In Morholt’s Domain
Mena and William noted that they did not have icons of each other, so they created icons of everyone for everyone.  

They debated what to do next.  In the end they decided to ask for help.  Uther’s uncle was commander of one of Drake’s legions, and could get Drake’s ear, but it was unclear whether that would help.  Fierce was supposed to be closed off.  At the very least, they could find out what happened to Baudemagus.

Another alternative was to leave Fierce and seal the back door behind them.  Or they could take on the Cyber-Lady themselves, assuming that they would ultimately receive support.  Soto-sama preferred not sealing off Fierce.  She noted that they did not know what was happening beyond Fierce, and they did not know what resources might be at their disposal.

Uther considered going back to the academy as if nothing had happened to learn of current events.  He calculated that it would take two weeks to get there along the Grand Stair.  Cyra suggested going to an adjecent Gossamer world and teleporting from there.  It was decided that Uther and Cyra would go.

On the Grand Stair

Cyra and Uther exited through the back door, sealing it behind them.  They took the packet of documents to hand off with them.  The first door they came to Uther could tell went to Nexpopolis, but it was locked by the Arch-Warden who controlled Nexopolis and he could not open it.

The next door went to Planet Fiction.  That door was not locked.  It went to a door in Scotland in a doctor’s office for a doctor who only treated one person.  The doctor had some impressive credentials that made the personage notable, but they could not place the fictional character.

Another door went to Finis Terra, the Earth shadow that was the final battlefield between the Gossamer Lords and the Dwimmerlaik.  That door was also not locked, but they knew that magic was damaged on that world.

They elected to go to the doctor’s office on Fiction.  They only needed a few moments to teleport out to Las Vegas.  The entered the office of Dr. Joseph Bell, personal physician of Queen Victoria.  Cyra cast the spell with no problems.  They teleported at the top of the Stratosphere and remotely connected to the training base network.  

Cyra poked around looking for mentions of the team or Baudemagus.  She found that they had all be given citations and promotions, graduated ahead of schedule, assigned as aides to Baudemagus to assist him in his rule of the world of Indus.  Cyra was able to determine that Indus was an ancient Earth world with only a single civilization, where sorcery and wrighting do not work.  

That was the cover story, so they would not be arrested on the spot should they return.  However, it was clear that Drake was aware of things and chose to cover up the sitation on Fierce.

Uther used wayfinding to search for Baudemagus.  He was unable to find him.  He must have been sent to another sealed world.

Cyra teleported one set of the documents to the desk of Uther’s uncle, and the other set to Kodol, a contact of Cyra’s on the world of Shadowlight, that would ultimately make it to Drake.  She knew that teleporting anything to Shadowlight would alert Vala, the leader of the Gossamer Lords.  They decided that this would not be a drawback as it could alert a higher authority than Drake of the situation.

In Morholt’s Domain

Mena and William completed the actual icon cards of everyone but they had not infused them.  When they had completed this, neither Sturm nor Uther and Cyra had returned.  

Mena searched for Sturm.  She found an Umbra saturated hole in reality.  She also found the death being, so it was not responsible.  She examined the rent with her Eidolon.  She tried to locate Sturm with Wayfinding.  She ultimately  determined that he was on an archipelago in the southern Atlantic, called Tristan da Chuna, east of Inaccessible Island.  William, Jane and Mena took the aircar there.

In the Southern Atlantic

Sturm awoke on Tristan da Chuna with an immense hangover.  He decided to swim back.  His progress was poor on account of his armor.  When the others arrived, they picked him up in the aircar.  He pointed out structural imperfections in the aircar.

Mena informed Sturm that Cyra and Uther had not returned yet.  He asked where they went.  Mena filled him in on the way back.  When they returned, they waited for a day for Cyra and Uther before considering other actions.

In Morholt’s Domain

William created a quick icon of Uther, and with Jane’s help, stepped out onto the Grand Staircase and tried to contact him.  He located Uther on Earth, but was unable to wake him up.  He tried again with Cyra and was able to wake her up.

Somewhere Else

The last thing Cyra remembered was trying to teleport back to Dr. Joseph Bell’s office to return to the  Grand Stair.  She saw an old bearded man decked out in arcane looking clothing.  He was speaking, be she could not hear him, talking to another older gentleman similarly dressed.  Both of them had a psychic presense.  One was more comparable to William.  The other was comparable to the Cyber-Lady.

Cyra could sense Uther’s presence, but it was supressed.  She could also detect magic, perhaps a ward, that was slowing his time stream.  William was able to contact Cyra on account of her psychic strength.  The gentlemen did not seem to notice the icon communication.  They were busy arguing amongst themselves.  Cyra created a mental contact with Uther, but could not communicate.

Cyra was unable to move on account of the time slowing.  She realized that they were captured immediately after returning to the office.  She realized that the source of the stasis was not the gentlemen and surmised that perhaps they were trying to release her.

After a while, time started speeding up for Cyra.  She identified a complicated ward in a magic she did not recognize.  The gentlemen were speaking to her.  Cyra broke the connection with William to speak with them.  

In Morholt’s Domain

William informed the others that Cyra and Uther had been captured on Fiction.

On Fiction

The older gentleman asked if Cyra was all right.  She replied that she was until she was hit by the magic.  The genetleman told her that they would be alright if they left immedately.  He had created a pathway to the door that the Eidolon was actively attacking and he was expending energy to maintain.  Cyra grabed William and they did so.  Then Jane sealed the door.

In Morholt’s Domain

They returned to Fierce and Cyra explained the situation on Earth.  They cover story was probabaly to explain their absence on the presumption that they were lost on Fierce.  

Cyra attempted to explain what had happened on Fiction.  It seemed that Dr. Bell and Merlin had intervened to prevent the Eidolon from edit them into fictional characters as was said happened to outsiders on Fierce.

Cyra and Uther did not recognize Sturm.  They were reintroduced.

They still did not know the fate of Baudemagus.  Soto-sama surmised that if he was not publicly executed, Baudemagus was probably imprisoned.  Sturm suggested that perhaps Baudemagus was in the Indus valley on Fierce.  Mena tried wayfinding, but it pointed her to the door to the Grand Stair.

Planning

Cyra conjectured about who might be able to locate their back door.  Lucien might be able to or someone on his level, but probably few others.  So they were relatively safe on Fierce.  As such, their options were:

  • Leave Fierce and locating Baudemagus
  • Leave Fierce and go into hiding.
  • Reclaim Fierce with Baudemagus
  • Lay low on Fierce and see what happens.

William and Soto-sama endorsed reclaiming Fierce.  

They considered how to combat the Cyber-Lady.  Cyra proposed capturing her in a time status field like she and Uther were caught in.  However she did not have Eidolon ability.  But Mena could assist.  And Sturm could find the flaws in her defenses.  It would take teamwork, and they did not know what the impact of her Dwimmerlaik connections might be.

It was not generally known what the utlimate fate of the Dwimmerlaik was.  Were they gone forwever?  Were they quarantined somewhere?  Were any outside the quarantine zone?  But the team knew that there were Dwimmerlaik around, and several were seen in icons and mentioned in the documentation that they had sent forward.

Morholt and dominated the Cyber-Lady, and the team had defeated Morholt.  They considered what Morholt had had to gain sway over the Cyber-Lady.  It was the artifact that they had given to Baudemagus.  They went to the Grand Stair to find it.  

On the Grand Stair

Wayfinding led the team down the hall of the Grand Stair.  Baudemagus was based in a tower on the world of Verse Archanum.  Mena had been there before.  They went to the realm Soto-sama’s people had evacuated to and then teleported to Verse Archanum from there.  

On Verse Archanum, the wayfinding led them back to the Grand Stair to an area known as the Jaeger Expanse, or Zane’s Walk.  They passed several known worlds before leaving Zane’s walk.  They continued into an expanse known as the Grey Tower.  From the top they passed through the Rickety Stair.

Emerging from the trapdoor in the ceiling, they emerged from the floor of another corridor where they recognized some of their former classmates being changed by a giant Eidolon centipede, the Crawler Upon the Stairs, believed to be an Anno-Naki that was attempting to map the Grand Stair.  The wayfinding led in the direction that the centipede came from, so they proceeded that way.

Eventually, they returned to the area known as the Grand Expanse, and the wayfinding led to an elegant sandleood door with a strange looking lock with a jagged lock.  On the door was a sign saying “Open for Business”.  On the other side of the door was Nexopolis.

The Team:

  • Oberleutnant Sturm von Krieg the warrior (Joab)
  • William Edwalton the scientist (Greg)
  • Jane Edwalton the explorer (Jenna)
  • Mena the traveler (Stephanie)
  • Uther the gatherer (Dave)
  • Cyra the sorceress (Mike)