Monthly Archives: September 2026

Here is a Big Deal

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Alexis falls into step beside Ethelred and Ca’armine as they leave the statue and pillar.

“The pillar.” He nods back the way they came.

“The Dragon could deal in chronomancy. The Spider was a master of the ring and could see possible futures. Between the two of them they knew the empire was ending.” He glances at the road ahead. “I have a theory they decided where to create a reliquary to best help humanity survive the trials back then and into the future.”

He looks at the landscape around them.

“They picked this corner of the empire. Gave the Tears to the dwarves, because a hundred and sixty years is nothing to a dwarf. They’d still be holding them when humanity found its way back.”

He shrugs once.

“I have a hunch this place didn’t survive by chance. It was chosen.”

They keep walking together.

God. Time. Repeat.

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The group has left the time-vault of Nodden-Torr. A few days have passed. Alexis waits until the camp has settled, then moves closer to Ethelred.

“Something’s been sitting with me since we came through.”

He keeps his voice low, not quite private.

“Raiden Ascended. Fixed point, 687 SL.” he flips through his notebook aimlessly. “Stand before that point and Ca’armine can’t reach him at all. Makes sense. The warren existed, but Raiden wasn’t in it yet. Some in the Collegium would stop right there: you attune to a region, not a person. No region, no attunement.”

He nods a couple times.

“But we came home through a sky full of possibilities. Every point of light another timeline.” He looks at the page, not really seeing it. “Which means somewhere out there there could be a timeline where Shasharak succeeded. That shadow-fiend that came for us in the hourglass room could be Shasharak or a minion of his from that alternate timeline trying to ‘correct’ all the timelines.”

He closes the book.

“If a god begins at a fixed point, does it exist in every timeline after that moment? Seems unlikely. But Raiden said we were looking at it too much like a road, when it’s a tree.” Alexis shrugs “Or it’s an agreement.” Alexis shrugs again. “Is a single Hood collecting souls from every timeline or is there a Hood for every timeline? And if so, do they know about each other? Do they compete?”

He looks at Ethelred.

“Is Shasharak already a god somewhere? And if he is, can the ‘him’ here get help from the god there?”

How Old Are the Tears

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In the new timeline, as the group walks from the old warrior burial area — that no longer exists — to the grotto where the Monastery of the Eagles stands in another timeline. The group walks and Alexis thinks out loud, turning the Collegium ring on his finger.

“How old are the Tears, actually?”

A few steps.

“The Crone gave them to humanity to save humanity. But they were already in play at the Great Betrayal, at the end of the Second League.” He turns the Collegium ring once. “Which means there was a time before the Great Betrayal when Avv decided humanity needed saving. The Age of Wyrms? The Great Upheaval? Earlier?”

He frowns slightly.

“Humanity needed saving at the Great Betrayal. That’s clear. But if the Tears predate even that, what were we being saved from before?” He looks at the path ahead. “The Age of Wyrms? The time of the crafting of the Sword Chaotic? The time of the Saggi, the Akkil, and the demon-gods?” He shakes his head. “What was so dire, that all the other times pale in comparison?”

He doesn’t seem to expect an answer.

Spellcraft – Starting from Nothing

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After a few days of working on Gus’s leather armor and before Ca’armine’s ritual, Rask changes the subject from armor design on Ethelred:

“Red, I was wondering… I noticed you pay close attention when other people cast spells and it seems like you can tell what kind of spell they are casting without using magic of your own? Can you teach me how to do that? It seems like our enemies use spells often, it seems like it would be helpful for me to learn some of their tells.”

Charging It To Gus’s Account

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The night the group makes camp on the platform at the top of the eroded hill, while Gustav has the first watch. Alexis pulls his hat off, sets it beside him, and sits down.

“Those blessings you’ve been losing every morning, Gus. It turns out that was me. Or a new skill out of the Inner Watch, which probably amounts to the same thing.” Alexis turns the Collegium ring once around his finger.

“The trouble with the Inner Watch is that most of it has been lost a very long while, and as far as I can find, nobody left a guide.” He gives a small shrug. “So I learn what a working does by doing it.”

“Before you ‘prayed’ at the grove that morning, I’d already invoked the old working and pointed it at keeping us protected for the day. I held the protective side of… your… our god in my head, and the road ahead of us. In hindsight, the warren of Raiden took my intention and your power, put the two together, and stretched our passing from a quarter of a day to half of one. I’m still not certain how it settled on you to pay for it.”

“That first working ran four days. Your grove may have had a hand in that.”

“Before I tap into that part of the weave I wanted to let you know. It was new to me then. It’s turned out well worth having, but maybe you disagree.” He looks over at Gustav. “I’m sorry for being a part of your crisis of faith.”

Alexis waits to see if Gustav has anything to say.

Protect and Serve

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Rask holds Ca’armine’s shoulder when the priest of Raiden wakes him for his watch on the platform.

Rask looks into Ca’armine’s eyes and speaks queitly, “A moment please.”

After a few minutes Rask nods, his thoughts Gathered.

“Ca’armine, what we have… won’t they come to us?”

Rask shivers a bit, and focuses and quietly prays to Raiden to shield his mind

“If Sassy can sense it he will come for it however he can, right? That probably means Bandy…”

“We are don’t need to target them, they have targeted us right? Didn’t Alexis say he could tell Varisimuss was scrying on him, probably from the Pool near Greyfax? Or at least, in that direction. ” Rask nods East and continues speaking,

“There are others who will seek it also, or will when they learn of it.” He turns towards Ca’armine.

“We need to be ready for them to come to us.” Rask says grimly.

Rask looks North, towards the mountains in the darkness to the North and asks,

“Instead of attacking Bandy on his home turf, perhaps we should set a location that is to our advantage?”




We Begin With Ourselves: The Stag Pool

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On the small platform at the end of Rask’s watch, he wakes Alexis, who has the next watch. Rask shares his watch observations with Alexis and then pauses, looks at Alexis with a bit of penitence and speaks quietly so as not to wake the others:

“Alexis, you bade me to focus on protecting Ca’armine and Ethelred and I agreed. After the camp the White Stag led us to, I was focused on protecting you, when you freed us from the call of that accursed inn, it was clear to me that I had been led astray…”

Rask hangs his head a bit, pauses, and then continues.

“The White Stag pool, then the Inn, then Zrithak in my dreams the other night… I am worried that my mind is weak, I have been working to strengthen my will, but I am worried it may not be enough…”

Rask’s concern hangs in the air, an unspoken request for aid lingers between the two men.