Arc 18: The Ousting of Bailey Blue

## Episodes

* Episode 187 - Second Year
* Episode 188 - Fraud Squad
* Episode 189 - Archivalpalooza
* Episode 190 - Much To Do About Rats
* Episode 191 - 500ml of Aromatic Sweat
* Episode 192 - Invitations & Infiltration
* Episode 193 - Secrets at Sundown
* Episode 194 - Incognito Among Excellents
* Episode 195 - No Brainer
* Episode 196 - Welcome to the Network
* Episode 197 - Steel Your Mind
* Episode 198 - SWIM-posium
* Episode 199 - Boiling Over
* Episode 200 - Maze of Connections
* Episode 201 - Wit's End

## Synopsis (abridged)

Winsler, Serinepth, Integrity, and Mira, after receiving their first year exam results, crossed paths with Bowan, new students, and an anxious Corrina seeking her lost sister. Each friend pursued individual plans: Winsler and Integrity hunted warlock knowledge, Serinepth arranged a meeting with Headmaster Crowe, and Mira endeavoured to find Delnys. Delnys tried to partially withhold the truth about her visit to Ophelian and possible lichdom, and gave Mira a lyre as an apology gift. Mira, not believing her, cast the spell Detect Thoughts, learning of her fear and trepitation about the subject. After Mira admitting to doing so, Delnys abruptly left. At the Event Planning Committee meeting, Mira contested Bailey's re-election as president, triggering an upcoming school-wide vote. Simultaneously, Winsler found potential resources for his warlock research and Integrity crafted a homunculus to locate other warlocks. Serinepth, using a scrying necklace, discovered Phillip on a boat to the southeast.

Winsler and Integrity stumbled upon an illusion hiding tunnels and a hollowed-out room, where they were trapped and confronted by intelligent rat swarms. The rats revealed a plan to poison the school's water supply for integration into 'the network', a hivemind, and disclosed their sentience's origin from 'Our Lady of the Deep'. The following morning, the students met with Crowe, who agreed to return their possessions but demanded information on their Troisle adventures and Sheora in exchange for returning Angelika. The meeting concluded with Angelika's location revealed, and the students found her unconscious in the Alchemy department, hooked to a jar collecting her sweat. The day proceeded with classes, peculiar meetings, and emerging secrets, including Delnys' misleading account of her winter trip and a whisper from Ainsley about a chapel meeting at sundown. Lastly, Mira enlisted Integrity to dig up dirt on Bailey.

As night fell, SWIM infiltrated the aforementioned meeting of a secret society for high-achieving students, AKA the Hedricks' Society for Excellents (HSE) led by Professor Doss, where Serinepth and Winsler made vows and saw familiar faces. The four students left the Chapel but encountered a disturbing trail of blood. Winsler and Integrity were knocked unconscious, leading to an ominous voice welcoming them to the "Network". Mira and Serinepth chose to confront Bailey rather than rescue their friends. This confrontation was unsuccessful, leading to both receiving the same eerie Network welcome. While they tried to figure out their next steps, Winsler and Integrity woke tied in a room with another HSE member, Kalwen, and escaped. The students learned of the school's origins from a floating brain identified as one of its founders, Merrick Beardless. After helping them understand that the Lady of the Deep was school founder Henrietta Hedrick herself, Merrick asked for a mercy killing, which Winsler obliged. Amidst all this, they discovered that Yakov had been killed by Henrietta, and Bailey had become her new warlock.

Winsler and Integrity discovered that the orbs were taken and devised a plan to question Bailey. During a debate at the Dining Hall, Bailey appeared disheveled, and the candidates made speeches, devolving into a heated argument between Mira and Bailey. Suddenly, Bailey attempted to put the audience to sleep and tentacles sprouted all over his body, but SWIM restrained him and fellow club member Efrosyni, breaking their connection to the Lady of the Deep temporarily. As they hid in the Cannon Lab, Integrity promised to help free a now disheveled and unwilling Bailey from his warlock contract. Our Lady of the Deep found them, causing them to flee and leave Bailey and Efrosyni behind. The group then reached the Archives, convincing the modrons to aid them against Henrietta. Armed with a holy weapon, they moved to the Divination Tower for a final confrontation.

The battle was fierce, and a deformed Professor Doss, transformed into an illithid, appeared but broke free from the Lady's control, fleeing in remorse. As the battle moved to the Lady of the Deep's pool, Winsler died, and his soul was sent to the Plane of Lem. Delnys unleashed a massive burst of necromantic energy, killing Henrietta. Bailey was fatally wounded, and as he died, he acknowledged Mira's victory. The remaining members knelt over the two dead bodies, reflecting on the loss of a friend and a fellow student.

## Synopsis (detailed)

The students looked at the results for the end of the first year exams, and were overjoyed to all be in the top half of the results, with Winsler in the top spot, Serinepth in third, Integrity in sixth, and Mira in eighth. They started to head to the Dining Hall, but saw Bowan giving a tour to some of the new first years.

They went over and greeted Bowan and the new students, which included Yog and Kormet. Bowan told Mira there was an Event Planning Committee meeting that evening, and that it was very important she attend. Mira in turn invited any of the first years that wanted to come along. Winsler caught up with Yog, who was unsure about the new Crowe Mercantile golems that had appeared around campus. After they had caught up, all the students went to the Dining Hall for breakfast.

After they ate, Mira and Winsler went to the Zoology Department for their Demonology lecture by the intense Professor Wishbone. Meanwhile, Integrity and Serinepth went to Illusions 3, led by the laid-back Professor Kagner, who told them to sleep and focus on their dreams.

Afterwards, Serinepth and Integrity headed to the Evocation Department, but were intercepted by an agitated Corrina. She demanded to know where her sister was, and what happened to her after she disappeared from the Infirmary. Serinepth tried to explain what had happened, and promised Angelika was ok. She failed to calm Corrina down, she left saying Serinepth's word meant nothing now that her family were traitors. Integrity tried to comfort her cousin, before the two headed their separate ways for the next class.

The rest of SWIM’s day passed without issue, and they met up in the Dining Hall. Integrity and Winsler decided to grab snacks from the bookstore, then check out the restricted section of the Archives for information on warlocks. Serinepth was going to try and meet with Crowe, and Mira wanted to find Delnys.

Winsler and Integrity first went to the bookstore, where the attendant recognised him as Professor Very Periwinkle and gave him keys to the Evocation department, a coin for the restricted section, and a stipend request form. Integrity found snack prices had drastically increased, but found 20 gp worth for Murundeen.

Afterwards, they went to the Archives and explained explained the fake professor situation to Ava, which stressed her out immensely. They then hurried over to the empty restricted section and began their research.

Meanwhile, Serinepth went to Crowe’s office, instead finding Kenneth Horsewangler sitting outside. He told her that Crowe was busy for the next week, and that because their possessions had been abandoned in Troisle, they were considered his property. This infuriated Serinepth, who managed to force him into letting her talk to Crowe the next morning.

Mira found Delnys waiting in her room. She subtlety started to look into her mind while asking how her break went. She immediately sensed that Delnys was trying to keep part of the truth from her, but she did tell Mira she had gone to Ophelian with her mum where the watched another attendant perform a ritual. Deciding she wasn’t ready for it yet, Delnys found herself agreeing more with Mira, and had brought a present to apologise, saying she loved her girlfriend.

The present was a beautifully crafted , and upon seeing it, Mira confessed that she had read Delnys’ mind. This caused Delnys to leave more awkwardly as suddenly than she might have otherwise, leaving Mira alone with her thoughts.

When the time came, Mira made her way to the Divination Department for the Event Planning Committee meeting. When she arrived, she found Cyndra, Kormet, and another first year had joined the usual members. After they introduced themselves, Bailey ran through the elections list. Bowan, Jassick, and Efro would remain as the communications chair, treasurer, and secretary respectively. When Bailey tried to slip in that he would remain President, Mira cut him off and told him she would also be running.

As the two entered a staring contest, Bailey tried to convince her to back down, and Arley told her that changing the President would require a school-wide vote. She insisted she would be running, and Cyndra announced she would also like to run, as Bailey was incompetent.

Bailey seemed to have trouble speaking, but said they would have the vote on the following Sunday. Mira suggested that tomorrow they should host a public meeting to share their objectives with the school. Bailey seemed terrified with that, and insisted it be pushed back to Wednesday before running out of the room.

Over at the Archives, Winsler found several books that might be relevant to their warlock research, while Integrity gathered ingredients to make a homunculus. After they created the clay construct, Integrity ordered it to search Wildcliff for any more warlocks, meanwhile she and Winsler would have the time to look into transferring a warlock pact to another creature.

As Serinepth wandered back from the Alchemy Department, she stopped under her sweetling and used the scrying necklace to try and find Phillip. She found that he was on a boat somewhere to the southeast, though she couldn't figure out exactly where, or why he was there. As she headed back to her room, she ran into Mira, who told her about the Event Planning Committee elections. Afterwards, the pair spent the evening discussing the trials and tribulations of romance, including Mira's mind reading confession, and Serinepth's slow realisation that her parents were awful, thanks to Phillip.

After the homunculus flew off, Winsler swiped the books he'd found into his portable hole, before he and Integrity left the Restricted Section. As they walked back to the goat door, they heard voices in the walls, and discovered an illusion hiding several tunnels behind them.

As they investigated, they found themselves in a hollowed out room directly behind the Restricted Section. A cage fell on Winsler, and four figures emerged from hiding. One of them approached the cage, claiming to have trapped Winsler. He teleported out, and asked who they were and what they were doing. The figures revealed themselves to be made of rats with a human-like intelligence, and after some persuading said they were going to poison the school's water supply to integrate all the students and faculty into *'the network'*. The rat swarms introduced themselves as Menthus, Trenthus, Penthus, and Ratthus, and said that they had boarded up the illusory wall, so Winsler was trapped and had to go with them. At this, Integrity jumped out of the shadows, saying that they would never take them and causing all of the swarms to jump in fear. When Menthus claimed they could still take the students, Winsler pulled Mr. Wiggles the cat from his robes, and prepared for battle.

As the rats conjured spectral allies and attempted to steal the students possessions, Integrity dashed around the room, stabbing and slashing as many rodents as she could. Winsler animated the cage and several books, using them as his personal army of extermination. After a brief battle, Menthus lay dead at Integrity's feet, Trenthus had fled with some gold they had stolen from Integrity, closely followed by Penthus. Ratthus remained behind to beg for mercy.

Winsler and Integrity trapped Ratthus in the jar previously containing the squirrel heart, and questioned the rats' plan. Ratthus told them they were given sentience by '*The Lady of the Deep'*, and that they were trying to use a mild poison to incapacitate everyone in the school so they could join the hive mind known as the Network. The students decided to turn the rat over to the Archive modrons for them to deal with.

They left the restricted section, finding a modron to give the rat to. This offer seemed to appease them, and finally end the feud between them and Winsler. They headed across campus for the dormitories, where they ran into Serinepth and Mira. Together they briefly discussed using Serinepth's scrying neckalce to find this Lady of the Deep, before she informed them about the meeting she had set up with Crowe, and the students headed to bed.

Early the next morning, the students met with Headmaster Crowe in the greenhouses. When they arrived, he pretended not to notice them until they properly introduced themselves. When he finally acknowledged them, he agreed to return their items to them, but refused to give them information on Angelika until they told him what he wanted to know about where they went in Troisle, and about Sheora. Winsler yelled at him that he killed Ari, and convinced Crowe to reassemble them after he told him that Neska had killed Professor Underbough. Eventually, the students told Crowe enough about what was happening for him to tell them that Angelika was being held in the basement of the Alchemy department.

SWIM left the greenhouses, feeling like they may have given away too much information, and headed towards the Alchemy department. Downstairs, they found Angelika lying unconscious on a table, hooked up to a strange jar that seemed to be collecting the sweet-smelling sweat she was producing. Mira and Integrity unplugged her from this machine, while Winsler and Serinepth attempted to move her. They found that Angelika was much heavier than she should be, and were unable to move her, even with Mira conjuring a massive spectral copy of her hand to push the table outside. Finally, Winsler shrunk her to half her normal size, which allowed Integrity to pick her up and run towards the dormitories. They reached Mira's room just in time to lie Angelika down before she reverted to her regular size.

The students left Angelika to go to their classes for the day. Winsler finished his Conjuration class and started to look through the books on warlocks he had taken from the Archives, though they turned to ash before he could find too much out. As he tried to discreetly clean up the remains of the books, Ainsley walked over to him and whispered to meet in the chapel at sundown, before walking off. At the same time, Delnys found Serinepth sitting under her sweetling, and told her the same thing. Mira had a musical composition class with Professor Raethran, when asked about Delnys' trip with her mother, he was confused and claimed that she had been with him all winter. Mira said she must have misunderstood and continued with the lesson.

After she was finished, Mira met up with Integrity at the Dining Hall and asked her to snoop around Bailey's room to try and find dirt on him. Integrity agreed and told her she would be bringing along help, before finding Lucia and telling her to meet outside her room that night.

The night drew closer, and Integrity was waiting in her room when someone knocked on her door. She opened it to find a person dragging a cart full of her belongings. They quickly unloaded the cart then left. Integrity looked through everything, finding a book about Lem that she didn't recognise, and the birthday present from her mother. She tore open the wrapping paper, finding inside a Cloak of Many Things which she instantly put on. Later that night, Lucia knocked on her door and the two began their plan to infiltrate Bailey's room.

Integrity instructed Lucia to knock on Bailey's door, and lead away anyone who was inside. After Lucia persuaded the single grumpy-looking elf who was in the room to accompany her to the Dining Hall, Integrity disguised herself as one of the new Crowe Mercantile golems, then snuck into the room. Inside she found far too many mirrors and shoes, and started to search for a diary or other incriminating evidence. Looking through Bailey's desk, she found several old journals, some keys, and an expensive looking bag. She made an imprint of one of the keys with some chewed up gum, and picked up the bag. Before she could look any further, she heard footsteps running towards the room, so jumped out of the window and started to pretend to be doing golem duties in the courtyard. The elf who had left with Lucia looked out the window, but was unable to find anything wrong.

Integrity ran to a more secluded area, and started rooting through the bag she had taken. Inside she found generic school supplies, as well as a note reminding Bailey about a meeting that night at the Chapel.

Mira was sat in her room, cleaning her prosthetic, when she heard a knock on the door. Delnys came in to deliver the astral projection potions, they talked briefly about using them, and how Delnys had a meeting that night. Before they could say much, Lucia burst into her room and asked for them to speak in private. Delnys left, and Lucia explained what had happened at Bailey's room. Mira promised everything would be ok, and left in search of Integrity.

Serinepth and Winsler met up at the Chapel, where they were welcomed by Professor Doss, wearing black robes embroidered with gold and silver runes, with a hood pulled up to hide her face. After some ritual introductions, she gave the students their own robes, and brought them into the main chamber of the Chapel, where many other hooded figures in the black robes were standing around an altar. Upon the altar was a skeleton, which Professor Doss told the students to give a vow to. Winsler vowed to instate cows as a standard measure of magic, while Serinepth vowed to increase their understanding of magic. When they were finished, Professor Doss welcomed them to the Henrietta Hedricks' Society for Excellents. The crowd removed their hoods, revealing several familiar faces, and several new ones. Attendees included Delnys, Ainsley, Veronica, Christina, and Tyrion.

While they were being inducted, Mira and Integrity charmed the lookout keeping watch on the Chapel, then tied up and impersonated one of the members of the society before locking him in a staircase to the basement. They infiltrated the party, with Integrity disguised as a former alumni, and Mira disguised as a golem. They tried to gather information on Bailey, as well as trying to find out who people were voting for in the event planning election. Meanwhile, Serinepth and Winsler mingled with their new peers. After a while, Integrity and Mira revealed who they were to their friends, and persuaded them to help find information on Bailey, as well as to convince people to vote for Mira in the election.

When the night had run its course, all four students quietly slipped out to leave the Chapel. Before they did so, Mira and Integrity checked on the person they had tied up and locked in the basement, only to find him gone, with a trail of blood leading down. As they followed it, Winsler and Integrity began to feel light headed. They collapsed on the floor, and heard a voice in their head say, *"Hello, and welcome to the Network."*

Serinepth and Mira quickly searched the rest of the basement, finding a dead rat in a crawl space under the Chapel, that hurt Mira's brain when she tried to touch it, as well as evidence linking Bailey to whatever had happened in the Chapel. They dragged Winsler and Integrity to the main floor of the Chapel, where they saw the other HSE members also collapsed on the ground, before running across campus to confront Bailey. When they got to his dorm, they found Jakov blocking their path. He banished Serinepth to a demiplane, and knocked Mira unconscious on the ground, where she also heard a voice in her head welcoming her to the Network.

When Serinepth returned to their plane, Bailey's room had been set on fire, and there was no one else in sight. She jumped out of the dining room window, finding Mira still knocked out and propped up against the fountain in the centre of the courtyard. A message carved into the stone read, *"Don't trust Mira Marchand."*

Serinepth grabbed her and took her to the Infirmary, where a healer was able to treat her wounds and bring her back to consciousness. After Serinepth filled her in on what had happened, the two tried to figure out what they should do. Serinepth went back to check on the Chapel, finding all the members of the HSE had vanished.

Winsler woke in a strange room, tied to a chair next to Integrity, and another HSE member, a halfling named Kalwen. Kalwen told him that cranium rats had taken their things, and kept them tied in the room for several hours. Winsler was able to teleport out of his chair, taking back several of their belongings from a table in front of them, and freeing Kalwen and Integrity. Before they could do anything else, the door to the room opened and Trenthus walked in, followed by a floating basin of glowing yellow water. the rat scholar told them that they were now part of the Network, and that the Lady of the Deep wanted to speak with them. A voice spoke from the water basin, asking Integrity about the Progenitor, the orbs, and the other secrets in the depths of the school. Integrity was able to break whatever psychic connection had formed to this Lady of the Deep, while Winsler broke the water basin. The pair interrogated Trenthus about the Lady, before killing him and leaving the room with Kalwen.

They found themselves in a long corridor, on one side was a tank filled with a strange glowing yellow fluid. After staring at it for a moment, a large tentacle slammed against the glass before retracting. Back on campus, Serinepth and Mira made to leave the Infirmary to look for Bailey, but were intercepted by a haggard looking Professor Doss. She took them to the Evocation Department, and explained that she could see many different people's memories, including Mira's, and knew she was at the HSE meeting. Mira challenged her to do something about it, saying that they were only protecting the school after the faculty continued to fail them. Doss agreed that something needed to be done, and promised to keep quiet provided they didn't tell anyone about the HSE.

In the Halls of the Deep, the three students continued to the end of the corridor, finding a strange circular door and a display panel next to it. When touched, three different symbols floated to the surface of the panel. Winsler pressed one resembling the symbol of Estar, and the door opened to an opulent chamber, where the walls were golden and encrusted with gems. A disembodied voice asked who they were, and how they had gotten there. The students realised this belonged to a brain that was floating behind a glass wall at the opposite side of the room. The brain told them it was Merrick Beardless, and explained that he was one of the founders of Wildcliff, who had been killed by Henrietta Hedricks hundreds of years ago. After giving them information about the school's founding, and helping the students realise that the Lady of the Deep and Henrietta Hedricks were somehow the same person, Merrick asked them to kill him, and end his eternal suffering. Winsler hesitantly obliged, breaking the glass tank and setting him free. He also fabricated several helmets out of the material on the walls, as it seemed to block out the psychic link of the Network.

They crept around the Halls some more, eventually finding a staircase that led into a much larger chamber where the main tank of water seemed to reside. They saw stairs leading out to an exit, as well as Bailey and Jakov standing on a platform in the middle of this tank. The students made to sneak out of the room, but as they left the full form of the Lady of the Deep emerged from the water. A large brain with hundreds of tentacles writhing around, it grabbed Bailey and Jakov, plunging them into its pool. Winsler and Kalwen ran out, but Integrity stayed long enough to watch as Bailey was pulled back out of the water as the Lady of the Deep's new warlock.

The three of them fled up the stairs, opening the doors at the top to find themselves standing in the Divination Tower. They ran down the stairs, hiding from a large modron holding a sword that seemed to be heading towards the secret door they had just escaped from. Kalwen left to hide in a safe place, while Winsler and Integrity headed to her dorm to make sure the orbs were still there. When they arrived, Serinepth and Mira had already looked through the room, but the orbs had been taken. Each pair told the other what had happened to them, and together they came up with a plan. They would find Bailey at the event planning symposium, then follow and question him to find out what was going on. Winsler also asked Kurt to make metal circlets to try and prevent the Lady of the Deep from being able to access their minds.

When they arrived at the Dining Hall, Efrosyni was acting strangely, Integrity hid beneath the stage, Serinepth and Winsler handed out the brass circlets Kurt had made, while Mira prepared for the debate. Cyndra turned up early, with Yog as her assistant, while Bailey was nowhere to be seen. Efrosyni introduced the candidates, and right as she got to Bailey's name, he burst through the doors, looking incredibly tired and dishevelled. He gave his speech first, talking about how things had been running smoothly with him as president, and how they would continue to run smoothly if he was re-elected. Mira went next, talking about how many of Bailey's achievements in the past year had in fact been done by her, and promised to improve general school life. When Efrosyni tried to cut her off and move on, she continued and talked about campus security, how SWIM had been responsible for keeping the school safe from the many dangers it faced. Cyndra went last, with her platform focusing on inclusivity and accommodations for students who were left behind with the current system.

As they moved into the Q&A section, the homunculus Integrity had made suck in through the front doors, and attempted to fly towards Bailey. Serinepth used a *Levitate* spell to keep them floating at the top of the ceiling. The Q&A started with Mira and Bailey making snide remarks about each other, until both of them began spilling secrets about the other. Bailey told everyone how Mira had broken into his room, and cheated in Autumn's End by stealing from Joan's team, while Mira told the crowd how Bailey was responsible for the Oblex, then lied and said he had attacked her when she went to visit him. The pressure got too much for Bailey, and he tried to put the audience to sleep. Mira stopped him and told the students to get out, as Bailey's head started to glow purple, and tentacles sprouted all over his body.

Together, SWIM were able to restrain him and Efrosyni, who had coughed up a hostile slug-like creature. Using one of the circlets, and Mira casting *Dispel Magic*, they were able to momentarily break Bailey's connection to the Lady of the Deep. He was apologetic and scared, saying he wasn't in control of his actions. SWIM took them both to the Cannon Lab to hide, and figure out what they needed to do. They asked Bailey more questions about his connection to Henrietta, when it had started, and if she had any weaknesses. He told them he made a deal with her when the election was announced, but was unable to talk about her weaknesses. Winsler suggested that the Archive modrons could help, and Integrity took a potion of mind reading to see Bailey's thoughts when they questioned him. As she delved into his mind, the Lady of the Deep found her, and from that was able to break into Serinepth's mind and find their location. Immediately, the room began to fill with the same yellow liquid as her tank. SWIM ran out as fast as they could, leaving Bailey and Efrosyni behind.

They made their way to the Archives to ask the modrons to help them. On their way, they ran into Delnys, who told them she had also resisted the Network, and was coming with them to help. When they reached the Archives, they convinced the modrons to help and were given a spear, a holy weapon of Estar that could be used once against a great evil. With this in hand, they headed to the Divination Tower to fight the Lady of the Deep.

When they arrived at the base of the tower, it began to crumble and break apart, as the massive form of the Lady pulled itself onto the campus, and the battle began. Winsler animated almost a dozen bricks that dealt a great amount of damage to the brain, before he was knocked unconscious and captured. Serinepth blasted her with lightning, while Delnys drained her life force with strange new abilities she seemed to have acquired. Mira and Integrity were initially stunned by her psychic attacks, but eventually shook it off and helped the fight. Part way through, a deformed Professor Doss, who had been transformed into an illithid, appeared and attempted to eat Serinepth's brain. She was able to force Doss away, and blasted her with enough cold magic that it temporarily broke the Lady of the Deep's control over her. Doss frantically apologised for her actions, then ran away before she could hurt them again.

Having captured Winsler, the Lady began to descend back to her Halls, the rest of the students desperately followed behind her to try and save their friend. A mind-controlled Bailey was also waiting for them at the foot of the stairs, and began blasting them with psychic energy as they got close. As they reached the pool of yellow water the Lady of the Deep lived in, Winsler felt his life slip away, and died. Seltie appeared from the water, collecting the seventeenth of a soul she had been promised, while the rest of Winsler was sent to the Plane of Lem. Delnys told Mira she had something she could use to save them, but they would all need to be out of range otherwise it would hurt them too. Mira ran back up the stairs, shouting words of encouragement and disdain from afar. Serinepth grabbed Winsler's body, bringing him up the stairs while blasting the Lady with even more lightning. Integrity dived into the pool, and was able to retrieve all three orbs before leaving. Just before the went up the stairs, she begged Bailey one last time to fight his patron and join him, but he couldn't do it.

With all of her friends out of harms way, Delnys unleashed a massive burst of necromantic energy, killing what remained of Henrietta Hedricks as the giant brain fell into the tank of water. Mira rushed back to Bailey who had also been hurt badly. He told her, *"I guess this means you won,"* and died in her arms. Integrity wrote his name in the List of Warlocks, and the surviving members of the fight knelt over the two dead bodies, a friend and a fellow student.