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 Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:16 am
Nanco stood before the three doors, wondering which she was meant to take. She supposed she could turn around and ask the Goddess, who was remarkably unstatue-like today actually! Watching her work had been quite fascinating, and Nanco had been delighted to find out that some of the work must have been in making her a present!
She'd had a million questions pressing against the back of her lips, but the insistence of the Goddess, and her own curiosity prompted her to instead scamper into the opening of the small door.
And here she was!
"So, which door?" she wondered aloud. The one with the pumpkin seemed cheery. The middle one had a mysterious vibe, and the last one made her skin crawl.
She found herself attracted to the middle door, with its red symbol. Red like her own heart! Thinking that was as good a reason as any, she opened the middle door.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:04 am
"Canon!" "Canon!" "Canon!" Voices called out from the darkness. Nanco stumbled forward, wondering who they were calling to. Images played against her eyes, like afterimages from the light. People smiling, calling. Just briefly, merely impressions. They were here and gone. Finally, she ran into something solid. A crate? Nanco fumbled with the material inside until she realized there was a heart in the midst of it. Well, she'd been equipped to deal with this sort of obstacle! How clever of the Goddess! As she snipped carefully away at the fabric, a great wave of something rose up in her mind. "Hey! You're Canon, right?"
The petite ghoul blinked up at the ghoul in her room. Two long arms descended and easily hefted the large suitcases Canon had been struggling with. The amount of stuff a ghoul needed to go to school had amazed the little monster. She was native to a swamp, and material possessions didn't last long in the toxicity of her family's home. Grateful for the assistance, Canon spun and gave the tall ghoul a proper Skark welcome.
"I am! Well met!" she replied, grinning. "Are you Phinella?"
The tall ghoul seemed slightly taken aback by the greeting, but simply finished placing Canon's suitcases on a bed in the room, and turned back to Canon with an equal grin.
"Yep, that's me! Welcome to Mz. Radic's Boarding School for Aspiring Ghouls! Is this your first time having a roommate?"
"It's the first time I've had a room!"
Phinella stared at her for a moment, then started laughing.
"You're really new, then! Here, let me show you around!"The strange memory faded as the last bit of thread was snipped through, and Nanco placed the heart in her bag thoughtfully, before continuing down the path.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:20 am
The sudden appearance of water in the passage concerned Nanco, but only slightly. More concerning was the echoing whispers that came to her infrequently across the water. Who was out there? No matter how quickly she turned around, she couldn't catch sight of anyone, and the deepening waters soon slowed her ability to move much at all.
At the cusp of deciding whether to swim, or go back, two hands grabbed her from below!
"Give me back my heart!"
And then she was under. The hands moved upward until they were squeezing at her neck. Nanco was surprisingly calm about being submerged, but the increasing pressure at her neck was filling her head with visions of the attacker popping her head off her body like a cork in a jar.
Two dead eye suddenly met hers in the water, and another wave of memory crashed into Nanco.
"Dayum, you got to be a guest at Amityville Academy?" Phinella exclaimed from her bed. Canon nodded vigorously, and explained the amazing adventure she'd had on the Isles of the Horsemen. Phinella listened intently, hugging a body pillow that barely covered her chest. It was difficult to find things tall enough for the Roc ghoul. Phinella found it funny that Canon and her had been paired up as roommates. From what Canon had observed of other roommate pairs, the large difference might have frustrated other ghouls, but Phinella had taken it in stride.
"You should definitely see if you can transfer there, Canon!" Phinella encouraged her. "That place has the best reputation for teaching truly horrible Scare experts!"
"I want to! I'm not sure how to, though."
"We'll go down to Admissions tomorrow and get someone to pull up some papers for you!"
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:30 am
As the shade of Phinella pulled her deeper and deeper, Nanco knew she had to do something, or her head really would pop off! Grasping the scissors, she lashed out at Phinella's arms, the only part of the shade she could reach. She felt the scissors made contact, and suddenly the pressure was gone. So was Phinella. So was the water?
Spitting out a mouthful of the brackish fluid, Nanco patted at her neck, confirming the lack of clutching hands. Safe! But Phinella... The Goddess had mentioned that some hadn't made it. Was her first roommate really like those creatures that attacked people in the Spire? Incomplete, and angry? No wonder she hadn't liked Nanco taking the heart! But the Goddesses needed it. Maybe if she continued to do their bidding, she could request that Phinella receive a new heart!
The small shade got to her feet, and looked around. Another empty space, except... she could have sworn she'd Phinella out there. There was a glint of metal in her hand. The scissors? Nanco tried to yell out to her, to wave and let her know it would be alright, but the figure was gone. Now there was just a door a few yards from her.
Crestfallen that she hadn't been able to reassure or apologize to her friend, Nanco decided it was time to finish the task, and opened the door.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:18 pm
Nanco came awake suddenly, her cheek pressed against a cold surface. The room she found herself in was unfamiliar, far too bright, and far too empty to be anything good, she determined. Just a table and a door. Well, she'd just spent the better part of a nap with her eye about an inch from the table. Time to examine the door!
It opened easily, but led nowhere interesting. Just a long hallway. There was something there at the end. Nanco squinted, and just made out a door. Well, that made three objects of interest in this place.
The room behind her seemed to want to prove her wrong. A loud bang had the small girl jump and whirl around, pose indicating she would welcome a fight. She'd had plenty of practice!
Nothing. Nanco revisited the room to make sure. No table anymore.
"Where'd it go?"
The room wasn't telling. It was still boring. She entered the hallway again and headed for the door.
Thud.
She paused and looked back.
Nothing. Nanco rolled her eye. The room didn't know when to quit.
Thud.
She looked again.
Oh.
Now that was interesting.
"Hello?" she called out to the figure in the room. It walked slowly toward her.
Thud. Screech.
Fear filled her. The feeling was alien but undeniable. Nanco turned tail and ran for the door.
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Zee Oddwyn rolled 1 4-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:19 pm
The door was locked! And the figure wasn't that far behind her. Nanco turned to look back at it, and caught sight of a piece of paper. She examined it. A=0, B=1, C=2 A code? She noticed the place where she would have to input it. Okay, progress. Now what?
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Zee Oddwyn rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:23 pm
With the first clue in place, Nanco examined the area again, and caught sight of another paper. A C E G Okay! Good! Nanco quickly ran through the code in her head, and punched the code into the door, nearly jamming her fingers in her haste. 0, 2, 4, 5 The door was open!
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Zee Oddwyn rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:31 pm
Nanco ran out into a forest of grey trees. At least it wasn't white. She didn't have much time to think about it, though. Looking over her shoulder revealed that the twisted figure was still on her tail.
She ran, and ran, and ran.
And then she was at a bridge. One that didn't look like it would hold even her diminutive weight. She could hear the figure calling out to her from behind. It taunted her with the screech of the scissors, and made no bones about telling her how it intended to use it.
She had to cross! Now!
The wind tossed the bridge about, and Nanco had to grip the guide ropes with white knuckles. She'd almost made it when something grabbed at her. A sharp pain prompted her to spring from rotting board to rotting board with the startled co-ordination of a fleeing gazelle. The shriek of the scissors faded behind her.
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Zee Oddwyn rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:38 pm
What a strange twisted world. If she wasn't being pursued, Nanco would have stopped to explore. The jab to the back was great motivation to continue her flight.
Until she had nowhere left to run to.
The figure was behind her.
But suddenly the Goddess's words filled her head. Time to fight? She looked down at the red blade of her dagger.
Yes, it seemed to answer. Time to fight.
Nanco whirled, and thrust the blade toward the figure.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:40 pm
She was too late in her strike.
Nanco looked down in slow motion at the scissors embedded in her chest. The figure stared at her, and used its other hand to grab her head.
"Just once." it assured her. "It just hurts once."
Snicker snack.
The figure had her heart in its hand. It was turning to leave. Nanco reached after it, but all the strength left her arm.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:48 pm
Is this what death feels like? It's a bit of a letdown. Not the being chased part. That was very interesting! If scary. This slow fade part is kind of boring. Well, I suppose I should try to die happy, since I went down fighting. Definitely better than being trapped in a dead end, or being stabbed in the back. I didn't realize there would be this much time to think about things while dying. I wonder if I'll go back to that place now, or if there's a different place you go to when you die. Maybe everything stops. Or maybe you're just stuck thinking, until you rot completely away? Or maybe-
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