Welcome to Gaia! ::

After a long days of travel, Valis decided to simply offer prayers before retiring. First to the glory of Sol Invictus, as is only right, and then to the local deities as way of introduction. Some sticks of simple, but exotic to this region, incense. Some simple prayer sutras burned in the flame of a candle of pure beeswax. The proper forms of prayer are said, following the echo's of words spoken in lives past. After a final moment to take in the stillness of the chamber he's in, Valis snuffs out the candle and on memory alone settles himself onto the bedding provided. Soon, a light sleep takes him.

((Unless there is a disturbance, and little is needed for that since the years of living on the streets of Nexus have left him a light sleeper, Valis plans on sleeping till the morning. He's willing to wait, for now at least, till then to learn more details on what the people here would wish of him.))

Ahkil, finding the sleeping conditions to be quite acceptable, removes his shoes and cloak, sets down his bag, props up his staff and lies on the bed. As he awaits slumber he quietly meditates on the day.

The Next Morning

Morning comes, though no light filters down into the cavern. A respectful attendant comes around shortly after dawn, and leads the guests into the main room, where a low table has been set with breakfast. The meal is over quickly, though, for Hidden Jasper and Colonel Tetsun are ready to get down to business.

Hidden Jasper starts off. "Our most pressing goal for the past year and a half has been to rescue our beloved Queen Sahula. As the heart of our nation, and the most visible symbol of our national sovereignty, she has been kept as a hostage to cow us into submission and to keep our Linowan allies from making any determined attempts to help us."

At this point, the Colonel takes over. "We activated Resistance cells in the capitol, and sent some of our best infiltrators in to determine how to free her. Unfortunately, all our intelligence-gathering revealed that we would not be able to do so with our current numbers and equipment. With your aid, though, we now have a chance to succeed."

She unrolls a large map onto the table, and Jasper helps to anchor its corners. "This," she says, "is Carnelian Peak, former capitol of Rokan-Jin." The map displays a city, surprisingly large for a Threshold settlement, and set partway up the side of a mountain. Large portions of the map have been scratched over with black ink. "These shaded parts are the portion of the city that was destroyed during the siege. The Bull had his Sorcerers raze much of it when our troops managed to hold back the Icewalkers on the south-eastern slope. Some of the rubble has been cleared, but the whole area is still very much a mess."

"Over here," she points to a large structure, "is where the Queen is being held. It used to be the local garrison post, but the invaders have restructured it into a formidable prison, as well as the bureaucratic seat of their occupation. We're talking earthworks around the perimeter, magical wards on every entrance, God-blooded officers in charge of patrols… you get the idea. Even with all of you helping, any rescue attempt would be incredibly difficult. Which is why we came up with plans to make matters easier. In particular, two pressing matters have come up that you could solve far more easily than we could."

"First off, Aparna, one of the royal ministers, went over to the Bull's side during the siege of the city. By doing so, she has managed to maintain and even improve her position, and serves as an assistant director for the invaders' logistics operation. Despite the appearance of treason, Aparna might still be swayed to our cause, and would be an invaluable ally. Perhaps some of you might convince her."

"Second, we've just made contact with Raemonn, the last surviving royal Sorcerer. The Haltans were tipped off to his identity, and currently have him under house arrest while they investigate. He's mortal, and an old man at that, so its only a matter of time before Haltan reinforcements arrive and cart him off to the prison or kill him on the spot. We need to get him out of there now, as his countermagic could help to breach the wards around the prison."

Sasha doesn't look at the map for more than a moment, well aware that she cannot actually understand anything on it, and not entirely willing to let anyone actually know this.

"I think that we need to rescue Raemonn first, or else the Haltans may execute him in order to stop him joining us. Aparna isn't an obvious person for us to find, so trying to persuade him to join us isn't quite as critical."

Iron Soul looks between Akhil and Sasha. "Well I have done a few covert ops in my time. I am no expert but better than most mortals that we should encounter in any infiltration of the prison or private residence. Though if we are going to be putting priorities on who to get out first I am of the mind that getting her majesty out should be given priority over a royal sorcerer. While he can provide a great many resources, she can give these people hope and improve moral."

"Are any of our number true sorcerers?" Valis asks. "If so, the task of freeing the Queen is far more easily accomplished. If not, then I believe that we should look at first freeing the court magician, and then going after the queen. I do agree that perhaps a distraction is in order though. We need to pull the eyes of the Bull and his forces away from where the Queen is long enough to extract her."

"What are available for assets around Raemonn's prison?" Valis says, turning to Hidden Jasper. "Do we know the temperament of the community? Do we have anyone on the inside there? What do the local gods and elementals think of this change in mortal power?"

Iron Soul listens to the conversation and follows it intently, after a bit of thought he speaks again. "If I am to understand you correctly we are to be as covert as possible and allow them to think that we are just other mortal members of the resistance?" His tone inflects a bit of displeasure in this line of actions.

"I have never been good at being anything but what I am. I can't lie, at least not convincingly. Even if I could get a lie past these people the moment they saw Glorious Strength of Heaven," he points at his sword, " even in its scabbard, they would know that something is up. If this is the case I believe that my role is best suited from the shadows."

A giggle formed easily on Anya's lips...followed by an odd twitch of her face as she tried to stop from bursting out laughing, hiding behind her hand as if to cover a yawn. She turned aside as the other's attention was drawn to both male Solars, taking extra care to get a semblance of a straight face going before turning back. She knew that just LOOKING at Iron Soul was going to cause her to burst out laughing if she looked right then and there, she had little in the way of restraint and she was liable to laugh in his face, so she decided to move away slightly, hand in front of her mouth as if thinking, while she cooled down.

She had enough sense to know that bursting out laughing in the face of her new ally was very poor show of respect, so she took a few moments to get the giggles out of her system silently before turning back to the others, facing Akhil first.

"I am certain that your suggestion for less... conspicuous armaments... might be in order as a temporary replacement to less normal weapons." she said with a smile before turning towards Iron Soul.

"As for you..." Anya said with a wider smile, still suppressing her urge to laugh. "You don't need to talk if you can avoid it, just be the strong silent type. And your weapon will be safe even if you do not carry it, it has to weight more than a man can carry anyway am I right? At least it LOOKS like it weighs as much as an anvil."

Turning back to face the rest of the group, Anya resumes with her usual lighthearted manner.

"I am certain some means of coordinating this so that the escape of the old man supports the talks with the minister, as a sort of 'see what we can get done?' thing. I'm not much into planning, so I'll just throw the idea out." she adds with a slight shrug of her cloaked shoulders.