It is an odd feeling for a mind to wake, as if waking from sleep, to find that the body has been acting of its own volition.  There is a surprise, a wonder when one knows they are alive and standing, and perhaps had just a moment ago had been doing many other things but there is no memory, not even a trace of one, as to how they got there.

The first thing Judoc remembers is the shape of his own face.  It is looking at him first with an expression of vague attentiveness, of scholarly wonder.  But slowly, that confidence fades into lines of confusion, the corners of his mouth turning down with disapproval.

It does not come to Judoc all at once that he is making those expressions...  that he is in fact looking at himself in a mirror.  It comes to him just a moment later that he is holding a conversation, or at least he is listening to another man, one who is standing at his shoulder just behind him talking in a rhythm that suggests that while Judoc was just now starting to hear his words, the man had been talking for some time longer.

"...  The sand for the glass must be purified, then melted down and purified again.  The slightest impurity, such as a single grain of dust, can distort the image.  The plate on the back is a sheet of mixed silver as fine as paper.  My assistants are quite adept at their work, and they have learned that I will not accept even a single flaw."

Judoc takes the moment of silence to look back at his reflection.  Indeed, the mirror's surface is more clear than any he had ever seen before.  His reflection is a perfect likeness.  The frame too is wrapped in a braided silver with just a trace of black tarnish on the deepest recesses of the texture.  It is immaculate.

Judoc looks around him to the left and right, and he finds himself taking in many wonders.  He appears to be in some sort of a shop, with items for sale that immediately pique Judoc's curiosity.  To his right, is a small table with an inlaid astrolabe.  At its center the sun is set in bronze with the orbits and planets delicately set in, Judoc even thinks from the distance he can see a small moon moving, orbiting Yrth in the slowest of circles.

To the left, by the window, there is a brass bird, a nightingale, and now that he is looking there Judoc realizes that the decoration is open mouthed as if turned into metal in the very act of singing.  Even as he is watching it, Judoc can hear a faint whistle of the wind vibrate through the brass, a whisper of a song and Judoc has the sudden impression that the metal craftwork desires nothing more than to turn into flesh and feather, to sing with lung and breath.

Just to the side, a foot high clock that seems to be running from the drips of water that pour over a wheel on its front.

At the back of the shop, two mechanical dolls bow to each other in turn, their gears in clear view, though no strings seem to hold them up in place.  The dolls remind Judoc of something else, though it seems his memory is foggy and unfocused.

Judoc shakes his head, astounded.  Unsure where he is, or why it is here where his mind suddenly decided to return.

Perhaps taking Judoc's gesture for disbelief, the man behind him gazes across the room, the trace of a modest smile playing upon his lips.  "Yes, we are quite proud of our achievements.  My wares are crafted with an eye towards the sciences...  Astronomy, geomancy, mathematics, medicine, and alchemy, I am glad that you find them so pleasing to behold."

OOC:  Welcome back to the game Judoc!  You are not sure of the date.  Your can remember everything up to your last post in the game, however you are strangely blank after that point.  You cannot remember anything, and it feels as if you have suddenly popped into being in the middle of the shop.  You do have all your adventuring gear with you, though you do not seem to have your horse (did you sell your horse?), nor is Aiah around.  Feel free to ask administrative questions OOC and things pertinent to the thread IC.

It is said that the greatest mystery known to a man is himself. So much time is spent in study, work, activity, doing, and so little done in reflecting, thinking, being. But right now, staring at this mirror, all that busyness seems to flee from Judoc. He knows who he is, but he feels disorientated, as if just waking up from a coma. He knows who he is, and he knows where he has been and what he has done. Wasn’t he heading back to Azer? He was supposed to travel by Gate magic, but he cannot remember ever doing so.

He slowly looks around him, taking in the curiosities around him, but where the devil is he? The shop owner or master craftsman is speaking about the mirror, and Judoc takes the opportunity to examine it more closely, but his mind whirls with questions. The last thing he remembers is meeting Archibald – is Judoc still in Craine? He must be. But where is the other young student, and how the devil is Judoc here in this shop? And Viscount Tenesworth must be wondering where Judoc is.

”I’m sorry…” Judoc says in bewilderment, turning back to the man speaking to him. Who is this man? Where the hell is Judoc? Aiah! He sends a message to his faithful familiar. ~Aiah, I’m not sure what just happened, but I seem to have lost the last…~ The last few minutes? Hours? How long has he been in this shop? How did he get here? ~Aiah? Can you hear me?~

He feels his backpack on his back. He has his leathers on, though not his helm. “Excuse me a moment, sir,” he says, and shifts his backpack off his shoulders, sets it down on the floor of the shop, and quickly checks through its contents. No tent or sleeping fur, but everything else seems to be there, including his helm. Shaking his head as if to clear out his confusion, Judoc closes his pack, slings it back on his shoulder, and takes stock of his situation.

Perhaps if he waits a moment, his memory will come back to him. “Your work reminds me of a collector I once knew.” The face comes before the name, but Judoc remembers stabbing a blade of fire through Haj Umr ibn-Hussein’s chest. “He would have appreciated your work.” Or, perhaps, ibn-Hussein had purchased his automatons from this very shop.

“How long have you worked at your craft? And how long have you had your shop?” Surely he is still in Craine. The problem is that Judoc simply cannot remember.

OOC: It feels great to be back! Prior to meeting up with Archibald, Judoc had sold his horse and tack and his bulkier items (his sleeping fur and tent).

Judoc throws his mind out towards his familiar, explaining, or questioning perhaps, his own absence... though he is still not sure how long that absence has been.  Though his pleas are met with only silence inside his mind...  He cannot feel her presence, though he cannot remember any harm befalling her...

The Merchant does not question as Judoc throws off his pack and rummages through the contents.  Instead, the man simply continues looking at his own silver mirror as if silently appreciating his own work.

When Judoc does get to his own feet, and makes an off hand comment about the merchandise, the old man merely nods his head, an odd smile playing at his lips.

"I like to think that my work here is unique, though I can appreciate there is very little that is truly new in this world.  Allah guides all of us, not just I, and gifts many with his insight."  The old man pauses, taking in Judoc's face for a moment.  "Though I suppose the front room is not where our greatest creations are kept...  Perhaps though, you would appreciate something a little deeper."

Still shaking the cobwebs from his mind, Judoc is taken aback as the merchant turns, and walks towards a door in the side wall, beckoning Judoc on with him.

"Oh, we have been here for nearly a year.  I have owned a shop in Shaniyabad for many years, though now I have left it to my son.  Though it is not home, there is much to say for Craine, and sales her have been good...  I am Basharat."  The merchant adds, not as an introduction, but a mere statement, or a reminder.

"There it is."    Basharat smiles, approaching a pedestal on which sits a thick hoop, some two hands across, made of a curious metal.  Its color is midnight black, but the surface is polished to such a sheen that if it had been any other color, Judoc is sure he could see his own reflection in it.

In the center of the ring, Judoc can see nothing...  though after a moment, and after his eyes attune with his power, Judoc can sense the deep threads of magic that ripple across the gap.

"Yes, I am quite proud of this."  Basharat exclaims, watching Judoc's curious expression.

Where could Aiah be? It was not like her to wander so far away. Judoc feels a burst of irritation and concern at the absence of his familiar.  The concern adds to his feelings of disorientation. Perhaps he had gone through the gate, and Aiah somehow had not? And he might need Aiah's presence. Judoc is beginning to feel exposed and very much alone.

Allah. Of course. This man is a Muslim. Where the devil is Judoc, then? Has he somehow crossed the border once more and found himself in Muslim lands? Stranger and stranger.

Almost automatically, Judoc follows the man as he walks toward the side wall. Craine? Judoc feels a bit of relief start to seep in. He still does not know how he found himself in this shop, but at least he is still in the same city. "And I am Judoc," the young mage answers, though he cannot remember if he had introduced himself before.

"What is this? It's beautiful." Judoc cannot help but be impressed, and he gazes at the hoop in wonder. He feels the magic from the ring. "Are you a mage, then?" he asks. An enchanter, perhaps. A quite skillful one, too, to be able to make these wonders.

"Yes."  Basharat answers to Judoc's introduction.  Again, it does not seem like a greeting, but simply a reassertion of Judoc's identity.  Judoc cannot help but have the feeling that perhaps he had already introduced himself, maybe when he entered the shop, but he simply cannot remember it.

"This,"  Basharat continues once they stand next to the black hoop.  "Is a gate.  You see, the mana of this world is inherently unstable.  It flows chaotically, and unpredictably.  At times it gathers of its own accord and produces gates naturally for brief periods of time.  Some call them Banestorms.  But in truth they are simply areas where the mana is so dense that it bends the very nature of space and time.  There are those who say gates can cast whole cities across worlds and I don't doubt it...  Though translating through dimensional space is nearly impossible to reliably recreate without paired objects.  Far easier instead to use mana to translate through time.  Observe."

Basharat approaches the hoop and places his arm through the left opening of the gate, where the appendage seems to disappear entirely, cut off in mid space.  Basharat wriggles the arm up and down, though the whole thing remains disappeared up to his bicep.  After a few moments, Basharat retrieves his arm from the gate, whole and unblemished and shows it to Judoc.

But that is only the beginning of the surprise.

Only a few moments after Judoc has witnessed the amazing feat of magic, from the right side of the gate a disembodied arm appears, waves up and down with exaggerated motions, then disappears back into the gate, leaving no trace of whence it came.

Basharat smiles at Judoc's expression and hastens to explain.  "You see, the gate itself is not exactly magic, nor am I exactly what you would call a mage.  Though I understand how natural mana works, how it flows, and how it can be bent to serve my purposes.  The gate is made of meteoric iron, which repels mana, the shape focuses the surrounding mana to the center of the hoop, making it so dense that it can hurl an object forward or backwards several moments in time."

Perhaps Judoc has short-term amnesia. Had he been hit on the back of the head and knocked out? Or could he have slipped on something and fallen backwards? But his head does not feel sore, and Basharat does not seem to be treating him any differently than a client in a shop would normally be treated.

As Basharat continues speaking, Judoc listens, fascinated. None of his classes had included Gate magic. He knows almost nothing of Gate magic, other than it can be incredibly unstable. And of course he knows of the banestorms. the horrendous results of what must have been the most powerful spell ever cast on Yrth.

This hoop seems different than that chaos and must be similar to what Viscount Tenesworth had access to. A gate that can cast a whole city across the world? The military applications of this magic would seem limitless. Though Judoc cannot remember seeing it, the Viscount's gate is capable of transporting at least one person at a time. With a large enough gate, armies could cross the continent instantly. Judoc wonders how moveable they are and if one end of a gate could be smuggled into an enemy city, allowing an army to breach the city's walls much like the legendary Trojan Horse.

His thoughts are interrupted when Basharat mentions time. Curiously, Judoc watches as Basharat inserts his arm through the hoop. Impressed, the young mage raises an eyebrow as the man's arm vanishes. Judoc knows that much is possible through magic, and he wonders where the rest of Basharat's arm has gone. Some kind of invisibility field? A chameleon spell?

And then, after a few seconds, the arm appears from the other side of the gate! Very impressive! "This is the first time I've ever seen something like this," Judoc says, intrigued. "How large can these be constructed? And can the object be transported only a few seconds ahead in time? . Now, if it could send a person ahead to learn of the future - that potentially could be very useful. Even better to go back to the past and give warning of some impending catastrophe.

"Excellent question."  Basharat smiles.

The old man seems to be invigorated with the discussion, his pride swelling with Judoc's obvious interest and with the opportunity to explain his work to someone who actually understands some of the concepts he is enumerating.

"You see, the size of the gate has everything to do with how much time is displaced.  The larger the construction, the denser the materials, the bigger the hoop, the more mana that is thrust into the center, and the more displacement that occurs between the two sides.  It is not about forwards or backwards, but change.  Observe."

And Judoc focuses his attention on the hoop again, expecting Basharat to approach the gate and perform some further trick.  However, before the man has even begun to walk over again, another, dismembered arm appears from the left side of the gate, waving at Judoc!  Judoc stares at Basharat, his body whole and unblemished, the replica appearing to have come from no where!  However, when the arm retreats again within the gate, and Basharat approaches the gate, Judoc begins to comprehend exactly what has happened.

The old man thrusts his arm into the right side of the gate, disappearing for a moment as Basharat smiles and waves the half-disappeared arm up and down before retrieving it again, entirely whole.  Judoc surmises that the gate works both ways, both forward and backward in time, with each side of the gate split...  The left side a few seconds earlier and the right side a few seconds later in time.

"This is a gate of a few moments."  Basharat begins to explain again.  "But in the back I have a gate of some six months.  In my shop in Shaniyabad, my son watches over a gate of thirty years in the first shop I ever owned.  It is quite something to see the future, to see Allah's will, and then to return, to take the steps necessary to carry it out."

Basharat smiles again, his kind look disarming Judoc of the notion of all the things the merchant could have done with unlimited access to the past, or indeed, the future.

"You see, you need not think of time as a moving point upon a line, but as a river that flows always in the same direction, though the water is traveling over the whole length constantly and unceasingly.  Now is not December 14th, but instead that is now for you and for me as we float along ever forward to the sea."

OOC:  I snuck it in there since you haven't asked yet IC, but now just happens to be 1500 on December 14th, 2005.  It is almost exactly six months since your last memory.  Of note, Basharat has a gate of six months in another room of his shop.  I'm sure you are connecting the dots that I have hastily scrawled in crayon for this thread.  Feel free to continue role playing though.  Extra information is always helpful so don't feel like you need to rush back in time.

Judoc still has no clue as to how he got in this shop and expunged a large chunk of his memory. However, Basharat's fascinating display of the gates is almost enough to take the young mage's mind off his current predicament. He nods his head at the artisan's explanation of how meteoric iron is able to distort mana. The theory seems plausible enough. Change. Of course. Change is at the heart of magic.

He watches attentively as Basharat conducts another demonstration. This time, Judoc raises an eyebrow as another arm appears before Basharat has even approached the gate. So the gate affects time in both directions. Fascinating.

Judoc continues to listen to Basharat's explanation. Six months? Thirty years? Judoc gapes. The applications of such devices is astounding. To be able to see the future, or go back in time to observe some action as it happened - astonishing! And then return, to take the steps necessary to carry it out... With such gates, a man could be master of Yrth!

As Basharat describes time as a river, Judoc cannot help but smile. Grobbik would like that metaphor. Then, Basharat delivers another surprise. December 14th. The date dazes Judoc. He was to have left on Azer on June 13th. How could he have lost six entire months? Unless...

"You'll forgive me, Basharat, but this is all so much to take in! I cannot remember, but I might have told you that I have been studying magic. I know something of Knowledge magic and Divination, but Gate magic is entirely new to me!"

He pauses for a moment. Can he trust Basharat? The man seems so kind. Appearances can be deceiving, but still -

"The past six months are a complete blank to me," he says at length. "I wonder if somehow I went through your other gate. Are there any side effects to using it? A sense of amnesia, perhaps?" And why the devil did I decide to go through the gate?, he wonders.

Six months. Thirty years. He could go back to before he was born. He was too late to stop Elliot from immolating Mariana unless Judoc wanted to wait nearly three decades, but think of the tragedies that could be prevented, the mysteries that could be solved! What would a man such as Baron Graves do with gates like these? Or the demon Agares? How many of these gates existed in the world?

"When you say 'the steps necessary', what precisely do you mean by that? What happens when you meet yourself in the future or past?" Could these gates be used to multiply oneself indefinitely? Or could one continue to go further and further back in the past or forward in time? What would happen if the gate were destroyed in the future? Could someone travel back to before the gate was created? A nearly infinite number of paradoxes seem possible.

Basharat smiles at Judoc's astonishment, but he does not offer further explanation in a magical sense.  "I'm afraid,"  Basharat offers, "That I am woefully ignorant in the ways of Magical Colleges."  He glances back at Judoc to ensure that his terminology is correct.  "And perhaps what I am doing is not magic at all.  For what I excel at is not channeling mana as you would, but guiding it.  Giving the mana a purpose that can be funneled by the meteoric iron..."

Basharat pauses as Judoc explains further, his amnesia, his confusion.  And a deep rooted suspicion that the gate may be behind it.

"I'm afraid,"  Basharat offers with his smile playing back upon his lips.  "That I have never had a complaint from anyone else who has used my gates.  No amnesia, or forgetfulness.  Rather, those that use my gates are usually quite overcome with the sense of a more complete knowledge of their present and their futures!"  The old man smiles, his eyes searching Judoc's face for the resolution he hopes to find.

Judoc's next question however, wipes the smile from Basharat's face and his eyebrows wrinkle with concern.

"Perhaps,"  Basharat starts the next statement slowly, as if trying them on before being entirely convinced he wishes to say them.  "Perhaps my words have left a wrong impression, and I wish to make myself entirely clear.  Do not think of this gate as a method to change your future, or your past!  Instead, think of your life as a grand mansion and my gate as a secret passage leading to a distant room.  It does not change what lies ahead, for the room is no different for your presence or your absence.  Instead, it is a way to see the room a little before you would have by going the normal way.  We cannot change Allah's will, for it is his, and it is greater than all of us.  But perhaps we can know his will.  And perhaps that knowledge will allow us to see his will carried out in our own actions, which is a very great gift indeed."

Basharat's smile returns somewhat, his eyes again searching Judoc's face, though after a moment, it appears he has not found what he was looking for, and he continues.

"Perhaps a story would set the matter straight?"  Basharat offers, and he clears his throat, searches his memory for a moment and begins.  "This is the tale of the man who stole from himself..."

There was once a young weaver named Ajib who made a modest living as a weaver of rugs,
but yearned to taste the luxuries enjoyed by the wealthy.  Ajib stepped through the Gate of Years to seek out his older self, who, he was sure, would be rich and as generous.

Upon arriving he proceeded to the wealthy quarter of the city and asked people for the residence of Ajib ibn Taher. He was prepared, if he met someone who knew the man and remarked on the similarity of
their features, to identify himself as Ajib's son, newly arrived. But he
never had the chance to offer this story, because no one he asked recognized the name.

Eventually he decided to return to his old neighborhood, and see if anyone there
knew where he had moved.  When he got to his old street, he stopped a boy and asked
him if he knew where to find a man named Ajib. The boy directed him to Ajib's old house.
 "That is where he used to live," Ajib said. "Where does he live now?"
 "If he has moved since yesterday, I do not know where," said the boy.
 Ajib was incredulous. Could his older self still live in the same house, twenty years
later? That would mean he had never become wealthy, and his older self would have no
advice to give him, or at least none Ajib would profit by following.  In hopes that the boy was
mistaken, Ajib waited outside the house, and watched.

Eventually he saw a man leave the house, and with a sinking heart recognized it as
his older self. The older Ajib was followed by a woman that he presumed was his wife, but
he scarcely noticed her, for all he could see was his own failure to have bettered himself.
He stared with dismay at the plain clothes the older couple wore until they walked out of
sight.

Driven by the curiosity that impels men to look at the heads of the executed, Ajib
went to the door of his house. His own key still fit the lock, so he entered. The furnishings
had changed, but were simple and worn, and Ajib was mortified to see them. After twenty
years, could he not even afford better pillows?
 On an impulse, he went to the wooden chest where he normally kept his savings, and
unlocked it. He lifted the lid, and saw the chest was filled with gold dinars.
 Ajib was astonished. His older self had a chest of gold, and yet he wore such plain
clothes and lived in the same small house for twenty years! What a stingy, joyless man his
older self must be, thought Ajib, to have wealth and not enjoy it. Ajib had long known that
one could not take one's possessions to the grave. Could that be something that he would
forget as he aged?
 Ajib decided that such riches should belong to someone who appreciated them, and
that was himself. To take his older self's wealth would not be stealing, he reasoned,
because it was he himself who would receive it. He heaved the chest onto his shoulder,
and with much effort was able to bring it back through the Gate of Years to the Cairo he
knew.

He deposited some of his new found wealth with a banker, but always carried a purse
heavy with gold. He dressed in a Damascene robe and Cordovan slippers and a Khurasani
turban bearing a jewel. He rented a house in the wealthy quarter, furnished it with the
finest rugs and couches, and hired a cook to prepare him sumptuous meals.
 He then sought out the brother of a woman he had long desired from afar, a woman
named Taahira. Her brother was an apothecary, and Taahira assisted him in his shop.
Ajib would occasionally purchase a remedy so that he might speak to her. Once he had
seen her veil slip, and her eyes were as dark and beautiful as a gazelle's. Taahira's brother
would not have consented to her marrying a weaver, but now Ajib could present himself
as a favorable match.

Taahira's brother approved, and Taahira herself readily consented, for she had
desired Ajib, too. Ajib spared no expense for their wedding. He hired one of the pleasure
barges that floated in the canal south of the city and held a feast with musicians and
dancers, at which he presented her with a magnificent pearl necklace. The celebration
was the subject of gossip throughout the quarter.
 Ajib reveled in the joy that money brought him and Taahira, and for a week the two
of them lived the most delightful of lives. Then one day Ajib came home to find the door
to his house broken open and the interior ransacked of all silver and gold items. The
terrified cook emerged from hiding and told him that robbers had taken Taahira.
 Ajib prayed to Allah until, exhausted with worry, he fell asleep. The next morning he
was awoken by a knocking at his door. There was a stranger there. "I have a message for
you," the man said.
 "What message?" asked Ajib.
 "Your wife is safe."
 Ajib felt fear and rage churn in his stomach like black bile. "What ransom would you
have?" he asked.
 "Ten thousand dinars."
 "That is more than all I possess!" Ajib exclaimed.
 "Do not haggle with me," said the robber. "I have seen you spend money like others
pour water."
 Ajib dropped to his knees. "I have been wasteful. I swear by the name of the Prophet
that I do not have that much," he said.
 The robber looked at him closely. "Gather all the money you have," he said, "and
have it here tomorrow at this same hour. If I believe you are holding back, your wife will
die. If I believe you to be honest, my men will return her to you."

Ajib could see no other choice. "Agreed," he said, and the robber left.
 The next day he went to the banker and withdrew all the money that remained. He
gave it to the robber, who gauged the desperation in Ajib's eyes and was satisfied. The
robber did as he promised, and that evening Taahira was returned.
 After they had embraced, Taahira said, "I didn't believe you would pay so much
money for me."
 "I could not take pleasure in it without you," said Ajib, and he was surprised to
realize it was true. "But now I regret that I cannot buy you what you deserve."
 "You need never buy me anything again," she said.
 Ajib bowed his head. "I feel as if I have been punished for my misdeeds."
 "What misdeeds?" asked Taahira, but Ajib said nothing. "I did not ask you this
before," she said. "But I know you did not inherit all the money you gained. Tell me: did
you steal it?"
 "No," said Ajib, unwilling to admit the truth to her or himself. "It was given to me."
 "A loan, then?"
 "No, it does not need to be repaid."
 "And you don't wish to pay it back?" Taahira was shocked. "So you are content that
this other man paid for our wedding? That he paid my ransom?" She seemed on the verge
of tears. "Am I your wife then, or this other man's?"
 "You are my wife," he said.
 "How can I be, when my very life is owed to another?"
 "I would not have you doubt my love," said Ajib. "I swear to you that I will pay back
the money, to the last dirham."

And so Ajib and Taahira moved back into Ajib's old house and began saving their
money. Both of them went to work for Taahira's brother the apothecary, and when he
eventually became a perfumer to the wealthy, Ajib and Taahira took over the business of
selling remedies to the ill. It was a good living, but they spent as little as they could, living
modestly and repairing damaged furnishings instead of buying new. For years, Ajib
smiled whenever he dropped a coin into the chest, telling Taahira that it was a reminder
of how much he valued her. He would say that even after the chest was full, it would be a
bargain.

But it is not easy to fill a chest by adding just a few coins at a time, and so what began
as thrift gradually turned into miserliness, and prudent decisions were replaced by
tight-fisted ones. Worse, Ajib's and Taahira's affections for each other faded over time,
and each grew to resent the other for the money they could not spend.  In this manner the years passed and Ajib grew older, waiting for the second time that his gold would be taken from him.

-Adapted from Ted Chiang

"Perhaps that helps?"  Basharat offers.  "I cannot say what will happen, or even if you will meet your other self, for some, like Ajib, never do.  It all depends on who you are, both now and then.  You can be relieved in the fact, however, that those who go forward to the future, already know that they are coming."

No amnesia. Then had Judoc not gone through the gate? What had left a gap of six months in his head? He strains to think, but he can remember nothing after meeting the baron's son, Archibald.

After Basharat finishes his story, Judoc frowns. "Are you saying that time cannot be changed, then?" he asks. "That to some extent, it is already set in place and cannot be moved? Then is free will an illusion? Is there only one choice that can be made in each situation? Time seems less like a river and more like a painting. We can examine other parts of the painting, but it is already painted."

He rubs his chin and considers this. "However, from a certain point of view, my last sentence was the only sentence I uttered at that point in time," he says slowly. "I could have said, 'I could really go for a banana right now,' but I didn't. What of the present? Is it fluid, and once we make a choice, time is locked in that instant?" He considers this further. "And what of the concept of branching realities, of multiverses? Timelines created from each choice we make?" All of this is highly theoretical, and Judoc has spent almost no time studying the sciences.

He considers the situation. "So, take this example. An army attacks and lays waste to a city. The attack is sudden and catches the city's defenders unawares. It would be fruitless to try to go back in time to warn the city leaders of the coming attack, then. Everything would still play out as it had already. In fact, it would be fruitless to go back and try to warn a person's younger self, since the person has no recollection of meeting themselves from the future." He raises an eyebrow, looking at Basharat. "And your story. What if Ajib had waited for his younger self to arrive from the past? What if Ajib had relayed what had happened, told the entire story to the younger Ajib? Could Ajib not have changed his fate?"

Time travel. Judoc had always thought this to be a source of fiction. When he returns to the Templar battle college, he resolves to investigate Gate magic. The field seems rich with potential.

"I wonder if you have heard the tale of the man who goes back in time and steps on a butterfly," he continues. "As a result, when he returns to the present, he finds that elves now rule the Megalan empire and have conquered the world. Are you saying such a thing is impossible? That the man was always meant to step on the butterfly, and that the world we see has already taken this event into effect? What is your understanding of free will?" Judoc is vaguely reminded of a church heresy that states that there is no free will, that God predestines every action of man. He wonders what Islam's perspective is on this issue.

OOC: Judoc is referencing an Yrth version of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder."

The heresy Judoc refers to is the Calvinist doctrine of predestination.

So enraptured is Judoc by the possibilities of time travel, of the possibility of changing history, that he hurls a slew of questions at Basharat, though the old man maintains his slight smiles and returns the questions in kind.

"You ask if time cannot be changed.  But how would you change it?  And if you were successful, why would that not have been always the way events had taken place?  You surmise in your example that a city was destroyed and you wish to go back through the gate of years to save it.  But if you were successful, and you saved the city, then you would never have a reason to go back in time in the first place!  You would never think to go back in time, and thus the city would be destroyed anew!"

Basharaat wags his finger.  "You can see the problem I think?"  He smiles again.  "A man who could alter Allah's will as he saw fit, could wreak havoc, chaos that would ripple through time in ever increasing waves.  Your butterfly example for instance.  But I would tell you, if the butterfly had been stepped on, if it had been Allah's will, then Elves would have always been the rulers of Megalos, yes?"

"You ask many questions, and deep."  Bahsarat sighs, looking at the gate.  "But I can tell you that Ajib did not tell his younger double of the trap that he was setting for himself.  Could he have?  Perhaps... but then I would submit he would have never walked through the gate of years and and felt shame the moment he found he had not moved from the home of his youth.  He would have been a different person all along."

"And to the point."  Basharat continues.  "I cannot tell you if your every action is known, or dictated.  I cannot tell you if your free will is real or fantasy.  What is certain is that you can change.  You can learn, you can understand.  Often understanding makes all the difference.  Your analogy of a painting on display is apt I think."  Basharat rubs his chin.  "For while we cannot paint over the places we deem ugly, we can choose our own reaction, we can choose how we reflect the painting back in our own actions."

Basharat's eyes fix on Judoc's.  "While I do not know if you can achieve what you wish through the Gate of Months, I tell you that it is not your will that matters, but the will of Allah."

Listening attentively, Judoc follows along with Basharat's explanation. If he were to go to the past and change something, it would never be changed because he would have no reason to change it? But then what happened to the change? Were events simply immutable? Would his efforts ultimately be futile? Perhaps no one would listen to his warnings, he muses. Judoc dearly would like to test Basharat's hypothesis.

He nods his head as Basharat speaks of chaos. Yes, of course. Chaos. Everything would be splintered, constantly changing, multiplied infinitely if others also had access to the gates. "Forgive me, but my theology is fairly limited. I cannot say what Allah's will is. But you see my point? Before, men ruled Megalos, and after, elves did? If the past can be changed, it would indeed be chaotic, but unless the universe actively resists change, I cannot see how such change would not be possible."

Judoc nods again at Basharat's explanation. "And it may be that what I call free will, you might say is the will of Allah. Perhaps both ideas can be true, both different perspectives on the same phenomenon." This conversation is invigorating to Judoc. It reminds him of the past, back when he, Indrid, Mariana, Grobbik, Giles, and Elliot would toss around ideas about what the world might be. Before the summoning of the demon and their gradual falling apart. Now, Judoc the Scholar is completely engaged.

"Basharat, how many more gates like these do you think exist in the world? Where did you learn your knowledge and craftsmanship? And do you have any idea of why I do not seem to remember the past six months? The very last thing I remember, I had met a new student at my college. Then, I was here in your shop, just a few minutes ago, speaking with you."

Perhaps Judoc had been attacked, he muses. A gang of thugs could have ambushed him, knocked him out, and thrown him bodily into Basharat's Gate of Months. But why on Yrth would anyone do such a thing? And Judoc does not remember waking up. He was simply here. He must have entered the Gate of Months willingly. But why can he not remember?

"Perhaps", Basharat shrugs, allowing for Judoc to take his ideas and beliefs as he will, and no longer pressing the point.

When Judoc asks of other gates however, Basharat again smiles.  "I know of no others but mine.  As I have said, many of my creations are original.  I spent many long months studying the properties of the meteoric iron before I began experimenting with it, and I have not imparted enough of my knowledge for my apprentices to duplicate them, though I suppose the brightest of them could perhaps attempt the assembly."  Basharat pauses for a moment, though he shakes his head.

"Apart from that however, I doubt there are many, if any others.  Materials are desperately tricky to find, and I owe a great deal to luck that I found any at all."

"As for your memory, I'm afraid I do not know.  I can only offer, as I have said, an opportunity for you to go back to when you lost your memory, and to find the reason for yourself."

All of this talk of moving through time is fascinating to Judoc, but now the prospect of what caused his amnesia arrests his attention. If Basharat is correct, then whatever Judoc does in the past will have already been done. Nodding, he says, I'd love that, Basharat. Do you have any recommendations for anything I should be aware of when I travel into the past? Should I avoid speaking to my younger self? Not carry anything back with me to this time?" Judoc is keen to explore what might be accomplished with moving through time, but he also does not want to tear any wonky holes in the fabric of space and time.

OOC: Judoc is ready to jump six months into the past.

Judoc approaches his future, or rather, his past with the nervous energy of a performer waiting for the spotlight.  He asks Basharat a few last questions, though the man laughs and shrugs them off with a non-committal answer.

"You surely know yourself better than I!  Are you untrusting?  Would you attack yourself if you appeared out of the blue?  Do you remember seeing yourself?  Though I suppose if you have lost your memory...  Never mind."

Basharat turns and begins to shuffle back towards another, smaller room, this one dimly lit, with only one object within.  Another thick hoop of the woven, sleek black metal, this one two and a half feet or so across, just barely big enough for a man to crawl through.  Without even approaching, Judoc can feel the push and pull of the mana flowing around the device, and his mind's eye can sense the vacuum created at the center...  He can almost imagine the mana there creating the gate between two different planes... two different times.

"As for your equipment, I'm sure I cannot know, but fortune favors the prepared yes?  Perhaps you should take all your things with you... just in case."

Judoc nods, and steels himself, wondering what time travel feels like.

"Whenever you are ready,"  Basharat approaches the gate, "You may enter on the right side."

He puts his own face close to the gap, and calls loudly through the portal.  "You have one coming through!"

"Goodness!"  The voice of Basharat answers, though his lips do not move... Judoc can only surmise that the voice is coming from six months in the past.  "I haven't even finished setting up the shop!"

Basharat ushers Judoc along, who must get down on hands and knees to push himself head first through the opening.  With a deep breath, Judoc hurls himself forward, and backwards several months in time.

Though Judoc had spent several moments preparing himself, expecting a sense of vertigo or euphoria, disorientation or nausia, he finds that his experience with time travel is somewhat underwhelming.  In fact, so determined is Judoc to prepare himself for some unexpected shock that he holds his hands straight out in front of him for protection, quite forgetting that gravity will likely still be in effect six months ago.  As his body straightens out on the far side of the gate, he quickly finds himself falling, his arms just too slow to get entirely beneath him, and he hits his cheek lightly on the wooden floor below.  Luckily, the only injury Judoc sustains is to his pride.

"Hello."  Bahsarat's voice comes from up above, and Judoc pulls himself to a stand, nodding quickly to Basharat, expecting to simply get on his way, though the man grips Judoc's hand and shakes it.

"I am Basharat."  The man introduces himself, and before Judoc can retort that he already knows him, two truths strike him simultaneously.  Firstly, despite the fact that Judoc has already met the merchant, that this is the first time that Basharat has met him.  It is six months previous to Judoc walking into Basharat's shop and regaining his memory...  More importantly however, he realizes that six months from now, when he does walk into Basharat's shop, it will be the second or perhaps even the third time the two men meet...

Judoc's mind wheels.  The feeling he had that he had already introduced himself and he just couldn't remember...  Perhaps it had happed six months previous, now, rather than when he had walked into the shop.  What else had Basharat known?  And what else had Judoc told him that he couldn't remember?

OOC  It is 1600 on the 14th of June.  You mentioned previously that you were supposed to leave on the 13th, but I think that was the day that you went to Duke Bran's palace and he awarded you, instead you were set to leave the next day at sundown.

Where had Basharat learned his craft? His ability is astounding, the way he can shape metal to manipulate mana itself. Judoc reflects that he could learn as much from Basharat as he could at the Templar Battle College, though the knowledge gained here would be of a completely different kind. As he approaches the larger hoop, he steels himself. Will he feel disorientated, dizzy, nauseous? He imagines his body stretched from this moment to six months prior. What that might sensation feel like? With a deep breath, he crawls through, and is startled when he emerges immediately from the other side and lands gently on the floor.

"Ow!" Only his ego has been bruised, but his cheeks flush with irriation nonetheless. "Basharat, yes. I've met you before in the future. Assalamu alaikum." How many times have they met, now? He stifles a rueful grin. "You'll have to excuse me. This is my first time moving through time." He has questions to ask this younger version of Basharat, but foremost in his mind is What happened to my memory? He knows his younger self is to be at the cathedral at sundown, and if he hurries, Older Judoc can arrive there before Younger Judoc does.

"I have a six-month hole in my memory, and  your future self allowed me to come back to this point in time to see if I could find out why. May I return here after I figure out exactly what happened to me?"

OOC: Once he gets his bearings, Judoc will hurry to the cathedral. He will make sure to take streets his younger self did not take.

"Of course,"  Basharat replies to Judoc's explanation that the two have already met.  "Assalamu alaikum."  He returns the greeting with a gentle bow.  "You may return to the shop as you wish, and may return through the gate, as most do.  Though you are the first to use this one!"

Judoc, however, seems to have little patience for more conversation at the moment and he makes his leave quickly, hoping to beat himself to the cathedral.  Whatever younger Basharat could wish to know, he would have months to learn it, while Judoc had less than two hours until he was set to travel back to Azer!  He says his goodbyes, and barely even registers the front room of the shop as he leaves, though it seems that true to younger Basharat's word, the shop is barely set up, and perhaps not yet even open.  The water clock is on prominent display, though the astrolabe is missing and there is nothing of the fantastic mirror which became Judoc's first memory for over six months.

Judoc wondered if that first moment, if looking at himself in that mirror and the aberration he felt, would be recreated as he looked upon the younger Judoc?  What would his younger self be like?  Should he approach him or stay removed?

Judoc gripped his staff as he walked, almost running, towards Craine's most prominent feature.

---

As it turns out, Judoc has more than enough time to make it to the cathedral before his other self gets there, though in truth, he cannot entirely remember exactly where he stood at his last remembered moment.  He thought he remembered simply being near the front entrance, at the base of the steps when he met Archibald...  though now that he thinks on it, he may have been inside...  He definitely meant to go inside...

Eventually, Judoc decides to find a place at the top<i> of the stairs leading to the cathedral front door.  Though he has a good view of the terrace below as well as the wide front doors, Judoc is sure the place will at least keep him <i>mostly hidden in case he decides to try a more stealthy approach.

And as the sun begins is sharp decent near the horizon...

"Hello!"  The voice comes from quite a ways off in the terrace, and Judoc looks over to see the waving arms of Baron V...  He had never found out the man's real name.  Archibald is there with him, and a stone's throw away is Judoc... himself.  The younger Judoc anyway.

"Archibald, this is your classmate, um... yes!"  The baron turns around to his son, and though Judoc cannot see his face from this distance he decidedly remembers a face full of bluster... a man more than happy to shirk off his own son to Judoc... who he has only met once and only for a few moments.  "Well, I'll just let you two hit it off!  Good luck during the term son!  Make me proud!"

OOC:  It is 1745 on the 14th of June.  You had about an hour to an hour and a half to kill near the cathedral, though it was important to me that you didn't do anything crazy that would interfere with your previous thread up to this point.  However, feel free to use that time in your post to prepare however you feel would be appropriate...  casting a continual light spell, scouting the cathedral, enchanting a hovercraft, knitting a warm hat...  whatever.  If your endeavors pay dividends I can answer them in private, or else try and answer it IC if it makes sense in the next post.

Also, this is obviously right in the middle/beginning of the conversation younger Judoc/Archibald are having.  Since this was where the last thread ended, I wanted to give you the opportunity to disturb things here if you wish.  Otherwise, you can follow along at a distance and we can fast forward as needed.

In his haste to reach the cathedral before his younger self, Judoc finds himself there well before Judoc the Younger arrives. He considers going right up to his younger self to explain what has happened. Forewarned, he and his younger self may be able to foil whatever has caused his amnesia. However, Basharat had been adamant that any action would have already been foreseen. It seems to Judoc that it would be wiser to follow to observe what happens.

While he waits, he decides to prepare a spell, just in case he needs it. Flight? Great Haste? Hm. After a moment, he decides to ready an Invisibility spell, just in case. A light spell would also be useful, too.

OOC: Judoc will look for a small rock and cast Continual Light (torch-strength). Next, he will cast Delay and then Invisibility. The trigger for the delayed Invisibility will be Judoc tugging his right earlobe.

Judoc's plan is to follow Young Judoc and Archibald at a distance. He will attempt to remain unseen. If he is about to be discovered, he will activate the delayed Invisibility spell.

Judoc maintains his distance near the tops of the steps.  Though he does not exactly fear meeting his younger self, he knows that the encounter will likely be unpredictable, especially with Archibald there and the Viscount to show at any point.  Instead, he simply listens and keeps back in a sheltered location, hoping to glean information without disturbing the natural course of events.

"Hi."  Archibald offers in a sort of non-committal voice.  Then, Judoc hears his own voice, though clearer, and perhaps a little higher than he recalls when it is sounding through his own mouth.  "Well, come on then."  The younger Judoc responds, and Judoc can detect a hint of annoyance on his voice as he recalls that he had intended to tour the Cathedral alone.  "I was going to take a look around the cathedral, you know, since we're here.  May as well stay together so that we don't have to find each other once the Viscount gets here."

~What a little scab.

A pang of excitement hits Judoc all in a moment, for that is the thought of his familiar, Aiah.  He scans the rooftops and indeed finds her perched at a corner across the street, looking down on the Younger Judoc and the Baron's son.

~How'd you let yourself get suckered into a mothering a full grown man?

Was that thought for him?  Surely it must be for his younger self, though if the other Judoc responds, Judoc cannot tell, his connection had always been with the hawk alone.

It seems all too quickly, the other Judoc and Archibald are climbing the steps.  Wishing to keep his presence secret a little longer yet, Judoc ducks around, keeping out of sight of Aiah and in through a side door, and into the nave beyond.

The next half an hour or so pass without much occasion.  The younger Judoc and Archibald make their way around the Cathedral, stopping to look at the large stained glass and the shrines and statues dedicated to various saints.  Judoc too, take a moment to recognize a few of the decorations, especially the small shrine of Saint Christopher (the traveler) which is tucked just off to the right about midway down the nave.  It was an odd moment for Judoc as he waited there, younger Judoc and Archibald having stopped to look at the large crucifix high above the altar, with one eye pursuing his quarry and the other looking upon the haggard stone Christopher who stood with a sack upon his back and his hand raised as if blessing Judoc even in this moment.  He represented much for Judoc, not the least of which was the thousands of miles he had traveled from Azer and the return trip which was still looming large in his future... or perhaps his past...

Within a half an hour or so, younger Judoc deems the time appropriate for the Viscount to arrive and brings Archibald to the front doors and then eventually out of them to stand prominently on the step at the base of the Cathedral so that no one could miss them.

Judoc finds himself with no place to look upon them, but decides to approach just behind the doorway, close enough so he can hear, though too close to risk peering his head around the doorway to look.

Just as the skies are beginning to flash oranges and reds of the low-hanging sun, Judoc hears the voice of the Viscount some ways off, perhaps down the stairs.

"Ah, there you are."

"Good evening Viscount."  The younger Judoc responds.  "Shall we go in?"

"I'm afraid not, for you see, I shall need the assistance of a very specific place to cast the spell needed to send you back."

"I had thought you said it was in the Cathedral?"  Younger Judoc responds.

"So it is, but true power is very infrequently held within the new, the flashy, and the grandiose.  Instead, it is the old, the mundane, and the modest which most often carry power and focus beyond any other.  As such, the place I need is in the Chapel of Saint Honorius... which is downstairs and tucked out of the way.  Perhaps when we get there you shall see what I mean."

OOC:  It is 1830 on the 14th of June.  Your continual light spell was successful, and so it appears, were your delay and invisibility spell.  While there was a chance that you could disrupt things by talking to Aiah, I deemed it more serviceable to move the story on than give you more chances to take things off course.   Feel free however to talk to Aiah now if you want the opportunity.  Aiah did not follow Younger Judoc and Archibald inside and has stayed quiet and out of the way since her last thought.

This entire situation is fascinating to Judoc. He grimaces slightly at hearing his own voice, not as deep as he is used to hearing. The annoyance changes to joy, however, when he hears Aiah's voice! He is about to respond when he realizes she is speaking to the younger Judoc. Could she hear him if he were to speak now? Would he give himself away by doing so? What might happen as a result?

The cathedral proves a fascinating place to explore. Judoc's faith is merely superficial, a façade to help ingratiate him amongst the Templars. However, he is still interested in learning as much as he can about the Church's history and operations, especially how it might intersect with demonology. The saints in particular seem fascinating. He remembers with some anger his portrayal of Saint Catherine of the Wheel. Then there was Saint George, slayer of both dragons and demons, who featured so prominently in the Devil's Trap. Now, Saint Christopher. The saint loked as if he had carried the world on his shoulders. Judoc wonders what the man had seen, if there had ever been a real-life Christopher. How many miles had he travelled? How many would Judoc travel? What would the saint have thought about Gate magic, granting one the ability to travel across both land and time?

Ah, Viscount Tenesworth. Judoc is quite keen to see the Gate spell in action. He also finds himself reminded of another journey underground, the one Alevius Cleppo had initiated, and that sudden revelation that Loke had been replaced by the demon Agares. Today was a stark contrast to that night and the evil that had permeated it.

He thinks again to Aiah, out of sight outdoors. Why wasn't she going with Judoc the Younger? Was she planning to fly back to Azer alone? Could she hear him, if he called out to her? ~Aiah~ he sends to her. ~Are you still around?~

OOC: Judoc will try to contact Aiah, just to see if he can. Then, still trying to keep out of sight, he will trail the others.

Memories of his various encounters with saints and the foul underground creep into the back of Judoc's mind, though he shakes them off, his curiosity for the gate spell and to find what in the world had ruined his memory overwhelming the reminiscence.

Before he dashes off however, Judoc sends his mind to Aiah, attempting to ensure that the link has not somehow been broken.

~Alright, alright, I'm coming!  Yes I'm here!

Aiah answers annoyedly, and Judoc can sense in her words her lifting off from the rooftop and gliding down to join the younger Judoc.

~Well then don't be so needy!

Aiah jabs, without even the slightest prompting from Judoc, who had not spoken again after asking the simple question of if she was there.

"Handsome bird."  Tenesworth remarks as Judoc thinks he hears the swoop of a wing.

"Thank you Viscount."  The younger Judoc answers.  "I agree, she can be quite marvelous at times, though she's often quite surly for no reason."

~Look who's talking!

Aiah answers the spoken comment with another thought, though the argument does not seem to stem any further and Judoc begins to hear footsteps gradually descending the stonework stairs.

As he knows where the three are going, or at least the name of it, Judoc waits an extra moment before descending.  By the time he comes out of the door, he only barely catches a glimpse of Archibald walking around a corner of the building and Judoc hurries to follow, his invisibility spell still readied in case he needs it.

Around the corner, Judoc follows the three, and though he does not catch sight of them again, the side door through which they entered are easy enough to find, as there is a small staircase cut into the ground and a placard on the wall which says 'Saint Honorius Chapel.'

Judoc swiftly makes his way down the stairs and gently cracks the door open, pressing his ear to the portal.

"...was the first Archbishop of Megalos."  Tenesworth is saying, for Judoc appears to have found joined them while they were in the middle of a conversations.  "This was in the days of the first crusades and the wars against the Northmen, before the Templar order had even been founded.  Days of chaos...  if we have ever escaped them..."  The Viscount pauses for a moment.

"While this Cathedral has stood for over a hundred years, this chapel is actually much older.  It was built shortly after the city was regained from the Muslims in 1567 and the Cathedral has been built around that structure.  You will see the stone here is much older and more crudely cut.  This altar has stood here for nearly five hundred years and was blessed by Saint Thomas himself.  He, of course, was a remarkable mage, and his magic has withstood the test of time.  The result is quite a powerfully holy and magical object..."

"This spell will take me a moment."  Tenesworth continues.  "It's tricky under even the best of conditions, which of course we have, though it is best not to rush such things."

OOC:  Pause for you to develop a plan, or else wait.  You are not yet looking within the chapel.  Instead you are hiding in the stairwell (behind the doors) which is directly outside.  You can hear Teneseworth, though you cannot see anything inside without risk of exposing yourself.

Also, I didn't mean to give you the impression that Aiah wasn't coming with younger Judoc.  Instead, she would just rather be outside if she has the chance, rather than perched on a shoulder while inside.  She was just waiting until the departure was imminent, rather than trying to fly by land.

A holy place, blessed by Saint Thomas himself. Not the kind of place a demon would be likely to attack, Judoc thinks. He is gratified that he both still retains his connection to Aiah and that she cannot differentiate Judoc from his younger self. He is relieved to touch her mind again, if only for a moment. He would hate for something to forever sever their connection.

~I really am quite fond of you, you know,~ he sends to Aiah.

He strains his ears as he listens. Judoc would love to be in the room with the other four, but he does not want to reveal himself yet. Who knows? The very act of revealing himself could have caused the memory loss. He frowns at this line of thinking, however. Taken to its logical conclusion, anything he may do or not do could lead to his current state. If all outcomes are possible, then he must act in whatever way seems best to himself.

It occurs to him that he does have eyes in the room in the form of Aiah. If he were to reach out to her now, however, she could react unpredictably, perhaps disrupting the spell and causing the amnesia.

What if the spell does work and the younger Judoc steps through back to Azer? Will the older Judoc simply cease to be?Now that would be interesting, though Judoc suspects he would never know what had happened. And if he doesn’t disappear? Best to deal with that if it happens.

OOC: Wait.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:37, Wed 13 Oct 2021.

~Well,  Aiah responds to Judoc's comment, ~you can be quite tolerable at times as well.  And though the words are perhaps not the most encouraging, Judoc can hear all the venom drain from her thoughts, and he imagines her in the moment preening, happy for the soft moment between mage and familiar.

Though that image does not last long, as Aiah's thoughts come back again, unbidden by Judoc, with all her normal sharpness.

~I'll not think it again then!  Quite intolerable indeed, and I've started to think that you can't even keep your own thoughts straight!

The idea strikes Judoc that he can only hear two parts of a three-way conversation... It is clear that Aiah is confused and it is easy for Judoc to imagine the temper rising in younger Judoc with all of her back and forth.

The moment of anger lingers in the air, Aiah not speaking again, though it does little to undermine the tenseness already building, for Judoc begins to hear the murmuring chant of Viscount Tenesworth's voice, and the slow building of quiet anticipation between Judoc and Archibald.

It is a spell unlike any Judoc has ever heard...  He is not even entirely sure that he recognizes the language though to be fair, the voice is so soft and the distance and the door so obstructive that it's possible that Tenesworth could be murmuring in Anglish and Judoc wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

Judoc can feel the mana gathering, a small portion of it being funneled through his body from the surrounding flora, some of it even being pulled from his very self...  Basharat had described the gates as an area of mana so dense that it fractured the very continuity of time and space...  Judoc could only wonder how Tenesworth was gathering such immense force, without the meteoric iron that had been instrumental to Basharat...  Then again, the nobleman had already said that he needed the altar, an item that was perhaps as magical as the iron was nonmagical.

After what feels like several minutes, Judoc can hear the chanting stop, though the nagging pull of mana tears at his magical being all the same.

"That's...  incredible."  Younger Judoc's voice is overwhelmed with awe...  whatever ire he felt towards Aiah seems to have melted away in sheer admiration of the gate... or whatever it is he is looking at.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:03, Thu 14 Oct 2021.

When Judoc hears Aiah's voice shift from pleased to pissed, Judoc experiences a flair of anger, not at his familiar, but at his younger self. What a prick, he thinks. Then, he realizes that this may be how others see him. What a curious opportunity, to be able to observe oneself from a third person perspective. The view is not flattering.

He hears the Viscount chanting, but he does not recognize the language. Not Anglish, Latin, or Arabic? Perhaps Greek or Hebrew? Or even some kind of Elvish? But perhaps the door is blocking his hearing.

As some mana flows from Judoc himself, he is surprised. This was not unlike the spell that Loke (or Agares?) had cast when the demon had been summoned. However, then Judoc had been a willing participant. Now, mana flows from him without his consent. How was the Viscount doing this? He has half a mind to ask if he can do a semester's study with the Viscount here in Azer.

The amazement he hears from his younger self is too much for Judoc the Elder to ignore any longer. He tugs at his earlobe to activate his delayed spell and then gently eases open the door to see into the room.

OOC: Activate the Delayed Invisibility. Gently, as quietly as Judoc can, ease open the door.

Unable to withstand the suspense any more, Judoc tugs on his ear and he becomes entirely invisible.  He watches as his body disappears into a translucent mass.  His clothes fade from sight, as does his pack...  Everything is all at once gone...  Everything but his staff!

Judoc had forgotten!  For his held weapons had never disappeared with him, and his staff was simply too large to hide underneath his clothes!

Gritting his teeth with frustration, Judoc nudges open the door, keeping his staff out of sight and presses his face in to see what had been hidden from him behind the door.

The chapel is not much at once to look at.  There are a few short rows of old pews on each side of the wooden floor.  An old and worn crucifix hangs at center back of the room, behind the stone altar, which is an aged, dark grey basalt that has pitted in places but still holds its shape.  Down the center aisle, a threadbare runner leads directly to the altar, and the three men that stand in front of it.

But it is that which stands just before the altar which catches Judoc's eye...  A gate...  Much like the one that Basharat had created, though it is much larger, perhaps the size of two men together.  Basharat had said that the time displaced had been related to the size of the apparatus... perhaps the trip to Azer was so distant that it required something nearly ten times as large as what he had already seen.
 Different also, was that the gate had no structure to support it.  It simply came into being from nothingness, and even from several yards away, Judoc could still feel the pull of mana surging around the sides, funneling into the thin plane of magic where it split the very existence of Yrth for a fraction of a millimeter... or perhaps for thousands of miles.

"Well, here goes nothing.  Thank you again for the shortened trip," younger Judoc says, and he steps forward with Aiah on his shoulder, rippling the surface of the gate like the waters of a dark pool as he disappeared beneath the surface.

His mind racing, Judoc waited for his body to disappear even more completely, for him to fade into non-existence.  Would he know it was coming?  or would he simply cease to be, awaking in Azer much as he had come back to life in Basharat's shop?  But no revelation is forthcoming...  Judoc does not disappear, or at least any more so than he already has...  His body and his mind stay resolutely existing despite the impossibility of the situation.

"Do you fear it?"  The words of Tenesworth distract Judoc from his thoughts for a moment, and he glances up at Archibald, who is open-mouthed and staring at the black surface of the gate, clearly horrified at the feeling and the appearance of the magical anomaly.

"Perhaps it is wiser to mistrust powerful magic."  Tenesworth's voice is somewhat slumped, his eyes and his frame sagging slightly under the weight of the spell.  "But of course you must come at some point to trust in yourself and your abilities...  I cannot hold this spell forever though, if you are to go on to Azer, this is the time."

OOC:  Note the house rule on invisibility.  If you wish to go in the room, you have a choice here to either gamble on being seen with your staff in hand, or else to leave it behind to be more undetectable.  Either way, please roll vs. Stealth.  Also note you have not lost any fatigue from Tenesworth's spell.  His isn't ceremonial magic, though it feels similar to that experience.  If you had to describe it, its more like he is temporarily draining the mana level of the surrounding area in order to focus it on the gate, than that he's pulling fatigue from the spell from you personally.

One of the disadvantages of having a very large staff is that it is impossible to hide while invisible! Judoc grits his teeth. How had he not remembered this? Life most wizards, Judoc's staff is a part of him. Some wizards favor the smaller wands which are much more concealable. Hm. Perhaps he could find some kind of sheathe for his staff. It would have to be custom built, of course, and comfortable, but something that would still allow free range of movement. Perhaps sheepskin, or made from soft leather.

He shakes his head and focuses on the present. Judoc was impressed by the size of the Viscount's portal and intrigued by how similar this gate was to Basharat's. This, presumably, sent people through space. Time, perhaps, was just one more direction to traverse.

His younger self passes through the portal. This is what Judoc had been anticipating, and he is somewhat surprised when nothing happens. He does not blip from existence. The portal does not explode into pieces. No demons swarm out and begin rampaging through the chapel. All in all, the experience is anticlimactic, but Judoc continues to watch, still eager to know what happens next.

His attention turns from the gate and then to Archibald. Was the boy afraid? This was probably the first time the lad had seen any magic at all.

Tenesworth speaks to Archibald, but Judoc feels that he is being addressed as well. Perhaps not intentionally, no, but if Judoc is discover what has happened to his younger self, he will need to follow Younger Judoc through the portal. But with his staff in hand? Judoc grits his teeth. Better to just chance it. He is not going to get another chance any time soon, at least not until Tenesworth rests.

He has no time to consider whether he should confide in the Viscount. As gently as he can, Judoc pushes open the door and makes for the portal.

OOC: Open the door and head for the portal. Try to be as stealthy as possible, but move quick enough so that the portal does not close before Judoc can go through.

Completely affected by the insatiable magical pull of the gate and of his curiosity, Judoc grips his staff tightly to himself and darts within.

He glances once at Archibald, who seems frozen in place, mouth agape, staring unabashedly at the dark pool of concentrated mana before him.  Judoc can only surmise that even if Archibald was a complete neophyte at magic, he still could not help but feel the power radiating, or perhaps gathering at the portal and he could only guess how he would have felt if this had been his first introduction to the craft.

With the deftness of feet Judoc did not know he was capable of, the wizard slinks forward, only his staff marking his footsteps.  Judoc thinks he sees Tenesworth's eyes shift to follow along with his movement, but he has no time to contemplate his options.  Instead, Judoc makes straight for the gate at a brisk pace and barrels through at almost a run.

Judoc had only one other experience with a gate.  When he had used Basharat's gate, Judoc had recalled how very normal the experience had been.  Apart from being on his hands and knees (which had been required due to the gate's rather small size) he had simply crawled through on one end and then crawled out on the other.  In fact, Judoc's anticipation of time travel being something more had been a disservice.  He had thrust his hands out, seeking to protect himself from the disorientation, and as such he had not had them underneath him when he broke through to the Craine of six months previous.

This gate, however, was different.

Judoc had expected, based on his limited experience, to put one foot through the gate in Craine and to set it down upon the ground in Azer.  Instead, Judoc is overcome by an immediate darkness... His foot searches for the earth, though it does not strike... instead Judoc has a feeling of weightlessness, his body pitches forward with his momentum.  He feels like he is doing a summersault, suspended in air.

In fact, the only evidence that Judoc has gone anywhere at all, rather than just disappearing into non-existence, is Aiah's screaming thoughts tearing into his brain.

~...All the hair-brained schemes to save you a few days of walking!  Where in the hell are we!  And why is it so black!"

"I'm sorry!  Give me a moment... I can't," Younger Judoc's voice is no less perturbed than Aiah's, his voice echoing from somewhere below.

It is in that moment that Judoc realizes that he actually is falling, though he has no time to prepare himself...

Clatter!

Judoc hits his back hard on some smooth, light-feeling stone that yields to his body and sprawls out in a hollow splatter all around him.  The blow takes Judoc's wind from his lungs, though as much as he can in the total darkness, he believes that he is no worse for wear.

"Archibald!"  Younger Judoc calls out as soon as the sound of Judoc's fall has dissipated.  "Is that you?  I think something has gone wrong!"

~What in the hell is that!  The thought is a screech in Judoc's head, and he hears Aiah take to wing, a disaster waiting to happen in the total darkness...  Judoc cannot see what his familiar is seeing... or feeling, but there is no question in Judoc's mind that she is deathly afraid and Judoc's mind races to his pocket which holds his stone imbued with the continual light spell...

OOC:  First and foremost, I would like to thank you for a masterfully role played introduction.  It was actually quite fun to write, and I thought you did an amazing job of both role playing the character and making my job of moving the story forward much easier.  I award you one hero point for the excellent posting.

Secondly, I have moved your thread to a private group, so that the other players can't read it... yet.  I have a few reasons for this, but for now, please refrain from leaking details in the OOC chat.

Thirdly, as we sort of discussed before, adventuring with your past self offers quite an interesting role playing niche.  However, it also comes with some very odd drawbacks.  One that I would like to mention is the fact that the two of you have two copies of everything in your inventory!  Two staffs, two sets of the same armor, two Blur wands (might be worth it to look over your magic items again)...  But that does not mean you get double of everything, specifically the expendable items.  If your past self eats a ration... it is taken away from the inventory of your future self (as it was never there in the first place), if you use a charge from either Blur wand, it is removed from the same counter as they are in fact the same wand.  I will not allow you to exploit this.  You cannot use up your future wand and then start trying to use the one from the past.  Nor can you eat all of your future rations and then try and dig into the ones your past self is carrying.  I'm sure I would find a remarkable story to cover the situation, but it would be easier if it wasn't an issue.

Ok, on to where you are now.  Perhaps the easiest way to describe it is a giant sandbox, where the grains of sand are fairly light, misshapen, and average to about the size of your fist.  You could probably stand if you tried, though when you try and support yourself, you feel the "ground" buckling slightly under the pressure.

Roll 3d6 and post the result in your next post please.  This is the number of seconds that are left on your invisibility spell.

You have taken no damage (miraculously) from your fall, you do however, need to roll against IQ or be mentally stunned from the rather wild trip you have just taken.

Good luck!

His previous experience with the Time gate had emboldened Judoc. The gates looked similar, though one was created by working metal and the other by working mana. He counted on Archibald's fear and Tenesworth's weariness to keep either from interfering with him if they happened to see his staff floating along toward the gate. Just like that, he had crossed the length of the chapel and entered the gate.

He immediately realizes something is wrong. He has no idea where he is, but he is relatively certain this is not Azer. Had Tenesworth intentionally tricked them, or had the spell gone wrong in some way? He has no more time to pursue this line of reasoning when he realizes that he is in fact falling. He tries to cushion himself, prepare for impact by tucking into a roll, but he is too slow. With a grunt, he hits some kind of cushioning surface. The feeling is disorienting, but Judoc's mind is sharp, and he attempts to clamber to his feet.

"Not Archibald, no.... "

Remembering his foresight, Judoc pulls out his stone enchanted with Continual Light.

OOC: Thank you for the hero point!

 I'm not sure how much time I have to speak, so please edit this post if necessary.

If the other Judoc attacks, go on the defense. Act as non-threatening as possible.

GM edit for timing.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:43, Tue 21 Dec 2021.

Judoc pulls the stone from his pocket in his left hand as he clamors to his feet, his back pressing up against a hard earthen wall.

The small space explodes into view as the stone is removed, revealing that Judoc himself is still invisible, with only his seemingly hovering staff now exposed to view.  Still, despite his own transparency, Judoc is horrified many times over by what he sees.

They are not in a room, so much as a pit that is only twelve feet or so wide and and perhaps half that long.  The solid stone walls climb unbroken on each side, though Judoc thinks he can see an opening some thirty or forty feet up.  Instead of loose rubble, Judoc realizes with a surge of his stomach that he is standing on bones.  It is a mishmash of femur and ulna, carpals and ribs, and perhaps some that are even non-human, though the singular skull laying by Judoc's foot, its cavernous eyes and nose holes gaping at Judoc and its jaw bone long since separated in a permanent, silent cackle make it clear that many if not most are those of humanoids.

The thing which catches Judoc's attention most however, is the thing which Aiah had feared.  A ghost, or else a wraith of the dead long gathered here, which has gotten so close to younger Judoc now that the two are nearly touching.  The thing's meager shadow is cast over the doppelganger's face, its hand reaching out in silent longing.

"Shit!"  Younger Judoc shrieks as he attempts to stand, though the quick movement causes the bones spill out in all directions around him and his feet slip out from underneath as he falls back onto the pile with a grimace.

~Kill it!

Aiah moans, and Judoc can feel the flapping of wings now fluttering to the far side, hopping from bone to bone in an attempt to get as far as possible from the abomination.

OOC:  You have the light stone in your left hand and your staff unreadied in your right hand.  Younger Judoc is still in a sitting position, though so far he appears normal and unhurt.  The wraith is 2 hexes away from you and 1 hex away from Younger Judoc at the moment, who is on the opposite side.  The wraith has its 'back' to you for the time being.  Please post 2 rounds worth of action.  Let me know if you feel a battle map is needed.  I'm hoping to get by without one for the time being.

What hell is this? Judoc finds himself in a charnel house! Had Tenesworth intended this? Had he meant to kill Judoc and Archibald? The Viscount had seemed so honorable, respectable. Judoc can hardly believe that Tenesworth intended this, yet here they are.

But he has no time for Tenesworth now, or even the pit of bones. A much more immediate threat is present. Judoc shudders at the wraith menacing his younger self. For half a moment, he wonders if the shade has no ill intentions, but Judoc cannot afford to hesitate. If Judoc the Younger is killed, the Elder may cease to exist as well! The Templar student may put his own interests before others often enough, but here? His very existence is threatened!

His glowing stone in his left hand and his staff in his right, Judoc silently curses at not having the foresight to fashion a necklace for his stone. The young mage briefly considers dropping his staff. However, that seems like the utmost folly and leave him without a useful tool. Instead, he licks his lips and begins making a huffing and puffing motion with his lips, not unlike the Big Bad Wolf.

~Aiah, tell young Judoc I'm casting Breathe Fire~, he sends to Aiah.

OOC: Concentrate.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:25, Tue 19 Oct 2021.

Judoc was no stranger to the undead.  He had seen through the Necromancer Haj Umr, and he had been to the underground of Perdition where skeletons not only seemed to naturally reanimate, but grew together into the savage Bone Sovereign which had been holding one of the tile keys...

Above, in Perdition as well, there had been an apparition also, some sort of incorporeal undead, which was only harmed by Magnus's mace and Judoc's magic.

This however, was a spirit of a different sort, one that spewed dark intent and dark aura.  Though Judoc had not felt it as early as Aiah, there was no doubt the thing reeked of evil.  He thought her a message, though in return all he received was her feelings of panic.

Younger Judoc too, seemed unable to cope with the moment.  Even as he stumbled on the bones, he made to recover himself, though his reflexes seemed just too slow.  The black hand of the wraith gripped younger Judoc about the front, freezing him in place for a moment, his eyes widening in a moment of shock.

Unwilling to let his former self die, Judoc springs forward, his tongue flickering in subtle, magical movements before a fountain of fire springs from his lips!  The fire washes over the wraith, causing the thing to shudder momentarily, though the black hangings over his body do not catch flame.  Instead, the thing remains with its back to Judoc and grips younger Judoc all the harder.  It presses itself close to the doppelgänger's face, and Judoc can feel the darkness reflected in his likeness's eyes...

OOC:  Successful Breathe Fire spell that seems to have done moderate damage to the thing, though it does not seem deterred.  Younger Judoc seems stunned and is not moving at the moment, though he does not seem physically hurt (at least badly).  Aiah is in complete panic.  Let's do 2 more rounds of combat.

Come on, Judoc! Snap out of it! The older Judoc grits his teeth in frustration. Must he do all the work here?

Perhaps his younger self is being afflicted by some sort of fear effect. Aiah seems to be as well. If only Judoc had more spells that specifically dealt with the undead! All of his expertise with the reanimated or dead-but-not-yet has been hands on. Judoc has been training to fight the living, not the dead. One Experience may be the best teacher, especially for someone as capable as Judoc, but the young mage knows well the wisdom in learning from others' knowledge and experience as well. One more area to work on, he surmises.

Pure-hearted true believers apparently have some innate abilities to deal with creatures like these, but Judoc is far from devout. There is of course Turn Zombie, though Judoc is unsure if that spell would be effect against the noncorporeal.

One danger in using flame here is that Judoc might accidentally hit his other self as well. A pity the Younger is not currently using a Body of Flame spell. Concentrating, he raises his staff.

OOC: If needed to cast, Ready staff. Then Concentrate.

Judoc's head spins as he watches what would surely be his own slow death had he not traveled back in time to stop it.  The wraith had younger Judoc gripped in both hands and Judoc could feel the pull...  He could feel the life energy being sucked from his other self into the monster, his soul being ebbed away in trickling, greedy breaths.

This time, Judoc thrusts out his staff with one hand, and with a thought, flame erupts from the end, slashing out towards the ghost!

Though this time the thing is ready.  It releases the younger Judoc and narrowly avoids the blow as the flame lances just wide of where the thing crouched not a moment ago.  Though Judoc knows he is invisible, for he can see nothing of himself apart from his staff, the thing seems to see right through the ruse, its empty black eyes locking with Judoc's as the thing begins to stalk its new target.

~Get a grip on yourself!  Aiah's mind screeches as the bird flaps amongst the bones behind Judoc.

At this thought, younger Judoc seems to break from whatever hold had frozen him...  His arms and legs flail, sending bones scattering in each direction as he pushes himself back against the edge of the pit, his breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps.

OOC:  I only did one second of combat that time for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, the wraith just picked you as its new target, but also because I wanted to clarify a couple of rulings.  While your staff is unready, you can still use it to extend the range of your spells by 1 (I'm assuming you are holding it somewhere near the middle in your right hand so it is balanced, just not maneuverable enough in one hand to be used to strike something or to parry).  Since your flame jet spell only took one second of concentration (rather than the 2 seconds of breathe fire), you were able to concentrate and cast all in the same second without the need to ready your weapon.  You can opt to ready it in two hands, though you are going to need to drop the light stone (your only source of light at the moment) in order to do so.

Common sense dictates that may not be a great plan, as your foe clearly doesn't have normal vision senses, while you are entirely dependent on it.  Also, the loose bones are likely to hide the rock's light once it's dropped to the floor.

The wraith is at range 2, and approaching you now, regardless of your invisibility. 

Would Judoc have died here, in the dark, alone save for his hawk familiar? If his younger self might have died here, how could Judoc have lived long enough to be able to travel back into the past? Had his presence now caused all of this to be? He doesn't see how. He had merely observed up til now without getting involved personally. Paradox upon paradox.

~How's he doing? Can he fight? Judoc sends to Aiah.

Apparently the phantasm has supernatural vision to go along with its incorporeality. At least Judoc has the thing's attention now, which gives his younger self a chance to collect himself and join in the fight in earnest. The bones on the floor make his footing unsteady, so Judoc decides to do something about that.

OOC: Concentrate.


I found it on the GURPS wiki's Concentrate page: https://gurps.fandom.com/wiki/Concentrate]

~Fight you nincompoop! Aiah screeches, her wings flapping madly in the tiny pit though all the effort makes for nothing for the air is too dead and the space is too small for her to get any real lift under her wings.

As the thing bears down on Judoc, he sets his mind to a new spell, one to give him more agility in these confined spaces, to allow him to fly and perhaps put him on even footing with this supernatural foe.  Unfortunately, however, this spell was not a short one and he knew there was a chance that he may not cast it before the wraith could get to him, though it was a chance he needed to take.

Judoc focuses his mind as the thing approaches.  He watches as the horror reaches out with cold, bone fingers, and though Judoc twists his body to avoid the grasp, the hands grip at his collar and he feels the putrid breath, the sucking pull of his life force being leeched from body as if through a thousand, tiny, latching mouths.

Judoc's mind screams with the pain!  But he must concentrate!  He must finish his spell!

Suddenly, Judoc is aware of another light in the pit.  Not the bright white of his stone, but the dull orange and red of flames.  He sees a flash of his own face... younger Judoc still sitting with his back to the wall, though he holds a fireball larger than one Judoc has ever remembered conjuring...  it is as large as a fall melon, as large as a man's head...  large enough to kill a man with a single touch...

"Volare!"  Judoc speaks the Latin, the word ejected from his lips even as he can barely control his thoughts from the pain.  But the thing still hangs on... still grips at his collar...

In another moment the bright orange flashes in a gargantuan burst of flame just feet from where Judoc stands!  The blast of flame and hot air washes over Judoc's face and chest, bringing the scalding smell of burned hair and flesh!  Judoc is slammed backwards into the wall by the force of the blast, his face stinging from the heat.  However, he does not fall, for his feet hover inches above the bones... his spell has worked!

Ahead of him, he sees the wraith's whole body bathed in fire for a moment, its limbs seized and burning like a human torch.  Though in the next moment, when the fire snuffs out, the thing does not fall, but charges on again!

OOC:  You've taken a moderate supernatural (psychic?) injury from the thing's attack but are still in fighting form and are no longer grappled (though you were briefly).

Younger Judoc cast a massive fireball and threw it from a sitting position from across the pit.  You couldn't say with confidence how big it was, though you are sure you couldn't make one that big without taking multiple seconds.

While the writing seems to imply that you were injured from the fireball as well, everything was superficial (for you).  You did however get knocked back a hex from the blast.  Make a roll vs, DX-1.  If you fail, you are at -2 to your active defenses for the next round due to disorientation.

The wraith comes ever closer, and in spite of his indomitable will, Judoc finds a hint of fear blossoming within. The undead are as multifarious as they are mysterious. What was this one doing in this pit? Likely the unfortunate victim of whoever filled this place with bones. The rage-filled spirit of someone who had died in anguish, perhaps? Or something more exotic? Perhaps the apparition is the result of a wizard sloughing off all of his evil and vice, the spirit clinging to this world through the sheer force of hate.

As the monstrosity reaches out to him and begins leeching off his life force, it is all Judoc can do to keep from screaming audibly. Parts of his very being feel like they are being sucked away by the abomination.

And then, finally, Judoc the Younger joins the fray! Judoc’s younger self launches an enormous fireball at the fiend, larger than Judoc himself has cast except in practice. His Flight spell fills him from top to bottom, making him feel as light as air, but almost immediately, he is knocked back by the sheer force of Other Judoc’s fireball! The elder mage hits the wall, his face singed, but he is airborne now and on equal footing with the phantasm.

"Nice one, Judoc!” he calls out to his other self. Raising his staff, Judoc aims a beam of pure fire at the hooded figure.

OOC: Cast Flame Jet.

Judoc scrambles to ready himself as the thing approaches, shifting his hovering position as best he can while concentrating for his next spell to attack.

But everything happens all too fast.  In a moment the wraith is upon him, and despite his increased mobility, he cannot seem to evade the blow.

The thing grips him again, and again, Judoc's mind screams out in pain as the thing sucks at his very being.  He manages to cast his spell for his jet of flame and slashes out at the wraith, though the pain affects his aim, and he only manages to slash a narrow gash about the things waist.

Judoc struggles against the grip, slashing his weapon of flame again, and this time he thinks he scores a better hit, though his vision tunnels, his mind still reeling against the pain.  He is briefly aware of another flash of light and the smell of charring flesh, and then a wonderful reprieve from the pain.  His breath comes back to him, though his head still reels, his vision still darkened, threatening to take him into unconsciousness...

OOC:  Wowzers.  I hadn't quite considered how dangerous that wraith was, especially if it got the jump on you.  Unfortunately, despite your flight spell, you failed your dodge, and he took out max damage on you the first round (which took you to half move and dodge) and about half damage on the second.  There were all sorts of oddities with exactly how you were going to use your flame jet in close combat...  I think probably dropping your staff and having it come out of your hand made the most sense...  Though instead of asking you 20 questions (I had many more about hero point usage and the like)  I just ignored them all when I got the full results of the two second turn as it seemed like things played out ok for you with all my assumptions built in.

Anyway.  The wraith mercifully failed its HT roll when it dropped below 0, basically letting you kill it for close to half damage.  You are also below 0 HP though, and need to succeed a HT roll to stay conscious.  If you succeed, you can make a normal post... though if you make any action, including casting a spell, you need to roll vs. HT again for each of them until you are over 0 HP or else fall unconscious.

Also, please roll vs. Reaction (for younger Judoc).  If you are conscious, you may make a roll vs. a social skill instead.  If this roll is a failure, I would highly encourage the use of a hero point, especially since you earned one with your DX roll (I accepted the 4 from the last post, even though it was rolled as 3d-1 :p). 

"Shit!" The apparition is fast, bearing down on Judoc with malevolent intensity. Judoc drops his staff in order to use his right hand to send spouts of flames toward the specter, but still the undead being advances. The young mage knows that he and his double can handle this spectre, but its mental attacks are relentless.

And then, mercifully, the battle is over. His mind shredded psychically, it is all the mage can do to float in the air. Everything hurts. "Well done..." he croaks out. Judoc is reminded of his team-up with Eliot beneath the Templar castle. The imp had been tricky, but this phantasm seemed far more capable.

Slowly, he lowers himself to the bone-covered ground, aware that every movement could render him unconscious. "Hell of a fireball there," he says to his other self. "Good thing I followed you through the gate. I'm not sure how this works, exactly, but I have a hunch that if you die, I would, too, and vice versa." Eventually, anyway, in the case of the younger, since Judoc is his younger self's future.

OOC: Move slowly down to the floor. Feel free to make additional HT rolls for me if necessary. Judoc will not renew the Flight spell at the end of the minute. If the other Judoc does not heal him, he will attempt a Major Heal, spending 4 FP to heal 8 HP. Then, he will use Recover Energy to rest.

With care, Judoc slowly hovers himself downwards until his body lays upon the bones at the bottom of the pit.  Vaguely, he is aware of the sound of bones scraping together across the pit, likely younger Judoc slowly getting to his feet, though he closes his eyes for a moment and puts all of his concentration into keeping himself awake... not succumbing to the pain.

"Good God!"  Younger Judoc moans in a low voice as the sounds of the spilling bones approaches slowly closer.

~I think it's really you!  Aiah adds, as the sounds of flapping pick up again and Judoc can feel his familiar hopping back towards younger Judoc on the unsteady ground.  ~Well, you with less hair anyway...  He was talking to me back at the Cathedral!  I didn't realize there were two of you until just a moment ago.

Aiah's comment strikes Judoc as odd for a moment, until the tangy smell of char reaches his nose again... he wonders just how much of his hair has been burned away.

~It'll be easy to tell you apart anyway!   Aiah adds cheerfully.

"Easy now."  Younger Judoc says, placing a hand on Judoc's shoulder, and Judoc can feel the rushing feel of healing energies creeping across his body.  The pain lessens, and Judoc feels his body relax slightly and his mind clear.

"Thanks, I guess."  Younger Judoc finally responds to the complement, sitting back down among the bones.  "And thanks for following me...  I'm not sure I would have made it against that thing alone.  What the hell was it anyway?"

Judoc can see his younger self concentrating for a moment, and the telltale gestures of another healing spell before younger Judoc breathes deeply again himself.

"And where the hell did you come from?"

But any answer is interrupted by a rough, throaty, and halting cawing from up above.  "[Language unknown: Na.  Mo.   Nd.  Icour man hited ssposa hou ouserated?  Trun witio ain der n ardis tic is rewhe ilmo?]"

Judoc looks up and sees the glow of his stone reflected on a the head of a green, scaly beast with broad shoulders.  The thing peers down at them over the edge of the pit some thirty feet above.  It's horrid face is contorted into an expression that shows both rows of jagged teeth, though whether it is a smile or a sneer is impossible for Judoc to tell...

OOC:  You have had major healing cast on your for max effect, though you are still not completely healed and can see the current status on your character sheet.

The thing peering over the edge of the pit is clearly not human, though it seems humanoid in nature with large muscles.  It isn't making any threatening moves at the moment.  It's also hard to tell scale at this range, but you would guess that it is about human sized.

Roll vs. Demon Lore -3.


The Thing Looking Over the Edge of the Pit

The less hair comment surprises Judoc. Has he somehow developed male-pattern baldness in the six-month gap in his memory? Or has his hair been incinerated by his other self's fireballs? He flushes with embarrassment before realizing he is only present with himself and his familiar. Aiah has seen him at far worse, no doubt.

Relief floods him as his younger self heals him, and Judoc sighs in relief. "Thanks -" What does he call his other self? Judoc? Jude? Other me? "That thing really did a number on me. It was a struggle just to stay conscious."

~Sorry about that, pretty bird. I wanted to know if you could sense my thoughts or not.

Judoc is about to explain the tale to his younger self, at least what he knows of it, when his thoughts are interpreted by a strange voice. He looks up to see the disgusting visage of a monstrous creature peering into the pit.

Unlike many Megalans, Judoc has had the good fortune to adventure with a person who some would consider a monster. Magnus the minotaur is indeed a terror on the battlefield, but in many ways, the minotaur is the kindest person Judoc has ever known, far more human than most people the mage has encountered. Also, Judoc well knows the greed and lust for power that human faces often hide, men like the Templar provost, Baron Graves, or the spineless Bishop Abram. Too, demons can adopt human visages, as in the case of Brother Loke.

However, this thing screams monster, with its enormous tusks, dagger-like claws, and sneering grin. Judoc's heart quickens. Is this another demon, like Agares? Was Tenesworth in league with these demons, or replaced as Loke had been?

"We do not speak your tongue!" Judoc calls up to the creature. Now would be a good time for a Language spell, he thinks.  "Who are you, and what is this place?"

OOC: Attempt to be as non-threatening as possible. If given the chance, use Diplomacy to explain how he and other Judoc arrived in this pit. Emphasize that they were merely traveling and were attempting to get home.

Judoc attempts to speak with the thing, though even as he begins, he gets the niggling feeling that the effort is wasted.  For starters, the thing was not even speaking Anglish and probably didn't understand it...  and it didn't seem like there was any better chance that it would respond to Arabic or even Latin.  But more importantly, the more that Judoc looked at the thing, the more he felt that he had seen it before... or read of it somewhere...

It takes Judoc a few moments to place it, but eventually he remembers perusing the picture in one of the tomes he had acquired from the Necromancer, The Many Planes of Hell.  It was a demonling.  A Shard of Lumscar...  Judoc shook his head to recall as much as he could, though despite his best efforts, he could not remember the specifics.  The Hungry One... he remembered the words though their context entirely escaped him.

"[Language unknown:  Her iser ionsanallive thevenbleany ut hatpa ncev!  We eento red in ica tofo ratlinine hotr tio!  Ll. k.]"  The thing caws again from above as it leers down over the edge at them.

"Likes a bit of light conversation I guess?"  Younger Judoc suggests, leaning his back against the wall of the pit.  "I'm not sure I can do a whole lot about it at this point, except rest."

~I don't like this place!  Aiah responds, flapping herself over to younger Judoc and perching herself on his shoulder.

OOC:  There's no reason to think that diplomacy worked, though you aren't sure it exactly failed either.  Either way, you wouldn't expect the thing above to be friendly, though it doesn't seem to be jumping into the pit to attack you either.

”I recognize it,” Judoc says quietly. ”From The Many Planes of Hell. A demonling, a Shard of Lumscar.” He attempts to think of the thing’s name, but he draws a blank. ”Something like The Hungry One.” Bloody hell.

He rests, willing his body to be calm. How many demons could be present on Yrth now? Why here? Why this dimension? ”I have had it with these motherfucking demons on this motherfucking plane!” he growls. If he didn’t know better, Judoc would suspect he were some kind of demon magnet.

”Do you think Tenesworth set us up? He could have been replaced like Loke was. Or maybe someone or something diverted his Gate spell.”

Judoc wishes mightily he could understand whatever tongue demons speak. Infernal? Demonic? If he had been able to capture Agares, perhaps he could have forced the demon to give him some language lessons. The thought of course is pointless. Setting aside Agares’ knowledge of spells being arguably more valuable, the very thought of capturing Agares makes Judoc smile. At the time, the mage had viewed the battle as an epic confrontation with Judoc emerging victorious. Reflecting on it now, Judoc knows he barely escaped with his own and Alevius’s lives.

”I agree,” Judoc says in a more normal tone. ”Here, let me share a bit of energy with you. That was some serious casting you were doing.”

~This place stinks of evil, he sends to Aiah.

”I’m you, from six months in the future,” Judoc continues. ”I don’t know if we ever made it to Azer. I found myself in Craine with no memory of the last six months, so something’s going to happen to make you lose your memory. The shop owner is a guy named Basharat, and he shapes meteoric iron to make natural gates through time, much like Tenesworth’s distance gates. He has a small one that can send you forward or back a few seconds, and a huge one back in his hometown shop that can send someone back or forward in time thirty years. I used a third gate, one that can send people back or forward six months. I followed you, Tenesworth, and Archibald into the cathedral. I think Archibald was too busy soiling his pants to follow through, but I snuck by invisibly.” He frowns worriedly. ”One other thing. I couldn’t sense Aiah in the future. I hope nothing happens to her.”

OOC: Use Lend Energy for 3 FP. Rest for now.

"The hungry one?"  Younger Judoc answers back, his tone thoughtful.  "That's right, I remember that, Lumscar, the Hungry one...  Or is that right?"  He glances up at the man sized demon which is still glaring down at the two wizards and chattering loudly in his cawing, unintelligible language.

"...[Language unknown:  Hatee ek topeha ureee elset ca diev!  At pr ilunti tiei ng fo erng dertheill!  Mo o cawit wi fost ul!  Il sasa es antat ughsomone ncan mope-arll hasntered!]..."

"I suppose at least we should be thankful we've only to deal with the smaller demon, and not his namesake.  If only because I doubt he'd be chatting us up like this."

"...[Language unknown:  Notwhilinand leonis os tra n tass, Ne Staprenot Eitour!  Et m ortek ul pois ngalth koresspro.  O, nd!  Ek!  Po eartedous rutugheve ithll tore napa!  M!"]

"Thanks."  Younger Judoc murmurs as Judoc shares his energy, and some bit of color rushes back into the mage's face.

"And I'm afraid I don't know...  I was thinking of that too, right when I first fell here... what the hell went wrong...  Maybe you are right though, maybe Tenesworth was planning this the whole time?  But he said too that the magic was desperately tricky?  I don't know.  If for no other reason I'd like to think it was an accident because if he was intending this it would mean I've...  we've got a damn powerful wizard who doesn't seem to think very well of us.  If that matters now I suppose.  Hopefully he hasn't set us too far afield."

Briefly, Judoc shares his story as the two rest, talking over the demon above which continues to talk in a near constant rate, despite the fact that nothing seems to understand it.

"Bizzare."  Younger Judoc answers when the story is over.  "Quite an oddity.  So I lose my memory and then go back in time?  And to think, just yesterday I'd thought gate magic was theory at best, and now I hear I've used them twice?"  Younger Judoc forces a laugh.  "Though perhaps two might be my limit.  I'm not exactly keen on the experience so far."

"...[Language unknown: Rea iv ndmack ho tr foalst roev agares!  M pevir ni pr tiopreromera.  Urwh, Wheli wi bebe ersreaall!  Nt powees sshiic ssma hesi tin ha ivhose stce ilisle lepe hilais!  Nc!]"

OOC:  You've rested for the better part of an hour and are up to full FP, though you are still significantly hurt, which is noted on your character sheet.  It seems that Younger Judoc too has managed to regain his fatigue and does not seem to be as injured as you.

"I wish we knew what he was saying," Judoc says, looking up at the demonling. "At least it's not attacking." He lays a hand on his chest and murmurs words of power.

Speaking with his other self reminds Judoc rather of talking to himself. What a helpful sounding board! Of course, if he were instead trapped in a pit with Finn or Giles, the other mages would no doubt supply perspectives that Judoc himself would not think of. Still, the mage appreciates having himself around to bounce ideas off of.

He nods his head at his alter's view of Tenesworth. "I know. Tenesworth impressed me as a Templar worth knowing. Hopefully this is just the result of another spell gone wrong and not an indication of malicious intent." Still the demonling continues to speak. What on Yrth is it saying? Judoc burns to know. On the off chance that the thing does not want to eat them, perhaps it can be bargained with.

"After I rest back up, let's see if we can get out of this pit and see if we can figure out exactly where we are."

OOC: Cast Minor Healing on self. Rest 15 more minutes if possible, and then start exploring this pit.

"Yeah."  Younger Judoc agrees when his older form expresses his gratitude that the demon isn't attacking.  "Though I imagine that is more the physical barrier of the pit than anything else.  I can't imagine it's easy to get back up there once you come down unless you can fly."

"Speaking of which..."  Younger Judoc begins, turning to face his bird.  "Why don't you go up and look at what we have up there?  Couldn't hurt to get a peek at what we are facing."

~Why don't you go up there?  Aiah responds.  ~After all, there are two of you and only one of me.

She preens herself lightly on younger Judoc's shoulder before continuing.  ~Anyway, this pit's too small for me to fly up.  Too much turning to keep myself up and there's no updrafts to compensate.  I need more space than this.

"Well, worth a shot anyway."  Younger Judoc concludes before he stands back up, using his hands to explore the small pit and its walls in the meager light of Judoc's light stone.

As for the older Judoc, he casts another healing spell on himself and continues to rest, watching as his younger self finds nothing.

"...[Language unknown:  Maughuxin ard aien ev a ovesomthi tic!  Wi At urver ul caan ng intai atistrund themi oveto antsetany.  Ll cepo ee cepr liitse ie Se asnde to inashe!  Wete o paes acer has naut thothilin!]"  The thing continues to caw from above as it follow younger Judoc's movements around the edge of the pit, leering down all the while.

"Nothing."  Younger Judoc finally says after having made his way around the edge twice, not to mention searching through a top layer of the debris.  "These bones go down pretty far though.  We could pile them up on one side of the pit, but I don't think it'll change the fact that we can't get out without a spell.  I guess there could be something under all of them too, but it seems like a lot of potentially wasted effort to try.  I think we need to go up...  probably through that thing."  Judoc points at the green monstrosity still looming and muttering above.

OOC:  Successful minor healing cast on yourself for 3 HP and you rested back to full FP.  A cursory search of the pit provides very little additional information.  The walls are solid stone and while not entirely slick, they look difficult to climb.  The bones go down quite some ways, at least five feet and are easily moveable, though they are not entirely stable to maneuver on or through.  If there is anything specific you want to look at, let me know.

If there are any other exits from this pit, a cursory glance does not reveal any. However, there may yet be useful clues to this place. Judoc remembers the giant lizard that had been killed at the gates of Solitude and how Finn had been clever enough to dig around inside the corpse. There had also been the shit-smeared walls that had held two of the keys to Solitude. Finn had a real talent for uncovering useful items in the oddest of places.

Judoc grips his staff in his right hand. "First, let's see if we can find anything useful among these bones," he says. "You never know. Some adventurer might have fallen in here with a map at some point." He holds his light in his left hand, and with his staff in his right hand, he pokes around amongst the bones, looking for anything interesting.

"After we search around here for anything useful, let's fly up there and say hello to our ugly friend."

OOC: Take 15 minutes to search amongst the bones. Then, cast Flight on self. Rise up in the air to get a better view of the demonling and the opening at the top of the pit. Stay out of melee range of the demonling.

Younger Judoc agrees and assists with the search through the bones, though both of the wizards are quickly frustrated with the search.  There is simply no way to organize it.  Even with both of them at one end, shoving the flotsam all towards the other walls, they still cannot seem to find a bottom, but only more bones going down ten, perhaps even fifteen feet with no end in sight.  When one of their piles collapses, burying younger Judoc up to his chest in human remains, the two finally give up the attempt.

"Bloody waste of time."  Younger Judoc grumbles as he tries to push himself up out of the detritus with his staff, though he succeeds in only sinking himself another few inches.  "And will you shut up!"  He shouts up the pit towards the demon who is still cawing and glaring down.

"[Language unknown:  ...Isha evech tic con ivwasi el atsaol?  Iehi we noenc! N ha eveha artha!  Erele N arfi era!  Erslo li p int wiany, onhis!  Ce encerevor, deric erete on k set!]"

After a bit of work and help, the younger wizard is freed from the debris and the two decide to fly up towards the top of the pit together.  "No surprises."  Younger Judoc offers.  "Besides, if for some reason you would have decided to come back down, we'd have to wait for a rest anyway...  So we may as well both be doing it.  But if something comes up, I'd rather not have anyone alone.  Aiah either."  Younger Judoc nods to the bird who still sits on his shoulder.

~Once we're out of this pit, I may be able to get a better eye on what's up there myself!  Aiah offers.

And so, the two wizards cast their flight spells, both with their backpacks on.  Younger Judoc places his staff in his left hand, and with the other, he grips the Blur wand.  "Never know, right?".  And swiftly, the two float upwards towards the maw of the pit.

"[Language unknown:  Ion!  Ek li m et ncatis!  Eauhasati hou isiois ut ma, mo t lhamskarr!]"  The demon cackles excitedly as the two rise, running around edge on feet and knuckles.

Unsure of exactly what to do in the moment, the two wait for a moment just below the cliff, out of range of the demon.  Though much of their vision is still blocked by the walls of the pit, it becomes clear as they rise that the pit is housed in some sort of cave, for twenty feet or so up is the ceiling with glossy wet stalactites of stone hanging down.  Though Judoc's stone provides most of the light, the stalactites too seem to glow, or reflect a dim light from their surfaces.

As they approach, the green skinned demon circles the edge of the pit at a near frantic pace, switching his position constantly to whatever seems the closest point to either of the wizards as they hover.

OOC:  Not sure if I mentioned it before, but the pit is about three hexes by two hexes, so it's not quite large enough for you to hover at the surface without being in melee range.  Right now, you guys are both under a flight spell and are six feet below the rim.  The demon could try and jump down to attack you, though up to this point the risk seemed easily worth it.  I'm not sure about what you would do from here though.  You don't really have a great view of anything other than straight up, though you have managed to recognize the stalactites.  The area above seems dark, though not completely so.

Please let me know what you have in each hand and what you have done with your light stone (I'm assuming your backpack is on, though if it isn't let me know).

You have 53 seconds of your flight spell remaining - you lost a little bit of time simply getting organized.  Let me know what you want to do, and I'll fast forward as much time as is needed to accomplish it.

"Sometimes, I think Finn just stretched out his hand, and treasure filled it," Judoc had observed, grumbling, after their search proved futile. "No such luck here." There must be at least five thousand human bones in this bit, and searching through them would take longer than either of them had, especially with their current audience.

After helping the younger Judoc extricate himself from the pile of bones, the two mages took to the air, aiming for the pit. Now, Judoc considers the demonling mocking them two yards away. There is a chance the thing is not immediately hostile, but if Judoc knows demons, the thing is probably trying to figure out how to eat the two mages and their familiar.

We aren't your lunch, fucker, Judoc thinks. "Seems to be some kind of bioluminescence," he murmurs as he glances above at the glowing stalactites. He knows if they are to move into the larger cave to get a better sense of where they are, they will need to deal with this shard of the Hungry One.

"Let's see if ugly here is hostile," he says, and stretches out his staff toward the demon.

OOC: Cast Sense Foes on the demonling. If he does prove hostile, cast Flame Jet.

Backpack on back, staff in right hand, Light stone in left hand.

Judoc reaches forward with his staff, looking to keep himself out of range of the demon's claws while still close enough to cast a spell to determine the thing's intent.  At the other edge of the pit, flying at the same level, younger Judoc too is casting a spell.  Putting his mind back on his own magic, Judoc murmurs the word of power and holds his staff aloft.  In the next moment he feels the magic flow from him to the demon like fast-growing tendrils.

As suspected, the thing is quite hostile, and likely wants them both dead.

If the thing suspects Judoc's spell, it does not seem to pay it any mind.  Instead, it continues to circle, switching off between the two Judocs and leaning its face down towards the edge of the pit as it grips the sides with its fingers.

Judoc waits for just a moment, waiting for it to get close enough...  And with another word, he blasts out a jet of fire from the end of his staff!

The thing shrieks in rage, but jerks his body out of the way, lashing back down with its claws towards Judoc!  While the mage is still too far for the thing to hit, Judoc is not quick enough moving his staff out of the way, and the thing's meaty paw connects with the edge of the wood, torquing the weapon rapidly in Judocs hand.  Surprised by the hit, Judoc cannot maintain his grip, and he watches as his staff drops back down to the bottom of the pit, splashing onto the bones with a high-pitched clunk!

There is no time to register the act however, for even as he is reworking his plan in his mind, younger Judoc takes advantage of the distraction to hurl another fireball from the Blur wand, which grazes the thing's arm, making the beast cry out in surprise.

OOC:  Your Flame jet spell was successful but dodged.  The thing retaliated by attacking back, and the only thing close enough for him to hit was your staff, which he knocked completely from your grip (your dodge failed).  It is now laying atop the pile of bones (some 25 feet below you).  Younger Judoc successfully cast a fireball which seems to have done minor damage to the demon.

Oh, yes. This demon spawn wants them dead. Judoc is happy to disoblige the creature and immediately channels out a jet of flame. He wonders why the demon is here in this place, and exactly where here is. Had it been expecting them? Was this a place where victims normally popped out, or had the demon been passing by on an evening stroll?

But the next moment, he gasps as the creature knocks Judoc's staff out of his hands! "Son of a bitch!" he snarls, and immediately starts casting a more powerful spout of fire.

OOC: Concentrate. Flame Jet again.

His staff sent tumbling down to the bottom of the pit, Judoc curses the beast and breathes another spell, shooting forth another jet of flame, this time from his hand.

Though Judoc's aim is good, the beast steps slightly to the side, foiling Judoc's attack as his conjured weapon smashes against the edge of the pit three feet above.  The beast slashes his claws down wildly again in response, though Judoc remains too low to attack, dancing in the air just inches out of reach.

Younger Judoc takes the moment of distraction to shoot upwards in the air, past the level of the pit and up towards the ceiling, his wand still readied and pointed down towards the muscular demon.  The thing growls in response, its eyes tracking upwards as it struggles to keep both Judocs in its field of view.

OOC:  You have 50 seconds of your flight spell remaining.

Note that while having the range benefits of your flame jet (being able to attack and not really having to defend) is helping, being so low below your target incurs quite a few penalties on your part per B402.

Let's do 2 rounds of combat this time.  Younger Judoc has rocketed up 20 feet in this round and seems to be about at ceiling level.  The demon can still keep his eyes on both of you at the moment.

Hitting the demon is proving more challenging than Judoc had anticipated. He notes that his other self has maneuvered to a superior position for firepower, and Judoc decides to emulate the younger mage by rising as well.

With an eye on the demonling and its rather impressive musculature, Judoc attempts to stay out of range as best as he can while gaining some height on his opponent.

OOC: All-out Defense (Dodge). Use half move each round. Try to stay out of range of the demon.

Judoc gathers himself, then rushes upwards, concentrating on lifting his body quickly, though with an eye towards the demon as he passes.

Indeed the thing seems ready and lunges to the edge of the pit, slashing his claws at Judoc as he passes.  Using the very utmost of his spell, Judoc twirls and retreats as he rises, avoiding the claws by a comfortable margin before floating upwards towards the ceiling of the cave and the daggers of stone that thrust downward into the empty space.

Judoc has barely a moment to take everything in.  The cave is large, fifty or sixty yards in diameter and at least fifty feet high to the base of the ceiling.  And as Judoc suspected, there is indeed some soft-glowing lichen that has latched to the walls all around the cave.  As Judoc climbs upwards he sees the rectangular pit fall away, a pit on a small, but steep-sloped island which is surrounded by what appears to be a lake of blood.  Several paths of stone shoot through the lake, leading towards an edge of the cave which appears to have a wide tunnel leading onward.

Younger Judoc flashes the blur wand towards himself, and the mage quickly obscures, the edges of his robes sublimating into an opaque smoke, the sharp contours of his body fading into a mix of color and air.

Judoc slows himself as he approaches the roof and one last gaze shows him the top of the island.  There are a set of stairs which lead to a large stone altar decorating the top.  Younger Judoc now points the Blur wand at Judoc himself, and though Judoc does not feel the effects of the spell, he knows that his body must now too have transformed into the semi-solid shape which made him harder to see...  harder to hit.

But Judoc finds himself distracted as he turns, a floating ball of flame hovers several yards away, and is moving towards them...  Not in a straight line as if it were thrown, but with a purpose...

"[Language unknown:  Aiiv etlo reil oulwhetho!  Ble th En reund and wer ce tedhisthe o ndet eenes?  Maughuxin yintr stasa on!  Ares atof treeof teres lhamskarr meinin!  In ic!]"  Below them the demon caws.

OOC:  You've successfully flown upwards without injury.  You did however have to move 2 turns (at half move) in order to completely escape the range of the demon, so you do not have your exploding fireball cast.  You are now out of the demon's range, though he is still looking up at you and cawing in his harsh language.  Below is a snapshot of what you see, both of the area of the cavern and of the floating fireball.  Note that the picture of the room is what you would see if you entered the room from the tunnel rather than levitating out of the pit.

Please roll 3d6 labelled ???


View of the Cavern

Floating Fireball

OOC:  Flight 48/60.  Blur 58/60.

"Thanks," Judoc says to his younger self with a nod before turning to take in the large cavern they find themselves in. Bizarre. Is that lake made of actual blood? What fresh hell is this? He keenly feels the temporary loss of his staff and knows he needs to retrieve it as soon as he can, but a number of things simultaneously vie for his attention.

The first is the demonling, still chattering away below them. God, if only I could understand what that thing is saying, he thinks. "I think I caught Lumscar in all of that," he says to his younger self. Likely it's threating to boil the two Judocs alive or maybe bake them into quiches. It will likely summon others of its kind, and already Judoc is mentally preparing to cast another fire spell.

The second object of note here is the large stone altar at the top of the rising island that dominates the cave's interior. Where altars exist, so do worshippers and sacrifices. Judoc wonders what the denizens of this place may be, though the chittering Shard is probably an indication. Maybe instead of becoming a battle mage or a Templar inquisitor, Judoc should consider taking up the vocation of a demon slayer.

The third feature he notes is the exit to this place, a tunnel at the far end of the lake.

But most pressing now is the ball of flame headed his and the other Judoc's way. A fireball spell that a wizard can guide manually? Something created and manipulated by Shape Fire? Or perhaps a fire elemental? "Lord, save us from these invisible wizards," he mutters.

OOC: Concentrate. Cast Resist Fire.

"Lumscar?"  Younger Judoc asks as his face contorts in concentration.  "You think he's talking about himself or trying to summon more of the bastards?"

Judoc has little time for thought on the matter however, the approaching ball of flame is quite large for a fireball, perhaps the size of his own head, though it doesn't really exhibit the behavior he would expect of an uncontrolled object.  In fact, the thing is slowing down as it approaches the two wizards and now the thing is barely twenty feet away.

It's concerning enough for Judoc to protect himself, after all, if there is one fireball now, there are certain to be others later...  Judoc concentrates himself, sealing about himself a protection from fire that will make the flame quite pointless.

Beside him, younger Judoc sprouts another fireball of his own from the tip of his wand and looks down at the green bestial thing below, readying himself to take aim and throw.

OOC:  Flight 47/60.  Blur 57/60.  Resist Fire 59/60.

Combat map below, squares are 5 feet, so a little larger than a hex.  Note that you now have 2 spells active which reduces your effective skill but not casting cost (if your base skill is above 15, you still reduce FP to cast by 1).  Just one turn of action that last post, mostly my fault for not asking for more.  Let's try and do 3 seconds this time, or more if you are feeling up to it.

In your post, please note which thing you are keeping your eye on, the fireball or the demon, as well as any movement and action.  It's very difficult to try and keep an eye on both, as the fireball is floating at your level and the demon is 30 feet or so below you, though it would be easier if you moved elsewhere in the room. 

Trouble ahead, trouble below, Judoc thinks to himself, thinking of a tune he had heard in a tavern in Azer. The fireball should pose little danger to him, but it could still injure his other self or Aiah. For now, he concentrates on taking out the demon below and retrieving his staff.

"I'm guessing this guy is no demon lord," Judoc says. "Agares had some pretty dangerous magic. This guy probably isn't Lumscar himself." Concentrating, Judoc begins pulling the mana around him to fuel more fireballs. "More importantly, though - where the hell did all this blood come from?"

OOC: Concentrate. Cast Explosive Runes Fireball.

Though Judoc knows the hovering fireball is of some significance, it seems clear to him that with his spell-driven immunity to fire, the largest threat by far is still the demon below, despite the fact that Judoc is still hovering some fifteen feet above his reach.

Hoping to take out at least one of the threats, Judoc summons a ball of flame with a wordless spell, succeeding so well in fact, that he had barely to have the thought before the crackling ball of flame appears in his hand, larger and more devastating than Judoc had intended.

Behind him, a momentary flash of light and crackle of energy briefly illuminate the room to the brightness of midday.  The red of the pool below reflects upwards, bathing the whole room in a momentary crimson glow.  "Shit!"  Younger Judoc shouts as the light resumes to its dim gloom, though there is little time for Judoc to divert his attention.

Without even taking the moment to aim, Judoc hurls the ball downward, which misses the demon, though catches on a corner of the pit and exploding in a blast of energy and fire which encompasses the demon for a moment before it stumbles backwards out of the blaze.

Again, Judoc goes to his spellwork, summoning another ball of crackling flame to his hand and hurling it downward, this one hitting the demon in the chest with a crackling pop and leaving a small disc of char in the thing's flesh, though the demon seems mostly unperturbed.

"It's another one!"  Younger Judoc shouts as he throws a fireball of his own at the demon below, scoring a hit on the beast's shoulder.  Judoc briefly scours the room with his eyes, and picks up on what his doppelgänger must be talking about, a humanoid mass of red fluid which is taking form above the blood pool, just over Judoc's right shoulder.

OOC:  Flight 43/60.  Blur 53/60.  Resist Fire 55/60.

That was four rounds.  Just for clarity - in your first round you cast explosive fireball and critically succeeded, which automatically gave you a 2d explosive fireball (the largest you could make in one round) without expending energy.  Round two you threw the fireball, round three you cast another 1d (1FP) explosive fireball, and then threw again on round 4.

No map this time.  Despite the fact that it is short, there was quite a lot of dice rolls and decision making going into this post, and after a couple hours, I don't have it in me to edit a map.
 If you look at the previous map, the blood thing is essentially three grid squares south of you, and about 20 feet below, standing on the surface of the pool.

Roll vs. Demon lore.

The fireball explodes beneath the demon, and Judoc smirks in self-satisfaction. He almost pities the thing - almost, for the creature is still physically imposing. Though the demonling is clearly outclassed by the two mages, Judoc respects the creature's muscles and claws enough to stay well out of range.

However, at his younger self's alarm, Judoc scans the room for further threats. What he sees gives him pause. Judoc knows the two of them can handle the Shard, and he fears no being of fire. However, with this new demon's appearance on the battlefield, Judoc feels his confidence slip. Is this Lumscar, somehow summoned out of the lake of blood? Had the demonling been calling it? Or is this another demon entirely? He concentrates for a moment, trying to recall if he had seen this fresh foe before.

~Aiah, keep an eye on the fire creature and the blood creature, he sends to their familiar. Funny. He almost feels jealous of his other self. Summoning mana, he prepares to rain down more fire.

OOC: Continue to cast 1-point Fireballs to throw down at the first creature.

Catching only a glance at the thing rising from the blood pool, and sending a mental thought to Aiah to keep an eye on the thing for him, Judoc refocuses his attention on the first demon, the one that had stalked them around the edge of the pit.  The thing continues to pace, working its eyes between the two Judocs, staring greedily at them as it preens its claws to strike, though it appears it has no means to get close enough to do so.

With a pair of gestures, another small ball of flame appears in each of the Judocs' hands, near simultaneously.  The elder throws his immediately, watching as the small spit of fire crashes into the thing's chest and snuffs out in a moment, causing the beast to flinch but little else.

Meanwhile, younger Judoc whirls around in the air, moving to the far side of the beast to attempt to strike it from two sides.

Judoc flinches a moment in reaction as the floating flame hurls a fireball of his own at him, though Judoc's spell of resistance makes the fireball burst into smoke harmlessly against his shoulder.

Judoc casts summons another ball of flame to his hand as he watches his younger self hurl his own missile down, though this time the burly demon twists his body out of the way as it turns to face his other foe.

~Watch out!  Aiah cries out inside Judoc's mind.

Judoc whirs his view downward, searching out the bloody fiend, though first he sees a ball of force flying toward him at close range!  Judoc reflexively casts a spell of protection, slinging the ball past him as it flies into the roof of the cave.

The ball crashes into a deafening blast of sound, crashing over Judoc's face and ringing in his ears!  It takes all his effort to hold himself together and up in the air... A few yards away, he sees younger Judoc slack-jawed and slowly slipping downwards towards the ground...

OOC:  OOC:  Flight 40/60.  Blur 50/60.  Resist Fire 52/60.

Roll vs. HT-3 to avoid a stun.  If you fail the roll, feel free to use a hero point, or else roll vs. HT-3 again until you succeed.  Please note in your post if you fail how many rolls (seconds) it takes you to recover.

You don't recall anything of note about the bloody demon, nor of the flaming one, though it is now clear that you are up against three minor demons simultaneously.  That was 3 seconds worth of action. You have a 1d fireball ready (though with no aim) in your right hand and can throw it next turn if you wish (with a succeeded HT-3 roll).

Let's try and do another 3 seconds, or more if you are up to it.  I'm super distracted at present, so if there is anything that is unclear, please feel free to PM prior to posting.

Sweat trickles down Judoc's face. The exertion is starting to make him breathe harder. For all of his and his doppelgänger's casting, they have not made much of a dent in their opposition.

Three demons. The fire demon's attacks offer little to fear. The Lumscar shard seems to possess no ranged attacks. Likely the two mages could take on both of them simultaneously.  However, Judoc is starting to get worried, especially with the emergence of the third.

And then the blood demon hurls a magical ball is thrown at Judoc! The Templar student easily deflects the energy, but the subsequent sonic attack leaves his ears ringing. Once the effects of the Sound attack wear off, Judoc looks in horror to see his younger self drifting toward the ground.

Judoc hurls his fireball down at the green demon, and then he dives for his other self. Judoc the Dead has a terrible ring to it. Judoc the Coward is little better. It strikes him that he has spent an awful lot of time running from his enemies, perceived or otherwise. The bishop. Agares. And now Cūlī Tertiī.

~Let's flee! he thinks to Aiah.

OOC: When Judoc shakes his stun, he'll throw the fireball at the ground beneath the demon and then fly toward his other self.

There was no doubt that Judoc was no longer the brash, weak student who had entered the Templar College a mere two years ago.  However, pitting himself, or even two of himself against three full fledged demons was a test he was not willing to negotiate, especially when death was on the line if either of his forms should suffer that fate.

So instead, Judoc decides to flee, and perhaps not a moment too soon.  Younger Judoc, clearly affected by the sonic blast slips precariously low.  Not exactly falling, for his flight spell is still active, though his lack of concentration appears to result in his body sagging from its height in a slow decent towards the claws and bloody mass that wait on the cavern floor below.

Judoc hurls his ball of flame towards the muscular demon, scoring a grazing hit that barely registers on the demon as it swipes its claws upward, missing younger Judoc by a hair's breadth.  Judoc swings downward, grabbing his other self, even as the demon swings again, this time slashing younger Judoc in the lower leg and bringing for a spurt of bright crimson as his younger self shouts in surprise!

~I thought you'd never ask!  Aiah thinks back, arcing around the edges of the room to carefully avoid the flaming ball which is still spitting fire at both wizards, though each hit is nullified by their flame resisting spell.

Judoc takes a moment to ensure his younger self is alive and coherent, it takes a moment to shake the wizard back into his normal state.

"I'm fine!"  Younger Judoc grits his teeth as he pulls himself back up into flight.  "Right, let's get out of here then, I'll cover you!"

Judoc prepares himself, then dives down towards the pit!  The clawed demon strikes out, though Judoc twists wildly to avoid the blow and rushes down to the bottom of the pit where his staff lays atop the pile of bones.  Judoc takes only a moment to kneel down, grip the weapon and adjust himself before shooting back upwards towards the top of the pit.

"Damnit!"  Younger Judoc shrieks from above, and Judoc can hear some sort of explosion, perhaps another of the sonic attacks, though he has no time to dwell on the matter, for he is rushing again by the clawed demon who slashes out again!  Judoc twists midair, though this time the monster scores a hit, slashing a thin gouge through Judoc's leathers that stings as he hurries past towards the stone ceiling.

"Come on!"  Younger Judoc's face is contorted in anger, though he looks no worse for wear apart from his leg, which is leaking thin rivulets of blood down his leathers all the way to his boot.

The two speed on, crashing through the floating fireball, who spits flame again at the pair.  However, the fire monster is completely ignored, the flames simply snuffing into smoke without effect against the wizards' armor as they aim towards the exit of at the far end of the cave.

And they are through!  Aiah streaming in just behind, clutching on to younger Judoc's shoulder as the pair land, turning themselves back to see what has become of the three demons.

The flaming ball is closest, hovering some ten yards away above the lake of blood and the zigzagging paths...  The other two, Lumscar and the Blood demon have barely made their way off the island, though they have paused in their pursuit, staring at the twin wizards ahead.

"They won't chase you here."

The voice sounds from behind the wizards, a high-pitched cackle in Latin that sounds too piercing to be human.  The wizards turn on their feet and take in the room ahead.

It is not large, just fifty feet or so square.  The walls appear to be worked stone and the floor smoothed out by tools and use.  There are few features in the room, the ones most dominating are the four stone busts which hang near the ceiling on the side walls.  Each of them is a demon, their maws cast open in ferocious expressions, their black eyes glittering with malice.  The other feature in the room is a square opening in the center, some twelve feet or so in each dimension, with flames rising up to six or seven feet high.  Through the flames, you can barely see another tunnel opening and steps which continue upwards into the earth.

"Theirs is to protect the altar and the charnel pit.  They won't come here."  The screeching voice says, seemingly emanating from the pit of fire itself.  "And what is your purpose, humans?"

OOC:  About 40 seconds total there.  Younger Judoc had the misfortune of rolling two crit failures through that last post.  It's a miracle that he (you) had thought to cast resist fire, or he likely would have badly injured himself and possibly been killed.  Instead, his fireball just exploded harmlessly in his face, causing damage only to his pride.

You successfully retrieved your staff.

Please let me know which spells you want to keep active.  Upkeeping flight will cause additional fatigue, fire resistance will not.  Younger Judoc will need to recast blur with the wand in order to upkeep that one.

Also, please make a reaction roll for me, or a roll vs. an appropriate social skill.

Though the decision to flee stings, Judoc is sure that he has made the right decision. His younger self has fared worse than the older Judoc. The Templar student is not willing to tempt fate longer, especially when the death of either may mean the death of both.

As he zooms down for his dropped staff, Judoc briefly considers whether the retrieval is worth the effort. He can always obtain  another staff and perhaps add further enchantments. Still, trapped in this hellish place, surrounded by demons and a literal lake of blood, he needs every weapon he can get if he is to escape.

The demon is tenacious and rips through his younger self's skin. Judoc realizes that the demon does pose a threat. However, as long as the Judocs and Aiah are airborne, the Shard of Lumscar cannot reach them. At least Judoc's staff is not difficult to find. The demon grazes Judoc as the wizard exits the pit, but the wound seems mostly superficial.

Running away. Judoc has done quit a lot of this. He makes a mental note to ask someone who has an eye toward military tactics how often retreating is done. Given a second chance, he would not have fled the bishop, but Judoc wrongly assumed the cleric has been under the influence of a demon. Agares, on the other hand - had Judoc ever even known the true Loke? But to replace the Templar with his diamonds, Agares would need to be at least more cunning, if not more powerful, too. As capable as Judoc has become, he knows that Loke or Graves would prove a formidable test. Judoc could stand up to them, certainly. But to prevail? Judoc is not a betting man, but he would not fancy a wager on it, not unless he was able to shift the odds in his favor.

The trio streak through the air, leaving the demons on the ground behind. Judoc does not fear the flame demon, though he wonders for a brief moment if the being could be persuaded to join their side. Is it even sentient? It has not spoken yet, but perhaps it could be communicated with.

Now, the wizards and their familiar find themselves in another chamber, this one smaller and made of stone. Demons are represented here with sculptures. He looks at them curiously, wondering who they might represent. More flames, and a voice seeming to speak from within.

"Our purpose?" Judoc asks. He is wary of this place, the speaker, and the speaker's intentions. But at least the voice speaks a language Judoc knows. "To be free of this place, wherever we are. What is this? Where is this? We were traveling via a Gate spell to the city of Azer. The spell must have gone wrong somehow." Or they were purposefully diverted here. But why? To what end? As a sacrifice? Or to replace even more Templars with demons?

Judoc glances at his younger self, curious to see how hurt his double might be.

OOC: Roll vs. Demon Lore to see if Judoc recognizes the demons. Judoc will keep his Resist Fire spell active but allow Flight to expire.

No rest for the weary.

Though Judoc would like to take some time to rest, he found himself thrust into a new room, a new situation, encountering all new information, and squaring off with an entirely new being.  To make matters worse, it was one that he couldn't even yet see and he wasn't sure if he trusted it entirely that the other demons would leave them alone here.  However, a quick look back reinforced the information, for the flaming ball seemed to be retreating back towards the island and the altar.

Trying to multitask, Judoc speaks out a quick few words to the being as he glances down at his alter ego's leg, attempting to take in the scope of the damage.  The wound seems significant, though it's hard to taken in the entire scope of the damage through the rent armor.  However, younger Judoc does seem to still be standing on it, which in itself is a good sign.

As if noting his older counterpart's intentions, younger Judoc shoves the Blur wand in his pocket and places his own hand on his leg, whispering a word of minor healing.  Though the trails of blood still trickle down younger Judoc's leg, it seems the fresh flow has been staunched... though Judoc cannot help but notice his counterpart sagging slightly into his staff with the weight of the spell.  Younger Judoc grips the weapon with both hands and forces himself up, returning Judoc's look with one of defiance.

"I'm fine"  Judoc whispers between gritted teeth.

"Gone wrong..?"  The piercing voice answers back, and Judoc returns his gaze to the climbing flames in the center of the room.  From its base, a tiny winged imp clamors from the depths, a pair of three pronged hands grasping on the edge of the pool as a peers from inside the flames.

Judoc breathes a slight sigh of relief.  He knows this monster too.  A mephit.  A winged demon of no insignificant powers, though neither was it one to flee from on sight.  Instead, the things were vain and relished in acting much more powerful than they really were.  That the monster was basking in a pool of flames was an additional mixed blessing.  For while Judoc's still going spell of fire protection would certainly protect him, the vast majority of his own attacks would likely have no effect.

As the thing pauses in its speech, its queer expression of curiosity flitting between the two twin wizards, Judoc takes the moment to search the four busts adorning the walls.  He recognizes one instantly.  Lumscar.  And the visual reference brings back to mind some of the text that he had seen along with a much similar picture.

Tormented by his endless hunger, Lumscar’s atavistic desire for the fears of those falling into his clutches was insatiable.

The Many Planes of Hell did not have a long description of Lumscar, though he was grouped together with the myths and deities of the orcs, a race that had all but been eradicated from the East.  The other idols too were of the same theme.  Felclough, The Bloody One and Mauxukin Keeper of the Fire stood on opposing sides.  The last one Judoc couldn't place, though that one too he couldn't help but think was distinctly orcish.

"Gone wrong indeed..."  The mephin narrows his eyes for a moment, taking in the two and the bird, but after a moment he continues on.  "Questions you have?"  The thing's face contorts with a crackling bubble into a nasty grin.  "Answers have I!  And flaming death!  Which do you choose human?  What do you give to Icksjavis?"

OOC:  Nice roll on Demon lore.  I went ahead and rolled for you for the mephit in addition to your roll on the idols, obviously that one went quite well too.

Younger Judoc has healed his own leg.  He is now standing beside you, though obviously exhausted from casting.  He has his staff ready in a two-handed grip.

The Mephit is peering over an edge of the floor - it appears as if the flame ahead is climbing out of a pool of some sort, and the mephit is partially submerged in whatever liquid is below the flames.  He is 6 yards away and quite small, possibly only a foot or two in height, though it is difficult to tell exactly with only seeing part of his upper body and wings.  Keep posting normally, I'll cut you off if combat starts.

Flight has expired.  Fire resistance is still active.


This message was last edited by the GM at 16:16, Thu 16 Dec 2021.

Perhaps Judoc's greatest weakness is his temper. The young Templar student is usually in control of himself, but it doesn't take much to make his anger flare. At the moment, his younger self seems balanced on the edge. Not much more will be enough to set off the younger Judoc.

The mages' reliance on being well-rested is another limitation of their abilities. Someone like the minotaur Magnus can swing his mace over and over, though of course not forever. However, if Judoc casts anything more than his weakest spells, he will eventually tire, and heavy casting will drain him even faster. Judoc's weariness is near the point that it will start to affect him, and it looks like his other self has passed that point.

They just need to find a place to hole up for a while and rest. However, it looks like that won't happen anytime soon. "Let me know if you'd like me to share some energy with you," he says quietly to his other self. He briefly considers tapping his powerstone to take away some of the younger Judoc's fatigue. Should another fight break out, he may need to.

A mephit. One with fire attacks by the sound of it, which Judoc doesn't fear, though Aiah could be harmed by it. Behind him, busts of four demons, or perhaps more accurately, orcish deities. Or maybe orcish deities are all demons by nature. Had the two mages just battled Lumscar, Mauxukin, and Felclough? It seemed unlikely. The creatures back in the lake of blood seemed to be more servants than actual major demons. Likely each demon would be a match for a whole team of adventurers.

So where are they? This place seems to be some kind of place of worship, though a temple dedicated to four gods rather than one seems a little strange to Judoc.

"Answers, you say?" Judoc says, considering. "And just what currency do you accept? To start with, where are we? Are we still on Ytarria, or have we somehow traveled to another world? And what is this place? A temple to worship gods? A place of sacrifice? The citadels of the gods behind you?"

The mephit crawls forward on all fours from the pool of flame, exposing its head and wings and a vicious grin as it eyes the two Judocs.

"Wheresy, whatsy, whosy, why?"  The imp asks, its piercing soprano rising up and down in a singsong manner.  "Questions indeed!  I have answers I do!  Magics I like.  Magic for answers you pay.  Otherwise, you no use to Icksjavis.  No use like the pretender!  Burn you up for wasting my time!"

"I'm fine."  Younger Judoc shakes off the offer of help in Anglish as pushes himself up on his staff and focuses his attention on the mephit.  "Bit of an arrogant prick isn't he?  Think he's bluffing?  My flame resistance spell is still active, but I worry about Aiah."

The mephit glances back and forth between the two, grinning mischievously though saying nothing else for the moment.

”Perhaps,” Judoc replies to his double. The two of them should be able to deal with this mephit, though the younger mage is correct about Aiah’s vulnerability. ”I agree with your assessment. But I would rather pursue a diplomatic solution.”

Judoc wonders how much they will have to offer the creature. He still has a number of items from their excursions to Haj Umr’s tower and the prison Solitude. He is loath to part with the mask or amulet, but he does have scrolls and potions. However, these belong to his younger self just as much as they do to the older
Judoc.

”We do possess magic, Icksjavis” Judoc says, turning to the Mephit and flashing a grin. He wonders who this pretender might be. Another adventurer? Or yet another demon?

Digging around in his pack, Judoc fishes out the potion of Diminution and offers it to the Mephit. ”In exchange for answers, I offer this potion. What is this place? And how do we get to the entrance?”

The imp narrows its eyes at the proffered potion, though it pulls itself forward on all fours, holding its body low as it scuttles like a beetle, its eyes all the while switching between the two wizards in distrust.  It closes the last of the gap slowly, but then snatches the potion from Judoc's hand before fleeing back with all haste to the sanctuary of the flaming pool.

When it has reached the flames, the imp turns back toward the Judocs before staring at the liquid and unstoppering the vial to hold it at his nose.  "Tricksy potion..."  The imp says slowly, grinning with pleasure as it pulls the vial down within the flames.  "Useful this is!"  The imp stares back at Judoc, his eyes alight with malice.

"Live you may!  And one answer you get for one-magics!"

"That's preposter..."  Younger Judoc begins, his anger already beginning to rise, though the mephit cuts him off...  clearly the imp expects there is no room for negotiation.

"Where are we?"  The imp asks of no one at all, sweeping it's tiny hand in a grandiose arc which gestures toward the room around them.  "This is the Path of the Ancestors!“

He grins.  It is a toothy, vicious smile.  And for a moment, Judoc thinks that is all of the answer he is getting.  Indeed, he can feel the anger of his younger self boiling only a foot or so away, though before the other can take any action, the mephit continues.

"Long ago, before men or goblins had set foot on this land, three tribes warred with each other for land.  Dwarvsies found they thrived best of all underground.  Orcs would attack near the surface, but knew well enough to steer clear of the Underdark.  On the surface, war raged between elf and orc.  Elves ruled the forests and orcs the plain, but orcs were not shy of burning down the trees to make more room for themselves."

"The Path of Ancestors, long ago, was the home of elves at the edge of their realm.  But orcs burned the wood, sacked their village, and sunk their altars into the earth with the help of their gods, subverting the elvish shrine with a tide of blood and fire.  They set their gods to protect their spoils, gods whose minions have stayed, even long after the orcs had been all but driven from this land by men."

"That is where we are!"  The mephit grins again as he sinks himself down to the shoulders in the pool of flames.  "The site of the orc's greatest victory!  and their worst defeat.  A place lost in time and meaning."

OOC:  Potion of Diminution has been removed from your character sheet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:39, Sun 19 Dec 2021.

The mephit distrusts the two wizards, and for Judoc, the feeling is mutual. Given half the chance, the creature would likely betray them, but Judoc is willing to accept the imp's offer to trade for information. Judoc can sense his twin's growing anger, but the elder had suspected he would only get one answer for each question. If the mephit had only given them the name of this place and nothing else, Judoc would be as angry as his twin.

"This gear is just as much yours as it is mine," Judoc says quietly. "But if this mephit can tell us something useful, we can be prepared for what might be ahead." As a bonus, by accepting the mephit's answer, they have avoided a fight with the imp, at least for the moment. Judoc glances at his younger version for a brief second. They need to rest if they are to survive this place, but who knows where this might be? They could ask the mephit, but Judoc is not sure he trusts the imp enough.

Too, the creature's answer is not very helpful. Elves, orcs, and dwarves. The mephit is speaking of Yrth's past, before the Banestorm. So, this place was at one time the home of elves before it was desecrated by orcs. The border of the elves' realm - Judoc frowns, concentrating, but he is not precisely sure where that might lie. He knows the great forest had been scorched by the Banestorm - perhaps somewhere at the periphery of the Great Desert? Had the gate taken them west rather than east?

The demons that the orcs call gods set minions here to guard this area. Judoc wonders who the fourth demon is. If the mephit's words are true, they can expect more of these beings in these halls.

"I'd like to ask it how to get out of here," he says quietly to his twin. "But what do you prefer? Would you rather leave him and continue on? Or is there a question you would rather ask?"

OOC: If the other Judoc is amenable, offer the mephit the unidentified potion for the answer to the question: "How do we get out of this Path of Ancestors?"

It seems for a moment that the mephit is going to submerge itself back into the pool of flame but when it sees the two Judocs talking in whispers, it narrows its eyes and slows its decent, peering over the rim of the pool through twin slits.

A step away, younger Judoc thinks on the comment before nodding sharply to his counterpart.  "It'd be nice to know how to get out of here.  And he seemed honest enough apart from telling us after he took it that we'd only get one question.  At least we know now that we're still on Yrth."  He exhales a single, sharp laugh.  "Somewhere between the Orclands and the Megalan Ocean."

Getting the consent, Judoc removes the other potion from his pack gesturing it forward to the mephit, who again stares at the two with untrusting eyes.  But again, the thing rises from the pool, creeping forward on all fours before snatching the potion and fleeing back to his pool.

This time, however, when the imp looks at the potion, his eyes narrow even further, his toothy grin slowly slipping into a thin, narrow line.  He uncorks the bottle, but it barely moves a fraction of an inch to his nose before the imp hurls the vial to the side, spilling its contents all about the floor of the cavern.

"What you offer to Icksjavis?  Why I need potion for fire?  Useless it is!"  The thing's squeaking voice rises and falls like the violent stab of a knife.  "Already I bathe in fire with no potion to need!  No question!  No answer!"

"Bastard!"  Younger Judoc curses in a harsh whisper.

OOC:  The unknown potion has been removed from your character sheet and is spilled in a thin film all over the ground.

"Why you little -" Judoc's anger rises as the mephit thoughtlessly spills the potion on the ground. It was magic, even if the imp had no need for it. Stay calm, Judoc, he thinks to himself, breathing in and out a few times. Why hadn't he identified the potion himself? A potion of fire resistance would be very useful in a temple dedicated to a pantheon that includes a flame demon. Judoc resolves to be more careful in the future regarding the identification of potions and other magic items.

"Fine," he says between gritted teeth, glaring at the imp. What was done was done. The mephit's information was not terribly useful, but at least they had not wasted time in a senseless battle. "Come on, Judoc, let's go."

Keeping his eye on the flame, Judoc moves to skirt the opening and continue on through the room.

~Be careful, Aiah. It may yet have tricks to play, he sends to their familiar.

OOC: Judoc is not eager to get into another battle, especially since this mephit seems content to let them pass. Go around the pool of flames and continue on. Keep Resist Fire on.

Younger Judoc looks stung as his older counterpart takes the slight in stride, though he shakes off the look after a moment and instead gripping his stave as a walking stick to push past the pool of flame.

"You're right of course."  Younger Judoc concedes, though he can't help but glare at the cat-sized monster glaring at them from the midst of the flames.  "I'm in no shape for another fight just yet, and even if that thing couldn't hurt us, I'm not sure we would have faired much better against it.  All we'd need is to waste more time and energy in a battle that was doomed to stalemate from the beginning."

Aiah responds as well, hopping on younger Judoc's shoulder so that she is facing backwards, looking at the mephit.

~I'm ready to fly!  Besides, he's small enough that I could probably do some serious damage!  If he ever left that column of fire anyway...

As for the imp itself, it seems to interpret the anger of the two wizards and relish it, leaning forward from his pool of flame with a sickening grin to watch them slowly circle their way around the pool and retreat from the imp.  The thing cackles as the two step into the tunnel beyond, and splashes backwards into the flames, retreating entirely from sight.

Judoc turns and takes in the way ahead, a slow climbing stair in a tunnel that is only ten feet across and perhaps only eight feet high.  The way bends immediately to the left, which takes them out of view of the mephit's room behind them.

Immediately upon the turn, the tunnel splits in three.  Each way continues on ahead, though the left and right paths are smaller, and veer away from the main stair.  Each of them still seem to slope gently upwards, though the walls and floor are smooth in contrast to the wide steps that continue on straight ahead.

Younger Judoc groans.

"And here I was about to say 'at least it didn't matter that the damn bug hadn't answered our last question... as there was only one way to go anyway.'

Younger Judoc sighs, stroking Aiah affectionately before placing his back against the wall and slipping down to the floor in a seat.

"I need to rest."  The mage continues.  "I'm not sure what's farther on ahead, but I'd wager we'd be best served by being prepared and rested...  I doubt that this spot is safe or good, but it certainly beats anywhere else we've been so far.

OOC:  Resist fire is still active.  The mephit has stayed true to its word and not attacked you as you passed.

You have only moved about twenty feet or so in the tunnel, during which the stair takes a sharp turn to the left that makes you unable to see back into the mephit's room.  The path branches off three different ways ahead.  The center path continues upward in a slow climbing stair, and is the widest path (and the only one you can walk two abreast).  The two side paths (left and right) are narrower and shorter, though you can still walk through at almost full height.

Younger Judoc is suggesting you stop to rest.  Feel free to counter offer if you'd rather something else.

Judoc does not entirely trust the mephit, and he allows himself to breathe a little easier once they leave its room behind them. "We seem to be moving upward. That should be a good sign, if the exit is up at the surface," he says. A moment later, they turn a corner, and his grown echoes his twin's as they both spot the three paths before them. Each seems to lead upward, though the largest of the three paths suggests some significance. Could it be the main tunnel leading to the surface? Or does it lead instead to some place of worship?

At the other Judoc's expressed desire to rest, Judoc nods. "I do, too," he says. This seems to be as good a time as any to patch himself up. Gathering mana from his surroundings, he places his left hand on himself and murmurs, "Sano."

Next, approaching the three passages, he stops and listens for any sounds. He sniffs the air and checks for the feel of wind on his skin. He concentrates. Which of these three passageways has the most likely chance of leading out of the Path of Ancestors?

His cursory examination complete, he walks back to where his younger self is resting and drops down to a resting position himself. "I need probably an hour," he says. "Then we'll try the likeliest of those three passages." As they rest, Judoc takes out a handful of nuts and munches on them.

OOC: Take 5 minutes to consider each passageway. Use Intuition to consider which of these three passageways has the best chance of leading them out.

Cast Minor Heal on self. Rest for an hour. Eat 1 meal of rations. Continue to maintain Resist Fire.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:51, Tue 21 Dec 2021.

Judoc takes the down moment to cast another healing spell upon himself.  The mana flows into his wounds, mending the many small scrapes and abrasions he has suffered since being ported to this hell hole.  But this time the spell comes with considerably more effort, his concentration proves just barely enough.  Judoc knows that healing spells cast repeatedly get more difficult and dangerous with time and he wonders if he will be able to will the mana to do it again if needs be.  At least he still had more robust and yet unused spells at his disposal.

Younger Judoc nods his assent as Judoc suggests they limit themselves to an hour.  "That should be fine.  Lord knows what time it is anyway.  Probably well past sundown.  We'd best be out of here before late, I can't imagine trying to find a place to sleep."

The two sit down, their bodies syphoning at the loose energy floating about the room.  Both of the wizards take a ration from their packs, chewing a bit of the hardened bread and nuts as they contemplate the ways ahead.

Which way indeed?

It was a curious mental exercise for Judoc.  Which of the three was the way out?  Or was there any difference at all?  The wizard attempts to clear his mind, thinking of what he knows of this place.  The Path of the Ancestors.  It had been Elvish, if Icksjavis was to be believed...  Though when it was Elvish, it had been above ground... was that right?  The orcs had pillaged and plundered the site, sinking it to within the earth...  so that paths and tunnels that existed now would all be of Orcish make.

Judoc could not pretend that he knew much of the Orcs.  He had heard stories of course, for there were still some small tribes scattered and hidden across Megalos, but those tribes had learned to avoid detection, and often any interaction at all with the local human populace.  It made knowing much of them difficult when encounters were so rare.  Still, Judoc felt that stepping into the Orcish mind would not be so difficult.  After all, they had well known motivations.  Greed, Bloodlust, and Pride were all top of the list.  The question was, were the orcs the short of race who would make safe path the obvious one?  Or would they use the smaller ones to the side and set tricks and traps that only they would know about everywhere else?

If the story was shifted, if this were anywhere else, Judoc would bet his life on one of the narrow paths...  he would be sure that the obvious way would be lined with death traps for those so foolish as to brazenly forge ahead.  But this, the Path of Ancestors was a place of a great Orcish victory over the elves.  Judoc finds himself quite certain that the way of prominence would not be a trap.  The orcs would not set themselves to the narrow paths, hiding and skulking in the shadows.  Instead, they would gloat over their victory; they would celebrate in their brazenness.

Judoc was not certain where the small paths would go, however, he finds himself quite convinced that the Path of Ancestors was none other than the shallow stair that proceeded upwards and straight ahead.

"I'm ready."  Younger Judoc says as he stands, nearly an hour later.  Judoc looks much refreshed, and despite the heavy laceration through the armor at his leg, he stands quite sure, holding his staff in his right hand as a walking stick as he takes a few questioning steps ahead.

~What is it with humans and their obsession with tight spaces!  Aiah laments, turning her head each way to look at the walls of the tunnel, entirely too close for her to do anything but simply perch atop Judoc's shoulder.

"Don't ask me."  Younger Judoc responds in Anglish, possibly for the sake of his older counterpart.  "I've never much liked caves either...  Or perhaps the underground of that accursed temple in the mountains of Wazif just ruined them for me."

Judoc does not need reminding of the caverns under Perdidion.  He shudders with the thought of the troglodyte creatures that lived there in filth and the Bone Sovereign just a few caves away that had nearly killed them all.

The two Judocs press on, choosing the stair in the center for better or for worse.  Twice, the mages pass drawings carved into or painted on the walls.  The first is a depiction of a massive being, Orcish in appearance though far too large, standing over an altar where another, smaller humanoid lay.  Judoc does not need to look overlong to notice the small being's pointy ears and long hair, nor the obscene blood trail that leaks from the altar to the bottom of the picture as well as from the massive thing's teeth and face.

"The hungry one indeed."  Younger Judoc mutters in disgust as they pass.

The second picture is just as grotesque as the first.  This one with another large, Orcish, beast standing thigh high in a pool or lake as it grips the heads of two smaller beings and shoves them deep into the water below.  The monstrosity has a sadistic joy gleaming upon his face.

The pair pass other passages leading to the side as well.  Two leave to the right, and one exits to the left, but the wizards keep to the center path.  It is still the only one with the stair, though the walls close in somewhat, forcing the pair to go single file instead of abreast.

Eventually, the pair come across a small alcove on the left.  It is a small room, ten feet across at most.  It has a single prominent item, an altar that stands three feet up and four across.  Written across the front of the altar are runes, or letters of some sort... though Judoc cannot read Orcish nor Elvish and has no idea what they say.

Ahead, the stair turns sharply to the right, obscuring any view of the way ahead.

OOC:  Rather than stopping you all along the way each time there was a turn or a fork, I just used your intuition to put you on the center path and kept you there to save a little time.  Feel free to go back and explore the other avenues if you wish however.  The stair continues to climb slowly upwards.

Two rations (one for each Judoc) have been removed from your character sheet.  You are also up to full fatigue.

Healing is a tricky business. The physical body can be highly resilient, and Judoc is in robust health and can shrug off more than the average wizard. However, magic makes things more complicated. Judoc can sling Fireball spells for as long as he has the energy to do so, and he can cast the small fireballs he favors effortlessly. However, for a few spells, particularly Judoc's lesser healing spells, repeated castings become more difficult. Too, the more spells a wizard has that are active, the more difficult casting becomes. For a talented mage like Judoc, he is able to manage a greater number of spells than a wizard of lesser ability. Still, even Judoc, as powerful as he is, has limits. The strain of healing himself a second time with the same spell is a good reminder of this.

Another of Judoc's abilities that seems to have manifested itself recently is an innate sense of better and worse choices. The young mage has always been able to rely on hunches to see himself through tight spots. Sometimes, however, as with the case of Bishop Abram, those hunches have not played out exactly as Judoc had envisioned. Still, as Judoc matures, he finds himself trusting his gut instinct more. Perhaps this has been a natural progression of finding himself in all manner of situations. Whatever the case, his instinct tells him that the broadest tunnel is likely the main thoroughfare out of this place.

Even so, in passing up the smaller paths, Judoc feels a twinge of regret. He had not come to this place to plunder it or scourge it of its evils. Right now, all he wants is to get out of this place, though the curious mystery of his memory's six-month gap still lingers. Braving death traps to acquire gold and jewels is rather low on his priority list at the moment. Still, he wonders what he might be passing up, what the orcs might have hidden in dark recesses and deep caverns.

"Not to mention the caves beneath the Templar's castle in Azer," older Judoc adds, thinking of the fights with the imp and Agares. Caves seem uniquely dangerous in the world, and the deeper the delve, the greater the risk. "Dwarves seem to like tunnels well enough, but give me the open air any day." Judoc has heard tales of caves filled with chaos, tombs menaced by horrors, prisons run by vile slavers. So many adventurers and heroes have entered tunnels and caverns, never to return. "Give me the freedom of open skies any day," he murmurs.

As the climb the stair, the Templar student looks curiously at the drawings that desecrate the walls. "Disgusting," Judoc murmurs. "Is there no end to these obscenities?" At the second image, he mutters, "The Bloody One, eh?"

Still the two climb, Judoc trusting that they are headed toward the surface. Finally, they come to a small room that seems to be some sort of shrine with an altar covered with runes. Curious as to what this might be, Judoc approaches cautiously, wary of traps. "What do you think this says?" he wonders, frowning, once more regretting that he knows no language spells. "Is this Orcish? It seems too brutal to be Elvish."

He pauses for a moment, trying to make sense of the symbols. "The top center looks a bit like fangs with blood dripping down, or perhaps that is a mouth. The one on the right - perhaps fire? The three at the top are larger and more prominent. The other three are smaller, and they seem to be simplifications of the top runes. See, the middle one also looks like a mouth, only with two fangs. The bottom left one resembles the top left, though it lacks those two dots. The bottom right also looks simplified from the top left."

"Could these be the names of Lumscar, Felclough, and Mauxukin, with the lesser runes their minions? But there was a fourth demon. Hm." Judoc rubs his chin in concentration. He is certain the bottom three are derived from the top three. Perhaps where he is suggests patterns in the shapes. He attempts to commit the runes to memory. "If only I had some sort of writing utensil. Let's search this room to see if we can find anything useful, then continue on our way."

OOC: Take five minutes to search through this room. Examine the altar, but do not touch it. Commit the symbols to memory as best as Judoc can. If they find nothing of note, continue on to the right.

Intrigued by the small chamber and the runes, Judoc steps ahead, looking closer at the details.  The first thing he realizes is the lip around the edge and a slight gap near the top...  Though its size is deceptive, Judoc finds himself realizing that this is no altar at all, but rather a very short sarcophagus.

As Judoc begins to explain his theory on the runes, his other self first narrows an eye in skepticism, though as he continues in his observations, noting the fangs and dripping blood, how the rune on the right climbed upwards like fire, how they were sets of three, arranged in majors and minors...  His other self gradually looks closer and shakes his head.

"I think you're on to something there.  Everything here seems to be in threes or fours...  there were three demons guarding the altar and the pit...  Unless you count the wraith...  in which case there were four...  Four demon heads in the room with the imp...  But runes set in threes here?  Maybe they had three gods for the living, these Lumscar, Felclough, and Mauxukin and another god of death that balanced the three?   And then there is the Pretender that the imp was talking about..."

Younger Judoc shakes his head again.

"I don't know, it feels like I'm forcing it.  I'm not sure we'll have an answer here, in any case."

The two take a few minutes to search the room, feeling between them the vestiges of some old, unfamiliar magic permeating through the space.  Though it remains unspoken, each of the mages is entirely unclear whether that magic is for good or ill - though the decidedly bloodthirsty nature the orcs have displayed so far makes it seem unlikely any remaining magic is beneficial.

Eventually the two quit the room and continue on up the staircase which turns sharply to the right, then near immediately back again to the left.

Another tunnel opens up to the right, though both Judocs' eyes are fixed straight ahead, where another wide cave sprawls out, fifty feet or more in diameter.  Here again, Judoc sees the deep red blood flowing across the room, from right to left and fed by two streams entering from the right side of the cave.  The flow exits the room on the left side in a single stream which winds quietly away.  Across the room is another exit, though this one is dry and appears to be the continuation of the stair.  In the middle of the room, a small rectangle of pitted and scarred stone barely protrudes from the liquid.

"Oh this is ridiculous!"  Younger Judoc bursts out as he steps forward toward the room.  "Just how much blood are we expected to believe runs through this place?  All the bleeding elves and orcs in the world couldn't make a river of blood lasting through the ages!"

He stoops down to investigate the pool, putting his fingers in the liquid and bringing them to his face before frowning and touching his fingertips ever so lightly against his tongue.

"I don't think it's blood at all."  He says, wiping his wet fingers against his robes.  "Just water...  Certainly with something metallic in it...  And sediment for certain.  But I definitely don't think it's blood."

OOC:  My mistake on the last post labeling the room as holding an altar as opposed to a tomb.  I fixed it this post and played it off as a lack of observation on your part :p.  Now I suppose we are stuck with a crypt for a midget.  While you do feel some sort of faint magic about the room, it does not feel comforting, and I opted to have you move on rather than continue to search as it seemed like that was the direction you were headed unless something big arose.

The new room you are in is displayed below as I feel like it is hard to do it justice.  You can theoretically exit the room to either the left (one exit going with the current) or right (two exits going against the current), though that would mean likely either fully submersing yourself in the blood (not blood) pool or casting another flight spell to get above it.  The only other exit is straight ahead, which appears to climb on upwards.


1 square = five feet

The room that held the small sarcophagus seemed to hold some mystery. Judoc wondered what magic might be at work there. His innate interest in how magic works pulled him to investigate further, but something else lingered, almost as a warning.

Nodding his head, he said, "Good point about the wraith. I hadn't considered that it might be a fourth protector back in the cavern of blood. And yes - who might this Pretender be? There are so many mysteries in this place."

He reminded himself not to forget their goal of escaping from this place. So, with only a lingering curiosity, he and his other self leave the room and its mysteries behind. Soon enough, they reach yet another room again filled with blood. Judoc watches in interest as his younger version samples the blood. When the other announces that he believes the blood to actually be water, Judoc again nods. "That makes much more sense, actually," he says. "The only thing that would keep blood liquid like that would be some kind of magic, I'd think, and to affect so much blood, the spell would need to be incredibly powerful. But I wonder what's giving the water its reddish hue."

Scanning the room for a moment, he takes in streams feeding into and out of the room. One likely made its way back to the room with the altar and charnel pit. "What do you think that platform is there?" he asks.

OOC: Advance forward and investigate the platform jutting out of the not-blood. Take 5 minute to search the room for anything interesting. If the Judocs find nothing, take the dry exit and continue on.

Younger Judoc shakes his head, unsure of what sort of spell or mineral would turn the water red.  "Probably not safe to drink..."  He mentions, taking out his wineskin and taking a long draw of water.

Judoc comes to the same conclusion, going so far as to cast a spell of levitation on himself to ensure he doesn't touch the crimson liquid.

Judoc hovers over to the small platform, bending over to look at and touch the scored and burned surface...  Just under the water, there is some sort of design carved into the stone on the side of the platform, though the vantage and the dark-hued water make any real detail difficult to make out.

"No clue."  Younger Judoc answers as he floats similarly by the platform, mimicking the thoughts running through Judoc's own mind.

The realization strikes that Judoc does not have much time before his spell expires.  Like his counterpart, he lifts himself along to the other side of the slow moving river, not wanting to continue the spell for longer than is needed.

"May as well move on."  Younger Judoc says as the two set on the opposite side of the water.  "Sooner we get out of here the better."

~You can say that again!  Aiah intones with emphasis.

The two leave the place, continuing to climb upwards slowly on the shallow stair.  They pass two different four-way intersections with branches flowing out to the left and right, though keep on the straight and upward-leading stair, leaving exploring as a possibility after they know their way out of this accursed place.

Eventually, the two break out into a larger cavern again.  This time, the most dominant feature is a six story waterfall of the deep, red water climbs upwards ahead and crashes down in front of them into a pool, frothing and spraying red spittle upwards and out in all directions.  The pool drains away in a stream, which trickles away to Judoc's right side.  There are two paths that lead out, one to the right and one to the left.

On the two's left side, another small, red pool glimmers.  Judoc is drawn to it by a feeling of magic...  A dancing of the light which casts reflections that almost look like people...  like him...  He sees around the rim more runes... this time four, though again it is in a language he cannot read.

As he approaches, another small small demon lifts itself from the depths.  This one is a foot and a half tall, and has curling ram's horns on its head.  It stays at the edge of the pool, appraising the two Judocs as fleeting visions glimmer upon the surface.

OOC:  Map of the area included again as it's hard to do it justice with words.  The pool with the demon is labeled 4a.  My cropping job isn't the best, but you should be able to see the two paths away to the left and right (mostly behind you).  The spray from the waterfall obscures much of your vision ahead, but it's clear that the waterfall is quite high, somewhere around 60 feet.  The river has its own hole that continues away, to the right and behind you.

I rolled vs. IQ for you to determine if you saw the magic in the pool and it was a crit success (10 better rather than a natural 3 or 4) which gives you great results but not a hero point.  You are able to tell that the pool is a divination source of some kind, and it has a rather dark aura...

Finally, roll vs. Demon Lore to identify the creature which lives in the pool.  It does not seem interested in fighting you at the moment, so feel free to make a normal post. 

As Judoc levitates over the crimson water, he pauses to consider the carving just below the surface. What might that be? Part of Judoc wishes he had time to explore this place at his leisure. Who knew what ancient, long-forgotten secrets lie buried in this Path of Ancestors? Reluctantly, he continues floating over the river until he reaches the other side and lands gently on the shore.

As they climb, the two mages and their hawk familiar pass by more alternate paths. "I wonder what else is down here," he murmurs to his companions. Judoc reflects on the differences between this journey and the one he undertook to the ancient Elven prison, Solitude. At first, the mission had been straightforward. Find Mika'il and stop him from opening the prison doors and loosing the cells' contents on an unsuspecting Megalos. Judoc remembers how his own goal had shifted once he realized what secrets might be hidden within that ancient prison. Danger, yes, but also great power. Power Graves would likely want to get his hands on.

Graves. What is Judoc going to do about the Provost? Judoc finds the baron's power terrifying, particularly Graves's facility at sifting through Judoc's mind. Judoc had been able to conceal his own connection to the Row, but he knows he must step carefully if he is to avoid having the secret spill out. Not for the first time, he wonders what he will tell Graves about what he has learned about Finn and the other mage's Row affiliation.

"I still don't know how much we should tell Graves about Finn," he says to his younger self. "I like Finn. The man's a damn good wizard and a good man to have on your side. Hell, I consider him a friend. But he told everyone who would listen about the Row. If word gets back to Graves that we were working with a known member of the Row, it's going to get ugly. How much do you think we should say?"

And then, there's whatever the Row is planning. Perhaps they did it already. Perhaps when Judoc returns to Azer, the Row and Graves will have destroyed each other, and Judoc can breathe easier. Whatever hapens, Judoc suspects his life will not be any easier for having escaped this cursed place.

Now, the two read yet another large cavern. Judoc pauses a moment to marvel at the giant waterfall that cascades over the rocks ahead. The stream likely leads to the river they passed a few minutes ago. He wonders what time it is now. How long had they been climbing the stair?

His attention is drawn to another red pool. More runes. Judoc's lack of ability to read unknown languages galls him, and he knows this is a yet another area he can grow in. The images draw him in, and he moves closer to see if he can recognize what they might be.

As he walks closer, another small imp clambers up to the surface. Another mephit, perhaps? Judoc searches his mind to see if he can recall what this particular demon might be.

"Greetings, O Guardian of the Pool," Judoc says. "Those reflections on the water's surface - what are they? What do they signify?"

OOC: Adopt a respectful tone. Use Diplomacy.

As the two Judocs climb the stair, Judoc's thoughts drift to what he has come to think of home...  Of Azer, and of the Templar College.  This would be a hell of a story some day to tell his classmates - if any of them were left anyway.  Indrid somewhere along the line had turned into a complete ass, Grobbik had been spending more and more time with Loke... at least before Judoc had his encounter with the man or beast...  Giles was obviously gone.

More and more, Judoc had felt alone even before he had been sent away for a semester.  He could only imagine what it would feel like after he returned.

"If I've learned anything from that school."  Younger Judoc returns his counterpart's question, "It's to keep my damn mouth shut.  Telling Graves more is only going to lead to more trouble.  Better to just pretend like everything went exactly normal.  Finn's a big kid, not to mention it didn't seem like he was headed back any time soon.  So bent out of shape about that book."

Younger Judoc shakes his head.

"Chances are, nothing'll happen.  Better to take those odds than to start something on the off chance that Finn makes his way back and starts bragging both about the Row and about working with me... us."

But the conversation is cut short when the two reach the cave and the crimson pool.  Judoc takes a moment to consider the little beast which climbs from its depths.  He thinks it may be another mephit for a moment, though he quickly shakes his head on the thought, for he notices only a moment later that he can actually see through the beast...  It seems at least partially incorporeal.

He has seen this one too in his books.  A quasit.  A sort of half undead, half demon with one foot firmly stepped within each realm.  He remembers a note that the beasts were at times used as familiars by sorcerers.  While they came from the Abyss, a magical ritual would shackle them to this realm and to the service of their master.  They were often unwilling guests, waiting on the bidding or the death of their master to finally return to their home.

The thing appraises the two Judoc's for a moment, his face an unreadable grimace.  Then gestures towards the pool at his side.

"The future it is."  The beast begins, his eyes narrowing.  "Many secrets this pool has.  Lying upon its bottom you shall see the whole of the future, many secrets.  But you must sweep the water away to see everything."

Judoc considers the words for a moment...  The images are clearly playing off on the water's surface, though much like the other waters it is difficult to see very far into its depths.

"So how do we use it?"  Younger Judoc asks.  "Just ask it a question?"

"Pull the water away!"  The quasit answers, a note of steel to his voice.  "Then you shall see its full power!"



OOC:  Picture above for reference.

Judoc marvels at the range of knowledge he is accumulating during his time in this place. He imagines writing a book about his journeys and the demons and other infernal creatures he has encountered. Dangerous Demons and Where to Find Them by Judoc the Farstrider, perhaps.

A quasit. He remembers reading about this relative of the mephit. What other imps might they encounter her? A whatsit? A whosit? A quisling? He allows himself a small smile. Judoc the Demonbane. This particular type of demon is bound to a particular place. Perhaps this pool.

"The future, you say?" Judoc says. Curious. Judoc himself comes from the future. "I suppose if we remove all the water from the pool, you will be free to leave, yes?" He focuses on the pool, attempting to concentrate on the surface's images.

"I have no desire to leave you bound here, Quasit," Judoc says. To his other self, he says, "What do you think? Should we empty the water out and potentially destroy this oracle?"
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 23:05, Thu 06 Jan 2022.

Judoc surmises the quasit's intent in mere moments, asking the thing if emptying the pool will indeed unshackle him from his ties to this world.  The monster, however, merely glares between narrow eyes at Judoc, not answering, nor taking any other action while the two mages divert their attention to converse with each other.

"I do wonder what it could tell us..."  Younger Judoc answers back, taking a half step forward to the pool and peering down at its surface.  "What do you think it tells?  Who do you think made it?  The orcs, or the elves before them?"  Younger Judoc is nearly licking his chops with curiosity as he peers forward, the surface of the pool glinting as if in anticipation.

"May I?"  Younger Judoc half asks his older self, though it quickly proves to be only a courtesy as he is already turning his attention back to the blood red water.

"How do I lose my memory?"

The water churns softly for a moment before the reflections of light, the vision of Judoc reflected upon the water, slowly begins to rise above the surface.  For a moment, Judoc is struck by the impression that now there is a third Judoc, this one in miniature which stands upon the surface of the water.

However, Judoc quickly realizes this most recent image is translucent... almost like a half done illusion.  Whatever this magic is it clearly isn't duplicating his form yet again.

The image is tantalizing.  The Judoc in miniature holds his staff ready in two hands, his head turning this way and that in either confusion or vigilance.

"Drain the pool!"  The Quasit demands suddenly in a bold voice.  His form stepping resolutely between the two Judocs and the vision playing out ahead.  However, despite his intentions, the beasts's diminutive size does not create any barrier to the much taller mages' view of the scene.

"Drain it now!"  The thing shrieks.

But Judoc's attention is just as drawn to the vision, where a cloud of black has just formed in front of the illusionary mage...  And reformed into a man... or perhaps a beast on two legs?  Whatever it is, the thing is three or four times the size of Judoc's replica which is wildly swinging its staff in feverish attacks of flame.

And then the thing deforms again...  And becomes a cloud...  And covers Judoc...  Then both cloud and man disappear again back into the pool.

"Drain it!"  The quasit shrieks again, his fists gripped tightly and clearly irate as it stares upwards at the two.

OOC:  Roll vs. Curiosity.  If you fail, you must investigate the pool further.

"Fascinating," Judoc murmurs, gazing at the scene in the pool. He is transfixed as a miniature version of himself is formed. "Good idea," he says softly to his double. He looks in annoyance at the quasit. Was the thing attempting to warn them, or was it selfishly attempting to keep them from discovering secrets?

A figure forms. Another demon, no doubt. So was this how Judoc lost his memory? He sees only a single figure of himself. Where was the other Judoc, he wonders.

"I'm more than happy to free you from your curse, Quasit, if you explain," Judoc says in exasperation.

To the pool, he asks, "What traps lie between us and the exit?"
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 01:57, Tue 11 Jan 2022.

Patience is a virtue.  So Judoc has been told all his life, despite (or perhaps more likely because of) his own predisposition to impatience.  In this circumstance, Judoc offers exactly what the quasit wants in return for the slightest bit of patience.  A quid pro quo - Judoc gets information from this pool of Augury while the quasit gets its freedom.  It seems entirely fair.  So much so that Judoc entirely overlooks the little beast as he steps ahead and asks his own question to the pool.

Judoc stares ahead greedily at the surface as it churns slightly again before spitting out another image, this one of Judoc impaled on a bed of thick spikes.  The pool begins to churn again, the image shifting to another form, though Judoc has no time or attention left to give.

The quasit, perhaps lacking patience even more so than Judoc, has thought little of Judoc's implied agreement.  In the span of the single image, the monster in miniature has leapt forward, his tiny, monster hands reaching out, grabbing at Judoc's calf.

"Watch out!"  Younger Judoc shouts as he takes his own step back, gripping his staff with both hands.

But though Judoc had seen the movement too, he is just too slow to swiftly sep back.  The thing grips him with both hands by the leg, sending rivulets of cold shiver shooting through his body.  Judoc stumbles back, his full attention shifting to the quasit and its now bulging eyes and gritted teeth.

"Drain the pool NOW!"  The thing cries, stepping forward menacingly even as the reddened pool dances with reflected illusions.

OOC:  You have taken minor damage (magical rather than physical in nature) which started at your calf but seems to have affected your whole body.  While you didn't declare a defense, I did give you an opportunity to dodge, though the roll failed, and to be frank I thought it was rather fair given the preponderance of your attention would have been on the pool anyway.  I elected not to use a hero point as in the grand scheme of things the damage did end up being minor.  You are at -3 shock penalty for the next turn.

Based on your previous posts (no stated preparation for combat, the attempts at diplomacy, etc.), I've made the assumption that you had your staff unready and your backpack still on.  That puts you at medium encumbrance and -2 to your dodge, though you still have the option to retreat.  I think you would still have the light stone in your left hand, as we decided you didn't have any rope to make a necklace, and you never stated that you were casting any spells on other items.  Note that unlike the bone pit, you could easily just drop the stone here and still have plenty of light to go by as the ground is solid.

You and the quasit are in close combat at the moment, remember though that the map squares are 5 feet instead of 1 yard, so things don't entirely match up.  Also a quick reminder that the quasit is only a foot and a half tall, so you're looking at SM-4 (-4 to hit).

Let's start with immediate actions.  Let's do 2 seconds, which we'll say equates to two sentences of speech (or something close).

If you wish to continue watching the pool, make a will-3 roll (for concentration) in case you need to make a defense.

The image of Judoc pieced by spikes gives the young mage pause. How trustworthy is this pool? Does it show what might be or what will be? Does it attempt to trick those who gaze into its waters? Could the quasit be warning him, or is it trying to prevent Team Judoc from learning useful information?

But before Judoc can see more, the imp inexplicitly lashes out and grapples the mage. The shock of ice sends shivers through the mage's body, and he recoils in anger.

"What the fuck?" Judoc raises his unreadied staff to ward off the quasit's attack, though the gesture is ineffectual. "Do you want to die today, little demon?" he snarls, his face now contorted in a hateful grimace.

OOC: Drop stone. Ready staff. All-Out Defense. Attempt Intimidation.

Judoc is surprised by the quasit's actions and immediately raises his guard.  His lighted stone drops to the ground, sending the shadows of the room, the two Judocs, the stalagmites off to the edges, and even the shadow of the minuscule quasit climbing upward on the walls towards the roof of the cave.  Judoc grips his staff with both hands, ensuring himself he will be ready for the next attack if it comes.

While he was not sure about his ability to fight off three demons at once, and was not going to test fighting the mephit as exhausted as he was, he was not afraid of a pint-sized quasit no matter how foul the thing's temper.

Judoc spits a few words as he raises his staff and steps backwards into a normal range, though neither his threat nor his weapon serves to ward off the thing.  "You men are so obsessed with death!"  The thing lunges again, the shadows growing larger and more dominating across his face as he comes towards Judoc.  The thing reaches out its hands though this time Judoc's reactions are good enough, swatting the cat sized demon away with an end of his stave.

The thing groans with the impact though does not seem dissuaded.

"I have died many times, I doubt one more will make any difference!"

"Watch out!"  Younger Judoc calls out, swatting his own staff at the small monster, though the thing is so tiny that his aim is foiled and the blow goes just shy.

OOC:  You have scored a moderate blow to the torso of the quasit based on your successful parry.

No map this time.  Just so you know, in order to do a normal parry, you had to step back to get back into range 1 (the quasit has to be in close combat to strike it's so small.)  You are back to close combat and Younger Judoc is following in behind the two of you at range 1, though his strike with his own staff missed.

Lets do another two rounds.

The quasit has died many times, it claims. Judoc wonders how many and in what ways. What happens to demons when they die? Are they banished and respawn on their home plane? Do they remember who killed them and hold a grudge? Would he see Sadda again? Would he ever be free of Agares?

He has heard the belief that souls continue to be reborn after death. This religious belief is certainly heretical in Christianity, but Judoc wonders if there could be truth to this.

All of these musings flash by in a second. "This is pointless!" Judoc snarls. "Your death is on your own head!" Summoning the mana around him, he channels it into the end of his staff and takes aim at the diminutive creature.

OOC: Cast Flame Jet. Aim.

Judoc snarls his response to the quasit, before channeling the mana around him into a flaming extension of his staff.  He retreats a step, hoping to put some space between them, though the minute creature presses the attack ever closer.  It reaches out its tiny hands, clutching towards Judoc's leg, though with another dancing step back, Judoc slaps the beast aside with his staff, causing the thing to grunt in response.

Younger Judoc too, follows just behind, taking the moment as the gap between the two combatants increases to swat his own staff at the minuscule demon.  The thing seems to recognize the attack at the last minute, twisting his body away from the blow, but he is just too slow, and the staff hits a glancing blow across the beast's shoulder.

But now Judoc finds himself in a corner with one foot next to the slick wall of the cave and the other just next to the bright crimson river.  The end of his staff now glowing with a brilliant red flame, Judoc takes the moment to assess his enemy, to look for some opening, determining where he could hit the beast with best effect.

But Judoc's moment of pause gives the monster all he is looking for.  With a look of glee, the quasit lunges forward so quickly that Judoc cannot even get his defenses in place.  With both hands, it grips Judoc at the knee, sending reverberations of shocking pain screeching up Judoc's spine and through his whole body!

For a brief moment, Judoc is sure that he is destined for death, that even another moment of such agony would unmake him.  But through the pain, Judoc watches as his other self cocks his staff back with both hands and swings as if he is trying to send the quasit flying.

Whack!

The quasit's grip loosens and slips away as the beast takes a small, splashing step into the river's edge.  In that moment the pain stops, though Judoc's breath still comes in quick gasps and his vision still blurs.  His movements are slow and lethargic and his head throbs.

But the quasit seems winded too, holding it side as it attempts to right itself, trying to keep its back against both of the Judocs as it sizes them up for another strike.

OOC:  Sorry for the lack of a map.  I'm in a hotel room and the internet isn't fast enough to give me confidence in the ability to upload, if it's helpful on the next summary I'll make one for you to clear up anything that comes up.  If you look at the one above, your picture would be in the corner made by the river/wall (just left of where the path leads back where you came), the quasit would be in the grid square just below you with one foot in the river, and younger Judoc would be at the opposite corner of the same grid square as the quasit, about 1 yard away.

You have taken a major psychic injury.  You are at -4 shock penalty on your next turn, though you do have a +1 bonus from your aim/evaluate maneuver if you chose to attack (or you could continue to evaluate to keep the bonus).  You also must roll vs. HT plus fit bonuses for knockdown/stun due to the major injury.  If you fail your roll, you fall to the ground, drop your staff, and are stunned until you succeed an HT roll.  If you fail by 5 or more you fall unconscious.

If you succeed the roll you may act normally the next turn.  You still have the 1 point (0 FP) flame jet coming out of the tip of your staff.

You are at range 1 right now and may continue to parry, though you can no longer retreat without taking a move maneuver to get your back away from the wall/river.  You are also at half move and dodge due to your accumulated injuries.

Lets attempt another 2 rounds.

Fighting a creature the size of a wildcat is proving challenging. Give that wildcat claws infused with psychic energy, and the battle becomes much more dangerous. The quasit lunges forward, filling Judoc with excruciating pain! "Shit!" Judoc cries out. He is dangerously close to passing out. His Resist Fire and Flame Jet spells are still active, and he manages to avoid crumpling to the ground, but he knows he cannot shrug off another attack.

Judoc holds out his staff in a defensive posture. If the quasit attacks again, he is not sure if he can ward him off.

OOC: All-Out Defense.

"Eaaaagghh!"  The quasit shrieks, attempting to keep both Judocs on the same side while simultaneously attempting to reach out towards Judoc, who is barely keeping a grip on his consciousness.

Time seems to slow down for a moment, Judoc puts his everything into his defense, waiting to the last moment to swing his staff across and block the undead imp from touching him.

Whack!  Thwack!

In near-simultaneous blows, each Judoc raps their staff across the meat of the monster, their combined strength doing what either of them couldn't seem to do alone.  The quasit screeches for the briefest of moments, but in only a moment his voice fades into nothing, along with his body which grows more and more transparent, until there is nothing.

"Easy!"  Younger Judoc says, taking no time at all to pass by the emptiness left by the quasit and rush to his counterpart.

"Sanaa."  Healing powers rush into Judoc's form, his legs firming up underneath him as he manages a deep breath out.

"All right?"  Younger Judoc asks, popping up an inquisitive eye.

~Right as rain!  Aiah answers from younger Judoc's shoulder, squawking slightly as she ruffles herself up as high as she can get.

"Well, hopefully that's the end of that quasit anyway..."  But younger Judoc's voice cuts off after a moment, though it takes Judoc a moment to find out exactly why.

When Judoc does look back at the red pool however, instead of reflections and images dancing on top, now there is a translucent reflection below the surface.  It is the quasit itself, reborn... or perhaps redead, huddled in a fetal position and unmoving, submerged in the crimson water.

OOC:  Younger Judoc has cast major heal on you for 8 HP.  You are no longer half move and dodge and can continue to post normally.  The quasit appears to be back in the pool, though a quick inspection will reveal that it is entirely unmoving for now.

Judoc has not given much thought to how he might die. That day seems a long way off. Judoc imagines dying of old age, surrounded by a library of priceless grimoires and manuscripts, a pipe in one hand, a glass of sherry in the other. Dying here, killed by a miniscule demon, strains credulity.

He only holds the thought for a moment, however, as he gives his full attention to staying alive. Though the flame jet still gushes from his staff, Judoc focuses on defending for now, as one more hit from the quasit will likely render Judoc unconscious. A couple of quick taps from both Judocs, and the demon is vanquished. Judoc finds annoyance, not pity, in his heart. If the creature had simply worked with them, Judoc could have freed the creature from its prison. Instead, the quasit chose pain and death.

"Thanks," Judoc says gratefully. "For the healing and the assistance." He turns and sees what his younger self sees. The reflections and images are gone from the pool, and below, the quasit seems to be reforming.

"Great," Judoc says, his teeth grit. "I suppose the enchantment only works if the quasit is alive." He looks consideringly at the creature being reborn. "Should we try to trap it? Then we could use the pool as long as we want. If the entire thing isn't an elaborate trap, that is. But what could we use to cage it?" He rubs his chin. "We do have that scroll of Create Object. What do you think? Is it worth attempting to cage the quasit, or would it be wiser to continue on our way?"

Younger Judoc's curious visage turns between his older self and the quasit, which seems on the verge of leaving this world, it's body only barely visible in the pool of red.  Had Judoc not killed the thing himself, only moments ago and several feet away, he would be sure the thing would die at any moment.

As it is though, to Judoc, it seems that the monster could only be going in the other direction... slowly gaining energy, though how quickly and in what degree he could not be sure.

"Trap it?"  Younger Judoc asks, his own face scrunched up in thought.  "We could...  I'm not sure it would give us much resistance now...  Do you think the pool still works?  Or maybe just like the thing it's lost it's power and needs to regain it?  I'll tell you, I was tempted to help the thing, but it was so damned impatient now I'm leaning more towards just leaving the thing in its suffering."

OOC:  You could totally use the create object to make a cage if that was your desire.  Younger Judoc isn't going to sway you one way or the other, but is very much likeminded that he isn't entirely sure what the best course is.

Nodding, Judoc considers the quasit. If the demon's words had been true, the creature has undergone this process many times. "My guess is the pool is powered by the demon's imprisonment," he says. "It may not be active if the quasit is unconscious. Emptying the pool probably frees it from its chains at the cost of destroying whatever power the pool has." He rubs his chin thoughtfully. Judoc the Merciful takes no joy in the suffering of other beings, but the little bastard hadn't been willing to listen. The attack had been potentially deadly, though with two Judocs here, the quasit hadn't stood much of a chance.

"Let's see if it does," he says to his younger self, and moves closer to gain a better perspective of the pool. "What will happen if we free the quasit?" he asks. "Will we do more harm or more good?"

He turns back to his twin. "I'm tempted toward leaving the quasit here to suffer, too, especially after it was so vicious." He frowns and looks down at the demon. "You just had to make things difficult, didn't you, you vile little creature?" he says.

But something pricks at Judoc's conscience, weak as it is. The creature is certainly lying about unlocking the full potential of the pool by draining it. But Judoc finds himself wondering what might happen if he does drain the water.

Looking at his twin, he says, "I don't want to act unilaterally here, but I am curious about what might happen if I drain this pool. Would you be okay with my trying to free this miserable creature from what might bind it to our world?"

OOC: Judoc doesn't want to presume he's the boss and his double will go along with whatever the elder Judoc decides. However, Judoc does want to try to drain the pool to see what will happen. If the other Judoc agrees, Judoc will scoop out water with his hands until none is left in the pool.

Though Judoc expects that the augury pool to no longer work upon the death of the quasit, he finds himself surprised as the flickering lights shift and converge at his question.

The power of the pool seems undiminished, as just as quickly as before, Judoc finds himself looking down upon a shadow scene, of a false quasit laying translucent above the pool just as the real one lays dormant below the pool's surface.  Judoc watches as the false demon shimmers and disappears into a trail of fading lights...  leaving nothing.

"Seems simple enough."  Younger Judoc responds after some thought.  "I'm happy to set the thing off if nothing will come of it here.  It'll keep him from attacking us again later at least."

Judoc takes a step forward and kneels down, keeping his knees just out of the waters as he reaches in with his hand and forearm, raking a large swath of the water up out of the pool and across the nearby rocks.  By the looks of things, the pool is maybe a foot deep in the middle and a ten foot or so diameter.  Scooping the water away with his hands is doable, though it will likely take some hour or more, even with the two of them working.

On the plus side however, even as Judoc approaches, the imp does not so much as stir in its slumber.

OOC:  No worries about the slow posting.  I've been starting some long weeks here too.  Post as you can.

Scooping all of the water out of the pool is clearly doable, though is going to take some time.  If you want to ask any more questions of the pool before you empty it, let me know.

When the pool appears to continue to work as before, Judoc cocks an eyebrow in surprise. He had not expected this. "We could ask the pool anything," he murmurs. With the quasit currently incapacitated, nothing stands in their way.

"Let's see. We asked it how we lost our memory. We asked it about traps." Judoc remembers the bed of spikes, but nothing else.

"I can think of tons of questions to ask," he tells his double. "But we don't have all eternity. I'll ask mine. Feel free to ask anything you want to know. Then, I'll start scooping out this water." He pauses for a moment, considering the size of the task. "A pity I don't know Shape Water."

Clearing his throat, he asks, "What other traps lie between us and this place's exit?"

OOC: The pool is far larger than I imagined! I had thought it to be smaller, maybe the size of a baptismal font.

Other questions to ask:

"What other beings will we meet in this place?"

"Who will win, Graves or Murderers' Row?"

"Is Loke still alive, or is he dead?"

"Where will I meet Agares again?"

"Will I ever be a Templar?"

"What skills or spells would be most helpful to learn?"

After these questions and whatever questions Judoc II has, Judoc I will take off his leather helm and begin to scoop water out.

The lights above the pool flicker and whirl upon Judoc's question, conforming themselves into the same scene he had just barely made out over the quasit's shoulder...  A recreation of various wide-based spikes with a body...  strangely reminiscent of Judoc himself, impaled upon them.  Though the images do not stop there.  Almost as soon as the scene is created, it is disappearing again, restaging into a new scene.

It is a blank-eyed face, gaunt and surreal.  The thing's mouth is open, as if in the midst of a blood-curdling scream.

The scene disappears and recreates itself again...  A giant gate made of bone and steel.  Set upon the top is a demonic skull, set with ram's horns that curl insidiously downward.

Again the scene disappears, replaced by a another... though this one is more difficult to figure out.  The waters of the pool seems to churn for a moment.  Though before he can really make out anything further the scene disappears altogether.

The pool is silent for a moment, and both Judocs likewise take a moment to ponder the visions of the pool.  It is younger Judoc who eventually breaks the silence.

"Well, I suppose that gives us something anyway.  We may not be much better equipped to deal with any of the traps, but at least we'll know some of them when we see them."

Elder Judoc however, is more intrigued by his other questions, and asks straight away what other beings they will meet in the cavern.

This time, there is no confusing the answer the pool responds with.

It is a lean, elderly face complete with short-cropped hair and beard that were so common among the templars.  Brother Loke is only there for a moment however, transforming in another moment to Agares, the demon that Judoc had seen only briefly in the caverns below the templar college.  Judoc shudders as he sees the long, wicked claws grow out from the Loke's arms and the horns protrude from his head.

"The Pretender..."  Younger Judoc murmurs as the scene vanishes.

Judoc presses on, asking if Graves or Murderer's Row will win in their struggle.  To this the pool simply produces an image of Graves and another cloaked figure.  Their formes are at odds with each other and each with a dagger thrust into the other's chest, bringing forth blood, though neither seem to falter...

"Where will I meet Agares again?"  Judoc asks.

This time the pool creates another image, that of a floating island in a giant lake.  The island itself seems to have little adornment, the only thing of note are three protrusions just at the edge which stick straight up from the rock and are curved just slightly like the blade of a scythe.

"Will I ever be a Templar?"  Judoc asks.

To this, the pool remains in a foreboding visual silence.

"What skills or spells would be most helpful to learn?"

Again, the pool remains silent.

"This place only gets better."  Younger Judoc spits, taking his own leather helmet off his head to assist with pulling all the water out of the pool.  "And here we were just trying to get back to Azer...  Turns out this went about as bad as it possibly could have."

OOC:  Sorry about the tremendous lag.  It's been a busy week at home and work has also picked up at the exact same time.  Let me know if you have any more questions for the pool, otherwise you can assume that you finish draining it in your next post and can continue to move on from there.

There was a time when confidence oozed from Judoc like steam on a hot, rainy day. He had been so cocky just a couple of years ago, fantasizing about his triumph against Loke, scornfully fighting Thresher in the Azer arena. However, something had changed in Judoc. Perhaps it began with that business with Alevius and Agares. Or perhaps it was when Graves set Judoc to kill Thresher, and Judoc had come face to face with the power Graves radiates. Whatever the genesis, Judoc's powerful confidence had begun to erode.

He still is sure of his own abilities and that of his companions', including his double, but he no longer possesses the ironclad certainty that he will prevail. He has faced his limits. Hell, this quasit nearly knocked him unconscious, and Judoc has no doubt that the demonling could have killed him if Judoc had been alone.

Now, as he watches the scenes of the pool, he begins to feel the weight of this place. So many traps, hellbent on killing them. He watches, quietly, as various traps materialize - spikes, a ghastly face, a demonic gate, a treacherous pool. Judoc concentrates, attempting to memorize each as best as he can. Perhaps being forewarned of these dangers will give them the edge they need to survive this place.

However, when he sees the images of Loke and Agares, a curse involuntarily slips out. It has always been a possibility that they might encounter Agares in this hellish place, but the pool confirms it. If the pool can be trusted, that is.

"Curious," he murmurs, as the final questions produce no effect on the pool. Judoc unfastens his helm and begins scooping out water. "I still have doubts whether this pool reveals the complete truth, but it does not seem to be able to see certain futures. Perhaps Graves and the Row will continue to fight, with neither gaining an advantages over the other. And the last two questions - perhaps those futures cannot be predicted? What does that say about the nature of the future, free will, and prophecy in general?" Judoc has always believed that the future is not necessarily set in stone, that the actions of individuals can shift the flow of time. The pool seems to bear out this conceptualization.

OOC: No worries about the lag. Finish draining the pool, then continue to move on. We have a left and right option, correct? Stop to examine both entrances. Is there a feel of fresh air? Does one smell worse than the other? Does one seem to go up? If one seems more likely, take it. Otherwise, take the righthand path.

Younger Judoc watches the scene in near simulacrum with his counterpart, quiet as his other self listens, gasping as the other swears.  As the older begins to think on their predicament, Judoc the younger shakes his head in disgust.

"Yeah, an incomplete truth or whatever happens to be most inconvenient.  None of its outcomes seemed to be very happy eh?  If this thing is powered by that quasit, I'm sure some of his happy attitude has been imbued here.  It probably predicts murder every time you ask it about the weather."

Younger Judoc scoffs for a moment, but then suddenly looks back at the pool and asks, "What will the weather be like when we get out?"

Almost as if Judoc himself had predicted it, the pool swirls into a momentary torrent of rain, lightening, and cloud before petering out back into nothingness.

"Ha!"  Younger Judoc laughs.  Apparently there'll be a hurricane!

"Enough with this."  Younger Judoc takes his helmet and begins to scoop the red water away, back into the blood river where it swirls in eddies before catching up with the current and fading away, out of sight.

As for the quasit, it remains where it is.  With each scoop of water, the transparent beast seems to grow less and less, fading away even as the obscuring red water is cleared away.  It takes a few hours and more physical work than Judoc has done in some time, but between the two of them, eventually the pool is cleared out to only a small puddle, and the last visible traces of the demonling have disappeared.

The two sit back, sweat beading on their heads as they take the strain back out of their knees and backs, looking around the room at their options.

There are three ways out of the cave, all cornered along a quarter or half of wall which surrounds the entrance with the stone path where they had come through.  The other side of the cave wall is dominated by the waterfall, which climbs up some sixty feet into a thick, red-tinged mist which obscures the details up above.  The cave walls all around are thick with the fall's wet residue, and all along the base of the falls are mineral deposits that have shaped themselves over time into stalagmites such that they dot the floor all along the base of the wall.

Looking to get a feel for both of the two exits, Judoc stands and takes a peek at each of them, noting that the one on the left continues to arc in a slow turn towards the left while the one on the right goes nearly straight until it forks, sending twin passages ahead to the left and right.  Each of the paths appear to be level, or nearly so.

"What do you think?"  Younger Judoc asks, stepping up behind Judoc as he peers down the right passageway.

OOC:  Let me know if you intend to continue going down the right passage, and if so, which branch (left or right) you plan on taking.

When the younger Judoc asks, inspired, what the weather will be like, and the pool reveals gale-strength winds and torrential rain, Judoc laughs in spite of himself. Grinning, he says, "Excellent intuition! I feel better about our prospects already! The pool is clearly a liar."

Now, the pool emptied, Judoc takes a moment to rest. The exertion has worked up quite a bit of sweat, and he is reminded again how easy this could have been with the right spell. As he pauses for breath, he scans the walls of the cave they find themselves in. There is a certain beauty to this place. He finds himself wondering what this area had looked like  before being destroyed by orcs and subsequently overrun by demons. Perhaps if the dwarves were more powerful, they could cleanse these caverns and claim them for their own. Judoc wouldn't mind helping out, for the right incentive, of course.

While he sits, considering, he takes out the magical amulet he wears around his neck. Holding it, he says quietly, "Lux," imbuing the amulet with mystical light. Then Judoc hands the glowing rock to his other self. "Hang onto this, in case we get separated," he says.

At length, he stands, helm in hand, and considers each exit. They seem equally good to him. "What I wouldn't give for a map right now." Shrugging at his companion's question, he says, "I dunno. Want to try the righthand path first? We can always double back if we need to."

OOC: Did we ever specify that the amulet is on a chain? My thought is to cast Continual Light, the torch-strength version, on the amulet so Judoc can have both hands free to actually use his staff.

Afterwards, Judoc wants to rest until their FP is restored. So 25 minutes?

Let's take the right-hand exit first. At the fork, Judoc will go right. Once his helm is dry, he'll put it back on.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 00:40, Sun 06 Mar 2022.

"Good thinking."  Younger Judoc says as Judoc hands him the amulet, pulling his own copy off of his neck and passing it along to his other self.  "Let's trade, that way if we get separated we'll both have one, rather than me having two."

After casting, the two rest for a moment, both of the wizards having diminished themselves through spell casting.  Judoc is not sure what time it is, bereft of any outside cues from the sun or the moon, though he knows well enough that it had been sunset when they had taken the gate, and likely the time is well into the hours of dark.  While he has no desire to sleep in this horrible pit, he is wondering just how much longer it is safe to stay awake before exhaustion begins to take its toll.

Eventually, the two rise again, refreshed from their meditation, to keep wandering the caverns.  They choose the right path, which quickly branches again, though when they choose right again, Judoc finds that the way quickly dead ends.   The two double back and check the walk down the left fork, which continues to bend left ever so slightly as the pathway continues on.

Eventually, the two get to a long corridor of tunnel, and can see up ahead more branches going off this way and that, though just to their right, there is a large stone rolled up against the wall of the tunnel.

Younger Judoc can't help but investigate the stone, bringing his lighted amulet to bear which throws shadows this way and that across the corridor as he angles it.

"There's something behind this."  Younger Judoc says, placing a hand in between the gap of the boulder and the wall.  "You think it's worth moving it?  or just keep trying to find the way out?"

OOC:  I don't think we ever did specify, nor does it specify in Tower of Octavius, though let's say it is.  Good troubleshooting after not having a rope.  Do you want to hold your lighted stone still, or just plan on having a ready staff?  Either way you can keep it on you to take out later if you get separated.

Putting in the note about sleep just for perspective.  You aren't losing fatigue yet, though at some point you will due to lost sleep.  Sleeping down here though obviously carries its own risks.

"God's body," Judoc grumbles looking off into the distance at the various tunnels branching off their current path. "This place is a rat's warren." His attention is diverted to the stone against the wall, and he looks at it curiously.

"Yes, let's try to shift it," he says. "Perhaps there's a tunnel or a room behind it." He pauses for a moment. "Or someone wanted to keep something in there," he says more slowly. "Let's move it, but be on guard just in case there's something in there that's not friendly."

He pauses for a moment, then stretches his hand out and murmurs, "Sensus inimici."

OOC: Cast Sense Foes on the area on the other side of the stone. Spend 1 FP for a 2FP version of the spell. If there don't seem to be enemies immediately on the other side, look for a way to shift the stone aside.

Wanting to be sure that they will not be attacked the moment they clear the way, Judoc casts a quick spell, and finds to his satisfaction that there are no enemies, at least immediately in the way beyond the small stone portal.

with a bit of effort, the two Judocs are able to roll the stone enough to one side to squeeze their way through, finding themselves in a tight niche, only ten feet across of poorly worked stone.  The floor is flat enough however, to support another single wooden coffin, poorly constructed of shoddy plank.  The top is decorated with more brutish symbols like the ones in the last crypt that the Judoc's had stumbled across, though these are written in charcoal or some other such chalky black.  On either side of the coffin, a pair of skeletons make their final rest, the remnants of ancient armor fallen and rusted away from their ancient form, a decaying and leather spauler, a rusted axe, a plank wooden shield with a single spike driving out through it's center...

Though the contents of the room are macabre, it appears that they have not been disturbed for some time.

OOC:  My fault on the light, we'll keep it the way it is for now since your agreeable.  Please make a Navigation-2 roll.

The stone rolled away, Judoc peers into the cave’s gloom. He takes in the coffin and the skeleton guards on either side. ”Was that stone intended to keep people out of here, or keep whatever was in here inside?” he muses.

Turning to his twin, he says, ”What do you think? Should we take a peek inside that coffin?” He looks back at the coffin and considers the decayed skeletons. He can’t help but shiver a bit at the thought of the bone lord he and his companions had fought in the bowels of Perdition. Now, he has no Magnus, Bjorn, or Gustav to protect him. His doppelgänger is powerful, but the two share the same specialities. ”I should really spend some time learning to use this staff better,” he mutters, hefting it.

OOC: If Judoc Jr. doesn’t object, attempt to pry off the top of the coffin. If his other self does present a decent argument against desecrating the tomb, Judoc will continue on up the tunnel and leave this room behind.

It appears that Younger Judoc is having similar thoughts to his other self, as he shivers slightly as the tomb is uncovered.  But the bone sovereign was a creature that fed off of the dead, that brought them unto himself...  Here, the dead simply lay upon the ground.  Would it be the same for the coffin?  Or perhaps would their murderer sleep there, untouched for centuries by way of dark powers or magic?

Judoc is curious and he must know the answer.  Far be it from himself to stop... his other self.

Younger Judoc grips his staff as well, putting a tip of it within an opening of the coffin lid and prying it up like a lever.  Whatever nails have held it together over time seem to fail with only the slightest resistance and before they know it, the two Judocs have opened the lid of the coffin to have a proper look inside.

Another skeleton lays inside, though much of the body is covered by a faded and thinned wrap of cloth.  They are robes of some sort, purple and white that cover the skeleton from the neck all the way down to his feet.  All that shows of the bony white is the skull, which peers at the two wizards through empty sockets.

Clearly, this was an important orc...  if indeed that was what it was, though it does not appear there is much of him left.  Judoc is just about to move along when he notices a metallic glint and he pushes aside some of the cloth to find a circlet of gold decorated with platinum leaf.  Set just on the front is a large, orange gemstone, about the size of a fingernail.

Judoc reaches down to grab the headgear and even before his fingers touch, he can feel magic radiating outwards from it.  It is a warm feeling, like holding a cold hand above a boiling pot of water.

"Nice thinking."  Younger Judoc comments as the circlet is pulled from the coffin.  "Maybe we'll make having been to this place worth it after all."


For reference.  Not the actual circlet.

It is a strange state of his world, Judoc muses, that he expects the dead to rise to life again, especially in a place like this. Ordinarily, dead men, or orcs in this case, stay dead. But Judoc has come to expect the extraordinary, especially in a place where the water looks like blood.

With the top pried off, Judoc looks inside and notes the thin cloth. The purple makes him think that this being was in life a king, and these skeletons beside the coffin an honor guard of sorts. But the real item of interest is the golden circlet with its large jewel. ”Magic,” he murmurs. ”We’ll have to analyze it more closely when we have some down time.” Tentatively, he places it on his head to see if he can get an idea of what magic it might be imbued with.

Turning to his twin, he says, ”Do you mind if I hang onto this? I didn’t have it when I was in Basharat’s shop, although I don’t know if that makes much of a difference.”

OOC: Put the crown on to see if there’s any obvious effect. If Other Judoc is okay with it, Judoc will slip the crown into his pack. He will replace the lid on the coffin and continue on down the tunnel. (Unless the skeletons come to life and begin attacking, of course!)

"Knock yourself out."  Younger Judoc responds to his older self, chuckling slightly when Judoc mentions that he didn't have it when he was in Basharat's shop.

"Yeah,"  Judoc smirks, "The way he seemed to think, probably means if you give it to me I'll lose it."</b>  He shakes his head.  "Makes no difference to me though, I suppose I'll end up with it sooner or later whether you like it or not."

Apart from the light conversation, there isn't much else to note.  Judoc places the circlet upon his head for a moment, and he can feel the magic again...  A warmness that seems to permeate from his head down along his body... though he can't place the spell effect.  Instead, Judoc retrieves the crown off his head and places it in his pack before the two take a last look around the room and continue on down the trail.

Unlike the shallow stone steps they had followed earlier, this path is not cut stone but rather a plain tunnel that has been worn over centuries of footsteps.  Unlike the steps earlier, it was much more difficult to determine whether the two were climbing higher, or descending back down into the depths...  Though he was starting to get the sneaking suspicion it was the latter.

The two approach another intersection, where the tunnel splits off in two directions.  To the right, the tunnel continues another twenty five feet or more within their view.  To the left, the path continues on for some ways, and the two can see the same sort of stone path they had been walking ealier.

Much more pressing however, is what steps out towards them from that tunnel.  For walking towards them from out of the darkness is a the skeletal horror of an orc long dead.  In its hands, the thing grasps a stout spear, which is bladed on each end.  Judoc turns to retreat back into the tunnel beyond, but he finds there is another of the things, following them from whence they came!

OOC:  Not enough endurance at the moment for a map, but we don't quite have to go into combat yet.  The skeletons are each about 7 yards away from you, both are equipped with thick dual-ended spears, and are moving slowly in your direction at about a yard a second.  At the fork, the way left and back each have a single skeleton coming, while the way right is clear.  If you wish to flee, let me know which direction (and what your plan is if it's through a skeleton).  Otherwise, let me know what spells or actions you plan on taking.  Give me up to the point where you actually initiate combat, but no longer than about 4 seconds if you aren't running away.

"Does it seem like we're descending again?" Judoc quietly asks his double. This complex is beginning to feel like a labyrinth. He is sure they will come to the end of this place eventually. Still, he wonders how extensive this Path of Ancients is.

The cut stone pavement is gone, too, replaced by an earthen floor. Does this mean they have drifted away from the main thoroughfare? He is beginning to think it would be wise to turn around and retrace their steps when they come to an intersection. To left is the familiar stone flooring from before. Far more pressing, however, is the orc skeleton lurching towards them. Glancing behind them, he spies another!

"Damn. How long has that thing been following us?" he mutters. Gripping his staff in both hands, he murmurs words of power. "Flamma iactus!"

OOC: Step forward. Ready staff. Cast Flame Jet.

"I was thinking the same thing."  Younger Judoc answers to the initial question, searching in all three directions as if to get a better idea as to their location, though his attention quickly turns to the skeletons approaching them at their position.

"No clue."  Younger Judoc answers quickly in response, turning his back to his other self as he pushes towards the skeleton which had been following them.  "Right, you get that one, I'll get this.  No sense in keeping our backs exposed."

And with that, Judoc's doppelganger is off.  Though Judoc has little attention to pay anything other than the murderous undead that still continues to press forward directly at him.  Judoc appraises the situation, and waits until the thing is just within reach as he casts his spell.

KAFUCKINGBOOOM!!!!

Judoc can feel the warm shockwave of the explosion rippling through him and ruffling the strands of his hair as the harrowing echo crushes his eardrums again and again.  He is worried for a moment - that the echoing may have made him deaf, that the explosion will cause a cave in, that he's fumbled his spell... though his thoughts have no founding in reality, the echo slowly draws down to a dull ring, the tunnel stays resolutely in place, and the tip of his staff explodes with an extension of six feet.

Judoc jabs out with the weapon, though the skeleton jumps nimbly out of the way, far more nimbly than the skeletons in Perdition, and charges back with a brutal strike of his own.  Judoc dips neatly out of the way of the spear, though it only takes the one moment to assess that this foe is no pushover, and that likely even one sound hit may be more than Judoc can withstand.

OOC:  That's a total of 4 seconds.  You have cast a successful 2 point Flame Jet (1 FP) and can maintain it for next turn if you wish.  You are at range 3 from the skeleton, who has its own spear in a 2 hex, 2 handed grip.  You aren't sure what is happening in the fight with the other skeleton, though it's quite clear that younger Judoc has used some sort of an explosive spell.

Let's do 2 more rounds of combat.

Also, you mentioned you wanted a block for defense - Not sure if you're getting confused with another character, but you don't have shield equipped nor the shield skill.  I ended up using a retreating dodge.  You might have meant parry, though either way your defense was successful with the retreat.  You are back at the intersection, though you can retreat again if needed without stepping forward.

The sonic blast washes over Judoc, catching him off guard BS nearly making him stumble forward. Explosive Fireball, he figures. Appropriate. The other skeleton must be charred bone now. His ears still ringing, he focuses on his own undead foe and ignites a flame jet on the end of his staff.

Flame arcs out at the skeleton, but the undead foe avoids it with ease. Interesting. This skeleton seems far more agile than those he has fought before, and there is a heft to its own attack that suggests a strength in its bones.

Concentrating, Judoc aims another flame attack at his foe.

OOC: Attack again with Flame Jet.

Back and forth, Judoc and the orcish specter spar with their weapons of steel and fire, the skeleton dodging with surprising quickness and thrusting back with equal fervor.  Judoc puts his everything into the defense, stepping back and knocking the thick spear away once, then twice, though his muscles strain and protest the monumentous effort.

Wafting smells of char and ash fill Judoc's senses and he can see flashes of color as younger Judoc moves with the lighted necklace, though he is far too occupied to see exactly how things are going.

Judoc thrusts back with his own weapon, the fiery spear lancing true towards the skeleton's chest cavity, though again the horror moves with such quickness that Judoc is not prepared!  The thing steps clear of the blast, then forward, hooking his own spear to the side of Judoc's staff and blasting it to the side!  Judoc is floored as the weapon is torn from his grasp and falls to the ground, deflecting a bright flash of the jet of flame in the air for a brief moment before snuffing out on the stone!

Judoc's mouth seems to go dryer with the setback, though his fingers still crackle with magical energy.

And then, the other Judoc is there at his side, staff in hand as he approaches the skeleton's side quarter!

OOC:  Posting this as I'm sitting in the airport, so apologies for the use of theater of the mind.  You have your back against the wall, though you can take a (side) step and attack this turn if you wish to start skooching yourself to have a little more space.  Just let me know if you want to sidestep towards or away from your other self.

You are at range 2 to the skeleton, who has his spear in a 2 hex grip.

Your staff has been knocked from your hands (you seem to be involved on the wrong side of a lot of critical successes... alas, since it wasn't your roll you can't use a hero point) and you are unarmed.  I assumed you wouldn't want to continue your spell without your staff in your hands.  Lets do another 2 rounds of action.

Annoyance rises within Judoc. The skeleton is far quicker than he had anticipated, and it is all the mage can do to parry the aberration's attacks. And then, in a skillful move, the skeleton actually disarms Judoc! He had not expected such cunning in a foe so long dead.

His staff falls to the ground, and Judoc allows the Flame Jet spell to end. Disarmed, Judoc knows he has to think quickly. That creature could easily skewer Judoc with its spear should Judoc make the wrong move.

With a swift glance, he sees his other self arrive. Summoning mana from the air around him, he readies another attack.

OOC: Allow spell to end. Cast Fireball and throw it at the skeleton.

Judoc wriggles to the side, getting his back away from the wall so that he can retreat down the corridor, away from his double, potentially allowing younger Judoc to get a couple of clean shots on the foe's back.

Summoning his thoughts, and the mana from the caves around, Judoc brings a sphere of fire into his hands which is near the size of a grapefruit.  But the spell distracts him.  The monster thrusts out his spear in his two hand grip far faster than Judoc had been prepared for!  Judoc heaves himself back with every bit of his energy, though the blade drives towards the shoulder of his leathers with tremendous force.  Somehow, the blade catches on a seam, miraculously diverting the blow up and away over his shoulder, leaving only a gash in the sturdy fabric.

Younger Judoc attacks with a tremendous blow of his own, but the skeleton somehow avoids the blow, turning at the last second as the staff blow goes astray.

His ball of flaming energy ready, and his foe momentarily distracted, Judoc hurls the sphere at his target, straight at the chest of the undead horror.  This attack, the monster is not ready for, and he barely has the moment to turn himself back, before his porous ribcage is struck with the missile, which immediately bursts into a fount of flame which rises up through and around the shoulders and skull!  Somehow, the monster still stands!  Judoc is horrified for a moment, that like the bone sovereign, the thing might have taken the magic unto himself, that it might have made it stronger...  But he is relieved as the fire dies down, leaving the bones charred and ashen.

Clack!

Younger Judoc's staff strikes a glancing blow off the monster's shoulder, though still the thing drives on, thrusting his spear yet again towards Judoc!

His hands empty and his mind focused only on staying alive, Judoc manages to dodge the blow, and again younger Judoc strikes from behind, a vicious strike which cracks bone with powerful force!

But still, the beast staggers forwards, his spear still poised for a deadly strike!

OOC:  You missed your defense on the first round, and I opted to use a hero point for you rather than have you take 16 points of damage (ouch).  Your fireball hit, and did significant damage, though the thing still staggers forward.  I tried to finish up the fight by adding one more round, where you just did an all out defense, though of course, the skeleton critically succeeded his HT roll to stay conscious.  He's still facing you, and younger Judoc is essentially striking against an exposed back.  You've moved 2 yards away from where your staff is laying on the ground and you can now retreat normally.  Note that you are very close to being half move/dodge/ST due to fatigue.

Let's do 2 more rounds of combat.

As a side note, as you threw a fireball and hit the skeleton in the chest, all I could picture was the flaming skull of the punisher.  Maybe I should give the enemy a few fully automatic weapons to really make the reference shine?

Also, it's worth noting that I don't base using FP for defenses on the dice roll.  That is to say, if your defense is 10 and you roll a 12, I won't apply an FP post facto so that you succeed the roll.  So if you say "feverish if needed" I'm simply going to make it a feverish defense (so long as the attack is successful).  But at this point, you're getting close to fatigue making a big difference, so I wanted to make sure you knew.

Normally, Judoc holds back. He prefers to either have a friend or two between whatever he's fighting. Well, or aerial superiority. Some might call this attitude cowardice, which clashes with the confidence he normally feels. But Judoc has no desire to die, at least not this young. He'd rather not tempt fate by playing things too close.

From a more defensive position, Judoc can hurl small flames all day long. He has experimented with making larger fireballs. He can pump more mana into his flames for massive damage, but doing so will leave him drained. He needs to take this orcish skeleton down before it kills him, so he figures a larger version of his normal flame will do.

But before he can cast the spell, his opponent strikes out with deadly force! Even one stab could kill, but somehow, Judoc is able to evade the blow. In response, he lobs his fireball at the skeleton, and the results are more than he could have hoped for! The skeleton erupts in flame! But still it stands, stepping forward to menace Judoc even further.

"Why won't you die?" Judoc growls, though he realizes the skeletal monstrosity already has. Death is decidedly not an impermeable barrier.

Again he summons a ball of mana, this time a smaller version of his Fireball spell.


OOC: Thank goodness for hero points! Please don't give this guy automatic weapons. Or a burning motorcycle and a ten-foot-long chain, for that matter.

Judoc hurries back, casting a spell as he easily sidesteps another jab from the vicious spear.  Again, a ball of flames appears in his hands, this one the size of a ripe orange.

Judoc wastes no time, but hurls the orb forward which impacts the creature's chest again with a charring puff of flame.  Nearly the same time, younger Judoc unleashes a brutal overhand swing that impacts the thing's shoulder with a bone-snapping crunch!  All at once, the life retreats from the skeleton, its many parts falling to the ground with a hollow clatter as they spill across the cave floor.

After a moment of catching his breath, Judoc realizes that the other skeleton, the one younger Judoc had faced at first, was actually still alive... though both of its legs had been blasted off its body.  The thing was now dragging itself across the floor, it's spear still fumbling in a one-handed grip, attempting to get closer to the pair of mages.  With little ado, the pair hurl a set of fireballs from a safe distance, until that monster too ceases to move.

"God."  Younger Judoc gasps for breath.  "Those didn't seem like the ones down in Perdition eh?  Moved so much quicker.  I'm starting to think that imp was completely full of shit, didn't mention those on the things we'd meet on the way out eh?"

OOC:  You guys finally managed to score some serious damage together, which put the skeleton below -HP which caused an automatic death.  Congrats on the win.  Apart from the various bones, the only loot from the fight appears to be the two double-ended spears, which function exactly like normal spears, though perhaps slightly more intimidating (and of less use as a walking stick unless you want to dull one end in the process).

You are still at the three way intersection.  Back goes to where you freed the mephit - left appears to get back on the main path of shallow stairs - right is simply another tunnel leading farther on. Note your fatigue on your character sheet.

Satisfaction fills Judoc as his fireball smacks into the oncoming skeleton, joined with relief as his younger twin finishes the bony monstrosity off. The other skeleton is dispatched with ease, and the two Judocs find themselves victors on the field of battle.

He examines one of the two-bladed spears with curiosity. They seemed the sort of weapon a guard might carry. "Yes. I wonder why these were so much more agile. Perhaps in life, these two were more skilled orcish warriors. That would explain their strength and speed." Likely, they had been left behind to guard this place. He wonders if they had been killed here and raised by a necromancer or if they had died of natural injuries, perhaps in battle.

Noting his twin's labored breathing and his own fatigue, he says, "Let's find a place to rest. I wonder what time it is. It must be approaching midnight by now." He frowns in concern. Resting now might put them so at ease that they might fall asleep. "When we do rest, let's keep an eye on each other to make sure the other doesn't nod off."

OOC: Judoc won't take the spears unless he can figure out a way to strap one to his pack.

Look for a place to rest. Judoc will rest until he's recovered his lost FP. Then, head left back to the stone stairs.

Judoc is thankful the fight has been short lived and with the best of outcomes, but nevertheless he finds himself drained to a point where he must rest before he goes on.  Younger Judoc makes no complaints, and the two find a small nook in the tunnel where they press themselves against the wall and sit, entering that wizarding trance where they pull the mana from the air and earth around to supplement their own, natural recovery.

The two remain unbothered, and the tunnels remain silent.

Once, Judoc catches himself drifting off, his head nodding forward for a moment before it jerks back up into attention.  Judoc blinks rapidly for several moments, only to note that younger Judoc as well is nodding at the edges of sleep.

Shaking off the tiredness, the two stand and prepare themselves to head out.  Judoc briefly thinks of putting one of the spears across his back, secured by the straps of his bag, though after taking a moment to think of how difficult a fight would be in that position, he ends up putting the thought aside.

Instead the two walk to the stair path and turn left again which leads upwards on the shallow stair.  It is not very long before the two walk out again into the large cave with the blood steam and waterfall, only now the bloodied pool is gone, scooped out bit by bit with the Judoc's leather helmet.

"Circles!"  Younger Judoc spits, shaking his head.  "You were right, we were headed back downhill."

He turns his body, searching the far side of the cave with his eyes.  The falls hit the cavern floor in a vicious churn, creating a thick plume of reddish steam which covers the walls and makes the visibility upwards difficult.  Just to the sides of the falls, large and sharp stalagmites are wet with the spray, gleaming with a reddish hue like the fangs of a predator after a fresh kill.

Younger Judoc's face quirks, a puzzled look crossing his expression.

OOC:  Roll vs. IQ-5

It seems clear that you went in a big circle now.  A total of 4 left turns to get you right back to where you started.  The pool is still gone and the imp is nowhere to be seen.  Thanks for the reminder on the time.  You aren't entirely sure what time it is (as you are underground and don't have absolute timing) though you feel that tiredness is beginning to take its toll.

Normally I use a homebrew set of rules for fatigue based on loss of sleep.  If you want to accomplish a job in the middle of the night, I assign a modifier to HT based on how late it is, have you roll, and assign fatigue based on the amount of failure.  However, in your case, I feel like I need to use the rules per the book, as you aren't exactly sure what time it is nor are we sure when you are going to get to sleep.

"God's blood," Judoc mutters, shaking his head. Circles, indeed. The mage would like nothing better than to find a warm bed to curl up in and pass the night in relative peace, preferably with someone to share the bed with. But sleeping in a place like this would be inviting one's own death on one's head. Or at the very least, tempting the Reaper.

His eyes take in the scene, the now emptied pool that had been full of lies, the waterfall splashing down on the rocks. Judoc doubts very much that an afterlife exists after this one. If one does exist, however, perhaps it consists in stumbling around in an existential darkness, beset by demons and the undead.

Turning to his companion, he says, "Well, at least we know where these three paths go. Shall we retrace our steps and try that other tunnel?" He looks at Aiah. She probably feels ill at ease in this enclosed environment. He feels a momentary pang at not having his Aiah. He misses her, as nagging as she can be at times. "How's Aiah?" he asks. "Does she have any sense of the right way out of this place?"

OOC: Unless the roll reveals information that would impact this decision, Judoc will retrace their steps and take the tunnel they passed by before, the one that had led to the right of their battle with the skeletons.

Judoc's thoughts move to Aiah, his familiar, who certainly must be ill-content in this depraved, smothering cave... though as he looks at her, he realizes that the bird is asleep, slumped and unmoving on younger Judoc's shoulder.

"She's fine.  I don't think she likes it in here much."  Younger Judoc answers, though his eyes are still on the stalagmites ahead.

Unsure of exactly what is drawing his attention there, Judoc himself glimpses in that direction and feels a niggling in his memory.  Had he seen them before?  Of course he had, he'd been in this very room only an hour or so ago...  Though...  That wasn't exactly it.

Judoc himself shakes his head, trying to place the memory...  was it one of the images of the quasit?

"What traps are between here and the exit?"

He remembers asking...  Twice actually.  And both times, there was the image of himself falling, impaled upon sharpened, wide-based spikes...  Not spikes.  Stalagmites.  Those stalagmites.

Judoc redirects his attention upwards towards the cave wall.  The whole surface was slick, covered with the reddish spray that was kicked up by the waterfall as it cascaded into the stream below, the steam obscuring the most of the view above.  Though the waterfall was coming from somewhere.

High up in the mist, Judoc attempts to break out if there is some sort of ledge or outcropping.  How high did the falls go?  forty feet?  Higher?

The dim torchlight of the magical necklace was not strong enough to show an answer, and likely, even had the thing been powered like the sun it would have made little difference, as the mist from the falls obscured even the closest objects in a hazy fog.

OOC:  Nice job on the IQ roll.  It would be much easier for your character to recognize the stalagmites as the same spikes that were in the premonition than it would be for you the player.  Play by post certainly has its limits.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:55, Fri 01 Apr 2022.

Of course. The image of Judoc being skewered on the spikes comes back in a rush. The spikes were actually stalagmites. Even though the pool may have been deceitful, it still provided a useful clue in how to escape this place.

”Remember the spikes? I think we were actually seeing those stalagmites,” he says quietly, pointing to the natural formations. He peers upward, looking for some kind of opening above that the water might be spilling from. ”Shall we see what’s up there?”

OOC: Give Judoc 2 a moment to get ready. Then, cast Flight and see what’s above.

"Yeah."  Younger Judoc answers as his counterpart points out the stalagmites.  "I was just thinking the same thing..."  Though the thought seems to go on in his mind even if his words fade out into the echoing crash of the falls.

"Yeah, let's."  Judoc responds, casting his own Flight spell silently and the two rise up into the crimson mist.

On and on they climb, moving slowly for lack of visibility.  Ahead, the sheer face of the cliff seems to slowly dry, above the mist seems to fade ever so slightly...  It is sixty feet up or more before the the mist has cleared and before the two can break out what lies at the top of the bluff.

It seems to be the continuation of the path, the same cut stone from the steps down below, though here it is almost entirely level.  To the right, the stream gurgles out from under stone sweeping quickly over the edge and cascading down into the pools below.

OOC:  Whole map of the room finally provided below.  I think it would have been a little more clear seeing everything in person like I said, though it was hard to give you a real look without giving you the whole answer at the same time.

It appears there are two ways forward, though it's debatable if the stream is really an option.  It is flowing swiftly out of the rock without much of a gap at the top for air.  A roll vs. IQ will make it clear that swimming upstream will be exceedingly difficult for a normal person, with the added drawback of failure including a 60 foot fall from the top of the cliff into the pools below.

You have 50 seconds left on your flight spell.

As the trio takes to the air, Judoc feels a rush of exhiliration. This never grows old, he thinks to himself, his feet leaving the ground in a defiance of gravity. Though the mist requires them to fly more slowly than he would like, they reach the top eventually, and Judoc glances around at their options.

He immediately discards the idea of swimming up the stream. He would be lost in the water, he knows, and there is no telling where the stream might go or how long or how far it might travel underwater. Of course, it might lead to a chamber filled to the brim with gold and gems, but Judoc is focused right now on escape, not scouring The Path of Ancestors for all its secrets. The path is far more attractive, and he heads for the ground.

"Let's keep going this way," he says to his twin. "We can try the stream if we exhaust all our other options, but I have no desire to try to swim against that current."

OOC: Head up the path. Keep flying until the Flight spell wears off, then walk.

I wonder. Does the stream eventually end up someplace like this?

https://images-na.ssl-images-a...es/I/A1we1v4G8kL.jpg

And at the bottom of that pool:

https://static.wikia.nocookie....st?cb=20200510204914

"Agreed."  Younger Judoc assents before redirecting his momentum straight up the path alongside his double.

Ahead, the path is paved with stone and the walls of the tunnel are cut and shaped in a wide arch.  Of all the areas of this orcish lair Judoc has seen so far, this is by far the most worked area.  Ahead, the light of the torch-stone just barely touches some criss-crossed structure of white that lays across the path, though it is hard to see at such a distance.

"I'm not sure what's down this path,"  Younger Judoc continues without much a of a pause, "but it can't be any worse than trying to swim..."

Though whether younger Judoc completes the thought or not, Judoc himself is not sure.  Instead, replacing his counterpart's voice is a sudden crescendo of screaming and wailing that pierces his eardrums and attacks his mind!  Judoc's hands impulsively fly to his ears, his every effort just attempting to keep himself from crashing into the ground at full speed.

What is this magic?

OOC:  Make a few rolls for me.  The first is a normal IQ roll to avoid a mental stun.  If that fails, you are stunned and fall from your flight spell, taking falling damage for a movement of 10 yards/sec (your speed for flight).  Then I need two rolls vs. Will, label the first Panic, and the second Madness.  Please let me know your margin of success or failure in a PM and I'll let you know the results.

Funny enough, the cavern ahead does look quite a lot like the Duck Tales image... with the water just being all more of a reddish hue.  I'll have  pic of that soon assuming that you don't fly away screaming and then drop 60 feet to the cavern floor behind you :p.  I don't see the second image though, wonder if the link on that expired?


You can't quite see the detail yet, but this is the gate ahead.

From the appearances of the path now, Judoc surmises that they are getting closer to the entrance. Either that, or to areas of the Path of Ancestors that had been more heavily used by the orcs who had fashioned this place. Realizing that a way forward lay upward had previously buoyed his mood, and hope continues to grow inside him.

And then, pandemonium strikes! The assault on his mind breaks in on him like a flood, and the sound is deafening! He slows down to a stop and looks at his younger self in concern. The mage is rattled by the sudden audial onslaught, and he hopes his alter has not been seriously affected.

OOC: Slow down and come to a stop. Look carefully at Judoc 2.

Surprised but not shaken by the sudden onslaught of noise, Judoc slows himself down to a crawl before touching his feet down on the ground.  With an immense presence of mind, Judoc separates his thoughts from the sound.  He knows that it is magical in nature and that like any magic, the best resistance against it is strength of purpose.  As he alights upon the stone path, Judoc feels the screams and voices ever so slightly retreat in his mind, allowing him the space to think and act in a normal fashion.

Younger Judoc seems to take a cue from his other self and slows down as well, his face scrunched up into a pained wince as he stops and steps his feet onto the ground.

"Gods that's awful!"  Younger Judoc shouts, hunching over slightly as he tries to cover his ears without letting go of his staff.  "It's no good!  I've got to keep going!"

Younger Judoc lights off again, speeding down the tunnel and towards the gate ahead.

OOC:  Sorry for the lag.  I've got company in town and the kids are on spring break, which has proven to be an enormous distraction.

I used your Crit success on the IQ roll as an auto resist on all the spells.  You've also added a hero point to your stock.  Younger Judoc doesn't seem to have faired quite as well, though at least he isn't running screaming from the area.  He's already on the move again heading up the pathway.

You do still hear the screaming and wailing, though you aren't in any danger from it at the moment, and can act normally.

The mental cacophony is powerful, but Judoc shrugs it off after a moment, his mental abilites no doubt resisting the spell's power. As the voices recede to ambient background noise, the young mage glances around him. No doubt the spell was protective in nature, meant to dissuade interlopers from further approach. Could orcs still inhabit this area, or are they still in the demons' domain?

But Judoc can spare only a moment for reflection. His double does not seem to be resisting as easily as the elder Judoc has. When the younger continues flying forward, Judoc takes off after him. He has no desire to become separated from himself, not when so many questions remain about what exactly happened to him.

OOC: Lift off and fly after the other Judoc. Slow down before he slams into the upcoming gate.

I guess Wikia doesn't like hotlinking. Here's the final page of that Uncle Scrooge story:

https://www.imgur.com/Z5dSd2X.png.

Lighting off again from the path, Judoc follows his other self farther down the corridor, noting that for each passing stone, the voices churning in his head seem to diminish ever so slightly.  First the screaming falters to a wail, which softens to a symphony of low moaning.  By the time that Judoc puts down, just before the gate ahead, the voices are gone entirely, with only a dim ringing in his ear to mark their passing.

For Younger Judoc's part, he lowers himself with a stumble to the ground, his face still wound up in a grimace and shaking his head like he is trying to expel water from an ear.

While his other self regains his composure, Judoc looks forward, beyond the bars of the horrific gate.  Ahead, just after a small outcrop on the far side of the gate, is another lake of blood-water much like the one they had seen farther below.  However, this lake has no paths nor routes criss-crossing its surface, only a single island in its middle where what appear to be several wooden stakes and three large monster bones, perhaps twice as long as a man's femur, thrust upwards from the ground.

The only other feature of the room is a crimson waterfall that appears to cascade downward from the ceiling, crashing into the surface of the lake with an ongoing roar.

"Can you still hear them?"  Younger Judoc's face is still twisted up into a scowl.  "I still hear them wailing and screaming.  But I can't make out what they are saying... it's just awful noise!"

OOC:  Picture below.  You are not nearly as close as the picture depicts, instead you are at least twenty or thirty yards away and it's hard to make out clear details, especially with the dim lighting your stone is providing.

Younger Judoc seems to be suffering lingering effects from the spell which are not affecting you.  The gate depicted in the last post is between you and the lake ahead, and is barring you from moving on, though not from seeing everything in the room beyond.  After a moment's thought, you recall this gate from the imp's premonitions, as well as a brief scene of a tiny Judoc bending down and holding his hands over his ears.

Shaking his head in the negative, Judoc replies, "No, the voices are gone for me. They've been slowly fading as we approached this gate." He looks with concern at his double, adn then at the gate ahead. Perhaps if they can get beyond it, his other self will be free of the voices, too.

The sight of the gate up close gives Judoc pause now. So the visions from the pool were not completely deceitful. The spikes, the screaming face, the gate. Is Agares waiting out there, past this point? The island out in the dark looks familiar. He remembers a similar image from the pool.

"God's body. If Agares is out there in the dark, waiting..." In spite of himself, Judoc realizes he is afraid. He had blustered in the past about defeating the demon lord, but he knows, deep down, that he only just escaped by a whisker. Meeting Agares now, in this place, with his twin still in pain from the spell... But they are two against the demon, and Judoc feels hope that they can beat him, if he is there.

But first things first. He examines the gate, looking for a mechanism or a keyhole that could allow the gate to be opened.

OOC: Search the area immediately around the gate. Investigate the gate. Try to get a sense of how it opens and what might be the key to opening it.

An unsettling chill passes over Judoc.  His previous confidence that the pool was a sort of mirror of fears, reflecting back only the worst in the mind of the viewer, had been proven misplaced.  The spikes, the screams, the gate...  They had all come to pass, though Judoc at least felt safe that he wouldn't be impaled on the stalagmites anytime soon -- so neither had the pool been entirely truthful.  It still left the lingering possibility...  Was Agares out there, now, just waiting for him?

The question, though haunting, made little difference to the immediate present.  After all, if the two Judocs could not get past this gate, they would never know what would lay in the cavern beyond.

Judoc started simple, searching the gate itself and the adjacent walls.  As for the portal itself, though made of centuries old bones, it is of surprisingly sturdy construction.  The ivory bars seem to be joined with cord, though they do not move independently, even in the slightest, as if they are fused together by some other force.  The bones too seem thick and solid rather than brittle, a testing whack with Judoc's staff makes the weapon rebound back with force, rather than injure the gate in any way.  As for a lock, or other opening apparatus, there appears to be none.  The stone above is set in with a grooved slot, as if the portal can be raised up into the stone, though there is no lever to raise it that Judoc can see.  The stone of the tunnel walls is smooth and unblemished, without so much as a cubby-hole to hide a catch to open the device.

Finding nothing on this side of the gate, Judoc shifts his attention to the far side, maneuvering his light so that he can see out on the ledge beyond.  The ledge is mostly flat, with only a few wayward stones here and there that break the smooth surface.  The only other decorations on the ledge are several sets of bone...  One full skeleton that leans up against the gate at its edge, seeming more human than anything else, and a pair of partials that are scattered to the side not to mention several skulls, both in tact and broken that are scattered about the ground.

Shaking his head yet again, and finally pulling himself from his stupor, younger Judoc leans his staff against the wall and grabs a bit of the gate with both hands, heaving upwards with no visible effect.  "Any bright ideas?"  He asks, his expression still wincing slightly.

OOC:  You don't note anything close to you as a way to open the gate.  Roll vs. Perception-5.

The gate proves fascinating to Judoc. As ghastly as it is, there is a certain beauty to its construction. How long had it stood here? Whose bones had these been? Who had passed here before in the perhaps centuries it had stood here? Had some magic been used to preternaturally harden the bones so they did not crumble to dust?

Somehow, the gate has been fashioned to withdraw upwards like a standard portcullis. There should be a lever or something similar somewhere. It depends on if this were made to keep beings from penetrating deeper into the Path of Ancestors or to keep something else restrained within. Surely not the demons within its depths, but perhaps victims left as offerings?

More skeletons lie on the far side of the gate. Likely not reanimated skeletons, but if they are, the two Judocs should easily deal with them. Shining his light this way and that, Judoc attempts to see if he can spy a lever or a switch that might open the gate from the other side.

"Not really, no," he murmurs in response to his fellow Judoc's question. "There must be some way of opening this gate. We can't go around it or climb over it. A pity we don't know Earth to Air, or we could simply dug under it."

OOC: Is the huge skull at the top of the gate on the other side?

"Or body of air even."  Younger Judoc responds, turning his body towards the near wall and feeling the stone with one open hand in intentional, lethargic motions.  "Though I have to say I never saw much of the draw towards the air college...  Alevius was an air guy right?  They always seemed about flashes and theatrics but turned flighty when real trouble showed up."

But before Judoc can make any sort of retort, something catches his attention on the far island...  Something about the bones thrust upwards from its surface.  While they had seemed odd from the get go, as large as they are they likely belonged to a giant either humanoid or otherwise, something else was now niggling at his mind.

Their ends.

While he had thought at first that it was simply an oddly shaped and worn joint, now Judoc can't shake the impression that there is something else there, some carving etched into the raw ivory.

Judoc lifts his lighted stone, shifting it to the left and right, hoping that the subtle movements of the shadows will bring some clarity.  And it does.

Hair.

Though he can't make out any of the detail, it seems clear to Judoc that what is carved into the monstrous bone is a face...  and he wonders if it is one he has already seen in the depths beyond...

OOC:  Nice catch.  The picture above is indeed the gate from the other side.  So you can't see the details of the demon skull, but you can tell that it is there from the view underneath.

"What is that?" Judoc says quietly, straining to make out the distant bones. Faces? Carvings, or some new monstrous creatures?

"Those bones are odd," he continues. "What kind of creature would have left them? A giant, I suppose?" Why stick giant bones in an island in the middle of a blood sea? Judoc thinks. Why carve faces on the bones? Why doesn't this place make sense?

His younger self had already tested the bars, but Judoc gives them a tentative lift as well. Perhaps with enough force, this gate could be raised. "Or Body of Flames," Judoc muses. "That's if there's a switch on the other side. What do you think? Is it worth it to take the risk?"

OOC: Approximately how heavy is this gate? Does Judoc think he could lift it with Apportation, or is it simply too massive?

Younger Judoc looks through the gate, staring for a moment at the bones on the island beyond.  "Dragon I'd thought."  The mage states.  "You see something on them though?"  Younger Judoc pauses for a moment, glaring through a gap in the bones.  "It's like they are carved at the end.  I can't tell though."

When Judoc talks about body of flames however, his counterpart stops his movement entirely.  "I didn't even think of that."  He says simply, turning his head to look at his his older self.  "It should work...  I don't think there's anything we have that we couldn't fit through the bars.  We could both do it if we needed to...  I don't see any levers to open the gate, but there's more chance that they are on the other side than on this side right?"

Not entirely sure of his own plan yet, Judoc lays down his staff for a moment and puts two hands under the bone gate, trying to test the weight.  Even with the full force of his strength though, the bone portal does not so much as jostle back and forth.  The thing seems entirely set, and he's not sure that he has the magical strength to prove otherwise...

OOC:  In game terms, you've attempted to lift the gate using two hands and four times normal time - so you should have been able to lift anything up to 160 lbs based on your own basic lift.  You didn't get so much as a budge.  If you wish to use apportation, state how much fatigue you wish to put into the spell and I'll let you know if it succeeds.  4 fatigue can lift up to 200 lbs (though you would think you would have been able to at least get a wiggle out of the bone structure if it was this light), 8 fatigue can lift up to 300 with +4 fatigue adding another 100 lbs after.  In theory the two of you could add your spells together as well though it hasn't been made certain through practice.

The gate feels heavy, perhaps too heavy for Judoc to lift by himself. But could both Judocs, working together, lift it? Impressive if they could pull it off, but a waste of time if it didn't work. "I'll try Body of Flames, then," he says. "I'll go first and look for some kind of lever or button on the other side. If I don't see one, then you can go through as well."

He unslings his backpack and drops to a resting position. The spell is a difficult one and will be very draining. He remembers saving Terri from those invisible blood-sucking hornet creatures back in Perdition and how exhausted he was after casting it. "Just once, I'd like to go full supernova," he says, chuckling. "Body of Flames, Flame Jet, and maybe Flight. That would be glorious."

OOC: Yes, Judoc's final form is the Human Torch.

Judoc will rest until he's at full fatigue (minus the FP lost from missed sleep). He will place his gear next to the gate (including his staff if he can't hold that in flame form), cast Body of Flames and attempt to go through the gate and look for a lever on the other side. If he can't find one, have Judoc Jr. pass their gear through the gate and then do the same.

However, if it looks like their gear won't fit, we can try both casting Apportation, but resting up first to be able to put 12 FP into the spell.

Younger Judoc nods at the suggestion, chuckling slightly at his counterpart's choice of spells to become as close as a man could to a phoenix, a flying personification of flame.

"I can only imagine how Brother Hilath would react to seeing a Human Torch flying around the grounds."  The youth chuckles.  Almost makes me want to do it just to see how the old stick in the mud would react.

It's clear to both the Judocs that the next round of spellcasting will be arduous, and so they take their seats again, resting after the casting of their flight spells while each are absorbed by their thoughts.

Some twenty minutes later, Judoc stands and begins to remove his gear, only to realize that his other self has drifted off into sleep in all the quiet and dark.

"I'm awake."  Younger Judoc protests immediately as he shakes himself back to wakefulness.  He rubs his face vigorously with his hands, then stands abruptly to his feet, perhaps overcompensating for his momentary lapse of vigilance.

All his equipment and his pack by the side of the gate, Judoc removes even his armor, as he knows that only his undergarments will turn to flame along with his body.  Younger Judoc steps back along with Aiah, and Judoc begins the arduous process of the spell with all of its intricate intonations.

Within the span of a quarter minute however, Judoc has accomplished his goal.  His skin, innards, bones and hair have all morphed into a bright, orange flame that licks up from the depths of his soul.  Without so much as a moment's hesitation, Judoc steps to the gate, his incorporeal body passing through the bars of bones without so much as a mild protest.

Alight with the flames of a six-foot torch, Judoc turns to look at the area around him.  Free from the bonds of the portal, Judoc now sees clearly the ledge and its surrounds, though there is no obvious pull or lever to move the gate into the up position.  The ledge itself is only twenty five or so feet across, and only stretches out twelve feet or so from the gate before the bloodied waters of the lake lap up onto the shore.  The handful of skeletons decorating the ledge do nothing as he appears, only lay in their eternal slumber.

The skull above the gate too is in much finer detail here on the outside.  Perhaps younger Judoc was right, and the bones upon the island were dragon, as the skull here certainly seems to be so.  Horns spiral outwards from the top of the head and the long, lizard-like maw extends into a row of razor sharp teeth.  The bottom of the jaw however, seems to have disconnected somewhere, or perhaps was never put up with the skull in the first place, leaving the effect oddly disconnected... a sort of half-horror.

Thinking of the island, Judoc turns his attention towards the lake and again sees the area with a finer detail.  The three bones appear to be lined up all in a row where the wooden stakes appear in much more a haphazard fashion.  Judoc notes also that the deteriorated wooden stakes extend out on one end of the island, where he can see five or six rotted remains of them thrusting upwards from the crimson water.

OOC:  Nothing obvious yet.  Let me know if there's anything you want to do here or if you just want to wait for your spell to end, pass the gear through, and have younger Judoc cast the spell as well.

Is this how stars feel? An eternal burning, every atom of their bodies on fire? Judoc had expected to feel nearly overwhelmed by heat, but the fire is warm and comforting, almost like a old, familiar cloak. An added bonus was the greater illumination Judoc now provides, but he knows that this also makes him easier to see.

The gate itself is intriguing, particularly the dragon skull at the gate's apex. The teeth in particular look impressively dangerous. Judoc wonders where the bottom half of the jaw is. Perhaps that was the key to opening the bone portcullis, but casting about, he does not seem to see it.

The island is a mystery, with its stakes and bones giving it an unnatural look, heightened by the reddish water that surrounds it. Judoc can see no other pathways or passages leading away from the lake other than the gate he has just past through. He looks up at the waterfall and wonders if again they need to take to the air.

Turning back to the gate, Judoc says quietly, "I don't see any latch or lever on this side. I'll let the spell expire, and then we can move our gear through the gate." He stifles a yawn. They need sleep, but he still hasn't found a place that might be safe enough to bed down for the night.

OOC: Look for what might be the bottom jaw of that dragon skull. If Judoc can't find it, he'll allow the spell to expire and help the other Judoc move their gear through the portcullis. Then, he will rest to recover his lost fatigue.

Judoc spends a few moments searching the ground around him, but even with the light of his self-immolation, he doesn't spy anything on the ground that resembles the jawbone of the dragon.  Instead, the bones around all seem generally humanoid, though some of the skulls and teeth are clearly orcish.

Judoc allows his spell to expire, plunging the cavern back into a semi-darkness, with only younger Judoc's lighted necklace behind the gate to lighten the way.  Over the next several minutes, younger Judoc passes the equipment, both his own and his other self's, through the gaps in the bones.  Everything for the most part fits with ease, up until the point where he attempts to fit through the leather cuirass, which protests as he attempts to smash it through the gaps.

With enough effort however, the two finally manage, and Aiah is one of the last things to pass through the gap before younger Judoc begins concentrating for his own spell.

~I'm anxious to be rid of this place~  Aiah thinks as she alights on Judoc's recently rearmored shoulder.

In a matter of minutes, younger Judoc too has passed through the bone portal and donned his equipment, though it's clear that he is just as exhausted as his counterpart.

"Really takes it out of you."  Younger Judoc gasps as he sags back to the floor.  "At least it doesn't look like there's anywhere else to go...  Unless we have to climb up that waterfall too..."  But even as he says it, Judoc knows the other isn't really serious.  Unlike the room before, there is no mist obscuring the peak of the cavern, and it's clear that this room stops abruptly in a rather uniform surface twenty feet up, though admittedly there are shadows that obscure finer details here and there.  The waterfall must come from somewhere but it at least appears to come from a gap between the rock, which would be hell to climb without serious water magic, which Judoc does not have.

"Or maybe there's something on the other side of the island."  Younger Judoc finishes the thought, seemingly more satisfied with this last possibility.

OOC:  Everyone is down 12 fatigue (11 from the spell and 1 from loss of sleep).  Let me know if we're resting more before moving on.

Judoc is disappointed when he does not immediately locate the bottom half of the dragon's skull, but he considers it unlikely that such an obvious key would be lying around right beside the gate it would open. Here on the other side, it seems like the gate is front-facing. This still does not tell him if the portcullis was intended to keep beings out or trap them within. A castle's portcullis normally serves the latter function, but the demonic denizens within The Path of Ancestors probably would have appreciated having their prey trapped inside. Judoc finds it odd that they had not met more evil creatures within, but he is relieved to have gotten this far with all his limbs still intact.

~I feel the same way, Aiah,~ Judoc sends to his doppelganger's familiar. Again he feels the pangs of losing his own Aiah. What had become of her in the half a year he had seemed to lose? Might she be dead now? The morbid thought chokes the relief he had felt just a moment before.

He nods in agreement with his double's assessment, both of his currently fatigued state and the difficulty the waterfall possess. "Let's check out the island, then," he says. "But before we do, let's rest up here. I really need some sleep, but this place doesn't seem that safe to me."

He looks at his alter's familiar. "Perhaps Aiah can see what else might be out there beyond the island." ~Aiah, how do you feel about flying around the rest of this cave to see what else might be around the lake?~

OOC: Let's rest again to recover our lost fatigue.

If Aiah is willing, I'd like to have her scout around this lake area if there's room to fly.

Were the leathers damaged when we shoved them through the gaps in the gate?

"Right."  Younger Judoc agrees, nodding to add emphasis.  "A hour or so and I'll be right as rain."  Though Judoc himself knows that the rest they will need will be much closer to two.

But before they move on, Judoc intones to Aiah his intent to use her to scout and the familiar readily agrees.

~Anything to stretch my wings!~  The bird thinks, flitting off from Judoc's shoulder.  ~Does the air here seem fresher to anyone else?  Less stale?~

Aiah circles the room, which is quite large enough for slow flight even if the ceiling isn't high enough for much maneuverability.  She overflies the island and comes within a few feet of the waterfall, circling around back again before coming back to sit on Judoc's shoulder.

~The water's coming straight down from a gap the rock.~  The bird starts, ruffling her feathers with her beak to nudge off the small beads of water that have collected there.  ~There doesn't even look like enough of a gap for me to get through it...  maybe a water sprite.~

Aiah shoves her head under a wing, jousting her beak deep within her feathers.

~As for the small island, there's not much to say of it.  Those three big bones you are talking of are sitting in holes in the rock.  They seem intentionally placed, though the wood on the rock and in the water seems rotted and fallen like an old man nest long abandoned.  There's nothing else on the other side though...  No other caves.   It definitely smells fresher though.~

"Nothing like the glimmer of hope to really make the despair felt."  Younger Judoc quips aloud as he rolls his head back lightly.  "Damn this place."

OOC:  Let me know if you want to fast forward through resting and where to go from there.

Judoc perks up when Aiah says the air feels less stale. "We must be nearer to the exit," he says. "Or entrance," he adds after a moment. Aiah's report regarding the waterfall is disappointing. Judoc had thought it possible that the underground stream might have carved out a tunnel through the bedrock. However, if such a tunnel did exist, it was hidden.

"I wonder if the exit is camouflaged somehow?" he says. "We can investigate further after some rest. I want to get a closer look at that island. Perhaps the "old man nest" has further secrets we can uncover."

"For now, let's rest," he says. "Keep an eye on me, and don't let me fall asleep."

OOC: Okay, let's rest to recover our lost fatigue. Once we're back up to full strength, Judoc will cast Flight and go investigate that island.

"Right."  Younger Judoc nods, shifting his pack to use as a bit of padding for his back as he lays against the stone of the cave.  "Might as well be rested up."

Again, the two twin mages sit and rest, soaking up the fel mana of the caves to assist with their own natural replenishment.  Judoc glances over at his other self a few times as he thinks, though this time it seems that younger Judoc is overly alert and possibly self conscious that he had fallen asleep just a short time ago.

In perhaps an hour, the two feel ready to move on again.

"Odd place."  Judoc stands, gripping his staff in both hands as he touches the tip into the crimson waters of the lake.  "I guess they wanted people to go through the lake?  I wonder if there's some trap there too like the pit we were dropped into from the start?"  He stirs the staff for a moment, like a witch stirring a cauldron, though he quickly withdraws his weapon and places it on the ground, leaning on it with both hands.

"I'll stay here for the moment.  If there's anything over there, I'm sure you won't need my help finding it, and if there isn't at least I'll have saved a bit of reserves in case we need something for another fight.  I didn't much like the last one we had with those skeletons."

Judoc casts his own flight spell, and he feels the tug of fatigue on his body.  There is little more he wishes to do but rest... or rather to be free of this place so that he can sleep.

Aiah flits off his shoulder as he rises, making her own flight along side her master.

It is a quick journey over to the small island, perhaps a second or two, but the closer distance makes many things much more clear in Judoc's mind.  The three large bones stand about chest high in a row, and sit in grooves that are dug within the stone of the land.  Judoc takes a moment to look at the faces, for indeed they are faces carved at the end of the ivory, and realizes that these too must be orcish heroes, or perhaps even bad and faded copies of the same gods depicted down below.  Either way, they are clearly levers of some sort, arranged in a row as if they work together.

At the other side of the island, Aiah's man nest seems to gain a little clarity as well.  The wooden posts thrusting straight upward from the water seem to be some sort of deteriorated dock sticking out from the edge of the island.  Other planks and posts seemed to have washed up on the edge of the shore, though there is nothing left with which to walk on.  Judoc briefly cycles to the far side of the room, and looks up briefly near the waterfall, only to come to the same conclusion that Aiah did.  While the water clearly comes down through the rock, it doesn't seem like there is any gap for air with it.  Barring strong water magic to keep him from both drowning and being washed back down with the current, which Judoc does not have, the mage surmises that attempting to climb back to the surface using that route would be impossible...


OOC:  The dashed circle on the map depicts where the water comes down in a falls from the ceiling, and where it washes into a swift flowing current adjacent to the tunnel you just walked through.

Judoc had expected some kind of exit from this room back up to the surface. The orcs had passed this way many years before, and surely they had some method of navigating these caves, unless they used magic to come here just as the two Judocs had.

"Perhaps the way past this cave lies beneath the lake," Judoc offers. "Or it is camouflaged, and we need to find some kind of secret door."

Casting his Flight spell, Judoc launches himself into the air for further reconnaissance. Once at the island, Judoc's mind works quickly. Grooves and levers. For the gate, then? Perhaps this was the apparatus that enabled the portcullis to be opened. Or might it open a secret door to grant egress from this room? He looks carefully at the faces for any hint of who they might be.

The docks next attract his attention. A dock was here at one time, indicating that boats had regularly used this place. But what had been the boats' starting point? Had there been an underground river at one point that had been blocked up? The docks surely did not connect to the area with the gate, or they would have faced that side of the island.

OOC: Does Judoc recognize the faces on the bones?

Judoc will first travel in the direction the docks are pointing, roughly ESE on the map, and see if he can find a camouflaged exit or a place where boats would have entered the cavern.

If he cannot find any camouflaged opening, he will try pulling the levers. He will first pull the left-most lever, then the middle one, and finally the right-most lever. He will pause if anything seems to happen from moving a lever.

Judoc briefly looks at the bone levers.  Did he recognize them?  In truth, he wasn't sure.  They could have been Felclough, or some other orcish demigod.  These three sculptures weren't nearly as large as the ones near the flaming pit had been, and though the three faces looked like they were the same, they were worn enough that identifying them was a daunting task.

Wanting to use his spell to the utmost of his time, Judoc flies quickly to the dilapidated dock and past, trying to decide if there is anything of note in the far reaches of the cave.  However, the dock structure seems to end after only ten or fifteen feet, leaving no other hints as to its purpose or history.  The crimson water below seems to be slowly swallowing the dilapidated posts, perhaps hiding any other clues as to the boats that used to travel here underneath the cloudy surface.

Judoc flies onward towards the far points of the cave, though it does not take him long to tell that there are no other exits on the water's surface.  Instead, the glossy wet of the smooth cave walls reflects back the light of Judoc's stone seemingly from every direction.

Judoc flies back to the island, alighting just before his spell has expired.

With nothing else he can think of for the moment, Judoc takes a deep breath, grips the left most lever and pulls.

The surface of the red and muddy water in front of him churns.  Judoc releases the lever, grabbing his staff with both hands in case the lever held the bonds of some monster chained below the surface.  Instead, Judoc watches as the surface curls and breaks not just at his own feet, but all the way to the ledge where younger Judoc stands, and a forty foot length of stone slab rises up out of the water.

The bridge is narrow, perhaps only two feet across, and wet.  It rises barely a half a foot from the water, with thick pilings or pillars supporting it from underneath every five or ten feet.  But undoubtedly this slab will serve as a bridge and younger Judoc gets its purpose immediately.

"Will you look at that!"  Younger Judoc claps as he grabs his pack and pulls it back over his shoulders.  "I'm coming over!"

Aiah takes a single look at the slick, wet surface and flaps her wings, lifting off from the younger mage and flying across the length of the water to Judoc.

~Not that I don't trust your balance!  The bird thinks as she lands.  ~but I figure you don't need any distractions while you're on that.

Younger Judoc takes a tepid step on the slick stone, then carefully begins making his way across...

OOC:  Lever A (left most) raised a long and narrow bridge just on the left side of lever A.  Judoc is walking his way slowly across to you.

Judoc smiles in satisfaction as the ramp rises from the water. So this had been the means by which orcs long ago had entered this place. No doubt another lever opened the gate. But how had the orcs entered this chamber? His cursory examination had revealed no clear ingress, but the dock clearly spoke of some means of water transport. Perhaps the third lever reveals a hidden opening in the cavern wall, large enough for a boat to pass through.

The ramp is of curious construction. Had orcs been able to build it, or was it a remnant of the older elf culture that the orcs had exterminated? Perhaps dwarves had aided in the ramp's construction, for Judoc finds the concept of orc engineers to be dubious at best.

He watches silently as the younger Judoc makes his way down the ramp. The bridge looks slippery. Magic would be safer to cross the lake, but in this case, feet are a fine alternative. Magic allows almost limitless possibilities, but a wise wizard knows not to always rely on the same tools.

OOC: Once the other Judoc is safely across, try the middle lever. If nothing happens, try the right-most lever. If there is still no movement, move the left lever again to see if that retracts the ramp, and then try the middle lever.

Younger Judoc makes his way across the narrow causeway slowly, and though the surface is soaking and slick, his slow pace keeps him from losing his balance at any point over the water.  It isn't long before the other mage has slung his pack back down on the ground and begins looking at the levers along with his other self.  Not wanting to wait any longer than needed, Judoc pulls the middle lever, expecting the gate of bones to begin to lift at the far side of the cavern.

Instead, Judoc finds that he feels the same dulled mechanical rumbling, and watches as the red waters churn again...  This time on the right side of the levers.  Again the muddy water eddies and breaks in a nearly identical fashion, revealing a nearly identical twin footbridge to the one on the left.  This one too, crosses the span of the water all the way to the opposite shore where the gate lies, parallel to the first and only spaced two yards apart.

Judoc frowned.  After the first lever had raised the causeway, he had been convinced there would be one lever to open the gate, and another to show the way onward or else out of the caverns.  The second lever raising a second bridge ruined the theory, and made Judoc far less confident that the way onward would be easy.  He was tired.  Surely by now it must be morning?  They would need to sleep, but how could they in this place?  With skeletons lurking and demons around every turn, where could they find that was safe?

But perhaps he was over worried.  It was possible that the last lever opened the way forward and there was some other device to open the gate.  He would need to find out, one way or the other.

Judoc grabs the last of the levers, pulling it towards him, and sighs with disappointment as he hears the sound of clinking chains coming from across the waters.  A dozen yards ahead, the bone portcullis slowly rises upwards, disappearing into the hard stone of the cave.

But that isn't all it does.  Several other things all happen at once.

A sound like the cracking of a whip erupts from a few paces behind Judoc as a soft percussion wave rolls across his back.  The acrid smell of ozone pierces though the scents of a wet and musty cave.  On his shoulder, Aiah clinches her talons sharply and without thought, her eight claws piercing painfully into Judoc's shoulder.

Next to him, Younger Judoc turns his head and immediately raises his staff, the color of his face draining as his eyes set into a hardened glare.

It is the voice though, more than anything, that sends Judoc's heart plummeting down into his stomach.

"Well...  Isn't this a surprise?"

It belongs to Brother Loke.

"I'd been waiting to kill you for all the inconveniences you've caused me, though now I get to do it twice!"

OOC:  No sweat about posting.  I've been on and off with time and motivation, though I am a little curious about post not showing up.  I noticed you'd been checking the game, so I thought maybe you were just agonizing over your next step (a favorite pass time of mine in my games on RPoL).

Loke is clearly behind you, though his voice sounds as if he is several steps away.  I'll get a map up on the next post if I have the time, though for the moment, there's no immediate need to worry about tactical implications about position.  Loke seems docile enough for the moment, despite the clear intent of killing you eventually.

God's body, but Judoc is tired. He has been up all night, fought demons and the undead, and drained himself repeatedly from spellcasting. What he wouldn't give for eight hours' sleep, even on cold, bare earth.

But there is no rest for the weary. Abruptly, the shockwave hits him, and even without turning around, Judoc knows what it portends. The smell suggests an oncoming thunderstorm, but twisted somehow. Not the sweetness of oncoming rain, but venomous, ichorous.

He hears the voice of Loke/Agares, the being Judoc fears more than any other, even more than Graves. The young wizard immediately recalls the vision from the pool. The images it scryed were real, though perhaps they represented the worst case scenario. His double lives, he knows, or at least has good reason to believe. However, Judoc knows no such temporal causality protections exist for himself.

Turning, he grits his teeth. "Not today, Agares. We have not come this far, through fire and bone, to be killed now, by you or any other!"

OOC: Wait.

Judoc whirls around, taking in the view of his old nemesis.  The old man does not seem to loom quite as large as he does in Judoc's memories.  The demon, Agares, Judoc knows cuts a much larger figure, and Judoc wonders if he had perhaps conflated the two with his fears.

~It's not human!  Aiah screeches within Judoc's mind.

Despite Judoc's precautions, Loke does not make any immediate moves, but laughs pleasantly at Judoc's response, the edges of his lips curling upwards to a smirk.

"So headstrong."  Loke starts, his arms and hands relaxed as if the twin Judoc's present no real threat at all.  "Do you really seek to begin this fight so quickly?  No vein of curiosity pulls at your conscience?"

Beside him, younger Judoc steps widens his grip on the staff, his eyes darting in all directions as if expecting a trap to close from every direction.

"Perhaps you still have not learned your first lesson Judoc?  Do you remember?  The first day we met when we had walked the banks of the lake at the college?"

Loke flits his eyes between the two Judocs, his piercing gaze and self satisfied smirk bludgeoning younger Judoc into response.

"I remember, what of it?"

"Do you."  Loke's words are flat and without inflection, less of a question than a simple response.  "Fitting, it seems, that our journey ends in such a similar fashion to where it began I think.  On the bank of a lake that served as the very foundation of an order.  The start of a journey.  That one of the order of the Templars, of baptism, the earning of the Knight's Cross.  This one the Blood Lake, the beginning of the Road of the Dead, where Felclugh pulled his victims down to an eternal damnation of drowning..."

Loke's smile grows upon his lips as he locks eyes with Judoc.  Clearly he is enjoying the interaction, the moment of power, the indecision of the two mages.

"Of course, it's not real blood I suppose, but rather a mix of sediment and hematite that gives the water its color.  But as we learned nigh on two years ago, when I showed you just a sample of the drowning death, not all things are entirely as they seem."

OOC:  Combat map below.  Each grid square is 5 feet, so just under two hexes across.  I want to thank you for playing as well as you have in this thread.  I'm really enjoying this, as much as it may seem like I've been toying with you as I dangle you over a certain death.  Hopefully you realize that I wouldn't force a character into a such an outcome, though I have definitely shoehorned you into the position you are in now.

Loke isn't making any movements towards combat.  The ball is in your court, feel free to attack, or to continue the conversation as you see fit.

Judoc still grips his staff tightly in his hands. Agares is toying with them, and it is enjoying this. Multiple battle plans flash through Judoc's mind. He and his double could rush Agares, overwhelm him, not allow him a moment to get a spell off. Judoc could cast Flight and rain down fire from above. He could summon an explosive fireball and envelop Loke in flames. But Agares's mastery over water diminishes fire's attraction.

Of course Judoc is curious. Does Agares intend to make another attempt to replace Graves, this time with Judoc as the demon's stooge? Judoc hadn't been able to sense Aiah back in Azer.  Does she die here and his younger self somehow escape? Is escape even possible if Agares remains alive? Why is the demon here? The Path of Ancestors is a hive of demons, but this doesn't explain why Loke is here, in the middle of this Blood Lake. Is there hidden meaning behind his words? What is not as it seems?

"Of course I remember. You gave me a taste of death then, but why? To assert your power? To derive sadistic pleasure in another's pain? To make me distrust and hate my teachers? To let me know how much of an asshole you are? What lesson did you seek to teach then?"

OOC: Thanks, Raddek. I always enjoy these solo adventures, even if this one might be Judoc's last. It really is like playing out a movie or novel, and you do an excellent job of making this all seem real.

"Are you still angry about that?"  Loke responds with the hint of a laugh.

"Fine, if that is what you wish to know, I shall tell you...  I can't pretend that I didn't enjoy the moment, more so because of the delicious mix of your indignant self-righteousness and complete powerlessness."

Loke smiles, taking a step along the shore, not closer, but parallel to the two Judocs.

"But no, that was not why I did it.  Instead, I did it for the same reason I did everything at that school.  I had a job to do.  I was to feel through the students, to see which ones were strong of will and which could be easily bent.  Which students were gifted, and which were weak.  I would find whom would be useless and whom could be used.  And then I would steer those most desirable to the order."

Loke frowns, and turns his gaze back to the two Judocs.

"It has been quite and inconvenience that I can no longer execute that task...  Though I suppose the upside is that it has given me some time to plan your demise.  Which itself comes with a new purpose much more enticing..."

"But enough."  Loke stands up straight, placing his fingertips together, forming a sort of tent with his hands in front of his chin.  "Now it's your turn to answer a question."

"I have heard you have been to Solitude yes?"  Loke quirks an eyebrow when he receives puzzled looks from the two, though he continues on never the less.  "But I know you have.  It's the ancient prison of the elves which used the bound souls of elementals to nullify powerful magics within its walls...  You killed Sadda there, a useful tool but too weak for the task he was given."

~How does he know that?  Aiah squawks within Judoc's mind, the claws digging in slightly again to Judoc's shoulder, though this time he senses anger rather than fear.

Now Loke faces directly to Judoc, his eyes boring holes into the mage's face.

"Tell me everything you know about it.  The longer you talk, the longer you live."

OOC:  Technically, you are at range 2 (and thus within melee range now for a normal step and attack even without a flame jet).  I opted to interpret your direction as "if he steps closer, then attack" as the if/then statement didn't really make sense when the condition was already set (otherwise it would have just been written in the post).  If I got that wrong, then apologies, though it hasn't cost you anything for the moment.

Fear courses through Judoc. He does his best to control it, but he feels completely outclassed by the duke of Hell. His feet feel rooted to the island’s rocky terrain. Demons can die. Judoc has helped kill three himself. But the imps were weak creatures, and Sadda wasn’t much more powerful, at least when faced with a Minotaur’s mace. Agares, on the other hand, possesses the knowledge and skill to rival a powerful mortal wizard. Judoc is no slouch himself, and in time, perhaps he will be the equal of Agares, but not yet. There is still so much Judoc needs to learn. Though he has his doppelgänger and Aiah, Judoc keenly feels the absence of Magnus, Finn, and the others.

~I’ll try to stall him,~ he thinks to Aiah. ~Tell younger Judoc.~

”The order?” Judoc asks curiously. ”Did you recruit Tenesworth, then?” Cautiously, he adds, ”I don’t want to die, of course. How do you know we went to Solitude? Did Sadda inform you somehow?”

”When we arrived, Mika’il had managed to get one of the cells open. He released some kind of gigantic lizard. Not a dragon, but it looked like one, though it was wingless. It slaughtered many of Mika’il’s men. Sadda himself got crushed into a fine paste. He certainly did a good job of corrupting Haj-Umr and his apprentice. Your friend Sadda was very keen to open the cells in Solitude. We surmised some of his friends were locked inside though Sadda said weapons were hidden within.”

OOC: Ah, gotcha. Continue to Wait.

~Alright!  Aiah thinks in response to Judoc's thought.  ~He's going to stall!  Get yourself ready!

Judoc is already talking however, and Loke is already exposing his self satisfied and dismissive smirk.  It is one of the trademarks that Judoc has come to loathe in all the teachers at the college, but especially Loke.  Their charter is to teach, but they seem much more at home simply judging the lack of knowledge of their students.

"Yes, the order.  They are quite important to us.  But not to recruit.  We are not selling anything and Amon did not need to be recruited...  We have ears in many places, and we would not have needed Sadda's information to know that you had been traipsing about the sites of the old world."

As the conversation continues, Loke bores his eyes into Judoc.  It is a look of complete concentration as Judoc talks...

"The keys..."  Loke says, his voice more of a command than a question.  "What of the keys?"

OOC:  Roll vs. IQ-5 labeled ???  Also roll vs. Will.

The order. Judoc had assumed that Agares was speaking of some malignant order aligned with demons, but perhaps he is speaking of the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Templars. Amon - a strange name for a Christian. Wasn't Tenesworth's name Archibald? Or is Judoc confusing the viscount's name with the incoming student who was supposed to accompany him? Or . . . was Tenesworth replaced by a demon as well, just as Loke was? The thought makes Judoc sick. With growing horror he wonders if more Templars have been replaced by demons. Is Graves the only one that  Judoc can really trust among the order? Raisalter had helped Judoc, so perhaps he was one professor who could be trusted.

~Tenesworth is one of them~, he sends to Aiah. Judoc has been wrong before, of course, but what else could explain how the Gate spell had sent them to this infernal place? Loke had been waiting for them to emerge from this prison. Either Agares somehow manipulated Tenesworth's spell, or the Templar was in league with the demon.

Judoc feels Agares's will bearing down on him. He has felt this way once before, when Baron Graves interrogated him about Thresher's fate. He steels himself to resist, but even as he does so, he starts to fill his resolve slip away...

~I knew this place was no mistake!  Aiah trumpets in response to Judoc's thought.  ~He said Tenesworth must be a demon too!  Aiah adds, without any apparent prompting, though there's little time to dwell on what younger Judoc is thinking.

Loke... Agares seems already to be casting, for Judoc has felt this sort of intrusion before.  He fears what will come if he cannot withstand the spell and it is that fear that almost makes him fail.  It is only his sheer determination and redoubled mental defenses that saves him from certain peril.

That and his own spell which sends forth a spout of flames from the end of his staff.

Judoc lunges forward, swiping his staff from right to left across Loke's chest.  The human shaped demon bares his teeth and stumbles out of the way, but he is not fast enough.  The flame jet sears through his robes, sending forth the stench of charred flesh.

"Fine!"  Loke shouts, stepping back towards the edge of the bloody lake.  "Have it your way!"

And without so much as a moment's pause, Loke explodes...  At least, there's no better word that Judoc can think for it.

All at once, light and heat seem to radiate out from the Templar with the intensity of a hot forge, forcing Judoc to shield his face with his arm.  By the time the flash is gone and Judoc has brought his staff back into a ready position, it is only the last few vestiges of darkness that seem to be gathering around the form of Agares.

It has been most of a year since Judoc has seen the demon, though in truth, his dreams have been haunted by the infernal through the entire span.  The form towers over Judoc at ten feet tall or even larger.  From hips to shoulders the beast seems a giant, though its head is narrowed and feline, scowling from the features of a jaguar.  It has long, bleach white hair that hangs down from the absurd head, alighting on its massive shoulders and chest.  The legs are thick with hair and do not bow forward like normal knees, but backwards, ending in massive single-toed hooves the size of dinner plates.  The thing's arms begin like a man's but end in a single, wide-bladed claw like half of a crab's pincer.

Perhaps in another place or another world, Agares would seem a comedic misshapen mashup of various and uncoordinated animal parts, but here and now Judoc is overcome by a foreboding sense of dread.

Aiah grips his shoulder reassuringly, crouching down to spring up in flight.  Judoc readies his staff, and notes that the lines of his hand have begun to blur, fading from solid to transparent over the span of two fingers...  Judoc glances backwards in time to see Younger Judoc stuffing the Blur wand back in his robes.

"Now you die!"  Agares shouts just ahead of Judoc, bringing a single hoof down on the stone of the island with a crash!

OOC:  Updated map below.  I used a hero point for the will roll per your request and got a best roll of 7, which succeed by 8.  Your flame jet spell also succeeded, I used the 1 point version for 0 FP.

Let's do 2 seconds worth of action.

What has become of Judoc's confidence? In the face of Agares, the youth's swagger has been replaced by near-panic. Raisalter had said that fighting a demon was similar to fighting a powerful mage, and Judoc had already killed Haj-Umr and Mika'il. However, they were men, and Mika'il was still only an apprentice. Agares has likely been alive for centuries, if not millenia. What hope does Judoc have against such a monstrosity?

Nearly twice as tall as Judoc, the demon lord looms over the young Templar student. The very darkness itself seems to empower Agares. But frightened though Judoc may be, his fear has not yet mastered him. He cannot risk Agares gaining access to Solitude. Doing so could lead to more demons' release or access to the weapons Sadda claimed were within.

Could Judoc flee? To where? At his back is the now-raised portcullis, but the Path of Ancestors offers only more demons and undead. Will Judoc die here, massacred by this blasphemous chimera?

Just as Judoc's courage is at its lowest, he notices that he has become more translucent, and he feels Aiah's talons. No, Judoc is not alone. He may not have Magnus or Rondald, but has his other self, and Judoc trusts no one more to have his back.

Gritting his teeth and knowing this may be his last fight, Judoc lashes out again with his staff.

OOC: Maintain Flame Jet. Attack!

His vigor renewed, Judoc lashes out with his flaming staff.  The weapon barely nicks the edge of the demon's flesh, leaving a hot, black char in the spot where it struck.

But Judoc is surprised by the speed and ferocity of the demon's counter!  The thing's massive arm hurls towards him, arcing its deadly claw straight at Judoc's chest!  Judoc stumbles backwards, knocking against one of the levers as he spins away, feeling the rush of air as the attack passes.

"Ignis sphera!"  Judoc's counterpart shouts the spell as he steps around to the beasts's flank.

Judoc attacks again, though this time the beast dips back out of the path of the blow and the demon's own attack too is foiled either by Judoc's retreat, or the effects of the blur spell.

Fwooosh!

Judoc shudders slightly as the wave of heat passes over him, and he watches as the fireball bursts with impact at the demon's hip, spewing forth a the choking smell of ash and sulfur!

The beast roars in pain and turns, his menacing body and claws now facing younger Judoc, and giving Judoc a moment's reprieve!

OOC:  Unfortunately, your retreating dodge failed on the first turn and I had to use your last hero point to keep you from going half move and dodge.  Your second defense succeeded however, and you're still in fighting shape.

Agares has turned to Younger Judoc, who threw a successful and large fireball towards the beast.  Though the thing is clearly injured, it seems to have quite a ways to go before it's put under.

Let's do another two rounds.


This message was last edited by the GM at 16:37, Fri 03 June 2022.

Agares is a nightmare made flesh. Not only is he a powerful mage, but he also possesses frightening physical prowess. Judoc has no doubt that the demon lord's pincer-like claw could skewer Judoc like a lepidopterist's butterfly. The smell of ozone is even stronger, as if the storm has broken out in jagged lightning and peals of thunder.

But the demon can be harmed, and what can be harmed can be killed. Or at least banished back to the hellish realm he originated in.

Holding his staff out in front of him, Judoc fires off a burst of flame toward Agares.

OOC: Attack with Flame Jet.

Agares roars and strikes out towards younger Judoc with his edged claw!  For a moment, Judoc is horrified that the strike will hit, but the appendage passes straight through the semi-opaque form of his other self, the magic of the blur wand keeping him from harm.  Younger Judoc steps forward, swatting his staff out in a wild response, though this blow too misses, just short as Agares steps back to avoid the blow.

That motion however, gives Judoc an exposed target for his own weapon and he jumps forward with his staff, smashing the flames into the creature's back, once, twice!

The smell of burned hair and flesh spreads once again, though Agares barely seems to register the attacks, instead swinging wildly again with his arm, this time high above where Younger Judoc stands!  Again, younger Judoc lashes out with his staff, though again somehow Agares seems to evade the blow, his massive body moving in quick and coordinated bursts.

OOC:  No changes to the map.  Judoc scored 2 light hits to Agares with his flame jet.  As a reminder, you still have your powerstone available, as well as the fatigue bank in Aiah to use as you see fit.

Judoc's Flame Jet seems to hardly bother Agares at all. The creature is indomitable. The young mage wonders why Agares has not attempted another casting, but melee attacks are probably more effective when flanked by enemies.

With the demon focused on his younger self, Judoc takes a moment to cast more powerful magic. Concentrating, he channels the mana of the room into a fireball.

OOC: Take right hand off staff. Cast Explosive Fireball.

Not seeing any real effects from his flame jet, Judoc lets the spell expire and shifts his plan to casting a much larger ball of flames.  He concentrates, grits his teeth, and shouts out the spell "Erumpens Ignis!"  Watching as the crackling ball of flaming energy crackles and grows from the tip of his staff.

Aiah screeches in anticipation, launching herself from off Judoc's shoulder as she climbs upwards, arcing around in a circle in the small space afforded by the cave.

Several steps ahead of him, the demon lord and his twin continue to trade blows.  Judoc swings the length of his staff and just misses, falling short of Agares by a hair as he leans back out of the way.  The monster lashes back, though his own claw strike is wild and misses well high, pulling the creature off balance with its force.  Judoc retorts, swinging his staff with a merry laugh and the blow catches the creature on the upper thigh with a meaty thwack!

But in younger Judoc's zeal, he has not prepared himself for the return strike.  Agares aims for the center of the chest, and finally manages some luck against the defensive blur spell.  The clawed appendage strikes younger Judoc square on the leathers at his ribs, sounding off with a hollow thunk! and pop as younger Judoc shouts in a shock and surprise.  The mage stumbles backwards, but somehow, miraculously manages to keep his feet... and he's distracted Agares just long enough for Judoc to make good on his own spell.

Judoc hurls the crackling ball of flame just to the left of the demons feet... the best spot that he can see to minimize the effects for both him and his other self.  The beast's attention is elsewhere, he doesn't even attempt to get out of the way, and the sphere crashes into the ground with an ear-rupturing explosion.

"KAFUCKINGBOOM!"

Despite his precautions, the heat and debris of the blast hit Judoc fiercely, forcing him to turn his shoulder towards the blast and scalding the exposed areas at his neck and wrist.  His ears ring from the cacophonous noise and the air seems to ripple with waves of heat.

Judoc forces himself to look back ahead to the combat and is disheartened to see how well the demon has faired...  Judoc knows that sort of hit would have blown a man off of his feet, knocked him unconscious, possibly even killed him...  And though Agares's legs are charred black from the blast, with patches of crispy skin peeling off and revealing deep red beneath, the demon is not moved.  He still stands... and he's turning to face Judoc.

The beast roars in anger, his eyes flashing to red as he widens his arms and screws up his feral features in concentration.  Suddenly, above his head, four razor sharp icicles appear pointed straight towards Judoc!

OOC:  Again, no big changes to the map, posted again here for convenience.  Younger Judoc scored a moderate wound with his staff, Agares scored a major wound on younger Judoc, and Judoc cast an exploding fireball which did major/life threatening damage to Agares, though it's hard to tell how badly he's actually injured.

Roll vs. HT+2

As his Explosive Fireball blooms into existence, Judoc watches the ongoing fight. Had Basharat been correct? Is his younger self fated to live in this encounter but suffer some kind of amnesia? Or was the master craftsman wrong? In his gut, Judoc feels that his younger self could die here, that the past may not be immutable. Either way, the young Templar student has no desire to disprove the alchemist's philosophy.

Judoc smirks as his other self strikes true, but the next instant, his glee shifts to concern, and he hurls his fireball out of a sense of self-preservation. Not a moment too soon, the fire scores Agares, charring the demon's flesh. With superhuman resilience, the demon turns, his full attention now on Judoc and summons daggers of ice.

"Do your worst, Demon," Judoc sneers, bracing himself for the oncoming hailstorm.

OOC: All-Out Defense.

Judoc sneers his ire at the demon, taunting him to attack, and Agares does not hesitate to oblige.  The four razor icicles fly straight at Judoc and even as he throws himself to the floor, he shouts out the spell to make the weapons return their attack on their caster.

Judoc plummets to the floor and time itself seems to slow to a crawl...  Judoc watches as one of the missiles reverses its course, streaking backwards towards a surprised Agares.  Two more whiz past his ear as he turns his head away, his body still sagging downward in slow motion towards the ground.  But the last one... the last one...

Crack!

The missile slams into the side of Judoc's head just above his ear, smashing into he leather cap and splintering as it rams like an arrow into the side of the wizard's skull!  For a moment, everything goes black as pain rockets across his head!  Judoc's ears are still ringing from the blast of his own strike and for the briefest of moments, he feels floating with no sight nor vision to guide him.  But Judoc knows that inaction is death, and thankfully, as he pushes himself up to one knee, color sprouts from the center of his vision again, opening up from the center as if he were running to the light at the edge of a tunnel.

A scream cuts through the ringing in his ears, deep and bestial, and as Judoc reorients himself he takes in the scene of Agares standing in front of him, one of his own icicles nearly fully buried and sprouting from his thigh before the whole thing disappears in a gush of water.

"Damnit!"  Younger Judoc shouts from behind the beast.  "Ignis sphera!"

~Fucking throw it!  Aiah shrieks in Judoc's mind.  ~It's going to kill you!

OOC:  Wow is this exciting!  Agares's missiles would have all hit you without your all out defense.  Your Return Missile spell sent one back, which hit Agares in the leg and looks like it did significant damage (though of course he's still standing).  Your dodge was also successful enough to cause another two of them to miss you, though the last hit, and the random location was a natural 4 for the skull.  Luckily, after the combined 4 DR, the missile did only minimal (relative) damage, though it does put you into half move and dodge.  You are no longer in a shock penalty though, as you used your next turn to push yourself up into a kneeling position.

Lets do 2 more seconds.

Christ, he’s big, Judoc thinks numbly as Agares towers over him, the demon death made flesh. Judoc had beaten Death before on the harsh sands of Azer’s arena, but the situation here is far more perilous. There, Judoc was assured of victory. Here, he faces a foe of far greater skill, power, and experience. Agares can kill Judoc with one more blow, Judoc knows. However, Judoc is not alone this time, as Aiah’s and his twin’s voices remind him.

Keep his attention on you, he thinks numbly. Give Judoc II his shot.

Once more, the mage taunts his adversary. Even with Judoc’s head a thundercloud of pain, he still manages to grunt out, ”How does it feel, knowing you’re beaten?”

All-Out Defense: Feverish Dodge.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:13, Sun 12 June 2022.

Judoc looks up at the towering beast, all the more intimidating with Judoc barely able to regain his feet.  He needs but a moment he thinks...  a moment and a great deal of luck.  He spits an insult at the demon, hoping to keep the monster's attention... and he is not disappointed.

"And now you die!"  The beast roars, closing the last step towards Judoc as it swings around its terrible claw with deadly force.

...And then several things all happen at once.

With a screech, Aiah dives from Judoc's right, her claws extended and gripping out at the back of Agares's neck!  Judoc uses everything has left to fling himself to the side...  standing in a single motion as he rolls away from the swing!

"No!"  Younger Judoc screams, "Get out of the way!"

But Aiah cannot stop, her claws scrape across the back of the beast's neck and the monster's swing goes wide!  Judoc watches in shock as Aiah climbs away and Agares stumbles forward, completely off balance after his attack!

Judoc steps to the side, and sees the fireball,  A fireball the size of a summer melon, just in time to shield his face.

FWOOOOSH!

The heat hits Judoc like a blast, singing the hairs in his nose and souring the air with the retched stench of sulfur.  The flame hits the beast with such force that Agares staggers forward, splashing one of its hooves in the bloodied waters fo the lake!

How the thing is still stands is impossible to comprehend, its back is completely burned away in places, leaving a black, gaping cavity ringed by raw, flaking skin.  But it stands never the less.  It stands and turns, towards Judoc, its face contorted in anguished rage.

OOC:  Don't count yourself out yet.  This fight is not over.

You managed to stand and do a side slip, which rolled a crit success.  Very nice timing.  Agares was pitched off balance and you earned a hero point for the excellent roll.  Aiah also dive attacked the monster, doing minimal damage and Judoc threw a fireball the size of a basketball... which did enough damage to kill a horse in one go.  However, Agares is still quite alive.  He has now turned so that you are both in front hexes (you are in his right front)

2 more rounds please.


This message was last edited by the GM at 03:19, Sun 12 June 2022.

The smell of sulfur and charred flesh fills the air, choking Judoc and watering his eyes. Impossibly, Agares still stands, the demon's inhuman strength carrying it onward. Is this all a nightmare? Is Judoc already dead and condemned to an eternity of torment and torture?

But no. As horrific as this bestial monstrosity is, Judoc is still alive, at least for now. He would laugh if the room would stop spinning for a moment. Maybe if he just pushes Agares, the demon lord would topple backward into the blood-red water. What did Agares say? Not all things are entirely as they seem?

Unsteadily, Judoc stands, dwarfed by the demon yet still defiant. "Come on, then!" he sputters, his staff held before him, a ward against evil.

OOC: All-Out Defense.

Expecting another blow, Judoc hesitates.  His eyes are fixed on the beast, who still towers above him though its body is deformed and blackened by fire.  Out of the corner of his eye, Judoc can see the red flash of a flame jet erupt from the other Judoc's staff.

But Agares does not attack...

Instead, the cat like eyes glow a dim purple, the clawed arms rising up like a deacon bestowing a blessing.

Though Judoc is thankful for his reprieve, the moment is confused...  For a moment, Judoc almost convinces himself that the beast is finished, though he casts his own flame jet anyway to be sure.  Fire erupts from the tip of Judoc's staff, and the flame carries almost all the way to the cavern's ceiling.

Judoc wonders for a moment if he will just be able to end it here...  for younger Judoc and him to cast his flames through the demon and send it back to the abyss.

But even as Judoc's thoughts shift to his other self, he notices through the corner of his eye the blurred form of his other self shaking with convulsions.  With a glance, Judoc takes the whole scene in.  He witnesses his own face harden...  His eyes dilate and go unfixed...

Judoc had seen this before...  In Alevius, just before the youth had tried to kill him with lightening.

"Kill him."  Agares commands, his purpled eyes alight with hate.

OOC:  Same map.  You do have a retreat available, but have not had to retreat.  A roll vs. IQ+5 will give you the impression that younger Judoc is now under the mental control of Agares.  It's also worth mentioning that the island doesn't slope down quickly at the water, and Agares did not sink in when he stepped into the water on his own, so it's possible to step around Agares's left side if you wish to get away from your other self by stepping in the water.

2 more rounds.

When Judoc sees his younger self slip under the influence of Agares’s mind control, the young mage feels his will nearly dissolve. How on Yrth can Judoc simultaneously fight himself and the demon? Even attacking his double could result in Judoc ending his own life! Worse still, he now finds himself flanked!

Their foolish hearts were darkened
Their vacant minds deceived
The lies that they exchanged for truth
Became all that they believed

”You bastard!” he snarls, and moves to circle around Agares. ~Aiah, can you stop him?~ he sends to their shared familiar. Even as he does, a thought chills him. What if Aiah remains loyal to the charmed Judoc?

The heavens wait in silence
For the coming of the end
As man perfects his own imperfection
Destruction closes in

This is it, Judoc thinks. If he does not kill Agares now, then Judoc himself will die. And after the elder is destroyed, what then? Will Agares destroy the younger Judoc as well? Or will the demon use Judoc to unlock the doors of Solitude? Once again infiltrate the Battle College.


Wounded and slowed, Judoc makes a Herculean effort to get behind Agares. With all his will remaining, he lashes out with his Flame Jet!

 
Move clockwise around Agares. Spend 1 FP for a Giant Step. Attack Agares with the Flame Jet.

Judoc feels his mouth run dry as his other self lunges forwards, the staff barking flames which crash down in his direction!  But Judoc is already moving, twisting himself forcefully to the side and younger Judocs blow does not even manage to scrape the halo at the edge of the blur spell.

Sweating profusely, his breaths coming in ragged gasps, Judoc looks up into the face of the beast, hoping for some clue as to the timing of the next attack.  But the beast is not moving...  its glowing eyes seem distant and its body unmoving.

Judoc brings back his staff for a blow, and just as he does, the thing's expression changes from concentration to elation.

Judoc swings his staff with all his might.

"The keys!"  Agares shouts, his feline grin stretching upwards like a painted clown.

The massive jet flies in a wide arc towards Agares.

"They've buried them just outside the...!"

The jet crashes with force into Agares's side, burning across arm and chest as the incorporeal flame arcs across the whole of its body, leaving char and cinder in its wake.

"Nooooo!"  Agares shrieks and the purple light in his eyes suddenly start spilling, leaking from its head.

Judoc takes a step back in astonishment, his boot sinking shin deep in the red waters, though he barely even notices.

From the many burns and open wounds the demon is now sprouting rays of purple light.  The thing's back lights up like a thousand candles on a Christmas tree from where younger Judoc's fireball nearly flayed off all the flesh.  The scene builds to a crescendo, nearly blinding in its intensity and Judoc again is forced to shield himself with his arm.

Boom!

And in an instant, the whole form of the demon ruptures like a bubble.  There is nothing left.  No body.  No blood or ash.  Nothing but the stars floating across Judoc's eyes from the brilliant light, and perhaps the last vestiges of the demon's essence which Judoc breathes in amongst the damp and boiling air.

Several paces ahead, Judoc watches as his other self drops to the ground like a sack of stones.

~Are you alright!  Aiah screeches as she swoops in for a landing on Judoc's shoulder.  The bird's eyes are panicked, her three eyelids dead still as she stares intently at the mage.  ~You have to help him!  He was in screaming agony!  I've never heard those kind of thoughts from him... you!

CRACK!

Judoc steps ahead from the sound and turns and he is not a moment too soon.  Loose stones and earth from the ceiling of the cave in a sudden collapse, falling to the surface of the water where the ruined posts of the dock still stand.  Where he had just been standing not a moment ago.

SPLOOOSH!

The earth crashes into the water with a roaring splash and sends a rippling tide across the face of the lake.  Judoc himself is sprayed with the crimson water, though in truth he's too happy to care...  For at the ceiling where the stone fell is now an opening some ten feet in diameter, a shaft that seems to lead upward.  And Judoc sees a hint of light reflecting off the side of that shaft...  Not reflections from his own light stone but daylight.  He's sure of it.

OOC:  Congratufuckinglations.  And thank you.  Because of you I'll now be able to delete one of my oldest notes posts in the game, which had Agares's character sheet.  While the thread isn't over (we seem to have a lot of loose ends to tie up) you are out of combat.  You've officially beaten the boss and found the way to the outside world.

You can return to normal posting, but don't feel you need to take care of everything at once.  There's still lots of nuance here that could impact things down the line.  Congrats again on a job well done.

Sucking in lungsful of air, Judoc slumps on his staff, the Flame Jet winking out. His gaze goes upwards to the new shaft in the cavern ceiling. Light glints from the edge of the shaft, a promise of escape. Finally, hope in the midst of this hell.

Agares is gone. Perhaps finally so, if demons can truly die. For all his power, Agares had been in the end as susceptible to fire as any mortal might be. Had Judoc truly won? As long as Judoc may live, he knows the sight of Agares exploding in light will be seared in memory.

The young Templar student blinks away the stars in his vision and turns to his younger self. Aiah's voice shrieks inside his head, and as fast as he can shuffle, Judoc hurries toward the younger mage.

Dropping to one knee, Judoc checks the other Judoc's pulse and breathing. Lacking the spell that can diagnose injury, Judoc still can guess at what has befallen his companion. Mental torture, the breaking down of the will. Judoc himself had been able to resist Agares's mind-bending spell, but his younger self had not been so fortunate.

Laying hands on his doppelganger, Judoc murmurs words of power. "Sana fortis." Though his other self had been injured physically by the demon, Agares had done far more damage to younger Judoc psychically, but Judoc could at least heal the other's bodily wound.

~Agares was inside his mind. What did my other self say?~ he asks Aiah telepathically. God's bones, he is tired. A little rest, and he and his other self can escape this place.

OOC: Amazing conclusion to this adventure, and excellent foreshadowing along the way! This reminds me a great deal of facing down the likes of Cúchulainn and Belias in FFT.

Judoc will spend 4 FP to cast Major Healing on Judoc Jr. Then, he'll rest until the other Judoc wakes up (if he does). When the two are ready, cast Flight and head up through the shaft.

Exhausted though he is, Judoc staggers forward, sagging down to a knee as he inspects his other self.  Aiah too perches herself precariously forward to get the best view of the fallen mage, and Judoc finds himself appreciating the moment.  He remembers all too well Aiah's snippy responses just a day or so previous, he remembers intuiting his other self's angry responses...  For now at least, Aiah is simply concerned, and Judoc doesn't have the heart to chide her with the fact that his very existence now is proof that younger Judoc will be alright...  at least if Basharat is right.

But Judoc also can't bring himself to chide Aiah because he doesn't feel entirely confident either.  While younger Judoc's chest rises and falls, it does so in an irregular and punctuated manner.  His pulse beats like war drums, his eyes are shock wide, and his face is soured into a look of discomfort which twinges every few moments with a jolt of pain.

~Easy now!  Aiah calls in a thought just short of hysteria, ~You'll be fine, just relax!

Judoc brings his hand over younger Judoc's chest, sending waves of mana to heal the worst of the injuries.  The words of power seem slightly off for Judoc, though the spell seems to work just as planned.  Instead, Judoc can't help but feel a tingling in his lips and tongue that he's never felt before.  Judoc wonders at the moment, though his attention is quickly recaptured by his other self, who release some of the tension, though his face still winces in effort and pain.

After several attempts to talk to his other self with no response, Judoc asks Aiah to relay anything that his other may have thought as he was under the control of the demon.  Aiah shudders slightly with the question, though eventually she answers.

~It was all so fast!  She explains, even before she can get to the actual words.  ~And it was like he was thinking two things at once, like there were two voices.  One was saying 'The keys, the keys!' over and over again, and the other was screaming 'No! no! It hurts! Make it stop! NO! He's found it!'  There was so much screaming!

Aiah shudders on Judoc's shoulder, allowing herself to sit and roost as her head sags down to her shoulders.

~He was in a lot of pain...  and he hasn't thought anything since he fell... He's just silent.   Just suffering.

Judoc lays there resting for near an hour, watching his other self who simply continues to lay, his muscles contracting unpredictably across his body, his jaw clenching with each oncoming spasm.

Eventually, Judoc knows he must go.  Though his magic can and has healed the body, his ability to sooth the mind is not nearly so refined.  He knows he needs help, and he won't get it here in this ruin.  Gripping his other self by arms and hauling him up and over his shoulder, Judoc casts flight upon himself and rises upwards towards the shaft.

With so much weight to be carried, the going is much slower than he is used to, though the broken light grows ever stronger as Judoc rises.  10 yards from the base, Judoc passes a series to stone effigies, barking faces of the orcish gods.  Lumscar, the Hungry one, Felclough, The Bloody One, and Mauxukin, Keeper of the Fire.  Judoc has had quite enough of them.  But he needn't be impatient, it is only a few more moments before both forms of Judoc, Aiah, and all their equipment break free of the ground and climb out under a conjunction of stone leaned together to make a sort of barrow.

Judoc does not dither but flies on, pulling himself and his other to the nearest hilltop before laying his other self down and casting his eyes all around.

In the distance, the morning sun rises in the east over an expanse of bleak forrest that carries as far as the eye can see to both the north and south.  In the opposite direction, rolling hills prevail, with only handfulls of pine and oak here and there dotting the landscape.

This must be the Black Forrest then.  Judoc thinks, doing a little mental geography to place himself within a week's walk back to Craine, depending on how far north or south he has strayed.  Of course, the distance seems of little matter, overwhelmed by the thankfulness of being out in the day.

As if sharing his thoughts, Aiah launches herself to the air, letting loose a cry as she circles ever higher over the plain.

OOC:  Still a few things left to wrap up - where do you want to go from here?  As per our discussion when we started this thread, you can't change the past, so eventually your younger self ends up with Basharat, whether that means you take him there or I coerce him there through other means.  Your choice.  There could be interesting implications either way.

Finally, the trio are free of the hellish prison The Path of Ancestors. Judoc breathes deeply of the fresh air and glories in the sun's warmth. They had been trapped beneath the earth's surface for only a day, but it seemed more like forty days and nights. However, though they have broken free, they still have many miles to go before they sleep.

Reorienting himself with the rising sun, he identifies what must be the Blackwoods off in the distance to the east. The elves of the Blackwoods are said to be xenophobic and genocidal, and on his journey west he had given the area a wide berth. He has little interest in testing the current state of affairs in that forest, at least today.

More than anything else at this point, he wants to return to Azer to report on Agares and Tenesworth. How quickly will word of Agares's defeat spread? Could Judoc confront Tenesworth now, alone, without allies or authority? The young mage had beaten Agares, though at great cost. Tenesworth should prove no more difficult, but Judoc knows he cannot simply show up on Tenesworth's doorstep and denounce the Templar as a demon. If only he could talk to Raisalter. Judoc has no inclination toward vigilantism, but how widespread is the demonic conspiracy?

Exhaling, partly in frustration, partly in relief, he looks down on his younger self. The younger Judoc is still unwell, that much is certain. Judoc considers his options. He could travel overland to reach Azer, but the journey would take weeks. Perhaps instead he could consult the Mages' Guild in Craine. Surely there was some kind of hospital in the city. Perhaps the Hospitallers or the Thomasites? He tries to think if he had passed some sort of sanatorium while he had been there.

Food and water would be an issue on the journey, but Judoc is reasonably confident that they will be able to find enough to eat and drink along the way.

Kneeling down, he says to his other self, "Let's head west, back to Craine. We should be able to find some help for you there. I'm going to take your backpack off and carry it myself, okay? I'll carry you, too. We'll get you some help."

Judoc eases the other mage's backpack off and slings it over his shoulder. ~Ready, girl? Let's head back to Craine.~ Then, concentrating, he raises his hands in an upward motion to begin the journey westward.

OOC: Judoc will head back west to Craine. He'll remove the other Judoc's backpack and carry Judoc II's staff. Judoc will cast Levitation to carry the other Judoc magically.

At night, he'll camp and attempt to set snares for game with a default Survival roll. He'll ask Aiah to hunt for game as well. He will cast Mystic Mist and Watchdog at night for protection. Judoc will head west. If he finds a road going west, he will travel along that road.

Judoc has various ideas, though he knows for the sake of younger Judoc, he needs to get to Craine as quickly as he can.  So he picks up both staffs and the other mage's equipment, before levitating him and setting off towards the city.

The countryside rolls with green hillsides and Judoc sees more cattle and sheep than he does men, though the journey is not difficult.  With the help of a few spells he had learned from Finn, Judoc spends the nights in relative safety, the days making steady progress towards the West.  Aiah's scouting makes finding his way little more than trivial.

When Judoc finally does push his way through the gates and into streets of Craine, the sun is hanging perilously low in the sky, threatening to extinguish the last of the day's light at any moment.

By now, younger Judoc is able to walk.  His mental anguish seems subdued and he seems to follow directions and requests well enough, though he is a shell of what he was.  He seems mostly incapable of holding a conversation and he moves as if through a haze, noticing little beyond the direction of others.

The journey has eaten away at Judoc.  While he was encouraged at the improvement of the first day, the lack of anything further has been a constant burden.  The implications of what it means for Judoc himself are terrifying.  He finds himself hovering over the doddering twin like a mother hen, fearful that if he loses sight of the simpleton, suddenly it will be him who is lost, stripped to mindlessness by Agares's magic.

What if Basharat was wrong?  What if Judoc had failed and the past had actually changed for the worse?

It is the sight of the first evening stars which brings to brings Judoc's attention back to the present.  He needs to make accommodations for the night.  Though he yearns to bring Judoc to the mage's guild or the Hospitallers if indeed they have a presence in Craine, it's simply too late to expect anything to be done.  He'll have to wait until the morning.

His thought of the Alchemist comes quickly back to mind though.  Basharat had said he could return, perhaps he could persuade upon the man's hospitality and wisdom before seeking magical or medical treatment?

Judoc pushes his way through the unlocked door, timidly at first and wary of intruding.  However, Basharat's voice quickly calls from a back room.  "Come in, come in!  I've been expecting you, but my there's never enough time!"

Judoc leaves their things near the door and takes his other self by the shoulder, leading him backwards through the showroom and farther into the shop.  They find Basharat in a workroom, bending over a thick, braided length of silver that Basharat is moulding into a ovular shape.

"Welcome, welcome back!"  Basharat grins as he stands up from the table and replaces a long, thin tool back into a stand.  "I understand it was harrowing!  But I'd love to hear it all first hand!  I'm afraid the mirror won't be done for some time, perhaps several months!  But I'm happy to take your past self on for you as we're waiting!  Oh, and this must be Aiah!"

Basharat grins at the bird, tilting his head slightly in a wide-eyed look of curiosity.

"A pleasure I'm sure."

OOC:  Ok, apologies here for taking some of the story out of your hands, but I think it's in everyone's best interest to avoid the game of whack-a-mole and simply bring things to a close by scripting some of the last little bit.  I'm sure there are various other ways we could have found for you to cure Judoc, but I'd rather not extend this thread for another month working through dice rolls that are simply forced so I can get a neat little bow to tie things together.

A roll vs. IQ will lead you to the conclusion that Basharat is currently working on the mirror - the first thing you saw when you regained consciousness.

Feel free to roleplay as little or as much as you want to here, I'm happy for the back and forth, or I can set things to a close if you want to be done.  Basharat is offering to take care of younger Judoc, allowing you to go your own way.  If you leave now, you can definitely make it back to Azer by ship prior to the start of the term.  If you decide to take the gate back to six months in the future, you will obviously have already missed the start of the term.

The journey back to Craine had offered Judoc much time for reflection. He had always been a private person, one who kept his fears and concerns to himself. Now, he longed for someone to talk to, to seek counsel from. What should he do about Tenesworth? The viscount was a man of influence.  If Judoc barged into Tenesworth’s home and accused him of conspiring to have Judoc killed, or worse, being a demon, Tenesworth would simply have the young wizard arrested and arrange to have Judoc assassinated. The Templars in Azer knew of Loke/Agares and would be more open to listening to Judoc, but Azer was on the other side of the continent.

The person best suited for giving advice, Judoc’s double, had been broken by Agares. Aiah was a constant comfort and more than occasional annoyance, but Judoc found the thought of seeking advice from her to be laughable. Judoc’s reunion with Giles had been unforeseen and welcome, and though Hind had drifted from the path of the mage in favor of the warrior, Judoc felt that Giles  could understand him. Judoc would have dearly loved to lay this problem out before Finn, who possessed a much different perspective than Judoc’s own. He wonders where the others are, if Rondald, Terri, and Gustav were still in Craine. Perhaps he could lay out this difficulty before then and get their opinion. The four of them could confront Tenesworth, or perhaps go to Duke Bran, though what Judoc had seen of Bran did not fill the Templar student with confidence.

Now, here with Basharat, Judoc feels some measure of relief. How far can he trust the alchemist? Judoc knows very little about the man, though without Basharat’s help, Judoc’s younger self may have been killed by Agares.

A thought comes to Judoc. What if he were to remain here with his twin? They could both go back in time and confront Tenesworth together. But then Agares would still be alive and free to continue his machinations. And if time seems to work toward correcting deviations, Judoc may find himself away when his other self decides to go through the alchemist’s gate.

Or what if Judoc were to remove an item from his companions pack? The Lesser Keys of Solomon, perhaps? But what would that serve other than to show that time was malleable and events could be changed? Or what if Judoc attempted to kill Basharat here? Not that the wizard would act so rashly, of course, but surely that would change the future. No, there are too many possibilities, Judoc thinks. Time must be more fragile than Basharat believes.

Aloud, he says, ”Yekather khairak. You have already helped me so much. I am in your debt, Basharat. I would be happy to tell you the whole story. But for the moment, suffice it to say that we were deceived and transported to a forsaken place called The Path of Ancestors. There, we battled demons, both with our magic and our wits. We also encountered our greatest enemy, a demon lord of Hell named Agares. We slew the demon, but not before Agares nearly destroyed my twin’s mind.”

OOC: I’m happy to fast forward here. Judoc will tell the tale in full once they are in a comfortable place to talk. He will not reveal the location of the keys, but he will tell Basharat that Agares sought the location of the keys to Solitude.

He will share what he suspects Agares said about the viscount and that Tenesworth may have been replaced by a demon, as Loke was. Agares called Tenesworth Amon, but Tenesworth was introduced to Judoc as Viscount Archibald Tenesworth.

Judoc will want to see if he can reconnect with Gustav, Rondald, and Terri. If he cannot find them, he will send a note to Giles at the Three Corners Fort. I don’t think Judoc has an address for any of the others.

Judoc will give Tenesworth enough money to help pay for his double’s room and board over the next six months.

Over the next few days, Judoc seeks out the others, and manages to find both Gustav and Terri, though he is horrorstruck to find that Rondald has been murdered by a group of thieves.  Terri is beside herself and though Judoc is sympathetic, the font of repressed emotions is somewhat too much for him to handle, so he quits her company after as much of the interaction as he can handle, instead giving the whole of the story to Gustav and sending along a note to Giles to express his concerns.

Though Judoc is wildly curious about the myriad possibilities of time travel, in the end he decides there are simply more important matters to attend to.  He must get back to Azer and report to Graves if for no other reason that to fill him in with the entirety of Agares's actions and the connection that the demons (for he knows there is more than one lord of hell here on Yrth now) have to the Templars at large.

If he is to go, he'll need to leave soon to make the start of the next term.  The trip by sea will be long, though he feels assured it will be far safer than jumping into a magical gate had been.

Judoc walks out to the workshop to say his last goodbyes to Basharat, to pay him for the stay of his other self.  He finds the older man applying a heat gun to the silver base of what will be the magical mirror that rouses younger Judoc from his catatonia.

"Odd things, mirrors."  Basharat says as he looks up from his work and smiles.  "They reflect reality, reflect our perception...  and it is that very property that gives them such powerful alchemical properties.  They can trick us, or show a deeper truth, or else simply reflect that which is real in another place... another time."

"This one will reflect on the soul of the one who looks into it...  I'm not sure why that will bring your other self round...  though Basharat in the gate assures me that it does.  I suppose perhaps, that sometimes all we are looking for is a little assurance of who we are."

OOC:  Ok, I think I've got all your intentions, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.  You are planning on paying Basharat for board, and then taking your things and Aiah and heading back to Azer by ship in the very near future.  Feel free to write up a closing thread here, and thanks for helping my tie up the loose ends.

Judoc had been horrified to find that Rondald had been killed. The former sailor and his wife had seemed a formidable team. Knowing Terri had softened the young mage's prejudice against women, but Judoc was not able to handle such raw grief. He had sat quietly with her as she had poured out her sorrow and rage. "I wish I had been there," he had managed. "I - Terri, I don't know what to say. If there's anything I can ever do, please, look me up or contact me. If you want revenge on these bastards, I want in, but I need to go back to my college first."

The words felt lame in his mouth. No promise could bring Rondald back. Judoc knew several spells for healing physical injuries, but he had none that could heal heartbreak.

* * *

The letter he had pressed into Gustav's hands. "They know we were there at Solitude, and Agares and Tenesworth conspired together to trap me and try to get the location of the keys. They may come for you, Gustav, or Giles, or any of the others. I'm going to see what my superiors say in Azer, but I'm guessing I'll need to go after Tenesworth at some point. I don't know how deep this conspiracy goes, but I have a feeling that none of us are safe, not until all these demons are banished or they achieve whatever their aims are."

* * *

Judoc nods at Basharat's words. "To know what is true, and what is deception. But discerning the difference? There's the rub," he says.

Bidding farewell to Basharat, Judoc takes his leave of the alchemist and heads back out into the streets of Craine. His ship leaves for Azer in the morning, but perhaps Judoc can find a buyer for the crown they had found in the Path of Ancestors.  All we are looking for is a little assurance of who we are. And who is Judoc? A man of mercy, sparing his enemies? A brave man, facing down his fears? A coward, fleeing from danger until there is no other avenue remaining?

Judoc was once supremely confident in his abilities, but strangely, his victory over Agares surprised him. Judoc had expected the lord of hell to outmatch him, and perhaps Agares would have if Judoc had faced the demon alone. But with his twin and Aiah, the trio had prevailed. Judoc's overconfidence has been transmuted into something else. Perseverance, perhaps. Tenacity. Judoc the Tenacious. He smiles in spite of himself. ~Here's to the future, pretty bird,~ he thinks to Aiah. ~Whatever else comes my way, I'm glad you're with me.~