As Vice President of Assessment and Director of External Affairs, Verdigris is the second-to-last line of defense for the overarching interests of all Solaris. Her role combines the strategic direction that guides their place in the whole solar system, along with the object-level minutia of reviewing individual smart contracts. Only the President can overrule her judgements, and thankfully, Solaris is a true modern corporation, a proper hypercorp, and relies on simply choosing the best people and giving them ample room to work. It's one of the reasons why she likes working here so much. Not that she's ever worked anywhere else. Or had the option to. By the time she bought out her own indenture contract, it would have been stupid to give up on the local connections.

When it happens, she's reviewing a particularly strange case where a routine failure-to-deliver insurance contract for an ice transport hopping around the Main Belt quoted a 1% risk of over 600M credits in losses. For ice transport! The ship couldn't even be worth a million, let alone need insurance for two orders of magnitude past that. No single one of the habitats on its schedule is worth that much. It's an error a human would make, or an LLM, not one of her smart contracts. So distracted, she hardly even notices when her security system registers an ongoing incident and categorizes it as a novel form of pandora gate. She does notice when said security incident picks her up, drags her through the space between universes, and drops her in a field under what is clearly neither an open sky nor a real habitat ceiling.

Observers will see one summoning circle complete, conjuring a dragon with a coppery green hide, about four meters shoulder-to-hip or ten meters tip-to-tail. She is surrounded by several floating lights and small metal creatures, and is emitting several exotic varieties of radiation.

While the Princess of Kandari and Paphlagonia, Amira of Amastris and Lady of the Synopian court absolutely has any number of important courtly duties she absolutely should be undertaking, nearly all of her royal duties have been either put on hold or passed off to other members of the various relevant courts while she is away taking the seaside air, for her health.

Seaside air that has yet to clear itself of the blood of the lion she just felled in single combat. It seems that this one also does not qualify as 'intelligent' by whatever foolish standards the West Wind set when it cursed her to take this form for a second time.

She takes a large bite out of its flank, and starts to settle in for a meal when she feels a faint burst of magic rushing towards her from the East. Dropping her meal she runs North along the shores of the Red Sea before taking flight. Fortunately, as she speeds away from the site of her latest victory, the magic changes direction, proving it something other than a curse from the East Wind. Unfortunately, it begins to grow in speed and size and power, until it consumes her.

Leaving her in mid-air not far off from a strange little village, beneath a great golden light that is clearly not the accursing Sun of her home.

A massive dark violet dragon with shining golden horns and wings that stretch a full hamma* in flight is conjured above the circle.

*18.5 meters

It was a pleasant morning in the Hebrides archipelago. Crisp, but not overly cold, with not a cloud to be seen in the predawn light. Like most such mornings, Tore could be seen soaring high in the air as the invigorating chill and first rays of sunlight woke him up.  He would bask in the light for a few moments before diving from on high, chasing the first rays of dawn to the ocean's surface and often waking the rest of the dragons (and everything else) on the island with the boom of his speed. Occasionally he would race through the sea-stacks of the island he called home before diving down and grabbing some fish for breakfast. This was not to say that Tore was inconsiderate of the other residents of the island, as the vast majority used the boom as a wake up call, an opportunity for a relatively easy breakfast before the morning light drives the fish deeper into the water, while the remainder simply slept through it.

This was not like most mornings however.

Just as Tore pulled level out of his dive this morning, a dark portal, practically screaming with magic, appears directly in front of him. Passing through to the other side, he quickly pulls up, trading speed for altitude as he takes in his surroundings, the last echos of the boom fading as he climbs. 

The sky... is wrong. So wrong that he isn't even sure if it fits under the definition. Bright specks like small suns dot the brilliant expanse, vast rivers of light akin to Bifrost span the heavens like lace, and preeminent of all, the branches and roots of a mind numbingly huge golden tree like Yggdrasil itself. The ground, by contrast, is as bleak a place to live as any he's seen. A small, stone-brick village is sat upon a hill reminiscent of a pile of dirt. A swamp surrounded it stretching far into the distance, and surrounded in turn by tall cliffs. Directly below, he spots a large individual covered in spiky black armor, surrounded by smaller individuals in spiky red armor forming what looks like an honor guard of all things. He also spots two other dragons the likes of which he has never seen before and a large golden circle dancing with magic, a dark portal beginning to open within it.

 Kirveneren had always been a great and terrible beauty. This she knew. She was therefore unimpressed by the pitiful elf currently mewling for her attention. She allowed her tail to thrash side to side, showing her annoyance overtly as he attempted to placate her with empty compliments that she had heard a thousand times. She wanted to hear what he would do for her instead, in order to gain her favor. 

Gently, so as not to break it, she stole into his mind and offered a suggestion, coating it with the feeling of gentle breezes and soft grasses like the rest of his thoughts so as to disguise it as his. If he had no desire, the thought would pass, dismissed as merely l'appel du vide. It would still be his choice, but now the option had been presented. Kirveneren grinned as she watched the seed take hold. The elfling's speech stuttered and stopped, his pupils widening with want. But suddenly his need was not the most intriguing scent in the air. The air was charged with foreign magics. A bolt of blue lightning dared to strike her and the exigent elf is no longer there. Or rather, she is not where she once was. 

Observers will see an amethyst dragon appear within the circle. Her scales are a deep purple and shine in a way that makes her appear almost as if she is made of stars. 

Princess Amariah Anastasia Ophelia the III crouches with the sheep herders and watches the Demon Lord perform his ritual. Her goals here are different than theirs of course, but they don’t need to know that. The sheep herders are here to see if they will be able to stop the Demon Lord. Amariah- “Amy,” to the people of this town- is here to see if the Demon Lord will be useful to her. Becoming a Demon Lord would not exactly be the traditional way a lost princess gains power, but… Amariah will make do with what she has. And from the scaly kitties the Demon Lord just summoned, it seems he will be able to help her after all. Now, how to approach him?

The demon lord speaks in a deep bellow that carries both to the dragons overhead and deep into the surrounding swamps.

"Noble and honored dragons! I am Kortizar Rakvitikos, blessed by the Tree with the right of conquest! I offer you this gift of mana and pray that you grant me this boon in return! Within the foundation of this world wind many tunnels, and humans scurry within like craven mice! They will bow to me, I demand it! Breathe deep into the bowels of the earth and drive them out!"

As the summoning ritual binds each spirit to his control, the speech is merely a formality. It sounds impressive, though, and dragons are a pain to control when they don't feel properly respected.

Well, that is somewhat concerning, he thinks to himself. Projecting the telepathic magic inherent to all dragons of his world, and utilized by many of his world's magic users besides, to the three dragons below him, he speaks. "I don't know if any of you can hear or understand me, but does anyone know what the deal with big and spiky down there is? I really have no interest in murdering a bunch of presumably innocent people and this guy just screams "evil asshole" besides.

Kirveneren is filled with wrath. 

"You dare attempt to bind me you worthless worm?" She rages at the mage before her, roaring with both her words and her mind. For now, she ignores the smaller black dragon soaring above her. She doesn't particularly care about rodents hiding within the hills and their inconsequential little lives as he seems to.

"I will make you regret that your grandparents were born, let alone yourself you insignificant ant." She rumbles instead. She gnashes her considerable sharp teeth visiously and thrashes her tail, making deep gouges in the soft earth. 

"I mean, really. Kortizar, is it?" Marta dives down and lands much closer to the speaker, speaking gently but at a volume that can still be heard throughout the valley.

"A sensible caster would at least confirm that the mana had been accepted, - especially before making DEMANDS," a massive plume of steam pouring out her nostrils with the final word.

The dragons find themselves speaking a language they did not previously know, the same as the language the demon lord used.

Kortizar looks surprised, but quickly returns his face to a superior sneer. "I see I have misjudged you! Great beasts such as yourselves are truly independent of spirit! Know this, noble dragons! This is no contract and you have no right to refuse, noble though you may be. This authority is my right by Arboreal blessing, and you will obey!"

He releases a twisting burst of magic, and something seizes hold of the soul of each dragon, grabbing into the depths of their spirits in... a place that doesn't actually seem to exist, for dragons that aren't the variety he expected to summon. Whatever he was trying to do, it doesn't work.

"You have misjudged more than most could ever dream," she says, a dark humor to her voice, as she begins walking forward.

"Okay asshole, you fucked up now." he says as he dives, a shrill whistle sounding as he builds speed, releasing a large plasma blast at the demon before pulling back up to altitude. A large, smoke filled crater is left in his wake, the smoke and dust obscuring the contents of the crater.

Such is the end of Kortizar Rakvitikos, demon lord of Life, who was pretty strong, but summoned dragons that were stronger.

"Idiot!" Kirveneren snaps at the self satisfied black dragon, more annoyed than pissed now. "That was too easy a death! He should've been burned alive. Slowly and painfully." 

"I am not one to needlessly cause suffering to sooth my own ego. Besides which, there was no way to know whether he had a more powerful version of that control magic stored away that might have actually worked."

Princess Amariah had expected the daemon lord to last SOMEWHAT longer than that. Long enough to teach her something, at least… But let it never be said that she cannot pivot when one plan becomes non-viable. Maybe these scaled incendiary creatures can teach her something? Now, how best to approach them without getting dead? 

"Is the, - weasel lizard, - answering you?" She asks, flicking a rock the size of a child's head into the crater.

"I was hoping to at least get a better explanation of what that man was hoping to achieve."

"The black one speaks through the mind." Kirveneren huffs, tail twitching with annoyance still, though greatly eased. "And I wouldn't have called it needless suffering. As far as the mage's motives, I would think them fairly simple. Power. As is the case with most maggots. They crave it always." 

Given that the immediate issue has been dealt with, he lands near the crater to get a better look at these large, strange dragons. Though he keeps out of swipe distance just in case.

These are weird readouts. Which is obviously to be expected when something this weird happens at all, but still.

"Is someone using... sneutrinos for analog radio? Is there a reason to do that? Or, just, in general if anyone has any information about what's going on here I'm happy to pay to hear it."

Should she be communicating using sneutrino analog radio? Should she be hiding the fact that she can't easily make that many sneutrinos? The tail risk model does include teleportation mishaps, but not, like, in her house. Safer to just treat the whole scenario as a hostile sim with some faked memories, pending an integrity check.

… offering to pay for information seems like a good opportunity to introduce herself without getting eaten. Or… whatever it is that happened to the daemon lord. 

“Hi! I may have some information about what is going on.” 

Asking them to please not eat her does not seem like it will actually make her less likely to be eaten… 

He looks to the side where she emerged, "Yeah, some information on where in the Nine Realms we are, who the Hel big and spiky was, and what is going on would be lovely, thanks."

At this point, he is starting to just assume no one but the big glittery purple dragon has the ability to natively hear him telepathically and is being somewhat sarcastic. He could "shout" to try and brute force the sending, but really doesn't feel like it just yet.

My what an unusual wordless buzzing sensation… Amariah will continue waiting for prompting. Best not to tip her hand too soon, especially if these scaly murder-kitties take offense at wordiness or something… Amariah does NOT want to go the same way as the daemon lord…

To introduce herself as “Amy,” or as “Princess Amariah?” The latter might give her words useful weight, but the former might protect her from an ill-advised ransom attempt…

Huh, seems like it's the black ?dragon? (are these all dragons? has she been kidnapped into a dragon-based RPG sim? that seems like an inefficient use of the ability to kidnap the vice president of a major hypercorp, maybe adds some evidence to the likelihood of isekai) is the one communicating with sneutrino radio. The other two have talked, and the loud guy seems like he's just a smoking crater now. Her muse, Phthalo, can route the transmission through as simulated audio.

This girl is a... local? NPC? Interrogator? "Hello! Yes, I'd like to hear about what's going on. I believe that one does as well." Her holograms produce a faint shimmer of motion in Tore's direction that might be less recognizable to people who don't have holographic moodfields.

Oooh magic. Amariah has got to figure out a way to get these creatures to teach her… 

“Honorable lord dragon,” (Dragons are arrogant and love to be flattered. This seems like a good start towards not getting eaten), “I am Princess Amariah Anastasia Ophelia the third, and I am happy to help in any way I can. This is supposition only, but I would venture a guess that the daemon lord summoned you here so he could use you to eradicate the village that has taken me in. Obviously his binding magic was insignificant beside your incomparable will.” 

Is Amariah overdoing it? She will find out if her words get her eaten, she supposes.