#trickster commander

Nenio’s laboratory is much like Nenio herself. To wit: a glorious disaster. Since there is no rhyme or reason to what Nenio deems worthy of investigation, the space has shaped accordingly. By the entrance, a shelf labeled “Unsuccessful Experiments” sports various alarming objects, including but not limited to an ominously black head of lettuce emitting a low hum; a rock of some sort which, as they enter, quickly turns on its axis to give them what it evidently considers its less interesting side; an autonomous avian foot clasping a pencil and scribbling nonsensical squiggles in a notebook, and other similarly inclined bric-a-brac. They bustle through the section dedicated to specimen jars, which has grown considerably after their return from the Abyss. The jars exceed their allocated shelf space, so Lem carefully steps around the “marilith poison glands (vestigial)” and the “vavakia third spleen (borrowed)” and follows the mad kitsune further into the maze, through what likely is meant to be an artificer’s workshop but looks more like a graveyard of Numerian technology in various stages of disassembly, then down a narrow alley between overstuffed bookshelves towards a small door in the back, wedged between the impressively cluttered alchemy area and a completely empty swath of floor labeled in chalk as “Illusion Zone.” “Here!” Nenio points a claw at the door. “The containment chamber.” Lem eyes it cautiously. “And what exactly does it contain?” “My greatest discovery to date,” Nenio says with a happy little tilt to her ears. “I can now confirm with ninety four point six percent certainty that Nahyndrian crystals do not store mythic power, as I originally thought.” She lifts an edifying finger. “One final test remains. Please proceed into the chamber, my faithful assistant.” Uh-oh. “Why?” “Because,” the kitsune says patiently, then produces a pair of prismatic goggles from her pocket and perches them on her nose, “I must measure the crystal’s response to a sentient subject already augmented with a similar crystal, and my experiments with mythic demons have proved inconclusive. Of course, it would be preferable if Lady Vorlesh agreed to participate in my study, but since this isn’t possible at the moment, you will have to do.” Since arguing with Nenio is an exercise in futility, Lem shrugs and eyes the door again. “Will this kill me?” “Probably not,” Nenio says, with a concerning lack of certainty. “Provided you remain outside of the abjuration circle,” she adds, scratches her nose, then opens the door on a rectangle of darkness. “Go on.” “Can’t you just explain first what you’re trying to confirm?” “No.”

Right, then. Or maybe left.

She steps forward and into the dark, because why not?

The room is pitch-black, so darkvision kicks in. The abjuration circle on the floor flares silver with intricate glyphs. Inside the circle is what she assumes is one of the Nahyndrian crystals they collected, for some reason encased under a glass bell. “Excellent,” Nenio says, and produces a notebook from another pocket. “Now, just stand there.”

“Do I need to think about anything specific?”

“Hmm. Interesting question. Yes. I would like you to think about…bunnies.”

“Bunnies?”

“Hares are acceptable.”

“Singular or multiple?”