Impish Intentions - Morgiana

Following Marie (Impish Intentions - Marie), Gwae (Impish Intentions - Gwae) and Kathalia (Impish Intentions - Kathalia) comes Morgiana, the roguish illussionist.  Since Morgiana is already quite fond of pranks and mischief, there isn't much of a change for her going from a human to a gargoul... aside from picking up a reckless amount of magical power.  I'm sure nothing will go wrong. 

Inspired by a wonderful fanart series by  www.deviantart.com/ivanksmw drew of the Kroashent cast, transforming them from heroes into mischievous imp-like gargoul: .  I've been wanting to try my hand at a similar sequence and finally had a chance last month.  These were a lot of fun to work on, so I hope you enjoy them

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The rain had finally stopped, leaving the flagstones of Place Alan  II glistening below the soft alchemical glow of the blue-white orbs,  their twisting vinelike cages swaying gently in the wet breeze, casting  writhing lines of shadow on the ground.  The sound of the streams of  water bubbling through the fountain in the center of the plaze were  carried across the empty space, echoing off of the stone walls the  enclosed it on three sides.  Of these three landbound walls, the only  lights came from the windows and ramparts of the Ducal Palace, pinpricks  of light in the stone walls and hurriedly bobbing along the perimeter  in the wet night.  A few small boats, tied up in the large canal lagoon  between the Plaza and Fourbridge, rocked in the breeze and the gentle,  swirling current, knocking against the floating pontoons than anchored  them to the quai.  A few travelers hurried along the Grand Pont du Duc,  the wide thoroughfare from the gentry district, the grim whitestone  statues of a dozen kings, Dukes and Bishops gazing down judgmentally at  those who dared cross their quiet span of the Liger.  The equestrian  statue of Duke Alan "Al Louarn" II stood above the fountain in the  center of the plaza bearing his name, his wooden staff raised in a  perpetual rallying cry to his ancestors and successors on the bridge  directly before him.  A small figure stood on top of the statue, her  wings folded over her chest like a cape, as she eagerly surveyed the  large plaza.  Morgiana frowned as she took note of the few pedestrians  who rushed past, their sea monk cloaks pulled tightly against the  drizzle that remained hanging in the air.  The lack of a crowd annoyed  her to no small degree as her mind burned with inspiration and her  fingers itched with arkane power that she wanted to use.  She had not  planned on such a performance at the outset of the rainy night, nor when  she had spotted the bard Marie making her way across Theivesbridge.   But when they discovered the storm-orb, the swirling mist transforming  them both into winged gargoul, her plans had quickly been rewritten.  Marie may have been content to continue her little chores around the  Library of Gohard, but Morgiana was not.  Such powers merited a  performance.  But a performance needed a crowd and one had not been  provided her.  A pair of figures appeared from a narrow alleyway,  struggling from the exertion of carrying a large chest between them.   Spreading her wings, Morgiana glided down to alight on the chest.  The  slight increase to the weight proved too much for the porters and the  chest crashed down to the stones, leaving the pair panting in  exhaustion.

Birou, the Kriores boy, was the  smaller of the pair, but was also slightly taller than Morgiana in her  present state, a fact that she somewhat resented.  She ensured that  their power dynamic remain in place by standing atop the large chest,  circling it like the watchers on the nearby ramparts.

"Lady  Morgiana" Birou looked up at her, his green face a mask of pure  admiration and awe.  He was a rather round child, constantly snacking on  something and following her around like a lost dog.  At present, he  wore a helmet twice his size, the visor pulled up yet still covering  most of his eyes.  "We founds it your Grace.  Right where you said it  was!"

"The Captain didn't give you any trouble, did he?"  Morgiana circled again, her wing-cape making her the image of a military  commander inspecting a spearline.

"No, Lady Morgiana!"  Sizailh reported, her big doe-like eyes following the gargoul's every  graceful step.  Birou's eager nodding of confirmation causing the visor  of the watchman's helmet to snap down.  "Mostly 'ee just brayed at us."

"The Captain was always something of an ass." Morgiana chuckled.  "Now its just a bit more literal.  Did you leave my gifts?"

"Aye,  we left the carrots." the cutpurse nodded.  Morgiana suspected Sizailh  was technically the younger of the two, but she always seemed much older  than her goblin companion, who struggled with the Captain's helmet.  "But I don't know why we should have left 'im anything.  Ee was a real  bastard."

"Yellows beats us if he catched us." Birou added helpfully.

"My  dear children." Morgiana replied in the tone of a teacher correcting a  confused student. "The Captain has graciously bowed out of his duties  tonight to allow us to perform our work uninterrupted.  Since he is  unable to see the show that is resulting from his generous conciliation,  the least we can do is provide him with some dinner.  Besides.  I have a  soft spot for donkeys."

"I'd like to see how the Yellows  would react to finding a donkey in Cap'n office when they wake up."  Sizailh giggled. "I reckon he'd still be shouting orders."

"Gimme carrots, Hi-Han!" Birou jumped up and down, doing his best to imitate the sound of a donkey.

"A  minor amusement, we are sure." Morgiana opened her wings dramatically  and stretched her hand over the still waters of the lagoon "But compared  to the wonder and mystery that the Great and Powerful Morgiana will  provide this city with tonight, one that is easily missed without  regret!  Come, there is much work to do!"

"We gonna see a show!" Birou bounced.  "Big show!"

"Oh yes." Morgiana rubbed her hands together "A very big show!"

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Kathalia  ducked and weaved under the feet of the horde of pedestrians traveling  across the Pont du Duc, reflexes honed from a childhood of maneuvering  around the tight decks of her father's windship, or the packed hallways  of Roc'h Derrien.  The memories of those days came flooding back to her  muscles, although the faces of those present continued to elude her.   The scale of the rest of the world towering above her was disquieting,  but she adapted quickly.  The same could not be said for her two  companions.  Marie walked around wide-eyed as if seeing the city for the  first time, easily becoming distracted by the passing details she had  never noticed before.  Gwae, pulling on the bard's arm, was only a  little better, and Kathalia did her best to herd the pair along the  bridge without getting stepped on.  The sky was a cacophony of noises,  cut through by the pealing of the great brass bells from what seemed to  be every direction.

"Trust Morgiana to find a way to wake up  half the city." Kathalia scowled, pulling her tail from an impending  bootfall and hopping up onto the railing instead.  "She must have paid  off half the bellringers in town for this stunt."

"Aye, but  some of those are clockwork mechanisms" Gwae said in a matter of fact  manner "Those would take some time to tamper with.  That wee sleeveen  had this planned out long before tonight's..." She stopped, folding her  wings as if remembering her new form for the first time "incidents."

"What  do you think she has planned?" Marie clambered onto the railing with  some difficulty, seemingly forgetting her own abilities of flight.

"Nothing good, I suspect." Kathalia winced. "She's got a whole wyldestorm in that bag."

"Part of one." Gwae corrected. "I imagine that its actually only a wee bit of one."

Kathalia raised an eyebrow.  "Considering the four of us..."

"A  proper wyldstorm would have ripped my office apart." Gwae reasoned. "I  imagine the tower and the library have wardmarks in the frame and  foundation, but they held up too well.  Same with that bag.  It was  covered in runes in the stitching.  Strong, but wouldn't hold up too a  storm."

"So you're saying..."

"At most it will level a few blocks."

"That isn't reassuring."

Gwae  shrugged.  Kathalia found a perch atop one of the statues on the  bridge, some grim-face king or duke resting his hands on a great stone  broadsword.  Gwae and Marie followed her up to get a view above the  crowd.  A fairly sizeable one had gathered the Place Alan II and the  bridges and quais of Feydeau Island, drawn in by the incessant pealing  of the bells from every tower in the square.  As if on queue, one  stopped its ringing, the others falling silent in turn.  A hush fell  over the gathered crowd as the glow-orbs dimmed, a brilliant beam of  light centering on a small, dark-haired girl standing atop a small  pedestal on the water's edge.

"Ladies and gentlemen."  she twirled in the spotlight, her dress sparkling like diamonds in the  alchemical light "We welcome you all to a spectacle you will not soon  forget."

"In the farthest reaches of the Shifting Sands, past  the savage shores of Outremer..." A drumming sound echoed across the  water, a small boat emerging from a tendrils of smoke rising from the  water.  The figure in the boat was starkly silhouetted by another light,  making his features impossible to distinguish.  A "The city of Iram of  the Pillars, a city of gold and jade, stands a magnificent oasis in the  sea of sand.  A city of dark magic and brilliant majesty."  The ground  rumbled, towers of light, capped with shimmering golden onion-domes  appeared out of the lagoon like they were pushed by an unseen hand from  beneath.  The crowd gasped.  Kathalia sat up, staring at the spectacle  unfolding before them.

"Across the wild waves Mor  Kreizdouar, atop a carpet woven with magic thread, the lost queen of the  Rub al Khali flew." The girl spun once more.  Kathalia expected that  she was more fascinated with the sparkly sequins on her dress playing in  the light than the audience was. "She flew along the Sea of Gold,  beholding the wonders of Lupino, the city of the seven hills!  The  floating jewel of Serenissima, the Merchant's paradise, city of 1000  wonders!"  The waters of the lagoon flashed with golden light in each  ripple.  A tinge of the Arkane and glamour filled Kathalia's nostrils  and she winced.  It was even more potent in her current form, and each  inhalation made her body feel alive.  She needed it, drank it in and  hated herself for it.

"Across the forbidden white peaks of  Meneziou Gwenn, where Wyverns fly," Boatboy continued in the tone of a  wizened seer. "And the burning mountains of the Auvergne, where fire  falls from the skies."  The tops of the minarets exploded into wreathes  of fire, illuminating spectral wyverns circling ahead, the twin  spectacles sending the crowd into a frenzy of wonder, disbelief, and  Kathalia sensed, no small amount of panic.

The bells around  the square began to toll once more. Sparklegirl raised her arms, dress  dazzling from the fires behind her. "The Bells of the 100 Steeples rang  out at her passage!"

"The King in Per-Ys removed his crown in  her presence!" An explosion of light erupted in the form of a  Fleur-de-lys, then fizzled out with a sizzling sound.  Kathalia scanned  the skies, honing in on a dark shape above the flash of light.

"The Lostmen cower in the shadow of her wings!"

"The Great!"

"The Powerful!"

"The Seer of the Sands!"

"The Princess of the Pillars!"

"Morgiana  the Clever!" Sparklegirl and Boatboy cried in unison. An explosion of  light filled the sky, silhouetting a figure standing atop rippling  fabric.  Morgaina twirled as the crowd, worked up, erupted into cheers,  some legitimately impressed, others merely confused. Kathalia elbowed  Gwae, nearly knocking the distracted arkanist off her perch.  She held a  small glowing orb in her claws, a slowly moving column of coloured  clouds circled around, lightning playing along the surface and rumbling  deeper within with flashes of light..

Gwae looked with concern at her companions "That mentaller is not seriously using that as part of her act."

"Looks like she is..." Kathalia gulped.

"Ooooh...."  Marie said in awe as another of Morgiana's coloured explosives split  the sky in a dazzling array of light. "It looks like she has it handled  though."

"The Arkane in that wee orb is not stable." Gwae  warned, panic in her voice.  Kathalia noticed that Gwae, behaving oddly  most of the day, sounded almost like herself there.  She was quite  sincere in her concern. "I suspect its been deteriorating since it was  first opened.  The more its used, the more erratic it becomes.  Its pure  primordial chaos magik."

Morgiana's carpet descended  downwards and she held her arms aloft dramatically.  She was wearing an  elaborate dress of silk, similar to those of her homeland, and, Kathalia  suspected, enhanced with a large amount of glamour.  The carpet circled  the bowl of the lagoon on a descending spiral.  "The great Morgiana had  come to this city of canals and bridges to regale you with tales from  the travels and of her exploits, with the dark arkane of the savage  lands of sand and the ancient mysteries of the mountains."

"Alright,  we need to stop her." Kathalia said, scanning the circuit Morgiana's  carpet took her.  "I imagine she probably found some way to distract the  Yellows, but the Castlewatch..."

A commotion from the far  side of the plaza arose as the drawbridge across the moat lowered down,  confirming the sellsword's suspicions.  A small contingent of armour  guards began to flow out of the courtyard in the square.  Morgiana  seemed to notice it too, as she began on a new tack, describing in some  detail the story of a knight lost to the mists of Faerie, his ghostly  retinue cursed to ride across the lands.  A hunting horn filled the air  as a procession of spectral knights appeared in the middle of Pont du  Duc, riding over it, the crowd parting in panic.  Kathalia froze, her  eyes growing wide.  The world seemed to spin...

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"Focus  on me." She felt something grasping her claws, a voice cutting through  the haze.  Gwae's face came into focus, her wide-eyes full of concern as  she brushed her loose hair behind her horns.  "I need ye to focus on me  voice."

"Are you alright?" Marie stood directly behind her, the worry on her face reflecting Gwae's.  "You took a spill."

Kathalia shook her head and straightened up.  "Just... all this glamour.  It's overwhelming."

Gwae's  look suggested she didn't buy the excuse, but she helped Kathalia  stand.  Morgiana's phantom knights had reached the center of the plaza,  the castle's guards holding back, swords at the ready.

"These  knights of old..." Morgiana, eager to recapture the crowd, continued  her story, gesticulating wildly.  A bolt of lightning arced out from the  cloud above her head, slamming into the ground as the crowd scattered  around it.  A tree erupted from the impact site, sending flagstones and  debris flying as it grew in an instant.

"The orb is breaking down." Marie explained as Kathalia stood.

"Their  quest, to find a champion to face a great evil!" Morgiana continued, to  caught up in her performance to notice the large tree in the back of  the square, its roots lashing out like snakes.  Another errant bolt  slammed into the side of the Palace of Justice, transforming the  whitestone facade into glass.  The crowd began to mumble nervously.  Morgiana noticed this and began waving her arms to recapture their  attention.  "A Great evil of untold ancient power... A WYRM!!!!"

A  massive snakelike creature of glowing golden light erupted from the  lagoon, spraying water everywhere as it let out a deafening roar.  The  crowd already of edge, broke into a panic as more bolts of chaotic magic  lashed out of the orb.

Kathalia sprang up, scanning for  a vantage point to reach Morgiana's platform.  She could see the purple  gargoul struggling with the orb, even as she pretended it was part of  the show, using her free hand to pull open the bag that rested near her  feet.  The crowd surged in a panicked rush across the bridge, knocking  Marie off the railing and into the midst of the crowd.  Gwae was already  chanting, ice crystals forming on the river below.  The golden wyrm  roared and thrashed, slamming itself across the docks.  Gwae's ice  erupted around it, sealing it in place for a moment.  Kathalia looked  down at the churning waters nervously, then leapt off, spreading her  wings in a desperate leap.  She slammed into the side of one of  Morgiana's towers and dug her claws into the side, arresting her fall

The  wyrm broke loose, sending shards of ice splashing into the water.  Gwae  redoubled her efforts, but found the chaos of the growing wyldestorm  difficult to contain.  Kathalia winced, climbing the crumbling tower as  debris rained into the water below, dissolving as it struck the  surface.  Morgiana looked down at her, panic evident in her eyes as she  seemed to plead for assistance.  The Wyrm rose up with a roar, its  attention turned on the bearer of the orb restricting it.  Morgiana  closed her eyes tightly as she prepared for its attack.  A bolt of  energy arced across the sky, slamming into the phantasm, followed by  another.  A cry went up the the crowd as a windship descended from the  cloud cover, plunging headlong for the wyrm.  The spectral dragon sprang  forward, slamming into the charging ship.  It seemed to shatter,  ribbons of energy flowing around the hull and starting to reform.  But  as the ship continued to cut through the body of the serpent, instead it  dissipated.  Morgiana fell backwards onto her carpet, the sealed bag  tightly clung to her chest.  The knights in the plaza dissipated along  with the wyrm, the towers in the water dimming and crumbling.  Kathalia  leapt off, a block slamming into her mid leap and sending her tumbling  though the air.  She slammed into the water and began to sink.  As she  drifted downwards, a hand reached out and yanked her up, pulling her  onto a small coracle of hide.  She rolled  over bruised and exhausted.   Her body ached as she struggled to stand, her wings battered and bruised  from the fall.  A kriores boy stared at her from the other side of the  small craft.

"Thanks." She said as she leaned  backwards.  The boy looked away.  She realized her rudimentary clothing  had taken a beating but couldn't bring herself to care. "Get over it."  she muttered.

The small craft was pulled onto one of the  bridge's pilons, a girl with a crook guiding it in.  Kathalia noted that  she was the same girl from Morgiana's show, which made the goblin boy  the speaker int he boat.  Without Morgiana's glamour, both looked  considerably dirtier and plainer.  The girl pulled Kathalia from the  boat, laying her on some cloth.  Gwae's squeal of concern echoed under  the bridge's span as she rushed over to embrace Kathalia.  The sellsword  winced from the pain and then blushed, the state of her clothing  suddenly a concern once more as the snow-white imp squeezed their bodies  together with a sob.  Marie, having broken from the crowd and rejoined  Gwae joined in the hug as well.  Kathalia, growing annoyed from the  attention and the soreness, pushed them away and sat panting on the  ground.

"That could have gone better.  But the storm-orb is back in its bag.  We'll find Morgiana and."

"We found Lady Morgiana." Sparklegirl said, with a somber expression."

"The guards took her." Boatboy added, looking down and taking off the elaborate costume headdress he had been wearing.

Kathalia rotated her shoulder and wings to wring some of the soreness out and grimaced.  "Well, we'll need to go get her out."

This brought hopeful smiles to Sparklegirl and Boatboy, which were quickly dashed as Kathalia continued.

"So I can kill her myself."

Gwae wandered out into the night, the sounds dying down as more guards filed into the plaza and the crowd began to disperse.

"Ah." She said flatly.  Kathalia pulled herself up and followed Gwae to the edge of the bridge.

Hovering  directly above the lagoon was a magnificent windship, the brass and  golden detailing on its topdeck reflecting the lights below and givng  the vessel the illussion of glowing.  Red sails billowed in the gentle  winds, three golden towers rippling with each gentle puff.

"Kaoc'h" Kathalia swore "This day just keeps getting better..."

To be continued...

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Learn more about the World of Kroashent here: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/alvez-kroashent

Learn about Kathalia's home city of Naoned, where the story takes place here: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/Alvez-kroashent/a/naoned-282B29-article?preview=true

Learn more about the Gargoul here: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/alvez-kroashent/a/gargoul-article?preview=true

Kroashent on Discord: discord.gg/MZjc3Gg

 Imp Gargoul Demoness TF transformation shortstack Horns Wings tail Kathalia Bisclavret Anthro Kroashent Cute Fantasy Gwae Gwaeron Silime Dethemir magic book Bard Trouvere Marie de France Morgiana the Clever