The Father of Waters

Game Master Fighting Chicken

A groan is the only response Drazan gives to the thought of more healing as he finds his axe and gathers it up before stumbling back the way he had first come.

Once Utzi has regained consciousness, she helps him up with a strong arm. "Your arrival let me kill that monster. Thank you." The monk says with a brief nod.

Taking a deep breath, Istiel slowly exhales and attempts to calm herself- her body was still taunt and her heart raced faster than a chasqui with a decree from the Emperor. She was riding high on her victory over the monster Thom add become.

However, she was feeling very exposed after having lost her right sleeve and the neck of her robes. It was bad enough her flesh was in the open air, but being covered in Thom's foul body fluids was just as profane.

"Naira." Istiel speaks as she looks down at her arm and the tattered mess of her clothes. "I have reconsidered. I do need a bath." If not uttered in such a monotonous voice it could have been a joke, but one thing is certain- she seems to respect Naira much more now that the engineer has proven herself in battle.

Hazel eyes survey the battlefield, settling on the altar and the skinned body by it. Istiel walks over and kneels down, fixated on the metal knife in its hands. Then, it hits her- "This is Rigel. This is her dagger."

It became clear to her now that the Rigel they fought was a skin-stealer, but that raised the question- "How many skin stealers are among us? Was Galton a victim as well? Or just a traitor?" Either way, the loss here was tragic, but after seeing off her Master last night the monk had become numb to loss.

Istiel takes the metal implement from Rigel's skinned fingers, inspecting the rare material with a mixture of awe and suspicion. Is it star-metal? Magic? Who could possibly make this?

She glances to the side at Imix listlessly, sluggishly, collecting body parts for what she persumes is evidence. Something is wrong, but she does not know what. Is he cold? No, he seems... In shock. Shaken.

Utzi stands, with help, the man scratching his beard thoughtfully as he looks at the headless once-Thom. "Happy to be of service, warrior-monk."

There is perhaps just the slightest hint of humor - or joy - in Utzi's voice, before he nods and turns, shuffling, with one of the guards towards the south and the path up to Eel Mound.

One of the guardsmen, nicknamed Torch for the rosacea that reddens his complexsion, sidles up to Oios and nods his head - ever so slightly - towards Imix. "Boss, that one don't look right..."

Istiel looks at the dagger for another moment, and then tucks it into her belt. I will give it to Rigel's charge. Without Rigel, she will have to defend herself. With a sigh that expressed her grief over the loss of another Shadeholme's defenders, the monk lifts the limp, skinned body and tosses it over her shoulder. Rigel will be put out to water with the others. She deserved it.

Standing up, the monk glances at the makeshift altar in the grove. I am not touching that. Not after the moths. Turning her back on the grisly pile of bones, she regroups with the others, glancing again at Imix to check his status. Instead of gleaning anything from the Suriname's blank features, she notice's Thom's fingers... "The talons go through the fingers. Who corrupted him and the glade? Fox Priest's contracts do not work this way."

In addition, Istiel points out the missing left index finger. "It is cut at the knuckle." She reaches into her belt pouch and begins to produce the finger that produced the unnatural darkness. "This was at the bottom of the well." In a morbid scene, Istiel looks over the finger to see if it has a talon like the rest of Bird-Thom's digits, a skinned corpse of a recent comrade slung over her left shoulder.

Oios nods at Isitel and Torch. He wearily examines Isitel's findings and racks his brain for any stories of such things happening in the old tales.

Kn:religion: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

But he is tried indeed and shakes his head. He approaches Imix.

Suriname, without your magics we would have fallen this day and Shadeholme's rot from within would have overwhelmed it. Whatever your purpose may be I cannot doubt that it is being fulfilled. But we need your vast knowledge now as well. This... blasphemy visited on the grove keeper. Have you heard of anything like this? I fear our libraries in Cornucopia are not... available to us anymore.

What Oios had observed in Imix corresponded with the little he knew of the almost mythical Surinames. Imix needed something to strive for.

As Istiel pulls the fingerbone from her pouch, it seems as if the light within the grotto is sucked into it, until there is barely any light at all filtering through the mist.

Upon examination, the fingerbone seems to fit upon Thom's hand.

-------------

The Suriname finds Thom's body pliable - light even - given the bird-man's size. The skin is rubbery. Taking a winged arm, Imix drapes Thom over his shoulders, realizing as he does so that Thom's bones must be hollow, like a bird's. It is easy enough to walk with him that way, to the top of Eel Mound.

-------------

Atop Eel Mound, the remaining villagers move quickly. Antuk passes you with a squad of soldiers, a look of wonder on his face. "Did you see it? A tornado! It took a section of the palisade, and flattened Texikuk's house!"

Stopping dead still, Antuk's eyes grown even wider, one finger pointed to Imix's burden. "Balls! What's that?"

Oios has Galton's remains brought out as well It is evil. Vanquished. But not before it did much damage. Oios says shortly to Lady Bellet's Guard Captain. Please ask the Lady Bellet to come to another leader's meeting. And if you can send messengers to the others leaders than do so as well. Oios glances at the squished corpse. Other than the Garrison Captain.

What is to be the focus of this next meeting? Drazan asks quietly, though from the look on his face it may have been rhetorical.

It would have been good to keep our plans to flee a secret. Especially considering there are traitors and spies and skinstealers every way we turn. But... Galton and Rigel dead... the monster the grove keeper became, the destruction of the silkworms. Oios shakes his head It cannot be kept a secret. If the Engineers and the Excise Head had even a day to finish the survey to see how many supplies we could salvage it would have been good. It was a fool's hope.

Istiel turns the fingerbone around in her hand- it was difficult to inspect in the dim light, but it matched Thom's hand. The monk quickly wraps it in a small strip of linen she usually uses to collect herbs, and returns it to her belt porch. It could prove useful if it is benign. We will see.

--------

The meeting with Antuk provided much needed, but troubling, information. "Where is the palisade damaged? How badly?" She asks with a raised tone of urgency.

Oios has Galton's remains brought out as well It is evil. Vanquished. But not before it did much damage. Oios says shortly to Lady Bellet's Guard Captain. Please ask the Lady Bellet to come to another leader's meeting. And if you can send messengers to the others leaders than do so as well. Oios glances at the squished corpse. Other than the Garrison Captain.

Antuk's eyes don't leave the bird-man's corpse. "I, uh, I'll let her know. She's on her way to the damaged palisade."

Shaking his head, he nods to his men. "We go to stand guard. About ten, maybe fifteen feet of the palisade have been destroyed."

=========
At the Grove
=========

On Istiel's request, Naira forced a smile and called upon a harder rain. The sorceress gave only her concentration to her magic, not wanting to risk completely tiring out for the day. She'd maintained storms and whirlpools for hours, but never had she asked so much of the waters.

In her pained walk with the others, the Undine is quiet, mind still on the black waters, the white moths.

=========
The Eel Mound
=========

Naira's long silence ends as they return back to the Eel mound. "Where are my colleagues?" she asks the solder, "allow them to join you, perhaps they can salvage what was torn down."

Naira sighs under her breathe. "Hardly was there peace within these walls, and now they crumble around us."

=========
At the Grove
=========
"My Purpose? MY PURPOSE?" Imix's voice raises in anger, then dies away into a listless dirge. "This is not my Purpose. I have given up thinking what it might be. I have seen horrors and disasters worthy of any Suriname I can think of, and my Purpose has not revealed itself. For a time I feared how bad things were to become if this was not sufficient to require my existence. I no longer fear it. Now I look forward to it - at least then there would be an end to this endless entropic spiral. Perhaps my Purpose is to witness the end of the Empire. Perhaps I truly am the Last Suriname."

He waves Oios on "If I think of anything I will pass it on. I know my duty. But this is not my Purpose so, for now, you lead."

=========
The Eel Mound
=========

"Texikuk?" asks Imix, ignoring the destruction. "She was not in the house, was she?" he shakes his head and answers his own question "No. She was taking inventory."

Seeing the group has stopped, Imix dumps Thom unceremoniously in the mud.
"Naira. Istiel. Thom is becoming one of those creatures. We need to look for weaknesses." his sacrifical knife - razor sharp present of the Wo'Tah ambassador - is in his hand, and he starts an incision down Thom's chest. With the sacrifical knife, the position on top of Eel Mound, and the stroke to the chest, he finds it reminds him of his time among the Wo'Tah.

Istiel nods to Antuk. "I will join you when my duty here is finished." She still had Rigel's skinned body thrown over her shoulder, and meant to see her laid to rest.

The monk turns as Imix plops the former Worm King into the mud like the pile of reguse he had become, and moves to stand over him. "My blows did nothing until your magic flowed into them." She comments the extent of her knowledge, and is silent.

=========
The Eel Mound
=========

Do your experiments quickly, then Isitel, take Naira and the other engineers to the palisade, see what may be done to rebuild it at least temporarily. After escort them to where Tekiku is, there is no more time for survey, we must prepare it to be carried as we flee. Imix, I will need your word as a Suriname to bolster what happened. Even with that Oios motions towards the corpse It will be not easy to believe.

Oios pauses. Is anyone here good with children? Rigel's ward must be told what happened.

Rigel's ward may likely have suspected something already. Regardless, Rigel was a good friend, where can the ward be found?

Istiel nods to Oios, agreeing with his plan of action. "She is in the triage." Is plainly spoken in regards to Rigel's ward.

Drazan turns to head off to find Rigel's ward at the triage, ready to bestow the knowledge of Rigel's dark fate.

Imix waves Oios' comments away, apparently entranced by the autopsy.

Naira's long silence ends as they return back to the Eel mound. "Where are my colleagues?" she asks the solder, "allow them to join you, perhaps they can salvage what was torn down."

Antuk nods. "Of course. We'd appreciate the company. As to your colleagues? I couldn't say."

Istiel stops Drazen as he begins to leave, pulling Digel's shining metal dagger from her belt and handing it to him pommel-first. "Give this to Isuelt. She must defend herself now."

Rigel's body felt heavier on her shoulder than before.

Taking a long look at the dagger before taking it into his possession for the second time he looks back up at Istiel's mask staring back at him, and without a word or so much as even a nod he tucks it into his waist belt before returning to supposed purpose.

===========
Triage, Drazan, Istiel?
===========

The Coywolf is calmer this afternoon. Utzi, who sits pale and trembling as the Hedge Witch Helgya applies a paste to the marks around the man's neck where he was grabbed by Thom, thick purples bruises, curses quietly under his breath as the door swings open before you.

Heads swivel as you enter, and what little commotion there was within the triage stops completely. Qualto, the mad engineer-apprentice, is in the process of stacking copper mugs atop the former inn's bar when one topples, the clattering reverberating around the otherwise silent space.

Issy, in the middle of re-wrapping a guardsman's wound, looks to you, her eyes wide...

==================
Autopsy, Oios, Imix
==================
There in the mud, at the top of the stairs to the silkwood, you kneel with a set of tools at your disposal - your weapons, tipped, carved, or studded with stone, obsidian, and wood.

No matter the weapon - Imix's javelin and terbutje, Oios' mace and spear - Thom's monstrous skin proves rubbery and unyielding. Conjuring a cantrip and setting it against Thom's body, the creature's skin refuses to light, the minor magic registering no effect other than a slight blackening of the area touched, and the sickly-sweet smell of rot invading your nostrils.

================
Palisade, Naira
================

You circle around Eel Mound with Antuk and his men, nearly at a sprint, to come upon a scene of destruction. The vortex - your vortex, in a way - apparently bounded up the mound-side, right into a stone dwelling, tearing it into pieces and scattering the dwelling for hundreds of feet. Indeed, the scattered stones did much damage, punching holes into the walls of nearby buildings, and cracking the palisade in a couple of spots.

The most pressing need, however, is where the tornado punched through the palisade, obliterating it in about a 15 foot stretch. Here, a good sixty of Shadeholme's citizens have gathered, about half of them guardsmen, standing outside the walls, surveying the forest under the watchful command of the Lady Bellet.

The Lady catches your eye and smiles. "It didn't get just us." Beyond, in the forest, you can hear it - sounds of confusion that could only be born of unexpected calamity. The vortex ripped a crooked trail through the forest tossing trees as it went, until it ran - apparently, as your vision loses the trail in the fog - right into one of the enemy camps. Men scream in pain, panicked voices drifting through the mist.

The rest of the villagers have gathered around the Excise-Head, Texikuk, and your colleagues, Apchana and Tetchuix, who are huddled in a quick conference, the tail end of which you catch as you approach.

"...thirty-two sawn logs in warehouse #2. We could also put people to work, cutting down some of the silkwood."

===========
Triage, Drazan,
===========
Drazan steps in slowly, regarding those he recognizes with a sympathetic glance. Life. Love, Delight, he said punctuating heavily to emphasis the power in the simple words. These were not just tenets of the goddess Anaisa Pye, but ideas given physical form by someone you all had the gift and fortune of knowing. This breath of fresh air saw promise in the tortured, hope for the hated, and moved with a grace that will never be experienced again in many of your lifetimes. Drazan came to a stop several feet from Iseult, a girl he had often been around but never anywhere close to connecting with. The weight of the task suddenly came down on him, splitting his thoughts into fragments that left him silent for a long and gut twisting moment before he found the words by pulling on one of Anaisa Pye's prayers. She loved life, so she has no sorrow in death. Her gladness sent her up on wings, lost to the blue of the sky. She has struck hands like a seal in the loyal hands of friends and gave her soul to the world. Rigel has left us, and she knows another must now finish the tasks she leaves undone.

The wounded engineer curses under her breath. "I'll tend to the walls. Should you see Interim-Chief Engineer Tetchuix, report my location and mission to him."

================
Palisade
================

The wounded engineer arrives at the palisade, inspecting it's damages. She runs her fingers across the wood, seeing what would hold, what would need to be tended to. Hearing Lady Bellet address her, Naira bows, the gash along her torso sending a sharp pain she endured for appearances.

"Naira of the Fox-Mound, Sorceress of the Storm and Stream." She looks back to the wall and beyond it, to those that waited outside for weakness. Her and Imix - they could do great, terrible things, and it seemed those entrenched outside now know that as well.

Spying the other engineers, Naira smiles to the lady. "We shall speak at a better time perhaps, I have a report to make."

Naira approaches the engineers, reaching into her bag, speaking as if she has always been present. "Waste not wood on repairs, only what is missing need be replaced." She removes a pair of thin, leather gloves. Slipping them on, the sorceress starts speaking aloud orders. "Pachi, we need a trench along that fifteen foot stretch. With a ditch and ten spearmen, we can hold the line until the logs are ready to be placed. "

"I need five men to line the cracks and breaches of the walls with their splinters and broken pieces. With that, I can repair what needs mended."

====================
Istiel
====================

Passing the front gates, you spy a group of about twenty soldiers, and Scree, who crouches atop the palisade below the post-line, running her fingers under her mask. Pulling a long bone - likely pheasant - from under her mask, the monk sees you and waves, before pitching the bone over her shoulder and the palisade walls and reaching for a fired clay mug at her feet.

The High Hall is sepulcher-quiet, which makes sense, that being its primary focus these days. Given the events of the last few days, it is no wonder really. There's little regular business to be done, the mayor is dead, and if there is no death to tend to, why would anyone want to spend time in such a place so redolent with misfortune?

Circling to the northeast, the palisade wall stretches until you come across the scene of the break; another group of villagers, these ones either guarding - or waiting commands from the engineers who are hard at work, weaving magic into making.

===========
Naira
===========

The Lady regards you for a second, her face and tone inscrutable, her voice flat. "I know who you are, Naira of Fox Mound. I'm no a doddering old widow, trapped in memories of the past and incapable of remembering the details of today. By all means, don't let me hold up your report. You may call on me again as you wish."

-------------

Pachi smiles, that flat, broad face of hers obviously pleased. "Can do, Nai." With a wave of her hand, the earth separates, dirt piling out of the ground and in a neat line in front of the palisade, less a trench and more a dirt wall, stretching ten feet from end to end. Another few seconds, and a second low wall appears, stretching from one end of the busted palisade to the other.

The broken parts of the palisade mend back together at your command, and Tet chuckles approvingly as he rapps the patches with an wooden rod pulled from his pack. "Solid as before, and twice as pretty. Nicely done, Engineer Naira."

The part of the palisade that is missing will take a while longer to rebuild, but the relief on the villagers' faces is plain to see.

============
Drazan
============

The Takayah are a reticent and quiet people, you've found, for the most part, and Issy is certainly no exception. Moments pass as the girl stares at you, until slowly the mask slips; her face scrunches, her eyes water. Hunching over, Issy makes her way for the closed confines of the kitchen as quickly as her lame leg will allow her, head ducked into the crook of her arm.

Helgya sighs, and wipes the paste from her fingers onto her smock. "It was a fine speech, son. Just not the one she'd hoped to hear."

Istiel looks over at the front gate as she passes, Scree's unmistakable mask perched on her unmistakable stocky body standing out from the rank-and-file soldiers. Immediately, her thoughts turn to the other monks, unseen since the great battle yesterday morning. None of the others made it back to the walls like Scree.

"She killed us."

The startling voice was a mere whisper, but it pierces her tired mind like javelin. Istiel comes to a jerking halt, and looks around, turning a full circle in place. But no one was there.

As she turns her eyes settle back on the palisade, only to find it was now lined with masks; some broken, some whole. All of them covered in blood. The eye slots were wide and distorted with fear, mouth holes twisted into howling caricatures. Some of the masks she knew, but two she knew well. The remains of Hemlock and Alto's faces hung on the wall, chopped and splintered into blood-spattered kindling.

Blink.

Only weathered wood greets her eyes, the scene gone.

Scree removes the bone from beneath her mask and waves at Istiel from the wall, who stood momentarily dumb-struck. What...? Her heart pounded with ferocious thunder in her ears, and finds herself surprised when she suddenly exhales. How long had she been holding her breath? Tentatively, Istiel lifts her free hand towards Scree in reply, turns, and rapidly walks away.

A glance over her shoulder back at the wall once again reveals nothing but wood. I need sleep. Is her only conclusion as she makes for the High Hall as quickly as possible, tightly gripping the pallid corpse on her shoulder.

========
Palisade
========

Istiel is glad she does not have to pass the main gate again on the way to the breach.

The warrior-monk arrives at palisade, sans corpse. She stops to look over the hole, and then past it- the frozen had taken the worst of the freak magic vortex, it seemed, and bolsters the monk's belief that their gods were false ones. They cannot attack in such disarray. Good.

The earth mounds were a new addition, and the sides of the palisade already looked sturdy. Magic. Is her only thought on the matter before turning and looking for an opportunity to offer assistance carrying or moving lumber.

===========
Triage
===========
Nor the one anyone would hope to give. Drazan strained as if the air in his lungs emptied, his eyes drifting to the floor for a moment of silence, Rigel's face burned into the backs of his eyes lids so every time his eyes closed he saw her face, or the face of her killer.

Shaking his head to shake the vision he turns to Helgya, Please help and heal these wounds. Death nearly took us all today, but not without a fight. Drazan moves to stand before Helgya to display the wounds across the canvas of his skin.

Going to say that took two spell points? Between 220 and 440 healing points to what is damaged, broken, but not ruined.

With the walls restored, Naira had little to contribute with her magic to the scene. Any change of weather would likely benefit the enemy, and while she could likely cause their fog to fade, she'd likely need to approach their encampment to do so.

Naira stayed behind the palisade, though admired Apachana's handiwork. She approached Tetchuix. "There was a pollution we will need to investigate. If the walls can spare soldiers, a few would ease my mind when I return. " The undine grimaces, clenching her wounded stomach. "After I rest."

==================
Autopsy, Oios, Imix
==================

The energy courses through the knife, and through it into Thom, the bird-man's feathers suddenly ruffling and swaying as if buffeted by wind. The corpse's wings flap, two, three times, asynchronous and unsynched, before they explode in a puff of feathers, and spilling from the corpse a swarm of two-headed ravens, hundreds of them, flapping and spiraling out of the body.

Wings buffet you. Talons tear your clothes, but you twist and duck and cover your eyes, and in a few seconds the two-headed ravens have flown, one dark clouded mass, into the rain and out of sight, their caws echoing through the air.

===========
Triage, Drazan
===========

Helgya flinches, reluctance crossing her face, as if she's afraid to speak what comes next. "I'm afraid I used what little instant curatives we have on hand today on Utzi. I can provide you with a clean bunk and some soothing mate, if you'd wish."

===========
Palisade, Istiel, Naira
===========

Tetchuix nods. "Ai. Get some rest. We'll work with the villagers here, and we'll visit the 'corruption' later."

Lightning arcs down into the forest, the boom of thunder echoing across Eel Mound, and with that, the rain falls in the buckets-full. The work on the palisade continues into the night, Texikuk managing the transfer of materials from the warehouses, the engineers overseeing the construction. By the time Ayida-Wedu falls below the horizon, the frame of the palisade has been constructed. Weary, the villagers make their way south, mud-covered and silent.

The guards stay on, peering into the rain, looking for enemies approaching from the trees.

Imix stares uncomprehendingly at the corpse, and then looks at the dagger in his hands, and finally at Oios. "Maybe we should dispose of the body before it does more damage." he suggests, reluctantly.

He casts around as if looking for something "Where is Texikuk?"

He gets to his feet, still covered in blood and dirt the rain has not washed away. He remounts his shield and sheaths his weapons. "She has not come to her house. I will go and find her."

Oios nods wearily, numbed to the almost constant terrors even one of which would have amazed and frightened him not long ago. He finds some soldiers and direct them to take Galton's corpse to the triage to check to see if it was a skinstealer or not before having it thrown where all the rest of the enemy bodies are being disposed of. We will take Thom's corpse for disposals ourselves. It is the duty of leaders to protect their followers and no one will want to touch what Thom.. become. Then yes, find Texikuk, ask her what Shadeholme's stores look like and how transportable they may be.

After Oios sends messages to those of the leaders who met initially asking them to meet him at their convenience in the first meeting place. There he lets them know of what happened to Galton, Rigel, and Thom, and asks them if they want him to continue acting as a decoy figurehead.

After that Oios will want to ask all who were in the grove to come and meet Telowo near the end of the day so Telowo can heal them in one go if possible using up the priest's magic for the day.

===============
Gozran 21, Leader's Council
===============

Tetchuix waves his hand irritably when told of the leadership meeting. "Take Naira. I've got supervising to do."

The leadership council - Oios, Drazan, Imix, Lady Bellet, and Telowo, minus Galton Tyrell, but this time also with Texikuk, Naira, and Istiel, meet once again at the council room within the High Hall. Telowo clears his throat and looks to Oios expectantly, when the door swings open, and Cogsward enters, doffing his frond hat.

"Was looking for Tex, heard ya'll were here, thought I'd pay a visit." Pulling an empty chair up next to the Lady Bellet, Cogsward doffs his hat again, a twinkle in his eye. "M'Lady." Turning to everyone, he coughs politely into his hand. "Well, don't let me keep y'all waiting."

You have assurance that we were not, 'kept,' Drazan stabs the light hearted entry of Telowo with the emphasis on the final word while moving to stand behind Oios, arms folded and a glare that appraised everyone a potential skin stealer. There is merit in having Oios start with an open address.

Oios, if you will.

"Wait." Imix stands, arrogant and demanding "We've learned enough by now to know we need to ensure there are no more skinstealers. Break into pairs and let us do this."

He turns to Texikuk "In Cornucopia, I said something that made you leave. What was it."

While her gloves could stitch her tattered clothes back together, they couldn't wring out the faint, remaining stain of black mud and rusted blood. She dons a hooded poncho, concealing her wounds, though wishes she brought more dignified clothing.

While the others go through the formalities of checking for skin-stealers, the Undine removes a scroll-box, a small gourd of ink, a quill, and a map of the Baunti Valley. Unfolding a final amatl sheet, she begins to draw a small map of the greater Shadeholme region.

==========
Gozran 21, Meeting
==========

Texikuk leans into Imix, gripping the Suriname's arm.

Letting go, Tex steps back, arms crossed, a frown crossing her stern face. "All my adult life, I've been treated coldly, simply because of the role I play. But none have been so callous as you. I can vouch that Imix is who he says he is. Not even a skin stealer would be so cruel."

-------------

Questions are asked, hands are waved, and eventually, it is clear that everyone in the room is who they say they are. "So..." Cogsward says, looking around the table, "I'm not going to kill you and you're not going to kill me. I assume we've covered agenda item number one?"

There will always be more skin stealers and spies. Pray that acting quickly and with well executed timing that you all have what it takes to save Three People.

Oios nods. The second item is news even more dire than what we have already experienced. We went into the silk groves of Shadeholme looking for one of the townsfolk. We found her dead and a skinstealer wearing her skin. Rigel Quickingfay is dead. The keeper of the grove, Thom, seemed to have been tortued by evil magicks into a monster, and most concerningly, Galton was a traitor. I will send his body to the triage so it can be checked to see if he was a skinstealer or not. The implications either way are dire. As you are the remaining leaders of the city I thought that you should know where it is that we stand. We may be compromised from within in ways that the tests of our personal histories will not show.

Imix stares at Texikuk for a moment.
"It is her." he hesitates - uncharacteristically "She remembers the words I spoke, but she didn't hear what I said."

He continues, apparently oblivious to the others.

"Cruel? In my entire life, that was the kindest thing I have ever said. I never said you were a moment in my life, Texikuk. I said I was a moment in yours. A life that should be long, and loved, and full of children. Where at the end you had a story for your grandchildren they only half believed about how you dated a Suriname, before you met the love of your life."
"Had I been simply a man, instead of a Suriname, that might have been me. That moment is the point I would have asked you to marry me."
"I let you choose what happened to us. You chose to leave. What other moment would I ask about?"

Istiel stands in the corner of the room, arms crossed over her chest. She certainly looked the part of a warrior now, her "face" bearing four deep scratch marks below her left eye that extended to the nose of her mask. Her robes were more of a disaster- the throat was torn out, exposing her long neck and the fresh, wetly glistening wounds Thom inflicted on it.

All over were nicks and shreds of black silk, but the missing right sleeve truly stands out where the dyed silk ends and her moon-pale skin begins. Taunt muscle bulges under the exposed skin, and angry red lines inflicted by the blackberry bushes flow down the length of her arm to concentrate at her adruptly tanned, nearly leathery hand.

"Suriname Imix." The monk says flatly, the usual respect she reserves for Imix gone from her voice. "The Frozen at our gates do not care about your personal matters. Neither do we. Focus." Piercing eyes held his in a steady stare, and one thing was clear to the Suriname- she was tired, and unwilling to entertain distractions.

In contrast to the battle-damaged monk, Imix stands miraculously unwounded. His armour is unblemished. His shield barely touched. His obsidian weapon still sharp from it's chipping.

His gaze, when Istiel meets it, is unfocused. He stares through her, rather than at her, as if his eyes were on the horizon a thousand yards away.

"Then why am I here, Monk? We know the town is doomed. We know your only hope is to flee. We have already argued about how to do so. The only two questions I can see that remain are these: Do we flee right now, or try to hold out a little longer. Who is in charge."

Apparently warming to the topic, he continues. "The latter is the easiest. One has consistently been at the front of the fighting. Has fought the Flame. Has shown the will to hold ground, but the wisdom to accept advice. Risked their own life to save mine. Respected. Popular. Native. The obvious answer is Utzi."

"As for whether to flee now or later. I see three options:"
"First, we tell everyone to gather what they can carry without slowing themselves down too much, and leave now while the barbarians are in confusion. Done quickly we will catch them before traitors have time to stop us."
"Second, we tell everyone to rest well - so as to quiet traitors - then leave tomorrow morning."
"Third, we turn the Mayor's House into a fortress. Deconstruct the town to do so. Move everyone in. In close enough proximity there will be no secrecy for traitors to hide in."
"Whatever we decide, we should make plans to fire the town. The distraction will be valuable. I suspect the servants of the Flame will be entranced by enough fire."

Naira nods at Istiel's statement, suppressing a thin smile at the monk saying the words she wasn't comfortable stating. The engineer waits as Imix speaks, though grows agitated as she draws her map and listens.

"We hold." Naira cuts in, abandoning her usual diplomatic tone. Her voice lowers as her brow falls in thought. "They are attempting to force our hand, and you propose three ideas that play into it." she jabs.

Naira scratches at her map of Shadeholme with coal, forming black notches to line the palisade. "In Cornucopia, some of us engineers would play war games with the old maps and what trinkets we could spare. We'd create our rules, and hone ourselves as tacticians, if only in practice. Imagine this is such a game. In our war, to win we survive, that is our victory condition." She rises, map complete.

"They've played smarter than you all. They have us at each other's throats while we are outnumbered, encompassed, and with dwindling food. They need not attack any longer - we will starve or kill one another while they wait at our doors. If we leave now, we die on our march to Te-Moak, assuming the Frozen forces not ambush us first. If we stay too long, we weaken, and time invites our demise."

"They have the upper-hand in all regards: they have the numbers, they have time on both ends, and they have their corruptions. We cannot act while everything is stacked against us."

"We must learn their numbers, we must scout their locations, we mustn't allow them more trickery. They have nearly won this war on surprises alone, it is by time we take that advantage away."

Naira turns to Imix, reaching across the table with a frail, inviting hand. "Remember what our magics created?" While she smiles, it almost pains her to acknowledge what her magic had wrought. "It burst through our walls, and twisted through their forces. Even behind our palisade, I could hear their screams. That was our surprise."

It was a surprise, she repeated to herself. I'm our surprise. They couldn't have anticipated a Te-Moak engineer. The undine grins, a plan forming. "They know Shadeholme. They have it tainted to its core, and have infiltrated your number. Likely, they are prepared for whatever you have to offer, but until this morning, you hadn't a sorceress. We hold. We gather information to rival what they have on us, then we act."