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THE NARRATOR - You're on a path in the woods.

THE NARRATOR - And at the end of that path is a cabin.

THE NARRATOR - And in the basement of that cabin is a princess.

THE NARRATOR - You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

ENDURANCE - You take a deep breath.

ENDURANCE - ...

COMPOSURE - Then let it out, your shoulders sagging as you do.

ENDURANCE [Trivial: Success] - You are alive. The little punk was right after all.

VOLITION - Thank god.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - I want you to know that you're *not* faceplanting in the dirt right now despite still being freaked out over what happened. You're welcome.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Success] - There's still some lingering pain -- a phantom gash into your ribs. Nothing you couldn't handle.

VOICE OF THE HERO - ...Thanks for trusting me on that. I know it wasn't easy, but now we're out - sorry it hurt, though.

VOICE OF THE COLD - A little pain is nothing, just another sensation. We shouldn't let it get to us.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I never doubted him for a second, let me tell you - this one? Nothing but good ideas.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Oh - uh, thanks? I guess?

VOICE OF THE COLD - This is certainly a lot more interesting than being locked away in a void forever. We get to do things again.

LOGIC - Why are there *three* of them now?

Task updated: Where do the voices come from?

ENCYCLOPEDIA - Now that you have a second to think -- since when were we tracking this one? I don't recognize it.

INTERFACING - No idea. The timestamp on this thing's broken.

Task updated: Find out where you are

INTERFACING - This one too. Where did all these extra entries come from?

LOGIC [Impossible: Failure] - There's no correlation between the previous statement and this task. It *must* be broken.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Not broken -- merely shattered.

THE NARRATOR - Alright, hold on a moment - what's this about a 'void' and being locked away?

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - He doesn't remember.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Remember what, exactly? I don't remember anything particularly important happening before we got here, do you?

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Trivial: Success] - You ki--

REACTION SPEED [Challenging: Success] - Shhh. Let this play out.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - Go on then my liege -- inform Him of *exactly* what transpired just moments before.

1. You don't remember what happened last time? With the deal and the Princess and the weird emptiness?
2. Oh don't start with this shit! You tricked me, you made me kill that woman -- god, I really did stab her to death over some cash, didn't I? Why the fuck did I do that?! I MURDERED HER! What's *wrong* with me? I'm such a *fucking idiot*, I'm making everything worse by being here -- I should just lie down on the ground and die already.
3. You locked me in some kind of metaphysical void-prison after I slew that Princess - why would you do that? I did what you asked!
4. Don't care -- I'm more concerned with these new voices. Who *are* these guys?
5. [Drama - Impossible 18] Tell Him what went down, *exactly* as it happened.

YOU - Tell Him what went down, *exactly* as it happened.

+5 Opportunist

+1 He doesn't remember

0 Cold

CHECK FAILURE

DRAMA [Impossible: Failure] - ...Ah, yes, there it is. You remember what happened, you were just... contemplating the correct way to express it, that's it.

1. Oh that? Icy over there was talking about the office party I just came from. It got *really* dull, felt like being trapped in a void forever, you know what I mean? ...Not that you *would* know -- you weren't there. Definitely weren't. No sir.

YOU - Oh that? Icy over there was talking about the office party I just came from. It got *really* dull, felt like being trapped in a void forever, you know what I mean? ...Not that you *would* know -- you weren't there. Definitely weren't. No sir.

VOICE OF THE COLD - That was a terrible attempt at lying.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Don't just give it away -

THE NARRATOR - Don't even bother. I can tell when you're lying. Now, is this some kind of attempt at humor, the first signs of acute mental trauma, or is there something I should know?

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - It could be all three given how things have been going.

DRAMA - Drat. It appears His own lie detector has defeated your best attempts at deception, sire. He is utterly confident in His ability to sniff out the truth - it oozes from His voice in spades.

Task updated: What is He?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Should we tell Him?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I'd say that's up to Harry to decide - isn't that right, Harry? Harrister? Bossman? Officer of the Law? Let me know when to stop, I have plenty more.

SUGGESTION [Trivial: Success] - This one's trying to get on your good side.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Yeah, of course! Sharp eyes on you, I'll tell you what - is it working?

SAVOIR FAIRE - A little bit. This guy knows how to butter you up real good -- exactly what to say and when to say it.

THE NARRATOR - Ahem.

1. You don't remember what happened last time? With the deal and the Princess and the weird emptiness?
2. Oh don't start with this shit! You tricked me, you made me kill that woman -- god, I really did stab her to death over some cash, didn't I? Why the fuck did I do that?! I MURDERED HER! What's *wrong* with me? I'm such a *fucking idiot*, I'm making everything worse by being here -- I should just lie down on the ground and die already.
3. You locked me in some kind of metaphysical void-prison after I slew that Princess - why would you do that? I did what you asked!
4. Don't care -- I'm more concerned with these new voices. Who *are* these guys?

YOU - Oh don't start with this shit! You tricked me, you made me kill that woman -- god, I really did stab her to death over some cash, didn't I? Why the fuck did I do that?! I MURDERED HER! What's *wrong* with me? I'm such a *fucking idiot*, I'm making everything worse by being here -- I should just lie down on the ground and die already.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Yes, of course, now I remember - that's what happened! Must have slipped the ol' noggin there for a second, you know how it is.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Look, I'm not feeling too happy about how things went down either, but we have to keep it together - maybe she was going to end the world after all.

COMPOSURE [Legendary: Failure] - If you were speaking these words out loud, your voice would be hitching -- as it is, you've just started crying.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - You *knew* that, one day, your two-dozen-track mind would get someone killed. And now it's happened -- finally.

DAMAGED MORALE -1

THE NARRATOR - Woah there, slow down - you're hanging a lot of emotional baggage off of this tirade, I can tell. Listen - this is the first time you've been here. We've only just met, and I can assure you that you haven't 'murdered' anybody. What you are going to do is slay the Princess - slay, not murder - for the good of the world, because she is going to destroy it if you don't.

New task: Slay the Princess (yet again)

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - *Maybe* that's true, but there's no way to tell right now. You can't break down like this, not here -- you have to figure out what kind of mess you've gotten yourself into and how to get out of it first.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - It's good that you feel guilty. If you didn't, what kind of person would that make you?

VOICE OF THE COLD - We don't need to feel guilty. We killed her. She died. This is a natural cause and effect, nothing more - there's no need to tie any particular emotions to the act.

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - Killing is an *inherently* emotional affair -- fear, rage, bloodlust, glee, pain...

PAIN THRESHOLD [Easy: Success] - Pain isn't an emotion. It can be a powerful amplifier to an existing mental state, though.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Some pains can be emotional, like the ones you're experiencing right now -- divorced from the body, scars upon the soul.

VOICE OF THE HERO - You're not helping him, you're just making it worse.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Let go of the feeling. It only has as much staying power as you allow it to.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Yes, no need to bog yourself down worrying about this - I can do enough worrying for all of us, if you need me to. No problem.

1. [Volition - Legendary 14] Get your shit together.
2. No, I'm not just going to brush off the guilt of *murdering someone*!

YOU - Get your shit together.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

+1 Overinsistent Vocabulary

+1 Ghost of the Volumetric Shit Compressor

-1 Scars upon the soul

-5 You stabbed her in the heart

CHECK SUCCESS

VOLITION [Legendary: Success] - You *should* feel bad about this. You've made a terrible mistake, one you can't undo -- a heinous crime. You should probably turn yourself in, honestly.

VOLITION - But you *can't*, because you have no idea where the hell you are. Something is wrong with reality -- you stabbed yourself in the heart after being trapped in an empty space and now you're back on a path in the woods. So you're gonna have to pack it away, just for now, until you can get back to the known world. We can do this, Harry.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - That all sounds pretty good except the 'turning yourself in' part. Now I mean this in the best way, I promise, you've done a really fine job so far keeping a lid on things for the decisions guy here - but prison? You're a police officer, right? That means you can do this sort of thing and it's fine! No need to involve prison, surely.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - *Yes*--

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - No.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - You used to be this way, once. You never crossed this line, but you came close -- wounds upon the world, one broken bone and emptied bottle at a time. You've still repressed the worst of it.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - Many officers never have the moment of realization. They continue to abuse their position to their own gain without a care for the principles the RCM is supposed to uphold -- those you would be disgusted to call a half-brother.

VOLITION - But you aren't that man anymore. You won't go back, not now. You'll face the consequences of your actions -- *after* this is over.

Task updated: Return home

THE NARRATOR - You're not committing a crime. Even disregarding all of these delusions you're having about a supposed past life, slaying the Princess is a civic duty, not anything to be ashamed of. Would you really stake one life against that of untold multitudes of people?

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - This entire argument hinges on whether she would have actually ended the world had she escaped.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It doesn't matter. She didn't escape - we made sure of that.

THE NARRATOR - If you're all going to continue to insist on this story, I'm glad your heart's in the right place. If you believe that you've slain her before, it won't be hard for you to do it 'again'.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - He is absolutely certain that she's still alive. He's discarded all you've said to the contrary -- out of zealotry to the cause, or disrespect of your station?

1. This isn't a story or a delusion -- this really happened! Why should I even bother going along with your plan here if I know that you're just going to burn me afterward? Can she even actually end the world?
2. He's not going to believe me, I'm just talking in circles at this point. I might as well head to the cabin again, assuming this path is the same one as before -- there might be more answers there. [Proceed to the cabin.]
3. Whatever it is I need to be doing, I don't think it's at the cabin. I'd rather not go back there if I can help it. [Turn around and leave.]

YOU - This isn't a story or a delusion -- this really happened! Why should I even bother going along with your plan here if I know that you're just going to burn me afterward? Can she even actually end the world?

THE NARRATOR - If indulging you here is what it takes to get you moving along, then fine. Let's say for a moment that this really is the second time you've met me - or, at least, a version of me.

THE NARRATOR - If you're back here, I'm assuming you died, which probably only happened because you didn't listen to me.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Oh, we listened to you plenty. We slew the Princess, just like you asked us to - then you locked us away in that endless void for eternity. So we slew ourselves, too.

VOLITION - ...It was the only way out.

SUGGESTION - You could always have just walked out the door -- it would've been so much more *impactful*.

ENDURANCE - The outcome would have been the same either way. You'd die eventually.

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - Or worse -- you *wouldn't*.

LOGIC - There may have been other solutions, but you didn't have the time to put them together -- you were fading out.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Fuzzing into background static. Present, but not there.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We stuck with the plan to the letter, all the way through! You didn't say anything about being trapped afterward, so we merely reevaluated our options when the opportunity presented itself - surely you can't blame us for that.

THE NARRATOR - If you killed yourself, you weren't listening to me or 'sticking with the plan' - because I would never want you to do that. Believe it or not, I care about you - unlike some of these little voices who seem to be egging you on.

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - Does he care about you, or does He care about what he wants you to do? He hasn't hinted at any other ulterior motives so far, benevolent or otherwise.

THE NARRATOR - And as for your other question: You're just going to have to trust me here. It's not as if I can give you a demonstration of her ending the world.

REACTION SPEED [Challenging: Success] - But you *have* seen a world end -- He said the world was fine, but it looked to be entirely gone. And this happened *after* you slew her.

DRAMA - You couldn't divine if his words were genuine.

VOICE OF THE HERO - That's a good point. How do we know we didn't have things backwards. Maybe slaying the Princess ends the world, not the other way around.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - A masterful deception if so - admirable, really.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Yes, maybe this whole thing was a trick to get us to end the world. And now we get to go through this whole charade again, wholly aware of what's waiting for us at the end.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Assuming she's still alive in that cabin. We did kill her, after all.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - Damn straight you did. You pierced her chest like it was nothing.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - She might as well be alive -- you never *really* got your payout, so it'd be pretty sweet if your work undid itself of its own accord. Then you can charge double to try again.

VOLITION - Shut it.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Hopefully she's dead - I can't imagine she'd be too happy to see us right now.

INLAND EMPIRE [Legendary: Success] - Her bones still rest in a mausoleum of old wood, undisturbed for eons.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - See? What'd I tell you - this one here has the right idea!

THE NARRATOR - I can promise you she isn't dead. The fact you're here on the path in the woods means you still have a job to do - and it would help if you got along with it sooner rather than later. You'll get your happy ending afterward, I promise.

RHETORIC [Challenging: Success] - 'Happy' ending -- is He *really* hiding His true intentions in a bit of wordplay? No one actually does that in real life.

DRAMA [Easy: Success] - Only supervillains of the cartoon reels and cheap paperbacks do. Though you could pull it off if you wanted to -- all it takes is the right delivery.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Yeah, a 'happy ending' is exactly what we're afraid of.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - You know, unless it's the *other* kind of happy ending --

RHETORIC - Give it a rest, you're even worse than Him.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Ech.

THE NARRATOR - I'm not making some crude double entendre like this indecent one is - if you're that afraid of living happily ever after, well, I don't know what to tell you. Hopefully you won't let your masochism get in the way of what has to be done.

1. This isn't a story or a delusion -- this really happened! Why should I even bother going along with your plan here if I know that you're just going to burn me afterward? Can she even actually end the world?
2. He's not going to believe me, I'm just talking in circles at this point. I might as well head to the cabin again, assuming this path is the same one as before -- there might be more answers there. [Proceed to the cabin.]
3. Whatever it is I need to be doing, I don't think it's at the cabin. I'd rather not go back there if I can help it. [Turn around and leave.]

YOU - He's not going to believe me, I'm just talking in circles at this point. I might as well head to the cabin again, assuming this path is the same one as before -- there might be more answers there. [Proceed to the cabin.]

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - You can pick out every detail of the path as you walk, despite the poor lighting -- it is identical to the last time. You've seen it only once before, but it feels as though it's been ingrained deep into your memory.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - If we're somewhere familiar, that means we'll have the upper hand in any confrontations that're waiting for us.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It means that none of this is new. A pity.

THE NARRATOR - A warning, before you go any further...

THE NARRATOR - She will lie, she will cheat, and she will do everything in her power to stop you from slaying her. Don't believe a word she says.

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - None of that helped her when you ran her through last time. It never does, in the end.

VOICE OF THE COLD - She won't be a problem.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - No sir, no problems here! We'll get this done again easy, just you wait and see.

ENDURANCE [Trivial: Success] - There won't be a problem because she's dead. Being stabbed in the heart and left to rot tends to do that.

1. [Proceed into the cabin.]

YOU - [Proceed into the cabin.]

SHIVERS [Medium: Success] - As you cross the threshold of the cabin, a shiver runs down your spine -- a faint chill drawn across your back by an unseen hand.

THE NARRATOR - The interior of the cabin is cold, a soft odor of dirt permeating the air. Cobwebs flutter in the corners. You can hear wind whistling outside, banging the shutters against the windows. The only furniture of note is an elegant antique table with a pristine blade perched on the edge.

PERCEPTION - The walls are covered with a tattered wallpaper, old planks of wood showing through the bare spots. Stains of condensation run down from the windows and the door ahead is creased deep with evidence of age. The rafters of the building creak with the breeze.

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - This cabin doesn't have shutters.

THE NARRATOR - The blade is your implement. You'll need it if you want to do this right.

VOICE OF THE HERO - It feels like no one's been here for a long, long time.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - How long were you squirreled away in the folds of the dark?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I'm sure He had His reasons - good ones, only good ones.

1. ...This cabin is different. Why is it different?
2. You didn't mention the mirror over there in your description of the room. Why?
3. [Approach the mirror.]
4. [Take the blade.]
5. [Enter the basement.]

YOU - ...This cabin is different. Why is it different?

THE NARRATOR - Maybe it's because you haven't actually been here before - a shocking proposition, I know.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - You should still have the voucher He gave you. Show Him that -- it's hard evidence that He's wrong.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Why should we care if He believes us or not?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - The more people trust us, the better.

1. [Logic - Formidable 13] Show Him the voucher.
2. [Let it go.]

YOU - Show Him the voucher.

+5 Opportunist

+3 Signed it

+1 Fractal signature

-1 Burned you before

-3 Kim wouldn't approve

-5 Cold

CHECK SUCCESS

LOGIC [Formidable: Success] - Yes, it *is* here. Why wouldn't it be?

Item gained: Repurposed Envelope (Damaged)

VOICE OF THE HERO - Damaged?

INTERFACING [Easy: Success] - ...You tucked this back into the pocket of your blazer that sits directly over your heart.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Trivial: Success] - You stabbed right through the note -- of course you did, it's literally just paper! You think something as flimsy as this would put up any resistance to *you*?

SAVOIR FAIRE - It wasn't worth anything anyway, not *really*. He was never going to make good on it.

LOGIC [Impossible: Failure] - But there isn't a matching hole in your jacket -- it's good as new. How...?

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - Nevertheless, here it is. It's been creased, smeared with blood, and stabbed, but this is still legibly the same note you had before.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Easy: Success] - There's your handiwork -- 'HARRIER DU BOIS' just barely still visible in a corner.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - His own signature is marred, the intricate patterns reduced to inkblots. But it's still obviously His.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - What do you have to say about this, hm? Pretty compelling evidence, right?

THE NARRATOR - ...

THE NARRATOR - ...No, this has to be an elaborate prank of some kind. How long have you lot been workshopping this?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Oh come on! Don't play dumb, why would we have any reason to pull something like this?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Weeeeell... I could think of a few reasons.

RHETORIC - Not helping.

VOICE OF THE COLD - He isn't going to believe us. We don't need him to, anyway. We might as well move on.

1. ...This cabin is different. Why is it different?
2. You didn't mention the mirror over there in your description of the room. Why?
3. [Approach the mirror.]
4. [Take the blade.]
5. [Enter the basement.]

YOU - You didn't mention the mirror over there in your description of the room. Why?

THE NARRATOR - There isn't a mirror. There's a table, the blade sitting on the table, and the door to the basement. There's nothing else in here.

VOICE OF THE HERO - There's definitely a mirror.

THE NARRATOR - There isn't.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I don't know, He seems pretty sure of himself - that has to count for something, right?

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - No, it doesn't have to. Conviction doesn't automatically mean someone is correct.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Solid point, solid point - that's why we keep you around.

SUGGESTION - What?

VOICE OF THE COLD - Who cares if there's a mirror? Let's just go into the basement and find her body so we can be done with this.

VOICE OF THE HERO - With how strongly He's trying to deny everything we tell Him, He might not even believe us then.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Trivial: Success] - Your eyes do not lie to you -- there is a full-length mirror hanging to the left of the basement door. It's covered in a thin layer of *something* that is preventing it from giving a clear reflection -- it only contains smears of light when viewed from this angle and distance.

1. Why would you even lie about this? Are you trying to make me think I'm losing it? Because it'll take a lot more than lying about a mirror to do that, trust me.
2. Have we had this conversation before?
3. It doesn't really matter, does it? It's just a mirror. (Discard thought.)

YOU - Have we had this conversation before?

THE NARRATOR - No. We haven't. Didn't I already tell you enough times to drop this act?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Hate to agree with Him on this - but we haven't said this before, I'm sure of it.

1. ...This cabin is different. Why is it different?
2. You didn't mention the mirror over there in your description of the room. Why?
3. [Approach the mirror.]
4. [Take the blade.]
5. [Enter the basement.]

YOU - [Approach the mirror.]

THE NARRATOR - You walk up to the wall next to the basement door. It's a wall. There isn't much to see here.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - There's *always* something to see. Even if it's hidden from the rest of the world.

VOICE OF THE HERO - This really isn't funny.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I dunno, I think it's at least a little funny.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - You can't tell exactly what's covering the mirror, even now -- maybe some kind of grease or oil? -- but you could probably wipe away some of it from the middle and get a good look at yourself.

1. Let's take a look -- I probably look terrible after dying like that. [Wipe the mirror clean.]
2. I'm still getting that same feeling of Deja Vu -- this seems important. I'm going to take a look. [Wipe the mirror clean.]
3. I'm getting bad vibes from this. Maybe I better just leave it be. [Leave the mirror behind.]

YOU - I'm still getting that same feeling of Deja Vu -- this seems important. I'm going to take a look. [Wipe the mirror clean.]

THE NARRATOR - You reach forward and rub your hand against the cabin wall. I hope you know how ridiculous you look right now.

VOICE OF THE HERO - But it was there a second ago!

VOICE OF THE COLD - And now it's gone. Let's not spend much longer worrying over it. Clearly it's not even important enough to be acknowledged.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - At least now we're all in agreement, yeah? Everyone's on the same page, right as rain.

PERCEPTION [Formidable: Success] - Except you aren't in agreement, because the mirror is still here. You felt the cool surface of the glass under your hand as you wiped away the residue.

VOICE OF THE HERO - You can still see it?

THE NARRATOR - I hope you don't expect me to believe you about a nonexistent mirror when you lot can't even keep your story straight.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - You aren't pulling a fast one on us, are you?

VOICE OF THE COLD - ...Hm.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - There's a spot in the middle, now, where your hand has cleared away the oily residue and revealed the surface beneath. You can see yourself there -- surprisingly well-kempt, for someone who just stabbed themselves in the chest.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - You look a lot better now than you did when you first re-entered the world back in Martinaise. The swelling in your face has gone down, just a touch, and your nose has started to lose some of its red discoloration. Your hair and muttonchops are decently trim, a far cry from the wild tangle they were when you were still an active alcoholic.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - There are bags under your eyes. You're not physically tired, though.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - Emotionally drained is more like it. There's still a faint sheen where tears streaked down your cheeks before.

SUGGESTION - You're still wearing the Expression, despite your best efforts. Really, though, I think this is for the best -- you can still pull it off in a pathetic sort of way.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - This is the face of a man who can sweettalk his way into some deals. Lookin' cool, baby.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Challenging: Success] - Nope, I call bullshit. You *definitely* wiped out the last traces of the Expression weeks ago -- I had to work double time for this shit, *sober*. Don't tell me it was all for nothing.

COMPOSURE - Something's wrong with this image -- there! You see how the outline of your reflection wobbles when you aren't focusing on it?

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - Something else still watches you from behind your reflection.

1. [Electrochemistry - Impossible 18] Attempt to stop the Expression from happening, *again*.
2. [Shivers - Impossible 20] What am I looking at?
3. [Blink.]

YOU - Attempt to stop the Expression from happening, *again*.

+5 Already did this shit

+3 Personal Airspace Violation

+1 Got your shit together

+1 You killed someone.

CHECK SUCCESS

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Impossible: Success] - It's like something snaps in you -- a nerve ending, a thought, a sadness. Your face in the mirror is suddenly clean of the leer that had distorted it for god knows how --

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - God fucking dammit -- I'm not Bookhead or Puzzleface, but even I know I've said this spiel before. The fuck's going on, man?

LOGIC [Impossible: Failure] - You don't know, and you don't have even the faintest idea of where to start. Even if something had just happened that would've obscured your recent memory, you *definitely* handled stamping out the Expression a long time ago.

1. [Shivers - Impossible 20] What am I looking at?
2. [Blink.]

YOU - What am I looking at?

+1 Oil and tar

+1 You can trust him.

+1 Last breath

+1 From the same place

+1 A reassuring touch

+1 Something dark and cold

+1 Only regret.

-10 There is no mirror

CHECK FAILURE

SHIVERS [Impossible: Failure] - It's you. Nothing else.

1. [Locked] What am I looking at?
2. [Blink.]

YOU - [Blink.]

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - You blink, and the mirror's gone.

INTERFACING [Impossible: Failure] - There's no residue left on your hand, either.

1. ...This cabin is different. Why is it different?
2. [Take the blade.]
3. [Enter the basement.]

YOU - [Enter the basement.]

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - Why aren't you taking the knife? You *need* that knife. Need to feel it in your grip.

LOGIC [Trivial: Success] - If she's dead, you won't need it.

LOGIC - ...Why are you heading down here at all, again?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Seems like the only way forward to me.

RHETORIC [Challenging: Success] - The last time he said something like this, it ended up with him using your own arm to stab you in the heart.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Don't try to start us off fighting, not now - Harry asked me to. And it was the only way out. We're not dead now, are we?

THE NARRATOR - You're heading down into the basement because she's alive, and you need to slay her - a task which would be made much easier by taking a weapon with you. Sigh.

VOICE OF THE COLD - If she is alive - which I doubt - we wouldn't need the blade to kill her again.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Formidable: Failure] - ...You might.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Heroic: Failure] - It's not like you have anything else you could use instead.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - You aren't killing her, even if she wasn't dead. Have you not already seen what a terrible idea that is?

VOICE OF THE COLD - This one thinks he holds moral superiority over every other voice in here. Tell me, 'Volition' - if it were between her and us dying, which would you pick?

VOLITION - ...Her, obviously. But --

VOICE OF THE COLD - There are circumstances in which she has to die, then. If she was going to end the world, was it not right to kill her, if only for our continued existence?

LOGIC - You still don't know if she could've actually done that or not.

SAVOIR FAIRE - And that wasn't the reason you did it.

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - At least not the *main* reason. You can have more than one motivation for the slaying.

THE NARRATOR - She can - can, present tense - and will, if you don't stop her.

VOICE OF THE COLD - I don't know whether He's telling the truth - maybe He needs to be slain, too - but that doesn't matter in the end. We killed her before, and we could kill her again, were she not already dead and gone. Whatever reason you need to feel like it's justified, that's up to you to provide.

VOLITION - ...

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Well, I'll tell you what - we took the blade last time and look where that got us. I say it's good that we're leaving it. We can always come back for it later if we really need it.

INLAND EMPIRE [Formidable: Success] - It's not consecrated or made of silver, so it'd be useless to you anyway.

VOICE OF THE HERO - What's that supposed to mean?

INLAND EMPIRE - Can you not feel the strong concentration of necroplasm present in the cabin? The buildup of damaged light cones? The lingering aura of deepwater brine?

VOICE OF THE COLD - He's speaking nonsense. Best to just ignore him and get this over with already.

THE NARRATOR - The door to the basement groans open, revealing an old banister and a creaky wooden stairwell. Everything is coated in a thick layer of dust, and you can feel it settle into your lungs as you breathe in the stale air.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - Try not to cough -- that'd just make it worse.

THE NARRATOR - The very building itself feels dead. If the Princess lives here, slaying her would probably be doing her a favor.

EMPATHY [Trivial: Success] - She definitely didn't see it that way.

THE NARRATOR - The room below is silent.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Medium: Success] - Confirmed. Nothing but the squeaking of the wood and a breeze from the outside.

SHIVERS [Challenging: Success] - The wind circles your torso twice before continuing up the stairs.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Nobody's here. Naturally.

THE NARRATOR - As much as I appreciate the optimism, you shouldn't be so sure.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - Never drop your guard. Be ready to claw out her heart if you have to.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Be ready, sure, sure - but you know, if she is still kicking around, maybe we can just talk it out? We didn't even try that last time.

VOICE OF THE HERO - I wouldn't be opposed.

THE NARRATOR - I most certainly would.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - Do you really need to still care about what He thinks, though? Has listening to Him worked out for you so far? Break from his instruction, dictate your own terms.

VOICE OF THE COLD - We've been standing here arguing with ourselves for too long.

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - It's only been a few seconds.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Enough bickering - we'll just have to go down there and see for ourselves if she's dead or not.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Trivial: Success] - No point in avoiding the third step -- all of these steps creak loudly. If anyone's here, they'll know you're coming.

1. [Continue down the stairs.]

YOU - [Continue down the stairs.]

THE NARRATOR - As you descend the final step, the form of the Princess comes into view. A... skeletal body lying in a heap on the floor, its wrist still bound to the wall by a thick chain.

COMPOSURE [Challenging: Success] - The hesitation before the description -- He really did believe she'd be alive, this whole time.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Easy: Success] - This isn't the same corpse that was here last time. The body is laid out in the opposite direction, and the bloody rags that used to be clothing are still present -- they had disintegrated to nothing, before.

ENDURANCE - But it's still just a corpse.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Okay. She's definitely dead.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It's just like I told you -

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - Don't speak so soon. Look --

THE NARRATOR - Before you have a chance to finish your thought, the top of a head appears from underneath the floor.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - There's no trapdoor or opening there -- it's phasing right through as if the floor didn't exist.

THE NARRATOR - Two deep-set eyes stare up at you, followed by a mischievous skeletal grin.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - The nose is missing, nothing but the hints of a bare nasal cavity. You can't quite tell if those are even teeth at all -- they are hazy and ethereal, just like the rest of the face.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success] - Something from a rough sketch. Skeletal teeth, or a sewn-up mouth?

THE NARRATOR - And finally, the rest of the body floats up to join the head. Wait... this isn't right. What's going on here?

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Trivial: Success] - It's her, for sure. This is the Princess.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - A Class-II Necroplasmic Entity. More colloquially known as --

VOICE OF THE HERO - A g-g-g-ghost!

Task updated: What is she?

DRAMA - *Amazing* line read from the Knight -- bravo.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Oh. Wow. How absolutely terrifying. What's a ghost supposed to do to us?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - You don't think she's still mad, do you? Water under the bridge, right?

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - Floating a fair distance off the floor, she offers a small wave.

Oh. It's you. Hiya, killer. I was hoping to see you again. I have some issues with how our last meeting went.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Medium: Success] - Her voice layers over itself, as ghostly as she is -- as if two or three of her were whisper-speaking at the same time, slightly out of sync.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - She's still mad.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Shit.

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - There is anger, yes -- but it isn't the emotion at the forefront right now for her. Which is *incredibly* surprising considering *you killed her*.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - No, she wants *revenge*. Why else would she come back as a ghost? She's gonna fuckin' kill you, an eye for an eye.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] - Traditional depictions of ghosts in pan-Occidental mythology do include revenge, yes -- more generally, unfinished business. This is in stark departure from both Seolite and Mesque interpretations of spirits which are portrayed as benign or even benevolent figures.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Well, which is it? What are we dealing with exactly?

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - You aren't anywhere in the known world, as far as you can tell. There's no reason that this ghost has to line up with any preconceived notion --

REACTION SPEED [Challenging: Success] - She's getting closer, fast.

SAVOIR FAIRE - Coasting through the air, propelled by nothing.

THE NARRATOR - The Princess drifts across the room into your orbit, gently running her fingers across your shoulders and down your neck as she circles you.

THE NARRATOR - Her touch is cold and ethereal, formless yet real enough that her icy fingertips send shivers dancing across your skin.

ENDURANCE [Challenging: Success] - This cold isn't some kind of tactile hallucination -- your body temperature's dropped just a hair from even the slightest contact.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Challenging: Success] - Oh baby -- this is a whole new kind of sensation. Not just cold, no -- something more. Something *deeper*.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - The manipulation of your astral field. The edges of your soul ripple from her touch.

SHIVERS [Legendary: Success] - It feels familiar.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Medium: Success] - It's not painful. Kind of... nice, actually.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - She comes to a stop in the middle of the room, between you and her own corpse. Head cocked to one side, a playful smile on her face. Only a metre or so away -- this room is a bit cramped.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Trivial: Success] - It's smaller than last time.

VOICE OF THE COLD - So she has a body. And she's right there. Like I told you - we don't even need a weapon. We could grab her and kill her again right now, if we wanted to.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Challenging: Success] - ...Yeah, yeah he's right -- you *could*.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - She just phased through a solid wood floor.

PERCEPTION (TOUCH) [Trivial: Success] - But she also just touched you, in a very real and decidedly corporeal manner.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Why would we do that? I thought we weren't killing her again.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - It would catch her off guard though - no need to kill her yet, but we could definitely get the upper hand in this encounter if we grabbed her now.

1. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
2. I'm not gonna grab her. That'd be pretty rude, compounding with the fact that I FUCKING MURDERED HER! She's going to kill me here, and -- and I'd deserve it. I deserve this.

YOU - I'm not gonna grab her. That'd be pretty rude, compounding with the fact that I FUCKING MURDERED HER! She's going to kill me here, and -- and I'd deserve it. I deserve this.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Heroic: Failure] - You couldn't even if you wanted to -- ignoring the practicalities of grabbing hold of a ghost, your hands can't actually form into fists right now. They're trembling and weak.

DAMAGED MORALE -1

VOLITION - Come on, Harry -- keep it together. We need to *keep it together*.

COMPOSURE [Heroic: Failure] - Your legs are growing wobbly. You're going to collapse at this rate.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Oh that's a good idea - prostrate yourself, just a little bit. It might help ease the tension between us. Just be ready to go for it if she's not gonna back down.

1. [Composure - Heroic 15] Try not to collapse to the ground.
2. Just let it happen. What's the point?

YOU - Try not to collapse to the ground.

+5 Cold

+3 Personal Airspace Violation

+1 Got your shit together

-1 Scars upon the soul

-5 You stabbed her in the heart

-5 Opportunist

CHECK FAILURE

COMPOSURE [Heroic: Failure] - Nope, it's not happening. Best I can do is make sure you don't crack your skull open on the way down.

PAIN THRESHOLD - You still land pretty hard on your knees though. Ouch.

DAMAGED HEALTH -1

Aw, what's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Is she messing with us? She must be messing with us.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - That's good, this is good! She's not trying to kill us straight away - keep her talking.

VOICE OF THE COLD - If you insist. Just pick yourself up off the floor, at the least - we don't need to be afraid. She's just a fading memory.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - Take a minute to calm down, think about something else -- you can pass it off as being struck frozen by fear later.

1. [Encyclopedia - Challenging 12] What else do I know about ghosts?
2. "...Y-you could say that, yeah." [Get up.]
3. I think I like it down here, actually. Much lower risk of me falling over and breaking my neck.

YOU - What else do I know about ghosts?

+1 Fading memory

-2 Not in the known world

CHECK FAILURE

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Challenging: Failure] - As much as I hate to say this -- you're barking up the wrong tree. This guy is the one you want if you need to know more about ghosts.

INLAND EMPIRE [Challenging: Success] - She's more of a spectre than a ghost, really. 'Ghost' refers to the general class of Necroplasmic Entity that manifests around the consciousness-impression of the deceased, while a spectre in particular visibly resembles an undistorted human form and displays higher cognitive functions. Much easier to deal with than a revenant or a wraith, but more unpredictable than a phantom.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Are you sure we should be listening to this guy? He's only really given vague advice so far, if that. Actual useful information seems almost out of character for him.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - A lot of it's just overspun dreams -- but you've learned how to pick the diamonds from the rough. You know how your mind works by now.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Hey now, you heard Mr. Encyclopedia here - he definitely knows what he's talking about. Please, continue, I'd love to hear more.

INLAND EMPIRE - That she's appeared to you here at the site of her death means she is semantically entangled with you -- you were the focal point of an extremely important moment of her life, the end of it. She could want to kill you -- silencing your thoughtwaves would allow her to collapse back into an unobserved probability state -- but it's just as likely she seeks a method to unanchor herself from this plane of existence entirely, possibly by completing the aforementioned 'unfinished business'.

INLAND EMPIRE - You should help her with this. It's only fair.

Task updated: Save the Princess

LOGIC - For the record, this was just a stream of pure garbage. A word salad of buzzwords and half-remembered ghost hunting tabloid excerpts, definitely not a 'diamond'.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It was entertaining for a moment, at least.

1. I agree, this is all just some bullshit my brain made up on the fly. Wouldn't be the first time, either. (Discard thought.)
2. Nah, this sounds legit. What do you suggest I do here then?

YOU - Nah, this sounds legit. What do you suggest I do here then?

INLAND EMPIRE - Check the misaligned pocket around the back of your blazer.

1. Why do I even have a pocket back there?
2. [Inland Empire - Easy 8] Alright, sure. [Check that strange pocket.]

YOU - Why do I even have a pocket back there?

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Medium: Success] - Practice. You're not very good at sewing even when your hands are cooperating -- You stuck a pocket on the back crookedly, tucked inside by your left shoulder blade, without even considering that you could've used a piece of scrap fabric instead.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Each addition is another chapter woven into the history of the jacket. You can't so easily discard the missteps of your own life, why should it be so with the blazer?

PAIN THRESHOLD [Trivial: Success] - It doesn't chafe your skin, thank god. If you had to deal with that every day (because of course you wear this thing daily), it would suck *hard*.

1. Why do I even have a pocket back there?
2. [Inland Empire - Easy 8] Alright, sure. [Check that strange pocket.]

YOU - Alright, sure. [Check that strange pocket.]

+5 Opportunist

+1 A woven chapter of history

+1 Fading memory

0 Cold

CHECK SUCCESS

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Drawn from the aether itself -- A small wooden carving of an x-shaped cross, the Perikarnassian Chi-Rho, bound on a fraying piece of yarn. The horror reels overexaggerate and misinterpret its function in dealing with spirits -- it doesn't banish, but rather coalesces, attuning their plasm to be more in line with the material plane. While this may seem counterproductive, it will allow you to interact with her more easily while she remains semicorporeal.

Item gained: Chi-Rho trinket

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - You purchased this along with a variety of other vaguely mystical junk from an open-air stall near the south end of Boogie Street. You haggled a pretty hefty discount from the old lady running the stand, it was beautiful.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - You didn't 'haggle a discount', she upsold you by getting you to add an entire basket's worth of other things to your order. You spent over thirty reál in one purchase.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - The bottle of holy water was too large to fit in any of your pockets -- it's still collecting dust on a bookshelf in your bedroom.

SAVOIR FAIRE - Bulk savings, can't resist 'em.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - You guys are really speaking my language here, you know that? Feels nice to fit in.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - You could *definitely* exorcize her with this if you focused enough malevolent energy into the cross, Scatterbrain be damned.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Why rely on old superstition when she's right there, within reach?

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - In the time it's taken you to complete this line of thought you've managed to slow your breathing down and stop most of the trembling. You look a good deal less pathetic now, it shows.

1. [Inland Empire - Legendary 14] Attune her plasm to the material plane.
2. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
3. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
4. "You could say that, yeah." [Get up.]
5. I think I like it down here, actually. Much lower risk of me falling over and breaking my neck.

YOU - Attune her plasm to the material plane.

+5 Opportunist

+1 Own a bottle of holy water, somewhere

+1 Fading memory

-1 Got ripped off

-5 Cold

CHECK SUCCESS

INLAND EMPIRE [Legendary: Success] - You palm the cross in your left hand, holding it up to her from your position on the ground, and recite the ancient Chant of Attunement.

RHETORIC [Trivial: Success] - ...You aren't even speaking words. These syllables are being arranged at random, with far too many consonants to be anything recognizable.

Are you sure you didn't break something loose in your head when you hit the ground?

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - She's holding her hands behind her back as she looks down at you, like a teacher disciplining a student.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Not what I had in mind when I said we should keep her talking, but hey, if it works.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - The edges of her form solidify, becoming less like a gradient and more like a membrane. It's working.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - That isn't happening. Her appearance hasn't changed at all.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Oh. I really thought that was going to do something. That's disappointing, isn't it?

VOICE OF THE COLD - A pointless distraction.

THE NARRATOR - You don't need to perform some kind of mystical ritual on her, you need to slay her, plain and simple.

INLAND EMPIRE - It *did* work. You'll see.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - If it worked, then that means you should be able to grab her no problem now - go on, do it!

1. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
2. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
3. "Trust me, that was important. Do you feel any different?" [Get up.]
4. I think I like it down here, actually. Much lower risk of me falling over and breaking my neck.

YOU - "Trust me, that was important. Do you feel any different?" [Get up.]

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - Coward. Come on, show some initiative!

I can't say that I do. I don't feel much of anything at all, really.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - You watch as the 'skin' on her ghostly skull pulls taut near instantaneously, as if all the flesh and fat had been removed -- leaving only a ghoulish smile, the rictus of a rotting corpse.

Because you murdered me, remember?

REACTION SPEED [Legendary: Failure] - *Shit*!

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - Just as quickly as it happened, her face snaps back to normal as if it had never changed at all.

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - Fucking paranatural bullshit. You should kill her again, if only to stop this freakshow.

COMPOSURE - She raises an index finger to her mouth and gives you a sideways look.

I see you don't have that annoying knife anymore. Replaced it with a cross, hm?

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - A shift -- eyes closed, head tilted the other way. Nonchalance.

So... does that mean you regret what you've done? Are you here to apologize and make nice? Beg for absolution, maybe?

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - She opens her eyes again and lolls them upward, not even meeting your gaze.

Because I might be interested in seeing a little begging.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - You won't beg, not to the likes of her. You killed her and still she demands your respect -- no, she needs to *earn* it.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - Even as an apparition, she's being surprisingly animated -- she's playing it up, on purpose. Trying to get you to squirm like a worm underfoot, sire.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We can do some squirming. I like squirming!

THE NARRATOR - Please don't, it's unnecessary.

VOICE OF THE COLD - We don't need to beg. There are other more interesting choices available to us.

HALF LIGHT [Trivial: Success] - You have two options -- the two options you always have. Run or *FIGHT*. Pick one or die.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Or, or - we can talk to her for a while. No begging, no killing, just a little chat. We don't know anything about her or what she wants, it wouldn't hurt to try and ask her some questions.

New task: Question the Princess (again!)

RHETORIC - Kid's learning fast.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Questions, now that's a capital idea -

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - This one is agreeing with almost every thought that crosses your mind, even ones that contradict each other. What is he playing at?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - If you're going to be committing to a course of action, I just want to make sure that I'm in a position to help you as much as possible. Is that so bad?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Is that what you're doing, or are you just making sure you always come out on top?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Can't it be both?

SAVOIR FAIRE [Challenging: Success] - It can. And, as long as he ends up on your side at the end of things, that means you'll be on top too. He's using you, sure -- but you can use him right back. A mutually parasitic relationship.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Sounds unpleasant.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - The term you're looking for is 'mutualistic', not 'mutually parasitic'.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I can disagree too, look: The idea we had before, with asking for payment upfront? Signing the contract? Solid plan - but a bit of constructive criticism, we never asked her for a counteroffer. She's royalty, I'm sure she could've matched Him blow-for-blow in terms of cash payout.

SAVOIR FAIRE - *Shit*, he's right. Maybe it's not too late?

LOGIC - Why didn't you think of this?

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - Killing her may have actually increased your bargaining power. She knows you're serious now, right? The threat of slaying now has *weight* to it.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - It's been all of thirty seconds and you're already contemplating threatening a ghost to cut you a check so you don't try to kill her *for a second time*! Please tell me you're not going along with this.

VOICE OF THE COLD - We tried this with Him before. Why try it again?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Now we have slain her already, and she seems plenty upset about it still - if you're going to broach this topic, save it for later, after we've built the trust back up. Have to get out of the potential-revenge zone before we get to business.

Well? You've been zoned out there for a while, killer - everything alright in that little skull of yours?

1. Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.
2. "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."
3. "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"
4. "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"
5. "...I'm sorry I killed you. I had a good reason, I promise, but still."
6. [Suggestion - Medium 11] Start begging in a particularly convincing manner.
7. "Hypothetically speaking -- if I was paid to kill you by a third party, what kind of counteroffer could you bring to the table?"
8. [Get a better look at her.]
9. [Look around.]
10. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
11. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
12. Can't I just leave? I could go get the knife -- or better yet, run for the hills and never look back. [Leave the basement.]

YOU - [Get a better look at her.]

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Easy: Success] - Her form is slightly translucent and a bit fuzzy -- it takes a small expenditure of effort to make out the details.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - Her appearance is much the same as it was in life -- long hair, large eyes, a slim build. Wearing a long flowing dress with sleeveless shoulders, coupled with a tiara on her head. The lack of nose isn't as jarring as you'd expect, and her mouth -- well, it's not actually sewn shut *or* made of skeletal teeth. It honestly just seems like her lips are overly chapped.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - A shackle binds her right wrist, the chain fading to nothing at its end. She is a prisoner.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - Still chained even in death -- a metaphysical binding.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - There is an x-shaped wound in the center of her chest -- that's where you stabbed her. The open wound doesn't match what you would expect from a knife's entry, though, and there's no blood.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Do ghosts even have blood?

VOICE OF THE COLD - We could find out.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - Her hair floats around her in ill-defined tangles. Scarcely affected by gravity, as if suspended in a liquid.

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] - Her dress comes apart in ribbons and tatters near its hem, dissolving into mist. What would it feel like were you to rub it between your fingers?

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] - You got a good look at her legs when she floated up from the floor -- you couldn't see them before when you killed her, they were hidden by the dress.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - They're some pretty nice legs, truth be told.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Focus.

VOLITION - Let him have this, it'll keep him content.

VOICE OF THE HERO - I don't feel right ogling someone we just killed.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - It's not ogling, it's just a statement of fact -- your own legs are a sight to behold, you know this to be true.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Maybe try slipping her a compliment there? A little vanity never hurt anyone.

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - Hmm, a bold play -- but it could pay off. Keep it in mind.

THE NARRATOR - This monster doesn't deserve compliments. Why are you dragging this out so long, you know what you have to do.

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Success] - Her general demeanor, in a word or two, would be 'coy' and 'casual'. It's a surprising thing to see from someone *you killed*, and it's probably a front for some deeper feelings, but she isn't going to make a move on you right now.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Let's see if we can keep it that way - we should start talking, get her to come around.

1. Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.
2. "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."
3. "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"
4. "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"
5. "...I'm sorry I killed you. I had a good reason, I promise, but still."
6. [Suggestion - Medium 11] Start begging in a particularly convincing manner.
7. "Hypothetically speaking -- if I was paid to kill you by a third party, what kind of counteroffer could you bring to the table?"
8. [Get a better look at her.]
9. [Rhetoric - Challenging 12] Compliment her on her looks.
10. [Look around.]
11. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
12. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
13. Can't I just leave? I could go get the knife -- or better yet, run for the hills and never look back. [Leave the basement.]

YOU - Compliment her on her looks.

+5 Opportunist

+2 Nice legs

+1 Cool dress

+1 Low-grav hair

-1 Paranatural freakshow

-1 Stab wound

-3 Ghoulish smile

-5 Cold

CHECK FAILURE

RHETORIC [Challenging: Failure] - Wait. Hold on a moment. Forget the compliment thing for a second. She's a 'spectre', is that right? Doesn't that sound... familiar, somehow?

1. No?
2. Where is this going, exactly?
3. Can you try to stay on-topic for at least 5 seconds? Kinda waiting on your input here.

YOU - Where is this going, exactly?

RHETORIC - Stay with me here -- At the tail end of the Commune of Revachol, during the decade of communard resistance fighting and guerilla warfare -- there was a certain phrase that was passed around as part of Coalition propaganda. You remember now? Could it be...?

1. [Mutter.] "Is she the spectre of communism?"

YOU - [Mutter.] "Is she the spectre of communism?"

REACTION SPEED [Formidable: Failure] - What?

What?

VOICE OF THE HERO - What?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Yeah, maybe! Definitely. Now, for everyone else in the room that doesn't know what that means, maybe explain?

THE NARRATOR - Oh for god's sake, how could you possibly arrive at this conclusion? Of all the things - you know she's a princess, right? Does a monarchic figure of absolute authority sound very 'communist' to you?

RHETORIC - Yes, she's a princess -- but she's also *dead*. A dead princess. Dead royalty is some of the most communist imagery there is.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success] - Oh, the cosmic irony is *delicious*. The embodiment of the class struggle upheld by the ghost of a dead royal -- *extremely* high concept, brilliant.

THE NARRATOR - It's not brilliant, it's - well it's outright idiocy is what it is! Is this the caliber of idea you've been mulling over this whole time? Is this why you keep meandering around in tangents instead of getting to the point and slaying her already?

COMPOSURE [Godly: Failure] - No, that'd be the crippling fear, guilt, and self-doubt. If you stop to think about it for more than five seconds you're going to have a breakdown.

VOLITION [Heroic: Failure] - It's not healthy to bottle this up, but you don't have any other options right now.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Whatever you said seems to have gotten her confused. Look at her.

THE NARRATOR - Indeed. The Princess, still turning over the absolutely asinine statement you just made, casts her eyes to the floor, deep in thought.

EMPATHY [Formidable: Success] - She doesn't understand what you called her and she's trying to figure out whether it was an insult or not.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We can work with this. We should clarify what we meant, let her know we only meant this in a good way, you know?

1. "You know -- like, the spirit of the class struggle? Very high concept stuff, very heroic. I think you'd be a good fit."
2. "Yeah, because -- well, you're a princess, and you're dead... offing the royalty, very communist. Very cool."
3. That's it? That's what I got?

YOU - That's it? That's what I got?

RHETORIC - Look buddy, you already fucked this up when you entertained this train of thought, you and I both know how this works by now. The only reason you can still salvage this at all is Sweet-talker over here.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - It's what I'm good at, what can I say?

RHETORIC - Besides, associating her with the underdogs of the left? *Huge* compliment. That's marriage proposal material right there.

INLAND EMPIRE [Formidable: Success] - Someone else would have appreciated this sentiment more.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Might as well get it over with then.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Personal recommendation - pick the first one. But you're the boss, feel free to mix it up.

1. "You know -- like, the spirit of the class struggle? Very high concept stuff, very heroic. I think you'd be a good fit."
2. "Yeah, because -- well, you're a princess, and you're dead... offing the royalty, very communist. Very cool."
3. That's it? That's what I got?

YOU - "You know -- like, the spirit of the class struggle? Very high concept stuff, very heroic. I think you'd be a good fit."

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - She squints a little as you finish talking and then, after a moment, seems to reach a decision and turns to face you.

...Thanks. I think.

You know, this isn't what I expected when I asked you to beg. Your heart's in the right place at least.

If you even have one.

Why don't I just reach in there and check for you, huh? How about it?

ENDURANCE - You obviously have a heart. It's beating right now.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - A *lot* faster than normal. You're starting to kick up some adrenaline in here -- upside is it'll keep you alert.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - She's pulling that same horrific face whenever she gets particularly angry.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - Trying to intimidate you, *still*! The gall.

VOICE OF THE HERO - I can't say it isn't working. Feeling plenty intimidated right now.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It's all she can do, clearly. Pull a face, insinuate a threat. These aren't real dangers, just smokescreens.

1. Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.
2. "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."
3. "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"
4. "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"
5. "...I'm sorry I killed you. I had a good reason, I promise, but still."
6. [Suggestion - Medium 11] Start begging in a particularly convincing manner.
7. "Hypothetically speaking -- if I was paid to kill you by a third party, what kind of counteroffer could you bring to the table?"
8. [Get a better look at her.]
9. [Look around.]
10. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
11. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
12. Can't I just leave? I could go get the knife -- or better yet, run for the hills and never look back. [Leave the basement.]

YOU - "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - ...Yeah, she could? That's definitely a real possibility here.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - People freeze to death all the time. You have a jacket on, but whatever weird ghost-bullshit she's pulling probably doesn't care about that.

DRAMA [Easy: Success] - You're tempting fate, sire. A bold move, but possibly a foolish one.

VOICE OF THE COLD - She can't do anything to us. She's dead. Dead things can't hurt us.

That's for me to know, and for you to wonder about. Maybe I can't do anything to you.

VOICE OF THE COLD - See?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - The other shoe's about to drop -

Or maybe I can rip your heart out.

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - She's wearing the largest smile you've seen on her since you came back here while she says this -- manic. Not only could she do it, she'd *enjoy* it.

DAMAGED MORALE -1

Who's to say, really?

VOICE OF THE HERO - I don't like the uncertainty here. I thought we were trying to avoid killing her, but now she's threatening us - what do we do?

THE NARRATOR - You end her, saving the world - that's what you do, is it not obvious?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Don't worry, we still have some time to figure out who we're siding with here. There's a lot of powerful players around the table right now - the Princess, Him, me, Harry over here - lots of people to negotiate with.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - *Very* presumptuous of you to include yourself among the ranks of the high-rollers.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Well, you know me - always trying to strive for the best, right?

1. Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.
2. "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."
3. "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"
4. "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"
5. "...I'm sorry I killed you. I had a good reason, I promise, but still."
6. [Suggestion - Medium 11] Start begging in a particularly convincing manner.
7. "Hypothetically speaking -- if I was paid to kill you by a third party, what kind of counteroffer could you bring to the table?"
8. [Get a better look at her.]
9. [Look around.]
10. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
11. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
12. Can't I just leave? I could go get the knife -- or better yet, run for the hills and never look back. [Leave the basement.]

YOU - Start begging in a particularly convincing manner.

+5 Opportunist

+2 Eye for an eye

+2 Rip your heart out

+1 Adrenaline

-1 Fucked up the compliment

-5 Cold

CHECK SUCCESS

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - Offer to kill yourself.

VOLITION - Wh--

SUGGESTION - Let me finish. Death hasn't stuck so far, for you *or* her. She doesn't know that you had to end your own life to escape before -- offering to would make for a placating gesture. The leveling of the playing field, so to speak. You don't *actually* have to go through with it (unless that would help).

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Seems a bit extreme don't you think? Maybe we could start with something smaller?

SUGGESTION - Nope. Go big or go home.

1. This was the *successful* outcome?
2. "Do you want me to die, then? Just go and off myself like some sad loser man? Would that satisfy whatever revenge fantasies you have knocking around right now? Because I'd do it. I've already done it, even -- that's how I got back here! I'll do it again, if you want me to. I can get this other little guy in here to do it for me, it'd be easy."

YOU - This was the *successful* outcome?

SUGGESTION - The alternative was self-flagellation, but you don't have enough belts to make it work.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Success] - Is it too late to do that one?

1. This was the *successful* outcome?
2. "Do you want me to die, then? Just go and off myself like some sad loser man? Would that satisfy whatever revenge fantasies you have knocking around right now? Because I'd do it. I've already done it, even -- that's how I got back here! I'll do it again, if you want me to. I can get this other little guy in here to do it for me, it'd be easy."

YOU - "Do you want me to die, then? Just go and off myself like some sad loser man? Would that satisfy whatever revenge fantasies you have knocking around right now? Because I'd do it. I've already done it, even -- that's how I got back here! I'll do it again, if you want me to. I can get this other little guy in here to do it too, it'd be easy."

VOICE OF THE HERO - Are we putting this to a vote? Because, personally, I'd prefer if we didn't die. And please don't implicate me in this, I'd rather not be asked to do that again.

VOICE OF THE COLD - If that's what it comes down to, that's what it comes down to. But I don't see the point in offing ourselves just yet - she's made a lot of threats and delivered on none of them.

Aw, that's sweet of you to offer. But killing yourself wouldn't help either of us.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - ...Her smile is genuine. She actually did appreciate the offer. Holy *shit*.

SUGGESTION - Oh ye of little faith.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - You know what? I'm taking notes. Truly I'm in the presence of a master negotiator here.

THE NARRATOR - ...You weren't lying when you said you'd follow through, though. Why would you want to do that at this point? Everyone here seems to be in agreement except for you. I shouldn't have to tell you that you shouldn't kill yourself - please, try to keep your suicidal tendencies in check.

RHETORIC [Trivial: Success] - Well, not *everyone* --

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - Just a second, she has something else to say.

I just want to go home.

COMPOSURE [Easy: Success] - She has a thousand yard stare as she murmurs these words. The energy has left her, leaving her in a lurch.

VOLITION - ...That makes two of you.

Task updated: Return home

VOICE OF THE HERO - But where is home, I wonder? Is she from the same place you are, if you aren't from here?

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] - The world is a big place, but you haven't heard about a missing princess from any of the major remaining royal families on the news.

I don't know where home is. I just know it isn't here.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) - Her voice almost decoheres entirely on the last word, before the individual whispers coalesce back into the whole.

But I can feel it calling to me from some place far away.

SHIVERS [Impossible: Failure] - Something you haven't felt for a while. The city slumbers.

REACTION SPEED [Challenging: Success] - Then who is it you've been hearing whisper on the wind?

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - She looks tired. She shouldn't *be* tired, she doesn't have a metabolism anymore.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Success] - Soul-tired. World weary, the pain of a thousand tiny abrasions.

Wherever I'm supposed to be, it's out there.

VOICE OF THE COLD - How specific.

THE NARRATOR - And convenient for her, isn't it? Don't you see what she's doing? She's manipulating you - playfulness, intimidation, and now attempting to garner pity. She's implying that the only way to be rid of her entirely would be to let her out which, I shouldn't need to remind you, would end the world.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - If I may interject - can we go back to the 'voting' idea? There's a lot of us in here and it's hard to keep track of how everyone's leaning - I think it would be great idea to have a little parliament session before we continue.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - This is *not* a democracy. *You* are in charge here, and if you want to kill yourself then --

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - You'll reconsider, because that's a terrible idea. Go ahead and take their thoughts into consideration, most of us in here don't seem to want you to hurt yourself, but remember you can veto anything too out there.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - Democracy does sound nice, doesn't it?

1. Well I can't say I've tried it before. Sure, why not. (Opt in.)
2. This is a dictatorship and *I'M* in charge, not any of you. Know your place. (Opt out.)

YOU - Well I can't say I've tried it before. Sure, why not. (Opt in.)

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Wonderful. Now, first item on the agenda - should we slay this Princess? We can come back around to the 'killing ourselves to appease her' thing afterward.

SUGGESTION - She said she didn't want you to do that, seems pretty straightforward to me. Figuring out whether to kill her or not seems like the top of the priority list right now anyways.

LOGIC - Now the question of how to do this -- alphabetically or by subgroup?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Us three would be near the end if you did it alphabetically, wouldn't we? Feels like we're being snubbed.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - In a situation like this? Voting last is a privilege - it means you can see what everyone else's committed to first. Good to stay flexible.

VOICE OF THE COLD - First or last makes no difference.

THE NARRATOR - You know this is superfluous, don't you? Half of these voices seem downright insane - why listen to them at all?

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - In the climate-controlled basement of an old silk mill, where ambient moisture is the lowest it can reasonably be in mid-summer, Secretary Apricot Pidieu adds another stack of files to the ever-growing behemoth that is Precinct 41's case archives. Each bin is labelled with a few letters -- thirty bins to a shelf with sixteen and a half shelves worth of paperwork. The organizational system used here is patchwork and nigh incomprehensible -- a mishmash of alphanumeric case IDs, old-style case titles in all capitals, and occasionally folders bearing only personal identification: LAST NAME-comma-FIRST NAME.

1. Alphabetically works fine.
2. Maybe we try alphabetically but trim off the preamble? That seems more fair for everyone.
3. ...What do you mean 'by subgroup', I didn't know you guys had an organizational system?
4. Not only do I not care about something as dull as this, I think it's making me reconsider going through with this whole thing.

YOU - Maybe we try alphabetically but trim off the preamble? That seems more fair for everyone.

INTERFACING [Challenging: Success] - Can do. Let me just...

OPPORTUNIST, VOICE OF THE - Ah well, this isn't so bad.

RHETORIC - Alright, let's get this show on the road. God knows this is going to take a while. Starting with 'A'...

AUTHORITY - You should kill her *again*. She shows no respect for her obvious better -- she has not even tried to convince you to help, merely threatened you repeatedly. Someone so arrogant should not be allowed to return to a position of power. That this is what He's told you to do is of no consequence -- your goals aligning in the moment is irrelevant.

RHETORIC - That's one vote for murder, then.

NARRATOR, THE - It's not murder, we've been over this -

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - Do *not* interrupt, outsider. Wait your turn.

RHETORIC - Next!

COLD, VOICE OF THE - You're avoiding this issue on purpose, obfuscating the act behind distractions and diversions. You're scared of her, aren't you? I've said it already - we don't need to be. We ended her before, and we should end her again, so that we can finally get this boring charade over with and move on to something else.

RHETORIC - Two votes murder. Next!

COMPOSURE - Despite *all* of the shit she's been spouting, she doesn't really have that rage in her that you would be looking for if you expected an imminent threat to your life. There's occasional flashes, but really she seems more... sad, than anything. Keep your cool, you can help her out of here.

RHETORIC - Two votes murder, one vote help. Next!

CONCEPTUALIZATION - She is a lonely soul, trapped at the bottom of an impossibly dark well. She was already literally chained when you arrived and all you've done is heap on more metaphorical chains by killing her and leaving her behind. Surely you should help undo the damage you've done?

RHETORIC - 2-2 on murder-help, continuing on.

CORPS, ESPRIT DE - Murder is a crime. You've had to kill before, but only as a last resort -- what you did was *not* a last resort. While the legality of ghost-murder is not clearly defined in the Wayfarer Act, you can extrapolate and assume it would also be a crime. Don't.

RHETORIC - 2-3, next.

DRAMA - The tale of you and her is one of brutality, my liege. You slew her without a second thought, and now here you return to face the spectral manifestation of your guilt. Should you slay her again, you would most certainly be the villain, far more likely to suffer some ironic punishment at the end of it all -- but if you save her instead, you would merely be a misguided protagonist realizing the error of their ways.

RHETORIC - I think that's another vote for help. 2-4, next.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Have you *noticed* how she's looking at you when you're zoned out, like you are right now? She wants your body, man. You gotta help this chick.

HERO, VOICE OF THE - ...No, that can't be true - can it?

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - You can't tell right now. Your eyes have unfocused -- you're putting all of your mental energy into conducting this caucus.

RHETORIC - Quiet down, quiet down. 2-5 in favor of helping, next.

EMPATHY - ...You killed her. No need to rub it in anymore, you get the picture -- there's nothing you can do to fully make up for it, but you could at least make an effort to help her out. She wants to get home, surely that's a good place to start.

RHETORIC - 2-6, next.

ENCYCLOPEDIA - You have never once read or heard an account of someone successfully killing a ghost. The only solid accounts you've heard of ghosts at all have been fiction and fringe occult newsletters, though, so take it with a grain of salt. Abstain.

RHETORIC - 2-6 with one abstaining, next.

ENDURANCE - She's dead. Dead things aren't supposed to still be moving around. Your stomach churns whenever she pulls that trick with the face and your body temperature is still recovering from when she touched you -- stick a knife in her again, see if she stops moving.

RHETORIC - 3-6 murder-to-help, next.

HALF LIGHT - Tear her apart with your bare hands. Crush her ribs, crack her finger bones like twigs, find out if ghosts have blood *and* what it tastes like --

RHETORIC - Fuck, man, we get the picture. I don't know why we even bothered asking him, we all knew what he was going to say. 4-6, next!

HAND/EYE COORDINATION - You don't have a weapon on you, so you've already lost one of the biggest advantages you had last time. Your grip strength *is* pretty decent but the jury's still out on whether you can even grab a ghost in the first place. Abstain.

RHETORIC - 4-6 with two abstaining, next.

HERO, VOICE OF THE - Oh, is it my turn? Well, I've been pretty conflicted since we slew her the last time - it's unclear if she can actually end the world and even though she's threatening us now, I think she's at least a bit justified. I'd be pretty mad if someone murdered me, wouldn't you? We should help her.

RHETORIC - 4-7, next.

INLAND EMPIRE - You've already started down the path. Her sines are still in alignment and your own thoughtfield is smoothing out bit-by-bit. You *could* kill her now, regardless, but it would lead to only further pain and suffering in the next life. Help her.

RHETORIC - Four murder, eight help -- next!

INTERFACING - Can you even actually touch her? The texture of her dress is still mesmerizing where it starts to dissolve -- it's like a miniature porch collapse -- but that's all I got here, really. You can't interface with something you can't touch. Abstain.

RHETORIC - 4-8 with three abstaining, next.

LOGIC - Nothing about this makes any sense. She died and came back, *you* died and came back but in a different way, somehow, she's still stuck in this basement despite clearly having just phased through the floor, and here she is talking to the person who just killed her by ping-ponging between threats of violence and jokes. Abstain.

RHETORIC - Four to eight with four abstaining. Next!

NARRATOR, THE - I don't know why I'm even playing along with these shenanigans, you already know what I think quite well by now. If you don't slay her, the world ends - including you and wherever you call home. Would you really be willing to let that happen?

HERO, VOICE OF THE - Hold on, does He get a vote?

OPPORTUNIST, VOICE OF THE - He's been pretty influential this whole time, why wouldn't He get a vote? Surely He deserves a vote.

1. Democracy means *everyone* gets represented, He can have a vote.
2. Nah fuck this guy. No vote for you.

YOU - Democracy means *everyone* gets represented, He can have a vote.

RHETORIC - If you say so. 5-8, next.

OPPORTUNIST, VOICE OF THE - Well now, that's a pretty good lead 'help' has so far, but there's still enough time for a turnaround - can I hold off for now? I'll put my vote in later.

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - That's not how voting works pretty much anywhere. You don't get to change your answer based on what other people chose before the tally is complete.

OPPORTUNIST, VOICE OF THE - It's like you said though, we're not anywhere in the 'known world', are we? How do you know that's not how it works here?

LOGIC - ...Wait, hold on, he has a point --

RHETORIC - Shut up, you're throwing off my count. I'm just going to mark you down as 'abstain' and be done with it. 5-8 with five abstaining, next.

PAIN THRESHOLD - You had to stab yourself to get out of the jam killing her wrought last time. It hurt like a bitch, so maybe try not to do that again? You should help her (especially if it means more of that strange cold sensation, that was nice).

RHETORIC - 5-9, who's next?

PERCEPTION - I'm abstaining, I just want to point out real quick -- I was able to get your senses online for a bit, the Princess has been waving a hand in front of your face and snapping her fingers for a while -- the sound is indescribable, by the way, like it's being filtered through a pool of liquid. We should hurry this up.

RHETORIC - Noted. 5-9 with six abstaining, next.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - Is it even a question? You should kill her again -- if word gets out that you weren't able to put her down the first time, you'll be humiliated. What kind of impressive specimen like yourself can't even kill one little princess?

RHETORIC - 6-9, next up.

REACTION SPEED - She can move pretty fast when she wants to. If you don't slay her right now, she might get the drop on you later -- then it'd be too late. Kill her while you still can.

RHETORIC - 7-9 kill-to-help ratio. I'm up next it looks like -- kid, take over for a second.

HERO, VOICE OF THE - Got it. Go on, then.

RHETORIC - As established previously -- there's good odds that she might be the metaphysical manifestation of the titular 'spectre of communism'. You can't go around killing metaphysical concepts like that -- you'd be a laughing stock at the weekly leftist book club you've been attending. You should spring her and bring her by, maybe get her to engage in some debate?

HERO, VOICE OF THE - You know that really isn't what I was expecting you to say. Hm. Anyway, looks like that's 7-10 so far.

RHETORIC - 'S' is next.

SAVOIR FAIRE - The smooth-talkin' guy had a good point about the counteroffer, but you should try to kill her before asking for it -- show her you mean business, you know? She's proven to be pretty slippery, so if you can get her by surprise that'd help immensely.

RHETORIC - 8-10, we're getting close to the end. Next!

SHIVERS [Godly: Failure] - ...

SHIVERS [Impossible: Failure] - ...

RHETORIC - Nothing? Alright then, that's an abstain. 8-10 still with seven abstaining. Keep it rolling.

SUGGESTION - Normally I'd say you could win her over, but I'm gonna have to go with Savvy on this one. Saying you'd off yourself did *something*, but what else can you try? That was the trump card and it didn't help much.

HERO, VOICE OF THE - She said she wanted to go home -

SUGGESTION - Nah, that can't be it. You'd have been able to pick up on what she *really* wants by now if there was anything there. Might as well kill her, it'll please Him at the same time.

RHETORIC - Really? Never took you as the violence type, the more you know. 9-10, almost there.

VISUAL CALCULUS - She could cover the distance between you two in less than naught-point-seven seconds. When she touched you earlier, her fingers actually dipped slightly *below* your skin, a discrepancy of only a millimetre and a half -- but still, that means she could definitely reach inside you and pull out something vital. Recommended course of action: Slay her.

RHETORIC - You guys really keep pulling out surprises, don't you? 10-10, this should be the last one --

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Well well well, looks like I'm the tiebreaker - what an honor, really. If you're going to insist I choose here, I think -

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - Hey, didn't this guy abstain earlier? And how'd he snap his name back into place?

1. You already had your chance, the hell are you doing?
2. Let him speak, I wanna hear this.

YOU - You already had your chance, the hell are you doing?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I didn't 'abstain', I was just holding off until everyone else got their votes in -

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - Enough of this. Let the Crownbearer speak so you can be done with this farce.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - ...Yeah, fine. Let's hear it.

VOLITION - ...I don't know. I don't think you should kill her, but I don't want you to die either.

VOLITION - ...Abstain.

RHETORIC - *Finally*, god that was a slog. So that's 10 votes for murder --

THE NARRATOR - Slay -

RHETORIC - Slay, whatever -- 10 votes for slay, 10 votes for help, and eight votes abstaining.

RHETORIC - ...This was a huge waste of time.

Secret task complete: Hold the inaugural session of mind parliament

1. So then what do I *do*? Why did we do this?
2. You guys are useless, you know that?
3. Shouldn't I get a vote too?

YOU - Shouldn't I get a vote too?

VOLITION - This wasn't that kind of vote -- you can still do what you want, you were just collecting opinions and perspectives.

REACTION SPEED [Trivial: Success] - Speaking of opinions -- You should probably say something. You've been staring off into space blankly for at least five minutes now.

THE NARRATOR - As you shake off the dregs of yet another inane distraction, you see the Princess floating erratically from side to side, muttering to herself while taking occasional glances in your direction.

- Maybe I did break him, why did I push that hard? Would it even work like this? Am I really just going to be stuck here forever? It's just going to go on and on and on and on, fading and fading until there's nothing left -

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Challenging: Success] - The whispers have fully separated now. It's the same words being spoken by all of them, but they're completely out of tune -- barely understandable.

COMPOSURE [Easy: Success] - She's finally cracked. Both the nonchalance and the intimidation have melted away.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - All that's left is desperation and fear. Not fear of death, no, but the true death -- being forgotten.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - She can't pass on, not like this. She would fade, but never fully disappear -- dissipated to background noise.

REACTION SPEED [Challenging: Success] - She's distracted. Now's the time to strike.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Oh, this is perfect. Still don't have a weapon, but we don't have time to go back upstairs - grab her, now!

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - You can close that distance easy while staying out of retaliation range.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Once we grab her, it won't be hard to finish her off. She looks fragile enough to me.

VOICE OF THE HERO - ...But it'd be wrong. We can't do this.

1. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
2. "*Khm*. I'm still here."

YOU - "*Khm*. I'm still here."

THE NARRATOR - You're really just going to squander the opportunity to finally save the world? Fine.

THE NARRATOR - The Princess swivels her gaze to meet yours as you clear your throat. She looks indecisive for a moment, then settles back into something approximating her previous demeanor - an obvious front.

COMPOSURE - But you know better now.

Oh, so you aren't broken after all. You had me worried there for a minute, killer. We still have so much to talk about, don't you think?

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - If you insist on continuing like this, give her a second to calm down. Less likely she takes a swipe at you that way.

1. Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.
2. "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."
3. "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"
4. "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"
5. "...I'm sorry I killed you. I had a good reason, I promise, but still."
6. "Hypothetically speaking -- if I was paid to kill you by a third party, what kind of counteroffer could you bring to the table?"
7. [Get a better look at her.]
8. [Look around.]
9. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
10. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
11. Can't I just leave? I could go get the knife -- or better yet, run for the hills and never look back. [Leave the basement.]

YOU - [Look around.]

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - The room *is* smaller. The walls to your sides are much the same -- unworked stone -- but the floor is paneled wood and the back wall is more of the same as upstairs, peeling wallpaper and all. The window up high is different, a stocky rectangular thing that's been crudely barricaded with a couple wooden planks.

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - Her corpse still lies in the back, right wrist chained to the wall. It's not too late to give proper respects.

VOICE OF THE COLD - She's right here. Why give any courtesy to an empty body?

VOICE OF THE HERO - It's the thought that counts for these things.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Maybe it'd help win her over? If that's what you've decided on, that is.

1. [Approach her corpse and kneel beside it.]
2. I don't think now's the time. She seems impatient. (Discard thought.)

YOU - [Approach her corpse and kneel beside it.]

THE NARRATOR - You push past the Princess - unnecessarily, as your shoulder phases right through her form -

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - But it didn't.

PERCEPTION (TOUCH) [Easy: Success] - You definitely felt some resistance there -- not as much as would be expected, but *something*.

INLAND EMPIRE - I told you, it's working.

THE NARRATOR - - and approach the pile of bones on the floor. She watches from behind you, bobbing quietly in the air with a curious expression.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Even if she's not completely tangible, these bones are very real. Maybe breaking them will break her.

LOGIC [Challenging: Success] - It doesn't entirely make sense -- but the supranatural rarely does. It could work.

THE NARRATOR - You don't need to find a loophole here, you haven't even tried to slay her yet. You definitely can if you put your mind to it - you're the only one who can do this.

EMPATHY - But should you?

VOICE OF THE HERO - It felt wrong, killing her last time.

1. [Reach for the flask.]
2. [Empathy - Medium 11] Can I think of anything else as a tribute to the dead?
3. [Physical Instrument - Medium 10] [Smash her bones.]
4. I don't know what I'm doing, actually. Is it rude to ignore her in favor of her old bones?

YOU - Can I think of anything else as a tribute to the dead?

+5 Opportunist

+3 She's watching

+3 Least you could do

+1 Got your shit together

-5 You stabbed her in the heart

-5 Cold

CHECK SUCCESS

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - You know what to do here. You've done it countless times before, a world away. The Stations of the Breath.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - Performed over three dozen times a day by your half-brothers and sisters for the missing and the dead across all of Revachol.

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - The last rites. Someone's performed this for you by now, lost as you are.

COMPOSURE - A simple gesture -- A single hand over the chest, an open palm held to your own. One deep breath held for two seconds, then released.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - So that the dead may feel the warmth of life's breath one more time before moving on.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Challenging: Success] - You can hear her exhale at the same time you do -- it's the first time she's audibly breathed since you arrived.

VOICE OF THE COLD - She doesn't need to breathe. She's dead.

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - The more pious recite prayers when performing this motion -- but you were never very pious.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Success] - Not after *her*. Your worship was to a false idol.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Challenging: Success] - An overflowing chalice of the sweetest apricot wine...

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - The Innocentic system is claimed by many modern Moralists to be, despite the churches and the gospel, secular -- but the line between secular miracles and religious doctrine is so thin as to be non-existent.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - There's a miracle floating behind you right now. How does it go again? 'After life, death...'

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - She's still watching, right?

VOICE OF THE HERO - It doesn't matter if she is. ...This was as much for us as it was for her.

EMPATHY - He's right. With this gesture, the turmoil in your head quiets just a fraction.

EMPATHY - You *did* kill her -- there's proof of that both behind and in front of you -- but you are not without compassion.

HEALED MORALE +1

You know those are just bones, right? They aren't me - not anymore. Just a dusty reminder of what you've done.

...But it feels as if a weight's been lifted from my chest. It's not so cold, anymore.

Secret task complete: Give due to the dead

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - She seems calmer now, more collected. You can get back to asking her things again if you'd like.

1. Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.
2. "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."
3. "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"
4. "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"
5. "...I'm sorry I killed you. I had a good reason, I promise, but still."
6. "Hypothetically speaking -- if I was paid to kill you by a third party, what kind of counteroffer could you bring to the table?"
7. [Get a better look at her.]
8. [Look around.]
9. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
10. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
11. Can't I just leave? I could go get the knife -- or better yet, run for the hills and never look back. [Leave the basement.]

YOU - Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.

THE NARRATOR - Sigh - yes. Yes, I do. It's obvious that things have gotten strange somewhere down the line - I think it's safe to say that you've seen something, something that you shouldn't have seen.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Medium: Success] - Part of the job description. You've heard this line plenty of times when stumbling into a crime scene by chance.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - More often than not, it's a threat rather than genuine advice.

THE NARRATOR - This isn't a threat, it's a warning - whatever worlds you've hopped between, whatever versions of me you've met, none of that matters now. There's no changing what's already happened.

LOGIC [Impossible: Failure] - Hopping worlds? Different versions? He mentioned something like this out in the woods, but you still can't follow what it means.

VOLITION [Easy: Success] - That last bit rings true, at least.

THE NARRATOR - But you have a job to finish. You need to gather your wits and slay her, before it's too late.

VOICE OF THE HERO - And how would we even do that? We already did what you told us last time - and now she's a ghost!

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Just want to emphasize - yes, we did do what you said last time. Saw it all the way through to the end, no problems.

THE NARRATOR - There's a perfectly pristine blade waiting upstairs for you to return and collect it. You could always use it to... oh, I don't know... slay her, maybe?

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - He's implying the knife will work, even now.

INTERFACING [Impossible: Failure] - What could it be made of to be able to slay a ghost?

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Not silver. It *won't* work. To try would be to invite the wrath of the dead.

VOICE OF THE COLD - And if we do slay her? Then what?

THE NARRATOR - Well - then you'll have saved the world.

VOICE OF THE HERO - I think he's asking about what happens after we save the world. If that's even still an option.

THE NARRATOR - What do you mean, 'after'?

RHETORIC - You already pinned this down when you accosted Him before.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - He knows you know, He's just deflecting. He really doesn't want to talk about this.

VOICE OF THE COLD - You already know what we mean. Why don't you go ahead and tell us? Are you going to try and lock us away in that timeless void again? Because I didn't much care for that.

1. I hated it too.
2. ...

YOU - I hated it too.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Well, if you're taking feedback -

VOICE OF THE HERO - It was a pretty cruddy reward.

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] - There was no stimulus, just a boring void. Maybe you could've been happy if there were something to do -- but there wasn't.

THE NARRATOR - I'm not going to lock you anywhere, let alone a 'void'.

VOICE OF THE COLD - What an interesting choice of emphasis.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - Good spot. What could He mean, that the world itself will conspire to shove you back in that void? Or perhaps that it's a consequence of slaying the Princess?

Task updated: Find out where you are

Task updated: What is she?

VOICE OF THE COLD - While we're on the subject - is there a reason you've been trying to convince Him all this time? He's finally caved, and yet the outcome is just the same.

1. I need Him to trust me! We could all use a little more trust going around, don't you think?
2. Dunno, I just thought it'd be fun to keep pestering Him about it.
3. ...I need to confirm that what I've experienced is real. This has been a... problem, in the past.

YOU - ...I need to confirm that what I've experienced is real. This has been a... problem, in the past.

RHETORIC - The understatement of the century.

INLAND EMPIRE [Trivial: Success] - You've always seen things that aren't really there -- the cynical call them 'hallucinations', but you know better. Can a hallucination tower above you in the reeds and tell you the long history of the human spirit?

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - Yes, easily. That *particular* case was real, philosophical discussion notwithstanding, but that doesn't mean every similar one's been.

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - If you can't even trust your own senses and memories -- what can you trust? *Who* can you trust? And who can trust *you*?

VOICE OF THE COLD - Every single thing that's happened has been very real so far, I can assure you. From the timeless void to the disappearing mirror to the Princess floating right there - we've seen it with our own eyes, and they aren't lying to us.

PERCEPTION - ...I'm trying.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - You've been doing your best in a stressful situation - we couldn't ask for better, really.

1. Thank you. I really needed to hear that.
2. I don't know. I'm not sure I can navigate through this minefield much longer.

YOU - Thank you. I really needed to hear that.

HEALED MORALE +1

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Don't mention it, Harry!

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Or do. I don't mind.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Oh, pipe down already.

1. Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.
2. "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."
3. "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"
4. "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"
5. "...I'm sorry I killed you. I had a good reason, I promise, but still."
6. "Hypothetically speaking -- if I was paid to kill you by a third party, what kind of counteroffer could you bring to the table?"
7. [Get a better look at her.]
8. [Look around.]
9. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
10. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
11. Can't I just leave? I could go get the knife -- or better yet, run for the hills and never look back. [Leave the basement.]

YOU - "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."

THE NARRATOR - The Princess visibly recoils at your question, taken aback. She pauses for a moment, struggling to formulate an answer that would satisfy you.

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - She didn't fully expect you to continue talking. She thought you'd just opt for violence again.

VOICE OF THE COLD - We still could.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - No need for it yet - save it in the back pocket, a 'Plan B' as it were.

I... I don't know. I can't remember.

Did I ever have a name? Or did I forget, when I...

...

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success] - Something tingles at the back of your skull -- as if you'd contemplated this before. A carbon shadow left behind on stone.

1. [Conceptualization - Formidable 13] Come up with a name for her.
2. [Let it go.]

YOU - Come up with a name for her.

+3 Remember what it's like

+2 Performed the Stations of the Breath

+1 Fading memory

-2 What color are her eyes?

CHECK SUCCESS

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Formidable: Success] - Her name should be something vast and multifaceted. The change of the seasons, the pull of the tide. Feather-light, free, and everlasting. The sum total of human perception...

CONCEPTUALIZATION - It's too much to think about right now -- but you shouldn't let her settle for anything less. Maybe she'll find it along the way.

1. "If you don't have a name, that's alright -- I didn't have a name for a while either. Maybe you'll find it somewhere out there, or maybe you'll come up with something new that fits."

YOU - "If you don't have a name, that's alright -- I didn't have a name for a while either. Maybe you'll find it somewhere out there, or maybe you'll come up with something new that fits."

THE NARRATOR - You're falling right into the trap - she's gotten you to pity her. Has it occurred to you that most people are supposed to already have a name, not try to find one on some kind of vision quest?

VOLITION [Easy: Success] - You aren't most people.

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - He's never told you *His* name, if He even has one.

THE NARRATOR - ...That's unimportant.

DRAMA [Easy: Success] - Not a lie, but close enough to one that He's definitely hiding something. What doth lurk in the dark corners of His soul, hm?

Task updated: What is He?

...Maybe I will. If I ever get out of here.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - Something new sparks in her eyes -- hope. Small, but present.

1. Does He believe me now? She obviously remembers what happened before too.
2. "...What's your name? I didn't even ask before -- well, you know."
3. "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"
4. "I'm not going to beg. *I* killed *you*, even after you kept threatening me. What can you even do now, chill me to death?"
5. "...I'm sorry I killed you. I had a good reason, I promise, but still."
6. "Hypothetically speaking -- if I was paid to kill you by a third party, what kind of counteroffer could you bring to the table?"
7. [Get a better look at her.]
8. [Look around.]
9. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
10. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.
11. Can't I just leave? I could go get the knife -- or better yet, run for the hills and never look back. [Leave the basement.]

YOU - "I killed you. I definitely did, I know I did -- why are you back, like this?"

I don't think I'm dead, not really. I mean, I'm certainly floating around like I am, but I'm still here talking to you, aren't I? Maybe I'm only mostly-dead.

RHETORIC [Trivial: Success] - That's what a ghost is, yes.

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - Ghosts don't fall into any previously accepted model of the life/not life dichotomy. This is even worse than trying to slot in viruses...

Or maybe death is only mostly-real. I'm not sure. I'm just the one these things have happened to, not the one with all the answers.

...Or any of the answers.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - Can death be said to have meaning, anymore? You died too, and yet here you are.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - But you aren't floating around like she is. Your body still holds blood and warmth. Why is she different?

VOICE OF THE COLD - Death - at least as a form of permanence - is just a concept, and clearly it's not a very useful one anymore. Maybe we should throw it out entirely.

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - With no death, there is no risk. No drive. No *fight*.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - No risk means we can't fail - we'd be able to do anything we put our minds to, eventually. Sounds like a sweet deal.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Medium: Success] - No death means no pain -- and pain is what lets you know you're still alive.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - All things die. You will too, one day -- but not today. Sure, you'll die eventually, but there's so much *life* to experience before then. Why dwell on the end when it's only just begun?

SAVOIR FAIRE [Challenging: Success] - But if you could outrun death -- wouldn't you? Live to hustle another day.

THE NARRATOR - This is why I told you not to listen to her. Death isn't just a concept, it's a very real phenomenon that can't be willed away through ignorance or wishful thinking. Don't let her distort your reality - Facts and objectivity exist. They have to.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - 'They have to' -- He's unsure of himself.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Wouldn't you be too? I think a ghost is pretty solid evidence against our current understanding of 'dying'.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - The truth has always been malleable, now here lies proof that it can be broken in twain.

ENDURANCE - Still doesn't explain why she's a ghost and you aren't.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - This might be a sore spot for her. Proceed with caution.

1. "Do you know why you're like this and I'm not, though? I died too, back in the cabin -- after you did."
2. [Let it go.]

YOU - "Do you know why you're like this and I'm not, though? I died too, upstairs in the cabin -- after you did."

You don't look dead, killer.

THE NARRATOR - The Princess grabs your wrist, a sudden shock of cold flowing all the way up your arm, her eyes still fixed on yours as the temperature drops ever lower.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Medium: Success] - The fingers sink ever so slightly through your flesh, just as before -- but it's even less pronounced now.

PAIN THRESHOLD - Isn't this something? It's... exhilarating.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It's nothing.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - *Too close*. Break out of her grip, she'll kill you like this.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Easy: Success] - No need -- her grip is barely there, you can slip your wrist right out with no problems.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Not a great spot to be in, our arm's going to go numb at this rate. How are we supposed to grab her if she's grabbed us?

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - Yes, she should unhand you at once! Didn't even ask first...

1. [Savoir Faire - Medium 10] Slip out of her grip.
2. [Composure - Medium 10] Don't flinch.

YOU - Don't flinch.

+5 Cold

+2 Exhilarating

-3 Attuned to this plane

-5 Opportunist

CHECK SUCCESS

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - Not even a twitch. You can take the cold, at least for a little while.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - But not *too* long. This is like being outside mid-January in nothing but your underwear. Even if it'd take a while for it to be lethal, frostbite is a real possibility.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Easy: Success] - Her fingers tense once or twice before she loosens her grip -- she found whatever she was looking for.

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] - Warmth, and a pulse.

And you don't feel dead, either.

THE NARRATOR - She lets go and pulls away. Your fingertips tingle painfully as the chill subsides.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Medium: Success] - This? This is nothing, downright pleasant.

I'm not concerned with why we're different - what interests me is how we're different.

I've tried to leave on my own. Before you came back, I explored every inch of this place - even the spaces between the walls and under the floor. But I never found a way out. I always ended up right back here.

INLAND EMPIRE [Formidable: Success] - The walls of this prison span across uncountable dimensions -- always folding back on themselves, smothering under ten thousand layers of midnight down.

Task updated: Find out where you are

...I just want to go home. There's nothing else here - I'm just... cold and alone. Forever.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - Without even a vice to call a friend. A fate worse than death.

But you can come and go as you please, can't you? So... let me hitch a ride.

After all, you owe me.

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - She snaps back from the anger almost immediately, reverting to a pleading expression. These outbursts are involuntary -- she really is upset, but she likely doesn't mean to try and scare you quite so bad, not anymore.

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - You saw it coming. You aren't afraid anymore.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Is she asking if she can... possess us?

RHETORIC [Formidable: Failure] - Maybe?

THE NARRATOR - She is, and despite the continual shirking of your duty I hope you can see why this can't be allowed to happen. If she escapes, that's the end for everyone and everything - if you let her in, there's very little anyone could do to stop her.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - We'll see about that.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Now hold on just a minute, we can't let her possess us! There'd be no way for us to pull one over on her if she was under our skin.

ENDURANCE [Challenging: Success] - This body is yours, not hers -- you can't *share* it.

VOLITION [Easy: Success] - Is that not what you already do every moment of every day?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Do you think she'd be able to see us if we went along with it?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Even worse - we couldn't even scheme properly then.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - You've had new additions to the voices in your head extremely recently. If they can worm their way in, somehow, why can't she?

VOICE OF THE COLD - Now isn't that an interesting thought. We could finally bring her face-to-face with Him. I wonder what she would have to say to the one who wants her dead so, so badly...

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - You can't reach out and throttle Him from inside your own brain, unfortunately, otherwise you would've tried it by now.

THE NARRATOR - Sigh. You won't like how things play out if you go down this path.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - The alternative is worse -- stay the course. The hour of reckoning is soon at hand.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - *Don't* ask the first one. Either you'll get a confirmation she won't attack you or *she'll attack you*, right away. Asking what would happen if you said no is basically the same thing as saying no.

1. "And if I say no?"
2. "I need to get something off my chest before I decide -- the reason I killed you to begin with."
3. "Can't say I've ever been possessed before. It's not gonna hurt, is it?"
4. "You wouldn't, like, puppet my body around like a sack of meat, right? I'll be a ghost taxi, but I draw the line at losing autonomy."
5. "But just until we get out of this cabin -- right? *Right*?"
6. "...Okay. I'll do it." (Opt in.)
7. "I'm sorry but I *can't*. This all sounds insane." (Opt out.)
8. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
9. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.

YOU - "Can't say I've ever been possessed before. It's not gonna hurt, is it?"

I can't say I've ever possessed anybody before either, you know. I don't know if it will hurt... but I won't try to make it hurt. It's the least I can do, killer.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - She seems sincere, sire. Perhaps her bloodthirstiness before was just an act?

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - Oh, it's still there -- but she's suppressing it. Coward.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Success] - Come on, I can take it! Hit me!

VOICE OF THE HERO - I think he's getting a little too excited about this. I'd rather it not hurt, personally.

VOICE OF THE COLD - We can handle the pain if it means we finally get to move on.

1. "And if I say no?"
2. "I need to get something off my chest before I decide -- the reason I killed you to begin with."
3. "Can't say I've ever been possessed before. It's not gonna hurt, is it?"
4. "You wouldn't, like, puppet my body around like a sack of meat, right? I'll be a ghost taxi, but I draw the line at losing autonomy."
5. "But just until we get out of this cabin -- right? *Right*?"
6. "...Okay. I'll do it." (Opt in.)
7. "I'm sorry but I *can't*. This all sounds insane." (Opt out.)
8. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
9. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.

YOU - "You wouldn't, like, puppet my body around like a sack of meat, right? I'll be a ghost taxi, but I draw the line at losing autonomy."

If that's how you want it to be, mister 'ghost taxi', then sure. Why not?

VOICE OF THE HERO - That doesn't sound very reassuring.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It could be the best way to trap her for good. Doesn't seem like it would be very easy to end the world from inside someone else's body.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - A prison forged of flesh, reinforced by sheer will. You would have to play warden 24/7 to make sure she couldn't break free.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - Or maybe she'd just burst out of your chest as soon as you take one step outside, like some demonic parasite --

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Do not like the sound of that, nope. Why are we even considering this, we can do better than this, guys!

THE NARRATOR - Yes, please, for the sake of the world - reconsider.

1. "And if I say no?"
2. "I need to get something off my chest before I decide -- the reason I killed you to begin with."
3. "Can't say I've ever been possessed before. It's not gonna hurt, is it?"
4. "You wouldn't, like, puppet my body around like a sack of meat, right? I'll be a ghost taxi, but I draw the line at losing autonomy."
5. "But just until we get out of this cabin -- right? *Right*?"
6. "...Okay. I'll do it." (Opt in.)
7. "I'm sorry but I *can't*. This all sounds insane." (Opt out.)
8. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
9. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.

YOU - "But just until we get out of this cabin -- right? *Right*?"

Like I said, I've never possessed anyone before - for all we know that's not how it works. Maybe I'll wind up stuck with you for a long, long, long, long time.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - She doesn't seem that torn up about the possibility. She's still relaxed.

THE NARRATOR - Do you hear the way she said that? She definitely knows more than she's letting on - don't let her fool you into doing something irreversible you'll come to regret.

SUGGESTION [Trivial: Success] - You don't need outside encouragement to perform disastrously life-altering acts.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - Don't you see how fucking dull it is down here? If the only way you could experience anything other than a couple bare walls with a corpse in the middle was to see it from behind someone else's eyes, you'd probably do it too -- even if it *was* forever. Who knows, maybe having a ghost in here will liven up the place. God knows it's been a drag since you went clean.

VOLITION - Even if it is the right thing to do -- would you really be willing to have her tag along for the rest of eternity, potentially?

1. "And if I say no?"
2. "I need to get something off my chest before I decide -- the reason I killed you to begin with."
3. "Can't say I've ever been possessed before. It's not gonna hurt, is it?"
4. "You wouldn't, like, puppet my body around like a sack of meat, right? I'll be a ghost taxi, but I draw the line at losing autonomy."
5. "But just until we get out of this cabin -- right? *Right*?"
6. "...Okay. I'll do it." (Opt in.)
7. "I'm sorry but I *can't*. This all sounds insane." (Opt out.)
8. [Authority - Impossible 18] [Grab her.]
9. [Half Light - Impossible 20] Banish her from this plane of existence.

YOU - "I need to get something off my chest before I decide -- the reason I killed you to begin with."

THE NARRATOR - The Princess leans in close, eyes tilted up at you, an expression of faux-interest plastered on her face.

Oh? This should be good. I'm all ears.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - There's a part of her that wants to know, but she doesn't care *that* much. It won't un-kill her.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We should tell her it was for the 'good of the world' and leave out the whole payment business - I have a feeling she wouldn't be very pleased with us if she found out the truth.

SAVOIR FAIRE - But how are you supposed to shake her down for more later if you don't tell her about it?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - ...Look, we'll figure it out on the fly. Top priority right now is to make sure she doesn't get any second thoughts about ripping out our heart.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Just tell her the truth. What's already happened can't be changed now - there would be no point to lying.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - Too late to back out now that you've mentioned it. You didn't *have* to, you know?

1. "I was told that the world was going to end if you escaped, and that I had to 'slay' you to stop that from happening. It was for the good of the world!"
2. "I was told that the world was going to end if you escaped, and that I had to 'slay' you to stop that from happening. It was for the good of the world! ...Or at least, that's what I thought at the time."
3. "I killed you for money, plain and simple. A quarter mil is nothing to sneeze at you know? Here, take a look." [Show her the voucher].
4. [Drama - Godly 16] Concoct a better reason that you would've killed her.

YOU - "I was told that the world was going to end if you escaped, and that I had to 'slay' you to stop that from happening. It was for the good of the world!"

And, what? You just believed that? You killed me without giving it any thought? That's cold.

VOLITION - Told you. I'm just sorry I wasn't there to stop you before.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - Not a single crack in the façade now. Either she really doesn't care much about the 'why' or she's *very* good at hiding it.

LOGIC - You *did* give it thought -- it's just most of those thoughts were profit-motivated.

SAVOIR FAIRE - Does anything else matter, at the end of the day?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Yes! Doing the right thing is a lot more important than trying to 'get rich quick'. Should we really be lying to her like this?

DRAMA [Easy: Success] - But it isn't a lie -- you *did* concern yourself with the fate of the world, at least in part.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We're part of the world too, and we couldn't exactly spend any of our hard-earned gains if it didn't exist anymore, now could we?

THE NARRATOR - It doesn't matter what you think your motivation was, that you fulfilled your duties and slew her is all that mattered - or at least that would be the case if you didn't ruin it by killing yourself, apparently.

VOICE OF THE COLD - She's right, though - it was cold. But that's neither here nor there. What's done is done. What we do from this point forward is all that matters. Let's try not to let emotion get the better of us.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - On this at least we agree. But maybe you should tell her the truth -- it'd be the last bit of weight you can take off your shoulders short of letting her possess you.

1. "I did give it thought. What's one life compared to that of everyone else in the world?"
2. "...Maybe I didn't give it as much thought as I should've. I'm -- I'm sorry, okay? But I don't think saying sorry is going to cut it here."
3. "...That wasn't the only reason. I also negotiated for a big payout. ...I was a contract killer, basically. It was a horrible mistake, but I can't undo it now." [Show her the voucher.]
4. [Drama - Godly 16] Concoct a better reason that you would've killed her.
5. Well if she doesn't seem to care, why should I? [Let it go.]

YOU - "...That wasn't the only reason. I also negotiated for a big payout. ...I was a contract killer, basically. It was a horrible mistake, but I can't undo it now." [Show her the voucher.]

THE NARRATOR - You slide the mangled note from your pocket, its surface still stained with blood and torn from a blade's sharp edge. You hold it out to her in a hand that still remembers the freezing cold she inflicted on it just a moment ago, allowing her to grab the opposite corner so as to avoid unnecessary contact.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION - Stop telling me how to do my job, jerk.

INTERFACING [Challenging: Success] - If you let her possess you, the entirety of your body would be in contact with hers. The temperature gradient between you would equalize extremely quickly with that large of a surface area.

ENDURANCE [Formidable: Success] - You could endure the chill for a while, but not forever.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Success] - Long enough.

THE NARRATOR - She plucks the envelope from your grip and attempts to make sense of the words contained within, marred as they are. Her eyes begin to squint as she reads the admittedly brief contents silently to herself.

Item lost: Repurposed Envelope (Damaged)

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Why'd you go and let her read the terms of the previous deal? She'll know exactly how much leverage she can push for if we make another one with her now.

VOICE OF THE COLD - We shouldn't bother. Money is of no concern in a place like this - there are far more important things to occupy ourselves with.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - She looks up from the note and makes eye contact with you, a slight frown forming as she does.

...You really did kill me over a crumpled up piece of paper, didn't you?

That's even colder than doing it for 'the greater good'. You really are a piece of work, aren't you killer?

COMPOSURE [Easy: Success] - There's no anger here, just resignation. She continues to speak after a moment's hesitation, her eyes softening.

At least you told me, I guess.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - She would find out eventually if you end up letting her in -- your mind is far from quiet and not particularly adept at keeping secrets from itself on purpose.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Which is another good reason why we shouldn't be doing this. Secrets are important, everyone has secrets! We need to keep ours close at hand, away from her prying eyes.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - You still have time for one last power move. Ask her for her offer, see what we can get.

1. "So, if I'm going to go through with this 'letting you possess me' thing, what can *you* bring to the table? The last deal fell through, so I'm willing to entertain some offers."
2. Why can't I back out? Usually I'm allowed to back out from these things.

YOU - Why can't I back out? Usually I'm allowed to back out from these things.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We have to at least ask. If we didn't, I'd be kept up at night wondering what kind of sweet deal we could've made, wouldn't you?

VOICE OF THE COLD - No.

VOICE OF THE HERO - I wouldn't either, I'm not really interested in 'net worth'.

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - Gotta at least ask. Just get on with it, it'll be fine.

1. "So, if I'm going to go through with this 'letting you possess me' thing, what can *you* bring to the table? The last deal fell through, so I'm willing to entertain some offers."
2. Why can't I back out? Usually I'm allowed to back out from these things.

YOU - "So, if I'm going to go through with this 'letting you possess me' thing, what can *you* bring to the table? The last deal fell through, so I'm willing to entertain some offers."

Heh.

...

...You're not serious, are you?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Are we? I can't tell.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - You were ambiguous enough in your tone that it could be taken either way.

THE NARRATOR - Taking a moment to decide whether you're truly that idiotic or not, the Princess eventually settles on removing the tiara from her head, a thin smile held the entire time. She extends her arm to offer it to you, dropping the envelope to the floor with her other hand as she does.

Will this cover it, my esteemed murderous associate?

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - This tiara is extremely ornate, fine patterns of metal worked into a framework holding three clusters of impossible to identify jewels.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Impossible: Failure] - What color are these?

INLAND EMPIRE [Legendary: Success] - The same color as her eyes.

SAVOIR FAIRE - Jackpot. Not just a tiara, but a spectral tiara? Once owned by royalty? You have no idea what this is worth, but it has to be a *lot* -- this baby's gotta be one of a kind.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - See? What'd I tell you -

THE NARRATOR - You grab the tiara from her hand, but as soon as she lets go the metal and gems dissolve into mist, dissipating through your fingers. It reappears on her head the next time you blink, as if it had never left.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Medium: Success] - Like sublimating dry ice. Your fingers pressed together through its rapidly diminishing form until they met in the middle, nothing left to show for it.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It's just as much a part of her now as the dress she died in.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - Her eyes turn upward to try and get a peek at the tiara once again perched atop her head. She looks a little silly, frankly.

Hm. I didn't know that would happen to be honest. Between you and me, let's just say you have the rights to this old thing - It's not like I have much of a use for it anymore.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success] - Owning the rights to something you can't physically touch -- that's basically the stock market, isn't it?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - ...Is that so? Hm, maybe we should look into this 'stock market' when we get out of here. Sounds lucrative.

SAVOIR FAIRE - Good enough for me. Go ahead and add it to your internal stockpile of junk, we got what we came here for.

Item 'gained': Spectral Tiara

Secret task complete: Strike a counter-bargain with her

Anything else you want to clear the air about? I have nothing but time.

1. "...I just need to ask. *Can* you end the world? Do you want to? I've only had one source of information on this and they've proven manipulative in the past."
2. "I'm sorry. It doesn't mean much, and clearly it's not enough to undo the hurt I've caused you -- but I haven't actually said it yet, so. I'm *sorry*."
3. "That's all. I'm ready to make a decision." (Proceed.)

YOU - "...I just need to ask. *Can* you end the world? Do you want to? I've only had one source of information on this and they've proven manipulative in the past."

THE NARRATOR - I'm not 'manipulating' you, I'm trying to make sure you don't make a catastrophic error and doom us all.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Manipulative? No, course not - He's just trying to do right by us, it shows.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Would you call being locked away in the dark 'doing right by us'?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - ...Well -

VOICE OF THE COLD - He was doing what was best for Him, nothing more. He doesn't care about us.

EMPATHY [Formidable: Success] - If He does, He cares about the rest of the world more.

THE NARRATOR - I do care about you, which is why I advise you stop entertaining the thought of letting her get her claws into you so you can ferry her outside. Odds are she'll kill you even before she ends everything else.

I don't know. I just want to leave. That's all I've ever wanted - I don't know if I could end the world. I promise.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - The truth, sire. She is as unknowing as you are about this matter.

The world... doesn't matter to me. Not personally - I don't remember what it's like. All I remember is that I'm supposed to be... there? Not-here? I'm supposed to be a part of it.

It's home. I think.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Formidable: Success] - Sprawling continents and churning seas, wide open skies encircled by encroaching pale mist. The cradle and the grave of billions and billions of individual people, each one unique, each one a conscious mind. Home means something different for each of them -- but the world is home to all of them, just the same.

INTERFACING [Challenging: Success] - The whirling tape, spitting out words and images ad infinitum. You could browse them forever, each one the snapshot of a human story.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - Maybe you can return together. You can help her remember the world again, as you once had to.

HALF LIGHT [Formidable: Success] - But -- what -- if. What if you take a step outside and it all comes apart in tatters, swallowed into the emptiness. Would you risk everything you know for her? You *don't* know her, and you never fucking will.

HALF LIGHT - Kill her. *Now*. It'll feel *good*, I promise.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Must you derive such joy from the thought of killing her? It's clouding your judgement.

VOICE OF THE HERO - As if you haven't been saying pretty much the same thing? Sure, this one's a bit more... forceful about it, but the end result would be the same, wouldn't it?

HALF LIGHT - This stone-cold son-of-a-bitch feels the passion of life and violence all too well. He's just hiding it deep down inside -- but it's there regardless. Same for her, same for you, same for *everyone* -- it is a fundamental aspect of the self. To tear out that piece and cast it aside would be to die while still living.

VOICE OF THE COLD - ...

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Well, if she's still got something like that kicking about, maybe we should -

REACTION SPEED [Trivial: Success] - Can it. She's still talking.

And what does it mean for anything to end, anyway? I ended, but I also didn't.

And you ended too, but here you are. And you don't even look any different.

I'm not so sure endings are real.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Seems like a suspicious thing to bring up if she couldn't actually end the world. Am I right?

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - A little, maybe, but she's probably just philosophically musing to herself. You yourself do this all too often, both alone and with company.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Medium: Success] - Endings *are* real, in a physical sense. The outer vertices of a solid shape, the edge of one space being bound by another. The endpoint is merely where one substance stops and another begins -- but is that really an ending at all?

1. "...I just need to ask. *Can* you end the world? Do you want to? I've only had one source of information on this and they've proven manipulative in the past."
2. "I'm sorry. It doesn't mean much, and clearly it's not enough to undo the hurt I've caused you -- but I haven't actually said it yet, so. I'm *sorry*."
3. "That's all. I'm ready to make a decision." (Proceed.)

YOU - "I'm sorry. It doesn't mean much, and clearly it's not enough to undo the hurt I've caused you -- but I haven't actually said it yet, so. I'm *sorry*."

You're right, it doesn't mean much to hear those words. They won't bring me back to life and they won't turn back time either.

But... there's always the next best thing.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - She *really* wants you to agree with this -- obviously. If her wants are denied, what would she resort to?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Anything. That's what I'd do, at least. If you want something bad enough, you have to be willing to do anything to get it.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Medium: Success] - But some things just aren't worth it. Some people aren't worth it, either.

1. "...I just need to ask. *Can* you end the world? Do you want to? I've only had one source of information on this and they've proven manipulative in the past."
2. "I'm sorry. It doesn't mean much, and clearly it's not enough to undo the hurt I've caused you -- but I haven't actually said it yet, so. I'm *sorry*."
3. "That's all. I'm ready to make a decision." (Proceed.)

YOU - "That's all. I'm ready to make a decision." (Proceed.)

THE NARRATOR - The Princess doesn't bother to respond verbally, instead looking to you with a tired expression. You're not really going to do this, are you? What information could you have possibly gathered from this encounter that would make you think this is a good idea?

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - She stopped trying to intimidate you when she realized you may actually care about what happened to her. The anger and the pain wasn't an act, but she's trying hard to keep it under wraps. She doesn't want you to leave without her.

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - You have no evidence that she could end the world and at least one datapoint that killing her *would* end it, or at least achieve an indistinguishable outcome from your point of view.

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - She could still kill you right now. This little cross isn't going to be enough to stop her from ripping out your vital organs.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Challenging: Success] - Escorting civilians in distress is just one of the many duties RCM officers are saddled with outside of their official job description.

THE NARRATOR - Your duty isn't to 'escort her', it's to slay her. I don't know how many times I can keep saying this, but I can't stop trying - you are the last hope the world has against annihilation. You have the power to end her, even now. Just go collect the pristine blade from upstairs and you can make this right.

INTERFACING [Easy: Success] - A knife can't kill a ghost. You're sure of it by now, if you weren't before. It'd just pass right through.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - But you heard the Daydreamer -- she's been 'attuned' or whatever bino shit he was talking about. You pushed her aside before and *she* grabbed *you* not long after -- if you wanted to kill her, you *could*.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - But why would you? Even if she's not literally a pure concentration of communist thought, her introduction to the wider intellectual world would surely revolutionize debate regarding plasm manifestation and mortality.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Stop thinking about her as a means to an end. She's been trapped here - who knows how long it's been since we died the first time - and we have the opportunity to make it up to her, even if we can't undo all of what we did. I'll still go along with whatever you say - you're the one making the decisions, ultimately - but I think this is what you want too.

VOICE OF THE COLD - We have nothing to make up for. We did what we wanted. There's nothing wrong with that.

ENDURANCE [Formidable: Success] - ...Your body *could* hold out for long enough to leave. But you still shouldn't be sharing it with a near total stranger -- it's unnatural.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - There's nothing about this that is natural. This is, by definition, supranatural. It's unlikely that something as small as a single ghost could end the whole world anyway -- the difference in scale is immense.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Success] - You *can* take it.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - ...But what if it isn't reversible? Would you freeze to death? Think carefully about this, Harry. Don't throw your life away, even if it's for someone else's sake. You don't need to be that kind of self-destructive anymore.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - ...She is waiting for permission. In the end, she is at your mercy -- just as she was before. This decision is yours alone.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Yeah, yeah, it is. Just - take a couple more seconds to think it through, okay? If we let her in, there goes every advantage we've cultivated so far. We'd be... vulnerable.

1. "...Let's do it. Come on." (Opt in.)
2. "The answer is no. I'm sorry, but I can't let you -- you could still end the world, even if you don't want to." (Opt out.)
3. "I can't do this. You might kill me before we even make it out." (Opt out.)

YOU - "...Let's do it. Come on." (Opt in.)

Task complete: Question the Princess (again!)

Task updated: Save the Princess

THE NARRATOR - The Princess swims through the air in front of you, pausing for a brief moment as her dark-rimmed eyes stare deeply into yours. There's a hunger in her gaze.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - I told you, man. I *told* you.

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - Hunger for a lot of things -- freedom, rest, peace...

You're really trying to make it up to me, aren't you? Thanks for being a pal, killer. I mean it.

DRAMA [Trivial: Success] - She does.

THE NARRATOR - Well I suppose my warnings have fallen on deaf ears. Sigh.

See you soon.

RHETORIC [Challenging: Success] - Believe it or not, this was a joke. An inside joke, that to anyone else would appear to be a threat. You know the type.

ENDURANCE - Brace yourself. This'll be bad.

THE NARRATOR - She rushes forward and then... she's gone.

PERCEPTION (TOUCH) [Easy: Success] - There was a decent amount of resistance as her form met yours, but she pushed right through anyway.

THE NARRATOR - A sharp chill spreads across your body. It starts in your chest, a freezing numbness flowing out from your heart, all the way down your limbs.

ENDURANCE [Challenging: Success] - Following the contours of your blood vessels. Seeping into every organ and bone.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - Ice in the veins.

SHIVERS [Heroic: Success] - Something stirs at the feeling.

THE NARRATOR - Your mind grows cloudy and confused as it settles over your very soul.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Challenging: Success] - You've operated just fine while *way* more fucked up than this on a smattering of different drugs. It's all good.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - The fires of the infernal engine at your core will keep the cold at bay, at least for a while.

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - Not forever.

VOICE OF THE HERO - I'm not sure I like this. Can we get a do-over?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Now hey, isn't that an idea! We should get a do-over, I think it's only fair.

THE NARRATOR - I'm afraid it's too late to stop now. The numbness gives way to a stabbing pain, your muscles twitching and convulsing violently, each involuntary movement causing more waves of agony to ripple across your body.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Godly: Failure] - A million tiny icicles all over your skin, poking through to the soft flesh beneath. It's pure agony -- but it's also a *rush*.

DAMAGED HEALTH -1

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Godly: Failure] - Fuck, come on! I can't wrangle these bundles of muscle fibers back into place, it's too much!

DAMAGED HEALTH -1

ENDURANCE [Godly: Failure] - You're having a seizure. You've experienced this before, though you obviously don't remember it very well.

DAMAGED HEALTH -1

COMPOSURE [Godly: Failure] - Stop moving! Just stop moving around, it'll be alright...

1. [Composure - Impossible 18] Stop the involuntary convulsions of your body.
2. [Just let it happen.]

YOU - Stop the involuntary convulsions of your body.

+1 This is a seizure

-10 This is a seizure

CHECK FAILURE

COMPOSURE [Impossible: Failure] - ...No, of course that wouldn't work. That's what the word 'involuntary' means! You aren't even really consciously thinking right now anyway.

INLAND EMPIRE [Challenging: Success] - Dragged beneath the waves by the tide.

VOICE OF THE COLD - This sensation is nothing, just another input to your brain. All things are just inputs in this way - you can flip them on and off with ease, if you know what to look for. If you can tolerate joy or fear or sadness, you can tolerate pain.

INTERFACING [Challenging: Success] - Could it really be that easy?

Thought gained: Breakerbox of the Soul

BREAKERBOX OF THE SOUL

In the darkest corners of your inner sanctums, hidden amongst errant signals and forgotten memories, there sits a dilapidated box rusted from disuse -- the master circuit breaker of your very self. There's a nagging feeling in the back of your mind that the last time you touched this was the same day you almost left the world for good, the day your memories were shattered -- but now you have no choice. None of the switches are labelled, the marker-on-tape having long since eroded to nothing, but through trial and error maybe you can find what you're looking for.

Temporary research bonus:
+1 Interfacing: Flipping switches
NO LABELS: All Health and Morale alerts are disabled

Research time: ??

PAIN THRESHOLD - ...An alien sensation. The pain is still here, but it's as if it's happening to someone else. The intensity has lessened to the point where you can form thoughts at least.

COMPOSURE - Try it again.

1. [Composure - Impossible 18] Stop the involuntary convulsions of your body.
2. [Just let it happen.]

YOU - Stop the involuntary convulsions of your body.

+5 Cold

+3 Try again

+1 This is a seizure

-10 This is a seizure

CHECK SUCCESS

COMPOSURE [Impossible: Success] - You clamp down on the struggling, both the spasms of your body and the misfiring signals of your hindbrain. This shouldn't normally be possible, but you're receiving a lot of extra help on top that means you can get a grip on it.

ENDURANCE [Challenging: Failure] - But you can't remain standing any longer. The fact you've been upright this long is a miracle in itself.

THE NARRATOR - You collapse to the floor, and everything goes dark.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - Your eyes are still open, but they do not see.

PAIN THRESHOLD - You didn't feel the impact when you hit the ground.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - From the inside of your skull reverberates a new voice -- hers. But you *can't* understand it -- it's incompatible with your brain.

VOLITION - This *should* be hurting you. Be careful, you don't know how much you can take anymore.

INTERFACING [Formidable: Success] - These other voices slotted in just fine. Surely you can do the same with hers?

VOICE OF THE HERO - ...I guess we did. Huh.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Of course we did! I can slot into just about anywhere, no problem at all.

INLAND EMPIRE [Formidable: Success] - You *can* do the same here. You have prepared adequately -- now draw forth the hazy memory of a past life and make it so.

1. [Interfacing - Impossible 20] Can we bend this voice into a better shape too?

YOU - Can we bend this voice into a better shape too?

+5 Attuned to this plane

+2 Performed the Stations of the Breath

+2 Last weight off the shoulders

+2 Vast and multifaceted

+1 Done it before...?

CHECK SUCCESS

INTERFACING [Impossible: Success] - Yes -- an infinitely more complicated procedure than anything you've ever attempted before. The edges of what she is are fractal, spiraling down into the far reaches of the lower bounds of mathematics. You cannot hope to interface with such a being for long -- anything you push against the surface would be shredded by uncountable tiny edges.

Task updated: What is she?

INTERFACING - But you can cobble something together that will last long enough. An adapter between you and a foreign presence. An adjustment here a few microns to the left, A coaxial link overtop...

1. You know I'm not literally a machine, right? All the stuff about engines and circuit breakers is just metaphor, I think.
2. [Shut up and let him work.]

YOU - You know I'm not literally a machine, right? All the stuff about engines and circuit breakers is just metaphor, I think.

VOICE OF THE COLD - What is a body if not a complex machine? One that runs on chemicals instead of electricity.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - It's *both*, thank you very much.

INTERFACING - ...sines already in alignment but the temperature readings keep dropping -- recalibrate the hypothalamus -- 250% output should be doable for a short time...

ENDURANCE - Be careful with that shit grease monkey, we can't afford any more scratches and dings.

INTERFACING - ...tighten a few of these loose bolts, check for excessive strain on subsystems 01 through 04 -- INT, PSY, FYS, MOT, all lights green, run the diagnostic -- Coldy, tell me if you hear a tone. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 --

VOICE OF THE COLD - There.

INTERFACING - -- Alright, now we just need some kind of heat shielding. Dunno what this tarlike substance is, but the R-value is off the charts -- it'll work. Spackle on a layer of this, close the outer hull back up, main ignition start --

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Formidable: Success] - The engine roars to life once more, taking in air and belching out the black smoke of a continued existence. The gears lurch forward, step by step.

INTERFACING - Fire up the internal audio processing centers and we're done. Check one-two, check one-two-three...

-ello? You still with me? Come on, you. You've gotta get up. I know everything feels... heavy, right now, but we still have to get out of here.

THE NARRATOR - Your eyes flicker back into working order as you get your bearings, your vision swimming as -

So this is what it's like to be you, huh? Disembodied voice narrating your every move?

1. "Do you have any idea how much that fucking hurt? You better be appreciative here, goddamn."
2. "You don't know the half of it lady."
3. "If you can believe it, that part's actually new."

YOU - "If you can believe it, that part's actually new."

LOGIC [Trivial: Success] - You don't have to speak aloud anymore. Every person here is now contained entirely between your ears.

RHETORIC - *This* narration is new, but really that's what all of us have been doing in some form or another all along. *Especially* this one.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Easy: Success] - You can see again, but there's a thin haze obscuring the edges of your peripherals. The texture of it reminds you of...

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - ...well. Her. I feel kind of self-conscious describing someone who's in here with us now.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Aw, don't worry about it - this is your job and you're doing it admirably, trust me.

I don't mind. It would be rude if I did, wouldn't it? This is your head, after all.

PERCEPTION (HEARING?) - If you say so. Her voice is different than how you processed it when she was still outside -- what was once a collection of whispers is now one single track.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Focused through a lens, brought back into cohesion.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - I offer you a warm welcome to our venerable house, Your Majesty -- you will be treated as a guest of honor, but see to it you cause no trouble.

VOICE OF THE HERO - He sure changed his tune quick, didn't he?

AUTHORITY - Respect among individuals of great import is paramount. She seems to have learned this lesson now.

I won't cause any trouble, I promise. I just want us to get out of here - nothing else.

INLAND EMPIRE [Challenging: Success] - A priestess of the sun now walks these halls. Rays of starshine convey frigidness instead of warmth, but the gesture is appreciated all the same.

INTERFACING - Hope that process wasn't too uncomfortable for you, lady. Didn't exactly have a lot of options *or* time to make it work.

It was nothing compared to what you just went through. You were thrashing around pretty heavily there.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - Having a seizure will do that, yeah.

PAIN THRESHOLD - ...You're still cold, but you can't judge if it's painful or not.

VOICE OF THE COLD - You've still yet to fully let go - but this will be enough for now.

...There's something here on the floor. I don't really know how to describe it.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Use your words, woman. See if we can get the picture.

Big and... boxy? With something black inside.

LOGIC [Legendary: Failure] - That doesn't help much.

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] - Splice her through on Artsy's channel. Should be able to work if I set it up right.

VOICE OF THE HERO - What do you mean?

INTERFACING - Side-chained input. Two audio sources being spliced into a single coherent output.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - ...To see the world from another person's perspective would be a rare and priceless opportunity. Sure, I'm game.

Do I have to do anything here, or -?

INTERFACING - No, he's got it. Go ahead and flip the switch, boss.

1. [Conceptualization - Legendary 14] Describe what she's looking at.
2. Why did you even wire this in? What the hell else were you tinkering with in there?
3. ...I don't know if I want to.

HER - Describe what she's looking at.

+2 Fresh perspective

+1 Priestess of the sun

CHECK SUCCESS

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Legendary: Success] - ...Woah. This is... this is different.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Did she just possess one of us while already possessing us? Double possession? Is that how it works?

INTERFACING - Close enough to the truth, really. Alright lady, see if you can give us a good description now.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - It's made of glass and... plastic. Inside of a cracked housing is... magnetic tape? Is that what it's called? Being spun between two dozen reels, with a lot of little cylinders in between. There's some kind of... something in there...

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Color.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Color. There's colors in here being reflected off the tape. ...Blue and... purple, red and... yellow. There's a few buttons on the side, and two... antennas, sticking out the top.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - One tuned to the frequency of a brotherhood far away --

SHIVERS [Easy: Success] - And the other to the currents of the wind.

LOGIC [Challenging: Success] - A tape player of some description, one vastly more complex than anything you've ever seen.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Challenging: Failure] - You think you heard something once about FELD experimenting with a new kind of tape player before the Revolution, but you don't remember the specifics.

INLAND EMPIRE [Legendary: Success] - She's describing your very soul -- a metaphysical abstraction of it, one of many possible interpretations.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - And here on the inside, under where the case has been cracked - there's shards of broken glass. They look different from the rest of it, like they don't quite belong. Are these also part of you?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Is that... us? I didn't want to say anything, but these other two seem a lot more familiar than the rest of you do. I don't feel like a shard of broken glass, though.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - What do you feel like, then?

VOICE OF THE HERO - I feel like... a voice? Like me. It's what I am.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Who cares what we are or how we're different? We exist. That's all that matters.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - It'd be good to know for sure though, wouldn't it? 'Shard of glass' isn't very flattering.

VOICE OF THE HERO - No, it does matter! There's twenty-four reels and twenty-four of these other guys, and there's some shards of glass that're supposed to be us, apparently - but what about Him?

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - An *outsider*, through and through.

THE NARRATOR - You don't need to know what I am. You just need to know that I'm different than you. More important.

SUGGESTION [Trivial: Success] - Is that why He's kept insisting you kill her then? The rest of us have floated the idea, but He's been *insistent* about it since you first got here. Well, Him and Twitchy.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - So you're the one who pulled the strings and made me dead. I can tell you don't belong here. You're barely even there, like the shape of something left behind. You're more of a... memory than a person.

THE NARRATOR - That's rude.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - You're kind of like me, actually.

Task updated: What is He?

Task updated: What is she?

Task updated: Where do the voices come from?

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Is this how you keep track of your trains of thought? You're really trying to figure us all out, aren't you?

INTERFACING - Hey, you might want to split off from the poor guy now. I think he's done enough.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Oh, sorry. Sure, let me just...

CONCEPTUALIZATION - *...*

...I don't really know how to describe what just happened. Maybe if he was still helping me out?

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Godly: Failure] - ...Indescribable is right. The qualia of another person's vantage point can't ever be adequately described -- only approximated.

1. Wow, that was... something. I'm learning a new thing about my own head every minute around here.
2. Did you see anything else while you were poking around in there?
3. Has anyone *seen* the little murder gremlin, actually? I thought he'd be kicking up more trouble than this right now.
4. I should probably get up off the floor now. [Get up.]

YOU - Did you see anything else while you were poking around in there?

Not much. There was a cabinet with a couple things on the shelves and a few loose pieces of paper that looked like... lists?

SHIVERS [Formidable: Success] - She missed something.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Missed what?

What?

VOICE OF THE HERO - You didn't hear the breezy one just now?

No, I didn't hear anything. Should I have?

DRAMA [Trivial: Success] - She doth not lie, not on this hallowed ground.

...Did you think I was lying? Why?

DRAMA - 'Tis the nature of the world, Princess. Lies around every corner, foes from all angles -- it is my duty to serve my liege to the best of my abilities, to discern the poisoners from the acolytes.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We're all 'acolytes' here, surely. Everyone's in the same boat now, for better or worse.

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - Hey, you didn't mess with anything in that cabinet did you? That shit's fragile.

Nope, I didn't. What's in there anyway?

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - Precious memories and core ideals.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Trivial: Success] - Recollections of important life lessons.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - Small pieces of you slotted in and out as you grow and change.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Pointless little trinkets.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - You feel another one coming on now, actually. You're currently host to a genuine paranatural entity -- you've had brushes with this world, before, but this is a whole other level.

INLAND EMPIRE - You know what this means, right?

1. Haunted Cop?

YOU - Haunted Cop?

INLAND EMPIRE - Haunted Cop.

Thought gained: Dual-Booted Ghost in the Machine

DUAL-BOOTED GHOST IN THE MACHINE

Copping is a horrendous job, you know this from the nightmares that still float about in the recesses of your memory. You see the faces of your peers every day when you punch in, starting out jovial and ending up haunted by the time you punch out. But now? You've got a leg up on all those other poor bastards: you're *actually* haunted, no bones about it. You were originally gonna go with 'Ghost Cop', but you're not a ghost and she's not a cop, so this'll have to do for now. Haunted Cop. Let's see where this goes.

...Is that what these things are? You are haunted, it's true, but I never agreed to be your sidekick. Although... it doesn't sound so bad, does it? You get to go out and see the world with a job like this, right? Sure, why not - let's see where this goes.

Temporary research bonus:
+2 Inland Empire: Haunted

Research time: ?½

THE NARRATOR - Are you lot done messing around, now? I feel like you're not treating this situation with the proper severity it deserves.

COMPOSURE [Challenging: Success] - You either laugh or you cry in a scenario like this. You've already done enough crying, earlier -- you've made amends to the best of your ability and the crushing doubt is nearly gone. All you have to do now is get up and hold it together until you get outside -- shouldn't be too hard.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - You made the deal, so we're square now. Your balance is probably still shot from having your entire nervous system forcibly mangled --

My bad.

SAVOIR FAIRE - -- so it might take a little while longer than usual to get off the floor and get moving.

ENDURANCE [Challenging: Failure] - But how long do you have? Is the cold still threatening to shut you down?

PAIN THRESHOLD - I think I'm down for the count on this one. Damn.

PERCEPTION (TOUCH) [Challenging: Success] - You *think* you're fine, for now. You can still feel the tips of your fingers.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Easy: Success] - But it's just a *touch* harder to form your hands into fists than it was minutes ago. You should get going.

1. Wow, that was... something. I'm learning a new thing about my own head every minute around here.
2. Did you see anything else while you were poking around in there?
3. Has anyone *seen* the little murder gremlin, actually? I thought he'd be kicking up more trouble than this right now.
4. Alright, let's get out of here now. [Get up.]

YOU - Alright, let's get out of here now. [Get up.]

THE NARRATOR - You push yourself off the ground. The Princess is nowhere to be seen -

VOICE OF THE COLD - Obviously she's nowhere to be seen.

Because I'm in here with all of you. Everybody knows that.

LOGIC [Trivial: Success] - It's *pretty* obvious. Maybe He finally has a screw loose?

THE NARRATOR - I'm setting the stage. The room is empty, because you made a spiteful, idiotic, and all around foolish decision.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Challenging: Success] - Too late for regrets -- you gotta keep moving forward, one long stride at a time.

Yeah, you don't have to let him get to you. You're better than that.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - Damn straight you are.

You're starting to make things right.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - ...It means a lot hearing that from you, miss. Especially after what we've done to you.

THE NARRATOR - Sigh. This is infuriating, listening to you all go on and on like this. Just - whatever you do, you can't leave this place. It's not too late to fix this. Probably.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - Oh, it is. You might be able to tear her out of you, but not without tearing yourself open too.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Sounds unpleasant, to say the least. Let's not do that, maybe?

I'd also prefer if you didn't, if it matters.

1. Did you see anything else while you were poking around in there?
2. Has anyone *seen* the little murder gremlin, actually? I thought he'd be kicking up more trouble than this right now.
3. [Savoir Faire - Medium 10] One long stride at a time. [Walk toward the stairs and leave the basement.]

YOU - Has anyone *seen* the little murder gremlin, actually? I thought he'd be kicking up more trouble than this right now.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - Yeah, I'm giving it everything I've got to try and keep him and the druggie over here under wraps. Not sure how much longer that's gonna last, though --

HALF LIGHT [Formidable: Success] - FUCK! GET YOUR MITTS OFF ME YOU PIECE OF SHIT DO-GOODER! Can't you feel there's something *wrong* with us?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Oh boy, here we go.

Who's this one, then -?

HALF LIGHT - *You*.

HALF LIGHT - What the fuck have you gone and done now? You've let a demon into our midst, an apparition from the seventh hell. You can't even kill her now -- not without killing yourself, too. How the *fuck* are we supposed to get out of this mess?

...I'm not a demon. I don't know exactly what I am -

INLAND EMPIRE - A spectre, most likely.

- but I just want to go home. Can't we all just stop fighting and leave together?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Great plan she's come up with. This is why I told you to trust her earlier, I had a good feeling about her.

1. Quality advice yet again, good work.
2. ...Did you? I can't remember.
3. You never said that though. You just kept flip-flopping on whether I should slay her or not.
4. Man, look, I get it -- but maybe pick at least a slightly more convincing lie? I'd back you up if it wasn't this blatant.

YOU - You never said that though. You just kept flip-flopping on whether I should slay her or not.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Wh- Well- She was threatening us! I was just giving you some options. Wouldn't you rather have more options than less?

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - Some of those 'options' had bits of unrequested advice tacked on.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - But he *is* right. Having more options is always better -- you didn't know she wasn't gonna kill you until near the end. Sorry lady, it's just business.

I get it. Truthfully? I was thinking about it for a while there. Could you really blame me, though?

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - No.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It's only logical. But we would have slew you first, if it came to that.

Oh, you think so?

Why don't we put it to the test?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Hey now, let's not do anything rash -

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - There's no real bite to those words. She's not going to try and kill her ticket out of here at this point, she's just messing with him.

Aw, it's no fun when you give it away like that.

RHETORIC - Just doing my job. *Someone's* got to parse all of the slop that comes passing through these ears every day.

VOLITION - *Shit*, there goes the other one.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] - Well hello ther--

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - Control yourself, or be muzzled like a dog.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Challenging: Success] - Oh, so it's *that* kind of party, got it.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Look, I can vibe with the best of 'em when the situation demands. Everything's *cool*, even if it would be even more cool with a bottle in your hand. But you have to face the facts -- this is the closest you've ever been to *any* woman, period. Savor the feeling.

...I don't think I like this one.

1. Sorry.
2. You know what -- no, I'm not sorry about this. You're welcome to keep hitching a ride, but this is *my* head. All these little intrusive thoughts are *normal* to have, to a point -- they're just supposed to be kept under wraps inside my skull, not acted upon out in the world. You're not supposed to be hearing them right now, and I *am* sorry if they make you uncomfortable, but I can't turn them off and I wouldn't even if I could.

YOU - You know what -- no, I'm not sorry about this. You're welcome to keep hitching a ride, but this is *my* head. All these little intrusive thoughts are *normal* to have, to a point -- they're just supposed to be kept under wraps inside my skull, not acted upon out in the world. You're not supposed to be hearing them right now, and I *am* sorry if they make you uncomfortable, but I can't turn them off and I wouldn't even if I could.

That's fair. You're still doing me a favor here by letting my tag along. I appreciate it, despite the little issue with the murdering.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Solid speech, good stuff - did you come up with that on the fly?

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - No, it's something you put together during one of the precious few therapy sessions you were able to arrange between when you medical leave ended and whenever you ended up in this mess. It took a while to find someone who was willing to work with your... *unique* requirements.

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - Most professionals are put off when you start talking about cryptid manifestations and the wind telling you about bodies hidden fifty feet under their floorboards.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Medium: Success] - Many organizations of this type specifically bar police officers from enrolling in their services -- some out of lack of trust, some out of lack of capacity to handle the issues faced by the RCM in times like these.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - You can't really blame them for either of those reasonings.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Feel like we all might need some therapy after this.

1. Did you see anything else while you were poking around in there?
2. Has anyone *seen* the little murder gremlin, actually? I thought he'd be kicking up more trouble than this right now.
3. [Savoir Faire - Medium 10] One long stride at a time. [Walk toward the stairs and leave the basement.]

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

+1 Come on, it's time to go.

-5 Just had a seizure

CHECK SUCCESS

SAVOIR FAIRE [Medium: Success] - It's a lot less graceful than you'd like, but you manage to lumber your way over to the stairwell on legs that feel like tree trunks. There's still just a bit of twitchiness in your calf and thigh muscles, echoes of the episode you just had.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - Nothing to worry about.

It's okay, we're almost out of here. Like he said - one step at a time. Everything will be fine.

THE NARRATOR - Everything won't be fine if you listen to her!

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Success] - This is the most emotion you've heard out of Him so far. He's been wearing a mask -- and it just slipped the tiniest fraction.

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - Primal anger, tinged by fear. The desire to destroy that which is in front of you, lest it destroy you first. He is *afraid*.

Task updated: What is He?

LOGIC [Challenging: Success] - Maybe you had it all wrong. Maybe freeing her doesn't end the whole world -- maybe it only ends *His* world, for a given definition of 'His'. It's a possibility, at least.

VOICE OF THE COLD - One way or another, this is all going to end. Wouldn't it be nice if He ended with it?

Wouldn't that be nice? There's only one way to find out.

EMPATHY [Formidable: Success] - ...Despite what He convinced you to do, are you really sure you'd want Him to 'end'?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - He's just doing what He can to get by - but unlucky for Him, He was up against us. It's not too late for Him to come around though, if He wants - wink wink.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Finally decided who you're throwing your hat in with then?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Oh, I was on your guys' side all along! But it's clear now that He can't do much else to stop us - no need to keep up appearances.

VOLITION [Easy: Success] - Don't tempt fate.

THE NARRATOR - Sigh. You begin to climb the stairs one clumsy step after the other, your legs weary with the weight of the Princess' spectral form and the cold that still pervades them.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Challenging: Success] - I wasn't gonna complain, but yeah -- she *is* heavy. Shit man, it's like doing a fireman's carry up these stairs. You still got this, though.

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - It'd be odd for a ghost to weigh anything at all. Maybe the weight is metaphorical?

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - The impression of a once-living being indented into a patchwork quilt long after they're gone.

LOGIC - Yes, something like that.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - This is no way to address a member of royalty. Apologies, your grace.

VOICE OF THE COLD - No need to apologize. They aren't wrong.

It's not like I'm the one having to carry you up. I'm not offended, it's just what I am now.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Formidable: Failure] - ...She might have to try, though.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Oh what is it now? It's been one thing after another non-stop around here, can't we get a break?

THE NARRATOR - Scarcely halfway up the stairs, your left leg finally stops cooperating with the orders you've been giving it, sticking firmly in place half-bent and trembling.

VOICE OF THE HERO - ...Oh no. Don't tell me -

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - No, you aren't dying -- not yet. Your body is still in well enough shape, whatever's going on here is unrelated to the chill.

1. Well shit. Now what?
2. [Physical Instrument - Challenging 12] Fuck it, just force it through -- consequences be damned.

YOU - Well shit. Now what?

SAVOIR FAIRE - Like I said, let her take a crack at it. She doesn't really have a body anymore, maybe she won't care about pesky little things like muscle cramps?

I'm willing to try, if it gets us out of here faster.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - Stop giving this wretch free reign over your flesh! She's going to goddamn *KILL* you and you won't even be able to stop it!

THE NARRATOR - Please listen to the violent one for once.

I won't do that. I promise.

1. Well shit. Now what?
2. [Savoir Faire - Challenging 12] Let her try to keep walking up the stairs.
3. [Physical Instrument - Challenging 12] Fuck it, just force it through -- consequences be damned.

HER - Let her try to keep walking up the stairs.

+1 Priestess of the sun

-2 Heavy

CHECK SUCCESS

SAVOIR FAIRE [Challenging: Success] - ...This is harder than I thought it would be. I can't remember walking any real distance before. And you're pretty heavy yourself, you know that killer?

ENDURANCE - Hey--!

VOICE OF THE HERO - Oh come on, that's only fair.

1. Is there a reason you keep calling me 'killer'? Look, I know it's accurate, but -- I dunno, it seems a bit morbid.
2. [Let it go.]

YOU - Is there a reason you keep calling me 'killer'? Look, I know it's accurate, but -- I dunno, it seems a bit morbid.

RHETORIC [Trivial: Success] - Gallows humor. Are you really going to tell a ghost they can't joke about their own death?

SAVOIR FAIRE - I don't know your name, killer. You didn't tell me it before you stabbed me in the heart.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Trivial: Success] - ...Yes, she's right. You *didn't*, and you haven't brought it up since.

1. Well in case you've forgotten *you* don't have a name either -- so I guess we're even!
2. I've been kind of dissatisfied with my name recently, I think I'm gonna pick out a new one soon.
3. I am the Law. I need no other title in the pursuit of justice.
4. Lieutenant double-yefreitor Harrier Du Bois, at your service.
5. Raphaël Ambrosius Costeau, don't wear it out.
6. ...It was Tequila Sunset, once, but I don't like thinking about that time much anymore.
7. [Conceptualization - Heroic 15] Come up with yet another name to refer to yourself by.
8. Harry. It's Harry. Why the hell were there so many other options here?

YOU - Harry. It's Harry. Why the hell were there so many other options here?

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] - 'Having more options is always better'? Ring a bell?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Exact words, classic.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Easy: Success] - You did kinda look like a Harry, guess that checks out. Think I'll stick with 'killer', though - you've earned that title fair and square.

THE NARRATOR - As you foolishly allow the Princess to forcibly seize control of your limbs and trudge up the remaining stairs, the faint sound of grinding and popping joints mixes with the creaking of the walls, evidence of two structures both in danger of collapse.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - Bullshit. You're still fine.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - And the walls are fine, too -- there's no cracks and little decay on the major load-bearing posts. The place is old, but it won't collapse anytime soon, even with a strong wind. You didn't specialize in building safety regulations for nothing, you're confident about this.

SAVOIR FAIRE - I'm just trying to get home. You don't have to keep trying to convince them it's the end of the world.

THE NARRATOR - But that's exactly what you leaving this place is going to be.

SAVOIR FAIRE - You don't know that!

THE NARRATOR - I do.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - Such conviction is commendable, even if it's exuded by a snake.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - Stay focused just a little longer, lady. We're almost at the top.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Easy: Success] - One step, then another, one step, then another...

VOICE OF THE HERO - Wait. If she has a home to go back to, doesn't that mean that her leaving won't end the world?

VOICE OF THE COLD - It doesn't mean that at all. It could mean that wherever her home is, it's outside of the world.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Or it means she doesn't really have a home at all. Not to call her a liar or anything, that's a harsh word - but she doesn't seem to remember much. Maybe she's mistaken?

LOGIC [Trivial: Success] - Unless she was born in this basement, her home has to be outside these walls.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Yeah, it has to be somewhere out there, doesn't it? And if it's somewhere, it's part of the world.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success] - You know of spaces considered part of reality that nevertheless only hold nothingness.

VOICE OF THE COLD - I suppose it's all a matter of perspective - where does the world end and something else begin? Does the destruction of one open a door to another, or is it the same world reborn?

HALF LIGHT [Easy: Success] - Does it matter, if you're not there to see it?

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - The people that inhabit the world are important -- would the world be worth saving if no one were left to experience it?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Of course it would - there's always the chance to make something new out of the ashes, right? I'd definitely prefer if the world didn't end, trust me - but there'd still be a point to continuing on if it did.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - ...There would. But you don't have to consider that outcome because the world *hasn't* ended, *won't* end, and *will* still be there when you step outside.

THE NARRATOR - Against the backdrop of the inane conjecture of meaningless little voices, -

HALF LIGHT - And a fuck you to you too.

THE NARRATOR - - your body completes its ascent up the stairs, staggering through the open door.

SAVOIR FAIRE - *...*

That wasn't so bad, was it? A few stairs can't keep us down - we're almost out.

SAVOIR FAIRE - Pleasure doing business with you -- you'll be able to dance with the best of 'em in no time, just need a little practice.

VOICE OF THE COLD - For how much He hates her, He isn't doing a whole lot to stop us from leaving this place.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Because He can't, isn't it obvious? He's been beat.

Maybe He doesn't actually hate me. Maybe He even likes me! Or... Maybe He just knows that he's been in the wrong. Maybe He's trying to make amends, too.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - Doubtful. He hasn't shown a single shred of respect *or* remorse for the either of you so far.

THE NARRATOR - Why would I show respect for the monster that's going to end the world and the foolish 'hero' that's helping her do it? I do hate you, and I will continue to hate you for as long as I am able.

EMPATHY [Trivial: Success] - You don't need me to tell you that He's felt this way the whole time.

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - ...The blade's still sitting on the table, within reach. Maybe you could --

REACTION SPEED [Challenging: Success] - Just toss it, *now*, before anyone in here gets any ideas.

1. [Grab the blade and toss it down the stairs.]
2. Maybe it would be better to have it, though? There might be wild animals out in those woods, never know when you'll need a knife. [Take the blade.]

YOU - [Grab the blade and toss it down the stairs.]

PERCEPTION (HEARING) - You can hear the *tink*-*tink*-*tink* of metal on wood as it tumbles end-over-end down the stairwell.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We could've still used that, you know - perfectly good knife just tossed away like trash.

VOICE OF THE HERO - We'll make do without. That blade's got a lot of bad memories tied to it now.

It does. It's good that you threw it away, it's brought only hurt.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It's only metal. A useful tool, nothing more.

INTERFACING [Medium: Success] - That's about right. You used to carry a little pocket knife on you for times like this, when you were away from the city out in the surrounding wilderness -- but...

VOLITION [Heroic: Failure] - ...You stopped. For good reason.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Challenging: Failure] - Your hands are shaking again. It's probably the cold this time.

PAIN THRESHOLD - You're almost starting to get used to the weightlessness of the other-self pain. You should get out of here before this becomes a problem -- pain is important, you don't *want* to acclimate to its absence.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - Whatever was going on with your legs has cleared up. ...You can make it the rest of the way, come on.

1. [Continue forward to the front door.]

YOU - [Continue forward to the front door.]

THE NARRATOR - You shamble slowly to the door, your feet like lead dragging across the floorboards, growing heavier with each step.

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Success] - It's getting harder to stay upright, but you manage.

We're so close. Thank you, thank you, thank you! If we get out of here I won't even care that you murdered me anymore!

1. Really? Well, that's good to know, thanks.
2. ...You really should still care. Even if I'm doing my best to make it right, I still *killed* you. Forgive, don't forget.
3. I don't deserve that forgiveness. I'm a monster.

YOU - ...You really should still care. Even if I'm doing my best to make it right, I still *killed* you. Forgive, don't forget.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - The fact there's forgiveness on the table at all is astonishing, really.

You did something horrible, and I paid the price for it - but you came back. And you heard me out, and you're helping me leave.

...

...And truthfully, I don't know if I was even really alive before. I was flesh and blood, sure, but I was still just as trapped. Was that really living?

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - The tree in the forest with no one around to hear its demise. If the fallen trunk rots to nothing before conscious eyes observe it, did it ever exist at all?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We shouldn't be so hard on ourselves - we're doing a great thing here, something commendable. Really, really commendable - we should get a commendation for this.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Trivial: Success] - Not happening.

THE NARRATOR - You lift your shaking hand and rest it on the door handle, but you pause before you open it, exhaustion sapping what's left of your will.

VOICE OF THE COLD - Was exhaustion really the best you could muster up? It's over. There's no use stalling. Let's see what happens next.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Failure] - ...

1. [Physical Instrument - Trivial 6] [Open the door.]

YOU - [Open the door.]

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

+1 We're so close!

-2 Popping and grinding joints

-5 Just had a seizure

-5 Feet like lead

-5 Shaking hands

-10 Exhaustion

CHECK FAILURE

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Trivial: Failure] - ...You can't open the door. It's not locked -- your hand can't be made to apply enough pressure to the thumbpiece of this old-timey handle to get it to open up.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Formidable: Failure] - It's getting hard to form your fingers into the right shape.

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - ...You're dying. You're *fucking* dying, I TOLD YOU --

ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - You aren't dying. You just... need to sit down for a while. Catch your breath, rest a little. The door's not going anywhere.

But we're so close! Maybe I can try -

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - No, I don't need help with something this simple -- who do you think I am? Coach don't need no walking stick, not yet. Take a load off like he said, it'll do you good.

1. [Locked] [Open the door.]
2. Fine, but just for a minute -- I don't want to stick around here any longer than I have to. [Sit down on the floor.]

YOU - Fine, but just for a minute -- I don't want to stick around here any longer than I have to. [Sit down on the floor.]

THE NARRATOR - Having been unable to muster the strength to open the door, you instead opt to slide down the wall onto the floor, collapsing in a heap and shivering from the cold.

SHIVERS [Heroic: Success] - You aren't enough to handle this yet.

VOICE OF THE HERO - A bit anticlimactic to have to stop right before the end. Take a minute and collect yourself, then let's try it again, yeah?

VOICE OF THE COLD - You can't even feel the pain anymore. Why are you holding us back like this?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We've earned at least a little break. It's been a long day, lots of decisions made - both good and bad, but mostly good, mostly good - we can afford to sit here and dawdle a while.

Just not for too long, alright?

ENDURANCE [Trivial: Success] - Get something warm in you. A hot drink, maybe -- that will help.

1. [Reach for the flask.]
2. But this flask should be empty -- and even if it's not, it only had saltwater in it last time.

YOU - [Reach for the flask.]

PERCEPTION (TOUCH) - It's warm to the touch.

Item gained: Flask of Remorse and Reconciliation

PERCEPTION [Easy: Success] - Steam rises from the container as you remove the cap with trembling fingers. The smell is rich, sweet with a note of bitterness -- this is chocolate of some kind.

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - Hot chocolate, brewed in small batches by someone who cares enough to make it right.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - This is the hot chocolate served from a hole-in-the-wall café you pass every day on your way into work, 'Verkade Delights'. It's owned by an elderly Oranjese couple that uses a large chunk of their meager earnings to fund the import of Mondial confections -- mostly chocolates, but also a few different kinds of tart -- 'authentic style', or so it's claimed. The prices are high, but reasonable if they're actually importing their ingredients from another isola.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - You first tried a sip of this when, in a misguided attempt to cut other vices out of your life, you swore off coffee as well. Kim opted to join you for the whole five days you managed to tough it out even though he really didn't have any reason to.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - He didn't want you to go it alone, especially not with the legendary levels of caffeine addiction present in the rest of C-Wing.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] - What were you *thinking*? It's already bad enough you swore off the sauce -- you're only human, you deserve a little indulgence.

RHETORIC [Trivial: Success] - You still stop by there every now and again despite them not serving coffee. You enjoy chatting with the regulars and people-watching on a nearby street corner -- there's always lots of interesting things to debate about, little nonsense topics with not much weight that stimulate the mind nonetheless.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - There's tiny marshmallows bobbing on the surface. You like marshmallows.

REACTION SPEED [Impossible: Failure] - ...Were those there before?

VOICE OF THE HERO - This should warm us up nicely. Go on, take a sip.

1. [Offer her the flask.]
2. [Take a swig from the flask, first.]
3. [Put the flask back.]

YOU - [Offer her the flask.]

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - A nice gesture, but -

VOICE OF THE COLD - She's not going to be able to accept it.

...Not anymore.

EMPATHY [Formidable: Success] - No, there's a way.

1. [Perception (Taste) - Easy 8] [Offer her the flask.]
2. [Take a swig from the flask, first.]
3. [Put the flask back.]

HER - [Offer her the flask.]

+1 Priestess of the sun

0 ...?

CHECK SUCCESS

PERCEPTION (TASTE) [Easy: Success] - ...!

PERCEPTION (TASTE) - It's... delicious.

COMPOSURE - You've raised the flask to your own lips without even thinking about it. This is definitely the single strangest way you've ever shared a drink with someone in your entire life, but hey -- you seem to be a magnet for this kind of stuff nowadays.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - A conduit for the world, for the hidden, for the lost -- and for her too, now.

ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - You still get a bit of the flavor as the warmth flows into you. It's fortified your body against the cold, but you need a few more minutes to be ready to go.

Item lost: Flask of Remorse and Reconciliation

Item gained: Flask of Remorse and Reconciliation (Empty)

VOICE OF THE COLD - ...

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Not bad! Could be a little sweeter, maybe, but beggars can't be choosers. Where would we go about getting more of this stuff?

VOICE OF THE HERO - It was good - perfect as-is, any more sweetness would be overdoing it. This had to have come from somewhere out there, right? Out in the world? You seem to know a lot about it, after all.

PERCEPTION (TASTE) - *...*

...What's it like out there?

THE NARRATOR - Oh why would you care - you're about to destroy it, anyway.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - *Enough*. You will not be convinced by mere insistence alone. His continued pestering is unnecessary.

1. The world is... big. It's too large to describe all at once while still doing it justice. So many people, so many places...
2. Right now? Kind of bad, actually. But there's good people out there working to make it better.
3. It's basically just a bunch of apes duking it out on a ball.
4. Why don't I just show you?

YOU - Why don't I just show you?

VOICE OF THE COLD - You can't. We're stuck on the floor, held back by an uncooperative body.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - All of these voices -- yes, even hers -- have been privy to every facet of your internal monologue so far. It stands to reason that they'd be able to see your memories as well, if you bring them to the forefront. The world as viewed through your eyes.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Can you do that? That sounds... nice.

...It does.

THE NARRATOR - You might as well - maybe recalling what it is you're supposed to be saving will finally be enough to change your mind.

SUGGESTION [Trivial: Success] - It won't.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I'm sure you'll pick out some good ones - let me just settle in...

VOICE OF THE COLD - ...It would be more interesting than sitting here doing nothing. Maybe.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - The grand opening of Cinema Du Bois, the smallest theater in Revachol -- private screenings of old home reels.

INLAND EMPIRE [Godly: Success] - Six pairs of eyes gather around a tiny screen, waiting for the show to begin.

1. [Conceptualization - Easy 8] Pull the snapshot of something awe-inspiring.
2. [Perception (Taste) - Easy 8] Bring up the memory of the best food you've ever eaten.
3. [Volition - Easy 8] Recall something mundane, something from the day-to-day.
4. [Electrochemistry - Easy 8] Remember something that made you feel *alive*.
5. [Esprit de Corps - Heroic 15] Tune in to the cop frequency, see if anything good's on.
6. [Shivers - Impossible 20] Check if there are any new stories floating on the wind.
7. [Endurance - Easy 8] Alright, that's enough for now -- let's get going. [Get up.]

YOU - Pull the snapshot of something awe-inspiring.

+5 Opportunist

+1 What's out there?

0 Cold

CHECK SUCCESS

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - A slideshow of images, the miracles of the natural world. Your encounter with the Insulindian Phasmid is front and center -- a towering beast made of spindly stems and multitudes of eyes, blending with the grasses and reeds that surround it.

It's so strange. It's like there are plants growing right out of its head - is that normal for animals?

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - No. This creature is what is called a 'cryptid', something that hasn't been proven to exist by mainstream taxonomists and usually deviates heavily from the normal conventions of biology and physics. The Phasmid in particular secretes a chemical that interferes with memory formation -- a natural deterrent against any predator with higher brain function, humans included.

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - But this one may not remain a cryptid for much longer -- Morell and Lena have been petitioning to have it officially recognized by the International Taxonomic Classification Society since you first showed them the photo Kim took.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Oh, wow. Look at that thing - it's taller than you! Why do you think it has so many eyes?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Probably so it can see everything coming - best way to make decisions is to see everything you're working with, know all the angles.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Medium: Success] - That's about right. Most herbivores tend to have larger fields of vision at lower fidelity as opposed to the other way around -- this creature's just taken it to the extreme, what with this and the antennae.

VOICE OF THE COLD - ...

1. [Perception (Taste) - Easy 8] Bring up the memory of the best food you've ever eaten.
2. [Volition - Easy 8] Recall something mundane, something from the day-to-day.
3. [Electrochemistry - Easy 8] Remember something that made you feel *alive*.
4. [Esprit de Corps - Heroic 15] Tune in to the cop frequency, see if anything good's on.
5. [Shivers - Impossible 20] Check if there are any new stories floating on the wind.
6. [Endurance - Medium 10] Alright, that's enough for now -- let's get going. [Get up.]

YOU - Bring up the memory of the best food you've ever eaten.

+5 Opportunist

+1 Could it really be better than that drink, though?

0 Cold

CHECK SUCCESS

PERCEPTION (TASTE) [Easy: Success] - The *very* best? That honor would have to go to the kebabs peddled by an unnamed vendor out of a cart that roams the east end of the Eminent Domain.

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - *Not* the ones sold by Kuklov near the precinct -- you still remember almost vomiting after being told what was in them by your snickering coworkers.

VOICE OF THE HERO - ...What was -

REACTION SPEED - You don't want to know, trust me on this.

PERCEPTION (TASTE) - But *these* kebabs, the Nameless Ones -- these are the best. It's no contest. Perfectly cooked to melt-in-your-mouth consistency, a combination of savory meats and the crunch of fresh vegetables arranged on a skewer -- a great pick-me-up for whenever cases bring you out that way.

COMPOSURE [Godly: Failure] - You'd always devour a couple of them at a time like some kind of ravenous animal whenever you got the opportunity, public image be damned. They're *that* good.

...Now I want a kebab.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I'm sure we can pawn off this tiara we bargained for fair and square to get a couple - how much could they possibly cost?

SAVOIR FAIRE [Challenging: Success] - Not much at all, which really just makes them taste all the better.

VOICE OF THE COLD - ...

1. [Volition - Easy 8] Recall something mundane, something from the day-to-day.
2. [Electrochemistry - Easy 8] Remember something that made you feel *alive*.
3. [Esprit de Corps - Heroic 15] Tune in to the cop frequency, see if anything good's on.
4. [Shivers - Impossible 20] Check if there are any new stories floating on the wind.
5. [Endurance - Challenging 12] Alright, that's enough for now -- let's get going. [Get up.]

YOU - Recall something mundane, something from the day-to-day.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

+1 I've never really experienced 'mundane' before...

CHECK SUCCESS

VOLITION [Easy: Success] - A sunny afternoon spent washing dishes, an open window letting in the sights and sounds of the bustling street outside. It's mid-spring, which means you don't have to worry about the cold seeping in while you work.

AUTHORITY [Trivial: Success] - No mere grease stain will stand against the might of your will.

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - You take longer than you strictly need to, so entranced you are by the view outside. You have a second-story apartment on Perdition street that gives you a great view of the masses of people making their ways through the world -- a constant reminder of the boundless throngs of human experience that surround you in all directions from the heart of the city.

I didn't know there were this many people! So many different faces...

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Oh, I always knew there had to be more. More people means more friends to forge, more deals to make.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - You run a upside-down cup underneath the faucet and inadvertently cause a bubble of water to form around it -- a forcefield, meant to keep out the hostile machinations of wayward dust devils.

VOICE OF THE HERO - What makes it flow like that? It's kind of mesmerizing.

INLAND EMPIRE - No one knows. It is one of the great mysteries of our time.

VOICE OF THE COLD - ...

1. [Electrochemistry - Easy 8] Remember something that made you feel *alive*.
2. [Esprit de Corps - Heroic 15] Tune in to the cop frequency, see if anything good's on.
3. [Shivers - Impossible 20] Check if there are any new stories floating on the wind.
4. [Endurance - Legendary 14] Alright, that's enough for now -- let's get going. [Get up.]

YOU - Remember something that made you feel *alive*.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

+1 It would be nice to feel that again...

CHECK SUCCESS

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] - S--

1. No drugs, no booze, no sex. We have *guests*, come on.

YOU - No drugs, no booze, no sex. We have *guests*, come on.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Bah, you're not fun anymore. Let me work down the list...

VOICE OF THE HERO - ...He sure is taking a while.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - *Here*, here's something. The last time you *partied* -- regular partied, not party-partied, keep your pants on -- up at the anodic dance club you helped those punks build in the church by Martinaise. There *were* other people there dosing pyrholidon, but no one bothers you about it anymore -- they've figured out you've gone clean and they respect it, foolishly.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Drugs are... illegal? Right? And you're a cop, so -

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - You're a cop, not a narc.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Easy: Success] - A writhing mass of bodies slamming against each other while impossibly loud music blares amid flashing lights. You have to actively push outward to make sure you aren't crushed -- it's the *best* kind of workout.

PAIN THRESHOLD - A place where all the pain melts away, if only for the night.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - You dance and you dance, body contorting wildly and soaked through with sweat, until you finally zone out completely -- your being enthralled by a primal ecstasy, becoming one with the crowd of other miscreants around you. You go on like this for hours, all of you acting together as some kind of fucking super-organism of *rave*, until you finally come down from the not-quite high half-past three in the morning, exhausted.

Blood pumping, breaths heavy... I forgot what that felt like.

VOICE OF THE COLD - ...That's a lot of people all in one place. They seem to have enjoyed themselves, at least.

SHIVERS [Legendary: Success] - Far above in the rafters, a black grain circled by its one and only disciple shrinks by the width of a single whispered dream.

1. [Esprit de Corps - Heroic 15] Tune in to the cop frequency, see if anything good's on.
2. [Shivers - Impossible 20] Check if there are any new stories floating on the wind.
3. [Endurance - Godly 16] Alright, that's enough for now -- let's get going. [Get up.]

YOU - Tune in to the cop frequency, see if anything good's on.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

+2 Remembered the club

+1 Black grain

+1 ...'Cop frequency'?

CHECK SUCCESS

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Heroic: Success] - On an overcast Thursday morning, long after the night shift of A and B-Wing have punched out to stumble home in a daze, several members of Precinct 41's finest and one civilian file into the office of Captain Ptolemy Pryce one-by-one, the door being locked behind them at the same time the curtains are drawn. A box of cigars is extracted from the lower compartment of a mahogany desk by the captain, the heavy scent of smoke filling the air before long.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Challenging: Success] - That's not the cheap shit either, those are *premium*. This must be important if he's handing them out like candy.

Is this another memory?

VOICE OF THE COLD - I don't think it is. This feels different.

VOICE OF THE HERO - Like it's happening right now, actually.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - And we're privy to a supposedly very important meeting, brilliant.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - Quiet in the front row, please.

ESPRIT DE CORPS - A thick manila envelope is laid out on a folding table by one Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi, its contents being carefully passed around to each member of the meeting, a collection of photographs inspected in turn -- first Captain Pryce, then Lieutenant Kitsuragi, Lieutenant yefreitor Berdyayeva, Lieutenant double-yefreitor McCoy, newly-promoted Lieutenant Jean Vicquemare, and lastly a temporary special consultant -- Soona Luukanen-Kilde.

REACTION SPEED [Trivial: Success] - The programmer from the church, remember? She was researching the entroponetic anomaly that you identified there -- you still keep in touch with her occasionally, you enjoy discussing the topic with someone else that shares the same passion you do.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Medium: Success] - The photos display the area where the pinewood church stands on the shore of Martinaise -- except... it's gone. It's been replaced by a half-finished boxy construction made of concrete and eternite stamped heavily with Moralintern insignia and no-trespassing signs, no trace of the previous building remaining. But this *is* obviously the same place -- the topography is the same, the edges of the coastline match -- how long have you been away from the world...?

ESPRIT DE CORPS - Special consultant Luukanen-Kilde animatedly gestures to the pages held in her left hand, a mixture of neat block-type text and handwritten notes. None of those present fully comprehend the diagrams, though Lieutenant Kitsuragi nods along as if in understanding.

INTERFACING [Formidable: Success] - It's a series of printouts and readings generated by a radiocomputer in its last seconds of operation, annotated heavily in the scrawl of a woman possessed.

Heh.

ESPRIT DE CORPS - The conversation finally comes to a head thirty-five minutes past eleven, as rain starts to patter against the windows.

SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "-- so it *is* possible, you have to understand. The normal symptoms of pale overexposure that inevitably lead to a breakdown of neurological functions and physicality are usually present over a gradient. That's what the pale *is*, the gradient between the world and the absence of such. It's lingering here in the transition zone that is dangerous -- if one were to pass right *through* into whatever lies beyond, moving from the realm of reality into something unknown..."

SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "Well -- there are no current theories as to what's out there, and my own research is both incomplete and not yet accepted by the wider entroponetic community. But it may be survivable, if the conditions are just right."

JEAN VICQUEMARE - "Yes, well -- thank you for the absolutely comprehensible explanation. Very helpful. What is it you actually want us to do, again?"

ESPRIT DE CORPS - Lieutenant yefreitor Berdyayeva clears her throat before speaking, drawing the attention of the others. The cigar in her hand has nearly burnt down to the end, ash deposited into a nearby tray.

MILICIA GORKI-BERDYAYEVA - "Soona's suggesting that we may be able to perform a rescue operation on the behalf of our missing officer. Isn't that right?"

SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "Again, it's only a *possibility*. And we would need specialized machinery to compress the distance -- the last I saw, spatial distortions had started manifesting around the center of the anomaly, which would complicate any attempted traversal in either direction."

RHETORIC [Challenging: Success] - She means 'pale' when she mentions 'spatial distortions' -- that she refuses to use the word now specifically is telling.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - She doesn't want to acknowledge the reality of her eventual annihilation so soon. She does as all people do when faced with the end -- pretend it isn't there, push it away just out of sight. But it will come all the same.

THE NARRATOR - ...

JOHN MCCOY - "I don't see why we'd even bother -- Du Bois has *definitely* kicked the bucket by now, if he didn't get smeared into paste immediately. It's been what, a month?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Thirty three days. And the detective was not 'smeared into a paste' -- of that much I can assure you, McCoy. He is still alive, and we should commit available resources to a potential rescue operation immediately."

JEAN VICQUEMARE - "Oh not this again -- dammit Kitsuragi, you've had a level head on your shoulders about everything else so far, now you're just reminding me of the shitkid."

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] - The reminder is a sorrowful one, for him.

JEAN VICQUEMARE - "What has you convinced that Harry's somehow wandered off into god-knows-where and been what -- living it up? -- all this time?"

SHIVERS [Formidable: Success] - There is a crack where the exterior window meets the frame that lets in a draft from the outside. It carries the faint scent of seabreeze as it worms its way into the room, snaking around the shoulders of those dearly gathered.

KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant shivers for a moment before continuing on. "For all the time I've worked with him, the one thing I have not known him to do is roll over and die. If he survived initially, he is still alive now, somewhere out there."

JEAN VICQUEMARE - "So he really *did* get you hooked on his paranatural mumbo jumbo, fuck me --"

ESPRIT DE CORPS - A raised hand from the captain silences all others present. They are left waiting in silence for a few moments as he considers the information laid before him.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - Gears are turning in his head -- he's fitting together a few different pieces into a single thought.

CAPTAIN PTOLEMY PRYCE - "We can work with this. Even if Du Bois is gone, this may be an opportunity to get in on the construction project the Coalition's approved there on the coast -- lord knows plans have been delayed long enough already. We should still have the remains of that deathtrap him and Kitsuragi encountered somewhere in evidence..."

ESPRIT DE CORPS - ...

INTERFACING - The signal degrades into static before winking out of existence entirely. Comms over here doesn't usually have trouble with this, something must have them on the fritz.

Task updated: Figure out how you got here

Who were those people?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Friends of his, obviously. I like the head on that captain's shoulders - he's bundling saving ol' Harry here with infiltrating whatever that ominous-looking place was at the same time. Great plan, five stars.

VOICE OF THE HERO - But... isn't the world just right outside? Why would you need 'saving'?

VOICE OF THE COLD - If He was able to stuff us away into the void so easily, who knows where we actually are right now?

Task updated: Find out where you are

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Trivial: Success] - At the very least, the stars still shine out the windows. The same trick hasn't been pulled a second time that you can tell.

VOLITION [Formidable: Success] - They're looking for you, Harry. You are remembered, and loved. You have to keep going, just a few steps further -- return to the world.

Task updated: Return home

...Do you think I could come along?

1. I don't actually know how I got here. I'm not sure if it's even possible.
2. I don't think I have any more room long-term for voices in my head right now, ghost or not. I'm barely holding it together as it is.
3. Yes.

YOU - Yes.

...Thank you. Maybe I'll find somewhere else to haunt once we get there, who knows.

SAVOIR FAIRE [Easy: Success] - You're *really* taking this in stride lady, damn.

This is how the rest of my life - life? - is going to be, isn't it? Might as well make the most of it.

...It isn't all bad.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - But it's equally possible she could finally be put to rest once you step outside, her unfinished business completed.

VOICE OF THE HERO - We won't know until we get there, will we? Only one way to find out.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - We should really get going before anything else crops up. Don't want to jinx it, it's just been par for the course so far.

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - One more. You'll make it quick.

1. [Shivers - Impossible 20] Check if there are any new stories floating on the wind.
2. [Endurance - Impossible 18] Alright, that's enough for now -- let's get going. [Get up.]

YOU - Check if there are any new stories floating on the wind.

-10 The city slumbers

CHECK FAILURE

SHIVERS [Impossible: Failure] - Nothing, except a single whisper:

SHIVERS - It was beautiful.

THE NARRATOR - Are you quite done now? Finally sorted through all the memories of a world you apparently don't care about saving?

VOICE OF THE HERO - Why do you keep going on about this? What about our actions so far would have you think we'd even consider killing her now?

THE NARRATOR - ...Didn't you see how beautiful the world is? The people, the places - freeing her would destroy all of them, all of it. It would be the end of everything you know and love. Does that sound worth it to you? Hm?

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - ...Well, when you put it like that -

VOICE OF THE COLD - We've made up our mind. All that's left to do is get up and leave.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - ...Yeah. Yeah, he's right - He can't pull one over on us now, not anymore.

Let's go.

THE NARRATOR - Fine. I'm afraid you've left me no choice, now.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Failure] - ...

1. [Endurance - Impossible 20] Alright, that's enough for now -- let's get going. [Get up.]

YOU - Alright, that's enough for now -- let's get going. [Get up.]

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

+2 They're looking for you.

+2 Remembered home

+1 Drank something warm

+1 Just outside the door...

-10 Exhaustion

CHECK FAILURE

ENDURANCE [Impossible: Failure] - ...You can't. Your body has nearly frozen through. How have you not noticed?

PAIN THRESHOLD - You still don't feel it. You can barely feel *anything* anymore.

PERCEPTION (TOUCH) [Impossible: Failure] - The texture of the floor beneath your fingertips -- it's not there.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Impossible: Failure] - You instinctually try to push against the wall behind you with your noodly arms in an attempt to stand -- but they meet nothing. The wall behind you is gone.

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - Not gone --

THE NARRATOR - But as you attempt to push yourself off the ground and continue trudging forward toward the inevitable doom of all living things, you notice that the interior of the cabin seems to have elongated, somehow. What was once only a stone's throw has ballooned to an unimaginable distance, the front door now several hours' trek away.

What?! No, no this can't be happening, not now, not now -

VOICE OF THE HERO - How did this even happen?!

VOICE OF THE COLD - He's trying to stop us from leaving, one last time.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I should've known He was going to pull something - He couldn't convince us, so now He's trying to trap us! This is exactly what I would do if I were Him, to be honest.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - You *ARE* dying. You're fucking GODDAMN BREAKING DOWN! HE'S FUCKED US OVER!

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - It's as He's said, the distance between you and the exit is now immense --

VISUAL CALCULUS [Medium: Success] - No, it isn't. You are exactly fifteen paces from the door. Larger than what the distance was before, but doable.

VOICE OF THE HERO - ...I can't tell which one of them is right.

1. I trust my eyes. I'm doomed.
2. I trust the math. I can still do this.

YOU - I trust the math. I can still do this.

INLAND EMPIRE [Godly: Success] - And so it is, and so it's always been.

VOICE OF THE HERO - But how? We can't even stand.

We can't stop now! We have to leave!

HALF LIGHT [Formidable: Success] - Fuck it all, FUCK IT! If you're going to die anyway, you might as well go all fucking in -- harness the power of this she-devil, make the pact, goddamn it, *LIVE*.

1. [Half Light - Godly 16] Get the *FUCK* up!

HER - Get the FUCK up!

+10 GET UP.

+1 Priestess of the sun

CHECK SUCCESS

HALF LIGHT [Godly: Success] - YOU AREN'T GOING TO DIE HERE. MOVE.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - The dam breaks, all the suppressed and diffused anger she's built up released in a single wave of pure hatred -- but it isn't directed at you.

COMPOSURE [Godly: Failure] - Your body is *wrenched* upright, as if being pulled by a hand clenched around your center of mass -- your limbs automatically move to comply, even though you still can't feel them.

THE NARRATOR - You can't feel anything at all, actually - you don't even manage to take one step before -

HALF LIGHT [Formidable: Success] - WHEN WE'RE OUT, I'M COMING FOR YOU NEXT.

VOICE OF THE COLD - She sounds serious.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - Might be for the best if He shut up now, don't you think?

SAVOIR FAIRE [Challenging: Success] - You haven't fallen yet -- keep walking. She'll keep you upright and functioning for long enough to make it out.

RHETORIC [Challenging: Success] - He said you can't feel 'anything at all', right? That means that you must not be able to feel tired either, surely.

1. [Endurance - Impossible 20] [Take a step forward.]

YOU - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

CHECK SUCCESS

ENDURANCE [Impossible: Success] - You take a step forward.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] - You *can* still do this.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - You will not be stopped now. You've come too far.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Challenging: Success] - ...Let her take the next step. It will give you time to recover in-between.

1. [Half Light - Godly 16] [Take a step forward.]

HER - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+1 Priestess of the sun

CHECK SUCCESS

HALF LIGHT [Godly: Success] - I TAKE A STEP FORWARD.

VOICE OF THE HERO - It's working. It's working, we're doing it!

VOICE OF THE COLD - There's a world out there we've been denied - so many interesting things to see. We will reach it.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - ...I knew she could do it.

1. [Endurance - Impossible 20] [Take a step forward.]

YOU - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

CHECK SUCCESS

ENDURANCE [Impossible: Success] - You take a step forward.

1. [Half Light - Godly 16] [Take a step forward.]

HER - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+1 Priestess of the sun

CHECK SUCCESS

HALF LIGHT [Godly: Success] - I TAKE A STEP FORWARD.

1. [Endurance - Impossible 20] [Take a step forward.]

YOU - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

CHECK SUCCESS

ENDURANCE [Impossible: Success] - You take a step forward.

THE NARRATOR - Each step you take saps a little more of your remaining energy - exhaustion starts to creep back in at the edges of your awareness.

ENDURANCE [Easy: Failure] - ...He's right.

1. [Half Light - Godly 16] [Take a step forward.]

HER - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+1 Priestess of the sun

CHECK SUCCESS

HALF LIGHT [Godly: Success] - I TAKE A STEP FORWARD.

1. [Endurance - Impossible 20] [Take a step forward.]

YOU - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

-5 Exhaustion

CHECK SUCCESS

ENDURANCE [Impossible: Success] - You take a step forward.

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - The laws of probability are not on your side.

VOICE OF THE HERO - We can make it. We have to.

1. [Half Light - Godly 16] [Take a step forward.]

HER - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+1 Priestess of the sun

CHECK SUCCESS

HALF LIGHT [Godly: Success] - I TAKE A STEP FORWARD.

1. [Endurance - Impossible 20] [Take a step forward.]

YOU - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

-5 Exhaustion

CHECK SUCCESS

ENDURANCE [Impossible: Success] - You take a step forward.

1. [Half Light - Godly 16] [Take a step forward.]

HER - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+1 Priestess of the sun

CHECK SUCCESS

HALF LIGHT [Godly: Success] - I TAKE A STEP FORWARD.

1. [Endurance - Impossible 20] [Take a step forward.]

YOU - [Take a step forward.]

+10 KEEP GOING.

+5 Cold

+5 Opportunist

-10 Exhaustion

CHECK FAILURE

ENDURANCE [Impossible: Failure] - ...You fall.

HALF LIGHT - NO-

THE NARRATOR - Your knee comes down hard onto the wooden floor, the full weight of both yourself and the form of the Princess still clung to your bones combining with the sorry state of your mangled body to produce a sharp crack, like the breaking of ice. But it isn't ice - that sound was your kneecap shattering. You've been crippled, still too far from the door to even hope of getting outside.

SHIVERS [Legendary: Success] - Bastard.

VOLITION [Heroic: Failure] - For the love of god, *don't* look down.

PAIN THRESHOLD - If you can't feel *that*, then...

SAVOIR FAIRE [Impossible: Failure] - You can't walk on a broken leg, not like this.

HALF LIGHT - *...*

No! No...

HALF LIGHT [Trivial: Success] - That's it then. It's over.

VOICE OF THE HERO - But we were right there! We had our hand on the door, and He just up and snatched it away from us.

VOICE OF THE OPPORTUNIST - I knew we never should've trusted Him.

VOICE OF THE COLD - It's okay. We'll die, and then we'll be somewhere new. We can try again.

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - But what about her?

INTERFACING [Challenging: Success] - You have bound her too tightly to your own consciousness -- she can't escape, not while you're still inside the cabin.

INLAND EMPIRE [Formidable: Success] - A motor carriage continues to sink beneath the waves, ice encroaching on all fronts. You cannot break the windows -- you are trapped, drowning, dying. A nightmare you've had countless times, the last moment of your past life.

INLAND EMPIRE - But this time, a passenger sits beside you. You will drown together, sinking into the inky black.

...no...

THE NARRATOR - It didn't have to be this way. You could've just slain her, as instructed, saved the world, received your reward, and be hailed as a hero forevermore - but no. You wouldn't do that, this one very simple task, and so now you've been caught up in what has to be done. For what it's worth - I'm sorry.

VOICE OF THE HERO - You... you monster.

THE NARRATOR - The only monster here is the one you almost released out into the world. But none of that matters now, not anymore.

ENDURANCE [Trivial: Failure] - You are fading.

...

THE NARRATOR - Everything goes dark, and-

THE NARRATOR - ...

THE NARRATOR - ...

THE NARRATOR - ...

THE NARRATOR - ...

THE NARRATOR - ...

THE NARRATOR - ...

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - You fall, back into the waters far below the waking world.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - Welcome back, Harrister. Did you enjoy your little stint on the outside? Was it everything you thought it'd be? Was it *worth* it?

1. No. It was horrible, terrible -- nightmare made manifest.
2. I fucked up. I fucked up *bad*, and I even fucked up trying to fix it. I don't deserve to wake up, not after this.
3. It was all I could do. I did my best, and it wasn't enough.
4. I don't know. There was pain and suffering, sure -- but it wasn't all bad.
5. Yes. I did something evil -- but I tried to make it right. Surely that counts for something?
6. Why am I here?

YOU - Why am I here?

LIMBIC SYSTEM - You are dying -- but not the quick death of a punctured heart, no. The *slow* death. The death of a billion microscopic ruptures as ice crystals pervade the cells of your body. Caught between the world and the nothing, here you remain in the final dream. A twilight.

LIMIBIC SYSTEM - We warned you, Harry. We tried to make you see, make you understand -- but you wouldn't listen. You *never* do. And what has it gotten you?

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - A new scar to add to the collection. Pop it up on the shelf, next to the others. You're not just a pain enthusiast, no -- you're a goddamn *connoisseur*.

1. But... I don't think you've ever warned me about something like this. What do you mean?
2. Damn straight I am. Pain is the only thing that lets you know you're alive -- only the best stuff for me, the top-shelf picks.
3. What about the others? The new ones. Where did they go?

YOU - What about the others? The new ones. Where did they go?

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - Would you look at that. He's worried about the *others* -- what a surprise. You need to worry about numero uno, brother, first and foremost. The others are *gone* -- returned to the background, rendered inert.

LIMBIC SYSTEM - Except for one.

...What is this? Where are we?

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - And here she is, the woman of the hour. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to pick up hitchhikers, Harry? You never know what kind of axe-murdering crazy is wandering out in the woods this time of night.

LIMBIC SYSTEM - You allow your mortal enemy to invade the last sanctum you have left -- why? *Why*?

1. ...
2. I had to make up for it somehow. It was the only way.
3. She's not my enemy. What are you talking about?

YOU - She's not my enemy. What are you talking about?

LIMBIC SYSTEM - But she *is*. Can't you feel it? The weight on your bones, the sloughing of your flesh? She *killed* you. And she will continue to kill you piece by piece, day by day, until nothing remains but a distant memory.

...I didn't mean to. I didn't know this would happen - I'm sorry.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - She's *sorry*. Surely that makes it all better, then. Does sorry push back the tide? Does sorry unbreak a fractured heart? You've already learned this lesson brother-man -- sorry doesn't mean anything. Nothing at all.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - You had the right idea when you killed 'em the first time. You could've been happy in a world without her. But now here we are, stuck in the same loop, the same moment -- because you don't know when to *stop*. How many more times will it be before you finally give?

LIMBIC SYSTEM - Too many. But your soul is not invulnerable -- the cracks have already started to splinter. You will find rest one day, even if you refuse it time after time. All because of *her*.

...I d-don't...

1. ...Maybe you're right.
2. ...
3. I don't blame her. It was my fault.

YOU - I don't blame her. It was my fault.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - It doesn't matter how many times you try to pin the blame on yourself, I know better -- because I know *you*, Harry. You would take the sins of the entire world on your back if it meant you could feel like you belonged.

No. You don't have to do this, Harry. You - you hurt me, you killed me, but now I've done it right back. Does that make me any better?

1. You tried. It wasn't enough -- but it often never is. It's okay. I forgive you.

YOU - You tried. It wasn't enough -- but it often never is. It's okay. I forgive you.

...I forgive you, too.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - Aww, how touching. Brings a tear to the eye, it does. But it won't stop you from dying here, ever so far away from home. No, these trials have only just begun, and you are not prepared for what's in store. You should've stayed in the dark, Harry.

LIMBIC SYSTEM - The spots of light dim, thoughts growing slow. This is the end for you -- but the end is never the end, is it? You will be back. And you will continue to hurt, as she claws you open from the inside, until you are spread thin into primordial ooze, returned to the sea.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - Here it comes, now. Take the door.

1. ...Everything's going to be fine. See you soon.
2. [Take the door.]

YOU - ...Everything's going to be fine. See you soon.

...See you.

1. ...Everything's going to be fine. See you soon.
2. [Take the door.]

YOU - [Take the door.]

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - Everything goes dark.

LIMBIC SYSTEM - And. You. *Die*.

---