[quote=@rush99999]
Reaching out onto the table, Luka willed a crystal ball into being. [i]'For my life, my payment to Santana is the woe of those who have done him wrong.'[/i] Luka thought to himself as he peered into the depths of the orb. [i]'How might we best uphold our end of the bargain here and now?'[/i]
[/quote]
[center][color=#9e0116][b]Justice[/b] - Dissonant - [i]Life is a stage, and you've forgotten all your lines[/i][/color][/center]
Luka, you gaze into the crystal ball that your Eidolon conjured for you, and the glass begins to swirl with color. As you focus on the deal you made with Santana, the dancing ribbons of light shine the same gold of [b][color=gold]E*D*E*N[/color][/b]'s sign--but then the ends of the strands start hissing and burning like fuses down their length, and within a second the whole pattern turns Tyrian purple. The pattern begins to spin in place until it forms a vortex, and your hand is pulled towards it with the irresistible force of a black hole.

As soon as your finger brushes against the crystal, your vision goes black. You feel as if you are, at the same time, perfectly motionless and moving at incredible speed; your normal frames of reference are all ripped away from you, leaving you with no way to know how long that contradictory state lasts. When it does finally end, you are no longer in the diner. Instead, you stand in...

Well, the closest thing you can relate it to is a courtroom, but it's no court that's ever been built by human hands. The floors are ebony hardwood, polished to a dark shine. Words, written in text too small to read while standing, have been etched into the wood and inlaid in gold leaf. Though you cannot make out the actual text, from where you stand the formatting looks like a legal document, with long paragraphs separated into multiple levels of headings. To your right, a man sits at the prosecutor's table, waiting patiently, but you cannot make out any of his distinguishing features. The table to your left is empty; no one stands in your defense. 

You are in between the two tables, directly in front of the bench. Around you has been constructed a witness box, of sorts, made out of the same wood and carved with the same designs as the floor. Your wrists and ankles have been manacled together, so that you can barely move them; the chains extend out behind you, seemingly into infinity. A strip of purple cloth has been tied across your mouth, binding your speech as well.

Sitting on the ledge of the witness box in front of you is a card very similar to the one you were given by Santana, but with a different picture on it. Instead of showing you astride the world, it depicts you laying in the cup of an ancient scale of tarnished silver. One arm has been thrown over your eyes; the other is held outstretched, as if in a futile attempt to turn aside a killing blow. A globe sits in the other cup; the green of its earth is mottled with brown, and the blue of its seas looks sickly. The scale is tilted almost all the way in your direction, leaving you dangling just above the swords emerging from below. Across the top, the card reads [color=#9e0116][b]XI - Justice[/b][/color].

[color=#9e0116][b]"AH."[/b][/color] A massive voice rings down at you from above. The judge's platform is in front of you, but it extends almost fifty feet in the air; purple marble forms the columns at each corner, and the word "ORDER" has been carved into them, over and over, in every human language and script. You would normally have trouble hearing someone speak from that distance, but the pronouncement coming from the lofty figure crashes upon you with the force of eternity. [color=#9e0116][b]"I THOUGHT I HAD SENSED MOVEMENT IN THE CURRENTS OF THE DREAM WORLD, AND I WAS CORRECT. YOU HAVE AWAKENED, AND I CANNOT BIND YOU; THE SERPENT HAS ENLISTED YOU INTO HIS SERVICE."[/b][/color] He considers you for a second. [color=#9e0116][b]"OF COURSE HE DID. YOU ARE THE EXACT KIND OF CREATURE HE MOST FAVORS. SELFISH, THROUGH AND THROUGH. AN..."[/b][/color] He spits out the next word, syllable by syllable, as though trying to get the taste out of his mouth. [color=#9e0116][b]"INDIVIDUALIST."[/b][/color] Though you can hear the judge, you can barely see him; he is present mostly as a silhouette of powdered wig and pressed robes, and his purple-red eyes shine from that darkness to meet you with a piercing gaze.

[color=#9e0116][b]"SO, YOU SEEK YOUR MASTER'S GUIDANCE?"[/b][/color] The judge makes a dismissive noise. [color=#9e0116][b]"HEED MY ADVICE INSTEAD. THE SERPENT WILL SOON LOSE THE LAST OF HIS POWER, AND WITH IT WILL GO WHATEVER BOON HE HAS GRANTED YOU. ABANDON YOUR MISSION, AND SAVE YOURSELF UNNECESSARY SUFFERING."[/b][/color] He points his gavel over to the jury box; you cannot make out how many people sit in it, nor most of their features, but you do recognize one of the jurors as the man who just confronted you in the diner--the one responsible for your death. [color=#9e0116][b]"OR YOU WILL BE JUDGED BY A JURY OF YOUR PEERS."[/b][/color] He turns the gavel on you, and your heart sinks through the floor. [color=#9e0116][b]"YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN FOUND GUILTY, LUKA DURAND. KNOW THAT WHATEVER MEAGER PROTECTION YOUR PATRON HAS GIVEN YOU HAS NOT PUT YOU BEYOND MY POWER."[/b][/color]

The gavel slams with a thunderclap, and your vision goes black again. When it returns, you are back in the diner. No time has passed, but the feeling of the gag around your face remains, even as the cloth itself has vanished, and your tongue tastes like ash in your mouth.

[hr]

[hider=Game Stats]

[color=purple][b][u]Phantom Clock:[/u][/b][/color] [color=green][b]2 PM[/b][/color]
[b][u]Party Experience:[/u] 1[/b]
[b][u]Fate Deck:[/u] 14/22[/b]

[hider=Luka Durand]
[b]Damage Track:[/b] Fresh
[b]Other:[/b]
[list][*][u]Dissonant Effect:[/u] So long as [i]Justice[/i] is in the discard pile, any attempts to [i]Dazzle[/i] will act as if you drew [i]The Moon[/i][/list]
[/hider]
[hider=Emily Sanderson]
[b]Damage Track:[/b] Fresh
[b]Other:[/b]
[list][*]-1 Forward[/list]
[/hider]
[hider=Ashley Whitlock]
[b]Damage Track:[/b] Fresh
[b]Ready For Anything:[/b][list]
[*][color=#dbd05e][b]The Fool[/b] - [i]Neutral[/i] - You become who you are needed to be in this moment[/color]
[*][color=#dbd05e][b]The Hermit[/b] - [i]Neutral[/i] - Your actions isolate you[/color]
[*][s][color=#2a86d6][b]The World[/b] - [i]Positive[/i] - For a single moment, the world bends to your will[/color][/s][/list]
[/hider]
[hider=The Crow]
[b]Damage Track:[/b] Fresh
[/hider]
[/hider]