Mystery Box

Knock on it and see if anybody answers.

You suppose the polite thing to do would be to knock on the door. See if anyone's in there, before you barge on in. You give Apartment Door EE a few firm knocks with your Steel Clawntlet-clad hand. It makes a powerful sound... more than enough noise to be heard inside.

Nobody answers.

>Whistle the secret tune that unlocks the door. Look, the sheet music is written on it in plain letter notation!

Seeing as how this is a Sorta Magical Sort Of Door, you wonder if there's some trick to opening it. Perhaps, for instance, the letters on the front could be a Clue?

You're not sure exactly what pitch an E would be, off the top of your head. Nevertheless, you try whistling a Note That Might Be An E, then following it up with another one. When that does nothing, you repeat the process, moving up and down the scale until you've covered the better part of your musical range.

Your pitch shifts and wobbles a bit, but Apartment Door EE stays steady and motionless. Seems either this didn't do the trick, or there was no trick to begin with.

Try to trick somebody into walking into the wall on the other side of it wile-e-coyote style.

Or better yet, rent the room sight unseen to someone.

Hmm. Maybe instead of there being a trick to the door, the door is An Opportunity For A Trick? If it opens immediately up into a Concealed Wall, that's some Prime Pranking Material waiting to be used. Heck, you could even rent the door to someone, and scam them into paying to walk face-first into a wall!

...if, of course, they were deemed Deserving of it. And if, of course, you're still holding onto those Recently Exhumed Scruples of yours. The only trouble now is the fact that there isn't a single mark around. Unless you count Charity Boy as deserving of getting scammed.

Suggestion: Actually just open the door like a normal person, and investigate.Show

>Open the door. Stop having it be closed.

actually just open it for now

(note for later: check out room 3d with our appropriately-colored eyes... might be only we can see it properly)

You decide to try one last plan. It's a little unorthodox for you, but it just might work.

You step square to the door, sizing it up. Once you think you've got the measure of it, you approach and reach out, giving The Doorknob a turn in the form of a dexterous Flick of the Wrist. With this complete, you give the Doppeled Doorway the old push-and/or-pull routine. It opens right up.

Get's em every time.

With the doors resistance thusly conquered...

...you step triumphantly through the resulting opening, and into the room.Show

[web height=600]https://solifuge.github.io/mysterybox/web/apartment/enter.html[/web]

It seems the door you thought was going to be Magical and Amazing actually just goes to an Empty, Weird Looking Room. Probably shouldn't have used all those ORs and XORs in your Incantation. After all, Logic and Magic have never made the Easiest of Bedfellows.

what kind of cat burglar simply opens a door? pick the lock. if it's unlocked, lock it and then pick the lock.

Oh well. Fortunately, you have a Very Good Idea that promises you some entertainment, with Basically No Repercussions either. You make your way back into the Apartment Hallway, but not before Locking the Door. After all, a Real Catburglar like you doesn't simply open doors. No, she picks the locks first!

Of course, now that you're back outside, you realize something else. If you wanted to unlock the door like a Cute, Cool, And Talented Brigand, and demonstrate how good you are at your job, it'd definitely help if you made sure you had some kind of Lockpick on you first.

Shoot.

What do you do?
>

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Character Info: FlanneryShow

[box=#808080 width=full border=2]Name: Ms. Flannery "Over-Easy" Bootz III

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Pawn Status:
• Grazes: 0/4
• Wounds: 0/6
• Distracted (Everything -1): Your attention is split while you sustain your Magic.
• Experience: Lost your cool, and failed to swindle money out of Cam the Dumpster Merchant.

Class: Copycatburglar
• Skill: Lucky Break
• Grace +2
• Presence +1
• Insight +1

Relic: Orb of Faulty Replication
• Skill: Doppelmancy
• Insight +2
• Presence +1
• Logic +1[/box]

[box=#808080 width=full border=2]Inventory:

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Equipped:
• Blue-Collar Cloak (Evade +2): The stout denim shroud of the Working Class.
• Boots of Stomping (Jump +1, Stomp +1): These boots lend a boost, whether you're going up or coming down.
• Cat's Ear Hood (Listen +1, Charm +1): With this on your head, you hear more acutely, and look cute too.
• Replica Courier Bag (Container, Disguise +2): From your "Day Job" as a "Mail Courier". Opening a real Courier Bag is illegal, so law-abiding folk shouldn't snoop inside.
• Steel Scalemail (Armor +2): Flexible body armor made out of little metal plates.
• Steel Clawntlet (Hand-to-Hand, Climb +1, Lethal +1): A glove ending in retractable knife-sized claws.

In Replica Courier Bag:
• Cardboard Camo (Container, Restrictive, Disguise +2, Clumsy -2): A cardboard box with eye-shaped peepholes. Ideal for impersonating a container, though it makes some activities quite difficult.[/box]

[box=#808080 width=full border=2]Lucky Break (Grace):

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When you find yourself in a bind or out of options, you can always look to sheer dumb luck to see you through.

• Triumph (20 or more): You not only get out of the situation, but take something good with you, or leave behind something bad.
• Success (16-19): However improbable, something solves your problem for you, with no strings attached.
• Compromise (11-15): Fate gets you out of trouble, but you leave something good behind, or take something bad with you.
• Failure (10 or less): Luck just isn't with you right now, and your troubles take a turn for the worse.[/box]

[box=#808080 width=full border=2]Doppelmancy (Insight):

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You have the power to copy virtually anything. Trouble is, they're bad copies. Pick a nearby object or being, and say a rhyming Incantation to copy it. The copy generally looks and acts like the real thing. The copy lasts until it's damaged, for as long as you concentrate on it. Take -1 to all actions, for each existing copy.

• Triumph (20 or more): The copy is either indistinguishable from the original, or permanent and real despite 1 Minor Flaw.
• Success (16-19): It's a pretty good copy, but has 1 Major Flaw, or 2 Minor Flaws.
• Compromise (11-15): Your copy has some issues; namely 2 Major Flaws, or 3 Minor Flaws.
• Failure (10 or less): Something has gone wrong with your copy. Very, very wrong.

For each Flaw, the copy you create...
• ...isn't quite normal. It may be the wrong size, color, smell, weight, or have wildly different physical properties.
• ...isn't quite real. It may be insubstantial when touched, shimmer like a mirage, or vanish at inopportune times.
• ...isn't quite the same. Something about the way it works and behaves is worse, opposite, or just plain wrong.[/box]