Annotations

The Defenders panicked, sure that Mirata was now awake and warned of their presence, and desperately searched the room for anything that would bring down the Prismatic Sphere. A few minutes later the truth began to sink in. No way existed. The Sphere was permanent, and they now had no way to dispel it.

Or did they?

Alix, looking somewhat sheepish, produced his new Rod of Cancellation. He still refrained from mentioning the lich to the rest of the group.

As the party was preparing, a Fireball blasted out of the Sphere, badly wounding several. There was no time to lose. Alix struck out with the rod, and the Sphere vanished.

There stood Mirata du Chemith, Founder of the Second Academy, still in Cadrienne’s body, glowing red with fury. Several parts of the iron golem had survived the transit through the Sphere, and had smashed her resting place into a ruin. The magnificent four-poster bed, crafted from magical Floating Elm, lay in pieces. Magic books were scattered across the floor.

The Defenders’ eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and it became plain that Mirata had taken some liberties with her shell. She wore red robes, bracers, and loose-fitting boots, and she had completely brushed out Cadrienne’s hair. No longer was it in its matronly, iron-hard bun. Her face twisted into a sneering smile. She informed the Defenders that they would suffer for their impertinence. She had learned much about them by eavesdropping on Cadrienne’s thoughts. First, one by one, their families would meet horrific ends, followed by their friends, and lastly their miserable selves. The first to taste her wrath would be Cadrienne herself. She raised a razor-sharp dagger to her own throat, and slashed it.

The Defenders rushed forward, sure that Cadrienne was dead. Luckily, Mirata seemed to have mis-timed her action, fleeing the body as she delivered the death-stroke, and Cadrienne had taken control just in time to prevent the blow from being fatal. Velendo and Glimmer poured healing spells into her.

The next priority was to discover where Mirata had gone. The Defenders had no way to scry for her, and their loved ones were in serious jeopardy. A detailed search of the chambers began. Arcade located the Horrus Arcadanian and one of Mirata’s portable spellbooks. Dylrath rummaged in the wreckage of the floating bed, and discovered that one of the supports remained intact. He christened it the "Outgrabe". In no time he was surfing all over the room, crashing into things and having a grand time, to the chagrin of Alix and the rest of the party.

Mirata, unbeknownst to the party, had entered the body of the blond mountain climber, waiting in the far corner of the back room. She stood, unrolled a Teleportation Scroll, and vanished.

The Defenders eventually located the fire-proof back room. Tomtom sensed that the entrance to the Mirror Room lay behind the fanged tapestry. After removing the horrid rug, the party was able to enter the Mirror Room, but then found that they were unable to command it.

Dylrath, meanwhile, had slammed into a wall upside down, giving him a close look at the top surface of one of the many cubbyholes. There he saw a shining key, which he pried loose. Nonchalantly, he wandered up to the Mirror and inserted the key. It sank deep into the shining surface, instantly bonding Dylrath’s soul to the Mirror and giving control of it to him alone.

Of course, a fourteen-year-old rogue had nowhere near the ability to control the Mirror that the archmage had possessed. But the Mirror still knew Mirata well, and Dylrath was easily able to scry her location.

There she was, wearing her new skin, and marching with dread purpose through the moonlit snow towards a small cottage. With a shock, Nolin realized he was seeing the home of his daughter, Tasha. Glimmer reminded the party that, although the pretty young woman had been comatose, she was still an innocent, and to try to avoid killing her. Velendo dispensed some urgent healing, and the Defenders charged through the Mirror.

Mirata heard the Defenders’ approach, and unleashed another Fireball. She began to unroll a scroll, and it seemed that she might manage to escape yet again. In the nick of time, Tao hurled her bolas in a perfect arc. They wrapped around the archmage, securing her arms and knocking her to the ground. She struggled to free herself, but the Defenders rapidly arrived, and began to bind her tightly. Suddenly, her body sagged, and it was instantly clear that Mirata had fled. But to where?

Arcade called upon his gift from Faerie, and the Sight blazed from his eyes, searchlights sweeping over the party, searching for a soul out of place. His gaze lit upon a gem hanging on a chain around the young woman’s neck. In a glance, the flaming signature of Mirata could clearly be seen within the gem. Arcade leapt forward and began pounding on the gem with his dagger hilt, yelling for the others to assist. No one was wielding a blunt weapon, and several party members began rifling through their packs, searching for something that might be used to break the magical gem.

While the party was thus occupied, Alix quietly slid a dagger across the throat of the comatose girl. He then began taunting Mirata, heaping scorn on her parentage, her Academy, her spellcasting style, her reliance on fire (to which he was currently resistant), and anything else he could think of. Arcade and others continued to pound away, and small cracks began to appear. Tao finally located a mace, and raised it high above the gem.

Enough time had elapsed for Mirata to make one final attempt at possession. Naturally, she chose Alix.

Her spectral form leapt towards him, then recoiled. The charm of Kadraskus had proved to be effective, and then Tao’s mace descended, shattering the gem into a thousand splinters. Mirata’s soul now manifested fully as a pillar of fire. She made for the unconscious girl, but was unable to inhabit her corpse. The pillar then moved towards the Defenders, crackling with hate. A blazing hole opened in the ground, summoning Mirata to the underworld, and with a howl she was sucked down to her death.

The hole closed, and Mirata du Chemith was gone. ________________________

Technical points--Bandeeto posted while I was sleeping--the key was stuck on the underside of the bottom shelf of the bookshelf.

And the support that became the Outgrabe was circle shaped.

And while Piratecat was very kind to Dylrath (temporary substitute character, remember?) in letting him get away with the Mirror and the Outgrabe (I don't think he had planned to give Dylly the Outgrabe--that just sort of happened), you have to imagine my horror as I watched the villain--now an NPC--slash the throat of my own character. After I had spent weeks, months even, helping Piratecat set up the party.

There was worse to come.

When Cadrienne recovered from the wound, and came to her senses, the body she was in was loaded down with trapped items. The boots were boots of stumbling, and the bracers --don't remember the name--made her throw herself into the path of missile attacks.

Mirata had planned to dump her body all along.

Without her dragon-destroyed holybooks (spell books/holysymbol), her weapons, or even the ability to walk along and stay out of combat, she was worse than useless in trying to help stop Mirata.

Her magic girdle was gone and never recovered, too, as were some of her other items.

"Used," does not begin to cover the feeling Cadrienne was overwhelmed with. Not to mention "guilty" for aiding and abetting someone who tried to hurt her best friends.

Worse, Cadrienne's player was having a grand old time careening around smacking her/his head into things and not caring about the moral implications of her/his behavior or anyone else's and didn't really want to come back to playing den mother anymore.

--------------------- It wasn't Arcade--it was Kestellan, one of Mirata's former students who had been trapped in the mirror, who cast the 'eight' Magic Missiles. I remember him gloating about it, and how cheesed off Arcade was about Kestellan having found a way to raise the limit on number of Missiles but not being willing to share the secret.

Ah, Kestellan.

How we loathed him. Even Mirata loathed him--especially as she discovered that her former pupil had been violating Academy rules even while she was still in full command of the Academy in all it's glory. How a Lawful Evil despises a Neutral Evil!

And how we suffered him to return to the Academy to restore it to its former glory I can't recall, except that he was somehow still alive at the end of the adventure, and we didn't have a solid excuse to kill or arrest the snivelling, posturing git, or invalidate his claim to the site.

And then all his mincing politics and playing the hero that made him popular with the Crown of Kindric while we were out saving the world and didn't have time to help the King out with all his domestic disputes . . . that made us loathe him even more.

I know a ghoulish Academy of Flamecraft isn't something anyone would wish for, but it would give the Defenders all the excuse they needed to wipe him and his students out once and for all.

I hope at the very least that keeping the White Kingdom out of his living room is giving him ulcers and hemroids.

Although I'll bet the poser has had them in for tea and made deals as rotten clear through as the company present.

He would.

Also, now that my memory is jogged, I recall that Mirata swiped a bunch of Cadrienne's magic items and saddled her body with a bunch of cursed ones before dumping it.

If anyone is ever exploring the Academy ruins --may it soon be returned to ruins-- again and comes across a small golden girdle, Cadrienne sure would like it back. Not that anyone's made a go at her Virtue in quite some time, but it was helpful with the Monthlies.