Kimberly reaches her house as dusk settles over the road. Inside, a noblewoman crouches beside the cold hearth, wrapped in a dark traveling cloak, clutching a rolled map.
Marcelline
Do not call me Lady Seraphine. That name is already being hunted. I am only a fugitive with one chance left.
She unrolls the map across the table. Its ink crawls like tiny black ants, redrawing hills and rivers into a horned, crowned symbol marked with Mama Luigi's sign.
Marcelline
A bard sang that the hidden heir would find the road beneath a borrowed roof. The song has come true, but every repetition changes the map.
From beyond the shuttered window, boots scrape the path. A man's voice rings through the door, sharp with authority and strangely familiar certainty.
Mama Luigi
Marcelline! I know you are within. Surrender the map, and this house remains untouched. Resist, and Mama Luigi's agents will enter.
Marcelline
He knows the name I buried, and he speaks of Mama Luigi as though the danger is already here.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the house as a refuge
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep Marcelline and the map safe
“How do I look?”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +0)
Kimberly
How do I look?
Kimberly stands barefoot in her strapless clothing, blonde hair bright in the hearth’s weak light, her athletic figure sharply outlined against the dim room. Her bare neck catches a stray glint from the map’s crawling ink.
Marcelline
Like someone the road has not managed to break. Blonde, strong, and conspicuous enough to be remembered, though hardly dressed for a noble household.
The noblewoman’s gaze flicks over Kimberly once, assessing rather than mocking. Outside, the boots halt, and the door latch gives a testing rattle.
Marcelline
You look capable of surviving a first glance, at least. But that question cost us time. They heard your voice.
Kimberly
The door is still shut, and the map is still on the table.
A thin line of red ink reaches the horned crown and stops. Beyond the door, the caller draws breath to speak again.
“Mama Luigi starts tickling Kimberly. He is an evil plumber who loves spaghetti.”
SUCCESS (Good Health, rolled +0)
The latch snaps upward. Mama Luigi, a broad middle-aged man with a curled black mustache, stained white shirt, red cap, and flour-dusted apron, strides inside grinning.
Mama Luigi
There you are! A little welcome before I collect my map, eh?
He reaches Kimberly and sets wiggling fingers at her ribs. She braces her feet against the floorboards, locks her arms down, and endures the relentless tickling.
Kimberly
His fingers are quick, and the floor is rough beneath my bare feet.
Marcelline
Stop this! She has nothing to do with my flight.
Kimberly holds firm through the helpless jolts, but a burst of laughter escapes her and rings through the shuttered house. The cost is immediate: footsteps answer outside.
Mama Luigi
Ha! Such spirit. Keep laughing, bella, while my friends come in for supper.
“Fortunately Kimberly loves being tickled. Having Mama Luigi as a nemesis was fun when he wasn’t eating her spaghetti.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Kimberly’s resistance eases into willing stillness. Mama Luigi’s fingers dance at her ribs, and the rough floorboards shift beneath her braced bare feet as laughter spills freely through the house.
Mama Luigi
Ah, bella, there it is! You do enjoy my welcome after all.
The tickling continues until Kimberly’s laughter turns breathless and bright. Mama Luigi finally withdraws his hands, satisfied, while the crawling map quivers on the table.
Marcelline
You are enjoying this? He is an enemy, and his men are gathering outside.
The cost lands in the open: Kimberly’s laughter has announced the house to everyone on the path. Several boots stop just beyond the door, listening.
Mama Luigi
A fine appetite for mischief. I would offer spaghetti, but tonight I am dining on secrets.
Marcelline
If Kimberly can laugh at Mama Luigi, perhaps she can endure what comes next.
“Kimberly ends up in quicksand but she enjoys it. She sinks to her chest then stops.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
The floor gives way beneath Kimberly. In a blink, she is outside in a moonlit hollow, waist-deep in pale, sucking quicksand while the house recedes behind her.
The mire folds warmly around her bare legs and hips. She remains calm, even pleased by its strange yielding pull, as silvery ripples spread across the surface.
Kimberly
The sand is cool, and it holds me firmly.
Kimberly settles her weight instead of fighting the mire. She sinks steadily to her chest, then the downward pull fades and the surface stills around her.
Marcelline
Kimberly! Do not struggle. The hollow is enchanted, but its grip has stopped.
The noblewoman reaches the bank, cloak gathered in one hand, while Mama Luigi watches from the path with his mustache twitching in amusement.
Mama Luigi
Chest-deep and smiling, bella? You have found a very muddy throne. Hold still, and perhaps the swamp will keep its bargain.