Abandon all hope ye who enter here.
The very first red envelope you received was accompanied by a key and a letter. Nothing else inside, but those two things, and on the back of the envelope is your name-- written in perfect calligraphy-style writing that surely a professional must have done it? It looks like an invitation to a secret society-- does Astor even have any of those-- and, once you read the letter, you realize you’re right, for the most part. The words instruct you to keep the envelope to yourself, and to show up at an address on your own at 2 in the morning, by yourself, and without your phone. The words tell you that you’ve been selected and carefully watched, and that the findings from this activity has proven that you’re exactly what’s needed. The letter promises adventure, and mystery, and ‘show up if you want to find out’. It’s enticing enough that you do show up, and you find that you are right, after all. It is a secret society-- just not how you imagined one would be.
The selection process of who would be invited to join the Arsonist is done at least two months before they receive a letter. Dante makes sure they are fit for the group, and would be good with causing chaos, as well as carry out any other task that he might have for them. Then, he sends them the letter so they can begin the initiation, and you’ll find how that usually goes below.
Phase I.
Endurance. The address on the letter is a spot in the woods behind Astor Academy. It’s a little ways away from the lake, and at 2 in the morning, you can be sure no one is there. Buried deep in the forest is a tomb. Nothing is really buried in that tomb, except extravagance and Arthur Astor’s initial wish to bury his late first wife there, but it looks old and creepy enough, with a statue of a pained cherub guarding its entrance. At 2 in the morning, the cherub looks even more sinister. The letter instructs you to look for another envelope by the entrance, and you find it, taped behind on the back of a cherub. It says you’re being watched, and that you’ll always be watched. The second letter instructs you to stay there, until morning, without ever sitting down. It says you have to do it, or you can kiss your chances of ever joining the secret group goodbye.
Phase II.
Cooperation. So you’ve passed the first phase-- congratulations! The next red envelope comes in the middle of the night, and with a deadline. You’re asked to smuggle blood into your dorm room. Yes, actual blood. The first problem would be where to get the blood. The second would be how to slip past students, as well as the hall monitors, without raising suspicion. And you have twenty-four hours to do it, too, or the many hours you’ve spent at that goddamn tomb would be put to waste. The letter also tells you to keep the blood in your room until you receive the next letter, and it doesn’t come until three days later.
Phase III.
Loyalty. The next letter tells you to rid the blood of your own-- there’s no use for it, really, other than to see if you’ll do what’s asked (but haven’t you been doing that, at this point?). There’s another address on the letter, but this time it’s off-campus. There an abandoned radio station in town, and that where you’re headed. It’s next to an abandoned gas station so, really, the place is quite barren. You find out that this is where you use the key you were given the first time. The letter tells you to enter the room with the white door-- a new white door, so out of place in such a run-down location. Inside, you find a video camera and a recorder, a note on the recorder telling you to press play. Then, a voice, ‘What is your darkest secret? What is your heart’s deepest desire?’, then another letter placed right under the recorder, instructing you to face the camera, and speak.
