Chapter II: If You Can Still Remember
General Summary
- Salvatore and Europa meet up with Tahmina and get their stories straight; they gather up the rest of the party who remember and investigate the area
- In the room where it happened, the Lady lays on the ground, gripping her left arm and breathing heavily; the place reeks of transmutation magic
- She's very weakened, and can't do something like that for awhile
- She tells us to find out who was behind the attack and that she will be fine; she always is
- The group talks about what to do next and how to get answers in a subtle way
- Hyacinth and Tahmina talk to Ensfri, who was speaking to Head Butler Lorenzo about discrepancies concerning the food storage (there are only enough eggs for 3 days, and Bianca was in charge of it)
- There is nothing on the itinerary for the 27th
- Esya takes her place on the stage while Salvatore subtly cases the people around her
- Gressix appears nervous about security, and Leamus reassures him that nothing could be wrong
- Tsubaki appears reserved, but suspicious, saying that Esya confronting her was "the only unexpected event", but saying that everything will work out fine
- Iraira Tomodari says that Tsubaki and Kesaki Denji are diplomats but far more knowledgable than him, and they are to be trusted
- Seeker Timathet is a racist (primarily towards the elves)
- Hyacinth, Vignette, Europa, and Tahmina go to the kitchens to speak with Bianca about the eggs; Vignette runs into the storeroom while Hyacinth and Bianca talk
- Bianca is very stressed trying to find a new supplier for more eggs; they never made it to the manor
- Vignette finds evidence of the food delivery (delivered by a company in the capital called Pacrena Foods), with some broken eggs
- The four of them head over to the Barn, a storage cellar on the grounds, and find Tolericken
- Hyacinth, Europa, Vignette, and Tahmina go to the Barn, where they get almost no information from a tired guard named Gion
- There is enough space for the missing eggs, but the pallets don't appear to have been moved and the remaining eggs are suspiciously low-quality
- Salvatore gets lost and finds the Lady again and updates her; he and Esya explore the castle and find someone who is planning on getting with Lady Relassi
- The man, Jerom, says that the Empire soldiers are suspicious
- As Esya waits for Tsubaki at the pond, Salvatore hears the same loud banging noise on the other side of the manor
- He checks on Cynthia, who is concerned, but when he returns to Esya, he finds her dead with a hole in the center of her forehead
- The other arrive at the pond, and they take Esya's body to Cynthia, who resets time once more; as she does, her left arm is shown to be completely black
- Vignette appears to have disappeared before Esya's body was found
- We see a hand on a chessboard as a knight takes a pawn
- The first day repeats; Esya panics
- Esya panics and bolts out of the manor, invisible; she tries to talk to Tolericken, but when he leaves, she gets high and lays on the ground
- Hyacinth looks for Esya while Vignette investigates the the area around the foyer and Tahmina and Europa try to recreate the first day
- Salvatore continues to talk to his uncle about desirable women, and gets a meeting with Mworaniyie Odolle Ala-osansi, a very ambitious woman who has large plans for her country
- Esya stumbles back into the manor, still high, and nearly sets the rug on fire, but Hyacinth takes care of the fire and Europa takes care of Esya
- When Ensfri and Hyacinth ask Bianca about the eggs, Bianca seems oddly reserved
- Hyacinth confronts her after Ensfri leaves, and Bianca gives the same egg lore as last time
- Vignette and Tahmina watch as Iraira enters the room where Cynthia had been curious about earlier
- Hyacinth follows Bianca invisibly as she leaves the kitchen, and Tsubaki Ayaka bumps into her, dropping her a note written in what may be Hai; she immediately burns the note
- Tahmina goes to the pond, invisible, and sees a light on in the 2nd floor room where people had been going in earlier
- She sneaks up to the room and finds an agitated Iraira speaking into a handheld mirror; she hears him say the word "stolen"
- Vignette sneaks in from the interior side and hears him talking about Stolen Soldiers and how he doesn't want to be "using them", and that something called the Perception Engine is almost ready, and that Ayaka seems to be hiding something; he appears to be talking to some kind of superior, despite the fact that he is the leader of the Empire folk in the mansion
- When Vignette gets a closer look at the mirror, she sees that instead of a reflection, there appears to be a starry space view; there is no vocal answer emitting from it
- In the drawers of the desk are 5 metallic red orbs; she takes 4
- In an instrument case, she finds a long, rectangular object, but when she tries to take it out, Iraira hears her and attacks
- Tahmina charms him into forgetting they were there and they escape, but notice that when charmed, Iraira's eyes are scarlet
- Esya and Salvatore team up to go confront Ayaka
- Hyacinth follows Bianca to her rooms in the dark and finds a room with odd elven soldiers held up like puppets or statues
- Bianca ceases to move once she gets inside, and her quarters feel like they haven't been lived in for two weeks (she hadn't sent in the order for the eggs yet)
- Hyacinth, Esya, and Salvatore confront Ayaka and Denji, but before they can get any information out of them, Irairai and Miriya enter, frazzled about having his "keyring" and "Denji's broomstick" stolen
- Hyacinth sees Ayaka and Denji put a strange device with a three pointed star under the stage
- When Salvatore asks to be alone with Ayaka, she orders everyone out and they listen, though Denji resists, and when Ayaka starts to answer Salvatore's questions, Denji shoots her through the head and attacks the three of them
- The battle goes south quickly, with Esya, Salvatore, Hyacinth being knocked out very quickly
- Meanwhile, Tahmina and Vignette reconvene in Tahmina's room and identify the objects they took from the room
- The stick is not magical, but was made in the Archipelago, and the spheres cast quantum plane magic when crushed, creating a portal to a predetermined location far away
- Vignette casts a mansion spell in the doorway to the closet and the two of them eat pancakes and hang out with Vignette's friends
- Europa wakes with a hangover the next morning, having gotten high with the rest of her group during the previous evening
- During breakfast, she meets up with Tuiren, who is just happy to have someone to talk to
- He mentions seeing blue and red butterflies all around the stage that morning
- When they talk to Tolericken, he seems off, and he doesn't acknowledge Tuiren at all
- Tahmina and Vignette leave their prizes in the castle while they go investigate
- Sindant is acting very sketchy; he lies about where he was the previous night and tries to conduct business without any say from Tahmina
- The three of them meet up at lunch and compare notes
- They notice that the other three haven't been seen and decide to look for Hyacinth in the kitchens and in Ensfri's room
- Unable to find any of the others, they begin to walk the halls, but then all of the lights go out and a loud cracking sound is heard
- Tahmina tries to teleport them back to her room, but Vignette resists and stays in the area
- Europa finds herself in the snowy woods of Jenmind
- Tahmina finds herself on the table in the meeting room next to a gaunt, weak Cynthia, who tells her that Esya, Salvatore, and Hyacinth are dead
- She restarts the day once again with a blackened, ruined left arm with a diamond carved into the hand
- We see the chessboard again; the black bishop takes the white pawn
Report Date
26 Sep 2022
Primary Location
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