Scioly Assassination 160: A Puppet's Strings

[Fyren]

I accuse Bernard on the account that they have seven letters in their username.

[Piplup7575]

AVALONIAN CASTLE - BARON’S QUARTERS

The halls in this part of the castle are clean and quiet. A servant confers with a visiting knight, unaware that he hides an ulterior motive.

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
A smart move, to let them believe he was dead. But how did he survive in the first place?

SERVANT #1
The baron wears an enchanted amulet of health at all times. It saved him from the poison, but only just.

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
May I see him?

SERVANT #1
Up one flight and to the left.

The servant departs, and the knight ascends the staircase to enter a moderately-sized room. The aforementioned baron sleeps in a central bed, while a servant dusts the furniture. She gives a nod of recognition.

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
All set?

SERVANT #2 (Fyren)
He’s fast asleep.

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
The distraction should be happening right about... now.

A loud crash is heard from below, followed by the clamor of voices.

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
We’ll have to pin all the blame on you, but we’ll break you out of the dungeons before any real harm befalls you.

SERVANT #2 (Fyren)
I’m ready.

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
Do the honors?

The baron gives a muffled grunt, his hand drifting habitually to his chest. A pause, and his eyes shoot open.

BARON (bernard)
Where’s my amulet?

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
Uh oh.

SERVANT #2 (Fyren)
Well, we’re screwed. Catch!

The servant grabs the amulet from a side table and tosses it to the knight.

BARON (bernard)
Give me that!

The knight catches the amulet, dangling it just out of reach of the baron’s grasp.

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
Can’t have you cheating death a second time, can we?

BARON (bernard)
A second— Treason!
beware the force you left abandoned
The amulet is hurled to the floor, as the knight pins the baron to the headboard of his bead. His struggles and shouts prove ineffective as the servant unsheaths her dagger. The baron can only watch helpless as it begins it’s deadly downward arc, directly towards his heart—

Darkness.


.....


Muffled giggling echoes throughout the room.

SERVANT #2 (Fyren)
Ow!

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
Who turned out the lights?

Lights on. The two would-be assassins lay sprawled across the room, far out of range of the baron. A cloaked figure leans against the wall of the space between the two parties, desperately trying to hold in their laughter.

?????
(snorting) I’m sorry, I know it’s bad practice to have another cameo so soon but (wheeze) ohh my god-

The baron is the first to recover his wits. He grabs the dropped dagger and points it first at the minions, then at the cloaked figure.

BARON (bernard)
Who are you, and how did you get into the castle?

?????
Swooshy Knife Person and your defenses are terrible. How do you manage to admit 4 different potential assassins in the span of a month? —Nope, don’t answer that, I have a better question.

They casually chuck a knife, deflecting the dagger tossed at the baron by an opportunistic minion.
for the shadows dance again
?????
(to the minions) How did you two manage to misinterpret the prophecy so terribly? He doesn’t even fit the timeframe for an heir, for starters!

BARON (bernard)
(alarmed) A prophecy?

Two servants burst into the room, with a couple more visible outside.

SERVANT #3 (BennyTheJett)
We heard yelling!

SERVANT #1
Who’s this?

BARON (bernard)
No! Get back!

SERVANT #2 (Fyren)
I, uh- (points at knight) he did it!

MINION OF MORDRED (TheCrazyChemist)
What?!

?????
(singsongy) Found you!

The cloaked figure hurls a knife at the third servant, and everything impl o d es ...

[Piplup7575]

OLYMPUS - TIME TRAVEL AGENCY RUINS

Concrete. Plastic. Dust and metal. A confused jumble of persons slowly stagger to their feet amidst a landscape of complete devastation.

PIPLUP7575
Where’d this broken musket come from?

UMAROTH
Spandex?

MADCOW2357
(muffled shouting) Who shoved a tapestry up my face?!

SC95837
(pointing) Guys! Look!

The ruins of a fallen building serve as the battlefield for a terrifying standoff. BennyTheJett stands frozen atop the structure, eyes darting nervously about. The mysterious cloaked figure perches atop a beam opposite of him, casually twirling a knife between their fingers. And below the puppeteer’s roost stands a horrifying form, one entombed in dark tendrils that run along every part of its body. Some might know them as Doctor Nemesis, but almost every onlooker there would recognize the twisted face of what once was TheChiScientist.

BENNYTHEJETT
Wh- what are you?

?????
Oh, don’t look so shocked; you knew full well this was coming! Did you really think you could rip apart the timelines and just disappear without any repercussions, Mr. Commander of Time?

Scatter gasps erupt from the gathered crowd.

BENNYTHEJETT
You... I...

?????
Frankly, I would have thought it’d be the other way around, but I guess we all need a little change sometimes. Don’t we, Dr. Space?

Nemesis’s face contorts into an uncanny grin. He draws a blaster from his waistbelt and points it at Benny, echoing the weeping motion of the puppeteer’s knife arm. From the surrounding shadows emerge several dark tendrils, each one bearing a blaster of their own. The former god is surrounded.

SCIOLYPERSON1
Don’t just stand there, do something!

AAKOALA
What are we supposed to do??

?????
(to bystanders) Get down, darlings! We’re breaking ALL the range safety guidelines today!

BENNYTHEJETT
There’s other people here?

?????
Every good execution needs an audience!

BANEXET
Let him go! What did he ever do to you?

?????
Did you not hear the entirety of the dramatic monologue?

ALL ONLOOKERS
(in unison) WHAT MONOLOGUE?

BENNYTHEJETT
Was everything just leading up to this? Haven’t you caused enough suffering?

?????
Well, we could always break your legs for you again if you’d like-

BENNYTHEJETT
What? No!

MORNINGCOFFEE
They’re going to shoot!

BENNYTHEJETT
Don’t! Please!

?????
FIRE!

Darkness. Shots echo, and a bo̴d̸y̸ ̶s̶l̷u̷m̵p̴s̵ ̶t̷o̷̰̾ ̸̱͛ţ̸̍h̵͚͆ę̶̑ ̸͎̓g̶̥̉ř̵͖ö̵̶̵̢̭́͑u̷̷̵̢̪͒͝n̵̶̸̮͔̉͝d̶̴̴̮̘̂͝.̵̶̵̝̖͆͝

[Piplup7575]

????? - ?????

Timelines collide and shatter, twisting into unreal shapes and forms as shadows wind and intertwine but not to fear as everything’s fine everything’s fine e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶'̶s̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶E̶V̶E̶R̶Y̶T̶H̶I̶N̶G̶'̶S̶ ̶F̶I̶N̶E̶-̶
Last edited by Assassinator on 11 Jun 2022 19:18, edited 1 time in total.
?????
Master of the HOUSE!

An inn explodes.
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?????
Vessel of the DARK!

A cruise ship runs aground.
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?????
Puppeteer of dreams until they fall a-PART!

An abandoned house violently collapses on itself.
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?????
Catch them in the night!

A transmitter sparks and shorts out.
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?????
Kill them with their friends!

A van careens wildly into a wall.
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?????
Write for all their stories a more tra-gic END!

A Wal-Mart bursts into flames. Thick black smoke billows from the wreckage, drifting upon the breeze.


A cloaked figure stands in the empty parking lot. The puppeteer gazes solemnly at the burning building, the heat of which emanates all the way out to them.

?????
What a shame we had to end him; he never bode us ill before...

They turn to gaze out over the parking lot. Wisps of shadow drift in the movement’s wake, before settling back into the figure’s garb.

?????
And yet they left their coup unfinished... so now the shadows rise once more!
sorry tiny firebird Ɛ>
The shifting light of the fire throws the figure into sharp relief. A gout of flame bursts out, temporarily shielding them from view. When it retracts, the puppeteer is gone.

[Banexet]

I protect Fyren because between the lines (the sig) it says "sorry tiny firebird", which would be Fyren.

[Fyren]

I protect Torchic since they are also a "firebird," so the clue could be interpreted for them as well.

[bernard]

the nothingness older than time
(https://scioly.org/forums/viewtopic.php ... 71#p447171)

the void outside of light and space
(https://scioly.org/forums/viewtopic.php ... 90#p447190)

two gods of all reality
(https://scioly.org/forums/viewtopic.php ... 91#p447191)

to disappear without a trace
(https://scioly.org/forums/viewtopic.php ... 42#p447242)

divine inception rent apart
the cycle to renew within
(https://scioly.org/forums/viewtopic.php ... 43#p447243)

beware the force you left abandoned
for the shadows dance again
(https://scioly.org/forums/viewtopic.php ... 78#p447278)

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Last edited by Assassinator on 11 Jun 2022 19:19, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by Assassinator on 11 Jun 2022 19:19, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by Assassinator on 11 Jun 2022 19:20, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by Assassinator on 11 Jun 2022 19:21, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by Assassinator on 11 Jun 2022 19:27, edited 1 time in total.
sorry tiny firebird Ɛ>
(https://scioly.org/forums/viewtopic.php ... 80#p447280)

[Banexet]

amogus

[Banexet]

I accuse LMN because she has been reacting with the assassinator on Discord recently.

[Piplup7575]

????? - EMERGENCY ROOM

Lights flash and alarms blare. A bewildered Torchic stumbles through the rooms of the hospital she’s found herself in, desperately searching for an exit.

FYREN
(from off) Torchic! Get down!

Fyren appears seemingly out of nowhere to tackle Torchic, sending the two tumbling to the ground. A barrage of knives sail just over their heads, embedding themselves into the side of the front desk.

TORCHIC
AAH! WHAT’S HAPPENING?

Fyren drags Torchic beneath a table, pausing to catch her breath.

FYREN
(quiet) Alright, so Torchic’s here, Banex is on his way, Jasp is- uh, still dead, and LMN—

LITTLEMISSNYAN
SURPRISE!

The puppeteer flips down from the ceiling and stabs the table, causing it to split in two. Torchic and Fyren scream and flee to opposite sides of the room.

LITTLEMISSNYAN
Wow, this is fun! I should have done this more often!

Fyren pulls out a blaster and fires. The puppeteer dodges in a shadowy blur, the shot hitting the wall inches from Torchic’s shoulder.

TORCHIC
Watch it!

LITTLEMISSNYAN
Oooh, are we doing projectile weapons now?

The shadows swirling through the puppeteer’s garb lash out into a frenzy. Dark strands twist and tug as the figure alternates flinging knives and shadowbolts, chasing the others around the room. A blast hits a loose ceiling tile, sending an extension-cord wielding Banexet tumbling to the ground.

LITTLEMISSNYAN
Whoops! Hi again!

BANEXET
(irritated) Could you have waited a couple more seconds?

LITTLEMISSNYAN
For what, an unfunny joke?

FYREN
THIS!

Fyren shoots a couple more ceiling tiles. An oversized searchlight drops down, dangling from a mess of cords.

BANEXET
Take cover!

Banexet slams the end of his extension cord into an outlet. Even through closed eyelids, the light is blindingly bright— and doubly so for the unsuspecting puppeteer, caught in the dead center of the beam. They scream and collapse, head in their hands.

FYREN
It’s working!

TORCHIC
Watch out!

Dark tendrils wrap around the searchlight apparatus, squeezing with all of their might. The hospital lights flicker wildly as the searchlight sparks and crumples under the shadows’ desperate grip.
The room begins to shake, throwing everyone to the floor. Torchic snatches up a fallen knife, hesitates, then hurls it at the puppeteer. Furniture falls, the searchlight explodes, and the knife hits home—