Once everyone has awakened, Parthipan, Bjorn, Phil, and Nathan find themselves stumbling into the library at about the same time. The librarian is just returning from the table where he's set the customary breakfast platter for everyone as they enter the door.
Nodding wordlessly, he moves behind his desk, flipping through a huge book and not paying much attention to the room at large.
"So what have we learned today, friends?"
Dracos
"Nothing," Bjorn says, taking a seat and some toast. "Seeing as the day has only started.
Reaching into his armour, he pulls out his dream transcript. "Last night the Brotherhood of Morpheus paid me a visit. I was told quite a lot. A lot of it was about the nature of the Contest, and what we and the Brotherhood are aiming for, respectively. Interesting stuff, but not immediately pressing."
Putting the transcript (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=39950#39950) on the table for others to read, he continues. "He also told me some things that are important now. First and foremost, we have two invincible enemies. Elric we already knew about, but apparently the Seventh Cabal managed to give all the power they gained from this dream to that Jotun leader. Apparently, we have no way of stopping him. But if we can get enough wolves to call for him, Alan -- one of the Brotherhood -- will be able to enter the dream long enough to pull the Jotun out." Bjorn looks across the table. "I'm guessing that's Parthipan's job."
"More importantly, we don't win this stage of the Contest by stopping the Dreadmarch. That isn't a change sufficiently large to attract the Dream's attention, since it's just a return to the status quo. What we have to do is free the Younger Gods, who have been trapped by the Archonae in crystals." He looks grim. "I'm not taking bets on exactly which crystals those are."
Leaning back in his chair, he sighs. "What else? Let's see. Starmaster Journe did escape this dream, and now he serves the Wanderer. He sent back a shadow of himself, and that was probably what was used to make Mattias, though it isn't certain. I searched Dorian's body, and his weapons." He pats the bow and quiver he has beside his chair. "Didn't find anything worth mentioning. I suppose we can have people look at the weapons, but..." He shrugs, and then adds, "Oh. And apparently I need to find my other-self's family. Except no one knows anything about them.
"Good bacon, this."
"Quite." Dracos swiftly reads over the information. "Hmm... You know, that makes what I saw at the crystals yesterday make slightly more sense. I followed the thread trailing it to the crystal. I tried to make out the magic that formed it but it gave me a headache. Powerful stuff. Anyhow, Elric is tied to the crystal in some way. Whether he's drawing power from it or restraining it, he's tied to it."
Dracos pondered taking a bite to eat. "So, we have to retrieve and shatter the crystals to drive off the dreadmarch forever?"
Dracos
"I don't know about 'shatter'," Bjorn says, taking a sip of his drink. "Just because the crystals are binding the Younger Gods doesn't mean that breaking the crystals will free them -- it might kill them, instead, for example. It would be nice to verify that those crystals are the prisons before we destroy the only thing keeping us from going mad."
After finishing what was on his plate and getting seconds, Ginrai says, "I doubt that we would be able to free the Younger Gods by doing something such as breaking the crystal or, if that really was the case, I doubt it would be easy to break it. Also, I talked with Devin yesterday and he has an idea that could possibly make tonight's battle end quickly. It would involve combining the powers of multiple lorekeepers. He will discuss more of it during the meeting with Lord Kevin and Radagast."
"Hmm... The crystals are tied to the Arcahnoe and Pax had some of it's members end up there. Perhaps they could research it. They'd be in the same boat after all."
Dracos
"The Archonae are hardly going to volunteer technical advice," Bjorn says, drily. "We have a crystal of our own here. Besides, we have no way to communicating with the other Pax members -- and we shouldn't trust them any more than we have to. All other things aside, I'd rather not take the chance that the Dream decides that they did all the work."
"That could be possible if they knew of this."
While taking a bite out of a slice of toast, Ginrai thinks of some possibilities. "Actually, maybe I can reach that area by using my 'seeing the wind' technique. Though we would then need to find a way to communicate with them."
"What could be possible if who knew of what?" Bjorn asks, confused.
"I meant the Pax members that are working there. Though, as you mentioned, that might not be a good idea."
Bjorn shakes his head. "I think we should leave them for the time being," he suggests. "Let's see what we can do with the crystal here before we start relying on Pax."
He looks back at Philip. "You said that Elric is connected to the crystals?" He frowns. "That's... interesting. Mattias said, if I remember correctly, that those threads represented sources of his power. But you don't think that's necessarily the case?"
"Well, It could easily be true. It's a simple concept, locking up a source of great power and drawing from it like a permanent generator but it could also be easily that Elric and the other spawn of the Elder Gods are being used as part of the enchantment holding them in. A part of their power being tied into trapping the younger gods away. The thread looked well...hmm.. Would you mind if I just showed you? Hard to describe a visual phenomenon like that."
Dracos
Bjorn frowns. "Even if I saw them, what would it mean to me?" He shakes his head. "All right, go ahead."
Dracos focused and shared with Bjorn the images he'd shared with Radagast just a little bit before (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1019&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=90).
Dracos
Nathan, nod having anything major to add to this, sits there quietly going through the transcript.
Bjorn grunts. "Not much useful there, beyond knowing there's a connection," he says, idly eyeing the librarian. "Anybody else have anything to add? Nathan? Did you get any further on Paul's situation?"
"Absolutely nowhere. You seemed fairly certain on the point that Verrik's somewhere in the keep, and we've got absolutely no leads, so . . . no. I actually spent a few hours playing Hunter-Hunted."
Bjorn looks at Nathan for a long minute, and then shakes his head, going back to his breakfast. "Anybody else have something to add?"
Nathan shrugs.
"Well what do you propose we do? Go around the keep asking 'Are you the legendary assassin king'? This approach was your idea, so deal with the fact that we're now purely reacting."
Ginrai shakes his head. "Not much other than the conversation with Devin."
"We're not reacting," Bjorn says coolly, cutting his eyes towards Nathan. "If there's another assassin in the keep, we need to find him. That means looking -- like I was looking for Fletcher, like Paul was doing while telling stories, like Parthipan did when checking out the Lorekeepers. If we don't have leads, we have to find them."
He holds Nathan's eyes unblinkingly. "If you don't like my approach, you're free to come up with your own. Spending time playing hunter-hunted was probably very good for your men's morale. It doesn't solve any of the other problems we have."
He looks away, then, and glances at Parthipan. "Do you want to spy on the Dreadmarch before the strategy meeting? Or is there not much point?"
"If there's time I can do it now though it might not be necessary if we follow Devin's plan."
Bjorn stares at Parthipan, and then looks down, rubbing at his eyebrows. "Do you want to talk about Devin's plan, Parthipan?" he asks, half-despairingly, and half-amused.
"What do you propose we do to be proactive, then?" Nathan hisses, "Especially when carrying a large glowing sword around that announces 'look at me'? I have no fucking idea what to do. I am completely out of my depth, and I freely admit it. And you know what else I'll admit? Yes, I blew off my other duties to go and play Hunter Hunted. There was nothing crucial where I could do any major work and rather than sit around and accomplish nothing I decided to relax. Suck it down. Your teammates are human, Bjorn, and that means we have human failings, and in this case I'm fucking sick up to here with stress and terror and if I choose to go and spend a few hours trying to relax and get some of this shit out of my system, you have no fucking right to gainsay me."
Nathan stands up, kicks his chair back under the table, and promptly walks out of the library.
Seeing the departing figure of his comrade, Ginrai comments, "You know, he was the last person I expected to react as such."
Shaking his head, he says, "Anyway, about Devin's plan. As I already mentioned in this meeting, it would involve combining the powers of multiple lorekeepers, each of whom would be following similar paths. Devin and I would be leading the links which he believes would be powerful enough to even take down the night's General."
Nathan pauses as he hears what Ginrai's comment, and waits for Ginrai to finish speaking as he has one last thing to say.
"Yeah, well, the last thing I expected was people I knew from void to be eager about the whole 'killing people' concept, so I guess we're even."
Not waiting for a reply, he stalks out. (Heading to the stormrider encampment).
Dracos shakes his head, standing up frowning slightly and saying nothing. "I'll see you guys at the strategy meeting."
Dracos follows Rez out, pacing himself to catch up to Nathan, but remaining silent.
Nathan and Phil now move to A Shot of Crisis (http://www.searchgalleries.com/).
Dracos
Bjorn doesn't say anything, though a close examination might reveal that his eyes hardened at Nathan's last shot, shuttering his emotions behind them. Instead, he looks over at Parthipan. "Do you want to do your spying?" he asks. "If not, I think I should go do a morning inspection."
"I think I should still do it. Can you look after my body during the spell?"
Bjorn nods, rising. "Shall we go, then?"
"Yeah." After gulping down his drink, Ginrai gets up and heads off to find a good place to set up the spell.
On their way to the tower to commence with the morning spy-craft, Parthipan and Bjorn are intercepted by a quartet of guards, lead by Stuarts.
"Sir!" Stuarts says, saluting sharply, but not waiting for a response before continuing. "Lord Kevin and Sir Lammermore request your counsel."
"Certainly," Bjorn says, nodding. He then turns to Parthipan. "Master Parthipan, I'm afraid I must be elsewhere. If you wish to have an escort for your mission, I'm sure that Captain Stuarts or Lord Bloom would be happy to provide one." He cocks an eyebrow at Stuarts. "Unless Master Parthipan has also been requested?"
"Not by Lord Kevin, no," Stuarts says. "But Loremaster Radagast had asked for Windmaster Parthipan, as well."
"Very well," Bjorn says. He turns and bows slighty to Parthipan. "Have a good day, Master Parthipan."
Turning back to Stuarts, he says, "Shall we?"
"Actually," Stuarts notes, "Loremaster Radagast is with Lord Kevin at the moment."
Ginrai smirks and nods. "Well then, shall we go?"
Bjorn cocks an eyebrow at Stuarts, but then nods. "Indeed. Let's not keep them waiting any longer."
Bjorn and Parthipan now move to A Shot of Crisis (http://pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=40129#40129).