[X] Attack the prison directly. Unless it's fail-deadly, there shouldn't be any problems ….
-[X] Hit the pillars surrounding the octahedron
You watch the prison for a few moments, considering your options. You could just leave … but that doesn't necessarily mean you wouldn't be contacted again. And you could try to break the seal in the real world, but without knowing what it's based on or how to affect it, that's a chancy proposition - especially since you're right here with the prison itself. And moving the prison seems like it would be a bit problematic, too. You decide to deal with the prison here and now - and since the pillars are doing something to the prisoner, its obvious that you're going to have to deal with them at some point. Besides, they're giant runestones, and this is a magical prison. Why wouldn't you break them first? You walk around them, passing under the streams of lightning being directed at the prisoner, but can't find anything that indicates which one you should start with. The runes themselves might mean something, but without knowing which system the trapping magician used you can't figure it out, and you'd be willing to bet that you could get at least two or three different interpretations anyway. Magicians can get really frustrating sometimes. Shaking your head, you pick the runestone to the left of the path and proceed clockwise. You take out Laevateinn and drive it deep into the pillar, then rip it out to the side and slam your shoulder into the savaged stone. It falls as the stone snaps, and you grin for a moment, until the defense system goes crazy. The lightning, instead of flowing into the octahedron, is now spilling out to the whole plateau, and you wince at the pain. Still, you aren't going to stop just from a little pain! You slam into the second pillar, Laevateinn leading the charge, and topple it with a bit more work. The storm of lightning grows even wilder, the last two pillars sending out sweepings arcs of energy in all directions. Using the remnant of the second pillar as cover for a moment, you catch your breath and rush for the third pillar, destroying it in the same manner as the second before turning to the fourth. It seems to have kept to the same pattern, and you rush it as well. As you pass some threshold, however, its lightning sweeps back to target you. You're too fast, too strong, and the runestone crashes to the ground before the energy reaches you.
You look around you as the area in the sudden silence. Broken pieces of the pillars are strewn about, scorch marks cover half of the plateau - and there's a blasted-out scar near the fourth pillar, thirty centimeters wide and over a meter deep. You're very glad you weren't hit …. You turn to the octahedron, wondering about the best way to open it, but as the final sparks of electricity play out over its surface, it starts to disintegrate, and the occupant drops to the ground, collapsing in a heap and breathing heavily. She - definitely a woman, now that you can actually see - picks herself up and rolls over into a sitting position. A long purplish dress, long indigo hair, longer than she is tall, and eyes that seem both blue and green … and not human, you can tell. Perhaps a magician of some kind? She gathers her breath and smiles at you, bowing her head politely.
"Thanks. I'm glad I didn't have to go through all that for nothing! I wasn't sure you'd hear my sending." You tilt your head.
"Something scratched at the doors to my castle, and our worlds were connected, if that's what you mean. Of course I'd investigate. But … who are you, and why were you in there?" You put Laevateinn away and take a seat on one of the pieces of rubble as the woman purses her lips.
"Well … my name is Deis. And you're Flandre Scarlet, right?" You don't bother to hide the narrowing of your eyes, and she laughs a little. "I'm … well, I was summoned to this world to be a god, but the people who summoned me used a flawed ritual, and I was bound into that armor - into Ershin - because my body didn't come with me." She sighs and shakes her head. "Really. What kind of person does that? Anyway, I'm sure you can guess why I tried to reach you?" You nod slowly.
"That picture I drew, showing that I came here voluntarily."
"Yes. You don't speak any of the languages on this world, the scripts you used aren't native, either. That means you came from somewhere else, and unless you're stupid, you have a way back." Her hands curl into tight fists, and when you giggle you see her jaw clench.
"And you want me to help you, huh? Hopefully not out of the goodness of my heart!" She relaxes and gives you a forced chuckle.
"No, no. I'm … I wasn't expecting the seals to do that, so I'm not in very good shape right now, but I'm a pretty good sorceress, if you don't mind my bragging. And if I can't get a body of my own … well, Ershin is a pretty solid suit of armor, and I'd be willing to help you as much as I can. Well, within reason, but still, I'd be willing to do a lot." She tilts her head and gives you a curious look. "But, what are you after, and why did you come here if you can't communicate with the locals?" She looks like she wants to ask another question, but she holds herself back - probably because you're in the position of power, here. You give her a cheerful smile.
"Well, where to start …? First: yes, I do have a way back to my home, and to some other places. But, I don't know where they go, because I'm not the one who made them; my sister and her friend set things up, and I can use those things because they gave me a few tools. So if you come with me, I can't guarantee that you'll get back home - you'd need to talk to them and see if they can help you." You give her some time to mull it over, and eventually she nods slowly. "And what I'm doing? Well, I just want to have fun! Fun things, exciting things, new things. New people, new things to play with, just …." You trail off and shake your head. "As for not being able to communicate … well, I'm not a magician, but my sister is, and I'm pretty sure that she originally meant to come with me, but her friend let me find out about everything early. Maybe she -" You cut yourself off. Maybe you'll be travelling with Deis for a bit, but she's a complete stranger, and the politics of your home are none of her business yet. Whether Patchouli thought she was helping or if she just wanted to get rid of you for a while doesn't matter to her. Deis nods thoughtfully as you lapse into silence
"Well, new and interesting things … without knowing more about your own experiences, I can't really help without knowing more about you, but there's not a whole lot around here - just sand and a couple small towns. Best thing to do would probably be to head south to Sarai and see about joining a caravan, or seeing if they have a sandflier available. And, uh …," she looks a little envious, "if your little demonstration earlier was any indication, you're a lot more mobile than Ershin and I are." Not very surprising, really -
"FLAN!" You and Deis both jerk around at Giltless's call. She dives to the ground near you, and you see Deis's eyes widen as you turn. "Um, um, there are … things … attacking, and they're coming here, too. Headless is holding them off, but, um …." You smile and give your friend's sister a hug. Headless is almost certainly fine, but … if Giltless came, they probably tried to reach you and couldn't, so you'd better make sure. Your clones split off and dart to the edge as you fill them with power and cut the connection.
"Alright, Giltless. I'll be back soon, but they'll help until I get back, so don't worry, okay?" She nods and you pat her on the head. Something trudges up the path to the plateau - one of the ugly, muddy-looking creatures you saw earlier, probably riled by the destruction of the prison. It vanishes in a sweep of fire, and you see Deis wince. "Go on, go on."
"Okay! Um, take care!" She runs to the edge, turns back to give you a worried look, then shakes herself, waves, and throws herself off the ledge. Your clones follow her and you turn to face the entrance as a trio of the creatures are cut to ribbons by a vortex of wind. Deis collapses back to a sitting position.
"Heh. I must be out of practice. I should not be having this much trouble with small-fry …." You snort at the feeble explanation.
"Well, I guess I'll do you another favor and clear the path back. I'll think about us going together, too - if I talk to Ershin, you'll know, right? Or will I have to come back here?" She almost collapses again, and you see relief suffuse her expression.
"Thank you. And yes, if you talk to Ershin, I'll hear, and I can relay things through him." You bow to each other and you walk to the entrance, Laevateinn appearing in your hand once more. There's a narrow strip of scorched and partially melted rock from her fire, and a mess of jagged gashes from the wind. You wave back and smile at her before you rush down the path. Relatively narrow, it restricts the number of monsters you can fight at any one time, but that's more a problem for them than for you, since they're unarmed and their feeble claws are much too slow to harm you unless they dogpile you. Your own claws are capable of tearing them in half without much effort, and your precious gift is even more effective. You don't even have to slow down as you run along the path! They're strung out in small groups, too, which confuses you a little … but if they're supposed to catch or kill a magician with wide-area attacks, it makes sense. Force her to engage in melee or try to avoid combat, or wear her down if she uses magic, especially if she's weakened from her imprisonment. Or it could just be coincidence.
You reach your own mental construct in only a little more time than it took you to reach Deis's prison and are greeted by an arrogantly smirking Headless and a sheepish Giltless. Your clones merge back into you, and you change your mind about it being a coincidence.
"Have any fun while we waited with bated breath?" You giggle.
"Aw, were you worried about me? I'm touched!" You stick your tongues out at each other, and you recount what happened in Deis's world. Headless frowns.
"You could have told her less, you know. As for going with her … I guess I don't have any objections. Maybe the armor'd work for blocking the sun, or for going around without making yourself obvious. Your call, I guess." You shake your head - it would be your call anyway! It's your body, after all.
What do you do?
[ ] Let Deis come with you.
- [ ] Head south to Sarai.
- [ ] Head north.
- [ ] Head west.
- [ ] Head east.
[ ] Don't let Deis come with you.
- [ ] Head south to Sarai.
- [ ] Head north.
- [ ] Head west.
- [ ] Head east.
[ ] Other?
