Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

It was probably the fact that Mr. Parren was anticipating another aerial approach from the well-known 'Flapper' that he was a little slow to stop her from her initial curling of the edge of the carpet. She'd already begun rolling it when he called to her to stop.

Even though she did, a loud murmur ran through those in line behind her. He grudgingly lifted her arm in triumph, his declaration of her victory being less enthusiastic than most of those he'd extended to those who'd succeeded over the last five trials.

Up until then, he'd been enough on the ball to halt any that looked to be taking this singular approach from going far enough to tip off those in line behind them. This had been the case with the few that had not succeeded through some other means. Night had come close with her flying, and the little girl had done even better. But few had that approach available to them.

But now, the next several contestants simply mimicked Night's new strategy, and the steadily deepening shade of facial red displayed what the charlatan thought of it. He was still far ahead in his profits; but it would be fair to say that he stood to come out on the losing end if everyone was to take Night's demonstrated approach. And he was not about to allow that.

After awarding Night her prize, along with a half dozen more, he hit on a new tactic to rob those that came after of exploiting the foolproof tactic. Just as the next one up started forming enough of a roll, on one end of the carpet, that peripheral vision lost the details of both ends, Parren tossed a dart into the upturning underside, so that he could call "additional weight" on the carpet when the dart came to the topside of the roll.

Despite the nearly unanimous booing, resulting from this move, Parren heaved a sigh of relief. The disappointment on the faces of those coming up soon confirmed that he'd found a way to defeat this approach. He at least had the good grace not to flaunt his victory with one of his trademark "Did I forget to mention..." remarks. But many spectators left in a huff, and the taverns and cafes that had gained good nel from the gathered spenders turned frowns in his direction.

By the time Parren stumbled back to his feet, swaying dizzily as he regained his breath, his assailants were long gone. He did not truly possess any certainty as to who they were, other than the giant of an aukari that had driven the air from his lungs in the first place.

He tried to shout his fury at the theft above the din of fear, resulting from the belief, planted in the minds of the spectators, that a fire was spreading. His efforts were absorbed unnoticed in their collective howl of self-preservation. An odd quiet brought his notice to the area where he had his reward items, and he turned to see several faces mirroring discovery and guilt as a group of citizens were rifling through his trinkets for free loot.

He roared, red-faced in rage, and pulled a rod from his belt. The looters quailed in fear that they were about to come under some sort of withering magical assault. But Parren slammed the rod into the ground, where it sank halfway into the stone of the courtyard. The gamemaster immediately bent the rod over horizontally into what became a handle as he lifted it straight up.

Instead of simply pulling back out of the stone, it now brought with it a wider column of stone, which seemed to transform into a metallic cage as it came into contact with the air. A glowing presence thrummed inside the cage until he barked "Silence!"

And there was...

The glowing entity seemed to pour through the cage, which now dissolved back into the hump of dirt displaced by the initial magic. Every mind, every eye, every ear, every thought was suddenly and silently focused on the charlatan as he alone could be heard. And his voice was command, it was order, it was reality, it was life's purpose made manifest. No harm came to anyone, but the Induk of Command now floating beside Parren dominated and subsumed all intent previously held by anyone in range of Parren's voice.

"Put those back!" He shouted at the looters standing around his reward chest, "And all of you, pay a penalty of all the nel you have for allowing this to happen!" The would-be looters immediately dropped their trinkets back into the chest. Then, like everyone else present, they could hardly empty their pockets fast enough as they all now stood in readiness to follow whatever Parren might next instruct them to do. It was fortunate that Parren's wording had not specifically mentioned all the nel they owned, or they'd already be running home to bring back their savings as well.

It was unknown to the crowd that Parren had only one more order he could have enforced through the Induk's influence, and that having once given one of the three available commands, he had to expend the other two within one break. But this contest had been so lucrative for him, that he could not imagine any theft being more important for him to thwart. He did not believe there would ever be any other incident he'd need undone more than this mugging.

Parren knew this was his last command. He directed it at the dozens present, enrapt by his magically charged charisma. "Go find that giant aukari thief and bring me back my money!" Forty or fifty voices shouted determined approval for this command and immediately charged from the scene in the direction Parren pointed, every sliver of focus on tracking down the big man, anyone he associated with, and every last nel of any denomination that even might have been stolen from Master Lewis Parren.

The crowd now departed in near manic purpose, Parren turned back to his trinket chest, locking it up and sneering in satisfaction. He did not consider that other spirits did not have the compulsion to obey the Induk that mortals did.

The Black Guard was most assuredly alerted to the growing trouble. Even after those citizens who'd picked up a coin or two had them wrestled free by the spirit-mastered minions of Lewis Parren, it was not enough. The citizens came to complain of being virtually mugged of their own gold, and Parren immediately railed that it was nowhere near the full amount that had been stolen from him.

The news of the avriel hybrid shouting his possession of Parren's gold infuriated the charlatan. Even as the Black Guard was arriving, trying to get a grip on what exactly was going on, as well as determining that the smoke was just some sort of diversionary hoax, the situation was getting increasingly out-of-hand. There was no fire, but there was a growing line of complaints from citizens being accosted in the streets, several such confrontations turning to violence as most citizens denied any knowledge of a one-winged avriel, or his whereabouts.

Descriptions of who had said what, or who had said where this or that person could now be found, had an escalating effect on street violence. If some citizen fit a description given to one of these mind-controlled people, their denial would not be accepted, and always came to blows. All too often, the citizen would finally throw out some vague information to get the minion off his back, only to cause trouble to develop further down the road, where some other poor bastard fit that description.

It took a while for the Black Guard presence to wade through the complaints so they could understand just what had occurred. And by that time they realized it was not going to get any better. Parren was unable now to undo what he'd set in motion. He had used his three commands and the spirit was free of any additional obligation.

The Guard would have dragged the man off to a cell, but his presence was fairly useful in dissuading some repercussions and untangling some of the vague interpretations by sections of the crowd of minions. The Guards were trying to subdue individual minions, to slowly lessen the force of chaos, but others would launch into "rescue" missions to free them again.

A full-scale mobilization of the guard was in effect, but they had nowhere near enough cells to hold everyone that had now gotten caught up in the growing disturbance. Guard Capt, Barret Segrille himself was now in attendance, confronting Parren with demands for ideas on how to turn the stem of violence. He hated that the only clear end in sight would require the deaths or incarceration of everyone under the effect of the spell.

Even that would not negate the thousands who were now lodging complaints of assaults and property damage as minions were now forcing purchased items from people who fit descriptions, on the basis that they may have used Parren's money to make the purchase. Homes were being raided and vendors were coming under attack if they refused a refund.

But salvation came from what Parren had considered the least of his trinkets. Tempers that were restrained were only barely so. A mark was noted on some of Parren's items that hinted that they may have been from among those items looted from Vuda's arcanum back when the alchemy lab had exploded during the ill-fated Underground Race last arc.

Parren made a furious denial, coupled with what began as an assault against the accusing guard, and ended with an attempt to flee in the confusion. He got only a few steps before he was tackled and held with Segrille's sword at his throat. It was then that the little spirit bottle, containing Lizzie's mischievous Anak of Force puffed a bit of vapor and a small impact nudged Segrille's elbow.

Several eyes widened in shock at the sudden incident. Many loud voices quieted instantly as everyone realized that the Guard captain's sword tip was now protruding from the back of Parren's neck. Parren's eyes were as wide as anyone's at the development, but they quickly dimmed as he sagged to the ground, sliding off the blade.

All around them, restrained minions sagged as well. But they only sagged for a moment before recovering their true awareness, confused though it was. If Parren could have gotten a gold nel for every minion reported to have suddenly stumbled and asked "What happened? Where am I? What's going on?", he'd have made more money than he did in six trials of cheating contestants.

As it was, Segrille wiped off his blade, took a perceptive look at the sudden change in the mood of the previously mind-controlled victims and shrugged, "Problem solved." he declared. The Guards all exchanged agreeable nods as sanity was restored. It still took some time to sort things out, but there was now cooperation to smooth and hurry things along.

As for Parren's stock, it was determined to have originated from Vuda's lab. Segrille immediately had it divided into three stacks; one "half" to be returned to Vuda in good faith, one "half" to be retained as evidence, and the third "half" to remain ummentioned on any reports.