During the long rest

Wellby looks sad and a bit sullen and says, "I hate to tell you this soda. But you died when you opened the door. Undead beholders fired their beams at you and you turned to dust your gloves as well. Shiny man and candle man didnt have the power to bring you back. Of course there were ways to prevent that, but no need to discuss those points now."

"This cane man here" wellby gestures to the old one," is an associate of mine and has that power. He has offered to bring you back to life in your own body, but nym argued to have you speak for yourself and make the decision to make the deal."

Before soda pop says something bout being in a body, "the body your in belongs to Nym. Her patron, the metal dragon god, probably used her in a spell to allow you to inhabit her body temporarily to make the choice. Of course she did have a vacancy for that task."

"You died before your time soda, and your very much needed to help us retrieve what belongs to me from the bad person that lives here. But the choice is yours. You can hear the offer the cane man has for you, and decide if you want it or not."

After a moment of furrowing his brow, Soda looks up. "Ok Cane Man. Let us make deal. Would you like me to suggest terms, or will you?"

"You will refer to me as Sir, or the Gentleman." The Old One chastises. "Normally you are, as you say, a big, strong, man. Now, you are in the body of a frail young woman. You do not belong there Mr. Popinski, nor do you belong here in the land of the living. You are deceased, and as such hold no power in this realm any longer. I offer you a return to life, along with new power. Of course, such gifts come at a price. My price is that you work for me as long as needed to meet my goals."

He pauses to allow the barbarians mind to catch up.

"It is likely to take some time to meet my goals. You, like the halfling here, will be in my employ for as long as it takes. Your job will be to protect Wellby in his quest. He must not fail, therefore, you must not fail."

Soda thinks about this. "Wait, new power, and my body. All for protecting shadow man? What is new power?"

"To protect Wellby you will need to see as he does. I can grant you the ability to see what he sees. You may not have fallen to the beholders had you had a better view of the world around you."

Wellby had taken a step back when Soda had said he wanted to hear the offer.  

Wellby's eyebrow lifts up slightly about the sight (assuming anyone can see it now with the facial changes going on)

"Shadow man sees world differently?"

Ooc: This is awesome.

"Wellby, explain to this poor fellow how you see the world around you." The Old One commands. He waves his cane and all light disappears. Soda, looking through Nym's eyes sees total darkness allowing a little fear of death creep up for Soda. Then Wellby begins to describe the ways his vision is different. As he explains the differences Soda begins to see with those differences.

By the end of the description Soda can see as well in darkness as if in daylight.

Ooc: so hes getting the simple darkvision or is he getting the devils sight invocation?

Ic: "There is another thing he needs at the moment Gentleman. A new pair of magical boxing gloves to replace the ones that got destroyed."

OOC: appears the same level Wellby has.

"If we reach an agreement, all will bill as it needs to be."

OOC: about to depart LAX. More later!

Soda spends a few minutes looking at everything, giggling slightly in the process. Soon, however, his eyes fall apon the gentleman's disapproving eyes, and he regains composure. "So, I get body back, new eye powers, new gloves, and make sure that shadow man's quest is complete. It sounds like good deal. So why do I feel as if I'm missing something?" After looking at the gentleman, he quickly throws in a "Uhhh, sir?l"

An evil chuckle echoes in the corridor. "You may not be as dim witted as you appear." The Gentleman walks over and pokes Nym/Soda in the chest with the end of his cane. "Until I release you from my service you serve me above all others, willingly and completely." There is an icy certainess and power behind the words. "You will be as you wish until I call upon you. When I do you will have no choice but to obey."

Soda feels as if hes being praised with the phrase "Not as dim witted as you appear", but quickly gets back to being serious. "Above all else? When will you call apon me?"

After a bit, the words 'anytime' sink in. He paces for a bit "I feel like I will regret saying this, but anything else? Good or bad?"

"I call upon you at any time of my choosing and need. Your whole being is mine when I call for it. There is not much else you have to offer one of my power other than complete obedience.

As Wellby realizes this deal making is nearing its end point, he begins to think up of how to explain this to the others if Soda accepts the deal without getting a righteous smiting.

As he does, he looks away and he summons his pact blade as a hand axe in a very reflective finish to inspect to see if his black scars have gotten worse/noticeable. With everything going on the scars will be harder to explain away.

"So Cane Man wants me?" He pauses, going to pose another question, but after seeing the face of the deity becoming more and more impatient, he says "Well, I followed orders of my friend, and then followed the orders of shiny man. I get to protect shadow man, and, even though I get orders again, Gentleman gives me life. Which... Is good. Yes, is good. Is good deal." Soda summons the courage that he has, despite being in another's body. "Yes. I will fight for Gentleman. Gentleman, I will be your champion. Shadow man will be safe, and I will follow your calls." He goes to stick out his hand, but as he does so, he says "Other thing; I will need new weapon. Gloves are gone, and, ehhh..." he looks back at Wellby, who is now staring at his scar. "You seem like you would like your champion with a bit more style."

"Then it is done."

Wellby hears this as he realizes the scars are more noticeable, but he cannot tell if it is because they have grown or because of his proximity to the Gentleman.

The cane hits the floor and Soda is once again floating in nothingness, Nym is back in her own body and drops to the floor no longer able to stand without Soda's fortitude. The blood loss left her weak, but what she experienced the last few minutes was all too familiar and all too frightening. She begins to heave up dinner until nothing is left in the pit of her stomach but dread.

The area has become silent again. An eerie, skin crawling silence. Until there is the rhythm of foot steps. Wellby and Nym gather their strength and peer into the darkness. Soda Popinski finally turns the corner at the end of the hall. His normally cheerful demeanor is gone. His leather gauntlets are now jet black instead of bright red. They have hardened ridges like layered scales now too. On his chest are three distinct scars. They look like wounds left from heavily barbed arrows but they are all eerily black, just like Wellby's scar.

As he gets closer Soda stops and wavers as if dizzy from a night deep in his cups. His vision is off, he feels like is both looking forward and looking into a mirror. After a moment he realizes his mistake. He has been seeing fine, but as he neared Wellby he began to see as he does, or more specifically... What he does.

OOC: gloves are cosmetic change. Sight is linked to Wellby. If within 20' Wellby can allow Soda to see through his eyes, similar to a familiar. Otherwise, Soda's vision is unchanged.

"Good to see you back in the world of the living again soda." Wellby goes over to nym to make sure shes not about to kill over.
"Yeah, rough experience all that exposure to eldritch power huh nym? I've had nightmares bout it. Come on soda, going to need you to carry her to the group. Shes needs a good long rest to recover what she lost. Need all the help we can get for whats ahead. Now to figure out a way to explain this to berric...."

OCC: Good luck with that

IC: As Soda turns to Nym, she panics, and weakly tries to move away.

"No! Don't come near me," She cries out, as she struggles. "Do you have any idea," she wheezes, "What it's like to have someone else's personality forced into you body? To see my arms being moved not of my own accord, to scream as loudly as I can, though my lips cannot move. All over again?" Her voice softens as she says the last few word. Her stomach heaves, and she wretches once more, bile passing through her lips.

"Do you have any idea what you've done? Do you?! You made a pact using my body, and my lips! That could be interpretted any number of ways!" Nym's eyes grow wide with panic, and she attempts to stand up, only to slam against the tunnel wall. She looks about for a place to flee, and seeing none, falls to the floor, sobbing.

Wellby looks at Nym with a sad expression in his eyes.

"Hold off Soda. Give her a minute." Wellby simply sits down where he is, not moving closer to Nym.

"Actually I do know a similar feeling Nym. Not a complete takeover as you have experienced multiple times. Its the part of my story you and Berric haven't heard during my time in Rohen. There are worse forms of torture then simple physical pain. And then of course these past few months."

Wellby pulls out a clean cloth and uses mage hand to move it to Nym. "Feel free to use that. When you feel strong enough to keep it down, I do have a healing potion that can help."

"I assumed your patron was involved in this possession. It was your book that was written into."

Soda reaches out his hands, but as she backs away from him, he simply turns, and falls onto the floor.

"Akk, living hurts a lot more than I remember."

After a few moments, he slowly makes his way to an upright position. He winces at the pain of his exsistance, then lets out a painful laugh.

"So, Shadow man, that was Gentleman? I can see why you have nightmeres." Soda lets out another half laugh, but then coughs and falls back onto his back. "So, gentleman likes you. Enough to bring back me just to protect you. Why?" He turns his head slowly towards Wellby "Or is there something I don't understand?"

"Heh, you haven't seen true nightmares Soda, normal peoples nightmares don't even hold a candle to what I have seen. He doesn't like me, hes mostly neutral to anyone that isn't against him. My goal probably coincides with some long term plan he has and he knows I am the only one with the drive to accomplish my goal. But then its very difficult to figure out the plans of people who can live for eons to see it come to pass. He could simply be doing it for amusement, or some side bet he has with another god to see if I can do it, who knows. Incase your wondering, that's not his true form, its just a form to allow us to comprehend him and not go insane."

Wellby seems to think to himself a bit then says "Although every big player we know about so far knows about my music sheets and everyone wants to keep it either for themselves or away from the others. The cult of dragon probably wants it, doubt they were in the swamp for a social call, which means Tiamat knows of it. Bahamut knew about it and even warned us about the evil forces also hunting them. Of course my patron knows about it. The hags knew of it. Hell if I know Torm does. Berrics sister probably knows of it from her patron."

OCC: Nym would have muttered, "Gentleman's words, gentleman's spell" in response to Wellby's earlier question.