Mithar Keep & Frescot House IV: Magic babble lies within

[Shadowcaller]

[Into the Keep!]

"I was among the first to use it." He replies. "But otherwise I haven't put much effort into studying it. My research lies elsewhere." Arik moves further into the entry hall,c losing the door after himself. "But if you're infected by that creatures energies, shouldn't you be searching for a cure? I doubt my sister will be able to help you with it I'm afraid."

[Lost_Deep]

[Kirin's Room]

"Oh." Xavier says with surprise. He moves over to the window and sticks his head out behind her. "Do you see anything?"

"Bootmarks on the windowsill? That's odd." Kirin descends a bit. Between her physique, her claws, and her supernatural lightness, she can easily check the wall below the window for signs of it being climbed.

[Rebonack]

[Into the Keep]

"I would advise not meddling with the portal to your home world. From what Libra told me, assuming it was the truth, the oni have been removing people from existence for being too persistent about that bridge," Geneva cautions.

Thankfully there are other bridges around the Nexus for her to poke at, ones that won't result in complete existence failure.

Which is good, since ceasing to exist is a pretty lousy way to end one's afternoon.

"And near as I can tell, the magic I've been gather is, if anything, the complete opposite of what the oni utilize. Libra played a 'game' with me. She asked me questions and shoved knowledge about the portal into my mind for every one I got right. For the one that I got wrong she gave me, well..." she nods back at the Dice sticking out of her flanks. "One of my friends tried to separate me already, but that ended poorly. Bad enough that I agreed to take an amnesiac to forget how awful it was. Obviously I don't remember the specifics, but I'm sure it wasn't something I want to repeat."

It was really pretty awful.

"I'm hoping I might be able to use this new chaos magic as a means to lay the foundation for a new bridge, but that would be a fall-back plan in case all of the other options fail."

[Shadowcaller]

[Into the Keep]

Arik looks at her oddly as she shares the first tidbit of information but doesn't comment. His silence continues as she explains the rest of what happened.
"I'm sure you can figure something out then." He finally comments as she finishes speaking. "I don't think I have to remind you to be careful since that creature has caused nothing but misery to this family for years so it's understandable if Garn is somewhat hesitant to invite someone carrying her strangeness considering what it can do. Likewise, chaos sounds like somewhat desperate solution to your problems, judging by the name alone."

[Rebonack]

[Into the Keep]

"I understand why he's concerned," Geneva says with a small nod. "If someone came up to me and said that they had been touched by Discord's favor then I would be a bit leery about letting them into my home, too."

A beat.

"A being from my home universe with an attitude similar to Libra's. That people are play-things."

It's a pretty horrible attitude for an effectively omnipotent creature to have.

"And 'chaos magic' is a bit of a misnomer. It's chaotic in the sense that it functions based on will and whimsy rather than a highly structured, orderly set of magical laws. It circumvents the biological basis that magic has in my home universe. In a lot of ways it seems like it's more similar to the type of magic that a lot of people here in the Nexus use. They don't have to worry about manipulating the precise geometry of arcanohedrons in a thaumatically active organ. They just wave their hands around and will magic to happen and it does."

She gives a little laugh.

"I know I'm grossly over-simplifying things, but the way that most of my friends here in the Nexus do magic is wholly unlike anything I'm accustom to. Chaos magic is probably just the least dissimilar thing from my home."

[Shadowcaller]

[Into the Keep]

Arik doesn't laugh, he doesn't even smile. Very serious person this one. "Odd classification." He comments. "But I came here to talk to my sister, I don't suppose you know where she happens to be?"

[Rebonack]

[Into the Keep]

He's super serious.

Geneva fidgets a bit, uncomfortable on account of the super seriousness.

"I'm afraid not. Last time I was here I didn't really come inside. I just met with Cessie at the bridge and then followed her back before we parted ways."

[Terumitsu]

[A Particular Practitioner's Pad]

Hmm.. That's a little better but.. Tumor? No, not quite. Sounds like it's a seperate system rather than outgrowth so.. Parasite of some kind? Biological reaction seems to point to that from the reverberations.. One of that mass, though.. Doesn't make sense that she'd be able to ignore it and-Damnation she's talking again! I just needed a moment more before.. Hold on, no, that helped.. There's something else there, it sounds like... Is she.. Covering it? Why would she be doing that unless she's either under the influence of something or this is willing which... Why willingly take on a parasite like that? Need to examine this closer... Still.. Protocol. As much as it annoyed her, she had still made a verbal contract, hadn't she? However... "I feel.. You wouldn't understand, would you? But it's like hearing music that's been horribly artifacted through either over-synthesization or just corrupt data and having it glitch and skip in the worst ways... No.. Wait.. You'd probably be more used to hearing something like it being a symphony of horribly out of tune instruments playing off key, off tempo, and off different scores." she said, the harshness of her tone coming out as perhaps the most melodious expression of anger that the sorceress had ever been privy to.

"What I WANT is for you to stay there. Just stay there for two minutes so I can make this.. Tolerable." she sang in that same captivating tone as she pinched the bridge of her nose and furrowed her brow. Of course, to Cessie, what would happen next would appear to be the strangest mix of housekeeping and what might remind her of feng shui as several rather minor items were... Organized into odd but surprisingly sensible collections about the lab, assuming she didn't interfere. The muse was leaving the more delicate or otherwise unwieldy items alone although it was clear that she wanted to tinker around with nearly everything in the room until it met whatever standards she had in her head. Still, once that was over, she wouldn't feel half as unpleasant as before.

Regardless of if Cessie stopped her test subject or not, though, there was still something else on the muse's mind. "What I also want is.. she began holding out a finger and tracing a circle in the air although to no apparent effect. "..to find out... with an extremely rapid series of hand motions suddenly following, the sorceress would easily be able to detect faint flashes of aether being employed and held in patterns that seemed to be half designed after blood vessels or neuron clusters and half embellished runes. "..exactly what is literally eating you." she concluded, activating the array with an aetheric 'spark.' Should the odd implementation of runes be allowed to activate uninterrupted, the formula contained within would very well attempt to unravel a very specific kind of concealment that the sorceress had up to hide a certain.. 'Parasite.' Although it might be notable to Cessie that it would come apart with the noise one might hear from a precisely tuned harp being strummed if everything went according to plan.

[Shadowcaller]

[Into the Keep]

"I see. Well, I'll inform you if I find her then. She's probably in her laboratory at the moment. Just stay here and I'll come down with her." Arik states as he starts ascending the staircase to the second floor.

[A Particular Practitioner's Pad]

Mind control or not, Cessie didn't consider stopping Riss from rearranging the things in her laboratory worth the effort. She had expected her to do strange things during this experiment after all and as far as strange things went, she could imagine far worse than housekeeping. The only thing she was really concerned about was if Riss would try to open up the container of demonic essence or the neverath, both rather dangerous, especially right now with her overcharged with aether.
Still, seeing her not doing any of that she just continues taking notes of Riss behavior and powers. She had heard of Siren's, sea fey who lured sailors to them with their voices. Was Riss related to them maybe? She still wasn't sure what the obsession with housekeeping was though. Probably music related somehow, like how sound traveled in a room depending on what was inside it. She remembered how hollow the keep had sounded before they had furnished it.

Still, she seemed to have other intentions which bothered her consider the rune mages current state. "Riss, you're worrying me a bit." She states, not that she thought it would help. Like those before her, Riss seemed to have very little concern with what others wanted. Riss only seemed to want to satisfy her own most pressing needs.
Cessie's concern would turn into shock as Riss started to work on on her spell which would unravel her enchantment. An enchantment directly tied into the very seems of her clothing. Illusions were a complex type of construct, it wasn't something you could do at the blink of an eye unless they were simple flashes of light. Even one that simply hid her pregnancy was complex enough to be worth saving in a enchantment to save her the trouble of remaking it every time.
So when Riss wanted to unravel the enchantment she also had to unravel it's terrestrial bound, thus causing the aether infused seems of the sorceress dress to burst with the clothing falling to the floor.

So Cessie, now only in her underwear and obviously pregnant moves to cover herself and realizes she had reached her limit. "Riss. Stop right now." She commands with all the dignity she can muster, she was willing to end this experiment right now if this didn't stop right now and she could get some new clothes, this was simply embarrassing and out of line!

"Bootmarks on the windowsill? That's odd." Kirin descends a bit. Between her physique, her claws, and her supernatural lightness, she can easily check the wall below the window for signs of it being climbed.

[Kirin's Room]

She can just look down as there are more footsteps below, just underneath her window. So there is definitely signs of someone climbing up to her window.

[Lost_Deep]

Kirin's Room

Kirin will head down the wall and then check the ground at the base of the Keep, and then follow any trail she might find. She'll try a few sniffs, but suspects that scents strong enough for her to detect are long gone.

[Gullara]

[Definitely Outside Kirin's Room]

"Um, Kirin?" Xavier steps outside the window. Without any thought, he steps right off the edge! It takes him a fraction of a second to realize he's without wings right now, however. He barely catches himself, dangling precariously by one hand from the window sill. "Ah!" He swings his feet wildly, trying to get purchase.

[Lost_Deep]

Definitely Outside Kirin's Room

"Xavier!" Kirin will scrabble back up the wall, past Xavier, and back into the room without touching him. Once inside, she'll go about pulling him in.

[Terumitsu]

[A Particular Practitioner's Pad]

The muse's expression shifted somewhat as she looked at the sorceress, becoming less harsh and more akin to a realization followed by a combination of disdain and disgust before she turned her back on Cessie. ...So I was right but for the wrong reasons... That's just.. Barbaric. Why would someone even... Just.. Eww.. Kneeling down to start picking up the discarded scraps of fabric and thread, Riss began focusing rather intently on the weaves as she slowly made to start unraveling what was left and collecting it in a small pile; the tiniest flickers of aether expenditure issuing from her fingers every so often. "I was already finished." she replied in a thrumming tone. "Mystery solved. I thought you were covering some kind of parasitic infection. I wasn't wrong." she said. "But I didn't account for brutish customs." she concluded with unhidden venom. It was disgustingly offensive, really. Here was someone who lived in a place where it was perfectly viable to not endure the pain, suffering, and even debilitating effects on a body due to pregnancy and yet they chose it anyway despite all of that. Multiple times, even, if the family photos were supposed to be believed!

But as she had said just a little while ago, there was protocol to follow... "Beyond that, it seems I cannot do more than transfer extremely small quantities of energy likely due to my own resistance. It is not dissimilar to what I showed you earlier although it appears that I have more ability to control the over all flow as I just displayed." she said with the sterility of a single harp note. "To expand, Knowing my own biological and mechanical networks as they are, I can simply trace runes from the patterns already existent inside my forms rather than requiring a medium to etch them upon. The result is not conducive for long term effects but short jolts are often useful in and of themselves as can be seen." While she was completely aware that Cessie was very likely not in the mind set to be receiving any kind of clinical observations like this, the muse simply didn't care. She was still technically following the set agreement and she could simply re-state the observations again at a later time.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Particular Practitioner's Pad]

The sorceress isn't too concerned about Riss's poison, the woman was basically on drug's after all. Though her words didn't make her too keen on continue the project, not in her underwear at the very least. "Excuse me." She states, trying to keep her own anger from creeping into her voice. But regardless she completely ignored what the muse said next, beyond caring at this point. She just wanted clothes and a moment to relax.

So Cessie simply leaves and will close and lock the door after herself unless Riss stops her. In the sorceress mind Riss hadn't exactly proven to be safe to roam outside the lab yet. The aether was clearly affecting her mind and causing her to act... rather rude.

[Gullara]

Definitely Outside Kirin's Room

"Xavier!" Kirin will scrabble back up the wall, past Xavier, and back into the room without touching him. Once inside, she'll go about pulling him in.

[Back Inside Kirin's Room]

Xavier is quite easy to drag back inside. Kirin is strong and he is rather light. It's just a good thing he was able to hold on. "Sorry, sorry. I, um, well I forgot I don't have wings right now." He says, rather embarrassed by the blush on his cheeks.

[Lost_Deep]

Back Inside Kirin's Room

Kirin sighs, sits down, and begins to massage the ends of her fingers. "That was really hard on my claws..."

[Shadowcaller]

[Into the Keep]

He's super serious.

Geneva fidgets a bit, uncomfortable on account of the super seriousness.

"I'm afraid not. Last time I was here I didn't really come inside. I just met with Cessie at the bridge and then followed her back before we parted ways."

Kirin's Room

Kirin will head down the wall and then check the ground at the base of the Keep, and then follow any trail she might find. She'll try a few sniffs, but suspects that scents strong enough for her to detect are long gone.

[Into the Keep]

Arik soon returns with Cessie in tow. "Geneva, I'm so glad you came by. Is there anything I can help you with? Arik just told me about your dilemma, but there didn't seem like he could do anything for it."

"No, hardly. Now I suppose you want to... talk. I'm going to harvest those crops meanwhile, I don't think I have anything to add to this conversation anyway." Arik says in a dismissive tone before walking out of the keep in the direction of Cessie's greenhouse.

[Ground Below Kirin's Room]

The tracks lead the wall and appear to end there. It looks like someone has climbed over it as well rather than using the gate.

[Rebonack]

[Into the Keep]

"It's nice to see you again, Cessie," Geneva replies, her tone pleasant and conversational. "I've done a bit of searching in the mean time, specifically for other bridges aside from the one to your world. Thankfully no one caused me to cease to exist for having the audacity of studying it."

That's a joke.

Sort of.

"It was a diffuse bridge, a place where the Nexus just sort of... bleeds together in a smooth transition from here to there. It leads to a world called Faerun, I believe it's pronounced? From what I've gathered a sizable portion of the City's drow population hails from that world. Either way, my investigation has yielded much the same sorts of findings that the portal to your home did, a more or less stable hole in space. This one is just much, much wider in its scope and a little more blurry in its periphery. I haven't found anyone yet who can supply a means to punch a hole in space safely, I think it might be a good idea to begin searching for people around the Nexus who might be able to help. A few people have voiced concerns about the project, so I thought it would be a good idea get in touch with VIGIL and the... umm... Union, I believe they call themselves? Both of those organizations are dedicated to the safety of the Nexus in general and Inside in particular in the case of the Union. Being open and transparent with the project should calm any fears about the impact it might have."

[Terumitsu]

[A Particular Practitioner's Pad]

Well... This was as good as an open invitation to do whatever she saw for with the more common materials at hand. Still, once the interim of the sorceress donning something else to wear and perhaps after a bit of calming down had passed, her return to the laboratory would be met with a door handle so cold that a haze of slick frost had formed on it... Though her return might be somewhat expedited due to the sound of a muffled *Bang.* Inside wouldn't be much different with very thin layers of ice creeping along the glass enclosures inside.

What would be changed was that there now hung a globe of glass that looked to be the only source of light in the room; the candles that had done the task previously having been repurposed. The globe itself was clearly the remains of what had been glass tubing and empty phials broken up and reassembled using wax but a single look at the floor would show that the remaining candles within projected an incredibly complex array through the broken refractions. Above, the sphere projected strange auroras as if it were showing an alien sky with foreign constellations, the dance of the flames making each star twinkle in turn. What would most likely catch the eye, however, would likely be the arm cleanly severed above the elbow inside the circle being dissolved from skin to metallic bone in a way that looked as if it were being unwoven; the threads of material being stitched together with the surprisingly beetle spooled material that had once been the sorceress' old outfit. Just watching the array work for a minute or two would be enough to see a new, very functional garment being spun together out of the.. Unorthodox materials. The entire setup looked like an aetheric furnace as it drew energy from where it could to catalyze the reaction.

As for the muse herself... She was sitting in a chair in the corner, absentmindedly knotting her now empty left sleeve as she watched the reaction progress with interest; her tail wrapping itself around her neck like a scarf for warmth in the frigid room.

[Gullara]

[Kirin's Room]

"I'm very sorry, Kirin." Xavier rubs the back of his neck. "Did you find anything outside before... you were interrupted?"

[Lost_Deep]

Kirin's Room

"Looked like bootprints. Let's go down the proper way next time..." Kirin takes a minute to massage the ends of her toes, too. Hopefully that didn't blunt any of her claws much.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Particular Practitioner's Pad]

Cessie opens the door. Huh.

Cessie closes the door.

Cessie briefly ponders having a nervous breakdown and just keep the door closed until the effect had worn off. But then she thought better of herself. She had to stop Riss before she did even more damage to herself and the lab. Then she could have a nervous breakdown, maybe. After all, Kirin had made stuff while under influence hadn't she? Maybe nothing as macabre as this, but still!
The sorceress slowly opens the door and gleans inside to make sure Riss hadn't torn off her head to make some sort of macabre robot puppet while she had been trying to collect her thoughts outside.


[Into the Keep]

"The union? As in the group ruled by Vyrn? I've actually met him person and he does seem rather conservative, and that's coming from me of all people." The sorceress though most people viewed her as very conservative which was funny consider people thought the opposite back in Hestopia. "I like your approach though, it's best to be open about these things. Have you talked to VIGIL yet? Since as you might know I'm one of the co-leaders. I haven't been active there lately however." She usually took time off with her pregnancy to devote time to experiments instead.

[Rebonack]

[Into the Keep]

"I haven't talked with the people at VIGIL yet, no. But I'm hoping they might be able to help with the security end of things once the project is up and running," Geneva explains. "I don't think there's any more danger with the project than there is with any of the natural bridges that form in the Nexus, but regardless it would probably be wise to have security personnel on claw in case a situation became troublesome. I think we can probably address that by using temporary bridges to scout out a universe before establishing a permanent link so we would know for certain that it's safe."

After all, they might accidentally find a universe filled with skinwalkers or something similarly horrible.

No one wants a bunch of scary body-snatchers trying to take over the Nexus and spreading everywhere.

"Is there anything in particular you might be able to tell me about VIGIL or this Vyrn fellow? I want to be able to make a good first impression, that counts quite a bit when pitching what some people might view as a risky venture. Having the backing of the people who see themselves in charge of the Nexus' well being is just too important to lose."

Because this project is too important to fail.

[Gullara]

Kirin's Room

"Looked like bootprints. Let's go down the proper way next time..." Kirin takes a minute to massage the ends of her toes, too. Hopefully that didn't blunt any of her claws much.

[Kirin's Room]

"Yes, I agree." Xavier gets to his feet and offers a hand to help Kirin. It's the least he can do with the trouble he put her through with his clumsiness.

[Lost_Deep]

Kirin's Room to Out Front

The pair presumably go out front to look at the bootprints, and then the wall the person climbed to get in.

"I doubt we'll be able to follow this trail very far outside of the wall..."

[Shadowcaller]

[Into the Keep]

"I can't say I'm an expert on him, but he seems like the kind person that likes to keep the status quo, as far as it's realistically possible in the nexus anyway. In addition he's as ambitious as you'd expect any self-made emperor to be and prefers control over freedom from what I can tell. The nexus randomness doesn't really seem to agree with him." Neither did it with her really. "As for VIGIL, we were once HALO and Watchtower, now united in a singular organization. While we were once focused on preventing apocalypses we're now more into general "evil fighting". Which basically means we're trying to enforce some type of justice on the completely lawless parts of the nexus. This could be questioned on a philosophical level but in practice I do believe that the nexus very much needs VIGIL. In any case, in my opinion HALO was better organized but less serious than Watchtower was. The members of watch also tends to be more asocial than HALO's." At least since Sakura, Adir and Harnel basically quit. "This is probably since Watch had a lot of leaders while HALO just had one."

[Rebonack]

[Into the Keep]

Geneva gives a little nod, committing all this information to memory.

It strikes her as somewhat strange that this Vyrn person would pick the Nexus as the place to set up his rule if he found the hodgepodge, protean nature of the place so bothersome.

That would be like building a home in the Palomino desert when you dislike hot, dry places.

But since when did people always do things that made sense?

"Interesting... I'll do my best to keep all that in mind. Should I assume I have your support already on this project when I go visit VIGIL?" Geneva asks.

Having support from one member of the organization's leadership already would be a good thing.

Hopefully she'll be able to drum up more.

[Shadowcaller]

[Into the Keep]

"Of course, I trust that your familiarity with the scientific method will make sure you do this in a safe and precautions manner. But did you have any plan how you were going to conduct this experiment? Or are there still too many unknowns to really tell?" Cessie asks.

[Rebonack]

[Into the Keep]

"I've been taking high altitude pictures and talking with people around the Nexus to try to identify as many natural bridges as I can," Geneva explains. "I want to gather a wealth of data and have a very firm model of how the bridges work before I actually start the prototyping process. Having a bridge collapse catastrophically would ruin the project's integrity."

And it might blow people up.

That's also bad.

"What I could really use is a natural portal that opens and closes on its own. If I can find something like that, I can begin studying it and then build some prototypes that will handle various parts of the project. Opening the portal at will, closing the portal at will, redirecting its point of contact with the destination universe, things like that. Once we can manipulate natural portals with a high degree of certainty then and only then will we be ready to try building one of our own."

Geneva is very thorough with her methodology.

[Shadowcaller]

[Into the Keep]

"Could I have a look at those pictures when you're done with them? I'm very curious what the nexus looks from above." Cessie first inquires, it could really help her mapping out this strange world. "As for open portals, this might be a long-shot but I have read about these strange shops that disappear after you visited them once. Supposedly they're traveling through different worlds, selling their goods. It's rumored some of them even exist in Mallside."