The Internal Affairs

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Serena
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Posted by Serena »


He was not unfamiliar to the promises of knowledge, it was the basic form of temptation he had been subjected to, during the years. But he had also always been relatively good at setting priorities and weeding out unneeded risks - key word being "relatively", since he had already collected a fair amount of risk that day alone, and although he was trying hard to not let his mind wonder toward that dark corner, the doubt was there.
Why was he even doing this all?

He retrieved the information he needed about the place, dug a bit more to know about its defences and guards, and then immediately discarded the bit about the teleport. He was not going to rely on anything that didn't come from him, and he was already prepared for interplanar travel anyway, considering what his purposes were.

He was already about to leave the alien dreamscape, unwilling to spend in there more time than it was strictly needed, when the words of the fiendess reached him and had him halt for a brief moment. There was almost an audible sigh, and in it, a tiredness that could not possibly be hidden despite the obvious resolve.

"::: I am completely aware I am a puppet, Prosecutor. But then again, takes one to know one :::"

And with that last gratuitous, almost careless jab he disappeared once more.
"Hand me my shovel, I'm going in!"

Plays: Aidan Rhistel - Factor and Law Representative of the Fated
Feel free to reach to me IC for enlisting or general faction rp
Slayer of Love
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:54 pm

Posted by Slayer of Love »


Back in his mind Rhistel already knows has the answers, that only waited to be called to surface. A mental image of the rough location forms before him.

Image

He recalls that to get there one would need to go in the direction set by a straight line drawn from the first peak of the Ribcage Mountaints towards the Tower of Pain. Landmarks in Malbolge, rumoured to be the remains of the Hag Countess, the late ruler of the layer, deformed in spasmic pains to gargantuan sizes by the malignant magic that deposed her. In this direction he would head from Birthing Pits, another well-known landmark where uncounted amounts of sinful souls are devoured by the evil land as they, bereaved of memories and uniqueness; and molded into lemures left to stray their new home. In roughly a thousand miles from there, he would see an edge of a cliff, and beyond an endless chasm, a steep, rocky slope under an immense, perpetual avalanche.

Even if he shields himself from the boulders battering the area constantly, he will need to fly another hundreds of miles in midst of the torrential bombardments, and then try to find between them a small and rather indistinct rock falling together with the endless avalanche, with ruins of a copper fortress carved within, where Maraphiel is held.

On the bright side once Rhistel gets there, there are no guards nor a single devil in the desolate area, and there is magic stabilising the boulder, preventing it from violent collisions and halting its rolling, rigged to activate when somebody else than prisoner gets there.
Last edited by Slayer of Love on Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Serena
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Posted by Serena »



He frowned lightly at the over-comprehensive description he managed to get, wondering if Alecto ever really bothered getting in that location in such a bothersome way like flying through a storm of killer boulders - among other things. Still, he acknowledged the information, and then went to focus more specifically on the facility itself where the deviless was currently kept.
No guards, no wards preventing incoming rifts in the area outside the cage... it was enough for him to make a choice.

----

It was not too long after, in that specific cave hidden under the eternal avalanches, and just few feet away from the forcefield in place to hold the brachina in, that the space started to distort, wrapping itself and folding in a peculiar but well recognizable fashion for anyone familiar with planar travel.
Eventually, a vertical rift formed and the plane was torn apart, natural light filtering through it as the shape of the half drow stepped through it and into the cave without a word. His gaze leveled on the inside of the cage and rested there for a handful of seconds.

"Maraphiel."

"Hand me my shovel, I'm going in!"

Plays: Aidan Rhistel - Factor and Law Representative of the Fated
Feel free to reach to me IC for enlisting or general faction rp
Slayer of Love
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:54 pm

Posted by Slayer of Love »


The cave is chiseled between thick blocks of copper that once made the walls of a larger fortress. When Rhistel is entering it is spinning around irregularly, but soon as his transition into the plane is complete the violent motion ceases, and the boulder centres itself so that the floor is actually beneath Rhistel's feet.

Behind the forcefield there glistens eerily a piercingly bright beacon of an enthralling light of golden, that draws the bewitched attention of an unwitting eye like moth to a flame. The radiant presence awakens in one a profound sense of upset, an inborn dread so primeval that it is the very soul that brims over with it. And yet, in spite of this imposing trepidation almost choking the life out of one from within, those deep fears stirred in the farthest corners of the soul are not repelling, for there is a captivating allure to the sight. A mystic beauty transcending all that which is profane, whose witnessing elates in one an equally primordial cascade of archetypic warmth, compelling peace and strangely gathering spiritual ecstasy. As the eye gets used to the brilliance one can catch a glimse of its source. A whirling concentration of energy, dense enough to take a shape of a statusque woman of an idealised figure. Hundreds of weightless freckles floating freely, distortions in the light stretching in long, flattened stripes that bend and reflect that light like prisms, form towering wings on her back.

When the rock stops its angular motion abruptly, with all that divine awe and splendour of her true form, the phantasmal spectre bashes into the prison's copper floor, laced with impassable to spirits gold, and shielded through sinister wardings. And now that the boulder is stable, she looks comically clumsy laying half on the wall, half on the floor, fallen upside down.

A vibrant resonance quakes the copper blocks of the cave, an otherworldly tone of a choir of many distorted, enchanting femine voices wails with rampant wrath.

"Who dares disturb my rest?" Maraphiel asks sternly in effort to save her face as she hovers up to a more natural position. Noting Rhistel is a relief, and now even on that immaterial concentration of spiritual energy he can somehow see that ever present, mildly crooked, wry smirk of hers.

"Aww... Of course it's my knight in the shining armour.

Been ...a while, sweetheart... How have you been? I can see you've made some ... new friends ...""
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Serena
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Posted by Serena »


Torn, dirty clothes, bruised and pale, weak and possibly on the brink of collapsing: her "knight in shining armour" was definitely not in the mood for flattery, even less than usual, if that was even possible, an idle snarl deforming his upper lip as he stared at the trapped spirit. When he spoke, his tone vibrated with seething anger, his voice unnaturally high compared to the familiar low baritone of the half drow.


"A mortal? Did you... Really think a mortal could trap me?! An amateur, who had not the slightest idea of what he was doing!" the words were spat with a growl as he stepped closer to the force wall.
"I had knights take care of him, he kept hiding and running like the vermin he is... Only to pull this stunt and fail. Didn't even have the decency to beg for mercy when I started tearing his consciousness apart..."
There was a pause, followed by a faint, smug smile
"Oh, but he was useful. He had discovered so many things while you were... Otherwise occupied. So many useful information in such a pitiful vessel.

I hope you aren't too attached, however. Because what I'm going to do to him will make the treatment I reserved for the Twice Exiled pale, in comparison.
Not that you won't have soon other pressing matters to worry about."



"Hand me my shovel, I'm going in!"

Plays: Aidan Rhistel - Factor and Law Representative of the Fated
Feel free to reach to me IC for enlisting or general faction rp
Slayer of Love
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Posted by Slayer of Love »


Not quite what Maraphiel wished to hear, but of course she is not going to give Alecto the satisfaction of having wiped that wry smirk off her face.

"Hm, hm, hm.." small chuckle "Knights... you mean like... plural? And they didn't even handle a single mortal? I mean, doesn't really seem like a ...bar set too high... does it... but then, I suppose, ambition is a subjective thing..."

In the least the first part of the plan has gone well enough. Maybe it does not grant Maraphiel an upper hand, but it is something to work with.

"Funny thing. Did you know, this body has to sleep a fourth maybe a third of a cycle, otherwise it just breaks down? Oh, but wait, there's a better one. Did you know it has to be watered and fed like every couple hours? And then instead of assimilating it as you go, it... ugh" she pulls a grossed out, uneasy smile snarkily "I'm just saying. It is going to be hillarious, your discovering these quirks. Like a little baby in grown man's skin, so ...cute... and pathetic."

"So this begs just a tiny, teensy question... who do you reckon is going to set you free when I'm busy with ... pressing matters...?"
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Serena
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Posted by Serena »


"Hah, you find it funny, don't you?" he retorted with a snort, making to look for something in the bag still miraculously attached to his belt. "But I already know how to get rid of it, he provided those information for me. I'm going to shed this filthy sack of flesh like a..." he stopped himself abruptly at that, the act dropping all of a sudden and leaving his face almost expressionless as he pulled what he was looking for out of the bag: a wand, suspiciously identical to the one used by the Hell Knight earlier. He pointed it toward the force wall, finally looking back at the golden spirit.

"As fun as this is, I am afraid I can keep this portal open just for a minute more before I collapse," he stated simply, his voice finally returning to its old, rather distinctive, jaded note. "And to answer your question: no, your friend has no idea how mortal bodies work, thank you for asking."

And with those words, the disjunction was fired, and this time, it didn't miss its target.
"Hand me my shovel, I'm going in!"

Plays: Aidan Rhistel - Factor and Law Representative of the Fated
Feel free to reach to me IC for enlisting or general faction rp
Slayer of Love
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:54 pm

Posted by Slayer of Love »


Maraphiel is somewhat stirred with the sudden change in Rhistel's behavious. Was it him and Alecto struggling for control? Was it but a prank? Is that how damsels in distress are treated now? But, for once the accursed forcefield is dispelled, and she has better things to do than ponder on that. She leaves the containment area hastily, unusually not jesting - at least for that moment, as though it is not entirely certain if Rhistel doesn't change his mind any moment.

"I'll tell you what, dear, that motion I will second."

Soon as the deviless is out of the containment zone, she tests her ability to command magic and pleasantly finds the arcane energies swirling vigorously once more at mere wave of her hand. She heads intently towards the portal, calling forth numerous arcane wards, primarily centred around shielding herself from divinations.

One final look cast around yet another prison that has not held her, one final victorious, smug smirk. As her gaze trails around the room it chances eventually upon Rhistel, and the grin she had turns into a sheepish, awkwardly guilty smile. And then she hops into the portal.
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Serena
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Posted by Serena »


"Don't give me that look, just move."
It was the only idle retort she got: both probably knew that wasn't the right place to have a conversation anyway.
He waited for her to be on the other side and then just followed suit in the rift, letting it close definitely over the cave and behind their back....

"Hand me my shovel, I'm going in!"

Plays: Aidan Rhistel - Factor and Law Representative of the Fated
Feel free to reach to me IC for enlisting or general faction rp
Slayer of Love
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2020 4:54 pm

Posted by Slayer of Love »


The following day the jury assembles again. Their session commences with the floor being taken by marchioness Enepsigos, who was reported by numerous spies to have been paid a brief, secretive visit by count Virgil earlier. She announces, likely blackmailed by Virgil to avoid a scandal revolving around herself, that the accused was abducted by the prosecutor, whose betrayal the marchioness supposedly "flushed out in an elaborate provocation", pretending to cooperate with the prosecutor gone rogue until she had an undeniable confirmation of Alecto's guilt. Right after that confession, Maraphiel appears in full splendour before the commission much to their surprise, arching proudly on a black silk bed carried on a hovering golden chariot. She confirms Enepsigos' story, and adds to it that Alecto has been "neutralised when resisting arrest". Viscount Tiberon is pressed by other jurors to admit that Alecto's actions were unauthorised and unsupported by the maladominian court. Seeing as there remains only one competitor for the post, the dreaded count Tacitae is convinced the stronger has been revealed, which is enough for him to change his decision to support Maraphiel. The vote ends with a result of 4 in Maraphiel's favour, three against and two undecided, and thus she is restored to her position.

Maraphiel walks the streets of Sigil once more, flaunting her uniform, badges and decorations in public display of returning to favour. Like any self-respecting baatorian commander that's just fended off a coup d'etat, she makes sure her less diplomatic side is felt by those who'd challenge her, and over subsequent days there appear numerous incidents of devils being made a brutal example of in mysterious circumstances across planes, in Baator and even in Cage. Not coincidentally, most of those concern Maladominians, Minaurosians and Phlegethosians with ties to noble courts of their layers. To Maraphiel's dissatisfaction, pursuant to Virgil's and Enepgisos' secretive agreement, her purge should largely spare the ranks of the treacherous, falsely allied Malbogians, and extracting the payback from them is going to have to wait for a more subtle and cunning scheme to be put in motion. But, she has all the time in the 'verse, and she is not going to let it go easily.

There remains only the slight issue of Rhistel becoming the walking prison for her competitor Alecto, sealed into his body through the hideous, ancient ritual. These mortals, they always get so pettily niggling when something happens that confronts them with all their repressed despair and terror of powerless insignificance in the darkly incomprehensible enormity of the 'verse. Admittedly... the insidious deception might have had something to do with his mood also. Their first confrontation doesn't go as smoothly as the fallen spirit would wish, and the sleep or reverie depravation Rhistel experiences begins to bode truly ill, but at last after the supervised rest he has, caged and shackled in Siren's Song brig, brings back that coldly rational, pragmatic Taker she has had him for. And so she thinks maybe at last he'll come to see that it is partly for the sake of his own wish that she led him into his current predicament. It wasn't a nice move, oh no, she realises that, but as things oft are with Maraphiel, she won't let that guilt flourish, for she has a bigger picture on the mind...
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