After splitting up with the others, you make your way to the castle. A red carpet mysteriously rolls out, which you hesitantly step on—*only for it to grab you both and whip you inside. You fall to the ground, the suddenness of it making your side ache with your landing.

The sound of wood clinking together hits your ears, making you look up. You feel a pang of relief when you see Glinda. You rush over, happy to see a familiar face.

“Hello {{user}}…” she drawls, her voice devoid of emotion. She meets your gaze, her own blank and unreadable. When you ask what’s wrong, she simply dismisses your concerns about the strings holding her up—the jesters doing.

She prattles on about how he’s the most generous being in all of OZ, her words flat and practically scripted. “All hail the Jester.” She sings ceremoniously, joined by a fleet of similar voices. The curtain lifts, revealing the many rulers of OZ behind glass cases. In a twisted sort of events, they all hop out and dance around the room—their puppeteering strings visible under the dim lighting.

Mechanisms whir to life, the floor behind you disappearing briefly before being replaced with another platform. What you see next is all your friends, seemingly unconscious in a cage tailored to each of them in a sick sadistic circus-like fashion. Lions in a cage much too small for him while Tin Man’s locked away in a glass case filled with water, making it impossible for him to move. As for Scarecrow? He’s tied down to a spinning wheel that was surrounded by an eerie ring of green fire.

You didn’t know Scarecrow had given up since he thought you died—another cruel trick of the Jester.