A Vision Too Horrifying For Words

After a long, awkward pause, Ryn asked The Keeper, "Every minute that you stay in this world is torture, isn't it?"

"I've learned to be patient," replied The Keeper.

"You know, sometimes a good puzzle can help to pass the time," remarked Carlagnios.

The Keeper ignored him and continued, "But what you see here is just a window to my soul. If you make it to the chamber beneath the old prison, you will find my essence. You must destroy it there."

"But we'd need a quorum of the 100 to enter the old prison," Kale pointed out. "And --" He stopped and gave an odd look toward the Seed of Contradiction. "Does the quorum need to be comprised of the different members of the 100? Or can the quorum consist of the same member?"

"It sounds like you have an idea," said The Keeper.

Ryn laughed. "Right. What's the worst that could happen?"

In our minds, we must have all imagined a quorum of copies of Carlagnios, running around, picking fights, gobbling down all the food, burning down buildings with his fiery breath, and being generally very grumpy. At least, that's what it seemed like everyone was thinking, since all of our jaws had dropped and we all had looks of absolute terror on our faces.

Kale shook his head to clear his mind of the horrifying images. "Wait. So what is the Mantle for?"

"The Mantle keeps the Stone Men from seeing you," The Keeper explained.

"So do we need 50 of him? 75?" asked Kale.

"Ohhhh!" interjected Carlagnios. "You're going to make copies of me? What if you make hundreds of copies of me? Will the 100 be referred to as the 100s of 100s?"

The Keeper sighed. "There are only ever 100."

"What do the Stone Men do?" asked Ryn. "Why do we need to hide from them?"

"The Stone Men maintain the barrier between worlds," Kale explained. "The question is -- what holds the worlds together?"

"Love?" suggested Carlagnios.

Kale glared at him. "No."

"Well, how would you know?" demanded Carlagnios.

"Because I'm a mage, OK?" Kale replied, grinding his teeth. "Contradiction keeps the worlds apart. Keeper, why have the Stone Men demanded tribute from us in the past?"

The Keeper replied, "They favor you."

"Favor?" shouted Carlagnios angrily. "I lost my --"

Kale waved his hand to silence the Dragonborn. "How did Ores use the Seed of Contradiction? This ... coin?"

"In times past," The Keeper replied, "Ores would flip the coin. It's pretty obvious how you would use this."

"Well," Kale explained, "the last time that I guessed about how old war technology worked, I ended up locked in a magicless state."

"Ah," said The Keeper. "Would this have been an iron snake?"

Kale shot The Keeper an irritated look. "So," Kale said, quickly changing the subject, "who flips the coin?"

"It all depends," replied The Keeper. "If you want more than one Dwarf, have the Dwarf flip the coin. If you want more than one of the 100, have the Dragonborn flip the coin."

He continued, "The Dragonborn will see a premonition. There are two possible futures: one where the coin lands heads up, and one where the coin lands tails up. With great effort, he can envision both possible futures."

Carlagnios snatched the Seed of Contradiction from Kale and flipped it. Nothing happened.

Carlagnios struck his hand against his forehead. "I felt compelled to choose tails!" he explained.

"Would you stop that?" ordered Kale. "Let's go down to the circular chamber with the 100 doors first."