25 Eleasias 1371

Dear Master Zorthaster,

Most of the past three rides has been spent in quiet study.  Last night though, we had a wild adventure that is likely to change the history of Daggerdale. 

After getting our assignment to assassinate Tren, we agreed to spend some time gathering information and pursuing individual goals in the meanwhile.  Each day I used clairvoyance and clairaudience spells to learn more about Tren’s behavior and the layout of his palace.   He was a thoroughly disgusting and perverted man. 

As chance had it, while wandering the markets of the Cloven Rock, I happened upon the shop of a very talented glassblower and mirror maker.  He had one of a pair of mirrors made for Tren’s palace that I purchased.  It is a beautiful, large mirror.  I thought it would be perfect to try that mirror walking spell that I had on a set of scrolls. 

There was sufficient time and access to materials here for me to enchant that greensteel dagger with a spell of vampiric touch as well as enhancing its edge.  With the remainder of my time, and much of the remainder of my gold, I copied spells from scrolls into my spell book. 

When we had all the information about Tren’s palace and his behavior patterns that we were likely to gather, we made our plans to kill him.  We would leave with a re-supplied caravan in the morning, taking the mirror with us.  With a bit of luck, we could use it to travel through the plane of mirrors to Tren’s bedchamber, kill him and return to the caravan. 

The spell I had on scrolls (now only two scrolls as I wrote one in my books) allowed only one person to enter the plane.  To overcome this obstacle, Primula changed all but Shane into a gaseous vapor.  The vapor and the halfling all went into the bag of holding.  I also carried a pillow enchanted with a silence spell.  This was to cover our entry into Tren’s chambers and the time it would take for the vapors to reform into my friends. 

Upon entering the plane of mirrors I found a series of stone passages marked by several windows.  One looked back into the desert tent I had just left.  Further into the tangle of passages, I found several windows that looked out into the mirror maker’s shop.  Each looked like it could be used to exit the plane.

Before I could exit to Tren’s chambers, I discovered the peril that haunts the plane of mirrors.  Guarding the mirror I sought was a party of adventurers that looked in every way like the Wandsmen.  They were our opposites!  My evil twin could obviously sense that I was near, even though I was invisible, silent, and levitating.  I made one cautious attempt to sneak past them to the mirror, but it was impossible.  The evil Xan let loose with a flurry of arrows that would have skewered me had I not been pressed tightly up against the ceiling.  I retreated quickly and thought over my options.  I guessed that since the evil duplicates were all here, that somehow, the magic of this plane acted upon my companions in the bag of holding without regard to their form or status.  I took a terrible risk and opened the bag, urging Shane and the others to come out.  As soon as they were safely out, I explained everything I had observed. 

There were few options available to us.  We could leave Tren and abandon our mission.  We could exit into the mirror shop, or we could face our evil twins.  We chose to face the evil directly.  Following a bit of quick spell casting and preparation, we confronted the other group.  It was a frightening and deadly battle.  Xan’s lethal arrows flew in both directions and I feared for all our lives.  The evil Shane got behind our lines and attacked.  I got a wall of force up that isolated the evil Oskar from the battle as my twin and the evil Xan fell.  As the odds started to turn in our favor, I was able to observe that each of our twins could sense us, and each focused on his twin.  I suspect that for the one created in the plane of mirrors to escape, he must kill his double.  It also appears that the person is created in opposite, but the gear is an exact match.  The evil Oskar did not use the Urgosh that Primula had just enhanced with holy power while we were in the Cloven Rock. 

As each of the evil doubles died, he appeared to take on a two dimensional aspect and shatter like a broken mirror.  He and all his equipment vanished.  During the fight I had a wild thought about what might happen if we brought a living Tren into the mirror to face his good double.  How useful would a good Tren be against the Zhentarim!  When the last of our evil twins had been killed, we took stock of where we were and hoped that my speculation was correct and that once here, we would all be able to exit to Tren’s lair. 

Fortunately my guess was proved correct, and we silently entered the palace at the Cloven Rock.  There we found Tren barely alive after an assassination attempt by his concubine.  She was dead and he was trying to get to a vial by his bedside.  He had been disemboweled and badly cut under the arms and behind the legs.  It looked as though his concubine, who wore the tattoos of the Bedine, had been well trained for the task of killing the depraved ruler of the oasis.

There were two bottles on the table beside the bed.  One was likely a healing potion.  The other was black and rippled and bulged.  While Oskar stabilized Tren so he would not die before we got him to the plane of mirrors, I carefully examined the black bottle.  There were some writings on it, and with help from Kerith, we learned that it was a “protector” according to the Netherese script.  With a start, I realized that this was very likely a sharn captured and stored in the bottle.  This was not something we could leave behind for Darvin to capture.  I tucked it into my bag and we prepared to head back to the plane of mirrors. 

Fortunately, this time we did not have to face our doubles.  There was a phaerimm that was created when we brought the bottled sharn into the plane however.  It was fighting the good Tren but he was in good health and we arrived in time to help him kill the phaerimm.  He had all the memories and knowledge of the evil Tren and when we explained the situation to him, he was happy to put an end to his evil twin.  As he killed his double, some essence left the dead man and infused itself into the good Tren.  The good Tren carried a great deal of guilt and pain along with all the memories of evil deeds committed by the evil one.  He agreed to do anything and everything in his power to atone for the past. 

I gathered, from our expedition into the plane of mirrors, that when I cast the spell to travel between two linked mirrors, a demi-plane was created.  When we entered the plane we created our opposites.  This happens only once for each plane that is created, though, for when we entered the plane a second time, our opposites had already been destroyed. 

When we returned to our desert tent, the sandstorm that had been approaching had struck and our tent was shaking in the wind.   It had been set in preparation for the weather, and seemed to be holding up well against the storm.  Oskar’s cat, left here to guard the mirror, reported to him that all was well and that one of our friends had been here.  He left a note.   It was from Peraus Wands and was very confusing as many of our conversations with him are.  A very short time later he appeared in our midst, stepping through a silver door.  He was younger than we had seen him last and a bit more talkative.  He told us that Golthammer did this too, apparently referring to Tren’s transformation.  “This will work out too” he assured us.  “I’ll take him back to the beginning.”

Master Wands also asked us if we wanted to remember what had happened.  I assured him that we did indeed.  If he was going to be mucking about with history using our help, I wanted to know if we were doing good or ill.  I also told him that I wanted to speak with him again and learn more about travels in time and the magic involved.  He agreed and then left us through his silvery door. 

The sandstorm continues to rage and the swirling sand matches my swirling thoughts and wonder.  What will we find when we return to Daggerfalls?

Your faithful student,

Cedar