ACT II: CITADEL OF SONG

After countless days of making your way through the vast lands of Pharloom, defeating hostilities and disarming traps on the path, you are finally met with the towering Citadel, its pale and golden pallet making a stark contrast to the wilderness you have encountered so far. Be it pilgrimage, due debts or another force that pulls you closer to this construct, you are definitely getting closer.

The Choral Chambers are but the husk of what once presumably was a glorious residential and religious complex, now only inhabited by the bodies of previous members of the sanctuary’s choir and guards. Bodies that occasionally are reanimated by those eerie threads. The signs also deceive, guiding you to establishments or facilities that aren’t functioning anymore… except for one.

One sign, two masks, probably signaling a theater of sorts should be located in the other side. And, sure enough, there lies the stage, perfect and polished, almost like the play it was prepared for had chosen now as its time to take place in, and you as its actor. Sure enough, the voice that fills the room confirms your suspicions:

“Oh drab and trembling squib, you who timidly step unto the Great Stage, fate has seen you chosen! Cast away your fear and join me as my partner. Pharloom’s flame may flicker, but together we shall spark it ablaze! Let us enliven this Citadel lost to silence! Let us rouse the soul of this once great land!”

With these words, the lights turn on, red and vibrant just like the fireworks that begin emerging from the floor. And then , out of nowhere, the author of this voice emerges from below with a loud bang, a butterfly with a red fluff cloak yelling his name out loud for the non-existent crowd.

“TROBBIO!”