Welcome to Gaia! ::

Merle waits several moments before she sees the sunlight glint off of the top of a polished silver helmet.

An armored guard on top of one of the castle walls overlooking the moat appears and gazes down at Merle. His gauntleted hand clenches the pike at his side and his weary eyes look Merle over as if searching for signs of a threat.

"The lord of the castle is away, friend!" The guard elevates his tone so as to be completely clear. "Be on your way!"

Merle wrinkled her nose and reached into her robes, she pulled a small handful of powder out of a bag, then raised it to her nose and inhaled. Her vocal chords tingled, and then, she spoke (run on sentence).

"LISTEN MERE MORTALS!" This time as she spoke her voice resounded, five times louder than any human voice should sound. It was a booming, imposing force resonating up and down the castle walls. "I AM THE GREAT, THE POWERFUL MERLE LYNN. I HAVE DESCENDED FROM THE GREATEST LINE OF MAGICIANS AND SORCERERS EVER KNOWN ACROSS THE FARTHEST LANDS! YOU WILL HOLD AUDIENCE TO MY AMAZING ABILITIES... OR, I SHALL TURN YOU ALL INTO FROGS! I MAKE A POWERFUL ALLIE, BUT A FORMIDABLE ENEMY."

With that she coughed, reached into her bag, tossed some dust onto the water of the moat. The water began to boil violently. She waved her hand. "WHAT SAY YOU MEN?" A hint of a playful smile traced over her red lips, as if to indicate she was no threat or wicked person, she just wanted to be heard, and respected.

not wanting to be in the way, and not wanting his falcon to be noticed, draven whistled and a little bird landed on the roof he was working on. he looked at the bird and thought that the bird should go see what's going on. and as if the bird understood his thoughts,it flew to a tree near the strange woman and the knight. through the bird, draven could see and hear what's going on without being noticed.

"Alas, poor Eugene..." Luthor said thoughtfully. "On the eve of his last day of service, too. Such a shame." He then looked at Merle. "But, one never moved forward by looking back." He said, quickly shoving allsentiment aside. "If what you say is true, then I will gather the king's council here for you to display your skills. Know now, however, that you are being watched closely for ill intent. With word of the King and Queen being away, all manner of subversives think to seize the throne for their own. Wait here a moment, if you would." The captain instructed before turning back and heading into the castle once the bridge was lowered and the gate raised.

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It hadn't been long before Luthor returned, and when he did he brought with him a number of people from within the castle. The manner in which they all dressed and carried themselves suggested higher ranking officials with whom the King and Queen conferred regularly. Merle could even see a few more armored warriors, officers of the castle guard and men and women under Luthor's direct command, to be exact. Whether the Knight had them attend for the sake of judging if Merle was worthy of employment or if he simply wanted their presence to be felt, Merle could not say, however.

"Well, magician. Have at it." Luthor gestured for Merle to begin her display.

Merle swallowed hard and rolled up her sleeves. "Well, here goes nothing." She pointed at a random guard and flicked her wrist. "Minucci Bebar Humus!" With that the guard's armor dissolved away, leaving him in his undergarments Merle breathed deep and extended her hand, the dissolved ruins of once sturdy metal all floated and gathered in the palm of her hand, as a pile of silver-colored sand. She smirked and as she flicked her hand the pile of silver sand vanished and she was now grasping a brilliant sword.

"A gift for the best warrior in the bunch" She said sticking it in the ground, "Now... for my next trick I will need... a not so lovely lass." Merle rubbed her chin and spotted a haggardly looking woman in the crowd. "Perfect!" Merle walked up to the woman and her husband, "So Sir, I see your wife leaves something to be desired, huh?" The husband nodded sadly, to which the wife smacked him on the back of the head, "MARCUS!" Merle chuckled then with a snap and the pulling out of an ancient scroll she began to read, "Jmeis, Iget, Mnuemonistra pita!" The light seemed to dance over the woman's features, a beaked nose was soon restructured into a smaller, more delicate nose. Her hairy eyebrows that looked like two mangy cats were suddenly perfectly groomed and nice. The woman's body transformed into the slender elegance of a young woman. The husband looked to everyone else, "We MUST have this magician amongst us!"

Merle was now breathing heavily, she was quite taxing herself with her A material, there were a few murmurs of "witch" in the crowd even though there seemed to be several cheers over the beauty-fication of the wife (the cheers seemed to be prominent from the men's side of things).

Merle looked to the village idiot, "And NOW" She said, "I will turn this man into a gentleman. Tuiw Gnemit pretzel!" What happened next was unexpected. There was a bolt of lightning out of no where, and instead of the village idiot there was a chicken, clucking away. "Or... I will just turn him into a chicken... great in times of famine... I guess... eat your friends? Oh boy... I will turn him back, I promise. I err... can I have a cup of water? Oh boy... you've gone and done it now Merle... turning villagers into Chickens."

draven finished his meal and excused himself from the couple's cottage. "thank you for the wonderful meal, but i really have to run along. i have... things to tend to," he said to the elderly woman. with that, he bid his fare well to the couple and headed back to his home. walking inside, he sets his tools on a shelf next to the door. he motions for his falcon, which lands gracefully on his outstretched arm. he pulls a small cloth pouch out of his bag of tools and opens it. he then pulls a piece of meat from the pouch and gives it to the falcon. when the falcon flys off his arm, draven grabs a sword that was standing against a table and unsheaths it. "it's been nearly a year since i've been called to use this. ever since the last war, things have been handled diplomatically." a slight smile appears across his face. "though it never hurts to be prepared. am i right, tal?" as if replying to draven, the falcon spreads his great wings and squaks at him. draven nods at the falcon and goes out back to train his swordsmanship.

"What you ask is fair enough," Luthor assured Merle as they passed through the castle halls. "I'll see to it that you get what you need and are conpensated duely for your services. Seeing as how you're new to our kingdom, however, you will need a guide." He finally realized.

Pausing for a moment, Luthor thought to himself and then turned to one of the guards. "You there! Fetch trooper Draven and bring him here."

The soldier noded and immediately set off about his task. Luthor then turned to Merle and smiled. "Now, I suppose the first order of business will be finding you a room. Eugene's old room is still unoccupied, so I suppose no harm could be done in letting you stay there." He said, motioning for Merle to follow him.

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It hadn't been long before they reached an unassuming wodden door somewhere in the recesses of the castle. Luthor grabbed the door's handle, feeling unseen magical energies dance across its surface as he pushed it open, somewhat cautiously Merle noticed, and stood aside to let her in.