Netherwars Part 2 – Adapted from the adventure by John Polojac
Seven sighed deeply. No matter how hard she tried to explain the seriousness of their situation, neither Peter nor Akira seemed to be taking their new responsibilities seriously. It had been two weeks since Adrian had become the Master Mage of the Netherworlds following Una’s demise. Longer since Earth had a Master Mage in residence to provide its arcane energies with focus and defend it from mystical corruption. Ever since Adrian Eldrich’s departure to rule over the Netherworlds, a rising tide of supernatural darkness had slowly seeped into the souls of the world’s villains.
That meant she, and by extension her new teammates, had to step up, take on the responsibilities of protecting this world from the darkness beyond. Instead, what were they doing? A fashion show with Peter showing off his new costume and revealing his chosen superhero ID; Paragon. She had to admit it suited him, though. The decision to use an anonymity collar to disguise his face and give him a stubbled, dark beard worked. He still looked handsome, but in a totally different way to Peter Smith.
Admittedly, Peter had been busy trying to track down his missing foster mum and being over attentive (and apologetic) to her whenever she had been present, which meant whenever she wasn’t at school. She was sure he would have more luck finding his mum though if he shared his concerns and asked the team for help.
She shrugged the thought away, but before she could get things back on track, the teams’ A.I. Frankie, interrupted. Dispatch had issued an urgent request to assist in resolving a full-scale super-battle and quell what appeared to be a major super-powered confrontation. As though to emphasise the significance of the request, calls also began to come in from the Police, and apparently there was a breaking news report on all the local channels as well. She looked and immediately recognised the location. “Quick, we need to help. That is where Adrian used to reside, where his sanctum is.”
The reports seemed to indicate that not only was this fight taking place in the street, but that the house itself may have been entered. Akira immediately grabbed a sandwich as they ran towards the door to the surface.
As they flew, Seven explained that the Sanctum (she referred to it as the Nerian Nexus), stood as a symbol of the Master Mage’s guardianship over the Earth. The edifice’s existence safeguarded innumerable arcane secrets and dangerous relics, while also slowing the encroachment of malignant entities from beyond. These barriers had held firm until now, despite occasional attempts by powerful forces to breach its wards and plunder the treasures within.
With Adrian gone, she should have realised that it could not stand inviolate forever. The Nexus was too tempting a target for some to ignore.
When they reached the scene, the situation outside the town houses had degenerated into anarchy. Damage continued to mount as several people; villains all overwhelmed police, cursed terrified civilians, and destroyed nearby property.
The street was full of Georgian terrace houses and the street paved in cobblestones, many of which have been broken and scattered as a result of the brawl. Twisted iron fences, smoking trees and shrubs, and upended streetlights likewise spoke to the ensuing damage, but enough police floodlights and streetlights remained to fully illuminate the scene.
Several villains and at least a dozen police officers lay injured on the street outside a police barricade. A sickly corpse-like figure in a top hat and tails performed ghoulish theatrical magic on those gathered nearby, while an Earth elemental or Earth-powered Meta, an eight-foot woman made from living, shifting sand that Dispatch identified as Sandstone, delivered a punch so brutal they could feel the impact in their bones. Her blow knocked an Asian male in a smart suit unconscious minus several of his sharpened shark-like teeth, but already two other near identical men circled her, brandishing wicked-looking weapons.
Meanwhile, several zombie-like figures menaced the crowd as the man in a tuxedo and cape held several bystanders captive, bound in various magical props as he prepared an array of swords he’d just manifested.
Gathering nearby were six more neatly dressed Asians surrounding a man in priestly robes with blind eyes and, most incongruous of all, a Eurasian woman, two metres tall in a little black dress and the features of a world-class supermodel.
They seemed to be brawling with the Meta who was manifesting a large club from her hand to knock them back. As she did so, two of the Asians dropped to all fours. Cambodian or Vietnamese thought Akira, muttered something that sounded like “Uttu-Raknis” as they began to vomit up wave after wave of arachnids, of all sizes and types, which immediately tried to swarm their attacker.
There was a family resemblance in that they all had similar facial looks; grey eyes, an unusual reddish tinge to their skin as well as a mouthful of sharp, shark-like teeth. They had to be followers of the cult known as the Eightfold Way – Banshee had encountered them after an assault on the Museum and a subsequent siege at the Carpathian Embassy a few months before.
Between them, Sandstone and the sickly magician, they blocked access to an unassuming terrace house with its door standing open, notable only for the stained-glass window above the door. There was something very peculiar about that property and when Banshee and Akira opened their mystical senses to probe the building they understood why. Those without the mystical sight only saw a row of terraced Georgian era houses, each nearly identical to each other. To the team, they saw that one property was different. Paragon lacked their vision, but knew something was different about that particular property as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
The building was under a powerful glamour that disguised its true nature. The entrance was covered in magical symbols carved ornately into the panels and frame, ornate stain glass windows taunted those with the sight as to the mystical mysteries within. It was both uniquely beautiful and terrifying at the same time. There were indications that its mystical wards have been expertly shattered, allowing someone or something access.
Despite its unique design, the terraced house was the sort of place most immediately forgot, due to its arcane nature. Only a select few knew this spot was a seething cauldron of occult forces, held in place by the structure and the various mystical wards woven into it over the years.
Two major threats prevented anyone from entering though, the seemingly undead magician, who was torturing captive bystanders; as they watched one victim was surrounded by flaming rings and two others were trapped inside transparent boxes, their torsos switched between them and the brawl between Sandstone and the Eightfold Way.
Just beyond the barrier, way too close to the fighting, a small news crew had ignored instructions to move back and had started to broadcast live. “This is Jenny-Lynn James reporting live from Wessex, outside the police line now surrounding a villain free-for-all occurring in this once peaceful residential area. Earlier this evening, the notorious criminals known as Medea and Tom Cyprus arrived here, and after what witnesses called a violent confrontation with some other powered individuals, they entered one of the properties. More super-villains arrived moments later, fighting each other to be the next inside. Police are currently overwhelmed. The mayor is calling on all available heroes for help.”
As she spoke a swirl of ghastly, green and black vapour washed over her. It parted to reveal a lifelike stone statue of Jenny-Lynn, her face frozen in fear. After a moment of tense silence, a corpse-grey face leant into frame. Garbed like a birthday stage magician, his face fixed in a rictus grin, he speaks in a deathly rattle. “Sorry, folks at home, but I don’t do ‘live’ television. If you want to see my command performance, roll on down and pick yourself up a ticket for the show. I, Abracadaver, still need plenty of audience volunteers.” He levelled a black wand at the camera and the feed abruptly died.
Seven suddenly realised who this had to be – Abracadaver, a frustrated former stage magician who had turned to dark magic. He must yearn to uncover secrets like those contained inside the Nexus. Both a necromancer and a ham performer, he could not resist putting on a “show” for the gathering crowd and media attention. Abracadaver obviously had no qualms about harming captives and needed to be taken out quickly. As they watched, more neighbouring families were ‘enticed’ out of their homes to be transformed into mindless zombies by him.
Akira immediately started to prepare himself to cast the First Wheel of Weyan. He didn’t want to use up all of his mana on this, at least initially. If he could just persuade the Godling entity to reverse the spell cast on the reporter and then gradually extend itself to the others affected… He made the summoning gestures and spoke the words of power, even as Banshee stepped beside Jenny and unleashed a terrorising scream at Abracadaver and his mind-controlled minions.
It had minimal effect on them, but it did affect two of the men fighting Sandstone. They immediately collapsed to the ground unconscious and she was glad to see that Akira’s spell was working as Jenny began to change back and then immediately collapse to the ground exhausted. Abracadaver spotted them and shouted out, “Ah, more willing volunteers. Let’s see how you cope against my flesh puppets!” even as another family uncontrollably staggered out of their front door, and began to transform into grey-skinned zombie-like figures shambling towards them.
In the background, two more of the well-dressed Asian-looking men dropped to the grounds and began vomiting out dozens of living spiders, which swarmed over the nearest ‘zombies’ and Sandstone.
Abracadaver gestured at Seven and a dark mystical blast headed towards her. Paragon, still feeling guilty about his previous interaction with Seven and feeling sorry for himself, immediately interposed himself between the attackers and her so that the bolt hit him instead. She was glad to see that he didn’t transform into a Zombie Paragon! Angrily, he responded as three of the zombies began to attack him, trying to grab hold of him and bite at his arms. Paragon just gently pushed his way through and shrugged them off, not wanting to hurt them, if at all possible.
Sandstone turned and pointed her fist at Akira, which suddenly became a blast of sand aimed at his head. Akira felt he was all out of luck as he turned and cut through the sand with his TK, forcing the sand to flow round him.
Seven responded by unleashing an elemental blast at Abracadaver that fused some of the sand into minute splinters of glass and sent it hurling at her target. The newly formed shards sliced into his flesh, leaving him cut and dazed.
Paragon flew towards him at that moment and unleashed an uppercut that sent him flying back uncontrollably towards the far end of the road. He couldn’t help noticing that the zombie horde was still zombified, though the mass of spiders being vomited up by the Cambodians were now swarming over their flesh and poisoning them with their bites.
Seeing Abracadaver being sent flying, Akira focused his mystical blast on Sandstone. The blast dazed her, but the majority of his blast passed through her body and dissipated. Banshee used the distraction to rush at Sandstone and unleash her corrupting touch, leaving her staggered and slowing her down.
Abracadaver managed to get back to his feet and, despite being some distance from the ongoing fight, he gestured towards them. Dark tentacles began to erupt from the ground around Banshee’s feet and crawl up her body. She felt her will being sapped. Paragon looked down and saw similar tendrils were flowing out of the ground next to Seven and him. He dodged them even as they began to dissipate. Seven wasn’t so lucky and the tendrils began to gather round her legs even as Paragon pulled her into the air where she levitated above the ethereal fronds before they disappeared a second later.
She glanced over at the gathered Asians and turned white as the Eurasian female began to transform into a large spider-like creature with the upper body of a human; a spawn of Raknis! The transformed creature immediately began to attack the shambling zombie police officers and transformed neighbours.
Banshee was still trying to take out Sandstone with her corrupting touch. Again, she managed to grab her shoulder, though it turned to sand under her fingers as Sandstone tried to sandblast her. Banshee however, managed to dodge the blast.
Close by, Paragon found his body was being covered in hundreds of Black Widow and other poisonous spiders that had been spewed forth. Although he knew he should be immune to their bites, the quantity of them clambering up his body was really unnerving. He reacted by flying up as fast and as high as he could and began to rotate himself to shake them off, him, causing them to free-fall away and rain down on the ground below. Only after did he wonder if there was any possibility that they might survive the fall, as he realised he had just scattered them over a vast area of the city.
Seven, meanwhile, was casting mystical shackles on the Spawn of Rakhis, incapacitating her in her current form. Paragon responded by flying down and slamming into her, punching at her head. The punch knocked her unconscious and she began transforming back into a human again.
Akira unleashed multiple mystical blasts at Abracadaver as he got back on his feet and began to run back towards them. The blasts staggered him, again knocking him to the ground. Banshee meanwhile, still trying to ‘corrupt’ Sandy with her touch, succeeded this time, and she too collapsed unconscious to the ground.
Abracadaver unleashed some sort of life draining blast against Akira who managed to dodge the attack even as the remaining Eightfold acolytes rushed at Banshee and Seven. To their horror, spiders were erupting from their flesh as they tried to grab them.
Banshee managed to dodge, but Seven wasn’t so lucky, and several spiders managed to crawl onto her costume and began to try to bite through the material. She unleashed an elemental storm around her and blew them off her and into a wall, splattering them in the process.
Paragon dropped and rushed towards Abracadaver. He smashed into him with all of his strength. Akira smiled. First he’d offered to take him out, only to knock him back instead, not unlike almost every woman he’d ever dated. He just hadn’t realised it was a superpower until now.
Paragon’s slam knocked him unconscious. As he collapsed, so did the zombified minions, who all began transforming back into their normal selves. That left only a couple of the acolytes to deal with and without the ‘spider lady’, they were seemingly leaderless.
Akira smiled menacingly as he blasted them. Better safe than sorry and he didn’t want to leave them to cause any trouble after they had entered the house. He watched them drop unconscious, one by one. Only one remained on his feet for Banshee to knock out with her spectral touch.
In front of them, the door to the sanctum stood open. As they stepped inside they heard a gong being sounded repeatedly somewhere in the house, though the only one they can see, outside the open door to the Dining Room, stood ominously silent. They entered the hallway and stopped in surprise; the hall had an unearthly mystical spin about it, despite the quaint Victorian style of wood-panelled walls and floors set with colourful tile patterns. It was the stairs that immediately caught their eyes. The stairs had altered into an Escherian structure with dozens of faceless creatures walking up, down and sideways, often on the same set of stairs both on top and beneath at the same time, seemingly going about their mysterious business.
They noticed that the doors on the walls and ceiling were shifting around uncontrollably. Some sort of defence mechanism? Either that, or something had gone decidedly wrong with both the architecture and localised gravity. Only the doors on the ground level were seemingly unaffected, though they were convinced those rooms were probably switching location as well. They had encountered the latter before, at Akira’s property near Wales, where the upper rooms had a tendency to rearrange themselves on a whim, and sometimes doorways appeared leading to places they shouldn’t. This house had the same vibe.
Seven spoke up, “There is something giving off a signal like a beacon of some sort, but I’m not sure why or even where it is.” Paragon asked, “No chance you can track it?” as he tried to make sense out of the fact that not only was the house inside bigger than on the outside, but completely insane in its layout. She shook her head, “No, but someone else might be.”
Akira reached out with his mystical insight, trying to make sense out of everything around them. He was sure this was some sort of defence mechanism, responding to an unwelcome intrusion. His mystical sight revealed that this was some sort of interdimensional crossroads, a nexus. Nearby, a clock chimed thirteen as though to illustrate the point.
The news had stated that at least two figures had already entered the property, and their unauthorised presence must have triggered this reaction. They had to be in the building somewhere.
The faceless creatures though were apparently still going about their duties, whatever they were. Paragon tried to fly up and after only a couple of metres, bumped his head against a wall. What the..? He’d flown straight up, from the floor. He should have been able to reach at least ten metres before touching the ceiling – instead, something had twisted him forty-five degrees without him noticing, causing him to hit a wall instead. It appeared as though he couldn’t rely on his senses while inside the building. It was frustrating. He muttered, “I’ve no idea how things work in here…” Akira smiled, “No, none of us do. Just don’t bang his head again.” He pushed open the nearest door and saw a Victorian-style dining room on the other side. He cast the All-Revealing Light of Abbridon, hoping to banish any and all concealments and illusions. Instead, it confirmed that the whole house was a dimensional crossroads overlaying this reality.
This Nerian Nexus appeared to be a space outside of space, built across the intersections of reality. It was so much larger than it looked, and the rooms seemed to drift if you don’t know where you were going.
He could see that the stairwell was in fact a glamour, but the inside being larger than outside was real. He could ‘see’ the stairs leading up to the next level but was convinced that what they needed, including finding the intruders, were in the rooms on the ground level. Each door gave off a unique vibe even as they swapped around, but he didn’t know what they meant. The house was overflowing, swamped even, with magical energy.
As the home of the late Adrian Eldrich, the Nerian Nexus probably contains a wealth of spell books, enchanted objects, and esoterica gathered by the Master Mage during his long career.
As he tried to figure out what to do next, a disembodied voice asked, “To whom do you owe allegiance?” The voice was authoritative and commanding, not a voice to be ignored, and in response all the Faceless figures stopped moving and turned their blank faces towards them as though waiting for their response.
Akira spoke first, “We are all subject to the Modrossus.” Before any of the others could reply, Paragon blurted out, “What? What the hell are you signing us up to?” Akira smiled. “The Modrossus are the all-powerful force, the Lumenvirate, the Three-In-One, the Triluminary consisting of three potent mystic entities who together form the single greatest force for positive and protective magic known to earthly magicians.”
Again, the disembodied voice asked, “To whom do you owe allegiance?” as all the faceless ones took a single step towards them. Paragon responded, “Those who cannot defend themselves.” Even as Banshee quietly spoke, “The Balance” and Seven muttered, “allegiance to maintaining the equilibrium.”
As soon as they had spoken, the faceless figures immediately turned and resumed their various tasks. Seems as though they had answered correctly.
Now the glamour had vanished, they could see several doors in front of them. Meanwhile, the Escherian illusion had dissipated, they were standing in a wooden panelled corridor and could see a comfortably decorated sitting room off to one side, the other panelled doors were decorated identically. A single staircase was on the opposite side of the corridor, leading up to a landing.
Four unconscious figures clad in ochre robes, still clutching curved daggers in their hands, lay scattered on the floor.
An older gentleman in a pinstripe suit with salt-and-pepper hair slid down the far wall, losing his balance until he rested sitting on the floor. Blood poured from a wound on his arm. He mumbled, apparently to himself, “That… Gentlemen and ladies, that is why we always phone ahead before a visit, yes?” He looked down at his audience and seeing Seven smiled. Ah, As-Salaamu Alaykum, Seven.” “Wa ʿAlay-kumu s-Salām to you, Sallah!” Akira nodded at Seven, “Seems to know you Seven and you him?” She nodded, “It’s Sallah, he’s Adrian’s… friend, companion, manservant.”
Paragon stepped forward; “We’re here to help in any way we can…” he said, even as Seven ran to him and Banshee changed into Mary and joined her in examining Sallah’s wound. Sallah pointed towards a cupboard in the corner and muttered, “Bandages.” Paragon rushed over, opened the cupboard and grabbed some antiseptic and a bandage and joined the others as Akira checked the state of the four lying unconscious.
A cursory examination of the cultists revealed reptilian heads: they were serpent people. All four apparently members of the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, a cult dedicated to bringing their unspeakable, dark god to Earth. None show any sign of harm, though all were in a deep, uncontrolled slumber. A few paces beyond the slumped figures, curious markings adorned the walls. They appeared to be hastily scrawled pictographs and Egyptian hieroglyphics forming protective wards, apparently to prevent intruders from reaching the floors above.
It appeared that Sallah must have realised that the existing wards on the Nerian Nexus had been breached and had returned to the sanctum to quickly scrawl the symbols to try to stem the tide of intruders. His wards had obviously stopped the cultists, but not before one of them had bitten him.
As Mary treated his wound, Sallah explained that the sanctum had been sealed and left undisturbed since Eldrich’s ascension; he no longer lived in, but tried to visit daily. He was clearly confused and in the process of losing consciousness. Mary suggested they move him to the sitting room, so he could get the rest he needed. As Paragon picked him up, he again lost consciousness. In his hand, he held a small silver hand-mirror that Seven called the ‘Cheval Eye’. Akira grabbed it before it fell out of his hand and realised that it reflected a strange and sinister but familiar-looking throne room rather than the cosy foyer around them.
Suddenly, Adrian’s voice called out from the hand-mirror. “Sallah? Sallah! Are you alright? What’s happening?”
Once he had gotten over the shock of his dear friend and companion being attacked, Adrian agreed to answer some questions for the team while the connection held. Using it, they could hopefully contact him if they get lost or needed guidance.
They handed the hand mirror over to Seven as they asked Adrian what was going on and why did he think the house was under attack? Is there something they needed to protect?
“I’m not sure. My connection to the Nexus isn’t that strong any more. I can sense an ancient vampire, and someone trapped within a powerful curse, and something… something strange and powerful. But I know exactly who broke the wards: Medea! She’s after something powerful… If she’s smart—and let’s be honest, she’s as tricky as they come—she’ll be after the Alternity Atlas.”
“There’s something else wound through them all, though… distant but overwhelming. Something unnatural provided Medea with not only the keys to the castle, but directions to her goal.”
Mary had to know, “What’s the Alternity Atlas?” Adrian paused for a second then slowly replied, “The Atlas… that was a crazy story. It’s… a sort of map to all the secret doors between worlds and the treasures hidden in the cracks of creation. You want to master space or find some terrible trinket? The Alternity Atlas can guide you to it. A clever person could cause a lot of trouble with it. It was in the Library.”
Akira asked, “Is it not there now?” Adrian replied, “I can no longer tell. My connection isn’t as good any more.”
Paragon wanted to know if he could guide them to the intruders? Adrian merely said “No.” then explained that there was something blocking his abilities and with his being so far away, his powers were now spread over nine hundred and ninety-nine worlds, trying to undo the havoc Una had left behind… He left the sentence unfinished.
“You obviously know this Medea, like from the Greek myths?” asked Akira. “Does she have a weakness?” “Medea? She’s a demigod sorceress, possibly an Atlan.” That caught Paragon’s attention and he blurted out, “Atlan? Atlan you say?” he desperately wanted to ask more, but now was not the time. Adrian continued, “Supposedly she killed her own kids to drive her cheating husband mad? Not a nice lady. She’s never been Master-Mage-level in terms of raw power. She’s a trickster, a parasite who relies on others’ strength to get what she wants, but with the mystical treasures the Alternity Atlas could lead her to, she could stand on her own. Maybe even take the title of Master Mage, if she wanted. She has someone with her, a swamp elemental known as Tom Cyprus. He is now acting as her servant and bodyguard.”
Mary said, “These halls make no sense, how do we find our way to your library?” “It’s on the ground floor, but the house has a tendency to move rooms about when it’s defending itself.” Akira blurted out, “Does the library give out any particular kind of vibe?” “It appears to be at the moment, but shouldn’t be.”
“Does this artefact give off any sort of signal?” “No, it’s a kind of book, one that can guide people to mystical locations, an inter-dimensional map really, a map to the multiverse.” Akira smiled, “So, it’s a sort of multiversal A to Z?” Adrian didn’t respond, instead he looked glum as he replied, “I can’t come to you, the best I can do is provide some guidance, especially now I’ve had to give up on being Earth’s Master Mage to save the world.”
Paragon nodded, “at least we can always ask Sallah to help.” Mary shook her head, “No, he will need to stay here and rest. He’s in no state to accompany us further.”
Akira had to know, “We use the mirror to communicate with you, does it have any other uses?” “It’s a scrying mirror. If you know the location you are looking for, having been there at least once already, it can help you find it again, it should be able to guide you, but it can’t help you find somewhere you’ve not been to before.”
Seven nodded, “I’ve been here many times, but never when the Nexus is in defence mode. I will not be able to help in that way. The rooms are moving around all the time.” Paragon said quietly, “Would it work if we operated the mirror using the unconscious butler? He has to have been to every room in the house before when it’s been in this state before, surely? If he was holding the mirror and we were controlling him… Put him under some sort of spell?” Akira asked, his voice harsh, “As an unconscious zombie perhaps? “ “No, I don’t mean physically control him, just mentally.” Akira shook his head, “It’s a very dark art. I wouldn’t like to take on the karma involved. It’s non-consensual abuse that would mark you on the astral plane. Not good, not good at all. Let’s pass on that.”
At that, the image in the mirror began to fade. Akira asked, “How do we find the doors?” Adrian’s voice was waning as he replied, “If you can keep focused on where you need to be, or what you need to find, it should give you the path to get there. Of course, it’s been deteriorating a little without a Master Mage to control it, so things might get… a bit weird?” Then the connection was lost.
The team elected to try to focus on finding the library. Akira smiled as they headed back out into the corridor, “Will it help that I remember what a book looks like?”
The mirror flared and guided them to a door nearby. They opened the door and found that it was some sort of mystical laboratory and, sure enough, there were books piled high under several of the benches. Close, but no cigar.
At Paragon’s urging, Seven tried to focus on the library layout when she’d last visited the room and the others tried to follow her directions. It wasn’t as easy as Paragon assumed and she ended up trying the door to the room next to the one they had just opened, just in case. That door opened on an autumnal glade in a dark forest, with a white stag standing nearby. They quietly exited and continued their search. The next door they tried was even weirder, it opened up into the depths of interstellar space, though to their surprise they still managed to breathe.
Akira couldn’t help quip to Seven, “Get your act together girl and stop staring at your reflection in the mirror. Honestly, you look fine, now concentrate.” She smiled, “Were close, I think it’s next door.” They stepped next door and tried the handle and sure enough they found themselves in a long, curving hallway that opened into a massive multi-storey library. Walkways lined the wall-mounted shelving three stories tall, while desks, tables, and overstuffed chairs fill the floor space.
A pulsing blood-red stone sat on one of the bookshelves amongst the books. The library contained thousands of volumes written in multiple languages, modern and archaic, mundane and arcane. Spacious desks and chairs were spaced amongst the stacks, littered with reading materials, games, and puzzles. An old-style card catalogue cabinet occupied most of one wall, though the exact classification system was hard to decipher for anyone unstudied in the arcane, as it was in multiple languages and cyphers.
Seven immediately headed towards the pulsing blood-red stone and pointed, “That’s what has been acting as a beacon. It’s the heartstone. We took it off a girl who called herself Diva Gaea, who was using it to transform animals. I must have left it here for some reason instead of putting it into storage. I remember feeling inclined to leave it here instead, I just don’t know why.”
Paragon asked Seven, “Out of curiosity, you’ve been to this library before, is it indexed?” Seven pointed to the card index but explained that she couldn’t use it as it was catalogued in a way that only Adrian fully understood; “most of the books aren’t written, or catalogued, in known languages. Even Sallah relied on his memory when trying to find a book, rather than risk offending the ‘god’ of the cards. This is not like any other library you’ve ever seen.”
Paragon looked at her, unsure whether she was joking or not. “Do you know where to look for this Atlas?” Seven grimaced, “No, I’ve never read it or even seen it before. You will need to ask the library. It is organised by subject that helps.”
Akira elected to try to use Ahgrazul’s Compass, a pathfinding spell used to guide the caster to a desired destination or in this case, a specific item, the Atlas. He was rewarded with an impression that this Atlas had been here until recently, but that it had subsequently been moved out of the room. He had an image of a circular room with an open sky and a model of the solar system on a non-existent ceiling that showed the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons. In his mind, he ‘saw’ Sallah picking up an ancient book made of circular, brass pages and removing it to the tower down a mirror-lined corridor in order to study the heavens above.
That was where the book should be, if it hadn’t been removed already. They just had to decide what to do about the pulsing Heartstone, especially as no one else appeared to be in the library. It was definitely the mystical beacon they had felt earlier. Had it guided the intruders to the library in search of the Atlas already, or were they still trying to get here?
They looked around and saw a table with several open books lying on it. On the shelves next to it, several ledgers had been pulled half from their shelves, as well as several of Adrian’s journals tossed haphazardly onto a chair. Mary had a look and confirmed that they all related to cataloguing Adrian Eldrich’s mystical experiments and the artefacts he had collected.
He couldn’t help notice that some spilled ink on the table was still wet, suggesting this research was still being conducted just before they had arrived and they may even have interrupted the reader by their arrival. He examined some scrawled notes. The handwriting was almost illegible, as though the author was unused to writing. It was a childish sprawl. He tried to read them; they described various mystical artefacts and objects and something about someone or something called Malador and a mask and its connection to the Roman god Janus? There was no obvious rhyme or reason to the selections and the notes didn’t make a lot of sense, were extremely hard to read. Again he noticed that the ink on the pages was still damp.
Paragon was sure that someone (or something) in here was responsible. As they began to search the room, they started to see phantoms and feel a sense of loneliness combined with eagerness from within the room itself. Fleeting, semi-transparent images appeared, enduring just long enough to be noticed, before fading away. Images of Adrian Eldrich playing chess against an elderly man in an evening suit and dark cloak; a near skeletal ghostly T. rex stalking behind the farthest aisles; an almost dapper-looking, green-skinned Tom Cyprus momentarily pushing a cart towering with volumes and of a bow-tied, blonde tyke crouched behind several of the stacks laughing.
None of which were really there, just images apparently of the past (or of the future?). It was as though the room was reminiscing.
Akira wanted to know what they should do with the heartstone. In the end, Paragon elected to take it, placing it in a pouch he wore on his back beneath his cloak. Hopefully, it might lead the bad guys straight to them. It was worth a try anyway.
Akira wanted to try a hunch. Earlier they had found a room that opened up into the cosmos and his vision of the book had shown a sort of Orrery or map of the solar system and he wondered if there was a connection. They had the mirror to guide them back.
They went to the door and tried to open it, but as they approached the heard the door lock and saw the key on their side of the door turn and then vanish. They could feel the library itself and it seemed determined to not let them go, for the moment at least, as a sense of isolation and neglect washed over them. The library had apparently not had readers for quite some time and was eager to be of use. They stepped back and witnessed several tomes slide from the shelves and books already on tables flutter their pages as though beckoning new readers.
Paragon wondered if it was responding to their attempt to remove the Heartstone, so he took it out of his pouch and placed it on the nearest desk, but nothing changed. Books still fluttered their pages as though trying to entice them to read. He picked it back up and walked to the locked door, but it didn’t unlock. Sven handed over the hand mirror to Akira and sure enough it seemed to show where the cosmos room was, but also failed to open the door. Were they going to have to resort to brute strength? As paragon approached, the door, Akira began screaming out, “No! NO!!! No!!! Don’t try to force the door. STOP!” Paragon stopped and smiled, “Ah, okay.”
Akira immediately began using his mystical senses to probe the room. That was when he realised not only was the room sentient in its own way, it was lonely, it wanted to be of use. It wanted a reader to appreciate its collection or rare books and give it the attention it wanted, or needed. Occasionally Sallah would come in and remove a book, but no one, until that evening, had actually spent time just sitting in the room and enjoying its collection. That was when Akira realised that if one of them stayed behind to read, the room would likely let the others leave.
He explained the problem to the others and Seven offered to stay behind. Studying several of the manuscripts was something she really wanted to do anyway and she could research the notes someone had left behind.
Paragon wasn’t happy about leaving a team member behind, but was reluctantly persuaded that it was necessary. Seven began pulling books off the shelves and getting comfortable in an armchair as Paragon grabbed the pulsing stone and packed it away again in his pouch, the key reappeared and the door opened of its own accord. The three of them were free, and the mirror pointed the way to the room into space.
Seconds later the three of them was staring into the void of space trying to figure out what to do next. They looked, but couldn’t see anyone or anything in the room, only the light of distant stars and galaxies. Paragon immediately flew into the interstellar void only to realise that he was unable to change direction. He tried to turn round and went into a bit of a spin while speeding away from the open doorway. Before he could figure out how to deal with travelling through open space, Akira had teleported over to him, grabbed him and teleported him back to the corridor by the door.
They had not experienced any sense of the book inside the void, so set off to search for a room they hadn’t visited before. They soon found a heavy pair of double doors—the lock smashed to splinters.
Beyond this mirror-lined hallway was the Aerary, the Master Mage’s display room, where precious objects collected by the Master Mage were displayed. This was, obviously, where the Heartstone should have been stored, heavily shielded as it was.
It was a type of museum, with glass cases and shelves displaying a multitude of objects, ranging from small figurines and ancient bottles to massive stone heads. Paintings, framed scraps and alien scalps, and broken bits of relief carvings covered the walls in a chaotic mess. Broken glass lay scattered on the plush rug, and they could hear the sound of shattering glass coming from some unseen source deep inside the room.
This area obviously served as both a trophy room and a trove of legendary objects, displayed in cases adorned with potent runes and secured with enchanted locks. Obsidian swords, sealed books bound in demon-hide, patinaed copper and brass instruments, a battered golden helmet worn by warrior-kings—all these and more could be found within, but they were not the only outsiders inside the chamber. Mary immediately transformed into Banshee.
They found themselves facing a familiar ancient vampire they had last seen back in 1888, the Lord of Vampires himself, Dracula. With him was another familiar face, the Irishman last seen in the Faerie realm, the Summer Knight himself, Thomas Rhymer. They both had objects in their hands; Dracula was holding an ancient, ornate spear, while Thomas was holding a green statuette that resembled a distorted toad-like humanoid.
Dracula stepped into the middle of the room as Thomas tried to do a runner, but failed to get past them. The vampire turned his gaze on Paragon and for a second or two he felt dizzy, then the weird feeling evaporated.
Akira wondered if Dracula was stealing the spear of Longinus, but it didn’t look ancient enough, at best it looked as though it appeared to belong to the era of the Crusades. Whatever it was, it had to be powerful if he was willing to risk entering the Nexus to get it. The two of them appeared to have agreed an uneasy truce, as they weren’t fighting each other, though they clearly weren’t natural allies. They must have worked together to get this far.
Thomas looked embarrassed as he looked at Banshee and waved, “Hi, remember me? I, ah, just popped in to ‘borrow’ this relic in order to help an old mate out who has been cursed by Dagon. Adrian always refused to let me use it, as he said it was too dangerous. Live a little is what I always say. Now, if you’d kindly move out of the way, I’ll be going.” When Banshee failed to move aside, he went on, “Look, I’m sorry, but I really need this and intend to hold on to it no matter what.”
Akira muttered to Paragon as they faced off against Dracula, “If you can put a wooden stake through his heart, that would be really helpful.” Paragon smiled, “I’ll just smack him instead.”
Akira grabbed an ancient sword and proceeded to transform it into a sword-shaped wooden stake. He muttered under his breath, “I really hate vampires!” as he ran towards Dracula with the sword outstretched. The point struck his ribs but failed to pierce his heart. Dracula hissed, but before he could respond, Paragon flew over and smashed him with his fist. The punch left Dracula dazed, but he still managed to grab his arm in a strong grip and to Paragon’s surprise he felt himself grow weaker as though Dracula was draining him, but he made no attempt to bite him. A cruel smile spread across his lips. He felt as though he was losing blood, but how?
Meanwhile, Banshee was trying to persuade Thomas to work with them for now at least, but Rhymer seemed reluctant.
Akira seeing the effect of Dracula’s powerful grip on his teammate, unleashed his TK to knock him away from Paragon and break the grip. He focused and unleashed his attack, but the vampire managed to resist.
It was down to Paragon to try to break free if he could. He couldn’t help notice that the spear in Dracula’s other hand was now glowing even as he felt more and more drained even as his opponent grew correspondingly stronger. Paragon needed to get the spear. He reached up, and gripped the forearm and twisted it towards him and into a pressure lock. With his other hand, he grabbed for the spear and ripped it free of Dracula’s grip. He hoped he could drain his opponent back, but it wouldn’t work, perhaps thankfully, for him, but at least he wasn’t getting any weaker.
Banshee could hear Akira shout, “For God’s sake, do something, woman!” as he tried again to stab at his inhuman opponent with his transformed stake. Banshee ignored him as she continued to try to persuade Thomas, though now she put a depth of intimidation into her voice as she grew angrier at him. She agreed that if he cooperated with them now, she would help him later to ‘cure’ his friend. Reluctantly he agreed, though he refused to join the fight against Dracula, explaining that they had agreed a truce and his word was his bond.
Akira wished there had been a bit more ‘twatting’ going on, as he was forced to unleash his mystical blast, which staggered his opponent. He stepped back while still grappling with Paragon, even as he used the spear and tried to ram it deep into Dracula’s heart. In response, he turned into mist and fled, leaving the spear behind.
Thomas reluctantly put the statue down on one of the display cases, even as the shadows in the room began to move, manifesting eyes and snapping teeth. It was as though the room was free to defend itself and was about to attack them. Rather than face an attack from the ‘shadows’, they elected to leave quickly. No one noticed, Thomas reached out, grab the statue and hide the ugly thing under his raincoat.
Outside, as they left the Aerary, the corridor suddenly began to waver as though in a heat haze. Then, almost too subtly to notice, the details of this mirror-lined hallway drifted into simpler and simpler forms until only the mirrors remained, held motionless in a grey-white void. They still formed a corridor, maybe three metres wide, but everything else — the walls, the floor and ceiling — seemed entirely absent as far ahead and behind as the eye could see. That was when they realised that the scrying mirror was still with Seven.
Thomas looked around and muttered that he suspected that this was some sort of mystical “backstage” area of the Nexian Nexus. He suspected they had accidentally wandered into some sort of mystical conduit linking the communications and scrying mirrors scattered throughout the house. Normally this area would, should be extremely difficult if not impossible to access, but the lack of a Master Mage on the premises has caused bits of the mystical structure to “decay,” allowing them to accidentally to wander into it. What they couldn’t see was any way out.
The void extended in every direction. The only distinguishing feature lay at the end of the corridor: where multiple tall, glittering mirrors were set in a semi-circle. These mirrors constantly shifted places, blurring their positions. They got closer and stared into the mirror voids within. Instead of their reflections, they each saw something different staring back. Banshee saw herself dressed in a black Dalton team uniform with promotional logos printed all over it as had been originally proposed when Dalton had offered to employ the team. From a reality where the team had accepted his offer rather than Bethany’s, apparently. Akira first saw himself training in the dojo of Hsi Feng, alongside Mai-Li then the image changed to a vision of himself with long hair. He smiled, he wished.
Paragon however saw nothing, the mirrors refused to show even his reflection, it was as though he didn’t exist. Although taken back by this and shocked obviously, because the whole situation was absolutely insane, but he found he wasn’t surprised even after the others described what they were seeing in the mirrors though he wasn’t sure why. He looked in several, but failed to see anything reflected back in the mirrors. Akira smiled when Paragon explained what he failed to see, “Always knew you were a vampire, I could tell!”
The reflections of Banshee and Akira continued to show different, alternative versions of themselves; some were clearly visions from their past, but others seemingly showed other realities, what ifs. They saw themselves wearing different costumes and clothes, standing in places they had never visited with a variety of teammates behind them, some of whom were completely unknown to them. The visions began to speed up.
Paragon however was still seeing nothing in any or the mirrors other than his teammate’s current reflections. Akira and Banshee looked over his shoulder into the same mirror and only saw themselves – it was as though Paragon didn’t exist, at least in any of the realities displayed.
As they watched, Akira and Banshee began to see visions of different people; a woman in Greek-style robes, a green-skinned mammoth of a man (the ghostly man they had previously seen as a vision pushing a cart in the library though he’d looked more in control of himself, neater in the earlier vision)… Then the image of a scholarly young man, a mage apparently who closely resembled a younger, more carefree Adrian Eldrich. This was replaced a few seconds later by a scarred face that they both recognised, the cruel face of the Gamemaster that had trapped them and their friends in the Slaughterhouse. The images began to float out of the mirrors into the corridor, and Paragon finally saw what his teammates had been seeing. Some of the alternate versions of Akira and Banshee also began to float into the chamber before vanishing.
Banshee found herself seeing visions of her nephews execution from her own timeline, followed a few seconds later by Young Mary viciously slaughtered by a laughing man. Even after the vision had faded, the sound of his laughter lingered. The others seemed to be unaffected by visions which left her both puzzled and distressed. She turned and in the mirrors saw an indistinct human-like figure fleeing from one mirror to the next, accompanied by a low voice murmuring <<Possibilities. SO. MANY. POSSIBILITIES. So Many. Possibilities…>>
As it spoke, two images in the mirrors stepped out and became flesh. The mage floated towards them, muttering, “Trespassers in the Sanctum. I must cast them out!” and at that second a large Tyrannosaurus with a gaping wound on its side and blood and flesh dangling from its bloodied teeth appeared in front of them. It was clearly dying, though for some reason Paragon couldn’t help think of it as a ‘zombie’ Tyrannosaurus rather than an injured beast about to die.
As Akira began to prepare to defend himself, he couldn’t help replying to the accusation that they were trespassers, “We’re only trespassers if we damage or steal something, but I’ll happily damage you.” He began to throw a mystical blast at the ghostly man in front of him. He would leave the T. rex to Paragon to deal with, he thought as he saw him dive forward towards the creature.
He unleashed a blast and saw it wash over his opponent’s mystical shields harmlessly. In response, the ghostly figure began to cast the Abjurations of Abbridon to counteract malevolent summoned creatures – in this case, Akira apparently. Rather than risk being hit, Akira dodged out of the way and the spheres of energy passed him by, heading towards Paragon, who was rushing towards the T. Rex. He also dodged the spell.
Banshee raised her hands and tried to persuade their attacker “to please forgive my hasty friend. We aren’t trespassers, we’re lost. Can you help us get out of here?”
He paused, “You’re inside my sanctum, deep inside its holy of holies. The only way you could be here is if you had broken in.” but he didn’t attack her.
The ‘zombie’ T. rex wasn’t so easily persuaded and stepped forward, snapping its teeth at what its tiny brain assumed was about to be an easy meal. Paragon stepped forward and tried to attract its attention away from the others. It suddenly lunged forward at him, intent on swallowing him whole. For a second he wondered if, like bull’s supposedly, his red cloak might have attracted him. Its teeth snapped shut mere centimetres above his head as he dodged the teeth and smelt its putrid breath, but its mouth caught the edge of his cloak and tore it as he pulled it free. Damn, his new cloak! That thought vanished as a fine trickle of drool and blood leaked from the corner of its mouth onto his costume. Yuck!
Paragon responded by shouting out as he put his hands in the air, “We’re not here to hurt you and we certainly don’t want a fight. We’re here to stop the people who’d broken in and stop something from being stolen from the mansion…”
As he spoke, Thomas glimpsed a reflection in one of the mirrors of a location he immediately recognised. There might be multiple realities, but there was only one Faerie realm and he knew that location very well indeed. The companion sun that hovered over the Fae city of Midsummalcazar was shining brightly through the mirror in front of him. As he ran forward towards the mirror, he shouted, “Sorry to leave you, but this is my stop!” That was when the others saw under his coat that he had the statue with him. As his arms and legs touched the mirror’s surface, they passed through and he vanished from sight. The mirrors’ vision immediately changed to that of a modern boardroom, though in which reality, they were unable to say.
Paragon rushed forward, but was too late. He turned and muttered under his breath, “I don’t want to try and knock out a dinosaur.” Louder, he shouted, “Can we not fight, please!” as he took up a defensive stance. Their apparent opponent smiled and pointed at the limbering dinosaur, “Fine, but he’s not with me!”
Paragon looked surprised, “I thought you had summoned him?” Instead, it was Akira who shouted back, “I think they are autonomous, they came through different mirrors.” With that, he unleashed multiple mystical blasts, as the dinosaur again tried to swallow one of them. Several blasts flew out of his hands hitting the creature’s head several times knocking it to the ground. As it started to go unconscious, both it and the man (who they now assumed was Adrian from a different time or reality) began to fade then vanished in front of their eyes.
“I’m not scared of no dinosaurs!” Akira exclaimed as all the mirrors in the semi-circle began to show various locations in and around the mansion, though there was no obvious way to tell which, if any, were in this reality. Presumably, as Thomas has shown, they could act as doors if they managed to find their own? There were enough variations in the images to convince them that some, most were not from their own timeline, from their version of reality.
Akira thought that if they knew where they wanted to get to, he might be able to use his abilities to guide them there. Peter explained the issue that faced them, finding the exact corridor in their reality that they needed to cross over. It sounded simple but in reality, hard to spot the unique clues before the mirrors changed once more. It was Akira that spotted what he assumed was their reality and rushed forward, almost falling as he jumped through just as it was changing. He found himself sprawled on the carpet in the mirror-lined corridor just outside the Aerary of their reality. To his disappointment, his teammates were still trapped, as they hadn’t enough time to follow him through. He just hoped they hadn’t jumped anyway and were now trapped in a different parallel universe to this. As the mirror had ‘blanked out’, there was no way to tell.
Akira opened the door to the display room and stepped inside. The spear lay on the floor where it had been dropped and the ugly statue was clearly missing, which all seemed to confirm he was in the right reality.
Akira picked up the spear and took a reading. As his mind was engulfed by the past, he ‘saw’ Dracula with Slake, an unholy spear he had personally forged during the Crusades with dark magic and his own life force. While grasping the weapon, Dracula was able to retain his vampiric abilities in sunlight and as Paragon had discovered could drain his victim’s vitality, pour their life force into himself through his grasp without having to drink their blood. He also had believed that it granted him protection against non-holy magical weapons or sunlight. His own beliefs and upbringing rendered him vulnerable to holy relics.
There was an image of it being torn from his hands and placed in a cave, where it lay undisturbed for centuries. Dracula found it again only for the cave to collapse on top of him before he could retrieve it and he was temporarily forced to abandon his quest. Years later the spear was excavated and stolen away by the man in the mirror, the man he now assumed was a younger Adrian Eldrich(?) who placed it under mystical bonds within the mansion, secure, until now, from Dracula’s reach.
Back in the mirror chamber, a hissing voice spoke slowly and deliberately to the remaining two from out of one of the mirrors: <<We. Can. Help. Help. You. GET OUT. Help Us. Exit. As Well…>>
Paragon, shouted out an immediate “Yes!” The creature kept on repeating its message as a blurred outline of a humanoid figure appeared in the nearest mirror, never quite coming into focus. As Banshee joined Paragon in front of the mirror, the creature began to explain in faltering but clear tones its dilemma. Banshee joined in by asking it for its assistance. It replied, <<Help. Escape!>>
It referred to itself (in the third party) as the Glimpse and haltingly explained that it had been trapped into the Mirror Mosaic by accident, they spent years trying to understand three-dimensional beings well enough to communicate with Adrian Eldrich only for him to disappear, leaving them with no one to communicate with. Stuck within these enchanted mirrors, a condition it described as <<Heinous. To my Kind,>> the creature offered to guide the heroes back to “the real-real” in exchange for being carried out as well. All the heroes need do was <<Pick. Any mirror. March Through. Any portal – Take. Current mirror, INHABITED by. Glimpse. Through. Out. IN Exchange. Guide to home.>> It would apparently guide them to their own reality in return for liberating him from the Mirror Mosaic.
Paragon asked, “Do we have your word on this?” In response, the creature repeated its offer. Stepping aside, he asked Banshee if they should risk it? She replied, “I don’t see we have much of a choice, we need to get out of here. You’re the man for pulling mirrors off walls.”
Reluctantly they agreed, seeing as Akira had left them in the lurch. Paragon went over to the mirror that Glimpse was currently inhabiting and pulled it free, then stepped back and with Banshee stepped through the nearest other mirror.
Within the swirling mist that lay within, they could see out the other side of the mirror into the entrance hallway. Trapped between the panes of glass, they saw the Grecian woman they had seen before; could she be this Medea? With her was the shambling green-skinned man called Tom Cyprus.
Together they entered the building, but it failed to react to their presence. Mist-like, they saw something was trailing her – a near invisible small figure. As they looked closer, the figure sometimes looked like the small boy they had glimpsed in the library hiding behind the stacks, though sometimes it was a large wooden puppet followed by a trail of small toy soldiers and dolls. The image alternated as it made its way unerringly towards the library, while the female and Tom were clearly unsure where to look.
A few minutes later Thomas Rhymer entered and immediately cast a glamour over himself. He was subsequently followed by a mist they presumed had to be Dracula – his presence however, set off a change of environment around the stairwell. It morphed into an Escherian structure, and the faceless one’s appeared in and around the stairs and began searching for the intruder. As the mist flowed through the hallway, seemingly following Rhymer, a gong began to sound out a warning that the Nexus had been breached even as a disembodied voice asked the mist, “To whom do you owe allegiance?” There was no reply.
This continued as four shadowy figures in ochre robes entered and began fighting the Faceless Ones in the hall. It was another five minutes before a clearly harassed Sallah teleported in and ran up the real stairs, where he began scrawling protective wards on the walls to stem the tide of intruders.
They then watched themselves subsequently arrive ten minutes after that, entering just as one of the Serpent men managed to bite Sallah even as they collapsed under the influence of Sallah’s protective spells. Sometime later, they glimpsed Akira appearing out of one of the mirrors near the rear corridor and entered the display room.
The mirror in Paragon’s arms suddenly uttered a question, <<When?>> as time looped back to Medea’s entry into the house. “In a bit,” muttered paragon. Clearly, they had to choose when to enter their reality.
They agreed to jump through when Akira had appeared, at the very end of the time loop.
They stepped through and found themselves standing behind Akira carrying a large mirror. Time and reality as Akira had known it had been changed and only Banshee and Paragon knew. Akira’s previous encounter with Dracula’s spear was wiped away as time reset.
“What are you doing with that?” he asked, pointing to the mirror in Paragon’s arms. “Long story” he replied, “No time to explain… It’s either a friend, an enemy or possibly a frienemy.”
As they spoke, the mirror in Paragon’s arms shattered into a dozen shards, releasing the entity inside. In front of them stood the Glimpse, an oddly-angled humanoid silhouette composed of flickering colours. The entity waived a shimmering limb over four of the fragments. <<Use these. A gift. A present. One Each. Once. Show truth. To self. OR show truth. Possibilities. To another.>> The creature then dissolved into a thousand light-motes, scattering across every surface before vanishing without trace.
Truth? As they stared at the shards, they each saw that they were a gift of change. Each charged with chronal energy and allowed the user to permanently channel an alternate version of themselves from a parallel timeline, possibly changing their memories and physical form.
For a second or two, they glimpsed their most likely possibilities. Paragon wasn’t sure it would work for him, as he suspected that he had no alternate personalities on other timelines, but was persuaded by the others to try anyway. He felt himself temporarily change as he was offered actual physical changes such as a radically altered body and gain new skills. These changes could result in altering his sex, or even developing a different physical build. Something to consider another time, perhaps?
Akira could potentially gain the gift of speed. To do so though meant sacrificing some of his toughness and strength and he wasn’t sure he was willing to make that sacrifice. He also realised that it could be used on others, either with or without their approval, though they could fight the transformation. He also suspected that any changes could probably be guided to a very different result given sufficient time to prepare. They were reality altering, but he had to think that truth to others meant that others could transform if used on them as well.
Banshee was offered the gift of changed or modified powers, but she rejected it immediately, as she had grown accustomed to her partnership with her Ban Sidhe cohort. That left a fourth shard, presumably as a gift for Seven, should she choose. There was no trace of evil or maliciousness in the gifts that they could feel.
They carefully put the shards down for the moment and proceeded down the hallway towards the large bronze double doors at the end. That was different from all the other doors they had passed, as was the end wall, being curved.
Akira touched the doors and transformed them into transparent glass. Through this, they could see a windswept field, near a short, archaic stone platform, ten metres high and twenty metres across – an ancient observatory. A winding stairway around its perimeter led to the top, where stone columns ringed the outer edge. A black-haired woman in Greek dress danced above the ground, the stones of the tower pulling free of the walls and rising up automatically to meet her feet. Paragon muttered, “I bet that’s Medea.” The others nodded in agreement. “Isn’t she an Atlan?” The others didn’t comment.
While this space appeared to be located outside on a hilltop, showing a cloudless night skyline, Akira was convinced that it was actually still located within the Nerian Nexus. He was convinced there was actually a ceiling unseen somewhere overhead, beyond the illusion of the sky. The tower itself was little more than a raised platform surrounded by pillars with a winding staircase around its perimeter. A three-metre wide reflecting pool in the centre of the platform seemed to mirror the sky above.
Projected by some mystical means onto this sky was some form of mystical orrery modelling the solar system and showing the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons.
The Alternity Atlas—an ancient book apparently made of circular, brass pages, lay on the stones at Medea’s feet.
Though Medea was currently distracted, a distressed Tom Cypress crouched by the reflecting pool, scooping water into his mouth with his enormous hands and watching the entrance carefully. He had to have seen the doors turn to glass, but for some reason he hadn’t said anything to Medea. Immediately, Banshee turned invisible and insubstantial, so he wouldn’t see her on the other side. She walked through the closed door, even as Akira grabbed Paragon’s hand and turned them both invisible as well. She then opened the door just enough for them both to squeeze through.
Inside it really did feel as though they were in a field under a night sky walking towards the tower observatory. Inside the room, they could occasionally see a near invisible ceiling glittering above their heads, on to which the image of the orrery was projected on to a night sky.
Paragon and Akira whispered to each other trying to agree a plan when on the platform, Tom Cyprus suddenly let out an inhuman bellow and pointed in their general direction. Paragon suddenly pulled free of Akira’s grasp. He turned visible and hurled himself across and up, stopping just in front of Medea, hoping that Banshee or Akira would use the distraction to make a grab of the Atlas. He smiled and folded his arms as he floated in front of her, “Please stop! Stop casting your spells.” She smiled, looking at him, her head tilted to one side as she said, “Oh-ho, what’s this? Unannounced visitors in my new home? Children these days can be so rude. But I suppose I can find it in my heart to forgive you if you’re here to worship me.” She then looked again and said, “Well cousin, I didn’t expect you to team up with mundane’s or are you looking to again hitch up with your mother?” She stepped towards him and the stones at her feet moved in anticipation of her step as he replied in shock, “Mega..?” She immediately interrupted him, “No not the mundane, your real one, – or perhaps you’re not the real you?”
“What do you mean mundane’s?” he asked. Akira muttered over their commdots, “She looked like a goddess to me, but then again, most women do.”
Medea ignored his question. Again, she asked, “Why are you here? Are you trying to track down your mother again? Your real one, of course.”
For a second he thought she had claimed to be his mother before he took in everything she had said. “How am I your cousin?” he asked. “I’m pretty sure I’m real and I don’t know why you are talking about my mother? If you do know, that would be great, but no, I’m looking for my foster mum, Megan.”
She smiled, “So much care and affection for a mundane, shame on you, cousin.”
Leaving Paragon talking, Akira made a stealthy run for the atlas. He reached out his invisible hand towards the book just as Medea turned and pointed at his hand while saying, “Naughty, naughty.” He felt his hand being crushed and was forced to pull it back even as the book flew into the air. “Damn, I hate flying books.”
Medea immediately began casting. It was an ancient spell out of legend and although Akira had never tried it (and wouldn’t as he was sure its use contaminated your soul), he recognised it. It was the curse of Circe which transformed its targets into the body of animals, in Circe’s case that of the Greek sailors into pigs. He dodged the blast and it skimmed past him.
Banshee was sure the levitating Atlas just out of reach was a mystical treasure map. She flew towards the book and grabbed it in the air, as she turned visible and substantial. She heard Medea shout, “Eject these heretics from your goddess’s house.” Tom immediately jumped up and towards the floating Banshee, reaching out towards her with his enormous hands. He grabbed her mid-air and they both fell towards the ground with the book. Banshee responded with her corrupting touch. Cyprus let go as his arm spasmed.
Paragon immediately flew down and towards Cyprus and punched out, only to have the punch blocked, even as the elemental and Banshee continued their fall earthwards.
Medea pointed towards Paragon, muttering as she did so, and a transformative blast almost hit him. Akira tried to warn them that Odysseus had undergone a similar risk when his men had been transmuted into beasts. In Paragon’s case, would that mean he would become a flying pig?
Akira immediately cast the Somnambulist spell of Sirrion on Tom Cyprus. A thin, pinkish mist rose up from the ground, leaving him unconscious as Banshee was forced to hold her breath and break free while turning insubstantial with the Atlas.
Paragon, seeing the others successfully grab the book, flew towards Medea and tried to challenge and taunt her again. “We’ve defeated your champion. Do you really think you can stand against the three of us?”
She replied, “Challenge accepted” as she began gathering the winds around her. As she did so, four flying, harpy-like Erinyes appeared out of nowhere and began to attack with their talon-like hands, trying to feast on his liver. ‘Less classy, more a classical lady’, he thought as they interjected themselves between Medea and him. He flew in and punched the first of the creatures; the fury was instantly staggered by the attack.
Akira wished he could open a portal to the library and Seven, but for some reason he was unable to do so. Instead, he attacked the other three Erinyes. The first mystical blast hit but only dazed her, the second blast was dodged and the last again dazed. They responded by attacking Paragon and Akira with their claw-like hands. Akira dodged his attacker as she flew past him. It was only later that he realised why Paragon’s eyes had burst into flames as he blasted the second Erinye as it dived and knocked it into the ground.
Medea was having to maintain the Erinyes in this dimension and was unable to cast herself. The stones still maintained her though, Banshee noticed, as she unleashed a shattering shriek, hoping to bring her earthbound. Instead, it shattered the stones into pebbles that remained, defying gravity, beneath her feet.
Paragon immediately responded by attacking the nearest harpy, despite his eyes still burning. His punch dazed it. One stumbled towards him, only for one of the others to grab at his arm. Its claws failed to get a purchase and fell back as paragon shook himself free.
Akira used the distraction to unleash several blasts at Medea. They hit time after time, knocking her off the stones she was standing on which immediately fell to the ground followed by an unconscious Medea. She landed on top of the rubble, even as the building began reorganising itself back to the way they had been before Medea had arrived. The pebbles immediately rose into the air and began trying to fill their original niche in the tower, and the ‘harpies’ vanished back to their home dimension.
Akira glanced into the reflective pool and recognised it as a scrying pool and saw Seven in it as she read the books. As the building was no longer in defence mode, it allowed Akira to portal himself, the book and his teammates directly into the library. As they arrived, they all hear a crackling and clanking sound echoing through the chamber as the entryway transformed into a massive, iron door. It swung wide to reveal the scarred villain Gamemaster. It was a face hard to forget after the teams’ previous encounter at his slaughterhouse. Seemed he had progressed from running a hidden death trap prison to controlling some form of Dimensional Dungeon.
He identified himself to Paragon as he actually thanked the team for thwarting the “criminal scum,” and apologized for not arriving sooner. He explained that he saw his role as a jailer of the unjailable and intended to transport any captive villains to his prison dimension for “indefinite detention.” They felt sure he was telling them the truth; in fact, he hadn’t ever lied to them as far as Banshee and Akira knew, even when he had once thought them corrupt and had previously tried to punish the team.
He went on to explain that he was convinced that AEGIS would never be able to hold someone like Medea or Tom Cypress for long. She would likely escape, even if her ‘compatriots’ don’t rescue her from prison as would the others, such as the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign.
It was clear that although he didn’t need their permission to kidnap the villains within the house, he was asking for it and seemed disappointed, angry even, when they refused to grant it.
Paragon considered fighting him but was asked to stand down by the others as they warned him of his ‘abilities’ and politely intervened, explaining that while they “understood his sense of justice, but it differed from ours and you do what you think is right, but you can’t ask us for our acquiescence in this matter.”
He nodded his head, turned and explained that when Medea or Tom Cyprus escaped it would be their fault and subsequently departed into his dimension without a fight.
Akira immediately turned to open the Atlas. The first thing he realised was that although he couldn’t understand what it was telling him, he was sure that one of the major nexus it showed was in fact his family home, Ffrwd Dylluan. Not surprising really, it was a location almost as mystically ‘gifted’ as this sanctum. When Akira pointed this out to the others, Peter immediately realised that it was the place Megan had mentioned she was searching for, when she had vanished. She had wanted to talk to its current owner – Akira smiled, “That’s me, I’m the current owner.” “Do you know a Megan Smith, or possibly you might know her as Thorn..?” Akira shook his head, “Sorry, no, not that I can recall.”
They agreed to talk about it once they wound up everything here. Seven meanwhile recommended the Atlas was left in the library as Sallah entered and asked what had occurred while he’d been unconscious. They briefly explained what had occurred. When they had finished, he pointed towards a teddy bear sitting on one of the shelves, “What’s that doing here?” They were sure it hadn’t been there when they had first entered the library. Banshee suggested it must have walked in with the boy or puppet thing they had seen when escaping from the Mirror Mosaic. Sallah walked over slowly, picked it up and put it outside the library door, intending to remove it from the house later. His major worry now was that the Nexus was exposed. Without a Master Mage in residence would be liable to attack again unless they either moved it somewhere else where the villains would be unable to find it, or they found someone capable of defending it to move in. Apparently, the Nexus was able to be folded up and moved mystically, leaving a normal, unmagical, Georgian property behind.
It was Paragon who suggested using Ffrwd Dylluan to anchor the two together. Akira was willing to try it after Sallah agreed that it would be possible to overlay the Nerian Nexus onto the existing building and merge the two nexus’ into adjoining layers of reality imposed on top of each other. Akira and Paragon joked about the need for planning permission to attach the Nexus as an extension to the house. Seven and Sallah discussed how to make the necessary arrangements, even as the others tried to decide what to do with their prisoners inside the house, what to do with the Heartstone and the chronal shards from Glimpse.
The heartstone was a power stone capable of granting powers and altering reality, but that using it was addictive and would eventually control its user. Sallah suggested that it was placed under wards in the Aerary where it should have been stored in the first place. Someone connected with the stone had been powerful enough to influence Seven into leaving it in the Library in the first place.
As Paragon handed over the stone, Akira asked Sallah to also ward Dracula’s spear, just in case. The last thing he needed was the spear’s original owner following it to Wales. He was assured that the room’s extra shields would prevent it and the Stone from acting as a beacon or influencing anyone.
As far as the shards were concerned, the four of them had no burning desire to use them themselves, at the moment.
Paragon asked after Atlan artefacts and was shown a helmet that supposedly had belonged to Zeus. Akira began talking of Zeus as father of the Gods only to for Seven to quietly interrupt him, “She, not he, that’s the problem with shapeshifters.” Leaving Paragon and Akira momentarily speechless.
Before they could ask for more information, Sallah suggested they retrieve Medea and Cyprus before they did any damage. They headed off to the observatory. Inside, they discovered that Medea must have awoken and subsequently vanished, but Tom Cyprus had been left behind. He was frightened and confused, but was now totally docile. It seemed he had been controlled completely by Medea and was no longer a threat. Rather than hand him over to the Authorities, Seven suggested they use one of the shards to increase his intelligence and give him the ability to choose what he did next. The image they had seen of Tom as a librarian, or at least an assistant, suggested that it was possible. It did mean Akira would have to cope with a live-in elemental servant to look after the library, as well as the horde of faceless ones. Sallah politely declined any suggestion of relocating with the Nexus explaining that it was way past time he retired.
They explained the situation to Tom who agreed, Paragon donated his shard, which when he pressed it to his flesh dissolved and was absorbed into Tom’s body, increasing his intelligence while slightly decreasing his strength. It was a swap Tom found he liked.
They helped hand over the cultists to the Police and made sure that all the toys were found and removed before Seven and Sallah accessed the spell that folded the nexus up, ready for transportation to Ffrwd Dylluan.
It had been a long evening.
Nerian Nexus meaning – “Nerian is ‘one who protects others’. Nexus is a connection or series of connections, a central point linking two or more things.
The heartstone was introduced in https://claremontacademy.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/bluebook-session-17d-the-beginnings-of-wickedness/
Gamemaster was introduced in https://mm3e.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/episode-28-welcome-to-the-slaughterhouse/
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 