Year 88.2

  *As the summer hits, the Brair Patch has a swell in Brairling sightings. The party has made their way deeper into the Abyss, where Rodick holds Pts and Spt on each of his shoulders since they’re the only two who can’t see.*

  Pts: I see something up ahead.

  Spt: Yeah. Looks like a fire and shadows moving around.

  Rodrick: Emma.

  Emma:*Stealthed* All ready on it.

  *Emma approaches the light for the party to find what looks like a house. She watches for the shadows, a torch with moths fluttering around it. The house has no windows, but a chimney with smoke billows out.*

  Emma: *Softly* Should we just go up and knock?

  *The door opens, and Emma watches, waiting for someone or something to walk out. Lily lets out a low growl from Emma’s shoulder, and Emma swears she saw the house turn slightly.*

  Emma(TL): What is it?

  Lily: That house. It radiates evil.

  *Emma uses her soul sight on the house and is overwhelmed by negative emotions. Returning to the party, Emma looks to the others with a look of confusion.*

  Rodrick: Well?

  Emma: I-I don’t know. I know we should avoid the house. Lily said it radiates evil.

  *Rodrick and Canda nod at each other.*

  Canda: Should we deal with it or avoid it?

  Emma: I know a lot of monsters and entities, but what is it that you two think we might want to avoid it. Especially Raging Rodrick over there.

  Rodrick: Ever heard of a Monster house?

  *Emma and the gnomes shake their heads.*

  Lily, Rodrick, and Canda: Mimics.

  Emma: That whole house?!

  Rodrick: Yeah. Lycaris gets them once every few hundred years. An adventurer mistakenly takes a full mimic home. When it gets hungry, it slowly eats the house and the contents, replacing it with Smaller Organs that act like Mimics, but we have to kill the Organs to kill the Mimic.

  Emma: *Raises eyebrow* Mimics fear fire. There is a torch out front, still lit.

  Rodrick: Then we should be safe as long as we avoid it. You can starve them out if you were to place a fire and maintain it.

  Emma: Okay. Should we check on the torch then? To make sure it still has enough fuel.

  Canda: That’s not a bad Idea.

  Pts: Okay, but which way was it?

  Emma: *turns around.* What do you? Uh oh.

  *The sound of creaking wood echoes all around the party.*

  Canda: Pts. Help me sustain a barrier. The smaller the better.

  Pts: Smaller? Won’t that make it easier to eat us?!

  *Rodrick grins, his eyes glow in the darkness as he gets excited for the fight to come.*

  Rodrick: That’s the point.

  Party: What?!

  *The creaking comes from above as light pokes through, highlighting the party. In the blink of an eye, Emma looks up and watches the mimic crashing into the ground, devouring them all.*

  *Inside, the Mimic looks like a normal house. Emma stands up and looks to Rodrick.*

  Rodrick: Emma, let us know when it’s been ten. Every ten minutes. We have forty minutes to get out, or we’re fucked.

  Pts: Um. Gnomes can’t last that long.

  *Rodrick places the two on his shoulders again.*

  Rodrick: Yeah, but you two are safe until I drop. *Smiles*

  *A scream comes from upstairs in the two-story building.*

  Emma: There wasn’t an upstairs when I looked.

  Rodrick: That’s normal. The largest I’ve seen was about this size. Meaning if it’s anywhere like the last one, the scream is to pull us from the vitals and attract us to its stomach.

  Emma: You’re unusually knowledgeable about all this. *Squints*

  Canda: He used to help locate and remove them.

  Rodrick: It pays well, but sending a team to check every house in Lycaris was not exactly worth our time and funds. Now we send adventurers.

  Emma: How is that any cheaper?

  *A voice comes from upstairs.*

  Voice: Please. Help me.

  *Emma steps toward the stairs, and Rodrick stops her with a hand on her shoulder.*

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  Emma: I understand, but I know Lily would be upset with me if I didn’t confirm.

  *Pts hops on Emma’s shoulders.*

  Emma: You could’ve asked!

  Pts: *Turns to the others* I’ll go with Emma in case it's someone.

  Rodrick: *Sigh* Okay. But find us again before the first check-in. Our voices might not carry through the halls.

  *Emma nods before slowly walking up the stairs.*

  Lily: Can’t you just burn all of this?

  Emma: Hey, Pts. Why can’t we burn the inside out? Lily was asking.

  *Pts looks at Lily on Emma’s head.*

  Pts: That’s because Mimic's blood is flammable.

  Emma:*stops at the top of the stairs.* Wait, wouldn’t that mean it would be a good idea?

  Pts: Sure, the Briair Patch guard would also thank your next of kin for clearing out the Brairlings permanently.

  Emma: That big? *Eyes widen.*

  Pts: Maybe not, but I’ve heard Rodrick talk about his time exploding mimics. And gnomes have used them as makeshift explosives in the past.

  Emma: Fair enough.

  *Upstairs, a hallway with four doors, two on each side, and an opening at the end. The voice calls out again.*

  Voice: Anyone? Help!

  Emma: I can’t tell where it’s coming from. And I don’t feel safe moving forward up here if it is trapped… We should also let Rodrick know it’s been an

  Pts: Lets at least open the doors. We can open them from the side in case anything jumps out.

  *Rodrick and the others can be heard faintly in the distance.*

  Rodrick: It’s been a while since I’ve had to fight an Ice box! *Laughs* Bring it!

  *Emma opens the first door. After a moment of silence, she peeks around the corner, an empty room with a set of closed curtains presumably covering a window. Emma throws one of her knives in the room. After a moment, she enters to receive it. Pts hops down when she leans over.*

  Emma: I thought it wasn’t safe for gnomes?

  Pts: I don’t feel the draw up here, so I think it’s the closer we are to the stomach.

  *Pts opens the curtain, and a giant eye focuses on her. The room quickly melds into flesh. Emma grabs Pts and uses a gust of wind to push them out of the room, but they fly into the other room, similar to the last, but this time, a grand piano rests beneath the window.*

  Emma: Wait. Pts. Can you play?

  Pts: Is this really the time for that? I mean, yeah, a little. Mostly just slow lullabies.

  Emma: Great! Lily guard Pts, I’m going to create a wind current to amplify your performance.

  *Emma places Pts on the seat of the Piano, and it shrinks to an appropriate size. One of the key lifts to reveal an eye, Pts looks at Emma in fear. Then plays a note, and the eye slowly retreats.*

  Emma: I heard a story once of a mimic that took the form of a flute. All because it wanted to be played. Keep playing. I’ll work on keeping the rest at bay while spreading it on the winds.

  *PTS nods to Emma before playing a very soft melody.*

  Lily: Be careful.

  Emma: *Grins* Of course.

  *Emma steps out of the room and notices the other room has gone back to normal.*

  Emma thinking: Something doesn’t add up. Unless someone else lulled it to sleep before. And that’s why the torch was there.

  Voice: Hello?

  *Emma opens the next room, iand t growls until Pts hits her next key. When reaching the next door, Emma can’t get it to open. She uses all her might, but it won’t budge.*

  Emma: Hello? If anyone is on the otherside of this door, stand back! I’m going to break it down with magic!

  *Emma lays her hand on the door, and it slowly covers in frost, until the door itself freezes. She then bashes the door with a blast of wind, shattering it. The room is empty, but Emma can hear crying.*

  Emma: I can hear you crying. Where are you?

  *Emma starts to step forward, but feels something preventing her from moving forward. As if her body is telling her to stop. She stands there looking down, a hole in her chest. She coughs up blood and falls over. As she falls to the ground, Lily collapses as well, and Pts calls to Emma. When there’s no response, she pokes out of the room. Emma dusts herself off. Her eyes are closed as she sighs, looking at her chest where the hole has healed, but her armor is still*

  Emma?: Great, now I need a replacement. Eliza!

  *The doorway next to Emma shines bright before creating a door that opens swiftly. Elizabeth walks out and prevents another hole in Emma as a Mimic uses a spear-like appendage with a parasol she pulled from what seemed like nothingness. Emma stretches, and when she opens her eyes, to reveal they’re glowing purple.*

  Emma?: It’s been a while since we had a veiled moon.

  Pts: Emma? Lily collapsed.

  *Emma looks at Pts and smiles.*

  Emma?: She’s fine. Now. *Looks at mimic.* How should I deal with this thing? Eliza, can you fix me up some armor? Just bring it to me when the Jade is gone.

  Elizabeth: Understood. *Bows*

  Pts: Who’s she? Eliza? Is she the one who was calling for us?

  Emma?: *Pause* Yep.

  *Rodrick and Canda run upstairs, both covered in blood. Spt is strapped to Rodricks' back with a scarred gash across his chest. Emma looks at her hand with confusion.*

  Emma?: Hmmm. I can’t seem to cast anything here. Oh well. Eliza, deal with the core Mimic as well, please. I’ll attend to the others.

  Elizabeth: *Beeps* Understood. Initiating killer instinct.

  *Elizabeth’s feet retreat into her legs, replacing them with jets of fire as she flies toward the Mimic. Emma walks over to Lily, and as she places her hand on Lily, Lily’s Purple hue grows stronger. An explosion comes from the room Elizabeth charged into, and the building begins to collapse. Rodrick stands up and pulls out Pts and Spt from the rubble. Canda crawls out and shakes herself off like a cat out of water.*

  Rodrick: Where’s Emma?

  *The party looks around and calls out.*

  Everyone: Emma! Lily!

  *A mound forms in the center of the rubble, and the party unsheathes their weapons as a large four-legged feline steps out. Pts looks into the creature's eyes.*

  Pts: Lily?

  *The creature chirps, revealing it to be Lily. Emma rests on her back, unconscious. Pts runs over and sunggles up to Lily before checking on Emma. The rest of the party walks toward them, and Spt notices something in the center of the rubble.*

  Pts: Emma seems fine, just exhausted. But Lily! You’re so. So big!

  Canda: I asked Emma once about Lily’s size because I heard the Night Warden rode their spirit. She said she didn’t know how to fix her.

  *Pts lifts Emma’s eyelid to see her green eyes, the purple hue completely faded into the darkness of her pupil.*

  Pts: Huh. I could’ve sworn that her eyes were purple during that.

  Spt: Hey! You! Guys!

  *The party looks over to see Spt standing in a purple moonlit spotlight and a glowing flower in a flowerpot.*

  Spt: I think the Mimic dropped it. Isn’t this our flower?

  *Canda zooms over and lifts the flower, inspecting it’s etheral like petals, the pollen looks crystallized as it juts out of the stem, each gathering moonlight to increase the glow.*

  Canda: This is it! *Turns around* Rodrick! This is the flower!

  Rodrick: Good. I’m not sure I can take another Brairroot.

  Pts: We all agreed, you caused the first one, so you were responsible.

  Spt: Yeah, and afterwards, you were the only one who knew how to deal with one, and we figured we’d be in the way.

  *A low rumble comes from Rodrick as he growls and squints at the two.*

  Rodrick: Either way. Let’s head into town until Emma recovers. It would make getting home a lot easier.

  *The party returns to the Adventuring town and rests up for the night. Emma wakes up around noon the next day to a letter on the table. Both Pts and Canda sleep away, so Emma gets up and prepares the cart while Lily explains what she remembers while resting on Emma’s ear in disguise.*

  Lily: I came back too right as the fight was over.

  Emma: I remember I was checking the doors, then I felt a sharp pain.

  *Emma looks at her chest and notices the stitching seems different.*

  Emma: I just realized, *Looks all over herself* My armor seems more snug. But it also looks repaired. And it feels lighter.

  *Emma does some squats and jumping jacks, testing out her armor. *

  Emma: I’ll ask the others when they wake up. For now, for now lets go order breakfast for everyone.

  Lily: *Chirps* Yay!