Inside 71: All I Want For Thanksmas Is You

[Rebonack]

[Docks]

"What's for hey wait what!?" Snapdragon cries in alarm as she suddenly stands up against her will and spins in a little circle.

In addition to being able to control Snapdragon until she decides to release (or eat) her, Sphinx will also discover that she can read Snapdragon like a book.

Not literally.

She doesn't have any pages.

But Sphinx CAN casually rifle through Snapdragons knowledge and secrets and basically everything else at her pleasure.

She wouldn't do that, though, would she?

Since this is just supposed to be for fun and not for messing with the person who agreed to help Sphinx.


[Dread Castle]

Okay, just getting Sekhmet free and then go out that door and-

Oh.

No door.

And now Sekhmet is telling Rose that she's too late and flashing that nasty 'you lose' sort of smile at her. Hmmm! This was definitely a trap. Rose probably shouldn't be trusting anything that's popping up in this castle if this is the nonsense that it's going to pull. From now on if she meets any other Sekhmets she's going to demand to see the crown and immediately try to smash it. Alternative, the castle might just be manifesting things from her memories and Sekhmet isn't here at all. She's really starting to dislike this castle a whole bunch. Why does it have to be such a jerk.

Rose glares at the fake Sekhmet for a few moments, waiting for the walls to be just about to squash them, and then-

Blows a raspberry at her.

With both mouths at once.

She reaches into her store of infernal power and vanishes in a blast of rose petals and concussive force. Rose knew ABOUT how far away the hallway was. Just a few feet! Rose is really hoping the castle didn't rearrange the hallway, too, because otherwise she's about to teleport into a wall and that ALWAYS sucks. Taking harm due to arcane disrupting is awful and she would really like to avoid getting shunted violently to the nearest open space.

[bc56]

Dread Castle

Rose vanishes from the cell and reappears in the hallway. But it's changed. All the doors have been ripped open, and a vastly engorged Rose is lounging in the corridor. As beautiful and terrible as Rose is, this Rose is far more so. Her whole hair is studded with ember roses. "Oh, you're back. They're all safe now. Where's Sekhmet?"

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

"Ah! We talked about this!" Rose scolds her significantly larger double. "You weren't supposed to eat the lost souls! Just free them and find out who they are so we can try to help them!"

Everything is going wrong today.

Why couldn't everything have gone right?

Then she and Sekhmet could have just gone back to the hot springs and relaxed for the rest of the day. It would have been great.

But nooooo. She has to explore this stupid gross castle full of irritating doubles or whatever these are!

She gives a long suffering sigh and explains, "It wasn't the real Sekhmet. As soon as I freed her she taunted me like a meany and the walls started closing in. I think this castle can make copies of people. It must be able to dig around in my memories to make them since the fake Sekhmet knew about EVERYTHING. And that means-"

Rose makes an arcane gesture as she tries to fully crystallize the Fake Rose in place! She isn't even going to leave her head exposed like she had with Blossom. No mercy this time. She isn't ABOUT to let the castle sabotage her with this Fake Rose the second she starts making progress. The plan here is VERY simple. Freeze Fake Rose in place and then bust her open like a pinata full of lost souls. Maybe some of the torture victims will be lucid enough to tell Rose whether or not they heard Sekhmet coming through here. She kind of doubts it but at least once they're free Rose will be able to eat them herself.

Wait.

NO!

BAD!

No eating them! Try to find another way to help them first.

"-I'm not going to let another dumb shade like you get in my way."

[Deathkeeper]

[Docks]

"What's for hey wait what!?" Snapdragon cries in alarm as she suddenly stands up against her will and spins in a little circle.

In addition to being able to control Snapdragon until she decides to release (or eat) her, Sphinx will also discover that she can read Snapdragon like a book.

Not literally.

She doesn't have any pages.

But Sphinx CAN casually rifle through Snapdragons knowledge and secrets and basically everything else at her pleasure.

She wouldn't do that, though, would she?

Since this is just supposed to be for fun and not for messing with the person who agreed to help Sphinx.

Docks

Sphinx would never consider using HEAVEN'S DOOR to go through Snap's mind.
Well, for a split second she considers checking what Snap wants for Thanksmas. But no, still a violation of the sanctity of the mind. So Sphinx releases her instead.
"Wow, Lydia was right. That's helpful, but also kind of messed up. I'll have to make sure not to abuse that." Though it does make some degree of sense: Sphinx had to have some power that was comparable to Hydra's instant death breath and immortality, and Chimera's invulnerability and undying fire breath.
Though maybe not. At the end of the day, Cerberus was just a big three-headed dog. A very good boy nonetheless who could guard some very important gates, but perhaps not as amazing. And poor Orthrus didn't last long against Heracles either.

[bc56]

Dread Castle

Even as Rose attempts to trap her double in crystal, the other Rose is countering it, forcing the crystals away. Her own crystal trap begins to close around Rose. "They are safe, safe with me. You want to send them back to torment? Or do you just want them for yourself?"

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

Oh zowie this is going to be one of those 'conquer yourself!' battles isn't it?

Rose recognizes that spellwork well enough, leaping aside to avoid the snare of crystal growth as she forms a spear in her grip. How is this going to go down? She needs to destroy this double before it decides to backstab her. She can't have it following around ready to betray her as soon as an inopportune moment arises. Come on, Rose, think. What are your weaknesses? How can you exploit yourself? Maybe if she can somehow convince her double that she's REALLY a double? But it probably knows that already, right? Or does it?

Ugh.

Stupid castle.

"NO! I was going to free them and talk with them! I was going to find out who they are and help them. I was going to lead them out of here. If it's possible for Sekhmet to help cleanse me then I can help them, too! But I CAN'T help them if they're just a ranting voice inside my head telling me to be MEAN! If you really are me then you would know that, too!"

Rose's eyes narrow.

"But you're not. That's why you ate them all. Because you just want more power and more nastiness I never should have eaten the lost souls that I did. It was a mistake and I'm going to find a way to... to... I don't know. Cleanse them. Or get them out of me. Something! But more souls is just going to make everything worse! You aren't real. You're just a trick created by this dumb castle. Now disappear. Or get out of my sight. You aren't helping me find Sekhmet you're just pigging out on souls. Go do that somewhere else."

Rose doesn't attack with the spear, not yet, but she's holding it threateningly. Her message is pretty clear. Get out of the castle and let Rose search for Sekhmet.


[Docks]

Snapdragon just stands there stiffly until Sphinx releases her. As soon as she's free she gives a shudder.

"Oh geeze don't do that again, okay? That was creepy."

Super creepy!

No one likes being puppeted. This is why you don't play riddles games with Sphinx!

[bc56]

Dread Castle

"No! You're a double made to convince me to give up the power I need to save Sekhmet!" Rose conjures her own spear and lunges at Rose. "If you keep attacking me, I'll stop you the only way I can!"

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

Well here we are then.

Did the souls even give Rose more power? Rose isn't so sure. Not in a way that matters, anyway. Replenishing her store of magic? Certainly. But more power?

Maybe...

Just not power she wants.

Or needs, really.

Rose uses the haft of her spear to the deflect the lunge, making a follow-up strike to skewer her double, before falling back into a defensive stance. They both know how the other fights, right? Assuming what Rose believes to be true about this shade is accurate. That means this is going to be a pretty miserable battle.

The first one to make a mistake loses.

"No, I'm trying to make sure we don't lose ourselves to meanness, which apparently YOU don't care about. I'm not going to let myself be shackled again!"

[Deathkeeper]

Docks

Sphinx shakes her head.
"Sorry, Snap. I didn't remember Lydia mentioned we can do that until you'd already answered wrong. Once you did I just had to know that it really does work that way. I won't do it to you again."
But that leaves them with nothing to do or talk about!
"Um. So. Is it weird that I'm like this now? All...catlady and all that? Or is it kinda expected of people you know, huh? I guess I'll have to join your group." She could probably use some advice on living with paws. And how to change clothes. She has no idea how Lydia managed that.

[bc56]

Dread Castle

The larger Rose parries the attack "It's not mean! It helps them and it helps me! Why shouldn't I do it?" She throws her spear at Rose and then conjures a maul, swinging the oversized hammer while the original is (hopefully) still reeling from her last attack. "I'm not shackled, I'm doing exactly what I want to do!"

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

Rose doesn't dodge and keep her distance like Rose would normally do.

Why?

Because that's what Rose would expect Rose to do.

Instead she does something very risky.

She lunges toward the spear throw, twisting out of the way and getting a nasty gash along her left wing for the trouble. She ignores the would oozing molten rock as she reshapes her weapon into a greatsword and aims to cleave the head off the maul right as it's reaching the apex of the swing. The maul is a heavy weapon with a lot of momentum and power, but changing directions mid-swing is nearly impossible. With the maul hopefully sundered, Rose grabs the blade of her great-sword with her armored left hand to get a wider grip on it and then with all of her not inconsiderable strength aims to thrust the tip of the blade straight into Fake!Rose's ribs.

If the sunder attempt fails? Well, that's going to result in some awkward footwork to avoid the downward stroke isn't?

Hopefully no awkward footwork is required and Fake!Rose has a sword in her guts now.


[Docks]

"Yeah I'm kind of use to this kind of stuff after my time in MAA. We get people coming in all the time with this sort of problem," Snap replies with a shrug. "Maybe once we're done with this evil faerie hunting I can introduce you."

That would be a fun time, right?

Sphinx can probably get some pointers on-

Woah it got dark fast.

Almost cartoonishly so. Like the sun just went VOOP! over the horizon and up comes the moon. BAM! Night time!

The Nexus sure is weird sometimes.

Thick, creepy fog begins rolling in from off the ocean carrying with it the scent of brine and rot.

[bc56]

Dread Castle

The head of Rose's maul is chopped off, and she immediately drops it and conjures a shield instead, blocking Rose's sword and then leaping forth to bash her duplicate in the face."Why do you have to be so dense!?" She repeats the attack. "If Sekhmet's trapped in here, then I need all the strength I can get to break her out! There's no time for talking to damned souls!"

[Deathkeeper]

Docks

Suddenly, night time!
Wow it’s good that Sphinx has mostly catlike night vision despite having a human head.
”Oh! That’s it! It’s time! Hide!”
Sphinx scurries to a hiding place around the corner of one of the buildings.
”Get the water ready!”
Sphinx calls up her memory of the book. Was the order of rebuking and dousing important or just both? What constitutes a rebuke? Tell her again, book!
Though she’s fairly sure it was any order as long as both happen, and she tells the beast with its own name that it is banished from these lands.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

"I only came here to ASK if anyone had seen her!" Rose counters. "Why would she even come here? How would she even get captured? She's strong enough to go toe to toe with Sapphira. She's WAY stronger than we are. She's probably back home right now waiting for us. We already know she can create portals to escape whenever she wants."

Blocking a half-sword thrust? Alright. Rose likewise blocks the shield bash with the flat of her sword, flipping around to a murder-stroke stance and hooking the shield with her cross-guard. She wrenches down and away, aiming to pull the other Rose off balance as armor crystallizes across her tail and she aims for a spiky tail-slam into the side of Fake!Rose's head. Fighting yourself really isn't any fun. You know all of your own tricks! Rose was really hoping her lunge gambit would be a knockout but no such luck today.

"So how about this. You keep wandering around this dumb castle trying to find her and eating lost souls. I'll head back to our park and see if she's there. If she ISN'T then I'll come here again and help you search. There's already a rose bush in the green house I can just pop between them it'll be-"

A fourth blossom grows in Rose's hair. There's a fourth voice in her mind all of a sudden. An absolutely horrid person. He would wheedle his way into the affection of married women. Emotionally manipulate to seduce them into destroying their own families. Then when he had his fun he would vanish, leaving only ruin and tears behind. A corrupter of the worst kind. It was a game to him. His knowledge of how to emotionally twist others is Rose's.

The infernal gaiad dances back several steps, touching the flower in her hair.

"W-what? Another soul? How did I get another soul? I didn't eat anyone," Rose is confused and puzzled! How could she have gotten another soul? Unless... "The lava river! There are souls in the lava river! One of them most have drifted into my garden and gotten snared!"

There were dozens of souls drifting through that lava river. If her garden keeps growing each time she eats a new soul...


[Docks]

Snapdragon hides as well!

The order was pretty simple. Yell the faerie's name and then douse it. That's enough to banish it out of the waking world and back to the Pit where it belongs.

And speaking of?

Here it comes.

An awful, towering, skinless figure wading up out of the water, the very ground rotting under his hooves. Two heads, one a great round lump and the other a horse, a single burning eye set into each. It looks like he's planning on heading toward one of the cargo ships pulled into port.

[Shadowcaller]

Yone doesn't say anything bout the nature of the dangerous entities because apparently knowing about them is bad. Thinking about them probably won't help.
"So it's soon. Look, I agreed to bring one of your imps with me potentially, but I can't warn anyone with all these nets holding me...in place."
"Shouldn't we also warn the mortals, if they mess up peoples' minds?"
Most of these fey don't have a terribly high regard for mortals, but Yone was a mortal not too long ago. It really seems to her like normal people should get a chance too.

"The mortals? I mean, I suppose. If you wanna. I'm not gonna risk it though, these days beings like me are kill on sight and even if they decide to be merciful, they probably wouldn't believe me." He gestures at Yone. "You think they'll believe you? Since fey have a pretty bad reputation too these days. I mean, speciesism in the nexus? What the world has come too."

As he's talking the other imps are carefully approaching Yone and are starting to pull back the nets using small but long hooks. It looks like they're about to turn at flee the slightest sound from the fey.

[Deathkeeper]

Docks

Sphinx eyes the beast. Ah, her quarry. Now they just need to pounce!
...man those predatory instincts are strong.
Sphinx gestures with her head down the side of the warehouse. She slinks down its length and around the corner. The opposite corner is right near the ramp to the ship Arrvak is heading towards. They can cut him off!
Sphinx pads around the building and sticks an eye out around the corner again. If the creature is there (rather close, should her plan succeed) and Snap is behind her, she'll jump out at it.
"Arrvak! Begone from this mortal coil!" she roars.

[Rebonack]

[Docks]

Slinking silently, our heroes approach the fiend! It doesn't appear to be aware of them. Not yet at least.

Though that changes pretty quickly when Sphinx shouts the boogie's name at it!

The horror freezes, glaring at her with its baleful eyes full of hate, but doesn't seem to be able attack her though it clearly desires to. Invoking its name appears to have paralyzed it!

Which is probably a good thing. It doesn't JUST have toxic breath. Those huge claws look pretty nasty, too.

And then?

"Slightly chilly bucket challenge!" Snap shouts as she hurls the content of the bucket at Arrvak!

There's an awful hissing sound for a few seconds and then the boogie is gone. Just... Gone.

The smell of rot slowly fades as the fog things and finally clears.

"Was that it?" Snapdragon asks.

Sphinx will feel the weight of her oath lifted. That was it.

[Deathkeeper]

Docks

Sphinx blinks. Well. That went shockingly well.
On the plus side it was going for a boat so had she taken any longer it would have probably poisoned someone else if not escaped by boat to some other city. So take that, the part of Nim’s brain that said none of this was worth it!
”Huh. Yeah, that was it. I guess I should go back to my library and see if Saera has been freed. Wanna come?”
Yeah Snap, don’t you want to see your sister’s library that she compulsively agreed to guard because giving her a magical Sphinx mantle and setting her loose in the city might have been a bad idea?

[bc56]

Dread Castle

Rose manages to slap the larger Rose, who stumbles a little and prepares to attack... When Rose talks about leaving. Her double's demeanor suddenly changes. "No, you can't leave, no one leaves!" The false Rose suddenly appears skeletal and dead. Baleful black eyes stare blankly at Rose. "You'll stay here forever!" Her voice has an unnatural echoing quality. She creates a hook, not of crystal, but of bone, covered in wicked barbs, and swings it at Rose.

[Rebonack]

[Docks]

The boat was, in fact, carrying a large shipment of grain. But our heroes have no way of knowing this.

"Sure, that sounds good. Is the library even open at night?" Snap asks as she discards her bucket.

Yes.

Is the answer. The spooky library is open at night. Of course it is.

The trip back to the library will be pretty uneventful. As is finding the part of the library Sphinx was studying in. She won't find any sphinx statues, though. Instead she'll find a heap of black sand and the ghostly outline of a woman standing over it. She mouths 'thank you' and then vanishes.

What?

You were expecting that breaking the curse would just make her human again? These aren't nice cursed objects.


[Dread Castle]

"Zowie I guess leaving the castle is kind of a peeve for you, huh?" Rose retorts as she fashions-!

A thick tangle of brambles between her hands?

See, hooks don't make great weapons. Unless of course you're pulling cavalry off their horses. They can make PART of a good weapon, especially on polearms, but as a stand alone? Like scythes they look pretty neat buuuut...

Lashing her brambles like a shield, Rose entangles the hook as the vines yank the weapon down toward the floor. In one smooth motion Rose releases the scramble of brambles and forms her maul mid-swing aiming to smash SkeleRose's bony body.

"I decked the Queen of Poison in the face to save my Princess. Do you REALLY think you're going to stop me?"

[bc56]

Dread Castle

The false Rose is pulled forth and smashed with a hammer. Her bones scatter across the floor...
And then start pulling themselves together again, rattling their way across the floor to connect back into limbs and torsos. "You will never escape me! I am a part of you!"

[Deathkeeper]

Philip Memorial Library

Sphinx smiles and waves a wing goodbye to Saera. After so long she deserves her rest. Though Sphinx is honestly rather impressed that her spirit managed to wait twenty whole minutes for Sphinx to get there before fading. She appreciates that much dedication just to say thank-you.
"Hey Snap, can you grab my bag? I need to get it home if I'm going to write this paper. Hmm, that's going to be really hard. I should talk to Howard, too." She goes and finds Howard, who she can sense at one of the desks in the back.
"Hi again, Howard. I lifted the curse on that sphinx of black quartz but she left behind a pile of quartz sand. I'd clean it up but I don't have hands. Oh yeah, and why'd you call me Sphinx of Nim?"
Poor Howard is going to have to get used to Sphinx's babbling.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

Yay!

Rose won!

...boooo the bones are still moving!

Some fast thinking is going to be required here. Thankfully an idea occurs to Rose pretty quickly! Her lower body convulses once as its mouth gapes open. It convulses twice as it makes a rather nasty gurgling sound. It convulses thrice as it begins retching an absolutely absurd volume of molten rock from her weald all over the hallway, molten rock that will begin rapidly hardening into a mound of slag. Hopefully the bones will all be trapped inside the still steaming rock.

"Ugh, that felt gross..." Rose mutters as she wipes a bit of lava off the lips of her lower mouth.

Then? She'll start heading back toward the door.

"No you're not. You're just some kind of dumb construct created by this dumb castle. Sekhmet isn't even in here, is she? You probably could have strung me along better if you hadn't used this stupid double trick. Zero out of five stars. Would not be terrorized again."


[Arkham Street]

Snap collects the bag with a shrug. She can help on that front easily enough.

Howard, meanwhile, raises an eyebrow at Sphinx. It looks like he's pretty busy studying some very serious tomes at the moment. "It was a joke, miss. A turn of phrase based on your verbal stumble. Now please excuse me, I'm quite busy."

Oh no you interrupted him! He is also VERY pointedly ignoring Snapdragon's presence.

[bc56]

Dread Castle

Rose opens the door...

It doesn't lead out to the garden. It leads to what appears to be a temple. Black stone decorations in threatening shapes all point towards the central altar, where Sekhmet is bound and tied. A wizened, devilish priest stands over her, a dagger in hand. "Ah, a visitor. Welcome, welcome. You've come too late." He smiles evilly and raises his hand, preparing to drive his blade into Sekhmet's heart.

[Deathkeeper]

Arkham Street

Sphinx looks distinctly embarrassed. She is good with riddles. She’s not good at detecting humor.
”Oh. Sorry. I’m new to this. Be back for my shift later. Good luck.”
She hastily shuffles herself and Snap out of the library.
”Sorry about that, Snap. Looks like he’s the type to get extra serious when he’s working.” she shudders.
”I’m not sure I’m used to people calling me Miss.” it is pretty weird...

[Rebonack]

[Irritating Castle]

Wait.

Wasn't this the way back to the garden?

Rose looks around, confused, when her eyes fall on Sekhmet. There's a momentary thrill of fear and she begins rushing forward-

-only to trot to a stop.

Crossing her arms, Rose assumes the most languid expression she can manage.

"Too late? Looks like I got here just in time. Go ahead and kill her," she replies flippantly, giving her hair a dismissive toss. "If she's such a weakling that she got captured by you idiots then she doesn't deserve to live in the first place."

Oh.

Ouch. It seems like the depths aren't the only things handing out burnings today.

Why the sudden change in heart? Rose already knows that this place can make doubles of people. She already knows that it wants to try to taunt her by killing Sekhmet. If that FIRST fake Sekhmet hadn't immediately started smirking all evil like when Rose 'failed' she probably wouldn't have caught onto it so quickly.


[Arkham Street]

"Yeah it's no big deal, sis, don't sweat it," Snapdragon replies with a shrug as she prances along in that typical care-free gaiad fashion. It looks like she's heading toward Plum Mountain Park. Her work here is done, right? "You'll probably get use to it. At least until you figure out how to de-Sphinx. If it's anything like what we had to do it'll involve some artifact related to the hero that killed the original Sphinx. It was Heracles' club for Orthros. Bellerophon's spear for us."

What sort of artifact would be related to Oedipus?

[bc56]

Dread Castle

"Rose, why?" Sekhmet looks at Rose with pleading eyes. The dagger falls. Black blood sprays everywhere. Still, Sekhmet's eyes are fixed on Rose, begging for an answer even as the light goes out of them. Is she sure that was a fake Sekhmet?

Rose's callous act of cruelty invigorates the souls within her. Yes! Show no mercy! Punish all weakness! It was only what she deserved!

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

Ugh. The approval of the peanut gallery fills Rose with shame.

"Are you done?!" Rose yells at the priest. Or the castle. Or the arch devil who's in charge of all this nonsense. "Because I sure am. I'm done with this dumb castle and its terrible pranks. I'm done with hell and all its awfulness. And I'm especially done-"

She coughs.

And retches.

And heaves as one of the extra roses in her hair burst into flames and crumble to ashes. That lower mouth splits open wide as she vomits the most recently acquired lost soul onto the floor along with a pool of molten rock.

"-with you idiots! I wanted to help you and what do you do? Sit in the back of my head like a bunch of evil cheer-leaders! And so help me, I'm STILL not giving up on you, either! You wanna climb back in here?"

She opens her lower mouth, full of terrible teeth, molten tongue lolling to the side.

"Fine. But we're going to set some ground rules first."

[bc56]

Dread Castle

"You interest me, little one." The church seems to dissolve around Rose as she's suddenly lifted up, rising all the way to the top of the castle. She's pulled through a window which slams shut behind her, into a massive throne room. A colossal figure is seated before her, made only of inky darkness. He radiates pure, existential terror. This is what children sense when they are afraid of the dark. Whatever it is Rose fears, she will see it reflected here. "Perhaps we shall have a little talk?"

[Deathkeeper]

Arkham Street

"Ugh, but Oedipus strangled Sphinx! There's no convenient bronze knife or anything lying around! Maybe a rock from the cliff she got thrown off? If that did happen. Obviously her memories kind of end at the strangulation part."
As it turns out, most of Echidna's brood are somewhat susceptible to breathing-based attacks.
"Ugh. This could be a lot of research. I might look like this for a while, Snap. Unless someone has Oedipus' eyes in a jar somewhere."
That would be really, super gross.
"On the plus side, I'm really good at research like this. I might be able to help your other friends, if it turns out their curses are broken in easier ways like Lydia's."
Oh, right. And she's going to need to get Lydia's advice on...lots of things.