Enter the Brighton Court

Ten minutes later...

For John and his small company, the trip to the Brighton Estate had been fairly uneventful: Juniluny had known its location, again from the reports of her spy therein, and could place the barrier there in under ten minutes. For John and his crew, then, it had been an idle chore to wait around the laboratory. John passed the time by using craft to give some form of decency to Galley and Kim: large, enveloping robes, fitted to each, were easily drafted from the entire closet of disposable lab coats and other attire. When at last they gathered together, all were dressed and prepared to exit the barrier in the same manner Layla had: shunted to reality in a wave of black water.

"Remember, John," Moira instructed once again, "let me introduce you to my father's court, and from there I will present your... offer to help. Just let me speak for us... and the same goes for you two."

Galley gave a minute shrug. Kim didn't say a word; she stood slightly behind the whole group... and stared at the back of John's head.

<We're there... for better or for worse...>

As I instructed, then.

"We're here."

Rather than look to John, Galley scanned the curved wall behind her as if it held an exit. Moira nodded... but suddenly grew alarmed. "Wait, where are we being teleported-"

The pop-up for Juniluny's spell came just as the inky darkness enveloped them... and then receded just as quickly.

Juniluny tried to cast Maze of Tadeas (Expel) on Moira, [NULL], Kim, and you, but [NULL] isn’t a valid object and the target location resisted!

Moira patted her body as the black water vanished. The lot of them were dry and unmarked, of course: reality tended to get everywhere, but it thankfully didn’t stain. “Why are we still- where did she try to put us?”

John repeated the question to Juniluny. She replied, <I was trying to put you in the fanatic’s court; that’s where you said you were going!>

“Eh... your father’s court...”

“Such- hmpf. My home is warded against direct invasion via barrier, of course...” Though before John, I was sure it was also warded against magical teleportations or portals... “You will have to deposit us just outside of the courtyard... and preferably with me leaving first to secure the area against witnesses.”

“That’d be fine... but she can’t seem to get Galley out, either. The spell to leave is still a spell, and she’s-“

“Ah, don’t worry about that,” Galley murmured. She tapped the index, ring, and pinkie knuckles of her left fist with the matching fingers on her right. Her hand seemed unchanged, but pop ups began to appear as she tapped them once and then twice.

[NULL]’s Breaker Arms switched to Function #4: Integrity Scan.
[NULL]’s Breaker Arms switched to Function #8: Barrier Breach.

“We’re finally here, after all,” Galley whispered before inhaling sharply and, with a golden glowing fist, punching the nearby wall... and shattering a man-sized hole in the barrier’s reality.

John and company gasped as the blinding sun shined through along with a powerful wind that sent nudity-revealing ripples through the makeshift cloaks of Galley and Kim. John’s eyes slowly adjusted to the radiance and beheld the blue sky of Earth once again...

... and, as he neared the puncture in space, the seven-story drop down towards the Brighton Estate.

“Ah, so that’s why it didn’t make sense,” Galley muttered.

You parked the bottom of the barrier on the Estate?!

<Oh well, aren’t we a picky prickly princess-pleasing pauper! Of course I did! I don’t want my precious Maze anywhere near the horror shows below!>

This hobbit’s priorities, I swear to God...

<I’m not a hobbit, you-!>

“Hey, John,” Galley casually remarked as she quickly affixed her robes with a clenched fist, “can you get us down there from up here?”

Moira blinked at the giant and her hole. “Did you... did you just... could you have done that all this time?!” Galley gave her superior a nonchalant nod. “Then why didn’t you?!”

Galley wrinkled her nose. “We were underground when we finally saved you, and we would’ve just ended up in solid stone.”

John almost whistled in appreciation. “You can tell where the barrier is before you leave it?”

Galley nodded. “This place ain’t real, after all... at least, not real enough. It’s... hard to explain.”

“Then why not release me the moment we were at the school?”

“It’s a long walk to my car from there.” The squad of them stared blankly at Galley. She offered the smallest of smiles back as she glanced at John while Moira rubbed her temples.

No... she didn’t just stall for that, did she... John wore his realization on his face. Galley gave the briefest wink in return.

“We... we will discuss priorities later,” Moira finally sighed, rubbing her eyes as she spoke, “but for now... John, could you please?”

<-and another thing- are you ignoring me?! You ought to know that I->

When you return to the Temple, man the psychosphere; have Tita show you how. I might need your guidance as we discuss... Order business.

<You ARE ignoring me, you inane incubus of improbable->

You have dismissed Juniluny Snickerbottom.

With the barrier still and reality before him, John opened the way safely down to Earth.

The brief panic of the Brighton Estate security had been experienced at every level: those mages deployed to the school on Moira’s orders had witnessed the barrier’s arrival and departure towards the Brighton Estate, and the host of them that had repaired the damage done by Juniluny (save the damage done to a single young man’s soul) rushed after the barrier while putting the mansion on alarm. Lord Brighton and his knights prepared for war; his present mages erected barriers, wards, and magical sensors to detect the oncoming plot; and even Lord Brighton’s butlers and maids were sent below to weather the impending attack. When Moira stepped first through John’s tunnel, the Knights in the courtyard, albeit confused, were quickly updated on the situation and so escorted the lot of them into the Estate.

But to John, it had been a fairly brief response... coupled with an unusual density of magical fields and spells now active in what was becoming the familiar main hall of the Brighton home. The familiar stone walls, polished wood finishes, and gilded edges on this or that had now appeared too civilian for what John had learned. The Order was a secret globe-spanning religious paramilitary organization, something more fantastical in the 21st century than some of the creatures John had faced; did the basement really hold the more apt trappings of such a worrisome group?

The politely carpeted staircase up, the framed picture of famous predecessors, and the tall, beautifully carved oak doors that Moira led them to were now insidious, enchanted things made in service to protect Lord Brighton from... him, as far as John could worry, but more certainly from the Cabalist mage now stashed away in his head. She grumbled until John ordered her silence... and as Moira put her hands on the doors, John recalled that several of his strongest summons were potentially indisposed, perhaps even dangerously so.

Fairy, can you hear me?

<Eh? Obviously, Master! What, already need us for something? We’ve barely been here an hour... though it feels like days with how boring your little lovehole here is when you’re not around->

Fairy, what are the others and Tricia up to? If necessary, is it safe to call on you?

Meanwhile, in Tricia's underground laboratory...

Fairy cocked her head to the side as she contemplated John’s hushed, almost worried tone. Of course it is! Hells know, I’m eager to leave- I mean, I’m not a fucking cow to be milked by the puss every day, you know?! Her thoughts were steady and angry... even as she twerked her nipples and let the drone continue to fuck her with its vibrating appendage.

"So seihen sie doch nicht der Falschheit erlegen, selbstverständlich bin ich ein Wissenschaftler!" Kazex crossed his arms and raised his massive nose until it pointed at the ceiling, if only to show the seated blonde his nostrils as he lectured her. "Blut ist die beste Substanz für Forschung!"

Her translator struggled to keep up, but eventually the calm, British male voice of her computer vibrated into her ear.

"Do not be ridiculous, of course I'm a scientist! Blood is the best substance for science!"

Tricia gave a long sigh as she remained seated, and now fully dressed, before the perverted goblin. His lecherous comments and ogling had proven her pure black suppression suit too revealing for her analysis, but now the goblin’s ego stood in her way. She glanced around at her other test subjects: Fairy remained squatting over another jar as a nearby drone quietly masturbated her diminutive twat. Fairy had requested the aid when Tricia asked for samples; for some reason, the fey creature did her best to seem upset about the arrangement even as she panted and drooled with a vacant expression. Greenpaw, the Almiraj also on loan to her, had proven awfully bashful and virtually incapable of even basic communication. He now sat at her terminal as her computer struggled to show him all manner of pictures, subjects, and places to have him describe them in his tongue. The algorithm predicted it would be able to begin basic translations within two hours; it later reported an estimate of six, and Tricia wondered if the Almiraj tongue could be learned by human algorithms. The pregnant dark elf’s tongue had proven far easier to teach: with Fairy’s aid, Alysha started the translation program with ease and would have much of her people’s tongue documented by Gorbachevs—perhaps even any humans at all—for the first time.

Kazex remained in his pose, and Tricia realized that the goblin, speaking in his weirdly broken or archaic German, was perhaps expecting an apology. “Ah... of course, you’re right,” she explained as a nearby drone translated her words to him, “I’m sorry for doubting you. It’s just that the... science... behind it seems difficult to replicate as you’ve described it. Can you show me an example?”

A glint appeared in Kazex’s slightly larger eye. “Aye... that I could.”

Back at Brighton Manor...

Good... just stay at the ready, and be prepared to hear from a new minion. John’s thoughts were punctuated by the doors opening to the blinding light of Lord Brighton’s “Court.”

As the doors parted, John caught sight of brass etched with runes that warded the wood against all manner of elements and fortified it against opening when locked. This was merely the tip of the iceberg: blaring across the new vision of his Eye of the King were the various beams of invisible magic that could no longer hide from him, each one a spell to scan and identify whoever broke them and, as they moved, to alarm someone as to their presence. No such alarms blared today, for their company was desired. Dominating the room by its mundane presence was the only mundane object here: an opulent throne that glittered with pearls and sapphires set into gold and sat upon a raised dais of white marble. The walls were covered in all sorts of medieval decoration, shields and tapestries and the like, with enchantments glittering at the edges of each. John raised an eyebrow at the torches in particular as he did not find enchantments there:

Small Fire Elemental
Level 4 Elemental
HP: 25/25
Stats: Str 0 Agi 20 End 10 Int 5 Wis 10 Cha 5 Lib 20
Status Effects: None
Qualities: Elemental, Enchanted
A minor fire elemental made to fall in love with an ever-burning coal inside a sconce. In exchange for this love, it serves the Brightons as a lifelong guardian.

John counted sixteen such torches in all, and each bearing a similar creature hidden in plain sight. The round table and chairs between them and the throne was nearly missed despite the aging enchantments carved into the wood, and the table's top had been swept totally clean. The only presences beyond John's party were four knights who double-flanked the only doors to enter this place, a gray-haired "Sage" who cast a nakedly distrusting glare at John, and the man John sought: sheathed in business attire with threads thick enough to spot from across the room and so polished and prim as to seem carved from stone, Lord Brighton himself.

Cornelius Stolt
Level 9 Sage
HP: 105/105
MP: 488/185
Stats: Str 8 Agi 10 End 8 Int 17(25) Wis 11(14) Cha 11 Lib 18
Status Effects: Insight of the Owl, Intellect of Sages, Mana-Drunk
Qualities: None
R/S: -74
The overdue and outclassed Sage of Lord Brighton's Court. As a premier artificer and collector of secrets in his hey-day, Cornelius' general incompetence was always forgiven thanks to his devout loyalty to the Order, to the Brighton family as a whole and, in his later years, for drafting a cure for the young Warden's sickness in her infant years. A beloved storyteller to the late Warden, Lord Brighton keeps him now mostly out of respect for everything Cornelius once was.

Lord William Brighton
Level 65 Duelist
<Lord-Protector of the Golden Rose>
HP: 28,760/28,760
MP: 2,041/2,041
Stats: Str 101 Agi 120 End 230 Int 80 Wis 80 Cha 49 Lib 7
Relationship: -3
Status Effects: None
Qualities: Hate of Ariel, Hate of Barong, Hate of Daniel, Hate of Ishim, Hate of Ose, Hate of Preta, Hate of Puriel, Hate of Tennin, Memory of the Rose (Blessing of Health, Bulging Biceps, Greased Lightning)
Former Bearer of the Golden Rose, Lord of the Brighton Clan, Holy Warrior of the Order, Shadow Baron of Great Britain, Anointed Slayer, Inquisitor Proxima. Wishes the world for his daughter, and more importantly for her honor as the Warden. Recent incursions into his territory have made him exceptionally weary, but he redoubles his efforts to ensure his daughter rises to the height of her calling.

Lord Brighton's stats remained as terrifying as ever... enough that John nearly missed the alleged Sage as he, not Lord Brighton, was the first to demand, "What is the meaning of this?! What is that affront doing on the front lawn?!" His pudgy fingers gestured generally to where the Maze of Tadeas most likely sat, far behind John now.

"Welcome back, Warden," Lord Brighton cooly greeted. "Surely you will put poor Cornelius at ease, now that you're here to explain your... orders... to us."