ACE'S HEART

[dramatispersonae]

It starts with a fall: the ground under your feet opens up and swallows you into darkness. Nothing is visible except your own body, not even those of your fellow heart explorers. Nothing can be heard except the wind whistling past. Under that sound, however, is a deep, steady ticking that resonates around and through you.

The falling ends when you feel something wrench deep inside your chest, and you land on your feet somewhere else.

[OOC: Please join me in #heartdaysknight!]

Comments

THE CROSSROADS

[deadofknight]

You are in a circular clearing. The ground underfoot is paved in cracked red brick, and the area is lined by a tall, unkempt looking hedge that reaches a couple feet over your heads. The brick is covered in fresh leaves, though some effort has been made to sweep them all to the edges of the clearing. The sky overhead is rather cloudy, but sunlight manages to break through here and there.

In the center of the clearing is a four-armed signpost made of weathered wood. Each of its arms points points towards one of the four openings in the hedge around you. The openings are evenly spaced and the signs form a perfect cross. You have landed in the CROSSROADS.

You may also notice the steady ticking that has replaced (or become) your heartbeat.

MINGLE

[deadofknight]

[For all your getting-to-know-each-other or decision-making needs.]

DECISION

[deadofknight]

[Please comment here once you have picked a path to go down.]

VEILED

[deadofknight]

The path twists and turns for quite a while but never forks. Eventually the hedges around you grow increasingly wild and untrimmed, morphing into dense trees and prickly bushes. The bricks beneath your feet disappear in bits and pieces until you're walking a narrow dirt path. It's not long before you're walking through a wild, if totally quiet, forest, and the air around you has acquired a faint chill. You eventually reach a fork in your path with a wooden signpost to point your way:

PRISON | CAMPSITE

The signpost and CAMPSITE sign look like the last signpost, simple weathered wood with the label written in black script. The PRISON sign looks quite a bit different, have been painted a pale grey and labeled with a blocky black print. The PRISON sign points straight into the woods, but a path in the form of freshly-hewn tree stumps has been cleared. The CAMPSITE sign points down an ordinary dirt path much like the one that led you to the fork.

Re: VEILED

[twilight_boy]

A prison?

Re: VEILED

[blackjacked]

. . . [snort, slightly amused]

Usually I make a point of avoiding prisons, but. . .

[taking a few steps down that path anyway]

PRISON

[deadofknight]

The tree stumps lead you to a clearing made by chopping down yet more trees. In the clearing is a gleaming steel cage shaped like a perfect cube. There is a shut door on one side, and two Aces sit on adjacent tree stumps towards the back of the cage, both dressed in different pale grey outfits. The tree-stump path continues out of the other side of the clearing.

THE POOL | THE CAVERN

[deadofknight]

The path brings you to the edge of the woods. The ground beyond is barren, and dominated by an enormous pool of still, very dark water. The air here is cold enough that your breath is making faint puffs in the air. At the far side of the water are the cliffs from Three's realm, but set into them is the mouth of a huge cavern made of dark stone—you may recognize it as Sterling's residence in Beauty's realm. A white rowboat is anchored out in the middle of the pool, and small stepping stones lead from the pool's shore to the patch of ground that surrounds the cavern entrance. You can hear and see a thin film of water pouring out of the cavern and into the pool. Other than that, there is no other noise.

CAMPSITE

[deadofknight]

It is night-time here. A full moon hangs heavy overhead and the sky is full of stars in unfamiliar constellations.

The campsite is in the middle of a forest and has been formed by cutting the trees back from a dirt path. The path itself borders the campsite on one edge--tree stumps have been uprooted and logs laid down for use as seats. Clearly this is a campsite that sees regular use. In the center of the campsite is a merrily burning campfire. Behind the campfire is a small two-person tent.

An Ace sits on a log by the fire, watching a pot hung over the campfire and idly poking at the fire with a stick. He is bare-faced and bare-headed but wearing a ragged-edged brown cloak instead of his usual red coat. A narrow white mask and golden-hilted sword rest on the ground by his feet.

VIRTUE

[deadofknight]

The path twists and turns for quite a while but never forks. Eventually it brings you to edge of a deserted town square dominated by an enormous tower. A giant second hand ticks by as you watch; unusual though it is, this CLOCKTOWER is clearly functional.

The CLOCKTOWER has no doors, just an open archway for an entrance. It leads to a large room, and you can just about see the beginnings of a spiral staircase on the far side.

Re: VIRTUE

[glorious]

[...tower...]

[lets start the long trek up those stairs, shall we?]

THE ROOF

[deadofknight]

The roof is flat and edged by a waist-high wall. Up here it's sunny like a midsummer's afternoon and a brisk breeze toys with your hair and clothes. A freestanding door wrapped in a golden chain stands at the far side of the roof, while the center is occupied by a small open pavilion made of white-painted wood. Two figures sit within it, one adult and one child, and they appear to be having a tea party with a couple of dolls. Some objects are dangling down from the inside of the pavilion—they look like more dolls.

THE GALLERY

[deadofknight]

Beyond the double doors lies a large, well-lit room. Its curved wall is lined with pedestals, all of them bearing cushions upon which rest a variety of pocket watches. The air is filled with the sound of their ticking.

In the center of the room is an enormous desk littered with cogs, springs, tiny wrenches, large wrenches, polishing clothes, and more bits and pieces of clock-making and clock-repairing paraphernalia. Off to one side is an unopened bottle of very expensive-looking wine, covered in a slight layer of dust. Behind the desk is seated a man dressed in black and gold, most of his long black hair pulled back in a low ponytail. Gold spectacles are perched on his nose. At your approach he looks up irritably from the watch he's evidently working on repairing.

Re: VIRTUE

[unionoftheheart]

[\o/]

[very quietly] Thanks, Zero.

[taking a moment to look around the square, then heading into the base of the tower, ready to climb]

Re: VIRTUE

[hunting]

[Picking self up and looking around.]

... Julius.

[Before heading into that room.]

VISE

[deadofknight]

The path you're twists and turns for a while but never forks. It starts zig-zagging up a steep slope for a while before it straightens and evens out, changing around you The cracked red brick underfoot begins to look newer, neater, stamped with a repeated heart motif. The hedges also become neater, widening gradually before abruptly turning away at right angles. Before you is a garden full of well-tended flowerbeds, each one separated by a narrow red brick path, with tightly trimmed hedge sculptures placed at regular intervals. The sculptures take the form of card suits: there hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades.

The path you are one continues straight through the center of the garden, and leads you straight to the double doors that guard entrance into the elaborately and gaudily decorated CASTLE OF HEARTS.

Re: VISE

[hunting]

[... Okay that is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I'm just going to check out those sculptures first.]

Re: VISE

[toolate]

[... what if i just try to go in]

Re: VISE

[playfreebird]

[well, that... exists]

[looking around the garden?]

THRONE ROOM

[deadofknight]

Despite their weight, the curtains open quite easily. The room beyond the curtains is enormous, brightly light by a series of delicate crystal chandeliers overhead. It's tiled in the same black-and-white check as the first room, and its walls are lined with life-sized tapestries that depict someone in Ace's usual clothes in the middle of performing his knightly duties: escorting the Queen, dancing at a ball, executing prisoners, protecting a fair maiden with long blonde hair, executing servants, riding a horse, and so on.

At the far end of the room is a golden throne, and everything behind it is cast in shadow. Seated in the throne is a beautiful woman with dark curls and dressed in an elaborate ballgown. A golden scepter rests in her perfectly manicured hands. Two tangles of chains emerge from the base of her throne, one leading towards the left wall and one leading to the right.

"Ah, we see that we have guests. You may approach us."

LEFT SIDEROOM

[deadofknight]

The chains lead you through an open doorway into a small side room gaudily decorate in a fashion that clearly takes its cues from the Castle's exterior. The wall opposite the doorway is dominated by a life-sized portrait of a serious-faced young woman standing in some elegantly decorated room, dressed in a blue-and-white gown with her long blonde hair swept up into an austere updo. A silver scepter rests in her arms, and the portrait has an ornate silver frame.

The only furniture in the room is a table and chair. The table is located flush against one wall, covered in a white tablecloth and loaded down with food and drink. The chair is an uncomfortable looking leather armchair placed square in the room's center. The chains that led you into the room terminate in a circle that surrounds the armchair with room to spare.

Seated in the chair is an Ace dressed in a stiffer, more formal-looking version of his usual clothes and holding a glass of water. His hair has been carefully slicked back out of his eyes. He looks at you as you enter, bored, but doesn't say anything.

RIGHT SIDEROOM

[deadofknight]

The chains lead you through an open doorway into a small side room, plainly but expensively decorated…once. It's now been absolutely trashed, wallpaper scarred and peeling off the walls, though it appears to be mostly intact in one of the back corners. The floor covered in bits of shattered glass, crushed porcelain, and shards of wood. The wall opposite the doorway is dominated by the remains of a portrait large enough to depict a life-sized standing figure, though the canvas has been too badly shredded to make out if that was indeed what it once depicted.

What furniture there was in the room has long since been hacked to pieces and used to fuel a small fire that burns as embers in one corner of the room. The only whole piece of furniture left is a plain wooden chair that's facing the doorway. Bound to this chair is a man who has been so heavily and tightly bound with chains that his body has been almost entirely hidden beneath them; the only part visible of him is his lower face, and the gag stuffed in his mouth. The chain that led you into the room merges seamlessly into the mass. Miniscule clinks as he struggles under the chains fill the room's otherwise silent air.

THE FORTRESS

[deadofknight]

You find yourself in the Sterling fortress of Three's realm. The courtyard looks much the same as always, lined with its various doors and surrounded by stepped levels leading to individual bedrooms. Most of those doors are shut but two stand slightly ajar: one in the courtyard that appears to be made of mother-of-pearl, and another one on of the upper levels that overlook the courtyard. The knights among you will probably notice that it is the door to Ace's room.

Other than the doors and eerie silence, the most major difference in this version of Sterling stands before you: rather than hold the Book and Beauty's lamp, this courtyard holds Beauty's glass-covered coffin and within it her sleeping body. A heavily-armored Ace with a stony expression stands before it in a guard position. His sword rests upright on the ground before him, point dug slightly into the stone floor and his gauntleted hands crossed over the hilt.

He speaks as you enter. "Who goes there?"

VOID

[deadofknight]

The path twists and turns for quite a while but never forks. However, eventually the hedges come to an abrupt end, leaving the path to continue forward alone through a grassy field. It leads straight to a gate in an imposing wrought-iron fence; the gate is tightly bound with thick steel chains. However, someone has managed to shove the chains aside and prise open the bars beyond, forming a small gap in the structure. Beyond the fence is what looks like a small, empty AMUSEMENT PARK.

Re: VOID

[unionoftheheart]

[running his hands over the chains for a bit, wondering if there's a lock]

A HILLTOP

[deadofknight]

On the other side of the door you find yourself at the peak of a short, gently rolling hill. It is sunny here, with the slightly faded light of a late summer afternoon. An enormous oak tree casts shade over you from behind, and the base of the hill is ringed by a tall, thick wall of tightly tangled vines lined with flower buds.

Re: A HILLTOP

[unionoftheheart]

[looking around with a little smile, okay yeah this is pretty]

[turning to look up at the oak tree]