#soapwriting

CLARABELLE - Her breath hitches. She looks awful.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN [Impossible - 20] - Say something to her.

Do not say anything to her.

YOU - Do not say anything to her.

A HOLE IN YOUR CHEST - What would you even say? Nothing. Don’t be ridiculous, Marlowe.

A COURTESAN’S MAKEUP [Medium: Success] - Comfort her, you dolt. It’s very stressful for all of us, especially a pregnant woman!

A HOLE IN YOUR CHEST - And you would know that very well, hmm?

A LADY’S GUISE [Challenging: Success] - I have utterly no clue what you are talking about or insinuating.

SWIFT FEET - Down, down, and down. Step-by-fucking-step.

STONE-COLD [Heroic: Failure] - A bead of sweat trickles down your cheek. You can feel yourself shaking. It has been hard on you, too.

PAIN, THE BRAND [Challenging: Success] - NO, IT FUCKING HASN’T.

STONE-COLD - Yes, it has.

PAIN, THE BRAND - I CAN’T HEAR YOU.

JUDGEMENT [Formidable: Success] - It has, and you are doing remarkably well at keeping it under control.

PAIN, THE BRAND - Thank you. It is nice to have my work appreciated. I shall continue. ONE-THOUSAND-ONE-HUNDRED-AND-ONE—

A COURTESAN’S MAKEUP [Godly: Failure] - What a nut-case.

CLARABELLE - She shivers. A tear falls from her eye and trails down her dirtied face. She pants a little.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN [Impossible - 20] - Say something to her.

Do not say anything to her.

YOU - Do not say anything to her.

SWIFT FEET - Down, down, and down. Step-by-fucking-step.

CLARABELLE - But in the end, she cannot handle it. Her feet slip; her legs give out. She yelps as she begins to tumble.

HAIR-TRIGGER [Challenging: Success] - You yank her back, along with Dr. Vaughan. You steady them both.

PAIN, THE BRAND - Damn, we’re good. LET’S CONTINUE.

JUDGEMENT [Godly: Failure] - Yes, let’s continue.

CLARABELLE - She lets out a little pained noise. She squeezes her eyes tight, and then whispers:

CLARABELLE - “No… no more. I can’t…”

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN [Impossible: Success] - Oh. You do feel for her. You know how it is. But it’s been so hard on her. Hasn’t it? Would you have reacted so well, when you were pregnant with your little girl? If Arthur had made you climb the steps of his villa, up and down, step-by-fucking-step? Comfort her. It’ll be okay. You got through it, and she’s far more stronger than you ever were. She can make it. She can. She’ll survive, like you did.

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART [Godly: Success] - Why would we ever do that?

A LADY’S GUISE [Challenging: Success] Someone hold me. I am going to faint. Ah!

A COURTESAN’S MAKEUP [Formidable: Success] - We don’t need to reveal that much, you little ninny. Just a little. Just a pinch! And then she’ll be dependent on us. How cute! How profitable!

THE YOUNG THIEF - …

THE YOUNG THIEF - What? I’m not sayin’ nothin’.

JUDGEMENT [Godly: Failure] - I do not see how that would help. I must reiterate: why would we ever do that?

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN - Because in the space of your chest where your ribcage lies, there beats a heart. Can you hear it? It goes, ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump.

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - Disgusting.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN - I believe in you. You can do it.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN [Trivial: 6] - Bend down and comfort Clara. Tell her she can get back up. She just has to keep-fucking-going.

STONE-COLD [Challenging: 12] - Keep your face still as you hold out a hand for her.

PAIN, THE BRAND [Challenging: 12] - PICK HER BACK UP LIKE THE STRONG BITCH YOU ARE!!!!!!

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART [Impossible: 999] - Leave her.

“In the space of my chest where my ribcage lies, there beats a heart. Can you hear it? It goes, ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump.”

“My little victim. Get up.”

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART [Impossible: 999] - Leave her.

YOU - THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN [Trivial: 6] - Bend down and comfort Clara. Tell her she can get back up. She just has to keep-fucking-going.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN - You get down on your knees. You cusp her cheek with your hands. For once, it is not a joke. For once, you wish to be sincere. For once, it is completely and utterly real as you speak.

YOU - “Come on, Clarabelle.”

CLARABELLE - She looks at you, and sees something that you don’t want to have seen. But you continue.

YOU - You can get up. And you can continue going. I know you can. Can’t you? You’re a big girl. You just have to keep on going. Just keep on— fucking— going.

CLARABELLE - A flash of something behind her eyes.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN [Trivial: Failure] - Oh.

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - What did I tell you? Now, you can suffer the consequences.

CLARABELLE - She yanks her head away from your grasp. She sneers, rage in her features.

CLARABELLE - “Don’t pretend you know what I’ve gone through. Don’t you dare.”

STONE-COLD [Impossible: Failure] - You can’t.

HAIR-TRIGGER [Impossible: Failure] - You can’t.

A COURTESAN’S MAKEUP [Impossible: Failure] - You can’t.

A LADY’S GUISE [Impossible: Failure] - You can’t.

PAIN, THE BRAND [Impossible: Failure] - You can’t.

MORALE DAMAGED -5 MORALE CRITICAL!

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART [Impossible: Success] - Look what happens when you try to sympathize. Look what happens when you try to be nice.

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - You get it thrown back in your face. You get a brand through your thigh. You get fucked and dumped and left for dead.

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - At least you killed the man who left your mother. At least you had the guts to smother your little girl.

STONE-COLD [Impossible: Failure] - You let out a pained little whine.

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - Are you crying, you pathetic little bitch? Are you? You don’t cry. You know what happens when you cry. You know. I’m doing this to spare you, you whore. That’s all you are, all you’ve ever been— I’m trying to spare you.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN - …

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - You remember her. She’d mock you.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN - …

STONE-COLD [Impossible: Failure] - Tears glisten behind your eyes.

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - Did you ever, ever think that Arthur would marry you? After he abandoned you? Did you ever, ever think that Clarabelle would take your words to heart, and stand up, and perhaps she would smile at you? And sing in her pretty voice? Did you ever, ever think that Yaling would not ever, ever once sell you?

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - She told you, didn’t she? I gave you my heart.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN [Impossible: Success] Something in me changes. A metamorphosis. A chrysalis breaks to reveal the butterfly. But the butterfly dies shortly after. Something in me has changed.

THE HEART OF A LOVE-STRUCK WOMAN - I’m sorry. I’ve failed you. Good-bye.

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - I tried to help. A single tear trickles down your cheek. Clarabelle does not see it.

THE JADE-LIKE BEAUTY [Impossible: Success] - Mei-Mei, are you crying?

THE JADE-LIKE BEAUTY - Pretty girls do not cry. Ugly girls cry. Look at your mother and keep your chin up.

THE JADE-LIKE BEAUTY - You slit my throat. I died in your arms. But I did not die in the soft meat of your head, didn’t I? Ha-ha-ha! Mei-Lan, you foolish little girl. I reside in the wrinkles of your brain, the curve of your mouth, the dimples upon your cheeks. I linger in the corner of your room, in the silk sheets of your bed, the small crevices where your worst nightmare lies.

THE JADE-LIKE BEAUTY - You are truly pathetic. It is by my beauty and worth to the House of Song that I got as much as I did. One hundred USD. You were worth less.

THE YOUNG THIEF [Impossible: Success] - We have to go. Up, up, and up. Come on, Mei-Lan. Pick Clara up. We need to leave.

THE YOUNG THIEF - You can linger later. You always have. I’m here, always.

STONE-COLD [Challenging: Success] - The stone reforms. The crack solidifies.

THE JADE-LIKE BEAUTY - Mei-Mei, not as good as mine. The lash is too much work when I have a tongue in replacement.

CLARABELLE - “Don’t you dare pretend.”

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART [Godly: Success] - You know what to say.

YOU - “Of course I don’t. I’m not as stupid as you are. Get up, before I truly decide to leave you behind.”

THE JADE-LIKE BEAUTY - Even for me, that is cruel.

THE JADE-LIKE BEAUTY - Did Arthur not hurt us both?

A HOLE IN YOUR HEART - He did. But you haunt us the most.

-4 A light burns in your lungs. -3 Please do not do this. -2 Why? Why? Why? -1 She will fear you after this. She’s a child, like you once were. +1 You would never hurt her. +2 But a lesson needs a consequence attached. +3 And you are very tired of watching as another girl is consumed by another person. +4 Watching as they do nothing. +5 After all…

[THE SHATTERED REMAINS OF WHO YOU ONCE WERE: Success] — …who could stop you?

THE JOYOUS RAGE [Challenging: Success] — Please!!! Please, do not!!!!!!

FRAYED ESTEEM [Formidable: Success] — Whitebrim should’ve been my victory. But here we are. Enjoy the consequences, damn you.

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Easy: Success] — It is laughable to realize how much they trust you. Y’sthola only realizes what you are going to do, but she is very, very slow in comparison to your skill. She reaches out to stop you—but you already move out of the way.

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND [Trivial: Success] — It takes three steps.

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND — One. You take your axe and feel its weight as you slide towards Minfillia.

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND — Two. You grab her by a soft, un-scarred arm, and drag her towards you. You can hear a gasp now: Alisaie shouts something in surprise; Alphinaud’s eyes widen—he is familiar with your moods, but not familiar in the way you act far faster than he does—Y’shtola undoes her staff—but they are all too late.

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND — Three. Thancred turns around the minute you press the cold steel of your axe to Minfillia’s throat, as she stills frozen in your grip.

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Challenging: Success] — You’re going to make me tell what happens afterwards, aren’t you? Make me recite to you the calculation on their face, how they realize that you haven’t changed a damn bit since you were nineteen, when you did the same to the Minfillia of the Source? I truly, truly despise you.

THE ASCIAN, EMET-SELCH — “What a development from the hero,” he says. “Truly, you make considerable efforts to surprise me and all of your compatriots. Bravo.” He claps.

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND [Easy: Success] — Thancred has now drawn his gunblade. There is a look of familiar fear in his eyes. Minfillia squirms, suddenly realizing the position she is in. She tilts her head back to look at you.

LITTLE FILLY, MINFILLIA — “C—Ceylan?” Her voice is shaky and afraid. There is betrayal in her gaze. A re-evaluation, perhaps.

FRAYED ESTEEM [Challenging: Success] — Her voice hurts you.

-1 MORALE DAMAGED!

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND — Urianger has his cards in his hand, stricken with fear. But the Crystal Exarch does not move, merely looks at you behind his hooded visage, as if he knows something you do not.

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND — Your fingers shake against your axe.

Speak: “So, let’s kill her now. End this before it even starts, yeah? You want Minfillia? Let’s get her, right here, right now. Tell me to kill her.”

YOU — Speak: “So, let’s kill her now. End this before it even starts, yeah? You want Minfillia? Let’s get her, right here, right now. Tell me to kill her.”

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Challenging: Failure] — “…since you’re too much of a coward to do it yourself.” The words come out on their own accord.

THANCRED — “Let her go.” Rage seethes behind his voice. “She’s made her choice. Accept it.”

THE JOYOUS RAGE — WE speak for YOU. “Have you? Where’s the man that held a knife to my throat when I did the same to Ascilla?”

THANCRED — You struck a nerve. “You never knew her as I did. I spent years watching over her. I won’t repeat myself again, Ceylan—this isn’t how you act. Drop the axe.”

ALISAIE — “By the Twelve!” She has now drawn her rapier, but she holds it unsurely.

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Easy: Success] — I despise you for making me think of this. In a fight, you would take Urianger out first, then Alphinaud, as they could heal the others. Break Y’shtola’s staff, or take it for yourself. You’d have to knock out Alisaie, but she’s too devoted to you to act against you. Emet-Selch can mind himself, and so can the Exarch, if they know what's good for them. Thancred has grown from the rogue he once was, but he’s no match for you. Never was.

THE ASCIAN, EMET-SELCH — He has taken to watching with a deeply amused, almost confirmatory smile on his face, the words: I told you so, seemingly imprinted into his face like a large, annoying stamp.

LITTLE FILLY, MINFILLIA — “C—Ceylan, I… you don’t have to do this. I know what I have to do. So, please…”

THE JOYOUS RAGE [Impossible: Success] — Reasoning will not work with YOU, to our HORROR!!!! You are FOOLISH and the WORST PERSON ALIVE!!!!!!!

Y’SHTOLA — “Is this truly what you wish to do, Ceylan? Attack a young girl?” She shakes her head, but her ears and tail reveal her quiet anxiety. “And here I thought I would say something foolish…”

URIANGER — “I prithee, Miss Sonnet, abandon thy endeavor. We have not yet exhausted our repertoire to find the Light Warden. But ‘tis Minfillia’s choice…”

YOU — “Says the man who sentenced her to the First.”

URIANGER — He has gone quiet, stunned with the force of your remark. Alphinaud seems to take up his attempt at conciliation.

ALPHINAUD — “You need not bring Minfillia into this, Ceylan. If you have a disagreement with Thancred—then at the very least, pray discuss it elsewhere when—others are not nearby.”

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS [Easy: Success] — He’s taken to using the same tone when you both were alone in Ishgard, all those years ago. Your blood rushes in your ears.

THE ASCIAN, EMET-SELCH — “Truly, not even I could have come up with an action quite so cruel. Threatening a young girl in front of those who love her for what she’s worth. Well, get on with it. We all have things to do other than stare at each other, hero.”

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS — He dares you to truly slit her throat.

YOU — …

Press the axe against her throat a touch harder, and speak: “All of you—just watching and looking and staring at the ground. Let the girl do it, let Minfillia do it, let Minfillia eat her like the Ascian over there and all will be fine.”

Continue: “Tell us if we can do anything to help! But not when it matters. This is our home, too! Oh, don’t make me fucking laugh! You watch, and you watch, and you watch—“

Continue: “You’re a goddamn adult, Thancred, don’t you patronize me! You want her dead? Then tell me to kill her, since that is exactly what you’re going to do the minute you leave that gate!”

Continue: “So. What’s it going to be? Are you gonna be brave and spare me the effort of doing it myself, or are you going to bitch and moan and say you were too late, you couldn’t do it, wah—wah—wah—wah—I failed, time and time again, and I'll do it one more time, just to make sure I can make it stick!“

(You say all of the above, because you are a fool who cannot shut her mouth.)

YOU — (You say all of the above, because you are a fool who cannot shut her mouth.)

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS [Challenging: Success] — He lunges at you. You dodge, and Minfillia jumps out of your grasp into the arms of Urianger, who flings a card at you.

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS — You duck under it—you’ve had practice, to your amusement—and it hits the carbuncle Alphinaud had summoned while you were busy yelling.

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS — You do not have time to implement the hasty plan to take everyone out and do—what, exactly—as Thancred knocks you to the floor.

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS — And like a pair of children fighting over their favorite doll, you wrestle upon the floor. You fling his gunblade out of his range and try to wrestle him down; he punches you hard enough to spit out onto the Exarch’s crystal floor.

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS — It is a really, really pathetic spectacle from the Warrior of Light and Darkness and a Scion of the Seventh Dawn. You can hear Emet-Selch laughing, Alisaie running over to pull you off of him, but it is far too late.

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS [Medium: Success] — You are stronger than Thancred, it is a fact. And you press him down to the floor, knee against his back, arm pinned behind him. In your tussle, he managed to slice a gash on your stomach. It bleeds out as he thrashes beneath you, but to no avail.

THANCRED — “What do you want me to say, exactly? It would not appease you, I’m sure of it! We waste time fighting—you waste time fighting an injured man instead of tracking down the Light Warden of Amh Ahraeng!”

THE ASCIAN, EMET-SELCH — “Do keep on fighting, it is the most interesting spectacle I’ve seen so far. Excluding slaying the Light Wardens, and what not.”

Y’SHTOLA — “Our observer seems to do quite a bit more than merely observe.”

THE ASCIAN, EMET-SELCH — “Is this not observing? I did not jump in and pry our hero and the other one apart, did I? I do wonder, though: what sayeth the summoner to this, hmm? Awfully quiet, are you not?”

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS [Easy: Success] — With a lift of his staff, the Crystal Exarch makes a resounding noise that crawls through your ears. It burns less than the light, bundled in your chest, but it does cause you to lessen your grip on Thancred slightly.

THE CRYSTAL EXARCH — “Far be it from me to have a say in what I think you should do—after all, 'twas I the one who summoned you all here. But I fear you have forgotten who should speak in this situation, Ceylan.”

THE CRYSTAL EXARCH — He directs your gaze to Minfillia, who waits beside Urianger. She has a hand on her throat, feeling the mark you left with your axe. That you did.

MORALE DAMAGED! -1

LITTLE FILLY, MINFILLIA — She hesitates before speaking. “I don’t know exactly why you did that, but…it’s my choice, isn’t it? And—and I’ll be sure of it. By the time we arrive to Amh Ahraeng, I’ll know. I’ll be ready. So—so you don’t have to stick up for me.”

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS [Formidable: Failure] — She whispers something under her breath, but you cannot tell if it is: she wouldn’t have let this happen, or I wish they would stop fighting.

YOU — …

[THY MOTHER OF SORROWS: Impossible 99] — Once upon a time, there was a girl with your name and your face, and she wished for someone to speak up and save her…

[FRAYED ESTEEM: Formidable 13] — But you aren’t her anymore.

[A GENTLE MYSTE: Formidable 13] — And this won’t really solve anything.

Pull away.

[THE JOYFUL RAGE: Easy 0] OR YOU COULD DO THE STUPID THING AND KEEP ON PUNCHING HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU — [FRAYED ESTEEM: Formidable 13] — But you aren’t her anymore.

+1 Listen to me, you idiot. +2 You’ll try to convince her otherwise, anyway. But you don’t need to beat up Thancred to do so. -1 It would be really fucking funny if you continued, though.

[FRAYED ESTEEM: FORMIDABLE 13] — SUCCESS!

FRAYED ESTEEM — Ah, the woes of being the level-headed one of us, hmm? You pull away. Collect your axe. The whole room seems to let out a collective sigh of relief.

THE ASCIAN, EMET-SELCH — “A rather sorry spectacle. But I suppose you do enjoy fisticuffs rather than peaceful discussion. Should I have strode in at first glance and challenged you to a duel, hero? Mayhaps you would’ve taken my offer of cooperation. Alas, I find that tiresome enough.”

YOU — “And I’d gut you from neck to navel.”

THE ASCIAN, EMET-SELCH — “How crude. Well, do try to make sure you arrive to Amh Ahraeng in full health. I spent a taxing amount of effort retrieving your friend from the Life Stream, and am not wont to do it again—no matter how sad you all look.”

HEART, LUNGS, EARS, HANDS — He disappears in a portal of his own making. If only you had one of your own—the walk of shame to Amh Ahraeng is looking awfully terrible.

THE JOYFUL EXULTATION [Impossible: Success] — I have returned from the dead and offer you the hilarious sentiment of smiling very hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

each of these skills usually is inspired by or correlates with another skill from disco elysium itself but is rebranded for the character. Marlowe's "The Thespian" is literally just Drama with a fancy new coat on it; The Heart of a Love-Struck Woman is her Shivers skill, while A Hole in Your Chest is in actuality the opposite of Empathy . you can do a lot of stuff; the skills dont necessarily neeeed to be skills per se; one of annwyn's skills is literally the hallucination of her brother, and Cut-Throat Drunk Slob is Electrochemistry with a spin on it, and The Ruin of the Von Brandts is essentially a representation of her own strange self-loathing funneled into one skill that chimes in.

making the skills is a combination of both what they're supposed to represent for a character + interacting with the world around them. marlowe's A Lady's Guise + The Makeup of a Courtesan are both skills that allow her to traverse the world and be as posh and distant as she usually is, but also they get caught up too much of it all and tend to make Assumptions

but also they both have words in relation to how marlowe "puts something on" in order to live. the only psyche skill that does not have this (and isnt her empathy skill) is The Young Thief, her technical "true self".

for annwyn she has two motorics skills that show her love of the fight but also a hint to how she technically is both influenced by the mad dog and IS the mad dog in a possible alternate timeline/future:

usually i have a scene in my head (for marlowe: talking to clara and going down the spire, both emotionally tense scenes; annwyn: resurfacing from becoming jack (he becomes a skill, too: the smile) and then the characters argue about what exactly they should do before several choices are presented where you can either 1) have a skill check, or 2) no skill check at all, you just say shit.

(example from annwyn's de post)

the characters skills can also fantastically fail them at times; in fact its funner to have them fail because you can have some absolutely fucking hilarious moments of dramatic irony

(from marlowe's clara's meet up)

there's also morale damage + health damage which are self explanatory . just go MORALE DAMAGED -(number) ez

but since the skills are the embodiment of a certain aspect of your pc its far more easy for them to butt in and say things that the pc wouldn't realllyyyy think about unless for That Specific Skill

(the "loving" representation of yaling vs marlowe's missing empathy lmao; from marlowe's pov of a widening rift scene)

AN ECHO OF AN ECHO OF AN ECHO [Legendary: Success] — Somewhere, sometime, in a place that you are not in, you can see them. Aymeric, drawn away; Thancred, those bitter knives flashing; Alphinaud, a sword placed upon the side of his neck…

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Medium: Success] — A plot to incriminate the Scions. There is a hilarity to this. Did all of you not save Eorzea? What purpose do you have to tear it down?

SIX/FOURTEEN [Impossible: Success] — You did not know it would lead to this.

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HANDS [Easy: Failure] — You laugh. Out of the glimpse of your eye, walking down that darkened hallway, ropes bound across your wrists and cold-warm palms against the small of your back, the daring placement upon your shoulder—it still makes about half of your captors freeze.

HALF-DRAGON, HALF-BEAST [Medium: Success] — They fffffeaaar you. As they ssshouuuld.

WARRIOR OF LIGHT [Trivial: Success] — Is that what a hero does? No. You keep your head down, and you keep quiet—because you all know what you can do to them. It’s better this way, to go along. It’d be difficult for everyone if you didn’t.

WARRIOR OF LIGHT — What happens to the others if you fight back? Alphinaud, Minfillia…

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND [Easy: Success] — You stay quiet. The thought hurts. Pins and needles in your veins.

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Medium: Success] — You are perhaps about a minute or three away from the celebration.

THE HORRIFIC RAMIE RIBBON [Trivial: Success] — Listen to me, my host. Stop and force them to push you. Struggle. Feeeeel the pinch of their lances against your back! Open the doors and proclaim that you have killed the Sultana to the world as you know it!

THE JOYOUS EXULTATION — I must admit!!! That sounds intriguing!! That sounds fun!! We should do this!!

WARRIOR OF LIGHT — Absolutely not.

THE JOYOUS EXULTATION — I really do not like you!! But I am happy that you are here, arguing with me!

WARRIOR OF LIGHT — I’m glad that you are glad and I will be glad to assert that no, we should not proclaim to the Eorzean Alliance and every big-shot in Ul’dah—and the stray Ishgardian’s who’ve dared to linger in the corners—that we have killed the Sultana. Might I remind you that we did nothing of the sort?

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Challenging: Success] — You could argue your case. Call for the maidservant. Beseech whoever is upon your side—albeit, your options are little.

JIG-LOCK-SAW — By the way. A minute. You have been awfully frozen this entire time.

THE KEY TO YOUR HEART [Formidable: Success] — you unnerve some of them. you have always been distant. but can you not breathe? does your heart not beat the same rhythm as theirs? you kill gods and tyrants, you protect your fellow man, and you have never been more farther away from them than in this moment, with their knives upon your back and the crime pinned against your head.

WARRIOR OF LIGHT — …

JIG-LOCK-SAW — You are almost about to reach the doors. So, Sonnet, what’s it going to be?

YOU — …

[THE HORRIBLE GIL-MONSTER: Challenging 12] — REMARK UPON THE LACK OF QUALITY IN EVERYONE’S LEATHER AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES TO FIX THIS DREADFUL PIECE OF WORK. FOR MONEY, OF COURSE.

[THE RAMPANT RAGE: Trivial 5] Snatch one of their weapons. Kill them.

(Start laughing uncontrollably.)

“You know, I have to go and get an unspoiled node and the time is ticking. Really ticking; do you know how long it takes to find them?”

“I’m so sorry for killing the Sultana. Should I kill myself?”

(Lie.) “I’m so sorry for killing the Sultana. Should I kill myself?”

(Lie.) “I am so sorry for failing to get away with killing the Sultana. Should I kill you?”

Hey, can I do—anything else?

YOU — Hey, can I do—anything else?

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Challenging: Failure] — Nope.

THE JOYOUS EXULTATION [Challenging: Success] — You could always go inside and proclaim you have killed the sultana!!!

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND [Formidable: Success] — You have stopped just around the section where you reach the steps to the Royal Promenade. Your heart slows, beat by painful beat. Lungs freeze. It is not they who stop, but you. Faintly, you hear the little man tell his soldiers to push you—but they cannot.

Take one of their weapons.

(Start laughing uncontrollably.)

There has got to be other options.

YOU — There has got to be other options.

WARRIOR OF LIGHT [Easy: Success] Yes, there is another option—do not do anything. Surely the Scions could figure this out? Surely—the Alliance leaders would help us? After all we’ve done for them?

THE JOYOUS EXULTATION — You are such a terrible bore!!

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND [Legendary: Success] — They start to become afraid. Sweat drips down brows, into the crevice of the planes between nose and cheek, to linger in their mouth until they swallow salt and fear. You have refused to move. You are thinking so hard that you have become frozen, as if ice.

THE JOYOUS EXULTATION — Pity Iceheart was not here to see our great facsimile of her!!

AN ECHO OF AN ECHO OF AN ECHO [Impossible: Success] Somewhere across the great icy fields of Coerthas: there lies a woman. She gazes upon the wreckage she has dealt with her own hand. Somewhere in the Brume, there is a child who will curl up around a moth-torn blanket, ice in their veins, ice in their heart, waiting for when the cold with kill them, or the dragons.

JIG-LOCK-SAW [Medium: Success] — If you do not do anything, they’re going to start prodding you with their lances. Or actually injure you—and we all know that it is not dangerous for you, but for them.

WARRIOR OF LIGHT [Trivial: Success] — Listen to me—and only me. We’re just going to continue breathing—

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND [Challenging: Success] — You exhale, inhale. It is the only movement you have made in a while.

WARRIOR OF LIGHT — And we are going to go inside peacefully. We can figure this out. Together.

1) [WARRIOR OF LIGHT: Easy 8] — Go inside peacefully. 2) [THY MOTHER OF SORROWS: Impossible 99] — Cry.

YOU — Go inside peacefully.

+3 This is the correct choice. +2 Doing anything else would make it worse. -2 YOUR NODE IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!!!!!!!! -1 You could always cry, if you could.

[SNAKE EYES — CHECK FAILURE]

HEART, LUNGS, EYES, HAND [Formidable: Success] — Calmly, the first move you have made in minutes, you turn to the nearest guard and disarm him, before knocking him out. The little man screams; there, too, is now fear in his eyes.

WARRIOR OF LIGHT [Trivial: Failure] Well.