Uphill Battle

[Carthrat]

"Talk to me," queries Tom, glancing at Bjorn. "I thought we were doing pretty well when we broke out the slave pen, but our wheels weren't *quite* so shiny."

[Dracos]

"Room actually private?" Dracos asked as they settled in to talk, sitting down in one of the conference room chairs.

Dracos

[Brian]

From what Phil can see, once the door is closed it's private.  There are some speaking tubes in one corner -- just next to the door, actually -- but they are capped at the moment.

The clear sky out the window is suddenly foggy for a second.  When it clears, there's a wall of cloud to the rear, with patches of clouds ahead.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn spreads his hands.  "Not much to say, really.  Showed up here.  Din's people are under attack by the Church, so I set out to help 'em.  Alogn the way, I cut a deal with the void spirits, and the price was that I'd take this," he waves at the ship about them, "off their hands.  It's one of a kind, as I understand, and might be of limited use, since I have to talk pretty fast to get the void spirits to let it work."

He frowns.  "According to the spirits here, our job is to break the monopoly on the gates, to spread the information on how to use them.  That mostly means taking down the Church, as I get it.  We're off to Anabara now, to pick up Nathan. Haven't heard anything about Tim.  If Nathan doesn't know anything either, then it's back to the bargaining table to see what I can get out of the spirits."

[Dracos]

"That was the prior me's task as well.  A heretic priest and all that setting forth to bring enlightenment to those oppressed by the church.  Though oddly, there's a prophecy in the church's own doctrine that this will happen, but they think there's some dire need to them maintaining their monopoly based on hidden literature and some mystical stone.  Haven't yet managed to find one of these gates  to look at it or any sign of the hidden literature.  This kind of took precedence," Dracos smiled.

Dracos

[Carthrat]

"Anabara... I wonder what it's like?" remarks Tom, frowning. "It seems I actually come from there, I think I was some kind of spy.

"From what I know, Nathan actually sold me out to get away. But I've no idea what the circumstances were. In any case, seems unlikely anyone'd recognize me, eh?

"Hmm. There was one piece of technology I saw that I think game from Anabara- some kind of teleportation thing. Me and those slaves, we revolted- when we got to the mansion of our so-called breeder, this other guy came out. Heard him talking about putting together some kind of assault force of thralls earlier, but when he saw us coming, he just zapped himself away..."

[Bjorn]

Briefly, Bjorn expands on the details of everything that has happened to him since arriving in the Fire Dream, and listens to Philip and Tom do the same.

OOC: Hopefully this isn't stepping on anyone's toes.  I'm a bit distracted by work at the moment, and not up to going back through my thread to think of the things that I should mention.  So here's some IC-placeholder to justify saying, "Go read my thread if you got questions," and we can go on with the show!

[Dracos]

OOC: Okay, much delayed, but I have now caught up!
IC:

"This seems reasonably straightforward then, though I wonder of what other players we are unaware of.  We know of anabara's sphere and of this one.  There's the church and their soldiers, the peasantry subservient to it, the plainsmen, the anabarians, the spirits of each sphere, and the spirits of the void.  The abilities of each group vary vastly...enough by which knowing one sphere gives little indication of another.  So while we have no aid for it, there may be much we don't know in the other spheres.  We believe this to be the church's power center, and that's likely the case, though we also know they're likely spread out more than any other group.  The church, as we know, also believes rather fanatically in certain dangers to the masses going through the gates," Dracos considered in a wavering mental diatribe.

"I'm curious what the spirits, particularly of the void, think about the gates and their usage.  Does that pass through the shroud strike them as normal...or is it also an annoying abomination?  Also the Anabarians are clearly of a scientific and analytical bent...which I've not seen out of any churchman we've come across.  Equally, they are paranoid and aggressive against those that would commune with the spirits.  Which raises another question, how did such people come to hold such knowledge of the gates? They mentioned some stone...  But I can't help but think that they may have been a result of prior interference."

Leaning back, Dracos tapped his fingers together. "Perhaps even a prior interference from the real world.  Unlikely as that may be."

Dracos
Gives a chance to get in a word edgewise

[Bjorn]

Bjorn blinks at some of that.  "This sphere definitely isn't the centre of the Church's power.  They're just recently making inroads into it, according to the plainspeople.

"The spirits understand the Gates, and disapprove, as I understand it, of how the Church is using it.  Passing beyond the shroud, though," he waves a hand at the ship around them, "is new, and the void spirits don't like it much at all.  I'll be struck blind when we cross the shroud, for an understanding of the sort of price I have to pay to get this to work.

"As for outside interference... none yet, confirmed by the Brotherhood of Morpheus.  We're the first ones in."

[Dracos]

"I was thinking of a prior contest.  Anyhow, it still bears consideration, though admittingly, it may be a result of the spheres...  I wonder how different the environments are to have caused such massive differences in civilization growth patterns.  Anyhow, I think the biggest thing we don't know and probably can't deduce is what group sent an assassin after the breeder and what they stole there."

Dracos commented before pushing that aside.  "What about your people, Bjorn?  You mentioned that the church was getting ready to move.  Ignoring that this is definitely able to outclass likely the entirety of church forces here, will they be alright with us heading to anabara?"

Dracos

[Bjorn]

"Asssassin?  Breeder?"  Bjorn is clearly lost.

"Don't worry about the plainspeople, though.  I taught them basic guerilla tactics, and from what I can deduce about the Church's military strategy, they ought to be able to hold out for months or more.  If the conflict is protracted, then the Church would eventually win just by sheer numbers, but that's what we're here for."

[Dracos]

"Slaver, I meant... the one who was raising/training the thralls for the church's uses," Dracos clarified.  "As I mentioned, someone assassinated him prior to my arrival...possibly prior to the entire revolt Tom lead and pillaged his place for information."

"And that's good at least... though I don't like leaving tribesman versus the church.  That's a traditionally bad matchup, if games or history have taught me anything," a touch jokingly towards the end. "We'll have to be conscious of time and of the overall strategy of the church."

Dracos

[Bjorn]

Bjorn shrugs.  "Traditionally, tribesmen versus an organized modern society is bad, but that's because of tactical mismatch more than anything else.  Guerilla warfare is a great equalizer.  Primarily, they're going to avoid conflict, and try to starve out the Church.  I've got confidence."

[Carthrat]

"Heh. If it works on our world, against planes and artillery..." muses Tom. "I'll bet the church doesn't promote based on merit, either.

"But you know, as far as outside interference goes. We've really no idea how long this world has been around," remarks Tom. "The stone we heard about, I think it was probably here long before anyone from our world came along."

[Brian]

There's a shudder throughout the ship, and those glancing out the window watch as clear, light blue skies over plains as far as the eye can see....  Though, come to think of it, there is something funny.  At the edge of the horizon, it appears that the world abruptly stops in a curved line.  Maybe an illusion ... maybe actually the edge of the world ... but before anyone can think about it, all the sky is torn away in the shudder, and then there's a view of the sun.

The sun is almost blindingly bright, huge, swollen, and orange -- it fills easily a quarter of what can be seen through the window, sending out flaring arcs of plasma like some dying thing's death-throes.  The space around it is filled with flashing energy in streams that flow about in a torus.  Below, the sphere that was just left behind is visible for a bit -- but swiftly melts into indecipherable visual background noise.

Leaving the sphere is times exactly as everyone feels a second lurching sensation in the pit of their stomachs, one that doesn't seem tied to the ship itself.  Perhaps that was the Shroud?

The view is pretty impressive to everyone except for Bjorn, who is now blind.  A click sounds, and one of the speaking tubes uncaps itself.  "We're now through the shroud," Captain Vega says, sounding tiny and far away, "if our instrumentation is to be trusted, we're on our way back to Anabara."

Bjorn hears another voice say, "Jolly good, jolly good!  On your way back already then, lad?  How long should I tell my son to wait for you?"