Invisible Parties — 16 of 31

Book - None Know The Hour

startroom is a party in tangle. The printed name of startroom is "None Know The Hour". Understand "none know the hour" or "none" or "know" or "hour" as startroom.

The description of startroom is "Feels like the apartments of a well-off academic couple who entertain a lot. Lots of one-of-a-kind furniture in nice old wood, very full bookcases, art conspicuously esoteric and ethnic. Would feel kind of crowded if it wasn't so unnaturally tidy. More, similar rooms sprawling out through odd-angled spaces[one of].[p]It was themed as a maybe-the-apocalypse party - a small joke on the difficulty of scheduling social events in a multiverse. There's a mushroom-cloud cake (already partially eaten), a planet-shaped piñata, and a glittery banner declaring HAPPY END OF DAYS. A few of the guests are costumed[or][stopping]."

the nice wooden furniture is an unimplement in startroom. The description of nice wooden furniture is "The furniture is evidently the result of long, dedicated and tasteful (but not over-planned) questing in antique shops and odd corners of the world; congruent styles and colours (lots of weathered-brick red and teak brown), but just mismatched enough to let you know."

the bookcases are an unimplement in startroom. The description of bookcases is "There are a lot of coffee-table books in here, largely in the field of Photogenic Anthropology. A lot of hardcore-scholarly Upside treatises on magic and liminology, of the kind that walkers largely ignore. The complete Book of Eight Houses, including apocrypha. A bunch of things with hand-tooled leather covers. If there are any paperbacks in the house, they're not where visitors can see [']em." Understand "books" or "book" or "shelves" or "shelf" or "bookshelf" or "bookshelves" or "treatise" or "treatises" or "book of eight" or "eight houses" as the bookcases.

the esoteric art is an unimplement in startroom. The description of esoteric art is "A trio of Central African masks. An outsider-art-ish scene in coloured pencils, with hundreds of naively drawn figures with horribly distorted heads. The head of a steel drum, intricately cut out into birds and tree-branches. A frame drum the size of a truck wheel, with a raven and an eagle in solid panels of red and black. A fetish of dark wood, vaguely human but almost completely obscured by the narrow iron wedges pincushioning its body. A set of clay cylinder seals, framed behind glass." Understand "masks" or "mask" or "scene" or "drum" or "steel" or "birds" or "branches" or "frame" or "raven" or "eagle" or "fetish" or "seals" as esoteric art.

the mushroom cloud cake is an unimplement in startroom. The description of mushroom cloud cake is "It represents quite an impressive feat of construction, though you suspect the central column of hiding supports. The icing is the most striking feature, a beautifully-brushed grey that somehow suggests fiery destruction glowering from within the choking dust; the effect is spoiled somewhat by the parts that have been cut away, revealing a nondescript white sponge."

Instead of eating the mushroom cloud cake: say "It's just a dry old sponge with fancy icing. Not worth the hassle of working out which part to hack off."

[Mushroom cloud cakes existed as early as 1946, when a truly hideous one was made to celebrate the conclusion of Operation Crossroads. Given that they had just sent a bunch of native Bikinians to starve on an inhospitable island, it is a cake with many layers of tastelessness.]

the planet-shaped pinata is an unimplement in startroom. The printed name of planet-shaped pinata is "planet-shaped piñata". Understand "planet" or "shaped" as pinata. The description of pinata is "A crude papier-mache globe, with green blobby continents looking rather crowded for space."

Instead of attacking the pinata: say "You're not generally squeamish about symbolism, but for some reason the thought of it makes your skin crawl a little."

the glittery End of Days banner is an unimplement in startroom. The description of glittery banner is "HAPPY END OF DAYS, in a cheerful font with little rainbow-reflective sparklies all over it. Mass-produced, evidently, which raises a question or two."

the tsadesc of startroom is "A politely-deployed tangle will often have a sort of foyer, a not-too-outlandish area in which guests can orient themselves. With a discreetly-positioned mirror. Yeah, you look pretty close to your default: soft butch woman, five-three-ish, strong but totally non-graceful, spiky hair dyed crimson."

the academics are a crowd. academics are in startroom. The description of academics is "They're mostly between twenty and forty, predominantly white or East or South Asian, about three-quarters female, above-average queer quotient. Slightly-tweedy business-casual. It's very tempting to assume that this represents the Three Rebeccas['] clique, if they even have such a thing. (Or what they'd like their clique to look like. Or some version thereof skewed towards you.)[p]A handful of them are in fancy dress: two of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse are necking in the kitchen, and you count two Jesuses and one Antichrist, all women. Best concept is definitely Loki, a cheekbony young man with a plush wolf on one shoulder and a plastic snake on the other." Understand "Jesus" or "Jesuses" or "Loki" or "Antichrist" or "horsemen" or "horseman" as the academics.

The listendesc of startroom is "The music here is lush and busy, earwormy string motifs darting through it like silver schools of fish in dark water. The vocals are a high, honeyed drawl, almost a meow, the singer's voice looped back to provide her own accompaniment." [This is intended to be Emily Wells.]

The boozedesc of startroom is "This is evidently a red-wine kind of affair; you sense that the expensive spirits will be brought forth later in the evening, once the faithful have been sufficiently winnowed."

The shortbooze of startroom is "You slosh out a half-glass of Shiraz."

The desolation of startroom is "The guests are gathering around the windows. (Were there windows before?) A cityscape, a crescent of glittering high-rises along a shoreline, with an orange-purple sunset filling the sky over the sea. The sea itself, though, has a dark line across its face, a band that grows thicker even as you watch it.[p]Time bends. Roaring. The wall of water engulfs the waterfront, swallows onetwothree blocks."

The demise of startroom is "The tidal wave rolls into the building, tearing it from the foundation and crumpling it like paper. There's a brief, lucid moment where the floor is crazy-angled and there's darkness all round, but most of the walls are intact and there's still air. And then it's a laundry cycle full of concrete."

The javeinit of startroom is "Jave is loitering by an end-table, looking out-of-place."

The javedesc of startroom is "Jave is wearing a Vault Dweller jumpsuit - the armoured version, with shoulderpad, bandolier and kneepad, and 34 stenciled across the upper back. On her, it looks like work clothes rather than a costume."

Before going from startroom:

remove Becky Baumgartner from play;

if numbat is 0, grand expostulation happens in two turns from now

At the time when grand expostulation happens:

if puzzlecount is 0, say "[expostul1]";

The rivdesc of startroom is "Rivka Strossi is kicked back on the couch, arms slung around two randoms, her feet up on the coffee-table. She appears to be sipping Kool-Aid. Jeez, way to keep it classy."

The rivcostume of startroom is "She looks like a gatecrasher, what with the scuffed-up biker jacket and the purple skinny jeans and one shoe with the sole beginning to peel off. If anyone could pull off gatecrashing her own damn party, it'd be Rivka."

The rivweapon of startroom is "a scythe".

Instead of talking to Rivka Strossi: say "All the response you get is the impassive regard of her aviator shades. Maybe the beginnings of a smirk."

The closeclue of startroom is "Over on a cabinet, a wineglass with red lees in the bottom. And one of those tasteless little charms around the stem, in the shape of an osprey."

the wineglass is a clue. the javeclue of startroom is wineglass. Understand "osprey" or "hawk" or "charm" or "glass" or "lees" as wineglass. The description of wineglass is "A wide-bowled crystal wineglass, the sort that are meant to only ever be a third or so full. A small pool of wine and lees in the bottom. The osprey wine-charm is - nobody else in the room is using wine-charms, they're tacky as fuck. It's made of pewter and not very accurately-cast, but is still recognisably a mid-sized bird of prey."

The player is in startroom.

The player is female. [One or two reviewers elected to treat Tsawac as ambiguously-gendered, and I see why. It's probably more accurate to describe her as a woman of flexible gender.]