[elevator] [sphinx]

[guillotineroom]

[ When you open your eyes again the first thing that you, and your teammates, may notice is that you are confined within an iron cage, rectangle in shape. Further inspection will reveal that outside of the cage is a large structure of sorts, reaching far above you. It kind of looks like an unfinished clock tower, really... there are spots that look finished and bolted tightly, and others that look like they had been left once and the work never thought of again.

Also, it's pretty chilly. You might get to notice that.

It's foggy and windy—the kind of wind that howls and roars, jostling your cage against the tall shaft, and every so often you feel as though you might have had the ghost of a raindrop on you. The tower-like build creaks horribly ominously in the wind, and you can see the rusted metals swaying slightly. But if you decide to look around...

Flapping above you (and not helping with the wind) is a harpy-like creature, iron chains wrapped around their talons. Though, maybe it's more like a lion? The chains are bolted to the top of your cage. There are also little indicators on the structure, the same distance apart, that seem to be declaring different levels or heights. They look horribly unhappy to be here, but they're also impressive at ignoring any call you might have for them.

There's a door to the cage, but it won't open, even if it's just a simple-looking locking mechanism. If you peer out, it's too foggy on the ground to make out very much, but you can make out nine other, tower-like structures with similarly flapping harpies. Each one, including your own, has an emblazoned emblem of every team's patron monster, so that you can see where everyone is—it's just difficult to make out exactly who may be in each one. Even more difficult to try and communicate like this.

Attached to the door is an aged metal panel with a screen and four buttons; two to choose between the team names that appear on the dark green and black screen, and two to choose whether you wish for that team to go up or down.

After a moment, a little speaker in the corner starts playing an incredibly bad quality version of this.]

Comments

[hearthwarming]

Yes, that, exactly...!

[ Spirits, she's so thankful to have him here. ]

If that's the case, then I feel sure as ever that we must lower Basilisk. There's just no sense in trying to anticipate what others will do. But at least this way, no matter what happens, we'll know that we tried...

[inklongdry]

Ori... [ He grips her by the shoulders, fingers curling into the fabric of her shirt. ] Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me.

[hearthwarming]

[ She hums, as if to disagree. ]

You don't have to thank me, but you're welcome. I just want to see everyone here try and be happy, even if the Warden would have us feel otherwise. So I'll do my best to protect that...!

[inklongdry]

No one is going to be happy after this.

[hearthwarming]

...Right, I just...

[ Just buries her face in her hands. She wishes so much that she was more helpful. That she could think more clearly. It has been so, so very long since she last felt this hopeless. ]

[inklongdry]

It's okay...

[ He curls his arms around her again. ]

This is what she wants, for us to feel powerless. Some will be crowned winners at the end of this, but no one will have won. We all of us, will have made impossible choice after impossible choice, weighing lives against one another like so much coin. It's cruel and unfair, and when the dust settles, all we can do is pick ourselves up and move forward.

And keep in mind the face of our true enemy.

[hearthwarming]

[ It doesn't feel okay. But he knows that much, much better than she does.

With each word, however, he casts a light onto the dark mists into which Ori's mind has been plunged, and from which old fears and insecurities have resurfaced. Where that young adventurer who always feared she was never enough has dwelt, now brought to the fore with her powers taken away.

He had done the same in her dream, hadn't he? Showed her light to remind her that woman has grown, has become wiser, stronger. That she is that woman. That despite how powerless she feels at the moment, the moment they are released from this cruel game... She has every capacity and the will to proverbially help her team and her friends put themselves back together in spite of the Warden's machinations.

In the end, all she can do is nod quietly and take a deep breath. And another. ]

... I... I know, and I'll... I'll do everything I can to help. Even if our healing magic isn't as strong, we can work together.

[ anyway nicely done on that Charisma check, Arthur ]

[inklongdry]

[ Ori seems to find herself again by slow degrees, and Arthur can but hope that whatever he said was enough to pull her from the mire. ]

Yes... between the two of us, I know we'll do everything we can. Like we did for your cat friend.

[hearthwarming]

[ Just... the barest hint of a smile, as she eases back to loosen his arms around her... only to wrap her arms around him and pull him back in. ]

Like we did for my cat friend.

[ Another deep breath. Steady, grounding, even despite the fact that they are hanging several feet in the air, in a cage. ]

Thank you, Arthur. I should have been the one comforting you, and yet...