Episode 197 - Steel Your Mind

## Synopsis

Professor Doss had woken in her office with a sharp pain in her head. Disoriented and trying to remember what happened the night before, she stumbled to her bookshelf, and started searching for a spell. Upon casting it, she breathed a sigh of relief as the voices in her head became quieter. She began to sift through all the new memories and thoughts in her mind, then stood up and headed towards the Infirmary.

Mira felt the tight grip of Doss' hand on her arm, as the professor told her that they needed to talk, inviting Serinepth to join them as well. She tried to get away, saying she had a lot to do, but quickly gave in and followed Professor Doss. They were led to the Evocation Department, into the main floor where they could see the yellowed Evocation Field. Doss leaned against one of the walls, taking deep breaths as though feeling nauseous, then speaking.

*"My mind is racing, of tens of horrible visions girls. And Mira Marchand, I can't help but notice that, I feel as though some of your memories are caught up in my mind. There's a few gaps from last night that I've not been able to fill in, I woke up this morning in a start in my office, not where I remember leaving off last night, but I don't remember the rest."*

Mira asked, *"Wait, so you're having my memories?"*

*"Hm, I hear— It's like thousands of thoughts are racing across my brain, and in trying to put some sense to them, yes, I seem to have some memories or thoughts of yours that are intermingled— intertwined with my own. Specifically, Mira Marchand, of you being in attendance of a certain secret society last night."*

*"Yes I was."*

Doss sighed. *"That is troubling."*

*"I had a reason to be there."*

Doss looked up and glared at Mira from the corner of her eye. *"And what purpose was that?"*

*"Well I could tell you. Historically, and I'm sure if you're seeing any of my memories, you'll know that there's a lot of threats to this school, and historically when we've tried to tell faculty members, they're not very active in responding to those. So I'm happy to tell you that there was a larger threat to this school, in fact I wasn't trying to come to this meeting, I was in pursuit of a certain Bailey Blue who— well I had reason to believe he was going to be around there, and I mean if something happened to your brains you can probably figure that he did that. So I wasn't trying to come to this meeting for the sake of just destroying its secrecy, I was in pursuit of someone who had intentions of doing the exact same thing. But I just don't think anything's really going to happen by me telling you this, so I hope you can have confidence in me and my friends to deal with it, as I'm sure you now already know we have, many times."*

*"I can see that parts of what you're saying are true, of course. But I still find your excuse lacking."*

*"Ok, you can find it lacking. We were recommended for expulsion in front of the council last semester, I'm sure you know I've met with Crowe this semester, and if you're not happy with it you can try that again, you can talk with him. But I don't think it'll go very well because we have precedence that it doesn't. But I'm sorry you find it lacking, I'm happy to help with all of this, that's what I can promise you."*

*"Ah yes, I would hope as much. Miss Sinderman, are you having these... I don't find your thoughts stuck in my mind as well. Is there a particular reason for that?"*

Serinepth said, *"From what I understand, whatever came about from last night, where everyone was eating, drinking, for some reason it didn't have this strange effect on myself. But I can tell right now that you're dealing with the same thing that I'm sure our friends are dealing with right now."*

Doss turned back to Mira. *"Miss Marchand, as you've said there seems to be a great threat at the moment. I don't know how truly sinister this is, again parts of my memory are absent right now, I can't seem to recover them. We might hold off on this conversation in full, until after such a threat has been dealt with. I have no intention of bringing this to Headmaster Crowe, I don't trust him to solve a damn thing in this school, nor do I intend to involve him in the Hendrick's Society for Excellents at large, he has no need to know about such things, as you have no need knowing of such things. But we can leave that until after this has been dealt with."*

Mira nodded in agreement, and Doss continued. *"Do you have any idea why I can't remember last night? I assume you must have some further information, you seem to be operating on a lot of assumptions right now so I assume you have an inkling of an idea at the very least."*

*"Well, like Serinepth was kind of talking about, we think anyone who ate or drank the food there was poisoned somehow, and that that has— Well we don't fully know, but it seems to have infected people into some kind of thought Network-y thing, I heard a voice too, so that's our best guess. We don't fully know the extent of what it means yet. We're looking for Winsler, who was of course there, as you know."*

Serinepth said, *"As for why you can't remember, I think it's because your memories are now in a— like she said a Network. It's sort of everything's been put together if that makes sense, memories, I'm not sure."*

*"It doesn't feel like that, not to me, not at this moment. I don't know if either one of your interactions with memory manipluation magics, or that family at large, but I've had my fair share and this feels... Feels more deliberate, like things have been purposefully taken out, struck from the record of my mind."*

*"Well, we can't guarantee anything because we don't know what's going on yet,"* said Mira, *"but I can promise you that we can at least try to get all of this stuff back. We are reasonably sure that Bailey Blue and his friend Jakov, to a lesser extent, are responsible for this. I understand that you can't do anything to act on that without proof and you don't need to, we've got this."*

*"What makes you think I can't act on that?"*

*"Because nobody acts on anything in this school! You know the dissapearances last semester? There was an Oblex, which by the way Bailey was also responsible for, and you don't have to because we'll do it. We know how it is at this point and we don't want to put any of you guys into further danger, and I also know that you don't have any reason to believe me when I tell you this anyway. I get it, like I really do. At this point I'm like, this is our responsibility, and I— I get it."*

Mira felt a push against her mind, as it seemed Professor Doss was trying to read her thoughts. *"Professor Doss, if you have any spells that require truth or honesty, you're more than welcome to use them, but please ask me first. I've used that spell too, I know what it feels like."*

*"Hm, my apologies, Mira. This just seems all too troubling, like there's a piece of this that I'm direly missing. I feel as though I'm in a dangerous place, and I cannot see as to why that might be."*

*"I'm sure your thoughts have been, pardon me Professor Doss, fucked with and I hope we can get that fixed. We're all very troubled."*

Professor Doss stood up from the wall. *"Yes I'm sure. After this is dealt with, you and I, as well as Bailey Blue, who if I'm to believe was in attendance, is that what you're implying?"*

*"I'm sure he had to have been in some capacity to poison the— Yes, I believe so."*

*"You and I, and Bailey Blue, and your friend Integrity Idleberry—who's thoughts I see as well—will all four of us have a quick conversation, come to an agreement on how to proceed with these sorts of things. I'm sure we can find something agreeable for everyone."*

*"I'm sure we can."*

*"In the meantime, is there anything you need of me?"*

Serinepth asked, *"When you were coming over to see us, did you happen to see Bailey, did you hear anything when you were coming over to the Infirmary?"*

*"There's posters around for some sort of student debate that have your name on, as well as his and another student, Miss Sunfire. Beyond that no, I didn't see the boy."*

*"I don't think he'll miss the debate, I think there's a reasonable confidence that wherever he goes after that we can follow him there. But if you do see him before, if you could let us know. We're really hoping to find our friends and get this dealt with."*

*"Of course. Miss Marchand, I at the very least had some success with trying to pry into my mind to see what is going on. It allowed me to see your perspective on things as well as some others. If I could make a single recommendation it would be to do the same. You seem to be of some reasonable level of skill, right?"*

*"Yes I am."*

*"Then you should find it fairly easy."*

*"I'll do what I can. I appreciate that Professor Doss."*

*"Very well, I won't mention this to anyone else unless this gets further out of hand, or unless you want me to."*

*"Thank you, and you too can expect that I won't say anything about the Hendrick's Society either."*

A grim expression flashed across Professor Doss' face for a moment. *"Excuse me, I'll leave the two of you. I have classes to teach and I'm feeling all together ill. Until we speak again girls."* With that, she slowly walked away, taking pained and ragged breaths.

When she was gone, Mira admitted to Serinepth that she thought she made a mistake by standing up to Doss, and that after the meeting she believed she would definitely try to modify their memories. She also said that despite everything, she was convined that Bailey wouldn't miss the debate, so they could find him then, but for now they needed to focus on finding their friends. Serinepth suggested that she try what Doss had talked about, looking for them in the Network. Mira agreed it was worth a try and concentrated on trying to delve into the Network, she heard hundreds of incoherent whispers, and a voice said, *"Keep your eyes forward,"* but she could not find Winsler or Integrity. They decided to use Serinepth's scrying eye instead, and set off for Integrity's dorm to find something to make the spell more effective.

Meanwhile, Winsler, Integrity, and Kalwen were walking further down the corridor. The metallic purple walls were smooth and cold to the touch, with no apparent doors besides the one to the room the had woken up in. To their right, a thick glass wall separated them from the large tank of murky yellow fluid, form which the tentacle had appeared. They cautiously hurried further into the hall, pausing every now and then when the walls around them seemed to shake and rumble. Eventually, they reached the end of the hallway, where they saw another iris door with what looked like a control panel to the side. The panel was filled with the same yellow fluid as the tank. Integrity pressed her nose against the screen, it was freezing cold and smelled of salt water. A few seconds passed with nothing happening, then suddenly the fluid turned red and Integrity felt a shock as electricity arced into her face. She recoiled, and Winsler hesitantly put his hand on the panel to see what would happen. A few seconds passed again, then the screen lit up green and three sybmols appeared on it. The top was a toy doll, the middle was two triangles leaning on each other (the sybmol of Estar), and the bottom was a wooden block house. Winsler tried dragging the symbols across the screen, they followed his finger but would return to their original position as soon as he let go. He pressed on the symbol of Estar, and the other two symbols disappeared. From behind the door, they all heard the grinding of stone and screeching of metal. After it stopped, the door spiralled open.

Beyond the doorway, they saw an immense room. The floor was the same purple metallic stone, but the walls and ceiling were covered in gold, silver, and encrusted with gems. The far wall of the room was also a clear crystal, behind which was a murky green liquid. Suspended behind the glass, was a brain. They all walked into the room, the door closed behind them, and the whispers in the back of Winsler's mind cut out immediately. Instead, all around them they could hear a soft humming. Looking around, six pillars jutted out from the walls, each emblazoned with a symbol of a different god. When they reached the halfway point of a room, a disembodied voice demanded to know who they were and what they were doing. The students tried to see where the voice was coming from, asking what it was and why it was there.

The voice replied, *"I've been imprisoned here for so long. What are— who sent you? Did she send you?"*

Integrity asked the voice where it was.

*"I'm right here."*

The green water glowed brighly, illuminating the brain floating inside it.

*"I am here, imprisoned here for so, so long."*

Winsler looked at the brain. *"Who are you?"*

*"My name is Merrick Beardless."*

Integrity recognised the name from the painting they had seen in the basement of the Old Chapel.*"Weren't you one of the founders of the school? We're in Wildcliff by the way, if you didn't know. Wait can you see us, or can you just hear us?"*

*"Yes, I can see you, I can see you well. The first change to this room in... I don't know how long, it must be a hundred years, two hundred years maybe."*

Winsler asked, *"You've been trapped here that long?"*

*"I've been trapped here for much longer than that."*

*"Oh dear. Um, do you know if you're the only one who's here? Or do you know if there are others in rooms like these?"*

Merrick's voice sounded pained. *"The last thing that happened to me was years— must have been four hundred years ago. I had a terrible fever, and when I was slipping away... I was slipping away, and I was so excited to see the marble halls of Estar after. Then I awoke here, in this place. She visited me once or twice, but no one else has come in here for a very long time. I don't know if anyone else is kept here, but she keeps me here as a trophy or something."*

*"Sounds like what happened to you is sort of what happened to us. Except for the uh, brain out of body experience thing. Um, are you referring to The Lady of the Deep"*

*"I am referring to Henrietta. I don't know what she calls herself now, I just know that she came here two or three times—hundreds of years ago, she can't be alive anymore—to gloat."*

*"She was your colleague I am to be understood, is that correct?"*

*"I came to this place when she offered me to stay and do research alongside her, yes. Myself and the other one, Davis Willburn. We researched— We were partners, not just colleagues, we worked alongside each other, on each others projects. I myself, very interested in divine theory, in the gods themselves, their reach into our own planes, and their magic which extends... Davis, he was— he reasearched celestials as well, alongside me, the two of us were close collaborators. But Henrietta, she kept her distance from us despite that, she reasearched the arcane. She was the first here, and invited us him and I to join her."*

Integrity said, *"So forgive me for asking, but why would you be worthy of gloating?"*

*"I thought that we were equals, the three of us. We founded a school together, a small wizards' college. We invited some eighteen students, split evenly between the three of us. Less to teach them and more to aid us, but I did my best, I did what I could. When I came to this place though, she seemed to view me as less than her, a means to an end, some way to unearth secrets buried in the mountain. She viewed me as some poor fool who was fooled by her into coming and doing her work for her, some person who wasn't worthy of any respect or admiration, someone to lock in here to rot for all time, while she saw her ideas through to the end. I think she viewed us more as her competition than her colleagues. In my death, she views herself as greater than me."*

Winsler hesitantly asked, *"Integrity, are you thinking the same thing as I am? Do you think this Henrietta, Lady of the Deep character is the one who encountered the giant on the moon?"*

*"Are you talking about the woman that they said went up to the moon?"*

*"Yeah, who like went through the doors, do you think that could be the same person?"*

*"I mean, if Henrietta is the Lady of the Deep, and the Lady of the Deep knows things about the world that we don't, I wouldn't be surprised. But I don't know..."*

Winsler looked back to the brain of Merrick. *"Is there any particular reason why I don't hear any whispers in the back of my head in this particular room? Do you hear whispers in that water over there?"*

*"No, I hear nothing. I've been kept isolated from anything and everything for as long as I can remember. My death has far outlasted my life, the walls are impermeable, no one comes to this room anymore."*

Winsler thought for a moment, then walked over to the gold and silver walls. Using *Fabricate*, he drew the top layer of the material it was made of, forming it into a small helmet and putting it on. He went back over to the door, tapping on the console again and selecting the only option available, a glass flask. The rumbling and grating of stone and steel filled the room again, until the door opened to the hallway once again. Kalwen and Integrity walked up to the glass wall, entraned by the brain. When Winsler left the room, the door closed once again, but the whispers did not return to his mind. After a minute, he took the helmet off, and immediately they flooded back into him.

An angry voice pierced through it all. *"Where were you hiding?"* Another tentacle slammed against the glass next to him.

Winsler quickly put the helmet back on and frantically pressed on the interface until the door once again opened to Merrick's golden prison.

While he had been out, Integrity had some questions for Merrick.

*"So you say that you and this Davis Wilburn, and Henrietta were doing a bunch of research about the school, assuming that she knew there was some very strong magic coming from the mountain, is that correct?"*

*"That was the original premise of the research. She invited Davis and I because we were fairly esteemed scholars and she had just been granted the land by her clan. She wrote to me and said there was an unending pool of magic energy, boiling at the base of this mountain. I didn't know why, but I was intrigued to carry out many experiments on the divine, the nature of the divine, what is the nature of the gods in this world, where do they dwell, where does their magic come from. Questions that had never been answered before, those sorts of things. I never pried too much into Henrietta's research, she was quite a bit more secretive and kept to herself. But she always seemed, in my life, supportive of my work."*

*"I mean, I guess sometimes the most secretive people probably hide the most evil of things. Because if what you're saying is true, then right now, Henrietta has something to do with making this whole Network and connecting people's brains, and she knows stuff about me that I don't want her to know."*

*"A fate most unfortunate. You should... I don't know the state of the world out there, I don't know if there's an unending storm that's scoured the earth as told in so many tales, I don't know if there's a horrible— I don't know if the world outside is beautiful and great, or if it has fallen to ruin while I've been trapped in this place. But I implore you girl, please escape from this place while you can."*

"*Like from this place like where we are, or this entire plane in general?"*

*"Leave behind this mountain, leave behind this school, it is rotten to its very core. Please, I have few things left to teach in this world and the betrayal I felt to be locked in this place was not one I would wish upon anyone else. You must leave this place, it is built upon a ruinous idea, to explore the arcane, something I do not— I believe it must have corrupted her mind, either in life or now, I do not know what has become of her since then. But if what you say is true, there is a foulness to her."*

*"So you don't know where she is?"*

*"I know nothing, I am locked in this room. A trophy left behind, a nemesis conquered."*

*"I can definitely leave this mountain, but I have to find her. She has something that is, I think if it's in her hands for too long will—"*

At that moment, Winsler rushed back through the door and blurted out *"Or she might find us! Ok, that was a little scary. Good news, this silly little hat that I made from the panelling on the wall, it prevents her from finding us. We're invisible to her as long as we wear something like this because it blocks out the... The brainwaves."* He ran back to the wall and began making a hat for both Integrity and Kalwen.

Integrity joked that maybe they could kill Kalwen now that he knew too much. The halfling gulped and swore he wouldn't tell anyone what they had found. The humming sound started to fill the room again, and the students realised it was Merrick, trying to keep himself sane. Winsler offered to make him a fishbowl, so they could rescue him from this place he had been trapped for so long.

Merrick stopped humming and said, *"You can help me, yes. You can break this glass, and put an end to my suffering."*

Winsler was taken aback. *"That's a heavy order. What do you mean?"*

*"Please, please. I have nothing left for this world, I am a trophy kept behind by some crazed scholar. You are the first people to have seen me in two hundred— three hundred years. Please, if not now, then such a mercy will never come."*

*"It's definitely not an easy thing for you to ask. I mean we only just met, but what you're asking is extremely hard. But if it's the one thing that will truly help you..."*

*"Yes. Young man, I died hundreds of years ago."*

Winsler slowly came over to the glass, Integrity was rubbing the glass, trying to console Merrick, saying that his achievments would not be forgotten. Winsler conjured a glowing, golden hammer and stared at it for a few seconds. He looked back to Merrick and raised it above his head.

*"I'm sorry."*

The hammer smashed against the glass, the water poured out onto the floor, slowly dimming in colour. Eventually, the brain spilled onto the ground. It rolled over, twitched, and Merrick's voice did not return.

The three students silently left the room, returning to the hallway. Winsler reminded them never to take the helmets off, then selected the house symbol on the interface. After the rumbling behind the door stopped, it slid open to reveal another hallway with stairs leading up at the end. This time, the glass wall containing the yellow liquid was to their left. As they crept in, they heard the splashing of water and a loud, booming voice echoing around them.

*"Boy, you have done amazing work this time."*

They climbed the stairs, seeing above them a much larger, open chamber. The ceiling came to a point from which a thin beam of sunlight trickled in, outshone by the large tank of glowing saffron water to their left.

The voice boomed again. *"I did not expect such a great turnout from this plan. I expected only the foolish few who still attend that society to be caught in the net. I didn't expect such wonderful artefacts to be gifted to me. What an exceptional job you've done, Bailey."*

As they reached the top of the stairs, they could see the rest of the chamber. a horseshoe shaped walkway clung to the edge of the room, at the apex of which was another grand staircase that led further up. Below them and the walkway, was an open tank of this glowing yellow liquid. A raised circular platform floated above the pool. Standing on this platform were a cranium rat scholar, Bailey Blue, and Jakov. Bailey looked exhaused, his eyes were staring at the ground, his hair a mess. All across his body were what looked like terrible burn or sting marks. The surface of the pool rippled as Our Lady of the Deep spoke again.

*"To you, Bailey, I will finally award some small speck of my own power. Some aspect of my greatness, to help you finally with your original plea."*

Bailey chuckled slightly, but said nothing. Winsler tapped Integrity's shoulder and gestured for them to leave. She just stared at Bailey, realising what was happening, how it had happened to her.

She whispered, *"I can't let him go down this road."*

Winsler whispered back, *"But think about this, we have to get out of here. If you go down there, what's stopping them from attacking you?"*

Our Lady of the Deep said, *"To you, Bailey Blue, my most devoted servant..."*

Integrity tried to figure out how to stop this. *"You guys can go, I'll stay."*

*"What do you mean, we can't leave you down here!"*

Several large tentacles emerged from the pool, grasping and wrapping around the crystal walls. The surface of the water rippled, and a massive brain, covered in thousands of tentacles emerged from the depths. The voice was much stronger now, and it said, *"To Bailey Blue, my most devoted subject, I award to thee power to win your small election, and to do away with whoever would oppose you."*

A single tentacle lashed out and grabbed Bailey by the throat, pulling him into the water. Jakov stood up as his friend began to thrash and struggle beneath the surface. He ran to the edge and asked, *"What are you do—"*

Another tentacle grabbed onto his throat as Our Lady of the Deep continued. *"And to your most loyal subject Bailey Blue, Mr Jakov, I award to you a great boon."* The tentacle pulled Jakov into the water as well.

Integrity started pushing Winsler towards the way out. *"I think we'll find a way later."*

The three students ran to the stairs, the cranium rat scholar pointed to them and yelled, *"Escapees!"*

*"All that matters are these two in this moment. Pay attention scholar."*

They reached the staircase, Winsler and Kalwen rushing up without a second thought. Integrity hesitated, and turned back towards the pool. A tentacle brought Bailey's body, unmoving, back out of the water and threw him onto the platform. He coughed endlessly, trying to empty his lungs of the liquid he had drowned in. Jakov did not resurface.

Bailey's voice was hoarse as he asked, *"Why did you do that?"*

*"A final gift to compliment your powers."* A tentacle lifted from the water, holding a jade coloured dagger towards him. *"Taken from the body of your victims."*

Bailey sighed, and reached out to grasp the dagger. Integrity ran up the stairs, leaving Bailey with his patron.