I had an image of the mysterious bodyguard up in the memory palace, and had sped time up as much as possible so we could talk about it without letting him get too far. Errod, having spent the least time outside of his body, felt a little... off... with the time cranked up; his mind wasn't really ready to operate without his brain. "Shouldn't your glove be working on this? Don't you need to be a whole person if you get trapped in there when you die?'

He stared for a second before answering, clearly needing extra time to process what I'd said. "Maybe. Yes? I think it is, or it does, but it doesn't need to that much? It's why ghosts are bad. You die but don't go down the Necropolis and you lose things, but if you go right away - or try and get stuck in a glove - you're more there. Probably."

I thought about the moment when the temporal mana bomb had gone off, and I had that short conversation with... myself. "Connie" had been really lucid in that moment, but now when I felt back through those memories everything was fragmented and blurry. But if it wasn't the mind or soul itself, what was it that let that extra information linger for a time? Something encoded on the lutore, maybe, though the way it had been explained to me that collapsed when someone died. Hmm. Collapsed how and into what might be a relevant question, and it was one I hadn't asked. Cyne would know, he was obsessed with learning more about that whole thing.

"Calliope?" Katrin said, nudging me. "We're in a hurry, right?"

Shit, right. "Okay so this is the guy, note the badass piecemeal armor, helmet that magically blocks anyone from seeing his face, and the cool but impractical use of four different swords. He followed human Callie and Professor Yanipliss out of Sentortzi and up to see that guru, defended them from some attackers, turned down human Callie's advances, threatened to blackmail the guru - I think - and then when they left he just kinda vanished without getting paid and they realized they both thought the other one had hired him. So. Motives unknown, but he did help them out some and he offered to let the bandits he killed surrender, which implies he's not a total bad guy."

I played the memory of him ducking into the hallway as we were all blinded, as well. "As you can see, he can open that door - unlike both of you - so we have to assume he has the same level of access that I do. It looks like the door was just slightly cracked open for a few minutes as if he was waiting for a good moment; I don't see how he could have known the flash was coming, unless he somehow made Katrin open that mana battery, so probably that was a coincidence. Either way he didn't want to fight us. This also means he might not have been here for Jeort, he might have been heading to the secret passage and just killed Jeort on the way past."

Katrin didn't look convinced. "The fact that he was with the other Calliope and then showed up here... I don't know. Something is strange. Also, if we engage with him please be careful; I think the armor is mismatched because each piece is magical in a different way. They're too high quality, there has to be a reason. The same may go for the swords."

"This bring us to our decision. Do we follow him down the secret passage, or let him do his thing and just get out of here?"

I wanted to follow him, but I suspected that was a bad idea. If it had just been me that wouldn't matter, but I was trying to get back in the habit of asking what Bill would do and setting aside the fact that he would never be part of a fantasy adventure in the first place he certainly wouldn't pressure his friends to rush off into the darkness and possibly get themselves killed. Katrin looked unsure, but it was Errod that chimed in.

"If he's... we're protecting everyone from dangerous things here?" He said it like a question, since his body and mind were still strained from the time shift. "But if he's in a secret place maybe he's going to a dangerous thing. That we should protect people from."

It wasn't a bad point. I raised an eyebrow at Katrin, and she begrudgingly nodded. Sweet.

We ducked into the passage and closed it behind us after making sure we could tell how it opened. With him so far ahead of us we just ran, stealth not really being an option anyway given the echoes, and quickly found a spiral staircase leading up through the walls. I had one of my minds doing divination as far ahead on the stairs as possible, checking for traps or other exits as we climbed, but the spiral just kept spiraling with no surprises. When we finally reached the top - quite a few stories up - we exited via another secret passage that, like the last one, had been left hanging open a little. As before, from the other side it was obvious how to open it so we swung it shut.

We were in a bedroom. Everything was old but most was in good shape, with only a few types of materials being fragile from sitting around for well over a hundred and fifty years. There were no bugs to eat anything, no measurable amount of moisture, no direct sunlight. It made sense that everything was so well preserved, but it still felt strange that someone had just left this room one morning and never returned, leaving it as a sort of time capsule.

There was a sitting room through an open doorway - it looked like there were pocket doors that could be closed to separate the bedroom but we didn't want to mess with them - and a small door that led to the nicest bathroom I'd ever seen. Other than that there was only one other door, and I suspected that would lead to the hallway. Since we hadn't seen the mysterious bodyguard, I used divination to pop through and... huh.

"Okay, so I still don't see him and at this point I think we've lost him, but there's a whole pile of corpses out there. Fresh ones, in Halenvar uniforms."

Errod nodded thoughtfully. "Which tells us he's not with them. That's good. He's not one of the Knights of the Storm either, from everything we know, so despite not being in uniform it's most likely he's with the Eternal Empire or Erathik."

"No," Katrin said, "because he could open the doors. Doesn't that imply he could open the portals as well?"

"We don't know that," Errod replied, "it's completely possible that there are multiple levels of clearance. If he does have the ability to open the portals, it doesn't seem like anyone else knew about him - if they had, he wouldn't have been playing bodyguard."

The idea that there could be some random third party running around who could open the portals was a bit wild, but if it could happen to me there was no reason it couldn't happen to someone else. Maybe they came here all the time, and were eager for Halenvar's people to get cleared away so they could have a private dimension for their own use again. Maybe every time Brinkmar aligned they came in and grabbed some valuables to sell. If they weren't super old somehow, perhaps they were a descendant of someone important that had fled Brinkmar.

"The hallway outside this room curves away so I can't see far, but there's at least one side passage and several doors. We could burst out and chase after this guy, but it doesn't seem likely that we'd pick the right direction. I'm more curious about why there were Halenvar soldiers here - was it a coincidence, or did our mystery man make some noise that they came to investigate, or is there something right near here they were doing? They're scattered around, but the main fight clearly happened right outside this door."

Katrin suggested we rule out the room we were in before going anywhere else, and we started poking around. For the most part the place was clean, forcing me to head right to the desk and try the drawers. Most were locked somehow - though I couldn't see any mechanism for it - but one drawer wasn't fully shut and I was able to slide it open and take a look. Some very nice pens, similar to fountain pens from Earth aside from the shape of the nibs, went right into my bag. The pad of paper under them got a quick search, but it was all blank and the paper had gotten strange with age so I left it.

I was just trying to think of the best way to break into the other drawers when I noticed a small wastebasket. I would have thought it would be empty based on how clean the rest of the room was, but there was a crumpled ball of paper at the bottom so I very carefully pulled it open, wincing as it cracked. There was a list, written in a neat hand:

Why did the Clockmaker change the Rivet to target Earth?

What happened to Adam (if real?)

How did Queen

Arragine die?

What is the Imperial code for inheritance?

If he's not lying, what would make him feel safe?

If he's not lying, does it change anything?

What happens if you keep defying fate?

What if I just left?

Both of my minds froze up, and I forgot to breathe - I didn't even know why at first, some part of my brain was just screaming while the rest struggled to keep up. I stumbled away from the desk and walked over to Katrin and Errod, who looked equally stunned as they stared at something that was framed on the wall. As I circled around to stand behind them, I saw that it wasn't just a painting but was actually a shirt that had been encased in glass - actually, probably diamond or something - in order to preserve it.

"Hey guys," I said, "there's an old paper in there with some stuff written on it. In English."

Katrin just nodded, neither her or Errod looking away from the Van Halen tee shirt. It looked like it was probably just under the size I'd expect for an adult small, so probably the kind of thing a twelve or thirteen year old boy might wear. I didn't know anything about Van Halen, aside from the fact that they had a cool logo and had been around since... the late seventies? Early eighties? Something like that. The point was, I didn't have any way of dating the shirt to a specific album or year. I wasn't sure what I would have done with that information anyway, but I was reflexively scrambling for anything I could learn.

I was standing in Jake Ross' bedroom. Holy shit.

We found an armor stand - empty. A fancy holder for a sword - empty, so much for my hope of seeing the Sword of Destiny. An armoire full of clothes, some of which felt fragile, but with most so ridiculously high quality that sitting in a cursed dimension for probably the better part of two hundred years hadn't fucked them up. I stole some of them, even though they wouldn't fit me very well. Katrin was most interested in the shelf full of books, and that led to her asking me to drag everything into my memory palace.

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I wasn't sure that I could copy the whole room permanently - or rather, I could but I didn't think it was a good idea. The areas in my memory palace that I'd locked in took up actual space, and while it seemed like I could probably get by with a very small space for most lucid dreaming purposes thanks to things re-arranging around me as I moved, I still didn't want to clutter shit up too much. Also, so far I'd only added places that had been, in some way, mine; I wasn't certain if adding someone else's room would be harder somehow. Still, it was easy enough to drag the books and other interesting items into one of the other permanent rooms.

I also realized this was the best way to bust into the desk - I just cracked the divination version open, and sorted through everything. Most of it was inscrutable, little trinkets that might have had sentimental value or might have been for some practical purpose I didn't understand. One drawer had stacks of papers with not a single line that looked remotely interesting, just lists and calculations and shit. If it had been blueprints or something that would have been great, but instead it looked more like bookkeeping. The only thing we found in the desk that I wanted in real life was a portrait.

It was of a young boy, facial features implying he was from Earth, wearing regal clothing and standing proudly next to one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. Crowns or other fancy headdresses were a common sign of importance, but the styles varied so much that it was impossible for me to say if what she was wearing meant anything; it was a blue and green metallic tangle of wires that wrapped around and sat low on her forehead, almost like a sweat band or something. Regardless, I was pretty sure she was the queen which would presumably make the kid Jake Ross.

He looked... pretty normal. Dark hair, green eyes, kinda bushy eyebrows for a kid. There was a small splotch of a birthmark near his left eye, just big enough to be interesting without being overly distracting. He was just... some kid. Still, I wanted the actual physical portrait. I examined the desk again but still couldn't figure out a graceful way in; the back and sides were all solid wood, and there were also solid dividers between the levels which meant I couldn't reach up from inside the single open drawer. Part of me was yelling that this was a historical artifact, but the rest of me didn't care enough - so after only a moment's hesitation I just forced the drawer open with my knife.

Red light filled the room, and I felt the air solidify around me. Shit.

I strained against it and managed to move, but it was like pulling against a bungee cord. The more I moved the harder it got, and it felt like it was trying to force me back to where I started. I could grab the portrait, at great difficulty, but that was about it. There was no way I'd make it to the door. "Any ideas?" I yelled, glad that I could do that much.

"One," Katrin said, "but it's not a good one."

"All your ideas are good ones," I said, "except when we disagree. Just fucking do it, either this thing is going to trap us forever or there's a phase two - I don't like either of those options."

The lights flickered and began to get brighter, drowning out the red. From the bathroom I heard water start to gush out of the faucets, and one of the paintings on the wall began cycling through different scenes - I hadn't even known that was magical. Huh. A warm feeling began to grow inside me, like someone had just opened an oven nearby, and I started to see little glimmers in the air and on the surfaces around me. Oh. She'd cracked the mana battery open.

The red light vanished and I could move, but I only made it two steps before it returned. For the next five minutes we played red light green light until all of us had made it to the hallway, with me getting out last because I veered off to get one of our bags that we'd dropped once we thought the room was safe. If I hadn't known better I would have sworn I had a fever, complete with this woozy lightheaded feeling. Katrin was doing something to Errod and I watched him stand up straighter as she worked. If this was some sort of mana toxicity or whatever, Errod would be hardest hit with no way to expend it. I manifested my ghost and pumped mana in until it was nearly corporeal, and felt the heat subsiding; I cut it off as soon as I didn't feel actively fucked up, since there was no point in wasting mana.

"Runes are prone to being overloaded," Katrin explained, "typically because they were left for too long with a battery that was leaking out excess mana. Crystals form and power runes that were only supposed to activate when triggered, or they disrupt the chain of a formula entirely, or they connect two chains that belong to different formulas. This battery... it's dangerously powerful. I wonder if it was left charging the whole time Brinkmar was abandoned? Or... not charging, that would be a capacitor. This type of battery should have crystalized mana at its core, but either way there had to have been some method to make it and that could have gone wrong or been left... developing."

I shrugged. "It seems like a good thing though, right? More power is better, as long as it's with us."

"Maybe. But if the battery is made with certain tolerances in mind, and those have been exceeded? If this battery fails it won't be as immediately bad as what happened with Telen since the mana is pure. There's no intent, no alignment, so it will want to just spread out and be inert environmental mana. Likewise, Imperial magic is supposed to be so perfectly defined that casting spells shouldn't cause any chaotic effects even with this much mana around. But it's bad for your health, and it attracts monsters, and if there are any natural or wild magic sources they could do virtually anything."

It didn't sound that concerning to me. There were no wild monsters in Brinkmar, and probably nobody throwing wild magic around. Probably. Anyway, there was no way we were just going to throw it away. Maybe once all this shit was over we could partially drain it or something, get it to a more manageable level. I closed the door, and while the others stood guard I searched for important food or supplies. The corpse corps had very little of anything I wanted, but most had a few bricks of rations and one had a little metal box full of black cubes that - if the label was to be believed - would dissolve in water to make kinat and red meat soup. I got excited when I saw a bag labeled as healing supplies, but that turned out to be a disappointment.

"Not a lot of food, and only one healing kit - and it's the shitty kind where you have to smear on multiple types of goop and it leaves scars. No potions, no orders, nothing exciting. I did learn something about our mystery man though... he might be better than you with a sword, Errod. I didn't see a single soldier with more than one injury; everyone here was killed with a precision stab through their neck and into their spine. Or I guess from the back, but I don't think so just based on how the injury looks on each side. Could you take out this many guys that perfectly?"

Errod shook his head, and then tilted it slightly as he often did when the glove ghosts were talking to him. "No. Although my instructors are optimistic about my progress."

"Well then let's try not to run into this guy until you've had some more time to polish up."

The words had barely left my mouth when I heard footsteps coming from around the curved hallway. I went to duck back into Jake Ross' room, but the door wouldn't budge - probably a side effect of either the alarm or the flood of mana. We pivoted around, Katrin nearly tripping on a body, and were just starting to head away from the footsteps when we heard more coming from the other way. There was a faint voice, too - something about 'must have headed this way'?

We formed up, ready to fight, and people arrived on both sides of us simultaneously. There were three Knights of the Storm, some guys in robes, and some Empire grunts that looked like they'd gone through hell. There was a brief pause as everyone took in us and the pile of corpses - it seemed likely all these people had been trying to herd and capture the Halenvar folks and not us, so they were... re-callibrating. After a moment, they all came to various conclusions and started talking at once.

The Empire soldiers had recognized us despite me still mostly having Helma's face, and were demanding that we go with them. The Knights of the Storm had noticed Errod's sword, and were demanding we surrender and kneel in preparation of execution. The guys in robes were trying to calm the others down, which wasn't working because the Empire troops were making it very clear that they were calling Lord Protector Hammersmith and she was going to be pissed if anyone killed us while the Knights of the Storm were of the position that Lord Protector Hammersmith could go fuck herself if she thought she could stand between the Knights of the Storm and Justice™.

Within the factions there was disagreement, too. One of the Empire guys was arguing that the Knights of the Storm could have Katrin and Errod, no problem, so long as they could take me to Hammersmith. One of the Knights of the Storm was insistent that nobody could kill us until we told them where Yesrin's Loom was. And one of the robed guys was just quietly listening to the argument and looking more and more annoyed.

"Okay how about this plan," I said, and everyone turned to look at me. "It seems like the main ones that want me and my friends dead are the Knights of the Storm, and frankly I still want to know why. So if one of you could explain that, maybe nobody needs to get murdered?"

One of the knights stepped forward. He had the same type of armor as that Elrebar guy we'd fought, but with a funny-shaped helmet that made him look like a bishop on a chess board. I could see bits of mustache sticking out. "You have stolen Yesrin's Loom! Destroyed half of Storm's Keep! Caused the death of countless knights!"

Ah, so they'd gotten an update. "Yeah, yeah, I get why that would piss you off. But that only happened because you were going to execute my friends for killing a knight, and that knight fucked with us first. Him and... and one of you shitweasels in the robes, actually... teleported in and tried to kill us. We dealt with it, yeah, but it was self defense. I still want to know what the original reason was that you wanted to kill us."

It seemed pretty clear it was about the spellbook, which I now knew for sure they wanted, but I was unclear on the weird shit about Errod.

"It matters not!" The knight yelled, "the murdered was from my own sub order, and I know all of them to be honorable and dedicated to the cause. If he tried to end your life, he had good reason."

"Uh, point of order?" one of the robed guys said, "The Brotherhood of the Ebon Maw has not worked with the Knights of the Storm in recent history, so you must be mistaken about that fact."

"Fine, okay, someone in very similar robes then. I didn't get a great look anyway, they were covered in shit. My point is, these cockspiders started it and so I'm not interested in their idea of honor and justice. If this turns into a fight, which I think is likely, I'd suggest everyone else backs off. Once we've defended ourselves from the Knights of the Light Drizzle over here the rest of us can talk this over like adults. But if you get in the way, you might end up with a face full of sword. Understood?"

I was pretty sure that some of them would have been fine with that arrangement - including the Knights of the Storm, probably - but it didn't seem like it was going to happen. Peer pressure, probably, that fear that if you sat it out and your buddy didn't it would just make everything worse. For a split second, Katrin and Errod dropped into my memory palace as I sped up time. "Can you hit them with Katrin's Atmospheric Hammer?"

"No. There's too -"

"No time for why. Force shield the Empire guys, keep them out of it. Errod, some might be ghost-proof so I'll focus on the robed dudes while I look for openings."

Katrin looked nervous, and as I dropped them back to their bodies I heard her whispering to herself. "We're not in Trallanar. We're not in Trallanar."

We went to launch ourselves at them all as one, and the robed guy who had just been quiet this whole time while looking annoyed finally spoke up. "Stop this shit, right now!"

Everyone staggered to a stop, though the effect had clearly been aimed at the three of us. I'd felt it before when Roran saved me from that guard - it was the Command gift, or some spell that was approximating it. I was fine, and I was pretty sure Errod could still attack as well, but if he wasn't charging I wasn't charging. The robed figure stepped forward, speaking with the force of magic again. "You will take no hostile actions against us. You will surrender and drop your weapons."

"I recognize your voice. You were with the guy that tried to kill us."

He arched an eyebrow. "You must be mistaken. Now, SURRENDER."

Katrin dropped to her knees, and all eyes went to Errod and I. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. And if you think you've even taken my sister out of the equation, I have one word for you," I said while pointing at him threateningly.

"Deadshell."

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