HT2004PortalToHell

From Simreal

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Portal to Hell

Location: On Porch (L)

Purpose

This is a portal from the ordinary world into the chaos of the alien's lair. The guests should experience a shift in mood from "ooh, we're crawling" to "oh god, where are we?".

Description

The group should come across the scaffolding and realize, "Hey, this is the entrance to the gold mines! It takes us into the building! We can get out of the open..."

They climb up. Abandonded construction site feel. The scaffolding as along the edge of the porch, near the open area.

L1 At the top of the scaffold, there is a wooden platform/room. In this room there is a ventilation or security grill that leads into a crawl tube.

The only way out of the scaffolding is this crawl tube. The grill is hinged and held shut by springs and a latch. The guide holds it open as people are encouraged to go in.

The grill latches when it is closed, and can NOT be opened from the inside. The guide does NOT follow the group into the tunnel.

We may need a threat from behind the guests, so they flush into the door, unless we use the incentive of "This must be the other route into the building that the guy at the back must have told us about."

L2 There is a comforting yellow construction light hanging in the corner of the L2 space. This should help encourage the guests into the tunnel. L2 can be painted like rocks and dirt for the mine tunnel feel.

L3 From the platform, the crawl tube heads down to ground level. If painted white at top, transition to flat black at the bottom.

Starts as perfectly ordinary access tunnel crawl tube, like Andy did a couple years back. Turn a corner and gets much darker (as dark as possible).

L4 Flat black. This switchback serves two purposes: (1) to capture light to make L5 as dark as possible, and (2) provide a point of no return.

The floor here, and in all other sections, is covered with carpet, padding, wood, or something. This prevents guests from feeling the porch slats underneath them. Later, it will help dry off the guests.

If we can work it out, some kind of one-way door, portal, or other passive system to keep the guests from backing up here. Once past L4, it should not be possible to back up, or at least it should be very problematic to go back.

Ideas have included:

• A door that a tech closes
• A collapsing tunnel
• Constricting the tunnel like a sphincter
• "refrigerator strips" providing a one-way portal
• Stiff foam protrusions that point downstream; like one-way tire traps in parking lots, but less pointy
• Changing the tunnel's floor level, to create small step-downs

We could use noises and scents in L2/L2 after the guests are near L4 to "encourage" them to move forwards.

L5 The tunnel goes soft and lumpy here, all around. Like some alien esophagus. L5 should be as pitch-black as possible. Near the end of this tunnel, there will be glycerin-wetted strings dripping, making the tunnel damp and slippery and horrible.

A few feet into the darkness, it gets soft. We should also add a cold breeze. A few feet into the soft there are wet, slippery strings hanging through the space. Like crawling through someone's diseased intestine.

L6 Coming around the sharp bend, there may be a peep-hole into the space underneath L1, where some dimly lit phosphorescent scene may be viewed. Light should not be leaking back into L5.

As the group is heading into L6, evil horrible sounds and winds and smells and vibrations erupt from the L4/L5 area (or from the vignette under L1), driving them forward.

L7 At the end of L6 there is a diffuse blue light, not very bright. Before they reach this light, the tunnel opens up so they can stand and gather a bit. Moving into the light, they enter the space of the Blue Funnel of Mystery, which should be very dissorienting.

The funnel is rises out away from the guests and curves around them. There is room for probably four people in it. Can't make it too large otherwise the boundary where it meets the floor can provide visual stability. It must rise up above eye level. The painting is a flat, light blue and it is lit from above so there are no shadows.

To hide the floor, we can use the fog machine.

The exit from L7 is behind them, and leads into the hallway and ultimately to ChooseADoor.

The guide doesn't come out.

Note we need to ventilate the tunnel between runs to dry it out and keep it from getting actually nasty.

Special Timing

This is a double station, lasting six minutes. As the group is in L6, a second group should be coming into the platform.

Guide Notes

If the group notices the scaffold and asks about it, so much the better. If not, the guide should point it out as a possible route. Something like, "This was the entry to the gold mines. It leads into the building. If we go in there, we'll be out of the open, it should be more safe!"

Have one of the guests carry the rope; make sure they don't try to hold onto it while climbing the scaffold.

At the top is the entrance to the mine or ventilation shaft. Hold the door open for the others. When the last person is in, you need to give them a reason to keep going so they don't wait for you. Poke your head into the shaft and yell something like "Oh my god. They're coming! Move it! I'll try to hold them off," slam the grate shut, and move out of sight. Bonus points for making lots of noise as you scream and die.

Once that is accomplished, you're "off camera." There'll be a hidden door in L1 that will get you out onto the porch. Hide in the wings and take a breather as the new guide picks up your group, and then you set up in ChooseADoor as the new guide for the next group.

You'll need to come up with a good reason why you're hanging around an alien base in western gear so the group isn't too suspicious. Maybe you dropped a group off in the main building earlier? Or the police blockade was attacked and you ran and ended up here? In any case, head into L7, introduce yourself, rope 'em up, and hustle 'em out of there.

Actors

• (1..2) Tube Tech

Station

• Scaffold
• Large (3' or so square) grillwork -- Home Depot or create
  • Open roof over wet area to allow it to dry between days
  • Special walls with openings for wind and sound effects
• Extensive tunnel construction
• Blue Funnel of Mystery
• Tarp over open areas, to keep weather off of the tunnel
• Spare ropes after the funnel, in case the group manages to lose theirs between guides

Effects

• Alien presence/threat
• Infrasonics in crawlspace
• Drippy soft space (mister and string)
• Cold breeze
• Lots of alien presence near end
• Glowing materials for phosphorescent illumination in spots. Long-life GITD powders or dyes.