Petty Squabble [ROUND 3] [Goldhenge]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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There was too much going on. Parsley needed to pause and review what he knew.

He was in a place with stone walls - that meant he had most likely wandered into a cavern. He recalled from his early review of the surrounding area that there was a large mine near the town. That was most likely where he was.

The Baron must have been using it as a base. But what was Archibald doing here? And the other townspeople?

The demon must have lured them here. But why? Was Stein involved?

Parsley shook his head. It hardly mattered; he had more important tasks to focus on. From what he remembered of the map, the mine was some distance away from the town.

That had two implications. First, it suggested the demon's illusions were more powerful than Parsley had expected; either he could affect both the town and the mine simultaneously, or his illusions would last in his victims' minds for quite some time. Both scenarios were troubling.

On the brighter side, Baron Stein's machines had quite a distance to cover before they could threaten the town itself. That meant there was still time to stop them.

Of course, he still had to think of a plan. He made his way through the holes in the cavern walls the machines had left behind; on his way, he found the infirmary.

The various medicines and machines were beyond his understanding; he reasoned it to be one of the Baron's smaller labs, disguised by an illusion.

Parsley found a small open box laying on a table; there were syringes of something inside. He picked one up and examined it; it read "CTRLDRG" on the side.

Nonsensical letters. A common sign of an illusion, he recalled his master telling him once. He'd honestly expected better of the demon by this point.

Experimentally, he turned the syringe and its contents to bread. He couldn't recognize the material it was made of - it was similar to Stein's "wiring", or at least the part outside of the metal. He was using it for containers now?

The liquid inside was even more unrecognizable, though that hardly surprised him. About all he could tell was that it was wet. It also made him vaguely uncomfortable.

He put the newly-formed roll in his coat pocket. He'd have to dispose of it safely later. Then he continued following the holes created by Stein's gigantic machines.