Episode 196 - Welcome to the Network

## Synopsis

Serinepth looked at the world she had been transported to. Bright green grass spread as far as she could see, the sky looked as though it were a beautiful painting, and small woodland creatures jumped around her. Her mind raced, wondering what happened to Mira, and she could taste last traces of the poison lingering in the back of her throat. After a minute, she heard a pop as the world went dark, and she found herself once again in Bailey's room. Immediately, she felt an intense heat on her skin as she saw the room in front of her empty, and burning.

She raised her hands and shot streams of water towards the doors ahead of her, frantically looking for Mira. She looked into the bedroom, seeing the fireplace roaring out of control and burning everything in sight. The window in the dining room to the other side of the hall had been broken open. Hoping her friend had managed to escape, Serinepth leapt out of the window, small pieces of burning timber falling down and burning her skin. In the middle of the courtyard, propped up against the fountain, she saw an unconscious Mira. Written in glowing blue letters above her was the message,

*"Don't trust Mira Marchand."*

Serinepth ran up to her, seeing blood pouring out of her nose and ears. Behind them students were rushing out of the burning building, noticing the scene in the fountain and giving it a wide berth. A green-crystal golem, along with a couple of campus attendants, were rushing towards the dormitories to try and put out the fire. Serinepth dragged Mira onto her back, and began to slowly take her towards the Infirmary. Inside, she saw many empty beds, and an aasimar attendant doing paperwork behind the desk. He looked up to see the badly injured students, and ran over to ask what happened. He brought them over to beds and started looking through cupboards of reagents. Serinepth explained that a fire had started in the northern dormitories, and they had both gotten badly hurt. The aasimar brought over a thick purple paste and rubbed it over Serinepth's burns, instantly they felt cooler and numbed to the pain. He turned back to the many different bottles nearby, brining out a small vial with a red liquid and dropping a small amount of it into Mira's mouth.

Mira awoke to a horrible pain in her head, feeling the blood coating her face. All the blood vessels in her eyes had burst, as she looked around to find herself in the Infirmary.

The attendant asked, *"There was a fire, are you ok? You don't look like you were hurt in a fire, can you tell me what happened?"*

Mira said, *"No I wasn't hurt in a fire, I was going into the dorm of somebody and then I— I— There was a brain? The brain made my head hurt... Is Bailey"*—Mira looked to Serinepth—*"Is everything dealt with?"*

Serinepth looked to the dumfounded attendant. *"Could you please go check on the other students? I'll stay with her and let you know if anything else, but there were other students there who— With the fire and everything, they should probably be taken care of."*

*"Uh, I'll wait here. I'll wait over by the desk and give you some privacy though, but I need to stay in the building as the only healer on duty right now."* The aasimar walked back the desk and pulled out an incident report form, writing *"Brain?"* in the cause of injury section.

Serinepth pointed at Mira to *Message* her. *"When I came back, Bailey's room was on fire. I thought you were in there so I went in. The window was broken, I jumped out, you were in the fountain, there were runes 'Don't trust Mira'."*

*"Ok, cool."* Mira sat up and tried to think. In the back of her mind, she heard echoed whispers for a few seconds before it faded into silence. *"I guess our next step should be um... Can you hear that?"*

*"Hear what?"*

*"The whis— Oh it's gone now. Did you hear that before, it was like somebody was whispering."*

*"No, but your eyes are really— What happened with the brain?"*

*"I squished it. There was a brain on Bailey's desk, and I squished it, and it was like poking the rat, but I thought it would be ok because it wasn't attached to the rat anymore. I thought maybe breaking it would disrupt something he was doing, and it just hurt me, and that's the last thing I remember. Then I heard a voice saying 'Welcome to the Network' and I don't really know what that means, but that's what I remember."*

Serinepth sighed. *"Ok, You should probably rest, because you look really... Your eyes are bloodshot like crazy right now. I wasn't able to get rid of the rune message that said 'Don't trust Mira', and I think that some kids might think that you were..."*

*"Ok, um... It's not worth it. You know what, that might make Bailey look even worse, putting out smear campaign ads. Let's just hope for the fact that like— If I saw something like that, I would kind of think the person who wrote it is sort of a fucking asshole, so let's hope it backfires. You're right, I really want to go after our friends, because we kind of left them, and I thought it would be fine because we were going to disrupt Bailey from doing what he's doing, but we didn't and I'm not strong enough to go after them. So yeah, you're right, I think it's good to rest."*

*"I can most definitely try and scry him tomorrow, but I need rest for that. But I can go and get Integrity and Winsler from the Chapel."*

*"Yeah, get them here. I'm gonna rest up."*

Serinepth patted Mira on the shoulder, told her to relax, and turned to leave the Infirmary. Left alone with the attendant, Mira joked that this probably wasn't the weirdest thing they'd seen working there. He agreed, saying it wasn't even the tip of the iceberg. Even in her heavily injured state, Mira continued her campaign, saying how Bailey Blue was really weird, and that he must have seen something to do with that. Serinepth arrived at the Chapel, the smoke from the dormitory still rising in the distance. She pushed open the large silver doors, seeing no one in the hallway. She opened the doors to the inner room, where previously she had seen the entirety of the Henrietta Hendricks Society for Excellents, and saw no one.

Winsler woke with a start. He was in a dark room, lit by purple lanterns next to a door on the opposite wall. There was a steel workbench in front of him, and his wrists and ankles were bound to the metal chair he was sitting on. He looked to his left, seeing a snoring Integrity tied in a similar fashion to a chair beside him. Neither of them had their robes or any of their possessions. To his right was the energetic halfling, Kalwen, from the society meeting, also bound to a chair.

Kalwen smiled at him and said in an unsteady voice, *"Hey, nice waking up. It's nice to have someone, and know you guys aren't just like dead or something."*

Winsler asked, *"Where are we? What's going on?"* He looked around the room, seeing some of their things laid out on the workbench before them.

*"You were out for a really long time, I was only out for like an hour or so I think."*

*"That must have been nice."*

*"Yeah it was real lucky, but not that lucky, because there are like these piles of rats that tied us to these chairs, and I have no idea where we are."*

Winsler immediately realised what had happened. *"Oh no... How many?"*

*"When I came to there was one over there"*—Kalwen pointed his chin towards the workbench—*"They were over there just muttering to themselves. There was like a hole in there head, with a brain you could see. They asked me a couple of questions, and asked how I was finding the Network, and I don't know what that means, but I heard a voice when I went unconscious that said 'Welcome to the Network'. I don't know what's happening."*

*"I heard that too, but hold on, I'm gonna see if I can get myself out of this."*

Winsler struggled against the chains, trying to tell if they had any sort of magic to keep them tied up. In the back of his head, he heard incoherent whispers for a moment before they disappeared. All around them, he felt a huge magical pressure, though he couldn't tell if it was to keep them restrained. Winsler concentrated, and teleported out of the chair in front of him. His legs shook from the long period of inactivity, but he kept his balance and crept over to the workbench. As he looked freely around him, he saw the room they were in was perfectly spherical, with tubes running across the ceiling. The students' belongings were neatly laid out, with Kalwen's items, his spellbook, Integrity's many daggers, coin pouch, and empty lead sheath available to be taken. On the far side of the table were three silver cones. He grabbed all of his things, one of Integrity's daggers, and turned to look back at the other students. He had the uncomfortable realisation that the setup reminded him of the dissection rooms in the zoology department.

He crept back to the others, footsteps echoing as he moved. He froze to check the door behind them. It was smooth and round, with no obvious keyhole, but no one came through to investigate the sound of walking inside. He went to Kalwen, told him not to panic, and cast *Vortex Warp* to teleport him out of his chains. The halfling thanked him and went to collect his things. Winsler walked over to Integrity, still asleep, and hesitated for a moment. A small smile crept onto his face as he conjured a marker pen and used it to draw glasses on her face. After he was finished, he teleported Integrity out of her chains as well. He dragged her over to the worktable, propping her up against one of the legs. In the back of his head, he heard a sound as though someone was breathing down the back of his neck. As he gave Integrity back her belongings, Winsler asked Kalwen what the rats had been doing while they slept, and if he knew what the worktable was for. Kalwen said they had been looking through their things, and waving the strange silver cones underneath their noses, though he wasn't sure why.

Winsler went over and examined the cones. They were about three inches tall, with smooth surfaces and three small holes in the top of them. Looking inside he saw a purple dust, and upon sniffing it, it overwhelmed his senses for a moment before fading back to normal. He grabbed two of them, putting them away, before moving over to the door. Despite his best efforts, he could not get it to move. Putting his ear to it he heard the skittering of tiny feet, as well as some sort of bubbling liquid. He asked Kalwen to help him move Integrity, saying that he could get the door open and they could get out.

Together, they started to pick up the still unconscious Integrity, when they heard a sliding sound coming from the door. The layers of stone began to rotate and receded into the wall, as the door opened from the middle outwards and a bright yellow light immediately poured into the room. From the doorway, they saw the silhouette of small figure wearing a purple robe scuttle in. Behind them was a floating basin of glowing water. The rat scholar gestured, the basin moved further into the room, and the door behind them began to close.

Not turning away from the entrance, the rat scholar said, *"I know you have freed yourselves from your bindings, my most gracious guests. Reveal yourselves to me!"*

Winsler peeked over the table. *"I think it's very rude that you treat your guests in the way that you do, by keeping them chained up. So I'd kinda like an explanation as to what the heck is going on here."*

*"By all means."* The rat scholar turned around, allowing Winsler to see their face. Stood before them, with a new scar across their face, was Trenthus. *"There's nothing I can do to put you back in your bindings now that you have woken up, but you're free to have a seat while we speak."*

Winsler looked hesitantly at the chairs, before climbing and sitting on the desk.

Kalwen's voice trembled as he whispered, *"You're really pushing his buttons."*

Trenthus shook his head. *"Nonsense. Is your other friend awake yet?"*

*"I don't know, wouldn't you like to know."*

*"I would love to know, we have questions for her."* Trenthus walked over to desk and noticed that two of the cones were missing. *"Oh you have— Ugh, you've had your filthy little mitts on all of our things haven't you? You just barely woke up."*

*"I mean, that's really funny of you to say that, considering all of our stuff was on the desk."*

Trenthus paused for a moment, their eyes closed in contemplation. *"Your wisdom shows its face. I'm glad for you to be part of our Network down here. Such a wonderful brain to be added to the thinktank."* He went over to Integrity and waved the shaker under her nose, several times to no effect. *"She's really out, is she dead?"*

As he was speaking, Integrity groaned and her eyes slowly opened to see Trenthus right in her face. He jumped backwards before saying, *"You!  Our Lady of the Deep has questions aplenty for you."*

Integrity glared back and said, *"You! I thought we defeated you."*

*"I fled into the mountain itself, to live another day. You I know, Menthus Ratslayer, are a foul creature. Our Lady of the Deep has need of you yet, but if not for her needs, we the rat scholars would see your head in a jar!"*

*"That doesn't sound very nice,"* said Winsler, *"but why would you want our brains in a jar?"*

*"The preservation of it all, you know? It's a trophy, to say that we have conquered Menthus Ratslayer, who killed the greatest sage of our age. I gained his title, but I have not his brain, small and rotund... juicy?"*

*"The Ratslayer herself is right in this room, we could finish the job."*

*"Not since you are part of the Network now, we are passed the time for violence against one another."*

Winsler wished to commit violence. Integrity was still slowly waking up and asked where they were and what they wanted. Trenthus told her that they were in Our Lady of the Deep's halls, they had been knocked unconscious and made part of the Network. Their brains were connected to Our Lady of the Deep, along with all the other rats and students of the Henrietta Hendrick's Society for Excellents. He told Integrity that Our Lady of the Deep had questions for her, and brought the vat of yellow water before her. He told her to answer the questions if she wanted to live, before taking several hurried steps backwards. The surface of the water in the basin rippled, and a voice began to speak from within the water.

*"Integrity I Idleberry, I have need of your knowledge."*

*"Just to be clear, you're the saffron water—"*

*"I am the Lady of the Deep, I am communing with you in this way yes. Please catch up."*

*"Uh, ok, um... You have a question for me?"*

The Lady of the Deep said, *"I do, I have questions aplenty for you, young Integrity I Idleberry. I have so much to learn from you, so much to glean now that you're back awake. I can see your thoughts, hear your deepest secrets. They're most curious, most interesting to me. They answer many questions I have held for many years. You see, this is a window of opportunity, a chance to pounce where the guardians of this foul school are gone, but you, some brave fool who ventured deep under the school, lingers all the same. You've brought down to my deep halls a great gift for me. An orb of blue, perfect surface, an old artefact. What a gift you've given me, and I see in your mind that even now you have others stored away..."*

Integrity clutched her head, as though she could keep any more secrets coming out, and the Lady of the Deep continued. *"Integrity Isla Idleberry, daughter of loving Desmond and Amorette, why did you go down there, into that sunken ruin, and take what was not yours?"*

*"Well, when we went there, I thought it was just for free. I didn't think that it was anything important."*

*"No way of knowing what lurked down there, of course. It has evaded me for some time, some years, centuries now it refuses to speak to me. I assume it to be because it knows me a greater power than it, but it communes with you. The Progenitor, that's what you call it. Hm, I see its face even now, dreams you've had over the last year. how wonderful."*

Integrity scratched her eyes, trying to remove the image of the Progenitor from her mind.

The Lady of the Deep sighed. *"You made a pact with it, didn't you?"*

*"I— I did, I... What do you want from me? What do you want from all of this?"*

*"You sit at the crux of my grand experiment, my young Integrity Isla Idleberry. You see, I founded this school because there was a great power that lurked here, one that would not present itself to me. But I assumed eventually a student could be brought here, a student who would be brave and foolish enough to venture down there and take one of those artefacts for their own, and then I could pounce, and find out finally what arcane magic magic boils at the centre of this mountain. Some ill creature from beyond, from the Deep Plane, oh you know so much young Integrity Idleberry. Your mind reveals so many secrets to me—"*

Integrity cried, *"Get out of my head!"* She felt a sharp pain in her mind and her nose started to bleed, as she broke the connection to the Network and forced Our Lady of the Deep out of her mind.

The water in the basin rippled again as Our Lady of the Deep spoke. *"Ah, too wise for my own powers. You've escaped my grasp, whatever shall I do."*

Integrity looked over to her friend. *"Uh Winsler, where are our things?"*

*"I mean, some of our stuff is missing on the table, but whatever there was that was ours I gave back to you."*

Integrity frantically searched her belongings, but could find neither the Orb of Progress, nor the Jade Dagger. In a panicked voice she asked, *"Are you trying to open the Hatch?"*

*"That would be a very... Hm, how to put it... That would be a noble pursuit of my goals, yes. And with your help it might very well be possible, young Integrity I Idleberry. Winsler Wallaby—"*

As soon as Our Lady of the Deep said his name, Winsler threw a handful of iron powder onto the glass of the basin. It began to shrink, falling and shattering onto the ground as the yellow liquid inside spread over the floor.

From the corner, Trenthus pulled back his hood and shrieked, *"What have you done?! How dare you desecrate this hallowed— What are you—"*

*"How dare you kidnap us in the first place!"* yelled Winsler.

*"It was necessary, Our Lady of the Deep—"*

*"I don't care if it was necessary or not! How dare you! My friend is bleeding now!"*

Trenthus cowered in the corner and stuttered some semblance of an apology. Integrity walked over to him and said, *"You don't know what power that holds in the hands of the wrong person."*

*"Our Lady of the Deep is not the wrong person! How dare you imply such a thing, you could never understand—"*

Integrity yelled, *"Where is the Lady of the Deep?"*

*"She is all around us. She lives in our minds, you and I, Winsler Wallaby, and you halfling! She lives in our minds, she lives in these halls, she lurks beneath that foul campus above, waiting for her moment in the sun."*

Winsler said, *"Integrity, I don't think we can do anything about this guy, I think he's too far gone."*

Integrity drew her Squall, and put it under Trenthus' throat. *"Where is my orb?"*

Trenthus' voice shook as her told her, *"It has been given, as a token of gratitude, to Our Lady of the Deep. Sent to be with her in physical form, as all of us would love to do as well."*

*"Where is the Lady of the Deep's physical form?"*

Winsler picked up a piece of the shattered glass and brandished it against Trenthus. The rat scholar slowly raised his hands, and the door to the room opened once again. *"Go and look upon her with your own two eyes."*

Integrity turned to face the door. Outside, she could see a hallway, the wall on the right side was made of glass, behind which was more of the glowing yellow fluid. Without turning around she said, *"Winsler, do you want to hurt Trenthus?"*

*"After everything that they've done? I do."*

Trenthus put their hands on their neck. *"You might kill our great sage once more, but there will always be more of us! Devout in our lives to Our Lady of the Deep!"*

Winsler grabbed Trenthus out of the rest of the rat body, the rest of the form disintegrating as the others scurried away. Trenthus glared at him and said, *"Do your worst!"*

Winsler tossed him on the ground as hard as he could. Right before he was crushed on the floor, Trenthus sighed. *"Ah, to be one with Our Lady."* His brain pulsed with a brilliant purple light, and the three students reeled back as psychic energy tore through their minds. The hallway was silent, except for the bubbling of the yellow liquid behind the glass. Integrity thanked Winsler for not leaving her, and looked around the room for the silver cone that Trenthus had used to wake her up. Together, the three of them walked into the hallway, with Kalwen hiding behind Integrity. Winsler walked to the glass wall, and tried to see through the murky liquid. Suddenly, a large pink tentacle slatted onto the glass right in front of him, before retracting back into opaque water. Shaken, and trying to figure out what could be hiding underneath the campus, the students followed the corridor to the left, to venture deeper into the halls of Our Lady of the Deep.

On the surface, Mira and Serinepth both woke up in the morning, feeling fully healed and ready to continue their mission to destroy Bailey Blue. Mira tried to find him with a *Locate Creature* spell, but found nothing. Serinepth recommended they got breakfast, and then they could find a more private place to try and scry on him from. Mira thought about checking the fountain on their way to see if the message was still there, and a voice in her head whispered, *"Maybe it isn't".* As they walked to the front doors of the Infirmary they found themselves greeted by Professor Doss. She looked down at Mira, grabbed her shoulder and said, "*What a coincidence to find you here.*"