Charonquest

[wooliefrand]

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

[alright nerds lets go get your emotional support shepherd]

Comments

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... ]

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[endsjustified]

[i mean that shit's glowing like a key item yo]

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[hardpity]

[ hovers a hand over the lilies to see if he can divine which ones have the best stats ]

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[endsjustified]

[holding a hand over the lilies in the vase pulls up a mental image of all members of Lily past and present, excepting Charon. Nyx and Cerberus have of course gone home. the bluebells, of course, pull up all past and present members of Bluebell.

when you pause on yours, the glow brightens, and it radiates warmth.]

Re: begin

[featherduster]

[ Oh.

He remembers this from a dream.

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

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[endsjustified]

[brushing your fingers over the lilies in the vase pulls up a mental image of all members of Lily past and present, excepting Charon. Nyx and Cerberus have of course gone home. the bluebells, of course, pull up all past and present members of Bluebell.]

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[featherduster]

[ Ah. Well that explains the number of bluebells, too, doesn't it?

He reaches for his own. ]

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[endsjustified]

[when you touch your flower, the glow brightens, and it starts to grow warm. when you pick it out of the vase, it lights up brightly in your hands.

you can just about make out small, faint human footprints in the carpet that track towards the hall door you're facing. those weren't there before.]

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?]

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[endsjustified]

[when you touch your flower, the glow brightens, and it starts to grow warm. when you pick it out of the vase, it lights up brightly in your hands.

you can just about make out small, faint human footprints in the carpet that track towards the hall door you're facing. those weren't there before.]

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[ohlord]

[they sure were not.

welp.

time to take the lily and follow the footsteps.]

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[endsjustified]

[the footprints end at the door ahead -- must have gone past it. there's a shining metal plaque upon it, partially scratched out:

THE HOUSE OF ■■■■■■■■■■

Where no path exists, endeavor. Where others walk blindly, see them through.

it's easy enough to turn the knob. to push it open and move forward.]

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[spinebuddyandme]

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

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[endsjustified]

[a child's bedroom. it's well-appointed, if rather plain and impersonal, decorated in shades of royal blue. the bed is unmade, the blankets pushed back, very much as though the occupant got up and left not long ago. where a lamp might usually sit on the bedside table, a pair of pruning snips lies instead.

the only other thing of note in here is a family portrait on the wall, with four central figures:

- a father, serious-faced and redheaded like Charon, but with a more sombre cast to his features;
- a mother, dark-haired and dark-gowned and smiling faintly, with eyes and finer bones that he must have inherited;
- a baby brother, a fat toddler boy of perhaps three, squinting out at the world from their mother's arms;
- a ten-year old version of Charon on the rightmost side, impassive.
- there are many other people behind them, suggested in the abstract whorls of colour and shadow behind the little family, but they're hard to pick out in detail at this time.]

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[spinebuddyandme]

[ Goes a little further in to double-check for any closets or other potential hiding places ]

Charon...?

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[endsjustified]

[he can check under the bed, but it's clean and devoid of stray shepherds.

there is a stray lily petal though.]

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[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]

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[endsjustified]

[there is a DOOR AHEAD and a DOOR BEHIND and A BUNCH OF SIDE DOORS THAT PROBABLY LEAD INTO BEDROOMS which does he pick]

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[mykidisthebest]

[THE DOOR AHEAD SEEMS LEGIT LETS GO]

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[endsjustified]

[the footprints end at this door -- must have gone past it. there's a shining metal plaque upon it, partially scratched out:

THE HOUSE OF ■■■■■■■■■■

Where no path exists, endeavor. Where others walk blindly, see them through.

it's easy enough to turn the knob. to push it open and move forward.]

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. )

Re: begin

[endsjustified]

[brushing your fingers over the lilies in the vase pulls up a mental image of all members of Lily past and present, excepting Charon. Nyx and Cerberus have of course gone home. the bluebells, of course, pull up all past and present members of Bluebell.

when you touch yours, the glow brightens, and it starts to grow warm. when taken from the vase, it lights up brightly in your hands.

you can just about make out small, faint human footprints in the carpet that track towards the hall door you're facing. those weren't there before.

...

but you took the other way.

this door is closed tight. it has neither knob nor lock, but the metal plaque mounted on it, though tarnished, is perfectly readable:

To set countries to war with purpose requires very little skill, but entails either a vast helping of confidence or black despair. To set the world to war with purpose, no matter the cause, requires both skill and arrogance beyond measure.

Expect neither sympathy nor understanding for what we do, for it merits none. Look within yourself only, before you take this step and seal it in our shared blood: can you endure the regret that will result, and persevere regardless?

You must be settled in your conclusion. History will cast you as the villain.]

1/2

[terraria]

... so this is how everyone else reads... this is much easier.

2/2

[terraria]

( he traces the plaque gently, a fond look in his eye before he turns, going to follow the footprints instead. )

'History will cast you as the villain'... huh...