[Notes for the run of June 21, 2000.] We study the maps some more, with an eye toward determining how to choose which direction to go on each level, in case the pattern isn't simply "turn left when getting on or off of stairs." We pay particularly close attention to the angle formed by the paths on the third and fourth levels; it seems to be greater than 30 degrees but less than 45. Eventually, Calais thinks to compare it to the angle of a pentagram, and finds it matches. The path we'll be walking is an inverted pentagram, with one point facing due south. Judging from the first three levels, we expect the first twelve to form four sides of the pentagram, using three levels per side. After that, we'll see. Paris suggests to Mia that they tell Rhori about something. Mia is at first clueless, then realises Paris is referring to a dream the two of them talked about privately while Mia was preparing breakfast. "I prayed to the black god last night, because I figured advice is advice, you can take it or leave it, right? I saw my first husband, and he said he'd be waiting for me down there." She explains that the dream indicated that the black god has a lot of power, and since nobody prays to him very often, those who do can get a lot of power. Unfortunately, those who pray to the black god tend to be warped already, and using his power warps them even more. Pyotr warns about believe too much from Mia's dream, since the black god has a reputation for lying. Paris objects; the reputation might be unfounded, part of the campaign of setting up the black god as an opponent. "Once the Rainbow Church was gone, the 'Church' needed another opponent. What better place to find an opponent, than within? We're seeing it in the war right now, where brother vilifies brother to justify..." Pyotr cuts her off. "Do not see how this makes god trustworthy." They hash it out a bit; basically, Pyotr's point is that if the black god has been vilified so much by so many, then "change from without" has by now made him a villain. If enough people think he's a liar, maybe now he is. There is much more discussion and argument, both about how much to trust Mia's dream (or anything else the Devil may later tell us) and what we ought to do when we find him. Regarding the latter topic, three main choices are raised: First, we can try to release him physically. Second, we can pray to the black god and use the power there to try to remedy the situation we find him in. Third, we can simply talk to him to gain information, and come back up. Rhori offers his opinion as a Guardian of Nature. "There's a lot to Nature as it changes but it keeps reaching these stages where everything works together... as far as I'm concerned there's no reason the Dark can't exist in Nature. I don't think it needs to be expelled in order to have a workable and liveable environment." Rhori wants to free Nature from its bindings. Paris wants Nature to cease being the Devil. Until we make the big Choice, he's still the Devil, and the Devil chained is more attractive than the Devil released. Pyotr says he thinks only Paris has any chance of being pure enough to risk calling on the power of the Devil. But even with her, if we're heading in intending to call on the Devil's power, he would rather not go. He reminds us we have lots of stories about people who tried to use the power of the Devil for good, and ended up doing evil instead. [As an aside, I do wonder how Pyotr knows of those stories, since the Devil came after Pyotr's time. I guess he's been reading up on the gods.] But of course, that's exactly the sort of story that had to be spread to vilify the Devil. Mia thinks that if a good person can call upon the Devil to some good end, that may keep the Devil from being a complete corruption of Nature. But Pyotr is still worried that doing it will corrupt the asker. A couple of good insights where I failed to note the speakers (I'm pretty sure at least one was by Anton): "The path to the Mirror goes through this dungeon." "We're getting stopped here because we have a conscience." The story of Sir Juda comes up (discussing whether the split of the church somehow led to the breaking of the Mirror), and Pyotr points to it as an example of someone who had a good goal but accomplishing it was actually very bad. Anton asks Jarvon about the Mirror and Lucifrus. Jarvon is sure he's gone over this with him before, but repeats it with his usual patience (i.e., none). The Mirror is in the room at the base of the Tower, and shows the World as it is, or as it could be. It's where those who care about such things go occasionally to make a Choice. Lucifrus was something of a hothead; worked with the army a lot, killed a lot of orcs. They were real excited because the orcs were almost completely wiped out. Jarvon didn't know Sir Juda personally, but knew of him; he was a general of one of Emperor Prolerion's armies. Rhori points out that his own magical abilities come from the black god, channelling the power of Nature. So in some sense he calls upon the power of the black god every day. Eventually we get everybody to agree that we will not do anything hasty when we meet the Devil, such as freeing him or asking him to do anything other than answer questions. Pyotr is willing to go in under those conditions, but the hours of discussion have exhausted him and he does not feel up to maintaining the orange spell for us today. We postpone the expedition until tomorrow, which also gives the priests time to pray again. Pyotr prays to the blue goddess, because "doing" is the thing he is questioning. In the resulting dream, he wanders through the home in which he grew up. From the shadows he hears a voice like his mother's saying, "You should go forward. You do not have to, but I will be disappointed." As the dream breaks up he hears a voice saying, "Well done." Mia prays to Binah, but apparently less clearly. In her dream, Henri smiles at her. She gets the feeling that she should trust him; she's married to _him_ now. The dream is short and fuzzy. The next day, in we go. Calais is in the lead so he can watch for traps, though none of the levels mapped so far had any along the pentagram's path. Rhori is close behind. Pyotr is near the rear so he'll be able to keep moving forward even if those in front pause occasionally. On the first level, some kobolds see us and try to hide in the corners. Calais experiments with the orange spell by growling at them, which nets some quizzical looks in response, but they don't try anything. Rhori remains silent. Calais decides to stick to silence himself. (So much for his new Mimicry skill!) On the second level, Calais pauses to examine one of the secret doors that were marked on the maps, so he'll have an idea what they're like if we should encounter one on our path. He hears something big moving on other side (which is part of a large area that we believe might be part of the interior of the pentagram), but we don't open the door. The examination doesn't leave enough time to listen at the next normal door, so he just kicks it open and heads in. This room has some kobolds and a troll. We ignore them and march on. The troll seems nonplussed, and makes a sort of hooting noise, but does not try to stop us. The third level includes a shoulder-troll, who decides to sidle up to Rhori in some sort of dominance ritual. Rhori shoves it aside and it watches meekly as the party passes by. The fourth, fifth, and sixth levels are much the same, with the creatures getting odder and bigger. On the sixth level we see some sort of shambling thing with lots of tentacles. The circular stairs to seventh level turn further than the stairs three levels earlier, so we actually turn to the right at the bottom. The rectangular stairwell from the seventh level to the eighth is also longer, having three flights. The eighth level has no walls. We can see lots of monsters scattered about. Rhori's IR vision sees that there actually are walls, made of glass. He takes the lead for now. Everything on the level seems to be watching us. Off to one side we see the figure of a man. He disappears from the room he's in; then, as we reach the center of the level, he reappears, condensing out of a cloud of smoke. He's pale, has white eyes with red pupils, long fingernails and sharp teeth. He appears next to Mia and in a syrupy but awed voice asks (in our language), "How did you capture it?" Mia maintains her composure and replies slyly, "Tell you later." The vampire suggests, "We could take it to Him together, just the two of us. Otherwise you have to split it so many ways." Mia acts surprised. "I'm splitting it?" The vampire nods conspiratorially. "Ah. I'll follow along just in case you need help." It turns into a bat and follows behind us. The ninth level has normal walls. The bat is still with us. The trolls here not only have shoulders, they have what looks like metal wires sticking out of their heads like hair. We suspect the wires can absorb a lot of damage. There are also kobolds that actually look like they know what they're doing when they cast spells. And there's a demon. The demon walks up to Paris and in the language of the White Church rituals asks, "How did you capture that?" Paris understands it, but isn't sure she can articulate an answer, even if she knew what to say. The demon looks behind her and goes, "Get out of here." It bats the bat out of the way, and looks expectantly at Paris. She ignores it and keeps on walking. It frowns and follows, muttering more Latin. Paris whacks at it with her shield, but misses, so it comes off as though she were waving it off. It continues to follow, still jabbering at her. Finally, she dredges up her scant knowledge of Latin and says, "Silence is best." The demon follows us to the stairwell but does not come down. There are four levels of stairs to the tenth level. The next three levels are not described in detail, perhaps because our minds try to forget what we saw. If we hadn't had the earlier levels to ease us into it, we might have had trouble keeping our nerve. As it is, we all have the willies by the time we reach the last stairs. At the end of the twelfth level are three stairwells. Each is open on the sides, and apparently made of some very thin material. One of them leads in the right direction, so we take that one. There's one flight of stairs, then a second flight that seems to follow one wall of the pentagram-shaped wall we observed on the second level. Below us, to either side, we can see a red glow, as of lava, with sparks flying off of it. There are demons flying over the lava; they catch the sparks and play with them a bit before throwing them back in. We shudder as we realise what the sparks must be. The second flight of stairs ends at a shimmering, magical wall. Calais slips back to let Rhori take the lead again as we near our goal. As we get close, we can see through the shimmering, and Rhori sees one of the big, wiry-haired trolls approaching from the other side. He thinks it'll reach the shimmering at the same time, so he slows down a bit, but the troll also slows down. As Rhori comes to the wall, he pokes it with his axe, and the troll pokes back with its claw. There is a momentary tearing, and Rhori disappears. Calais, next in line, sees one of the tentacled things approaching. He pushes forward with his shield, and disappears. Mia sees a female vampire. She pushes on. Anton sees a demon approach, but gets to mirror well before it. (Being invisible, he doesn't know what his own reflection looks like. He recalls, though, that many of the monsters we've passed were obviously able to see him.) Pyotr sees the demon, but manages to keep walking, so the spell doesn't drop. Alessandro sees a big lizard thing, wearing a helmet. He walks forward. Paris sees the biggest demon of all. She pushes past it, and bumps into Alessandro's back. We all feel a bit different inside. (Mia squeaks, touching her belly with some concern.) We later discover that the feeling is due to gaining three character points toward various randomly determined abilities or higher- than-human-max characteristics. I.e., many of us have 3 CP usable toward offsetting the double cost of exceeding the normal maximum in a specific characteristic, such as DEX or Running. Some have acquired a 3 CP ability such as "bump of direction". (Or do they somehow have to "train" it still?) The stairs continue down to a platform of gray stone, still with bits of lava around. Sitting on a pedestal is a figure who is obviously the Devil. Chained beside him are a naked man and woman, obviously aroused. To the right is a large brazier; to the left are two wooden poles with a large gong, engraved with an upside down pentagram. The Devil looks at us quizzically as we approach, then swings a torch and bangs the gong. There's a single large note, and a wave of dark green magic comes at us. Rhori and Hobbes are unaffected, but the rest of us take 50 points of energy stun and fall into varying depths of unconsciousness. Pyotr's spell drops as he goes down. The figure's shape seems to flow, and in place of the original monstrous form is a beautiful figure, though still half-man half-goat, like the traditional images of Pan. He has a chain of white metal around his neck, leading to the pedestal. "Ranger, you've come! You can free me. You can take your axe and free me. I've been waiting a long time for you." Rhori has clearly prepared himself for this moment and asks calmly, "Can you wait longer?" "Please!" pleads the Devil. Rhori asks, "You're Morgan?" "I was." "And if you're freed you'd be Morgan again?" "I will." The Devil shifts the subject (not for the last time). "Your father's here. He'll be the first one I free." He gestures at the lava, and one of the sparks comes over and turns into Rhori's father, Claude. Rhori still isn't swayed. (It's not as though there's any love lost between him and his father.) As Paris starts to stir, the Devil reaches toward the gong. Rhori tells him if he wants to have any chance of being released, he mustn't bang the gong again. The Devil complains that Paris will talk Rhori out of it with her lies, but Rhori says he's already promised. He says, "I intend to free you, but not now." Alessandro and Pyotr are the next to awaken. Their eyes widen as they see the man and woman chained to the pedestal. With some help from Pyotr, the rest of us gradually come too -- er, come to. The Devil continues to argue with Rhori, pointing to Paris and saying it was "her and her kind" that chained him. Anton thinks about his truth spell, but realises it requires that he first beat the Devil's ego and then beat his intelligence. He discards the idea. The Devil says something about the one who split the churches, but the chain grows tight around his neck and chokes him off before he can give a name. When he catches his breath again he goes on. "He lied. He said I would go around and scare people, it sounded like fun." Mia (and also Paris and Calais) see the chained couple as Mia's first husband, Nicholas, and a woman from Jouet who, rumor had it, had been having an affair with him. Nicholas says to Mia, "I told you he was powerful." Only Mia hears that, so the rest of us are a bit startled when Mia says, "He doesn't _look_ powerful." Nicholas tries to persuade Mia to get Rhori to free the Devil. "We could have that baby you always wanted." Given Mia's current state, that is not an especially attractive offer. Rhori's father tries to convince him to free the Devil, but Rhori diverts the discussion into an argument about what kind of father he was. Claude fumes and tries to strike Rhori, but can't, which he seems to find extremely frustrating. Rhori turns to the Devil. "He's not helping your cause." The Devil sends Claude back into the flames, but Rhori says that's not what he wanted either. The Devil gestures again, and Claude pops out again, but remains silent. The Devil claims the "King of Lies" is the one who chained him. "But we call you the Prince of Lies." "Yes, I thought that would be a fun joke; I didn't realise he was the King of Lies." Someone asks, "What will it mean for you to go free? You won't go back to being Lucky Morgan, will you?" "Yes, once he's no longer in control." "Would you like to be Lucky Morgan again?" "Yes! Yes!" The Devil says, "I didn't break the mirror. If I'd known that was his plan, I wouldn't have gone along with that." "We plan to fix the Mirror." The Devil latches onto that. "I can help you fix the Mirror. I can find lots of pieces of it. I can fetch them for you." "That's tempting. Why am I not surprised?" Rhori asks Mia for comment. She says, regretfully, "It's what you predicted; what you warned." Anton checks for magic and determines we're in Tarot. Hobbes is impressed with the stamina of the chained couple, whom most of the party (all but Mia, Paris, and Calais) apparently see as Paris and Calais. Rhori asks the Devil if he can make them look like something else, but Mia warns him that he's getting close to requesting a boon. The Devil continues to complain. "He needed both a carrot and a stick. I don't like being a stick." We try approaching the subject obliquely. "The one who made you this way, is he the keeper of the outer mysteries?" "He knows much, he..." The Devil's chain chokes him off again. Rhori tells the Devil he doesn't know if the Devil is doing this deliberately to avoid answering the question. Mia tries, "Does he have Choice?" "He has Choice, and he has all of the powers of Not Choice. He fooled everybody. He talked them into one change after another that they didn't all see until the shards of the Mirror came tumbling down, and then he, he took the reins and molded, ... to fit ... the way ... he wanted ... until all are returned and he could enter and make the Choice himself." "Is he a Major and something else as well?" More choking. Pyotr asks for a clue to the Tower. The Devil drags himself to the wall behind the pedestal, reaches out, and slides aside a huge section of it. Beyond it is another shimmering barrier from Tarot to Torat. We see a glowing red area much like the one from episode 0, where we found the Font of Chaos. We see the base of the Tower. There is a door with many indentations. Along the bottom is a row of nine indentations. Above that is a row of ten, but it might be two groups of five separated slightly in the center. (We can't see it well enough at this distance, and alas, Calais's telescope is not yet fully rebuilt.) Above that is a row of three. There seems to be a pile of gold at the bottom of the door, but we can't tell that it is. The indentations are the size and shape of cards; the gold could be made of card-shaped pieces. Between us and the Tower, walking toward us, is a demon about 60 feet tall. It is so grossly fat the fat hangs off in rolls. The layers of fat form almost a skirt, extending past its knees. The fat on its legs also forms rolls further down, which bounce up and down as it walks. "He is Maab Baal. Of all of the demon host, the only one who cares not if his name is known. He can only be slain by the god of destruction. He is immune to all else, and he can kill anyone or anything. He has been placed to block you." Someone asks, "If I freed you, could you help us get past him?" The Devil answers obliquely, "I could work on the one who placed him there. It is controlled by the one who chained me." Rhori interjects, "Paris would you stop moaning?" "Sorry, I didn't mean to say anything." "No, the other Paris." Not knowing what the chained figures look like to Rhori, Paris is perplexed. We ask, "What would you do if you were freed?" "What would you want me to do?" "No, what would you be _able_ to do?" "I'd oppose the one who put me here." He accuses Paris and her Order of spreading the lies about him. Anton asks the Devil his name. "You must understand the names of God. That is part of understanding." "I see. Are you unable to tell me your name." He starts to say Mmmmm... but chokes off again. Rhori asks, "Answer yes or no, is your name Lucifrus Morgan." The Devil nods, then adds, "Yes." We ask how he became Guardian of Fire? The one who did all this said he and the Devil would split them, two and two. But he got just fire; the other took the rest for himself. (Since Jarvon seems to think he's still the Guardian of Air, either he or the Devil seems misinformed on this point. Or else Jarvon is the King of Lies? Let's hope not!) Anton asks if he is still god of Nature. The Devil says he has no choice about it. Calais catches the indirection and prods for a yes or no answer. The Devil answers, "I must do what Nature needs done. I can explain it no other way. I am the Devil, and that is all you know of Nature now." "Who was the Devil when you were Lucky Morgan?" "I don't understand." He seems to confirm that there was no such personage until the split. Are you he who answers those of the Black Church? "I must answer those who call. And the rules for how they must call are spread about the world. Is that what you mean by the Black Church?" He adds, "The rules can only be changed by She of the Blue." And, "The Change, the Choice, will come at its regular time. It always has; it must." "Can change happen at other times?" The Devil says that change can be brought about by repeating lies. "Has he also imprisoned the white god?" "I don't know. I think he bends all to his will." "Is he a god?" More choking. "He prevents me from answering." "Does he hear what we say here?" "He knows." "What is his greatest weakness." "I could help find that." How about Maal Baal? "He is there to prevent anyone from reaching the Tower. He guards all paths to the Tower. He who placed him there has another way." We've never heard of a "god of destruction", so we try asking, is Death the god of destruction? "I may not gve you that understanding." "What understanding may you give us?" "Only of myself." Paris asks if her non-nifty sword could break the chains. "I don't know, why don't you try it?" Paris figures her special sword won't do the job because it's the same type of magic. Anton confirms that the chains are White Church magic. Rhori frets that this means anyone, not just a Ranger, could free the Devil. So perhaps we should do it and get what we can from it, rather than let someone else do it later. The Devil is encouraged by this line of thought, but Rhori decides he's not going to do it today. The Devil snaps his fingers. "Okay, it's now tomorrow." We've clearly got to be careful what we say around this guy! Anton asks, "What is the greatest lie told about you?" "That I would willingly ally with the orcs. I would rather destroy them all." He definitely knows how to hit people's buttons. "If the wrong people released me, they could force me to wipe out innocent people." Anton's itching to leave, concerned that sooner or later the Devil will find a way to sway us into releasing him, but Paris and Rhori hesitate, still hoping to find some way to deal with the threat of someone else coming here and freeing him. Paris suggests that there's still the possibility we discussed for hours yesterday. (Two days ago, now.) Namely, praying. We try to figure out if there's a difference between praying to him and requesting something. Paris is reluctant to give up here without some idea how to get to the Tower. Mia finally is bludgeoned into remembering a vision she had of the Star, telling her the path was blocked, and that we might be able to get to the Star by going backward from the Tarot that follows her. [Note: If this was mentioned publicly before, I must have missed it, because I don't see it in the notes.] "Is there any way to untwist you before the chains are broken?" "I don't know. You have Choice, you get to choose things like that." Finally we manage to drag Paris away. The last thing Rhori hears as he goes thorugh the barrier is, "The gifts of Nature will stay with you so I have an effect on the world." As several large demons fly over to meet us, we crowd around Anton, and he reads the Scroll of Recall and pops us all back to the top of the dungeon.