Fleur casts her spell, and beginning from the point of her touch, a glowing warmth spreads all over the man's body. The ice dissolves away. But the glowing warmth keeps spreadin, over the room and throughout the keep and beyound, filling in everything with color and life.
The man springs to action, jumps to his feet, and brandishes an oak wand at you.
[color=red]What the?!? What just happened? Who are you and how did you get in here? Where are those lousy good fer nutin' grogs of mine?
Moses! Lawrence! Shempworthy! Get in here! We have an intruder!!!
"Sir, your men are not here, and here is not what it appears. We are in faerie, arcadia itself unless I miss my guess." She pauses a second- if he is faerie then her telling him this might be awkward. If he is not he probably should have already known. Too late now. "I entered this place through the twisting caves, I am Fleur of Bonisagus. Might I ask how you came to be here trapped in ice?"
Felicia Meowls "Fool, you need to learn about faeries before you go traipsing through faerie gates. This man is clearly the faerie lord of this domain, warming him warmed the entire domain he rules."
Felecia is most insightful. Bonus point for the cat.
Anyways, as soon as she finishes speaking, the three grogs called for arrive.
[color=brown]Yes sir...
[tab][/tab][color=green]Yes sir...
[tab][/tab][tab][/tab][color=blue]Yes sir...
Yes Sir!
Their voces layer over each other with rising pitch as each is added, until the end where the repeat together in unison. These are Antonio's stooges, the three grogs that adventured alongside him in his glory days. Moses, Larence, and Shempworthy. You recognize Moe, who was the covenant's oldest grog until he died in his sleep last year.
The man gives them orders then turns to talk to you.
[color=red]Watch this woman and her cat. She claims to be a maga of the Order, plausible. She and her entourage simply appeared out of nowhere. I was sitting here waiting for Fuego, then I was lost in a daydream. I don't know what happened! Something numbed my mind to the point where all perception froze. So, she didn't really "pop up". She was here when I came back to my senses, so I suspect her of some trickery.
The grogs look confused, having no comprehension of what was just said.
[color=red]Idiots! Larry, go inform Pontifex Coronado we have an unexpected guest. Then find Master Vasquez and tell him to meet me here. Shemp, go inform captain Gomez of the situation and place the covenant on medium alert. And when Fuego arrives, have him wait for me at the library.
Then he turns to Fleur, softens his aditude, and smiles.[color=red]
Miss Fleur of Bonisagus. Salve sodale. I am Antonio Perez of Flambeau, Master at Andorra Covenant. I apologize for the suspicion, I do hope you understand. As I explained to the guards, I just underwent a sudden bubble pop kind of experience as you arrived. I'm sure you had nothing to do with that. But all the same, the other magi will be along shortly and we will discuss the matter.
In the meantime, you certainly have my attention. How can I help you?
He leants towards you with a playful grin and a lusty gleem in his eye.
"Do we have time for that before the other magi arrive?" If they arrive, she has her doubts about that.
"Really?"Felicia shrieks. "You stumble into faerie, either arcadia or a powerful region, doing your fertility research like you didn't already have plenty of experience with where babies come from, and now the first lust eye a faerie lord tosses you and you are ready to jump into bed? That sex dragon got me pregnant and I didn't even do anything, Yes I know you have your spell to protect from pregnancy, but if he gets inside you that won't matter for squat, he's a faerie and that will be one heck of an arcane connection for him to mess with your body with. We need to find a way out of this place, not get you tangled up in faerie in the metaphorical sheets. Though this being faerie and metaphors being metaphors sheets will probably manifest somehow."
[color=red][size=50]muttermutter* lousy cat[/size]
Anyway, Miss Fleur, I did not mean to be so forward or fast moving. We have all night, and all day tomorrow if you want.
And your cat is mistaken. Your familiar perhaps? Anyway, there are no faeries here. I am a mortal magus, the grogs you just saw are mortals, and the other magi here are mortal. All mortals ma'am. And you know what they say. The only good faerie...
Another man enters the room.
The only good faerie is a charcoaled faerie I say!
Madam. I am Coronado Cortez of House Flambeau, Pontifex Maxiumus of Andorra and parens of young Antonio here.
Now I ask you! How did you get into our covenant without alerting the guardfs or anyone knowing about it?!? Are you a spy? Are you now or have you ever been a member of House Diedne? Are you a Diedne sympathizer? What do you know of Khyron al-'Afrit? Did he put you up to this?
Fleur rubs her forehead and looks to Felicia, who shrugs "He probably believes what he is saying, faeries are like that."
Fleur nods and breathes in deeply. "I should have introduced myself more thoroughly. I am Fleur of Bonisagus, of the covenant of Andorra. This place is not the real covenant, but a reflection, a deception if you prefer, perpetrated by the faerie realm, and I entered it as a faerie region. You sir have been reported missing for many years and when I found you here you were locked in ice, from which I released you." She doesn't mention that she released him with a fairly trivial spell, and if he were who he thought e was he shouldn't have been caught in something that weak to begin with. "And now it falls to us to find a way out, and back to the real Andorra. We can try back the way I came, but there is no guarantee that we will find an exit there." Not if, as she suspects, they are in arcadia rather than a regio. Then again, it wouldn't be the first thing she was mistaken about here.
Coronado Cortez looks as if he is about to explode with anger. You, ma'am, are off your rocker. Nuts. Maybe you are the faerie! How could Antonio be missing for some years? He was here yesterday and last year and only sixteen years ago became a magus. Listed here missy, I want answers. Truthful answers! If you don't start giving them to me, then I will peel yopur mind like an onion to get at them!!!
Antonio gets between
[color=red]Whoa-woah-woah!! Back down Cortez! The woman is under my protection!
Another magus walks into the room, one Rodrigo of Mercere. He takes one look at you and stammers...Oh no, oh crap. I was worried this would happen sooner or latter. Was hoping for latter...
Fleur simply takes a breath "It is the year 1236, might I ask when you began your little nap?" She then turns to face Rodrigo of Mercere , "You were afraid this would happen? What is it that you know?"
Cortez growls with anger. Now I know you are insane! It is the year 1184. No one has been napping except my cocky and ignorant filius here, who thinks he is man enough to challenge me.
Antonio puffs his chest out in a show of bravado. [color=red]Listen here buddy! I've come a long way from being a sidekick in your maniacal crusade. I am now a Master at this covenant, and ready to train my own apprentice. So you don't have the right to just push me or others around. And I said the woman is under my protection! I will Certamen you over that $#!+ right here and right now!
Contest me?!? I call for the Test of Flames!
[color=red]Fine!
Rodrigo sighs and shakes his head. Then with a wave of his hand, everything freezes, frosting over once again.
[color=green]I apologize for all of that Madame Fleur. The dopplegangers tend to overexaggerate the strongest characteristics of the characters they believe themselves to be. Antonio was ever the womanizer, yet quite protective of women. Cortez was ever full of wrath and suspicion, and his fury was legendary.
This is a Simulacrum, sodale. The Caverns of Entropy have an indefinite number of them. This one is mine, designed to emulate the covenant in the days of my youth. Before Antonio and I became Pontifici and the burden of leadership, before the Shadow Wars and before Muret & Las Navas. Before Carmen was even concieved and before my son began training under Carles of Jerbiton.
The days of my youth.
Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Rodrigo Vasquez of Mercere, once a Redcap and then a magus, but now a genie.
Long story, bizzare experiment results transformed me into a magical being. I am bound to the Phoenix Sword, rediscovered by the covenant a few years ago. They are aware of me and my condition. The sword is my Locus, kind of like an 'Afrit in a Brass Bottle. When the sword is drawn I am summoned forth. When sheathed, I returned to the Magic Realm. Originally that was the City of Brass.
But I was able to change that. I struck a Bargain and as a reward the Malik transferred my "Inner Locus" to a space on the edge of Arcadia yet close to home, where I could build a simulation to inhabit.
Your "defrosting spell". Faerie laws are strange, but I suppose that was a metaphoric "crossing over". Why did you see Antonio through the barrier? I don't know. That doppleganger acts strange sometimes, almost as if he can see past the dream.
This is all really strange, I know. But there is a metaphor about it I am sure. Don't ask me why it all is. Just accept that it is what it is.
Now you have two choices. I can lead you straight home. Or you can try to find out what the faeries want you to learn by exploring the covenant's past days.
Fleur hesitates, turning to Felicia.
Felicia sighs and begins her explanation. "Understand that what the faeries want you to learn is a bit of a miss statement. Faeries always want you to learn, they can only develop when the mortals they involve themselves in develop. It does not necessarily mean that what they want you to learn is of some special significance. On the other paw, the faerie realm can bend time. You can learn a great deal here and, if you do not let yourself get overly committed to the story, return to the covenant within a day, or if you become greatly involved you could return decades later. If you decide to move forward, you will need to begin by choosing a role, which in and of itself will begin to immerse you in the story."
"I came to learn about the ancient caves, and their power over childbearing. What could the ancient covenant hold about that?"
""Faerie is faerie, though I have never heard of it interacting with the realm of magic quite like this. Faerie tends to be very responsive to the desires of those who enter it, especially if we are in arcadia rather than a regio, though it again sounds like this is a very special case here. It could be trying to give you insight into what you wish to learn, or it could be trying to teach you a lesson related to what a faerie's story is. Clearly there is a theme of the past in your journeys here, so lets be carefull if we stay not to antagonize the faeries with the fact they are echoes of a time gone by."
Fleur turns to Rodrigo "If we do stay, will they recall what has already happened when we resume the story?" In any case she would want to write to a Merinita, or find a Bonisagus who was interested in faerie research, and tell them of what has happened here.
[color=green]They used to do that all the time anyway. No need to worry. And I have a great deal of influence over this pocket realm. I can set the storyline running at any point you desire. What is it you wish to learn about?
"I was investigating the caves of entropy to see if I could learn more about the figurines and painting which had been lost from the caves under my old covenant."
[color=green]Hmmmm....
I have an idea where you might find that, but not here in this realm. Just as well. I have not yet finished building it out properly and there is knowledge I am missing that is slowing my progress.
I can take you into the Magic Realm, the Archipellego of past New Years days. Antedeluvian days before the Basques crossed the Pyrenees, before the Flood wiped out the Troglodite people.
I will take you on my carpet, but only you. Your followers will be sent back to the mortal realm to await you, and to them it will seem as but a moment.
"Very well, let us see what lies ahead."
Well, sure enough, Rodrigo produces a carpet and invites you to hop on. Then off into the Twilight Void! Like pages of a book, the years flip back to an age undreamed of! Before the oceans drank Atlantis, before the separations of the earth and the days of Peleg, before Noah and the Great Flood. An era whence angels and demons mingled freely with mortals, when giants roamed the lands, when wickedness and degeneration ruled the minds of most men.
Your desent through the Terram Void ends in a Corpus Boundary of the Magic Realm. You reenter ta version of) the Troglodyte warrens you had just visited, but this time from a different paradigm perspective. Rodrigo renders you invisible with him on the carpet as you explore.
Fleur starts out checking out the symbols and drawings on the walls, to see whether they actually match the faerie versions, and make corrections if they do not.
They match, but that is the least that grabs your attention. It is hard to describe what I am imagining while using mild language. This is a depraved antedeluvian culture, torture and slavery and perversity of the sort that deserved to be wiped out in flood. Ever read "The Descent"? Worse than that. And at the center of their cult are inscriptions and idols dedicated to the great serpent.
Fleur will make copies of these inscriptions, then pauses for a moment. "How much can your carpet carry? With the aura here I might be able to take this wall with me..." She also looks for any smaller items- idols or figurines, to take with her.
[color=green]This carpet? he can carry a great deal of weight. But if you were to step off or reach out from his sphere of protection, the invisibility would be broken and you would have to deal with these monsters.
Fleur sighs and gestures at the wall "I need a way to get this to my lab so I can study it properly."