Dragon quickstep

[Corwin]

My sincerest gratitude. I shall be waiting.

[Anastasia]

Then the party is on Bytopia.

Razalim is in your hand. Did you draw it? It feels right there, the silver metal of it warm as your on touch.

Donald blows a breath out, "Well, that went great!"

"Do you think Akil can hold the throne now?" Ranbar asks aloud, as sunshine streams down.

"Probably not," Lady Sanzha decides, "But if he tries, if he hasn't been taken in by this same apocalyptic madness, he may have a better chance now."

[Corwin]

"His mind is his own again, and that also means his paranoia won't kill people left and right," Seira responds, taking them over to the Cauldron proper. "But more importantly, did you hear that?"

[Anastasia]

Donald shakes her head, as does Lady Sanzha.

"I did," Ranbar speaks up, "A god's voice, one that granted you Razalim with his complements. Look, it's still in your hand."

Your eyes go to it. Good. It's right where it should be. Your hand caresses the hilt of Razalim, and a sense of peace and contentment follows.

[Corwin]

"Ahahaha, yes," Seira mutters, shaking her head. "My precious~"

Looking over at Ranbar, she asks, "Did you feel his power? It reminded me of Kossuth, so if that was the Crimson Firebrand, we might be in for a spot of trouble. Could it realistically be anyone else?"

[Anastasia]

"I doubt it," Lady Sanzha says, "And if he's gotten that powerful, we may be stuck reacting against him for some centuries." She frowns lightly, "No, unless it's an even greater surprise."

Donald comes forward and gently presses his hand around Seira's wrist - and it's still a grip stronger than steel. "Seira," he says, "Let go of Razalim." His voice is even, "Don't make me have to smack some sense into you. We just went through this with Akil, let's not go through it right away with you."

[Corwin]

Seira rolls her eyes, and drops Razalim into a secured artifact vault through a portal. An empty one, so if there's any curse it doesn't transform to other artifacts.

"I'm not convinced we necessarily need to clash. If it can become similar to the relationship between Arborea and Celestia, we'll figure it out. And if they act against our interests, we'll have to go all in at opposing them, even if we're the dark horse."

[Anastasia]

Will save.

[Corwin]

20:48 <Corwin> roll 1d20+84
20:48 <Rei-chan> Corwin rolled : 1d20+84 --> [ 1d20=16 ]{100}

[Anastasia]

You drop Razalim - but it takes a surge of will to do so. It's no trivial effort.

[Corwin]

"Mind over matter, will of fire, etcetera," Seira tells Donald, closing the portal. "Huh. When was the last time an artifact had that much of a pull on me? Not even the seeds...."

[Anastasia]

"You should have expected it," Donald goes on, "It had Akil in its grasp."

[Corwin]

"This is how much I trust in Akil's common sense and good judgement," Seira says, stretching out her left arm, and mirrors the action with the right. "And this is how much faith I have in myself. Not quite the same, now is it?"

[Anastasia]

"Still, I've told Elle to go look at it. Let's go see what she can make of it," Donald argues.

[Corwin]

"Sure. And if you think I'm obsessed over it, let me know," Seira allows. "Hey, Ranbar, why do you think only the two of us were contacted? Sanzha might be an obvious exception, but Donald isn't one."