Towards the end of his life, classical composer Robert Schumann fell further into a world of hallucination, tormented by angels, ghosts, demons, and unearthly music. His own wife Clara, the famed pianist, had been locked out of visiting him in the institute where he'd face his death. And yet, strange forces would ensure they met one last time, in Robert Schumann's dying dream…
In your dreams, you swore for a moment you were seeing the exact same visions Robert was. Burning angels gathered in a choir, a demonic horde making an infernal racket, and the ghosts of composers gone from you, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Beethoven, circling around as you fell further down a swirling vortex of notes…
You then jolted awake, or so you assumed. Your husband's talk of visions from worlds beyond had been plaguing your own mind so much as of late, so it was natural they'd start showing up in your dreams.
Yet any promise that this'd be another day of piano, children, and not being allowed to see your husband was upended when you saw that you hadn't woken up in your bed, room, or anywhere familiar to you. At least this room looked normal enough, also having a desk, typewriter, clumps of books and notes scattered around, and… a corkboard with several daguerreotypes pinned on.
Turning your head to your left, you came face-to-face with a silver-haired young man clad in a light-blue jacket, who smiled and greeted you with, "Ah, good to see you're awake."
You shrieked and bolted upright, only to hear that the voice coming out of you didn't sound like your own, at least, didn't sound like how you sounded these days. Looking down at the stranger, you rasped at him, "Who are you? Where have you taken me?!"
"Ah, I do apologise," he said, extending a hand, "My name is-
[ ] Carmine
[ ] Cadence
[ ] Libero
[ ] Viertel
[ ] Write-in
-and I found you unconscious, washed up on the banks of the Flow. I brought you back home as quickly as I could, and I'm relieved to see you're recovering so soon."
You caught your breath and thought, Maybe I overreacted, this doesn't look like a kidnapping or anything of the sort. Not that this predicament was any less strange, for as you looked down at your hands, you gasped to see they were not the hands of a middle-aged woman, but those of a girl having just reached adulthood. The hands you had back then, as being a lifelong pianist, noting details like that was natural for you.
"You seem shocked, is something the matter?" he asked.
"Well, it's… hard to explain," you told him, "Could I request a mirror, I'm not, er, quite feeling myself?"
As you gasped for breath, you could only think, I'm still in a dream, still in a dream, still in a dream…
"Oh no, I haven't stumbled upon a vampire, have I?" the stranger joked, well, you hoped he joked.
"N-No, I saw my reflection, it's just…" you muttered, then breathed deep and said, "Sorry, I still haven't introduced myself in turn. Although, er, not to brag or anything, but someone like me probably doesn't need an introduction…"
The stranger then quirked an eyebrow at you and said, "Sorry, but I'm afraid I've never seen you before today. You see, I'm something of a talent scout, so it's my business to know who's who. Hmm, could that river have washed you so far along you ended up crossing countries?"
That… sounds unlikely, you thought. "I'm Clara Schumann, nee Wieck. I confess, maybe my star doesn't shine as brightly as it used to, but at my height I was one of Germany's most famed pianists. Eh, not meaning to boast or the like," you said, blushing a bit.
The stranger looked at you in silence for a second, before he tried to smile and said, "Perhaps I'm less in the know than I thought, but sorry, I've never heard your name. Or, er, that of Germany either. Oh, is it somewhere in the Ambitus Alps? There's lots of little provinces tucked in there."
Never heard of Germany? The Ambitus Alps? That settled it, this had to be a dream. You then dashed over to this room's sole window and looked over the town, but the ornate houses, cobblestone streets, and looming cathedral spire you instantly knew were that of Zwickau, your husband's hometown.
"Wait, if you've never heard of Germany, then how did you get to Zwickau?" you asked this man.
"Huh, 'Zwickau'? Er, last I checked this town was Sortita," he said. "I live here, so I should know after all."
You took a deep breath before you thought, I should just act natural till I find out more, else I risk looking out of my mind, if I don't already. I know I shouldn't think this, but I nearly envy Robert's visions now, something like this wouldn't be so out of the blue for him.
"…I see. Hmm, mind if I ask you to show me around, then? I guess you can tell I'm new in town," you chuckled and tugged you collar, trying to act as normally as you could.
"But of course," he smiled, "You may have, ah, 'arrived' just in time, for Sortita's town festival is tonight, held in honour of 'Chosen One'. Now I did have a few errands to run, more than a few preparations go into a festival naturally, but none of them wouldn't be on the way."
"Wait, 'Chosen One'?" you asked out loud, given this wasn't the first person you'd heard use the term.
"An angelic visionary, our star of the Festival. Er, well that's simplifying things, but the full extent of his role would take a while to explain. I'd say there'd be time for us to even meet him before the festival begins."
[ ] You'd like to meet with this 'Chosen One'
[ ] You'd like to see the riverbank where you were found
[ ] You could perform piano at this festival, as a way of introducing yourself to this place, though you'd need to practice first
[ ] Do you really know this town, no matter how much it looks like Zwickau? You'll just let him show you around for now
[ ] Write-in
"No joke, people have been speculating about a sequel to this since like '07. It's not gonna happen, but I kinda wish there was one now." - hbomberguy on Eternal Sonata
[X] You could perform piano at this festival, as a way of introducing yourself to this place, though you'd need to practice first
[X] Cadence
(QM's Note: If you're wondering how I wrote this up so fast, I already started writing when I saw 'practice piano' was clearly in the lead, then filled in Cadence's name as I posted)
After giving it some thought, you then asked Cadence, "As long as I'm here, I could always play the piano for your festival, if you're not all booked that is." Which was weird for you to say, since a performer of your renown had never had to worry about bookings in quite some time.
"Why no, not in the slightest. A town like ours is far from the biggest hub of musicians, so we'd always appreciate more," Cadence said with a smile before he suddenly blushed. "You may not notice it under all this mess, eheh, but I don't have a piano in my own room, I… never learned to play the instrument, embarrassing as it is to admit."
"You're in luck then, I do give lessons," you told him with a modest chuckle, "Not for any longer than one and a half hours each day though, my daily schedule can get most intensive."
Being led out the door and downstairs, your eyes widened when you saw that you were in a concert hall. "Quite something, isn't it?" Cadence said, "It's not much, compared to the performance halls in Hauptstimme or Ausdruck, but it's ours. I am the Conductor here though, so accuse me of bias if you want to."
"Wait, you can't play piano yet you're a conductor?" you turned back to ask.
"I get by with my training in other instruments," Cadence said.
"Oh, not that it's peculiar or anything," you then told him, "I do know at least… one other conductor who can't play piano. But ah, that's another story entirely."
Making your way downstairs to the grand piano here, likely the town's if it wasn't Cadence's, you sat down and started to play. You were tempted to try your husband's Toccata to display your finger technique to its fullest but, worried that'd make you look too much the show-off, you instead went with an earlier composition of his: Papillons, his second ever piece.
For a second you found yourself stumbling, perhaps not used to your hands having gone back to that of your young adult self's. However, you were long familiar enough with the tune that muscle memory took over for you in no time. After the Intro you mostly played the Polonaises, being courteous enough to not make Cadence sit through the whole thirteen-minute opus, and maybe you were also subconsciously honouring the Polish Chopin. Even if his positive relations with Robert didn't last, I still remember him being one of the first great maestros to appreciate me…
[+1 to Melody and Rhythm]
Ending naturally with the Finale, you were about to stand when the strangest of sights appeared. A cloud of glittering butterflies, their wings resembling masks, flew up from out of the piano. You turned to Cadence, laughed and said, "This is some surprise you have, hiding these butterflies in here. My, is this how you greet other musicians?"
"But Clara, those butterflies were all yours," Cadence said with total seriousness, making you almost jolt back in your seat. He went on, "Hmm, I've never heard that piece of yours. Now I might be getting my hopes up, but tell me, you're not a composer, are you?"
You winced, edging back a little. "I have written compositions, yes, but really it's not my forte. I'm best at playing pieces, not writing them," you said, looking down.
Cadence then took your hand and asked, "Now really, why all the humility? Composers bestow unto us one of our most sacred gifts, for what would the world be without music?"
You couldn't help but smile at that, and then said, "That is… certainly one of the sweetest ways I've ever heard music put. Still, I could certainly recommend you much better composers, you don't have to settle for me."
Cadence then sighed, "I'm afraid with how few composers are left right now, your services may be needed. When stranded in the desert, you don't just turn down water, after all. But please, tell me all the composers you can, we need them more than ever."
You tensed up and asked, "W-what ever do you mean? Music may be my life, but from how you're talking, you make it sound like music's literally needed to survive."
"Clara, you didn't... lose your memories, did you?" Cadence cocked his head and asked, "Because right now, and I do mean no offence, you sound like you've never heard of concepts even children know. That, or Germany must be really isolated."
That settles it, this is a dream. What else would make this little sense? You thought, rubbing your temples. "Um, then you wouldn't mind explaining, right?"
"Hmm, I think it'd be easier to show you," he said, as he began walking you to the door, opening onto the paved streets. "The local cathedral ought to jog your memory."
As lovely as the view from Cadence's window had been, through walking the actual streets, it did grow clearer that you weren't in Zwickau anymore. For one, houses had black roofs but with white lines along the edges that made them look like pianos, or how you could see trumpets for chimneys or flutes for ventilation. A tree you passed by looked like it had music notes written on its leaves. The cathedral Cadence had led you to even had organ pipes for its spires, making the whole thing look like an instrument. Score Piece! x1
"The Chosen One should be getting ready within, but he's not why I brought you here," Cadence said, as he gestured up at several marble statuettes adorning the church…. Statuettes you recognised.
"Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn," you gasped, "What are they doing here? Did they all donate to this church, maybe?"
"Your memory still isn't back," Cadence nodded, before he told you, "These are among the Holy Ghosts of Music, the great maestros who reside in musical Heaven. It is because of spirits like them that us humans even have the gift of music."
"Ah, so, it's a church of music then?" you took it.
Cadence had to laugh. "Clara, all churches are churches of music," he said before he gestured to a scene carved into the entrance arch, of angels playing music God had written. "Hmm, surely you'd at least know how the world came to be?"
"You mean in Genesis? The Seven Days, 'Let there be Light'?" you went over.
"My, no mention of how the world was performed into being, how God's music was played and sung by His heavenly host? How the Laws gave structure and Music gave spirit?" Cadence got swept up in his words.
I'm… sure what you just said could be considered heresy, you had to think, well, there'd have to be one sect out there that'd agree with you. "Wait, my husband once said something like that, about his life being struggle between Music and Law. Sorry, that just came back to me."
"All of history has been a struggle between Music and Laws. Er, so historians say anyway, it's not quite my field," Cadence then said, before he looked straight into your eyes, "Clara, music is the lifeblood of our world, the essence of creation. Without composers divinely inspired to create new music, well, then what becomes of existence?"
"Is… Is that why those butterflies came out of the piano, that I was weaving the fabric of creation, ah, so to say?" you asked, the implications of that dawning on you.
"Ah, good to see you catching on," Cadence said, before he looked off into the distance. "Clara, so far I've just been going on about how our world is in peril and all that. But to repeat myself, it's one thing to tell you, and another to show you. We still have a few hours before the Festival at sunset, would you like a tour of the lands outside Sortita's gates?"
"...To show me how fallen the world is without composers, right?" you surmised. Well, I'm not sure what else I can do here, "I might as well, it'd be good to know the area."
"Ah, good to hear. Now, we've got quite the array of sights past our three gates-
[ ] The east gate leads to the Caesura Moor, where you can see skytrains criss-crossing up above, the moor being littered with their old tracks.
[ ] The north gate leads to the Feurigwald, the petrified forest where cursed compositions were burned, to save us from Inner Demons.
[ ] The southwest gate leads up to the arc of the Overture Mountains, where precious brass is mined. If you thought the view from my window was impressive…
[ ] Or you could just spend more time around Sortita, we're not completely out of stuff to do.
-Well, Clara, what'll it be?" Cadence smiled and asked.
Wait, skytrains, brass mines, petrified woods? Cadence was now raising more questions than he answered.
"Hmm, though first, we should properly arm ourselves. Not that we're going far, but it doesn't hurt to prepare, especially with the state of the world right now," Cadence then said.
You twitched. "Arm ourselves, you mean with weapons?"
"Of course, the local Armoury's not far from here," Cadence said like that was natural. Guiding you to what looked like a music store but with spikes and edges on the instruments and suits of armour, he pointed to a selection in the window.
"I already have my trusty Baton, so I'll be fine," he said again like that was natural. "Oh, don't worry about JP, you're new in town so it's only fair I pay."
"JP?" you had to ask.
Cadence somehow smiled and sighed at the same time. "Ah, you also don't know what our currency is. Jewel Pieces, JP for short."
[ ] Keysword (keyboard-sword) and piano lid shield.
[ ] Dual keyswords, one treble one bass.
[ ] Piano hammer and lid shield.
[ ] Dual piano hammers.
[ ] Piano hammer and keysword, mix it up.
[ ] Write-in weapon design (has to at least fit with Clara Schumann)
[X] The east gate leads to the Caesura Moor, where you can see skytrains criss-crossing up above, the moor being littered with their old tracks.
[X] Keysword (keyboard-sword) and piano lid shield.
Heading to the moors gate also meant going back through town the way you'd come, which you didn't mind much since it was your first time here after all. Well, first time if this really wasn't Zwickau. Dream Zwickau might be the term.
You'd expect there to be a little unruliness the day leading up to a Festival, but you soon saw the residents of the town were quite neat and well-mannered. The pleasantness they exuded reminded you of some idealised painting of German villagers.
Passing through an idyllic riverside garden first, you came to a stone bridge lined with lampposts going over the River Flow, you presumed. While there, Cadence pointed out a pebble-strewn shore and said, "That's where I found you this morning, you would've been swept downstream from the Overture Mountains. I was gathering flowers for a festival float when I saw you all washed up".
Craning your head to look closer, it seemed like an ordinary enough riverbank, so you took it that whatever had summoned you there would've been further up those mountains. That is, if anything had summoned you at all beyond your own mind.
Approaching the gate, you were met by guards clad in full armour, if with a couple of C-holes for ventilation. They promptly asked "Halt! Who goes there! Do you know what lies beyond these walls?" and crossed their… Cellances? Lancellos? It didn't help you were already armed, if with a piano and baton.
"Gentleman, relax! It's me, Cadence the town Conductor. Don't worry about my new friend Miss Clara, she's new around here, so I was just helping her get her bearings," Cadence was quick to explain.
"Missus Clara, actually," you instinctively reminded him.
[Roll to persuade: 4d3=2,2,3,2]
[+1 to Legality for getting around the guards]
The guards slowly parted their lancellos, even if their faces were covered you could still feel them eyeing you. "Proceed," they stated in unison.
Though you were cleared, you still couldn't help but flinch. "High security for a country town, I have to say. I'd guess there's highway bandits around, right?" you figured.
Cadence had to grin at that. "Oh Clara, bandits would be a blessing," he said, not helping to ease your tension.
You walked out to a murky green expanse, kept in humid stillness by the grey clouds overhead, the occasional ray of sun shimmering like a mirage. The calling of birds and croaking of frogs gave these moors a music of their own and strewn throughout the swamp were the rusted train-tracks Cadence had told you about, with even some old, empty carriages around.
You only took a few steps before a sudden wind swept over you, caused by a whole train flying above you, headed south. "S-so that's the skytrain?" you mumbled, looking straight up.
"A skytrain," Cadence chimed in, "Heh, I'm guessing there are no stations in Germany."
"Well, w-we have stations of course, just… not for these," you remarked, nearly breathless.
Cadence cautioned you to stay on the stone road, if you didn't want your clothes to get all muddied before the Festival. As you walked along, he explained, "A lot of skytrain routes cross the moors, the logic is in case of a crash, it's better to have a soft, if sticky, landing. Plus, any route north of Hauptstimme would be… treacherous."
"Why, because of sky bandits?" it amused you to say, even if those may be a genuine threat in a world like this.
"No, because of witches and warlocks," Cadence said with a straight face, "They use their devil music to stir up whole tornadoes on the Pastorale Plains north of here. Guess they just don't like technology or something."
You just nodded at that, before Cadence had to suddenly grab and pull you back. Jolted to full attention, you saw what looked like a pile of metallic sludge covering the hills ahead of you, even seeping into the ponds nearby.
"We call that Liquid Noise," Cadence said, "Whole swathes of the land are covered in it. Long ago, we used it to fuel great machines called Instruments of War, and for our hubris, this waste that stains our world was what we got".
Per his words, you could spot several machine parts lying submerged in the Noise. "So, it's poisonous to the touch then?" you asked.
"Worse," Cadence said, and as if to prove his point, a crane that'd been hit by you guessed a skytrain, feel straight down into the Noise. What then emerged was a monster, a black-and-red bird with reeds for a beak and what looked like flutes or some other woodwind for legs.
The crane came right up and attacked you, delivering a spinning kick with each leg, the sound through the holes piping up at you. On instinct, you blocked the attack with your shield like the lid of an upright piano.
While you guarded yourself from the crane, Cadence had time to run and behind and strike with a four-hit combo from his baton. When you then slashed with your keysword from the front though, the noise-crane used its case-like wings to block your blows.
"I see, don't strike these… creatures from the front," you told yourself. Saying that against a human opponent would be giving your strategy away, but to a mutated monster, you took it there was little harm.
"Right, now allow me," Cadence said, as while you'd gotten the crane blocking from the front, he got it in a few more hits with his baton before suddenly pointing it straight up and saying, "Volley of horns, unleash your fire. Brass Battalion!"
Three waves of brass instruments materialised either side of him, first quick-firing trumpets, then spread-fire horns and sniping trombones, then lastly cannon-like tubas. With the crane monster recoiling and collapsing from the sonic barrage, the levitating brass then vanished as quickly as it had materialised.
[+1 to Rhythm for blocking]
[Roll for loot: 4d6=1,1,3,6]
[Found Tail Feathers]
"W-what was that?!" you exclaimed.
"We call those creatures Inner Demons," Cadence said, "Normally, when someone or something touches the Liquid Noise directly, it causes their sins and vices to manifest as a monstrous Inner Demons. But ingesting the Noise or being submerged it in as this poor crane was, will transform you outright into one of them. Ah, I suppose the harm to the local birds is the trade-off for all these trains flying overhead."
"…Good to know, but that isn't quite what I was asking," you told him, "I mean, those brass instruments, h-how did they appear, and where did they go?"
"Oh, those," Cadence had to laugh, before he explained, "we're told we all have a jewel in our hearts, and it creates a unique resonance we call a Signature, and I don't mean how you write your name. It was me calling that on my Signature that let those horns emerge forth from my soul."
"Er, that's a lot to take in," you muttered, hands on your temples. "Wait, so just anyone can do this? And are those 'Inner Demons' just Signatures called on by the Noise?"
"Ah, good as always to see you learn quickly," Cadence smiled, then said, "Actually Clara, you didn't handle yourself too badly for your first time against an Inner Demon."
"I… have experience," you told him, quickly adding, "Not against Demons, no, but I once had to navigate my way through a city-wide riot. It's, well, not dissimilar."
"Huh, Germany continues to sound more and more interesting," Cadence chuckled.
[Treasure found in the area: Floral Powder x2]
Heading further into the moor brought you to a whole railroad bridge sunken into the swamp. Cautiously making your way across it, you then came to a series of lakes, with what looked like city gates on the far shore.
"Huh, must've lost track of time, if we're this close to Hauptstimme," Cadence remarked and shook his head, "Best be heading back now, we want to be in Sortita before the Festival starts after all." Score Piece! x1
As you were about to turn around, a young man's voice suddenly called out to you, "My Chiarina, fancy seeing you here." The voice was somewhat familiar to you, almost sounding like, though not quite, your husband when he was young.
"D-Did you say 'Chiarina'?" you asked, approaching him, "T-that's the name Robert used for me in his pieces! How did you hear about that?"
"Hah, your husband named pieces from the same suite after us too!" the stranger laughed, which made you wonder who this 'us' was?
"Clara, you know this person?" Cadence asked.
The young man then glared at the conductor. "You stay out of this; we came forth only to speak with Chiarina!" he snapped.
He then put the top hat back on, and then started to melt away as his shadow rose, like he was trading places with said shadow in a way. "You do remember us, don't you Chiarina?" the 'young man' now said in a softer, less forceful voice, "It's me, Eusebius, and that was Florestan!"
Your legs began to shake, before you clutched your head and went, "No, no, that has to be a mistake! F-Florestan and Eusebius were fictional character Robert created, h-how can I be talking to fictional people?!"
Eusebius, Florestan, whoever, then beckoned out of Cadence's earshot, as he then said to you, tone of the voice still indicating Eusebius, "You see, Missus Chiarina, in a world that exists only in your husband's dream, wouldn't it make sense the characters he thought up would appear?"
You then said, "So, I was correct I saying this was a dream, but… not mine? This is all the creation of Robert's mind? T-then how did I get in here?!"
"Who knows," Eusebius said, as he took off his hat and reverted to Florestan, "We are but Mr. Schumann's representatives, not he himself, so even we only know so much.
Anyway, Chiarina, or Clara if you'd prefer, why not come visit us up in Leip- er, Haupstimme?" Florestan went on, "Actually the invite was Eusebius', but his nervousness got the better of him and asked me to extend it to you. We write for a music paper there, not the neatest of offices, but still."
"Right. Er, I'll get there when I can," you told them, but then looked back at Cadence, "Though right now I've already got a booking, and should be heading back to Sortita."
But before you could, the train tracks behind you began rattling, and the three (four?) of you had to duck out of the way as a steam engine suddenly sped your way.
Getting back up fast, you saw the engine had been splattered with that Liquid Noise, which made you wonder if it too was an 'Inner Demon'? It was then joined by two carriages that pulled up either side, ghostly faces pressed up against their windows.
You had to think of a plan fast:
[ ] Run around behind that train and attack.
[ ] Bait the train by blocking, and have the others attack.
[ ] Focus on the carriages, they seem like the weaker 'foes'.
[ ] Run over to the lake, then dodge to trick this train into falling in.
[ ] Write-in
You needed to remind yourself repeatedly that not only were you fighting a train, but that was okay or something because this was all a dream, and technically it was demon-ified train, wasn't it?
Since Cadence and Florestan- Eusebius- Florestan and Eusebius, seemed to have experience already in dealing with fiends such as these, your plan was you'd pick off the two smaller carriages while they focused on the more pressing threat.
[Roll for attack: 3,2,5,2, +10 Harmony]
Being train carriages though they moved fast, so fast that both swerved around to flank you from each side in no time, where you were nearly pressed together. However, both carriages being this close in vicinity to you gave you a head start in launching your own attack.
Remembering the 'incantation', you could call it, that Cadence had used on the demon before, you took a breath before calling out, "Swoop from on high, Glissando Storm!" You then delivered a sweeping run back and forth with your blade, its slash leaving an afterimage of a keyboard in its wake. The attack's range was wide enough that it struck both carriages, causing the pained souls within to shriek like banshees. The torment that may have been going through their souls right now was something you tried not to think about… though you had to briefly wonder whether banshees did exist in this world.
[Roll 4d3 for defence: 1,1,3,3, +6 Rhythm]
The two carriages revved up again, trying this time to run you over from their fronts. Before they did so, you were able to run to an especially marshy plot of ground, where one of the carriages got stuck as it tried to charge you. The other however wasn't so unlucky, as it sped in and struck you from behind, knocking you to the ground. Your collapsed self then felt the intense heat and rattling of pipes from under it, as it was parked over you and about to spin you into the swamp. Being cloaked in its shadow though, you gripped your sword and spoke out straight up at it, "Marvel at a true musician, Virtuoso Vice!" As the carriage sprang up to crush you, that gave you time to stand up and fire off seven shadowy strikes from your keysword, nearly juggling it in the air.
All the while, Eusebius was keeping the main Murder Express occupied from a distance, baiting it by… throwing his hat like a boomerang at it, which stranger still was dealing some actual dents to the locomotive. From what you'd seen, you took it that Eusebius briefly reverted To Florestan every time he took off his hat. The main train could pull off ranged attacks too though, from magically laying out tracks in front of it before charging, to spouting off red-hot coal from its trumpet funnel.
[Roll 4d3 for the attack on the engine: 2,1,2,3 +10 Conducting (Cadence)]
But Eusebius' distractions gave Cadence the opportunity to head around to the back of the engine and attack it at its weakest. Not only did you see him resummon the Brass Battalion between baton hits, but as the train's shadow fell on him, he then showed off another technique.
"Let the Earth tremble, Percussive Quake!" he said, and as he beat with his baton, a whole circle of mallets around the edge of the battlefield all beat down in unison, creating a shockwave that swept the whole plain, even finishing off that carriage stuck in the mud.
Both the carriage pierced in the sky and trapped in the ground vanished with one last series of wails, appearing to be pulled into the netherworld as they not merely broke down, but disintegrated. That still left the main train engine though, but Eusebius had… his own answer to that.
"Once more with feeling, Recurring Dream!" he stated, as his hat spun around him counterclockwise. For a few seconds the whole world rewound to Cadence's Percussive Quake, repeating the grand area-of-effect attack again, and pummelling the murderous engine till at last it broke apart, launching coal and cogs everywhere.
[+1 Harmony and Rhythm for group attacks and partial dodge]
[Found Detuned Piano and Phantom Ticket x2]
[+1 Terrain for traversing Caesura Moor]
[ ] Equip Detuned Piano (+2 Strength, -1 Sound, 2 Accessory Slots) on Clara?
[ ] Stick with Practice Piano as her Weapon
[ ] Look around for better weapon (Roll 4d3) Score Piece x1!
You sighed with relief now that train… thing that'd attacked you was finally no more. Though Cadence had talked a great deal about 'Signatures', Eusebius having no less than a Technique which made time repeat itself was something beyond even that. You thought to ask him about that, figuring whatever connection they had to Robert was to do with it, but he, or rather Florestan since he'd taken his hat off, had turned to go.
"Sorry I couldn't stay longer, Chiarina, much work to be done as member of a Musician's League, and you have your little Festival or whatever to get back to," he said, till his hat's shadow made him revert to Eusebius, who said, "B-but afterwards you're welcome to come to us in H-Haupstimme!"
"…Peculiar gentleman, is he not?" Cadence chuckled as you bid farewell to Eusebius. "Ah, just imagine what other sort we could've run into had we gone Feurigwald or Overture way."
"L-Let's just head back now, and quickly too. I don't know if it's what you'd call 'normal', but I am definitely not used to trains attacking me on their own," you said, glancing around out of caution.
You were fairly wounded after coming back from the moor, what with it being infested with those Inner Demons… Same is true for the rest of this world's landscape, I'm told, you thought.
Having harvested some Floral Powder from the marshes, you thought to use some of it to heal the damage done to you, since a good rest wasn't much of an option else you missed the Festival. However, passing by some strange floating, sparkling diary you saw upon re-entering Sortita, you found you didn't have to use that Floral Powder, as a magic quill attached to it somehow restored your injuries by… writing down the events that'd just transpired.
"Er, I suppose you can explain this too?" you asked.
"Oh, those? We call that a Dal Segno, it's basically a magical checkpoint that records what events have happened to you," Cadence said without missing a beat, "It is said that everyone sees them differently, depending on the object most precious to them, the object their heart returns to you could say. Diaries tend to be a common form they take."
Evening soon befell you, and all Sortita gathered in the Town Square for the Festival. This Festival appeared to be a Masquerade, with the townsfolk wearing everything from animal to musical to monster disguises. Therefore, you fit right in with a butterfly mask that'd appeared out of nowhere when you practiced Papillons here earlier.
One thing you took notice of were that the children of the town had been given little effigies on sticks to burn, uncomfortably human-shaped effigies at that. You tried to put your mind off it, telling yourself that plenty of small towns had strange customs dating far back like that.
Cadence in private handed you a special gown for your performance tonight, then once you were ready, led you out to an open-air stage where a grand piano had already been set up, with rows of other musicians taking their seats in the back. As you sat down and looked over the keys, a young boy only just of age, with sandy swept hair and clutching a trumpet, was led up and introduced to you.
"Clara Schumann, this is our Chosen One," Cadence said for him, "A promising young boy in town who has had the angels grace him with their presence, thus is fated to take the lead role in tonight's ceremony. Why don't you two say a few words, for our Chosen One has the right to get to know the musician who shall play his funeral hymn?"
You tensed as those words came out of nowhere. "H-Hold on, 'funeral hymn'?" you gasped.
"Ah, hello there, Miss," the young Chosen One mumbled as he greeted you, bowing his head low, as he took a shaking step towards you, "Er, e-everyone here says I'm the 'Chosen One', they keep telling me that, b-but my- my actual name is-
[ ] Harper
[ ] Gabriel
[ ] Apollo
[ ] Write-in
"Pleased to meet you," you said to him, if with some apprehension given what Cadence had just said.
"I-I mean, I am about to die, so…" the Chosen One said, his eyes glancing over to a group of townsfolk carrying over a stack of organ pipes with ropes around them, a bonfire being lit beneath, "So, I-I'm grateful to see that a nice lady like you will be performing for- for me being sacrificed…"
"Of course, dear Chosen One, all the best for your last night on Earth," Cadence smiled.
Wait, this boy- they were going to kill this boy? And Cadence knew all about this yet did nothing, said nothing? Worse, it sounded like they'd been raising this boy his whole life to be sacrificed… and somehow, it'd all gone over your head until it was too late.
Or was it too late? If what you'd been told was true, that this was your husband's dream, then you knew he wouldn't be anyone who'd want something as barbaric as this to happen. You had to do something, you wouldn't live with yourself if you just stood by and watched someone get killed like this. But first, you needed a distraction. Score Piece x1!
[ ] Slam down the piano to distract everyone.
[ ] Deal a sudden blow to Cadence, catch him off guard.
[ ] Delay Cadence with words, demand to know what the point behind all this is.
[ ] Run over and pre-emptively snuff out that bonfire.
[ ] Write-in
[X] Equip Detuned Piano (+2 Strength, -1 Sound, 2 Accessory Slots) on Clara?
[X] Delay Cadence with words, demand to know what the point behind all this is.
[X] Gabriel "Cadence, why?!" You stood off your chair and yelled at him, even placing your own hand on Gabriel's shoulder, "This- this is inhumane, what could possibly possess your town to stoop to this?! We- we don't act this way anymore!"
"Oh, really Clara?" Cadence said, his eyes staring right at you even as his smile remained, "In our modern world, we make sacrifices in the name of art all the time. It's shameful that I have to explain this to you, for the reality that true art cannot exist without pain should be something every artist knows."
You gritted your teeth, your nostrils even started flaring. "Is that why you want to kill Gabriel, just to make people miserable?"
"If people don't experience pain, people cannot take that pain and from it create art," Cadence kept going, "And no great compositions will again be made to rejuvenate our world born from song. Now, do unhand Gabriel, so that we of Sortita may fulfill our duty to the world."
You glared back and hissed, "Make me," and from there held Gabriel tight and bolted.
[Gabriel has joined the party. Cadence has left the party]
Not that you could simply run on out of this cultish town, as you and Gabriel were quickly jumped by the masked townsfolk. While you didn't hesitate to try fending them off with blows from your keysword, Gabriel just stood there and shivered.
"M-Miss Clara, I…" he tried to find the words, "I-I am scared to die, b-but… I don't want to fight my own townspeople."
"Gabriel," you only had time to mutter as, in the dark off the night, you launched a Virtuoso Vice assault on the masked man in front of you, only to then get jumped by two more. Knocked to the ground now, you felt the light of an ablaze torch upon you, which let you push back up with a rising Glissando Storm, knocking back the two townsmen. "Gabriel, anyone who tries to sacrifice you aren't 'your people'!" you got the chance to finish saying.
As he saw you being continuously wounded fending off the would-be sacrificers, Gabriel ran up to the same torchlight himself and said, "Miss Clara, y-you're right. This won't be the end, Miracle Heal!" He played an angelic melody on his trumpet, musically restoring you to full health.
[+1 Melody to Clara and Gabriel]
Breaking on through another wave of townsfolk, you headed with Gabriel over to a low-lying roof, which you strained to lift yourself up onto. "We can't get out of here across that bridge, there are guards there," you glanced down and told him, also having to check for any possible townsfolk springing up behind you.
Gabriel gulped but took your hand anyway so you could help him up onto the roof. Your adrenaline having fully kicked in by now, you then lead him from rooftop to rooftop trying to lose your masked pursuers.
"B-but, if we can't get out across a bridge, how can we get out?" Gabriel tried asking between the leaps you had to do.
You nearly stopped running, as you hadn't really thought any further beyond not taking the bridge. "We-we'll swim across the river once we've lost them over these roofs. I'm not sure of any other way out," you eventually said, but kept quiet on not even knowing if this boy could swim, or that the river wasn't so slow-moving.
[+1 Terrain]
Reaching a roof overlooking the River Flow, a panting Gabriel following, you breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed any townsfolk had been long delayed by that rooftop chase. Well, all but one…
"Clara, Clara, you have been such an ungrateful guest," Cadence's words then rang in your ears, as the moonlit conductor steeped in between you and the river, "I brought you in from the river, showed you around town, taught you everything you know about our world, saved you from those Demons, and arranged for you to perform at our Festival. Yet this is how you repay us?"
"And you deceived me the whole time, hiding your murderous intent," you seethed as you tried striking him, only for Cadence to step out of the way and spin around at you with his baton.
"I never lied, Clara, you were simply incurious," Cadence laughed before sweeping at you from behind with his baton, "If you wanted the full details of the Festival, all you had to do was ask."
Standing back in the shadows, Gabriel then held forth his trumpet-pistol and tried firing at Cadence, only for the conductor to barely seem scratched. "As for you, Chosen One," Cadence said as he looked at Gabriel, "Despite this setback, I can ensure you will not survive the night, even if I must commit the deed myself."
Cadence now launched one of his attacks against you, calling on a Percussive Quake to pound both Gabriel and you into the tiles below. As you struggled you pick yourself up, he laughed down at you and pulled out a skill fully new to you, a more sinister skill that may've warned you of his true nature.
"Obey my every order, Chain of Command!" Cadence proclaimed as he pointed his baton right between your eyes, enthralling you for long enough that, with another wave of his baton, he controlled you into trying to slash at Gabriel, the boy scurrying away but not unscathed.
Even when you regained control of yourself, knowing that you attacked Gabriel stung you so much that for a second you were paralysed. The instant you could again move, you sped over to slash again at Cadence, only for him to spin to face you and parry with his baton.
Gabriel had at least managed to get around to the side of the roof facing the river, and yet looking down and knowing the only way out of here was to jump made him freeze.
You tried hurrying over to him, only to hear Cadence chant at you, "A thousand wires be your cage, String Vivisection!" Each movement of his baton then drew up a razor-sharp wire around you, caging you in a web of strings, a cage you could only break through by enduring what felt like a thousand cuts.
Your bleeding body nearly collapsed right by Gabriel on that side of the roof, Cadence howling with laughter as he loomed above you. You looked at Gabriel and offered your hand, and with him trembling as he then reached to take it, the two of you then chanced the leap down into the River Flow over the certain death of Sortita's Festival.
"Hah, then die in the water, give us the death we wanted!" were the last words you heard Cadence say as you leapt with Gabriel. Per those words, the river was freezing cold, and with you beaten so badly that you had no strength to struggle against the current, you soon fell unconscious as you were washed downstream.
You slowly awoke, having not the slightest idea how much time had passed since you'd escaped through that river. At least the first person you could make out being Gabriel meant that you hadn't been recaptured by Sortita, him still being alive.
"Are you okay, M-Miss Clara?" his trembling voice asked immediately upon you waking up. "I-I used my melodies to h-heal you, but…" he then wheezed, having clearly put himself out of breath doing so.
It was good you still had some spare Floral Powders to heal him with in return, but now you faced the question of just where you were. Slowly picking yourself up, you looked around to see you were in an ashen landscape, surrounded by grey, burnt trees like records and clarinets set ablaze.
"Y-Yeah, it would, but I guess we're deep in, since it's… not any part of it I know," Gabriel mumbled, "Sorry, Miss Clara, all my life I've never been that far from Sortita, never been allowed really."
"Gabriel, that's-" you began, "That's okay, it's nothing you need to apologise for. And well, I'd be Missus Clara, Clara Schumann."
"Oh, sorry Miss- Missus, I didn't know," Gabriel squeaked, "Um, I imagine your husband must be really worried about you."
You blushed at the thought, then said, "Really, I'm just as worried about him."
Gabriel then looked back upstream, and of all things said, "I- Do you think I should go back and apologise? To Sortita?"
You gasped. "Absolutely not!" you told him, "Even if you've known them all your life, those people still tried to kill you. Again, you have nothing to apologise for!"
"Y-Yeah, you're right," Gabriel said, but still looked down, "I guess I said that because, well, after that time I saw angels as a child, they made me spend the rest of my life preparing for- for that day. Now I'm free, but… I don't know what to do now."
"Well, you can always come with me to Haupstimme, I believe it's to the north of here," you said and smiled, "I received an invitation from, uh, two gentlemen there, they're ah, how do I put this, friends of my husband. First thing we're there-"
[ ] We'll try finding those two right away.
[ ] We'll alert any authorities about Sortita.
[ ] We'll stock up on supplies, to head further away from Sortita.
[ ] I'll let you decide what we should do.
[ ] Write-in Score Piece x1!
Heading out, the first thing you found was not a pleasant sight to wake to. It looked like a cross between a mushroom and some sort of lizard, draconic even, with the fungi along its top an array of swirling rainbow colours. This creature did appear to be slain though, so no threat to you, from a… crossbow bolt in its back?
You asked Gabriel, "…Are crossbows that common in Sortita?" Or whatever the instrument crossbow hybrid was around here.
"Not really, I've never seen people in town carry them. Although," Gabriel said, twirling his fingers, "They do say there's a Warlock, a Demon Summoner, who roams around here with a Violin on him," and there was your hybrid, "Everyone says to stay away if you see him."
"Still, he did take out that monster near us while we weren't conscious, and didn't try to steal our possessions," you said, "And I wouldn't exactly trust the word of Sortita right now. Hmm, did you ever hear his name?"
[X] We'll try finding those two right away.
[X] Solomon
"Solomon, huh? Well, if we do cross paths, I'll be the one to talk with him. You've been through a lot already, I wouldn't want to strain you further," you smiled at Gabriel.
Gabriel smiled back at your words and said, "Oh, thank you, but really I think I'd be most comfortable if we just- just stayed away from that sort altogether," he then looked downcast again. "A-Also, Missus Clara, I do r-realise it may not be my place to say this, but… you've just been through as much as me, s-so wouldn't you already be 'strained'?"
"That's…" you tried to say, before you settled on, "That's different. I may not look it, but um, I'm nearing forty, so I have more life experience with such situations." This world has demons out in the open and magic heart signature… things, so you didn't think not looking at all your age would seem that strange.
"Guess you haven't spent all your life in Sortita either so, um, there's that," Gabriel nodded in response. "Though er, beg your pardon for saying this, Missus, but you don't know this area either…"
"I can learn," you said simply, smiled, and patted Gabriel on the head, "Now come along, best we head north before" Before Cadence or his townsfolk find us, was what you were about to say, but given what Gabriel had gone through you changed those words to just, "Before too long."
Walking north through this petrified forest, it wasn't long before you came across drifting clouds of smoke passing by. Both choking on ash and not being able to see made trying to head through them a low priority, so that left either looking for a path nearby that wasn't covered by them, or just waiting for them to move on. Spend too much the time on the first choice, and it may lock you into the second.
[Roll 4d6 for Terrain: 2,5,1,6]
You had the luck for an unclouded way through to show itself soon enough, when a fallen, gnarled tree trunk gave you a makeshift sheltered tunnel through. However, a pair of Demons, one of those little mushroom-dragons you'd seen earlier and what looked like a tree stump… with glowing red eyes and a crooked mouth, had taken the initiative to block off the other end.
Both moved into attack, the mushroom lizard exhaling noxious, multi-coloured breath at you, which both sent you into a coughing fit and made you see visions, like that of a second mushroom lizard who, when you swung your sword at it, you only then realised wasn't real. But then, what technically is in this world?
Gabriel at least had distance on his side, able to get in a string of trumpet-shots on that stump monster. That the lizard's illusion had made you move to the side helped in that regard, as you'd given Gabriel a clear line of sight. But then the stump, though you wouldn't have thought it capable of doing so, pulled out a ranged attack of its own, as it somehow conjured the ghost of a tree growing from it, which it sent crashing down onto Gabriel, knocking him right onto the forest floor.
Luckily you were then able to launch a counterattack upon that mind-boggling mushroom lizard as you chanted out "Virtuoso Vice!" and launched its flurry of slices. The lizard, though now staggered, still had its own retaliation up its own proverbial sleeve, when it launched several of the mushrooms on its back up onto you, making you swat furiously to get them off before their neurotoxins started seeping into you.
Gabriel was at least slowly getting back up, only to find that stump had been slowly moving up to him in the meantime. His whole body shaking in panic, he immediately pulled out one of his own Signature attacks with a shrill cry of, "O Saints, banish the evil: Holy Horns!" Clearly meant as a long-range attack, Holy Horns was still able to unleash destructive bursts of noise up close, trumpeting back the stump-fiend.
[Roll 4d6 for overall battle: 3,3,2,2]
While these two monsters occupied you though, a third appeared on the scene, blocking off the other end of the overturned tree. You glanced back for a second and saw it didn't look like more than a faint Will-o-Wisp, yet as it touched the forest floor, it created a blaze that in seconds blocked off the way you came in.
The stump, having gotten back up, tried to jump up and land on top of Gabriel, who was already coughing fiercely from that fire's smoke. But that stump now being behind you, that gave you the chance to turn around and slash at it from behind, preventing its pounce attack. One good thing to come from that blaze behind being you is that its light let Gabriel use his healing melody, him chanting "Miracle Heal!"
The Wisp however was moving further into the log-tunnel and spreading its own bushfire with it. But in that moment, a voice from behind and outside uttered "Abandon Hope", conjuring up what looked like a swirling portal that sucked the Wisp straight in. It was only on its defeat when you saw that, beneath its glow, the Wisp resembled a piece of singed music paper floating around.
This left you free to finish off that stump, the creature short enough that you were able to plunge your sword right on top of it, making it cackle in pain before it collapsed into a pile of ashes. This just left that mushroom lizard, and while it being behind you gave it the chance to launch more mushroom spores, some in range to also hit Gabriel this time, it was still now three against one.
"Ricochet Spark," your new ally intoned, firing a bolt that bounced off both side of the log, gaining energy with each ricochet, until it pierced the lizard, with only a few more sword swings from you finishing it off. With one last Miracle Heal from Gabriel, that battle was over.
[+1 Melody and Harmony for single combat and teamwork]
[Roll 4d6 for loot: 2, 2, 1, 5]
[Found Mystery Mushroom]
That left you finally able to get a good look at this unknown crossbow-violinist who'd stepped in, him presumably being the one who finished off that previous mushroom lizard at the riverbank before it could attack your unconscious selves. Gabriel already inching his way behind you, you stepped forth to greet him with, "Ah, why hello there, Sir. We both thank you for your help, ah, and presume you're that Solomon we've heard about?"
"It was hard going for a while, but we seem to be fine," you smiled at him, nudging Gabriel out from behind you, "We take it you also saved us from that monster by the river?"
Again, no words, he just nodded. Gabriel though, now in the grip of hyperventilating, blurted out, "Y-You're not a Warlock, are you?!"
"Ah, do forgive Gabriel his rudeness, he's quite a sheltered boy," you swerved in, giving a nervous laugh.
"No, it's alright," Solomon said, "Most think that. I'm a wandering exorcist, word just has it I'm a demon summoner because…" he started, but somehow couldn't finish that line.
"Because you're not good at communicating?" you tried to finish for him, biting your lip and flinching once you realised your own rudeness in front of Gabriel.
However, Solomon didn't seem like he took any offence, not like he was displaying that wide an expression range though, as he told you, "Yes, you'd be correct."
"Well then, Mr. Solomon, we were just heading north to Hauptstimme and, ah, perhaps would like to come with us? Stock up on supplies and whatnot? It's a bigger city, so I doubt people would be as quick to superstitious fear as out in the countryside," you asked him. Looking down at Gabriel, you then whispered to the former Chosen One, "See, you'll have nothing to fear, I'll keep an eye on him." That made Gabriel smile at you in return, like he was easing up already.
"I'm not used to travelling with others," Solomon began but then had to admit, "But I see your point, that would be convenient."
[Solomon joined the party]
While Solomon was still mostly unscathed, you and Gabriel weren't so fortunate, as getting through the forest had taken quite a bit out of you. You still had one Floral Powder one left, but cautious of your stock and how much breath Gabriel had left to keep healing, you took a chance on saving it. Score Piece x1!
With that, your now-a-trio was on its way. The rest of the trek to Hauptstimme was relatively uneventful, to your relief. The most notable incident was when you started walking up what looked like a hill with a (non-demonic) stump on top, only to then find out it was really a giant pile of ash with a tree buried within.
[Treasure Found in Area: Poison Whitecap and Shadow Tail]
Upon making it to the city walls, you still had to travel along them some ways to find the nearest gate. You guess that made sense, as having a gate leading right into a burned forest didn't seem the most fruitful idea, since who'd take that route? Er, other than you three. And the people of Sortita you supposed, but they were… their own thing.
At the gate, you realised though that, as both Gabriel and you were unfamiliar with the area and Solomon's reputation may not be the best, and that you'd all come from an unlikely direction covered in soot, that being let in by Hauptstimme's guards might not be so simple.
"Hello there. We've come here to Hauptstimme at the request of Florestan and Eusebius, but with Inner Demons around, it's… not been easy out there," you said to get them to let you in.
"True, true," one of the guards said, "We had to fend off a demon attack at the gates just yesterday. Hmm, and you know Florestan and Eusebius? They're an interesting 'duo', I'll grant you, so it makes sense they'd attract all sorts."
"Ah, that's the 'exorcist' Solomon, I take it?" the other guard said, "I've heard some nasty rumours about him, but I admit, I've never seen actual evidence for anything people say about him. Well, we suppose we can let you into the city, but with a warning, you hear?"
"Oh my, thank you," you beamed, before strolling straight into Haupstimme. Dwarfing Sortita, its myriad medieval-to-modern houses where largely a light brown with orange and purple sloped roofs, a diamond-shaped pattern decorating its main street. In the distance you could see two looming buildings, positioned like a conductor and soloist over the town's orchestra. They were a Concert Hall whose golden roof reminded you of a harpsichord, of all instruments, and a massive arched railway station, skytrains soaring in and out.
"Why, Chiarina, there you are!" you heard Florestan's voice exclaim as he ran up to you, only for him to then narrow his eyes, "And… who are these two you've got with you? They look nothing like that fellow you were with earlier."
"That's, well, a long story," you gulped as you said, nor one I'd wish to go over on a city street, "But in short, these are Gabriel and Solomon, trumpeter and violinist companions of mine."
"Hmm, I see," Florestan muttered, "Wait, Solomon, I've heard that name. Well, if you have Missus Chiarina's approval, I trust then you're an alright sort, least with a watchful eye on you, eh?"
Solomon again kept silent, but Gabriel had to ask, "Wait, Chiarina? B-But you're Missus Clara, right?"
That's an even longer story. "Chiarina's a nickname, that's all, 'Clara' in Italian. Florestan and I go way back, you could say," you told him the simplified version.
"Italian?" asked even the reserved Solomon.
"…I'll explain later," you were brought to saying.
"Ahem, anyway, shall we be off?" Florestan had to cut in, "No doubt you have your questions, Chiarina. Though would you like to head straight to our League office, or let us treat you to the sights and sounds of Hauptstimme?"
[ ] Head to the League office.
[ ] Head somewhere to eat.
[ ] You'd like to see that Concert hall.
[ ] You'd like to see that Skytrain station, it's something entirely new to you.
[ ] Ask Gabriel and Solomon if they'd like to go anywhere.
[ ] Write-in Score Piece x1! (Multiple questions can be asked)
[ ] Ask Florestan and Eusebius about where is Robert is.
[ ] Ask them how you're in Robert's dream.
[ ] Tell them everything about Sortita, and ask why that would be Robert's dream.
[ ] Ask them how long they think Robert has.
[ ] Ask them why Robert hasn't shown up directly to you in this dream.
[ ] Write-in
[X] Head somewhere to eat.
[X] Ask Florestan and Eusebius about where Robert is.
[X] Ask them how you're in Robert's dream.
[X] Tell them everything about Sortita, and ask why that would be Robert's dream.
[X] Ask them how long they think Robert has.
"Ought to have a bite to eat first, having no less than to walk all the way through a bunt forest leaves one awfully out of it," you decided on. That is, you had to think, if one even needs to eat inside a dream.
"Ah, then I know just the place!" Florestan said in an instant, as he began to lead the three of you down the street. However, when Gabriel and you followed, Solomon stayed put.
"It may be unwise of me to come with you," came his explanation. He sighed as he stepped back and said, "I wouldn't want make the city-dwellers suspicious of you by association with me, it'd be best if I just stuck to myself."
You narrowed an eye at such words, before you strode up to Solomon and said, "Well, Mr. Solomon, I do appreciate your courtesy but really, I could argue the opposite. Once such people see you in respectable company, they'll likely change their opinion, and if not then I question if they themselves are so respectable."
"Still, I'd be fine on my own-" Solomon tried to say, only for you to then drag him along. As predicted, you did get more than a few stares as you walked along, though you tried to brush those off as being due to what a motley collection of individuals you were.
After taking a seat just outside the café Florestan had shown you to, you started by casually asking what everyone felt like, as you felt it'd be better to ease in before asking the heavier questions.
Solomon just pointed to an item on the menu, back to not saying a word, while Gabriel, er, didn't seem to know what you meant. "Y-You're asking me what I want to eat?" he made himself say out loud.
Puzzled a bit, you tried to keep calm and told him, "Well, that is what you do at cafes, hmm, unless you're paralysed by indecision."
"Oh, n-no, it's not that. It's just…" Gabriel muttered, "I haven't really been to any cafes, people in Sortita mostly brought all my food to me."
You winced a little, realising you hadn't taken Gabriel's past into account at all. "I see. Then, in the case, how about you just ask what they recommend?" were the words you settled on. Score Piece x1!
Out of curiosity, you looked to around to see if this café had a piano nearby, and this all being your husband's dream there naturally was. You then asked Florestan, or now Eusebius you took it since he'd put his hat back on, "Oh, do you think it would be possible to arrange for me to perform here?"
[Roll 4d6 to ask to perform: 2, 2, 5, 2 +Etiquette 6]
"Sorry, I'm afraid this place can be stringent about that. Ooh, but I can certainly put a good word in and get you booked sometime soon, er, not sure when that'd be though," Eusebius went over, shrugging a little.
You only nodded on the outside, but inside you thought, it'd be wisest to keep moving and stay ahead of Cadence, so we might not have 'sometime soon' here…
Plus, this was yet another reminder that, for how similar these places looked to Leipzig or Zwickau, you were still an unknown here, the first time you'd been an unknown since, well, ever.
"But wait, why wouldn't the people here know me, if this is all Robert's dream?" you found yourself saying out loud, then freeze once you realised both Gabriel and Solomon had heard you.
"M-Missus Schumann, w-what do you mean by that?" Gabriel then looked up to ask you.
Eusebius, reverting back to Florestan, then looked at you and said, "Right, knew such a topic would come up. Think it might be best if we talked about this in private, hmm?"
He took your arm and led you a few paces to the side, then looked from side to side to make sure you both were just out of earshot. After doing so, you started asking what you'd been meaning to ask them this whole time. "How am I in Robert's dream? I mean nobody, not even husband and wife, can outright enter another person's mind… can they?" you spoke out.
"There is another explanation," Florestan then said but under his breath, before he had to remark, "I'm not sure you'll like hearing it though."
"There has, ahem, been quite a lot I've not wanted to hear but did so anyway, so just say it," you told him straight up.
Even then, it still took Florestan, the 'fierier' half, a while to say the exact words, "There's the possibility you aren't the flesh and blood Chiarina, but rather, Robert's mental image of you, likely his memory of you given your sudden youthfulness."
You twitched. You could see why even Florestan had hesitated, for what sort of person would ever want to be told they weren't their 'real' self? However, you did have to draw attention to how "You called that a 'possibility', didn't you? So, me being nought but a memory of Clara Schumann might not be the only explanation then, hmm?"
"Perhaps not, but you know, Occam's Razor and all," Florestan just said back to that.
You then glanced back over to Gabriel, bringing the threat of Cadence back into your head in what'd barely been minutes. That did lead into your next question, "Florestan, you remember that man, Cadence, I was travelling with before, don't you? Reason that's no longer the case is because, well, he wasn't what he seemed to be…"
"Huh, I suspected something had happen, but your point is?" he had to put it like that.
"Gabriel, the boy accompanying me now, was…" you tried to say, but you tensed up recalling that prior night. "A sacrifice, Cadence and the rest of Sortita tried to sacrifice him for- for their own twisted reasons!" you then spat out. "How-how could something like that be in- be in Robert's dream?"
"My, you mean you've never had a nightmare, Chiarina?" Florestan put it a little too lightly for your tastes, but then again, he hadn't been there, "Well, recall the nightmares you've had, but imagine them amplified by you being on death's door, and after all those angel and demon visits too."
"Death's Door? Oh, right, of course…" you then started muttering, as the next difficult question struggled to make its way up your throat, "How… long do you think Robert has?"
Florestan bit his lip, then apparently found it easier to revert to Eusebius. "Wish we knew, but well, maybe a couple of months? Er, if we're lucky."
You then looked back, and for a second thought you saw Solomon make eye contact with you- no, that was probably just coincidence. "Eusebius, is- is that why Robert hasn't come to directly me see in this dream of his? I mean, if I can, through whatever means, appear here, surely he could too?"
"You're his wife, Chiarina, so you could probably answer that better than I could," Eusebius had to admit to you, "I know, I didn't mean to disappoint you, but that's likely the truth. But as everything here came from his mind, well, maybe there's a greater message that can't be found out unless you explore the dream in full. Ah, sorry, think I might've gotten too poetic there," he then mumbled.
"N-No, that's okay, I think I see what you mean," you told him, "Think maybe we should get back to our table now, that's… about all I wanted to ask."
"Actually, if you don't mind," Eusebius then said, "I did have one question for you this time. Namely, um," he paused then only slowly said, "Your two travelling companions, have you- have you thought to tell them about this, well, all being a dream?"
A chill ran all through you. That was the question of questions, wasn't it?
[ ] You'd tell them, they had the right to know, however disconcerting the truth may be.
[ ] You didn't want to tell them, but felt you'd have to, as chances were they felt something suspicious was going on with you already.
[ ] You'd tell them eventually, when you were all more familiar… if you even had that time.
[ ] You'd tell Gabriel, he may be more primed to accept this, but not Solomon.
[ ] You'd tell Solomon, he seemed more emotionally sturdy, but not Gabriel.
[ ] You didn't wish to tell them
[ ] Write-in
Afterwards: Score Piece x1!
[ ] You'd find lodgings for the night.
[ ] You'd move on as soon as you could.
[ ] You'd see if you could perform at least somewhere here.
[ ] You'd see what Gabriel and Solomon felt like doing.
[ ] You'd try to report anything you could about Cadence and Sortita.
[ ] Write-in.
