Charonquest

[wooliefrand]

WHO: Lily
WHERE: Lily Barn
WHEN: Early Day 36, post ritual!

[alright nerds lets go get your emotional support shepherd]

Comments

✧

[endsjustified]

begin

[endsjustified]

[some of you have been here before. maybe it's reassuring, that it's still solid and intact. maybe it's less reassuring how sepulchrally silent everything is around you.

you are in a long, wide side hallway of what is clearly a rather elaborate, old-fashioned mansion. a wine-red carpet covers most of the hardwood floor. the right wall is lined with heavy dark wooden doors with burnished handles, only the nearest one ajar. a table by you also holds a silver vase of eight white lilies and seven bluebells, faintly glowing; you know on sight that one of those flowers belongs to you.

the left wall holds a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows. they've always been covered by curtains when people have come here before. those curtains are now pulled back. outside, far below, you see a strange view of a battlefield devoid of people -- empty armor and supply-wagons and ramparts, banners and standards abandoned and hanging limp, spears and arrows and other weapons stuck upright in the earth or scattered across the ground. all of it is a disquieting, dead shade of grey. over it all hangs a night sky with no moon, and with only one star, bright and too-large and blazing like an eye.

the shadows the starlight casts are stark, and while there are lamps down the length of the hall, they're currently out and shed no light. there is a door ahead of you, at the end of the hall.

(for the curious, there is also a 🔒 door behind you at the opposite end, but is that really a good idea...?)]

Re: begin

[hardpity]

[ are we supposed to equip a flower...

looks at a lily... ]

Re: begin

[featherduster]

[ Oh.

He remembers this from a dream.

He actually touches one of the white lilies first because hahaha;;; ]

Re: begin

[ohlord]

[someone who has not been here except maybe memory shares if it's based on that stuff.

anyway, glowing flowers means... getting his one?]

Re: begin

[spinebuddyandme]

[ Going to try to peek in that slightly ajar door without opening it any further ]

Re: begin

[mykidisthebest]

[don't look for the demon we deal with the demon later

is there a door that looks like it heads outside, he is going to whichever door looks like it's heading outside the fastest]

Re: begin

[terraria]

( ... he does follow the others to the flowers, hesitating. he doesn't want to take any of them... even when it's his, but -

he thinks he might have to.

when he finds "his" lily, he plucks it and twists it in his fingers fondly.

now, if he remembers correctly.... he remembers that there were "right" doors and "wrong" doors last time, or... well, a monster. so he...

go to the door behind them. )

great hall

[endsjustified]

[the footprints led you through some narrow, twisting side passages, up and down and all around -- the lamps remain dead all throughout, so it's a good thing you're carrying some light. these aren't very interesting, save that you occasionally might sense something watching you from particularly dark patches of shadow, and may want to move ahead a little quicker when this happens.

eventually, you come out to what must be the great hall at the front of this family mansion. it's expansive, but much dimmer here than it was in the starting hall. your flowers continue to serve you well here, and some of the blazing starlight from outside comes in through the windows, but the many lamps and the whole-ass chandelier above are all dead. the oppressive tomblike feel persists despite how open this area is. you can make out the faint acrid smell of molten metal in the air.

the floor here is made of cloudy glass. you can make out an endless multitude of wings and feathers trapped beneath.

this is obviously something of a hub point, because you are clearly able to reach several other areas from here:

- the fancy twin stairwells ahead to the second floor lead up to what you automatically know are the 🔒 family chambers.
- there is a set of wide double doors across from them, that almost certainly lead 🔒 outside.
- a huge door in the east wall, you know, leads to the 🔒 ballroom.
- an equally huge though less fancy door in the west wall leads to the 🔒 library.

...however.

the footprints continue in this area. they're no longer a barefoot child's; they're tracks from Charon's boots, a faint smudgy trail that's printed grey ash across the floor. it leads behind one of the stairwells.]

Re: great hall

[ohlord]

[... Charon, that's gay as shit.

anyway.

eyeing all those doors, debating trying them but nah.

we're following footprints]

Re: great hall

[featherduster]

[ WAIT, SORRY, TF IS GOING ON WITH THE FLOOR??? This is exactly like stepping into the Plants' shared consciousness.

Crouching down to press his flesh hand to the glass. ]

Re: great hall

[hardpity]

[ FOLLOWING THE FOOTPRINTS!! CHECKING FOR HIDDEN DOORS ]

Re: great hall

[terraria]

( perci covers his nose. that smell... molten metal?

he tries to catch a speck of bright, blinding light like white-hot iron, but can't find anything but darkness. the dark patches of shadow do make him hesitate, but it's only out of respect for charon's privacy that he doesn't venture closer.

... oh.

the floor... he wonders about this. the footprints lead elsewhere, but he remembers...

the library, wasn't the library where he wanted to go in charon's dream? he can't help but try to press a hand against its doors. )

Re: great hall

[mykidisthebest]

[gives the shadows the bird as he walks to the great hall. I WILL! DEAL! WITH YOU! LATER!

the glass floor gets a few taps with his foot; does it seem stable, or flimsy? do the wings and feathers beneath look like they're trying to break free?]

Re: great hall

[spinebuddyandme]

[ No he's stopping to examine those shadows the first time he feels something watching, waving the glowing Lily towards them ]

Scarab, do you feel that?

[ Scarab is checking for any strange energy readouts!! ]

backrooms

[endsjustified]

[the door shuts behind you as soon as you step in. like the transitional space you moved through between the side hall and the great hall, it's incredibly dark here, windowless, all lamps dead. but your flowers stay lit.

there's a stale quality to the air here that wasn't present in the rest of the house, like this area doesn't get used or cleaned out much.

in the light you carry, Charon's footprints show, a continued guide to lead you in. here they are outlined in blood, not ash.]

Re: backrooms

[ohlord]

Buddy, you sure did try to hide from all the bullshit, huh.

[anyway, following the bloody prints...]

Re: backrooms

[featherduster]

[ Following them but his frown is GROWING.

Attempting to reach out with a mental tendril, just in case Charon is close enough to hear him.

Charon . . . ? ]

Re: backrooms

[hardpity]

[ puts his flower in a little protective bubble and keeps going

he can go the distance ]

Re: backrooms

[terraria]

( perci freezes.

blood. he can smell it, he can taste it. he bows his head and stops to breathe in a few times, trying his best not to breathe in the smell before he forces himself to keep going. )

Blood is better than dust, because dust would make me sneeze~ ( talking to himself!! because!!! he gotta!!!!! ) If this place is as old as it smells like, it's probably full of dust in reality~

Re: backrooms

[spinebuddyandme]

[ sorry outlined in WHAT?

he's breaking into a run following these footprints now ]

Re: backrooms

[mykidisthebest]

[pauses just briefly, heart caught in his throat at the smell of blood, before he follows the footsteps on]

final

[endsjustified]

[eventually, your guide leads you to a particular door. it doesn't look like much until you shine the flowers' lights directly upon it, which reveals a circular arcane array drawn in blood over its surface. a single lily has been pressed into the middle of the array. there are obvious spots for the other flowers all along the circle's edge.

your guide speaks, in several voices at once:]

Place yours, and then touch it barehanded.

Re: final

[ohlord]

Creepy.

[but following instructions.]

Re: final

[hardpity]

Okay...

[ OBEDIENTLY PLACES. TOUCHES. ]