Erric awakens to a berry in his mouth and Maldorn's calloused finger on his lips. "Big schpoon?" he murmurs in utter confusion around the squished berry.

He looks around. "This wasn't just some horrible dream was it? Anafrey, Maldorn, what happened? Where is the ghost? Did we do it? I dreamed of that sleeping woman, I know it was Clarice, she seemed happy. It made me feel better about all of this horror. Jambiya are you okay? Thank the gods we had those berries! I want to sleep for a week, if we are safe and sound in reality. Wait what time is it? I want to see if the kenku is still stone."

He rushes past the wine rack, to the ladder, rising a few rungs, and peeks into the kitchen.

“Trusty Iceshimmers felled it, Master Keric” Maldorn responds while feeding the other berry to Jambiya. “It apparently broke the magic of the mirror, as well as the piece itself”

OOC: Half damage is correct.

As Erric and Jambiya sit up, confused and questioning, a glow comes from the shattered mirror. Everyone turns to look, some hands move to weapons instinctively, but then a feeling of calm washes over everyone as a bright form seems to exit the mirror. While the form is hard to make out because of the light, it is somewhat humanoid. Then, a low, female voice emanates from the light: "Thank you, dear ones. You have broken the spell and released my child's soul to join me finally. Clarice is at rest. And Alistaire as well. To thank you, I will leave each of you with a little gift: my Charm of Union. When you wish to make a good impression with an individual, call upon this charm. It will serve you well." Her voice seems to fade away as the light does, leaving the group alone in the dark basement once again.

OOC2: The torch did also get transported back. It is lying on the floor.

OOC3: You can still poke your head out, Erric, but I didn't want to jump to that here in case you wanted to react to the light first.

(OOC: Thanks for the chance! Redone below. I do really hope that the speaker, who I assume is Sune, heard Erric call Maldorn his big spoon.)

Erric is in total and sincere awe of the figure. "That... that wasn't Sune, was it? What is a charm of union?" His mouth is totally agape and it takes him a while to gain his senses. 

He looks around. "This wasn't just some horrible dream was it? Anafrey, Maldorn, what happened? Did we really do it? I dreamed of... Clarice, she seemed happy. It made me feel better about all of this horror. Jambiya are you okay? Thank the gods we had those berries! I want to sleep for a week, if we are safe and sound in reality. Wait what time is it? I want to see if the kenku is still stone."

He rushes past the wine rack, to the ladder, rising a few rungs, and peeks into the kitchen.

Erric lifts the trap door just enough to peek through and sees ... the back of a kenku statue.

(Guessing he also sees some light from outside too...)

He rushes back to the mirror room, grabbing a bottle of wine from the rack. "Everyone, the kenku's still there, still stone... what do you think it was doing here? I think it's the same time, and we're not coming back hours or days or weeks later, which is a relief. So many stories, people lose time trying stuff like that."

Taking a few minutes to collect himself, check in with each of his companions, stammer through some attempts to process what just happened, Erric sits down with the wine bottle, pries off the cork, takes a swig, and proffers it to his friends to pass around. "Cheers? We almost died.... SO many times. But we didn't. It's not often I feel humbled but I could not have made it through that without you. Thank you, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart."

 (If there's some downtime during this RP sesh, Erric will get a bit bored and start to look through the crates in the room (investigation 6))

Maldorn takes a swig of the offered bottle: "Aye, we did it, though I'd say we need to worry about the trip back home before we celebrate."

Maldorn then checks his bag to ensure the casket is still there. If it is, he turns to Jambiya and asks for the key she found: "Maybe it fits here?"

Jambiya sits up, rubbing her eyes, “ugh, ish too early, Pops...” then she blinks and looks around, swallowing the half-chewed gooodberry. “Oh. Oh!” As the form of Sune arrives and the departs, she sits quietly. 

When the bottle comes her way, she takes a long swig, then keeps it, to Anafrey’s chsgrin. She’ll motion to the wine rack if Anafrey makes complaint.

”This has been a day, hasn’t it? I am glad we helped Clarice, but I have more questions now than I had this morning. Mostly about me.” Her hand crackles with energy, which then fades.

She takes another swig. 

Judging by the light, Erric would estimate time passed at the same rate while they were "gone", so it is mid to late afternoon. He starts looking in crates. A lot of them are empty. A few have bed linens. Some have clothes. 

“Jambiya, do you think the key you found would open this here casket?” Maldorn asks a second time, afraid the little goblin girl was too shaken to hear it the first time of asking.

“Oh, yes, the key.” She swigs again from the bottle. “I think I have it...” she pats herself over. “No, I gave it to Erric when we entered the bedroom.”

Erric forgot he had it too - but he pats through his pockets, finds it, and offers to trade the key for a swig of the wine bottle.

Key in hand, Maldorn will try to fit it into the keyhole in the casket and open it.

Jambiya does not want the key, and so does not give Erric the bottle. She does, however, begin to climb out of the cellar, up the ladder, while Maldorn is opening the casket.

Anafrey is looking at the wine longingly, but then notices Jambiya climbing the ladder. She grabs a random bottle and hurries up after the young goblin.

The key fits like a glove, and Maldorn is able to open the box easily. Within the well-padded casket are two matching vials containing a pink milky elixir. Maldorn immediately recognizes the liquid as Sune's Kiss.

Sune's Kiss:

Jambiya climbs out of the trap door into the burned-out kitchen. It looks much the same as she remembers it, but just a little darker, as the sun is starting to go down. She doesn't feel as oppressed by it all, though.

Erric is amazed at the gorgeous potions, and whenever he figures out what they do, he resolves to himself that he will overcome his fear of tiny caskets. He offers to hold onto one or both, if others don't want to.

He follows Jambiya up and looks around for a place to set up camp to sleep, inside or outside. Exhausted and completely spent, he is sure that they will have a kenku rooster call loud enough to rouse them if it ever turns back from stone. 

Maldorn explains to Erric what the potions are and appeases the teenager's (?) excitement by giving him one of the vials for safekeeping. Maldorn then follows Jambiya upstairs and offers her the second vial after explaining what the pink potion does (if she doesn't know already, that is).

Turning his head, Maldorn points at the statue: "Hmm... it looks like our bird friend didn't move a muscle. Should we keep the hunting trap there in place in case it reverts to flesh and bone? Or should we simply collect it and be on our way? Is it too late to travel, you all reckon?"

The goblin girl turns as Maldorn explains the potion’s power (she had no idea) and numbly takes it. Then, understanding dawning, she takes off into the house, heading for the stairs up to Clarice’s room. Maybe if the real Clarice has only just died?!