather sensitive tissues, after all.

...

'Then again...maybe I'll put it back,' he thinks. It would be better to have a free hand, after all - one that wasn't numb and nearly inoperable from being frozen.

So he does, and looking over the room once more, he sees nothing else of use, and not wanting to waste time, he goes back to the door, looking it over...and frowning.

'...what...is this...?'

There is no doorknob, nothing he can really pull on to test if the door is unlocked or not.

'...it...only opens from outside?' he thinks, his mind going numb. 'I'm...trapped...?'

No. It couldn't be. It couldn't be the end. Not like this.

'I'll look again.'

And so he did, but the doorknob remained stubbornly absent.

'...Maybe I should set it on fire?'

No. He realizes that it is a stupid idea - even if the door was flammable, the fumes would just incapacitate him.

But what can he do?

'...the knife.'

Perhaps if he slides it between the door and the fra...

Click.

The door swings inwards, just a hair, enough for Shinji to grab onto the edge and pull it all the way open. It is a heavy door, but in contrast to the cabinet, it opens silently, revealing a lamp-lit hallway that seems - for the moment - deserted. Whoever owns the house is no doubt well off, given the rich wood paneling everywhere, and the tapestries of odd scenes that include a wizard trapped in a tree, goblins being consumed by a beast of flame, and a castle being demolished by a cloud of darkness.

At one end of the hall there is a set of stairs heading downwards, with a window above revealing that it is nearly pitch-black outside, though Shinji can make out that the house is somewhere in the middle of a forest. Or at least is surrounded by trees. At the other end a door lies half open, with the room beyond it well-lit.

And on either side, there are doors like the one he emerged from - 4 in total. Apparently the knobs are on the outside...

Perhaps his fellow captive is behind one of them. Perhaps not.

Either way, time is of the essence.

What does he do next?

[ ] Head downstairs and try to escape
[ ] Go to the well-lit room, which the "lord" presumably vacated
[ ] Try the doors on either side of the hall
[ ] (write-in)

[Daiki]

Nvm, the window won't open. And since we won't create a ruckus by breaking it right now, reverting to initial plan.

[x] Try the doors on either side of the hall.

[alfheimwanderer]

The window, by the way, is not one that can be opened. It is a simple pane of glass fixed into the wall.

[neophyte]

[x] Try the doors on either side of the hall.

Time to get some princess allies.

[skulkidcachi90]

[x] Try the doors on either side of the hall.

Try to get so useful "tools".

[alfheimwanderer]

[x] Try the doors on either side of the hall.

---

While it is very tempting to head for the stairs and try to make his way out of the manor alone, Shinji thinks better of it, given that he remembers all too well what it is like to be trapped in a small, dark room, bound, gagged, and fearing for one's life. Obviously, whoever was assigned to be his partner (and he has no idea who it is, only that it isn't a Hufflepuff) hasn't managed to escape their confinement.

Logically, a captive wouldn't be in a room that had its door open - it was likely that was the room recently vacated by whoever this "Wormtail" had called "milord." Which meant that the person was likely in one of the three rooms lining the corridor aside from the one he'd been imprisoned in.

...but which one? His partner could be in any of them, and he isn't sure how much time he has left.

That, and if he is not careful, he might end up startling them and alerting the enemy...

What does he do?

[ ] Listen at each door to try and sense who is behind which
[ ] Knock on each door and call out quietly
[ ] Try all the doors - if they're unlocked fine, if not, move on
[ ] Go with his gut - choose a door and use his knife to try to open it
[ ] (write-in)

[Daiki]

Not sure of the best course of action.

But if possible try to go for the action which will warrant less risk of freaking out the partner while being careful not to be ambushed by mistake.

[alfheimwanderer]

But if possible try to go for the action which will warrant less risk of freaking out the partner while being careful not to be ambushed by mistake.

And which action do you think that is?

[neophyte]

[x] Knock on each door and call out quietly

Where's Zelkova when we need him.

[Daiki]

And which action do you think that is?

Announcing yourself one way or another before trying to open the door is a good start. Something like that;

[x] Knock on each door and call out quietly.

[skulkidcachi90]

[x] Knock on each door and call out quietly.

[alfheimwanderer]

[x] Knock on each door and call out quietly.

---

'I don't know how much time is left before Wormtail and his associates arrive...' Shinji thinks to himself, with the thought making him rather nervous. 'I just know that if I'm not finished by the time they are...'

That would be the end. He would be made to suffer whatever 'ritual' his captors had in mind.

And even if this is a simulation, with how realistic everything had been so far...

The boy shudders...

'I won't let them catch me,' he resolves, thinking back to how when magi fought, it was often to the death. 'Besides, its not as by killing these illusions, I'd really become a murderer.'

His gaze drops slightly, to the ebon knife in his hands.

'And if it comes down to it, I'll kill myself.'

And his partner, too. Better to meet a quick end with only a little pain, than to be used in some kind of odd magical ritual that was almost certain to be agonizing.

'Whoever my partner is...'

But right now, the identity of the person doesn't matter. What matters is finding which room the other is being held captive in.

'I hope I'm right about it being one of the rooms along the hall. If the person is downstairs...'

Well, he doesn't want to get any closer to the basement than otherwise necessary, as he is reasonably certain that will also lead to a rather painful end.

'So...which door?'

There are three possibilities, after all, and while he could just try opening them, he didn't want to risk triggering some kind of ambush event, in case the other person had freed themselves of restraints but hadn't managed to get out, or if there was some trap hidden behind one of the doors.

'Guess I'll have to knock...'

Swiftly, he crosses the hall, his knuckles beating out a sharp rhythm on the door before him.

"Hey, is anyone there?" he whispers, trying not to be too loud. "I'm here to get you out!"

Putting his ear against the door, he thinks he can hear something like moaning, but he can't make out any words, or even tell if its a person.

He tries the same thing for the second door, with the sound of scratching coming to his ears.

There was no response from the third door.

Which door does he open?

[ ] Door 1
[ ] Door 2
[ ] Door 3
[ ] Forget about these for now, go to the well-lit room

[Daiki]

Either the partner is still in one of the rooms or they are in the lit room (and we are about to trigger something bad).

What do we do?

[Skull Leader]

Considering that someone just came from that lit room (in that all that happen since is we grabbed items and open the door), I heavily doubt that the other student is already in that room.

I am good with opening the silent door (3) IE with the assumpution that its empty, that the person is smart enough to not answer or they are knocked out from the vapors.

Or I can go with Door #1 with the logic of the person is still tied up as not every 1st year is good enough to escape their bonds.

Edit: [X] Door 3

Door 3 it is, hopefully we don't waste too much time here.

[Daiki]

Door 3 seems like the best option because either the person is in there or it's not. Partner or empty room.

While door 1 contains something for sure, partner or something we (probably) don't want to meet. We really don't need a banshee scream to alert the Death Eaters (for example).

[x] Door 3.

I suggest we check this one first.

[skulkidcachi90]

[x] Door 3.