TheOmphalosArdenWarAuraThe Omphalos Arden War AuraAura gives the rift a narrow look. But if Lorius doesn’t seem alarmed, she imagines it isn’t as world ending as it appears. Any opinions she has on the figures in the middle of all this, she keeps to herself. Though she does turn back to the trapped mage. She has no reason to trust the Rangers who appear slavishly devoted to Julian’s possibly insane daughter while her back is turned away from Tersa – not that they could get to her prisoner anyway. Aura taps her fingertip against the surface of the hemisphere prison, releasing another spell into it to strengthen it and render any magic but her own into so much useless handvwaving. “You should probably sit down and meditate on just how it is that you and your superior esoteric abilities have ended up with you in your current predicament and your fellows laying about without their heads.” She smirks. “And that was me with a flock of birds and without using even a thought of Pattern.” "There was no sign of one of the known High Magic practitioners in Amber." Tersa says. "Tactical doctrine cannot be faulted." “Alright, Lorius,” Aura says as she turns to her cousin/godfather. “Let us unravel this abomination.” “Nick,” she adds to her familiar. “Keep an eye behind me on our new pet.” Lorius looks over at the Rift briefly. "Hey, Glacier Boy." he says to Hadrian. "You take care of Brieanne, even if she's doing funky Trump stuff. I don't need my sister getting violent on me. I've got work to do here before the Omphalos buy a vowel." "Roger, Roger" Nick says. He shifts his position on Aura's shoulder to stare at the hemisphere-trapped Tersa. "The Omphalos talk a good game." Lorius says, motioning for Aura to stand on the opposite side of the encapsulated Door. "Their ability to put quasi arcane dimensional portals that span considerable distances is admittedly a good trick. I suspect their opposition to date has either lacked things like the Pattern, or like Valerian's world, they couldn't agree on what color the sky was and were paralyzed to do anything until they were overrun." "This is how we'll play it." Lorius says. "Undo your bubble. In the meantime, I'll have the Fralinger Elasticity Spell readied. The bubble undone, you'll grab one end of the spell and together we'll pull the Door apart, storing the released energy into an arcane flywheel. I managed it with Pollux, and you're a far more advanced student." "Questions?" Lorius asks. Aura is already moving into place to release her spell enclosing the door. "Not that I can think of at the moment," she says. "Just let me know when" Half a minute later, Lorius pipes up cheerfully. "When!" The operation turns out to be smooth. As soon as Aura releases the bubble, given that her senses are up, she can see the leading edge of the spell Lorius made, like the edge of a rug from Persa, waiting to be picked up. "No! Don't!" Tersa whines from within her bubble. Pulling on the spell with Lorius, the Door itself starts bleaching its color, turning a pure black in color, a black Monolith of an object standing in the clearing. This process takes about two minutes of effort. Its hard work, but nothing Aura hasn't done before. And then, with a sudden audible snap, the door turns to a heap of black ash. The Portal is gone, destroyed. There is remarkably little recoil or backblow from the spell. Aura feels her wards took a brief hit from the energy, but certainly nothing that she couldn't handle. Aura blinks down at the pile of ash in surprise. She expected more of a ... well, a BOOM at least. Lorius looks satisfied at Aura. "Maybe we should start a Door Removal company? I knocked Pollux on his arse, but you took it like a champ." The magician is still wailing in grief and loss. Aura blows across her nails then gives them a quick buff on her chest and says smugly: "Sometimes, it takes a woman to get things done." "I refined the process from the door with the Twins, too." Lorius says. "Less collateral damage." "Do cease that caterwauling!" Aura turns and barks at Tersa. "What did you expect; that we would leave it there for your people's convenience? Perhaps planted a garden around it and give tours?" She smirks before adding; Our tactical doctrine cannot be faulted." "Do you want some cheese with the whine, doll?" Nick adds to the now sullenly shut up Mage. "Lorius, I need to take this one and turn her over to Random." She pitches her voice lower and adds in Atlantean "Before the crazed ones get back." Lorius gives a nod of agreement. His Atlantean is fluent, but he still has a nasal accent. Aura may suspect he does it on purpose. He keeps his voice low when he speaks in it. "Good thing you're saying this after the Door is gone as well as the lunatics. The Omphalos employ babelfish spells." "He then speaks louder, in Thari. "You probably should deliver the Mage to Random, Aura. I'll help Noys clean up here and see about the rift. Go, with my blessing. I'm certain Random is going to rope family together in short order, so I will see you then, if not sooner." "Will do," says Aura agreeably, though faintly amused. Returning to the captured mage, Aura taps the hemisphere three times. "Sleep," she commands. Tersa does do a credible job in resisting the spell as long as she can.. It takes a good minute for her to succumb to the drowsiness of the spell and have her fall into slumber. In the meantime, Lorius has walked over and started talking to Noys, speaking loudly with his hands, anyway, and the both are soon walking toward Hadrian, Brieanne and the mysterious rift. Once Tersa has collapsed, Aura traces a series of runes over the hemisphere. Slowly, both the mage and the prison begin to shrink. The bottom edges of the magical prison dig into the dirt as they reach for one another. Aura merely stands and watches. "Pocket sized for our convenience." Nick says with satisfaction. In the end, the Atlantean plucks the globe from the ground and eyes the miniaturized sleeping human inside. Then she nods in satisfaction and without another word to anyone, teleports back up to circle of stone chairs they had left from. With the guards probably on alert, it was the safer option; soldiers tended to get twitchy when unannounced visitors popped out of nowhere. There does happen to be guards patrolling around the Castle now, a fact that Aura learns as soon as she,. Nick and her prize appear at the stone chairs. A trio of guards near to the stone chairs head quickly in Aura's direction. The lead of the guards, a woman, holds her fellows back from drawing swords as they approach. Aura stands perfectly still with her hands holding the globe in plain sight the minute she spies the guards. She waits for them to approach and address her. "Hold on, Ser Hicks, Ser Donoghue. This is the mage daughter of Deirdre Lorius told us of. Mark the familiar on her shoulder." She scrutinizes Aura. "Aren't you?" she says. "Yes," Aura replies with an easy smile. "And this is Nick on my shoulder. We have just come from Arden, and I need to turn a prisoner over to His Majesty. I will need a guard to accompany, please. The spells holding her at the moment will be nullified by the castle wards when I enter." She holds the globe out for inspection. "She is sleeping at the moment. But she'll be awake and full size when I walk in the door." The black-hairedwoman steps forward and peers at the globe. "Indeed." she says with satisfaction. "The spell will likely break on the wards. I commend you for your originality in transporting the prisoner. His Majesty will want her in a cell pending interrogation. Follow me, please." "So now we have another creative sorcerer afoot." Ser Hicks comments. "And not even one of the redheads." "Quiet, you idiot. You don't want to get turned into a newt" Ser Donoghue snaps, giving a glance at Nick. "I'd get better" Ser Hicks counters. Aura just smiles sweetly at the both of them. "Gentlemen, continue your patrol around the Castle and report to Ser Hurley afterwards and tell her of the arrival of Princess Aura. I will escort the Princess and her prisoner to the dungeons." the female guard says. "Yes, Ser Leicht." the men say in unison. "Men" she says with a shake of the head, looking at Aura. "Please, follow me." Doing just that, Aura glides serenely along. "They cannot help it," she offers good-naturedly when they are out of earshot of the guards. "I suspect it is all that testosterone flooding their system. Drowns brain cells, depriving them of oxygen." "Once upon a time, women were as common as hen's teeth in the guards." Ser Leicht explains. "Your mother decided that would no longer do. But forgive me, you probably already know this story." she adds apologetically. She and Aura have gotten to the entrance to the kitchens. "Actually, I do not know the story," Aura mutters, then shrugs. There remains quite a bit she doesn't know. "I am sure she would be happy to tell you. Or any of the Valkyries like me." she adds. "Anyway, time to deal with your charge." "Hey, this is Ser Leicht. We need some rope!" she calls into the kitchen. "Bring some out." "Why rope?" comes a male voice. "Because I think that Michael keeps the handcuffs in his bedchamber, not in the kitchen." Nick snickers. A few moments later, a man with a white apron brings out a coil of rope. He heaves it and the guardswoman catches it easily. "Unless you've a better idea, Princess, we'll toss your sphere into the kitchen so that she doesn't squash you when the spell breaks and she regains her freedom and size." Ser Leicht suggests. I'll bind her up, we take her to the dungeon. His Majesty will doubtless want to talk to you immediately after." "She'll be a little groggy when the spell ends," Aura says. "That should give you enough time to truss her up. I shall have an immobilization spell ready just in case. It should work. Spells I cast earlier while in the castle performed as they should." "The boundaries of the Castle are protected against spellcraft. The Princess Fiona and her children's doing." Ser Leicht explains. "You'll want to tell everyone inside to stand back." She pauses and considers the sphere a moment. "Actually, if they could evacuate the kitchen while we do this, I think that would be better. I would hate for some innocent bystander to get caught up in trouble should it develop." "Getting the kitchen to evacuate would lead to an argument with Michael. I'd rather avoid that, Princess" She looks at the wall of the Castle. "What about tossing it against the wall and letting it break on the ward that way? That wouldn't unduly injure the occupant of your spell, would it?" Aura scowls. Male chefs were ever a pain. No light show this time. "Never mind," she sighs and walks a few yards from the door. "We'll just do this the quiet way." She sets the globe on the ground and taps it in pattern to release the shrinking spells, but not the sleep spell. When it is back to its original size, she vanishes the globe, leaving the mage sleeping on the ground at her feet. "Now, you can tie her up." "Awww. Not the fun way." Nick pouts. "I know," Aura sniffs. "Lorius' sense of theater must be contagious, because I am rather disappointed too." Ser Leicht ties up Tersa in short order. "That was remarkably simple." Ser Leicht replies, once done. Although she does not look that muscular, she manages to manhandle the mage with ease, carrying the now bound mage over her shoulder. "Come, let us go to the dungeons. I take it you've been there at least once, to walk the Pattern, Princess? she says conversationally as she strides into the Kitchen. The kitchen staff stops and watches in surprise at the entry. Some of them are staring at the guard casually carrying Tersa. Others (mostly the men) are watching and studying Aura. The person clearly in charge, a chef with thinning ginger hair and orange shoes, looks at the two-woman procession with absolute and stunned disbelief. "Michael." she says with a nod, striding on by. Aura saunters along after her with an flirty smile and a wink for Michael. "Hello again," she says pleasantly when she passes him. Michael looks at Tersa, shakes his head, and then smiles and dips his head. Nick gives him a grin. "Actually," [Aura] says to the woman in front of her as she follows along, "I did not see much when I was here for my Walk. It was all very cloak and dagger. Dead of night and all that. I recall lots of stone work and torch light and a ridiculous number of stairs." "The ridiculous number of stairs is unfortunately unavoidable. Only members of the Royal Family like you would even be allowed to have a trump of the dungeons. And aside from visits to the Pattern Room, few members of your family have cause or desire to come down here." At this point, Ser Leicht stops at a door, and gestures to allow Aura to open it. A torch lit staircase, that ridiculous, improbable, impractical spiral staircase, leads down into gloom. "The descendants of Queen Clarissa have some laboratories and workspaces down here for their arcane experiments" Ser Leicht explains. "Although I understand the Royal Princess Fiona has one on the fourth floor as well." Ser Leicht's pace down the stairs is slow but steady. Her charge still remains asleep but the trip down the staircase is tedious. "I have heard" she picks up the conversation some way down the staircase. "that some members of the Royal Family were more openly introduced than others. I take it that you were not?" "Not until today," replies Aura absently. She's busy keeping a wary eye out for rats and other vermin, and that tricky step and the state of their prisoner. "I didn't mind. I was in no hurry to leave Atlantis and my studies, which I very much prefer to politics - which Lorius and Mother made sound like the Family vocation of choice. And to be honest, Amber is rather ... bland compared to where I grew up. Artistically speaking." "Well, politics is, if you pardon my saying so, pretty common in the Royal Family. And those who aren't in politics are in the military, or are, like the redheads, engaged in esoteric pursuits." "I've never." Ser Leicht pauses a moment, taking a relatively treacherous looking step carefully and slowly before resuming her pace. "I've never heard of this Atlantis you come from. Artistically, we have things from hundreds of worlds, though. Mostly Golden Circle, of course. I take it Atlantis is futher away than that, Princess? And what do you study there? Art?" "Among other things," replies Aura. "Art, magic of all kinds, history, metal working..." "It sounds like the softer sides of the Princess. Your mother that is." Ser Leicht replies. "Many have the mistaken impression that all she enjoys is breaking the backs of Weir across her knee. Your world, you, put the lie to that." The bottom of the staircase finally reached., Aura, and Ser Leicht are at the base of that staircase, a room with the start of the spiral, a door and nothing else, "If you wouldn't mind, the door, please, Princess" Ser Leicht says. Your prisoner is growing heavy and cumbersome. Thankfully, the cell Princess Fiona and Prince Lorius prepared is relatively close." "Do you get that many sorcerers as prisoners?" Nick asks. "Or Oompa Loompas?" "Few of the latter. But the former...those changes happened with the end of the War. Random thought there might be Chaosians who'd seek revenge, and wanted accommodations to suit." Aura snorts. "How right he was. You would think they would learn. But it appears not." "Yes," Aura answers darkly. "They are not very bright." "You have had personal difficulties with the Chaosians, Princess?" Ser Leicht says, in a concerned tone. A couple of corridors, and a guardroom later, with Ser Leicht requisiting a guard in the latter, Aura, Nick, Ser Leicht and the guard are in a large room lit by magical lights. In the center of this room is a small room-sized cube made of some transparent material. The second guard places the copper disk on one of the cube's walls. With a soft sound like a sigh, a oval shaped, woman sized opening appears in the face of the cube to the right of it. Ser Leicht steps inside, places Tersa on the pallet and steps out again. "Thank you, Roche" she says to the guard, who removes the token, and the iris shuts. "Is there anything else, ma'am?" he says. "No, Roche. I will take charge of informing the Guard Captains and the Royals. We might want to use Gorgon Protocols in dealing with this one in the meantime. Be careful." He nods and takes a position in the room, watching the cube "That part of matter is accomplished< princess" Ser leicht says with obvious satisfaction. "One less thing to worry about," Aura agrees cheerfully. She's relived to have that out of the way so they can get out of this dismal dungeon. "But what are Gorgon protocols? Are snakes involved" As if sensing Aura and Nick want out of the dungeon, and quickly, Ser Leicht starts heading back down the corridor, away from the cubical prison, and back toward the staircase. "Gorgon protocols are procedures to deal with mages and creatures that can control minds, fascinate or otherwise adversely affect guards with just words or even a gaze. The story goes is that they originated long ago, after a emissary from the shadow Euryale caused trouble with a rival from another shadow, Manuis, also petitioning for entry into the Golden Circle. She was placed in prison, and special efforts were put in place so she couldn't charm the guards into allowing her to escape. She could hypnotize people, just males though, with her eyes." "As it so happens, she did have symbiotic snakes for hair." Ser Leicht says, as that long staircase awaits. "You have something similar in Atlantis?" "Not in Atlantis," says Aura. She gives the ridiculous staircase a disdainful look before starting up it. "One of our neighbors has females with snakes for hair called Gorgons in their ancient mythology. Looking them in the eye was death for males. Yours are easier to deal with on the surface, if more dangerous in the long run." "Bad juju" Nick puts in. "Quite." Ser Leicht replies. "The King decided that relations with Euryale were not in the interest of the Kingdom. I believe they trade with some Golden Circle shadows on an individual basis. Someone like Prince Pollux or Princess Noys would know." "I would think Princess Fiona or Princess Deirdre would respond to the machinations of a race that could cause death to men with their eyes with even more bloody-minded results." she adds. Aura smirks. "Perhaps that is why they are only mythological in our time." "I understand there are entire races from the old times, now extinct." Ser Leicht says. "Many so long dead we have no names for them, much less myth." "Well" she amends. "Perhaps people like Princess Shannon and Princess Fiona have names for them." Aura made a note to look into a spell that would duplicate the effect of Leicht's Gorgon though. Could come in handy some day. "Statues of them make very impressive guardians though," Aura adds with an amused lilt. "And somewhat terrifying to the uninitiated." Ser Leicht agrees. By this point, the guard captain, Aura and Nick are, thankfully, at the top of that staircase. "The chain of command when a Princess of Amber is involved can be tricky." Ser Leicht admits. "Did you wish an audience with the King directly, now?" Aura hesitates a moment before nodding. "I suppose that would best. Get it out of the way soonest." Glancing down at herself, she gestures and changes her gown back to something more Atlantean and in a green a shade darker than her eyes. Aura looks over at Ser Leicht and nods. "Ready." "Many people in the castle try and tune out Rebman mores in terms of dress." Ser Leicht says. "It takes some practice, however. Your outfit reminds me of that. And it is not, so, ah, revealing." "The King is gonna love it." Nick says. Aura quirks an eyebrow at the both of them. It is not so dissimilar from her Court dress, though less ornate to be sure. Granted, that had been little more than jewelry and two strips of silk. If this is less revealing than what they wear in Rebma, she is starting to wonder if she needs to take anything beyond her jewelry case. Except for that whole 'under the sea' thing, Rebma might not be so bad. Ser Leicht inclines her head, and leads Aura through the Castle. Her new outfit increases the attention paid to her (which was already more than zero, thanks to her general charisma, and Nick). Ser Leicht walks directly, and with an extra bit of speed in her step, through the Castle, and into the Royal Hall. She salutes the two guards. Smiling at any that she notices, Aura follows after Ser Leicht but managing to not look like she's in a hurry. "Is his majesty indisposed?" Ser Leicht says. "This is Aura, daughter of Princess Deirdre. She needs to speak to him regarding matters in Arden and beyond." One of the two guards turns to knock on the door, but a voice comes. "Yes, yes, she can come in. Have Ser Leicht go find everyone else involved." Ser Leicht bows her head to Aura. "Princess" "Thank you, Ser Leicht," Aura says with a smile. "I am sure we will be crossing paths in the future." With that said, the Atlantean Princess sweeps grandly into the room. She waits to speak until she knows who is in the Hall and to see if a curtsey is required. The room beyond is not actually a hall, but rather a relatively sedate looking office. The King of Amber is sitting behind a desk. A blond haired woman, dressed in an elegant dress of blue, has risen from a chair at Aura's arrival. "Not sure if the two of you have met yet. Aura, this is your Aunt Florimel. Flora, this is Deirdre's daughter Aura." "We have not met officially, although I remember you at court, dear." Florimel says. "Are you from Rebma?" Flora says, looking up and down at Aura. "No, although you can see why I thought of her to send on Embassy to Rebma" Random says. "I think we can take up the rest of your business, later. Don't forget to tell William what we discovered." Florimel is far too cultured to give Random anything less than a pleasant look. "Quite, brother." She gives a nod to Aura and sweeps out of the room. |
