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 Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 12:48 pm
Kyla Alessandra Dio Getting in might be a high risk, but Allete was right, plenty of people went in – and out. They could work with that. Allete outlined her idea and they put their plan into action beginning with extensive preparation.
Ky kept up a steady stream of chatter all day, broken intermittently only by rounds of song. By early evening her throat was adding a natural hoarseness to her speech. This would help when she disguised her voice with an even deeper tone and accent, as one factor unfeigned would make the whole sound believable, and less noticeably put-on. Talk of planning could only last so long, before Ky had turned to jokes and dramatics, and soon Allete was coaching her through recitations of some past memorized historical texts (not her favourite part of the day). Throughout the day they marked daygoers as they came and went, waiting for early evening when someone was bound to choose a visit to a drinking establishment. They put together a working man’s outfit, scented slightly with leather and onions, padding to add a little more bulk, and mixed special facial clays to alter her features. Their finished product was a man about twenty-five years senior to her current character, with defining features greatly different to her own, though not overly remarkable in their own right. Her hands were coloured and changed to match. They took care to cover every detail. She practiced a more weighted posture, and changed the rhythm and movement of her gait as well.
She looked into Allete’s eyes in the looking glass and tugged her shirt fully into place. “Are we missing anything?” She used her new character’s voice and inflection.
“If we have, I don’t see it now. Here are the anchors – “ she passed two small vials into Ky’s hands. “ – forgetfulness first, and truth second. Although it won’t change much unless he drinks them very far apart – which we also don’t want for other reasons anyway.”
“Thank you. It’ll be great if he or she picks somewhere in your range, but if you need to follow, be careful.” Between them, those words “be careful,” had never been a true reminder, or doubt to their skills, only a breath of affection, confidence in what they already knew, and familiar words to send the other on their way. Now a sliver of true worry painted her tone; having faith in Allete and her ability aside, this was a situation with so much out of their control, and the stakes were never higher.
They watched as the skies greyed and various people went in and out from the compound. Two possible targets proved a bust as they did not turn into any taverns, accomplished short tasks, and gave no convenient opening. A half-shift of guards went into a bar together, but as a group they did not provide the target they were hoping for. Their plan was much like going fishing – they had prepared a specific hook, for a particular sort of fish, and had to wait and hold to their scheme, or adapt and change methods. They had indeed discussed a number of contingencies, but they agreed that most likely, on an evening like today’s, someone had to fit the pattern they had planned for. If the first night proved fruitless, they could afford to wait one day, and actually capture someone on the next if they had to.
They held on to their patience, and soon felt greatly rewarded. Who should emerge next, but the very man that Allete remembered from their ferrying. His expression was that of a man looking for a drink after a long day, and sure enough he cut straight to the bar district. Ky followed quickly, mixing in with the street folk, with Allete taking more time to remain hidden as she followed along the rooftops. Ky paused on the street as the man chose a bar, the first one in sight on the street corner, and followed him in soon after. Entering the dim establishment, she quickly spotted him seated at the far end of the drinking counter, placing his first order. At the front of the room Ky immediately saw how she could take advantage of this arrangement – the glasses and taps were at her end of the counter, near the door! The bartender walked the length of the bar to grab a glass and fill it at the taps, and when his head turned to hear another order called from down the counter, she emptied the first vial’s contents into the drink. Sleight of hand and careful awareness of other patrons assured that no others spotted her contribution, either. The barman delivered his drink, and moved on to serve other customers. The man grumbled into his cup and swigged at least half of it back before bringing it back to the counter with a dull thud. Ky approached casually and leaned against the bar; there were no other stools yet free.
“Evenin’.” She half-acknowledged the men on either side, eyes on the bartender. To her left a man greeted her with a nod, then turned back to conversation with his buddies at the counter. To her right her target grunted into his drink, and then rejoined “A good one for you, I suppose?”
“Eh, not particularly good, nor bad though.” Ordinary, likeable. “Buy you a drink?” Casual, friendly offer.
“Heh.” A small upturn of his mouth. “Thank you very much. This evening’s looking up at least.” He finished off his glass as Ky called two more over. She took both, thanked the barman, and placed one in front of her new drinking companion (after adding a little something special, from a certain second vial).
“To good ale at the end of a day.” She lifted her glass and took a short draught.
“Hear, hear!” He took a hearty swig.
Ky was thankful for the atmosphere of the chosen bar. The noise of business created a healthy thrum, but it was not so loud one had to shout to be heard. At the same time, the steady noise level around them meant that a quiet conversation between two could not be overheard. Once their mark was properly inebriated and under the influence, he would answer questions conversationally, with truth, and their interaction would garner no extra attention from the barman or his other clientele.
“So tell me about yours.” Ky provided a sympathetic countenance, and gestured over the barman. “Another round please.” She gave him a tip and then took another sip of her drink. “I’m Bronman, by the by. What’s your name, friend?”
“Stevan.” He finished off his second drink (and vial) in a few gulps. “Hollside.” He completed the information and reached for his third drink, starting it with a smaller sip. “I’m just snubbed and underappreciated and given crap-all after all that I’ve done.” He exhaled a snort. “Working with assholes.”
Despite the truth and forgetfulness spells, Ky would work to keep her questions casual, building into greater information about the compound and his employers, without giving away their purpose, no matter whether it was to a sober mind or a drunk one.
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:15 pm
Aℓℓετε Mαяιαηεℓα διο  Allete settled down on the roof across the street from the bar their target had entered, carefully checking her full range for any magicians who might be nearby to notice the magic she was about to use. While the spells she planned to use were rather simple, about as noticeable as a campfire in the woods versus the fireworks that she was sure to set off trying to scry into the building where Rebecca and Kieve were held, Allete couldn’t afford to be careless while they were still so near to their mentors’ prison. Finding no active mages besides the one watching their mentors, she set herself an unconscious signal to warn her if he should begin moving towards her. As she checked, she felt the first anchor activate, the addition of alcohol causing an instant reaction and finishing the anchor. Perfect.
She set out the components for her spells, two vials of clear liquid—marked clearly with a tiny raven on one and a gryphon on the other—a homely wooden bowl borrowed from their landlady, and a small bottle of clear well water her scrying spell, focusing on the bar’s insides; she’d taken care to order a small snack at every bar on the lane during the long afternoon so she could watch the conversation, no matter where it occurred. Using Ky as her center, she focused in on the conversation, blocking out background noise and watching the scene. His first drink drained dry on the counter, the man was well on his way through his second drink, and Allete worked her first piece of magic as he spoke.
Two short cantrips spoken over the raven-marked vial, a vial filled with the same liquid as the man had already drunk, and the liquid in her vial forced the forgetting spell onto the liquid within the man. Stevan would forget everything from the moment he’d taken his first sip of his drink until Allete freed him from the spell. She checked on the mage, Parker, to see if he’d had any reaction to her spell. There was no significant movement towards her, and she released a breath of relief. On to the second vial. As the man, Stevan, finished the contents of the second vial, she cast her spells on the remaining vial, truthfulness. That spell, less directed as it was, would last for around 6 hours.
She took a moment to consider the vials in her hand. A most intelligent solution to their problem, given that they had no idea what kind of person, with what charms and talismans, not to mention latent talent, they’d find. It had taken her quite a while to think it up. Neither poisonous nor inherently magical, any talismans and charms would not negate the potions, and once they were ingested, her magic could circumvent such light shields, as it was not working directly on the person, but on the potions themselves. A neat and innovative piece of magic. She would have to watch out for what she and Ky ate in the future, in case others had the same thought.
She set her attention back to her scrying bowl and watched as her sister began masterfully extracting information without even seeming to. “–snubbed and underappreciated and given crap- after all that I’ve done. Working with assholes.”
“Oh, I see. I understand that. Some people just refuse to be properly grateful for the bounty they’re provided. In fact, they’re probably jealous of what you’ve accomplished.”
“Exactly!” Hollside was grateful to find someone he thought understood him. Excited, he snatched his third cup and lifted it into the air, toasting the compliment given to him, a few drops of the brew sloshing out of the cup with the sudden violence of the motion. “I brought them such great information! They never would have thought to catch those two without me! And they! They-!” He slumped back into his seat, draining the glass in one go. “They won’t even let me talk to them.”
“That’s really going too far. I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about, but if I’d done something to bring about an amazing revelation—as you seem to have done—then I would be outraged if anyone wouldn’t let me hear about it.”
Hollside looked confused for a moment when Ky claimed not to understand, but then the confusion cleared up, “Oh, of course. I haven’t told you any real details, so you wouldn’t be able to truly understand how horrible they’ve been to me.” The man’s face took on a brooding look as he seemed to debate with himself.
Ky ordered him another drink, and Allete gave the truthfulness spell a tiny nudge in the right direction.
Stevan’s face grew thoughtful as he looked at Ky and he slammed down his empty glass as the fourth cup of brew arrived. “I’ll do it! I’ll tell you everything! You seem like a trustworthy fellow and those bastards don’t deserve my silence anyways!”
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silentbreeze90 Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 5:32 pm
Kyla Alessandra Dio
The evening was progressing well. Ky disliked Stevan from his first impression, but found as they continued talking, that he was actually fairly good at his job. He took pride in it, and that pride pricked some of his anger, but he was thorough, clever, good with faces and details – and absolutely terrible at dealing with the administration. While her main goal was finding pertinent information on reclaiming Becca and Kieve, it was important that she also work as much counterintelligence as possible, given the opportunity. Stevan had not had much to go on, but he had seized the little pieces he had managed to glimpse, and with a small portion of luck, both Rebecca and Kieve were indeed now in the custody of his employers. As they talked more, Ky also came to realize that while Stevan made a competent spy, he seemed to hold no particular loyalty to his organization, beyond the duty attached to a job well done. He simply liked the work, the travelling, investigation, meeting different people, and noticing, just noticing. He liked noticing things and putting them together. Lining up his noticings and filing reports to be read. It was interesting. Obviously the first thought would be to sway someone like that to a better cause, but it would be no simple matter. Despite his obvious dissatisfaction with current management, the same pride that wanted some gratitude, some level of notice of his own, would flare at the perceived infiltration of the enemy, and turn to solve the puzzle of the intruder. It would not matter if an attractive offer were made, by someone likeable, someone more appreciative of his labour. He would smile and pretend to go along with it, all while preparing a trap to benefit his ungrateful employers – all for the pride in his work, because that was just the way things were done. While he certainly had a lot of personality, when it came to work, his goals were quite straightforward, as if he simply never had cause to question them.
On the matter of the compound, security was rather complex. Ky was too busy asking questions and ensuring her memory of detailed answers to simultaneously figure out any real rescue plan. She would have to collect as much as possible, and wait until reconvening with Allete to lay everything out and together dissect the best means of success. And there was quite a lot to get through. While Allete’s efforts were working beautifully to pull information that would never otherwise be volunteered so freely, that information did not bode for a simple, smooth, in-and-out retrieval. Still, every detail could count, and thankfully – in this case – Stevan Hollside noticed a lot of details. The night held time for much more to be learned. She was prompting another answer, voice casual, posture comfortable, an unremarkable sight among all other patrons of the bar, when it happened – a sudden spike of heat around her left middle finger, followed by a longer moment of chill somewhat below normal body temperature. So unexpected it was, she nearly dropped her expression to reveal a moment of surprise. She listened to Stevan’s next enthusiastic ramble with strained attention, as she frantically planned an immediate withdrawal. Their plan had been going so smoothly, despite always planning for contingencies, that some of her optimism had unknowingly created a lull of confidence during the course of her conversation. She silently thanked the training that kept her alert and constantly on guard. She knew that none of this inner turmoil was at all visible to anyone in the bar, but momentarily chided herself for her own surprise. She should keep more level-headed, keep her emotions less involved in the current success of a conversation. Then again, nothing had slipped, she was acting on the new information properly, and continuing her role properly. Truly, it was simple dismay in this turn of events.
The signal came from a steel ring that Ky kept always on her person. Tied to Allete, it served as a basic form of communication and connection between the two. This signal: “Spotted. Meeting point B.” Allete had been discovered in some way, and they would meet at a back-up location separate from their apartment. Given the simplicity of the message, Ky had a lot of room for interpretation. Allete did not indicate her immediate peril or urgent request for help. Theorectially, Ky could continue questioning Stevan, and get to the meeting point when finished. However, while she would have continued pumping him for information well into the night, she had more than enough to work with, and it made most sense to wrap this up and get to Allete as soon as possible. Allete did not indicate that the entire mission was compromised, or warn of any danger to Ky, so while she assumed Allete would likely avoid their apartment in town and do her best to evade further notice, it made sense for Ky herself to return to the apartment first.
She disengaged from Stevan as neatly as she could, ordering him a more powerful drink that would both increase drowsiness, and increase the need to urinate. She wanted that truth spell out of him quickly, so that others could not unwittingly take advantage of it, and learn anything of their discussion that evening. Allete had greater control from afar, but given the signal, Ky had no way of knowing if she could still finish off the spells on her own.
Back at the apartment, she made quick work of gathering their things. An abandoned apartment would draw attention, even if it were just from a nice, concerned landlady noting their disappearance to local authorities. She tried to make her exit seem unhurried, thanking the kind woman for her hospitality, and citing general opportunities in a new area. With the official seals tucked amongst their belongings, and nothing out of place, she then made her way to their pre-determined rendez-vous, the branches of a large tree in the woods just outside the northern gate.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 7:27 pm
Aℓℓετε Mαяιαηεℓα διο
Allete continued to watch Ky’s conversation with Stevan, adding bits of power to her truthfulness spell as needed to keep him talking whenever he became uncertain about answering the questions. It took quite a lot of concentration, and she hoped that Ky was memorizing all of the information, because she would almost certainly forget the majority of it. If she were honest with herself, she would even admit that she would have forgotten at least half of the information even without so much of her concentration going to keeping the truthfulness spell engaged. It was all well and good to hear the number of guards and the layout of the building, but what was she to think about the rankings of the guards and how good they were at their jobs? Hopefully they’d come up with a plan that would avoid the majority of them, and Ky would have to take care of the rest. Allete's skills probably wouldn’t pass muster except against the very weakest of the guards. It would also be up to Ky to get them past any traps. Allete's magic could help them a bit in that area, but she wouldn’t be able to use much without being noticed, and beyond any other concerns, she wanted most to avoid notice.
Suddenly, the water in the bowl went black and a new face appeared in the water. The mage. Parker. The man who’d identified Kieve as a mage that first night. “Oh? What’s this? I follow a trace of magic that reminds me of the night we caught a pair of spies, expecting to find some wrinkled old gypsy charmer enchanting talismans, and instead I find a beautiful young brunette performing some spying of her own. Pray tell me, what were you watching so intently?”
Allete startled back a step and checked the magic she’d set to alert her of his movements. He was still in the fortress with their mentors, but had moved to a different room. One slightly further away. She supposed it must be his workshop. So he’d noticed her magic that first night, and gotten enough of a read on it to recognize her signature when she set her spells tonight. He’d probably thought very little of it until he’d realized that her magic was continuing rather steadily from a fixed point.
She’d been careless. Far too careless considering her current position. Quickly, she slammed up a shield, and the scrying bowl went blank, her magic cut off from its target.
“Oh, very nice. I can’t See you at all now. You must really know what you’re doing.” His voice was no longer in her mind coming through the spell, instead it issued from the very air around her. “No worries. Your shield won’t last forever, and with that kind of magical opacity, it won’t work too well against any physical objects. Some men should be there to pick you up very soon. Be a dear and hand yourself over quietly. It would be horrible if you came to harm at the hands of such rough men as we’ve been forced to employ.”
Allete barely heard his words, having kicked over the bowl and broken the two vials before running to the street and alley sides of the roof to find that hardened men with weapons bared were already closing in on the entrances. She sighed as she examined her alternate route, having hoped that she could avoid taking it. Here goes nothing.
She stepped lightly on a thin plank connecting her current building to the next one over, glancing down as she heard the crash of a door being kicked in. She had to hurry or she wouldn’t be able to drop the plank before the soldiers got to it. She wouldn’t win a tug of war against them if they grabbed hold of it before she could get it out of their reach. In fact, she’d be in trouble if they saw her at all. There were still men on the ground, and from what she’d seen, they could easily blockade the whole block and stop anyone from entering or exiting. Stepping more quickly, she stumbled the last couple of steps onto the next roof and quickly pulled the plank up beside the trim of the roof she’d moved to, and laid herself flat on top of the wooden board, just in time to avoid being seen by the men bursting onto the roof she had just vacated. Thankfully the house she was currently on had a flat rooftop, with a deep gutter, almost like a moat along the inside edge along with slightly taller than normal trim—just tall enough to hide her from anyone not paying close attention. Unfortunately, it would be discovered eventually, and she still wasn’t sure how she was getting out of the building, much less the area.
“I found something!” The men spread out over the roof, each facing outwards in a different direction. The captain who’d been with Parker was the last to arrive. “There’s a wooden bowl over here and some broken glass in a puddle of some sort of liquid.”
“Don’t touch it. We don’t know what kind of magic might be in it. Parker will be here soon enough to examine everything.”The captain grimaced as he glanced around at the empty rooftop and the impossible jumps to its neighbours. “Parker!”
The disembodied voice came again, “You’re looking for a young girl, 16-20 years old, with dark brown hair. Slender, but not skinny. Height is difficult to tell. She’s a decent mage, so watch out for any tricks. I’ll be there soon.”
“You heard him. I don’t see how she could have gotten to the other buildings, but you four,” the captain pointed to four of the men, “watch for movement. As for the rest of you, get searching!”
Allete gave a silent apology to the families in the building she’d used for her scrying. The men would probably turn the building inside out and upside down in the hopes of finding her.
She considered her options. It wouldn’t be long before the captain and his men realized she wasn’t in the building and expanded their search outwards. They’d find her eventually if she stayed where she was. And anyways, Parker would arrive soon enough and she was sure he would think of some way of finding her, even through her shield. Staying was not an option. And yet, if she moved from her current spot, the men on the roof would see her and shout the alarm. She considered adding a spell to prevent people from noticing her in her shield, but quickly discarded the idea. She would run out of magical energy before she made it off the roof. She could cast a temporary spell on the guards, but she’d have to take down her shield, and Parker would be know she’d moved. What other tricks could she use? A decoy? She’d have to decrease her shields to set the decoy, which Parker would certainly notice, but the decoys should draw his attention away from the building. Perhaps then they’d take the guards off the roof? She bit her lip as she considered her options, but she was running out of time. She also had to find a way of warning Ky without Parker catching on to her.
Finally, she decided on the decoy idea. She’d send out three decoys across the city in different locations. After sending them out, she’d have just enough power to warn Ky and set a light shield. By then she’d practically be a magical null, so Parker would have difficulty finding her as well, especially if the decoys were still roaming the city.
Her course decided, she closed her eyes and began building the spells for the three decoys, including her instructions on their various routes. She had to make sure they left enough blank space that she would be able to get to one of the meeting places she and Ky had set up, but without making it too obvious that there was an empty path there for her to follow. She also had to make sure the decoys were lightly shielded so Parker would think she’d changed the effect of her shield to get away from the building. He would know they were decoys if they had no shields at all. Picturing the city in her mind, she set out the route for each decoy, beginning with leaving the neighbouring building and ending whenever the decoy ran out of power. Considering her current amount of power, and the fact the she was splitting it between three decoys, she thought it might last just about an hour. That should be long enough for her to get out and meet up with Ky.
She took one final deep breath, lowered her shields, and set the three decoys. They would stay together for about fifteen minutes, hopefully long enough to fool Parker so he didn’t realize he was being drawn away. Then she turned her attention to the ring strung on her necklace. A plain steel band, it served as the focus for her next spell—a short burst of heat followed by a longer period of coolness. Ky would know what it meant.
More slowly now that she’d used up most of her energy, she brought her shield back up—just in time. She heard Parker’s voice from below. “Call the men down. She’s escaped. I felt her slip out the door not long ago. She must have switched to invisibility to get past the men.” There was a short pause as the men absorbed this, followed by a good bit of muttering regarding how a normal person was to catch something they couldn’t see. “I already thought of that—take these. I assumed something like this would happen and took the time to create some tools to allow you to find her. The crystals are attuned to her energy; they’ll point you straight to her. No, I’m not about to go traipsing around this city to go find her myself. Besides, I want to take a look at what was left behind on the roof.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?! Get going you numbskulls! There are ten of the tools. Take this opportunity to surround the girl and bring her back to the fortress. Break into teams of five. Now get out of my sight. I don’t want to see any of you until I have that girl sitting in front of me.”
Allete poked a reflective sheet of metal over the edge of the trim to see the next roof over without revealing herself. The guards were gone and Parker hadn’t arrived yet. She took the chance and raced through the door, quietly opening it and slipping through into relative safety. Now she just had to get to the meeting place she’d arranged with Ky.
It took Allete nearly an hour to reach the arranged meeting place. Without her magic, avoiding the men searching for her and getting out of the city unseen had been far more difficult than she had anticipated. She promised herself she would do more training with Ky. At least she would be able to take care of herself without magic if similar circumstances ever arose. Exhausted, she looked up into the tree, hoping Ky was already there. She didn’t think she’d be able to get up into the branches by herself in her current condition.
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silentbreeze90 Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 12:00 am
Kyla Alessandra Dio
Satisfied that no human soul was near, Ky gripped the bark with strong fingers and hoisted herself up the wide trunk and onto the first branch. From there, ascending the next few branches was child’s play, and, finding no Allete in their arms, settled in to wait. She shrugged off the strong urge to hum a tune or whistle, and before a quarter bell’s time had passed, heard movement and saw Allete approaching. A quick scan produced no visible injury, but her poor sister looked quite worn and tired.
Ky climbed down in an almost sliding or falling motion, stopping smoothly in front of her sister.
“Want a ride up, milady?” she asked in a practical tone, lilting up with a smile on ‘milady.’
Up in the branches they would have greater security to properly brief each other, and Ky had many questions.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:16 am
Aℓℓετε Mαяιαηεℓα διο
“Oh, thank goodness you’re here. I know I was the one who picked the meeting place, but I honestly wasn’t sure how I was going to get up there without you.” Allete spoke uncharacteristically frankly in her relief to see her sister. She let her sister boost her up on her back for a piggy back ride, and held on as they ascended the branches, safely out of sight of any stray patrols that might wander by.
She sighed as she seated herself in a convenient hammock-like configuration of branches “I hope I never have to do something like that again. Still, remind me to join you next time your training involves climbing up and down. It appears I need some practice.”
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silentbreeze90 Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 3:31 pm
Kyla Alessandra Dio
“It’s a good meeting place,” Ky assured Allete,“but sure, I’m sure we can work a little something extra into training for you. Still, sometimes exhaustion is exhaustion and you look like you’re running on embers.” Ky knew that Allete had a whole pool of other energy to focus and draw from, but that mage skills still took a very real mental and physical toll.
“I’m very glad to see you, too.” Glad that, whatever had happened, they’d both made it here, unfollowed, and relatively unscathed – as far as she could see. “Are you okay? What happened on your end? Were you able to follow the end with Stevan on your side? I got him snoozing on the bar soon after your signal.” Allete had control on her spells from afar, but with the physical tethers, she’d said that the charms should also tie off naturally, with unconsciousness, and when the liquids physically left his system. So they’d planned a double measure at the end, but it may not have been so double after all. “Was it indeed a redundant action, or were you… rather more busy?”
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 6:42 pm
Aℓℓετε Mαяιαηεℓα διο
Allete sighed in relief and happiness as she felt the safety of Ky’s presence and the privacy of the dense branches soak into her. “I’m okay, just a little tired. I’ll be perfectly up to snuff after a good rest, but we can’t afford to take that now.” She paused and looked directly into her sister’s eyes. “I had a spot of trouble on my end, and we’ll need to take it into account when deciding our next steps.”
“We’ve been found out. Well, I don’t think they’ve confirmed your presence, but at a minimum, they’ve seen my face and know my magical signature.” With a slight grimace at the memory, she composed her thoughts of what had happened and summarized what had occurred in the bluntest words possible. She wanted to get everything out in the open and clearly inform her sister of their new circumstances.
“You remember that mage—Parker—the night Rebecca and Kieve were… detained. He recognized my magic and cut in on the scrying spell. He knows that I’m connected to Rebecca and Kieve, and will probably be on the lookout not only for my magic, but also for physical infiltration. I was careless.” Allete couldn’t keep the bitterness and self-disgust out of her voice, but gamely continued on. “I barely managed to signal you and escape, but rather than running on embers, it would be more accurate to say I’m running on ash. I have no magical power to speak of, and I’ll be slow to recharge until we get far enough away that Parker won’t notice any serious energy collection efforts. As of now, I won’t be able to let down the shield I have without him finding me. I’m sorry, Ky. I won’t be able to help in any plans to free Rebecca and Kieve.”
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silentbreeze90 Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 6:32 am
Kyla Alessandra Dio
Oh dear.
Yes, it definitely could have been worse. Allete could have been trading fireballs with Parker, or captured, or worse. Still, it could have been much, much better. Their current standings left much to be desired. How had their carefully planned day come to such ruin?
I was careless. Ky doubted that very much. Yes, it is true that mistakes, oversight, and carelessness can have their moments with even the most well-trained operatives, but Allete was in her element. Ky always deferred to Allete when it came to information and tasks of magery, and it really seemed like she had come up with quite the clever application of physical and magical persuasion. Allete always factored in the visibility of her magic – it sounded like this freakish Parker was just way too suspicious and had too much time on his hands! Ky bristled as Allete’s dejection and self-disgust raised her defensive and protective instincts. Calming slightly, she knew it was likely more of a case of balancing risks – you don’t run headfirst into danger ill-equipped, and ill-preppared, however, you can’t make an effective attack without some exposure (except in extremely rare cases when you have a complete and definite advantage). You pick your sword and your shield, factoring dexterity, power, encumbrance, and so forth, and hope that your selection suits your needs and matches well against whatever comes. You can never fully prepare against every possibility, although you certainly exhaustively try.
And if somehow Allete had slipped up, she had certainly learned from it. But she doubted it. That damned Parker.
“It’s okay Ela.” She couldn’t not hug her sister. “We’ll figure it out.”
It seemed that Ky was still mostly in the clear, along with the particulars of her evening with Stevan. But the heir apparent, Allete, had been seen. They had seen her face. Who knows to what degree of clarity, but Allete would have said something like “caught a glimpse” or something along those lines had her image been unclear. Parker knew what she looked like. He could not know for certain that she was one of the Roanin princesses, but he knew she was connected to Rebecca and Kieve. He recognized her magical signature.
Ky wasn’t entirely sure about everything a magical signature entailed, but she knew it was identifying information. It could reveal recent or sustained spellwork. It was unique to each mage. It could be traced.
This was very bad. Ky took a steadying breath and felt grounded by the firmness of the tree at her back. They could not let Allete be captured. On alert, the compound would be sealed tightly against infiltration. The guard rotations she had just learned, would change. As stated, there would be no magickal support from Allete. No. While part of Ky spun away to race through her intelligence from Hollside, planning, poking and prodding her mental blueprints for entrance, knowing that Kieve and Rebecca were tools themselves, able to aid their own escape given the right opportunities and timing… a larger part felt weighted down and unable to move at all past one binding fact: protect Allete. They had to get Allete away from Parker - away from Bernay. Could she somehow get Rebecca and Kieve, and sweep the four of them out of the city, with all due haste? She smashed against the blueprints in her mind for a solution, but any operation would take time, and this one kept stacking serious odds against her.
First, she needed to know more about exactly what Parker knew. “He recognized your signature, tying your presence by Rebecca and Kieve to your face, and the act of scrying in the city. He would recognize it if he saw it again, but did he get some kind of a… fix? …on it? Will he or others be able to come after you? Are you okay to keep your shield running?”
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 8:00 am
Aℓℓετε Mαяιαηεℓα διο
Allete watched as her sister processed the new information. For the most part, Ky kept a straight face, as they’d both been trained to hide their emotions, but Allete knew her sister well enough to see glimpses through the mask. Anger. Not at Allete, but for her. Allete imagined her sister was calling Parker all kinds of names in her head and felt the ghost of a smile touch her lips at the thought.
She let her sister hug her and felt a small measure of comfort in the kind gesture. Well, that was Ky. Even when she was worried—and Allete had just given her sister far more to worry about than she had ever imagined she would—Ky would still find a way to comfort her. Even if the only comfort she could give were a few kind words and a hug.
Allete closed her eyes and leaned back into the branches as her sister went back into planning mode, forcing her tight muscles to loosen up and unwind. She was strung tight as a wire after her narrow escape, too tight to react properly if anything else came up. Her mind drifted until she heard Ky’s voice speaking to her.
She focused in on the question asked and considered her answer carefully. It was a good question, and certainly it could affect their plans. “Well… He can certainly find me rather easily if I start using magic. He even created some sort of magic tool that could detect my magic energy. I’m guessing that he took the remnants of my scrying spell to create them, since I didn’t have the time to end the spell properly. The tools should fade into uselessness within a day.” She considered a little longer, trying to think if Parker would be able to find her through her shield, “At the moment, I don’t think Parker could find me—even if I were to unshield—so long as I don’t go within 50 meters of him. I’m low on magic, so I won’t stand out against the natural landscape of slightly talented individuals that come with the large population of a city. He’d have a tough time sifting through them all to find me without a pretty good guess on my location, and I sent out some decoys to escape. They’ll have left residual traces around the city—I’ll map out their routes for you later.”
“As for my shield… It’s not particularly strong at the moment, but it can last almost indefinitely. It will obscure my signature, and prevent him from tracing me—it’s a spell I devised with Catrin and tested on Kieve—it should prevent Parker from finding me magickally, even if I were to pass within a meter of him, but that’s assuming he wouldn’t see me. With 8 hours of rest, I’ll have enough energy to strengthen it at need against attacks, but right now it won’t hold up against a rock or the weakest spell in a hedgewitch’s arsenal.”
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silentbreeze90 Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 3:26 pm
Kyla Alessandra Dio
Okay. Parameters to work with. First off, Ky really couldn’t leave Allete for the next eight hours. Even in a secure location, with sentries surely on the lookout, these annoying foes – or new ones – could conceivably come across her and capture or kill her with little effort. Next question: rest, or move?
These tools were also a concern. The knowledge that they would fade was the first bit of fortuitous information in all of this.
“The tools will fade – can he make more, or would they have used up the remnants of your work?” Ky started seeing visions of them put into mass production, and slowly spreading out from Bernay to sweep the land from sea to sea. That couldn’t happen. She’d storm the castle first to destroy any chance of such.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 4:56 pm
Aℓℓετε Mαяιαηεℓα διο
Allete quickly shook her head in response to Ky’s question and felt a smile creeping across her face as she heard the—almost desperation—in her voice. Allete could only imagine what was going through her sister’s mind at the moment. “There’s no need to worry about that. The tools will stop working because my original scrying spell will fade. Unless he can get ahold of another of my spells—unlikely in my current condition—he won’t have anything to use to create new tools.” She paused for a moment, suddenly thinking of her decoys, “There are the decoys, but they were time-limited spells, and should properly dissolve when they’re out of power. Even if he catches one of the spells midway through and creates more tools, they will fade at the same rate as the current tools.”
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silentbreeze90 Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 6:22 am
Kyla Alessandra Dio
“Okay. Okay.” This particular threat would indeed fade. Parker could pose a problem in the future, and they’d do best to keep well out of his radius, but the immediate issue was not quite as monumental as Ky had feared possible. But… that still left Ky torn between different problems.
Allete was vulnerable. They had to keep her away from Parker, and getting completely out of the area would be better than that. She needed rest. Should they push to get some distance, and recover from a new location, or rest now, and move out in better form?
Separately, what to do about their mentors, their friends, their family still imprisoned, under guard? Could Ky go in alone – or were the risks just too high? Failure would mean abandoning Allete and delivering herself to the enemy, with Rebecca and Kieve precisely where they started.
The enemy – an entity they still did not fully understand. Small pieces of information had been conveyed to their town through old connections in the capital, but since the night they had fled as young children, the council had become a shadowed circle, and news that reached their ears was unreliable and greatly lacking detail. All of these troops, men connected to the armed services of their country, their crown, were following orders, carrying out their missions. What did each player think? What motivations and loyalties directed their duties? How did they view their officers, their council, and the crown? How did they view their lost princesses?
The townspeople of Cambria viewed their soldier visitors with annoyance and distaste, with small measures of fear and excitement. The prospect of the princesses was like a tale from a story book, a hope of fortune and fantasy. Many soldiers pictured the princesses as naïve or ignorant, special for their blood, but uneducated, and with no real power or prospect to change and command the nation. Some soldiers seemed to go through the motions, the princesses an unreal figment until brought before their eyes. Some expected to deliver puppets, or perhaps discover some plot to overthrow the nobles, overtax the commoners, and run the country to ruin. Some seemed to believe the propaganda, brightly doing their work to bring their royals home and restore their rightful reign with honour, unaware that the current council might have plans to follow through in not quite the most honourable manner. What drove their pursuers? Parker (that tick) seemed a very intelligent and competent mage – with curiosity and attention to spare. Would he know more about the motivations of his superiors or perhaps have even put together hints of the machinations of the council itself?
Again Ky returned to the physical problem of the stronghold. How could she crack it?
“We need to think quickly, but I think I also need to stop rushing for an answer and take apart what I learned from Stevan more carefully. Are you alright to rest here for a while, or do you think we should move? We have plenty of cover and privacy here, and I have some food in our packs.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 12:18 pm
Aℓℓετε Mαяιαηεℓα διο
Allete felt bad leaving everything in her sister’s hands, but she was too tired to contribute much beyond simple explanations and information. As Ky lapsed back into thought, Allete felt her mind drifting again, the world around her becoming fuzzy along the edges as she slipped slowly into sleep despite her efforts to stay awake. She woke abruptly to the sound of Ky’s voice, jerking back upright into sleep-drunk wakefulness.
“Wha-? Oh.” Allete tried to blink the sleep from her eyes and shook her head to clear it. “Here should be fine. I don’t think we should go back in just yet. They’ll be turning the whole city upside down in their attempts to find me at the moment, and moving away…” Moving away would be tantamount to giving up on their mentors, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to advise that just yet. At least not until she’d had a chance to process the last couple of hours. “No, here will be fine.”
Though she wanted most to sleep, she accepted the food her sister offered her. Food would help her regain energy as well as sleep, and combining the two would do wonders. Forcing herself awake long enough to finish the rolls of bread Ky passed her, Allete barely tasted what she guessed would have been very tasty rolls in any other circumstance.
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silentbreeze90 Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 1:47 am
Kyla Alessandra Dio
Ky was glad to see Allete eat, before finally fully releasing herself to unconsciousness. Ky watched over her sleeping sister, and stared out into the forest, eating her own meal slowly. She worked to calm her beating heart and smooth out the flow of her thoughts, which wanted to jump and bounce about. They were settling in to rest before taking any course of action, and they were safe – for now.
She carefully went through everything the evening had turned over. Each of Holliside’s details she analysed and organised. She carefully mapped out what she and Allete had already viewed during their surveillance, and she experimented with countless different changes that might be made due to the mage’s scrying discovery this night.
Breaking into this compound was a challenge. There were some benefits to a solo mission, which could aid in speed and stealth, but a complete lack of magickal support would leave many more vulnerabilities. Taking complete confidence in her skills, while evaluating the scenarios without overestimating her abilities either, Ky just could not make her plans work. Were she at home, tackling yet another challenge put forth by Becca or another of her tutors, she would plan just as meticulously, and then execute without such hesitation. Except – this was one of those theoretical scenarios that demanded careful risk assessment. Failure would result in consequences – unacceptable, irrevocable consequences – not simply disappointment and more training.
Becca and Kieve could most likely aid in their own escape, but she had to get to them first. Allete could do nothing to draw more attention here. Technically, all the unit knew was that this girl with Allete’s features was performing a small magework nearby when Becca and Kieve were first captured, and then later scryed something in the city, from a secluded rooftop, in the evening. Suspiscious, yes, but not completely damning. This absolute pest, Parker, was too smart for their good. Ky knew what lines he must surely be drawing, but, he must have some caution, some room for alternative narratives, too.
Ky worked all the angles she could think of, but no matter what she tried, she figured a success rate of forty percent – at best. If there were nothing to else at risk, she knew she would likely convince herself that that was enough, Becca and Kieve were worth it. But, she had to put their overall goals, and Allete, ahead. The more she weighed her possibilities, the more she came to accept that she was choosing to run with Allete. It broke her heart to feel like they were abandoning Becca and Kieve. At the same time, she couldn’t help but believe that they would find a way to take care of themselves, and perhaps even continue their mission, learning more and working the organization from the inside out. There was some desperate hope to this idea, but it was also founded in faith, and acknowledging the skills and the cunning patience of her tutors.
She closed her eyes and assumed a restful state. Sleeping, restoring her energy, releasing her thoughts, but primed to wake at the slightest disturbance, or otherwise rouse just after dawn. With a soft light bleeding through the trees, Ky woke to a calm forest, birdsong and brush dwellers’ rustlings unbroken by human encroachment. Her body felt well after the rest, but her heart tensed at the conversation she was about to have with her sister.
If Allete had a better suggestion, she would be more than happy to discover she’d overlooked something. Unfortunately, she feared that Allete would see the reason why they must move on. With such a mission and such stakes, how could she justify any attempt less than even sixty, or fifty percent likely to succeed? Allete, the crown, their country was too important. Of course, this would only weigh more on her sister. Even though through no fault of hers, to be in some sense the reason why they must prioritize gaining distance would not sit well with Allete. Ky knew that she must think of what Becca and Ky themselves would counsel. Not including their unwavering loyalty and sure willingness to self-sacrifice, both Becca and Kieve would agree with the cold logic of her plan. Making this choice would be doing the best for the goal in each of their minds, despite the guilt that threatened to call it self-interest. Unless something drastically changed, Ky had reached her answer.
Now, to commit to it.
Ky let Allete sleep until she woke on her own close to midday. She passed over some more food from their packs, and then proceeded to share her dark conclusions.
“I’ve worked through as much as I can, and I can’t raise my chances over thirty percent or so.” Honestly, forty was a stretch with optimism. “I think we need to change tracks. This city is hot. We need to get you away from Parker, and we desperately need to find out who the hells is driving this army, what your standing would be if we were to pop up in the capital today, and what happened that started this madness in the first place. I think we need to actually go to Naime. Everything leads back there, whether ruse or real, and we need to sort out our history before we can have a hope of tackling the present,” she chuckled darkly, “and this present gets more dangerous by the hour. By our birthday I’d rather not be unwrapping it with hawking gloves and prodding it with a double-length lance.”
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