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07.04?: No Faeries Here

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:06 pm
by Wyvern
((I'd planned on cleaning this up further, but that hasn't happened yet, and it's been a while since this scene got run, so, posting it now regardless.))

Alystrakos catches up with Aibne around dawn, as he is approaching the festival area.

"Aibne," Alys nods politely in greeting, "Might I speak with you in private for a moment?"

Aibne blinks a little and looks up. "Oh, hello, Lady Alys. What can I do for you?"

"Nothing in particular; just some information Morgana wanted me to share." Alys heads toward an open-air a bit away from the festival, with enough line of sight to be certain nobody is close enough to listen in. "Oh, and well done on the speech last night; I know others have mentioned that already, but it merits repeating none the less."

"Ah, yes..." he says, blushing a little and ducking his head. "Thank you, milady... it's just something that needed doing..." he says, following Alys closely.

"Yes. It did. And none of the rest of us could have done it."

Re: 07.03d: No Faeries Here

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:07 pm
by Wyvern
Alys continues once they're far enough from other people to prevent eavesdropping, "So - last evening I mentioned that sooner or later we'd run into someone with ill intent towards Amber. I did, in fact, have a particular place in mind - and Morgana and Lyra have decided that I should let the rest of Dworkin's royalty know sooner rather than later."

Aibne frowns a little and tilts his head, hand on his sword. "What is it?"

"Chaos. The place Dworkin came from. It is a land of shapeshifters, in the same way Amber could be called a city of sorcerers; it is... individually less real, but its inhabitants far more numerous. And something Dworkin did stripped their greatest power, their equivalent of Pattern, from the former ruling clan - when I left, it was Chaos in truth and not just in name. It will take some time for any sort of order to be restored, and longer still for any of them to find their way here... but whoever comes out on top will not remember Dworkin fondly."

"So, what are we supposed to do about it?" Aibne asks, tilting his head, frowning deeply.

"Right now? Nothing. Prepare, strengthen this place, design defenses knowing we may have to deal with creatures capable of taking on the face and voice and manners of our allies... though they will not be able to fool Trump - or Pattern, if you can find a way to see with that Power."

Aibne thinks a little, frowning. "Would they be able to steal memories?" he asks, tilting his head.

"Somewhat; it is a thing that only the most skilled among them would be able to attempt, it would not remove memories from the original, and by and large those memories would remain tied to the specific persona."

Aibne nods a little and thinks. "Then, against most of them, having an identifier code will keep us who we say we are... at least for the first time."

Alys nods. "And in some cases, even that much would not be necessary; I could - with some effort - make myself look like, say, Oberon - but I could not mimic how he moves and talks, and such a disguise would only fool those who did not know him."

Aibne blinks a little at that, suddenly on the defensive. "I see," he says, frowning, staring at Alys.

Re: 07.03d: No Faeries Here

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:08 pm
by Wyvern
Alys laughs. "And how did you think I knew about all this? Yes, I came from Chaos myself; I was alive before Dworkin drew the Pattern. But I have no friends or family left there, and I'm glad enough to see its erstwhile rulers humbled."

Aibne nods a little and purses his lips. "I will consider this," he says, frowning."Thank you, Lady Alys."

Alys smiles and nods. "Good. If you have any particular questions about the place, its people, or its powers, do feel free to ask; I will not always have an answer, but I will share what I can. And," her smile widens, "I certainly will not blame you for a bit of reasonable paranoia; indeed, I'd be a bit disappointed if you simply took my words as truth."

He growls a little. "The Faekin speak no lies, but no truth either," he says, crossing his arms and glaring at you. His fingers are almost visibly itching.

"A lie by omission or implication is still a lie, at least as I see such things." Alys shrugs. "Which does little to establish that I'm telling the truth, I know. I am, of course, but I can hardly expect you to simply accept that."

He sneers, shaking his head. "The words of the Fae are meaningless, twisted out of any sense of proper definition. But if what your kind says is not a lie, not in and of itself," he growls.

Alys' eyes narrow. "I am not Fae."

Re: 07.03d: No Faeries Here

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:09 pm
by Wyvern
"You are a creature of the lands without form," Aibne corrects, almost snarling. "You are not of the court of The Other World. But you are still Fae and kin of Fae."

"We seem to have some different definitions in play; those called 'Fae' here - the likes of Ossian or Asai or Harrune - are creatures of Pattern, not Chaos. I suspect the place I come from is rather farther afield than your 'Other World'."

"The Other World is Tir Na Nog, home to the Tutha de Daanan. They fought the Fomors, from who the Unseelie are descended, and banished them from the Isles to make way for the Fifth People," Aibne says, pursing his lips and glaring at Alys.

"The only Tir'na Nog'th I know is the castle that turns up here in Amber; likewise, the term 'unseelie' is one I've only encountered in the domain of the Pattern. The term 'fomor' I've heard used to refer to those dead or dying from pushing their shapeshifting too far; certainly not an organized group, nor one anyone would have cause to fight. The rest of the terms I'm not familiar with, though the way you string them together sounds vaguely similar to at least a dozen different mythologies I've encountered in my travels."
"Here, let me ask you a question in turn: Are you familiar with the legend of the Abyss Hound? Or the place Mor'Draes-Yev?"

Aibne blinks a little and frowns, obviously caught off guard. "No, not at all..."

"The former is a common myth from my homeland, about a particular sort of hound said to escort the souls of the dead into oblivion. Almost entirely false, but only almost. The latter was a fortress-city, destroyed… a very long time ago; I cannot fault you for not recognizing the name."

OOC: There was a chunk of discussion here about relative psyche levels and whether or not Aibne might recognize that, to Alys, "Mor'Draes-Yev" means "home". The end conclusion was that yes, he could.

Aibne frowns a little and looks at you, slightly calmer. "I see..." he says quietly, shaking his head. "I will consider what you have said."

Re: 07.03d: No Faeries Here

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:10 pm
by Wyvern
Alys nods politely. "Then that was all for now. Oh, though I would ask that you keep this in some degree of confidence; I'm letting the rest of Dworkin's royalty know at Morgana's request, but I'd prefer things go no farther than that."

"Understandable," Aibne says slowly, nodding. "I can understand why you wouldn't want everyone to know."

"More than that, it seems that Dworkin does not want everyone to know - I considered keeping my secrets entirely to myself, but I'd rather not report to someone who's missing vital information."

Aibne nods a little, frowning and considering. "Well, regardless," he says, pulling out a scrap of paper and scribbling something. "I think we should collect passwords. Perhaps you- they, have not infiltrated our ranks yet. But they will, and they might try to imitate us. This will be mine."

"A reasonable precaution against the less-skilled among them, though not one I'd choose to rely on. Trump should work more reliably - it is a thing that they do not have or know about, and the longer we can keep it that way, the better."

"What do the cards have to do with anything?" Aibne asks, immediately and intensely confused.

"They allow mental contact, communication, and travel. And they are a Real Power - they will not be fooled by shapeshifting alone. Dworkin might be able to… hijack a connection, using some combination of mastery of both shapeshifting and trump, but no-one else should be capable of that."
"I suspect that is part of why Dworkin made them; I have not attuned to the Pattern, and without something like Trump, I would be hard-pressed to prove whether or not I was being impersonated."

"At least, until someone figures out how to reproduce the effects of the cards." Aibne frowns, crossing his arms and thinking. "It shouldn't be too difficult, with an idea of how it works..."

Re: 07.03d: No Faeries Here

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:12 pm
by Wyvern
"Real Power is always difficult," Alys replies. "And there is always a price to it - the Logrus, the power of Chaos, charges in madness - a cost that can be undone, at least in theory, but cannot be avoided. Pattern and Trump… I do not know what their price is, and prefer not to find out the hard way."

Aibne frowns a little. "I suspect it might be one's life," he says slowly, shaking his head. "Regardless. I'm sure it's not that bad. Even if the old man is obviously insane."

Alys shrugs. "If you figure out either of those, please do let me know; Pattern would be… useful. I'm simply unwilling to pay an unknown price when I do not need what it would gain me."

The bear nods a little and considers, shrugging a little. "It is something to look into, at least," he says. "Doesn't Dworkin have an assistant or something?" he asks, pulling out his deck.

"I know he's been teaching some of Trump to Darnell and Rasanam. Or were you talking about Quinn?" Alys asks.

"I don't know. Possibly. They would be the person to ask, at least. I think one of those you mentioned was one of the first people in Amber."

"Quinn, yes. He has been… remarkably elusive, actually; I think I saw him once when I arrived, and that was it. Still, I'm in no rush at the moment; from what I've heard, the easy uses of Pattern don't even work here."

"Walking the Shadows here is rather difficult, yes," Aibne says, nodding. "But there are a couple of paths that lead you straight there, wherever you need to go. The Merchants use a lot of them."

Re: 07.03d: No Faeries Here

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:15 pm
by Wyvern
"It seems at last most of us got a trump card for our home - the Hanged Man. Some of the others can use that to get out relatively quickly." Alys says.

"I haven't... really gone through this," Aibne says. "The Hanged Man?" he asks, rooting through it, frowning a little.

"So I hear. My deck doesn't have that card, though, so I can at least guarantee he didn't give those out to everyone."

Aibne nods a little, frowning, but a little more relaxed. "Well, if your home was destroyed many years ago, it's possible you haven't one anymore. I..." He pulls out a card and stares at it, before quickly shoving the deck back into the bag, frowning deeply.

"Well, perhaps something to look into later? Or you could always ask, though it's anyone's guess as to how useful an answer Dworkin would provide."

"I don't... want to talk about it," Aibne says sullenly, stuffing the bag into another bag and lifting it onto his back.

"Fair enough. Anything else we should discuss now, or should I leave you to whatever you were doing?"

"I don't..." he breaths out slowly. "Do you have anything else you need?"

"Not at the moment, no. Though… I suppose you would probably be able to answer this: how is Rogbar recovering?"

Aibne laughs a little. "Oh, if you don't give him a wound that's immediately fatal he recovers in moments."

"Good to hear that; I'll have to collect on that sparring match sometime soon, then."

"Oh, I doubt that he'd put up too much of a fight. He just won't go down," he says, laughing a little. "He trains the recruits, and gets Weapon Master Wilheim to do the specialties."

Alys blinks, and doesn't seem entirely pleased with that answer. "I suppose we'll see." She'll nod politely again and - unless further conversation happens - head off towards the jousting tournament.

Aibne nods a little, shrugging, and heads off, turning up next in The Wander Inn.