The Tome of Exalted Ponies

The eye of heaven stylist slays her soup magnificently, sacrificing it on an altar of spoon to The Most High

…

How do you combat an ancient supposedly immortal monster the size of a mountain? How do you prevent it from flattening your troops? How do you sell what was previously a realm satrapi on the idea that anathema has ‘saved’ them from the trotting dead?

These were not questions that had easy answers – but given Speaker’s great intellect, Fire Orchid’s supernatural wisdom in the ways of war, and Taimyo Karal Linseeds practical insights from close to ninety years of warfare, then answers were sussed out.

They all agreed that an initial surgical strike at the deathlord would be ideal. Speaker was certain that with his new martial arts abilities, which he refrained from actually detailing to Linseed, then he could very effectively neutralize the deathlord and allow others to move in for the kill. The unicorn was understandably dubious about this: “I’ll believe that you have learned some new martial arts since last we met, but this secrecy confuses me… and worries me”

“I understand – but Sunhill has other allies and friends, the source of my new skills, and they would prefer if Lookshy and them remain apart” Speaker said, trying to be diplomatic, but judging by Linseed’s expression then he wasn’t selling the idea all that well.

Fire Orchid quickly cut in before her mother could call Speaker on his weak-sauce argument: “Celestial gods. We can’t tell you which, nor how we met them, but we’re talking about gods and their heavenly… messengers from Yu-Shan – they have a really strange hostility towards both terrestrial gods and exalts. Some ancient grudge I haven’t been able to pick apart yet, but they don’t want Lookshy knowing their names because you know that someone would start bothering them with prayers begging them for the same new powerful martial arts, and that would impact us very badly”

The unicorn took a deep breath. She had read the reports from Lookshy’s priests – she knew that celestial gods had issues with unicorns, one not shared with the ‘celestial’ exalted: “So you met the god of punching and learned a new way to punch things, but he doesn’t want to share – right. Have you tested these new skills in practice?”

Fire Orchid looked at Speaker, who quickly returned a look at her. The circle had agreed not to make the news of Sperimin public until the Sunhill army had finished its enlightenment, when parts of it could be stationed at Sperimin to guard it – so… how to explain the dream based martial arts being used on Rakshi, without giving the game away?

“We’ve recently been expanding our light-rail network, our first major expansion. When we were putting up pillars in a patch of jungle we learned the hard way that it was in the territory of two lunars who lorded over several tribes of mutant ponies and mutant animals. Cash Charmer managed to talk one lunar leading some mutant tribes into leaving us alone, but the other one we had to fight… and she commanded legions of jungle animals, many of which she had somehow used her powers to grant enlightened essence. Speaker fought her and used her powers to put her down, letting us move in for a killing blow… well, after she had put her clawed hoof through Speaker’s throat – though he had prepared for that, somehow” Fire Orchid regaled, her years as a mercenary having granted her much experience in the fine arts of telling tall tales of her exploits, but also lying through her teeth to excuse all manner of bad behaviour.

The Lookshyan general looked at her daughter, her face part smile and part scrutinizing gaze: “Were you part of that?”

“Of course – I led the recently formed Sunhill Legion, held the line. We locked down her beasts in a battle they couldn’t win to draw the lunar out, then we struck her down” Fire Orchid proudly and staunchly declared, emphasising the ‘held the line’ as only a soldier could.

Speaker observed as Linseed’s face changed subtly into one of pride – not just a proud general, but a proud mother pleased with the accomplishments of her children: “Alright… I’ll bring your plans for a diversion to the general staff”

Thanking Linseed, the two left the Taimyo to her work and retired for the evening to gens Karal guest quarters. Walking there, Fire Orchid sighed deeply and dropped her strong façade, finally letting her own emotions surface instead of the confident mask of the mercenary: “Gods… do you really think it’ll work? Lookshy drawing Juggernaut away from the city?”

“It has to. I’m sure Sunrise will find some strange solar circle spell that’ll do what we need – but regardless of how it works we’ll still need to contain Juggernaut and minimize collateral damage. We won’t be saving Thorns if taking out Juggernaut means reducing the whole city to a smoking crater” Speaker quickly said, barely even thinking.

The gravity of such a statement seemed to weigh heavily on Fire Orchid. Holding the line against Rakshi had been near impossible already – but a foe the size of a mountain? No line would hold against that – it could simply step on you, no matter how well-disciplined your shield wall was.

Entering the guest quarters assigned to them at the Karal family residence, Speaker was about to say something reassuring to Fire Orchid when he instead saw someone else in the room… someone who certainly wasn’t dressed like a gens Karal servant: “Wait… you!?”

Fire Orchid quickly leapt in front of Speaker, her stance defensive: “Friend of foe!?”

Doctor Hooves, as he had last introduced himself, casually sauntered up to the two solars, his calm demeanour strangely disarming and exuding an aura of calm and jovial cooperation. With his short but well styled brown mane, his brown coat, the tie and fez he was wearing, and the hour-glass cutie-mark on his flank, the pony gave Fire Orchid an appraising look as if staring into her soul: “Interesting – good to see you back in action”

“I… do I know you?” Fire Orchid blurted out, confused as all hell.

The clatter of dropped chopsticks and the thunk of a ceramic bowl hitting the wooden floor rang out behind them. Quickly turning to look revealed a grey-coated mare in a gens Karal servant outfit, her wild blond mane and yellow cross-eyed look making her look oddly pitiful yet also endearing: “Sorry…”

Speaker shook his head: “You two again – what do you want?”

The doctor smiled at Speaker: “Just checking to see if your meeting went well. The fate of Thorns is at play here”

Fire Orchid looked at Speaker with confusion in her eyes, both because this stallion before her clearly knew more than he should, but he was also acting in such a calm and familial fashion: “Do you know this guy?”

“Met him once here in Lookshy – the coughers were after him and the mare. He asked about a book. I’m guessing sidereal, not sure about her” Speaker said, finally piecing together the cryptic nature of the pony before them.

The doctor nodded: “Guilty as charged – chosen of endings. My good friend and partner in crime over here goes by Derpy Hooves, chosen of journeys”

Her caste mark flaring briefly as she used some manner of charm to judge the two sidereals, Fire Orchid’s expression softened: “Right – and since you’re not attacking us, then you’re not bronze faction. What do you want?”

“Factions? Nah, we’re not into that kind of politics – we’re working to save lives, not please committees. As for why we’re here, then we’d like to follow up on what we spoke about last time we met” the doctor said, looking inquisitively at Speaker.

It took a few moments for Speaker to remember, but then he shot the doctor an exasperated look: “Yes, I’ve expanded my ‘private library’ – got all of Sperimin actually – something you wanted there?”

The doctor’s face broadened into a great smile, Derpy bounding over to him: “That’s what you said we needed! Now they can help us!”

Smiling from ear to ear, which was no small feat for a pony, the doctor nodded: “Indeed – and to answer your question Speaker, then we don’t want anything from Sperimin, we want your help freeing Thorns. Every moment we waste, dozens of ponies there die screaming”

“Perfect” said Fire Orchid, smiling menacingly as she approached the doctor: “…then you won’t mind telling us exactly who you are, how you got in here, and why you we shouldn’t report you to the nightwatch”

The expression on the doctor’s face turned from a broad grin into a slightly more worried one, as the dawn caste solar got right up in his face: “Hey now – we’ve already introduced ourselves…”

“Oh yes – and while I’m still somewhat new to this, then Cash and Sunrise have both clued me in on how manipulative you sidereals can be. So, what’s your game here? You could have contacted us in Sunhill, come before us officially if this is all you wanted to say. We book meetings you know. So, what are you hiding? Also, Speaker, lie detection charm please” Fire Orchid stated firmly, having clearly seen through the doctor’s attempt to dodge the question.

The sidereal tried to take a few steps back – but Fire Orchid just followed along, staying right up in the doctor’s face: “Well obviously Sunhill is being spied on by the deathlords – we don’t want to be spotted there, since we’ve been operating a lot in Thorns”

Speaker frowned. His lie-detector charm might not be perfect, but it did let him know when he was also hearing half-truths – though in this case he felt the doctor’s statement as an outright lie, which made him very suspicious: “Doctor, us cooperating with you is contingent on us trust you. You just lied to our faces. I’m pretty sure Cash would be able to tell you exactly what celestial laws you broke in doing so, but if Fire Orchid was to take you prisoner right now so we can interrogate you properly, then I doubt any heavenly censor would take offense to that”

“Doctor… should we run?” the mare tentatively asked, sounding oddly timid for an exalted pony.

His gaze quickly switching between the three ponies talking to him, the doctor seemed quite worried – but with a deep breath, and the flaring of his purple caste mark, the sign of the mare of endings, he seemed to steel himself: “No… we’ll have to be a little more forthcoming, that’s all”

Fire Orchid threw a quick glance to Speaker, who nodded, signalling that the doctor wasn’t lying anymore. To this end Fire Orchid stepped back, giving the doctor breathing room.

“Right – the reason we’re approaching you like this, and not at Sunhill, is that me and Derpy aren’t on the best of terms with heaven. The rest of the sidereal host considers us ronin. The same protections you have on Sunhill to guard against bronze faction attacks would also ensnare us, and they would execute us on sight for what we’ve done” the doctor explained.

Speaker sat down on his bed, giving the doctor and Derpy a quizzical look: “Exactly what have you done to become wanted by heaven?”

Fire Orchid, noting that Speaker hadn’t objected to anything that the doctor had said and interpreting that as there not having been spoken any lies, chimed in: “You’re sidereals – agents of fate – so… you’ve gone against fate?”

“Ya… basically” the mare cross-eyed said, walking up next to the doctor and fiddling with a fancy bracelet that instantly swallowed up her servant uniform and replacing it with a nice yellow dress: “…we’ve refused to enforce a lot of cruel fates. We help ponies, even when we’re told not to”

The doctor elaborated, explaining that when it came to fate then in this age of sorrows the ‘natural state of things’ was arguably a lot worse than it had to be: “Me and Derpy, we go around Creation ending suffering and evil, putting ponies on new paths in life to better themselves – instead of keeping them locked into whatever cruel fates they might have been born into. For this, heaven considers us criminals, for going against the often cruel and heartless designs of heaven”

Fire Orchid nodded, finding the story presented to her quite agreeable: “Oh I know quite well how some Sidereals are perfectly happy hurting others in order to maintain the status quo – but if you fix all those things, don’t you end up leaving… what was it Heath Rose said, won’t you end up leaving lose ends in the weave of fate?”

“Oh no we tidy up our work. Just before Thorns happened, we were helping a poet find new inspiration. He was fated to die of a crippling disease, but also write some very nice poetry in the days before would die. We cured him and then helped him find new inspiration, by taking him around to old ponies and listening to their stories – his destiny came true, but he also got to live – but what we did was a celestial crime by their laws” the mare said, speaking with a great passion as she explained how the two of them made sure that anyone they helped would always fit back into fate, even if not how it had originally planned.

The doctor smiled once more: “Exactly. And for taking that kind of initiative, crafting fates without permission and upsetting cruel gods when they can’t see ponies killed on a whim, we are marked as outlaws of heaven”

“Right, ok – we agree that your stake in this is genuine. So why are you here, and what is you want us to do?” Fire Orchid stated, not just satisfied with the two sidereals, but also feeling a tad bored with how they were going on and on.

The doctor nodded to Fire Orchid: “Yes, the plan. We need you to stop Lookshy from attacking Thorns. Every pony killed would be another ghost fighting for Thorns”

“You’ve really been busy with Thorns for a long time, haven’t you? What you’re describing isn’t an issue anymore” Speaker said, explaining the strange poison pills that the circle and Lookshy had developed in cooperation with various celestial gods prior to the assault and siege of Deep Rot two years ago.

The doctor and Derpy both appeared surprised by that, but both quickly admitted that as a result of their ronin status then it was quite rare for them to touch base with heaven and learn anything new from on high. They had heard of the fall of Deep Rot, but they had been running interference in Thorns and smuggling the living out of there.

“Well, the ghost-pills aren’t perfect – the poison in them will kill you after a week or so, but if taken just before a battle in a shadowland then you’re safe and leaves you with plenty of time to get the anti-dote afterwards. But honestly, we would love some proper intelligence on Thorns, where to strike, and how to deal with Juggernaut” Speaker noted.

The doctor looked at Derpy: “That’s also part of why we’re here – Darling, the scroll please”

One scroll passed around later, and the two mysterious rogue sidereals left the two solars for the evening… or so they thought.

As Speaker fell asleep and found himself once more within his own dream – his dream-based martial arts having rendered him in such a way that he always experienced lucid dreaming – he quickly found himself not quite alone… for something or someone else within his dream was changing things, changing his dreamscape.

“Who are you?” Speaker cried out, his words echoing across his dream.

Out from nothing stepped a figure. It was pony shaped, yet shrouded in fantasy and dream-stuff, making it impossible to identify even if it was a mare or a stallion. Its voice was similarly dream-like, as if the pony somehow spoke in a way that tricked Speaker’s own imagination to give it a voice: “I am here to continue your training – you will need it for where you are going and the foes you will meet”

“Training? In quicksilver hoof of dreams style?”

“Indeed. You were very lucky with your gamble with Rakshi – even more so that you had a circle with you to close your wounds, as your injuries within the dream became quite real on your physical form due to your crude means of entering her mind” the stranger said.

Speaker shot the strange being a curious look: “Hold on – I had no wounds from my dream when I woke up”

“Like I said, you had kind friends with you that moved quickly to keep you patched up”

Well, that explained a few things. Speaker nodded slowly: “Very well – what is it you have to teach me, and what do I call you?”

“I would first teach you how to become one with a dream and hide within it – and you may simply call me sifu”

The next day a somewhat tired Speaker and well-rested Fire Orchid stood before the general staff of Lookshy, the top military leaders of the highly militant city state. The scroll they had gotten from the two rogue sidereals contained up to date maps of Thorns, with markings and notes detailing military positions and troop strength.

“This is amazing… how did you get this information?” Asked the portly Maheka Feldspar, the matriarch of the Lookshyan noble house Gens Maheka also known as ‘The Battleaxe’. She looked at the scroll with the steely and greedy eyes of a military leader who had indeed just been given the secrets of her enemy to use as she saw fit.

Fire Orchid nodded: “We have friends in high places, and despite being shrouded in a shadowland, then there are still spirits and other heavenly agents in Thorns – we received this last night”

“And you trust this information?” said the elderly matriarch of Gens Yushoto, one Yushoto Risotto, said. Her voice was rusty and dry, but it was clear from her words that her wit was fresh and spry like a spring shoot.

Both Speaker and Fire Orchid spoke for the validity of the information. They had no reason to distrust their source, and Speaker added that he had used his lie-detector charm to verify that the source was truthful when asked about it: “…but regardless of the map, then doing anything about Thorns would require solving one particular issue: Juggernaut”

“Indeed. In our oldest libraries we’ve found references to Juggernaut, which state that it can be killed. Considering its limbs and lack of ranged attack abilities, our strategoi suggest a ranged assault, ideally via our skyship fleet, from a height it cannot reach” Taimyo Karal Linseed stated.

Fire Orchid nodded: “Would the Skywolf be able to sortie for this?”

“Not at time soon – even with the replacement parts you’ve made for us, it’ll be at least another three or four seasons before its fully repaired. The battle of Deep Rot left it with a lot more damage than we had expected. We’ve had to rebuild most of the loadbearing jade-steel skeleton of the thing – the old parts just wouldn’t carry after we got it back into Creation” the battleaxe noted, her family owning and running a lot of the jadesteel foundries in Lookshy.

Speaker knew well enough that there were enough factions within Lookshy that still didn’t like him, that he didn’t offer to help repair the Skywolf. Still, without the mightiest skyreme of Lookshy’s airforce then the real question was whether Lookshy would even be able to mount a big enough threat to lure Juggernaut away from the city.

The general staff was aware of this, and possible strategies were discussed at length. Sunhill’s new soon to be enlightened army, along with the enlightened forces Speaker had granted Lookshy, would without a doubt present mighty foes to Thorns – but would they be enough to draw Juggernaut out?

“There’s also the question of just how Juggernaut is being controlled. The oldest of our shogunate era libraries say that Juggernaut was relentless and ceaseless – yet it has been sitting idly for close to five years now. This is highly irregular based on the ancient lore we’ve dug up” another unicorn noted, citing ancient battle reports from the 7th legion’s earliest history, dating back well before the great contagion and the formation of the realm.

It was by a late hour when Speaker and Fire Orchid left for Sunhill. They weren’t entirely happy with the final battle plan as proposed by the general staff of Lookshy, but it was something they could work with. Even without Juggernaut, then the Mask of Winter commanded quite an army – an army that had to be dealt with, an army made of both the undead and the living. The scary part was that according to Lookshyan intelligence, then the living soldiery of Thorns – the remnants and new units of the thornguard – had all been placed under heavy mind control thanks to the Mask’s deathknights. Similarly, Lookshyan intelligence estimated that there were at least three deathknights in Thorns at all times, with more out on missions or projects elsewhere. Lookshy’s intelligence on happenings in the underworld were limited, to put it mildly, but its intelligence directorate had begun working together with the Lost Legion of Deheleshen – the army of the dead that helmed the underworld ruins of the ancient city that had been where Lookshy was now, though such efforts had yet to pay off with useful information, but it had meant that Lookshy’s underworld defences were now better than ever.

“I’m still just… do you think I have family in this lost legion?” Fire Orchid wondered, as she readjusted her position on the magical cloud she and Speaker were flying east on.

Speaker shrugged: “We both probably do. I know at least one unicorn in it – Ruby died in my service just as the lookshyan priesthood tried to pull their coup a couple of years ago”

“Right… I read about that back in Sunhill. I seriously hope that we can avoid more madness like that” Fire Orchid said, sounding none too keen on having to deal with that kind of drama.

It wasn’t difficult to agree with her. Still, Speaker quickly pointed out that there were still plenty of adherents to the immaculate faith in the east, even in Sunhill.

“Wait – we’ve got immaculates in Sunhill? How is that even possible? It’s a huge security risks if nothing else” Fire Orchid blurted out, quite surprised.

Stroking his beard, Speaker explained how the version of the immaculate faith practiced in Sunhill was… to put it mildly… a bit different than what most others preached: “Sunrise did most of the revisions to their dogma, I helped with some notes. Their texts now have the anathema that the dragons worked to overthrow be the primordials. The celestial exalted are barely even mentioned in their texts. Not all of them are too happy with it, but they understand that we can’t permit a faith that preaches that their own rulers are evil and have to be overthrown. It’s become quite popular among the more rebellious youths in Sunhill – a safe way for them to stick it to the sun-worshipers”

“Ugh… of course they would”

“Perhaps, but now that there’s a proper army to join, I think we’ll see a shift in that. A lot of youths used to join the immaculates, looking for an excuse to get into fights” Speaker noted, recalling how similar recruitment strategies had been employed in Lookshy to guide the rough and tumble parts of Lookshyan youth into the armed forces where such aggression could be put to good use.

Arriving in Sunhill, the two tended to their duties and enjoyed what little spare time they had until the rest of the circle returned. Speaker joined Sunrise and Shimmer in reading the book of three rings, scouring the pages for a spell they could use to deal with Juggernaut.

Cash and Sully returned a week or so later, Cash looking shiny and confident as ever, while Sully looked a tad scuffed and worse for wear. Speaker quickly had him patched up, after which everyone headed to the Sunhill manse for updates on what they had found.

Speaker and Shimmer trotted towards the central manse elevator platform, leaving the medical ward that Speaker had been practicing medicine in. Just as they left a male nurse came galloping: “Your lordships, a moment! We’ve got a code forty-six b”

Looking at Speaker, Shimmer quickly tried to recall exactly what that medical code meant – she hadn’t had time to memorize them just yet. Speaker nodded: “A payment issue for a low-income costumer? How severe?”

“We’ve called security. We cured a farmer of a bad case of hoof-rot, and now he wants to give us two of his five foals as payment and refuses to leave until we accept them” the nurse explained, catching his breath in between words.

Shimmer gave Speaker a shocked look: “I thought you said we don’t charge poor ponies for services?”

“We don’t – but a lot of them feel honor-bound to give us something in return, though… two of his five foals? Sounds like a ploy to ditch his kids and ensure they get educated and taken care of well” Speaker said, stroking his beard – his tone made it sound like it very much so was not the first time someone had tried that.

“That’s why I wanted to ask you what to do – they refuse to leave and are causing a scene” the nurse noted.

Sighing, Speaker said that he’d have Cash talk to them after their meeting: “…meanwhile tell them to wait in one of the audience chambers”

While going up the elevator, Shimmer playfully jabbed Speaker on the shoulder: “You are such a softie”

“Perhaps – but that nurse knew well enough to approach me instead of catching any of the others. He knew that the others would have told the family to leave” Speaker mused, sounding not at all upset that the nurse had gone to him instead of anyone else in the circle.

Shimmer smiled. The idea that the staff of the Sunhill hospital knew how to manipulate their masters, instead of just blindly following protocol, pleased her to no end.

Up in the war room the circle gathered and greeted each other. Fire Orchid seized the initiative and presented what she and Speaker had agreed with Lookshy: “Lookshy is willing to commit forces to handle the armed forces of Thorns – but they know that Juggernaut protects Thorns, and won’t move until we do something about it… but not having to deal with whatever army the Mask of Winters has sounds like a great deal”

“And what do they expect in return?” Cash wondered.

Speaker shrugged: “We didn’t get into specifics on that – but I suspect that they’ll want to install a unicorn of their choice as the new ruler of Thorns once the dust settles – I honestly don’t mind that”

The circle agreed that such an arrangement wasn’t all that bad – but it also assumed that Lookshy’s forced could get into the city fast enough to avoid anyone else taking over. Cash followed up, explaining that via the connections he had made in the underworld, his inquiries had informed him that several groups of realm unicorns had infiltrated Thorns: “…so if we take out the Mask, Lookshy might have to lay siege to the city if they want to take over and install a ruler of their choice”

Sullen Hoof agreed, adding that he had snuck around in Nexus and read the guild’s river traffic tracking ledgers: “They track all river shipping in the east – as well as coastal shipping down to Thorns, and the ships coming in and out of there have some interesting reports. Ghost inspectors on ships crewed by the dead inspect everything going in and out, but they’re mainly trying to catch citizens trying to sneak out of the city… they care not for goods being smuggled out”

“To absolutely nobody’s surprise – but did you learn anything we can use?” Sunrise said, her voice not quite pitiless, but still remaining focused on the task at hand instead of simply feeling sorry.

The solar culinarian nodded: “Yes, the guild has tracked what goods goes in and out. It seems that The Mask is trying to sell off anything he hawk, in order to buy as many slaves the guild can sell him – but he’s not buying food for them, or for the citizens of Thorns. This tell us he’s trying to accrue as many ghosts as possible, and that he’s likely starving the population of Thorns, though the farmlands around Thorns is supposedly still active”

Cash nodded, commenting that exploiting the city’s riches for more ghost slaves made sense: “Of course the real question is what the Mask needs all those ghost slaves for. Is he just forging them into soulsteel, or using the slaves to build something?”

“Moot point – both are bad, but this information also means that when we go to Thorns we should attempt to bring as much food as possible with us. This will be the best thing we can bring to buy information, help and allies” Sully pointed out, sounding as if he had already though of a menu.

This brought things around to Sunrise, Speaker and Shimmer and their reading of the book of three rings. Sunrise presented their findings: “In the first age a solar circle spell was devised that let the caster seal away a region of creation into elsewhere – and anything on it”

“Oh, that sounds perfect – we can just do away with Juggernaut that way!” Fire Orchid said eagerly.

Sunrise shook her head: “It is not that simple. The spell requires a very detailed model of the target area made in malfean porcelain – so we’ll have to get materials for that... and there is a ritual for burning that model that requires a supernatural flame we’ll also need a source of, a fire aspected unicorn’s fire or an elemental, and the ritual burning takes a whole night, which will leave us very vulnerable to interruption”

“But that’s it then? If we do this, Juggernaut will be done away with forever?” Cash wondered, sounding as if he was trying to recall if he knew anyone they could buy demonic porcelain from.

With a frown, Sunrise answered: “It’s not perfect. The region made disappeared will return for one day and one night every one hundred years – but assuming that juggernaut can be pacified or immobilized, then it shouldn’t be that big a problem… and it would only have a single day and night to get out or be put back inside”

Sullen Hoof quickly inquired to Speaker: “Do you remember anything about how fast it moves?”

“That… is not something I’m sure I remember – but I recall that it’s not fast at all, but it was equally difficult to stop once it started moving. In the first age it was called The Rubble Maker, The Slayer of Nations…” Speaker mused, plumbing the depths of his exaltation’s memories.

Sunrise nodded slowly: “Well, if the idea is to cast Juggernaut and enough terrain around it into elsewhere so that it cannot run out in a single day, then we will need to get it far away from Thorns to begin with”

“True – the ghosts I’ve spoken to confirm that Juggernaut is set up right next to the city walls. Same sources confirmed to me that it’s the Mask of winters who controls the thing directly, using necromancy – so we’ll still have to target him first… or maybe seal him away with it” Cash said.

The circle agreed that getting into the city, ideally covertly, and gathering information and setting things up for a rebellion, would probably be the best solution based on what they had so far. Of course, first up Speaker would have to initiate into two circles of sorcery and learn a spell or two, for the book of three rings had indeed contained detailed documentation on a spell that removed shadowlands, which would be an ideal way to force Juggernaut away from the city. Speaker was not keen on this, for he knew that to initiate into sorcery required sacrifice. He had already given up his hatred of the Guild, accepting that they are deeply flawed but natural expression of the many-faceted desires of mortals.

Within his private workshop room was made, and Sunrise and Shimmer helped Speaker along with the meditations needed to gain higher arcane insights. It wasn’t difficult for Speaker – as a chosen of the Twilight Caste he was naturally attuned to the strange ways of sorcery, so these insights came to him easily. Over the next four days Speaker mulled over his choice for a sacrifice.

At night, during his dreams, Speaker paced about ceaselessly. He only had figments of his imagination to speak to, all dream-constructs of his, all which would say anything he wanted to hear – but he had no need for sycophants. He needed… options, and he had few. He knew that he needed a sacrifice greater than what he had given up earlier… but what did he have to give up?

He recalled quite keenly how in the first age the ever-present threat of losing your love made many a celestial exalt weary of romance, for giving up a heartfelt relationship was a common choice for sacrifice to the second circle… but what love did he have to give up? Shimmer? He liked her, but not that much… that love had been for her last incarnation – and while it was obvious to him that she was interested in him, then they simply hadn’t had the time to develop much beyond a friendship.

Oh, what had that thing that his sifu had taught him said? The dreaming student’s sutra?

Forming his dreamscape into a picturesque lake-side gazebo, Speaker sat down and recited:
“Once, there was a maiden who slept.
As she slept, she fought and loved and saw the world
And none could awaken her.
For in her dreams, she had a lover who truly knew her,
though she did not see him.
She searched and searched but could not find him.”

Speaker found himself annoyed that his sifu had refused to teach him any more of the sutra – something about spoilers. How silly.

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s that silly… learning this stuff is dangerous”, said the familiar dreamlike voice of Speaker’s sifu.