Destiny now lies in the hands of...

[Anastasia]

"There's one thing that it reminds me of. The enaction of will," Syala says, "Isn't that what the Guardians do?"

[Ebiris]

"The one we faced at the bottom of the stair seemed like that. It copied many magical effects but it didn't use magic for any of it," Alicia confirms. "One could perhaps think of magic as Creation's crutch that allows anyone to enact their will through ritual and the weave."

[Anastasia]

"Including deities?" Latha asks, "When you alter reality itself with your will?"

[Ebiris]

"That still works like magic - if you look at me with arcane sight when I alter reality it shows as magical the same way a dragon's breath does," Alicia says. "It works even without the weave, but there's a relationship there that doesn't exist for what a Guardian does, or what Hellman does when he moves without moving."

[Anastasia]

Silence from Syala as Latha says, "Are we secure?"

After Syala's will double checks it to be so, "Zaphkiel stated that the Incarnations only have two true limits to their will, did he not? A normal person's will is limited completely, nothing happens by sheer will. A deity is farther than that and yet, if they rely on the Weave, something explicitly not of the Beyond?" Latha muses aloud, "Are we all nascent reality changers, unable to come close to the seed of potential that lies within us, meant to create in the Beyond?"

[Ebiris]

"I don't think deities rely on the weave, but rather each deity brings its own weave-in-miniature with it. That's why magic - spells or will-working, works in Beyond or in areas where the weave doesn't reach inside Creation," Alicia adds. "From the view of designing Creation that makes sense, as otherwise all deities would be subservient to Mystra. But it comes back to the issue of why becoming 'One' is the same as becoming a deity with everything it entails."

[Anastasia]

"Let's say One is an unqualified evolution forward," Syala says at last, drumming her fingers on her bare thigh. "Could it be that becoming something like a Guardian is instead the next step past divinity, or that divinity is an intermediate stage that can take you there? That the highest limitations of divinity can be overcome and surpassed, and that it leads to becoming something such as a Guardian? A second breakthrough beyond the first, one as far beyond divinity as divinity is beyond mortality."

"Have I told you that you're gorgeous when you speculate and use logic," Antenora asks steps forward, from nowhere to here in an instant.

"This is your sort of conversation," Latha allows with a smile of her own, "Have you been listening long?"

[Ebiris]

"Both deities and guardians are made by the Incarnations. Incarnations can and have empowered mortals as deities as well as simply creating deities out of nothing. As far as we know, guardians have only ever been created out of nothing. Mortals can become One and thus become deities. But a deity doing the same thing remains a deity, albeit one untethered to Creation. If there is a route to the sort of power a Guardian has, it still eludes us. Perhaps Sylian knows, based on what's happened to Hellman however," Alicia speculates a bit herself as she works through the logic.

Not to impress Antenora, it's just what she does.

"Welcome back Antenora. Are you ready to go or do you have any logic of your own to share first?"

[Anastasia]

A lopsided smile from Antenora, "I do think it comes down to Sylian and his patron again. What Sylian's done makes more and more sense as we learn about him - and who else might be able to teach him to do what he's done to Oberuth than a creature of Beyond such as the Pale Mother?"

[Ebiris]

"Speaking of Beyond and its denizens - what created them? The Incarnations - far more than three, were created by One. Is every other creature of Beyond the creation of either One or of another far off Incarnation?" Alicia asks. "Or do they just spontaneously arise out of nothing? Who or what created One?"

[Anastasia]

"Imagine if everyone is a remnant of another Creation torn apart," Antenora muses, "Who seek to find a Creation they understand and can exist in."

"Did anyone create One?" Syala says, "Perhaps that's the one thing that always is? If it's truly an all powerful being beyond any limit, would things such as beginning and ending matter to it?"

[Ebiris]

"A grim possibility," she says to Antenora. "So many mysteries... but One as a being that ensured its own existence has an appealing logic to it. In any case I think that's enough speculation - there's seeds to find and precious little time to do it in."

[Anastasia]

"We're ready," Antenora agrees as Syala also gets up.

Due to weekend and this day being bonkers crazy, lemme just ask you: Is all prep for this in order and done, and what was it if so?

[Ebiris]

I'm assuming Alicia knows where Jormungarand's lair is because she's a local deity of Ysgard. If not she can ask the grandkid she has living in Sylica.

Otherwise no substantial prep, we're doing this the same day as we rescued Sylvie and met Zaphkiel so we're down any resources expended on that.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Alicia HP: 724+20/724
Active spells:  Many moments of prescience (CL 34), extended mind blank (CL 35), extended nondetection (CL 35), greater heroism (CL 34), repelling shield (CL 34), extended ray deflection (CL 35)
Defences: AC 80, CMD 87, spell resistance 49, energy immunity (fire and cold), status immunity (polymorph, petrification, disease, poison, stunning, sleep, paralysis, death effects, disintegration, energy drain, ability damage, ability drain, mind-affecting, and fear), nondetection (DC 49)
Stat buffs/penalties: +4 morale skills, +9 shield AC
Perceptions: Arcane sight, perception +57
Sorcerer spell slots: 6/16/16/16/9/9/14/9/8/7/6/5/5/6/4
Duskblade spell slots: 6/23/23/21/10/7/9

[Anastasia]

Can someone provide mind blanks? Antenora would insist as a matter of basic preparations.