locations

[polterguests]

THE HEART

Purrfect Penance
A strange, Gothic Revival estate sequestered from more busy areas, alluring in the spontaneous way quirky Airbnb houses are. Basking in its presence baptizes many onlookers with a vague sense of Godly reverence, though that could be the Gothic edges lingering in the style... The inside is furnished with charming maximalist odds and ends: paintings, trinkets, rugs, comforting bulky furniture, wood accents. Somehow, the house always seems to have enough individual rooms with one bed, but despite this, guests often find themselves desiring to room with a friend or acquaintance.

And... cats?

Aloof and enigmatic, felines of various colors and shapes and temperaments roam every space of the house. There isn't any rhyme or reason for when the cats come or go, and they never obey issued commands - typical - however, guests will always likely find at least one cat in their room pushing things off a table, or snoozing on the center of the bed.

Unfortunately, guests wanting the relaxing part of R&R will find they must instead share one of the three full bathrooms which make up the estate. Maybe it's easier to shower with the friend you already share a bed with?

International House of Phagia (IHOP)
A funky little diner with the aesthetics of the 1950s. The booths resemble mock-ups of old American muscle cars, and the food arrives on conveyor belts which look like a highway. The menu is an all-you-can-eat of any food or drink a person could want. Meals from home, meals from other countries and other worlds. Bask in the array of culinary cuisines. The food is delicious. Five stars. The longer customers stay to eat, the more they find themselves less full.

Hungrier.

There is also an alcohol menu for customers who are looking for a way to forget about any troubles. Be sure to practice safe alcohol consumption.

Arcadia
This moderately sized garden covering a portion of the landscape can be found after stepping through the stone circle archway of its entrance. Trees, bushes, plants, flowers, and all manner of botany grow here. Benches are sprinkled throughout the scenery. Some of the trees bear shiny, delicious fruit in peculiar shapes, but posted signs warn not to eat them. Doing so will cause shame-filled dreams of being naked in inappropriate places like school, or work.

Strangely, arcade cabinets are entangled within the loving embrace of nature all around the garden. Many of them function normally, allowing passers-by to try their hand at a maze-runner game, a fighting game, or a badly rendered first-person shooter.

Nostradamus
This beautiful cut of wood and brick is a quaint library. Every turn around the shelves screams elite private school, but... the subject of all of the reading material inside is on accepting and dealing with loss as well as tips and encouragement on finding missing fulfillment in life. Weird.

There are tables and chairs for study beneath moody lighting and plusher chairs for sitting and reading.

The Lake of Glass
The chilly water of this lake is so clear, the bottom of it can be seen everywhere except where it tapers off at the center. The foundation is all sand, wood, and plant debris, populated with ruby-colored fish of different sizes swimming lazily around. The water's surface is deceptive. Stepping in what seems like shallows will instead plunge the curious into a depth of a hundred feet. From below, it's easy to see in the distance the way the middle bends into a massive downward cavern where light is swallowed and the end is obscured by a shroud of darkness.

Any diver venturing toward the pit in the center will slowly become squeezed by pressure, the sensation of being pushed in the middle and pulled at the ends, strung out like a piece of spaghetti. Drawing closer to the lake's black eye steals any relative comparison, and it's difficult to tell what's around, or how much time has passed. Swimming becomes the feeling of the act in the mind. Alone is what remains. Lonely. Empty. Is there comfort in that?

Divers black out. When they open their eyes again, they are lying on the rough shore of the lake, an area covered by a little sand and smooth opaque river rocks.

technology & communications.

As you stumble out of the fog, it seems as though something has slithered into your pocket, coat, or even your shoe or sock if you don't otherwise have anything to carry your items on you. It's a simple compact mirror—its shape and design may vary, but there is always something just a bit ghoulish about it. As if your friendly neighborhood refined goth picked something out just for you. Though it's not just any compact mirror. When you open it, it whispers a simple hello, a faint engraving echoing the word against the reflective surface. A matching goodbye is on the other side. Should you desire to speak to someone else in Purgatory, you'll find that you're able to cross long distances with this device—it's capable of audio, visual, and even text. Sometimes it might even accidentally send your thoughts. How did it do that?

It may take a bit of a learning curve, but these mirrors also operate on Ouija Board rules. Yes, you must say goodbye or some variant of farewell before closing the compact or else you might invite some spirits to play a prank on you.

In sum, this is your communication device. Feel free to use it for voice calls, video calls, text calls, accidental telepathy, misfires, or random curses if you feel like being chaotic. The mirror is unbreakable and it will somehow always find its way back to you by the end of the day, even if you leave it behind.