[Game Thread] Chapter Five: Everything Changes

[Blue]

Nevh bitterly agreed. She had already gotten attached to the idea of existing for at least another two weeks.
"Yes. Even if we take precautions, there will always be the risk that they would succeed in eluding our ability to insure that the one we elect isn't one of his pawns. Or the chance that he finds the means to control the election process in two weeks, or makes another assembly too difficult to occur or otherwise further delay the process. Until he has enough time to go through with his plans."

She cleared her throat. The situation wasn't comfortable.
"If we do this now. Let us make the best of it. We could relay that the election will happen in two weeks as we had decided. I have already voiced that I intended to isolate myself until then, so my absence will be normal. Zera might perhaps learn from the Blue Lady that the second hybrid will have been made, but in the off chance that he does not, he will be pressed to take rapid actions, and perhaps make more mistakes.
"If he learns it, well, I imagine that the second hybrid will do like Nehrahk and consolidate her font of power, so his opposition will keep growing in power with time and weaken his chances of victory."

Mrith was still not convinced. She really didn't like where things were going. She sure wished she knew how to speak Halvan.
"Unless there is another volunteer among us or those we consulted during the recess there would be no need to vote on the second hybrid."
Her claws clenched the table, grinding against shadow.
"As the Archmage said, we need the best candidates. There is probably someone more suited for this than you. I'm sure we can manage in two weeks. The Quallish council would probably agree with me."
The dragon's will was imposing. She didn't have to say much for her desires to carry further than her words. By force of habit in her upbringing, Mrith had grown used to be obeyed and had gotten rather good at destroying any resistance in those who disagreed with her. People usually complied without much of a fight and the mentorship of her mother had only helped improve her natural talent for business.

Nevh bit her lip gently as her eyes found her sister's. Laid her hands on the table, replying to her in Quallish.
"And I'll vote for Quall again. Not for me."
That made her grin, the sparks escaping between her teeth breaking the darkness around her face for an instant. She drew closer, whispering to her in druidic.
"We still need you. L'arabiel has returned but she'll be helping the Shalians and you got deals with them in the works already. The House will give you more responsibilities and Quall will want you to keep the link with Shali strong until she returns to us. Don't you want that?"

Nevh ignored her and turned to those still present.
"This is the risk of getting the best candidate that we can all agree on versus the possibility of getting the worst kind or none at all. We still have control for now; I say we make good of it while we can and not press our luck. Waiting isn't a bad idea, but I hate to gamble when the stakes are so high. The vote between Alyyryk and I was tight so I it seems many of us here already believe that I would be reliable enough. I believe I am."

Before they would begin a new vote, Nevh would speak again: "Jester being unavailable right now I suggest we have him vote against having both hybrids made right away until he can vote for himself, in case that his vote would make or break a tie."

[SpatulaOdoom]

Morgan had kept his mouth shut throughout the selection and voting process thus far, but this was becoming too much.
”Honestly, and this is coming from someone who just dared an unknown number of spies and assassins to try and kill him, I think you're all acting like a bunch of idiots. Don't let fear of some bogeyman push you into rash foolish actions. Who here thought that Zera and the fiends didn't have a spy or two among the gathering? And who here thought that they wouldn't make a grab for the daggers if they could when they thought they'd slip beyond their grasp forever? So now, because the totally expected happened, you want to throw out the very first voting decision made by this body? No. There was a vote. Abide by it.

Personally I'm mildly horrified that we're apparently doing this on a first come first served basis. Since the vote was for one now then we don't really have time to vet any other potentials, and in this case I'm reasonably alright with the result. Despite concerns regarding his thirst for vengeance I believe that Alyyryk is a good choice for a number of reasons, but I can't say I know either of them well enough to say for sure if I'm willing to put the fate of multiple realities in their hands just because I've worked with them for a few weeks.”

”We've already got solid plans in place to protect the daggers and we've also got a reasonable assurance we can vet people and find Zera's touch on the minds of others. Let's just keep calm and wait for the others to return from their fight.”

Diplomacy result = 48

[Blue]

Nevh wasn't bothered by the protest. She hadn't pushed them to decide to make a new round of votes and had only re-iterated her original opinion on the situation after the decision had been made. Frankly, she hoped they would stick to their first decision.
"I agree. We expected these things to happen. Although there is a difference between hearing about what the enemy is able to accomplish and experiencing it; we representatives have to believe our accounts of the situation and some of us might have underestimated Zera's capacity to affect our plans, as perhaps you are now. Deimos paraded among us without our knowing as a most trusted ally but a few hours ago. Zera also has servants loyal to him without any need of mind manipulation, some very high into our ranks, as was Wade. Some befriending us. Not to make everyone paranoid but what we learned from Wade is that we can trust, yes, but we have to second guess everyone. Take no one for granted. Especially those with talent who rose high or gained influence quickly."
She turned to the representatives, frowning.
"I had hoped we would have gathered more potential hybrids during the recess. Things will only get more complicated from now on."

Nevh was also confident in their disposition to manage the second sacrifice safely. She wasn't so confident in their actual ability to make the second sacrifice in two weeks if Zera conquered Halva by then. He already had his army and could have it sent anywhere at any time. And that was without the unknown factors of what was going on with the drows and that new terror they had just heard of.
Mrith was ecstatic by the way things seemed to be turning.

[Makenshi]

With the arguments from Morgan, Mrith and others the talk of creating the second Hybrid now quickly dies down, with the assembled representatives mostly seeming to continue debating the details in part out of nervousness. In all, it takes perhaps twenty minutes or more until they hear word of what happened in the palace.

The two shadowy figures appear unannounced and almost unseen but for their grey eyes. "The palace is safe now." Zilira says, placing a hand on Morgan's shoulder. "But there was casualties."

Before anyone can ask the second pair of eyes, Coiya, fills them in. "She killed Lyanis Naesti, Mirik Orn and Sei'Raeth Segali." He turns to Kala. "We were hoping you could help with the last two."

Kala frowns and signs back, with the Mortimer translating. "What about the first? Lyanis?"

"She was a risen martyr. My understanding is that whether she comes back or not is up to Hiahel, although if you could put her back together that might help."

Obviously impatient, Zilira interrupts Kala's response. "Easier to see for yourself. Get ready, we're pulling you back."

The scene that greets them is one of chaos and destruction. The table and chairs are broken and strewn around the room, which is covered in a thin layer of frost, with completely frozen spots dotted around the room which is still incredibly cold. There are also shattered pieces of ice of various shapes and sizes all over the room, some of which look like bits of the furniture, some of which look like icy projectiles and some of which appear to be fragments of someone...

Kala immediately looks around the room for the dead, although the only one she appears able to find, at least in part, is a frozen statue of Mirik Orn missing an arm, shoulder and half his torso, with shards of the rest of him strewn around the floor nearby.

The surviving Archgates and the Deities are mostly spread around the room, with the notable exception of Jester who is nowhere to be seen. Most of them are trying to clear up/repair the room while Alainn heals the injured, and Nehrahk stares at the shards of ice, writhing his fingers in intricate patterns and levitating this one and that one, seemingly at random and putting them together. It takes those watching a moment to realise that he is trying to gather the pieces of the other two slain Archgates.

Everyone seems to be at a loss for words.

~MTWC

[Blue]

After breaking out of the spell and getting her senses back she approached Coiya.
"Was she alone? And where is Jester?"

Mrith returned to her human appearance and hurried to gather the pieces of Mirik Orn, aghast. The expression frozen on her face.
She muddled incoherently as she tried to freeze the pieces together by putting the broken surfaces against themselves and breathing ice over them.

[Makenshi]

Coiya nods grimly. "Alone. She did all this alone. At first she seemed distracted, trying to get past us, but then she paused for a moment and turned right around and started attacking. Nehrahk tried to take the brunt of it, but she just ignored him as much as she could, lashing out at everyone else or simply attacking whole areas."

On the matter of Jester it is Zilira who speaks up. "He went to collect one of the daggers."

~MTWC

[Blue]

Nevh nodded slowly.
"...I see."
Jester going to fetch a dagger wasn't exactly telling. Aldamil was still there and, unless there was an arrangement for hand over her dagger first, he would be going to get the dagger held by Vulcar.
It felt right. Good faith would require it, she thought. His first, then Aldamil's. She hoped it would be so.

She wandered around the debris, thinking. She took pieces of the wreckage lying far from the center and dropped them in the middle.
A moment after, she cast a spell upon herself to sharpen her skills and then another to reassemble the wrecked furniture.
She isolated the ice in the area and put it aside into one big lump later reshaped into the image of a falcon, once the table and all the chairs she could make were done. She tried to maintain the integrity of design for those too damaged to simply mend together, but also improvised a little for some of them. If she could reassemble them all, she would purposefully leave one chair broken.
The magical crafting took a while but it kept her mind focused on something. It helped her stay calm. She couldn't break now.

With that done, they could end the meeting in at least a semblance of tranquility. She'd sit down and do some breathing exercises.

Spells Divine Insight on self. Fabricate to make the table and chairs from the materials once its gathered around within 200 cu. ft.. And the ice statue to separate the materials. Would take the opportunity to fix the floor and walls within too while she's at it.

[SpatulaOdoom]

"Mirith, wait! Please." Morgan calls out as the young dragon moves to disturb Orn's remains.
"Everyone, please try not to disturb the remains unless you really know what you're doing. Where they lay can tell us where each piece goes. If anyone has a limited wish, wish, or miracle prepared that should suffice, otherwise we do this the hard way."
Morgan steps carefully over to Orn's mostly complete corpse, moving to where he can see the shards that appear to have come from him.
"Forget the arm." He mutters to himself. "Just need enough of the torso to keep him alive for a regeneration."
He peers intently at the scattered spray of frozen flesh, looking more at the pattern than the individual pieces. No time. Just the patterns. Always the patterns.

ooc What Morgan is attempting is sort of a very accelerated analysis of the impact and where the parts landed and such. I figure this sort of "information processing" would fall under an Intelligence check. A really hard intelligence check. Correct? Thank goodness for Moment of Prescience.

[Makenshi]

After examining Mirik Orn, and seemingly happy with Morgan's deductions, Kala runs over to Nehrahk, pushing the Hybrid out of the way, much to his surprise. Standing in front of the two piles and amongst the other pieces, she places her hands together as if in prayer and closes her eyes. One of the piles begins to build itself, pulling in other pieces from near and far away until in a matter of seconds there is what appears to be an icy statue of Sei'Raeth Segali standing before them. Kala opens her eyes a fraction to confirm everything is ok before repeating the process, this time for Lyanis Naesti.

Next, she places a hand against Sei'Raeth's chest, her eyes still closed in concentration as the ice seems to melt around her hand, spreading from there to the rest of his body in seconds and causing him to almost fall on top of Kala once free of the ice, if not for Nehrahk catching the body. Kala wastes no time, placing both hands on Raeth this time, although there is no gradual build-up or visual display this time, Sei'Raeth's eyes just snap open and the Nihleese takes a series of hacking breathes.

Once again, Kala doesn't waste time on ceremony, leaving the now living Raeth to the care of Alainn and his sister, who both move over to him. She repeats the melting for Lyanis, but conscious of what they were told before, makes no attempt to revive her, instead moving back to the mostly put together Mirik Orn. Conscious of the time, she waves Morgan, Mrith and the others away once they have put together the important bits, melting the Silver Bard before reviving him too, although with a missing, bleeding arm and shoulder, he doesn't so much hack as splutter and groan in pain, although Kala is quick to cast a regeneration and to heal him.

~MTWC

[Blue]

As she held the arm, Mrith stopped moving upon being called. Paralyzed as if she was a child again and everyone had just seen her set the house on fire. That was probably the last time she had felt such fear.

She watched Kala go with a similarly childish awe. Never had she witnessed something as wondrous as the spectacle of winding back such a terrifying scene and strip it of all its darkness.
"...She's amazing."

Nevh was similarly impressed, but more quiet.
That had been a lot of ridiculously advanced back-to-back healing. The Rudaa couldn't help but worry that the use of all this power would be taxing on the girl, and wonder what the price of all these lives would be, if any. She had already resurrected Morgan earlier... she couldn't possibly just do this all day. Could she?
How often she would be able to bring someone back is probably something Zera would want to take into account. It was after all easier to have her expend herself before killing his true targets than outright reach and kill her. Especially if he preferred to add her to his collection. Perhaps this slaughter was in part to test Kala's ability. An experiment, of sorts.

She didn't ask her. If Kala leaked her limits now perhaps the information would reach Zera and he would get something out of this mess.
More than that, she made herself ready to interrupt any who'd ask, and consider any such person with renewed suspicion.

[SpatulaOdoom]

With Mrith's help in fitting and “gluing” and Morgan sorting and selecting the next piece, the two of them are able to put make rapid progress on putting together Mirik Orn's torso. By the time Kala is done with the other Archgates Morgan feels satisfied that the Silver Bard will survive long enough to be healed. He steps back as Kala goes to perform yet another miracle. He holds his breath, but his and Mrith's efforts are rewarded when Mirik is not only resurrected but survives the gush of blood and whatever bits they'd missed long enough to be healed.

Morgan sighs in relief, but instead of going to Zilira, Kala, or Mirik he returns to collecting the shattered bits of Orn's former arm and shoulder. That wasn't the sort of thing one wanted to leave just lying around. There was probably enough to make dozens of simulacri and have plenty left over for scrying and other nefarious purposes.
Mort comes scampering out from under the newly rebuilt table with a frozen finger and drops it in the burlap sack Morgan had produced.
”You know. He doesn't taste half bad. Mind if I keep a piece for dinner?”
The jest draws a snort from the mage, but he's just too tired to banter with his familiar as he usually does.
”Just keep an eye out for anyone trying to snag a piece.”
Once he's done he tosses the bag to Orn.
”You'll want to get rid of that before it starts to melt and get... juicy. I think I saw a ring in there too.
I'm glad you made it back Mirik.”

Only then does he go to Zilira and pull her in for a tight embrace and a kiss.
”And I'm very very glad you made it through OK.”
So much about the Hybrids had still been unknown, was still unknown, that the idea of simply going into a fight with one of them blind like that... Well, Morgan had spent most of the most of the time in the shadow plane quietly fretting.
”I admit I got a little bored, so I started a fight of my own. Tricked one of Zera's kids, if I don't miss my guess, into exposing himself. Varius Wade from the Elernen camp. Fight didn't last long though. He ran at the first opportunity.”

[Makenshi]

Malhas watches over Kala while she heals, his expression guarded while his eyes wander around the room, looking for potential trouble. Once she has finished healing she looks a little tired but continue to heal others as well, although without having to resort to such powerful magic.

Mirik seems to take the joke by Mortimer well enough, choking out a chuckle while still grimacing. "Careful, there's no telling where I've been." He catches the bag of bits, giving Morgan and grim smile before nodding.

Zilira grins at Morgan's words, returning the kiss and even giving his rear a squeeze too. "You too." On the matter of Wade her grin grows. "You scared him off then? Why did he even reveal himself?"

~MTWC

[SpatulaOdoom]

Morgan returns the squeeze with a grin of his own.
”Wade somehowwww got the impression that I had a dagger and was about to use it on Alyyryk. He had to either make the grab or loose the opportunity forever. Made a very amusing face when he found out I didn't have it. Nobody else saw it since he's got time manipulation powers including something akin to the time stop spell and another ability that let him literally rewind a little bit of time. Despite all that power he didn't have the balls to make a serious go of inflicting some collateral on the way out, so it was a total loss. I imagine daddy isn't too happy with him at the moment.”
That meant a total of four of the six of Kala's opponents from his vision were now exposed. He thinks he knows who one of them is, the one who appears as a friend, and the thought of that causes the smile to fade from his face like water sinking into dry earth.
”Well. I suppose I should go find Leon then, I imagine he wouldn't waste time with trifles considering what's going on now.
I should check on Xu as well.” With all these spies around Morgan is very glad that he'd been careful to give no mention of the Drow. The guy had a hard enough life without being snatched up by various people or pestered by others.

[Makenshi]

Zilira frowns, though it is perhaps unsurprisingly Shosanna who comments on it. "Temporal Acceleration and Time Regression by the sounds of it. The first is a controllable Time Stop, depending on how much power you can put into it. As or Time Regression...hmmm...that you saw through it is...unusual to say the least. Only the manifester should retain that knowledge. It undoes everything that happened for the last few seconds up to and including the manifester's own last actions and those who acted after. It drains experiencevitality to manifest though, and it only works in a very short time scale overall, which is fortunate otherwise he might have just undone things up to before he revealed himself. Either way, if you face him again I suggest you hit him hard and fast. He has to be able to act to be able to revert time."

With all the magic in use, it doesn't take them long before they have the room sorted enough for everyone to sit again, and just in time for Jester to return. The gruff Archgate gives a slight nod to Zilira and Coiya as he appears from a nearby shadow, presumably having been pulled in or otherwise helped by one of them.

"Well?" Mirik asks, still looking a little pale.

Jester reaches into a pocket and pulls out one of the Daggers of Defiance they had given to the Seven Saviours. "I also spoke with Hiahel." He makes a slight face at that, which attracts Mirik's interest.

"Oh?" He glances towards Lyanis' body. "When will she be joining us again then?"

Jester's reply is a little terse. "She won't."

Mirik isn't the only one who looks baffled, but it is Malhas who speaks out. "What?"

This time there was clear resentment in Jester's voice in his response. "'Apparently', Lyanis was going to leave soon anyway. She had even chosen her successor. Unfortunately said successor is currently 'occupied' at the moment." Of all the representatives, it is the two Elves who seem least surprised by this news, although neither Lalian, nor Tiaan speak up.

Once that matter was dealt with Jester turns his attention to Alyyryk, who has been staring at the dagger since the Archgate took it out. His expression softens slightly, although Jester's 'soft' expression wasn't actually that soft. He glances around the room. "If any of you are squeamish, then you might not want to stay here for this."

"No." Malhas interrupts. "Everyone should stay." Kala starts to sign furiously at Malhas but the Godling holds up a hand to her and continues, looking around the room, especially at those who had started to get up or move away. "Everyone should stay and watch because they voted for this. Because they need to tell their rulers, their people and any potential volunteers exactly what is about to happen." He looks directly at Alyyryk now. "Because a man is about to sacrifice himself and its the least we can do to share his last moments and remember them." Malhas the Tyyrykan equivalent of a bowbrings his right fist over his heart with a slight thump, before speaking in Tyyrykan. Whatever his words were, they cause both Alyyryks to stand a little straighter, and the worry on Lekan's face lessens.

 

"Everything that ends must begin, as everything that begins must end."

Kala in particular seems surprised at Malhas' words, although she is quick to bring her right fist over her heart, even if not quite as vigorously as her half brother, and even uses her free hand to sign a quick message of her own, which Mortimer translates. "I will not forget."

It quickly turns into a ripple of gestures from everyone in the room, with a few others giving their own parting words to the Tyyrykan. Each time it seems to lift the Kashyyn and his brother a little.

OOC If you want to say something to Lekan then now is your last chance.

~MTWC

[SpatulaOdoom]

Morgan just sort of shrugs to Shosana. ”I had a vision, not surprising really since it involved my own death. And he didn't undo it, just moved back to an earlier point in time and split off a new reality by trying different actions. It still happened, just not to anyone here and now. It's the only way to avoid paradox. Assuming the universe is logical, once something has happened it is very much inclined to continue to have happened. It's what I call the law of conservation of history.”
That it could be attempted with such a relatively paltry amount of power probably meant that he only sent his memories back. Which made sense, as otherwise there would be two of him.
It wasn't really relevant to the situation, but it was a sobering thought. Somewhere out there was a slowly cooling Morgan who had rolled the dice one too many times. Hopefully another Kala would help him out.

The mage is just about to make his exit to check on Xu and find Leon when Jester returns. Hiahel's final end is saddening. Not for her sake, as the elf had no doubt earned her rest many times over, and her reward was nothing to be feared, but because it was another step closer to the total disappearance of the elven race. Perhaps there were more somewhere out there, but here on Ahkea the branch was almost dead and gone.

When Jester suggests the squeamish leave Morgan straightens, frowns, and opens his mouth to speak. Malhas gets to it just before he does though.
”$@^!ing right everyone's staying." Anger is evident in the mage's voice. "We all chose this, not just Lekan Alyyryk of the Kashyyn. We will have our ally against Zera, though I think some of you may not get quite what you expect, but to get it we must consign a soul to the void. Not just death of the body, but the soul itself. None of us, myself included, were able to find a better way, so we must bear the burden of this choice and I'll be damned if anyone here is going to to hide their faces like children.”
Morgan squares his shoulders and faces Lekan. He steps forward to offer the man his hand.
”Fire Heart. It has been an honour and privilege to know you. I will not forget.”