At this point, I can have Archibald here do anything, as long as it isn't obviously suicidal… which means I can have him do basically anything. So to start….
“Strip down to your skin,” I order the puppet.
As he takes off his gear, I identify it all with Analyze Dweomer. Sadly, he used one of my tricks, so I can't use it: The gear is only useful within ten feet of an elf, blocks Divine casting, and requires that the user know how to cast Arcane spells. It's a decent set of choices, he got a serious discount that way… and it means all I can do with the stuff is sell it… which is fine, I can craft my own, and I don't need much gear. And yes, that includes the Jailer’s Dungeon Ring he was wearing.
But that's okay… “Put this on,” I hand him the iron ring, which he dons as I lock the colr around his neck.
The change is swift: His jaw, shoulders, and waist narrow, his hips widen, his chest balloons out, and of course his twig and berries slide into his body, making him officially a her. Her hair doesn't grow out, and fortunately he didn't have any body hair to speak of, so she looks smooth enough.
“Oh, before I forget…” I shrug, “The Comforter of Souls has a message for you: That book on lichdom you found… it's fake. The sacrifice you're pnning won't make you into a lich.”
“Acknowledged,” my currently female mind sve responds very robotically.
Eugh. Mind control sucks… but this person did it to many others for just profit, so… “Even if it worked,” I shake my head, “undead are mockeries of and parasites on people. Each one has a soul trapped in a prison, tortured for power to run the undead. A vampire or lich has access to the original's memories, but…” I shake my head again, “...it wouldn't have been YOU. You would have been simply suffering silently inside your self-made prison until someone found and destroyed the beast permanently,” and I know of at least one person who is probably not going to have that release… but at least he's not bringing anyone down with him. Nasty business, undeath.
“Ah,” my temporary minion can't respond freely. Right. Ugh.
Well, down to business. Dominate Person establishes a mental control channel, so she can give orders even when her victims aren't present… which is useful for me: “Please bring your mind controlled staff up here one at a time…”
I take it slow, going through and cleaning all of the sves of the control, the cursed items, and their associated constant effects. I then send them off to my city (and give instructions for their care to my minions there), repcing each with a Summoned Monster, specifically using Lillends (they're winged outsiders with a giant constrictor snake tail for legs; a female elf torso, arms, and head; and the spellcasting and music of a seven level Bard), adding Polymorph and Veil to make them seem to be whoever I just freed. Magic can do some awful things… but it can usually also fix them, and can do some wonderful things as well. Sadly, cleaning up their psyches will take longer… I have to directly intervene to prevent anyone immediate suicide about a third of the time.
Once I have all of his victims secured (including the one I brought up myself; she just wanted to see her captor humiliated), I consider, speaking aloud, “Now what am I going to do with you?”
My mind-controlled temporary minion doesn't answer, but my uncle speaks up, “Are you open to suggestions?”
I shrug, “Sure.”
“Send him to me,” my Uncle suggests, “while having him service his own customers or something might feel like the thing to do… it's pointless torture. Unless you're pnning on releasing him alive, he's not going to learn anything from it, and even if you are, it would probably just fuel a desire for him to hunt you down. There's little chance of redemption, so ending him is the way to go."
“And if you're suggesting that,” I consider, “I'm guessing he doesn't have any pns for avoiding death other than the false lichdom thing?”
“You're not wrong,” the voice of the grave chuckles.
I nod, “All right then…” and I cast Pne Shift on Archibald.
As the purple fold in space turns a hungry bck and fades out (along with Ms. Anderson), Uncle C sounds a bit annoyed in my head, “I didn't mean alive. Do you have any idea how bad it smells when a man soils his pants from fear?”
I kind of expected that… Uncle C’s appearance is not for the faint of heart even when he likes a person, and he clearly really didn't like this guy. “Yes. While Mom's ‘plumbing’ is avaible for those who know about it and can afford to pay the folks who can put it in, it's not widespread.”
“Right…” Death pauses, “Fine. Anyway, I forwarded him to Judgement. My brother was a bit upset when I handed him a soul that didn't have a current death record, and we discussed that for a while… we had to look a few things up, but it turns out it's not forbidden as long as the extraction from the body is allowed - and Archibald was in my office, so it was all by the book when I separated him - so that soul is going through processing like normal now.”
“All's well that ends well,” I shrug.
“Judgement is annoyed with me for the irregurity…” my uncle sounds smug, “...but that's okay. The most he'll do is strike at you.”
I've heard some of Mom's stories… “Isn't he the one that ‘blessed’ the old Life's champion with visions of childbirth to anyone he tried to seduce?”
“Triplets, and that was Justice… but the two are on good terms,” I can almost hear the smile. Ugh.
Great. Just great. “Well… thanks for the warning… at least it has to technically be a blessing. Oh, and… you don't really need to manipute me to get me to kill people like this for you.”
“I'm bound by rules…” Death pauses, “I can ask you to deal with people that funt my domain somehow - folks that raise undead, loot burial sites, things like that - but what happened here isn't my department. So… you'reright: I don't need to manipute YOU for this kind of thing, no... you weren't the reason for the misdirection. I'm sorry I couldn't be direct on the matter.”
“That's…” I take a breath, and let it out slowly, “...okay. I grew up dealing with it.”
“Yes, your mother. Still…” my uncle's voice starts fading from my head, “I am sorry.”
Now, the patrons… Death doesn't care if they die; given how he hates murder, that means he expects they know about the state of the women who worked here. Which… well, it's not that hard to identify a Domination effect after you've spent a few minutes with someone; even an untrained person will pick up on it eventually. So… the innocents are out of the way, and my summons are in pce. I cast Greater Invisibility on myself, Dimension Door outside, seal the building with Wall of Force spells, and then issue a telepathic command to my summons.
Fortunately, the Walls of Force also block sound, so I don't hear the screaming… but I can “see” it all going down via Touchsight and Mindsight. The summoned creatures release the Polymorph spell and brutally crush the patrons at my order, wrapping their tails around those paying for use of pleasure sves and crushing them to death. The two guards at the door don't notice a thing: They die to Disintegrate spells from me before they even realize they're doomed.
Once Mindsight confirms they're all dead, I collect the loot… it's not much, compared to the ringleader's gear. Some armor, weapons, belts, and cloaks from the guards with minor enchantments, a few of the patrons had some gear, but mostly I'm just making off with the days take. Sure, I could probably so something with the ledger books in the office, track down his accounts, and loot them… but it's safer just to sell weapons and armor made of various special materials when I want cash.
I systemically dismiss the various effects I used; leaving non-magical, nearly indestructible, invisible walls lying around might point fingers my way if anyone comes looking for clues; ditto for the summoned monsters. When I'm done with that, I leave via Teleport, nding at one of my waystations, walking through a few, leaving the long way, and then teleporting home from a mile away from the station: If anyone can trace teleportation… they're going to have a significant sorting problem.
Not that I did anything wrong.
I arrive at home, check in with Last Shadow… the eggs aren't close to hatching yet… feed her, cuddle a bit, and head to the rescued sves… yes, my minions are caring for them well. Hmm… I need to organize a help group, as this town now has a lot of such ex-sves… and do spell research, and I have some enchanting to do… no rest for me….
