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Owner	Pose
Marigold	Lycia, March of Thria, near the northern mountains      Outside Castle Thria.      The closest natural warpgate is in a mossy forest in the foothills of the gentle, rolling mountains. It's an agonizing fifteen minutes' run- just long enough to start worrying that you might be heading in the wrong direction- before the horseshoe-shaped Castle Thria (not-to-scale) comes into view. Its red-shingle slanted roofs and solid tan stone walls would look charmingly fairytale-ish under any other circumstance. The fact that it has only second-story too-narrow-for-a-person slits for windows looks forbidding in this one.      Out in the surprisingly expansive courtyard, Merlinus's wagons sit unattended- he must be inside. But Marcus the old knight tends his horse in the shadow of the stables, and those of his pupils Lance and Alen who stand nearby; Shanna giddily trades war-stories of dubious authenticity to Dieck who's heard them all ten times and Chad who has no such natural immunity; and Father Lucius counsels Rutger on certain spiritual matters. They're all blissfully oblivious to what's happening inside.      Of course, attempting to approach the courtyard via the front gate gets a gaggle of spearmen uncomfortably adjusting themselves to interpose, and a- mage?- someone with sigil-emblazoned robes and a heavy tome approaching. "Halt and identify yourselves," he says, sounding both anxious and bored. "Lord Orun is expecting no further visitors. You understand our caution."      ----      Inside, in a fancily-furnished-but-small meeting room on the second story of the castle's left arm, cabin fever is setting in. Hector and Merlinus lean against opposing walls and give each other uncomfortable glances over the table, feeling what's coming in their bones; Guinivere and Roy slouch over the table in social exhaustion, and Clarine babbles on as she will, having seated herself at the table's head.      "Well I don't see why we can't make a break for it," she huffs. "Lady Clarine, you know Lord Hector can't fight. If they take even a single swing at him, we're all done for." "Says who?! I'm not even convinced that curse is real! Maybe he just got unlucky! I think he's scared!" "And what if Lord Orun really is only unwell? What will he think of us assaulting his guards?" "Well, I think that- ugh, my throat's dry. Servant! Serving-boy, come back! More water, please!" "Perhaps if you spoke more quietly..." "Nonsense. A lady always projects. How else are her subjects to hear her?"      Roy is doing his very best not to look like he's in despair.
Trudy Grimm	"It's not a particularly good look, hmm?" Grimnir strokes his beard thoughtfully, leaning on his walking stick as he regards the spearmen who have intercepted him, "Those are friends of ours, you understand-- Ah--" His beard-rubbing hand raises and lifts a single finger, "Would you be certain, then, that your Lord is not expecting _any_ additional visitors today?"     Trudy is with him, a few paces behind with one hand on her hip and the other resting on the spine of the Grimoire hanging at her hip. Towering behind her is the Black Knight. While he may radiate menace through sheer presence, he isn't going out of his way to Intimidate just now. Especially with the witch standing between him and the people he'd most likely lean towards.     "Is there any particular reason to keep us separated from our comrades?" Trudy asks, leaning forward a touch at the waist. Her face has that big, earnest sharp-toothed smile, as ever, "You can check, you know. We've been protecting that retinue since before they reached Araphen."
Ru Li Cheng	A single room for two hours?      Ru Li Cheng could do that standing on his head. He's done that for four hundred years. He's been doing that since the day he was forged.      A single room for two hours with Clarine?      Well...      ...you know...      It's sort of...      Well, it's certainly putting his smile to work, that's for sure!      On the one hand, it's nice to have company in a single room. That's something he's sorely lacked for four hundred years. So at first, he's happy to talk to Clarine, to listen to her babble and blurble and make other noises of varying levels of import. He's doing an important job, here, of sitting near her at the table and soaking her aggro for Roy as best he can, because, honestly, at first, he's genuinely just interested. People are interesting when you've been alone forever! They just are!      And then, as the two hours wear on, his smile is slowly becoming more and more mechanical, and his ability to listen to her specifically is being replaced by what humans might call 'disassociating' and what he would call 'meditating.' At a certain point he realizes this is only a conversation in the most basic of senses, in that two people are theoretically making noises at each other, and not that information is really being exchanged or anything like that.      Of course, that means he's also not paying a lot of attention to the world around him. He's thinking about Futaba, probably, or about the upcoming assault on Quicknest, or about his own training, or-      -and then Guinevere speaks, and Ru Li snaps out of his disassociative haze and back into his divine awareness. His thoughts turn away from pleasant things and to stretching his gaze outwards - his eyes beyond the walls, the smell of the workers, the taste of the water in the jugs being brought in...and anything else there might be.      His smile fades away, slowly. "Lord Hector, should anything go wrong, I am prepared to grab you, Lord Merlinus, and Lady Guinevere and evacuate you through the wall. I doubt they would expect an escape route to open through solid stone. Let us hope it does not come to that, though."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel Parsons is not using the front gate. He also isn't assaulting any guards. He's doing the classic spy maneuver: Finding a weird platforming challenge and a series of weird little action-adventure mechanism interactions along the broader structure of the castle. That may involve jumping up a series of constructions on the outside of a large tower, climbing along ropes suspended over large courtyards, pulling large levers to shift mechanisms in the castle around, and eventually, getting inside. Shimmey down a chimney? Deconstruct a set of shingles that he's trained to recognize as a weakpoint? Slide through an opening kept on the inner couryard? He'll find *some* way to do it, with his training, all while maintaining his invisibility as best he can, and wind up somewhere in the rafters above the gang on the second floor. No front door stuff for him.     Anyone want to come along on this platforming challenge? He's gonna need someone to handle lowering him down on a long cable, carefully disturbing as little as possible, so he can deactivate his invisibility and dedicate full focus to invading the serving-boy-turned-waiter's mind when he returns and check his recent memories for signs of major armed forces to worry about. Even better if he can catch Wagner at some point, obviously.     Hopefully, it's nothing to worry about and he and whoever helps him will be no disturbance whatseoever. But if he catches sight, psychically or otherwise, of troop buildup with the intent to betray, he'll telepathically broadcast the alert immediately, to those in the room!
Desire Stars	EARLIER      "Oh, thank goodness," says Neon, lightly winded as she leans against a tree, taking a swig from a DGP-branded canteen. "All the trees--I was starting to think maybe we'd lost the trail!"      Ace looks over his shoulder at her, just a little ways ahead, offering his signature smug smile. "It's all downhill from here," he says. NOW Halt and identify yourselves. Lord Orun is expecting no further visitors. You understand our caution.      "Neon Kurama," the heir introduces herself. "And this is Ace Ukiyo. We're..."      "Mercenaries," Ace picks up smoothly after Neon's pause. "We got separated in the forest, that's all. Shanna and Dieck over there can vouch for us. Lord Roy, too, but I'm sure he has better things to do than come and collect stragglers."      Neon bounces on her heels, peeking at Shanna from behind the guard and waving, if she happens to be in view.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan is, already here! Ignore the radio. Lady Clarine needs a new retainer. And while he normally is against the idea of following Lilian's ideas on just a sort of spite level, he does have a habit of standing between the women trying to break themselves on Cliff Lilian Rook. So, Aidan is standing there, wearing a large quilted jacket with a tabard over it. A belt around the middle gives the garment a bit of shape to Aidan's lanky frame, but otherwise he doesn't look too out of place from normal. He is also TIRED, as he has been moving between three different projects at once, coming and going as needed. But, he said he would do it. And he's going to prove to everyone that he can. He has a sugar free monster energy drink in one hand. There's another empty on stacked up next to him. He is in that zone of tired but vibrating, where you can feel every inch of your skull, and you want to sleep, but your body refuses to give you sweet death. He sits next to Shanna and Dieck, offering up his own stories of adventures in the multiverse, trains and giant monsters. When the radio blips, Aidan pulls his head up, blinking around, eyes focusing. Adrenaline spikes, washing away the tiredness. He pushes himself up, tail twitching a mile a minute as he approaches the front gate. "Oh! It's Lady Clarine's friends!" He's not gonna do the whole 'she'll be SOOOO maaaaad' trick, that is a step too far for Aidan.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine takes a certain joy in aiding Flamel's infiltration of the castle. She's seen enough of him in action to be confident in her choice of break-in partner, her physical mobility and associated tools - grappling hooks, etc - complement his skill with locks and mechanisms, and each has their own means both mundane and supernatural of going unnoticed. One of the huntress's old friends, a fellow Excrucian who'd also quit the Host, was a spy; working well alongside Flamel, then, comes almost by instinct. She does her best rafter impression by staying very quiet and still as she lowers Flamel on a long cord, but she does offer a little wave in Ru Li's direction, in case his sensory sphere reaches into the darkness high above.
Angela	Ceri claims she ought to be able to return to service soon but right now you are still stuck with Tennant who, because Yuri was revealed to be a spy (sort of), it is now JUST Tennant out here repping LobCorp and Gebura is too busy to be the minder because of just who Yuri was reporting to. But Angela wanted a distraction and Hokma is still in charge of Lob Corp's presence here so the two are sharing a pad that Tennant has in their jacket pocket. "I am really proud of you," Hokma tells Angela. "For letting her go instead of insisting on protocol " "Benjamin, we are in public. Do not talk to me it is embarassing and sad." Angela says. "Are you going to hold a grudge forever? You wouldn't for anyone else--" "You aren't everyone else, Benjamin. You are only trying to support me now because I have real support from others and you remember what it was like. But nobody likes you now and that is the way it should be." Angela clears her throat. "Tennant, what is taking so long? Why aren't they letting us in? Have you tried asking for their manager?" "Mm?" Tennant says. "I'm sorry I was just talking to these fine soldiers about the last film I saw. It is really quite fascinating you see. It is about an abandoned child of a noble household forced to protect his territory despite being the last of his people on that land, despite being forgotten by his countrymen and family." "What-?" Angela asks. Tennant looks back to the guards.. "So anyway, the story is not simply about fending off opportunistic bandits, it is also a tale of charity and shared humanity. His wits are not enough to survive, he ends up relying on the good will of his neighbors--neighbors he might not have even known if he had let his initial impressions take hold for his neighbor was seen as a killer--not the grieving widower he was." "So I think there is a capitalist critique in the film for you see early on in the film, Kevin is focused on protecting things, protecting a house so grand to be a mansion, buying all he ever wished for in a show of radical consumption the ruling market classes would have us believe all there is..." Tennant nods grimly. "And he nearly falls prey to others who feel the same way. It is only that bond he forged, that communal comradery with one he once feared that saved him. Kevin thought he was Home Alone, but the shared society looked after him when he needed them at most. The community is key, says the film Home Alone which makes me think its actually a quite progressive film." Tennant blinks twice. "Oh right, why can't we come in? Are you sure? I can talk about another film if you want."
Blemishine	While Maria has spent quite a bit of time amongst the Lycian army wherever and whenever she can, it's not quite a constant stay like Ru Li's; she's had to take care of obligations at home too, at the very real risk of her auntie coming and dragging her off by the ear in front of everyone if she ever dares to think of consciously shirking them. But that's fine...! Despite technically being nobility herself, she's not amazing in long formal meetings with lords!     Certainly, something like the trip to Thria wouldn't require her at all. They /just/ dealt with Marquess Laus after all! So it should be quiet for a while.     ...     "I'm really starting to wonder if Lord Hector's curse might have some parts he just never heard about...!" Blemishine, now in her usual sleek white armor rather than casualwear, says only half-unseriously as Castle Thria finally comes into view after a longer-than-she'd-like trip here on foot. "Bad luck, maybe? A hex of betrayal? Or maybe it's actually just natural to him..."     Of course, there's no /proof/ of any foul play going on yet - but given what they just went through in Laus, it's difficult to not be concerned about some suspicious going-ons with another Lycian lord. Better to be safe than sorry, until they hear - or see - anything from Lord Orun himself.     The fact the gate guards are so wound up doesn't bode well for her own nerves about this situation, but she nevertheless steps forward with a hand on her chest and a serious expression. "That's correct," she nods in agreement with Trudy and the DGP duo. "If there's any trouble, feel free to ask any of Lord Roy's retinue there. They'll be able to confirm our story."     Although while she talks, the knight's focus isn't entirely on just tripling (quadrupling?) up on the request to enter. She's not just carefully observing the uncomfortable-looking guards, but also glancing up at the castle walls and any other soldiers she might see around their companions idling in the courtyard beyond.     In other words, she's making note of how many there are, and how ready for a potential battle they are. There'd be no reason to look this nervous if this was any other meeting between lords in Lycian territory.
Odette Raskins	Odette is exactly the sort of person that would worry about going in the wrong direction. Even if everyone else is headed the same way, she still can't help but have that nagging feeling in the back of her head that all sorts of things could go wrong. They could be headed the wrong way, they might get there too late if something terrible has already happened, she might do or say just the wrong thing to start something terrible happening... It's all she can do just to calm herself down by the time the group even reaches Castle Thria. The jog certainly helped, but she still needs a breather before actually heading in, lest she look like an unkempt weirdo in front of the posted guards and whoever's watching from the slits she couldn't imagine anyone fitting through properly without being some kind of contortionist. Listening to Shanna's war stories should help ease her mind a bit, if only to not have to hear herself think. She'll listen with rapt attention for the few moments she lingers there, even trading one of her own mentor's triage stories involving a pizza cutter, salad tongs, and a really hot pan as their only tools. Thinking about dubiously credible medical stories, oddly enough, does give her an idea on how to actually get inside and find out what's going on. It's risky, sure, since she'd be throwing herself right into possible danger if something truly is afoot, but it's the only idea that she actually has that doesn't involve breaking in or faking anything at all. With her bigass duffel bag of medical supplies shouldered and filled up as she straightens out the blue and white cap on her head, she strides right on up to the guards at the gate with a confid-no, just a meek wave of her hand that isn't holding onto the bag's strap. "H... Hello! I'm Odel-mlh." She sputters briefly, then continues like nothing happened. "Odette Raskins, medical worker. I-I'm here to help treat the Lord's illness so he can... Erm. Not be sick." She taps on her glasses to turn on the fancy space-tech in them, then focuses her gaze on the robed tome-holder to see if she can't detect some obscure or otherwise hidden injuries on him, in case she needs a little extra to convince them that she knows what she's doing.
Dysnomia	"Marcus." Mia said, her thoughts touching the old warrior. If he looked around, he wouldn't see her--she just wasn't there, after all. "Something isn't quite right, inside. Be ready for things to go wrong."     Dysnomia followed in Flamel's and Madeleine's wake, acting as set piece and occassional enviormental element for the Psychonaut's acrobatic caper. She trusts in Flamel's and Madeleine's knoweldge of stealthy infilration--or, more accurately, she trusts in his confidence--but where Flamel needs to engineer his own way past barriers to enter, Mia simply slides through solid castle walls as if she was dust flowing through a seive.     She takes the role of lowering Flamel down in stride-she knows just the right places to grab to help relieve Madeleine's load, and Flamel doesn't need to tell her anything twice. Or tell her anything at all, really.
Ru Li Cheng	Ru Li holds up a hand at Madeleine, whether she can see it or not. It's more or less just an acknowledgment that Yes He Can See The Infiltration Team, Don't Worry, He Can Coordinate Between Everyone If Need Be. It may be slightly confusing for the people in the room, of course, to see him wave at nothing, but maybe they've gotten used to his perceptive abilities after spending so much time with him helping them avoid ambushes and get real sleep.
Kayoko Kirenai	It only really takes a week for Kayoko to uneasily settle into a new normal. A 'normal' that allows her to leave Kagoshima for Paladins business, as long as she trusts Love to protect the city when she's gone-- and imagining the alternative, *not* trusting her, gives Kayoko glimpses of a 'normal' too terrifying to linger on right now. So Chevalier Cobalt is here, transformed into her armor before even exiting the warpgate, because she didn't have time to dress up *properly* outside of her armor, and she'd rather not show her face there at all than show up underdressed.     Surely, there's no way for these guards to detect Kayoko if she decided to turn invisible and simply walk past them, but she can't bring herself to disobey the rules so flagrantly. And besides, Lady Guinivere's concern isn't necessarily a guarantee that there's something *dangerous* going on, so these are still potential allies that Kayoko would be risking upsetting by skulking around, and she'd be embarrassed if they found her. Sure, Erik's castle had sold them out to Bern before they even arrived, and send an army after Lady Clarine to fight the Elites and prevent them from saving her, but that couldn't be the rule *every* time. These are lords. They have sense.     While walking up to the guards, Kayoko has already extended her sight to scan through the castle, looking for the meeting room, first and foremost, and then any potential soldiers that might be readying themselves for an ambush. The guards at the gate are given similarly neutral-expressioned facial scanning, hunting for any twitch of misgiving or glances towards authority they might have at the presence of the Elites. Kayoko's sword and shield are already manifested out of her hardlight, hanging sheatheless and harnessless on her hip and back, rattling with quiet thuds rather than metal clanging as she hikes up the hill. "Halt and identify yourselves,"     "I am Chevalier Cobalt, a knight in Lady Guinivere's retinue." She side-eyes Ace, judging for an instant the choice to describe himself as a mercenary. But it's probably true, for him, anyways; he's neither a Paladin nor wearing proper armor.     "We're just part of a separate group that was sidetracked earlier. Did she give a list of names for who's supposed to be here?" A written list would be really convenient, if the guards try to reference it. Kayoko would just make illusory writing appear to list their own names as well... except, she doesn't know everyone's names. The Paladins, at least. "Bad luck, maybe? A hex of betrayal? Or maybe it's actually just natural to him..."     Kayoko shoots a worried glance aside to Blemishine and lowers her voice. "Is that possible...? Shouldn't it only be battles that he has trouble in? Or maybe, because the curse was thwarted, it's trying extra hard to make sure there's a fight that finishes him off now...."
Lilian Rook	"Dame Commander Lilian Rook. And I'm well aware."     Down from the gate on the hill, Lilian takes the forested path at a pace that doesn't see the trees. Always presenting herself at the modern forefront of fashion and convenience, it's very easy to forget, and even easier to assume that the distance and the wilderness should have posed some inconvenience. But the reality is that Lilian grew up in woods deeper than these. She didn't see a town until her thirteenth birthday.     "I understand your caution completely. Given the sensitive circumstances, and the times we currently live in, I commend you for diligently seeing to your task."     Dressed in her green and black cloak, Lilian removes her hood only as she arrives in the courtyard, already striding past the encamped soldiers too quickly to be stopped and greeted properly. She shakes her hair partly free as she goes, lightly touching the iconic ornament on her left side, and lets her fingers trail across the hilt of her sword over her shoulder in thought. If she were in a lighter mood, she'd no doubt have much to say to Dieck and Lucius, but as it is, she merely waves to Rutger as she passes, only showing a glimpse of a complicated smile. The guards at the door are clearly bothering everyone else who shows up, so . . .     "Now, I'd like you to understand in turn that I am here for my own reasons of diligence. Please see to it that Lord Orun is notified of my arrival, and ready additional staff if you must."     Lilian resumes walking. She doesn't slow down a second time, after replying to the guard. The words she spares coruscate with undeniable authority. An unnaturally heavy glance-- an instant of direct eye contact-- is enough to convey every possible nuance of why the guards should stand aside for her in particular; all contained to a single eerie flash of understanding.     She thinks very hard in Flamel's direction, rather than acknowledge him openly, and continues her way up the stairs. It's more polite than just showing up, as the cleaner alternative.
Marigold	"Thank you, lad," Lord Hector grunts at Ru Li while stroking his beard pensively. "That might just be our best hope if things do go sour. But even then, if I so much as catch an arrow in the back on the way out, that curse of mine means we're all done for." "Hmph!"      Marcus slightly startles when Mia's thoughts echo in his mind, but after looking around, he nods. "Appreciated, young friend," he murmurs under his breath, and then taps his two knight-pupils on their shoulders and alerts them to readiness. They quietly retrieve weapons from the caravan.      Flamel, Dysnomia, and Madeleine can find their way inside unnoticed; the architecture's more of a menace than the mostly-spear-toting Lycian guards, who are numerous but not on particularly high alert.      His mind-probing reveals that the serving-boy Clarine beckons in has heard things. He isn't quite sure himself of the details, but he overheard something about a messenger being sent to Bern, and he knows Wagner doesn't want the nobles leaving his castle before then. The servant's trying very hard not to think about the implications of that. He just wants to get through the day.      "Hey, is this well-water or rainwater or distilled water or spring-water? It's from a spring isn't it? I won't accept anything less!" "Ma'am..." "Don't you 'ma'am' me! Rrr! I'll see to it you're fired if you keep that up!" "Lady, I'm indentured." "I don't care about your teeth!"      Kayoko's visual probing can spot where the meeting-room is, and thus where the nobles are being held: second story, castle's left arm, nearer the center. She can also spot an uncomfortably large number of spearmen, an assortment of archers, a few heavily-armored soldiers, and more than a handful of mages(?) with heavy tomes not unlike the one interrogating her, but they're on yellow alert, not red. Just... waiting. Blemishine reaches a similar conclusion peeking through the arrowslits and gauging the soldiers in front of her. To her eyes, they're about equal in discipline and equipment to the forces of Laus, but with a slant towards the magical over archery or cavalry.      Kayoko and Ru Li both discover something else, through different means: an oddly-dressed woman with green-black hair held in a bare locked cell several doors down the hall. The thick walls ensure it isn't audible to anyone without superhuman senses, but she periodically pounds on her door.
Marigold	"'Neon Kurama' and 'Ace Ukiyo'," the mage-lieutenant at the gate repeats skeptically. His index fingernail slides between two pages of his tome. "Where are you from? You look Sacaen, but those aren't Sacaen names. Surely Lycia hasn't fallen to hiring Otherworld mercenaries." His eyes sweep down to Kayoko:      "And a knight your age... tch. A list? Why? So you can lie about being one of the names on it? It's 'Lord Hector, Lord Roy, and whomever they vouch for', and they're a bit busy at the moment.      The other guards out front are mostly all warily enthralled by Tennant. "'Scuse me, what's capitalism?" "Ruling market classes?" "'Film' sounds sort of gross..."      The mage oddly flinches when Odette promises to heal Lord Orun, but he doesn't have an easy retort. After a quick and utterly natural "Ah-- of course, Dame Commander," as if he's known her all his life, he turns back from that wave-through to continue harassing everyone else.      Shanna, though, reciprocates Neon's waving, and then says something to Lucius, who nods to her, and the two of them come up to the soldiers from behind just as Aidan's acknowledgement tugs at the mage's lips. He's running out of reasons to deny everyone entry.      "Come, now. I'm an old friend of Lord Hector's," Father Lucius says in that golden voice of his, "and all these people are friends of mine as well. What harm is there in allowing them into the courtyard? "I have my orders. I..." "You have loyalties first. Think of how cross Lord Orun will be if he hears you've turned your back on his cousin's friends, and at least let them into the shade."      The mage-lieutenant sighs heavily, steps aside, and waves you all through into the courtyard in defeat. "Fine. But don't intrude, and don't make problems."      Rutger falls in step with Lilian as she passes and walks right up the castle's front steps. "Welcome back," they say, voice now a little smoother. "Thanks." No need to clarify 'for what'. "What's going on?"      Those entering through the front door (through stealth, Lilianoid persuasion, or flagrant disobedience) find themselves in a luxuriously-carpeted vestibule with exits ahead, to the left, and to the right. Ahead is an ornate and heavy door flanked by preposterously-armored axe-toting guards; it can't be anything but the Lord's throne room. The castle's left wing holds the meeting-room with the nobles; its right is unexplored, but if anyone peeks, seems to mostly consist of an armory, treasury, and yet more soldiers.
Ru Li Cheng	Ru Li just smiles at Hector. "Then I shall have to ensure that I catch any arrows after you."      The green-haired woman pounding on the cell has his smile turn to a frown when he looks away from Hector. Not for the first time Ru Li wishes he could send messages to people at a distance the way radios can - wishes he had a miracle that could send strips of paper or words afar. Unfortunately he does not, and thus, he must simply direct those who can perceive him with a brief motion of his hand towards the castle hall. Turning on the radio while the servant boy is in the room might alert them to something.      Instead, as Clarine starts arguing with the poor man, Ru Li strides over and puts a hand on his shoulder. The intense ticking noise is probably just a little unsettling. "I am already certain it is water of the purest quality, my lady," Ru Li says politely as he takes the water from the youngster, "If you doubt my divine senses, taste it for yourself."      He sets the water down in front of her and moves to hurry the serving boy out so he can actually communicate with the others again.
Kayoko Kirenai	"And a knight your age... tch."     Kayoko bristles up at the guard, her polite mask shattering on contact as she draws her brows together angrily. "And who are *you* to treat me like I'm not one? I've fought more--" At the same time, though, she's looking through the castle, and her face goes pale when she spots the ambush. Letting her expressions be seen means there's nothing moderating the naked shock and betrayal she shows when abruptly cutting off, though to the guard there's no visible reason why she'd have suddenly 'figured it out'.     After a few seconds of stabilizing, being ushered inside, Kayoko does a trick she's practically only ever done with Meika, spread to all the disparate groups at once. A quiet *knock* of hardlight flashing on the underside of the table in front of Guinivere in the meeting room, or behind a curtain that Lilian is passing by when no guards are immediately around to see, or on the stables for those in Roy's retinue that weren't joining the Elites, draws their attention. Light scrawls out words, written as if by an invisible pen with glowing ink, reading 'Soldiers ready for ambush all around', vanishing as soon as they can be read.     Kayoko has no idea what to do after that, though, besides hiss the same message to Blemishine (who already knows, herself). Rigid still by the others and in a cold sweat, she quietly bemoans to Blemishine, "Maybe it really is that. Maybe this'll always happen with Lord Hector, because of the curse."     Kayoko is never, ever one to start an armed conflict without permission, though. Even as she fidgets her gauntlet near her golden sword and fixates her distant vision on the green haired girl, she's not the one to bravely step up and do anything about it until someone else says so. "There's a woman they've got locked up too. She doesn't look like a normal prisoner." That meaning, she doesn't look like she 'deserves it'. "I don't recognize her, but she might be someone they're holding for Bern like they did with Lady Clarine."
Aidan Proudpick	Lilian gets everyone out of the way, Aidan has to lift his eyebrows. It's a neat trick, and he can appreciate that. He waits behind her, patient, gulping down the rest of his Sugar Free Monster Energy Drink before putting it back in his bag. Then, when she makes a path, he nods, "Thank you, Dame Commander." He doesn't stay around after that. Okay, don't run. It'll probably be weird if you run. So Aidan walks at a rather brisk pace, heading down the left corridor. His tail is twitching madly in a sleep deprived caffeine and adrenaline enhanced state. He keeps heading down, stopping, realizing he doesn't know where he is going, considering turning back, then going forward again. At some point, Aidan remembers he has squirrel ears. A flick of his head in one direction. Then up another. He puts one hand on the buckler at his waist, walking determinedly towards the sound of Lady Clarine's voice join her. Thank goodness she talks so breezing loud.
Odette Raskins	All that talk about Hector's curse has Odette her scrunching her face up just a bit while she joins Blemishine and Kayoko momentarily. "Curse, shmurse. I-I mean, even magic's gotta have rules, right? A fireball blows up, but there's a thing you can see and... KNOW it happened. How the heck're you supposed to know if a curse really did anything at all and wasn't just a lucky guess?" She waves a hand dismissively, clearly not realizing just yet what many Elites are capable of here. Relief washes over her, then, when the guards finally relent and start letting everyone in, and she only spares a moment to thank the mage out front with a polite little curtsey before scurrying further in to catch up with Lucius. She waits until the mage-lieutenant is out of earshot, then leans in to half-whisper. "Nice work, Father Lucius. You really got a way with your tongue, huh?" "... L-like with words! Y-you know, like... Persuasion!" She adds quickly afterwards, soon starting to drop back once she realizes there's no way that couldn't have sounded desperate. Odette's only respite is trying not not to think too much about that mage's reaction to her offer to heal the local lord, but... It's harder not to wonder what that could've been about. Is that mage involved in getting him sick in the first place? Is the lord sick at all? Is the lord even alive? All those questions can be answered once she actually meets the lord himself. It's not as if there's been any fighting breaking out just yet, anyway, so she can still breathe a little easier knowing that everyone inside is still safe for now. After taking some time to just admire the fancy carpeted area she's found herself in (and scoping out where the exits are, just in case), Odette does another feel-check of all her medical supplies and gear in her bag. Once she's satisfied rummaging around inside of it, she heads on up to those hugely armored guards. Perhaps unpredictably, she actually gawks at them with wide-eyed awe instead of her usual terror at anyone holding a weapon in the same room as her. Maybe it's the size of the armor, maybe it's the axes, but whatever it is has her briefly awestruck, like just seeing that is reminding her of someone else. "H... Hi there! Um. I-I'm Odette, a doctor. I'm here to check you-uh. On Lord Orun? For his illness, I mean. Can I head in and...?" She looks from the armored guards to the door, then to the guards again, still sounding and looking a little distracted by the guards themselves.
Trudy Grimm	"Many knights, soldiers, and a witch or two--" Trudy corrects when the guardsman clucks his tongue at Kayoko's age, "A wizard should know better than to judge only on outward appearances alone."     Lilian breaks the line's resolve through force of personality and confidence. When waved through, Trudy's posture straightens and she follows a few paces behind and to one side of the Dame Commander. The Black Knight walks behind her, his sword affixed to the back of his armor. When he passes the mage who seemed to be in charge of the gate obstruction, he suddenly lurches his helmet-clad face towards the man's with a sudden squeal of rusted metal.     "Now, now," Trudy chides her servant, her eyes closing, "None of that." Slowly, the Black Knight straightens his posture and continues to follow the witch at a slow, heavy pace.     Grimnir remains outside, though. Shuffling out of the road, he settles down in the grass and produces his pipe, "If you don't mind, I think I'll enjoy the spring breeze a while longer." It seems perfectly reasonable for a one-eyed old man to be this capricious. Chances are he smells trouble and, being a non-fighter, is putting himself out of the way.     Rutger joins the group. There's Marcus and Lucius as well. She greets the priest and the old knight with that big smile of hers, "I'm happy to see everyone is still breathing. We were all quite concerned, you see."     She tilts her head at something, then lifts her hands. In one she produces a crystal ball, alight from below with a faint purple light cast from a runic circle. The other hand curls above it, "The people of Thria wouldn't possibly have something nefarious to *hide*, now would they~? Shall I ask the spirits what has been whispered behind closed doors, here?"     Mugging to rattle the anxious guards based entirely on what Flamel just revealed. Nothing spooks an honest man quite like being caught in a big, terrible lie, after all.
Blemishine	When Kayoko conspiratorially whispers to her, Blemishine nods seriously, dipping her head down with a little bob of her ponytail. "That's what I thought - but maybe it isn't that easy to fool a divine curse! Maybe it knows we're skirting the line..." She seems to seriously be entertaining the idea herself, enough to shudder a bit, before turning her eyes to Odette. "That's also true... some people just have rotten luck, don't they?"     She quickly shakes her head and puts her game face back on.     She has to hold back the exhale of relief when they're all allowed in, and she briefly considers immediately heading right on in via Lilian being impossible to say no to, and all of them being with Lilian-- but decides against it for a second, instead diverting in Dieck's general direction. She can tell that Marcus, Lance, and Alen are already on alert - good job, Mia!     "Mister Dieck," Blemishine says while leaning in a bit, now that they're out of hearing distance of the guards. "Thria's men might not be such good friends of ours. They've got a messenger out, and they're buying time." She trusts him enough to do with that information as he will, especially with Mia having already informed some of the others.     After that, she makes her way up alongside Kayoko, not ignorant of how on edge she's become. "Well... if it is, that just means we'll have to work twice as hard. For Lord Hector's sake, too." Which is nice and easy to say, but the news of the prisoner casts a shadow over her face. This really is becoming a problem with the Lycian nobility, isn't it?     She thinks for a moment, and then glances to Kayoko. Even without any incredibly in-depth knowledge of what she can do, the fact the Chevalier was able to discern that much tells her all she needs to know to ask another question of her.     "...Do you think you can pick up on anyone who might look to be Lord Orun in the castle? The throne room, or his quarters, if he's supposedly sick? If we can find and speak to him... well, assuming he's responsible for setting this up, if we do something about him, the rest of Thria should stand down. Just like with Marquess Erik."
Lilian Rook	'Welcome back'     "I'm glad to be."     'Thanks.'     "You're welcome to more."     'What's going on?'     "They're badly embarrassing themselves in front of Lady Guinivere, Lord Orun died last night and they're panicking, or someone is snitching to Bern. We'll see."     Lilian takes Rutger's close following as totally natural because it is. Even if it was just to spite Clarine, she did actually hire them, and one thing that Lilian is utterly predictable about is always taking her claims and her promises very seriously, even when made impulsively. It's slightly ridiculous to consider the idea that she could actually need a bodyguard, but at least Rutger could easily pass the interview if she did.     "I'll be verifying that shortly, in fact. Don't ask how. Act normally. I'm assigning you to guard Hector then Guinivere then Merlinus then Roy in that order. They won't harm the princess casually, but she isn't trained in combat. Hector will be the end of us all if something goes wrong. Seneschal Merlinus is technically more expendable than Lord Roy, but the latter can fend for himself."     Without explaining, Lilian grabs hold of Rutger's hand. Without her gauntlets on, her hands are still a little red and roughened from aborted training. It isn't difficult to tell why she holds her grip there for about twenty seconds; she's walking the lobby with her eyes closed, and would like to not smash into anything.     'Thinking' about something very hard, Lilian exhales, taps the back of Rutger's hand with her thumb, lets go, and says "We're heading into the west wing first. You're quiet and good-looking, so you should have no trouble." in the way of an implied 'follow my lead'. Then--                 -----[stop]-----     Lilian breaks from Rutger's side. With a glance downward to assess the relative dustiness of the carpet, Lilian decides that a quick, weightless hop leaves her better off, and casually places herself right between the guards. Like flanking statues, she pays them no mind as she tests to see if the door is bolted-- if it is, dissolving into harsh-static unreality for just long enough is her substitute-- and takes a look into the chamber beyond it. She can't scope out the throne room from afar like some others, but she assumes the likelihood of traps and magical barriers to be very low, and so . . .                 -----[start]-----     --Lilian pivots around the left corner with Rutger in tow, barely looks at the guards along the way, and simply treats herself to the meeting room door.     "Lord Hector. We have what you requested." are the first words out of her mouth. If developing a concept of emotional sincerity has made her any worse at faking and lying over the last five years, then this must just be a flawless fluke. "We apologize for interrupting your meeting, but your instructions were explicit."     Lilian finds the closest person who looks remotely important, and says "Please inform Lord Orun that Lord Hector and retinue will be adjourning for the hour. With our sincerest apologies, the matter is time-sensitive. We hope he might use this time to arrange things to his comfort."     Looking away a second, Lilian scans for Ru Li's reaction and lingers just long enough for him to subtley convey what he likes; then to Roy's look of despair, and so on to make direct eye contact with Clarine. Casually putting an arm on Rutger's to performatively steer them away from talking too long with the guards, towards Hector's side, she overpoweringly projects the conceptual aura of sticking out her tongue at her without actually doing so.
Angela	Tennant is asked about capitalism. "THAT is SUCH a good question," in a Miloesque fashion. "The truth is, they don't teach about capitalism where I'm from in schools but I've been reading up about it now that I've been examining multiversal media and reading up on papers about multiversal media which have a great deal to say about capitalism so please don't take me as an economic expert but I'll try to explain it in a way that can be understood by those that haven't learned about it in academic papers." Angela says, "You hired this one, didn't you?" to Hokma. "Well," Hokma admits. "They're actually a holdover from the Smoke War--" Tennant keeps on going, paying no mind. "So in a capitalist system, the owners of production are not the producers of production. For an easy example, let's take farmers. Let's say you're a farmer and you produce twenty sacks of potatoes a year. You do the labor, you do the work, and so you have twenty sacks of potatoes, right? Wrong! Those sacks of potatoes aren't yours. Those potatoes belong to the Lords owning your land--Let's call them landlords--they are just hiring you to produce the potatoes for them. You actually own zero of the potatoes and they take all your potatoes. Now, nobody is going to produce twenty bags of potatoes for nothing so that is where they give you something nominally useless like money so you can purchase some of your potatoes back. Or maybe you don't want potatoes, you want strawberries so you spend your Landlord Bucks on strawberries. With me so far?" Tennant doesn't wait for an answer. "Now the problem with capitalism is--is that the people who own the land get to charge your rent, they get to decide your tithe--kind of like the Lords here in this world--and they hire guards or Agents or ''Cops'' depending on local parlance to enforce the system. Why do cops do this? Well, they get to hold the fancy weapons and they are paid a reliable source of Lord Bucks and the ability to hurt whomever they want. Now, this unbalances the power, you might have noticed. There's now two classes of people being incentivized to be mean to the producers of the products. The advantage of the capitalist system is that you get to buy strawberries with your Landlord Bucks but the disadvantage is that the Landlords will rapidly accumulate enough institutional power that the social contract between producer of product and the owner of land can be abused and the exchange can be pushed more and more into unsustainable--and unfair!--territory. The cops get to have the better weapons, so the producers of product are disincentivized to press against the unfair situation they are being guided into." Angela just walks away from her comms for the moment. Hokma is frowning thoughfully. "And so you see the trick, because sometimes we want strawberries, we've become tricked into accepting this system that rapidly erodes our ability to even get those strawberries by robbing us of capital. Those lucky to be slightly more fortunate than the starving will join the landlords and cops in pushing down on the other companies and it makes everything seem all hopeless, especially when they start changing the terms of things from 'landlords' to 'companies' and 'Patent Holders', aa lot of phrasing like that I think is to obscure the fact that a lot of these people are just owners of land and territory, running their little fiefdoms as they rob us blind. Now--what is the alternative?"
Angela	Tennant claps their hands once. "A good question! For myself, I think a detonation of psionic energy that awakens the latent power within mankind and levels the playing field is the answer, but some people say some governmental constraints can help--that so long as that initial social contract is enforced irrespective of Landlord wishes--we'll be okay. But personally, I think psionic explosions are more fun." Tennant breathes, winded. "Any questions?"
Desire Stars	Where are you from? You look Sacaen, but those aren't Sacaen names. Surely Lycia hasn't fallen to hiring Otherworld mercenaries.     "You'd be right, in both cases," says Neon, picking up the idea from Ace. "We're from the Otherworld, and that's where our employers are from, too. It's just that they have an interest in curtailing Bern's recent expansion, and they pay better than..." She smiles. "Well, anyone here, or even on our home world. So, when they send us somewhere, we tend to get right to it." Think of how cross Lord Orun will be if he hears you've turned your back on his cousin's friends, and at least let them into the shade.     "Thanks, Father," Neon softly beams. Fine. But don't intrude, and don't make problems.     "I wouldn't dream of it," says Ace with a smile. He pauses, not stepping all the way past the lieutenant, and looking over his shoulder. <J-IC-Scene> Flamel Parsons alerts the folks telepathically: "Looks like a messenger's on the way to Bern. Everyone's supposed to stay..."     Neon crosses her arms, her fingers digging into her DGP windbreaker.     Ace's smile is replaced with a more serious expression, as he points an index upwards.     "But... if I were you, I'd be more worried about trouble from up there. If Bern comes by looking to make some trouble of their own, they won't knock on the front door. I saw what they did to castle Araphen." He isn't saying it to prod or antagonize, or to suggest to the mage how to do his job--his voice has that rare, grave quality of seriousness to it. "It's easy to say that Lycia has 'fallen far' from its glory days--probably because you're thinking of what Bern's doing as a land war. Something that'll end, eventually, with some redrawn lines on a map--something the common people can bounce back from, in the end, even if it costs them a lot." He shakes his head.     "Castle Araphen is a smoking graveyard," Ace intones coldly. "A ruin. Razed, not taken--by a force this world hasn't seen since its darkest days. And it won't be the last. This isn't a war of conquest. It isn't about succession, or glory, or 'living room,' or anything so quaint. There are no 'allies--' just 'Zephiel,' and 'everyone else.' The lords that think they're his allies... well, hopefully they'll see what he really intends..." He rolls his shoulders.     "While there are still soldiers to command and people to fight for."     Neon shudders. Ace excuses himself quietly, giving only a little wave of his hand, as if to say 'later.'     "Keeping that sword arm strong, Dieck?"
Flamel Parsons	Flamel's telepathy makes it way easier to broadcast key facts. He lets everyone know what they need to, as soon as he can. "Looks like a messenger's on the way to Bern. Everyone's being tricked into staying..." He grits his teeth, reeling back up (by signaling Madeleine to pull him back up). His voice, even if it echoes to Trudy's crystal ball, drips with some dread. "We need to get everyone out of here before Bern arrives. That, guh, that might include the local soldiers, I don't think they'll do well if Bern gets here itching for some blood and they can't get the targets they want. Everyone here is in really bad danger. I'm really worried those monsters will show up again..." Well, surely that's good for Trudy, at least. If she chooses to share that with the class, so to speak, anyway.     The next part, she probably shouldn't. "We can't have infighting before Bern gets here though. We need something that convinces everyone that everyone *can* and *should* leave, or at least get ready for a defense. There's *way* too many soldiers here for me to do anything psychically to control them, and I can't find the lord who issues orders... Argh, this is awful! If someone can find me a bit of foothold in the command hierarchy, maybe I could *wipe* memories of the plan and someone could alert them to the approaching Bernish soldiers!"     It's the best he's got. He's here to lend his telepathic support to whoever may need it, but he's helpless on this one particular situation!
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine hauls Flamel back up to rafter-level. "There's someone locked up down the hall," she whispers. "I think we should see who that is. On my... oh, hell with it." She grabs Flamel, drapes him over her shoulder, and drops from the rafters onto the meeting-room floor.     Lilian and Rutger sweeping down the hall and into the meeting room is *just* distraction enough for Madeleine's miraculous stealth to do its thing, and the pair are out the room without even the Elites' Lycian allies noticing they were there. Only Ru Li and Kayoko, with their omnipresent attentions, are witness to Madeleine slinking down the hall with secret agent in tow.     When they reach the heavy door to the cell, Madeleine just... looks at Flamel and gestures to the lock in the door. "I'm a huntress, not a burglar!" she hisses. "Do your thing!"
Dysnomia	"Copy that, Parsons. Stars. It's just what I thought." Dysnomia's eyes caught Ru Li's gesture. His longing to be heard, to communicate, was practically a shout to her. Her gaze swung toward the woman was bound, then bit her lip. It wasn't far, but what were the chances that no guards would be there to catch a glimpse of a nebula-streak pouring through the walls?     Madeleine saved her the stress of wondering. As the huntress leapt down, Dysnomia found herself right behind her, clinging close, hoping that following in the huntresses' wake would rub off in being in the right places, at just the right time. It was nerve-wracking, messy, and who's to say who would have seen those wisps of violet smoke trailing behind her?     But, they got there. It's only when she enters the cell that she resolidifies, touching down on the ground. She tries for stern, but her voice rushed out rushed-almost, but not quite panicked. "There's no need for that," she said to Madeleine. And then to the captive. "Bern is coming, and it won't wait. Introductions can wait." Raising her index and pointer fingers to her lips, breathing out a thin stream of plasma at the cell's lock, hoping to melt it away outright.
Marigold	"These 'landlords'... why would anyone swear fealty to them? Are they conquerors?" "The Otherworld truly is a terrifying place..." "A buck-based currency system? Surely you'd just use the antlers." "'Scuse me, you're gonna bring in 'psionic explosions' just like that?" The overall attitude towards Tennant is just sort of scoffing, but not at all for the expected reasons.      A frisson of fear runs through them at the Black Knight's glare, and then they barely have time to recover.      "You presume to tell us what we think of Bern?" the mage-lieutenant out front bristles at Ace. But then he draws in on himself, and his men- the ones who aren't enthralled by Tennant anyway- start to look at him askance. "Wait. What do you mean, 'while there are still people to fight for'?" He flinches further at Trudy's insinuations.      ... If one looks a few minutes later, all those soldiers have simply abandoned their post. One can hope they go on to have peaceful lives.      "You really got a way with your tongue, huh?"      Father Lucius shuts his eyes and smiles serenely, hiding a laugh behind his fingertips. "Now, Odette," says the most beautiful man alive, "I envy your spirit, but shouldn't you grace with your affections a man who isn't twice your age?"      Dieck lifts his eyebrows at Blemishine, but knows to immediately take seriously anyone he's fought alongside. "Might be trouble," he repeats. "Got it. Shanna, get in the sky, tell Wade and Lot to rendezvous back with us and tell me if you see incoming." "Sure thing, Dieck!" While she saddles up, he fetches his sword from the caravan and adds: "Marcus, those courtyard-facing windows are arrowslits. Tell your boys to hug the walls, they can't shoot straight down." "They know." "Good."      "Keeping that sword arm strong, Dieck?" Ace asks. "What's it look like," Dieck says, shirtless and smiling grimly. "You?"      Kayoko's messages, and Flamel's broadcast, stir everyone into as much razor-sharp tenson as they can conceal. Lucius peels off to make sure Lugh and Chad are sheltering in the wagons, over the latter's complaints. People quietly arm themselves and eye the arrow-slits as surreptitiously as they can. Inside, Roy draws his sword and stands by the door, and Hector scoots to within arm's reach of Ru Li. "This really might be it," he mutters. "If I mess this up for all of you, I'm sorry."
Marigold	When the cell door is opened- one way or another- on the other side is a woman brandishing a small knife. "Oh," she says, already lowering it as she looks from Mia to Flamel to Madeleine. "Thank you. You're not of the castle. ... The traitor, Wagner, has wronged me. I'd be grateful for a bow." She's surprisingly serene for the circumstances.      Rutger needs a moment to adjust to holding Lilian's hand (is there a bit of shyness in how they startle?), but then does an admirable job guiding her. Past the ostentatious bolted throne-room door, Lilian sees- frozen in time, of course- a man in a dark robe sitting on the throne, conferring with a couple of absurdly-armored elite soldiers and a trio of robed mages. He doesn't look pleased with what he's hearing. Marquess Erik of Laus at least had the decency to look a little dashing while he was betraying Lycia; the gaunt man who must be 'Wagner' looks almost insultingly villainous.      When they round the corner into Castle Thria's left arm, though, Rutger and the prisoner lock eyes. She advances on them threateningly, and they rest a hand on their sword.      "Kutolah or Djute?" she demands. "Bulgar." "Hm. With Bern or against?" "May they choke on blood." "Alright." For the second time, she lowers her knife, still ten feet apart. Rutger just nods, seeming to take less than zero offense.      ----      "Of the purest quality," Clarine scoffs quietly at Ru Li. "I'm sure it's nothing next to that of Reglay in Etruria. Why, we have such water there as--" Siiiip. "... Oh. That is quite good water." She turns to thank the serving-boy, but he's already skedaddled, and she sighs. "Why do they always do that?" "I've no idea," says Guinivere, covering her own mouth.      "Lord Hector. We have what you requested," Lilian calls out. "Oh, thank goodness! Come in!" he breathes. "Hey, why do you get special deliveries and I--"      Lilian gets to see Guinivere smiling in indulgent relief, Roy relaxing from his vigil by the doorframe, and Clarine rising in joy and then falling in pouty grumpiness when she spots Rutger and the Dame Commander in quick succession.      'The closest person who looks vaguely important' is the servant-boy in the process of escaping down the hall. "I'll... inform Lord Orun of that, but he was very firm that it'd only be a moment, and that they shouldn't do anything so hasty as to leave!"      Back in the meeting room, Lord Hector crosses his arms. "Well? I haven't heard any fighting yet. I'm positive that bastard Wagner is responsible for this. Are we going to kill him or not?"
Ru Li Cheng	The god is a lot more magnanimous than a lot of deities. Instead of an 'I told you so' or a wry smile, he simply bows politely to Clarine. "I am glad that I was not wrong about your well-honed sensibilities." His smile is quite genuine, too. He *is* glad, at least on some level. He likes being of use to humans. It's what a god is for, really - it's a service job. You get paid in thanks and worship, and in exchange you make people feel better about your presence, and if you're the sort of god Ru Li is, you fulfill a role for them, too.      "He is," Ru Li says quietly as he stands next to Hector, "A woman imprisoned down the hall just said as much to the infiltration team. He is most certainly responsible for her imprisonment, and is evidently a traitor to boot." Ru Li rapidly describes the woman to the room, both in terms of look and scent just in case green hair happened to be common or she had some distinctive perfume or soap or something, and then frowns.      "I do not think killing him is wise. It would make of us assassins too easily in the public eye, and support for our cause would die rapidly. But if we have proof of an attempted ambush, we can use that to gather allies - perhaps not among the nobility but among the common soldier and those who still have honour."      "My counsel, though it is a humble one, is to leave now with our newly-freed friend and find out just how far this goes."
Angela	''Why would anyone swear fealty to them? Are they conquerers?'' "Or their descendents. They aren't too different from Kings and Queens really, just a bit more 'mask on' about it." Tennant nods sympathetically to the idea that the Otherworld is a scary place but-- ''A buck-based currency system? Surely you'd just use the antlers.'' "Captain Tennant." Hokma tries but Tennant is on a roll here. "Capitalism is very wasteful, that's why they use the whole buck." Tennant nods sagely. ''You're gonna bring in psionic explosions just like that?'' "Tennant...!" Hokma tries again. "Yes! Don't you have psychic explosions here? I thought you did... Actually there was a paper about the use of Enkpehalin as explosive devices as a kind of psi-chemical warfare, hold on maybe I have it in my pack--" Tennant digs on through for a moment before-- "Tennant!!" Hokma shouts. "Eh, what?" "They already left." Hokma explains, "We did our job in distracting the guards, maybe too well..." "...Huh? I was just having a conversation." Tennant shrugs both shoulders though and turns to Ace. "Hey um. What were we doing here again?" "Investigating." Angela's tone is tired and cold. "Right... Should we go in? I kind of got lost in the moment and--uh--hey, did you hear about Yuri? She was the Agent kind of assigned to your tournament. She kind of got arrested for being a traitor so be careful around her, okay?" They pat Ace on the arm. "Who would've thought right?" Tennant, having completely lost the plot, has elected to follow Ace's lead. When has that ever steered anybody wrong?
Trudy Grimm	Trudy increases the audio output of her crystal ball. The intersection of psychic transmission and the peculiarities of her magical form of Radio interaction gives Flamel's voice a ghostly, ethereal quaity all its own-- or perhaps the witch has done that on purpose. Only those familiar with the specific spell she uses would know the difference.     > "I'm really worried those monsters will show up again..."     She ends the signal there, at the clear point Flamel intended it to end. The violet-tinted runes on her palm flicker and fade, sucking the light out of the crystalline orb she holds.     "My, my~," the witch's tone is cheerful, almost singsong, "What interesting things the spirits have to say." She turns where she stands, glancing back whence she came-- at the distinct absence of the gate guard contengent. Her eyes return to the Mage-Lieutenant.     Trudy doesn't say anything further, though the look on her face and the slight shift of her brows all conspire to silently ask 'Why don't you join them?'     Behind her, the Black Knight jerks his head to one side with a distinct, bone-jarring crack. Rolling it to the other side produces a whole new set of alarmingly loud crunches and snaps. Only when he's done does he raise his hand, wrapping mail-clad fingers around the hilt of his greatsword.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan does, in fact, wait for a second for Lilian to move in and give himself a moment. He sees Clarine complaining about water. Aidan has a brief moment to stand, breathe, and nod to himself. Resolute in who he wants to be. He pulls the buckler up from his belt and slides it onto his arm, gripping it firmly, breathing a few times to make sure he can actually breathe and not pass out from two monster energy drinks. "I do not think killing him is wise." Aidan shakes his head. Trying to find a reason to outright deny killing the man, but, he can't find a good enough answer. And trying to open his mouth just to say something, anything. Rather than just agreeing to agree, he nods with Ru Li and moves over to Lady Clarine. He needs a moment to think, before making a proper bow, "Lady Clarine. Everyone needs to leave. If you please, we need yer skills for a fighting retreat. I heard yer skilled with magic!" There is a hint of excitement in his voice, always wanting to see new magic.
Desire Stars	You?     "Sure," Ace smiles back at Dieck. He holds his Desire Driver up as the rest of his answer, pressing it to his waist. A grey band spools out and fastens around him.     His hand stops Neon's, however, when she reaches for her ID Core. "Not yet," he utters in a hushed tone. "The Driver is fine," Ace elaborates. "But don't transform yet."     Neon makes an 'mm' of understanding, squeezing the little black token like a good luck charm. "Shanna..." She watches the pegasus rider saddle up. She'd heard bits and pieces of those tall tales. And of course, she'd taken them as gospel. Neon as much studies as she does watch, having seldom had the opportunity to do so with their previous meetings being in the context of open engagements. "I'm glad she's here to keep an eye on me." Her other hand squeezes the Propeller Buckle. What were we doing here again?     "Waiting," Ace answers, not quite as coldly as Angela, but still focused on those windows. She kind of got arrested for being a traitor so be careful around her, okay?     "Sus-pi-cious..." Neon utters judgmentally.     Ace smirks at Neon. "People like to say that 'traitor' is a quality someone has, and not a decision they make. That's only true sometimes," he opines. Looking back at Tennant, "I'll be interested to see whether it's true with her." And he'll be just as careful with her as he is with the other contestants.     "If you're not going to investigate like your boss suggested, you should post up somewhere with a good view. Being near me... won't be good for your health, I think."
Dysnomia	"He's been imitating the lord, hasn't he?" Mia mused, as the prisoner mentioned Wagner. "How long?" He'd certainly been in control, when Mia visited to carry word of the party's coming. The lord's rudeness made sense...But, no. A guilty twitch tugged at her face. He hadn't been rude at all, had he? He'd just been gone, and she'd taken it for a slight.     But...He hadn't even come to the summit at castle Araphen. Had he really been sick then? Or...?     "We've our issues with him, too." She straightened her back, meeting the prisoner's gaze, tone shifting closer to a proclamation. "Know you owe your freedom to Lord Roy's forces. I'm sure you'll meet him soon." Alas, she has no bow to offer her.     "I do not think killing him is wise."     "Honor aside." Mia spoke up. "We are out of position and separated from our main forces. We could exploit the element of surprise. But if we did, someone might try to hit you." She looked to Hector, expressionless. "And we'd all get killed."     "We rally with our forces outside. We get the vulnerable to safety. And then, we can see to killing him. We don't even have to wait long. With honor, if that makes it better."
Odette Raskins	EARLIER "Now, Odette," "I envy your spirit, but shouldn't you grace with your affections a man who isn't twice your age?" "Y-you do? Oh! Hehe, that's just how I.. I mean. Uh." Odette goes from bashful giggling, then a brief moment of confusion, then realizing that Lucius did indeed catch her slipping up despite her best(?) efforts. "Puh..! Th-that's just a slip of the...! I-I mean, that's a... I-it didn't mean anything!" "That's also true... some people just have rotten luck, don't they?" After her flubbing so badly with Lucius, Odette's only able to utter a long groaning noise in response to Blemishine. At that moment, she probably believes in the existence of curses just a little more with her run of bad luck. NOW "We need to get everyone out of here before Bern arrives. That, guh, that might include the local soldiers . . ." With the threat of Bern's forces becoming more apparent by the moment, Odette finally manages to wrest her attention away from the idea of checking on Lord Orun/checking out the heavily armored guys at the ornate door. It certainly helps that she's hearing more confirmation that it's all a ploy to get everyone to stay here specifically for those forces to arrive, of course, and hearing the sppokier sounding transmissions about what's going on have her doing a pretty good job at looking scared about what's to come. She may also be genuinely frightened from her last encounters with Flamel, Trudy, and the Black Knight. "Aw, crap... Um. Y-you guys!" She turns her attention right back to those heavily-armored guards, but without the same distracted gawking from before. "Make sure to... Um. Keep on keeping your Lord safe, okay? G-gotta run!" Odette leaves them with that vague and probably suspicious message of barely-reassurance before scurrying away. She's not going back the way she came from, though, nor towards the courtyard or even to rejoin her companions. Instead, she starts heading deeper into castle, making her way towards the east wing to follow Ace's lead and see if she can't find someone, anyone that might need to be relocated somewhere safer than wherever they are now. "Oh yeah, we're testing.. Um. N-new fire safety protocols! We gotta get upstairs and wait for more instructions, okay?" "Did you hear that weird voice earlier? I-it sounded like they wanted something over on this side of the castle..."
Lilian Rook	Lilian takes the short break of nothing in the corridor as an opportunity to try and reassure Rutger. The way she'd tensed up when they startled was unavoidably pretty palpable. She spends a flight of stairs and two corridors furiously pondering it.     Her best attempt is a smoothly rendered "Apologies. I should have asked first; I know Lady Clarine wasn't kind to you.", delivered with excellent understanding tenderness. Lilian closes the deal with "If it helps set you at ease, I already have a--" abruptly tumbles into a clumsy "--partner. Myself." She looks like she's going to remember this in the shower later tonight and give herself a head injury.     'Kutolah or Djute?'     'Bulgar.'     'Hm. With Bern or against?'     'May they choke on blood.'     'Alright.'     Lilian looks left, right, left and right again, glances at the woman's dagger, and then gives up. "What was that about?"     ......     'Oh, thank goodness! Come in!'     Of course, playing to the part, Lilian enters. To make a slight show of it, she shifts her arm just enough to reveal something flat and slightly bulky at her back, fixed to some belt unrelated to her sword. Not enough to really make it out.     'but he was very firm that it'd only be a moment, and that they shouldn't do anything so hasty as to leave!'     "I understand. Give him my assurances that we'll return promptly." Lilian says, lying as naturally as breathing, in front of a group of people she wants to trust her. Once the servant boy scurries away, Lilian looks back to Hector, and says "I suspect he's the one sitting on the throne in the lord's chamber right now. Speaking to his retinue, as I went past. I don't know what Orun looks like, but the man in there certainly didn't look ill, and he seemed in no hurry to join us." A beat. "Perhaps a little decrepit." she offers.     "Now, shall we leave? Shall we genuinely confer an hour? Or should we drag whoever that man is before the assembly and you can ask him questions while he squirms under my boot? I'm open to suggestions." Lilian says. Her shrug clicks faintly. "This place is fairly heavily guarded, but we're already inside. We could take out most of the upper floor if we're quick and don't use anything explosive-- or if you leave it to me."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel is hoisted, equipped, and used. He seems totally fine with being slung over the shoulder and carried about. He's a guy who can get through tons of locks, be that through solving elaborate puzzles or through telekinetically manipulating the lock itself, and it shouldn't be long until the cell door is open. And out comes someone new! "True! We're actually here to *deal with* Wagner!" He explains, waving to her and re-adjusting his hair now that he's on his feet.     Once Rutger and the prisoner meet, he watches with some awe. "Wow, if you had even a little psychic power, you'd be an *amazing* marksman." He mutters about them, eyes wide. On to other stuff.     It isn't long before he pops into the meeting room again, a little after the servant escapes. "Hey, Parsons here! It's fighting, yeah," He says, in a tense, nervous, and ultimately bright and positive tone. "Violence is the main thing about it. Radios back on, I'm going to find Wagner and try to drain his brain of everything we need."     Poof. Invisible again.     He's getting to that throne-room door and doing his best to bypass it, but there probably aren't many methods. If he can sneak an alternate route, he's going to. And if he can't, well, he's got a laser that's as precise as thought and he can flick out of invisibility and cut the hinges and locks before telekinetically shoving it through. He's gotta work past the rear line of the patroling types, what men might remain, and open a path for the advance from the others. He's also gotta get into the throne room if he plans to get at Wagner's memories.     "Psychonauts special agent Flamel Parsons, drop the blades and tomes and nobody move! Please." He calls out, in both a commanding and friendly tone. "Bernish forces are probably approaching, and they're not planning on helping and protecting you the way we are." That said, he's not hesitating to open up with heavy psychic blasts on hostile action. He wants to protect Lycian unity, yeah, but his number one priority is Wagner's brain and its contents, he has to trust that *most* of the forces here are going to be handled and helped by the others. Because if they aren't, he's going to get pincered himself before the others can use his work!
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"Ru Li, you can direct me to the armory?"     "I can direct everyone to where they need to go, yes."     "This way," Madeleine says to the green-haired woman. "I'll get you to the armory and you can have your pick of the lot. I'm Madeleine, by the way. Otherworlder, if that's not clear." She ushers the ex-prisoner along hallways and down staircases per Ru Li's directions until they arrive at the door to the armory. The huntress is, again, not a burglar, but she does have heavy boots and a kick strong enough to splinter the door. "Et voila," she says as it swings open on its remaining hinge, revealing the racks of weapons and armor within. "After you."
Marigold	The mage-lieutenant at the gate, of course, predictably is gone the next time Trudy looks too. In a sillier world there might be a dust-cloud.      ". . . I wasn't expecting it. You're noble. That's all," Rutger lies to Lilian, badly. "Thank you, but don't take it for anything else."      They're happy to take a break to explain the exchange, while leaning against the meeting room's doorframe: "Sacae's major tribes. The Djute betrayed the Kutolah for Bern. Djute won. You're seeing it happen here. She's Kutolah." "Surprised me. Most people can't tell I'm Sacaen." "It's your eyes," says the prisoner, stepping up alongside. ". . ." "Have you a bow to spare?" "No." ". . ." "Can you use a sword?" "No." ". . ."      It must be a cultural thing.      "Thank you, Madeleine," says the green-haired woman as she trots alongside. "I would also like a horse, but that can wait. I am Sue of the Kutolah tribe, granddaughter of Dayan the Silver Wolf." Her eyebrows lift when the door's smashed in, but she says nothing, and instead steps inside to acquire a bow of some unidentifiable metal and a big handful of arrows. She doesn't bother with a quiver. "This is good. Now, let's kill him."      Ru Li doesn't offend Hector per se, but he certainly perplexes him. "What? 'Support for our cause', 'how far this goes'- my boy, I don't know what sophisticated intrigues you're used to, but they're not for Lycia! If we show weakness here, who's ever going to trust us to protect them from Bern?!" "For once, Lord Hector is right," Merlinus leans in to confide to him and Lilian. "If we don't want rats fleeing our sinking ship, we've got to shoot them in the water."
Marigold	It takes Flamel almost no time at all to invisibly slip up to that double-guarded throne-room door, psychically blast it open, and strut in.      It also takes him almost no time at all, once his speech has started, for him to get blasted by roiling dark energies and skid back out into the hall. A fireball and a lightning-bolt are blind-fired after him, and then the burly armored men by the doorway cross their axes to block his re-entry.      Wagner, dark-robed treacherous advisor, rises from his stolen throne in the room beyond, and a trio of tome-wielding mage lieutenants stance up ahead of him. "You dare make a mockery of me, 'psychonaut'? Guards! Guards!!"      With that, the castle becomes a swarming beehive of armed men. They've had too little warning to assume proper formations, but now every hall has a handful of spearmen filtering up from the floors below or erupting from side-rooms to slow progress; at critical junctions or barring the way to the throne-room are absurdly durable armored knights who are plodding giants but can extend their reach with spears and axes swung-or-hurled on chains with alarming precision.      The mages, about as common as the ironclad men, might be more of a threat unless you catch them up-close. Each page of their books is an expendable diagram, and each book contains diagrams for only a single spell- a fireball or lightning blast, usually- but what they lose in versatility they make up for with power and speed. It takes them just a second or two to fill half a corridor with crackling energy.      Still slower than Rutger. They neatly flit over and bisect a mage just as he rounds the corner towards the meeting-room hallway. "Get the nobles out of here," they say just before it becomes a bramble of spearmen. "O- okay! I'll go with the hairy one!" Clarine says, shrinking against Aidan's side. "Hnh. Mind opening this wall for me, Ru Li??"      The courtyard, of course, has become a blizzard of arrows, and there's even a mage hiding behind one of the arrowslit-like inner windows hurling fireballs down to paint the plaza with flames. "Inside! Inside!" Marcus urges. "We can't fight them from here!" Contrary to his words, Wolt pops up from behind a wagon to snipe an archer through an arrow-slit and Lucius uses his staff to sedate another, but most have the good sense to follow his advice.      Unfortunately, entering through the front door leads one directly into the embrace of the two bulky throne-room-door guards and their axe-on-a-chain shenanigans, not to mention Wagner the dark shaman and his three mage friends beyond.      Dieck presses in and blade-locks with one of the armored knights so others can take refuge in the vestibule, but as he struggles with them, the other winds back to deal him a terrible wound.      And on the distant horizon, a quintet of wyvern-riders begin to come into view.
Ru Li Cheng	Ru Li scratches the back of his head and laughs lightly. "I suppose Yinghuan politics are nothing like Lycian politics at all." Much less chaos, he thinks privately.      Hector asks him to open the wall. Ru Li nods and slams his palm into the wall - blowing it open with a single, forceful strike. He grabs Guinevere with a 'pardon me,' hoists Merlinus over his shoulder, and grabs Hector with his other hand, then bounds out of the building with a single bound - shattering the floor below him in the process. They land with a thunderous crash, a crater of meteoric force below.      "We should retreat," Ru Li says. "I am not confident I can defend all of you at once, especially with the curse upon Lord Hector, from the coming storm. And unless my eyes mistake me, there are riders upon the wind."
Trudy Grimm	The Mage-Lieutenant is, comedically, gone. Trudy's careful expression work is overall wasted, but she can only laugh. Beside her, the Black Knight unhooks his sword and brings it around, placing the broad blade as a shield to her right side while guarding her left with his body-- the rattle of arrows deflecting or biting into his armor soon follows.     "Lycian nobles certianly do seem to lack for hospitality, I have noticed," she murmurs as she lifts up Malice. The Grimoire unbuckles itself and fans open. From its pages she draws forth Uruz, the rune of Power. Clutching it in one hand with her fingers hooked about it, she twists the glimmering golden rune until it melts into a sickly, offputting, dripping yellow-green.     "Accept my gift, archers of Thria, and know my mercy is more than the Gods would give you..." a runic circle expands around her feet in the same sickening color, sloshing outward as it rotates.     In response, mist seeps up through the cracks in the castle floors and walls surrounding the courtyard. A thin, wispy smoke that is easily ignored in the heat of battle. Those who breathe it quickly face a curse of weakness, sapping at the strength required to draw a bow; numbing fingers that cry for dexterity to draw bowstrings or nock arrows.     It does little for the magus hurling fireballs; though once the hail of arrows thins to something less insane, the Black Knight-- positively porcupined in arrows, lurches forward and hurls his enormous sword straight for the offending arrowslit with all his might.
Aidan Proudpick	At some point, Aidan WAS hoping to inspire Clarine to action, not to actually have to carry a noble. Still, he doesn't shrink from the fight. With one arm up, he pushes himself in from of Clarine. Not that a buckler is going to do much against the spearmen. A wind wall would impede Rutger and Lilian from their job. Aidan instead to improvise. A flash of his hand, a rush of breath. Small diagonal windwalls appear as each spear approaches, staggering them to either side of Aidan and Clarine. "I gonna to hold off on my first time for someone special, hold on tight, Lady Clarine." In one swift movement, he has Clarine's knees out from under her, arm braced against her back. He leaps to follow Ru Li, his landing much more staggered and less awe inspiring from the extra weight of Lady and Wound. Ru Li bounds out of the building, forcing Aidan to quickly set Clarine back down and spread his hands forward. White wind rushes out of Aidan's mouth, flowing to his fingers beck and call, forming a growing ceiling over Ru Li to keep the others safe from a hail of arrows.
Angela	''If you're not going to investigate like your boss suggested--'' "Probably not. Er, not because they suggested it or anything, but because I can't imagine a single thing I could figure out that Flamel or the Dame Commander couldn't. Wouldn't be the best use of me as a resource, would it?" ''Post up somewhere with a good view'' "Oh that ''is'' good thinking. That's almost like investigating, even." Tennant decides. "Though what to climb up to..." They wander off, following Ru Li's directions which certainly help Tennant avoid too much attention until they find where a nice high up area and... ...A distressingly short time later... There's a report of gunfire within a guard tower. An archer slumps down (sadly, Tennant wasn't sent towards the mage) and Tennant pushes a rifle through a slitted window themselves and hunkers down, humming a merry little ditty as they start popping off cover fire, really hoping nobody deflects their bullets again. Unfortunately, Magic Bullet is prone to friendly fire so they actually end up focusing their fire towards places that aren't filled with friends. "So how IS Lady Dias," Tennant asks Hokma. "I imagine still living it up like a queen." Hokma says. "Are you still loyal to her? It has been quite some time since you've seen her." Tennant sighs sadly. "Oh I hardly need to see her to hold her in high regard. Am I going to get any cute agents myself to help out?" "Records is likely going to receive the next new Agents. Mind the archer." Tennant pulls to the side as arrows fill the space they were moments before. "It's kind of scary that we are in new territory huh... How are ''you'' gonna go crazy and try to kill everyone, do you know yet?" "...You talk too much, Tennant."
Flamel Parsons	That was sooooo sneaky and effective and cool right up until the end. But it was an inevitability and a requirement. "Don't 'guards, guards' me! I don't make a mockery of anyone. I'm trying to support you in your struggles with severe Dahl-ification!" Flamel calls out, his arms still smoking and his teeth gritting. "Ghh. Wish Lugh was here... to handle the mindscape..." But now the guards, summoned as if by true name, are an issue. He's gotta deal with those armored knights, and not get blasted to death in the meantime by the mages!     He flickers into invisibility again. But swinging axes are going to be a problem. He's gotta stun these guys! That means telekinetically yanking the door to smash the guards in the back, guards who have conveniently placed themselves in a door-shaped gap next to a door-shaped potential telekinetic projectile. He arcs over it in an incredibly skillful levitation... And he hopes, prays a little, that it'll be enough of a very temporary barricade that he can rush the mages. Surely, the others can deal with the elite guards at the door! Before Flamel himself gets pincered and killed!     He rushes the mages. No question they're about to prevent his invisibility from being a good option here too, so the first (and possibly last) thing he gets to here is tossing out a cluster of confusion grenades! The thick green disorienting gas is the best option he has to not get zapped to death on another approach, but there's no way he can take all of these mages out before they get enough presence of mind to blast him... "We've gotta focus on Wagner! We can't become Lycian-killers, don't focus on the guards! They need to still have enough forces to defend against Bern!" He calls out, telepathically and vocally. "I need help in here though!!" Oh godddddd here's hoping they won't know what to do if he gets real close and starts shotgun-blasting with telekinetic attacks!     Here's hoping, specifically because it's gonna be so, so embarrassing if he gets blasted out of this room a second time.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine briefly considers guarding the armory simply to keep Wagner's soldiers from further equipping themselves, but contents herself with raising a thick wall of ice where the door once stood. She's not done with her ice-sculpting as she moves in the direction of the fighting, either; as she runs, she breathes out clouds of vapor that condense and harden into large wolves made of solid, animate ice. The creatures branch off from her path, roaming the hallways to hamper the Thrian soldiers' ability to reposition or reinforce key positions. Spears are not quite as effective against solid, magically-hardened ice as smashing weapons, and every axe-wielding knight who's busy with wolves is one whose back is turned to the Lycian fighters.     Madeleine herself focuses her attention on those knights as well, drawing her spear from her back as a pair of the armored hulks come into view around a corner. Instead of attempting to brute-force her way through their armor with a thrust attack and risk her weapon getting stuck in one knight while the other has at her, she swings the metal-capped butt of the weapon around to cave in armor plates. Though Drogrung's body is wood, it is wood stronger than any earthly metal, and will be move than sufficient as a defensive tool as well.
Odette Raskins	When the castle and courtyard becomes a battlefield, Odette has something to be thankful for: Heading into the castle means she's not getting shot by so many archers like she would be if she was out in the courtyard! Unfortunately, she's instead stuck with a wall of spearmen emerging from on one side of the hall while a squad of mages come out from the other side. She's a little more confident about getting past the mages than the spearmen, at least, even if she doesn't know much about counterspells or anything magic-related. What she does know, however, is that those books look pretty important, and it'd be a shame if they couldn't actually use the books at all thanks someone stealing or otherwise smacking the tomes right out of their hands. As she sprints down the hallway and beelines for the nearest mage between her and the center area where she'd be able to regroup with her companions, however, Odette quickly realizes that the mages aren't as slow as expected. Indeed, their ability to launch lightning blasts in less time than it'd take for her to even get a bottle out of her bag has her screaming in terror, kicking over a table hastily just to dive behind it for cover (and cursing up a storm when she hits her shin against it on the way down). "H-hey, hold up! I-I-I'm a... Medical personnel, n-not a fighter!" Odette calls out in a panic to try and discourage the mages from shooting more elemental bullshit her way while scooching even more behind the overturned table. She can see the spearmen getting closer, too, and she's starting to hyperventilate a bit when there's not even a vague path of escape! ... Right up until she sees and hears Flamel targeting the mages with his confusion grenades. "Right! No killing, just... C-c-coming!" She calls out vocally, swallowing anxiously and clutching her bag against her chest to weigh her options in that moment. Tools? No, too bloody, too much risk of infection in a place that might not have the medicine to treat it properly. Chemicals? Not enough time to find the right ones and also make sure her allies don't wind up breathing it in. That leaves only one other option. Once she hears Flamel using those TK-blasts of his, Odette springs to her feet and bellows out the mightiest (read: whimpering and shivering) battle cry she can muster before rushing at the mages as well. Tightening her hold on her medical duffel bag, she draws it up against her shoulder, then just throws herself full-body at the nearest mage, trying to bowl him over and sow a bit more chaos to help bring their numbers down with the psychonaut.
Lilian Rook	'. . . I wasn't expecting it. You're noble. That's all,'     "I suppose I am." Lilian says, thoughtfully; though god knows what about. "I'll have to find some other way to flatter myself, then." That's somewhat more like her usual.     'Surprised me. Most people can't tell I'm Sacaen.'     'It's your eyes'     "That's real?" Lilian blurts out, and it's the first thing she's said in her entire time on this world that could be considered well and truly baffling. "You can tell where people are from just by looking into their eyes?" She helpfully clarifies, not doing much to sound any less out of the loop.     'If we don't want rats fleeing our sinking ship, we've got to shoot them in the water.'     "I'm very glad to hear that, Merlinus." Lilian says, quietly, in the meeting room. "I'd hardly blame anyone for being afraid, but it's a bit depressing just how quickly people seem to keep making up their minds." Lilian puts her hand reassuringly on his shoulder for a moment; a simple gesture that sounds out for how little she usually touches other people. "If I may confide in present company, Lord, Seneschal; there is in fact very little I hate more than people abandoning their oaths when it becomes convenient." Eyes beatifically closed, Lilian's smile is very normal and her grip is not at all tight. She's quick to release it, and let her hand drift to her--     'Get the nobles out of here'     Sword. At the sound of the blast, not at the call to arms. For a weapon just crossing the bar of being worthy of Hector, she was certainly quick about it. "And don't take them right back out to the courtyard, either. They'll already be trying to suppress our forces down there. Choose a point in the perimeter and punch through it."     Lilian advances right back through the door, towards the group of oncoming spearmen. For someone who didn't kill a single soldier at Laus, she reacts very little to Rutger cutting a man in half. "Hector. I don't have to tell you to follow him closely. He's better than he looks. Clarine--" Lilian grimaces, then looks weirdly sympathetic. "You can do better. I'll see that Lucius is ready."
Lilian Rook	Lilian breathes deep, steps forward, begins to sprint, and her second boot doesn't hit the floor. Rutger sees her rounding the corner ahead, cloak swirling slightly off her axis of motion before she drops down and vanishes. Leaving them with the spearmen is some mixture of a high compliment, heartless, and simply efficient division of labour. She's seen them fight. The target better suiting her is--                 -----[stop]-----     Lilian scrapes through the carpet down to the floorboards as she rounds the vestibule. Her left hand leaves the hilt of her sword as her right hand slides down to the pommel; then her fingers clap around the near end of the naked blade. She barrels past Dieck, sprinting low enough to scrape just beneath the hanging chain, and viciously thrusts the point of her blade into the seam in the armour exposed by--                 -----[start]-----     --the knight downstairs winding up to strike Dieck. Lilian's shoulder collides with his breastplate with the sound of hard metal impact, but it couldn't possibly knock him over; it's only for her weight being thrown into skewering his raised arm through the joint in close quarters half-sword. The injury smolders like the others, and blood pours from between the armour plates; but it's ceased by the time that Lilian kicks up from the floor and swings the pommel into the man's helmet and deforms it with the force of slamming him into the wall.     'We've gotta focus on Wagner! We can't become Lycian-killers, don't focus on the guards! They need to still have enough forces to defend against Bern!'     "Move to capture, as we rehearsed!" Lilian says, lying only about everyone else. It's only for the defenders to hear; she doesn't wait at all before responding to Flamel's call for help by stepping into the throne room and tackling Wagner up close just as he responds to a telekinetic blast; with her right arm around his head and her leg extended behind him, falling with him to land with her left forearm pressed to his throat and the edge of Night Mist unsubtly against the back of his neck.
Marigold	With Tennant and Trudy thinning out the courtyard archers, and even Lugh contributing a fireball, the whistling of arrows gradually goes quiet. That thrown zweihander hits something wet-sounding where the mage's attacks had been coming from, and blood trickles down from the arrow-slit.      "Put a little spin on it next time," Marcus half-jokes, with gruffly shaky relief.      "Thank you, good man," Hector says, admiring the wall-hole while slapping Ru Li warmly on the shoulder. When he's picked up, he makes a little "hup!" sound as if he were the one making the effort. Maybe he's just never been on this end of it. Merlinus is better-accustomed to being picked up: "Ah, careful with the back now," is all he has to say about it.      Once on the ground, Hector beckons for Guinivere, who fearlessly jumps down into his arms. Then it's just Clarine climbing onto Aidan, and...      "What do you mean I can do better, Lilian?!" turns into "Oh, you'll set me up with Lucius? Oh, but he's kind of girlyyy-eEEE?!"      She takes the plunge poorly, even sheltered-from-arrows as she is. She grips handfuls of Aidan's fur on the way down.      "You can tell where people are from just by looking into their eyes?"      Rutger looks at Lilian with a muted incredulity. "The eyelids," they say, and then they're silently adapting to the familiarity of being left to their lonesome... except Roy, who has sneakily managed to get himself left behind with the combatants, and moves to stand back-to-back with them.      "Roy? Can you fight?" "... Not really." "Ha. Okay." And they adjust their postures to each other.
Marigold	"we can't become Lycian-killers"      A few hundred feet away, Rutger is whisking a half-dozen Lycian soldiers into an emulsion.      Madeleine's role as a frontliner suits Sue remarkably well. She fires neatly over Madeleine's shoulder, around her arms, and between her legs to debilitate whoever's about to hit the huntress, which is at first eerie until one gets used to the uncomfortably-close whistling, and then reassuring. Oddly, she pinches the string with her thumb against the side of her fist and clutches extra arrows between her other fingers.      In the gaps, as if they were doing nothing more strenuous than a light jog: "What kind of Otherworld sorcery is that?" thweee "Have you really surpassed tomefaire?"      Dieck has his opponent surpassed in strength, but they're taller, and they lean over him to put the weight of their armor behind the blade-lock. He grits his teeth and starts slowly losing ground. "Ghhck... c'mon...!" Flamel's telekinetic door-ramming comes just in time, staggering one and letting Dieck wrench the axe from their hands. Lilian slams the other before they can counterattack Dieck, and as the first reels the disarmed axe in with the chain, Dieck puts all his might into sweeping a leg. Then he's climbing atop and half-swording like a misericorde. "Hah. My gratitude, Commander."      Odette's pleas earn a short pause in the magical barrage. Then, a second later: "She's a healer! Get her!" Oh, so that's how this world is.      But that means that one of them doesn't expect the tackle, and two of them are too busy coughing on Flamel's confusion-fumes. One of those lashes out at Wagner with an arc of lightning and a fluttering of pages, and the dark-robed shaman snarls as he recoils. "Traitors! Imbeciles! All of you, I'll-- hurk!"      Just then Lilian slams him to the ground and puts the blade to his neck. He fails to get the hint, too slow or too unfamiliar with nonlethal takedowns. One hand still clutches that book with his thumb shoved between the pages. The other makes a clawed gesture in the air. "Useless... but I'll show you power...!"      A dark-purple magical circle forms on the floor beneath him and Lilian. A miasmatic darkness starts to seep upwards from it, and an orb like a dark star forms directly above them too. It's not hard to guess where this goes: in just an instant, they'll complete the circuit, and if Wagner doesn't hurt Lilian he'll at the very least kill himself--      Kshhh.      Wagner no longer has a hand to gesture with. The huge beam of light that just grazed his arm lingers as a burned-in shape in retinas. "Ghh-?!" "Please," says a golden voice from the doorway. "You must live, Wagner, so that God may have time to turn your heart towards kindness."      Lucius's smile even seems sincere.      Off in the distance, the half-dozen wyvern riders see the havoc at the castle, hesitate, and turn to depart, perhaps with just a warning shot from Tennant.
Trudy Grimm	> "Put a little spin on it next time."     The Black Knight jerks his head towards Marcus briefly, making a show of bracing his right shoulder with his left hand as he rolls the joint with several unnecessary pops and snaps, as if he were still limbering up. The motion also snaps off several arrowshafts buried in his armor, which he doesn't seem to care about at all.     Only then does he leave Trudy's side to retrieve his weapon, wrenching it from the arrowslit-- it had struck horizontally and firmly embedded itself like that. With a sweeping motion he scatters blood off the rust-coated blade, then sweeps it up to rest over his shoulder.     Trudy closes her eyes, lifting her shoulders and arms in a shrug with the Grimoire balanced by her hand against her wrist, "Avoiding deaths altogether may have been too tall an order for a man who hates wizards that much. Honestly, I can't bring him anywhere."     Raising her voice, the witch opens her eyes and raises her arms, projecting to the entire courtyard, "Bowmen of Thria! Continue to resist and continue to suffer underneath the haze of my curse! If you surrender it shall be lifted! This is a promise I will honor without fail."     "Step forward," she says as she lowers her arms. The Grimoire snaps shut with a light thumb, "And be saved."     Outside the castle, Grimnir puffs on his pipe, watching the wyvern riders wheel about and return whence they came. He closes his eye, laughing lightly.
Flamel Parsons	Flamel rushes the downed, blasted advisor. "Perfect! Thank you, Lucius!" Well, in Flamel's world, robotic prosthesis is a lot more accessible. It's not long before he's planting the door on the pinned man, not long before he's diving, and hopefully not long before he's got all he needs. He needs insights! He needs to know where Bern is going next! He needs to know as much as he can get of Zephiel's plans, even though a collaborator wouldn't know all that much!     First thing's first. "Un-guards-guards! Do the opposite of that. Make them stop running into Rutger's swords, *please.* It'll be so helpful to everyone." Flamel tries to dive, at least, deep enough to get the lever for that. Sometimes, psychonautry involves supporting people in their struggles. Sometimes, it involves gently fighting the evil in their souls. Some days, though, it might just involve getting in there and hitting the scheme-SCRAM. He tries pulling the psychological fire-alarm to hopefully get this calmed down for now.     It'll take a while to do the rest. Who knows what they'll figure out from that. But it sure doesn't look like they're about to get Lord Orun's support at the moment. There's no way that guy isn't dead. Still, important memory to check for in there while Flamel is working on it.
Odette Raskins	Are they stopping? Maybe these guards really can- "She's a healer! Get her!" "Wh.. What?! Jerks!" Odette still sounds and looks panicky as ever even as she executes a fumbling takedown on the mage she crashes into, clumsily wrestling with the mage and using her bag as a makeshift bludgeon just enough to make sure that she won't get blasted by the time she stops to get back up. "J.. Just stay down! We can't go home if we're dead, so... Uh. Cut it out!" It takes longer for her to even notice the magic star forming above Lilian and Wagner, and she doesn't even have time to shout out a warning before Wagner's hand gets blasted right off by the Lucius beam. As expected, Odette goes wide-eyed at that, but less in the horrified way and more in the 'whoa cool' and also 'oh, that's hot' kind of way (and not just because it's still a nonlethal solution). Odette gets her focus back sooner rather than later, though, and she tries to snatch one of the mage's tomes before hurrying to regroup with Lilian, Flamel, and Lucius around Wagner. "Mister Wagner? C.. Call off your troops, please! Nobody else has to get hurt, a-and I can still treat whoever's alive if you quit while you're all..." She pauses, recalling just how good Rutger was at cutting people up, and at what she had seen from the Black Knight. "... A bunch of you are still alive. A-alright?"