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The courier with the letter found Invokana sitting on a chair.

This is not how the courier would have described the occasion, of course, as the courier, like many people, has an incomplete perspective of what qualifies a chair, or what qualifies sitting.

In particular, Invokana had discovered a particularly comfortable inverted rest position in midair above the ferrocrystalline structure she'd used to create a localized gravity-manipulating effect. Admittedly, it was proving difficult to stop sitting in the chair in question, and she'd actually found this position while trying to reach it to deactivate it, but as that had failed for the moment, she was spending her time getting work done trying to figure out how to improve it.

But yes, the courier. They arrived, and they were very concerned, as Invokana has found people often seem to be for some reason around magic, and they threw a letter at toward her before running off.

Skittish folks, couriers. Perhaps for the best; it must assist them avoiding being waylaid on the roads, yes? Yes, it was most likely natural selection of some variety.

The letter, though, the letter.
Yes, yes, shut up. The letter, the letter, you want to know about the letter. The letter will be told about as soon as she finishes opening, you impatient ass.

The copper of her cloak twists together, metal braids corded and struck, until a small blade lashed out across the top of the envelope, freeing its contents to be retrieved.

One awkward shuffle of paper later, as a letter just barely thinner than the envelope in came in was aggravatingly shimmied out of its container, she finally managed to get the communique into a readable state.
Once she did, she released an aggravated groan.

Really? Really? More loggers? There is an entire Creeping Wood to the south! Is not the Blue Sea bound by treaty most ancient to assist the Forest Guard besides?

...she has an idea.

---

"Greetings, greetings, we come to parlay! Parlay, surely, should not be refused, yes?"

The Kingdom of the Blue Sea is vaguely pleasant, she supposes, in a somewhat generic manner. The beaches are maintained, the settlements are sprawling, the trees are... smooth.
(Trees should not be smooth, but she supposed that a place as generic and sanded-down as this would have such offensively-flat trees. 'Palms', they called them. Gods knew why.)

"Yes, yes, I am certain we can come to agreements most agreeable, indeed, indeed. Why, would it not be most fine to solve one, ah, misalignment of interests with another? The Guard do tell us that they would quite love the assistance of experienced breakers-of-wood like yonselves, and should you find yourselves uncertain, I am certain that it would be of no issue to, ah, subsidize such expeditions south rather than east. What else might be the noble metals for?"

And so the nobles of the Blue Sea were, if not swayed, perhaps at least turned in their tide.
After all, wasn't it easier to get something that other people wanted to help you get?

You're voting for the challenger's details. Voting Heroic+Woman means that we, as the player, will be a Cruel Man.

A
A
A
A

Any opportunity to ride a dragon is an opportunity that should be taken.

C

BRUTE

Long ago, the gods fell silent.

So the story goes. There was a time of gods and prophets, of miracles else unseen. They are undeniable: the creatures of the world are clearly unrelated, the nature of the stone that the Skytree's roots nest in is different, more varied than the magic-made stone of the rest of the moon, the crystal city itself still continues to shape itself to the needs of its citizens. It is not even accurate to say that the time of the prophets has ended, as Xikla and the Gemini are still not only alive, but quite active in politics. Although more children are born every day too young to recall the time where the divine watched the world closely, it remains very distinctly in living memory.

But that time ended.

Not only did that time end, but the nature of time itself shifted. No more did the days and years come in fits and starts, slowing and accelerating as the eyes of the divine shifted their sights. No, all at once, like a rubber band snapping, it seemed to... unwind. Second followed second, hour followed hour, week followed week. It was unnatural. Convenient, but unnatural nonetheless.
But, seeing deeper than the masses, the many gods' prophets noticed something more. A connection, one that had always been there in the back of their soul, suddenly... disappeared. None of them knew what it meant, though some had their concerns. It would not be for years until it was noticed that the gods had ceased to Act.

Different places had different responses, all various degrees of panic. On the moon, however, it was the quiet sort of panic, of a disaster that is disconcerting and which you are rather certain will affect your life somehow, but it hasn't yet, and you're not quite sure how it'll do so. The Vri, refugees of Calamity, profess a familiarity with the state of affairs; after all, their own world, piecemeal as it was, had itself been taken from such a state by Lu. It was not unlivable, but it was not what they were used to, nor what they desired.

And so, amid a populations desperately in need of a pillar of stability, the crystal city could only do what it had always done: reshape itself to fill its peoples' needs. And so, at the center of the city, four crystal statues rose. Acter Nobody, Julius, Rexilium, and Aedanusuirillystiphosidarap (still commonly referred to by most mortal as the much simpler Aedanus). Statues of memory, statues of memorial, statues of a desperate hope that they might return.


Three days ago, time shifted once again.
Three days ago, the statue of Acter stepped off its pedestal, and strode into the forest.
Three days ago, the lunar prophets convened. But only a thread of the old connection had been restored.

Acter has returned. What he is doing, none know; the silence has yet to be broken. Most assume that it must be important; some whisper that he has made foolhardy decisions before. But all wait with bated breath for the reappearance of the Aegis.

B

Even disregarding its value for figuring out the local situation, if we could get the extraction station operational again, that may have the potential to be a valuable resource going forward.

If Egan’s suggestion remains the only character setup provided by the time I wake up tomorrow morning I’ll post my own set.