Betwixt and Between (Magical Curio Shop Quest)

Mahogany pondered the now-filled store, the more time she spent here, the more she learned and explored the ways of the Betwixt and Between the more she understood. She lay a hand on the wood countertop and felt a pulse of warmth come from it. It was alive this place and it was forming a connection with her. This symbiosis of artifact and user was out of her academic expertise. Artifacts, even very old and magical ones, were not alive. They did not want or have emotions, and if there was confusion on the function it was because the artifact was damaged or using a rune array that only makes sense in the mind of a crazed magus that made it.

She thought of the kitchen and how it anticipated and responded, the doorknob with its little dragon charm. Everything in this place was emotion and happenstance. Mahogany looked up thinking, (was that a stuffed alligator hanging from the ceiling?) she had agreed to be the new shopkeeper. She signed the book on a feeling and a whim. How deep would this connection go? Would she feel pain if someone broke a window? How would this change her and her magic?

She looked over to the ledger that had asked her questions the last time. She lay a hand on the blue fabric cover and traced the monogram with a soft fingertip, knowledge flowed up from the connection. Asking the book questions cost energy from her and strained the condition of the store. She would only get one more chance to do so. She had better be sure she knew what questions she wanted to be answered.

But there was one answer that the book did give her, she opened it to the inside cover. "It's still here." She said to herself quietly looking down at the name before hers in the record of ownership. 'Bloyse' in a strong male hand.
If she was making assumptions she would guess that this is the name of the previous shopkeeper, her potential master, and the owner of the upstairs bedroom and study. At this thought, a strong feeling came from the store, like an embrace of a kind, and there was a clatter behind her as the stairs unfolded from their previous slide configuration. "Oh!" Mahogany said out loud, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean... He was the owner. I'm here now." The embrace feeling settled but remained in the air. Like the store was cautious that if Mahogany didn't feel welcomed she would leave also.

"How long have you been alone?" She said as she walked past the curtain and started to head up the stairs. No response, but she could feel the building listening to her. "Just what happened here? What happened to your owner?" She queried as she walked up the stairs, hand on the banister as she spiraled upwards. Maybe answers could be found in the bedroom, some insight or records of some kind. At the very least she could clean up a bit and make room for herself, she didn't want to spend another night on the kitchen's couch.


[ ] Messy Room - AD 1
Completion Counter: 0/4
Skill: Quick (0)
Difficulty: SAFE
Rummage through the belongings of the previous shopkeeper and maybe your supposed to be Master.

FINAL TOTAL (Action Dice 1 + Skill (Quick 0 ) = 1
Probability: 50% Neutral/50% Failure

NEUTRAL

"Moon and Star this 'Bloyse' person is a mess of person!" Mahogany exclaimed a little later. The more she opened drawers and looked under beds here, it became more and more apparent this Bloyse fellow had no level of organization whatsoever. She scowled at the drawer she had just opened. What on earth drove a fellow to store 2 half-empty pens, a bottle of perfumed oil, a large hairball tied up with a red ribbon, a glass ball with what looks like the preserved remains of a butterfly, and 3 gloves (none of them men's gloves or matching). She had started off her investigation hesitatingly, with her lifting the items gingerly and placing them back where they came from. but after a time Mahogany gave up and she started placing the objects into large piles. The first was Useful: these were things that she thought maybe might come in helpful to her, a large waterproof coat with a magnificent fur collar was in this pile. The second was for Mystery: Strange objects that could be magical or had the scent of being 'something', Third pile was for Stupid and Beautiful, which was the majority of what she found.

She was getting an image of Bloyse. Distractible but intelligent, there were recorded scraps of notation, half-solved equations, records of suns and stars unfamiliar. And these were just the lost and discarded notes shoved into pockets or mixed in with hairbrushes. He liked expensive things, but she got the feeling it wasn't because they were expensive, but more because he sought the feeling of them. This robe was pricy but it felt like water when she touched it, this pillow had rich embroidery but when she lay down it was so soft under at her her head.
Lying here on the bed it suddenly struck her how deeply intimate this whole process was. She realized lying on what was his bed, a distractable comfortable pillow under her head, she knew what he smelled like. Radiant amber and orange blossom, golden Oudh, and saffron-threaded honey, it was a very nice smell for a man.

She leapt from the bed her whole face going red. She can't be thinking like this!! Not for some strange, probably dead man. She turned away and saw her flushed face reflected in the silently laughing reflection in the full-length mirror in the corner of the room.

Completion Counter +1
Warm and Waterproof Coat


[ ] Mirror, Mirror - AD 5
Failure Counter: 0/3
Skill: Empathy (+1) or Magic of Illusion (N/A)
Difficulty: RISKY
What could possibly be going on with that reflection in the mirror?

FINAL TOTAL (Action Dice 5 + Skill (Empathy ) = 6
Probability: 100% Great Success

She had been avoiding the Mirror in the corner. It unsettled her to see expressions she was not making reflected back. She stood there looking at it as the Mirror Mahogany wiped imaginary tears from her eyes and stood looking back at her. When it noticed that she was finally paying her attention she smiled and beckoned Mahogany to move closer with her hand.

Mahogany did not move. She started thinking to herself about the mirror lore she knew. "Mirrors are a symbol of perception and seeming. They align strongly with illusion and glamor and can be used to enthrall a person. As an artifact, they are an excellent base for something that would create a new vision or allow vision to escape normal limits." She walked closer to the mirror looking around the metal frame for any symbols she recognized. There were a few, but many of them, like the warded door downstairs, was unfamiliar to her.
"Hmmmmm," she said looking closely at one symbol in particular "This one is a little worrying." She stepped back as she glanced at her reflection was craning her head up. Trying to see what she was looking at on its frame.

The symbol she had found she would on used on an array of capture or binding. Of course, she could always be mistaken, this was a very different sort of magical notation than what she was taught at the Crystal Towers. She looked closely at the reflection, who under her gaze did a mocking curtesy and then began to pose artfully with a long sweep of her arms. The reflection was always looking at her never breaking its gaze.

Mahogany scoffed to see her making such stupid motions. At this dismissive noise, the reflection moved quickly and unnaturally slamming her hands against the surface of the mirror. There was no sound or rocking of the mirror, but the fast unnatural movement and the sudden sharp glow in her eye shocked Mahogany and she flinched and stepped back. The mirror her laughed at her fright and breathed out on the surface of the mirror, the inside of which became covered in condensation. Just like breathing on cool glass. She started to trace something in the condensation.

ʅʅɐʍ ǝɥʇ uo ɹoɹɹᴉɯ ɹoɹɹɹᴉW

The image of the words faded quickly, Mahogany looked at her reflection who did another gesture, this time it was a "And now you?" Sort of hand motion. Mahogany hesitated, she didn't know what kind of thing this mirror was or its function. It seemed to be wildly flighty in its mood and she wasn't sure if it was an artifact or another part of the Betwixt and Between itself.
This interaction with it had given her insight, however, into how to get the mirror to activate and the nature of the mirror itself.

Insight Gained - Mirror glass -
"Could this be my own face, I wondered. My heart pounded at the idea, and the face in the mirror grew more and more unfamiliar."
Lose 1 Energy

What would you like to do to the mirror?

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