Emancipation

[Anastasia]

"Then an experimental ground is what I need," Ron rises, "There's always more research on the Astral to be done."

[Corwin]

"Then... welcome, neighbor!" Seira tells him with a grin. "Kascha will handle all the details on our end."

[Anastasia]

A nod back at that, "I hear you have dragons," he says, "Lots of dragons. How many?"

"Lots," Kascha claps her hands together, a sharp sound, "Lots of dragons. I spend most mornings before breakfast talking to them."

[Corwin]

"I am a dragon, after all. And unlike Tiamat, I'm willing to show others the way to becoming a prismatic."

[Anastasia]

"Dragons are always good for research," The gnome comments gruffly.

[Corwin]

"I'll have to ask around if any are interested in that aspect," Seira muses. "Not to mention that I might have another curious project soon. How's your numerology?"

[Anastasia]

Clearing his throat, "Numerology is the work of dwarf addled simpletons who want to wet themselves in terror over numbers. Why, I had an uncle who was a Numerologist and he threw himself to his death over the numbers being right for it. Bah."

"I'm sorry," Kascha says, "I've heard it's a stressful field of study. I met one in a previous assignment on Aurora and he said most people forsake it or press it too far and suffer a mental break."

"By the boiling bones of Magma, you have to be a fool to get into that. I had a cousin who followed his uncle's footsteps. Ended up hanging himself in a room filled wall to wall with a formula 'proving' Shar would win. Bah, nothing but a malicious idiot driving him to madness - easily done with his field. The math wasn't even sound, his mind was gone." Here Ron slams a fist on the table, "I'd sooner let my daughter marry a yugoloth than a Numerologist."

Sighing at that, "How horrible," Kascha murmurs softly, "I've heard that's much of the problem, that the math is subjective instead of objective. That interpretation of great patterns is so easy to get wrong. Surru and I - that's a dragon friend of mine by the way - did some work on it the last time I visited. He tried to solve a strange demonic cypher with numerology, we both gave up on it as madness."

"You're wiser than my blood was," Ron declares, "My niece also went into the field, like her fathers." A beat, "A purple worm ate her. Not that the numbers caused it, but I bet they addled her brain enough to make her easy prey."

"Uh..." Kascha clears her throat, "Purple worms eat things no matter the numbers."

[Corwin]

"Funny you should mention Shar, since one of the things I'm actually trying to do is disprove that hypothesis."

[Anastasia]

"Then I suggest a dose of common sense and reality," Ron says.

[Corwin]

"I knew I'd like you!"

[Anastasia]

With a hint of a smile, "You have good sense - I'd hate to know a deity who put stock in that foolishness."

[Corwin]

Seira grins back at Ron.

[Anastasia]

"Good," The gnome concludes. He stands at that, "So you said something about some territory?"

[Corwin]

Yep. Let's handwave it, he can pick anything adjacent to the Cauldron so long as it's not too far or too large (since it'd be hard to protect by my patrols).

Next, I'm interested in trying to break the cypher Io gave me a hint for, since another pal I made on Fire gave me the code for it.

[Anastasia]

Sure thing. Refresh me on that and where you were at on it?