The Small Wet Country Across the Sea: November 5th, 12,508 - 11:00 PM
The Palace Crypt - the Castle... Milo shook his head at Luna. The blood on his clothing wasn't his and understandably, the poor thing was traumatized. All of the death and tragedy that had occurred at Bonfire Night was just too much for sweet Milo. Apollodora at the least was more talkative, helpfully chiming in as Amarantha asked the Queen about some chains. "They're stronger than the gods - meant to keep a big, bad wolf under lock and key," she added.
Now, while Valda won't know much about these chains, she will know that they keep just about anything of
Magykal value in the Palace Vault on the first floor. It isn't too far from the Queen's Room, being located in the Library Wing. It will take her a moment, but thinking on what Apollodora said about a wolf, she'll have a vague recollection of a story she heard back when she was a Wendron Witch. Eons ago, in the ancient times, a goddess of death attempted to rise and cast out the other gods. She was killed by a dragon and her wolf was slain, but the legend goes that they would return again. Only a set of carefully crafted chains would be able to hold the wolf at bay. Now, depending on who told the story it would either end with the prediction that one day, a young witch would have to chain the wolf to prevent the end of the world... or that a young witch would break the chains and bring about end of times.
"I'm Apollodora," she introduced herself, smirking slightly. "And I know about the Biters because in my time, they've infested the world - and I've made a name for myself slaughtering them."
The 19th Floor - Wizard Tower, the Castle... The Floor made a rather crude drawing in response to Cuyler's finger and it was a good thing no little kids were around to see it. Rowland ignored the little spat between Cuyler and the Floor, taking them up the moving staircase to the 19th floor. No one lived on this floor of Wizard Tower, as this was where wizards went to study the
Darke. It was quarantined to this area, that way the
Darke Magyk couldn't get out and
Infest the entire Tower.
Rowland didn't respond to Cuyler's feeble pleas that he would have stayed and done something. He still had a lot of anger in his soul at the boy and he didn't trust himself to not snap even more at Cuyler, maybe even try to strangle him, if they came to that topic again. Instead, he
unSealed the door to the 19th floor and stepped on through,
Sealing the door behind them once Cuyler had come on through. Rowland sighed, taking a seat on a stool. The wrinkles in his face seemed especially pronounced in the low lighting here. It was hard to make out much of what was on this floor, but one thing would be easily visible - the shining white skull on the windowsill.
"You ask what could be worse than death..." Rowland began, his voice weary and low. "Arya was no ordinary child - for she was born not of man and woman but of woman and
Magyk... Her powers were too much for her and there was a
Darkenesse inside of her... My sister, Becky, was the midwife to Selesia Rincewind. We helped to hide the peculiar nature of Selesia's child... I agreed to take Arya on as my apprentice, as we feared that if she did not have a strong, firm guiding hand... she would become corrupted by the deep
Magyk that brought her into existence."
"So I ask you, Cuyler? What happens if that child brings herself
back to this world? Would she remember who she was...? If what you say is true... Then it is likely that her soul was lost to the
Darke... We have to kill her, Cuyler. It's the only way to save Arya."
Myrus Silvers
Location: Private Courtyard -> the Long Walk -> the Crypt - the Palace
Skills: Hide
Myrus could have sworn that there was a legend that said exactly who would kill Baldur, but it refused to come to mind. He wondered if he had just imagined that detail in the prophecy, though to be fair he was hardly a scholar of the myths of the Land of Long Nights. He was a recent convert to that religion and tended to just know the basics. He hadn't even really picked a god or goddess to call his patron just yet. Though... from what he could tell about Bruce, he figured the demigod would be mad if Myrus didn't pick him.
"Well it's almost always the Frost Giants in the stories - or Loki..." Myrus suggested, the name of the person who would kill Baldur still escaping him. He was a bit shocked as Mona called the God of Light the
Bally-man, half expecting a bolt of sunshine to come down and kill her where she stood. He bit his lip slightly, hearing what Bruce was saying to his wife, Myth. They had come down from Asgard looking for Loki? What had Loki gotten up to? From what he knew about the God of Mischief, it was hardly anything good.
"Look, I'm going to go find my sisters... It's getting rather late. But tomorrow morning, I'd like to invite you guys to the Royal Council so we can talk about all of this," Myrus suggested. Myth and Bruce seemed to have things they needed to go off and do.
He looked then at Ahote and Mona.
"You're welcome to come, if you'd like..." he added. Myrus then left the courtyard and entered the Palace via the Long Walk. Thinking for a moment about where his sisters might have gone to hide if not the Queen's Room, Myrus went straight for the Crypt. It was mostly luck though that led him down there and his face broke out into a wide, earnest smile as he saw his sisters - and some people he didn't know.
"Valda, Luna, thank heavens you're alright!" he exclaimed, rushing forward and hugging his siblings.
Antonije Magnisky
Location: Room 847 - the Ramblings
Skills: Telepathy
About ten minutes passed before the door to Room 847 opened again and Antonije dragged in a body after him. The man was still alive, but barely. His face had been bashed in with a hammer and he looked more like a deflated balloon than a person. Every few seconds, there was a pained wheeze as he gasped for breath, doubtlessly in unbearable agony.
"Oof, sorry," Antonije apologized, before he brought his heel down hard on the man's neck. There was a audible
crack! as his neck snapped and Antonije just smiled, a bit of blood on his face (no doubt from when he had attacked their neighbor with the hammer).
"Will this work? I can try to drain some of the blood, maybe store it in wine bottles or something..." Antonije proposed, closing the door behind him. He would need to go and clean up the scene at the neighbor's place, but he wanted to make sure that Sylvi got to eat first. She had seemed so hungry - he didn't need his telepathy to tell that primal need. Ironically though, now that the food is here, Sylvi's bloodlust is actually
waning. She's completely in control of it - for the moment.
"I could even see about getting some herbs if you want to season him..."
Halley Banner
Location: Outside the Pyramid Library - Wizard Tower
Skills: N/A
Jarvis shook his head at the two girls, feeling too tired to be dealing with whatever nonsense they had going on. He opened up the door to the Pyramid Library - and Halley couldn't help but be a bit in awe of how beautiful it was. Shaped like a square pyramid, each wall was covered with books - some of them literature, others books filled with
Charms and spells. They were organized by subject and date, with some of them dating back to the Old World. Little butterflies made out of paper fluttered around near the ceiling and a young girl,
Minerva Frost, sat on one of the royal blue sofas with a book in her lap.
The young woman glanced up, her face brightening into a smile as she spotted Arnora.
"Shut up!" she squealed.
"It's been way too long!" Minerva exclaimed. The last time she had seen Arnora had been back when the
Sickenesse still plagued the Castle.
"Please tell me Grimspound isn't with you," she then added quickly.
"That guy was such a prick..." Halley frowned slightly, having been expecting Loki and not a young witch.
"Erm, do you two know each other?" she asked. Jarvis went around the room for a moment, making a big deal of picking up the rugs and some of the cushions on the sofa as he "checked for this powerful intruder." He was pretty certain that these girls were just wasting his time.
"See? Nothing here," he pointed out. "Did Cuyler put you up to this? As if the asshole hasn't done enough to break Blaise's heart..."
"Oh, sorry, where are my manners?" Minerva asked, shaking her head.
"I'm Minerva Frost," she introduced herself, extending a hand to Halley.
"Peckett's my uncle, I'm here visiting Wizard Tower, getting a feel for whether or not this place will work for me..." Halley did not take Minerva's hand.
"Arnora - can you do another tracking spell for You-Know-Who?"
Violet
Location: Outside the Old Port Witch Coven Home - the Port
Skills: N/A
Violet nodded slightly, feeling a deep understanding of Fleur's reflection on the woes of leadership without even really recalling why. She had no memories of leading anyone - though she supposed Antonije counted as someone she commanded. He was more or less her henchman when it came to this line of work, but the work needed to be done. The Castle wasn't safe with the immoral and criminal allowed to just go about as they pleased - goodness knows Amarantha, the Army Leader, hadn't done anything about it. And from what Violet understood, Queen Valda the Wild knew
nothing about how to run a country.
"I wish I could help you bring her back," Violet said softly. She knew that Fleur was incredibly powerful, but her
Magyk must not have been enough to bring her loved one back from the grave. Violet knew that some
Magykal force kept those who passed away in this realm as ghosts, echoes of who they had been in life, and that they were not able to properly pass on because of it. Sometimes, when she slept, Violet would wake up with the certainty that she had
died - that that was how she had come to be in Limbo, the strange place between astral planes... Her eyes flickered around the dark streets of the Port. Prime hunting hours would be beginning soon.
"Let's attend to your business - and then we can find each other again soon... Perhaps at the witching hour?" 
