TCotM: Rinaldo Gets Schooled

[Velmont]

"The cat's name was Rayne, is it suppose to mean something? You might have met her, you might know her. I've been her... There must be a way to force her to merge with the aspects... or maybe the aspects could merge with her. I wonder if they could do that. After all, they are part of the same person. Sin might be the most powerfull, but if we bolster and boost teh aspect within Laynie and find a way to bring them to Sin while keeping Laynie away, they might be able to merge with her." asks Rinaldo.

 

[Rystil Arden]

"We don't know anything about these Aspects. There's no way we're going to figure that out--Probably only Sin herself could understand it, and she's not going to tell us. I'm sure that removing the ones in Laynie is beyond anything I can do, at least--I can't even detect their presence."

 

[Velmont]

Rinaldo sigh. "Laynie, I would love to save your mother. Your mother is loving you. But presently, Sin is not your mother. Sin is only the worst of what your mother have been, and your mother have been a bad person before you were born. It is you who has start to change your mother. Your mother should be saved, but Sin should never go out of that tower...

And actually, the one thing that must be done over all, it is to neutralize the tower. It endanger all this world. Do you understand that? Sometimes, we must take decision that is not the perfect solution. I don't know if my soul is bound to this contract Sin make me sign. Maybe she tricked me, maybe I'm really bond. I made this because I thought Hogarth should live, as he had tought Vanitri should live instead of him. I've also done that because, the first, I want to save this world, to make it better for my children, and you mother have done exactly the same.

When the incident happen and her soul was split appart, your mother sent you away and keep Sin inside the tower, to protect you from Sin. She knew her dark part was evil and would use you as a pawn, because in the eye of Sin, this whole story in simply a chess game and everyone is a pawn on the board. She will sacrifice the pawn she need to win her game, and that include you. Your mother knew that and the better aspects of her: Mo, Spira, Elpis sent you away. Even Senex sent you away again.

But your mother will ever be with you. And if there is a way to bring that woman back, the one who look at you with love and hope, I will help you to bring her back. But if we cannot force Sin to merge back with Elpis, Mo, Spira and Joy, and if we let Sin out of that tower, it won't be your mother who will be free, it will be her ambition, and ambition that is only limited by her power.

Do you understand Laynie?"

 

[Rystil Arden]

*Laynie begins to cry, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably, but she tries to rein in her emotions.*

"I..."

"I..."

*She can't finish, so she simply nods, still trembling slightly as she cries.

*Not wanting to interrupt by speaking aloud, Rayne sends a message to Rinaldo's mind.*

'By the way, I'm willing to bet she never actually had your cleric's soul. Elayna would never prepare Soul Bind without extreme prior cause--she says it's a waste of her best spell because you never need it, and she could have Shapechange instead. But she does prepare illusion spells that might convincingly look like a Soul Bind. It's possible that she's been leading you forward with smoke and mirrors--negotiating with nothing at all. A blind man's bluff indeed. If it is true, I do have to admire the confidence it would take to keep her cool and think of that on the brink of destruction.'

 

[Velmont]

Rinaldo stands up and gantly takes Laynie in his arms. "Laynie. I'm sorry." he whispers. He let a moment teh silence do it's work, let the tension in teh air cool down. He slowly let Laynie. "I want all that to be clear. I need to knwo if I'm bound to the contract. It will tell me if all that is a bluff as you suppose. Gundar should know it." tells Rinaldo. After a shot moment "Wait a moment." He look at Laynie.

"No, the question that we need to ask in not that. There is only one way to save Laynie's mother, it would be to know if she has bound herself with the contract. If she is, she will be force to merge herself. If she hasn't, I'll detsroy teh Crux, wathever if she has bound or not my soul to the other contract, as the thing I don't want, is to free Sin. There is hope for Eleyna Valsice, but not Sin. Ask Gundar if she is bound. If his answer is clearly yes, we will see what can be done to save her. If the anser is clearly no or is not clear, we will haev to assume this is all a big bluff. I'll detsroy the Crux."

Rinaldo turns toward Laynie. "And if we can't save Eleyna now, we can still hope to save her with the aspects within you. We'll see what we can do after the tower is neutralized. Things are not easy for you Laynie, I understand. But don't lose hope, your mother had hope for you."

Rinaldo turns back to Rayne. "Seems that a fair question for you?"

 

[Rystil Arden]

*Rayne nods.*

"Fair enough. I'll try to phrase the questions so that they refer to the Divination, since Gundar would know that for sure...I'm also curious about the Soul Bind, and I do get six questions."

"Alright, everyone give me some space. Let me get out my Elixir of Clear Thought--failing to think clearly when this spell is cast can drive me insane for a month."

*Rayne quaffs an Elixir, then brings out some incense and a vial of elemental earth. She sits in a meditative position and projects her mind to another plane of existence, contacting Gundar.*

"Great Gundar..." Rayne's voice seem spooky, ethereal, as if it almost wasn't here, though it comes from her lips as normal, "Tell me, you said that mortals cannot tread where devils led--does that mean that the Aspect known as Sin is not bound by a soul contract to perform certain services for Rinaldo di Senzio?"

*There is a slight pause, and then Rayne's lips begin to move again, but the voice is not her own. It sounds gravelly and ancient, filled with the wisdom of eternity. Though it but whispers, it booms and echoes off the walls.*

"YES"

*Rayne pauses and then asks another question:*

"Thank you Great Gundar. Follow the path of destruction--does that mean that Rinaldo should destroy the Crux?"

*The voice booms back in a whisper through Rayne's mouth:*

"PERHAPS"

*Rayne decides to ask a follow-up question:*

"Great Gundar--you can just give a first name, but who should destroy the Crux then?"

*Gundar's whispering voice replies:*

"IRRELEVANT"

*Rayne considers.*

"Great Gundar, was your servant Hogarth's soul ever trapped and unable to reach you?"

*The voice whispers an answer like a minor rumbling earthquake:*

"NO"

*Rayne pauses again.*

"Great Gundar, if the tower were to be destroyed now, is there any hope at all of retrieving Laynie's mother, the Elayna Valsice, the woman we knew, and not the monster?"

*Gundar's voice leaves a pause, as if he is considering this:*

"PERHAPS"

*Rayne quickly leads into her last question:*

"Then one last question, Great Gundar, and I apologise for thus using your time--the last line of your Divination to Hogarth...it means I should go, doesn't it?"

*Gundar whispers a final fading "YES" and then the spell fades away and is gone.*

 

[Velmont]

Rinaldo slaps his forhead with teh palm of his hand. "So obvious! I never made the phonetic link about your name and the rain... that would explain why I had to follow Laynie here.

But if you come with me, we can enter the tower like that. The Crux is too far and Sin will detect us as soon as we enter. She can see everything with her mirror. We need to find something to buy us enough time to reach the Crux room. A field prevent Sin to climb the last stair... can you teleport us to teh tower. If we use the item she gave me, she will probably know I'm back. We could sneak with some invisibility spell and non-detection ward.

Or you are more familiar with the magic she like to use. Do you have any suggestion?"

 

[Rystil Arden]

"That's why I asked you if it was spoken. He was probably saying Rayne and you just thought he said 'rain'. I had an advantage because when I hear my name, I always think it's me for a second, even if they mean the regular rain."

"As to the wards...I only wish I was stronger--if I could cast a Mind Blank, we would be...but I cannot. I can't ward us all like that. Can you use transportation magic within the tower to go somewhere else in the tower? Wait, you said Senex did it, so it must be possible."

"I have an idea--can you sketch me a floorplan of the tower with accurate distances? We won't be able to fool Sin with sneaking, so we'll need to do a variant of what you suggest and have you go in first with her token, and we'll follow when she's with you and thus not watching her mirror. We can use Dimension Door to pop up. You're going to need to time this just right--You take Laynie to the tower and follow Sin upstairs to near the place you told me where you can go into her room or go up the stairs again to the barrier. When you are exactly at the midway point, send me a magical message response, and I'll Dimension Door up there and distract Sin while you and Laynie run for the stairs. I know I can't win, but...if this is what is fated, then it must be."

"Rayne, if Vanitri is in danger, then I'm coming too."

"Elektra, that's endangering a student. I can't let you..."

"I just graduated with my Master's, Rayne. Technically I'm in between being a regular student and a graduate student during this intercession. So that means I'm not a student right now. I won't take no for an answer. Besides, I've fought Elayna Valsice before too."

*Rayne sighs.*

"You're stubborn girl. Very well, you'll come in from behind with me. But I want you to run up with Rinaldo when we Dimension Door up--that's where Vanitri will be."

"Alright...I guess so."

"Are we all set?"

 

[Velmont]

"I guess you have some divination spell, right? Reading mind should be among the spell you could know. If you have one, I could picture and exact mental image of the room we want to reach, that should help you." tells Rinaldo to Rayne. He then turn to Elektra. "You've heard the whole story, you know in what you enter, but I will tell you I'm not confortable with that idea. There as been enough death like that, and with teh number of aspect that remain, you might have to fight on your own. Do you feel ready to take yourself against an aspect like Pride?"

 

[Rystil Arden]

"How long will it take you to run out of sight from the closest point? Maybe six seconds? I just need to get their attention for that long. And then I'll just Dimension Door up to the room with the Crux, and they can't follow me, right?"

"There isn't any magic that gets a good mental image. I'd need you to sketch it for me, if you can. Also, I need to rest and prepare my new spells so that I'll have the correct ones for what we plan to do."