QUIET MOUNDS - STEF HEART

[abardacttofollow]

You find yourself in a stone room that looks like some sort of medieval dungeon. There are (thankfully), no torture instruments, but there is a man strung up here. One large manacle is around his neck, chaining him stiffly to the door. His hands are free, but each foot is manacled to the matching bottom corner of the doorframe. There is a visible lock on each of the three manacles.

It's Stefen, and there's a knife in his chest. Despite that, he's alive, apparently alert, and doesn't look to be in pain, perhaps due to the lulling, sense-dulling music that seems to be coming from nowhere at all—in fact, if you were in pain before you entered, it's gone here. His wound is bleeding, but only a little, and he smiles his usual bright smile at you.

Behind him, but in front of the closed door he's bound to, you can see three double sets of strings running vertically. Where they meet the floor, they are fastened, and then each runs across the floor to the three doors on the opposite wall, then under them.

There is nothing else in this room.

((OOC: Here's how this will work! Since we're doing individual runs, rather than me putting up individual top levels for areas, just jump the post itself, and I'll run everything for you within your one thread. If you're wanting to do a run with someone else, just stay in the same thread together.))

Comments

[originsong]

[ welp, that's none of my business

anything else in here that's maybe standing out... checks the bookshelf for a hidden doorway!! checks under the table! under the bed?? ]

[abardacttofollow]

No hidden doorway! Under the table is... nothing. Under the bed you find a capped palm-sized tub of something and a lost shoe.

[originsong]

[ hum. takes the shoe out so it can be found more easily later

checks under the pillows?? ]

[abardacttofollow]

Nothing under the pillows.

[originsong]

If there's anything special in here, please come out now.

[ doesn't really expect that to work but w/e. pats down the comforters? checks the wine bottle! ]

[abardacttofollow]

The wine bottle is partially drank but seems to be normal wine.

You encounter a lump under the comforter, like something sticking out.

[originsong]

[ ! a lump! examines! ]

[abardacttofollow]

You pull back the comforter to discover a dangerous-looking, twisted knife stabbed into the mattress.

[originsong]

Oh! That... shouldn't be there, I think...

[ goes to pick it up ]

[abardacttofollow]

As soon as your fingers touch it you can feel it sucking at your life force.

[originsong]

[ WHAT! rude! drops it

okay I think I have magic I can use in this situation. SINGING A HEALING SPELL, AND PICKING IT UP AGAIN. hopefully the two cancel each other out while she puts it on the scale!! ]

[abardacttofollow]

It continues to suck at your energy as you move it there, but I presume that's being replenished by the spell.

Click.

[originsong]

[ jeez louise. goes on through to the last room ]

[abardacttofollow]

The last room you enter is… well, not a room, but you're also not going to be leaving it, not safely.

You are on a cracked icy ledge about ten feet wide that extends about twenty feet forward. To your right is a sheer cliff face leading up, coated with ice and snow. To the right is a blackened crater. It looks less like the natural continuation of a cliff and more like a crevasse caused by a horrific explosion of some kind. At your feet are bodies, some humans dressed like bandits, others twisted, unnatural creatures wearing armor. They are armed, and unpleasantly so, but quite dead. You see also abandoned riding tack, possibly blown off whatever poor creature might have been here. There is a lot of gear and there are a lot of bodies and if you wanted to look through everything it would take a while.

The cord winds forward, along the path, over a blackened patch that seems to have been the center of the explosion. Ash covers whatever might remain there, though you see a scrap of white cloth.

At the end, your way forward is blocked by a wall of fallen snow, like an avalanche. A man is standing there, quiet, holding the end of the cord in one hand and the key in the other. He looks like Vanyel, but not Vanyel as you know him in quiet mounds (If you've met him at all). He's in his mid to late thirties, his hair almost fully white and whipping around him in the cold wind. He is also quite visibly transparent, the scenery seen through him.

Vanyel says, softly, "I'm so sorry. Can you tell me the weight of duty now?"

[originsong]

[ oh well this is nostalgic i guess golly ]

... Did you do all this?

[abardacttofollow]

He pulls a face. "There was no other way to stop them."

[originsong]

Because... they were going to do something bad? Is that right...?

[abardacttofollow]

"A twisted, corrupted invading army from an ancient evil. Yes."

[originsong]

That's terrible. I'm sorry.

[abardacttofollow]

He ducks his head. "Thank you."

[originsong]

There's a girl I know who did something terrible once. She had been abused and mistreated, and so she killed many humans. She declared war, and to stop her from killing everyone we had to seal her away.

But sealing her away didn't fix anything. Hundreds of years later, it all started again. But this time... we spoke to her and tried to understand her. And this time she was able to live in peace along with everyone else.

Later, that girl... she did good things. She did great things. That girl helped regenerate our world.

So, I would say. Your duty is to be like that girl. Despite her guilt and her anger she moved on and did things that helped everyone.

[abardacttofollow]

"I'm afraid that I died in the fight to stop the invasion," he says. "It will be others who have to live on."

[originsong]

Oh. I'm also sorry about that! But I guess, you said it even better than I could. They have to do that.

[abardacttofollow]

He manages a wry smile. "I'm not sure you understand the situation," he says. "But I think that was the right answer regardless."

He holds the key out.

[originsong]

[ takes it '^' ]

I really don't... but I know there's a version of you that isn't dead here, so... you can still be happy now, regardless.