"What in the blessed name of Torn is this? WHo are these Sewn Sister to do something like this?" Silas question as he looks away and at the dolls.

"Uh...wait...you don't believe that's me do you?"  The guy in the cage looks at everyone else.  "Have I been saying my prayers?  Have I been acting normal?  Have I been strangely quiet or acting weird?  You know me after so long going through the jungle....from the city!  And the tall tower, and the bird people....!" 

Mal takes another step back from both Silas's trying to determine which one is the real one.

Insight: 20

Grenk looked back and forth between the two.  He had know Silas even a shorter amount of time than the others so this was especially hard for him.  He reached out and put a hand on uncaged Silas's shoulder and sought the past of it.  Maybe with that he'd see something in it's surroundings to confirm or deny its the real one.

Psychometry 7

Mal looks at the two Silas'.  She's confused...they both seem so genuine....she can't sense any deceit in either of them. 

Grenk's ability doesn't work on people, just objects and places, but he tries it on Silas' all the same.  His hand on Silas' armor, he gets flashes of travel through the jungle...muck, mud, swamps, insects...dark eyes staring out of the jungle at night, lit by the flames....a dead creature at the ground of Silas's feet, a frog thing...head smashed in, staring lifelessly back up at Grenk. 

Badger watches, horrified. Is it possible that this is the real Silas in the cage, and they have been travelling with a fake? And if so, then for how long? Badger and Sickle had been with Silas since the beginning, and could claim to know him best. The gnome looks over to Sickle, but the druid is also watching impassively with his frost-covered eyes. To be honest, Badger isn't sure he even knows Sickle any more. This was all so confusing. There must be a way to resolve this through divination, or if that should fail, through logic. Badger had an idea - a new spell that he'd been contemplating whenever he used his helm, but never really tried on anyone before.

Urgh, Silas! Oh, I mean this one, in the cage. In fact, both of you. Will you allow me to examine your thoughts? Regardless of the answer, Badger focuses on using the helm to cast Detect Thoughts, first on cage-Silas, then on not-cage-Silas. As he does, he asks the question: Where did we first meet? Whatever thoughts or memories he detects on each of them, he will pull from his own mind using his new cantrip Encode Thoughts, and then take a few moments to mentally examine each memory thread using the helm's magic, comparing and contrasting them. (Is there a roll for that? Intelligence maybe? Here's a d20: 12)

Badger pulls free two glittering ribbons from within his own mind...and begins examining them. The one from Silas glitters and is clear and precise. The one from cage-Silas is....the same!  Though, as he examines it...he notices little...missing fragments...or fuzzy spots....as if someone had made a copy of the memory, but...not got it quite right and missed bits here or there. The two Silas' look on...waiting for the judgement to be made about the other.....

Badger looks down at the threads. He looks at the two Silases, waiting expectantly. He looks at the threads again. He looks at the others, patiently looking on. He furrows his brow as if still in concentration, but really the little hairy gnome is stalling while he decides what to do.

It is clear to him that cage-Silas is the imposter - a clever copy but a copy nonetheless. Yet the memories are so real that it probably genuinely THINKS it is Silas and there's no point trying to convince it otherwise. And as a sentient creature with feelings, it would be cruel to just euthanise the pathetic thing. The only thing for it is to let it out, treat it nicely, hope that perhaps it will realise of its own accord that it isn't the real Silas, and also hope that it will simply fall victim to one of the dungeon's traps or denizens and save them the awkwardness of killing it themselves. Besides... if something should happen to the REAL Silas (as Badger suspects it will) then maybe the copy could be an adequate substitute... Hmmm, possibilities.

Difficult to tell, lies Badger. I think perhaps we will require more evidence before we can decide. In the meantime... two Silases are better than one, right? I suggest we free this Silas from the cage here, and let him join the group. We can continue as before, with the added advantage of an extra party member. What do you say?

Mal looks questioningly at Badger, taking a few more steps back from everyone, raising her crossbow a little bit, "Your kidding right? I know your thoughts can be questionable at times, but you want to welcome with open arms a potential enemy?"

Looking between everyone Mal thinks, OK it might be time to start looking for a safe way out and just be done with this entire land altogether.

"Alright, I got this," Grenk say.  He puts his hands on his hips and says, "only the real Silas would know this.  What..." pause for dramatic effect, "is my favorite color." 

The one in the cage looks up hopefully..."Uh....Red!  The color of the blood of your enemies. Though...those Gruungs had green blood, so....maybe green.  You never really mentioned it though...did you?  I have a bad memory!" 

Grenk stares at him and then breaks into a smile.  "He's right!  It is the blood of my enemies, and right again that it not all have the same blood."  Grenk draws his blade and points it at the Silas outside the cage.

"Keshma, you got any magics to determine if someone is real or fake?" He asks.

Quote from NathanPizazz >>

  Oh, my name?  What an interesting way to begin a relationship."  She turns and glares at Badger.  Then she turns back to Grenk, "My name is Keshma al-Wazir.  

Was the Dao really a figment of our collective imaginations?

(Oh crap.  Sigh.....lemme just delete that post here..and then...ok...done... and..... what are you guys talkin about?) 

Keshma looks to Grenk and shrugs, "I can hit them with my hammer until they agree to say what you want them to say...."

"Keep the hammer at the ready, whether it's one of them or these witch sisters that come.  There will be some violence soon," Grenk says.  "There is an idea," he says brightening up a bit.  "We could beat the answers our of the sisters.  I mean, no is going to fuss that we kill them, except maybe the imposter and if that happens then we know."

Badger responds to Grenk by saying: Well, these Sisters don't seem to be around at the moment... But there isn't a lot of conviction in Badger's voice. He's starting to doubt that three powerful witches all would have left the area, but he's certain he would have seen them if they were invisible. It's almost like his third eye is tingling, like a splinter in his mind, but his seeing power is limited. Oh well, the secrets will reveal themselves in time, he thinks. So then, he says to the others, shall we release the prisoner?

Mal backs up a few more steps, "I am not sure which Silas to trust now, however that one," pointing to the one not in the cage with her crossbow, "has been with us a bit of time, I think anyway." Then moving her crossbow to point at the one in the cage, "I have no idea if that one has been with us and for the mostly part these creatures are keeping it alive. I say we leave it there so there is one less thing I have to worry about with this group. We already have a random guy over there trailing behind us as it is."

Badger rubs his nose in concentration for a moment and then says to Mal: Think of it this way. The Silas in the cage is either the real Silas, in which case we should release him, or he's the fake Silas and he doesn't know he's a fake, in which case there's no harm in releasing him, or he's the fake Silas and he knows he's a fake, in which case we shouldn't. So in two out of three scenarios we should release him. But whichever Silas is in the cage, these Sewn Sisters obviously want to keep him caged, so we'd be only be furthering their evil plans by leaving him in there. He pauses for a moment to let that sink in before adding: Why don't we just let our Silas decide...

"Hey little children dolls.  You've been here awhile.  Have you seen how this caged man came to be?" Grenk asks.