Aldinoch

[Abaddon]

"These rituals are time sensitive." The old man says looking at the elf hard from under his mask.

[Alinar]

Alinar looks from Abaddon to Aldinoch (triple A!).

"Then that is yet another question - Do you suspect we are so pressed on time that relying upon this tunnel has become our only rational option?"

[GM-Mike]

To Cirrus

"They're villagers, much like Haven has villagers. Would you trust them to take on a bunch of red tear lunatics? Didn't think so. And I appreciate the fact that you consider me omniscient, but seeing how I wasn't here two winters ago, I have no idea what you are referring to. Since you're still here to talk about it, I'm guessing it wasn't all that bad, so sure, if it makes you feel better, I'd be happy to go first. Susspin hugs the western edge of the chaos mountains, so they can't be avoided entirely. In fact, some of their magics have...done things to the appearances of the locals who live closest to the mountains, so it be best not to stare. Other than that, you'll fit in just find. You in particular actually."

Following Abaddon's comment, under his breath
Ah hell, I'm starting to agree with him now.

To Alinar
The tunnel was constructed to fight the chaos so structurally speaking, I feel confident that it'll be there and will remain in tact. I can't lie...Okay I could lie, I just don't see much purpose in it at the moment. Chaos has likely seeped into the air within the tunnels. There have been reports that people have disappeared but I suspect that when such an occurrence has occurred that no one has spent much time looking for them. We of course won't leave anyone behind...most likely...so I believe we'll make it in one piece. We could go around but I can't guarantee that we would find a passage through the chaos mountains that is as certain to get us to where we aim to go so I do feel that this tunnel is the best, mostly rational option that we have.

[Abaddon]

"What kind of world do we live in that Agent of the Tear is the voice of reason? Yes, we will hurried, and yes we will be expected. The fight against the tear ALONE is worth the risk, of course we ALSO have to have the dreaming man." Abaddon says leaning forward against his staff haggard and coughing a little as though just breathing takes all the energy out of the man.

[Marcus]

I'm up for it. Sometimes you can't be picky about how you're going to get to a place, if you are pressed for time. We just have to keep our wits about us, and Light willing, we'll get through it. Even in the year and a half I've been back here, and during my time in Witchwood Hold, we have seen some quite nasty close-quarters fighting, and I have faith in our abilities.

*Marcus looks to Aldinoch with a critical eye*

Do you know anything about whether we will have a safe place or not to rest upon making it through these tunnels unto Suspin?

[Alinar]

"No, Aldinoch, you would not lie about this. 'Enemy of my enemy', after all. You need us to succeed. While we have this common cause we can extend a limited measure of common trust."

[GM-Mike]

To Marcus

As it turns out, the Red Tear are pretty much universally despised so I'm sure you'll be welcomed with open arms.

He then nods in agreement with Alinar

[GM-Mike]

Aldinoch returns, grumbling, not that that is anything new, though there is a different feel this time, a deeper concern, and at first he doesn't seem completely aware of where he is.

"something's wrong, all wrong,"

He looks up, confused at first, and then focuses on the first person he sees.

"This is deeply troubling. We're all being duped, something I'm sure you're used to, but it's deeply troublng for it to happen to me. The question is what do we do about it? These rituals should have been impossible to destroy but yet you break them like a twig, like they're nothing, which I cannot attribute to your superior strength. No, something else is happening here. We need to talk to each other here, share what we know. What have you seen during these battles, what have you discovered? Now that we are traveling into His home, we must be prepared..."

[Alinar]

“Clearly the task was never impossible, or why even try? Could you have underestimated the strength of Haven? Of course you did. Most do. *We* did. Are we being duped? Very probable. But what choice have we but to see this through to the inevitable conclusion? Time and need force us to march ahead before the lay of the land can be adequately discerned. Haven has proved time and again uniquely qualified for such scenarios.”

“Rest assured the last ritual site was defended by an impressive host. Well-coordinated combined tactics allowed us supremacy over their vanguard. Many remained secluded in a building –presumably to protect a host of mages as they worked their foul magics – magics that our own mages, such as Abaddon , made impotent. Turning the beam of power our own counter-ritual produced upon the enemy host devastated them. Afterwards, there was little more necessary than mop up.”

[GM-Mike]

"It was never supposed to be possible to destroy the ritual, only manipulate it to do what we wanted it to do, at least that's what I was led to believe. You could destroy the ritualists but the magic was supposed to be ongong, the devices indestructible, but they've been anything but. My underestimation of your strength, while probably sizable, does not account forthe ease of the destruction of the devices themselves. I feel that clearly something else is going on here..."

[Rothek]

*to say that rothek was slightly enjoying the anguish aldinoch was experiencing would be a gross understatement*

"would think bad mage would be used to tribe of many hunting them by now, haven very strong, not just have strong warriors, but also have strong magics. old pale face have lots of what korrigan and dwarves call "magicy bull shit". also they have swift scouts, cirrus very fast, this could be because she is birdy person and them is very fast."

the beastman went to stand up, his first attempt was met with failure as he fell forward, no doubt a remnant of introducing his tribesmen to dwarven ale, he was able to right himself the second time and shook.

"not sure what red tears are doing and really don't give shit, red tears do bad things to the land, not respect land. rothek will help haven fight them til no mores left."

[GM-Taki]

*Korrigan, who looks very sober and not at all pleased about it, drops a stack of books on the bar and addresses Aldinoch.*

"That's what I've been concerned about for some time now, and I'm ready to yank the guts out of who or whatever is responsible for this. I've been looking into this for months now, and no one anywhere can tell me a goddamn thing about what is going on. Not you, not any of our mages, not the scholars at Brandybrook... no one has a fucking clue how this is actually supposed to work. I can't even find anything RELATED to it in the Toevass library and yet I'm supposed to uproot half the kingdom and place their lives on the line in a foreign land?

I'm not gonna lie, my instinct at this point is to murder the crap out of all the Red Tear, plan on the world going to shit and figure out how to save as many people as possible when it does. Hell, I've already started creating fallback positions for when that happens, but I still want to know what's going on if we've got a chance at pulling this off. All of my efforts have suggested that something is preventing us from figuring this out, and I'll tell you what, it would take a lot of mojo to erase all mention of something like this. That should narrow our list of suspects, and I only know of one guy who's got the power to alter reality right now.

[GM-Mike]

Aldinoch visibly appears to be restraining himself, trying to hold emotions in as he addsses Rothek. "It's not about....It's never been about what the red tear are doing. I would care less about them if I were you as well. They are nothing but a cliched annoyance, nothing more. Since they don't aspire to be more, they won't ever be. I want them gone, same as you, for the same reason you don't give a torch to a two year old in a hut made of hay. They are an army of two year olds, armed with magic, trouncing through a world with little thought and less caring, destroying anything and everything. They may talk of goals and desires and each faction may have their own ideas but they are the ideas of others that they carry out without any genuine thoughts of their own. So no, I don't care about them. They need to be exterminated, sure, but right now I care much more about the one who has put the thoughts into their puny minds."

He listens to Korrigan and then responds. "You speak of the one who makes our world look better than it really is. I know little of him, other than what I've heard in passing around here. To me, the obvious answer is the one who sold the red tear on this ritual in the first place, the one with the audacity to call himself the Master. Whether he and this ilusiojist are the same, I cannot say. His most notable power is manipulation, misdirection, and innate ability to always be three steps ahead of anyone else. He has the patience of elves, calculates every angle, and is apparently taking this moment in time to make his move and it appears to be at his followers expense."

Glancing back at Rothek he finishes, "That's who should concern you, the man who has seemiongly handed you his own people, who apparently doesn't feel like he needs them anymore."

[GM-Taki]

*Korrigan blinks a few times, looks at his stack of books, looks at Aldinoch, looks at his sword, looks back at Aldinoch, and walks behind the bar. He returns a few seconds later with a dusty bottle. Pulling the cork with his teeth, he takes a long drink and sets the bottle on the counter.*

"Let's talk about the Master for a tick, Aldinoch. What do you know about him, and how exactly did he "sell" the Red Tear on this ritual?"

[GM-Mike]

Aldinoch sits, resigned that this may take a while. "The Master was better known pre-cataclysm, back when Regis Mortem reigned. He was believed to be the one who most looked after the interests of Regis, though I'm not sure he has ever had anyone's interests in mind other than his own. He had a way of letting you think he was on your side, would give "gifts" to people, very generously, though then they were indebted to him and ended up having to repay him, often unwillingly, no longer fully in control.

"After Regis not much was heard of the Master. After the cataclysm, though, he returned. Today, there are three main sects of red tear, though one is fracturing into a fourth group. One is hoping to free Regis Mortem, return the world to its former glory if you will. There is a growing number within that group that just wants to see the world burn, but they were pretty much taken out in Gateway. The next group, Lemus's group, If you know him, have somewhat different ideas, that necromancy can be a force of good, bringing back your loved ones...I'm not exactly sure of all the details. He's not really right in the head. They were predominantly out of Suspin, so they are no longer a worry either. At the Corsair Isles is the group that believes it is the Master himself who should rise to a power equivalent of what Regis had, that unlike Regis, would finally lead this world, instead of merely terrorize it. This was the group that I was a part of. I was as close to the Master as you could get, and truly I don't know the first damn thing about him, but more on that in a moment.

"The ritual itself was sold to each group of red tear, even the fractured group that wants to see the world burn. He convinced each group separately that the ritual would fulfill their goals. If you wanted Regis to be back, this ritual would get him back. You want your loved ones wandering around the world as loving zombies or whatever strange shit Lemus believes, then that's what the ritual would do. Now, the groups of red tear don't particularly like each other but there is some communication between them. It got out that different promises were made to different groups, but they studied the ritual, each of them, with their most gifted wizard and each group came out believing that the ritual was capable of doing exactly what the Master said it would do, so long as the device was oriented a certain way. That's how he sold them all on it. I have no idea what it actually does, but I'm sure it's not good.

"As for the Master himself, I know shockingly little when I finally sat down to think about it. I know he holds the Corsair Isles as a sacred place, and I believe that to be because he was raised there. There is rumored to be some sort of collection of books that discuss his history, but they are supposedly exceptionally well guarded, if you could even find them in the first place. Beyond that, and the obvious fact that whatever he's doing is probably not in anyone's interest other than his own, I'm afraid I can't be of much help."