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Morning came, brighter than I remembered.  There were no clouds and the sun was blinding. Magic, of couse, to help fight the undead. But we had a chance to clean up and to eat fresh bread with dates and honey. Alas, the clean up meant cold showers, not even a cold bath. Amber wasn't dealing with the cold well. At the same time, we were able to get some messages from the Queen's guard, and things weren't going well for them. I wanted to strike at the head of the beast (as we used to put it) but Ariel was just aching to get her hands on the fountain of ice that the Queen was using against her enemies, but not well.  She was sure she could do better. Though the Queen needed the guards with us, they weren't going to be able to stay and try to hold the gate, which had them almost in despair, after all the work they had put into trying to take the gate and the chance to finally have it. They had to go back to their lines, if they could find a way.  Ariel wanted to go, but Amber looked sick at the thought of more cold magic, that intense. Though the soldiers surely wanted some help making it back. Which is when Wolfie suggested that we should split up. Ariel to help with the magic, Michael to lead troops, Tinda and Thalia to help stiffen the guard at the palace defense line, all of them to help guide the soldiers we were with home before the dark fell and the undead chaos spawn assaulted the lines again. As for my desire to hunt, John pointed out that he had hunted many a trollspawn, in many worlds, with the help of his skills, his sword and his amulet. That meant that he and Marie, Wolfie and I could hunt.  Which left Amber and Parakyle to hold the gate, or at least use it to get each of us to where we needed to go, Amber already getting the feel of the City's spirit and the gate, which was near this strongpoint. Amber could tap into the nature of the gate itself to render into basic elements anyone who attempted to take it from her, especially with Parakyle to deal with any surpises and to handle the mechanical end of things ("mechanical end of things" -- I really wanted to ask what was mechanical about a gate, though I knew it was a type of magic, and we didn't have time). "Wolfie" "Yes?" "This really isn't a date, is it?" "Ahh, it is the only type I've ever expected with you." That meant that the Queen would get almost a hundred fresh troops (they had done a lot of lurking, but little moving) and two princes to help her, not to mention a true master of cold magic.  While their presence confirmed our entry into the fray, and Amber held the gate (and used it from time to time) four of us could seek out the rebel leaders, to slay those who were embraced. Each of us was going to have a lot of work to do.  A lot.  But, working together in spirit but apart physically, we could strike harder and deeper than the enemy would expect.  We had always worked together before, so it was going to be a surprise if they knew us, and one if they didn't. John was pleased.  He hadn't hunted in a very long time.  Too long, he said. So, Michael and Ariel led the double hand of ten squads in a series of running battles to the Queen's lines. The bright sun helped them and the lesser cold fountain struck intensely at those of the undead or the Shalgathi who stirred to try to bar their path. Amber raised the City's spirit from where it had been driven and the gate came alive.  Anything that she could see was gone, rendered into its component atoms and cast out of the city by the power of the gate. As for me, I was on the hunt, alive as one of the Blue Lodge is when they mix destiny, fate and chance in the dance of luck and death.  Silent, quick and direct, we decided to track one of the necromancers first, then we would try another of the Shalgathi. Nightfall would bring it out from where it hid, for us to find and confront in the heart of the area that the rebels considered their own. I wondered if we had picked the right teams, though it was going to be interesting.  Seems every nightfall brought an ice mist as the sun set, which would put Marie into her own, for a while at least, as mist ruled the world.

Os. Some shadows to hide in, though we are sharing them with undead.  I'll write more when the only liquid around isn't blood. Too much chaos and sand for my taste. Where is the beauty, the olive oil and the grapes we expected from the fair haired Acheans?  Gheh, undead chaos creatures just don't cut it as a substitute.

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