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Post by Diocles on May 29, 2021 22:03:51 GMT
I drain my first mug of ale. "It is good to be back in Nirrion. Arinport scorched me, and I thought I might burst into flames had I stayed any longer." I look around at my drinking companions and cock an eyebrow. "But we return to a city infested with doppelgangers!" My fist pounds the table.
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Post by Sir Roland Desprez on May 29, 2021 22:11:03 GMT
"Infested with dopplegangers? Why do you say so?"
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Post by Diocles on May 29, 2021 22:13:32 GMT
"Ah yes, Shepherd, we'd already dropped you off at home! We encountered a doppelganger later that night. It assumed Assentus' shape, but that worthy legionnaire and I slaughtered it before it could escape!"
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Post by Sir Roland Desprez on May 29, 2021 22:20:37 GMT
"Anthiel's syphilitic . . . a doppleganer! Here?!?"
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Post by Diocles on May 29, 2021 22:54:52 GMT
"Of course! They live in your shifting shadow, as I told you!"
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Post by Storyteller on May 30, 2021 0:39:20 GMT
.
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Post by Sir Roland Desprez on May 30, 2021 1:20:30 GMT
"Jund, you're going to have to explain this to me as if I'm a child. What do you mean?"
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Post by Diocles on May 30, 2021 1:39:26 GMT
"I don't know. It's what the omen told me. I was hoping you'd be able to explain it. I've heard something about you opening a black box, and whatever you released has awoken the doppelgangers!"
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Nobody
Alexios Group
Posts: 1,409
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Post by Nobody on May 31, 2021 0:08:35 GMT
"It is indeed good to be back, and yes, there is much to discuss with respect to these doppelgangers. It was so frightening to see, Shepherd Kestal! Thank goodness Jund and Assentus were there. I would never have believed what I saw with my own eyes. It would seem there is a spiritual component to these beings."
I politely sip my wine.
"Personally, I would feel a lot better knowing more about what these terrible creatures are, and what they can do. For it fills me with a chill fear knowing they are about!"
I shiver, just a little, though I try to be brave and hide it.
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Post by Diocles on May 31, 2021 0:37:27 GMT
"I have gathered some lost, esoteric knowledge about the doppelgangers, and if you will indulge me for a moment, I will share my findings!" I drain my cup and call for more wine. I must fortify myself. "This is what I know: Changelings can take the form of any being whom they have touched. Even one skin-to-skin contact is sufficient, and the doppelganger can call upon that form in future. Some Sentinels speculated that a doppelganger had a finite number of people it could have in its records, so to speak, but that was never proven one way or another." I take a long drink before continuing. "It was also noted that the sheen in the blood only remained present for a brief while when a doppelganger assumed a new form. If it had been in the form for long enough--the precise length of time was unknown--then the sheen vanished. It could be recalled, of course, by the doppelganger shifting forms, by death (the sheen was always present in the "heart's blood", as the compendium put it), or by time. Blood drawn from a doppelganger and held on a platter would eventually assume the sheen. That's what I've learned." I don't mention the findings about vampires, since such knowledge is irrelevant in present company.
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Nobody
Alexios Group
Posts: 1,409
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Post by Nobody on May 31, 2021 1:04:01 GMT
I shiver again.
"How ghastly! Why, they could be anyone! And anyone could be them! Such a mystery. I wonder - What is their true nature, and what are their true forms like? And what is their aim and purpose? And if they take on the forms of those they have touched, are not those they have touched placed in danger, either of murder or of wrongful punishment? For Assentus was not attacked, thank goodness. Yet if the two of you had not stopped that creature, who knows what ills may have been done by it in his name?"
I shake my head at the enormity of it all.
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Post by Diocles on May 31, 2021 1:07:59 GMT
"What their true forms look like I do not know but am of course curious about. The real question is: what is their purpose? To displace our society with one of their own? To rule from the shadows? Or simply to be tricksters?" I munch on some steaming, spiced pork. "And how in the Frostlord's icy butthole does Kestal's black box have anything to do with it?"
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Nobody
Alexios Group
Posts: 1,409
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Post by Nobody on May 31, 2021 1:25:18 GMT
"Excellent questions, friend Jund."
I turn to Kestal, taking another sip of the excellent wine.
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Post by Diocles on May 31, 2021 1:37:24 GMT
I also turn to Kestal.
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Post by Sir Roland Desprez on May 31, 2021 3:07:06 GMT
"I do not know friends. I only know that I was told the box contained a spirit that unleashed means a stark danger to us all. The truth of it is only known to the High Haruspex. I know the new High Haruspex so even if he will not confide in me the full truth at least he may tell me something of this. I will speak to him as soon as I may. Jund, do you have much experience with these creatures?"
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