15[20:05] You could call this a multilateral diplomatic summit. 15[20:08] Stranger Visits Heaven is making tea for anyone who wants it. So far, of Xu Sim, Keldar, Lookshy's Vuol Ballare, The Mask of Winters, the Mask of Winters's three knights (only two of whom seem to be present) and now Octavian, the Living Tower, who arrived in the city the night before by some means no one's been able to nail down. 15[20:08] Or I should say, of all those people, no one's taken him up on it. 15[20:08] Sometimes a sentence is so long that you forget where it was supposed to go when you get to the end. [20:09] 14'A known feel,' as the children say. [20:09] 14Well, more tea for him. [20:11] Another, less-known feel is the one Stranger has at being at such a disadvantage. [20:11] 14Another, less-known feel is the one Stranger has at being at such a disadvantage. 15[20:11] Ballare gives Xu Sim a dirty look when Octavian announces himself. [20:11] 14It appears the Mask knows him from somewhere. 15[20:11] Somehow he can feel it through the mask. [20:13] 5Xu Sim will go for the tea and produce his steambreather, drawing from either as it suits him. He merely shrugs at the presence of a demon of the second circle. Octavian is no ally of Xu Sim's demonic enemies; it is known. [20:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar'll take some tea. It's too bad there's nowhere to immediately sit, unless the Thorns delegation is offering extra skele-chairs. 15[20:14] They sure are! Any takers? They assemble themselves right in front of you, out of skeletons that take themselves apart and crawl across the riverbank on clacking half-limbs...! [20:15] 14Stranger will pass on the throne of bone, personally. [20:15] <@Ferrinus> 12Nice. Presumably, Keldar's is reinforced with enough bone and sinew that it can take the weight of both the warrior and the superheavy artifact plate he's wearing. Vis-a-vis actual negotiations, Keldar's got a few concerns, but he figures Stranger should be the first to voice them. 15[20:17] Octavian points across the river, where Cethleann's still-teeming armies are obscured by the Yellow's sickly mist and the weird witch-lights. "The enemy is in our grasp and you talk?" 15[20:18] The Mask: "Sit, please. Make us all comfortable." To the group: "Whose is he?" 15[20:18] Octavian's on his feet instantly after starting to settle into a squad. "I belong to NO ONE--" [20:19] "The fabric of the Tapestry is thin across the River. The last time we tried to strike across, we ended up in the Underworld fending off insane ghosts," 5Xu Sim peevishly notes. [20:20] 14Stranger sips the tea. Best to let Octavian and Mask get this out of their systems, and observe their relationship. [20:20] 14Surely Octavian doesn't know him, too. 15[20:20] The Mask ignores Octavian. "Yes. It's a good thing, too, or I'd have been days getting here." 15[20:22] "The tapestry, as you put it, will hold for now, but it won't bear further weight. It stymies them as it does us. Any serious attempt to ford the river is a march into Oblivion." 15[20:22] Now the mask turns to Octavian. "Would you like to lead the charge? Or would you prefer to sit. Down." 15[20:24] Octavian brings his staff forward, murder in his eyes... but stamps it into the ground. He doesn't advance, but he doesn't sit either. [20:27] "There is tea should you desire it, Tower," 14Stranger says mildly, "but otherwise, we are to business." [20:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar watches this interaction play out and then takes a long sip of tea. 15[20:28] Octavian scowls at Stranger, but offers no further objection. [20:31] 14Stranger: "The purpose of this summit, as I see it, is to nip some things in the bud. Some of the obvious problems that our...bumping elbows so close to one another in this endeavor was bound to spark up." [20:31] 5Xu Sim coughs out a puff of vapor and takes a sip of tea. 15[20:38] Ballare: "Lookshy is prepared to treat the unannounced arrival of the Mask of Winters as an invasion in its own right, and his minions as invading agents." 15[20:38] The Governor: "We have stood in defense of Nexus longer than you have, madam, and with more to show for it." 15[20:39] Ballare: "Don't speak to me, you fucking carcass." [20:40] 14Stranger turns to stare at Ballare for as long as it takes her to meet his gaze. He doesn't say anything but the message is implicit: What did I say about not immediately starting a fight? 15[20:40] Seven: "If I may, I think it's unnecessary to burden the--" 15[20:40] The Governor: "You may not!" [20:40] 14Then he'll turn to stare at the Governor. [20:41] 14Generally, however, he'll let this little fracas sort itself out. 15[20:41] The Mask cracks the knuckle of his left index finger and both Seven and the Governor go silent and still. Their eyes are still moving, but that's it. 15[20:41] There's a heavy pause. 15[20:42] The Mask: "Yes I take your point, General, and I'd hate to provoke alarm while simply trying to help." 15[20:42] Ballare: "What are your intentions?" 15[20:43] The Mask: "I have just stated them." [20:43] 14Stranger: "If there is an initial point to be made here from the perpsective of the Council of Nexus, perhaps it should be that only one of the non-residents present here is subject to the binding oath that was sworn upon the embarkment of our defense against the marching raksha tide, and that person no longer holds command authority." [20:45] 5Xu Sim's eyes flicker between the conversationists, but he hesitates to speak up. [20:45] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar nods and speaks up here. "Happy to have all the help we can get - but a situation like this, we oughta renew the compact." 15[20:50] Octavian: "No." 15[20:50] The Mask: "No." 15[20:50] Ballare: "No." [20:51] 13After an... extremely interesting talk with Selin, followed by a gate with a name that might be (but probably isn't) a coincidence, Dead Man's Hand makes his way up to Firewander. It's a shop Xia Lan's been to several times, now, and it's probably the first place anyone would check for where Vladok's gone. Well, that or the undercity enclave, but if Vladok's aboveground, it's got to be here. [20:51] 13He drinks in the sights and sounds of the city as he makes his way over, taking stock of the situation on the ground. Probably could be better. Hopefully Xia Lan can help with some of that starting tomorrow, after another good night's rest following definitely a full day spent on bedrest being bored. Anyways. How's Firewander looking? [20:51] 14As if unconcerned by the chorus of denials: "In fairness and with respect, Octavian, I would not be approaching you yourself as a signatory." 15[20:52] Octavian: "What do you mean by that?" [20:54] 5Xu Sim takes another long drag on the steambreather and carefully considers the Mask's gesticulations; maybe the dark lord bears a ring of power that gives him mastery? [20:55] 14Stranger: "Traditionally, it is diplomatically appropriate to treat with a demon's summonor, not the demon himself. No matter the power in his visage." 14He sips his tea. "Unless, of course, you are unbound." 15[20:55] Octavian: "I stand before you beholden to no one but my own honor." 15[20:55] The Mask: "Oh, my." [20:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar takes another gulp of tea, and then a breath. "Okay, look." 12What was he gonna follow up with? He'd better come up with something fast here- "Look, the same problems that took the first oath to solve are still here in spades. A bunch of you don't trust each other and might not be, uh, appropriately conscientious to the city proper. We need a contractual framework here." [20:56] 14Stranger: "Then my apologies, Tower. That does present a wrinkle." 15[20:59] Ballare: "This city's under attack on all sides and you want to haggle over jurisdiction?" [21:01] "It's been said that war is haggling by other means," 5observes Xu Sim, in what seems to the sorcerer a pithy remark. [21:02] 14Stranger: "Haggling is what I do best, Dragonlord, and I am quite good at it. Do not discount the dreadful power of haggling." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah, because otherwise it's actually going to end up under attack from all sides, including the in-side." [21:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar goes 'heh heh' while everyone else mulls that one over. [21:05] 14To the group at large: "Clearly, things cannot remain as they are, because as the Dawn Sergeant has said either nothing will get done or the entirely wrong things will get done. None of you wish to be bound by a general oath of conduct, which is understandable and predictable, but of course the Governor has no choice in the matter which binds the Mask's hands to some degree. It is [21:05] my feeling, however, that we must at least come to a specific  agreement of some sort, even if it is just how to stay out of each other's way." [21:06] 14To the Mask: "Do you have any of your own business inside the city walls?" [21:08] 5Xu Sim sighs and takes a swig of the tea. Politics used to be something tedious, then it was a way to see Seven, and now it's a way to see Seven but it's somehow much worse. Well, he was promised a chance to judge the entity for himself. If it can grant the Second Breath and choose people like the Sun chose him, maybe he's a god? What sort of entity IS Mask of Winters? [21:08] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Our original terms were, let me see now: We're agreed to unite in defense of Nexus and Creation, to fight fully and freely, to respect our mutual sovereignty, and to honor the agreements we've already made, here and before, for that purpose. And we acknowledge that we fight not just for our principalities, but for all humankind. And we swear to uphold this agreement until [21:08] <@Ferrinus> Nexus is free from mortal peril." 12He adds: "Prior agreements related to, like, war spoils and such. I can get someone to turn the notes up." 15[21:10] Firewander is a ghost town - literally. Dead Man's Hand sees the roving echoes of people's higher souls in windows, down alleys, and lying in the street pleading for mercy. These are war dead, and war wounded. They're not from here, or if they are he doesn't recognize them. But this one's armor is branded - that's the seal of Deguo! And this one over here is dressed like one of the 15[21:10] steppe riders of the northeastern threshold. These are not old ghosts but new ones - the souls of Cethleann's thralls, trapped somehow in Firewander. [21:14] 13The ghost with the seal of Deguo - does he recognize the face? 15[21:14] No. [21:14] 13Phew. [21:22] 13Among the ghosts and the thralls, Dead Man's Hand came here to find Vladok. Stepping around the various souls, he'll eventually find himself outside of Vladok's shop, unless someone else is out here to stop him - time to ask what Octavian's been up to. 15[21:22] The sign on Vladok's door says CLOSED - UNTIL WE WIN [21:23] 13...sensible. Shoot. [21:24] 13Any sign Vladok's been here recently? Gonna be a little tricky to track him down elsewhere in the city. 15[21:26] The Mask tilts his head to look out over the cold and quiet chaos of the river. "Yes. We'll require a full appraisal of its war manses and sorcerous architecture to crush the invading armies without an awesome loss of perishable life." 15[21:26] Ballare: "Absolutely not." [21:27] 14Stranger: "And it is your intention to do this personally." 15[21:27] The Mask: "I don't think anyone else is up to the task. Prove me wrong at your leisure." 15[21:28] Octavian: "I came here to fight, not to loot. This city would be an insignificant stain in my empire." [21:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We've already got war manses at work for us and your underlings didn't mention any need to inspect the city." [21:28] 14Stranger looks over to Xu Sim. "As you request. Xu Sim, are you up to this task? Perhaps with assistance from one of the Mask's capable knights." 15[21:29] Ballare: "How exactly did you even get here, Octavian?" 15[21:29] Octavian: "Your war is bloody and prideful! I came as soon as I heard." 15[21:31] Dead Man's Hand is about to walk away when the door opens a crack and a smoking pipe sticks out. It withdraws almost instantly but the sound of a chain lock unlocking is as close to a "come in" as you can expect from Vladok. [21:32] 5Xu Sim: "I am not sure such an appraisal would be entirely prudent from our perspective, Mask of Winters." [21:33] 14Sigh. [21:33] 5He puffs on the steambreather, "But I assume you are interested in the work of Eresh Nin?" [21:34] "Clad in a raiment of," 5he snaps his fingers as he struggles for a moment to remember - "wonder!" 15[21:34] The Mask: "...from a certain perspective." [21:34] 14...! 15[21:35] "You're referring to the Tomb of Cold Iron, then. A tomb housing no one of special distinction, but equipped with a powerful furnace." [21:36] "A furnace we've dedicated to the production of the iron thistledown, yes," 5he nods in Seven's direction. "With the assistance of all the factions represented at this table, you might say. In one way or another." [21:36] 14Perhaps he should put a little more faith in the sorcerer at the negotiating table. At least when he has something to negotiate with. [21:37] 13Dead Man's Hand tips his hat towards the door as he strides into the shop. "Thanks, Vladok." 13He wipes his boots off just inside, taking a look around the place. Still immensely crowded with books? "Good ta see you again. In a manner of speaking." 15[21:37] Octavian: "You have thistledown? Why is it not already shredding the invader's armies! Or this one." [21:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The hell it's housing no one of special distinction!" [21:37] "However, I am concerned that your personal inspection could interfere with the sorcerous undertaking we've put together to aim the thing. That's why it would be imprudent. I am sorry if I gave the wrong impression." 5he doesn't sound particularly contrite. 15[21:38] "I mean no offense... was it Keldar? I didn't know that the people of Nexus held bean farmers in such esteem." [21:38] 14To Octavian: "Because our priorities are to win, not merely to kill. Without the dome of iron above Nexus right now, there would be legions of Cethleann's dream soldiers in our back ranks." [21:39] 5Xu Sim was about to explain the ammunition shortage but Stranger's answer is probably smarter. He takes a sip. 15[21:39] Octavian grunts. "Makes sense." [21:39] 14Stranger's eyes don't quite flash at the 'bean farmers' crack, but it's the closest they've come. "We have made a compact with the whole of the city for its defense. From the merchant lords down to the bean farmers." [21:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Pretty sure bean farming wasn't Lados's most salient hobby, buddy." 15[21:45] The Mask: "You must never have tasted his beans." 15[21:47] Vladok, querulously: "Shouldn't you be in bed? Also, do you want a drink? I'm drinking." [21:47] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What-" [21:48] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Like I told Selin, I'll be fine tomorrow either way. Doctor said it'd be fine, and I'm heading back there after this just in case anyone else tried to check." 13He pauses. "...what've you got?" [21:50] 14Stranger: "The Mask is very old and very well-travelled. For him to come here and wish entry to the city, well...it means there is something there he believes is worth his time. And perhaps he shall get the chance to examine it at his leisure...but he's also very canny, and knows no one here can countenance that -- including the Tower, I presume -- without some ironclad agreements." 15[21:51] Octavian: "Yeah, fuck him." 15[21:51] The Mask: "Charming." 15[21:53] The Mask: "But there are other sites." [21:56] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "If there's intelligence the Mask needs from the city, I'm sure Xu Sim can pull it together - but frankly I'm not sure anyone needs it. The northern front's... messy... but it's not like we were losing it to start with, and if the Mask wants to take the field in basically any capacity we've got it in the bag." 15[21:56] Vladok: "Just shine. Plain shine. It'll burn your moustache off." [21:56] 14Stranger: "That would be even trickier. What I propose will, I think, satisfy no one particularly well, but will get this done. You -- personally, The Mask of Winters -- will no longer participate in the Battle of Nexus in any capacity. You will save no lives, you will take no lives, you will take no action to sway the contest either way; your participation in this fight, and all [21:56] that it entails, is over. Furthermore you may not steal from Nexus, create Shadowlands in Nexus, set traps in Nexus -- your general good-faith observer's covenant. Command authority over your forces returns to the Governor of Thorns. For all intents and purposes, until an agreed-upon time, you become a ghost in the war." 15[21:56] Vladok comes out with a huge glass jug. "I was using it to strip the paint off the basement door." [21:57] 14Stranger: "But what does a ghost have? Freedom of movement. You may examine the city at your leisure. Look but don't touch. In some cases, touch but don't take." [21:57] 14Stranger: "We will miss you on the field, yes, but then..." 14He gestures to the demon. "Octavian likely will appreciate the lack of competition." [21:58] 13Dead Man's Hand's eyebrows raise. "I'll try a bit. Moustache needs to at least hold up 'til I can get back to the tents, though." 15[21:59] Octavian: "My only competitors are those I slay in battle. It's up to him whether he joins that number." [21:59] 14Yes, yes. 15[21:59] The Mask: "Your offer is very fair. Do you speak for the group?" 15[22:00] Ballare: "Absolutely not. Setting foot inside Nexus is an act of war, and Lookshy acting in defense of Nexus will not tolerate it." [22:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Furthermore most of what's in Nexus is private property. Anyone can walk the streets, but snooping around in, say, my steelworks's furnace is another story. I'm grateful for the assist the Mask gave Xu Sim and Xia Lan, but if he wants to offer more aid he should do it outside the city walls." 15[22:03] Vladok pours him a glass. It *burns*. "You didn't come all this way for a drink." [22:04] 14Internally, Stranger wants to scream at these two. This is a Deathlord. Previously he was constrained by the presence of literal Balor, but now, he holds the cards. We are doing damage control. [22:04] 14Externally, Stranger will sigh and say, "I might need a moment with my people." [22:05] 13Oof. That's the good stuff. "Came to ask about Octavian. Nobody else seems to know he's in the city, even. Big boy's pretty good at hiding." [22:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Alone - well, not alone, but talking with Stranger and Ballare but not the Thorns contingent, Keldar starts in: "If you're going to let him do a full inventory of our entire city to optimize some future invasion the least we could get in return is him winning the war for us." [22:06] 14To Octavian: "I would not want to take you from your war any longer than necessary, Tower. As far as compacts between us go, tell me your thoughts on this: outside of Nexus, you keep what you kill. You may punish any interference as you see fit without consequence from Nexus." 15[22:06] Octavian: "What are the boundaries of Nexus?" [22:07] 14In private on the facing river bank: "We HAVE something that can win the war for us already in Octavian, and he is far less dangerous and far easier to manipulate than a Deathlord." [22:07] "And I would consider the long-term consequences of permitting a Deathlord to do his thing in and around the city. The river-gods already cry out." [22:08] 14Stranger will give the generally-agreed upon borders of the city unless Keldar or Xu Sim interrupt. 15[22:09] Ballare: "Nexus won't survive his investigation. His very presence is toxic." [22:10] 14Stranger looks both of them squarely in the eyes, one then the other. "Fine, then. How do you plan to stop him by force of arms?" [22:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What? Having a demon lord in your pocket is nice, but, frankly, you and I are demon lords. One huge smelly guy with a stick doesn't turn the tide of this war." 15[22:10] She rounds on Stranger. "When you told me to hold my legion together to wield against the Mask letting him in for tea wasn't part of the deal." [22:10] 14To Ballare: "I told you to hold your legions together to wield against the Mask's LEGIONS, not the Mask himself." 15[22:11] Ballare: "So now I should ignore him? Ridiculous." [22:11] "I would not have advocated for you to fight the Mask of Winters because I value you and do not want to see you slaughtered over pride." 15[22:11] Vladok: "Not for long he won't be. Gets restless without something to hit. Did you warn your friends?" [22:11] "And that goes for the both of you." [22:11] 5Xu Sim sighs. "The Mask's very presence unmakes sorcery. The iron sphere we've got over the city is maintained through sorcery. And I am confident his interest lies in the Tomb." [22:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Even if he got to come in and window shop, letting him do a full inventory of my tomb's guts - of every tomb's guts - is another story entirely." [22:12] 13Another sip. "Not yet. I'll tell them tonight, and hope that he hasn't gone making too much of an impact just yet." [22:13] 14Stranger: "Again, I am open to suggestions. The deal I have on the table has him on a Sun-sworn oath not to walk in and turn Nexus into another Shadowland right before it's consumed by the Wyld." 15[22:13] Vladok snorts. "Hnh. What did you want to know?" [22:13] 14Stranger: "But what I need you to understand right now is you will have to give him something." [22:13] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "We just ask him to leave. Right? If the fucked-up battlefield up north is what allowed him to zip over here from Thorns in seconds, he can just do it in reverse and we keep working with the Governor as planned." [22:14] 5Xu Sim bites his moustache. "I wonder if he knows what's at the heart of the Tomb." [22:14] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Do you know where he's been hiding out, and what he's gonna do when he's not hiding out anymore? Just to mentally prepare for what stories come rolling in." [22:15] 14Stranger: "First, we have no territorial rights to ask him to leave. He's not in the city. I believe the river has been established, a number of times, as a free zone for commerce and trade. Second, he's not going to leave without being given something in return because we do not have the potency to force him to leave." 15[22:16] Vladok: "No idea where he's been hiding. But he'll come out to fight. That's what we asked of him, and that's what he does. Octavian's been fighting as long as I've known him. He was a fighter before he's a lover and he'll be a fighter forever after." [22:16] 5Xu Sim: "But all else aside, regardless, if we allow him in it jeopardizes the city's thistledown defense. Whether or not he keeps his promises to look but not touch." [22:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It sure as hell jeopardizes the city's long-term defenses if the Mask knows the secret incantations that turn every Tomb into a bomb." [22:19] 14Stranger: "And it jeopardizes the short-term defenses if he lays waste to half the city and just takes them anyway." [22:19] 5Xu Sim: "Not every Tomb, I suspect. But he's going to be interested in yours given where it was made." [22:21] "We have to accommodate him, yes." 5Xu Sim can see Seven's face turning blue at his word. "But there has to be another way?" [22:21] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He's not going to do that because he actually does need the fae to lose here. If he could just walk through us and the raksha like cobwebs he never would've sent his generals and troops up here. Also, the real Emissary isn't actually gone. Just much less precise." [22:22] 14Stranger: "I give much more credence to the latter point than the former. The Mask enjoys toying with people." [22:23] 13Dead Man's Hand: "...how long HAVE you known him, anyway?" 13Also, 'fighter before he's a lover and he'll be a fighter after' sure does imply some things she hadn't previously considered Octavian capable of, if she's not mishearing that or reading too much into the phrase. [22:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Much as I don't like it, the north front was always going to end up a wasteland. That's why the Governor and the rest of the Mask's flunkies are sworn to try to minimize or wipe away any shadowlands that form. If the Mask's fighting up there it'll end up worse than before, but, well, that problem's already factored in." 15[22:23] "Since before I was born." Vladok empties his glass. [22:24] 14Stranger: "This is why I don't want the Mask helping with the fighting. It improves his claims on the city. He's not bound by either oath or previous agreement. Letting him with the war for us increases what he can demand." [22:24] "Do you really think he won't just let the Governor burn if it comes to that?" [22:25] "Not just the Governor." [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "He probably would, but he doesn't want to, and he could just as easily order his flunkies to curse themselves and sabotage our fields while sitting back in Thorns." [22:26] 14Stranger: "I think we'd be much better served if we stopped wishcasting what the Mask might do and started devising how to protect ourselves from the worst he could inflict in bad faith." [22:26] 5Xu Sim: "If he was here for the war he would have come sooner, surely. He's here because something's changed." [22:27] 14To Xu Sim: "What changed, beyond yourself and Xia Lan needing his aid?" [22:27] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What I'm saying is that the worst he could inflict gets much worse if he gets to do a full assay of our entire city beforehand." [22:27] 14Stranger: "Is he here for you? Is he here for the girl?" [22:27] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Pretty long time to know a guy. How's that work, anyway?" 13He's no sorcerer. 15[22:28] Vladok grunts. "Hard to explain. Before I changed my name I was someone else." 15[22:28] "But you know what that's like, don't you?" [22:28] 5Xu Sim shrugs. "He was curious about me. But I think it's the Tomb, it's what he went for straight away, right? The Tomb was built in the underworld, it's got... secrets... and the Mask is the hugely puissant ghost of an ancient sorcerer. That might be enough to draw him here in person." [22:29] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Little bit." [22:29] 14To Keldar: "There's an upper cap on the worst he can do to us: slaughter us all and turn Nexus into a second Thorns. He can do that regardless of knowing the Tomb's secrets, because we do not actually have the ability to use the Tomb on him again. We're out of ammunition." 15[22:30] Ballare: "Keldar is right. We tell him to leave. There can't be any other terms." [22:30] 14To Ballare: "This would be an excellent time to reveal you have something that can stand against the Deathlord besides your admirable courage and faith in your men." 14His tone is agitated, but he is sincere; he both believes in the skill of her legions and her own personal potency, and is hoping somehow there's an out she's been keeping in reserve. 15[22:31] Ballare: "If anything that walks the earth can stand against the ballistae of the Final Word, I haven't seen it. No matter how powerful he is he's just a ghost. We have dominion over ghosts." [22:31] 5Xu Sim, voice rising. "We can't risk that. I won't." [22:31] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "My tomb, specifically, isn't a special weapon against the Mask, but it could become an incredible weapon against us for all we know. And he can't just roll over us casually - might not even be able to do it with difficulty. Juggernaut's still half the Threshold away, the Emissary lives, we're here, and, obviously, Lookshy among other kingdoms would stand against him with [22:31] <@Ferrinus> us." 15[22:32] Vladok: "I won't sugarcoat it. Octavian is a monster. He thinks you can reach Heaven through violence." 15[22:32] "But at least he's honest." [22:33] "He can threaten more than the city," 5pleads the doctor. [22:33] 14Stranger: "Xu Sim is correct...but I believe we're at an impasse, aren't we?" [22:34] 13Dead Man's Hand: "The honest ones are easier to deal with. Rather get mauled from the front than stabbed in a back, plus intrigue gives me a headache." 15[22:34] Vladok: "So will that shine if you don't go easy on it. You're still convalescing." [22:35] "We have to give him something else," 5suggests Xu Sim. [22:35] 14Stranger: "Do you have something in mind?" [22:35] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I guess if he can explain exactly what he means to gain from my tomb and swear an oath about it and never using it against us, I could allow him to have a look, but I can't see him agreeing to that. There's no way he just wants to admire the decor." [22:36] "You don't want the answer to that question," 5Xu Sim cautions Keldar. [22:36] 13Dead Man's Hand, unimpressed: "I was a bandit. I can hold my liquor." 13He'll slow down, though. "Appreciate the warning about Octavian. But what's brought you back up here, other than the spirits?" [22:37] "I could write something. A report. Give it to him. It'll tell him what he already knows, no doubt. Maybe that could give us the time to lift the siege, get us more options." 5Xu Sim suggests. 15[22:38] Vladok gestures out the shuttered window with his glass. "The spirits. Can't have ghosts wrecking my shop while I'm away." [22:39] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar, to Xu Sim: "If you want to do some kind of assay for him that's another story. I'm sure you know what'd actually be relevant and important to pass along, and what he should never get to know." [22:40] 14Eyeing Ballare and Keldar: "A strange voting bloc the two of you make, but perhaps a fitting one. Would you accede to the idea of very limited access if Lookshy is a stakeholder in it? I appreciate your principles and agree the Mask must fall but we can't do that today." [22:41] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Haven't really seen anything like it, not even here. Especially not here, actually. Got any idea why they're here?" 15[22:44] Vladok: "It's Thorns. It must be Thorns. Their stink gets into everything." [22:45] 13A grimace. "And I gave them a way to get their claws in even deeper." 15[22:46] Vladok: "Self-pity always helps." [22:47] 13Dead Man's Hand: "I've gotten pretty good at it, over time." [22:47] 14He continues: "The way I see it, regardless of how you feel about each other -- and each of you has done the other wrong -- you are both the strongest, most strident voices in opposition to Thorns and the Mask that we have here. What's more, you've both been the strongest voices in defense of the territorial freedom of Nexus -- and Ballare, you're not even oathbound. I think it's [22:47] time we started working together on this, and I think you don't need my input for that, regardless of how we end up on the Mask issue." [22:48] 5Xu Sim is chain-steaming enormous clouds of vapor. 15[22:50] Vladok: "So what are you going to tell the others?" [22:53] 13Xia Lan's voice slips. "...I don't know. I was offered a way to help out, assured that he would only fight against Cethleann, and we needed the help? And I'm sorry for not saying something sooner?" 13She sighs and takes another sip. "...don't think that's going to be enough." 15[22:59] Vladok: "Enough for who?" [23:00] 13Xia Lan: "Tsuka." [23:00] "Earlier I compared the Mask to a scorpion climbing on the back of a sleeping baby. But perhaps we should instead consider the asp about to strike: he must be distracted by something worthy of his attention and contemplation," 5Xu Sim explains. 15[23:01] Vladok: "Just tell him the truth. By the pricking of your thumb, something wicked this way comes." [23:01] 14Stranger: "As you've said before. But we can't negotiate blind on that." [23:02] "Inside the Tomb of Red Hot Iron, there is such a thing. I believe it could attract his attention," 5Xu Sim suggests. [23:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What specifically?" [23:03] Xu Sim has no intention of answering that question under these circumstances. "It is of no concern at present. It's essential to the operation of the Tomb, and the pylon empowering the thistledown." [23:04] 5Xu Sim has no intention of answering that question under these circumstances. "It is of no concern at present. It's essential to the operation of the Tomb, and the pylon empowering the thistledown." [23:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "That sounds like something we want him to have no understanding of or experience with." [23:04] 13Xia Lan: "I should have told him this morning. He came to see me." 13She shakes her head. "I just hope Octavian doesn't do anything I'll regret." [23:06] "Only something truly valuable will suffice," 5Xu Sim retorts. "And perhaps we could part with that, or whatever lies at the heart of the Firewander. Or perhaps the Eye of Balor, itself. I keep identifying more and more terrifying things for Mask of Winters to possess." 15[23:06] Vladok: "You love regretting things more than anyone I've ever met." [23:07] 13Xia Lan: "I have a lot of practice." [23:08] "...sorry." 13Dead Man's Hand's voice is back. "I'm still in a bad mood from - well, yesterday, I guess." [23:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Nnno. Nothing needs to suffice. If he was so scary that we actually needed to be rooting around in our pockets for valuables to throw at him then he wouldn't need us to beat the raksha and he wouldn't have needed an army - and a behemoth - to take Thorns." [23:09] 14Stranger shows the first hints of frustrations as he listens to them go in circles. He was willing to pay a dread price to get the Mask out of their hair, guaranteed under heavenly sanction, and now they're just going in circles. [23:09] 14To Keldar: "You're willing to stake the city on that?" [23:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "You're the one staking the city on that by inviting him to stroll around in its guts! You notice how he just immediately said he liked the idea? It's way more than he expected to get out of this." [23:11] 5Xu Sim: "Let's step back for an instant. Why didn't he already enter Nexus?" [23:11] 14Stranger: "In my estimation he's still not sure how the previous Emissary would react." [23:12] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Because he doesn't actually want to provoke a war within a war, and, yeah, the Emissary's still around." 15[23:17] Vladok: "Me too." [23:17] "All of these plans are unacceptable. But we could present him with a bauble sufficient to hold his attention long enough to end the war and broaden our options. Specifically," 5he glances ruefully at Keldar -"The soulsteel cube at the heart of the Tomb of Red-Hot Iron containing the maddened, tortured ghost of Lados, which has to date powered the thistledown pylon." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "What?" [23:18] 13Dead Man's Hand: "Hmm?" [23:18] 5Xu Sim: "What?" [23:18] 14Stranger: "...He'd have to have it on consignment. And we'd need a plan to replace it." [23:18] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Sorry, run that by me again?" [23:18] "CAN it be replaced?" [23:19] "Because if it can't this discussion is over before it's begun." [23:19] 14Stranger: "Secondly, what could he do with it?" [23:20] 14Stranger: "Thirdly, how is this not flatly worse than just letting him look at it?" [23:20] 5Xu Sim: "At the center of the Tomb, sorcerously hidden, there's a cube of soulsteel. Inside that cube, according to the terrified inscriptions on the outside anyway, is the ghost of Lados. The occupant of the tomb. It's powerful, and ancient, and it could be replaced. With the Eye of Balor, for instance." [23:20] 14Stranger pinches the bridge of his nose. [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "...there's a fucking, a fucking cube with a- gods dammit. And if not for that the entire Tomb's inert?" [23:21] 5Xu Sim nods. "It's not powered by geomancy. Necromancy." 15[23:22] Vladok: "This is a lousy war. It makes us meaner and weaker." [23:22] 14Stranger: "I still want answers to the other questions but if he gets a necromantic cube it is the ONLY spoil and claim the Thorns contingent takes from Nexus. They withdraw and we treat solely with Lookshy." [23:22] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Well we obviously can't let the Mask get even a whiff of that, what the fuck. That's worse than anything I imagined. Who knows what he could do with that shit?" [23:22] 14Stranger: "He already knows." [23:22] "He already baited you about Lados." [23:23] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "I just thought it meant he was six thousand years old or whatever!" [23:23] "He might not know about the cube," 5Xu Sim adds, "helpfully". [23:23] 5But he's not quite confident about it, either. [23:23] 14Stranger: "I hate to mention this possibility, but we have allowed Sevenfold Scion more or less open access to the Tomb, yes?" [23:24] "She accompanied me inside when we installed the pylon," 5Xu Sim answers, quietly. [23:24] 14Stranger: "So we have to assume he knows." [23:24] 13Dead Man's Hand: "I'm... not thrilled about it. But what choices do we have? It's happening, and we simply have to... react." [23:24] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But the cube's hidden deep, right? She might not have seen it?" [23:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Which ghost is it, anyway? Hun or po?" [23:26] 14Stranger: "We can hope she didn't, and we can hope that if she did, she didn't tell him, but we have to assume the worst." 14How close are we on the calendar to Convergence? [23:26] 14*Calibration [23:26] Xu Sim doesn't respond to further questions about Seven. "I'm not going to open the thing and find out! If we have sentimental attachment to the cube why not offer him the Eye, then? That's what everyone seems to want," 5he points out. 15[23:27] It's early in the year yet - you've got 10 months until Calibration next. [23:27] 5Xu Sim doesn't respond to further questions about Seven. "I'm not going to open the thing and find out! If we have sentimental attachment to the cube why not offer him the Eye, then? That's what everyone seems to want," 55he points out. [23:27] 14Stranger: "I want even less to do with the fallout of giving away the Eye, from both the former Emissary, the raksha, and the Council itself." [23:28] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "The Eye's not ours to offer. In fact, that's a separate conversation - got a diplomat from Elegba's camp with some funny ideas about it. We might have to have a sit-down with the general and the Emissary both." [23:29] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "But either way, that psycho definitely can't be allowed to study my preincarnation's cube prison, and if there's some way we can ward it from outside necromantic tampering that it doesn't already enjoy we want to do it as soon as convenient." [23:29] 14Stranger: "We could offer to give him the cube and extract a heavy price. He is not allowed to step foot out of the Underworld until the Calibration following one year and one day. If he accepts, we get 22 months to prepare for the backlash. If he declines, we get a better idea of its value." [23:30] 14Stranger: "We could put paid to Thorns in that time." [23:31] 14Stranger: "And if the proposal enrages him such that he decides to take it, we stand together, hope the former Emissary stands with us, and pray." [23:32] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar shakes his head. "You two are rolling over before he even bothers to make threats. He's not going to attack Nexus under circumstances like these and giving him any of our shit will end up worse than the northern front ending up twenty percent more cursed than it otherwise would've been." [23:32] 14Stranger: "The Mask of Winters doesn't need to make threats. He is the threat." [23:32] 5Xu Sim nods vigorously. [23:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "No, he, his knights, his armies, and his juggernaut are the threat. And a lot of those things are back on the coast of the inland sea." 15[23:36] Vladok: "Yep." He looks down at his glass. "Do you want to hide here until it's over?" [23:38] 5Xu Sim frowns but says nothing. [23:39] 14Stranger: "And I don't think he needs any of those things to do us unrecoverable harm. But this session is useful: I think we've learned precisely what the Mask wants." [23:40] "Perhaps we should go back to the table and see how honest his demands are in trying to get it." [23:40] 13Xia Lan: "...I couldn't. There are too many people counting on me." 13Yes. "What I want and what I have to do - here I am, by grace of the Sun, and who am I to deny Him?" [23:40] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yeah. He's said what he wants but not what he'll fight for." [23:41] 14Unless Ballare has objections, Stranger will reconvene the negotiations. Has Octavian hung around? [23:41] 14Oh, forgotten in all this was the deal. Did anyone object to letting Octavian roam the countryside outside of Nexus claiming whatever spoils he wished from the fallen? 15[23:42] Octavian is stomping around impatiently. [23:43] 5When would Octavian return? When the war is done? 15[23:43] That depends how he got here. 15[23:43] Which nobody's really figured out. [23:43] 14Stranger will take an hour to meditate before they return, if Octavian's temper and the Mask's forbearance will permit it. [23:43] <@Ferrinus> 12If, as Keldar understands it, Octavian's just here to slay raksha - and isn't actually here with an army or something - he's not really concerned with setting the terms of the demon's participation except to make it clear that if Octavian runs afoul of Nexus's laws or the oath-sworn armies he'll regret it. [23:44] 13I bet Octavian just sort of showed up one day and it was fine and not at all suspicious. [23:44] 5Summoning demons isn't even that big a deal. But it would take more than a mortal sorcerer to pull it off... 15[23:46] Xia Lan's answer seems to please Vladok. "You should get going then. Your people need you rested." [23:48] 13Clever ass. "...thank you, Vladok." 13It takes her a moment to get back into character. Dead Man's Hand stands up with nary a wobble. "I'll take my leave. And see you when I see you - I'll be busy again starting tomorrow." 15[23:49] "Get to work." [23:50] 13He tips his hat on the way out. "Gonna have to drink with you again sometime. Maybe not in this ridiculous get-up." 15[23:53] Vladok: "I've got plenty of shine." [23:56] 13A short while later, Dead Man's Hand has made his way back to Xia Lan's tent, ready to go in, remove the disguise, and enjoy an utterly boring afternoon, likely passing the time reading trashy romance novels. And indeed, if no one stops her, and there doesn't seem to be a scene near her tent, she will do precisely that. [23:59] 14Soon, Stranger will be ready to resume negotiations. 15[00:01] Stranger finds the leaders of Thorns deep in conversation of their own, and Octavian looking madder and madder. [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's pretty sure that he and Ballare understand each other here, so he also returns to the riverfront to resume normal talks. [00:02] 14Join the club, Octavian. [00:05] 14The tea set is as Stranger left it, hopefully. Surely mucking with it would violate the rules of hospitality. "Mask of Winters, Living Tower, I greet you both. Further negotiation has...moved the terms of my proffered deal about. It is such that we require clarifications, before the possibility of allowing you into Nexus is put on the table. Notification of goals, and ways and [00:05] means of getting there." [00:05] "Straight-forwardly, we'd like to know your demands." [00:05] 14Before that... [00:07] 14To Octavian: "We've reached a consensus you might find acceptable, Living Tower. Beyond the walls of the city...you keep what you kill. You have prize rights and rights of first refusal to anything you end yourself, and a seat at the table for any prize you had a hand in felling -- one of the faerie generals, for instance, or a particularly potent raksha. In return, you do what [00:07] you were going to do anyway, and leave Nexus to its own devices." 15[00:08] Octavian: "That's fair." [00:09] 14Stranger looks about the table. "This is not a formal oath, but for the good of our shared fight, I hope everyone here will respect it the way that the Council of Nexus will." [00:10] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "It's a free city. He can do what he likes, so long as he abides by the law and doesn't interfere with our armies. That said, we might need one of the generals, so be warned." 15[00:13] Octavian: "So long as you don't need them alive." 15[00:13] NEXT TIME: Seven's choice