The Dresden Files RP- "Edge Town"

"Uh, bye Emilia. I'll let everyone know about the capital-C Choice that I guess happened here." He paused awkwardly for a moment, trying to think if there was something else to say, before grabbing his clothes and running after the rest of his group.

"Pretty sure that that was the universal signal for us to pick up our pace" Max said as he moved along. "The longer you spend in the Nevernever to more likely something horrible is going to happen, the rest of the team can't hold out forever."

Jarl's arrow flew through the air in a single graceful arc- slamming into Fix's knee. The Knight never saw it coming- something spread over him, cold blue like light flickering over his form and he hit the ground- powerless. Eyes wide with horror as the mantle was frozen.

Out gunned indeed.

"My darling daughter speaks the truth." Frey half hummed. "It's over."

Lily was on the verge of tears- her eyes simply didn't leave where Fix lay, while Maeve....Maeve looked as if she was about to shatter- but her snarl was set.

"Not until the last blade falls." She spat, holding out her hand. And without question, Lily took it. There was a plume of fire, a blast of Will from Frey- and they where all in the sky again, dueling away.

And as the fire and ice and lightning flew....The others turned their back and headed into the darkness of the Barrow deeps- unopposed.

The team- Alex, his guards, Aiden, Braden, Leon, Drake, Riff: they walked in silence, the tiny Fae-like child at the front, leading them by the light of a fistfull of summer flame. It could have been five minutes or an hour down here in the darkest parts of the Nevernever, it could have been eons, darkness pressed in harder as red earth turned brown again, and then black- the broken bits of dreams that made up Underland vanished replaced with gnarled roots all the more twisted, in the shadows...things slithered, and rabbited, and wetly flopped. But the child never flinched in fact...he started to smile.

"It's good to be home." A wild dirty wicked thing, returning to the home of wild dirty wicked things.

He paused finally, apparently having come to a large smooth hunk of rock blocking their path and nodded at it. "This is the Low Door." Riff explained reaching out to put his hand on it. "You could set of all those boom-bombs of yours, enough to fill the whole tunnel, and it wouldn't move an inch. For that you need to be able to do this-" He closed his eyes and briefly there was a soft glow of gold, a rune appearing in the center- a grand complicated tree, it's branches wrapped around a flame- before it flickered away, and the rock slid back to reveal a tunnel lit by the soft glow of crystals twisted in with roots, and swinging biol-luminescent vines from up above. A handful of shinning blue dragon flies zipped out the moment the door was open and Riff nodded. "We're here."

"The Barrow Deeps."

Hugin muttered as she tapped her sword against the ground three sharp times- the stone blade glowing bright enough to illuminate the dark tunnel they where in. "The end of the line."

edited 30th Jul '14 3:06:40 PM by LMage

Tim looked calmly around and then to Jarl. "This is your show. Whats next?"

"If the rest have already arrived, we team up with them. The mantle is the priority - we don't need to get tangled up in any more fights. If we can prove my innocence, that's a feather in the cap, but it's a tertiary concern."

"If the others haven't arrived yet, we wait for them. That little shit has probably gathered as many allies around himself as he possibly can, and getting past the Ladies was just the first step."

"So, we keep an eye out for the others. If they're there, and if they're spotted, we go in loud. Otherwise we do it as quiet as possible and see if we can-" Fuck, he couldn't believe he was still considering this. "-Kill the Yule Lad before an alarm's raised so Jack Frost and Psycho-Pan can slug it out."

Tim simply nodded and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and trying to regain some strength.

Kat meanwhile looked out into the dark, waiting for the other team, hands at her sword.

"Hey Jarl, question. That thing where Emilia appeared out of nowhere in all the glory of her fae half? Was that your plan?

"Because I thought the horror stories about wizards never telling anyone anything about what was going on were exaggerated, but if you planned all that without letting us know about it, I'm gonna have to reconsider."

edited 30th Jul '14 6:15:37 PM by rikalous

"Actually, I was hoping we'd be able to get through this with only one member of the team making a Faustian deal for power. I didn't know that was gonna happen. I wouldn’t have asked her to do it if I had known."

"I'm gonna put that down as a data point in favor of the 'the staff-waving bastards are trying to hide how much they're bullshitting through things' theory, then."

Kat just snorted and then looked guiltily at Tim

Leon frowned at the mention that the door couldn't be broken down. He really hoped it didn't end up closing behind them and locking them in. Hopefully if it did there would be an alternate exit. He sheathed his blade slowly and readied his .357 revolver as they entered the deeps. They were on the final stretch now, he probably didn't need to worry about conserving ammo at this point.

"So, where to next?"

"Forward. We're in Pan's domain now. Cover each other, keep alert, and move forward slowly. Keep an eye out for Nikoli."

Alex waved his crew of mercenaries forward, moving in pairs, leap-frogging so that each advancing group would have cover. It was time to finish this.

"Peter Pan." Riff corrected as he lead them forward, extinguishing his Summer Fire: the light from the crystals was more then enough to see by. "He hates it when you confuse him with the other guy."

The long passageway took them down primarily- a slowly declining slope of upturned earth and gnarled roots. Luminescent foliage grew more and more- in deep purples, wild greens, and haunting blood reds- the soft light of the crystals amplifying the mysterious creeping feel in the air.

"It feels so....different." Braden muttered- sticking close to Aiden at the center of the group. "More....Wild. Dangerous."

After a bit of walking they arrived in circular room with two doors- no sooner had the last of them stepped through the door then it snaked shut, roots and vines overgrowing it to seal off the way they came. Riff paid no mind- stepping forward and wrinkling his nose at the two doors, both solid oaken wood with no nobs, as if annoyed.

"He's changing it around." He muttered.

The floor began to level out as the group talked, flattening beneath their feet and leaving them before....A gate.

A massive long arch, smoothed stones lining the floor and sides of it, overgrown with luminescent green vines, leafs, flowers of every wicked color, crystals like quartz but with fading pale light pressing up from the earth....Humidity- hot and warm and wet rolled out from the tunnel beyond it, lined with trees that hung with precious gem stones, and zigzagged with rolling warm waters that bubbled out from the walls. It was like some alien garden- a deadly one. With his limited knowledge alone Tim could pick out Belladona, Hemlock, Ricinus communis, white snakeroot, Utricularia macrorhiza, angel-trumpet....The list went on and on. Climate didn't matter- the sticky humidity of Puck's garden sustained only the most deadly, most vicious....most wicked of the earth.

Hugin made a noise. "This isn't right. Our information said the main entrance went straight to the audience chamber."

"It's the Nevernever. He can probably change it around since it's still his domain."

Jarl approached the gate and lifted his hand. He wasn't sure if it would open the gate, but maybe he could get rid of some of the growth. "Svell!" He pointed at the vines on the gate as a wave of vicious cold barreled across them, powered by as much of the icy chill of Winter, the anathema of Summer's wild growth, as he dared to throw in there.

"These defenses aren't automatic? This implies he's aware we're here."

Alex pauses before the door, taking inventory of his explosives. He had surprisingly few left. However, before he started blowing holes in things, he wanted to know if stealth was a lost cause.

"Jarl, be careful about the pollen in the air!" Tim snapped and got a handkerchief out of his bag, holding it before his nose, before offering Terrance one to, Kat just waving him off.

"Try to keep it at cold and without as much wind as possible!" he explained and raised his Spear, muttering a soft "Caun" To create just enough gravity to keep possible pollen away from them as much as possible.

The stone bars of the gate rattled, shook, and quaked- before finally busting open, allowing them to step out of the darkness....And right into Puck's domain- his wicked garden.

It was a long room, thick with foliage, no beaten path....And deadly plants, in greater number and potency, everywhere.

Riff shook his head. "Normally the garden is here- but he moves it to the front sometimes to deal with vermin that find their way in. I've never seen this room before though."

Braden pushed forward a bit. "Nicolai did the same thing." He admitted grudgingly. "He would move the Winter Garden to the front and use it as a test of people that came to see him from things- but I've never seen Puck's version."

Riff grinned. "It's a lot more fun."

"Interesting. That implies someone's trying to enter from the front. Someone he considers unfriendly, no less. Or at least amusing to toy with. I can only think of a very short list of potential candidates right now. It appears our distraction has arrived."

He moved forward, waving for his guards to cover him, then walks to the oak door, electing to at least try the simple, obviously solution, then placed his hand on it, giving it a light push.

"Suggestions?" Tim asked, muffled by the cloth.

"Second verse, same as the first?" Nothing would please him more than turning this whole fucking garden into a winter wonderland, but time was probably of the essence.

"Otherwise I could maybe drop a water spell or two in here. Ground the pollen so we can move ahead relatively unmolested. Should kill most of the plant life, too."

"Go ahead then." Tim said, bringing up his Gravity filter again before the group to keep accidentially flying pollen away.

"Lǫgr!" Jarl lifted his hand again, this time swinging it around like a waterhose, drenching the plants in frozen water, still designed to smother the life from them and grounding the pollen all the same.

"Not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up, though. I'm not exactly invincible."

"Try to make a path, I can keep the pollen away more or less." Tim said.

"Damn, all I remember about survival in the Blight is that if Worms show up, you fucking book it," Terry muttered to himself. "And Puck's worms honestly aren't as dangerous as those sounded."

Leon lurked behind Alex as he moved to open the door. A shield spell dancing in his mind ready to be cast if something nasty popped out at them.