The Newcago Court

[Guest]

Snoopy cowered under the weight of the Brightness's regard. She stormed off to have yet another root beer float, whining about the lack of gossip. He sensed Voidus approaching and prepared for the worst.

[Brightness Random she/her]

Meanwhile, over at the refreshments table, Brightness Random was having a staring contest with a bucket of ice cream.

 

"Really should branch out from vanilla," she was muttering to herself, still annoyed. The bucket before her read "graham canyon". She squatted down a little to inspect it more closely. After staring at the bucket for another minute, she closed her eyes in concentration, trying to imagine what graham crackers and root beer would taste like. Shrugging to herself, she began measuring out ice cream, careful to leave plenty of room in her cup for soda. I'll never know whether it's any good or not until I try it, She told herself.

 

After pouring on the root beer, the duchess seated herself primly at an otherwise unoccupied table. Placing her book a safe distance from her treat, she began reading again, periodically shoveling spoonfuls into her mouth.

[Voidus]

Voidus appeared from a shadowy corner as the scene unfolded, he walked over to Snoopy and gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.

"You might want to work on your Soothing abilities a bit, comes in handy in awkward situations. Or of course you can just do this."

Voidus pulled a small piece of Aonic jewelery from a pocket and tapped one of the mysterious symbols, vanishing into shadowy mist.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Once again, Queen Elsa walked over to the snack table and picked out a biscuit. 

She took a rather large bite out of it, not even releasing that it had been one of the biscuits that had not been replaced by the maids.

 

Quite suddenly, the room began to spin (at least in Elsa's eyes it felt like it) and the Queen began to walk over to her throne to sit down for a bit. But before she got there, there was a massive thump and the Queen had hit the ground before anyone had even realised. The entire room fell into dead silence in shock.

 

(Plot Twist!!! )

Edited February 15, 2015 by Queen Elsa Steelheart

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Still lying on the floor, Queen Elsa slowly reopened her eyes, to find Winter standing next to her. She smiled wearily.

"Sleeping? No, really, it's fine. I apologise for that, I honestly don't know what got into me. It seemed like something out of my own control."

[Left he/him]

The Baron stared uneasily as the Wolf helped the Empress to her rooms. Certainly sugar crashes could be brutal but.....

 

A huge cracking sound reverberated through the hall. The Head Scholar looked up, and blinked. The entire ice ceiling of the palace was criss crossed with thousands of white lines.

 

"Everyone, stay quiet!" the Baron whisper shouted. As powerful as everyone in the room was, the situation was still dangerous. If the Empress had somehow lost control of the palace.....

"We should all get out and then proceed to demolish the court I'm afraid. The Empress can always create a new on, the cost to repair this one is too costly."

[Left he/him]

Seeing the Empress and wolf vacating the palace Vash sighed in relief a little. While there was still much to work out Elsa's safety was taken care of.

Except...what was the Wolf doing? Growing concerned the Scholar saw only one option. Finding the Force, Vash guided it similar to how chanellers shaped the one power, and made a force bond. It was much more limited than a warder bond, it only allowed him to sense the Empress's location and if she was in danger, but that was all that would be proper anyway.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Queen Elsa turned to Winter. "Just a bit....queasy" She replied, holding her stomach.

"Thank you for taking care of me in the court, before, after I fell. It was much appreciated." She smiled at her friend.

Her eyes suddenly grew larger in horror. "Is everyone at the court okay? And is Delightful okay?"

Edited February 15, 2015 by Queen Elsa Steelheart

[Left he/him]

His bond had been rebuffed. "You can block the force with a different galaxy's investiture?! Rust it all!." LeftVash started compounding his steel, he needed to increase speed for himself to a degree so extreme that it would be almost like Bendalloy. As the effects of the steel increased LeftVash surrendered himself entirely to the force. He had to find where the Empress had been taken and he had to do it before anything happened. The steel allowed him to use all the benefits of force fore-sight and the ability to sense others in less than a second and was therefore able to find the strange Wolf and the Empress. The problem was though, the Scholar had no method of instantaneous travel.

The Baron grimaced, he'd have to enter the wolfdream in person by immersing his entire self into the Force and then swapping over from one galaxy's investure to another, All while in an entirely different one. It was risking, especially without Spice, but there was no other option.

The area all around the Scholar appeared to warp to the surrounding sharders, and then to fog over(or was it steam?) and then there was nothing but a black ball. It vanished too, leaving nothing but a few Mayflies.

 

"Hello you're majesty, please grab my hand." Said a dis-embodied voice directly behind the Empress in the alley where the Wolf had appeared.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Queen Elsa's turned her head around suddenly, upon hearing the Baron's voice. She recognized his voice, but couldn't see the slightest bit of him.

"Hello Baron LeftVash" she replied.

Confused upon what to do, because she couldn't see the Baron, she stuck her hand out with the palm out and hoped for the best.

"Are you coming too, Winter?"

[Voidus]

Voidus walked out from a nearby shadow again, he'd forgotten who exactly had given him the ability but it was unique to him for now, he could walk out of shadows near any important events. Also for some reason it let him pull tacos out of shadows, but he rarely used that side of it.

"Well this is all very exciting." he remarked "I do hope it wasn't a reaction to one of our cookies, we've never had anyone have a reaction like this before"

He looked at Queen Elsa with concern, losing one of the Dark Alleys main sponsors would be a serious issue.

[Left he/him]

And then the Empress was gone. There was no warping like last time. Only the vague thought that resounded through everyone's head. "I really need to learn to apperate".

[Delightful]

Delightful sighed in relief as the steely towers of Newcago came into sight. She was looking forward to returning home and visiting the court, after an necessary absence took longer than expected. The icy wind ruffled her hair and she pulled her cloak around her shoulders, enjoying the warmth and blanket-like feel of the material as she walked. By foot was the best way by far to enter the palace, especially if one wanted to sneak in the back and have a bath before walking into the ballroom. Princesses had to have proper dignity. In public at least. She shifted the cloak and snuggled deep into it, though se enjoyed the cold.

The towers rose above, and she smiled. Wind whipped through the spires of steel and ice, howling eerily. It was quiet. Too quiet. She frowned, paused, then hurried towards the main doors.

They were open.

There was no one within.

"Elsa?" Delightful called, rushing into the ballroom. Her eyes turned red, but she hesitated to draw on her power. If she was overreacting, she didn't want to scare her sisters' guests.

Empty.

Cookies, spiked cookies and root beer covered the surfaces and spilled across the floor. There were cracks in the ceiling . Worst, a paperback of the Way of Kings lay abandoned on a table.

Things were bad. Very, very bad. Chills ran up her spine, and Delighful clicked her fingers with a sharp snap. Long black blades slid into her hands from nowhere, and hounds carrying the scent of earth and blood appeared at her side. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then strode further into the building.

Her sister was in danger. She would find out where Elsa had gone, and she would protect her.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

The Queen and the Baron arrived at the Scholar's Base, not too far from Newcago. The strong smell of donuts wafted through the Base. LeftVash shivered as Queen Elsa let go of his hand. "My apologise Baron, my hands are a bit....cold"

[Brightness Random she/her]

A few blocks away from Delightful, Brightness Random stood arguing with one of the Court's guards.

 

"I don't think you understand," she said with exasperation, trying and failing for the ump-teenth time to step around him, "My copy of Way of Kings is in there! You evacuated us before I could pick it back up!"

 

"I'm sorry ma'am," he said in the patient way of the Court's guards, "But everyone has been ordered out. The building is no longer structurally sound. It wouldn't be safe."

 

Brightness Random huffed in annoyance. "It's my copy of Way of Kings!" she exclaimed, trying yet again to explain it all, "If it's still in there when the building collapses, I'll lose all my annotations! I'm a duchess of the Court! You have to let me through!"

 

After another apology, the guard just began ignoring her, moving on to help calm down worried citizens. Brightness Random stamped her foot in annoyance. She'd tried everything - including root beer bribes - and none of the guards would let her through. This is not my day. she thought to herself, Nothing is going right! First all those cookies, then people start vanishing, and now my book has been abandoned! And worst of all, I can't do a thing about any of it!

 

That's not true, a part of her whispered, You know there are other ways into the court. Secret ways. 

 

The duchess shook her head, trying to clear it. No, that would take too long. Who knew how long until the building came down on top of her book?

 

And to make matters worse, she thought in despair, with the queen gone, all that ice will melt over my book! She wanted to scream in frustration. Those guards just needed to let her past! If her book was still in there when the court came down... 

 

The building groaned ominously, and someone shrieked in alarm.

 

Ahh... Harmony take me for a fool! she thought, dashing away from the court. If she were quick, perhaps she could use the tunnels to enter the court and retrieve her book before it was too late. And so it was that Brightness Random rushed away from the scene, no idea what she was getting herself into.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

The Queen hung around Scholar's Base for a while, staying in the Gunsmoke Barony. It was quite comfortable, but however troubled thoughts swirled around in her head.

"What's happening in Newcago....I still don't know where Delightful is.....and what about all those party guests.????"

The Queen sat up suddenly. "The castle! What have I done?"

Despite how she was feeling, she ran out to the main entrance and said farewell to the Baron, who was quite against her travelling so quickly, hopped onto her ice cloud with her.

More than ever, Queen Elsa needed to be there for Newcago.

[Brightness Random she/her]

In the understreets leading to the court, Brightness Random ran, careful not to slip on the puddles of icy cold water that were appearing on the floor around her. She could make it. She could still make it.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Balancing on her ice cloud, Newcago came into view. The Queen gasped. Newcago was not at all like she left it.

The castle looked more like the leaning tower of Newcago, a street lamp had been reduced to ice water, the snow had gone wild, and there was ice everywhere.

Worst of all, the people were freaking out.

Queen Elsa landed, and braced herself for the worst.

"Alright, Alright, there nothing to be afraid of," even though she was terrified of the collapsing castle.

[Left he/him]

The Scholar was flickering as he stood in his kitchens, looking like a projection that was glitching out. He reached into his ever boiling pot of oil, and nothing happened. Groaning, the baron realized what had happened. He hadn't come back to the physical realm properly, he was basically a ghost at this point. The different investures had caused havoc with the cognitive, maybe even the spiritual realm.

At the same time though....Lefty sighed as he Shifted to Newcago, at least he could remain near the Empress. And there was Delightful!

He saw the Wolf approaching the Empress again and speaking to her, and while he could only hear the vaguest growls, the gist was understood, because Lefty could feel the wrongness too.

" I think, that perhaps it is time to leave the 17 realms everyone! There is something deeply craven concurring, far beyond any of our guilds ability to create. It is possible that we can destroy it though. I propose we leave to go to the to the star trek cosmere thread (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/5609-star-trek-cosmere/page-3 ) and embark on an expedition to resolve this. I have a ship ready to take us, and in my present state I should be able to pilot us extremely well." The baron was deeply relieved his voice could obviously be heard by everyone, and they could see him as well. The Royal Sisters approached him.

[Brightness Random she/her]

Screams seemed to be echoing through the understreets, though Brightness Random tried not to let them bother her too much. She was on a mission: retrieve her book.

 

She clutched a firemark for light as she made her way forward. It was more difficult now. The tunnels were beginning to flood, and though each surge of water drained before it could do any harm, she was growing very, very nervous. The duchess continued onward, wincing at the screams that seemed to be drawing closer. What was going on?

 

She was almost to the court now, but here the water was ankle deep. Why wasn't it draining? The tunnels would have been eerie enough with the sounds of dripping water and lit by the red-ish light of her sphere, but those screams put her on edge. They sounded almost.... familiar, like something she had heard in a dream, then forgotten. As she continued forward warily, things started getting stranger and stranger.

 

Shadows cast by the light of her sphere seemed to twist and distort when her eyes were away, but each time she turned back to them, they seemed unchanged. She shivered, hearing another scream. She decided to amend her earlier statement. These don't seem to be from a dream, but a nightmare! she thought, Maybe it would be best if I turned back around... I could always re-annotate another book. It could be a hard cover, maybe even signed! I just need to turn around and- 

 

Coming around the corner, Brightness Random realized that the water was now up to her thighs. How had she not noticed that? It was freezing cold. What is going on?! she wondered. About to abandon her quest for good, she noticed something up ahead, further into the labyrinth like passage. A... mound?

 

Cursing herself for a fool, she drew closer, inspecting it. As she drew nearer however, she realized that it wasn't anything but water. A huge mound of water slowly gathering. Why is it gathering here? As she stepped closer and closer to it, however, she noticed something. She felt lighter. The sluggishness that she had been gaining in the thick water seemed to be dissipating. As if she had been pulling something heavy through the water and had now dropped it.  The closer she got to the odd mound, it seemed to be nearly as tall as her and still growing, the more she understood. It's not the water that's acting strangely, but... gravity itself! The rules seem to be broken here...she thought, or at least bent.

 

She carefully moved past the mound, a little sad when gravity re-asserted it's claim on her. Moving as harder now, but she managed it. Just as she was going to give up, she saw what she was looking for: a staircase in the side of the tunnel, leading up to the court. Running through the water to it, she sighed in relief. "Finally, the palace!" she whispered to herself. While the duchess started climbing it her sphere flickered, seeming dimmer than usual. Please no, she thought.

 

The stormlight faded and the light disappeared.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

"Sounds great." Winter said, sarcasm dripping in buckets. "Let's just go on this random spaceship and fly off to who knows where. I say we figure out the root of the problem before doing anything at all. How are you, my Queen?" Winter asked, suddenly nervous. People without compound Gold were fragile. "Also, are these ships run on Investiture? Because my Tia earlier was interrupted before I could get Queen Elsa to safety." Suddenly the scream sounded again, now close. Very close.

"I'm fine. I have to stay here. My people need me! The castle will fall down any moment now and I have to make sure everyone is safe before I commence building a new, larger, castle."

She turned to a guard. "Has everyone been evacuated?" The guard replied with a yes, but inside the castle came two ear piecing screams.

They belonged to Princess Delightful and Duchess Brightness Random.

Her sister and the duchess were in grave danger.

"Winter, I need you to help me to rescue them."

Without even waiting for an answer, Queen Elsa ran into the castle.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Upon hearing Winter gasp and fall, Queen Elsa turned around. "Winter? Are you okay?"

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

(What do you mean ninja'd?)

They walked further into the castle, there was water everywhere, and the ice was extremely slippery. One of the pieces in the ice stairs were missing and there was a giant chandileer tipping to its side.

They approached the ballroom and the situation started to look even worse, with the food and tables tipped on their side and the copy

of Way of King still there.

Queen Elsa picked up the book to return to the Duchess but then, on the other side of the Ballroom, she reconised someone very familiar she hadn't see for a while. It was Princess Delightful.

Immediately the sisters proceeded to have a reunion, but then another scream came from the staircase leading up to the ballroom.

[Brightness Random she/her]

After making her way back into the palace in total darkness, Brightness Random had been happily surprised to find a touch that had been left burning. What? she had wondered, ​I thought they would have put out all the lights - especially if they were fires. But it seemed everyone had forgotten this place. Drawing closer to the torch she could see it was lighting a shrine of some sort. That's... Disconcerting...

 

As she went grab the torch from beside the shrine's alter, she could see a statue carved from the stone. Was that-? Was that Voidus? Yes, the statue was of Voidus, holding a tray of cookies. Beside was the inscription: 

 

Little did they know that they actually knew what they didn't know that they knew.

 

Shaking her head to herself, Brightness Random tried to lift the torch from it's bracket, but her fingers slipped off. What? She tried again with the same result. A moment later, she slipped, falling to her knees. First gravitation, now abrasion? she wondered, are all the surges going crazy? Hmm... With something like progression the results wouldn't be too bad, but division? Transformation? It could be disastrous!

 

After a minute or two, the friction seemed to be back to normal, and she shakily made her way to her feet. Carefully this time, she lifted the torch and began climbing the staircase back to the ballroom. The stairs were wet. Almost there... she thought.

 

There was a noise behind her, and Brightness Random turned, eyes widening as she saw what was behind her, and screamed loudly. That was the last thing she remembered before blacking out.

[Guest]

Well now, how can I post if I don't know what Brightness saw? Maybe it was the Cookie Monster. Maybe it was me. We just don't know... Edited February 16, 2015 by Snoopy