[HQ Ignorance] Scene 128: The Wizard of Puppetland

[lev at mimesisrpg.com]

As the great and noble Azhur, King-Elect of Seshnela asked the first
guardian of the door what their fellow would say was the correct path.
Having received the answer that the first door would lead, the King-elect
promptly decided to take the second.

"No matter which one I chose, it would lie", Azhur explains. "If the first
spirit was the liar, it would tell me a falsehood about what their fellow
would say. However if the first spirit was a truth-teller, it would have
to tell me that their fellow would lie. Likewise if I asked the second
spirit, and they were the liar, then they would tell me a falsehood about
how their fellow would answer. However if they were the truthful spirit,
they would have to tell me what their lie would be."

"I think I might have learned something from Aalmon", the King remarks.

The door opened, the spirits went away. Beyond their was a dark and dingy
entrance hall. Inside the place was decript and dusty, with the occasional
ancient furnishings that had the dust of decades upon them. The stairs
creaked as the Fellowship took them, a few weak beams of light from mere
slits in the walls illuminating their way.

By the second level there was an acrid smell to the air, and a distant
howling could be heard. Rotterex detected the smell of rotting flesh
behind one door, and from a quick peak they witnessed several bodies upon
slabs, tied down and apparently ritually sacrificed. Worse still, at one
end of the room in a low-walled section was dozens of skeletal remains.

Rikku could not help himself, and investigated the unfortunates of this
charnel house - his quick scan of the chained tomb on the nearby lecturn
was enough to explain to him what had happened here.

"Ghosts. Ghosts have been created from this body. Mad ghosts too, judging
by the marks upon the skin. Interestingly, there is a locational binding
as well. No, not to the spirits themselves, that seems far too normal.
Instead the binding is on the bodies. It's the bodies that cannot be taken
away from this place. Very interesting!"

By the third level, it was clear to the Fellowship that they were being
followed. Flickers of shadow, hauting calls ever closer. Several ghosts at
the very least were following them. Instead of dust in the air the acrid
smell had grown stronger, and was now as thick as a mist itself. Members
of the Fellowship began to feel increasingly light-headed.

[OOC: Everyone will need to resist the effects of this drug; please make
suggestions of what abilities you wish to use]

Nevertheless the party struggled on, the bitter mist and howlings
increasing, the light-headedness increasing, to the point that members
were not sure whether they were in a dream or reality. Or, given the
dream-like quality of Puppetland, a dream within a dream or a reality
within a dream. By now, it seemed that there were dozens of ghosts
following.

Eventually they reached a level in which there was a large open hall. The
footsteps of members of the Fellowship echoed as they approached a throne
at the end of the room, where there sat an unmoving hooded figure. Then,
at a distance of no more than twenty feet, the figure stood and commanded
the party to stop where they were.

"Who are you to come to Halls of the Wizard of Puppetland? Why do you bear
the banner of my foe? Has he been defeated by strangers? Or does he bring
a message of surrender?"

The figure threw back the hood. For most of the party it revealed an aged,
indeed dead, person with leathery skin but still with bright and burning
eyes.

For Rikku, he saw his brother.