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The Musician backed up, or rather down the stairs, trying to get clear of the spreading fog. The bells on her head chimed again, until she remembered them and put them to use. Four notes later, the wind rose at her call again- and then she reached for her new abilities too. What did it take to burn off cold fog? Light.

She had thought she was full of light already, but now she understood it was only the dawning, the first glimpses of a greater day to come. A new glow poured out of her and into the darkness, the warm brilliance of a summer day. All she had to do was point and the light focused, intensified, a wave of illumination racing into the fog.

It was, however, moving quite slowly. Honestly, you could probably out-walk it.

The Ghast had gotten out of the way just barely enough, and the fire missed them almost entirely. They got mildly warmed as the fire shot into the room, prompting a new spilling of fog.

Oh great. Now the Musician was halfway enveloped.

Sapphire swooped down and desperately started beating at the fog with their wings, trying to clear it away. "No, no, no!"

There. It had to be her. Or, well, it didn't, but they had to take the chance. They Stepped towards her. Once. The fog grew colder. Twice. Even more so. Three times. It was freezing. They stopped. The fog started rising to its earlier temperature. Okay, so trying to get out of it was a bad idea. They closed their eyes, feeling the earth beneath them, and slowing their breathing down. It had started to speed up once they had realized they were basically trapped, but hyperventilating was probably a bad idea. Slow, calm breaths were better.

A twirl of the cane, and the dragon's maw glowed. Then, a burst of fire was launched out, into the room. He wasn't sure it would do anything, but it might. Then, he tapped the cane on the ground, projecting a light. "Regroup on the light!"

You feel light suffusing your being. You feel more certain of your path.

You feel as though you could slice through the darkness.

Clearly, something was going on here. The Musician bent down, still holding the bell aloft, and picked up the card. "Knight" was an interesting message- she'd have time to investigate it further when Garnet wasn't getting eaten by empty nothingness. She tucked it into her pocket next to the other one...

It felt like she was getting torn in half. It felt like she was standing beside herself, the universe pouring through a gap torn in her soul. It felt like she was falling- burning- she couldn't even scream, it was so intense- and then she was filled with light where she had never noticed how empty she was.

She picked herself up off the floor - apparently she'd collapsed without even noticing it, planned and coordinated tones from her bells replaced with a discordant jangling. She didn't notice it, but she was glowing, slightly - although that faded quickly.

Face up, resting on your foot, is a card labelled Knight.

She wanted to curl up around her twisting gut, she wanted to hide from the freezing, burning aura pouring off of the fog, but there was someone in there.

"Everyone back!" she said. "If you can blow this stuff away from us, do so!"

She took one of her larger bells out of her hair, and then rang it - a single cutting note, piercing into the fog like a beacon.

"Out here!" she called.

They would probably remain conscious in the fog for an hour, at this pace. And said fog wasn't slowing down or thinning out at all; on the other hand, neither did it continue to expand.

"RUN!" they shouted at the top of their lungs, mask amplifying it so hopefully those outside the fog wouldn't be caught. After that, they tried to figure out how quickly the fog was leeching the heat from them, and exactly where the way out of the fog that didn't lead through the door was.

However, it exploded inward, towards the room it had been sealing off. In turn, more of the black fog rushed out, completely enveloping the Garnet Ghast and coming quite close to taking the Musician.

Inside the fog, the Ghast could see, hear, or smell nothing. They could hardly feel their feet on the floor. What they could feel quite clearly, however, was cold.

That didn't do it justice. That made it sound like you had walked outside during winter, or touched an ice cube. This was more like the fog was leeching all the heat from your skin without seeming to warm up in the least.

Sapphire panicked. Black and blue feathered wings erupted from their back and they soared towards the ceiling. "Sorry, guys! I... is it alright if I stay up here? I'm too-," they sighed audibly, "I'm too scared."

The Musician backed up a step, and then a second. She hushed her bells and then rang four more, calling up a gentle but insistent wind to blow the fog across the stairs and away from the group.

Please work please work I wish I'd brought more significant tools please work...

"Yeah," The Musician said. "I've got... assorted skills. Mostly environment manipulation."

"Towards the stairs, everyone! I'm about to open it up, and the further away we are when that happens, the better!" They waited for a moment, stepping backwards slowly, sword held in front of them, ready to jump out of the way if something came barreling through. Finally, when they could wait no longer, they shouted, "A coffin!" Their mask made sure their voice reached the door.

Or at least, it doesn't if the thick black fog spilling out is any indication.

Where is it even coming from, anyways? It almost looks like it's just phasing through the door.

"Thanks for telling us. I'm sure that that will come in handy. I... uh... really appreciate that you shared it, even though you didn't really want to."

"You're right. We need to be honest about this so we know we can rely upon each other. I can use fire. And my teleporting, of course." The wolf tucked his violin back into the hammerspace he'd pulled it from, then pulled his cane back out.

"I'd decipher it myself, but if you've already got it..."

She thought for a moment and then rang three bells and a chime, letting a gentle aura of fortune and protection wash over the group.

But they nodded anyway. "Yeah, I'm... kinda ready," they sighed, "Okay, not really, but since this is Cal, I doubt anyone could be ready." They fingered the cards in their pocket. "Also, I have some magic powers, and I think that if any of the rest of you do, you should tell us, so that we'll be slightly more prepared. I can revive each of you from death once and heal wounds. I can also temporarily infuse my body with strength and create extensions to it, such as wings."

"Well, then, I'll see what I can do!" They took a step towards the staircase, then stopped. "Wait, this has to be appropriately dramatic," they said. Their sleeve rustled, then a flaming sword shot out of it and into the Ghast's hand. "For Rome!" they shouted, before charging towards up the stairs and towards the door. They made sure they were being slow enough to be followed, but it was still something of a run, because the Ghast was, at heart, a very dramatic person. When they reached the door, they withdrew their sword and pulled their phone out of their pocket. They stared at the door, typed into their phone, frowned behind their mask, typed some more, frowned again. This went on for some time, and really wasn't all that interesting to watch. Finally, though, they gave a triumphant cry. "I got it!" they said, turning to look at everyone else. "I think I can get it to open. Is everyone... relatively ready for whatever might be on the other side?"

"Sounds like a good start. Ghast, you're our best codebreaker. We'll watch your back, I guess?"

She also snickered at the idea that people weren't pairing up. They were so pairing up and she would be disappointed otherwise.

Besiiiiides, it's not like this was murder or anything. Just a little impalement. And a hanging.

He tried to learn what he could about the situation without butting into any important conversations; after all, it was shaping up to look like a whodunit, and he didn't want to interrupt anyone's concentration.

"Codes, Homestuck references, space warping... Guess she really outdid herself this time," he muttered. Seriously, who sets up their own death on their birthday?

He hadn't noticed anything untoward during the party, and hadn't noticed Cal trying to talk to him. On the other hand, he hadn't been paying much attention. Certainly much less than he should have been, considering the decaying body on the floor. At least people weren't going off in pairs to find the murderer.