Escape The Night Season 5: Delamont's Ladykiller

Chapter 33: Peculiar Possessions- Part 1

"Well, that was.. something."

"But it was a good something..."

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Gear's POV:

We're all sat in the lounge, planning our course of action to get the final artifact.

Which meant one more life had to be exchanged...

And Zach won't shut up about it.

"OK, so there's only one artifact left, guys. We can do this." Oli encourages, 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 growls, pointing to himself.

"Well, it is probably going to be you, honestly." Val chimes in, her hand on her hip as she stood there. "You have been toxic all night."

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

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

"Well, listen here real quick," I begin, holding my 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?!" I shout, putting both of my hands on my chest.

"Gear, you're not expendable, Zach's just trying to throw you under the bus again," Lana reassures, putting her hand on my 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." Val orates, 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 chimes 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."

I mean, he's not wrong about me being the source of a lot of conflict and Lana going through a lot. She literally blamed herself for both times Lizzie died.

"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 continues, motioning to Val.

Once again, he's not wrong. And I totally agree.

"Thank you." She gushes, placing a hand on my heart.

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

We look at the map, and on it are drawings of the artifacts and words next to them. 

Is this a code or some shit or am I just kinda stupid?

"OK, how the fuck do we do this?" I say, putting my head in my hand.

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

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

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.

Wait, Lana, what are you doing?!

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

Zach, knowing the situation, it's probably for the best. So, for fuck's sake, stop screaming at my girlfriend!

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 predicts, stepping back.

And that, my friends, is what you call an 200 IQ move right there.

We arrange 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 pops open.

As in, the middle of it, not the whole thing.

We go over and, inside this trapdoor, there's this... black choker with a jewel in the middle and four holes, two on either side.

And we're all just confused to all hell.

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

Inside the trapdoor is also a note.

I grab it it and read it.

The note reads:

'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 gras the choker from the trapdoor 

And now, we just need to-

BANG!

Wait, what the hell was that!?

We look towards the arcade door, realising somebody kicked the main door to the arcade open to get in.

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