Tolben barely seems to notice the Mayor's sharpness. The wizard's fatigue manifests as an unwillingness to move or speak more than necessary. His expression is neutral - perhaps empty is a better word.

"This town will soon be a Primordial target."

The mayor simply stares for a time before speaking. "A...Primordial attack? Are you certain? How do you know?" His expression is rapidly shifting to panic.

Tolben shakes his head dismissively.

"I don't have ten years to teach you the advanced divination theory. Suffice to say, it is coming, and you should prepare. I suggest evacuation; your city is smaller than previous targets, and the population can get clear on time."

The wizard then takes on a harsher tone. "Stop panicking!" he snaps. "I'm not going to do your job for you!"

"But...how...we can't..." the mayor says, and then a remarkable thing happens. His features firm, and he sits up straighter. "You're right, of course. We'll have to evacuate everyone who we can. But...the aiudara. It must be protected, or the entirety of Kyonin will be in danger."

Tolben looks approvingly on the suddenly resolute mayor. His words, however, offer little comfort.

"Each Primordial has a new set of tricks. I cannot guarantee the aiudara's safety. You should prepare to destroy it in extremis; the town may struggle thereafter, but the network will be secure."

The mayor closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them and nods tightly. "Yes, agreed. Better to lose one aiudara than risk an enemy force subverting the entire network. It requires quite powerful magic to destroy an aiudara, however. We have no mages in Goldengreen who are able to cast such a spell."

"That's not fu - "

Tolben stops, seeing that the elf isn't joking.

"Really? You're on a gate network. Bringing in experts is easy, and your Queen will be far happier if you send a request for help than if you ask me to do it. Help you should ask for anyway, considering the trial at hand."

"Right, because I can certainly contact a master capable of disjoining the aiudara and willing to do so and easily convince them that it's worth doing so on the basis of little more than an unsubstantiated claim by a human wizard." The mayor rolls his eyes. "I'm sure that will only take a day or ten of the copious time we have available to us."

Tolben speaks condescendingly. He clearly has not been impressed by the Mayor's sarcasm.

"The answer is very simple. Take this."

He casually tosses a contained sample of Stars Falling to the elf, treating the dangerous Primordial residue as little more than a toy.

"Send it to your Queen with the message. Tell her that Tolben of Nothing predicts the attack, and that you cannot stop me from looking at the gate if I am to close it. Honestly, if I'd known you would be like this, I would have gone straight to her - and damn all diplomacy."

"Oh, please do. You can explain to her that you want her to disjoin an aiudara yourself, I'm sure she'll be delighted to hear it. Never mind that there's not a mage in Kyonin who can reliably do so." The mayor's smile is a rictus. He catches the container of Stars Falling, and manages not to drop it despite the disproportionate weight.

"Really, not one?" The wizard laughs.

"Stars around, what possessed you to rely on such artifacts when you have no hope of controlling them? Fine, I'll close your gate when the time comes. I can surely not be blamed when no one else will do it."

Without another word, Tolben begins an incantation. In seconds, he is whisked away and back to his demiplane. Finally, he has a chance to sleep after a very long day. He does not dream, his sleep long since emptied as a defense against the past.

The next several hours pass in oblivion, before being woken by a sending. It appears to be Cassie. "Tolben? We need to talk. Meet me in Korvosa, as soon as you can. This is urgent."

Tolben wakes, and takes mere seconds to get his bearings and parse the message. He keeps his response short, his only concession to the circumstance being the use of Cassie's name.

"Cassie. Understood, arrival twenty minutes."

No need to ask questions when a fresh Sending is unlikely.

The wizard prepares his spells with unrivalled speed, finishing five minutes before his stated arrival time. He shrouds himself with his usual morning protections, and then taps into Primordial power to hasten a Sending of his own - this one to Shovash.

"Next attack Greengrass Kyonin. Primordial nature unknown. Meeting Cassie stated urgent. High risk; check survival."

With that Sending delivered, Tolben prepares to travel. He first uses a Greater Scrying to check for threats in his intended arrival zone, then cuts through to the Prime Material.

Failing to see any particular threats, Tolben teleports himself to Korvosa, and lands outside of a small, seedy inn. Inside, he sees Cassie sitting and holding a cup of wine that she's not drinking from. She looks over through a window as he arrives, and stands urgently, tossing a handful of coins onto the table that could pay for anything that inn serves five times over with room to spare. She doesn't look back as she walks outside.

"We need to talk about Cho." Her voice is low and urgent as she walks up to Tolben. "Something's gone very wrong. Damien might be dead. I know you don't trust me, but...we can't ignore her friend any longer."

"Just like old times, then?"

Tolben grimaces as his attempt at humour falls flat.

"All right, let's find somewhere private - that belltower looks suitable - and sit down, and you can tell me the details. Then we can decide on a course of action."

Cassie nods, and flies up to the tower, settling in just out of Tolben's reach. "Damien came to visit me a short time ago - not more than a day, I think. He told me that Cho had been behaving...strangely. They found that ruin they had been looking for, the one with the staff in it that he wanted. Cho wanted to look at some tablets, but when they got there, she just started smashing them. Wouldn't talk to him. Attacked him when he tried to stop her. Very unlike herself."

She sighs. "So I went with him to the ruin, to look at it. Found the shards of the tablets. Not enough left to repair, but I was able to make out enough to see that they had a Thassilonian ritual spell as part of what they contained - it was an archmage's tomb, had to have been. The ritual was some kind of binding or exorcism. I think that those tablets had information about Cho's friend. I think that they had information about how to stop it, and a reason why we'd want to. I told Damien and he...reacted rashly. Teleported to find her, said he'd talk some sense into her. I haven't heard back since, and he's not responding to sendings. Can't find him by scrying." Her mismatched eyes are troubled.

Tolben goes stone-faced.

"That is... You know Damien, always dying. We'll get him back, just like usual."

The wizard doesn't sound entirely convinced himself, but he's still putting on a brave face for Cassie.

"You know, I've always wanted a good talk with Cho's 'friend'. The insights she derived from it were quite simply fascinating. Of course, that would never have worked without hurting her. That may not be a concern any more."

He pauses.

"I've recently found out that the eleventh Primordial is... absent. Perhaps Void-aligned. If it was hiding within Cho all along..."

The words trail off into nothingness.

"That would be very bad, I think." Cassie's tone is completely even. "We need to be able to work together on this, Tolben. Cho is too dangerous and too possibly volatile for me to feel confident in either one of us being able to contain her long enough to determine what exactly is happening. But after our last talk I know that you don't trust me not to stab you in the back."

She pauses, holding her hands out, examining them. When she continues, her voice is a little shakier, less steady. "We're much alike, in some ways, you and I. We both operate by intellect and reason. Information is our weapon. It is, quite naturally, one that we tend to hold close. But we're at a point where that is no longer feasible. So here's my offer, old friend. Ask me for what you need to know, in order to feel that you can rely on me, or be sure that you cannot. And I'll answer. No more secrets, not today."

Tolben gives a hollow laugh without an ounce of humour.

"Cassie, you know it doesn't work like that. I trust you - when you're thinking rationally. Yes, you have secrets, some of which I would dearly like to know. But I don't need to know them. If I did, you would already have told me. In that, I trust."

The wizard's pause is brief, not really leaving room for a response.

"Emotion is much harder. If someone, say - "

The wizard swallows, a tremor in his voice.

"If they threw a weighted glove at me, and I reached in to find that the weight was... Damien's hand, my equilibrium would be disturbed. But how far would that disturbance go? Could I wait, think carefully, and postpone vengeance in a calm and rational manner? Or would I recklessly throw myself into an unknown fight? I believe the former, but I can never be perfectly sure. The trust you want to build is one I cannot extend even to myself."

Left unsaid is the precedent for Cassie's more... extreme responses to emotional attacks.

"You don't feel emotions the same way, when you're dead," Cassie says softly. "I've noticed that, recently. There's no heart to race when you're afraid, no stomach to tie when you're excited. Blood pressure doesn't go up with anger. It removes a lot of the feedback."

She smiles sadly. "I've been dead for a while. You must have wondered about it. How did I survive that last fight with Rovagug's minions? I should have died, right? And I suppose I did. But I wasn't ready to go on, and so here I am. Not alive, not precisely dead, just...a hungry ghost haunting the world as it moves on around me."

"You paid a heavy price for survival. It was no surprise to me; you've always been more resilient than anyone credited you with. To outlive your own death is impressive, but hardly unreasonable coming from you."

Tolben pauses to refocus.

"The price was high, though. Dealing with an unfamiliar emotional environment, in an already stressful situation, and with a new and ruthless set of instincts... it's really no wonder that you escalated dangerously. I was luckier; the only price I paid was my dreams, and the loss of too many friends. Which brings up another point - I fear I may hesitate. Cho has been my friend for a long time. If the darkness within really has claimed her, and she is no more than an empty shell, I think I could break that. But if she remains locked inside..."

"Killing friends is hard," Cass says. Her tone, like her face, is empty. "I've done it enough. My hands are so stained, that to turn back would...I can do it." She lets out a bitter laugh. "Gods below. I might enjoy it. I live on minds, Tolben, I feed on them. Souls, spirits, whatever. Cho...she burns so bright. Like you..."

She trails off, a sad smile playing across her lips.

Tolben carefully suppresses a shudder.

"That almost sounds like a reason for you to stay away. Don't want to compromise your progress. It may not be an option; I don't think I can face her alone. Not unless... well, depending on what exactly her 'friend' is, I may be able to contain it - inasmuch as an empty box can be said to contain anything. Nothing matters, after all. But if it is the Primordial, well, the box is too small to contain that infinite absence."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:49, Sun 31 Jan 2021.

"Progress? Tolben, I can't not. Of I don't consume minds, I starve to madness and worse than death. I tried, believe me." She looks pained.

"But I agree we both need to be there. Your teleport or mine?"

The wizard sighs.

"There is a difference between devouring enemies and those you don't care about, and those you do. But I suppose needs must... You have the location. Cast when you're ready."

Tolben steps into Cassie's reach, expertly concealing his trepidation at such a dangerous approach.