Souvenir: Madeline
Casey's pendant
You've kept this ruby pendant as a reminder of your efforts:
To Save a Soul
It all began when Madeleine Casey asked you to check out a Carnival
rave. You went to the party and discovered that almost everyone there
had died. You were able to save only one woman, and she seemed strangely
altered and apathetic.
It seemed clear that bad things were going on at these Carnival
parties. Without your knowledge, Madeleine Casey went to such a party,
thinking that she would uncover the Carnival's secret. When she
returned, she could remember little about her evening. Also, her ruby
pendant had been stolen. It was a precious heirloom, and she asked you
to retrieve it.
When Madeleine put on the pendant, she began to recover her lost
memories. She was horrified to recall that people had died at the party.
The name of one victim stuck in her mind: Nathan Crane. She was sure
that he was important. You went to Crane's office to investigate, but
found a horde of carnies trying to make off with Crane's files. You
drove them off, and learned that Crane had secretly been a Midnight
Squad researcher. He had been investigating the Carnival, but the most
critical pages of his notes were missing.
If you were to crack Crane's murder, you needed those files.
Madeleine Casey sent you to the streets, and you learned that Crane's
files were being stored in a warehouse in Brickstown.
You battled your way through some carnies to recover the files, and
learned that Crane had become increasingly interested in the Carnival's
porcelain masks. He seemed to think they were linked to the Carnival's
powers.
You ventured into the heart of a Carnival lair to retrieve a mask for
analysis, coming face to face with a strange ring mistress, the Madame
of Mystery. After you defeated the carnie who ware the mask, you felt a
strange pull toward it. It was almost as if the mask was begging you to
pick it up.
You took the mask to Cadao Kestrel, who told you that it contained
fragments of human souls. A scrap of the Carnival Mistress' soul was
even contained within; it was through this transference that she managed
to confer her power upon her minions.
You took the mask to Sister Psyche, who let you communicate with the
souls trapped within the masks. Many were mere shadows of souls, but a
few were more assertive. A fragment of the Carnival Mistress' soul
probed darkly at your mind. You were also lucky enough to encounter the
trapped soul of Nathan Crane. He told you that just before he died, he
had learned that the Carnival was interested in an ancient artifact
known as the Sicilian Stone.
The soul of Nathan Crane led you to a secret Midnight Squad library,
where you recovered some tomes on the Sicilian Stone. Though you had
thought the Madame of Mystery was no more, you had to battle her again
in order to recover the tomes.
When you took the tomes to Cadao Kestrel for study, he told you a
little about the stone's history. It seemed that the stone had once been
used to imprison the soul of a duke. the stone had gradually sucked in
the man's soul, until there was nothing left to animate his body.
Cadao soon contacted you with an urgent message. He had learned the
whereabouts of the Sicilian Stone: it had been in Madeleine Casey's
possession all along. The Carnival had stolen it from her at the party,
and empowered it. When you recovered the stone for Madeleine, it began
to slowly ingest her soul. As Madeleine's soul was drawn into the stone,
it became the Carnival's to command. The Madame of Mystery was actually
the psychic projection of Madeleine's soul! Cadao hatched a plan to
recover her soul. At his request, you battled a horde of Devouring Earth
creatures to retrieve some rare herbs that only grow on the bones of the
unburied dead.
Cadao prepared a magic draught which would give you the power to tear
apart the psychic fabric of the Madame of Mystery, thus breaking the
Carnival's hold on Madeleine Casey's soul. You journeyed to a Carnival
lair, where you fought the Madame again. She was far stronger than
during your previous encounters, but you prevailed against her
nevertheless.
Madeleine is now fully recovered from the near loss of her soul,
though she is, naturally, a bit shaken. And perhaps a bit more
circumspect.
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