Check and Mate


Weyland slowly comes down to land beside the statue that used to be Dexamene. "Fine. Sorcerer-Girl, can you part the veil to the Gate? We can fly in and hit the other two in their tower before they know what hit them. Or undermine it, if we can do that quickly."

"Can you lot fly?"

"Not yet." Jerod says simply.

"I can Part the Veil, but I have Never Tried Flying," Brita notes. She is ready to proceed as soon as Jerod and Raven are prepared.

Weyland looks at Brita. "Your ancestor is that boy who likes Gods and Monsters, right? If someone taught you to Part The Veil, you can manage a Filmy. I'll summon one." Weyland makes a complex gesture with his hands and adds an oddly echoing whistle to it. "Five minutes. Then get ready for a fight." He looks around the plains. "And probably best to leave the emuraptors behind."

A flat black shape slides silently up to Weyland. He points at Brita, and it approaches her. It's like a flying carpet, except it has no texture, color, or even depth. Brita knows how to direct it, of course, although she's by no means an accomplished filmy pilot yet.

Weyland seems eager to get on with the attack.

Brita grumbles softly that Filmies means riding, not flying. She looks to Jerod, "Do We Want the Statue With Us?"

"Still voting for whatever means making sure she ends up where we mean her to be on the first try. No offense," Raven says, adding the last as almost an aside to Weyland, "but I've had just about enough of things that should be one way ending up another."

Weyland begins to hover impatiently.

"We bring it." Jerod says. "Don't want her mysteriously disappearing if we get side-tracked and I don't want to run around trying to find her again."

Brita nods and adjusts, directing the filmy under the statue before punching a hole through the shadow to Gateway.

Snow comes through Brita’s breech in the shadow, sizzling quickly in warm plains of the the Towerlands. Weyland looks through, and then swoops into the opening. From the opening, Jerod can hear the calls of Weyr, and the sound of Emuraptors. It seems as if the Weyr are, in the end, enough to discourage the murder-birds.

Brita waits until the others mount the filmy (spreading it as necessary) and then maneuvers through the opening with the statue in front like a hood ornament (if she knew what those were).

Jerod is on board immediately, minus murder-birds even if they do seem somewhat useful.

Raven follows, after a moment's eyeing of the portal and their latest steed with a wariness the good captain did not have for the overgrown chickens.

The filmy doesn't seem as responsive or perhaps not as clever as the ones Nana Clarissa uses, but it is more than adequate for the job and doesn't seem to tire or need sustenance. If it can be coaxed to a decent speed, it might make Gateway's gate before sunrise.

The storm that was raging around the forest is clearing up, and the thunder indicates that it is spiraling out to sea as the natural weather of the area reasserts itself.

Shortly after the filmy crosses back to the Gatwegan shadow, Jerod hears a howl, quickly answered by others. It's likely that the group has been scented by the Weir. The filmy couldn't take them all, but a half dozen or so could crowd on.

Weyland squints down at the trio. "You know where we're going, or do you need to follow me?"

"The lay of the land is quite familiar." Jerod says. "We can proceed.

"We'll take a couple for secondary support only." he says to Brita, motioning to the Weir. "I want to send the rest back to the others, make sure the ship is okay and give a message to Harper so she's aware of what's up."

"Wouldn't hurt to send a few to track what's gone on in our wake," Raven suggests. "Better to know what kind of mess we left before we run into it on the way back."

Brita nods in agreement to Raven's comment and begins to steer the filmy towar ds the howls. "Where is Your Harper, Cousin Jerod?"

"Don't take too long, or I'll have to do all the work!", say Weyland. He starts flying south. While a cold, hard rain is still falling, it doesn't seem to be falling on him.

To Brita, Jerod replies. "If she hasn't disappeared back to the capital in anticipation of our success here, she'll be back with the ship. I'll wager she's on her way to the Gate though."

A figure drops from a nearby tree. It's still pretty large, but it seems mostly human. Jerod recognizes Reynart, the red-furred warrior who was the last of the weir on the mission.

"My Lord. We saw the return and I see the prey. What is our next task? The Weir stand ready."

Jerod will collect a couple of the Weir who are more battle experienced to take with him (and makes it clear this is not a slight against anyone). The remainder are to get back to the ship with any message that Raven might want forwarded, advising that they are proceeding after the remaining prey and to set sail immediately to follow-up.

All except for Reynart. He and one other will go find Harper and/or her designated representative, if she has departed for the Gate and advise them of the same, that Dexamene is in custody and the other two are to soon follow. Also to advise that Jerod expects Harper to be able to arrange for a suitable transfer of power once the three are dealt with. He doesn't want any "issues" arising from this that he or any of the others will be forced to deal with.

Also, to let Harper know not to interfere with a flying gentleman should they encounter him. He's vaguely family related.

Reynart indicates his understanding, and gives quick orders to his two redheaded (or is it red furred?) associates, naming senior pack members to summon to the Prince's side. Reynart leaves to find Philippe ("and play fox and mouse games with him").

Two weir, of the more common coloration, arrive minutes after Reynart and his associates depart. They smile when the they see Dexamene. It isn't a friendly thing. "Good hunting, my Lord!", says Jeanne, the elder of the warriors.

Jerod nods once. "Indeed. We proceed to Gateway for the other two. I want them alive if possible, but removed for certain."

"This one..." and he motions to the statue. "...goes to his Majesty. It is not to be damaged."

"If it's going by way of the ship," Raven says, "there's spots in the hold that are out of the way of prying eyes, and at least one ought to fit her."

The two weir look at the statue. They can carry it to the boat, but they might have trouble catching up to the filmy if they do. They look at Jerod. "We can split up, my Lord. Or call for another of the pack..."

Brita looks at the statue, back at the weir, and then reaches out and rips a hole to the deck of Raven's ship. "Put her There for Others to Stow. I Will Hold the Path while you Do So."

Jerod appears about ready to say something before Brita decides to tear asunder space and time. He looks only briefly at Brita while he remains the model of aplomb.

"Stow it aboard."

Raven, on the other hand, winces slightly at the sight of the hole. "Tell the First Mate to stow her deep and dark until he's told otherwise. He'll know where I mean."

The rip in space-time is disconcerting for those not used to it. It feels wrong, in a way that the Pattern feels right. On the other hand, standing on a rectangular piece of utter nothingness and cruising around the night in a strange country seems wrong in the same way, so perhaps it's best to ignore how one feels.

The Weir complete their task and return to the rent in the cosmos. They carefully leap through, avoiding the sides completely.

"Do you want additional of our people, my Lord?", the senior Weir addresses Jerod. "If we were four, we could scout two-and-two, while the other team protects the passengers."

"Bring them." Jerod says simply.

Two more weir come through the rip in reality, which is slowly closing. They look very similar, like brothers.

Brita waits until the Weir are arranged as they want and then directs the filmy onward to Gateway. "Do we Come In as Avenging Gods?" She asks Jerod.

"It may be hard not to," Raven points out, gesturing in the direction they're headed.

"I like the avenging part. The god portion, not so much." Jerod says. "Pissed off Amberites should be more than sufficient."

The filmy heads off, at a higher speed than Brita is used to. The path Brita and Weyland walked for days will be crossed this very evening.

It seems to be following Weyland. The machine? thing? creature? It is unclear what it is. In any case, while it dodges trees and buildings, it handles rivers and hills by heading steadily across them.

Looking for very long at the too-dark-to-be-black surface of the filmy is disturbing.

The weir all seem to be enjoying the ride.

Brita keeps her eyes on the path ahead, attempting subtle course corrections to avoid 'dodging' too much. Not need to make the filmy regret its service by having someone get sick on it. Other than that, she has nothing to prepare.

If any of them stick their heads out over the side, Jerod is going to smack them. (get your head back in the damn car).

Given that they are flying on something that is probably based on Chaos principles, Jerod is a bit leery about doing any Pattern manipulation, lest he do something that causes them to suddenly meet the ground at a high rate of speed.

He will do a minimal check on his previous preparations to see if the triggers remain in effect. He'll need to either use them or disable them at some point and he wants to know how Gateway has been responding to them.

Aside from some questions about just what it is everyone's currently standing on, Raven is mostly content with watching the landscape go past. Maybe making a few mental notes of comparison between ships and floating black things as means of travel.

About a mile from Gateway, at a spot where it's possible to see the Gate, but not the city walls, the filmy starts turning east. It continues up the hills to Marksman's Hill. It is about an hour before sunrise.

Weyland is on top of the hill, with a ship's spyglass. Raven suspects it may be her ship's spyglass, but it's still pretty dark.

Weyland continues as if the conversation hadn't been interrupted by several hours of travel.

"Two main landside guard posts, there and there. The port, which has their sailors and access through the gate to the seaward. The large tower is the palace. The green plaza is the Collegium Arcanum. Your people.

"I've got you lot penciled in as 'the distraction'. That work for you?"

"First I'd like to know what your portion is." Jerod says.

Weyland grins. "Once you flush them out, I turn them to statues. Then I promise King Random he'll never be troubled by them again and set the three of them up as coatracks in my tower."

"We Will ask The King His Will after We have Executed your Plan," Brita avers. She turns to Jerod. "What shall We Do as Distraction?

"Setting one of those ships alight would keep portside busy," Raven says. "Maybe more. Might make things harder for us, though."

"The Triumvirate are mages." Jerod says. "What flushes out a mage? A threat to their power." and he motions to the Collegium.

To Raven, Jerod says, "We leave the ships alone. And the civilians in general. Hurt the population and they rally against whomever is causing them grief. That brings them into the fight against us. People dislike changes in government, but they dislike getting killed more. We keep it short and relatively bloodless and they'll stay out of it.

"We get the Collegium to do their part now. Make what appears to be a coup attempt, a nice showy display. Enough to draw out the remaining two in order to suppress it."

He turns to Weyland. "This assumes that the other two are unaware of what has happened to Dexamene. If they suspect something is up, they may decide to run instead of fight."

Weyland shrugs. Since he's slightly levitating, his shoulders stay about constant and his head dips, but it's clear what he means. "If they run it's like the first one. If they stand their ground, they're coatracks that much sooner. But it's fine; get your friends to make a showy and real looking attack. Don't forget to include yourselves in the plan, and your doggies."

The Weir, unsurprisingly, don't like Weyland.

It would be totally unsurprisingly to find the Jerod doesn't think all that much of Weyland either. Certainly the rumors of his Shadow counterparts are well represented in the original.

That being said, he treats him like any annoying uncle who has not yet been deemed worthy of the title. He nods and then ignores him in a polite, courtly fashion unless something of relevance requires that he pay attention to him again.

"Drop us close enough to the Collegium so that the Weir can deliver a message." Jerod says to Brita. "Unless Harper is foolish, she'll be there rallying the troops. Once the Weir are on their way, we head to the palace."

The Weir would like a token, so as to make it clear that they are appropriately representing Prince Jerod and his allies. Other than that, they're good to go.

They receive a token that will definitely identify Jerod to the Collegium. He's absolutely he's got something in his pocket that will work, so he provides to them.

"Once the fireworks start, the two will either come out to attend to matters, in which case we deal with them outside. Or they'll stay inside, in which case we go in after them."

Raven nods agreement to the current plan.

Weyland doesn't exactly disappear, but he becomes hard to see. He flies off and is soon not visible.

Brita nods and does as directed. Flying in low to a rooftop across from the Collegium to let the Weir disembark and then heading to the palace.

As Brita flits the filmy away from the Collegium, the old Gatwegian Flag is raised over the main building and dozens of mages start streaming out and rising into the air. From the ground below, the team of Weir burst out of the main gates, baying and howling in the light of the rising sun.

The Tower, the historical seat of governance, also starts disgorging armies. The mages who are flying are one thing, but things look worse for the Weir, as a large ground force comes out of the base of the fortification.

Jerod smiles, his hand tightening a little on the spear. "Brita, Raven...what say we have a little fun."

Brita's grin is Conner-bright and she already has two daggers in hand. The filmy is moving towards the ground level and coming up towards the front line of the Weir. She asks "Do You Wish to Still Be In Flight, Cousins? Or Shall We Join the Fray Directly?"

"Could always do both," Raven suggests. "I mean, high ground ain't a bad thing, but you take out more enemies if you land on them from the rigging. Or the..." She gestures down with the point of her sword. "Black floaty thing."

The filmy continues towards the fighting. The battle below is joined on two planes. The mages fight and circle above. Collegium mages seem to have an advantage, but the tower's mages are mostly concentrating on defending the tower itself and clearing a path to the collegium itself. It would be bad if they broke through the lines there.

On the ground, the Weir are charging full on towards the ground troops of the Triumvirate, who are apparently trying mostly to draw them into range of the mages.

Observing the battle as they approach, it's clear to all the Amberites that the Triumvirate's forces are at least as afraid of what's behind them as what's in front of them. Mages that are hit in combat seem to "go down" easier than Collegium Mages, and Jerod has spotted at least one group of deserters from the ground forces.

"I'll drop with the Weir." Jerod says, pointing a group. "We'll go in, force a breach and go to the Tower. We need to neutralize the Tower mages so the Collegium has the advantage in aerial. I'll let you two take care of that.

"If we get a breach, flank and split them. Force weaker groups to flee the field and do not pursue. Let the enemy fall apart of their own accord."

Brita examines the field and finds a likely spot for Jerod's Weir approach. She drops the filmy to a low enough level for Jerod's dismount.

Once Jerod has an opening, courtesy of Brita since she is controlling the filmy, he will drop for the ground and summon up the Weir for a coordinated effort. And he makes just the very slightest of probability adjustments so that his clothes are his colors.

If he's going into battle, he wants the enemy to know it.

As Jerod heads off into the Furry mass below, Brita directs the filmy to rise steeply into the nearest set of mages in the sky with a violent Asgardian battle yell. She is aiming to bowl them out of the sky (allowing her and Raven to attack any that remain in close proximity).

Raven doesn't do battle cries - but what the good captain does do is attempt to do harm to other people from moving flat surfaces. And yeah, maybe normally that's more kill-or-throw-into-the-ocean and less everyone flying, but it can't be all that different from fighting in the rigging: knock them out or kill them, push them over the edge if they end up still in the way, and let the people below deal with them past that.

Might be nice if there was something to hold on to, but Raven just mentally shrugs and braces for impact.

The battle proceeds on two fronts. The ground forces move forward relentlessly. No individual spearman of the guard is a match for a Weir, much less Jerod, but there are an awful lot of them and less than a dozen of you. Overhead the battle rages, but the ground troops can't see much progress either way. Every now and then a sizzling bolt of power from one side or the other lands near the melee, but it's not a real impediment to the fight.

Jerod and his troops can push forward, but because of the size of the other forces they are too few to prevent being flanked. They form a moving knot advancing through the enemy. Their movement is not uncontested, but they are significantly better than their foes.

Meanwhile Brita and Raven use the filmy as a kind of sled of death, crashing into tower mages. At first this is quite effective and some who aren't bowled into find themselves taking a thrown dagger from Captain Raven. The filmy acts as an effective shield from attacks from below, although both Brita and Raven have to duck more than once.

Shortly, however, the tower mages adjust their tactics to stay clear of the black rectangle of nothingness. It becomes harder and harder to effectively drive through the tower mages. On the good side, there's plenty of room to maneuver and go where needed.

From the top of the tower, a great flaming ball of something comes flying towards Jerod and the Weir. It's large enough to cast a shadow. The Weir try to leap aside, but even then some are splashed with molten metal or rock. The attack is indiscriminate, and it's likely that more of the tower's troops were disabled than Weir.

But two of the Weir are down, and it's unclear as the smoke of impact clears if they're going to get back up. The rest of the pack lets of a howl of rage.

"FORWARD!" Jerod yells, rallying the remaining Weir and using their rage. If the Tower troops have taken a serious hit, he will exploit it to force an opening, and use two sets of fear against those on the ground. The first of the Weir and a Prince on one side, and their own people trying to kill them on the other. If the idea of getting out of the way seems feasible, he'll see if they decide to take it, or if he forces it on them.

And he really doesn't want to bring down one of his meteors on the Tower. At least, not unless he doesn't have a choice.

The Weir respond with a great howl and there is a response from the direction of the harbor. Reinforcements are here, apparently. If they use standard Weir tactics, the second group will follow in on Jerod's troop.

If Jerod judges correctly (and he always likes to be right), the Weir will follow in at speed. He will continue pressing with those who are with him but adjust his tactics, working to create a build up of enemy troops on his flanks so that their center thins as the reinforcements arrive and he uses them to continue forward without stopping to breach the enemy line and force the opening.

Jerod thinks, based on where the calls of the reinforcements are coming from that they're on the way, but it's slow. The strategy is sound, but it may not be an immediate thing. The fight above seems to have the mage occupied, since the only major change is the warm, wet fog that comes down from the tower. Perhaps the mage doesn't want people to see what she's doing.

Raven reconsiders a plan to start using the in-flight mages as a way to get to the ground, and instead turns to Brita and says... well, the heart of the matter seems to be, "Forget bowling for mages, let's go get whoever did that before he does that again."

It's nowhere near that concise. It's considerably more colorful. But that does seem to be the general idea.

Brita, completely used to this more painted form of relaying a point having been raised around Asgardian Gods, has been redirecting the filmy towards the tower in between interjecting supporting notes to Raven's Rant.

Getting closer to the tower brings Brita, Raven, and the filmy closer to the mages. Close enough that Raven can use whatever she has to hand (knives, belaying pins, other mages...) to knock a few of them senseless. However, it's hard to get a clean look at the top of the tower. It looks like it is a second sun rising, and when it's clear enough, Raven and Brita can see a mage hovering a bit above the top, her arms encased in fire. She slowly reaches out as if she’s throwing something very heavy, and a ball of steaming sulfurous fire passes over the filmy and hits a concentration of mages.

She is clearly the major threat on the battlefield.

Brita smiles an evil grin and, using her Asgardian Heritage, pulls water from the air and wherever she can see it towards the flaming mage. She is fully expecting the added moisture to react with the mage's flame to create a dense steam to block the mage's view of the battlefield.

Raven, for her part, is just waiting for a reasonable distance and a lack of fire to go after the mage on the tower. In the meantime, anybody else that isn't Brita continues to be fair game.

Raven could probably rappel down a line. If she had a line. And something to attach a line to. However the flaming mage is pretty much all flaming thing and no mage.

Maybe she's inside it.

[assuming this works] "Hope You Can Fight in the Fog, Cousin" she says to Raven and aims to put them both in striking range of the mage.

"Navy ain't all clear skies and smooth seas," is Raven's answer.

Just as Dexamene was the vessel for a water based creature, this mage seems to have been overtaken by a fire creature. While it creates a fog, it's hard to say how long it will last. Surfaces are more slippery.

The creature doubles in size, blazing in the fog like a lighthouse. Brita can avoid the lava balls it's throwing reasonably well, but it only has to get lucky once.

"Get back!", a crotchety, older voice yells from the sky above them. A very familiar voice -- Weyland.

He's holding something, but it's like it's made of the same nothingness that the filmy is. And he doesn't seem to be holding it so much as holding it away from himself.

Brita makes the filmy pitch down rapidly, sure Captain Raven can keep his legs while she wallows the path to keep from being too predictable.

Captain Raven is definitely on board with this plan of not falling off of flying things. Just in case, however, the good captain is also picking out the place where she'd have the best chance to land, if worst comes to worst.

Jerod is high enough in other attributes to recognize when they have been enough of a diversion to get out of the way. "Fall back! NOW!" and he brings his Weir with him in a controlled withdrawal, keeping the enemy away and using the Weir to force a path back to his approaching reinforcements while making sure to get enough ground from the palace in case whatever Weyland does causes more than just immediate peripheral damage.

Jerod and his Weir fall back, collapsing what looks to be a weak attempt to encircle them and breaking out towards the harbor. They get across the main square of town and are looking for the shortest path to the harbor when whatever it is Weyland threw hits the tower. Jerod and the Weir are thrown to the ground, as are all of the Triumvirate's troops and the less-well-constructed buildings of the quarter.

Brita managed to dodge into the shadow of the tower itself, saving the Filmy from the primary blast. She sees mages falling everywhere, knocked out by the blow. The tower is collapsing and if physics works in this shadow as it does elsewhere, a cloud of debris will follow in moments. It wouldn't be very safe to put the Filmy down, but it might not be very safe to keep it floating.

Weyland cackles in moment of silence between the crash and the tower's fall.

Brita rips a hole in local space to a spot above the blast directly behind where she last saw Weyland.

Jerod looks up from his position on the ground to get a quick view of the situation. If the tower's fall is a threat to their position from the debris cloud, then he needs to deliberately screw with the physics of the shadow to keep the blast from killing more people, shifting the balance of shadow forces to temporarily redirect how physics works upwards and away for just an instant, enough to prevent direct exposure at the very least.

And hopefully Brita, Raven and the Filmy are not in the way.

Holes in the world and something collapsing - this is oddly familiar to Raven, if the half-muttered profanity is any hint. Her priorities, in order, are: keep their ride clear of falling mages and keep anything from disrupting Brita's concentration. If that means stepping between her and debris and that can be done without falling off, so be it.

There is a terrific blast, and dust and rocks are everywhere. The army, such as it was, is either standing, shocked, looking at the ruins of the tower, or they are running away. There doesn't seem to be any organized resistance.

In the sky, the mages are fleeing, and those from the Tower of Academia are coming in to land near the base of the now-ruined seat of government.

The hole in the sky heals behind Brita, as the world repairs itself.

Whichever of the triumvirs was the leader of the fight is lying, unconscious or dead, on the broken rocks.

Weyland steps lightly onto the filmy. "We got one. Where do you think the other one is?"

"Well, since she ain't exactly announcing herself the way this one did, I'm guessing hiding or running," Raven says dryly. "Smart bet is probably that if she wasn't running before, blowing up the roof would've spooked her into it. But I don't know where she'd be running from to know where to start looking for her. Ain't like we can ask the person most likely to know." The glance at the body at the broken rocks isn't pointed, exactly. "Brita, you think the mages on our side can lock the building down so's nobody else gets out?"

Weyland is too pleased with his handiwork to pay much attention to Raven's tone. "Ohhh, she's not dead, and if she is, she's not long dead. But lots of 'em should know. We should go capture someone and start asking. I probably buried the other one, too."

The building is pretty much down to ground level. Absent cranes or strong magic, no one is getting out.

Brita almost manages to ignore Weyland's glee at his handiwork although a slight shake of the head gets through. "We have had Ice and Fire so far. If this Last one is Tied to Earth or Air, Your Handiwork may Not Contain her." Brita drops the filmy near a clump of downed tower mages in the hopes of someone to interrogate.

Weyland cackles some more. "Mayhap your are right. You know what they say, though. 'You can never teach an old dog the same trick twice.'"

In the interim, while the Filmy crew have been discussing plans, Jerod has been collecting the remainder of the Weir. Given the level of destruction, he is confident for the moment that most of the forces on both sides will be in recovery mode and unlikely to be looking to continue the fight. One of the Weir is sent to make contact with the Collegium forces to arrange to secure everything, while the remainder will be used to smell out the remaining two of the Triumvirate.

The Collegium forces are already organizing to secure the ruins. They're putting a sheet over Kranto.

And while they do this, Jerod summons up the Pattern to use it to try to isolate the remaining two mages, or their essences more precisely. If they are like Dexamene, he should get a reaction, and a direction.

Jerod cannot detect any large aberrant areas of order or chaos. Weyland is unreadable.

Phillippe comes up with the ship's contingent of Weir. Either he ran with them or they carried him, although Jerod knows better than to ask about that. The boy is out of breath. "She's down there. Klaya. She's raising zombies. You can't fight 'em."

"Mmm...I didn't have that problem the last time I ran into them." Jerod says, though he does remember that was quite awhile ago. "Time to finish this."

"Brita! Raven! One more job." he calls before heading over to see what Klaya is up to and what forces are being disposed of, as it were.

Phillippe looks like he is going to argue with Jerod, but he doesn't. Instead, he grabs Raven's arm, firmly but somehow also gently. "Betimes, I see the future, my L -- my Lord Captain. You must talk him out of it. If you unbury the witch, you will have no chance. Your ship, gone, your crew, dead. The Weir dead, zombies above and below the waves threatening Xanadu and Rebma, and you'll need to drag your cousins through a trump contact to get medical assistance.

"Be smart, don't stir the hornet's nest without a real army. You've done what you can with one ship's complement.

"At least ask some of those you've captured what the zombies are like!"

He's not shouting, but the smallish youth is emphatic, and all four of the Amberites can hear him clearly enough.

"So what are you proposing?" Jerod asks. "If we do nothing, then she raises an army and Gateway falls. If we wait, the same thing. If we go too early, we're in trouble?

"And how do you know that her army would threaten Xanadu and Rebma?"

Phillippe seems unphased by Jerod's questioning. "Because, betimes, I can see the future, my Lord. An' you wish to avoid my visions, don't do her work by digging her out without having an army to meet her zombies."

Raven frowns at Phillippe. "Tidal wave with the dead floating on it springs to mind, because that ain't a sight I'm forgetting any time soon. Which buried witch are we talking here? That one?" She jerks a thumb towards the remains of the tower. "The one down there playing with the dead? Somebody else?"

"My Lord, the third triumvir, the one below. Unless she raises the second, that one is safely dead."

Weyland looks over at Phillippe, and starts muttering under his breath. Or casting a spell, perhaps.

Brita is silent through this exchange. She raises a brow at Weyland's muttering, but does not interrupt. Finally, she asks, "How Long has she been Creating Undead and What Specifically was Your Vision?"

Raven raises a finger instead of an eyebrow. She points at Weyland. "What," and the captain's exasperation is pretty clear in her voice, "are you doing now?"

Jerod is silent, waiting on Phillippe's answer, though he has heard and noted Raven's question to Weyland. His expression changed when it was mentioned he could see the future. Brita knows Jerod well enough to recognize when the coldness takes over.

"Have you children considered what a useful thing it would be, if you were a shape-shifter, to show up as a 'Phillippe le rat'?"

"Mouse!," objects Phillippe.

"Whatever," says Weyland. "And I can't tell if he's her, because someone has been messing with probability around here like they want to rip the shadow in two and it's interfering with my sorcery."

Philippe looks alarmed. "My Lords, I am me, and not Klaya. And I never have been!"

"Stow the are-you-a-shapeshifter test," Raven says flatly. "Point about trusting people's been made. I still want to hear what he's got to say. Phillippe, go on."

Brita is quietly listening...and breathing. (Does Philippe smell like Philippe?)

Phillippe smells no different than he ever has. There's still a whiff of Emuraptor, though. And Weyland is right. All the pattern work has dampened her senses.

"Thank you," says Philippe, straightening his jacket and looking daggers at Weyland. "She has created undead in small batches for a tennight, and masses since they lost connection with Dexemine. Or so I have it from the officers we caught running away from you. It is a classic pincer move. They let you clear the surface, you go underground and her zombies pick off your Weir (who are too big for the spaces anyway) and the three of you are the only survivors.

"You need to do to her what she is doing to you, which is force her to come to you. Use your mage allies to keep them from coming up until you can come back with forces designed and trained to win this fight.

"You are strong, but you'd lose everything if you just charged in blindly. You'd get very far, but picked off in tiny tunnels deep underground that you don't know by undying warriors and a powerful mage is no way to get a statue built of you."

"Humf," says Weyland. "With that logic, we might as well just collapse the shadow. It sounds unsavable."

Phillippe blanches at that and turns to Jerod. "He can't do that, can he?"

"The One you Speak To Can," Brita notes. She looks to Jerod and asks, "Can you Collapse Just the Tunnels, Cousin? Or Better - Flood them with Lava?"

"Anything we do needs to follow probability." Jerod says. "Collapsing the tunnels can be done by introducing the probability of a fault that might have been pre-existing. But it's tricky. You can't stop something that's already happened. I can't put out a fire that's burning, but rain can appear, or a sudden wellspring could manifest. Things that are less probable can be done, but they damage the environment, cause cracks and ripples. Crack glass enough and it shatters.

"As for collapsing the entire shadow, the framework for that is already in place. I wouldn't recommend it, since it means everyone go down," looking at Weyland. "And I literally mean everyone."

Weyland cackles and puts his finger aside his nose. "Care for a wager?"

Jerod ignores Weyland's comment. He has no time or patience at the moment to explain to this distant family member his own personal morality or how much he is not interested in killing everyone in the Shadow, or that Weyland wasn't included in the comment because Jerod didn't really think about including him.

He looks at Phillipe. "The more we know about the underground and what we are facing, the easier it is to introduce a flaw. That can lead to collapsing or lava. Or force her out on her own without her minions."

Phillippe looks back, not batting an eye. "The catacombs hold the honored dead of a hundred generations of Gatwegans. They carve out new passageways and niches as needed and transport the removed stone and earth to the bay. The great light of the Gate was built upon land filled in from the digging.

"And there are hills around town, but I don't think this part of the world is volcanic. We're not in Thule any more."

Jerod frowns, then collects a Weir, sending them to find Harper. She and Collegium have urgent business with the Amberites, who have another matter to attend to.

He also looks at Phillipe. "Congratulations...you're coming to visit the Family. You can provide details on this threat that the Collegium will be holding at bay until we return." and the look is one that says no is not an option. And if needs must, Jerod's grip is strong enough to ensure even this one has trouble getting away.

Phillippe opens his mouth, and closes it.

"We need to bring people up to speed." he says to Brita and Raven. "This is getting into Uncle territory."

Brita nods in understanding and possibly agreement. "My Mother may Also be A Useful Consult."

"Probably ought to at least ask the King before destroying a big part of someplace this close and friendly," Raven says dryly. "Might affect trade, that kind of thing."

Jerod nods absently at that, but does not say anything.

Harper arrives shortly. "I'm impressed you got Dexamene," she says, looking at the statue. "Can we have that as a warning to others?"

"Nope! Keeping it for my entryway, as a warning to visitors," says Weyland. Harper looks slightly cross, but isn't going to gainsay him. She's heard what he did to the tower.

"For his entryway, after his Majesty is done with her." Jerod says simply. "I'm sure that several members of the Family will be eager to question her as well. Not to mention Marius might want a crack at her.

"Your mother is beyond being a Useful Consult." he says to Brita. "I'd say we're getting into Auntie territory but it just doesn't sound right. So we'll use Uncle as a genderless term and make it simple.

"Can you get ahold of your Mother? Arrange for us to come through with our package?" he asks. "Also, we might want to see if our newest addition is looking to reconnect with Marius."

And he looks over at Weyland. "Are you?"

Raven waits for Weyland to answer. Possibly - even probably - because she's wondering just what he's going to get up to without supervision.

"Not 'til I'm done, I'm not. I'll stay here and entertain your Lady-friend. We'll have a fine time keeping zombies from taking the city back.

"But you can tell Marius that he can show up at my tower on the night of any full moon and I'll see him. If he wishes."

Brita is digging out her Mother's Trump and begins focusing on the deep green eyes that mirror her own.

They clarify quickly and Brita sees a face that could almost be her own, or a less outdoorsy version of her own, at least. Her mother is standing in front of a large open glass door in Xanadu; Brita recognizes the waterfall in the background. It's soothing.

"Sweetheart, I'm glad you called. The King has summoned a conclave for the morning."

"Yes, Mother. We are With Lord Weyland and Have News of Gateway. May I Send Everyone Through? Lord Weyland will Remain Here and we Have One Extra." Brita reaches out to Raven first to pass him through.

Raven takes the offered hand and passing through with a polite, "Ma'am," to Fiona.

Brita passes through Phillipe next and then Jerod.

Jerod tells the Weir to rally at the ship. He will return once the King's gathering is concluded to get them home.

After they are both through, she gives a hard look at Weyland along with the verbal admonition, "Do Not Destroy This Shadow Until The King Decides what to Do."

Weyland can't not have the last word. "You're just like your mother, you know that?"

Then she dismisses the filmy and steps through to join her Mother.


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Last modified: 15 March 2017