Book 3, Raven Ascendant (Awarded up to and including 28 here) Chapter 28: The Prodigal Son Returns We've arrived at the planet of Phraan, a boring and nondescript stopoff at the edge of the civilised galaxy. To repair the hole in the ship/galaxy/astral plane will take several days. Well 'repair' is a strong word. I send out a private missive to the Neptoor legion as well, should they manage to encounter any Shard-cursed blood titans, and I’ll leave a message for the travellers in a museum on the tomb world, something like if he helps with that or with sorting out the time issues we’re currently having, I’ll owe him Cos y’know museums, it’s how time travellers keep score. Seth is off in his private life-lab, Ambella is touring the galaxy. I head out with Jasmine to the Officer's Mess for breakfast, with this constant impending feeling of something is going to happen. I note that Ambella's mom is now working alongside the life sciences division or the timefuckery division. Either or. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice that Northorn, while he's eating, is leaving some kind of vapour trail, almost exactly like a motion blur. I comm Gill over to check it out. I'm not entirely sure what's happening when all of a sudden, I notice that the clocks on the ship are behaving erratically. Seth gets commed as well to come back to Officer's Mess. Judging by the clocks it's going to take... a while. I write out a note to Jasmine explaining everything and I decide to get some meditation and paladin training done, maybe some letter writing. They appear right there as soon as I thought about it. It appears we must leave the timeline. Or it'll correct itself around us. I have some small things to resolve here, even if it takes *me* an eternity. I explain everything to her, and I ask for her help in rescuing her in my timeline. I see Ambella Mirth's notes, the breaking of Torou and the breaking of the bindings on Jasmine. There are four other subjects to address as well, including how Thedris manipulated Ash. I go over this with Jasmine, then I prepare my final rites and blessings. It's time to go back to the Old War. -------------------------------- We drop back into the world. We're about 400 feet from the entrance to the Bazaar on Xonkaelera. Ambella pauses, reaching forwards, her fingertips glowing as feathered tendrils of magic reach outwards from all of her, before snapping back into her. Then we're standing in front of the church, looking at Lancelot, then we're in front of a glittering beach, then we're in a hillside knee deep in snow, my aura sending the dead onwards. We're in a cave, a Neptoorian, a monk, greets us as Thedris' company. Seth says that and that's when Grey- no, Ash, pipes up. It's timelinery fuckery. I inform him of what I learned from Jasmine. That's when the other Seamus arrives, and we're all pointing weapons at him on reflex. He continues being slimy, trying to justify that he's the correct Seamus for this timeline. That's when he alerts us about a threat coming, spinning around eyes wary as he raises his hands as if to cast spells at whatever is coming towards us. That's when the Time Lice begin circling the perimeter, I can hear them and their incessant clicking. I can't see them, even as they're being cut down by the others, I put myself on guard, ready for if any make it within melee range. Once that's dealt with, we have sleezy Seamus, who truthfully explains to us that he's only able to take us to the timeline that we're bound to. As we're arguing about... timestuff. A fairy drops down and NOW THERE'S ANOTHER SEAMUS SOMEWHERE OVER THERE. We calmly make our way over to where the fairy's 'master' is. A shiny part of the wall up ahead is radiating pulsing magic. And there's a Seamus embedded in a glass wall. As Seth begins to try make contact,and we're in the middle of a field full of scorch, the top of the cave is missing and we're all having a splitting headache. Seamus is in front of us as he stands up. A blast radiates out from Seamus, and we're all standing up. And then Seth's deployed the anti-Scorch on the rock that appears to be Morjorn, who would've been dying to the Scorch. That's when Seth releases a ton of energy, which sends the scorch into a frenzy. Seamus teleports us to a safer outcrop. Seth continues flooding magic into the area to speed up the process, and then there's a blast of more magical energy as Seamus and Ambella blow up a magical canister. Seth continues shedding magical energy as we assist him to keep working onwards. For almost half a day we're at it. As the Moss beats back the Scorch, and the rocks and scorch are being broken down into just... dirt. By the time we've hit the 32 hour mark, the entire cavern has been cleared. That's when Morjorn steps forth, greatly diminished and he slams out a blast of power, calling the earth to him. The blast knocks everyone else out, as Morjorn pulls out a form of energy from his chest, and he lets out a stream of creatures, and there are almost four dozen beings around. It takes a couple of hours for the others to reawaken as I chat and talk to Morjorn and the fey. Seamus is the first to awaken, setting out to scout the surroundings and get his bearings. The others awaken in turn. Shuttles vox in and rather than wait five hours for pickup, we go to them. We're on the bridge of the Golden Lion. Time to check out our rooms again. A couple of plaques, a medal of valour, a bunch of combat shirts and the like. Missing one elf. Time to work on correcting that. I commission a shelf for one of the few things Lanius may have done right. I use my object read to assess what happened within, but it's just Lanius working as a bodyguard for Ambella. There's work to be done.
