Fantasy The Grand Coven: The Rooms

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

The rooms of the Hotel are the standard for luxury. Even the lower floors have california-king beds, fully equipped kicthens, and plenty of living space. The upper floors have been enchanted to all resemble the penthouse, with a presidential suit and stocked bars. They all, somehow, have the same view of the lake off of the cliff on which the Hotel rests. Some mages prefer to set meetings and do business among themselves rather than mingle around with everyone the whole month. As such, the hallways can be just as busy as the ballroom in some cases. No staff are on the premises for the duration of the Festival.

 

[Prodigious Mage]

Sora has half a mind to scream her head off as she pushes herself through the small crowd of fellow New Yorkers, the gathered Magi have taken it upon themselves to be as much of a collective nuisance as possible it seems, and it is not helping her get to the provided room.

Aine flits inside her hoodie, his whining present through the bond they share as master and familiar, but it's more of a background buzz than anything when compared to loud conversations happening over Sora's head, however the rather happy exclamation of...

'Oh, Silk and Lace! Perfect.'

Has Sora slam an open palm against the spot where Aine had situated himself just below her breasts, and earns her a squeak of pain and indignation

'What have I told you about that!?' She all but screams through the link, her other hand still dutifully pulling along her carry-on, and purposefully ignoring the scream of pain that comes from someone trying to pickpocket something from it, much more focused in her familiars lack of acceptable boundaries then some nobodies attempts at stealing her things, and therefore being hit with the after effects of an anti-thief ward.

(The man was currently holding his hand close to his chest, watching the bubbling skin crack, bleed, and spit out puss.)

Aine shoots out an insult about human woman not being worth his time, and that, at this point, the twenty-year old should be used to it, and damn it he likes Lace and Silk you idiot!

Breaking through crowd while still in silent argument, Sora barely pays attention to her surroundings for a long few moments.

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

When Sora reached the floor she was assigned, second from the top, she would notice it was remarkably less crowded than the lobby. In fact the only other movement on the floor happened to be the end of a dark cape flitting around the corner at the end of the hall, only visible for a moment. Not that unusual for the occasion, actually. What was unusual, was just as Sora unlocked her room, she would hear a scream coming from that same direction. Blood curdling and wordless, but clearly denoting someone experiencing something horrifying around the corner where the cape had gone.

 

[Prodigious Mage]

Sora jerked, Aine stilled.

The hallway had gone eerily silent after the scream, and while freaky in it's own right, it was something of a comfort that meant the assailant had likely fled...

Yeah, she wasn't getting her hopes up on that one.

'Sor, room. Now.' Aine's high voice barked.

"And be in an enclosed space?" Sora mumbled to the air, "Honestly I think that's worse."

"Don't care, the other guy could have been vaporized for all I give a fuck," came Aine's reasoning, which, really, was probably the nicest thing he had to say about the situation, "what I care about right now, is the fact that you get somewhere we can safeguard, or with a lot of people, take your choice."

"...you know what? Knock off Among Us it is, at my shoulder Aine. Now." Was her immediate response.

Aine phased through his master's hoodie, hands in the air in frustration, "I'm bringing your soul to the Courts of Winter, starve! Starve woman!" Was his irritated response before following through.

"Sure you will, and I'll spend all eternity tracking your ass down to play ping pong."

Sora moved slowly, deliberately, until she finally made it to the corner...

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

Sora rounded the corner with enough time to see a woman being dragged by two pairs of arms on her into a room. Clearly her assailants believed they were alone on the floor, which except for Aine and Sora they were. One hand was covering the woman’s mouth incredibly tightly, but her eyes caught Sora’s just before she disappeared inside the darkened room. They pleaded with her to save the seemingly helpless victim, just before she was sucked inside with an unnatural jerk and the door slammed shut. The arms were covered to the wrists in black leather coats, as well as gloves of the same thick design.

 

[Prodigious Mage]

Sora hissed in alarm, jumping back nearly a foot at the sight, head whipping to Aine.

The small sprite moved forward cautiously, towards the door, mindful of all sounds, his master at his back, the magic in the air...

He stopped dead at the door and put a hand to it, and focused.

He wasn't good with wards, he would admit that readily, but... The girl...

Sora wanted to help, that was apparent, and her wants...

Slowly, he gathered his magic, and tried to phase through.

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

When the being had entered into the other side of the solid door, he would be met not with a hotel room and a hostage situation, but a strange amalgamation of one. The floor broke apart after a few feet, and shreds of it were floating around as if in low-gravity. A large chunk was suspended about five feet away from the first, tilting back and forth in an uneven way. If the familiar could feel gravity despite his ability to float, he would notice it was still actively pulling him towards the earth despite all the furniture in the room and bits of the floor scattered about the air.

The background of this “room” was black like the void of space, and at the “back” across a path of couches, the king size bed frame and mattress, and larger chunks of floor and wall was what appeared to be a gigantic Greek-style pillar one might put a trophy or similar valuable object on top of. The men in long trench coats, three of them, were atop it’s massive platform which was about half the size of a basketball court. All of them turned towards Aine as he entered, their lifeless plague-doctor masks peering at him eerily. He would feel a bit disoriented upon meeting their gaze, as if their magical pressure was immense without even casting a spell. A human it would cause to feel sick, but a familiar such as Aine would only feel a bit dizzy and feel as though his tethering to his master was slightly weakened, causing him to have to focus on remaining on this plane of existence if he wanted to rescue the woman or indeed protect his friend should she enter the room.

In the middle of the men was the woman they had dragged inside, unconscious on a similarly styled Greek table one might sacrifice an animal on.

 

[Prodigious Mage]

Aine forced a breathe into his small body, closed his eyes, and focused once more.

Looking into himself, focusing as much as he could with the dizziness that filled him, he saw the bond that connected him to Sora, the magic that kept him tethered to this plain of existence, the magic if the young woman on the Sacrifice Alter, the magic in the air, the magic of the freakish Plague Doctors, the magic that defined his existence as a lesser fae of the Autumn Court...

He kept his sights on the bond between him Sora, the soft red thread that connected him, and tugged.
--------
On the other side of the door, Sora choked, pulled forward slightly by something in her chest, sharp and painful, the ask for a transfer of magic from Aine, 'What the hell is going on the other side of that door?'

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, the fear, she complied, it slow, a trickle at first before morphing into something more like syrup, until it was something more like a constant stream of power.

Not entirely sure, but trusting in her small friend, she kept at it, bracing herself agains the wall furthest from the door as she skid down to the floor.
--------
Aine exhaled, eyes slowly opening.

He could feel his master's magic thrumming in his veins, he thought of the wilds of the Autumn Court, of the Winter Court, of the dangers he was raised in.

Aine shifted.

One moment he was a small, almost innocent looking, faery like creature, and the next, he was was a tall, almost lean, young man covered in dark blue silks and large pelts for clothes.

The following moment was spent gathering himself.

Then, in a blur of blue, Aine surged forward, right towards the young woman on the Sacrificial Alter.

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

One of the men waived his hands in front of his face, and a blue force field formed from the tip of his nose surrounding the woman and himself in a dome. Electricity crackled off of it, which would surely effect the water sprite greatly draining his mana if he did not stop his assault. The other two ran and jumped off the pillar, one onto a floating loveseat and the other onto a bit of floor. Both of them moved with agility unmatched by any human the sprite could have encountered. One of them placed his hands together in front of him, and a column of flame resembling a flame thrower would engulf the water fairy, of course doing no damage due to his nature of it hit him at all. The other seemed to be charging something in his hands, a small orb of light forming between all ten fingers on his hands.

 

[Prodigious Mage]

Aine hissed, slamming his entire body against the dome, drudging as much Mana as he safely could from his master, his eyes wild, teeth sharp, body shifting between his new form, and that of shapeless Water Mana.

He pushed, he pulled, he tugged harder at the string, ignoring the annoyance that was the pillar of flame, and ignorant of the gathering light spell if the last of the trio.

He wouldn't make it through at this rate.

Gritting his teeth he screamed.

Maybe if he could get the girl awake, at the very least...

"Woman! Give me your name!" Came his bark, his voice loud and echoing throughout the room, despite it's odd magic.

He was grasping at straws, he could feel Sora's terror, he hoped...

Cashing in every favor he had with his fellow Fae so that he could give back a name felt like a good alternative that to watch an innocent person die at that exact moment.

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

The woman was unconscious due to some previous curse from the plague doctors likely. That’s the strange thing about fae magic, however. It’s as if they are the magical subconscious. Their magic is so inherently dissimilar to witchcraft, it constantly interferes with the latter. The woman’s soul was crying out to be saved from her fate within her darkened mind, and gripped onto the tether Aine had cast it’s way. Her name escaped her being, tainting her soul slightly.

The plague doctor in the force field of electrical magic turned around, quickly examining her body. He inspected it momentarily, and then turned towards the other two of his brethren. They ceased their magic entirely. The two straightened up their posture and remained motionless for a moment, staring at Aine. Then, all three of them at once swirled into the darkness of the background of the room as if there were a black hole there only effecting them. The room slowly reformed itself, and somehow the woman was atop a bed instead of some Greek pillar.

 

[Prodigious Mage]

Aine felt the name enter his domain, it's properties, the meaning, it's being made known to him in an instant, but something else latched onto his being at the same time, the full force of his bond with Sora came rushing back, he could feel her pain, her weakened state, everything.

And then there was the less savory deals he had made throughout his lifetime, the appraisal deal he had with a demon of unknown origin, a promise of unknown origin with the closest thing, (besides Sora), he had to a friend that made him turn over any names in his possession...

So many favors would need to be called in, a lot of arguments would be had, he just hoped the woman was a lesser witch of some sort instead of the next fucking Luke Skywalker of Magic... Yeah, right, she was the sacrifice in a ritual, what was he thinking, he was going to owe far to many people far to many things at the end of this shit-show.

Aine rushed forward, arms coming around the woman up without much preamble, one arm curled under her knees, and the other bracing her back, picking her up off the bed he took long strides to the rooms door to the hallway, pushed it open with his shoulder, and made his way out of the damnable place.

Only to be greeted by the sight of his master shaking on the floor of the hotel, breathing shallow, but eyes brightening at the sight of Aine and the woman, offering a shaky smile, she patted the ground beside her in offer.

Aine followed through with the unsaid order and placed the woman on the ground beside her, earning a smile, before Sora lurched forward, and vomited onto the marble floor, a mixture of that days breakfast, what looked to be the remnants of a potion of some sort, and, most alarmingly, blood.

"Shit." the albino mumbled before falling over on her side in a unconscious heap.

With that came Aine's reversion to his much smaller state of being, making him click his tongue, he floated forward, he pressed a hand to the younger females head, he frowned, "I hate today so much right now."

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

The woman started awake to the sound and smell of vomit. Instantly she recoiled from it, scooting down into the corner of the hall away from the blurry figures which had come into focus to her left. When her mind cleared of panic, she focused her sight on them and found they were not her captors, who's hideous masks were her last sight before losing consciousness. She looked onto sora with a bit of pity, and crawled back over to them.

"Wha- What happened?" She asked, holding her palm out gingerly at Sora. It glowed with a bit of light magic, which should at least settle her stomach. Her eyes flitted nervously between Aine, Sora, and the door of the room they were still in front of.

Prodigious Mage

 

[Prodigious Mage]

Aine offered a shrug of his tiny shoulders, expression an odd mixture between worried and tired, "You were captured by some weird cult," he told her with a head shake, "we caught the tail end of the confrontation, my master wished to help you, I followed through, and, uh..."

Another shrug, "Until further notice, I own your name, so yeah, uh, hope you like the Fae cause, really, you and me Skywalker? We have some shit to sort out once this gets resolved."

His eyes drifted back to his master, drifting close enough place himself atop her shoulder, and he sighed, "Being tied to human morals is tiring." he said to the air while the woman worked, more to vent then to be listened too, "I mean yeah, they come in handy when your race is kind of... the opposite, and really would benefit the world by mass exile, but... Other times they're just overly complicated, mushy, fuzzy, and weird, and that's just Sadness. The rest of it so much more... confusing."

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

“Well, it’s Elizabeth. It looks like I can use my magic again, so as long as the whole name thing doesn’t effect that I guess I don’t mind seeing as how you saved my life.” Elizabeth seemed to have fully invigorated as if there were no lasting effects to the magic from the strange men.

“Funny, being lectured about the irrelevance of morals by someone who’s saved my life.” She glanced between Aine and back to Sora, trying to decide on what to do. “Come on, let’s go get you something to eat, hun.” Said the former sacrificial lamb, standing. She held out a hand for Sora to take, it’s white aura around it welcoming and sure to restore some of her mana, as well as help her stand.

“Those men,” she monologued, “They were in my room. If I hadn’t run down the hall where you two were, I might not have ever been found. Thank you, sorry I don’t know what else to say,” Said Elizabeth as she lead them down the hallway towards the elevators. “I know one thing, I’m not staying in a room alone tonight. I hope my friends are still in the Ballroom. I said I’d meet them there this morning, but forgot my jacket in my room. I wonder how they knew...” She fought back into her subconscious the thought that perhaps they had taken it to make sure she did.

 

[Prodigious Mage]

"Inconvenient, not irrelevant, there's a difference, humans are overly complicated, but I've found that, at the very least my 'mistress' is worth the trouble."

Floating away from Sora slightly as he spoke, the small sprite folded her arms.

Aine huffed, eyes focused on Sora as she began to stir slightly, until she was fully awake.

Pensive, he thought about Elizabeth's predicament, the men, the alter, it wasn't a necessarily familiar set up, there were dozens and dozens of cults that liked the plague doctor look, sure, a much smaller percentage of them were actually aware of the Magic side of things, but that didn't narrow anything down, the alter set up might have helped... If he didn't simply know it as Greek in origin, and that was a very big maybe.

They were powerful, yes, Aine was only a little over three centuries old, he could tell that much at the very least, Distortion Magic was taxing, ugly, twisted, and on a good day killed a lot of people for simply being within three feet of it, the Fae Wilds were natural distortion, Summoners could bring bits of it into the human realm...

Ugh... Right, Greek.

They could commune, perform their own rituals, ask the Gods of that particular Pantheon, but if there was one thing Aine knew about them it was that they didn't take well to those who didn't turn over their life and soul to them completely, and for an Omnist like Sora, that was just asking for trouble, not to mention there was no telling what they might demand in exchange for such information...

Shaking his head, he floated forward, intent on making sure the coast was clear for his two followers.
-------
Sora came too with thoughts of general discomfort, genuine confusion as to why she wasn't in her offered room, and why the sour smell of vomit invaded her nostrils.

Only to have it all come back to her.

Right, creepy maybe-cultists, impromptu rescue, the drain of magic, Aine's scream.

Vomiting.

Passing out.

Lovely.

Gathering herself, she got to her knees, Sora tried to sort herself, only to notice the woman from before, alive, safe and awake.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she smiled.

And then she stood, offered food, and held out her hand.

She took it.

"Those men,” the woman began, “They were in my room. If I hadn’t run down the hall where you two were, I might not have ever been found. Thank you, sorry I don’t know what else to say,” here they began their walk down the hallway towards the elevators, “I know one thing, I’m not staying in a room alone tonight. I hope my friends are still in the Ballroom. I said I’d meet them there this morning, but forgot my jacket in my room. I wonder how they knew..." She grimaced.

Sora bit her lip a bit, before shaking her head slightly, "If it helps, me and my familiar will be on call if you need it, and I can put in a few favors with the other New York Magi..."

She let the offer hang in the air.

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

"Do you..." The woman hesitated. "Do you think I could stay in your room? My friends and I... I don't think if I were attacked again that'd we'd be able to fight off those men. It's okay to say no, we've only just met but, I feel I can trust you two. I'm going to leave the convention first thing in the morning, we were planning on it anyways." Asked the woman. She lead the other two people onto the elevator and in minutes it opened into the lobby, adjacent to the ballroom.

(After your reply to this post, your characters will be moving on to the Ballroom thread.

 

[Prodigious Mage]

"No," Sora replied, eyes a bit too focused on the elevator doors, but nonetheless listening, "it wouldn't be much of an inconvenience, me and Aine won't mind being with you and your friends for a night."

There was ping, and they opened, Sora released a soft breath.

"We'll even see you off, if you want," she said, taking a step out, and gesturing for Aine to come back and rest on her shoulder when she caught his eye, "unfortunately, me and Aine have no choice in staying through the entire month, as loathe as I am to admit it, I need to socialize and make more connections, and that's not counting the favors I've been called into repay by both my siblings and the other New York Magi."

"I will be free to go with you, in about a week, I have my own things to sort out with a few familiars here, and then you and me will have to summon one of my coharts from the Autumn Court," Aine said from his place on his master's shoulder, "I'll likely be able to return the significance to your name at that point."

Her eyes focused on the path to ballroom, and linked arms with Elizabeth, making a bee line towards it.

 

[Fred Colon]

Jeremiah followed Polly back up to their rooms, making discontented grumbling noises.

"You could have stayed." Polly sighed,

Croak.

"I'm sure if it tried to eat you, you vould have stuck in it's throat and choked it to death."

Croak.

"Ha! I agree. But vatch your language. Other people already think I'm a crazy backvater vitch. I don't need them thinking my familiar is both lazy, useless AND foul mouthed."

When Polly reached her door she took out the key she'd been given and unlocked it. That wasn't good enough security for Polly, who liked her home, even if temporary, to be as secure as she could make them. So she removed, too, a key made of the leg bone of an ox, and stuck that into the door as well. Anyone who would have tried to get in by just unlocking the door manually would have had a nasty surprise when they you he'd the door handle. The door open, Polly rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a small potion and fed it to herself and Jeremiah. It stilled their heart beat, but also made their skin extremely warm. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, but now the wards on the door wouldn't explode. Anything with a heart beat would trigger it, to keep out living creatures, and anything that was too cold would trigger it, to keep out undead and constructs. Polly was serious about home security. The wards on the windows would simply explode if ANYONE tried to go through them.

She stepped over the line of cold iron to keep out fae, and then fixed the line of salt meant to keep out spectral creatures when Jeremiah smudged it getting inside.

"Stupid frog." She snapped at him, and he hopped towards the bathroom.

Her room was a mess. She wondered if she would get in trouble for it, but didn't really care that much.

Runes, wards, and alchemical formulae were scrawled all over the walls. The couch was slightly burned when one of Polly's potions went awry and shot a gout of flame fifteen feet into the air.

The kitchen had been ransacked, as Jeremiah had clambered up onto the counter with his enormous girth to get at the sink before realizing there was a bathtub, and Polly had been playing with the fancy new 'appliances' that were apparently common nowadays. The blender had been useful, until she realized that it wasn't quite strong enough to blend elk bone and it had exploded.

The bed was a soggy mess, as it had not been designed to comfort someone who preferred to be damp while she slept, and the spare blankets and pillows were now in a rotting, wet, mucous covered pile in the corner where Jeremiah nested.

"Ack. Jeremiah! Did you forget to put the lid back on the cockroach snacks? They're everyvhere!" She said, her tongue lashing out to catch a fist sized roach that was gamely scaling the wall. Jeremiah didn't answer, and she heard the bathtub faucet turn on, followed by the heavy sound of slippery frog skin sliding against procelain enamel. She crushed the bug in between her teeth in irritation, pulled her tattered book of shadows out of her bag, and then snapped her fingers. A fire lit beneath the Cauldron she had set up in the living room, where she could look at the window while she worked.

"Vell. Time to earn that Styx Vater and Beatles music."

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

While Polly was diligently working on her end of the deal she'd made with Jason, she could see out her window some sort of dimensional rift open on the very image of the trees and grass she could see out of it. It stayed open only for half a second, as a strange floating creature slithered out, and it closed up right after it. The creature had the head of a lion, the body of a centipede, and two wings befitting a bat or more accurately a demon. It only stayed in this form for a moment, before it warped and wrapped itself into a ball, all the while hovering in mid air without moving it's wings. It melded into itself like clay, and became a man in a classic sailor's outfit, with white fabric, blue trim, and the little hat to match. He was young, and his face was oddly angular and puffy like someone with too much plastic surgery. He looked around him, and three men in plague doctor's masks stepped out of similar portals which were disorienting to look at, as if they simply moved reality aside to show up on the spot. They stood in a tight circle momentarily, not doing or saying anything. At least the one without a mask didn't, the others this could not be discerned due to their face coverings. The three other men wore long leather dusters, matching gloves, and boots. Every bit of their skin was covered.

Fred Colon

 

[Fred Colon]

Polly stared out the window at this strange tableau, as her portable CD player blared 'Mona Lisa' by Nat King Cole. She dropped the slightly sticky hand comb into the cauldron, and began grinding a small jade into powder, to add to the pot later.

Was this normal? She wasn't entirely sure. Lots of things had changed since she'd gone away. Back in her day, monsters appearing out of dimensional rifts were generally considered bad. Witch's didn't go in for flashy stuff like that. Flashy magic was for evil doers, idiots and attention seekers, both of which evil doer's usually were. The certainly were not for a respectable witch.

But almost three hundred years away from when she'd been born, and in a place absolutely riddled with magic users, who could saya with certainty what was normal. If Polly had actually started any of the time sensitive portions of the potion, she probably would have just shrugged and let whatever was going to happen, happen. Maybe it was a special event or something, even if no one had been out there to meet them. But she'd barely even gotten the fire started, and had only just finished crushing the jade. She'd go outside, down to the main ball room and tell someone what she saw.

"Jeremiah, ve have to go back down."

'Croak'

"I really don't care! Get out of the tub or I'm eating the rest of the grasshopper cookies vithout you!"

Not too long later, a still soaking Jeremiah crawled into the room making the water stains there even worse.

"Come. Some sort of shapeshifting monster-lion-pede is outside."

'Croak'

"You are the most cowardly frog alive. Just come! You're too fat and stupid for anything to want to eat you. They'd lose IQ points."

And they headed down to the ballroom, looking for someone who was in charge, or at least someone they knew so they could hand this problem off to someone else.