Magic Mirror on the Wall part I

Attention all Cells: Submission of notice to convene the Secret Court.

Defendant: Louis Malbruin

I hereby submit that the aforementioned has conducted in the most heinous research, resulting in the development of a new form of the Porté sorcery. Malbruin also intends for this sorcery to be made available to every man woman and child across Theah.

I submit that Malbruin has at his disposal supernatural beasts, which he uses to murder his enemies.

I submit that an immediate death penalty be issued for the defendant, both in retribution for the crimes committed and also to prevent further knowledge of this abomination from spreading.

To support this claim, I offer the following details of events that led to the discovery of Louis Malbruin's plans:

For those who do not know me I am a member of the Freiburg Cell, in fact a recent graduate of our new Freiburg Underground University.

You will be aware that the Society has for some months taken an interest in the pursuits of the group led by one Franz von Tannen - an unusual group containing a Porté sorcerer, a Glamour mage and a Vesten Skjaeren. Whilst this is a disturbing combination, the society has felt that under the guiding influence of von Tannen, the group was of little concern to us.

However, recently von Tannen was taken by Fauner Poesen, and his current state of health is not known. The group now appears somewhat leaderless, and the Freiburg Cell was charged with keeping a close eye on developments. Fortuitiously for us, I have a passing acquaintance with a member of the group, one Borstennskoldmund (the Skjaeren), whom I met a few years back in Kirk. And in a second stroke of fortune, the group decided to turn their mansion into an orphanage (the von Tannen Memorial). A most worthy effort, and very useful for us, as it has enabled us to get a number of operatives close to the group, as volunteer teachers for the orphans.

In fact this has been so successful, that we are using the orphanage for several of the FUU classes, and a number of the orphans have shown a willingness to embrace our ideals. You may have thought that these activities would have aroused some suspicions, but of the group only the Glamour mage, a fellow by the name of Pistol, seems to take any interest in the welfare of the orphans. As it happens, this too has proven somewhat of a boon, as this Pistol is highly skilled in some of the arts not taught at traditional universities, and our orphan recruits have been observing and learning much from Pistol. So far, we believe that Pistol is unaware of his prowess as a teacher, although a few of the orphans have reported the occasional cuffed ear.

Anyway, the group recently left for Montaigne, where I believe they have just uncovered the mystery surrounding the murder of Aristide Baveux. As I had been planning a trip to Montaigne to assist with the Society's post-revolution efforts, it seemed sensible that I should also catch up with the von Tannen group to keep watch on their activities.

However, when I arrived in Crieux, I discovered that my contact in the group, Borstennskoldmund, had in fact just returned to Eisen. I was a little concerned that I would not be accepted into their company, but one or two of them recognised me as a volunteer teacher, and allowed me to stay with them until Borstenn's return.

So finally now, I get to my report, and ultimately to the details that lead to my call for convening the Secret Court.

On the day I arrived, I found the party had just attended an auction for some of l'Empereur's goods and chattels. Pistol acquired a blue parrot, christened Ronchonner, but Pistol prefers to call it Raunchy. Antonio Mondavi bought a fine warhorse called Chevaucher. I didn't get a good look at him, as he seemed to want to bite anyone who went near him.

Dandelion reported some news read in the local newspaper. It seems that Montegue's veterans have finally returned home after incarceration in Poesen. However, the General himself remains an unwilling guest of the Eisenfuerst, as insufficient ransom could be raised to free him. Alcide Mondavi has ceased his incursions into the other Princes' lands, after threats of excommunication. However, he has substantially increased the borders of his lands - Caligari lands have been lost, the Prince himself believed dead. Despite warnings, their have been large numbers of explorers heading west to Cabora in search of riches.

And stories abound of a hero by the name of Captain Swing, who has been freeing nobles headed for la Coiffure. Dandelion looked particularly smug after reading this, and Pistol later informed me that Dandelion had actually invented Captain Swing as some sort of ruse. I'm not sure I fully understand.

Later that day, Dandelion received a letter from an old friend, Pierre-Michel d'Auvergne. I noticed the letter was actually addressed to Denis Rois-et-Reines, so those of you who had suspected that this was Dandelion's real identity, I can confirm it for you. Interestingly, the letter was signed Citizen d'Auvergne, so it seems that Dandelion's old friend has embraced the revolution. It is also worth noting that d'Auvergne has Porté, so it would seem that he must be one of the nobles that has denounced it's use. d'Auvergne implored Dandelion to visit his property at the earliest opportunity, due to some important breakthrough. Although the message was somewhat cryptic, we decided it was worth following up.

We set off towards Chateau d'Auvergne a journey of some three days, the weather was pretty miserable. Antonio commented that at least it wasn't as bad as it was in Eisen. Dandelion replied, "And at least we do not have to have porridge for breakfast".

I asked "Why, what is wrong with porridge, it is good hearty fare".

Dandelion replied, "But the lumps Monsieur, they are awful!"

"Porridge does not have lumps, I'll show you, I'll cook porridge for breakfast in the morning".

Dandelion remained unconvinced, and was quite sullen for the rest of the day. In the morning, I cooked up a batch of piping hot porridge, creamy smooth, and served with a dash of honey. Pistol wolfed down his portion, and had reached for seconds before Dandelion had tried his first hesitant taste. A brief look of surprise passed over his face, and he quickly ate the rest of his breakfast as Pistol was on the lookout for any remains. "Yes, that was passingly adequate, I suppose" said Dandelion. I sighed. However, I did note with some smugness that later in the day Dandelion assigned me on permanent cooking duties for the party.

After a couple of days ride, we came across a small hill. Perched on top of the hill was a set of standing stones. Pistol thought he saw someone watching us from behind one of the stones.

We quickly made our way towards the stones, but whomever had been watching us had made their way down the other side of the hill towards a copse of trees. Fortunately their tracks were easy to follow over the snow covered ground.

Before setting off though, Avon noticed something unusual about one of the standing stones. The top of it had been removed and a cavity roughly shaped like a rough keyhole could be seen in the middle of the stone, the cavity was empty, and stone chips around the base seemed to indicate that this had been done some time ago, perhaps a few weeks. Was the observer looking for whatever had been in the cavity?

We hurried off in the directions of the footprints in the snow, but upon reaching the copse of trees, discovered that our quarry had taken to horseback and was away. Fortunately, it appeared that he had headed back towards the road to Chateau d'Auvergne, so we returned to our horses mounted and continued our journey. As it happened the Chateau was only a short distance away, and we wondered if the fellow we had followed had come here too.

We dismounted, and led our horses to stable. Dandelion noted there were three other horses in the stable, and upon checking found that one had been ridden recently.

We were met at the door by Pierre-Michel d'Auvergne himself, dressed oddly in a peasant's cap. Dandelion had also noted that the coat of arms over the gate had been altered to incorporate a peasant's cap too, as had the seal on the letter sent.

Pierre-Michel greeted Dandelion (Denis) warmly. We were also introduced to Madame Moore. Pierre-Michel went to great pains to emphasise that Madame Moore was an equal citizen, not a servant, but no-one seemed really convinced, least of all Madame Moore.

Dandelion queried Pierre-Michel about his new-found citizenship, and renunciation of Porté, and it seemed that Pierre-Michel had summoned Dandelion specifically to win him to the new order, and would take him to the Chef d'Village to swear the oath tomorrow. It took some questioning to get a clear understanding of what he meant, but it seems that if a Porté sorcerer swears off the use of his sorcery, he could become a citizen in the new Montaigne, and live without the threat of la Coiffure or other gruesome punishments that have been handed out to the former nobility of the land. The specific wording of the oath was to forego all use of Porté in "thought, word or deed".

However, we soon discovered the real reason for the letter sent to Dandelion. Pierre-Michel had another guest, Louis Malbruin, and this Malbruin had discovered a way for Pierre-Michel to continue to enjoy the benefits of Porté without breaking his oath.

We were intrigued. Our host showed us through to a room he called his Gallerie d'Glasses. It was a large room, devoid of furniture. But along each wall were a series of large mirrors, seven in all. Hanging on the wall directly opposite each mirror were large landscape paintings.

As we walked down the hall of mirrors we could see ourselves reflected, but somehow more than that, almost becoming a part of the scene in the painting behind us. First a green mound covered in posies, Pistol seemed to recognise it as Torag's Tor, a place outside Avalon, heavily associated with the Sidhe. Next we recognised as the very hill we stood on ourselves a few hours earlier - the hill with the fourteen standing stones.

There was a windswept plateau, perhaps a scene from my home country, a Castillian volcano, a scene showing a misty islet, perhaps from the lands of the Vesten, some petrified oaks, Antonio thought may be in Voddacce, and a still lake, which we assumed would be in Ussura.

Suddenly, Avon collapsed. He had been standing in front of the Avalon scene. Smelling salts were produced and he sooned regained consciousness. Very odd!

Pierre-Michel then informed us of the hideous nature of these mirrors. He produced a small mirror hanging on a chain around his neck. He said that all he had to do was to look in the small mirror into the large mirror, and he would be instantly transported to the very place depicted. Likewise standing in the place depicted and looking in the mirror, he could transport himself back again. So far he had not used his mirror, but had travelled with Malbruin, who carried a similar mirror with him.

Together they plan to build a massive number of these mirror and picture pairs, and issue all people with the small mirrors, so that all can travel at will. I was aghast at the thought of so much easy access to sorcery, but managed to keep my thoughts to myself. Pierre-Michel exclaimed with glee how this wasn't exactly using Porté, thus he was not breaking his oath by using it. Truly horrendous!

Our purpose, apparently, was to act as financiers for this operation. They had run out of money, and needed funding quickly to purchase silver for more mirrors.

For the rest of the afternoon, I assisted Madame Moore in the kitchens, watching out for any gossip amongst the few servants. I did not catch much, although I did hear one fellow refer to that greedy bastard, Malbruin, but Madame Moore noticed me listening, and quickly hushed the fellow up.

At dinner, Pistol offered to act as drinks waiter, but Madame Moore was wise to his antics and watched over him like a hawk. A disgruntled Pistol managed to scoff less wine than the rest of us!

We met Malbruin for the first time at dinner, a very secretive man. He wore a hat, and glasses with a dark tint, even though we were inside. He also had a thick, black beard.

However, he was talkative. In fact after a few drinks, he was almost ranting, speaking with great fervour about his project. I began to suspect that there was a lot more to it than even Pierre-Michel knew about. He spoke of destroying the "old regime"... just, unjust, moral, amoral... wade in blood... wither away... by any means. It was clear he has some foul purpose for his invention, what it is I have no idea, although it did seem to involve the Sidhe somehow.

Malbruin again entreated Dandelion for funding to purchase more silver for his project, but Dandelion wisely demurred.

Malbruin retired to bed, we sat solemnly trying to take in all that he had said. A scream rang out from the hallway, we rushed out to find one of the servants (the one I had previously overheard refer to Malbruin as greedy), lying dead, blood pouring from his torn-out throat.

Large, bloody animal prints led to the room with the mirrors. Dandelion noticed a smell of sulfur, and recalled a beast the group had fought recently - a large wolf-like creature the size of a pony, that was able to appear and re-appear a short distance away. Dandelion had said it exhibited traits similar to Porté.

We decide to go into l'Gallerie d'Glasses to investigate further. Pierre-Michel warned us against it - strange noises had been heard in the room at nights!

The creature had disappeared, presumable through one of the mirrors. Avon collapsed again in front of the Avalon scene, and we heard raucous noises coming seemingly from the Avalon scene, as if a party were being held in the painting!

We decided the best course of action for now would be to break the links, so we took down the mirrors and turned them around. At this point we noticed a couple of things. Firstly, the mirrors were not made of silver, just highly polished tin or iron. We wondered in that case what the funds were required for?

Secondly, inset into each mirror was a small wedge of another metal, a strange metal we were unable to identify. I calculated that if the wedges were to be put together, they would form a half-circle. It would imply that there may be another seven wedges somewhere (if they came from a full circle). Dandelion also noted that if it was a full circle, it would be roughly the size of the cavity we had seen in the standing stone, perhaps the strange metal had come from there?

We decided to do some more investigation. By this time, the rest of the house-hold had retired for the evening, so we were able to do some searching unhindered. Pierre-Michel had informed us that Malbruin had a workshop somewhere in the Chateau, it seemed to make sense that it would be somewhere close by, so we had a look through the nearby rooms. We found one locked door. Checking outside, we discovered the window for that room was shuttered, barred from the inside, so we went back inside, and Dandelion produced a set of lock picks, and the door was soon opened.

It was indeed a workshop, but not as much was in it as we might have expected. There were some tools that may have been used for making a mirror, and we did discover (and pocket) a sliver of the strange metal. But there was no paint, or other material for producing the landscapes.

Nor could we find any plans or drawings that one would expect for such a project. Antonio discovered a drawer with a false bottom. Upon removing it, he unfurled an old parchment, written in Thean. Antonio was able to make out several sentences:

Mirror of the Lady of the Mist
Look for the Mirror at One after Midnight
Beware the wrath of the Fair Folk

Well, this made us think.... Was the mirror referred to the wedges of strange metal we had seen? If so, perhaps it had been removed by Malbruin at One after Midnight from the standing stone? And was this something that would upset the Sidhe?

If our theory was right so far, then who was it we had seen at the standing stones that day? One of the Sidhe perhaps? If so, had the Sidhe been posing as a servant? And again if so, perhaps it was the servant who had just been murdered?

We made our way out to the stable, where the body had been placed, and took a careful look at the deceased servant. Dandelion noticed immediately that he seemed quite muscular for a house servant. And his hands were calloused in a way that suggested that he may have been familiar with a sword. He noticed that a ring had been removed from one finger recently.

Antonio was looking at the dead man's feet, and noticed something very peculiar - he had six toes on each foot! And the toes were webbed! Pistol nodded, definitely Sidhe.

We returned to our rooms to get some well earned rest. Watches were set in the corridor. However, Antonio taking second watch became distracted by a summons to Madame Moore's room, and decide we didn't need a watch after all. He was wrong.

The beast had returned, sure enough, it was one of those large wolf-like creatures, and again it wanted Dandelion. Dandelion awoke to find the beast slavering over him, he go to his feet and grabbed his rapier, but not before the beast had taken a great bite from Dandelion's hide. Avon, Mordred and Antonio awoke to Dandelion's call, and quickly rushed to assist him. Dandelion was able to bravely keep the beast at bay until help arrived, cleverly fighting against a wall so that the beast couldn't appear behind him. With help the beast was subdued. I arrived soon after, still unable to believe the abomination of a creature that I saw before me.

There must be little doubt that this creature was a summoning from Malbruin, first to do away with the Sidhe swordsman, then to do away with Dandelion who had refused to fund the evil project. Even if you do put this down to co-incidence, there can be little doubt that it has appeared because of the experiments Malbruin has been conducting.

I do not know what will happen in the morning, but I write this missive in the hope that I can quickly get it to a courier. I think that all free thinkers will, like me, be utterly horrified at Malbruin's undertakings. However, I do feel that Pierre-Michel d'Auvergne is likely to be an unwitting accomplice in this venture, I do not think he truly understands what is going on here, and thus I do not call for a Court hearing against him... yet.

But Malbruin cannot be allowed to continue. Please do try to get back to me as soon as possible, I will await the decision here at Chateau d'Auvergne, providing events do not overtake me.

Piers Orff

Freiburg Cell (on secondment in Montaigne)