Knights' Roleplay - A New Day

[elementalists]

[glow=black,2,300]Already nervous now that he was inside the Castle's forboding walls, Ron shifted uncomfortably, letting down his shadow magic and anything else that could possibly draw attention to himself.

As he did so, he was surprised to see a black cat sitting in the grass beside him. It flicked its ears, watching him disconcertingly. Ron almost thought it was trying to tell him something, and he strenghtened the protective mental barrier around his thoughts. Carefully, he looked from the cat to the surrounding walls of the courtyard, and glimpsed at least one open window through which the elementalists were being watched.

Trying to ignore the cat, he turned back to his group. "So much for being welcome here," he hissed bitterly. We've hardly passed through their gates and already we're a walking freak show."[/glow]

[Crystal]

There was a scream in her mind… a terrible, high, inhuman scream which rattled her head and threatened to split her eardrums and sent her flying down the hallway after Wolf, both her hands grasping for some knife or other.

The corridor was in chaos. There were knights all over the place, and a hole in the ground with smoke rising from it. Wolf skidded to a stop and just stood there, and Crystal ran past him, intent on reaching the purple figure slumped on the floor. Perhaps someone could summon a healer.

Then a large door along the hallway burst open, and a white-haired man staggered out in his nightclothes to drag himself over to Kat. Crystal halted in her tracks.

Her father?

Upon a closer look, perhaps not. The man had white hair, but his features were young, and the way he was stroking Kat’s hair…

Nope, definitely not her father.

”A maid. She attacked Kat,” another knight was saying. Zari? Crystal vaguely recognized her. ”Red hair, star pendant. Probably an assasain of some sort.”

She heard the king replying, asking questions, getting an explanation, as she turned slowly, examining the corridor. Unable to find anything else out of the ordinary, she sheathed the sword in her right hand and knelt by the smoking mark on the floor, sniffed the air through her veil. “Sulfur,” she said with distaste. “Like rotten eggs. And some rather bad magic.” Touching two fingers to the mark, she pulled them away with a hiss. It burned… not with hot fire, but cold. Very cold, considering the heat of the earlier battle.

A glint caught her eye then, and she crossed the figures of Shino and Kat to pick up a green dagger just lying there on the floor, but someone got to it before she did.

Zari held the dagger up, When on earth did she get those wings? and spoke. “Someone appeared behind the maid, and threw this dagger at her. She vanished and Lady Kalianne collapsed.”

Crystal sheathed her own dagger – she had to remember not to use the poison-laced ones now that she was back in here. She had gotten into enough trouble when she was a novice with it. They hadn’t even wanted to knight her as it was. And then she reached out, taking the dagger from the Fae-knight and turning it over in her own hands. Well-made, of a curious style, and she was fascinated by the play of green light it made on the stone floor. She touched the edge. Very sharp, with no odd substance on it. Then she flipped it up with a flick of her wrist to see the hilt, and her eyes narrowed.

Raising her gaze to the other knight, she spoke evenly. “You have one sheathed at your belt too, my Lady.”

[Kat]

[shadow=purple,left,300]((If you don't mind, that black cat's a lot more suspicious than you think. ))[/shadow]

Kat came around a little later after the exhaustion wore off and she was regaining her strength, both magical and physical. She felt something in one hand - a sword, and she let it clatter to the floor. As everything before her came into focus, she realized she was no longer lying on the floor, but in someone's arms.

"Shino," she whispered, her voice cracking as though she hadn't used it for ages. "You should be in bed...resting...don't worry...

"What happened?" Kat asked, realizing that there was more than just one knight in the vicinity, and Liarre was gone. "Where'd she go...?" She groaned, feeling a lot sorer than she thought.

* * *

"Oh, right, just ignore the cat," whispered the cat, soft enough for no one else to hear. "Who are you?"

[Deleted]

ooc: Sorry for not posting earlier!
bic:
Whether or not Zaha had meant to include Ro in the mental shout, she had. The redheaded knight jumped, toppling several books she'd had her hand on onto her feet. Swearing a quick curse in Spanish, it took her a moment to realize that the shout had been magical, not some random voice in her head. She then realized that, since she hadn't seen any of the other knights yet and she wasn't running around, it probably wasn't about her either. Grabbing her staff and wishing she'd thought to strap her sword to her side earlier, she left the books there and shoved the library doors open.
Apparently, the crisis was over. Ro frowned at the hint of magic in the air--it had been recently used. And not all of it was friendly, either. Once again, she mentally cursed whatever gods had given magic to her mother's side and failed to pass it to her.
Several different conversations were going on at once, it seemed. Sighing, Ro positioned herself near one group and listened. She had to be fast here, apparently.
"You have one at your belt too, my lady," a knight said.
Ro raised a brow, noting the dagger the knightwas holding. "What's going on?" she asked.

[Shadaras]

Shade followed Wolf, running to where Kat lay, but just watched, confused by everything that was happening. One of the knights, a new one that she didn't recognize, voiced the thought running through her head, "What's going on?"

"A very good question," she said. "And one I'd love to know the answer to. But a more important one right now might be that of 'Where did the so-called maid go?' If she's dead, all signs of blood are gone, and I know of nothing that would kill without blood that any of us have access to, other than magic, and it doesn't seem like that was used."

[elementalists]

[glow=white,2,300]"So much for being welcome here," Ron hissed. "We've hardly passed through their gates and already we're a walking freak show."

"It's not really that surprising," Frost said. "It's pretty clear that we're foreign. And how many other people would be willing to just walk right into the castle?" Even when joking, his face remained serious.

"I suppose we could give them something to watch before we go inside, though." Something very close to a smirk flickered across his face as he pointed a finger at the tail of the cat that was watching Ron and let out a nearly invisible blast of ice magic, hoping to freeze its tail.

Without saying another word, Frost walked ahead towards the gates to the castle itself.[/glow]

[zarikrahia]

Zari jumped. 'Eh, yes. Sorry, I'm too used to hiding my species. It's a Fae dagger. The hilt has a Symbol on it- every Fae dagger or sword has that Symbol, and they're colour depends on the primary element of the owner. Since my primary element is Fire, mine is red. The owner of this dagger is an earth-elemental Fae. If he or she had been an assasain, like Liarre may have been, this would have a serrated edge. Whoever this is, they have been practicing. If your memory fails, as many of ours have, I'm Zari Ailden.' Zari began pacing, tapping her temple with increasing fustration

[KitClairvoyance]

Kit took a few deep breaths to clear his spinning mind. At the moment of impact, his senses had become mixed up. It was as if someone had rewired his brain using all the wrong connections. For a brief moment, he could hear the wood of the windowsill that his hand was on, taste Tamia's voice, see the refreshing fragrance of the morning air.. it was really, really odd. He made a mental note to never lose his grip on his clairvoyance, especially when he had stretched it as far as he did. The sound of wood in itself was strange enough, not to mention tasting another person's voice. As the initial pain faded, his senses came back into order, much to his relief.

"You're hurt! What just happened -- are you alright?"

Kit shook the rest of the pain and confusion away; slightly angry with himself for displaying such weakness in front of Tamia. The worry in her voice was evident though, and while Kit felt grateful for Tamia's concern, he didn't want to have to place any burden on her. He took his hand off the windowsill and straightened up, determined not to cause Tamia to worry anymore.

"I'm fine." He gave her a smile, even though inside he was rather worried about what he had seen. Somewhere in the castle, there had been a fight. Approaching the castle was a group of strangers, all of whom didn't sit well with Kit. And last, but certainly not least, was Maya's predicament. He still couldn't feel Maya's presence anywhere, and the more he thought about her, the more he needed to do something to find her.

"Kit... I have to...."

Kit felt a little guilty inside for causing Tamia to worry so much. He decided that it probably would be best for her if he didn't stay around for much longer, the longer he stayed, the more likely he would be to cause her some other form of trouble.

"It's alright. I'll be fine." He assured her again. "You do what you feel is most important for you, don't worry about me. It was just.." he paused here for a moment, "..just a recurring headache. Nothing to worry about."

Even though he smiled as he spoke, he couldn't help but feel a touch of pain pull at his heart. He knew he shouldn't have lied to her, not after she had helped him, but he didn't want her to worry any more either. Tamia was a nice person, and the last thing he wanted was to weigh her down with his own problems.

[zarikrahia]

Zaha groaned. 'Scratch that. Sorry, Ikkin.' before speeding off, skidding to stop at Zari's side. 'What goes?' she noticed the green dagger and cursed fluently under her breath. Holly Ailden was loyal, but Naive, ignorant to the fact human views had changed considerably.

[Kat]

The cat swore fluently like no ordinary cat could as ice formed on its tail. "Defrost my tail this instant, or else!"

But suddenly, gray smoke erupted, concealing the cat. When it cleared, a redheaded girl was seated on the ground, glaring up at them. A six-cornered star pendant hung from her neck, still glowing with remnants of magic.

* * *

Kat groaned, but couldn't get up from Shino's arms. "Maybe...I could help you with figuring out where Liarre has gone."

[Crystal]

“Interesting,” Crystal murmured. So Zari was Fae. She hadn’t known that. It would explain the wings.

She flipped the dagger over again. Well-balanced. The Crimson knight was pacing up and down, seemingly distracted, and Crystal stuck the knife in her belt. “I’ll keep it, with your permission, Zari, Wolf? I’d like to study it a little. Always been interested in these things. And no… my memory hasn’t been affected. I remember you, but I’ve been away for a while.” She smiled and tilted her head apologetically.

In truth, she was wondering about the substance. Very oddly translucent, and beautiful. Fae-made, Zari said, and she had no reason to doubt the knight. Crystal wondered how the various chemicals she sometimes experimented with would affect it. For that matter, she wondered if it would be harder than real steel or corroded by acid. By the look of it, she suspected it wouldn’t.

And if the real owner showed up to retake it… well, that wouldn’t be much of a problem. Her lips, hidden behind the thin cloth of her veil, curved in a smile.

What’s going on? another voice asked. This one belonged to a knight she truly didn’t know. Red-haired, with a restless touch to her brow. The impression Crystal got from her was unsettling. The Sepia knight was by nature quiet, controlled and firm, and this new knight, fiery and built, seemed to be everything she wasn’t.

Still, it wouldn’t be polite not to answer. “There was an attack,” she replied. “By… I’m not sure who, myself. But I doubt they’re dead; whoever it was left behind a mark on the floor and a lot of smoke. Don’t touch the mark,” she cautioned the others. “It’s cold, like acid.” She rubbed at the two fingers she had used to test it earlier. They stung a little, but it would probably go away.

Shade was talking now, and Crystal fell silent, letting the other girl pose the questions she herself wanted to know the answers to. Something to do with the people Wolf had mentioned, perhaps? Her speculations were interrupted by a little cat, white and black, fairly running over the polished floor and skidding to a stop at Zari’s feet. And to Crystal’s surprise, it spoke. In a rather human-like voice, even if it did have a strange accent. ”What goes?”

Odd question. She didn’t quite know how to answer it, herself.

Her fingers stung and looking around at the chaos in the corridor, the smoke and the buzz and the strong smell of fear, she almost wished that she, too, could do magic.

[zarikrahia]

Zari stopped pacing. 'Yes, you may. The owner'll show up at some point to collect it, probably in the next two days.' Zari unsheathed her own dagger and knelt near the mark. She poked it and hissed. 'Ugh! Jhioan. Bad magic. Anger magic. Liarre isn't the onyl one who left a mark.' she pointed to the spot where Holly had appeared. There was a series of green curves and curlicues etched onto the floor, creating five runes on the stone. 'If I teleported without guarding, I'd leave something like this. If you want, I can demonstrate. Whoever this is either left this on purpose, or they can't guard. Most assasains can. So from the condtion of the dagger, the mark, and the breif look I got of their appearance, this person is female, younger than 25, and unused to violence and war. If you compare that dagger and mine, mine's edge is sharper and slightly serrated.' Zari continiued pacing, a lock of brown hair swinging into her eyes

Three miles away, Holly Ailden Untwisted her braid and ran her hand through her hair. 'Great. Now I've lost my dagger.'

[Ikkin]

Ikkin had heard the scream with the others, but, unlike the others, she had paused for a moment to sense the magic surrounding its source. Normally, she wouldn't have done this, but she had a feeling that whatever had happened, it had already borne out. Her magical scan revealed that this feeling was correct - the only magical signatures around the area were those of the knights, and they certainly didn't seem to be attacking each other.

She knew that she should have gone down anyway, but she really didn't want to give up on her library plan. Plus, she could always send Sev down to scout out the situation for her.

As usual, Sev wasn't all too pleased at being used for menial tasks. "There's no danger down there. You already know that."

"Yes, but I can't look like I don't care..."

"If you cared, you'd go down yourself." Sev had a point, but Ikkin wasn't about to give up.

"I need to do this, since it's likely no one else will at this point," she said.

"Okay, fine..." Sev took off for the scene of the crime, quickly landing right next to the magical stains. "So, let me guess that all the excitement is already over?"

Meanwhile, Ikkin continued on towards the library, finally reaching her intended destination - the shelves of magical tomes. She pulled out a large, ancient book that looked likely to hold information on mind magic and thumbed through the table of contents. There. Page 394.

She flipped to the page, scanning it until she found the reference that she was looking for.

Mind magic is one of the most dangerous and taxing forms of magic, and also one of the most ethically challenging. Well, she'd figured that. While the effects of a single mentally-magical spell can be very large, the cost to the mage also tends to be much higher than for an equivalent amount of elemental magic. Even the simplest of spells in this realm - a mild hallucination that can be easily overthrown by those with a powerful will - takes a similar amount of magical energy as a mid-level elemental spell.

Now this was interesting, particularly in light of the situation in the castle. If a single spell was that costly... whatever had done this to the knights would have had to be almost unimaginably powerful. She tried to think of whether she knew of anything that would have that kind of power and be willing to use it against the knights, but she came up blank. She could think of a few beings who could do it - some of the most powerful kitsune, for instance - but they wouldn't have anything against the knights.

Whatever it was, however, its power would be hard to counteract. If mind magic was so costly... it was unlikely any of the knights could reverse the effect entirely.

On the other hand, it might be useful to find the solution anyway, even if it couldn't be used.

Of course, it wasn't in the first book that Ikkin had looked in. Or in the second, third, fourth, or fifth ones she picked up after that.

And then, when she finally found it, with all its illustrations and graphs and theoretical explanations, she realized she had absolutely no chance of comprehending, or even a way of copying it all. Fortunately, the author of book of spells that she had picked had included a simple copying spell in one of the appendices... and it was easy enough that even she, who had almost no ability in spell-based magic, could figure it out with a little work.

Finally, after a few tries, she had a reasonably legible copy in her hands, and put the books back. Hopefully, the others would understand that she was a bit late if she had something to show for it.

As she passed the window, she decided that she didn't particularly feel like walking through all those corridors. Besides, the commotion was close enough to another window. It would be easier that way.

So, she pushed the window open and jumped, allowing her wind magic to catch her before she had fallen too far. She closed the windows carefully, then looked around to find the best window to go back in.

Before she could determine that, though, something else caught her eye - the people in the courtyard who Wolf had mentioned earlier. It seemed no one else had gone to welcome them yet, so she decided that she would. She'd already taken long enough; a little bit longer couldn't make things worse.

As she landed, she realized that the guests, whoever they were, seemed to have been talking to a red-headed girl (who she had seen transform from a cat while she was still in the air) who seemed familiar, though Ikkin couldn't place from where. Perhaps she was one of the castle's servants or something.

In any case, it was time for introductions and welcoming.

"Hi, I'm Ikkin," she said, a bit awkwardly. She was never the best at welcoming newcomers. "I don't think I've seen you around... what are your names?"

[Deleted]

"So, let me guess that all the excitement is already over?"
Ro raised a brow at the sight of Sev appearing, though she didn’t do much more than that. Weirder sights, she’d seen before. It was the use of magic on her that made her nervous.
“Parajo groseno,” she muttered, continuing, “Whatever attacker did this is gone. Any idea where he or she is, parajo enojon?”
“For that matter,” Ro continued, “would some chico care to introduce everyone? Soy Ro, the new knight.”
Ooc: If I did that right, Ro just called Sev a ‘rude’ and ‘fiery’ bird. (Or a cranky and irritable one. ^^
I hate not having accents. -_- And I hate my lame posts. Eh.)

[zarikrahia]

'Oh! Uhm, I'm Zari Ailden, that's king Wolf, the girl on the floor is Lady Kalianne Triss Lunara, the man next to her is Shino, that's...Crystal, and that would be Sev. The cat is Zahaere Emaya.'
'THE cat? I am THE cat? Really! If you weren't my human, you'd have a shruiken in your he-mraow. Yes-yes-I-mus-behave-like-a-cat-otherwise-it's-CATFOOD. Bleh.' Zaha arched her back. 'What? Am I a freak show now?'

((If I missed someone, brick me))