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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7914374" data-attributes="member: 79141">Finale, Session 257, Part OneThe Island at the Axis of the World, RepriseFlying in low towards Axis Island, borne aloft by Linia, Leon maintained a detailed illusion of the Coaltongue in flight.  Sure enough, a couple of miles out, this illusion was subjected to incredibly powerful blasts, which Leon recognised as emanating from lantern cannons, similar to, but even larger than those Han Jierre employed when retaking the island from Pemberton.Linia took evasion action, while Leon caused the image to respond as though badly damaged and unable to gain altitude; he wanted to see how long it would take for the cannons to fire again. About a minute later, there were two more blasts.  Leon had the ‘Coaltongue’ nosedive into the sea.Now he and Linia were sweeping along invisibly, just above the surface of the water, close to the shoreline, and Leon was about to teleport away, job done, when he spotted something rising up from the shallows: a half-submerged, stone structure, the shape of which he recognised, although it was tilted to one side and broken in places.Closer investigation revealed it to be the citadel of the maustin caji! They’d been told the gith had gone to confront Nicodemus when the global hivemind began. Their attempt had ended here, it seemed; the citadel was riven by lantern blasts. There was no sign of life from this distance and even Leon the Clever was spooked. He chose not to stray too close.Resisting the temptation to flee immediately, he had Linia sweep on towards the island. There, rising up above the jungle he caught sight of two, then three – and in the distance at least two more – huge, fifty-foot-tall lantern walkers, with cannons mounted atop their legs.  It was a good thing the real Coaltongue had not approached from the South!Leon had done all he could here, and swiftly rejoined the others. There, he reported what he had seen. “Goodness,” said Quratulain. “That is bad news. Their defences are very powerful, then.”“Don’t worry, Quratulain – Uncle Uru’s here,” said Uru. “He’ll protect you.”“Thank you,” said Quratulain. Her slight eye-roll was concealed behind her mask.Korrigan had pared down the crew of the Coaltongue. Only Admiral Smith and the minimum number needed to operate the ship were coming with; Ayesha and her children, Bhalu, Kieran Sentacore, Amielle, Hildegard and Thurgid – all would remain behind. The fearsome energies unleashed by the axis rift would slay any who strayed too close, save those protected by the Sacrament.For this reason, as soon as she arrived with Leon, Korrigan graciously dismissed Linia. The angel bridled and said, “For all that you have done for me, I am prepared to sacrifice my eternal life.” But Korrigan would not hear of it, and insisted that she stand down.Save for the crew and the unit, only Xambria remained.  Shortly after they had taken off from Pemberton’s lair, Alden Wondermaker had arrived with her new duplicant body. However, she would remain on board, and advise on the nature of the seal from her aerial perspective. (Wondermaker had also brought an upgraded pair of jet boots for Quratulain, which would enable her to fly.)“Axis Seal ahead,” Rutger Smith told them.The glowing rift had lit the sky from miles away, but now they could make out the crackling arc of energy itself. They could also see a huge, well-armed dirigible, patrolling the skies and Borne, clambering ponderously to his feet. It would appear that they had arrived just in time, as always…To their surprise, the dirigible, the Revolution, opened fire as soon as they came within extreme range.  It missed – a likely outcome at this distance, which begged the question why they had fired so early. But then the Revolution fired again, and again – at a far faster pace than a ship’s crew could ordinarily manage.  They were outgunned and, because they had to get closer, not in a position to return fire in any case, except for the forward turrets and the short-range brand; they charged the brand and waited for the right moment.Gupta scrutinised Borne through a spyglass. “My family are still in there,” she said, knowing this for certain thanks to her newfound divinity. She had been worried they might have been destroyed already. Still, she could not prioritise extracting them. The primary mission took precedence.Uru studied the Revolution for the access he had been promised. “Time to get in its gears,” he said. Kasvarina must be on there somewhere, thought Leon.  He asked Gupta to confirm this, and she was.Xambria studied the energies playing around the rift and tried to work out if they had changed at all since the Ob’s last attempt to perform the ritual was sabotaged. After a while, she said, “It’s the arc we need to watch out for. It goes up a couple of hundred feet.  We need to stay out of it – those of us not subject to the sacrament. The rest of the area is still relatively safe, except for the fact that the arc moves. Oh, and the rift itself is dangerous too, but that goes without saying.”By now, the Revolution’s aim was getting better; their shots were coming alarmingly close.  Korrigan activated the fey portal pad, aiming to reappear as close as they could and return fire.</blockquote>

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