No answers yet

Nick looks at you and smiles. He's about to say something when you hear a bell ringing somewhere in the castle that echoes everywhere. "Ah. I guess it will have to wait. The party's about to begin and we should get changed. Please follow me," he says.

You're still curious about all the portraits and what Nick was about to tell you, but you're his guest so you keep your questions to yourself and follow him to some sort of changing room. On the walls hang many black robes, some with hoods and some without, and a large variety of masquerade masks. Nick tells you to pick any robe and mask to put on, adding that you don't need to be wearing anything under the robe, before he goes to an adjacent room to change himself. You quickly pick out a normal looking robe and matching black mask, but you pause before you put them on. Nick said clothing underneath was optional, which likely means that most people won't be wearing anything under their robes, and you decide to go commando as well. About a minute after you're doing changing into the robe and mask, Nick returns in a similar robe, but he's wearing a silver-colored mask with a short beak. He looks at you and grabs a white marker that was on the wall and he comes over to you and puts 2 dots on the forehead of your mask. "That way I'll know it's you," he says.

Nick then leads you to another part of the castle where this party is being held and you can smell incense in the air and the lights are dimly lid. There's some sort of music playing softly in the background that can be heard everywhere although you don't see any speakers around. Actually, the music sounds more like chanting and you can't make out any of the words. As you enter a big hall with Nick, you see that other guests are already here and mingling. Many are dressed similarly as you and Nick, but there are plenty of people, mostly women, who are either naked or partially undressed. As you suspected, there's definitely a sexual element to this party, a fact that is soon confirmed when you see a petite blonde woman openly riding some guy in a mask and robe in the middle of a room. Some guests are watching them while others are acting like it's a normal party.

There are several big rooms of guests and as you follow Nick as he makes his way through them, stopping occasionally to say hi to people he knows, although you're not sure how he recognizes them. Did some people are personal masks that identify who they are?