Sandbox / Character Development Thread Inn

Inn

Basic Information

• There is no force field that prevents violence, but the inn's security is more than prepared to handle any sort of altercation. One can use the dojo's second floor for friendly spars, but elsewhere start fights at your own risk.
• You don't have to wait for the Non Player Characters for such things as checking in and getting food ordered, although the five listed under "host characters" below will usually be happy to converse with guests if they so desire.
• The stay is more or less completely free, as is the owner's wishes, despite the fact that some of the staff desire otherwise. Do be warned that your characters will be held responsible for any major damage^note To elaborate, your characters don't have to worry about accidentally leaving a scratch on the wall or getting the carpet muddy. They will wind up paying for it if they smash the phonograph, blow up a toilet, burn a room down, etc. they might cause, however.

Locations

Outside (Lower Level)

The inn sits directly at the foot of one of the mountains. The land it sits on bears the appearance of a flat surface carved out of the mountainside, although the slope at the inn's base is only a gentle downwards slope. The slope behind the inn is considerably steeper, however.

The inn itself is built in Shoin-zukuri style, mostly out of wood. It's colored very plainly in shades of naturalistic brown and tan. Its two most notable features are its large, sloping roof, and the fact that it seems to be built into the mountain's slope. It also has quite a few windows (mostly marking guest rooms), and the entrance is a large sliding door.

A dirt path leads up to the front of the inn. About twenty feet away from the inn, a roughly fifteen-foot high, mostly red Torii stands over the path. For one reason or the other, travelers often appear underneath this Torii, and just as often leave by walking underneath it.

The surrounding area mostly consists of bamboo forest. It has not been heavily explored, so there are probably some secrets hiding in there....

First Floor

Internally, the inn very closely follows the Washitu style; tatami floors abound, and the grand majority of doors are sliding (although the guest room doors are hinged with locks, in the interest of keeping them secure).

Entry Hall

The entry hall is the largest room in the inn, and also the most decorated. Coloful murals depicting one event or another decorate the walls above the doors, and the doors themselves are also marked with artwork. In between the doors are large, padded chairs in which guests with nothing better to do can sit down in to rest or possibly chat with the other guests or a bored member of the staff. The opposite end of the room from the main entrance has the check-in desk sitting in the middle, above which is yet another large mural. On either side of the desk are stairways leading up to the rooms and down to the theater.

To the right of the desk, sitting right next to the stairway entrance, is an oddly out-of-place old-fashioned phonograph◊, sitting on a rectangular stand. It's usually playing an ambient tune of some sort, although perhaps it might play other types of music if one decides to fiddle around with it.

Dining Area/Kitchen

The dining area actually consists of two sub-rooms: the dining room itself, and a kitchen, split in about a three-to-one ratio.

The dining room is colored warmly in shades of orange and gold. A large mural depicting a Japanese landscape stretches across all four walls, and the floor is covered with a fine carpet. There are easily enough tables to fit as many patrons as the inn can hold. The menu mostly consists of traditional Japanese dishes, although if one would desire a different sort of meal the chefs are skilled enough to prepare it (even if it's something they might not have heard of).

The kitchen is normally off-limits to guests, although if one is insistent on cooking their own meals it's certainly possible to get in. It's designed mostly for functionality, with everything one could possibly need for cooking. The ovens, dishwashers, and so on look archaic, but are actually very sophisticated and work much like their more modern-looking counterparts elsewhere.

Bar

A large wooden bar fills the right side of this room, accessible from the Entrace Hall, just to the left of the Dining Area. A variety of drinks are on display on shelves behind the counter, mostly focusing on Japanese classics such as Sake and Shochu, but still including a healthy selection of beers, wines, and other popular drinks. In addition, there are a variety of more exotic spirits available from stores less visible, including many that only the wise (or crazy) would order. Seating is available along the bar, or on the left side, with windows facing outward towards the entrance path and bamboo forest.

Indoor Spring/Bathing Area

Upon entering, one would notice a split, the left side for women, and the right side for men. Upon entering each side, there is a small changing room with lockers and rental swimsuits, leading into showers. Traditionally, one should clean thoroughly before entering the springs themselves, so as to not dirty the natural water.

Once clean, doors on each side lead into separate luxurious interior bathing areas, with rock-lined pools of invitingly hot water. The natural waters are sourced directly from co-located hot springs, and provide salts and minerals to rejuvenate and cleanse the soul as well as the body. Of course, all potentially harmful chemicals or microorganisms have been filtered out, but it's still considered bad form to drink the spring water.

Game Room

Inside one would find a wide variety of games available for use. Obvious Japanese classics, such as Go and Shogi are prominent in the center of the room, already set up. However, there are plenty of empty wooden tables, and an impressive selection of board and card games are to be found on the shelves along the wall. Further in, one would even see folding tables for almost any game one might want to play, and even some stations that look like video game simulators.

Theater

The theater is the sole room on a basement level, reached by going down at the stairways instead of up. While fairly small for a theater, it is more than large enough to hold as many guests as the inn can manage. It is also fairly lavishly decorated with paintings of various sorts decorating the ceiling and walls. As with most modern theaters, the seats are cushioned and arranged in such a manner that each row is lower than the one after it.

A large white screen sits at the very bottom. It's obviously there for whatever movies the guests may want to watch, and in this it performs admirably. If plays, operas, and suchlike are more one's thing, however, the screen can be pulled up to reveal a large stage. Guests can try their hand at acting on their own provided they can find suitable props, but if that fails there's a few members of the staff who will be more than happy to put on a show themselves (though the selection is usually limited to depictions of Japanese myths).

In the back of the theater, separated from the rest by a thin wall and two more sliding doors, is a snack bar built into the center of the wall as well as a small, sliding door right next to it on the left. The snack bar offers a surprisingly wide array of refreshments from all over, meant to appeal to all sorts of tastes.

The small door, meanwhile, opens up into a rather cramped stairway that leads up to the projector room. Compared to the lavishness of the main theater, it's plain and designed more for function than for beauty. The projector itself is a fairly advanced modern model that's more than a little out of place, designed for both maximum film quality and to make removing and inserting films easy to the point where even the most inexperienced can manage it with ease. Film is stored in a closet in the back of the room, behind yet another sliding door. Oddly enough, one will always find the movie they are searching for, no matter where and when it's from.

Second Floor

Compared to the more exquisite appearance of the first floor, the second floor is quite plain in design. The colors, while bright, are rather plain, and the murals and paintings that decorated the walls of the first floor are absent.

Hallways

The hall splits in three directions from the stairs. In the back is another door that opens up onto the path leading up the mountainside. The hallways to the left and right, meanwhile, are lined with entrances to the guest rooms. There are twenty rooms present, numbered from 100 to 120.

Guest Rooms

In contrast to the sliding doors elsewhere in the inn, the doors that serve as entrances to the guest rooms are more modern hinged doors, with surprisingly modern locks that utilize a keycard system. Beyond this door is a small entrance hall, separated from the main room by a more congruous sliding door.

The rooms themselves are fairly spacious. Each one is equipped with a private bathroom with modern-looking plumbing, a futon mattress, and a small table in the center of the room. There's also a massive window that provides an excellent view of the surrounding environment. Next to the window is a small alcove containing a small painting and a statue. There seems to be enough room there for guests to add their own decorations if they wish.

Outside (Mountain)

Mountain Path

A second dirt path extends from the inn's back door and leads up the mountain quite a ways. The bamboo forest from below still extends up here, although it gets thinner as one goes higher. The path ends upon reaching the garden.

Garden

The garden is a large, circular area that sits on another shelf-like area. The plants within are mostly varied native Japanese flora, including plenty of flowers and more than a few groves of trees, although there are likely to be quite a few plants from elsewhere if one looks hard enough. The center of the garden is marked by a large pond ringed by stones, with stone paths radiating from it much like spokes on a wheel. Smaller paths link these paths together at varying points.

Overlooking the pond is what could best be described as a shrine of sorts. A structure consisting of four pillars holding up a domed roof holds up a large, gray bell, with four sets of stairways arranged at 90 degree angles leading up to it. While there is a bell hammer leaning against one of the pillars, there is also a sign nearby that reads, "Ringing the bell without good reason is prohibited." Some ways below that, another notice reads, "Simple curiosity does not count as a good reason."

There is no path that leads further up the mountain, but at the same time there are no fences or gates in place to prevent anyone from trying to go up further. Perhaps there's more to see up there...?

Dojo

The dojo sits off to the right side as one enters the garden. It is a sizable two-story building, with the same sloping roof and sliding doors as the inn. It opts for a more vibrant color scheme consisting of reds and golds as opposed to the inn's dull coloration.

The first floor eschews the tatami mats of the inn in favor of a hardwood floor. The design is largely barebones and favors functionality over beauty, although there are a few murals depicting battle scenes higher up on the walls. The main room is easily large enough to allow all sorts of exercise to take place. If weight lifting is more one's style, the far right side of the room, separated from the main area by yet another group of sliding doors, consists of a number of surprisingly modern exercise machines and weight benches.

The far left side of the room, meanwhile, is mostly marked by the stairway to the second floor. This side of the room also consists of a large weapons rack with a wide array of choices.

The second floor serves more as a sparring area. It has much the same aesthetic as the first floor, although the floors and walls are covered in padding to lessen the damage caused by potentially getting slammed against the floor or flung against the walls.

Tea House

Off to the left side of the Garden is the tea house, suspended above the ground on wooden stilts, stairs leading up to what appears to be a relatively simple patio where one might sip tea and contemplate the mysteries of the multiverse. However, inside there is a medium-sized formal tea room, where all the necessary materials for a Japanese tea ceremony can be provided, if one were to be so inclined. Otherwise, the patio provides excellent views and the staff is more than happy to serve guests here in a more casual capacity.

Outdoor Spring

If one were to instead follow a split in the path off to the left, before entering the garden, one would find themselves in a small open area within the Bamboo forest. Within is a rock-lined hot spring, with invitingly steamy hot natural water, filled by a small rock waterfall. There is a small building nearby with individual showers and changing areas, for one to clean off and change into swimsuits, if one is so inclined, as in this location, all guests bathe in the same spring.

Characters

Hosts

• Miki Wada: The inn's manager. Appears to be a human maid at first glance, though the way she handles herself seems to suggest that there's more to her than that.
• Mizuchi: The inn's owner. Doesn't seem to want to show himself, for some reason....
• Akihito: A blue oni who maintains the bar. Surprisingly jovial and always up for a chat or possibly even a drinking contest, although he's never the first to ask questions.
• Zenjiro: A large sword tsukumogami who maintains the dojo. Usually keeps to himself and makes sure all weapons are in top condition, although he also watches to ensure no one overexerts themselves.
• Saburo: An elderly tengu who is in charge of checking patrons into the inn. Doesn't seem too happy with his job assignment and tends to grumble a lot.

Youkai

The kinds of youkai that serve as the Inn's staff and their usual roles, as a quick reference for those who might want an NPC or something. Most of these are also listed on the youkai page, though links are provided if more specific information is desired.

• Tengu: Bird-like humanoids, usually with red skin, white hair, and long noses. Outside of Saburo, they make up the inn's security.
• Oni: Massive, monstrous, and horned humanoids that bear resemblance to ogres. Akihito is the only oni present in the inn.
• Tsukumogami: Non-electrical inanimate objects that have come to life, ranging from silverware to weaponry to clothing. Outside of Zenjiro, they are usually responsible for janitorial duties and assistance in the kitchen.
• Kaimaitachi: Sickle-clawed weasel-esque beings that usually travel in trios. They serve as the main chefs and never leave the kitchen while on duty.
• Futakuchi-onna: Women with a second mouth on the back of their heads but who otherwise look completely human. Mostly serve as waitresses in the dining room.
• Rokurokubi: Humans with extendable necks but who look normal when said necks aren't in use. They mostly serve alongside the tsukumogami for keeping the inn nice and tidy and handling things the tsukumogami might not be able to otherwise, though they also handle the snack bar in the theater.
• Yuki-onna: Abnormally pale women who are usually associated with ice and snow. Generally in charge of the tea house.

Active Troper Characters

• Proseda (Aqueos): Incubus on vacation in human form. Fond of debauchery. (Description)
• Claire (Blackfire667): Caucasian human female, mid-twenties. Formal white shirt, tattered black dress pants. Shoulder-length brown hair, blue eyes. Is actually a highly sophisticated, sentient android. (Description)
• Joan Reynolds (daird): (Intro/Description)
• Daniel Harper (Elfhunter): Reasonably tall and fair skinned sixteen year old boy carrying two swords. Intro/Description.
• Akiel Nagasar (gault):
• Nyris Aryé (gault):
• Stannizar Rald (gault):
• Malachai (Inceptiond): A wandering young man with a mysterious blood-soaked hole in his clothing. (Introduction)
• Storykeeper Mazak (KillerClowns): A heavy, grumpy man prone to subtle Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, notable for his mohawk and tribal-looking facial tattoos. (Description)
• Moonlit Blossom (KillerClowns): A Mad Scientist with a mastery of medical knowledge relative to her civilization's technology, a particular phobia of telepathy, and fewer nudity taboos than Westerners. (Description)
• Gregory Grey (Lord Greyjoy): A young street vigilante, with a keen eye for science and sarcasm.
• Sara Newton (Lord Greyjoy): A young woman in a dynamic suit of armor, which she has the ability to communicate with. Fights crime alongside Gregory.
• Steve Roveri (Lord Greyjoy): A narcissistic man with bright red hair and superhuman speed.
• Marie Spring (Masterofchaos): A young girl who wears an eye patch because of an accident she had as a child. Because of this, she's nervous around other people. (Description)
• Havanar (nrjxll): A very eccentric member of a reptilian alien species called the gluvpaki. Introduction here.
• Oswald (Ryuhza): A person heavily clothed in a dark gray hooded cloak, as well as some sort of a mask covering the lower part of his face. A set of reasonably-sized horns extend out and upward from either side of his hood. Despite his gloomy appearance, he often speaks in a gallant manner, though sometimes overusing archaic or uncommon words. (Intro/Description 1) ^{Click for more info} Illustration 1

Inactive Troper Characters

• Ulrich Theign (BrainSewage): A warrior-turned-demon hunter, skilled in combat and slow self-destruction. (Description)
• Daisuke Akamura (Crystal Glacia): A young, but worldly boy whose father has just been charged and arrested with neglect. Unfortunately, he disagrees. (Intro/Description 1, more recent description)
• Ran (Crystal Glacia): Daisuke's protective and elderly Japanese bobtail. (Description)
• Doctor Raphael Cline (Crystal Glacia): A traveling doctor and healer, whose youthful looks and impeccably genial bedside manner belie his extreme mastery of the medical sciences, whether he intends to heal or harm. (Intro/Description)
• Darius (Darkblood Carnagefang): A well-dressed vampire of the Markovi plan, who travels with Candance and two zombies.
• Cadance (Darkblood Carnagefang): Darius's intelligent and well-armed raptor.
• Dominatus (Darkblood Carnagefang): An angelic being with a demonic hand. (Description)
• Sano (m8e): An exceptionally average looking man with hazel eyes and short brown hair. Now wearing a pair of undyed spidersilk pajama pants and an A-shirt.^note Intro/description/clothes
• Unkindness (m8e): An unkindness of 12 linked ravens. Seem to be intelligent. Able to write, read and talk.
• John Richman (Masterofchaos): A man who seems to be running away from someone. So far, he doesn't seem to mind the people in the Inn; all he cares about is having a place to stay for the time being. (Description)
• Lalo (Oh So Into Cats): A young man dressed in ragged clothing who rides a bicycle.
• Aquabella Beach (Petrichor 4): Pixie girl with messy blue hair wearing a tattered silken robe. (Description)
• Angelus (Snowy Foxes): Man with Healing Hands. Appears to be in his early twenties. Wears a navy blue overcoat with matching waistcoat and trousers. (Description)
• Erica (Snowy Foxes): Angelus's sister. A telepathic, decidedly unhinged woman who apparently cannot feel most emotions. (Description)
• Ryouta Kawaguchi (Sonzai): Japanese high school student who is always wearing a hat for some strange reason. He wants to be a doctor, and is always quite polite. Intro/Description
• Izumi Matsumoto (Sonzai): Japanese high school student who is apparently a genetically-engineered Catgirl. Semi-adopted sister to Takuya (in Archipelago). Very energetic and feisty, has trouble staying in one place and not scratching up all the furniture. Intro/Description
• Miyuki Yamauchi (Sonzai): Japanese high school student who is really a yuki-onna. Surprisingly friendly, although she has an unnatural fondness for cold and snow. Intro/Description
• Taeko Fukui (Yomegami): A ghost girl from the Youkai Capital. Is considerably more cheerful than one would expect from a ghost. (Description)
• Selena Rogers (Yomegami): A twenty-two year old P-virus Infected who actually somewhat enjoys her condition. Is generally friendly, if somewhat blunt. (Description)