#elsewhere

A small smile.

"Excellent" And he slips out as before, closing all behind him.

Zara waits.

And he is gone , down the hallway and, out of ear shot.

From within the room, a voice says "Don't tell you of any conversations I have today. I will obey"

Head tilt.

And there is a soft voice, a whisper...

(Perception plus Alertness)

/roll 7

Were she not a sluagh she'd miss the whisper

"He calls me Madame Mirror, He wants all answers clearer, yet here I am forbidden to speak out." Poetry? Not good poetry but... "Now I answer only one, which is not a lot of fun, for he would appear wiser than he is. It grants him a lot more clout. So here I am in one room captured, while 'his' lore has the Duke enraptured. Will I get a new home? This I doubt. I'm forbidden to speak loudly when he's away, and still This Magic Mirror proudly will her own skill praise, and maybe maybe some day many can chat with me. I will finally be free, but again, after twenty years I now have my doubts" Sigh

That changes some things...

The whispering continues, sometimes in rhymes

Zara drops down, cloaking herself in a Veil before taking lockpicks to the door.

Now that she has seen it open, it is child's play to pop this about

The sluagh still sticks to shadows once inside - her face obscured, the better to avoid chronos. She still has her arms and torso wrapped in runescript, warding off cantrips from anything outside her protective barrier.

Trea is outside, on guard.

THIS time she's ready, and wisely so, there's a cantrip in here that encourages one to be less than subtle, to get down right chatty

But her wards block it

She looks around - she has a goal, of course.

But there is likely more than the mirror in here.

Indeed, it's a cornicopia of temptation...

there's a magic mirror with a dignified looking woman's face floating under the surface.

There are books in a shelf of some pretty INTENSE magics

And yes, there's a pen.

Zara is the mistress of her own share of magic.

It's a bit flashy, gold and crimson, but a classic pen for all that

Her senses and kenning are on alert, looking for traps.

She finds one book is a trap, chemical in nature. She can smell it. TOuch it, and be sedated as you read

"Magic Mirror, regrets, for I know you are bound by orders to speak not of any conversations you have today...."

So softly spoken, but, well...

The pen is lifted and placed in a pocket.

"Quite all right, Miss Araz" The mirror says softly, "Or so I presume. "

"That name suits."

"It seems a lonely life, here."

"You would be correct in your estimation" Madame Mirror says "One can learn a lot reading books, but talking to them is not always so productive. And the ones here are about power and spells, with less time for proper character reflection."

"You sound sentient, Madame."

"More so than many, perhaps less than some. I'm one of the magic mirrors of fairy tale fame, or at least of their line. Not as powerful as some of my cousins, but I'm not slacker. Oh yes, I am intelligent and self aware. Enough to write middling poetry and know it's amatuer ish. "

"How came you here?"

"Taken in the Accordance War by the Seer's mentor, and passed down as a gift, but unlike his mentor he hid me. Used me to get this job, though in fairness he has grown into it. I admit to being curious how you broke out, but I have my theories. Well played regardless"

"Well, I did not cast a cantrip." Wry.

"I thought not" A smile on the phantom face in the mirror

"So - you have served him for twenty years, though would you desire twenty more?"

"Given a choice, I think I've been without pay long enough" Dryly "I really am worried I'll Crack, in both senses of the word, if I don't get to chat with a few new faces. By the way, I love your hair"

"Mmm, it seems you are in danger, if you remain here."

"Indeed, why one might even consider it a right of rescue, If I were a kiithain" Madame Mirror admits "But you've used your boon I fear"

"If you were a kithain, you say?"

Dark eyes peer into the glass, intense.