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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6911894" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>The attendees split into various groups to continue their more informal conversations but we left them to it as we had to prepare. </p><p> </p><p>As we were walking back, I couldn’t contain myself and asked Longhelim: </p><p> </p><p>“How did you convince him to play second fiddle to Foebane?”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim grinned: </p><p> </p><p>“I gave him the location of Phorros Irrendra. Once he had that, everything became incidental. I don’t think he sees this as a big command anyway. The main campaign for him will be either once we defeat Leska and he begins his conquest of Ragesia or once we lose against Leska and he has to begin his battles against her.”</p><p> </p><p>John frowned: </p><p> </p><p>“Phorros Irrendra is just a bunch of empty buildings. There is no one there. The Taranesti elves have been wiped out a long time ago. Rhuarc was pretty much the last one.”</p><p> </p><p>It was Victor who answered this: </p><p> </p><p>“Phorros Irrendra and the Taranesti have been an obsession to Shalaadel for centuries and if he can have some sort of closure to that campaign, it will mean a great deal to him. I think that taking possession of the city will symbolically provide some sort of conclusion to the Taranesti Crusade.”</p><p> </p><p>I was still thinking hard about all of this and slowly began: </p><p> </p><p>“We all know something that we are not saying, don’t we? Shalaadel plans to conquer Ragesia once Leska is killed. The only way he will have any chance of doing that is if he possesses the Torch. In his mind, the only reason he is letting us keep it is so that we can attempt to confront Leska. Once that is over, so far as he is concerned, the Torch is his for the taking.”</p><p> </p><p>No one looked surprised and no one said anything, until a little time later when Longhelim answered: </p><p> </p><p>“Yes, Faden, we’re all aware of that. However, we have to assault one of the most heavily buildings in the world, confront an immortal, strike an artifact with the Torch which is supposed to destroy both of them as well as the world. So, Shalaadel’s possible of the Torch is something we will have to deal with as it comes. Before that, there are a lot of other things to overcome.”</p><p> </p><p>Still thinking of all of these new developments, we finally arrived at home where we began to plan our assault on the Imperial Palace in Ragos. </p><p> </p><p>Ultimately, we bounced around many ideas but based on what Danava said, we decided that we would magically transport ourselves into the region of the capital. Once there, we would use Felix’s spell which turned us into vapor and fly above the Skywalk. Once there, we would change into our normal forms and drop down onto the roof of the glass corridor just outside the Palace entrance. Our drop would be rendered safe by the use of a particular spell of mine which would dramatically slow our fall. Once on top of the roof, I would blast my way through the glass and we would drop inside the glass corridor. Once we had achieved that, we would open the door into the palace and proceed. </p><p> </p><p>There was no point in making plans once inside the palace as we had only a short time there and we would have to search for the ritual furiously. </p><p> </p><p>If we managed to disrupt it, we would make our way back to the sky walk and fly away. It sounded simple when we made the plan but we all knew that something, somewhere was going to go wrong. </p><p> </p><p>Finally, we went to sleep and the next morning, we chose our spells very carefully as per our plan of the night before. These included the usual defensive magics against elemental spells as well as the armoured skin that I usually cast on the warriors. However, there were other, more subtle magics which I took this time, not least the little spells which would allow us to float down unharmed from a great height. </p><p> </p><p>As the spells were being learned, Victor asked: </p><p> </p><p>“Does anyone remember what range those odd teleport traps had?”</p><p> </p><p>It was John who answered: </p><p> </p><p>“It was quite a distance. If we are going to travel there, we will have to make sure we transport ourselves some distance away.”</p><p> </p><p>I carried one learning my spells and finally I was finished. Following on from that, Felix, John and I cast the magics which lasted some time. Once we had finished, Felix nodded to me and I called out: </p><p> </p><p>“Is everyone ready?”</p><p> </p><p>We all clasped hands and I transported us to a point approximately half a day away from the Ragesian capital, Ragos. </p><p> </p><p>My first glimpse Ragesia was odd; I am not sure what I was expecting but what I saw was farmland. Very well kept farmland at that. I looked around curiously and saw that the crops were carefully arranged and seemed to be growing well. Longhelim the Farmer looked around in approval; moments later, we all turned into smoke and shot into the sky. This was Felix’s spell and as ever, it was most useful. It took us </p><p>a little time and we began to see Ragos in the distance; it was an enormous city. At the height we were flying, it was difficult to see any detail except that it was very large; and almost outside it, was the famous lake, Aldrem, on which lay the legendary Imperial Palace of Ragesia. </p><p> </p><p>As we had arranged, we flew above the Palace and abandoned the cloud forms. We began to fall to the ground until suddenly I cast the spell which slowed us all down. It was a novel feeling and quite pleasant until we saw the enormous stone dragons which adorned the palace roof, stir. We had been warned about these defenses but it was another thing to actually see them. John was already frantically pointing at them. </p><p> </p><p>With a grating sound, their heads turned and they saw us and they launched themselves. I have to say, for something made out of stone, they flew remarkably well. We landed on the sky walk only a little distance ahead. I was the first to land and I blew a hole in the roof as we had planned and I jumped down. </p><p> </p><p>Just ahead of a stone dragon claw!</p><p> </p><p>I was quickly joined by John, Felix, Victor and Drudge only for Longhelim to hold the rearguard. </p><p> </p><p>The plan had worked! It had worked as he had surmised. We had known about the dragons but we had slipped past them. Now we had to get into the palace, which was an open space in front of us. This room looked some a grand meeting hall or reception of some kind. I didn’t have time to speculate any further as the stone dragons above were widening the hole I had made to try to wedge themselves into the gap. We all rushed into the room and as we did, we all felt a crippling, racking pain as we entered into the palace. </p><p> </p><p>Again, this was a powerful magic and we had been warned about it. That didn’t stop it from being very painful though. I was the last person to enter into the palace as I had hoped to try to seal our entrance but a combination of the wracking pain and trying to avoid stone dragon claws completely ruined my spell. </p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, we heard a shout: </p><p> </p><p>“Get in! They won’t come into the Palace!”</p><p> </p><p>Rapidly I stepped back and tried to move towards Felix, looking around as I did so. Strangely, this room looked familiar and then I remembered: </p><p> </p><p>During our journey through the Monastery of Echoed Souls, we had all participated or were part of a vision. To this day, I am not sure just what happened but the vision showed us Drakus Coaltongue holding Court in his Imperial Ballroom…..this room to be exact. It seemed different now though.</p><p> </p><p>As I realised this, I also looked at the dragons who indeed were not encroaching into the room. That led me to look around at the person who had shouted the helpful advice, only to receive another great shock!</p><p> </p><p>I looked around for the voice that had sounded the helpful advice and noticed a set of small folk. They were gnomes, dressed in the garb of kitchen staff or servants, except that three of them were grinning at us and they were surrounded by the bodies of Ragesian palace guards. </p><p> </p><p>One of them shouted: </p><p> </p><p>“Faden, John, Longhelim, it took you long enough!”</p><p> </p><p>I looked much closer at the figure and then John muttered: </p><p> </p><p>“I don’t believe it…..it’s Jorine.”</p><p> </p><p>I looked stepped up and looked at the figure. It, or rather she, continued to grin and beneath some face paint and different hair colour, yes, it was Jorine Wareye of Clan Millorn. A little distractedly, I looked at the figures beside her and yes, I noticed her companions and clan members, Grellfin Flintflindercandle and Oller Pennyteller; I looked at the fourth and last figure and he seemed familiar as well. I racked my memory and then I remembered: Rivereye Badgerface, the gnome spy who had infiltrated the Ragesian palace and stolen some very important papers that had made a huge difference to the Resistance at the time. </p><p> </p><p>We had first met them in Castle Korstull in much the same circumstances; having been told repeatedly that the fiery cloud around Coaltongue’s last resting place was impenetrable and impossible to breach, we managed to penetrate it with the help of mysterious magic gained at great danger and cost from the Monastery of the Two Winds; only to find Clan Wareye with a wagon which they had coated with some fire proof substance. This had allowed them to just trundle through the fire and get ready to loot the Palace. </p><p> </p><p>This turned out to be a little more complicated that they had first believed and we had joined forces for our mutual benefit. Jorine was an arcanist of some skill, Grellfin followed the same martial philosophy as Longhelim and Oller was very handy with a set of lock picks. I wasn’t sure what Rivereye was good at yet but he had managed to filch some important secrets out of the Ragesians when we first met him. </p><p> </p><p>John recovered first from all of us: </p><p> </p><p>“Jorine, what are you doing here?”</p><p> </p><p>She replied: </p><p> </p><p>“Waiting for you, of course! Good! Your faces tell me that you weren’t told that we were here. That means there’s at least some security left in Seaquen. If you had been told that we were here then there it would have been very likely that we would have been compromised.”</p><p> </p><p>I wasn’t very offended by what she said and in fact, I agreed. If we had been told that we had a party waiting for us in the Imperial Palace at Ragos, then it was likely that it would have got out somehow. Secrets in Seaquen always did. I didn’t know how but I had been amazed at the enemy’s ability to ferret out secrets which I thought were only our knowledge. They must have had people there reading your thoughts or something of that ilk. It was possible. </p><p>Of course, the question of how they knew that we were going to strike today was another matter and it was something I would have a conversation about her in the future; I hoped that it was something as simple as a magical message from Simeon. In the meantime, this changed everything. </p><p> </p><p>I very much hoped that Jorine had had time to scout out the palace and that she would at least be able to give us instructions as to how to get the chamber where the ritual was being performed. </p><p> </p><p>As we were conducting this conversation, Drudge had shot a volley of arrows at one of the stone dragons on the Sky Walk; as the arrows sank deeply into its stony body, it quickly stepped back. The other, behind it, also retreated and it quickly became obvious that Jorine had been right and they would not enter into the Palace itself. </p><p> </p><p>Longhelim in the meantime was talking to the gnome: </p><p> </p><p>“Jorine, it is good to see you! Your bravery is extraordinary. Are you going to take us to the ritual?”</p><p> </p><p>The gnome quickly replied: </p><p> </p><p>“No. It’s best if we stay here and distract anyone coming after you through the Skywalk.”</p><p> </p><p>I interrupted at this point: </p><p> </p><p>“Can you tell us where the ritual is being conducted?”</p><p> </p><p>She turned to me and quickly began giving instructions: </p><p> </p><p>“Go up the stairs, turn left and go to the far door; through there, you will come to a guard post; once you get through there, go down the corridor, past the three doors on your right………”</p><p> </p><p>And so it went, until we actually arrived at the Imperial Audience area, where she admitted she had not managed to gain access but she told us that the ritual was being held in one of the adjoining rooms. </p><p> </p><p>I wanted a couple of details corroborated: </p><p> </p><p>“You said that we would have to go past a couple of statues of golden bears? What are those exactly?”</p><p> </p><p>She frowned at me, as if she suddenly thought of something: </p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know, but now you come to mention, they are odd; really big and they take up most of the corridor. It was always a pain to clean around them and lots of people had to squeeze around them. The guards were always complaining that it made it very difficult to move around there in armour.”</p><p> </p><p>I grimaced at Longhelim and said: </p><p> </p><p>“Yes, they are going to come alive; probably some sort of magical constructs; that’s why they are there; to defend that corridor. Anyway, Jorine, Grellfinn, Oller, Rivereye, we are eternally grateful for the information; it will literally make the difference between us succeeding or failing in this. We will hope to see you in Seaquen when this is all over.”</p><p> </p><p>She smiled at us and said: </p><p> </p><p>“Good luck!”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6911894, member: 6692807"] The attendees split into various groups to continue their more informal conversations but we left them to it as we had to prepare. As we were walking back, I couldn’t contain myself and asked Longhelim: “How did you convince him to play second fiddle to Foebane?” Longhelim grinned: “I gave him the location of Phorros Irrendra. Once he had that, everything became incidental. I don’t think he sees this as a big command anyway. The main campaign for him will be either once we defeat Leska and he begins his conquest of Ragesia or once we lose against Leska and he has to begin his battles against her.” John frowned: “Phorros Irrendra is just a bunch of empty buildings. There is no one there. The Taranesti elves have been wiped out a long time ago. Rhuarc was pretty much the last one.” It was Victor who answered this: “Phorros Irrendra and the Taranesti have been an obsession to Shalaadel for centuries and if he can have some sort of closure to that campaign, it will mean a great deal to him. I think that taking possession of the city will symbolically provide some sort of conclusion to the Taranesti Crusade.” I was still thinking hard about all of this and slowly began: “We all know something that we are not saying, don’t we? Shalaadel plans to conquer Ragesia once Leska is killed. The only way he will have any chance of doing that is if he possesses the Torch. In his mind, the only reason he is letting us keep it is so that we can attempt to confront Leska. Once that is over, so far as he is concerned, the Torch is his for the taking.” No one looked surprised and no one said anything, until a little time later when Longhelim answered: “Yes, Faden, we’re all aware of that. However, we have to assault one of the most heavily buildings in the world, confront an immortal, strike an artifact with the Torch which is supposed to destroy both of them as well as the world. So, Shalaadel’s possible of the Torch is something we will have to deal with as it comes. Before that, there are a lot of other things to overcome.” Still thinking of all of these new developments, we finally arrived at home where we began to plan our assault on the Imperial Palace in Ragos. Ultimately, we bounced around many ideas but based on what Danava said, we decided that we would magically transport ourselves into the region of the capital. Once there, we would use Felix’s spell which turned us into vapor and fly above the Skywalk. Once there, we would change into our normal forms and drop down onto the roof of the glass corridor just outside the Palace entrance. Our drop would be rendered safe by the use of a particular spell of mine which would dramatically slow our fall. Once on top of the roof, I would blast my way through the glass and we would drop inside the glass corridor. Once we had achieved that, we would open the door into the palace and proceed. There was no point in making plans once inside the palace as we had only a short time there and we would have to search for the ritual furiously. If we managed to disrupt it, we would make our way back to the sky walk and fly away. It sounded simple when we made the plan but we all knew that something, somewhere was going to go wrong. Finally, we went to sleep and the next morning, we chose our spells very carefully as per our plan of the night before. These included the usual defensive magics against elemental spells as well as the armoured skin that I usually cast on the warriors. However, there were other, more subtle magics which I took this time, not least the little spells which would allow us to float down unharmed from a great height. As the spells were being learned, Victor asked: “Does anyone remember what range those odd teleport traps had?” It was John who answered: “It was quite a distance. If we are going to travel there, we will have to make sure we transport ourselves some distance away.” I carried one learning my spells and finally I was finished. Following on from that, Felix, John and I cast the magics which lasted some time. Once we had finished, Felix nodded to me and I called out: “Is everyone ready?” We all clasped hands and I transported us to a point approximately half a day away from the Ragesian capital, Ragos. My first glimpse Ragesia was odd; I am not sure what I was expecting but what I saw was farmland. Very well kept farmland at that. I looked around curiously and saw that the crops were carefully arranged and seemed to be growing well. Longhelim the Farmer looked around in approval; moments later, we all turned into smoke and shot into the sky. This was Felix’s spell and as ever, it was most useful. It took us a little time and we began to see Ragos in the distance; it was an enormous city. At the height we were flying, it was difficult to see any detail except that it was very large; and almost outside it, was the famous lake, Aldrem, on which lay the legendary Imperial Palace of Ragesia. As we had arranged, we flew above the Palace and abandoned the cloud forms. We began to fall to the ground until suddenly I cast the spell which slowed us all down. It was a novel feeling and quite pleasant until we saw the enormous stone dragons which adorned the palace roof, stir. We had been warned about these defenses but it was another thing to actually see them. John was already frantically pointing at them. With a grating sound, their heads turned and they saw us and they launched themselves. I have to say, for something made out of stone, they flew remarkably well. We landed on the sky walk only a little distance ahead. I was the first to land and I blew a hole in the roof as we had planned and I jumped down. Just ahead of a stone dragon claw! I was quickly joined by John, Felix, Victor and Drudge only for Longhelim to hold the rearguard. The plan had worked! It had worked as he had surmised. We had known about the dragons but we had slipped past them. Now we had to get into the palace, which was an open space in front of us. This room looked some a grand meeting hall or reception of some kind. I didn’t have time to speculate any further as the stone dragons above were widening the hole I had made to try to wedge themselves into the gap. We all rushed into the room and as we did, we all felt a crippling, racking pain as we entered into the palace. Again, this was a powerful magic and we had been warned about it. That didn’t stop it from being very painful though. I was the last person to enter into the palace as I had hoped to try to seal our entrance but a combination of the wracking pain and trying to avoid stone dragon claws completely ruined my spell. Suddenly, we heard a shout: “Get in! They won’t come into the Palace!” Rapidly I stepped back and tried to move towards Felix, looking around as I did so. Strangely, this room looked familiar and then I remembered: During our journey through the Monastery of Echoed Souls, we had all participated or were part of a vision. To this day, I am not sure just what happened but the vision showed us Drakus Coaltongue holding Court in his Imperial Ballroom…..this room to be exact. It seemed different now though. As I realised this, I also looked at the dragons who indeed were not encroaching into the room. That led me to look around at the person who had shouted the helpful advice, only to receive another great shock! I looked around for the voice that had sounded the helpful advice and noticed a set of small folk. They were gnomes, dressed in the garb of kitchen staff or servants, except that three of them were grinning at us and they were surrounded by the bodies of Ragesian palace guards. One of them shouted: “Faden, John, Longhelim, it took you long enough!” I looked much closer at the figure and then John muttered: “I don’t believe it…..it’s Jorine.” I looked stepped up and looked at the figure. It, or rather she, continued to grin and beneath some face paint and different hair colour, yes, it was Jorine Wareye of Clan Millorn. A little distractedly, I looked at the figures beside her and yes, I noticed her companions and clan members, Grellfin Flintflindercandle and Oller Pennyteller; I looked at the fourth and last figure and he seemed familiar as well. I racked my memory and then I remembered: Rivereye Badgerface, the gnome spy who had infiltrated the Ragesian palace and stolen some very important papers that had made a huge difference to the Resistance at the time. We had first met them in Castle Korstull in much the same circumstances; having been told repeatedly that the fiery cloud around Coaltongue’s last resting place was impenetrable and impossible to breach, we managed to penetrate it with the help of mysterious magic gained at great danger and cost from the Monastery of the Two Winds; only to find Clan Wareye with a wagon which they had coated with some fire proof substance. This had allowed them to just trundle through the fire and get ready to loot the Palace. This turned out to be a little more complicated that they had first believed and we had joined forces for our mutual benefit. Jorine was an arcanist of some skill, Grellfin followed the same martial philosophy as Longhelim and Oller was very handy with a set of lock picks. I wasn’t sure what Rivereye was good at yet but he had managed to filch some important secrets out of the Ragesians when we first met him. John recovered first from all of us: “Jorine, what are you doing here?” She replied: “Waiting for you, of course! Good! Your faces tell me that you weren’t told that we were here. That means there’s at least some security left in Seaquen. If you had been told that we were here then there it would have been very likely that we would have been compromised.” I wasn’t very offended by what she said and in fact, I agreed. If we had been told that we had a party waiting for us in the Imperial Palace at Ragos, then it was likely that it would have got out somehow. Secrets in Seaquen always did. I didn’t know how but I had been amazed at the enemy’s ability to ferret out secrets which I thought were only our knowledge. They must have had people there reading your thoughts or something of that ilk. It was possible. Of course, the question of how they knew that we were going to strike today was another matter and it was something I would have a conversation about her in the future; I hoped that it was something as simple as a magical message from Simeon. In the meantime, this changed everything. I very much hoped that Jorine had had time to scout out the palace and that she would at least be able to give us instructions as to how to get the chamber where the ritual was being performed. As we were conducting this conversation, Drudge had shot a volley of arrows at one of the stone dragons on the Sky Walk; as the arrows sank deeply into its stony body, it quickly stepped back. The other, behind it, also retreated and it quickly became obvious that Jorine had been right and they would not enter into the Palace itself. Longhelim in the meantime was talking to the gnome: “Jorine, it is good to see you! Your bravery is extraordinary. Are you going to take us to the ritual?” The gnome quickly replied: “No. It’s best if we stay here and distract anyone coming after you through the Skywalk.” I interrupted at this point: “Can you tell us where the ritual is being conducted?” She turned to me and quickly began giving instructions: “Go up the stairs, turn left and go to the far door; through there, you will come to a guard post; once you get through there, go down the corridor, past the three doors on your right………” And so it went, until we actually arrived at the Imperial Audience area, where she admitted she had not managed to gain access but she told us that the ritual was being held in one of the adjoining rooms. I wanted a couple of details corroborated: “You said that we would have to go past a couple of statues of golden bears? What are those exactly?” She frowned at me, as if she suddenly thought of something: “I don’t know, but now you come to mention, they are odd; really big and they take up most of the corridor. It was always a pain to clean around them and lots of people had to squeeze around them. The guards were always complaining that it made it very difficult to move around there in armour.” I grimaced at Longhelim and said: “Yes, they are going to come alive; probably some sort of magical constructs; that’s why they are there; to defend that corridor. Anyway, Jorine, Grellfinn, Oller, Rivereye, we are eternally grateful for the information; it will literally make the difference between us succeeding or failing in this. We will hope to see you in Seaquen when this is all over.” She smiled at us and said: “Good luck!” [/QUOTE]
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