15[20:06] The eastern front is broken! Ardua's sorcerous legion is now under the command of Xu Sim, who wears the raksha lord's living brain on his belt as a grisly trophy, drawing terrible power from it. [20:08] 5The sorcerer doesn't seem the slightest perturbed at the greasy stain it seems to be leaving on the flank of his robe. [20:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar favors consolidation and crushing the southwestern forces while they're in retreat, but he can see the merits of either force distribution. If need be, he can shore up the southern front while the dreaming sea marches northward. 15[20:09] The question is, buoyed by victory and new strength - what now? Elegba's army is regrouping in the south after a thistledown rout, while Thorns holds the Grey with grisly tactics. [20:10] 13That... is a real question. Xia Lan's never had a head for tactics, preferring the generally effective although inelegant solution of "rush 'em down," which doesn't help much. [20:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If Thorns is holding, we confront the southrons with double what they were expecting, at least - better if Lookshy's still in any shape to fight. I like narrowing the number of directions we gotta watch at once." [20:11] 5Xu Sim: [20:13] 14Stranger: "Splitting our attentions might work. Politically speaking, not permitting Thorns the claim that they held their flank alone and without assistance would be useful, too, when it comes to the negotiation of the spoils." [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ideally, we get to point out that they held... until we swept up and won." [20:13] 5Xu Sim: "I must strike north. I'll go alone if I have to." [20:15] 13Xia Lan: "And the wall?" [20:15] "You might not go with any of us, but you'll hardly be alone, sorcerer. This is quite a formidable force." [20:18] "So I seem to recall," 5he says, mysteriously. "Though I question whether their loyalty adheres to me or the trinket I've made of their general." [20:20] "Oh, it's supremely the latter. Just don't lose it. Simple." [20:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That'd be embarrassing. But if you're going north, you're going north. Could be I should come along - but freeing up Thorns to do whatever it wants before everything's settled seems questionable." [20:22] 5He snaps his fingers, and a pair of hulking erymanthoi blood-apes step out from behind him - they certainly weren't there before. "Master?" 5asks one, wearing a forgeman's cap at a jaunty angle. "You're to be my bodyguards in the battle to come. See to it I'm not pickpocketed." He swivels to face the others- [20:22] 13Xia Lan: "Then you take the south, Keldar. I'll go with Xu Sim." [20:22] "We still need to find and end Cethleann. Wherever she is." [20:23] 5Xu Sim bows towards Xia Lan. [20:23] "I'd expect her to try to pick off the leadership one at a time. The way she did to Dorma." [20:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Right." 12The Guard has already withdrawn into Nexus and seen to mustering and reorganizing itself as best it can; soon it'll be ready to march. [20:24] "If we see her, we'll call for you on the Codex and try to hold her off as long as we can until you arrive in person. She's a formidable fighter, and relies on baiting out her enemy emotionally, spiritually." [20:25] "Well, we've made it quite clear that we're leadership, so everyone stay sharp." [20:25] "Agreed." [20:25] "It's done." 5Xu Sim offers his hand to the rest of the Circle. [20:25] 14To shake? Stranger will shake. [20:26] <@Ferrinus> 12So does Keldar. Now he needs to figure out where the old Emissary went. [20:28] 14When he sees that Xu Sim is instead starting the old Solar tradition known as "completing the Circle," however, he puts his hand in as well. [20:29] 13Xia Lan follows suit. Feels right. 15[20:30] And they break. Keldar and Stranger head for the banks of the Yellow southward through the city. Keldar is looking for the Emissary... what's his plan? [20:31] <@Ferrinus> 12If none of his runner report citings, it's pretty much to stop on the top remaining floor of the council tower while the rest of the Guard marches, clap his hands around his mouth, and holler "Oi! Need a word!" [20:34] 14I believe that we will win. 15[20:36] Stranger and Keldar's networks are able to pinpoint the old Emissary at the place Keldar was going to head anyway - atop Sentinel Hill, near Council Tower, where he died. The militia are leaving him alone as he stands there, masked gaze upturned to that awful red star. [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar tests out a few different honorifics in his head befor deciding none of them make sense. therefore: "Yo." [20:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We're heading to the southern front now. If we can neutralize Elegba or most of his forces - what do we need to do to let you step out and finish 'em?" [20:39] 14Stranger lets Keldar do the talking. He's still not sure what to make of this creature, save that in its position, he would be pissed that four Solar upstarts took his old job. 15[20:41] Xia Lan and Xu Sim march their newfound forces along the banks of the Grey, drawing ever-closer to the carnage in the distance. Pain lances through their brows as they look directly on the battle. 15[20:43] The old Emissary responds slowly, leaving little indication he had heard Keldar at all for a lengthy pause. "Hold him. Call for me. I will join you." [20:44] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Ah. Was getting ready to have my engineers start hammering street signs into the battlefield. I'll keep that in mind." 12That's all Keldar needs; before long he's rejoined the Guard in its march. Time to ascertain the mess that Lookshy's left its field in. [20:46] 14Stranger will accompany as an aide-de-camp. He hasn't had to fight the Battle of Nexus yet and Sun willing, they'll win without him having to. [20:47] 13Xia Lan: "Ugh, my head..." 13Is it just them having an issue? How are the... what did Xu Sim call them? 'Blood apes?' How are they holding up? 15[20:48] The blood apes are grimacing in pain. Behind Xu Sim, the fourfold sorcerer 'Dreamer Mentat' is stifling a nosebleed. [21:01] 5Xu Sim grimaces and marvels at what he sees with his sixth, seventh, and so on senses. "The Tapestry here is... well. This is fantastically dangerous. The Wyld and the Underworld swirl and eddie about here." [21:02] 13Xia Lan: "That. Doesn't sound great for us. What's the good news?" [21:02] 13There is good news, right? I mean, he didn't mention any, but... 15[21:03] The Dawn Guard marches south, filling out the northern bank of the Yellow alongside Lookshyan convoys and the Final Word. The ship's searing broadsides against Elegba's Wailing Wall are all that punctuates the stillness of the iron-scarred and corpse-littered battlefield. Lookshy's remaining officer corps stand aboard the deck, watching the battle and directing the rally, regroup, 15[21:03] and repair of their own forces. [21:04] 5Xu Sim: "Actually there isn't really good news, unless you want to be surprised about what could kill you. Because it could be nearly anything. I think I can at least mitigate some of the Wyld effects, staving off baleful transformations and such." [21:05] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar directs the Guard to take up position more or less beside, if slightly behind, the Lookshyan forces before he himself swings and climbs his way aboard the Word. "Eastern front's been won. What's the situation here?" [21:06] 14Is Vuol Ballare here with her command staff or on the front? 15[21:06] Yes. [21:06] 13Xia Lan: "Well, shoot." 13She sighs. Just gotta remember, here to help the nerd's girlfriend. [21:06] 14...Fair enough. 15[21:07] The lines to the north of wasted life stretch for malms up and down the bank. The river churns as raksha armies surge into the river only to be held at bay by the river's roused god and dragged to their doom beneath the surface by the teeming limbs of the dead. [21:08] 14To Keldar: "What do you need me doing?" 15[21:09] Vuol Ballare rides a whirlwind up and down the length of the Yellow River, always within clear sight of the Final Word. From her cloud in the air bolts of thunder rake the far side of the river, striking the Wailing Wall with the force of Ballista bolts. At the same time her voice is audible on the deck along with her command. It's this flat, disembodied voice that says, "We've got 15[21:09] them pinned." [21:11] 14How does Lookshy's morale seem? Stranger did just order them hit with burning iron from the sky an hour or two before. [21:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Got much command experience?" 12He looks up to the Word, then around, then up again. "Definitely figure out how they're doing and if they'll take our orders." [21:12] "None to speak of," 14which is true, as far as he knows. "But I can do that." 15[21:14] Ballare: "What won the east?" [21:15] 14Stranger: "Discretion, frugality, and scalping." [21:16] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. We held, then Xu Sim managed to swipe control of their forces. They're heading northward now - probably already there." [21:17] 5Though Xu Sim was a court physician, alchemist, conjurer, and more, a general he has never been. He sweeps an arm forward towards the brutal scrum. He gives the only order that makes any sense. "Dreaming Sea Legion! Attack!" 15[21:17] Stranger senses a lot of sublimated hostility at the moment. Many people - Stranger recognizes some of them - seem to be directing that hostility at Ballare and her officer corps. Others - newer faces - react the same way to Keldar, Stranger, and the Dawn Guard. There's a fracture here, he deduces, between forces that are loyal to Ballare and the longer-standing deployment that served 15[21:17] under Nessun Dorma. Dorma's soldiers blame Ballare; Ballare's soldiers blame you. [21:17] 14Unfortunate that they're both correct, to degrees. [21:18] 13Xia Lan moves to stay close to him - bodyguard more than a commander, here, and striking out after the legion seems like a poor use of her time. [21:18] <@Ferrinus> 12And, hell, are any of them wrong? [21:19] <@Ferrinus> 12Anyway, time to survey the field. Keldar espies whatever's there to espy - besides the currently-pelted Wailing Wall, how many ground forces are in view and seem able to fight? Is there any sign of the enemy general's position? 15[21:26] Keldar can espy signs of Elegba's diminished armies set up outside the range of Lookshyan artillery, behind a series of low hills a ways south of the river. There's no sign of Elegba; he may be among his troops or hidden somewhere in the mass of the Wailing Wall. [21:28] 14Stranger, on the other hand, will mingle and liaise. Per Keldar's wishes, communicated gruffly and quietly in the hall, they need Lookshy unified and focused -- even if it's in dislike of Emissaries and the Dawn Sergeant. Hopefully it won't come to that. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to the Lookshyans: "You tried forging out there recently? What've they got to punish that besides the obvious?" [21:31] 5Xu Sim directs the Legion to cross the river as expeditiously as possible to try to outflank and destroy the enemy, rather than cautiously reinforce the tireless dead. [21:31] 13Is he crossing as well? Or just the Legion? [21:33] 5Xu Sim will cross on a Stormwind he summons. [21:35] 13Oh boy. [21:39] 14Stranger will step out into the hall as the ersatz war council begins to assemble and touch his ear. "Xu Sim." [21:40] 5Xu Sim is lifting off the ground above his army, wind whipping through his hair at the moment that Stranger contacts him. "Stranger?" 5he shouts over the gale. [21:40] "...Do you have a moment?" [21:42] "I'm about to bring death to the living to safeguard the dead, but I always have a moment for you, Stranger-Visits-Heaven, while this Legion crosses the Grey." [21:43] "The Lookshy officer corps is riven. Perhaps not fatally so, but noticably so, and in a way that could cost us the battle. Dorma's officers blame Ballare for Dorma's death; Ballare's officers blame us. I need to unify them. I plan to do it by turning them against Thorns. Will that be a problem for your...ongoing commitments?" [21:43] "The Saffron Sultan isn't unifying them enough for you?" 5he asks, incredulously. [21:44] 14Stranger: "They lack focus." [21:44] "And it's either turn them on Thorns or turn them on us." [21:46] "Because obviously the Fair Folk aren't a strong enough inducement." [21:47] 13Truly incredible. [21:48] "It was Lookshy's fear of Thorns that led me towards Seven. Do as thou wilt." [21:48] 14Stranger: "Fair enough. Keep her safe. I'll be in touch." [21:49] 14He'll step back onto the command deck and resume his mingling. 15[21:52] Xu Sim and Xia Lan cross the river and find themselves in cold, dark country. The army here is smaller, and spirits streak across the river to reave among the raksha on the far side. Eerie lights fill the air and the river undulates before their eyes like a serpent. A powerful wave of dizziness washes over them as they cast their eyes skyward into infinite, featureless gray twilight. [21:55] 13Xia Lan: "Ghhhh. I was sort of hoping that'd get better, not worse." [21:56] 13She keeps it quiet, at least - no knowing what's listening in. [22:00] 14After some small talk with a few ranking officers -- far more brusque on one side of the room than the other -- Stranger-Visits-Heaven approaches the main outlay, where the maps of the line are laid out and, above it, where Vuol Ballare's voice issues from the empty air. "Dragonlord, this is Stranger-Visits-Heaven, Emissary of Nexus. I won't patronize you by claiming Nessun Dorma [22:00] died well, but he died bravely while doing his duty, and his officers acquitted themselves well. To the extent that his death is anyone's fault save the vicious cowards of the Wyld, none of us who were there would place it on him or any Lookshy officer." [22:00] "That might be an obvious observation, but it still feels like one which is necessary." 15[22:04] The whirlwind pauses above, but only briefly. It's on the move again when Stranger hears Dragonlord Ballare say, "He died a hero." [22:04] "He did." [22:04] 14The Fair Folk would quibble with that, given the specific mechanics of how they killed him, but fuck them. [22:05] "I think it's fair to say that this is the underworld. Hm." [22:06] 13Xia Lan: "Fair to say that I don't care for it." [22:07] "I never had much patience for the ancestor cult. Might have been a mistake, seeing as where we are now." 15[22:09] Xu Sim looks back across the river... and can't see his soldiers. [22:09] "A lot of mistakes got us here. We've just gotta keep digging 'til we get out. So. What's the plan, General?" [22:10] 13She looks back to where he's looking... and deflates. "Okay! Okay. Some more digging, that's all." [22:17] "I'm a sorcerer, not really a necromancer." 5He cranes his head, looking around. Maybe... he can ask for directions? Have the raksha posted a picket here? 15[22:18] Stranger doesn't feel the tension on the ship ease at all. [22:18] 14Well, we're not done here yet. [22:19] 14Stranger: "I was equally impressed, however, with those who lived as heroes. We rained iron hell down on the southern front from the sky, burning away the raksha ranks like so much dross against the heat of the forge. Even with their commander fallen, the men and women who served under Nessun Dorma kept their lines firm and their ranks fighting, while also keeping their soldiers [22:19] alive, taking an opportunity and turning it into a clear and distinct victory. It's not something I think Highlands or Thorns could have pulled off, for various reasons." [22:23] "It's so confused here. How the hell are they having a battle in the middle of this?" [22:24] 13Xia Lan: "Are they? Maybe this is a special treat, just for... us..." 13She trails off at the end. Focus. Do either of them hear a battle going on? Because they should be, right? [22:25] 13Scratch that, misread. [22:29] 13Xia Lan: "Very carefully, I guess. Or carelessly and they just don't mind the collateral damage. I don't think this is... this feels like a trick. Not, like, ha ha pranked now you're in the underworld, I mean, illusions or something? Maybe?" [22:31] 5Xu Sim furrows his brow. "Hallucinations and waking dreams are a strong possibility." 5This possibility seems to particularly agitate or perhaps irk Xu Sim. [22:33] "What could we do to overcome something like that?" 5he ponders. 15[22:33] All Ballare says in response to Stranger is "Noted." [22:36] 14Probably best not to press this advantage until he's had a chance to work the crowd some more. "With that said, I am at your disposal for the moment while the Dawn Sergeant makes his war council. The other Emissaries make their way north to ensure that things with the Thorns delegation do not get out of hand. Do not hesitate to call upon me if you need me, and should your soldiers [22:36] need rest, please make sure they do so beneath the iron of the Tomb. Thank you." [22:36] 14He steps away. [22:36] 13She shrugs. "You wanna stay here, wait for the rest of the troops? Or... head off into the unknown, see if we can find something better than babysit?" [22:40] "As fast as the stormwinds may blow, if we plunge headlong into the Underworld there's no telling where we might return to Creation. It could be worse if you're right and this is a farce, a bit of Wyld pretending to be something it's not." 5Xu Sim grabs and twists the tip of his moustache in thought. [22:43] 13Xia Lan: "Only one way to find out. Well, one safe way. Gimme a sec." 13She takes a deep breath. [22:47] "...okay, that wasn't nearly as cool or effective as I'd hoped. I probably should've seen that one coming. So, that leaves... sitting here waiting for something to happen, or making something happen ourselves. Yeah?" [22:47] 14The main problem, as Stranger sees it, is that Dorma's people are right not to trust Ballare. The friction between the two camps has been palpable, and Dorma was hung so far out to dry that the Arsenic Handshake was the one who almost took a storybook spear for him, not any support from Ballare's people. Stranger isn't quite plugged into the politics of why this was the way it was, [22:47] 14but insofar as there is good news, it's that none of this matters anymore: Ballare is the only Dragonlord left, and everyone in the room is going to have to learn to live with it. [22:47] 14Even if they're only here in voice. [22:49] 5Xu Sim rummages in his robes before pulling out his steambreather and jamming in the spiciest cartridge that Seven gave him. It's positively pungent but seems to calm his nerves. "What would someone like Stranger-Visits-Heaven, or maybe Selin do in a situation like this?" [22:51] 14The memory of Dorma is key -- both to accomplishing Stranger's goals of unifying this command and striking back against the degradation that Cethleann used to kill him. Dorma needs to be even bigger in death than he was in life to ensure Ballare's continued command, even if Dorma didn't like Ballare very much and Ballare reciprocated. You make do with the stories you have, not the [22:51] 14stories you want. [22:52] 14So Stranger liaises with the Dorma faction and, while staying out of their way, tries to cut to the heart of how they feel about their dead liege. [22:53] 5Xu Sim: "... They would not wait. But, I think, they would not find the answer outside. They'd find it within." [22:56] 13Xia Lan: "Sounds correct." 13She twirls a hook-sword idly. "So? Where to?" [22:59] 5Xu Sim blows a cloud of steam. [23:00] 14And when he's got the full picture there -- that they loved the man as an officer and had begun to worship him as a hero -- he'll drift over to the other camp, to the Ballare officers, because it wouldn't do for him to be seen just scheming with the Dorma faction. He wants to know what they thought of Dorma as well; it's likely to be far less generous than Dorma's former command, [23:00] 14and honestly, Stranger suspects it will be far less fair than Dorma's command. But officers protect their leaders, and these men and women are loyal to Ballare. [23:00] 13She makes a face, but clears it quickly. That stuff will never not be gross. [23:02] 14All the while, he's doing the little work -- learning names, picking up faces, pinning side-talk and side-glances to people; creating a web in his mind of how this officer's corps works, and how it will need to work. These men and women might all be dead by this time tomorrow, but he needs to learn them -- needs to SOLVE them -- if Lookshy is going to be the force it needs to be. [23:02] 14Because as soon as they're done with the raksha, they'll have to deal with Thorns. [23:05] 5Xu Sim settles back into a pocket of buffeting wind to watch to see which direction the reaving spirits are travelling in. A place like this might be bereft of life, but that doesn't mean it's bereft of useful information. [23:05] 14These are people bound by duty, but don't find it binding; people who exist in the framework of duty. Stranger finds it admirable. He'd likely find it more admirable if they weren't somewhat devoted by principle to his extermination, but things are what they are. He drifts back over to the Dorma faction. [23:07] "When you met Elegba in your dream," 5he muses, "Why did you choose what you chose to give to him for... safekeeping, I suppose, it's fair to call it. Why that part of you?" [23:14] 13Xia Lan: "Hmm? I--" 13She sucks in a breath through her teeth. "'Something we could read in the stars if you stretched yourself across the sky.' There only was one choice for me." [23:15] 14When he's back with them, the conversation -- when it can be made, piecemeal and circumspect, and always in the guise of the Emissary of Nexus helping smooth the path of the gears -- turns not to Dorma's death, but to his life and his legacy. Dorma was a rock, and not merely against the physical things of the world; he handled being sidelined and denigrated by Ballare with the stubborn [23:15] 14satisfaction of a man who knew there were greater reasons and greater structures to life than his own personal advancement. Ballare did what she did, and she had her reasons, well-considered or not; Dorma made sure her reasons didn't interfere with his command. He was a hero not just for his prowess on the front line -- the prowess the raksha general tried to deny him -- but he was a [23:15] 14hero in how he comported himself in the service of Lookshy. [23:16] 5Xu Sim: "Surely, there had to have been other paths you could have taken. You were confronted in your dream by one of the generals. That's how you got out. How did you know to do it?" [23:17] 14He was the best man these officers had served under, and they can honor his memory by serving the woman who valued him enough to let him maintain his own officer corps and command his own wall. Because yes, it does seem that Ballare felt threatened by him, worked against him, and disrespected him -- but no one is threatened by a weakling unbeloved by his officers, and no one trusts [23:17] 14a weakling to watch their flank. Ballare has made mistakes, and she will reckon with them. Dorma will live on in every memory a hero. [23:19] 13Xia Lan: "We talked. He seemed as confused about why I was there as I was to be there. And he swore to speak to us in person, where he would return her - it - to me. If there was a way to handle all this--" 13she gestures around them -- "without a fight? I owed it to everyone to be honest." [23:28] 14Then he's back over on the other side of the room, with Ballare's officers. The most important thing for any Lookshy soldier who knows a thing about duty is for them to know that Nessun Dorma did not die a failure. That is how the raksha wanted it to be; that is how they tried to change the fabric of Creation to make it so. But they are aliens, intruders, liars, and monsters, and [23:28] 14they cannot change the story that his life told. The final act is the most important act. Nessun Dorma died for Lookshy, for a commander who took his command from him, for men and women he regarded as his own true family. Pity him if you want, but respect him more -- else you look the fool, given how much of his resolve is reflected in your own liege. [23:28] "Then we should try that, right now," 5Xu Sim suggests. "That instinct led you through one perilous situation. Now, we'll use it to get through another." 15[23:37] NEXT TIME: Masks