Chapter 4: Level 3 dungeon

Tande Lude find no evidence of any magical of physical traps on the doors

This chamber contains a stone font filled with a steaming green liquid. Beyond it, a shadowy figure stands at an open door on the far side of the room. The figure's back is toward you. After a moment you realize that figure dressed just like Tante Lude, though you can't see it's face (it is back to you).

East of the font is a small, dusty, empty room

"This can't be good. Be careful, Tante Lude. I'm right behind you."

I move into position above and behind Tante Lude, and prepare to cover her from whatever mischief this is.

The smart thing to do would be to blast this doppelganger of myself in the back right now. If I too the damage, I can heal it. If it's what I think, the whole group will be facing their own images and a head start would be welcome. And of course, there's a way to avoid the whole fight based on these cryptic clues that we would spend forever seeking but will show up after it's over.

But though I try to talk myself into it, I can't make myself shoot a version of myself in the back. I can prepare though, raising my shield high and praying for a twilight sanctuary for myself and my teammates to give them some temporary hit points in whatever is coming.

Having a flash of insight, I remember the clue "Slake your shadow at the front."

"Slake your shadow at the front, Tante Lude!"

I cast Faerie Fire (using my innate ability as a fairy) on the copy of Tante Lude. Violet light.

DC 16 Dex save.

"Font, like fountain, not front Tinks. We've got that green bubbly thing, can we get the fake me into it?"

Laughing with a sound like wind chimes."I don't have any spells that force movement. I could try to draw it towards us.

Stone font affected by Tinkara's fills room with dim Violet light for the duration. The figure seems to avoid the spell effect though.
The dim light created by Tante Lude's dine magic overlaps with the violet one. In the dim light you all notice that the figure moved her hand when Tante Lude moved her shield to activate holy symbol on the shield

Lude tries to puppet walk the figure in the room toward the green font by moving her own body here outside the room.

Actually I would probably be more likely to push into them gently, assuming they will give me the space. (a) I'm concentrating on what I'm doing, and (b) I am not moving fast but slowly, trying to make sure the mimicked motions are having the desired result.

I adjusted the description of throwing the twilight sanctuary to indicate raising my shield into high guard position and praying.

As you move slowly it copy your movements perfectly.

I am focused on watching and moving the figure to the font. If I see Tinks and Criella at all, it will be incidental or if they grab me to try to get my attention.

Tante Lude move backward and the figure move with her. Tinks and Criella have to give her way moving north and south as Tante Lude realize the figure is illusory and it moves "into the font".

"Well, that's interesting. If the other you is an illusion, then what are we supposed to do? Should we try doing a little damage to it? I could try a Firebolt or Ray of Frost."

Pantomime drinking from the well. To "slake" a thirst you drink Nyx send to Tante

"Oooh, good idea, Nyx!"

"No Tinks," Tante Lude responded without taking her focus off the figure. "Unless it attacks us, let's try to resolve this without harm for once."

She didn't respond to the bear's voice; it didn't seem to need a response. She was far from sure she had enough fine manipulation with this system to get the simulacrum to drink though she would try to do that first. She might have to just get it to put its head into the font and hold it there until it was force to breath in water. We would see.

With the figure actually in the font and its head apparently under water, she pantomimed drinking deeply, going so far as to pull her water flask off her belt and drinking from it.

Figure slurps up the "soup" draining the font in a minute. Once the font is drained of illusory soup, a 1-inch-diameter eyeball made of incandescent orange crystal appears at the bottom of the font.
Figure is still there.

On watching Criella is just wow'ed by all this. She watches slightly dumfounded. Wizards are strange. She says rather uselessly, "Another eye."

Tante Lude uses her Telekinesis to remove the eye from the font and float it over to herself, where she wraps it and stores it, again without touching the actual surface of the eye.

"We have walked through the water, slaked the shadow, we are looking for the vulture. Then I assume we need to fix fallen statues of the gods and read the walls of history which appear when we have finished the other steps. Vulture anyone?"