[center][h3]Ms. Fortune[/h3]
[b]Level 4[/b] Nadia (119/40)
[b]Location:[/b] The Maw - Kabuki Theater
Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Blazermate’s [@ArchmageMC], Hat Kid’s [@Dawnrider], Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey],  Link’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy], Mirage’s [@Potemking]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1855[/center]

It had been a little unfair for Nadia to quiz the group as if she expected everyone to suddenly have an answer for this daunting threat, she knew. Considering the atrocity of what they just collectively witnessed, the feral couldn’t blame anyone for being shaken, especially poor Sakura. A part of her was too, after all, no matter how much she buried her true feelings underneath quips and puns. It was heartbreaking not just to see the brave but ill-fated Runaway Kid reduced to that homunculus-like thing, but to be so close to the end of this twisted realm and have their hope snatched away from them. Still, most of the others shared her resolve to oppose the Lady however they could, and in the lowest of voices exchanged their ideas in the crushing darkness of the nightmare theater.

It took no deliberation to conclude that direct assault was out of the question. Even with Bella’s newfound size and strength, plus Link’s striker and Kamek’s power, facing this place’s master plus her demonic accomplices on her terms was asking for trouble. A different plan soon cropped up, however, and it was one Nadia found herself agreeing with. “I know splittin’ up’s kinda the classic horror movie blunder and all, but I think it makes sense. She can’t be in two places at once, and anywhere’s gotta be less dark than in here,” she whispered. Hopefully the way the Lady taunted them meant that she wouldn’t come after them at all, instead inviting them to come try their luck as she waited in front of the door she knew they must enter, but it wasn’t a gamble Nadia planned to risk her life on. Not that she wasn’t risking her life regardless, of course. If Mirage was right about the Lady being able to track them, versus just hearing where they were thanks to their speech in this quiet place, they were all screwed.

Nadia took a deep breath. Her foe was powerful, fast, and cunning, able to strike from stealth and kill (or at least mutilate) with terrifying speed. As vile and strong as Moreau, Bongo Bongo, and the chefs had been, this would be the group’s toughest encounter yet. Still, the Koopa Troop managed to keep themselves together, trading a few harebrained schemes as they conferred in their typical not-so-serious fashion. It helped Nadia to realize that, as dangerous as this might be, it wasn’t really that different from before. Keep hidden, move fast, stay sharp. Find a way to turn the tide against the dangerous foe and survive. Psyching herself out over this challenge would only do more harm than good, Nadia knew; she just needed to do her very best, and everything would be alright.

Or it wouldn’t, and she’d be dead.

[i]Gulp.[/i]

Well, whatever. Blazermate joined the Bowsers and their Koopas on the way to the storeroom, and the Cadet voiced his intent to raid the Lady’s residence, which left Nadia’s participation a foregone conclusion. “I’m in,” she whispered, scampering over to her pal’s side. If anyone was up to the challenge, it had to be the Ace Decoys. “Let’s just make sure we’re twice as careful as last time.” Link and his shadow, the green-haired Glenn, followed suit, lagging behind as always to stay as safe as possible. Although Nadia, like any seasoned thief, knew that ‘safety in numbers’ did not apply to stealth operations, she did not object. She did jump to accept the magnet from Mirage, however, and the moment she took his blue magnet in hand both it and its red partner still in Ace’s possession thrummed with power, even more than when the little legend and kitten held the pieces. It puzzled Nadia, making her wonder what occasioned the extra potency, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouse. Instead she and Ace hurried off, confining their steps to the carpet to keep their footfalls quiet, and watching the dummies with wide eyes lest any reach out a ghostly pale hand.

The moment Sakura elected to remain behind, Bella naturally followed suit, but if she hoped to help her dear friend feel better the Seaplane Tender would find no solace in the oppressive blackness of the theater. As Sakura curled up in the sheltering shadows of the geisha mannequins Mirage sat beside her to comfort her as best he could, much to Bella’s chagrin. Since she didn’t know what words might lift the little street fighter’s fallen spirit, however, she nodded her gratitude to Geralt, then consented to sitting down by them and trying to make herself seem as small as possible. Doing so, of course, had the unfortunate side effect of demonstrating just how big she’d become. Miserable and disconsolate, the odd pair sat between Mirage and Peach as they did their best to keep their friends from sinking any deeper.

[hr]

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVQPcP7Rq-0[/youtube][/center]

Moving quickly but quietly, Ace and Nadia led Link and Glenn toward the door that promised access to their enemy’s dwelling. It lay closed, the wooden eye on its down staring down at the children as they approached, but the duo knew what to do. The sturdier Ace joined his hands together to boost the lighter Nadia up, granting her enough height to grab onto the handle and weigh it down. Courtesy of her momentum the door swung inward, and the four scurried inside.

Inside they were greeted by a [url=https://i.pinimg.com/736x/4c/f7/ba/4cf7ba53a785616ecb35b0cd3493a80d.jpg]vision[/url] of velvet-cushioned furniture, hideous portraits, and patterned pink wallpaper. As Nadia hoped, it wasn’t nearly as pitch-black as the cavernous theater, but enough dark corners remained to present an issue. Add to that the mannequins here and there, and the kitten kept her eyes well-peeled. [i]Weapon, weakness, something useful,[/i] she repeated in her head, scanning every nook and cranny she could as she carefully advanced, scampering between hiding spots. Nothing really jumped out at her, and it seemed like a bad idea to pick through each and every drawer, so she kept moving. Four pairs of eyes turned every which way for any sign of danger.

The four made their way up the stairs, momentarily exposed but comforted by the knowledge that attack could come only from only so many angles. Nadia counted herself lucky that she’d eaten herself large enough to not have any trouble with the steps. In only a few seconds she and Ace reached the top, but found nothing out of the ordinary waiting for them. There was just one way forward from the landing, its door ajar, and pushing through with a small creak brought the kids into the Lady’s personal quarters. The room that lay before them featured many dressers and wardrobes, their doors looking rather climbable for children the intruders’ size, as well as a fainting couch, a few tables, vases, and chairs. One wall featured a large and fancy vanity against the faded paper, but despite being otherwise the most cared-for article of furniture in the room, its mirror appeared to be smashed. Nothing reflected in its shards. In front of it lay a hairbrush and a clay doll of the Lady herself. There was a body mirror by the really big dresser too, also destroyed. “Masked, and hates mirrors. She must be one ugly [i]puta madre[/i],” Nadia whispered.

Broken mirrors meant sharp shards, however, and with a little prying the others could arm themselves with emergency shanks. Nadia went for the body mirror by the dresser, although when she got close the creak and bend of the planks beneath her feet made her pause. “Unstable,” she hissed. Maybe the weight of that wooden giant was a little too much for it. With her breath held the feral tiptoed over to pull free a shard, then hurried on to the next room. No signs of danger...yet, anyway.

Next was the bedroom. In it lay a simple four-post bed with white sheets, and the rest of the furniture was just as ordinary. Paintings of children adorned the walls, and a china vase lay on top of the nightstand. Nadia hoped that Link would be able to avoid smashing this one, since the crash could probably be heard all the way back to the theater. Without any sign of better weapons, hidden weaknesses, or anything else useful, she was starting to get a little worried. Why would the Lady put the key to defeating her in a place like this, anyway?

Then she saw it. A closet door, almost invisible in the shadows on one wall. Nadia sprinted over and ducked inside. To her surprise she found a stark and colorless [url=https://i.imgur.com/7IG1kcY.png]room[/url], empty except for a whole bunch of broken mirrors, and a little cabinet. On top, nestled in a brown pillow, was a small round hand mirror--the only one of its kind still intact. “This can’t be coincidence,” she murmured.

A sudden noise nearby nearly made her jump out of her skin, and in blind fear she hurtled out of the closet, leaving Ace to take the hand mirror. Once she Across the bedroom and through the door to the other chamber she could see the concentric crimson diamonds of one of the much-reviled Resentment demons, its tail trailing out of the door to the stairwell, its immense body looming over Glenn in the middle of the room with the vanity. [i]Crap, crap![/i] she seethed, running across the bedroom as fast as her legs could take her. While she, Ace, and Link forged onward, Glenn brought up a sizable rear, but the fatal flaw in his strategy revealed itself when an enemy came from behind. She and the boys ran toward the demon, brandishing their various weapons, but they were too late. The headless snake man sucked the poor boy into the demonic void of its hood and swallowed him whole.

“No!” Nadia cried, only to get interrupted as a shockwave erupted from the Resentment’s position, rattling the whole room and throwing the kids off their feet. Glenn was gone, but with him went the necessity of a fight with the superhuman monstrosity. As much as it pained Nadia to forget about him, her survival instinct allowed her to cast the lost boy aside and think of herself. “Hide!” she urged the others, and rather than get up to charge forward into certain death, she shimmied up a nearby chest of drawers into the concealing darkness at the top. By the time the Resentment stood ready to find its next victim, hopefully all three kids would be in hiding, leaving the monster to prowl around in search of them. After getting control of her breathing, Nadia considered the situation. She and the others could sneak around the monster to get back out of here, but that giant dresser was still teetering dangerously on the unstable floorboards. Maybe, with a little ingenuity, they could drop it on the demon and send both crashing deep into the Maw. It was worth a shot, but for the life of her Nadia couldn’t come up with how to do it. Instead she stood ready to follow Ace and Link’s lead, whatever they might decide.

[hr]

At the same time, the Koopa Troop plus Blazermate and Geralt slipped into the Storeroom. There the decor of the kabuki theater and the restaurant immediately gave way to more drab, utilitarian walls and floors, and though it seemed to be mostly coat and hat racks nearest to the door, bearing articles of clothing the Guests deemed unnecessary for their feast and subsequently never returned to claim, most of the large room was quite different. A veritable maze of shelves, lockers, and racks arrayed into turns, junctions, and aisles awaited the Seekers, each laden with all manner of random objects. With only [url=https://i.imgur.com/Sw20lIY.png]white[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/WWKejvn.png]yellow[/url] lights serving to distinguish the opposite ends of the place, it would be easy to get lost in here.

And as the intruders soon found out while exploring the Storeroom, it harbored a couple of hidden tricks up its sleeve. The first, rearing its head when anyone attempted to shift something heavy, was startling but harmless: a couple [url=https://i.imgur.com/Xbt7Gkg.png]nomes[/url] skittered out like cockroaches when their hiding places were disturbed, making unintelligible alarmed rasps as they made their mad dashes for new cover. Though this meant nothing by itself, given what the group just witnessed in the theater, it made them wonder if the sorry soul they’d seen transformed into one of these things might very well still be alive.

Less hope-inspiring was the second, far nastier surprise. In the corner of the storeroom lit by the lambent glow of a yellow incandescent bulb, any enterprising scroungers would find that a number of the objects there featured little yellow post-it notes attached, visible only at a second glance on account of the lighting. Written on in pen, each one of them read [i]not a mimic.[/i] When a looter passed by a certain [url=https://i.imgur.com/26kIJGh.png]mug[/url], however, it speedily morphed into a four-legged black mass, revealing itself to be very much a mimic, and leaped at the offender to pierce him or her with its legs. If it succeeded in ensnaring a victim and ramming one leg down a vulnerable throat, it could rapidly drain its nutrients and impose forced fission into four more mimics. If fended off, however, it could not only re-camouflage itself to get the drop on its attackers, but leap around with agility impressive enough to deftly evade most melee strikes.

In the white side of the room lay a different surprise. A slight sobbing sound clued the Seekers into its location, leading them to a small form huddled underneath a shelf. There lay a [url=https://i.imgur.com/rEPRy8p.png]hairless pink child[/url], shuddering without end in a pool of his own tears. No action taken against him except an attack would come to any effect, although if Galeem’s influence was triggered Isaac would weaponize its own tears to destroy his assailant. On top of the shelf that sheltered him lay a strange [url=https://i.imgur.com/NihMJAA.png]brown nugget[/url], a [url=https://i.imgur.com/ncMl6JH.png]giant bacteria[/url], and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/QxYoHsZ.png]vile blob[/url] with eyes and a frown, all floating like classic pickups.

[center][i]Every player with characters that entered the room can submit to me up to three items of their own choosing from any game that makes sense. Two must be of questionable use (1-2 stars out of 5) and one can be moderately useful (3 stars)[/i][/center]

Bowser’s posse didn’t get too long to rifle through the place, however. It wasn’t long before the door they came through slammed open, and into the maze of shelves slithered one of the terrifying Resentments. Spiked lance at the ready, it pushed through the aisles in pursuit of the children, eager to dive upon them with withering speed and pull them one by one into the void of its hood, never to return. The only thing standing between predator and prey was the labyrinth itself, although that didn’t mean the monster wouldn’t lunge through a shelf into an adjacent aisle if given a reason to. If they wanted to escape back into the concealing darkness of the theater they would need to be both quick and careful. The demon’s strength and lethality made fighting it normally an impossibility, but tricks and traps were always options for clever minds.