Working With Phantoms

The Obnoxious Test

June 3rd

Madran's group arrived back in the Metaverse, with Philemon transporting them to the last Safe Room. Then, they continued in their expedition.

"Ok, everyone, let's get a move on!"

"Oh, crap..."

"Plague? What's wrong?"

"I just remembered that Madarame's change of heart is in, uh, two days."

"Oh. Crap."

Rosana looked confused.

"Isn't Madarame the, uh, artist dude?"

"Yeah. It turned out that he was plagiarizing off of his students and ruining their lives, so we changed his heart. Gosh, that was a quick palace."

"It certainly was a breath of fresh air, I'll tell you that."

Rosana looked around in a confused manner.

"Um, ok...? Hey, are we gonna get going or what?"

"Gotcha, Excite. Everyone, head out!"

Madran's group left the Safe Room and returned to the large anteroom.

"Ok, so, we can either go up the stairs, which brings us up to a mid-floor between floors two and three, or go through the other hall and end up in the outer circle. Either way, we're getting to our destination, but we have two ways to get to it."

Madran looked back to her group.

"Hey, Fwoosh, should we just leave this up to democracy?"

"Oh, yeah, that sounds cool, Madame. Ok, all in favor of the outer circle..."

Rosana and Suga raised their hands. Then, Maya and Philemon followed.

"That's... four-"

Maya appeared to reconsider and lowered her hand.

"Um, ok, all in favor of inner circle?"

The rest of the group raised their hand.

"Ok, that's three against five. Um, inner circle it is!"

Philemon looked slightly disappointed, but followed the rest of the group as they went up the stairs and arrived at a new floor that had the same carpets but newer, darker walls.

"Ok, let's get going!"

Madran began to scan and wander around until she heard someone from afar.

"Oh...? Lost children, in this beautiful place?"

Madran then heard a different voice, with both sounding awfully feminine.

"How intriguing... my, could these be those intruders that we were warned about?"

Two already transformed shadows appeared before the group. One was a lady-like skeleton with a purple robe and red veil for a hat who held a cup and was surprisingly well-endowed, and the other was a salmon-skinned woman with a white cloak and a few golden bracelets around her arms and ankles.

"Um, how does the skeleton have..."

"My, it's rude to stare, Rosana Rohina."

"It's even worse when they call you by name..."

The robed skeleton chattered her teeth at that. Then, the cloaked woman spoke up.

"Since you obviously don't have manners, we'll show you ours. I am Hariti, and this is my friend, Mother Harlot."