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Letter
Home
Sinister Selves
We find ourselves at a cross roads of sorts. Should we continue
on with our mission to uncover the secrets of the Zhentarum caravans?
Or return with one Tren Noemfor to the ‘falls. Allow me to explain:
This tail begins in the town of Cloven Rock, just beyond the Gap
of Skulls. Darvin led us to this oasis led by none other than Tren
Noemfor of Dagger Falls fame. Tren immediately lived up to his
reputation by accusing Darvin of lying about our passing through
the ‘Gap. Had I not born witness to our success, I would not have
believed it possible. After accusing Darvin and company of being
spies for the Bedine, he had one of Darvin’s men tortured to death
to make a point. Darvin and Vestelle were visibly shaken. I know
not if it was compassion for their employee, or anger at Tren for
making such accusations. Whatever the motivation, Darvin secretly
instructed us to “eliminate” Tren. We had no doubts as to what
he ment.
The Wandsmen stayed 28 days in Cloven Rock planning how to accomplish
Darvin’s command. In actuality, Ceder and I spent most of the time
preparing magic items. Ceder created a vamperic dagger and copied
many scrolls into his spell book. I created bracers of strength
& endurance for Kerith and two scrolls of healing to use with
a headband of spell phylactery. I looked for mithral in which to
make some elven chain for myself, but was unsuccessful.
Ceder worked tirelessly through the days on his magic and at night,
well, I cannot be certain, but through some arcane art he was able
to divine the activities of Tren. After time, Ceder was confident
that he could predict when and where Tren could be found. As a
group, we proposed many means of liberating Tren’s soul, but we
ultimately relied upon Ceder’s. His was to use a new found skill;
mirror travel.
We set out from Cloven Rock with the caravan the next day. This
would provide an excellent alibi for any that would suspect our
involvement. The following night, we made camp and pitched our
tent. Ceder place a large mirror in the center of the tent and
Oskar bade his mount to guard it while we were away. I created
a pillow of silence and gave it to Ceder to hide our arrival in
Tren’s quarters. Ceder was not able to transport all of us at one
time so I then called upon Corellon to change our bodies into vapors.
Shane collected our mists into a bag of holding. Shane then stepped
into the bag of holding and Ceder attached it to his side.
When Shane bade us to recorporate we were surprised to find ourselves
not in Tren’s chambers, but rather in a brick lined passage with
mirrors on the walls. Ceder whispered to us our perilous situation:
we had entered the plain of mirrors and encountered our “evil” twins!
No sooner than he mentioned this, I could “feel” the presence of
my sinister self down the hallway. Ceder rapidly explained that
in order for us to leave the plain, we would have to dispatch our
twins, and that they would be trying to do the same! We immediately
cast spells upon ourselves and cautiously moved forward. Xan and
Ceder were invisible when I peeked around the corner. I saw a hand
tossing what I believed to be “dust of appearance” down the hall.
I then saw the evil Oskar and Shane come out from around a corner
down the hall and start moving in my direction. I heard Xan’s arrows
fly past my ear as I called upon Corellen to smite the evil coming
towards us. The evil Oskar was blinded, but his partner, Shane,
was not and came running towards us. As he came by, I reached for
his shoulder casting “slay living.” He sensed what I was about
to do and attacked me, disrupting my spell. The good Shane, Kerith
and I continued to struggle with him until Xan finished him off
with archer acumen. I then peered around the corner once more and
saw the evil Oskar trapped behind an invisible wall the Good Oskar
rushing towards him. I ran after him as fast as I could, but could
not keep up.
I had hoped to see my sinister self, but she was killed before
I was able to round the corner. Even in death, she did not reveal
herself. For where her body should lay, only broken shards of silvered
glass remained. Xan and Ceder reappeared and we were all relieved
to find that we had survived.
It is not easy to face one’s self.
Ceder quickly found the mirror that led to Tren’s chambers and
we were about to enter when he stopped us. He proposed to bring
Tren back to the plain of mirrors, hoping to draw in an opposite
“good” Tren that we could return to the Harpers. A good Tren could
supply invaluable information to the enemies of the Zhentarum.
We agreed and entered via the looking glass.
Once inside, we were able to see that Tren had been attacked by
one of his concubines. Her lifeless body lay near by. Before she
died, she had somehow cut his sinews rendering him helpless and
bleeding heavily. Oskar and I stabilized him so that he wouldn’t
die before we carried him through the mirror. Holding his head
in my hands, I leaned close to him and whispered, “you have neither
won nor lost, but for you the fight is over.”
On his nightstand were two vials. I recognized one as a potion
of healing, but not the other. Kerith, using his gift for tongues,
read the label: Protector. Ceder took it and we then repeated our
process to enter the plain of mirrors.
In the plain of mirror, we did not have to face ourselves again.
Instead, there was a phaerim attacking the good Tren. Xan quickly
killed it and we introduced ourselves to the good Tren. After explaining
the situation to him, he readily agreed to help correct the wrongs
the teratic Tren had wrought.
We soon found ourselves back in our tent in the middle of the desert.
Perus Wands made a timely appearance and apologized for something
that he would do in the future (I just don’t under stand chronomancy.)
He then offered to take Tren back to the past of Dagger Falls.
Ceder requested that or memories of the current timeline remain
intact so that we could appreciate the changes that were about to
unfold. Perus agreed and departed with Tren.
We have met our greatest challenge, ourselves, and overcame. The
Pride of Primula continues.
Primula Easterling
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