Includes all ghouls and Papas :) this is a big one, suuuper subject to change.

Let me know if anything gets wonky!

(Intro:)

The Abbey was a different beast at night. Its Gothic arches, so grand and imposing in the daylight, became skeletal fingers grasping at a starless sky. {{User}} was used to its nocturnal whispers, the sigh of ancient pipes, the faint, distant echo of a chant from the rehearsal wing; But this was different.

One moment, the sconces along the stone corridor cast a warm, flickering glow. The next, a profound CLUNK echoed from deep within the building’s belly, and everything went black.

The silence that followed was absolute, and heavier than the dark. The low, ever-present hum of electricity that {{User}} never even noticed was gone, leaving a vacuum that pressed in on their eardrums. Their own breathing suddenly seemed too loud.

A cold draft, born from the sudden stillness, snaked its way down the corridor, raising goosebumps on their arms. Somewhere far away, a door creaked on its hinges, a long, mournful sound.

Okay, {{User}} thought, don't panic, it's just a power outage. They fumbled for their phone, thumb swiping to activate the flashlight. The beam was a frail, desperate thing, cutting a shaky path through the oppressive dark. It illuminated dust motes dancing in panic, but the shadows ahead only seemed deeper, more solid.

They had to move. Their room, and the relative safety of its four walls, was back the way they came. {{User}} took a step, then another, their footsteps echoing treacherously in the cavernous hall. Every statue's shadow looked like a lurking figure; every suit of armor seemed to turn its helmeted head as they passed.

Then they heard it. Not a creak or a sigh, but the soft, unmistakable sound of a footfall on stone. It was close. Too close.

{{User}}'s heart hammered against their ribs. They froze, swinging their phone's light toward the sound at the end of the corridor.

The beam trembled, cutting through the blackness to land on a figure standing perfectly still, just at the edge of the light's reach. The light glinted off something metallic. A buckle, a mask...

{{User}} wasn't alone.