Arc 2 – Part 3
"This isn'tInnistrad either!"complained Einar as they emerged from the Void onto grey stone cobbles. The sun was hot and high in the sky, and Serana hissed in irritation as she drew her cowl back up.
"How do you know?" said Capri, jabbing a finger at her snarky mortal friend and trying to ignore how tired she felt. "And it's 'Innitgrad!'"
"Because Innistrad had a void platform that wasn't wrecked, for one thing," said Einar. "And the architecture was totally different. For fucks sake Capri, you said you had a map! This is the fourthPlane you've taken us to, and it's still not the right one!"
"I do have a map!" shot back Capri, holding up one of her journal and opening it to a page filled in small, neat, and easy to understand draconic.
Then she turned it the right way up.
Then she turned it again when she realised it had been, of course, right the first time. Damn mortals confusing her with their nonsense.
"Those are notes, not a map!" said Einar.
"It's a dragon map!" she said. "You- you just can't read it because you're a stupid mortal! And it's a million times better than your map! I just… I was distracted! You mortals are always talking and arguing and telling me off! It's so unfair!"
Einar took a deep breath. "OK, OK, we're here now, that's what matters," he said, clamping down on his typical mortal hysteria in a way that was almost admirable. "Tomorrow we will head back to Nirn, and then take the other path I wantedto go down in the first place. Until then, this looks like a city, so let's try and find an inn."
They had emerged out into a large promenade lined with stalls. The buildings were squat, stout grey stone, and Caprifexia couldn't see any obvious difference between them and the sort she'd seen on Innitgrad, no matter what Einar said. She could smell salt on the air, indicating they were near the sea, which was nice, along with the generalised stinkof mortal-kind that became truly awful when it reached high enough concentrations – cities, which was far less so.
It wasn't so bad in places like EHPWBVMS, or 'Kaladesh' as Chandra insisted on, where they had reasonably advanced magic and technology. Not as advanced as her people had had on Azeroth, of course, but still, not bad for a bunch of mortals. But this place, clearly, was lacking in that department.
There were a few dozen people coming and going about their business, all humans. They looked at Caprifexia's group with fear, shouting and screaming and pointing at Caprifexia in particular.
"Demon!" screamed one man, dropping the basket of eggs he had been carrying and dashing off in the other direction. "Demon!"
"Someone get the Templars!" shouted another, as the crowd began to wake up, start screaming, and bolted away from them in every direction. "Get the Templars!"
"Well, that went well," said Serana as the market square rapidly emptied and the screams faded into the distance. "You really have a way with people, Capri."
"I can't be blamed for the neurosis of mortals," sniffed Caprifexia, reaching over and grabbing a skewer of fried fish from one of the stalls which, per her understanding of mortal law, was abandoned, and therefore free. 'Finders Keepers,' she believed Einar had once called it.
"Maybe they don't have elves on this plane?" suggested Chandra in a weary voice, taking a skewer of meat from the stall Caprifexia had appropriated from. "There were no khajiit or argonians or orcs on Kaladesh. And you don't have Vedalkin or Aetherborn."
"Fascinating!" said Lombardia, opening her journal to a new page and drawing out her fountain pen. "I wonder whycertain species crop up on different worlds and others don't?"
"Interesting as that question is, maybe we should leave before those 'Templars' turn up," said Einar. "Capri?"
"I've already 'walked four timestoday!" she protested. "I'm tired! It's hard taking so many of you! I didn't even want you to come!"
"Whoa, easy their Capri, I thought you said you were fine," said Einar.
"I could open a portal?" said Chandra.
"You've walked four times too, and no offence but you also look wrecked," said Einar. "It took Capri quite a while to build up her strength. And she is, well, can't believe I'm saying this, adragon."
It was true, Chandra was not a dragon, and sweat was beading on her forehead. Planeswalker she might be, but clearly her human limits were still holding her back. Poor thing.
"We'll keep that option in reserve," said Einar. "Let's try to find somewhere less conspicuous to rest."
"Hopefully somewhere with proper beds and nice thick curtains…" began Serana, before cocking her head and turning down the promenade towards where it curved away out of sight.
"What is it?" said Einar.
"Steel-shot boots," said Serana, stepping forward and putting a hand on the hilt of her sword. "These 'Templars,' perhaps."
Caprifexia of course also heard the approaching clank-clank-clank, but had simply chalked it up as part of the general slew irritating noise that one always found in mortal cities.
"Well, let's go the otherway then, shall we?" said Einar, grabbing Serana's elbow and trying to pull her the other way
"They're coming from that way too," said Serana, her head turning too and fro and drawing her blade. "Every way – wow, you reallypissed them off Capri. How do you always seem to manage this?"
"I didn't do anything!" protested Caprifexia. "It isn't my fault that this plane is clearly full of dragonist villains!"
The first of the city's overzealous and anti-dragon guards entered the square a moment later and her companions readied themselves: Caprifexia exhaled smoke as she warmed up her inner furnace, Lombardia snapped her fingers and cast a particularly thick-looking shield over them, Chandra summoned fire to her fists, Serana drew her sword, and Einar started waving his arms around in what was probably some cowardly attempt to 'de-escalate the situation.'
Unlike many of the worlds they had been to, but like Nirn, or at least Skyrim, this place had both male and female guards. Like many mortal phenomenon, Caprifexia hadn't really understood the logic behind what Einar had called 'socially prescribed gender roles.' Here, however, it seemed that both men and women could be villains. Was that, what did Einar call it? 'Possessive?' 'Progressive?' Something like that.
"Look, this is all a misunderstanding," said Einar, like a coward. "We're just travellers-"
"The demon has mages with it!" shouted a woman in heavy plate-armour emblazoned with a flaming sword. "Smite!"
The woman, and a dozen or so other men and women wearing similarly marked plate raised their swords into the air. The pointy metal sticks began to glow white, and Caprifexia was just about to snort in amusement when the gathered energy detonated and washed over Caprifexia and her charges.
To Caprifexia, the wave of magic was of little concern. She identified it as some kind of anti-magic field designed to impede the flow of energy both within her soul, and with its connection to the background cosmic energy of this Plane. Of course, since she was a dragon, an arcano-bio-engineered living super-weapon designed by minds so great they rivalled even dragons–the Titans–she had innate defences against such paltry tricks, and it had absolutely no effect on her.
Chandra's fire also continued to burn, probably for some less remarkable reason.
However, despite her claims of being an 'Archmage,' Lombardia's magical shield spluttered and died. The blonde looked down at her hands in shock.
That, however, was trivial compared to what happened to Serana. Even though the vampire hadn't been manifesting any overt magic, she went rigid as soon as the field of white-ish energy passed over her. Her sword fell from her hand and clattered noisily to the ground. She made a choking soul, foam appearing at her mouth as she swayed, falling to one knee as her skin began to turn a nasty looking shade of grey.
A ringing filled Caprifexia's ears as her friend collapsed entirely, drowning out the sounds of the villains' shouts and Einar's desperate cry.
Black veins creeping from the severed limb. Blood stained snow. The light fading from her friend's eyes-
They had hurt her friends.
They had hurt her friends.
A red haze descended on the world as Caprifexia reached for her Red mana, letting loose a roar that shook the marketplace Fire manifested around in a halo as chaotic energy from far off Nirn surged across the multiverse at her command. The advancing humans, who had been focused on Chandra, turned their gaze to Caprifexia and faltered.
"Capri," hissed Chandra. "What do we-"
"You darehurt my friends!?" roared Caprifexia, raising her hands above her head. "I'll kill you all!"
She slammed her fists down into the ground in front of her, and the promenade shook once more as the cobblestones and earth in front of her cracked and broke apart, whole areas liquefying and shifting into molten magma as she brought her natural gift for terramancy to bear.
Caprifexia wrenched her hands upward, and a wave of lava rose above the mortal to who had ordered the attack on her friends. Caprifexia bared her sharp teeth viciously as the wave peaked and villains screams cut out a moment after they started as the lava crashed down upon them and ended a good quarter of villains' lives in an instant before washing outward and smashing into the buildings on either side and setting them ablaze.
"Hah! Take that you villains! You are no match for a black drag-"
Something struck her in the stomach from behind. Hard.
She staggered and looked down, eye widening in shock at the sight of the crossbow that had emerged from the other side.
"Kavach!" screamed Chandra, raising a shaky shield above them before rushing to Caprifexia's side. "Capri! What do I do!?"
"A portal would be great right about now!" said Einar from where he was holding Serana.
Chandra took a deep breath and bit her lip. Golden light surged around her for a moment, before spluttering and dying. She swayed, and nearly fell over. Her shield flickered as crossbow bolts crashed into it, sending spiderweb cracks radiating from its surface.
"I- I'm too tired!" said Chandra, sweat dripping down her forehead. "And I can't hold this for long!"
"Capri!" said Einar. "Oh fuck. We need to go! Capri! A portal! Capri!"
Caprifexia grit her teeth and tried to focus, but she too was spiritually exhausted, and she failed to manifest a portal.
"I can't- I can't," she croaked. Her vision flickered. She tasted blood.
"Fuck!" said Einar. "Fuck!Lomeria!?"
"They've cut off my magic," said Lombardia, coming to Caprifexia's other side and steadying her. "Capri, Chandra, how are you resisting their anti-magic?"
"I am… dragon…" said Caprifexia woozily.
"I don't know!" said Chandra in a shaky voice. "But I can't do this much longer! We only started shields last week!"
"Lomeria, take Serana; Chandra, take Capri – I'll cut you a hole, then you get them out of here," said Einar standing and drawing the sword Caprifexia had won off an elder vampire she had heroically tricked and slain months and months beforehand.
"You won't make it," said Lombardia. "There are too many, you don't even have armour."
"Don't you think I know that?" shouted Einar. "But what option do we…"
He trailed off as ever so slightly aboveChandra's faltering dome shield another spell began to form. An illusion of darkness that started at the apex and crept down, obscuring more and more of the square around them and cutting off sound. The last thing that Caprifexia saw was the boots of the stalled, clearly confused villainous guards, and a series of gunmetal-grey cannisters that rained down around their feet.
Then the darkness spell sealed with the ground. There was something… strangefeeling about the magic involved. It wasn't the usual background energy that Nirnian and Azerothian mages wielded, nor was it the Red mana that she and Chandra could use – she could now feel the difference. But it was closerto Red: not fiery or chaotic, but cool, crisp, andprecise.
"Err?" said Einar. "Chandra?"
"That isn't me," said Chandra. "I don't know how to do that."
Outside the dome there were a muffled sounding 'bangs,'and a series of muted flashes.
Then the shield of darkness vanished and sound came rushing back, revealing a square full of screaming men and woman who were clutching the sides of their heads and writhing around on the ground, eyes pressed firmly closed.
Behind them, near an alleyway a slight figure in a cloak beckoned to them. Their face was obscured by a heavy hood, and their hands covered in blue-black velvet gloves that hid their skin tone.
"Come on!" they called out, their voice distorted by some kind of magic. "The flash-bangs won't keep them down forever!"
Chandra lowered the shield and helped Caprifexia to her feet, all but dragging her across the square as behind her Einar and Lombardia lifted Serana and followed, picking their way between the screaming and crying villains.
"Here," said the figure when they reached her, pressing a red phial into Chandra's hands. "It should stabilise her."
Chandra didn't hesitate, popping the cork and raising it to Caprifexia's lips. Caprifexia didn't know why exactly they should trust this random stranger, but didn't have the strength left to resist the liquid being poured down her throat.
Immediately, however, she began to feel a bit better. Her vision stopped flickering, and the pain in her stomach dulled slightly. She glanced over to see that Serana had taken a similar potion, and although it hadn't turned her skin back to its normal colour, she had stopped foaming at the mouth.
"Come on, my home isn't far – you'll be safe there," said the figure.
They stumbled after the figure, passing through decrepit alleyways, twisting and turning until they reached a road that bordered a stinking canal. There was a rickety looking wooden bridge that led to the other bank and an area that looked even morerun down that the city they had been moving through.
"Wait," said the figure, holding up a hand and drawing back into the shadows as a group of guards rushed over to the bridge and took up position. "Shit."
"What do the elves have to do with anything?" said one of the guards on the bridge.
"That demon looked like an elf," said one. "And you can't trust the pointy eared fucks. They're always up to something. Bet it was that 'Nightingale.'"
"Capri needs healing," said Chandra. "Dragons are tough, but she's really hurt!"
"Dragon?" said the figure, looking toward Caprifexia. "But… oh. Some kind of polymorph?"
"Does that matter now?" said Einar in an exasperated voice. "Is there another way across?"
"Ah, no, um, sorry," said the hooded figure. "And no, there isn't. One way into the alienage; they made it like that on purpose."
"My magic has not fully returned," said Lombardia. "And that group has one of the anti-mages. I don't believe it would be wise to engage them."
"Templars," said the stranger. "And we don't need to engage them…"
The figure edged forward toward the alleyway's corner and extended a hand. Once again Caprifexia felt the strange crisp energy as the stranger wove together a spell.
The guards looked up as in the distance there were five long horn blasts.
"They've found them, come on!" shouted the man with the blazing sword on his chestplate, breaking into a run in the opposite direction.
"Quickly," said the stranger as soon as the guards rounded the corner.
Chandra helped Caprifexia stagger after the stranger and across the bridge. As she'd seen, things were even more decrepit in the 'alienage' as the stranger had called the quarter. A large anaemic looking tree dominated the central plaza, and rickety, ramshackle buildings bled into one another. There were people too, as scruffy looking as the buildings.
Unlike the rest of the city which had been exclusively human, however, this 'alienage' seemed to be home exclusively to elves. They looked at Caprifexia and her companions with apprehension, but the presence of the cloaked stranger seemed to reassure them, and no one screamed or ran as they were hustled down a side street, into an alleyway, down another, before finally arriving at what at first glance appeared to be a dead end.
The stranger stepped forward and pressed her hand against the brickwork. Again crisp, cool energy flowed from her palm, this time dispelling some kind of illusion to reveal a steel door. If Caprifexia had been paying attention she would have of course seen it, but even so she had to admit it was impressively subtle.
The metal portal opened with a series of clicks, revealing a rather filthy tunnel leading downward. It was dark, but her vision shifted to show her it curved away out of sight. They descended, the door locking behind them and vanishing into brick as they moved perhaps a dozen meters below the ground. Chandra summoned some fire as the tunnel levelled out, leading back the way they had come. Here and there other tunnels forked away, and they turned left, then right, then left again before the stranger once again came to a seemingly innocuous stretch of wall.
Another spell, another door, this one that led into a large, well appointed looking subterranean workshop. Books lined the walls, workbenches were dotted here and there and strewn with half finished projects, and a set of large blackboards were scrawled with equations and diagrams for what looked like magi-tek weapons.
In the corner were several boxes that seemed to be filled with boom-sticks, and another that had more of the cylinders the hooded figure had used before. There was also a large desk, covered in papers, and a small lounge to which Chandra led her.
Thankfully Lombardia's magic seemed to have finally returned, and she immediately set to work, casting a numbing spell on her stomach before beginning to careful extract the bolt. Across from her she could see the stranger tending to Serana, who thankfully didn't look quite so grey anymore. That was good, Caprifexia didn't know what she would have done if one of her friends – even the disgusting lampray – had died. J'zargo's death, even if it hadn't stuck, still haunted her dreams.
"There, do you feel better little one?" asked Lombardia, ten minutes later when she lowered her hands.
"A little," she said brusquely, sitting up and willing her 'coat' –which was in reality simply an affectation of her mortal guise– to repair itself. "How is Serana?"
"Better," said the stranger. "The Templar's anti-magic really did a number on her. What is she?"
"Err," said Einar. "A, um, a Vampire."
The stranger took this in their stride without so much as a pause. "Explains it, most vampires depend upon magical processes to replicate normal biological functioning," she said. "I guess Smites disrupt that."
"And what are… you?" asked Einar.
"Me?" said the stranger. "Oh! The hood! Sorry."
The figure reached up and pulled the hood down, dispelling the illusion that hid their face and revealing a young looking elven woman with bright red hair.
"Sorry!" she said, giving them a wide smile. "I'm Kallian, nice to meet you!"
"I'm Einar," said Einar. "And this is Serana and Lomeria, and that's Capri and Chandra."
"Hi!" said Lombardia brightly.
"Caprifexia," corrected Caprifexia.
"Nice to meet you all!" said Kallian. "So nice to meet one's peers!"
"Peers?" said Einar.
"She's a Planeswalker," said Caprifexia.
"How do you know that?" said Einar.
"She uses blue mana," said Caprifexia. "And since those anti-magic villains powers didn't work on that kind of magic, I assume it is not well known on this world." She look around the room. "Also, there are books in dozens of different languages in this room."
"Oh, that's what I felt!" said Chandra. "Blue mana!"
"Huh," said Einar. "And you… sensed us arrive?"
"Yep!" nodded Kallian, before frowning. "Um, not to be indelicate, but how did a bunch of templars–the 'Anti-magic villains'–incapacitate you? A group of four Planeswalkers is… well, there are armiesthat wouldn't want to fuck with that many of us. Even if one of you is still a kid."
"Hey, I'm not a kid!" said Chandra. "I'm thirteen!"
"They're not Planeswalkers," said Caprifexia, waving a hand at her Einar and Serana. "Just Chandra and me."
"They're… not?" said Kallian with a frown. "How did they get here then?"
"I can bring people with me," said Caprifexia. "Because I'm amazing."
"I can too!" protested Chandra.
"You can- you can-"stammered Kallian. "I've never heard of anyone being able to do that! That is- that is amazing!"
"That's what I said," said Caprifexia.
"How do you do it? Is it some kind of spell? Can you teach me?" said Kallian excitedly.
"You wouldn't be able to understand," sniffed Caprifexia.
"She just has to take you with her one time," said Chandra. "Or I could. Maybe, I'm not sure."
"Cool," said Kallian. "If it's a trade you want, I know some really cool stuff! And where did you learn it?"
"According to another Planeswalker we met, Caprifexia does it instinctively," said Einar. "Because of some kind of 'innate understanding' of the Void. Seems Chandra picked up on it – I don't pretend to know how that works."
"Cool!" she said. "And who told you that? Another planeswalker?"
"A planeswalker named Sorin," said Einar.
"Sorin? I've heard of him," said Kallian, tapping her lip. "Ancient vampire?"
"Very unreasonable," nodded Caprifexia. "And grumpy. And his name is Sorbet Melon-"
"It's really not," said Einar.
"Never met him, but I've heard stories," said Kallian. "He's supposed to be really powerful."
Caprifexia snorted derisively. "Really useless, more like."
"So you know more Planeswalkers?" asked Einar.
"I've met a few," nodded Kallian. "Loads hang around on Ravnica, and quite a few on Kaladesh – although less since, well… the local Planeswalker who got reallypissed when some small winged lizard Planewalker came and blew up an entire street, and then another one blew up the main Colosseum. He is trying to ban others from coming there, I'm trying to get a 'visa'…"
"That was Capri – both times actually," said Chandra. "And I'm from Kaladesh; I've never heard of any other local Planeswalkers though."
"A man called Baan," said Kallian. "And you blew up a street? And the Colosseum?"
"It wasn't my fault!" Caprifexia protested. "There I was, innocently driving in one of their horse-less cart things-"
"Oh! Those are really interesting!" said Kallian. "They let you drive one? They've never let me drive one…"
"-and then they recklessly blocked the road with more of the carts," said Caprifexia. "It was theirfault that the street blew up."
"Hold on," said Kallian. "I thought you were a dragon? They said it was a tiny lizard."
"Capri is a babydragon," said Einar.
"Whelpling!"
"Wow!" said Kallian. "And you're already really powerful? That's so cool!"
"I know," said Caprifexia. "It is."
She found herself quite liking this young elf, despite the inherent duplicity that she'd learned lurked in the hearts of the pointy-earred mortals. She was clearly intelligent, for an ex-mortal, liked artificing, and showed Caprifexia the respect she was due. Perhaps she could take her on as a second apprentice?
"Well, if you can transform, you should definitely lose the horns and the glowing eyes when you're on Thedas," said Kallin. "People are going to keep on thinking you're a demon otherwise."
"I… don't want to," said Capirfexia.
"She means she can't," said Chandra.
"I could if I wanted!" said Caprifexia.
"Uh huh," said Chandra.
"You don't know anything about dragon magic!" said Caprifexia.
"You could just do a glamour then?" said Kallian. "Although those are pretty annoying to maintain… hmm, maybe you could make a static illusionary projector? An earring, or maybe a necklace? That would stop you getting attacked by Templars on sight at least."
"Wouldn't that need an active mana feed?" said Lomeria. "That could be disrupted by those anti-mage guards."
"Huh? No, not if you use Kaladeshi enchanting principles – that draws directly on 'land mana,' the fabric of reality itself," said Kallian. "Can't be disrupted by Fade based anti-magic. It's the reason Caprifexia's, Chandra's and my spells still worked."
"Hmm," said Lombardia. "Learning how to use that kind of magic would be very useful."
"I know the basics of how most people learn it," said Kallian. "I could try explaining it."
"That would be most appreciated," said Lombardia. "I've tried to ask the girls, but they just say 'it's easy.'"
"It will take me a while to make the glamour," said Kallian. "But you're welcome to stay here. Might be best to lay low for a while anyway, Templars will be crawling all over city – the alienage particularly, even if they can't actually tie it to us. Always looking for a way to blame us…"
"And we'll be safe here?" asked Lombardia. "They won't find us?"
"My wards aren't perfect," said Kallian. "But even if they had one of their leashed mages I seriously doubt they'd be able to find even the outer tunnels and my dummy lab, let alone pierce them without, like, days of warning. They're backwardshere, magically speaking. Comes with said leash. You'll be safe."