Investigator Day 3

Lillet woke to a loud sound. At first, there was nothing beyond it, just the typical sounds of a late summer morning. There was a cicada just outside on the windowsill that could be easily heard. Then the loud sound came again, but this time continued. There was some sort of scuffle or fight going on downstairs.

Lillet opened her eyes and looked toward the window. The sun had peeked above the mountaintops enough that there was some light in the room, though not much. The sounds continued downstairs, and Lillet figured she probably wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. Rising and getting ready for the day took enough time that the scuffle had cleared out of the inn by the time Lillet got down there. That seemed unfortunate, so Lillet pulled a servant aside to ask what was going on.

"Well," the young girl said, "it's that Silvaner, my Lady. She was being arrested, and she didn't really take to that, you know? She didn't go quietly at all. I'm not really supposed to be on duty until noon today, as I had a late shift." She yawned. "But with all the hulabaloo, I just had to see. Did you miss it, my Lady?" Lillet assured the excitable maid that she knew all she needed to know at this point, and extracted herself from the conversation.

Another arrest. This time it was the Silvaner girl... So, if Lillet remembered correctly, she had met briefly her first day in the town, having literally run into her outside of the inn. It would make sense that she was staying there. But if she were guilty of killing anyone, wouldn't she have left when the lockdown ended? It made no sense, but then again, not much had made a lot of sense when Lillet had gone over everything she knew. As she walked to the Magistrate's office, she went over it all in her head again.

Siliam died, likely by the hand... claw... of a sorcerous creature. The following day, Siliam is discovered in her garden. The town is locked down by the Magistrate and Astoria sends a message to the Royal House of Magic. Late that day, Hiram and Opalneria were attacked by Amy in full view of the town, which makes it easy for the Magistrate to justify arresting them. The following day, Lillet arrives. Sometime that night, Astoria is killed by some sort of Sorcerous creature, probably the same way Siliam died. The next day, Hiram and Opalneria are released, and there's a few familiars wandering around without an obvious master around. And now, Silvaner is arrested, presumably for the killings.

It was clear that Lillet needed to talk to Silvaner.

Pushing her way through the door to the Magistrate's office, Lillet adopted her stern expression. She was pretty sure she was going to have to deal with the Magistrate at his most belligerent today. Lillet walked right past the atrium and right into the inner office without sparing a glance for any of the people in the atrium. The Magistrate looked up when she walked through the doorway. "I had wondered when I would see you today, Consul," he said. His voice was slightly different than it had been, though Lillet could not put her finger on why. "May I introduce you to Mr. Bonarda? He is on the Town Council here." Lillet looked to where the Magistrate was indicating and sure enough there was a man standing in the corner of the office, smoking a pipe.

He took it out of his mouth as he bowed. "Mage Consul Lillet Blan," he said with more than a hint of a lilt. "I had heard so much about you. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

Lillet politely nodded to Mr. Bonarda. "A pleasure, Mr. Bonarda. Magistrate," she pressed on, "I heard that you arrested someone in connection with the killings?"

"I did," the Magistrate replied mildly. He was too calm... Lillet's hackles rose and a sense of danger suddenly came into her mind.

"I would like to see her for-"

"You may not."

Lillet, already alert, made no visible reaction to him cutting her off. "It is not in your power to stop me, Magistrate."

"It is, as Mr. Bonarda reminded me this morning," the Magistrate said. "I have the power to declare a time of crisis, which the five known deaths last night indicated well enough for me to enact said power. During such times, I have full authority to do whatever is necessary to keep the law in this district, and I need to keep the prisoner isolated from everyone. Including you."

Lillet studiously kept her face straight, though she had an urge to frown at the man. Five more deaths? This was getting worse and worse all the time. But that's not something she should focus on right then. "Your powers as local Magistrate do not outrank my powers as the Mage Consul of the Kingdom. My powers are directly from the crown..."

"As are mine."

"Yours are from the Lord of this district, as much as he ignores this district's well-being."

"He is right, Consul," Mr. Bonarda interjected before the Magistrate could respond. "This is an independent area. A town-state, if you will. The crown installs a Magistrate, who governs with the Town Council. It's all laid out right here" - he lifted a sheaf of papers - "in section one, article one of the town charter."

"Even were that so," Lillet replied, "The office of the Mage Consul's powers which are laid out in the canon law of the Kingdom, explicitly lays out that in matters of magic, the Mage Consul is the ultimate authority in the Kingdom; no exceptions. A town charter cannot overrule the canons, Mr. Bonarda, no matter from where they came."

"I must insist; it is a time of crisis," the Magistrate said, though his frustration was beginning to show again, which made Lillet a little less wary of what was going on.

"I must insist, Magistrate. Thus far I have managed to not have to indict you for treason. Are you going to force me to arrest you?"

"Do not anger me, Consul!" the Magistrate spat. "I have more power than you could ever imagine!" He turned to Mr. Bonarda and snarled. "Get out of here if you don't want to get yourself killed." Lillet didn't watch as the gentleman left the room quickly; she instead activated all of her defensive measures. A golem appeared next to her, as well as four elves, two phantoms and a demon. In front of her the Magistrate acquired a smile that was... inhuman.

"Silly girl... I am your superior in every way. I have power that you could never hope to possess. I have the strength to wipe you off the face of the Kingdom!" He grunted in pain as he partially transformed. His skin was turning red and his hands that were clenching the desk were turning into claws and slicing right through. "I AM RUPERT MEDOC! I AM NO MERE MAGISTRATE! I AM A GOD!" Lillet immediately drew as she ordered her initial summons to attack the still transforming Magistrate. One hand sliced right through one of the Phantoms, killing it instantly. The Elves began collecting mana from a source just outside the room, which Lillet was probably going to have to retreat from if her initial summons weren't going to be strong enough to take on the... devil, most likely. And most likely, the culprit himself.

As Lillet had plenty of mana, she immediately drew more runes and poured power into them. Shortly she had a small squad of fairies that provided cover fire for the demon, who was the only one of Lillet's initial summons that had survived to that point. Lillet also added a pair of phantoms, who she powered up with another rune; hopefully enough that they would provide more of an offense against the devil. The Devil had finished transforming into a gruesome form and while the fairies had held up reasonably well against him, they were clearly not enough. Lillet focused on creating more and stronger Phantoms, and a unicorn or three to absorb damage, while the Devil spoke.

"It is good to be awake," he said in a gravely, otherworldly voice. "I am... free again. Thanks to this human. And I have his soul too! So delicious." He raked his claws across a fairy, who fell out of the air and faded into mist with a high cry. "And all he asks is for power. Well, I can provide that. And when he told me who he wanted power over... heh..." He licked his lips as he stalked toward where Lillet had set up outside of the inner office, where now eight phantoms were ready. "When I heard it was you, I knew I had to do it. I had to show up Grimlet, after all." He raked his claws through one phantom, though it took more than one swipe to fell it.

Lillet grunted with the effort of the mana she was pouring into the battle. While she had expected to be attacked, she hadn't expected it to be the Magistrate. She hadn't expected that she would be attacked now. While her initial summons had bought her precious time, it seemed that it hadn't been nearly enough. The Devil took some pretty nasty hits from the Phantoms, but kept wiping through them, and then through some of Lillet's initial runes. And the elves. Down to two Phantoms, then three, then two... one...

Then she was held up by the throat with one blood red claw. Lifted into the air, gasping for breath that would not come through her compressed wind pipe. Tossed aside like a doll, Lillet hit the wall with enough force to blow through part of it, not even sinking all the way to the floor. Her consciousness was fading as the blurry shape of red approached her. "Let it be known," she heard it say, "that the upstart human that bested Grimlet was bested in turn by Beelzebub."

Darkness; dankness. She couldn't see anything, but hearing remained in fits and starts. The shutting of a prison door after a sharp pain in her side and head. She was in bad shape. A cry from another cell. Words; heated ones. "We should kill her now!"

"No, we need her," that was the Devil – Beelzebub's – voice. "She will be useful for our plan. Besides, I can get her soul now in exchange for her living on a bit."

"She's too dangerous! I couldn't take care of her without your Power."

"What else do you have me for?"

"You should kill her; she has shown herself to be resourceful in the past."

"I can take care of her."

"Fine, you never want my advice anyway. Do what you want."

Silence, then, vision returned partially just as the cell door opened. "Eh, he's probably right. I should kill you, girl."

And Lillet could do nothing when the claw tore out her throat. Vision faded to blackness, then turned to colors swirling around her... blues and greens tore at her vision... though her eyes were closed. She felt nothing but a floating, swirling sensation, and then... nothing.

I'd seen it once before, but I ignored it.

I'd heard of it once before, but I didn't believe it.

I'd been a part of it once before, but I didn't experience it.

I'd done it all before, but I couldn't have predicted...

Tomorrow's sunrise... is it my last?

Tomorrow... Bystander