King Mephitic was getting very, very angry.
Dr. Erlenmeyer had been, in his opinion, treated far too well for a prisoner. In an effort to get her head back on straight several of his attendants had given her food – it hadn’t even had much mold on it – and splashed cold water on her face to clean off the sweat. Still, she swayed on the spot and had a vague sort of smile on her face that sometimes vanished, only to reappear again a moment later. The woman was clearly out of her wits.
Interrogation on her research, which the king had safely locked away amongst the rotten roots and vile nightmare critters that made up his castle, had had little effect, and none of the imps could understand it. Dr. Erlenmeyer had refrained from specifically mentioning what she’d been tailing and most of her notes consisted of indecipherable shorthand. Had she known all along that she was being watched?
Still, the king was too stubborn to give up. This doctor had the key to the ultimate weapon against the sprites; he had to get it out of her somehow! He rose from his dark throne and bent over the disoriented woman sitting before him.
“What have you been following?” He demanded for what felt like the millionth time. When she giggled and then turned to gaze, wide-eyed, at a nightmare brandi skulking in the shadows along the walls, the king growled and threw himself back onto his throne.
Then, quite suddenly, she spoke:
“Terror...and eyes, staring at me, without faces!
Screaming, humid; I'm sick.
Can he even see?
The widows, trapped!”
“Write that down!” King Mephitic roared at his scribe, who dutifully scribbled the doctor’s words down on a notepad.
He looked up at his king, frowning. “Your Majesty, what does she mean?”
The imp guards around the perimeter and the king’s throne seemed to freeze, listening intently, expecting their wise king to know the answer right off. Instead, he scowled, sat back, and was silent for several long minutes.
“Get our followers to decipher this!” He demanded.
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Elsewhere in Mistica...
Dr. Amelia Kirsch crouched on a thick tree branch, looking through the green screen of leaves that concealed her from prying eyes. The magnificent sprite castle, looking like waves of flowers and vibrant greenery rolling through Darkwood Hollow, lay just a mile or so ahead of her. She had to get her message there, somehow.
Not by going herself, definitely not! Those imps, Amelia knew, the Triskull that took her mentor, would be scouring the forest for her, too. She knew what Dr. Erlenmeyer had been studying, had assisted during the entire expedition. She couldn’t afford to be identified, but the sprites had to know!
An idea, a simple and seemingly foolish idea, had come to her earlier and she was here to execute it. Amelia wasn’t sure if it would work, but nothing better had come to mind. She dug around in her dark green jacket for a piece of paper covered in her own handwriting and looked over it once more to make sure she’d written it correctly:
Are you good at reading minds?
Guess what's on hers to win a prize
But then look up; it's easy to see
Such vivid hues against dark green
Cryptic, but the sprites were smart. Surely they’d be able to figure it out! If she wrote it too plainly and the note got into imp hands…Amelia shuddered. She reached a hand up to the branch above her head, where a daydream graffen, her trained companion, waited obediently.
“Get this to the castle,” Amelia instructed, tying the note around the graffen’s pearly white leg, “give it to a guard, or better yet, one of the royal sprite twins!” The graffen chirped as if to say it understood, and then took off in a flutter of rainbow wings.
Amelia watched it soar for a moment, her heart pounding, then jumped out of the tree and took off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best of luck to both sides in these steps. Though you may give assistance to your team through hints, and subtle messages, please be careful not to post links or clear spoilers to your fellow members. Everyone should work these out and enjoy their own pace at the plot. Once you reach the end, do NOT post any spoilers, but enjoy what you learn.
