Stuck in the Middle With You

[Bjorn]

"Feel free, Lord Bloom," Bjorn says, "though I ask that you not use force."  He nods at the Lorekeepers.  "I'm sorry to have wasted your time," he apologizes.  "I'm sure you have other matters of import to attend to."

[Brian]

Radagast shakes his head.  "I'm certain Mattias knows something," he says after a moment.  "But getting him to speak it....  That's another matter entirely."

[Dracos]

Dracos nods, heading into the room and looking over Mattias, kneeling down and looking into his eyes, focusing his will and demanding of Mattias' mind what he knew about Dorian for starters.

Dracos

[Bjorn]

"Indeed," Bjorn replies.  "Getting him to talk is entirely the problem."  He drums his fingers across his forearms.  "Solariat seems focussed on you as the primary threat, Master Radagast," he says, quietly.  "Do you care to guess why?"

[Brian]

Radagast raises his eyebrows.  "It's no great secret," he says, not lowering his voice.  "I was created in this world, and not born here.  This makes me unnatural.  Apparently, Solariat has chosen now to take offense at this fact."  Eske flinches at that remark.

Phil: Delving into the depths of Mattias's mind is tricky.  You need to send threads of thought wending between planes and wards ... they're pretty poorly designed, actually.  A casual thought or probe would be deflected right away, but by going slowly and carefully, you can actually percieve the way that the wards are all set up.

And then you can get through: Mattias's mind is not built very well, and from here, you can see that's exactly what it is.  Built.  This mind did not grow, nor is it capable of growth.  It was formed and left to work without the ability to change.

Dorian is not something Mattias is aware of (more than peripherally) or cares about, however.

While probing between these thoughts, you stumble across something unexpected.  For all that Mattias is numb, and hates Solariat (and everything else, even more), he's not really afraid of much.  But you have found what he does fear.

A glimpse, though brief, of someone in golden armor wielding a halberd who flies across a gap between two floating islands of stone in a vaccuum of nothing.  As you watch the thought, the rest of Mattias's mind finds it, and destroys it.

At a guess, you just saw a flash of whoever Mattias was before he was reforged into who he is now.

[Dracos]

Dracos quickly scribbles on the board. ~I'm through....this man is not human.  We're missing something really important here.  His mind isn't natural.  Is was built.  Constructed.  Maybe even as a prison, but I'm not sure.  Anyhow, he hates pretty much everything, but he only feared a brief memory of a man in golden armor wielding an halberd that who flew between two floating islands of stone in a vacuum of nothing.  It feels like it might have been him before Solariat reforged him.  Only thing is his 'mind' destroyed the memory shortly after I grabbed it.~

Dracos

[Bjorn]

Out loud, to Radagast, Bjorn says, with a note of surprise, "Not a secret?  It's widely known who and what you are?"

On the mindboard, It's not that surprising that he's a construct.  He said as much before.  The personality being a created one makes sense.  If you want to find out more about the vision, I'd suggest describing what you see to him, see what that elicits.  But don't forget to find out what he knows about the other Lorekeepers working for Solariat in the Keep, and what connections Solariat has to the Dreadmarch.  He knew a fair bit about Elric, from what Eske said.

[Ginrai]

~Hmm... it's quite possible that Mattias was then once Starmaster Journe.  Devin had mentioned to me before that Journe was able to step in between the stars and access different worlds, something which he told Devin and my other self.  Journe had also told him about vengeful knights armored in gold who hunted him wherever he went between the stars.  The more I think of it the more that I'm sure that this is Starmaster Journe!~

[Bjorn]

A conflict, there.  If Mattias used to be a knight armoured in gold, and Journe was hunted by knights armoured in gold, how can Mattias be Journe?  Regardless.  If you want to know more, ask questions, Philip.

[Ginrai]

~Eh?!  Where did you get the idea that Mattias was the knight armored in gold?!  Phil mentioned that he was afraid of them.~

[Dracos]

~Sure thing.~

"Hmm, interesting.  What do you know, Mattias about Starmaster Journe?"

Dracos spoke in a conversational tone as he kept eye contact, probing slowly and cautiously for what Mattias knew about Elric and how Solariat was using Elric.

Dracos

[Brian]

Radagast shrugs.  "What do I have to hide?" he asks.  "I don't see it as anything to fear or hate."

Phil:  Wending your way through Mattias's neatly arrayed thoughts, you pick out what he knows of Elric, and the relationship between Solariat and Elric.

Theres's no tie between the two.  At least, not in Mattias's mind.  But you do find out that Mattias was telling the truth about Elric.  Something in the keep is responsible for anchoring Elric's power in place, but Mattias doesn't know what it is (or was).

"Who?" asks Mattias in genuine confusion.

[Dracos]

~Gin, quickly, everything you know about Starmaster Journe, his position, who he is, how he looks like, whatever.  Tell me.~

Dracos

[Brian]

Ginrai:  You remember very little.  He was the Starmaster, which meant he looked for spaces between realities.  He was an old man, thin, white hair.  He didn't look like Mattias at all, but if he did, Devin probably would have reacted.

[Ginrai]

~Journe's abilities involved looking for spaces in between realities.  He was an old man, thin, white hair; nothing at all like Mattias.

Most people thought he had vanished decades ago when finding a way to step between the stars.  Devin believes that Solariat murdered him, probably out of jealousy since this is an ability that he and the Archonae wish they had.~