Now that Bjorn, Nathan, and Parthipan are gone, Phil is left alone with Eske, Mattias, and Kevin.
"Is there anything else I can assist with here, Lord Kevin?" Dracos asks, glancing over the gathered crew still remaining.
Dracos
"Nothing," Kevin says, shaking his head. "You should get some rest while you still can."
Dracos nodded. "Yeah, just want to clear my head a bit first. May the night be restful for you."
Dracos heads out, starting a slow walk around the keep, his eyes looking for magic and things that are off.
Dracos
You walk across the courtyard, scanning for things that are out of the ordinary....
Your eyes pick up magic, in places. The entire keep has a subdued, but omnipresent glow. The front wall of the keep is painfully bright to look at, carved and marked with great runes and words that seal it as a defensive structure.
The towers each have their own wards on them. Deep below the ground, there's more -- much more. But your eyes can't see through the earth to identify what it is ... you just know that it's there.
Dracos remains quiet as he walks, getting a feel for the place, keeping his eyes open also for humans emitting any odd auras or glows. He particularly keeps his eyes out for any of his companions, Durant especially.
Dracos
You find Durant after a while. He's loitering behind the keep, on the opposite side of the cluster of buildings that contain (among other things) Ekim's forge staring at the ground and tuning his lute.
Dracos subtly eyes the surroundings, checking how crowded it is as he moves in that direction.
Dracos
He's between two buildings, sitting on a stump. A few people from the camp could glance over, but considering Durant's (relative) fame at the keep, he probably chose this spot to be out of the way.
Dracos heads over, fairly casually. "Greetings, Durant. I take it you've found ample use for your craft here?"
Dracos
"That's a good way to put it," he says tiredly. "You know, I always figured morale officers actually had really crappy jobs ... but this isn't too bad."
Dracos nodded. "Looks like you've been doing a pretty good job of it. Look tired though, how much rest have you been getting?" Dracos slowly lowers the discussion volume as he talks, keeping a general eye if anyone is snooping closer as he continues with small talk.
Dracos
You don't see anyone around. At least, no one obviously watching you.
"I slept last night," Durant says after a moment. "But I keep going out to look for stuff. Captain Bjorn has decided that the lazy brigade was full, and has me spending most of my time looking for traitors."
"He's commander now. Hear anything interesting?"
Dracos
Durant grunts. "Nothing," he says. "I pointed out a suspicious lorekeeper to Dr. Swarthicus, though." He frowns. "Tons of Storm-riders. Maybe I'll learn something new, eh?"
"Yeah, about that. Mind, making the rounds a bit tonight? Quite a few lost family in that last deal, and could perhaps use something to help ease the mind?"
Dracos
He groans, and rubs at his eyes. "The last thing I want to do is look for trouble," he says. "I'll just let word out that I'm in the hall. Anyone who doesn't want to be alone can come." Finished tuning his lute, he stands up. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, take care of yourself. You'll miss things if you run yourself ragged."
Dracos
He smiles at that. "Thanks. I'm sure it'll be okay. You watch out for yourself, too." With that, he turns around and begins to walk towards the hall.
Dracos continues his walk, moving along near Ekim's forge to see if he spots Nathan or Bjorn or spots anything interesting, yawning slightly.
Dracos
When you reach the forge, you see that Nathan is already there, talking with Ekim. Ekim seems to be smoking and looking at the stars.
Dracos now joins Nothing out of the Ordinary (http://pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=36810#36810).
The wind that blows across the top of the ramparts is pretty cold, but not too bad. Liandral sighs, and turns to stare out over the battlefield.
Dracos eyes Liandril with his magic vision, slightly curious. "What's on your mind?" He asks, non-chalantly.
Dracos
To your eyes Liandral looks normal ... except for a more subdued aura of magic than most people have. It's dull, and lacking definitive color.
"Eh," he grunts. "Just hoping nothing here goes wrong."
"Anything more anyway..." Dracos shook his head. "Figures the answer to where all these crazies are coming from is the gods being against us."
Dracos
"Crazies?" Liandral asks, looking at you curiously.
"The hordes out there. Their numbers haven't made any sense since I got here. Now they do. At least if what Elric hinted at is true."
Dracos
"What do you mean it doesn't make sense? This is a fantasy world, unconstrained by our perceptions of reality," Liandral says, grinning. "Anything can, and most likely already has happened."
"Mmm... True." Dracos rubs his head sheepishly. "Now where's the already happened of us winning?" Dracos playfully returns.
Dracos
"Little below my spleen," he replies, winking.
Dracos shakes his head and laughs. "You're crazy. Anyways, I'm going to go turn in. Be careful, yeself."
Dracos, unless stopped by Liandril, starts heading down to where the storm-riders are ensconed hoping to get some rest!
Dracos
Liandral doesn't budge, or move to stop you, though he does nod. "Rest well," he says, turning to survey the battlefield again.
Heads down to try and find his chambers for rest and then rests, assuming no one interrupts him or catches his sleepy eyes.
Dracos
As you cross the courtyard to the keep, you recall that you were given quarters -- reasonably decent ones -- inside before you left. The prospect of a warm fire is somewhat pleasing ... but you also have a tent set up in the Storm-rider camp.
Dracos, well brainwashed in the ways of keeping people he has to work with somewhat happy, heads to his storm riders tent.
Dracos
You make it to your tent, which still smells faintly of the alcohol from the meeting, but is thankfully clean of passed-out Storm-riders. There's a pallet, some blankets, and a pitcher of water sitting out for you.
Dracos takes a slight drink and then gets to rest. He'll quaff the rest in the morrow.
Dracos
Mmm. Water. So ... watery.
You lie down in your pallet and fall asleep almost instantly.
<Brian> Dracos. As you drift to sleep in your tent, you get the odd sensation that there's a cord connecting you with your real-self, back on Earth. The real Earth ... the one you last saw from beneath Gibraltar.
<Brian> This sensation is kind of odd, and then you feel a tugging on that cord, and go spiraling through the ether, coming to your senses in an easy chair. The room is brightly colored, but takes a moment to come into focus in your eyes.
<Brian> There's thick brown shag carpeting, a window that has light coming in through it (and it feels like sunlight, but looks like an indistinguishable wall of yellow). Before you and to the left is a battered but well cleaned wooden pedestal supporting an aged T.V., which is currently off.
<Brian> To the right there is a brick fireplace, with a clock on the mantle -- both the hour and minute hands are missing, and the second hand takes nearly a full minute to actually tick forward.
<Brian> Immediately to one side of you is a small end-table with a tacky late-80's to early 90's table-lamp -- the kind that has glass 'jewels' hanging around the lower edge of the lamp-shade. It's currently on, but doesn't add much in the way of lighting compared to the window.
Dracos stretches a bit, examining the tv slightly in curiousity and smelling the air.
<Brian> The air smells faintly like air-freshener ... but it's faded, like you're only percieving a fraction of the actual scent. The television is an old Zenith model -- you can't remember if they were even in business when you left. The case is square and boxy, with faux wooden paneling over it. It's got two dials to change the channel, and another for power/volume.
Dracos stands up, glancing over himself as a thought hits him, almost speaking in his casual form before thinking better of it.
<Brian> When you look behind you, there's a painting on the wall -- some flowers. Kind of red. The artist isn't familiar, and while decent, the piece doesn't stand out as a masterpiece. Though, it is an original, and not a reprint.
<Brian> There are no doors out of this room, though.
<Brian> "Welcome," a voice from behind you says.
<Dracos> "Thanks, and greetings. It appears you have me, by surprise?" Dracos responds turning slowly around to face the voice.
<Brian> When you look, there's a hulking figure who stands at least two meters tall, with long, straight blonde hair. He's wearing golden armor, but it looks like video game or anime armor -- way too stylistic and 'cool' to ever be functional in reality. He's also holding onto a huge hammer, with a squared, boxy, stone head that has to way at least 30 kilos.
<Brian> He frowns. "My apologies," he says. "I was looking for the one we had spoken with before. You may call me Bryce. I am Bryce Ericson, of the Brothers of Morpheus."
<Dracos> "Ah. Hmm. Greetings then, Bryce. A pleasure. I'm Philip. So, what can I do for you?"
<Brian> "Alan said that Radagast was in trouble," Bryce says matter-of-factly. "We can't enter your dream ... and he's busy. We wanted to find out if he was okay."
<Dracos> Dracos blinked. "He was last I saw of him. Unless things have changed while I was asleep, he should still be. I take it he's one of yours?"
<Brian> "No," Bryce says, shaking his head. "He is a dream given life. It's ... complicated."
Dracos nods.
<Dracos> "Such has it been of late."
<Brian> Bryce sighs. "Sorry, then. I can put you back in your own dream." He raises one (empty) hand, and furrows his brows in concentration.
<Brian> *brow
<Dracos> "No, I wasn't complaining. Thanks, in fact, for the aid you've given. Radagast has been quite helpful to us."
<Brian> "I'm glad to hear it," he says, lowering his hand, and smiling slightly. "For what it's worth, there is a limit to how much we can tamper. It's useless to pretend to be neutral at this point; we side with Alan, and he favors the Order of Symmetry." Bryce contemplates for a moment, and then nods. "Would you like to speak to your oracle?"
<Dracos> "Alan? And...yes, that'd be quite a favor."
<Brian> "Yes. One moment, then." He sets his hammer on the mantle of the fireplace (the clock above it makes another tick, about the third since you've come here), and turns on the TV, fiddling with the dials and the rabbit-ear antenna on the back of it until it shows a somewhat staticy image of a girl -- probably about twelve years old -- dabbling her toes in the pond that you remembered Ayame opening for Rez in another dream.
<Brian> She looks up, and blinks. "Who's there?" she says, looking around to no one in particular.
<Brian> Bryce nods, and steps to one side of the TV, keeping outside of the line of sight between you and the screen.
<Dracos> Dracos eyes the clock swiftly, making a realization before turning his attention to the girl. "Greetings Relm, it's Dracos or Philip, whatever ye prefer. A...stroke of luck apparently let me have a few words with you."
<Brian> She blinks, and then her eyes fix on where you guess a camera would be, if there were a camera there. She nods slowly, smiling. "You're alive!" she says. "Good; I couldn't prove otherwise, but I was starting to get worried."
<Dracos> "Yeah, all of us have survived so far, though the 'dream' is a bit of a mess. Good to see you're safe while we've been gone too."
<Brian> She nods. "Things are going pretty well -- New Delphi's coming together."
<Brian> "Is there ... is there anything you want to know? Anything that I can find out for you?" she adds anxiously.
<Dracos> "Hmm... Anything happen on the news or such with Interpol since we've left? It seemed like those that helped us out there might be breaking off and keeping an eye open for them..." Dracos shrugged. "And..uh..heh." Dracos rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know what good it would really do to know much at the moment about the world outside. Hum. Oh yeah. There's Pax. They're also in here and seem to be being helpful.
<Dracos> "Do you think it's safe to trust them? Is it likely that they got stuck with having to make sure we defeat the Dreadmarch?"
<Brian> Relm scowls at that. "It's possible," she says after a moment. "If the only thing left to do in the world is ... stopping an army? Then I guess that's what they have to do, to. Turning on you wouldn't help them, and if you got there first and made it to positions of authority, it might even hurt them."
<Brian> The second hand over the mantle ticks away again.
<Dracos> "Okay...know anything else about other 'dreamers' that got in? We've been told there are a couple unaligned who are part of the dream at the moment."
<Brian> Relm considers this for a long moment. The second hand ticks again before she says, "I think ... if anyone did enter, they would be unaligned. Once the Contest is begun, only contestants can enter the dream. They must have gone through before the tournament started ... but even then, it takes an awful lot of power to enter a dream unsponsored."
<Dracos> "Could Seventh Cabal have helped them, to leave behind watchers to prevent rivals from going in?"
<Brian> "It's possible," she concedes. "And they might even be paranoid to do it on top of having Gibraltar locked down."
<Dracos> "Is there any way to detect those people if they are in or drive them out?"
<Brian> "You'd need to be much more familiar with dreams to do that," she says, shaking her head. "You could kill them if you found them, maybe, but ... you'd need someone to help you find them."
<Brian> "And, anyway, they could just be seers or magi out to satisfy their own curiosity, completely unrelated to the Contest."
<Brian> Bryce rolls his eyes at this.
<Dracos> Dracos frowns. "Right... Anyhow, we'll keep our eyes pealed. Keep safe on your end. Any questions of yours I can answer?"
<Brian> "Is everyone okay over there?" she asks.
<Dracos> "We're all alive and well, so as 'okay' as we can be with a large enemy army nearby."
<Brian> She nods.
<Brian> "Well, hurry back," she says. "We're worried about you -- I have to go. The New Dephites need my attention. Will you be able to meet me again?"
<Brian> Bryce raises an eyebrow, then nods.
<Dracos> "Yes. Goodluck, Relm."
<Brian> She smiles at you and waves, before the screen shuts itself off.
<Dracos> Dracos turns slightly towards Bryce. "Thanks, Bryce. I appreciate it."
<Brian> "It's what I do," he says, faintly bemused. "Tell Durant we said hello."
<Dracos> "Sure thing."
<Brian> "I think it's about time for you to wake up, though," he adds, frowning. Waving a hand in front of your face, Jedi-mind-trick-style, he says, "You will wake refreshed, and retain the memory of this dream."
<Brian> And you almost do. But you know that you're still in a dream, even though you feel like you're closer to your current body.
<Brian> You're standing in a clearing, surrounded by thick fog, snow-laden pine-trees, and glowing eyes in the darkness.
<Brian> This time, your dream-body is the one you're starting to get used to -- that of a Storm-rider king.
Dracos breathes in calmly, trying to shake off any disorientation at the swift changes, listening and looking near where the eyes are, ready to move if need be.
<Brian> There's hundreds of them, surrounding you on every side.
<Brian> A whisper wends its way through your mind, like a thousand voices, all united in the same thought, and only sending it as softly as possible. "Did you see him? Is our friend near you?"
<Dracos> "friend? Who is your friend?" Dracos raised a hand to his temples.
<Brian> "He came ... many ... many moons ago," the whisper sounds. "He left us a way to call him back. We call him a friend. We want to see him again. Do you know him?"
<Dracos> Dracos tested something, first responding mentally using his animal telepathy. ~I think so, but am unsure. What did he call himself?~
<Brian> The eyes shift about, as though looking at one-another for a long moment. "He called himself our friend."
<Dracos> ~How did you call me? Did I look like your friend?~ Dracos stands calmly, as unthreateningly as a towering barbarian surrounded by hundreds of unknown creatures can manage.
<Brian> The unified thought breaks momentarily into thousands of separating thoughts, like a diverging stream that somehow manages to recombine after a few moments. "You are like our friend. You leave and return like our friend. But you are not him."
<Dracos> ~I would guess...that I am the one charged to complete what your friend left to be done, to stand for him. I would guess I be surrounded by friends, but that I do not know or understand how or why.~
<Brian> "You are from our friends world!" the voices whisper excitedly.
<Brian> *friend's
<Brian> "Why do you come here?"
<Dracos> ~To this world? To protect my friends.~
<Brian> The eyes blink in the darkness.
<Dracos> ~To here specifically? I do not know. Did you not call me?~
<Brian> "We brought you here. We called you, because we thought you were our friend. We will help you. We will help you for our friend. Call on us when you require our aid ... twice will we aid you. Once, we will call our friend, as he allowed us to do. Once, we will fight beside you. This is good. May your hunting be good."
<Brian> And then you wake up.
<Brian> You don't know how much time has passed, but you feel pretty energized.
Dracos stretches a bit as he gets up, walking outside and eying the sky above.
Dracos
The moon is down, so everything is dark. Most of the people in the tents around you are sleeping, but there's light coming from the keep. Probably people in there are still awake.
Dracos glances around to see if he spots any of his commanders tents and signs of wakefulness from that quarter. If they all look still asleep, he takes a moment to head over to the keep and see what's going on over there.
Dracos
Your storm-rider army is sawing a forest full of logs; none of your commanders sound fit to wake. It takes you very little time to reach the keep. Going through the back door again, you pass by the forge, where Durant has his lute slung across his back, and is speaking with Ekim.
Dracos takes a moment and waves. "Morning, friends."
Dracos
Durant breaks off his story, which is apparently about a traveler in a wasteland somewhere hot, and turns around. "Oh, hey. What's up?"
Ekim nods to you as well. He seems to be amused with Durant's story.
"Just waking up a bit. Had some...odd dreams ye might say. How goes it here, you've gotten some rest I take it?"
Dracos
"Oh, yeah. Had this weird dream ... I was back on the shore of the ocean ... you know, that's kind of cool. I crossed...." He trails off, and shakes his head. "But that village is a long way away, and further in the past. I'm just getting nostalgic ... was keeping Ekim company."
Ekim nods. "I find his stories interesting," he says slowly. "I've not heard their like before."
Dracos nodded. "Well, then, I won't interrupt further. He is an interesting teller of tales. Have a good day."
Dracos heads along to the keep if Durant doesn't stop him.
Dracos
Ekim waves, and Durant looks mildly surprised, for some reason. After a second, he shrugs, and resumes his story.
It doesn't take you long to negotiate your way though the kitchen, though you can't help but snag a small chunk of bread and meat on your way out. Something about that dream left you very hungry. Now you're in the keep proper, where messengers scurry around and a slew of servants is hard at work moving food out of the kitchen, and empty platters back into the kitchen.
Dracos glances around. If he doesn't see anyone important or recognizable, he starts heading towards the mages tower. Checking up on Radagast would be wise after such a dream.
Dracos
When you get to the tower, there's guards all over it. They apparently recognize you, though, and let you in.
Phil now moves to In the Night (http://pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=37283#37283).
Once Parthipan is gone, you're left alone in Radagast's study.
Random odds, ends, and pieces of paper cover nearly every surface.
Dracos leaves the study, heading to the keep walls, wishing to take a look out on the field and the enemy.
Dracos
After a while, you get to the upper ramparts. Most of the archers are gone, but there's still a few hundred left -- Liandral is still at the far west end of the wall. The field is clear, except for the pile of rocks in the center, and the figure on them.
Dracos heads out to the practice fields to warm up his arms a bit.
Dracos
Dracos then heads to the library, to see what they have on the gods, specifically Elric the undying, and old heroic feats involving them.
Dracos
You research for a while. Erlic is not mentioned in any book you thumb through, though a few do mention the elder gods.
Generally, they weren't confronted in battle, however. They didn't exist on coporeal levels, and so not much could be done to them. The younger gods fought with them, but died more often than they succeeded in driving the elders away.
The plan that finally saw victory was by figuring out what the elder gods wanted, and then making the world too boring for them to bother with, but still interesting enough to not destroy.
Usually when it came to fighting the avatar (or child) of an elder god -- and these are mentioned, on occasion -- the plan was to either trick him into fighting another avatar (or child) of a different elder god. The only other way to stop them was with one of the younger gods. Fortunately, the elder gods thought that most of their children and avatars were too powerful to be interesting, and therefore didn't have many.
You find yourself a small corner of the library with a soft couch and a fireplace, and read for a few hours before your exhaustion catches up with you, and you doze off.
Dracos shakes his head, yawning and waking up, remembering where he was and standing up to put the books he'd been reading away.
Dracos
You were sitting in a nice little reading area with some candles, a fireplace, and a table. The books have already been moved to a neat stack, the fire is still going nicely, and there's a tray of breakfast-style food on it. Looks pretty fresh, too.
Hmm. A large piece of soft bread with a little butter, some ... bacon? You haven't seen any pigs around.... But those are definately eggs, and that tankard looks like it contains some form of juice.
"...They sure know their hospitality here." Dracos shakes his head, digging in!
Dracos
That's good eating. But way too much for you alone. There's enough for a good half-dozen people, there.
At about the time you finish, Nathan strolls in, looking around curiously.
"Care to join me for breakfast, Nathan?"
Dracos
"Morning," Rez greets Drac somewhat sourly, then notes the food, "yeah, if that's alright. Breakfast is good."
Rez grabs a chair.
"So what did we all need to talk about?"
"Well, for openers. Relm says hi and is glad to hear you're doing well." Dracos starts off slowly.
Dracos
Rez spits out his juice.
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah...good reason to talk? Keep your voice down and I'll explain in full okay? Though we might want to give the others a chance to arrive so I don't have to elaborate twice."
Dracos
This is about the time that Bjorn arrives, his armor freshly cleaned and glinting in the torch-light.
"Greetings Bjorn, care to join us for breakfast?"
Dracos
Rez just shakes his head and sits back in his chair with some food.
"Fine. Whenever," Rez nods in Bjorn's direction absently, "Morning."
And Nathan promptly gets back to eating.
"Sure," Bjorn says, checking the library for other patrons. "See you didn't wait."
Rez ignores the comment completely, focusing on his food."
The library appears to be empty, except for a relatively young man who's standing behind a counter and shuffling some books around near the door.
As Bjorn is scanning for other patrons, however, Parthipan and Durant enter the room.
"Ah...lucky fortunes. I'd almost think this was planned. Anyhow, join us."
Dracos
"It was. We had things to talk about?"
"Don't mind if I do," Durant says, tearing one of the pieces of bread open, and stuffing some egg and ... meat in with it to make a breakfast roll. "Getting a bit tired of that stew. So, what's the occasion?" he adds, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, pointedly as far away from Bjorn as possible.
"Well, Bryce, says hi, Durant. And Relm says hi to all of us. I was...visited last night when I tried for a bit of early sleep."
Dracos
Rez raises an eyebrow, then does takes some break and makes a roll like Durant did.
Ginrai grabs something to eat and waits to hear what the others have to say.
"How to put this, as I'm not entirely certain how much is safe to say here....eh... I found myself watching an ol' tv set, someone in the room with me, Bryce as he called himself. He was a friendly sort, asked how Radagast was doing as he had felt something wrong in that regard. Radagast is apparently one of theirs. He then offered to setup a connection to the oracle, which I accepted. She's doing well in new delphi. Couldn't talk all that long, but she didn't spot anything treacherous in what pax has been doing."
Dracos
"You were dreaming? So she and the escapees are fine, then?"
"Yeah. She was worried about us since she couldn't track us in here at all."
Dracos
Rez nods, and smiles faintly for a moment.
"What else?"
"They are going to aid us since a man named 'alan' wants to help us. Who he is... I'm not entirely certain. Bryce indicated I'd get to pass more information along to Relm later. After that he tried to send me back here, but it didn't entirely work. I found myself in a forest surrounded by all these eyes. Heard a voice in my head asking about a friend who I should Know, but didn't. I think it was wolves, but not sure. Anyhow, they didn't say much, but they were friendly and promised aid twice. One for the friend of theirs who they were trying to reach and once when I needed it."
Dracos
"Right, back up. Who is Bryce, and who is Alan?"
Dracos leans in a bit, speaking low, just in case. "Bryce is of the Brotherhood of Morpheus. the 'They' I've been referring to. Alan, I don't know. He might be the wanderer. Or someone else. Either way, Bryce made a comment that since he's aiding us and they side with him, they're aiding us."
Dracos
"Hm."
Rez leans back in his chair and munches on the roll some more.
"Anything else?"
"Hmm...only other thing that really caught my eye was the clock in the room. Only had a second hand but it clicked forward really slowly. Think that was actually going along real time."
Dracos
"Why do you think that?"
Dracos shrugged. "it just made sense. If time was going extremely slowly in the dream world, minutes there being measured in fractions of seconds in the real world, then a clock with only a slowly moving second hand would be the best measure."
Dracos
"I . . . disagree that that makes sense, but anyway . . ." Rez narrows his eyes, "Describe Relm."
"Ah geh, my memory for desc work like that isn't so good..hmm. She was a little girl, maybe 11-12ish? Sitting in front of a pond. She noticed we were 'around' before I said anything."
Dracos
"Brownish hair?"
"more blackish, in a white outfit like Ayame."
Dracos
Rez nods.
"That sounds roughly like her, although she looked about six when I last saw her," and not breaking stride, he turns his attention to Durant, "So who's Bryce?"
"I don't know anything about someone named Bryce," Durant says, between bites of his breakfast roll. "But I remember two huge dudes, about...." He squints, and gestures at Phil. "About that size. Both of them had blond hair, one had a hammer. Their armor looked like a joke, but they were huge and creepy anyway. Never told me their names." He shrugs. "If that explains anything."
"Blonde hair with a hammer would be Bryce."
Dracos
"And they were 'Brothers of Morpheus'? When'd you meet them?"
"I think it was France," he says slowly, chewing on his roll thoughtfully, and then taking a sip of juice. "Woah." He eyes his tankard suspiciously. "Wonder what fruit this is from." He pauses. "Or if it's from a fruit at all."
Putting it down, and tossing his half-finished roll onto a plate, he says, "It was when I had that dream about the chess pieces, and Tetsuo. That Japanese kid we ran into when the plane was hijacked by terrorists?"
"That said...anything else happen last night that I should be aware of?"
Dracos
"Two lorekeepers got their heads cut off. They have a little room set aside for just that purpose, actually."
"Right... so, I take it we're short at least two traitors silently now?" Dracos frowns slightly.
Dracos
"So, wait, the guy I told Dr. McSwarthicus about was killed?" Durant asks, looking a little ill. "Dude, I just said he was creepy and talked to himself -- did he do anything else to warrant killing, or was this because you thought, 'Hey, he's different, let's make an example of him'?"
Ginrai pauses from his breakfast to add something. "Alan... I recall hearing a bit about him from Radagast. From what I was told, Radagast was created by him. He mentioned that Alan called himself a friend of wolves and seems to travel between different worlds. He left behind the bottom-half of a statue which is supposedly a fragment of dreams which can become reality and that if all three of its pieces was found it would lead the way to something, quite possibly Alan himself. When Radagast gave it to me it suddenly disappeared, though neither of us knew exactly what that meant."
Turning to Durant, he answers, "To make a long story short, he and another lorekeeper tried to kill Radagast."
"You know, I was thinking you were the other friend Gin...but maybe it's Alan. That would make a lot of sense. Hum. Anyone know how long before we'd have to get moving to keep from being noticibly not around?"
Dracos
"Well," Durant says, deflating a bit. "That sucks. I'll keep an eye out for more traitors and ... uh ... warn you before they go ninja assasin on our brown wizard."
"Oh, yeah! Remember when Radagast mentioned earlier that, because both of us were at their monastery at a strange time, it was quite possible one of our other selves was the cause of the previous Priestess of Hammar's death? Well, I just found out from another lorekeeper that my reason for being there was to track an assassin.... Are you sure that you don't have anything with you that might help discover more about your past?"
"Found out from another lorekeeper? Um, how?"
Dracos
"It was from Devin, who's actually Earthmaster Huron. He already knew the truth about us by then and was with us in Radagast's room last night."
"No," Durant says, shrugging. "I got nothing in the way of clues. I mean, I had a book, but I left it somewhere. I doubt it had anything important in it anyway."
"... Book? Did you happen to look through it before to see if it had anything important?"
"Wait a second. How did Devin, or Huron, or whoever, know about us?"
"Made an oath of blood with him and lorekeeper Astryd and found out they were trustworthy. Afterwards had to check on Serril after I found out he was from our world and ended up telling the truth to them at that point."
"Ahh . . . what exactly is an oath of blood, Ginrai?"
"After taking part in one, we will know whenever the other person is lying."
Dracos blinks, suddenly interested. "Anything....else?"
Dracos
"So you're pretty much compelled to tell the truth to these people?"
Rez raises a questioning eyebrow over the table at Dracos, then looks back at Gin with a start as something occurs.
"Wait. Wait. If you lorekeepers have magical methods of compulsion or divination like that . . . were those executions entirely necessary?"
"Yeah. I find them trustworthy enough to do so. As for your second question, not sure. You'd probably have to ask Radagast that."
Rez finishes the current bite of roll that he's on, then slowly and deliberately places the remainder of the roll back on the table.
Stretching out in the chair, he hooks his arms behind his head and glances at Bjorn.
"What else do we all need to know?"
"Paul," says Bjorn, tossing Durant's notebook on the table, "or at least his other-self, was the assassin who killed the head priestess of Hammar. He seems to have been blackmailed into it by someone he called 'Fletcher.' I've been trying to track this guy down. I tried to set up a trap to catch him, but," he grimaces, "with all the crap last night, he may have gotten suspicious. Can't help that I had Mattias help me set up the first part of the trap."
He leans back, absently rubbing at his temple with one hand. "What else? We know where three of the five Pax are for sure, and supposedly we know roughly where the other two are, as well. We still don't know who was throwing arrows through the shield with the last general." He frowns. "I might have an assassin on my tail. Don't think I've mentioned that before."
Trailing off in thought, he tries to remember if there is anything else.
"Lovely... " Dracos shakes his head. "Looks like we were at least lucky enough that that book didn't get lost. That could've been a huge mess." Dracos eyes Durant. And did anyone ask our traitors if they were responsible for that?"
Dracos
"No," Bjorn says. "I'd be a bit surprised if they did, given what they were claiming." He shrugs, and grabs a piece of bacon. "We still have Mattias in prison. We can interrogate him in detail later."
"Can we actually hold Mattias?"
Dracos
"Radagast and the other lorekeepers seem to think so," Bjorn says. Swallowing his last bite of bacon, he shrugs. "It's a risk worth taking, I think. We need some information."
"Radagast mentioned that as long as his hands are bound and unable to write anything Mattias can be held. Though that doesn't exclude the possibility of someone breaking him out."
Eying Paul's notebook, Ginrai asks, "Can I look through that?"
"Yeah...but we should be as careful as possible...and I don't like that plan at all. Everything on Mattias should be removed, including his clothing. Who knows if he has a trick up his sleeve he's kept hidden?"
Dracos
Bjorn shrugs. "I'll pass that on. Anything else?"
"Did some research on Elric. Doesn't look that good at the moment. Usually the only way to deal with a spawn of an elder god apparently is to interest another spawn to fight it. Also, what's the plan currently? For whenever that general on the rock dies?"
Dracos
Bjorn scrubs at his forehead. "Nothing fancy. The earthenworks again, hopefully improved, to slow 'em down. The trebuchets are coming into play for the first time." He frowns. "I spoke to Astryd about some illusions and tricks with lights, but she might be out of the fight for tonight. Have to check on that." He grimaces faintly. "Basically, it comes down to: weed out as much of the Dreadmarch as we can before they make contact with us, and then strike hard for the general."
Dracos turns towards Parthipan, "Any chance you can scout out their preparations? Get an idea of what they are doing and the enemy status at the moment? Might not be that useful, but who knows. Never hurts to have recon."
Dracos
"What an awesome day," Durant grunts, snagging the book before Parthipan can take it. "Though, just as an FYI, the moon was up when I woke up, and that means the general for yesterday already died. We've got until moonset."
"Yeah, I can try to do that later on. I'll need someone around to check on me during that time though."
Bjorn grunts. "If the moon's already risen, then we need to get going. Kevin will be holding a strategy meeting, and I need to meet with Lindsey." He looks around the table. "Anybody else have anything to add?"
"Oh, yeah! Radagast doesn't actually use magic. He told me that while he knows some magic it's nowhere near as much as people think he knows. Also, to defeat Mattias, he used a dwarven-made handgun."
Ginrai waits to see what sort of reaction that will get.
Dracos blinked. "the dwarves can make guns? We have the equipment and technology here to make guns?!"
Dracos
"Making a gun," Bjorn points out, "doesn't require anything really fancy in terms of equipment or technology. What gets tricky is the ability to reliably mass-produce them. That's what we don't have." He looks over at Nathan. "You've talked to Ekim more than I have, but I'm guessing that while he can produce a gun, he can't produce them all that quickly. And unless you have the plans for a machine gun, we're probably outta luck there."
"Forget machine gun...what about cannons?"
Dracos
Bjorn frowns. "A little easier. But you still have a numbers problem. A single cannon isn't going to accomplish much, in this sort of situation. It's hard to build one that can fire a load as large as, say, a trebuchet without blowing up -- even its range isn't as good, without good chemical refinement and smithing processes. If we had a couple hundred, with trained teams that could keep them firing at full speed, it'd be one thing. As it is...."
"I'm more thinking something that could delivery a really painful attack to the general prior to us charging at him. Not so much for the armies themselves. Possibly even with magic enhanced firepower?"
Dracos
"Aiming a cannon? Forget it. Making those things accurate took a couple hundred years of engineering research. And if you want to start chucking loremastery into the books, we needed to get here ten years earlier. No way before tonight."
"Then the question becomes what tricks does Radagast have up his sleeve that he's been having around for decades?"
Dracos
"I do have a few semiautomatic pistols, if that might help this discussion any. And that actually reminds me . . ."
Bjorn looks over at Nathan inquisitively.
"Need to test something with the warbag."
Rez gets out of his chair and walks so as to put a bookcase between himself and the librarian, then checking that nobody is in sight summons the gauntlet and produces the warbag.
"We could always ask Radagast," Durant opines, flipping through his book. "Dude! I got jacked over by this Fletcher dickmuncher."
Unzipping the bag, Rez tests something quickly. He pulls out an arrow and snaps it in half, quickly counting the rest of them, and then drops one of the roots from his belt pouches into the bag, before re-offhanding the bag and dispelling the gauntlet.
This done, he checks to see if the arrow vanished, and if the root reappeared.
After that, he summons the gauntlet again, produces the warbag once more, and checks the status of the arrows.
The arrow vanishes, but the root does not reappear. Though, one of your arrows is now broken when you recheck the warbag.
And your root is sitting cozily on top of the arrow'n'handgun pile.
"Yes, you did," Bjorn says to Durant, as Nathan experiments. "I might need your help catching him. Don't suppose there's been anyone trying to strike up nudge-nudge wink-wink conversations with you?"
"Hm."
Unable to think of exactly what else to be trying, Rez drops his influence back into his other-self's skills, letting the gauntlet go, and walks back around to sit at the table.
"Well. I can get the gauntlet much like anyone else can get their powers, and it lets me produce the warbag. Anything from our world that I pull out of the warbag vanishes as soon as I stop holding the gauntlet, and reappears in the warbag - in the same state it was when it vanished, be that whole or broken. However, anything from this world I put into the warbag . . . stays in the warbag."
"Sweet--" Durant catches himself and looks around, making sure the librarian is out of earshot and then lowering his voice anyway. "Okay. So, a buttload of people talk to me -- I'm a minor celebrity, which turns out to be way more annoying than you'd think it is. I couldn't pick one out as weirder than another, but I sometimes hear stuff. That's how I heard about Ashton, though, now the way I hear it I need to wonder if him getting himself caught was part of their plan."
"hmmm? Tip off a few inside, have them get caught. If they fail, we think we got the man. If they succeed, all the better? But seems too simple."
Dracos
"Pronouns are our friends," Bjorn says drily, "but proper nouns are not our enemies, Phil. Try that again, with enough context that the rest of us know what you're talking about."
"Don't look at me, but you know what they say. 'Old tricks are the best tricks'," Durant warns.
Dracos sighs. "Context, if those traitors failed and we caught them, we're distracted. If they didn't, all the better."
Dracos
"It's not that we're distracted," Bjorn corrects, "it's that we're exposed. Especially if you assume this was meant to be limited to the lorekeepers, both sides had people working covertly. Their ploy has flushed almost all of our side into the clear -- but there are still two more lorekeepers on the other side hidden. That's a rather big advantage for them."
Rez snaps his fingers as he recalls something else.
"One second."
Walking behind the bookcases again, he concentrates on the gauntlet and produces the warbag. This done, he pulls out the root and offhands *it* - then dispels the gauntlet again.
This works, until you release your control of the gauntlet, in which case the root falls to the ground and the bag vanishes.
Rez resummons the gauntlet and attempts to produce the warbag again, to check if it's still there.
If it is, he re-offhands it and dispels the gauntlet once more, repocketing the root.
The warbag does reappear as soon as you summon the gauntlet and offhand it. Both times.
When you resumon the gauntlet, the warbag is still off-handed.
"Cool."
Rez dispels the gauntlet for the final time and repockets the root before walking back to the table.
Your armored skirt lacking pockets, you put it in a pouch, instead.
"So ... what was that all about?" Durant asks, looking up from his book.
"Experimenting with the warbag. I think I might be able to take things back that way . . ."
Rez smirks.
"It's certainly a less painful way of getting things here than Liandral's."
"Quite but it's somewhat limited. Either way, good idea."
Dracos
"Also a bit beyond the here and now," Bjorn comments, stretching a little. "First we need to get home. Anybody else have tidbits to throw out, or shall we get on with things?"
"I got the impression that he has to concentrate on his items to use and keep them here just as I have to concentrate on the gauntlet, actually . . . so he's probably not quite as well off as you think."
Rez nods at Bjorn's words. "I told Alec Westwind, one of the Stormriders, the actual story last night, after . . . someone failed to cover a conversation slip. But anyway. He's trustworthy, and I sort of owe him some trust anyway . . ."
Rez trails off.
Dracos nods. "He'll keep somewhat quiet, I hope. And...not that I can think of at the moment. Cursed memory."
Dracos
"Actually, Drac, did I mention that he took a hit from a jotun for me?"
"No...but, that doesn't so much change the story as give the unspoken reason you are so friendly with him. Tough fellow though if he took a hit from that."
Dracos
"No kidding."
"well, if there's nothing else, let's go see what is going on at the strategy meeting, shall we, Commander Bjorn?"
Dracos
"I don't know if the strategy meeting has started yet," Bjorn says, rising, "and there's a couple things I need to do first. Best bet would be to wait with your men until Kevin sends messengers for you." Nodding at the rest of the group, he adds, "See you all in a bit, then?"
"Indeed. And everyone, be careful."
Dracos glances at Rez. "Come on, let's go wake up the camp if they're not up."
Dracos heads out of the library.
Dracos
Seeing everyone else leave, Durant shrugs, pocketing his book, and heads towards the exit himself.
Philip and Nathan now leave this thread, and join Good Wine Makes Good Blood (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=37563#37563).
Bjorn now leaves this thread, and joins No Spill Blood (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=37564#37564).
Having some more questions to ask him, Ginrai goes to see if Radagast is free.
You can't actually find Radagast (or Eske) in the tower anywhere. Devin is gone, but Astryd is in the Lorekeeper tower 'lobby' area, reading a book. She looks pretty good for someone who took a firewall not a day earlier.
GInrai waves to her. "Hey! How are you doing today?"
She looks up slowly, apparently deeply absorbed in her book. "Oh," she says after a moment. "Much better. One of the priestesses of Liene saw that what Madame Mirallia couldn't undo was healed." She smiles at you. "Have you seen Devin about?"
Ginrai shakes his head. "I haven't seen Devin nor Radagast since I woke up."
"Oh," she says, frowning slightly. "Well, I'm sure they'll turn up."
"Hopefully. If they don't show up in a bit I'll start searching for them again."
After taking a seat across from her, he asks, "So, do you feel you'll be able to take part in tonight's battle?"
Astryd nods, frowning. "I will do what I can," she says earnestly. "But I am thinking ... my master is with the Archonae, to the south. Is ... he aligned with them, perhaps? Aside from the Dreadmarch, I suspect that there are other factions. Solariat is aligned with the Archonae, but they seem to care little for humanity. Is my master with them?"
"That I don't know. Devin would likely be a better person to ask that question." Ginrai pauses. "Actually, now that I think of it, there's a possibility that he, along with anyone else there, might be in trouble."
Astryd drops her book and jumps to her feet. "Then what are we waiting for?" she asks.
Ginria nods and gets up as well. "Then let's go find the others."
"Okay," Astryd says, pausing after a moment. "Where?"
Ginrai sighs. "I don't know. I already checked the tower and could not find Radagast, Eske or Devin. I heard from Bjorn that Lord Kevin is going to have a meeting soon so they might be there."
Astryd nods. "What kind of danger are they in, anyway?" she asks.
"Hmm? I said they might be in danger. As for what kind of trouble they would be in, that I wouldn't know unless we can find a way to check on them."
"Then ... how do you know?" she asks. She looks a bit confused at this point.
Ginrai pauses. "Okay... I think we're both talking about two different things. What were you referring to?"
"You said that Devin and Radagast were in danger," she elaborates.
"Actually, I meant your master and anyone else that's in the south with the Archonae."
"While that may be true, I'm actually more worried that they're in league with the Archonae ... which we seem to have made our enemies," Astryd sighs. You know that she's telling the truth.
Ginrai nods. "We probably should head off to Lord Kevin's office since the meeting wlll start soon and they'll likely be there."
As you're headed to Lord Kevin's office, a runner intercepts you, and says, "Master Parthipan, Mistress Astryd, you're summoned to Lord Kevin's meeting. This way, please."
Without waiting to hear your reply, the servant rushes off into the depths of the keep.
Ginrai follows the servant.
He leads you to a stone room, where you can see everyone you would expect to be at a strategy meeting -- except for Eske and Mattias. Come to think of it, Ekim isn't around, either.
Parthipan now goes to No Spill Blood (http://pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=37769#37769).
After leaving the strategy room at Phil's command, you look around, realizing that there's no access to wind in any of the dungeons.
Ginrai sighs and heads up, hoping to find someone who will help look after his body while he's checking out the dreadmarch.
It doesn't take too long to grab some guards, find a tower, and set up your spell to see across the wind. Setting up the spell may take longer, however.
Ginrai sets up the spell with the usual set of limitations.
It takes a short time, on your towertop, to feel like you're floating away from your body. This time, as you rise, you look down at yourself, momentarily disconcerted by how different you look from the way you remember. You're quickly swept over the wall, and across the field, spinning around in time to see it before you reach it.
Your flight very quickly slows over the army, looking for hints of the plan that's going to be set against you when the moon sets. For the first time, while doing this, you see the Jotun that were spoken of before. The giants across the ice ... they tower, at a good twenty meters tall, skulking around and slouched. There's nearly two hundred of them, in the back of the Dreadmarch's army.
Looking down, you can see that the camp is arrayed suspiciously neatly. It's harder to see from atop the wall, but the camp is reasonably well organized. Not in neat grids, but in rather well managed circles and groups, with supply wagons and weapon racks filling their gaps. Each cluster of tents circles around a campfire, each with its own cookpot.
There is one tent that looks suspiciously larger, though no more ornate than the plain hide and cloth tents below.
Ginrai heads towards the larger tent, bracing himself in case someone should notice him.
You see the man you recognize from that meeting with the Storm-rider the first time you tried to ride the winds. He glances at you sharply as soon as you see him.
Ginrai freezes upon seeing Elric. 'Crap!'
Elric makes a gesture, and you find yourself rudely shoved back to your body, now dizzy and confused. It takes a minute before your head clears enough for you to sit up.
Ginrai shakes his head and, once he feels good enough to stand up, rushes back to where the meeting's being held.
The guards follow you, not knowing what else to do.
Parthipan now returns to No Spill Blood (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=37838#37838).
Upon returning to the tower, both Devin and Astryd mutter about needing to prepare, and start gathering pouches of chalk, and other little symbols you'd guess help them focus their power.
Ginrai heads to the top to prepare his circle.
Astryd joins you on your tower. From here, you can see one more tower to your left (the west), and two more to your right (the east), all directly atop the wall. Someone has gone out and removed the cairn of rocks from the center of the field, but Devin's earthenworks -- a maze of dead-ends and pit-traps, from up here -- will stand between any charging army and the keep. The walls are now bristling with archers, hundreds of storm-rider archers swelling the keep's archers' ranks.
Astryd's circle is behind yours, and there's enough room for both, as well as two more. Serril joins you on the tower, but Devin moves to the next tower east. You think you spot Dorian on the tower west of you....
This thread now merges with Stuck in the Middle with You (http://pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=38138#38138).