"Sonny! Stop this madness, child, I beg of thee!" fake Elminster cried out, "Thou has soaked these halls with the blood of innocents, and I cannot permit it to go further."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Imoen cried out. "Elminster and Tethoril is one thing, but you decided to take the form of GORION?!? How stupid do you think we are?"
"It's okay, it's all right. I didn't die that night, nor have I yet," fake Gorion said. "The blade that you thought slew me had been treated with a magical poison. It left me, a living soul and a lively mind, imprisoned in a body that gave all appearance of death. The man you saw that night is Sarvevok, and he has been in the keep for three days past under the reverse alias "Koveras." Tethtoril kept watch on him but, in our foolishness, we never thought that he might have others with him… Please, child, I have loved you too much to lose you now."
"Elminster and I had suspected it for some time," fake Tethoril said. "With Sarevok away from his lair, Elminster was at last able to locate your stepfather and bring him to safety… Forgive me, Sonny. I should have told you earlier. But to raise your hopes only to see them dashed to pieces all over again? There is too much heart left in this boy cage for me to have done that."
"Oh, come on! Fuller and Hull buried Gorion themselves!" Imoen cried out. She pointed at Elminster, "And you are no more an Elminster than I'm Drizzt the drow!"
"And Drizzt thou art not, thank goodness. As for this old rag-tag physique, thinkest thou that I would let anyone duplicate it without express permission? I have it copyrighted, thou must know… Come, poor soul, let us leave this darkness behind and struggle towards the light. The three of us shall guide thee."
Imoen turned to Jaheira and Khalid. They shook their heads. "Not Elminster. VERY obvious."
Imoen turned back to the trio. "And you said that these walls were soaked with innocent blood. Then who was it that chased us down these wretched halls, calling our name in voices we once knew, only to close and attack in trait'rous form?"
"By all that is good Sonny, what have they done to your mind to haunt it so?" Gorion said. "Your old friend Dreppin lies tangled in his own entrails, and foolish Phylydia, she ran down here to offer a mother's should and you have butchered her like the monster you perceived her to be… The gods have no mercy on we ragged mortals, it appears."
"I am a doddering and elderly fool for having let it come to this! There stood I, Elminster the Arrogant, nudging and prodding but never taking action… The most powerful mage in the realms reduced to a meager puppeteer," Elminster said. "Listen close, Sonny: With the help of doppelgangers and some powerful magics, Sarevok has encased thee within a vast and frightening illusion. I was unsure whether I could even penetrate it to reach thee."
"Dreppin and Phylydia came down here to the super secret, forbidden catacombs. Suuuure. And Sarevok has encased us in illusion," Imoen said. She turned to Arkanis and Deder. "But these two saw Dreppin change into a doppelganger too. So there goes that excuse."
"We did too," Arkanis said, with Deder nodding his head as well.
Imoen stood tall with her fists at her hips, triumpant. "There's no way any of us would fall for such obvious lies, ya dumb hacks!"
But Elminster, Tethoril and Gorion didn't move. Instead, they were focused on Sonny, who hadn't said a word the whole time.
Tears were flowing down Sonny's face.
"The time has come for a leap of faith, child," Elminster beckoned reaching a hand out towards Sonny. "Thou must fling aside this foul illusion and let us lead thee back to reality where Sarevok is fightable."
Sonny glared at the hand, at Gorion's face, his eyes filled with longing.
"Oh, Sonny," Neera whispered, "Please, no..."
Then Sonny took a step back.
I wiped a tear away and pointed at the trio. "You're damn cruel creatures, you know that? Worst of all, it almost worked. In spite of knowing all Imoen said, in spite of everything, I couldn't help but wanted to believe you were telling the truth. That Gorion, my only real father worth a damn, was still alive. But I'll have you know something right now."
I turned my thumb down. "When our loved ones pass on, it is the duty of the ones who are left to grieve, and eventually move on."
The faces of Elminster, Tethoril and Gorion changed into a terrible snarl. "Thsss, then, fleshling! Go mad, if you will, and feel the rasp of our claws against your mind!"
The three resumed their true forms, and attacked.
---
One Greater Doppelganger, two regular doppelgangers. We had faced a Greater one before.
Khalid and Jahiera moved in to engage,Jaheira saying, "Pity you don't actually recognize Harpers when you see them, eh? You damnable fake!"
Meanwhile Imoen and Neera burned down the Greater Doppelganger's Mirror Images with Magic Missiles. Next would come Haste, but Imoen and Neera could interrupt that easily enough.
I figured Greater Malison and Slow should work well on this group...
Or not? Greater Doppelgangers have a pretty impressive Save vs Spell of 7. Even with Greater Malison in effect, Slow had only a 70% chance to land on it. Gosh.
I was kind of out of it, so I was a little slow to give out orders. In the end, it didn't matter. Before I knew it, all three doppelgangers lay at our feet, broken. I guess one Greater Doppelganger and two regular Doppelgangers really aren't much of a threat at this point in the game.
Still, I wasn't done.
I dragged the broken bodies of the doppelgangers and put them in a row. The doppelgangers were dying, but not dead. Yet.
I examined them again. "Which one of you posed as my father again? Be honest. I'd say you'd last another minute or so but I can make that last minute excruciating painful."
The doppelgangers in the middle and right weakly pointed to the leftmost doppelganger, to the left doppelganger's dismay.
I pulled the left one's head up and gave it a big smile. "Congratulations! I've got a prize, just for you!"
Healing magic, a manifestation of my divine essence (somehow), flowed from my hand into the doppelganger. It's eyes widened. "You, you stupid primate! Tsssshhh," it said, and rose to its feet, claws bared.
"Sonny, what are you doing?" Neera cried out.
Before the healed doppelganger could get up, I smashed it back into the ground with my Quarterstaff +3. There was a squishing sound upon impact, and the doppelganger convulsed in agony on the ground.
I examined its wounds. "Ah, I'd say you'll last five minutes now. Lucky you! You get to live longer than the other two by a whole four minutes."
I took out my Dagger of Venom +2, and removed it's claws one by one. In spite of its wounds, it started to whimper in pain. Venom coursing through each finger would do that to anyone. It would take some time for the poison to flow from the fingers all the way to the heart, but I didn't have longer than seconds.
I pulled it's head up. "Or maybe not four minutes. Can't have you expiring so fast, can I?"
Again, divine magic coursed through my fingers directly into it through its head. I hadn't had the chance to use my Slow Poison ability up until now since we were so careful around poisonous creatures.
"Guess what comes next?" I said to it as it looked at me through it's good eye. "You can take another shot at me, though without your claws this time."
As healing magic coursed through my fingers into it through it's head, the doppelganger cried out, "Mercy! I beg you, stop!"
"How many victims begged for their lives before you killed them, huh?" I yelled into it's face. "How many lives have you toyed with after killing people's loved ones? Did you think there would be no consequences for torturing peoples' hearts?"
The doppelganger, now healed, tried to make a run for it. But my quartertaff was quicker, knocking it back down hard, crushing bone and organs alike.
"Another five minutes! How fortunate you are!"
"Sonny, that's enough," Imoen said, clutching her hands near her heart.
"Sure doesn't feel like enough," I muttered back. I was out of divine healing magic, though. Not to be deterred, I pulled out a bottle of healing potion from my belt. "Ah, we could keep this up all night!"
"Sonny, this is going too far now," Jaheira said, stern. "You're wasting our resources just for your satisfaction."
"I'll pay for it!" I yelled. "I don't care how long I have to work for it. They stained Gorion's memory! They deserve so much more-"
At that moment, Imoen and Neera held me in a hug. Taking their cue, Jaheira and Khalid joined in too, Khalid being buffed by the Gauntlet of Ogre Power. Even Branwen joined in. No matter how much I fussed and screamed, they refused to let go.
Finally, the doppelgangers expired, and I cried my heart out. Imoen and Neera cried with me. All of them held me like that until I stopped sobbing and tapped out to let them know I was done.
"Thanks, everyone," I sniffed.
---
The next person we came across was Winthrop. "Die stupid child-"
"Oh, drop dead and go straight to hell!" Imoen screamed, unleashing a barrage of Magic Missiles at the doppelganger mid-transformation, followed by a furious barrage of +2 Arrows.
The rest of us didn't even need to help. The doppelganger died before it could finish its transformation back. Thankfully doppelgangers resume their natural form when dead. It would be pretty disturbing having a half-transformed Winthrop lying around.
After she was done, Imoen was panting heavily and glaring at the dead doppelganger.
"Would you... like a hug?" I asked, tentatively.
"No!" Imoen snapped immediately, then said more gently, "No, thanks for asking. I'm good."
As we walked off, I heard her muttering to herself, "Stupid, bloody doppelgangers don't know when ta shove off..."