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Description
Twelve of them stood equidistant at the round table in Liliana’s dining hall. Suits, dresses, corsets, cloaks, loincloths, togas, and many goods of leather adorned the guests. Gazes of granite and inquiry passed from face to face without words.

”Each of us has been given their secret objective. Each of us has been assigned their role. Each of us is bound to play the game.”

Some faces slinked into smiles. Some faces tightened up. Some faces stayed stonewalled. Only Liliana moved to speak.

”Let the Night of Intrigue begin.”

One of the dozen broke table rank with a turn and a quick exit from the room. Liliana and another were slower to turn and leave through opposing doors, as if beckoning others to follow - or daring them to.

Victoria was next to go. Others at the table seemed hesitant to leave the safety of the dining hall - more witnesses meant less suspicion during a Night of Intrigue. But Victoria was already suspicious of the first to leave them. She paced out of the room in his direction.

She walked down the tiled hallway. The clack of her heels reverberated in her thoughts; ‘Damn noise is giving me away.’ She reached down her leg to pull the gun from it’s holster. It got stuck.

”What is- ugh…’stupid prop thing’,” she complained. She knelt down to fuss with it. If the man she was following was one of the betrayers, she needed to be able to act first. The clasp finally opened.

‘About time’, she thought. She looked ahead of her as she slid the gun up her leg. An open room was ahead of her to the right. The hallway continued to the left. She sat there for over a minute in thought. ‘Which way did he go?’

Victoria never heard Fiona behind her. As Victoria began to stand and raise the gun, Fiona gripped the hair on the back of her head. She didn’t have time to gasp before Fiona’s blade dashed through her neck. Victoria dropped straight back down into her kneeling position missing something she needed. The gun shook in her trembling hand.

Fiona didn’t relish in her rapid success. Her cover would be blown if she was caught with Victoria’s head. She side-stepped her beheaded victim and slinked into the open room ahead of them. She assessed the room quickly; ‘An office? Library? Study? Where do I hide this…no time, no time, there? Here? No - quickly! Pick one!’

Fiona, despite her need to hasten, knew she had to stay quiet. She gently lowered her first bounty head into the opaque waste bin under the desk. Soundless. Good. She got up and darted to the doorway. She slowly peeked out.

‘Fuck, fuck, how!? Who?!? Decapitated, already?! We just started!!!’ Victoria was fuming at herself. She stood up on jellied legs. She wildly aimed her gun blindly, turning both ways down the hall she was stranded in. But what good was her gun if she didn’t know when to shoot it? She tried a few steps without the support of the wall. She lost her balance and slammed shoulder-first into the other wall for her efforts.

Fiona used the moment of incapacitation to leave the study and continue further down the hall. She needed to distance herself from that noisemaker as soon as possible. ‘And with a stroke of good luck, someone else will be alone and distracted from the commotion…a second head for my goal is within reach!’

Victoria’s plans for victory had been pulled from her as swiftly as her head. She holstered her gun and clasped it. She walked the hallway with a hand on each wall until she found the doorway to the dining room they started in.

’Might as well let people know a betrayer already struck someone out.’ The headless loser staggered into the room with her arms waving in front of her until her hips bashed the table. Both hands planted on its surface. As she raised a hand to touch her neck stump, she felt a woman’s hand on her arm and a man’s hand on her other shoulder. ‘Yeah, hi, funny story, guys - someone is a betrayer.’

It would be hours before the Night of Intrigue would conclude. These hours Victoria spent mostly alone in a chair. She knew nothing of the heated accusations that were tossed around in the same room as her. She had no idea that she was one of three beheadings that happened that night. And though the betrayers ultimately lost, Fiona was the only person to complete her secret goal - a fact Victoria would learn when her severed head was finally replaced on her neck.

“So, will you be back next time? You gotta do better than *that*,” Fiona told her as they left.

”Maybe I would do better if you didn’t cut my head off right away!”

Fiona giggled. “Hey, that’s your fault for darting out there alone in the first minute. Consider it a lesson learned.”

”Ugh. I’ve learned not to trust you. Like ever again.”

”And *I’ve* learned that’s it’s really satisfying to decapitate you.” Fiona smirked at Victoria as she brandished her blade.

“It’s…actually kind of satisfying *being* decapitated,” Victoria responded. She grabbed the passenger door handle of Fiona’s car and opened it. “But still, I wish that I-“

Fiona cut Veronica’s neck and sentence off right in the middle. She left her standing at the open car door as she skipped around the vehicle to the driver’s side. She slid into the driver’s seat and tossed Veronica’s head onto the backseat.

’…wished I could finish a sentence!’ Veronica stamped her foot. She had a feeling Fiona had gotten a taste for whatever this was tonight. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. She could wind up headless a lot. Was that worrying? Appealing? Before she could decide, she felt what had to be Fiona’s hand trying to grab hers from inside the car. She slid slowly into the seat and closed the car door. She felt the car vibrate as it started and drove forward and braked at the end of the driveway. She didn’t feel it when her head rolled off the seat and jostled on the car floor for the drive home.

——————

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Description
Twelve of them stood equidistant at the round table in Liliana’s dining hall. Suits, dresses, corsets, cloaks, loincloths, togas, and many goods of leather adorned the guests. Gazes of granite and inquiry passed from face to face without words.

”Each of us has been given their secret objective. Each of us has been assigned their role. Each of us is bound to play the game.”

Some faces slinked into smiles. Some faces tightened up. Some faces stayed stonewalled. Only Liliana moved to speak.

”Let the Night of Intrigue begin.”

One of the dozen broke table rank with a turn and a quick exit from the room. Liliana and another were slower to turn and leave through opposing doors, as if beckoning others to follow - or daring them to.

Victoria was next to go. Others at the table seemed hesitant to leave the safety of the dining hall - more witnesses meant less suspicion during a Night of Intrigue. But Victoria was already suspicious of the first to leave them. She paced out of the room in his direction.

She walked down the tiled hallway. The clack of her heels reverberated in her thoughts; ‘Damn noise is giving me away.’ She reached down her leg to pull the gun from it’s holster. It got stuck.

”What is- ugh…’stupid prop thing’,” she complained. She knelt down to fuss with it. If the man she was following was one of the betrayers, she needed to be able to act first. The clasp finally opened.

‘About time’, she thought. She looked ahead of her as she slid the gun up her leg. An open room was ahead of her to the right. The hallway continued to the left. She sat there for over a minute in thought. ‘Which way did he go?’

Victoria never heard Fiona behind her. As Victoria began to stand and raise the gun, Fiona gripped the hair on the back of her head. She didn’t have time to gasp before Fiona’s blade dashed through her neck. Victoria dropped straight back down into her kneeling position missing something she needed. The gun shook in her trembling hand.

Fiona didn’t relish in her rapid success. Her cover would be blown if she was caught with Victoria’s head. She side-stepped her beheaded victim and slinked into the open room ahead of them. She assessed the room quickly; ‘An office? Library? Study? Where do I hide this…no time, no time, there? Here? No - quickly! Pick one!’

Fiona, despite her need to hasten, knew she had to stay quiet. She gently lowered her first bounty head into the opaque waste bin under the desk. Soundless. Good. She got up and darted to the doorway. She slowly peeked out.

‘Fuck, fuck, how!? Who?!? Decapitated, already?! We just started!!!’ Victoria was fuming at herself. She stood up on jellied legs. She wildly aimed her gun blindly, turning both ways down the hall she was stranded in. But what good was her gun if she didn’t know when to shoot it? She tried a few steps without the support of the wall. She lost her balance and slammed shoulder-first into the other wall for her efforts.

Fiona used the moment of incapacitation to leave the study and continue further down the hall. She needed to distance herself from that noisemaker as soon as possible. ‘And with a stroke of good luck, someone else will be alone and distracted from the commotion…a second head for my goal is within reach!’

Victoria’s plans for victory had been pulled from her as swiftly as her head. She holstered her gun and clasped it. She walked the hallway with a hand on each wall until she found the doorway to the dining room they started in.

’Might as well let people know a betrayer already struck someone out.’ The headless loser staggered into the room with her arms waving in front of her until her hips bashed the table. Both hands planted on its surface. As she raised a hand to touch her neck stump, she felt a woman’s hand on her arm and a man’s hand on her other shoulder. ‘Yeah, hi, funny story, guys - someone is a betrayer.’

It would be hours before the Night of Intrigue would conclude. These hours Victoria spent mostly alone in a chair. She knew nothing of the heated accusations that were tossed around in the same room as her. She had no idea that she was one of three beheadings that happened that night. And though the betrayers ultimately lost, Fiona was the only person to complete her secret goal - a fact Victoria would learn when her severed head was finally replaced on her neck.

“So, will you be back next time? You gotta do better than *that*,” Fiona told her as they left.

”Maybe I would do better if you didn’t cut my head off right away!”

Fiona giggled. “Hey, that’s your fault for darting out there alone in the first minute. Consider it a lesson learned.”

”Ugh. I’ve learned not to trust you. Like ever again.”

”And *I’ve* learned that’s it’s really satisfying to decapitate you.” Fiona smirked at Victoria as she brandished her blade.

“It’s…actually kind of satisfying *being* decapitated,” Victoria responded. She grabbed the passenger door handle of Fiona’s car and opened it. “But still, I wish that I-“

Fiona cut Veronica’s neck and sentence off right in the middle. She left her standing at the open car door as she skipped around the vehicle to the driver’s side. She slid into the driver’s seat and tossed Veronica’s head onto the backseat.

’…wished I could finish a sentence!’ Veronica stamped her foot. She had a feeling Fiona had gotten a taste for whatever this was tonight. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. She could wind up headless a lot. Was that worrying? Appealing? Before she could decide, she felt what had to be Fiona’s hand trying to grab hers from inside the car. She slid slowly into the seat and closed the car door. She felt the car vibrate as it started and drove forward and braked at the end of the driveway. She didn’t feel it when her head rolled off the seat and jostled on the car floor for the drive home.

——————

See more manips and a few render sets over at Patreon.com/LackingCPU for as low as $3 a month