"Harry always was tactically and strategically bright," the General mutters, pacing again.  "Look how well he held such an unsteady alliance together.  It makes sense to me, Amabael."

She glances up, eyes dark and shadowed, as Random addresses her.  "Very well, I shall hold off.  I wonder if it is an illness that may be passed in such away, or a fault specifically added into your 'Trumps' by their creator."  She grimaces, eyes lightening.  "Best not to take a chance," Cyan admits.

Without knowledge of the situation, without the ability to 'see' the battlefield (for Berd has restricted his own vision to specific areas, in the hope of not attracting the attention of the Archons), Cyan cannot think of her next move.  Frustrated, she rubs her forehead with the tip of her finger, considering.  "I cannot begin at present, not until Amber is certain to hold at least a short time."  It boots nothing to put into place a plan to defeat the enemy with the Myriad Worlds collapsing around one's ears.  "If you have no suggestions, Majesty, I would bide a moment here, see how the battle flows and if you require further assistance."

"I'm certain we can hold out for a short time, at least." Fiona comments, dryly, "Though much will, of course, depend on exactly how short a time you mean."

Random watches Amabael carefully, as if not entirely trusting the Archon yet.  Which is, perhaps, not entirely unexpected, given that his city is under attack by forces commanded by Archons.

He speaks to Tahirah, without taking his eyes of the wheel of revolving ice, "Can this map of yours be moved, or must we repair to the tower?"

"You are all free to abide here for as long as you like.  Your assistance in the defence of the city would be most welcome.  I can, if you wish, command that quarters be provided for each of you."

Roman opens his eyes, allowing the Logrus-image to fade from his sight.  "Your Majesty.  It appears to be workable.  I'd not like to move a man by this way, but to deliver sealed letter to your commanders appears possible.  But it will be more difficult to get messages back from them."

"That's a start, at least.  If the map can show us how things are going, then we can at least send orders in reaction to events, as they pan out before us." Random says, grinning.  "That's probably the best news I've heard in the last hour.  Thank you."

A large, powerfully-built man, clad in the colours of smoke, speaks up at that, "It's about bloody time we had some good news."

"Aye, Gerard.  It could be a sign that our luck is turning."

Fiona snorts, "Luck?  I prefer to make my own luck.  That way I know who is controlling it."

"Your majesty," Cyan quietly begins, "I ask only that you decide where would be best to bring a concentration of Archon forces to bear in order to weaken their assault."  She makes a gesture toward her shoulder.  "Berd is...disliked by the Seraphim.  So much so that his appearance - and mine - will most likely cause a great stir and attract many of their people, once they throw their forces into the fray.  That could be dangerous, but if properly used it might blunt their attack upon Amber itself."

All the while she is thinking furiously.  They cannot afford to allow Amber to fall - if it does, the Myriad Worlds themselves will be torn asunder.  She must help them hold here.  And yet...

And yet, if I do I may never have another chance.  The odds of survival in a pitched battle against the forces Harbonah will bring to bear upon Amber, the forces Harbonah must bring to bear upon Amber, are slim.  And if Harbonah and his people discover Berd's presence, Dorian's presence, the presence of others who have thwarted them before, all standing in Amber...would they not come?

Berd responds to her urging, unfolding a bridging immediately between Cyan and the remainder of the group gathered in this room.

I ask you all now - all of you questors, standing here - do you take this to be our last stand?

I do not wish - I CANNOT act without speaking, for secrecy is not my way, but I fear to say this before the Lords of Amber, for it yet remains possible there is a traitor within them.

I can summon Jonnee Kay and his armies now to help defend Amber.  I can ask Amabael to unleash the Sencathi.

We can make the attempt to break the spine of the Seraphim here and now.

But should we?

We would bring greater forces to protect Amber, but also I would need to draw the Seraphim - as many as I could - here.

There would be danger, gravest danger.  If we fail, and Amber falls...and yet, if we wait, Amber may yet fall.  And we will have lost our chance.

I said before this is the time for desperate acts, for we stand upon the brink of utter loss - the Seraphim are far ahead of us, and only a lightning stroke, risking all, may recoup us that distance, giving us a chance to win.

Is this that time?

What say you?

Even as she speaks, Berd takes a terrible risk - cloaking one of his minds within inky shadows, he sends it winging out into the Underflow, searching for the Seraphimic forces - the Archons themselves - and calling upon Luke to assist him remaining unseen, unnoticed.

One of the Banglen-Yp's, presumably the one who has travelled with the group for a while, steps forward.

•• I will stand here •• All of me ••

Then she turns to Random, with a bright smile.  •• I can talk among myselves • even if we are scattered •• I know what the other mes are thinking •• Would this make me • us • useful as messengers ••
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:34, Sat 06 Nov 2010.

It was a decision made of epic scale, one that Aaron had seen the true weight and breadth of, one he understood much better now. Yet the decision needed to be made, the cost of it so massive that he was having a hard time coming to grips with it.

The enemy might take this 'final stand' as a surprise. It almost seemed too easy, too dumb, for a group of individuals as great as the ones Aaron himself moved with. To place all of their assets in a single area, and an area of such grand significance... surely Harbonah would think it a trap?

Perhaps, Aaron considered, the victory lied not in its apparent folly, but in its very simplicity. It was madness, of course. To set all that they held dear in a single hand - that of Amber - and see whether the place stood or fell.

He wanted to laugh and to scream, that Harbonah would put them in this place, to make this decision. To laugh at the fact that Aaron himself nearly hungered for such odds.

"What other choices have we?" He shrugged. "Can we risk not doing this? I really don't think so."

"Not like I got anything better to do," Chance says with a smile. "The only things on my to-do list for today were bake some cupcakes, kill evil archons, and save the universe, so ... Oh, look, I can kill two birds with one stone. Even better. I'll, uh, save the cupcakes until after the slaughter. You know, just in case.... And, I mean, what better way to celebrate saving the universe than with .... cupcakes." His voice trails off as he seems to remember where he is right now.

"Need you even ask?" Dorian asks from beneath his hood. "How long have we stood together? Have not desperate measures become de rigueur by now? And if Amber falls, let Hosk be but a twinkle in the night sky compared to the fury I shall unleash before its embers die out."

"Well, it seems that we have plenty of people prepared to stand with us." Random says, rubbing his hands together and grinning.  "And we may have something else that might help."

"Gerard?"

The big man lifts his head, "Yes, I have it.  No thanks to our friends here.  They tried to stop it being delivered to me, you know?  Lucky for us that Redigan is far too officious to let mere heroes interrupt him in his duties."

"I left it in my suite though, under his watchful eye.  Just to be on the safe side."

"What he's talking about, as you are apparently aware, is a knife.  A powerful artifact which once belonged to Dad.  It's very strongly tied to Amber, and to the Pattern."

"I'm in," Luke affirmed.  He nodded slowly.  "Always been one for last stands, for assailing the unassailable, the whole bit.  Will be nice to walk into this war with the old man rather than against him for a change."  He stared with surprising solemnity at the others as they made their own decisions, then barked with laughter at Gerard's comment.

"Heroes?  That lot, maybe...frankly, I was worried we might still have a traitor here."  He shrugged, unmindful of any annoyance that comment might accrue.  One hand found the pocket of his long coat, and he touched something within it, a thoughtful look coming across his face for a moment.

Then he slipped up next to Dorian.

"I don't think we'll have much time if Amber falls, but could you warn me this time before you pull a stunt like Hosk?"  A thousand daggers filled his smile, eerily reminiscent of Berd's.  "Last time...it hurt."

"If you're worried about preserving the Pattern, I doubt that it will be in much greater danger.  Perhaps less than if the battle were elsewhere, since we can afford more force to guard it." Roman states.  "On the other hand, the damage to this place will be reflected in many, many Shadows.  If you really care about those other worlds, somewhere less central would cause less....collateral damage"

"It was a metaphore, Luke," Dorian says dryly.

Tahirah is a bit startled at the bridging, and the first thing to come across from her is a sudden sense of laughter at Chance's reply.  She quiets quickly, though, and listens, both within and without.  As the affirmations come across, she tentatively adds her own thoughts.

  There are risks, she replies, composing her thoughts carefully.  I refer not to the obvious dangers if they come, but to the risk that they may not.  The Archons are not even here, now; we do not yet know where they are instead.  You have your...bait, but by the time it is revealed, so is much of your strength.  She's quiet for a moment.  You know Harbonah better than most.  There's another moment of quiet after this.  But if it were me... I would expect a place of Amber's apparent importance to draw our strongest defense.  If the Archons are not here now, then this attack is likely a test - the weak assault sent ahead to see what defenses will be, and to do what damage they can while they are at it.  I would not commit more forces unless the feint seemed on the verge of victory, and perhaps not even then; the sudden appearance of a stronger defense would be only reason to stay watchful.  If you, and Jonnee Kay, and the Sencathi, and Banglen Yp are all revealed to be here now, then perhaps they will do as you hope, and fly to Amber with all speed in hopes of crushing all of their enemies as one.

But were I them, I would wait, and let this attack fail.

The princes and princesses of Amber suddenly look a little less comfortable, as Roman speaks, but Random does reply to the Chaosite, "The Pattern is not altogether indestructible.  It can be damaged.  That was one thing we discovered during the recent war with your own people."

"You are right though, in that any harm which befalls Amber will ripple out into Shadow.  With enough damage here, entire worlds might fall into nought but dust and memories."

He gestures towards Gerard, "That's why I asked him to have Tiadé fetched out of storage.  It's a thing Dad made, with Dworkin's help, when he was younger than any of us kids.  It might be useful."

Aaron raised his head to Random, his eyes narrowing in considerable thought.

"What do you know of Tiadé and its connection to the Pattern?"

The blade could be anything, of course. Its physical nature could simply be an image used to represent something else, though a blade, of any type, is usually crafted for a specific purpose. Aaron highly doubted Tiadé had been Oberon's letter opener.

Still, though... one never knew. There were a lot of weird things in Shadow.

"It was Dad's letter opener." Random says, with a chuckle, "At least that's what he always called it.  A knife, because a knife is a tool, not a weapon, and Tiadé was intended as a tool first, and a weapon second."

"The blade bears a copy of the Pattern, in miniature, as it where, but that Pattern can't be used for anything except the one purpose for which it was created."

"It was intended that, should the Pattern ever be damaged then Tiadé would, as long as it wasn't too badly damaged, allow its wielder to redraw it.  They wouldn't be able to create an entirely new Pattern, or change the original in any way.  But it would allow them to restore the Pattern to the form it held on the day that Tiadé was first empowered."

Random shrugs, "And I think it will only work once.  After that, it's just a fancy carving knife."

]

They're discussing methods of preserving reality, now - a fine thing, should the worst occur.  In Cyan's opinion, if they have to use the 'letter opener', they've lost.  True, they can remake the Grand Pattern, supposedly exactly as it was before.

But what of all of reality that has winked out of existence?  What of all the people's lives, snuffed away?  Would they return as if never gone?  Would they merely be copies?  Or would everything be 'reset'?

On the day that Tiadé was first empowered.

Question answered.

Lips thinning, Cyan paces in a circle.  "I need to know, Berd - where are they?"  The drake continues to narrow his focus, seeking the Seraphim with Luke's assistence.  And Cyan returns to the bridging, her smile reappearing briefly in response to Tahirah's amusement.

+ You make good points, Tahirah, points that bring me doubt.

I believe I can incite Harbonah and the other Seraphim to attack, should I be capable of discerning their location.   Regardless of their 'grand plan', each and every one of the Seraphim has their own plans for control and domination...over each other.  They have no true trust.  Harbonah rules through a combination of power and cunning.  If another Archon believes itself capable, it will challenge him.

If I offer knowledge of Harbonah's inner secrets - and they all know me to have been his General, at one point - and others of our group are there to offer their own secrets, of how we defied the Seraphim for so long, I suspect some of the Seraphim will come.

And if some of the Seraphim come, more will follow.  For they cannot afford to be 'left behind'.  If there is secret knowledge to be revealed, they must hear it as well.

And Harbonah will perforce be compelled to come.

Knowing their nature as I do, I do not believe they will have a choice in the matter.  Their own desires will drive them to us.

...but I could be wrong.  I do not believe so, but it is certainly possible. +

Her lips quirk again.

The Lords of the West know I have been wrong in the past.  Horribly.

"Your majesty," she says aloud.  Quietly.  "Would not using that blade cause the deaths of untold people throughout the Myriad Worlds?  Would it not..."  She struggles to find the proper words.  "Erase them?" Cyan finally finishes.

Amabael, still a wheel of glittering ice shards, a wintery chill exuding from its form, speaks, +WE DO NOT BELIEVE THERE ARE OTHER ARCHONS NEARBY.  AT LEAST WE CAN NOT SENSE THEM.  WHILE IT IS POSSIBLE FOR AN ARCHON TO CONCEAL ITSELF FROM ANOTHER, EVEN WHEN THE OTHER IS ACTIVELY SEARCHING, DOING SO REQUIRES THAT THE ARCHON REMAIN... QUIESCENT. +

+ IT WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO EXERCISE ITS ABILITIES.  WITH A LARGE GROUP, IT WOULD BE HARDER STILL TO CONCEAL THEMSELVES.  WE COULD SEARCH FURTHER AFIELD, BUT WE ARE RELUCTANT TO DO SO, AS IT WOULD RISK EXPOSING OUR PRESCENCE HERE. +

Random nods to Cyan, and takes a moment to consider before answering, "It would, as you say, undo a portion of history, and the people who were born since the day that Tiadé was forged would no longer exist.  But... and I believe it is important to remember this... if the blade were needed to redraw the Pattern, then a considerable portion of it would have already been damaged, and a great many people would already be dead or changed."

He spreads his hands, as if weighing the choices, "Everything would continue from that point.  People would be born, live, die, just as they have done this time.  Many of them will still be the same people."

"Indeed... " interrupts Fiona, "For all we know, Tiadé might already have been used one or more times.  This could simply be a repeat of a previous iteration of history, and we simply don't realise it.  Each time, all is restored, and each time the events play out exactly as before."

"Including this discussion."

Cyan listens carefully as Amabael speaks of the Seraphim's lack fo presence here, and slowly nods her head as Berd's search produces the identical results - nothing.  "So," she whispers.  "We can fight here, and try to hold.  Defeat the Seraphim's armies while searching for them -" Do that, Berd. "- and if we find them or they come here..."

Implement her strategy, as final as it will be.

"Hold your senses back, Amabael," she advises.  "I would rather the Seraphim not be aware of your presence."

Berd, has there come any word of the nephillim?

The king's words put a spike in her gut; sick at heart, Cyan slowly turns in a circle, struggling to think over their meaning, and the truth of what follows from Fiona.  "Then...if the Pattern is so sorely damaged you must...ah...<I>reboot it, it shall wipe away untold numbers of lives.  I understand.  But if the Pattern is only partially damaged, and can hold?  What then?  Do we wipe them away anyway, to ensure a better solidity?  Or is there a way to succor the Great Pattern, to save it and the people simultaneously?"

Closing her eyes, she rubs her forehead.  They do not see.  Reflections might look the same, but any people in this new Myriad Worlds would not be the same.  The others would still be gone.  Destroyed.

"And if this is nothing but a retelling of the same story, continuing into the past in reflections ad infinitum," she whispers, her eyes darkening, "then it would be pointless to proceed.  Better to risk on something new than play the universe like a skipping CD, wouldn't you say?"

The General fades again, and she shakes her head, eyes brightening to a deep ruby.  "Should we not struggle to hold steady here - to keep the Archons' army from our gates?  But if this is not their full force, then where are the Seraphim  What are they doing?"

The key question.

"If this was their only goal, Harbonah would fling his full strength upon this world," Cyan whispers.  "The sage states that to force an opponent to react as you wish, you attack something of value, something they cannot afford to lose.  So they pressure Amber.  And while we defend that place, they go about their business elsewhere."

Where?  And what?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:00, Tue 23 Nov 2010.

 

A head cocked to one side, pensively, and a multitude of head cocked pensively to the side.

•• I do not believe this to be a rerun • because I have not seen this episode before ••

A multitude of voices spoke and a single one.

•• Indeed • as the fellow with the golden mark on his forehead would say • I have not even seen this season yet ••

A giggle rippled through the identical crowd.

•• At least not for me ••

A hand rose and a multitude of hands tapped as many chins along with the solitary one.

•• Then again • if this is indeed a typical looping of time • as shown by the Screen many a time • then something has changed ••

A cheerful grin and the hand(s) dropped to place all fingers upon the multitude of the single chest.

•• Me ••

A thoughtful pacing began and lasted for but a second.

•• Even if I am too late to change things now • should it be a broken record • I may learn enough this time to stop it the next ••

All too many teeth, if not in one place, fried of a brilliant smile.

•• Fear not • I shall help either way ••

 

"And we appreciate the help." Random says, nodding to Banglen-Yp.  His expression, though, betrays the fact that he has not really followed much of what she said.

His attention goes back to Cyan, "I suspect you may be right.  If they are not coming here, then their target must be elsewhere.  Somewhere far from here.  But for Amber to serve as a suitable distraction, their true target must be worth the cost of attacking here."

"I have no idea what that would be."

He starts to pace back and forth as he speaks, "Their goal has always seemed to be Amber, right since the first time we heard of the threat they present.  Could it be that something has happened to give them a new goal?"

"Or are we simply misunderstanding their plan?  They are not, after all, human."

"It IS possible that the Archons have changed their minds regarding their target.  And if my understanding of their intent is correct they wish to eliminate both poles of our reality." Roman states.  "However there is a place between that they must defend, a place where many of them already are.  The site of Finndo's machine."  A risky place to strike - the danger that the machine will be used is that much greater.  But so is the chance that that use might be prevented.  It might be better to choose another target, hoping that the defenders will be drawn off to the battle, so that a strike team might disable the machine.  But that may not be an option.

Banglen-Yp as a wildcard, changing the scenario?  It might be true.  But further information flows to her.  Cyan frowns.  "Berd speaks with the nephillim...we may yet have further allies, Amabael, archons who have dismissed the Seraphim's desire to conquer and who have dedicated themselves to study and peace."  Her grin is full of irony.  "Even their danioti have taken up positions as 'protectors'."

But the smile vanishes.  "The Seraphim...have scattered."  She closes her eyes as the information continues to flood in from the little drake, still seated on her shoulder, his golden eyes now burning.  "They move as if they have aims, but oftentimes in different directions.  Decoys?  Or perhaps they search.  For what?"

Her amber eyes clear.  "Do they wish to hold us here?" she whispers.  "Force us to hold the line in Amber's defense while they prepare an endgame?  Berd - the cracks.  Can you see the cracks throughout the Myriad Worlds?"

The air above the little drake begins to shimmer, as if in a heat haze.  More and more of his hydra-mind comes into play, its twelve-fold perceptions stretching out through reality, holding parlay with the nephillim, seeking out the Seraphim, and now pulling back to study the vicious 'breaks' the Seraphim have laid from pole to pole through the Myriad Worlds.

"Their tactics, we may misunderstand.  But their overall plan...they wish to shatter the Myriad Worlds, to return all to fluidity."

Her eyes focus again.  "Why defend Finndo's machine?  Refresh my memory, if you would, Lord of Chanicut."

"The machine can return the former prisoners to their jail." Roman repeats the information ""Not a power 'touuld be wise for us to use but a power that Harbonah would not let slip from his grasp.  I have seen the place of the machine and there are many Archons there.  If the Seraphim have dispersed, it may be the largest gathering to be found."