Escape The Night Season 5: The Delamont Carnival

Chapter 31: Peculiar Possessions- Part 1

Author's Note: Hey, guys! So, this is the beginning of the final part of this story before the final showdown with the Delamont Mistress. And it is going to get intense. Get ready for some tea, a LOT of running and some plot twists you are never gonna expect. But, enough talk. Let's get on with the final section of the Delamont story!

Your Author, Marbella. <3

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"Never mess with a badass mother-fucker..."

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Valentina's POV:

We were all assembled in the lounge, considering our actions for the next hour.

We had one artifact left, one more life had to be taken... which Zach was still going on about.

"OK, so there's only one artifact left, guys. We can do this." Oli encouraged, trying to keep our spirits up.

"But one of us still has to die for the other four to escape. And that person better not be me." Zach growled, pointing to himself.

"Well, it is probably going to be you, honestly." I chimed in, my hand on my hip as I stood there. "You have been toxic all night."

"Most honest thing I've heard all night. Thank you, Val." Lana thanked, raising her hands up.

"If we're on about how's the most expendable here, I would say Gear. I mean, he has gone into the challenge three times already." Zach gloated, leaning back against the chair he was sitting in.

"Well, listen here real quick," Gear began, holding his hand out to get Zach to be quiet.

"I only went in the other two times because you or Megan voted me and Oli in, then you and maybe Lia voted me to go against her with the Sword Swallower, and then we all had to run the damn gauntlet! How am I suddenly expendable?!" He shouted, putting both of his hands on his chest.

"Gear, you're not expendable, Zach's just trying to throw you under the bus again," Lana reassured, putting her hand on Gear's shoulder.

"Say what you will, Zach, but I think we all deserve to be here, right? Well, except you, but I'm not going on another rant right now." I orated, leaning forward slightly. "So, pretend you're more important than all of us, go ahead, but we're not standing for it."

"I gotta agree with Val, though," Oli chimed in, resting on the side of his chair.

"We all deserve to be here. But- no offence- we are a bit of hot mess. I've been in this kind of situation before, Zach's been rude as hell all night, Gear's been the source of a lot of conflicts, and Lana's been through and seen some shit I'm not even gonna talk about."

"Then, we have Val over here who's been kicking ass and doing it flawlessly. Great job, Val. Like, well done across the board." Oli continued, motioning to me.

"Thank you." I gushed, placing a hand on my heart.

"Something has changed on the map," Heidi announced, laying the map out on the table.

We looked at the map, and on it were drawings of the artifacts and words next to them. It was like a jumbled-up sentence, in a way.

"OK, how the fuck do we do this?" Gear said, putting his head in his hand.

I soon saw a possibility. There were words next to where we cleansed the artifacts. I thought of a sentence in my head and thought I should just say it.

"Guys, I think I have an idea about what this sentence says," I called out, looking at the map again. 

"I think it says 'The seven in order will reveal the eighth," I confirm.

Lana: 'So, using this, I get a vague idea in my head that we need to re-arrange the artifacts in the order we got them, so the first one at the top and the seventh at the bottom, to get the eighth artifact we need.'

Lana immediately races over to the shelf and starts taking all the artifacts off of the shelf, confusing everybody, but I understood it.

"Lana, what are you doing?! Are you crazy?!" Zach shrieked, frustrated.

Zach: 'And just as we figure it out, Lana takes all the artifacts off of the shelf. And wastes a lot of our time getting them there.'

"Guys, I think we need to put them in the order we got them. So, put the first one at the top, the seventh one at the bottom, and put the other ones in between. Because the sentence said in the order we got them, it makes sense!" Lana predicted, stepping back.

We ended up arranging the artifacts in the order we got them;

The Acrobat's Baton at the top, then the Dog Woman's Collar, the Bandit's Hat, the Stone Man's Gauntlet, the Inventor's Goggles and the Sword Swallower's Sword in the middle. And finally, the Ram's Skull at the bottom of the shelves.

As soon as we placed the Ram's Skull in its place, the table popped open.

We were so surprised.

We looked inside the trapdoor in the table and inside was a black choker with a jewel in the middle and four holes, two on either side.

It was rather confusing.

Valentina: 'Wait, so the eighth artifact was in the lounge the whole time? What?! I'm so shocked.'

Inside the trapdoor was also a note.

Gear grabbed it and read it.

The note read:

'This is the Choker of Possession. Though it may seem innocent, it has a mind of its own, just like its owner. To fully purify the choker, you must face off against the Delamont Mistress' son, Lucian, and his demon cat Lucile and re-attach the four black feathers. Be wary, though; the choker may lead you to places you will never forget.'

Lana grabbed the choker from the trapdoor and suddenly, we heard somebody kick the door of the arcade open and storm towards the lounge.

We face the archway that is now the lounge door and see...

TO BE CONTINUED. <3