{
#<!-- END STORY -->
(set: $endStoryEnabled to 0)
#<!-- MAP -->
(set: $currentLocationName to '')
(set: $currentFloorName to '')
(set: $currentSceneName to '')
(set: $currentMapImageName to '')
#<!-- PASSAGE LINKS -->
(set: $return to $startPassageLocation)
#<!-- OPTIONS -->
(set: $oReturn to 'Return.')
(set: $returnLink to "<div class='o'>(linkgoto: $oReturn, $return)</div>")
#<!-- SAVE AND LOAD -->
(set: $oSave to 'Save')
(set: $oLoad to 'Load')
(set: $oSaved to '<span class="b-grey">Saved</span>')
(set: $oLoadNoFile to '<span class="b-grey">Load</span>')
#<!-- MENU -->
(set: $gameInfo to "(print: $game's series): (print: $game's title)")
(set: $mapName to 'Map')
(set: $inventoryName to 'Inventory')
(set: $noteName to 'Notes')
(set: $observationName to 'Observations')
(set: $observationHidden to "<div class='grey'>—</div>")
#<!-- BUTTONS -->
(set: $close to "(linkgoto: 'Return', $return)")
(set: $oTop to "<div class='oc'>(linkrepeat: '^')[(goto-url: '#top')]</div>")
(set: $goToItemHeader to "(goto-url: '#itemHeader')")
(set: $endStoryRestart to "<div class='oc'>(linkrepeat: 'END')[(reload:)]</div>")
#<!-- SCORE -->
(set: $scoreItem to "(print: $score's itemCount)/(print: $score's itemMax) (print: $score's itemName)")
(set: $scoreItemDone to "**(print: $score's itemCount)/(print: $score's itemMax) (print: $score's itemName)**")
(set: $scoreEntry to "(print: $score's entryCount)/(print: $score's entryMax) (print: $score's entryName)")
(set: $scoreEntryDone to "**(print: $score's entryCount)/(print: $score's entryMax) (print: $score's entryName)**")
(set: $scoreNote to "(print: $score's noteCount)/(print: $score's noteMax) (print: $score's noteName)")
(set: $scoreNoteDone to "**(print: $score's noteCount)/(print: $score's noteMax) (print: $score's noteName)**")
(set: $scoreObservation to "(print: $score's observationCount)/(print: $score's observationMax) (print: $score's observationName)")
(set: $scoreObservationDone to "**(print: $score's observationCount)/(print: $score's observationMax) (print: $score's observationName)**")
}{
<header>
#(print: $game's title)
##<div class='game-series'>(print: $game's series)</div>
</header>
}
{
<div class='grid-card'>
<div class='col-card'>(display: 'bPortraitPlayerFeature')</div>
<div class='col-info-card'>(display: 'synopsis')<br>(display: 'displayTitleOptions')</div>
</div>
}{
(link: 'Begin a new story.')[(goto: $game's startPassage)]
}{
(link: 'Start the story over.')[(replace: ?textInfo)[(display: 'oStartGameNewConfirm')]]
}{
(linkgoto: 'Continue the current story.', $return)
}
<div class='m left'>Starting over means the game will reset, and you will lose unsaved progress made in your current game. Confirm if you would like to reset the game.</div>
<div class='o'>(link: 'Start the story over.')[(reload:)]</div>{
#<!-- CSS BY PASSAGE TAG -->
(print: "<script>$('tw-story').removeClass(\)</script>")
(if: (passage:)'s tags's length > 0)[(print: "<script>$('tw-story').addClass('" + (passage:)'s tags.join(' ') + "'\)</script>")]
#<!-- PASSAGE HISTORY -->
(unless: (passage:)'s tags contains 'menu' or (passage:)'s tags contains 'eventReturn' or (passage:)'s tags contains 'event')[(set: $return to (passage:)'s name)]
#<!-- MAIN HEADER -->
(unless: (passage:)'s tags contains 'eventReturn' or (passage:)'s tags contains 'event')[(display: 'navMenu')]
}
{
#<!-- RETURN LINK -->
(if: (passage:)'s tags contains 'eventReturn')[$returnLink]
(if: (passage:)'s tags contains 'endStory')[
(display: 'displayScoreNoLink')
$endStoryRestart
]
}
{
#<!-- PROGRESSION -->
(set: $dialogueArtrius0Count to 0)
(set: $dialogueArtrius0CountEnd to 3)
#<!-- ITEMS -->
(set: $itemTokenCount to 3)
#<!-- LOCATION -->
(set: $passageNameGift to 'The Exile')
#<!-- MAP -->
(set: $floorNone to '')
(set: $floor1 to 'First Floor - ')
(set: $floorB to 'Basement - ')
(set: $floorG to 'Ground Floor - ')
}{
#<!-- MAIN FOOTER -->
(if: (passage:)'s tags contains 'eventReturn' or (passage:)'s tags contains 'event')[<!--do nothing-->](else:)[(display: 'gameMenu')]
}{
(if: (passage:)'s tags contains 'menu')[
<footer><div class='grid-footer'>
<div class='col-footer-left'>(display: 'bGameInfo')</div>
<div class='col-footer-right'>(display: 'bClose')</div>
</div></footer>]
(elseif: (passage:)'s tags contains 'endStory')[
<footer><div class='grid-footer'>
<div class='col-footer-left'>(print: $game's series)</div>
<div class='col-footer-right'>(print: $game's title)</div>
</div></footer>
]
(else:)[
<footer><div class='grid-footer'>
<div class='col-footer-left'>(display: 'bGameInfo')</div>
<div class='col-footer-right'>(display: 'bSave')(display: 'bLoad')</div>
</div></footer>]
}{
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'journalMenu')[(linkgoto: "(print: $player's journal)", 'journalMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: "<span class='grey'>(print: $player's journal)</span>", '$return')]
}{
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'inventoryMenu')[(linkgoto: $inventoryName, 'inventoryMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: "<span class='grey'>$inventoryName</span>", '$return')]
}{
<a name='top'><header>
#(print: $player's name)'s (print: $player's journal)
</header>
}
{
#<!-- 7 -->
(if: $entryMusic's owned is 1)[(display: 'entryMusic')]
#<!-- 6 -->
(if: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(display: 'entryHide')]
#<!-- 5 -->
(if: $entryHome's owned is 1)[(display: 'entryHome')]
#<!-- 4 -->
(if: $entryAtFair's owned is 1)[(display: 'entryAtFair')]
#<!-- 3 -->
(if: $entryGoToFair's owned is 1)[(display: 'entryGoToFair')]
#<!-- 2 -->
(if: $entryGoToBed's owned is 1)[(display: 'entryGoToBed')]
#<!-- 1 -->
(display: 'entryFindGavril')
}$oTop{
<a name='top'><header>
#(print: $player's name)'s $inventoryName
</header>
}
{
<div class='grid-menu'>
<div class='col-list'>(display: 'itemList')</div>
<div class='col-info'>|textInfo>[]</div>
</div>
}{
#<!-- PLAYER -->
(set: $player to (dm:
'name', 'PLAYER NAME',
'nameFull', 'PLAYER NAME FULL',
'title', 'PLAYER TITLE',
'gender', 'PLAYER GENDER',
'portrait', '<div class="portrait-blank"></div>',
'portraitS', '<div class="portrait-blank small"></div>',
'portraitD', '<div class="portrait-blank decision"></div>',
'journal', 'JOURNAL',
'journalLC', 'JOURNAL',
'description', 'PLAYER DESCRIPTION'
))
#<!-- COMPANION -->
(set: $companionParty to (dm:
'companionCount', 0,
'hasCompanion1', 0
))
(set: $companionSelected to (dm:
'name', 'COMPANION NAME',
'nameFull', 'COMPANION NAME FULL',
'title', 'COMPANION TITLE',
'gender', 'COMPANION GENDER',
'portrait', '<div class="portrait-blank"></div>',
'portraitS', '<div class="portrait-blank small"></div>',
'portraitD', '<div class="portrait-blank decision"></div>',
'journal', 'COMPANION JOURNAL',
'journalLC', 'COMPANION JOURNAL',
'description', 'COMPANION DESCRIPTION'
))
(set: $companion1 to (dm:
'name', 'COMPANION 1 NAME',
'nameFull', 'COMPANION 1 NAME FULL',
'title', 'COMPANION 1 TITLE',
'gender', 'COMPANION 1 GENDER',
'portrait', '<div class="portrait-blank"></div>',
'portraitS', '<div class="portrait-blank small"></div>',
'portraitD', '<div class="portrait-blank decision"></div>',
'journal', 'COMPANION 1 JOURNAL',
'journalLC', 'COMPANION 1 JOURNAL',
'description', 'COMPANION 1 DESCRIPTION'
))
#<!-- PRIMARY CHARACTERS -->
(set: $marleau to (dm:
'name', 'Marleau',
'nameFull', 'Marleau Faire',
'title', 'The Acrobat',
'gender', 'male',
'portrait', '<div class="portrait-marleau-braces"></div>',
'portraitS', '<div class="portrait-marleau-braces small"></div>',
'portraitD', '<div class="portrait-marleau-braces decision"></div>',
'journal', 'Tasks',
'journalLC', 'tasks',
'description', 'The Acrobat is adaptive, orienting to motion and direction as they take him. He can find balance in mind and body, but he must work to maintain that medium, if he so chooses. Influences by powerful forces tempt him to bend to their wills, but he may not yet know which way he will sway.'
))
(set: $gavril to (dm:
'name', 'Gavril',
'nameFull', 'Gavril Corragain',
'title', 'The Shadow',
'gender', 'male',
'portrait', '<div class="portrait-gavril-street-scruff-hat"></div>',
'portraitS', '<div class="portrait-gavril-street-scruff-hat small"></div>',
'portraitD', '<div class="portrait-gavril-street-scruff-hat decision"></div>',
'journal', 'List',
'journalLC', 'list',
'description', "The Shadow is an outlaw, independent, instinctive, and impulsive. He takes advantage of opportunities as they come, shifting identities and wandering unmoored from society's pilings. As a lone wolf of many trades but of little faith, he has no inclination toward witchcraft, religions, or allegiances. His skills and experiences are many and diverse, but anchor in neither aspirations nor order leaves him aimless and adrift."
))
(set: $artrius to (dm:
'name', 'Artrius',
'nameFull', 'Artrius Alecsus',
'title', 'The Sage'
))
}{
(set: $endStory to (dm:
'name', 'End'
))
(set: $hour to (dm:
'nameStrings', 'Strings'
))
(set: $institution to (dm:
'name', 'Hemlock Weald Institution',
'forecourt', 'Forecourt',
'entranceHall', 'Entrance Hall',
'library', 'Library',
'cellblock', 'Cellblock',
'basementHall', 'Basement Hall',
'kitchen', 'Kitchen',
'yard', 'Yard',
'glade', 'Glade',
'forbiddenPassage', 'Forbidden Passage',
'musicHall', 'Music Hall',
'chapel', 'Chapel of the Circle'
))
(set: $forest to (dm:
'name', 'Harrow Les',
'path', 'Path'
))
(set: $village to (dm:
'name', 'Aspencroft',
'fair', 'Fairground',
'tokenBooth', 'Token Booth',
'pub', 'Pub',
'jungle', 'Kings of the Jungle',
'mermaid', 'The Invisible Mermaid',
'unicorn', 'The Unicorn Game'
))
}{
(set: $MARLEAU to "<span class='nt'>Marleau:</span>")
(set: $GAVRIL to "<span class='nt'>Gavril:</span>")
(set: $ARTRIUS to "<span class='nt'>Artrius:</span>")
(set: $BUTTERFLY to "<span class='nt'>Butterfly:</span>")
(set: $DRAGONFLY to "<span class='nt'>Dragonfly:</span>")
(set: $FAE to "<span class='nt'>Butterfly and Dragonfly:</span>")
(set: $BABA to "<span class='nt'>Baba:</span>")
(set: $MOTHER to "<span class='nt'>Mama:</span>")
}#IFID
FF8A2CDA-8E75-4EB2-A0E6-356F776CF4ED- Name for header passage is blank.
- Name for footer for return link in dynamic text is one space.
- Name for footer for game menu is two spaces.Main game menus.Game title, shown on START.{
<div class='o'>
(for: each _item, ...$inv)[(linkrepeat: _item's list)[(replace: ?textInfo)[(set: $item to _item)(display: 'itemDescription')$goToItemHeader]]]
</div>
}
<a name='itemHeader'>Character card portraits.{
(set: $inv to (a:))
(set: $item to (dm:
'name', 'ITEM NAME IN DESCRIPTION HEADER',
'list', 'ITEM NAME IN INVENTORY LIST',
'description', 'ITEM DESCRIPTION'
))
(set: $itemFlyer to (dm:
'name', 'Traveling Funfair Flyer',
'list', 'Traveling Funfair Flyer',
'description', "The vivid flyer art features an open circus tent bursting with children barely able to contain armfuls of sweets and plush prizes. The border depicts games of chance, a lion and a tiger, a white unicorn, fae and flowers, and a happy mermaid lounging inside an open clam, which itself is submerged inside a large glass tank of water. The illustrative text proclaims the most wondrous fun will be had at the funfair."
))
(set: $itemTicket to (dm:
'name', 'Token Ticket',
'list', 'Token Ticket',
'description', "Made of yellow paper and a stamped message, the ticket is a consolation prize handed to fairgoers who fail to win a round at the games. Although the ticket booth does not acknowledge the token tickets, the ticket itself bears the inscription that five tickets can be exchanged for one token."
))
(set: $itemTokens to (dm:
'name', 'Tokens',
'list', "Tokens ((print: $itemTokenCount))",
'description', "The funfair tokens are light wooden chips painted in solid yellow, although they are faded, dented, nicked, and scraped. According to signs around the fairground, the cost for participation is one funfair token per game or attraction.
Marleau has (if: $itemTokenCount > 1)[(print: $itemTokenCount) tokens](else:)[one token]."
))
(set: $itemPocketWatch to (dm:
'name', 'Pocket Watch',
'list', 'Pocket Watch',
'description', "This pocket watch is plain brass without a cover. The glass face is scuffed and foggy. Marleau likes the feel of the metal as he slides his fingers round and round the case body and along an unreadable etching on the back. When he holds the watch against his ear, the ticking sounds deeper, fills his head, and tingles down through his body in such the way the rumbling of Artrius's voice can."
))
(set: $itemMusicBox to (dm:
'name', 'Music Box',
'list', 'Music Box',
'description', "The wooden music box fits in the palm of Marleau's hand. A hinged lid can be opened to reveal the miniature figurine of a featureless mannequin standing in a neutral pose. A key on the underside of the box can be wound up and relased to make the mannequin rotate accompanied by the plinking of a melancholy tune."
))
(set: $itemSocks to (dm:
'name', "Pair of Socks",
'list', "Pair of Socks",
'description', "Artrius has mended this particular pair of Marleau's socks for the third time."
))
(set: $itemCoat to (dm:
'name', "Artrius's Duster",
'list', "Artrius's Duster",
'description', "The oilskin duster is hefty in weight and scent. Edges and hem worn to green, it smells like the old black forest, a musk of ancient barrows and tomes. Now within its protection, Marleau feels embraced, rather than smothered."
))
}{
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'portraitPlayer')[(linkgoto: "(display: 'portraitPlayerHover')", 'portraitPlayer')](else:)[(linkgoto: "(display: 'portraitPlayerHoverHighlighted')", $return)]
}{
<a name='top'><header>
#Portrait of (print: $player's title)
##(print: $player's nameFull)
</header>
}
{
<div class='grid-card'>
<div class='col-card'>(display: 'bPortraitPlayerFeature')</div>
<div class='col-info-card'>(print: $player's description)<br><br>$oTop</div>
</div>
}Messages using <div class='m'></div>{
<div class='m'>(if: $player's gender is 'male')[(print: $player's name) updated his (print: $player's journalLC).](elseif: $player's gender is 'female')[(print: $player's name) updated her (print: $player's journalLC).](else:)[(print: $player's name) updated their (print: $player's journalLC).]</div>
}{<span class='b'>
(link: $oSave)[
(if: (savegame: $savefile))[$oSaved]
(else:)['Error - Game was not saved.']
]</span>
}{<span class='b'>
(if: (saved-games:) contains $savefile)[
(link: $oLoad)[(loadgame: $savefile)]
(else:)['Error - No game could be loaded.']]
(else:)[$oLoadNoFile]</span>
}<div class='card'>(print: $player's portrait)<div class='card-name'><h1>(print: $player's title)</h1>(print: $player's nameFull)</div></div>{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's forecourt)
</header>
}
{
(if: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(display: 'forecourt1')](else:)[(display: 'forecourt0')]
}
<div class='o'>(display: 'toPassage')</div>
<div class='o'>(display: 'toHall')(display: 'toYard')</div>{
(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneYard' or (passage:)'s name contains 'scenePassage' or (passage:)'s name contains 'passage')[(linkgoto: 'Go to the front of the institution.', 'locationInstitution')](else:)[(linkgoto: 'Exit the institution.', 'locationInstitution')]
}(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneHall')[(if: $entryGoToBed's owned is 0)[{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toLibrary')
</div>
}
{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toCellblock')
(display: 'toBasement')
</div>
}
{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toYard')
(display: 'toForecourt')
</div>
}](elseif: $entryGoToFair's owned is 0)[{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toLibrary')
(display: 'toCellblock')
</div>
}](elseif: $endStoryEnabled is 0)[{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toCellblock')
</div>
}
{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toYard')
(display: 'toForecourt')
</div>
}]](else:)[{<div class='o'>(display: 'toHall')</div>}]{
(print: $entryFindGavril's title)
(print: $entryFindGavril's description)
}{
<header>
#(print: $endStory's name)
</header>
}
Marleau opened one side of the stained glass doors. Artrius was seated on a chair on the stage, head bowed, feet apart. The (if: $observation's artriusMusic is 1)[violoncello](else:)[large fiddle-like instrument from the library] stood between his knees within his embrace, its neck leaning into his so that it seemed no one would be able to hear the whispers between them. Even so, the music they made together, they shared. Artrius played the instrument from behind. One hand weaved the bow across the body, and the other tread upon its throat, fingers quivering.
Dawn engulfed him within a withered rose-pink haze. Elderoak branches overhead opened pockets of sunlight in their swaying, and their mossy bodies crept through the windows and made out of the musician a living painting. Marleau climbed onto the stage into the scene, towing the duster along. He enclosed himself within the coat, which completed the sight, sound, and scent of the man before him.
A shadow unlike the trees and vegetation wavered among them. Gavril drifted over the underbrush on the other side of the windows. He was half-dressed, bruised over the head and brow. Gashes and bite marks split the tattoos on arms. He gripped the ironwork and gazed into the music hall between the bars, passing from one window to the next. At the last pillar of light, he sank down among roots, still clinging and watching. The lament from the (if: $observation's artriusMusic is 1)[violoncello](else:)[instrument] was one of pulling, drawing individual exiles who, in their own ways and for their own reasons, had come to walk the same paths together.
Artrius's melody plunged into harsher depths, moaning terrible sounds which were enthralling by their dreadfulness. Yet his motions were reserved and mechanical, as if he were both in control and had been taken control of. It occurred to Marleau that the (if: $observation's artriusMusic is 1)[violoncello's](else:)[instrument's] resonance could have been the sound of Artrius mourning. He bore almost no expression beyond that of the exertion necessary to produce a grave and tremulous tone. Almost. From nothing Marleau could see outward but from an imagination inspired by vibrations coursing through his own body, he discerned the fragile hints of a longing tender and sweet in Artrius's.
The weight of the coat, or weakness in Marleau's knees, compelled him to sit on the stage where he had stood. Although Artrius may have rejected love, the same human flesh imprisoned him as it did anyone. The music unknotted and descended further, rumbling beneath Marleau's palms and the broken floorboards he sat on. It stormed the deepest roots of the forest. Marleau abandoned himself to reveries of those buried traces in the sage, for it pleased him very much to behold the vulnerability, and to witness the demise, of the perfect man.{
<div class='grid-decision'>
(if: $inv contains $itemTokens)[(linkgoto: "(display: 'optionToken')", 'selectedToken')]
(if: $inv contains $itemTicket)[(linkgoto: "(display: 'optionTicket')", 'selectedTicket')]
(if: $inv contains $itemPocketWatch)[(linkgoto: "(display: 'optionPocketWatch')", 'selectedPocketWatch')]
(linkgoto: "(display: 'optionMusicBox')", 'selectedMusicBox')
</div>
}{
<div class='grid-decision-option'>
<div class='col-option-info'>Give Artrius the pocket watch.</div>
</div>
}{
<div class='grid-decision-option'>
<div class='col-option-info'>Give Artrius a token.</div>
</div>
}{
<header>
#(print: $artrius's nameFull)
##(print: $artrius's title)
###$passageNameGift
</header>
}
Artrius acknowledged the pocket watch in Marleau's palm but did not take it. Marleau noticed then an everyday detail which, by that very commonplace existence, had gone unnoticed any other day: the chain link glittering from a button on the sage's waistcoat. He could not be sure whether he blushed or blanched. Of course, he thought, but shook the fluster building up in his head. What he could be sure of, perhaps, was that Artrius would appreciate the forethought of being given and owning an additional timepiece.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU In case you lose the one you have.</div>
(display: 'giftEnd'){
<header>
#(print: $artrius's nameFull)
##(print: $artrius's title)
###$passageNameGift
</header>
}
Artrius acknowledged the token in Marleau's palm but did not take it. Marleau gazed upon the wooden chip and realized how trivial it appeared. It could have served as an artifact, a documentation of a particular funfair in a particular place in history. It could have significance now and in the future when least expected. Marleau was sure, he thought, that he could convince Artrius so and only had to use the right words. An academic phrase. A scientific example.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU You can keep it. Like a lucky coin.</div>
(display: 'giftEnd')
{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'oLoadGame')
(display: 'oStartGame')
</div>
}{
<div class='m'>(print: $item's name) added to inventory.</div>
}{
(set: $item to $itemTokens)
(if: $inv contains $itemTokens)[(set: $itemTokenCount to it + 3)(display: 'messageItemAdd')](else:)[(display: 'invAdd')]
}{
<div class='m'>(print: $item's name) removed from inventory.</div>
}{
(set: $item to $itemTokens)
(display: 'invRemove')
}<div class='card-small hover-opacity'>(print: $player's portraitS)</div>{
<div class='m'>(print: $player's name) noted (print: $note's name).</div>
}{
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'noteMenu')[(linkgoto: $noteName, 'noteMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: "<span class='grey'>$noteName</span>", '$return')]
}{
<a name='top'><header>
#(print: $player's name)'s $noteName
</header>
}
{
<div class='grid-menu'>
<div class='col-list'>(display: 'noteList')</div>
<div class='col-info'>|textInfo>[]</div>
</div>
}{
<div class='o'>
(for: each _item, ...$noteList)[(linkrepeat: _item's name)[(replace: ?textInfo)[(set: $note to _item)(display: 'noteDescription')$goToItemHeader]]]
</div>
}
<a name='itemHeader'>{
(set: $noteList to (a:))
(set: $note to (dm:
'name', 'NOTE NAME',
'description', 'NOTE DESCRIPTION'
))
(set: $noteLanguage to (dm:
'name', 'Language Lessons',
'description', "Lorcis laded Marleau and Asylon with lessons in Scarsk and Archaic Servecant in addition to their Alaisean reading comprehension. He had introduced Scarsk first because it used an alphabet almost identical to Alaisean, for they both descended from Archaic Servecant. Ancient people of southern Scarsgar and northern Caireleon--the border region with the endless conflicts--spoke the same ancestor language, but as the population dispersed, it evolved differently in each divergent group. Although Archaic Servecant formed the foundation around the empire, it was a dying language. Small communities on the Scarsgaran-Caireleonic border, scientific terminology, religious chants and prayers, and hidden witches in the forest kept it from vanishing altogether.
Scarsk rumbled from the deep organs out, grievous yet also cozy. Marleau could make the consonants in the depths of his throat but became tangled by the trilled Rs. Although he could bend his back in somersaults or command his timing in flight, his tongue fumbled and proved to be his weakest muscle. Exercises ended in breathlessness, but he persisted. He longed to one day make secrets with Artrius in his mother tongue."
))
(set: $noteWaterfall to (dm:
'name', 'Waterfall',
'description', "On warmer days, the witches and rogue might sometimes wash themselves under a small waterfall at the bounds of the institution. Lately, the witches had been bathing indoors for water heated by the stove. Artrius had arrived into the coven in the late autumn, when orange and red trees began to shed among evergreens. One early morning not too long ago, Marleau had happened to look over the ledge which turned the stream into a cascade, and he saw their new friend before the waterfall. Artrius stood at the edge of the shallow pool, unclothed, anointing each part of himself in oil.
The sunlight was fond of his body. His hands spread the light over his skin, finishing the broad curves of his muscles with it. It softened old scars as well as the bloody crisscrosses laid upon his back. The shared glow seemed sacred and secret, and Marleau thought he should not have been watching, to not come between the joining of the heavens and this earth.
Artrius retrieved a curved metal tool from a pile of his belongings and drew it across his shoulder and arm in deep, full strokes. The oil rippled onto the blade, then was flicked away, as if aged dirty skin were being sheared off to expose new clean skin beneath. He set the blade upon his shoulder, preparing to scrape it down his back and over the red wounds glistening there. Then his black eyes--never hostile, never friendly, never deceived--rose to meet Marleau's. Marleau ran away.
He sat with Asylon in the library as lessons with Lorcis began. Artrius returned from the stream fully clothed and smelling like clean water and trees, and he made no signs of having recognized their encounter. Even if they could pretend it had not happened, visions of Artrius under the waterfall would come to Marleau unbidden, yet not unwelcomed."
))
(set: $noteMusic to (dm:
'name', 'Songs of Doom',
'description', "Artrius had said music was one of the many languages--and many in itself as well--that allowed humans to return to the Old Ways. People could communicate with each other without words, or make powerful effects through words sung. Everyday music, such as from a court ensemble or a fiddler in a ditch, and music for occasions like weddings, funerals, and war could invoke all sorts of phenomena. The significance of this phenomena in shaping human interactions with each other as well as with their gods, demons, and spirits could be found in myths and legends. Voices were especially common in folklore. The Leshy would whisper promises to children to lure them into the forest, where he would abduct them and turn them into animals or thorny shrubs. Rusalkyn's songs brought people into the water, where they would be embraced and then drowned. The Dullahan would raise high his own severed head, which sang a list of the names of heathens he would be taking to the pits that night.
Even humans could harness doom in song. A secret sect of Calaiean monks carried out Calaiel's judgment through their chants. It was in their name--the Instruments of Calaiel. An Instrument chanted plainsong, as Artrius called it, moments before offering the sacrifice a bullet to the back of the head or a misericorde through the heart. There was significance in which chants were uttered and which direction the chosen was oriented to the deliverer. Marleau relished finding suspected instances of Instrument work in the papers. Several readers would write in to the editors their responses to the article, concluding the deed in question was that of a counterfeit attempt, rather than an authentic Instrument sacrifice, for sometimes there might have been two bullets dispensed, or the stabbing was more into the lung than the heart. Others would claim they had heard frightening chanting on that night of the murder at the time and on the very street they happened to be crossing on their route home from the pub. Sometimes a victim's timely death had been long in the making. Sometimes it was Calaiel's mercy. Professors and priests and grocers and dockhands jumped in on solving the mysterious killings, capitalizing on general public knowledge of Instrument rituals. Marleau had kept some of the more extreme or eloquent samples that the papers had published."
))
(set: $noteTheOldWays to (dm:
'name', 'The Old Ways',
'description', "Ivie had told Marleau that the Old Ways were not lost, only changing. When he asked her what the Old Ways were, she said that it was hard to explain, but it was not just a way of life or a period of time--it was something inside each and every thing, just locked away and unrecognizable until the perfect and fleeting moment it became known. For people in the past, who lived myths and legends, the Old Ways could have been external, like miracles or effects made by the gods, demons, animals, plants, and spirits inhabiting inanimate objects. Now, with people turning to science and industry, the Old Ways were becoming something internal, a personal story of self-identity for each body and a refuge not from the wrath of gods but from the encroaching of other people. For Ivie, the Old Ways were people's ability to commune with primordial demons, such as talking birds, weeping trees, and the Pumpkin Prince, by bringing themselves into a state of instinct and desire. The Handmaiden knew the Old Ways as the rising of ancestral blood, when people readopted the forms of animals and strange creatures and gained power that was normally dormant within them. It seemed true nature was a beastly and feral thing."
))
(set: $noteTheLeftPart to (dm:
'name', 'The Left Part',
'description', "Marleau once had long curls which Ivie liked to grab. She would use an atomizer to mist a nice fragrance into his hair, then ruffle it up. When they were selling her wares at the black market in Gallowvalsk, she had made him out to be a little lost prince, or common fisherboy, as the hair could be styled to suit either persona when paired with an appropriate hat. At first, Marleau enjoyed wearing different hats and flowy dresses, tickled by the smoothness of the fabric running over his skin. With his old troupe, he had found comfort behind makeup. He could show the audience someone they wanted to see, and when he looked into a mirror, he saw someone else too. Yet now, the costumes seemed silly if he were not on a stage, since he was not an actor and merely helped sort Ivie's inventory while she did all the hawking and bartering.
When Artrius came to live with them in the institution, Marleau asked Ivie to cut his hair short, like their new friend's. She flourished the shears and said drastic measures were the trade of barbers. Barbers used to do more than cut hair. They would give manicures, dress wounds, perform surgical operations and amputations, apply leeches, and extract teeth. As she snipped off clumps of his hair and blew the brown feathers off his neck, she told some gruesome stories, like the one barber who carved a blood grin on a friend who had wronged him.
She did not style it to an exact replication of Artrius's, but it was enough, and he rubbed some pomade in it and parted it on the left. In the mirror, he witnessed the emergence of a new, grave wonder. His back seemed straighter, his shoulders broader, and as he raised his chin, his neck and lips revealed their soft curves, gracefully defined like in the museum paintings.
Lorcis brought him to a tailor in the city. Gavril showed him how to polish his new shoes. Asylon gave him some of her favorite colonge and said he looked nice, and she almost never gave gifts or compliments. Even the Handmaiden paid him some attention, asking him how old he was, and he told her, then she walked away, ending what little conversation they had just had.
Artrius made no acknowledgement. Marleau had not expected him to."
))
(set: $notePossession to (dm:
'name', 'Possession and Sickness',
'description', "Ivie had said that different kinds of demons could live anywhere, in anything, such as in the ceiling or inside a human body. A demon might play with the body just because it could, then it might leave if it wanted to. The possessed could do all sorts of things they could not do otherwise, such as crawl upside-down on the ceiling or spin their heads a full circle round. Being possessed was like having a disease with a personality. If a demon felt particularly attached to its host, it might remain in the body till it played it to death. Perhaps it could even have been so obsessive as to keep the corpse.
The Handmaiden's descriptions of ailments were less about demons and more about a state of being. She spoke once of the wolf disease lycanthropy. People who were bitten or scratched by sick wolves might contract the disease. Symptoms were panic and confusion, aversion to water, and foaming at the mouth. They got violent muscle contractions and lost coordination. Eventually, the infected would start craving blood and flesh and lash out at people because their brains were changing them into wolves, although they were still just humans. Once the early symptoms showed, it was too late to help them. There was no cure. They appeared senseless to all but pain, agony, and insatiable hunger, but the Handmaiden said they had not become senseless, only bearers of a different knowledge.
Marleau did not know what had made Gavril drop to the ground in a fit, only that it seemed he might have been eternally damned one way or another."
))
(set: $noteGame to (dm:
'name', 'Hunters and Heathens',
'description', "On the road between destinations, Marleau and the other urchins in his old troupe would have to collect firewood for camp. Around the campfire when they got a dallying to themselves, they would talk about adventures and play hunters and heathens. They used a stick with its tip alight from the fire to draw a three-by-three square grid in the dirt, then reignited the stick as necessary to proceed making their marks in turn. The hunter made circles, and the heathen made crosses. The goal was to have three of your own marks in a row. The heathen went first. The reasoning, they told him, was that heathens were aggressors and witchhunters were avengers. Asylon said heathens went first because they were indigenous and witchhunters, colonizers.
Marleau often volunteered to play as the hunter so Asylon could be the heathen. She said there were well-researched strategies to winning, but she would not tell him the secrets. He was supposed to uncover them himself by watching her win game after game, but he began to suspect he was simply a poor player or that he were being expertly conned."
))
(set: $noteMother to (dm:
'name', 'The Skeleton Lady',
'description', "All Marleau's mother had to do was sit in a cage and gaze at the curious audience. She was not supposed to speak. Sometimes she would snarl and slip her arm and shoulder between the bars to make needlers jump back, to show them that the Skeleton Lady could very well slide right through if she wanted. The circus took them places. They were constantly fleeing trouble but then made trouble wherever they went.
The other urchins played with the notion of running away from the circus forever. They had invited Marleau to join their witchhunter party. During day school round the pastor's caravan, they took scriptures as handbooks for heroes. They said going out into the world on their own to save lost souls was their destiny. Yet they were very young, and those moments of inspiration were contained to fireside swagger and spontaneous dares which tested faith and loyalties. Marleau did not feel drawn to their destiny. Besides, he could not abandon his mother to become a witchhunter. She had an escape plan of her own.
While his mother was devout, she had been too overwhelmed by her own troubles to manage instilling in him a likewise regiment. She obsessed over purging herself of the sin of indulgence, and she would not let him in to her suffering beyond asking him to hold her hair while she doubled over the wash basin. She had said Marleau was so fortunate and spoiled to live untroubled by her sins and to not understand the things she sacrificed for his carefree days. Red tickets granted no compensation for her but for the circus, the ringmaster, the pastor, the custodians and the scullions. Not for the freaks.
His mother had been saving a separate cache of private earnings tucked under their bed. Money from the other men. She revealed this treasure, though he already knew about the men and the money. On his birthday, she said he was grown enough for new responsibilities, so she was allowing him to share her burdens. He was supposed to be quiet, to keep their secret. The curtain over their bed floated between them, and she laid a hand upon his cheek, carrying to it the white lace caught in her fingernails. He felt the lace, a scratchy linen cold in his mother's palm. It sopped up his tears, he remembered. Sometimes, it was someone else's hand.
Not a month after he had promised to keep the secret, he awakened one bright rainy morning and his mother did not. The troupe provided her the honor of a Calaiean burial. They stripped the wagon in case of infectious diseases and found her money. They used it to pay off the burial debt. The caravan pastor tried to console him but was only prying for answers, confirmation. Marleau spoke not a word of his mother's men. He did not need to. It seemed everyone already knew, and he thought how simpleminded he had been to have believed otherwise."
))
}{
(if: (saved-games:) contains $savefile)[
(link: 'Load the last saved story.')[(loadgame: $savefile)]
(else:)['Error - No saved story could be loaded.']]
(else:)[<!--do nothing-->]
}<div class='feature'>(display: 'portraitPlayerFeatureNoHover')</div>
#(print: $item's name)
(print: $item's description)
$oTop
#(print: $note's name)
(print: $note's description)
$oTopManage items.Manage notes.Manage journal entries.{
(set: $entry to (dm:
'title', 'ENTRY TITLE',
'description', 'ENTRY DESCRIPTION',
'owned', 0
))
(set: $entryFindGavril to (dm:
'title', '#1. Find Gavril.',
'description', "There's a traveling funfair at Aspencroft. I asked Artrius if he would go with me, but he didn't want to go. He suggested I ask Gavril.
",
'owned', 0
))
(set: $entryGoToBed to (dm:
'title', '#2. Go to bed.',
'description', "Gavril fell ill before I could ask him to go to the fair with me. I'm not sure anymore if I still want to go.
",
'owned', 0,
'scored', 0
))
(set: $entryGoToFair to (dm:
'title', '#3. Go to Aspencroft.',
'description', "Gavril woke me up early and said we're going to the fair. The rain's gone, and the sun's out, but it's still foggy as the pits.
",
'owned', 0
))
(set: $entryAtFair to (dm:
'title', '#4. Find something to do.',
'description', "We're at the fair, but it isn't quite what I imagined it would be. Gavril already left me to drown at the bar. I suppose I should make the most of my time here.
",
'owned', 0
))
(set: $entryHome to (dm:
'title', '#5. Go home.',
'description', "The puppet show wasn't even on the bill. At least I got a souvenir out of it.
",
'owned', 0
))
(set: $entryHide to (dm:
'title', '#6. Find a place to be alone.',
'description', "What if he comes after me? I have to get away from him. Go somewhere. Somewhere where no one else goes.
",
'owned', 0
))
(set: $entryMusic to (dm:
'title', '#7. Look for the source of the music.',
'description', "What a sorrowful sound. Where is it coming from?
",
'owned', 0
))
}{
<nav>
<div class='nav-left'><div class='b'>
(display: 'bMap')
(display: 'bInventory')
(display: 'bJournal')
(display: 'bNotes')
(display: 'bObservations')
</div></div>
<div class='nav-right'>
(display: 'cardMenu')
</div>
</nav>
}{
(display: 'bPortraitPlayer')
(if: $companionParty's companionCount > 0)[
(if: $companionParty's hasCompanion1 is 1)[(display: 'bPortraitCompanion1')]
]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's library)
</header>
}
This time, they discovered a barrel of heads bobbing in water, like plump rotten apples. There was no mystery. Witches. Rose petals laced the water, and the eye sockets and mouths were stuffed with bundles of herbs and flowers, now wilted. Festive strings tied in knots plaited the heads together by their hair the garlic way. Far from a simple beheading. Ritual, the papers said.
Marleau turned the scissors carefully round the corner of the story. The rain and wind picked up just then, brought in a scent of wet evergreens through the open windows, and lifted the paper. The scissors snagged and tore across the photo and article.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Fucking hole.</div>
A quietness following the patter of rain alerted him to company. Artrius had stopped writing. He started up again shortly. Marleau had settled in the library to cut up newspapers at the great table, opposite the end from the sage. Firelight from the hearth trimmed him with shadows. His eyes were cast down upon whatever he was writing and looked unfilled, dark and hollow.
Marleau had a question but was not certain of how to go about asking it. A drifter in the forest carrying a whole sack of flyers had given him one of them. He had scrolled it up and tucked it snug in the back of his trousers under his braces for the whole day. It was an advertisement. A traveling funfair. Marleau considered it, but he was sorry Lorcis and the sisters were away at the city. The Handmaiden, too, but he would not have asked her. He would have liked to ask Artrius. Artrius, might you take me to the fair? Artrius, can we go to the fair? Artrius, let's go to the fair together. No, together was redundant. Let's go to the fair.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU There's a thing going on in Aspencroft...</div>
He cleared the newspaper and his notebook before him and pulled the flyer from his trousers. He smoothed it on the table where Artrius might see it if he happened to look up.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU A fair. A traveling one. Tomorrow's their last day.</div>
Marleau stared at the flyer and listened to Artrius's pen on the paper and the writing pad beneath it.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Want to come?</div>
He imagined the flyer in colors: a lion and tiger, a unicorn and fae, and a mermaid. The funfair promised games, rides, exotic foods, entertainers and performers, acts and skits. What would Artrius do at the funfair, anyway, Marleau thought. It would be muddy or even cancelled if the dripping turned into a downpour by the morning. They would be disappointed should they trudge the whole way to Aspencroft only to find the troupe packing for the road. Worse yet, such a time wasted would have been his grand idea to begin with.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS I will be engaged tomorrow.</div>
Artrius continued writing. Pelts of hearthfire and rain resumed after the heaviness of his voice passed. Marleau wanted to ask what he would be engaged with, but Artrius lay the paper aside on the table, took a deep breath as if writing had made him forget to breathe, then continued working on a new piece of paper. He did not once turn his eyes up. After dedicating another moment to a paragraph, he seemed to reconsider the importance of the event to Marleau, although Marleau could not attest to its significance in the great scheme of things, such as war, famine, and chores.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Perhaps you will ask Corragain to accompany you.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU I suppose I will.</div>
Marleau rolled up the flyer and secured it in his trousers. He handled the scissors under the table and pressed the blades up against his thumb, enough to pinch, but the scissors were dull enough. He did not need the suggestion. There would have been no one else at the institution to ask other than the rogue. He doubted he would have been allowed to bring along Calberus.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS During your excursion, I trust you will be prudent attending your mannerisms and conduct, including the tone of your address, before the adversity of his fellowship.</div>
Marleau gave Artrius the satisfaction of a hum of agreement, thinking he understood the warning. Artrius used Gavril when other options inconvenienced him and for bothersome tasks. Marleau supposed his asking for accompaniment to the funfair was just that. Inconvenient and bothersome.
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Go look for Gavril.', 'sceneLibrary')</div>{
(linkgoto: 'Enter the music hall.', 'endStory')
}{
(set: $score to (dm:
'itemName', 'Items',
'entryName', 'Entries',
'noteName', '$noteName',
'observationName', '$observationName',
'itemCount', 0,
'entryCount', 0,
'noteCount', 0,
'observationCount', 0,
'itemMax', 7,
'entryMax', 7,
'noteMax', 8,
'observationMax', '(print: $observation.size)'
))
}{
(set: $score's noteCount to it + 1)
}{
(set: $score's itemCount to it + 1)
}{
<div class='grid-score'>
<div class='b'>(if: $score's itemCount is not $score's itemMax)[(linkgoto: $scoreItem,'inventoryMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: $scoreItemDone,'inventoryMenu')]</div>
<div class='b'>(if: $score's entryCount is not $score's entryMax)[(linkgoto: $scoreEntry,'journalMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: $scoreEntryDone,'journalMenu')]</div>
<div class='b'>(if: $score's noteCount is not $score's noteMax)[(linkgoto: $scoreNote,'noteMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: $scoreNoteDone,'noteMenu')]</div>
<div class='b'>(if: $score's observationCount is not $observation.size)[(linkgoto: $scoreObservation,'observationMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: $scoreObservationDone,'observationMenu')]</div>
</div>
}
{
(set: $score's entryCount to it + 1)
}{
(if: $entryFindGavril's owned is 0)[
(set: $entryFindGavril's owned to 1)
(display: 'addScoreEntry')
]
}{
(set: $observation to (dm:
'leaveFlyer', 0,
'artriusPlans', 0,
'artriusSurnames', 0,
'artriusMusic', 0,
'calberusWork', 0,
'libraryLateNight', 0,
'gavrilTheatre', 0,
'gavrilNight', 0,
'gavrilSmoke', 0,
'fairToken0', 0,
'fairToken1', 0,
'fairJungle', 0,
'fairMermaid', 0,
'fairUnicorn', 0,
'gavrilForest', 0,
'gladeSwing', 0,
'calberusOffering', 0,
'calberusFinished', 0
))
#<!-- Observation Text in Menu -->
(set: $obsLeaveFlyer to "<div class='bullet'>Left the funfair flyer on the library table.</div>")
(set: $obsArtriusPlans to "<div class='bullet'>Talked with Artrius about his plans.</div>")
(set: $obsArtriusSurnames to "<div class='bullet'>Talked with Artrius about surnames.</div>")
(set: $obsArtriusMusic to "<div class='bullet'>Learned about the violoncello.</div>")
(set: $obsCalberusWork to "<div class='bullet'>Saw the basket Calberus had started making.</div>")
(set: $obsLibraryLateNight to "<div class='bullet'>Observed Artrius looking after Gavril in the late night.</div>")
(set: $obsGavrilTheatre to "<div class='bullet'>Talked with Gavril about plays.</div>")
(set: $obsGavrilNight to "<div class='bullet'>Talked with Gavril about the previous night.</div>")
(set: $obsGavrilSmoke to "<div class='bullet'>Asked Gavril for a cigarette.</div>")
(set: $obsFairToken0 to "<div class='bullet'>Took some tokens.</div>")
(set: $obsFairToken1 to "<div class='bullet'>Took more tokens.</div>")
(set: $obsFairJungle to "<div class='bullet'>Got accused of being a witch.</div>")
(set: $obsFairMermaid to "<div class='bullet'>Saw the invisible mermaid.</div>")
(set: $obsFairUnicorn to "<div class='bullet'>Watched the unicorn game.</div>")
(set: $obsGavrilForest to "<div class='bullet'>Found Gavril with the token booth attendant.</div>")
(set: $obsGladeSwing to "<div class='bullet'>Sat on the swing.</div>")
(set: $obsCalberusOffering to "<div class='bullet'>Made an offering to Calberus.</div>")
(set: $obsCalberusFinished to "<div class='bullet'>Saw Calberus's pie.</div>")
}{
(set: $score's observationCount to it + 1)
}Manage observations.{
(set: $observation's leaveFlyer to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}Manage companions.{
#<!-- Add one to number of companions in player's party -->
(set: $companionParty's companionCount to it + 1)
#<!-- Display message that companion joined -->
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'title')[(display: 'messageCompanionAdd')]
}{
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'portraitCompanion1')[(linkgoto: "(display: 'portraitCompanion1Hover')", 'portraitCompanion1')](else:)[(linkgoto: "(display: 'portraitCompanion1HoverHighlighted')", $return)]
}{
<a name='top'><header>
#Portrait of (print: $companion1's title)
##(print: $companion1's nameFull)
</header>
}
{
<div class='grid-card'>
<div class='col-card'>(display: 'bPortraitCompanion1Feature')</div>
<div class='col-info-card'>(print: $companion1's description)<br><br>$oTop</div>
</div>
}<div class='feature'>(display: 'portraitCompanion1FeatureNoHover')</div><div class='card-small hover-opacity'>(print: $companion1's portraitS)</div><div class='card'>(print: $companion1's portrait)<div class='card-name'><h1>(print: $companion1's title)</h1>(print: $companion1's nameFull)</div></div>Old age and an incomplete history shaped the institution. And danger. Lorcis had asked Marleau to tread lightly on the premises for his safety, but he guessed the warlock also hoped to preserve any parts left standing of the old building.
A stream ran alongside the building and ended in a modest waterfall, feeding an overgrowth of various trees and shrubs--some with irritating foliage, some with thorns--up and down its length. Asylon had shown Marleau a path through the vegetation to one of the forbidden areas of the building. An elderoak had been split over the wall, and while the upper half had long died, new growth sprouted out of its trunk and forced through the lower portion of the wall until it crumbled. From this opening, one could access the most hallowed halls of the institution.
{
(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneCellblock')[(linkgoto: 'Go downstairs to the entrance hall.', 'sceneHall')]
(elseif: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneBasement')[(linkgoto: 'Go upstairs to the entrance hall.', 'sceneHall')]
(elseif: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneYard')[(linkgoto: 'Go into the entrance hall.', 'sceneHall')]
(elseif: $entryGoToBed's owned is 1 and $entryGoToFair's owned is 0)[(linkgoto: $oReturn, 'sceneHall')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the entrance hall.', 'sceneHall')]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's entranceHall)
</header>
}
{
(if: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(display: 'hall2')]
(elseif: $entryGoToBed's owned is 1 and $entryGoToFair's owned is 0)[(display: 'hall1')]
(else:)[(display: 'hall0')]
}
(display: 'toInstitutionScenes')Along with windows bordering the narrow entry, and another high window above the frame, holes in the walls and ceiling leaked rain. The institution seemed wet, even without rain, because the morning dew would seep in to help turn white walls yellow, then green, then black. In the night, the cooler temperatures kept the dampness festering.
The library and parlour doors were opposite one another. Marleau associated the parlour with Asylon, as her card table and the apparatuses of her mysticism and investigations were stored there, but the room was also their secondary lecture hall, with the library being the primary. Marleau could look into the library through the windows along the wall. He liked to sit high on the stairs going up the first floor for an ideal overhead view.
<div class='card-decision'>(print: $player's portraitD)</div>{
(set: $player's portrait to '<div class="portrait-marleau-street"></div>')
(set: $player's portraitS to '<div class="portrait-marleau-street small"></div>')
(set: $player's portraitD to '<div class="portrait-marleau-street decision"></div>')
}<div class='card-decision'>(print: $companion1's portraitD)</div>{
<header>
#(print: $gavril's nameFull)
##(print: $gavril's title)
###Last Night
</header>
}
Marleau stayed behind Gavril. The path would disappear then reappear at intervals. The forest played with his memory so that a portion of the path he thought existed could not be found again. Gavril had once warned him to not rely on memory. Memory served the greatest of lies. Instead, one had to read and adapt to signs. He meant not signposts, for the rogue could barely read or write, but pointed to subtle disturbances among foliage, imprints upon the earth, the direction of birds in flight--the language of the forest. It was an immediate way to get by without dwelling in times already passed, distorted, and faulty in the mind. Marleau thought there was a mystical quality to being able to communicate with the forest, but Gavril had only scoffed at the notion.
Marleau watched the back of Gavril's head, expecting it to go down at any moment. A tattoo on the nape of his neck crept up into his hairline. It was a phrase in Archaic Servecant. Marleau could not remember the exact wording or translation, but Ivie had said it had come from the Calaiean funeral chant. Gavril was not religious.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU It looked like you were choking. Or being strangled.</div>
Gavril kept walking.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Has it happened before?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL As it wills.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Does it hurt?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Know naught, if it does, if it doesn't.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU It looked painful.</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Nah, it were funny.</div>
He said that without trace of a laugh, looking over Marleau's head behind them, seeing if they were being followed.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU It was scary.</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Were it not funny?</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU It was scary.</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL It were funny.</div>
Gavril's voice had become quieter each retort and his pace, slower. Marleau recognized when a conversation should not be pushed, yet a quick glimpse at the rogue, and he was met with a distant and fleeting smirk, a primal twitch in the lip the way it was when someone thought something looked delicious, knew the thing to be poison, and longed for a taste anyway.
(display: 'addNoteTheOldWays')(display: 'addObservationGavrilNight'){
<header>
#(print: $gavril's nameFull)
##(print: $gavril's title)
###Bloodlines
</header>
}
Marleau fell behind Gavril's pace to observe him in his entirety. The rogue had an acrobat's body, was how Marleau's troupe would have described it. It was one which could be flung into the air, thrown around, grappled, and reconfigured.
Gavril stopped to look at something. Marleau caught up to him and saw a bird's nest on the ground at his feet. It was empty but for some downy feathers, and it was built almost entirely of long human hair.
Gavril started walking again, and Marleau followed him, looking about if the head or body could be found nearby. They moved on toward the fair, and the further from the nest they had gone, the more he regretted not collecting and keeping it. Asylon might have been able to read its history.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Did you see the flyer?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Sure.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU What do you want to try first when we get there?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Any's first.</div>
Marleau grew suspicious of the rogue's motivation for an outing at the fair. A charitable mood was the least likely reason for his companionship. He recalled that Gavril would often disappear to the theatre in the city. Marleau was no fool about the implications. Splendors of public entertainment attracted attention away from the subtle underbelly which fed them. The bloodlines, his own troupe had called it. The first line was the urchin company, the young performers who, when not on the stage, took off their makeup and blended into the crowd to cut purses and pick pockets. Failure to meet a specified value meant the urchins had to go without dinner. Short too much, and it was a whipping.
The second line was the back of house company, members of the troupe who let people from the crowd into their caravans by the presentation of a red ticket. Marleau's mother would tell him not to let anyone in who did not have a red ticket, but she herself let people in who did not have red tickets.
Marleau had forgotten how he had spent most of his time in the bloodlines. He had drifted among stage sets and caravans, neither attracting nor distracting. Crowds appeared the same night after night, faceless faces sustained by the exchange of purses and red tickets, alcohol, and laughter. He was too removed from their joys that he could not laugh alongside them.
He imagined a theatre to be much like his circus troupe, only it would have been populated by admirers of literature, which meant its actors were praised and their patrons were politicians, professors, and other educated people. He doubted their renown changed much behind the curtains. Their back rooms would have pulsed all the same with bodies coursing the lines.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU We just read <i>Garden of Ash</i>. Do you know it?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL It's not to me.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU It's about a Duskain lady who wants to marry a Scarsman, but her brother murders her and chops her up to pieces, and he makes a fiddle out of her bones and hair. The Scarsman hears the music then murders and dismembers <i>him</i>, and a witch plants his body parts in her garden and then all her flowers die. I'd like to see it. What's your favorite play?</div>
Gavril glanced back at him, over him.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Any's right.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU If I wrote a play, would you like to be in it?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Booker now, are you?</div>
He could write plays if he wanted to. He had read a few in the institution library beyond the classics assigned for lessons.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU So you'd be in?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Sure.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Would you want a big part or a small part?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Any part asked of me.</div>
Marleau thought to write him into a minor role. Someone insignificant and unnamed, like a prop. That way should he abandon them, as was his habit, the play could still go on. He reconsidered as Gavril walked ahead and became again a full portrait. If he were a minor character, no one would mourn him were he to meet a grisly end. No one would care because no one would have got the chance to know him. Marleau believed if he started writing plays, he could make people care. If you were nobody, you could be made into anybody.
(display: 'addObservationGavrilTheatre'){
(set: $companionSelected to $gavril)
(display: 'companionAdd')
}{
(set: $companionParty's hasCompanion1 to 0)
(set: $companionParty's hasCompanion2 to 0)
(set: $companionParty's companionCount to 0)
(display: 'messageCompanionRemoveAll')
}{
<div class='m'>(print: $companionSelected's name) has joined (print: $player's name).</div>
}{
(replace: ?textScore)[]
(link: 'Reveal progress.')[(replace: ?textScoreView)[(display: 'oViewScoreConfirm')]]
}{
(replace: ?textScore)[(display: 'displayScore')]
(link: 'Conceal progress.')[(replace: ?textScoreView)[(display: 'oViewScore')]]
}{
<div class='map'>
#<!-- INSTITUTION -->
(if: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'institution')[
(set: $currentLocationName to $institution's name)
(if: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'floor1')[(set: $currentFloorName to $floor1)]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'floorB')[(set: $currentFloorName to $floorB)]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'floorG')[(set: $currentFloorName to $floorG)]
(if: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'forecourt')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's forecourt)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-forecourt')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'entranceHall')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's entranceHall)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-entrance-hall')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'library')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's library)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-library')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'firstHall')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's firstHall)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-first-floor-hall')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'cellblock')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's cellblock)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-cellblock')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'basementHall')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's basementHall)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-basement-hall')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'kitchen')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's kitchen)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-kitchen')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'yard')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's yard)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-yard')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'glade')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's glade)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-harrow-les-north')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'musicHall')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's musicHall)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-music-hall')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'chapel')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's chapel)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-chapel')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'forbiddenPassage')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $institution's forbiddenPassage)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-forbidden-passage')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(else:)[<!--do nothing-->]]
#<!-- FOREST -->
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'forest')[
(set: $currentFloorName to $floorNone)
(set: $currentLocationName to $forest's name)
(set: $currentSceneName to $forest's path)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'institution-harrow-les-west')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
#<!-- VILLAGE -->
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'village')[
(set: $currentFloorName to $floorNone)
(set: $currentLocationName to $village's name)
(if: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'fair')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $village's fair)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'village-fair-fairground')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'pub')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $village's pub)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'village-fair-pub')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'tokenBooth')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $village's tokenBooth)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'village-fair-token-booth')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'jungle')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $village's jungle)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'village-fair-jungle')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'mermaid')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $village's mermaid)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'village-fair-mermaid')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(elseif: (passage: $return)'s tags contains 'unicorn')[
(set: $currentSceneName to $village's unicorn)
(set: $currentMapImageName to 'village-fair-unicorn')
(display: 'mapCurrentLocation')]
(else:)[<!--do nothing-->]]
</div>
}{
#<!-- MAP IMAGE -->
<header class='map-header'>
(link-repeat: "(display: 'map')")[
(if: (passage:)'s tags contains 'mapMenuExpand')[(goto: 'mapMenu')]
(else:)[(goto: 'mapMenuExpand')]
]
</header>
#<!-- MAP PLAQUE -->
<div class='map-plaque'>$mapPlaque</div>
}{
#<!-- MAP IMAGE -->
(print: "<img src='images/maps/" + $currentMapImageName + ".jpg'>")
#<!-- MAP PLAQUE -->
(set: $mapPlaque to '(print: $currentLocationName) - (print: $currentFloorName)(print: $currentSceneName)')
}{
(set: $item to $itemFlyer)
(display: 'invAddNoMessage')
}{<span class='b'>$close</span>}{
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'observationMenu')[(linkgoto: $observationName, 'observationMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: "<span class='grey'>$observationName</span>", '$return')]
}{
<a name='top'><header>
#(print: $player's name)'s $observationName
</header>
}
{
(if: $observation's leaveFlyer is 1)[$obsLeaveFlyer](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's artriusPlans is 1)[$obsArtriusPlans](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's artriusSurnames is 1)[$obsArtriusSurnames](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's artriusMusic is 1)[$obsArtriusMusic](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's calberusWork is 1)[$obsCalberusWork](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's libraryLateNight is 1)[$obsLibraryLateNight](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's gavrilTheatre is 1)[$obsGavrilTheatre](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's gavrilNight is 1)[$obsGavrilNight](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's gavrilSmoke is 1)[$obsGavrilSmoke](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's fairToken0 is 1)[$obsFairToken0](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's fairToken1 is 1)[$obsFairToken1](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's fairJungle is 1)[$obsFairJungle](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's fairMermaid is 1)[$obsFairMermaid](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's fairUnicorn is 1)[$obsFairUnicorn](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's gavrilForest is 1)[$obsGavrilForest](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's gladeSwing is 1)[$obsGladeSwing](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's calberusOffering is 1)[$obsCalberusOffering](else:)[$observationHidden]
(if: $observation's calberusFinished is 1)[$obsCalberusFinished](else:)[$observationHidden]
}
$oTop{
<div class='grid-score-padded'>
<div class='b'>(if: $score's itemCount is not $score's itemMax)[$scoreItem](else:)[$scoreItemDone]</div>
<div class='b'>(if: $score's entryCount is not $score's entryMax)[$scoreEntry](else:)[$scoreEntryDone]</div>
<div class='b'>(if: $score's noteCount is not $score's noteMax)[$scoreNote](else:)[$scoreNoteDone]</div>
<div class='b'>(if: $score's observationCount is not $observation.size)[$scoreObservation](else:)[$scoreObservationDone]</div>
</div>
}
{
<header>
#(print: $game's title)
##(print: $game's series)
###(print: $game's author)
###(print: $game's version)
</header>
}
(display: 'synopsis')
|textScore>[]<div class='o'>|textScoreView>[](display: 'oViewScore')</div>
{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'oContinueGame')
(display: 'oLoadGame')
(display: 'oStartGameNew')
</div>
|textInfo>[]
}{
<span class='b'>
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'gameInfo')[(linkgoto: '$gameInfo', 'gameInfo')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: "<span class='grey'>$gameInfo</span>", '$return')]
</span>
}Marleau hopes to visit a traveling funfair in Aspencroft, yet confronted by discouragement, he begins to question his desires.{
<div class='m'>(print: $companion1's name) and (print: $companion2's name) have left (print: $player's name).</div>
}{
(if: $entryAtFair's owned is 1)[(linkgoto: 'Look for something else to do.', 'locationVillage')](else:)[(linkgoto: 'Stay quiet the rest of the way to Aspencroft.', 'villageArrival')]
}{
(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneHall')[(linkgoto: 'Go upstairs to the bedrooms.', 'sceneCellblock')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'Leave the room.', 'sceneCellblock')]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's cellblock)
</header>
}
{
(if: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(display: 'cellblockHide')]
(elseif: $entryGoToBed's owned is 1 and $entryGoToFair's owned is 0)[(display: 'cellblock1')<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Try to fall asleep.','sceneCellblockMorningFair')</div>]
(else:)[(display: 'cellblock0')]
}
(display: 'searchCellblock')
(display: 'toInstitutionScenes'){
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's fair)
</header>
}
{
(if: $entryHome's owned is 1)[(display: 'village1')](else:)[(display: 'village0')]
}
(display: 'toVillageScenes')Marleau's room was right around the corner at the top of the stairs, where he could get in and out without upsetting the floorboards further down the corridor. If he wished a late night swing out in the glade, he needed not to make too much noise going on his way, at least not until the stairs themselves, and then he knew which steps were the ones you had to tuck your stomach in and float over.
The coven used only one half of the cellblock, for the flooring on the other half had collapsed, leaving a hole as wide as the corridor. The deterioration left little footing for Marleau to manuever onto, but he did sometimes sit at the edge of the hole where he could look down into the forbidden hallway.
Artrius set down the sock, needle, and thread. Marleau took a step back, thinking he was going to rise. He remained seated.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS This item is ill-gained. Is this true?</div>
His observation so blended with tranquil murmurs of the forest and fire that had one not understood his words, one would not have guessed he was, in fact, not accepting the gift. Yet he spoke Marleau's tongue, and Marleau did understand now that the item--the gesture--meant nothing to him.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Answer.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU I don't know.</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Why did you take it?</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU I don't know.</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Perhaps you will meditate upon these queries. Little advantage comes by lack of adequate response.</div>
He resumed mending and let the interrogation fade into the hearthfire. Marleau was relieved when no hand of discipline struck, yet relief was not satisfaction. It seemed to him something in the air had been left unfinished and then abandoned, and he thought, only for a small and tickling moment, why he should not have been struck--why Artrius should not respond to him the way people responded to one another. In disappointment, or in anger, or in rage.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU So you don't you want it?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS It is unnecessary.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Gifts don't have to be necessary.</div>
Artrius carried on to another sock and began closing the hole in the heel, eyes intent on his own hands and the tools in them. He was so concentrated, Marleau could hardly call it a hole anymore.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU I thought it would have pleased you, anyhow.</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS The tender man has made sweetness out of a fixed memory. He has nourished his love forbidden, has perfected what he longs his home to be, and inculpates those who perceive otherwise. The strong man has adapted to knowledge and knowledge to come. He has extended his love to all, with ambition to recast others and their territories into his own image now and beyond his time. The perfect man neither dwells nor yearns. He perceives the immateriality of material things and has detached from sweetness. He understands the provisional arrangement of states and has achieved independence from homelands and allegiance. Thus, is the perfect man the exile, the individual confined by place, time, thought, and desire no longer. His love beckons not. He has extinguished it.</div>
He spoke into his busy hands, movements and voice like that of an automaton repeating the one routine for which it existed, a mechanical reguritation. The familiar scene conjured illusions of the library in the previous night, when they had been distanced by a table, firelight, and work.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU I'd only wanted to go see the funfair. With you.</div>
The sage appeared unmoved, lost to socks and women's garments. Marleau was often unnecessary. He knew from palms, knuckles, and switches. His mother's fingernails. Artrius's silence.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Looks like I'm not the only one lacking adequate responses.</div>
Marleau ran out the back door and neglected to close it after himself.
(display: 'addEntryHide')
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Find a place to hide.', 'sceneYard')</div>{
(if: $entryGoToBed's owned is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the library.', 'sceneLibrary')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'Look through the library windows.', 'sceneLibrary')]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's library)
</header>
}
{
(if: $entryGoToBed's owned is 0)[
(display: 'library0')
(display: 'actionLeaveFlyer')
(display: 'dialogueArtrius')]
(else:)[(display: 'library1')]
}
(display: 'toInstitutionScenes')Marleau thought the great table in the center of the room defined the library more than did the books or fireplace. The table gathered everyone together for lessons, for dinner, and for quiet, rainy nights when the rest of the institution repelled them. It was angular as any rectangle but not so symmetrical, and the solidity of it was uncompromising. That oppression would have remained long after the books, papers, and walls crumbled to dust. It bore the immovability of an altar like Artrius, although he had little association with it other than to employ it as he did now, an unsung surface for writing. When Asylon had to give Marleau a tour of the institution, she said that Gavril had crafted the table straight from the forest. Out of heartwood, she said.
Gavril had also constructed the bookcases and the two footstools which they moved around to reach the higher shelves. He had acquired other furniture through questionable means. These were a writing desk and a semi-circle of seating round the hearth: a chaise longue that once belonged to a theatre and two mismatching armchairs, which Lorcis and Artrius occupied while having their tea and discourse in several languages. A few musical instruments, too, had begun accumulating round the hearth. One of the instruments, (if: $observation's artriusMusic is 1)[the violoncello](else:)[a person-sized fiddle-like instrument], flaunted bodily proportions: a long and slender neck, and a flow of torso, waist, and hips.
(unless: $noteList contains $noteLanguage)[
(display: 'addNoteLanguage')]There was no big top, and the tents were arranged in a semi-circular layout so that from within one the others remained visible. A few fairgoers drifted between the tents, committed to making a day out of the modest presentation before them, but most of them appeared to find more promise in the pub.{
<header>
#(print: $forest's name)
##(print: $forest's path)
</header>
}
(display: 'forest0')
{
<div class='o'>
(if: $observation's gavrilTheatre is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Talk about the fair.', 'gavril0Theatre')]
(if: $observation's gavrilNight is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Ask about last night.', 'gavril0Night')]
(if: $observation's gavrilSmoke is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Ask for a cigarette.', 'gavril0Cigarette')]
</div>
}<div class='o'>(display: 'toVillage')</div>{
(linkgoto: 'Set out for the fair.', 'locationForest')
}Gavril had once told Marleau that a predator always had purpose in its stride. Now a lonesome shadow among the trees towering around them, he was alert in a distracted way. He would interrupt their descent into the fog by striking Marleau's shoulder--knocking him out of his daydreams--and turning them off the path, then leading them back on it a little more ways down, as if evading a terror Marleau could not perceive in either end of the haze. The hits on the shoulder sapped Marleau's energy, but he knew that he should pay attention. He had to be mindful of his surroundings as much as his footing, and Gavril also made their way with precision for someone who was a bit erratic otherwise.
{
(set: $note to $noteTheOldWays)
(display: 'noteAdd')
}{
<header>
#(print: $artrius's nameFull)
##(print: $artrius's title)
</header>
}
Artrius's waistcoat remained buttoned and his neck-tie not a finger loosened, although he had been relieved of his slouch hat and oilskin duster for the evening. They hung on hooks affixed to the wall. The coat was the long and protective sort worn by patrols, highway robbers, and other outsiders of the forest. A throat latch could keep the collar standing high, which was how he often wore it, fastened all the way up and masking his mouth, while the brim of the hat veiled his eyes under shadow. Without the coat and hat, he still maintained a guarded poise.
{
<div class='o'>
(if: $observation's artriusPlans is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Ask Artrius about his plans for tomorrow.', 'artrius0Plans')]
(if: $observation's artriusSurnames is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Ask Artrius why he calls adults by their surnames.', 'artrius0Surnames')]
(if: $observation's artriusMusic is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Ask about the instruments in the library.', 'artrius0Music')]
</div>
}(if: $dialogueArtrius0Count >= $dialogueArtrius0CountEnd)[Marleau pretended to browse books, moving along the rows of bookcases and across the room to other shelves to view Artrius from all sides. He would have made an imposing statue in a museum, even seated and clothed.
]
{
(if: $dialogueArtrius0Count < $dialogueArtrius0CountEnd)[<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Talk with Artrius.', 'artrius0')</div>]
(else:)[<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Look at Artrius.', 'artrius0')</div>]
}{
(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'artrius0')[
(if: $dialogueArtrius0Count < $dialogueArtrius0CountEnd)[<div class='o'>(linkgoto: $oReturn, 'artrius0')</div>](else:)[$returnLink]]
}{
<header>
#(print: $artrius's nameFull)
##(print: $artrius's title)
###Chores
</header>
}
Marleau refrained from approaching the busy end of the table, although Artrius seemed sufficiently preoccupied to not have paid mind. He chanced a look at the papers: a stack of blanks, another pile of ones marked up, and other papers bundled in twine. Artrius wrote figures in addition to paragraphs and had been using a straight edge to draw chart lines which would compartmentalize them.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU What are you working on?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Routine documentation.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Is it going to take all night?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Yes.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Are you going to work on it tomorrow, too?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS No.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU What will you have to do tomorrow?</div>
The directness of Artrius's look uneased him. He felt caught, and the knot in his stomach urged him to flee before a strong hand could crack his wrist and sling him down hard into the gutter. He rounded the end of the table and started following the chairs up toward the fireplace.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Common affairs must be put to order. Their completion tomorrow ensures the prolongation of the institution's operations as well as of our own living standards.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Chores?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Yes.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Can't they wait?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS No.</div>
Not until the pen resumed did Marleau look over his shoulder. The firelight shadows seemed to cut more harshly into Artrius's eyes.
{
(set: $dialogueArtrius0Count to it + 1)
(display: 'addObservationArtriusPlans')
}
(display: 'returnArtrius'){
<header>
#(print: $artrius's nameFull)
##(print: $artrius's title)
###Youth, Kith, and Kin
</header>
}
Artrius referred to the adults in the coven by their surnames, but he called the younger witches by their given ones. In some instances the mystic might have been "the younger Fragaria" or "Fragaria the Younger," but the little acrobat bore only a single identity to him, enunciated with a gutteral plunge and roll Marleau had not known possible with the letters in his name.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Why do you call Gavril, Corragain?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS It is the name he has provided.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Why do you call adults by their surnames?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS It is a formality which confers respect.</div>
Artrius turned a page over and started on another. Marleau thought if he did not wish to reply to so many questions, he should have been more thorough when answering the first ones.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU You don't respect me or Asylon?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS The incantation of your given name effectuates familiarity or endearment, which is reserved for youth, kith, and kin.</div>
Artrius did not sweet-talk, not like Lorcis or Ivie. Rather than being flattered that he and the sage could have been related, even in a manner most abstract or practical, another side to the statement disquieted Marleau.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Aren't you close with the others?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS They are beyond coddling.</div>
Although maintaining an upright posture, Artrius spoke downward into the paper beneath his pen. Marleau leaned against the table, watching the motion of his hand and the stillness of his lips.
{
(set: $dialogueArtrius0Count to it + 1)
(display: 'addNoteTheLeftPart')
(display: 'addObservationArtriusSurnames')
}
(display: 'returnArtrius'){
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'mapMenu')[(linkgoto: $mapName, 'mapMenu')](else:)[(linkgoto: "<span class='grey'>$mapName</span>", '$return')]
}(display: 'displayMap')The rain had not let up, and hearthlight from the library windows still glowed strong in the late night. Marleau crouched in the shadows on the higher steps, knees up and chin between them, toes dipped in the light.
{
(if: $companion1's nameFull is $gavril's nameFull)[(set: $companionSelected to $companion1)](else:)[(set: $companionSelected to $companion2)]
(display: 'removeCompanionDone')
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's kitchen)
###A Suitable Gift
</header>
}
Well into the night, a smell of cabbage stew rose through the frosted air and guided Marleau toward the institution. It was a heady aroma painting in his mind, then in his sight, the crooked wooden beams, the stone hearth, and the hanging herbs of the witches' kitchen. He found Artrius at the table, drawn from the darkness by a lantern and the fire in the hearth. He was darning a sock and had gathered a pile of them, as well as a pair of Asylon's leggings, a few of Ivie's blouses and underpants, and several other garments in need of patching, for occupying him through the night. Marleau ignored him so as to not appear overly eager.
The hearth rolled potatoes, carrots, and herbs in a cauldron of cabbage stew. A full rye loaf kept by the stove accompanied the presentation. Marleau assembled a supper from them. The stew filled him with an orange kind of warmth--a fire glow--but he had to listen to his own gorging noises, as the sage neither dined with him nor made an effort to start a conversation. Some days, Artrius fasted. Some days, he breathed not one word. Even among the coven's company, he had not released himself from a hermit's habits. The kitchen table was much smaller than the library's. Marleau could have kicked him in the shin if he had dared.
Artrius moved on to another sock, and Marleau dispensed of his dinnerware in the scullery. He made a few sweeps of a wet rag to clean them and to retain the impression of having purpose within the kitchen. While setting the plate, cutlery, and cup one by one on a drying rack, he allowed himself another peek upon the sage, whose eyes were focused on the mending set before him. His gaze was cast downward more often than not, and unnervingly steady.
Marleau emerged from the alcove with his hands in his pockets and stood before the table, opposite Artrius. He realized then how inattentive the approach had been, as he had come between Artrius and the stove. He moved aside and the firelight returned the deep golden color to his face. Marleau forgot how he had wanted to word the presentation of the gift, so he abandoned his determination and started for the hall.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Take your own.</div>
The reverberation of Artrius's voice was reassuring as it was intimidating. Marleau came back to the table and retrieved his mended socks, which Artrius had set aside from the others, and stuffed them into his pockets.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU We got to see the funfair. I got something for you.</div>
His hands fumbled in his pockets as Artrius's gaze rose to meet him.
(display: 'addItemSocks')
(display: 'decisionGift'){
#<!-- GAME INFO -->
(set: $game to (dm:
'version', '0.1.0',
'author', 'Lily Ounekeo',
'title', 'Marionette Night',
'series', 'VVitching Hour',
'startPassage', 'startPassage'
))
#<!-- SAVE FILE -->
(set: $savefile to "(print: $game's series) - (print: $game's title) v(print: $game's version)")
#<!-- SET CHARACTERS -->
(display: 'characters')
(display: 'nametags')
#<!-- SET LOCATION -->
(display: 'locations')
(set: $startPassageLocation to 'sceneLibrary')
#<!-- SET GAMEPLAY OBJECTS -->
(display: 'items')
(display: 'entries')
(display: 'notes')
(display: 'observations')
(display: 'score')
#<!-- SET VARIABLES -->
(display: 'variablesBase')
(display: 'variablesTrack')
#<!-- SET PLAYER -->
(set: $player to $marleau)
(display: 'addItemFlyer')
(display: 'addEntryFindGavril')
}{
(set: $item to $itemFlyer)
(display: 'invRemove')
}Artrius occupied the same place at the end of the table where he had been working through the night, as if he had not got up at all. Gavril lay curled up on the chaise longue, tucked under Artrius's oilskin duster, which covered him like a blanket but for his feet. Artrius had washed his hair and face as well. His eyes were shut unsteadily as if they might flutter open at any time. Marleau waited to see the white in them again, but they remained sealed.
(if: $observation's libraryLateNight is 0)[
(display: 'addNotePossession')(display: 'addObservationLibraryLateNight')]{
<div class='m'>(print: $companionSelected's name) has left (print: $player's name).</div>
}{
(if: $companion1's nameFull is $companionSelected's nameFull)[(set: $companionParty's hasCompanion1 to 0)]
(else:)[(set: $companionParty's hasCompanion2 to 0)]
(set: $companionParty's companionCount to it - 1)
(display: 'messageCompanionRemove')
}{
(set: $inv to it + (a: $item))
(display: 'addScoreItem')
(display: 'messageItemAdd')
}{
(if: $inv contains $item)[
(set: $inv to it - (a: $item))
(display: 'messageItemRemove')
]
}{
(set: $noteList to it + (a: $note))
(display: 'addScoreNote')
(display: 'messageNoteAdd')
}{
(if: $companionParty's companionCount < 1)[
(set: $companion1 to $companionSelected)
(set: $companionParty's hasCompanion1 to 1)]
(else:)[
(set: $companion2 to $companionSelected)
(set: $companionParty's hasCompanion2 to 1)
(set: $companionSelected to $companion2)]
(display: 'setCompanionDone')
}<div class='card-small opacity-highlight'>(print: $player's portraitS)</div><div class='card-small opacity-highlight'>(print: $companion1's portraitS)</div>{
(set: $inv to it + (a: $item))
(display: 'addScoreItem')
}{
(print: $entryGoToFair's title)
(print: $entryGoToFair's description)
}{
(if: $entryGoToFair's owned is 0)[
(set: $entryGoToFair's owned to 1)
(display: 'updateJournal')
]
}(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneBasement')[{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toKitchen')
</div>
}
{
<div class='o'>(display: 'toHall')</div>
}](elseif: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneKitchen')[{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toBasement')
(display: 'toYard')
</div>
}](else:)[{<div class='o'>(display: 'toBasement')</div>}]{
(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneHall')[(linkgoto: 'Go downstairs to the basement hall.', 'sceneBasement')](elseif: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneDungeon')[(linkgoto: $oReturn, 'sceneBasement')](else:)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the basement hall.', 'sceneBasement')]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's basementHall)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'basement0')
}
(display: 'toInstitutionScenesBasement'){
(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneYard')[(linkgoto: 'Go into the kitchen.', 'sceneKitchen')](else:)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the kitchen.', 'sceneKitchen')]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's kitchen)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'kitchen0')
}
(display: 'toInstitutionScenesBasement')(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneYard')[{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toGlade')
</div>
}
{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toHall')
(unless: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(display: 'toKitchen')]
</div>
}
{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toForecourt')
</div>
}](else:)[{<div class='o'>(display: 'toYard')</div>}]{
(if: $entryHide's owned is 0)[
(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'glade' or (passage:)'s name contains 'Glade')[(linkgoto: '$oReturn', 'sceneYard')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the yard.', 'sceneYard')]
]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the yard.', 'sceneYard')]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's yard)
</header>
}
{
(if: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(display: 'yardHide')](else:)[(display: 'yard0')]
}
(display: 'toInstitutionScenesYard'){
(if: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(linkgoto: 'Sit on the swing.', 'sceneGlade')](else:)[(linkgoto: 'Look out into the glade.', 'sceneGlade')]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's glade)
</header>
}
{
(if: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(display: 'gladeHide')](else:)[(display: 'glade0')]
}
(display: 'toInstitutionScenesYard'){
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's library)
###Leave the Flyer
</header>
}
Marleau unrolled the flyer on the table closer to Artrius's end of the table in the case he might see it and decide to come along after all. Yet even Marleau would admit that while the flyer attracted him he doubted the exaggerated merriment upon the faces pouring from the big top. The flyer made the fair out to be a wholesome event, neither with imagery nor mention of oddities, high stakes, or death-defying feats. The freak shows his own troupe peddled dared children to sleep alone at night. Firearms, blades, and other weaponry were brandished or swallowed at will. Fire was most gratuitously incorporated wherever it could be fueled. Marleau could not remember what sorts of deadly games he had been made to play before they settled on fashioning an aerialist out of him, for he was not much suited to other positions such as acting or singing. He supposed all was well with him. No specific outrages from the old gang haunted him, only a dull permeance of smoke, alcohol, and flesh.
(display: 'removeItemFlyer')(display: 'addObservationLeaveFlyer'){
<header>
#(print: $artrius's nameFull)
##(print: $artrius's title)
###Music and the Dead
</header>
}
Marleau refrained from handling any of the instruments, for in the firelight and shadows they gave the impression of a masterpiece painting in a museum. The first time Lorcis had brought him to a museum had also been his first time going, and the last. The warlock had told him not to touch anything, but he did touch something--a rock--and kept it, which now sat in one of the library shelves, tucked away as if it brought bad luck in the light. The papers bemoaned the loss of the artifact and entreated any witnesses of the theft forward. Lorcis had yet to ask him to return the rock, nor had he yet to bring him to anymore museums.
The body-like instrument looked almost identical to Gavril's fiddle, only it was as tall as he and larger in girth. He was not sure if the player would have to stand beside or in front of it, because it certainly could not be lifted upon the shoulder.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Lorcis wants us to learn music, too?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS It is his intention.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Asylon already knows how to play the tin whistle. She let me try but I'd rather she play. She said before Calaieans got their hands on it, it belonged to pagans in Duskair. They took their music, too. That's why the Circle's music sounds so sad. It came from Duskair.</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Variations of the whistle hail independently from civilizations worldwide. The Duskain roots to which Asylon alludes can be traced to early ages and the Scarsgaran invention introduced to Duskair by the Varulvkyn, who crafted the instrument out of horns and the bones of the slain and sacrificed. To produce its music was to acquire the powers of spirits and lost souls. Calaieans adopted the practice and preserved similar reverence for their departed, over the centuries realigning the literature of their fundamental beliefs such that when they played the music of the ancients, they revered the dead and their legacy as ideals, rather than cannibalized them for earthly influences. Intercontinentally and throughout time, apparatuses of auditory expressions and the dead have been harmonized through myth, legend, and religion.</div>
He stopped writing. Marleau thought he would continue speaking, but he did not. He resumed writing.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Will I be able to choose which? If I'm to learn music shouldn't I have a say in the instrument I have to play?</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS There will be an assessment.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU What's this one?</div>
Marleau had pointed to the large fiddle, but Artrius did not see him, not until perhaps reaching a full stop and then glancing up. Marleau repeated the indication in that brief moment.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS A violoncello.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU This is the one I would choose. The violoncello.</div>
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS That one would be cumbersome for you yet. Perhaps after a year's time, when you are more suited to the size of it.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU I suppose then I won't be learning music till next year.</div>
Artrius gathered some of the papers on the table and began tying them with twine into a single package.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS There will be an assessment within the year.</div>
He knotted the twine and set the neat bundle on one edge of the table atop other neat bundles. He picked up another sheet of paper and kept on.
{
(set: $dialogueArtrius0Count to it + 1)
(display: 'addNoteMusic')
(display: 'addObservationArtriusMusic')
}
(display: 'returnArtrius'){
(set: $observation's artriusPlans to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's artriusSurnames to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's artriusMusic to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}Interior windows on the basement wall looked into the kitchen, which also had high windows to the outdoors. A soft orange glow from the kitchen highlighted the rain streaking through gaps and cracks in the outer windows.
The corridor ended at a heavy iron door, which led into the dungeon. Marleau had yet to gain enough height to be able to look through the door's observation window. He thought it was unfortunate that the dungeon was right beside the kitchen, because contents of the two perhaps should not have had such a chance to be mixed up, as once happened during an experiment of Lorcis's.
A strange air dulled the kitchen. Marleau knew the general place for each item, as he was often tasked with organizing the stock, fetching ingredients or utensils, washing dishes or helping with the laundry, and cooking. The glow from a lantern on the table made out shapes from the blue atmosphere of the night, revealing a knife, half an apple, and a bitten slice of the fruit abandoned on the table. Whatever else was amiss, he could not describe until he recognized it as a muted sound, which directed him toward the scullery alcove.
He almost overlooked Gavril there in the shadows, as ghastly as his body was. The rogue had twisted himself into a damp corner behind the wash basin and had pressed against the walls where milky rainwater rippled from the ceiling. His backbone trickled under scars and tattoos, and his rangy limbs were spread but not quite settled. The strangeness in the air emanated from his tongue sliding in and out his mouth and the scraping of it upon the blackened part of the walls.
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Approach Gavril.', 'kitchenGavril')</div>(if: (passage:)'s name contains 'scenePassage' or (passage:)'s name contains 'passage')[{
<div class='o'>
(if: $endStoryEnabled is 1)[(display: 'toEndStory')](else:)[(display: 'toMusicHall')]
(display: 'toChapel')
</div>
}
(if: $endStoryEnabled is 0)[{<div class='o'>(display: 'toForecourt')</div>}]](else:)[{<div class='o'>(display: 'toPassage')</div>}]{
(if: $endStoryEnabled is 1)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the forbidden passage.', 'passageEnd')]
(elseif: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the forbidden passage.', 'passageHide')]
(elseif: (passage:)'s name contains 'locationInstitution')[(linkgoto: 'Go into the forbidden passage.', 'scenePassage')](else:)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the forbidden passage.', 'scenePassage')]
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's forbiddenPassage)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'passage0')
(display: 'searchPassage')
(display: 'toInstitutionScenesPassage')
}{
(linkgoto: 'Go to the music hall.', 'sceneMusicHall')
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's musicHall)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'musicHall0')
}
(display: 'toInstitutionScenesPassage'){
(linkgoto: 'Go to the chapel.', 'sceneChapel')
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's chapel)
</header>
}
{
(if: $endStoryEnabled is 1)[(display: 'chapelEnd')]
(elseif: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(display: 'chapelHide')]
(else:)[(display: 'chapel0')]
}
(display: 'toInstitutionScenesPassage')(if: $entryHome's owned is 0)[
{
<div class='o'>
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'scenePub')[(display: 'toPub')]
(unless: (passage:)'s name contains 'sceneTokenBooth')[(display: 'toTokenBooth')]
</div>
}
{
<div class='o'>
(display: 'toJungle')
(display: 'toMermaid')
(display: 'toUnicorn')
</div>
}
{<div class='o'>(display: 'toPuppetTheatre')</div>}
]
(else:)[{
<div class='o'>
(linkgoto: 'Find Gavril.', 'forestFindGavril')
(linkgoto: 'Head home.', 'forestGoHome')
</div>
}]{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's kitchen)
###Breathing Mud
</header>
}
Gavril stopped licking the wall and moaned low in the back of his throat. His arms and legs folded then extended and lifted him up as if building him out of a pile. He clutched the railing up the postern stairs, staggered out into the rain, and left the door swinging open.
The rogue, as the coven called him, was not quite right in the head. Lorcis had said the Circle had pulled him out of an insane asylum along with several other patients to make use out of the useless by sending them to war. What was supposed to be a merciful plan to make heroes of them ended in a massacre. Marleau had some illustrations and early photos of the war inside his notebook, but he had none of this specific initiative. Gavril survived the scheme, yet Marleau wondered if the rogue's fortune was not cause for celebration. Before the insane asylum, he had been in prison, and he was never supposed to get out.
Marleau went up the steps to close the door and heard a faint cry, then a commotion like the panic of a bird trapped in a box.
Outside the back door, Gavril lay thumping in the rain and mud, body and limbs jerking. Gurgles stuck in his throat interrupted his breaths. Marleau circled the rogue to see who or what might have been strangling him. Instead, he met the ghostly white eyes and the black hole of a mouth gaping Gavril's face. Half his face lay in the mud and was sucking it in, then crying it out, and the earth and vomit bubbled in and out of him.
Marleau drew nearer to the body. Gavril's limbs went slack and the jerking gave way to limp twitches. Then as before, those limbs came together to bring him up, and he tried to go somewhere but kept folding over and then reassembling, face strange and anguishing. Marleau lunged forward to support him, but Gavril shoved him away, and they both tumbled to the ground. The body began to buck harder now, and he was again facedown and breathing in the mud.
Marleau wiped the mud out of his own eye. The rain had made his clothes wet, but the mud made them stick. He was hot and then cold under them.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Gavril.</div>
There was only flailing. Broken screaming. Gavril could not answer, trapped inside himself.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Gavril!</div>
He could hardly hear himself shouting. A shadow cut into the light from the kitchen and fell upon the rogue. Marleau realized it was his own. He backed into the doorway too suddenly, unable to look away.
Another shadow descended upon him. A savior. Artrius knelt beside the rogue and turned him over amidst the shaking so that he was no longer drowning in the mud. He remained one knee on the earth beside him. They waited for the end. The flopping and gurgling gave way to weakness, and Gavril's limbs sank to the ground, finished.
His chest shuddered and heaved, pulling with it the skin over his breastbone and ribs. He raised a hand uncertainly upon himself. It drifted toward Artrius's arm, but Artrius intercepted it and put it down on the ground. The hand tried again. When it came up a third time, Artrius set it down once more and cupped his own over it, kneading it in the mud. He spoke to Gavril, who might have returned an ambiguous response, but the raindrops distorted words so that Marleau only felt rumbles. The sage braced the rogue against a shoulder and hoisted him to his feet. Marleau moved aside for them.
Artrius dropped Gavril onto a chair in the kitchen. Mud and rain streaked Gavril's cheeks. His eyes rolled up and he slumped over till a string of pink drool stretched down to his thigh. Artrius straightened and steadied him then unfastened his trousers and began to peel them down. It was not only rain, mud, and saliva soaking them, Marleau could smell.
<div class='d'>$ARTRIUS Be on your way.</div>
With his hands in Gavril's trousers, and the rogue teetering over onto his shoulder, Artrius waited for Marleau to run along. Marleau thought they could have made some use out of him, yet he knew himself to be more a distraction or obstruction than aid. He got out of their way into the hall. A moment after turning the corner he doubled back to peer into the room. Artrius knew he had not gone and was still waiting on him. He resigned to be on his way.
The library hearth helped to dry him off as he studied the funfair flyer. It promised to be a bore. Not much would be missed. Parts of the flyer, at least, could be cut out and pasted into his notebook, such as the big cats and the mermaid. He would have cut Gavril up into his notebook, too.
He passed the time in his collection, revisiting old pictures and articles of the horrible, the grotesque, and the unexplained. Footsteps creaked the basement stairs. He took the notebook, ran up to his room, and shut the door before Artrius could spy him.
{
(if: $inv contains $itemFlyer)[(display: 'removeItemFlyer')(display: 'addObservationLeaveFlyer')]
(display: 'addEntryGoToBed')
}
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Prepare for bed.', 'sceneCellblockNightBeforeFair')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's cellblock)
###Ghost Eyes
</header>
}
Marleau set his notebook on the nightstand and lay in bed. He stared at the ceiling. There was another floor through it, but the stairs had collapsed and not even Asylon had found a safe way up. Anything or anyone else could have been up there, watching them from above, lying in wait to come down on them at any moment.
He thought about the way Gavril's eyes twitched and wiggled in his head as he thrashed in the rain. The froth coming out his mouth. His neck exposed. In the dim moonlight, Marleau raised his hands. He imagined closing Gavril's neck in his grasp until the image collapsed and his hands came together.
Marleau let his hands drop. More than frightening, Gavril had looked frightened. Lost. It seemed people became like children again when they were hurting. They cried out for someone to save them. A parent, a friend, a god. Gavril could barely breathe. No one would have heard him. Marleau raised his hands again to look at them. He had dirt under his fingernails since Gavril had thrust him to the ground.
He worried in bed for a while longer, then sat up before his own thoughts suffocated him.
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Walk around.','sceneCellblock')</div>The coven's rooms had long ago been cells for the institution's patients. The doors had peepholes for attendants to spy into. Marleau was not yet tall enough to be able to look through them, but Asylon had given him the idea to cover the hole on his own door with a piece of cloth. Once when the night had been especially quiet, Gavril had staggered up the stairs and went down the hallway just peering into them, one door after the other, grumbling to himself between gulps from a bottle in his bloodied hand. He stopped in front of Artrius's door, shoved his eye against the peephole, and dug into his trousers while huffing oaths. When he noticed Marleau watching, he muttered something that was probably an insult. He stumbled down the stairs and away outside, where Marleau heard the bottle get smashed to pieces. The sound in his memory brought him out of it, and he saw in his mind instead Gavril in the rain and mud, in pieces.
{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's cellblock)
###Breakfast
</header>
}
Someone tapped Marleau's ear, hard enough to make it ring. He closed his eyes tighter, waiting for another round, but it did not come. Sunlight flickered and flashed into his eyes, and Gavril's shadow turned out the room just then.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Ass up, dove. We're to go.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Where to?</div>
The scratch of a matchstick and subsequent smoke from a cigarette came from the corridor around the corner of the doorway. Marleau rubbed his eyes, then his ear, which was not so injured.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL The fair, you idiot.</div>
Marleau got up, dressed in one of his better shirts, and washed his face and combed his hair. Through the tobacco, he smelled vegetables roasting downstairs. Artrius would not have made any bacon to go with them.
He found Gavril sitting at the top of the stairs, barely holding his cigarette and staring out the high window over the entry. In the morning, all the windows and holes filled the institution with white sunlight. The light brightened his eyes, making them blue and green like moss on rocks, but traces of the ghost eyes deadened those shores.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU All right?</div>
Gavril inhaled then exhaled without smoke. An old gash split his eyebrow. Marleau guessed he had been struck across the face and clouted over the head plenty enough.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU If you fall down the stairs, you could smash your skull to pieces.</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Aye.</div>
He took a drag, then offered the cigarette, and Marleau sat beside him on the step to share.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Have you had breakfast?</div>
Gavril huffed, and the emptiness in his eyes filled in.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Nah yeah, not a nip of his cut.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU I like Artrius's cooking.</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Sixth a collie's a queen, she is, if the ticky's tipped round.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU I don't know what that means.</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Blot's what Tri's mess is, is what that means.</div>
Gavril reached into his tweed coat and then pushed a paper package toward Marleau along with a conspiratory grin, not at him but somewhere out the window. The paper contained two generous shreds of beef jerky.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Before we fly, then away we fly.</div>
He plucked a bottle of kvass from a pocket on the other side of his coat and popped the cork. After Marleau finished the meal, Gavril tossed the paper and bottle down the big hole into the forbidden passage and flicked the cigarette butt after. They went downstairs. The funfair flyer on the library table had been replaced by a plate of roasted vegetables and a bowl of honeyed oatmeal with nuts, seeds, and fruit. Gavril had gone out the doors, however, and Marleau followed him into the forest without having caught a glimpse of the sage.
{
(display: 'addCompanionGavril')
(display: 'addEntryGoToFair')
(display: 'changePortraitPlayer')
}
<div class='o'>(display: 'toForest')</div>{
(set: $observation's gavrilNight to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $note to $noteMusic)
(display: 'noteAdd')
}The yard had plenty of space for exercise and acrobatics in addition to rituals. Marleau liked to perform one-handed somersaults along the top of the mossy stone fence, which was at a height suitable for rounding off without breaking his ankles.
Aside from the yard, Marleau could tumble in the glade on the other side of the fence. The area had been cleared of trees, open to the spring house and the small bridge across the stream which led to the workshop shed. Thick moss and grasses covered the earth. In the summer, wildflowers had streamed under the wind. The wind was better in the glade. Near the wild wooded end, a rope swing with a wood plank seat hung from a lone elderoak.
The swing hung too low for Marleau to hang upside down from it, but he would kick up high and fly off it to catch a particular convenient bough, then hang himself upside down on that instead, sometimes by one leg, hands clasped behind his back. He would hang until his blood bloated his head.
Higher, there were good footholds among the twisting branches. One time, he and Asylon had brought a picnic basket up into the forest within the forest, and they found a wedge to hold it as well as nests for themselves. A deep conversation later, as Asylon divulged secrets meant to be kept between the two of them, some leaves and bark sprinkled over their heads and onto their buttered rosemary bread. They looked up and saw against the glinting sunlight the silhouette of Gavril perched above them, long limbs in angles as if he were on the verge of pouncing. Asylon asked him if he wanted some bread, but he only smirked, then those limbs of his crept in a mysterious manner from one branch to another and carried him down the tree. Then he vanished before Marleau had seen him set foot on the ground, and had perhaps scurried deeper into the thicket and toward the shed where he did his private things.
In the night, the elderoak and swing appeared much more distant than they truly were. The rain had slickened the branches and earth, and the swing turned in the wind, like someone was on it.
Marleau huddled near the mouth of the passage where the rain could not pluck at his eyes. Ground-level windows to the basement spotted the bottom of the wall in intervals, some covered by things the forest had dropped or by land the rain had shoveled along. Some of the glass panes had broken, leaving only metal bars to defend the holes. Asylon had cleared debris from one of the windows near the passage entrance. It looked into the dungeon, directly over the operation bed and whatever carcasses might be lain upon it.
The passage would have continued to the entrance hall, but rubble from the collapse of the first floor blocked the way. Two wide doorways had been spared. On one side, the doors with stained glass windows opened to the music hall, and opposite that, the stark, iron-reinforced doors secured the Calaiean chapel.
Lorcis had said while Calaieans renounced luxuries for themselves and lived with modest possessions, they permitted fineries and embellishments for their god, saints, and church, and sacred music with the ceremony of its performance were tolerated. Iron archways, traces of magificent stained glass windows which had long been shattered, were the music hall's portals to the forest. Vegetation of all sorts as well as fungi, lichens, and algae sprouted from the vaulted ceiling, gilded balconies, and multilayered drapery. They climbed over fallen chandeliers, smashed crystals and glass shards, and a grand piano abandoned on the stage. The rain now made the them all wet and alive, and smelling like the belly of nature.
Narrow windows, barred in cast iron, set the faint light of the night in even paces down the aisle of the Chapel of the Circle. Stone walls and flooring contained the cold in the air and withstood the harsher weather that had demolished other parts of the institution. Perhaps some icons had been stolen and water had invited plants or pests inside, but the chapel appeared mainly intact, untroubled by the aggressive forest or vandals. The pews were still lined up the day they had been set, and a grand stone altar--without the ring or red cloth--still stood on the dais.
Asylon had discovered the room yet had wanted nothing to do with it. Marleau found himself returning to it more often without her. It was older and quieter than all of the institution. Quieter than the dungeon, Marleau thought, because there was no one to discover, no one to expect. Only a place apart from other places. He sat in one of the pews, took a deep breath of its chilled air, and looked up at the high ceiling, which faded to cobwebs. The sound of the chapel was hollow, like Artrius's eyes.
{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's forbiddenPassage)
###Dungeon Window
(if: $mapInstitutionDungeon is 0)[(set: $mapInstitutionDungeon to 1)]
</header>
}
While Calberus himself was nowhere in sight, he had left his current project on the operation bed. Bones, organs, and flesh had been carved out of what appeared to have once been a human torso, but it was mangled so that Marleau could not be certain, and other bones interwoven through the skin shaped the mass more or less like a basket. Marleau wondered what he needed a basket for.
(unless: $observation's calberusWork is 1)[(display: 'addObservationCalberusWork')]{
(print: $entryAtFair's title)
(print: $entryAtFair's description)
}{
(if: $entryAtFair's owned is 0)[
(set: $entryAtFair's owned to 1)
(display: 'updateJournal')
]
}{
(print: $entryGoToBed's title)
(print: $entryGoToBed's description)
}{
(if: $entryGoToBed's owned is 0)[
(set: $entryGoToBed's owned to 1)
(display: 'updateJournal')
]
}{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's fair)
###Arrival
</header>
}
Marleau let the forest birds fill the silence between them, and Gavril seemed content with that. When the birdsong turned into collective human babble and a ringing bell, Marleau looked up from the ground, and a golden beast rushed over his next step, nearly knocking him off his feet.
The animal had a shaggy mane and a paintbrush tail with a bell attached to the tip. It sprang between the rails of the fence ahead and into the forest clearing sunlight, where striped tents poked through the fog.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Shit, was that the lion?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Fucking aye, that were the lion.</div>
Someone shoved Marleau aside. As he circled with the force and regained his balance, he saw paper butterfly and dragonfly wings flapping on the backs of the two children who had kicked up wet leaves passing him. They wriggled between the fence rails after the animal, calling for Molly.
The fairground covered a plot on Aspencroft's cow pastures at the back of the village where Marleau and Gavril had emerged from the forest. The village itself sat somewhere beyond, erased by the fog. The forest did engulf all within its bounds, but it was especially voracious on the fair, depressing it under the grey afternoon sunlight. The few tents standing sagged under the previous night's rainfall. Not many people were present that Marleau could see, and while there were neither jugglers nor actors, there was a possibly drunk barker who was sleeping at the token booth among liquor bottles and her speaking trumpet.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Here's the whaler.</div>
Gavril went off on his own. Marleau followed the rogue's nose to a tent set apart from the rest. The sign over it displayed PUB, which he supposed was one of the few words the rogue could read.
Marleau turned to the other tents and signs, not so sure about what he might discover inside them as Molly the lion romped in the mud, wagged the bell on her tail, and barked at the fae who had given up on her.
(display: 'removeCompanionGavril')(display: 'addEntryAtFair')
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Find something to do at the fair.', 'locationVillage')</div>{
(set: $observation's gavrilTheatre to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}
<div class='o'>(if: $inv contains $itemFlyer)[(linkgoto: 'Leave the funfair flyer on the table.', 'flyerLeave')](else:)[(linkgoto: 'Examine the funfair flyer on the table.', 'flyerExamine')]</div>{
(set: $note to $noteTheLeftPart)
(display: 'noteAdd')
}
{
<div class='o'>
(if: $endStoryEnabled is 1)[(linkgoto: 'Look through the dungeon window.', 'searchWindowEnd')]
(elseif: $entryHide's owned is 0)[
(linkgoto: 'Look through the dungeon window.', 'searchWindow0')]
(elseif: $observation's calberusOffering is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Look through the dungeon window.', 'searchWindowDiscardItems')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'Look through the dungeon window.', 'searchWindow1')]
</div>
}
<div class='o'>(if: $entryHide's owned is 1 and $endStoryEnabled is 0)[(linkgoto: 'Hide in the music hall.', 'musicHallHide')(display: 'toChapel')]</div>{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's forbiddenPassage)
###Offering
(if: $mapInstitutionDungeon is 0)[(set: $mapInstitutionDungeon to 1)]
</header>
}
Marleau put his hands in his pockets, turning the items in them as he observed the darkness between the bars of the window into the dungeon.
Asylon had said the first time she happened upon the window, she had discarded some fish scraps into it. That was how she met the man in the basement. A huge and pale hand suddenly appeared through the bars and startled her into dropping the plate. The fingers clawed for morsels and then slid away into the darkness. Calberus reached up again, but Asylon had no more to give him. She touched the fingers that climbed through the bars. Then he snatched her, and it was a good thing he could not hold onto her on account of the metal bars. Ever since, she had been offering him various other foodstuffs, such as nuts or mushrooms or dead animals.
Marleau sat near the window bars where cold air pooled. He pulled the music box out of his pocket and wound the key. The music played, and the mannequin rotated round and round in his lap. Its pattern had been set in one of the more boring motions a figurine could have. Yet there was no changing it, and Marleau watched it turn and turn until an ashen, bloodstained hand flashed out the window, descended upon the mannequin--the whole music box--and dragged it into the dungeon blackness. The music stopped. Marleau stared at his empty palms, then the claw marks in the dirt.
(if: $inv contains $itemTokens or $inv contains $itemPocketWatch or $inv contains $itemTicket)[Without allowing another moment to be held back by sentimentality, he turned out his pockets and dumped anymore funfair souveniers in them into the void. ]Perhaps Calberus would have been able to appreciate the little things Artrius never would have.
{
(display: 'removeItemMusicBox')
(if: $inv contains $itemTokens)[(display: 'removeItemTokens')]
(if: $inv contains $itemTicket)[(display: 'removeItemTicket')]
(if: $inv contains $itemPocketWatch)[(display: 'removeItemPocketWatch')]
(display: 'addObservationCalberusOffering')
}{
(set: $note to $noteWaterfall)
(display: 'noteAdd')
}{
<header>
#(print: $gavril's nameFull)
##(print: $gavril's title)
###Smoke
</header>
}
They came upon a fallen tree angled into a cluster of shrubbery. Gavril sprang onto the trunk and traced the narrow slope upward as it bowed beneath him. Marleau followed without using his hands to prove he, too, was capable of a sure mount.
Near the height of their ascent where the branches were too many to pass, Gavril stuffed away his hat and reached down onto the tree trunk to stand on his hands. He lifted his body and legs up and around in a graceful arc. His coat flipped over, but the careful way he moved, nothing fell out of his pockets. At the end of the arc, he straddled the tree and faced Marleau.
Marleau imitated him, bringing himself down on the tree trunk before the rogue, and they kept balance with their backs and thighs and let their legs dangle. The ground was not too far, but they were high enough to smell the dewed leaves and needles clean of wet earth. Gavril tested the tree, making it creak up and down beneath them, then they each swung a leg over and sat shoulders alongside.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Did you train on a pole, too?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL A pole, sure did I.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Got a smoke?</div>
Gavril pulled one out from his coat but perched it between his own lips. From another pocket he drew a match and lit the cigarette.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL A kiss, what they call it. Won't a smoke be found in all the west shores. A kiss is what you're to ask after.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU We're not on the western shores. Besides, asking for a kiss seems like an obvious trap.</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL Ah well, tuck your right man and you'll a light all right.</div>
Gavril eased a smooth stream of smoke into his face.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Right then, can I have a kiss?</div>
Gavril plucked the cigarette from his lips with one hand and cupped the other round the back of Marleau's neck. Marleau knew the inevitable the moment the words were out his mouth, and he shut his eyes and dug his fingernails into the tree bark when Gavril moved in. When he did gather enough nerves to pull away, the rogue clenched his hair and latched onto his scalp. Marleau squeezed his eyes shut even tighter till hot slices burned in them.
Their contact was full of smoke, gravelly, and strangely familiar. In the darkness, he recalled his mother's bony forehead pressing against his own through the dusty lace curtains of their caravan. His head hurt rubbing against her skull. He had held his breath from the tartness of hers. Only when he heard a wicked snicker could he open his eyes, and all imaginations made in the dark vanished in the light. Gavril was holding out the cigarette for him.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Idiot.</div>
He descended the tree trunk in haste and continued down the muddy path toward the fair. Gavril's hand seized his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL You're the wrong way.</div>
The rogue grabbed him again and turned him in another direction, then gave him one great shove forward. He stumbled but evaded a fall. His mind wandered, and it went off somewhere without him. His legs swung to and fro till they stopped.
The forest fog seemed to have become denser, and the hazy rogue circled round him, pace predaceous and gaze heavy on his skin. Birds high in the trees filled their muted time.
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL What names were yours?</div>
Marleau did not understand, and the rogue's face offered no indication of intent. He stopped prowling and seemed to be fading, but it was only tobacco vapor from his breath. Mirth had fled him as it had Marleau.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Sometimes I almost feel sorry for you but then I remember what kind of person you are.</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL And what kind am I to be?</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU A rotter.</div>
Gavril's tongue scraped along his teeth. Lips, teeth, tongue. Marleau looked down at the leaves underfoot. The smoke stuck in their hair, on their necks, in the small space between them.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU That pleases you, doesn't it?</div>
<div class='d'>$GAVRIL What is it, pleases me?</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU That you're a fucking rotter.</div>
Gavril's shadow receded, and the morning light fell over Marleau as if the tree branches had parted overhead. The leaves crumbled to dust under his feet. The rogue had moved on down the path, and Marleau watched until the fog nearly erased him. Songbirds flitted one after another crossing them, and he hurried, not too eagerly, to catch up.
(display: 'addObservationGavrilSmoke'){
(set: $observation's gavrilSmoke to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's tokenBooth)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'tokenBooth0')
(display: 'actionTokenBooth')
}
<div class='o'>(display: 'toVillage')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's pub)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'pub0')
}
<div class='o'>(display: 'toVillage')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's jungle)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'jungle0')
}
<div class='o'>(display: 'toVillage')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's mermaid)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'mermaid0')
}
<div class='o'>(display: 'toVillage')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's unicorn)
</header>
}
{
(display: 'unicorn0')
}
<div class='o'>(display: 'toVillage')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's fair)
###Baba's Poppets
</header>
}
Marleau looked over the funfair from the fence separating the field and the thicket. He had raised himself onto one of the rails, and from this vantage the fair appeared like a dollhouse spilling out little people in the grass. A mysterious, sorrowful melody tinkled in the air nearby. Till then, music had been absent in the funfair ambiance. Down the fence he spied a lone booth which appeared to have gone unnoticed by the other fairgoers. It was a puppet theatre with a stage for the counter and red velvet drapes over the window. The sign on the top of the booth labeled the attraction Baba's Poppets. He smelled baked goods.
The curtains billowed then parted halfway and revealed a babushka marionette. The puppet waved her arms to part the curtains further. Her crinkled grey hair and a tattered robe hid her joints, and she did not appear to have legs, for the strings helping her float over the stage were attached only to her hands and head. As babushkyn were often depicted, her eyes were painted solid white without pupils because she had long lost her soul.
<div class='d'>$BABA I scent a sweet round face, ripe as the sun for my apple streusel pie!</div>
She flailed her arms, cackling, and Marleau could not help but smile. She swept across the stage to drag out a steaming pie and a trinket music box from behind the window. The aroma of apples and cinnamon filled Marleau's nose and the music sounded clearer now that he had an eye on the sources. An indistinct human figure rotated within the music box. A wooden mannequin. The babushka caressed it as best her paddles of hands could.
<div class='d'>$BABA My dear, I've decided not to eat you, as you can see I've already baked this pie. Tell me, are you enjoying the fair?</div>
She leaned toward Marleau, paddles rubbing together.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Not very.</div>
She twisted her arms in laughter.
<div class='d'>$BABA We've the same taste. It looked scrumptious, but I think my stomach's turning.</div>
Her hands wrapped round her stomach, which was just empty air under her robe, as she gagged in the pretense of vomiting. Blush rose on Marleau's cheeks for the funfair workers. (if: $inv contains $itemPocketWatch)[ The barker's pocket watch ticked inside his pocket, and he worried how without it, she would be late to all her appointments.](if: $inv contains $itemTicket)[ The token ticket was a mere piece of paper he was certain he would have got anyway if he had attempted the unicorn game(if: $inv contains $itemTokens)[, which itself could only have occurred if he had paid for a round with one of the stolen tokens].](if: $observation's fairJungle is 1)[ Even those terrible fae children must have at some point attempted to entertain guests.] The babushka shared her laughter with him whether he was in agreement. Her hair sprang all over her shoulders.
<div class='d'>$BABA A good apple streusel pie would be just the cure. You like pies, don't you? Everyone likes pies. I love apples, I do. What is your favorite fruit?</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Apples?</div>
The babushka clapped, rattled, and roared.
<div class='d'>$BABA My own boy, you are! Would you like one of my apple pies? I have plenty to share.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Sure.</div>
<div class='d'>$BABA Now, now. You should know better. I can't simply give my things away, and a curse on those who take without permission. It's only fair that I require an exchange.</div>
(if: $inv contains $itemTokens)[Marleau fumbled with the tokens in his pocket. The babushka's snicker stopped him from pulling them out](else:)[Marleau had neither tokens nor money. The babushka clucked at him].
<div class='d'>$BABA Innocent child, I don't abide material trifles. No, what I would like from you is a promise. You have to promise to share the pie with your dearest friend.</div>
The request seemed modest.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU All right.</div>
<div class='d'>$BABA So eager, but the deal's not all laid out. Before I give you the pie, you must tell me who your dearest is.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU My schoolmate, I suppose.</div>
The answer did not conjure another laugh, and the marionette slumped into little more than a head bobbing in a puddle of robes. Behind him, the fair's stooping tents and sparsity seemed far away.
<div class='d'>$BABA A schoolmate is invaluable. No risk of loss there. No, your dearest friend is someone you can't afford to lose. And who would this be to you?</div>
The figurine's rotation slowed, and notes in the music labored. The babushka's eyes pinned upon him and the strings rocked her body to and fro. She seemed to know the answer. She was simply trying to make him play her game.
Names tumbled in his head. Although Marleau remembered names of the urchins in his old circus troupe, they must have forgotten him. His mother was buried in the city she had spent her life fleeing. Despite the babushka's insistence, Asylon came to his mind again. Ivie and Lorcis populated it as well. The Handmaiden guarded them, and Gavril lurked beside. Calberus dwelled in the deepest institution halls, something of a fixture in the whole institution. Now, Marleau had not one dear friend. He had many. He did not want to imagine losing any one of them.
<div class='d'>$BABA I see it embarrasses you to taint your tongue with his name. Is he so venerated? Who is this, the one you worship?</div>
The babushka's baiting grew tiresome on him. He was a witch--he would not be witched by another.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU A person shouldn't ever worship another person.</div>
<div class='d'>$BABA Well then, that makes Him a god, no? Understandable, little one, that He would be. We try to make ourselves so like our gods. Or is it we try to make our gods so like us?</div>
Marleau thought to make sure Gavril was well. Not all adults had the constitution or inclination to take care of themselves. He turned toward the fair, and the babushka's arms flung up.
<div class='d'>$BABA Oh my, the moon's calling. We did not get to know each other very well, but I must set forth homeward. I suggest you the same. Animals do enjoy fresh soft bones. Farewell, my own boy. My pies need me!</div>
As she spoke, she sank lower and lower on the stage and receded into the curtains. When she disappeared somwhere into the window, the curtains closed, her cackling faded, and the music ended. Marleau scoured the booth on all sides, from stage to backstage, to uncover who it was who seemed to know so much about him. He found no one behind the curtains. The babushka had forgotten her music box and pie.
He put a pinch of brown crust and streusel in his mouth. Cinnamon and nutmeg melted on his tongue like dust, though he would have preferred more of a crunch, but the musty tartness the pie's aroma had become fouled its taste. It had cooled yet bubbled inside. He tore off a larger portion to discover the filling was a clumpy black mash. The juicy fissure pushed out ribbons of ink which gushed forth and coiled over the stage. Worms. He fell back from the booth as the ringlets sprouted and broke out of their crumbling encasement. Ivie would have made a better pie.
(display: 'addItemMusicBox')(display: 'addEntryHome')
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Return to the funfair.', 'locationVillage')</div>{
(linkgoto: 'Go to the token booth.', 'sceneTokenBooth')
}{
(linkgoto: 'Go to the pub.', 'scenePub')
}{
(if: $observation's fairJungle is 1)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the Kings of the Jungle tent.', 'sceneJungle')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'See the Kings of the Jungle.', 'sceneJungleFae')]
}{
(if: $observation's fairMermaid is 1)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the Invisible Mermaid tent.', 'sceneMermaid')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'See the Invisible Mermaid.', 'sceneMermaidReflection')]
}{
(if: $observation's fairUnicorn is 1)[(linkgoto: 'Go to the Unicorn Game.', 'sceneUnicorn')]
(else:)[(linkgoto: 'Play the Unicorn Game.', 'sceneUnicornGame')]
}{
(linkgoto: 'Leave the fair.', 'scenePuppetTheatre')
}The token booth was a narrow wooden shed with a window and no back. Hinges between the three walls indicated the whole structure could be collapsed flat, just like the cheap booths Marleau's old troupe lugged between destinations. This one was painted in yellow and white stripes. A trifle bowl filled with tokens had been set on the window sill. A sign over the booth window noted the price of a set of three tokens. Marleau had forgotten to bring money.
No attendant looked after the station, but the barker lay asleep under the lip of the counter, surrounded by empty liquor bottles and her speaking horn. (unless: $inv contains $itemPocketWatch)[ At some point, she had taken care to note the time, as her pocket watch sat in the palm of her hand, which rested on her belly.]
Smoke enveloped the tent, and Marleau gazed in from afar. Amongst various groups of villagers and travelers, Gavril huddled with three other patrons at a table in the back, occupied with playing cards. The afternoon light cut across his face and made him look sleepy. He blinked whenever someone happened to cross the sunbeam. He took a swig from his drink, then a drag from his cigarette. The more vocal of the group was relaying a story and laughing at her own bawdy wit, while the bartender and the other two guests now and then tossed an opinion or another at her, which made her repeat the last few sentences prior to the interruptions with even more enthusiasm. She wore coattails which matched the token booth's yellow and white stripes.
{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's jungle)
###Inquisition
</header>
}
The fae children squatted under the jungle canopy tent, playing hunters and heathens in the mud. They had prepared several grids and waddled from one to another whenever they finished a game. A standing notice indicated one minute of petting an animal would cost one token, but the kennels were empty. Molly the lion had run out into the pastures. The tiger was nowhere in sight.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Where's the tiger?</div>
The children huddled against one another, heads low and rubbing together. They were many years younger than Marleau, and the twig frames of their wings were broken. Some of the paper had come off. They took turns carving circles and crosses in the soil with their fingers. Marleau surveyed the pastures for the show animals. Cow flanks and legs rippled in and out of the fog. A bell clinked faintly beyond.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Can I pet Molly?</div>
The children mumbled into themselves, then together glowered at him.
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY It's Mauly.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Well, can I pet her?</div>
<div class='d'>$DRAGONFLY We're not supposed to talk to you.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Why's that?</div>
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY We're not supposed to talk to witches.</div>
The children put down their marks on the hunters and heathens grid one after another. Marleau realized they were not playing correctly, at least not by the rules he had learned. They made enough circles for the hunter to win regardless of who was the hunter or heathen, or whose turn it was.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU What makes you think I'm a witch?</div>
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY You and your bitch came out of the forest.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU Lots of people come out of the forest.</div>
<div class='d'>$DRAGONFLY You can't be hanged.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU What?</div>
Marleau's gaze went about the plot. The people in attendance idled about the field, tankards in hand. Perhaps they were old friends or neighbors. He could see Gavril where the sunlight reached into the pub. The rogue was smirking at the token booth attendant and the other card players round his table. He was fond in that manner.
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY Because you can fly.</div>
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU How do you know I can fly?</div>
<div class='d'>$DRAGONFLY We tested you. The Judge's good child would've fallen flat on his ass. You didn't fall. That means you can fly--</div>
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY And that means you're evil, witch!</div>
Marleau flinched. The fae had flicked mud at him. He thought he should get angry. They had shoved him on purpose, had dirtied his good shirt, and were generally unpleasant conversationalists. Yet anger was not in him. He glanced round the fair once more. The children ducked their heads in heated conference.
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY Stop talking to the witchboy.</div>
<div class='d'>$DRAGONFLY <i>You</i> stop talking to the witchboy.</div>
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY He'll lay on you.</div>
<div class='d'>$DRAGONFLY No, he'll lay on <i>you</i>.</div>
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY Well, I'll burn him!</div>
<div class='d'>$DRAGONFLY I'm going to chop off his head!</div>
They screamed over one another and began to slap the other's face, first with one hand each, then with all their hands aflutter. With a sudden truce, they turned on him.
<div class='d'>$FAE Witchboy! Witchboy!</div>
A few of the other fairgoers glanced his way. The children fell to the ground and began rolling and writhing, grabbing their own hair and the other's, grinding their heels in the mud, and crushing their wings.
<div class='d'>$BUTTERFLY Ow, the witch is on me! Mama! Get him off!</div>
<div class='d'>$DRAGONFLY He's hurting me! Mama!</div>
The children screeched as they scrambled to their feet and then took off, wings limp, to the pastures. They shrieked for their mother all the way into the fog.
Marleau's heartbeats nearly staggered him. He took several deep breaths once he remembered to, and his blood rushed away the numbness in the tips of his fingers. It was not their fairly accurate accusation which had given him palpitations. They cried for their mother, but he had not heard her answering.
He turned round to see the fairgoers giving him cross glares, and perhaps he returned them. The folks went about their own business without confronting him. He saw Gavril looking at him too, but he was not quite looking, only gazing beyond while a cigarette wasted away in his hand. The token booth attendant nudged his shoulder and made him turn aside, and Marleau was nothing more to him.
{
(display: 'addNoteGame')
(display: 'addObservationFairJungle')
}{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's mermaid)
###Reflection
</header>
}
A sign standing beside the entrance of the Invisible Mermaid tent noted a single viewing would cost one token. The tent flap hung fully closed but not secured, no attendant beside. Marleau crooked the flap just enough for a slit which he could peer into, then slipped inside.
A rectangular aquarium stood on four cast iron feet in the center of the tent. Its height appeared sufficient to contain a person, although it was not much for swimming, much less for extending arms or turning round. As Lorcis sometimes had Calberus bound, perhaps so it was that the mermaid's confines were accordingly compressed. It would have been insurance against fairgoers being dragged into the tank, dismembered, and consumed before they could expire by the mercy of drowning.
Compelled by the silence within the tent and tank, Marleau braved onward till the water returned his own countentance as if he had emerged from the murk. He could barely see past his own reflection. Light from holes in the canopy blurred inside the stagnant water within the glass coffin. The invisible mermaid must have been dead.
He remembered kneeling on the bed beside the wash basin, holding back the lace curtain and his mother's hair as she retched into the vessel. He had tried to bunch the slippery hair in his fists without pulling at her scalp, but it spilled out and became soiled in the porridge of her vomit. She would have to wash herself again, along with her mouth, to not reek like soured milk for the entire show. The cage was cold--damp hair made it more so. She said she bruised easily. She had said that to him often so that he would not forget, but it seemed he always forgot.
Marleau's face faded from the glass. Although he had prepared himself going out, the tent flap burdened his arm, and the sunlight struck him hard. He might have got in trouble for not paying for a viewing, but he saw that none had the mind to care.
{
(display: 'addNoteMother')
(display: 'addObservationFairMermaid')
}{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's unicorn)
###Consolation
</header>
}
Aside from the pub, the Unicorn Game appeared to be the only attraction attracting fairgoers. The head of a unicorn sat within a bed of garnish on a silver platter, which had been served upon a tree stump set up behind a chalked white line. The display reminded Marleau of Calberus's creations. The unicorn constituted a taxidermy of a horse's head and a bone protrusion, carved to a point, glued onto its forehead. The horse seemed to have passed in a poor state, for its cheeks were sunken and its skin, shriveled and hairless in patches.
Several children had queued for a turn. Marleau watched from outside the scene of activity. A boy about his age was up. The attendant squinted through small round spectacles which accountants wore and exchanged the boy's ticket with three rope rings. The boy marched to the line and hurled one of the rings at the unicorn, but it bounced off the muzzle. He made a show of good-natured frustration, and the other children encouraged him. The attendant cheered him on as well and strayed from the table where prizes were stashed. Block trains, wooden and hemp dolls, and other joyful trifles awaited game winners. Marleau maneuvered for a position which would grant him access, but the attendant's stance shifted. Marleau slipped something off the table instead and went on his way with the thing secure in a closed fist.
Across the field and near the forest edge, he looked over his shoulder at the commotion produced by the attendant and children's spontaneous applause. A smaller child had managed to catch her last ring on the unicorn's horn. The attendant herded the entire flock of children to the table to help the winner pick her prize. Marleau sat in the grass and examined the piece of paper he had taken.
{
(display: 'addItemTicket')
(display: 'addObservationFairUnicorn')
}{
<div class='o'>
(unless: $inv contains $itemPocketWatch)[(linkgoto: "Take the barker's pocket watch.", 'tokenBoothPocketWatch')]
(unless: (history:) contains 'tokenBoothTokens1')[(if: (history:) contains 'tokenBoothTokens0')[(linkgoto: 'Take more tokens.', 'tokenBoothTokens1')](else:)[(linkgoto: 'Take some tokens.', 'tokenBoothTokens0')]]
</div>
}{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's tokenBooth)
###Pocket Watch
</header>
}
The barker's breath smelled strongly of vodka, and her whole face seemed to sag in a pile within the plate formed by her ruff. Keeping light round her stomach, Marleau undid a button on her waistcoat to take the chain along with the watch.
(display: 'addItemPocketWatch'){
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's tokenBooth)
###Some Tokens
</header>
}
Marleau took a handful of the wooden chips from the trifle bowl. They were light but ungainly in circumference, and he found that one dive yielded only three of them. The tokens went into his pocket, nearly at the limit of the seams.
{
(display: 'addObservationFairToken0')
(display: 'addItemTokens')
}{
<header>
#(print: $village's name)
##(print: $village's tokenBooth)
###More Tokens
</header>
}
Marleau knew he had not enough pockets to carry so many tokens at once, but he was unable to resist helping himself to another handful of the wooden chips. The barker snorted and groaned at the rattling in the bowl, and he sidestepped behind the booth before she opened her eyes.
{
(display: 'addObservationFairToken1')
(display: 'addItemTokens')
}{
(set: $item to $itemPocketWatch)
(display: 'invAdd')
}{
(set: $item to $itemPocketWatch)
(display: 'invRemove')
}{
(set: $item to $itemMusicBox)
(display: 'invAdd')
}{
(set: $item to $itemMusicBox)
(display: 'invRemove')
}{
(set: $observation's fairToken0 to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's fairToken1 to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's fairJungle to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's fairMermaid to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's fairUnicorn to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's calberusOffering to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $item to $itemTokenTicket)
(display: 'invAdd')
}{
(set: $item to $itemTokenTicket)
(display: 'invRemove')
}{
(set: $observation's libraryLateNight to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's cellblock)
###Artrius's Room
</header>
}
Artrius's room was not as tidy as Marleau would have expected it to be for someone who had few possessions and was adamant about chores. His bed had not been made, and weapons and cases had been shoved roughly under it or piled into one corner of the room. The few garments he owned hung on a simple wooden rack in no particular order, but they looked more or less alike. A chain of toothed iron links lay over one end of the rack.
Marleau tapped his fingers along the spikes. He brought his nose close to the iron, and it smelled like blood. Artrius's clothes smelled like evergreens.
(unless: $noteList contains $noteWaterfall)[
(display: 'addNoteWaterfall')]{
<div class='o'>
(if: $entryHide's owned is 1)[(linkgoto: "Enter Artrius's room.", 'searchCellArtriusHide')](else:)[(linkgoto: "Enter Artrius's room.", 'searchCellArtrius')]
</div>
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's forbiddenPassage)
###Dungeon Window
</header>
}
Marleau could neither see nor hear anything in the dungeon depths. Perhaps the offering had pleased the man in the basement.
The kennels were empty, and the animals and fae had fled. The hunters and heathens games drawn on all over the ground had been smeared during the children's fit. Fragments left indicated consistent victories for the hunters, although Marleau was not certain of the rules they had gone by.
The Invisible Mermaid tent attracted none of the other fairgoers. The name itself was reason to keep away. What could they see, Marleau thought. The mermaid was invisible.
Marleau realized the children at the Unicorn Game sustained its activity in a closed rotation, as the same players were up at the line one after another. They seemed affiliated, perhaps as schoolmates or siblings. At the very least, they had made friends with one another--including the jolly attendant--while participating in the only game in operation. Their clapping and shouting, and their physical bonds and laughter, turned Marleau away.
{
(set: $note to $noteGame)
(display: 'noteAdd')
}{
(set: $item to $itemTicket)
(display: 'invAdd')
}{
(set: $item to $itemTicket)
(display: 'invRemove')
}{
<div class='grid-decision-option'>
<div class='col-option-info'>Give Artrius the token ticket.</div>
</div>
}{
<header>
#(print: $artrius's nameFull)
##(print: $artrius's title)
###$passageNameGift
</header>
}
Artrius acknowledged the ticket but did not take it. Marleau read the inscription upon it as it sat unclaimed in his palm. The stamp had a date on it to prevent people demanding an exchange years later. The ticket had a place in history. It could have been considered a native artifact for anthropological chronicling, as there would be more made in subsequent years, each with their own unique stamp.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU You could start a collection.</div>
(display: 'giftEnd'){
<div class='grid-decision-option'>
<div class='col-option-info'>Give Artrius the music box.</div>
</div>
}{
<header>
#(print: $artrius's nameFull)
##(print: $artrius's title)
###$passageNameGift
</header>
}
Artrius acknowledged the music box in Marleau's palm but did not take it. Marleau realized it appeared to be a trinket box like any other, so he hurried to reveal the figurine inside.
<div class='d'>$MARLEAU It plays music.</div>
He wound the key. The music plinked its melancholy tune and the mannequin turned. He held onto the box because Artrius had not reached out for it, and he stood unmoving, eyes on the blank human rotating in his hands. The playtime seemed to last longer than when he had first listened to it, but he liked the tune well enough.(if: $observation's artriusMusic is 1)[ Artrius could talk at length about music, so perhaps he was enjoying it as well, but Marleau kept his eyes on the little turning person. It was stiff and had no articulate joints, but it seemed to bow under the sorrowful melody.] As the gears inside the box slowed, the mannequin struggled along its predetermined path and then creaked to a standstill.
(display: 'giftEnd'){
(set: $note to $noteLanguage)
(display: 'noteAdd')
}Artrius had kept the fire in the library fed, and its light shaped the walls of the hall. He would return eventually to throw in another log or to put it out, and Marleau determined to not be around when the hearth needed tending.
{
<header>
#(print: $hour's nameStrings)
</header>
}
Marleau felt it was time to open his eyes, although he was not sure how he could tell. His body had become so light, he could not stay down. He sat up to the forest and music hall illuminated by the moon at its fullest. A shadow blackened the stage. A naked body in suspension.
Strings barely visible but for the sheen riding them had descended from the tree branches. Lines entangled the figure's wrists, punctured its hands, and raised the arms aloft. The body half-dangled, half-slouched on its knees upon the floorboards. Its head hung low, baring a line attached to a wound on the very top of it.
The marionette could be made to animate. Discrete body segments, each fitted together at the joints, creaked as lightly as the body's sway in the draft. The assembled toy smelled wooden but Marleau's palms found it warm, fleshy, and responsive between its trembling thighs. His hands glided round them into the sweating jointures where one part of the body ended and another began. He explored more of its surfaces and crevices, up the belly, into the navel, along the ribcage and breastbone and the heaving muscles surrounding, and onto the strings tightened round the bulge moving in the throat. He raised its chin and smoothed the welted tissue crinkled on its cheek. Irregular patches of skin were pulled thin over its eyes and mouth, pinned, sewn, and fused into the bruising layer underneath, so that it had no eyes, no mouth. He cupped the head in his hands and recognized its shape. He had known who it was. Touching the folds on the face swelling and spitting out blood from between the seams, he was certain. Artrius was trying to scream.
He had no voice, but a wheezing difficult and quickening from his nostrils beat upon Marleau's hands. Marleau depressed his fingers and thumbs onto the drum-like surface over the eye sockets. He pushed into them. Artrius shuddered yet made no sound but for fearful air and each segment of his body clacking in the joints. The strings held them fast. Marleau clutched the skull hard and pressed deeper, and Artrius thrashed in his grasp. The face skins stretched white-taut and began to crack and curl under his fingernails. Blood inky in the night crawled down his hands and arms. He pierced the skin. The face burst and black blood gushed out the eyes. His fingers plunged into the holes, and he felt nothing inside them but rushing streams. Artrius's face split wider--the seams popped, and his lower jaw rent itself free. Agony unleashed from his depths was at first air, a bellowing, then a discordant howl quaking the hall. Marleau stepped back to watch the instrument play alone. Artrius writhed in the moonlight. The strings bowed, tightened, and vibrated with his music.
The keen vanished to echo, and echo to wind. Then the wind stilled and a whisper without a body, but from memory, overtook the air.
<div class='d'>$MOTHER It's all right, baby bee. Don't look at me. Kiss the fucker already.</div>
The puppet hung limp from its strings. The holes of its eyes and mouth still leaked. Marleau gathered Artrius's head once more into his hands. It was delicate and sticky, and the blackness inside was moist, fragrant. Pitch and sap. He moved closer till their breaths combined, and they shivered now that the hot blood on them had turned cold. Remember this, he instructed himself. Remember this when you wake up.
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Kiss him.', 'chapelWakeUp')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's musicHall)
###Sounds in the Night
</header>
}
The caravan pastor had regularly warned the urchins to watch out for witches, demons, and other evils in the forest darkness. Marleau supposed he was safe enough, being one of the darkness, that he could merge into a nook formed by a wall and elderoak roots and sleep among the wicked and the wild for a night.
Entering the music hall was like exiting the building, as the tall broken windows let the forest in. Branches and roots hugged crumbled walls and climbed the ironwork which once held glass. Within that frame, the moon was calling, as the babushka had observed. It stirred animals. Wolves would answer it. The mad would answer it. Marleau became aware of a violent racket clamoring from another part of the institution.
Gavril had come back from the fair after all, and he seemed to have caught himself in an argument. He had raised his voice in altercation, but it turned into screaming and shrieking first seemingly at an adversary, then in vain. He wailed, threw a great many things, and banged on the walls as if he were trapped inside, but he was not trapped in the institution, only in himself, and he raged with himself, at himself. He began to laugh, a snicker or a whimper which trailed out into the forest toward the shed and then again transformed into shrieks rising up to the moon. Marleau--and Artrius, he was sure--had to listen to the suffering until it tired and then died away, and they, the three, remained each and all together apart.
Marleau shook his mended pair of socks and tucked them under his head as he lay down on the moss. Gavril had most likely wearied himself to sleep, as the only forest sounds were of animals, trees, and the wind, which brought an insidious coldness into Marleau's nook. He tried to welcome that coldness, to build up resistances to passion. How freeing it would be, he thought, to never be drawn to distraction, to screaming, or to weeping. If he had control over his impulses, he would not steal things, he could engage in meaningful discourse, and he could gain and retain knowledge as easily as Artrius. Perhaps he could even come to be a match for the sage.
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Go to sleep.', 'strings')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's chapel)
###Rise
</header>
}
A strange and beautiful wail pealed through the air. Marleau inhaled the coldness. Sunbeams streamed through the windows in even rows. He thought he had fallen asleep in the music hall, but he had awakened on one of the front pews inside the chapel. It was when he adjusted the blanket over his shoulders that he realized he had been visited in the night. The blanket was a long oilskin duster.
Marleau remained under for a moment longer, breathing it. He recalled in his dreams instructing himself to remember them, but they were now lost. He was not too discouraged that Artrius had found him. He had lied to himself about not wanting to be found. Had they remained together through the night, he wondered. He did not know what Artrius looked like asleep.
The wailing resounded up in the arches again, beckoning him to rise. The coat drooped heavily in his arms and dragged about his feet, so instead of wrangling with it as he might an animal, he entered the body, wriggled his arms through the sleeves, and again brought it upon his shoulders. The coat bore down on him, but he was able to walk down the aisle with its length trailing behind.
The source of the sound appeared to be from another place. He recognized the wailing as music, for it moaned much like a darker, deeper violin and began to weave a tune like the sorrowful songs of things grey and forgotten.
{
(display: 'addItemCoat')
(display: 'addEntryMusic')
}
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Find the source of the music.', 'sceneChapel')</div>Witheroaks wrapped around the black forest void beyond the institution. Calls and cries from creatures within the darkness signalled their reclamation of the earth and trees. They would not be so forgiving of trespassers.
{
(print: $entryHide's title)
(print: $entryHide's description)
}{
(if: $entryHide's owned is 0)[
(set: $entryHide's owned to 1)
(display: 'updateJournal')
]
}{
(print: $entryMusic's title)
(print: $entryMusic's description)
}{
(if: $entryMusic's owned is 0)[
(set: $entryMusic's owned to 1)
(display: 'updateJournal')
(set: $endStoryEnabled to 1)
]
}{
(set: $note to $noteMother)
(display: 'noteAdd')
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's forbiddenPassage)
</header>
}
The intimate howl from the passage welcomed Marleau. He leaned against the wall and listened to the occasional distant wolves, owls, bats, or strange chattering insects he could neither name nor picture. The rubbish Gavril had earlier discarded had been collected away. The rats in the walls liked to take glass shards for their nests, as they were smart enough to stick them around to deter snakes. The walls smelled like rot, but the evergreen aroma riding in the draft brought Marleau moments of clarity and comfort.
(display: 'searchPassage')
<div class='o'>(display: 'toForecourt')</div>{
(set: $note to $notePossession)
(display: 'noteAdd')
}{
<header>
#(print: $forest's name)
##(print: $forest's path)
###The Rogue Attended
</header>
}
Marleau followed the fence along the tree line, casting a glance now and then toward the fair and the purple fields. Fairgoers were dispersing, and the troupe traded more shouts than parcels. The barker made use of her trumpet, especially. He looked about for Gavril so they could walk home together, but a rustling in the darkening thicket dashed the notion. Yellow and white coattails flickered between the saplings. The token booth attendant stumbled into Gavril and pinned him against a tree among grunts brought up by drink in their bellies. Gavril spied him then pushed and pulled the attendent by the hair down to her knees. He kept his eyes on Marleau, seeming to stave off a dream under breaths vocal and earthbound.(if: $observation's gavrilSmoke is 1)[ His lips broke in invitation, and as if memory were a tongue, Marleau tasted again the smoky savor of parts inside him. He](else:)[ Marleau] had witnessed enough. The rogue could take care of himself.
(display: 'addObservationGavrilForest')
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Head home.', 'forestGoHome')</div>{
<header>
#(print: $forest's name)
##(print: $forest's path)
###Ways of Witches
</header>
}
On and off the forest path, Marleau rolled the music box within his pocket. He knew better than to give a witch a name. He was aware of ways to use them. Ivie had said babushkyn rarely spoke, if they had not sacrificed speech altogether. She had met a real one once, and the old witch uttered not a word to her. He kicked a pinecone at the idea of one witch wanting to trick another.
He opened the music box without winding the key. The night brought out creatures sensitive to sounds. He replayed the box's tune in his head but made it up because he could not remember it. He thought to give Artrius a souvenir from the fair, as he had not got to come see (if: $inv contains $itemTokens or $inv contains $itemPocketWatch or $inv contains $itemTicket or $observation's fairJungle is 1)[the people](else:)[it] for himself.
<div class='o'>(linkgoto: 'Find Artrius at home.', 'kitchenArtriusGift')</div>Workers were dismantling and rolling up the tents, folding up booths, and tucking away the mundane wonders of the funfair.(if: $observation's fairJungle is 1)[ The fae children were still searching for their mother, tugging sleeves and asking politely for reports of her whereabouts, but whenever they happened to cross Marleau, their countenances turned mean and suspicious, and they escaped his apparent evil gaze by ducking behind obstacles. Mauly chased after them.](else:)[ The fae children, now accompanied by Molly the lion, idled among them. If their gazes happened to cross Marleau's, their countenances turned mean and suspicious, and they searched for distractions in the crowd.] Skinny horses had emerged from the fog bearing large covered wagons which members of the troupe boarded to help haul up crates and chests full of decorations and prizes Marleau had not been able to enjoy. He got the impression there were many more fair workers and performers than he had seen earlier in the day, as the workers and horses were costumed in colors vibrant against the twilight. The pub remained standing, fueling the night's labor and laughter.
While he wandered the fairground amongst the bustle, he looked at the fences lining the forest thicket. The puppet show booth and the worms had disappeared, or the fog had thickened. He flipped the music box inside his pocket, relieved it was still there.{
(print: $entryHome's title)
(print: $entryHome's description)
}{
(if: $entryHome's owned is 0)[
(set: $entryHome's owned to 1)
(display: 'updateJournal')
]
}{
(display: 'addScoreEntry')
(display: 'messageJournalUpdate')
}{
(set: $observation's gavrilForest to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $item to $itemSocks)
(display: 'invAdd')
}{
(set: $item to $itemCoat)
(display: 'invAdd')
}Marleau stayed in the corridor, looking into his room. He longed to crawl into his bed and drop his face into his pillow, but the bedroom was the first logical place Artrius would have scouted if he, motivated by something rational and necessary, wished to seek Marleau before the night ended. Marleau did not want to be found by him.
{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's forbiddenPassage)
</header>
}
A light fog and falling dust mingled in the passage, making the scrawlings on the walls appear to shift upon their canvas. The marks were less mystic runes and more vagrants' signatures, including renditions of vulgarities and genitalia. Someone had long ago scratched a brimstone cross low on the wall by the passage mouth, although it was not clear whether the sigil was to seal monsters in or to keep them out. Marleau might have been able to guess intent had a corpse been left behind on one side or the other, but he liked to think Calberus had cleaned up either way.
The music which had awakened him vibrated the walls. He did not have to search hard for the source, as it was coming from the room designated long ago by the Circle: the music hall.
{
(display: 'searchPassage')
(display: 'toInstitutionScenesPassage')
}{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's forbiddenPassage)
###Dungeon Window
(if: $mapInstitutionDungeon is 0)[(set: $mapInstitutionDungeon to 1)]
</header>
}
Marleau squinted with aid by the early dawn light into the dungeon window. (if: $observation's calberusWork is 1)[The man in the basement himself appeared absent, but he had made progress on the body basket he had been fashioning.](else:)[The man in the basement himself appeared absent, but one of his projects sat on the operation table. It was a human torso, yet mangled so that Marleau could not be certain, and bones interwoven through the skin shaped the mass more or less like a lidded basket.] The basket was sealed by skinned faces stitched into one spread, which lay over whatever contents it might have contained, and had been sewn shut along its circumference. The holes of the faces' eyes, nostrils, and mouths were vents for the filling, which seemed to be made out of something organic. It did gleam and smell like decay, and tiny movements pushed up beneath the skin. Maggots, perhaps.
(unless: $observation's calberusFinished is 1)[(display: 'addObservationCalberusFinished')]The draft was filled with music, which breached the chapel stone and seemed to shake the dust loose from the ceiling. Motes swirled in the sunlight and settled over the pews, the altar, and Marleau's eyelashes.
{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's cellblock)
###Artrius's Room
</header>
}
The room's sparsity echoed the vacancy in Marleau's gut. It seemed the cabbage stew had not filled him, but the hollowness of it did feel heavy with sorrow. For what, he could not comprehend. That was why food was not to be taken with pleasure, Marleau's mother had said, or else it would lead to ideas. Calaiel made vessels of his children only as big as they needed to be, to not allow Seht to fill them with forbidden desires, but the Corruptor still tried. Feeling light and airy was good, and that pocket of air in one's vessel showed one's resistance against indulgences; being heavy and sweaty with bloat was bad, revealing one's greed and fall to temptation. One had to expel the excess, and the body would keep what it needed, as Calaiel had fashioned.
The caravan pastor enjoyed his meals. So did the ringmaster and the other performers. Only Marleau's mother made a test of hunger, made up rules to punish herself. He had not understood why.
Moonlight guided him to the toothed iron chain lying on Artrius's clothes rack. He inhaled the residue of blood and the forest on them.
(unless: $noteList contains $noteWaterfall)[
(display: 'addNoteWaterfall')]Marleau sat on the wooden plank seat. He found that he had no energy to push himself, and he instead slumped against the rope and rocked on one toe. A cold wind rushed into his face and through his clothes as if he were flying. He appreciated the forest's reassurance, but he knew he was not flying.
(unless: $observation's gladeSwing is 1)[(display: 'addObservationGladeSwing')]{
(set: $observation's calberusFinished to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's calberusWork to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}{
(set: $observation's gladeSwing to 1)
(display: 'addScoreDiscovery')
}The solid stone and the quietness inside the chapel made it a place of secrecy. Marleau did retreat into it to do things unknown to the others, yet its stillness now, and the moonbeams crossing the aisle in even paces, created the impression of a prison. Perhaps by the chapel's starkness Marleau recalled Artrius, and beneath the tranquility laid unrest.
The dirt in the yard appeared to be more expansive and widening under the moonlight, and the spot where Gavril had fallen the night before was still visible, a darkened disturbance in the silver-blue pool of light.
Grass in the glade fanned in the wind. The sound reminded Marleau of clothes passing over themselves and how soft they might be if he were to bury his nose in them.
{
<header>
#(print: $institution's name)
##(print: $institution's library)
###Traveling Funfair Flyer
</header>
}
The vivid flyer art featured an open circus tent bursting with children barely able to contain armfuls of sweets and plush prizes. The border depicted games of chance, a lion and a tiger, a white unicorn, fae and flowers, and a happy mermaid lounging inside an open clam, which itself was submerged inside a large glass tank of water. The illustrative text proclaimed the most wondrous fun would be had at the funfair, but anyone could lay claim to anything. Marleau would have to see for himself to be convinced.
(display: 'displayMap')