Like Being in a Horror Story

As Elmo faced down Jonas, he couldn't be sure if he was looking at a friend or foe. He wanted to believe that Jonas wouldn't attack him, but at the same time, he'd had to knock out three others that shouldn't be his enemy.

He couldn't say if whatever was going on was related to the loud noise that had drawn him out from his tent, but that's about when he at least became aware that something strange was occurring. Namely members of Kim's army trying to forcefully put on some of the armor that they'd acquired from the orcs.

He couldn't be sure what they were thinking, but he was confident that he wouldn't like the results if he let them do what they wanted. Not that he understood what it was that they hoped to accomplish in the first place.

"Are you going to try and put something on me?" Elmo demanded of Jonas, uncertain with how Jonas hadn't tried moving other than dodging Elmo's swing of his quarterstaff.

What confused Elmo even more was how Jonas relaxed at Elmo's question. Jonas didn't look like he was going to respond, but Elmo wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

At the moment, he was still trying to figure out what exactly had been going on. What was happening and why did it start to happen so suddenly?

Elmo couldn't help but wish someone would tell him what the reason was. That way he'd know if he needed to get out of this camp or if this was just some bizarre cultural thing that happened on this world for whatever reason.

"Help me see if we can get the breastplate off of him," Jonas said, indicating the person that Elmo had kncked out a moment before.

Elmo didn't move at first. He couldn't be sure if this was a trick or not, as he wasn't sure what to expect. Mostly he wanted to go back to sleep, but with what had been happening, he wasn't sure what might happen at any moment right then.

It felt almost like they were back in the dungeon when they'd gone to close the portal and they'd been routed by the goblins when Kim had to be carried away as they ran from the goblins.

"If you're not going to help, then at least keep an eye out for others who might attack us," Jonas said, bringing Elmo back to the present.

Elmo nodded, feeling a little assured that Jonas wasn't going to try to force that helmet that was laying on the ground by them. The distant fires reflecting off of it, felt like it was trying to capture Elmo's gaze and draw him towards it, which made him feel like he might have woken up in a horror movie or something.

Jonas used his dagger to cut the straps of the breastplate that had been holding the piece of armor on before pulling it off as Elmo knelt and held the man in a sitting position. Not that the breastplate had really been fully secured. Only one strap was actually connected properly, or at least as far as Elmo could tell.

Then pulling it off, Elmo noticed that Jonas seemed a little surprised at the armor coming off. Which made Elmo wonder if Jonas had at least a theory of what might be the cause of this horror show around them.

"Why're you so surprised at it coming off?" Elmo asked, unable to keep from blurting his thoughts at the moment.

"Well, I thought it might be cursed," Jonas replied. "All the fantasy stuff I've seen have cursed items as something that can't be removed whenever you'd want."

"You mean, you think the armor is cursed?" Elmo asked, feeling like he was descending further into a horror story.

Jonas shook his head. "Not anymore. I feel something magical about the armor, so I thought that might have been it, but if it's not from a curse, then I'm not sure what else it could be."

Elmo digested what Jonas said, unable to keep from glancing at the helmet that seemed to make him want to put it on despite the fact that he really didn't care to put that on for any reason. All he could say was that the more he learned about what was happening, the more it made him feel like what he had known about this world was being forcefully thrown out the window.

Yet, as Jonas' words fully sank in, he suddenly realized that he might be able to figure out what exactly it was about that helmet that drew his attention to it so much.

Elmo picked it up and looked at it as he took a deep breath. He wasn't sure what to expect to learn, but he was at least confident that it might also lead to a solution to end this nightmare.

"Identify," Elmo said, feeling the sensation of his MP being used to enact his spell.

Then between him and the helmet a window appeared. The window gave some basic information about the stats of the helmet, what it was made of, and some other miscellaneous details that he wasn't interested in. What did catch his attention was what it listed as it's enchantment:

[While worn, this armor will give the enchanter the ability to take control of the wearer provided they get within a hundred feet. Once the enchanter has control of the wearer, they do not need to remain within that distance to maintain control. In fact, the wearer now can act in place of the enchanter to activate the enchantment on any other item that has been similarly enchanted.

[While under the control of the enchanter, the wearer will not be able to do anything the enchanter doesn't wish. Nor will they be aware of what they may do while under the enchantment. They may be released from the enchantment at any time by the enchanter, but the enchantment can still be reinstated provided the enchanter, or one of those already under the enchantment, comes within the already specified distance of the wearer.]

Elmo blinked as he finished reading that and closed the window. He felt like it didn't make sense to him at first, but as he thought about it, the actions of those who had been trying to force him to wear a piece of armor made a little bit of sense. Whoever was controlling the actions of those already wearing equipment with that enchantment was trying to extend their control.

Elmo couldn't say who the 'enchanter' was in this case, but he was confident that it had to be someone who was close by. Even if they had merely gotten close enough to activate it in the first place and then started to get as far away as they could, they couldn't have had much time to move away. As such, he was confident that they'd need to be close by still.

Aside from which, he wouldn't be surprised if the individual would want to create more of these pieces of armor, which meant that he or she would still probably be close by, given they probably weren't that afraid of getting discovered. Especially with others in the army forcing others to wear the armor.

Which actually made Elmo somehow feel less scared about those who had been trying to force him to put a helmet on. He wasn't sure why, but it merely felt like it was somehow less bad with knowing this.

"What'd you find out?" Jonas asked, startling Elmo out of his thoughts. He'd even forgotten that Jonas was still there.

"Sorry. The armor is enchanted," Elmo said before reciting what he could remember of the text that had been in the window. He couldn't remember the words precisely, but he was confident that he at least remembered enough to paraphrase it in a concise manner that would at least convey the important details of it.

"At least that explains why he was so insistent that I wear that helmet," Jonas mused.

"Why just the helmet though?" Elmo couldn't help but to ask. It felt like it was a little too simple.

"Well, probably because it's the easiest thing to make you wear," came the reply from behind them,

Jonas and Elmo both jumped, not having realized that someone else had approached them. They turned towards the newcomer, even though Elmo knew that it would be Kim.

"There is that," Jonas agreed.

"The others in the camp don't seem to like me much right now," Kim remarked.

"Probably because you're already wearing a helmet, so it makes it harder for them to force you to wear theirs," Elmo said, feeling a little less scared of Kim in the face of the horror that was still going on around him.

"Maybe, but it's not like they could do anything about it."

"Where's Elin?" Jonas asked.

"I told her to stay in the tent," Kim said. "Unless they see her, I get the feeling that they won't try to get her under their control." Kim paused for a moment, looking like she was thinking about something. "Or at least not right away. I think they're still trying to get everyone outside the tents first. Later they might go through the tents one by one, but until then, we have time to figure out what to do about it."