Mini-Grand 5111 [Round 3: Menagerie]

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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The plane upon which the battlers had been placed was titanic in scale. It had several floors of increasing opulence, not to mention cost. Upon the lowest level there was baggage class, where a section of the baggage hold was dedicated to customers willing to forego comfort, entertainment and having any room to move whatsoever in exchange for the cheapest tickets you could possibly imagine. Next up from that is standard class, pretty closely resembling plane travel as you would know it today. Upon the next floor is first class; more legroom, comfier seats, drinks upon demand. The floor above is the gold class suite which more closely resembles a trendy bar than anything you would expect to find upon an aeroplane. It was the floor above that Archmage Rannus found himself upon; diamond class. Individual suites, the most comfortable seats with built in massagers, an entire fridge full of personally optimised foodstuffs, a flat screen 3D HD TV with surround sound, full internet access and although it's not listed upon Pan Asia Airways features list, licensed prostitutes are just one click away.

The Archmage barely paid any heed to his surroundings, except perhaps to ascertain that there were no immediate threats in his vicinity. The suite in which he found himself was mercifully empty. His mind was already busy with other things. 'Problem: I find myself aboard an 'aircraft', an engine has failed and if I am to understand correctly the plane is to fall from the sky and crash. Possible solutions: fix the engine, the aircraft resumes flight. Issues with this solution: I do not know how these engines work. A minor informational ritual could be viable should I locate the engine in question, but this would severely cut into reparation time, and because of multitude of unknown variables the engine may not be repairable.'

Archmage Rannus had a lump of chalk in each hand and was already inscribing intricate runes upon the walls of the suite. 'Alternate solution: Open a portal, send everyone through to safety. Issues with this solution: I do not have a local reference point to which to open a portal, a portal back home would likely require a ritual which would on its own exceed the given time frame, not to mention the dangers of opening a portal within a moving structure.'

The Archmage began to chant something, his words archaic and loaded with power. 'Alternate solution: use a ritual to negate gravity. Issues with this solution: impermanence as effects only felt while I maintain them, required reagents difficult to obtain. Benefits of this solution: delays crash, gives those with expertise time to repair engine. Will implement this solution until better solution is found'. He began to make a series of complex gestures with his hands, barely noticing as the door burst open and plane security burst in on him, their weapons drawn.

"What the fuck?" One particularly astute security officer said, upon sighting the crystalline mage in the midst of his ritual.

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SpoilerMinor clarification here: Rannus isn't doing the antigravity ritual at the moment. He started doing another ritual, which hasn't activated yet and which I'll make clearer in the next post and intends to perform an antigravity ritual at first opportunity. #114EAA is Rannus' colour to save you to quoting posts or whatever.