PFA: You begin your trek upward through the castle. Just as you're thinking about pausing to catch your breath, you fall down a tunnel that takes you back to where you started. That felt a bit pointless.
Amneiger: Taking your time, you saunter up another two stories, making it all the way to floor 8.
Gelquie: Determined to get away from Draco, you stop on floor 10 and hope he doesn't do the same. And surprise surprise, he doesn't!
Tiger: Choosing to forego the Sphinx this time, you take a great leap up the tower, getting all the way to the library.
[dice=6]
You pace up and down the rows of books, enchanted by the exquisite tomes. At last, you choose a thick leatherbound volume. You open it, and see a light radiating from the pages.
That's...about it, really. You squint and try to shield your eyes from the glow, and catch a few glimpses of what might be a romance novel plotline, but for all intents and purposes you can't really read this book. Maybe you could use it as a flashlight or something.
Draco: Feeling a bit awkward about following Gelquie around, you decide to head on one floor past where she stopped, finally resting at the library.
[dice=6]
You walk up to the nearest shelf and grab the first book you can find. You flip to a random page, and choose a random sentence.
You aren't sure what this means. Maybe it will become important sometime later. Or maybe it's just a red herring.
Zephyr: You consider the relationship between discretion and valor, before opting for the former. You continue your climb up the tower, finally coming to the library. Without thinking too much, you choose a book.
[dice=6]
Your book doesn't have any writing. In fact, it doesn't seem to open at all, since it's made of chocolate.
You take a few tentative nibbles on the spine. It's dark chocolate with little bits of toffee.
This leaves you thoroughly confused.
Azzie: You get to square 14, when the scent of food lures you all the way up to the kitchen. You consider that it might be wise to equip yourself with something from here before finding out what lies beyond.
Kristy: You surge forward, determined to find the top of this thing. And lo and behold, you do! You find the way blocked by a thick wooden door set into a stone wall, locked by a thick padlock with a surprisingly small keyhole. You fish out your golden key; it looks just about the right size. You decide to wait to see if anyone else shows up.
Celestial: Getting a bit fed up with this whole climbing thing, you manage to climb all the way to the top of the tower, only to find that Kristy beat you there.
You both know that once you go through this door, the game will enter a new phase and there will be no going back. You decide to flip a coin to decide who opens the door; Celestial chooses heads. ((Or 1 in this case, because the tools of forum gameplay are rather sorely limited.))
[dice=2]
Bracing for the worst, you put the key into the lock and turn it. The door opens with some resistance and a loud scraping noise.
The room is circular and wide, about 50 meters across. The floor and walls are made of stone; the ceiling is high enough to stand in but low enough to touch when standing. The dust on the ground makes it clear that it does not get much traffic.
Around the outer wall of the room sit the remains of seven people. Six are nothing but skeletons, while one is a corpse only starting to decompose. A golden dagger sticks out of its chest.
You both take a few hesitant steps into the room, bracing for something to happen.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
The voice echoes through the room and down the tower.
Bluebeard stands in the doorway, blocking the exit.
"Wifey, wifey...I trusted you. I brought you into my home." He begins to approach. His face is wracked with dismay. "Is this how you repay me? Now that you know my secret, I can't let you leave this room. You will join all of the others who betrayed me, and stand guard over this room for all eternity!"
You finally notice the weapons lying next to the skeletons. Swords, clubs, spears. Bluebeard waves his arms and begins to chant in a language that's probably some dark forgotten tongue from the jungles of deception past the mountains of petty squabbles. Clattering, jerkingly, the skeletons find motion once again, and reach for their weapons.
They aren't as slow as you would expect. In fact, quite the opposite. Being robbed of flesh has made them light, which makes them quite fast. A blur of bones and blades whips around you, drawing ever closer, ready to attack.
ALL OTHER PLAYERS: You hear Bluebeard's initial cry all the way down the tower. Realizing something must be happening, you decide to abandon the rather silly dice-rolling game mechanic, and rush up to the top of the tower as fast as your various legs and other appendages can carry you.
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