------

”So vat you’re saying is zat zis world is going to be under attack in less than a year’s time? And ze attack vill be dangerous enough zat the Sentinels alone vill not be enough to defend us?” The same Vampire that had taken part in the tournament asked pointedly. Somehow his accent had gotten thicker since they’d last seen him.

“Ok, I have to ask. Are you doing that accent on purpose to annoy others, or did it really get worse?” Envy interjected, also noting the change.

“It’s not entirely fake, but it is mostly.” Morgan, or Tremere as his True Name was, admitted freely and dropped the accent. “I find it interesting to act in character so to speak. Sometimes I’m more into it than at other times.”

“Can we be serious long enough to get through this meeting?” Valor asked with an exasperated click of his tongue.

“We could, but it wouldn’t be as interesting.” Morgan shrugged. “And our kind need to find our amusement where we can. It’s the same reason why I get in character. Less boring that way. But we can get back to the point. We’re going to be attacked? And you know this how?”

“How else. Bloody seers.” Karna grumbled.

“And we’re not going to get a whole lot of support from your home countries? Despite them being protected by an Emissary?” The vampire seemed to genuinely be just trying to get a decent read on the situation, and actually looked a bit excited at the prospect of being attacked. More excitement for him.

“Essentially. Our home will be attacked at the same time to keep the majority of the forces back home. Losing a colony is tolerable, though not desired. Losing our home is not. Tsumi will likely be here to help us defend as she was moving the Academy here the last I heard, and the elves will send some of their dragon princes, but Envy’s people are essentially refugees, and Valor’s Order is already here in as much force as they can muster. We’re not without military power, but we don’t have the might of an established empire behind us. Which would be fine considering everyone in this room, except we can be almost certain that the attackers will also include others like us as we’ll have multiple forces aiming at us.” Karna summarized the dilemma.

“That’s…not great. I made a bit of a point of separating from the old monsters back at home when I left. Zey were being insufferable. Zey were weaker zan me, but still tried to command myself and my subordinates to do zeir bidding. So ve can’t expect too much help from them.” The accent apparently required conscious effort to keep out of his speech as he slipped back in character while distracted. “Ve have focused on building a home here, and not on building heavy defenses. Zat’s vat the Sentinels are for.”

“And to make things worse for you, you purposefully picked the continent with the easiest access to spatial pathways to and from this world. Which means you’ll likely also be taking the brunt of the assault.” Karna wasn’t unsympathetic. “The good news is that with the advanced warning we can focus on building defenses and rectifying the holes in our defenses. As much as I dislike seers, they do have some uses, and forewarned is forearmed. There’s quite a lot of work I can do in these months if I dedicate most of my time to it.”

“Still doesn’t leave us with great odds.” Envy pointed out. “My people are mostly hunters and not warriors. We can fight a guerilla war of sorts, which suits the terrain of our continent quite well, but that won’t be much help when it comes to repelling an invasion. I’ll help myself of course, but don’t expect too much military help from my tribe.”

“We could take you into our cities.” Karna offered. “It would leave your settlements at the mercy of the enemy though.”

“Not a great solution. We’d lose everything we’ve built so far. We’ll take you up on that if necessary, but I’d rather avoid it.” Envy’s face scrunched up in obvious displeasure.

“We could just….” Hope waved her fingers in a universal gesture meaning magic. “…you know. I’m quite certain that you can just store their entire settlements in some sort of dimensional pocket, and even I could take a shot at that. I’m not as proficient with spatial magic though.”

"It's…doable. Either way, the real problem is that we don't have the military force to prevent them from landing forces on the empty continents. And once they get an entrenched strongpoint going on, it's going to be a lot harder to root them out. Shooting down troop transports isn't too difficult while assaulting a heavily fortified position most certainly is. The Sentinels will help in this regard, as they're spread all over the world, but they won't solve the problem. It would be much easier if we could prevent them from landing in the first place."

"You have a plan," Morgan stated with a realization.

"There's…a possible solution, but it's not foolproof and comes with its own dangers. The surrounding space around this world is still extremely dangerous as there are very few establish spatial pathways. There are ways to make that space even more dangerous. In fact, I could make it so that the only safe path is to use the gateway with the Magocracy.” Karna suggested.

“Which would make it impossible for any traders to come here, except by making a stop at the Magocracy. That can’t be the only downside though.” Envy knew Wrath wouldn’t have considered that a sufficient deterrent, as it might make things a little difficult but not enough when compared to the security of the entire world.

Karna got up from her seat and paced to the window overlooking the vampire city below. “Well, there are two major problems and one additional potential one. The first problem is that this isn’t something I can just suddenly put into motion once we detect the enemy approaching. I’d need to start things months in advance to really have an effect. Which in this case means I’d need to do it as soon as possible since we don’t know exactly when they’re coming. Secondly, it makes the area around our world hazardous to pass through, but that’s not the same as impassable. Someone determined enough and powerful enough could still make the trip. If they decided to throw their ships into the storm though, then they’d lose more than two-thirds of their number, assuming they don’t have some kind of trick in their pocket to lower that attrition rate. Even then they wouldn’t be able to make the trip safely, which would make this a bit of a no-brainer if it wasn't for the third potential issue. If I create a spatial anomaly like that around this world, I can't say for certain how long it will last. It might cut any viable paths to us aside from the gateway for decades to come.”

"Zat…iz certainly a downside." Morgan agreed. His people would be the ones to lose the most, as the elves and the Magocracy would have the gateway, and Envy's tribe didn't really do a lot of trade with other worlds yet.

Valor had a different view. “It could also encourage our enemies to seek other targets if it lasts long enough. According to you, the seer said the attackers were aiming for us in particular, which might make them more patient than normal, but I doubt the forces doing the actual attacking are willing to spend decades in a state of readiness, waiting for an opportunity to attack us. They’d find someone else in the meantime. And in a handful of years, we can turn this world into something that can easily withstand their attack. I mean, the only reason we’re vulnerable in the first place is that we were somewhat confident that the Sentinels would deter anyone from even trying to attack us and focused our efforts on building cities and economy instead of defenses.” He pointed out.

“Yes. Ze Sentinels are still a strong force even if zey are not enough to be a sole deterrent.” Morgan nodded. “Ze issue is, what are ze chances that someone could find a way through ze storm without losing too many forces? Or, could zey target ze gateway?”

"They will almost certainly try, but the Magocracy already moved the gateway to the capital, right above the Emissary's mansion." Karna grinned a bit. "Even if he won’t react to attacks on the periphery, the Emissary can hardly ignore a battle right above his head. If the enemy made a sudden suicidal attack on the gate, they might be able to damage it, but it’s built to be rather sturdy. As for our end of the gate, we’ve made sure to secure it properly as well.”

The vampire city that she could see through the windows was cast in a perpetual night thanks to the magical cloud cover above the city. The Vampires would not be destroyed by the sun, as they weren’t neonate vampires, but it would still weaken them. That was also a potential tactical weakness as any proficient commander would send their mages to disperse the clouds to weaken any defenders. As Tremere wasn’t a fool, the attempt would trigger several nasty traps, but it would likely eventually succeed. At least if they sent a powerful enough holy caster to do it. Many divine spells worked on the basic structure of bringing in daylight to dark places.

“As for the odds of getting through the storm…it’s a little hard to quantify exactly. On one hand, I’ll have to create a storm that surrounds the entire world and make it strong enough for our purposes, while anyone making the attempt would only need to punch through from a single spot. On the other hand, I’m only enhancing the already chaotic nature of the spatial forces to be more powerful and all-encompassing, while doing the opposite is a lot more difficult, as proven by the effort that we had to put into creating the gateway. A third factor is that since I’m not going to be actively maintaining the storm, I won’t be able to actively combat anyone trying to tamper with it. Then again, I’m really damn good at what I do, so…” She shrugged her shoulders a little unsure.

“We need an estimation to at least get a rough idea.” Valor pushed.

“To get a handful of ships through without significant losses would not be too difficult, so I’d give a competent spatial mage of our kind odds around 20% to 40%. If they don’t have a spatially oriented mage that has access to knowledge like we have, they’re rather boned. If they wanted to get an entire invasion fleet through without losing most of the fleet, I’d put their odds between slim and none. Not impossible mind you. And if they have enough mages like that working together, the odds shift again.” Karna tried to emphasize the fact that something like this couldn’t be put into exact odds.

“There is a hole in this plan.” Hope suddenly pointed out. “If the storm sticks around for decades, then we’ll no longer be around to defend this world when it goes away.”

“We won’t be around for too many years anyway, so any concern about what happens in a few years is kind of moot.” Valor waved the concern away. “And at least we can help with building defenses while we are here. And once we’re gone, the personal motive will be gone as well.”

"True, but if we face the enemy in battle, then at least we have dealt with the issue," Hope argued. "I'm not saying we can't go with the storm idea, but we have to make a bit of an adjustment to our plans during it. Since the gateway does exist, we don't need to stay holed up in here. We need to face these enemies and deal them a big enough blow that they won't be interested in finding trouble with this world once we're gone. At least we should deal with these behind-the-scenes parties driving the attack our way. There are easier targets to attack even with Arjuna gone, so if we remove the reason to target us specifically…”

“Zat’s not a bad idea.” Morgan agreed. “Ve have a better chance if Ve have ze initiative. Zat raises a question. Vho exactly are zey?”

"That's what we need to find out. Everyone on board with the plan provisionally named 'Warp Storm'?" Karna turned to look at the other reincarnators present. They represented the leaders of the factions in the world. Only the elves didn't have a voice here, and while Karna wasn't the official leader of the Magocracy on the world, she could make sure things went according to what was agreed to here. They did represent the largest military power in the world after all. Everyone nodded.

“When are you going to put the plan in motion?” Valor asked. They needed to make preparations and hand out warnings to certain parties. They had to be judicious as they didn’t want word to get to the enemy too soon, but the information would leak sooner or later anyway it was a bit of a balancing act as they had to warn their trading partners but not give enough time for the enemy to launch the attack before the storm was in place.

“I could start right now, but I think we have to do something else first. I want you two-” Karna pointed at Hope and Morgan. “to seed the surroundings of our world outside the area affected by the storm by spells that will allow us to detect anyone approaching us. If they do arrive, we want an advance warning, and it would be useful to know if they start attempting to break through the storm.”

“Zat will not be easy. Ze area to cover is very large.” Morgan pointed out.

“Not if you really think about it. There are only a handful of viable approaches to this world. You can just cover those.” Karna countered. “Besides, I’m sure the two of you will manage.”

“That leaves us with the question presented earlier. Who is attacking us?” Envy brought the question back. “I think I can safely guess that our old overlords might be part of the attacking force. They were part of the tournament and probably didn’t take it well when we were one of the winners and didn’t turn over the prize to them. They might have been willing to grant my tribe independence, and even that was after a lot of hard work, but I’m pretty sure their tolerance ends at the point where they think our independence is an active hindrance to them. They might think they’re only reclaiming what’s rightfully theirs. And since I played a big part in both our independence and our victory in the tournament, it explains the personal interest in me.”

“I think we can somewhat assume that other tournament participants will be the most likely culprits when it comes to the forces actually conducting the attack. Maybe not the entire force, but a good portion of them at least. And I wouldn’t be too surprised if Wei-Jin is among the attackers. They might even be one of the actors behind the scenes. They also have a grudge against me personally, so like Envy, there’s a reason to target me.” Karna added.

“I haven’t really made all that many enemies since coming to this universe.” Hope defended herself. “Except…I did cause quite a few deaths during the tournament, as Valor here can attest. His group almost became part of those casualties. If someone is targeting me, it could be anyone carrying a grudge over someone who died during the tournament.”

"As for us, it is obvious vho would target my kind," Morgan stated. "Ze elders, and anyone zat carries a grudge against vampires. Zat could be almost anyone really."

Everyone turned to look at Valor. "What? I've lived a life of a chivalric knight. Our Order is well known for its good deeds. The only enemies we've made are the groups we've destroyed while defending the innocent. And most of those are dead."

“Right. So enemies abound, but no concrete information on who’s behind all this, aside from maybe Wei-Jin, but I doubt they’re the only ones.” Karna summarized.

“It sounds like you’ll be getting a rematch with the Kensei soon.” Envy teased a little.

“I actually doubt that. She was already solidly in the ninth rank when we fought. Odds are she has already Ascended.” Karna doubted a Kensei would not improve themselves when possible. “We have the basics of a plan. While Hope and Morgan get the surveillance going, I’ll help with the defenses. Then I’ll deal with the storm. Unless someone finds a reason to change that plan by then. While the odds are on our side, I think we should all prepare for the possibility that they’ll be able to make their way through the storm in some capacity at least. Better to be prepared than to be caught unawares. Also, I know it’s impossible to deal with them completely, but do try to weed out any spies among your ranks. This whole thing will be a lot easier if we’re not leaking information everywhere.”