At 10PM on the 21st, The Marked descend into a World called Fidelios within the Relived Eternally veil, where the fight to get visitation rights with our Goddess, Nammu, and to revive Violet in that Veil begins. Our goal is to decrypt all of the rooms’ codes within 48 hours or someone will perish in that Veil. Think of this as a “Permadeath.” If you die here, the Gods, Demons, Marked, or any other entity will no longer be able to interact with you within that Veil.
We all enter a hub room known as “The Threshold” but are not able to investigate anything. All there is in this room is an odd blue flame and gateways to various rooms within the Gauntlet.
“You can see what you can see and interact however you like. But I will not describe anything that happens. For free anyway.” says Ardat Lili, our Hostess for this battle.
We also notice that a set of dice were provided to us, but at the moment no one has any idea as to what they’re for. Shortly after entering, we gained a Premonition in a room known as 2-3. Something encoded was also there, but when we weren’t looking, the room closed on us. To regain access to the encoded bit, we had to sacrifice an hour of our time, thus beginning a common trend within the Gauntlet, time penalties.
For reference, the encoded bit that we spent an hour on decodes to “Premonitions” using Vigenere with UWOSNC as the key.
While within the Gauntlet, various spectators from Worlds and Veils we couldn’t fathom also gathered, but they couldn’t help The Marked in solving the puzzles. One such spectator was a pretty woman named Austere and someone else named “The January Janice” who spent most of the first night flirting with Ardat Lili. It was rather interesting, but aside from some rather lewd remarks from them, they were there for spice and to watch us work. Also Roxy was there apparently, a detail that’ll come up in Chapter 3.
Anyway, the first four rooms labeled 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 all opened up in succession, and each room was rather easy to solve.
And now, the spell will be cast.
I, Jack, cast a spell of lust over Geminy
Let her have thoughts, wishes, and dreams
Of unbridled lust and passion for me.
Who is she sister in the ocean of time
So Mote it be.
I call thee, beloved one,
To love me more than anyone,
One thousand times I pierce thy heart,
Today the magic of Yuki-Onna starts.
I bind thy heart and soul to me
As I do will, so let it be.
Reading this out caused Geminy to become Marked. But wait, you say, wasn’t Geminy already Marked? Well yes, but also no. This caused Geminy to be Marked by Ardat Lili. And being Marked by her leads to new problems. We’ll get to that in due time.
It is not a stone which I throw,
But all the fortune here below
Of secret as the waters flow
And as they roll from this river's share,
May his happiness pass for evermore
I do not throw the ashes,
But I throw the wafer.
I do not throw the wafer,
But I throw the body and soul of . . .
Secret
That he may no more have peace or happiness
Until I have obtained this my desire!
Be thou accursed!
Mayst thou never know
A single day of peace!
And even when thou dost go
To kneel before the altar,
Mayst thou feel forsaken,
And bitterly regret
The step which thou hast taken!
Then Code was Marked by Ardat.
Bones of anger, bones to dust
full of fury, revenge is just
Encased in stone I gathered rage
To curse three men this wicked day
I see these three and bring them pain
Their visages I gather now
I bind them, crush them, bring them down
With these bones I now do crush
Make Faustus, Scoping turn to dust
Bind Latent's fluent, helpful tongue
Make all their efforts come undone
Torment and fire consume you whole
With this hex I curse your souls!
So mote it be!
Faustus and Chris are Marked. LatentMoths, one of our strongest cipher crackers, became SILENCED. Ardat is playing hardball, so we’ll need to play just as hard, if not even moreso.
Before the next door was opened up, Ardat had an announcement to make.
--
“Oh Geminy.” Ardat says.
“Yes?” She replies.
“It’s time for you to leave this world. Your time is up. My Marked have a short shelf life.” Ardat says.
“Wait what??” Luna says shocked.
“Nooooooooooo” Austere cries.
“You've gone from Marked to the Taken. Say bye bye to everyone.” Ardat says with a sneer. Gem is taken away and cannot communicate with the rest of Nammu’s Marked.
--
With Gem out of the picture, and Code, Faustus, and Chris in danger of being taken as well, 1-4 was opened up.
OROBAS
SEERE AMDUSIAS
BYBLOSTYIOUS BELETH
The circle is cast, and I am now between the worlds,
Beyond the bounds of time, where night and day,
Birth and death, joy and sorrow meet as one.
It is in this place that I invoke the tantric powers of Ardat Lili
Spirit of the dark love goddess dear,
Bring Luna to my arms right here,
Let me kindle the flame of desire,
And my passions tear flesh with blood and fire
I am Marked by Ardat and just like Chris, Faustus, and Code, I am also in danger of being Taken away and Shut.