On the Outside

[Rezantis]

"Sort of fits their motif, really," Rez frowns, "Do we have any way of telling if they're still around, or not?"

[Brian]

"If you know them from your own world, you'll recognize them here," Radagast says slowly.  "And I can tell if someone is not from this world when I see them.  But other than that, I'm not certain."

[Dracos]

"Hmm...so we have to be on our guard for two things.  Sabotage from within by Pax and the dreadmarch outside.  What can you tell us about those who we'll be fighting alongside in these coming days?"

Dracos

[Brian]

"Well, the Seventh Cabal entered this world nearly a decade ago, by my reckoning.  This gave them a lot of time to set things in motion.

"What you should be working with is soldiers from nearly the world over.  A contingent of storm-riders is supposed to join the main battle-force in the coming days, retreating from the icy wastes to provide backup and reinforcements.  Their king, Lord Markham, will bring them here.

"There should be three envoys from the winter temples of the churches, yours is already here, the others should arrive the day after tomorrow.  Hopefully they fared better than yourself, no offence."

Mirallia looks skeptical at this.

"The men who are already here are either a part of the force that patrols and maintains the keep, or have journeyed from the south to participate in the battle.  It's probably the most important thing that this world has in it, really.  Tomorrow, the wagons you came in with will join a caravan that takes the families of any of the enlisted men south, to keep them clear of the keep, in case the worst should happen."

[Dracos]

"A world of perpetual battle.  Intriguing.  Hmm, if they entered here ten years ago by your reckoning, that would indicate time likely moves much faster here then in our world.  But then, that's no guarentee.  How does the general battle command hierarchy get structured usually?  With such a vast force, it must be complicated."

Dracos

[Brian]

"Hierarchy?  The Lord issues orders to his commanders, who then tell the footsoldiers what to do.  When the chain of command breaks down, whoever the highest ranking footsoldier is tries to fight his way back to whatever allies he can, and if he can't find his own commander, then he finds another.

"I'm certain that it could be better managed, but the majority of my own time is devoted towards developing better weapons ... and generally, the church of Hamar would send four of its best vassals to provide tactical leadership whenever it was required," he adds, nodding at Bjorn.

[Dracos]

"So Bjorn would be likely to be given a tactical position.  Where would we expect to end up?  At least, in expectations?"

Dracos

[Brian]

"That depends ... this is very much a world of heroes, where a man of power is worth an army of footsoldiers," Radagast explains.  "Most likely, he, er ... Bjorn ... would be assigned to watch over the battlefield, and search for a place to put himself, should there be a hole in the plans of the commanders.

"The storm-riders usually ride behind the banners of their six houses, though, their numbers have dwindled, and will perhaps all ride behind the banner of their lord, instead.

"As you are part of the entourage of Hamar, usually you would be warriors of some renown ... instead of a drunkard and a man with a broken sword," he says somewhat apologetically.

[Dracos]

"Hmm...  Miralla, how long ago did you say 'my Torc' was stolen?"

Dracos

[Brian]

"Ah ... probably about ten ... perhaps only eight years ago," she hazards.  "Why?"

[Dracos]

"How remarkably clever.  Brilliant in fact.  When did Nathan reputedly throw away his sword?"

Dracos swiftly follows up the question, allowing no distractions.

Dracos

[Brian]

"Around the same time, from what I understand," Mirallia says.  "You are from different houses, but were always friends."

[Rezantis]

"Broken swords can be refor-" Rez cuts off abruptly as he parses Mirallia's answer.

"Oh shit."

[Dracos]

"How absolutely clever of them.  A simple theft, a few words here and there.  And a subtle disaster that crushes the spirit of two men who just happen to be important and the vessels for the other squads.  More specifically, would not the political turnover provide the necessary fallout that Pax would need to get the attention of Earth?  Heck, it's a multipronged propagating effect with very little input work to accomplish.  Though they must've done their research well beforehand."

Dracos

[Rezantis]

Rez hums.

"I don't know if I entirely agree, although that'd be an excellent way to make our job harder . . . but we don't know that they knew who'd be our vessels, since they didn't even seem to know who we were until a few years ago.  However, the purpose of stealing the torc was quite possibly not to get you out of power, but to put someone else in. Ne?"