Shrike's Heart (#2)

[idolpro]

The woman before you is beautiful—fair of features, with lovely golden skin and luxurious long black hair, petite. You have the immediate and distinct impression that she's just let go of your hand, and she steps back, and smiles.

It's not quite a happy smile.

"I'm sorry," she says. "There's just nothing I can do, as things are. But the way is there; it just needs to be lit."

You open your mouth—maybe to say something, or to express confusion—but you have to cough, and taste something metallic, spattering black blood onto the ground in front of you. Then you realize—blood seeps from opening wounds in your arms, your chest, your stomach, your face. It rims your eyes and trails from your nose and you feel like you're dissolving—

—and you fall through the ground like it's the surface of a lake, and go down, down, down.

> Wake Up

Comments

RULES

[idolpro]

Both Imeeji and canon powers are OFF. HOWEVER, you now operate on wuxia movie logic and are understood to be competent with whatever weapons you choose to use, including bare fists.

All characters in the run occupy the same spaces, so you can talk to each other.

You begin with 0 WILLPOWER. Upon completion of certain activities, you will gain more, including but not limited to the below:

1. Pay proper respect to the dead - close their eyes, say a prayer over them, and so on, twice per area.
2. Spill the blood of others.
3. Accept the advice of the Neverborn, at a cost.
4. Experience a moment of peace.
5. Display a moment of great compassion, valor, temperance or conviction.

To perform certain activities, you will be told you need to SPEND an amount of willpower to do it without incurring the WRATH OF THE VOID. It is not usually a bad idea to spend the Willpower when asked.

If you don't know what to do, you can ASK THE ADVICE OF THE NEVERBORN once per area. Their advice may not be great! But it may get you in the right direction and will net you Willpower. Otherwise, poking around in the environment and talking to anyone you might find around is not a bad idea; depending on the action and the intent, any action taken might be useful.

OBJECTIVES

[idolpro]

You are instinctively aware that these will help do what the woman at the beginning asked you to do.

Try and fulfill as many as possible but you only need to fulfill five.

1. Do not accept mercy.
2. Preserve something for the future.
3. Decide what's important and protect it.
4. Encourage growth.
5. See the sun rise.
6. Write a letter home.
7. Find strength amid fear.
8. Make a house a home.
9. Don't die.
10. Give Sorrowful Blade of the Softly-Falling Blade her name.

Many of these are abstract and can be fulfilled in multiple ways (apart from the last two), but consider that they should probably be fulfilled in the spirit of a way Shrike would interpret it.

Once at least one person has completed an objective in an area, the way ahead will be clear to the whole group, but you will not be able to return to previous areas.

You may also want to pick up items you find along the way; they might be useful later.

WILLPOWER TOTALS

[idolpro]

go here

> START

[handpuppets]

Once, there was a maiden...
...who lived in a tomb, and the tomb was made in her image.
Because she lived in a tomb, she became like the dead.
She slept, and dreamed.
And sometimes, woke, and walked within the confines of her tomb.
"Why do you move?" her own ghost asked. "Why walk at all?"


[ You hear the voice of the woman from before distantly, and then silence.

At first, it might seem like you have your eyes closed—it's so dark, but no. This world is sunless, lightless, silent; low, dark water covers the ground, although, it's a little hard to tell there's water, because—

—because what also covers the ground are corpses, as far as the eye can see. Some of them still have their eyes open; some have obvious wounds, and some don't. Some hold weapons in hand, and some have weapons driven through them.

This is a place for the dead. What does that make you?

But you can move, and sit up, and stand up, if you have the stomach for it.

Some distance away, you can hear water moving, like there's an uphill or downhill, and there's a vague sussuration at the edge of your consciousness that you instinctively strain to listen to.

You are also aware of the objectives and rules, instinctively. ]

A PATH

[handpuppets]

[ And then, inexplicably, a light appears at your feet, extending out into a single gold line—and there, a path, spiraling up onto a long, long staircase you couldn't see before. Maybe to somewhere other than here.

"I am not trapped while yet I run," says a voice.

Perhaps you'd better.

Proceed. ]

Re: A PATH

[justfuckingtryit]

[Then, he will proceed.]

[He pushes onward.]

Re: A PATH

[constellationprize]

[ that's

this is.

all really a bit much, but there's nothing for her to do but proceed, so on we go. forward. ]

Re: > START

[nihilmancy]

[Well, this is okay. I like this.

But first, if this is a place of the dead, it is not right to simply let them lie here like a charnel house. She kneels down, pulling out weapons, closing their eyes.]

I will not fail you.

Re: > START

[handpuppets]

[ Nice here, isn't it?

A little nicer, now that you've made the dead a little more restful. You gain +1 WILLPOWER for your consideration.

The corpses stretch for some distance—all real-seeming, distinct faces, still and ashen in complexion. Some seem like total strangers, or perhaps vaguely familiar at best. Mixed in with all of them are the bodies of your fellow idols—you might see your own face mirrored there, though for whatever reason, it seems wholly unfamiliar, if unsettling. ]

[romanticlove]

[Ren normally had barely an issue seeing at night, even though this place limited many of her natural abilities as a vampire. This place was different. It was dark and she could barely see her own hand in front of her face. The smell - the smell - was awful. The smell of the dead, just like her memory with her father teaching her to be a Hunter, was absolutely nauseating.]

Hello? How many of us are here?

[She tries to get to her feet, narrowly avoiding slipping on what was probably a corpse with the squishing sound it made. She sucks in a breath, trying to find a wall, a tree, something to hold her up.]

[handpuppets]

[ There's nothing vertical nearby to hold onto, though if you squint, a little ways into the distance, you can see... the vague outline of something large, like a wall, or a building's front.

But you manage to stand, and find your footing amongst the dead. Water might soak into your shoes, but it doesn't feel cold, here.

It doesn't feel like anything.

The whispering just at the edge of your hearing grows a little more distinct. It's like they're coming from somewhere, a little ways away. It feels like you should follow, eventually, but it's not urgent. ]

[nihilmancy]

Nova? I am here.

Re: > START

[justfuckingtryit]

[Climbing to his feet and surveying the absolute sea of dead.]

This was one fuck of a battle.

[He glances at the corpses nearest him, looking for one with a spear.]

Re: > START

[constellationprize]

[ She does, in fact, not have the stomach for it. It takes all the energy she has to suppress the bile rising in her throat, but -

as she gets her bearings, more than a cause for fear or nausea she finds the circumstances heartbreaking; the people here number more than she can easily count, under means she can barely bring herself to understand - that upset weighs heavy enough to quash her worry just enough to bring her to her feet, shutting the eyes of nearby corpses, removing weapons when her strength allows it. ]

... I'm sorry . . .

THE RUINED TOWN

[handpuppets]

Once, there was a maiden...
...falling forever in the water. She reached for purchase, but found nothing; her arms swung through the sea.
The water did not slow her, nor the chill,
but she could not breathe.
Each time she gasped and found no breath, a human child died; and thus, she lived.

[ As you go, the ground slowly grows marshier, softer, and smells creep in. They're ordinary earthen smells—peat and damp and marsh, but there's a hint of the metallic tang of blood, and the acrid note of smoke in the distance.

The clang of metal rings out to your ears as you emerge from a reed bed next to a small, algae-choked pond, but it's clear the bulk of the fighting has long been over, from the only intermittent cries and the way you can see thatched roofs smouldering.

Though, nearby, there's a rustle from the same reeds you came from—like you're not alone. ]

A PATH

[handpuppets]

[ "Survival is acceptance," a voice says.

And the same gold line unwinds from your feet, and into the fields beside the village, off into the distance. You don't have to follow it this very moment, but you can.

Proceed. ]

[romanticlove]

[The smell of blood is what puts her on alert. That was no good. Carefully, she tries to breathe through her nose and ignore the tightness in her throat - that familiar thirst.]

Who's there?

[She holds her sword at the ready at the clang of metal and the rustle of the reeds behind her. She turns around, determined.]

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[justfuckingtryit]

[This... seems so much like a dream he's had before.]

[He sets his jaw, and steps toward the reeds.]

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[nihilmancy]

[The reemergence into the open air, the smell of soil, lifts her spirits for a moment, but from the smell of blood and smoke, she realizes that there will be no respite from the carnage. No matter. She must press onward, even if this hurts her, even if this scares her.

She turns around, regretting not bringing a weapon from the previous place. She only has a glare.]

Reveal yourself.

Re: THE RUINED TOWN

[constellationprize]

[ She covers her nose and mouth with a hand in an attempt to better handle the smell, but before she can really get a handle on the situation - something happened ahead, she's sure, she needs to check on that, certainly there are people there that need help - the noise behind her has her turn sharply on her feet, eyes wide. ]

I-Is someone there - ?!

THE BATTLEFIELD

[handpuppets]

Once, there was a maiden...
...whose battles called her far from home.
She slew the thing she feared most, and conquered the land that feared her.
As she fought, far away, she knew her children needed guidance.
She knew they faced tyrants.
She knew they faced fear.
In her homeland, things were broken.
So, she held up her hand before the sun, and cast a shadow on the world, and drowned the troubles of her home in darkness.

[ There's blood on your weapon, you realize—the weapon you hold in your hand, and if you didn't have one before, you have one now, whether it's sword or axe or war fan or chakram. It's no surprise from the bodies that lay in the trampled-down field behind you. It looks like it used to be for growing, but now nothing will grow there again, probably, even though a few bags of seeds sit aside it.

A clatter; one of your soldiers tosses another sword atop the pile of discarded enemy weapons.

Ahead of you lies the small border city that your forces have just conquered. ]

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[justfuckingtryit]

[Glancing around, frowning.]

...you, soldier.

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[nihilmancy]

[...Oh dear. She cleans her weapon and puts it away. She calmly walks up to a soldier and demands:]

Report.

[romanticlove]

[Oh, this isn’t good. Quickly, she cleans off her weapon and approaches the soldier.]

Give me a status report, please.

Re: THE BATTLEFIELD

[constellationprize]

[ startles at the weapon in her hands, very nearly dropping it in her panic - it feels foreign either way, uncomfortable for her to hold beyond simple inexperience, but she forces some evenness into her tone, flagging down a soldier ]

- Excuse me... Please tell me what's happening.