Victorious advance

[Ebiris]

"She can afford to be patient but she will want him back, or at least his spark," Alicia pats her foot on the ground. "We need to prepare ourselves to defend this prize for the long haul. I'm going to stay here myself while my avatar visits Dweomerheart to enlist help."

"Come on then Antenora, lets go have a bath?" Marie asks, giving Jessica a smile as she goes. "May as well celebrate the end of Honey Belle's adventures. There will be no encore."

[Anastasia]

Antenora and Marie slip away, leaving you and Syala here alone. Once they're gone, "I need to punch something, I've begun to think like Antenora. I'm seeing plans instead of a victory." She makes a face at that, "A win is a win, no matter how the other side tries to manipulate it."

[Ebiris]

"Just because we didn't get the absolute most we could have gotten here is no reason to diminish what we have accomplished. How many others have captured one of Shar's proxies?" Alicia asks, unwilling to have this victory tainted.

[Anastasia]

"Marie really does deserve a reward for this," Syala muses quietly, "Something to signify her deed her. You're right, this is far from a trivial victory."

[Ebiris]

"It's another thing I'm going to ask Mystra about, she deserves to be recognised," Alicia agrees. "Any ideas?"

[Anastasia]

"What can we give her that she doesn't have?" Syal asks, rhetorically. "She never expected to get Antenora and yet there they are. She's gained the rank she's always wanted and power aside."

[Ebiris]

"She always was sad that those nice robes of the plainswalker she had got destroyed when we fought the Tarrasque. I'll ask Empress Sulia to make her a new set worthy of her stature," Alicia decides as inspiration strikes.

---

Meanwhile Avatarlicia arrives in Dweomerheart at the Sylican embassy and asks Mystra if she can spare some time for her.

[Anastasia]

That's easy enough - being a favored ally of Mystra has some benefits. She sits on a throne in a library, sitting back and locked in thought. Around her flow thousands, thousands and thousands yet strings of multicolored light, all connecting to her on one end and stretching on and on until they're out of sight on the other.

Fireball.

Magic Missile.

Levitate.

Instant Summons.

Rope Trick.

Cure Serious Wounds.

Camouflage.

Danay's Deception.

Spells by the trillions pulse and flow outward from Mystra, the barest glance revealing the Weave to you. Here Mystra sits, radiant with a power that dwarfs almost any other in Creation.

[Ebiris]

Even as a goddess keeping track of all those spells is beyond Alicia's means, but she still manages to take some of it in and smiles on seeing so many magic missiles.

"Mystra, our Marielle has done us proud once again," she says as she stands before Mystra's throne. "She has captured one of the Shadow Twelve, a proxy holder of Shar's divinity no less. I'm here to ask for your help in securing where he's being held against any attempts to retrieve or kill him, for all time if necessary."

[Anastasia]

"Truly?" Mystra rises at that, a vast aegis of spells rising with her, flowing around her and yet fading out of sight. "Marielle's grown farther than even I anticipated."

[Ebiris]

"I've had her hunting Dragodan ever since that incident with Taldeer," Alicia explains. "She found him yesterday and was able to observe him for some time before she committed to an attack when he was about to turn some Sharrans into greater shadows to better serve their twisted cause. It was a flawless victory," she says that with pride for her former familiar and her now obvious competence.

[Anastasia]

Smiling at that, Mystra is at your side. "Take us there and I will see to it," she concurs. "No Sharran proxy shall go crawling back to her."

[Ebiris]

Taking Mystra's hand, Alicia opens a gate to the edge of the dimensionally warded zone where the real Alicia and Syala watch over the spot Dragodan was imprisoned in the middle of a small a sunbleached fortress.

"The area ahead is warded from teleportation as the bare minimum, but I can show you the spell I developed to shorten the journey," the avatar says, gesturing ahead as she shortens the distance for them, the view ahead looking deformed and swollen as though funhouse mirror. Then a single step takes Alicia's avatar across thousands of feet to stand on the upper walls looking down at where Alicia and Syala are.

"I'll take over from here," Alicia herself says, as if she actually needs to explain herself to an avatar, waving up to Mystra when she comes through while the avatar leaves the area to assume other duties looking after Sylica.

[Anastasia]

"Space compression is a worthy spell," Mystra says as you come forth. Once there she merely overlooks things with barely a glance. "Yes, he can be restrained more," she agrees.

[Ebiris]

"We're reaching out to Selune and Lathander as well. No shadows will find purchase here," Alicia says. "Sylica strives to stand on its own feet, but this is one time when we can't let our pride stand in the way. I don't want Dragodan ever getting out."