Into Judgement

[Alistair]

78th of Ashan, Arc 719
Continued from here.

As night had passed, it was now Ashan seventy-eight. And within the old Arkenstone Castle, found at one of the lowest depths of the Underway, Alistair continued to pursue the Crux as he woved through the corridors of the palace and narrowly escaped his grasp. The mage held his blade firmly in the grip of his clawed gauntlet, prepared to lodge it into the form of the enemy the moment he managed to catch him. Despite Alistair's incredible speed, however, the Crux was fast and continued to levitate across gaps that Alistair could not traverse easily without Rupturing. The mage was left taking the long way through each of his attempts to catch up to him, though as they ran through the castle he eventually forced the opposing mage to shut off the Drought for just a trill - in order to Galvanize the floor to become hostile to Alistair.

But Alistair took that moment to blink to him. The moment the Crux's hand met with the floor in order to create a Galvanized trap for the Paragon to succumb to, Alistair swung his blade horizontally and lopped off that same hand. He strafed sideways and then behind the Crux to avoid the Transmuted floor, then swung his blade again in a quick sweep, with such force that Alistair easily swiped through the Revealed Mage. Or so he thought. His blade had been Splintered, making it evident that the other mage was not only a Revealed Transmuter but also a powerful Rupturer. Still, there was no coming back from this moment. Alistair quickly mentally applied a Rune of Speed onto each arm, only to propel his fists forward so quickly that they could not be perceived.

He punched through the chest of the man, the Crux quite literally imploding from within as a mess of falling blue light and gore. He fell against the floor, rapidly, and Alistair - with the Splinter faltering - quickly lunged downward with his blade to impale the Transmuter's skull.

And it worked, this time. He was dead.

But Judge continued to battle with Jericho, downstairs. And Alistair... didn't want to kill the automaton. He was a valuable piece of architecture - truly irreplaceable in their time. If there was one benefit he would acquire from coming down to the Underway, it would have to be Judge. The Transmuter had managed to activate and control him . . . so how?

Alistair splintered the floor beneath him with Rupturing, multiple layers of it, in fact. He would fall through one and land on his feet only to meet with the next floor. As he did so, he pondered again how he would ever manage to acquire the entity's loyalty. Given that he was an ancient automaton, he knew that it had to be some sort of technological method that was far beyond his current understanding. The corpse of the Crux, he noticed had nothing in particular; no object to control him, no emblem or sigil to show to him that would command his trust... nothing.

[Alistair]

"Judge," Alistair called out as he met with the floor of the foyer, removing his mask so that he could meet the automaton face-to-face. "That will be enough. There is no need to pursue this man any further."

The automaton eyed him, expressionlessly. "I do not take orders from you," it replied. "I take orders only from--"

"I am King Arkenstone," said the Paragon. It was a lie, of course . . . but it brought the creature pause. "King Alistair Arkenstone of Quacia, and I will take you to the surface - to my dominion - and finally show you out of these wretched tunnels if you will believe me. I'm going to be straight and point out that you haven't seen the previous King in some time -- not for a long, long time in fact, am I correct?"

The Puppet only continued to stare, and Alistair recalled that he did have an emblem - within his Domain Bag, a sigil of House Arkenstone on a copper-gold colored, metal badge that he used to inform others that he was a royal advisor. A method of acquiring... shortcuts within surface society. And it appeared to compel the eyes of the Puppet greatly.

"I serve the Royal King Arkenstone," the creature blankly replied. It was likely scripted dialogue; Alistair did not understand how the Puppets worked, but the entity stepped forward passively only to present itself before Alistair and kneel, its fists meeting the stone floor. "Welcome back to your castle, King Arkenstone. I have been waiting a very long time."

- -

And so they left the Underway, returning to the surface. Alistair portaled all of them into Woodstock Hall, with Phorcys returning to bathe in the courtyard pond and Jericho inspecting Judge relentlessly in fascination. The automaton, meanwhile, appeared to follow every single one of Alistair's commands and even could dispatch a seat from his back for Alistair to ride on. And so, the mage did, as the creature roamed across the courtyard seeking a form of programming from the mage. Alistair obliged him, asking him to change his word choice for a lot of his core dialogue. It was strange speaking to an automaton in such a way, though Alistair found his technology fascinating and he wondered how he had originally been built - as well as how the Quacians had never managed to replicate him.

He examined the creature a great deal. He was tall - taller than Servant and Knight to some degree at around twelve feet, making him just large enough for Alistair to ride on his back. His body could not accept Runes, and whether it was because he was not a living entity or due to some strange magic nullification he had... Alistair was uncertain. But the anti-magic material of his armored plating appeared to be nearly absolute, any ether touching him dispersing rapidly. The plating was dense against other forms of weaponry as well, making him a titanic hulk that he imagined could not be easily dispatched.

His fists were the truly fascinating bit of him - they could change into almost anything. Alistair asked him to turn them into blades, hammers, axes, and incredibly a long lance - and he did. He appeared to be effective with all manner of weapons as well, following some sort of core martial principle that made him dangerously skilled in combat.

Alistair did not realize how strong the Puppets were, but now he had one that appeared to be loyal to him... retrieved straight from the Underway. His attire would need to be washed and cleared of three centuries of dust and debris, but other than that he looked to be in good shape. Alistair was overjoyed at the prominence of his find.

For now, though, the mage returned to his studies and wondered whether they should go again. He also knew that Judge had to be transported to Helice, likely through a Gateway as the automaton needed to be seen by no one in Quacia. He would likely be taken as property of the crown, as the addition of another Puppet into Arkenstone's arsenal would certainly give them a weighted advantage over the Theocratum. His acquisition would also greatly boost the morale of the Quacian people, but certainly the King would seek to take credit himself for the find.

Alistair had to be careful of who saw him and who he interacted with. Even on Helice. It was one thing to be colonizing an island beyond the King's jurisdiction - which Edmund appeared aware of already - and it was another to be willfully holding legendary 'crown property' for himself.

Tonight, then, Judge would be returned to the archipelago. And he would not see these lands for some time - not until, perhaps one day, Alistair truly was sitting on their throne.

[Rakvald]

Comments

Hmm, I think the way Alistair commanded the thing out of the blue was interesting... It leaves all sorts of things open if that automaton is so easily persuaded as to his royal blood. Then again...

Anyway it was a good thread series. I really enjoyed the atmospheric nature of these threads and the gloomy darkness of their setting. It really drove home the ancient nature of Quacia, that it has so many substrata to their city, and that not much has actually changed over the aeons.

Enjoy your new pet.

Knowledge

Blades (Claymore): Severing a mage's hand as they cast
Blades (Claymore): Reacting to being splintered
Blades (Claymore): Downward lunge
Blades (Claymore): Always be quick and aggressive
Blades (Claymore): Impaling a downed foe's head
Deception: Improvisation

History: The Quacian Puppets
Judge: My Own Puppet
Judge: Automaton
Judge: Believed that I'm King Arkenstone

Loot

+1 Puppet Automaton, Judge.

Injuries/Overstepping

Renown

+15 renown. Unknown to Alistair, the Crux mage had reach on the surface world, a dead man's switch that would prompt others to be aware that the Titanic Hulk had been absconded with.

Wealth Points

no

Experience

10/10 points may not be used for magic domains.