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Post by Huntress on Feb 4, 2013 13:01:49 GMT -5
Castle Kestrel
Hunty listened to Miss Jensen's proposition with an intrigued look on her face. When Amneiger came in to confront the usurper lady in turn, the captain slunk into the shadows behind the pillars and beckoned Zylaa to her.
"Well, look at us, we're being employed as mercenaries," she said, keeping her voice down. "What say you, first mate of mine? Apart from 'we need to talk actual numbers', because I thought of that already."
"How about 'how do you intend to convince the do-goody Commander of the Spacefleet that they should not get involved in this violent coup that rips corpses out of their rightful rest and sets them against their fellow countrymen'?" Bloody Mary weighed in.
Hunty pondered that for a moment. "Liberal application of that thing he likes?"
"They outlawed that now," said the meepit.
"What, seriously? Why?"
"They successfully linked it to a whole bunch of heart attacks. People being found with a stupidly blissful expression frozen on their faces, stuff like that."
Hunty snorted. "I swear, if people can't hold their deep-fried Snickers cheesecake with strawberries and rum and whatever else went in there, it's their own bloody fault. At this rate, so much stuff will get outlawed that everyone will be a pirate, and then we'll need to stay afloat in massive oversupply of the market, and-"
"Well," said Bloody Mary, "all the same, you don't want the guy to end up like that shipful of fat people in floating chairs that they hosted the last time we were there, do you?"
Hunty stared at the ceiling. "I'll just file this particular issue off with 'I'll think of something when I get there', then. But I am liking her offer all the same."
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Post by Celestial on Feb 4, 2013 14:05:23 GMT -5
((Castle Kestrel))
Internally, Celestial cursed when Zephyr arrived by her side, his sword in hand. She shook her head.
"No, it's fine. I got this," she replied tersely, careful not to show too much of her annoyance. "Nice of you to join us though."
She heard Gelquie's sound of irritation but something disturbed her more. The pirates were making a deal with Jensen. This was bad. The pirates were certainly one of the more powerful guilds they had and that Blarf was a force to be reckoned with. That plus the zombie army and Jensen would be unstoppable, even if by some miracle Spacefleet did join them.
Plus with pirates, it meant that Zylaa was here.
Right now, the entire kingdom was at stake. She could forgo her rivalry. Perhaps, if they joined Jensen now, she could use them later. Even pirates had standards. They would turn eventually once they remembered what they were.
For now, Spacefleet was her priority.
The Archmage carefully listened to what Amneiger had to say. When she had finished, he nodded.
"Good. I'm glad that's sorted. But I have other things I need to take care of," she said and conjured two little balls of air, both of them identical to each other down to the molecular level. She put one in Amneiger's ear and the other in her ear.
"This will let me hear what you hear. I'd love to stay but time is precious," she said and walked away, knowing the other mages would follow her. As she walked, she listened to what Jensen said to Amneiger. And while she did have some good points, she did not need to take over the entire country with a zombie army for it. Certainly Celestial did not like the idea of being ousted.
She walked to the outside of Castle Kestrel, took another look at the zombies and turned to the other mages.
"Guys, I know you're probably not happy with me chumming about with a 'Fleeter but we need an army as well. The golems are well and good but we can only make so many of them and most are better with cooking than fighting. The Manor has mobility issues and as good as we are, we are simply outnumbered. Plus whatever those commanders and that woman are, they are clearly more powerful than us," she stated to them, spreading her wings in the night air to let herself relax. "So, any ideas? I'm all ears. There is no idea too audacious for these desperate times."
((Mage Manor))
The librarian became aware of Krisseh's presence. He was about to prepare himself again to talk, to tell her that there was to be no food inside the library but something about her stopped his words dead. She reeked of the underdeep.
The librarian put his book down, taking care to note the page number he got up to (even if he knew that the beautiful Sybilla Carla would eventually choose the equally handsome and rich Domingo Lamarr over the passionate Arthur Uberto) and looked up at her over his glasses. He showed no fear but his normally expressionless face had acquired a look that said one thing: 'touch the books and you're dead.' It wasn't even a threat. It was an absolute fact. Nevertheless, he listened to what Krisseh had to say.
"Why?" he stated, still glaring at her, watching her every move. He barely paid any attention to Ellen who had come in and collapsed. Everything he had was focused on the underdeep-infected creature in front of him.
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Post by Terra on Feb 4, 2013 14:45:37 GMT -5
Castle Kestrel
Zephyr narrowed his eyes at Celestial’s tone - did he detect a hint of annoyance? But no matter - this was not the time. He brushed it off.
As the Spacefleeter walked back into the throne room - interesting, Zephyr had never met a Spacefleeter before - Celestial walked toward the castle’s exit, clearly expecting the others to follow her. Despite his desire both to listen in on the conversation in the throne room and to get to that darned library, he walked after her, as it struck him as unwise to split up at this point.
As he walked, he mulled over the possibilities. This woman and her army were a threat, both to Dunburrow and to surrounding kingdoms. If she conquered Dunburrow, who was to say that she wouldn’t move on to another kingdom next? His home kingdom perhaps didn’t have the magical resources of Dunburrow, nor did it have a sea port, but it did have fertile lands and some wealth...
Zephyr stopped short at the sight of the zombie army outside the castle. Somehow he wasn’t expecting it to be so big.
He gathered himself as Celestial spoke. No sense in having a breakdown here.
"So, any ideas? I'm all ears. There is no idea too audacious for these desperate times."
“The librarian told me that there was information in the castle library that could help us,” he said. “However, he wasn’t very specific about what this information might be. Now, obviously it’s a little late to stroll into the library and take the time to do a thorough search, but if there’s vital information in there, it might be a good idea to get hold of it before it could get destroyed, yes?”
He hesitated, looking around at the other mages. “Do any of you happen to know any teleportation spells that could work for an entire library?”
Well, she did say no idea was too audacious, thought Zephyr wryly.
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Post by Lord Hayati on Feb 4, 2013 15:04:03 GMT -5
Mage Manor Library:
"Mr. Librarian, I'm normal, for now... but Celestial's portal back here brought a few people into the prison. Tiger... and Ellen, to be persice."
She shivered. She know that eventually, the underdeep will come back, and she'll wreck havoc again. To her, it was just another reason to get as much done as possible.
"I know you don't trust me... but my time of clarity is limited. I don't want to harm anyone. ;_;
She gazed at Ellen, who had somehow got out of the prison...
"... I guess that only leaves Tiger in the prison, then..."
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Post by Tiger on Feb 4, 2013 19:03:34 GMT -5
"Krisseh, wait - " Tiger groaned as the Usul slipped through the bars of the cage with a series of sounds that were going to make future deserts more traumatic than tasty. "Your leg's barely attached you can't - " but the Usul was already gone.
Tiger shook her head and turned back to Ellen - just in time to see the girl turn into a bird and flit through the bars. She winced as the bluebird was shocked and catapaulted back into human form. "Ellen - "
Again, Tiger was too late.
She clapped her hands sarcastically, drawing the mist between them like strands of bubble gum. "Bra-vo, manor. Now the one person who does know the password and isn't possess by Underdeep is the only one locked in the cage. Feel like opening up?"
The bars rattled a bit, but another chunk of ceiling tumbling onto Tiger's head told her that the answer was "find your own way out. Jerk."
"For the love of..." Tiger drew her hands wide apart as it making a giant letter "t", swooping her hands up a little at the ends to craft the horns of an ox. Muttering curses at the manor, she poured more mist into making the huge, muscular ox body. The prickling in her fingertips reached for her elbows.
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Post by Amneiger on Feb 4, 2013 21:54:07 GMT -5
Amneiger let Celestial put the air bubble in his ear. He wondered if it would fade away eventually; regardless of whether they were going to have an alliance or not, it was a poor idea on principle have something like that lying around Spacefleet HQ. Well, he could probably take it out later.
In the meantime, he was talking to the woman on the throne. The short-term plans for running Dunburrow seemed reasonably solid, although the answer to his first question was a bit vague. "What kind of retaliation are you talking about?" he said. Hopefully if she gave a detailed answer it would shed some light on what her strategic and tactical capabilities were.
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Post by Zylaa on Feb 4, 2013 22:10:11 GMT -5
Castle Kestrel
"What say you, first mate of mine? Apart from 'we need to talk actual numbers', because I thought of that already."
"I never doubted that you had," Zylaa said. "You have probably also thought of 'how much can we get away with charging for the care and feeding of the blarf?'" The pirates generally didn't have to worry about the feeding of the blarf, since there were, as the saying goes, plenty of fish in the sea--Zylaa did have a sneaking suspicion that there were plenty less fish in the seas the Weewoo frequented, but that was neither here nor there.
"How about 'how do you intend to convince the do-goody Commander of the Spacefleet that they should not get involved in this violent coup that rips corpses out of their rightful rest and sets them against their fellow countrymen'?" Bloody Mary pointed out. Zylaa listened to the ensuing conversation with fascination.
"But I am liking her offer all the same." Hunty finished.
"I never got to try any of that cheesecake," the first mate ventured, "which is more than enough reason to make it again. Or we could, say, use the logic argument, which will probably sound much more convincing coming from us than the ringleader of zombies." Zylaa shrugged. "The way I see it, she sounds like the most reasonable of the wannabe overlords so far. High level of the grotesque in army choice, but with minimum actual death so far. Perhaps it might be wiser to not jump headlong into 'saving the world' from the latest creepy invasion. She'd essentially be paying us to enter a 'live and let live' agreement."
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Post by Gelquie on Feb 4, 2013 22:29:35 GMT -5
((Castle Kestral -- outside))
Gelquie was not happy about the Archmage being all buddy-buddy with a Spacefleeter. Not at all. She listened to Celestial's talk and frowned.
"Celestial, I know we need allies," Gelquie stated, trying to keep her voice low enough. "But the last time we trusted Spacefleet with something important, people ended up dead. Even if they're serious about not wanting Miss Jensen to take over, we can't trust them. Not if they could do that again."
Gelquie looked back towards the Castle. "This situation is bad enough as it is... I'll be honest. I don't have any ideas."
“The librarian told me that there was information in the castle library that could help us. However, he wasn’t very specific about what this information might be. Now, obviously it’s a little late to stroll into the library and take the time to do a thorough search, but if there’s vital information in there, it might be a good idea to get hold of it before it could get destroyed, yes?”
"We could if it would help us," Gelquie replied. "But I want to know exactly what we're looking for first. I don't want to spend hours just to find the book we need."
“Do any of you happen to know any teleportation spells that could work for an entire library?”
"An entire... That wouldn't... I highly doubt it. But don't ask me. I'm an illusionist."
----
((Spacefleet Moon Base))
A young man, who had been slumbering peacefully in his quarters, woke up to a beeping sound from a panel on the other side of the room. He groaned as he turned in bed, not wanting to get up right away. But after another moment with more beeping, he finally relented and got up. He was sure he'd only been asleep for a couple of hours. It can't have been time for breakfast. Not with how tired he is. A quick glance at the clock on the panel in question confirmed this.
He let out a small groan and stretched his arms before he realized that this may in fact be an emergency. Nothing on the scale of what happened when he first entered a Spacefleet ship. But still, it wasn't out of the question. Fearing the worst, Alaric rushed from his bedside to the panel and pressed the button for Communications.
"Defense Engineer Alaric here," the man said. "What is it?"
"Alaric, there's a problem on the planet surface. They said that people are rising from their graves. We don't have all the details yet. But we may need you at your post to man the defenses and stand by for further orders."
People... rising from their graves? Maybe he was right to fear the worst.
"Understood," Alaric said. He waited for a moment to see if there was anything else before he heard a click on the other side. He let go of the button on the panel and rushed over to the dresser to change into his uniform.
This wasn't good at all. Dead rising from their graves has never been a good sign. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation, but he had to be ready and at least be able to help staff the ship so that it could answer the call.
As he ran from his quarters, ready to go, he only wished he could take a more direct role in defending the planet from this horror.
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Post by Huntress on Feb 5, 2013 12:11:29 GMT -5
Castle Kestrel
"The way I see it, she sounds like the most reasonable of the wannabe overlords so far," Zylaa pointed out. "High level of the grotesque in army choice, but with minimum actual death so far. Perhaps it might be wiser to not jump headlong into 'saving the world' from the latest creepy invasion. She'd essentially be paying us to enter a 'live and let live' agreement."
"Far be it from me to get picky about someone's policy on equal employment rights," said Hunty, a lifetime employer of said policy. "As far as I'm concerned, she's actually several steps ahead the Knights for the leadership of this country, since she hasn't issued wanted posters for us yet."
The captain sidled out of the shadows and back towards the throne where a Spacefleeter was currently talking to Miss Jensen.
"What kind of retaliation are you talking about?" he was asking at that point.
"All of it," Miss Jensen said coolly. "I have not yet begun to show the extent of the offensive power my army currently commands. High-level battle mages, trained all their life for war, are only the start of it. But of course, you cannot expect me to disclose everything as of yet."
"Well, we're in," Hunty said cheerfully at around that point.
The woman turned to look at her with momentary surprise that quickly gave way to satisfaction. "Good. I do hope that you are as good as your word, pirate."
"I have always been as good as my word," said Hunty, raising an eyebrow. "Ask anyone. Now, do we get an advance payment of any sort?"
Miss Jensen smiled one of her thin mirthless smiles. "You wish. Prove your worth first, and then we may talk. Speaking of which, I do in fact have use for living people, since the walking dead are only so reliable in certain questions... do be so kind and find my horse outside. He needs to be fed and watered, and does no longer need to be harnessed."
"Ah huh," Hunty said, without much obstinacy, since she quite liked horses. "As you command, milady."
***
The horse was indeed still outside, standing patently in front of the cart with the general horse-y air of willingness to stand where necessary however long it took. It was a huge heavy beast with a broad chest and strong legs, and Hunty could see at once why Miss Jensen hadn't bothered to warn them about proper care or not stealing the horse; this didn't look like a horse to mess with.
It looked compliant enough, though, and Hunty set to disassemble the harness. Seafaring as they were, sometimes the skill of finding, harnessing and handling a horse very fast, often in pitch black, had proven to be useful. Especially considering the extremely land-centered nature of their more recent adventures, she thought glumly.
"So now we're privateers," Bloody Mary said smugly.
"I am as good as my word," Hunty pointed out, leading the horse out from between the shafts and lifting off the coarse blanket on its back. "Ask anyone. Wonder if we can find a grooming brush somewhere-"
The horse, free of the blanket, spread its wings and shook them with a rustle that sounded like a flock of terrified ducks. Then it folded them back and bent down to graze with the smug look known only to horses (and, admittedly, dolphins).
Hunty stared. "Well, I don't know how to groom that."
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Post by Zylaa on Feb 6, 2013 0:15:15 GMT -5
Castle Kestrel
On the one hand, it was in theory demeaning to be entrusted only with taking care of a horse. On the other hand, this was probably by far the simplest job that their new employer could have possibly asked. Zylaa liked simple. This was vastly preferable to the impending warfare they would be helping wage.
The horse looked like he would be a potent force in warfare, really, so Zylaa was a bit on edge as she helped Hunty unharness the creature. She was hanging up the harnesses when she heard the whumph.
"Well, I don't know how to groom that." Zylaa poked her head around the cart. Her eyes grew wide.
"I mean, technically, we didn't have to groom it," she said, in an attempt to keep the conversation on topic. "... That's a giant flying horse," she said, giving up. "And I'm pretty sure it's smirking at us. Did game show host conqueror want us to return to the throne room for further directions, or do we play with the flying horse until she shows up?"
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Post by Bacon on Feb 6, 2013 2:36:57 GMT -5
((Somewhere in deep space, but not too deep of space. More on the shallow-ish end of deep. Or the deepish end of shallow, perhaps.))
"What's our ETA, Cal?"
"We should arrive at the Spacefleet moon base in roughly twenty-four hours, FOP."
"And how long have we been gone?"
"Five months, FOP."
"Yes, I know what it's been from our perspective. I meant from their perspective. How much time passed in Spacefleet while I was out searching for answers?"
"Impossible to determine. Well, not really impossible, but way more work than I really want to put into it. We took a very complex course and figuring out where we were relative to the planet for that entire journey would take hours. Extrapolating local orbital periods from that data would take even longer."
"So you have no clue how much time has passed there? I could have been gone for years, or even decades?"
"Perhaps centuries, even. Probably not millennia, though. Definitely more than five months, at any rate."
"Thanks, Cal. You're very helpful."
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Post by Fraze on Feb 6, 2013 9:31:35 GMT -5
((Field in Dunburrow))
Hellas watched with confusion as Draco repaired himself. When Draco ran away, he began to give chase.
"Wait," Alabaster told him. Hellas stopped. "We must remember our mission."
Hellas sheathed his sword, looking a bit disappointed. "Of course. Whatever he did to heal himself...did you recognize it?"
As the army set off walking once again, Alabaster shook his head. "That was no technique I have seen or heard of. If nothing else, it will hopefully be valuable information for our lady."
((Timeskippery ahoy!))
Dawn broke and the sun rose into the sky. Hellas and Alabaster passed through two more towns, raising a couple hundred more soldiers. They began to get more notice, as people woke up and saw the army of zombies and skeletons meandering down the road.
--------
((Somewhere else in Dunburrow))
Sukhbataar continued to march northward, arriving at a large town by the river. Another five hundred soldiers joined his forces. When the town guards attempted to stop him, he killed them and stuck their heads onto pikes. He turned southward, with his new decorations carried by their own headless, freshly reanimated bodies at the front of the army.
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((Somewhere else-else on the Dunburrow coast))
Brick followed the coastline, expanding the ranks of his army at two more fishing villages. As he was leaving the second, he was stopped by a young man brandishing a fishing spear.
"Do you mean to stop me, boy?" The challenger nodded.
"Are you prepared to die defending your home?" The boy flinched, but nodded again, not breaking eye contact.
Brick grinned. "Very well." He took several deliberate steps forward.
There was a flash of light, and a sound like a firecracker going off under several heavy blankets. The young man was on the ground, clutching his stomach and struggling to breathe. Brick held his spear in one hand and twirled it a few times.
"Not bad, boy. You'll make a fine defender of your kingdom some day. But you'll have to train a long time to get the best of old Chuckabrick!" He let out a loud bark of laughter, laid the spear by the boy's side, and continued walking.
--------
((Mage Manor))
Hellas and Alabaster approached Mage Manor, staying out of sight until they had a direct path from the Manor graveyard, straight on to the Manor itself. Several dozen more undead mages joined their ranks.
Alabaster approached the Manor, flanked by several mages and a few of the less-decayed soldiers. "On behalf of our commander, Miss Jensen, we formally request an audience."
--------
((Spacefleet HQ--Commander's quarters))
The comm chirped once gain. Fraze assumed that a fair amount of time had passed, since he felt much more rested now than he had earlier.
"Sir, we have an update for you on the, uh, zombie situation on the surface."
"Go ahead," the Commander prompted.
"The three groups are traveling between towns, growing in size. One has arrived at Mage Manor, the other two seem to be heading in that direction."
"Has there been any communication with the Castle Kestrel or the Manor?"
"Negative, but Professor Amneiger went to the Castle to assess the situation."
"All right, tell him I want a full report as soon as possible." Amneiger was reliable, but Fraze still needed all the information he could get. "Try to establish communication with the Castle, the Manor, anywhere in Dunburrow. Keep all military, security, medical, and engineering personnel on standby for either a planetside or stationside emergency. Be prepared for a full-scale attack on the station, and be ready to scramble ships to the surface. Keep people monitoring the security system constantly to make sure that nobody tries to hack in."
There was silence on the line for several seconds. "Sir, if I may ask, do you think that someone is going to attack the station?"
Fraze sighed. If he were a more militaristic commander, he would have chewed out the comm officer for questioning his orders. But it was a reasonable question, so instead he decided to answer. "Spacefleet has a way of getting invaded for no apparent reason whenever something big goes down on the surface. I just want to play it safe this time."
"Understood, sir. Communications out."
Fraze got up, stretched, and got dressed. There was just one more person he wanted to talk to about all this. He went to a drawer and took out a particular communicator. "Hey, Hunty, are you there? There are big things happening in Dunburrow. Something something zombies. You might want to stay out of there for a while, it looks like there's going to be a confrontation."
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Post by Huntress on Feb 6, 2013 13:09:51 GMT -5
"Did game show host conqueror want us to return to the throne room for further directions, or do we play with the flying horse until she shows up?" Zylaa asked.
"Didn't say," Hunty replied. "We didn't sign any horse-sitting contracts, anyway, so I reckon we can feed and water it as requested and then see where we go from here. It looks like it can handle itself."
Bloody Mary stared at the horse with a mixture of awe and horror.
"That's a valkyrie horse," he hissed. "That is a bloody valkyrie horse. Do you know how much those things cost? At all?"
Hunty craned to look at him, which was always a bit tricky with the meepit riding on her shoulder. "Horses are generally expensive. How do you know that stuff?"
"I keep up with world economy, oh successful pirate with her finger on the pulse of things," the meepit said gruffly. "Horses are expensive, yus. Winged horses are a cartel undertaking. They're bred only by valkyries, so the price is probably full of all sorts of hot air, but they can fly and are well fit for battles and you could sell a kingdom for one."
"Literally?"
"Literally," said the meepit, pointing at the horse, who was still grazing with a devil-may-care air. "That there? GDP of Dunburrow. It's like a walking economic powerhouse that poops."
"That's a lot of de facto money to leave in our care," Hunty said thoughtfully, eyeing the horse. "Sign of trust or a big test of some sort of a double-dog-dare to steal it? Or even a double-dog-dare to protect it?"
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Post by Lord Hayati on Feb 6, 2013 14:59:14 GMT -5
Mage manor:
Krisseh's ears suddenly rose.
"The zombies. They're here. D:"
She had a feeling what they would do. They were headed to the graveyard, taking the dead mages from there. If they got to a place like the tabloid town, their army would be unstoppable, in her wobbly opinion. She had to think of something. Even if she had to follow them to the ends of the earth, she wanted to at least try to damage their battalion, even if it cost her sanity to do so.
"Librarian, I think you're... going to dislike this... but I'm going to feign dead. somehow. even If I have the underdeep posess me... I want to control it... so I won't go nuts. Trust me, I'll be go-"
Her eyes started to darken, As if on cue. while her Katana-hand was still there, it quickly started to reform into a normal usul hand, while her foot started to magically regrow. The dark voice of the underdeep emerged again... but it seemed to have some restraint on it, unlike the events at the kestrel.
"A truce? A interesting creature... Letting us take over, so she can fight for good...
Underdeep Krisseh quickly went into the kitchen to fetch some sweets (and to recharge on magic), remade her candy pop staff, and dashed outside to join Hellas and Alablaster.
"A interesting army, indeed..."
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Post by Tiger on Feb 6, 2013 22:02:55 GMT -5
(Mage Manor)
(Post-four hour jump)
Tiger stormed into the front hall of the manor at last, followed by the ox that had smashed the jail cell bars twice before the manor let the lock click open. In the hours since then, Tiger had gone in search of her compatriots, only to be misled at every turn. The Manor seemed to be getting its revenge for the damage to the jail cell.
It did eventually let Tiger get to the kitchen, where she took a break from wandering to wolf down a huge lunch. That, and resting at the several dead ends the manor took her too until the house got bored, had recovered some of her magic. Her hands still tingled and prickled; it would probably take a full twelve hours of no spell casting before that went away, and a good sixteen or twenty to get back to actual full power.
Unfortunately, the zombie apocalypse probably wasn't going to leave a lot of time for resting.
Through a conveniently-placed window, Tiger saw the converging army, and the two generals Celestial had spoken to as a dragon. Hopefully the Archmage was back by now; Tiger had wanted to ask about the two before confronting them again.
Krisseh was already on the lawn. Tiger drew her sword, clucked her tongue at the ox, and stepped out to join the Usul, who had apparently made good use of the time she'd been separated from Tiger. Or...Tiger motioned for the ox to step between and a little ahead of the two.
"Here's your audience," Tiger growled. "Now what do you want?"
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