[Endgame: rise or DROWN]

[warpweft]

[How long have you been exploring Nessa's palace now? You've met her family, viewed her memories, learned how to fight as a witch and tried to find the source of her power and the Treasure of her palace: the Voidheart. And along the way, you've tired your best, with mixed success, to avoid the incarnation of her eldest cousin and the representation of her trauma and fear, the Nightmare of Esmau.]

[Wherever you are in the Palace right now, you feel the ground briefly shake under your feet. Little shakes here and there haven't been out of the ordinary - Esmau is trying to blow the place down to the studs, after all. But that felt different. That felt....worse.]

[Your phone beeps as you receive a message.]

Comments

[velluminous]

[ oh my god wizards don't know how to heal

her chest clenches like there's a hand wrapped around. she releases Nell's hand so she can rush forward to join Agnis at the fence, see if she can help her up. ]

How bad is it?

[voidhearts]

[Agnis waves her off.]

I...I'll be fine. Akira helped me already.

[She lets out a breath.]

I lost to Esmau. She. She's gotten stronger. If you don't stop her now....

[She shakes her head. If you look through the smoke above the garden, you can see a staircase leading down.]

You have to stop her, now. I. I can give you something that may help.

Take my hand.

[She reaches a hand out for Sprezzatura.]

[velluminous]

[ this isn't good. it feels like she's barely gotten anywhere (this is how it always feels). she won't be able to stop the nightmare of Esmau and Nessa will continue to fade away—

no. no, this won't happen. this isn't just her alone. there's Minato and Akira and this Tsumugi girl—and there's Nessa herself, too. still fighting, or they wouldn't even be here.

Sprezzatura hesitates, but reaches back. ]

[voidhearts]

[She squeezes her hands, weakly. An orange aura builds around her for a few seconds. Her eyes, not covered by her eyepatch or her sunglasses, glow orange, before stopping. She lets out a breath and slumps back against the fence. She's okay, but, she's gonna need some time.]

[Sprezzatura, meanwhile, will find herself with an orange shard in her hands. The shard seems to shift in her hands, one second looking like a small shard of glass, the next looking like something else. Either way, it can be placed into her Voidheart.

Name: Wizardly Quill
Description: An enchanted quill, deadlier than any sword in the hands of a seasoned scribe. Spells can be written in its ink and then held in place. Hold your spells until you’re ready for them to make the greatest impact, then use this quill to make the punctuation.
Spark: Vulcan
Facet Slots: 2
Effect:
Instead of casting a spell, it can be written down with Wizardly Quill. This consumes one basic spell cast for the turn.
A spell written by Wizardly Quill can be cast as a free action on a later round. After casting the spell twice, it fades away.]

P...please, hurry.

There's not much time.

[velluminous]

[ ...her quill.

she will press the shard into her Voidheart, gasping a little at the sensation. it's her only choice, isn't that so...? ]

Right.

[ her eyes slant towards the stairwell leading down. ]

Nell, you wait here with your cousin. What waits down there is not for you.

[voidhearts]

[Nell nods, kneeling down next to Agnis.]

G...good luck!

[You travel down the stairs...]