Flamelord

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

They soon arrived at their next destination as they reached the top of the landing. They entered an antechamber with two wooden doors in the back of the room. Alicia looked the place over as the strange being was engaged, with the two heads providing a riddle and Lily further clarifying the exercise thanks to the sign on the wall.

While Alicia was fairly confident in their ability to figure this one out, the sudden grin she received brought her to a halt. her gaze narrowed in suspicion as she wondered how much the monster knew, especially as the rule about magic not being allowed ran through her head.

She shook her head as Lily came over to ask if everything was alright. "I think it knows about my light magic," she replied before taking a step back. "I'm going to go back downstairs. Come get me when you think you have the answer."

She slipped back down the stairs that they had ascended, moving down until she couldn't hear any conversation from the antechamber anymore. It wasn't ideal, but if the answers were going to be deliberately wrong because of her presence, then this was the best way to deal with that.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

After a bit more work on Alex's part, a pathway was cleared from the basement room into the hallway. Alicia moved outside with the others, where they were presented with the results of the fight. Ronin and Miko had handled things, just as she had expected that they would. Sadly the armor seemed to be the sort of enchanted items that would pull themselves back together, and with the advice of their local guide it sounded like the way forward was up.

She turned to Alex, about to offer to see if she could use her light magic to dispel whatever was keeping the hammer stuck to his hand...aaaaand he was already running off after Lily. Typical.

"Good thinking," she said to Gaia with a nod as the armor was bound in vines to hinder the armor from putting itself back together. With her bow at the ready she moved up the stairs after the others, prepared for whatever would come at them next. It felt good to be on the move again at least.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

After a couple minutes of waiting, their patience was rewarded as Alex opened a hole in the wall using a hammer. She eyed his tool with a raised eyebrow, but she wasn't going to question the availability of enchanted tools in their time of need. They probably could have busted the wall down on their own, but at least now they knew there was something on the other side. Though it seemed that trying to avoid notice hadn't quite worked out if the sound of combat nearby was anything to go off of.

With the exit widening, Alicia's grip on Star Seraph tightened in preparation. "Alright," she said to the others in the room with her. "We help Ronin and Miko take down those armors, then we spread out and find a path upwards. We need to find out if the Queen is still in this castle, one way or another." They had lost enough time as it was, and she didn't want to get stuck in any more rooms like this if she could help it. Not while the Queen was still on the loose.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

Alicia continued to illuminate the small passage as Alex, Ronin, and Miko each made their way through with the aid of their powers. Soon they rounded a corner and passed out of sight, and Alicia waited several moments before stepped away and to the ground. "And now we wait," Alicia said aloud to no one in particular. Hopefully this worked out. She'd feel really silly if they had to turn around and go back outside just because there was no way past a single door.

As for other matters...

As one might expect, Alicia wasn't the sort of person to carry around some unknown item when she had finite pocket space and was on a more important mission. The vial she had received after her trip to The North had been left in Beacon HQ, and was probably in some lab at that very moment. Whether anyone there would notice what was a transpiring was a question that Alicia could not answer in that moment.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

Finding a good position so that they could look, Alicia used her magic to shine a light into the opening on the wall. The sight they were greeted with earned a wince, light glinting off the edges of shells in a manner that promised they were very good at cutting things. "Well that's not ideal," she muttered to herself.

She dropped back to the ground and looked over to Alex as he asked what they had said. "Some creatures have decided to make that place their nest, and they have very sharp edges," she explained.

Of course the group was still far from helpless at this point, and Connie set to work trying to keep the creatures from waking up. Whether it would work was unclear, but it was probably the best option they had right now.

Thinking over it some more, Alicia came to an idea. "Alright. Alex, Ronin, Miko? The three of you have Reinforcement magic, so you have the best chance of making it through in case they wake up in spite of Connie's magic. Go through the passage and see if you can find some way to let the r4est of us access the castle."

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

Alicia turned to Rachel as she offered to stay behind for the girls who had not yet arrived. "I guess that works, if you don't mind," she conceded without arguing. She had no doubt that Rachel would be able to make an impact regardless of who she went with, since that was just the sort of situation that they were in right now. It wasn't like she would be stuck on her own.

What she did not expect was Rachel to give her something of a motivational speech, encouraging her to further develop as a leader. Some part of her wondered if it was really the time for this sort of thing, but she wasn't going to try and stop Rachel in the middle of all of this. She simply took in the sentiments and committed them to her heart. She did not want to let down this trust. "Thank you, I won't let you down," she replied with a firm nod.

The last details worked out, she joined the others in making their way down the secret passage. They soon exited into a wine cellar, full of casks, pillars, a door, a bust on the wall, and a table with a drink set out. "Clearly this 'secret' passage wasn't as secret as we thought," she noted, frowning as she looked at the table. She hesitated to even call this a trap, since it being a trap implied some surprise. if you knew it was there and you stuck your foot in anyway then you really only had yourself to blame.

For now she joined the others in looking at other options. "I might be able to handle that darkness with my Light magic," she offered as Gaia suggested exploring the passage that they had found. "The drink may let you go through the door, but it also might instantly brainwash you with Wonderland magic."

After a moment her gaze rose upwards. "If we're in a cellar, couldn't we just blast our way through the ceiling to the ground floor?" They could probably improvise that somehow, if they really needed to. Not as if they would know what they were getting into whatever path they took. But a less conventional strategy would probably take the Queen's forces off guard too.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

With it confirmed that Alex had been safely recovered, the focus turned to the assault on the castle. It seemed they had a couple of extra options now to use in attacking the castle, which would be useful in overwhelming any defenders who might be inside. "Well, we were worried about this being an ambush," she pointed out to Rachel as she gestured towards the open gate that they had been discussing before.

It was at about that time that Miko spoke up, revealing what she had seen with the Super Map. "... You don't think she left, do you?" Alicia wondered aloud. There was always the chance they were too late to prevent an untimely demise, but if someone had disappeared at the same time as Mariette then portals were a more likely bet.

While she might have argued that storming the castle now was unnecessary, Lily and Ronin were already headed inside via the secret passage. "I guess we're going," she said to Rachel with a small shrug. It wasn't like they could just leave the pair to their own devices against whatever was in there. Especially if the Queen of Hearts was still around in the castle, unaware that her prisoner had escaped via her own devices or something like that.

But before she followed them another thing occurred to her. "Ah, right, one of us should probably be out here so everyone else doesn't just wander in through that open gate and get blindsided. Or maybe we can leave a note somehow..." She didn't have paper on her or anything like that, but she didn't want to trust that the others would have some level of caution following them.

Still, if they could work that out then she had no issue with following the everyone else through the secret passage.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

Alicia's focus shifted to Miko as she pulled out her map to check for any enemies in the immediate area. It was a useful thing, though she didn't know how well it would play along with Wonderland's rules. But it wasn't as if they were lost, and she was confident that they could handle any potential ambushes that they night walk into inside of the castle.

Like the twins she was more than willing to dismiss whatever was going on with the tree as more of Wonderland's peculiarities. Certainly it seemed like something less important than defeating the Queen once and for all and saving the city. But she wouldn't be surprised if they ended up getting dragged into it for one reason or another. That was how these things tended to go.

However that turned out to not be the case, and Alicia let out a small laugh as Rachel and Lily ended up surprising each other as they both came around the corner.

"Hello," she said to the other group once she had taken a moment to compose herself. "I see you rescued the captives." That was the other reason for the mission in the first place, so she was glad that it had worked out.

To Alex's question she provided an answer. "We teleported here," Alicia explained as she gestured towards the open castle gate. "After we came to rescue you it turned out that Mariette got captured too, so now we're saving her. And probably beating up the Queen while we're at it" The latter was definitely something she was more invested in than the former. But hopefully things didn't get more complicated than they already were.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

Preparing herself for the fight to come, in a flash of light the strike team were teleported back into Wonderland. Alicia was a bit surprised to find that they had not arrived in the castle itself, but maybe they had defenses preventing that sort of direct teleportation. That was fine, they could improvise.

Or maybe they wouldn't need to, as a look revealed hat the drawbridge was already down. "Well, that makes things easier," Alicia remarked. The guards sallying out would probably be an issue for one of the other groups, but right now it would make things easier for them. Not that they could just assume the place would be completely undefended of course, but she would take the good fortune while it lasted.

Her bow in hand and alert to any danger which might suddenly appeared, Alicia prepared to move into the castle. "Alright, let's go," she said. "But stay on your toes." Not that she needed to be giving any of them combat advice. It wasn't exactly their first time storming a castle. They all knew what they were doing. They just had to be prepared for anything the Queen threw their way next.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

Alicia was not surprised by Ronin and Miko insisting that they come with. To some degree she had expected it, but she did not want to assume that they would continue on if there was something that they dearly wanted to protect back here in Penrose. So she did not dissent in the face of their resolve. "Alright," she agreed. "The fastest way to keep Penrose safe is to take out the Queen anyways." Presumably without her to maintain her mind control the soldiers here would be a lot easier to deal with.

There was no disagreement from Rachel either, so it seemed that a decision had been made. Alicia was about to text Kimble when just as suddenly she appeared in the room. "Oof!" Alicia let out a small grunt as she was hugged slash tackled by her girlfriend. "Hey Kimble," she replied after a moment, once she had regained her balance. at the same time she hugged Kimble back, returning the affection directed her way.

Unfortunately there simply wasn't the time to indulge in that sort of thing, not while Penrose was actively being invaded. "Of course, I trust you. Just don't actually go try and solo the army by yourself. ," she said as Kimble asked for the opportunity to defend Penrose while they were busy fighting the Queen. Luckily it sounded like Kimble already had some ideas in that regard.

With that Alicia looked back to Rachel. She was ready to go, as ready as she could be now that she'd had the chance to talk to Kimble.