Ergamon - Another Failure
With a dissatisfied grunt, Ersir looked up from his latest subject for the first time in almost three hours. Running out of the amount of oil he'd used so far meant having to stop experiments until he could dig up one of his caches (or make one of the ever-risky supply runs back to the source). At least he had some spare 'standard' stock in case of emergency.
Cracking his neck as the strain from looking down all that time faded away, Ersir barely afforded the stiff corpse of whatever exotic animal he'd used as his specimen any attention as he left his makeshift shelter cum laboratory, swinging his mask back over his face in case he ran into anyone while outside. Tapping his vials (more to ensure his comfort than their integrity), he began the search for the cache he could swear he left nearby a few months or so ago, ensuring all but one of his creations in his time here stayed behind to guard the shelter, and more importantly, the precious notes within.
Although this plane was treacherous, its animals both varied and lethal, he had learned the most important warning signs of a large predator by now. In fact, on more than one occasion he had followed such signs in an attempt to get a more resilient specimen - to little effect. The usual oil would, no doubt, work perfectly. But he wasn't here to proliferate. His own strains took precedent, and so far he had wasted an entire season on what would seem to be a goose chase of a mutation.
Ergamon
There was an elf in the jungle of Ergamon whose mount of choice was going to confuse anyone trying to look for big game here. It kept low, quiet, and snuffly like a small feline hunter or something, but its huge bulk was still carving a thorough path through the underbrush. It didn't even smell like your average Ergamon wildlife; the giant fox carried Theros through the air with it.
The fox's rider wasn't Therosian though, she was one of the bulky dark elves of Ravnica's Dovkarin. She was dressed simply, white bandages over her chest and dark green leggings with a print pattern of inverted Golgari sigils. She carried nothing besides the fox's saddle bags and reins, which she hoisted up as they came up on something.
"What are you?" She said with interest, and leapt off the Vulpine Goliath down to check out what she realized was a wooden crate, unburied from the Goliath's clumsy scrabbling. She'd only been on this plane for about a day so she had no idea if it had Mimics or whatever, so she approached it with cautious interest. She crouched down on powerful legs and dug even more powerful fingers into the rich soil to grab at it with main force, trying to stay way the hell away from any opening or locks it had. She stopped hauling it about halfway out just to appreciate the nice jungle soil too; it felt like home down here in the dirt. "Bounty of the jungle right here, huh? Are you a seed for a box tree?"
Ergamon - Self-Control Is For Wimps
Arguably worse than the sound of a predator was the sound of startled prey. Hearing the rushed departure of insects and birds would have usually filled him with excitement, but without his usual oils, Ersir found himself without the need for a new sample, and felt only weary resignation. His search pattern, for better or worse, took him by whatever was causing the ruckus. Of course, he could go around it, but that would be worse than inconvenient: it would be inefficient. Especially with his recent forgetfulness.
That in mind, he gestured to the hulking figure keeping a watchful distance behind him to be more quiet, in case he could hear something. An abomination in black armour, the only reason why he didn't react to the aura of corruption that assailed every sense he had was that he had spent years around exactly this kind of thing. Well, that, and he had made it. Though very detached, there was some form of bond between Ersir and his... creations? Experiments? The terminology discussion would be best brought up another day.
Snapping back into focus, he realised he could hear a voice further down the path he was following; the first he had heard in a long time. His gut feeling going from tired to sinking in 2 seconds flat as he had to start making plans for evacuation already (just in case), Ersir very cautiously approached, bodyguard far enough behind to at least remain hidden if someone saw him from ahead. The first thing his eyes were drawn to was an ominously familiar crate. Before he knew it, he had begun yelling. "Don't open that! Uh, it's got very valuable material in there, and opening it carelessly can risk, erm, damaging the contents!" It wasn't technically a lie, so that made it okay, right?
After his outburst, Ersir had recovered enough composure to actually take in the situation. A lady with very pointed ears, much taller (and stronger, and overall more generally intimidating) than himself was digging up his box (or a very similar on- no, wait, there's the small line he carved into it by mistake while burying it), and behind her... his usual words failed him, prompting a voice in the back of his head to offer 'large cat wolf thing'. Well, it was as good a name as any for now. He didn't recognise anything about them; he could only hope that he hadn't insulted them by mistake, or worse.
Fwomph
Ergamon - Truga Jungle
Tick. Tock. Tick tock.
Ashur recoiled back as the hulking mechanism she'd dug up from the brush started to whir and tick. She'd followed the urging of her friends to find this device and from the first moment she could tell it's leaden mechanisms were: (A) Very close to functional and (B) A displaced Mephidross device. Another wonderful find she was anxious to clean off fully and add to her arsenal.
Tick tock. Tick tock.
Her mind wandered a little and as she looked over the menacing and very functional item she pondered what it actually did. Well it was no matter, she could just stop it's function with the right mana and have her friends disassemble it-
CLANG
The noise sent Ashur diving to the ground, holding her head tightly as the sound washed over her. When the echoing in her ears ended she took bearing: (Firstly) She was alive, (Secondly) she was feeling drained by that noise and (Thirdly) the machine's disastrous chime had likely woken up anything that could hear in a decently large radius. Oh and (Fourthly) it was going to take her a while to properly prepare the Grindclock for transport...
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Ergamon
"Oh yeah man, no worries. Didn't think I'd see anyone else out here. I'm Aeva, by the way, nice to meet you!" The elf smiled wide and hefted the box up, then started carrying it over to the smaller... person. "Here, go ahead and take it then. Sorry for the—OW, SHIT!"
The horrible clang echoed through the jungle. It felt like a worse version of getting milled in a duel! The Vulpine Goliath screamed and went on full alert, but Aeva just lost her footing from the distraction, and not even her astounding strength could stand against a root sticking up out of the ground and ready to trip her. She figured she had two options as she fell: either hold onto the box and potentially crush it, or huck it before she ate shit and hope the other guy was coordinated enough to handle it. She took the second option and heaved the cache underhand at the guy, sending the box tumbling through the air as she smashed face-first into the dirt.
Ergamon - Will Not Do Hauling
Although his size (namely, on the short side) didn't stop him from being strong, that didn't mean Ersir was strong. Just the fact that the lady was willing to co-operate filled him with a level of relief he didn't think he had the capacity to feel until now. Grinning behind his mask, he was already thinking of how he could change up the patterns, and-
An extremely grating clang reverberated throughout the jungle. Instinctively, Ersir's hands flung themselves to his ears to try (to no effect) to drown out the noise, as he yelped and his vision quadrupled for the moment. Although his vision had cleared quickly, leaving only a splitting headache, his new friend (could he call her a friend? Hopefully!) had started falling, fortunately not taking the crate with her. Unfortuantely, the crate would be taking him with it, and although he suppressed his urge to bat it aside long enough to hug it, it still sent him tumbling back, resulting in a crack sounding from both parties.
Wincing as something sat out of place, radiating pain all along his body, Ersir inhaled to fill the void left by the box tackling his gut, then turned to look at it. The vials inside were safe, but the box had a chunk split open, revealing the precious cargo. Crawling over to it, still sucking in some air, he took a few vials and hitched them to his belt as he wheezed a "check that out" to his companion, who had gotten much closer to him in the interim. Faithfully, the form stomped away in the general direction of the sound as he checked on the lady and her canofeline companion. "Thanks for... taking care of the... box. Are you al...right?" He finished catching his breath not long after, appending "I have some medical supplies back home, if you need them? Also some food and stuff, if we make it."
Ergamon
"Oh, don't worry, I'm good!" Aeva saw no reason to hide her power, and as she pushed herself up off the ground her nose was already knitting itself back into working order. She smiled and gave the thumbs up, then stood up all the rest of the way. "Won't turn down food, but we might wanna find who made that noise first." She turned around to the Vulpine Goliath. "What do you smell, friend? Find anything?" It turned back and looked at the big elf with an unreadable expression. "Get after them, then!" Aeva said with a wave, kind of just guessing that would work, and the huge fox took off in the direction of the noise. Aeva turned back to the stranger. "And what's your name, huh?"
Fwomph
Ergamon
Ashur was in a somewhat sorry state right now. She was slowly trying to attune her mana and start pouring life into her friends when she heard movement, two different sources of movement that sounded more like beasts than people. Wheeling around she pulled a somewhat skull-shaped piece of metal from her backpack and waved it around threateningly.
"S-stay back, I've got friends!"
To be noted is that she is clearly alone out here, unless those 'friends' are hiding in the weird metal chunk she's holding.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Ergamon - Identity Crisis
"Oh, uh..." Telling the truth was stupid. But she was so friendly! But everyone's friendly until they find out you're making monsters in the basement! But... Oh, he'd regret this. "Ersir, my name's Ersir. And I'm not sure how someone would react to-" An enormous hulk of steel and flesh barreling down on them. "-an animal that large in these forests. Maybe we should follow?" Tentatively, Ersir set off to follow both creatures sent as their vanguard, looking back to ensure the lady followed him. Then he realised he had forgotten basic courtesy in his time alone. "Oh, uh, what's your name? If I can... ask... that is..." He trailed off, any confidence gone with his escort.
Meanwhile, the large Phyrexian Ersir was quietly worrying about had more or less reached Ashur. Careful not to be too aggressive (Ersir had been very clear on what "check it out" means after the fourth Incident), it stepped almost into view, attempting to obscure most of itself while preserving its ability to see. Of course, as it was a multi-tonne war machine brought along to defend from megafauna, its visibility was solidly between its silhouette and 80% of its body being visible. At least it kept its stance neutral, if still cautious. After a very brief assessment period - mostly focused on the metal piece she was gesticulating with - it decided she was of little threat, not to mention unlikely to be the source of the mechanical clang, and continued looking around for the source of the noise (although it was doubtful it would succeed), pacing slightly as it did so to get a better view.
Edited by Mistfader on Nov 29th 2018 at 11:19:32 PM
Fwomph
Ergamon
Ashur knew what a Phyrexian looked like.
She was quite familiar with that black metal, twisted mockery of life, stinking-of-death-and-oil kind of creature. With a moment to twitch her hands sparked around the hunk of metal which she dropped to the ground as her hands went to grab another from her bag.
The metal on the ground shuddered for a moment before it's surface rapidly rusted... And then it sprouted legs and arms and a torso of iron. Within a few seconds the rusty lump was standing and watching the beast as Ashur started to focus on channeling mana into the second chunk she pulled from her bag.
"S-so, come to finish the job? Or have I walked into another invasion?"
She dropped the second chunk and let it sprout limbs except this time the surface tarnished like copper instead of rusted like iron.
"W-well come on, if you're here to kill me or corrupt this world then just try! We won't fall again to you!"
While she was assembling her forces, clearly she wasn't actively making the first move to attack.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Aeva laughed and planted her hands on her hips as she followed Ersir. You couldn't be mad at the first person you talked to in days. "You know, I told you my name already, it's Aeva. Aeva Aefa, of the Golgari Swarm. You seem about as confident as I'm feeling without my guy around. You aren't from around here either, are you?" Aeva had learned this ancient technique from one of the cultists on Theros: you might come across as presumptuous, but opening up and showing yourself as vulnerable was almost always a hit with people.
Meanwhile, Aeva's Vulpine Goliath had zero of the restraint or hesitation the Phyrexian was using; it poked a snuffling snout through the trees, followed by an entire head. It was less menaced than inquisitive; its tail lashed in excitement and snapped a tree in two. It stayed quiet for now, content to size up its small quarry.
Ergamon - We're Out Of "Witty" Captions
Had Ersir already asked? Damn it all, his memories were all over the place today. Bad form for a scientist. He inhaled deeply, scratched at one temple out of habit. Aeva Aefa... okay, that one would need a note. From... a swarm? Was she part of some network? Either way, she had seen right through him. "Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty new around here. Lots of interesting animals, though! Might come back after I'm done!" After all, there was no way he'd cover all the materials he was interested in in a single sitting. "What exactly is the G... the swarm? I've never heard of it!" Although he was mostly trying to return interest, he also stood to gain from further information.
The Phyrexian, still bound by its implicit order to not hurt anyone in a way that takes more than two days to heal, could only watch as a construct came into existence. Then a second one. Its threat assessment still low enough to avoid provocation (although the organic had been bumped up), it awkwardly shuffled out of the Vulpine's way, maintaining its deadlock with the growing squad in front of it as it very carefully studied the new constructs for a source of noise, taking a few steps towards them to get a closer look. If left alone, it would begin gently poking at them with its lumbering arms, attempting to replicate the sound using their bodies.
Fwomph
Ergamon
The little metal folks did not appreciate being jabbed by the big bad metalmorph and tried to poke the Phrexian back while making little squeaks and grinding noises that were way too quiet to be the big clang.
"D-don't touch my friends. Get back you..."
She went very quiet for as a big, giant and very dangerous looking fox wandered out of the trees towards her. If nothing else her panicked scream at least had the volume the Phyrexian was looking for if not the actual exact sound.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
You know that since we're all on Ergamon we don't actually have to title our posts, right?
"Well, the Golgari Swarm are a Guild of Ravnica, a great city of a plane. We assist in the natural life cycle of decay and rebirth." Aeva explained. "Waste management, crop compost and fertilizer, some necromancy on the side, that sorta—"
And then there was screaming. Over where Ashur was the giant fox screamed right back, but still hesitated on acting. They were all so small, and it could Trample all of them. Aeva heard this, picked up the pace, and in a couple moments emerged from the trees to see some Izzet-looking tomfoolery in front of her. Less janky though; there was a unifying intent to the design that the Izzet League never had. Screw it, she could trust a human this small.
"Hey there. I'm Aeva." She smiled and extended a hand. "Don't worry about the fox, he's one of mine."
Ergamon - Snarky Subtitles On Their Own Look Weird
The lady - Aeva; he couldn't forget her name again - worked in... waste management? And some farming, and necromancy. Full of questions as always, Ersir was ready to jump in as soon as her sentence was done, but unfortunately somebody (in the direction of that noise; of course they were) had chosen that moment to cut in with their own noise. Desperately hoping his creation hadn't decided ripping off a limb was a temporary injury, Ersir stopped a moment - he was a scholar not a fighter what was he doing - before getting over his hesitation and running to catch up with Aeva as the screeching picked up.
When they arrived, he saw steel designs - sleek in intent, but simple in execution; he'd have to get a sample - another person (what was attracting all these people today?), and, unsurprisingly, his own bodyguard in the middle of things, slowly outstretching an arm to the only organic thing around. Well, aside from the Yet-To-Be-Named his new friend had been riding. Ersir's mind wasn't trained for this many emergencies in one day, and it was all he could do to yell a "Stop!", barely avoiding yelling over his friend, before almost collapsing (and making a note to never leave his sojourns for after 9 straight hours of research again), steadying himself on a nearby tree.
Although his command wasn't really aimed at anyone, the Phyrexian thankfully obeyed, locking its joints then reassuming a neutral position, continuing to gaze firmly (if almost mindlessly) at the new one. His outburst had used most of his lungs, even though it wasn't particularly loud. He'd worry about his fitness later. Catching his breath and pushing his body back into a respectable pose, he mumbled out a "hope it didn't cause too much trouble". Then, holding up a hand in greeting and struggling to keep his gaze on the person instead of the machines, he spoke up at normal person volumes. "Good afternoon. I'm-" He cut himself off before he could give his name, then sighed. He had the talking skills of your average Spawn, and was doing himself no favours. "I'm Ersir. Are you hurt?" Under his mask, he closed his eyes momentarily, hoping as hard as he could that this would not be the start of another Incident.
Fwomph
Three Planeswalkers In The Jungle
Ashur tried to calm down, to get in a state where she could hold polite conversation with the somewhat bulky elf woman but then the Phyrexian started closing in and then someone yelled stop and now there was another one. Well... Maybe, she couldn't tell, though she couldn't stop fixating on the mask as she silently listened to the others introduce themselves.
"Please to remove face. Wait... Sorry. Is the porcelain a mask or your face Ersir-master-of-horrors?"
She was incredibly tense and she was half tempted to draw her friends close and bring in Superion just so she theoretically outnumbered the two new people. Though in this state she was incredibly aware at just how much that could be seen as a provocation. Best to ask.
"C-can I have more friends out Aeva-with-a-fox?"
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
"Hey, horrors isn't a nice way to talk about a man's uh..." Aeva turned around, eyed the thing up, and clocked it for undead. "You know, undead." She turned back and smiled. "But no worries ma'am, we're all a little high strung out here. You want more friends out, go ahead, but only because you're so cute!" She reached down and tinked a finger on the weird little metal creatures. "The automatons too."
Ersir's hearing wasn't the best under his cloak and mask, but did he just get asked to remove his face? Slowly sounding out a "No, I like my face where it is?" wasn't too hard, but getting over his confusion was. Then she insulted him, to his face, and asked - and, terrifyingly, was given - Aeva's permission to make more constructs! This wouldn't be a problem if she were friendly, but... Well, airing his thoughts was the only way to even have a chance of stopping it. "I'd rath-" His voice broke. He cleared his throat and tried again. "rather the person that just called me 'master of horrors' doesn't call..." He glanced at the Phyrexian. Okay, maybe some things were small enough to not be a threat to him. "anything too big here. It could, uh, attract predators." Not a lie! Although he sort of hoped it was, because he had a sinking feeling about what would be happening next.
At least his bodyguard was still obedient; he gave it a quick wave over, and it stomped closer to him - further from her - carefully, giving her creations (as well as Aeva and her fox) a wide berth as it dutifully came by his side. His confidence boosted, he glanced at Aeva and muttered "they're not undead, I'm not some cheap gravedigger" under his breath.
Edited by Mistfader on Dec 8th 2018 at 5:39:23 AM
Fwomph
Ashur didn't need any more permission before kneeling down to pet her iron and copper companions who softly glowed with the color of the mana they contained. With a soft thunk another strange metal head fell to the ground from her bag and drained the gruul emanations into itself.
The head shuddered once, twice and then with a rush of power built for itself a distinctly not small body of shining metal that made it's beaked head look actually in proportion to it's body. It was about the height of the buff elf, towering over both the tiny Myr and Ashur herself who had picked up the Copper Myr onto her shoulder.
"This is Superion! He is a good friend, say hello."
The hulking Myr construct looked around and with a slight shoulder nudge from Ashur as a prompt it waved one of it's lanky arms.
"I taught him that."
Well at least Ashur is smiling now.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Aeva's eyes widened when she saw how a creature that big cost so little. For all this kid's fronting she had a good intuition that the Vulpine Goliath would have a tough time against it. "That's quite the creation you have there, no wonder you've managed to hack it alone out here. I have to throw out a Giant Growth or something every time something goes wrong myself." She crouched down a little to have her face level with this new person. Maybe a Planeswalker like her? "And what's your name, tinker?"
Oh, that new friend was large. Larger than expected. Hopefully should the worst happen... but the new one looked content now. A sigh of relief was in order. Now that a good part of the tension had dispersed - at least, from Ersir's point of view - he could go back to cooing over the design of these things. Getting closer to the big one (his companion edging up behind him, its last orders still in effect), an urge to be polite to the hulking machine (weapon?) led to him returning a small wave before starting the all-too-lengthy process of looking over every centimetre of its visible components.
As he worked, he talked back. With something to occupy his attention, and a simple topic to ask questions about, he found it easier to actually talk instead of mumbling half-baked sentences of dubious value. "What powers it- him? How does he remember things from before you created him?" She did just create it, right?
A moment of silence as Ersir continued to inspect the minute details, before revelation snapped his head towards her. "Can I have one?"
Fwomph
Ashur took a moment to step back from the masked probably-Phyrexian and pointed to herself with her good hand.
"Ashur."
She swept that arm out, going for a sort of arcing point at her summons.
"Myr."
Then she regarded the person who wanted to ask so many questions about Superion.
"He keeps it all in his head? Also he is powered by friends and uh... About getting one..."
She took a deep breath and focused.
"Firstly: Y-you need dorks. Uh... He cannot be summoned with the magic of the land so you need something else like these Myr or elfs that aren't her? But then... Ersir, if you are from where your porcelain and minion imply then... You know exactly why I am the only one who bears these untainted friends..."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Up on Melancholy hill.
Sir Bolas, is this story going anywhere? As interesting as these three are-
You'll need to silence yourself friend. I'm setting up the world. There's far more going on here than even you know...
...
Off in the distance, a new set of steps landed on the marshy land of the plane. A pair of cold, dead eyes scanned and stared around in a slow, methodical moment. An annoyed scowl crossed his lips.
"Why would he send me here." The man mumbled as he began to angrily push past the foliage that struck him in the face. "I'm busy doing more important things on Kaladesh than wasting my time in this worthless dead plane of green and weeds!" He growled quietly and took a deep breath. "He likely knows more than I. Perhaps this is a blessing. Perhaps I can find the next step here..."
Reaching into his pocket, the man produced a handful of scrap metal and held it out for a moment. And then, before his very eyes, the metal shifted and changed its very state. Before him, once a pile of metal, was now a wonderfully created, ornate object with fluttering wings. "Go, little one." He barked more than suggested, and the object took to the sky.
"See what you can find."
Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?
"Hold on, that's a lot to deal with at once." Aeva held up her hands, then thrust one into her pockets to pull out a deck of cards, 100 exactly. Easier and more portable than a spellbook, perfect for the modern Ravnican on the go. She started flipping through them; she was looking for the Llanowar Elf she could have sworn was in there somewhere. "I have a couple summons like that myself, but what do you mean by taint anyway? This guy's not undead, apparently, but he seems fine to me. In the Golgari Swarm, we're all part of the same big worlds, regardless of your state or your shape." As illustration of shape, Aeva slapped one of her huge thighs with the hand that didn't hold her big thick deck. "Back home we had some good people a lot like you two cute little inventors and I think we needed to give them more credit. No reason to fight over it."
"So, I don't think I fully understand what a Planeswalker is...do you think you could explain it to me?"
Two figures sat across from each other in an endless blue and black void. One a man, with long white hair and a cloth wrapped around his eyes, wearing very simply garb that told anyone, at a casual glance, that magic was his upbringing and way of life. Though his eyes no longer worked, he could still see the space around them, and the guest across from him as well.
"I feel like this would be something I can explain over a quaint little game. Something to help pass the time so it doesn't feel like a lecture." Spoke a booming voice from the either, and a shape moved just a bit across from the man.
"I imagined someone of your power wouldn't bother with games." The man spoke in surprise.
"Just because I may be powerful does not mean I don't find time to have some fun. Why, I believe some Planes say it best, when you do what you love, you never work a day in your life." A casual gesture from the figure, and a massive checkered square patterned appeared in front of the two. Then, sixteen pieces appeared in front of them. "I trust you know of this game?"
"A bit archaic, but perhaps it could be fun." The man said with a smile, and moved his first piece.
The figure followed suit, moving another piece of his own. "So, to explain a Planeswalker, I'll need to put you through a scenario. Imagine, if you will, you had the ability to cast magic casually."
"Like mine."
"Far from yours, actually. Yours is a mere fragment compared to what a Planeswalker, at their pique, is capable of. I've seen Planeswalkers exterminate entire Planes of existence without even trying!"
"Quite impressive." The man mumbled, watching one of his pieces get cut down. "So, they're capable of casting Magic, then?"
Amongst other things." He agreed, a rumble of a chuckle escaping his lips as he did. "Planeswalkers are capable of more than just casting fun little party favors. They can Travel to other Planes, as easy as it would be to walk down the road for them. They make it look easy, compared to the lengths Mortals must go to to travel entire dimensions."
"And...what do they do with these...powers?"
The voice was silent, as one of his taller pieces moved forward. "Protect people. Save people. Ruin people. When you're granted the Powers a Planeswalker is capable of...you do as you please, when you please. Very little can stand in the way. Planeswalkers...they're capable of taking titanic creatures, born of chaos and capable of corruption the likes of which you've never seen, and obliterate them. I've seen a single Planeswalker destroy a Plane without even thinking about it...the list goes on. Ultimately, it's the will of the welder, that shows what kind of power they have."
"How wondrous...and to think, such great power exists..."
"It used to be greater."
"Pardon?"
"The power used to be grander still. But then...something happened. Something that...mended the world, I suppose would be the word for it. Those who lingered behind lost even more of their Power."
"I see...this is all quite fascinating! I'm intrigued. If you happen to have any stories-"
"I have several. And I think you'd like to hear the four I can immediately think of..."
"Four? Why fo-"
"The answer will become evident, my dear friend."
"...oh, that reminds me. Well, it would seem I was so entranced by our conversation, I did not discover your name! Forgive my rudeness."
"Think nothing of it, my friend..." The largest piece moved forward. "And you may refer to me as...well, as anyone should. Nicol. But for you my friend...Bolas. Whichever one you prefer."
"Checkmate."
"Now then...the story I will regale you will be quite interesting...it doesn't seem as though these stories interconnect...but they do...and the more you pay attention...the better..."
Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?