Burrowing ahead

[Anastasia]

"Shar," Garl Glittergold says, voice cold. "I'm here to stay. It's your foolishness if you think otherwise."

Shar's laughter is heard but nothing else, no sign of a further attack.

[Corwin]

Seira snorts, even as one of her avatars updates her friends while another appears here unobtrusively. And with most of the combat spells! She keeps unobtrusively out of the way.

"I'd say we share a common enemy, but it's Shar. I'm told no one ever liked her."

[Anastasia]

"Anyone with sense shares common cause against her. It's that there's only so much of us and so many monsters to oppose," Garl Glittergold agrees.

[Corwin]

"So! You were going to educate me on the logistics of this? It's confusing because there's a lot of variance across the planes. Celestia and Baator have a single power in charge of every layer, the ruler of the last one standing above the rest. While other deities make their home there, it's more of an enclave when looked at the map and the sphere of influence. But then you have Elysium and Arborea, where a single overall ruler exists but usually takes a stand back and the other resident powers not just rent space but feel an integral part of the plane. Queen Morwel and her Court is on one side of the spectrum, being very prominent, while the High One is fairly secretive, but the overall effect is the same, I've found. The Inner Planes take this model a step further. The overdeity is supreme, and their word is law. But they rarely use that power over others, and in daily life tend to be as the first amongst equals, which is actually similar to how the Cauldron works right now."

[Nephrite]

Meanwhile, Seira receives a message!

Hi Seira. I wanted to inform you of something - we ran into an avatar of Torm when obtaining the seed in Arcadia. We are still investigating, but we aren't sure how the avatar managed to get to us without anyone noticing, Illmater said he didn't even sense it at all. I would operate on the assumption that somehow or another, Torm has the ability to mask at least an avatar, maybe with an artifact or something. If we find anything further out, I will let you know as soon as possible.

[Anastasia]

"It's closest to Arborea," Garl begins to explain as you settle in. "Zaphkiel and the High One jointly monitor and watch over Bytopia, while the day to day is left ...was left..." A moment's pause, a silence. "It was left to us, the gnomish pantheon. On great matters the three of us each had a voice and a vote. It was not a hidden fact, but few knew of it because Zaphkiel and the High One rarely had reason to make it known."

[Corwin]

"Any hidden layers?" Seira asks him with a grin, pretending not to notice Garl needing a moment to compose himself.

To Moore, she sends, Sure thing. Say, do you remember the name of that gnome you came across in the seed quests?

[Anastasia]

"No," Garl says, "Bytopia is as you see it, there's never been a reason to hide anything...that way." A smile at the end of it, fond and nostalgic.

[Corwin]

She snorts. "Burrowng the way things are done in Bytopia? Makes me wonder if you could dig so far down you'll come out of the other layer."

[Nephrite]

Rosenose. He's in the Crown Crypts.

[Anastasia]

"If you dig in just the right spot?" A little smile, "Nonetheless, missing layers is too tempting. The secret will stay out there, and the strong will be drawn to the secret. No, the best secret is the one no one cares to find out about, let alone search for."

[Corwin]

"Come on, don't leave me in suspense! What is it?"

[Corwin]

Moore, meanwhile, receives a cheerful Thanks!

[Anastasia]

"Bytopia goes on infinitely if you go down, unless you dig down in just the right way," Garl explains, "One random patch of ground a million miles below, in the middle of endless stone? Who would ever find a burrow there? Who would go that deep and search that far?"

[Corwin]

Snorting, Seira points out, "An actual concern once our earth elementals move here. But yeah, I can see why it won't be much of a risk. So what's there?"