WEEK 6

[umbralant]

WEEK 6

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Five weeks. It's been five weeks, and twenty-seven has now dwindled down to eleven. And while only two passed this week, this trial may have been the most devastating in its own way, as threads of patience frayed and fragments of trust fractured. Nevertheless, if The Lady is to be believed, that may very well have been the final set of sacrifices that she was waiting for, so perhaps the end is in sight.

Of course, the fact that everyone is still stuck in Krakow means that it's not over yet, and who even knows what's happening over in the Twilight?

And so, some more changes are in store for this week, even if it may not be the same ones that you've gotten used to. For one thing, the fog stays put and no new areas of the city are revealed under the light of the lampposts. Secondly, The Lady is nowhere to be found in the city, with her bookstore office vacated and abandoned with nary a trace as to where she went. And third, the clock tower will no longer operate, which-- well. Actually that's not new at all, but it certainly may make it difficult to keep up with the facade of passing days. At least the moon still serves as a reminder of that, gibbous phase waxing into something fuller over the course of the week even if the color looks a bit off.

It may not be a fresh new start, but it's not time to give up yet, is it? After all, you are all Survivors.

[[Welcome to Week 6! Note that there are no new locations this week, but feel free to make top levels at your discretion, and remember to note it in your header if you plan on investigating any locations. As alluded above, The Lady will be unavailable, while Rembrandt will still be around on Monday and Tuesday before disappearing for the rest of the week.]]

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[bawcock]

[ H m, ok this is... a lot to take in. He's gonna need a minute to shake his initial surprise and "yikes" face before he can respond!! Oh, and he looks particularly uncomfortable at the mention of Rembrandt taking souls and him having red eyes. ]

I... might be able to add a little something here. I can't say if it'll help, but here goes.

Basically, Rebramdt was about as cagey about his reasons with me as he was with you. The only thing I really learned was he always takes what he's owed. Even if we somehow get him on our side, I don't think he'll accept getting anything less than what the Lady promised him.

[psychophant]

He does seem more interested in what he's getting out of this than whatever the Lady wants or what will happen to us. Rembrandt is exceptionally dangerous. There's so much we don't know about him.

Did you happen to learn anything else from him that may be useful?

[bawcock]

For some of it, I don't even know where to begin. [ Or if he wants to, for that matter. Not like it'll help. He glances at his still-very-bandaged-but-also-obviously-dagger hand for a second with a frown. ]

Uh, wait. Do you want to know everything or only what seems important?

[psychophant]

Start with the most important things. At this point anything could be useful, but let's begin there.

[bawcock]

That makes things easier on me. You know how he is, it's harder to get him to stop talking than to start.

[ Rembrandt 2 chatty. Anyway, the most important things that he recognizes as important vs the innumerable things he says that could be important but probably aren't... Ugh, guess he has to talk about his hand. He reluctantly holds it up. Still bandaged but he hasn't been doing the weird arm-crossing shit for a while now and the shape of his fingers are all off. Still, like, fingers? But yeah, no, you can tell by looking. ]

A while back he told me this hand "won't work on me, I don't have what they want." I think by now we know why that is—and you already said it. He's some kind of devil, which he was all too happy to tell me last week. But honestly, he's been hinting at it for a while. He doesn't seem keen on human anything, I'm not sure if he sleeps, and he said even if he was "young" once he was never a kid. Of course, he was a brat.

[ This is critically important information that requires bolding (it doesn't, Erik is just happy to say it). ] Oh, and he told me he doesn't have the same kind of soul as we do. Too bad for us, he didn't want to say any more than that.

As far as working with us goes, I don't think it'll be easy-going getting him on our side. If we had a way to lure him in, it'd be one thing. I just can't think of anything he'd want from any of us. Besides, he was pretty clear that he couldn't act against the Lady's word "under most conditions." [ Even if he could, wouldn't he only want a soul? He glances away, arms crossed. ]

Let me think... [ Posing his hand at his chin. ] I know when I stole a look with the night-vision goggles, I saw dark spots around him. I dunno if that's as important as the next part, it might be just another thing about him that's off. Anyhow, most of the time when I saw him use his powers, everything would go dark.

[ He's still thinking but he looks and sounds uncomfortable when he says the last part. ]

[psychophant]

[He considers all of that carefully, but it's the last part that gets him to frown. Give him a moment, let him find page 2/4.]

If I'm understanding this correctly, the Night already existed as a part of this world that most of its residents were entirely unaware of. The Lady could move freely between, and wanted Rembrandt to extend the Night. While it may simply be a coincidence and something his powers always naturally do, perhaps there's more to it. Could it be that much of the Night as we know it is currently controlled by Rembrandt?

[bawcock]

Man, now I wish I'd asked him more about his abilities. I bet he would've dished more dirt if I ever gave him a nudge. [ Alas, what can you do? ] I do remember him saying he could sense us—it didn't matter where we were or if we were behind walls, it was all the same to him. If he was controlling the entire Night, that might be why. Or it might be another one of his crazy powers.

... hang on a second. Wasn't there something else? [ He furrows his brows with his hand at his chin. Doing a half-turn as he thinks! Give him a lil' bit here. ] Oh, right! There was something early on about how he'd "arranged the logistics" of our stay!

Sheesh, that was a while ago.

[psychophant]

That certainly does sound like he has quite a bit of control here. I'm equally confused about his powers. He created furniture out of nowhere one of the times I spoke with him.

[is that a power?? is that controlling the night??? he doesn't know, this is so dumb.]

If he is in control of the Night then our priority should be to find an escape, but I'm not certain how good an idea that truly is. We don't want to make any rash decisions that could risk our lives. I'm still not entirely sure how all of this fits together. The Lady and Rembrandt have been able to travel between with no issues, but that was before Rembrandt extended the Night.

[bawcock]

Oh, yeah. I saw him do that when we were in the garden. Handy, but what the heck kind of ability is that?

[ just as confused as iago is!!! worst power, wtf rembrandt!! ]

It... might not be. If the other side is where everyone who died is, it might be riskier to head there than to stay where we are. Didn't they tell us that place was about to collapse? [ Rubbing his neck. Did they ever resolve that ]

[psychophant]

[worst ability 0/10]

There are three realms, are there not? Day, Night, and Twilight - the Twilight is where the others were, and likely a realm that Rembrandt and the Lady both were or are unaware of. I was speaking of finding a way to the Day, though I'm not certain what would have happened to it with the extended Night.

[bawcock]

[ worst/best 0/10!! ]

Oh right. Man, there's way too much going on here to keep track of! [ A sigh!! ] Still, if we're escaping, we gotta find a way to get the people in Twilight out. Rembrandt going back and forth is one thing—I think we can all agree he's crazy—but the Lady is another.

You said she's only used one spell before, didn't you? If magic is out, maybe she's been using a machine to travel instead. And if she is, we might be able to find it.

[psychophant]

Those in the Twilight have a plan to save themselves. I'm not certain exactly how that's going to go, but we can trust them.

[.............considers who all is on the other side...]

Hopefully.

[gods. if you guys end up dying horribly, he's gonna be pissed!!]

As for that, yes, that seems likely. Machines and technology are something she seems to be extremely skilled with. She's created a machine to travel to our worlds, so moving between realms here does seem possible. Such a thing would likely be held in the castle, I'd imagine.

[bawcock]

Huh! That's one less thing we have to worry about. They have been good at passing information and keeping in touch with us, so I'm not too surprised.

There's a lot of capable people on the other side.

[ and not capable people............ quietly echoing the hopefully ]

Anyway, the castle's my bet too. There's no place better—the castle's locked up tight and the Lady laid all kinds of traps around it.

[psychophant]

[there are so many not capable people too. ganbatte, gy........]

You were able to break into it once, but I doubt attempting the same way would work. Considering how much we've found points us underground, it may be worth looking to see if we can get in that way. She did mention being worried that someone would sneak in through the sewers.

[which is just!! so gross!!!!]

[bawcock]

It won't be the same way, but I think I can get in again if I have to. The thing is, I'm not all that eager to see what kind of traps she laid out for us on the inside. [ The trap situation has gotta be worse than before if she's trying to protect something!!

And there were killing machines in there!! Probably killing machines!! ]

Heh, that is a real concern! No matter how well-defended or walled-in a castle is, it always has its weak points. The sewers are usually one of them—and while I don't like the idea of trawling through them, I will say I have some experience in this area.

And some in escaping through them, too.

[psychophant]

[okay erik is also one of the very few valid people here!!]

Do you think you could scout out the sewers and how they lead into the castle? Obviously we don't want to send everyone in all at once, but you've already proven you can get in and out without raising Rembrandt's ire. I suspect that out of all of us, you may stand the best chance at getting an idea of the layout.

...Though now that I think of it... Has anyone explored the sewers before or are they blocked off entirely?

[bawcock]

[ Thinking about this... ]

Going down alone sounds like an invitation to have your soul eaten by shadows. If it was only a quick peek, I might be able to get in and out before they see me. But that's only if I can get in. Last I saw, the gates were all welded shut.

[ A beat. ] Oh, and uh. I think that's because I'm the only one who even tried. Rembrandt doesn't seem to care what any of us do. As long as we never tick off the Lady, we're free to scurry around and put our hands all over anything we want.

[psychophant]

Really? I assumed he would be more wary about that sort of thing.

[But then again, Rembrandt is a mystery, and even after all this time, Iago's still not sure he's really figured Rembrandt out.]

Well, it may be worth looking to see if we missed a way in, but I do agree that it could be too dangerous to attempt at the moment without a way to tell what's down there.

[bawcock]

To me it looks like the more bored of her he gets, the less he cares.

[ A hesitant pause. Should he say this...? He might as well say this. ]

Um. I... have a confession. He knew I was taking the computer. He's clueless when it comes to technology, it doesn't even belong to the Lady, and he had no reason to take it from us in the first place.

[psychophant]

...Well, it's good to know he was that bored, I suppose. We did learn something from it, at least.

[Mmmm, he doesn't like it.]

Do you know who the computer belonged to?

[bawcock]

[ That's true! And he shakes his head at the second part. ]

I didn't ask. I just assumed it was someone who used to live here.

[psychophant]

Fair enough, that's likely true, and it may not be relevant to our interests at all.