Anarion

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

She can't win. Kathelia's a know it all. She doesn't have Hornet's inventions (and even with Hornet using them, she can see that this is a mess). She doesn't have Alina's grace. She doesn't have Helya's competition genius (and the new princesses don't even look like they're cursed yet, Eupheria must not have been accounting for their arrival).

Kathelia's got a keen mind though. Even if she can't win herself, she can be a queen-maker. She can give Adila a chance. The moment is there. She knows Adila can't hold onto the Caduceus, maybe nobody here can, save perhaps Mother, and on the order of extremely bad plans, handing the staff of pure creativity to the void of pure destruction was a real list topper. But chaos was a good state of things, and better by far than Eupheria's controlled chaos. They needed to shake her.

So, she did the only thing she could and sent Euphie a direct magical broadcast from across the room. "Eupheria, I got Alina back from your doorth" she brags, her voice broadcast by magic right to Eupheria's ears (there's no way she could shout above this normally). "I sthtopped my thithter from falling into your trap. I hope you liked the drama, I did it for you. And now I'm gonna find a way to cheat your game too. All your magic'th no match for a smart princeth." She gives Eupheria a little cheshire grin, showing off her shiny braces in a way that screams come get me even though there's nothing that's putting her ahead of the princess pack. It's not about that, it's about having Eupheria look Kathelia's way for less than half a second and thinking about her and not anything else. That's all she needed to do.
[Keep busy: 4+1+2=7. It works, but there will be reprisal at the end.]

Go get her Adila.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Kathelia leans against the door. She's tired and it's really, really hard for her to talk. There's so much to do. Princess Hornet would, clearly as evidenced by direct empirical observation, be exiting the giant drill that she crafted and commanded for a perfect entrance into this room. But Kathelia couldn't mimic princess Hornet when princess Hornet already that job handled. There was a ton else to do. She needed to monitor the magic and try to protect Adila (who is racing forward far too quickly and is probably going to trip her own door trap before even reaching the Caduceus if she's not careful). She needed to figure out how to protect all the other princesses who had just piled in here. She had to find some way to keep Eupheria entertained so she wouldn't come out and complicate matters. And it was extremely likely based on what had happened to Alina that both Isolde and Rita were trapped in other doors, which required identifying those doors and then determining a way to get them back (which seemed pretty hopeless if she couldn't even reach Alina, who she definitely had the strongest connection to). Plus she should try to wake up Kyouko, figure out a way to access the Caduceus, and continue working to break this curse so that she could bring her full strength to bear without distractions.

This was too much homework for one princess! So instead of doing any of those things, she procrastinated and looked back at the door where she knew Alina should be, leaning against it to catch her breath. She looked with longing because at least if this one thing worked, she felt, then everything would still be okay. Somehow.

That was when Alina burst out the door, wiping away tears with her suit sleeve. Kathelia was standing right there, so there was a bit of a tumble, although somehow Alina landed perfectly while Kathelia picked herself off. The little yellow and orange lights were already rushing over to Alina and Kathelia had just a moment to exult! "I knew it! Magically attuned, but the door material wasn't sthtructured to keep regular thoundth! This meanth we need to thave Rita and your Momma, they're in other doorth I think!"

If Alina was back, she was safe until Eupheria changed the conditions. The same door trap wouldn't work on her and she wouldn't be attuned to any of the others, so she was the best person to make an approach on the Caduceus. But, Kathelia had to warn Alina what was happening. She tried to pull her aside and speak really fast before something bad happened. "The roomth trapped, only you're thafe thinth you got out! But Eupheria'th here, behind the thtaff. And, and Rita and your Momma are in thome other doorth I think. But nobody elth but you can go look."

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Stars sparkle in front of Kathelia's eyes. Not the Rider stars, just little bursts in her vision as she tries to clear her head. She had flung herself out of the way as the wall burst into shards of tinkling Illuminan glass, and she was still trying to get her vision back, furiously polishing her glasses on her dusty overalls and trying to blink away the bursting in her vision to clear it up. Kyouko is okay, she can see her and the blanket sprawled nearby, and it looks like Adila has burst right out of the drill and jumped up to Azora. She can tell that even without being able to see that well because Adila has a very distinct blurry outline. Woo, go Adila! She's super cool and it occurs to Kathelia that she should celebrate their friendship with a formal friendship contract after this.

Polish polish polish. She lowers her eyes, slips her glasses back on, blinks, looks up again. The lights are still there. They're...that's not her vision. Oh stars and void, these are Alina's lights. How did they get here and why weren't they with her?! She's starting to follow the lights, but her glance strays to everyone getting off the drill. Oh! There's princess Hornet! Oh no. W.W.H.D. has no answer for what to do when meeting Princess Hornet since Princess Hornet has never had to meet Princess Hornet (this, of course, discounts both clones and self-modeled automatons, both of which have separate response protocols). She should ask Princess Hornet what to do, but she's wheezing from all the dust and her knees are locking up and...and nobody is paying attention to the lights!

Kathelia resignedly hitches up her overall straps and resigns herself to waiting before meeting her idol, following the little lights to their door. Oh, wait, now that she's looking at the door, it occurs to her that she really ought to shout a warning to everyone else about the door traps and the fact that Eupheria is right there. But...wait if she does that Eupheria might jump out and turn her into an even tinier, muter nerd for being a spoilsport. She settles for a magical whisper carried to...well Adila because even though she's a dog right now, there's too much else going on here and she still trusts Adila to handle things right.

"Adila. Caduceus trapped. Doors trapped. Eupheria hiding here." That should be simple for a dog to get, right? Even if the dog is hearing it through a magical whisper.

It would have to do, she's shoved her way past the crystal rubble to Alina's door while everyone else is distracted and the little lights look like they're very panicked, which is not good. Hmm, Kathelia analyzes the door briefly. Despite presenting a rustic facade, this appears to be a class A-37 dimensional gate, suitable for narrow-frequency attuned resonant dimensional travel, communication, and three separate categories of scrying (though visible light divination was clearly out or Alina's lights wouldn't be blocked). Obviously Caduceus-crafted, and the seamless fitting into the temple facade was a masterwork. Eupheria clearly had an eye for detail in her pieces, nobody could take that away from her.

Okay Kathelia, stop admiring the insane princess who's trapped all your friends and figure out a way to help. Right, right. Kathelia presses against the door. Her magic wouldn't penetrate this, it wasn't attuned to her and she didn't have the time to try and figure out the right frequency to get it to Alina. It was obviously very specific or, again, her lights wouldn't be blocked like this. She'd have to rely on something more old-fashioned. Auditory bounceback scrying was in one of the likely functional categories after all.

"Alina." Kathelia's voice is hoarse and quiet. She coughs, it's so dusty. She wishes she had a glass of water. Or cookies and milk. NO, focus. "Alina, can you hear me? Itth Kathelia!" Her voice cracks when she tries to raise it. She presses on anyway. "That roomth a trap! Itth a ssss, a ssss..a unique trap jutht for you." She pauses to catch her breath, she's wheezing a little. "You have to...to come back to uth. Quick! Your lightth are here and I think thomething really badth about to happen! And I...I don't want you to be trapped. I want you to be okay. I hope you can hear me." Kathelia trails off, not sure what else to say, listening for some sign that her voice is getting through, faint though it may be.

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

"Hmm, that's quite odd. Is this what happened to you, Carmen?" Annalee asks to nobody in particular. She gives the pig a gentle pat pat on the head. "Well, this will have to do I suppose. Timmy, kindly take the pig and wait in the hall, I'll call you in presently. I've got some work to do, and I need perhaps half an hour to...freshen up, if you will. Oh, and don't let the pig run away. If she's well-behaved...maybe I'll lift her curse when I'm done here." Annalee gives Carmen a little wink and pushes her towards Tim, then she pushes the two of them into the hall and will not take no for an answer.

That dealt with, she does actually freshen up for a moment in Elodie's bathroom. It's been a long day and she's literally been flung from a tower into the castle moat. She can take a moment to wash her face. And wipe away the blood of Sam's bite. A bite she'd allowed him. A closeness she had permitted. Her terms, her rules. But then when she'd decided things weren't working, he had attacked her. Taken advantage of her. Used that closeness to bypass her charms and wards.

Annalee permits herself a smile in that bathroom mirror as she slides out the bit of Samael's shirt sleeve that she had ripped from him in their little exchange. Closeness was a double edged sword, after all. She hadn't been willing to face him back there. She hadn't been confident in herself, her spells. What if he had rushed her or tried something as she went to cast? That was of course before that madness burst from the portal, and Timothy's shadow had grown some teeth. Well, well, our little mortal had something else going for him it seemed, or someone else. Wasn't that exciting?

Annalee begins to hum to herself as she finishes drying her face and begins to run the shirt sleeve under the water. There was a little blood on it, you see, and that was the problem with vampires. All that blood. Blood was the thrill, the violence, the power. What would a vampire be like if you washed the blood right out of them, hmm? It was something worth finding out. Annalee's hum becomes a chant, dark words echoing through the bathroom. The old lights flicker and sizzle and the water seems to fill that sleeve, sink deep, deep into it until every last drop of blood of blood has run out and both sink and sleeve are pure, gleaming white. The words leave Annalee's lips and the taste in her mouth is sweet, like taking a bite out of a ripe plum. She licks her lips. Why hadn't she been confident in herself? That one little mistake on the sphinx? Please, even that hadn't mattered in the end. She was a powerful witch and it was time that people learned that properly.
[Hex casting 5+2+1=8. Samael is afflicted with Binding. Correctly this time. He cannot physically harm others. Annalee enters her Darkest self on this result.]

She steps out of the bathroom, drying her hands and flips the towel onto Elodie's bed. That had been good, but it wasn't enough. Not nearly. Elodie had been a source of chaos today and it was clear that simple humiliation wouldn't work that well on her. Oh, Annalee considered making all her hair fall out, but she'd just get angry over something like that. No, what she needed was a more subtle curse, one that would stop her and her absurd flights of fancy in their tracks. Yes, let's see how the little girl who could never face anyone fared when she couldn't tell truth from lies and read every person she met utterly wrong. The ritual for this one was easy, she had Elodie's old shirt after all, stashed away in her bags from her last visit to this tower room. She put a hand on it and it practically seemed to glow with a black light as she spoke the words of the hex and darkness leapt from the tower to cloud Elodie's vision. She would see phantoms everywhere. Bug bugs and snakes were so gauche. No, the phantoms that Elodie would be seeing would be in intentions. Misread body language, misunderstood signs, subtext where none existed. Confident in her foolishness.

[Hex casting: 5+6+1=12. The curse goes off without a hitch. Elodie is struck by illusions, specifically she sees non-existent subtext everywhere. The exact manifestations are up to consensus of whoever is doing the scene.]

Then Annalee crawls onto Elodie's bed to relax, flinging the exhausted shirt to the side."Alright Timmy, you can come in now" she calls out. You've stayed outside with your new pig friend the whole time, right Timmy? You didn't peek or anything? That would be an extremely rude thing to do to a witch.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

W.W.H.D.? Stall. Stall like your life depended on it. Or Kyouko's life! Kathelia just didn't have the tools right now to do more than that. She could let Azora get whisked away, but her spiteful sister would probably hurl her and Kyouko into the traps in the process and despite everything else, keeping Azora around might be useful. She was powerful after all. Plus, if Azora dropped out and Kazelia just sat there, Eupheria would come out and mess things up. So stall, stammer, stutter, and generally keep Azora focused on not moving forward.

"Ha, I'm calling your bluff sthithter!" Kathelia managed, trying to roll out of the way of the stomping feet of her enraged sister. "I'd say that we're at an impathe! I cannot go forward, for doing so would cauthe you to harm Kyouko, one of my dear friendth. But you, dear sthithter," she says, using her spear to help struggle to her feet. "You can't carry out your threat or you'll lothe your leverage on me." Kazelia grins. "You've made the clathic blunder, sthithter! You are alone, while soon my friendth will stir or come to my aid. Our deadlock will guarantee my victory!"

Kathelia gives Azora her best grin, trying not to show that she's bluffing and that her best guess is that Rita, Alina, and Isolde are all trapped right now and probably need her help rather than coming to her aid anytime soon. Besides, she knew just how to push Azora's buttons and that was the goal here.

"Really sthithter, thith ith stho like you!" Kathelia is really warming up to this part. "You only think about Daddy and yourthelf. Did you even think about what happenth when he getth the Cadutheuth?" This part's a little for Eupheria too, since she's listening in. "You think he'll be proud of you, right? sthooooo proud of hith favorite daughter ever. But you've just been flying about, paying no attention to how all thith workth. If Daddy gets the Cadutheuth, he'll freeze Ourania, but then the retht of uth will follow. You too, sthithter. He can't pay attention to you all the time, can he? Where ith he now? Why ithn't he bailing out hith favorite daughter from an Illuminan curthe?"

Azora's probably fuming, she's absolutely going to lose it, nevermind the contest she's gotta take this out on Kathelia right now. And Eupheria, well, she should be getting some top quality entertainment from the sibling rivalry. You can't conjure pettiness this good, it takes that real thousands of years of pent up sibling rivalry unleashed by magical curses that make both of them immature kind of situation to give it that vicious flare.

So Kathelia goes in for the kill shot. "You know Daddy ithn't capable of loving anyone, right sthithter? He thinks you're utheful, but the thecond he focutheth on anything elthe, he'll forget you even exitht. I'm thorry to have to be the one to break it to you."

[Keep Them Busy: 6+6+2=14. This works really, really well and there are no consequences. Also someone else who drops in here might be at an advantage.]

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Kathelia stirs and tries to rub her eyes. She can't though, she's trapped in the blanket, bound up magically tight by Azora so that there's no hope of it coming loose. That's when she realizes how close she is to Kyouko. This is...uh W.W.H.D. uh, uh, panic, blush, activate the ejector seat! Oh sure, they'd kissed and everything, but this was different, Kyouko was knocked out and there was a snakerchief and they were so close to each other and it was extremely untoward! Oh goodness gracious how had this happened?

Kathelia tries to look anywhere but at Kyouko, which is a challenge because she can only move her neck so her field of view is pretty limited. She does notice Azora though, and Alina, both moving forward. That's...that's not good, the room is a trap. Is Azora really that dumb, she's just going to assume she can handle it? That's the exact sort of thing Eupheria would count on, especially with the Caduceus this close.

When this was over, Kathelia was going to go build an entire stable of inventions, all of which could be activated by waggling her eyebrows in the correct pattern! Then this type of problem wouldn't happen! Okay, but right now she needed to...do something?

"Hey, Azora!" She called. Her voice was horse from the manticore venom, it came out as little more than a croak. Slowly losing her voice had been the worst part of this curse. Maybe if she concentrated her magic she could throw off that part? She'd need to find a way to shift how the world saw her, Eupheria's curses couldn't just be pushed off without replacing them. But she'd need her hands free for that. Let's see, there had to be something, maybe she could. Well okay she could broadcast her voice to Alina at least, with magic. She managed to croak out "sthomethingth wrong! Sthtop!" and cast that magically towards her kitty friend...her cursed wonderful princess friend.

She shook her head, looked around. There had to be some clue here to how all this worked. Maybe even some way to get free.

[Look closely: 2+6+0=8.
what is going on here, what do my senses tell me?
Is something hidden or out of place? If so what looks suspicious?
Tell me about the hidden rooms. How could they hurt me? How could they help me?
One answer the hard way.]

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

Annalee pulls on Timmy's arm. She's bolting. Sam is under attack and she has no desire to defend him or be next. Timmy's shadow is doing something strange and that would be interesting, but it's also dangerous right now. "Timmy, come on!" she says and practically yanks him off his feet. She is leaving now and if he's not moving with her by now then he's getting left behind.

Where to go, where to go? They need to find someplace safe. Someplace to take shelter. Abandoned classroom? Maybe one of the tower rooms. Annalee kept an eye open for a sanctuary. She really needed to make her own, but any small room would do the trick. They needed some place quiet to catch their breath and she needed a little time to work her magic.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Princess Azora Howl expected to be obeyed. However, it was her constant source of frustration with...well, really everyone in the world that they did not simply anticipate her needs and act to serve her (except Daddy of course, she was there to anticipate his needs, that's how hierarchy was supposed to work). As such, the stirring defense that her new kitty was providing was...well, not actually expected. Oh sure, that's what a good kitty ought to be doing, but she hadn't really expected the girl to do it. Even the geas wouldn't require this level of skill and commitment, unless the princess had been holding out extensively and this was the bare minimum that she conceived of as being good. But...but there was no way that was possible, she had never shown off enough power for that to be true. No, no the only possibility was that she was just very happy with the arrangement and had truly seen Azora's genius!

Azora Howl permitted herself a brief smile before she continued her magical barrage.

Her primary plan, not including her new cat's wonderful assistance, had been elegant in its simplicity. A glass dragon, however many heads it had, was still glass and hence vulnerable to all the things that glass detested: high heat, shattering, resonant frequencies. Really, it was simple magic. Eupheria was terribly uncreative with the Caduceus, just animating regular things. Of course Azora couldn't directly take her on while she held an artifact of such power, she wouldn't be doing this whole maze if she could, but Eupheria's creations were entirely pedestrian. She had simply planned to fly above its current reach and when it tried to stop her, she would rain down fire and that would be that. The manticores could be held with simple shadow bindings, and really the only challenge had been one of attention and scale. But with her kitty giving her time to work her wonders, that wasn't a problem either. She anticipated this being a wonderful relationship.

Really, everything was going swimmingly and it was not until she saw that dancing girl (who she had certainly disabled with enchantment) cavorting towards the trees and blowing her cat a kiss that anything even seemed slightly out of place. Oh stars, she was not going to let this stand, especially since they were talking to each other and ignoring her!

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Azora Howl

On the one hand, you know to be careful. Look what this little Illuminan trickster did to Kazelia and Kaja. Disgraceful. You, however, are the smart sister and there is no way you will let her get to you like that. You should just leave her here and then come pick up your new pet kitty when you are princess of everything and you have the Caduceus.

On the other hand, any team with you on it is, by definition, the best team in history and it's very gratifying that your kitty acknowledges that. And she thinks it's because of you and not that stupid old woman who was dragging you down. You feel extremely good about this type of praise. Also you kind of like having a kitty: it's very on-theme for you as a witch and she feels really good to pet. Her purring is very nice too and you would kind of like it if she fell asleep on top of you.

Well, the obvious solution was magic! Magic was, of course, the solution to nearly all problems and your magic is the best magic so it had a solution to this problem too. You'd just suggest a simple geas to the little Illuminan. She'd never agree to it of course because you knew that she was trying to trick you, but if she did magically agree to be a good kitty for you, then you'd feel totally safe because your magic is awesome and totally foolproof.

So, while you move your hand from ear to neck scritchies (which, an objective observer would note you are mildly more competent at) you give her a lovely little smile. "Well, after what you did to Daddy, I think I'll need a little insurance. You understand, right kitty? One can never be too careful. All you have to do is promise out loud to be a good kitty for me while I cast a little magic on you and then you and I can go fetch those apples together while Kazzie takes her little nap. How does that sound?"

She'll never do it. You raise your hand, which glows ominously with shadow bindings just waiting for her to refuse and put on that resolute little stare that all the princesses do right before you bind and gag them with shadows. It's very gratifying to...wait is she nodding?! She's nodding, and she's saying out loud "Of course, I'll be a good kitty for you while we go and get those apples together!" You did NOT expect this, so you hurry and switch from conjuring shadow bindings to the geas (this is not a problem for you because you're the best at magic and you cast it perfectly even on the fly). The little promise pops right out of kitty's lips and ties her all up in little purple and blue bindings that merge all around her before they disappear so you know the promise is really on her.

Now there's nothing she can do but be your best little kitty. Oh this is exciting! You give her collar a tug and it magically lifts her by the scruff of her neck onto your broom in front of you so you can keep petting her. As an afterthought, you levitate the blanket with your sister and the fox after you too. It wouldn't do to leave them, you are far too busy to have to come back for them later to bring them to Father. The dancing girl can stay, she won't be trouble for anyone.

Oh yes, this is delightful. Up you go to fetch the golden apples, giving your new kitty all the scritchies. You're going to be the best princess of everything Hyperborea has ever seen!

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Azora Howl settled comfortably onto her new broomstick. She had only had to seize it from an enterprising shop gremlin who was absolutely wasting it moving boxes about like some kind of common servant. She had simply settled on top and it had obeyed her, which had been exceedingly gratifying. Quite frankly, she'd been worried that Eupheria would manage to screw up witches brooms, which would really have been an achievement, but one couldn't put any amount of failure past an Illuminan. She had sniffed, turned up her nose, and kicked her new broomstick to fly off without so much as a how do you do from the gremlin (probably because she had bound him upside down and gagged to the wall with shadow cuffs. Gosh that one really never got old).

Now, she was comfortably in the lead and there was that silly Illuminan princess, her bratty sister, and that...uh fox princess with them! Wait, hadn't the other one traveling with them been a cat though? Well whatever, it's not she like was expected to keep up with which fluffy animal princess her sister and that Illuminan traveled around with. She couldn't just let them traipse about in what was soon to be her kingdom! She needed to make an example of them, then she could show Daddy that she'd personally defeated all his villains and become a queen AND gotten him the Caduceus and he would know forever that she was the best and only daughter that mattered in the whole universe. This was in fact a perfect plan.

Oh and look, the Illumina's witty bitty kitty curse was getting worse! She had done some excellent acrobatics, but now she's just sitting there grooming herself. Oh dear though, Azora saw yet another failing on Eupheria's part. The little kitty didn't have a collar on! Why, people would think she was a stray, that wouldn't do at all. Now, let's see, ah yes, she did have those odd green eyes and it was important to color coordinate (Azora Howl considered whether she would make a "collar coordinate" joke upon landing, but determined that such a pun was beneath her). So, she conjured a leash and collar in a lovely green to complement her new kitty's eyes and shot it lickety split from her new broom to snap around Alina's neck. Then she gave it a firm, magically strengthened yank to pull her new kitty onto all fours like she was supposed to be. That was excellent. She was even so thoughtful and careful to make sure that the part of her arm being groomed wasn't pushed as hard as the rest, so kitty could keep working on making herself pretty.

She'd thought her annoying sister would hop up at an assault on one of her friends, but as she pulled her broom in closer, she realized that the nerd and her little cheerleader were out cold. No visible wounds, must be magic or poison. Either way, they were obviously in the same boat and ought to know it a bit better, not to mention be a bit more immobilized than now. She gives her hand a little twirl and a thick fluffy blanket appears out of nowhere. She's not going to hurt her sister, she's just errant and the forest floor is no place for a Rider princess, especially one carrying something so important as Mother. So she lifts her sister up on the blanket, Kyouko too, and then twirls and twirls and wraps them up together nice and tight. There, snugly held and dealt with. She was almost jealous of the sound sleep they would get, but of course there was other work to be done for her right now.

She starts to float down and as she does so, she sees another one of the competitors. That Askaian in the dancing girl outfit. Where's she going in such a hurry? It would not do for her to rush Azora Howl along, you can tell that much. Hm, how about...oh yes..Azora gives her fingers a little twirl and sends out an enchantment. Suddenly every piece of silk on that poor little dancing girl thinks it's a tree snake and wants to attach itself to a different tree branch. Just try and watch her twirl and leap when every piece of fabric she's wearing is pulling her in a different direction! She'll be hopelessly trussed up in seconds! Azora permits herself a light chuckle.

Then she floats over to Mittens and pulls her head into her lap, stroking her ears gently (it is not gentle, she's stroking your ear fur the wrong way, you want to shudder and arch every part of your back). "Good kitty. I think being a kitty is the best thing for an Illuminan, you're much better at it than the actual cat people, that one over there is doing an awful job of it. You though, if you're very good," she jangles your collar to emphasize the point "maybe I'll keep you and let you sit on my lap when I'm the princess of the whole world. What do you think kitty?"