Mystran rest

[Ebiris]

"So of those..." Alicia begins, but is cut off.

"Bel and Gathgorian?!" Marie blurts out.

"... I was going to say Alyssa and her group were most likely, but that's... unorthodox," Alicia says, eyeing Marie.

"Like Latha said, don't think of the most obvious. We know they're opposed to Shar. If she kills them and we don't lift a finger to help, that makes her life easier. If we help them... we have to help them, and that'd make us miserable. It's hard for her to lose in that context," Marie explains the logic. Or chaotic intuition, if you prefer.

[Anastasia]

"That is..." Latha begins, and even smiles slightly. "Antenora would be proud of that logic."

"It fits with how Shar likes to torment others, no matter what choices they make." Mystra remarks, "It is a match to her twisted logic."

[Ebiris]

"It's depressing enough that I'd have to agree," Alicia concedes. "Well, lets go back to Sylica and then try reaching out to the devils. Please take care, Mystra. I hope next time we can come visit for a more pleasant occasion."

[Anastasia]

"Be well," Mystra bids you as you return and...

Okay, how are you going to reach out to them, then.

[Ebiris]

Syala and Jessica and Antenora are all kept in the loop via their avatars so if they want to make any contributions or suggestions over all this business they can, otherwise Alicia will simply reach out to Bel wih her divine voice.

Just imagine if anyone could contact anyone with the same sort of ease the gods communicate with one another...

Bel, I have news of Shar if you would hear it.

[Anastasia]

As do I.

[Ebiris]

Convenient timing. Then again, if she's trying to show off... she has a lot of avatars.

Has she demonstrated her ability to merge with a plane's essence to you as well?

[Anastasia]

She has shown a new pair of weapons, Anurel and Enurel. Any wound made by them cannot be healed, she claims, nor any slain with it resurrected.

[Ebiris]

Did the weapons she saw the avatar use look any different than she's seen Shar's avatars use before, like the one that fought Selune?

We received different demonstrations then. I faced an avatar who merged herself with a demiplane to become unassailable. Concerted anarchic effort broke the connection, but that relied on the demiplane in question being morphic. I don't know if that is a requirement for the ability, nor if Shar herself has merged with Shadow.

[Anastasia]

They did not.

Shar presumes above her station and flaunts her power like a harlot who thirsts for coin, but that is only a tactic of distraction. She seeks to assail our wills, as if we were lesser creatures to give in to weakness. You are many things, Alicia Reynes, but you are not weak.

She will fail, and I will see her die at my feet.

[Ebiris]

A motivational speech from a devil. She'll have to share that with Seira later.

I'll take that in the spirit intended. Take heed of this warning though; offensive action against ground Shar has prepared will be much more complicated by this trick. And should she take the offensive against you, I will come if called.

[Anastasia]

In this one matter we have agreement. Should she attack you, I will come if called.

Our own wars shall be suspended until Creation is safe. Anything else is demonic foolishness.

[Ebiris]

That's about all that can be hoped for, she can't babysit Bel and Gathgorian nor does she have the inclination to, but she'll help more or less anyone if they're being attacked by Shar and now they know she's on call.

"So that's the reactive side covered," she says, having gotten Marie, Syala, Antenora, Latha, and Jessica all together. "But what proactive action can we take against Shar now?"

[Anastasia]

Antenora sits as you all enjoy the gentle warmth your and Syala's private garden. She sips from a cup of tea and with her eyes closed, the softest clatter as she places it down. "Any assault against Shadow was ill advised before this, and now it is far more. That will be a great trial at the end of this, but that day is not yet here. Further, Shar's nature makes her a hidden threat until revealed, and it seems that as she waxes, she always has another threat new to us."

"The fruits are inexhaustible and the fruit tree is nigh invincible," Syala runs with that, pacing under the shade of an apple tree, heavy green apples swaying with a slight breeze. "It's a mixed blessing. We have as many threats to learn from as we wish, but ultimately we still face overwhelming odds and struggle to do any true setbacks to her. This latest affair makes me suspect she never shows her true goals until she wins."

Jessica sits amid a sweet smelling berry bush, shadows forming around it to make a throne for her to sit on. On occasion she picks a berry and slowly eats it. "There's a great sense of futility to it all," Jessica admits, "No matter how much we strike against her, there's always so much more. Any who falter before that, who lose their grip on hope, have lost to her completely. We need something beyond this. Something beyond the normal troubles, beyond the normal routines we do. We could hunt the Shadow Twelve, but in the end, will there not be more in time?"

Latha sits heavy on a chair of white painted, wrought wicker. The sun shines down on her as she slowly sloshes a glass of ambrosia back and forth, "I feel as if that's the heart of it. That no matter what we do, she's off doing her real wins while playing with us. I have no doubt that she sees her victory as a foregone conclusion, that she's merely going through the steps to obtain her victory. Am I the only one? The confidence she has, the eternal lack of anger or reaction to when we defy her or give her setbacks. It's like they don't matter to her."

"Damn her." Antenora agrees with a softness, "It's dark, but more than anything else, I want that shoe on her foot. I want to see her show uncertainty, to hurt, to reap what she has sown. A dark and brutal justice, but I do not doubt it is justice. Not when it is Shar. For once, I want that cold blooded monster to show some reaction to us beyond amusement, fake compassion or hate."

[Ebiris]

Marie's got a swing hanging from an overhanging branch of Syala's tree, although her feet can touch the ground so it's not really moving. It gives her a sense of whimsy to go along with everyone else's thematic seating. "What does Shar actually care about, then?" she asks.

Alicia, sat in her own white wicker chair, mulls over everyone's words while looking at her tea. Sadly no tea leaves divining wisdom for her. "You're asking how we can make one who exemplifies loss experience it. Isn't it like trying to defeat Lathander with light?"

"Well... figure out a way to kill her with kindness then?" Marie suggests, a bit flustered at being shot down so quickly.

"I wonder if that might even work, if it was sincere... but who could sincerely show kindness to Shar?" Alicia asks, giving serious thought to Marie's flustered reply. If nothing else, this is the time for unorthodox thinking.