Adaly crouches down next to Sam “Darling, I am sorry to wake you, but we need to talk. Heskeni had information.” Sam goes to sit up and Adaly leads him into the woods. She rubs her head “We need to talk to the patient man. I am sorry to ask this of you. I will tell you what Heskeni discovered in a bit, it is better that you go in neutral.”
Sam goes to sit on a tree stomp a bit defeated. “I… I rather not.” Adaly swallows “I can also ask Livia or Jeremy, but we need the information… I just think it is better for you, if you are the one to do it. Getting some closure.” Adaly says with a worried look on her face.
He sighs “Sure… How do you want to approach this?” Adaly kindly smiles “I will be the good guard, you the bad guard. Teaming up on him. Just start with what you know, and find out as much as you can. There is a specific piece of information missing in what Heskeni told us, but I know enough so I can tell you when he is bullshitting.” Sam nods, “That could work.”
Sam grabs the mirror, holds it in his hand and looks at it, clearly doubting what to do. Adaly goes to stand next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder for support. He smiles gratefully at her and stands up and throws the mirror up.
The mirror grows again, showing an empty space. A few seconds pass before the patient man rushes towards it “Sam, are you okay?” Adaly activates her soul sight, the mirrors magic effect obscuring her vision a bit, but she can clearly see the patient man is an illusion, the actual person they are talking to is way smaller. Sam grinds his teeth, very clearly angry.
“You send us on a suicide mission?” Sam brings out, he tries to not yell, but his anger is clearly audible. Adaly leans a bit back, she keeps in sight, but also just wants to observe Sam and the patient man interacting. The patient man rolls his eyes “I gave you the mirror to contact me in emergencies, this is hardly an emergency.” Sam’s head turns red in anger “You send Livia and me to our dead’s. That is not an emergency? Now we have some questions…” “Matthew you are being childish.” The patient man interrupts Sam, making him even more pissed.
Adaly steps forward “We just have a few questions about the bomb. I am not against using it, it could be a good plan. However, if it is triggered at the wrong moment, the rest of the plan could be in danger. So I would like you to tell us the specifics.” The patient man observes Adaly, “Now why would I tell you anything?” Sam angrily steps forward “Because you owe us an explanation. Because you are throwing away our lives.”
Adaly looks at Sam, letting him finish, before she pulls out the marriage band she has “Because it is not a bad plan, and I can convince Sam to still do it.” “How?” the patient man asks, and Adaly shows the ring “I have my means. I can be very persuasive towards him if I want to be.” Adaly says in her sweetest voice. The patient man narrows his eyes “Seriously Matthew, you fell for that? You are sometimes still so childish” “Yes MOM, I did. Now you tell Adaly what she wants to know or I swear, by the good in this world and the lines I won’t cross, that if you don’t tell Adaly everything you know about the FUCKING bomb you hung around Livia’s neck, I will tell her the location of the artefacts we recovered 46 years ago near Magliat…. Your MOVE” Sam grunts and takes a few steps back.
Adaly looks surprised at the patient man, or apparently patient woman in surprise. She had prepared herself for a lot of things, but the patient man being female was genuinely surprising. The patient man seems to consider her options. “What happened in Magliat?” Adaly asks, looking at Sam. Sam shakes his head and just stares his mother down. “Fine” the patient man eventually says, she looks at Adaly “What do you want to know?”
Adaly pockets the ring again, steps forward with a wicked smile on her face “I want you to tell me everything about the bomb. What are the triggers? How does it work? What is your target?” Adaly plays with her dagger and starts pacing, before continuing “I do want to let you know one of our allies discovered a lot of the details, but not all… So do not lie, I will know when you are not telling the truth.” Adaly gives the patient man a warning glance.
The patient man looks annoyed and starts “The goal was to blow up the citadel. So, the target is the core. But seeing as you were asking about the target, I suspect you already knew that.” Adaly nods and smiles wickedly this was basically all information she needed, but she will enjoy making the patient man squirm a bit more.
“For the triggers, come within 300 feet of the target and the timer starts. After 8 hours, or when you walk away more than 3000 feet away, the bomb is triggered. Also, even though the trigger is the citadel’s core, if a being with enough sin touches it, it will also explode. Or if somehow someone manages to get into the amulet, if they cast sin-based magic, it will also explode.” The patient man says, and Adaly nods, takes a look at Sam. He looks rough, looks upset. She wants to do more for him.
Adaly swallows “Is there a way to stop the countdown once it is started?” The patient man chuckles “No, unless you somehow manage to get into the bomb. Then you can reset it.” Adaly smiles “We have already entered the amulet once, so that shall not be a problem. What is the blast radius of both explosions?”
The patient man cocks her head “You do already know all of this, why do you need me to tell you anything.” Adaly smiles “There is only so much we could figure out. I need to know the details if we want to use it. So, I know I need Livia to get it to work, but I need to know how close she needs to be.” Sam steps forward “You still want to sacrifice Livia?” he asks, and Adaly gives him a side glance that they will talk about it later.
The patient man observes them for a second. “The first blast is 1000 feet wide, power level something like an high end artillery spell. There needs to be sin and grace in that radius, it will suck that power up, and then the second blast will be several kilometers wide. That blast will even go through the ethereal plane, so there is no escaping.” She says and Adaly nods once more.
“Good, now there is a mistake made in the bomb, it will also trigger once we get within 5 feet of the target. But our ally already expected this wasn’t intentional, so I am not surprised you don’t know this.” Adaly chuckles and the patient man rolls her eyes. “Now, any pressing other business? I am not fond of this interrogation. But we shall discuss that later, won’t we Matthew?” “Definitely” Sam says before the patient man ends the connection and the mirror shrinks. Sam catches it and leans against a tree.
Stories of my brain 