POP 17: The Tower



 "'We're gonna die, Quentin.' -TO-DO"

The Tower is the eighteenth episode of Eidolon POP and the thirty-sixth episode of Eidolon Playtest Season 1. It covers the events from Quentin Brooks' past, as he and his classmates become servants of, then seek to undermine, The Estate.

Summary
Rather than open with a summary of the events of the previous episode, as Luke Varner usually does, he expresses mock confusion about the fact that there were no events previously. After a few lines in this vein, he announces that it is "flashback time".

After the theme music, Luke Varner then proceeds to explain how this episode will be structured. Each player has been assigned a character in the flashback group, with Tyberius Wilson playing a younger version of his character, Quentin Brooks. Luke Varner has provided everyone with a small bio, their Eidolon, and will provide details of each level up they do throughout the session. The episode is structured as a series of vignettes. Each character will level up between the vignettes as time progresses.

As the episode proper begins, Luke Varner asks Ursula when she thinks it all went wrong. Ursula says there are many possible answers - when they got caught, when they accepted the job, or when they chose their course. The actual answer, she says, is when everyone trusted Henry and thought he was a friend.

At this point, everyone's characters are announced. Fabby Garza is playing Ursula Bexar. Fabby Garza jokingly dismisses any similarities between that name and her main character, Ursa. As mentioned, Tyberius Wilson is playing Quentin Brooks. Zoe Tunnell is playing Caroline Rose. Mike Painter is playing Ron Moreau. Luke Varner similarly jokingly dismisses any similarity between Ron Moreau and Ronnui. Crystal Zaslavchik is playing Cactus Jack, who will be introduced later.

Finally, Luke Varner mentions that in each vignette, some characters will have hidden agendas they must fulfill to maintain continuity.

Becoming Servants (0:04:37)
This scene opens on April 2004 at the Joseph University of North Gibsonburg. Ron, Caroline, Ursula, and Quentin are in the same study group for an Algebra class. The group's fifth member, Henry, has been acting oddly the past few weeks. While previously extroverted and charismatic, recently he has been withdrawn and skipping class and study groups. However, this morning he sent a text to the group to meet him outside his dorm, saying it was really important.

Everyone catches up with him at a picnic table. They exchange pleasantries, and Henry apologizes for his recent weirdness. He offers to show them something that will take the rest of their day, but he thinks they will like it. After countering any objections, Henry pulls out an old-style telephone from his bag. He places it on the table, picks it up, and orders a limo for five. Ursula and Caroline share a look of concern. Quentin places a reassuring hand on Henry's shoulder, asking if everything is ok.

At this point, the sky darkens and the nearby dormitory melts to reveal a limo. A pale man steps out of the driver's seat and welcomes everyone in. Caroline and Ursula express reluctance at how weird everything has become, but Henry asks everyone to trust him and offers to write a few of Caroline's soon-due essays. As everyone enters the limo, Henry explains that he had a successful job interview and is bringing them all as guests to a company party (and there is free alcohol).

The limo arrives by a massive brass fountain, outside a gargantuan mansion. Henry ushers everyone inside, dodging all questions about what exactly is happening. Servants open the door as everyone enters into a room with countless butlers and maids bowing to greet them. Past the servants is a banquet hall, seating a large number of older men and women. Henry heads to an open seat and instructs everyone to sit near the door. He promises everything will be "less formal" soon after some speeches.

Quentin queries a nearby waitress and asks her what working here is like. The waitress responds in a flat tone that it is profoundly fulfilling. This unnerves the study group, with Caroline and Ursula readying access to their pepper spray and brass knuckles respectively.

A large portly man and a petite woman arrive at the head of the table. The man greets everyone and announces it is the inauguration of the young Master Henry. He introduces himself as Baracchiel-Zita, the head butler of the Estate. He is announcing his retirement, that he will soon 'sublimate into the psychic rivers of The Undertow'. Joanna, the petite woman who followed him, is named as his successor, effective immediately.

After Baracchiel-Zita's speech concludes, Joanna takes the turn to introduce herself. She reassures the servants that being their boss does not negate their friendship. Joanna then conducts the inauguration of Henry as Master, using his full name for the first time: Henry Vladimir Dracula. She asks him if he has his hand-selected servants, and he gestures towards Caroline, Ursula, Ron, and Quentin. Everyone bar Quentin responds with concern, with the new Master asking them to go along with it.

Henry excuses himself and takes the group to a nearby drawing-room. The moment they are inside the room and out of sight, Ron grabs Henry and slams him against the wall, demanding to know what is going on. Henry explains that The Estate is a mirror of reality, where changes here ripple back to the world. Everyone at the banquet table were Masters, those with the authority to make those changes. His servants would be those helping him in this task. All the current Masters are "shitty rich old people", and Henry wants to change that.

Ron counters that this argument is essentially 'change the system from the inside', which historically has been ineffectual. Caroline expresses skepticism over the reality-changing claims. To provide proof, Henry pulls out his Blackberry phone and shows her that her blue dormitory room doors were actually red up until a week before. He explains that this was a relatively safe minor change, that there is a system for approving changes, and that major changes go to a vote of all Masters. With his servants' help, Henry suggests there may be a way to not follow these rules. This convinces Quentin and Ursula.

When Ron presses for further details, Henry explains that he doesn't know the specifics, but changing rooms in The Estate allows them to rewrite moments in time. After expressing ethical concerns, Ron is finally also convinced by the argument that the current Masters are already acting unethically. After settling the matter, Henry declares its time to obtain their Eidolons.

Joanna directs everyone to the Eidolon ceremony, taking Henry to his own room. He is given a deck of tarot cards and is told to head in alone. Joanna and Henry's new servants introduce themselves to each other. She summons two servants, who lay out a table with four wine glasses to prepare for Henry's return. A few moments later, Henry steps out and reveals his chosen tarot card as The World. Joanna gives him a small knife and he uses it to squeeze his now glowing-orange blood into the wine glasses. Henry reassures everyone that by drinking his blood, they'll get superpowers.

Ursula is first to drink the blood, and her Eidolon Pink Bullets emerges. It is a mini-version of Ursula as a bear girl that can turn into a teddy bear, with a pink aura that shifts shapes between various weapons. Next is Quentin, then Caroline, then Ron. Caroline gains Roses, a feminine figure covered in roses. Quentin gains The Love Below, a big spider. Ron gains Feel Good Inc, a revolver engraved with its name that can turn emotions into bullets.

Joanna says these Eidolons will serve them well, and there will be plenty of work to do tomorrow. For now, there is plenty of food back in the banquet hall.

Cactus Jack (0:45:59)
A few weeks later, in the middle of the night, Henry Dracula and his servants are walking through a hallway of The Estate. Though none of them have been back to school since they got here, they have been using the rooms in The Estate to retroactively make all their missed assignments successful. Despite Dracula's claims that they'd be helping him directly, they have had to do servant work around The Estate (e.g. cleaning). Despite that, they've managed to do some recon work and located a key room in one of the other Masters' history. If they clean this room, he won't have become a Master in the first place.

Dracula attempts to enter the room but finds it locked. Ursula picks the lock and enters, accidentally disturbing Cactus Jack who is hiding in the grandfather clock. In the middle of the room is a small child, around five years old, surrounded by ornate furniture. Cactus Jack introduces himself to the intruders and asks who they are. Dracula asks if he is from the Menagerie, and it turns out he is.

Ursula attempts to explain that they're here to do something in the room, to which Cactus Jack interjects that this is his home and should be given the chance to consent. The child, Ursula explains, is one of the people who imprisoned Cactus Jack and run The Estate, and they want to stop that. There is a debate about whether the child, Bradley Attenborough, is actually a person or merely a shadow memory. Cactus Jack jumps on the child and admonishes him for being one of his jailers. The child complains that it hurts, and he doesn't know anything.

Growing impatient, Ron Moreau shoots the kid in the head. Cactus Jack and Caroline are shocked, Ursula says she was about to do the same. The dead child bleeds a weird oily substance and begins to deflate. Ron tells everyone to leave and invites Cactus Jack to join them. Cactus Jack accepts and offers use of his ability to tunnel places via a corrosive mold. Dracula questions why his name is Cactus Jack, to which he explains he is from the state of Arizona in The Undertow.

Cactus Jack rallies everyone with a call to kill the rest of the Masters. Caroline unsubtly digs at Dracula over this, given he is also a Master. Dracula explains exasperatedly that he is only a Master so he can kill the others, to which Caroline insists this may come back to bite him. Everyone leaves.

Summoning Lady Luck (0:57:54)
Yet several weeks later, the group has slowly been picking off Masters. Caution is needed, as there would be immediate big trouble if any other Master realized what they were up to. As their numbers shrink, this need for slow caution grows.

One week, Dracula summons his servants to his penthouse. The penthouse is much fancier than the servants' quarters and has a view of the ocean despite none being nearby. This disparity bothers Ron, Caroline, Ursula, and Cactus Jack. Quentin defends Dracula, claiming he needs to keep up appearances.

Dracula explains to Cactus Jack that he became a Master to double-cross all the other Masters. Cactus Jack challenges Dracula over the state of the Menagerie and how his plan ends with him as the sole Master. Ursula attempts to reassure Cactus Jack that they will handle the Zoo soon, but he doesn't think that's soon enough.

Dracula acknowledges all the troubles everyone has been facing and says he's been doing some research into ways to speed things up, and that's why he's summoned everyone here today. He found some books in the library and is now a wizard (though this is unimportant). What is important is he found a way to summon something The Estate is afraid of. An old goddess. Ursula consents to this plan, to which Dracula reveals he had already gone and summoned Lady Luck. This sends a ripple of dismay through his servants, with Quentin jumping in to defend him yet again. Ron and Caroline plead Quentin to have a spine, to which he spinelessly agrees.

A woman with beautiful blonde hair and a sparkling red evening gown is suddenly reclining on a nearby grand piano. She says Henry explained the situation, and she's on board with any plan that undermines The Estate. Cactus Jack wishes he had Luck on his side during his saloon poker days, which is apparently how he got imprisoned. Lady Luck vanishes with a request for them to call when its time to get to work. Ursula collapses in Henry's bed, expressing doubt over the plan. After everyone pressures Ursula into re-committing, Dracula announces they have another shadow-child of a Master lined up to kill tonight.

Off to the side, Ron pressures Quentin for his opinion on the situation. Quentin offers mild criticism of Dracula's lack of consultation with them, albeit couched in language about how a leader needs to take charge. Caroline and Ron offer wider, harsher complaints about Dracula's lack of consideration towards them. Quentin attempts to defend Dracula when everyone is interrupted by a knock on the door. Joanna is here with Dracula's nightly ice cream sundae. Tonight it is vanilla bean.

Dracula dismisses Joanna, then complains he would have rather had a strawberry sundae and offers the vanilla bean to anyone who wants it. This further fuels Caroline's frustration in the disparity between their existences, informing Dracula that all they have to eat in their quarters are sandwiches. Plain, cheap sandwiches. She further pushes him on why he spends no time with them. He claims this would raise suspicion. When Cactus Jack suggests killing Joanna, Dracula explains she is an Angel and likely immortal. This surprises Caroline and Ron, who state they had never been informed angels were a thing.

Dracula insists they could be learning these things from a training manual, but Caroline pushes back that they never got one and they never see Joanna and have the chance to ask for one. Dracula exasperatedly argues that they are missing the point. He has to balance pretending to be a Master and helping them eliminate the others. Caroline immediately picks up on this wording, reminding him that it is they who are helping him with this plan. We're all helping each other, Dracula retorts.

Getting Caught (1:16:08)
Time jumps ahead again, with things going more smoothly thanks to the aid of Lady Luck. Two Masters per week, rushing towards the concerning state of "Henry is the only Master left". Joanna has been acting more suspicious of everyone, requiring frequent check-ins. This night, Dracula and his servants are targeting Alistair Alexey, an Oil CEO. Caroline is still hesitant over the fact that they're killing what look like children, even though they turn into shadow goop afterward.

They get inside Alistair's room and find Michael-Valentine. He goes to restrain them all with glass, but Ursula, Cactus Jack, and Caroline turn the tables and trap him. Michael-Valentine taunts Dracula with the fact that he defeated his previous incarnation. He tells them all that Henry Dracula is the reincarnation of a Vampire. Dracula insists he is no longer that person and goes to attack Michael-Valentine with Hot Blooded, but instead Michael-Valentine fills the entire room with stained glass and freezing everyone.

They are bought to the courtroom and are put on trial by Satan-Genesius, judged by Joanna. She launches into a speech about how they gave Dracula a second chance, and are disappointed with what he has done with it. Joanna reveals that there are now only twenty Masters, a reduction from the original seventy. She challenges him to offer any defense of his actions. Dracula stands to speak and immediately throws the blame on his servants, that they acted without his knowledge. He calls Gabriel-Bede to the stand to prove his innocence.

Gabriel-Bede enters the courtroom. Quentin recognizes him, as Gabriel-Bede has been telling him he'll end the world in fifteen years. As Gabriel-Bede takes to the witness stand, Dracula asks him whether he will be declared innocent. Gabriel-Bede says yes, and that his servants will be found guilty. Under cross-examination from Satan-Genesius, Gabriel-Bede states he cannot answer any further questions nor state why he cannot answer. From the gallery, Michael-Valentine shouts out that he arrested Dracula himself, to which Dracula retorts that he is prejudiced and sees Dracula only as his former self.

Michael-Valentine attempts to attack Dracula, with both forms of Satan-Genesius restraining him. Joanna declares Henry Dracula innocent, and his servants guilty.

Ursula's Sacrifice (1:37:38)
All of Dracula's Servants have been sent to the dungeon, where their Eidolons don't work. They are to wait until they get erased from existence. Cactus Jack is in stocks. Ron, Caroline, and Ursula express frustration at their situation, while Quentin panics. Ron and Caroline take this last chance to call Quentin out about his spinelessness. Ursula joins in, asking him to be more confident. Quentin, in an attempt to not annoy them with spinelessness, cuts off his finger and throws it outside the cell to see if his Eidolon would work. Everyone is gobsmacked by this.

At this point, Lady Luck shows up. She states that she is similarly annoyed over Dracula's betrayal. She thought Dracula wanted revenge on The Estate when they foiled his previous self's attempt to take over it. Lady Luck asks if everyone is still on board with destroying The Estate. Ron, Ursula, and Cactus Jack are, but Quentin and Caroline would rather leave this all behind them. After discussion, the latter tentatively get on board. Lady Luck directs them to the Paperwork Department to prevent their erasure. On the way out, Quentin heals his finger.

As everyone enters the Paperwork Department, they see it busy with servants filing papers and feel the urge to help them. Metatron-Homobonus descends from the ceiling, and greets his 'new employees'. Ron, Ursula, Quentin, Cactus Jack, and Caroline are caught under the spell of 9 To 5 and lose track of time as they are obligated to help out.

After days pass, Ursula snaps out of the trance as she realizes her time is almost up. She runs to the Termination Department, no one noticing her. Inside the Termination Department, she finds the five files representing her and her friends on fire, with hers almost completely burnt. So much of her is gone that there was no longer enough for Metatron-Homobonus to influence. Ursula knows her effort to save herself would be futile and prioritizes saving her friends. Her growing intangibility impedes her ability to pat out fires, but she manages to stop all but her own. Ursula Bexar is erased from existence.

Confronting Dracula (1:47:26)
Ursula's remaining friends begin to free themselves from the grip of Metatron-Homobonus, something inside them reminding there is a more important goal than work. Caroline wonders where Ursula has gone, but no one else remembers her. Caroline doesn't remember who she is either. They rush to the Termination Department, hiding from Metatron-Homobonus' gaze with a barrier of Roses, and find their papers had already been saved. They locate and burn their pink slips to regain their existence in reality.

Caroline, Quentin, Ron, and Cactus Jack make it out of the Paperwork Department and find Lady Luck waiting for them. She tells them that Dracula has since removed all the other Masters, and is waiting in his penthouse. Quentin psychs himself up into fighting Dracula but argues to the rest that they should split up. Cactus Jack and Ron should take the fight to Dracula directly, while Quentin and Caroline run interference in The Estate and secure the escape route.

The moment Ron and Cactus Jack leave, Quentin tells Caroline that they should just leave and ditch the others. Caroline is hesitant to abandon her friends, but Quentin insists they'll be fine. Caroline wants to follow her dreams and become a chef, and Quentin laments the fact that he's never really gotten to know her. They agree to leave.

Cactus Jack and Ron reach Dracula's penthouse via the elevator. Dracula is wearing a cloak, now has long fangs, and speaks with a mild lisp. He greets them warmly and is confused why Ron isn't happy with their escape attempt. While the four of them escaped, Ron is convinced something has been lost. Dracula doesn't know what it is either, saying he's been busy eradicating the rest of the Masters. He's also researched his past life and re-implemented the changes necessary to become a Vampire (with some improvements on the weaknesses). Dracula re-invites them to his team.

Ron argues that Dracula had no reason to expect them to escape and had abandoned them. He lays out all the ways Dracula has been manipulating them and draws Feel Good Inc. Cactus Jack talks him down, offering to chat with Dracula privately by the window. Ron keeps his weapon drawn, and Dracula summons Hot Blooded to keep a watch on him. Cactus Jack points out that Dracula has yet to help any of the Shades, to which Dracula immediately picks up the phone and orders Joanna to release them all from The Menagerie.

Dracula is getting annoyed with all the suspicion both Cactus Jack and Ron are throwing at him. According to him, he's done everything he can for them and it's all worked out great. He asks Ron to lower his gun, and Ron refuses. As a last attempt to convince him, Dracula offers for Ron to be his vice-president, revealing that he has rigged the system to make him President of The United States of America in a few months. Ron accuses Dracula of just wanting to control things, not improve them. Dracula provides a final ultimatum: put the gun down or shoot him. Ron shoots him.

Before the bullet can hit him, Dracula vanishes and appears attacking behind Ron Moreau with Hot Blooded. Ron dodges over to Cactus Jack, who rushes over and crawls up Dracula's pants to cover him in mold. Dracula burns off the mold with Hot Blooded, distracting him as Ron shoots him again. Dracula vanishes again after getting hit.

Cut to Quentin and Caroline rushing through the halls of The Estate, trying to find a way to get themselves out. Lady Luck appears to them and asks what they're doing. Caroline attempts to brush her off, but Lady Luck offers to help. Both of them are tired of it all, and that makes them useless to Lady Luck. She wants them out of the picture as soon as possible. Lady Luck will take their memories if she gets to keep them.

Caroline attempts to work out all possible corner cases of this deal. She insists that Lady Luck will not alter their taken memories, will put them somewhere safe, and will account for their lost time in the world. Lady Luck agrees, but notes they've already accounted for their time thanks to the powers of The Estate. Quentin puts forward another condition: If he somehow ever works for her again, she'll owe him a favor. Lady Luck agrees to this as well. She takes Caroline's memories, and her face goes blank.

Lady Luck explains to Quentin that he may end up working for her again, as he's a very useful tool. As such, while she will not alter his memories she may edit them. Not return the memories around things like "owing him a favor". Lady Luck holds up a paper that begins to encode Quentin's memories on it. In the center, the paper says "RIDING HIGH ON LOVE'S TRUE BLUISH LIGHT". Quentin insists they shake on the deal, to which Lady Luck agrees. As they shake on it, The Love Below grabs the piece of paper and writes "IF NOTHING LASTS FOREVER, THEN WHAT MAKES LOVE THE EXCEPTION". This confuses Lady Luck, but she dismisses it as frivolous.

With that, Lady Luck vanishes. When she does, Quentin begins to fully lose his memories. He panics, and rushes to Servants' Quarters and starts speaking out loud everything he remembers. Quentin turns those spoken memories into threads with The Love Below and webs up the quarters. After all his memories relating to his time here are gone, he falls unconscious. Quentin and Caroline awake sometime later in the field near their university, where they first entered The Estate. Lying on Quentin's chest is an old-fashioned telephone, unsettling him enough that he hides it away.

Back in Dracula's penthouse, it is unknown when and where Dracula will reappear. Ron looks around the room with suspicion, and notices the room as a whole is getting warmer. He warns Cactus Jack who rushes to the elevator. Before Ron can join him, a couch bursts into flames and blocks his path. As the flames threaten to surround him, Ron pushes pockets of air with the bullets of Feel Good Inc to direct the fire around him.

Dracula leaps through the gap in the flames towards Ron, punching him with a burning fist. Cactus Jack has reached the elevator but is too small to reach any of the buttons. He expresses his feelings of defeat at Ron, who siphons those feelings into bullets for Feel Good Inc. He feints backward under Dracula and shoots one of the elevator buttons, allowing Cactus Jack to leave. Dracula grabs Ron, burning him. He tells Ron that he has been able to access his past life's Eidolon, Bat Out Of Hell, and turns into a bat monster.

Cactus Jack bursts through the floor and attacks Dracula. It turns out he did not leave with the elevator but rather burrowed beneath the floors to get an opportune strike. Dracula catches Cactus Jack in mid-air but is unable to stop the mold from landing on him. He burns off the mold, which distracts him enough for Ron to fire on him with a barrage of bullets. While Feel Good Inc only has room for six bullets, Ron is fueling enough emotion into it to generate a new bullet whenever a chamber is empty. Each bullet wound heals instantly.

Dracula grabs Ron and throws him to the ground. In labored breath, Ron tells Cactus Jack to regroup with Quentin and Caroline and find another way to stop Dracula. Cactus Jack leaves, and Dracula sits down to catch his breath and return to his human form.

Cactus Jack escapes out to find Lady Luck who commiserates over the failed fight. She reveals that Quentin and Caroline have ditched, which saddens him. Lady Luck says that there is still a Plan B - convincing Joanna to dismiss Dracula as a Master of The Estate. Lady Luck vanishes right before Joanna arrives, who then asks what Cactus Jack wants. Cactus Jack shares the plan, to which Joanna is reluctant. If there were more Masters, they would be able to make a vote on the eviction, but Dracula is the sole one.

Joanna argues that if they ignore procedure to evict Dracula, are they any better than what Dracula did to remove the other Masters? Yes, says Cactus Jack, as the alternative is enabling Dracula to continue ignoring procedure. This convinces Joanna, who rushes to the elevator. They head down to the basement, past Jegudiel-Vincent in the Wine Cellar. All the wine encoded with memories of former Masters in the Cellar has been drained. Further down, Joanna and Cactus Jack reach a second elevator that takes them down to the penultimate lowest floor of the estate - the Angel Rooms.

As Joanna reaches the door with her name, it fades away to reveal a hall. She heads down the hall to a desk, and rifles through it to find Dracula's Master certification and the necessary stamp that will evict him. She stamps the paper, and immediately Dracula upstairs begins to feel sick. Ron taunts him, only to realize that Dracula has already vanished.

Back down in the Angel Rooms, the ground begins to shake. Joanna and Cactus Jack return to the elevator and take it to the final floor - the Heart of Glass. The huge stained glass heart inside is filling with an expanding darkness. It is undergoing a Total Eclipse of the Heart. Michael-Valentine bursts through the ceiling and interrogates Joanna over what is happening. She admits to evicting Dracula, which means there is no one in charge. According to Michael-Valentine, The Estate needs a Master for the Heart of Glass to function. Cactus Jack reminds him that Ron Moreau remains up in Dracula's penthouse, and may still be alive.

Michael-Valentine orders Joanna to head to Ron, while he and Cactus Jack attempt to hold back the Eclipse. Cactus Jack pushes against the Heart with his little mouse paws. As the darkness spreads within the Heart, two glowing eyes form inside. The Heart cracks and a large skeleton bursts out of it with slowly growing musculature. It begins lashing at anyone nearby. Cactus Jack jumps inside the skeleton's bones, covering it with as much mold as he can. It is insufficient, the skeleton keeps emerging from the Heart. Lady Luck appears in the room, smirking and encouraging the skeleton. She explains the skeleton is Teoth, goddess of nothing and despair. Lady Luck greets Teoth, who does not respond.

Upstairs in the Penthouse, Joanna rushes in to find Ron bleeding on the floor. She explains that evicting Dracula has caused the Heart to eclipse, which will collapse The Estate and "all of reality as we know it". The only solution is to make Ron, the only human currently in The Estate, a Master. Ron agrees, as Joanna explained this would prevent him from bleeding to death. They go through the ceremony, and Ron becomes Master Moreau.

Back at the Heart of Glass, the darkness inside begins to fade. The Heart repairs itself, cutting off the parts of the skeleton which had emerged. The bones collapse to the floor and turn to dust. Michael-Valentine breathes a sigh of relief, and Cactus Jack suggests that the Master requirement is a design flaw that needs fixing. Michael-Valentine says he has several ideas. Cactus Jack then enquires about the state of the Menagerie, which Michael-Valentine does not know. Cactus Jack then rushes off to find Ron to see if he's ok.

On the way there, Cactus Jack runs into Joanna who congratulates him on his efforts. She is glad things can now return to normal and they no longer need to follow Dracula's whims. Cactus Jack agrees but still asks if they will follow his final order about emptying the Menagerie. Joanna laughs at this, saying that they won't. All of his orders are no longer valid. She thanks Cactus Jack again, and turns to leave. Cactus Jack pleads, saying he's willing to go around and unlock all the cages if it's really that much of an effort. Except this wasn't about the effort to Joanna.

Cactus Jack plans to take this up with Ron, the new Master. Joanna dissuades him, saying he needs to recover and there are more important matters. Cactus Jack declares that instead, he will be taking the keys from Joanna anyway, either by force or gift. Joanna refuses to give them, so Cactus Jack lunges at her and attempts to destroy her with corrosive mold. Joanna collapses into the mold and Cactus Jack runs away to the Menagerie. Before he can get far, a glass needle pins him to the floor killing him. Michael-Valentine recollects the keys from his body. Joanna lays there for some time, largely destroyed, before dragging herself across the floor.

Aftermath (2:46:16)
Although Henry Dracula was evicted from The Estate, his changes were not undone. He goes on to become the President of The United States of America, permanently. Elections no longer happen, but no one finds this odd.

The only recollections Quentin Brooks and Caroline Rose have of their time in The Estate are incredibly hazy. They have a connection to Joseph University of North Gibsonburg that they can't quite shake, Quentin especially. Somehow, Quentin becomes a professor there.

In The Undertow, Ron still remains as Master. Joanna has been gone for some time, eventually returning with most of her body replaced with inanimate objects, like parts of a statue. She has lost most of her liveliness and personality. Ron feels... alone. Completely and utterly alone, forever. He cannot use the power of The Estate as he has always been morally opposed to it. He can't leave, or the Heart of Glass will eclipse again. Ron essentially exists as a 'load-bearing pillar of reality'. To hold himself together, he starts routinely gathering up his feelings of depression and despair and firing them off with Feel Good Inc. After enough time, he loses the ability to feel much of anything.

It is in this state that Ron is approached by Michael-Valentine and Satan-Genesius. They discuss with him their plan to remove the requirement of human(s) being in charge. Angels, Satan-Genesius argues, are uniquely suited to act as long-term stewards of humanity and reality. Michael-Valentine would also ensure Dracula is killed. To achieve this, a ritual needs to be conducted in the real world. They need to split Ron into his soul, body, and blood. His body, as Angels need to hitchhike in a human to cross over. His blood, to use in the ritual. His soul, to remain in The Estate as Master. Ron consents without hesitation.

Satan-Genesius splits Ron from his body. Michael-Valentine heads into the real world, rewriting reality to say that he's always lived there as a stained-glass artist and drug runner. Ron's body is largely destroyed by this, and Michael-Valentine embeds the remains in stained glass. The remains, somehow, hold traces of Ron's emotions, and 'psychically' scream for the destruction of Dracula, The Estate, and the cruel world as a whole.

At another time, further out in The Undertow, Ursa, a bear-person awakens. She has no recollection of who she is, or where she is from. She wanders around, trying to figure out anything at all. Before she can deduce any answers, Ursa is hit by a whip. Raphael-Hubert, the hunter of The Estate, entraps her with his whip. Ursa pleads and screams to know why, but he offers no response. After a long time, he brings her to a big house. Out back, through a hedge maze, he brings her to a large plaza lined with iron cages. Raphael-Hubert is surprised by the state of the place. All the cages are filled with people like Ursa, except they're dead. All the Shades in the Menagerie have starved to death. Raphael-Hubert throws Ursa into another cage, swearing he'll chew out whoever has been neglecting feeding duty. After he leaves, Ursa cries herself to sleep.

After another unknown length of time, Ursa wakes up, still alone. Something tells her that she would be able to break out. At first, Ursa grabs the bars and tries to move them. After a few moments, she uses the last vestiges of Pink Bullets to pick the lock. Ursa runs, not knowing where. She passes out, waking up in the field outside Joseph University of North Gibsonburg. Ursa reflexively gives herself a more human appearance and starts walking to see what happens.

Appearances
● Baracchiel-Zita (First and Last Appearance)

● Cactus Jack // Bittersweet Symphony

● Caroline Rose // Roses

● Gabriel-Bede // I've Had The Time Of My Life

● Henry Dracula // Hot Blooded & Bat Out Of Hell (First Appearance)

● Jegudiel-Vincent // Tik Tok

● Joanna

● Lady Luck // Poker Face

● Metatron-Homobonus // 9 To 5

● Michael-Valentine // The Ballad of Michael-Valentine

● Quentin Brooks // The Love Below

● Raphael-Hubert // Hungry Like The Wolf

● Ron Moreau // Feel Good Inc

● Satan-Genesius // I Write Sins Not Tragedies

● Stapleton // Life Is A Highway

● Ursa

● Ursula Bexar // Pink Bullets (First Appearance)

Trivia
● At the end of Quentin Brooks' time on the episode, The Love Below gets referred to instead as Speakerboxxx, Quentin's Veteran Eidolon.

Fanart
