Things began to become rather uneasy as the reminder of protecting themselves against magic. The idea of luring Cupple into a rage that would make him expose his magic sounded good, given everything that had been mentioned. Some of it left Grace a bit unsure as to what to do, mostly because of how so many things had progressed. A few days ago, she would have doubted that anything like what had happened to the Chapmans would be scientifically possible and that the "magic" that often got mentioned around Slug People was more a case of people not having enough scientific knowledge to explain it and thus substituting "magic" as a substitute. Now, as a Slug Woman, and experiencing some of the things that Slug People had long experienced, the concept of actual magic being real, particularly after Simon's explanation on the history and origins of his race, seemed a lot more believable.
And like Jeff and Lucy, who were the more assertive of the Chapman siblings, Grace did support stopping Cupple. Jeff's confidence in the proposed plan seeped into the rest of them and even Grace could feel it growing in her, even if it was something that was take time before things would enable them to get the law on their side. The reminder that they would also need to defend themselves from Cupple's magic created a very depressing feeling going through the hivemind. After a few moments of silence, Grace tried to come up with something that might shift things back into a more optimistic mood.
"There wouldn't be a way we could get to defend ourselves from Cupple's magic?" Grace wondered, with one eye looking to Simon and the other eye looking to Reverand Jack. It created what looked like a split screen image in her mind, but she was able to process the image from two different eyes. "Would there?"
This drew some nods and attention. Jeff remembered taking the electric attack from Cupple and feeling the pain from that. He recovered, but a part of him also figured that Cupple had also wanted him alive at that point, thus killing him wouldn't have made sense. Whitney also remembered seeing this, and it triggered some of her own mothering instincts that both wanted to make up for what had happened when she first transformed and the rage she had at Cupple for being the one to kill her husband. That latter part made things more important, as while it could be possible that all Cupple did was cast a spell that started the fire, and John Chapman was simply unable to get out. However, it was also possible that there was some kind of "killing curse" that Cupple had used, and the fire was then set to hide the use of magic.
"For the natural abilities of a Slug Person... that would depend on the specific spells that might be used," Simon spoke with warning, "nearly all of our natural magics are defensive for ourselves and are more to avoid conflict... not something that could be used as a shield against an all-out attack."
"But... things like the hivemind..." Zoe commented on slowly, "it protected us the last times we ran into Cupple."
"It would have protected you from any attempt on Cupple's part to enslave you to his will," Simon answered, "and most of THAT would be from the weaknesses in Cupple's own magic. He is a sorcerer... but he's also on the weaker side of those scales and thus the power he has wouldn't be able to enslave multiple minds at once... or at least five or four minds at once. A more powerful wizard... like say the legendary Merlin... he might have the raw power to enslave your minds. And much of that could probably be told in what you felt when Cupple tried to enslave you."
"It was like a dull ache on my mind," Grace said slowly and noted Zoe nodding.
"Which represents areas where Cupple is naturally weak," Simon warned, "the hivemind is not an automatic defense... and even if it were, it would only extend to you and any Slug People with you. Humans wouldn't be protected by it."
"And we can't force transformations on people," Jeff said firmly and nodded in agreement with Simon. Jeff then looked down with a heavy sigh. The only thing that improved things was a look to Reverand Jack and the hope that his information would set things up.
Reverand Jack sighed heavily, "this can be where things become complicated... for often, the biggest defense against attacks by magic are often magical in nature, themselves. Either the power of the spell caster or in an artifact that is enchanted for those purposes. And even that enchantment can be difficult... as some things may protect only against one thing."
That got Grace thinking back to the previous day when the Chapmans had been out looking for help, or at least for information on help. After speaking with the minister for the town's Catholic Church they had run into the Grenzes on their way to their next stop. There, they'd found out that something had apparently prevented Cupple from using his magic to force them to sell their farm to him.
"Could this protect people from the sort of mind games that Cupple wanted to play with us?" Grace asked, "like our hivemind?"
"In theory, sure," Reverand Jack spoke, "BUT a lot of that is still going to rely heavily on what magic is used and how it's used. An artifact will be limited... and given the nature of things, might be hard to trace who created or enchanted it. Anything more flexible that could respond to a broader range of attacks would require an actual magic user."
"Do you know magic, Reverand?" Zoe asked him.
"I'm afraid not," Reverand Jack said slowly, "many church leaders will have some degree of knowledge on the existence of magic... and most of them coming from older and established churches. Though for some, like the Catholics, it's more academic. They can give you the textbook action and the ingredients... but they're also well out of practice and may not be able to give practical advice. I found that out in my talks with them... And while they have been willing to share... knowing of magic and how it works and actually being able to cast magic are two different things."
"So, you couldn't have helped some friends of ours?" Grace asked, "when Cupple tried to buy their farm?"
"The Grenzes?" Zoe blinked and then looked to Reverand Jack, "you helped Maize and her mom?"
"Who?" Reverand Jack blinked back.
"Heloise Grenzes," Whitney spoke, "she owns a farm south of town."
"Most of the food the colony eats is bought from her," Simon added.
"I'm afraid I've never met her," Reverand Jack said slowly, "you said she had run ins with Cupple?"
"He tried to buy her farm, but said his mind games didn't work," Zoe answered, "and played it off as though he was trying to use the Jedi mind trick on her at the time... but it failed."
Reverand Jack rubbed his chin and then spoke, "that would give an indication that there is something mystical protect the farm... but I'm afraid I can't be the cause of it. Even if I had met the woman... I cannot cast magic."
"What about us?" Lucy wondered, "could WE cast magic."
"Most abilities that Slug People have are relatively low level and instinctive," Simon commented, "nothing that would truly be on par with a wizard's power. Even one as weak as Cupple. The wizards that created our race wanted our kind to be able to carry a lot of magic/mana and to be a conductive agent for it... but they also didn't want us to be able to actively wield the magic we had or could store. Making it all part of being a familiar."
"The only way it would be possible... would be if you or those in your family's bloodline knew of and could practice magic before becoming Slug People," Reverand Jack spoke, "and that ends up being something where the growth of science leads to other problems. For because so many people DON'T believe in magic, they could well have the power but don't know they have it and thus never access it... or at least not in a way that they'd become practicing magic users."
"Would you have ways to test for these sorts of things?" Grace asked, "get something that we could find what was protecting the Grenzes?"
"From what I've been told... there are, but that in and of itself could be like looking for a needle in a haystack," Reverand Jack said slowly, "or a specific needle in a box of needles. And the tests could vary depending on what is actually protecting this farm. For all we know... this could be something quite old and would predate whenever the Grenzes bought the farm in the first place or even set it up."
"So... we'd need to wait until we can get some answers back from Father Moughlin to get answers from his superiors," Jeff said slowly, "at least with regard to any sorts of knowledge on defending at least ourselves from Cupple's magic."
"With any sort of immediate confrontations, yes," Lucy agreed, "though... the question then remains on what to do now..."
There were some nods of agreement to that. Though, Grace noted that at the same time, things felt like all the air of hope and optimism had been sucked out of the room as they found that countering Cupple's magic would not be easy.