text: [Themes: Horror, ghost, occult, horror, America, scatological, relationships]
  
  > Look around
  We both press ourselves flat up against the wall of the Jewelry Store.
  
  "How are we to get past the wraith, Jarret?" Her eyes dart down and to the side as she tries to remember if she ever encountered one in a role playing game. "... I can't remember," she says.
  
  "Sunlight, and I don't know how long until that will show up." I say. Was there really a wraith there? Outside the store? I didn't see a thing. It is colder down this way than it was in the rest of the Mall, though. "Yeah. Sunlight is the only thing I'm 100% positive on, maybe there are others." I strain to try to remember, but I haven't used a 'wraith' character in any games that I've played in a very long time. I'm certain there are other ways... I just can't recall.
  Sitting on the tabletop is a pleather purse.
  
  > Open purse
  The pleather purse is already open.
  
  A bit of smoke and haze begins to form against the eastern wall.
  
  > search the purse
  Inside the pleather purse is the silver comb.
  
  Audrey looks over to the east wall. "What do you think... what is that, Jarret?" she whispers.
  
  I can't quite tell at first, but as the haze beings to form more familiar shapes, it starts to dawn on me.
  
  "It's a vision," I tell her.
  
  Displayed on the west wall of the Jewelry Store is a scene. I can make out Gibs and Audrey clearly... there seems to be one or two other figures moving in the background.
  
  "That's a scene from that tournament we went to, isn't it?" asks Audrey.
  
  > take the comb
  Got it. Ooh, silvery!
  
  Audrey continues to look at the vision. The scene takes on a greater contrast, with muted blues smeared together in fog with darker earth colors.
  
  "Why... what's up with Gibs giving you a thumbs-up sign? This vision takes place from your perspective, doesn't it?"
  
  "I just made what was my sixth straight saving throw. He gave me a thumbs-up because I was using loaded dice."
  
  "What?!" says Audrey, and then instantly brings her voice down a couple levels due to the wraith. "What the hell do you mean, you were using loaded dice?"
  
  "I ordered some red 20 sided dice before the tourney over the Internet. They were weighted to give out mostly 18s, 19s and 20s. What? What's the big deal? That was years ago!"
  
  "Ssh!" Audrey puts her hand over my mouth. "The big deal is that the Tourney is where we met! Do you think I would want to go out with you if you were cheating everybody in the room?"
  
  "Oh come on, don't start this bullshit. It wasn't like I was at DragonCon or something. Christ!"
  
  "No. You weren't. You were cheating your friends. That makes it worse, you know."
  
  > talk to Audrey
  Please select one:
  
  (1) "Oh, what does it matter if I cheated at the tourney?"
  (2) "C'mon, you have to admit it's pretty funny."
  
  > 2
  "Oh, it's hilarious, all right," says Audrey. "You know me. There's nothing I find funnier than stories of the guy that I've been with for the last five years ripping off everyone I know like a unconscionable rogue at a lawless bazaar."
  
  "The Wizards of the Coast were going to give that to me anyway. The dice didn't really change anything, other than the fact that I made a few extra saving throws and got a few extra hits in. You have to appreciate the return on the investment, at least."
  
  "Oh, sure. You're a regular Gordon Gecko," says Audrey.
  
  "I can't believe you're comparing me to white collar criminals."
  
  "I can't believe you essentially commit white collar crime." Audrey shrugs her shoulders.
  
  The ether(?) that makes up the vision dissipates completely and it completely disappears.
  
  Audrey sits herself up against the east wall of the store.
  
  "So you found a comb, I see," says Audrey. "Maybe you can do something with that mound of straight hay on top of your head with it." She gives me a smile after she says that to let me know it was said with affection.
  
  "It's a silver comb," I tell her. "I'm sure it's quite valuable."
  
  "Isn't silver a type of bane to wraiths?" asks Audrey.
  
  I try to bring up the memory of what affects wraiths from the back of my mind, but my memory is hardly photographic. "I think you're right," I say to her. "I think it works against a lot of undead. A little trinket like this might just scare it off, but that's a big maybe. I don't really want to throw the comb and find out."
  
  I can't think of anything to say right now.
  
  I took a look over towards the wall that Audrey is leaning up against. The shadow that she should be throwing is nowhere near the one that is present.
  
  "Audrey," I whisper, "Do not move. You're not casting a proper shadow. I -- "
  
  "What?" she asks. She moves away from the wall, and sure enough, the light that she should be blocking is completely inconsistent with what's there.
  
  > show the comb to the wraith
  Showing the silver comb to wraith doesn't accomplish a whole lot.
  
  The shadow jumps from the wall!
  
  The shadow points a long, tapered finger onto Audrey's neck. She freezes up as it sucks the strength from her body.
  
  > hit the shadow with the comb
  I clobber the shadow with the silver comb.
  
  "Who else wants a piece of the pain pie?" I ask.
  
  Upon coming in contact with the silver, the shadow halts in place and disintegrates -- it falls to the floor in a little pile of soot-like dust. I get down and blow it away in order to properly scatter it into nothingness.
  
  I walk over towards Audrey. She's shivering. "You OK, doll?"
  
  "Yes," says Audrey, quietly. "It's just so cold in here. I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain."
  
  I embrace her for a few moments and rub my hands over her bare shoulders. "I'll keep you warm..." She nods. "Silver definitely worked on the shadow," I muse. "It used up the comb, however. But the same thing'll work on the wraith. We just need to find more of it. The girls that work here (presuming that they didn't rip the place off blind before calling it a night) keep all the jewelry locked up in the safebox." I point over towards the big locker-style cabinet against the western wall of the store. "If we can get the temperature in here to be significantly colder, I'm betting that lock will pop."
  
  "How do we do that?" asks Audrey. She looks over towards the wraith. "Oh, no. You don't mean -- "
  
  "Yes," I say quietly. "Let's get the wraith in here."
  
  "Jarret, no! You can't be serious!"
  
  > Go west
  There isn't an exit in that direction.
  
  There's an exit south into the long corridor of the top level of the Mall.
  
  > go south
  "Jarret, no!" whispers Audrey. "It's not safe, not with the wraith still out there!"
  
  > talk to Audrey
  Please select one:
  
  (1) "Audrey... trust me on this. Please."
  (2) "What options do you have for this?"
  
  > 1
  "Jarret! I don't want that thing in here!"
  
  "Audrey, you know that I will not let it touch you. There's a lock just like this one in my store, and it's made of ridiculously poor components. Everyone involved in owning a store in this Mall is incredibly cheap and only worried about the bottom line and how much money they can squeeze out of their customers. I will guarantee you that as soon as the temperature is brought down a few degrees Celsius that lock is coming off like a prom dress. A lock of this type busted earlier today at my store when Gibs placed his iced soft drink next to it."
  
  "Okay..." she says. She kisses me for entirely too brief a time and looks right into my eyes. "I trust you."
  
  I suddenly feel like I can do anything. One scream and the wraith will make its way over here.
  
  > Scream
  I scream like a housewife in a 50s sitcom coming across a mouse. Like an English siren during the blitz. (Like Lorraine Williams surrounded by a bunch of pen & paper gamers, even.) And it works. The wraith turns round and passes right through the kiosk. It slowly begins to come near us.
  
  > open the cabinet
  I can't open it on my own. The lock, while not incredibly sturdy and powerful, is still more than I can crack on my own.
  
  I hear a voice, strangely disembodied, but one I instinctively know is coming from the wraith.
  
  "oh delightful maiden this will be a wonderful meeting will it not and you seem oh so achingly warm and tight and I really only want to get close to you for only a moment do not you see how wonderful oh how wonderful that will be my darling..."
  
  The wraith never really stops its sending, but instead meanders about a couple different themes. What he's going to do to my girlfriend being one of them. (With all the guys who have tried to steal my girlfriend over the years, I finally feel I am on somewhat familiar territory.)
  
  The wraith glides a bit closer to the entrance of the Jewelry Store. It is already several degrees colder in here.
  
  > break the lock with the stick
  The lock is especially designed to be impervious to any and all brute attacks.
  
  The wraith glides further; it's now within the Jewelry Store, but still a fair ways away from Audrey.
  
  The lock to the safebox pops.
  
  It continues its raving, more in my head than not:
  
  "your death will be so pleasing my love I promise that getting there will be quick and painless I am the only one you can trust you know I will always be there for you and never leave your side you and I there isn't a thing that we wouldn't be able to do together my lovely witch princess all it takes is for you to just sit still that is it just another few moments and I will be there and we will be together so wonderfully so wonderfully it will be so wonderful...
  
  > take all from the cabinet
  Nothing to take.
  
  > look in the cabinet
  The safebox is closed.
  
  The wraith sends another meandering rhyme to me...
  
  "let me tell you of our wonderful death my darling," mentally continues the wraith, "you cannot begin to imagine the wonders that we will see together everything you could ever want everything that has been out of your reach well it is not out of mine it is not out of ours let me ask you this my darling a simple question take all the time in the world just answer me truthfully... have you ever wanted to fly?"
  
  > open the safebox
  Done -- it's open.
  Inside the safebox are the handful of silver rings.
  
  The wraith inches closer to Audrey...
  
  Amazingly (to me at least) I see Audrey enraptured by the wraith and she actually nods her head a little in response to its question. It takes all my self-control to not attack the fucking nothing
  with my bare hands.
  
  "of course you have there is no shame in admitting such a thing let me tell you my darling just how wondrous it is to float above this city this world this plane with nothing holding you down and nothing keeping you from doing what you want to do being who you wish to be you will see oh how you will see it will not be long now my darling just hold yourself I will be there and we will be together..."
  
  > get Rings
  Taken.
  
  The wraith moves until he is directly in front of Audrey. I won't have much time now.
  
  "hold still my darling this is so much easier when you just stay there so beautifully within my own view..."
  
  > throw Rings at the wraith
  I hit the wraith with the handful of silver rings.
  
  Upon coming in contact with the charms, the wraith immediately atomizes, taking the silver with him into oblivion.
  
  "That was my Treasure Type you were fucking with, creep!" I
  say it even though the wraith is completely blinked out of existence. It takes me a fair trice to realize that thing is truly gone. "Let's get out of here," I say to Audrey. "Unless you want to get to work on raising the temperature of the room with a little bit of body heat."
  
  To my surprise, she looks back at me with nothing but love. "If I thought it could be done," she says, "without it becoming a menage a trois with a lurking horror, or a four-way with an undead ettin... you know I would." (An ettin is a two-headed beastie in D&D, which elicits a smile from me. That's my girl!)
  
  > go south
  The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor) level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling their way off the edge.
  
  There is a horrific stench in this area. It's new, too -- the guy who used to take the surveys always kept himself cheerfully clean.
  There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the far end of the rail is an elevator.
  
  Audrey follows me.
  
  Barnaby and Casey come up to us as we leave...
  
  "Heya there, Duffy," says Gibs, no longer paralyzed. Casey is with him. "Any luck with the elevator?"
  
  "Not yet. We encountered a vision , shadow and wraith, though."
  
  "So what's changed?" asks Gibs.
  
  "Well, the Jewelry Store is open and the makeup kiosk is broken down. Other than that..."
  
  > examine the kiosk
  The makeup kiosk is a business that operates in a very small rectangle in the middle of the Mall corridor. Girls (and in this town, a not-insignificant number of goth guys) stop by to pretty themselves up for their dates and/or midnight angstings.
  
  It looks like the intense cold of the wraith passing through the kiosk caused the thing to crack open.
  
  Inside the makeup kiosk is a bottle of perfume.
  
  Gibs spits once off the guardrail because he's a filthy, disgusting animal at heart.
  
  > take Perfume
  I'm carrying too much to take that.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  I am carrying my glasses (being worn), some socks, the crystal ball holder (broken), the Magic: The Gathering cards, the gaming glove (being worn), Gibs's lacrosse stick, the phone, and a pleather purse.
  
  > take Perfume
  Got it.
  
  Gibs spits once off the guardrail because he's a filthy, disgusting animal at heart.
  
  > examine it
  (assuming you mean the bottle of perfume)
  This bottle of perfume is a fairly large container of the Elizabeth Arden perfume 'True Love' (A feminine scent that is a blend of lotus, iris and jasmine, recommended for office wear.)
  
  A girl who worked at my D&D store for a season used to wear this scent, and it was all I could concentrate on. She'd erode my sense of smell regarding all else within a minute of beginning her shift.
  
  > spray yourself with the Perfume
  I spray a bit of the perfume on it. Sek-sai!
  
  > Go west
  There's not a path in that direction.
  
  There are exits north to the Jewelry Store, in towards the Elevator and east towards the east side of the Mall.
  
  > enter Elevator
  Audrey says, "No way. We're not going to follow you until you do something about that smell."
  
  The elevator smells terrible, strongly of untreated or unembalmed cadavers. There are three buttons here in the elevator labelled 'up,' 'down' and 'open doors.'
  
  I'm currently on the second level of the Mall. Aside from the operational panel, there is little else here in the lift.
  
  I can see into the corridor ahead, although only a few feet before the darkness completely envelopes the hall.
  
  > Spray
  Be a little more specific about what you'd like me to spray.
  
  > Go outside
  The elevator doors open, and I'm struck by the terrible, pungent odor of carrion. It's far too much for what I can bear: it's absolutely the worst-smelling air I have ever experienced.
  
  I briefly steal a glance of what lay beyond in the corridor on the first level of the Mall before squashing the up button on the elevator -- it's mostly dark, but I can make out the cupid statue. The stench is just too much for me. however. I can't force myself to do anything from here except escape.
  
  The elevator comes to rest on the top floor.
  
  > spray the Perfume on Audrey
  "Hey, I'm not your Barbie doll!" exclaims Audrey as I give her a hit of True Love.
  
  > exit
  The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor) level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling their way off the edge.
  
  There is a horrific stench in this area. It's new, too -- the guy who used to take the surveys always kept himself cheerfully clean.
  There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the far end of the rail is an elevator.
  There is a crystal ball holder here.
  Casey is here.
  
  > examine Cupid
  It's a nicely-sculpted, eight-foot marble work of the mythological god of love. Cupid (known as Eros in Greek myth) was often depicted as being a winged baby or cherub that would just start freaking out and begin slinging arrows at people so they would indulge in a torrent of romance, love and sex.
  
  This statue was commissioned by the guy who owns and rents out the Mall, from a student at the local art college. Cupid's in a pose where he seems to be taking deadly aim at people.
  
  > throw the Perfume at Cupid
  I toss the perfume bottle at the statue. It shatters, natch, and releases a giant pool of stench-killing fumes into the area below.
  
  > Go inside
  The elevator smells terrible, strongly of untreated or unembalmed cadavers. There are three buttons here in the elevator labelled 'up,' 'down' and 'open doors.'
  
  I'm currently on the second level of the Mall. Aside from the operational panel, there is little else here in the lift.
  Audrey and Gibs are here.
  
  Casey follows me.