forked from dozens/cleric-plus-thief
304 lines
10 KiB
HTML
304 lines
10 KiB
HTML
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<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="episodes" href="http://tilde.town/~dozens/clericthief/episodes.xml">
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<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="journal" href="http://tilde.town/~dozens/clericthief/journal.xml">
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<body>
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Cleric + Thief
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| <a href="index.html">Episodes</a>
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| <a href="journal.html">Journal</a>
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| <a href="about.html">About</a>
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<header id="title-block-header">
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<h1 class="title">00006. Bone and Feather</h1>
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</header>
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<p>“Blackguard?” Maddox fumes incredulously, their voice croaking as it
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always does whenever raised above conversational tones. “How did you get
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here?” They demand. “How did you find us? Who did you lead here, you
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fool!”</p>
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<p>Iofi and Blackguard are gingerly laying Meadowgloom down in the
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pantry, which is just barely large enough to accommodate his frame. He
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rolls his large watery eyes around without focusing on much of anything.
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He gasps for breath, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly like a
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fish. He is deathly pale.</p>
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<p>Iofi looks up over her shoulder and glares at Maddox. They continue
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to fume, but quietly.</p>
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<p>“Go get ready to snap inside the wall,” she says.</p>
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<p>Maddox raises their eyebrows, a silent question.</p>
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<p>“We shouldn’t move Meadowgloom any more. And,” her voices hardens, “I
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want whoever did this.”</p>
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<p>“Are you sure about this? You’re willing to be god’s hammer?”</p>
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<p>She nods resolutely. “Take the bathroom door.” Maddox nods and
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leaves.</p>
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<p>“You,” she says, turning back to Blackguard, “stay here with
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Meadowgloom.” Probably didn’t need to be said. The man in the top hat
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has made no effort to leave his side, not even once.</p>
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<p>“Stay quiet. We’ll be back for you when this is over.”</p>
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<p>She stands up and exits the pantry and closes the door. She reaches
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into her satchel and pulls out a trinket, a small tin key that might
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open a music box. She stoops down and places it by the door frame, and
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touches the door, and whispers, “<span
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class="smallcaps">Hidden</span>.”</p>
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<p>The door vanishes.</p>
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<p>She makes a round through the apartment, blessing each door and
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making small offerings.</p>
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<center>
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<pre>~ * ~</pre>
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</center>
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<p>Outside, a small street urchin watches from the gutter as a figure
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emerges from the shadows and approaches the door to the apartment. It
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turns the handle and silently crosses the threshold. The urchin
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vanishes.</p>
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<p>The Dead Ringer climbs the steps up to the apartment above the
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bookstore. At the top of the stairs is a closed door, the door to the
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living area. He listens and hears nothing. He tries the handle. It is
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unlocked. He lets himself inside.</p>
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<p>Inside is a plain, empty room. There is a small table and chairs in
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the middle, and a door in each of the other three walls.</p>
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<p>The Dead Ringer listens and looks for signs of activity and, finding
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none, steps into the room and looks around a little. He tries one of the
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doors, opens it and peeks inside. The next room is plain and empty.
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There is a small table and chairs in the middle, and a door in each of
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the other three walls.</p>
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<p>He looks back at the current room. And back through the door. The
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rooms are identical. He cautiously steps inside and closes the door
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behind him. He tries another door, only to find the same room once
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again.</p>
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<p>He retraces his steps to the original room and opens the door to the
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stairwell. On the other side is a plain, empty room. There is a small
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table and chairs in the middle, and a door in each of the other three
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walls.</p>
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<p>He closes the door quietly and backs up and looks around the room
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again.</p>
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<center>
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<pre>~ * ~</pre>
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</center>
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<p>Iofi and Maddox are sitting in the bedroom.</p>
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<p>She is sitting on the bed, feeding a strawberry to the small,
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two-headed, black turtle in her lap. Both heads are eating toward the
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center from opposite sides, and both seem very content.</p>
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<p>Maddox is sitting still staring blankly at the wall. They do that
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when concentrating on their other eyes and ears. And now that they seem
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to have more eyes and more ears than before, they do a lot more
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staring.</p>
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<p>They blink a few times and turn to Iofi.</p>
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<p>“Okay,” they say in their quiet melodic voice. “We’re ready.”</p>
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<p>Iofi nods, and strokes the turtle’s back.</p>
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<center>
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<pre>~ * ~</pre>
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</center>
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<p>The Dead Ringer has been wandering through the single room labyrinth
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for a while now. It is starting to take some effort to continue to
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suppress his rising panic.</p>
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<p>After an hour of trying doors at random, he opens a door onto a
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lavish library. He almost cries out in relief at seeing something
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different, and rushes into the room, closing the door behind him, his
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chest heaving.</p>
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<p>Sitting at a desk on the other side of the room is Rose Walker. She
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looks up in surprise at the noise. When she sees who it is, she
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startles, and slowly lowers the book she had been studying.</p>
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<p>“What are you doing here?” she asks quietly.</p>
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<p>The Dead Ringer draws a dagger and springs across the room. In an
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instant he is lunging across the desk raising the tip of the dagger to
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her throat and reaching for the back of her neck to draw her toward the
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point.</p>
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<p>His hand passes through her head.</p>
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<p>The silent assassin’s composure finally breaks as he flinches and
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moans out loud, “Wha-”</p>
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<p>Walker smirks and says coolly, “Good to know.”</p>
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<p>“Snap.”</p>
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<p>A sudden smell of burning oil, a bright light and a flash of heat
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behind him. A hand grabs the Ringer from behind even as he turns. He
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adjusts his grip on the knife and spins toward his assailant.</p>
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<p>“Snap.”</p>
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<p>The library disappears and they are plunged into darkness. The only
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light is his attacker’s lit torch. For a brief second, he can see his
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foe, their face distorted by the flickering light and the dancing
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shadows caused by the torch. It’s the short one with the blonde hair.
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Maddox. The Ringer slashes at them, but they leap back and throw the
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torch at his face. He dodges and it falls to the ground, sputters, and
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nearly goes out.</p>
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<p>From the darkness, “Snap.”</p>
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<p>And then silence.</p>
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<p>The Dead Ringer waits, tense as a coiled spring, for something or
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someone to leap out of the shadows at him. But nothing happens. He is
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alone.</p>
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<p>He picks up the torch and looks around. Solid, dusty stone floor,
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about five feet by six feet. Low stone ceiling. Stone brick walls. No
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door. No windows. No exit.</p>
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<p>In the corner is a tiny desk holding a dust covered book and a spent
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candlestick. A human skeleton sits behind the desk, slumped against the
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wall.</p>
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<p>The Ringer screams out loud in anger.</p>
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<p>Outside his tomb, his voice echoes impotently and unheard throughout
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the tunnels below the ruins of the abandoned church.</p>
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<p>EOF</p>
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