[20:45] Let us bask in the greatness of the Four Times Considered Cube of the Lord Ujin Khal. [20:47] First of all, of course, it is not actually a cube, per se. Ujin Khal would claim that the four sides of the cube were his walls; the fifth the ground; the sixth the sky. Obviously this last is nonsense. But after he and his seven hundred swords seized the newly-profitable trading port of Baling-Ja following changes in the Inland Sea-winds and the fortuitous destruction of two other [20:47] nearby ports -- not to mention all that business with the Tri-Khan -- no one was willing to contest him. [20:49] A new vassal of whichever Realm noble supervised this bit of coastline and an ingratiate of the Guild, Khal was uniquely positioned to import slave labor and bleed a promising economic boom dry to tickle his latent minor warlord fancies, and so the great fortress was built: four times considered, because there were four walls, and each of the four walls had a different means to pass [20:49] them through. [20:50] It was completed in three years. Many died. And the Lord Ujin Khal grew fat off the land, such as it was, even as the trade route that funded him began to dry up. [20:51] Was there any jewel in the near south so ready for plucking? Was there any jewel in the near south which would be less missed? [20:52] Our story begins when a man and a woman, seperately, come to town. [20:52] How does the man arrive? What is he called? [20:55] 10It's been about five months or so since Jai, not yet the Black Wind Howling, awakened to his "demonic" powers. Since then he's been pushed and pulled between the poles of not wanting to taint the land with his mere presence (Jai's mother had been a particularly keen follower of the local variety of the Immaculate Faith), and wanting to, well, you know, keep living. So he's been wandering. Those caravans that have been passing [20:55] 10 through the area are in need of watchers and scouts as much as stout fighting men, and so Jai's been selling his keen eyes to the highest biddern.  [20:56] 14A swan alights in the reeds on the shore outside of town, and when the trembling, pulsating shape emerges onto the beach road from those reeds she takes the form of the guileless, blonde beauty Odette. She meets three guards on her way into town. The first two, walking together with a torch, seem official and officious, greet her and lust after her within polite reason, and tell [20:56] 14her she should not be out. The third finds her minutes after they depart, wearing ill-fitting robes and a grin. [20:57] 10His professional name among the caravaneers has been the Soaring Crow. Right now he's between jobs, the last wagons having made it safely within the walls of the town, and as such, he's looking for a new job. [20:57] 14Her smile is broader, with more teeth. She drags his body into the long reeds, and when she returns, she now has the form of a 'guard.' [20:58] Does Jai drink? [20:59] 10Only enough to be polite, in must cases. He still thinks of himself as too young for the hard stuff, although no one's asking questions. [21:00] Then, looking for work, he would find himself at one of the many (three) pubs across the docks of Baling-Ja. Does he drift from establishment to establishment or linger? [21:02] 10Jai visits each in turn, sizing up the relative wealth of the customers. He's typically looking for someone who's rich enough to pay well, but not so rich that they've grown paranoid. Someone who's had a taste, and wants more. [21:07] The first bar is loud and stupid, with too many sailors. This is an establishment mainly concerned with places other than here, and rightly so -- they don't know the trade routes are drying up in a year or two, and if they do, they're making too much money right now to believe it. The second bar is quieter, calmer, and meaner somehow -- this bar belongs to an old couple who hands most [21:07] of the proceeds to a factor who swears obeisance to an overfactor, and it's all Guild. [21:08] Now, the overfactor is probably three or four or six stops down the tradelines away; this isn't Nexus. But he or she is real nonetheless. [21:08] They size him up and seem not to be offended by what they see, but they don't fit his criteria -- too smart -- and they're not offering any handouts. [21:10] Which leads to the third bar, the Ba-Ba-Bool, which the forces of the wise and fortuitous Ujin Khal have taken as their own, given that it's closest to the road to the Four Times Considered Cube, and also right next to an inn and a brothel. [21:10] Now this is promising. [21:10] 14Now this is promising. [21:12] 10Although Jai's a bit on the introverted side, he did spend a while in his youth as a hype-urchin for a good half dozen places like this. Easy work, find someone fresh off the boat, talk them around to coming to this one instead of that one, get a handful of cash.  [21:12] 10This is, indeed, promising. [21:16] 10He gets a small bottle of sweet plum wine and retreats to a table in a corner for one of his favorite pastimes: people-watching. He likes to make up little stories in his head about what brought these people here, of all places, from all corners of the world. And lately he's found his stories have a frightening degree of accuracy. [21:19] The Ba-Ba-Bool is hopping, and both Jai and Odette, who have arrived here almost at the same time -- Odette slightly first, seated at a table of her own in the middle of the rabble where they can bother her as often as possible (likely so they'll buy her drinks) -- and mostly with soldiers and worried-looking folk who are trying not to seem so. In fact, they're laughing the loudest; [21:19] they're the ones courting Khal's men the strongest, with the odd traveler or two enjoying their libations in peace as the people of the town smile as guilelessly as possible. [21:20] They're trying to appease the guards, get them to speak for them, to settle petty differences or rivalries, or just to stop leering at their wives or husbands. [21:21] 10Watch, then swoop in. That's Jai's M.O. Here's someone trying to be noticed. What's her story? [21:23] Well, she's...beautiful, that's part of it. Single, too, probably? She's here alone, at least. And she doesn't seem particularly bothered by the attention, or threatened by the weapons on the waists of the tipsy men making their way over to her table. Hard to tell otherwise. Perhaps local? Perhaps not. [21:24] 10Jai sighs inwardly. 10Way out of my league. [21:28] 14'Odette' takes notice of the man walking into the establishment as well. A hardbody, mmm. A man who knows how to get things done. Where was he an hour ago? Skulking, most likely. Yes, this is someone to keep an eye on. And if she's not mistaken... [21:31] 10There's another fellow that catches his eye. This one looks like he might be worth approaching.  [21:33] Jai's eyes are drawn to her first, but next to the man running some sort of card game in the corner. So are his instincts: this man is not actually running a card game. This man is waiting for something. The way his eyes furtively meet Jai's, and the way he then decisively ends the run of luck the hapless locals are having at his table, tells Jai all he needs to know. So does the [21:33] fact that this man isn't at the Guild bar. He's a short man with a kinked moustache and a rotund body; his eyes are apprising, glittering with the romance of the deal; his legs are too small for his body, and his smile is too large for his face. [21:34] He deals five cards face down in front of him and sweepingly gestures an arm across them without breaking eye contact with Jai. [21:35] His companion, a tall, sallow man with a similar moustache but the precise opposite proportions, turns in his seat to regard Jai, strokes his facial hair, and mutters something to his flashier companion. [21:36] 10Jai drains his cup and slips between the crowded tables, from one corner to the other. He leans over the table, trying not to wince at the overwhelming garlic stink coming off the man, and says"Deal me in, friend."  [21:36] The stout man: "You're from out of town. Do you know the game?" [21:37] The tall man, muttering: "The game is, he steals from you." [21:37] 10Jai: "The game's the same wherever it's played. Isn't it?" [21:37] The stout man gives his companion a wounded look, but to Jai: "Yes! But I play it with two more cards." [21:38] "You must have pretty fast fingers to make it work." [21:38] "I do, I do," he says. "And no one's killed me yet. So there's that." [21:38] "Wager a drink?" [21:39] "I win, you buy two for me and my...associate." That gets a snort from the tall man. "You win, I buy you two." [21:39] "Yeah. Heck, if you win I'll buy for both of you." [21:42] The stout man smiles. "You've done this before. I won't hold back." [21:42] 10Jai watches the cards shift and blur on the table. This guy's good. [21:43] 10In the interstices between the seconds, though, he's moving the cards himself, ensuring that the ace is right where he wants it to be. The fat man never had a chance.  [21:44] He doesn't. He shows five cards -- four marked with the poles of the North, South, East, and West, and one with the Blessed Isle, which is the card you want to choose -- then places them face down and begins moving. Jai can tell within seconds that there are actually six cards in play; he keeps switching an extra North card in and out of the rotation with the Blessed Isle card, so that [21:44] in the eventuality that Jai demands he stop early, he can do so and still switch out the winner. [21:45] He's good enough -- superlatively so -- that it's almost impossible to catch him with two Norths on the table at the same time, and when he finishes, the Blessed Isle will be on the table; just nowhere near where it should be. [21:45] So Jai can do one of two things: he can trivially reveal the Blessed Isle, or halfway through the deal, he can flip both Norths when they're on the table at the same time. [21:46] 14They seem to be having fun. [21:47] 14Meanwhile, Odette turns down yet another guard captain. How many can there possibly be? [21:49] 10Jai grins. "Not bad, not bad. But..." 10Somehow, miraculously, the cards on the table are all suddenly face-up. North, South, East, West… North again. [21:49] 10And Jai's plucked the Blessed Isle from the fat man's hand. [21:50] The man blinks and then stares. His companion gasps, then giggles a very high-pitched giggle. [21:51] "You win...twice," the stout man says. "So I owe you four drinks...or one, and a business proposition." [21:51] "A drink only warms the belly once. But business, well, that's another story." [21:52] The stout man and the tall man both grin. The stout man waves a harried waitress over and orders a round for the table -- and once the drinks arrive, the tall man glances about, and then pulls an odd toadstool from his vest and sets it on the table. [21:53] Immediately, the sounds from the tavern around Jai become oddly muted. [21:54] "It makes the sound small," the stout man says by way of explanation, "and it gives us privacy. I am Wasicus." [21:54] "And I am Wasicoth," the tall man says. [21:54] 10Jai lays the card down on the table. "Good evening, gentlemen. My professional name is Soaring Crow." [21:56] Jai always feels a bit more sure in himself when it comes to capital-B Business. Like putting on a well-worn robe. [21:56] "I'll drink to flying birds," the stout man says, and does so. "I've only known three men who could do that trick you did, all of them pure professional second-story men. Tenth-story men, really. Now, we're here instead of over in the Guild bar so that means what it means. The old 'you both consent--but there's someone you didn't ask.' Is that a problem?" [21:57] 14What in the world? [21:57] 14A mushroom? [21:59] 10Jai takes a sip, and it blooms like fire. This is the good stuff. "I think I follow your meaning. Whose wedding are we cancelling?" [22:00] The tall man -- Wasicoth -- giggles again. "A man's nuptials with his self-regard." [22:00] Wasicus's smile is just as wide, but his teeth are somehow bigger. "There's really only one mark in the whole town, and you could see it coming in. The fortress up on the hill. The Four Times Considered Cube." [22:01] Wasicoth: "It's not even a cube!" [22:01] Wasicus gestures with the generally-accepted 'what can you do?' [22:02] "That ugly heap? Exactly the sort of place a man with more money than sense builds for himself." [22:02] 14...It's a soundshroom from the fungi-temples of the Eastern jungle. It literally is eating their conversation. Ingenious! [22:03] The stout man: "We thought so too. Sadly he's got a temple pass from the Guild and the local Realm warlord, and, well, a whole bunch of swords. It goes to one's head." [22:04] "There's something in there we want, however: a large, golden star. About yea big." Wasicus indicates the size of a large plate. [22:05] "We pay in white jade," Wasicoth says. That's far, far more valuable than gold. [22:06] 10Jai taps his chin thoughtfully. "Doesn't sound too hard." 10He knows enough not to ask questions about what the star is, or what it does. [22:06] "And, of course, you keep what you kill. So to speak." In thief lingo, this means that whatever else you manage to walk out with is yours. [22:06] 14At this point, Odette begs off the last of her suitors, pays the rest of her tab, and wanders off out the front door. [22:07] "Got a diagram of the grounds or anything?" [22:07] Wasicus: "You're good enough you might be able to get in yourself. But we've got an advantage on the first wall. There's four, concentric." [22:08] Wasicoth removes a piece of cloth from his vest and spreads it out on the table just long enough for Jai to see the drawing on it, then rolls it up again. "Bad mojo to show it here," he explains. [22:09] "Good enough. I think I get the idea." [22:09] "And on the first wall? You've got a man on the inside?" [22:10] The stout man and tall man both nod. "Excellent." To the question, Wasicus says: "Not as such. A weakness in the construction. A mental weakness. Fucks with the guard patterns. You'll see." [22:11] He finishes his drink and flourishes his wrist, and suddenly all six cards are back in the deck he'd set aside. [22:11] "Should've built a fifth wall. Four's bad luck." [22:11] "Sign of the times," the stout one says. [22:12] "Four's the limit of his economy," says the tall one. [22:12] Both grin. [22:12] When Jai's ready, they'll pay, and lead him out the back. [22:12] "Well, you know what the texts say. The fatuous lord and his money are soon parted." [22:13] "That's not what they say," says Wasicoth. [22:13] "They say it's not his money to start with," says Wasicus. [22:14] 10Jai slips out the back quietly. "Heh. I like your version." [22:14] "Let's meet again in two nights. I'll have this star for you or my name's not Soaring Crow." [22:18] The two of them look at each other, then nod. "Two nights. Where?" [22:20] "There's a cherry grove a half-malm to the east. Meet me when the moon rises." [22:21] "Indeed." "Pleasure." The two grinning men fade into the shadows. Jai goes his own way. And unseen, a simple housecat goes with him. [22:21] Two nights later... [22:26] How early does Jai arrive to the meeting? [22:27] 10Jai spends the next day and night observing the Cube from various vantage points in the gardens surrounding the place, watching the guests and the guards to and fro and planning his entry. Then the next day resting, before meeting with the Garlic Twins, as Jai's begun to call them in his head. [22:27] A fair name, though they smell better than the implication. [22:28] 14The black housecat with the white crest splashed across her face grooms herself languidly in the branches of one of the cherry trees. Either she's as good as she thinks she is, or this hunk of larceny and danger just isn't looking hard enough. [22:29] 10Jai shows up right as the sun is setting, and the rosy hue of the sky fades to deep blue and then black. [22:30] The stout and tall men arrive some twenty minutes later. They're skilled, but a professional can see them coming as they melt out of the trees. [22:30] Wasicus: "Are you calm?" [22:30] Wasicoth: "Are you constant?" [22:31] That and the grins as they step out of the shadows are a bit unnerving. [22:31] 10Jai: "As calm as a still lake, as constant and the sun and the moon." [22:31] 14...Good answer. [22:34] The Garlic Brothers merely nod, and the tall one opens the cloth again to show the map. The stout one speaks: "You will breach the first of the four walls from the seaward-side -- the north. They built drainage into the schematic, and they built it above ground -- but the grade of the wall is so high that, combined with its crenellations, the guard cannot see what is going on at the [22:34] grating down below. So the point of incursion is obvious." [22:35] The tall one: "Sadly, you cannot follow it all the way in. Before the second wall, it splits into feeders much smaller than a man." [22:35] The stout one: "And beyond that, we have no guidance." [22:35] "You will have the map" -- the tall one rolls it and tosses it to Jai -- "and our well-wishes." [22:36] 14Sewer. [22:36] 14A sewer. [22:36] 14A SEWER. [22:36] 14She's flying in. [22:37] "It's a start." 10Jai slips the map into a scroll-case and hides it somewhere on his person. "Have the jade ready, gentlemen, I'll be back before you know it." [22:38] 10Then he leaps up into the trees, and is gone. [22:38] They're watching and smiling as he goes. [22:39] 14The housecat slinks out of the trees, and then a swan is on the wing, following the thief towards the Cube, and its ignomious grate. [22:59] 10There's a half-dozen secluded places near the northern wall Jai can hide himself while he waits for it to go full dark. The lord of this place might be rich, but his attention to security has some serious holes.  [23:04] A consultation of the map and the massive, sloppy wall in front of him confirms that the point of ingress will be that big grate trickling water, and that it probably won't be too difficult for anyone with any sense for these things. The bars aren't even that close together. [23:08] 10The bars might as well not even be there. Jai holds his breath and slips through into the murky sewer tunnels. Even the skinny Garlic Brother could have managed this much. [23:08] 14A swan watches keenly from the trees. He's skilled. Very skilled. But so is she, and he hasn't seen her. When he slips into the tunnels, the swan alights, heading over the first set of walls. [23:09] 10Jai ties a bandana around his nose and mouth to filter out the stench, and proceeds slowly down the tunnel, so as not to splash too much. [23:10] The drainage pipe is wide enough to accomodate him and maybe another, until about forty paces in, when it starts narrowing and splitting. [23:12] But Jai knows this place wasn't made from one great single metal pipe. There have to be service entrances to clear blockages or burn out filth or, frankly, deal with people like him. And that means there's something here that can be opened from the outside, behind the first wall. And if something can be opened from the outside... [23:12] There it is. [23:12] 10Well, someone's got to come down here for maintenance, and that means there's an accessway of some kind. Oh hey, a shaft leading up, with a ladder. [23:13] The seams are easy to identify when you get to know what they look like. The question is: quick or quiet? [23:17] 10It takes a little fiddling, but the mechanism yields to Jai's touch and he lifts himself up out of the pipe silently. 10Wahoo! That was easy. [23:18] He's in a masonry-tunnel of some sort; five seconds of looking about informs that it butts up against the second of the Cube's walls, and that there's no way through into some superstructure or inner-wall space from here. Just a lot of brick. Sticking his head out, he'll find the First Wayfare: the space between the Cube's first and second wall. It looks like a hedge maze. Original. [23:19] 14A hedge maze?! Ah -- she sees archers atop the second wall. Lots of them. The swan dives and lands in the shadow of one of the hedges, watching the pipe. It opens about when she expected it might. [23:21] 10Jai darts to a concealing shadow, and produces the scroll case from his sleeve. He checks the map. Has it got any detail at all? [23:23] It shows the hedge maze but it's clearly more of an, uh, impression, than anything else. There are these odd lines shooting across it, though, and...yes, okay, there they are. Atop the second wall are these great bonfires, shrouded by mirrored hoods, directing light down upon the maze; they seem mounted on creaky, gearboxed pillars that twist, casting light across the maze in regimented, [23:23] predictable, and LOUD patterns. [23:23] It's hard to imagine who is even watching the lights at this hour, but... [23:30] 10Jai weighs the pros and cons. There might be guards manning the walls, but there might be guards in the maze as well. And if he is discovered, better to at least have some freedom of movement. He scrambles up the hedge-wall and finds his footing, then takes off at a sprint along the tops of the hedges. [23:31] 10Head down, arms out for speed. It just feels natural. Before long, the second wall draws into view, this one with a great iron gate barring the way. [23:31] 14The swan is out of place, almost, in the shadows of the hedgerows -- but only if something sees her. And she's barely settled in before the thief blows by her in style. Well then. [23:34] 10Jai taps his chin thoughtfully, studying the gate. Now, there's no way they haul this entire thing up every time a guard comes and goes from the Second Wayfare to the First, is there? Nah, there's got to be a smaller door of some kind.  [23:38] That is the trick. [23:39] It's off to the left, actually, overgrown a bit with vines -- he could slip through the bars if he wanted, but that would lead to a kill corridor that someone's probably watching. This, instead, gives Jai a straight shot through to the other side of the wall, and he emerges in the Second...Wayfare. Well then. [23:40] The space between the second and third walls has been gouged completely out into a trench so dire that it's a giant black gap in a square moat around the Cube's second barrier zone. [23:40] Good news: there is a bridge. Bad news: there's more of those torch-mirrors, lighting it up like noon, and they're not rotating. [23:41] Two lonely guard patrols walk up and down its length. It's longer than a sprint to get down that thing, that's for sure. [23:43] 10Jai wonders if they had slaves dig it out or if this lord was rich enough to hire a sorcerer for the earthworks. Either way, the cost would be outrageous. Just how much jade is this guy wringing out of the region? [23:47] A good question, but there are more relevant ones -- and he'll ask them from a vantage point slightly up the wall. The deal with the bridge is that it's wide and it's metal, which makes it extremely expensive, and there's nowhere to hide on it at all. [23:47] ...On the top, that is. [23:48] A metal bridge like this has to have an underworks, Jai knows. And yep, there it is, dark and complicated, and without catwalks that an armed patrol can move through. [23:48] The problem is getting there...but that's not really a problem. [23:50] 10Secure in the knowledge that no one's going to cross the bridge without being seen, the sentries have gotten lax. Approaching from a different angle, away from the beacons, is easy. [23:51] 14She had to turn into a cat to get over the last wall -- they had emplaced crossbows aimed at the sky, and the idiots wanted to shoot something with them. The black housecat watches the thief move, sliding under the bridge and then at the end back up over it, and she follows perfectly in his stead. [23:52] 10The depth of the trench is positively dizzying, but the lord didn't skimp on railings. He scurries underneath the bridge, like so many rats. [23:52] ...It's good that there are some rocky outcroppings that shield him from view of the bridge on the other end, because instead of just another gate in the third wall, Jai finds a puzzle of sorts. [23:53] Ten identical stone doors, each five arms' widths apart, cut into the stone. [23:54] 10The absolute madman. [23:54] 14The cat arrives slightly later, and almost hisses at the doors. Ten is double five. Excess. [23:55] 10Numerologically, this place is a mess. Not that Jai has more than the vaguest understanding of geomancy, but it doesn't take a Heptagram scholar to realize these things. [23:59] Being as methodical as you can be without being seen reveals two important things: first, the importance of changing your perspective. The doors are different -- but not on the doors. Each one doesn't-quite-align with a stone outcropping that Jai's mainly using to hide, and each of those stone outcroppings is marked with something. [00:02] It doesn't take a genius to realize that they're marked with the phases of the moon, in no particular order. But the thing is this: there are only nine phases of the moon in a full cycle -- New, New Crescent, New Half, New Gibbous, Full, Old Gibbous, Old Half, Old Crescent, New Again. [00:02] 10And the tenth is marked with... [00:02] The tenth of these stones is empty, except for a claw-rake across it. [00:03] By something whose claws could rake stone. [00:03] It corresponds to the third door from the left. [00:05] 10Jai swears softly under his breath. There's something really unwholesome about this all of a sudden. But it's the element that doesn't fit the pattern, so it's probably the door to try. He approaches the wall carefully. [00:09] 10The lock is obvious, and complex, and by itself it would have bankrupted a half dozen merchants from Jai's hometown. But Jai's got a trick up his sleeve. He touches the door, whispers a word that came to him in a dream, a word in a language he doesn't know, and the wheel slowly turns of its own accord.  [00:10] 10Demon power isn't all bad. [00:10] 14...She can't say for certain what he is, but there's really only one type of thief who opens THAT lock THAT quickly. [00:10] 14The cat is sure to dart in before it closes. [00:11] The door opens into a well-lit, well-appointed, empty tunnel. There aren't any traps or the like here -- it just leads straight through the third wall, and the door to the space between the third and fourth walls of the Cube, the Third Wayfare, has no similarly onerous lock. [00:11] Jai slides it open... [00:12] And a great black grinning shape moves past the portal. [00:13] https://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server1500/ac84d/products/54/images/167/VG-SMB-005__39446.1314141257.1280.1280.jpg?c=2 [00:13] 10!! [00:13] There's at least ten of them out there, and they look far too happy. [00:14] The good news is, no pits, no maze, no nothing. No nothing. A straight shot of nothing, from here to the fourth and final wall of the Cube: the wall of the keep itself. [00:14] That's also the bad news. [00:16] 14Well, they're demons, alright. They can't actually bite with those teeth or eat with those mouths. They're bound to lines and set to rote, but properly incensed, they'll do what they're made to do: they'll slam-fuck you. [00:16] 14...And it's clear he doesn't know it. [00:16] 14It's time. [00:16] 10Jai goggles. Who IS this guy? One of the Tozis or something?! [00:18] 14After Jai slams the door closed again, there's a voice from the shadows: "They're demons. They can't bite. They can't do anything but crush you against a wall or the dirt, but they're good at that -- that's the reason they were made." [00:19] 14'Odette' steps out of the shadows. "As for why they're here...well. The Cube isn't normal, is it?" [00:19] 10Jai whirls around. The bandana tried around his mouth muffles his voice. "You! The g-girl from the bar! What're you doing here?" [00:20] 10Idiot! She's here for the same reason you are! [00:21] 10Deep breath. "I mean, er. I can hazard a guess." [00:21] "Changing." 14Her skin ripples and shifts. "Sneaking about." 14Her features become different; no less attractive, but with short black hair and a grimace, instead of a barmaid dreamgirl. https://dragonageinquisition.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Dragon-Age-3/cassandra_card_romance.jpg [00:22] "Saving your ass." [00:23] 14She touches the door. "Not that you need it so much. But we're all-in now." [00:23] "You've been following me, then." 10Not a question. "Are you after that golden star too?" [00:23] "I have. Sounds gauche." [00:24] 14She cracks the door slightly. "Now, the thing about the Bullazos Cairna is that, like I said, they want to crush you." [00:25] "There's two ways they can't do that." [00:25] "Okay. I'm listening." [00:26] "Either you don't let them see you, so they don't know to crush you -- or you put yourself the one place that they can't turn into you between them and a wall. Can you guess what that place is?" [00:27] 10There's a good dozen questions he wants to ask right now, but there's a job to do. "Duck under them?" [00:27] 14She shakes her head, still watching the pattern. [00:28] 10Then it dawns on him. "Ride on top of them!" [00:29] "Just like with the hedges. I should have guessed it myself earlier." [00:30] 14She cracks a smile and nods, then slides the door shut again. "And that's where he fucked up. There are too many of them out there -- if we're quick, and silent, and less than even the wind, we can ride these demons from Bullazo to Bullazo to Bullazo, all the way across, without even touching the ground. And they can't look up." [00:30] "So the question becomes: are you enough of a badass to pull this off?" [00:31] 10Be cool, Jai. Be cool. "I don't call myself Soaring Crow for nothing." [00:32] 14She grins. "Excellent! I leave it to you, then." 14There's another rippling shudder and suddenly she's a tiny black housecat leaping up onto his shoulder, wrapping herself around his neck. [00:33] 10Bullazo demons and a nekomata. What a night. "Um. Hang on tight." [00:34] 10Then he's off, with a running leap. [00:43] 10Jai takes to the air. It's a terrific leap, and for a moment he can see all ten of them laid out like so many stepping stones. 10I can do this.10 He touches down atop the first one, and half a heartbeat later he's s leapepd to the second. Then the third, fourth, fifth—never once touching the ground, never spending more than an instant on the back of one before kicking off to another. Seven, eight—not long now. [00:43] 10 Somewhere in the distance. he can hear a bell chime. Nine, ten, and he's through!  [00:43] 14Damned impressive. [00:44] Then they arrive at the final door: a great red-bolted, girdered-iron monstrosity, wrapped in chains. [00:44] 10Jai skids to a stop and catches his breath. "Whoa." [00:45] One wonders how normal people are ever supposed to even reach the throne room of Ujin Khal, but then, the answer becomes clear: they're not. [00:45] It seems, ideally, no one is. [00:45] In the center of the door is a great lock, seemingly mundane, but asking for a key twice Jai's size. [00:46] "Did I miss something somewhere? I didn't see a key anywhere." [00:46] 14The cat hops off of Jai's neck and, in the shadows, the dark-haired woman returns. "There's a trick here. If you just unlock it with that little love-tap..." [00:47] "No, the key would fuck you too. It's the noise that's the problem. The sound of the lock falling away." [00:48] "Yeah, no kidding. That's a lot of chains. Probably wake up every guard in the place." [00:48] 10Jai leans back and studies the huge door for a moment. [00:52] "So there's all theses chains here, and the big lock, but… are they actually keeping the door closed?" [00:52] 14The black-haired woman: "Are you asking me or telling me? You're the expert." [00:53] "Just thinking out loud. Only one way to find out." [00:53] 14She gives him room. Definitely not so she can run at the first sign of trouble. [00:56] 10Jai walks up to the door, leans his shoulder against it, and gives it a good hard shove. [00:57] The chains and lock aren't actually keeping it locked -- Jai's right. But it'll probably take some rearranging of the chains, hoisting them away from the doorjamb and such, to actually make a path through. [00:57] It should take him maybe a minute and leftovers. [00:57] "Yeaeh, there's some give here. Watch my back, miss, would you?" [00:58] 14She grins. "Yes sir." [00:58] 14Nice ass. [01:01] 10Under the mystery nekomata's watchful (appreciative?) gaze, he manages to rig the chains and the lock into place in 45 seconds flat. [01:01] "Excellent," 14she says. "Be prepared for anything. We're walking in the front door." [01:01] "After those demons? I'm ready." [01:02] 14She gestures. "Then come through." [01:03] 10Jai pushes the door open. There's a heart-stopping moment where the whole assemblage of chains and metal and cord shivers, but it holds. And they're through. [01:03] Beyond the door is a great, great hall, wide and tall, lined with massive pillars and dominated by a massive stone throne at the end too large for any mortal man. Twenty torches burn, ten on each side, one on each piller, and the hall is wholly empty. [01:04] The door slides shut behind them without complaint or noise. [01:04] Given its size, this room has to be the majority of the keep itself -- it didn't look so big from the outside. [01:05] 14The black-haired woman: "If you're here for something in the vaults, you should get to it. He'll know we're here." [01:06] "Well. That one of us is, at least." [01:07] "What do you mean by that?" [01:08] From the end of the hall, the sound of a great door slamming. [01:08] 14The black-haired woman: "About what I said." [01:09] 10"Yeah." Jai flattens himself against a pillarr and just straight up disappears from sight. [01:15] A tower of a man strides from where the door sounded closed, past the pillars and to the foot of the great throne. Red-haired and grinning, the big man stares down the hall at the black-haired woman. He seems to have missed Jai sliding off. [01:17] "So. They send...what are you? An assassin? A concubine? A princess?" His voice is deep, and carries farther than it has rights to. Maybe it's just the acoustics of the hall. [01:17] 10She came here to face off with this guy? Talk about crazy. But if she can distract him, Jai can slip away and, presumably, down to where the vaults are. [01:17] 14She smiles the way everyone smiles at a shithead they have to tolerate. "I am the Ambassador." [01:18] "And I am Ujin Khal." [01:22] 14The Ambassador is ensconced in feathery wings sprouting from her body, and when the wings unfurl she is a swan-woman, with the crest of the swan across her face and feathers across her brow. "The Pact demands your presence at summit." [01:22] "The Pact demands?" [01:22] 14Her smile widens. "You know who demands." [01:23] 10That's no nekomata. That's… another Anathema. Another demon. Like him. [01:24] From the end of the hall: "And?" [01:24] 14The smile doesn't waver. "You know what will happen if you don't." [01:26] There's a pause in the hall. And then the torches begin to snuff out, starting closest to the throne and moving towards the far end of the room. As the light goes out and the big man is engulfed in darkness, there's a roiling of his form much like when the black-haired woman changed herself, but larger, more massive, more dreadful -- and then his shape is lost in the dark. [01:26] A different voice laughs from the shadows at the end of the hall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdaqVuHX9_o [01:26] "Show me." [01:27] To be continued.