Pre game current events (Alicia)

[Anastasia]

I'm back, sister. How were Roald and the kids?

Really? Good, no trouble from them. A mother's worries are never done.

That's a great idea, I could use a chance to clean up from my travels.

...

...

...

Aaaaaah.

Took a bad fall over on Earth, the gravity there makes falls the worst. This feels wonderful.

I'm fine, I'm fine. I landed right, but the gravity still takes a toll, sister. I think it's more mental than physical.

Yes, so, let's start with the Primes. Balmuria's quiet right now. Hellman's running a tight ship there. The Baronies are prosperous and the inheritors of Malmuth are all doing well enough. My though, do you remember Whimsical Sweets? Oh! That's good, Andrea deserves it after that Sharran got her, sister. Anyway, they're doing well and Balyss came by to visit them. I watched from afar, but I felt Selune's touch on her. She's still a proxy, at least for now. And...something strange happened with Calley, the child of one of the former members. One moment he was being a child, the next? It was like a spell triggered, but I saw no magic. He suddenly seemed to know things. He spoke clearer, his posture changed to that of an experienced warrior. He cast a powerful conjuration to make a real, permanent image of his mother.

He's still very young, so no. Impossible. I don't believe it was Selune's work, because Balyss was as confused as I was. He cast that spell like an archmage would, rather than it being an innate spell. There was skill there, Alicia. Real skill. I lingered after and saw him practice unarmed combat, spell crafting and his own sneaking. He's far too good for a child, yet all my resources showed no means of it happening. I don't know what to make of it. He's a child, a deific gift of that measure would...have an unfortunate ending. Whimsical Sweets had no idea, either.

No, he's still himself. Wiser, far better than he should be, smarter. But still himself and no signs of acting differently otherwise. I stopped by Syala first and she divined and found nothing.

Alright, sister. The Baronies and surrounding realms are all peaceful. I didn't stop by Kesse, since last I heard from Seira things are going well there. I did stop in to check with Oolu, he sends his affections. Beyond that world, I stopped briefly in Lifasa. It's doing well, I paid a public visit to a few of our churches there to help shore them up. The only problem is there's ample competition.

Ha hah, yes. But one voice of many. I had a lovely debate between a pixie follower of Lathander, a human follower of Angharradh -

Yes, a human. He seems happy and he's granted spells, so I presume the Triune has no problem with the situation. You could ask her yourself if you're curious, sister. Anyway, things are well on Lifasa. I didn't stop by Benfal this time, since I know Strength of Light is going to visit soon and we have ample information from there.

The Deep Ethereal's quiet. I nosed around a little and Lixer's abode there is gone, along with the strange Styx disturbance Ebony reported.

You're probably right, sister. Not destroyed, just gone. Moved.

I stopped briefly in the primary elemental planes. Earth isn't unusual. Ogremoch has been fairly active lately, I've heard stories of raids here and there - errant dao caravans, travelers, isolated settlements and the like. The dao are pointedly ignoring the situation, and probably will so long as Ogremoch doesn't do anything too unpleasant to them.

Fire's crackling. The elementals are still the same as always, though the efreet are a little disturbed. Some political row has the elites tense as it seems like a plot erupted in open court. The details are being kept quiet, but I know it involved the devil's dog Akil bin Faheem and another prince. It's horrible, sister. There's no kindness in any of them. I always go away depressed after visiting the City of Brass. It's as cold as the heart of any devil, no matter how hot the flames there burn.

Oh! As far as Air goes, Chan sends her regards. Yan-C-Bin and Ty-h'kadi stumbled on each other's plots during a great storm, though the battle was ultimately inconclusive. It's too bad it didn't go better, but it certainly ruined whatever Yan-C-Bin was up to. That's always good news, right?

I didn't spend much time in Water. Things seem normal there, but Seira has a better grasp on that realm than I.

I do not flop! I can swim perfectly well, Alicia.

Anyway, I stopped in Celestia after that. The reports are true - the light of Chronias is brighter now. No archon truly knows what it means, but the facts are evident. It shines down brightly even on the shores of Lunia. It's beautiful for certain. I did request and was granted an audience with Barachiel, who said it was simply the will of Chronias. That's entirely true and profoundly unhelpful at once.

I did and no one really knows. I'm not sure, but....I don't think Barachiel knows, either. Maybe Sealtiel does. I did drop into the House of the Triad as well, but they're taking the same line. I think this one is in your hands if you want to know more, Alicia.

Elysium's peaceful. Nothing much is happening there or in the House of Nature. I did run into one of Aurora's former officers, Moonlight. She's doing well and back to serving Lathander. She says to pass on her regards to Ebony, and that she owes her tea and cakes when she next visits Aurora.

The Beastlands are the Beastlands. I barely stayed a day, they never seem to change much, do they?

Here's one from Arvandor - the Seladrine's been sequestered away, not even seeing proxies and favored servants. Rumors run rampant on what, from an upcoming crusade to a pregnancy to a new alliance with one of the great planar powers. None of it supported a wink, unfortunately. Rather like one of Will's stories when he's home late for dinner. That child!

The Court of Stars is fairly quiet, but I hear Queen Morwel hasn't been seen much lately. Lady Gwynharwyf and Lord Faerinaal have been putting in more appearances instead. I tried to look into it, but no one I talked to has the truth of it.

Arcadia's buzzing. Some say they can see the light of Chronias at light as a far away aurora, though I wasn't able to see it myself. Plenty of goodly folk there believe it.

I skipped Ysgard and just got a report from Strength of Light. There's apparently been more demon incursions lately. More devil incursions, too. That's probably Lixer's fault, don't you think?

Mm. I tried Mechanus, but I ended up waiting in line to see someone about applying to petition a sub committee that oversees petitions to the main committee about public rumors. I will never see what Antenora sees in that realm.

I skipped Limbo, it's usually pointless unless you have something to follow up on.

Acheron is as bad as we feared. Newly outcast devils and various refugees from the fall of Bel's regime are flooding Acheron. Entire great cubes have been taken over by them, converted into new diabolical outposts. It's actually cut down on the wars the last several weeks, as it's a time of consolidation rather than conflict. The fact that many cubes are said to have fallen easily suggests devilish contingency plans. At least that's what I imagine Antenora will say about it, right sister?

Ahahaha, yes. Still though, I think she's be correct. I think a lot of cubes would better be called willing collaborators rather than newly conquered. I've heard of no Dukes being outcast yet in the regime change, and even rumors on Acheron of Duke Malphas working with the new regime. Working together to make dark, horrid things of hellfire and bone, nightmares made real. That's all I have about Hell, it was too risky for me to go. All of the augurs I consulted here before leaving advised against it or were neutral.

Yes, isn't it?

I only skimmed across the daemon realms. I saw too many shadows that were not shadows, eyes in them that were watching me. I had a sense that the realms were disturbed, awake. Living lands. Perhaps it was only a mental assault, I do not know, but my instincts told me to flee away.

I did spend a little time on Carceri, in which the madmen who are jailed there spoke of Bel. Spoke of him as a fellow prisoner. Madness. Rumors swirled, but I left once they began to repeat.

When I arrived at Pandemonium, I found someone waiting for me. Are you familiar with the report from Ebony about the Man of the Winds? He spoke to me then banished me to the Astral.

I'm fine. It was only a banishment. I had Syala check to be sure.

He called me Jessica-who-is-seen. He asked me to kill Kina-Ja and then banished me. That's all.

Anyway, I wasn't planning on going to the Abyss, so I finished up with some Astral snooping. Vlaakith's keeping the gith quiet. They're still reorganizing after that fiasco with Aurora. They aren't idle, but no great plots are going on there that I heard.

And then I came home. So...what's been going on here, sister?