Tuck rushes forward, his crossbow at the ready, to check on the fallen doppelganger. He kicks it in the side, and when it doesn't react, reaches for a pulse.
"It's dead," he confirms.
Tuck tries to determine if the creature is still alive but its physiology is strange. In its natural form it doesn't seem to have a mouth. He tries to see if there is breath passing in and out of the nose, but he can't determine if it is still alive. It seems like it is dead but it could just be unconscious.
"I doubt it is dead, the knight hit it with a blade turned sideways." Akos offers, but doesn't check for life signs of the doppelganger
"You should tie it down, just in case. Remember Mani."
"Yes," Custodio says.
"We need to hogtie it and make sure it can't try to trick us."
Neurotic said:
He is already focused on the being within the circle and the circle itself.
"Lowenan, you are defeated. Can you help us free the genie?"
The ex-commander sighs as the mimic's sticky fluid finally releases him from the mimic's death grip. Custodio quickly manacles the man and relieves him of his spell component pouch and weapons before Lowenan can get to his feet. The Vanquisher cleric pulls the man to his feet.
"Do not resist."
"You don't give me much of choice," Lowenan replies. He looks to the Deaf-Mute Knight in hopes the young knight will come to his aid. The knight glares at him at shakes his head. He turns away to check on the genie.
"He's not you thrall anymore, sorcerer," Custodio snaps.
"Now answer the Loremaster's question."
"As far as know, the only way to free her is to dispel the spells imprisoning her. Both spells have been holding her longer than the knight has been here protecting her. He told me he's been here for months, but I don't think he realizes it has been longer. A lot longer." He pauses.
"Haven't you noticed? Time flows differently here. A second here is equal to a minute in Bluffside. While in this part of the labyrinth, there is no need for food or drink, but when you leave, you will become ravenous if you haven't eaten."
He motions towards the genie with his shackled hands.
"She has been here a very long time. The magic circle is a function of the room... or, at least, that's what Phelix believes. The circle was designed to bind a good creature. It can only be remove by dispelling the magic. The circle cannot be entered or exited any other way. Phelix wanted to claim her magical items but could not find a way to get through without removing the magic, which he has refused to do." He looks at Akos.
"That's not the only spell trapping her. She is bound with a temporal stasis spell cast by someone very powerful. Powerful beyond my mentor's abilities. He thinks she's been bound in this room for hundreds of Bluffside's years, maybe even longer."
"So she is someone else's prisoner," Custodio says.
"And Waldo just moved in and took the place over without thinking that he might upset someone more powerful than him."
"There is no evidence that the... being who imprisoned her has ever returned here. Phelix refused to just ignore this room. No one who seeks knowledge or power would ever turn their backs on the history that is embedded into every wall of this room."
"Powerful beings that can trap a genie don't think like mortals!" He shakes the ex-commander violently.
"He risks all of Bluffside with his madness!"
"If I am your prisoner, you must not mishandle me d'Elite," Lowenan snaps.
"I may have broken my oath, but you must still follow the law!"
"Please do not hurt him!" Arnona pleads.
"You do not get a vote here, Lady Arnona!" Custodio turns to look at her.
"Be glad you and the tower wizard agreed to come with us before the gnome's betrayal, or I'd bind and gag both of you as well." The young Vanquisher looks down at the floor and then begrudgingly releases Lowenan.
"But... he is right. I have taken an oath and I must follow the laws of Bluffside." He steps away from the ex-commander and crosses his arms. He glares at Lowenan.
"I will trust in those laws to deal with you appropriately."
Neurotic said:
He signs to the knight
"I wake her."
Before reaching inside the portal with the same rejuvenating power he used on Sylamis.
OOC: Vernal Touch: removes dazed, nauseated, fatigued and exhausted from the living;
The energy easily flows from the portal to the magic circles as Akos hand rests firmly on the portal. Whatever ailments once afflicted the genie are purged from her form but she remains trapped in the magic circle and remains frozen in time. It is as Lowenan says... the female djinni is held in place by a
temporal stasis spell. If a powerful being trapped her, the spell will be very difficult to dispel.
The DMK looks on hopefully.
Tim says, "Do we really need another burden? This THING is not a man, and does not follow the laws of men. The only time that a fiend such as this will follow the law is when it thinks doing so will give it some sort of advantage. I think we should kill it NOW, and be done with it. It DID attempt to murder Arnona, as well as a helpless Djinn in our presence. And the Djinni are a well-respected race, revered for their wisdom, at least where I am from. Of course, I won't act without consent. But this fiend is irredeemable in my eyes. In my opinion, the sooner it's dead, the better."
"The law is not a burden, and if it had died in battle, we wouldn't have to worry about it," Custodio replies.
"If we choose to be his executioner, we will need to justify it to the Lord Commander." The Elite guard pauses.
"It would be a risk to have two doppelgangers imprisoned in the tower at the same time. While they would be kept apart, it could become a burden on the Guardians."
"I know you don't want my vote," Lowenan says.
"But I would like to know what happened to the real Charvin."
"If this one has taken his form, then your man is probably dead."
"Yes, but when? Where? There was no hint of betrayal that we detected from him," Arnona points to the doppelganger. "The shapechanger couldn't have been with us for very long. We would have known."
Without so much as a blink, Vinny slices into the brain pan of the helpless doppelganger with his rapier and swishes it about for extra measure.
ooc: coup de ta
"Wait!" Arnona pleads. "We need to find out..."
But it is over before the lady can finish her sentence.
"That's more brutal than I would have chosen," Custodio says.
"But what's done is done. Vinccenzo is a member of the Sectarian Guard and magical matters are usually deferred to them. Are doppelgangers inherently magical?"
"I choose to surrender to you and Sir Tim, d'Elite," Lowenan says quickly after watching Vinccenzo dispatch the doppelganger without a second thought. He motions to Rhilaseth to do the same.
The other ex-guard nods. "Yes, I prefer to get a trial."
Silagord nods as well and moves next to Tim in hopes the big knight will seek justice through the Tribunal and not through the end of a blade.
"I highly disagree with what he has done," Lady Arnona says defiantly. "That is not the law!"
"I accept all of your surrenders and arrest you in the name of The Five and Regular's Code," Custodio says. He turns to Lady Arnona.
"Since you did fight the creatures with us, you may gain some leniency from the Tribunal." He pauses and looks at Lowenan.
"But there is no guarantee."
"I guarantee they will behead me before the week is over," the ex-commander replies.
"Probably... but if someone is willing to speak up for you then maybe you might only get a life sentence in the Dungeon." Custodio looks at Akos.
"Can you free her? If time flows differently here, we shouldn't stay too long."
"There is another to free as well," Lowenan says.
"The statue in the corner over there is a petrified wizard. I don't know who he is but Phelix placed him here after discovering the labyrinth. He may have been my mentor's rival."
