If you want moon water during the winter but can’t place a bottle outside or by your window, and it’s snowy out, tell a patch of clean snow (or draw a sigil or something in it) to absorb a lot of the moon’s energies that night and hold it tight. Then, the next morning, collect that snow into a cup or jar, let it melt, and then you’ve got moon water!
I had one thing to do here. I'd been thinking about it for a while, but now was as good a time as any.
I'd wondered about this lower level for a while. I'd become familiar enough with the mechanics of these phantom bloodstains by now to know that the bloodstains don't appear where you died, not exactly. They appear where you were moments before your death, so your red phantom can reenact your demise. Now, Tarnished leave runes in all sorts of seemingly impossible places, so the presence of rune messages did not necessarily mean that I could get there. But an abundance of bloodstains meant that numerous Tarnished in other worlds had died in that entrance hall. But the doors were mere facsimiles with no moving parts. How is one to get down there?
Well... despite the abundance of bloodstains down there, there were none up on this balcony. It was reasonable to assume, then, that the fall was entirely survivable, even if some unseen danger lurked below.
Rogier asked me what I was doing.
"Testing a theory," I said, as I mounted the banister.
I had already jumped by the time he said, "For gods' sake, use a rainbow stone first!" Which was actually a good idea. I probably should have done that.
Fortunately, I landed without issue. Some trick of perspective had made the fall seem much further than it was. I immediately felt the pacifism enchantment lift. For some reason, this area was not warded. Someone had made sure of that, and it didn't take me long to figure out who.
I was invaded by a dark spirit named Mad Tongue Alberich. Unlike most, he gave me a reverential bow, which I politely returned. So this was a duel, then, one I had inadvertently consented to by coming down here. I wish he had given me the chance to observe the fate of other Tarnished before attacking, but a bow was all I got.
He launched massive shards of glintstone at me, much bigger and more powerful than my little pebbles. Worse, they carried the power of frost with them. The chill sapped the strength from my limbs and slowed my movement, then he moved in with his scythe to slice me to ribbons. Each blow left bleeding wounds. So his strategy was to wear me down, then.
Going on the defensive would just play into his hands. He didn't need to get in solid hits to kill me. So I went on the offense. He outclassed me in magic, that much was clear, so no more spells. Instead, I lunged in with my sword and struck him faster than he could recover from. He used some sorcery that summoned bloody briars, but I dodged out of the way, and moved right back in.
His blade and magic were both powerful, but he was wearing lighter armor than me and using a much slower weapon. I could take the occasional hit to keep him off-balance with flurry of thrusts. He danced back to drink a flask of crimson tears, and I used an impaling thrust to lunge at him from halfway across the floor. I wish I could've seen his face as he faded from view.
I turned and waved back at Rogier, who had scooted his chair up to the edge to watch. He clapped and I'm glad I could at least give him some entertainment.
He left behind a Taunter's tongue, which the voice informed me could be used to beckon invaders to my world. I had absolutely no plans of using that, but the fact he had a mummified golden tongue for that power was... disturbing.
The doors were no more real, so I went into the one open side chamber. There were iron balls here... did the lands between have powder? Unlikely... I know they had it in the Land of Reeds, but it was a pretty recent invention. Maybe they'd simply lost the ability to produce it at scale? Or perhaps these were just the shot for trebuchet.
Past the little armory was a small guard room, followed by a barracks. On one of the beds, a charred corpse clutched at something unusual. It was a weapon... I think? It seemed to attach to the wrist, but it was just words hanging in the air. There was no substance to it. I had trouble even holding onto it. A lack of faith, it seems.
Cipher Pata
One of the weapons originating from the Two Fingers. A formless sequence of ciphers comprise its blade, and as such no shield can repel it. Deals holy damage.
The furtive inscription appears to hang in the air; the language of light spoken by the Two Fingers.
Language of light? So far I'd just seen them wiggle, and barely at that.
There was nothing else down here, and no other way to get back up, so I teleported back to the table.
Who is Mad Tongue Alberich?
How did he disable the pacifism ward?
Did the Lands Between have powder in an earlier age?
Whose tongue is this?
Did the Two Fingers once speak in more than wiggles? Are they even still speaking, or just twitching?
