Sidestory: An Unfamiliar Ceiling

[Zephyrus]

Koaway: It is a quiet place. The other side of the portal is strangely quiet. Not a word after the farewells of his friends. Nikkolai stands beneath a starry night sky, stars as green as any emerald dotting the velvet black sky.

Nikkolai looks around him curiously, eyes drawn to the beauty of the emerald stars. "Where am I?" He murmurs to himself.

Koaway: His voice is confident and booming. You can tell that with the first sound he utters. He walks from behind Nikkolai, hands behind his back. He has a well kept black beard and short hair, wearing noble finery. "A space between here and there, then and now, back and forth. A gap."

Nikkolai jumps slightly at the booming voice, but relaxes. After all, he trusted Tam not to have given him over to anyone that would harm him. "A gap, you say? Do you mean to say that you've pulled me into a wrinkle in time?"

Koaway: "Not quite. Do you know what a demiplane is?" The man asks, joining Nikkolai in skygazing.

Nikkolai pauses, considering. "If you asked me to guess, I'd suppose that a demiplane is not a true plane of existence, perhaps even only being half there?" Nikkolai's response ends up being more of a query than a statement.

Koaway: "Close. It's an artifical reality. A finite, small plane of existence created by magic. It's my home. Amdusias," Offering a hand to Nikkolai

Nikkolai looks quite awed at Amdusias's explanation. He reaches out and grasps the man's hand, pumping it firmly. "Created entirely by magic, you say? The sheer amount of power you must need to do such a thing..." Nikkolai trails off.

Koaway: "It's one of the crowning pinnacles of mortal magic." He answers, his grip firm and hand so very soft. "So I understand you have a lich after you? My abode is a little further down, tell me about it while we walk."

Nikkolai can't help but shudder slightly at the mention of his former master. "I do indeed, I'm sad to say. She is the source of every woe and every fear my soul bears." He falls into step beside his host. "I had hoped that when I originally escaped from her grasp that I could simply hid her phylactery and flee so far that she'd have no chance of finding me."
Nikkolai: "It took me some time before I realized how foolish this was. Now it's all I can do to stay one step ahead of her. I'm simply no match for her in power, so all I can do is run..."
Nikkolai sighs.

Koaway: "I see." So he leads you along. In the distance a tower can be seen, a tower of what looks to be soft sandstone and talc. It is like soft sandy beaches to white chalk in color, like you could poke it and it would crumble into dust. "Lich or no, you're safe here. Whomever created the demiplane controls reality within it, and I created it."

Nikkolai nods, eyeing the tower in the distance wistfully. "I'm glad to hear that. I would dearly love to be able to create a demiplane. To have a place to call one's own must be...wonderful."

Koaway: "Perhaps you can someday, but one hardly needs an entire plane to have a home." As he leads you along, "You're here for a twofold purpose. One is your personal safety. The second is to continue your learning at arcane magic so that your fate isn't a short and grisly end."

Nikkolai's face brightens considerably at the mention of learning. "I see that Granny Tam a true friend indeed to have found me a teacher such as yourself." He nods his head in a formal manner. "It would be my honor to be your student, sir."

Kotono: The door to the tower is an archway, Amdusias stopping before it. "I'm going to teach you what I can, but heed these words. There are no guarantees, no matter how good the teacher." He reaches out, rapping knuckles against Nikkolai's forehead. "Progress comes from within, not from without. Doubly so for your type of magic."

Nikkolai scowls slightly, rubbing his forehead. "My survival, and the survival of those around me, depend on me gaining whatever power I can. Rest assured, I will work myself down to my very bones to learn whatever you can teach me."

That goes with a thwap to the other side of Nikkolai's head. With a cheerful smile now, "Work smarter, not harder. There's enough hard work in learning magic for a lifetime, don't belabor more from it. Use your Gods given intellect to do it efficiently."

Nikkolai deepens his scowl ever so slightly. "You remind me of someone I know, Master. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing."
Nikkola refrains from cradling the side of his head in irritation.

With a growing smile, "I taught Granny Tam what she knows...or was it the other way around. I can't recall." With an easy shrug of his shoulders, "It matters little."

Nikkolai: "So long as you don't have her sense of humor, you're right in that in matters little." Nikkolai gestures at the doorway. "Shall we go in or are we waiting for something?"

With a cackle from inside, "I invited myself in," Granny Tam's voice calls, "So that's enough waiting from you!"

Kotono: "...no, apparently not." Amdusias smiles now, "Come."

Nikkola grins wryly. "She'll never change, will she?" He follows Amdusias inside.

Kotono: Inside is a wide open space. The first floor is nothing more than an overgrown but extremely tastefully decorated sitting room. In the center of the room a winding stairway leads higher up. Little floating fires hover around chairs, springing up to comfortable, transparent blazes when you pass by. Granny TAm is here, in her snake-woman form again.

Nikkolai can't repress his curiosity and is obviously impressed with what he sees. He shakes his head at Tam. "I had thought that I wouldn't ever see you wear the same form twice, Granny. Are you particularly fond of snakes?"

Kotono: "Opening portals is extremely taxing, sonny boy! I can barely make the effort to sit up straight!" She slumps in ther chair.
Kotono: Going to sit nearby and clearing his throat, "WE're going to begin in the morning - but for now, I want you to relax and tell us every and anything you can about this lich. Her name, her hobbies, her known spells, her allies, anything."

Nikkolai sits in a chair directly across from the two and attempts to make himself comfortable. "I'm afraid I don't know much about my master as a lich. I knew her for over a decade when she was still amongst the living. Still, I'll do my best."

Kotono: A short nod from your host, "Continue. Even if it seems unimportant, share it."

Nikkolai: "My former master had no first name that I know of. Everyone knew her as the Lady of the Green Kirtle, or simply, the Lady. I, of course, called her Master. She brooked no insolence from me, or others."

Kotono: "Ah, that sort," Granny Tam makes a little shooing gesture with her hand, "Drunk on power and not as half as smart as she thinks she is, or she wouldn't be so drunk on power."

Nikkolai absentmindedly fingers the necklace under his robes. "She had no allies, but she had many servants. I remember from my days at her manor that creatures and beings of all sorts came and went at all hours of the night. I was forbidden from speaking to them or even laying eyes on them, if I could help it. I once caught a glimpse of a drow when I was 16, but my Master was always careful to send me on errands or lock me in my...room...whenever she had visitors. The Lady was very stingy in what she taught me as her 'apprentice'." Nikkolai says in a bitter tone. "She only gave me a rudimentary knowledge of the arcane and how to control my power. I've seen her cast minor magics thousands of times, but only a handful of times have I seen her use truly powerful spells. She's terribly fond of elemental magic and is especially proficient in mind magic. One of her favorite games was seeing how far she could push my mind until it reached its breaking point. She brought me to the brink many times, but it is a testament to her control and power that she did not push me over it. One of her favorite games was seeing how far she could push my mind until it reached its breaking point."
"She brought me to the brink many times, but it is a testament to her control and power that she did not push me over it."

Kotono: "Her kind are heartless." Amdusias considers these words, half obscured by one of the warming flames close to him. "How did you come to be her appretence?"

Nikkolai: "My powers began manifesting at a very early age. My parents were not the most...understanding or patient of people. They mistrusted magic and wanted nothing to do with it. I suppose that they tried to love me, for my sake. Unfortunately, in an accidental discharge of magfire, I burnt down the family home."

Nikkolai: "My parents were not pleased, as you can imagine. They sold me to the Lady when I was...oh, perhaps 5 or so. Maybe younger. My Master has often mocked me, saying that they did it for my own good, for how else could I have learned to control my powers?"
A bitter frown twists his face.

Kotono: "What was the name of your homeland?" Now Granny Tam asks this, "Was it on the Prime?"

Nikkolai shrugs. "All I remember is a town called Feltier and it was surrounded on all sides by great plains as far as the eye could see. I remember that the first portal I discovered was only a day's travel into the plains."

Kotono: "Is that how you got away from her? Hopping in a portal and running? How long have you been running?" Your hosts asks.

Nikkolai mentally tallies up the days since his flight from Feltier. "It had been approximately a year when I first met my companions some months ago. Perhaps...14 or 15 months?"

Kotono: Nodding to that, "Time enough for her to prepare revenge. Then, what spells can you manage? What are you strongest ones?"

Nikkolai: "Ironically, my strongest spells are elemental spells." He grins wryly. "I'm fond of fire and electricity, but I'm also a fair hand at summoning and some minor mind magic."

Kotono: "I see." Nodding along to that, "Granny Tam hasn't twisted you into some alien form yet?"

Kotono: "Only once," In a mournful voice filled with open regret as she sighs, "But that little missy that's sweet on him, she shines right to it. She could be almost anything if she put her mind to it."

Nikkolai: "Mari has talent as a shapeshifter?" Nikkolai asks with some surprise. "And I don't think she's sweet on me, exactly. More like she sees me as her personal whipping boy."

Kotono: "There's a difference?" Granny Tam smiles, "Now now sonny boy, most people have talents you'd never imagine. But-" She's stopped here, as Amdusias looks to Granny Tam. He picks up from there, "I think we can continue this in the morning. There's food in your room, a bath drawn and a bed. Rest, and we'll begin training in the morrow."

Nikkolai raises immediately from his seat, falling into old mannerisms without much of a thought for it. "As you wish, Master." He bows to Granny Tam and Amdusias.

Kotono: Granny Tam gets up. "I'll walk you up," she says, "Sonny boy, I won't be seeing you too much for the next little while."

Nikkolai offers his arm to her. "Strangely, I find myself saddened at that prospect. I do enjoy our conversations."

Kotono: She takes Nikkolai's arm, the two walking up the stairs, "I have a lot to do on Earth. You keep getting yourself in trouble, but there's a lot of people out there who need help. Sonny boy, you have a lot of problems, but so does everyone else. Evil's everywhere, even on Earth. You saw the Dao yourself and you've heard of Ogremoch?"

Nikkola: "I have. If I recall correctly, Orgemoch is the mage that's stirring up trouble for my friends on Earth, isn't he?" He tries to ignore the searing flash of hatred that roils within him at the mention of the Dao slavers.

Kotono: "Not quite. He's the Prince of Elemental Evil. Sonny boy," Waggling a finger as you climb and climb and climb up the stairs, "Some people on the Prime think evil's just a fancy name for what people they don't like do. They're wrong. Evil's as real as metal, wood or air. The Dao have some of that evil in 'em, but not a lot. The devils or demons, they have a lot of it. They are Evil. Literally. Your friend Adail's the opposite. Pare him down and there's pure elemental Good at his core. I can't slack around when they're all out there, sonny boy."

Nikkolai: "I see." He says softly. "Then I suppose I must thank you once more for helping a boy with a relatively small problem. I promise that when my Master deems me fit to leave, I'll return and help you however I can."

Kotono: "Eh." She stops here. Ahead is a spacious floor, with a four poster bed, a roaring fireplace, and a big table with a meal laid out. There's bookshelves all stocked up, as well as windows to view outside. "That lich? She's evil in hr own way, too." She stops here, turning back around, "You can go through life caring only about yourself, sonny boy, or you can do something about things instead." As she starts to go down, "I wonder how many more children that Lady will have as apprentices if she isn't stopped one day?"

Nikkolai stops cold at the thought. "That...is something I had not considered. I always thought that I was the only one she wanted, simply because I couldn't imagine it being otherwise." He walks over to the bed and plops down, looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling.

Kotono: Granny Tam doesn't answer, leaving Nikkolai alone with his thoughts.

Nikkolai: "Maybe I should go home after all." He folds his arms behind his head. "And I will take a few surprises with me when I do."
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