The Cursed Doll
She waits at the old waypoints, offers passage, instruction and warnings, and never quite says what she wants in return.
You will meet her before you understand where you are. She is the first voice in the dark, and she speaks as though she had been expecting you for some time.
“There you are. I was beginning to think you would stay quiet.”
The Cursed Doll stands at the ancient waypoints scattered across the realm. Where she stands, the world opens: she can carry you between waypoints you have already found, and she keeps a training arena where the creatures of each region can be fought again without consequence. She sees things before you do. A danger on the road, a secret in a house, a person who matters.
She cannot be fought, harmed, or killed. Her regard for you does not rise or fall with your conduct. It is simply fixed, and that is the unsettling part.
Her help is real. Whether it is given for your sake is another matter, and the game never settles it for you. She answers questions with a courtesy that is a little too exact, and she is, on occasion, playful.
“You keep asking as if names make things safer.”
What you can do with her
- Travel. Walking into a waypoint discovers it. From any Doll you can return to the waypoints you have found.
- Return. Die anywhere and you wake again beside the nearest Doll. Finding a new waypoint is worth experience the first time.
- Train. Her sky arena sets you against the real enemies of a region for half experience, no loot, and no lasting consequences.
- Listen. She is the closest thing the story has to a narrator, and she is not a reliable one.