Anarion

Sunshards

This is, this is just too much, okay? Okay?! Hello out there?!

Chen was already overheating before having her ropes yanked hard by someone assuming they would come right off instead of stretch and pull her legs taut with the most intense pressure on her thighs as all the dress fabric pressed in on her. And when her sense started coming back to her, Rose was...was...eeeeeeeeep! She was...cleaning Jessic's talon with...oh gosh oh oh...how could she...ah, ah! Just looking at Rose humiliate herself like that made Chen blush a brighter red than the ripest tomato you'd ever seen!

She couldn't bear it. She had to...to...she couldn't move! Aaaah, the ropes were really really honest to gosh real and she couldn't move or turn or...or anything. She tried to close her eyes, but she knew what was in front of her, and without anything to stop her she just started imagining even more! Rose finishing up and then having her beautiful priest dress all balled and stuffed into her by the dragon talons and and...she opened her eyes and Rose was still working on the soft footpad with a look of pure bliss on her face. If...if it were possible for a person to suddenly turn into a train and shoot pure hot steam out of their head, that would give you the best feel for Chen's emotions at this point. She squirms and wiggles and squeaks into her gag and she's loving every second of it and there's absolutely nothing to be done!

This is so much, it's over the top, it's more than she ever dreamed and and and as Chen lets herself melt into incoherent squeaks a little part of her inside thinks about how this is the best part of being a Princess!

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Robena

Your words hang in the air, a barrier to the return of anything one could call normal. The world around you is a puppet show. Diners return. There is talking and ambiance, they serve potatoes and salted meats and you eat enough for sustenance though you remember no taste upon your tongue. A trick of the mind, a body functioning without thought, directed from afar. Of Constance there is no further sign through the night. Though you are offered guidance to your room, you rest in your seat at the high table as a statue until the light pulls itself, ever so tentatively, above the rim of the windows and dares to brush the top of your head in a defiant show of warmth.

It is Sir Liana, the younger knight, who greets you in the morning. She enters carrying a simple loaf of bread in a basket in one hand, and a water basin in the other, a towel draped over her arm. "I thought you might be hungry, and perhaps need to refresh yourself" she says with a kind smile, placing the bread on the table and the basin before you. Her face and her manner ask no reply nor word of thanks, but your chivalry may not permit your silence. What words are left to you in response to kindness?

Constance

You pass from that table through the double doors and are met by the returning motley, such as they are (or perhaps you think better of them than to use such a term despite their complicity in Tristan's antics?). Sir Harold offers a reassuring pat on the shoulder, Sir Liana a hopeful smile, and Sir Hector a word of sympathy. Lady Sauvage stops and looks upon you, her face stoic. "Will you deem her worthy, I wonder? Do not hold back against her. If you do not press her and give her the opportunity to show you and us her nobility, I cannot avert her doom. Tomorrow, you should test her purity, and after that her resolve." She too passes into the hall and returns to her meal.

What do you think of that advice? Perhaps reflect on it during your morning ablutions. Surely you're getting up early after Tristan has been pelting you with snowballs so often.

Tristan

Sir Hector grimaces like she just took a bite out of a lemon. "We are gathered to determine our future." She looks at you with a chagrined face that says yes I know that's unhelpful, this isn't easy okay? "It would perhaps be easiest to say that we are here to determine if Robena's fate may be averted. But...that is misleading, it's just one question. We are here too to see what role Robena may play, and what role Constance may play with that sword of hers. And as you are tied intimately with them, so too what role you will play. I am...I was once close to King Uther. I would see things change if I could, but the shape of that change depends on whether Robena lives or dies, on what charge Lady Constance offers to us. I could, perhaps play the role of teacher if Sir Coilleghille fails, but we will be worse for it, nor do I know if Lady Constance will offer this kingdom redemption if Robena dies."

Sir Hector looks at you then Tristan. "And I would be lying if told you I did not think the lady's affections misguided. That so much should hang on this one knight is unfair at best." And she doesn't say I'm jealous but she might as well have written it on a banner and displayed it upon her tabard for how obvious it is to you both.

But then the doors open and Constance walks out and the knights return to their dinner leaving you, Mort (scratching his head in confusion) and Constance. You have the evening and morning to share your plans. You are making plans, yes? Did you want to go out hunting with the group? Or perhaps you need to cheer Constance yet again, given the ghastly look on her face and the skull in her hand.

Sunshards

Oh gosh. Oh goshies! Oh wow! This outfit is incredible. If the maid outfit before had given Chen a feeling of shy happiness, this gown takes her breath away. The light glittering from her rubies glimmers on her face, and the opals on her neck shine in the sun with glittering rainbow sparkles over their polished faces. Her hair butterflies sparkle in contrasting greens, little emeralds glittering along their wings.

She would smooth down the dress and feel the soft, thick pink fabric if she could. She’d bundle it all up in her arms and let is cascade down into its wide poofs and sigh in contentment. She can’t though because her arms and her neck are bound ever so tightly. Yet that too is special. She’s under tension, her skin around the ropes just a little red and it feels like her muscles are so tense. But it’s a good kind of tension, like a cat stretching in a sunbeam, a feeling of warmth and energy stretching through all her muscles. She feels jazzed and squirms on her hilltop perch to make the light refract and sparkle (t-to better attract the dragon, not just because it feels good to let the fabric brush her legs and her stomach. Of course!).

It’s as she’s enjoying her opulent new outfit that she catches sight of Rose. Cute priestess Rose, being so good kneeling there just like Cyanis said, her golden jewelry rising and falling on that mountain of a chest. Oh...oh gosh, oh goodness. Chen lets out a squeak from behind her gag and tries to look away but she’s tied in place and it’s too hard, so all she manages is a rustling of thick pink lace and rays of sparkling gems without any real movement. Oh, no no no, she’s blushing and squeaking, trying her best to avert her eyes when she can’t move her head but there’s so much Rose there and Rose is batting her eyelashes with such a cute, innocent look on her face that Chen has never seen from Rose before. It’s all hope and innocence and it’s sooooo cute that Chen could just burst! She’s never going to live this down, Rose will tell everyone about how she melted down in speaking and blushing and Yue is probably looking at her with pity and...and the dragon is going to find her like this aaaaaaaaah!

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

“Of course! She ought to have...” Sir Hector starts and pulls up short on her answer, a small blush coloring the center of her cheeks. “Well, no, I suppose she still needs must answer as a knight, I cannot ask her to humble herself so deeply that she would sacrifice her dignity. Hmm. I would have preferred that she offer her gratitude to our lady for inviting her to join the hunt rather than defend her worth to me. She has taken on the vows of the knight penitent, she ought not be so quick to claim that her actions are of worth. Even if I accept that she should retain her dignity as a knight.”

She gives you an appraising look, Tristan. “You are a better judge of character than most knights I have known. Tell me what you think then. Should I give Sir Coilleghille the benefit of the doubt? I will be her hunting partner for the final hunt, if she makes it that far. How much aid should I offer?”

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Robena

The conversation still suddenly. The dark-haired woman next to you does not rise to your claim, but she does rise. Silently, she stands and steps aside. Indeed, you realize that all conversation in the room has ceased. The diners rise and, one and all, stride out the door of the main hall in silence.

You find yourself seated alone at the table, a serving of soup still steaming in front of you, and another bowl, barely touched in the seat next to you.

They leave the door open and there, standing just beyond the hall is an apparition you cannot have thought to see here. Constance, wearing a winter dress and a fox fur, stands at the edge of the hall just beyond the threshold.

Constance

Perhaps this is not what you expected. Or then again, perhaps this is what you had wanted all along. Tell us how you enter in this moment. Tell us of your ethereal stride, of the way that the world cannot quite manage to hold you. Tell us how you already know of Robena’s hunt, and what you say to her after many months.

Tristan

From you, the castle does not hold secrets. Why should it? You are bringing life and joy to a place that was cold and dreary and more empty than full. There are children, but they are few in number, the children of servants and squires. There are only the handful of knights. Sir Harold, Sir Liana, and Sir Hector, the raven-haired lady who never seems to smile. It’s obvious enough that each of them is meant to be kept away from Uther for one reason or another. Harold knew Uther long ago, before he united Britain, and chose not to swear loyalty to the high king. Hector likewise and she seems to begrudge it. Liana too never swore an oath to the king, but she is younger and there is something about her that you can’t place. She seems out of place in this Britain, beautiful, sad, and filled with a wanderlust that will one day carry her past Castle Sauvage. Perhaps that’s why she’s so drawn to you, and you seem to find her always strolling in the gardens near where you were playing or singing.

As for the lady. She is not long for this world because she is tied to Robena’s doom. It became obvious the more you looked upon her. The cold features, the empty eyes, that same set of the brow. Mort was the one who noticed it first, and his discomfort in the lady’s presence might be what made you realize it at last. That what was left of King Pellinore beneath the beast pierced by Robena’s axe would carry out the doom on her behalf. Perhaps it is reassuring that there is a cold regal air to the lady. It must be reassuring that she invited Constance, for surely it would be a cruelty just to invite her to witness an execution. That you, Mort, and Constance are here says that there is more to the matter than an execution.

For now, however, you were asked to wait outside the hall with Mort, to give Constance her space, and you are met instead by the others departing in a grim and unnatural silence. Only when they have passed beyond earshot of the hall, taking you both with them, do they speak. And it is dour Hector who breaks the silence. “She claimed that the goodness of her fox hunt today is more pure than the winter preparations we make for our welfare” Hector says to you, her tone matter of fact. “I still do not see why the lady bothers with all this. The knight will never learn true humility, and what matter her nobility without it?”

She’s looking at you, as if you’d have the answer to such a question, Tristan.

Sunshards

Well that was just absurd. Luring the dragon out with a princess like some cheap novel?

Why was Qiu doing all these patrols anyway? They had escaped in a big chase and didn’t Qiu tell her to go to sky castle and see Jessic? Maybe that wasn’t meant for Yue though? Chen could fly, but she wasn’t going to leave her friends so they needed some plan to get everybody up to the sky. Chen wasn’t coming up with anything either, and there was Cyanis with her wagging tails offering an idea to lure the dragon.

Chen glanced sideways, trying to to look at anyone as she thought. Cyanis did have a point. Of course there wouldn’t be a sacrifice, but the dragon might want to whisk a tempting princess up to the sky castle, and maybe offer a ride to the whole group in the process. Of course, they didn’t need to tie everyone up, that was just exaggerating. But Chen would need to be a tempting target. Her outfit didn’t really stand out that much though, certainly not from the sky. She needed something to make her look bigger and with lots of folds and billows to draw attention.

Chen fidgeted nervously. There was a plan forming here, a bit of fox magic again, not even a need for a wish really, or perhaps the wish was to be the bait and have it work. Cyanis was making a very tempting offer and Chen wanted Rose to see...oh, ah, she couldn’t but!

A blush Rose to Chen’s face and she slowly raised her hand up as she looked towards Cyanis. “I um...I think that’s a good idea. I mean, um, we don’t need to tie up all three of us, but if we get the dragon’s attention with a princess like...um, me, then we can ask him to take everyone up to the sky castle and there’s no way that Qiu’s soldiers could keep up.”

Chen glanced down, pointedly not looking at Rose or...or anyone else. Especially not the fox tales that were going swish swish swish faster and faster once Cyanis realized that she’d got a bite with her bait. “But um...I’ll need a new outfit. The dragon won’t notice me normally, so we need something really...um...thick and...er poofy...and billowy even when I’m tied up, and, and in a color that will stand out against the ground so...so it can’t miss me. Then we can all pop out when the dragon comes down and ask for a ride in exchange for taking me captive.

If anyone thought she was reluctant, Chen dispels all doubt of that when she looks up and her eyes are sparkling despite the blush that’s once again suffusing her face. “We’ll avoid all of Qiu’s soldiers and go from a spot where only the dragon can see from above. It will work for sure, I just need Cyanis to make me a new outfit!”

Sunshards

Chen was much more relaxed now. Rose had given her the best reaction, oh that moment of hesitation with the collar. She had seen it! She had seen those fingers tap and bounce off and the big monk had tried to pretend like it was what she meant all along. Now she just had to figure out what to do with it. That was a head scratcher for another time though. The time now was to towel off and get dry before it got too chilly, then to inspect the new little castle.

Chen was still a bit suspicious of Kikil and even though she knew this little old place was almost certainly deserted, she still felt the need to poke about in every little nook and cranny of their temporary abode. She popped her head into little cabinets, zipped up to inspect the tower crenellations, and poked around the fireplace before she was satisfied that there wasn't some kind of spy device or...or something! Even this suspicion was a kind of relaxed one though. Chen was suspicious of Kikil but she didn't feel any pressure from her. She poked and zipped about and scowled a little, but it was all in good fun and she had grins for her friends, Rose chief among them as she passed them.

By the time that Hyra had finished her ghost story, Chen was overcome by a fit of the giggles. She looked over at Yue and tried to shake her head and get across gosh please don't say anything to Rose while nearly falling over. Rose hadn't seen her in Cyanis' maid costume before Yin cut that thread, she was pretty sure, and she didn't need Rose getting any silly ideas for dressing her up. No she wasn't blushing, the story was just fun and silly and the fire was making her cheeks a little ruddy. That was it!

After that little giggle fit, all eyes were on Chen, so she was, of course, obligated to tell the next story. "Okay I have a good one, but it's pretty scary" she said, giving a pointed glance to Yue and then Rose in turn. Obviously the two weakest links here. She cleared her throat, but giggled a bit more at the idea of a permanent maid in the burrows, ruining the initial suspense. She blushed, cleared her throat again, and started her story properly.

When the original princess shot the suns, they say that the first shard might have been the one that fell in the north because it's closest to the sky. It's always been wild, cold, and full of magic. Fun if you aren't afraid of anything out there. But I want to tell you about Jian the wandering monk.

Jian came from a town pretty far away from Sourcefall, somewhere near where they have one of those big towers nearby, so their phones work really well. Jian loved designing little pictures she could share as she traveled. They helped her make friends wherever she went, and sometimes she could even get pictures of demons that nobody else could see with something called an "AR filter."

When Jian got to Sourcefall, there were rumors of some kind of demon threatening the northern towns. The Princess at the time had recently been kidnapped by Ys and she wouldn't be ransomed for at least a week, so Jian offered to go see what was happening. A couple of handmaidens took her up north and she began to wander, questioning the townsfolk and looking around the tundra. She took picture after picture, but her AR filter couldn't find any demons.

Frustrated, she followed rumors from the townsfolk and made her way into the tundra, finding a deep cave. She thought for sure that she had found what she was looking for, but what she didn't know was that the northern demon wasn't a thing of the old world, but of the new. It was frost spirit, a powerful little one that jumped around from icicle to icicle, delighting in drawing in just enough warmth to start melting and then...boom trapping whoever it had found as things slowly refreezed. Jian didn't know what she was in for as she wandered into that cave, and the spirit was delighted at the new source of warmth it had found. Frustrated, but assuming herself safe, Jian made a fire and settled into her fluffy sleeping bag for the night. Above her, the icicles in the ceiling began to melt. Drip. Drip. Drip. But the fire was warm and Jian was all bundled up and tired, so she let herself fall asleep.

As she slept, the icicles kept melting, forming a little pool of warm water all around Jian's sleeping bag. Strong and powerful as she was, she didn't feel it subtly grow. Not until the drops started to hit her fire and caused it to sputter and go out on the now damp logs. Only then did Jian awake to find that the water had frozen and she was trapped in her sleeping bag.

With no other option, she pulled out her phone and took a picture, trying to capture some of the cave and send for help to whoever she could reach. But the frost spirit was delighted, for Jian had brought it a new, long-lasting source of warmth. A small one, but easily recharged with the right tools. So it snuck into Jian's sleeping bag and nestled next to her as she sent her pictures.

It's said that the frost spirit possessed poor Jian. Or perhaps she became the new frost spirit. None could say. But if you turn your phone on in just the right place in the north, it's said that you might get sent a picture asking for help that looks like it's from someone in a nearby cave. And if you go in, you'll never come out.

Sunshards

Chen came skidding out of the cloud, landed with slide next to the stopped car, and offered her friends a wave. Then for a few moments, elation and exhausted cooperated hand in hand to make her dead to the world as she lay down headfirst in the grass and just let herself breathe.

It was nice soft grass, and everybody was fine. There were sounds, something like an engine dying, air hissing, and a clang and clatter that sounded like a whole chunk of metal had just fallen off and knocked against the rest of the vehicle. They weren't important sounds though, much less important than the scent of fresh earth and the bundled touch of her dress and scarf spreading the tension from her muscles as she lay flat.

Chen considered staying like that forever. The idea was very appealing. It was comfortable, relaxing, no annoying phone calls, and the grass was not lecturing her about her obligations or giving her hurt looks because she wasn't empathetic enough to it. As it turned out, however, forever was about two and a half minutes. That was long enough to start feeling the itchiness of all the smoke and dust covering her skin, to have a few blades of grass start tickling her thighs, and to hear the running water right in front of her.

"Mmmmph" said the grass girl into a face of grass as she slowly gathered her legs beneath her, collected her scarf, and worked herself to her feet. "I'm going in the river" she added to nobody in particular as she made her way to the edge, took off her pack, and, before she could have time for second thoughts, jumped in feet first with a splash!

Chen came up for air quickly, throwing her head back to fling her soaked hair out of her eyes and wringing out her scarf as she just stood in the river and let the water flow against her chest and her open arms. She breathed out and it felt like she was dropping a whole mountain off her shoulders and letting it evaporate into the moonlight.

Only then did she look back at her friends properly. At Yue moving with Hyra out of the wreck and towards the water at a more measured pace, hands still slightly twitching and a wild look in her eyes. And at Rose carrying Cyanis by the scruff of her neck, and wearing a...Chen squinted, was that a pink dog collar with studs?! Rose hadn't been wearing that on the way in. A gift from Qiu then? She couldn't help a snicker. And here she thought Rose wanted to do all the capturing. But was she? Did she actually...?! Chen started laughing, great heaves of her shoulders as she nearly fell into the water, completely unable to help herself. Hopefully the others wouldn't think she'd gone mad or been cursed by the trapped stream!

Sunshards

At first, Chen thought that the guards backing up was her getting comfortable with her sword strokes, picking up a little speed, shaking off the stress that she had been under. But no, no that would be asking too much. No, the guards were backing off because Qiu was coming in a helicopter!

Of course she was, of course, and that meant the small fry were backing off. At least, it seemed like Qiu was focused on the escaping car. That’s good, right? That’s...Chen shook her head. A small part of her was mad. Mad that Qiu didn’t respect her as an equal, mad that Qiu was chasing her friends and not her, mad that she was being ignored, and mad at herself for treating Qiu like what she wanted didn’t matter, which was almost certainly why this was happening this way. She felt guilty for feeling mad on top of that, why shouldn’t her friends get Qiu’s attention, this was good in every practical way, and anyway this was her own fault. So...so she just had to make do.

Chen tried to shake off her feelings and settle into a rhythm. She really did love flying and she hadn’t been able to do it freely in a long while, not since her quick little race back to the shrine to buy horses on the trip over and that had only been a few minutes. Here, now, there was a bit more to it. The world was chaos and uproar! Missiles were exploding, sending clouds of dirt and chunks of road flying up into the air, assault ribbons were still all over the place, starting to fall behind the princesses and vehicles, and Yue was turning the van into a belching cloud of smoke and soot that was, miraculously, swerving around and away from the missiles.

Chen almost turned around to be a diversion but something stopped her. There was a framing to this scene and was Qiu slowing down? She wouldn’t but...maybe she wanted this to go a certain way. She seemed really intent, even from a distance Chen could see her body language hanging out of the helicopter and she was so focused. So, she didn’t. It felt wrong, like she’d break something. Instead she just, for a minute, let everything go and focused on her flying. The rest would sort itself out afterwards.

So, for a precious moment, princess Chen simply went fast and let the wind on her face her. Away from the dust and the heat, towards the cool open air. She settled her crystal blade below her and balanced with her weight forward, urging it faster and faster. And when the big explosion hits the bridge and the car skids to a halt, Chen comes zooming out of the dust cloud, hair and dress covered with fine gray powder, but a great big smile on her face as she finally let the rest of the world go to shoot herself through an explosion.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Robena

Your entry to Castle Sauvage is perhaps less notable than you would have expected. No grand pronouncements or blaring trumpets. You do not pass through any ethereal barriers into the realm beyond nor pay toll to the fair folk for your travel. Compared to your adventures with Sandsfern and the vast and wild magic that fills the world, is the jubilation of a few hunters and the calm care of tending to their tired animals boring in comparison? Then again, perhaps that is an aspect of your penance too and with your months of travel already, perhaps this feels more like a home away from home.

These things at least may be said of your new abode: The fire in the fireplace is crackles with strength and wards against the cold. The table is of a sturdy wood hewn smooth by artisan hands. The plates and forks are unadorned and sturdy, fine things of quality and ageless design. A fox is worthless save for a little fur once hunted, so your dinner tonight is not so rich as it might be in future. It's somewhere between a soup and a stew made with chicken bone broth and some nameless variation on the root vegetable that would keep through a hundred winters if it stayed cool and dry.

You are seated to the right of Lady Sauvage in a place of honor. Next to you is the dour knight with the raven hair. She still has not introduced herself, and indeed this conversation is the most words you've heard her speak since you joined the group. "I do not see why my lady offers you such kindness" she says, offering no introduction. She waits politely for you to start eating as a guest before she begins her own meal, her eyes hard. "For my part, I think you toil in vain and we waste efforts better spent on preparation for the coming winter. What value was there in the fox today? What worth in leading dogs in circles?"

Tristan and Constance

Now is the time to tell us of your preparations for Robena's arrival. You preceded her by about two weeks. Long enough to gain some comfort with the castle and its inhabitants, not nearly long enough to feel that comfort. Tell us of the time you spent, and how you plan to introduce yourselves to Robena, or keep yourselves scarce until the right time. if there is some knight of the castle or page or servant that you wished to know better, tell us of that too.