Nothing Suspicious About This At All: Friday, October 28th.

[Enchantress]

A blonde woman walked into the park, and, using a staff, traced a large circle into the dirt. She stepped into the center of the circle and closed her eyes, then opened them, her arms spread wide. Those with a sense for the occult might see that she seemed to be standing at the base of a huge, nay, massive, tree. Those without an occult sense would see a cloak wearing, staff wielding woman, behaving very oddly.

[Victoria Valentine]

Victoria watched the spectacle from one side of the park... for once figuring that she didn't exactly stand out. And for once, she just watched first, trying to work out what the other woman was doing, whether the trappings were necessary or just her playing the part, whether the tree was a localized phenomenon or if she'd summoned it here... basically just getting her cards in order before she spoke up.

[Enchantress]

The tree was a localized manifestation of something much, much larger. It was the World Tree. The woman started a low, quiet chanting, tying herself into its power. Into its connection with all of the Nine Worlds.

[Victoria Valentine]

"We're certainly setting our sights high this week, aren't we?" Victoria mused as she evaluated the proceedings. Could she disrupt it without, well, a massive catastrophe?

[Enchantress]

The chanting continued, the woman didn't seem to be trying to manipulate the Tree in any way, but rather to connect to it, feel its energy and flow.

[Victoria Valentine]

And given everything that this woman had done, Victoria wasn't exactly feeling obliging. So, as she felt what the woman was doing, she began very dedicatedly working to nullify her spell. Nothing so brutish as an attack, but delicately working to unravel the magic at work.

[Enchantress]

She noticed the interference, and paused to see where it was coming from. Victoria would here a voice in her ear, asking "Why are you trying to stop me?"

[Victoria Valentine]

"Oh perhaps the chaos you louts worked in my back yard gave me a hint that I shouldn't let you do whatever the bloody hell I find you doing?"

[Enchantress]

"Oh, come now." the voice continued "You've sowed a bit of chaos in your day. Besides, the worlds are a big place. Plenty of room to share. We could even let you have this one, if you're so fond of it."

[Victoria Valentine]

This made Victoria pause. "...I'm tentatively listening."

[Enchantress]

"Its simple, really. There are so many worlds, so many possibilities. Why leave them locked up, separated, when they can be joined for....mutual advantage, lets say."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Mmm, most likely for the same reason that countries tend to have very active border control, especially when one side of the border has made rather a mess of things, yes? Oh, and to keep competition safely somewhere else."

[Enchantress]

"and we'll leave the really problematic ones to their own devices, at least for now." the voice continued "But that still leaves a near infinite number of worlds."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Hm. Well, that's a fair point. But how would infinite worlds even benefit you. That's a lot to pay attention to."

Meanwhile, while half of Victoria's mind focused on the conversation, the other half tried to divine what she could about this woman, such as where she was drawing power from.

[Enchantress]

"Nearly infinite." she corrected "Which means that the possibilities are equally infinite. Surely a woman of your....abilities can understand that."

As for where her power was coming from, she seemed to be pulling power from whatever ambient magical energy was around.

[Victoria Valentine]

"Mm, oh yes, I certainly can. And I have to say, this is an intriguing idea. But then again, perhaps I like to put my money behind someone who knows how to be more subtle."

With no further discussion, Victoria's magic doubled... one spell wrapping around the world tree to cut off magical access to it for a bit, the other seeming to bleed the ambiant magic into that shield spell to strengthen it, intended to cut the woman off by leaving her nothing free to draw from.

[Enchantress]

And a spell came up to counter what Victoria was doing, unweaving her spell. "Now, why are you doing that?" the woman said, walking towards Victoria "I did so hope we could be friends."

[Victoria Valentine]

"See, if I wasn't already stuck cleaning up your last mess, I'd be more inclined to wait it out ," she said. However good the woman was, she'd have her work cut out for her, given Victoria's ability to cast two spells at the same time.

[Enchantress]

It certainly wasn't easy, but the woman was managing to stay ahead of the spells, although not by much. A few moments more and they'd catch up with her "Oh, that wasn't much of a mess, was it? We were just trying to have some fun."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Oh, and I'm having a blast now, darling," Victoria said with a grin, redoubling her efforts, now directly casting at the woman from two sides at once.

[Enchantress]

"Must you be so difficult?" The woman said, her voice starting to show the strain as her connection to the World Tree started to crack.

[Victoria Valentine]

"Do you even know who I am?" Victoria shot back, her eyes glowing red as she continued her casting.

[Enchantress]

"Someone who is starting to become annoying." the woman said as she vanished.

[Victoria Valentine]

"Bloody coward," Victoria snapped, checking to see if she could track the woman, and fairly sure of what the answer to that question was already.

[Enchantress]

The woman was simply gone, although if Victoria looked closely, she might find a hint that she was somewhere else on the World Tree, but where was anyone's guess.

[Narrator]

Perhaps more disturbingly, in that lingering connection to the axis mundi was a... beat... of sorts. Rhythmic, but it didn't quite seem like a pulse. More it seemed like something shaking the branches of the tree, like footsteps.

Worrisome as that might be, it also seemed to be getting closer, little by little.

[Victoria Valentine]

Oh bloody hell, Victoria thought. TO anyone watching (not that she was, at all, concerned with appearances anymore) she'd seem to vanish as she stepped behind the curtain to 'climb' the tree, trying to see what was approaching it, what world it was coming from.

[Narrator]

It was hard to see what it was at this distance. Certainly there were entities known to traverse the Axis Mundi.

Something in the cadence was telling, though. The rhythm spoke of not two legs but four, a muffled rasping of claws on bark.

There was a fierce urgency to it. Something had been alerted, and was riding hell for leather for Maldon.