[Nexus] Mithar Keep

[Shadowcaller]

[Bedroom==> Entrance]

Heading down to the entrance the sorceress summons an earth elemental to get the sword for her and place it on the table while she takes a closer look it. She will attempt to detect any eldritch energy coming from it.

Too bad she probably would need aether energy to actually handle this sword. Hmm...

The mage have no clue about what's going on outside the keep though and will continue with her experiments as if nothing have happened.

[Slii Arhem]

[Outside]

"Ack!" Aeia steps back when she sees how close Bark is. "Don't scare me like that." She peers at him. "What crawled up your butt?"

Outside

"... An uppity dryad." Well that was succinct. Bark knows that he won't be left alone until he tells her though, so he steels himself and his passive face slips back into place once more.

"This place reeks of magic."

[Halae]

[Entrance]

There's no eldritch energy coming from Conflict; it just sits there. It's also undetectable to Cessie's eldritch senses, which may cause some confusion if they can normally sense objects otherwise.

[Gullara]

[Entrance]

Aeia sticks her tongue out at Bark and turns toward the tower again. "Oh yeah? We should check it out." There's just the matter of the twenty-five foot walls to deal with. "Hm, going through the front door might be a bad idea. We should climb over the wall." She must not realize how tall it is or something.

[Shadowcaller]

[Entrance]

Nope, it can only sense eldritch things. It's blind to terrestrial objects.

Frowning it looks like she won't get anywhere with this sword unless she takes some risks. She attempts to heat up the sword a bit with eldritch energy to see how it responds.

She was going to save the fey fruits for later.

[Halae]

[Cessie and a Sword]

Conflict is heated as any normal blade is. If Cessie pushes it that far, Cessie will find that even if she heats the blade to the point where steel would melt, it'll retain it's shape. If anything it gets harder and more stable.

[Slii Arhem]

Outside

"... No, we should not. The walls are higher than you could climb, and made of solid stone with no hand holds. Mages had hands in this, and I will not let you endanger yourself by meddling in their affairs." Bark is putting his foot down, hard. Aeia is too naive for her own good if she thinks that beyond that wall there is anything waiting for her other than a cold laboratory and sharp, painful knives.

[Gullara]

[Outside]

"Pfft, don't be such a scaredy cat, Bark. Here, I got an idea, be right back." Aeia hurries off back into the forest before he can so much as get a word out in protest.

She'll soon return with a length of vine in her hands. "Okay, so I'm gonna make this grow up the wall. Then we can climb it over." It's the perfect plan.

[Slii Arhem]

Outside

Bark feels about ready to bop Aeia on the head for her idiocy, but stays his hand with the tiniest of sighs.

"You have nothing to secure it to. Throwing it up there would be useless. Give me one end." Bark holds out a hand for an end of the vine expectantly.

[Gullara]

[Outside]

Aeia hands him the end of the vine as requested. "I can just go and get another one if you take this one." She reminds him.

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie and a Sword]

The mage does not dare to go that far yet, she probably should move to her lab soon enough but there was a last thing she wanted to try first.
She starts constructing what in her world is known as a spirit ward. The exact energy it's made of is unknown but it didn't exist in the terrestrial world. It was theorized the reason of this was because it was a material the spirits couldn't touch and thus they couldn't use it to shape the terrestrial world.

Mages used to summon to drive away spirits but considering necromancy was forbidden they needed to keep up them all the time, a work which took a great deal of effort. Still oni, fey and other evil spirits invaded Hestopia from time to time to steal babies or just to make mortals generally miserable.

This should hopefully cause some reaction from the blade though.

[Slii Arhem]

[Outside]

Aeia hands him the end of the vine as requested. "I can just go and get another one if you take this one." She reminds him.

Outside

Bark loops the end around his waist, just over the sheet, and ties it in a very tight knot, tugging on the ends several times to make sure it won't come undone. Then he gestures at Aeia.

"Allow me to do the same to you with the other end." He'll do so, if she does.

[Halae]

[Cessie and a Sword]

It's interesting; if Cessie tries to move the Sword, it'll meet resistance from the spirit ward, but if the blade is turned towards the ward, it'll cut thorugh it like a knife through butter - enough resistance that you need to put in some effort, but not terribly much.

[Gullara]

[Outside]

Aeia allows him to do just that. While he ties it she asks. "What are you gonna do?"

[Slii Arhem]

Outside

"Tuck in your arms and legs, and put your head against your chest." Without any further explanation, Bark will bend his knees and take advantage of the fact that his hands are under her armpits by attempting to fling Aeia skywards. His strength is such that she should easily be able to clear the wall, and the vine tethering them together means that she won't come to a messy end on the other side. She may suffer a few bruises from smacking into the wall, but in Bark's opinion she deserves what lumps she gets for making him go through with this idiocy.

[Gullara]

[Outside]

Aeia squeals as she's thrown through the air and over the wall. "Oof." She hits the wall with a loud thud. Owww, that hurt. She's going to have such a bruise. She'd be giving bark a piece of her mind if she could breath properly at the moment.

[UncleWolf]

Guest Room

"She'll be there after, not during." Telly tells Cessie. "The ritual will be just be me, my Cessie, and Nega. As for how you can help, I don't think you can. Or want to. I'm going to have to speak to some of the lowest people imaginable, drug dealers and pimps for the most part, in order to get what I need for the ritual." She explains. "My life was hardly a fun one, and I went lower than you could imagine." The woman looks horribly ashamed to admit this, unable to look Cessie in the eye, and even though it was all behind her, it was still a dark part of her.

[Slii Arhem]

Outside

Bark then starts the second part of the plan, getting himself over the wall as well. Using Aeia as a counterweight, he's going to reverse rappel up the wall, jumping up and then perching against the stone with the tips of his feet.

Probably not all that fun for Aeia, considering the sudden stops and starts jerking her around.

Eventually though, he'll probably reach the top of the wall and be able to climb over, the length of the vine being just enough that Aeia should be touching the ground on her end of it. Bark tied those knots with a purpose.

"I'm on my way down." Taking a moment to check and see if Aeia is immediately beneath him, Bark will step off the wall and plummet to the courtyard below. He's more than sturdy enough to survive such a fall intact.

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie and a Sword]

Now that was the kind of reaction she was looking for. It wasn't unexpected but it gave her a clue of what the sword could do at the very least.
Still, there was really no reliable way she could effect it just yet but she supposed she had to test if for every usual property a terrestrial sword had.

Then she would either have to contact her great great grandmother (who apparently where around here somewhere) or eat one of those apples. She had recently created a diluted version of their effect though using watered down apple juice which should be enough for this purpose.

The sound outside distracts her momentarily from her experiment though, what was that? Better go and see, she looks out the closest window for anything unusual.

Meanwhile Bark and Aeia might not a very recent addition to the keep, a greenhouse which seems to house a couple of strangely shaped trees which look a lot like human women. Looks like Bark was right to have second thoughts about this place, it's downright creepy. Imagine what insane mages that live here.

[Gullara]

[Outside]

No doubt Cessie will easily catch sight of the dangling dryad being lowered and then Bark jumping afterward.

The dryad yelps as she rapidly backs even further away from where Bark lands. "You're crazy. Are you okay?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Entrance==>Outside]

Oh dear. >.<

If this had been Hestopia she'd been outraged that someone was trying to break into their home. But this was the nexus however, and one of those persons looked like a dryad (or some similar spirit) so she wasn't really sure what to think. It was probably just an honest mistake which she just had to inform them about.

Harnel, there are two people climbing over our wall. I'm going to talk to them now but you should probably come down as well once you're done with the twins. She informs the half-dragon before heading out of the kitchen, leaving an earth elemental to carry the sword up to her laboratory for later.

Opening the door the two will likely see a well-dressed (some might consider her over-dressed though) woman in a black robe approach them (totally a insane sorceress!). She have raven colored hair as well (so evil!) but smiles at them nervously. (don't let her lull you into a false sense of security!)

"Erm, hello there. Why are you climbing into our home?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

[Halae]

[Outside]

I'll be there in a second.

They group in the courtyard will hear one of the windows open, and Harnel looks out. He's currently dressed in a black robe similar to the one Cessie is wearing, and a few of his wounds, including the one on his neck and wing (stitched shut though they may be) are clearly visible due to the black color of the thread against Harnel's crimson skin and scales. Given his horns and scales, he probably looks something like a demon.

After a moment, he'll duck back inside, before coming down the stairs. Cessie, Aeia and Bark will all have the opportunity to say something before he gets down to the courtyard - travel down stairs doesn't happen instantly, after all.

[Slii Arhem]

Outside

Bark gets up from where he planted himself into the earth facefirst, completely unharmed and unfazed by his long trip to the ground.

He stares down at Cessie impassively, apparently silently judging her while one hand brushes off the light coating of grass and dirt he acquired when he touched down.

"My companion saw a massive black spire surrounded by a black granite wall surmounted by jutting black spikes and decided that she must see what is inside. She can be very insistent." The unspoken "she's crazy" is very heavily implied.

[Gullara]

[Outside]

"Oh, hey. Yeah, we're just exploring and wanted to see what's in here." Aeia explains, acting as if she's not doing anything wrong. "Needed something to do for a few days." She looks around curiously.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside]

"I... see." We'll their fortress did look rather imposing, but that's what happens when you let your husband design it. "You could have knocked on the door though, it's a much more preferable method. You might want to remember that next time you visit someone or they might get upset." Cessie explains to Aeia. "So is there anything I can do for you now that you're here? I'm Cessie Mithar by the way and this is my home."

[Halae]

[Outside]

Harnel comes out the front door at this point, walking with a limp. He'll take a position beside Cessie, and say to her mentally, what's going on?

[Slii Arhem]

Outside

Bark turns his gaze to Harnel, searching for something, "I believe her exact words were, 'Hm, going through the front door might be a bad idea. We should climb over the wall.'" He doesn't do a good job of imitating Aeia's voice at all.

"And she can be very insistent." So very, very insistent.

[Gullara]

[Outside]

Aeia swats at Bark's arm, and winces when her fingers smack against the hard wood. "Don't listen to him. I'm Aeia." She looks at Harnel with some obvious interest. "I guess we can't look around then?" She's going to have to figure out how to reign in her curiosity.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside]

They came over the wall since they're curious about the keep apparently. The mage explains to her husband.

"I could give you a tour if you so wish but normally people don't like if you start looking around in their homes. It's considered rather impolite where I'm from." She attempts to break down to the dryad.

[Halae]

[Outside]

Not the first time something like that's happened, at least.

"As a matter of fact, I think the majority of people would consider it rude," Harnel says, "But since you're here now," he shrugs, "I'll go make something to eat. And please, don't talk to loudly. The babies were just put to bed and windows are too thin to really prevent hearing people getting loud."