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Inner Sanctum Bedrooms | ??? | ???
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happened to me, once I broke out of the in-between state and became fully lucid.
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Wait... What?
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How did I get here? Wasn''t I just outside?
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shot upright in swift moment, gasping for breath.
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a bed, wide and comfortable - surrounded by a room I didn''t recognize, though even that much took me a moment to discern. It was so dark that I could barely see anything. I could see the outlines of windows off to my side, but no light emanated from them, not even the dim glow the sanctuary''s lamps had given off back during the first night. The only thing that stopped it from being pitch black was a small gas lamp on the bedside table, and even its output seemed to be at the lowest level possible.
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My scepter, I realized, a moment later.
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Oh god. Had I been drugged? Had there been an incantation cast on me? Was I even still in the sanctuary?
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Don''t panic. Don''t panic! It won''t help!
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Anomaly-Divining Arcana from Ran about a year earlier, when we''d just joined the Exemplary Acolyte''s Class, since it was such a useful incantation, and surprisingly simple for its broad purpose. I wasn''t particularly good with it, but I''d managed to memorize the words and could cast it inefficiently most of the time. I lifted my scepter aloft to do just that. If something trans-mundane had happened to me, I needed to know, immediately.
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What the hell is going on?
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only explanation, in fact - for what was going on here.
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Think back. What was the last thing I remembered?
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Right, right. I''d been lying against the glass, and had seen something... Or thought I''d seen something... Out in the water, as impossible as that obviously was in retrospect. It''d been starting to turn, and I was just about to get a good look at its face
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really seen something like that--
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PLAYWRIGHT: <chipper> Hello, hello! My most morbid apologies for interjecting right in the middle of a scene like this-- Terribly unprofessional, I know! Just wanted to make a little correction to our heroine here, just so there''s no confusion going forward.
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PLAYWRIGHT: Now, if you recall, Rule 1 dictates that the perspective of the protagonist is always reliable, but they can misinterpret what they see. We went over that second point a bit, too-- However, in past productions, we''ve heard people say that''s a little bit too lenient. <with a sweeping gesture> After all, if the protagonist is allowed to misinterpret things completely willy-nilly, then what''s to stop them from telling you that everyone was killed by giant crabs, and then having some last-minute reveal where you''re just told, ''oh, they just had a brain disease causing them to hallucinate the whole time''!
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PLAYWRIGHT: <with pretense> We cannot abide such things here, of course. This isn''t some cheap thriller building up to a gaudy twist.
I would only every involve myself in true théatre profane.
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PLAYWRIGHT: For that reason, a small clarification must be made to the rule!
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1.A) The protagonist may misperceive reality without this undermining their truthfulness, but only under circumstances where a device to justify this has been established in advance, or is universal in nature.
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PLAYWRIGHT: There we go! Much better. Magnifique changement!
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PLAYWRIGHT: <attempting professionalism> To offer a few morsels of clarification, this means that nothing can cause the protagonist to misreport what they see unless it''s already been explained explicitly earlier in the narrative, unless it''s something so mundane that it could be considered common sense. Let''s briefly establish a scenario for both of those, shall we?
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PLAYWRIGHT: For the former, say that there exists a drug that causes the characters to hallucinate seeing frogs everywhere. While nothing would prevent another character from showing the symptoms of this drug prior to its full explanation - shouting about frogs crawling all over them, their bodies twisting in peril! - it is guaranteed that it wouldn''t be able to afflict the protagonist until that explanation had taken place. Think of it as a holy shield which protects her absolutely, so long as she remains ignorant!
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PLAYWRIGHT: But keep in mind this only applies to devices which alter her perceptions. It is not a universal rule! That would be too powerful a shield, I should think.
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PLAYWRIGHT: As for the second point, that''s in reference to situations of misunderstanding which require no special information to understand at all. For example, if one character were disguised as another and only seen from behind, it''s self-evident how that could confuse someone, is it not?
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PLAYWRIGHT: <jubilantly> But in any event! Now that we''ve cleared that up, we can address this unfolding situation! Here, we see Utsushikome speculating that what she saw just earlier didn''t, in fact, really happen. A trifling mental hiccup! An incidental visual belch!
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PLAYWRIGHT: But we know better, now, don''t we? Because no device has been established which could justify either hallucinations or complex illusions, it means that no such thing occurred. Even if those devices exist somewhere, it hasn''t been properly established!
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PLAYWRIGHT: <nodding self-assuredly, with closed eyes and crossed arms.> Yes, let this be a lesson to you! The silly things that characters say or feel are ephemeral compared to the importance of economic storytelling. <holding up her hands> And now--
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some recollection of either of those.
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PLAYWRIGHT: <slightly irritated> Just to be entirely clear! The possibility of a stroke, though quite mundane in nature, would also count as an exceptional device that would need to be foreshadowed! So it can''t be the case either.
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PLAYWRIGHT: Really now, good grief...
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PLAYWRIGHT: <suddenly excited> Oh! Did you enjoy my little cameo earlier, incidentally? It was a modest role, of course, but I felt I gave it the best of my humble talents--
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PLAYWRIGHT: What? Oh. <irritated, dejected> Yes, yes.
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strokes. And with modern medicine, we knew enough about biology to see circulatory dysfunction coming almost 100% of the time, and I''d had a general checkup not two months earlier.
dark? Had the lighting system failed? Had I been out for the entire rest of the day, and I''d somehow missed yesterday that it was set up to turn itself off at the absolute dead of night?
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That''s another question. Why are the bells tolling?
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everything. Someone had taken all the stuff I''d unpacked in my guest room, carefully packed it back up, and brought the whole thing here.
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I''d packed it up.
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Answer me!" I demanded.
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On second thought, I considered, of all the people this could have been, this is probably the worst, huh.
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Please understand that a state of defensive lockdown is currently in effect within the Amniakic Bioenclosure, it informed me. Please understand that some functions have been disabled. Please understand that you should remain calm and seek further guidance. Please understand that a state of defensive lockdown is currently in effect...
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''Amniakic''?
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why it had been activated to begin with.
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This is all so insane I don''t even know what to think about to think about it. Just stay calm until you find someone who can tell you what''s really happening. Just stay calm...
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Duh, I thought, biting my lip. She''s a kid. She''s just scared.
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extremely bad. But we will stay together until I make it back to the other building."
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Feeling better? I shook my head, breaking eye contact. I didn''t want him to notice how confused I really felt. "I haven''t seen anyone else other than Lilith, who came to my-- My room." I looked to her expectantly. "Did you...?"
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Wow. Ruthless.
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was a way to, if not remove, then at least diminish the need for it somewhat - it just happened to be far more intrusive than an elixir, and a lot more potentially dangerous. The Allagiypnou Process was a medical procedure that had been developed around eighty years ago. Through a series of injections and surgeries, it cultivated a microbiome of organisms in the brain that reduced the sleep a person required to remain healthy down to less than half of the norm. But it was controversial for a number of reasons.
functioning wings if you told them they might mess with their head.
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you?" He rubbed his chin, looking downward. "I don''t believe so. You seemed like you might''ve been out of place at dinner, but that was all."
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No, don''t think about that now, I said to myself, and bit my tongue hard enough that the pain spiked into my mind and severed the train of thought completely. Stay focused. You can figure this out once you''re at the guesthouse with the others. Stay focused...
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Nothing looks wrong with the mechanism, I thought to myself. So why did it sound so strange?
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now covered in blood, where it had struck the metal over and over again - smearing the entire metallic interior in the grotesque ichor, the stench of which struck me all at once - was a body. Fully clothed in white robes, long black hair hanging downward, limbs shattered and fallen limp.
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The face was mercifully difficult to make out in the darkness, but I knew at once that it was unmistakably the body of Neferuaten.