On the Outside

[Brian]

"Yes, by someone who called himself an envoy of balance.  But he told me quite clearly that he was not, nor did he serve, Aestock.  I've been here for over two hundred and forty years, by our calender."

[Huitzil]

Paul gives an appreciative half-whistle.

"Two hundred and forty years... and were you given descriptions of us, specifically?"

[Rezantis]

Rez tacks his own question on: "And how were you going to identify members of Pax Arcana or the Cabal, out of curiousity?"

[Brian]

'I wasn't given descriptions," he says, shaking his head.  "It's more like I can tell those who are a part of this world and those who came here apart.  How I can tell you from the others is fairly simple ... you're lost, and the others would know exactly what they should be doing."

[Bjorn]

"This is somewhat beside the point," Bjorn says quietly.  "The real question is: what are we supposed to be doing here?  And what other reasons were you put here for?"

[Brian]

"The long and short of it is that you have to attract the Earth's attention.  You need to so something, in the dream, that gets it's attention, and causes it to realize you're not part of this world, but here anyway.

"Earth will then wake up enough to put you back in your own world, but in doing so, you'll be marked.

"Now, there's a number of ways that you can leave this mark ... and the easiest one is to just cause trouble, make a mess, and leave a trail of destruction behind you.  This world is simple, and mostly revolves around the violent conflict we're about to enter."  Radagast fumbles for a moment, and produces a long-stemmed pipe from one pocket of his robes, packing it with tobacco, and then lighting it.  After a deep draw, he frowns.  "It would lack subtlety, and you'd need to be sure of your skill to survive."

"I would hope that a better option would present itself," Mirallia says dryly.

"Of course, of course," Radagast agrees, nodding.  "At any rate.  Those who have gone before drew attention to themselves by setting things in motion to cause some upset to what is to come, if I don't miss my guess.

"I find the timing of her predesesor's death, the convenience of the attack you walked into, and the quick mobilization of the Dreadmarch suspect.  Someone has decided that they would get the attention of the spirit of the Earth by sabotaging the battle, so that the defenders of this keep would fall."

Miralia gasps at this, hands balling into fists at her side.  "Who could assasinate a high priestess?" she asks through clenched teeth.

Radagast raises his hands in an apologetic gesture.  "I don't know, but this seems likely.  Gatemaster Eske has been delayed, as well.  Possibly, he's been slain as well, just to make things a bit more difficult," Radagast continues.  "Which is now where our causes allign.

"I don't really wish to see this place fall, one way or another, this is my home, this world, and watching it fall to darkness would be a poor thing indeed.  Which is also what I was put here to do -- to maintain this place so that people who wander in from outside can leave without it collapsing around them.  If you fight to change what others have already done back to the way it should be, that will most certainly work to gain you recognition.

"What did you already have planned?"

[Dracos]

"Being the lazy sort that I am, I was planning to continue along the current path.  It's violent and dangerous, but keeping those around me alive tends to be among my general priorities and just wandering around doesn't do that.  Trying to come up with a different way to change it doesn't sound wise either.  If this fort falls, it'd leave a mess of disasters heading through the rest of the world, I take it?"

Dracos

[Brian]

"That's good," Radagast says shortly.  "Behaving too much like your original host can cause their soul to destroy yours if you don't merge correctly."

Clapping his hands together, he asks, "Now that you're here, and it appears to me we're decided on being allies, more or less, do you have any questions?"

[Dracos]

"What can you tell us about the nature of the generals and the methods of battle that are fought at this keep?  I take it, in order to set things right, we have to ensure that the generals fall.  Am I right?"  Dracos surmised.

Dracos

[Brian]

"Yes," he agrees.  "The actual generals, and their tactics, tend to change.  I've only witnessed this event twice, I'm afraid ... but as a rule, they want to break through the defensive wall.  Once it's breached, in theory, a running battle could be fought into the Heartlands, as long as we took out those thirteen generals.

"But except for the first general, they aren't even chosen until just before the day of the battle.  What ... or who ... seems most appropriate is who will be chosen for that day.  Then the general sends his troops at the wall, and our defenders wade into the field to get close to the general and slaughter him.

"It has happened, once, that I saw, that a general was driven off of the field, to the north.  When this happened, he fell dead on the spot, and his forces fled for the day."

[Dracos]

"What an...odd ritual.  In other words a single well placed sniper wins the day?"

Dracos

[Rezantis]

Rez snorts derisively to Drac's comment, muttering: "If it was THAT easy . . ."

[Brian]

"If the general were within bowshot, it would," Radagast agrees.  "Unfortunately, generals aren't usually chosen for their foolishness and willing ability to be on the front lines.

"The first few, most likely, will be the bloodthirsty sort, to cause some bloodshed, and get us unerved before they begin to show their true tactical ability."

[Rezantis]

"So, what happens if that general -hasn't- been killed by the end of the day, but is still on the field?  And if we screw up Pax Arcana's ploy, getting attention for ourselves, what'll that mean for Pax Arcana?  They have to stick around and try again?"

[Brian]

"The day doesn't end until the general falls," Radagast says slowly.  "And what you do may sabotage the others.  Or they may already have gotten the attention they desired, and left.  Once they're done, I imagine they won't care very much for what happens here, considering how they left this place."