[IC] [Reverie] SEPTEMBER 2022 - PALACE GAME

[pyrighteous]

[ Welcome to the inside of Hunter's heart! Potential CWs include (but are not limited to):

- Torture
- Character death
- Gaslighting/manipulation/bad parenting
- Child abuse (onscreen and implied)
- Experimentation/vivisection
- Body horror
- Drowning
- Full Owl House Spoilers

Generally speaking the onscreen stuff will be kept PG-13 (this is a Disney cartoon after all!) but the implications may be exponentially more horrific (this is a Disney cartoon after all!!)

If at any point you are uncomfortable or need to me take extra care in glossing over ANY topic, please ping me right away in Discord. I am happy to do everything I can to keep this game fun for everyone! ]

Toplevels:

START AREA - GENERAL
- Session 1
- Session 2
- Session 3

???

AFTERMATH - GENERAL

Comments

[pyrighteous]

[ Oh yeah. Something is very clearly Wrong here. Has Hunter spoken about his uncle in positive terms? At all? At best, he talked around the subject, or said strangely neutral things... ]

He was grateful, of course. Practically begged me to protect Phoenix for him.

[inclementia]

[...................................

A very long pause as he stares at Belos. That face in the mirror's got him distracted and he can't tell what exactly Belos is getting at there.]

From what I've experienced, he's been quite capable himself.

[pyrighteous]

[ CLEARLY, he's a slimy piece of shit. But. Anyone with a brain and a 5 can see that. Past that, Percy's got nothin.

Anyway, Belos scoffs. ]

Oh? Are you referring to the time he murdered your team?

[inclementia]

Among other things.

[He looks at that pit again.... Remembers the bits of green scarring on the boy.]

What exactly did you do with him in here?

[pyrighteous]

[ There's something moving just under the surface of the mud. Something scrabbling at the underside of it? A hand, maybe...? ]

Oh, you know. The usual progress of science. I taught him how to be a better person. How to learn from experience and come out stronger for it.

[inclementia]

[He smiles at that, how kind it is depending on which way you squint.]

Quite a nonanswer for a specific question. You are truly someone in a political position. But I would like an actual answer.

[pyrighteous]

[ Before Belos can speak, a hand suddenly bursts out of the mud. It's ... pretty malformed, actually? There's no skin on it, and the vinelike muscles are readily visible. It scrabbles against the side of the pit until a head emerges. Hunter? No, not quite Hunter, but he could be Hunter's twin. He coughs up slime, making miserable noises.

Belos turns back to the Hunter in the pit, raising his staff. ]

I told you, didn't I? I made him a better person. By any means necessary.

[inclementia]

What?

[He glances down at the pit again, seeing what's coming up. And that's a person. A person. And the implications start running through his mind a mile a minute. Hunter, Hunter - that poor kid, if this is really what he is, then-

It only takes a moment for Percival to swivel on his heel, pulling his rifle out from under his jacket and unfolding it to aim at Belos in a smooth motion. The space here is unusual, and he has to fight the anger down not wanting to give Orthax anything to grasp onto.]

I think I should like some more direct answers. What have you done.

[pyrighteous]

[ Ah. It is, perhaps, telling that Belos KNOWS the sound of a gun cocking. Specifically an old timey pepperbox like Percy's. He goes rather still for the moment.

Hunter-in-the-pit collapses only halfway out of the muck, making more miserable sounds. ]

What have I achieved, you mean. I created all of the grimwalkers. Hunter wouldn't exist without me.

[ A glance down at the kid in front of him. ]

This one is undercooked, though. I'll have to start over.

[inclementia]

I can't say I've ever heard of grimwalkers, but I'm familiar with automatons and golems. This appears to be neither.

[He makes certain Belos knows he is aiming right for his head. This rifle at this close range would be very detrimental to his work, after all.]

A different question. Where is Hunter.

[pyrighteous]

[ Oh yes. VERY annoying to have to recover from an exploded head.

Belos raises one hand as if in parley. ]

Somewhere safe. Deep. Where the likes of you will never find him.

[ He shapeshifts into something green and slimy - and suddenly he's facing TOWARDS Percy, stabbing down at him with a sharpened limb. ]

[inclementia]

[He's ready to say I intend to find him and I'm quite stubborn, but the hand coming down at him has Percy backing up, away. He gets one hand out to cast Hex on the monster with some focus.

He gets down to one knee, bracing the butt of the rifle against his shoulder and takes a shot.]

[pyrighteous]

[ That is a hell of a shot. He nails Belos DIRECTLY in the face, splattering green slime EVERYWHERE.

He stands there after, wavering on his feet. But is he dead? No. Already his head is starting to reform. Mostly Percy bought himself TIME just now. What does he do with it?

The half-formed Hunter is watching with horror from the pit. There's the stairs back up? But ... there seems to be a passage on this same level that goes elsewhere, too. ]

[inclementia]

[Time is all he needs. He lets Bad News fall across his back as he starts making his way out - the stairs is the obvious choice, he wants to know what was behind that canvas. But another path.... Might be faster than going up.

He'll duck his way down that different passage. One round of Bad News gone (that he is aware of. Perhaps mind palaces run differently, maybe he hasn't used real ammunition at all-)... he'll have to keep an eye on it.]

[pyrighteous]

[ As Belos screams in rage behind him ... Percy finds himself somewhere else. ]