Handmaidens!
So, I’ll give you a little bit of context for the Architect-Knight. I’m sure Tsane already has this on lockdown, but bear with me.
The Dark Chivalric Period (characterized by the reign of Queen Aria, who was the Dark Dragon in disguise, as you well know) was a period of strange adventure and Outside-based prosperity. (You may here note that the Khaganate’s aims and methods are strongly modeled off the DCP.) The Architect-Knight was Aria’s right-hand woman (and, yes, more than that), and the series of quests that ultimately gained her that hammer were one of the great triumphs of Aria’s Questing economic policy.
It was also a trap laid by a wicked and vengeful intellect. The hammer’s architectural marvels, the accelerated way in which it constructs and breaks down doors and walls and pillars, all rely on weakening the fabric of created reality. Each one is a facsimile of true creation, a hollow shell over what should truly exist. Aria had hoped to one day make the world hopelessly dependent on the Architect-Knight’s craft, only to tear it all down in a moment.
This is why the Stacks are uniquely vulnerable to her, as something mired in unreality.
Anyway, I’m sure this won’t be a problem. Keep fending off the Rootwalkers, who would very much like to follow the Architect-Knight through the door she’s made, swarming into the Chrysanthemum (which is, you may remember, sacred to Heron).
If Kalentia was here, she’d be very useful— which, of course, must be why she is not here.
Eclair Espoir!
Mayzie jumps a little, a flush coming to her cheeks as she flicks her stylus out of sketching-mode and into shorthand-mode (which is, of course, another wickedly sharp reminder of childhood). She slides behind a turned-over table, but then proceeds to poke her head out so often that she might as well be completely out in the open. As if she can’t decide between safety and adventure, for all that she’d claim she’s made that decision.
The crowd has largely done the same; many of them seem to be under the impression that this is a very entertaining floor show, up to and including the Rootwalker that just tumbled down through the door in the ceiling. Unwholesome, untidy things, those; the Order of the Aurora helped stem the tide when they flooded the homehubs of the Avel.
Any minute now, someone’s going to notice that a real Rootwalker is actually here. And that more are trying to fight their way through this very awkward door. And that Vespergift’s worst nightmare is coming to pass.
Yuki!
Anka Arju-Wajz, who is playing the part of Suli’s agonistes here, has also drawn her heartblade in order to cover the downed woman. A threat is on her lips; her tail lashes with agitation at the danger, the peril, the thrill in that roar. She is a dangerous, athletically capable, and talented woman.
This, and the ancient bans that still bind Aria Thendragon, save her life. For the ancient queen does not fling her at terminal speeds across the Chrysanthemum, but merely sends her ragdolling into open air; Anka twists and tumbles down several stories, eventually hitting the water with her limbs tucked in and her head lifted.
"Pathetic,” she rumbles. Talons limned with the light of her heart push smoothly through her skin. "You lost already, Elm. Now it’s my turn.”
Magasha calls up fire from the jewels she wears, but is distracted from commanding it by the table that Aria rams into her stomach. Fire descends like snow onto the crowd as Magasha flails her way down the stairs, who are stampeding up and down the staircase away from this scene.
Timatheo tries to get around her, quick as a shade, and she sweeps a leg low to catch him at the knees, then breaks a chair casually over his back.
This leaves Pasenne, quaking, rattling, staring her down as this monster rolls her neck. Pasenne might buy you a moment more to run away with Hazel. You bought you and Suli and Hazel that much time, after all.
She came along because you vouched for her.
(But also, read on.)
Cutie!
The Nagi who’s seized you turns to flee, and then finds the tip of a thin— one might even say dainty— heartblade at her breastbone.
“I must insist that you release my associate,” Alcideo says, and only the pulse at his neck betrays that his coolness is just a facade. “Let’s not have any unpleasantness; Management is already on their way.”
He’s got this the wrong way around (hasn’t he?). He’s trying to save you from being saved (but do you want to go with her?). He’s distracting Yuki at a moment where she’s distracted by the woman whose voice is bass-boosted and the fire falling out of the air, and he’s so focused on protecting you that he’s putting himself in danger.
If he ran now, he’d be safe.
So, I’ll give you a little bit of context for the Architect-Knight. I’m sure Tsane already has this on lockdown, but bear with me.
The Dark Chivalric Period (characterized by the reign of Queen Aria, who was the Dark Dragon in disguise, as you well know) was a period of strange adventure and Outside-based prosperity. (You may here note that the Khaganate’s aims and methods are strongly modeled off the DCP.) The Architect-Knight was Aria’s right-hand woman (and, yes, more than that), and the series of quests that ultimately gained her that hammer were one of the great triumphs of Aria’s Questing economic policy.
It was also a trap laid by a wicked and vengeful intellect. The hammer’s architectural marvels, the accelerated way in which it constructs and breaks down doors and walls and pillars, all rely on weakening the fabric of created reality. Each one is a facsimile of true creation, a hollow shell over what should truly exist. Aria had hoped to one day make the world hopelessly dependent on the Architect-Knight’s craft, only to tear it all down in a moment.
This is why the Stacks are uniquely vulnerable to her, as something mired in unreality.
Anyway, I’m sure this won’t be a problem. Keep fending off the Rootwalkers, who would very much like to follow the Architect-Knight through the door she’s made, swarming into the Chrysanthemum (which is, you may remember, sacred to Heron).
If Kalentia was here, she’d be very useful— which, of course, must be why she is not here.
Eclair Espoir!
Mayzie jumps a little, a flush coming to her cheeks as she flicks her stylus out of sketching-mode and into shorthand-mode (which is, of course, another wickedly sharp reminder of childhood). She slides behind a turned-over table, but then proceeds to poke her head out so often that she might as well be completely out in the open. As if she can’t decide between safety and adventure, for all that she’d claim she’s made that decision.
The crowd has largely done the same; many of them seem to be under the impression that this is a very entertaining floor show, up to and including the Rootwalker that just tumbled down through the door in the ceiling. Unwholesome, untidy things, those; the Order of the Aurora helped stem the tide when they flooded the homehubs of the Avel.
Any minute now, someone’s going to notice that a real Rootwalker is actually here. And that more are trying to fight their way through this very awkward door. And that Vespergift’s worst nightmare is coming to pass.
Yuki!
Anka Arju-Wajz, who is playing the part of Suli’s agonistes here, has also drawn her heartblade in order to cover the downed woman. A threat is on her lips; her tail lashes with agitation at the danger, the peril, the thrill in that roar. She is a dangerous, athletically capable, and talented woman.
This, and the ancient bans that still bind Aria Thendragon, save her life. For the ancient queen does not fling her at terminal speeds across the Chrysanthemum, but merely sends her ragdolling into open air; Anka twists and tumbles down several stories, eventually hitting the water with her limbs tucked in and her head lifted.
"Pathetic,” she rumbles. Talons limned with the light of her heart push smoothly through her skin. "You lost already, Elm. Now it’s my turn.”
Magasha calls up fire from the jewels she wears, but is distracted from commanding it by the table that Aria rams into her stomach. Fire descends like snow onto the crowd as Magasha flails her way down the stairs, who are stampeding up and down the staircase away from this scene.
Timatheo tries to get around her, quick as a shade, and she sweeps a leg low to catch him at the knees, then breaks a chair casually over his back.
This leaves Pasenne, quaking, rattling, staring her down as this monster rolls her neck. Pasenne might buy you a moment more to run away with Hazel. You bought you and Suli and Hazel that much time, after all.
She came along because you vouched for her.
(But also, read on.)
Cutie!
The Nagi who’s seized you turns to flee, and then finds the tip of a thin— one might even say dainty— heartblade at her breastbone.
“I must insist that you release my associate,” Alcideo says, and only the pulse at his neck betrays that his coolness is just a facade. “Let’s not have any unpleasantness; Management is already on their way.”
He’s got this the wrong way around (hasn’t he?). He’s trying to save you from being saved (but do you want to go with her?). He’s distracting Yuki at a moment where she’s distracted by the woman whose voice is bass-boosted and the fire falling out of the air, and he’s so focused on protecting you that he’s putting himself in danger.
If he ran now, he’d be safe.
