Taylor decked him in the face. Or at least, she tried to. Her fist hit nothing but air - or whatever it was she was breathing out here. This dream demon, this Nightmare, was untouchable, like trying to fight smoke. Even so, she tried. She'd heard far too many stories for this 'help' to sound like anything but a fate worse than death. This was always how it started, one of those warning signs the PRT's anti-Master PSAs preached about.
His eyes turned hard - at once both angry and sad. "You would've been magnificent," he said quietly. "I wished we could work together. I will hold you a little longer - not away from transformation, but away from action, so that you cannot harm the others. It is the last kindness I can do for you, for it's one I will not allow you to deny me."
The song changed. His mirror-melody withdrew from around her, and another came crashing into her, coming from everywhere. The tune was familiar - it had echoed in the three souls they'd fought after leaving the grove - but the instrumentation...instead of another's voice bent and twisted into the right shape, it was the whole orchestra. It was beautiful and perfect in her ears, everyone playing their part at once in service of the piece.
[GRAND DESIGN]
Within this void of stars, Taylor fell to her knees. But this wasn't her body, she wasn't really here - it was a fragment of her mind wandering through an endless sea, with her true body slumbering away. She screamed at herself to wake up, to [AWAKEN] as the man had done when she was drowning, but his song perfectly countered her own, keeping her trapped here. She screamed into the void, her own song shifting back towards the frantic flute.
Her awareness of the bugs beyond this place was still present in her mind - in fact it was easier to focus on while she was so separated from her physical senses. And deep within herself, nestled among the wrinkles of her brain, was that dimmest of stars. It was responding to [GRAND DESIGN], sampling every note with great satisfaction, and growing.
With a sudden surge of clarity, she pushed away her bugs, letting her command over them slip away even as awareness remained. She pushed away the fleas in her pocket and the termites infesting several buildings far above her and the phase spiders patrolling the back tunnels, and focused all her controlling attention on the tadpole. Her song enveloped it, struggling against the perfection orchestration for control. She blocked it out, almost entirely, but it took every scrap of her focus. It wasn't enough, the thing was still growing - slowly, every so slowly. Where before, it might've taken minutes for it to completely consume her, body, now it would take...she wasn't sure, actually. It was growing too slowly to tell how slowly. Maybe a few weeks, maybe as much as a few months?
She felt the phase spiders wandering closer to their camp, and flexed a little bit to try and hold them away. It worked, for all bugs were hers at the barest gesture, but the tadpole was too other and her grip on it slipped incrementally. It grew faster, ever so slightly faster...and just like that, her time felt shorter. And she hadn't had much in the first place. She clamped down on the tadpole harder in a panic, and the spiders slipped away from her control again. The one that closed in on the camp disappeared from her awareness, but she didn't dare release her grip a fraction
The whole mental struggle took no more than a couple minutes. By the end of it, her headache had subsided ever so slightly, and she was mentally drained. Her grip was solid on both the tadpole and the phase spiders, but she couldn't keep that up long-term. Would the monsters or her swarms be more helpful? Could she even grip the swarm without losing the tadpole? The only one she definitely couldn't release was in her head.
The Nightmare was staring at her. "You're holding it off," he said finally, his voice tinged with disbelief and...hope? "You're actually holding it off!" he laughed. She saw her opportunity and took advantage of his distraction, blasting straight through the mental wall he'd created to keep her contained.
Taylor jolted straight up, the thin blanket slipping down her body. She was covered in sweat, and could feel she was running a bit of a fever. Her commanding grip hadn't slipped, though. She took a shuddering breath in relief, before taking stock of her surroundings. The first thing she felt was itchy: when the swarm first slipped away from her, the fleas and ticks had taken their chance to do as nature intended, and covered her body. She released the phase spiders and took ahold of all the more normal bugs within her range. She sent all the little annoyances into the walls, towards tiny predators that could use the food. Once they were well and trapped, she switched that node of attention back to the phase spiders.
The second thing she noticed was Wyll, cleaning his sword fire and staring at her, the body of one of her phase spiders lying in a bloody mess behind him. She flushed and looked away.
"Bad dreams?" he ventured quietly, and she nodded. His face didn't show any sign of judgement or accusation. Maybe he didn't know. "Don't blame you. I can only imagine how it would feel, being dropped into an unfamiliar world and handed a death sentence." His song was an elegant piano belting out a heroic ballad. Taylor grimaced as she felt the barest notes backing him up - The Nightmare's awful mirror-melody was an undercurrent in every note Wyll played. She could feel him echoing in the dreams of all the others around her. It was barely noticeable when she hadn't been looking for it, but now Taylor could hear it everywhere
"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"
Taylor shifted in place, eyeing him carefully. "...I don't mind. As long as you don't mind maybe not getting a straight answer."
He smiled. "I suppose that's a fair trade. It's about the uh...the bugs. You see, this little thing-" he taps his false eye, an action that makes Taylor almost uncomfortable to witness, "-lets me see magic in my vicinity, as well as pierce the veil of darkness so I'm not helpless fighting monsters in the night. And that was no spell you used. You just...had a pocket of bugs, and threw them in its face. And instead of scattering, they looked as if they were attacking it. A coordinated attack."
Taylor was quiet.
At her hesitation, he continued. "Now, if you were from around here, as I initially thought, I'd put it down to...well, justified prejudices. Most magic and druid circles that delve into matters of rot and decay and diseases and insects and spiders tend to be..." he waved his hand, trying to come up with a good word, "...morally challenged, and unpopular with good-hearted folk like myself. Nobody commanding a small army of spiders would want to advertise it, for fear of association with Lolth and her drow devotees."
"I wasn't trying to hurt anyone," she said. It was pointless to deny it, and some part of her rebelled at the idea of trying to hide from her failure.
He nodded. "It happens. And nobody got hurt, so no harm, no foul. Plus, it was only the one of them. Phase spiders are usually quite social by nature." His eyes flicked around. "Only the one that attacked, I should say. Are there any others lurking about?"
"Yes, but they won't be a problem. Shouldn't have been one in the first place." She glanced over, and one of of the phase spiders appeared from midair. It was disconcerting to witness. Not painful, really, more like...it was like someone stepping around the corner suddenly, except the corner was open air. It made her feel like she was one of the squares in Flatland, watching in disbelief as on of their own traveled upwards instead of northwards.
Wyll brandished his blade, but Taylor held a hand up to stop him. At her command, the spider began doing a little tap dance, in an attempt to seem cutesy and harmless. A glance at Wyll's face indicated she hadn't exactly succeeded. "...full control, then?" he asked, his voice just ever-so-slightly shaky. She nodded. "And you've got any others lurking about also locked down similarly?" Another nod. "You're not straining to keep them controlled?"
This time Taylor shook her head. "I had them patrolling the back tunnels, that way if they started doing something weird while I was sleeping it'd catch my attention. But my dreams were...more upsetting than I anticipated. I tried to attack, but it failed and..." she glanced at the spider, pretending she'd been tricked by a dream rather than actually temporarily lost control of the monsters under her thumb.
He seemed to believe her, and finally relaxed. "Well not to worry. I can handle myself well enough, and I wager the rest are little different. As long as we have someone taking a shift on watch, that should cover for any more...lapses of judgement."
"Speaking of which, aren't we supposed to be teaming up for watches?" she asked, changing the subject as she let the spider phase back out of reality.
Wyll took it in stride. "Astarion's on shift with me, technically," he replied. "He went upstairs a little while ago. I don't think Gale's cooking agreed with him; he's slipped out to find a quick bite to eat, unless I miss my guess."
Taylor stared at him for a long moment. He met her gaze, and his eye was searching for something in hers. Then it clicked and she chuckled. "You noticed too, then."
He grinned. "Of course. One thing you learn when doing this long enough: there's so many quirky little bits of magic in this world, that you can't completely trust any one sign to tell you the truth of the matter. If you find something that fits most of what you'd expect, and there's just one little aspect that doesn't seem to fit, it's possible you're just wrong, but it's also possible you've encountered...let's say, an uncommon variant." He gave her a sharp look. "That's not to say you should go around staking people who look a little funny. But a practical level of caution is warranted until you know for sure."
"And do you?" she asked. "Know for sure, I mean?"
"Yes," he replied simply, before tapping the new amulet. "This thing doesn't just detect tadpoles. The spell on it is pretty common, and is designed for detecting all kinds of creatures from beyond our mortal realm. Angels, devils, demons, abominations like the tadpoles...and undead." He stirred the fire. "So I took a watch shift with him, and we...had a little discussion about it. Turns out, his daywalking is a recent development, likely due to our little guests, which would explain why he's a little reluctant to have them removed. We can to an understanding: I'd keep his secret so long as he kept his teeth to himself while among allies, and if he doesn't...then he's the next monster I hunt. He was more than willing to take that deal, which I took as a good sign."
"Aren't you breaking that deal, talking to me about it?" Taylor asked.
"No, he's not," Astarion replied as he came down the spiral steps. "Because you already knew. You weren't exactly being subtle, darling." He took a seat near the fire and leaned back, enjoying the heat.
She hadn't even felt him approach. She'd left bugs on him for precisely that purpose! But with a quick glance, it looked like he'd changed clothes. Maybe the others got dirty from his quick bite to eat? "So...we don't need to worry about the goblins finding one of their own drained in the morning, do we?" Taylor asked carefully.
"Not at all! I actually crept out of town for a little bit, found a boar that wouldn't be missed. They couldn't catch me if they tried." He paused a moment, before continuing. "I should tell you, though - based on what I overheard, the camp's already on edge. They've been getting harassed by some manner of vengeful spirit the past day or so. Has the rabble rather spooked, arguing with each other to avoid night shifts keeping watch around the outer wall of Moonhaven and the temple."
"Perhaps one of the villagers they violently displaced from here," Wyll theorized, "Returned from beyond the grave to exact vengeance."
"You'd think if that were it, it'd be older, though. They've been set up for at least a week, based on how picked clean it is." The vampire ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't see a spirit when I was out and about, but I wasn't exactly looking for one either." He seemed worried. Taylor would be worried too if she thought something was about but couldn't sense it through her bugs; she'd literally just had that same anxiety spike, after all. Speaking of which: her headache had been slowly inching away throughout the conversation. The strain of adding the tadpole to her constant control probably would've knocked her out if she hadn't already been asleep, but now she was...well it wasn't a strain to 'carry the weight', so to speak. It wasn't at the limits of her capabilities.
The best metaphor she had was juggling. Juggling tens of millions of little bugs all had the same 'weight' to them, and so when she'd started counting up the day before, adding more and more had just been about finding the right rhythm to give them all the little fraction of attention they needed, and now she could juggle all of them at once. The phase spiders were much 'heavier' and less well-balanced (within the metaphor), so adding them had thrown her rhythm off almost completely - made even worse when they were actively phasing. And the tadpole was monstrously 'heavy', like the weight of the world was bearing down on her. And more than anything else, she couldn't afford to just let it fall, so everything else became a secondary priority. Even with all her focus solely on the tadpole, it was still inching its way towards her transformation. But now she was getting used to it...
Taylor took a deep breath, and started to count her bugs again. It was...significantly harder, this time around, but she'd take it nice and slow, see where her limit was, and back off if the mental strain proved too much. Astarion and Wyll were talking about...Gale? She was having trouble following, so she slowed down even more. It didn't help. She reeled it back.
"-e's legitimate?" Wyll was asking.
Astarion shrugged. "I don't know enough about magic to know if he's just blowing smoke or not. Certainly I've never seen the man in person."
"Me neither," Wyll replied, scratching his chin. "And my own abilities are...well it wasn't exactly a formal education. Maybe a more learned mage would have a better handle on how far beyond them he was, but I wouldn't know where to even begin."
"I think I've got a decent test," Astarion replied. "This place may have been untouched, but it wasn't undiscovered. Someone set up a lab upstairs - necromancer sort, if all the bodies lying around are any indication. There's a chest up there, chained hard to the floor, with a ward around it strong enough to be visible to the naked eye."
Wyll let out a low whistle. "And you think he'll be able to take it out?" Taylor was starting to follow things well enough. She remembered Astarion's reaction to Gale; him being some kind of famous wizard would make sense for how Astarion had been treating him the previous day.
"If he's who he says he is, absolutely."
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards," Taylor quoted, and the two turned to her, "For they are subtle and quick to anger. Maybe he's lying, maybe he's not. If he is, he's still a wizard, yes? Do you think confronting him about it will end well?"
Astarion grumbled. "Maybe not, but it's still frustrating. If he really is 'Gale Of Waterdeep' this whole..." he waved his hand at the group, "...tadpole business should already be dealt with. I've been feeling weaker than usual since I was snatched up, but I'm far from easy prey. And it's the same for Wyll. Yes?" he asked, turning to the other man.
Wyll nodded. "My powers have waned from what they were prior to my capture, but experience can't be stolen so easily. And if the man over there truly is the next Elminster, he was far stronger than I prior to our capture. He should still be far stronger than I am now." He sighed. "I just don't know if that power would be sufficient to trivialize this trial."
"Perhaps we'll find out tomorrow," Astarion said. "Personally, I'm hoping he exceeds expectations. And if he does, well..." he shared a significant look with Wyll, "...that makes me wonder what secrets Shadowheart and Lae'zel are keeping from the rest of us."
Taylor almost spoke up about the strange prism Shadowheart carried with her, but kept it to herself. "I think I'm going to try and get some more sleep, guys." The two of them nodded, and Taylor pulled the blankets back over her head and tried to drift back off. She began counting bugs, in part to practice her juggling, and in part to help her get back to sleep.
[I feel we got off on the wrong foot.] Taylor stiffened at the voice in her head - close enough to her own thoughts that it could almost be mistaken, but carrying the unmistakable undercurrent of Nightmare's mirror-melody. She started to push against it. [Wait! You would leave them to me!]
Her efforts stilled. [...explain,] she thought, carefully and deliberately projecting it beyond herself. She'd done this before, but not on someone she couldn't see.
It seemed to arrive at its destination anyway...that, or he was still trespassing in her mind. [You won't trust me, can't trust me, no matter that I've no ill intentions, no matter what I say to try and prove my innocence. Fine. I can see how your world would engender such an attitude. It's inconvenient, but not incomprehensible. But if you don't trust me with your mind, will you trust me with theirs? Will you leave them to whatever liberties you fear I'll take?]
He waited a moment, and continued when no disagreement came. [I don't think you will. I'm not sure you could bear to stand by. I think if you thought you could handle it, you'd tear every last one of them from my grasp, removing them from my sphere of influence and placing them under your protection instead of mine.]
Another pause, to see if she pushed him away. [But I would prefer that too! I'm only here, floating at this spot in the Astral, to protect you and them. It causes no small mental distress to maintain that protection when under assault, which I am frequently due to this location. You know, more than anyone, the force bearing down on them every second. Even now, you're holding it away from just yourself and it's the first thing that's truly stressed your abilities. If you could take the others, I would gladly hand them over. And then I could come out, to the Material, and help properly. I could turn these talents against our enemies directly, instead of deflecting away the command to transform.]
[I can barely hang on to the one in my own head, much less take on theirs too,] she shot back.
[But that's while you're getting used to it. You could handle more than you think, it just takes practice. I've been holding each of you as soon as you've gotten close enough - I'm even holding the Grand Design apart from two more, who've crossed my path but not yours.] It didn't carry the full concept, but Nightmare's mental voice briefly took on notes of that perfect orchestra when he mentioned the Grand Design. [I could teach you some tricks, help you exercise these new powers. They are adjacent to my own specialty.]
Taylor hesitated, not sure she trusted that kind of expertise, but he continued pressing. [You've already forced me out once, forced your way past me once. And you're still learning, still growing in your power. If I ever tried anything, you would hear the attempt and shut me out, just as you're shutting that other presence out right now.]
[I couldn't take another right now even if I dropped everything else,] she replied. [Right now I just want to get some sleep without having to look over my shoulder the whole time,] she added in as biting a mental tone as she could muster.
[Then I wish you pleasant dreams. We can talk more tomorrow.] And with that, the bits of Nightmare that swirled around her faded away. Taylor relaxed fractionally, but she still spent a few minutes staying vigilant before she returned to her counting with a sigh of relief.