Riloth the 19th the 349th

The next morning, I Teleported to Bearskin as soon as I’d drunk my potion of clarity in Levar’s. Colin and the stupid one were both asleep in the adjacent cages, and I resisted the urge to lock them in. I then Teleported Bearskin back to Levar’s front door.

The town was in chaos by then, with the red glow of the incoming fire visible beyond the walls. I banged on Levar’s door until he woke, surprised by both the sight of Bearskin, and the running townsfolk.

“Mage Theral, how can I help you? It's quite early. What is going on?” asked a sleepy and confused Levar.

“There's a fire coming, everyone is going to help build a firebreak. This is my friend Bearskin, I think I told you about. Honestly, I can’t remember anymore. He’s been drugged asleep with alchemy. I need you to figure out what it was, so we can wake him.”

Levar looked Bearskin over, just as he had the today before.

“I think you best wait it out. It would take me days to figure out what caused his state. He’d be awake by then. Besides, my skills would be more useful aiding those burned by the incoming fire.”

“Ugh,” I groaned in frustration. “Not this again. Levar, what if I told you that none of this mattered?”

I gestured at the chaos around me as I continued.

“What if I told you that no matter what happens today, we will all wake up tomorrow, only it won’t be tomorrow, it will be today again and the only person who will remember will be, a cranky dwarf, and an angry demon.”

Levar stood there in his ridiculous pajamas, staring at me with a tilted head, as if trying to sort out a puzzle written on my face.

After a few seconds, he said, “Unicorn, nirnroot, daisy.”

“What?” I asked, now the confused one.

“If what you said is true, tell me that the next time we have this conversation. But if you tell me again after this moment, I won't believe you. It's a contingency phrase, and I’ve just changed it.”

“A what? You mean like a code for yourself in case—I don’t know,” I paused to think, “Obviously time travel, but maybe also mind control or dopplegangers?”

“Exactly,” he said, excitement visible on his face.

“That's extremely paranoid,” I observed.

“If you tell me this phrase tomorrow, it won’t be the first time it’s come in handy,” he assured me.

"Alright. See you later, I guess. Unicorn, nirnroot, daisy?"

He nodded.

"Daulf is going to set up a tent for the wounded in the market square. Can you send someone to pick up my big friend here after that happens?"

"Oh, this is exciting. I can do that. Any other predictions?" he asked.

"Stew. Lots of stew," I answered then added, "Also don't tell anyone about the time travel thing. There's a powerful individual that doesn't take kindly to that revelation."

"Ooo, ominous. No worries, I won't tell a soul."

I left Levar's feeling somewhat lighter. I hadn't intended to reveal all of that, but in my frustration—and the knowledge that Tilavo was gone—I finally unburdened myself on someone and nothing terrible had happened. Nothing yet, at least.

I met Dagmar and told her what'd just occurred.

"About time you told somebody,” she said. I thought you were being really paranoid until we confirmed that Tilavo was a murderous telepathic dragon. I'd told plenty of people before I met you, they just never believed me."

"I wouldn't believe it, either."

“That Levar seems very paranoid,” Dagmar observed.

“Is it paranoia if it regularly pays off?”

Dagmar shrugged and walked over to the Parlor as we talked. Around us, town guards and Landing soldiers were pulling able-bodied men from the crowds and assigning them work details.

Occasionally we would be approached, but a quick pulse of malice from the Font of Mind dissuaded then. Dagmar tells me that the sensation is mild but unpleasant. Unlikely to dissuade a determined opponent, but sufficient to deter someone pulling random people from a crowd.

We found Trish on the Parlor steps, watching Daulf head towards the square. No matter what occurred, she never seemed to leave the Parlor unless I accompanied her. I hadn't realized before that she was not as attached to the rest of the group as I had grown to be in our time together. What confused me was why she'd grown so attached to me. I vowed to bring it up once she could remember the conversation—probably.

Maybe.

Direct interpersonal conversations were not my strong suit.

"Trish, you wouldn't by chance know how to pick a lock would you?" I asked when I got closer.

She feigned an aghast expression and said in a noble woman's voice, "How dare you accuse me of such vile criminal activity?"

I stared at her without giving her the satisfaction of a reaction.

"You're no fun," she said. "Yeah, I can. Who's your stinky friend?"

"I'm Dagmar. Forgive the appearance, I've had a rough few... months?"

"Please don't talk to her," I said, directing the request to both women. "Let's go."

I led the pair to the building across from the Dragon's Den.

"Dagmar, stay here and watch in case this turns out poorly."

I cast Mage Armor on her as a way for her to know if I've died or not, and Teleported Trish into the room full of chests.

"Whoa," Trish whispered. "What's happening here? When did you learn to do that?"

"Can I explain tomorrow?" I asked.

She thought about it for a few seconds and then nodded.

She drew her lock picks from the inside of her jacket and held them up, asking, "Which of these do you want me to do first?"

I gestured to one at random, and she got to work. There were six locked chests, and she picked them all in under a minute, then stood anxiously waiting to see the contents.

"Go ahead. You do the honors."

She flipped open the first chest, which was packed to the brim with bundles of gold coins.

"Flood me," she whispered.

Eagerly, she went to the next and found it similarly stuffed. A ledger was tacked to the lid of each of these two chests, listing from which noble these coins had been taken from.

Barion has stolen Landings taxes. All the chests were similarly laden, though only the first two contained gold. Barion definitely had some explaining to do.

"Where is this from?" Trish whispered in revenant awe.

"Barion robbed Landing after selling it out to the dragon cult."

"Flood. What are we going to do about it?" she asked.

"Well, today I'm going to break into his room and steal his spellbook. If tomorrow ever comes, we will turn him over to Mobear's men. The evidence is pretty damning. And I haven't even looked through his rooms yet."

"No offense, but maybe I should be the one to look."

"Don't worry," I assured her. "I'm basically immortal."

I Teleported us out to Dagmar and then Blinked across to the Den's roof. The roof was furnished with lacquered wooden furniture and had large canvas sheets hung across in a staggered pattern to shade half of the roof while leaving the other half open to the sun. The sunny side has raised bed gardens full of flowers I couldn't identify. A young man and women were on the eastern edge of the roof watching the advancing fire with rapt attention.

It was for that reason that I made it to the door unobserved. The sole entrance on the roof opened to a stairwell that led straight down. It lacked a wall and I crept down it very carefully. I could hear a discussion below. A man and a woman arguing about their safety in light of the fire.

"We can always escape the town if it should catch fire," the man reassured the woman. "There is a reason we chose this establishment and not the Parlor.”

"You keep saying that, but why can't we at least visit it?" pouted the woman

"I've been advised that would be unwise by a business associate."

"Ugh. Fine, don't tell me. I'm going back to bed. Are you coming?" asked the woman.

"No, I'm going to go to my study. I can't sleep through all this."

I heard two sets of footsteps, one coming towards me, and the other away. The ones leading towards me reached a door sooner, disappearing inside, and I risked a glance down just in time to see the Barion closing the door to his study, granting me a glimpse inside sufficient to Teleport if this all ended horribly.

I tip toed the rest of the way down the steps and crossed the room as quickly as stealth would allow. When I reached the door to the study, I looked through the keyhole, but it was a sophisticated one that had a latch on the inside and only a keyhole on the outside, preventing such snooping.

Slowly, I took a few deep breaths to steady myself and prepared a Mind Spike. I touched the door knob and... woke up in my room to Dagmar's jab.

Riloth the 19th the 350th

"What happened?" she asked.

"I think there was a magical trap."

We headed down to Levar's, discussing our plan along the way.

"Can you dispel it?"

"I never learned that from the spellbook," I answered. We can try baiting Barion to bring out his spellbook, but I'd rather get it without alerting the whole town. I think we need to ask Levar for an extra potion. Did you talk to him after I died?"

"Aye, he said his curiosity got the better of him, and he ruled out his first two suspicions and assured me he would know which two those were if you were in fact a time traveler. He was also a little sad when I told him you'd died.

"Oh, that's kind of sweet," I said, with a slight smile. "I'm glad to know I made an impression."

We broke into Levar's and stole some potions, then I retrieved Bearskin and brought him back inside the shop. Once back, I rang the bell atop his door until the scholarly man came out of the back room.

"What's the meaning of this?" he demanded with uncharacteristic sternness.

"Unicorn, nirnroot, daisy," I said in lieu of an explanation.

"Oh no," Levar said, placing his palm on his forehead. "It isn't memory erasure again, is it? I lost so much progress in my studies the last time."

"No—well sort of," I reassured him. "It's time travel and I need your help."

His face transformed from worry to excited. Clapping both palms together before himself, he said, "Oh, wonderful. That's a new one. What do you need."

I explained Bearskin's condition and the message he'd sent through Dagmar.

"Oh good, I got through two. Let's get right to work."

"Actually," I interrupted him as he began to gather glassware. "I need another potion first. I need to run through the fire outside. Do you have anything I could take for that, which wouldn't react with potions of foregone sleep or clarity?"

"Fire? Oh, that explains the smoke. I assume I don't need to worry about that?" he asked, to which I nodded. "Yes, I have a basic potion of fire resistance that should work."

"Are you sure there won't be side effects?" I pressed him.

"Hmm, I see that you've mixed potions in the past—or future? I wonder, did you steal them, or did I fail to inform you?"

"Both," I answered.

"Well, no hard feelings, right? Here, take this. It will help with the heat, but not the smoke. The only thing I have for that will cause inflation of the brain if mixed with a potion of clarity."

He handed me a red vial that was cool to the touch.

"That will last an hour," he added.

I left Dagmar with Levar to assist and ran with the aid of Wind Run through town to the eastern gates, this time with a satchel full of potions freely given. Dagmar was going to try killing Barion after Levar finished his work. If killing him dispelled the trap in his room it would save a lot of time, but if death dispelled magical traps, adventuring as a whole would be a much safer profession.

Maybe the wizard will just give me his spellbook if I explain all this to him.

I laughed at my own thought and ran on. Once I got to the edge of the firebreak, I took the new potion, which didn't actually taste terrible. The liquid was so cold that I couldn't taste anything at all. A chilly numbness crept through my body, and once complete, I cast Vortex and ran into the oncoming inferno.

It was terrifying at first. I couldn't feel the heat, but my boots slowly caught fire and burned away as I ran through the glowing embers that made up the forest floor. The fire singed the rest of my apparel, but Vortex was effective enough at keeping the heat at bay along with the smoke to prevent me from reaching the Kituh nude.

It took nearly the full hour of the potion for me to find the Kituh entrance, but once I was safely underground, I felt the effects fade.

Fanos and his charge were no problem, and I took the spellbook to the sorcerer infested fortress for further study. I avoided a battle by Teleporting straight into the dwarven fortress below. Will was a commodity I'd need to learn these spells.

Riloth the 19th the 351st-354th

I made good progress on that first day of studying, and expected to have Dispel Magic learned in three to four more days. When I learned Sending, I discovered I had more capacity for spells and that still proved to be true, delaying the hard choice of reallocating my wizard spells.

Dagmar had succeeded in killing Barion the night before. After Levar had finished his day's experiments, he'd brew the dwarf a potion of spider climbing, which she used to sneak into the top floor residence. After killing the corrupt noble, she tried to enter the study but died just as I had.

She reported that Levar had ruled out all the Alchemist Guild’s endorsed recipes and was now working through the common “witch brews.” Potions that worked, but were not recommended for use by the guild for various reasons. Some of which were ethical in respect to the nature of the ingredients.

For the next four days the fires continued to rage against the town and I kept up my daily routine of rescuing Bearskin and learning Dispel Magic. The verbal components were the hardest part, but I'd grown more adept at using them from practice. On the fifth day of learning, I mastered it and practiced Dispelling a Light.

Deep beneath the earth in a forgotten ruin, I spoke out into the empty room, my words echoing off the stone walls, “Bin. Di. P. Sh. Kis. Rich.”

At the last sound, the power of the Font of Barriers flooded through me and out my outstretched palm, snuffing out my Light.