15[21:03] Is this the end? 15[21:05] After endless plans and struggles, through fear and loathing Nexus and its champions have come. It's been ransacked, burned, sieged, and plague-ridden. Thousands have died. Thousands more may yet. In time, should our heroes fall, the whole Direction may follow. 15[21:05] But if they win today, if their daring and dangerous plan succeeds, the raksha horde could be vanquished, and the day won for the fallen and for the survivors. 15[21:06] How does the circle prepare itself for this climactic battle? [21:06] 14And somewhere in Heaven, a pawn would move on a game board. If they're particularly audacious, perhaps a promotion. So it goes. [21:07] 14Once the plan is sorted, Stranger will spend his remaining time alone with The Ambassador, resting and preparing for what is undoubtedly going to be the most grueling social outing of his life. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Thanks to a hideous, crippling curse that only one of the terrifying Anathema could even hope to bear the weight of, Keldar has very few preparations to make. He'll be sallying out to battle in shirt and breeches, for even fate itself seems to have stopped caring if and how much he's girded himself for war. The men of the Dawn Guard, too, will better benefit from the attention of [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Tsuka and other delegate commanders than from the logistical and strategic expertise of the Dawn Sergeant himself. But that changes today. [21:10] 14Stranger will be sure to take a moment to clasp Keldar's hand before the strike party leaves, along with Xu Sim's and rest. They don't always get along, but their bond runs deeper than friendship. For better or worse, they are a Circle of the Sun. [21:11] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Give 'er hell in there." [21:13] 5After a quiet moment with Seven, Xu Sim hands her a sealed envelope. "DO NOT OPEN" 5is scrawled commandingly across the front. The doctor makes his way to join the others. He presents Stranger and Xia Lan with a pair of ruddy pills. [21:13] 13Xia Lan's there to see them off as well, but her attentions are focused on Tsuka. Also her lips. She has no words that would convey her feelings; this will have to do. [21:16] 10After blowing off steam in the practice grounds, mystifying a good dozen city kids, and having a tense argument with a deathknight, Jai seeks out some quiet. By flickering candlelight, he rereads a favorite section of the 10Thousand Correct Actions10 — this one claiming to be an unexpurgated edition, with commentary. He'd received it as a gift from 99 Dark Star before embarking on his field exam, and he's protected it [21:16] 10 through thick and thin ever since. [21:16] 5Xu Sim summons Grittoth; he orders the demon to watch over Seven as her bodyguard. The legion of Bleak Ardua and the Disciples of Thran form ranks to provide their eldritch support wherever needed on the battlefield. [21:19] 14To Keldar: "You too." [21:20] 14Then it's time to find a proper place to get sleepy on honey and tea. [21:20] 10When he's found some peace, Jai stows the precious volume away and heads off to the armorer. No need for cumbersome muffling this time. Today, he's choosing to go into the battle instead of being merely caught up in it. He'll meet up with Keldar and Stranger at the gate. [21:21] 5Xu Sim bows to Xia Lan and Stranger-Visits-Heaven. "Take the pills now. Next time you see me with waking eyes, the war will be over," 5he smiles. [21:22] 13Finally coming up for air: "Do I want to know what they'll do?" 13She's already swallowed her share. 15[21:22] Tsuka has a lot of trouble giving orders with Xia Lan draped over him. His voice keeps cracking for some reason. [21:23] 14Stranger swallows his. "Probably not the details, no." [21:23] 13She's beaming innocently out at his troops. [21:23] 5Xu Sim: "Iron. It should help you fight to wakefulness, resist the trickery of the Raksha-witch." [21:26] 14To Xia Lan, before they go under: "Once we're in there...find me." [21:26] 10It's actually a little shocking to see Keldar practically stripped. "I guess we know who's jumping in front of who if anything unexpected happens, right, Sarge?" [21:26] 13She nods, first to Xu Sim, then later to Stranger. "We'll make it." [21:27] 5Xu Sim regards Keldar. "Well, it's you and me. Brains and brawn." 5Pursing his lips and looking at Jai: "Not sure about you," 5he teases. [21:28] 10Jai: "Pfffft. I'm not half the fighter Keldar is, but we need everything we can right now." 15[21:29] With their good-lucks said and preparations made, the Centered Circle spreads to its positions: Stranger and Xia Lan under guard by Seven and a deployment of the Seventh Caduceus, cups of tea sweetened with Prisoner's Honey in their hands; Jai, Keldar, and Xu Sim at the tip of the spear, ready to ford the river at the signal. [21:29] "And someone's got to carry the news back to Nexus if you two get laid out, right?" 10Also teasing back, just a bit. [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Yep. And when we throw you into the mix we've got magic, too." 12He waits a beat. "Seriously, though, Cethleann barely even left me any brawn. Think if we arm wrestled right now you'd win." [21:30] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All I am's a sword." [21:31] 5Xu Sim shakes his head. "You're the Dawn Sergeant." [21:32] "'The sword is useless in the hands of the man who knows not whence to strike,'" 10Jai quotes. [21:33] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "Only in name-" 12He nods to Jai. "And that's my problem. Fortunately I've got the pair of you. Sword's all our Circle should need til this is over." [21:33] 14Stranger-Visits-Heaven drifts away... [21:35] 13Sip. Sip. Set aside the cup. Dream. [21:38] 10Jai: "Then I'll be your eyes and ears. Come on, daylight's wasting. We want the Sun to see this one." 15[21:40] As Stranger and Xia Lan drift off to sleep, the signal is given at the front. The signal is the raking fire of the Final Word's larboard essence cannon, the lances and buffets of minor elementals, and the literal fire of Blooded officers, clad in jade, sweeping forward, just behind the Solars. "LOOKSHY SAYS HELLO!" bellows Vuol Ballare from the sky above, where she rides the storm 15[21:40] and rains it down from on high. 15[21:41] The assault clears a foothold on the far banks of the Yellow, which swells behind them to urge their soldiers onward and lifts the very river from its banks to harmlessly soak up the slings and arrows Cethleann's horde sends in reply. 15[21:44] The Solars' feet touch the ground and they're off, leading the landing with weapons drawn and katas steadied as they meet the ranks of the hobgoblin horde head-on. [21:52] <@Ferrinus> 12A massive, golden knight looms a hundred feet tall over the battlefield, the spires of Nexus dimly visible through the gleaming haze of its armor. Then it burns orange-red from below as Keldar comes charging forward beneath it, grand daiklave held at the ready, hair wild, eyes aglow. When all you've got is a cutting edge... 15[21:53] Stranger drifts... and feels the sun on his face. He opens his eyes to star up at a violet sky, four suns hanging tightly together above him like they're hung from the same hook. The trees are twisted crystal, and from somewhere a flute plays. He rises to see a woman lying on a chaise, a leather chair beside her, a table between them. Her hair is violet and her skin is faintly green. 15[21:53] Her skin, bare and hide-armored alike, is peppered with black thorns. 15[21:54] Xia Lan drifts... and feels heat on her face. She awakens to a darkened sky thick with embers of fire that drift down slow and crooked like snowflakes. Around her are battle sounds. [21:54] 14Stranger sits up and rolls his neck. Does it crack, here? 15[21:55] It does. 15[21:55] Xia Lan rises to see a woman mounted on a violet horse, clad in armor, wielding a silver lance that runs straight and true. 15[21:55] That lance is pointed at her now. 15[21:56] The Sleeper: "There you are." 15[21:56] The Queen: "There you are." [21:57] 13She raises her hands casually. "Here I am. I suppose I can't complain about the welcoming party." [21:58] 14Stranger: "Here I am. I suppose I can't complain about the view." [21:58] "Four Suns on the edge of the sky." [21:59] 14No tea, Stranger takes it. That's fine. He doesn't really need it in talks like these. There's a verve to them even the sharpest blends don't touch. 15[22:01] The Dreamer: "And one come down to earth. I wonder why?" 15[22:02] The Queen: "So you've come down from the sky, She-Who-Won't-Give-Her-Name? Come down at the rivers where you set the fires?" 15[22:03] "I won't let you beat me again." [22:03] 14Stranger: "Bad luck, I suppose." [22:04] 14He gestures to the table. "Do you mind?" [22:04] 13Xia Lan: "You're in a better place to know that than I am, I think." 13She shrugs, hands still well away from her weapons. "Would you believe it if I told you I came here to talk?" 15[22:05] The Sleeper waves her hand. She's on her side now, watching Stranger with glittering eyes. [22:07] 10There's no time to gawp at Keldar's phenomenal display. Jai unslings Burning Tizona from his back—no need to conceal it, not today—and adopts an aggressive overhead stance, charging at the raksha host. By the time he crashes into their lines, he's running like an enraged yeddim. 15[22:07] The Queen's horse rears back. "Again? Haven't you said enough? Who is left to turn against me? Would you bend me against my own heart too." She hurls the lance in Xia Lan's direction. "What more do you want from me?! Begone!" [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12It's the empty-eyed thrals of the eastern Raksha that encounter Keldar first, and they do not fare well. The warrior's gold-and-silver daiklave carves massive, glowing arcs through the air around him, sending sprays of blood and shockwaves of essence to and from the entire formation of honey-maddened men. They can't withstand the assault, and break into a frenzied mass of flesh [22:16] <@Ferrinus> 12and scavenged weapons. [22:18] 14Stranger will sit down then, cross-legged, with a gracious but very slight smile on his face. [22:22] 13Xia Lan steps aside and lets the lance fall harmlessly. "Is that how it is," 13she says blandly. "As I said. To talk." [22:22] 14Stranger: "I don't want you here anymore." [22:23] 5Xu Sim leaps into the fray - but does not attack. He takes a deep breath, centering his focus, feeling his attention spread across the rubble strewn riverbank. [22:23] "We can go through memories if you'd like, but I suspect that won't be useful to either of us." 15[22:25] The Sleeper: "Then make your case." 15[22:25] The Queen: "Then make your case." [22:31] 13Xia Lan: "...there's a city that needs me. I'm no fighter, certainly not now. Not after..." 13She waves a hand vaguely. "And yet. I want to help them. I want to understand you. I want to do something." [22:34] 14Stranger: "You seem to have a fixation about death. I don't say that lightly or without evidence; you stand ahead a war party rarely seen in Creation -- the only other time, the last time. You have killed countless men, women, and children. Well, Heaven counts. The number doesn't matter much to me, once it goes over one. Your lover died because you betrayed him, and he betrayed [22:34] you, so the story goes; truly died, in the only way he could have, by becoming something completely different." [22:34] "I, of course, will eventually die. And then something that resembles me will return." [22:34] "But not you, hmm? You're just...like this." [22:36] 14Above them, the Suns pulse...and begin to spin. [22:39] 14They're following the same rotation and speed as the dreaming version of the Sol Ring that's projected behind Stranger's head. [22:57] 14He'll pause politely here to let Cethleann get in a word if she wants; if not, he'll continue. [23:00] 10Jai wades through a hail of silver-barbed arrows and the worst the hobgoblins can bring to bear, cutting them down one by one. But it's the maddened thralls that take him by surprise. If Jai was a yeddim, these are a herd of bison, and he can't quite stand against the tide. 15[23:03] The Queen: "So do I. Why should you get what you want?" 15[23:03] The Sleeper: "I am eternal... but ever-changing. If every death is change, is every change death?" [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12Handily fending off the ravening once-thralls, the dawn-fire glow that Keldar spent in his last attack builds to a terrible radiance around the Dawn Sergeant once again as he wades into the hobgoblin ranks. He stomps through the lesser raksha like a behemoth through a village, snarling and lunging and smashing almost as often as he cuts. Before long, the terrified creatures are [23:06] <@Ferrinus> 12parting around Keldar, offering the Solar's circlemates an unobstructed view of the Sergeant's daiklave crashing down against the shields and lances of the faerie elites - and stopping dead! [23:06] 14He nods. "You don't like being here. That much is obvious. You try to hide it sometimes, and other times you don't, but the contempt radiates off you. I suspect you only came here in the first place because of Balor, and it's only Balor that's dragged you back. I can sympathize, in an admittedly limited way. Sometimes I have these dreams, and when I wake up, the colors...well. I'm [23:06] sure you know. [23:06] "That brings us to the question of why you're here in the first place. You knew change was death already, but the corollary is that death was change, and Balor had just died. I suspect you thought that maybe -- just maybe -- change might have changed him back. I don't believe this was pure opportunism given the fall of the Emissary, nor do I believe it was pure vengeance to be meted [23:06] out to what was left of his 'corpse.' I don't believe you'd come here, to a place you hate and which hates you in kind, just for a show. And I don't believe you came here for the slaughter, though you certainly don't mind it or care. You wanted to make a rhetorical point. [23:06] "And rhetorical points are very, very strong." [23:06] 13Xia Lan: "Who am I, to you?" 13It's an abrupt change of tack. 15[23:09] The Sleeper: "The greatest trick you people ever pulled was convincing yourselves rhetoric and reality are different." [23:11] 14Stranger: "No; that was perhaps the second greatest. The greatest was convincing everyone else that they could ever really build anything with a sword. We had...so many swords." [23:11] "The Realm is finding out now how poor they serve as hammers, and how poor blood serves as mortar." [23:11] "But! Hardly your concern." 15[23:13] The Queen: "The face on high! The voice in my head. The fire in the sky. But I know what you really are. You're just some desperate failure who fell out of her depth and found a power you don't understand. Why won't you tell me your name?" [23:16] 13Xia Lan: "...the Unfettered Xia Lan. Desperate failure is maybe more pointed than I'd like, but not incorrect." [23:23] 14Above them the Suns are no longer spinning; they're rising and setting in the 'sky,' rapid but stately and fluid. 15[23:33] The Queen: "Xia Lan... I'll remember that. You say you want to do something. But what? What more can you do?" [23:35] 13She shrugs. "I've got no fucking clue. I'd love to strike a cool pose and tell you I know I can save the people of Nexus, or my friends, or even just me, but I'm all talk. So. I want to talk. Why are you here? I've heard stuff, but I've heard enough things about me to know not to trust that." 15[23:36] The Sleeper yawns. "What are you driving at?" [23:36] 5Xu Sim turns aside attack after attack of the Cataphractoi, before coming back with one of his own. The burning ruddy mandalas flare on his brow and in the sky above, although below on the riverbank, not much damage is inflicted on the armored raksha warriors. [23:39] 10Jai finally escapes the clutches of the mob and joins Keldar and Xu Sim's battle against the cataphractoi. The daiklaive seems to catch the rays of the sun, making it seem like it truly has caught fire. For the assembled raksha nobles, it is the last thing a good half dozen of them ever see. Jai's earlier awkwardness with the sword is evaporating, smoothly flowing from stance to stance. Iron, Stone, Wind, Blood. 15[23:39] The Queen: "I'm here--" She gestures widely "--to wipe away the stain of Creation. I'm here--" She thrusts her lance into the dirt "--because I have been betrayed." [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12There's a part of Keldar that keeps an ongoing and highly detailed log of the combative capabilities of all of his allies and enemies, but there's another part of Keldar that just plain keeps forgetting that Xu Sim knows how to catch lances with his bare hands and not even muss his sleeves. The mercenary keeps raising his sword defensively and then finding that nothing meets it -- [23:41] <@Ferrinus> 12which means he's got the opportunity to keep that upward motion going and unhorse, disarm, or just plain decapitate the armored fiends that now set upon him and his allies. [23:42] 13Xia Lan: "Betrayed by...?" 13We can cover the stain of Creation part later. [23:44] 13Is there anything nearby they could both lean up against? Something that doesn't involve weaponry being thrown in the general direction of Xia Lan? Just planning, here. 15[23:44] The Queen: "I won't speak his name again." [23:46] 13Xia Lan: "Noted. Could you... get off your horse? I kind of want to sit down while we talk, if that's okay with you." [23:48] 14Stranger: "That you're in control. If you want to die, you can. If you want to change, you can. You might have had to come here to do it. If you want to kill me too, well, you'll be unleashing something much more fun on the world, but much less interesting, if I might be permitted some self-regard. I'll die eventually either way. You and your story, you're timeless, no matter how [23:48] much of this world you eat. [23:48] "And timelessness is the problem, isn't it? Love is vengeance deferred, but what does deferral mean to someone who can't change? What do you hope to punish? You can't punish him. He's gone. He was never even really here. He enforces a traffic code now. He meters carriages. And you're left with a story without an ending, because all you've got is the story you had before. It's why you [23:48] can march right in here and murder children in their beds, and it's also your curse. [23:48] "You want to know my theory? My theory is that when an Incarna changes her story, the story changes along with her. Not at first, but over time. It'd get written down slightly differently, piece by piece, mouth to mouth, twisting and turning into the new soul, the new blood. The new rhetoric. And you...you'd become something new. Your story would change. Belief in you would change. [23:48] You'd die, as you like, and you'd become something else you wanted to be more. You said rhetoric was reality. You can prove it. [23:48] "Stories don't just go foreward. They go backward, too. You have a chance to fix the past in the only way that matters. You just have to be willing to die for it. [23:48] I am." 15[23:48] The Queen considers this, and gets off her high horse. [23:50] 13Xia Lan looks around for anywhere comfortable to sit. All else fails, she's willing to just sit down where she's standing, but that seems rude. Even if she is sort of a guest here. [23:51] 13Conversationally: "Stain of Creation. That's a new one. Is that off-limits, too?" 15[23:52] Seats and a table materialize as the Queen descends. She sits too; she towers over her interlocutor. 15[23:52] The Queen: "The reek. The ugliness. The hate. So empty and so noisy at once. What a waste." [23:54] 13Xia Lan actually laughs. "If you had caught me like, a year ago, I'd agree without hesitation. Now I have to hesitate a bit before I agree. And yet." [23:54] "It's - stupidly honest. I appreciate that." [23:57] 13Xia Lan: "I was so angry until the Sun chose me. Heck, even when the Sun did choose me. Having to care for, defend, educate, elevate these -- awful people. But I found things I could care for. Cultivate. Even found a person I loved." 13She shrugs. "Life's funny like that." [23:57] "Don't tell them that, by the way, because I was totally taking their money for concert tickets well before I actually liked any of them." 15[00:01] Jai notices it first. His sword, previously clanging against the cataphract's dreaming plate as steel against steel, cleaves straight through, releasing a font of fluttering motion. Then Keldar follows up by nimbly decapitating another, and more of it gushes forth from the top of the severed neck. Xu Sim doesn't even get a chance to hit his before it dissolves entirely. Ten thousand 15[00:01] butterflies fill the air around them, leaving the husks of bodies to shrivel into salt on the earth. They rise to join others up and down the river, hundreds of thousands, thousands of thousands -- enough to blot out the sun. 15[00:02] The surviving thralls dance among them in childlike rapture. [00:02] 10Jai: "What— did it work?" [00:02] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar: "All right, what the fuck. Xu Sim, I think we want some butterflies of our own here-" [00:03] 5Xu Sim stares in stupefecation for a moment. [00:03] 10Jai boggles, as dumbfounded as those kids were earlier "Xu Sim! What does this mean?!" 15[00:04] As Keldar speaks, his voice distorts and fades. He finds it difficult to push words out of his throat. No sound emerges. The butterflies cloud their vision until all is white and all is silent. 15[00:04] The Sleeper extends her hand. "Come, then. Die with me." Stranger takes it without thinking. [00:04] 14He made the offer. [00:05] 14May the future live better. 15[00:05] The Queen shakes her head. "No. No. We will live after we die." The both of them are consumed by the fire falling from the sky, fluttering and white. 15[00:07] The five of them all hang together, feet dangling until they all settle on nothing. White all around. No ground. No sky. Just the five of them and her, and a path between them marked in polished stones, telling the tale of those who have joined and parted. 15[00:08] Cethleann stands before them as she did when she cursed Keldar and Xia Lan. When their weapons crossed in Nexus. 15[00:08] She smiles warmly, but not at them. She's looking somewhere. 15[00:08] Cethleann: "Next time: The empty channel."