[ you are walking through the fog today when suddenly, you are not walking in the fog at all.
actually, you walk... out of a pentagram. It’s really quite well drawn. interesting. that's fun. maybe not unexpected in scawwy, this place is nuts.
but the room you walk into is so much nicer than anything else you've seen so far. in fact, one could go so far as to say it's lavish. ornate. maybe a bit gaudy, if you're not into expensive velvet and red marble. it's candlelit, and it's hot here. humid.
in this room, you can see one door ahead of you that seems to lead to what looks like a dining hall. a large circular table that could probably seat nine people at minimum sits in the middle of the room. it's absolutely filthy with plates, filled with leftover rotting food, stacked so high you can barely see the mahogany underneath it. one of the chairs is shattered into bits, there's food on the floor, old bones and molding fruit scattered across the ground. behind the table is an enormous fireplace that's burning away merrily, and above that fireplace is a huge portrait of a red-skinned man with horns in a fancy doublet, smirking down at you. he looks like a dickhead, you find yourself thinking.
a skeleton looking guy is sweeping the same spot over and over, not actually doing any cleaning at all. i cannot believe this is the second cyoa lavi has been on where there's a cleaning skeleton i promise this wasn't on purpose. you can hear chatter past this dining room, in the halls beyond, faintly.
oh, and - once you've got your bearings? you'll realize something hurts. something inside you. in your chest, there's something that feels cold and hot all at once, thudding away painfully. it's not overwhelming, but it's present, always there. and it makes you feel... a little hungry, maybe. not for food, for something else that you can't quite reach.
[ okay. let me tell you. it is extremely disorienting to walk into the fog and walk into this place. not because it's the village and then clearly something new, but because suddenly it's like he just walked into the castle in Edoras in hell again. huh! weird! wonder why that is!
which....well!!!
looking around from left to right, it occurs to rondo that Something May Have Just Happened, and the hot sticky humidity sure is familiar. he immediately reaches for his sword, realizes it's not there, and then turns his head to - ]
Oh. [ oh n ] -- Mathis, Lavi, Miss Ashlyn... are you all alright?
[ bad. hey, bad! the urge to protect comes before the urge to pay attention to his surroundings beyond that, almost immediately tense and on edge. ]
[oh. OH, OKAY. sometimes you have the week from hell and then this. that's fine. that is the story of his life.
mathis is not remotely dressed for the heat with his fancy-boy clothes, so he's feeling the effects of the temperature and humidity very quickly, reaching up to wipe at his brow as he stands here, taking it all in. the aesthetic would be nice, maybe, if not for... the details, the skeletons, the state of it all.]
I- wh-where...
[he keeps his voice low, with the sound of that faint chatter, then-
presses a hand to his chest with a sharp little intake of breath, eyes wide.
[you return out of the library! hooray. you all have spoils and things, and some clues on where to go next. talk to each other a second? see what you want to do, where you need to go next.]
[ +1 important information! + 1 fuckoff big axe + 3 arrows (inside)
rondo lets out the biggest sigh of relief in the entire world when they get out of the library, leaning against the door. his mouth. it moves. it screams. he is allowed. ]
That was... [ and then, as the babies are coming out - ] -- Ashlyn?! Mathis!? [ AHHHHH ]
[for a second mathis looks terrified when rondo calls their names, looking over his shoulder and hurrying further from the door because AAAA PEOPLE JUST DIED BECAUSE OF SAYING THINGS AAAAA
he's blank-faced, he's carrying ashlyn, he looks paler than usual, and he has blood on him.
the good news is that none of this blood appears to be his own! yay!]
welcome back to the hallway with all your debtor friends. everyone looks as terrible and soulless as before, but there is a certain ... unsettledness to the House. It knows. The Master of the House is on the way back.
You are running out of time. The Hammer in your hands is hot, hot enough to prickle the skin, and you feel a gnawing at your chest that is hard to sate.
From down by the grandfather clock, you hear a psst! over here! ]
[ TIME TO SCOOBY RUN DOWN THE HALLWAY well now that everyone is like. not dead?! we're all here! hooray! they should probably catch up about their trauma but there's no time for that. mathis and lavi get, at first a relieved and worried smile that immediately turns into Oh God Here We Go Time To Flee
hustling down the hallway, rondo is gripping onto this terrible and hot hammer like it's for dear fucking life. he can handle a little hot. (rondo you can't light on fire here) he can handle a little hot. and at the psst, he skids to a stop like a cartoon character, looking back to the other three before starting to hustle in that direction instead.
As you all start to come to from the battle fever haze, they will see the dark fog starting to rise from the room. You can see each other - and Mathis from across the room, the door opens and you can walk freely in - but you can also see the discarded, bloody corpses of your self-same mirrors. Shattered pieces of you for all to see. You did such an excellent job of killing the part of yourselves willing to protect Hope, didn’t you?
In the back of the room is a familiar girl - Hope - chained with heavy manacles on either hand. Suspended between them she hands limply, though she looks rather unharmed despite all the worrying things she’s yelled about. As you approach though, she looks up - suddenly alert again and beginning to pull. Hope looks at the hammer in your hands, and the chains glow red with a sort of anticipation. ]
“HURRY! There are three things you need to know about Raphael.
He's almost home now - closer than a kiss.
His favourite colour is blood.
And he probably knows a thousand ways to kill us. THIS IS GOING TO HURT!”
[ You have you already deigned to steal from the house of a Devil, a lord of the Hells, and in doing so have not only jabbed him in the eye but spit on his feet. This is delightful. You have what you wanted, but you cannot leave lest all hells break. In short - you are dead, and your soul is his. You could still run, you know. You don’t need to bring her with you. Perhaps if you don’t waste time with this, you could move quickly enough to make it to the exit before Raphael arrives. ]
“That Hammer is almost as sweet a sight as you are! Please! SMASH THOSE CHAINS!”
[ the relief at seeing the other three is palpable, though it doesn't last. rondo's mostly... okay? he could be in worse shape. his ribs are definitely cracked but he's had worse, and it also means he can't shout as loud as usual which is a bonus for everyone! however. ]
- Mathis, Miss Ashlyn! [ i feel bad every time i don't include lavi but holy SHIT do these two look fucked up - this was what he was afraid of. his heart swoops in his chest, and rondo closes the distance between the group as quickly as he possibly can, listening to hope but mostly focusing on our two sweet baby ducklings. ]
I'm so - your injuries...! [ it feels like a failing, as irrational as that is, and he swallows, hard, the worry on his face genuine and sincere, though it fades just slightly into grim seriousness at the sound of hope behind them. he tears at his stupid shitty outfit to try and free up something to use as a bandage to pressure whatever. whatever he can, though his eyes flick to the hammer, and wordlessly, back up to lavi's face. well, we're gonna smash the chains, right? ]
[dying helped! his eye is gone, still, but he isn't actively bleeding. probably just covered in his own blood, still.
the thing, though, about their souls being his is--
he doesn't have one. they evidently have an interest in that anyway, in him as a vessel, but he's... even if he wanted to be more, he's still less than what the others are. he lost even if his copy died as well, he's the only one who didn't stay in here. so if they can escape-- if they can try to get away from this raphael...]
Rondo... please, hurry, take Ashlyn and run, you can get her out of here--
[back home he intended to die for someone he cared about. his profile has always said it: my life isn't important enough to put yours at risk.]
I... I don't have a soul for him to keep. You understand what that means, right...? [they aren't the same. they're the ones who should-] You need to live too, right, Lavi? So I can... I can do it. All of you need to run. Please.
[HELLO MY CHILDREN YOU SOLVED OUR HELL PUZZLE CONGRATULATION
raphael is dead and gone, and hope is alive! you are standing in this room that has been absolutely blasted to kingdom fuck with fire. most of it is gone and iced over at this point at least, but any remaining hellfire is just there, forever, crackling across the tile. you can talk to hope below if you'd like, but first:
END NOTES:
- You chose HOPE. Or, at least, some of you did. It's okay, she doesn't mind. - You are allowed to have all the injuries you want from this experience, including ones you healed and non-fatal versions of the injuries you inflicted on your clones. For your reference, hellfire makes your skin look cracked and black, like a particularly crispy chicken skin. If you want to ask me or Alli for clarification on what stuff should/could look like go for it!! - You are awarded four stress toys that look like this guy. Two of them look vaguely like Hope, two of them look vaguely like Raphael - Mathis and Rondo get the Hope ones, Ashlyn and Lavi get the Raphael ones. - You also get to keep the nameplate. Yay! - Upon leaving the House of Hope, you will feel a sensation in your chest. It alternates between an agonizing burning feeling, like an overheating metal engine where your heart should be, and a gnawing, clawing hunger that sits in the center of your chest and radiates outwards; both feel as if they are consuming you from the inside out. Both of them are always present, and sometimes, the pain gets worse. Think of a 3 or 4 on the pain chart normally, and then a 7 or 8 occasionally. Play with this however you want! It'll last until trial. - Sometimes, you'll hear the distant laughter of a devil. This also lasts until trial.
:tadafrog: hope y'all had a good time!!]
TALK TO HOPE (if you want, i'm not the boss of you)
[ we did it??? we did it. cool. we are Okay Enough to have cute feelsy conversations. i look forward to exploding later. but for now, rondo's immediately coming over to hope to take her hands and give them a squeeze, with the warmest smile in the world. ]
Miss Hope, thank you so much for your assistance - we truly would have been doomed without you.
[ THE HEALS ]
Edited (changes my icon to match ) 2024-06-27 17:10 (UTC)
for rondo and mathis: an invisible force tugs oh so gently at their backs, and they will not see whatever the other two are witness to, pulled a slightly different direction.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
PART ONE
actually, you walk... out of a pentagram. It’s really quite well drawn. interesting. that's fun. maybe not unexpected in scawwy, this place is nuts.
but the room you walk into is so much nicer than anything else you've seen so far. in fact, one could go so far as to say it's lavish. ornate. maybe a bit gaudy, if you're not into expensive velvet and red marble. it's candlelit, and it's hot here. humid.
in this room, you can see one door ahead of you that seems to lead to what looks like a dining hall. a large circular table that could probably seat nine people at minimum sits in the middle of the room. it's absolutely filthy with plates, filled with leftover rotting food, stacked so high you can barely see the mahogany underneath it. one of the chairs is shattered into bits, there's food on the floor, old bones and molding fruit scattered across the ground. behind the table is an enormous fireplace that's burning away merrily, and above that fireplace is a huge portrait of a red-skinned man with horns in a fancy doublet, smirking down at you. he looks like a dickhead, you find yourself thinking.
a skeleton looking guy is sweeping the same spot over and over, not actually doing any cleaning at all. i cannot believe this is the second cyoa lavi has been on where there's a cleaning skeleton i promise this wasn't on purpose. you can hear chatter past this dining room, in the halls beyond, faintly.
oh, and - once you've got your bearings? you'll realize something hurts. something inside you. in your chest, there's something that feels cold and hot all at once, thudding away painfully. it's not overwhelming, but it's present, always there. and it makes you feel... a little hungry, maybe. not for food, for something else that you can't quite reach.
what do you do!]
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which....well!!!
looking around from left to right, it occurs to rondo that Something May Have Just Happened, and the hot sticky humidity sure is familiar. he immediately reaches for his sword, realizes it's not there, and then turns his head to - ]
Oh. [ oh n ] -- Mathis, Lavi, Miss Ashlyn... are you all alright?
[ bad. hey, bad! the urge to protect comes before the urge to pay attention to his surroundings beyond that, almost immediately tense and on edge. ]
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mathis is not remotely dressed for the heat with his fancy-boy clothes, so he's feeling the effects of the temperature and humidity very quickly, reaching up to wipe at his brow as he stands here, taking it all in. the aesthetic would be nice, maybe, if not for... the details, the skeletons, the state of it all.]
I- wh-where...
[he keeps his voice low, with the sound of that faint chatter, then-
presses a hand to his chest with a sharp little intake of breath, eyes wide.
nope! he is not all right!]
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INTERMISSION
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+ 1 fuckoff big axe
+ 3 arrows (inside)
rondo lets out the biggest sigh of relief in the entire world when they get out of the library, leaning against the door. his mouth. it moves. it screams. he is allowed. ]
That was... [ and then, as the babies are coming out - ] -- Ashlyn?! Mathis!? [ AHHHHH ]
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he's blank-faced, he's carrying ashlyn, he looks paler than usual, and he has blood on him.
the good news is that none of this blood appears to be his own! yay!]
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PART 2
welcome back to the hallway with all your debtor friends. everyone looks as terrible and soulless as before, but there is a certain ... unsettledness to the House. It knows. The Master of the House is on the way back.
You are running out of time. The Hammer in your hands is hot, hot enough to prickle the skin, and you feel a gnawing at your chest that is hard to sate.
From down by the grandfather clock, you hear a psst! over here! ]
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hustling down the hallway, rondo is gripping onto this terrible and hot hammer like it's for dear fucking life. he can handle a little hot. (rondo you can't light on fire here) he can handle a little hot. and at the psst, he skids to a stop like a cartoon character, looking back to the other three before starting to hustle in that direction instead.
hello!! ]
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sorry he just had a bit of a time in there. he's being hauled behind lavi, so he's going after rondo if lavi is!]
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RONDO
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MATHIS
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ASHLYN
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LAVI
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PART 3
As you all start to come to from the battle fever haze, they will see the dark fog starting to rise from the room. You can see each other - and Mathis from across the room, the door opens and you can walk freely in - but you can also see the discarded, bloody corpses of your self-same mirrors. Shattered pieces of you for all to see. You did such an excellent job of killing the part of yourselves willing to protect Hope, didn’t you?
In the back of the room is a familiar girl - Hope - chained with heavy manacles on either hand. Suspended between them she hands limply, though she looks rather unharmed despite all the worrying things she’s yelled about. As you approach though, she looks up - suddenly alert again and beginning to pull. Hope looks at the hammer in your hands, and the chains glow red with a sort of anticipation. ]
“HURRY! There are three things you need to know about Raphael.
He's almost home now - closer than a kiss.
His favourite colour is blood.
And he probably knows a thousand ways to kill us. THIS IS GOING TO HURT!”
[ You have you already deigned to steal from the house of a Devil, a lord of the Hells, and in doing so have not only jabbed him in the eye but spit on his feet. This is delightful. You have what you wanted, but you cannot leave lest all hells break. In short - you are dead, and your soul is his. You could still run, you know. You don’t need to bring her with you. Perhaps if you don’t waste time with this, you could move quickly enough to make it to the exit before Raphael arrives. ]
“That Hammer is almost as sweet a sight as you are! Please! SMASH THOSE CHAINS!”
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- Mathis, Miss Ashlyn! [ i feel bad every time i don't include lavi but holy SHIT do these two look fucked up - this was what he was afraid of. his heart swoops in his chest, and rondo closes the distance between the group as quickly as he possibly can, listening to hope but mostly focusing on our two sweet baby ducklings. ]
I'm so - your injuries...! [ it feels like a failing, as irrational as that is, and he swallows, hard, the worry on his face genuine and sincere, though it fades just slightly into grim seriousness at the sound of hope behind them. he tears at his stupid shitty outfit to try and free up something to use as a bandage to pressure whatever. whatever he can, though his eyes flick to the hammer, and wordlessly, back up to lavi's face. well, we're gonna smash the chains, right? ]
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[dying helped! his eye is gone, still, but he isn't actively bleeding. probably just covered in his own blood, still.
the thing, though, about their souls being his is--
he doesn't have one. they evidently have an interest in that anyway, in him as a vessel, but he's... even if he wanted to be more, he's still less than what the others are. he lost even if his copy died as well, he's the only one who didn't stay in here. so if they can escape-- if they can try to get away from this raphael...]
Rondo... please, hurry, take Ashlyn and run, you can get her out of here--
[back home he intended to die for someone he cared about. his profile has always said it: my life isn't important enough to put yours at risk.]
I... I don't have a soul for him to keep. You understand what that means, right...? [they aren't the same. they're the ones who should-] You need to live too, right, Lavi? So I can... I can do it. All of you need to run. Please.
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END
raphael is dead and gone, and hope is alive! you are standing in this room that has been absolutely blasted to kingdom fuck with fire. most of it is gone and iced over at this point at least, but any remaining hellfire is just there, forever, crackling across the tile. you can talk to hope below if you'd like, but first:
END NOTES:
:tadafrog: hope y'all had a good time!!]
TALK TO HOPE (if you want, i'm not the boss of you)
[hope says, glancing at all of you. she laughs, full of glee, shaking her hands out.]
Pinch me! Let's see if it's true! Oh, but, that doesn't matter. What a glorious, jubilant day.
[for the first time since you met, hope is... calm. at peace. it flows over you, eases your hurts. you're all going to be okay.]
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Um, I'd rather not pinch you...
[handholds instead.]
...thank you for helping us.
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Miss Hope, thank you so much for your assistance - we truly would have been doomed without you.
[ THE HEALS ]
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So now what?
[he looks around just in case ka-ren shows up for round two]
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T-thanks. For helping us.
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I-I'm... sorry for putting all of us through that...
[with the vote situation,]
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[HE CARES ONLY ABOUT ONE OF THOSE]
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Mathis... I don't think it makes much sense to choose against the conviction of your heart. No matter what it is.
[ whether it was for hope or against it, everyone did what they thought was right. can't fault anyone for that. ]
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[foreshadowing?]
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EPILOGUE
for ashlyn and lavi: goodbye!
for rondo and mathis: an invisible force tugs oh so gently at their backs, and they will not see whatever the other two are witness to, pulled a slightly different direction.
you can all still arrive together! ]