“Let’s plan out our next moves, now that we are on a schedule,- Briggs /broke in calmly, sunny form radiating purpose. -Errant, I understand if you want to remain in the capital back there, especially if that’s where Heaven wants you. Are you going to do any grinding here?-

The Heavenbound Warlock glanced at Hazé. -If I can get rides back and forth, that shouldn’t be an issue. I’m sure I can use the Harse Temple’s Great Seal... and if I tell them why, I’m sure that the various priesthoods will start using it to evacuate people and materials under the table.-

-I will be happy to help.- Hazé’s eyes /flashed. -If we could get a Seal set up at Branch, I’m sure that would be very useful for people getting out of the Empire...-

-The Camp is not permanent, and the cost of a motile Seal here would be expensive... not that it also couldn’t be useful. Since the Road is here, Recall spells, at the very least, should avoid any dimensional interference, as should Lived-Line teleporting.- I /observed. -I will discuss it with the elves and dwarves, as they’d have to front the materials.- I glanced at Errant. -Either Rebound Teleports or using that tactic you employed with the slaves would be more efficient. Errant, try to employ them as you can.-

-A new Crusade coming to the churches, certainly enough,- he /agreed. -Where would you like to put me on the field?-

-With one of the new dwarven companies that is assembling. Hazé can participate on overwatch and support, the girls can follow you, and you can be a formation breaker, like Briggs is acting as now,- I /answered. -I’d like to say a merc company, but there aren’t any I consider solid enough to trust the girls to.-

-And the knightly companies are too cavalry-based and full of headstrong cavaliers,- Briggs /snorted. -I’d volunteer mine, but I’ve got too many adept people already, it would be a waste. The Shieldhelm company should be okay with it, they don’t have many irregular troops, and they aren’t as xenophobic as some.-

-We are a seriously deranged bunch of people, throwing a bunch of teenage-and-under girls onto a battlefield,- /sighed Errant.

-Please. Be a Hagchild and you won’t even be able to THINK that.- I /rolled my eyes theatrically. -I’m no older than Veis. Briggs is only a little older.-

-If you’re going into Yle Tyorm, I’d like to go with you,- Hazé /spoke up.

-Ditto,- Briggs /agreed.

-We’re talking a dimensionally shattered and temporally misaligned Raid-level combat zone. If we’re going in, then we’re going to be there for some time. It means giving up other stuff, especially the grind.- I lifted an eyebrow at the both of them. -Are either of you ready for that? Especially you, Hazé. You’re going to be doing a LOT of flitting, and making no less Karma for it, too.-

She grit her teeth at me. -Dammit!-

-Hey, I want you there. I want everyone going in to be Sustained, and that’s damn rare for Casters. You’re just needed more out here for now.- She just /groaned. -Briggs, can someone take over for you?-

-Completely, no. Functionally, yes. There’s a big dhatun champing to go line-breaking, there’s a couple experienced Rockborn Warlords who can do that job just fine, and I’ve enough Champion-killers that I’m not worried about them. 99% is more than good enough for them to keep right on harvesting.-

-Good, we’ll need a good Source along. Which one of the Brothers? I’m thinking Shadowknife...- I /conjectured.

-Ancientaxe,- Hazé /put in. I glanced at her. -Shadowknife is needed outside to monitor any abnormalities in the Rift. Ancientaxe is the beast killer. He’s wasted on the field, there aren’t enough monsters to occupy him, while the city is supposed to have many, as I understand it.-

I glanced at Briggs, who nodded agreement. -That works for me. AA is a rock. He’s probably not used to working in a team, but that’s what a Warlord is for, right?-

-We’ll need fillers. This will be an exploration.- I considered who I could invite. There were definitely a ton of Tens who would love to be involved in something as epic as the exploration of Yle Tyorm.

-Especially Healers. I’d like to bring Estemar along.- I raised an eyebrow at him. -He just hit Seven, and he’s got Healing Reserve. He doesn’t have a hundred and one Masteries, but he’s rock solid in fundamentals... and has Way of Water II. He won’t be lacking in any fight.-

If Briggs thought he was good enough, I trusted Briggs. -Who else?-

-Take the North Wind off Rorn’s hands.- I /blinked despite myself. -Seriously, he’s trying to build up the confidence of his people, and the North Wind are all Ironblood. He doesn’t want the normal troops relying on their presence any more than the berserkers. Actually, you can probably take the rage monsters if you need them. They’re really good at monster butchery and all, especially after the advice you gave them.-

Well, it was true. Rorn didn’t want his people relying on any kind of Powered to do what had to be done. Easier? Yeah. Necessary? No. He hadn’t bought those autobows and autoballistae for no reason...

The North Wind were all Eights to Tens after so much fighting. They’d be second rank, but they had a broad enough skillset that it shouldn’t be much to just survive with me, Briggs, and AA taking the muscle positions.

Heh!

Leave Rorn to his King-making and the future of his country, and lead some adventurers to an adventure. Sure, that sounded workable.

-Errant, Hazé, you work out some of your coordination... and I believe your Mama Greta is still back in the Empire?- Since Amber had conferred upon me a “One of Mama’s Girls” shirt, kinda hard to ignore that. I did draw the line at scattered hearts...

-I will have her leave immediately.-

-----------

“Bwa-hah-hah!”

They couldn’t hold it in. Briggs looked on them in bemusement as the three girls held their hands out towards him, not quite touching, and unable to stop laughing.

“He’s so ticklish!” Amber’s orange eyes were dancing with all kinds of promises. “How is he in bed?”

“Dunno, he’s not much older than Veis.” All their eyes fell in disappointment, while Briggs just laughed as he picked up his Hammer to start working on their new Weapons. “I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

“Awwww!” all three protested at the same time, and Briggs only shook his head.

“Seriously, you think he’s going to be in any shape for you after I’m done with him?” All their faces screwed up. “Night Rose, ten Ranks Courtesan, 40 Con, all the Feats and Masteries...”

Even Briggs had to look at me after that one, and my little sisters all flushed despite themselves.

“Shoo. Go meet the puppies when they get here.” A spot of thought sent them racing off towards the western entrance enthusiastically.

Briggs sent a calm eyeball after them as he dropped several ingots of steel into the flames at different locations. “You lot are going to be a handful.”

“I’m going to pawn them off on Void Brothers. Helices are also ticklish. You’re safe with me.” His expression indicated that our definitions of ‘safe’ might not be exactly the same, but it wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter. What was he going to do, embrace some 12 Str 14 Con piece of sugared fluff somewhere when I was right here, my hips already moving towards perfection and fingers able to cut into his Crystal Shield? Mwa-hahahaha...!

“So, a rapier and main gauche, a spear and shield, and two kukri?” he asked.

“All the way to 40.” I eyed the mithral alloy steel. The dwarves were very forthcoming with metals once they saw I could not only forge them, I could do so with incredible speed and skill if I was so inclined. Of course, the demand for large numbers of lower QL work had been a major demand on my time, with Powered smiths from all the races satisfying the same need for the other fighters. Since most of those fighting couldn’t use Slaughter or Arsenal, the demand for high QL’s to satisfy their demands for More Slots, Please! kept them all pretty busy.

The girls didn’t have overly powerful Weapons, but they were Funf-Slotted already, showing they’d had more than a few combat encounters and had chosen expressly to advance their Weapons with Naming Karma. Not making them Weapons that could advance all the way to Zehn Slots was just a waste at this point.

They had huge amounts of work to do on Slaughter and Arsenal, regardless, and were giddy with expectation, naturally.

And if anyone heard me refer to Funf-Slot Weapons as not overly powerful, they’d want to box my ears...

“QL 40.” Briggs noticed the ears of the smiths nearby were twitching as he said that. Even the Master Smiths of the Rockborn wouldn’t talk about a QL at that level casually, but I was just throwing it out there as if it were nothing much. He had to grin despite himself. “We got the wood?”

“Just got a shipment of stuff from the Fey Queen. Lots and lots of arrows, and plenty of spear hafts.” The entire fighting force was being supplied with arrows by the Hamadryad Queen of the Sidhete at this point, and as a point of courtesy, everyone was using them. The Fey’s weakness in straight-up combat against the Warped was humiliating them, as was their lack of recovery options.

So, their Queen had resorted to other means. First, their intelligence network of Wee Folk blanketed the area, watching everything, complementing the Marked doing much the same. Second, units of elite Fey troops were working alongside the elves, reclaiming at least some honor for their Queen and Warlord. Third, Noir Rabe, if not pulling Greater Demons out to be slaughtered, was more than happy to brutally dispose of certain human forces eager to do some rather unacceptable things to those traveling to the North. And last, supplying all the arrows and bolts used by the allied forces meant the enemy was receiving the pointed end of Her Fae Majesty’s displeasure in every single battle.

I was actually aware of a great deal of this, because Mikle and a good number of his clan had accepted Marks and happily chattered about Fey things inside Markspace. The Unseelie Fey were making noises in the far North, and some of them had already been sucked in by the Warped. The Fey Queen and Noir Rabe were more than happy to extend their animosity to the Winter Court to all those Fey seduced by the Warp, and there was some impressively bloody fighting going on north of Yle Tyorm.

I had little faith or trust in Fey metal, but the Queen knew her wood. Any Weapon carved from it was obligated to be decorated with a leaf pattern to indicate where it came from, too, and a fair number of human knights were riding out with lances of such... which amused Noir Rabe to no end, of course, given how many such knights he’d killed over the years.

A pair of woofs thundered out from oversized lungs, and I turned back as two overgrown hellpuppies, with certain hagchildren hanging off them, padded up to the smithing area.

Amber was clinging atop Fido with both fists, her eyes dancing, while Verd was sidesaddle on Shirley, and Veis was balancing on Shirley’s head gleefully, earning her a stink-eye from the white-furred Captain.

Their fur was much longer and curlier than before, grown out and pulsing with crimson and pale blue lights, respectively. I notably lifted my nose, sniffed; no brimstone.

I condensed my Null on my finger, and their eyes fixed on it, feeling Reality solidify about that finger, the weight of Existence on it. A touch from this finger would send an extraplanar right out of this dimension as all the pressure of the Veil vomited it out somewhere. If they were strong, they would get sent home. If not, getting stuck in the Astral or Ethereal, or shunted somewhere totally random, was also possible.

I tapped his nose, her nose, fwap-fwap.

Nothing.

Their tongues lolled, and they gave me those big slobbery hotcold kisses of theirs. I just gathered them in and hugged them as they rumbled like lawn mowers.

“You may be our hellpuppies, but Hell has no more power over you, and that’s all on you,” I told mah dawgs, and they woofed into my ears proudly. There was a lot of pyro and cryo going on with them that wasn’t there before.

I looked up at my little sisters, eyes narrowing. “I’ve got the tools. Why don’t you help these hellpoodles look presentable?” Their eyes lit up at the mental image I presented them, and they all nodded eagerly as Fido and Shirley straightened up expectantly.