THE BOOKS OF MAGIC [modplot]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Everyone who signed up
What| The Books of Magic Plot
Where| All over the DC Universe
When| The same time as "Out With the Old"
Warnings/Notes| N/A

Their mission had brought them to Sorceror's World, which led to their first lead -- a strange artifact that, if completed, would allow them to find how the Spectre had been imprisoned the first time. After the golden device had been activated and revealed this, they all suddenly found themselves teleported in teams of two to new locations.

Strange, weird, and magical new locations.

Comments

[leverageintceo]

Parker has been mulling over Nita's words as they walked along the path. She stares thoughtfully at the crossroads before them, then looks at Nita.

"Either stepping off of the path is breaking the rules, or it will get us there faster because the paths don't actually lead anywhere. But we also don't know where we're going. We don't have a map and the paths don't have a sign post. So it's equally possible that this is where we need to be, right?"

She goes to the middle of the crossroads and crosses her arms, giving the weird landscape her best imperious look.

"Well?" she asks of the air around her.

[littlecousin]

"Usually, leaving the path is bad," Nita says. She's starting to regret not having paid more attention to her tutors in 'boring' subjects like magic, because the half-remembered lessons are just making her nervous without providing much information. "And crossroads are special. You might be onto something. We wouldn't be here if we didn't have the right."

Standing there worrying isn't very royal of her and won't get them any farther along, so she shakes off the nerves and straightens. 'What would Namor do?' cannot be said to be the best behavioral guide, but the question does help her put some authority into her voice and bearing as she moves into the crossroads to stand beside Parker.

"Is there anyone here who will guide us to what we seek?" She hopes she didn't leave any grammatical loopholes with the question, but if this to be a contest of wits, Nita's well aware she'll have to leave it to Parker.

[letsgolegion]

An imp suddenly appears, and says, "You rang?"

He steeples his fingers together.

"I can offer you a standard riddle deal. No frills. You win, and I show you the right way. I win, and I get your first born. Or soul. Or your love for someone else. Or a year of your life. Y'know, one of the usual."

[leverageintceo]

Oh, that's what it must be like for other people when they're not expecting her to be in the room. But he's using magic, which is cheating.

Parker bites her tongue instead of asking him which year he might want. There are a couple that she'd give him for a reasonably-sized chocolate bar, much less directions, but asking might be considered an acceptance of his deal. And since she's not solid on the details of what a 'standard' riddle deal is, she looks to Nita to ask an appropriately clarifying question.

Idly, she wonders what would happen if she poked the imp and activated her powers. Probably nothing good.

[littlecousin]

Fortunately for Nita's equanimity in the face of Parker's stream of consciousness, she can't read minds. Unfortunately, it means she can't tell what the imp's thinking, either. But she at least knows better than to agree to an offer that open-ended. She also wonders how some of these deals would be enforced across universes. While she would probably feel honor-bound to hold up her end of the bargain regardless of jurisdictional issues, Nita's just barely duplicitous enough to realize Parker probably wouldn't.

Heck, does Parker even want children?

"Before we agree to anything...which of those, and from which of us? Or would you leave us the choice?"

[letsgolegion]

"Eh, I'm not picky. You can choose the price and choose which of you it's from, and if I agree to the terms, we've got a deal."

He waggles his eyebrows.

"Faerie's an awfully big place, even with so much of it dying. You're looking awful mortal there -- you'll have a lot of trouble here without guidance."

[leverageintceo]

Parker cocks her head to the side, frowning thoughtfully at the imp.

It seems pretty straight-forward, so all of her instincts tell her that it isn't. They're on something of a time limit and he's offering to make this easy -- if they can answer his riddle. Otherwise they might be out a year, a baby, or a soul and still just as lost as they started.

(How, exactly, were these deals enforced? Was there a faerie Leverage, lying in wait to make sure everyone kept their end of the bargain?)

"How come it died?"