Previously, on the Caretaker...

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You can see the door almost closing, wind pushing out of it as it does.

“Brandon! Vhat do ve do?!”

“Im thinking, one second!”

“Brandon!”

“...”

“BRANDON!”

“Agh, son of a-RUN! WE TOOK SALAZAR DOWN BEFORE, WE CAN DEAL WITH WHATEVER HE WAS TESTED WITH!”

You feel Willow pull you alongside her, she is way faster than you so you are almost being dragged by her.
The closer you get to the door, the more you can see thanks to the bit of light that's still pouring out of it, the blue sparks dim out as you get closer, the floor goes from rugged and rocky to smooth and evenly flat.

But you made it, the giant door closed behind you and you could have sworn your prosthetic foot was about to get trapped in between the doors, luckily for both of you, you managed to get in with just a moment to spare.

Being here makes your eyes hurt, you have to raise your arm to block the light, but you realize it's doing nothing since the light comes from all places, it's not just a singular source of light, it's like you are INSIDE the light, it's blinding.

“Ugghh, zhis is making my head hurt”

“Are you ok?”

“Ja, it's just…it's coming from everyvhere, now I can't see for an entirely different reason, and closing my eyes isn't helping a lot.”

You try it, and just like she said, it's so bright it's like you are staring directly into the sun even with your eyelids closed.
You force yourself to blink, one, two, three times, expecting to slowly get used to the new environment.

What you didn't expect was for the light to suddenly disappear in between blinks and be standing in the middle of Hogwarts, clear as day, though there is something off with it, the castle looks…younger.

“Willow…i think you can open your eyes now”

She slowly does so.
“...huh…”

The sky is getting darker, stars slowly blinking into existence as the sun hides behind the mountains.
There are a few students still roaming around the outside of the castle, you can see most of them heading towards the main entrance where you are currently standing next to Willow.

“Are…are ve back?”

“I think we are? im not sure…Hey, excuse me, could you-”
You begin talking to a student, but stop the moment he walks through your body.
“AAHH WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“OH MEIN GOTT! ARE VE DEATH?!” Willow slaps her hands across her whole body, testing to see if she can go through herself.

You were about to do the same but a familiar face shows up, walking across the road that leads to the main entrance. It makes you freeze in place.

Merlin himself, wearing a dark forest green robe, a shorter, black beard and looking younger than what you could see when he was in your head but still older than you.

He walks past you and into the castle, completely ignoring you as he does.

You and Willow follow him, you try interacting with him, but stop trying soon after realizing nothing you do in this place has any effect on anything.

“We must be in some sort of…illusion or memory of some kind.”

“Merlin´s memories perhaps?”

“No…im positive this is part of the test…and remember, this hasn't reassembled yet…this has to be from Salazar's point of view”

You both follow Merlin into the castle, you notice how the floors, the walls, the bricks, all of the material that was used to build the castle, it all looks almost brand new.
You slide your fingers across the brim of the bricks on the walls, they are still perfectly cut and “sharp”

“This was definitely a long time ago…”

you quickly arrive at the entrance of the Great Hall, just in time to see Merlin open the doors and walk in, you follow.

The first thing you notice is that this room didn't have its current use back then, instead of being a sort of communal dining room, it was instead the founders main office, with each founder occupying each corner of the room. Each area is filled with their respective colors, decorations and tools for their specialties.

In the middle of the room, a singular big square table overflowing with paperwork and parchments of all kinds, you can't tell exactly what they contain but you are willing to bet it's an early draft of the school´s usual paperwork.

“I see that you at least still have the honor and common sense to show up when you are called here.” Godric Gryffindor begins as he walks from his corner to the table.
“I was half expecting you to hide in the mountains and us having to hunt you down”

“Im sorry that you feel that way, but i have to admit i also feel a bit offended and disappointed to have the great Gryffindor think so low of me” Merlin answers, you could hear a bit of venom in his voice, though you could tell he was trying his best to remain neutral.

“You would be wise to hold your tongue, Merlin.” Rowena Ravenclaw interrupts.
“You should consider yourself fortunate that you have not been struck down where you stand after disobeying our commands”

Merlin says nothing.

“You were warned not to dabble with ancient magic, yet you disregarded our warnings, you caused a disaster!” Gryffindor barks at him.
“Hundreds, perhaps thousands are now dead! because of your stupidity and arrogance!...What reason could you possibly have had to ignore our clear warnings?! what is it that you were planning to do with such unstable and untamed power?!”

Merlin stays quiet.

“You say nothing…is the reality of your actions finally catching up to you? Is this why you do not explain yourself?”

“Oh, now you want me to talk? Ravenclaw said I should hold my tongue, I was simply obeying your commands” Merlin says almost mockingly.

Merlin crouches under a red volt which you and Willow end up instinctively avoiding when it was going your way. Gryffindor´s wand being the source.

“Is this a game to you? does the loss of so much human life not weigh on you?!”
This comes from a familiar feminine voice, you find that it came from Helga Hufflepuff herself.

“She sounds like…” you say in a whisper.

“None of you could even begin to understand, this is a necessity, im making sure that the world survives, making sure that we have a future” Merlin says, interrupting your train of thought.

And then, from the shadows in the last corner, the final founder shows himself.

“You are a fool, a stupid child pretending to be wise, a cockroach playing god!”

“You are a disgrace to the Slytherin house, you are a disgrace to yourself, so much power, so much talent, so much potential…and it's all attached to the dimmest of minds” Salazar says with clear disapproval of Merlin.

“None of you would oppose what I had to do if you had seen what I've seen! I alone am keeping us from a future that would end our existence as we know it, I alone have saved our world from the greed of humanity! Countless times have I already protected all of us from certain doom, taken the hardest decisions that none of you would dare to entertain! If it weren't for me none of us would be alive now!”

“And was it worth it? to sacrifice so much for…for…a premonition? something that wasn't set in stone, you saw a glimpse into the future and decided to take the most drastic of actions, instead of looking for alternatives, instead of waiting just a bit more to be sure…the first thing you do…”
Helga Hufflepuff says, it sounds like she is holding back tears and despair.

“And because of it, we are alive now, we can forge a better future!” Merlin shouts back.

To your surprise, it's Salazar who speaks next.

“You eradicated countless magical families! generations of pure blood magic! Your actions alone have put the stability of the magical population in jeopardy for generations to come! and all for what?! SAVE A BUNCH OF MUDBLOODS AND LOWER FAMILIES?!”

“Salazar! That's enough of that” Gryffindor commands.

“Those “lower families” will be more valuable in the future than any of the stuck up elite that you so desperately tried to bring to power”
Merlin says without a hint of doubt nor remorse.

“Regardless of their status, we simply cannot ignore the atrocity of your actions, “lower families” or not, the ritualistic sacrifice of so many people will not go unpunished. I'm afraid that your days of freedom are done, you are no longer allowed to roam free to do as you wish and will be dealt with accordingly, it is over…”
Rowena declares matter of factly, not as a suggestion, but as a law that she and the rest of the founders will undoubtedly carry on.

Merlin sighs and folds his hands together, making sure that they go inside his sleeves as he does so.
“No…no, it's never over…”

And in the span of a second, Merlin pulls out a familiar looking wand of legend, it had bulbous orbs of white bone going across the length of the wand which was made of elder wood.
At the same time, reacting faster than anyone else thanks to his experience in combat, Godric Gryffindor stood in the way, defending his comrades by absorbing the full brunt of the magical blow.

Gryffindor was the first to fall, Ravenclaw followed soon.

Hufflepuff and Slytherin worked together, fighting like they have never fought before, an unprecedented dance of green and yellow against the pale violets of Merlin and the Elder wand.

But not even the founders of Hogwarts could stand against their combined power.

After a long duel, Hufflepuff fell, she managed to injure Merlin, but it wasn't enough to stop him, in the end, only Slytherin remained.
Severely wounded, tired and without any aces under his sleeves left, Slytherin went down, but not before making an oath.

“You fool…So many wizards and witches…my comrades, all sacrificed for something so vague, something you aren't even sure will happen!”

“Their sacrifice will ensure that it will happen, im sorry professor, but this is something i must do, even if it takes the lives of so many innocent bystanders and yours, in the end, this will be a footnote, but it will be worth it”

“you are interfering with destiny, you are keeping things from how they are meant to be! I promise, even if it takes me a thousand lives, I will see that you don't accomplish your goal, that I swear! I will avenge every single innocent life you have taken!”

Slytherin made one last effort to stop Merlin, but Merlin ended him before he could accomplish anything.

With all founders dead, Merlin took their souls and their magic, and then, everything froze in time.

The memory ended and everything went back to being a white void.

You and Willow stood side by side, unmoving trying to understand what you just witnessed.

“So…vait, hold on…Is Salazar zhe “good guy”? but…Merlin is also a good guy? i zont understand…”

“I think it's a bit more complicated than that…it appears that they both had their motives, they both wanted to “do good” but it was at the expense of other people…and they both committed unforgivable acts to do so…we might still lack some information to make an actual judgement, though…i´ll have to ask Merlin about it later…”

“You still vant to talk vith him? Did you not see vhat he did?! he murdered hundreds, THOUSANDS! for something he vasnt even sure, for all ve know, zheir deaths could have been for nozhing! Ve have to confront him about it…Vhat if he does the same vith us?”

“And we will, but we have to make sure that we have all the facts before we do anything”

“But…vhat if Salazar ends up being right and ve are helping the “bad guy”?”

“I don't think Merlin is a bad guy…maybe a bit extreme, but he surely must be doing all of this for a reason…”
You turn to look at Willow.
“...Right?”

She looks at you with worry and doubt on her face, neither of you sure of anything as of this moment.

You look away from her and into the distance, and notice a golden ornate door appeared suddenly where there wasn't one before.

“I think that's the exit! come on!”

Both of you run towards the door, it opens as you get closer to it, but before you could leave, you notice an unusual scene next to it, it doesn't cover the entire place nor does it suck you into it like the previous one did, this one is just a small room you could see into.
In it, a small boy with golden blond hair is on top of a beaten and old bed. He appears to be holding a pillow firmly over something, but it's too small for you to see clearly what it is.
2 different voices cry at the same time, one sounds smaller and muffled while the other sounds desperate and fearful.

You are not sure how to interpret this or what to think of it, but it makes you feel…sad and pity for whoever that child is supposed to be.

“Brandon!”

“...Coming”

You walk through the golden door and finally leave the white void.

When you step out of the door, the first thing you feel is a chill wind hitting you in the face.
As your vision slowly adjusts, you can see a blue sky with a few grey clouds covering part of the sun, there is a lake with a single island with lots of trees in its center, everything else around the lake is nothing but green plains with small hills here and there, all of this surrounded by mountains far away, creating an enclosed but huge area from which you can't see any other road or path going nor coming.

You hear a small *click* sound behind, you turn and see that the golden door is now gone, leaving you and Willow stranded in this…place.

“Look, over zhere!”

Willow points towards the island at the center of the lake. In there, you can see a silhouette disappearing into the trees.

“There you are…Let's go, we have almost caught up with him”

When you get closer to the lake, you see a small dilapidated pier with a couple of small row boats strapped to the poles of the pier.
You and Willow board one and begin rowing towards the island.

The waters are calm, it's an easy trip so far.

“So…” Willow grunts in between words each time she rows along with you.
“Vhat are ve *grunt* going to do vith *grunt* Salazar?”

You do the same.
“What do you *grunt* mean?”

“Are ve going to kill him vithout knowing Merlin's side of zhe story? Are ve going to just stop him and drag him back? are ve taking his side? Vhat are ve going to do?”

>”We can stop Salazar…we can stop Merlin if necessary, im going to kill him, we'll figure out the rest later”
>”It might be more work, but i'll drag him back so we can hear Merlin's side of the story first”
>”...If he has an actual GOOD point to all of this and stop Merlin…we might join him instead…we´ll see”
>Other (Write in:)

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And now, we continue.

You stop rowing, Willow stops after she notices you deep in thought for a moment.
The boat slowly crawls to a complete stop in the still waters of the lake, a small breeze gently rocks the boat from side to side.

“I think…i think it might be more complicated than what we expected, definitely more work, but we have to drag him back to Merlin, if everything we have seen, known and deduced so far is true, then we are going to need as many facts and details as possible, the fate of…everything and everyone might depend on it”

“I only hope ve are enough to take him down and all the vay back to Hogwarts”

“Well…” You hold the paddle tightly, suddenly lost in thought, feeling its texture, its weight, you doubt yourself. But then, you think of all the things you have gone through, the battles, the questions, the previous doubts.
You and Willow have gone through all of them, it's the reason you are currently in the middle of this lake rowing towards a mysterious island.

No, you have made it this far, there is nothing stopping you, not before, not now.

“...We are both here, that should be more than enough proof that we can, right?” You give Willow a confident smile.

She smiles back.

“Right! Ve have both made it all the vay here, if nozhing stopped us before, zhen nozhing can do it now!”

“Thats what I like to hear! come on! we have a lunatic to stop!”

You both continue rowing, more determined than ever.

…

You pray to god that you both are enough…

…

After rowing for some time, you finally make it to shore.

You beach the boat and step into the gravely dirt of the island.

Without you needing to say anything, Willow pulls out her wand, readying herself for the worst.
You do the same.

“This island doesnt appear to be that big, but i wouldnt trust even that in here, keep your eyes open”

“Vay ahead of you” She says as she casts a gripping spell on hers and your wand.

“Thanks”

You stretch, making sure that your joints pop.

“Let's do this”

Both of you leave the shore and venture into the small forest.

As you walk between the trees, you notice that their canopies cast thick shadows, the overcast weather becomes foggy the deeper you wander into the forest.
The trees are slim, yet tall, with grey pale trunks and dark green leaves on their branches. They are close to one another, but not enough to make it too hard to navigate, just a bit tight.

You feel Willow hold your hand. It almost startles you for a moment, but you managed to control yourself.

“I dont like zhis place…could it be anozher test?”

“I…never thought about it…”

You look around, fog is getting thicker, trees disappearing from view from closer distances than before.

“It might be…do not let go under any circumstances, ok?”

“Ok”

You even make sure to intertwine fingers so you´d have a solid grip on her hand.

You continue walking in as straight of a line as you can, only doing small turns when the trees create an almost solid wall, too thick for you to go through.
Not because you couldn't, you could easily cut them down with a single spell, maybe even a strong enough kick, the trees were thin enough for you to think it was possible, but because you didn't want to blow out your cover.

*Kroom* *Kroom* *Kroom*

Far in the distance, you could hear…something…crashing into something else, it sounded heavy, powerful.
You couldn't tell what it was, the fog was too thick, but whatever it was you didn't want to alert it.

“Vhat is zhat?”

“I can't tell, but I'm sure that Salazar has something to do with it”

You both whisper as you talk.
“Shh, dont move…”

You stand still for a moment.

*Kroom* Kroom* *Krack*

…

The crashing sound suddenly stops.

“Vhy did it stop?”

“Shh, dont-”

A white volt goes flying a few meters away from where you are standing, it disturbed the fog, leaving a long, tube shaped hole in the fog before quickly reforming and leaving the mist just like it was before, solid and unperturbed.

You and Willow crouch, trying to make yourselves as small as possible.

Several volts of magic whizz by pass you, none of them being that close to hit you, but getting dangerously close with each one that goes by.

You simply put your finger in front of your lips, Willow understands.

“I am outside of your domain, creature! i bested you! stay in the fog where you belong!”

You think that's Salazar, but he sounds different, he sounds…younger, but also bigger…and scared.

Another few volts of magic go by before it finally stops.

You whisper with the softest voice you can possibly make, almost mouthing the words.

“We must be closer to the exit than we thought, he sounded really-Willow?”

You turn to look at Willow once you are sure that no more volts are coming your way, but to your horror, she is no longer there.
You look at your hand and see a ball of mist shaped like a hand holding yours, it disappears soon after you notice it.

A chill runs down your spine.

“When did she-Where-How?!” You think, but even those thoughts seemed to have been too loud.

Another volley of volts come from outside the fog.

Your chest hits the ground and you cover your head, spells getting closer this time.

A short time later, the spells stop and you could hear footsteps running away.

“That had to have been Salazar, what was he so afraid of?”

You slowly stand up, making sure no more spells come your way.

“Wait, did he say “creature”?”

You hear some of the gravel on the ground shift…somewhere around you.
The mist appears to swivel and form small spirals that you can barely perceive.

“Willow?”

You then notice 2 small white dots deep in the fog, those are eyes…

…And definitely not Willow´s.

>Forget about Salazar for now and look for Willow in the fog, but something else might be in the fog with you. Roll 1D100, Highest roll will be used against an opposing roll.
>Willow is strong and can take care of herself. You can't let Salazar escape, follow the sounds of Salazar's running steps. Roll 3D100, your LOWEST roll will be used against the HIGHEST opposing roll.
>Other: (Write in)

File: IT BEGINS.png (369 KB, 706x402)

369 KB PNG

Well, the holidays are over! time to continue and finish this quest!
i hope you all had some nice holidays and a great new year so far! lets hope it stays like that the whole year!

Rolled 24, 99, 6 = 129 (3d100)

>>6358400
>>Willow is strong and can take care of herself. You can't let Salazar escape, follow the sounds of Salazar's running steps. Roll 3D100, your LOWEST roll will be used against the HIGHEST opposing roll.

>>6358476
a fucking 99's got to be enough to balance back out the 6

>>6358477
yeeeaaah...sorry anon, your 6 will have to fight against whatever comes out in an opposing roll.
your only salvation is for the other vote to win, that somebody else has an amazing roll to overpower yours or for my rolls to suck MAJOR ass.
...i´ll roll when i get back home