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CARDINAL
[When the shadows clear, your team stands unharmed in a fancy bedroom. There are sharp knives, similar to the ones in the ghost you just saw, scattered throughout the room. They are stuck fast in the walls, the ground, the bedposts, no amount of force can pull them free. The sheets of the bed are soaked in blood.
Over on the dressing table sits a jack-o-lantern that lights itself once you look at it, smoke rising from the flame into the shapes of people, acting out the scene of a memory in the room.
A young woman is getting ready for the ball, dressed in her very finest silks with her hair being styled neatly in place. The little girl doing her hair, perhaps ten years old, fumbles her fingers. She tugs on the hair slightly, dislodging some clips, and the woman starts screaming at her. ‘Clumsy little oaf!’. The girl is kicked out of the room, the young woman insisting on doing it herself and muttering about useless staff. After a moment of this there’s a flash of light that streaks toward the bed. The woman jumps up, startled, and investigates what happened. There is a knife stuck in the bedpost. Several more flashes of light appear behind her and she turns, horrified, to see them all aimed at her. She tries to scream, and the smoke disappears abruptly as all the knives come hurtling towards her.]
Light the lanterns.
Over on the dressing table sits a jack-o-lantern that lights itself once you look at it, smoke rising from the flame into the shapes of people, acting out the scene of a memory in the room.
A young woman is getting ready for the ball, dressed in her very finest silks with her hair being styled neatly in place. The little girl doing her hair, perhaps ten years old, fumbles her fingers. She tugs on the hair slightly, dislodging some clips, and the woman starts screaming at her. ‘Clumsy little oaf!’. The girl is kicked out of the room, the young woman insisting on doing it herself and muttering about useless staff. After a moment of this there’s a flash of light that streaks toward the bed. The woman jumps up, startled, and investigates what happened. There is a knife stuck in the bedpost. Several more flashes of light appear behind her and she turns, horrified, to see them all aimed at her. She tries to scream, and the smoke disappears abruptly as all the knives come hurtling towards her.]
Light the lanterns.
ROOM ONE
But something is wrong. You know something is wrong, this calm is a lie. What if everything is a lie? You don’t trust anything in here. You don’t trust anything at all.]
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It's peaceful, birds are singing and there's this pumpkin on a bench.
And I'm like maaaaan, what do I look like, a sucker?
I took it.
AND THREW IT ON THE GROUND!!!!!
I'm not gonna' be part of your system!
I'M AN ADULLLLT!
Don't put a pumpkin out unless you want it broke!
Maaaan!]
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You put out a pumpkin, I did what I was supposed to! What's your problem?!
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The light intensifies, blindingly bright until your eyes adjust to it. The shadows in the courtyard grow larger, cast by trees and fountains and whatnot. And when they do, a giant sea snake bursts out of the fountain, rearing high above her, fangs bared.]
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[NOTE TO SELF: SET IT ON FIRE AFTER I'M DONE.]
[...OH WAIT. I'M P DONE FOR.]
Oh. Hell. You're... you're a familiar and unusually ugly puppy, aintcha'?
Lemme guess... you like people.
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[For what it's worth, JD tries to pull out one of her alchemical explosives from Kyrie. On the plus side, she's aware of how to get the damn thing to work this time. On the minus side, she got back some of her magic negation.
Long story short, she's got no good way to defend herself until this thing charges. LETS RUN! :')]
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[WELL SINCE IT TAKES A BIT... lets dive back into the cover of a shadow of the bench until my bomb is charged.]
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[That sure is me, being soaking wet now. I GUESS WE CAN TRY LIGHTING WHAT'S LEFT OF THE PUMPKIN NOW.]
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The pumpkin is a pile of mush, but you might be able to find a wick. A very wet wick.]
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[Motherfucker okay don't worry it's fine as long as I don't start feeling like people are tasty it's ooookay. Calm.]
[Lets just. Dry off the wick and light it. Blow on it to dry it off, and light it. It'll be okay. yes.]
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[VIGOROUSLY.]
[TO GET THE SCALES OFF.]
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[OKAY CALM. You have 25% of your resistance. That was enough back in Atuin. Well no it wasn't you needed 100% of it to nul this shit... oh god and this is probably the same ocean water, godsdamned portraits. Well, I could look to check--OH WAIT NO I CAN'T. BECAUSE MY DAMN EYE. IS DAMN SEALED. UGGGGGH.]
[okay lets not freak out. maybe the wick. yes if we light the wick that should fix things. Come on wick JD needs a new pair of not being a hideous monster.]
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[”You can’t be serious!” a man yells, storming across the courtyard after the smoke woman. She sits there happily, smiling pleasantly in the face of his rage. The man is tall and wearing regal clothes, a crown atop his head and waving a piece of rolled up paper.
“Is there a problem?” the woman asks, her expression never changing. “A problem?” the king sputters, “A PROBLEM? This is an outrage! You’ve changed the treaty, this will leave me bankrupt, this wasn’t what I signed.”
“But of course it is,” she says, smiling, “That’s your signature right there. And we all know you’re a man of your word, why, it’s your reputations shining point.” Her words shake the king, this is too much, this isn’t what he wanted. “Are you trying to start a war?” he asks quietly.
“Not at all. We’re allies now, you see?” Her smile doesn’t change. The king regains his composure, staring hard at her. “No. I don’t see. And you will pay for this, mark my words.”
I'm sure that was helpful.]
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Back into the darkness]