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“It’s simple: you two go up, we go down, searching through the entirety of the manor’s halls and rooms for treasure.”, Emily explains with a gentle tone but quite dryly just as always. She stands next to Norton, the Fool’s Gold, who has a shit eating grin plastered on his face, as he looks down on the other two: Marcus, the Cueist and Tracy, the Mechanic. Both look a little worried.
“Since this is your first time entering this new game the host put up, we won’t get mad if you fail. We are currently in the highest difficulty, so there are a few anomalies that could come your way.”
“Why not start with a simpler difficulty?”, Tracy mutters discouraged, before sighing deeply. Marcus looks down at her, before patting her head gently with his left hand to cheer her up.
“Because we are more likely to find good treasure. Another thing: I hope you read the manual. The one that I gave you.”
“We did.”, Marcus confirms but seems a little sceptical. “But it was quite complicated. You wrote it as if the reader would know the basics already.”
“Well, they aren’t too difficult to understand, are they? A child could understand them easily.”
Norton snorts which makes Marcus think that he and Tracy were the butt of some small joke.
“Maybe, but wouldn’t it be better if we split the group so that one of you would be with one of us? Just to make sure?”
Emily looks at the Cueist with a stoic expression, before putting on a slightly unsettling smile. “You can manage. Now then; I hope you have everything - just to make sure: everyone got one Seal of Respite, right?”
Collective nodding.
“And everybody has their items sorted?"
Again, the other three nod.
“Good. Well then, we are on a tight schedule, so mind the time! Or else-”
“We’ll be automatically eliminated when it runs out, yeah, yeah, we get it.”
There is that unsettling smile again, but nobody comments on it, before the Doctor turns on her heels. “Well then, since all of this is settled, let’s start.”
Marcus, Tracy and Norton watch her, as she picks up the Bock with the title ‘A Bringer of Doom’ and opens it. Pages come flying out and a bright light engulfs them all, before they are suddenly dragged into the pages. For Marcus and Tracy it was quite the scare to witness this for the first time. Once their feet touch the ground again, they almost sink to their knees because both of their stomachs are turning uncomfortably. Marcus hears Norton chuckle once again and glares up to him so as to signal him that he should shut up or else. All the while, Tracy takes a look around. It’s dark and the walls are just tall bookshelves. In front of them, there is a smaller book shelf, to the right a suitcase and to the left a cabinet. She knows what they mean, since she remembers from the protocol that Emily gave her and Marcus but her eyes are glued to the floating pages. “Wowie.”, she comments, taking out her Protector’s cane and the Lantern. Marcus only grips his weapon tightly, a little nervous of what is to come.
“Oh, Marcus, you do have the Tracker as an active Trait, yes?”, Emily asks, already standing close to the Bookshelf that looks suspiciously like it would slide open at any moment.
“Uhm, yeah, I do.”, he replies, not sure why she is asking him that.
“Good. Then it will be easy for you two to find locked cabinets. If you even find enough to begin with.”
“It is said that the upper floor usually doesn’t carry many of those.”, Norton chimes in with a mischievous smirk.
“Wow. Almost as if it is deliberately planned to hinder us from surpassing you two regarding our points.”, Tracy accuses the other two but both are just smiling.
“Oh, but this game isn’t competitive.”, Emily replies sarcastically.
“But we will see which team manages to collect the most points.”, Norton adds.
Then, when the bookshelf slides to the side, they go through the opened gate to the outside. Marcus and Tracy watch them, a little dumbfounded at the start, before the two of them head out too.
“You will have my back, will you?”, Tracy asks with worry. Marcus nods and takes her hand.
“Of course.”
“Good. Uhm- the Manual stated that we could go up the collapsed wall to the upper side entry. Then we would be up instantly, without having to search for a staircase.”
Marcus looks over to the wall Tracy was mentioning, before he sighs. “Sure, I’ll get us up there.”, he says, before they make their way to the path they have to go. The Cueist has to help Tracy up at the start, because she is tiny, even for a survivor. But she is a lightweight too; so easy to pick up for the hunter. They walk carefully on top of the wall towards the back door that would lead them to the second floor.
“Take a peek first.”, Tracy pleads with the Cueist and grabs his hand tighter. “What if there’s an anomaly?”
“All right.”
Marcus opens the door that swings open to the inside slightly, before taking a glimpse first. When he doesn’t spot or hear anything, he opens the door completely so they both could enter. Tracy is stepping in first, nervously taking a look around before she turns back to Marcus, who closes the door behind him.
“So. Where should we go?”, she asks quietly.
Marcus looks around; there are three ways they could go: right, left or straight ahead. They should head for the first chest, that’s for sure. As he closes his eyes to concentrate, his senses are heightened and when he opens them again, he can see two blue and one golden trail leading him straight or right, with the blue ones going straight and the golden leading right.
“This way.”, he says before he takes Tracy’s hand to pull her along.
____________
“Do you think they’ll be fine?”, Norton asks into the silence after he killed two Nightcrawlers while Emily was opening their second locked cabinet. She sighs as she retrieves two more feather quills which she can add to the other three they found so far.
“Don’t worry, Norton. If anything happens, we can step in to help.”, she replies before getting up again. She casually steps over the bodies and leads the two of them down the next hallway.
“I fear that Marcus might make me sleep in my own room today.”, the tall hunter states, a little concerned, but Emily only chuckles.
“Why, because you are going on this exploration with me instead of him? He loves you; this won’t change his mind. And I don’t really think that he’s gonna be angry at you for long if you don’t give him a reason.”
They enter the next room when Emily finished her sentence, instantly being jumpscared by a white, ghostly figure. Reacting quickly, Norton hits the wraith once with his pickaxe, followed by two dash attacks, which brings the ghost down.
“Phuu. Thank you Norton.”, Emily exhales out in relief.
“No problem.”, Norton replies, pointing towards a chest in the far corner of the room. “There, another one.”
“Don’t you want to open it too?”
"Nah, I’m good. I’ll take whatever’s left.”
While smiling softly, the Doctor goes over to open the chest. But what she gets out of it only makes her sigh again. “Another feather. Seems to be my unlucky day today.”, she mumbles before putting it away.
“Aye, that is unlucky. I wonder if the other two have found anything yet.”
_____________
“No way!”, Tracy calls out after she opened a normal, locked cabinet. Marcus, who was standing by the door to keep a look out for anomalies, turns towards her, his eyes widening in surprise.
“Yes way.”, he says as he goes over, eyeing the exquisite classic Tracy just pulled out of that chest. His tail flicks back and forth from slight excitement.
“My first chest and I found a cursed saphire! How lucky is that?”, she says in excitement as she wipes off the dust from the necklace and the stone. Shiny silver and a bright red ruby of fine quality are revealed, making both of them hold their breath. “So beautiful.”, she mumbles, reaching for the gem to touch it, but Marcus holds her hand back.
“Wait. Maybe do that later. This thing is cursed. Have you forgotten about the part where it’s stated in the manual, that this thing plays with your head? Better send it away with the Nightingale, just in case. You can do a closer inspection later.”
Tracy looks up at the hunter, evaluating his suggestion, before she nods and whistles a tune three times. A little bird comes flying, seemingly out of thin air, before the Mechanic gives the cursed necklace over to the bird. It whistles happily, before disappearing again.
The two of them watch the bird fly away, when Marcus hears a strange noise. As if something heavy is being dragged over the floor. And are the other noises heavy footsteps?
“Oh man…”, they both say in unison because they know: from their place there is only one way out and it might get blocked by enemies.
“That damn master bedroom with only one way in or out.”, Marcus mutters as he readies his weapon to go against a few anomalies. Tracy gets out her loaded shotgun.
“Don’t worry. I’m right behind you.”, she whispers.
___________
“Huh? Norton, do you hear that?”, Emily asks when she hears something above them. Norton looks up at the ceiling, just like his colleague does and there it is: quick steps and muffled shouting. He can hear shots go off as well.
“Seems like they are in a little predicament.”, he mumbles. “Do you think they need help?”
Both are silent for another moment. The footsteps stop, the shooting too. The shouts are getting silent until none are heard. “Hm, I don’t think so. They’re fine I think.”, the woman says before she leads the way forward. “We don’t have much time left. Eight minutes tops so let's see if we can find anything else besides feathers and a fruit tray.”
Norton nods and follows Emily directly behind. “Our luck really isn’t so great today. Maybe we should have been the ones that go upstairs. Maybe that’s Karma for leading beginners into a hard round from the start.”
“Oh, come on Norton. It’s not that deep. But at this rate, we won’t be able to keep up in that little race. That’s unfortunate.”
Norton laughs and shakes his head. “You’re really in for the competing part of this, are you. I, for my part, just love to beat up the anomalies.”
“Oh, indeed you are. You killed ten so far. But you’re slacking.”
“Aye, but I’ll crank that number up above twenty, you’ll see.”
_____________
“Holy shit, that was close!”, Tracy breathes out while Marcus heals her. They managed to kill most of the anomalies that were following them and outran the rest. Now they are hiding in a corner close to a staircase.
“What were you even thinking, running into that old man?”, the hunter scolds the small woman, who rolls her eyes.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t see him! How was I supposed to know that Alice’s old man would immediately chase after me just because I ran past him?” Marcus rolls his eyes at that reply too, before getting up again after he finished patching Tracy up. “Let’s just try to avoid attracting too much attention from those monsters. You were downed one time already; I won’t be able to save you a second time.”
Tracy sighs and nods. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I will hold back now.”
“Good.”, the hunter replies with a nod and takes a look around. He concentrates again, a golden trail coming into sight right after. “Let’s go. We still got a few chests to find and a few rooms to explore.” The man nods into the direction they should follow and Tracy nods.
“Yes. By the way, you can open the next chest.”
Marcus looks down at his smaller colleague and puts on a one sided smile. “Sure. Thank you.”
As they head through the empty hallways, they are extra careful not to run into more anomalies but it seems like they are lucky for now. At least they can’t spot or hear any other enemies so far.
Once they reach the chest, it is up to Marcus to open it now. Tracy's eyes grow big while she watches the hunter opening it - by smashing it with his weapon.
“Wow…”, she comments. “That’s a way to open it I guess.”
“What? It’s faster that way. Besides - did you really think that I would kneel down to get it open? Oh please.”, he replies, before something big and golden tumbles out of the open doors.
“Ouuuh, it’s a Golden Tattered Page. Neat.”, she says while Marcus picks it up from the ground.
“It’s heavy.”, he mumbles.
“Then you better submit it to the little birdie. No need to weigh you down already.”
Marcus nods, before he whistles the same tune Tracy has a little while ago. The Nightingale comes and goes with the scroll as if it were never there.
“Nice. Now, let’s get moving. We still have some time left.”
The two of them continue their way through the hallways of the second floor, not running into one more anomaly. Sure, it’s strange, but also quite the relief since they can heal from time to time with Tracy’s Herald ability. And Marcus finds them the chests from which they get two other good Items: a Silver Nightingale Candlestick and a Silver Statue of Terpsichore.
“That’s what I would call lucky.”, Tracy hums in delight, with a wide grin plastered on her face. “We got two rare classics and a few normal ones. Just a few more and we can head back. I wonder if the others are as lucky as we are.”
Marcus chuckles and shakes his head.
“Luckyer than you? I doubt it.”, the Cueist comments as he keeps looking around into the other rooms they are passing. They are crossing a long, empty hallway, planning to just go straight. Marcus’ tracker ability is still on cool down, just like Tracy’s healing, so they want to keep it as foreseeable as possible.
“Yeah, right. But I am wondering if they found any valuables as well.”, Tracy mutters, before going silent. She listened into the darkness, a chill running up her spine.
All the while Marcus is a little distracted because he spots a chest in the room they are about to pass.
“Marcus… I think I hear something.”, Tracy whispers with a slight gulp.
Marcus turns to look at her but what he spots coming from the hallway on their right, is far more worrying.
“Oh no…”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
“GO LEFT! LEFT! LEEEEEFFFT!”, Tracy screams in utter panic.
Beaten to an inch of their life, Marcus and Tracy are running for their lives - or rather: the Cueist is sprinting his ass off while carrying Tracy under his right arm like a sack of potatoes. Both are screaming in panic as they are followed by an army of anomalies; many Nightcrawlers, Ravens, three wraiths - two of them elite- one Tome, one Pale Male man, a few sighs and two nameless dolls that run after them, whining because nobody is patting them.
“I ALREADY DIED ONCE THIS TURN! NOT AGAIN!”
Marcus takes a sharp corner, only running into more elite Nightcrawlers. Both scream as Marcus dodges their attack, almost running into a closed door. He barely dodges two hooks as he keeps on running.
“DON’T YOU DARE DROP ME!!!”
_____________
After finding the tenth feather in a row, Emily sighs discouraged. Norton just beat down the last anomaly, raising his count to 21, before he goes over to her to gently pat her shoulder.
“Karma.”, he mutters but the Doctor only rolls her eyes.
Then they hear faint shouting which grows louder and louder.
“Heeellp! Heeeeelp!”, they hear from above. As they lift their eyes to the platform above, they can practically see the other two, running as if their life depended on it. Because it does. Followed by their shouting, they can also hear the army of anomalies they are dragging with them.
“OH GOOOOD! HEEEELP! I DON’T WANNA DIIEEEEEEE! I’VE GOT TOO MUCH GOOD STUUUUUUUFFFF!”, Tracy shouts.
“We should help them.”, Norton says and Emily agrees, but she has an additional plan - another motive so to speak.
“Fine. Let’s head after them. But quickly - there isn’t much time left.”
“I’M GOING TO FUCKING SHIT MYSEEEEeeeelllffff!”, Tracy screams.
“DON’T YOU DARE!”, Marcus shouts back.
Emily and Norton are able to catch the other two when Marcus comes flying down a stair, before he violently bumps against the rock hard body of the Fool’s Gold, tumbling to the ground right after. That must have hurt, just as much as it must have hurt for Tracy when she fell to the ground. But there’s not much time to waste and exchange apologies; Norton instantly throws himself into the army of monsters to fight each and every one of them.
“Urgh… ouch…”, Marcus grumbles, holding his face which hurts from the impact. His breathing is rapid and his legs burn from all the running. He couldn’t get up even if he wanted. Tracy, who’s laying next to him, isn’t in a better state. She is just as done while crying out the shock that shook her up; her tears staining the floorboards.
Both of them are way too distracted to notice the Doctor at first, until she makes her presence known by gently clearing her throat. The smile she carries is malicious.
“Help has arrived.”, she says with a way too friendly voice. “Now give us your currently most valuable Item in your inventory. Or I will call Norton back before he kills every monster. Yes, this is a threat.”
Marcus glares up at the Doctor while Tracy lifts her head to look at her colleague with teary eyes. “Wh-wh-whyyyyy?”, she whines.
Emily’s smile darkens. “Because my help has a price.”
In the distance, they can hear Norton's manic laughter as he beats down one anomaly after the other without even one issue whatsoever. They don’t want to but they have to comply. So they give Emily the Candlestick and the Statue, which makes her beam in excitement.
“We thank you for your generous donation. Now, wrap it up, Norton! We gotta get back to the starting point to submit our classics. Just use the Seal of Respite, everyone.”, she chimes happily while pulling out the little paper plane. As it flies over the other two, it heals them, making them feel better in an instant.
“You’re evil.”, Tracy weeps, but Emily only smiles.
_______________
With a deep sigh, Norton sits down at the dining table next to Emily, who happily enjoys her dinner. By now the man has changed back to his survivor form but that can’t be the reason why he’s so down all of a sudden.
“What happened?”, the Doctor asks while wiping her lips with a napkin. Norton sighs again, this time a little deeper, before he rests his head on top of the table.
“Marcus banned me from his room for the day.”, he says with a sad tone.
“He isn’t still mad because of what happened in the Crypted Notes Match, is he?”, Emily asks, a little surprised.
“Yes, he is. I can’t kiss and cuddle my boyfriend, Em… how am I supposed to make it through the night?”
“Maybe if you apologize properly.”, Fiona chimes in, a little worried that the Prospector seems so depressed about that.
“He won’t hear me out.”, the man replies. The two women sigh in unison.
“Well, then you’ll have to wait.”
The loudest, saddest sigh leaves Norton’s chest when he has to accept that this is what he has to do now. This will be a long, lonely night.