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Post by Cody D'Avalon on Jan 23, 2024 0:47:26 GMT
Jessup carefully observes the Bishop and Cody.
As Cody makes his move and grabs the Bishop's face, Jessup lunges to bar the office door.
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Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2024 5:30:54 GMT
There's nothing to bar the door with, unless she wants to push a cabinet in front of the door.
The bishop hasn't the skill to avoid Cody or prevent the mind lock.
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Post by Cody D'Avalon on Jan 24, 2024 8:24:01 GMT
Jessup is fully expecting Cody to break the Bishops neck and for guards to burst through the door at the sound of a scream or tussle. She panics for a split second as she can't find an easy (and quiet) way to bar the door. She glances back at the silent tableau of Cody holding the shocked Bishop's face in his hands.
Too much silence could be as bad as too much noise to rouse the suspicions of any guards on the other side of the door.
Jessup begins talking in a casual conversational tone. Partially parroting back the things the Bishop has told them about the new doctrines and some autobiographical things as though she were answering questions. All with a smile in her voice.
At the same time, Jessup positions herself next to a tall cabinet and braces herself to push it over on top of anyone entering the office.
Jessup isn't sure of what Cody is doing but she's been on enough capers with him to know how to play along.
======
Cody is surprised by the apparent ease with which he is able to grapple the Bishop's Psyche. All of his training had been with stronger minds and he had never done anything like this outside of a formal educational setting.
It's an act of desperation.
<OOC> Using Psychic Suggestion. </OOC>
Mind to mind Cody connects with the Bishop.
~Don't move or make a sound unless I instruct you to.~
~Now, blink your eyes if you understand.~
~Okay, good.~
~I am a very good friend of Saint King Brian and I know him well enough to know that he would not and does not approve of the bloody schism happening in the Church right now.~
~Saint King Brian has sent me here to tell you these things.~
Cody let's a montage of images flow from his mind to hers of Cody and Brian's friendship.
- From a time when Cody first met Brian on a battlefield where they ended a holy war and rescued an Orphan.
- A time they joined together to help another young man reclaim his birthright.
- A time they just enjoyed each other's company going to the theater and sharing a meal.
- To recently meeting on the steps of Faiella-Bionin and catching up with each other.
-Saint King Brian telling Cody of his new Sainthood and asking Cody to deliver his message to the Church.
Just little visual snippets to illustrate a long friendship.
All of this passes in the space of a heartbeat or two.
~Now, let's start by getting a little more acquainted. Mind to mind, tell me a little bit about yourself and how someone so young has risen to such a lofty position in the Church?~
Cody ~listens~ to her story.
Then, Cody works to impress upon the young Bishop the following.
~The persecution, harassment and forceful indoctrination of those you perceive as heretics must stop.~
~That is the work of the Serpent to deceive and divide the Church.~
~It weakens Amber.~
~This is a test that the Unicorn has given you - and you are failing.~
~The Serpent laughs as we divide and persecute one another.~
~Now: Shadow Storms ravage all of creation and those storms are reaching into our hearts and minds causing us to turn against each other.~
~My companion and I are needed at the castle to work towards rebalancing nature and ending these Shadow Storms.~
~As much as we would like to stay with you here in the Cathedral, we must answer to the higher power and leave here.~
~It is our duty, Jessup and myself, must go immediately to the Castle where we may work with the Regent and the Royal House to cure these preternatural storms.~
~As I am Lord Cody D'Avalon, son of Princess Dierdre.~
~Stop the persecutions and allow Jessup and I to leave immediately.~
~So sayeth Saint King Brian.~
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Post by Cody D'Avalon on Jan 26, 2024 8:10:22 GMT
<OOC> Assuming the mind meld is successful and uninterrupted </OOC>
~Instruct your people to give Jessup and I free passage back to the Castle~
Cody finishes the Psychic Suggestion and releases the Bishop from the Mind Lock by gently lowering his hands and easing himself backwards away from her. Finally shifting his gaze away from the direct eye contact.
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Post by Admin on Feb 6, 2024 4:18:53 GMT
OOC: I'm not sure about this. Might be stepping into High Compelling territory. OTH, high compelling is a wasted points.
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Post by Admin on Feb 6, 2024 4:36:50 GMT
Or I can look at page 95.
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Post by Admin on Feb 6, 2024 4:40:36 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/PTPGL99/nun~png "I can let you go back to the castle," she says dreamily. "Wait, no, I can't do that; it takes a long time to learn all the details of the New Church," she argues with herself in the dream.
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Post by Cody D'Avalon on Feb 6, 2024 20:20:01 GMT
<OOC> Does Cody get an answer?
Because it will help determine Cody's next move. </OOC>
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Post by Cody D'Avalon on Feb 6, 2024 23:39:00 GMT
<OOC> Geeze, the Shadow Knight rules really muddy the waters.
In ADRPG rules, under Psyche, what Cody is attempting with 'Psychic Suggestion' is pretty straightforward.
If I am reading things correctly, Shadow Knight introduces 'High Compelling' under Conjuration which allows for non-contact and the use of spells and artifacts. In certain ways, 'High Compelling' is more powerful.
Reading through both Psyche and High Compelling, it appears to take longer to achieve what Cody wants to do. Time that Cody is pressed for but he didn't want to resort to a full-on 'Mindrape' but, perhaps, he was too gentle.
Although, asking does move into 'Mindrape' and 'Leech Information' territory.
Nice guys don't win ballgames. </OOC>
Cody groans internally when he recognizes that the Bishop's zealotry can't be overwritten so quickly and easily.
Locking eyes once again to establish Psychic contact, using 'Psychic Domination' Cody takes hold of her hand and moves her to the coat rack. Somewhat awkwardly, Cody gets the Bishop to dawn her cloak and then he moves her to the door.
Jessup opens the door as Cody gently guides the Bishop forward.
Cody speaks to the guards through the Bishop, "I have examined these souls and have determined them to be pure and rightious. They follow a higher calling and so I must go and take them to the castle immediately." mimicking the Bishop's cheerleadereque style of smiling and speaking.
Holding hands, Cody and Jessup flank the Bishop between them as they walk out of the Cathedral together.
Needless to say, the sight of the Bishop escorting two robed and hooded figures, all hand-in-hand, turns a lot of heads and causes many to follow. Including a few of the guards.
<OOC> change of plans based on Admin's response. </OOC>
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Post by Admin on Feb 11, 2024 1:04:13 GMT
OOC: Before you get that far, Cody sees that the castle gates are closed, and three guards block anyone's attempts to get in.
"By the command of the Regent, none are allowed in or out!" one of them bellows every few minutes.
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Post by Cody D'Avalon on Feb 11, 2024 2:37:51 GMT
Nearing the castle gates, Cody realizes there's an obstacle forcing a change to his plan. Pausing a moment, Cody scans the Bishop's mind for the location of the heretics' shrine that the Bishop had had razed earlier in the day.
Turning away from the Castle, the robed figures walk through the streets to the still smoldering ruins of a burned down home. A few flames still manage to lick around the charred remains despite the continuing rain.
There are a couple of Cathedral Guards standing near the ruins. It appears that they have been standing guard to prevent anyone from attempting to extinguish the blaze. At least they haven't interfered with the bucket brigade blocking the spread of flames to adjacent buildings.
Cody shakes his head at the scene as they come abreast of the place.
Cody leads the Bishop up the stone steps in front of the burned out home and turns the Bishop to speak facing the gathered crowd. "I have a revelation! I am calling an end to the Inquisition. It has been revealed to me that it is the will of Saint King Brian to bring an end to the division and bloodshed!"
Cody releases his physical and Psychic grip on the Bishop and pushes her into the gathered crowd.
As the dazed Bishop stumbles forward into the arms of the Cathedral Guards, Cody and Jessup hastily turn and leap through flames and past the bucket brigade. They squeeze down the side lane into a back alley.
Cody and Jessup weave their way through alleys and streets.
Confident that they aren't being chased they make their way along a street and duck into what appears to be a Cafe.
Or, Whiskey Shoppe?
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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2024 5:47:15 GMT
OOC: I read Z'Ra's post. ::shrug emoji::
The pair burst into a fine restaurant filled with the well-heeled. They all look up as one to stare at the sweaty, soggy, soot-stained intruders into high society. If there were such a thing as record players in Amber then there'd be a scratch. As it is, Cody hears a monocle drop onto a table and crack.
"Damn, that's my second one this week," a young man says, holding up his broken lens.
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Post by Cody D'Avalon on Feb 12, 2024 7:09:44 GMT
<OOC> The consequences of not keeping track of other characters. I assume that if Z'ra stayed in her Whiskey Shoppe, we would have connected. But she elected to go to the Castle and that dumped Cody into a different establishment.
I thought that I would do you a favour, since you mentioned that it is easier for you when several characters are all in one thread together. *Shrug* It also makes things more difficult (Awkward) for Cody at the moment too. *Shrug*
Roll with the punches, I guess... </OOC>
Keeping their hoods up over their heads to avoid anyone seeing their faces, Cody and Jessup scan the establishment and realize that they don't fit in.
"So, sorry. Don't want to cause a scene. Wrong address..." Cody mumbles to the Maitre d'.
They step back out onto the street and quickly duck into the alley beside the restaurant.
Jessup sighs, "I think we could use one of your trench-coated friends driving a coach right about now."
"I don't like what happened to Baz and his driver the last time I was taken for a ride... Cody groans in response.
Jessup grabs Cody by the arm and points up. There's a fire escape above them that leads to a covered rooftop terrace. Cody nods and jumps up to catch hold of the ladder. He then reaches down to help Jessup up onto the ladder and they climb up to the terrace. It is a rooftop extension to the restaurant below but it is unoccupied due to the lousy weather. The rain blows in from three sides and there is just one corner near a wall with a door that is sheltered enough to be considered ~dry~ enough to escape the preternatural wetness.
"Dig out that doohickie your Cousin gave you and use it to ask her where we should spend the night. Then you can take another run at the Castle in the morning." Jessup says as she jabs Cody in the ribs with her fingers.
Cody nods and digs through his sporran to fish out the mirror compact Lorelei gave him.
"I'm not sure if this will work. Or if it's only one way and we have to wait for her to call me, but I'll try." Cody sighs.
Together, Jessup and Cody sit on the floor with their backs against the wall. Huddled together, Cody flips open the little mirror device and concentrates on Lorelei. Trying to see Lorelei's face in the little mirror.
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Post by Lorelei on Feb 12, 2024 9:50:16 GMT
[OOC: The interior of the lid has a permanent enchantment on it that produces one candle-power worth of light. The mirror itself is just a mirror, but it has been conditioned to not cloud-over with continued contact of the Mirror Wrighting power which resides in the user of the power.
Because Lorelei crafted and conditioned the mirror, she can always find it assuming it is not in a warded area. Any Mirror Wright familiar With that mirror could likewise find it... One trained in Sorcery could use it as the display of a scrying spell. In the hands of anyone else it is just a mirror.] .
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Post by Cody D'Avalon on Feb 12, 2024 11:43:37 GMT
After a few minutes of concentration Cody fails to make contact with Lorelei through the little mirror.
"Well, she did promise to keep in touch every few hours, so we'll just have to wait." Cody snaps the compact closed and tucks it back into his sporran.
Jessup, "We should ditch these habits but we'll stand out in our flight suits. Maybe we can slip down the stairs into the restaurant and pilfer something from the cloak room. Just wait here."
Jessup slips through the door and creeps down the stairs where she finds a linen supply room. From it she pulls on a loose fitting cook's uniform over the turquoise jump suit and stuffs the Monk's Habit into the laundry chute. She grabs her hair and ties it back into a bun, careful to cover her cybernetic ports with a matching line cook's hat. Then she takes a second uniform and sandwiches it between a stack of table clothes and makes her way, ducking and weaving through the busy kitchen and down a service hall towards the main entrance and cloakroom. Shuffling the table clothes, she pulls the spare uniform and passes the tablecloths to a waitress as she ducks into the rear of the cloakroom. In there, Jessup selects a pair of capes and floppy brimmed hats and drapes them over her arm.
The cloakroom attendant glances back and gives a scowl, but before she can say anything Jessup shrugs and smiles, "The Smythes want their dessert with wine and cigars up on the terrace. We're short-handed on the floor so their waitress asked me to fetch these while she gets the other things set up.
Before the cloakroom attendant has time to respond Jessup is already weaving her way back through the busy kitchen where she manages to stuff a baguette and a bottle of wine into her bundle.
Back up on the rooftop terrace Cody gives Jessup a big hug and kiss, then changes into the other cooks' uniform. Following Jessup's instructions for navigating the annals of the restaurant, Cody slips downstairs in his disguise and grabs a couple of plates of dinner. Large bowls of a lamb ragu. Weaving his way around the kitchen and back up the stairs to the terrace once again.
The pair hungrily devour the bread and stew while gulping the wine straight from the bottle. One of Bayles' Whites that was being used in the stew broth.
Wrapped in the ~borrowed~ capes and hats, Cody and Jessup make their way down the fire escape ladder into the Alleyway. A city block over and down. The pair look for reasonable accommodations for the night. A motel/hotel with multi-night fees (Not by the hour).
They find a boarding house with a vacancy sign and they step inside. Still tightly wrapped in their borrowed capes and floppy hats pulled down over their brows.
Jessup calls, "Hello? Anyone home?" As Cody taps a little bell on the front desk.
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