Sel, standing in the back and not wanting to intrude on their reunion, hesitates for a moment before answering Uruuna. Y-yes, he starts. Yes, I am ready. How will this work? How will you fix it? Did you learn the same fey magics that Toothsome mastered?
"I'm glad you're alive, Imedren. They certainly were not kind to you."
Dramm is quick to begin his usual inspections, seeking any lasting damage or scars he can remove.
"Uruuna asks a poignant question. What exactly did you learn? And what did it cost?"
Imedren nodded to Joy and Dramm, he could see his friend was drained even further. He felt guilty for not being there to help, but for now he'd succeeded in what he'd needed.
"In my hunt for forbidden knowledge, I found the journal and works of one Sunionius Roo. A thousand years ago, he was the most feared man in all of the Northern Reach. A lead cultist who believed in the Demon Lord's plan to free the world of all corruption and worked to further those goals. Until one day he saw past his conquest for glory and into the very nature of the being he served. Upon realizing there would be no glory, wealth, status, or any turn of the world at all, only the end to everything, he turned against his former master. Thwarting plans he himself had set into motion, he began to spread the truth he had learned and seek to cleanse the world of much corruption. His journals stop abruptly, and many surmise that his former compatriots turned on him. He was defeated and his soul sent to Hell for his previous foul works."
As he spoke, he reached into a bag, carefully and gingerly pulling out ancient looking tomes which he set onto the table. When Dramm looked closer, he could tell that several of Imedren's fingers had apparently been broken and poorly reset, making his hand movements clumsy. If there was any other lasting damage, it was hidden by his oversized clothing and armor.
Imedren turned over his hand and began tracing along the lines on his hand. A set of familiar blue lines traced along his hand, each solidifying, becoming indistinct from the others.
"But that was Sunionius Roo's story. Finding his works were important. But the real prize I found was one such incantation, exactly the one I needed to undo what happened with as little risk as possible. As for what I learned and what the events that led me to this costed me... it was a near death experience of my own and what might as well be another lifetime of experience gained."
He looked to Selgaer in Uruuna's body. "I merely need you and Uruuna to stand there and not move." he unfolded the scroll, making sure to focus on the two he intended to switch back.
"Now let's get you two back to normal." he began reading from the scroll. Two lines along each of his hands flashed and disappeared, ensuring that he would succeed with the Soul Exchange.
Selgaer and Uruuna once again experience the wrenching sensation as their souls are ripped out of their bodies and transferred to another. This time, though, they are being returned to their proper ones! The power of the magic stuns Selgaer, while Uruuna is merely dazed. Still, after a minute, both have fully recovered.
Uruuna gasps as she finds her point of view shifting to its familiar lower vantage point. She gropes her chest gratefully and whoops with joy. "It worked! I'm me again!" she cries in relief.
At this sight, Joy whoops in, well, joy.
"You did it, Imedren!"
Selgaer is stunned as he is transfered into his body. But once he gets his senses back, everything seems to return to normal. He feels like himself again.
The a@&!$$! actually did it, he thought to himself. But now what? Probably the only things ng that kept me alive was the fact that I was in Uruuna's body. He'll probably uae hos magics to punt my soul into a rock or a tree or something.
Imedren sighs with relief as the magic seems to have worked as planned. I was certain it would, it had to.
He moved over to Uruuna, a soft smile on his face. "Yes, it did work... I'll be sure to protect you next time." he said quietly to her.
After a moment he turned to the rest of the group. "You'll have to forgive the surreptitious nature of my contact with you all... it's not that I wanted to remain quiet but I needed to find a safe place to lay low for a time.
I'm glad you all came here though. You must be tired from your travels. I'll get you all some food, a drink, and rooms for the evening. Then tomorrow we head back to Crossings."
Sel starts walking around and then takes up a small job. Slowly, a smile crosses his face. Oh my Lord, he exclaims to himself, it is so nice to be able to to move again!
And back in my same clothing!
Before they had left, he met up with Uruuna to prepare everything. Proper clothing, weapons, other equipment. Bel had some new clothes tailored for both of them for the transformation, and Thomas had come along to help dress them both.
Finally out of a dress! he says, coming to a stop. Although... he looks down at his fingers and then flashes a smile at Uruuna, I do wish you had taken care of my nails. What is this, dirt? And this one here is cracked!
He twists and stretches and bends and then frowns, And you added ten pounds!
"It was stress eating!" Uruuna insists. "You'll work it off in to time. I'm just happy to have my toes back. Trying to balance on those hooves of yours was worse than wearing heels!"
Haha! Sel laughs, happy to be back to normal. Turning to Imedren, he says, Thank you. Thanks for figuring out a way. I know you didn't do it for me, but thank you nonetheless.
You celebrate your reunion with Imedren and the successful soul exchange with an evening of relaxation and merriment. The next morning, as you are preparing to depart Foundry, Joy receives an urgent message. It's from her friend, the dwarf Igor Ironson, asking her and her companions to meet him at a nearby warehouse.
When you arrive, you find Igor in a sorry state. The dwarf is young, with dark brown skin, black hair, and brown eyes. He has a broken arm in a sling and bruises all over his body.
"Joy! Thank the ancestors you are here. Something terrible has happened! You recall those big metal men I told you about a few weeks ago? Well, about a week ago, my mates and I loaded up the titans into eight huge crates onto flatbed cars, attaching those cars to the Emperor’s Fury, our mighty steam engine. We set out to deliver them to Sixton. As the train was passing above Mirror Lake, a tremendous explosion took out the rails! The Emperor’s Fury spilled over the edge, dragging its cars and cargo into the water below!
"I managed to get out of the wreckage, but... There were no other survivors. I saw who must have been behind the explosion. Orcs! They were down by the water, trying to get to the crates. They must want the iron titans for themselves! Who knows what chaos they plan to use them for!
"Those metal men in the wrong hands are a danger to all the Northern Reach. You have to stop those orcs! You all may be the only ones who can!"
Joy's eyes open wide.
Facing the iron titans!?!? Oh no no no!
She does her best to hide her rising fear of so much iron turned against them and replies:
"Igor, you were right to call on me. My friend and I have a lot of experience at handling tough situations and fighting dangers. We'll stop those orcs, whatever it takes!"
"Big metal men? 8 Titans? What is this about? I've been here for weeks and even though I was minding my own business, there was no talk about any of this. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised as there are trains coming and going from here a lot, but still, this should have created some buzz in the taverns at least?" Imedren peered at Igor with a discerning gaze. All pretenses of a good mood had disappeared.
"If this is exactly as dangerous to the Northern Reach as you say it is, why haven't you reported the Orcs attack to those in charge here? Why are you hiding in a warehouse?"
"It was a secret!" Igor insists. "Three years ago, the emperor commissioned the Academy of Engineers in Crossings to produce prototype soldiers that could replace the Empire’s increasingly unreliable orc forces. They built eight of them and finished up the armoring here in Foundry. The train was supposed to carry the iron titans to Sixton, and from there they would be flown by airship to the beleaguered Imperial forces fighting to regain control of the capital.
"But the orcs must've caught wind of the plans and sabotaged the tracks! I have reported what happened! No doubt the provincial governor is already on his way here! They've shut down the rails for normal cargo runs and workers have already been dispatched to the crash site on horseback, but they won't make it in time to stop the orcs from wreaking havoc. I've been laying low because a bunch of orcs work at the railyard, and I fear if they knew I survived, they'd finish the job their fellows started!"
Igor tugs at his beard. "Time is of the essence. If you can get me past the orcs, I can man one of the other steam engines to get us to the crash site. My superiors will be furious, but it's the fastest way to travel to the crash site!"
"I can fly you and me there on my broom but that doesn't solve the orcs. I suppose we'll just have to push past them!"
Selgaer backs away from the crowd as the dwarf enchants the rest of the group. He waves to Thomas to beckon him over.
Thomas, see if you can find another one of those scrolls while I'm gone. Here's some gold to pay for it. It's for, um, Rena. She was interested in one.
After, he rejoins the group. This sounds important - we need to get there as soon as possible; come on.
Igor leads you through several back alleys as you approach Foundry's railyards. You can see two mighty steam engines berthed in large hangars, with dozens of workers hammering metal plates onto the frames of three more of the behemoths.
You sneak towards one of the hangars containing the engine named Pride of the Dwarfs, which Igor plans to commandeer. Eight orcs lurk about the building, keeping an eye out for trouble--i.e., you...
"We've got to get past them!" Igor says in a harsh whisper.
Imedren grunted, but went along with what Igor said. Once they got to the yards he looked at the orcs. "How much time do you think you'll need to get the engine running? Also, just how problematic are we expecting these orcs to be? Do you believe them to be co-conspirators who are willing to kill and therefore we should remove them permanently or merely delay any efforts we might try to help this situation?"
"It normally takes a couple of hours to safely get the boilers to the right temperature to propel the engine," Igor says. "We can speed the process along if you've got fire magic to superheat the furnace. I've got an incantation from a technomancer that will prevent the boiler from exploding during the process, so we can get things moving in just a few minutes.
"Orcs as a rule tend to be violent folks. If they are in league with those that sabotaged the rails, I don't think they'd hesitate to kill us for their cause. But if we can get past them and just delay them for a few minutes, we should be able to get out of here without issues."
Is there a pinch point? A place where they can't come in more than one at a time, like running a boar through a trap?
If we can keep them locked out, I can hold them while you guys do whatever magical thing it is you've got planned.
"There's only one door leading into the boiler room," Igor says. "You can try to hold them off there while we fire it up."
That works. Let's sneak past them, get to the boiler room, and then hold them off for as log as we can until we get out of the city.
"You got it, Sel. One moment!"
After her whispered words, Joy shrinks and morphs, until she is in the form of a small mouse.
The mouse looks up at Sel expectantly, turning its head towards a path around the orcs, if the mouse can see one.
"When we reach the boiler room, everyone get inside. I can bar the door." Dramm whispers to the others.
"Our major risk is if the Orcs abandon trying to retake the train to focus on sabotaging the tracks. They don't know that we can magically enhance the boiler, so that hopefully they won't think to until too late. Imedren, you're our best defense with your teleport."
As you are debating the best course of action, Tabog steps forward. In the span of a few seconds, he has adopted a disguise, appearing as a grimy rail worker. He gives you all a grin. "Don't worry, I've got this. You all go on ahead and deal with these missing titans. I'll ensure the orcs here won't bother you. With all luck, I'll see you all again real soon."
The ferren tips his hat, then confidently strides up to the orcs with arms widespread. "Brothers! I'm glad to see you gathered already. There has been a change of plan. Today is the day we begin our glorious revolution! We have agents planted within Foundry's important locations already and we but need to march forth to the council's chambers and take them by force! No longer will we abide these petty, small minded, dwarven overseers who still think they can rule over us through a broken aristocracy. Our fellow revolutionaries are but poised to strike and waiting for the signal. Our signal! You'll know them by the coats they wear. Once we begin our assault, our brethren will spring into action and we will take this city by force!"
At this point, Nutmeg comes jogging by loudly, stops for a beat carrying a tool and catches the eye with a nod before jogging off with purpose.
"For glory, for revolution, now quickly, to arms! Our march begins now!"
Swept up in the ferren's rhetoric, the orcs cheer and raise their tools! They march off in the rogue's wake, leaving the engine temporarily unguarded.
"Now's our chance! Let's go!" Igor says. You quickly cross the hangar to the locomotive and climb aboard. The dwarf makes his way to the engine room where he directs Imedren to use his fire magic on the boiler. With three castings of flame missile, the device quickly heats up. The metal begins to strain and protest at the swift rise in temperature, but Igor's incantation ensures it handles the stress without bursting.
Steam pours from the engine's smokestack, and Igor throws a lever. The Pride of the Dwarfs slowly begins to chug, chug, chug forward along the tracks. It quickly gathers speed, and you can see panicked rail workers running out of the way of the mighty steam engine as it leaves the station and begins heading south. In the far distance, you can hear the faint shouts of the protesting orcs before they fade away.
As the engine moves away from Foundry, Igor lets out a sigh of relief. "I can't believe that worked! Well, best get comfortable. It'll take three days to reach the site where the Emperor's Fury crashed. With luck, nothing will disturb our journey..."
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As the locomotive begins to pull out of the station, Imedren crosses away from the engine and folds his arms while looking back at the disappearing city and shaking his head. "Now that was just impressive for TaBog to come up with on such short notice. I'll never understand how his mind works..."
When Igor said such a foolish hope out loud, Imedren sighed audibly and walked over to a clear sitting space, pulling off his pack and going through it to find his deck of tarot cards.
"Three days, huh. Igor, do you know what tempting Fate is? Sit down, I think I have some things to teach you." with that he began shuffling his deck.
"This game is fun.", Joy chimes in when she sees Igor pull out the cards.
This is likely influenced by Igor having never played Joy for money.
You pass some of the time playing games on the first day as the Pride of the Dwarfs chugs along the tracks. Imedren's auguries warn that danger will arise at some point during this day, though, so you take turns keeping watch. Your alertness pays off as night begins to fall. The shadows cast by the setting sun seem to lengthen and stretch towards the steam engine, gaining speed as they draw near. The shadows converge before coalescing into the forms of three horribly familiar monsters--the Children of the Long Mother! The six-eyed wolves are even more massive than the ones you fought in Crossings, standing 15 feet tall at the shoulder! They seem to be partially phased out of reality, their rear haunches passing through the walls of the engine as if it weren't there. They howl and prepare to attack!
Joy's eyes open wide and she starts to mutter:
"Big, scary wolvescomingtoeatme!", she cries as she draws upon the most outright powerful magic that she can!
Imedren eyes narrowed as he saw the six eyed wolves ahead.
"Ah, this is proving to be more problematic than I thought." he said, keeping his cool. "Let's see how this goes."
Imedren's eyes began to glow with a silver mercury and a matching cube of wavering light appeared forth a short distance away. Sparking red waves of chaos magic danced out, causing the wavering mercurial form to take on a more solid shape, Imedren grasped his head as if in pain. A moment later an older man stood in front of the group.
"Good, it worked. Since you're here, Eldren, give us a hand." he said through gritted teeth.
Imedren found himself infused with an echoing mercurial light. His speed increased. He ignored the old man's words and instead focused on the task in front of him. Even as an eye of blue appeared on his forehead he powered was already unleashing another spell, and unleashed the gathered power of explosive missiles at each of the 3 wolves.
Imedren's will holds strong.
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The old man grimaced immediately once the mercurial portal had faded. "Ah, of course. I remember this now." he muttered under his breath.
A wave of chaotic red energy suffused the older man's body too and mercurial light suffused his body. As it did, a copy seemed to form over Imedren's body as well. His head snapped back toward the Children of the Long and an irritated look came over him.
"You waited until now?!" he growled at Imedren. Then he looked at the rest of the assembled group. "Gah, no time! Proper introductions will happen later. You deal with the children for now, I'll try to make sure that We don't die!"
Blue light suffused his eyes, and after a few moments an eye made entirely of blue light opened on his center of his forehead.
Although he tried to resist, the sorcerous power was too great and escaped from him.
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Sel darts forward, getting in front of Joy to block the wolves path. Hopefully. This phasing thing seems like it might be a problem.
Regardless, he darts forward, fighting every instinct he has that says run. Only his training and Joy's words help him move forward, allowing him to thrust his spear with both hands directly into the face of one of them.
After striking he hops back three yards, if there is room and only if he stays in front of Joy.
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Dramm settles himself against a window to listen to the rhythmic rattle of the great engine along the tracks. The comforting sound offered time to slow his mind and order his thoughts and the heat is soothing. Things had been happening very quickly in the past months.
"I like to think Ezekia knows you care, despite your distance." A familiar voice snaps Dramm out of his reverie. Anophth sits on one of the nearby seats, a wide grin across his furry face and cane twirling.
"You're... you're not real. I'm seeing things again."
"That's no way to treat a friend!" The goblin chuckles, smile never dipping. "I'm as real as I need to be, I would say!"
Anophth hops down from the seat and knocks the tip of his cane against the floor for dramatic effect.
"Sounds real enough. Besides, we both know you're more worried about Ezekia than me. You left the city in a rush, and with everything that's happening..." The Goblin sighed sadly with tired shrug. "But don't worry, she knows."
Anophth makes a jaunty trip to seat himself next to Dramm and settles his cane on the along the aisle. Despite the insanity of it, Dramm has missed Anophth. Seeing him here was oddly comforting. With a sigh Dramm buries his face in his hands, rubbing vigorously before simply resting there.
"I hope she does. I've been far away recently, she has seen so little of me in my research." Dramm says uncomfortably. "I've been keeping after your shop. I... I didn't want anyone to forget you."
Anophth puts a furry hand on the Sorcerer's shoulder.
"I know you have, Dramm. Very kind of you, but it's a bit silly to look after the shop, you know. That was my dream, not yours. You always take on too much and spread yourself too thin. It's like Ezekia and Joy are always telling you, you shouldn't try to do it all yourself. You can't be everywhere, Dramm."
"I know, I know." Dramm grumbles in frustration from behind his palms. Admitting weakness always made him sore. "I can't let this go, Anophth. If I do, what's left? You're right, I can't be everywhere and I'm starting to lose track of it all, but if I stop..."
Anophth picks up where Dramm trails off.
"If you stop, the Long will destroy everything you care about." Dramm freezes in place. Anophth's voice was not kind or understanding. It was excited. Anticipating. "You can't stop now Dramm, but you're in too deep to escape and you can't be everywhere to protect everyone."
Dramm jerks up from his hands to find Anophth's hooked nose inches from his face. The clawed fingers grab both sides of his head, sharp nails digging into the flesh. Unnatural strength holds Dramm's head in place, preventing him from recoiling.
"You're not Anophth? I'm dreaming!"
"Of course you are, Dramm. Trapped like a rat in a fight you can't win." "Anophth" cackles cruelly. "You can't be everywhere, but don't worry, I will be where you aren't!"
Blood trickles down Dramm's face. His attempt to tear free are pitiful against the Goblin's supernatural strength.
"Look at me, Dramm. LOOK AT ME!" Anophth holds the Sorcerer's gaze with his one burning eye. "Remember what happened to Anophth when you left him alone? It's only the beginning. What did your kind call those who bore my mark? The Weeping Mothers, yes. What do you think, Dramm? Rena would make a fine one. How delectable her misery and anger would taste as she wasted away believing that her child might survive. How ruined she would be when the faun is born still, claimed to serve me. Perhaps Ezekia could be next."
Dramm's eyes widen in fear and rage. The Goblin cackles again.
"The longer this goes, the worse things will be for you Dramm. There is another way that might save them, a way that might spare them. Do you still have the knife?"
In his mind, Dramm hears an echoing, rasping voice again.
"Cruinnich thugam, feòil air chall air àiteachadh agus fàs. Tha am Màthair ag iarraidh ort tilleadh. Cuimhnich air an adhbhar agad, agus thoir biadh dha na beathaichean acrach."
Dramm snaps awake with Joy's scream. His wild eyes land on the Children.
"Everywhere, even when I'm asleep. No, no I'm awake now." Dramm drags himself to his feet and pulls his knife. Dramm quickly backs away and erects a defensive magical barrier. He almost runs into the second Imedren, but the Elder sorcerer shoves him aside to continue casting. Dramm does a double take in his confusion, but decides now is not the time to press the issue.
Hunting me while I sleep. But what is this, they don't look the same. They're changing.
"How did they get on the train?"
Uruuna steels herself when the wolves appear. "I'll hold one at bay!" she shouts, charging forward and slicing into the beast before adopting a battle stance!
Joy's vines wrap around two of the Children, hauling them up towards the ceiling of the steam engine and rooting them in place! Imedren conjures his future self, who accelerates both of them.
Both immobilized wolves strain against the vines and break free, dropping lightly back to the ground. As Dramm backs off and protects himself with a force field, Selgaer darts forward, stabs a wolf, and hops back. Uruuna charges past him, slicing the same wolf and raising her shield to ward off attacks. Each wolf leaps aside as Imedren blasts them with explosive missiles, avoiding the worst of the detonations.
The wolf that had not been caught in the vines moves around Uruuna, accepting another hit from her. It lashes out in a frenzy, and while the halfling is able to duck under its attack, it sinks its teeth into Selgaer, drawing blood!
Ahg! Sel cries out as he's bit. He leans back and then thrusts forward, jabbing the spear into the beast and then maneuvers away.
Seeing the wolves draw ever-closer, Joy is nearly frozen in terror but still mumbles out a different word of power - the familiar one that summons witch fire. Joy vanishes, and a burning ball streaks towards the nearest bestial Child!
The closeness of the Children had Imedren grimace and decided that a more focused approach would be best.
"I'll try to weaken their resilience!"
Dark energy shot out of his hands, wrapping around and strangling the 2nd wolf.
"And again!"
Another constricting wave of dark energy coalesced out, hindering the last wolf's ability to react to danger.
"This ought to give our magic a little extra power."
As he cast the spell a pair of strange runic circles appeared around his hand, a moment later it was echoed around Imedren's hand as well.
"Now to turn our attention to more offense!"
Selgaer and Uruuna tear into the wolf near them, leaving it critically wounded. Dramm finishes it off with an empowered dart, and it dissolves into tendrils of foul mist as it dies. Imedren afflicts the second wolf with pain, then Joy burns it with witch fire, leaving it dazed. The sorcerer then places the same curse on the third wolf, crippling it as well. Realizing to stay and fight would be futility, the two Children howl with frustration and slip back out through the walls of the steam engine, disappearing into the night.
Igor stares from behind the boiler with wide eyes. "What the hell were those things?"
Imedren let out a small sigh of relief.
"A problem, certainly." he says to Igor. "One we can't ignore for too much longer, right, Dramm?"
We can deal with them as we are them. What I'd like to know is who the hell that guy was who just helped us.
"Oh yes, 'a problem, certainly' he says, be as cryptic as possible. That always works so well in the end, doesn't it?" came a mocking tone from the older man. "For one who generally dislikes and occasionally despises things which obfuscate the truth, I'd have thought you might just lay it all out there."
"To answer your question clearly, master dwarf, those were nightmarish creatures of the Faerie, or rather, Children of the Long. They have a problem with this- our group, which may make things a bit more complicated than was originally hoped."
He turned to look at Selgaer, there was a long moment where he seemed to be sizing the Faun up, a strange expression twisted in his features. "To answer your question, Selgaer, I am a not an illusion, a dream, or some sort of phantasmagoria, I am in fact Imedren from a separate future. Bound here by chronomancy, or time magic to put it more simply. I suppose an apt description could be... remnant of a future time?" he stopped to let it sink in while he held onto his head.
Dramm is quick to cure Selgaer's wounds after the last wolf disintegrates. He relaxes as the bleeding stops and vents the excess power.
"No, she can't wait much longer." Dramm shudders. "I'm losing, Imedren. She's in my dreams even when I think I'm awake, and I can feel her more and more. I think that may be why the Children are changing. I think they're evolving with her. Or maybe we've just never seen them before."
His job done, Dramm turns his attention to the new arrival.
"So you're real then? I thought I was seeing things. That magic seems... confusing." Dramm eyes the elder Imedren. Curiosity dawns and he approaches the older Sorcerer, prodding and checking for marks to heal as he normally would. In truth, he is intrusively checking for old wounds and scars, curious about the physical state of one future. "This is undeniably incredible, Imedren. You've brought yourself through time. Interacted. But shouldn't that cause problems? Change the order of events?"
Time magic? Sel asks. Are you two insa- you know what? I don't care. I just don't care.
Sel starts to walk away, seeking to climb up to the top of the engine and see if he can ride outside for a while. As he goes, he says, If you all want to f$#! with things beyond mortal comprehension, go right ahead. I'm not going to interfere with your life and how badly you f&~* it up for yourselves.
"Of course I'm real... as real as anything else you've seen here anyway."
"Yes, I suppose I have managed something that would otherwise be considered... impossible. Even by most chronomancer standards. But I found my way back here largely by happenstance. I would consider the time I left behind, my time, to be one not worth staying in.
I made sacrifices, left people behind, to try and meddle in the past... and I am now in my current state because I had blundered even in that."
He watched as Selgaer retreated and looked at Dramm, his face turning to sadness.
"You are both right, it caused some problems by me trying to-"
"Some?!" Imedren said, loudly looking at his older self. "You didn't just cause Some problems. You meddled, no, you toyed with MY life!! You pushed events into motion that shouldn't have occurred!"
"I was trying to spare you what had happened in my life. I gave you the tools you needed to make the decisions you needed, regardless of what you think you needed. You needed to be ready and now you are."
"The order of events leading to my future has been changed but now that I am stuck here, I have no idea where things will go from here."
Dramm stops his examination as the elder Imedren finishes speaking.
"Stuck here? You're trapped here? With yourself?"