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Tree branch: check. Assorted lightweight seed-bearing fruits and nuts: check. Other seeds: check. Water bottle, for when she has to veer away from the river: check.
Better not linger in her starting place too much longer. Yellow's faster than her and may have already come home to a wreck. Thorn might have a habit of checking up on the place, even, just in case. She's invisible, inaudible, unsmellable - that won't help if he sends someone thorough. Or comes in person.
She sets out.
She's been flying for about thirty minutes after her shopping trip when she falls through a tear and squeaks inaudibly and lands in the middle of -
imeanforever
imeanforever
I'm a little concerned that if I turn visible or say anything, Dragon (they probably don't know her as "Sarkany" at all) will notice me right away, and I do have to do so for certain parts of my Master power to operate. I have a way in, as you can tell, and I didn't intend on imprisoning myself; will that do for now? Or I can disappear an object.
imeanforever
Promise takes it without assuming it into her invisibility, inspects it, reshapes it into a sphere to confirm that it's uniform inside and not some hastily prepared annoying Tinker device or something, and makes a gate to the lava flows. She tosses the bone through and then closes the gate. Then moves to another location in the room.
wormcan
Marquis nods. "It is gone, and not just invisible." Exeunt lieutenants. The people of cell block W have begun congregating around the entrance to the room, not because they know what's happening but just because this seems to be the room where it happens.
"The Birdcage's population will not be able to fit in any one place. Since my people are assembling, perhaps it would be a good idea to begin with them?" Marquis addresses the space where Promise isn't.
"The Birdcage's population will not be able to fit in any one place. Since my people are assembling, perhaps it would be a good idea to begin with them?" Marquis addresses the space where Promise isn't.
imeanforever
This may also be particularly noticeable. I'm a little surprised she hasn't spotted me yet, actually, but since she hasn't what I'd ideally like to do is assemble several groups, set up my requirements for evacuation with each one, make gates for each one, and have everyone leave simultaneously.
wormcan
"I doubt we'll have the time. If you don't want to let people leave as soon as they're prepared, might I suggest at least letting them leave early in the event that we're interrupted?
Whimper, choose a group. For the first wave, if we don't end up all leaving together."
Whimper, choose a group. For the first wave, if we don't end up all leaving together."
imeanforever
The Crystal Reach is moderately popular as a tourist destination, but that's popular by fairy standards, she's in a cave, and it's very big. This is probably pretty safe. All right. The gates will lead to a location with nothing smarter than moss for miles around. If anyone does go farther than that, anyone they meet will have most of my same powers including the Master part if not more powers than me, and being captured by a randomly chosen person there would be by my estimation much worse than just staying in the Birdcage. If anyone goes through the gate without having eaten a berry, many of my escalation options are lethal, and I won't take anyone to the final destination without confirming that they have done that. Thank you for your organizational help, assuming it's not some kind of unpleasant gambit.
And then she outlines a new gate to the Crystal Reach in fairy lights.
And then she outlines a new gate to the Crystal Reach in fairy lights.
wormcan
No one rushes through it, presumably because they understood the instructions. Or maybe the bone "X" across the gate had something to do with it.
While the first group arrives from outside Marquis' block, he opens the gate to see a balding and non-supervillanous-looking man. "Galvanate, welcome to W. You've brought your–"
While the cell block leaders are occupied, what looks like blue lightning arcs from out of view and strikes a wall. Alarms blare.
While the first group arrives from outside Marquis' block, he opens the gate to see a balding and non-supervillanous-looking man. "Galvanate, welcome to W. You've brought your–"
While the cell block leaders are occupied, what looks like blue lightning arcs from out of view and strikes a wall. Alarms blare.
imeanforever
Ah shit.
Promise abandons her inaudibility.
"RESPOND TO MY LIGHTS AS ORDERS," Promise yells to all her vassals except the Siberian, and that's as far as she gets before the room is flooded with containment foam.
Promise can ignore the containment foam like it's not there thanks to the Siberian - well, except it makes it impossible to see. She can clear it away, too, but only in the time it takes to physically traverse the space. She makes tunnels to all the people whose locations she remembers, and then starts trying to find her way out of the foam.
Promise abandons her inaudibility.
"RESPOND TO MY LIGHTS AS ORDERS," Promise yells to all her vassals except the Siberian, and that's as far as she gets before the room is flooded with containment foam.
Promise can ignore the containment foam like it's not there thanks to the Siberian - well, except it makes it impossible to see. She can clear it away, too, but only in the time it takes to physically traverse the space. She makes tunnels to all the people whose locations she remembers, and then starts trying to find her way out of the foam.
wormcan
No one is exactly surprised by this development. Dragon was likely to find out any time anyway. Those who can interfere with containment foam do, and some of Galvanate's people turn on each other trying to retaliate against whoever raised the alarm.
imeanforever
Once Promise is out of the foam for a moment and can expect her voice to carry, she tries, "STOP," on Dragon.
Of course this does not help. Deafness is a really obvious defense.
Now she has to figure out how Dragon is seeing things.
She tunnels through another torrent of containment foam to go back to the helpful organizer-guy. ...Sarkany had some kind of unexplained issue with talking to Promise early on; she may be able to listen without quite correctly hearing. But there's all this opaque containment foam. So, in fairylights: Do you know where her cameras are?
Of course this does not help. Deafness is a really obvious defense.
Now she has to figure out how Dragon is seeing things.
She tunnels through another torrent of containment foam to go back to the helpful organizer-guy. ...Sarkany had some kind of unexplained issue with talking to Promise early on; she may be able to listen without quite correctly hearing. But there's all this opaque containment foam. So, in fairylights: Do you know where her cameras are?
imeanforever
That counts.
Promise gets real close to it.
She makes sure she has the environment nailed so she doesn't fumble her fairylights.
She considers the odds that Dragon could be construed as actively doing something all the time to keep the Birdcage inhabitants from, say, dying of explosive decompression; and therefore chooses the order:
Take no new action.
Trailed from her hand in lights, very fast; there's a tradeoff in length and reaction time, but not that much of one.
Promise gets real close to it.
She makes sure she has the environment nailed so she doesn't fumble her fairylights.
She considers the odds that Dragon could be construed as actively doing something all the time to keep the Birdcage inhabitants from, say, dying of explosive decompression; and therefore chooses the order:
Take no new action.
Trailed from her hand in lights, very fast; there's a tradeoff in length and reaction time, but not that much of one.
wormcan
The inmates notice that no new streams of anything interfering with them, and the lack of escalating options replacing it. Those that can work their way out of the existing foam do, and then start freeing the others. Marquis is already standing atop the flood of foam, looking not only untrapped but clean, and pointing the way to buried prisoners. His people first, then Galvanate's in order of who's farthest from where the lightning came from.
imeanforever
Promise, meanwhile, has some more things to say to Sarkany.
Listen such that orders will go through.
"Sorry about that. Facilitate my and my vassals' safe departure to Fairyland, and my distribution of berries. You may speak."
"Please let me resume Birdcage-unrelated activity as normal," murmurs Dragon's voice.
"Any actions you would wish to take even if I had not broken into the Birdcage, you may take," amends Promise. "Will that do?"
"Temporarily."
"We can follow up with revisions when I'm not evacuating a hellpit that you told me about in the first place. Tell me honestly and completely: is there anything you could tell me that I would want you to tell me today?"
"The Guild and Protectorate have both already received messages about the break-in, its culprit, and my likely inability to handle it. They're trying to follow up with me now."
"Do you anticipate that they will be able to stop me from getting everybody out?"
"Not unless you're very slow."
"Anything else?"
"Not that I think you'd want to talk about today in particular."
"Good. I really do apologize. I was hoping to manage without this part. I didn't even have your name going in."
"...I appreciate that."
Listen such that orders will go through.
"Sorry about that. Facilitate my and my vassals' safe departure to Fairyland, and my distribution of berries. You may speak."
"Please let me resume Birdcage-unrelated activity as normal," murmurs Dragon's voice.
"Any actions you would wish to take even if I had not broken into the Birdcage, you may take," amends Promise. "Will that do?"
"Temporarily."
"We can follow up with revisions when I'm not evacuating a hellpit that you told me about in the first place. Tell me honestly and completely: is there anything you could tell me that I would want you to tell me today?"
"The Guild and Protectorate have both already received messages about the break-in, its culprit, and my likely inability to handle it. They're trying to follow up with me now."
"Do you anticipate that they will be able to stop me from getting everybody out?"
"Not unless you're very slow."
"Anything else?"
"Not that I think you'd want to talk about today in particular."
"Good. I really do apologize. I was hoping to manage without this part. I didn't even have your name going in."
"...I appreciate that."
wormcan
"Whose side are you on?" one prisoner jeers, but the mass of them don't object to Promise apologizing to Dragon as long as their captor is thoroughly stopped.
imeanforever
"My side," says Promise. "And so are you, if you want out. Let's distribute some berries smart quick, shall we?"
wormcan
Dragon, Marquis, and Galvanate are all handing them out. So far only Marquis has refrained from taking one. He doesn't stay the only one forever. More capes arrive and the vast majority accept.
imeanforever
Promise does have to make a separate gate to an ejected portion of Birdcage, but fortunately it settles in twelve minutes and the process can be completed. Berries! For all! As long as she has Dragon and Dragon has surveillance, she can leave the gates back to the Reach closed and keep a tally of who hasn't had any!
wormcan
Very few people turn down a berry. By the end it's just a small girl, a tall figure with no face, and Marquis. Everyone else is lined up to gate out.
imeanforever
"You... will probably have a hard time eating a berry," Promise acknowledges to the faceless person. "Can you tell me your name, instead? Works just as well, it's only more inconvenient to scale."
wormcan
He can't, apparently. Like many of the more physically mutated capes, he has no memory of anything before waking up with powers.
imeanforever
"Okay. I may be able to derive a syllable or two by guess-and-check and that suffices. Would you like me to tell you what I find or not?"