Post by Toby on Jun 18, 2012 12:45:01 GMT -5
Curiosity was a powerful impulse, and while patience was a virtue, it could only go so far. "Harvey" simply had to check, to get a lay of the land to prepare his excavations. He had waited until after closing time on a Thursday evening, creeping into the wee hours of a Friday morning before he slipped out of town, Apparating from place to place in short jumps before stopping in a seemingly random place in the woods. It was a small glade where he had enchanted and triple enchanted his old chest. It currently held the form of a long-rotted stump. One disenchantment later, and it appeared to be a local - if poisonous - toadstool. A few moments later it was a blank tablet with a question written on it - a very personal and private question that only he knew the answer to. Inscribing it finally revealed the chest's true form, and was then unlocked using a series of keys inserted in proper order.
From his little cache, Tobias removed a few potions which he tucked into his bag, a great, black, form-hiding hooded cloak, and an ebony, rather demonic-looking mask. It was a throwback to the simple black leather mask he had favored in his boyhood, but if he were to eventually be the new Lord of Shadows...one had to look the part. And anonymity was, as always, his friend. Blackened gloves, boots, blending into the night, and re-hiding his chest, Tobias crept through the woods, onward toward his home away from home.
He had made plans. Oh he had made plans - prying through the former quarters of his fellows, slipping through to the varied secret laboratories of The Unknown One, invoking the pseudo-compact between Scorpius and the Lady Raven to procure emergency access to the man's private chambers and all of that long-forgotten knowledge, and re-activating the ancient source of the Shadow Corridors. It was practically a feast just waiting for him - and as a former Shadow, he was in the extremely small percentile of humans who could rightly access them!
But after an hour of crawling through the forest, he noticed something...wrong. Something extremely wrong. He had come and gone along the myriad of routes to the Diadem Fortress, and while time had passed, he had not forgotten. And yet, he was still traveling. The place had been impossible to miss, and yet....had he missed it? A cold, dark, seeping dread took hold in his gut, and Tobias worked through the old paths again and again, never coming to his destination. He invoked every password, and still wound up facing empty space. More than simple invisibility, it could only be....
"....No.....It couldn't....."
Someone had clearly claimed the Fortress for themselves. And someone had taken great pains to keep it theirs and theirs alone. A Fidelis Charm came to mind, and that alone turned the cold lump in the man's gut into a boiling black rage coursing through his veins. After all he had gone through, after all he had done, he would NOT be stopped by some impostor taking what was rightfully his, HIS dynasty...
But the time for secrecy still remained, and sunrise was a short time away. In the distance, a wolf howled, and Tobias slipped back to his cache. His routine was reversed. Slipping off the cloak, mask, boots and gloves. Tucking away his long-prepared tools. Taking on the "Harvey" persona again after darting from place to place across the Spanish countryside, before arriving home in his Bar.
He wold not be denied. He would find those responsible, and he would find some way to reveal the Diadem Fortress once again...and by God...there would be hell to pay.
From his little cache, Tobias removed a few potions which he tucked into his bag, a great, black, form-hiding hooded cloak, and an ebony, rather demonic-looking mask. It was a throwback to the simple black leather mask he had favored in his boyhood, but if he were to eventually be the new Lord of Shadows...one had to look the part. And anonymity was, as always, his friend. Blackened gloves, boots, blending into the night, and re-hiding his chest, Tobias crept through the woods, onward toward his home away from home.
He had made plans. Oh he had made plans - prying through the former quarters of his fellows, slipping through to the varied secret laboratories of The Unknown One, invoking the pseudo-compact between Scorpius and the Lady Raven to procure emergency access to the man's private chambers and all of that long-forgotten knowledge, and re-activating the ancient source of the Shadow Corridors. It was practically a feast just waiting for him - and as a former Shadow, he was in the extremely small percentile of humans who could rightly access them!
But after an hour of crawling through the forest, he noticed something...wrong. Something extremely wrong. He had come and gone along the myriad of routes to the Diadem Fortress, and while time had passed, he had not forgotten. And yet, he was still traveling. The place had been impossible to miss, and yet....had he missed it? A cold, dark, seeping dread took hold in his gut, and Tobias worked through the old paths again and again, never coming to his destination. He invoked every password, and still wound up facing empty space. More than simple invisibility, it could only be....
"....No.....It couldn't....."
Someone had clearly claimed the Fortress for themselves. And someone had taken great pains to keep it theirs and theirs alone. A Fidelis Charm came to mind, and that alone turned the cold lump in the man's gut into a boiling black rage coursing through his veins. After all he had gone through, after all he had done, he would NOT be stopped by some impostor taking what was rightfully his, HIS dynasty...
But the time for secrecy still remained, and sunrise was a short time away. In the distance, a wolf howled, and Tobias slipped back to his cache. His routine was reversed. Slipping off the cloak, mask, boots and gloves. Tucking away his long-prepared tools. Taking on the "Harvey" persona again after darting from place to place across the Spanish countryside, before arriving home in his Bar.
He wold not be denied. He would find those responsible, and he would find some way to reveal the Diadem Fortress once again...and by God...there would be hell to pay.