Chronicle - From Fontainver to the Iron Mountains

Fontainver

I elected to stay on the ship and commune with Odin in peace before facing the public spectacle. Milai and Lanzi flew up to the significant fortification to meet with the leaders and elders of the Elves here. Hintzu made himself useful in the shipyard, working wood.

Milai was met by Menaloas (her uncle), who simply bowed before both started talking about the business of the moment - war. Double doors were opened into a meeting hall that was an echo of Lumina's halls, and Milai was informed that someone had travelled to meet with her.

A lean elf dressed in autumnal colours, named Cerian, was there to meet Milai. They exchanged bows, as Milai recognised her as a member of an eldar race (Sylvan). Asked of any news from Nega, she could not help as she had travelled by the Astral plane as we had. Cerian was seeking Gwendolyn, who had travelled off the Prime to the Sylvan ancient lands but was now lost. The Sylvan Elves thought her vitally important to the Prime and had hoped that we would have word of her, but were to be disappointed.

Some good news was heard, at least, as it seemed that Inwe's attempted corruption had not affected any Sylvan Elves so far (would they know if it had?) and Zundar was secure for the moment, although still a threat from Demogorgan's forces. Apparently he was being more conservative in his approach to the Prime this time. Hintzu joined the meeting, having done what he could to aid with the ship building, and was introduced. The only news that we could give the Sylvan's in return was that we had recovered Gwendolyn's ring of power.

Meanwhile I was communing with Odin in private, and was surprised to find him answer my prayers quickly and in person. He looked old and tired, although his powerful aura left no doubt that he was the king of the Gods. He belived that Ragnarok was now inevitable and close; then he shocked me by naming me as the last true priest of Odin on the Prime! He told me that my place in Valhalla was assured and even urged me to give up the fight on the Prime in order to join them. I refused to give up hope and vowed to spread word of his power as widely as I could whilst continuing the fight in his name.

I did have some questions for him concerning Yishmay, and he confirmed our fears that she was no longer in Nega and was important to Ragnarok, so needed to be protected. It seemed that we would have to travel east again, but it would not be easy for Milai to abandon her people with the enemy planning to attack.

Milai was discussing the defence of the area with her commanders, warning of deception and assaults from within as well as without. When I delivered the news about Yishmay she confirmed the outlined plan of defence but then agreed to travel with us on a rescue mission, vowing to return before the attack was launched. I wanted to honour my vow to Odin before departing and asked for the spirituals leaders of her people to join us so that I could preach about Odin's power. A lady called Mim, a cousin of Milai, joined us but Milai warned that her people felt abandoned by the Gods and without seeing them amongst them as had been the case in ages past they would find it hard to believe in their deliverance.

Rising to the challenge, I used an artifact with holy dweomer to transform into the avatar of Odin and for a time he was amongst them, assuring that they had not been forgotten and that he would be by their side in the fight to come. I believe that those present were impressed, but I could only hope that word would spread because we had to depart at once.

We knew that the ninja was somewhere in the Iron Mountains, so that was our initial destination. The Sylvan elf would act as a guide to the glade of her people and we could then make our own way from there. We shifted into the Astral plane for the journey, and again Lanzi was the most adept at movement here, pulling Milai and I along but also struggling to keep up with the elf. The travel was surprisingly uneventful and we reached a portal to her glade in peace. She landed lightly on the grass as she stepped through, but the rest of us found it harder to find firm footing so quickly, stumbling slightly as we emerged into an ancient deciduous forest glade.

It was damp and full of life, beautiful and vivid to behold. Milai seemed to be talking to herself, but apparently was talking to a creature that we later learned was a brownie. She traded a ring for their services as a guide to take us to the Iron Mountains, but had to wait for the critter to show his wife the gift he had received! A blue, glowing orb bobbed around Lanzi, dancing with the Ioun stones he had found in Sutur's treasure. Cirian returned to tell us that Lady Merion bid us welcome and would have an audience.

We were offered wine, which I gratefully accepted, although Lanzi tried the stream water, finding it very heady and he swore that the nearest tree moved slightly, so mayhap there was something in the water. The elves were aware of the brownies in the glade, but it seemed that they avoided the Sylvan elves.

A beautiful (even by Elven standards) lady emerged from the trees, inviting us to sit as growths appeared behind us and shaped themselves into chairs. Introductions were exchanged, as as this happened Hintzu heard the words "you will never be broken" in his mind, and Lanzi "you are different". Lanzi was named as greatest among the third born, which I am afraid will only encourage him.

She spoke of the blooms; in her youth there was only one race and there were nine blooms and nine more, balancing alignments and positive and negative influence. We spoke of the need to save Yishmay and our attempts to restore balance by returning artifacts. We were seen as the kernel of a new White Council, of which there were once sixteen members. She reassured us not to hurry as time flowed here only at her whim and we were on a 'different' part of the Prime not affected by Ragnarak.

We explained that Guerin had been banished, at least for now and then asked after Dracor Augusta. Apparently dragons do not come to this place, but Dracor had spoken to them in the Spring (now Autumn) to learn how things grow. Although there was some debate that this could be a place of sanctuary, we concluded that this was not good for bloom as they would lose their influence on the Prime. The Elves here speak with the Gods, but do not worship them, so they are a strange people indeed.

We were allowed to go our own way, and Milai's brownie friend reappeared to lead us. It was a difficult journey, but a safe one, and we eventually came to the edge of the ancient tree line with the foothills of the Iron Mountains before us. Milai awarded our guide with jewellry, and his parting advice was a warning that 'dark dwarves' lived in the mountains.

An Unexpected Rescue

Without knowing the exact location within the mountains we could search for weeks, so I communed with Odin for guidance. We were surprised to find that Yishmay was in Ochi, not at all where we had expected to find her, and I called on Odin once more to give us speedy passage to the town, creating a temporary portal that delivered us straight there.

We were granted an audience with Yishmay at once and she was unhurt, perfectly safe! After much discussion it became clear that Gwendolyn was pretending to be Yishmay and had been captured by the ninja, allowing Yishmay to continue as a strong bloom leading her people in safety. If we were to rescue Gwendolyn then her deception would be strengthened, but how would that help our cause? We decided that if we were to use the rescue to play the enemy off against each other then the strategic impact could be significant, but we would have to move quickly.

After communing with Odin once more, it was clear that he could guide me to Gwendolyn's location, so our path would be clear. Although we wanted to leave quickly, Lanzi would not go without marrying Yishmay in secret, something he had hoped to do for some time. We also conceived a plan to disguise her as a male general in order to enhance even further the deception that Gwendolyn had started. We attended the wedding ceremony, which involved many flowers and also tea. The disguise followed, but Lanzi could not resist snogging the 'general' before we departed, which was disturbing to see!

We met on the parapets of Ochi when we were ready and Lanzi summoned a cloud, which apparently was more solid that the usual variety! Sure enough we were able to stand upon the cloud, which then travelled at an incredible speed. With one stop to refresh dweomer, we were able to reach the Iron Mountains in less than an hour! I called on Odin to show us the path and followed his guidance. We flew to save time, but ensured that we were invisible to avoid unwanted attention. After a couple of hours we reached a block of rock with a path below which hid a secret entrance. Hintzu and I pushed the stone in the place that Odin guided me to and it moved to reveal a roughly hewn, low corridor leading into darkness.

I took out my gem of continual light to see ahead, and the passage widened slightly and ended in a door ahead, which I approached. As I did so the floor fell away below me! Fortunately the dweomer we had used to fly was still with us and I did not fall; it did cause Milai to stop suddenly, though, and Hintzu walked into her to his embarrassment.

Milai moved ahead, using Agan to search for any traps, and Lanzi added light from his own gem to aid our visibility. Hintzu became visible and approached the door, opening it easily to reveal a split in the passageway, with paths leading diagonally left and right ahead of us. I am guided towards the left-hand path, and Lanzi cautiously called up mirror images now that our invisibility was coming to an end.

The corridor ended after a time, with a door on the left. Hintzu opened it to reveal a small room with another door opposite, but three red frog-like creatures squatted before it. They responded to the door opening and struck out, hitting Milai. She responded with a cone of cold that killed two of them, and then cut down the last as I tried to aid her.

We paused for a moment before opening the other door, then descended the stairs behind it until we reached another door, where Hintzu warned us that he heard movement on the other side. We readied ourselves for combat and then flung the door open, entering a medium-sized room that had over a dozen ugly bronze skinned creatures dressed in armour scattered around it. Milai did not hesitate, calling down an ice storm and killing them all instantly!

There was a door opposite, and six statues of dwarves at the edges of the room. The dwarves were identified by their symbols as Findor, Dragor, Hindor, Fandor, Boffor and Bandor. The door revealed another narrow stairway spiralling down, and this time Milai warned of a trap before we reached it. Our dweomer was still with us, and we were able to pass easily. A door at the foot of the stairs led to a small room with torch holders around the walls and a passage leading off to our left.

Within the room were five Gith-like creatures, but these seemed slightly more human and we could not detect any evil. Two of them held a chest between them, whilst the others were involved in a discussion when we entered. Milai sheathed Agan and shouted out an offer to parlay. The offer was accepted and we were allowed to enter peacefully.

They explained that they were here to trade with the Duergar and were about to leave our plane to return home. We had no quarrel with them, so we wished them well and waited until they disappeared. Some of the decoration in the room was of interest; one wall had a statue of Thor against it, and opposite was a depiction of Tung Mi Lung over Nega. Between the two was a very clever perspective of the Bifrost Bridge with Fenris chained upon it.

Odin directed that we should take the passage leading out of the room, and we followed it for a short way before emerging in a medium-sized room that was highly decorated. On the floor was a massive wheel (like a pentagram but larger). A carved book marked the centre with the elemental symbols at the outer edge (Air, Earth, Fire, Water clockwise from the top). We entered nearest the Fire symbol. The symbols of the Dwarves matching those we had seen earlier were arranged inside the wheel, and the symbol of Olga was positioned towards the top left. The ceiling was carved with creatures of the air in flight. To our left, on the wall, was a huge carving of a sword with a young, silvery dragon wrapped around it. In front was a dwarf (Fandor) protecting himself from Rantor, who was breathing fire, weilding a hammer. To the right another young dragon, this one green, which was oriental in appearance, was bursting out of the ground and biting at a running Orodruin. Behind us was depicted Milai's fleet being destroyed by a fierce sea, but with no dragon visible.

It seemed a logical conclusion that this was some kind of local travel portal for Findor's realm. As we wanted to travel to Hindor's halls (Lord of the Iron Mountains), Lanzi was easily able to activate the portal with braziers conjured on the symbol of Olga and Hindor's symbol. As he did so the wheel turned into a descending staircase, and we made our way down into a smiliar-sized room with three exits and carvings in the corners. The carvings depicted (in clockwise order) Nega, a forest scene, the Bay of Ashore and Minas Morgul.

Our flying dweomer wore off as we studied the decorations, so we continued on foot. Odin guided me towards the centre door, behind which was a short passage ending in an arch and a small room beyond. There were two statues of Greco-Roman warrior men with arches either side.

Much to our (lack of) surprise, the statues came to life as we entered the room. Moya Moya attempted to slow them as Hintzu charged to attack. They seemed more metallic than stone, and so would be difficult to damage with blades. Lanzi raised mirror images to defend himself as Hintzu was hit with a powerful blow. Hintzu fell and lay unmoving!

I completed a prayer to Odin as Milai raised a wall of force to contain one of the warriors. Lanzi hurled magic missiles, but they seemed to have no effect, so he followed up by conjuring a massive disembodied fist to punch the foe. I engaged with my new hammer and finally landed a hit with it, causing some visible damage. Milai followed up with her own swinging blows, but managed to hit me on a backswing. Lanzi launched more magic missiles, finally having an effect; one of the warriors crashed to the ground.

Lanzi directed the fist to attack the other warrior, but of course could not reach it due to the wall of force. I rushed to assess Hintzu's condition, but unfortunately he appeared quite dead. Lanzi tried magic missiles before he realised that there was a barrier preventing his dweomer from getting through. I called on Odin to raise Hintzu from the dead, although I was surprised that he seemed to be revived before I completed my prayer!

Milai shouted that she was dropping a wall of force and then ran to attack the last warrior. Hintzu stayed back and loosed arrows at it, and at such short range he had no trouble perforating it; in seconds it too was crashing to the ground. I then took the time to heal Hintzu's wounds before we continued.

We climbed the stairs behing the arch to our right, which ended in an iron-bound wooden door. Hintzu warned of voices beyond the door, so we readied for combat before opening it. We emerged into a large room with an arched exit on the far side; between us and this exit a score of Dwarves were scattered throughout the room. The scene was horrific. Humans and elves were chained to the walls with various bits of skin peeled off and cruel implements inserted in various orifices. More torture devices were laid around a fire pit in the centre of the room. The Dwarves had a pale, almost icy, skin complexion and tufty hair, and I was more minded of minature humans than the Dwarves that we knew of. There was a strong stench of death, and they were adorned with armour made from pieces of tanned skin and stolen metal. A hole in the ceiling above let the smoke out, although the room was a little murky.

Both parties were, unsurprisingly, immediately hostile. We had not seen such callous, casual, abuse and torture of innocent folk in all our travels! Dweomer was thrown at us, but absorbed by Milai; in turn she charged forwards into combat, dodging crossbow bolts as she did so. Lanzi shouted a quick warning to avert our eyes before an explosion of multicoloured light filled the room, blinding Milai! I raised a wall of positive energy with my crown to contain the threat somewhat, whilst Hintzu dropped an ice sheet on the dwarves and Lanzi followed up with a fireball. Moya Moya added some grease to the mix, causing one foe to fall as he lost his footing.

Milai flailed around with Agan, following up on likely noises with quick thrusts, landing at least one good hit. She also absorbed more dweomer, but was suffering from physical blows and crossbow bolts that she could no longer dodge effectively. I was still by Hintzu's side, and deflected a bolt as he did some martial arts shit and killed one of the foe without even touching him! Lanzi used stoneskin on himself as Milai continued to take damage and absorb dweomer. I used my mace to quickly heal Milai, restoring her health and her sight so that she was able to defend herself once more. She responded immediately, dropping an ice storm on her opponents and following through with Agan, killing several. Lanzi used stoneskin to fortify Hintzu, so things were beginning to swing in our favour.

Moya Moya removed the grease, allowing Milai to advance; she conjured more ice and cut down another foe with Agan, although she took some damage in return. I charged forward to maintain the momentum, felling one with a swinging hammer blow. Hintzu simply pointed at another dwarf and he dropped dead! What kind of warrior was he becoming?!

Milai was bearing down on their dweomer user, but was prevented from advancing by an invisible barrier, so turned her attention to another dwarf, killing him with swift blows. She warned that there was a wall of force somewhere ahead of us. I dropped the wall of positive energy, revealing a firing line of crossbow weilding dwarves that seemed ready for us! Hintzu ran forward, but ended up spread-eagled against the wall of force before reaching the line. I headed around the other side of the room, but also ran into the wall of force. It was surrounding the foe and preventing our advance.

Lanzi recognised the problem and finally found a use for his disintegrating ray, destroying the barrier with his powerful dweomer. Between Lanzi and Milai the foe was quickly subjected to fire and ice before Hintzu moved in, killing one of the dwarves on their flank. Lanzi tried another disintegrate spell, but some other kind of barrier prevented it from having an effect.

We received a volley of crossbow bolts, many of which I had to deflect, with Lanzi loosing images quickly. Hintzu killed another, working his way down the line, but when Milai and I tried to advance we were both met by an invisible barrier again. The enemy leader barked a quick order and they withdrew quickly, but in good order, leaving us in the room alone but unable to pursue.

Pause for Reflection

Given the opportunity to pause and consider where we had reached, we spent a few moments in quiet discussion. I have recorded scraps of insight that emerged from the conversation:

There are probably more than nine dragons, with some associated with the quasi-elemental planes. Biamat is good, but Tiamat evil.

The sword and stone influence the outer planes, whereas the crown and rings influence the inner planes. The negative artifact is the Book of Elorand, which should be in a place of creation, and the positive artifact is the hearth, which we found in a place of unmaking.

The blooms are associated with different planes (have influence there, and draw power from there), according to their race.

Prime - Human - Yishmay (which is why Malor wants her to be his queen after Ragnorak)

+ve - Orodruin's Folk? - unknown

-ve - Drow - Inwe

Water - Sea Elves - Milai

Earth - Dwarves - Mandur

Fire - Derro? - unknown

Air - Sylvan Elves? - unknown

Ethereal - Halfling? - unknown

Astral - Gnomes/Gith? - unknown

The symbol of Olga also represents the Ethereal, and Yggdrasil the Astral.

The Rescue Continues... and Ends

The barrier ahead of us was clearly dweomer of some kind, and so Lanzi set about trying to dispel it. I noted the decoration in the room as he did so. To the left of the archway ahead of us was a Norse warrior slumped forward with a sword in his neck (Erowin), and a very detailed depiction of an undead assassin using the sword (Guerin). The symbol of Olga was above the arch, and to its right was a depiction of the Minas with fire from behind and below, which almost seemed to flicker such was the detail. A ray from Lanzi spread over the barrier in front of me, highlighting it for a moment, and I turned my attention to the wall on our right. Short oriental warriors (Derro sized) were shown, amid a scene of trade between Dwarven races and orientals; fire was shown underneath, detailed but not coloured. There were 3 of the short orientals shown as details statues, with Dwarven runes underneath (names?).

Lanzi, confident that his dweomer had taken down the barrier, ran forward and came to an abrupt stop spreadeagled across the (unsurprisingly) still standing barrier! Was he really the most intelligent of men?! Hintzu used faerie fire to illuminate the barrier, showing a semi-circular shape around the archway ahead without any gaps. I called on Odin to give me the ability to comprehend the runes on the statues, revealing the three names as Hork, Malask (female?) and Brook. To their right was a scene of samurai trading with dwarves; Yagatamo's symbol was there, as well as one we did not recognise - a crescent moon dripping tears (or blood) above the head of a samurai. Behind us, to the left, was a relief of Yggdrasil with branches spreading towards the door we entered through, but turning into tentacles as they reached it, with another three on the floor appearing to wrap around a humanoid female, but not identifiable and almost seemed to shift as you tried to focus on the figure. On the ceiling was an enormous depiction of a giant squid with tentacles wrapped around a ship, an oriental warship, that was being pulled underwater.

Milai concentrated on what sensory information she could pick up psychically, and then collapsed as she was overwhelmed with emotions and flashbacks. I didn't notice at first, having turned my attention to the last wall. There were another three statues here, named Kalak, Grung and Trask. To their right was an enormous crocodile, faced by a character, possibly female, holding out a brazier to the creature. This was Malask, whose statue was opposite, and a crossed out capital M was her symbol. The underbelly of the crocodile was covered in water symbology... and then I noticed Milai on the floor! There were no physical injuries, but Lanzi advised that she might have suffered a mental attack. I called on Odin to hear her at once, and she was thankfully revived unharmed, but with tears streaming down her (quite beautiful) face. We were now all gathered around her, and she explained that she had looked at the history of this room with her mind.

The Dwarven house was lost here to the Derro, and many Elves had suffered as well. Milai lamented that they had chosen to remain on the Prime, and Lanzi tried to comfort her, calming her and urging her to continue. Lanzi was being wise - this was a pleasant surprise! It was time to consider the way forward... we had already reflected on the meanings of Yggdrasil and Olga with respect to the Astral and Ethereal. Fire and Earth were shown with the Ethereal and an act of destruction might symbolise burning of wood (fire, earth and destruction as one act). Lanzi tried burning a torch, but this was not enough in itself, we needed to apply it to the right place. The brazier of Malask eventually was recognised as a perfect place to apply fire, and when this was done the outlined barrier abruptly vanished.

We were now free to continue, following a narrowing stairwell down with hooks and chains hanging from the ceiling and the reek of death all about us. It was also getting warmer as we descended. Hintzu identified a trap, a pitfall, fairly early but was able to disarm it. Eventually we reached a door, which opened into a small room with a half dozen beetle-like walking creatures within; they stood tall, about ten foot or more, with a vulture like head and neck. There were exits ahead and to our right, but no time to contemplate which way we might go.

Milai opened by dropping an ice storm on the creatures, but with no noticeable effect. I called on Odin to co-ordinate our defensive efforts so that we might protect each other without even being aware of it. Hintzu also dropped ice into the room, and this time one seemed to be hurt by the storm. Lanzi created a lightning bolt, again seeming to affect only one of the creatures. Milai and Hintzu charged forward, having no problem making their weapons land telling blows. Another lightning bolt was hurled by Lanzi, but it did not seem to having much effect. Milai began a dance of death, landing many blows on a single foe until it finally fell; it seemed like hard work, though! I also charged forward, but the fell beast sidestepped neatly just as the swing of my hammer had built up momentum. Milai and Hintzu joined forces against another foe, with the killing blow again landed by Milai. Lanzi tried magic missiles, but still to no visible effect. Milai killed yet another, but Hintzu had been fighting hard and he killed the fourth. A lightning orb exploded around us; fortunately I was protected by the crown I wore, but Lanzi was able to absorb the dweomer anyway. I landed a solid blow, but took a blow in return, and then we were hit by an icy blast - more dweomer! Hintzu followed up his last attack by springing behind another, and finished it with quick, strong blows. The last one laid into me with a vicious assault, and then a cold blast hit us again and I blacked out. Fortunately Lanzi, with more magic missiles, and Hintzu were able to finish the last creature quickly.

Thanks to Lanzi's ancestral armour, I was revived without the intervention of my friends and was then able to call on Odin to heal all those that needed it. Looking around the room once more we noticed that all the chains we had been following entered a hole in the door ahead of us, but before we could investigate further we were assailed by the Derro again! They came from two sides, using crossbows that hit Hintzu and Lanzi, and then a fireball that luckily only affected Hintzu. Milai was hurt in the rush attack that followed up the dweomer, but fought back and killed one opponent as Hintzu did the same on the other side. Milai also called an ice storm again to make them pause. More Derro followed the initial attack force, and Milai dropped yet more ice, killing three of them, as Hintzu finished another. However, he was then targeted by magic missiles and went down. Lanzi called a wall of stone into existence, blocking one side of the attack (and also our exit), and then started some Derro choking with gas of some kind. More ice from Milai, followed with Agan's attacks, killed another four. Even Eudora pitched in, hurling magic missiles of her own at an isolated attacker; Lanzi also picked on the isolated Derro, and his own magic missiles finished him off. These last casualties seemed to give the enemy pause, and they merged back into the walls and disappeared as quickly as they had come. We were alone once more.

Milai raised a wall of ice on our other side, just in case, while Lanzi rushed to Hintzu's side but could not do anything for him. Milai passed me a potion to revive me, as Odin's grace was needed quickly and she could not wait for the armour to slowly heal my wounds. I felt immediately better, and Odin was again able to bring Hintzu back to us and heal his wounds. Milai helped herself to a potion as well, her wounds quickly knitting. Lanzi used some of his keotones (a little shocking) as well as some of mine (less so) in order to tend to his own wounds. With a quick conference we agreed that it seemed too dangerous to blindly push forward and that we needed some guidance on where we were going and what we were likely to face.

Lanzi used great dweomer so that I might see the location of Gwendolyn (disguised as Yishmay); I saw her clearly, naked and beaten - clearly suffering greatly but alive. I was able to transport us there, but we would have just a minute to commit to the journey and Milai would make the call on whether we stepped through the portal or not. I protected us from evil first, and then opened the portal in front of Milai as Lanzi conjured some mirror images. The gate opened next to her as planned, and we could see (at least in one direction) that there was nothing within forty feet of her (perhaps a barrier of some kind). More worryingly, Yeonoghu was in the room, flanked by dog like creatures and faced by over a dozen Derro. The scene was illuminated by red lights, near which were two very large double-headed dog things. An enormous forge could be seen further into the great cavern, with bellows operated by fire giants and a cooling trough with a water elemental! There was a large collection of treasure off to the right, with an oriental merchant and a couple of scribes near to a table full of parchment just beside it.

Milai did not move forward, the agreed signal that it was too dangerous to simply charge in (how Merc would have differed). However, reptiles appeared next to us and Milai had to absorb a fireball. Magic missiles struck Hintzu, and then Milai was turned to stone! One dog thing got through the portal before it was sealed by a wall of ice. Lanzi called down a flame strike on the nearest reptile, and then the portal was gone. Lanzi lost a few images, but had to absorb some magic missiles to avoid harm. I reverse the dweomer on Milai, returning her to life. Hintzu sprang into action, cutting down the reptile that was nearest Lanzi. Milai (back in the room) hit the double-headed dog creature with a cone of cold and then followed up with accurate blows from Agan, killing it. Lanzi fired magic missiles at the last reptile, and then I was able to dispel it completely with Odin's help... and a bash with my mace.

Realising that a frontal assault on such a stronghold of evil would be inadvisable, and that the mere attempt of a rescue would serve to reinforce the deception that Gwendolyn was maintaining, we decided that our next move should be to return to Fontainver and prepare for the assault there. Doing so was as simple as reaching Gwendolyn, but the reception was much better! Milai was in no mood for resting, though, at least until she had reviewed progress on the defences.