Necromanceers

<div style="text-align: center">(display: "Title Image")</div> {(display: "Main Menu")}<div style="text-align: center">(text-style: "superscript")[[[Content Warnings]] - [[Options]]]</div><div style="text-align: center;">(opacity: 0.25)+(size: 0.5)[Release $Version]</div>

(display: "Main Menu") A game by C.E.J. $NameStyle[Pacian] using Harlowe/Twine. (text-style: "bold")[Testers and Feedback] --- Thanks to Vyner Vanderhumeken, rh, Emery Joyce and Doug Egan. (text-style: "bold")[Cover] --- Engraving by Diana Beauclerk, Edward Harding (1796) Vaporwave background CC-BY Mike Grauer Jr (text-style: "bold")[Acknowledgements] --- Most names were taken from a list of unusual 17th and 18th Century Quaker names compiled by the historian Isabella Rosner. Colour palettes were created using one of Sarah Renae Clark's Colour Cubes.

Floating, I can't stop thinking about Jennix. You understand, don't you, Inward? At least I know she's not a robot, even if the rest of my thoughts are a muddle. Weight returns all at once with a deafening crash. People scream in pain. Daylight lances into the darkness as the captain cracks open the hatch. I unbuckle my restraints and clamber out. --- [[→Onward→->Crash Site]](forget-visits: -1)

(display: "Main Menu") NECROMANCEERS contains violence, death, body horror, sex references, swearing and discrimination.

Our projectile has cratered into a field. Those [[soldiers->Crash Site Soldiers]] who aren't still trapped within are stretching their legs and checking their muskets. My own [[equipment]] appears to be present and correct. [[Gnar->Crash Site Gnar]] (if: visits is 1)[manipulates a crystal set with all eight arms. "Their Majesty's Third Ballistic Cavalry reporting. Landed behind enemy lines with minimal casualties. Beginning crystal silence as planned."](else:)[packs up a crystal set with all eight arms.] [[Sarge->Crash Site Sarge]] is barking orders, making sure nothing important gets left behind. The [[injured soldiers]] don't seem to qualify. The [[captain->Crash Site Captain]] watches over everything nobly. [[Credence->Crash Site Credence]] and [[Loveday->Crash Site Loveday]] are both up and ready, scanning the horizon for Kradlian forces. --- [[→Onward→->Cape Replace]]

I'm wearing the standard uniform of the Inglerian Army: cape, cuirass, tunic and breeches. Only my black cape marks me out as different from the other, red-caped soldiers. My belt holds a short sword, a pistol and pouches of powder and shot, not that I'm any good with that stuff. That cheap [[locket]] is still around my neck. [[←Back->Crash Site]]

I've seen a few crystal operators that weren't octopoids, but (text-style: "italic")[only] a few, and Gnar isn't one of the exceptions. Their bulbous body lies on the field while all eight of their boneless, suckered arms are dismantling the crystal set. [["Um, do you need a hand?"->Gnar Hand]] [["Could we call for help for the injured?"->Gnar Call Help]] [["I... I was wondering about the Purple Moon."->Gnar Purple Moon]] [[←Back->Crash Site]]

The projectile crumpled as it hit the ground. Not an uncommon occurrence, which is why those of us who are supposed to be more valuable to the mission were at the back. Several soldiers are trapped in the mangled metal, crying out in pain. A hand reaches out for me with broken fingers. [["Um, is there anything I can do?"->Help Crash Soldiers]] [["Please, tell me your names."->Name Crash Soldiers]] [["I... I'm sorry."->Sorry Crash Soldiers]] [[←Back->Crash Site]]

Credence slouches against his musket, his hair as long and his beard as shaggy as ever. But his eyes are alert and on the lookout for danger. (if: visits is 1)[He nods at me as I approach. "Let's hope your friend Jennix really is a robot, Returne. If First Company can't keep the entire Kradlian Imperial Guard occupied, we won't last five minutes against them."](else:)["Need anything, Returne?"] [["Um, so we're really behind enemy lines?"->Enemy Lines]] [["I... I'm not sure I can do this."->Not Sure]] [["She's NOT a robot."->Not a Robot]] [[←Back->Crash Site]]

Loveday stands apart from the rest of the soldiers, her long grey hair framing a face lined by time, the rest of her tall figure concealed beneath her cape, with the barrel of her rifle sticking out. (if: visit is 1)[She just says, "Hello, Necro." Loveday always intimidates me. Now that I've approached, I don't know what to say. To my horror, she begins talking instead: "It's true that you're a necro because you [[ate your twin]]? Funny that's what lets you [[kill gods]]. On balance, I'd rather just [[stick to my rifle]]."](else:)[She just asked if I [[ate my twin->ate your twin]] and that's why I can "[[kill gods]]". She says she'd rather [[stick to her rifle->stick to my rifle]].] [[←Back->Crash Site]]

One of the injured soldiers beckons me closer. "Something to drink, kindly..." "Wait," I say, stupidly, as if they can do anything else. "I'll fetch water." A groan. "No, stronger. Gin. Brandy. Anything! Begging you." "Um, that's against regulations. I... I'm sorry." A louder groan. "Go shit yourself, Necro." [[←Back->injured soldiers]]

"The one good thing about dying," croaks one of the injured and trapped soldiers, "we get to leave this Hell. Ain't no-one giving you our names." "Eat shit, Necro," one of the others adds. I smile and nod as if I'm okay with this. [[←Back->injured soldiers]]

One of the injured soldiers tries to speak, but only a hoarse whisper emerges. I step closer, lowering my head to hear them better. "Make sure..." she says. "Make sure they put a bullet right through the saint's eye." [[←Back->injured soldiers]]

A little piece of plastic propaganda. Inside is a tiny print of Jennix, smiling at us for our presumed support of the War Effort. It's not like it's really from her or anything. She laughed at it, you know that. But this is the only thing I have that's not army-issue. [[←Back->equipment]]

"You seem pretty certain about that," Credence says, "but who can really tell these days?" "I..." I say, "I..." "Last night," Loveday says, appearing behind me and making me jump out of my skin, "our Necro went into the tent of the Great Necro Heroine for a good hour or two. Came back out proper red-faced and flustered." "What..." I say, "Um..." "Must be," she continues, "Jennix demonstrated some indisputably human behaviour in there." Credence slaps me on the back so hard my cuirass rings like a bell and I stumble forwards. "Well, good for you, Returne! I didn't know you had it in you. I mean, literally. Half the troopers think when you're born a necro you don't even have anything down there." "I... I'm very uncomfortable with this topic of conversation." Loveday just laughs, a soft little cackle. But Credence makes a placating gesture with his hands. "Sorry, friend. Let's drop it." [[←Back->Crash Site Credence]]

"Manta-shit", Credence says, with surprising softness. "I'd have been sliced, burned or crushed to death, respectively, on three separate occasions if it weren't for you. You're a good necro, Returne. Just stay at the back and do your job when we need you." [[←Back->Crash Site Credence]]

Credence nods. "It doesn't look it, does it?" We both take a moment to look around at the peaceful fields and neat hedgerows. Only the crater made by our projectile suggests there could be anything amiss. "Could be a field anywhere else in Ingleria," Credence says. "You wouldn't know this one's belonged to the Kradlians for years. But we're about to change all of that." I swallow. "I... I hope so." [[←Back->Crash Site Credence]]

I try to explain. "You could say that I (text-style:"italic")[absorbed] my twin when I was in the womb, but they're actually still with me." And then, because that doesn't seem quite enough, I add, even though I probably shouldn't: "Their name is Inward. I... I often let them make tough decisions for me, since... since they're kind of along for the ride anyway." Why isn't Loveday saying anything? "It's not the only way to become a necro, just so you know, but it's the only way to be born one. It also happens if you get a heart transplant. And back to your original point, I think it applies to cannibals too." "Well," Loveday says, with an air of finality. [[←Back->Crash Site Loveday]]

"Um, I can't actually kill gods," I say. "At least I don't think I can. I've never tried." Loveday's eyes narrow. I laugh nervously. "I... I don't know why ghosts can interact with the divine, but many different philosophers have debated it. I suppose they're at least closer to it than we are." Loveday says, "I see." [[←Back->Crash Site Loveday]]

I point at Loveday's rifle. "Um, so that can shoot better because it has spirals in it?" She has to think a bit how to answer that. "Spiral grooves in the barrel, Necro. Rifling." "Oh," I say. She just looks at me. [[←Back->Crash Site Loveday]]

Gnar looks at me with a cyclopean eye. "Could you describe (text-style:"italic")[your] home in short time?" After a second, I say, "Um, a foster home for necros. Grey. Blocky. Undecorated. On good days some of us would sneak out into the flower fields, but I wasn't usually brave enough." Gnar makes a curt little whistle. "Worthless. So much assumed. Can no less describe my home in way you would understand." [[←Back->Crash Site Gnar]]

Gnar makes a happy piping noise and waves and coils a boneless arm at me. "Have not needed one whole life!" "Um," I say. "Now not joking," Gnar says, "do not touch crystal set." [[←Back->Crash Site Gnar]]

"Ask captain," Gnar says. "If you want captain to think you do not care if mission succeeds." "But..." I say. Gnar attempts to shake their head, a cumbersome gesture that doesn't come naturally. "Kradlians don't use crystals, it is said. If it is wrong to be said, and we transmit location, whole mission fails. You understand?" "I understand." But I almost wish I didn't. [[←Back->Crash Site Gnar]]

{ (set: $virgia to (text-style: "expand")) (set: $endtext to (text-size: 1.5)+(align: "=><=")) (enchant: "Onward", (t8n-arrive: "slide-up")) (enchant: "Cotton", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Credence", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Eustace", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Gigant", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Gnar", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Godde", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Grissel", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Henaretter", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Inward", $NameStyle) (enchant: "inward", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Isah", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Lilili", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Jennix", $NameStyle) (enchant: "jennix", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Loveday", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Ould", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Patience", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Peregrine", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Philotesia", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Returne", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Tryphona", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Virgia", $NameStyle) (enchant: "Yru", $NameStyle) }

(if: visit is 1)["You made the journey okay, Necro?" Sarge says. ]A stocky woman scarred by a lifetime of soldiering, she never answers when anyone asks about the faded ribbon braided into her hair.(if: visit is 1)[ Before I can respond, she's lifting my cape to check my equipment and patting me down for injuries. "You have to take care of yourself, Necro. Ingleria's running out of you lot, and the Transplant Brigade ain't shaping up, from what I hear."] [["Please can I know your name?"->Sarge Name]] [["I... I'm okay."->Sarge Okay]] [["Um, what should I do?"->Sarge Necro]] [[←Back->Crash Site]]

(if: visit is 1)["Captain Eustace." ]A dignified, slightly gaunt gentleman who never quite looks at you when he's talking to you. (if: visit is 1)[ He returns my salute. "We're really going to need our MOPCO officer for this one, Returne. It was a bit of a hard landing, so I'm glad to see you're okay." MOPCO. Manifestation Of Post-Corporeal Organisms. "Necro" may be slang, but it feels slightly nicer in its own way.] [["Um, next we're...?"->Captain Next]] [["I... I'll do my best."->Captain Best]] [["Please, the injured..."->Captain Injured]] [[←Back->Crash Site]]

Sarge smiles, but somehow it's not a very friendly expression. "No. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a zealot. But whatever happens next, I don't want to have to come back." "I... I just..." "Necro," she says firmly, "I know you may (text-style: "italic")[technically] be a commissioned officer, but don't think I won't punch you out like I would any other trooper who disrespects me, and don't think the captain won't look the other way while I do it." Oh. [[←Back->Crash Site Sarge]]

"Of course you are. Look, I know you don't really want to be here. Not every necro's going to be a Jennix. Even if they did make her in a lab, it seems like they're not cooking another one up soon." She's NOT a robot, Inward, but I won't bring that up now. "Anyway," Sarge continues, "my point is you're not a bad necro, Necro. Just keeping doing what I tell you to and it'll all work out." [[←Back->Crash Site Sarge]]

"Same thing you always do. Stay at the back, keep your head down, and when I call: come running." [[←Back->Crash Site Sarge]]

"We've landed within the expected margin of error. It's a short distance through occupied territory to the Vertical Battery. Then we need to get line of sight on the target." I just stare, unsure what to say. "Cheer up, Returne. The cavalry gun did most of the work. Now we just need Loveday to point and shoot." [[←Back->Crash Site Captain]]

"I know you will," the captain says, unconvincingly. [[←Back->Crash Site Captain]]

Captain Eustace glances at the soldiers still trapped in the crumpled projectile and grimaces. "We don't have a surgeon to treat them or a metalworking crew to get them out. There are bigger things at stake right now, Returne." [[←Back->Crash Site Captain]]

We begin moving on. The captain leads the way with the scouts. Loveday and I take the rear. Suddenly, someone is pulling my cape up and over my head. Inward! I'm being stripped! But as soon as my black cape is off, Credence is shoving a red one, probably from one of the injured troopers, in my face. "Second Company lost their necro to a sniper," he explains. "Shot through the heart at a thousand paces with a rifle. Let's make you a bit harder to pick off. And let's also hope that Loveday is that good a shot." As I straighten the red cape over my cuirass, Loveday emits an irritable grunt. --- [[→Onward→->Scout Encounter]]

We walk along a peaceful cobbled lane, in the shade of green leaves, listening to the cheerful warbling of birds. When the musket report shatters the silence, I have forgotten that we were in any danger. "Hold your fire!" the captain yells. "Take cover! I want staged firing in-" And then his head is sailing through the air, trailing a bright red arc of blood. Standing over his body is a gleaming, four-armed suit of armour with swords for hands. The scouts are cut to pieces before any of us can react. (text-style: "rumble")[Divine armour.] Sarge slams her back into a tree trunk and screams: "Necro! You're up!" A couple of troopers still stupidly let off their muskets, shots hitting the armour without effect. But this is why I'm here. [[Close your eyes, Returne->First Summoning]]

Who should I summon? Philotesia again? I always just summon Philotesia. (input: bind $summon1, "Philotesia") $SummonStyle[[[Summon->Summon1]]]

{ (set: _summon to (trimmed:(lowercase: $summon1))) (set: $UndoPassage to "First Summoning") (set: _ghosts to (ds: "cotton", "eustace", "gigant", "grissel", "henaretter", "isah", "lilili", "patience", "peregrine", "philotesia", "tryphona", "yru", "inward", "xyzzy")) (if: _summon is in _ghosts)[ (if: _summon is in $Compendium)[ (set: $Summoned to $Summoned + (ds: _summon)) <script>localStorage.setItem("necro-compendium", JSON.stringify(Array.from($Summoned)));</script> ] (redirect: (upperfirst: _summon + " 1")) ](else:)[ (redirect: "Bad Summon 1") ] }

(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->First Summoning]]

Philotesia. Ancient warrior queen of Ingleria. Painted with fierce warpaint. Rounded with muscle built for strength not for show. Clad in a studded leather kilt and wielding two vicious, jagged swords.

(display: "Philotesia Description") She charges the divine armour head on, ducking beneath three of its sword arms and cartwheeling over the fourth. She slices through the armour's joints with her swords, her ghostly weapons passing through without touching anything real... Instead, they touch the divine, severing the Will that animates the armour and leaving it to collapse in a heap with an awful clatter. [[Take cover, Returne]]

The captain reappears before the divine armour, whole but not corporeal, looking down at his own headless corpse. "Necro!" Sarge screams. "What have you done?!" But the captain was a good soldier. He knows what to do. Drawing his spectral pistol and sabre he advances on the divine armour, parrying its sword arms, raising his firearm and loosing a ghostly bullet into the Will that animates it. As the armour clatters in pieces to the ground, I can feel the troopers staring at me. "See?" someone hisses. "Don't let 'em know your name!" "Returne," Credence says softly. "Careful." [[Take cover, Returne]]

(display: "Take Cover Common") --- [[→Onward→->Vertical Battery]]

This is it. The Vertical Battery. Breathtaking iron spire, bristling with cannon. Ingleria's greatest defence, or so we thought. Now it's occupied by the highest power of Kradlia. The [[soldiers->Credence Memory]] approach carefully, keeping to what subtle [[slopes]] and [[valleys]] might conceal us. And all the while, distant artillery fire thunders over the southern horizon. The assault on [[Ultrona]]. I can just picture [[Jennix->Jennix Memory]] astride her war manta, descending from the clouds, that crooked smile on her face as she points her sabre forward into danger. --- [[→Onward→->Vertical Battery 2]]

Yru leaps at the divine armour with all eight muscular limbs spread wide, howling an unearthly battle cry that makes the soldiers around me whimper in terror. Even the divine armour seems to be intimidated, taking a single step backward. Those suckered arms coil and grasp at the armour, pulling its limbs out of their sockets with slow but inexorable strength, then reaching inside the newly made wounds to strangle the divine will with crushing force. When the divine armour lies in pieces on the ground, the octopoid warlord turns their huge eye to the sky, lets out a final wail of triumph, and vanishes. [[Take cover, Returne]]

Someone is whistling a jaunty tune. I shiver as a ghostly hand caresses my hair. I spin around to find the pale, lanky Cotton leering at me. "Um, just do your job, please," I tell him. He winks and strolls over to the divine armour. Its sword arms slash into him, connecting and lopping off limbs, but he continues crawling, continues whistling, until he is close enough to sever its Will with a flick of a wicked little blade he had hidden under his tongue. Credence shudders. "Maybe don't summon that one again." [[Take cover, Returne]]

(display: "Peregrine Description") The divine armour freezes when he approaches. "Yes," he says, "you know me well, don't you?" The armour falls to pieces without him having to touch it. Was that... fear? As Peregrine disappears, he pauses to kick over a stone marker that was half-concealed in the undergrowth. [[Take cover, Returne->Take Cover, Returne (alt)]]

The soldiers cry out with fear, clutch one another, pray to Godde and engage in other unseemly antics as the enormous ghost worm rises from the ground, passing through us, seeming to swallow us all into its terrible maw. But when Gigant has passed, we are all untouched, and the divine armour is in pieces on the ground. "Let's," Sarge says shakily, "NOT do that again." [[Take cover, Returne]]

A chorus of ghostly voices echoes overhead. "Yoho!" they sing, "yoho! Give us your gold! Yoho! Give us your ship! Yoho!" The ghostly airship emerges from a cloud, flying a skull-and-crossbones flag, just long enough to discharge a volley of cannons at the divine armour. Its Will is blasted to pieces and the soldiers around me run for cover needlessly from spectral explosions. "Yoho!" The chorus recedes into the distance. "Yoho! Give us your gold! Yoho!" "Yoho..." Loveday sings under her breath. [[Take cover, Returne]]

(display: "Grissel Description") The twins look at us. (text-style: "italic")[Look at both of us.] And then the feeble twin raises their arm and a hundred new ghosts descend to tear the divine armour's Will to shreds. Grissel departs with a final wry smile in our direction. Sarge says, "What the SHIT was that?!" [[Take cover, Returne]]

(display: "Tryphona Description") She looks at the divine armour and sighs. "What do you want (text-style: "italic")[me] to do about it? Don't you have a necro?" Sarge gives me a look that says, "Why did you summon this one?" But we have to be patient. Only exceptional summons can resist aiding their summoner. Tryphona sighs again and produces a colourless crystal from inside her jacket. She crushes it between her manicured fingers. A few moments later, something lances down from the subtle crescent of the silver moon that still haunts the sky, and the divine armour collapses in a heap. "I won't be able to call that favour in again," she says, disappearing unceremoniously. [[Take cover, Returne]]

(display: "Henaretter Description") She walks casually up to the divine armour and points at a small cog in its machinery. Its sword arms simply pass through her. "There," she says, with a playful glance back over her shoulder at Loveday. "Sharpshooter?" Loveday takes the shot without hesitation, hitting it on the mark. There's a second loud bang after she fires and smoke begins to pour from the armour. The divine will may remain to animate it, but the mechanism itself seems to be broken... [[Take cover, Returne]]

I can feel Lilili approaching from much further away than any ghost I have summoned before - and Their presence is already that much more overwhelming! When it has become unbearable for me, even the troopers begin to notice it. "Necro?" Sarge asks. "What is that?" And then a scarred old doe stands where she had been, before scampering off into the fields. No, not the fields, the forest! Lilili has returned to find the orderly hedgerows, the managed fields, the blood-stained soldiers, and They have found it not to Their liking. Foliage sprouts from between cobbles that are sucked down into the fertile earth. I feel my face elongating, my ears growing long and floppy, my uniform falling away. Inward, we are the last to change. $endtext[We return to nature] (display: "Main Menu")

The ghost of Patience the farm robot storms down the lane, motorised plough blades spinning. The divine will that animates the armour is shredded in seconds. As its pieces are scattered far and wide, I feel a perturbing tug on my own soul. The soldiers around me seem disconcerted too. What about you, Inward? Did you feel it? Patience veers off into the fields and fades away. [[Take cover, Returne]]

(if: $GrisselSummoned and ((passage:)'s name is not "Grissel 1"))[Grissel appears in a doublet and tights, with their naked and feeble twin clinging to their back.](else:)[Grissel appears in a doublet and tights, bedecked with bones like jewellery. Clinging to their back is a naked and feeble figure that yet looks around alertly and with vibrant intelligence. Inward! That's their twin! That could be us!](set: $GrisselSummoned to true)

Just when I was leaving her tent, Jennix stopped buttoning her tunic to catch my arm. "Returne," she said. "You know I'm not as amazing as you think, right? And you know that you're pretty amazing yourself?" My head was still all a-spin, so I just smiled and said nothing and walked out. But, Inward, I wish she was right about me. [[←Back->Vertical Battery]]

Who should I summon? (input: bind $summon1, "Philotesia") $SummonStyle+(t8n-arrive:"pulse")[[Summon->Fake Summon Fake Out]]

Inward! I didn't complete the summon! She has me by the throat! I can't breathe! (text-style: "italic")[get off me get off me get off me getoffme] (transition: "fade")+(transition-time: 10s)+(text-style: "subscript")[oh... oh maybe this isn't so bad. i feel light. i'm finally going to join you, inward. don't worry, jennix won't even miss me. sailing through the air on her war manta...] [[Wake up, Returne!]]

Coughing, gasping for air... what am I even looking at?! A crater in the landscape, strewn with the gore of an exploded war manta... One of the guns on the Vertical Battery smokes and steams... Saint Virgia bats aside a ghost, her divine armour torn open at the back. She faces away from me, looming over the eviscerated body of Jennix (text-style: "subscript")[(don't look at the plastic guts, the metal bones, gleaming with blood)] raising her fist to strike! (text-style: "expand")["Die, abomination!"] [[Stab her, Returne!->Kill Virgia v2]]

Loveday raises a hand and we stop. She lifts her rifle. Squinting, I can just make out her target: a gleaming figure atop the Battery. I wonder if the others can see those wings, shining with heavenly light? Loveday holds her breath. She fires. I see the high-up figure stumble and collapse and I feel the soldiers around me drawing breath to cheer... Something is wrong. The figure raises itself back up and then, like something out of a nightmare, it leaps down from the tower... Leaps towards us! (text-style: "italic")[Leaps towards me!] (text-style: "expand")["Witch! Perhaps the sin will leave you with the air from your lungs. Or perhaps it has polluted even your bones!"] As the monstrous form lands before me, I finally understand. Saint Virgia is (text-style: "italic")[wearing] divine armour. That's not how it's supposed to work! Sarge discharges her musket into the thing's back and Credence has bent his sabre striking away at it. The saint ignores them and closes in on the only one who could possibly fight it. (text-style: "rumble")[Me.] [[Close your eyes, Returne->Fake Summon]]

Credence fires and Gnar's head pops gruesomely, decorating the muck with his prodigious brains. Saint Virgia's ghost says, (text-style: "expand")["Untrustworthy, faithless betrayers! You gun down someone who flees unarmed?"] --- [[→Onward→->Loveday Leaves]](set: $GnarDead to true)

(if: visit is 1)[I drive my short sword into Saint Virgia's back and through her heart. (text-style: "expand")["Wretch!"] she sputters. But the saint's body hasn't even hit the ground and I am cradling Jennix. ]Plastic entrails spill out around rubbery viscera, but the red liquid that spurts out is certainly blood. (text-style: "subscript")[No, don't look at it.] There are her silvery eyes, her hair hacked artlessly short by her own hand, her thin wide lips.(if: visit is 1)[ That crooked smile. But her voice is weak, a shadow of itself. "Just in time, right?"] [["I... I don't care that you're a robot."->Jennix Robot]] [["Um, what do I do?"->Jennix what do]] [["Please, don't die!"->Jennix don't die]] --- [[→Onward→->Virgia Haunting]]

(if: visit is 1)[Suddenly, impossibly, Saint Virgia is upon me again, not in her armour but in a modest white shift. Her clawed hands pass through me uselessly. $virgia["Witch! Sinner! Degenerate!"] Inward, I... think I am being haunted. But that can only happen if...!](else:)[Saint Virgia is haunting me, not in her armour but in a modest white shift.] [["Um, you're a necro."->Virgia Necro]] [["I... I understand now."->Virgia summon]] [["Please, go away."->Virgia go away]] --- [[→Onward→->Betrayal]]

She grabs the edge of my cuirass. "I'm not a robot, Returne! I didn't lie to you. I'm just a human they made from the right parts to be a necro. A (text-style: "italic")[kind] of human. I feel all of it. The passion." She too looks down at the ruin of herself. "The agony..." [[←Back->Kill Virgia v2]]

She raises a bloody hand to my cheek. "Returne, it wouldn't matter. You know my name." [[←Back->Kill Virgia v2]]

"I'll heal," Jennix sighs. "They put me through worse in training." What?! "Feed me plastic," she says, with a detachment that I can't feel, "high energy food - fruit maybe. And let me rest... Returne, I want to rest!" [[←Back->Kill Virgia v2]]

Credence has appeared from somewhere. Sarge too. They stare at Jennix. Stare at me struggling with a second, spectral saint in her underclothes. "Gods have mercy," Credence says. I hadn't noticed Gnar setting up the crystal apparatus. "Target eliminated," they squawk. "But now haunting our MOPCO officer. Please advise." They turn to Sarge. "Message direct from Field Marshal: orders still stand." [[I don't like this, Returne]]

"Um, you're a necro," I tell Saint Virgia. "This is what happens when one necro kills another." (Can it be undone? I really hope it can be undone.) $virgia["Your lies won't deceive me! I live on through the grace of Godde!"] [[←Back->Virgia Haunting]]

$virgia["I shall leave when your severed head rolls in the muck!"] "You can't touch me, idiot! You're a ghost!" This is not entirely true. Her blows are making me blink and putting my hair in disarray. [[←Back->Virgia Haunting]]

$virgia["Understand that I shall destroy you!"] This is painful. When you summon a ghost, you don't have to try and reason with them. "Don't you get it? Peregrine actually did it, he killed Godde! And you: you've been summoning Their ghost all this time! Not a prophet or an avatar but (text-style: "italic")[a necro]." $virgia["Still your honeyed tongue, witch!"] [[←Back->Virgia Haunting]]

Sarge starts reloading her musket, eyes fixed on me. "Orders: eliminate the saint. Completely. Nothing personal, Necro." "Wait. Think about this," Credence says. And when she raises her barrel to aim at me, he shoots her straight through her cuirass. "Traitor!" Sarge gasps. Her final breath. Gnar lets off a gun I didn't even know they had, a weapon made for human hands. The shot smacks into the dirt beside me and they flee, squirming away tentacle over tentacle, pistol and crystal set both abandoned. Credence reloads his musket. [[Stop him, Returne]] [[Say nothing, Returne]]

I place a hand on Credence's arm. "No point," I say. "They already reported it." He nods and lowers his gun. Saint Virgia's ghost says, (text-style: "expand")["Pathetic, cowardly sinners. Can you never finish what you have started?"] --- [[→Onward→->Loveday Leaves]](set: $GnarDead to false)

A crumbling abandoned cottage in the [[Stained Glass Steppes]]. [[Jennix->Jennix resting]] sleeps on the crooked bed, her abdomen bandaged with her black cape. [[Credence->Credence resting]] sits in the window, looking out with his musket on his lap. (if: visit is 1)["I have a stupid idea," he says.] And, of course, Saint [[Virgia->Virgia resting]] is here, glaring at me from a shadowed corner. --- [[→Onward→->Journey to Angelfall]]

I don't dare hope that I see some strength returning to Jennix. When Credence was carrying her on his back, she was silent apart from the odd groan of pain. Mostly she has slept. "I'm awake," she says softly, without opening her eyes. [["Um, why did you come to the Vertical Battery?"->Jennix why]] [["I... I'm not sure you should be coming with me."->Jennix sure]] [["What can I do about the saint's ghost?!"->Jennix ghost]] [[←Back->Resting]]

Credence looks out onto the shimmering steppes, a multitude of colours reflecting onto his face. (if: visit is 1)["I think I see a way out of this for us," he says, without looking at me.](else:)["Your new ghost friend gives me the creeps, Returne."] [["Um, what way out?"->Credence idea]] [["I... I'm sorry I got us into this."->Credence situation]] [["Please, get some sleep."->Credence sleep]] [[←Back->Resting]]

We set out, an odd quartet: Jennix clinging to Credence's back, Saint Virgia's ghost leaping out at me from every shadow. We head towards smoke rising from the horizon and scattered musket fire. "I'm too weak to summon," Jennix says. "Um, I don't see divine armour? Actually, without the saint summoning, there may not be any anywhere?" She reaches across to grab my red cape. "You're more useful than you think." [[Close your eyes, Returne->Second Summoning]]

Saint Virgia has calmed down ever so slightly, even if her gaze makes me think of a bloodthirsty falcon looking upon a small fluffy chick. [["Um, would you like to move on?"->Virgia move on]] [["I... I wonder if we could make peace."->Virgia peace]] [["Please, Jennix needs peace and quiet."->Virgia quiet]] [[←Back->Resting]]

{ (set: _summon to (trimmed:(lowercase: $summon2))) (set: $UndoPassage to "Second Summoning") (set: _ghosts to (ds: "cotton", "eustace", "gigant", "gnar", "godde", "grissel", "henaretter", "isah", "lilili", "ould", "patience", "peregrine", "philotesia", "tryphona", "yru", "inward", "xyzzy")) (if: _summon is in _ghosts)[ (if: _summon is in $Compendium)[ (if: (_summon is not "gnar") or $GnarDead)[ (set: $Summoned to $Summoned + (ds: _summon)) <script>localStorage.setItem("necro-compendium", JSON.stringify(Array.from($Summoned)));</script> ] ] (redirect: (upperfirst: _summon + " 2")) ](else:)[ (redirect: "Bad Summon 2") ] }

For the first time, I think Virgia perhaps considers me, just for a moment, as a person. $virgia["You actually (text-style: "italic")[love] this robot?"] "Um, she's a KIND of human." She scoffs. $virgia["What could she possibly have done to convince you of that? Actually, I don't need you to answer, do I?"] Inward! I can feel her rummaging through my memories! The saint's face twists with disgust. $virgia["Disgraceful!"] After a moment, she adds, $virgia["And... she didn't even reciprocate this act? Perhaps that's the most human part of all!"] "Um, I was the one who doubted her, and it's more complicated than that, and I was very- And- (text-style: "italic")[And that's all private and none of your business anyway!]" [[←Back->Virgia resting]]

$virgia["Move on? Leave my MURDERER to find the peace and happiness that they denied me?!"] I throw up my hands. "Yes! Please!" She raises her chin in a gesture of dignity and contempt. I wasn't very convincing, was I? [[←Back->Virgia resting]]

$virgia["If you wish to make peace with someone, do not start by driving your blade into their heart."] "Um, I think you started it by trying to choke the life out of me!" $virgia["Indeed. So the sentiment is quite mutual."] [[←Back->Virgia resting]]

"I'm sure I said I was Lady Tryphona's gamekeeper?" I might remember that. A lot has happened. "I was, uh," he smiles suddenly and looks down, "good friends with a housemaid who told me her mistress kept a secret vault full of treasures from the Silver Moon. The lady of the house is dead and the occupied territory is recently (text-style: "italic")[unoccupied]... We could ensure those riches go to a good cause." Thinking I don't understand, he says: "Us." "Will... will that help?" He gives me a withering look and a playful shove. "It'll help, Returne." [[←Back->Credence resting]]

He still doesn't look at me. "Returne, I'd sooner risk my life than live longer with even more regrets." [[←Back->Credence resting]]

He shakes his head. "The Kradlian Army is in retreat, looting on its way out of Ingleria. The dregs could pass us by at any time. And our own army is probably hot on their heels, with orders to shoot us on sight, even just as deserters. So I think I'll keep a lookout." [[←Back->Credence resting]]

She shifts slightly on the bed. "Ould and I were in flight anyway," she says, flippantly. "Just thought I'd check in on you." Then, after a short pause, her tone grows more serious. "Returne, I was worried about you." Oh. [[←Back->Jennix resting]]

She sighs. "You're never sure, and you never understand. Just trust me to make my own decisions. Maybe one day you'll realise why I keep turning up." Inward, that could all mean a lot of different things! [[←Back->Jennix resting]]

Jennix sits up a little, grimacing with pain. "Remember how they hammered home during training that you must avoid being haunted? Time and time again: don't fight amongst yourselves, don't duel, never point a musket near a comrade... I'm not sure you can avoid the consequences, unintended though they are." Ugh. She's right, Inward, but I don't enjoy hearing it. [[←Back->Jennix resting]]

"Push further than they trained you," Jennix says. "Harder. Until it hurts. You can manifest a ghost physically, Returne. I know you can do it." Who should I summon? (input: bind $summon2, "Philotesia") $SummonStyle[[[Summon->Summon2]]]

(display: "Philotesia Description") She feels the dirt of Ingleria between her toes as she hasn't known since life. This is her country, why would she do anything but head directly where she's going? We four trail behind her, struggling to keep up as she sprints along country lanes and splashes through gurgling streams. When a ragtag Kradlian patrol crosses our paths, those who don't immediately flee at the sight of her change their minds once she has sliced the barrels from their muskets with her jagged swords. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to false) (set: $VirgiaStay to false) }

Angelfall Manor: ornate stone brickwork, spired turrets and meandering extensions. All sitting within a [[landscape]] woven with the un-decaying tentacles and eyestalks of an angel corpse. Its diaphanous wings arc high into the sky, casting no shadow. [[Kradlian troops->Manor troops]] frantically barricade the windows and doors. The courtyard is piled high with broken pieces of divine armour. (if: visit is 1)[We have climbed to a vantage point on an unfamiliar angel-limb. [[Credence->Manor Credence]] pulls out a spyglass. "Perhaps they haven't heard the news," he says. [[Jennix->Manor Jennix]] scrambles down from his back and limps over to me. "I'll give you a rest and lean on Returne for a bit." Saint [[Virgia->Manor Virgia]] floats through the air, trying to attract the Kradlians' attention. $virgia["Just a single lucky cannon blast and I can be rid of the lot of you."]](else:)[We rest on an unfamiliar angel-limb. [[Credence->Manor Credence]] observes through his spyglass. [[Jennix->Manor Jennix]] leans against my side, [[chatting idly]] with him. Saint [[Virgia->Manor Virgia]] sulks, some distance away.] --- [[→Onward→->Manor Heist]]

A low whistle makes me jump out of my skin. "Not the faintest clue what's going on here," Loveday says, "except that I want no part. Let's say I never seen any of it." With that, she walks off into the distance, cape gathered around her. --- [[→Onward→->Resting]]

{ (set: $Version to 6) (set: $Theme to "Ingleria Theme") <script> let thm = localStorage.getItem("necro-theme"); if (thm != null) { $Theme = JSON.parse(thm); } </script> (set: $NameStyle to (text-style: "smear")) (set: $SummonStyle to (button:)+(size: 1.2)) (set: $ShowChapters to false) <script> let chap = localStorage.getItem("necro-show-chapters"); if (chap != null) { $ShowChapters = JSON.parse(chap); } </script> (set: $BackToPassage to "New Game") (set: $UndoPassage to "First Summoning") (set: $GnarDead to false) (set: $CredenceDead to false) (set: $CredenceMegaDead to false) (set: $JennixActualize to false) (set: $JennixStay to false) (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $VirgiaStay to false) (set: $GrisselSummoned to false) (set: $LovedaySummoned to false) (set: $OuldSummoned to false) (set: $Compendium to (dm: "cotton", "Serial killer", "eustace", "Army Captain", "gigant", "Giant worm", "gnar", "Crystal operator", "grissel", "Early necro", "henaretter", "Spy", "isah", "Sky pirate", "lilili", "Nature god", "loveday", "Sharpshooter", "ould", "War manta", "patience", "Farm robot", "peregrine", "God killer", "philotesia", "Warrior queen", "tryphona", "Aristocratic explorer", "yru", "Octopoid warlord", "godde", "Supreme deity", )) (set: $Summoned to (ds:)) <script> let comp = localStorage.getItem("necro-compendium"); if (comp != null) { $Summoned = new Set(JSON.parse(comp)); } </script> }

(forget-visits: -1)(display: "Main Menu") * [[I: The Necro->New Game]] * [[II: The Saint->Vertical Battery]] * [[III: The Journey->Resting]] * [[IV: The Manor->Angelfall Manor]] * [[V: The Flight->Heist Aftermath]]

{ (display: "variables") (redirect: "Vertical Battery") }

{ (display: "variables") (redirect: "Resting") }

{ (display: "variables") (redirect: "Angelfall Manor") }

I haven't had the chance to observe the enemy for this length of time before. My strategic and tactical conclusion is that their tunics are a very nice shade of blue. [[←Back->Angelfall Manor]]

Beneath the bluster, Credence looks deeply, deeply tired. [["Um, is the treasure really still in there?"->Credence Treasure]] [["Please, can we reconsider this."->Credence Reconsider]] [["I... I think that's the captain's spyglass."->Credence Spyglass]] [[←Back->Angelfall Manor]]

Jennix moves better now, cries out in pain less often. If I didn't know just how dynamic and strong she was at her best, I would think she was almost recovered. She leans her shoulder against my arm. [["I... I can't carry you."->Jennix carry]] [["This feels dangerous."->Jennix danger]] [["Um, are you really getting better?"->Jennix better]] [[←Back->Angelfall Manor]]

Is this really the dreaded Saint? In the light of the day, she looks like she might be younger than you and I are. [["Please, stop trying to get us killed."->Virgia Get Killed]] [["Um, are you okay?"->Virgia Okay]] [["I... I'm sorry you're dead, but I had to save Jennix."->Virgia Sorry]] [[←Back->Angelfall Manor]]

"The Inglerian Army is only getting closer," Credence says. "But I don't think my lone musket will be much help against all the Kradlians down there." Jennix closes her eyes. "I still can't summon," she says with a frustrated sigh. $virgia["Don't look at me,"] Saint Virgia says. $virgia["I'm on (text-style: "italic")[their] side."] I'm not surprised when everyone turns to me. [[Close your eyes, Returne->Third Summoning]]

"I don't need you to carry me, just take a little of my weight. Sometimes you have to exert yourself a bit, Returne." "I... I'll try." [[←Back->Manor Jennix]]

I haven't been paying attention, but Jennix is saying, "Um, please, I... I..." "Um," I say, "what are you two talking about?" "You, of course," she says. "Don't pull that face. We were just agreeing how adorable you are." Credence rolls his eyes. "Not quite the word I used, friend." [[←Back->Angelfall Manor]]

Return of the crooked smile. "More dangerous than what we've been up to so far?" I shrug. "Um, about the same, really. But I think I've had enough." The smile fades, unexpectedly. "Yeah. I know. But we want this to be a step towards that, right?" [[←Back->Manor Jennix]]

"Yes." She looks sad, and I'm not sure why, until she says: "That's how they made me, Returne." I touch her shoulder. "I'm glad then." [[←Back->Manor Jennix]]

Who should I summon? (input: bind $summon3, "Philotesia") $SummonStyle[[[Summon->Summon3]]]

{ (set: _summon to (trimmed:(lowercase: $summon3))) (set: $UndoPassage to "Third Summoning") (set: _ghosts to (ds: "cotton", "eustace", "gigant", "gnar", "godde", "grissel", "henaretter", "isah", "lilili", "loveday", "ould", "patience", "peregrine", "philotesia", "tryphona", "yru", "inward", "xyzzy")) (if: _summon is in _ghosts)[ (if: _summon is in $Compendium)[ (if: (_summon is not "gnar") or $GnarDead)[ (set: $Summoned to $Summoned + (ds: _summon)) <script>localStorage.setItem("necro-compendium", JSON.stringify(Array.from($Summoned)));</script> ] ] (redirect: (upperfirst: _summon + " 3")) ](else:)[ (redirect: "Bad Summon 3") ] }

(display: "Philotesia Description") She is not alone. An army of burly warriors in warpaint and studded kilts, wielding swords, spears, clubs and longbows. Their battle cry is a scream of rage at Kradlians trespassing in their beloved Ingleria. They sweep us forward, into battle, gutting and dismembering and bludgeoning as they go. The mortal weapons they face are powerless against them. Against them, but not against us. I hear a musket shot and a moment later experience excruciating pain. Jennix grabs me with one of her arms and with the other decapitates the shooter with a superhuman sword throw. "Rot in the River, blackguard!" Saint Virgia surveys the carnage helplessly. $virgia["I was a fool! This violent land will never be civilised..."] --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $JennixStay to false) }

Angelfall Manor has fallen eerily silent, at least for now. I've shed my cuirass and cape.(if: not $JennixStay)[ My tunic is half buttoned, left loose over my bandaged wound.] As I explore the [[endless hallways]], my footsteps are startlingly loud on the polished tiles. (if: $JennixActualize)[(if: $JennixStay)[[[Jennix->Jennix Sanguine]] tries on extremely expensive-looking suits in front of an enormous mirror.](else:)[[[Jennix->Jennix Phlegmatic]] (if: (visited: "Jennix Phlegmatic"))[looks out of the master bedroom window, thoughtfully.](else:)[lies sprawled on the master bed in a long, diaphanous dress. "I am a person," she says to herself. "Perhaps not a human, but a person."]]](else:)[(if: $JennixStay)[[[Jennix->Jennix Choleric]] has found a clean Inglerian Army uniform somewhere. She sits on the edge of a plush settee, polishing her sabre.](else:)[[[Jennix->Jennix Melancholy]] has swapped her bloodied uniform for a servant's shirt and breeches. She practices some form of slow, meditative martial art in the main foyer.]] (if: $CredenceKnows)[[[Credence->Credence Choleric and Melancholy]] (if: $CredenceRich)[sits on the stairs to the basement, holding a bizarre silver treasure like it's a venomous snake.](else:)[sits on the stairs to the basement with his head in his hands.]](else:)[(if: $CredenceRich)[[[Credence->Credence Sanguine]] is singing ((text-style: "italic")[very loudly]) as he scrubs off the blood and dirt of battle in a clawfoot bathtub. The lunar treasure on his head could be some kind of crown.](else:)[[[Credence->Credence Phlegmatic]] is slouching on a seat in the dining hall, with his dirty boots resting on the massive table.]] (if: $VirgiaAccept)[[[Virgia->Virgia Accepts]] sits cross-legged in the centre of the courtyard. Her expression is unreadable to me.](else:)[[[Virgia->Virgia Resists]] prowls the courtyard like a caged animal, moving between the corpses of the Kradlian soldiers and clutching at herself. "Monsters... Godless monsters..."] --- { (if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Virgia Sanguine]] ](else:)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Virgia Choleric]] ] ](else:)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Virgia Phlegmatic]] ](else:)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Virgia Melancholy]] ] ] }

(if: visit is 1)[As I enter the bedroom, Jennix springs up to tug on my tunic and check my wound. "We're both of about the same health," she says. "It makes one think. About what's really important and whether one will even get a chance to act on it." I'm not sure what to say to that. She takes my hand and leads me to the bed. "Thinking of such things, is there not a debt I owe you, Returne? One I should pay back, given who knows when or if another chance will arise?" "Um," I say, "well... Okay." "Inward," she says, "may we have some privacy?" [[Of course, Jennix]]](else:)[Jennix sits on the bedroom windowsill, looking very pleased with herself. I think she's humming a little tune? [[←Back->Heist Aftermath]]]

Inward, are you there? I'll get up as soon as my legs stop feeling like jelly. Jennix is sitting on the windowsill, looking extremely pleased with herself. "It doesn't matter if I'm a human or not, Returne," she says. "What matters is that I get to choose for myself." "Jennix," I say, but words fail me. Somehow, she smiles as though she knows what I was going to say. [[Get dressed, Returne->Heist Aftermath]]

She charges out to fight like no human could, holding a dozen soldiers at bay. But she fights with kicks and the flat of her sword, unwilling to kill her former comrades. When they press this advantage, she is speared on several blades at once. She looks back at me and mouths: "Go!" Still she swings her sabre, but it is only a matter of time. I want to run out to her, Inward! But then I will have wasted her sacrifice like it meant nothing.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ Credence places a hand on my shoulder. "There's nothing you can do. Just summon!"]

(display: "Tryphona Description") She's reluctant to lead us directly to her treasure, but a ghost cannot resist her summoner. She leads us into a secret entrance concealed in nearby ruins (tug on the statue's outstretched hand), through dank underground passageways, and finally into her secret under-basement full of gaunt, long-dead corpses. Credence covers his mouth. "Oh, gods!" Tryphona's ghost pulls various switches on the wall. Traps spring throughout the manor, and we hear cries of alarm and thundering footfalls as the Kradlian troops are driven out. A crossbow bolt shoots out of a clockface and buries itself in my shoulder. Inward! It hurts! "That was a mistake," Jennix says, and with a pained cry of her own she un-summons my ghost (I didn't know you could do that). Just as Tryphona evaporates, she is compelled to flip the final switch, dropping open the secret attic trapdoor laden with treasures from the Silver Moon. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to true) (set: $CredenceRich to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) (set: $JennixStay to false) }

Lady Tryphona appears before us: tall, regal and immaculately dressed in a suit of cloud-spider silk.

(display: "Tryphona Description") She wraps a spectral mosquito net around her head and neck, and leads us in an unexpected direction. Down valleys, chasms, steep drops... Until we have arrived at the bottom of an almost subterranean crevasse in the landscape. We trek through steamy ferns, under the hungry but wary gaze of two-legged beasts that are both scaly and feathered. $virgia["A godless place,"] Virgia whispers. $virgia["It should have kept sinking."] "Returne, look! It likes me!" I spin around to see Jennix being nuzzled by a colossal, long-necked beast that has to crane over almost double to reach her. I see something sparkle in her eyes that I'm not sure I've seen there before. (Credence, who carries her on his back, is a little less convinced.) Tryphona leads us on, unmoved by it all, until we have emerged back into the Ingleria of the modern day. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to false) }

Credence had me summon one of the corpses in the under-basement. I had to swear never to utter her name again. "The staff were mostly Kradlians," Credence explained. "Cheaper than locals, this close to the border. But they were all decent folk. Especially..." The ghost told us the terrible truth: that Lady Tryphona, anticipating her manor falling into enemy hands and expecting that her servants might reveal the location of her treasure to their compatriots, had poisoned their food before setting off to war, leaving their bodies to moulder underground. (if: $CredenceRich)["Such treasure," Credence spits. "I was expecting it to make me happy, but I find myself hating it instead."](else:)["Now the joke's on her," Credence says with a curl of his lip. "You can't take it with you. And perhaps now no-one will ever know she had it at all. Yeah, let the Outer Shadows find her treasure, when the manor crumbles at the end of the world."] [[←Back->Heist Aftermath]]

Perhaps this is a bad idea, Inward, but I can't back out now. I can feel Godde's ghost approaching, like the whole world is coming, impossibly, to occupy this small corner of itself... My hands shake... My whole body quivers... I don't know what to expect! One by one, the Kradlian solders drop their guns and walk away. Casually, as though strolling to a social appointment on a day off. They head loosely towards Kradlia - towards home. "Huh," Credence says. Virgia gives me an indecipherable look. With the manor deserted, we have plenty of time to uncover the secret attic laden with treasures from the Silver Moon. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) (set: $JennixStay to true) }

When I approach, Jennix grabs me, meeting my eyes only in reflection, and pulls me into a close waltz. Immediately I want to protest that I can't dance, but she silences me with a kiss, her eyes closed, and I get lost in music that exists only between the two of us. Finally, she meets my gaze. "Live," she says, with a ferocity that takes me aback. "Live, Returne. I swear I'll do everything I can to live as well. It'll only happen if we both (text-style: "italic")[fight]. Do you swear it too? And Inward?" "I swear," I say. "Jennix." [[I swear, Jennix->Heist Aftermath]]

I watch her moving her body just so for a bit longer than I actually meant to. Quite apart from any fine qualities that may apply to her figure, the control she demonstrates is breathtaking. "I was made," she says, startling me out of my reverie. "Perhaps I'm not even really a person. How would I know?" "Um," I say. "That's true for me too. For anyone." She extends her arms in a slow circle, biceps stretching the fabric of her shirt. "But I was made, Returne. Made for a purpose." She looks pointedly at my bandaged wound. "A purpose I will not fail at again." [[←Back->Heist Aftermath]]

When I enter the room, Jennix stands and does a little twirl. "It's always suited me, hasn't it? Dashing army officer, here to sweep you off your feet." "I... I..." That crooked smile. She takes both my hands. "I'm going to be a good soldier, Returne. Like in the propaganda prints. We're all going to stick together, look out for one another, and achieve our mission." "Um, our mission?" "My mission is to get out of this alive with you. I've been thinking: that's what they really made me for, even if they didn't realise it at the time. You'll fight beside me, won't you Returne? And Inward?" "Always," I say. "Jennix." [[Me too, Jennix->Heist Aftermath]]

(if: $CredenceMegaDead)[No. Credence didn't want to come back. [[←Back->Final Summoning]]](else-if: $CredenceDead)[Credence materialises over his own body. He looks down at it and himself. "Wasn't expecting to see you quite so soon... And, honestly, not sure what you expect me to do? Aren't we just in exactly the same position?" He has a point, Inward. A second fusillade tears through Credence and me both, though only I feel it. $endtext[We are dead] (display: "Main Menu")](else:)[(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]]

Virgia gives me a strange, conflicted look, then walks away, leading me to a downstairs window. I look out, casually, just catching a glimpse of a red cape disappearing behind an outbuilding. I freeze for one whole second and then scream. "THEY'RE HERE!" "Hmph," Virgia says. (display: "Last Battle Credence")(set: $VirgiaEnd to "1")

Saint Virgia gives me a typically acidic look and then steps back into the shadows. Feeling her eyes drilling into me, I distract myself by gazing out of a window. Was that... a red cape disappearing behind an outbuilding? I freeze for one whole second and then scream. "THEY'RE HERE!" (display: "Last Battle Credence")(set: $VirgiaEnd to "2")

From a downstairs window, I see Virgia walking away. She glances back at me with a neutral expression, and fades away to nothing. I stare after her a little longer, just catching a glimpse of a red cape disappearing behind an outbuilding. I freeze for one whole second and then scream. "THEY'RE HERE!" (display: "Last Battle Credence")(set: $VirgiaEnd to "3a")

From a downstairs window, I see Virgia walking away. She glances back at me with a defeated glare, and fades away to nothing. I stare after her a little longer, just catching a glimpse of a red cape disappearing behind an outbuilding. I freeze for one whole second and then scream. "THEY'RE HERE!" (display: "Last Battle Credence")(set: $VirgiaEnd to "3b")

--- { (if: $JennixStay)[ (if: $JennixActualize)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Jennix Sanguine]] ](else:)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Jennix Choleric]] ] ](else:)[ (if: $JennixActualize)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Jennix Phlegmatic]] ](else:)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Jennix Melancholy]] ] ] }

"Returne! Credence!" Jennix leaps down the stairs and pulls me away from the window. (if: $CredenceDead)[I clutch at her. "Credence... he's..." Hand on my chin, she turns my face to hers. "Grieve later. (text-style: "italic")[Live] now."](else:)[Credence takes his hands away from his ears. "How are we getting out of this one, necros? We (text-style: "italic")[are] getting out of it, right?" "Returne, I think I can summon," Jennix says, "but I still can't manifest very well. You need to do it. You need to get us out of here!"] [[Close your eyes, Returne->Final Summoning]](set: $JennixEnd to "1")

"Returne! Credence!" Jennix marches in and pulls me away from the window. (if: $CredenceDead)[I clutch at her. "Credence... he's..." She grips my collar, firmly but not unkindly. "Remember your training, Necro."](else:)[Credence takes his hands away from his ears. "How are we getting out of this one, necros? We (text-style: "italic")[are] getting out of it, right?" Jennix looks down at herself, infuriated. "I'm still useless. I don't have the strength to manifest deeply. You have to get us out of here, Returne, but use me however you need to."] [[Close your eyes, Returne->Final Summoning]](set: $JennixEnd to "2")

Jennix has swapped the dress for a servant's shirt and breeches. She strides towards the entranceway with terrible purpose. When I go to grab her arm, I find myself restrained by an unfamiliar ghost. "This is my decision," Jennix says. "I choose to protect what's important to me." (display: "Jennix Dies") [[Close your eyes, Returne->Final Summoning]](set: $JennixEnd to "3a")

Jennix walks mechanically towards the entranceway. When I go to grab her arm, I find myself restrained by an unfamiliar ghost. "This is what I was made for," Jennix says. "My purpose is to fight for others. So I'll fight for you." (display: "Jennix Dies") [[Close your eyes, Returne->Final Summoning]](set: $JennixEnd to "3b")

--- { (if: $CredenceKnows)[ (if: $CredenceRich)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Credence Choleric]] ](else:)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Credence Melancholy]] ] ](else:)[ (if: $CredenceRich)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Credence Sanguine]] ](else:)[ [[→Onward→->Last Battle Credence Phlegmatic]] ] ] }

Credence storms up from the basement to smash a window with the butt of his musket and sight down the barrel. "I'm sick of this! Sick of this horrible world! COME ON AND FIGHT ME!" But the Inglerian Army has more of a drop on us than we expected. A fusillade of gunshots blast out and Credence falls to the ground clutching his neck. "Oh!" he cries, weakly. "Please, Returne, don't call me back... It's all too cruel to experience more than once." He slumps forward and the gushing blood peters out. (display: "Last Battle Jennix")(set: $CredenceDead to true)(set: $CredenceMegaDead to true)(set: $CredenceEnd to "3b")

Credence scurries up from the basement and ducks beneath the window. Peering cautiously out, he whispers, "Just our luck. But it's probably only the advance scouts." A sudden fusillade shatters the glass and splinters the frame. "No, of course it's the entire First Company!" he yells, covering his ears. (display: "Last Battle Jennix")(set: $CredenceDead to false)(set: $CredenceMegaDead to false)(set: $CredenceEnd to "2")

Credence bursts out of the bathroom pulling on his trousers, slips on his wet feet and lands beneath a window. Peering cautiously out, he whispers, "Probably just scouts. We should make our escape out the back." A sudden fusillade shatters the glass and splinters the frame. "Or perhaps it's the entire First Company!" he yells, covering his ears. (display: "Last Battle Jennix")(set: $CredenceDead to false)(set: $CredenceMegaDead to false)(set: $CredenceEnd to "1")

Credence storms out from the dining room to smash a window with the butt of his musket and sight down the barrel. "Not like we have anything to lose by fighting!" But the Inglerian Army has more of a drop on us than we expected. A fusillade of gunshots blast out and Credence falls to the ground clutching his neck. "Oh!" he cries, weakly. "Returne? We'll see one another again, won't we?" He slumps forward and the gushing blood peters out. (display: "Last Battle Jennix")(set: $CredenceDead to true)(set: $CredenceMegaDead to false)(set: $CredenceEnd to "3a")

Who should I summon? (input: bind $summon4, "Philotesia") $SummonStyle[[[Summon->Summon4]]]

I reach out for a ghost by that name, but no-one comes. Remember the rules of summoning ghosts, Inward: * They have to be dead * It has to be their "true" name * They can't already be being summoned by another necro * They can't currently be haunting someone

(if: $JennixStay)[(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]](else:)[Jennix yet clings to life. I must summon someone who is truly dead to ensure her sacrifice is not in vain. [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]]

(if: $JennixStay)[(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]](else:)[I try to summon Virgia, but I feel her resisting, pulling away... This must be a consequence of the haunting. [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]]

{ (set: _summon to (trimmed:(lowercase: $summon4))) (set: $UndoPassage to "Final Summoning") (set: _ghosts to (ds: "cotton", "credence", "eustace", "gigant", "gnar", "godde", "grissel", "henaretter", "isah", "jennix", "lilili", "loveday", "ould", "patience", "peregrine", "philotesia", "tryphona", "virgia", "yru", "inward", "xyzzy")) (if: _summon is in _ghosts)[ (if: _summon is in $Compendium)[ (if: (_summon is not "gnar") or $GnarDead)[ (set: $Summoned to $Summoned + (ds: _summon)) <script>localStorage.setItem("necro-compendium", JSON.stringify(Array.from($Summoned)));</script> ] ] (redirect: (upperfirst: _summon + " 4")) ](else:)[ (redirect: "Bad Summon 4") ] }

(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]

The ancient Inglerian warrior queen requires a little persuasion to retreat even from this losing battle, but eventually she leads us away, deep into the countryside, to a village that's not on any map. =><= `* * *` <== I'll get up soon, honest, but this simple bed feels like luxury after a stint in the army.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ The local pub doesn't open until much later, and Credence is adamant that I must go tonight. (if: $CredenceRich)[He's still certain that no-one will recognise the lunar treasure he used to buy the place, since no-one knew it existed.](else:)[He's confident that the landlord will retire soon and he can take over running the place, but he's been saying that since we got here.]](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[I haven't seen Virgia in a while. I think she's taken to appearing before local children who are behind on their schoolwork? This shall be a very well educated generation.](else:)[Yes, Saint Virgia is spreadeagled in one corner of the ceiling like a terrible spider, glaring murder at me, but I've learned to ignore her by now, even if she still scares the locals.]] (if: $JennixStay)[My napping is interrupted when (if: $JennixActualize)[the door suddenly bursts open. What military instincts I ever had see me leaping out of bed... Only to be confronted by Jennix brandishing a wet cat at me. "A towel, Returne! He almost drowned!" "Oh, Jennix," I say. "Not another one! I think they put themselves in these situations just so you'll bring them home." But I grab a towel from the drawers, because look at the poor thing. "Perhaps they all remind me of you," she says, which I think she intends as a compliment. "Now make yourself useful and come up with a name."](else:)[Jennix stumbles through the door and collapses on the bed beside me. She smells of the fields. "Boots off the bed," I tell her. She accedes with a quiet grumble. I remove a leaf from her hair. "They really need you working the harvest until the following morning?" "It's called nightfruit for a reason, Returne." "Um, skive off your next shift?" I say, half asking, half pleading. "Let's spend the day together." "I've been a bad influence," she replies. But there's that crooked smile again.]](else:)[As I lie here, I try summoning Jennix again. But it's no good. She's learned how to resist it. Last time she said I should summon her less, that it was draining my energy and keeping me from living. Okay then. I sit up and swing my legs out of bed. Let's get out of the house today, Inward, and see what's going on in the world.] (display: "The End")

$endtext[The End] {(set: $ShowChapters to true)<script>localStorage.setItem("necro-show-chapters","true")</script>}(display: "Main Menu") ==> (opacity: 0.5)+(size: 0.5)[Your ending: (substring: $summon4, 1, 1)(uppercase: (substring: $summon4, 2, 2))-$JennixEnd^^J^^-$CredenceEnd^^C^^-$VirgiaEnd^^V^^]

<div style="text-align: center">(if: (passage:)'s tags contains "summon")[[[Undo->$UndoPassage]] - ](else-if: ($Summoned's length > 0) and ($BackToPassage is not "New Game"))[[[Return to Game->$BackToPassage]] ](if: (passage:)'s name is "Title")[ [[New Game]] ](else:)[ [[Title]] ] - (if: $ShowChapters)[[[Chapters]] - ][[Compendium->Show Compendium]] - [[Credits]]</div>

Picking up on my fear, Ould flies further and faster than he ever has, beyond Ingleria and Kradlia, beyond his old natural hunting grounds, perhaps beyond the edge of any map... =><= `* * *` <== Lying naked on a beach with the surf lapping at my feet, I watch the orange sun start to sink below the horizon.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ I can hear Credence still strumming out a tune, trying to impress that island girl as they sit in the shade of a palm tree. (if: $CredenceRich)[It's a shame that no-one here seems to care about his lunar treasures.](else:)[I wonder if she notices what a sad tune it is?]](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[And that laughter is probably Virgia "haunting" the rugged fisherman she likes, as he uses his abundant muscles to drag in his nets.](else:)[And the silence from Saint Virgia is more troubling than any noise she could make. I last saw in the treeline, her eyes shining like a predatory animal.]] (if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)[Sand pelts me as Jennix skids to a halt beside me. She grabs my hand, pulling me up towards the water. Her other hand unties the simple piece of islander fabric that wraps around her. She speaks quickly, the words tumbling out at once. "Come on, Returne! The Grand Turtle is passing by! If we don't hurry, it'll be too dark to see it!" "Um, do I really want to see a big turtle?" I ask. Jennix stops pulling but doesn't answer - just waits for me to start wading into the sea. We both know I'll follow her anywhere.](else:)[Jennix sits down beside me on the sand, bumping into my hip with hers. She wears what's left of her breeches and a bandeau of islander fabric. "Someone saw that shark again on the south beach. We have to deal with it." "Um, in the dark?" A playful shove. "Not in the dark. But at the crack of dawn. You know we have to." I sit up to look her in the eye. That crooked smile. It's contagious. Of course I know.]](else:)[I summon Jennix, and she appears sitting beside me, clad in the suit she died in. "Aren't there barely-dressed islanders you should be frolicking with?" she asks. "As long as I live properly in the daytime," I remind her, "you promised we can always watch the sunset together." She smiles and says nothing. We watch the shadows lengthen, the ocean fading into darkness. "Until tomorrow," she says, before fading too.] (display: "The End")

The pale, lanky Cotton strolls down towards the manor, pausing only to lightly stroke my hair (I shudder involuntarily). Credence frowns and lifts his spyglass. "Where did he go?" Jennix points. "Look." A Kradlian soldier on the outskirts of the manor grounds lies writhing in a pool of his own blood. As we watch, the supposed "vampyr" appears behind another soldier near the first, and slashes out with his knife, leave her too stricken and mortally injured. One by one, the Kradlian soldiers are picked off, their terror increasing as the multiplying cries of pain alert them to the threat. Saint Virgia seethes with each slaying. $virgia["You turn this unholy fiend loose on the living?!"] Cotton waits for us in the manor, before leading us to a secret under-basement full of gaunt, long-dead corpses. Credence gasps. "Gods! This isn't the ghost's doing... What is this?!" Cotton just smiles and fades away. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to true) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $JennixStay to true) }

"Join me for dinner!" Credence calls out from the other side of the long dining table. "You'll have to prepare it yourself, as the help has gone home." I pull up a chair not far from him. "Um, did you find the treasure?" Credence spreads his arms wide. "Have you seen how big this place is? Imagine how many secrets it might hold! And yet the only one I've found is this illustrated book of pretty young men kissing one another, tucked behind the lady's bedside cabinet." He shows me the dog-eared volume in question and then opens it to somewhere in the middle. "And they're all two-timing. As a believer in true love, it's just depressing." [[←Back->Heist Aftermath]]

We didn't get much privacy in the Third Ballistic Cavalry, so it doesn't feel too strange to visit Credence in the bath. Besides, the door's wide open. I knock on the frame. Before I can react, he tosses a soapy jewel at me. I fail to catch it. "Congratulations," he says, as I pick it up, "you're rich!" I don't have any pockets to speak of, and the thing is still wet anyway, so I set it to one side. "I went from the necro home to the army. I... I've never really had to worry about money before." "Well you'll have to from now on. First rule of finance: when someone throws a big gem at you, keep it. In fact, I think I know a song about a similar situation. It goes something like this... Wait, where are you going?" [[←Back->Heist Aftermath]]

Eustace looks at this motley trio of soldiers and salutes. What, if anything, he makes of Saint Virgia is difficult to say. "Superior enemy force," he says thoughtfully. "But unaware of our impending attack. No supply lines or greater command structure. No chance of reinforcements." He points at each of us in turn, then at pieces of cover around the otherworldly landscape. A rock here, an angelic tentacle there. "Musket fire from disparate directions to make us seem more numerous. Target officers and NCOs first. Keep order amongst ourselves and create chaos among the enemy." $virgia["Point elsewhere,"] Saint Virgia growls. $virgia["Your orders mean nothing to me."] Once the Kradlians start taking casualties they quickly break and flee, leaving the dead where they fell. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $JennixStay to true) }

(if: $GnarDead)[As soon as he has manifested, Gnar begins setting up a spectral crystal apparatus, with the occasional wary glance at Credence. "First Company to Second Company," the octopoid squawks. "Unavoidably delayed. Will not reach Angelfall Manor until sunset. Expect you will reach it before us." As we watch from our vantage, the Kradlians begin frantically packing supplies and burning documents, before finally fleeing on rattling steam-powered carriages. "Turns out they do use crystals," Credence says with a shrug. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) (set: $JennixStay to true) }](else:)[(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Third Summoning]]]

(display: "Main Menu") ## Compendium (font:"Courier")+(text-size: 0.75)["A M.O.P.C.O. officer in service of Their Majesty must diligently note the True Names of all decedents known and possible, recording in their Compendium when a successful summoning has been completed."] ^^-Inglerian Army Field Manual circa Second Saint's War^^ (for: each _item, ...(sorted: ...(data-names: $Compendium))) [(if: _item is in $Summoned)[(upperfirst: _item) - (print: $Compendium's _item) ](else:)[(opacity: 0.5)[????] ]]

I eavesdrop a few soldiers who seem to be gossiping. "They're an odd one is all I'm saying." "All necros are odd, not just them. And if you're ever in a battle without one, you'll learn pretty quick not to care." "Jennix doesn't seem very odd to me. First Company don't know how good they have it." "Not odd? You know what they say about her, right?" [[←Back->Crash Site]]

"Used to live around here," Credence says quietly, as if the Battery could overhear. "I was Lady Tryphona's gamekeeper. You know, the first human to set foot on the Silver Moon? When the war started, she had the good manners to die in battle." Sarge says, "It's nice when the nobility decide to muck in." [[←Back->Vertical Battery]]

In the valley closest to the battery: a ruined village just beyond a [[crossroads]], its buildings presumably used to range the Kradlians' captured siege guns. One shattered [[statue]] seems to have been a popular target. [[←Back->Vertical Battery]]

In the lee of a mossy rock: a skeleton. Only its rusted cuirass and tattered red cape mark it out as a soldier, left behind during the Kradlian invasion. "Gonna bring this one back?" Loveday asks. I can't tell if it's meant as a joke, and if so at whose expense. "I... I don't know a name." [[←Back->Vertical Battery]]

Whistling jauntily, Cotton leads us on a convoluted path that avoids the conflict completely and takes us through a derelict little village now occupied by refugees. They're a varied bunch. Deserters from both armies, still in their uniforms, eye us suspiciously. Families clutching religious icons cluster together - it's unclear if they are Kradlian occupiers or Inglerian outcasts or both. Occasionally, an octopoid is visible through the broken windows of one half-demolished house. A pretty young couple sit apart from the others, and Cotton approaches them, whistling more quietly, reaching slowly into his pocket. $virgia["Stay your hand, demon!"] Saint Virgia yells, twisting his arm back on itself so he drops his spectral blade. $virgia["I will not abide your wickedness!"] Cotton turns to her with an animal ferocity, but she matches it with the same intensity, and he returns to the River in an unpleasant, flickering dissolution. Virgia looks down at her hands. $virgia["Perhaps I do not know my own strength..."] "I think we'll happily find the rest of the way without him," Credence says. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to false) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) }

I manifest the captain as thoroughly as I dare, but I can feel him resisting the compulsion to aid three deserters and the ghost of the enemy leader. "Okay you lot," Eustace announces, "this is going to be a standard cromp. Quick, loaded march, avoiding the high ground or anywhere we might encounter the enemy. You! Why are you riding that trooper?" "Sir!" Jennix barks. "My guts are currently being held in by this cape tied around my waist! Also, my rank is acting major, so (text-style: "italic")[go shit yourself], captain." Ignoring her, he turns to Saint Virgia. "Why are you out of uniform? What kind of war is fought in one's underclothes?" In answer, Virgia just grabs his cuirass, entangles one of her legs with his (no mean feat with her shift's long hem) and throws him to the ground. His spectral uniform is manifested enough to be covered in mud. $virgia["Any further questions, heathen?"] Credence gives her an approving look, and, for the second it takes her to remember herself, she beams back at him with satisfaction. Once the captain has dusted himself down, we march the rest of the way in silence. "I don't think I'm really feeling the military life anymore, Returne," Jennix whispers to me. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) }

Gigant erupts from the ground, arches over and burrows back down, pulsating waves moving through its segments. The tunnel it leaves is more than large enough for all of us. "Well then," Credence says, lifting a makeshift torch and leading us downwards. Without sky or daylight, feeling the weight of the earth above us, time drags and our journey seems endless. $virgia["A fitting place for witches and sinners,"] Saint Virgia says. Credence chuckles. "Then which are you?" Before she can answer, Jennix makes a squealing noise I have never heard from her before. "WHAT are THEY?" From Credence's back, she is gesturing to three furry little animals. Rabbits, I think? But standing, just about, on their hindlegs. The tunnel has cut through the edge of their warren. "Um," I say, "they're armed." Two have twigs filed into spears, the third a little flaming torch of their own. "Oh pish," Jennix says. "Lower, Credence." She reaches down and one of the rabbits jabs their spear at her with enough force to go right through her hand, I think, but with superhuman speed she catches the twig and tosses it away. The rabbits have a little panic at that, conferring frantically, but, when we offer no further threat, they follow us hesitantly. When we finally leave the tunnel, Jennix calls back to them: "Don't forget us! Let's meet again! You're cute!" $virgia["Blasphemous corruptions of nature,"] Saint Virgia mutters. The rabbit that still has a spear raises it in a farewell salute. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to false) }

(if: $GnarDead)[Gnar manifests and immediately side-eyes Credence. But still they produce a spectral crystal set and transmit in their own hooting language. For a long time, nothing happens. Credence looks at me pointedly. "Summons must help their summoner," Jennix says, from where he has set her down. $virgia["Godless monsters hold no faith,"] Saint Virgia says. Eventually, an enormous jellyfish-like creature descends from the sky, collecting us (with some alarm) with its tendrils and depositing us on its back. Jennix sprawls out face down. "What a wondrous beast! From the Purple Moon? What other creatures do they have there?!" But, while Gnar may have to help us, they don't have to answer. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to false) }](else:)[(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Second Summoning]]]

(display: "Henaretter Description") She winks flirtatiously at Credence and blows a kiss to Saint Virgia. "Oh," Credence says, "uh, ma'am." Virgia goes red. $virgia["Restrain yourself! I am no lecherous debauchee!"] We follow Henaretter along cobbled main roads until we reach a seemingly abandoned steam carriage. She gestures for us to get inside. "The windows are barred," Jennix observes. And inside, the passengers are starved corpses, chained to their seats. "I've heard of these," Credence says. "Unmanned P.O.W. transport. I guess this one got lost. Is one of these poor souls you?" Henaretter presses a finger to her lips in a shushing motion. The carriage, once suitably directed, is a swift mode of transport, if uncomfortable in more ways than one. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to false) (set: $VirgiaStay to false) }

Isah's ghostly airship touches down in front of us and the dashing pirate himself descends the gangway to greet us with a flourish of his feathered tricorn hat. Ghost pirates leer from the portholes: a menagerie of bulging muscles, missing teeth, heaving bosoms and crude tattoos. "What an interesting bunch," Credence says. "Welcome aboard," Isah proclaims, his gaze moving from Credence to Jennix to me to Virgia. "Me lad. Milady. Me hearty. (text-style: "italic")[Your highness]." Saint Virgia says simply. $virgia["Whoever sank your profane vessel should be commended."] I spend most of the voyage playing cards with Jennix while she rests in a hammock. Credence spends it vomiting over the side. I never see where Virgia spends her time, but when the airship lands to drop us off, Isah gets on one knee to kiss her hand sensually. "I shall never forget those precious moments we spent together, my princess." $virgia["Do not expect such permissiveness on my part ever again,"] Virgia says, with a cold glance at the rest of us. "Is this awkward for anyone else?" Credence asks. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to false) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) }

I can feel that Lilili is far away - further than any ghost I have ever summoned. And I get the impression They do not have to come if They do not want to. I'm just starting to wonder if anything is going to happen, when heavy footfalls sound behind us. "Megaloceros?" Jennix gasps, and I turn to see three giant deer standing over us, twice our height, flat antlers blotting out the sun. Credence stares. "I thought they hunted the last of them before the invasion!" The creatures lower their heads, watching us with dark, dignified eyes, and I realise that I understand what they want to convey. Unsteadily, I climb onto the back of the nearest one. From her position on his back, Jennix presses down on Credence's shoulders. "Put me on Returne's one." Despite my reservations, Jennix ends up seated behind me, her arms around my waist. "Like a dream," she says. Credence mounts up next. And the final megaloceros steps towards Saint Virgia. $virgia["Stupid beast. A ghost cannot ride you."] But it persists, edging closer and nuzzling the hem of her shift. $virgia["Back, you unclean- Oh..."] The animal licks her hand and she reaches down to pat its head. $virgia["I can touch you."] The giant deer bear the four of us onward, through a landscape less inhabited and more wild than appears on the maps. For once, the silence from Virgia feels thoughtful instead of hostile. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) }

(display: "Ould Description") Ould carries us on his back, high over the landscape, to the rocky coast. And Jennix grabs my hand. "The ocean! I've never seen the ocean!" We pass close by a rocky outcrop populated with smooth, flippered animals that look up at us with dark, soulful eyes. "What are those?!" Jennix demands. Credence looks up from where he clings white-knuckled to the war manta's back. "Seals," he says. "The babies! Look at the babies!" Jennix throws her arms around my shoulders and shakes me. "I'm looking!" Credence mutters, "Never seen the ocean or seals before either. But who have (text-style: "italic")[I] got to cuddle?" $virgia["Keep your distance,"] Saint Virgia says. $virgia["Blasphemer."] --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to false) }

Patience storms on huge legs across the fields of Ingleria - no longer ploughing up the earth but instead watching it with eager glass-lensed eyes. "Is it-" Credence says, "are they on the lookout for patrols?" I shrug. Surprisingly Jennix shrugs too, even more uncertainly than me. I must be right, Inward! About not knowing... We get our answer around the journey's halfway point, when Patience freezes mid step and stumbles back. A small bush is in our path, almost perfectly blended into the untended grass. No sooner has Patience's ponderous foot set down heavily nearby, than agitated little birds have risen from the little plant in a tweeting panic. "Nectarfinches!" Jennix cries. "Credence, put me down!" Tiny, delicate little creatures, with tails like two fine threads of silk and long, dainty beaks. They hover and dart more like insects than birds. Patience extends a small, poly-articulated arm probably intended for repairs, and plucks a flower from the field. Uncertainly, a nectarfinch pokes its beak into the flower, before more boldly settling on the outstretched plastic hand. Jennix grabs a flower and does the same. "It's so cute, I could explode!" she marvels. "If the saint hadn't pretty much exploded me already... Returne, look, it's on my hand!" Saint Virgia is suddenly jerking around and laughing in a most un-saintly manner. $virgia["Leave me alone! That tickles! What do you want, you stunted fowl?!"] "They must mistake you," Credence says smoothly, "for a beautiful flower." $virgia["Cease your lovemaking, sinner!"] Virgia hisses, but she's blushing bright red. I think this ghost that was once a farm machine would sit with these birds for the rest of the day, but we must move on. Jennix and Virgia smile a little more easily. And Patience continues to watch where they step. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) }

(display: "Peregrine Description") "A shortcut," he says, and steps around a corner that isn't quite there. We follow, suddenly finding ourselves at a baroque doorway at an inhuman scale. "The Palace of the Gods," Peregrine announces grandiosely, throwing open the doors to lead us within. It's a grand hall, Inward, tall enough to form clouds, lined with columns and grotesques holding candles... Or is it? I feel this is the only way I can understand where I am, but there is more to it than I could possibly perceive. Meeting Jennix's eye as Credence carries her in, I am convinced she feels the same. There are many seats at the tables whose chairs are covered with sombre black veils. The handiwork of Peregrine and his followers, I assume. "Imagine if we could learn their names," Jennix whispers. The hall is deserted as we pass through to the other side, except for a lone figure, confounding in its enormity, that suddenly blocks our way. It unfolds an incomprehensible limb to present Saint Virgia with a trinket that I can't make out, before fading away. $virgia["A servant of Godde,"] she explains. $virgia["It offered me a token of comfort, lightening its own burden in turn."] I still don't know what it gave her, but her mood seems a shade brighter. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to false) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) }

With an ear-splitting battle cry, Yru charges straight into danger: not even heading directly across the collapsed Kradlian lines, but diverting into the main bulk of their forces. "This seems like a bad idea!" Credence yells. But we are committed. Yru cartwheels over fallen pieces of divine armour and slams their eight muscular, suckered arms into steam-powered siege engines and tents full of soldiers. The Kradlians run in terror, dropping muskets that do nothing against this giant octopoid ghost. One tent lifts high into the air, revealing an infirmary filled with the bloody and injured. Yru raises a thick coiling limb to strike. "No!" Jennix screams, and she and Credence grab onto one of the warlord's arms each. "Returne! Banish them!" I'm... I'm trying! Inward, Yru is too strong! They won't return to the River while they feel battle is still joined! Seeing me struggle, Jennix turns to the stunned Saint Virgia. "Do something!" She looks down at her ghostly form, bereft of armour and weapons, then looks at the injured soldiers struggling to crawl away from Yru's impending attack. $virgia["Go back to the godless void!"] she screams, charging directly at the warlord's bulbous head. $virgia["If you cannot find the smallest part of grace or mercy!"] When she shoulders into Yru, the octopoid warlord blows away like smoke - like the apparition that they were all along. $virgia["Oh! I... did not expect to triumph."] Jennix collapses in relief, clutching her wounds. "I've had enough of this for a lifetime." With the Kradlian troops scattered and fleeing, we are able to continue on our way. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) }

Is there something there? Is this summoning even working? I am unsure. Can (text-style: "italic")[you] tell, Inward? Just as I am about to give up, four figures appear in dirty white robes and veils. Credence lifts his musket. "What are these zealots doing here?" Saint Virgia gasps. $virgia["Penitents! They take a pilgrimage to cleanse their sins!"] She walks from one to the next, reading subtle details in the lace patterns of their veils. $virgia["Heretic. Blasphemer. Idolater. Fornicator."] With this last she casts a meaningful glance at Jennix and me. But I think that's really a question of how exactly you define it. The penitents walk on, as if we weren't there. "Um, follow them?" The route is slow and hard but we run into no patrols or other hindrances. The penitents shuffle awkwardly, occasionally groaning with pain. Eventually one collapses, falling heavily onto the stony path. Credence crouches down. "No shoes," he observes bitterly. "Feet are shredded." $virgia["This is a part of the cleansing!"] Saint Virgia says, her voice more shaky than I would expect. $virgia["They shall be better off for having suffered in this moment. Even if it kills them."] Jennix reaches down from Credence's back to yank off the fallen penitent's veil. "He's almost a child! Virgia, answer me this: did the rule he broke truly come from Godde? Did Their ghost share as much with you?" $virgia["It..."] Virgia says. $virgia["I..."] "Returne," Jennix says, "summon that favourite ancient queen of yours. She's strong enough to carry this boy the rest of the way. And any of the others who fall too." The going is even slower from this point, and Saint Virgia's silence is loaded. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to false) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) }

(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Second Summoning]]

(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Third Summoning]]

The ground shakes beneath the manor and the Kradlian soldiers are thrown around like dolls... until Gigant's huge maw tears up out of the earth and through the side of the house, devouring them whole. Their screams echo from within it far longer than anyone would wish. Saint Virgia tries to slap me, her hand passing through my head. $virgia["Demon! Are human lives so trifling to you?"] Credence pulls out his spyglass to examine the damage that has exposed the inside of the manor. He begins chuckling with satisfaction. "I spy gleaming treasure in the attic. And in the basement..." His face falls. Jennix takes the spyglass from him. "Oh. Well, those bodies have been there quite some time..." --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to true) (set: $CredenceRich to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $JennixStay to true) }

(display: "Henaretter Description") She strolls casually down to the manor, past the guards (and a few useless gunshots) and right up to the commanding officer. They converse for a while, much more animatedly on the officer's part, who suddenly spins round to survey the surrounding countryside with a spyglass. Credence pushes down on my head roughly, as everyone ducks. "Looking for the necro," he hisses. But after a little more persuasion on Henaretter's part, the Kradlian commander rounds up her troops and they all leave in a neat formation. Once they are over the horizon, Henaretter returns. "There is a bundle of letters," she explains, "in the possession of a certain solicitor. And were they to be posted, they would have very serious implications for the colonel's career in the Kradlian Army... and her marriage. By the way, I notice that Angelfall Manor has rather more space in the basement and attic than can be accounted for." In a hidden part of the attic, we find the treasure of the silver moon. And in the secret under-basement we find many long-dead corpses. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to true) (set: $CredenceRich to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) (set: $JennixStay to true) }

(display: "Grissel Description") She leads us down, into mist and between dead trees. Down and down and down. Carrying their twin on their back, just as Credence carries Jennix. The mist and grasping, leafless branches grow thicker, hiding the everyday world from us, until opening up onto a broad, murky river upon which walk and in which swim and above which float ghosts of all kinds. I gasp. "The River of the Dead." "Gods," Credence says softly. Saint Virgia shivers as if cold. $virgia["It calls to me... Where does it lead?"] "A topic of much debate among necros," Jennix says. We follow the bank of the River for what feels only a short amount of time, but in the disjointed way of a dream. Then Grissel leads us into the trees, up, and back to the land of the living. --- [[→Onward→->Angelfall Manor]]{ (set: $JennixActualize to false) (set: $VirgiaStay to false) }

(display: "Grissel Description") And then the feeble twin raises their arm and ghosts rise from the manor basement, a lot of them, tearing into the Kradlian soldiers and rending them limb from limb. Why did they come from the basement, Inward? Isn't that strange? "Wait," Credence says. "I know them. I know all of them. Why are they ghosts? What is this?!" Saint Virgia spits ectoplasm. $virgia["Witchcraft of the most repulsive order!"] The soldiers fight back, firing muskets wildly, the bullets passing through the ghosts and going wide. Whipping past where we are... Oh! That hurts! I've been shot! Grissel and their twin fade away, as do the hoard of ghosts, leaving only the mutilated bodies of Kradlian soldiers behind. Jennix fusses with my wound, a scowl on her face. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to true) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $JennixStay to false) }

Isah and his crew of ghostly sky pirates bear us in their airship onto the manor roof. The Kradlian soldiers are thrown into disarray by this attack from above, and the pirates set upon them with flintlock and cutlass. $virgia["Run!"] Saint Virgia screams to her fellows. $virgia["Your weapons will do nothing!"] It's difficult to say if those who flee are doing so at her behest or just at the sight of swarming undead cutthroats slaughtering their way towards them. Many don't have the sense to turn tail, including the officer who stabs me with the tip of his sabre. Jennix runs him through with her own blade and then slashes him a few more times for good measure. "Now," Isah says, removing his feathered tricorn, "it may well be of no use to me anymore, but my nose for treasure says that there's plenty hidden in the attic." --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $JennixStay to false) }

A dead nature god. Far away. Secluded. And weighed down with lifeless power. Can I really summon something like that, Inward? Credence checks the height of the sun in the sky. "Is this ghost... taking a long time to turn up or something?" But what arrives, a moment later, is a pack of wolves, their fur decorated a rainbow of colours by mosses from the Stained Glass Steppes. They charge into the manor, ignoring panicked musket fire, overturning furniture, nipping at the feet of the soldiers as they break ranks and flee. Even the braver ones are forced to follow when they realise that what is left is not a sufficient fighting force. $virgia["I didn't know there were still wolves in Ingleria,"] Virgia says, her tone neutral. Most of the wolves wander away not long after. But one remains, pawing at the manor floor. When we uncover the secret under-basement, it is full of long-dead corpses. "Gods," Credence says. "What is this?" --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to true) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) (set: $JennixStay to true) }

(display: "Loveday Description") "Not the best circumstances, friend," Credence says, "but it's still good to see you again." She looks over the manor. "A fine mess." She lifts her rifle. "That one seems important. A Colonel, I think." She fires. One of the figures in the manor courtyard falls to the ground. She begins reloading her weapon and we all watch with interest. It takes a lot longer than a standard musket to get the bullet down the barrel. "I should open a ticket office. Now that one, he looks like he has his head screwed on straight." She fires and then chuckles drily. "Not anymore he doesn't." $virgia["Dishonourable,"] Saint Virgia says. $virgia["Unholy even."] "You're not too bad yourself, darling." Loveday shoots down a couple more soldiers who seem to either be in charge or especially well put together. Then she has us move to a completely different overlook. "Lingering too long is what gets you," she says. When a dozen or so corpses litter the courtyard, the Kradlians begin to retreat. "Flee" may be a more accurate word, or even "desert". "Nice to know I'm still useful," Loveday says. "'Specially given my present situation. By the by, if you're looking for secrets in that place, start where the roof is taller than it has any right to be." --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $JennixStay to true) }

Jennix's war manta bears us on his back, under cover of darkness, onto the manor roof. It's a perfect vantage from which to fire down upon the Kradlian soldiers, who break and begin to retreat before we hit any of them, expecting us to be the vanguard of the triumphant Inglerian forces. Perhaps it's a lucky shot, or perhaps it's a sharpshooter aiming for Jennix's black cape, but a bullet hits me in the chest, lodging fortunately between two of my ribs. It still hurts like Hell, Inward! $virgia["A cowardly engagement on both sides,"] Saint Virgia mutters. Jennix snaps, "Whoever fired that shot, I'd kill twice over!" Credence, who has been kicking in roof tiles to try and get into the manor, calls out cheerfully, his mood plainly much better than any of the rest of us. "Well, well! It looks like Lady Tryphona hid her lunar treasures in the attic!" --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) (set: $JennixStay to false) }

Patience lumbers forward, plough blades whirring and, although their bullets do nothing, the Kradlians stand their ground. But the farming robot refuses to harm them, instead carefully shredding their barricades and supplies in an effort to drive them out. The tide finally turns when a barrel of gunpowder explodes, sending soldiers scurrying out of the manor. It's not long before the rest are following them. I fall to the ground crying out in pain. Jennix shields me with her own body. "Returne! What is it?" Shrapnel from the explosion or stray bullet, I'm not sure, but I'm bleeding. "Gods..." Credence says, his tone icy cold. "Are those...?" Where Patience has sheared away part of the manor wall, it has revealed an under-basement full of long-dead corpses. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to true) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) (set: $JennixStay to false) }

(display: "Peregrine Description") He approaches the manor, upright and dignified. And the ground begins to quake and roll. The angel corpse, Inward! It's moving! The Kradlian forces flee in blind panic as those enormous, cadaverous wings sweep back, as the tentacles slide up out of the earth. "We have nothing to discuss," Peregrine says to it. "I'm just here to finish the job. Such a wondrous second chance. What's left of you will sink to the bottom of the River!" How can he do that?! That's not what he's supposed to do! As the whole landscape begins to upend, as the angel rises from the dead, we all fall to the ground. A rock rolls onto my stricken form, crushing my shoulder. "Peregrine!" Jennix screams. "You blackguard!" And with a pained cry of her own she un-summons my ghost (I didn't know you could do that). --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to false) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) (set: $JennixStay to false) }

Enormous muscular octopoid warlord, just a bulbous head with suckered arms rippling with sinew. And they're not alone. A band of war heroes, all of them died in glorious battle on the Purple Moon. Yru could probably have wreaked devastation on the Kradlian force that occupies the manor on their own, let alone with this help. Swept into battle alongside them, we see firsthand the fragility of a living human fighting these monstrous warriors. Crushed. Smashed. Twisted apart. $virgia["Mercy!"] Saint Virgia wails. $virgia["Have mercy, you godless abominations!"] As the octopoids tear through the manor they smash open, to Credence's delight, the secret trapdoor laden with treasures from the Silver Moon. And they tear up the floor to the terrible under-basement full of long-dead corpses. "Gods," Credence says, frozen in place. "What is this?" The final moment of their rampage comes when an indifferent tentacle knocks lightly into me, sending me flying with its incredible strength and cracking a rib. In my daze, I dispatch the ghosts back to the River without knowing what I do. --- [[→Onward→->Heist Aftermath]]{ (set: $CredenceKnows to true) (set: $CredenceRich to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to false) (set: $JennixStay to false) }

Cotton leads us deep into the border mountains, to a tumbledown cottage. I think he means to murder the hunched and oblivious old woman who lives there, so I end the summon. What relation she is to him, I never determine. =><= `* * *` <== It's a simple life staying with this old woman, helping her with an endless backlog of chores: building repairs, finding rare herbs, fetching water from the stream - hard work if (if: $JennixStay)[we](else:)[I] didn't have ghosts to help.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ Credence earns his keep chopping wood, which, despite the bracing mountain air, he usually does shirtless, especially when the winsome painter from the neighbouring cottage has her easel set up outside.](else-if: not $CredenceMegaDead)[ Credence is the best at chopping wood. Since ghosts don't feel the cold, he usually does this shirtless, especially when the winsome painter from the neighbouring cottage has her easel set up outside. Perhaps an artist could appreciate such a doomed romance.](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia haunts the mountain roads. Bandit gangs and army patrols alike are accumulating superstitions that keep them away. But I don't think she will ever admit her fondness for the old woman.](else:)[Saint Virgia is not the first malevolent spirit the old woman has encountered. Their war of attrition - hanging garlic, sprinkled salt and esoteric hand gestures versus missing items, ominous sensations and simple jump-scares - at least reduces her focus on tormenting me alone.]] (if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)["Bet you didn't recognise me," Jennix says. "Just thought, 'Who's that pretty mountain girl?'" She's wearing an old fashioned, off-the-shoulder dress with a voluminous skirt. The old woman winks at me from her reading chair. I bet she broke countless hearts in this dress. "I've found the perfect spot for a picnic, Returne," Jennix continues, wrapping a warm shawl around herself. "Overlooking the climbingbird nests. Some of the eggs have hatched!" Climbingbird chicks are awkward, ugly creatures if you ask me, but Jennix find them adorable, which is a sight to behold itself. "Um, let me get my jacket."](else:)[I find Jennix lowering a ghost into the old well. "I really think this thing dried up because someone killed the minor spring deity. If I can just learn Their name..." "I... I brought a picnic," I say, setting down the basket. "It's lunchtime." "Already? Who'd have thought one little cottage could have so many chores." I start unpacking the basket. "Um, my chore is to make you fall even more in love with me." "Chocolate? Wine? Perhaps it's actually possible!" Sitting on the picnic blanket, looking at the vast mountain vista, Jennix sighs happily. "Strange to think that if Cotton is never summoned again, his last act was to bring us such happiness..." Don't worry, Inward, I'll remind her that she left that ghost down the well. Just a little bit longer...]](else:)[Jennix is the most useful ghost, of course: strong; smart; practical. She can advise me on other ghosts to summon and even marshal them if they misbehave. But the best thing of all she can do is sit beside me and look at the mountain vista, watching twilight transform the clouds, shadows and sunbeams. "To think that this is my afterlife," she says. "Not too shabby, eh?"] (display: "The End")

I manifested the captain too well. His sense of duty overwhelmed his compulsion to assist his summoner. That's why following Captain Eustace led (if: $CredenceDead and not $JennixStay)[this deserter](else:)[us deserters] to a firing squad. "Any last words?" demands the officer in charge.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ Credence produces an explicit oath using terminology I am only obliquely aware of and assuming improbable anatomical capabilities.](if: $JennixStay)[ "In a better world," Jennix says, "we would all have had less awful choices to make."](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia watches us with surprisingly sad eyes. When I die, we will both finally fall into the River of the Dead.](else:)[Saint Virgia watches proceedings with smug satisfaction.] (The soldiers don't really know what to do with this startling apparition.)] "Um," I say, "many necros know my name. I... I'll go down in history one way or another. I'll be back." (text-style: "italic")[We'll] be back, Inward. The officer says, "Ready... aim... fire!" (display: "The End")

Gigant sweeps us up into its earthy maw and bears us down into the ground, through earth and rock and steaming magma, until we burst out into a terrible lightless void: an upside-down kingdom clinging to the roof of a colossal cavern beneath Ingleria and Kradlia. =><= `* * *` <== Even now, I feel a small rush of terror stepping out of my chambers and onto the walkways between the inverted spires of this city. The fear will fade throughout the day, and then return tomorrow morning after I've dreamed of the world aboveground. But (if: $JennixStay)[Jennix and I are the only necros in this society, and we are in high demand.](else:)[I am the only necro in this society, and I am in high demand.] On my way to my latest client, I am careful not to startle the pale figures I pass, in their colourless wrappings. The other rare skill I possess down here is sight, though it's only of use when I can keep my lantern stocked with glowslimes.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ Oh, don't let me forget, Inward: Credence (if: $CredenceRich)[wants me to help him with yet another sales pitch later on. Unfortunately for him, no-one here knows what the Silver Moon is, so it's difficult for them to appreciate the value of its treasures.](else:)[wants to talk to me later. Last I heard, he was in some sort of love triangle with a countess and an adventuress. Though I'm not quite sure how he expects (text-style: "italic")[me] to help.]](if: $VirgiaStay)[ Virgia appears, (if: $VirgiaAccept)[providing a little extra ghostly light. $virgia["I hope today's summoning is more interesting than the last few. So many disputed wills for such small inheritances."]](else:)[trying as ever to make me stumble off the walkway. but I'm used to her by now and the ghostly light she provides is only helpful.]] (if: $JennixStay)[And there she is: (if: $JennixActualize)[Jennix touches down on the walkway in front of me, deposited from the elongated claws of a leathery and misshapen flying beast. Those subterranean citizens around me cower at the sound of its wings. "Don't worry!" Jennix calls out. "It's me!" She's been learning about these creatures, working out how to peacefully discourage them from being a threat or a nuisance. There's something far worse in the darkness below, she says, and we will want them on our side if it ever finds a way up here. "Um, while you were playing with your pets yesterday, I had to do both of our consultations." "I'm here now, aren't I?" she says, before silencing me with a kiss. "It's okay, you can just admit that you missed me." I shake my head. She can get away with this because it's true.](else:)[Jennix sprints across the walkway, making my heart leap into my throat. One wrong step, Inward! And she jumps! Slashing out with her sabre and sending a leathery form screeching back into the darkness. "Damn you!" she says. "Have the decency to leave a corpse so I have proof of the kill!" I grab her by the arm, holding on tight enough to hurt an ordinary human. "Um, it's good that you have this little side racket killing those beasts to protect everyone," I say, "but don't forget to also protect me from heart attacks by keeping at least one foot on the walkway." She tousles my hair. "You're used to it." "You can't protect anyone if you're dead," I say bitterly. That crooked smile. "Now we both know that's not true."]](else:)[The only problem with all this is that a full day of summoning for clients leaves me with no energy to summon Jennix. But there's some kind of festival day coming up. I'll manifest her then for the great line dance. No-one will be able to see what happy fools we make of ourselves.] (display: "The End")

(if: $GnarDead)[Gnar sets up their spectral crystal apparatus and summons one of the octopoids' strange etherships to bear us to the Purple Moon. =><= `* * *` <== The Purple Moon is a land of huge, blocky buildings that tower into the sky, chained together by flexible tubes that somehow contain light and information. Learning to use all the different crystals and huge contraptions doesn't come easily to me, but this is a society with no necros of its own, so my primitive human nature is more tolerated than it might be otherwise.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ (if: $CredenceRich)[I haven't seen Credence in some time. He used the treasures to secretly try and compensate Gnar's family for their loss, perhaps to ease his conscience. He went into hiding when they tried to trace back the source of this wealth.](else:)[There is, horribly but inevitably, one less human who might care to reminisce about the Old World with me. Gnar's sibling learned of Credence's presence here and exacted a final revenge.]](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia is trying to teach the octopoids about religion. There are gods here, she says, of a kind. But worship and faith don't come easily to beings that have more (text-style: "italic")[head] than anything else.](else:)[Saint Virgia, repulsed by the octopoids and everything about their society, has redoubled her focus on tormenting me. But I have been told there is a crystalline machine that can banish her once and for all. I don't know if she can reach the River from here, so I intend to make one last overture for peace.]] =><= `* * *` <== (if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)[Jennix is stripping off the skintight hermetic suit that allows her to control her war machine. I try not to get distracted. That test run gave me a lot to think about. Of course, Jennix just watches me hungrily as I strip off mine. "We were in sync," she says, satisfied. "The strategy engine rated us eight out of eight for combat effectiveness. The top performing in the whole squadron." And we weren't even allowed to summon during the evaluation. But... "Um, but we shouldn't get complacent. The comet is almost here and even the Celestial Ambassador doesn't know the full capabilities of the enemy." Jennix pauses, her suit still half on. I didn't mean to make her brood. "Think of everyone in Kradlia and Ingleria, fighting over a scrap of dirt while their whole world and both its moons are threatened by something like this." I walk over to touch her cheek. I meant it as reassurance, but she leans into my hand a little too eagerly given all the monitoring equipment we still wear. No matter. "I... I think we can do anything. Together. We just have to remember the danger and look out for one another." I show her a crooked smile, and a moment later she mirrors it.](else:)[The door to my apartment opens and I leap up from where I had been organising my summoning appointments. There is only one other person with the key. "Good to see you too, Returne," Jennix says with a crooked smile, as I greet her with a tight embrace and a storm of kisses. She looks very fetching in the skintight hermetic suit that allows her to control octopoid war machines in the ether between worlds. "My mech needs a retrofit, so I get a little R&R." I don't want to start the old argument again, but... "Please, tell them you lied. Let me join you. You know that I can fight too." Her expression grows a little colder. "The squadron is fully assigned and the comet is almost here. I'm going to protect you. I'm going to protect all three worlds. To think that Kradlians and Inglerians are still killing one another over a little patch of dirt when such terrible entities bear down on us..." I drop the subject. "Sit down. Get out of that silly costume. I'll make you dinner..." I know that she's amazing, Inward. That with her war machine and her ghosts and her determination she can triumph over anything. I have to keep telling myself that, and pretending that I don't know that she'd have just a slightly better chance if I were with her.]](else:)[I strip off the skintight hermetic suit that allows me to control the octopoidal war machine and summon Jennix. Her Inglerian Army uniform is completely incongruous with our surroundings, an absurd reminder of home. "How did you do this time?" she asks. "Um, rated three out of eight by the strategy engine." She spits ectoplasm disdainfully. "I don't trust a machine to grade a person. But, look, Returne? Can't you leave this to the octopoids?" "They're not doing much better. And they can't summon ghosts like I can. I... I just can't sit by knowing that this comet is bearing down on us. Knowing the terrible things it carries." I finish removing the suit and Jennix gives me an approving wink. "Just be careful, then. Before anything else, be careful. And, once you've been careful: be amazing."] (display: "The End")](else:)[(display: "Bad Summon") [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]]

(display: "Grissel Description") They lead us out into thick mist that was not there before. When it parts, we are unmistakeably at the River of the Dead. I expect we'll be safe here, but how long can we really stay? Our guide must have some ideas though. (if: $VirgiaStay)[Grissel seizes Virgia bodily, twisting their hands into her hair and the fabric of her shift. Before I can react, they have thrown her into the raging currents of the River. (if: $VirgiaAccept)[$virgia["No, please, I've only just-"]](else:)[$virgia["Damnable witches! I'll be waiting for you!"]] Next, ]Grissel grabs me by the throat, their other hand jabbing into my sternum. I gasp and croak, unable to get out my confused, pleading questions. (if: $JennixStay)[Jennix tries to wrestle them off me, but Grissel's twin raises an arm and she stumbles right through us. ](if: not $CredenceDead)[Credence blasts the twin ghosts with his musket, stupidly and uselessly. ]What are they doing to me? Are they tearing something out of me? It feels like it must be my still-beating heart! But what emerges from my chest is a human hand, and then a skinny arm, and then an entire, feeble, naked person has flopped out of me onto the muck of the riverbank. Inward?! Is that you?! Breathe! Now that you have a body, you have to breathe! Grissel and their twin have gone. We're no longer at the River, but on a forested hill overlooking Angelfall Manor. The soldiers who swarm it look like ants from here. (if: not $CredenceDead)[Credence covers you with his cape. "I don't understand much of what just happened, but we have a head start and we need to keep it."](else:)[I cover you with my tunic. It's cold in the world of the living.] (if: $JennixStay)[Jennix strokes your unkempt mop of hair. "It's me, Inward. Open your eyes. We need to get moving. I know you have the strength to walk."](else:)[Open your eyes, Inward. Do I look how you expected? Find your feet and try to walk.] Sometimes it's hard in the world of the living. Sometimes it's painful. But we have to keep fighting to survive! (cycling-link: "I'm with you, Returne.", "Then let's fight, Returne!", "I'll need your help, Returne...", "Put me back, Returne!", "Okay, but can I get more clothes, Returne?") (display: "The End")

Henaretter beckons me, a little more sensually than I'm comfortable with, and leads us along a little-travelled bridleway. =><= `* * *` <== So this is Kradlia. Following the death of Saint Virgia, there have been significant changes. Parliament has appointed a Divine Voice who claims to speak the words of Godde. Surprisingly enough, those words are always in support of the government and aristocracy.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ (if: $CredenceRich)[Credence was confident that he could safely trade the lunar treasures for money and food, but he was just arrested for heresy and taken away to who knows where.](else:)[Credence sang a verse at the local pub that was interpreted as heretical or blasphemous. He was arrested and taken away to who knows where.]] (if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)[In this repressed culture, Jennix is irrepressible. Every day I expect her to be snatched away for her nascent artworks or association with stray cats.](else:)[Jennix is preoccupied with maintaining our fake identities. Convinced that the Kradlians will see something unholy in our intimacy, we must act in public as only business partners.]](else:)[Jennix only lets me summon her when we're completely secluded. The penalties for witchcraft are terrifying.] There is talk of war and payback against Ingleria - and it is dangerous to mention that Kradlia no longer has divine armour to bolster its forces. (if: $VirgiaStay)[I head down into the basement where Virgia stays. To be seen with her would confirm me as a witch. (if: $VirgiaAccept)[$virgia["Returne,"] she says. $virgia["Do you fare well?"] "Um, as well as can be expected. It's all getting a bit scary out there. Do you fare- I mean, how are you?" She sits on the edge of her bed. I don't think she sleeps, but she seems to appreciate the furnishing anyway. $virgia["I wish to broach a difficult topic with you, and I hope that you shall hear me out."]](else:)[$virgia["Demon. Monster. Malefactor,"] she says. $virgia["Next time you must fornicate with (if: not $JennixStay)[the ghost of ]your robot, please do not do so directly over my sanctuary."] "Um, we didn't really think about it. Sorry." $virgia["Now, if you can imagine, I have an even more appalling subject on which to converse with you."]] That's a little worrying. "Please, what do you want to talk about?" She paces back and forth, avoiding my gaze. $virgia["I have been thinking. And thinking. And thinking. And I can see only one way forward for Kradlia. It is thus: you must summon Godde. You, Returne, must become the new Saint."] I say the worst swear that Credence ever taught me. Virgia nods. $virgia["Indeed."] Well... This is going to be interesting, isn't it, Inward?](else:)[I wonder what Saint Virgia would make of what has become of her nation? I cannot believe she would tolerate this corruption of her deity's legacy. But I cannot summon her, I expect as some consequence of the haunting. I think we cannot stay here much longer.] (display: "The End")

Isah and his ghostly crew swoop down in their phantom airship to spirit us away to safety. He puts an arm around my shoulders. "There's a surprising fire in you, me hearty. Let me give you some advice..." =><= `* * *` <== The fighting is beginning to die down. I set foot on the deck of the stricken freighter, swaggering over to where my undead crew have seized its captain. Seeing my excess of frills, feathers and pistols, he spits. "From the first moment of this cowardly attack from above," he snarls, "I knew it would be you, Dread Pirate Returne!"(if: not $CredenceDead)[ (if: $CredenceRich)[I look around at the sheer size of this vessel. With its spoils I should easily be able to finish paying Credence back for buying me my airship.](else:)[There's a gunshot. I cast a casual glance back over my shoulder. Credence is perched in the rigging with a rifled musket, helping mop up the last resistance.]](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[She can't actually touch any of them, but Virgia is having great fun terrorising the Inglerian sailors. The ghastly visage she wears now is a far cry from her shy smile when she carouses with the rest of my crew.](else:)[Saint Virgia's furious shrieks echo out from the phantasmic cage dangling from my vessel's bowsprit, unnerving our victims and tearing into their resolve. It's amusing to consider how she would never want to be this useful to me.]] The captain looks up and nods sharply. An octopoid wielding eight swords drops down from the sails above. (if: $JennixActualize)[My first mate takes one step forward to ensure they land giant eyeball-first on her cutlass. She looks dashing in her tight breeches and loose-laced shirt, shooting me a wink and a crooked smile. (if: $JennixStay)["Now (text-style: "italic")[you] owe me."](else:)[Who'd even suspect she was a ghost?]](else:)[Suddenly, Jennix has dashed in front of me to ensure they land giant eyeball-first on her cutlass. (if: $JennixStay)[The manacles from the brig dangle uselessly from her wrists. "Returne, this is too dangerous! You must stop all this!" She won't agree to either leave the ship at a port or stop interfering in my crimes. I shoot her a crooked smile of my own. If anything, she's turned this into a fun game between us.](else:)[I didn't even summon her this time, Inward! She's learning how to haunt me all by her own will! "Returne," she cries, "this is too dangerous! You must stop all this! Did I die for nothing?!" I brush my hand against her almost-tangible cheek. "You died so I could live. Now let me live. Let's talk again at sunset." Despite her best efforts, I manage to banish her, just for now, back to the River.]] "So, Captain," I say, "either you tell me the combination of your safe, or I run you through with my blade and get your ghost to tell me." (display: "The End")

I feel something powerful approaching, from far beyond the River, a terrible pressure... Things are not as they should be, and a relentless force of nature has returned to set them right. =><= `* * *` <== A moment of disorientation. I must have fallen asleep reading in my chair by the window. I look down at the slight swell of my belly with surprise, as if I had somehow forgotten that my child with Jennix grows there. For a moment, alien thoughts swirl in my head. Was this a thing that was always possible, Inward? Is it something that I always wanted? Or is it just what Lilili wanted me to want?(if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia appears and rubs around my legs, tail held in a satisfied question mark. "Okay," I tell her, stroking her between the ears, "I'll get you dinner. Who'd believe that this pampered housecat was once a vicious stray?"](else:)[Fluffy paws strike out from under the chair, catching my legs with needle claws. "Ouch! Virgia! You won't get dinner if you treat me like this!" I swear sometimes that cat must understand me. She pulls her little feet back under the chair and I feel her disapproving stare like the heat from a fire.]](if: not $CredenceDead)[ The setting sun catches me in the eye momentarily, shining between the branches of the mighty oak whose roots underpin and branches shield the entire house. "Old Faithful," the locals called him, as he has stood through countless storms and gales, protecting our home in turn. To satisfy some niggling urge, I nicknamed him "Credence".] (if: $JennixStay)[The door opens and Jennix enters, setting down a basket of fresh food from the village. Her dress is scandalously short, and I would be staring at her bare ankles if her own pregnant stomach wasn't so distracting. My other child with her, Inward. Twins of a sort. Sometimes, like in this moment of sudden wakefulness, I'm still surprised to see it. She sits on the floor next to me with a sigh of effort, as if she hasn't taken to this as heroically as everything else. (if: $VirgiaStay)[(if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia hops onto her lap and curls up, purring.](else:)[Virgia attacks the dangling hem of her dress.]] (if: $JennixActualize)["I was made," Jennix says, cryptically, "and now I've been remade. I have to accept that. But from now on I'll make myself. I won't stand for anything else." She places one hand on my stomach and the other on her own. "Don't worry, these two are a part of me now. I'll make sure to be a suitably bad influence on them." Despite everything, that crooked smile is unchanged.](else:)["I was made for one thing by humans," Jennix says, cryptically, "now I've been remade for another by a god. Whatever my purpose is, I have to give it my all." I reach out to stroke her hair. "Um, it matters what you want too." "(text-style: "italic")[This] is what I want. It doesn't matter (text-style: "italic")[why] I want it." She smiles, but it isn't crooked at all.]](else:)[I sigh as the grief comes crashing down on me, as it does sometimes. Jennix is dead. And my power has left me. I can't call her back from the River while I carry this baby - perhaps not even after. But laying my hand on my stomach, I am filled with a sense of purpose. Our child is unique like no other. A KIND of human. Someone who will make an indelible mark, The world will never be the same for having had Jennix in it.] (display: "The End")

(display: "Loveday Description") She leads us out to the coast and onto a boat whose captain has an accent halfway between Inglerian and Kradlian. (if: not $CredenceDead)[Credence spends the voyage vomiting over the side.](else:)[During the voyage, she hardly speaks.] =><= `* * *` <== We arrive at a little cluster of fishing boats in the estuary downstream of the Inglerian capital. "Ma?! Is that you?" someone calls out. "Are you a deserter?!" Something catches in Loveday's throat as she answers. "Don't be stupid, lad. I'm not stopping long. Just dropping someone off." Other figures appear on the boat beside the man who called out. A woman with exotic features. A little boy with a toy rabbit. A teenage girl with her grandmother's scowl.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ She turns to Credence. (if: $CredenceRich)["That treasure you've hidden in your luggage. You'll put that to good use, won't you, friend?" He laughs. "I suppose I do owe you."](else:)["Don't worry, friend. The sickness will get better over the years." He groans. "Oh gods..."]](if: $VirgiaStay)[ "Not sorry I took a shot at you," she says to (if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia, "but you seem nice enough. That shitty attitude of yours will help with the kids." $virgia["I'm not your nanny,"] the other ghost replies, $virgia["but those brats look like they could use my direction."]](else:)[Saint Virgia, "but you need to get over yourself before the necro figures out how to get rid of you for good." The saint hisses, $virgia["I would relish the chance to escape them!"]]](if: $JennixStay)[ "Everyone here has heard of you," Loveday tells Jennix. "But no-one knows it's you. Keep it that way." (if: $JennixActualize)[Jennix nods. "The propaganda wasn't me anyway. I'd like the chance to be someone new, of my own making."](else:)[Jennix avoids her gaze. "It's okay. I'm not anyone anyway."]] "Necro," Loveday says, giving me a little shove that sends me stumbling. "Everything you've done, everything you can do... You'll look after them, won't you? Now that I can't? They can keep confidence, I swear. And if they bully you, scare 'em a little with a ghost." "Of course, Loveday. Um, and wouldn't you like to visit every so often?" "I'd like that, Necro," she says, beginning to fade away. "I got more time than most, but it still went so quick." (display: "The End")

Patience leads us, alarmingly, towards Ultrona. But, keeping to canals and flood channels, we avoid any Inglerian patrols, descending into the catacombs beneath the city. Patience cannot fit in the passages, so we go on ahead, letting them return to the River. A harsh voice says, "WHO?" Another, silky smooth and purring, says "Do not trust them." And yet another buzzes, (text-style: "fade-in-out")["Calculating..."] Robots, Inward. A demimonde of discarded artificial beings. There's a gladiator so swollen with muscle he can hardly move. A figure with such exaggerated feminine beauty that she is disgusting to behold. A clattering engine of mathematical cogs and wax cylinders hooked up to a brain in a jar. And many more indistinct forms behind them.(if: not $CredenceDead)[ "Well," Credence says, "I didn't think I could be surprised anymore, but here we are."](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia walks into the group with a keen look on her face. $virgia["Disillusioned with their mortal creators... But perhaps those older Creators in the world will be of interest to such wretches. Even those made of plastic and metal must have faith."]](else:)[Saint Virgia lingers near the exit. $virgia["Blasphemous abominations. You should get the city watch to cleanse this place of its rubbish."]]] (if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)[Jennix steps forward and the synthetic creatures crowd round her, reaching out to touch her with rubbery hands and metal claws. "Returne," she says, looking at me with a complicated expression. "I have to help them. This could have been me. I don't even dare to hope that some of my discarded prototypes are here." "I... I'll help them too. We have to." I take her hand and - a little sadder, a little less crooked and a lot more determined than usual - she smiles.](else:)[Jennix grabs my arm and pulls me back. "No. No, I don't belong here. I'm not like them." "I... I think Patience just knew this as a safe place," I lie. "A sanctuary." "I want to leave. I don't want to see this. I want to leave (text-style: "italic")[now]." It's dangerous out there. We are right under the nose of the Inglerian Army. But she is leaving, and I won't let her go on her own.]](else:)[I find my knees giving out. I find tears running down my face. Inward, could Jennix have found a new life here? A new purpose? Are these her people, who can now know her only as a ghost? Could things have worked out differently, Inward? Tell me that they could not!] (display: "The End")

Peregrine places a gloved hand over my eyes. Suddenly, we are elsewhere. A dreamlike, untamed grassland beneath a bright but sunless sky. It is dominated by the mangled, midnight black form of some immense and unfathomable being.(if: $VirgiaStay)[ Virgia falls to her knees, wailing. $virgia["Godde! This is the most inner sanctum of Godde! That is Their corpse!"]] Peregrine returns to the River with a smirk. =><= `* * *` <== This place provides everything one could need: warm weather; streams of crystal-clear water; fruit that regrows as soon as you have plucked it from the tree. Wounds knit together and there is no sickness or fever. The only outside threat is the otherworldly scavengers that periodically arrive to feast on the (if: $VirgiaStay)[divine flesh of Godde.](else:)[corpse.](if: not $CredenceDead)[ (if: $VirgiaStay and $VirgiaAccept)[I hear laughter, splashing and boisterous talk. Virgia and Credence will be in the hot spring again, lounging around naked. It's better not to ask after the exact nature of their relationship now - that usually ends in one or both of them sulking for hours - but they've found some manner of close and trusting companionship. $virgia["Come on in, Returne!"] Virgia calls out, after Credence whispers the suggestion in her ear. $virgia["The water's fine!"]](else:)[I hear splashing and singing. Credence is lounging naked in the hot spring again. "Come on in, Returne!" he calls out. "The water's fine!"(if: $VirgiaStay)[ But Saint Virgia is out there somewhere, watching. Every day she grows more substantial. When she attacks, choosing her moments carefully, the pain and injuries she inflicts are real. With that in mind, I think I'd rather keep my clothes on for now.]]](else-if: $VirgiaStay and $VirgiaAccept)[ Hearing a splash of water, I turn to see Virgia easing herself naked into the hot spring. $virgia["Avert your eyes, witch!"] she quips, as if we weren't both lazing in there most of yesterday.](else-if: $VirgiaStay)[ But Virgia is out there somewhere, watching. Every day she grows more substantial. When she attacks, choosing her moments carefully, the pain and injuries she inflicts are real.] (if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)["Drink with me?" Jennix says, suddenly sliding an arm around my waist. She has two halves of a fruit shell, each overflowing with a black, watery fluid. I'm still not sure about this, Inward, but she hands me one and raises the other to my lips. I raise mine to hers. We're (text-style:"italic")[changing] as we consume the flesh and blood of (if: $VirgiaStay)[Godde](else:)[the giant being]. And in different ways, as befits our different natures. You and I are a bipartite person. Jennix is a KIND of human. I don't know about you, but I feel powerful and perceptive and radiant in ways I don't really understand. And, yes, I'm not sure if we should be doing this, but I am sure that if Jennix is doing it, I will too. I'm sorry that in this I have also made the choice for you. Are we going to be gods? Should we be? That's not what I care about. "I love you," Jennix and I tell one another. And we continue to change.](else:)[Jennix makes me jump by laying a hand on my shoulder. She wears armour fashioned from the thick skin of the scavengers, with her sabre strapped to her back. "It's your turn to patrol." I sigh. "We could just leave them alone. They don't bother us if we don't bother them." "And when they finish eating this thing, what do you think they'll eat next?" The fact is, the flesh on the corpse appears to be infinite. It's not clear that we actually have any quarrel with these creatures. But, if I have to pick between them and Jennix, I know what my choice is. If I'm to spend eternity fighting beside her, I'll do so gladly.]](else:)[ =><= `* * *` <== I cannot summon in this place. When I bothered to count the days, I reached ten years of time spent here, apart from Jennix. But I do not age. Instead, I have found the means to change in a more fundamental, perhaps more terrible way. I eat the flesh of (if: $VirgiaStay)[Godde](else:)[the giant being] as the scavengers do. I drink the blood and gnaw on the bones. And I feel something new in me. You must feel it too, Inward. Soon, we will be gods. This place will not be able to hold us. The Laws of Nature will not constrain us. And we will tear Jennix from the currents of the River of the Dead to reign beside us, forever.] (display: "The End")

Lady Tryphona leads us a short distance into the hills behind her manor, to the space gun she used to visit the Silver Moon, now derelict. We have no choice but to hope that it won't just blow us to pieces. =><= `* * *` <== A chorus of larval moon people announces (if: $JennixStay)[our](else:)[my] arrival at the Court of the Silver Moon's Queen, the humming from their porous skulls ethereal and inhuman, rising above the soft, droning music to which the revellers dance. The sun has reached its zenith above this oasis of air on an otherwise desolate world. (if: not $CredenceDead)[(if: $CredenceRich)[Credence waves from his spot beside the throne. The admiration with which Her Majesty looks upon him is not entirely explained by the stolen treasures he returned.](else:)[Credence nods slightly from his place in the Royal Guard formation. It's impossible not to notice that Her Majesty is distracted by this shaggy human among her guards, a dreamy look upon her features.]](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[And there are the acolytes of this satellite's newest religion. The veils and habits fit awkwardly on their many-jointed, six-limbed forms, but still Virgia radiates pride in their devotion to whatever neglected lunar god it is she found.](else:)[The Court's most learned sorcerers are only just able to contain Saint Virgia as she attempts to hurtle straight at me, their spine sails pulsating between colours from the effort. I'm grateful for the peace they've given me, when she doesn't elude them.]] (if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)[Jennix and I join hands to genuflect before Her Majesty. I'm draped in a traditional lunar raiment, tailored to my human form. Jennix combines disparate Earth fashions with her cuirass and airy dress. Then we turn and join the Great Solar Dance. Is it strange to tell you, Inward, that I'm no longer embarrassed to make these peculiar rhythmic motions, a mere approximation of the graceful dancing of the silver lunarians? But my partner looks on me with only fondness, and who else around could judge the awkwardness of a human? "The Chief Plerergate wants me to summon the ghost of that musician," she says, when she gets the chance to press her lips to my ear. "For the hundredth time." That pet moonsnake of hers squirms up out of her armour to nuzzle my hand with its feathered head. "He likes you," she reassures me. "I... I might be growing to like him too," I say, realising that it's actually true. "The Court Sorcerers want me to summon Lady Tryphona. They're convinced they can imprison her spirit for her crimes." The dance sees us at arms' length from one another, and then thrown back close together. "Isn't it nice," Jennix says, burying her face in my hair, "to be useful? And to be as far away from our troubles as we could possibly be?"](else:)[We drop the killterrorsaur corpse on the tiled floor and genuflect before Her Majesty, lunar dust rising from our hermetic suits. Jennix speaks fluently in the lunar language. "This monster will no longer threaten your subjects, Your Highness." Exalted harmonies rise from the crowd around us and the Queen undulates happily. I can feel the pride rising from Jennix like heat. I feel it too. But I pull off my bubble helmet and tug on her arm. "Um, let's join the dance." She looks up at me, surprised, but takes off her own helmet. "I thought you said you can't dance?" "I... I can't. But I need to see you relax. To see you smile. Please." She rolls her eyes and joins me in stripping off the bulky suits. Our underclothes are decent, but completely unsuited to a royal event. Of course, almost no-one here has any concept of human fashion, so I refuse to care. As we dance, trying to match the writhing movements of the silver lunarians around us, all the tension and fear and violence of the hunt fall away. "Returne," she says, "what would I do without you?" There's that smile, finally. It's contagious.]](else:)[With difficulty, I drag the killterrorsaur corpse onto the tiled floor and genuflect before Her Majesty, lunar dust rising from my hermetic suit. I speak haltingly in the lunar language. "Monster... not kill moon people... now. Your Highness." Exalted harmonies rise from the crowd around us and the Queen undulates happily. I've proven my usefulness. Earned my keep. Now I can return to my burrow and summon Jennix. With the new tricks I've learned from the Court Sorcerers, I don't think she'll be able to resist this time. If she's so determined that I should live and spend time with the living, she can damn well show up and make me.] (display: "The End")

The warlord bellows mightily into the sky and a distorted black shape reaches down to gather us up... I knew that the octopoids of old claimed to travel to and from the Purple Moon with help from the Outer Shadows... But if I had suspected that Yru would invoke this terrible pact now, I never would have summoned them! Subjected to this overwhelming presence, transported through spaces beyond human understanding or perceptions, I am driven crazed and insensate. When I rouse some time later, I am floating on an endless sea, our blue world in the sky overhead. =><= `* * *` <== I push the bubble worm into its place in my braided hair and it purrs happily. When I dive out of the bottom of the giant spiral shell with its trapped pocked of air, the worm ensures that I can breathe underwater. And in the Purple Moon's Great Aboolooo Ocean, where the octopoids grow to immense size and value combat above all else, to remain on the surface is to leave oneself vulnerable to threats from below. A new sun is rising. A new month. We must only show that we are not to be trifled with and we can hope to live in relative peace, at least until the next sunrise. (if: $JennixStay)[Jennix](else:)[I summon Jennix and she] presses her back to mine. (if: not $JennixStay)[She still wears her army uniform, for now, but she's learning how to manifest in better suited garments. ](if: $JennixStay)[We](else:)[I] wear armour patched from the shells and thick skin of various deep-sea monsters. We both wield spears tipped with the venomous claws of deathsnatcher crabs. Hooting and bellowing echoes through the water around us and muscular, cyclopean, eight-armed forms begin to loom through the coral reefs and giant mushrooms. (if: not $CredenceDead)[Credence lies camouflaged in the sand, sighting down the barrel of the drylander laser we acquired at great difficulty. We don't know how many shots it has left, but even one blast can be enough to rout less courageous challengers. ](if: $VirgiaStay)[(if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia floats beside us like a vision of a mermaid or an underwater angel. Not much help in physical combat, she merely gives us two thumbs up.](else:)[Virgia floats beside us like a terrible jellyfish with accusing eyes. It's easy to tune her out when there are much more pressing threats bearing down on us.] ](if: $JennixActualize)[Jennix brandishes her crooked smile. "Looks like some new contenders. They have no idea who they're messing with, do they, Returne?" I press back into her. "I... I've been practicing. I think I can summon even more ghosts than last time." There are a lot of showy gravestones on the ocean floor, each naming a mighty fallen warrior. I close my eyes.](else:)[Jennix shoots a worried look over her shoulder at me. "Focus on summoning, Let me face them alone this time." "We're in this together. I... I want to protect you as much you want to protect me!" She sighs. "Too late now. No choice but to let you show me what you can do." Okay, Inward, here we go!] (display: "The End")

Oh Godde... I'm sick of fighting and death. Couldn't I live in a time of peace, that doesn't know war? =><= `* * *` <== I rub my eyes and adjust the magnifier on my computator. With these new fees on imports from the Purple Moon, we won't meet our sales targets. The bosses will be in a fine mood...(if: not $CredenceDead)[ (if: $CredenceRich)[Credence passes my desk with a flash of gold cufflinks. "We need that spreadsheet done ASAP, Returne, so keep up the good work.(if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)[ Jennix: we have a dress code at this company." She looks down at herself like she doesn't see the problem.](else:)[ You too, Jennix." "I'm trying," she says.]](else:)["]](else:)[Credence appears in his usual board shorts and colourful shirt and dumps my wastepaper basket into his cart. "Don't work too late, friend. They won't notice.(if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)[ Hey, Jennix! Rock on!" She makes that crossed-fist gesture from the band they both like.](else:)[ That goes for you too, Jennix!" "You worry about the cleaning," she says, "I'll worry about overwork."]](else:)["]]] (if: not $CredenceDead)[When he's gone, ](if: $JennixStay)[(if: $JennixActualize)[Jennix enters my cubicle and hops on my desk, planting her butt on all sorts of important papers. Her suit jacket and trousers are completely professional. The heavy metal tee with the flaming skull less so. "The higher-ups have all gone," she says. "Let's get out of here and start the horror movie marathon early." I hunch forward over my work. "Um, can we watch something (text-style: "italic")[nice]?" "We can both literally summon and manifest ghosts," she says, though to look at her you wouldn't know that she was a woman out of time. "But just cuddle up and I'll protect you." I sigh dramatically and then shut down my computator.](else:)[Jennix enters my cubicle and adds a stack of papers to my "in" tray. She looks very smart in her pinstripe blouse and pencil skirt. You'd never know she was a time traveller of sorts. "Sorry," she says, "but my deadline's bearing down on me. I'll have to take a raincheck." "Um, the Great Necro Heroine of Ingleria," I say, "afraid of her department supervisor?" She rolls her eyes, but when she sits on the edge of my desk I know I've won. "Spoken like the infamous Saint Killer. Well... we have to get ice cream."]](else:)[I summon Jennix. She manifests, extremely out of place in her two-hundred-year-old army uniform - but it's not like I'm the only necro in the office. "Procrastinating before a deadline?" she asks. "Of course." "Can we go to that restaurant with the view of the whole skyline?" The tall buildings always dazzle her. And there's usually one or two other ghosts there. "But... Returne? Are you happy? When you aren't working on that machine, you dine with a ghost... Is this really the life you want?" "Um... No death. No suffering. No guns or swords. And every so often, I see you."](if: $VirgiaStay)[ (if: $VirgiaAccept)[Virgia leans over from the cubicle next door, with its ghost-interfacing computator. $virgia["Would you two witches cease your prurience? Some of us are trying to work!"]](else:)[The whole time, Saint Virgia is crawling around on the ceiling with reverse knees and elbows, staring down with malice. You get used to it.]] (display: "The End")

(set: $GnarDead to true) (set: $CredenceRich to false) (set: $CredenceDead to false) (set: $CredenceMegaDead to false) (set: $JennixStay to true) (set: $JennixActualize to true) (set: $VirgiaStay to true) (set: $VirgiaAccept to true) redirect: "Final Summoning" [[Go->Final Summoning]]

A plain woman in a simple dress, her hair roughly piled on her head. And yet she moves with an easy, sashaying confidence.

The war manta's ghost descends upon us eagerly, the battle scars on his skin apparent once he has drawn near. (if: not $OuldSummoned or ((passage:)'s name is "Ould 2"))[Jennix sighs and rests her head on his back. "I'm sorry," she says. "I'm so sorry to put you through that." Even Saint Virgia has the sense to give them a moment of quiet.](set: $OuldSummoned to true)

A bespectacled, bearded man in a cuirass, broad-brimmed hat and tinted spectacles.

It's been years since Kradlia first invaded. Ultrona was the most significant city they captured, and the southernmost. I never had a reason to go there before. Now, if all goes well, it's where we'll fall back to. Do you think we'll get to visit the Spherical Garden? Do you think it still stands? [[←Back->Vertical Battery]]

Although she has her eyes closed, Virgia knows it's me that approaches. $virgia["Aren't I your enemy?"] she asks. $virgia["Didn't you run me through with a sword? Don't pretend I started it; you were only there in the first place to assassinate me."] I shrug. Oh, but she can't see it. "Um, when you put it like that, we must be enemies." She finally turns to look back at me over her shoulder. $virgia["And the soldiers holding this manor, they were your enemies too? But you let them live."] "I... I don't want to cause more suffering than I have to. Now that I'm a deserter, perhaps I can go without ever killing again. I know that the dead can come back, but most don't." Now she turns to fully face me. $virgia["But you reject the Light of Godde? Deity or ghost that They may be..."] "I don't know it. I have no interest in it." She faces away from me again. $virgia["Leave me, witch. I have much to think about."] [[←Back->Heist Aftermath]]

Saint Virgia rounds on me as I approach, her ghostly strikes passing through me with little effect. $virgia["Witch! Abomination!"] "Um, I wish we could just move past this. I had no choice but to come for you, except now I... I'm a deserter." Tears stream down her ghostly visage and she sweeps an arm out viciously toward the corpses littering the courtyard. $virgia["Forget my miserable life. Did these people not have families? Did they not die in pain and fear, wishing to return home? Are their dreams, their hopes not now never to be fulfilled?!"] I don't know what to say to that, Inward. They were invaders, but I imagine most had no more options than I did. Virgia sobs, almost too distraught to speak. $virgia["Have you no humanity? No mercy? Get away from me!"] [[←Back->Heist Aftermath]]

{(if: (passage:)'s tags does not contain "ending")[(if: (passage:)'s tags contains "summon")[ ==> (size: 0.75)[([[undo->$UndoPassage]])] ](if: (((passage:)'s tags contains "onward") or ((passage:)'s tags contains "summon")) and $ShowChapters)[ ==> (size: 0.75)[([[chapters->Chapters]])(set: $BackToPassage to (passage:)'s name)]]](else:)[(set: $BackToPassage to (passage:)'s name)] (replace: ?sidebar)[] (display: $Theme)}

(display: "Main Menu") --- (text-style: "bold")[Theme]{ (set: _styleLink to (macro: str-type _name, [ (out:)[(if: $Theme is not _name)[(link:_name)[(Set:$Theme to _name)<script>localStorage.setItem("necro-theme",JSON.stringify($Theme))</script>(display: $Theme))(goto:"Options")]](else:)[$NameStyle[_name]]] ]))} * (_styleLink: "Ingleria Theme") * (_styleLink: "Kradlia Theme") * (_styleLink: "River of the Dead Theme") * (_styleLink: "Two Moons Theme") * (_styleLink: "Basic Theme (Light)") * (_styleLink: "Basic Theme (Dark)") --- (text-style: "bold")[Advanced Options] (if: not $ShowChapters)[Show Chapter Select(click: "Show Chapter Select")[(set: $ShowChapters to true)<script>localStorage.setItem("necro-show-chapters","true")</script>(redirect: "Title")] (size: 0.75)[After completing the story for the first time, the option to skip to a particular chapter will be added to the menu, and the bottom of most "Onward" passages. Click this link to unlock this option without completing the game. ]]Reset Game(click: "Reset Game")[<script>localStorage.removeItem("necro-compendium");localStorage.removeItem("necro-show-chapters");</script>(restart:)] (size: 0.75)[Click this option to reset the game, (text-style: "bold")[completely erasing your compendium].] ---

Loveday appears, spectral rifle in hand(if: not $LovedaySummoned or ((passage:)'s name is "Loveday 3"))[, and looks down at herself. "Shit. I didn't make it then."](else:)[.](set: $LovedaySummoned to true)

(if: visit is 1)[This is only the third time in our lives we've been in a house this big, Inward. What do they (text-style: "italic")[do] with it all? ]The [[display cases]] along the corridors have all been looted, apart from one that houses an enormous [[titanium helmet]]. A study near the main foyer has been repurposed into the [[Kradlian commander's office]]. All the way at the back of house, there is a [[glass room full of plants]]. [[←Back->Heist Aftermath]]

It's not always clear what was once in each smashed display case, but where plaques and labels remain, they speak of treasures and curios brought back from around the world. [[←Back->endless hallways]]

I assume it was left behind because it would take a dozen soldiers to lift it. The plaque on the display case reads: =><= (text-style: "italic")[Great Helm worn for many historical victories by Yru, greatest warlord of the Purple Moon.] [[←Back->endless hallways]]

Just a [[desk]](if: not $CredenceRich)[. In his search for treasure, Credence has turned it over, scattering](else:)[ covered with] [[maps]], [[coded documents]] and [[empty bottles]]. There are no chairs nearby, so I imagine the commander leaning over it, surrounded by trusted officers who wish they could be sitting down.(if: $VirgiaAccept is true)[ A [[Kradlian Army tunic]] hangs from a nearby coat hook.] [[←Back->endless hallways]]

What beautiful flowers, Inward! And trees unlike any you normally find in Ingleria! Though they are all overgrown and under-watered. I think I'll stay clear of that especially hungry looking one with some sort of green, toothy jaw. [[←Back->endless hallways]]

A fine desk made of a sturdy, unfamiliar wood. Its feet have scuffed dark marks in the floor where it was dragged into the study from elsewhere. (if: not $CredenceRich)[Credence has thrown it upside-down, but there is no secret trapdoor beneath.](else:)[Its ornate design includes a [[locked drawer]].] [[←Back->Kradlian commander's office]]

The surroundings of Angelfall Manor, reaching as far as the Stained Glass Steppes. It's interesting (and a little disturbing) to see the angel corpse itself rendered from above. The Kradlian border is not too far away, at least when viewed at this scale. [[←Back->Kradlian commander's office]]

Yes. I see. Just as I suspected. I can't understand these at all. [[←Back->Kradlian commander's office]]

They smell strongly of alcohol! I'm sure that's a breach of Kradlian Army regulations! Although, as a deserter, I suppose I must readjust my perspective on such things... [[←Back->Kradlian commander's office]]

A very fine Kradlian Blue. This tunic has been well maintained. Rifling its pockets like a common thief, I find a lace handkerchief, (if: visits is 1)[a few coins, and a key - which I take.](else:)[and a few coins. I have already taken the key that was in there.] [[←Back->Kradlian commander's office]]

(if: (visited: "Kradlian Army tunic"))[Having unlocked the drawer with the key from the tunic pocket, I can open it. Inside are a [[perfumed letter]] and a (if: (visited: "touch it"))[smashed dreamstone](else:)[[[dreamstone]]].](else:)[I don't have the key, Inward!] [[←Back->desk]]

(text-style: "italic")[My dearest love, You are well aware that throughout my life I have been plagued by jealous persons of all stations. I am mortified to tell you that such individuals have now reported me as a spy! Knowing your unshakeable commitment to duty and justice, I reach out a desperate hand to you, in the hopes your influential friends and mentors may be able to save me from the terrible and final punishment carried by this false charge of espionage! Your devoted Henaretter] [[←Back->locked drawer]]

I've heard of these, and seen them in shop windows! You can use them to store a dream and share it with someone else when they [[touch it]]. I dread to think what terrible dreams one might share with a Kradlian Army commander. [[←Back->locked drawer]]

With some trepidation, I touch the dreamstone. Um... Um! Inward, the dream is of a lady, not very decently dressed, looking at herself in a mirror! And then she begins to disrobe! I think I should smash this dreamstone before it falls into the hands of someone less discreet than us... [[←Back->locked drawer]]

Some ancient cataclysm, cosmic or divine, melted this landscape into a jagged ruin of multicoloured glass. It can't be farmed, only traversed by [[desire paths]] worn into its glossy surface. Those [[inns]] that would once shelter travellers have all stood abandoned and boarded up since the invasion. [[←Back->Resting]]

Trails of scuffs, scratches and dirt, worn into the glass by countless feet and wheels. [[←Back->Stained Glass Steppes]]

We stopped by one of the inns only briefly. Too obvious a target, according to Credence and Jennix. Not like this isolated abode we're finally resting in, built perhaps by a mad recluse. The inn held nothing much of interest. [[Empty kegs]], [[rotten furniture]] and a [[torn wanted poster]]. [[←Back->Stained Glass Steppes]]

I throw myself into the foliage while the other troopers mop up the rest of the Kradlian patrol. With the divine armour defeated, the few humans who were with it are easy prey. "Don't let any of them escape," Sarge yells. "We don't want the saint to know we're here!" When the musket fire and shouts have died down, I pick myself up.

(display: "Take Cover Common") Taking a closer look at the stone object Peregrine kicked over, I see that it is a weathered sculpture of an amorphous form giving birth to itself. A tribute to the late nature god Lilili. --- [[→Onward→->Vertical Battery]]

[[←Back->inns]]

To Credence's great disappointment, whatever beer was once held in them had leaked into the glassy ground. [[←Back->inns]]

Worm-eaten, untrustworthy chairs. Instead, we sat on the hard floor. [[←Back->inns]]

--- <div style="text-align: center">(text-style: "italic")[(size: 2)[WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE] (size: 1.5)[Isah the Sky Pirate] For piracy on land and at sea, striking ships and steam carriages flying Inglerian and Kradlian flags 1,000 gold coins to whosoever can present his person or corpse 10,000 gold coins to whosoever can destroy his airship 50,000 gold coins to whosoever can capture his airship intact]</div> --- Dead or alive? As a necro, I know which one I'm hoping for. [[←Back->inns]]

Aside from the great, celestial corpse that dominates it, this could be quite the pastoral scene. Rolling, forested [[hills]], idyllic [[streams]], gentle [[birdsong]]... [[←Back->Angelfall Manor]]

The hills undulate out to the horizon. It looks like you could walk out into them forever, shaded beneath the leaves of the trees. But in reality, they lead to the Stained Glass Steppes in one direction and Kradlia in the other. [[←Back->landscape]]

Streams rush down the hills and trickle through fields. In a more casual moment, I can imagine it would be nice to dip one's feet in the crystal-clear water. A [[broken wooden sign]] has lodged among some nearby [[stepping stones]]. [[←Back->landscape]]

Their melody is carefree and understated. For a perfect little moment, I find myself elevated to a transcendent frame of mind. (if: (visited: "strange structure"))[Jennix smiles at me as we both listen. Virgia smiles too, then catches herself and scowls.](else:)[(if: $JennixActualize)["Yellow forktails," Jennix says. "I'd watch them through the bars back at the institute. Such a pleasant song..." (if: $VirgiaStay)[Virgia clears her throat. $virgia["They seem to be nesting nearby, on that [[strange structure]]."]](else:)[Saint Virgia scoffs. $virgia["Of course the screeching of base animals would appeal to you, witch."]]](else-if: $VirgiaStay)[I notice Virgia watching the birds wheeling overhead. And she notices me watching her. $virgia["If you must cast your sinful gaze at someone, witch, let it be your robot instead."]](else:)[None of my companions seem to notice it, though, or care.](if: (not $JennixActualize) or (not $VirgiaStay))[ It turns out to be surprisingly tricky to draw attention to birdsong. I wonder what I could have done differently, Inward?]] [[←Back->landscape]]

All features have been blasted away, as have many of the statue's limbs. And yet I recognise its subject. What necro wouldn't know a typical depiction of Grissel, first summoner to serve the Inglerian crown? [[←Back->valleys]]

Set up at the crossroads: a pyre with a charred [[corpse]] bound to it. Daubed on the ground in ash is the word "VAMPYR".(if: visit is 1)[ Sarge spits. "We can't drive this Kradlian zealotry out soon enough."] [[←Back->valleys]]

(if: $Summoned's length > 12)[I cover my mouth and nose with one hand and search the corpse with the other. The acrid stench of smoke and burned flesh is eye-watering. But for my trouble, I find a pocket watch engraved with a name: Cotton.](else-if: $Summoned's length > 5)[I study the charred corpse for some time. Naturally, I should make some attempt to uncover a name. One might even call it my duty. But, Inward, do I really need that many ghosts to call upon? I'm managing okay with the (print: $Summoned's length) I have, aren't I?](else:)[As a necro, Inward, I cannot shy away from corpses! No matter how gruesome this one may be! Nor how it may smell... Nor... Actually, I'm not sure why I (text-style: "italic")[should] investigate it? (if: $Summoned's length > 1)[Aren't the (print: $Summoned's length)](else:)[Isn't the one] I normally summon enough? Why subject myself to horrors for the possibility of more?] [[←Back->crossroads]]

Approaching it carefully, so as not to disturb the birds or their nest, it turns out to be a fallen farm robot. Bullet holes dot its rubbery skin and plastic innards have spewed out of wide gashes in its underside. As it has lain here in the countryside, undisturbed, ivy has clambered over it; weeds have threaded through its entrails and flowered exquisitely; yellow forktails have nested in its outstretched hands, heedless of the rusted plough blades. Branded on its side is the name "Patience". [[←Back->landscape]]

$virgia["So I should just watch as you plan to kill my loyal soldiers in pursuit of riches?"] "I don't know what the plan is yet..." She sighs heavily. $virgia["Of course you don't, you milk-livered poltroon. But then in this form I am not much more effective... I wonder who exactly is supposed to be the one tormented by this haunting?"] [[←Back->Manor Virgia]]

(if: $VirgiaStay)[$virgia["I am dead. Stabbed in the back. And tormented by witches and rogues."] This last with a glance at Credence. $virgia["But... I cannot change these things. Perhaps there is something liberating in no longer being subject to my duties, standing under the open air, seeing sights I would never have seen."] The moment feels so fragile. I say nothing.](else:)[$virgia["When you yet breathe, how could I be?"]] [[←Back->Manor Virgia]]

$virgia["This much I can respect. That you love this robot woman, Were you two properly wed, and were she human, and were you not witches, then we might simply be opposed equals."] "Th-thanks?" [[←Back->Manor Virgia]]

Credence looks down at the spyglass in his hand as if noticing it for the first time. "Well, so it is! But, I suppose, the captain doesn't need it anymore. So it's as well that it found its way into my pocket." [[←Back->Manor Credence]]

Credence waves a hand at the sprawling manor. "I don't think it's hidden so poorly that Kradlian infantry will uncover it in their chaotic looting." "Where is it then?" He avoids meeting my eye. "Well, I don't know either. But we do know it's in there somewhere, so we have a distinct advantage." [[←Back->Manor Credence]]

Credence throws an arm around my shoulders. "Returne, friend, you don't get anything in life by playing it safe. Did you play it safe to end up in Jennix's tent?" I doubted her, insulted her, and then had my life saved by her. "No?" "Of course not. And so we continue." [[←Back->Manor Credence]]

(text-style: "italic")[(size: 1.5)[COME ONE COME ALL] (size: 2)[See the amazing Gigant!] Terrible worm, largest of its taxon, that devoured livestock whole! Felled by the brave shootists of the Angelfall Hunt Mummified by its own infernal physick --Only five copper coins per ticket--] [[←Back->streams]]

(if: visit is 1)[I hop from stone to stone across the stream. This is fun, Inward! The kind of thing I imagine other people doing in their childhood. (text-style: "shudder")[Oh shit!] Give me a second... Let me catch my breath. I almost slipped! I would have been soaked in cold water! I don't think I like this anymore.](else:)[I think, perhaps, stepping stones are to be admired and not actually stepped on.] [[←Back->streams]]

(display: "Inward Summon") [[Try Again->First Summoning]]

It's true that by some definitions you're dead, Inward, but you also live on within me. That's what gives me the ability to summon ghosts.

(display: "Xyzzy Summon") [[Try Again->First Summoning]]

You know that I don't understand this joke, Inward.

(display: "Inward Summon") [[Try Again->Second Summoning]]

(display: "Xyzzy Summon") [[Try Again->Second Summoning]]

(display: "Xyzzy Summon") [[Try Again->Third Summoning]]

(display: "Inward Summon") [[Try Again->Third Summoning]]

(display: "Inward Summon") [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]

(display: "Xyzzy Summon") [[Try Again->Final Summoning]]