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<center><div class="title">NIGHT
<span class="fade">OF
<span class="start">[[NIGHTS|start]]</span></span></div></center><<audio "dance1" fadein loop>><<set document.getElementById("ui-bar").style.visibility = "visible";>><center><div class="announcer">Welcome and welcome again, i miei felici! O revelers mine, come through the gates and claim your face for the night, this <b><span style="text-shadow: 0px 0px 10px #f84848;">night of nights</span></b>! Harken to the toll of the bell — it is time! It is time!</div></center>
<div class="psg">At last, the moon has risen over the first eve of the <b><span class="emph">Mascherata</span></b>. There will be dancing, and food, and all manner of sanguine amusements you've not yet begun to fathom.
In this land where frailty is frequent but sickness is foreign, the Mascherata permits you to indulge in suffering the likes of which you've never known; you are invited to fritter away your wellness for the sake of knowledge, of tasting the outside world where sorrow reigns and medicine is imperfect.
That world resents yours, and the impossible enchantments no Baron or Baroness has ever revealed the secrets of. Is it a blessing, or a curse? Why does it lift during the Mascherata?
You don't know. You don't want to know. You aren't meant to know.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Enter la Mascherata.]]</div></center><div class="psg"><b><span class="emph">La Maschera Dissoluta</span></b> is a mask of ferocity and sanguine energy. Its shape mimics the open maw of a hound, with pointed ears and a long snout, yet it is scaled like a serpent.
Its expression is hostile, lips pulled back to display jagged, yellowing teeth; it is a mask for those who would prefer distance from their fellow revelers, but are not opposed to a festive confrontation or two. Theirs is a nature intense, yet skittish; inviting provocation, yet flinching from interaction.
This will be your face for the remainder of the Mascherata. Are you sure?</div>
<center><div class="in"><big><big>➵</big></big> <div class="yes">[[Yes.]]</div></div>
<div class="in"><big><big>➵</big></big> <div class="no">[[No.|mask]]</div></div></center><div class="psg"><b><span class="emph">La Maschera Decadente</span></b> is a mask of great beauty concealing impending decay. It has elegant feline features accented with feathers and strange jewels; the tapered cheeks and large ears are invitingly charming, yet the face itself is gaunt, and the false fur is left intentionally mangy in places.
Its expression is sly and wary, the shape of the eyes drawn up as if in an insinuating smile. This is a mask for those who wish to exude charm and finery, the dandiacal wags who do not mind drawing attention from their peers. Though they relish the thrill of revelry shared with a crowd, they are more than likely to cherish their privacy and keep their own thoughts quietly locked away.
This will be your face for the remainder of the Mascherata. Are you sure?</div>
<center><div class="in"><big><big>➵</big></big> <div class="yes">[[Yes.|Yes2]]</div></div>
<div class="in"><big><big>➵</big></big> <div class="no">[[No.|mask]]</div></div></center><div class="psg"><b><span class="emph">La Maschera Ripugnante</span></b> is a mask of visceral intrigue and strange wisdom. It has the long face and wild mane of a horse combined with with the drooping, overlarge ears and fleshy coloration of a hog. Small holes are cut into the front of the mask to accommodate your front-facing eyes, but glass equine eyes peer out from either side of the face. From forehead to muzzle, the mask is adorned with jewels and silver accents that de-emphasize the empty sockets from which you'll see the world.
Its expression is frozen in a nearly audible bray, half-crazed. The wearer of this mask chooses it to accentuate an insatiable spontaneity — or conceal a meek, indecisive nature. Grotesque and yet engrossing, this mask leaves an impression.
This will be your face for the remainder of the Mascherata. Are you sure?</div>
<center><div class="in"><big><big>➵</big></big> <div class="yes">[[Yes.|Yes3]]</div></div>
<div class="in"><big><big>➵</big></big> <div class="no">[[No.|mask]]</div></div></center><center>[img[images/non3.png]]
<small><span style="text-shadow: 0px 0px 10px #fff;"><b>Welcome to the <span class="emph">Mascherata</span>.</b></span></small>
<div class="menulink"><small>✦</small> [[Inventory]] <small>✦</small></div></center><span class="invtitle">LA MASCHERA</span>
<<if $nomask is "true">>You have no mask.<</if>><<if $mask1 is "true">><center><b><span class="emph">La Maschera Dissoluta</span></b></center><small><i>A mask of ferocity and sanguine energy. Its shape mimics the open maw of a hound, with pointed ears and a long snout, yet it is scaled like a serpent.
Its expression is hostile, lips pulled back to display jagged, yellowing teeth; it is a mask for those who would prefer distance from their fellow revelers, but are not opposed to a festive confrontation or two. Theirs is a nature intense, yet skittish; inviting provocation, yet flinching from interaction.</i></small><</if>><<if $mask2 is "true">><center><b><span class="emph">La Maschera Decadente</span></b></center><small><i>A mask of great beauty concealing impending decay. It has elegant feline features accented with feathers and strange jewels; the tapered cheeks and large ears are invitingly charming, yet the face itself is gaunt, and the false fur is left intentionally mangy in places.
Its expression is sly and wary, the shape of the eyes drawn up as if in an insinuating smile. This is a mask for those who wish to exude charm and finery, the dandiacal wags who do not mind drawing attention from their peers. Though they relish the thrill of revelry shared with a crowd, they are more than likely to cherish their privacy and keep their own thoughts quietly locked away.</i></small><</if>><<if $mask3 is "true">><center><b><span class="emph">La Maschera Ripugnante</span></b></center><small><i>A mask of visceral intrigue and strange wisdom. It has the long face and wild mane of a horse combined with with the drooping, overlarge ears and fleshy coloration of a hog. Small holes cut into the front of the mask to accommodate your front-facing eyes, but glass equine eyes peer out from either side of the face. From forehead to muzzle, the mask is adorned with jewels and silver accents that de-emphasize the empty sockets from which you'll see the world.
Its expression is frozen in a nearly audible bray, half-crazed. The wearer of this mask chooses it to accentuate an insatiable spontaneity — or conceal a meek, indecisive nature. Grotesque and yet engrossing, this mask leaves an impression.</i></small><br><</if>>
<span class="invtitle">GLI OGGETTI</span>
<<if $noitems is "true">>You are not carrying anything.<br><</if>><<if $tokens is 0>>You have no masque tokens.<br><</if>><<if $tokens is 1>>You have one masque token.<br><</if>><<if $tokens is 2>>You have two masque tokens.<br><</if>><<if $tokens is 3>>You have three masque tokens.<br><</if>><<if $tokens is 4>>You have four masque tokens.<br><</if>><<if $tokens is 5>>You have five masque tokens.<br><</if>><<if $tokens is 6>>You have six masque tokens.<br><</if>><<if $foxgift is "true">>You have l'artiglio della volpe.<br><</if>><<if $auction is "won">>A severed head, preserved expertly. It's rather heavy, and its expression is an unpleasant one.<br><</if>><<if $womanheart is "true">>You have il favore della baronessa — a leathery, translucent piece of skin, raw around the edges, but shimmering with strange beauty.<br><</if>><<if $manheart is "true">>You have l'adorazione delle peste — an iridescent black feather with a thick quill, still bloody.<br><</if>><<if $foxheart is "true">>You have l'affetto della volpe — a bleached bone, old and worn: the last joint of a long-severed ring finger.<</if>>
<span class="invtitle">I SINTOMI</span>
<<if ($leprosy is not "yes") and ($veg is not "yes") and ($meat is not "yes") and ($bread is not "yes") and ($dessert is not "yes") and ($joke is not "yes") and ($tetanus is not "yes")>>You are well enough.<br><</if>><<if $leprosy is "yes">>You are incubating leprosy.<br><</if>><<if $veg is "yes">>You've contracted helminths.<br><</if>><<if $meat is "yes">>You have rabies.<br><</if>><<if ($bread is "yes")>>You have food poisoning.<br><</if>><<if ($veg is "yes") and ($meat is "yes") and ($bread is "yes") and ($dessert is "yes")>>You're terribly bloated.<br><</if>><<if $dessert is "yes">>You have indigestion.<br><</if>><<if $wine is "yes">>You are remarkably drunk.<br><</if>><<if $heartsick is "yes">>You are lovesick for a mysterious stranger, but it is not contagious.<br><</if>><<if $joke is "yes">>You've developed risus sardonicus.<br><</if>><<if $tetanus is "yes">>You have tetanus.<br><</if>><<if $cure is "yes">>You have been cured!<br><</if>><<if $life is "dead">>You're definitely dead.<</if>>
<center><div class="menulink">[[return|previous()]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $mask1 to "true">><<set $nomask to "false">><center><div class="hl"><i>You have chosen a <span class="emph2">mask</span>.</i></div></center>
As you raise the mask to your face, it seems to adhere itself to your flesh like a second skin. You lift a hand to touch its edges, and it no longer feels like lacquered wood, but smooth, cool flesh.
The edges of the scales catch against your fingertips, and the small black nose at the tip of the snout feels wet. You can feel your breath through it, issuing through the nostrils and steaming between the long, thin fangs.
A passer-by with the face of a black-furred fox and a royal purple half-cape hanging from their shoulder stops you as you turn to enter the gates. "What a fearsome mask!"</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big>[[Growl at them.]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $mask2 to "true">><<set $nomask to "false">><center><div class="hl"><i>You have chosen a <span class="emph2">mask</span>.</i></div></center>
As you raise the mask to your face, it seems to adhere itself to your flesh like a second skin. You lift a hand to touch its edges, and it no longer feels like lacquered wood, but smooth, cool flesh.
You stroke the soft fur lining your cheeks, minding the patches where your face is naked. When your fingers brush the whiskers flanking your muzzle, you feel a prickle along your skin beneath.
A passer-by with the face of a black-furred fox and a royal purple half-cape hanging from their shoulder stops you as you turn to enter the gates. "What an astonishing mask!"</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big>[[Strike a pose.]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $mask3 to "true">><<set $nomask to "false">><center><div class="hl"><i>You have chosen a <span class="emph2">mask</span>.</i></div></center>
As you raise the mask to your face, it seems to adhere itself to your flesh like a second skin. You lift a hand to touch its edges, and it no longer feels like lacquered wood, but smooth, cool flesh.
As the mane falls over your neck and shoulders, you feel curtained off, contained in worked leather and the subtle, earthy aroma of hay. The mask is overlong, but you do not feel burdened by its size; it seems lighter once you have it set in place. The braying muzzle is soft as velvet, the gums slick, the teeth large and worn. When you tap them, it seems to vibrate through your skull.
A passer-by with the face of a black-furred fox and a royal purple half-cape hanging from their shoulder stops you as you turn to enter the gates. "What a strange mask!"</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Look skeptical.]]</div></center><div class="psg">The fox raises their arms in alarm, and you notice that they are missing a finger on each hand. "Oh, dear, no, I meant no insult!" They shake their head and quickly cross their arms over their chest. For a moment, their features seem to blur as if in a cloud of black static. "Forgive me; the craftsmanship is exquisite, of course, but I've seen few others like this one. Not enough masks dare as your does! It's dreadfully magnetic."
They pause, tilting their head; one pointed ear seems to flick toward the sound of the announcer's voice still piercing the crowd. "Ah, I'm afraid I must be going, but I hope I shall be seeing you again tonight."
They fish about in their doublet for a moment before pulling something from an inner pocket and extending their hand to you.
"Accept this token of fraternity," they insist. "It will help you find your bearings this evening."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Accept it.]]</div></center><div class="psg">The fox claps in delight and darts into a pose to match, head tilted down and fingers fanned out before their face. There are only four on each hand.
"Bravo, bravo!" Chuckling, they lower their hand and fold their arms across their chest, watching you with interest. For a moment, their features seem to blur as if in a cloud of black static. "What artistry I see before me. Not merely in the mask, though it's an exquisite one — but it seems to be made for you. You wear it artfully, my radiant friend."
They pause, tilting their head; one pointed ear seems to flick toward the sound of the announcer's voice still piercing the crowd. "Ah, I'm afraid I must be going, but I hope I shall be seeing you again tonight."
They fish about in their doublet for a moment before pulling something from an inner pocket and extending their hand to you.
"Accept this token of fraternity," they insist. "It will help you find your bearings this evening."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Accept it.]]</div></center><div class="psg">The fox feigns a gasp of fear before erupting into a peal of laughter. For a moment, their features seem to blur as if in a cloud of black static. They are not easily intimidated; indeed, they only draw closer, peering at you from every angle with arms folded over their chest in a gesture of appraisal. Their assessment completed, they snap their fingers — the left is missing an essential digit, so they must use the right, where one of less utility is absent — and exclaim: "What charming fangs! How could I not be drawn to such a nasty look? And the way these scales shimmer under the light! You are all aglow, my friend."
They pause, tilting their head; one pointed ear seems to flick toward the sound of the announcer's voice still piercing the crowd. "Ah, I'm afraid I must be going, but I hope I shall be seeing you again tonight."
They fish about in their doublet for a moment before pulling something from an inner pocket and extending their hand to you.
"Accept this token of fraternity," they insist. "It will help you find your bearings this evening."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Accept it.]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $tokens = 1>><<set $noitems to "false">>A small token indeed — it is a round, golden coin with a design cut into the middle wide enough to slide your fingertip through.
<center><i><div class="hl">You have been given a <span class="emph2">masque token</span>.</div></i></center>
"Spend these with care," the fox warns, dipping forward into a low bow. "They are precious."
And with that, they turn and amble into the crowd, looking at peace in the mass of life and color. No doubt they have been here before. For but a moment, they turn back and wave with a four-fingered hand — and then the motion of masks and bodies has swallowed them.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big>[[Follow the crowd.|Piazza]]</div><<set $piazza1 to "yes">></center><<audio "dance1" stop>><<audio "dance3" stop>><<audio "dance2" fadein loop>><div class="psg"><<if $piazza1 is "yes">>The sea of guests propells you through several sets of wrought iron gates that seem to diminish in size until the crowd thins from a large group to a stream of two abreast. When at last you pass through the smallest gate, you emerge into a massive <span class="emph">Piazza</span>.
<</if>>The <span class="emph">Piazza</span> is vast, its space dominated by a large central fountain where the din of clear, clean water thunders over the crowd. Coins line its basin, but you spy very few masque tokens in the water; they are too precious to waste on a mere wish.
All over the Piazza, people linger, some talking amongst themselves, some standing or sitting in contemplation. You do not recognize anybody, and nobody recognizes you. Masquerade guests continue to filter in throughout the night, some of them fashionably late, but all of them careful to enter before the gates are closed.
Cobblestone paths branch out from the fountain, each cardinal direction painted a different color. <<if $crowded is not "yes">>From the Piazza, you can go north, east, west, or south.<</if>><<if $crowded is "yes">>From the Piazza, you can go north, east, or west.<</if>></div><center><div class="n"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[north|north]].</span> <big>↑</big></div><div class="e"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[east]].</span> <big>→</big></div><div class="w"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[west]].</span> <big>←</big></div><<if $crowded is not "yes">><div class="s"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[south]].</span> <big>↓</big></div><</if>></center><div class="psg"><<set $piazza1 to "no">>North of the Piazza, the paths are bordered by columns of bronze statues: Barons and Baronesses past, some of which you recognize. There is Vladilen, beneath whose statue curdles no small amount of foul-smelling puddles — and there is Anfisa, whose sumptuous robes and benevolent expression promise respite for the revelers who pause beside her statue. The metalworking is impressive, each statue so lifelike that their models might have been simply dipped in molten bronze — but mere metal cannot convey the translucent skin of the ruling class, or their piercing eyes.
You do not see the living Baroness among her predecessors. These are monuments to the past, and she is still the present — and the future.
Large signs along the path note various attractions. There is a <b><span class="emph">fortune teller's stall</span></b> to the west, and a sign to the north emphatically advertises a <b><span class="emph">free buffet</span></b>. To the east, a <b><span class="emph">medical tent</span></b> has been hastily erected. A line is quickly growing at the entrance.</div>
<center><<if ($veg is not "yes") or ($meat is not "yes") or ($bread is not "yes") or ($dessert is not "yes") or ($wine is not "yes")>><div class="n"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[north|north2]]. </span> <big>↑</big></div><</if>><<if ($veg is "yes") and ($meat is "yes") and ($bread is "yes") and ($dessert is "yes") and ($wine is "yes")>><div class="n"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[north|buffet2]]. </span> <big>↑</big></div><</if>><div class="e"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[east|medicine]].</span> <big>→</big></div><div class="w"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[west|Fortune Teller]].</span> <big>←</big></div><div class="s"><span style="color: #fff;">Return [[south|Piazza]].</span> <big>↓</big></div></center><<set $com to "false">><<set $trag to "false">><<set $har to "false">><<audio "aura" stop>><<audio "dance4" stop>><<audio "danse" stop>><<if ($com is "false") or ($trag is "false") or ($har is "false")>><<audio "dance2" play>><</if>><div class="psg"><<set $piazza1 to "no">>The eastern path leads to a large open-air theater built into the side of a hill in an elegant half-dome of pale stone.
On a raised stage, a variety of masked entertainers are performing their acts for crowds of masked onlookers. To the east, at the back of the theater, there are <b><span class="emph">harlequins</span></b> executing feats of dexterity — and the occasional audience member.
To the north, a pair of <b><span class="emph">comedians</span></b> amuse a group with banter and the occasional rude noise. To the south, a group of <b><span class="emph">tragedians</span></b> have moved their audience to tears.
The theater's acoustics are impressive. The sounds of mirth and sorrow mingle in the air here, sounding too alike.</div>
<center><div class="n"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[north|comedy]].</span> <big>↑</big></div><div class="s"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[south|tragedy]].</span> <big>↓</big></div><div class="e"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[east|harlequins]].</span> <big>→</big></div><div class="w"><span style="color: #fff;">Return [[west|Piazza]].</span> <big>←</big></div></center><<set $gameroom to "false">><<set $dancehall to "false">><<audio "dance3" stop>><<audio "shanty" stop>><<if ($dancehall is "false") or ($gameroom is "false")>><<audio "dance2" play>><</if>><div class="psg"><<set $piazza1 to "no">>West of the Piazza, the air is thick with intriguing perfumes and the foot traffic is somewhat greater along the thoroughfare. Underfoot, a drunken minstrel is howling a selection of incoherent bawdies. You gingerly step over him, and he pays it no mind; he appears content where he is, strumming away at his lute and searching for a word that rhymes with orgogliosi.
A domed <b><span class="emph">dance hall</span></b> lurks to the north, its facades exquisite. Couples filter in and out merrily.
A large, garish tent advertizing <b><span class="emph">games</span></b> where one can <b><span class="emph">win tokens</span></b> lies further west. To the south, there is a small crooked building where an equally crooked sign reads "<b><span class="emph">Vendita all'Asta</span></b>."</div>
<center><div class="n"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[north|dancing]].</span> <big>↑</big></div><div class="w"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[west|games]].</span> <big>←</big></div><div class="s"><span style="color: #fff;">Go [[south|auction]].</span> <big>↓</big></div><div class="e"><span style="color: #fff;">Return [[east|Piazza]].</span> <big>→</big></div></center><<set $points = 0>><<set $nomask to "true">><<set $noitems to "true">><<set $healthy to "true">><<set $tokens = 0>>
<<cacheaudio "dance1" "music/Dance of Deception.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "dance2" "music/Dark Dance.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "dance3" "music/Ghost Dance.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "dance4" "music/Miris Magic Dance.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "danse" "music/Danse of Questionable Tuning.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "shanty" "music/Netherworld Shanty.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "aura" "music/Colorless Aura.mp3">><<set $piazza1 to "no">><<set $crowded to "yes">><div class="psg">The throng of revelers emerging from the final gate is too vast for you to slip through. Over the commotion, you hear the announcer's voice:</div>
<center><div class="announcer">When next the bell tolls, the night will be over — but fear not, i miei tesori! We will not send you away without fanfare. Look forward to the <b><span style="text-shadow: 0px 0px 10px #f84848;">parade</span></b>! But do not will time to pass too quickly. You have all night! Do as you will!</div>
<div class="n"><span style="color: #fff;">[[Return to the Piazza.|Piazza]]</span> <big>↑</big></div></center><div class="psg">The fortune teller's stall is a large, rounded tent adorned with myriad gauzy fabrics. Sequins glitter in the night like alien constellations, and you find yourself admiring them for a moment, mesmerized.
<<if ($tokens < 2) and ($fortune is not "yes")>>As you approach the front of the stall, you note that it is draped in heavy black fabric. From within, the fortune teller extends a hand wrapped in stained bandages. Beams of violet light slip through the gaps in the curtains, and the fortune teller waggles their fingers expectantly. "Two tokens!" they whisper.
You do not have two tokens.<</if>><<if ($leprosy is "yes") or ($fortune is "yes")>>You have already had your fortune told. The fortune teller must rest now.<</if>><<if ($tokens gte 2) and ($leprosy is not "yes") and ($fortune is not "yes")>>As you approach the front of the stall, you note that it is draped in heavy black fabric. From within, the fortune teller extends a hand wrapped in stained bandages. Beams of violet light slip through the gaps in the curtains, and the fortune teller waggles their fingers expectantly. "Two tokens," they whisper.<</if>></div>
<center><<if ($tokens gte 2) and ($fortune is not "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Place two tokens in their hand.]]</div><br><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Perhaps another time.|north]]</div><</if>><<if ($tokens < 2) or ($fortune is "yes")>><div class="e"><big>→</big> <span style="color: #fff;">[[Return north.|north]]</span></div><</if>></center><div class="psg">A labyrinth of blue-leafed hedges leads to the buffet, its purpose defeated by a number of signs and streaks of paint revealing the correct path. Still, some distrustful revelers have strayed off the path and gotten lost; you can hear them scampering about in the maze around you as you walk. It would be quite eerie, if not for the occasional sound of someone vomiting, then pausing to emit a joyful ululation. This is a party, after all.
Having escaped the labyrinth, you find yourself standing before a long covered barn, its sides entirely open to allow access to a number of tables piled high with food and drink.
What flavors compel you?</div>
<center><<if $veg is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Vegetarian delights.|vegetarian]]</div><</if>><<if $veg is "yes">>You've eaten as much of the vegetarian menu as you can handle.<</if>>
<<if $meat is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[The bloodiest meats.|meat]]</div><</if>><<if $meat is "yes">>You've had your fill of meat.<</if>>
<<if $bread is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[The breads and cheeses are so numerous.|fill up on bread]]</div><</if>><<if $bread is "yes">>You're quite done with the bread and cheese.<</if>>
<<if $dessert is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[The sweetmeats are so very tempting.|dessert]]</div><</if>><<if $dessert is "yes">>You could not eat another dessert if you tried.<</if>>
<<if ($wine is not "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[A bit of wine sounds divine.|wine]]</div><</if>><<if $wine is "yes">>You have put Bacchus to shame.<</if>>
<<if ($veg is "yes") and ($meat is "yes") and ($bread is "yes") and ($dessert is "yes") and ($wine is "yes")>><br><div class="psg">You've had some of everything, and you feel quite satisfied, if a bit sick.
<i><div class="hl">You are almost unbearably <span class="emph2">bloated</span>.</div></i>
Vomiting in the hedge maze no longer seems such a far away prospect.</div>
<div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[You return from whence you came.|north]]</div><<else>><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[You're not hungry at the moment.|north]]</div><</if>></center><<set $har to "true">><<audio "dance2" stop>><<audio "danse" fadein loop>><div class="psg"><<if $harlequins is not "yes">>Garish harlequins adorned with jingling bells and comically large ruffs encircling their necks have drawn a large crowd around their activities. One wears silver, the other gold.
Against the wall of the theater stands a scarlet board covered in targets. A sign at the top, hastily painted but almost illegible in its artistic flourishes, reads: <b><span class="emph">TEST FATE!</span></b> A wagon draped in stained burlap and loaded with heavy cargo waits near a stage exit.
The golden harlequin catches sight of you and beckons you closer. “In need of <b><span class="emph">tokens</span></b>, newcomer?" She chuckles. "I’ll make you a little bet. My partner’s aim is only sometimes true.”
The silver harlequin squats near the wagon, retrieving a jagged throwing knife from where it is buried in the wooden stage. His left eye is covered with a sequin-lined patch, and the one remaining appears milky and unfocused.
“If he doesn’t hit you with either blade, we’ll give your purse a little extra weight for your trouble!”
<</if>><<if $harlequins is "yes">>The harlequins are quite occupied lining another participant up against the scarlet board.
You decide to leave before seeing if they'll be as lucky as you were.<</if>></div>
<center><<if $harlequins is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Test fate?|test fate]]</div><br><</if>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the harlequins.|east]]</div></center><<set $com to "true">><<audio "dance2" stop>><<audio "dance4" fadein loop>><div class="psg"><<if $comedians is not "yes">>A large crowd has gathered around a pair of <b><span class="emph">comedians</span></b>: one short and stout, one tall and impossibly lean, both clad in brightly colored tuxedos and white masks carved into exaggerated, outrageous expressions. The tall comedian is shouting warnings to any who might threaten to get him started. "Don't do it!" he protests, but his partner is trying.
A few enthusiastic members of the crowd beckon you to join them.<</if>><<if $comedians is "yes">>You've already seen this act, and your face hurts quite enough from smiling.<</if>></div>
<center><<if $comedians is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Watch the comedians.]]</div><br><</if>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the comedians.|east]]</div></center><<set $trag to "true">><<audio "dance2" stop>><<audio "aura" fadein loop>><div class="psg">A small crowd is gathered around the <b><span class="emph">tragedians</span></b>, three black-cloaked figures wearing white masks frozen in wailing expressions of despair. On the ground beside two tragedians, a shroud has been thrown over the third, who remains so impeccably still beneath it that one might assume them to be truly dead.
A heart-rending monologue echoes from within a kneeling tragedian’s mask. They beat their breast and howl with shuddering agony, but you are drawn toward the sound by some strange magnetism.
As you approach the crowd, someone standing at its fringes throws out an arm to detain you and murmurs tearfully, “This really will ruin your night. I’m half-blind with tears. You’d have better luck trusting a <b><span class="emph">harlequin's</span></b> aim; you’d only lose one eye, then, and you might gain a <b><span class="emph">token</span></b>.” They sniffle mightily, but do not lower their shaking arm.
Glancing once more to the crowd of onlookers, several of whom are now sinking to the ground and weeping bitterly under the tragedians’ spell, you decide the stranger might be right.
</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the tragedians.|east]]</div></center><<set $dancehall to "true">><<audio "dance2" stop>><<audio "dance3" play loop>><div class="psg"><<if $danced is not "yes">>The dance hall is immaculate, dreamlike. Couples and some inventive triads waltz and tango and pursue one another across the wide-open floor beneath a wide-open glass ceiling that reveals the bright full moon amid its bed of stars.
Some revelers, like you, are alone. They are looking for someone to complete their pair, or have quit the dancefloor to refresh themselves and search out a new partner. A few individuals catch your eye.
There is a <b><span class="emph">woman</span></b> in a black velvet moretta and veil, her dress a hooped skirt draped with black lace and cut away at the front to reveal a pair of smart leather trousers and knee-high boots studded with jewels. Her stance is imperial, and a small crowd of ladies gathers around her, fawning and fussing.
There is a <b><span class="emph">man</span></b> in a black tabarro and tricorn hat, whose mask has a heavy, sloping beak striped with a variety of bright colors. He is alone, leaning against a pillar and scanning the crowd as if hesitant to approach anyone.
There is a <b><span class="emph">person</span></b> with a strange silhouette and a dark, elusive mask — they are constantly in motion, flitting from group to group and pair to pair, and you cannot quite make out the shape of their mask. You think you recognize them by the glimpse of a royal purple half-cape draped over one shoulder.<</if>><<if $danced is "yes">>You are no longer in the mood to dance, but you enjoy watching the dancers sweeping about the ballroom beneath the stars.
Your partner is still nearby, looking a bit pensive about something.<</if>></div>
<center><<if $danced is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the woman.|woman]]</div><br><</if>><<if ($woman is "true") and ($woman2 is not "true")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the woman again.|woman2]]</div><br><</if>><<if $woman2 is "true">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the woman again.|Catch your breath.]]</div><br><</if>><<if $danced is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the man.|man]]</div><br><</if>><<if ($man is "true") and ($man2 is not "true")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the man again.|man2]]</div><br><</if>><<if $man2 is "true">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the man again.|Wipe your nose.]]</div><br><</if>><<if $danced is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the person.|person]]</div><br><</if>><<if ($fox is "true") and ($fox2 is not "true")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the fox again.|fox]]</div><br><</if>><<if $fox2 is "true">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Approach the fox again.|They have such a way with words.]]</div><br><</if>><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[Leave the dance hall.|west]]</div></center><<set $gameroom to "true">><<audio "dance2" stop>><<audio "shanty" fadein loop>><div class="psg"><<if ($play1 is not "yes") or ($play2 is not "yes")>>As you enter the tent, an attendant in an atrocious mask adorned with spiraling red patterns sprints toward you, skidding to a stop when you rear back in alarm.
"Would you like to play a game?" he demands. He is panting.
You cough.
"Mi dispiace!" Aware of your alarm, he bows repeatedly, and attempts to collect himself. <<if ($play1 is "yes") or ($play2 is "yes")>>He has forgotten that you've met already. <</if>>"You do not need tokens to play, my friend! Only blood. We all have blood!"<</if>><<if ($play1 is "yes") and ($play2 is "yes")>>The attendant bounds over to you and pauses, realizing you've met before."Ahh! You've tried your luck enough for one night, don't you think?"<</if>></div>
<center><<if ($play1 is not "yes") or ($play2 is not "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Hear the rules of the games.]]</div><br><div class="w"><big>←</big> <span style="color: #fff;">[[Perhaps later.|west]]</span></div><</if>><<if ($play1 is "yes") and ($play2 is "yes")>><div class="w"><big>←</big> <span style="color: #fff;">[[Leave the tent.|west]]</span></div><</if>></center><div class="psg">The door of the auction house creaks horribly as you enter, and once it has creaked shut behind you, you find yourself in a darkened lobby.
The walls are lined with doors— some obviously painted onto the wall, some real but decisively locked, and some lacking knobs or knockers at all. Only one appears to be of interest: on its face, a cartoonish head has been painted.
Beside the door, a large man stooping beneath the low ceiling watches you warily from behind his black-filigreed larva.</div>
<center><<if $auction is "won">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Talk to the guard.|guard]]</div><br><</if>><<if $auction is not "won">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Try the door.|door]]</div><br><</if>><div class="n"><big>↑</big> <span style="color: #fff;">[[Leave the auction house.|west]]</span></div></center><div class="psg">She hails you with a hand heavy with rings, raised like a glittering beacon. "Why, hello," she says, and her voice is a rough contralto. With the same hand, she shoos away the group congealing around her, but her eyes remain fixed on you.
You bend at the waist in a formal bow.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Would you care to dance?|womandance]]"</span></div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[I'm afraid I must be going.|dancing]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">His head cocks sharply when he realizes that you are approaching him and not another reveler nearby. Hastily, he straightens and dips into a bow, pressing a hand to his cumberbund.
You do the same, bending at the waist in a formal bow.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Would you care to dance?|mandance]]"</span></div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[I'm afraid I must be going.|dancing]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">You pick your way through the crowd ringing the dancefloor until you can see their back clearly, and find the shape of their mask more familiar at closer range: the pointed ears, the tapering sides; the features seem to solidify as if from a soft black static. They raise their hand to gesture to another reveler in conversation, and you see that it only has four fingers.
Their companion glances at you over their shoulder. "A friend of yours, Volpe?"
The fox pauses and whirls to greet you. "Oh, yes! My <<if $mask1 is "true">>ferocious<</if>><<if $mask2 is "true">>fabulous<</if>><<if $mask3 is "true">>fascinating<</if>> friend, I hoped we'd meet again."
You bend at the waist in a formal bow.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Would you care to dance?|foxdance]]"</span></div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[I'm afraid I must be going.|dancing]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">“I’d be delighted, stranger.” The woman takes you by the hands and arranges them carefully. She smiles, mask stretching, and says, "I shall lead."
She leads so prodigiously it seems as though leading is all she has learned to do. You allow yourself to be led, contemplating her delicate hands lined with rings, so cold in yours, and the bare stalk of her throat revealed by her costume. She is pale — more than pale. Her skin has no color, and seems so very thin, her veins so visible beneath it — when she swallows, you think you can see the ridges of her trachea and the pink of her esophagus.
<center><div class="hl"><i>You have become rather <span class="emph2">lovesick</span>.</i></div></center><<set $heartsick to "yes">><<set $danced to "yes">><<set $woman to "true">>
Yet she so rarely seems to smile. You catch a glimpse of her mouth now and again beneath her veil, and the skin around her lips is creased from the memory of a thousand frowns. Her speech is parenthetical, lodged in the weight of some unspoken sadness.
Yet she does smile when you part — you see the brightness of it, the glimpse of her sharp teeth, the great effort she makes to show them to you.</div>
<center><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[Part for now.|dancing]]</div></center><div class="psg">"I would," he decides, breathless with excitement. "Oh, I would quite like that."
The man sags in your arms, allowing you to lead — nay, insisting that you do so. He is light, though lanky, and almost graceful in the way he lets himself be manipulated by your hands. After a time, he lays his head on your shoulder as you revolve across the floor together, and you feel the tip of his beak tap gently against your back as he sighs with pleasure. "Thank you for holding me up, stranger."
<center><div class="hl"><i>You have become rather <span class="emph2">lovesick</span>.</i></div></center><<set $heartsick to "yes">><<set $danced to "yes">><<set $man to "true">>
When you touch his back, you feel something pressing through his cape, and realize that they are wings sawed off at the shoulder blades. You glance down at the glossy dancefloor and are surprised not to have noticed his three-taloned feet before.
Too soon, it comes time to release him, and he clutches at where you assume his heart must be as you step away.</div>
<center><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[Part for now.|dancing]]</div></center><div class="psg">"I would indeed. You honor me with the offer alone, my friend."
La Volpe is a live, elusive thing in your arms, neither leading nor allowing you to lead. Your dance breaks from the customary waltz into something you cannot quite define several times. When la Volpe pulls you close, their mask looks less like a fox, unlike anything your mind can categorize or comprehend. You feel an inhuman heat radiating from them, and your ears seem to buzz with a dithering static you can feel in the roots of your teeth.
<center><div class="hl"><i>You have become rather <span class="emph2">lovesick</span>.</i></div></center><<set $heartsick to "yes">><<set $danced to "yes">><<set $fox to "true">>
Their glamor fades in and out, in flux with your proximity until you feel, somehow, that you know them as you did not before.
As your dance comes to an end, la Volpe leads you off the dancefloor and takes one of your hands in both of theirs. "Thank you, sincerely." Their eight fingers caress your ten, and the heady atmosphere of a thunderstorm fills your mouth: electric petrichor. "I still hope we'll meet again."</div>
<center><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[Part for now.|dancing]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $veg to "yes">>Several overflowing baskets of garden-fresh produce sit heavy upon a wicker table. Vine-ripened tomatoes mingle with tart, juicy apples and such a variety of berries that you taste many you've never seen before, each one strange and invigorating. You crunch through carrots and sweet peppers, drink the juice of bright, plump citrus fruits, and take helping after helping of leafy greens.
Now and then your teeth grind on a clump of dirt or sand and you gag, but you easily find something fresher to banish the taste from your mouth.
<center><i><div class="hl">You are now home to <span class="emph2">helminths</span>. Welcome them kindly.</div></i></center></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Continue feasting.|north2]]</div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the buffet.|north]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $meat to "yes">>Many varieties of meat are heaped bloody upon gleaming silver platters. Red meat, white meat, dark meat, cold cuts, raw and cooked and cured — every kind of carcass one could covet. Poultry and pork, fish and venison, lamb and creatures you cannot identify. There is muscle and organ and brain spread out before you, and you sample a bite of it all, relishing the way your teeth rip and tear the flesh.
As the fog of consumption clears, it occurs to you that the brain, while a delicacy, may have been too adventurous. There was something strange about it.
It was warm, though uncooked, and almost seemed to be still thinking.
<center><i><div class="hl">You have <span class="emph2">rabies</span>.</div></i></center></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Continue feasting.|north2]]</div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the buffet.|north]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $bread to "yes">>In rustic baskets and on beautiful platters sit loaves of fresh-baked bread and decadent arrangements of artisan cheeses featuring every kind and color of mold. You eat with abandon, sampling perfectly spongy brioche and satisfyingly tough crusts smeared with brie and accented with gruyere. Before long, you have lost track of all the cheeses you've tried, but your fingers will stink with their memory for some time to come.
You may have eaten more mold than you expected to, however.
<center><i><div class="hl">You have <span class="emph2">food poisoning</span>.</div></i></center></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Continue feasting.|north2]]</div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the buffet.|north]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $dessert to "yes">>All manner of sumptuous pastries and confections line a stained-glass table. Cakes layered impossibly high tower over trays of tarts and innumerable varieties of cookies. Frozen custard and yogurt parfaits await across the table, and the biscotti is plentiful, served with tiny cups of strong coffee.
You gorge yourself without scruple, finding everything to taste perfectly delectable, but you escape the table feeling that you might have indulged just a bit too much.
<center><i><div class="hl">You have <span class="emph2">indigestion</span>.</div></i></center></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Continue feasting.|north2]]</div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the buffet.|north]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<if ($explain is not "yes") and ($cure is not "yes")>>You wait for some time until the dottoressa emerges from behind a sickly green curtain at the storefront. She peers at you from behind bright green lenses, tilting her head this way and that; the hooked black beak of her mask is hypnotic, but worryingly sharp. "Yes?" she crows. "You would like a cure?"<</if>><<if ($explain is "yes") and ($cure is not "yes")>>"You're still here, are you?" The dottoressa's beak tilts over her shoulder in your direction. "Any time you'd like a cure, do let me know."<</if>><<if $cure is "yes">>"Feeling fit and frisky? You'd better get out of here, you know. There's a line." Though the dottoressa speaks without much inflection, there is some fondness in her tone. Still, she waves you away.<</if>></div>
<center><<if ($explain is not "yes") and ($cure is not "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[A cure?]]"</span></div><br><</if>><<if ($explain is "yes") and ($cure is not "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Explain the cure again, per favore.]]"</span></div><br><</if>><<if ($leprosy is "yes") or ($veg is "yes") or ($meat is "yes") or ($bread is "yes") or ($joke is "yes") or ($tetanus is "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Yes, ti prego! I am sick!|sick]]"</span></div><br><</if>><<if $cure is not "yes">><div class="w"><big>←</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Not right now.|north]]"</span></div><</if>><<if $cure is "yes">><div class="w"><big>←</big> <span style="color: #fff;">[[You wave and slip away.|north]]</span></div><</if>></center><div class="psg"><<if $life is "dead">>The first blade sails past the board in a dreadful arc, from what you can glimpse in the corner of your eye. You clench your eyes shut as you wait for the second.
The heavy plunge of the blade registers in your mind before the searing pain in your throat that does not abate. It grows worse, and you can feel the torn flesh around the jagged edges of the blade, feel the way it has wedged into your trachea and tickled your windpipe. You attempt to shout, but blood courses from the wound in a gargling cascade.
The crowd is silent but for a scattering of gasps — though distantly you hear a few cheers, and consider them to be in rather poor taste.
Your senses are failing you, but dimly you realize you’ve slumped to the ground. Two pairs of feet appear before you, their bells jingling. “Oh, bother,” says the golden harlequin, her voice dryly nonchalant. "Better luck next time."
<center><i><div class="hl">You are <span class="emph2">dead</span>.
<span class="emph2">Restart</span> or <span class="emph2">load</span> a saved game.</div></i></center><</if>><<if $life is "alive">><<set $tokens to $tokens + 2>>A knife slams into the board beside your head with such force that the blade wobbles. You feel the reverberation through the board and in your bones, and as another knife flies past the board altogether, you release your held breath in a frenzied rush.
The crowd exhales with you and begins to cheer. You detect a boo or two mixed in among the excitement and choose not to think too much of it.
The silver harlequin bows and acrobatically navigates a path across the stage to retrieve the knife from beside your head. His partner cartwheels toward you, a hollering flash of sun-bright gold.
“What excellent luck you must have!" she cries, producing a bulging velvet pouch from beneath her hat. "A pretty prize for you!”
<center><i><div class="hl">You've earned <span class="emph2">two masque tokens</span> and escaped with your life.</div></i></center><</if>></div>
<center><<if $life is "alive">><center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the harlequins.|east]]</div></center><</if>></center><div class="psg">The attendant leads you over to a massive pedestal on which lies a small eight-sided dice. Each side is painted a shiny, peerless black, darker than night.
"Hold out your hand, friend!"
You do as you are told, and without ceremony the attendant produces a thin, curved blade and slices your palm. You gasp, at the pain as much as the preciseness of the cut; it has opened the flesh exactly across your heart line where it runs beneath your fingers.
The attendant plucks up Il Dado with a flourish and drops it into your hand, curling your fist shut over it and squeezing without mercy. It stings even when he releases it and shouts, "Shake!"</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Give Il Dado a shake.]]</div></center><<set $game to random(1, 8)>><<set $game to either(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)>><div class="psg"><<set $play1 to "yes">>"Hooray!" the attendant shouts, producing a pincushion from a bulging pack at his waist. He deftly selects a rusty pin — all of them are rusty — takes your outstretched hand, and jams the end of the pin into your fingertip, nearly sliding it under your nail.
"Here, here she is," he explains, pulling you forward by the wrist until you are standing before a massive, colorful wheel. "Isn't she lovely?"
You grimace in agreement, and he presses your hand to a button on a pedestal before La Ruota, wringing your finger for blood. As the blood drips into a hole in the button, the wheel begins to turn — slowly at first, and then faster, faster.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[The attendant is panting again.]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<if $auction is not "won">>La Volpe greets you with an affectionate tilt of the head, and their mask's features blur subtly; again, you catch the taste of static, but it is gone before you can roll it about on your tongue.
"I look troubled? Is it that obvious?" Despite the levity in their voice, their manner is reserved. "I admit, I've been coveting something in the auction house, but I cannot purchase it for myself." They sigh, cracking their knuckles. "I'm afraid funds are not the issue. I indulged a bit too freely at the buffet, and now the guard says he smells worms and gravedirt on me and simply will not let me pass. Unbelievable."
Something occurs to them, then, and in a fit of inspiration they begin to root about in their doublet. From an obscure pocket, they produce a jointed object with a pointed tip. Looking closely at it, you realize that it is a talon.
La Volpe presses it into your hand and curls your fingers shut around it. "If you happen to go, will you offer this in exchange?"
<center><div class="hl"><i>You've been given <br><span class="emph2">l'artiglio della volpe</span>.</i></div></center><<set $foxgift to "true">>
You suspect that you have an idea as to where the talon came from.<</if>><<if $auction is "won">>“Oh!” A gasp from behind la Volpe's mask seems to distort it completely, a black fog feathering the vulpine features. For but a moment, the pits of their eyes glow pure as the moon. “Did that do the trick, then?”
You extend the head, supporting the stump of its neck within the bag.
“For me, truly?” La Volpe reaches out and accepts your parcel with gloved hands. “You don't want to keep it?"<</if>></div>
<center><<if $auction is not "won">><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[Leave the dance hall.|west]]</div><br><</if>><<if $auction is "won">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[It's yours.]]"</span></div><br><div class="s"><big>↓</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Perhaps for a while longer.|west]]"</span></div><</if>></center><div class="psg"><<if $joke is not "yes">>She sighs, touching a hand to her forehead in consternation. "I haven't smiled in months, so I must thank you. I have been so dour, so weighed upon of late. The Barony is so needy... I wish I could remember how to laugh, what it feels like. I truly have forgotten. If only there was something one could bottle, one could sell — a canned joke that never fails."<</if>><<if $joke is "yes">>She straightens and peers at you severely at the sound of your laughter, muffled behind your teeth and mask as you approach. "Something funny? Even your mask seems to be smiling! What painful ecstasy that seems — do share."<</if>>
</div>
<center><<if $joke is "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Tell her a joke.]]</div><br><</if>><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[Leave the dance hall.|west]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<if $leprosy is not "yes">>The man greets you with a tilt of his hat, beak bobbing. "Goodness, I don't want to trouble you. It's rather a disgusting thing to talk about, I think, but since you asked... ahh, I've been looking for a certain numb itch, looking everywhere for the perfect weeping, oozing, open sores to scratch." He pauses, and shyly turns his beak away. "I think it's some human condition, but it might help me molt."<</if>><<if $leprosy is "yes">>"Oh, that rotten scent! I smell just a hint of it... You didn't! You <i>did!</i>" He begins removing one thick leather glove, revealing a taloned hand with scaled, flaking skin. "Would you take my hand in yours?"<</if>></div>
<center><<if $leprosy is "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Take his hand.]]</div><br><</if>><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[Leave the dance hall.|west]]</div></center><<set $joke to "yes">><<set $comedians to "yes">><div class="psg">The tall comedian offers you their hand and pulls you bodily onto the small raised platform where the pair performs. The stout comedian rushes over to take your other hand, and they each shake your hands furiously.
The stout comedian wipes his brow from the effort. “Now that we’re acquainted — I’m Ruction, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, by the way — hey, Racket, you want to start telling these fine people about that time at the cattle farm while I get our new friend up to speed?”
“Ooh! That’s a good one!” As the tall comedian launches into a story involving a particularly aromatic agricultural venture, the stout one takes you aside.
“Alright," he begins, in a conspiratorial whisper, "I’m gonna kneel behind Racket, and all you gotta do is keep walking at him ‘till he backs into me. Got it?”
</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Gotcha.]]"</span></div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Is he going to get hurt?]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg"><<if ($leprosy is "yes") or ($veg is "yes") or ($meat is "yes") or ($bread is "yes") or ($joke is "yes") or ($tetanus is "yes")>>The guard holds you back, sniffing you intently. "No," he hisses. "Away with you. We don't want anyone contaminating the place."
Chastised, you slink away.<</if>><<if ($leprosy is not "yes") and ($veg is not "yes") and ($meat is not "yes") and ($bread is not "yes") and ($joke is not "yes") and ($tetanus is not "yes") and ($cure is not "yes")>>The hulking figure who sits beside the door sniffs at you before allowing you to pass. "Hmm... Go ahead. Just don't vomit in there, please."
He swings open the door.<</if>><<if ($cure is "yes")>>The hulking figure who sits beside the door sniffs at you. "I smell her cure on you. Go ahead."
He swings open the door.<</if>></div>
<center><<if ($leprosy is not "yes") and ($veg is not "yes") and ($meat is not "yes") and ($bread is not "yes") and ($joke is not "yes") and ($tetanus is not "yes") or ($cure is "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Enter the auction room.|head]]</div><</if>>
<<if ($leprosy is "yes") or ($veg is "yes") or ($meat is "yes") or ($bread is "yes") or ($joke is "yes") or ($tetanus is "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Withdraw to the lobby.|auction]]</div><</if>></center><div class="psg">A small group of masked revelers sits silently in an audience of mostly empty seats. Those present are largely sitting apart from one another, and all are staring intently at the singular item on a podium: <<if $head1 is not "yes">>a<</if>><<if $head1 is "yes">>yet another<</if>> shriveled, severed head.
The auctioneer brightens as you enter. "Oh, another one at last! Come, come! Take a seat. The bidding is about to begin!"</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Take a seat and make a bid.|bid2]]</div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Return to the lobby.|auction]]</div></center><div class="psg">As the auctioneer begins to chatter, those seated around you begin to call out their bids.
"I'll give you my mask!"
"My shoes!"
"I have six vials of blood!"
"Two teeth!"
The auctioneer pauses, considering the offers, then shakes his head. "A little stingy, aren't we? Come, now, what is this worth to you?"</div>
<center><<if $foxgift is "true">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[A favor.]]"</span></div><</if>><<if $foxgift is not "true">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Masque tokens?]]"</span></div><</if>></center><div class="psg">The comedians each make a noise of disappointment, but they let you withdraw into the crowd.
“Anybody else?” The stout Comedian scans the crowd with a hand over his eyes.
“How about that one?” The tall Comedian asks, arm outstretched toward a member of the audience. “I like their cape.”
As you make your way out of the crowd, you feel it explode with an infectious laughter that ripples its way to you as you break free. Even without having seen the reason, you find yourself chuckling softly.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the comedians.|east]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $harlequins to "yes">><<set $life to either("dead", "alive")>>“Oh-ho! Many blessings upon you, risk-taker! Come, come, stand flat and still against the board.”
The golden harlequin arranges you against the scarlet board, carefully directing where your limbs should rest. Beneath your palms, the board is sticky. It reeks of copper.
“Now, don’t flinch,” she hisses, and directs a grandiose, flourishing gesture to the crowd before performing a flip away from the board and the unpredictable trajectory of her partner's projectiles.
The silver harlequin readies his aim some distance away, fixing you with a one-eyed stare. He breathes in deeply, rolls his shoulders.
You hold your breath.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Don't move.]]</div></center><div class="psg">"You might have noticed that business is booming now more than ever, what with how rife this place is with disease. If you are sick, you might have use for whatever pathogen you're incubating a while longer; you might even be one of the degenerates who wants to keep it forever. Or you might want me to cure you before the night ends — but I can only do so once, in return for a single coin. The <b><span class="emph">panacea</span></b> is toilsome and expensive to make, and I have only enough for the guests that've been invited."
She leans forward, and you can smell the heavy herbal perfumes wafting from her beak. "You have been invited, haven't you?"<<set $explain to "yes">></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Of course.|medicine]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg"><<if $tokens < 1>>"I'm afraid you don't have the payment, friend. <b><span class="emph">One token</span></b> is all I need. One from every guest would reimburse me for these many months of labor and ensure I can continue my work. I do not relish turning you away, but I must!"<</if>><<if ($tokens is 1) or ($tokens > 1)>>"You are certain you need the cure now? It'll be <b><span class="emph">one token</span></b>."<</if>></div>
<center><<if ($tokens is 1) or ($tokens > 1)>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Yes.|Yes]]"</span></div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[No.|No]]"</span></div><</if>><<if $tokens < 1>><div class="w"><big>←</big> [[Return north.|north]]</div><</if>></center><div class="psg">"Very well!" The dottoressa disappears behind the curtain, and you can hear glass clinking and a cork being pulled with a great <i>pop!</i> that echoes in the tent.
After a moment, the curtains part around the dottoressa's beak, which emerges from within before the rest of her, followed by her outstretched hand clutching a crystal vial. The liquid inside is thick and viscous, the color unappealing; it leaves a greasy residue on the vial, and is fringed with froth and foul-smelling bubbles.
"Drink this!" she cries, voice echoing merrily in her mask. "Drink it all, and do so quickly!"
You've no choice but to drink.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Chug it.|drink]]</div></center><div class="psg">"Away with you, then. I'll save your potion 'till the parade at the end of the night, provided you still have the payment. But you must pick it up by then, or remain as you are. Understood?"</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Return to the northern path.|north]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $tokens to $tokens - 1>>The taste could be improved.
The concoction is heavy on your tongue and thick enough to chew, but you swallow it with some effort. The longer it sits in your mouth, the more it begins to burn. "It's a little nippy," the dottoressa warns, taking the empty vial from your hand. "You'll be feeling the side effects just about now. It'll only last a short while."
That short while feels like an eternity, but she speaks true. A dull pain grows in your head and throat until it reaches your stomach and extremities, and you must clench your teeth against a moan of misery as the pain grows sharper and prickles through your muscles and skin. You clutch your face, and the mask feels tender, your nerves superimposed through its artifice.
As you wait for the pain to pass, you nearly double over at the medicine counter. The dottoressa does not appear concerned, and tuts her approval as she withdraws into the tent with the empty vial. When she reappears, the worst of it has passed.
"I used to be a bartender," she explains mildly.
You shake yourself off and straighten, still clutching her counter with a white-knuckled grip.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Stiffer drink than I'm used to.]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">Though their style of comedy at times isn’t entirely to your taste, you find yourself laughing aloud before long, as if bewitched by their chemistry and the mere implication that they are meant to be funny. The crowd is lively, and somehow you find yourself moving toward the front for a better view of the comedians’ antics.
The tall comedian straightens to his full height abruptly and looks over the crowd, rocking back on his heels. He elbows his companion. “What say we pick a helper from the crowd, pal?”
The stout Comedian notices you. “You there! Don’t be shy, now, come play a trick with me, eh? Uno scherzo!”
</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Get in on the joke.]]</div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Decline.]]</div></center><div class="psg">Many choose to craft or bring their own, but for those unfortunates like you who have neither the funds to purchase a mask nor the skills to create their own, the mascherari have worked tirelessly. You admire them so: their long, dexterous fingers, their large, unblinking eyes.
Every mask is astounding, hundreds laid out upon the tables lining the entrance beyond the southern gates. So lifelike, the sloping designs that stretch and settle upon the face. These masks are hand-painted, slathered with gesso and gold leaf or adorned with feathers, beads, fur, leather, scales, all of it too immaculate to seem real. Even the fragile papier-mâché masks magnificently painted, adorned with sweeping flourishes and carefully-laid filigree.
And they look as though they could come alive at any moment. Even beneath the crust of jewels and gilt, there is a verve to each strange chimera; the expressions so carefully molded, the features so delicately shaped.
So many worthy faces. Which will you choose, fair reveler?</div>
<center><div class="mask1">✦ [[DISSOLUTA]] ✦</div><div class="mask2">✦ [[DECADENTE]] ✦</div><div class="mask3">✦ [[RIPUGNANTE]] ✦</div></center>
<div class="psg"><<set $fox2 to "true">><<set $auction to "give">>La Volpe raises the head to look briefly into its sunken eyes before lowering it beneath their cape. "Alas, poor fool — I knew him, once," they murmur.
When you look at them strangely, they chuckle, shifting the head in their grasp. "Only joking! Ah, but what a treasure," they murmur, then glance up at you. "You, too, of course. The greatest treasure of all, I think."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[They have such a way with words.]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $man2 to "true">>You caress his knuckles as you turn his hand to examine it, minding the claws at the tips of his fingers. You find that it is not so different from yours, at least in structure, and stroke the deeply furrowed lifeline you discover in his palm. It cracks under your fingertips, and something dark oozes out.
You realize that the snout of your mask is oozing, too, only once several fat, clear drops of mucous have dripped onto his hand. He tilts his head, then raises his hand to his beak, breathing it greedily. You're not sure what to think. His other hand still clutches yours.
You remain that way silently some time, unmindful of the dancers whirling ignorant around you. When you release the man's hand, he exhales slowly, but cannot seem to compose himself.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Wipe your nose.]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $woman2 to "true">>Teeth clenched, you chortle your way through a reenactment of the comedians' antics. The woman is silent for several moments, deliberating — and then she shrieks with laughter.
You laugh together so loudly and so forcefully as to alarm a passing pair of dancers. Breathless, the woman takes your hand and brings it to her lips; when she kisses it, you can feel the scrape of her teeth. Her jaw is clenched, her lips drawn back, her eyes bulging behind her mask.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Catch your breath.]]</div></center><<audio "dance3" stop>><<audio "dance1" play>><div class="psg">As you return to the Piazza arm-in-arm, a reveler dashes past you, throwing handfuls of colorful coriandoli in their wake. "La sfilata!" they cry. A parade is about to begin.
The woman pats your hand fondly. "Oh, let's watch. I have always adored these parades."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Watch the parade.|paradew]]</div></center><div class="psg">In the distance, the music of several bands begins on a downbeat. In the cacophony, the woman turns to you, pulling you close until your forehead nearly rests upon hers.
"I want you to have this," she whispers, and passes you something precious enfolded in a monogrammed handkerchief. You've seen her initials somewhere before.
<center><div class="hl"><i>You've earned il favore della baronessa.</i></div></center><<set $womanheart to "true">>
Parade floats pass you by, accompanied by dancers, musicians, and acrobats. Each float is more astonishing and outrageous than the last — some are strewn with flowers, some cast entirely in gold, some trailing a substance very much like blood down the avenue of gates. Your companion is enthralled. Enchanted by a particularly sanguine float, she releases your arm and takes a step closer to the festivities.</div>
<center><<if ($leprosy is "yes") or ($veg is "yes") or ($meat is "yes") or ($bread is "yes") or ($joke is "yes") or ($tetanus is "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave with her.|illw]]</div><br><</if>><<if ($leprosy is not "yes") and ($veg is not "yes") and ($meat is not "yes") and ($bread is not "yes") and ($joke is not "yes") and ($tetanus is not "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave with her.|healthyw]]</div><br><</if>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Slip away in the crowd.|alone]]</div></center><div class="psg">Before long, the parade comes to and end, and you follow its path through the gates, led by the announcer's voice once more.
<center><div class="announcer">The moon is low and the stars are dimming! Goodbye, my friends! You tired lot, you ought to rest after such a long night! I hope you found everything you came for.</div></center>
You are tired, unfathomably so, but you feel so alive. Your health intact, you are content not to test fate in matters unknown to you. The law of this land, if it be law, is strange — but you will oblige it.
Part of you fears pain, fears any discomfort which does not relent. Dimly, you realize the frivolousness of such a holiday as this. Elsewhere, living things are dying in droves, suffering pain and loss you will never understand. You make light of that in your revelry — and yet, you revel all the same. You do not know what else to do. Perhaps it is perverse, but you feel so very painfully alive.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Pass through the final gate.|end]]</div></center><div class="psg">Before long, the parade comes to and end, and you follow its path through the gates.
Your body feels battered, each footstep growing heavier as you pass through the gates, guided by the same crowd that entered with you and the boom of the announcer's voice.
<center><div class="announcer">The moon is low and the stars are dimming! Goodbye, my friends! You tired lot, you ought to rest after such a long night! I hope you found everything you came for.</div></center>
You are so tired. You are so weak. And yet — you feel satisfied. You have experienced so much of life tonight alone, including the threat of death — that tantalizing glimpse on the edge of a knife, in the scent of a poison. Life outside of this place is cruel, but sickness does not stick here. You decide to understand it while you can.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Pass through the final gate.|end]]</div></center><div class="psg">"Yes, well." She shrugs, shoulders rising and falling beneath her waxed overcoat. "Nessun dolore, nessun guadagno, eh? What's a little pain? You look better already."
Recovering your composure and your bearings, you find that she is right. Your muscles feel warm and relaxed now, your skin clearer and softer, your senses sharper. You've not felt this lively in some time, and no hint of nausea or bloat or fever or rot plagues you any longer. You are not despondent; you are not crazed; you are not even drunk. You are simply content.
The pain has subsided and left vigor in its wake.<<set $cure to "yes">><<set $leprosy to "no">><<set $veg to "no">><<set $meat to "no">><<set $bread to "no">><<set $dessert to "no">><<set $wine to "no">><<set $joke to "no">><<set $tetanus to "no">>
<center><i><div class="hl"><span class="emph2">You have been <b>cured</b>!</span></div></i></center></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Thank you.]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">"No need." The dottoressa waves your gratitude away, but her voice is softened by a hidden smile. "Off with you, now. I have others to tend to." She pauses, then lifts her hand as if toasting you with another empty vial. "Salute, my friend!"</div>
<center><div class="w"><big>←</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Salute!|north]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg"><<set $tokens to $tokens - 2>>The bandaged hand closes on the tokens and withdraws sharply behind the black curtains. "Many thanks," the fortune teller rasps. "Now you may enter."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[You part the curtains and stride inside.]]</div></center><div class="psg">The violet light is strobing softly all around you, and you find yourself disoriented by the strong scent of frankincense and myrrh — and another aroma you cannot identify, try as you might.
The fortune teller sits before you, covered head to toe in bandages and exquisite draping fabrics. Only their eyes are revealed by their wrappings, and they watch you carefully. Wetness spreads slowly across the wrapping where you assume their nose to be. They swipe a hand across it in mild agitation. "Your hand, please."
You extend your palm to be read, and the fortune teller seizes you by the wrist to steady your hand. With their other hand, they begin to trace the lines of your palm; you notice that the fingertips of this hand are unbandaged, but they are blackened and disfigured and moist. You will yourself not to shy away from their gentle touch.
"Your heart line is broken," they murmur.
You squint.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Is that good?]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">They glance up at you, brow furrowed. "You do not think enough of yourself. Too much of your energy radiates outward, to others." Their fingertips linger over your heart line, sweeping beneath the base of your fingers before tracing the center of your palm. "The head line is broken as well. You are sensitive to others' needs. You are perceptive. And the lifeline—" here they touch a curve beside your thumb "— is not broken, but very faint. You crave respite."
You consider all of this, but it does not sound much like a fortune yet.
"I am getting to that," the fortune teller whispers.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Oh.]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">They press your hand between both of theirs, unbandaged fingers skimming the back of your hand. With great effort, they clear their throat and begin to tell your fortune:
<b><span class="emph">"Frivolous whims guide you, but you have the power to make something of them. There is a connection in your future, a brief meeting of paths, and there is both intrigue and tenderness there. You can choose to breathe life into it.</span></b>
Slowly, they release your hand. "That is all."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Many thanks.]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg"><<set $fortune to "yes">>"Don't thank me too eagerly," they sigh. Their voice is rougher than it was; the exertion of your encounter confines them to their chair. "I'm sure you've heard that fate is fickle."
You have. Still, you appreciate their efforts. The light inside the tent shimmers over their prone body, glancing off their bandages and scarves. You wonder at their wet, unbandaged fingertips, and the moisture gathering in the bandages around their mouth and nose.<<set $leprosy to "yes">>
The air in the tent is so thick with incense that it makes you sneeze and sniffle. The fortune teller blesses you quietly, and before you realize what you're doing, you wipe your hand across the snout of your mask as though it were your own nose.
<center><i><div class="hl">You are incubating <span class="emph2">leprosy</span>.</div></i></center>
"Goodbye," the fortune teller breathes.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Goodbye.|Fortune Teller]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg"><<set $wine to "yes">>Wondrous wine! Even the rarest and most expensive wines are here, arranged among dried grapevines and flanked by hoards of crystal goblets awaiting you like dutiful soldiers.
As you look over the labels, you spy many generic, serviceable brands you would be proud to be intoxicated by. Your interest is piqued when you spy a bottle from the Red Bay Winery, where they infuse the finest exotic fruits to accompany the grapes for a series of bright, tart flavors — but you are stunned to see a gorgeous bottle proclaiming its origins at the Cattedrale. Cattedrale wine is famous for its rich, almost metallic undercurrent, a vital flavor lurking beneath the wine's characteristic sweetness. It is the reddest wine you've ever seen, and it is pleasantly thick on your tongue.
Parched and efficient, you help yourself to quite a few samples from quite a few wineries. A single goblet from many of them would be sickeningly expensive, and you can endure making yourself a bit sick for the privilege of tasting them for free. With your wallet remaining in good health, your spirits are high.
<center><i><div class="hl">You've become profoundly <span class="emph2">drunk</span>.</div></i></center></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Continue feasting.|north2]]</div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the buffet.|north]]</div></center><div class="psg">"<span class="emph">La Ruota</span> will always win you one token! I prick your finger — just a little — and the droplet makes the wheel turn! But if you fancy an element of chance, there is <span class="emph">Il Dado</span>, where your odds are double or nothing, but you could win two coins! I draw a blade across your heart line to drench the dice, and if the blood sticks to one of the color-changing sides, you've won! What do you say?"</div>
<center><<if $play1 is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Spin La Ruota.]]</div><</if>><<if $play1 is "yes">>You've already spun La Ruota.<</if>>
<<if $play2 is not "yes">><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Roll Il Dado.]]</div><</if>><<if $play2 is "yes">>You've already rolled Il Dado.<</if>>
<div class="w"><big>←</big> <span style="color: #fff;">[[Back away.|west]]</span></div></center><div class="psg"><<set $play2 to "yes">>A basin sits before Il Dado's pedestal, and after you have shaken the dice vigorously, you deposit it into the basin, where it clatters against the stone, smearing it with blood.
The attendant leans down to peer closely at the dice.
<<if $game gte 5>>He wipes the blood away, revealing that one side of the dice has turned a shocking violet-tinged magenta. He screams for no less than five uninterrupted seconds. "You've won two tokens, my friend!"<<set $tokens to $tokens + 2>>
A fair trade, you suppose.
<center><i><div class="hl">You have earned <span class="emph2">two</span> <span class="emph2">masque tokens</span>.</div></i></center><</if>><<if $game < 5>>He wipes the blood away, but the dice is still entirely black as pitch. "You've earned nothing!" he announces, inordinately cheerful.
You've had worse luck, you suppose.<</if>></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Consider another game.|Hear the rules of the games.]]</div>
<div class="w"><big>←</big> <span style="color: #fff;">[[Leave the tent.|west]]</span></div>
</center><div class="psg">The wheel soon ceases to turn, ticking to a stop on a space depicting a coin and an eyeball, the iris a rich brown.
"Oh, she is so kind! So kind!" the attendant wails. "You got one token! <i>And a truffle!</i>"<<set $tokens to $tokens + 1>>
<center><i><div class="hl">You have received a <span class="emph2">masque token</span>, a <span class="emph2">chocolate truffle</span>, and <span class="emph2">tetanus</span>.</div></i></center></div><<set $tetanus to "yes">>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Accept your prizes.]]</div></center><div class="psg">"Congratulations," he murmurs, staring at the lumpy shape under your arm. "What are you going to do with it?"
You pause, and before you can answer he shrugs and declares, "It might make a nice gift."
Perceptive man. You wave to him as you turn to leave, and he obliges you by raising his hand in acknowledgment.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Return to the lobby.|auction]]</div></center><div class="psg">"I hear... a favor. Anybody got a better bid?" A flurry of haggling shouts rises around you, but the auctioneer's gaze has settled on you.
"A favor!" You call again. You reach into your pocket and raise the blackened talon from la Volpe high overhead.
"Sold!" The auctioneer booms, cracking his gavel across the top of his podium. "To the stranger giving me the finger!"
A hush falls over the crowd as you stand to approach the podium. The auctioneer gesticulates wildly. "The auction is over, amici!"</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[The head has been won.]]</div></center><div class="psg"><<set $auction to "won">><<set $foxgift to "false">>The auctioneer turns to you as the crowd begins, albeit reluctantly, to dissipate, helped along by the large guard from the lobby. You pass the auctioneer the gnarled talon, and he turns it over in his hands, examining the jut of bone from one end. "Incredible. Oh, I must preserve this right away. Take the head, my friend! You have earned it!"
He hands you a length of burlap, and watches closely as you wrap the head and hold it under one arm.
<center><i><div class="hl">You have acquired a <span class="emph2">severed head</span>.</div></i></center>
"Nothing more to see here!" he says, stowing the talon. "Thank you most graciously, friend!"</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[You thank him and return to the lobby.|auction]]</div></center><div class="psg">The auctioneer pauses, listening to the overlapping offers, then sighs and shakes his gavel at you in admonishment. "Your tokens have no use here! Come, now, what is this worth to you?"
The clamor of bids rises until it becomes unintelligible in its belligerence. After some time, the auctioneer bangs a gavel across his podium and declares the head sold to someone else.</div><<set $head1 to "yes">>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Return to the lobby.|auction]]</div></center><div class="psg">A fair trade, you suppose. The attendant dashes away to fetch your prizes, and is back as quickly as he departed, depositing your prizes into your unbloodied hand and tying a small bandage around your pinpricked finger.
The truffle is small and shaped unappealingly like an eyeball, complete with thin strings of licorice mimicking the optical nerve, but it is an uncommonly rich and delicious chocolate. It breaks apart and melts in your mouth, revealing a gooey center.
Never has vitreous fluid been more delicious.
<center><i><div class="hl">You have eaten the <span class="emph2">chocolate truffle</span>. You still have <span class="emph2">tetanus</span>.</div></i></center></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big>[[Consider another game.|Hear the rules of the games.]]</div>
<div class="w"><big>←</big> <span style="color: #fff;">[[Leave the tent.|west]]</span></div></center><div class="psg">"You might have noticed that business is booming now more than ever, what with how rife this place is with disease. If you are sick, you might have use for whatever pathogen you're incubating a while longer; you might even be one of the degenerates who wants to keep it forever. Or you might want me to cure you before the night ends — but I can only do so once, in return for a single coin. The <b><span class="emph">panacea</span></b> is toilsome and expensive to make, and I have only enough for the guests that've been invited."
She leans forward, and you can smell the heavy herbal perfumes wafting from her beak. "You have been invited, haven't you?"<<set $explain to "yes">></div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">"[[Of course.|medicine]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">A labyrinth of blue-leafed hedges leads to the buffet, its purpose defeated by a number of signs and streaks of paint revealing the correct path. Still, some distrustful revelers have strayed off the path and gotten lost; you can hear them scampering about in the maze around you as you walk. It would be quite eerie, if not for the occasional sound of someone vomiting, then pausing to emit a joyful ululation. This is a party, after all.
Having escaped the labyrinth, you find yourself standing before a long covered barn, its sides entirely open to allow access to a number of tables piled high with food and drink.
You've already eaten as much as you can eat.</div>
<center><div class="s"><big>↓</big> [[You return from whence you came.|north]]</div></center><div class="psg">When <<if $fox is "yes">>they<</if>><<if $woman is "yes">>she<</if>><<if $man is "yes">>he<</if>> <<if $fox is "yes">>release<</if>><<if ($man is "yes") or ($woman is "yes")>>releases<</if>> your arm, captivated by the parade as it filters through the gates, you draw inch by inch back into the crowd. Some part of you aches at leaving <<if $fox is "yes">>them<</if>><<if $woman is "yes">>her<</if>><<if $man is "yes">>him<</if>> alone, but it is not in your nature to be one of a pair, and you are craving solitude after the night's events.
You enjoyed your time together, but that time has come to an end.</div>
<center><<if ($leprosy is "yes") or ($veg is "yes") or ($meat is "yes") or ($bread is "yes") or ($joke is "yes") or ($tetanus is "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Exit la Mascherata.|ill]]</div><br><</if>><<if ($leprosy is not "yes") and ($veg is not "yes") and ($meat is not "yes") and ($bread is not "yes") and ($joke is not "yes") and ($tetanus is not "yes") or ($cure is "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Exit la Mascherata.|healthy]]</div><</if>></center><<audio "dance2" stop>><<audio "dance1" play>><div class="psg">As you return to the Piazza arm-in-arm, a reveler dashes past you, throwing handfuls of colorful coriandoli in their wake. "La sfilata!" they cry. A parade is about to begin.
The man pats your hand fondly. "Ah! What fun! Let's try for higher ground."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Watch the parade.|paradem]]</div></center><<audio "dance2" stop>><<audio "dance1" play>><div class="psg">As you return to the Piazza arm-in-arm, a reveler dashes past you, throwing handfuls of colorful coriandoli in their wake. "La sfilata!" they cry. A parade is about to begin.
La Volpe pats your hand fondly. "This should be charming."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Watch the parade.|paradef]]</div></center><div class="psg">In the distance, the music of several bands begins on a downbeat. In the cacophony, the man turns to you, pulling you close until your forehead nearly rests upon his. Your masks press together; his beak tilts to accommodate you.
"Please accept this gift," he whispers, and passes you something precious enfolded in a length of clean gauze.
<center><div class="hl"><i>You've earned l'adorazione delle peste.</i></div></center><<set $manheart to "true">>
Parade floats pass you by, accompanied by dancers, musicians, and acrobats. Each float is more astonishing and outrageous than the last — some are strewn with flowers, some cast entirely in gold, some trailing a substance very much like blood down the avenue of gates. Your companion is enthralled. Enchanted by a particularly pestilent float, he releases your arm and takes a step closer to the festivities.</div>
<center><<if ($leprosy is "yes") or ($veg is "yes") or ($meat is "yes") or ($bread is "yes") or ($joke is "yes") or ($tetanus is "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave with him.|illw]]</div><br><</if>><<if ($leprosy is not "yes") and ($veg is not "yes") and ($meat is not "yes") and ($bread is not "yes") and ($joke is not "yes") and ($tetanus is not "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave with him.|healthyw]]</div><br><</if>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Slip away in the crowd.|alone]]</div></center><div class="psg">In the distance, the music of several bands begins on a downbeat. In the cacophony, la Volpe turns to you, pulling you close until your forehead nearly rests upon theirs. The taste of static nearly overwhelms you, but you breathe them in greedily.
"Know how much I appreciate what you've done for me," they whisper, and passes you something precious enfolded in a scrap of purple silk. "I hope you'll treasure this as I treasure your gift. It is a piece of me."
<center><div class="hl"><i>You've earned l'affetto della volpe.</i></div></center><<set $foxheart to "true">>
Parade floats pass you by, accompanied by dancers, musicians, and acrobats. Each float is more astonishing and outrageous than the last — some are strewn with flowers, some cast entirely in gold, some trailing a substance very much like blood down the avenue of gates. Your companion is distracted, phlegmatic. Staring up at the moon, they release your arm and take a step closer to the festivities.</div>
<center><<if ($leprosy is "yes") or ($veg is "yes") or ($meat is "yes") or ($bread is "yes") or ($joke is "yes") or ($tetanus is "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave with them.|illw]]</div><br><</if>><<if ($leprosy is not "yes") and ($veg is not "yes") and ($meat is not "yes") and ($bread is not "yes") and ($joke is not "yes") and ($tetanus is not "yes")>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave with them.|healthyw]]</div><br><</if>><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Slip away in the crowd.|alone]]</div></center><div class="psg">Before long, the parade comes to and end, and you follow its path through the gates.
Your body feels battered, each footstep growing heavier as you pass through the gates, guided by the same crowd that entered with you and the boom of the announcer's voice.
<center><div class="announcer">The moon is low and the stars are dimming! Goodbye, my friends! You tired lot, you ought to rest after such a long night! I hope you found everything you came for.</div></center>
You are so tired. You are so weak. And yet — you feel satisfied. You have experienced so much of life tonight alone, including the threat of death — that tantalizing glimpse on the edge of a knife, in the scent of a poison. Life outside of this place is cruel, but sickness does not stick here. You decide to understand it while you can.
<<if $woman is "true">>The woman touches the back of your neck, then withdraws her hand, chuckling. "You're burning up. I hope you won't be leaving me so soon. You shouldn't — no one seems to stay ill in this country of mine. Something in the water, perhaps."<</if>><<if $man is "true">>The man leans against you, shoulder to shoulder, plodding along at the same slow pace. "It will pass, I think. Sickness always does, in this country. Strange, that, but I shan't complain. I only want to slough off what's been plaguing me."<</if>><<if $fox is "true">>La Volpe braces your waist with their free arm, supporting you with unexpected strength. "I hope you've had your fill. The Mascherata curse is fickle; its illnesses can change if you do not banish them. And as I've said before, I'd like to meet again. And again. And again, if you'll have me."<</if>>
</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Pass through the final gate.|end]]</div></center><div class="psg">Before long, the parade comes to and end, and you follow its path through the gates, led by the announcer's voice once more.
<center><div class="announcer">The moon is low and the stars are dimming! Goodbye, my friends! You tired lot, you ought to rest after such a long night! I hope you found everything you came for.</div></center>
You are tired, unfathomably so, but you feel so alive. Your health intact, you are content not to test fate in matters unknown to you. The law of this land, if it be law, is strange — but you will oblige it.
Part of you fears pain, fears any discomfort which does not relent. Dimly, you realize the frivolousness of such a holiday as this. Elsewhere, living things are dying in droves, suffering pain and loss you will never understand. You make light of that in your revelry — and yet, you revel all the same. You do not know what else to do. Perhaps it is perverse, but you feel so very painfully alive.
<<if $woman is "true">>The woman laces her fingers through yours. "You seem troubled. Whatever plagues you, put it out of your mind. You ought not to spoil this evening for yourself."<</if>><<if $man is "true">>The man leans his head against your shoulder and shuffles along beside you. "You smell different. Is something bothering you? Oh, it's always hard to leave, isn't it? At least we do not have to say goodbye so soon."<</if>><<if $fox is "true">>La Volpe turns and looks at you closely as you walk side-by-side through the widening gates. "You seem ill at ease." They pass a comforting hand over your shoulder. "The Mascherata has that effect on some. You aren't meant to question any of this, but I've never been able to help myself. What a life we all lead."<</if>>
</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Pass through the final gate.|end]]</div></center><div class="psg">Behind you, the gates clamor shut. The first evening of the Mascherata has ended.
Still, your mask remains firmly in place, even when you slide a finger along its edge in an attempt to dislodge it. You are breathing through its snout, seeing through its eyes, speaking through its mouth. It chose you as much as you chose it.
Make the most of your new face, dear friend.
You are a test subject, an experiment under a dome. The Mascherata, a petri dish — life and death manipulated on a whim.</div>
<center><div class="menulink">[[Credits]]</div></center><center><div class="psg"><div class="credits1"><b>written by</b><br><b>music by</b><br><b>tested by</b><br></div><div class="credits2"><a href="http://ricassofiction.itch.io/">GRIM</a><br><a href="http://incompetech.com/"><b>KEVIN MACLEOD</b></a><br>OLIVER</div>
<div class="cred">"Danse of Questionable Tuning," "Dance of Deception," "Dark Dance," "Ghost Dance," "Miris Magic Dance," "Netherworld Shanty," "Colorless Aura" (Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License) | Gate image courtesy of <a href="http://pluspng.com/gate-png-1196.html">PlusPNG</a></div></div>
<div class="title22">Happy Halloween!</div></center><div class="psg">With an exaggerated hush gesture toward the audience, Ruction tiptoes behind Racket and kneels on all fours behind him. You begin your approach, a little hesitantly, as Racket continues his story.
“The bull is coming right for me— hey, just like that! Yes indeed, he’s coming at me and coming at me with those big horns, sharp as the Devil’s, and then I just start screaming. I don't want to mislead you all; I'm not brave. But I’m thinking I could take him if I really had to, so I give him a little of this!”
Racket chops at you wildly with both hands, and though you did not expect the sudden onslaught, you block him with very little effort.
“And some of this!”
He lurches toward you.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[You manage to fend him off.]]</div></center><div class="psg">“Oh, yeah, a little, but he don’t mind. You haven’t seen our shows before, or something? C’mon!”
With an exaggerated hush gesture toward the audience, Ruction tiptoes behind Racket and kneels on all fours behind him. You begin your approach, a little hesitantly, as Racket continues his story.
“The bull is coming right for me— hey, just like that! Yes indeed, he’s coming at me and coming at me with those big horns, sharp as the Devil’s, and then I just start screaming. I don't want to mislead you all; I'm not brave. But I’m thinking I could take him if I really had to, so I give him a little of this!”
Racket chops at you wildly with both hands, and though you did not expect the sudden onslaught, you block him with very little effort.
“And some of this!”
He lurches toward you.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[You manage to fend him off.]]</div></center><div class="psg">It does not take much. He stumbles backward, and the backs of his knees hit Ructions’s body and start to buckle.
Racket lives up to his moniker, shrieking a colorful expletive as he tumbles over backwards off the platform and into the crowd, which disperses around him. As he lands, he turns an impressive series of somersaults before collapsing as if boneless upon the stage, his lanky length laid out flat. “That’s not how it happened!” He groans. “This doesn’t represent me!”
Ruction springs to his feet, grinning. The crowd is in hysterics, whooping and hollering. Through his theatrics, Racket is smiling faintly as well.
You realize that you've been laughing since you began to approach Racket. Beneath the mask, you become aware of your cheeks beginning to strain at the effort of such laughter. Your teeth are clenched in a tight grin, lips stretched nearly to the point of pain.
<center><i><div class="hl">You've developed <span class="emph2">risus sardonicus</span>.</div></i></center>
“My, my!” Ruction shouts. “We’ve got a real martial artist here, folks! Thanks, buddy!”
He ushers you gallantly off the podium, imploring you to step on Racket’s back as you go. The crowd howls with laughter. Somehow, though you can't put your finger on why, this foolish joke feels as though it would be a crime not to share.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Leave the comedians.|east]]</div></center><div class="psg">You know only that you are honored to have received an invitation to the first night's festivities — all are welcome, but many commoners like yourself are invited only after the second or third night has passed.
This year, the attendance lottery has spun fairly, and even the lowliest peasant might share festivities with the Baroness herself. Fortune must have smiled upon you, bold and bloody, a great gnashing of teeth.
The announcer's voice rings out over the crowd as it surges toward the gate, carrying you through the warm, seething current of bodies eager to proceed. There is no turning back now.
To gain entrance — invitation notwithstanding — you must choose a <b><span class="emph">new face</span></b>.</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> [[Select a mask.|mask]]</div></center><div class="psg">Through her grin and the residue of senseless mirth, she asks, "Would you like to return to the Piazza with me, my dear, or have you anything left to attend to first? I can wait."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">Extend an arm. "[[Shall we?|endw]]"</span></div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">Shake your head. "[[One moment, amica.|Piazza]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">Voice shivering with unrestrained excitement, he cocks his head and asks: "Will you accompany me to the Piazza now, or would you like to double back alone first? I'll wait."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">Extend an arm. "[[Shall we?|endm]]"</span></div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">Shake your head. "[[One moment, amico.|Piazza]]"</span></div></center><div class="psg">They watch you sidelong through dim fissures in their mask, eyes alight, fingers curling around your forearm gently. "Shall we adjourn to the Piazza together, or have you something to take care of first? I'm happy to wait."</div>
<center><div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">Extend an arm. "[[Shall we?|endf]]"</span></div>
<div class="in"><big>➵</big> <span style="color: #fff;">Shake your head. "[[One moment, volpe.|Piazza]]"</span></div></center>