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Suddenly overcome with exhaustion, Perrin hurries to his room. He moves Ev to a larger box with some food and water but keeps her shut in, promising to get some scrolls in the morning to make sure she's no longer controlled. Then he collapses into bed and falls into a deep sleep. Perrin has barely finished his breakfast when the events of the day suddenly start to unfold. He introduces himself mildly to Brolin and listens as Mel explains the situation.
Perrin lets out a gasp of relief as the water splashes down, then he spins to give Ev his full attention. "I think you've been possessed by a demon lord. I'm so sorry, but we can't let you out of there until we make sure he's not still controlling you." He pauses, unsure how to address her transformation. "Do you know why you changed form?" At Kazador story, he gives a sad smile. "I hear you. The cost is high. But there's just too much at stake to worry about little things like my soul. If this moment I was hurled to the Abyss for eternal damnation, it would still be worth it. The power I've gained... there are children growing up now that would have died without sentience if not for my magic. Hal and David might still be in that mirror. Brookside might be rubble." He grimaces at the creature in the pot. "Ev might not be a demon, but then she'd never be aware in the first place." Perrin clears his throat. "But there's hope. My power has increased more in the past few days than ever before, and I don't think it's because of Haagenti. It seems like using magic and seeing it used is giving me strength of my own. So I'll try to be... self-sufficient." He pauses, breathing in and out. "But no promises. Promises only work when honesty is the most important chip on the table." GM:
Perrin stands in silence for a long moment. When he speaks, his voice is very tired. "He's not my master, Mel. And he's not all-powerful. You can tell because we just trapped his minion in a piece of cookware." He starts pacing around the small room. "If he could control our minds directly he would have, instead of bothering with this whole charade. I've also learned that he has limited ability to contact servants in the city, which wouldn't make sense if he could possess them whenever he liked." "So you want to oppose him? Great, I'm with you. Haagenti was part of my how, but never my why. What matters, what drives me and fuels me, is helping people. You, Kazador, Kelian, all the folks back in Brookside - you guys are my master." Perrin reaches out a hand, grasping at the air as though struggling to catch hold of something only he can see. When Ev's mumbles become audible, Perrin rushes over to the pot. "Are you okay? What do you remember?"
Perrin looks at Mel blankly. "Right. Which is why we've got to help her. Just like we would help you if you were possessed." He nods in agreement with Kazador. "Please, try it. If that doesn't work, we could look for a scroll that can help."
Perrin glares at the pot, responding to Mel without looking her way. "No. Ev's being controlled. Like a puppet on strings. She wouldn't be doing this if she had a choice." Then his voice changes, sounding almost like the rumbling from the pot, but muffled and without recognizable words. Abyssal: "You've had your fun. Let her go."
"Hold on, I need something to put her in." Perrin takes the bat and rushes out to the basement wardrobe, grabbing an iron pot with a lid that will contain Ev without asphyxiating her. After making sure she's secured, he returns to the room in the mirror. "Sorry about that." He listens to Mel's account. "Pretty much. I tried to investigate by having Ev stake out the guardhouse where she saw the imp last. She said it didn't turn up again, but I figured it was still time to talk to you." "And then, just now, you seemed not to trust her, which made me wonder. I haven't known Ev for long, but we've got that mental link - and I could swear she wasn't acting right." He shrugs helplessly. "It was just a hunch at first, but then... something was definitely interfering with my magic. Let's see..." Perrin carefully sticks a finger through the gap of the lid, trying another incantation.
Seeing Ev contained for the moment, Perrin pauses to explain. "Everything I just told you about the imp is wrong. That's not Ev. Something's controlling her, trying to turn us against the Bishop." He grimaces. "And I think it's protecting her from my spells."
Perrin repeats Ev's description out loud for the group, then freezes. "Hold on, let me show you something." He slowly, carefully, draws a metal rod from his pocket. Then he spins on Ev with a shout. "Something's controlling her!"
Perrin frowns, dropping his hand. "Okay, I'll translate." Catching Mel's expression, he looks at Ev with a moment of puzzlement, and casts another spell. "Can you tell me exactly what you saw? What the imp looked like, where it came from, where it went? And when?" He watches her response intently.
As the others file into the room Perrin scans for magical eavesdroppers. Then he takes a deep breath. "Okay. So we heard that the head of the Reaps had an imp. I checked with Ev about it, since she can sometimes detect things our vision can't." "And she thinks she saw an imp two days ago. At the guardhouse. Whispering in the Bishop's ear." Perrin pauses at that, collecting his thoughts. "I don't think she realized it was important, or maybe even that we couldn't see it in the first place. She... actually, if you put your hand out she can explain it herself." Perrin holds out his palm toward the center of the group and looks at Ev expectantly.
Perrin hesitates, but nods. "Let's all head down." He leads the others to the mirror.
Perrin nods hurriedly. "Yeah, downstairs would be perfect. I need some... apples." He looks around again. "But we should get Kazador first. Have you seen him?"
Perrin swallows. "I have some news. It might be... very big." He looks around at the other customers at the inn. "We should talk somewhere private."
GM:
Perrin dusts off his hands, a little disconcerted, and heads off to further explore the city. He is not wandering aimlessly, however. Perrin searches for any library that's open to the public. If he finds one, he looks for information on worshippers of Haagenti in the region, or demon worshippers more generally. If he hasn't felt an alert from Ev by midday, he heads back to meet up with her and listens curiously to anything she has to report. They return to the Cozy Badger for lunch, and Perrin spends much of the afternoon crafting while he waits for Mel to get back. When the smell of food starts wafting up the stairs, he heads down in search of Kazador and Mel. "Hey. How was your day?"
GM: Perrin scans the alleyway for any imps, scrying sensors, or other signs of observation.
If he finds none, Perrin takes a deep breath and chants an incantation, crouching down to touch a brick along the bottom of the wall.
GM: Perrin frowns. "Just worried. I didn't expect him to be talking to a devil."
With that, Perrin gets to work on his divination. When finished, he stares for a long moment, then heads out into the city. Strolling past the south wall of the guardhouse, the doctor glances around.
GM: Perrin's jaw drops. "The old guy? With the white robes and the shiny symbol that healed us?"
GM:
"Really! Was it there when we arrived? What was it doing? Tell me everything you can remember." Perrin listens closely to Ev's report, then if there was nothing too shocking, gives instructions. "Alright. Can you head down to the guardhouse for me? Just fly around a bit, then roost near the entrance and keep a lookout. Alert me if you spot the imp or other dangers, otherwise I'll stop by around lunchtime." With that, Perrin closes his eyes, focusing. When he opens them again, he turns to his lab, melting down a handful of gold pieces and adding a pinch of myrrh as incense. He growls his query in Abyssal: "What consequences would result from me carving the rune I saw onto the guardhouse wall?" In the morning, Perrin wanders downstairs for breakfast. He spots Mel's note and adds one to his own door: Off lurking, back for tea. -P Then he heads out into the city.
GM: Perrin crouches down next to the creature and speaks softly. "Hello, Mr. Slow. Don't move until I say so. And never harm any creature unless I specifically tell you to." Then he rolls the skeleton up in its ruined cloak, lifts it back into the bag, and cleans up the blood with a bit of conjured water. He staggers back to his bed and collapses onto it. When Ev addresses him in the morning he turns to her with interest. "Oh! Where?"
GM:
Perrin seems a little confused but smiles at Ev's assessment. "Sure." As they make their way back to the Cozy Badger, Perrin turns to Mel and Kazador. "So you got that message from the Bishop too? Think we should look into it tomorrow?" When they speak with Henry he agrees with Mel's recommendations. "I think the mirror should turn off whenever it's covered, so you could keep it facing the wall or the ground just in case." Finally, Perrin eats a quick dinner and heads up to his room. There he completes his planned crafting, tinkering away as the sky grows dark. At a few points he stops and stares off at nothing, then jerks away from his thoughts and resumes working at an almost frantic pace. When finished, he hurriedly climbs into bed. GM!: Perrin studies the rune, frowning. "But... I..." He waits uncertainly for any further message. When nothing more comes, the dream changes, shifting into a regular nightmare. Perrin is standing once again in Halak's campsite, flaming tendrils spread over the grassy slope.
The orc's blow almost bisected the unfortunate Cyrus. His mace fell from nerveless fingers, and as he toppled forward the orc's jaws finished the job. Rally gave a sharp cry of grief as Cyrus fell in red ruin. In his bed, Perrin tosses back and forth. His eyelids flutter, and a single word floats from his lips: "...useless..." The dream shifts again. "Can you really make my daddy better if the orcs chop him up?" Vors nearly falls under the weight of their blows while Allen falls with a cry. Perrin sits bolt upright, clutching the sides of the mattress. He stares around the dark room, muttering a word with something very much like contempt. "Useless." Even awake, another painful memory rises to the surface. The man forces his way through the window, shakes off Perrin's attempt to enchant him, and strikes with fist and dagger at Roet in retaliation. He moves with a blinding speed and expertise, leaving Roet gasping for breath and in severe pain Perrin breathes in, then out. His expression fills with a strange clarity, and he clambers out of bed, crossing to his bag. Reaching in, he heaves out the body of Alric the Slow. He stares at it for a long moment, concentrating. The only light is the pale, flickering glow of the amulet around his neck. Slowly, very slowly, Perrin reaches out and places a hand over the corpse's jaw. As he applies pressure, a jagged tooth sinks into his palm, and blood starts oozing out. Perrin murmurs an incantation and the blood flows more quickly. It mixes with the Alric's, bubbling as the corpse's flesh peels away to leave nothing but stark bone. The skeleton sits up. Perrin smiles.
GM: As Perrin tries to nonchalantly scoot Ev back into the pocket, her excited question suddenly slips into his mind. He blinks, then sends a response. "Oh! Um, a tiny red devil, I think. Good at flying and sneaking around."
Perrin listens intently to Hal's answers, scratching his head as they keep reaching dead ends. When the topic of the imp comes up he shifts uncomfortably in his seat, and there's a sudden frantic fluttering from the pocket of his cloak. Ev pokes her head out, looking about as interested as a bat can look. Perrin clears his throat awkwardly. "Um, one more question. You mentioned you did deliveries for them... did you ever come in contact with Reaper shipping? Can you tell us anything about their presence on the wharves? For instance, any vessels they used as front?"
Perrin gives a sigh of relief as Hal's hand passes through, then turns back to Mel in confusion. "Tricking? No, I actually wasn't sure this would work. He said the exit closed after the Reapers left... so I was worried it might be set up to break whenever it's used. What we did could have been a one-time fix." His expression brightens. "But it works! We can all leave!"
"Yes! Nice to meet you!" Perrin agrees emphatically, sticking out a hand to shake. "Anyway, since we're new here, I'm curious to see what happens when we try to leave. You know, for science and such. Can you come out to the hallway with us and help us test it? It'll only take a minute."
As Mel makes her weapon, Perrin retrieves a tanglefoot bag from his now-accessible pouch and hands it to Ev, who is flitting over the mirror's surface with renewed interest. Perrin turns to Kazador and Mel. "Ready?"
Perrin frowns, turning the information over in his head. "We'll have to be careful getting him out. If I'm right about those berries they need to be replenished every few days, which means he may have some sort of druidic magic." Perrin shrugs. "He also might not have been hiding in the mirror on purpose to begin with. Maybe the Reapers trapped him in there."
Hey GM, alright if I take Improved Familiar so Ev can reveal her secret identity as a quasit in bat form? Perrin's alignment doesn't match, but with the Haagenti connection it seems very appropriate.
The first thing Perrin feels upon stepping through the mirror is intense frustration. His brain scrambles for a moment to rationalize it before he realizes it's coming from Ev, their empathic link suddenly reactivated. She flaps up from her resting place and flutters around his head in irritation, and Perrin gives her an apologetic look. "Sorry I took so long!" The doctor then turns to Kazador with a smile. "Your note really saved us. There's a whole hallway of rooms in there, and we couldn't get out until we found that core thingy you mentioned." Perrin sits down on a barrel and winces, pressing a hand to the puncture wounds on his side. He glances over to Mel. "There's also a man in there. I think he's been there a long time, and he's a bit... delusional. But I'm hoping we can get him out safely."
In the Mirror: "It worked! The shiny thing is fixed and the platforms turned into a bridge and I bet we can go back through the first mirror now!"
GM: As the shards come together Perrin's thoughtful expression breaks into a wide smile. With the spell complete, he races back across the bridge and through the mirror at its end.
GM: Perrin takes a moment to control his breathing after the panicked race through the air. Then me begins to concentrate.
In the Mirror: Perrin gives a sigh of relief as the whooshes cease. He climbs to his feet and calls out to Mel, "I think it stopped!"
Perrin turns back to the shape, then slowly circles around it, inspecting for any sign of further damage - magical or mundane. If he sees only the crack, he reports back to Mel: "There's a crack on one of these panels. I think I can fix it, but it'll take at least ten minutes." Perrin reaches into his spell component pouch, feeling for the pearl he found on Ukar's corpse. "My levitation spell will end, but I can cast another."
In the Mirror: Perrin follows Mel's advice, running forward again and stumbling as much as jumping from the edge. But his momentum carries him forward, and he floats down within reach of the final platform. Sprawling onto its glassy surface, Perrin peers up at the strange icosahedron.
In the Mirror: Feeling the barrage continue, Perrin scrambles to the edge of his platform and leaps off into the air. His jump is mediocre at best, but at first he moves only forward. Then he focuses on the spell, lowering himself gently to the platform below.
Perrin glances over his shoulder at Mel's exclamation. "Mel, get out of here!" Clutching tightly to the rod he drew just before entering the mirror, Perrin rattles off the words to a spell.
In the Mirror: "Something's shooting at me!" Perrin hovers himself up to the platform above and collapses onto it, curling into as small a target as possible.
GM: Fishing line wrapped around his hand, Perrin floats up to the platform above and tries to pull himself along it.
In the Mirror: "Right, sorry." Perrin peeks over the edge, then quickly steps back. "I'm just kinda iffy on the whole climbing thing. Ladders are fine, but this - " He shakes his head, dismissing his own concerns. "No, sorry, that's stupid. It's not like I'd be able to fall." Perrin accepts the hook and line with a nod of thanks. "Maybe you could keep an eye on David? I'm worried about him running into that man from the other room." He draws a small loop of leather from his component pouch and takes a deep breath, then starts choking and growling as he works his magic.
In the Mirror: Perrin seems much more relaxed now that they've found David. He even gives the boy what passes for a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we're doing everything we can to get you home."
On the ledge with Mel, he looks out over the chasm. "There's some part of the spell moving around between the platforms."
"But see, the way the platforms overlap it looks like there would always be one above or below us from here to the round thing. So I could levitate you up to one, you could slide yourself over, and then I could bring you back down to the next." Frowning, Perrin reaches into his bag of holding to make sure it still works. "If I climbed in this bag with my head sticking out, I could even come along."
In the Mirror: Perrin checks for magic in each mirror they enter. When he spots the protruding foot he steps forward hopefully. "David?"
In the Mirror: Perrin hurries to catch up with Mel and hands her a note. "Look at this, I think Kazador must have thrown it in here." He waits for Mel to read the paper. "'Core of the spell.' Sounds kinda like that big shape thingie on the center platform, right?"
In the Mirror: Perrin lets Mel pull him back through the mirror. Once they're earshot he mentions, "If we need answers I've got a spell that could make him friendly, but I'm worried he'll get angry if it fails. I sensed some magic provisions in his pocket so he might be a spellcaster." Perrin looks back at the mirror sadly. "Still, it seemed like he really needed help - all that muttering about 'Sheila' and 'Margie.'" He turns to the adjacent mirror. "Ready for another?"
In the Mirror: Perrin starts at the sight of the man and shrinks back behind Mel, but brightens at the mention of a way out. "Oh, um, who else comes here?"
As he speaks, Perrin continues concentrating on his spell of detection, checking for magic on the man or the rest of the room.
In the Mirror: Perrin recoils as well, stepping back through the mirror. "Okay, we can search there later if we need to, but for now let's keep looking." If Mel agrees he steps into the mirror directly opposite this one.
In the Mirror: Perrin follows, but looks back over his shoulder at the mysterious shape. "I'm just worried David might not have come here of his own choice." Back in the hallway, he stands next to Mel at the new mirror, dropping a few more crumbs at its base.
In the Mirror: Perrin moves his hand around and gives a sigh of relief. "Hey, finally some good news!"
"Yeah, this place is remarkable - I'm glad you found me." He studies the nearest platform. "I've got a spell that could lift us up and down, but not sideways. And if worst comes to worst I still have those teleportation scrolls we confiscated at the prison." Perrin glances back at the mirror they came out of. "Or we could try those one of those mirrors along the side, like you said. We might not be able to get back, but that probably applies wherever we go in here."
In the Mirror: Perrin's arms pinwheel for a moment over empty space before he regains his balance, breathing deeply. "Oh! Um. Hi." Perrin tries to poke the mirror Mel just came out of, expecting his hand to be repelled. Then he turns to survey the chasm before him. "Any thoughts on what now?"
GM: Perrin stands before the big mirror at the end of the hall. He drops some more crumbs at its base, takes a breath, and pokes it. If his hand enters, he tries to step through.
GM: When he reaches the end of the hall, Perrin turns and resumes his spell, scanning for magical auras.
GM: Perrin's eyes widen at the realization that he's cut off from the outside world. Pulling the remnants of a scone from his pocket, he scatters some breadcrumbs on the floor leading to the base of the mirror he came out of. Then, slowly, Perrin steps down the hall, peering at the mirrors around him and the space in-between. He makes sure to keep an eye out for any sign that someone's been here recently.
GM: Perrin gives a small yelp as he topples over onto his side. Blinking in confusion, he slowly lifts himself to his feet and faces the mirror he came out of. Perrin tries prodding the mirror once more, checking whether he can pass back through. He isn't emoting a signal yet, merely nervous curiosity. |
