Stanza IV · The Last Commute
Never late. Never lost. Except once.
Focus Wick: Rook Marchetti · Levels 35–45 · 35 nodes
4-1 · Invitation (Story)
The Taper - Dispatch Cabin
A white envelope on Ledge's desk. No stamp. No seal. Just a single word in silver ink: WARDEN.
Margery Ledge: The Director of the Hush Office requests the Warden's presence. Tonight. Alone.
Ansel Brigg: Absolutely not.
Margery Ledge: It wasn't a question, Mister Brigg. The Taper sits in Office waters. If we refuse, they drain the canal.
Edda Quill: Ledge. Seven percent. Every lamp. You said you were 'aware'. What does the Director know that we don't?
Margery Ledge: ...More than I'd like.
Rook Marchetti: I'll carry the lantern. Fastest legs in Umbrage. Anything goes wrong, we run.
Margery Ledge: Miss Marchetti. Nothing about tonight will be fast enough.
4-2 · Rook's Route (Story)
The Taper - Deck
Rook is tying her bootlaces for the third time. Her satchel sits beside her. She keeps one hand on it.
Nell Ashgrove: You're quiet. You're never quiet.
Rook Marchetti: Not quiet. Thinking. Fast.
Nell Ashgrove: About what?
Rook Marchetti: The Hush Office is on Meridian. Fastest way is the night tram, District Line. ...Last stop's a place I don't go.
Nell Ashgrove: Why?
Rook Marchetti: Because it isn't there anymore.
4-3 · Meridian Steps (Battle)
Meridian - The Hush Office Steps
⚔ Hush Office Clerk Lv35, Hush Office Clerk Lv35, Syndicate Debt Hound Lv35, Hush Office Clerk Lv36
Before the battle
???: Lanternline. You were expected. Your weapons were not.
Lucan Strand: Then you should have expected us better.
After the battle
"Brass" Coyle: Hah! Receptionists! I LOVE receptionists!
4-4 · The Director (Story)
Meridian - The Director's Office
A long white room. A long white desk. A woman in white with no shadow, writing.
Adelheid Mourne: Warden. Thank you for coming. Please - sit. Oh. You can't.
Adelheid Mourne: My name is Adelheid Mourne. I keep the city's books. All of them.
Adelheid Mourne: You have done remarkable work. The Tallow Market, Cinder Row, Bellmouth. Three districts relit. Three districts back on the ledger. Billable again.
Mirela Vost: ...Back on the ledger.
Adelheid Mourne: Of course. Who did you think paid for your barge, Miss Vost?
4-5 · What the Flame Is (Story)
Meridian - The Director's Office
Adelheid Mourne: Umbrage was lit once by a single lamp. The First Lamp. When it went out, the city learned to sell light by the district.
Adelheid Mourne: Your Warden is the last ember of that lamp. Each time it lights a district, it gives up a piece of itself. Seven percent, Miss Quill measured. She's very good.
Edda Quill: ...You knew.
Adelheid Mourne: Margery knew. Margery has always known. Lanternline is an Office contract. You are a very efficient collections agency.
Margery Ledge: ...I'm sorry. I thought we'd have more time.
4-6 · The Last Contract (Story)
Meridian - The Director's Office
Adelheid Mourne: One district remains off the books. District Zero. Erased six years ago - too expensive to keep, too dangerous to forgive.
Adelheid Mourne: Light its Great Lamp and the city is whole. Every district, billable. The ember will go out, of course. Forty percent left. Zero will take the rest.
Rook Marchetti: ...District Zero. Marrow Street.
Adelheid Mourne: You know it, Miss Marchetti?
Rook Marchetti: I had a delivery there. The morning you erased it.
Adelheid Mourne: Then you'll want to finish your route.
Hob Tallow: No. We're leaving. Now.
Adelheid Mourne: I hoped you'd say that. It makes the paperwork simpler.
4-7 · The White Room (Battle)
⚔ Hush Office Enforcer Lv36, Hush Office Enforcer Lv36, Hush Office Clerk Lv36, Hush Office Enforcer Lv37
Before the battle
The walls open. Enforcers in white step out of the paper.
Adelheid Mourne: Margery. Hold the lantern for me, please.
Margery Ledge: ...No, Director.
After the battle
Adelheid Mourne: Pity. You were always so good at your job.
4-8 · Stairwell Nine (Battle)
Meridian - Stairwell Nine
⚔ Hush Office Enforcer Lv37, Syndicate Debt Hound Lv37, Syndicate Debt Hound Lv37, Hush Office Enforcer Lv37
Before the battle
Rook Marchetti: Down! Every stair! Don't stop!
Margery Ledge: The Taper's been seized. The canal's sealed. We have nowhere to go.
Rook Marchetti: We've got one place. The night tram. Last stop.
After the battle
Sister Ivo: Rook. Breathe.
Rook Marchetti: Breathing's for people who aren't running.
4-9 · Ledge (Story)
The Underpass - Meridian Tram Stop
They hide under the tracks. Ledge sits apart. Nobody looks at her.
Margery Ledge: Say it, someone. I deserve it.
Cassius Fenn: Darling, you lied to us for three districts.
Margery Ledge: I lied to you for eleven years, Mister Fenn. Since before most of you signed.
Margery Ledge: I believed the Office would let the Warden rest when the work was done. I believed it the way you believe in a contract. Every clause in your favour, if you only read slowly enough.
Mirela Vost: ...I know exactly how that feels.
Margery Ledge: I'm not asking forgiveness. Only that you let me help you finish this.
Ansel Brigg: Help us run.
Margery Ledge: No, Mister Brigg. Help you choose where the last forty percent goes.
4-10 · Platform Zero (Battle)
⚔ Hush Office Enforcer Lv37, Hush Office Enforcer Lv38, Syndicate Debt Hound Lv37, Syndicate Debt Hound Lv38
Before the battle
A tram pulls in that isn't on any timetable. Its windows are dark. Its destination board reads only: ZERO.
Rook Marchetti: That's ours.
After the battle
The enforcers stop at the platform's edge. None of them will step onto the tram.
Lucan Strand: They're afraid of it.
Rook Marchetti: Good. So am I.
4-11 · The Last Tram (Story)
The Last Tram - Carriage One
The carriage is full. Passengers sit in silence, faces blurred like smudged ink. Each holds a ticket punched years ago.
Dr. Pell: They're not breathing. They're not... anything. They're waiting.
Rook Marchetti: They're commuters. They got on the morning Zero went dark. They never got off.
Wren Halloway: Rook, sweetie. How do you know that?
Rook Marchetti: ...Because I was supposed to be on the platform that morning. And I was late.
4-12 · Fare Check (Battle)
⚔ Fare Collector Lv38, Faceless Commuter Lv38, Faceless Commuter Lv38, Fare Collector Lv38
Before the battle
???: TICKETS. TICKETS, PLEASE. NO TICKET, NO RIDE. NO RIDE, NO STOP. NO STOP, NO END.
"Brass" Coyle: I don't got a ticket!
???: THEN YOU ARE THE FARE.
After the battle
Nell Ashgrove: The tram's getting longer. There are more carriages behind us than there were.
4-13 · Never Late (Story)
The Last Tram - Carriage Four
Rook Marchetti: Six years ago. One letter. To my little brother, Benny. He lived on Marrow Street with Nonna.
Rook Marchetti: I was fastest courier in Umbrage at fifteen. Never late. Never lost. I stopped to race a gas-cart on the bridge. Showing off. Ten minutes.
Rook Marchetti: When I got to the stop, the district was gone. Not dark. GONE. The street ended in fog. The letter's still in my bag.
Hob Tallow: What did it say?
Rook Marchetti: 'Happy birthday, Benny. I'll come Sunday. I promise. Rook.' ...I never came on Sunday.
4-14 · Carriage Six (Battle)
⚔ Faceless Commuter Lv39, Faceless Commuter Lv39, Fare Collector Lv39, Faceless Commuter Lv39
Before the battle
The commuters rise all at once, holding out their punched tickets like knives.
After the battle
Sister Ivo: They're saying something. Listen. ...They're saying the stops. Every stop on the line. Over and over.
4-15 · Marrow Street (Story)
District Zero - Marrow Street Stop
The tram stops. The doors open on fog. Then the fog thins, and there is a street. Washing lines. A bakery. A clock stopped at 7:42.
Rook Marchetti: ...It's here. It's all still here.
Edda Quill: It's not on any map. No record. They erased the paperwork, and the district just... stayed. In between.
Margery Ledge: The Great Lamp's at the end of the street. The tram terminus.
Rook Marchetti: Nonna's flat is number nineteen. I'm going.
Ansel Brigg: Rook-
Rook Marchetti: I'm GOING.
4-16 · Morning Rush (Battle)
⚔ Faceless Commuter Lv39, Faceless Commuter Lv40, Fare Collector Lv39, Faceless Commuter Lv40
Before the battle
The street fills with commuters walking to a tram that left six years ago. They walk in circles, the same circle, forever.
After the battle
Lucan Strand: She's ahead of us. She's not waiting.
4-17 · Number Nineteen (Story)
District Zero - 19 Marrow Street
A small flat. Two cups on the table. A birthday cake with eleven candles, unlit. A chair by the window, empty.
Rook Marchetti: Nonna? Benny? It's Rook. I'm... I'm here. It's Sunday.
Nobody answers. On the windowsill, a child's drawing: a girl with red hair running, and a tram.
Rook Marchetti: He drew me. He drew me running.
Wren Halloway: Oh, sweetie...
Rook Marchetti: Where are they, Wren? Pick a card. Tell me where they are.
Wren Halloway: ...I don't need a card for this one.
4-18 · Nonna's Stair (Battle)
⚔ Fare Collector Lv40, Fare Collector Lv40, Faceless Commuter Lv40
Before the battle
???: PASSENGER MARCHETTI. ROOK. YOUR TICKET IS SIX YEARS OVERDUE.
Rook Marchetti: Then come and punch it.
After the battle
???: ...THE CONDUCTOR WILL SEE YOU AT THE TERMINUS.
4-19 · The Conductor (Story)
District Zero - Terminus Approach
At the end of the street, a vast tram-shed. A tram longer than the street, curled around the Great Lamp like a sleeping snake.
At its head, a small figure in a too-large conductor's coat and cap. A ticket punch on a chain. Eleven years old, forever.
Benny Marchetti: Tickets, please. All aboard. Next stop: nowhere. Nobody gets off.
Rook Marchetti: ...Benny?
Benny Marchetti: You're late, Rook. You're so, so late.
4-20 · Benny (Story)
District Zero - Terminus
Benny Marchetti: When the district went away, everyone was scared. So I got on the tram and I told them where we were going. I made up the stops. If you know the stops, you're not lost.
Benny Marchetti: Nonna got off at the bakery. She doesn't talk anymore. Nobody talks anymore. But they ride. They ride and they're not lost.
Rook Marchetti: Benny, I'm sorry. I stopped on the bridge. I was showing off. I was ten minutes late, and you-
Benny Marchetti: You PROMISED. Sunday.
Rook Marchetti: ...I know.
Benny Marchetti: Then get on the tram. You can be late forever with the rest of us.
4-21 · Carriage Swarm (Battle)
⚔ Faceless Commuter Lv41, Faceless Commuter Lv41, Faceless Commuter Lv41, Fare Collector Lv41
Before the battle
The tram uncoils. Doors open all along its length. Commuters pour out.
After the battle
Margery Ledge: Warden, you're down to thirty-eight percent. Every fight's costing you. Stay behind us.
4-22 · Ledge's Offer (Story)
District Zero - Terminus Platform
Margery Ledge: Listen to me, all of you. The Director wants Zero lit because a lit district can be billed. If the Warden lights it, the ember dies and the city is hers.
Margery Ledge: But a Great Lamp can be lit by any flame. It only needs to be enough.
Mirela Vost: Enough how?
Margery Ledge: Every Wick is bound to the Warden by a wick of its own. A thread of the same fire. If each of you gave a little back...
Hob Tallow: Then the Warden doesn't have to give everything.
Margery Ledge: It will hurt. You may forget things, the way the Warden forgets.
"Brass" Coyle: Pfah! I already forgot most of my thirties. Take it!
4-23 · Ticket Punchers (Battle)
⚔ Fare Collector Lv41, Fare Collector Lv42, Hush Office Enforcer Lv41, Fare Collector Lv42
Before the battle
White coats appear at the end of the platform. The Office has followed them in.
Lucan Strand: They were afraid of the tram. They're not afraid of the terminus.
After the battle
Adelheid Mourne: (Her voice, from everywhere at once.) Don't keep the line waiting, Warden.
4-24 · Rook's Choice (Story)
District Zero - Terminus Platform
Rook Marchetti: Everybody stop. ...I've got something to deliver.
She takes out the letter. Six years old. The postmark smudged.
Rook Marchetti: Benny's not a monster. He's eleven. He's scared and he's been in charge of being scared for six years, alone.
Rook Marchetti: I'm not fighting my brother. I'm finishing my route.
Nell Ashgrove: ...We'll clear the way. You run.
Rook Marchetti: I always run.
4-25 · Clear the Line (Battle)
⚔ Faceless Commuter Lv42, Hush Office Enforcer Lv42, Faceless Commuter Lv42, Hush Office Enforcer Lv42
Before the battle
After the battle
The carriages grind open, one after another. Somewhere at the front, a bell rings: last call.
4-26 · The Last Commute (Battle)
⚔ The Last Commute Lv43 · Boss · Rook Marchetti's E.G.O awakens
Before the battle
Benny Marchetti: ALL ABOARD! NOBODY GETS OFF! NOBODY GETS LOST!
Rook Marchetti: Benny! I've got a letter for you! Signature required!
After the battle
The great tram lurches and stalls. The headlamp flickers. The ticket punch falls from a small hand.
4-27 · Delivered (Story)
District Zero - The Terminus
Rook kneels in front of a small boy in a big coat. She holds out the letter.
Rook Marchetti: Sign here. ...Doesn't matter. I'll sign for you.
Benny Marchetti: (He reads it. His lips move.) 'I'll come Sunday. I promise.'
Rook Marchetti: I'm here. It's Sunday. I'm sorry it took six years.
Benny Marchetti: ...You ran the whole way?
Rook Marchetti: The whole way, Benny. Every day. Every route. I was always running here.
He laughs - small, cracked, real - and the tram behind him goes quiet.
Benny Marchetti: The passengers can get off now. Right? The stops were made up. They can just... get off.
Rook Marchetti: Yeah, bud. Last stop. Everybody off.
4-28 · White Coat (Story)
District Zero - The Terminus
The commuters step off the tram one by one, and fade like breath on glass. The Director walks between them, untouched.
Adelheid Mourne: How touching. And how very convenient. The district is quiet. The lamp is waiting. The ember is at thirty-one percent.
Adelheid Mourne: Light it, Warden. Or I will have the lamp lit for you, and the ember with it.
Margery Ledge: Adelheid. Let them go.
Adelheid Mourne: Margery. You signed the same contract they did. Shall I read you the clause?
4-29 · Office Hours (Battle)
⚔ Hush Office Enforcer Lv43, Hush Office Enforcer Lv43, Hush Office Enforcer Lv43, Hush Office Enforcer Lv44
Before the battle
After the battle
Adelheid Mourne: Efficient. You've always been efficient. I'll handle this personally.
4-30 · Director Mourne (Battle)
⚔ Director Adelheid Mourne Lv44 · Boss
Before the battle
Adelheid Mourne: Every light in Umbrage has a price. I am simply the one who remembers it.
Mirela Vost: And I'm the one who reads the fine print. Get her, Warden.
After the battle
Adelheid Mourne: ...Irregular. Very irregular. Fine. Light your lamp. See what it costs you.
She steps back into the fog and is gone. Not beaten. Waiting.
4-31 · Every Wick (Story)
District Zero - The Great Lamp
The Great Lamp of District Zero stands cold. The ember in the lantern is very small now.
Margery Ledge: Now. While she's gone. Each of you - give it a little back.
Hob first. Then Ansel. Then all of them, one by one, laying a hand on the lantern glass.
Something is pulled out of each of them. A warmth. A name. A morning.
Hob Tallow: ...I can't remember the colour of Mum's shop door. That's alright. I remember the soup.
Sister Ivo: I've forgotten a hymn. I'll learn a new one.
"Brass" Coyle: Ha! Forgot my own birthday. Means I can pick a new one!
Rook Marchetti: Take whatever you want from me. Except Sunday. Leave me Sunday.
4-32 · Lit (Story)
District Zero - The Great Lamp
The flame leaps from the lantern into the Great Lamp - not alone. Twelve thin threads of fire go with it.
District Zero lights. Washing lines. A bakery. A clock that starts again at 7:43.
Benny Marchetti: ...It's morning. It's actually morning.
(The ember is still burning. Small. Stubborn. Twelve threads wound around it now.)
Edda Quill: Ledge. Reading?
Margery Ledge: ...Thirty percent. It held. They held it.
4-33 · Sunday (Story)
District Zero - 19 Marrow Street, Morning
Nonna sits at the table. She is very quiet, and she is real. Benny is lighting eleven candles on a six-year-old cake, badly.
Benny Marchetti: Rook! Make a wish! It's my birthday!
Rook Marchetti: It's your birthday, dummy. You make the wish.
Benny Marchetti: I already got it.
Rook laughs so hard she has to sit down. Then she cries. Then she laughs again. Nobody says anything about it.
4-34 · Fugitives (Story)
A stolen barge - Canal of Umbrage
The Taper is gone, seized. They float on a coal barge Lucan 'borrowed', the lantern hung from its mast.
Margery Ledge: The Office will rewrite the books by morning. Lanternline is dissolved. We're debtors. Every one of us.
Cassius Fenn: Darling, I've always wanted to be a fugitive. The tailoring is so much more dramatic.
Mirela Vost: Then we keep relighting districts. Without a contract. Without a bill.
Ansel Brigg: Lamps don't light themselves.
Margery Ledge: ...No. They don't.
4-35 · Ember (Story)
A stolen barge - Night
Rook Marchetti: Hey. Warden. You awake in there?
(The flame flickers.)
Rook Marchetti: Thanks for waiting for me. Six years is a long time to be late. You only made me late by a couple of fights.
Rook Marchetti: Next delivery's on me. Anywhere you want. Fastest legs in Umbrage.
(The flame burns a little brighter. For a moment, it almost looks like a laugh.)
STANZA IV - THE LAST COMMUTE - COMPLETE