home intro one two three four five six seven eight nine 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 appendix
There they found a closet-sized box that had not been there when the Baron went through last. It was of simple construction, but inlayed with magical glyphs made of silver.
"For those of you who are not initiates in the eldritch arts, this is a crude Box of Protection. It's normal use is to protect those on the inside from assault on the Ethereal plane. This particular box is reversed: those inside cannot get out. I would like you, Cecilia, and you, Baron (pointing to the simulacra), to get in with me.
"Baron (talking to Cecilia), I would like you to move from my sister into your simulacra."
"... And if he chooses not to?" asked Cecilia. The Baron chose not to reply.
"An exorcism." replied Porter, "A fast one."
Cecila gasped. "Rudy! You need him alive, and you want me alive, I presume!"
"My dear Cecilia, use your imagination! I have power over souls. It is my strongest power. The Baron has sensed this instinctively, and strenuously avoided confronting me for months. Now he is about to get a chance to experience my skills in this arena first hand.
"Bind that Baron's hands behind him, and give me the collar we have prepared for him."
The simulacra allowed himself to be tied and lead into the Box of Protection. Cecilia and Porter followed. If the Baron chose not to act now, we would find himself facing Porter first hand, and likely forced into his simulacra. This simulacra was never designed to hold a soul, so the fit would be equivalent to possessing something like a dinner table, but the collar would hold his soul there once he was in. The Baron would be quite helpless, and his soul quite transportable. If Johanne Porter's Nazadlan opening ritual needed only the Baron's soul and not his body, he was close to a big win.
"I see Porter, and he has nasty designs on his mind, I'm sure. Is it not time for me, now?" said Djinn Swansorgger. The Baron's only ace-in-the-hole was Djinn Swansorgger waiting in his blue-white diamond. But how would the Djinn do fighting essentially solo against Johanne Porter and his imps, and the others gathered here? The Baron did not know -- anything could happen... just about anything, including the Djinn getting enslaved by Porter and becoming a powerful ally. Desperate as the Baron was, it was not time to bring out the Djinn. "Soon, my friend, but not yet... not yet."
"You are cool one, Baron." replied the Djinn.
"Yes, cool." he thought to himself, "Remember: you goal is to distract Porter. Distract him enough, and his own little people will take care of him all by themselves. Stay cool." But he was not cool.
As the Box of Protection closed on the trio, the Baron broke contact with the outside world, and raced to the inner parts of Cecilia's mind. He thought of himself as half wood tick and half field mouse. Porter roughly undid the rope holding Cecilia's wrists to the magical collar, and pulled the collar from her. Her wrists lowered down to her waist and she groaned, but they remained tied together. Porter put his hands on her face, and held her staring into his eyes. He entered her...
Hiding in her mind, the Baron felt like a deadly thundercloud had gathered overhead. His soul raced from place to place looking for lodging points. He inserted himself into her memories; he left his breath in her passions; he put part of his motions into her habits.... Porter tracked him down.
Porter's power was huge! It seemed he was everywhere in her mind at the same time, and everywhere his power was greater than the Baron's. Porter was systematically closing off parts of Cecilia's mind.
There are places in the mind a Gentleman Possessor does not go. The Baron went there, and Porter rumbled after.
There are placed in the mind where it is dangerous for the possessor to go. The Baron danced through one of these with the lightest of steps. Porter trod through, ignoring the hazards.
Finally, there are places in the mind where a possessor can harm the host if he or she goes. The Baron danced to the center of one of these and he rested... his soul was doing the equivalent of breathing heavily -- the race from Porter had been exhausting.
Porter caught him there. He materialized as a huge hand and wrapped himself around the Baron's soul. The Baron struggled briefly, but he was hopelessly held.
Porter ripped the Baron out of Cecilia's mind and into the Ethereal Plane. As the cold darkness of the Ethereal Plane washed around him, he could sense a deathly, chilling and never-before-heard shriek coming from behind him. It was Cecilia.
Porter had not lied about his power. In two seconds the Baron was in the simulacra, and three seconds after that he was trapped there by the collar. The faint bit of good news was he could tap into the simulacra's senses to see what was happening on the Prime Material Plane.
What he saw was not good. Cecilia was on her knees, twitching, convulsing, and choking on her own vomit. Porter was just realizing her state.
Now was the time for the djinn.
"Djinn Swansorgger, come forth! There are enemies who need to hear your windy song and feel your stormy embrace!" and Djinn Swansorgger came forth. He came forth as a whirlwind. The Box of Protection was the first casualty of his wrath; it ripped apart at the seams and boards flew around the room. This gave the Djinn more space, and his whirlwind form grew in size. In seconds all the chapel was a whirling vortex with papers, curtains and even pews swirling around. The Baron ran for a corner and desperately tried to free his hands.
At the center of the vortex, Johanne Porter contested the Djinn. Against a lesser being the Djinn's surprise attack would have been devastating, but Porter fended him off easily with supernatural reflex. Then Porter realized what he was up against, and laughed a cold laugh, "You bring a Djinn against me, Baron? A Djinn! Do you know how long we Kalnichovs have been seeking an entry into the Elemental Plane of Air?" His combat style changed dramatically. "Imps to me!" he cried on the Ethereal Plane, "I want this Djinn!"
The Djinn was a huge prize. If he could be controlled, Porter would gain a foothold in the Elemental Plane of Air. After a few seconds of fighting it was clear that Porter could easily kill the Djinn, but what he wanted now was tougher: control. Porter's imps swarmed the Djinn as Porter kept him busy -- soothing and pursuading -- and Porter was winning. The vortex was wavering, growing weaker; the song of Djinn Swansorgger was less deafening.
As Porter contested the Djinn, Jackov screamed, "My SISTER!" and rushed to the box to comfort the drooling, gurgling, dying form that Cecilia had become. Seconds after Jackov, Bob Packar and Sarah Booles rushed forward, too. But Bob Packar rushed up to Porter; put a knife to his throat and slit it ear-to-ear, while Sarah stuck her knife deep into Jackov's back -- two of the imps that were now battling the Djinn had been those riding on Bob and Sarah's shoulders.
With enormous effort, the Baron got his hands free, and removed the collar. He was free to leave the simulacra now, instead he chose to stay in the form.
In the center of the room Porter fought on. Djinn Swansorgger was nearly overcome by Porter and his imps. Porter seemed oblivious to the gash across his throat, which was not surprising given that he was a lich. Packar, on the other hand, was quite surprised. For a moment he backed off and stared.
"A little help, here, Bob." Sarah said to him as coolly is if they were playing mixed doubles tennis. Jackov, too, was showing unnatural vitality. Sarah had left the blade in his heart while he turned on her. Jackov now had her wrists pinned in one hand, and the other at her throat. Sarah's voice snapped Parker out of his amazement, with a crisp motion, he slit Jackov's throat, too.
"And I was thoroughly enjoying these people at tea!" thought the Baron with a shudder.
The Baron had to do something, but it was clear that Porter would resist any spell the Baron cast on him. So instead, the Baron cast a spell to aid his friend, the Djinn. The Djinn need to stay in the fight, and the Baron could affect him. The Baron's spell of aid was not enough to change the tide of battle, but it was enough to add a few seconds to the fight, and a few seconds was all that was needed....
"The woman." said the Baron to Packar and Boole, coolly.
"MMNo!" gurgled Porter -- his throat being slit. He turned from the Djinn and smacked Bob Packar so hard the Baron heard the crunch of bones breaking. Bob's knife spun in the air, motionless, as the force of the hit threw his body away. In half a turn Sarah had it, and she plunged it deep into Cecilia's eye. Porter brought his body down hard on Sarah Boole's neck. There was more bone snapping...
Porter's body was now essentially bone-filled hamburger, but the lich's vitality was hardly affected. Once more Porter turned on Djinn Swansorgger, if he could subdue this Djinn he would gain much more raw power than he lost in Packar and Boole...
"My Brother!"
Porter stopped instantly. That voice, Cecilia's, came from the Ethereal Plane, not the Prime Material. He turned. Standing there were Cecilia and Jackov, both, looking pure and resplendent.
"NO!!" screamed Porter. (He could speak easily on the Ethereal Plane.)
"I trust we have served you well, by Brother, may Nazadlan soon come!" Jackov bowed.
"NO!!" screamed Porter again. The imps attacking the Djinn paused.
The souls of Sarah and Bob were rising from their bodies, too, and from out of the earth Dark Guides to the Spirit World of the Dead were swarming. They screeched and gibbered quietly, four souls at once, this was a rich harvest, indeed!
"My Sister! My Brother!"
Cecilia and Jackov looked a bit confused. "Will we not see Nazadlan?" The spirit guides had them by the hands, and were leading them down into the shadows.
"I did this for... Us! We! would have been the openers of Nazadlan. We! would have gained the dread and respect of old, young, true and dark alike. Our! names would be told in tales down through history. Johanne Porter sunk to his knees.
"Gawd, that man was a pill! How did we ever put up with him?" said Bob Packar. He looked at the Dark Guides holding his hands, "No surprise here, eh? Sarah, my dear?"
She looked at herself, "I died with my best dress on. What more could I ask for, Bob?" they linked arms as the Dark Guides took them away.
The imps who had been attacking the Djinn came to Porter and took his hands, for they were Dark Guides, as well. At the time of Porter's death, when they came for him, his soul had been so strong that he controlled them instead of letting them guide him off. Now he brushed them off again, but they came back. With each touch his resolve seemed to weaken, but Porter was drawing on deep inner strength; these Dark Guide Imps did not have him yet!
"They are gone." said the Baron.
"I can get them back!" said Porter, "Once the gates are open, I can get them back!"
"You can't, and you know it. With all the power of Nazadlan, you might get something back, but you would break this world doing it. You would have nothing for them to return to."
"Not True!"
"So true. Why is it that your father is not here by your side?"
Porter wailed. "He greets my brother and my sister! He would not listen!"
"Go to him. Go to all of them! Your place is no longer here. You can't get what you want here, any more."
Something finally snapped in Porter. His image changed from harried to resplendent. "You are right. I will get what I want there." and he let his Dark Guides take him by the hands.
"I come, my family." he said.
The Baron could think of nothing to say, so he simply watched. In the next instant, it was over.
home intro one two three four five six seven eight nine 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 appendix