Along the merchants row, vendors are packing things away as another late spring day winds down. Michael and Jenora are still off investigating things in Turning Point, while Copernicus heads towards the embassy, starting to get more worried about the events on Nexus, and Haven in particular.
Chastity closes the door, thoughtfully, and hobbles into the kitchen to begin preparations for supper. The caravan master she had been talking with had agreed to bring her some samples of herbs on his next trip, and maybe that would help her get up to speed with the herbalry of Nexus. Starting any sort of apothecary business at her age was difficult at best, since she lacked years of experience. Still, maybe she could help out some of the herbalists in Haven, such as that nice squirrel lady, Samantha, whom Jenora had introduced her to....
Chimera hovers about, occasionally asking Chastity if she needs help with anything.
Simtra waves to Chastity as she walk by him as he finishes cleaning up another broken plant that Stuffit knocked over.
Stuffit chitters as he continues to protest his innocence, saying that the cat did it!
Chastity smiles quietly to he hovering dragon. 'No, thank you, Chimera." She frets over the cupboards a bit. "Oh, dear... I think next time I go to the market I'd better remember we get felitaurs here on occasion.... Well! What shall we have for supper?"
Simtra looks at the ferret, "A cat? Ya right. I don't think there are any cats around here."
"Are you sure there's nothing I can do for you?" Chimera asks solicitously.
Copernicus smiles to himself as he rides some of the ocean born air currents, then banks down and lands on the roof of the embassy, entering through the upstairs attic window (which was enlarged for such a purpose. In the evening gloom, odds are no one saw him arrive, which is how he wants it.
Stuffit chitters that he teleported the rascal cat out into the ocean of course.
Chastity chuckles softly, "I'm sure, Chimera... oh, Simtra, don't worry about that, I'll take care of it..."
Simtra rolls his eyes and just nods as finishes putting the dirt back in the pot, "O, don't sorry Chas. I have just finished."
Disappointed, Chimera leans back against the wall, and watches Simtra.
Stuffit remembers hearing the word "supper" and with a *poit* is up on Chastity's counter, looking to see what she's making.
> Samantha sighs, sitting back down in her workshop again. She pulls
out her log book, which is full of all sorts of notes and some highly
incriminating information she's picked up from her spying. Looking
over at the statuettes again, she frowns. "All this from some crystal."
Chastity just gives a start this time, by now used to Stuffit's popping in and out and here and there. She chuckles softly. "Well, do -you- have any idea--" She perks her ears, and looks upward, hearing a sound. "Oh, it seems we have a visitor..."
Copernicus carefully winds his way down the stairs and purrs, "Chastity? Simtra? Anybody home?"
Chimera smiles, "Hello Stuffit. How was your profit today?"
Chastity calls out, "Down here, Copernicus!"
Stuffit grins at Chimera and chitters something about doing rather well, he found this neat silver bathtub.
Copernicus pads over and purrs, "Hello everyone, how are you doing?"
Chastity picks up her cane and walks out of the kitchen. "Pretty good, and yourself?
Copernicus purrs, "A little concerned. I'm beginning to think those crystalline circuits are more dangerous than I first thought. Part of why I'm here."
Chastity frowns. 'The crystals again?"
Copernicus nods quietly, "I need to talk to you Simtra about that attack again. And I also need to ask you how things are working out here. Want to sit down in the living room and talk?"
Chastity nods, "Sure, Simtra's been helping clean up after Stuffit's.. uhm... explorations...
Chimera pads out to see Copernicus as well. "Hello, Regulator! I hope that tired look you have is courtesy of your wives?"
Copernicus chuckles, "Partly, yes. Partly dealing with this weird little planet. But I'm doing better, so my tired look should soon be only due to my mates. ;)"
Copernicus pads into the main room and curls up on one of the large padded cushions placed there for the felitaurs. He chuckles at Stuffit, "Odd little creature. Never did figure out where they came from either. Course, he's not only lost in space, but in time."
> Samantha taps one of the crystalline figurines, opening a quick
peek at the other end so she can see if anybody's in the room on the other
end now. She doesn't dare just open it fully, not with one of the
scholar-mages a semi-regular guest at the other end. If he had discovered
it was a fake, he could use her link to trace her back easily.
> At present, there is just a skunk maid cleaning the room where
the fake figurines are standing, though one of the stag nobles calls in,
"Make sure everything is ready, we have a meeting in here in an hour."
Simtra sees Copernicus walking into the living area, "Oh, hi there Coper. Ya doing ok?
Copernicus smiles and nods, "I'm doing ok, though, once I get done chatting with Chastity, I need to ask you a couple of questions."
> Samantha shuts down the connection quickly, and sits back, closing
her eyes to relax for another hour. A little less, anyway.
Simtra chuckles, "No prob, it will give me a little time to clean my paws of this dirt."
Chastity frowns slightly. "Well.. what can I do for you?"
Simtra walks into the bathroom and quickly cleans up.
Copernicus purrs, "I'm just wondering how things are working out here? I hope, so far, that this hasn't been too much of a bother, as we've avoided causing too many problems in Haven."
Chastity nods quietly, 'Well, as you can see, it's been going pretty well. I get occasional visits from people asking about the felitaurs, once in a while one of the city elders stops in to see if you're around, but other than that it's very quiet.
Copernicus nods to Chastity, "Then it doesn't sound too bad, though I appreciated your help in getting Simtra, Kainudy and company out of jail yesterday."
Chastity smiles quietly, 'It was the least I could do. After all, Sa Kainudy is a local celebrity." she nods to the small, amber dragon-statuette on the mantle.
Simtra walks back out of the bathroom shaking his damp paws trying to get the last of the water out of them. He quietly takes a seat on a large pillow since he can stretch out on them
>Over at the Scholar mage complex, two robed figures are talking,
and one is heard saying, "We've got less than an hour before they are
back in that room." The other figure hmms, "Not much time, but if we hurry,
maybe enough."
Copernicus turns to Simtra, "Can you tell me any more of what happened that day?"
Simtra looks up, "I think I told you all I know. I took a job for one of the nobles and lost their crystals when we were attacked."
Copernicus hmms, "You said someone came up to you, warning you about a trap?"
> Samantha heads out to mix up a new batch of tea for herself.
Simtra nods, "Ya there was an old squirrel named Samantha. I don't know how she did it she seemed to be running quite hard to get to the ship."
Stuffit *poits* back into the room and looks around, then hops up onto Simtra's chair and snuggles in, not seeing any plants he can explore.
Copernicus hmmmms, "I wonder how she knew about it?"
Simtra shakes his head, "I don't know. She did not tell us at the time."
Simtra scriches the ferret hoping that keeps him calm.
Chastity perks her ears. "Samantha? I know her, she was helping to identify those herbs I'd gotten."
Copernicus flicks his ears, "She's obviously involved in this somehow. Hmmm. Maybe we should go give her a visit tonight. Chastity could go asking more about the local herbs as a cover. You two up for a short trip?"
Simtra nods his head, "Sure I would love to get out for a bit."
> Moments after the maid has left, two cowled figures glide into
the room at the Dactyle mansion unnoticed, and start making gestures and
mumbling odd, supposedly arcane phrases, though you could swear they
say "Pepsi generation" at one point.
Copernicus looks to Chastity, "How about you?"
Chastity frowns slightly, "Er, Coper, I'm not sure, but I don't think she's ... I mean, I don't know, something tells me that going to her under false pretenses is a Bad Idea....
> Samantha comes back into the workshop with her tea, sips at it
to calm herself, then looks at the figurines again.
Chastity shakes her head and sighs. "Though.... Oh, nuts...."
Simtra looks over to Chastity, "What is it Chas?"
Copernicus hmms, "Especially as Chirr'T'Thar are horrible liars and actors. Well, we'll go to visit her for that, and look around. She's involved somehow, and hasn't come forward to us about what she knows."
> Zanix mutters, "They do have some magical energy associated with
them, but they don't seem to be channelling the magic like they used
to, have they changed?" The other mage blinks and shrugs, "Let's run a
trace history spell on them, see what's happened to them recently." And
with a nod of agreement, the two get to work.
Chastity shakes her head again. "Nothing, Simtra. It's just, she agreed to help me and I don't... don't feel -right- going as cover for anything...." She gets an odd look and rubs her forehead. "And here I thought my days of intrigue ended years ago."
> Samantha taps at the figurines on her desk, and cautiously opens
up the link to see what's going on.
Copernicus purrs, "Well then, we'll let her know I'm there to ask her about the attack. You're right, being a bit more straightforward is probably best. Shall we go?"
Chastity nods, standing and stretching as she picks up her cane. "How will we be going there? I'm not 100 percent sure where she lives.
Simtra stands up and picks up Stuffit from the pillow. "I am ready"
Copernicus purrs, "I've been there before, she lives deep in the forest about 10 miles from here. I figure I can carry you and Simtra easily enough."
Simtra blinks, "Carry? Like on your back?"
> Zanix, blinks, "I felt a surge of energy. Maybe they're waking
up?" to which the other mage shrugs, and continues his work.
Copernicus nods, "Sure. Chastity has flown with me before, right Chastity?"
Chastity nods, and lets out a breath. "It's reasonably safe, Simtra...."
Chastity says, "Just let me get my parachute and helmet...."
Copernicus wrinkles his nose, "Hey, I've never lost a passenger yet. ;)"
Chastity winks quickly to Copernicus, with a smile, when Simtra isn't looking.
> Samantha blinks as she sees the mages on the other end. She keeps
the link up, watching it, but starts preparing her 'escape' feature
just in case.
Simtra gulps, "This should be fun."
Patting Simtra on the back, Copernicus chuckles as he heads out the front door, "That's the spirit. Come on, it's getting dark, and I don't want to get there too late in the evening. No telling when she sleeps."
Chastity grins softly, hobbling out of the room after Copernicus.
Copernicus stands out front and helps Chastity onto his 'taur back, then motions for Simtra to get behind her, "Just keep your legs away from my wings is all."
Simtra follows along, shutting the door behind him. He looks a bit white around the ears.
Chastity reaches over to help Simtra up onto Copernicus's back behind her.
> The other mage grumbles, "I can't see why you or the other mages
are so enthused about this stuff. It's ability to channel magic is limited,
and my spells indicate that it's not very old at all. Someone must
have made this stuff up recently as a scam." Zanix blinks, "Not very
old? That can't be. We tested it before and it was ancient in the extreme.
Let me check."
Simtra slowly climbs up with Chastity's help and holds on tight to Coper with his legs.
Copernicus grins as he sits on his haunches and purrs, "Hang on while I jump. ;)"
Chastity blinks? "Jump? Erk--!"
Simtra mumbles, "I hate flying, I hate flying, I hate flying. . ."
> Samantha picks up a small cup of an oddly shimmering clear liquid,
and sets it down on the table next to the figurines. She then places
a card on top of that, and a pill of something yellow on top of that.
Now ready, she sits down to watch what the mages do.
Copernicus leaps into the air and then snaps his wings open, and beats powerfully till he overcomes both gravity and inertia and takes off over the town of Haven, and quickly heads into the surrounding forest ranges, a good 50 feet above the trees.
Chastity's yelp echos quietly in the still Haven night. It might make a few people perk their ears, but otherwise attracts little attention.
Simtra holds on even tighter as he sees the ground moving quickly below them.
> Zanix, being a rather old chipmunk, has gotten a bit sedentary,
so his assistant has to patiently wait while his master works up another
inquisition type spell.
> Samantha hmmms, watching the spell as it's cast. She tries something
minor though the link, seeing if she can 'distract' the spell enough
so it gives an echo a lot older than the original.
Simtra tries hard to keep himself calm and taps Chastity on the back, "Uh Chas, are flights always like this on a thar.
Chimera follows along behind, using his own wings.
> Zanix mutters as he gets a reading that is MUCH older this time,
and scolds his student, "You must have determined when the thing was
CARVED. You need to be more careful." He grins at the startled look on
his student and chuckles, "Ok, let's see if we can trace the origins of
this, and quickly. The meeting will be starting soon, and we need to know
where this stuff came from, don't we?"
Copernicus turns his torso around so he is looking at his two passengers, "How are you two doing? We'll be there in a few more minutes."
> Samantha
sighs, relaxing for a moment, then sips at her tea. If she can keep this
sort of redirection up on the spells, she might have a chance. Otherwise,
she'll have to kiss her spy link and all the information goodbye.
She was hoping it wouldn't have to be this soon.
Simtra eeps as Copernicus looks back, "We're doing ok I guess. But don't you think you should watching where you are going!?!?!"
Chastity holds on to Copernicus' fur tightly, though she's resting her head don the back of his neck comfortably. "Pretty good," she says. "I almost feel this brings back memories!"
Chimera wings closer, and asks, "What sort of memories?"
With a chortle at Simtra, Copernicus turns back in the direction he is flying and purrs, "There was nothing to hit for miles around Simtra. Oh. That's right, we were going to work on your memories soon. We'll get to that as soon as we can, I know they are still working on the neural map for your brain since our last meeting. Ah, I see some lights ahead, must be Samantha's place."
> Zanix mutters, "I'm having troubles focusing on the origins. Maybe
another focus. Who transported the figurines here?"
Simtra nods and holds on even tighter for the landing.
> The apprentice searches his robes, "I know I have the name here
somewhere." The frustrated Scholar Mage grumbles, "Hurry, hurry. We don't
have much time left."
Chastity shakes her head, holding on tighter for the landing. "Of flying, Chimera. Of flying...."
Copernicus banks down slightly, and proves that his landings are less jarring than his takeoffs, he calls out to the home woven into the base of a giant oak tree, "Hello, anyone home?!"
> Samantha frowns, and keeps disrupting and draining off the spells,
hoping they'll just presume the figurines are doing it themselves as
they're magically active. This is getting tiring, but she may not have
another chance.
I wonder when she lost her wings? thinks Chimera.
Simtra hops off Copernicus' back and offers to help Chastity down.
Chastity accepts Simtra's help, smiling gratefully, and stands beside Copernicus, leaning on her cane.
Copernicus pads over to the door and thumps it loudly, "Samantha, are you home?"
Samantha doesn't answer. There is, however, a flickering light coming from a shed out back if anyone looks around.
Chimera says, "Maybe she took the kids for a walk?"
Simtra stays back with Chastity and watches Copernicus trying to get a hold of Samantha. "No one home?"
Chastity shakes her head slowly. "That or a real deep sleeper...?"
Copernicus pads around the base of the great oak and hmms, "There's the light I saw, from a structure out back."
Chimera asks, "The outhouse?"
> "Ankhl Beiter, a squirrel brought it here." "Excellent, we'll
start the trace with his movements then...gah, they're coming! Quick,
camouflage yourself!" The door to the room is opening, and the voices of
the stags are evident by the sound of their arguing."
Copernicus goes to the shack and pounds on it, "Hello, Samantha, are you in there?"
Samantha sighs and relaxes as the mages finish their work... then almost jumps, chittering in annoyance at the pounding on the door.
Simtra erps and turns to Chastity, "I hope she is not in an outhouse. I would hate to be surprised at a time like that."
Stuffit just looks around, having fallen asleep on the flight here.
Copernicus purrs, "It doesn't smell like an outhouse. Samantha, are you around?"
Samantha grumbles, gets up, and pulls open the door. "Yes, I'm here. You just picked a really bad time to drop by, though if you'd come by five minutes sooner it could have been a lot worse."
Chimera pokes his head over Copernicus' shoulder. "Was your boyfriend here?"
Chastity blinks to Simtra. "It seems too big for an outhouse..."
Simtra smiles, "Well I am glad that it was not one then. We should head over by Coper
Copernicus sighs at Chimera, but grins a little anyhow, "Well, I'm here to ask you about the attack on the docks day before yesterday. And I think Chastity hopes to talk about some of the local plants."
Chastity nods, and begins to hobble over to Coper...
Samantha waves people over.
Simtra slowly walks along with Chastity
Chastity says, "Er, of course, whatever I have to ask can wait, I'm not in a rush..."
Samantha says, "What did you want to ask about?"
Copernicus purrs, "For one thing, how you knew to warn Simtra and company?"
Samantha says, "Come on in, I'll show you. It would take too long to explain it, and the shows about to start anyway..."
Copernicus nods and pads inside, wings folded tight against his side, "We didn't think to bring popcorn, sorry."
Chastity follows the group in, remaining in the back of the small room, not wishing to interrupt since she knows very little about this.
Chimera looks around at everything in the shack.
Simtra follows along with the group and takes a seat in the back too.
Samantha sits down, and clears away the little cup and pill she had set up, carefully putting them in separate boxes. She then places out a large glass ball so everyone else can see this, and starts up the link again...
An image shows in the ball, projecting a somewhat distorted image of an opulently decorated room with five occupants: one old stag, three younger ones, and a very old chipmunk.
Starling Dactyle, the old patriarch for the stags mutters, "Well, seeing as even Zanix hasn't been able to get a clearer fix on the origin of these crystals, we're sending two search groups out on the morning steamer up to Northern Reach. I know dealing with the Ke'epers and their Ket'pillars can be annoying, but with the summer thaw reaching them about now, they should be able to search without too much help from the locals. Any more news on your end?"
Copernicus whispers, "Can they hear us also?"
Samantha shakes her head. "No, it's one way only. As long as the mage in there doesn't start poking around with the crystals too closely."
A younger stag shakes his head, "No idea who sent the thugs to steal the crystals, just glad Jacob had that sniper in place to destroy them. We're not sure who else wanted the crystals, and the other stags, even the ones who disagree with destroying them, claim they had nothing to do with it."
Chimera asks quietly, "What's a Ket'pillar?"
Copernicus hmmms at Samantha and listens in, noting he really needs to use Devereaux's services as a spy more.
Samantha picks up her log book, and starts to scribble notes in it.
The elder stag sighs, "Wonderful, another group involved. At least it looks like those silly chirpy'taurs aren't involved. I'm not sure I want to see how they react to the news we were going to use this stuff to try and take over their business. Zanix, any help you can give us?"
Copernicus frowns and mutters, "And here I thought they'd appreciate the help, new business and outside contacts we're providing."
Samantha smirks, and keeps writing. "They've been in control for a long time. Your people represent change. Change is always dangerous for people who are well-entrenched like that."
Chimera scratches the side of his head. He doesn't know what the Chirr'T'Thars' business IS in the first place..
Copernicus nods and continues to watch and listen as the old chipmunk, Zanix shrugs, "We need to examine the pieces more thoroughly, run some tests off of them to really figure that out Starling."
The elderly stag shakes his head and antlers vehemently, "No, in fact, I want these two destroyed as soon as possible. Magic, heat, light, anything like that seems to set them off. There's one wolverine with a missing arm who can attest to that. We'll have to depend on our search parties up in Northern Reach to take care of this mess for us. Unless anyone else has something to say, meeting is adjourned!"
Copernicus hmmmms as he watches the crowd walk out of the room, then blinks as he notices a slight shimmer by the figurines.
Samantha frowns, and starts looking at that more closely herself.
The shimmer resolves into Zanix's apprentice, who is peering at the figurines intently as he checks them out with a spell of his own.
Samantha chitters again in annoyance, and starts making hand motions at the figures.
Samantha says, "Could someone open up those boxes that I had before, with the cup and the pill in them? My hands are occupied at the moment."
Copernicus nods and pulls out the cup and purrs, "Chimera, did you see where she put the pill?"
The students probings are much more effective, and you get the feeling he knows something is up."
Samantha frowns, still trying to distract the other mage. "This is not good."
Chimera reaches for the boxes.
Copernicus has the cup, but can't find the pill while Samantha is getting impatient. The student's probings, especially along Ankhl's involvement, are bringing him closer to the truth. "Chimera, any luck?"
Chimera opens up the one with the pill in it. "This one."
Copernicus ahs and places the cup and pill next to Samantha.
Samantha nods. "Now, set the playing card that was with the cup on top of it, with the back of the card up, and set the pill on top of it."
Chimera blinks at the odd instructions.
Copernicus shrugs and sets it up the way Samantha instructs, as he hears the apprentice scholar mage mutter over the crystal ball, "They're fakes! Someone's listening in on us!"
Samantha chitters in annoyance. "Everybody get down, under the level of the tabletop!"
Chimera ducks, and pulls Chastity and Simtra with him.
Copernicus blinks, noting, while lying on the floor, he's STILL above the level of the table top. He curls a wing around himself protectively.
The student, meanwhile, is frantically trying to trace the call, as it were.
Samantha reaches out, and flicks the card away, allowing the pill to drop into the cup. In the split second before it drops, Samantha ducks under the table completely.
The pill drops into the liquid... and the result is rather spectacular. An explosion occurs on the table top, sending fragments of the cup all around. This shatters the figurines into tiny fragments which fly out like shrapnel all over the room.
On the other end of the link, the figurines shake for a moment and then mimic their counterparts, exploding in the face of the poor apprentice.
The apprentice mage is heard to scream just before the connection is lost, taking the figurine shrapnel in his face and chest.
Copernicus starts picking pieces of figurine out of his wings.
Samantha's 'crystal ball' doesn't shatter, but one side of it is turned into frosted glass.
Samantha sighs. "Well, so much for that source of information. I'd better warn Ankhl to lie low for a few days until this is sorted out."
Chimera pokes his head up. "That was neat!"
Copernicus frowns, "If you need any help, let me know. Sounds like we have a common problem here. And it's clear we need to send someone up to Northern Reach soon."
Samantha sits up, and nods. "I've been spying on them for a little while now; my son was hired to run errands for them, until things got to the point where it really scared him what the stags were doing. We worked out a plan where he would take back fakes of the figurines, as a couple of them had been handed off to my family in the expectations that he could get them."
Chimera says, "Are you going to blow up another mountain?"
Copernicus groans at Chimera, "I hope not, and it wasn't me anyhow. It was Jenora and Kainudy, with some help from Simtra and WolfSinger."
Samantha says, "I used my fakes to spy on them. I think I've collected enough information to be quite useful, and it might be a good idea for me to vacate the premises for a while."
Copernicus hmmms at Samantha, "Would you like to take a vacation up north? ;)"
Chimera blinks. "Are you gonna blow up this shack then?"
Samantha shrugs, and sets her notebook down. "Sounds like an idea. I've got a fairly good fix on where this stuff was from, just by listening to them."
Copernicus hmms and nods, "You're help would be appreciated. Do you and your family need a place to stay tonight?"
Samantha says, "It might come in handy. Acera has been long interested in flying anyway."
Copernicus nods, "I'll call my sister Andromeda, we'll fly you all over to Nimby's Refuge for now. You can start packing while I get her over here, and I'll have someone else take Simtra and Chastity back home too. Chimera, why don't you spend the night with my family?"
Copernicus ponders and purrs to Samantha, "You and your family are welcome to sleep with me and my mates this evening, if you wish."
Chimera says, "On the island? Okay."
Chimera ponders a moment, then asks, "Are you going to bring over the whole tree?"
Samantha looks up at Copernicus. "I think I'll wait until we get over there before deciding whether or not I want to accept that invitation."
Copernicus blinks, "I don't care what Andromeda told you, I really don't snore that loudly, honest. ;)"
Samantha pulls one box out of the cupboard. "This one we have to take with us; it's the actual figurines I made the duplicates from. Quite safely sealed up."
Copernicus frowns and nods, "I'll find a secure place to lock those up when we get to the tower. My sister will be here in a bit, but take your time packing, we're in no major rush. I doubt anyone is going to get here soon."
Samantha nods. "All right. I'll see you in a few minutes after I lock things down here."
After some juggling of flights, and making it clear to Acera that they couldn't fly all night, Copernicus finally settles Samantha and her daughters into the tower on Nimby's Refuge. With some misgivings, Samantha joins Copernicus's family in the sleeping pile. Her daughters think it's funny and finally settle down to sleep. Once Samantha relaxes, she finds a felitaur's side is rather nice on her back, and warm too. She dozes off soon after, while off in Haven an apprentice scholar mage is having shards of material pulled from his face.