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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2297393" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the One-Hundred Twenty-ThirdIn which: Alas!  Poor Gemil… we didn’t know him at all, but that changes.Lira is the one who finally clears her throat and asks, “Who… who are you?”“Me?” the skull replies.  “Gemil al Zaheed, at your service.”“I hope you don’t mind my asking, but are you an Ebisite?”“I suppose I was.  Not sure I’d qualify for citizenship these days.”“So you weren’t always a golden skull?”“Oh my, no.”“How did you…?”“Petros.  He trapped me in here.”“How long have you been like this?”The skull considers Lira.  “Probably not as long as you’ve been alive.”  He looks over at Kiara.  “Possibly as long as she has.”“Fourteen years?”“That sounds about right.”“Why would Petros trap you in a golden skull?”“Well, I say he trapped me, but really it’s my own fault.  I allowed him to take advantage of a moment of weakness.  I thought we had an agreement, but Petros… He doesn’t approve of me.”Lira gives the skull an appraising look.  “Why not just put you in the mirror then?”The skull considers.  “I suppose it’s because he still wants to learn my secrets.”“Such as?”For a skull with rubies in his eye sockets, Gemil does a surprisingly good job of rolling his eyes.  Lira shrugs.  “You can’t blame a girl for trying.”“I suppose not…  I was a great wizard myself.  Petros knows that, and he’d like to know what I know.  He keeps me out here and asks me things.”“A wizard?  I didn’t think there were wizards in Ebis.”The skull replies, “We have reason to keep a low profile.”  “Oh?”  Lira asks.  But Gemil does not elaborate further.Anvil knits his brow.  “Are you more powerful than Petros?”Lira shoots him a questioning look, and Anvil beckons the party together for a quick huddle.“Perhaps we should ask if he wishes to be head of the Mages’ Academy.  We were told to find the most powerful archmages in the Halmae, and not to dismiss anyone out of hand.”Thatch snickers.  “Head of the Mage’s Academy.”(OOC groans from everyone)“I don’t think this is what King Orin and the Professor had in mind!”  Annika protests in a high whisper.“Given that Petros is the one who put Gemil in the skull, and not vice-versa, I think that would argue that the answer to your original question would be ‘no,’” Reyu suggests.“I don’t think I’d be interested in the position anyway.”The party looks up.  Gemil is grinning at them.“Not my cup of tea.”The party, low on spells and hit points, decides to wait until the next day to investigate the upper levels of the tower.  Lira converses with Gemil through dinner and discovers some interesting information:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Of the two rooms in the basement which the party has not explored, one of them is Petros’ vault where he keeps his most important magical items and supplies.  Gemil admits that he has spent a lot of time in the vault, although he prefers to be out where he can see and speak to others.  Annika casts detect magic and confirms a strong aura radiating from that door and adjoining walls to the room.  The other room is what Petros uses to control the tower’s movement.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Petros brought the shackled skeleton to the room two-and-a-half, possibly three months before his disappearance.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Gemil hasn’t seen Petros for several months at least, although he admits it is hard for him to keep track of time passing while trapped alone in a locked basement.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Gemil has spent quite a bit of time talking to the shackled skeleton.  The skeleton however, lacking a voice box, never talked back.</li> </ul>Towards the end of their chat, Lira turns the topic back to Gemil himself.“If you don’t mind my asking, what was your particular area of arcane interest?She didn’t think it was possible for the skull to grin ever more that he already did.Lira blinks.  “Oh.  Shall I take a wild stab then and say ‘necromancy?’”“Why don’t you go out on a limb?” Gemil agrees amiably.His charming personality aside, the party ignores Gemil’s requests that they take him with them upstairs when they retire for the night.There is a brief discussion over the evening meal of what should be done about the mirror.  Initially, Anvil had thought that perhaps some of those trapped within did not belong there.  But, upon discovering Cyrus’s true nature, he is no longer so sure that everyone there is what he or she seems.  Everyone agrees that it will be best to wait until they find Petros before taking further action.At midnight, the drumming starts.  Eva and Anvil are on watch again, and from the doorway of Petros’ tower they can see torches carried from the town moving out through the countryside.  A group of 20 to 40 dancing skeletons moves in the tower’s general direction, but do not make for the tower itself.  After approximately half an hour, the groups of skeletons return to the keep, and the rest of the night passes uneventfully.</blockquote>

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