Heard from Franti (an alias of Goldstool) on April 24 saying he was still dealing with RL issues consuming his time but did not indicate he was bowing out. I'm hoping he'll be back.
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I'm playing an oracle with the clouded vision curse. My GM allows me to see further that 30' if she's looking at things in a mirror. The logic is that the mirror is within 30 feet so she can see whatever is reflected in the mirror. I'm not complaining because it gives her some way to scope out a large space. But if I were the GM, I might not allow this. It raises some interesting questions about how darkvision works and how images seen in mirrors work. The rules for darkvision do not get into how the darkvision works. Darkvision is the extraordinary ability to see with no light source at all, out to a range specified for the creature. Darkvision is black-and-white only (colors cannot be discerned). It does not allow characters to see anything that they could not see otherwise—invisible objects are still invisible, and illusions are still visible as what they seem to be. Likewise, darkvision subjects a creature to gaze attacks normally. The presence of light does not spoil darkvision. Most people assume it is the ability to see infrared light that radiates from all objects, particularly warm objects. If this is true, than mirrors would not reflect infrared light and mirrors would look black to someone in a dark room with darkvision. The same argument would spoil the trick of using a mirror to see beyond 30' feet for a clouded vision cursed oracle. She would see mirrors simply as glass with nothing to reflect. But if darkvision only drains color from normal light and if normal light can be seen in a mirror, than the oracle could see light reflected in a mirror. But it still might make game sense to limit what the oracle can see in a mirror to the same 30' feet that her eyesight normally allows.
Halcyon sighs as Beatrice casts aspersions her way, but understands her emotions. "This could remove suspicion from Emile. If these conspirators are a common element in both attacks, and if servants of Augustine were in on the conspiracy, it might turn out someone delivered the tainted wine to Emile through the mirror without his knowledge." "As for my eyesight, I am not blind. But I can only see things that are close and then not always well. But as with all oracle curses, they sometimes can be a blessing. At times I see better than most. But I can't see the future, at least not with certainty. And at the party, I shared the fate of Cassandra, knowing something was to happen but being powerless to stop it. Don't hate me for that." When Halcyon notices the bartender fussing over something lost, Halcyon taps her way over and asks, "Lose something? I may be able to help." She sets her Harrow deck on the counter (after making sure there was nothing wet underneath). When she spots Detective Albert, she will give him the letter and explain what happened, how she received it. Once she is done with the warehouse details, she'll asks Vincent if he can escort her to locate Mirabelle before she publishes her next pamphlet.
Once again, I must beg patience as I go a while without posting. Should be the last week where this will be a problem. I hope I'll have something up no later than Friday. Then my schedule shifts back to 2 classes, Monday through Thursday, from about 8 to 3 PM. Should mean daily posts again. In the meantime, please 'bot me as needed.
I'm hoping to get posts up on Friday, once I've had a good night's rest and some breakfast. Feeling somewhat better, finally.
Sorry, but I haven't been able to post as soon as I thought I would. I've got a nasty sore throat and head cold that is taking a lot out of me and I haven't been able to get the energy to work on PBP. I'll try to get something up tomorrow.
Halcyon glares at Augustine a moment, processing what he said along with what she learned in her psychometry of the letter. "Perhaps," she says finally. "Would you make a list of those servants and give it to the investigators? This letter was from the one who attacked your guests. The police will want to discover who within the organizers of this event is in on the conspiracy. I will pass this letter on to them and tell them you'll have that list of servants." She takes her leave of Augustine and seeks out those who were at the New Year's Eve party and the encounter with the Man in the Mirror afterwards. She shows each the letter and lets each read it. She explains the events in the other warehouse to those who were not there:
To everyone she says, "The envelope Augustine gave me just before the attack was apparently from the Man in the Mirror or someone related to his efforts. The part about me being nosy is likely some investigating I did after the party. Pathfinder, that young woman with the dog we captured with the Mirror Man, she mentioned something about the spymaster, so I tried to see him. I found he had disappeared on the same night as all the attacks and the assassination of the ambassador. I was given one of the Spymaster's cloaks by one of his servants and when I presented to Mako here, and he was with Pathfinder when the Mirror Man kidnapped Luc." "I hardly need to tell you the language of the writer of this note is similar to the way the Man in the Mirror talked. So just be wary. We may be in danger for what we witnessed. According to Augustine, servants were responsible for placing the auction items into the envelopes with a name on the cover for who was donating it. So someone perhaps present here today is part of the conspiracy. Also someone had to relay the information that I was on stage reading the note to know when to send the Spymaster through the mirror." She asks those present to recount what happened to the Spymaster after she left the warehouse. Once she has that narrative, she'll add, "I hope he recovers. He knows who did this, if he can recover his senses in time to share it with the detectives. He needs to be protected. I'll emphasize that when I can talk to the detectives. I had a good interview with detective Albert. I expect we all may have to have another chat with him." Once done, she passes the letter on to someone she recognizes as part of the police investigation, hoping to see Detective Captain Albert, but if not him then Colonel Emberborne. She'll try to talk to Marcus and Beatrice before leaving. "I now have a second connection to Emile in all these events. It is slim but I want to look around his house for any large mirrors. I want to check them for psychic residue that might shed light on events on New Year's Eve. I don't want to cause trouble for him, but one connection could be coincidence, but two is a little hard to write off that way. I'll be discrete and I'll let Carolyn know as well. I'll let you know what I find before I tell anyone else." Feeling exhausted, Halcyon remains in the warehouse as long as Vincent is around. But she'll leave as soon as he is ready to walk her home.
Halcyon gives a grim smile to the women she was talking to. Then she asks that they point her in the direction of the warehouse door. She grips Mako's leash handle and lets the dog lead her to the warehouse where she approaches the stage. Her first concern is to locate that letter and envelope Augustine gave her. She tries to remember the blur of events that followed her reading the letter. Then she gives out a sigh of relief. She reaches into her small purse attached to her belt and finds the letter, somewhat crumpled but intact. She had tucked it away before casting her first spell. She rereads the letter and then sits in a chair without anyone nearby. She relaxes and lets herself fall into a light trance and then holds the letter to her forehead, sensing for psychic impressions. Object Reading:
You read the psychic impressions left upon an object by emotionally or psychically charged events in the item’s history, or the information imprinted by the charge object or implant false reading spells. This spell returns the same information as the psychometry occult skill unlock, but gives 1 piece of information when cast and requires 1 round of concentration per additional piece of information instead of 1 minute. You must still attempt an Appraise check to see how much information you gain. You gain a +10 competence bonus on the check.
Psychometry Skill Unlock rules: Once per day, you can concentrate for 1 minute while in physical contact with an item or location, during which you receive flashes of insight regarding the subject’s nature and ownership. After 1 minute, you attempt a DC 15 Appraise check to decipher the visions. You gain one piece of information about the historical significance or the last previous owner—such as a glimpse of the last owner’s appearance or its emotional state when it last used the item—determined by the GM. You learn one more piece of information for every 10 by which your check result exceeds the DC, as long as you concentrate for 1 additional minute for each piece of information. If you fail the check by less than 5 or the item has no significant psychic imprint, you don’t learn any information. If you fail this check by 5 or more, the item appears to be psychically significant even if it’s not, and the information you gain is wildly inaccurate. She will expend an inspiration point to improve this.
Following her attempt, she spends a minute mulling over the visions she received, drawing a Harrow card to see what guidance it might provide.
She draws The Keep, a card of strength, security, and stability. Her thoughts went immediately to Vincent, causing her to blush and put the card and the letter away. Following this, she strolls around checking on people she knows, but also keeping watch for Augustine. When she sees him, she will approach him and say, "That letter was not an auction item from me but instead a taunt from whoever orchestrated this chaos. How did it come to be in your hands?" Her accusatory tone made it clear she is suspicious of him. Sense Motive roll, unseen by player:
Not that any of us has enough time for another game, but I just picked up a book that seems to have a pretty good melding of the Pathfinder System to the Steampunk genre of adventuring. I can't start a new campaign now, but if it gets to the point where I can, I'd love to moderate or play in a Steampunk campaign. Here is the book link: Pure Steam
GM:
Halcyon mainly wants to help with the bomb defusing if she can, after which she hopes to check the mirror and the envelope given to her by Augustine, and maybe try to read the aura of Augustine. She'd like to talk with Mirabelle, perhaps convince her to be a contact and trade intel. She'd like to make sure that Mirabelle doesn't report out information on who is consulting with her. Welcome back.
Do what you gotta do. We'll be here when you can get back.
Halcyon makes her way back the way she came. When she comes to the area where all the people were burned, she finds only a few dazed and wounded bystanders, none of whom she recognizes, so she looks in the front entrance. Her disability prevents her from seeing anything at the stage end of the warehouse, so she continues around to get to the side entrance. There she finds some familiar faces in a small cluster of people. "Hello? Beatrice? Lucia? Seth and Vincent and a few others are in another warehouse where we found the mirror that was used to transport that sorcerer with the red hair into the area. What is happening with the spymaster?"
Once Halcyon gets back to the warehouse where the auction was held, she first checks on the situation with the spymaster. She also looks around for Mirabelle and Augustine. She wants to do a reading on the envelope given to her by Augustine and also on the wardrobe. She would also like to try to do an aura reading on Augustine.
Halcyon emerges from her reverie near the mirror, touching the frame. "I'm pleased to report I'm getting better at reading objects. At least I hope I am. I got two visions just now. One makes me think this mirror was involved in transporting the wine that delayed the poison that killed the Galatian ambassador on New Year's Eve." She locked eyes with Vincent, knowing he is so familiar with that crime. "The other involved our sorcerer with the fiery hair. So that at least confirms that the two events are related, at least if I am properly interpreting the vision." "You boys do what you think best here. I want to check on the operation on the Spymaster. Vincent, just so you know, it just occurred to me that the poison might have been delivered to the de Beaux manor through a mirror, through this mirror. I'll visit as soon as I can arrange and test the large mirrors in the place, to see if I can learn more about that." She leaves by does so by moving past Vincent and touches his hand as she passes. Gods be with you, she murmurs and makes eye contact before hurrying away, her staff clacking on the floor as she resumes her charade of needing the staff to compensate for her poor sight.
Given this group has dabbled in various sound files, such as background music and character themes, I thought folks might be interested in a website with sound effects that can be downloaded (at least samples).
Want Halcyon to give you a card reading? New Year's Eve parties can be fraught with unsuspected dangers, as she well knows.
"My spiritual sources are mute on what lies beyond. I'm sorry I cannot offer more help. Perhaps this mirror retains some clues." The oracle/occultist reaches out and gingerly touches the edge of the mirror frame. She runs her hand up and down the frame, lost in thought, as she slowly holds her deck of cards. She draws a card from the deck, places it against her forehead without looking at the card, saying "kuwulula zinsinsi zanu".
GM: DC = 15
Before leaving the scene in the neighboring warehouse with the mirror, Halcyon looks sternly at the mirror and reaches into her pouch with her Harrow deck and draws out three cards, regarding each one for a moment before drawing the next. She places them before her head and asked the wisdom of the ancients as presented in the stories of legend to help her see the outcome if the allies present before the mirror entered the mirror to pursue the culprit of the recent attacks on the auction attenders and the spymaster.
The cards she draws are The Joke, The Uprising, and The Owl. She knows that the Joke is pointing to events of the past that involved deceit and trickery, which seem to point to the most recent events in the content of auction items including the note she had received from Augustine. The Uprising raises hackles on the back of her neck, knowing as she does that it could refer to a real uprising that perhaps was part of the plan of the sorcerer and the man in the mirror. The Owl is a symbol of wisdom, particularly the wisdom of the natural order. What she tries to determine is whether that wisdom would counsel her allies to remain on this side of the mirror or pursue the miscreants through the unknown portal.
Until the GM gets back, there's not much point in trying to move things forward, so I'm just waiting for that.
I'm waiting for GM to indicate whether I can use my occultist abilities gained at the new level yet or not. If not, I'll post something like this in the gameplay thread as her parting words of advice, but they don't carry any GM input and are just guesswork. Granted such a method led me to think someone would be poisoned, which actually happened, so it may be accurate.
If Halcyon can use skills from he new occultist class, she could get an instant weal or woe reading on going through the looking glass. In the meantime, here is a quick 3 card reading:
The past: The Joke represents a situation that can best be faced with trickery and deceit. Clearly this refers to the Man in the Mirror and his nefarious agenda. The present: the Uprising may be taken literally in this case, as it suggests an overwhelming force that is stronger than us and can crush. The Future: There is a natural force which can better deal with the Man in the Mirror, perhaps the druids represented by the Spymaster. I would say this reading warns against going into the mirror, considering how powerful the sorcerer was and that she may have left traps. Probably best to lay the mirror flat to prevent egress and gather reinforcements or call the city authorities to investigate the mirror and arrest the guards.
Are we still 4th level until the end of this encounter or can we act use things we gained going to 5th level? Halcyon at 5th level would be able to do some auguries that only take a standard action. That could come in handy if Guillaumine needs advice on likely results of a particular action during the operation.
"Who is wounded?" Halcyon asks. She stands ready to offer healing if anyone is badly wounded, but will save her spells if no one is near death. "The mirror is still active. We encountered this spell and probably these same miscreants on New Years eve. We went through the mirror and found it connected to other large mirrors in the area. We can shut this gate down just by breaking the mirror or laying it flat." Once Vincent and the others know what they need to know about the mirror, she prepares to leave. "I'm worried about the Spymaster. I want to get back in case anyone needs help. Also, I'm suspicious of Augustine. He said something to me as he handed me the envelope that makes me wonder if he knew about this ahead of time." She gives Vincent a quick kiss. Then she heads back to the warehouse where the auction was being held.
Halcyon is leveled up.
I haven't done a cycle of down time development yet.
Once the fight ends, Halcyon moves forward with Mako. She makes some growly noises at Mako, asking, "Have you smelled these men before?" To Vincent and Marcus, she smiles with relief, seeing them alive. She then moves her hands in a pattern in front of her face and activates a detect magic spell, focusing on the mirror, and the turns her attention to the men and their gear.
If you're interested in this kind of plot and role playing, I recommend a published game system that is based on Pathfinder/d20 with a few minor changes. It is called Zeitgeist. Players run characters who start out as constables who are kind like the FBI, law enforcement at a federal level. The nation has various factions, with revolutionaries and aristocrats involved in the plot. The on-line game I've been a player has made some foreshadowing that eventually, the central government may begin to put demands on the constables that may make them question their allegiance to the state. Unfortunately, the game I'm in has stalled twice due to the GM having RL demands on his time. It's also a kind of Steampunk world, with iron warships, steam engines, and guns, but also all the usual d20 magic and class options.
I'm trying to follow the advice of the Brits: Keep calm and carry on. I'm old enough to have been through this before (Reagan, G. W. Bush), so while I'm not a happy camper, I think Tr_mp will put his foot in something gooey and smelly and then we'll see if he gets impeached.
Noting the man glance at the mirror, Halcyon wonders if he is awaiting the return of the sorceress or if he was instructed to destroy the mirror should this situation arise. Either way, she decides it is time to bolster the good guys' numbers. She steps five feet to the corner of the aisle, back to the shelves. Mako moves past her and watched the battle, obviously wanting to join the fight. She gives a stern order for the dog to defend her as she casts. Her words sound like she is barking but the dog seems to understand. Then she begans the complex summoning ritual that will take her the next six seconds to complete.
Halcyon moves forward once the fight starts, keeping an eye on the mirror, following Seth. She holds her staff like a quarterstaff, ready to swing it at ne'er-do-wells. Mako followed, sniffing the air.
Halcyon steps far enough away that she can cast Detect Magic without the enemy hearing and then returns to a place where she can peer around and look for auras in the warehouse at or near the mirror. She is interested to know if the mirror is still active, suggesting that the mirror could still be used to move through. She identifies what she sees to the others and then says, "Remember that the spell, as normally cast, is one way. That means unless the caster, probably that murderer you just fought, is still in the mirror system, she probably won't come back here. She could cast it again, but she probably just used it to make her escape. Of course, in that case, why leave these behind to guard the mirror? "Anyway, assuming the original spell was cast from here to push Luke through, and assuming the sorceress cast the spell, I'd estimate this passageway has six hours duration left. But if we move the mirror more than five feet, it ends the spell. I would capture this lot and hope they can be made to identify their co-conspirators. Even with the spell active, there are limited numbers of people who can go through, probably 5 or 6 at the most. So going through would risk having to fight her all alone. That might be suicide." Before Vincent leaves her side, she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and says, "May the ancestors be with you."
Halcyon waits at the edge of the aisle, waiting for something to happen, listening to see if she can tell whether Vincent attacked. She stands ready to summon something suitable to help with the fight, but waits until the relative quiet won't be interrupted by her casting vocalizations. She takes a moment and slips a card out of her deck.
Halcyon glanced at the card and then at Marcus' glowing lights. The card showed several colored light floating above a swamp with a hand sticking up out of the mire, grasping for something to pull on to get out of the mess. Halcyon nodded and tucked the card back in. "Seems about right," she thought and focused again on the situation ahead.
Halcyon cautiously advances behind Vincent, her heart in her mouth. Mako's message indicated they were close to confronting the man they had witnessed use the mirrors to move before, so surely one of the plotters of recent chaos and perhaps the one responsible for the death of the Galatian ambassador. Halcyon:
Once others have gone in, Halcyon follows, keeping Vincent in view but staying far enough behind that she won't compromise his stealth. She can see 60' in the dark. She keeps a hold on Mako's harness to guide her through (person guiding a blind dog: there's a switch). She tells it to alert her if she detects anything with her nose that might be dangerous.
Once Halcyon's two celestial eagles arrive, she tells them (speak with animals still active, I think) to fly into the warehouse, search for anyone alive and fly toward them and circle them and cry out so allies can find them, attacking only if they attack either the eagles or the allies about to enter the warehouse. If they can't find anyone, they should locate any large mirror they see.
Once at the warehouse door, Halcyon steps away from the entrance and says, "I'll provide what help I can," and begins to cast Summon Monster II. GM: She will summon celestial eagles from the Summon Monster I list.
If Vincent, Seth, and company find anything to fight, she will begin summoning more celestial eagles.
I will be on a camping trip and away from computers for a few days (back Saturday evening).
Halcyon waits just long enough for a posse to form, all the while concentrating on the direction of the mirror to keep it in her focus. She then places one hand on Vincent's back and holds onto Mako's guide harness. To Mako she makes some snarling and yipping noises, which Mako can understand through the effects of the speak with animals potion. Then she says to everyone else, "I'll direct Vincent. Just be careful. That woman or whatever she was--she is very powerful. This way," she adds as she pushes on Vincent's back toward the south entrance and then around the the North East. Speak with Animals:
"Help me through this and it may lead to the release of your master." As Halcyon directs Vincent, she interjects her directions with information on what they are potentially dealing with. "Marcus has been through these mirrors before. They are portals that open up somewhere within about 500 feet through another large mirror. We can only go through if someone has just cast the spell that allows the travel."
"I think that depends on what you do once you go in, assuming the mirror is open for movement."
Halcyon hastens to the warehouse entry and begins calling out the names of Vincent, Seth, Marcus, and others she knows until several find their way over to her. With urgency in her voice, she tells the group, "I have divined the location of a large mirror. If we hurry, we may be able to locate the entry mirror that connected to the mirror on stage. That means we might be able to catch the ones responsible for the poisoning of our spymaster and perhaps clues to who is behind this. I will lead if I have some defenders who are prepared to fight what may be discovered." She points to the northeast. "It is that way. That is also the way that murderous woman went, alas. We must be careful. Perhaps she is heading that way to make her escape."
Under the spoiler is a list of things that will change for Halcyon once she has leveled up to 5th level. As far as I'm concerned, anyone can look at these. I've just spoilered them to save space. Level Up Changes for Halcyon: Class: Add first level of Occultist (no archetype)
Hit points: add 2 BAB: no change Fort and Will saves +2 Weapon proficiencies: add martial weapons. She may take to carrying a rapier or a cutlass. Spell casting: Add 0th and 1st level occultist spells, 2 from each level. 0th level: Detect Psychic Significance, Sift 1st Level: Object Reading, Psychic Reading Spells per day: 1st level occultist: 2 Caster level 1: Concentration +3 Focus Powers: Divination implement school. Mental Focus (Su): pool = 3 points. Implement: Divination x2: Harrow Deck, her tinted glasses Resonant Power: Third eye: +1 insight bonus on perception checks per 2 points of mental focus stored in implement (max +1). Base Focus Power: Sudden Insight (Su): Swift action, spend 1 points of mental focus to gain insight bonus of +1 to one ability check, attack roll, or skill check. Must be used by end of turn or it is lost. Bonus Focus Power: Future Gaze (sp): augury as a standard action for 1 mental focus point. Skills: +1 Appraise, +1 Bluff, Disable Device, +4 (1 rank, class skill), +1 Knowledge (Arcana), Linguistics, +6, Perception: +5 (+1 rank, now a class skill, +1 from Third Eye focus power), +1 Profession (Fortune Teller), +1 spellcraft, +4 Use magic device (+1 rank, class skill). Also, now has occult skill unlocks: automatic writing (linguistics), faith healing (heal), hypnotism (diplomacy), phrenology (knowledge (arcana)), prognostication (sense motive), psychometry (appraise), read aura (perception)(modified by feat: Empath). Feat: Empath: can read emotional auras in a full round action and can do so more than once per day. New Language: TBD
I particularly liked that the Occultist class allowed various ways to do psychometry. I've had to basically utilize the focused trance ability to do anything like that. I'll also be able to use the occult skill unlocks, which open up a lot of possibilities. Had the class been available back when I created Halcyon, I probably would have made her an Occultist from the get-go. But the oracle has some good features, so we'll see how the multi-class works.
Halcyon stands near the spot above which Pascal had been standing on the building just south of the warehouse with the charity auction. She looks down at a ring on her little finger with a pretty gemstone glinting in the light of the diminishing flames that sprang up in Pascal's steps. She makes a fist with her hand with the ring and holds it up in front of her forehead and closes her eyes. She concentrates on a mirror large enough for a person to move through, at least as big as the mirror through which Luc had tumbled. She says, "Reveal" and opens her eyes and looks around. GM: She is using the Ring of the Sophisticate ability to cast Locate Object, looking for the nearest large mirror at least as big as the one on the wardrobe. The spell works as follows:
You sense the direction of a well-known or clearly visualized object. You can search for general items, in which case you locate the nearest of its kind if more than one is within range. Attempting to find a certain item requires a specific and accurate mental image; if the image is not close enough to the actual object, the spell fails. You cannot specify a unique item unless you have observed that particular item firsthand (not through divination).
Working on finishing the level up details. Look for a PM with a few questions. I'll be taking a level of Occultist. I'm considering the archetype of Secret Broker, but haven't decided yet (hence the PM with questions). Here is hit die roll:
Once Halcyon has done all she can to help those injured, she heads back into the warehouse to check on the others she knows, including Vincent and the couple she just befriended. Then she will head onto the stage to see about Luc and talk to Mirabelle. She will also want to seek out Augustine for a pointed Q&A session about where that envelope and the wardrobe with the mirror came from. She'll also try to secure the envelope for study.
Halcyon moves through the dead bodies until she reaches Gaston. If he is wounded, she casts a cure light or cure moderate on him, depending on how badly he is wounded. If he is not wounded, she tries to calm him and help him recover his sight. Dice:
or or
The Midwife (neutral good, Wisdom) is a conduit to creation, although she does not create on her own. This halfling is a key that lets new life or information into the world. Her heart can see the good in even the worst situation. Halcyon predicts, "This may be a difficult transition, but one with the potential for much growth and learning." Good luck! Don't worry about posting regularly until things settle.
As Halcyon moves, she pulls a small mirror from her purse that she keeps for such situations. When she arrives at the edge of the warehouse, with Mako at her side, she holds the mirror so she can see around the corner and studies the scene. GM:
Mirabelle speaks to Halcyon. “Eet eez dangerous out zer, darling. Eef you die before we speak, I’d be most unhappy. ” The sylph stops trying to smile. “ Eet feels as though a storm eez coming.”
Halcyon draws a card from her harrow deck, glances at it [The Inquisitor, the card of immutable truth], hands it to Mirabelle, saying only, "The Truth will out. Fortune favors the brave." She ignores Vincent's question, trusting that he doesn't really want to be observed taking orders from a woman. She moves out into the alley. Speak with Animals:
"Come, Mako. Let's see what all this noise is about."
Halcyon calls back to Vincent, "Break the mirror and nothing can come through. The one who cast that spell must be within about 500 feet of here with another mirror." She continues to move toward the northwest open door, stopping next to Mirabelle to cautiously look out at the street. Mako follows her, sniffing the air. To Mako she says, in a series of strange sounding yips and growls, speak with animal:
"Let me know if you smell anything that you smelled when you moved through the mirrors."
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