With a start, they beca aware of surroundings other than darkness. They found themselves lying on a cold stone floor, in a room lit by blindingly bright light. They try to sit up, but found that they were paralyzed, unable to move anything other than their eyes. From what little they could see, they were on the floor of a brightly lit cavern. The walls and ceiling are curtains of limestone flows, and are encrusted with crystals. Each crystal reflects light in a dazzling rainbow.
Three figures moved into view. The first is an old man with snow-white hair and a beard that reaches almost to his knees. The second is perhaps the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. She has milky skin, and hair the color of sunlit honey. She was clad in a filmy gown that is all but transparent. Her face is indescribable. It is the face that poets and painters were born for. Her eyes seem to shift colors every second, like opals, and they look as though they have seen every joy and every sorrow since the world began. Just as they began to feel they could disappear into those eyes forever, the third figure loomed up behind her. It was the giant figure of a man, cast from iron, with a stern, unmoving visage.
The old man eyed the party suspiciously for some time. “Hmmph … I have to say that you’re about the unlikeliest looking bunch of trespassers I ever expected to see. Let’s see what story you have for us before I have Errol here stomp you into jelly.” With a dismissive gesture with his hand, found that their heads and mouths were free to move.
The party tried asking some basic questions, but the old man simply scowled at them. As they tried to explain why they were here, he began to show some interest, especially when they said they believed that someone was trying to close all the Gates between worlds. But his interest was really piqued when they mentioned that one of their comrades had been murdered by people who looked just like them.
He stroked his beard thoughtfully and turned to the woman, “What do you think, my love – are they telling the truth?” She nodded. “Yes, I think so too. Interesting implications to their story. Maybe we should be more hospitable.” With a wave of his hand the party will found themselves free to move, although they were stripped to their underwear and barely alive.
The old man's tone, menacing before, now turned jolly.“First, I should probably apologize for your reception. I don’t appreciate uninvited guests, and I learned a long time ago that most of them weren’t coming for a cordial visit. I redirected the Gate to this world to drop travelers into my pit, and arranged a little reception to make sure they exhausted their powers before I brought them in to say hello. Not bad, huh? Every bit as effective as the real thing, but you don’t have to feed ‘em.” He laughs hysterically at his own joke, hysterical being the operative word.
Introductions out of the way, Merlin proceeded to share with the party his theory of the multiverse. It involved quite a bit of physics and math, and went right over everyone's head. The gist of it was that the world we live in consists of 11 dimensions: 2 dimensions of time and 9 spatial dimensions. Each of the 9 spatial dimensions has a corresponding universe, and 9 universes sharing a time-plane make up the multiverse. What the party knows as ley lines, or lines of force, are actually linkages between the dimensions of the multiverse. Merlin believes that by following in his footsteps, Twynillios stumbled across a property of the multiverse that was previously known only to Merlin. That is that the linkages between universes create a pairing between everything in one universe and everything in another. Particles, atoms, even entire creatures or worlds are entwined between universes. Anything that affects one also has an effect on each of its mates in the other universes, albeit usually in very subtle and nearly undetectable ways. However, if something from one universe were to destroy its counterpart from another universe, all the energy of that linkage would flow to the survivor. In the case of people, all the knowledge and powers of the person killed would flow to the one who survived. If an person from yet a 3rd universe were to kill that survivor, all the powers of both individuals would flow to him. Merlin believes that Twynillios has recruited doubles for each party member from across the universes, and plans to have them kill each of the party members, thus absorbing their powers. Then, if Twynillios kills his recruits, he will acquire god-like powers!
“There’s just one flaw in his plan, and it’s one I’m sure he isn’t aware of because I’ve only perfected the theory that’s allowed me to understand this within the last century. If an entwined entity destroys its mate from another universe, the bond between dimensions for the entire multiverse is weakened. If both of the pair are destroyed, those two dimensions will be severed from each other. As more bonds weaken and break, the multiverse becomes more unstable and unpredictable. Ultimately, if Twynillios succeeds in his plan, he will become a god, but destroy the entire multiverse in the process.” Merlin shakes his head and begins to chuckle, and the chuckle grows into another bout of hysterical laughter.
Unfortunately for the party, Merlin seemed positively excited by the prospect of the end of the multiverse; apparently life had become awfully boring for the old wizard. Fortunately Niviane intervened and cajoled the old man into giving the party some minimal help. On his instruction, the iron golem trudged off to a storeroom and returned with a multi-faceted gem the size of a fist. Each of its nine faces was inscribed with a rune. Merlin called it a Gatestone, and explained that it would allow the party to travel between universes, and once there would point them to the source of the ley line for that universe. If the party placed the Gatestone on the source, it would somehow lock it down before then transporting to yet another universe. However, he was unwilling to do more than this to help the party, even refusing to return their clothes or equipment. He then led Niviane off for some afternoon delight, leaving the party to ponder their plight.
Taking advantage of a magical chalice in a grotto of the cavern, the party was able to heal themselves back to full strength, but was not able to find their possessions. Merlin had left the golem (apparently named "Errol") on guard, and he strenuously objected to any attempts to purloin any of Merlin's magical items. However, after a few hours, Nivane returned, furtively looking over her shoulder. “Quickly, we haven’t much time. He’s sleeping now, but he’ll awake soon, and you must be gone by then. I’m afraid Merlin is quite mad. You’re very lucky that you caught him in a good phase. Usually when you come, the monsters in the pit are real, and you all die.” When the party asked what she meant by "usually when you come", she explained "All this has happened before, and will happen again." Apparently there are a succession of multiverses, each following the same pattern across the plane of time. The pattern is approaching a branching point, where one path leads to the end of the multiverse, and the other leads to an unknown fate. Niviane knows all this because she is a Time Nymph, and is doomed to repeat the final weeks of her life for all eternity. Unlike Merlin, she does not want the multiverse to end.
She instructed the golem to fetch the party's clothes and possessions, and gave them a few of Merlin's magical items to help them in their task. The party followed Merlin's instructions, and held hands while one of them pressed a finger against one of the facets of the Gatestone. They found themselves being stretched thin, as thin as streaks of starlight, and then everything went black ...
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