The Black Tower Gauldin Branch

As the group begins to file into the ready-room and take their seats, Madame Naoki watches quietly from her seat. When Genevieve approaches and offers her thanks, Naoki responds with a smile of her own and a dismissive wave of her hand, “It’s really not any trouble. If you need something- anything that’s within my power to do or give, just say the word, you’ve already done me a great service in this dress.”

She gestures to the silver box sitting to her left, and continues.
“Bringing you all on this trip is no issue, it’s nice to have you all around; I’m pleased to have the opportunity to repay your favor and assist the Gauldish nation in this way.”

She nods her head toward Arianne, implying. As the rest of the group files in, she remains on her seat, sitting quietly, thinking ahead, remembering her notes. As the final member of the Embassy enters, she stands, and speaks loudly, intending to interrupt any conversations that may be taking place and address the entirety of her group.

“Ahem! Welcome to Gauldin, everyone. Now that we all have our travel papers, we can proceed. Just beyond that door, there’s a platform. It moves vertically with an advanced sort of motion magic. We’re going to file onto it in an orderly way, and remain calm and composed as it takes us up to the surface. From there, we’re going to proceed to the stables, get our horses, and immediately depart for Travere. If any of you have any issues you should voice them now, and use the designated restroom as we’re preparing the horses, should you require. Once we leave, we’re going to travel in formation at speed, and take exactly one break at the midpoint of our journey. Please listen to the commands of the guards, and follow their instructions calmly and swiftly, especially in the event of any altercation on the road. Any questions?”

After waiting a moment for any questions, and nodding with satisfaction when none are raised, Naoki leads the way onto the elevator, and continues to instruct the group on proper elevator etiquette as they spend a few minutes ascending to the surface.

The elevator deposits them inside the primary headquarters building of The Black Tower, though not much can be seen, only spotless hallways and closed doors. Naoki continues to lead the party through the halls, and out a side door, leading almost directly to The Stables.

The Stables do indeed warrant capitals. Seeing as how this Gauldish branch of The Black Tower is situated in a roughly central location, and must be prepared to respond to activities anywhere with Gauldin, mounts are paramount in maintaining swift response times. The Stables are a many and sizeable lot, and a great variety of creatures can be seen as Naoki leads the group along a neatly paved path through the buildings. One stable is dedicated to Isra’s great griffons, another holds a small handful of wyvern, restrained by metal bars. In another building, apparently bars were not enough, the entire enclosure is made of the same dark stone as the titular Black Tower. Though no rumblings can be heard, and the building is completely sealed, one must imagine that it holds some manner of terribly large and dangerous beast.

However, Naoki leads the group past all of these stables, all the way to the end of the line, where the horses are held. The horse stable is relatively tame, when compared to the others, but is still a large and well-maintained facility. Rows upon rows of box stalls and multiple sets of double doors along each side of the building provide for a large complement of animals, many of whom can be seen milling about in the large open yard in the back.

As they approach, one of the stable staff detach from their duties, and approach the group. He is a somewhat short, yet sturdy man wearing a well worn pair of leather breeches and a simple woolen shirt, and sporting a short beard. Naoki raises a hand to signal the group to stop as he approaches, and indicates that they should gather around to hear what he has to say.

After waiting a moment for the group to settle, he bows, and introduces himself.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Louis, stable master for Black Tower. I’ll be giving you use of some of our best mounts today, so please follow me, and we’ll see you horsed.”

His voice is rough, and tinted with a heavy helping of rural Gauldish accent. He beckons the group into the stable through one set of doors. As they enter, individuals in the group may notice a number of heavily armored horses being led out of another door by a collection of equally armored individuals.

Louis leads the group a short ways into the interior of the stable, to a grouping of group of stabled horses separated from the rest in their own small section. There are perhaps thirty five horses, all said and done, spread between as many individual box stalls. If one were to inspect them, they would find each horse well groomed, shoed, and pre-saddled.

“These lot are yours. They’re all fast and reliable, but they’ve each got their own unique spirit, so go ahead and pick out the one that calls to you.”

Louis approaches one of the box stalls, containing a somewhat short gray courser, and demonstrates how to open the stall. Lift the latch, pull the bar, open the gate. Stepping inside, he leads the horse out by the reins, and passes them off to Madame Naoki.

She receives them, pats the horse once on the side of the neck, and addresses the rest of the group. “You heard him, pick a horse. Lead it out of the stable by the reigns and mount it outside. We’ll get into formation and depart once we’re all mounted. If you haven’t ridden before, or have some issue, speak to Louis.”

With this, Naoki proceeds to lead her horse outside, mount it, and take a position in a small staging area, leaving the remainder of the group to choose their horses and follow. Louis stands attentively off to one side, prepared to assist or answer questions.

Roy walks nervously over to the horses. He'd never liked the creatures much. They tended to try to chew on his head. Also, he had fallen off a pony at the fair when he was small and had bumped his head. He'd never gotten into riding after that. Stepping. Through the stable, he finds a particularly sedate looking horse. It can't be that bad, can it? It's got shorter legs, so it wouldn't hurt as much when he fell. Still, there was always a risk...he takes the horse leash and leads the dull brownish creature out to the yard. With some difficulty, he pulls himself onto the saddle and holds onto the reins tightly. After realizing that riding a horse with a parasol would be impossible, he pulls his hood over his head and puts on some gloves. 

"Eh...easy, horsey. No bucking."

The horse whinnies and gives a little shake. Roy lets out a soft but high-pitched yelp. The horse settles down and snuffles, giving the impression that it's chuckling quietly to itself.

Genevieve listened quietly to directions, gesturing for Odette to come to her side. The blonde little girl did so, and with an arm around her daughter's shoulders, they moved. There was a quiet conversation between mother and daughter, Genevieve's head bent to Odette's own, calling to attention how similar they looked.

On the elevator ride, Odette STARED at Ravven. He looked like Roy, but then, he didn't look like Roy. Should she have a crush on him, too? Would the ten-year-old have a crush on every white haired boy? She looked to Roy. He still seemed friendly and approachable, and Odette smiled at him. No, she had decided. Just Roy.

Genevieve was too busy constantly glancing at Arianne to make sure the redheaded, ah, shop's assistant, was doing alright. When it came time to choose a horse, Genevieve had a little bit of a quandary. She was too protective to let Odette ride on her own, and she quickly shut down any tries Odette had to ride with Roy.

Instead, she asked the stable master, Louise, for a horse that could carry both of them comfortably, and he led her towards a bay gelding. He was strong and sturdy and reliable, and because he'd been cut, he wouldn't have any of those emotional qualities a stallion might have.

Pleased with his choice, she smiled at the Louise with her thanks, and then led the horse out, where she seated herself and Odette. It had been a long time since she had ridden a horse, and she blushed at the feeling of not knowing what she was doing.

She found, however, that as she moved the horse a little around the small park, waiting for the others to mount, that it was much as she remembered it and felt more confident with her abilities by the time they were ready to go.

Over the course of the next couple minutes, the remaining thirteen members of the Embassy select their horses, load their equipment into saddle bags, and join the rest of the group behind Madame Naoki. Gently tugging her reins to one side, Naoki bids her mount to turn about in place, bringing her about to face her party. She speaks more loudly to be clearly heard by even those at the rear of the group.

“As I said, we will be traveling in formation at speed. This means that we will remain almost entirely stationary relative to each other, and travelling at the same speed. I will now organize our formation.”

Naoki proceeds to take a few moments to direct everyone around into their places in the formation. She will lead the group, with Artemis to her side. Then will come a pair of the more prominent embassy members, followed by Royal, Raven, Genevive & Odette, and Arianne in the center of the group, with the remainder of the Emabssy taking up the rear.

Additionally, a compliment of Black Tower Cavalry take up positions around the sides and rear of this core formation. Perhaps thirty of the finest cavaliers available, they are a group of highly disciplined and trained men and women. Their armors and weapons of choice, and choice in horse are varied slightly with the personal choices that come with being the very best, but generally speaking, they all ride large, well armored warhorses, and themselves wear a combination of metal plate, chain-mail and leather indicitve of medium cavalry. Some carry longbows, others shortbows, crossbows, and a few near the front of the group even carry fully fledged lances. Their leader, designated as such by a black pauldron on his shoulder, takes a position on Naoki’s left and confers with her briefly.

After judging all things to be in order, Naoki turns to address the group once more, over her shoulder. “If anyone has an issue that we must stop to address, or sees something that may develop into such an issue, say something loudly so I can hear! Listen to my instructions, and keep your eyes open! Now, we ride!”

With one arm raised ahead, Naoki whips her reigns, spurring her chosen horse into motion. The rest of the group presumably does the same in short order, and the group is departed by the sound of two hundred galloping hooves.

[Exit with group to The Open Road.]

As Jun approaches, the elderly secretary raises an eyebrow. Those doors are supposed to be locked, and it isn’t often that individuals come all the way out to visit the Black Tower Branch, all way the out in rural Gauldin.

Still, that only makes this a very unexpected and pleasant surprise! The woman’s wrinkles break into a wide smile, showing off a few gaps in her teeth.

“Hello, dearie! It’s nice to see such a smiling young face, we don’t get many visitors out here.” At Jun’s request to speak to Lum’Valia, she frowns. “Just a minute, dear.” Pulling a thick tome out from under the desk, she flips through it until she finds the page she’s looking for, then runs a finger down the entries. “Ah, there it is. Miss Lum’Valia, yes. I can’t enable you to speak to her directly, I’m afraid. I can do this, though.” Reaching into a drawer with both hands, she pulls out a large circular piece of black stone, with a single purple gem set into the top. With obvious effort, she lifts the artifact onto her desk, where it lands with a heavy thud. She places her hand onto the gem, and closes her eyes. The stone twinkles lightly for a few seconds, which stretch into minutes. Finally, just before it would seem the old woman had fallen asleep, she opens her eyes, and removes her hand. “Go ahead, put your hand on that,” she encourages, attempting to push the artifact towards Jun with an arthritic hand. This connects Jun not quite to Lum, but to some other individual. It would be rather difficult to determine who exactly, Jun is speaking with due to the limitations of the connection. However, it doesn't seem to be anyone Jun has spoken with before. They speak first.

"Hello."

There is a brief pause before the mind on the other end responds. As if it might be checking something.



“Jun? … Jun, talented mage, originally from a Land Tiller tribe, who made their home in old Medan? Jun, who visited Isra on the seventh of February, and attended a picnic out in the forest with Lum'Valia, Maelik, and Arya Shieldheart?”



Across the desk, the elderly lady fixes Jun with a piercing gaze, as if she’s taking in every visible detail. The voice speaks again,



“Oh, so it is.”

Jun blinked when she saw the cat ears in her mind. She quickly shook her head.

"Huh, so you're friends with Maelik too!" Jun grinned. It was nice to hear a familiar name. The whole interaction suddenly felt full of promise. She wasn't at all taken aback by the fact that Naoki already seemed to know her. In fact, it only took a few seconds to put two and two together.

"You must have some authority with the Black Tower then. You both use long range communication and have a reputation for a... motley sort of membership. I'm guessing you're the one with the authority because your communication magic is more sophisticated. I sensed a scrying spell on Maelik during the picnic. That was you watching wasn't it?" She was starting to get excited. She felt like she had stumbled upon a secret mafia or something.

"I'm Lum'Valia's apprentice, and, well, I'm about to embark on a very difficult and, maybe morally questionable project. Lum'Valia's an ally of mine and an authority on morality and justice, so I'd like to ask her advice. I'll also probably need, well, a lot of help... Nice hair by the way."

Even in the fuzzy picture in her mind's eye, she could see Naoki had very nice hair.

While waiting for Naoki's response, Jun started to insecurely fiddle with a lock of her hair with her free hand.

Lum looks down at the little ring on her finger. She kept forgetting about it which was bad. It could hurt quite a bit if she transforms with it on. Now what was the voice saying? It was that nice Naoki girl telling her Jun wanted to speak. Oh well of course.

"Hello Naoki! You say you have Jun? Where is she? She wants to speak? Of course I would love to speak with her!"

There is a long silence. Lum'Valia is old and in that time she has learned to control her thoughts quite well. After all, all dragons could communicate telepathically, well all the dragons she knew could. She mulls over what Jun just told her. She had not been aware of most of it. Normally she would have felt such evil but her soul was still drained. What Jun had just told her though was worrying. The dragoness could not afford to remain idle any longer. She knew at least one thing the girl must do, as to the rest...

"Jun you should never wish death on anyone. It is fine to strike down an evil if they give you no other choice. However, you must always give evil the chance at redemption. I know it seems like this Zephidel is irredeemable as though he deserves to be killed. You should not do so though. It is not our place to decide who should live and who should die. Our power must be used to defend people not to punish them. If the populace of Medan is suffering under Zephidel's rule then we must act, this is true. Still war must not be our first choice, it must be our last resort. Come to me child we have much to discuss in person and I need your help. My power has waned and I need you and Arya if I am to restore myself to full strength."