10 Fierdos 1120

The Mask of Diamond Tears

Merkator of Holle and Tolisa Darius found themselves floating in a vast, endless ocean. There was no sun, yet a steady sort of glow seemed to illuminate everything enough to see clearly. There was also no sign of their ship, the Daybreak, or of their companions. There was no visible ocean floor, no clear surface, no way to distinguish up from down; just water and countless sea creatures quietly swimming around and paying no attention whatsoever to the two humanoids in their midst.

Tolisa made an effort to shake off the disorientation she was feeling. For the briefest of moments a flash of panic crossed her mind as she realized she'd forgotten to hold her breath, then she remembered the ring of water breathing she'd bought in Margier and now wore on her left hand. Margier ...

Still working to reassemble her thoughts and memories, Tolisa stepped through the recent events slowly. They had brought the so-called Ghost Ship -- really a remarkably built theurgeme capable of underwater travel and made up with dramatic-looking weeks and a fake mast to appear ghostly and ominous -- to Margier to turn it over to the Merchant's Association for the reward. Their clients seemed relieved, and then intrigued, to learn of the deception and had no idea who the mysterious gnome who had orchestrated the scheme might be (Ghost Ship). So after their celebratory dinner, the group had elected to stay in Margier a little longer and try to get a lead on the gnome.

Instead, they got a different sort of lead. A messenger from the local Adventurers' Guild brought news that a woman named Chandrakar had recently visited the Guild to hire an adventuring party for an excursion to Sauria. Having received a negative report on Chandrakar from the Marhaven chapter, the Guild had turned her away and dispatched a message to W'Illot as requested.

Neither Tolisa nor Merkator had any knowledge of this Chandrakar other than their companions' account of being stranded on a tiny island in the middle of a dead calm after helping her find and retrieve a priceless book (The Island of Castanamir). That was enough to explain their desire to find this woman, so when the rest of the group announced their intention to follow the lead Merkator and Tolisa agreed readily.

Some fast inquiries turned up the information that Chandrakar, after being rebuffed by the guild, had spent a day at a local inn speaking with freelance adventuring groups and, in the end, hired one. They had left that morning aboard the Whisper, a luxury cruiser, bound for Sauria.

The party was a half day behind; with a little magical help they should be able to catch up to the other ship by the time it reached its destination. So Uiq purchased an everfull sail for the ship to boost its speed and the group departed as soon as it was ready, about 8 hours behind the Whisper.

Thanks to the magic sail the Daybreak made impressive speed through the northern sea. On the second night of the journey, however, something had gone very wrong.

Tolisa remembered a heavy shudder and shouts that the ship was under attack. She had grabbed her combat gear, breathed a quick thanks that she didn't need to worry about putting on armor, and gone topsides even as the ship lurched and creaked as if being squeezed by a massive fist.

The comparison turned out to be fairly accurate -- when Tolisa joined her companions on deck she found the ship wrapped in huge tentacles that pulled and squeezed at its structure. One wrapped around the mast and broke it off while other, smaller ones groped around the deck grabbing people and pulling them overboard. And on the opposite end of the ship, she saw two humanoid figures climb over the rail and ready gleaming tridents for battle.

The party had fought and prevailed over a number of more powerful foes, but the five of them and a handful of hired sailors were no match for a kraken. The Daybreak groaned and snapped as the hull ruptured and in a matter of moments the water overcame the decks as the kraken dragged ship and combatants alike under the water.

Tolisa knew that Uiq, Pendrul and W'Illot could not breathe the water and could not escape the kraken's powerful tentacles, but she had no weapon or spell that could free them or defeat the kraken. Merkator had avoided monster's grip thanks to his size and swimming ability; with no way to help anyone else, she and Merkator regretfully fled as fast as they could swim.

It had soon become clear that their best speed was not enough -- the two humanoid warriors spotted Merkator and Tolisa and moved to pursue. Tolisa saw them gaining on her, urged the smaller Merkator to more speed, but feared it was hopeless. Then, from behind the pair, came a huge, speeding, whale-like creature. It was clearly running from the kraken, and just as clearly faster than either Tolisa or the pursuing warriors. Tolisa signalled Merkator to grab on to her and then, as the beast passed, she reached for a massive fin, caught it, and muttered a quick prayer for strength.

The desperation move had worked. Tolisa remembered seeing the warriors grow smaller and smaller as they fell behind. Then there had been a strange sort of tingle, as if she and the creature they rode were enveloped in a strange sort of energy. She recalled a heavy lurching sort of feeling, dizziness, letting go ...

That was all she could remember before waking up here. As Tolisa's head cleared she quickly realized where 'here' was: the Elemental Plane of Water. A place she'd studied, heard stories about, but never before actually visited. A place with no land masses, no fixed settlements, no sky and no ground. That creature they'd ridden away from the kraken, she realized, must have been an elsewhale -- a sea creature that moved frequently between the Material and Water planes. But the creature was long gone; there was no question of a return ride, at least not now.

So she and Merkator took stock of the situation. As the Inner Planes go, they reflected, this was far from the worst place to be stranded. There was plenty of food around, plenty of water, and they could both breathe and move about freely thanks to their aquatic natures and Tolisa's ring. They had most of their must-carry adventuring gear with them.

Most. There was one glaring exception: Tolisa's spellbook, which she normally kept in her cabin on the ship. Without that she could not recover spells, and she'd already used a number of her allotment in the battle with the kraken. Somehow she would need to replace that vital resource, and soon.

For a while, though, even that consideration took a back seat to basic survival. Tolisa and Merkator set about getting oriented to their new environment -- learning where they could safely hunt and camp, which creatures were disposed to be friendly, and which were best avoided. They fell in with a friendly band of tritons who gave them plenty of advice on getting by and getting around. Their suggestion was that the pair make for the City of Glass, a metropolis built inside a floating glass ball said to be unbreakable. The City, they explained, was built as a trading hub and was known for being hospitable to air-breathers and to outsiders of all types. If there was any place on this plane where they might find a magical library and a way to return to their home, it would be the City of Glass.

With the tritons' help the heroes found the City of Glass -- no small feat in a world where everything, even a glass-enclosed metropolis, floats with the currents -- and entered through one of the many gates. Merkator and Tolisa were passed back and forth between a number of officials of the bureaucracy until, many hours later, they found themselves on the street with provisional visas, which would allow them to move about and seek employment in the City, and directions to the refugee hostels where they could find food and shelter.

Neither of the pair was particularly adept at gathering information -- that had typically been handled by the more sociable, charismatic types in the party -- but they did manage to get the name of a possible contact: Cydrin, curator of the city's Museum of Arcana. Sources suggested that while most of the City's arcane libraries are closed to those who lack serious funds or impressive credentials, Cydrin might be persuaded to grant Tolisa access to the Museum's research library for a more modest fee.

Persuasion is also a talent that neither Tolisa nor Merkator possessed in any great degree, but with no better option apparent they sought out Cydrin and tried their best. They found the curator, a half-aquatic-elf woman of plain but pleasing appearance and some maturity, in a bit of a distracted mood. That may have helped, as Cydrin paid only scant attention to Tolisa's tale before agreeing to a trade of some manual labor -- cleaning out storerooms -- in exchange for access to the library.

Tolisa spent a half day at work, with Merkator helping, and was rewarded with a half day in the library. Cydrin did not leave the pair unattended. A lean, muscular aquatic elf woman in shining armor made from the scales of an exotic sea creature stayed with them and paid close attention to their acts and conversations. The woman, Tana Brightwave, was a trusted friend of Cydrin's who worked for the Museum as a security consultant.

As Tolisa looked through the library's collection Tana asked them questions about their experiences and abilities. They in turn asked about Cydrin, the Museum, and the City. To Tolisa and Merkator it was clear they were being evaluated.

Thus it was no surprise the next day when Cydrin asked Tolisa if she and her friend would be willing to undertake something more challenging, and possibly dangerous, than cleaning out storerooms.

Some weeks before, Cydrin explained, a team of scholars working for the Museum of History had discovered the ruins of a great pyramid structure on the Astral Plane. It had once been home to a community of ethereal beings called the ken-zai, or ethergaunts, a powerful race that had fallen to near extinction in a previous age. The ruin had been largely gutted already. The scholars found lots of worthless shards of pottery and rusted bits of metal, but hidden deep in the structure they also found a pristine mask encrusted with diamonds: a mask of diamond tears. Being historians (Cydrin said with a snort), they leapt to the conclusion that the mask had been used in funeral rights and had it taken to the Museum. Cydrin, on the other hand, had a little bit of knowledge of the ken-zai and suspected the mask was a powerful magic item. It had taken a lot of maneuvering and subtle persuasion, but she had convinced the Museum to loan the mask to the Museum of Arcana so that Cydrin could study it. However, the mask was stolen in transit and so far the city guard had not recovered it. Cydrin feared the mask may never surface and offered Tolisa and Merkator free use of the Museum's resources if they could recover the mask.

The heroes readily agreed to undertake the mission. Tana also signed on for the mission, both to act as Cydrin's agent and to provide some combat expertise should it become necessary. Cydrin gave them what information she had and suggested they contact Captain Varina Talos of the city guard for more details.

With Cydrin's initial briefing supplemented by information supplied by an aide to Captain Talos (the Captain herself being unavailable), the party assembled a good idea of how the events had unfolded. A trusted courier had picked up the mask from the history museum and then traveled across town to Chateau Tannenbaum, the home of a local art patron and collector named Thaddius Tannenbaum. There the courier's wagon was loaded with a donation for Cydrin's collection: a life-sized statue of a human female in leathers. A short time later, the driver was attacked from behind and knocked unconscious. When he came to both the mask and the statue were gone. Captain Talos had questioned the driver extensively and was satisfied that he was not complicit in the crime.

Tana's mind leapt to Thaddius Tannenbaum. She knew that Tannenbaum, a well-known womanizer with just a hint of shadiness to his reputation, had been dating Cydrin prior to the theft and ignored her since that incident. Even Cydrin herself, infatuated though she was with Tannenbaum, was beginning to suspect she had been duped. After a brief consultation the group asked where they might find Captain Talos and learned she was having dinner at the Sylvan Standard, an exclusive restaurant just off the central government district.

They found the restaurant easily enough, but getting in would be more difficult. The insufferably snooty maitre d' informed the party that Captain Talos had not yet arrived, but that even if she had it would be unthinkable to allow her to be accosted by low adventurers in the dining hall. Tolisa and Merkator's best diplomatic efforts could not even gain them a second answer, but Tana was in no mood for arrogant snobs: she spoke a few quiet, well-chosen, intimidating words into the maitre d's ear that caused him to momentarily drop his haughty manner and then grudgingly permit the party to wait inside near the kitchen.

At eight o'clock, there was a boom and a bright flash of light at the restaurant lobby. A brief sound of singing angels heralded the arrival of a handsome man in his mid 40's dressed in rich crimson robes. With him was a very attractive woman in a slinky red evening gown. Tana recognized the man as Thaddius Tannenbaum and began to bristle at the sight of him being escorted by a now-fawning maitre d' to one of the best tables in the room.

With Tana in the lead the party approached Tannenbaum's table. They paid little attention to his date other than to note that she seemed high-class and, from a look at her dress, was clearly not carrying any concealed weapons. Tana pulled up a chair and presumed to sit down between Thaddius and his date. In tones that oozed contempt for the man, she inquired about the mask of diamond tears and about the statue he had lost in the same theft.

If Thaddius was intimidated he did an excellent job of hiding it. His manner remained calm, polite, and ever so slightly dismissive in the face of Tana's questioning. His date also kept calm and quiet even when Tana began making disparaging remarks about her age and looks. Thaddius cut the encounter short by suggesting that Tana and her friends visit his chateau the following evening. The group accepted the offer just as the restaurant's well-muscled bouncers closed in. The maitre d' remarked that since the group had now had their meeting with Captain Talos they should take this opportunity to leave immediately.

Tolisa smacked her head at the realization that Tannenbaum's date, whom Tana had thoroughly insulted, was Captain Varina Talos. Clearly getting any further assistance from the city guard would be out of the question. The only thing they could do next was look for the mask at Chateau Tannenbaum. Fortunately, they now had an invitation from the master of the house himself.

At seven the next evening the group approached Chateau Tannenbaum. They noted the exquisite carved stonework decorating the house from stairs to roof. Merkator kept a detect magic spell running and noted that there were magical auras everywhere. The house was well lit and the sounds of music and laughter carried out to the party's ears.

They knocked on the front door and were admitted by an impeccably dressed butler. He asked the party's names, heraldry, homelands, and notable deeds and waited patiently while the group scrambled for something impressive to give him. Finally he announced the new arrivals and, after some polite applause from the other guests, retreated and left them in the ballroom.

Merkator's detect magic spell almost overloaded in the ballroom -- it seemed as though practically everything and everyone in the place exuded magic. Trying to isolate a particular aura was like listening for a specific bassoon in a 100-piece orchestra. He began to wonder if the luxurious Chateau Tannenbaum was nothing more than a run-down shack shrouded in grand illusions.

A pair of attractive elven dancing girls flanked the party and began to dance around them. Merkator was watching them dance when he felt the sharp sting of a throwing knife entering his back. He turned to look for the source of the attack but saw only dancing men and women everywhere. Behind him the dancing girls shimmered and transformed into hideous four-armed creatures with short swords in their claws.

Tolisa grabbed the one tanglefoot bag she had with her and threw it at the horror in front of her. Her knowledge of the planes told her that the creatures were xill, vicious warriors native to the Ethereal Plane but commonly seen elsewhere. The bag landed with a splat but the xill managed to avoid most of the sticky goo.

Merkator tried a new spell, greater enlarge person. He grew two size categories instantly and drew his magic scythe, looking for his assailant in the crowd. He spied a humanoid figure with silvery skin and swung his scythe at him without success.

Tana also looked for the knife-thrower but was unable to see him right away as he hid among the partygoers, who seemed completely oblivious to the combat taking place among them. She felt the bite of a thrown knife and, lacking the originator, took out her frustration on the nearest xill instead. Her bladed gauntlets sliced through the creature several times. Merkator added a deific vengeance spell that slew the weakened creature.

The elusive silver-skinned man harassed the group quite successfully, alternating his sneak attacks between the three of them and remaining well hidden in the crowd. Tana thought it odd that nobody was screaming in fear or running from the fight and then realized why -- the party itself was an illusion. With that realization the image of the crowd faded for Tana and she was able to spot the silvery man hovering near the stage. She charged him and struck him with a blade only to watch him step into a mirror as if it were an open doorway and vanish. She moved to join Tolisa and was struck again as the man emerged from a different mirror and threw a knife without warning.

Meanwhile, Merkator was having a frustrating exchange of blows with the final xill. Despite his increased size -- or perhaps because of it -- he found himself missing time and again with his blade. The enemy ignored him and grabbed onto Tolisa, grappling her and then biting to deliver its paralyzing poison. Tolisa managed to resist the effect and break free of the creature's grip, then Merkator finally landed a good blow to kill it.

The silver man did not reappear. The heroes considered breaking all of the mirrors in the room, but Tolisa suspected this would not help. From her planar studies she suspected the man was a varoot, a native of the Plane of Mirrors. Breaking the mirrors in the ballroom might prevent him from returning to that room easily but wouldn't stop him from emerging from any other mirror anywhere else.

Not surprisingly, the obvious attempt on their lives made the group eager to locate their absentee host. They made their way through the house, passing through the kitchen and a servant's hall, until they found a room filled with exquisite paintings hanging on the walls and on a number of large square columns evenly spread throughout. From there they wandered into an exhibit hall filled with oversized skeletons and glass display cases containing art treatures and souveniers from Tannenbaum's travels. There, boldly displayed in the middle of a glass case, was a mask encrusted with diamonds. It matched Cydrin's description of the mask of diamond tears.

The group discussed breaking open the case to take the mask but were interrupted by the sudden appearance before them of Thaddius Tannenbaum himself. Thaddius told the party they had worn out their welcome and demanded that they leave his chateau immediately. For answer, Tana held out a bladed gauntlet and challenged Thaddius to make them leave. Tannenbaum sighed, said, "It truly pains me to have to do this," and snapped his fingers.

Instantly, the life-sized statue of a 12-headed cryohydra that had dominated that end of the room turned to flesh and roared in anger at the group. Tannenbaum disappeared and left them to face his monster.

Tolisa calculated the odds that an accomplished illusionist, as Tannenbaum appeared to be, would risk having an actual 12-headed cryohydra in his home and setting it loose among his prized treasures. Not very likely, she concluded. Sure enough, when the hydra unleashed its freezing breath it had no affect on her at all. She quickly communicated this to Merkator and Tolisa and in moments the creature vanished completely.

An examination of the mask in the display case proved disappointing. While it certainly looked like a valuable item, Tolisa detected that it was nothing more than a shiny replica of the original, probably made with a fabricate spell. They left the fake mask in disgust and went looking for the real thing.

They had seen stairs off the kitchen and followed them down to the wine cellar. The wines at least were real enough, and quite expensive. Tana briefly entertained the idea of smashing the bottles out of spite but got no further than opening one of the oak barrels in a corner of the room when her eye noted a discoloration in the wall. She felt around, found a hidden catch, and opened the secret panel in the wall.

On the other side they found Thaddius Tannenbaum -- in fact, they found nine Thaddius Tannenbaums! They were massed around a card table in the middle of the smallish laboratory, most of the copies apparently watching two of their number play a few hands of cards. All wore the exact same crimson robes that they had seen on Tannenbaum in the restaurant and in the trophy room.

All nine Tannenbaums turned in unison as Tana entered the room. She had had quite enough of the illusionist's tricks; without so much as a word she lashed out with her gauntlets and attacked four separate Tannenbaums. Each recoiled from the blow and then vanished into thin air.

Tolisa recognized the signs of a mirror image spell and thought of a fast way to get rid of the images. She stepped into the room, turned so that only Tana would be out of the affect area, and cast steam breath. A cone of piping hot steam filled the area where the Tannenbaums were. There was a brief chorus of cries and whe the steam dissipated all of the Tannenbaums were gone. The group found three puddles of water on the floor with little remnants of melting ice and snow in them, which told Tolisa that none of the Thaddius figures had been real. Three were simulacra, physical duplicates of Thaddius created by the simulacrum spell, and the rest had been mirror images.

A quick look around turned up one more oddity: two water-filled chambers, each of which held what appeared to be a body. One was a male who looked very much like Thaddius Tannenbaum; another was a red-haired female human whose face reminded the group of one of the portraits in the gallery. The bodies had to be clones -- magically-created duplicates of Thaddius and the woman that would receive their souls and come to life instantly if either of them was killed violently.

The party talked Tana out of vandalizing the simulacrum mold or the clone bodies and instead resumed their search for Thaddius and the real mask of diamond tears. They searched the laboratory and found what looked like an emergency kit of sorts: a spellbook, a fully-charged wand of dispel magic, and a sum of money neatly tucked away under the false bottom of a tool chest. They pocketed those items and headed upstairs for the top floor of the chateau.

As they approached one of the upstairs bedrooms the sounds of combat reached the party's ears. Tolisa looked out an open window and saw two women, both red-haired and well muscled, fighting each other on the roof. One wore leather armor and fought with a staff while the other wore no armor and fought monk-style with fists and feet, but aside from that the two could have been twins. Tana's first thought -- that someone was training a simulacrum -- was quickly disproven by closer study. The women fought with intensity and while they were clearly aware of the group's approach neither acknowledged them. This was mortal combat.

The party watched the two women exchange vicious blows until the bruised and battered rogue delivered a stunning blow with her staff that put the monk down. She drew a dagger and prepared to deliver a coup de gras but Tana stepped in to intercede. The woman looked up at Tana and told her to stay out of it, but Tana attacked to try and stop the woman from killing her unconscious enemy. The rogue absorbed the blow, insisted that "it's her or me," and killed the monk anyway.

From her looks and equipment, this was clearly the woman the party had seen in the gallery portrait. Tana further surmised that she was also the "statue" that had vanished along with the mask of diamond tears. A short interrogation confirmed this.

The woman's name was Desdemona, she told them. Years ago Thaddius had caught her trying to steal from his trophy room and, impressed by her skills at such a young age, had informally adopted her and furthered her training. She had stolen the mask for him, as the party suspected, but neither she nor Thaddius had actually understood the item's power. It wasn't until a strange creature calling himself SkreetVeet had come around seeking to buy the mask that they began to get a feel for how dangerous an item it really was. SkreetVeet had persuaded Thaddius to show him the mask and then used it somehow to create the monk -- an exact duplicate of Desdemona, he said, drawn from an alternate reality via the Plane of Mirrors. The duplicate had called herself Ravenclaw and pretended to be friendly at first, but Desdemona's instincts told her to be careful. Thaddius got the mask away from SkreetVeet and put it away in a special hiding place, but SkreetVeet and Ravenclaw both disappeared through a nearby mirror. Then Ravenclaw reappeared and tried to kill Desdemona, saying it was the only way Ravenclaw could have a real existence in this world.

Now that her evil twin was dead, Desdemona's only concern was to find Thaddius and protect him from the mirror creature SkreetVeet. She assured the party that if they helped in this she would ensure that Thaddius gave them the mask; neither of them had any desire to keep it now that its nature was known to them. The party agreed and Desdemona led them to Tannenbaum's chambers.

Inside they found Thaddius -- the real Thaddius this time -- frantically ransacking his own closet. The mask was gone, he moaned to them. He'd hidden it in a secret compartment in the closet, where he normally kept his best jewelry. There was a small vanity mirror in the compartment; Thaddius suspected SkreetVeet had figured that out and managed to reach through it and steal the mask.

As Thaddius explained his interactions with SkreetVeet, a silvery arm appeared from inside the mirror behind him and stabbed Thaddius in the back. The blow was devastating but not lethal; Merkator was able to cast a cure serious wounds and restore Thaddius to stable condition. He cast a quick locate object on the mask and told the party that it, and therefore SkreetVeet, was in the observatory. Desdemona led the way to a hidden door in another closet, behind which a ladder led up to the observatory.

The party was clearly expected. SkreetVeet stood there watching the hatch open, standing next to a floor-length dressing mirror, while the party entered the observatory. Tana entered first and took a position on the floor. As she moved, a figure appeared out of the mirror and faced against her: another Tana, pulled from some alternate reality. She was dressed in monk's robes and had a nasty scar on her neck, but was otherwise identical to Tana.

Tolisa came forward and positioned herself for spellcasting. As she did, a duplicate Tolisa emerged from the mirror and stood before her. This Tolisa wore leather armor and carried a sickle.

Merkator entered the observatory and was joined by his own image from the mirror. This alternate Merkator wore black robes and carried an arcane spell component pouch.

Finally, Desdemona entered the room and closed the hatch behind her. No alternate Desdemona came out; Ravenclaw was already dead.

Desdemona started the combat with a leap and a mighty swing of her quarterstaff. Her target was the mirror and she smashed the glass into a hundred tiny shards. SkreetVeet screamed and retaliated with a tumbling knife thrust that hit Desdemona squarely in the abdomen. Already weak from her fight with Ravenclaw, she passed out and hit the floor.

The rest of the party engaged their opposites. Tana traded blows with the alternate Tana while Merkator tried casting bestow curse on his counterpart but failed to make the spell stick. His double responded with a necromantic attack of his own, vampiric touch, that stole some of Merkator's strength to enhance himself. Tolisa protected herself with scales of the lizard while the alternate Tolisa cast vigor, a divine spell, on herself.

With Desdemona bleeding to death on the floor and his escape route smashed to pieces, SkreetVeet sought to get away from the combat while the party was occupied. He moved carefully around the combatants and circled around to the hatch. Before he could open it, however, Merkator cast greater enlarge person on himself and planted a now-large foot on top of the hatch. SkreetVeet was not nearly strong enough to move an ogre-sized halfling with muscle; effectively trapped, he had no choice but to fight.

Tolisa went on the offensive with an ice knife aimed at the armored Tolisa. She missed the mark but the knife shattered against the wall behind its target and dealt cold damage anyway. Desdemona, alive but fading, was also harmed by the blast. The alternate Tolisa responded with a saltray that stunned Tolisa briefly. The two Tanas continued trading blows, with the real Tana seeming to gain a slight edge. Merkator raised his scythe for a strike against SkreetVeet only to have the handle twist and attack him instead -- his double, clearly a necromancer, had cast backbiter on it. The dark little halfling laughed at Merkator's surprise and pain and tried to follow up with a ray of enfeeblement but lost the spell to an attack of opportunity from Merkator.

Desdemona bled her last drops and died among the shards of the broken mirror. With Tolisa stunned, the alternate Tolisa moved and cast bull's strength on the monk Tana. SkreetVeet gave up struggling with the hatch and attacked Merkator with his punching dagger. Merkator took the hit and cast a cure spell on himself even as he noted his opposite conjuring up a spectral hand to deliver more touch spells.

Tolisa recovered her wits and lobbed a flask of alchemical fire at her double. The flask burst and burned the alternate Tolisa, prompting her to cast cloudburst to fill the room with rain and extinguish the flames. Merkator called forth a spiritual weapon to harass the necromancer, who responded with a wracking touch delivered by the spectral hand that wounded Merkator.

The now-stronger monk, though bleeding herself, was landing more powerful blows on Tana and both appeared to be losing strength quickly. Tana got a healing spell from Merkator and the evil Tana was healed by her druid companion, alternate Tolisa. The real Tolisa used the dispel magic wand from the lab to get rid of the spectral hand threat, prompting the fake Merkator to protect himself with a shield spell. When Tolisa then dispelled the shield, the little halfling responded with a vampiric touch against Tolisa.

The druid Tolisa saw the exchange between Tolisa, Merkator and the necromancer Merkator and charged her counterpart with sickle in hand. Merkator took an attack of opportunity, however, and his oversized scythe stopped the druid in her tracks. With his spiritual weapon continuing to harass his double, Merkator cast light of lunia and released a ray of damaging positive energy against SkreetVeet, who was continuing to poke at Merkator with his punching dagger in an attempt to get him to move off the hatch. Tana landed another hit on her opposite but then got knocked back by a successful Stunning Fist attack that left her dazed for a moment.

A sudden thunderclap sounded and a flash of light burst from the area near the broken mirror. When the light faded a lone figure was now visible in the space where it had been: Desdemona, wearing an oversized nightshirt clearly taken from Tannenbaum's closet, now stood next to her dead body. She grabbed the quarterstaff from her own dead hands and readied it for combat.

Tolisa threw her last spell -- another ice knife -- at the alternate Tolisa, who in turn tried animate water on the puddle of water caused by her earlier cloudburst. The water animated but it failed to harm Tolisa. The Merkator double, seeing a fresh victim with no armor, used a vampiric touch on Desdemona. It worked, but she immediately retorted with two hard blows from her staff that put the necromancer on the floor, unconscious and helpless. Merkator took great pleasure in performing a coup de gras on his double with his spiritual weapon.

Tana recovered and countered with two devastating hits on the evil Tana. The monk tried to come back with another Stunning Fist but failed to connect, and was now clearly losing the fight. Tolisa was out of offensive spells, so she ran to the dead body of Desdemona and borrowed a couple of the rogue's throwing daggers to hurl at SkreetVeet while Merkator turned his spiritual weapon on the alternate Tolisa.

Desdemona swarmed in on the alternate Tolisa and knocked her unconscious with blows from her staff, again leaving it to Merkator's spiritual weapon to deliver the killing stroke. Tana landed one more telling strike and opened the throat of her counterpart with a fatal slash, then turned her attentions to SkreetVeet. The silvery man was no match for the group; Tana wounded him and Merkator closed in for the fatal blow, a little payback for numerous annoying dagger thrusts endured over the course of the battle.

While Desdemona reclaimed her clothing and gear from her dead body, the party searched the remains of their opposites. They found quite an assortment of useful magic items and a modest amount of coin to compensate them. Meanwhile, Desdemona explained that when she had died in the battle her soul had automatically transferred to the clone body in the laboratory. She awakened there and immediately ran upstairs again to Thaddius, who lent her the shirt and then used dimension door to put her back in the observatory next to her gear to continue the fight.

Thaddius himself ascended to the observatory once the battle was clearly over. The group found him almost amusingly preoccupied with what they intended to tell the authorities; clearly that was are more important to him than the mask itself. Ultimately the group agreed not to take the mask and deliver it to Cydrin without revealing exactly where they had found it or by whom it had been stolen. In return Thaddius gave them the money, spellbook, and equipment they found in the lab and promised to dispose of the bodies of the mirror duplicates once the party was done helping themselves to the spoils.

Cydrin was so relieved to have the mask for study that she was content not to ask too many questions about where or how the party had retrieved it. She helped Tolisa to assemble a new spell book from the Museum's research library, but then suggested that perhaps she and Merkator would consider staying on in the City of Glass for a while. They did think about it, but ultimately the need to find out what had become of the rest of their party was more important. Cydrin understood this and, when they were ready, used a gate scroll to open a portal into the Adventurers' Guild house in Marhaven.

Tolisa and Merkator said their goodbyes to Cydrin and Desdemona, but not to Tana. Instead, she surprised them both by declaring her intention to join them in Marhaven. Tana had unfinished business on the Material Plane, she explained, and it was time to put it to rest. Merkator and Tolisa were delighted to have her join them, especially when part of Tana's business turned out to be looking up an old army buddy by the name of Quinn.

The three stepped through the gate and let it close behind them.

<MR>
1/4/2007

Note: This adventure was adapted from The Mask of Diamond Tears by Nicolas Logue, which appeared in issue 143 of Dungeon magazine.