abardacttofollow | QUIET MOUNDS

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QUIET MOUNDS - STEF HEART

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.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

:...I suppose, that to Stef, duty is something that may always outweigh security or love. For us, and for himself...:

"What duty?"

[it's the Herald's answer, after all.]

:To do what only you can.:

"I think there's something only he can do."

[nods; that was what she'd meant. they all have that]

He was confirming; he nods back tiredly and holds the key out.

[takes it. sadly]

:...perhaps this battlefield can be laid to rest. In time.:

"Sometimes things won't, sometimes they will. We'll have to find out."

[fair enough.

she stays with him for a while before she returns slowly to the gatekeeper]

[looks up as she enters]

Welcome back.

:Thank you, Stefen.:

[extends the key to him.]

[takes it and unfastens his neck.

As he drops to the ground, the cords that were across the door behind him snap with a discordant jangle]

Thanks for getting me down.

...I don't know what's back there, honestly, but I know that when you reach the last area, you can get out. I can't give you the key to that area, because it belongs to Vanyel, but you shouldn't need to get in, you only need to reach it.

:Why don't you know...?:

Well... because I don't know! I'm the Guard, I don't go everywhere.

:A guard who doesn't know what you're guarding? ...that's certainly a sense of duty.:

[not knocking it]

A duty I was bound to! [wink]

:Oh, Stefen...:

[there's a chuckle in her voice despite herself]

We've got to have a sense of humor about it.

:You're a fine performer, Stef. I suppose this is goodbye, for now.:

[noses his hair softly]

[wraps his arms around her neck and gives her a quick hug]

You'll see me after.

Oh—there's a drop on the other side of the door. You might want to close your eyes.

[musters up a mental smile for him]

:I will. Thank you, Stefen.:

[heads through after a pause, eyes obediently closed...]

There's a drop, but a moment later you— well, there's no impact. You just... find yourself abruptly standing on safe ground again.

You find yourself in a fenced in field, funnelling you forward to the next door. In the distance, you see white horses grazing. It's definitely the Companion's Field. 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.

[. . . . . . . . . . i have a very bad very familiar feeling about this

advances on the darkness, though she does hesitate for a moment next to the horse statue...]

You enter into a fancy bedroom in a manor house, with two bunks, both sticking out into the room. As well as the door you came in through, there is a door to the left and right, and an open doorframe ahead. You wouldn't be able to exit through the left or right closed doors if you wanted to, though. There's a statue in front of each of them. One is a tall, stern-looking woman. The other is a strapping, broad-shouldered young man with curly hair and a confident grin.

[anyone she recognizes?]

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