As Joseph made his way through the minefield of dolls one seemed to notice him and Alice seemed to wake up, turning her head to face him. "Oh. Hello. Don't mind the dolls, come on inside." She said as she got up and opened the door, waiting for him to enter. As she stood, he was able to have a better look of her appearance: She was fairly tall, with bright blue eyes and short blonde hair with a red hairband in it, and her skin was oddly blank. She wore a dress the color of her eyes, with a red ribbon around her waist and another one around her shoulders. Her dolls looked much the same, except the headband was replaced with a red ribbon.

Alice was, in fact, wearing neither, but instead a pair of long white socks."Oh, Yukari sent you? Please, come inside." She said as she herself entered the house, leading Joseph to the living room. "Have a seat." She said as a couple of dolls brought in a tray with some cake and tea.

Alice looked mildly confused about Joseph's statement. "Know what, if you don't mind me asking?" She said as another couple of dolls came in, pouring the tea into two cups and putting a slice of cake on two plates, setting it down in front of Alice and her guest.

Alice seemed to light up like a christmas tree at the mention of missing people. "Oh, are you here to take care of that? I hear several people have gone missing, but all i know is my friend dissapeared." She took a sip of her tea. "I'm glad someone is finally here to take care of that. You will need a map." Only a second or two later, a doll dived into a drawer and emerged holding a folded-up map and a compass. "Take this. I think you'll need it."

Immediately upon opening the map a couple of landmarks stood out: A large mountain that covered most of the northwest part of the map, the bamboo forest in the southeast and the normal forest in the northeast. The northeastern forest in particular had a location marked as 'Alice's House' and on the border of the forest was a shrine labeled 'Hakurei Shrine'. Near the center of the map was a large village labeled 'Human Village' and near that a large mansion on the shore of a large lake. His analysis of the map was interrupted by a doll pointing a small stick the mansion. "I don't know anything that may help you, but someone lives here who might. Her name is Patchouli." Alice said as she sipped her tea once again. "You'll want to enter through the back door rather than the front though, you don't want to risk meeting their maid. The back door will lead you to the library, which is where the person you're looking for lives. Oh, and... Don't take the books. She doesn't like that."