dramatispersonae

[ Reality twangs uncomfortably in the Ring around you, and next thing you know, you're standing with your teammates beneath an apple tree. No one else is anywhere to be seen.

Faith's voice sounds. ]

You believe in so many--

[ The crackling of paper, the turning of pages. ]

--so many things. Tell me, which of these would you pick to believe in? To save you and fulfill you.

[ Fourteen scrolls materialize around you, with words on them. Approach, and the words will echo in your head: ]

"Our team." "Ourselves and our ability to persist in being as such, as long as we live and breathe; our own reality." "Kindness." "Family, our own blood." "Bravery, determination, and adventure." "The little things in life." "Change and growth." "Being at the top." "Happy endings." "Justice." "Inner strength." "Friends and friendship." "Delicious pie." "Our own personal truths."

[ At the foot of the apple tree, a silver box appears. It can fit exactly three scrolls. ]

Explain to me why

explain to me why

[ Reality stutters around you. ]

you believe so much

you believe in each other

[ Crack. A break runs down the center of the world before you. ]

What have I believed in?

Who am I?

I am...not what the Story made me.

I am not virtuous. All I have is pain.

I can be bad.

[ Reality dissolves, and then you're back in the Ring... ]

[ Reality warps once more, and you're falling through warm rain to the distant sound of weeping.

You land on a small stone peninsula jutting out into a rising sea of tears. Amidst that sea are several huge glass cases, open-topped, so that when the waters reach those tops, they'll pour in and drown those captive in the cases.

Within the cases are several teams: Coral, Ruby, Citrine, Carnelian, Tiger's Eye, Emerald, Turquoise, Sapphire, Iolite, and Amethyst. Somehow, you can see and hear perfectly just what is happening to them right now.

At the tip of the stone jut sits a pile of silver tokens.

Sorrowful's voice sounds once more. ]

You chose well in your ideals, and they have saved you for now. Now, I give you a choice: will you save those trapped in the ocean of my mother's sorrow, or will you walk away as so many have done before?

Each of you may cast anywhere from one to five tokens into the sea. The more you cast, the greater punishment you will receive, but the greater the chance that the others will be saved.

Or, I suppose, you could simply leave.

[ In the distance, somewhere, there is still the sound of weeping. ]

[ The weeping in the distance grows louder and louder as you attend to your terrible tasks, until finally, the voice of Handless Faith reaches you again. ]

Stop! I remember--

I remember--

I have learned of hope.

[ The voice of Spider Eagle of Sterling reaches you from somewhere far away. ]

Hope is—not giving up, that things will get better even when everything is at its worst.

[ Tentatively and yet stubbornly, your pain eases and your wounds knit themselves back together. ]

[ Your surroundings shimmer and fade, returning you to the Ring... ]

ROUND ONE

ROUND TWO

ROUND THREE

IN THE END . . .