Strangers in Strange Lands (the Kier and Creampuff)

And THAT is why I love you too, you know just what to do, anytime.

Taking advantage of the diroriented fliers, Kieran resumes his almost dance-like steps. This time he's striking with the flat of the blade. Until he realizes they are still dieing from the strikes.

That didn't work, Kierenne wanted something to toy with, see if they are tamable...

Shifting tactics again, Kieran uses the jumps and lunges in a whirlwind to lash out with kicks, aiming for wings and limbs instead of the squishy parts.

As a handful flitter around, Kirean growls "Enough of this, this is taking too long."

You wanted one dear? I'll clean most up, and bring one down to see if they can be broken.

Fleshrender's blade bites through flesh, muscle, and bone, as Kieran seeks to end this quickly, until only one poor gargoyle remains.

"Phonglings, hold fire!"

Sizing up his last opponent, Kieran jumps at a wall, kicking off of it, to tackle the last flier out of the air.

Wrestling it once they hit the ground, keeping the pointy bits facing away from him, he calls "I've got something for you sweetheart!"

Now how to restrain it...

Hmmmmm. He is perfection. He is a god. A god of death, just now, but still a god., she thinks. She stands back and watches him in action, less necessary the fewer gargoyles are left in the air. She once again blinds the thing just before he can reach it, to help him get a better grip on it in the air, before they both tumble to the ground.

Once he has it down, she moves in to help disable the thing without killing it. Perhaps a kick to the head to knock it out, or a strangle like worked with Creampuff. Worst case, she uses the back of her sword to break a wing and both the things front legs. If it can't fly and can't walk, it wasn't going anywhere soon.

The last gargoyle ends up with a broken wing and two broken limbs as the Folk of Phong whip out small ropes and begin tying the thing down. It snarls and howls and even spits, but what can it do?

Meanwhile the eggs at the center of the chamber begin to shake slightly, at least some of them do.

Creampuff hisses.

Once the last victim is secured, Kieran turns hearing brave Creampuff's growling.

"Love, it appears we have cleaned up just in time. You shall get your wish, baby gargoyles."

Another resource to be used.

Taking a measuring look at the dead Gargoyles, then at the Phonglings, the corpses, the rodents, then at his sister.

Looking at her, he asks "Mighty Phonglings, are any of you afraid of heights?"

There is mirth in his voice as ideas begin to form, his eyes glinting with excitement.

Their ice lion foes won't be able to hit airborne targets, and these gargoyles, once grown and broken as mounts, should do nicely.

Remember the lizards in Kier? You think the same regiment would work on these?

The military leader shrugs. "A few."

Now the gargoyle eggs begin to crack as they rock back and forth. The Folk of Phong look anything but happy about this.

Kierenne gasps. "It's time for the eggs? Oh my self, oh my self, oh my self!" She eyes her brother, and nods. Gargoyle mounted Phong, vs. grounded Ice Lions... interesting. But I hope these little sweetlings grow quickly. You don't want to wait years before resolving the Ice Lion problem.

"Brave Phong, if you would be so kind as to vacate the room, please? My brother needs some time alone with his new pets. Leave the carcasses of the fallen gargoyles, please. Though, of course, collect our own." The new Goddess of the Phong helps collect any fallen or injured Phong and moves quickly out of the room.

Then she casts a barrier [Sorcery: Defensive Shield] over the open doorway, sealing Kieran in with the fresh meat, the hogtied gargoyle, and the hatching eggs. She sits down in the doorway to watch what happens behind the shimmering shield, and begins to direct the Phong in the clean-up.

"Fierce of Phong, how fares Forsoothly? Hrm. Too much aliteration, there. But, will he survive? We must finish cleansing the keep, to make sure there are no more hidden inside. And the few who escaped may try to return when the sun rises again. We should station Phong in defensible positions to bring them to heel before they can do any damage."

First, feed them. Once sated, offer more food. Establish I am a giver of food.

Move some of the corpses near the eggs, so the mindless young will have food upon their entrance to our world.

Kieran gathers as many of the other bodies in a corner, and stands before it, flowing Fleshrender from sword to staff. Kieran is ready for the young.

Softly he begins urging, "Yes, break free, break into our world. Your parents are gone, but now, there is a brave new world for you. And the Kier shall lead you into it." Kicking and screaming if need be.

The hardest part is getting them to follow. In mammals it takes years, the eggs let them grow some already, it should give us a leg up.

Realizing a possible flaw in his plan Dear, you may want to send some of the Phong to check for other eggs.

Softly he continues, "We have such sights to show you."

Kierenne sends the Phong to scout all of the keep.

They should look for any more gargoyles, capture them if it can be done safely, kill them if not, get her if it's a particularly strong pocket.

They should keep an eye out for any other clutches of eggs. Bring them back here, unless they're starting to hatch, then just get away from them / defend themselves.

If this keep is pretty much shaped like the Enclave, there are far too many openings to really be able to secure them all against rogue gargoyles who return. At least until Kieran gets doors and shutters and installed in them all, which could take a while.

However, the Phong should keep a lookout for any gargoyles who return, so they know where to send the hunting groups afterwards.

One by one the eggs crack open and creatures the size of kittens begin to emerge. Slimey, with tiny underdeveloped wings, they resemble the gargoyles easily enough. Understandably enough, they start looking for food. The gargoyle bodies are tough, so the hatchlings start on the wounds...

Elsewhere, Fierce of Phong reports that Forsoothly has been given some medicine to keep him quiet and some healers are working on his wounds. He requests a messenger be sent back to the nearby city to get reinforcements as well as to prepare laborers to clean out the Sacred Keep.

Patrols of the Phong Folk begin searching the rest of the structure.

Once the garglings have feasted, take one body, and toss it near them. Overdo the gesture.

If they can see, they will see that I bring food.

Kieran murmurs softly to them, reassuringly, "Eat little ones. Eat your fill."

It appears carrion doesn't harm them, this is good to know.

They will be easy to feed in the coming times if it doesn't need to be fresh.

After a time, one of the mice approaches Kierrenne and salutes. "Firmly of Phong, your greatness" he introduces himself. "we have found a locked door in the upper part of the Sacred Keep. This is the only door we have found in the entire structure and my commanding officer sent me to inform the Caretakers of this event."

"Interesting. Very interesting, Firmly of Phong. Is it the room..." and she describes the location to Dierdre's room in the actual Castle Amber. "I think I would like to inspect this door and this room." She rises and sends a message to her brother.

Dear heart, I'm going to go inspect a door the Phong have discovered above. It's locked. I will attempt to leave the barrier up, though I don't know what will happen to it if I stray too far from here, or if I am attacked or distracted. Be mindful, please. But they do not seem to be ready to fly just yet, so I do not expect there will be a problem even if the barrier disappears.

She struggles, trying to maintain concentration on the barrier while moving around the castle. She uses Kieran's mask to continue to view his immediate area, but the distortion makes this about as difficult as doing it without the local point of view.

As the Phong lead Kierrenne to the Door, she realizes this seems the way to the identical door in her own Enclave Castle--the one she and her twin could never manage to open. Her awareness of the key dropped by Prospero, now on her person, grows.

There! The one door in this so-called Sacred Keep. And it looks identical to the locked door of the Enclave. Down to the keyhole.

[Both the Kier are still, in fact, naked. Except for the masks, of course. Creampuff was carrying our stuff, but she put it down somewhere back before we came into the keep. The little dear wanted to play catch with the gargoyles, she got so excited.]

The Phong show her the door, and her eyes gleam from behind her mask. Sweetling, this is the door. THE door. The same door as the Enclave. Dierdre's room. Even the keyhole is the same; and Prospero's key would seem to fit inside.

Where is the key? Oh... damn. Creampuff had it with our clothes... that means its... outside the keep on the ground? Double-damn! She looks around at the Phong, "Wait here, dears. I must get the blasted key from where Creampuff dropped it."

She chants a few words and teleports to where she vaguely remembers last seeing Creampuff with their clothing, before it was dropped. Oh, probably the trump deck is in there as well. Best not leave that just lying about. She scouts around the ground, following their tracks back towards the keep, and finally spies the bundle of torn neoprene. In the pockets, sure enough, are the key and the trumps. Also the sheath for her sword is there. She takes a few minutes to squeeze into the diving suit again; the sight of it reminded her that the Phong had been looking at her naked this whole time. Once realized, there is no way she'd be able to face them again, while HOLDING suitable attire in her hands.

Teleporting back, she fiddles the key for a moment as she looks at the lock. Then she sighs dramatically. Brother dear, if you do not take my hand this moment and step through, you will miss the opening of the door. Choose now.

The young Gargoyles are happy, fat, and stupidly sleeping.

They have The Door here too? AND WE HAVE THE KEY!

Kieran starts bouncing up and down as the excitement of this forbidden place now is open to them.

"Phong keep them here somehow just keep them here it's the DOOR!"

HERE HERE HERE GRAB IT TAKE ME THERE DO IT KIERENNE NOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOW!

Kieran's hand is outstretched waiting for the clasp and pull. He's making grabbing gestures in his eagerness.

Kierenne reaches to her brother's hand and pulls him through. The distortion nearly bounces him off the far wall of the hallway, but otherwise there is no drama in the transport.

"Stand back, my Phong. No, much farther. In fact, around the corner there, if you would. I really have no idea what this will do." Once the Phong are behind a barrier, she uses Prospero's key to unlock the door, and then slowly (tries to) open it. Fire, or acid, or pure oblivion... who knows what we'll find inside?

The room beyond looks roughly-hewn, but the center rises in what looks like a scale-model copy of some unfamiliar mountain range or set of cliffs. Atop those cliffs, again still of stone, is what appears to be a copy of some magnificent city, one situated on a series of high points and connected by bridges. Most buildings of the city are domed, and there's a certain grandeur to the whole design. As if this were the capitol of some extraordinary empire. Away from what looks like a cliff-face are a string of wide elevated areas. On the other side of same would appear to be tiny docks. A closer examination reveals an odd design element throughout -- namely, that one whole side of this city seems to be a seaport, indicating the "model" lacks water. But if so then the waters would flow to a waterfall on the other side of the city. Imagining the geography of this place might cause headaches.

But even more importantly, a palace lies in the center of it all. One reared upon a rocky island and surrounded by tall towers. This palace includes an open courtyard that seems to be...glowing?

Yes. Glowing. Or more precisely, something inside the courtyard is glowing.

There, in the space of a small person's palm, is without any possible doubt a tiny broken Pattern!

Kierenne calls the image of her own, superior, pattern to mind. Careful not to trigger a response from the tiny little cousin, she studies the area: the miniature city, the miniature pattern, the whole room.

"Fierce of Phong, do you recognize this place? This has the feeling of a replica of another, larger place. Is that place real?"

Completely puzzled by the scaled down city/castle.

Sweets, what the Hells....where is that?

It's not Amber that I can tell, but we've never seen it from the air. The waterfall and lack of water around it ensures it's not Rebma, maybe it's that Tir'na Grandfather mentioned? I don't think we know the structures of it. A tiny broken pattern...can our zealots learn to walk shadows if they are strong enough to walk it?

Kieran peers closer at it, looking for movement.

If this is a minitature replica of someplace, obviously magical, it may be a true representation of what's going on now. Which might include people.

Images of the nude twins stomping on people and breaking buildings to pieces bring forth a tiny giggle from behind the mask.

Fierce of Phong examines the...model?...from every angle. "I have never seen anything like this," says the officer. With him standing there beside it, all thoughts of one of his people walking this Pattern become even more plainly absurd. Not even a newborn of the Phongfolk could navigate it. They'd be too large.

Within the tiny city, there's no sign of movement. No miniscule figures Upon truly close inspection, one motif does occur over and over in some of the larger buildings, especially the Palace. A figure carved into walls. Shaped into statues.

A unicorn.

The vision of this tiny city and its miniature Pattern feel...strange...when examined using the lens of another Pattern. Almost as if one's eyes were crossed and/or one tried to apply the wrong ends of two magnets together.

But then, very suddenly, instead of repelling, the two Patterns pulled! Towards each other. Literally as if the Twins are in the grip of a FORCE they don't understand! It feels something like when they walked their own broken Pattern, but different. Their hair stands on end, their teeth chatter and both feel nauseous.

Nearby the Folk of Phong put their paws to their ears and start screaming!