warpweft | [ENTER THE PALACE]

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[ENTER THE PALACE]

[You find yourself with a sensation like floating in water.]

[Above, the sky is dark. You can occasionally see things shifting, like gusts of wind, or perhaps waves of water. Is it…even a sky above you? Or is it some kind of giant ocean? Whatever it is, you can’t make it out very well. All around you, you appear to be floating in what appears to be water. It looks like a great, wide ocean of…space in every direction around you, with stars and lights twinkling in the distance. It looks like water and feels like water, but it doesn’t make you wet. You can reach your hand into it and pull some out, the purple and violet water and the tiny points of light inside it will even rest in your hands if you cup them to carry it, but once you’re not trying to hold it anymore, it’ll flow off of you, not a single drop remaining behind. You feel something similar if you go underneath the surface. The “water” doesn’t touch your eyes, mouth or nose when give the chance, it merely drifts around you, allowing you to breathe and see unabated. And you can see for a great distance, the twinkling stars illuminating the ocean of space all around you. Though perhaps less dark and empty, it feels every bit as vast as the sky above. You feel like you could swim forever and never reach the edge.]

[It’s quiet, here, with little noise around you but the starry ocean’s waves crashing back into its surface. It’s peaceful. In another situation, it might even be comfortable.]

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[ not fifteen minutes and i'm being bullied by the setpieces.

she takes a ?breath?, abruptly guilty.

guiltier?

sticks her hand into the current in that unthinking, wizardly way ]

[You get closer to the current and it pulls you down towards the palace. You have little to no trouble breathing or seeing as you get closer. The current takes your further and further until it eventually releases you outside the front of the palace. Still upside down from your perspective, you see great wooden door with a single metal handle in front of you.

[There’s a violet sphere of light, sitting on the handle, softly pulsing as it bobs up and down. You can’t touch the handle without touching the sphere.]

[ this is so telegraphed a trap.

shivers, staring at it. of course the first thing she's going to think to do is... conjure a Mage Hand to touch the handle for her.

but does this even work, like, at all? ]

[The Mage Hand....]

[Goes through the orb and successfully grabs the handle!]

[It appears you can open the door without touching the orb, if you wish.]

[ this is the only time she's going to get to do anything remotely cool, so, yeah, she's opening the door with Mage Hand. ]

[The door rumbles as it opens up - the starry water she's submerged in rushes into the now open passage, carrying Sprezzatura along with it. It carries her down a long entranceway, up (down?) a staircase until the flow deposits her on a stone balcony, the flow of water going over the edge and, thankfully, not carrying her over the wall of the balcony with it. When her feet touch the ground, things aren't upside down anymore, so entering the palace must have...re-oriented her.]

[The balcony appears to be overlooking a courtyard of some kind, but before she can take too close of a look...]

[BOOOM!!!!!]

[There's a huge crashing sound from a short distance away - if Sprezzatura looks, she'll see a hole just got blown in a wall and somebody is....stepping through the hole.]

[They raise a hand up and wave away some smoke from their face, revealing a white-haired young woman. Her eyes fell on Sprezzatura. She briefly looks surprised, then her expression just becomes a sneer.]

What are you doing here.

[ oh. just like looking at her mother.

she draws herself up to her full, diminutive height, sharpens her gaze. ]

I am here to help Miss Nessa. Who are you?

Oh, then we have a fun coincidence going on! I'm here to help her too!

[She bends down and taps the ground. A violet well of light opens up and she reaches in and pulls out a......VERY LARGE glaive.]

Help her into a shallow, unmarked grave!

[Seriously, that thing is taller than she is.]

[ ...ah, so she's going to die again. ]

Mammon. Fuck.

[ no time to waste, in that case. she begins to intone and gesture those movements and words necessary to cast Magic Missile. ]

Oh, wow, are you trying to cast a spell on me?

[She hefts up that glaive, but doesn't attack yet.]

Yeah, you know what, go ahead! I wanna see this!

[ the edge of that blade is such a wicked curve.

she doesn't stop casting, but she slows... hesitation. her gaze slides past to the hole in the wall. does it lead deeper? ]

[The starry water is leaking out of the hole, so it either leaves the palace or goes somewhere deeper...]

[But this person is in between you and the hole.]

Come on, come on, I don't have all day, I've got destroying to get back to. Come on! I'm giving you to the count of three to do something before I do it myself!

One!

[ act or die. and what's a scribe going to do against feet upon feet of cruel blade?

she already knows the answer to that. so. she stops casting, but only for an instant. ]

Two.

[ and, instead of doing literally anything to this woman, she Thundersteps ninety fucking feet through that hole.

or, i mean. she tries to. sorry Jeff. ]

WHAT THE FU--

[She reaches out and tries to catch Sprezzatura as she passes her and that blade almost catches Sprezzatura on her way past, before a thunderous BOOM from the spot she just vacated rocks the immediate area, knocking her aim off just enough for Sprezzatura to get past her, into the hole and into the starry water, where she can start to swim away....]

YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!

[The woman spins on her heel, plants her feet, draws her arm back and HEAVES the glaive at Sprezzatura's back as she escapes, aiming right between her shoulder blades.]

[ she doesn't know how to dodge underwater. she had never personally been in combat before Wilbur blew the goddamn clocktower. she has certainly never had to fight underwater. she hears the woman scream and every nerve in her body screams, too, telling her she's going to feel pain very quickly, very soon, but not for very long, unless she fucking gets out of the way right now.

but.

she doesn't know how to dodge underwater. ]

[The glaive doesn't just hit her. It hits her from behind with enough force to push her forward, through the water, and slam her into a wall. It's disorienting enough that Sprezzatura might be forgiven for not realizing how excruciatingly painful it is for a few seconds. To make matters worse, a hand grabs the handle of the Glaive from behind and starts pulling it.]

That was a cute little trick you pulled. But just like the rest of them...

You're going to end up just like her.

[She pulls the glaive out of Sprezzatura's back and lets her drift away, carried by the flow of the water.]

[ a study in bleeding out, fig. 1

the starry ocean pulses, pinpricks of light coalescing and blurring across Sprezzatura's as she floats.

that fast. that fast. you fucking joke. ]

[Sprezzatura drifts through the water, leaving more and more blood behind.....until something reaches out and pulls her free from the water.]

[Before unconsciousness completely takes her, she can hear a voice, very faintly.]

Oh, good lord, she really did a number on you, huh.

[And she can see two glowing points of yellow above her.]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[CH-THUNK]

[You feel a jolt run through your entire body, jarring you awake and making you take in a sudden, deep breath and sit up straight. Immediately followed by falling back down. You once again feel like you’re floating in water.]

Oh, finally. I was afraid you were really going to die on my watch.

[Your vision is blurry, but gradually returning to you. If you have glasses, they’re being held out to you. One way or the other, your vision clears up and you can see a woman standing above you, arms crossed, glaring down at you…]

[With a pair of glowing yellow eyes.]

Don’t force yourself to get up too quickly. Your body is still recovering.

[ oh don't worry she is so not getting up ]

Miss... Nessa?

[ no. the golden eyes. shadow. ]

[She reaches a finger out and boops Sprezzatura on the nose.]

That's my name, don't wear it out.

[She doesn't seem to have picked up that Sprezzatura has noticed anything is...off.]

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