Until We Sink into the Twilight

Tonight we played Until We Sink by Magnus Jakobsson in which we play the natives running a hotel on a small island slowly sinking into the sea and the guests who visit the hotel. We are Kalea the hotel hotel manager, Leroy an eternal backpacker guest, Ari Kovair a fading star celebrity guest, and her son Ralph.

Our story begins when a sports fisherman is found dead on the beach, within sight distance from Ari’s room. She is furious that as a Gold Member of this hotel she has to deal with such gross situation and demands to Kalea that she and Ralph get rooms on the other side of the hotel.

The next day, Ralph and Leroy go hiking in the island. The view is majestic and there is a lot of interesting fauna here. There is a lake brimming with colorful fish that is very captivating. Not too far from the path that leads to the lake, Ralph finds the shallow grave where the fisherman was buried. The word “swine” is marked with black paint on the cross. Later that afternoon, back at the hotel, Ralph tells his mother about it and she is more and more concerned about the state of affairs at this hotel. Kalea keeps on appeasing her by bringing her drinks and promising her of coupons for her next stay at the hotel.

On the third day, the hotel has lost radio communication as some pumps failed overnight and the basement of the hotel flooded. Kalea is all disheveled from spending all morning cleaning the basement.. and tending to her demanding guests. When Ralph complains about how his room has not been made to his standards, Kalea hits back at him by pointing out that she went ahead and cleaned his shirt that was covered in black paint. Ralph ends up admitting that he was the one that wrote ‘swine’ on the cross previously as he had seen the fisherman staring at his mother when they checked into the hotel earlier.

On the fourth day, the three go back to the lake area as Ralph has to go clean the cross he vandalized earlier. While doing that, he finds a wedding ring near the grave. Ari notices that a hand is sticking out of the grave and now really wants to leave the island. Leroy pushes the group to hike further out and the reach the Lemur Bridge from which they appreciate a great view of the island. Back at the hotel in the afternoon, the group discusses a twenty year old newspaper clipping they found under a sofa that mentions of a murder that took place at the hotel then in 2001.

On the fifth day, Ralph confronts his mother as he overheard her coordinating on the radio (which was finally fixed) talking about the wedding plans she had with her publicist. Ralph is annoyed that this was not ever discussed with him… and that she keeps on calling his dad ‘her publicist’ instead of using his name. By now Ari is tired of this island and convinces Leroy to charter a sea-plane together for the next day to come pick them up and leave the island.

But on the sixth day, the group wakes up to the island sinking. In the morning the water is up to their ankles. They make their way into a row boat with a broken engine that the hotel had. Shortly after getting onto the boat, the island disappeared beneath the waves. As we are stranded in the middle of the ocean waiting for help, a skywriting plane flies over us, typing in the air “Happy New Year 2001!”