SCENE THREE — KERESKA’S FAVOR, 7:28 AMNarrative Status: Mirrorbound Accord Initialized | Party Discussion Phase (Live)Setting: Tavern common room, warm lighting, tension simmering like a kettle
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The Room Reacts
Mel crosses her arms. The fire flickers across her olive skin, catching the shine of her thorn scars. Her eyes are unreadable — but her voice is steady.
“I say we scout the pool before midnight.”
“If this is a trap, I want to know where the edges are.”
She pnts her Gulthias Staff beside her and leans against the wall, picking at a feather tucked into her belt.
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Krummar stands across from her, arms folded over the polished navy scale mail.
His tattooed hands twitch once, then still.
“Agreed. We do not walk into stage lighting without checking for wires.”
He looks toward Lorin.
“Can we spare one of the twins for city sweep?”
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Lorin, sleeves still ceremonially rolled, nods.
“Risotto’s faster. Linguini’s still recovering from the Soup-Wrestling Incident.”
Risotto (deadpan): “My trauma is private.”
The slimmer wererat vanishes out the side door, donning a gmour as he moves — now appearing as a teenage halfling with a courier’s satchel.
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Daka — Loud, Shirtless, Sincere
He kicks his pile of pillows off the booth and cps his hands together.
“Right. Recon at the magic puddle. But also—hear me out—I go in costume.”
Everyone stares at him.
Mel (ft): “You are in costume. You’re wearing less than armor and more than shame.”
Daka:“Exactly. They’ll never see it coming.”
He reaches into his Bag of Holding, rummaging until he pulls out:? A full gold mé cloak? A mask of his own face but glittery? A chicken puppet
Krummar: “If the gods abandon us, I want them to do it now.”
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Melodia — Voice Like Ink on Silk
She speaks st.
Still seated, legs crossed at the ankles, corset slightly loose at the ces, moonstone choker glowing softly. She looks at each of them in turn.
“We should go. Tonight or earlier. But we must go.”
“If something is writing over us… we write back.”
She tugs the ribbon on her thigh-high stocking tighter.
“And we write in cursive.”
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Decision Locked:? Mel, Krummar, Daka, and Melodia will conduct pre-midnight recon at the Dockside Reflection Pool.? Risotto is gathering rumors now.? Lorin stays to manage tavern operations and prepare emergency “reality reinforcement tea” just in case.? Linguini is re-inventing the concept of soup combat quietly in the back.
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Codex Subsystems Engaged:? Narrative Perception Disruption Warning — The reflection pool may alter memory or time? Mel: Root-Soul Resonance primed? Melodia: Stealth & Illusion yers armed? Krummar: Devotional Echo Matrix — precharged? Daka: Chaos Crown Engine — escating; probability of shirt disintegration: 40%
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7:30 AM — Camera Pulls Wide
Outside, fog gathers again — unnatural fog, curling around a still water basin at Waterdeep’s edge.
The reflection pool waits, perfectly still.No ripples.No wind.No reflections.
Just the faint hum of something watching — waiting — for the party to look into it first.
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SCENE THREE CONTINUES — KERESKA’S FAVOR, 7:31 AMTime to Recon Departure: ~20 minutesTavern Status: Calm before the next spiral
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Daka, now whistling a tune from a bardic sea shanty he definitely made up, opens his Bag of Holding with a flourish. The inside emits the faint scent of old parchment, loose licorice, and maybe a regrettable scroll.
“I told Seriel the Harper not to arm wrestle me after spiced wine.”“Now this satchel’s mine. It’s got three masks, a turkey leg, and a whistle that only works on bad ideas.”
Krummar: “That’s not an item. That’s a metaphor.”
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Mel, meanwhile, has settled into sharpening the tip of her Gulthias Staff — not that it needs sharpening. Her dark eyes remain fixed on the tavern window.
“We leave by 8. Before the mirror realizes we’re early.”
Melodia (softly): “What if it wants us to be early?”
Mel: “Then we disappoint it. I’m good at that.”
She pulls her hood up.The cat has returned to her chair. It is purring ominously.
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Krummar refastens his bracers.
“Lorin—log the scroll event under ‘Unpaid Omens.’”
Lorin (scribbling): “Filed between ‘Haunted Marzipan’ and ‘Guest Turned Into Owl.’”
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CAMERA SHIFTS — OUTSIDE THE CITY, 7:51 AM
The Dockside Reflection Pool sits tucked behind a snted stone garden, rarely visited, built for meditative gazing — and forgotten by most.
It reflects nothing.Not sky. Not people.Just… bnk.
A cracked mirror leans near its edge, bound in ivy.
As the party approaches, the air tightens.Magic recognizes them.
Daka: “You feel that?Feels like plot.”
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Scene Four Begins: Dockside Recon — 7:52 AMCharacters will proceed autonomously into the pool’s narrative trap or crack its edges wide.
