07.12f: Meeting on the Castle

[Joshua]

(OOC: For those who are not interested in the leadup, and want the payoff.)

Castle Amber is about five stories high, and situated on a mountain (ish), it doesn't need high walls surrounding it. Overlooking the city and Ht'Gon (although most of the fort is hidden by the cliff above it), a small group of chairs is set around what, in another context, would be a signal-fire. Already there is Oberon and Darnell, warming themselves by the fire and talking lightly about defenses.

[misfit]

Harrune will quietly arrive and approach the others. "Greetings gentlemen. Thank you for being here. Please, don't let me interrupt." Harrune will listen in to their discussion of the defenses and add an observation or two of his own along the way.

[Wyvern]

Alys turns up not long after Harrune, and acts similarly - listening in, and adding her own observations when she thinks that appropriate.

She's already dressed for the soiree later that evening, in a black dress with abstract geometric patterns* picked out in gold and crimson thread. A rapier sits on her left hip, and she's wearing a wide variety of golden puzzle rings and bracelets.

_____
* Those who bother to pay attention will find that the patterns never quite repeat; those with at least chaos rank warfare or psyche can figure out that the patterns actually represent some sort of coded message, though they might need quite some time (and scratch paper) to work out the meaning. It decodes to a relatively simple riddle:
I can dance, but not stand still;
I can show, but never tell;
I may rage, but never think;
I consume, but do not drink;
I may die, but am not born;
What am I?

[Rasanam]

Rasanam arrives next (presumably along with Lyra, but I'll let her post her own arrival); instead of joining the conversation, he spends his time looking out over the city and sketching in a notepad.

Anyone who looks over his shoulder will realize that he's mapping elevations and flow paths and, interestingly, intra-city trade routes; it seems he plans for the sewer system to also function as a set of underground canals to allow easy shipping of bulk goods within the city.

[ShadowOfPreservation]

Rasanam's presumption is correct. Lyra arrives in conjunction with her husband in her increasingly typical humanoid shadow dragon appearance. Like Alys, she's overdressed for a simple meeting but appropriately attired for the evening's later events. She gives Rasanam a peck on the cheek before heading over to the fire. As she passes Alys she smiles, taking note of the hidden riddle with a curious glance but refraining from comment.

Taking a seat she nods politely to those already seated. "Gentlemen." Like Harrune, she will add in her own observations where appropriate.

[Joshua]

"Almost everyone is here.." Darnell will state. "We were going to toss out some ideas as to what we might be facing. Although, I was interested in seeing Alys' potential insight into that. For defenses, we're actually fairly well prepared for that." he will shrug. "I think the trump decks are the main source of vulnerability."

[Wyvern]

"Definitely. That is most likely how it was able to find Aibne the other day - it had his card overnight, and could have acquired enough of a psychic impression to track him through shadow."

* * * * *

OOC: Did you mean to say "Harrune's potential insight", given that he's the one that just went out to get more information? At least offhand I'm not thinking of any insights into Hivers that Alys hasn't already shared...

...Actually, I found this post, which does seem to imply that there might be some further questions aimed at Alys.

If that's what was being referred to, assume she goes over her experiences again - possibly including a quick sparring match or two where she demonstrates the level of skill and strength it was able to push through one individual out of a group of five.

[Joshua]

Darnell shakes his head. "No, not that." He will interrupt Alys. "Look, I trust Dworkin's judgement, for the most part, but you know a bit more of what's out there than we do. I'm willing to respect your privacy, but... that thing out there is a bit dangerous. It does not seem to be pattern-based. While it resembles how trump works, with the mental connections, if that's what it is, it's a very fractured form of it. So, Mi'Lady Alystrakos Obsidia Sybaris*, does this resemble anything from 'back home'? I trust you to give us the details that matter, so, I won't pry beyond that, if you're sure..."
____________
*: He does pronounce this perfectly, without an accent.

[Wyvern]

Alys looks at Darnell and tilts her head to one side. "A reasonable question. 'Not as yet' is my current answer, but I seem to recall we were called here to discuss," she turns to look at Harrune instead, "New information? And that could certainly illuminate similarities I am not currently aware of."

[Veyska]

One moment one of the nearby parapets is empty; in the next there is an Asai sprawled atop it, complete with a handful of papers covered in dense scribbles*, a plate with a half-eaten meat-filled pastry of some sort on it, and a few stray crumbs scattered across plate and parapet both (but not the papers, amusingly enough). One writing quill is tucked behind an ear and another is held in one hand, occasionally making disconcertingly silent marks on the paper. Unlike Alys and Lyra Asai is most definitely not dressed for the evening yet, still sporting her normal day-to-day well-worn sort of harness and ink stains in at least four different shades** in the fur on her hands. It's hard to be certain, what with Asai being Asai on top of being a cat, but it seems probable that she wasn't actually there all along and just being sneaky about it; there is a hasty shifting of a foot to pin down one of the pieces of paper before it can do more than think about fluttering in a faint breeze that picks up a few moments after Asai appears and anyone close enough at the moment of her arrival could potentially have overheard her mutter something very faintly about "adding a 'warmest' condition next time". Her attention seems more focused on the papers, and it quite possibly is, but one ear tracks back and forth towards whomever is speaking at any given moment.

(*Shorthand on top of a personally developed set of abbreviations/whatnots in a language she's never bothered teaching anybody, plus from the looks of the diagrams here and there it's ridiculously high-level sorcery theory. It's not impossible for probably most of the people here to suss out some degree of meaning but probably not worth the time and effort.)
(**Including two shades of black.)