Pandora's Truth

**Pandora's Truth** is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Interra and follows the perspective of the young Chessboard veteran Justice Preston. This storyline follows a Chessboard narration.

## Story

### Act 1 - Challenge the Fate

After challenging Tiphaine Quila and seeking to showcase her progress, Justice, alongside Wallace Dyne, is invited by a mysterious Egregor to the Duncan Mansion, in the early twenty-first century. There, she meets with the Duncan family, except for the mysteriously absent Ricky Duncan, resting in his room. Despite a tense atmosphere, Justice manages to blend in, befriending a pregnant Caroline Duncan.

During the meal, a riddle is exposed, meant to test the Duncan family's ability to solve it - and promising a great reward for the winner. While the family seeks to solve it, Justice and Caroline notice that Ricky doesn't seem to come for dinner. They quickly investigate, then find him dead. Death soon follows for the rest of the family, seemingly picked on one by one, with only Caroline left alive.

### Acts 2-3 - Inside the Box

Justice then finds Pandora, the apparent culprit of the whole murder, who claims to have revived. Justice challenges her, and promptly loses, unable to explain any of the murders. She asks of a second round, and Pandora obliges, with a similar board, where a mysterious fire seems to devour everyone, with drastically different killing methods and implausible deaths.

While Justice attempts to accuse Pandora of being born of different individuals, Pandora claims to be born of an unchanging consciousness, and fights against Justice once more, winning again. A third board is set-up, with this time a series of childish, riddle-like murders, Justice still unable to explain them due to their swiftness, but still challenging the board due to her quick wit and gift for analysis.

### Act 4 - Traces of Riddles

Justice and Pandora thus fight for a fourth time, this time with Nathalie Courtabesse acting as a spectator. Justice teams up with Caroline in order to uncover the secrets of the manor, and after solving the riddle, ends up discovering a secret passage leading to Ricky's safe. There, they find the truth about his "treasure" : **Pandorium**, an immensely rare gemstone made of a yet undiscovered chemical element.

A message from Ricky claims that this treasure is the ownership of Shella Duncan, Caroline's daughter whom she thought to have died. Before Caroline can react, she is killed by Nathalie, who claims to have ownership of the chessboard, due to her narrative powers. An agent of END, Nathalie uses her story role as a journalist to write a story incriminating Justice as a criminal, thus "solving Pandora's mystery".

While everything seems lost, Justice calls upon a dying Pandora's powers and chooses to defend her, learning the truth about her identity as a disguised Shella who was assisted by a different member of the Duncan family in each board. Justice however defeats Nathalie by resurrecting Ricky and team up with him, as Justice never met with a living Ricky and thus could never kill him. Justice and Ricky manage to overpower Nathalie, banishing her, and saving Pandora, with Justice bringing the Chessboard to the Cheshire Isle.

## Characters

* Justice Preston
* Nathalie Courtabesse
* Injustice
* Pandora
* Ricky Duncan, lord of the mansion.
* Caroline Duncan, daughter of Ricky.
* Yvonne Duncan, daughter of Ricky.
* Simon, husband of Yvonne.
* Beatrice Duncan, daughter of Ricky.
* Judith Duncan, daughter of Beatrice.
* Rita, servant.
* Michel, servant.
* Luc, servant.

## Trivia

* This storyline is the first to introduce a veteran player - Justice - in another Chessboard.