The strain of holding the trump gate open had done nothing but tire me further and I desperately needed five minutes to recover my wits. The others didn't seem that organized, so I retreated to the corner of the roof adjacent to the stair riser, where I would be out of the way, and could drink my coffee and recover. Why is it things never happen according to plan. As I walked into the corner I could hear banging and shouting coming from behind the door. There was obviously somebody trying to gain access to the roof but was being prevented from doing so by the two bodies I had left against the door.
It appeared from what they had were currently preparing that Charity, now in Rodian form, was going to talk her way out the situation. The flies in the ointment were Alfred who was clearly visible in the center of the roof and Allagahn who would be clearly visible once the door opened. What ever they were going to do wouldn't work. I looked about, there was the mud and boulder scree behind me, the snow and ice to my right, the lava field directly ahead and the fog bank to my left. Molten rock bubbled and sprayed into the air from the lava field. If things went badly we were going to need and edge and Alfred had that damned silence spell prepared - once he started I'd have perhaps 10 seconds to do anything. This either meant hand-to-hand combat or a really quick spell. I took another drink from the cup.
Summonings usually take too long because you have to bring whatever it is to you by opening a gate and then redirecting it. But here all I needed to do was grab some material and drop it. I noted Allagahn preparing the pull the body blocking the door out of the way. I was going to have to be quick. I started assembling the spell.
It really all happened too fast. Charity went flying across the roof followed a second later by Allagahn, and a large Rodian type demon emerged onto the roof. It looked about, noting Charity getting back to her feet and Alfred just standing there. It moved towards Alfred. I forgot subtlety and lynch pins and finished the spell. It was rather crude, and a ton of magma dropped from the sky into the path of the demon. If I'd had more time I could have scored a better hit but it stopped it in its tracks.
I could see Alfred speaking, and gesturing. The silence spell descended like a hammer blow. Charity and Allagahn raced for the door and stairs followed by Alfred. The demon still alive in the solidifying magma valiantly fought to free itself. I finished the coffee, threw the mug at it as a distraction and ran it through with my sword - better a swift death than the one it was enduring.
By the time I reached the guard room the fight was just about over. I stood in the doorway observing. Allagahn decided that the best way through the door blocking the only other exit was to hack at it with his sword first at the place where a circa 18 century or later door might have a locking mechanism and then at the places where doors traditionally have hinges. Given the level of resistance to intrusion these forms of security provided I wasn't surprised when he failed to either open the door or have it fall into the room.
Charity meanwhile had summoned the pattern, evident by the slight shimmer in the air in front of her and was doing something else, probably scrying into the next room. Allagahn, having got nowhere, and backed away from the door, decided to do whatever it Charity was doing. Alfred having hamstrung our ability to use magic, with his silence spell moved next to the door and began peering through the holes Allagahn had created.
A couple of minutes silently ticked by before the end of Alfred's silence spell was announced by the slamming of a body into the door. This was almost simultaneously accompanied by a brief flaring in Allagahn's pattern and him collapsing to the floor. A few seconds later, as I crossed to the center of the room, Charity's pattern dissipated and she returned to the present. There were now sounds of a defense being organized in the next room.
Looking down she grabbed Allagahn and hoisted him over her shoulder. As she stood up there was the sound of the bar on the door being removed. I moved into a position to intercept whatever came through the door. It turned out to be a pair of the large black demons from the roof, their combat skills being superior to their psyche, and I was forced to give ground.
I hadn't seen him do it but Alfred had grabbed Allagahn's sword and waded into the breach, the most stupid thing I've seen him do yet. I managed to severely wound one of my opponents but he was immediately replaced and I was unable to get to Alfred. Not being able to divert attention from my own opponents I'm not sure exactly what happened but there was a shower of armour, the clatter of a dropped sword, a shout from Charity and Alfred was gone. With Charity now exposed I needed to give her time to make the stairs. I blinked into the door way slashing the demon that stood there, and then getting a half shot as one of the next pair turned round. I doubted it was fatal but he'd be out of action for a while. My move had had the desired effect and Charity had reached the door. I slashed again and blinked after her.
By the time we reached the top of the stairs the demons were right behind me again, not their smartest move, and I drop kicked the leading demon backwards into the rest. By the time they'd recovered, Charity had a trump gate open. As I raced across the roof she tossed Allagahn through and I followed. As I rolled to my feet she appeared in the space I had just vacated and the gate collapsed.
Taking in our surroundings I noted we were close to Ygg. As she pulled a second trump from her deck I asked what had happened to Alfred, she said he'd gone primal after being grabbed by a couple of the small Rodian Demons - this didn't bode well. My own experience with them indicated they had little combat skill. I knew Alfred wasn't good in combat but I hadn't realized he was that bad, hadn't he been taught anything as a child?
As I watched a new trump gate formed, beyond which I could see the condo inside Deirdre's tower. I grabbed Allagahn and stepped through.
Apparently Deirdre had been observing the Keep and had expected us to trump directly to her rather than to Ygg first. The problem was she often took time to answer trump calls so I understand why Charity used the place trump - it doesn't require an answer to create a gate.
I dumped Allagahn in one of the bedrooms, and then returned to the sofa to get something to eat, before retiring myself.
It was a question of do I get up or not this morning. I wasn't really tired when I awoke and could quite easily got up and exercised. It was really a question of did I want to be hassled by Allagahn. Unfortunately staying in bed and feigning sleep didn't work. He came bothering me anyway - was there any other way out of here as Deirdre was in Logrus form, something I could tell quite easily, and did I know anything about changing a object using the pattern so that it would be able to work in any shadow. I said no. He said he was going to try it anyway. I told him to wait until Deirdre was not in Logrus form.
The sound of a Logrus/Pattern explosion, accompanied by the sound of breaking furniture and glass told me he'd chosen to ignore me. I rolled out of be and down the corridor to the living room. Allagahn was lying amidst a pile of broken furniture. As I moved over to where he lay I could see he was still breathing. Charity chose that moment to appear in the doorway. I explained that he'd chosen to ignore my warning about using the pattern whilst Deirdre was in Logrus form. Picking him up I returned him to the room he'd frequented last night.
Forced into activity I began my standard set of exercises. A short way into them I felt the invocation of trump power. Since Deirdre was still in Logrus form, and from the low level of draw I guessed Charity must be drawing a trump.
It was a couple of hours later that Deirdre returned to normal form. Charity had finished her sketch, and I'd showered and dressed. The topic of conversation today was Alfred, and when he'd return to normal. I reckoned at least 10 hours - which was at least 56 hours here, which meant there was at least another 40 to go. With Allagahn likely to be "out" for the rest of the day, we requested Deirdre transfer us to the courtyard, I really ought to produce a trump of it. It would make getting about easier.
Having arrived in the courtyard we decided that an update on the tactical situation was in order and walked over to Command HQ. It appears that the enemy have done little other than establish camp. Their numbers are a little worrying though. Charity had some idea's on this front and went off the pursue them. I chose to find out how Sorcha was doing. From my untrained perspective she seems to be ok. From what I know of Charity's past she has a certain amount of medical training but has so far shown a complete lack of interest in Sorcha's situation. Given that fetching a midwife was at that time problematic I determined to stop avoiding the trump creation issue. However I couldn't just wander off. Creating trumps takes time, which I currently don't and didn't have. If I could trump to a fast time shadow, draw the trump and return then the problem would have solved itself. However, I didn't have a trump of a fast time shadow. I also wasn't about to risk imagining one and drawing that. I knew of two faster shadows, the Courts - marginally faster, and the one Allagahn had vanished to when he walked the pattern.
From what I know of the shadow Allagahn was hiding in the time flow is about twice as fast there as here. Since preparing a basic durable place trump takes me about 2 days I'd be gone from here a little under 24 hours. I'd also need an impression to work from as working from memory takes even longer - even with a good psychic imprint. I was going to have to do this in two stages; create two simple trump sketches one of the courtyard here to use as a template for the real trump, and one of Allagahn's monastery.
I chose to create the more difficult one, Allagahn's Monastery, first. I had just about done when Charity reappeared. She'd spoken to Merlin and arranged for him to supply us 500 troops. The problem was getting them to us. I said a trump gate was impractical, and I didn't know a way of doing it with pattern. She said she was going to talk to Fred to ask about the possibility of using an Abyss gate.
I left the Great hall and crossed the courtyard to the forge, where I could work undisturbed. In the dying light of the day I started my sketch, although I was soon forced to switch my helmet light on to continue working. Once satisfied with the basic structure I retired to my room where the light level was considerably better to add the finishing detail. It was gone midnight by the time I finished.
I suppose I should be getting back. I have my courtyard trump now and am reasonably rested- I can always meditate in my room. I have also recreated, accurately this time, the sketch of the Monastery so that when I get the chance I can either come back here to produce a durable trump or if I've a couple of days complete it where ever I happen to be.
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| Supporting Cast - Cordelia | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |