After Lidia passed the entrance of the circus tent, she was standing on a stone bridge suspended in a blue void, leading to a large blue dome framed by spires. Everything felt stretched and a little less real than the sounds of the guards and the street outside, as they were dwarfed by the void and the massive building that awaited. A chill wind passed over her.
Lidia turned about-face. Behind her, an ogre brandished its spear and roared.
The sudden sound froze her blood. Her hand went for the hilt of her sword, but she forced herself to think. She herself was unchanged, but the illusion had to still be working somehow -
Either she'd be right, or she'd be dead. She stepped back and held up her hands.
"Jaheira!" she shouted. "It's me, it's Lidia!"
The ogre seemed to change before her eyes. It still kept its overall shape, but instead of threatening her, it seemed to shrink a little and now stood at the ready, leaning on the spear instead.
"I hear you, friend," the ogre said, in a calm, familiar voice. "Shall we carry on, then?"
Beneath their feet, bodies shimmered into focus. Most were human and all were wearing the pearl-ringed livery of Athkatla. The blood stained most of their long halberds. Some were locked into a deadly embrace. None were alive.
"They must have passed through the barrier, become confused by the glamor, and then turned on each other," Jaheira said.
They stood silently over the bodies, Jaheira holding up one hand and Lidia bowing her head. Each murmured their own prayer for the souls of the dead.
Behind them, the entrance of the tent had disappeared. The only way now was forward. Fortunately, the stone bridge was no illusion and they started walking.
Lying at the entrance of the domed citadel were a few scraps of purple fabric and a few gold chains. Above them were faint wisps lingering, infused with a sense of regret.
Before Lidia could ask, Jaheira answered. "There may have been a genie conjured here at some point." she said. "No doubt it was going to make us answer riddles or other such nonsense."
In front, the door was left wide open, and they went inside the citadel.
This place confirmed that reality here was negotiable - the inside was far too large to be a mere trick of the eye, and far too large to fit under the circus tent. It was like the inside of a Calishite palace, ornately patterned blue and gold tiles everywhere one turned, the walls covered with filmy white silk curtains. The room was filled with an overpowering scent of incense tinged with blood.
In the center was a fountain, surrounded by four crystal clear pools. Several mangled bodies lay on the floor to the north, and there was only one occupant left: an ogre curled upon the ground, arms wrapped over knees.
The ogre flashed a look full of rage in their direction and snarled, but otherwise didn't move a muscle.
Lidia warily drew closer, her hand on the hilt of her sword. The ogre snarled louder, opening its massive arms and shaking them. Somewhere from far away was the sound of chains rattling.
She closed her eyes and cast out a thought in the ogre's direction. Nothing happened.
When she looked again, the ogre had curled back up into a ball and started sobbing. Its voice was high, sweet, and plaintive.
She knelt down to the creature. "What's wrong?"
The ogre looked up with a sorrowful look on its craggy face. "You have to go! Please flee this place at once and let the city know what's happened!"
"They do. They haven't made it far. We need to find a way out, and we don't have much time."
The ogre fumbled, then rubbed its eyes with an unusually large hand. "Someone...someone came in and said he was looking for a Boo, or something like that. He seemed kind enough, but I don't think he understood all of what I was asking him to do," the ogre said. "My chains...my chains are covered with magic, and the key looks like a sword. I think he found it, but he hasn't brought it back."
"We'll just have to find him and anyone else still alive," Lidia said. "But tell me what happened here."
"M-my name is Aerie. I'm an elf. I...work in the circus with my uncle, Quayle. I don't know exactly what happened, but everything suddenly changed...everything became chaos and turned into what you see here. Although it all isn't real, it's an illusion. But it's m-magic that can hurt you, if you believe in it."
The mystery of the dead guards was solved, then. Lidia's skin prickled as she realized: she hadn't been here ten minutes, and she'd already come perilously close to believing the illusion several times.
"Can you still walk?" Jaheira asked. Lidia didn't see any chains on Aerie, but she noted, with some annoyance, that she'd have to distrust her own eyes for the time being.
"My chains prevent me from casting my own spells and they maintain the illusion which is placed on me." Aerie uncurled and tested her legs, getting up from her spot and lumbering forward. "But aye, I can still walk."
"Minsc and Yoshimo could be anywhere and look like anything," Lidia said. "We'll have to find the source of all this and -"
The snap of a conduit opening resounded above them, and the room filled with smoke. A voice like the sound of thunder descended from the cloud.
"YOU HAVE DISPLEASED KALAH THE GREAT."
With a boom, the room started shaking, the pillars tumbling. With another, a multitude of cracks blossomed above them in the great domed pillar .
Lidia threw herself over Aerie, to shield her from the oncoming destruction. As she shut her eyes, her hand closed around a chain.
The expected rockfall never came. The booms faded into nothing.
Lidia waited several minutes before she got up and opened her eyes. She found herself staring at a massive, leafy green wall in front of her.
Aerie was still on the ground wiping her eyes on the collar of her blue and yellow tunic. The sight was ungainly and almost comical, but the immediate situation prevented any thought of laughter.
"Are you all right?" Lidia asked her.
"I...I think so...Oh, Baervan, what do we do now?"
Jaheira was nowhere in sight. Forward and back were long green hedges, and both ended in sharp, right-angle turns.
"How powerful is this Kalah?" Lidia asked aloud.
"I don't know…" Aerie sounded close to tears. "I tried to dispel the illusions earlier, when this first happened. He's... he's never been that good, though, so I don't know what he's done…"
Lidia plucked a leaf from the hedge, then watched the spot where she'd taken it. She grabbed a handful of leaves and cast them to the ground, leaving behind in the bush the suggestion of a bare spot. She pulled out her sword, then cut into the branches. None of the marks she made went anywhere.
"Unless he's suddenly become a god, there's only so much he can do." She chose a direction and started walking slowly, cutting a line into the hedge behind her. It would mark the spots they'd traveled, and at least the bushes were real enough. "Let's go."