Bermuda Holiday Session 16

Princess Guard - The New Era 2017/23/03 	 Charm Titan Pulsar Lia Harlequin Wolf 39

Into the heart of the volcano
The baby dragon huddles up against Wolf, pressing its scaly head into Wolf's flanks. Wolf can feel the little dragon trembling in extreme fear and hear quiet frightened meeping whimpers. The second rank of the Prets slams into Harlequin's hastily raised magical barrier. Not having warning of its presence they hit it without leading with their pointed beaks and stun themselves, creating a log-jam of bodies stopping the rest from getting to the barrier. Meanwhile the four that are on the heroes' side of the barrier immediately attack. Two go for Titan as he puts himself forward. One goes for Pulsar. The last keeps its attention on the little dragon. The pret flies into Pulsar leading with the long sharp beak. The impact does no damage but Pulsar is knocked back into the cavern by the force of the collision. The prets swarm at Titan, in fact one getting in the way of the other so only one hits. The one that hits effectively hits an immovable object. It's stunned. Titan is barely affected.

The beast's beak cuts through Titan's shirt, but not his skin, giving him a minor bruise.

Wolf steps in front of the baby dragon to intercept the flying Pret-beak. Intercept he does, and he too goes flying, from the impact. . . tumbling head over each of his four heels as he's knocked back across the cave. ..

Wolf shakes his fuzzy angular head to clear it, and thereby immediately realizes something is wrong. The world is upside down! Time to fix that. . . He rolls over, clambers up to all fours, and canters back over to the diminutive dragon. ..

Titan is hit in the chest by one blast of fire, which sets his shirt alight. He's otherwise unhurt, standing his ground.

Palanir dodges as one of the prets breath flame in his direction.

It's a near thing but Fae reflexes win out. Palanir dodges the fire.

Pulsar is struck once more, but it hardly has an effect on him physically. Though he's thrown back again due to being made of hardened light and not matter with true mass.

Lia moves too! Toward the diminutive dragon, and next to Wolf. She aims, and a whirl of green motes circle her right arm. Lia smiles, giggling, as her eyes flash green like her arm. And then, as she aims her glowing arm at the nearest pret, she fires a bright green beam of magic. "No hurting the dragon!" She shouts to the Pret.

Lia's beam of magic sails clear past the Pret, instead cleaving a nice chunk out of the wall of the cave.

Charm keeps it simple, since she takes it the Prets are of animal intelligence. She plucks her harp's strings and sings a song of panic for one attacking Palanir, hoping to provoke a simple flight reaction.

One of the prets wheels around and flapping frantically tries to fly out of the cavern and cave. Unfortunately for it, dumb animal intelligence doesn't take account of a mystical barrier blocking the exit.

The pret knocks itself silly impacting the barrier.

Pulsar squares up, rotating his fists along an invisible horizontal axis like a 30s style boxer. "They're sure ugly..." He mumbles facing it down. He doesn't plan on letting the Pret past him. His goal is to protect not only his teammates but the scared dragon as well. Though so far, all he's managed to do is get knocked around.

"Alright- that's enough of that." He says, standing and dusting himself off. Being tough is nice, but being light is starting to wear thin. He charges the Pret that attacked him - full force, pulling his hand back and calling a LaserLance into existence as he closes the gap.

He gets close and then he hurls the javelin.

Pulsar's Lance arcs right past his target, exploding into a shower of sparkles after it impacts the cavern wall.

The little dragon huddles up against Wolf as Wolf returns. Its head lifts and jaws open wide as it targets the pret that struck Wolf. A puff of smoke comes from its mouth. Maybe it's too young to breathe fire?

Titan decides that the Prets are likely strong enough to withstand a solid hit, and he takes a swing at one of the two engaged with him.

Titan swings high, just missing. "Quicker than I thought they were."

"Too quick." Pulsar says in agreement. he tries to hold his frustration back.

The Prets attacking Titan fly in a loop first away and then back toward Titan to build up speed for beak strikes.

Titan watches as the Prets loop around and charge at him again, only to have them both bounce off of him again. "They'll knock themselves out at this rate."

Palanir continues dodging while managing to fit in a graceful bow to Charm, "Thank you, Ablewoman Charm. Your name is well chosen."

Again Palanir avoids the flying pret, dodging a beak attack this time.

Lia, frustrated, grumbles. "Alright, we can do this a different way." Her green motes change to fire. "Time to get a little more fired up." She giggles, and her hand erupts into fire. She dashes forth, and with a swift motion, she tosses the ball of flame nearish the Pret attacking Palanir. The ball of flames drops to the floor of the cavern under the pret and explodes. The pret is blown up and knocked out. Palanir is caught in the explosion and sent flying, his clothing aflame. He appears to be badly burnt and, perhaps fortunately given his injuries, unconscious.

Wolf pads on over to heal Palanir. Again.

"Clearly I got a little too fired up." Lia muses, looking over toward Palanir. She thinks. o O (Wow, he's a lightweight. I wasn't even aiming at him)

The little dragon moves with Wolf, keeping on the other side of Wolf to the Fae.

Pulsar is a simple man. When something doesn't work once, he tries it again. He takes aim at one of the last standing Prets, hoping to at least make a difference in this fight & be more than just a meat (or light) shield.

He cocks his arm back, manifesting another lance- then he hurls it like an angry God hurling a lightning bolt.

Another Bolt and miss, resulting in another rain of sparkles and jagged light raining down on the Pret.

Wolf gently *noses* the fallen WorldWalker, and, once again, his fuzzy angular face will be the very first thing that Palanir sees upon making the journey back to the world of conscious people. This time, Wolf gives him a significant "Hey that's TWO you owe, now, buddy" - type look, since Palanir's first action upon waking up last time was to negotiate his own personal immunity from justice for his kidnapping attempt(s).

The healing from Wolf returns Palanir to consciousness but he is still suffering from burns. "This," he says in a pained voice, "has been a an example of why I should leave risky ventures to my followers." He looks at Lia, "She does know I'm currently on your side I assume?"

Lia giggles, "Here I thought you'd be tougher than that. Sorry. But hey, now you don't have a bird trying to snack on you!" Lia grins.

Palanir gives Lia a somewhat unfriendly look, "I'm a Fae. I could have dodged those clumsy attacks all day." he states pointedly.

Titan mutters, "...but apparently not a fireball."

Lia shrugs again. "We have other things to worry about, like..." Lia gestures toward all of the Prets on the other side of the barrier. "And we are supposed to be getting out of here now though, aren't we? Stasis is gone, so we can leave?"

Harlequin dismisses the necromantic magicks around his body. He slowly walks toward Wolf and the baby dragon. As he does, he says over the RP Comm, "Is the dragonet alright, Wolf? Any injuries?"

Titan pulls off his flaming shirt, and tosses it aside. "Not sure."

Wolf checks the baby dragon once more to be sure, then nods to Sasha that the dragon seems fine?

Harlequin walks over to the dragonet as he murmurs softly, "Yes, we can leave anytime, we desire. I can build a Gate to take us back to the settlement." He stops on the opposite side of Wold from the dragonet. "Are you in communication with the dragonet, Wolf?"

Titan raises a brow, "There's nothing else to shut down? Huh."

Palanir climbs to his feet stiffly, "There is still the matter of the way-trap. The stasis field was protecting it. Switching off the field is an essential milestone toward disabling the way-trap but not sufficient on its own."

Wolf has nonverbal communication modes that work specifically on animal and on alien minds. Whichever type the dragon is, he reaches out to reassure the beast:

The flying hunters have now gone, Thy safety is ensured. No longer need Thee fear from them, nor aught that you've endured. ..

Harlequin looks over at Palanir then to Titan. "So, we next have to trek up into the caldera of the volcano. Joy."

The mage's attention then returns to contemplating the dragonet as he murmurs, "I do not suppose any of you speak Dragon? Dragonish? Draconic?"

The little dragonet is too young to form language and replies in concepts, an image of Wolf conjoined with the emotion of safety and belonging, fearful feelings linked to images of Charm and Palanir.

"Why do we have to walk there?" Lia wonders, looking toward Harl. "Can't we just gate there?"

This type of communication is actually much more natural to Wolf than words can ever be. He wags happily, *nosing* the dragon gently in a "don't worry!" sort of way, then translates for Sasha and the others.

Titan nods to Harlequin, "Well, I guess...we should get going."

Harlequin murmurs absently. "Oh yes, I can simply scry a safe exit for us. Then open a Gate. We are well within range of the caldera for that. Then, I surmise, we'll have to find the way-trap." He glances briefly over to Palanir. "Correct, War Master?"

On the far side of the cavern, located between the two Dwarven Centurions, is an opening and passageway leading further into the volcano.

Harlequin adds, "Alternatively, we could take that doorway over there..."

"Oh." Lia says, looking toward the door. She giggles a little, and flies toward there.

Palanir shakes his head, "I personally would not open a gate in such close proximity to a way-trap. It may be perfectly safe. But I advise against it."

Titan nods and looks around at the interior of the volcano. He mutters to himself, "The ring is mine."

"You should stay close to the dragonet, Wolf. And is it hungry, thirsty?" Then Harlequin laughs at Titan's quote.

"Ring?" Lia asks, glancing toward Titan. "What ring?"

Titan grins. "The One Ring. The one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."

Wolf passes cautiously between the two giant dwarves, dragon-ling in tow, his shaggy head and ears swiveling back and forth, looking from one to the other, marveling at their towering forms and the amazing workmanship it must have taken to construct such wonders. ..

Harlequin follows along behind the Wolf and the Dragon keeping a mystic eye out for anything unusual. Well, other than a baby dragon.

Titan follows along as well.

The passageway twists and turns, mostly heading in toward the center of the volcano and sloping upward. As you progress the temperature is increasing. Then after a final turn you emerge on a ledge looking out over the caldera. The crater is about two hundred yards across. The bubbling lava some 50 yards beneath your position.

Some distance above you is a golden sphere about a hundred yards in diameter. Orbiting the sphere in seemingly random paths are much smaller spheres about ten yards in diameter of a bright red hue. Descending from the main sphere is a pillar of blue energy that enters the lava at its base. You don't have to be a mage to see the surges of energy racing up the pillar from the lava to the main sphere.

Titan looks up. "That's it, huh? Can I just...smash it, and we can be on our way?"

Palanir stares in awe at the magical way-trap. He speaks with absent wonder to Charm, forgetting his usual tight control on his words, "Have you ever seen anything like this, Princess? We know we have fallen but this... this shows how far we have fallen. This was our work. The power of the Fae. Compare this to what is possible today. How could we have let the glory fade so badly."

Charm has been singing to the little dragon during the journey, to assure it she is not hostile. There is some magic in in, but not to persuade the dragon but to give it a snack.

Titan raises a brow as Palanir refers to Charm as 'Princess'.

Harlequin looks up at the magical artifact then down at the lava then back up at the globe and it's circling spheres. "It is quite amazing. The balance of forces is...astonishing. Like fractal patterns, ever regressing and expanding." he murmurs softly.

Wolf < >:

The heat below sends waves of light through yonder bluish glow. The spheres above will store the charge, until we block that flow.

Charm doesn't remark on Palanir's use of 'princess'; she already suspected he knew. "So much was lost in the ancient wars. Not only the art needed for works like this. Our honour, also. So desperate were we."

Lia stares up toward the golden orb, and too looks something in awe. But for different reasons. "It's been quite a long time since I've seen magical technology quite like this." She muses. "Damn, how long have I been away from my former home that it feels like ages since I've last seen it?" She doesn't seem to know the significant of the princess remark.

"What were the ancient wars?" Lia asks, turning toward Charm and Palanir. "I am woefully uneducated on matters of the twilit realms."

Lia then turns toward the pit of lava. Then looks toward Harl. "Could you just erect another barrier?"

Wolf is, all things considered, very glad Palanir and company didn't hear Titan's "smash" proposal and he looks to Sasha to see if he can block the energy flow with his own magicks?

Harlequin nods as wolf sends his message. "I would like to try to preserve the sphere if we can. As to blocking the flow?" He looks around at the group. "Well, yes, I could Lia, but I am not certain it will hold against the sheer amount of energy, but I am willing to try."

Palanir is mostly talking to himself as he says, "It seems a shame to destroy such as this.

Titan raises a brow. "Perhaps you could...take a photo or paint a painting of it. We have plenty of time until it's removed."

Titan smirks, "It's not like we can go anywhere."

Harlequin murmurs softly. "I know it seems odd of us, Titan. But mystically speaking, this is a masterwork of enchantment." He sighs. "Well, I have it committed to memory now in all available senses."

Charm glances at the baby dragon, hoping it doesn't understand. "The Dragon Wars. The dragons, once they reached worlds of richer magic, bred and ate and bred uncontrollably, till worlds died, and they moved on to new worlds. They drove us before them till the edges of existence, the Twilit Worlds, where we made our last stand, the other magical races at our sides. And we held them back there. But not with honour. The dragons are now all but gone, like our honour. And score upon score of worlds were left dead."

Titan shakes his head, and says to Harlequin, "It's not odd. I realize it's a masterwork. But it's a masterwork of something which was created to kill dragons. It's a weapon. Just like a bomb or rifle. I can appreciate the artistry that it takes to create a weapon. But I don't have any qualms about breaking them either."

Charm says, "This is part of our 'victory'. This is part of the network that stopped the dragons from escaping their fate."

Wolf pokes his nose into the Umbra, just briefly, just to see what the Spiritual Aspect(s) of this place look like, given the weighty significance for dragon, dwarf, and Fae alike.

Harlequin nods. "Oh, you are absolutely correct, Titan. But like many weapons, the underlying principles of this way-trap holds great peaceful possibilities." He then sighs. "But, for now, it is an obstacle we must overcome. I will try putting a barrier across the energy streaming upward. It is possible there are defenses, so be prepared."

Pulsar floats behind the others, arms crossed with his head on a swivel, watching the team's backs.

"Honor is, sometimes, overrated." Lia says. "Honor does not save lives, and it's possible that maintaining honor would have meant there would be no more Fae. But to lose the capability to create something such as this..." Lia looks toward Titan, then nods. "A weapon it still is. But it's not that it's a weapon, it is that it is a sign of what was once possible."

"In any event, we should work to disable it so we can get out of here." Lia says. She looks toward Harl, "I don't have a barrier of my own, but I can do what I can to disrupt the flow of energy." Little motes circle Lia's hand again. "I doubt I have the power to negate the magic this thing consumes, but maybe with a barrier and a dispel there could be some effect."

Lia turns toward Charm and Palanir, "Presuming that this thing won't give some horrible backlash to us for attempting to disrupt it."

[To Lia] Charm says, "It is not possible, it is certain. Or we would not have been driven to it. But there are those that would sooner have maintained their honour than their lives. As it is, we lived and the dragons died."

Palanir nods to Titan, "You are correct. This is masterful. As Ablewoman Charm states though, it is also a sign of the desperation we faced and the dishonour of our kind. It is also evidence of our falling. None today would know how to create such an enchantment." He turns to Charm, "King Zoramin is a good person. He is a bad king. We have stagnated under his rule. I would have been a better king. It would have been a painful time but I would have broken the power of the traditionalists and started us moving forward again."

Pulsar is about as well versed on the Twilight Realms as Lia is, so he's grateful for the young faerie's questions. Those that do not repeat his own fill in blanks he wasn't even sure he had.

He drifts at the rear, wondering just how long ago all this was. He doesn't say anything though. He just remains vigilant - guarding the rear.

Charm says to Palanir, "I don't doubt that you would. And you may remember that the king, in his youth, also broke the power of the traditionalists to the point he was almost deposed. And you and he, at that time, were more of a mind. He is not a bad king, Master Warmaster. He is a king who recognises that one cannot force the people to advance much more quickly than they are willing to."

Harlequin takes a few steps closer to the edge and readies his personal defenses. As the silver and blue disks whirl into existence around him, the mage looks down at the lava below. "The power is tremendous that is being channeled. Let us see if I can block it or not."

Titan clenches his fists a couple of times, resisting the urge to slug Palanir. After all, they still need his assistance to get back.

Lia nods a little. "Traditionalists causing problems... I am too familiar with that." She rubs a hand through her hair, "But that's a story for a different time." Lia looks toward the Way-Trap, then toward Harl. She floats closer, too. And readies her own magic. She's not 100% what good attempting to dispel the beam will do, but, maybe it'll help Harl's barrier hold?

Charm has a sudden thought. "Master Warmaster, you said you had visited /all/ the lost worlds. Have you been here before, then? How did you escape then?"

Harlequin starts to cast the barrier spell. It is one specifically designed to impede energy not physical threats.

Wolf settles back on his haunches to watch, whiskers twitching, close enough to Heal Sasha if anything goes horribly wrong. ..

Palanir shakes his head. "This is not one of the lost worlds, Ablewoman Charm. Else the mana here would be depleted."

Lia charges, and focuses her magic. Her hands glow with orange-white, and to magic sense, it feels more like a lack of magic than anything else. She's ready to fire it the moment Harl's casting completes.

Charm frowns. "Then what is it? The gate is blocked, against escape. There is at least one dragon here. If the dragons were not breeding uncontrollably, why lock it? If they were locked in, why is it not dry of mana?"

A plane of blue-silver perfectly interlocking octagons forms between the blue beam of energy pulsing up from the lava and the central golden sphere. For a moment, energy surges against the barrier and small cracks form but the mage gestures again and the energy is cut off. As this occurs, the main sphere seems to expand for a moment as it trying to take a breath then it starts to collapse into itself as if a hole in reality has opened inside of it. Within a double handful of seconds, the globe is sucked into itself and is gone with a loud crack of thunder to mark its passing.

Palanir says, "I do not believe the way was blocked to trap dragons here. More likely it was a side effect of the way-trap. This world was probably a killing ground. The way-trap brought dragons here when they tried to cross dimensions and killed them on arrival."

Charm says, "I had not thought such a thing possible! But it explains how we were caught in it...."

Lia isn't sure her ability had any effect, but then, Harlequin is quite a bit more capable than she is. She huhs, and stands back, glad that the thing didn't explode and try to like, detonate the magic in her body (which would have been a bad thing). Lia smiles. "Well, I suppose that takes care of that... Though, how did this even function when it was trapped in the stasis field?"

Wolf winces and blinks and shakes his head to clear the thunderous ringing from his sensitive pointy ears. He looks from Sasha to Palanir, and back, inquisitively.

Titan winces as well at the loud sound. He looks toward the others. "Do we need to do anything else?"

Harlequin murmurs gently with a shrug to Lia. "I would imagine it was shielded from the stasis effect. Much as a spider can create a, hmm, sticky web and make itself immune to getting trapped itself."

The mage then glances over at Titan. "Well, now we need to have the War Master go and gather the grey elf world walkers, set up a schedule for getting everyone back to Earth and open the Gate." He laughs. "Should be simple enough."

Palanir smiles, "The way-trap is disrupted. Now I will carry out my part of the arrangement. I will walk back to the lost Home, gather more walkers, and return with them to move the liner back to your human world. Ablewoman Charm, would you wish to accompany me?"

Charm says, "Perhaps we should all. Your pardon, Master Warmaster, but your honour in matters of honesty is not entirely untarnished."

Titan smiles slightly, "That would allow us a chance to talk to the grey elves ourselves. I suspect you don't want that, though, Palanir.

"I'd rather not trust the guy I accidentally roasted to come back and get me." Lia says, shrugging a little, with a little smile.

"Why'd you say that, Harlequin? Its like you don't believe in luck." Pulsar says with a smirk. Though he doesn't mind a challenge. But he's realizing he really needs to work on the accuracy of his strikes.

Pulsar is glad they didn't need to force Palanir from holding his end of the bargain up & that they are about to be back within Earth space again. This may have been a bit too far away from home for him.

Charm doesn't seem to share his own wish that Palanir would remain a trustworthy ally after all of this. He trusts people a little too much.

Palanir winces, "You wound me, Princess. Very well. There is a path outside the entrance of the cave. I will open a way for all of you."

Charm thinks. o O (At least he feels shame in his dishonour. Perhaps he's not quite the monster I was led to believe....)