RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

[Longman]

If there was once a door or secret door there once, it has been blocked off now. The elves can hear there is a space on the other side of the wall, but to access it you would have to bash through the masonry. Or, you could just walk around the corridor.

Still no sign of any noise coming from upstairs, or chasing you down here. Freya just heard a momentary echo of movement from to the north of her on level 2 - that was all. That was about a minute ago, now.

'This is a terrible place, mistress,' says Abigall. 'Something is wrong here. Very bad. I feel it inside. Like something is trying to get inside me, all the time.'

No one else has felt this. It's just a big dark smelly dungeon and it seems to be full of dangerous stuff.

[Woe]

The elves can hear there is a space on the other side of the wall, but to access it you would have to bash through the masonry. Or, you could just walk around the corridor.

We can do it the smart way, or we can do it the dwarf way. "Wot? Und leave a perfectly good wall dere?!"

The elves will check the seat, Freya for traps. She'll be extra cautious this time and poke the seat with a really long pole/spear/anything to make sure it's not another mimic.

"What? Abigall, let's get you out of here. How long have you felt like this?" She looks at Talin and Kilian. "Let's go back to the mirror. I don't know what she's feeling, but let's not expose her to anything more."

You neglected to mention what the dwarves saw to the east. It's moot now though, as the party will hurry through the south passage all the way back to room 1. Knock knock!

[Longman]

You neglected to mention what the dwarves saw to the east

No - I said that you had scanned those eastern rooms and seen / heard nothing - other than the sound of stuff scuttling away form the light.

A thorough search would mean you actually going down there. So far you haven't gotten past the junction.

Checking for traps - nothing apparent on the bench seat or in the area. If it's another mimic it is being very patient.

The mouse looks almost embarrassed as you decide to head for safety. "Sorry, mistress mage. I know it is important for the Korri (Sylvan word for dwarf) to find that room with all the carvings on your map. But I am feeling strange. Can't you feel it? Like something is trying to take you over?"

She offers to keep going for a short while, but you can see she is very nervous.

PS - a while ago you made a post with a bunch of elvish-sounding stuff to do with Tiana's name and title in Elvish or Sylvan. Can you find that? I'm getting sick of her calling her mistress mage. Your stuff was better.

[Woe]

Leharemilana A'Tiana, Ekahua (elvish adept)
(I got lucky on the search results)

"No, Abigall... we are in this together. If you're unwell, we're going back. I can't feel anything inside of me. You're much more attuned to magic, remember? Maybe this thing is trying to get inside all of us, and you're the only one who is noticing. We can discuss it more when you feel safe again."

(and off we go, back to the safe room.)

[Longman]

Okay...back through room 2.

The definitive moment when Tiana comes to cast Knock spell on the secret door, with everyone praying to all their various deities and ancestors that the magic will be enough...and it is. She has to battle for it, though. She has to really focus her mind on unlocking the ancient magic, and she senses that if she was not up to the job, the party might have gotten stuck. 4SP down for the day.

You are now back in the secret room. Do you close the door?

(Incidentally, the mouse-girl reports she is still felling the strange sensation.)

[Woe]

Yay everything!

Yes, the party will lock the door. They'll turn around the mirror and head back through as well. IIRC they got everything of interest from this room.

[Longman]

You are now back on the other side of the mirror.

Abigall reports the sensation dwindling almost at once. Clearly, it only affects her once she is in wherever that other place is.

You can have pretty much everything from that side of the mirror - even including the spare robot and parts, if you like.

(Now would be a good time to do a stuff inventory.)

What are you going to do? Go in again, without the mousegirl? Go back to Red Oak? Head further into the mountains? What's the plan?

[Woe]

Would Abigall be comfortable babysitting Fido? They can both hole up in the secret room while the rest go back across.

[Longman]

She will, provided Kilian rigs up another barricade to keep the worm creatures out of this side of the complex. Even though there is no sign of them ever having entered in the western side, she's still concerned about facing one of them on her own.

'If it came to it, we could go back into the mirror to be safe,' she says. 'But I'd rather that nothing got in here, at all.'

I'll give you the rest of the day to make the barricade out of the stuff you made the eastern barricade from. You could heal up tonight, and get a few hp back too.

[Woe]

"Oh! I meant in the other room, where we spent the nights avoiding the worms." says Tiana.

I did think the other secret room, by the lich taking a nap. If Kilian thinks this is safe, he can barricade here, but it better be dwarf-secured not just human-secured. That means, overengineered and not even a giant could get in. But more generally, either room works.

Talin will work on his Salenish, Tiana will read through some of the tomes, and the two of them try to make sense of the runes on the staff. Pretty much, everyone plays with the newfound toys. Tiana will also spend some time diagnosing what Abigall felt.