Olivander allowed the rest of his magical obfuscation to fall, so the remaining few people in the great hall took notice of his presence. He didn’t particularly want to talk to anyone, but having people know that he was out of the trial and moving about the manor would prevent anything from getting too far out of hand. People tended not to make rational decisions when they were trapped somewhere with a potential murderer.
“I think I have the trail,” Cooper told him.
“Lead the way my furry friend!”
Cooper began sniffing carefully, then meandered his way out of the great hall. Olivander and Leviana followed close behind.
Since Leviana wasn’t stopping them, everyone else trailed them, interested to see what the former Arch-magus was doing.
Cooper led them on a fairly straight path, and Olivander assumed they would end up in the room where the attempted murder happened.
Sure enough, a few minutes later they arrived at a door upstairs that had been cordoned off with some constable “caution” tape.
“Who put this here?” Olivander asked, raising an eyebrow.
“The constable general keeps some on hand,” Leviana said.
“How odd. I guess when you’re the constable general, that’s the kind of thing you keep on hand.”
“What kind of a thing does a magus keep on hand?” Cooper asked.
“Besides the obvious, probably a pipe. We need to look thoughtful and brooding on a regular basis. Some say it’s the source of our power.”
“I thought the Realm of Madness was the source of your power?”
“I never said they were right.”
“Were you planning on going inside? Or just having a conversation with the dog?” Belethor asked.
“Honestly I wasn’t planning on anything. I’m just playing this one by ear.”
“Why did we follow you then?”
“It’s hardly my fault you’re so easily persuaded by peer pressure, Belethor. Now, Cooper, why don’t we go inside before anyone else starts asking stupid questions.”
“I thought there was no such thing as a stupid question,” Jeremy said. He was towing Wentzle along behind the group, not wanting to leave him alone in the great hall.
“Spoken like a true idiot. Thank you, Jeremy.”
Cooper, having no way to open the door easily, let Olivander turn the handle and push open the door. The carpet in the room was stained a reddish brown from the blood, but otherwise there was no evidence of anything having happened in there. Olivander pulled down the tape and they entered.
Cooper sniffed around for a few moments.
“There was a lot of activity here. I can smell two sources of decay now. One entered the room through that,” Cooper pointed to an air exchange high on the wall. In the homes of wealthy individuals, they often had magical air exchange that could heat or cool a home on demand.
“The other source originates here . It’s the same smell that is now coming off of Wentzle.”
“Do you think you can squeeze into that vent, Cooper?”
“...Do I have to?”
“I guess I could craft a spell to shrink us all to about six inches tall.”
“You can do that?”
“I can certainly try. Though the last time I did something like that I didn’t get the smell out of my laboratory for weeks.”
“What…what was the smell from?” Allison, who had been quietly trailing the group, asked.
“It turns out you can craft a spell that will only shrink the outside of a creature. You really need to shrink the insides too. Don’t worry, I only used the spell on cadavers.”
“That’s one of the worst things I’ve ever heard,” Gloria said. Both she and Allison looked ill.
“That doesn’t even crack the top ten, honestly. Once, I accidentally turned myself inside out! Fortunately it triggered a special resurrection item I had on hand. That was easily in the top three worst ways I’ve died.”
“Top three?” Allison asked.
“My, you are a curious bunch aren’t you?”
“Ladies,” Leviana said, “it’s best if you don’t ask Olivander anything. I’m not sure what percentage of the words that come out of his mouth are the truth, but he never fails to get under one’s skin.”
“Oh, don’t get me started on things getting under my skin,” Olivander said, shivering as he remembered the time he crafted hair growth cream incorrectly.
“That’s quite enough, Olivander,” Leviana said.
He smiled at the assembled group who looked at him with emotions ranging from exasperation, to incredulity, to disgust.
“Fine, fine. Alright Cooper, it’s your time to shine! In you go!”
Cooper tried to leave the room, but was caught up by a very fast levitation spell, until he slowly drifted into the vent.
“You know, I’m starting to understand why Gregory is always trying to get back at you.”
“Maybe if you join him in trying he won’t fail quite so often. That would be novel.”
Olivander heard what sounded suspiciously close to grumbling as Cooper started making his way through the vents.
* * *
Gregory was excited as Constable General McKenzie explained his thoughts.
“Reginald, you and Belethor have one key thing in common. You’re both high level adventurers who often come to the defense and aid of the city. In fact, there was just an attack on a homestead just outside the city that you both participated in defending.”
Reginald stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Ah yes. That was just outside the Penbrooke estate. I was visiting a friend and was called to the scene. It was absolute chaos. Nothing too dangerous, but the creatures that had attacked were roaming monsters of some sort.”
“Indeed. They had a rather unique ability. They could copy the abilities of others. Before you arrived, a couple of them had copied Belethor’s disguise magic, and changed their appearances so that they looked like members of the guard, or even adventurers on the scene.”
“Right, right. Did we ever figure out what they were called?”
“I inquired with the guild to get an identification, but we never did, no. The key thing is that I think we might be dealing with one of the creatures today.”
“You think one somehow got into the manor?”
“The key is the bites. The creatures feed on human victims, draining them of blood. We found evidence of the behavior after clearing them out that day,” McKenzie said.
“So one used Reginald and Belethor’s abilities to strike at Wentzle?” Gregory asked.
“That’s the theory I’m running with at the moment. It’s the only thing that possibly makes sense. Wentzle would have been more a target of opportunity than a specifically chosen victim.”
They thought for another long moment, Reginald finishing his drink.
“Gregory, when you went to the room, was the door already open?”
“It was. Elizabeth and Wentzle were in there trying to get their next clue, and had left the door open.”
“Hmm. Gregory, would you mind grabbing Elizabeth? Maybe she can give us a few more details,” McKenzie said, steepling his hands and looking pensive.
“I’ll join you, I’m not really much of a detective, but I should warn everyone else about the possibility of a monster attacking.”
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Gregory nodded, and the two of them left McKenzie to think.
When they passed through the short hallway into the great hall, they found that there was no one in the room.
“Where did everyone go?”
* * *
Cooper would normally be thrilled to be crawling through a dark, narrow tunnel he didn't know how to get out of, but he suspected whatever it was he was trying to find wouldn't be something he wanted to run into alone.
For all that the man never seemed to take anything very seriously, Cooper trusted Olivander. He expected that if he ran into trouble, the magician would have something up his sleeve to save the day.
That trust and determination drove him forward.
"Have you found anything yet?" Olivander's voice echoed up the metal tunnel behind him.
"Nothing yet. Can you still hear me? I don't actually know what my range is. I've never checked before."
"Oh yes. You should be able to reach me from anywhere within the manor. Only me though, I'm enhancing our link. Your normal range is only something like thirty feet in any direction."
That was a solid range, better than most people could do with regular communication. The manor was huge though, so Cooper wouldn't bet on being able to reach out to Gregory from his current location.
He took a couple turns and continued tracking the scent. It went up a few shafts, and eventually the air exchange tunnels ended. He could see a ring of glowing runes that drew the air through the tunnels and out into what he assumed was the attic. Cooper suspected he was about to find whatever he was looking for, and mentally equipped his mask.
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Trickster’s Mask
* Armor: Helm (Canine)
* Rarity: Uncommon
* A mask that pays homage to the Trickster’s God
* Makes the wearer harder to detect when attempting to be stealthy.
* Provides low damage resistance in the covered areas.
----------------------------------------
As carefully and quietly as he could, Cooper snuck up to the edge of the shaft where the glowing runes were pulling air with enough force that he could hear it as a whistling wind.
He slowly stuck his head out and took a look around.
The attic was huge and mostly empty. It had a floor covering a little over half the space, with a few dusty boxes stacked up here and there. The other half of the attic had exposed straw for insulation, and wasn't used for anything. Cooper peered into the half of the attic that had boxes and other things, watching for movement.
He didn't see any movement, and he didn't spot anything out of the ordinary in the attic. The scent trail was leading him farther in, but he didn't want to be ambushed. Tentatively, he reached for his new skill. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he did have a reference scent.
Given that, he was able to activate the skill. Instead of just smelling the path forward, he could now see it with his eyes as a blue haze of mana stretching out before him. Unlike a smell, which he could only follow as he smelled it, he could see exactly where the blue mana haze was leading him.
Where it terminated, there was a large rodent-like creature with long thick cords of greasy hair. It didn't seem to have eyes, and to Cooper, it looked exactly like it smelled. A scavenger. A beast that feeds on the waste and decay of others. It would hunt if it needed to, but for the most part it was content to scavenge.
Cooper tried to see if he could identify the beast, but his message gave him nothing.
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You are too far away to accurately identify this creature. Trying to forcibly identify the creature will likely alert it to your presence.
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He did not want to do that.
"I found something, Olivander. It's a large rodent thing," he thought to Olivander. He went on to describe some of the characteristics in more detail.
Cooper felt a surge of mana, and then he received a silent message.
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Good work! Stay where you are and keep an eye on it. Don't try to fight it. I'll be up shortly. The dungeon boundary seems to be interfering with my portal abilities. - Olivander
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Cooper found it decidedly less comforting to know that Olivander was not just the quick portal away that he had assumed.
Motion caught his eye.
The creature was slowly moving towards him. It was sniffing the air.
"Olivander! It's coming towards me. Should I run away?"
Another quick mana exchange.
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Don't move! It will be able to tell if you move. Just stay still. If it attacks you, try to keep your distance.
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The creature drew ever closer, until its pointy nose was just inches from Cooper's own. It took one…two…three sniffs, slowly and deliberately.
He dared not breathe. He did dare trying another identification now that the creature was closer.
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Ghoul Mimic, Level ???
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His experience trying to identify various things as he grew more used to his newly developed abilities told him that the question marks meant the creature was more than ten levels higher than Cooper in at least one class. He didn't know if wild creatures had classes though.
It being more than ten levels higher wasn't a surprise. Wentzle wasn't an adventurer, but he was still higher level than Cooper. If the creature could do that to him, Cooper had no doubts it would do worse to him.
It just stood in front of Cooper for a long moment, breathing heavily on him. Its breath smelled foul, and there was a trace of something even worse in it. He felt like he needed to shake the worst of it out of his head, but he dared not move.
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You have been afflicted with disease, Mindrot.
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Cooper didn't know what that was, but it didn't sound like something he wanted.
After what felt like hours, a trap door in the distance opened. The creature turned quickly to see what had happened. Olivander leapt up through the now open door and cast a spell. Icy blue chains bound the Ghoul Mimic to the floor. It began to thrash, and Cooper, not wanting to accidentally get killed, moved away from the creature quickly, running towards where Olivander was landing on the attic floor.
As Cooper slid to a stop behind Olivander, darkness descended on his vision, and time seemed so slow...but only for a moment.
Some kind of magical dome had snapped up around them.
"Excellent work, Cooper!" Olivander said, straightening his robes after the leap and the fall. "I was hoping that I wouldn't have to put the creature down. We'll let it tire itself out for a minute, then we can secure it more thoroughly."
"What is it? How did you stop the spell?"
"It's a Ghoul Mimic. They're rather nasty creatures. I've wanted to study one for a while, but in the past I've always seen them at much higher levels. This one is only level eighty. As for the spell, I have an anti-magic ward that dampens hostile effects. With our level difference, the creature's stolen powers can't penetrate it."
"Oh, that's good. What level do you normally see them at?"
"I wouldn't say I 'normally see them' at any level. They're very rare, and like to create small domains in places like graveyards. I've only seen them inside very old domains that have existed for generations. Levels ranging from the upper two hundreds to upper three hundreds were not uncommon. Once a creature is too strong to contain, capture becomes rather impossible. Eighty is quite manageable, however."
"So this thing attacked Wentzle? Why?"
"I believe so. It was his condition that most clued me in on the creature's existence. 'Why' is one of the many questions I would like to answer by studying it."
"What about his condition made you think it was one of these…what was it?"
"Ghoul Mimic. They, as far as I can tell, are the only natural carriers of mindrot. It's why I studied them so extensively in the first place. When I examined Wentzle, I could smell the magical trace of mindrot. He's been infected. Gloria's spell was powerful, but directed at injuries, not diseases. We can't cure him until he's stabilized a bit — I don't want to put him into a coma."
"I think I caught that disease when it breathed on me."
"Just from breathing on you? Fascinating."
Olivander took on his "thinking face" as Cooper had learned to recognize it.
"Are you going to cure me?"
"Hmm? Oh, right. Yes, sorry about that."
Olivander's grimoire appeared and he drew out a ritual.
"This one is specific to mindrot. It only works when the disease is incubating — probably around two or three days, but it is one hundred percent effective during that period. Cure Mindrot Infection."
The ritual flashed and a cold sensation ran through Cooper's body, making him try to shake it off.
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You have been cured of disease, Mindrot.
You are resistant to Mindrot for 48 hours.
----------------------------------------
"I'm resistant now?"
"Part of the spell. I didn't want to keep casting it every time a claw managed to hit me."
Cooper nodded at the explanation, only a little surprised that the spell wasn't named after Olivander.
The darkness outside Olivander's ward faded, and as time resumed its normal flow around them, a voice interrupted their conversation from the hallway below the trap door.
"Olivander? Is everything alright up there? Should I send Belethor up?" Leviana called.
"Everything has been handled. Please don't send that grouch up here, it would really dampen the mood."
Olivander turned back to Cooper. "Now, where do you think I should stash this thing?"
* * *
"What do you mean everyone is gone?" Constable General McKenzie asked.
"No one is in the great hall, I don't know where they went, but they aren't there!" Gregory said.
Reginald had summoned a long thin blade and was preparing for the worst.
McKenzie glanced at him as he started warming up and asked, "Do you think there was another attack?"
"I don't know, but it pays to be prepared. If that beast can still draw on my timestop power, it will be a formidable foe."
McKenzie nodded. He was about the same level as Belethor and maybe two dozen above Reginald, but Reginald's powerset made his combat prowess far outstrip his level. He prepared as well, pulling a sword and shield from a dimensional bag. He didn't have the rest of his armor, but he was a tough old bastard.
"Gregory, stay between us. Reginald, you take point and I'll cover our rear and flanks. Let's look around until we find them."
They made their way slowly back out into the great hall, taking care to be quiet and keep an eye on shadowy nooks where unseen enemies might lay in wait. McKenzie directed his senses behind and around them, letting Reginald handle the front completely.
As they were about halfway through the great hall, they heard voices approaching from the main corridor.
"He wouldn't stop. He just kept eating and eating. I honestly thought I was closer to death from a ruptured stomach than I was from getting stabbed by hundreds of bloodthirsty soldiers."
Olivander walked into the room, talking to the dog, Cooper. The rest of the guests trailed behind them, including Wentzle still on his improvised stretcher.
"Olivander! You're back!" Gregory called, rushing over. McKenzie and Reginald shared a brief confused look, and followed the young man.
"As observant as ever, Gregory. What are you three up to? Was there a fight?"
"We think we know what happened to Wentzle! We think it was some monster that can mimic abilities! We think it's still in the house!" Gregory said. The young man was barely able to contain his excitement.
"Ah yes, we found it up in the attic. Already taken care of I'm afraid."
Just behind Wentzle's floating form, McKenzie could see a glowing box made from intersecting cubes of runes. Inside was a large rodent with thick greasy hair. It floated in the cubes, unmoving and seemingly asleep.
"You...you already caught it? But you just got here..." Gregory said.
"Cooper was actually the one who found it. We basically just followed him around. Maybe try to work a little faster next time, Gregory."
Gregory just slumped, but Cooper held his head high with pride.