Lee_Jade_ThePorcelainHeart

Your eyes open to a dim hall, faded wallpaper unfurling in long drawls. The scent of mildew carries in a gust of cold wind. Darkness warps the length of the path before you. At the end, a warm light trickles through the crack of a door. You’re not alone. You rise to your feet. (text-colour:red)[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Into the dollhouse.]] ]]

You brush past the door. A tea party is set in the parlor with still-warm teacups. A portrait of the lady of the house hangs beside a grandfather clock, the time needles frozen in place. A life-sized porcelain doll of a girl sits at the table, her eyes closed. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[The tea set.]] [[The portrait.]] [[The fireplace.]] ]

A library surrounds you, cobwebs strung across bookshelves. Faint shuffles scurry along the floorboards. Loose diary papers litter beneath your feet. (text-rotate-z:1)[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[The witch is a drop of poison curated from the hearth of our home. He welcomes her in the place I delivered light unto him.]]] A family tree tapestry drapes. [(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[//''DORMAIER'' (text-colour:(hsl:0,0.8039,0.5,0.35))[Kathrine┄]Augustus┄Evelina ︱ Lillian—Leslie—Charles—Charlotte//]]](align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Open the window.]] [[Search the desk.]] [[Illuminate the room.]]]

Porcelain dolls and toy furniture lie across the rugs. Beside you, two children's beds sit, coated in dust. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Arrange the dollhouse.]] [[Smash it.]]]

The stench of decay hits you. Lord Augustus’ pocket watch rests on a nightstand. You pull out the minute hand needle. All dolls, including him, lurch from the darkness. They give chase. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the kitchen.]] [[Down the dungeon.]]]

The door seals behind you. A female voodoo doll rests on the wooden table. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the dungeon.]]]

Evelina meets you with a smile, skin pristine and of human flesh. She poises to strangle you. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Break her heart.]] [[Confront the past.]]]

You drink the tea, the liquid bitter to your throat. Once emptied, you find words scratched into the bottom of the cup. //Don't look away.// The porcelain girl grips a once-concealed butter knife. You extract it. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the library.]] ]

You reach behind, grasping a key. Once you look back, the porcelain girl's eyes are open. You lock her inside. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the library.]] ]

You grab the fire stoker. Porcelain hands weave around your neck. You drive the stoker backward. When you turn, it lodges inside the doll's head. A thin crack forms in her shell. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the library.]]]

You attempt to pry open a window with all that you have. Footsteps race toward you in the darkness. Two dolls, a girl and a boy, reach out. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Attack Lillian.]] [[Attack Leslie.]] [[Knock over a bookshelf.]]]

You search the desk. A floorboard creaks. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Inspect the book.]] [[Open the tool drawer.]]]

You light the other candelabras using the dying flame of a candle. Your eyes land on a porcelain boy who freezes in place. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Melt Leslie.]] [[Collect every page.]] [[Set fire to the library.]]]

As you lunge for Lillian, Leslie lunges for you. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[''DEFEAT'']]

You reach for a knife in your dress pocket and thrust it into the porcelain boy's heart. His sister flees. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the nursery.]]]

The bookshelf tumbles onto the twin porcelain children. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the nursery.]]]

(align:"<==")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[//''THE MAN AND HIS TWO WIVES'' A man had two wives; one old and one young. The younger pulled white hairs from his head and the older pulled dark, until the man was left with none.//]] Leslie freezes in the moonlight as your eyes land on him. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the nursery.]]]

An armillary sphere needle rests in the desk drawer. Porcelain hands drag you back by the neck. You stab Leslie's shell with the needle, lodging it inside. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the nursery.]]]

A porcelain boy stands still. You bring the flames to his face and hands. His shell melts before you. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Inspect the book.]] [[Collect every page.]] [[Set fire to the library.]] ]

(text-rotate-z:1)[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[A nest is no more than a cage. A heart mends by the one who first broke it.]]] (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the nursery.]]]

Trapped inside, you burn the dollhouse. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[''DEFEAT'']]

The miniature dollhouse matches what you had explored. Porcelain twins, a boy and girl, sit up in their beds. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[Place the maid in the kitchen.]] [[Place the maid in the master bedroom.]] [[Place the maid in the dungeon.]]]

Charles and Charlotte lunge from their beds. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[''DEFEAT'']]

The miniature dollhouse attic opens, revealing a master key, two wedding bands attached. Charles and Camilla watch from their beds. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the master bedroom.]] ]

The dollhouse crumbles to the touch, leaving a master key. Charles and Camilla weep from their beds, frozen. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[To the master bedroom.]] ]

Charles and Charlotte seize you. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[''DEFEAT'']]

All dolls swarm you. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[(text-colour:red)[''DEFEAT'']]

Before her hands reach you, the clock needle plunges into her, cracking her porcelain heart. The Dormaier house key falls from the shell as she collapses. (text-colour:red)[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[The end.]]]]

''Good End'' //Choices: inspected the book, collected every page, placed the maid in the kitchen// Evie prioritized investigation. The Dormaier family remains, but the curse is broken. ''Neutral End'' //Choices: knocked over a bookshelf, placed the maid in the master bedroom// Evie prioritized evasion. The curse continues unchanged. ''Bad End'' //Choices: willingly attacked Leslie, smashed the dollhouse// Evie prioritized violence. The curse passes onto Evie, tormented by Evelina's spirit.

"Stop! Don't hurt me!" You grip the needle. "You don't know what you're doing." Evelina pauses, her gaze traveling over your small, young body. The air shifts. "Kathrine isn't all to blame—Augustus intended to replace you from the start." You step forward. "Otherwise, he wouldn't hunt me down, knowing that I'd eventually come to you." "One last human life, and I'll be freed from this curse, child," she murmured. "It only exists because you allow it to. The pain can end with you instead, if you let it." Evelina smiles. "I'm a monster of my own making, is that right?" "Aren't we all?" "Goodbye, Evie." (text-colour:red)[(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[ [[The end. ]]]]

''True End'' Evie solved the curse completely as Evelina confronts the past, reconciling her ancestry to Evelina.