The car pulled up and he got out with his suitcases, authorized a tip with his payment, and said goodbye. He turned to see a sprawling estate surrounded by plenty of men in black tank tops, muscular, tattooed and imposing, clearly guards. One came to him, his face blank, grabbed Nick by the wrist, and pushed him into the main building, leaving his luggage outside.
His protests were weak, his mind, hazy. By the time he was escorted to a meeting room he was all but a vegetable. He could hear the man leave, he could hear another man talking... but no responses, must be a phone call. Next thing he knew the man who had been talking on the phone was in front of him, waving and calling to him. Nick opened his mouth to say something but didn't know what to say, so he shut his mouth again and went back to staring at the wall.
The man grew agitated, and stormed out of the room, storming back a moment or two, or an hour, later... Nick couldn't tell. There was a buzzing and a pop, and Nick's mental faculties were coming back. "Hey there, sorry about that. You seem to be highly susceptible to magic. The protective shield dulls most people, slowing any rash decisions, but it looks like it shut you down completely. I'm Mark, what's your name and what brings you in?" The man was mid 40's and was still in decent shape. He was wearing a suit and tie
The man seemed friendly, he extended an arm. Nick slowly reached his hand out to shake it. "My name... is Nick." he slowly said. "I'm here because..." His mind went in every direction... or at least, it tried to. The limit on his thinking speed didn't let him get anywhere while trying to think multiple thoughts and he was thinking of the train ride, the grimoire, his new addictions, and his luggage sitting in the parking lot, unguarded. "... reasons."
Mark chuckled already looking through a folder of information... "Reasons... yeah... very helpful, thank you Nick. Ahh NICK, I know why you're here, you were playing with a mysterious Grimoire weren't you... Well, I can guess why you're at a loss for words, a lot has happened in the last couple of days, am I right?" Nick nodded in agreement. "Well, we want you to work on some spell craft for us, you're studying at the university, right?"
"Yeah" Nick managed, finding this question much easier than the free form explanation.
"Good, We will give you goals, and when you accomplish them we can reduce or even eliminate your compulsions. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"No!" Nick forcefully said... not quite able to muster the coherence needed to yell, and not quite able to come up with the words needed to express himself adequately...
Mark rolled his eyes, "Ahh kid, I bet you feel violated. You don't look 18 so I guess you're dealing with smoking, drinking, and pot right? Anything else? You need to get off 10 times a week, need six large visible tattoos, or need 7 different partners over 6 months?"
Nick shook his head no, taken aback and mortified by what else could have been added to his list of compulsion complications.
"Good, because it could have been worse and still can be. Not having those urges means you triggered the body modification spell and then retriggered the mental spell as instructed. Which means you follow instructions quickly and do what's in your own best interest."
Mark paused, looked at Nick appraisingly. "I'm guessing you're smart, knew where things were headed, and responded to keep things from escalating. Given your reaction to the protection here, you may have even responded faster if you could have... But this tells me you need a real concrete threat more than a punishment to fall in line. Follow me..."
