#slorgoldor plot

[slorgoldor-emporium]

(A cat has appeared in the House. It has a base cream coat, with red and gold swirled markings. The tag on its collar says it is named Tobias, but First calls it something in an translatable language. He notices this and apologises for his mistake. The cat is large for a cat, probably some kind of Maine Coon mix. All day, the cat runs around the house, hanging out with the various occupants.)

(Just before what might be midnight, the cat switches on the screen. Marsh and Delilah appear, but no one seems to be behind the camera this time. Marsh notices the camera on the ground and wipes the blood off their chin before grabbing it. The camera shows several bigger children limping away, and for a brief second Marsh's eyes turn a pale green with horizontal pupils. Marsh shakes their head and closing the camera, turning it off.)

(The screen turns on again when Marsh is at their home. Delilah walks in front of them, and someone is upstairs. Marsh ascends the stairs and knocks on the door the noise is coming from.)

"I'm home, I'll be downstairs in a few minutes," (they call before setting off to their bedroom.)

"WeLcOmE bAcK," (the other occupant calls back, faint shuffling pausing.)

(Marsh set their bag down on the bed, watching as Delilah jumps up next to it, laying down in the sun that shone through the thin curtains. They rummage through their backpack, pulling out a notebook and pen. They set the camera down on an old desk with chipping paint before settling down themself at the desk. They begin to write a series of numbers and symbols under them, along with names.)

("-2 - Negative Two- ???/0 - Miss Smith - ???/1 - the 1st - ???/2 - II - Marie?/3 - 00110011 - Rose/4 - Quatro (misspelling?) - John (?)/5 - Go - Mag/6 - Liù - Daylily/7 - ??? - Sabrina/8 - Vicereine - Jade/9 - Ke - ???(possibly unnamed)/10 - J - Januaries/11 - Elleve - ???/12 - ??? - ???/13 - Fibonacci - Dreizehn/14 - ??? - ???")

(They close the journal, take out some papers, and cover the book. A knock at the door.)

"I hAvE sOmEtHiNg To AsK yOu WhEn YoU cOmE DoWnStAiRs," (the other person in the house says.)

(Marsh sighs, then stands up. There is a slight slumping inwards of their posture as they head towards the door. Fibonacci is walking away, towards the stairs. They turn around and immediately shift expressions.)

"Oh, DeArEsT oNe, ThIs WaS nOt An ImMeDiAtE iSsUe," (Fibonacci says, kneeling down to pick up Marsh. Delilah has gotten down from the bed and gone to join in comforting her now sobbing owner.)

(Fibbonacci closes the door to Marsh's room, and the screen once again turns off.)

[slorgoldor-emporium]

(Footsteps crunch gently underfoot as a forest scene is shown on screen. The dawn has just begun, however the fog makes it difficult to see anything through the trees. Shadows form in the distance, then dissapate. The gramaphone in the room suddenly begins to play despite no one in the room touching it. Here, it seems late at night, and all the others have gone to bed. The newest guest sleeps in a chair at the dining room table, still visible from your place on the couch. You adjust your seating and try to ignore the chill settling over your whole body. This place... Isn't right.)

(A door squeaks from in the fog. The footsteps from earlier stop suddenly, and the camera turns sharply towards the noise. The breathing behind the camera stops. After several seconds have passed, they exhale, taking quick but soft steps away. The gramaphone begins slow down.)

(The tv turns off of seemingly it's own will. You settle in for the night, focused on not having nightmares about the strange happenings. You turn towards the doorway to the hall in time to see First pacing towards one of the many doors in the house that he said he was unaware of. When he passes through, you feel the chill and the foggy wood is clearly visible through the doorway. The gramaphone plays again, but this time it comes from the door, which makes a nervously familiar squeak. When the door shuts, First dissapears along with it.)

(You hear claws scraping outside the walls of The House.)

[Someone new is open for questions.]

[slorgoldor-emporium]

(Quatro returns to the group and they continue to discuss Fibonacci. First slips out of the room unnoticed. The rest of the group chatter, but everything silences when a loud crash is heard from a few rooms over. It sounded like someone had fallen a very long distance.)

Quatro: ... That sure didn’t sound good.

Go:  We should go check that out. Come on, Liù.

Liù: Roger that.

(Everyone follows after the siblings to the room the noise came from. A woman, in her late teens if you had to guess, with long straw-blonde hair is lying face down on the floor. She groans, then looks up. Her expression quickly becomes nervous when she sees the crowd of people around her, only one of whom she recognizes.)

???: I... I know you. You’re that druid.

Liù: Oh. Well, everyone, I remember who I picked.

( Liù laughs nervously. Go punches her brother. The mystery woman stands up and brushes herself off. You could have sworn she was bleeding a second ago, but her wounds closed so quickly you aren’t sure anymore. She holds her throat, almost as though she wasn’t used to speaking.)

???: E-excuse me, have any of you seen a set of children around here? They must have carried me here, because the last thing i remember was falling off that cliff.

(Everyone other than her exchange nervous glances. It seems she has no idea this is her afterlife, and no one wants to tell her. Liù gets shoved forwards. He laughs nervously and rubs the back of his neck.)

Liù: Well- you see... this is- I- This is the afterlife. You’re dead. On a more positive note, now you can tell us about the world now days! What Slorgoldor are we on? What’s the trends? We would try and find out ourselves but for the last few years the only contact we’ve had with the living has been broken. It-

Go: Let the woman speak.

Liù: Sorry.

???: O-oh. I knew it, just whhen thhings go rightt in mmy life, itt all falls appart.

(The woman seems on the edge of tears, and her speech is failing her. She rubs one eye and takes a deep breath.)

???: I’m  ζʹ, the 7th Slorgoldor. As far as I recall, the highest number is 11. The world was pretty average, but i heard there might be a huge war breaking out soon. We still don’t know who is starting it though, they're a huge mystery faction.

Go: Thank you for the information. Come on guys, let’s get her settled in.

(The group walks out of the room, following the two. 00110011 seems on edge, and Quatro seems curious. You also saw II fiddling with the hidden blade she keeps in her cloak. Something is off about this woman.)

[slorgoldor-emporium]

(The TV flickers back to life, showing a closeup of Elleve, grinning again. He steps away from the camera, revealing a room unlike the last one. This one is dark red and full of chairs. There’s a podium at the front of the room. You can see Teri and J standing near the podium, looking outside.)

“Hello friends! This update is going to be short, but i felt i should inform you on the current situation. Right now i am about to put into motion a plan I’ve had for a while. Exciting stuff!”

(He pauses for a second. Someone new hurries into the room and begins to speak to J.)

“One moment.”

(Elleve walks towards the three and begins speaking to them. The three nod, and as the stranger starts talking again, Teri walks towards the camera.)

“So. Apparently ya’ll are dead and right now Boss says i have to tell ya’ll what’s happenin’. Basically we’re gettin’ an army together and we’ve just gotten the queen of this here country. She’s one ‘a y’all, think she said she was Viscerine? Anyways we’ve got plans ‘n you lot don’t need to know ‘em.”

(Teri looks towards the group again, then shuts the camera off. A transparent cat is displayed over a black screen as the sound of static plays. It does not stop.)

(... --- -- . - .... .. -. --. / -- --- .-. . / .-.. .. . ... / -... . -. . .- - .... / - .... . / ..-. .-.. . ... ....)

[slorgoldor-emporium]

(The TV on the wall flickers to life. It switches through channels quickly, never settling. You see a raven, a guillotine, Schrödinger's cat, a volcano, and a crown. Suddenly, the channel stops switching. The screen is black. a minute passes. Just when you were certain the TV was broken again, the  SMPTE color bars cover the screen. The TV lets out an ear piercing screech that stops after 10 seconds. The TV then flashes to a text that simply says “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE”. Just then, First walks back into the room. He pales.)

First: Well Fuck.

[slorgoldor-emporium]

(No one sits at the television, yet still it powers on. Perhaps later someone will watch, but for now the screen plays for an audience of none.)

(On screen appears the same view of the house from when Jay arrived. Significant portions of the front walls are missing. The holes are boarded up or tarped shut. The person behind the camera stands up, revealing that they were sleeping on a nest of blankets on the floor. The couch is unoccupied and has some sort of sigil drawn on the middle cushion. The camera swivels towards the staircase which has remained unharmed. Marsh decends, bedhead wild and clinging onto a blanket. Their dog pads next to them, cane softly clutched in its mouth. The dog is also wearing a vest, with a label reading "SERVICE DOG" on one side and "Delilah" on the other. The person behind the camera moves to meet them at the bottom of the stairs.)

"GoOd MoRnInG tO bOtH oF yOu."

(The person behind the camera holds out a hand for Marsh to grab, helping them down the last few stairs. The three walk over to the kitchen.)

"So, what are we doing today?"

"I aM gOiNg To ThE cItY. yOu ShOuLd CoMe AlOnG."

"I'm just worried. What if they don't like me?"

(The person behind the camera begins cooking something and making hot chocolate. They give Marsh one of the mugs and fill the dog's water bowl.)

"If ThEy DoN't LiKe YoU tHeN wE'rE fReE tO gO sOmEwHeRe ElSe. I jUsT wAnT yOu To TrY."

"... Will you come too?"

"I'lL dO wHaTeVeR yOu NeEd To FeEl SaFe."

(Neither talks for several minutes. It turns out the person behind the camera was making pancakes. Both of them eat in silence, with Marsh sneaking bits of pancake to their dog when they think the other isn't looking.)

"Thank you."

(The TV switches to a different channel. A pool competition is being broadcast. The guide lists this timeslot as "Fate of the Unnamed" and provides no introduction. The camera changes angles every 30 seconds precisely, and every time the angle changes so too does the position of all the balls, barring the cue ball. The narrator speaks in whispers and every so often the cue ball rolls on its own.)

[slorgoldor-emporium]

(("The next morning, if it could be called that, II wakes you. At least, you think she does. Something startled you from the fitful dreams you had last night, and then II was running past the doorway. Something about her seemed off, but she was moving so fast she was gone before you could tell what it was.")

("You fold the blanket you were using neatly and drape it over the couch. Quatro walks into the room and invites you to breakfast. You accept, glad to have a distraction from last night's strange occurances. His hazel-brown eyes shimmer.")

("After the meal, you've calmed down enough to investigate some of what you've witnessed. You cautiously open one of the many doors lining the hall.")

("Inside, you see a land of pitch black. The darkness doesn't seem menacing in the slightest, and it is precisely that that puts you on edge. Many things are not what they seem at first, especially if what they seem is benevolent.")

("You take a cautious step forwards into the realm of pitch, rightly on edge. The shadow seems to press down slightly around your foot, a sort of feeling not unlike a viscous fluid in a balloon. You trudge on, determined to figure out at least one thing from this quest.")

("The door closes on its own behind you."))

[slorgoldor-emporium]

🌑

"I suppose i owe you an explanation."

(The screen turns off. The other slorgoldors collapse aside from quatro who continues to cry. The stag stands in front of you.)

"This is all very confusing, but please try to follow. I'm not at liberty to tell you my name or much about myself. You can call me Jay."

(When Jay says this, you see a single tear fall onto the ground. He stomps his hoof, drawing your attention back to his face.)

"I apologize for my unprofessionalisim, the name just reminds me of a dear friend."

(After he says this, you hear first mumble something, but you can't make out much. Just "we" and "sacrifices". Jay glares at him.)

"A long time ago, before the dawn of time, there was a boy known as Noah. Not a famous Noah, just an average human. He had an unfortunate encounter with a woman named Riza, or at least she called herself that, as a young adult. Riza was a serial killer, a woman who would lure men in, kill them, then feed them to her prized flowers. However, she held a soft spot for Noah, someone who would often walk in the woods her house was built in, appreciating the nature and reading books in the shade of great big apple trees. One day she decided she would have to kill him, otherwise he would eventually expose her crimes. So, she lured him in, taking him to her home. They sat for hours, talking about books and the woods and how best to raise roses. Eventually, Noah got tired and Riza offered to let him stay the night."

(Jay sits down, eyes solemn. You imagine if he were human, he would currently be dramatically picking up a china tea cup to take a sip.)

"He slept on the couch she had in the living room, not wanting to inconvenience her. In the dead of night, she started her plan to kill him. Anything would have done it, Noah had the body strength of a wet noodle. However, with the knife in her hand, she found herself unable to kill him. She went back to her bed and cried the whole night."

(Jay pauses to catch his breath as First stirs, seemingly having a bad dream.)

"In the morning, he woke up and began to wander the house out of curiosity. He walks to the large door next to the kitchen that Riza hadn't shown him. He opens it, and behind it smells of death and decay, barrels full of red liquid he hoped he didnt know what was, along the back wall was a pile of bodies, and a giant pot of liquid bubbled away over a flame. He staggered out, shutting the door. He didn't notice Riza was stood at the entrance of her room, watching everything happen. He took his things and ran from the house, only looking back to see Riza staring at him with the most intense look of sadness he had ever seen. He ran back to the town and told the police. She later took her own life upon learning she was to be killed."

(Jay stops speaking, and First cries out. Jay looks to him and sighs.)

"I'll have to hurry this last part. Noah never forgave himself for his actions, even if they were morally correct, so even in death, when he encountered her again as a bitter rival, he couldn't bring himself to do anything to harm her. Eventually when he had to kill her, this time directly, he couldn't take it anymore. He gave in, giving Riza the strength she needed to take control. She was a notoriously good manipulator, and in death she found she could also change memories and even impersonate others, often resulting in severe inconsistencies in what people say. She began her plan for revenge, but she still held a soft spot for that nerdy kid that caused her death, so she went after people he was close to. The few people who saw through her manipulation she loathes, however she can't do much since she is twice dead. However, it seems she has recruited her old allies, or at least 2 of them, to help her, ones that can still manipulate the world of the living. She has begun further research into Noah's past, and in doing so is trying to draw out more people to hurt. She mimics those she wants to draw out and, well, i am unfortunately one of them. Be careful with your trust."

(Jay leaps away, running through a door you swear wasn't there a second ago. The others begin to wake up and Quatro stops crying.)