ic Friends or Family?

[Raveled]

GM

 

Cerys Pfer stood before the sweating stone castle that had dominated her life before Claremont. The headquarters of Amddiffynnwr O Lleu Llaw Gyffes was still imposing, and now Cerys found herself called back here

because

because

because

she had received a letter from the head of the order. It had been full of code words and phrases, designed to defeat detection by whoever might read it besides Cerys, which really meant Headmaster Summers. The letter had talked about Cerys's 'sick cousin,' and how things were looking 'very grim' for the poor child, how the doctors were 'uniform in their opinion.' It was enough to get Cerys on a plane for Gatwick Airport without raising too much suspicion. Only the young ninja was aware that she was being recalled for a dangerous mission; that she would be briefed by a member of the ruling council; and that the mission would be against someone her own age, someone she knew.

Now that she was here, the only thing to do was to find out who.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Tiffany Korta]

Whilst Cerys loved Freedom City and the challenges of it’s city, she still enjoyed coming home to the village where she grew up. And especially for the Castle where she had spent most of her formative years.  It was just a shame that she only seemed to come home when there was some kind of crisis in her’s, or the Orders, life.

No wait this is wrong! I shouldn’t be here I was somewhere else, I was doing something when...

After a pause she picked up her bag to go into the Castle and find out what had happened and to which of her “Cousinsâ€.

[Raveled]

GM

 

The castle of the Defenders of the ancient hero's legacy was an old, sweating pile of Norman stone, hundreds of years old and designed for defense rather than aesthetics. The environment didn't change much when Cerys passed through the stout doors and into the castle proper; if anything it simply got colder and damper, like stepping into a deep, underground cave. The walls of the castle were hung with ancient tapestries depicting medieval battles, and if one had the eye and the know-how one could see agents of Amddiffynnwr O Lleu Llaw Gyffes in the background of every event depicted there. carefully protecting Wales and Welsh interests throughout history. Most of them had died bloodily, Cerys realized, and far from home; it wasn't a heartening thought.

"Cerys!" A bright voice cut through the chill of the air and the young girl looked around to see a young man about her age jogging down the castle corridor towards her. She recognized him almost at once at Gethin, another one of the Defender's young trainees. He was holding an old Welsh-style longbow in one hand, and waving the other. "Cerys, I didn't expect to see you until holidays! What's up?"

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Tiffany Korta]

For anyone who knew Cerys it would be a surprise to see her now, she was totally relaxed her normal slightly guarded nature gone. THis was home she was among people, who if not friends, were allies who could be trusted without doubt.

She gave Gethin a wry smile.

“You know better than to ask me why I’m here. If a field agent return it normally means they have a mission.â€

Of cause she shouldn’t have been a field agent yet, she should still be in training like Gethin, most agent’s didn’t start until 18 at the earliest.

[Raveled]

GM

 

Gethin shrugged, grinning. "A young girl all on herself in the hoary Colonies? Who knows what sort of trouble you could be getting into?" He nudged her, the grin growing wider. "The grapevine even says you found a boyfriend in Freedom City. What, an honest Welsh boy not good enough for you, anymore?" He took a moment to flex a rather impressive physique; firing a Welsh longbow day after day wasn't for the feeble.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Tiffany Korta]

Almost as an instinct she rolled out the standard cover story.

“You know that it’s all part of my cover plus he’s a valuable resource to the Order since I’ve bought him into the fold.â€

Sometimes the best lies had an element of truth, but she had been attracted to Subito because his openness was the opposite of everything the secretive Order stood for she found it quite refreshing.

“Beside you know I love you...†she took the opportunity to feel his muscles “...like a brother.†she gave him a smile before giving him a hug.

[Raveled]

GM

 

"Ow. Owch. Forsooth. You wound me, good lady." Gethin hugged Cerys back with one hand, holding on to her for just a moment too long before stepping away. "It is good to see you back here, Cerys. I was starting to wonder if we'd ever see you again, if you'd gone native over there."

"Cerys! Gethin!" The voice boomed out and both young people turned, to see one of their grey-haired teachers standing at the end of the hall. Cadoc was past sixty years old, but he was still hard and harsh as a rock; he taught most of the Far East languages and scripts, as well as a peculiar sort of open-hand martial arts that tended to leave students flying through the air. Perhaps the most important lesson he taught the young initiates was to never judge someone based on their age.

Gethin stepped away from Cerys and stood upright while Cadoc marched towards them with his stiff-legged gait. He looked them both over, sniffing harshly before turning to the younger woman. "You have a date with the Council, young woman," he said. "And you," he added, turning to Gethin. "You have a test on Mandarin in twenty minutes, don't you? I suggest you study and prepare, young man, for there shall be no second chances!"

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Tiffany Korta]

Cerys gave a little bow to Master Gethin.

“Xièxiè gèwèi gÄoshÇ’u Cadoc.*â€

She then turned to Gethin a gave a little smile.

“You’ll do fine, just remember that it’s all tonal and you’ll be fine. HÇŽo yùn.*â€

After she save Gethin away to his test and left a slightly scowling Gethin, she set her face into a more stern composure. After all meeting the Council was no small deal, the last time she met them she was sent to Freedom City, it either meant that she was to be disciplined for some kind of crime or they wished her to carry out a very important mission.

* Thank you Master Cadoc.

* Good Luck

[Raveled]

GM

 

The Council's chambers were deep in the heart of the castle. It was a circular stone chamber, with a simple hole cut in the roof far above to let a single shaft of light hit the middle of the room. That was where Cerys stood, and the hooded figures of the Council sat in the torch-lit darkness, their features hidden by heavy robes.

It was all rather melodramatic, honestly, but it was a tradition stretching back centuries, and the Amddiffynnwr O Lleu Llaw Gyffes were not likely to get rid of it anytime soon. There were seven Council members here now, but only two were talking at Cerys. "The Council has been reading your reports from America," one said with the voice of an aged, old woman. "And we watched closely when you introduced El Heraldo."

"The decision has been made," said another voice, this one deeper and male. "The Banner of Victory cannot be left in the hands of a mere, unsupervised child."

"If it fell into the hands of the Deep Ones," the crone continued, "then Wales could be under assault. We've decided that you shall return to Claremont, and retrieve the Banner. By whatever means necessary."

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Tiffany Korta]

Whilst the Order had a strict hierarchical structure it wasn’t totally rigid in it’s structure. An organisation that didn’t change with the time’s or listened to it’s rank and file wouldn’t have lasted as long as the Order had managed. So Cerys felt no fear in questioning the Council’s order’s.

“But he has taken the oath’s and is a friend and ally of the Amddiffynnwr O Lleu Llaw Gyffes. And should we really try and possibly invoke the wrath of a Nation’s Spirit? We’ve managed to stay until the Radar of Britannia for all this time...â€

She tried to keep everything calm and level, but her heart was pounding in her chest, if she did this it would be a betrayal of Subito and she could never go back. Even if he never realised what she had done.

Right now she would have to make the choice she feared between the two thing’s she truly loved...

[Raveled]

GM

 

"The spirit of Puerto Rica is weak," the crone said. "However, the order has not persevered by allowing enemies to lay fallow and grow strong. Wales needs the banner if it is to remain secure."

"In the wrong hands," the baritone said, "it could be a powerful weapon for evil. El Heraldo, while he is mighty, is not strong enough to protect it. If it quiets your fears, consider that we shall only be holding onto a dangerous artifact for an ally of the Order," he added. "When he comes of age and shows that he can protect it, it shall be returned to him."

"Will you accept the order, Blodeuwedd," the crone asked, "or shall you turn this mission down?"

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Tiffany Korta]

There was something not quite right here; Cerys felt like there was a voice screaming in the back of her head trying to tell her something was off.

 

“I am not inclined to question the Council, you of know more of what s transpiring than myself. But is it not normal to spend years if not decade’s studying artefact to make sure they’re safe to used?â€

 

She supressed the urge to shuffle uncomfortably, all this was making her very nervious.

 

“May I at least ask who you consider a suitable carrier of the Banner?â€

 

A year or so ago she would have obeyed the Order without question, now she wasn’t so sure about there wisdom.

[Raveled]

GM

 

"It shall be held," the man's voice said, "until such time as we deem El Heraldo, or another, of being worthy to bear it. Until we're sure it will not fall into the hands of evil, until we're sure that it shall be wielded properly." It was a maddeningly vague answer, but the tone indicated that it was all the answer Cerys was likely to get.

"We hope that your relationship with the boy means you can resolve the situation peaceably," the crone spoke up. "However, you must return with the banner. Do not think this a request -- it must happen."

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Tiffany Korta]

On the darkest of night lit by the light’s of the city Cerys had often just sat and thought what she would do if she was made to choose between the Order and her friends. The Order had installed in her loyalty, mainly in the Order itself but she had always applied such lessons to her friend’s around here.

And then as now there was only one choice.

She couldn’t betray the Order nor could she sell out her friend’s. Her only real option was to leave it all behind abandon the Order and the school and strike out on her own. But first she’d have to trick the Order into the believing she would carry out the mission.

“I will carry out the mission to the best of my abilities.â€

Not an easy thing to do, she might be an expert in reading body language, but she was taught by the people in the room.

[Raveled]

GM

The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, quiet enough to hear rats scrabbling in the walls, quiet enough to hear the muffled shouts from the practice yards, quiet enough for Cerys to hear her every heartbeat. There was a moment where it all balanced on a pin and she could almost imagine the council members leaping up, throwing off their robes, and attacking the young ninja with every ounce of decades of training and experience.

And then the moment passed and the man spoke. "It is good that you see reason," he said. "You'll be sent back to America in a few days. There is a bunk for you in the trainees quarters until then."

[Tiffany Korta]

When Cerys was back home and needed to think there was one place she always went to. So when the council has broken up, with her playing suitable respect to the elders, there will still heads of the order even if she didn’t agree with them.

It may have been a little morbid but when she had found out she was the latest in a line of noble women who bore the name she had started to search the little graveyards around Caer Dathyl for the oldest grave. It was a fairly unremarkable stone tucked away in a tiny graveyard, but it was the oldest. She traced out the barely visible name of Blod...  Cerys.

 

Shaking her head a little it felt like she was missing something important, she sat down beside the grave to gather her thoughts.

[Raveled]

The haze in Blue Jay's mind cleared, and she opened her eyes -- or at least she tried to open them. It was still blackness all around her, and there was a great weight on her chest. She tried to inhale and instead dirt and loam fell into her mouth and nose. She clamped her lips and eyes shut, suddenly understanding that she was underground -- but her lungs were burning like she hadn't taken a breath in minutes. She reached out, desperately trying to shift the weight of earth above her, hoping against hope that she wasn't buried too far down.

 

As Cerys sat in the graveyard, pondering her future and the story of her namesake, she saw something usually reserved for bad horror movies. The grave next to Blodeuwodd's shifted suddenly, the dirt moving and slithering like there was something underneath it trying to get out. That notion was reinforced a moment later when a gloved hand rose from the earth, clawing at the air!

[Tiffany Korta]

Cerys was shook by the sudden appearance from the ground of a hand clawing it way from the ground. Her reaction was almost instant she was up on her feet in a combat stance ready for an attack from this intruder. Part of her wished that she’d bought Dyrnwyn, but she’d have to manage with what she had on her.

After a few second her brain caught up her reactions. Caerdathyl and the graveyard in particular were all heavily warded against most type’s of attack, especially from all types of spirits, it shouldn’t be possible for anything to manifest here. Plus this cementary was centuries old, the oldest in the Caerdathyl, there souldn’t be any bodies still down there Welsh soil was conductive to preservation.

 

So it something else, but what? There was only was way to find out for sure and whilst it carreid it own risk it would help answer a number of questions. So stepping fowards she grapped the hand and started to pull to try and help free whoever, or whatever, was down there.

[Raveled]

Tona burst from the ground, gasping at the fresh air as she emerged into the wan Welsh daylight. She blinked dirt from her eyes and looked around, taking in the looming castle, the Celtic crosses, and the pale girl kneeling next to her and holding her hand. "Cerys!" She lurched forward and grabbed her friend's shoulders. "Is this the Terminus? Did anyone try to kill you today?"

[Tiffany Korta]

“No this is Wales.†Cerys raised an eyebrow “And could explain to me exactly how you ended up in a graveyard in Caer Dathyl?â€

She leant against the closest gravestone as she tried to figure this all out, it was her namesake so it seemed alright somehow. Something decided weird was going on but she couldn’t pin down exactly what that was.

 

“No one tried to kill me though I’ve been asked to do something similar, not my best of day’s to be honest. I suspect your day’s been just as interesting. Care to share?â€

[Raveled]

Tona slumped back in her shallow grave, running a hand through her hair and smearing dirt in it. "I went to sleep, and I woke up..." She shuddered. "I woke up in the Terminus. There were some drones there and..." And one had my father's face. She couldn't say it, the words just stuck in her throat and curdled there. She swallowed and tried again. "And they were -- haha, they were trash-talking me." She glanced at Cerys. "Drones don't trash-talk. They just kill you. So I knew something was wrong."

She started pulling her legs out of the ground, brushing the dirt off. "When I beat up the one who was talking, this black fog sort of came out of it. Then I blacked out and woke up... under the ground." She frowned and looked around. "Why are we in Wales?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Because I was summoned home for an important family event. Don’t you remember?

Actually she couldn’t remember seeing Tona before she left for home, which was weird as they were roommates at Claremont even if they had been avoiding each other recently.

“This is my home village and it’s got powerful Fae wards. Nothing should be able to enter the village unless the family allow it. So how exactly did you manage to get here?â€

 

She didn’t for one minute think that this wasn’t the real Tona, for some reason she just knew it was the real deal.

[Raveled]

"I don't know! I was on my home, in the chier Terminus, and then I was here. I didn't expect to be underground!" She looked around, breathing heavily as she calmed down. "Wait, is this a graveyard?"

A voice shouted in the distance, and the girls turned to see a figure in a heavy robe hurrying towards them. Cerys recognized it as one of the village's guards, noticing the stranger and responding. Tona noticed the figure soaring far ahead, angling in to swoop lower. A figure in red, spiky armor, wielding a strange, glowing spear.

[Tiffany Korta]

Cerys with her years of training and experience with supernatural forces tended to think of them as almost part of her everyday life. So strange and unusual effect were not something that surprised her in the least. These thing always seemed to follow certain rules and patterns it was just a matter of working out what these patterns were.

“We should go see one of the Order’s Seers, they might be able to work out what going one. Though it seems to me like a very weird form of dimensional travel.â€

Seeing the guard approaching she called out to him, luckily they didn't know what she had been planning to do.

 

“Wait this woman is any ally of mine and the Order. She is dan fy amddiffyn, under my protection.†she translated for Tona’s benefit.

[Raveled]

GM

As the guardians approached, both Cerys and Tona saw that they weren't what the girls were expecting. The man on the ground was wearing a home-spun robe, but his staff was a length of matte black metal, decorated with impossibly sharp spikes, pulsing with a malevolent red energy. It certainly wasn't like anything Cerys was used to seeing in the Order's armories, and Tona knew it only from her nightmares. "I have heard nothing about anyone from outside the Order coming here today," he said, eying the young archer suspiciously.

And then the Omegadrone landed. Yes, its spikes were patterned in complicated Celtic knots and swirls, but the shape and presence of the creature was impossible to mistake. Tona retreated several steps, but it simply stood there, not even breathing. The human guard snapped the spear up, pointing at Tona. "You there! Don't even think about running."

Edited December 2, 2013 by Raveled