Merlin looked up at TFU’s historic suit of armor. He inspected the display curiously, noting that there was a bit of dust on the suit’s shoulders.
“I did warn you about big crowds,” He adjusted the suit’s display frame, propping its arm up a bit further. “You seem to have settled in here nicely.”
Merlin knelt down, making a show of reading the armor’s small plaque. “The Armor of Sir Dogoud Silver. Donated By Nick Fargo.” He grinned, “Wow, sounds like a generous guy.”
He took a step back in front of the armor, “You know, normally I would let you stew here until your rental was due, but I’ve got a bit of an unusual night on my hands.”
He blinked, “Err, night with an N, not with a K. You’re working just as you should. One haunted suit of armor costume, complete with its own built in ghost story.” He glanced towards the kitchen, “Although I must say. Tormenter of late night snackers is a new one. It’s very… college.”
Across the room, two satyrs glanced at each other. One of them whispered, “Is that guy talking to himself?”
Merlin put his hand on the chest plate of the armor, “An enchanted backstory shouldn’t have done this drastic of changes to the frat house though.” His hand started to glow faintly, “Satyrs are magical creatures… Perhaps having so many of them concentrated in one place is interacting strangely with your backstory spell.”
“Anyways,” he pulled his hand back and casually summoning a small hand cart. “Let’s get you somewhere private, shall we?”
Merlin made a move to pick the suit of armor up. Suddenly the two satyrs who had been watching him clopped forward.
“What do you think you’re doing with our knight?” One of them bleated incredulously.
Merlin stared at them for a moment before looking down at his hand cart, “Uh…” He grinned, “Helping Victor with a prank?”
“Baah? Oh!” Their eyes lit up. “Need some help?” They wagged eagerly.
Magic was useful, but sometimes a good old lie would do the trick just as well. It helped that he had learned the head of the frat’s name. The two satyrs helped Merlin get Sir Silver’s armor off the podium and onto the cart in short order. Merlin could have done it faster with the enchanted strength spell he was in the middle of casting, but there was no need to draw extra attention to himself.
“Thanks for the hand!” Merlin waved, “Hoof! Whatever!” He quickly wheeled the armor towards the kitchen. Mark’s friends had mentioned something about a walk in pantry, right?
He spotted the door without too much trouble. Merlin quickly wheeled in the suit of armor, closing the door behind him.
Sir Silver’s helmet started to turn. It made a full one eighty degree spin before a pair of glowing red eyes started to light up behind the visor.
“You… came…” Nick moaned in the dark. It was quite the startling effect. Merlin had designed the costume but he felt a little jumpy all the same.
Merlin flicked on the lights to the pantry. “Of course I came.” He set the cart down and walked in front of the suit of armor. “You still owe me a hundred dollars.” He laughed, “Now get your head on straight. You don’t want me to turn you back with your neck on backwards.”
“Not… stuck…?” Nick hissed, righting his helmet. It was a disorienting sensation to say the last.
“Of course not!” Merlin laughed, “It would take another day of standing there for a display case to appear around you, and I’d only have trouble changing you back if stayed like that for a week or so.” He scratched his chin, “Or if your lore got particularly engrained somewhere I suppose.”
“Thank…” Nick started to express his appreciation.
“It’s no problem at all.” Merlin grabbed onto Nick’s helmet, his hands glowing faintly, “You are just wearing a costume after all.”
He pulled the helmet off the armor with one swift tug. Nick expected his head to go flying up into the air. Instead, he just found himself looking down at Merlin with a full field of vision. One that included a fleshy pink nose.
“-you so much! Oh man, I thought I was going to be stuck there forever!” Nick started to ramble.
Merlin was already walking around behind Nick. “You could have been. You’re lucky I had business here tonight.”
Nick reached up and started to poke his face with his gloves. “I couldn’t move whenever people were around! Well, a lot of people anyways. What the heck’s going on?”
“Magic.” Merlin didn’t have time for a longer explanation. He reached up and loosened the armor’s chest straps. The chest plate slumped around Nick’s shoulders. He could wiggle out of it on his own at this point. Probably.
“No kidding. Are you really a wizard?” Nick spun turned around to face his rescuer. “Thank you again for-“
Merlin was already standing in the doorway of the pantry. “Right, I’ve got a whole party to fix! Just needed to make sure your costume wasn’t the thing messing everything up.” He tossed the helmet to Nick, “Make sure to have that back before closing tomorrow please! Oh, and do avoid the satyrs on your way out!”
He shut the door on the speechless college student. That was a distraction he really didn’t need right now. Of all the costumes he had rented out tonight, Sir Silver was the one he could count on to not get into too much trouble.
Still, it was hard to tell how different magics would interact. People should already be forgetting the ghost stories of Sir Silver haunting the frat house. With any luck, the house itself would be shifting back as well.
Merlin poked his head into the dining room. Drat, it was still as rustic as ever. The banquet hall né dining room appeared unchanged, although Nick’s podium had been replaced by a small shrine. It contained a rather archaic mural depicting a heavily tattooed goat man pouring wine down onto an orgy of men in mid-transformation. Resting in front of the mural was a few candles, a fresh bundle of grapes, and an old reed flute.
Hmm. Tonight was really testing the limits of Merlin’s satyr knowledge, but if this mythology was right, these college kids apparently thanked the god of lust and excess before their meals. He was sure Pan would be pleased.
Merlin slumped his shoulders. He was really hoping that somehow the satyrs had just accidentally glommed onto Sir Silver’s backstory enchantment. Something else was at play here, which meant he needed to get back to work.
This frat house was a lot bigger than he was expecting. He really could use a tour guide. Merlin crossed the kitchen, poking head head out into the back yard, “Hey guys, you ready to check out the party?”
A few satyrs looked over at him. None of them included Freetail, Peter, or Gabe.
He waved back apologetically. Great. Just great. Looks like he’d be on his own for a while. He should probably go check up on Mark, but the satyr situation was rapidly getting out of hand. Maybe his pack of satyrs had better luck on their end? Plus there were the other outfits he had rented out that he should really follow up on. He was pretty sure he just saw an orc in a letter jacket walk by just now.