Kurzeth ’hmmm’d for a moment before replying. “I think so.”
Aulysse took a deep breath and let it out. “So, you were summoned into the body of that goat, can we potentially summon the shadow entity into a body of its own?” She asked.
I don’t want a goat body. Kente said. Maybe something with wings. He said. Despite Kente’s apparent levity, Marke could tell that Kente was trembling with excitement.
Kurzeth ’hmmm’d again. “I think so.” He said.
—————
Marke and Kente both screamed as something tore at every fiber of their being. Black and white lightning shot across the shadow sea, leaving boiling shadowstuff in its wake. Manacles wrapped around Kente’s shadow form and began to pull him under.
“Whoops!” Kurzeth said. “Got the polarity backwards, sorry!” He twisted a few of the spell components around and signaled Aulysse to try again.
Black and white lightning zipped backwards away from Kente and vanished into the distance. White and black stars appeared in the “sky” and the outline of a doorway rose out of the shadow sea next to Kente’s shadow form.
“Yup, that’s better. Go ahead, walk through the door, friend!” Kurzeth continued to give instructions in english, for some reason.
Marke’s avatar helped Kente to his feet and patted his shoulder. “You ready?” He asked.
Kente shook his head to clear it. “If this doesn’t work, kill that goat, yeah?” He said. Marke nodded solemnly. Kente took a breath and stepped through the door.
—————
“I really think it will work this time.” Kurzeth said. He glanced nervously at Marke, who stood in the trans-summoning sending circle of runes. A golem sat in the trans-summoning receiving circle of runes. The golem was a life-size puppet of wood, with articulated joints for movement and springs for muscles. Marke glared at the demon goat. The last puppet had exploded, giving Kente and Marke both a terrible headache. Both puppets had taken a month to build and taken a surprising chunk out of Marke’s finances.
Marke pointed at the goat man, who flinched. “This is your last chance, demon.” He growled.
Aulysse patted Kurzeth on the shoulder. “If he kills you, I’ll consider your contract fulfilled.” She smirked as she said it.
Zily sat in the corner, reading a book. “Please stop stalling.” She said.
Kurzeth sighed and placed both hands on the central crystal. Multi-color fire filled both trans-summoning circles. The flames rose to the hight of the ceiling and filled the room with the roar of ten thousand thundering antelope. The flames settled into red, then moved through the rainbow, skipping green. The flames finally flashed white, then disappeared. Kurzeth slumped to the ground, eyes closed.
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Marke and the puppet both took a breath. “Did it work?” They said. “Oh!” The man and the puppet both raised their right hands, exactly copying each other. The pair took an experimental jump, then waved their hands around. Each movement was identical between the two. “Hey, it’s just copying me!” They complained. Kurzeth let out a wail of despair.
The puppet turned to the goat man, independent of Marke. “Just a joke, demon. We did it!” Marke rushed over and hugged puppet-Kente, picking him up and spinning him around. Zily looked up from her book with surprise and Aulysse lifted Kurzeth up to give him an enthusiastic hug. The demon looked dazed.
Marke put Kente down and stepped back. “How does it feel?” He asked.
Kente waved his limbs around and balanced on one foot. “It feels a little weird, kind of like my everything is half asleep, but it seems like its all here!” He said. He tried for a handstand, but couldn’t quite balance for it. He crashed to the floor. “Oof!” He grunted.
“Are you alright?” Aulysse asked.
“I think so!” Kente replied. “This is so great!” Kente rolled around on the floor, laughing. Marke laughed too. Eventually, Kente got off the floor again and hugged Marke. They separated and spoke in sync again. “Priority One.” They said with a high five.
—————
Identify
----
Possessed wood golem (Artifact, soul-bound)
“Hmmm.” Marke said. “Is that going to be a problem?” He asked Aulysse.
Aulysse pondered the question for a few seconds. “Yes, probably.” She said. “Artifacts are…” She paused before starting again. “Artifacts are made by the gods, but not everything made by the gods is an artifact. Artifacts are important to the gods. Most stories with artifacts do not end in happiness.”
“Aw, man.” Kente complained in english. “I’m cursed.”
Marke waved a hand paste his ear, his reflexive acknowledgment of Kente’s commentary. “So he needs a disguise, or something?” He asked.
“Can he use your technique to resist identify skills?” Kara asked. “Maybe you could tell all of us how you do that, like you promised.” She glared at Marke.
Aulysse and Zily looked expectantly at Marke. Kurzeth snored softly in the corner. Marke sighed. “All identify skills work on the same principle: they go up to something and take a sample of the identity of that thing. All identity blocking skills work to block the path to the identity of a person or item, but none of them block identity perfectly–an appropriately shaped identify skill can bypass the block.” Marke paused to check for understanding.
“How do you know that?” Kara asked, still glaring.
Marke ignored that question and continued his explanation. “When your level is sufficiently high, the System begins to respect your wishes. If I wish for my identity to not be sampled, identity skills fail.” He said.
The room was silent for a moment, aside from the creaking of Kente’s springs as he did push-ups. Kara slammed her hand on the table. “That’s it?” She yelled. “You level is high so you just get to say ‘no’ to identify skills?” Her glare intensified. “That’s ridiculous!”
“He’s telling the truth.” Kente said as he transitioned to sit-ups. “If you think about it, it’s the same as when you resist mind control. The control skill reaches your mind, but you not desire is… wait, I mean, you desire to not be controlled.” Marke mentally send a message to Kente, teasing his lack of practice in elvish. Kente didn’t react to the tease. Marke frowned, distracted. Kente, can you hear me? He sent. No response.
“Kente, can you still send me mental messages?” He asked in english.
Kente looked up at Marke and just stared for a few seconds. “I guess not. That’s… unexpected.” He said.
“What’s the matter?” Zily asked.
Marke and Kente looked at her, then back at each other. Marke tapped the side of his head. “We can’t hear each other anymore. We didn’t expect that.” He said.
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