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15strangers2019-08-04 10:27 pm
strangerpeople) wrote in 15strangers2019-08-04 10:27 pm
WEEK 4
[After the meeting, Lilac gives everyone a small vial of something red. Those who left the meeting receive it from the rats on the crew. She gives instructions as to how to take it. Take in a drink, preferably tea. Drink it slowly. Make sure you can get to your bed once you finish. The headache will come quickly.
Nevertheless, even as everyone slips into sleep, they are visited once more by the Conductor in what must have been a dream. Or was it? It's not clear.
She is quiet as she speaks, looking out the windows, even though the view is obscured by the glass.
"I know you think me as a monster. Maybe I am after all these years. I have no illusions. But I cannot regret the things I've done.
"Nor can I regret the Bazaar...it was so wonderful. It opened my eyes to the truth of things and opened doors I never could have seen on my own. It was the first time I felt true love for another. I wasn't the only one-my daughter, too, passed through the Wicket. Saw the sea more sunless within the Bazaar's body. Learned as I learned. She sought to rival me in symbols, in marking skin."
She closes her eyes.
"She is dead now, of course. Everyone I knew in the Neath-on our Earth-is. Well. Almost everyone. London endures, naturally. But the Echo Bazaar...it's beautiful promise...it's gone. The Seventh City will never fall, and it's Message will forever remain undelivered. Of all the creatures in the universe who might remember it, I am alone in honoring it.
"Perhaps it's noble. Perhaps it's foolish. In any case, maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe it's the thought that's important. As long as I am here, there is yet a possibility that the deed may be finished, somehow.
"Still, I wonder. Maybe you have the answer.
What happens to a Message, when neither the sender and receiver exist anymore?"
As the day dawns, everyone wakes up to the sound of howling winds and darkness. Their head hurts, but they do have a new memory to accompany the ache. They are also at a new port. It is a dark place, teetering on the edge of safe space and the unknown in between void, where those who enter rarely return. Or, so you have to assume, right? Either way, that blackness on the deep horizon doesn't look particularly fun to try to drive through.
There is a legitimate fear in Lilac's expression that betrays her for the first time, as she lets everyone disembark, including the unicorn and the young man, who quickly jump onto another train to get away from this place. She also refuses to leave the train. She does leave you with a fair warning.
The Synod of Carcels is dangerous, in its own way, and everyone can feel it. Everyone can feel something hanging in the air. It's not natural. It's bending reality. It's also not something that started with you or your arrival. Yet it threatens to become that way, to become part of you. You can feel the temptation gnaw at you. You can hear the winds whisper of it. There is a hunger here-and knowledge as well.
The question, of course, is whether the price to uncover those things is worth it-and what will be found here with the price that is paid. But as the Conductor said-a reckoning cannot be postponed. Not forever.
There are eleven strangers left in this place.]
((IMPORTANT OOC NOTE: This week and it's investigations involve major Fallen London spoilers, in particular spoilers regarding Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name and one of it's endings. If you, as a player here, are playing Fallen London and do not wish to be spoiled, let us know, and we will make sure you are not given any ending spoilers to the best of our ability. We will also be marking spoiler-filled comments with tags, and we request that our players do likewise, in consideration for those who might look through this post in the future.
With that said, have fun, and remember-all shall be well.))
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Soon their heads will start to hurt.]
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[ That's one way to get a headache. No choice but to keep going, though. Kind of a pain but here they are. ]
See that lady anywhere?
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[She's used to pushing through headaches at this point. Almost. Is this intensifying? Does it come with other symptoms?]
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However, there is a flash of light, and soon enough the fifth tablet is visible.
There is a breath on their necks as they read.]
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[ ... Okay moving right along here because that's weird - he probably barely read this one. Alright, who're we kidding, he barely read any of them except for the first one. ]
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She's expecting teeth to follow.]
CASTLEVANIA...SPOILERS?...
(You know of a man, don't you? Perhaps you don't. A product of the commingling of choirs, to create a symphony of the night.
Maybe you will meet him, one day. Maybe you never will. It is amusing to wonder, isn't it?)
[It sounds like the Conductor.
But no one is behind her when she looks.]
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[Yes, she whirls; yes, she's looking for the eyesearing "woman" that has driven her to the point of using language she never would have dreamed she'd use in front of anyone else; no, she doesn't know just yet who that man was. Or is. Or will be.
The words will haunt her for a very, very long time. She may yet figure it out. But for right now... she's simply too furious and disoriented.]
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[ He doesn't whirl around - there's hardly any reason for him to think of the words as much. ]
Might as well keep going.
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[It is a petulant, very childish whine, but she feels very childish right now. Confusion and pain and fright do that to most anyone, though, don't they?]
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They will find the sixth tablet soon enough. It appears, somehow, that getting to this and the last Station were much easier than the first four, for some reason.]
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He can ignore hunger well enough. Mind over matter, really. ]
Maybe we're finally at the end of this.
[ Or that's just him being hopeful. ]
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In any case, Charlotte swallows hard before trying to reply, and her voice is thin compared to the affected cheer from earlier.]
Ugh... I hope so, this is... it's getting worse. I didn't even say anything....
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There is light ahead. Once the two chase it, they finally found...Caleb?]
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