Funeral in Paris

## Description

*A palm-sized golden music box. Inside is an entire skyline of miniature buildings. In the center is a tiny platform for a flower with a pearl set in the center. It seems like the flower can spin. But there's nothing to wind the box with.*

## Quest Chain

Pamela Roux discovers a music box in the dungeon. It opens, but there is no key to wind it with. Perhaps someone's lost it? What sort of song does it play?

 **Counter Librarian Cost:** £1

### Pamela and Lamont; January 10, 2017

Pamela shows Lamont D'Reichier the music box during the last day of the New Year's Party. Afraid to break it by tampering with the lock, when Lamont offers to fashion a key for it from ice, Pamela agrees.

Lamont conjures a turn key using his powers. The music box pops open - the lid swings up. Inside is a skyline of small buildings - and now that the key has been wound, the flower set in the center *blooms*, beginning to twirl. A tune wafts out of the box -- if it could be called a tune. The sound is discordant and distorted, and the box begins to shake, as a black smoke wafts out of the keyhole. The remainder of the key stuck inside the box dissolves, crumbling to small shards of ice.

Lamont feels a shiver from the base of his spine - something is *off* - not quite right. A bit frightening. As soon as he blinks, the black dust drifts to Pamela, before it is sucked into her ear. It takes only an instant. In fact - it almost seems as if the black cloud never existed at all. Pamela thinks she knows this composer. It does seem to be a familiar song - something from the Romantic era, maybe. The music continues to play from the box - without an intention of stopping. As it continues, the notes become more and more discordant - Pamela, if she listens closely, thinks she hears a voice -- strange, when there should be no singing from a *music box*.

... and then abruptly, it stops: at a halt, without having even slowed down. When Pamela looks up at Lamont, she'll notice that the scenery behind him has changed - the potluck table is gone, replaced by an endless sprawl of labyrinth stone. When she blinks, it returns to normal.

Everything is all-too-strange. Frightened by the dark cloud he's seen, Lamont speaks to Pamela- ("*Is that you?*"). But when he does, Pam sees a vision from a time she can't seem to remember.

*"Is that you?" The man says, with a tiny smile, reaching over to take Pamela's hand. He plants a small kiss on her fingertips, before releasing them. "How long has it been? Five years? Ten?" Pamela feels herself reply, though she doesn't hear her own voice. ("Eight," she mouths.) "That's right," he says, and he laughs- "Eight years! How I've missed you." ("Don't lie," she feels herself reply.)*

After the vision, she feels a sudden wave of nausea, before she loses consciousness.

 **Counter Librarian Cost:** £3

Once Pamela wakes up, all seems well again. If not for Lamont having been there, she might have remembered the whole experience as a strange dream: nothing seems amiss, and the music box seems frighteningly well-behaved. Should Pamela and Lamont open the box again - if they *dare* to do such a thing - it'll remain silent. In fact, winding the music box up again will only produce the *click clack* of tiny metal gears.

But just when the incident seems to have slipped Pam's memory, strange things begin to happen. She blinks and wakes up hours later, in locations she's never walked to. She sees strange flickering visions now and again in the castle, of a time when the windows were covered in heavy brocade, in shades of deep emerald green. And even more frightening: the next time she sees Lamont, she is filled with feelings of *resentment*: for the piano that he played, and the music box he gave her, and all the lies he told her.

(That doesn't seem quite right. What's going on?)

*Complete a roleplay with Lamont D'Reichier. During this roleplay, Pamela will feel antagonistic towards Lamont, despite the fact that she recognizes that these emotions might not be her own. Please make sure Thumper is present for this roleplay, as depending on the events of the roleplay, you might receive further prompts!*

### Pamela and Lamont; January 20, 2017

Lamont finds Pamela in the courtyard during cold weather, after she wakes up in a daze. In contempt of Lamont, she wishes for anything to ease her headache. During this exchange, Lamont sees a small black cloud swaying just next to Pamela's right ear. It whispers to her.

Attempting to help Pamela, Lamont attempts to attack the cloud by lowering the temperature of the surrounding air by the mist. Instead, the temperature of the entire area drops rapidly: the area around them swirls, from a starry sky to a hall of crystal chandeliers and gold-gilded lights. Even Lamont can see the vision this time: wooden banisters, women in elaborate ballgowns, a marble staircase that opens onto a dance floor. They are suddenly displaced into the middle of a bustling party. At the stage of the room, an orchestra plays a piano concerto with a familiar tune. When they touch anything, it feels real. Even their clothes seem to have changed from their current clothing to a style that matches the ballgoers around them.
From there, the pair begin to act strangely, compelled by forces beyond their control: Lamont takes Pamela's hand, and they begin to speak words that aren't their own, as if they've become actors in a play.

> *Lamont: "Did you like it?"*
>
>

> *Pamela: "Yes. The song you played was beautiful. It was simply breathtaking."*
>
>

Pamela hears the voice from the music box in her head - it whispers in her ears, like a narrator.

As per the narrator's prediction, Lamont offers her **Funeral in Paris**. If Pamela opens it, it plays the same song as was playing on stage only moments before.

Once they blink, the hall and its chandeliers disappear. Pamela's feelings of dislike vanish, though her visions continue. Though the music box was encased in ice at the start of the roleplay, it returns to its original state.

 **Counter Librarian Cost:** £N/A

***The Ballroom***

* The next time Pamela visits the library, she'll notice a painting hanging on one of the second-floor walls. Depicted in it is scenery she *remembers*: the same party as the vision in the courtyard, with the same chandeliers, and even the orchestra that plays on the stage.
* Further investigating this painting will surface the information that this party took place *on campus* in the upper floors Labyrinth, no more than sixty-three years ago.
* Perhaps there are school records about this party - and more importantly, perhaps there are school records about the party's participants?

***The Nightmare***

* Pamela wakes up in a cold sweat, having had a terrible nightmare. During the nightmare, she systematically and remorselessly breaks each of the fingers on Lamont D'Reichier's right hand.
* Upon waking, she'll find that she *hasn't* done any sleepwalking. However, the black smoke hangs out of her ear next to her pillow, whispering...
* *You'll need to schedule time with Thumper to roleplay this particular prompt. This is one rare prompt Pamela can roleplay alone - but you're also welcome to roleplay this with a second person present.*

### Pamela and Lamont; February 4th, 2017

Pamela wakes up in a cold sweat, restless. The smoke whispers to her when she wakes, telling her mutinous things: "*I protect you*", it tells her: "*surely you understand less than I, the peril of affections... You should take care not to trust him so closely. Your kind do not take well to promises*.*"*

From there, it shows her strange visions, of the same music hall, and the pianist sitting slumped at the keys with bandaged fingers. Pamela speaks to this man, though she says words that don't seem to be her own.

From there, Pamela feels her fingers snap one by one, writhing into rotted, gnarled twists of flesh. But for each of her own fingers she loses, a finger on the pianist's seems to return to its original state. On both of their pinkies sit what looks like a ring, but on closer inspection it seems to be an etched tattoo.

When the vision dissipates, Pamela wakes up in the school's courtyard, a distance away from Lamont's apartment. The weather pours. Lamont finds Pamela at school the next day after she's disappeared the night before, with dark circles beneath her eyes. Together, they discover the painting in the library, from what appears to be the party on campus that they saw visions ago. They research on when it could have been painted through the school yearbooks, hoping to find a hint of who the pianist might be.

Pamela and Lamont take to the library, hoping to find a hint towards the identity of the pianist. In the yearbooks, they find plenty of photographs of him. An alumnus of Concordia, *Thomas Hawkes* seems to have been a famous musician, who held concerts at the school every now and then.

The research takes on an unsettling tone as the pair delve deeper. It seems he only rose to acclaim after an accident that broke all the fingers on his right hand. Searching old newspapers garners eerie accounts of his fame: it seems shortly after the public announcement of his accident, he regained healthy fingers and the ability to play. A couple of news sources seem to accuse him of an entity being to thank for his musical talent - especially after the unprecedented return of his fingers - but they seem to have never received a comment. A couple of the less unbiased magazines theorize his possible pact with a *demon*... something Pamela now knows might be *true*.

Beside him in many of the photos is a girl that Pamela recognizes from the dream as *the other woman*- but also pictured by him is always a different person, holding his right arm, with a wisp of smoke by their ear. Lamont can't see the smoke in the photographs, but Pamela can.

Such strange new developments. The smoke won't answer any questions about its presence in the photos... but if it *is* a demon, what sort is it?

 **Counter Librarian Cost:** £10

*Roleplay Lamont and Pamela discovering these news articles about Thomas Hawkes. After they're finished, you can either schedule a roleplay with Thumper or ask to receive commands to view prompts through Melody for further information about the nature of the smoke.*