Before heading in, they briefly got heals from Merlin’s Mum, and Alkahest gave Merlin a quick pressure point sports-massage backrub to try and offset the fact he’ll explode if he casts any spells. It mostly works, but Merlin keeps having to CON save to not explode.
They go in. Benzene is alone, with Merlin’s Dad tied to a chair in the centre of the hall. Merlin leads the discussion, wanting proof that it’s really his Dad, and Benzene wants proof the contents of the briefcase are real in return. He looks at the fake heart Merlin’s made through Ursa’s eyes when she offers to take off her anti-scrying amulet, but can’t confirm 100% if it’s real through sight alone. He steps back to let them inspect Albar, but Nora’s Eldritch Sight shows that it’s another fabrication.
Benzene sighs, shoots it, and says fine, he’ll reveal the actual location if Merlin comes over and lets him inspect the case personally. He swears on his name and power that if the contents of the case are up to standards and undamaged, he won’t lift a finger against Merlin or the others.
Nora checks Benzene’s phone with Remote Access – she sees that there’s no correspondence with Amyll, so she must still be close, and also there’s a private number text that says it’ll call him soon, that she surmises is the buyer. Ursa is looking around for where Amyll must be, and sees there’s a light on in the security office.
Benzene looks at the heart Merlin made, and concludes it looks absolutely real. He pulls his gun and blows it apart. He wouldn’t have been able to damage the real one like that, and since the contents are now damaged he isn’t breaking his word when he attacks Merlin.
‘Alright, Merlin, talk,’ he says.
‘What do you want to talk about?’
Benzene sighs, throws him, and combat begins—though not before he takes off his jacket. Ursa runs for the security office, but has to jump to one side as a big concrete ball is fabricated and rolled towards her.
Merlin summons his Shadowspawn as Benzene swings for him, and Nora Mind Spikes him and thus can track him with the spell’s additional effect. Benzene fights empty-handed for a bit, and then has a copper spear fabricated for him that he plunges into his game face and ignites in green flame (Merlin’s prophecy killer). This does eventually get broken by Nora, though.
Upstairs, Ursa finds Amyll and Albar, who’s tied to a chair as well. She Hold Persons Amyll and begins working on freeing Albar. When Benzene realises he’s no longer got Amyll’s support, he rushes for the security room and gets bodied by Merlin’s Shadowspawn and the Air Elemental Nora summoned.
He switches to his true form, a massive steampunk tarrasque thing. He begins charging to the security room but Merlin’s spells and the Air Elemental hurricane throw him to one side. Nora Wire Walks up to the office and helps get Albar free, and just at the stroke of midnight regains her Dimension Door use and gets Albar out.
Outside, Faeyore sweeps Albar into her arms and kisses him lots. Nora says they should get out of here ASAP, don’t worry about them. It’s what Merlin would want. They get in the car, and Alkahest asks them to drive; he can’t leave while Ursa’s still in there. Caesura ended up not doing anything.
Inside, Ursa shouts to Merlin, saying to get outta there, his Dad is safe (providing some Bardic Inspiration as she does so)! She then messages Alkahest through her ring and teleports to his side. He’s glad she’s safe and hugs her tight, putting away his swords first though.
Back in, Amyll runs to the bottom of the stairs, free of the Hold Person. She fabricates a load of copper spears in Benzene’s back, and the flame goes all green again as it reacts. Benzene barrels towards Merlin, the only one left.
Merlin sees the copper and goes for a Witch Bolt, risking death from exertion to do so. He succeeds with the addition of Ursa’s earlier Bardic Inspiration, and his spell aimed at the conductive metal is a coup-de-grace for a massive hammer of electrical power that knocks Benzene flat. Merlin says ‘fuck you, Benzene’.
Amyll runs up to try and stabilise him, and Merlin walks. On the way he hears Benzene’s phone ring from his jacket, still on the back of a knocked-aside chair. Merlin answers.
It’s Lopodite. She asks how Merlin found it in the Lakes, and when he asks how she knew where the heart was considering its secret location, she talks about how up until recently she had a labyrinth that predicted the future, and saw it coming. As well as that she was sent some information on who was taking it (which, if we remember, was down to Nora plugging in Morris). So she went to visit him on a train, and see if he had any aptitude for crime. She thought she’d suggest bringing him on an upcoming heist she was funding.
Merlin says that putting his family in danger isn’t a very effective means of recruitment, but she says that she didn’t make the plan, she just inspired it. That’s what she does.
‘Anyway, Merlin… where’s the heart? I do still want it.’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’
‘…I’ll have to ask you in person, then.’
‘I look forward to it.’
Nora hotwires a car and they begin driving back to Middlemarch and the cinema with the fixed portals. Nora feels via her Mind Spike that Benzene doesn’t move until they’re almost all the way there an hour later, and even then, it’s slow and in the opposite direction.
Merlin, in the back of the car, puts his head in his hands. ‘God, my Mum’s going to kill me after this.’
Roll History 