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

[splashofbourbon]

[he shrugs a little]

Been better. You didn't exactly pick the pleasant things to put in here.

[abardacttofollow]

It could have been worse... though I'm just the Guard, you know. I didn't pick things at all.

[splashofbourbon]

Meant you as more of a [handwave] general "you" sorta thing. Couldn't hurt to hold onto some happy things, you know?

[abardacttofollow]

I did.

[splashofbourbon]

What happened to 'em?

[abardacttofollow]

You saw some of them?

Anyway, you already know that this heart doesn't show everything that's in Stefen. You asked me about it already.

[splashofbourbon]

Guess that's true. Just don't feel right only seeing the bad.

[abardacttofollow]

Did you see Medren? The rooms I've shared with Vanyel? How kind my King was?

[splashofbourbon]

You mean how he was so kind you wound up hurting yourself in his name. And that ain't getting into that whole knife in the bed thing.

[abardacttofollow]

He never asked for that, and it stopped once other people learned how.

And the knife was... well. A symbol, you know. Of the end to peaceful times, and how loving a person who others wanted dead is a dangerous thing. It didn't change how lovely the room was, how sweet, did it?

[splashofbourbon]

Did kinda put a damper on it all.

[abardacttofollow]

In real life, too.

Look, you're a smart man. You've figured out already there have to be areas that aren't here.

[splashofbourbon]

I know, I heard you. Don't mean I gotta like the bad parts that I've seen.

[abardacttofollow]

I don't know why it's built like this, because I'm the Heart's Guard of this part, no other. But I know it's some kind of reflection. It stands for some kind of commentary on the True Heart.

[splashofbourbon]

Fair enough.

[he reaches out, ruffling Stef's hair]

You did your duty right though, thanks for the help.

[abardacttofollow]

Thank you! I've... tried my best.

[splashofbourbon]

It shows.

[squeezes his shoulder, turning for the door]

You take care now, all right?

[abardacttofollow]

I will.

[Do you take the step through eyes opened or closed]

[splashofbourbon]

[eyes open so he can stick the landing]

Truth 1

[abardacttofollow]

When you step through the door, you fall abruptly. You rapidly see yourself approaching the… ground? The ice? But just before you hit it, it shatters, and you find yourself in another room with a path leading forward. There's no going back.

You find yourself in a fenced in field, funnelling you forward to the next door. In the distance, you see white horses grazing. It is calm and peaceful; a large tree grows here, shading the area so it feels calm, quiet. It genuinely seems as though you're outdoors, though you get the impression you won't be able to leave the fenced in area except through the gate at the end.

By the gate at the end is an old, moss-covered statue of a horse. Well, most of a horse. It has been weathered, and it looks like something has destroyed its head.

The gate at the end is open onto darkness.

[splashofbourbon]

[well this is different, taking a look at the statue?]

[abardacttofollow]

It's life-sized.

[splashofbourbon]

[any kind of inscriptions or anything? he tries clearing some of the moss]

[abardacttofollow]

Some moss crumbles off. You don't find any inscriptions.

[splashofbourbon]

[well at least it's a little cleaner? he sighs, going through the door]