SlenderDaddy Pv Ethen

He was a scourge unto himself. The inner machinations of Ethen’s ever careless mind would undoubtedly have been his downfall at some point. But to beckon forth that reckoning so soon… He would never have perceived his doom would come in the form of a carrot. Oh the carrot… The orange root of calamitous ruin. If, by some twisted turn of fate, Ethen made it back to his cozy bed, he was not sure about the status of his ongoing partnership with carrots.

There was no escape. Ethen had been too paralyzed with confusion to mount any sort of resistance to the creature’s acquisition of his person. In the moment, he truly thought the Shadow Daddy would be thankful for the gift after offering up so many of his own. His mind would not be able to conceptualize the subsequent moments from that auspicious offering.

Any semblance of coherent thought and analysis of his predicament seemed to be blurred into a haze of perplexed and overwhelmed senses. He had been brought somewhere. A secondary location… There was darkness. An abyssal absence of anything that would grant his eyes clarity. Even in the darkness, however, Ethen’s nose would be assaulted by a cornucopia of offensive scents. The stale scents danced together in his nostrils as he was being taken. Again his brain struggled to make sense of anything within the blur of the moment.

If he had his voice, he could not find it. It was lost somewhere in the darkness and beyond his reach. But there was a sudden pause to his capture. The phantom gait ended and Ethen found his feet suddenly touching something solid. Delving deep within his metacognition, the boy came to the consensus that it was in fact the ground. But he made no attempt to move from his point of delivery. Too many unknowns. More importantly, however, his body suddenly felt free. As if some inexplicably oppressive force had been removed from him. Perhaps it was Shadow Daddy himself who had relaxed or released whatever unnatural grip had been levied upon him.

There was an unconscious shake to his body from the sudden mix of adrenaline and the frigid air of...wherever he was. He tried, momentarily, to persuade his mind that he was still in the common room. Or having a curious dream of some kind. What logic the boy did have told him that was unlikely, but Ethen was an ever hopeful boy.

Taking a deep breath to calm his rising anxiety, he found himself desperately trying not to cough as he brought in a lungful of dust. Ethen uncomfortably grit his teeth as he released a pair of muted coughs into his arm. Any discomfort from the cold or stale air the boy had was suddenly forced to the periphery by a sound… A sound in that darkness. His body would instinctively tense as he wrestled to maintain his foolish calm.

He could not see anything but the sound seemed unmistakable. While its source was a mystery, Ethen believed that something was moving in the bitter darkness of the room. Several more noises sounded off, each one garnering an impulsive jolt from the terrified boy. All he had wanted to do was eat a feast and hibernate for the night. But no...he had to see what was going on in the common room.

Ethen’s mind instinctively went to the wand still in his possession. Unless the darkness was truly unnatural, Lumos would be able to give him some ability to see what shared the shadows with him. But he paused in reaching for the item. He had not yet been harmed. It was clear that Shadow Daddy could have done as he pleased and it seemed most likely that the sounds he now heard came from that being of darkness. Perhaps this was his home. It would be fitting for a creature of malevolent shadow. If that was the case...Ethen was a guest in the estate of the Shadow Daddy and it seemed that the being likely preferred the darkness. Perhaps any light would be seen as offensive. Still not convinced it was the best course of action, Ethen decided against using any spell. He would not disrupt the darkness of wherever he was.

He had called for a parlay like some carrot-wielding pirate. So perhaps, it was only conversation that the creature wanted. Taking a deep gulp, Ethen grit his teeth and relaxed his tense fingers. “Um...Is that you...Shadow Daddy?... It-it's a nice place you have here… Good...Um, dark shadows? I hope you liked that-that carrot...It was real, orange…” With each nervous word, Ethen tried to force his body to maintain its calm but it may be a losing battle.

@Ethen Emerys

Ethen would find himself on the move, like a spirit, a terrible and dark spector through the floorboards, into the darkness and the unknown. He was deep underground in the bowels of the Scottish castle. There was a time when places such as this housed the bones of their former residents. Catacombs filled with skulls, a house of death, a forgotten legacy as childish feet trod overhead indifferent and ignorant of the forsaken legacies meters below.

This room did not smell of death but the oppressive sense of a setting meant for the dead, the dying would not be lost to young Ethen Emrys. The place had the scent of industry, of clinical interest, of ingenuity. Neither consideration was particularly soothing as the normally carefree, lackadaisical youth came to consider the potential gravity of the situation. A festering sense of unease, a bubbling impression of anxiety that was only partially ameliorated by the quiet hope that this was indeed a parlay.

“Um...Is that you...Shadow Daddy?... It-it's a nice place you have here… Good...Um, dark shadows? I hope you liked that-that carrot...It was real, orange…”

The adumbration of a plethora of daddy issues in dire need of a therapist would have to be ignored. No answer from Ethen's dark driver. At least an answer that he could understand, as a chill permeated the air. As if he was in the blustery cold of winter, just no wind.



Laughter. Such sweet, innocent laughter. The peel of laughter would pierce the darkness, an accompaniment to the sounds of something shifting. The idle of hope vermen rather than something

Daddy?

...or not.

...Father

The dungeons of Hogwarts might possibly be the psychological equivalent of a Hooters on a Thursday night.

Father brought us friendship.

Father has not left us to languish!

These voices defied even the wildest imaginations mustered by Emerys as being that of 'Shadow Daddy'. It was rather unlikely that the enigmatic manifestation of darkness and gloom had the voice of a disparaged orphan during the Renaissance Era.

There was further movement, the rattle of metal cans from the sound of things. The spill of perhaps a saucer of nuts and bolts. A scampering noise that he could hear in the periphery. It was getting louder, something was running towards him.



The scampering stopped.

_______________

Little did Ethen know, there was a rescue party in the fledgling patterns of formation. A motley crew of ragtag heroes, the sort that would suggest that all was hopeless for the unfortunate Quidditch player who was adopted by embodiment of loathsome gloom or an inexplicable gothic fetish he would have to later explain to Atlas involving action figures and a metric ton of shame. Hufflepuffs were the unlikely Marines of Hogwarts were not going to leave a man, or a 'boy' in Ethen's case behind.

They had ripped through the floor, Willow the reverse George who sent her entire house into the basement rather than seal a portion of them away in the dark. They would have to venture through unfamiliar tunnels, explore unknown rooms and try to find poor Ethen before it was to late.

The gift of a carrot had earned the boy a dangerous parlay, unspoken and silent would Ethen derive meaning from the terrible place he had been taken?

@Victor Moore

Whatever foolish or naive hope that Ethen had, in fact, made it into some strange parlay with a creature of shadow, quickly began to fizzle out in the silent nothingness of the darkness that surrounded him. Despite his anxiety filled words, there had been nothing. No indication of where he was, why he had been brought there, or why he had been allowed to live. If the creature had taken him for some malicious purpose, Ethen could not understand why he had been released. There was more to it, he was sure. But his premonitions about the situation could only go so far.

With the nervous flexing of his jaw, Ethen tried to keep himself from shaking. The mix of adrenaline and the unpleasant chill made him feel like he was locked away in some freezer or mortuary. Had there been light, he was sure that he would have seen his breath plume in front of him with each nervous exhale. For once, Ethen desperately wished he shared the fearlessness of his girlfriend. He knew he tended to be a bit aloof and careless but that did not always stave off the prowling tendrils of fear.

Then, there was laughter...A prattle of laughter that, in any other circumstance, may have made Ethen smile or join in. In the abyssal darkness, however, it took most of Ethen’s willpower to not shit himself with fear. Like something out of a horror movie, the laugh sliced through the darkness and shook Ethen to his core. He hadn’t known what to expect in this place, but that was just about

Ethens fingers instinctively clenched around his wand, again he considered casting Lumos but his nerves were only battered further at the sounds of voices. He wasn’t sure what he expected Shadow Daddy to be, but it was not this… This was something else and he did not know if that was more or less terrifying. Nor did he know if he should respond. He assumed the voices were the likely origin of the laughter. Perhaps it was Shadow Children...Perhaps Ghosts...Or perhaps something more sinister.

Ethen’s heart pounded in his chest so hard that he was afraid whatever was with him might hear it. Hear his fear… His entire body convulsed and jolted at the sound of a spill. The loud clang of metal that had perhaps fallen somewhere in the room. Something was approaching. Getting closer and then all sound ceased.

Hands shaking with fear, Ethen stood in the resumed silence trying to force his voice out through the terror. “H-hello!” He announced, still working overtime to contain the fearful evacuation of his bowels. “I-I am a friend…I-you call me Ethen... I am g-gunna turn a light on if that’s okay,” Ethen stammered. The sliver of hope residing in him was only kept alive by the mere fact that he was still standing. He was terrified but technically unharmed. For all he knew, he was just surrounded by ghosts who wanted to play...spooky laughing child ghosts... Perhaps beyond the psychological torture, he would make it out of this. Tentatively holding out his wand, Ethen muttered, “Lumos.”

If the spell worked, he may get a glimpse of his surroundings and whatever was scurrying around with him. Although Ethen wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to see what was with him. But if he could maintain some semblance of calm, he believed he would be able to think through the situation.

Action: Attempting to cast Lumos

@Ethen Emrys

The darkness was isolating, all-encompassing. Ethen knew that there were others in this room with him. How they laughed and they scampered about him in these shadowy quarters. No harm had come to him, not yet in any case. SlenderDaddy was certainly a gentle kidnapper. Little did he know for certain, the same could not be said for the giggling demon spawn that scampered in the darkness.

Everything had moved so quickly for young Ethen. It was doubtful he even considered the gravity of his act. Gift giving, the act of giving without the request of reciprocity are given to express emotion, build relationships, and done in the spirit of mutual aid or hospitality, as a sign of mutual respect and devotion.

What child could possibly want violence spiders made of pure darkness and gloom? Or a severed finger for that matter? The right question truth be told if asked but only if one considers where did the creature get those gifts in the first place? That was the true, heart of the question. A severed finger indicated that there was another 99% of a person someplace, dead or alive sans one finger. A shadow spider had to be either captured or made, but few considered the specificity of the spider, the only thing that made shadow spiders was Vladimir Athanatos. Well, technically the teen's blood.

Months ago he was assailed in the Owlery, something was stolen both from the teens veins as well as from the straw-filled crates that littered the Owlery. Once a hiding place for the youth, a dark, secure location away from his personal belongings where he stored his blood in jars. The boy was performing straight stick phlebotomy on himself, drawing the contents of his own blood out, storing the blood in a sealed jar, well the proper term phial one could suppose, and then packaging them in a dark space. Why? The blood dies when exposed to light. Bright lights, such as those one would often perform needlestick phlebotomy under would damage the darkness that was imbued so deeply into the black, sludge-like blood, rendering it inert but no less useless. Again with the why's... at first, per request. As ordered. Later, because the darkness was overtaking him wholly. His faith that a cure would be found independent of him had faded. He was seeking the cure himself, storing a stockpile of his own blood so that at his leisure, when alone an when it was finally 'safe' he could find the cure that had eluded him for so long.

Perhaps Vladimir was not full of crap when he claimed someone had beaten him to a bloody pulp and stole his blood. Yes, that box contained Vladimir's blackened blood. Just a small bit of course, that proved terrible enough and could prove to be a terrifying weapon. Was that what happened to the Ravenclaw Common Room and the boy's dorm as well? Yes.

SlenderDaddy was trying to communicate. The logic of a being made of pure gloom with addled logic and a perverted essence would be of little help when it seemed to only know how to instinctively sew chaos. When it brought, like a cat to it's master a dying bird or a writhing mouse... it was teaching them how to hunt. The hunters that knew not. The hunters that would have starved had it not been for the paternalistic instinct of their feline counterpart.

So what had Ethen done when he extended a gift, a carrot to Slender Daddy, when he partook in the reciprocity of gift giving. When he offered an item of sustenance. When he had successfully communicated with nothing more than a humble carrot... Ethen had done a great many things, more than what most could have done with the sum aggregate of their honed arcane skill, their surplus might or even their experience. Ethen had communicated, reciprocated and was taken.

Shame that the monster that stood by the boy's side could not speak. It could not act much beyond the primal instincts its barely humanoid form had left him with for he had died a cursed death years ago.

The scampering and wicked laughter stopped.

A protracted silence would follow. A slow scraping sound, almost cautious. “H-hello!” Ethen stammered into the abyss. Yet nothing would answer, not at first.

He is here.

He is here.

But they are broken.

Father hurts us.

Father no longer loves us.

Voices rang back like disparaged Victorian orphans from the dark. Was SlenderDaddy someone else's daddy besides Ethen? Well he had the tall and dark down pat, maybe not so much the handsome however but there is no accounting for taste. There is plenty tall, dark and dangerous to share.

“I-I am a friend…I-you call me Ethen... I am g-gunna turn a light on if that’s okay.”

Nothing would stop Ethen as he drew his wand. The light was indeed something for the darkness to fear, but this 'SlenderDaddy' was another sort of creature entirely. The small, child-like voices perhaps (indeed) of greater concern than the stalled adventure that was no longer just the two of them.

“Lumos.”

The boy incanted his word of power, a simple charm every child learns in their first year known as the wand-lighting charm. A spell that had staved off the darkness and the hidden terrors throughout the school. Oddly enough the most mundane but also the most powerful spell in the children's arsenal.

Ethen casts Lumos.
Roll: 6 Success

A spell the Hufflepuff cast with ease, while he did not look to be the brightest bulb, his wand did indeed shine brightly. It cast a cool glow throughout the room and he might have preferred to remain in the dark.

Long, black, thread-like fingers. In truth more like claws or daggers attached to the end of each individual digit had impaled a pair of dolls. Yes, playthings like what some gross girl would want to spend her idle hours dressing up or drinking poorly made tea with. They were not moving, their faces made of burlap and clothes of roughly stitched rags. Buttons for eyes and expressive 'smiles' more like a grimace come to think of it now would adorn their yellowed faces. Little hands, dainty feet, mops of crudely sewn hair. Tuffs of brown and knots of coppery red. They were unsettling in that they seemed a bit familiar. The striking grey 'eyes' on the ginger doll, the sad little make-shift broom on her back. Perhaps he would recognize the girl from the quidditch pitch, @Evelynn Decipio. If so, never admit that you knew another girl's eye color to Atlas, she would kill you Ethen. Just a doll of course, it was not moving, it was dead.

The second, a bit more concerning. A rounder face and much smaller than the first. It carried with it a smaller doll, a toy of sorts. A plushy? Why did that twisted little thing remind him of @Jake Morris?

Shadows played on the ground, they belonged to something tangible unlike the shadows from before. It was not the darkness that had life but life that cast darkness in this case it would seem as something scampered away like a vile rat.

Yes, he was not alone. The tall, dark creature would turn ever so slightly towards Ethen. Incredibly long claws bared and let the duo of dead, yes very dead... dolls slide off its fingertips and onto the floor. The dolls would wiggle, would writhe and would convulse. From the breech in their chest or back, Ethen had a view of each, one from each side -- something would start to wiggle and attempt to escape. Large, too large to theoretically fit inside the confines of something so small. Long, segmented and with many legs.



A centipede would wiggle loose and attempt to dart away. A single finger would point towards the one, the length of the single dark digit would seemingly expand until it pierced the centipede through. Just one of the two. Ethen, the other one is for you.

He would have the sense that many eyes were upon him because they in fact were but the concern would be the eyes that were not on him. A glint of something GOLD might catch his eye. There was a man, or at the very least what remained of a man. He was long dead, by a span of months if not years. His flesh had rotted away leaving only bone and leathery bits here and there beneath what resembled hunting clothes. It was the left arm that seemed queer, very much out of place. A golden... gauntlet?



The significance of this find quite possibly lost to the boy who had other concerns to contend with at this time.

@Victor Moore

Even without his natural cluelessness, there was too much for young Ethen to properly analyze. Too many variables without the ability to put the pieces together. A mix of fear and anxiety kept a haze over his mind’s capacity for clear analysis. Even with a clear head, however, there were likely too many aspects to his situation that he would have no knowledge of, at least for now. His oblivious nature would only further add to his difficulty in accurately thinking through his predicament and the strange circumstances surrounding his capture.

After the disconcerting laughter, there was a certain comfort to the silence. Whatever he shared the room with might not be openly hostile, but there was no denying that it had a horrifying aura. An amalgamation of terror. Then there were the voices...Again the disparaged and almost childlike voices ringing through the darkness. Ethen’s body instinctively tensed at each word as he maintained what calm he could.

Curiously, however, the reference to a father continued. The words were disjointed and unclear. The short statements seem to suggest a limitation on true communication. But Ethen couldn’t help but wonder who this father was. Was it Slender Daddy that the voices referred to? Was he not alone in his capture? Or perhaps the shadow itself was referring to some absentee creator. There was no way to know. At least not yet. But Ethen immediately felt a bit of sorrow at the words that all seemed to suggest that this entity had received some kind of scorn from this ‘Father’.

The somewhat muted light of his wand gave Ethen the first real ability to see his surroundings. It took a moment for him to squint through the light but the moment the image began to clear, his jaw instinctively clenched at the sight. He had to force himself to remain still against a sudden urge to backpedal.

Long dagger-like digits appeared to have skewered a pair of somewhat terrifying looking dolls. Ethen had a desire to return to the ignorance of the dark. The unmoving and crude dolls would surely haunt his nightmares for months to come...if he made it out. They looked like the playthings of some twisted little girl but there was something more to them. A faint familiarity in these horrors. Ethen’s eyes remained narrow as he studied the sight. The red haired doll had some level of familiarity but he couldn’t pinpoint it. The connection remained elusive. Perhaps under less stressful circumstances, Ethen might have been able to form the relation.

The second creepy but smaller doll did not perplex Ethen in the same manner. Almost immediately, Ethen was reminded of Jake Morris. It was still clearly a doll but the likeness only made Ethen more curious. What was the connection? Why would there be such demented toys formed in the likeness of another student? He assumed the one he vaguely recognized was also in the likeness of a student that he could not pinpoint. But the entire thing only confused him more. For a moment, he wondered if the creature was going to turn him into one of these abominations...but that worry was fleeting. It was terrifying but he still felt no malicious intent from the other being.

Ethen’s scurrying eyes had trouble taking in the overwhelming number of things in the strange room. Most pressing was this creature of darkness, with its dolls. If not for Ethen’s lack of injuries, he would have assumed that it was death coming to greet him.

His body reflexively seized when the horrifying dolls grotesquely slid from the creature’s digits to plummet helplessly onto the ground. The sudden writhing of the dolls touched on some primal fear deep within Ethen’s soul. The convulsions of these dolls that should not be able to move were terrifying enough but then something began to emerge. Ethen’s hands shook as the large segmented insects slithered out of the dolls. He could not begin to imagine what sort of twisted entity had devised this horrific display. But wide-eyed, he watched the shadow creature carefully. Looking for any indication of what he was supposed to do in this impossibly derailed parlay session.

The shadow creature pierced one of the centipedes with its finger. It looked effortless and he assumed that the other one would be similarly skewered. But maybe it was for him? Two beings and a centipede for each. Perhaps this was some strange shadowman ritual of hospitality.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ethen would notice a faint glint of god. A gauntlet of some kind, ornate and seemingly very out of place. The face that it was connected to what appeared to be a long dead body was not lost on him. He tried to persuade himself that it was just a prop corpse, but he knew that couldn’t be the case. No. Everything about the situation told him that it had once been very much alive. He had a strong desire to go fetch the gauntlet, but did not wish to abandon the shadow being quite yet. As interesting and disconcerting as a gauntlet wearing skeleton was, the shadow being and large centipedes seemed more inherently pressing.

“Okay…” Ethen mumbled. “Ethen, friend,” he said, pointing to himself and then shifting his gaze to the emerging centipedes. Deeply inhaling to keep his senses as calm as possible, Ethen would cautiously lunge forward in an attempt to safely catch the second centipede. He had the vague feeling that the creature was attempting to communicate and perhaps these disgusting insects were the key...Or he was stupidly trying to catch something dangerous that would bite and poison him. It seemed like a poor gamble but if it got him closer to understanding his predicament, he would take it.

Action: Attempting to safely catch the second centipede

The shadow creature had shown Ethen a great many things in a very short span of time. In this room that housed these devious devils as well as a dead man, there was a crude attempt at communication. Something spoke from the dark and unseen corners behind and beneath refuse. Two had the gall to engage but neither of them lasted long. Skewered by the dark creature, something would emerge from the confines of those spasming dolls. The dolls were filled with centipedes. They would be larger than the presumed space the doll would allow.

It was a demonstration.Do this. Only Ethen half understood the silent lesson slender daddy had for him as he verbalized understanding, acquiescence.

"Okay..."

Good good. He was getting it!

Slender daddy's tentacles wiggled with excitement.

“Ethen, friend.”

There was no face, no expression for Ethen to see the disappointment that would wash over the shadow monster, Ethen's supposed kidnapper. Only the sad droop of those additional appendages.

His long, thin, elongated finger still pointing at the wiggling centipede. Ethen would tear his eyes away from the gaudy glove-wearing corpse. Yes, yes!

Ethen would lunge at the centipede. No!

Ethen attempts to tackle the centipede.
Attack (+8) 6
Evasion (+10) 16

The centipede would wiggle, its many undulating legs moving in rapid, rhythmic succession. It would skitter away but not far. But this is when and where things would go very very wrong.

Centipede attacks Ethen
Attack (+10) 4
Evasion (+7) 9

The centipede would make a hairpin turn about its midsection and come for Ethen. it would wrap around his arm and attempt to climb up his arm. Little pickly legs. It would try to enter Ethen's mouth.

Horrah!

A new brother!

Father, wake up now please!

Father is not asleep, he is gone.

No no, he waits just over there.

Opportunists these misfits, another pair of strange ragdolls would meander as if being led out by the unseen hands of an invisible child. An odd little duo, hazel buttons and a matt of copper wiring on its head. The stitchwork clothes a bit too large, the cotton body seemingly made from from a cotton pillowcase. If one squinted, it might have looked like @Jack Burnett.

It would spring for slender daddy.

Jack doll attacks Slender Daddy
Attack (+10) 5
Evasion (+10) 4

Mini Jack would hurl himself at Slender Daddy brandishing what appeared to be a sewing needle and thread. It would plunge the needle into the shadowy figure like a climbing pick and attempt to climb the gloomy edifice.

The second doll, donning a brown,mossy cap and a pair of rhinestone eyes, like a pair of closely matching cheap colored glass stud earrings. A slight, thin smile stitched haphazardly into a rough burlap. The clothes look like they were stolen from someone's ken dolls, oddly fashionable considering the lumpy form that they covered.

Sylvain doll attacks Ethen
Attack (+10) 13
Evasion (+7) 7

Mini Syl would fling a great distance, spinning end over end. It would land on Ethen's shoulder where it would somehow open its stitchwork maw revealing a row of sharpened teeth. It would bite Ethen in the neck. The worst hickey ever, possibly first and not from Atlas if so, for shame.

The centipede would go untouched. It would reach would a pair of tentacles and attempt to rip the doll that was gnawing on Ethen's neck.

Slender Daddy attacks doll trying to eat Ethen
Attack (+10) 16
Evasion (+10) 19

It would rip the doll around the neck and pull with incredibly force the doll that had latched onto poor Ethen. Yes, it took a chunk of flesh with it as it was hurled across the room where it hit the far side of the room with a splat. It would fall to the ground, at the very least detached from Ethen but the threat was not over with. The doll crumpled on the floor would convulse wildly and from its still open maw that was gripping a piece of Ethen's bloodied neck meat a centipede would again escape.

This was a war of numbers it would seem, they were outmatched.

@Ethen Emrys [-100] 600/700
Slender Daddy [-100] 900/1000

@Victor Moore

While Ethen had recognized that the shadow entity was trying to show him something. Or rather, granting Ethen a sort of lesson in the elimination of giant centipedes. However, with the clear language barrier between Ethen and Shadow Daddy, it seemed that the poor boy had done an egregiously poor job in his interpretation. The seeming physical excitement displayed by the creature only further pressed Ethen to make a decision about his next action.

But, it would end up being the wrong choice. Ethen would make a somewhat sloppy lunge to grapple with the centipede, thinking he was being instructed to hold it. But it became immediately clear that the skittering and writhing creature had no intentions of being captured by the boy. In fact, it seemed to be quite the opposite.

After Ethen’s failure, it seemed that the centipede was happily looking for a new home and Ethen’s mouth seemed like a doorway worthy of such an abode. Ethen could feel its disconcerting legs around his arm as the centipede turned on him and began clambering up his arm with the seeming intention to get to his mouth. Ethen didn’t know many things. But he did know that he would not allow that disgusting insect to freely waltz into his mouth. The prospect was horrifying as he recalled the dolls that had once served as their shells.

Ethen would keep his mouth locked while thinking of a slew of horrifying obscenities. Again there were horrifying voices filling the air. Sounds that put a pit in Ethen’s throat. When they referred to a father, he was pretty sure they were not talking about his number one homie, Shadow Daddy. No, theirs was something else and he wondered if it had to do with the corpse and strange glove.

Ethen’s eyes would widen as he watched another oddly familiar doll, in a ragged excuse for clothing, launch itself at Slender Daddy. With the shadow creature willing to take on the entire Hufflepuff common room, Ethen was pretty sure it would be okay but he still felt a sudden sense of loyalty to the creature. It was his kidnapper sure… but there was something about Slender Daddy that made Ethen believe he was just misunderstood and for the time being, it appeared to be his only friend in the darkness.

With so much going on, Ethen couldn’t see exactly what was going on with mini Jack’s assault on Slender Daddy and he had enough to contend with as it was. A second doll decided that one giant centipede attacking Ethen wasn’t enough. No, that would be too easy. Instead, some lumpy and dapper, cap-wearing doll decided it needed to, quite rudely, attack. As with the others, this doll had a strong air of familiarity as it was launched a disconcerting distance right at Ethen.

Ethen’s horrified eyes threatened to pop right out as the doll landed right on his shoulder. To make matters worse, the doll revealed a horrific maw of what appeared to be sharpened teeth. Doll shouldn’t have teeth. It was an abomination that needed to be utterly eradicated. But Ethen was in no place to scold the doll for its choice of strangely horrifying teeth. Normally, it was only Atlas with mouth-to-neck access. But this doll seemed to be ignorant of Ethen’s dating status and sunk its teeth in regardless.

The pain was immediate. Far more pain than a doll should ever have been able to inflict. Before Ethen even had a chance to tear the creature from his neck, it seemed that Slender Daddy was there to look out for him. Almost immediately the doll was deported from his neck with vicious efficiency. But Ethen was not unscathed. The doll’s maw had a considerable grip and Ethen would feel his flesh tear with the removal of the abomination. The pain only amplified and there was the immediate feel of warm blood running down his neck and over his shirt.

It was excruciating and Ethen could only imagine how horrific it must have looked to have him standing there bleeding from the neck. Part of him was glad Atlas wasn’t there to watch him get hurt. But the rest of him knew that he needed his friends in this situation. He needed Atlas. But at least, he had Slender Daddy with him.

Gritting his teeth, Ethen began to understand what he needed to do and he wasn’t sure he liked it. He was a strong pacifist and had always avoided anything that would require him to harm other beings. He had entirely avoided even casting offensive spells in a dueling setting, preferring theory over practice. He knew he had the knowledge and tools but he had never actually fought. But if Slender Daddy was watching over him, Ethen had a responsibility to help his new strange shadow homie.

His fingers flexed on his wand. He wanted to blast the doll off of Slender Daddy, however, if he was going to start casting spells he would need to open his mouth and he preferred not having the centipede dart in. He dearly wished he knew how to perform wordless magic but such skills were still far beyond him. He also wanted to avoid casting anything that would create too much light, not wanting to do anything to add discomfort to his shadowy friend.

If he was going to fight, part of him just wanted to roast the damn centipede and dolls but he had no idea what the sudden flames might do. So he opted for something else, hoping to slice the vile centipede in two. With his free arm, Ethen would aim his wand at the centipede with the fetish for climbing in mouths. “Diffindo!” Ethen would announce loudly and with considerable conviction as his wand rapidly flicked through the simple wand movement.

When learning the spell, he remembered the warnings that inappropriate castings could result in injuries or even death. He strongly hoped the warning had merit. He was not in the mood to be turned into a puppet for the centipede children. He and Shadow Daddy had some asses to kick and then he had a fancy gauntlet that Ethen was pretty sure was his by right of battle...But first he had to survive.

Action: Casting the Severing Charm at the Centipede looking for a mouth hole

The darkness was trying to communicate. Limited it what it could do, what it could say. Ataxic, shuttering but swift and powerful. The darkness was not all that it seemed. The darkness would seem to try to demonstrate the hidden, unknown threat -- the dolls. Patchwork abominations that had long ago infiltrated this school were still very much a threat. They were found in other places as well, the woods also. A question posed -- did the dolls star here in this dark workshop or was this workshop made after? They looked like well-worn, forgotten playthings, memories that were full of love but outgrown by their owners. A possible truth, the neglected, forsaken and still loved... The alternative, covetous creations that endeavored to take over, to replace and to destroy their rival likeness.

These dolls were like the ones that the rumors spoke of. Of creatures that took on the likeness of the students. The how and the why forever a mystery. Quite possibly a random decision. The gears of a maddened mind that nobody had the hope of understanding. The product of opportunists.

It mattered not. Hurrah the Jack doll would cry. The shadowy creature was no match for the aggregate power of the misfit army. That and there were others in wait.

Jack doll attacking slender daddy.
Attack (+10) 10
Evasion (+10) 9

The ambitious tool of violence would rip into the darkness without hesitation or fear. It knew well that there was nothing that lived that could not be destroyed. That there was only so much that the darkness could do and that the darkness was ill-prepared to defend against all of them. That the darkness had given them a gift in Ethen. A new brother.

"Fear not brother, we love you!" The Sylvain doll squeaked. it would show its love through violence as a stream of warm blood trickled from Ethen's neck and stained the collar of his shirt.

Slender Daddy attacks the Sylvain doll that was attacking Ethen
Attack (+10) 1 Critical Failure
Evasion (+10) 13

A dark limb would extend, it would lash out and miss the audacious Prefect facsimile. It would hit the wall, the table, the tools and the break the table in twain. The tools, that of a woodworker, a craftsman, a smith, tools not meant for flesh and bone, for shadow and whatever made the corporeal darkness that stood at Ethen's side. The nails and the tools would rain down, a few would clock the dark manifestation of possibly Emrys' burgeoning madness.

Sylvain Doll attacks Ethen
Attack (+10) 12
Evasion (+7) 12

Slight Sylvain would hurl itself at Ethen and wrap itself around the youth's leg, brandishing a weapon - a sewing needle that it would plunge into the meaty aspect of the youth's limb and attempt to climb the boy, using the needle like one might a piton on a stony mountain face.

Ethen was not able to divide his efforts too greatly. He had greater concerns than the aggressive moppet, the centipede exists still! Centipedes were not friends. Centipedes were in fact very very bad. Its want to enter, to invade... He needed to keep it out!

Ethen attempts to use Diffindo on the Centipede.
Attack 7 (+8)
Evasion 9 (+10)

Luck was not on Ethen's side as his spell missed its mark. As the effigies only grew in number Ethen and "SlenderDaddy" would find themselves outnumbered. From the wreckage of the broken table a duo of dolls would crawl from the split. A boll with short, stitched hair and beady little button eyes and a wide smile would emerge. It had one distinguishing facet, it looked as if the body had something spilled on it. Something sticky and colorful, like a syrup. Possibly unknown to Ethen, he was about to meet the Candy King, better known as @Galton Lansdale.

The second, a mop of brown hair and a rather "Johnny Everyman" look wearing a poorly made striped T-shirt and pair of bluejeans. He would be a harder one to place. @Thomas Baines, a Ravenclaw walking disaster. The doll might be a public service in his case.

These two dolls would attack them both.

Thomas doll attacks Ethen
Attack (+10) 10
Evasion (+7) 8

Galton doll attacks Slender Daddy
Attack (+10) 15
Evasion (+10) 9

Both of the dolls would rush their targets and prove to be viscous ankle biters. Coupled with the needling of a Sylvain doll and the dangerous persistence of a centipede that would try yet again to enter the boy, this might be the end for both of them. The only witness to Ethen's end might be the skeletal remains with that bejeweled glove And also one remains still in wait...

Centipede attempts to infiltrate Ethen
Attack (+10) 9
Evasion (+7) 17

While Ethen was taking the battery inflicted on him by the dolls like a champion, it was a hard no when it came to housing a centipede. The ramifications unknown but whatever it might be, it was bad enough that they were piloting these inanimate dolls and capable of such destruction. What horrors would follow if Ethen became part centipede. Became Centipede Dad. Ethen was too young to become a father! What would Atlas' parents think!

Ethen just needed to hold them off, survive long enough to learn what he must. Atlas was coming for him. Hufflepuff was (probably) coming for him. He would never be left behind, forgotten. He just need to betray his gentle nature and fight for his life.

@Ethen Emrys [-200] 400/700
Slender Daddy [-300] 600/1000

@Victor Moore

Their deteriorating odds seemed to be entirely due to the overwhelming numbers of the doll and centipede army. When Ethen imagined all of the glorious ways that he might eventually be felled, never had it crossed his mind that his undoing could be a result of an unexpected battle with sentient dolls and horrifying centipedes that were trying to repurpose his body. For some reason, that scenario had never crossed his mind.

The fact that the terrifying dolls could speak only added to the horrific situation. He wished that he could better communicate with Slender Daddy but it seemed that they both had more than enough to contend with and had the silent agreement to try and survive. But that task looked increasingly dire in the face of these fearless creatures.

Warm blood cascaded down Ethen’s neck, the first of what was likely many wounds. But as long as breath could be pulled into his lungs, Ethen would fight. He felt the notion that this creatures would not relent so he could not afford to. “Well, I don’t love you,” Ethen growled through gritted teeth. He was talking to a doll...How he had fallen. But the Major had fought many imaginary battles against impossible odds. He just needed to find his strength.

The attacks of his singular ally were impressive and Ethen didn’t doubt Slender Daddy’s power, but watching the shadow creature miss was rather heartbreaking. Each unsuccessful attempt by each of them would leave their situation increasingly impossible.

With erupting furniture and raining tools, Ethen did not have a moment to breathe in the unfolding chaos. Before he could react to anything, he found the chatty little bastard doll wrapped around his leg. Before he could even try to fling the creature off there was an excruciatingly painful surge up his leg. The needle plunged into his flesh as the mountaineering doll would begin his climb. While violently shaking his leg, there was still the horrific prospect of his arm riding centipede.

Being stabbed to death was a terrifying notion, but having a centipede slither inside him to assume control seemed like a fate worse than death. The pain of the needle and chaos of the room resulted in a useless attempt at retaliation. Ethen could not afford to miss but keeping his mind focused on a spell while everything was going on was beyond challenging. There hadn’t exactly been a DADA lesson on fighting killer dolls while keeping your mouth shut.

Ethen’s eyes would widen as two more dolls seemed to scamper out of the debris. As if they didn’t already have enough to contend with. He did not recognize these dolls but assumed they had to be borrowing the visage of some fellow students. The dolls would have been terrifying enough had they not been trying to kill him. If, and that was a very strong if...If Ethen made it out of this, he would never be able to share a room with a doll without wanting to blast it.

Already fully occupied, Ethen had to force himself to ignore the charging ankle biters. He would undoubtedly regret it but his focus had to sit with the centipede. Pain was already ripping through his body, so what was a bit more… He could feel blood running down his leg, but he forced himself to keep from screaming. Opening his mouth for more than an instant seemed like a perfect invitation for the centipede.

The terrifying centipede had yet to find its entry and Ethen was going to keep it that way. He was not looking to rent out his body even if the centipede agreed to pay utilities. No, it was a hard pass on the creature’s application for entry. But his luck on the centipede front would only last so long if he didn’t handle it once and for all. Gritting his teeth, he knew he needed to fight. No more half measures.

Ethen would take a few pained steps towards the corpse and gauntlet before leveling the wand at the centipede, Ethen decided that if he was going to die in there, he would at least have a barbeque first. He did quite enjoy a barbeque. The boy would try and line up the arm clutching centipede with the dolls assaulting his legs but they remained secondary. “Incendio Duo!” the boy shouted clearly but quickly before clenching his jaw once again. He assumed things were going to get a bit toasty but even that seemed like a better fate than being slaughtered by dolls.

Action: Attempting to cast Incendio Duo at the Centipede