I immediately sent out feelers to sense the magic at work. There was barely any. And the little there was, seemed to come from the lanterns. Clearly, the illusion was set up in a way that was undetectable to me.

That was, thankfully, not a problem without solutions. The solution was to hit the men in the head until they woke up. It always worked. I summoned some sticks and started floating them in front of the men. They would inevitably crash into it and hit themselves.

That only worked for those leaving though. The ones that had already taken their imaginary things to who knows where were still victims of the illusion. I started sending out space senses, the cost was extravagant but Space was the only element I had that wouldn’t be completely useless. None of the others were able to separate humans without sight.

Oh if only I had one of those life elements. It would make things so much easier. But that was not to be. And there they were, apparently, the illusion had attracted them to a ritual of a sort. I could see all of them dancing strangely in a small area. Wonder why they thought dancing so close to each other was fun. Perhaps they did not see half the people?

I left for the area, leaving the knocked out soldiers sleeping. They wouldn’t wake up anytime soon and even if they did, they were big enough to handle themselves. No need for me to babysit them.

Random soldier Giren (temporary character)

Giren was quite enjoying himself. The Newfound Bar was just as advertised. A fun place to relax and have fun without having to worry about the nobles getting angry. The music was lively, the food delicious and the beer strong. The only thing he could even remotely complain about was the crowding.

But even then it made sense that so many people would want to come. This was the Newfound Bar after all. Huh, he ran out of the delicious food again. Where was the waiter when you needed him?

Giren looked around trying to search for him. There he was! Serving that lady in the white dress! Yes, that Scientist. Giren wondered why she didn’t just wear a gown, it would likely be less distracting than her current dress. Skin tight pants and clingy tops. Giren could never focus when she was around.

Trying to maintain his balance Giren made his way towards the waiter. Sadly, his ‘balance’ had him wobble right onto another person and promptly fall down when they moved away. Perhaps he should have drunk less beer? Nah. It wasn’t fun that way.

Exerting his unco-operative body, Giren tried to get up. The effort was in vain however as he was immediately pressed back down by someone stepping on him. At least the pain made him a little more sober.

It also brought a dose of cold reality with it. All around him there were people. People dancing without a care for the world or who they were trampling over in their glee. Then there were the others. People that had also fallen down and were being trampled over. A few even seemed dead, blood pooling out of their bodies.

Slowly but surely sobriety was returning to Giren, it just wasn’t very welcome. “Oof” Giren exclaimed as he was once again stepped on. What was going on? Wasn’t this a fancy new bar? What was going on?...and what was a bar…

As his mind returned from its drunken vacation he realised that there were a few gaps in his memories. The last thing he remembered was unpacking his tent in the Woods of Eltemar. How had he gotten here? Where was here? What was a bar? Why had he decided to partake in so many drinks? It was not logical to drink during a dangerous mission into ilusion rich territory.

Everyone knew that. Even he knew that. And yet somehow he had taken to drinking. How had he even found this place? Was it one of those rumoured Spirit abodes? Where the spirits went to cast the darkest of magics. Was that it? Was this all just a ritual to cast some spell?

Questions, questions. Giren’s mind was filled with them. There were things missing in his memory and his mind demanded to know them. Even when he was being killed by simply being stepped on.

The song had taken a new, faster tempo, causing the dancers to pick up pace. They would dance around even more randomly now. The tramplings were becoming more and more often and Giren was not sure how much longer he could take it for. In the time he had been ruminating two others had died.

Desperate to avoid that fate, Giren tried to roll away, ignoring his screaming back that protested any movement. Midroll, a foot descended on his side, blowing all air out of him in a woosh as his mid region compressed unnaturally.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah” he yelled as the region normalised. Giren could feel something break within his body, a sure sign that he was bleeding internally.

“Help! Stop! Stop!” Giren screamed, suddenly remembering that he had a voice. Sadly the voice was once again ignored as he was stepped on once more.

It seemed as if he was living his last moments when suddenly the music stopped. And so did the dancing.

As if compelled, all eyes, even Giren's, turned in a single direction. There, hovering in the air, was a single baby that was looking at them with an expression eerily similar to scorn.

“Oh you bloody idiots, what have you done?!” the baby said as flames over Giren’s vision.

The Realmwatch (The Artefact)

The Realmwatch watched the scene play out with great interest. It had wondered how the baby would deal with the ‘death by merriment’ part of the Trial. The baby had shown an unreasonable amount of skill in logistical handling and morale building.

The army, which had been depressed and undisciplined prior to the baby taking over, was now in a much better position. They had food, water, a plan, some commanders, a proper General and even enough training to not constantly worry about killing themselves. It was practically a whole new army!

But how would the baby react when faced with the fact that his precious army would fall apart at the simplest of temptations? How would he react knowing that no amount of effort could break a humanoid’s tendency to want endlessly?

Oh how interesting! The little fellow was throwing a tantrum! The baby must think itself cool, floating in the air, yelling at his soldiers. Too bad the Realmwatch knew that the floating construct was simply a basic construct that barely required any mana.

As it watched, the baby set the forest aflame while teleporting the soldiers away. Oh, the age old trick. Setting woods on fire. They were wood. They should burn right? Oh ho ho ho! The trick was that they didn’t. They were magic woods. Enchanted to be immune to the touch of fire.

The Realmwatch watched with eager anticipation, waiting for the baby to panic on realising that his little fire didn’t work. Except he didn’t. The baby just looked around in satisfaction as if he had expected this to happen.

Puzzled, the Realmwatch focused its attention on the fire. Perhaps there was something strange with it? And there was! This fire…didn’t burn on oxygen. No, it burnt on mana. Ambient mana to be precise. Interesting. Oh so very interesting.

The fire was not supposed to burn the Woods down. It was supposed to burn the mana that powered the Woods. If these Woods had not been powered by its mana then the fire would have left them powerless for centuries.

As it was, the fire rendered the Woods harmless for the next few weeks as the fire consumed all the mana it could before burning out.

‘Well played. Well played little one. Meet you in the next part of the trial. Maybe then you’d tell me why you did not use this move of yours before?’ The Realmwatch thought, getting more and more interested in one little baby. Something everyone within the realms that knew of its existence would agree, was not a good thing.