Amdirlain slipped ahead of Erwarth as they moved up on the compound’s side gate. It felt strange being in the Sisterhood uniform with Erwarth providing corrections as they went. While it wasn’t essential to this operation, it was another skill she’d need to make sure she had right—passing as the enemy. The mental corrections she received weren’t just on how she moved in the uniform but included tips towards applying Stealth. After the wards went, she’d shifted a hand to bypass the lock, and Erwarth simply raised a finger to remind her of the rules they’d set for her practice. Erwarth’s one use rule. She could use any Skill or Power but only a single role, and she’d opted Protean for combat.
She didn’t even have Advanced Telepathy to listen for minds, having to rely on the sharpness of perception to catch what clairvoyance missed. Her link between all their minds was the best option for keeping’ comms channels’ open between the teams. Erwarth had drawn out lock picks, and it was Amdirlain’s turn to raise a finger. Mentally looking inside the lock, she used Telekinesis to push the pins and turn the rotor. At the frown she got, Amdirlain just smiled, and eventually, the lock softly clicked open.
[Disable Device Unlocked!
Disable Device (1)
Disable Device gained 10 points from Assassin Class.
Disable Device (1->11)
Note: You unlocked the Skill to unlock by picking a lock with your brain. That’s really using your noggin! Finally, learning to not blow things up. BONUS! But no extra points because I’m the thief. Thief!]
Indeed, you’re still a thief and a snarky one at that!
Her smugness didn’t last past the next door. Erwarth made her open every lock in the barrack’s lowest corridor, marking the time with a hand swaying to a perfect cadence. Their progress along the barrack’s first floor left a growing stillness, with Amdirlain sweeping up the granules and gear. Teams switched smoothly as they gained the second floor, and Nûr marked the beat to push her to improve. The prisoners’ misery niggled at her, but Amdirlain stayed focused on the task ahead, with Nûr unstinting in the beat on every door.
It wasn’t part of the attack, so Amdirlain continued to work and enfolded the prisoners in a separate link; one that projected reassurance and the peace of her mindscape’s water park.
Fourteen percent each kill. Hopefully, each team member is getting the same. You could at least give the odd two percent to someone, but I’m sure you won’t.
I should have left Erwarth to pick the first lock. Someone else could do these faster.
A moment of self-doubt got shoved away as another lock clicked open, and Disable Device slid up a rank. Another of the group silently swept through the door to end the resting occupant, but Amdirlain was already working on the next lock and pushed the notification away. When her turn came, Amdirlain slipped within and projected a triangular spike from her arm through their eye. The blade tip bloomed into a flower shredding their brain, and the Dao burst apart into crystalline granules.
By the time she came back out, someone seemed to have caught her concern, or realised how much time they were losing. Two succubi had moved ahead to pick locks, and Amdirlain started on a third. Each person on the door, getting a backup while the spare team member, remained on the lookout. They handled the second floor in under a third of the time, and by the time they finished the first barracks, ten teams had rotated through seamlessly.
Even before they swept through the guards’ stations, the second barracks raised the tally to four hundred dead, moving onto the fancier main buildings. Balnérith’s selection might have left them crippled Class-wise, but there was nothing wrong with their skills. Amdirlain expected Murphy’s Law to show its face at any instant; for a cry to go up, a gong sounding, or the palace’s walls to come alive with an Elemental’s grasping hands. Instead, the only thing captured that night was the Dao, seized by death.
Among the prisoners, Amdirlain saw succubi picking locks and went to remove a collar only for Erwarth to slap her hand.
“Stop using powers when there are mundane skills you need to practice. Yes, you can use that now, but what if there is a time you want to leave no trace of strangeness? What if something prevents you from using it and you need things you’ve not practiced?” Erwarth asked, picking the collar’s lock while nodding Amdirlain to tend to another. “I can feel the reassurance you’ve been providing them, and that is a good thing. Someone else might need you to provide particular help. How would you and they feel then if you had no way of helping them? Take the chance to practice when you are impatient to provide a result. Broaden your path. Learn new things.”
Among the Dao’s possessions, they found boxes of clothing taken from Erakkö for no other reason than perhaps to break their spirit. It was odd to see succubi passing out clothing and reassuring words, along with the Blessings of healing a half-dozen succubi with a Priest Class, besides Erwarth, could provide on her behalf. Blessings used so close, it allowed her to feel their interaction with herself, and her Domain. The energy she’d placed within the Domain transformed and was so much more at peace than she felt herself to be.
((A Domain isn’t just for Petitioner’s protection, but also holds within it your Portfolio’s ideals. There are lessons to be found deep within it as well as outside it.))
“I thought you weren’t talking to me,” Amdirlain said mentally.
((There are lessons you’ll need to learn for yourself. The choice of which path and what to learn from your journey is always yours. Because a bridge goes two ways, I need to ensure I remain only myself and not make your choices, even by influence. What you do is always your choice, even if only how you react. What others do is theirs.))
The Ki’s mist swirled within her for a moment as a void formed in them by something rushing away from her Ki Pool.
[Achievement: On your bike!
Condition: An entity sympathetic to you has withdrawn its connection.
Reward: One less voice in your head?
Note: I’ve been told officially to not comment if this occurred. So I’m saying ‘No Comment’!
Note: Scolded for including sympathetic? Check! So ‘please ensure you choose’ to ignore ‘that phrasing’. Okay!
Note: Got to love how the moment I send to an entity it’s on record, but they can’t remove it from their memory. That’s just ‘magic’.]
What?
Sympathetic Magic? Like anyone would have any of the four’s possession or blood. Not like I can just whip up body parts or personal items.
You’ve been a little shit so often. Why are you providing information now? Are you sending me on a wild goose chase?
“Lady Amdirlain?” questioned Nûr, snapping Amdirlain from her distracted state. “They’ll be studying the Gate before dissembling it. You wanted to help, so Erwarth said to give you a nudge to come over and review it with her.”
“Thanks,” replied Amdirlain.
Nûr gave her a smile and waved towards the main building. “We’re looking for whatever records the Dao might have regarding numbers sent from here. They’ll have records to ensure they receive proper payment for their raiding.”
With that news, Nûr moved to help an older couple assisting children in getting dressed.
Heading toward the Gate, Amdirlain found Erwarth plus succubi whose classes she knew she hadn’t purged. Approaching, she heard their conversations littered with references she only partly understood from the knowledge she had. The experience was like listening to a maths PhD presentation with high school calculus just under her belt. Even the few terms she recognised seemed to have different meanings in how they used them.
The Gate in True Sight looked like an event horizon of a sci-fi worm hole. Energy swirled about it, forming eddies that drained into nothing even as energy reappeared in other places and balanced it out.
“The process for this is like the Harmony Power you used with us. We have to understand the Gate’s energy and its balance. If we make a mistake and push energy into the wrong place, we’ll end up strengthening the Gate,” stated Erwarth for Amdirlain’s benefit the moment she joined the others. “The Gate is directing energy from two Planes, so we need to slide it off balance then let that energy do the work of finishing it. If we shoulder charge it, or even nudge in the wrong place, we could wedge it open.”
“How long do you think it will take to disassemble?” Amdirlain asked and winced at the smile she got from Erwarth.
“Far longer if we get it wrong, so let’s understand the Gate first,” chided Erwarth. “Then we’ll be that much closer to pushing it off balance once everyone is through. Since you have True Sight, not Mana Sense, focus on the edges of the whirlpool. The way the energy joins and leaves the construct of the Gate. How much knowledge do you have in Planar Portals?”
“Only in the Journeyman ranks,” admitted Amdirlain, and Erwarth tilted her head at her.
Erwarth sighed and motioned Amdirlain to come over. “Then this will be a learning experience. Reform that mental link with me, and I’ll take you through what I can sense from it. You can then show me from your perspective, and I’ll explain each section. Ritual magic experience?”
“No experience performing it,” conceded Amdirlain.
Erwarth took her arm and stepped back away from the others. “That puts you firmly in the 'don’t touch' group for this Gate, my Lady. It has existed for centuries; that I can tell just from being this close to it.”
“Ones that are going to come apart easily don’t last?” Amdirlain asked, hoping she understood that part of Portal Lore correctly
“Exactly. We’ll get you some practice in ritual magic; we can’t risk overloading the efforts here. Let’s start with reviewing the Gate’s structure,” said Erwarth, and Amdirlain connected their minds.
They sent the Erakkö through the Gate along with the lavish furnishing and portable wealth of the Dao. If nothing else, the metals and gems would provide for the villagers' recovery, though it couldn’t replace those the Dao had culled.
With the last through, Amdirlain watched the interior of a ritual circle light up with power, as eleven succubi slowly prepared their ritual. Unlike Spell Forms, the Mana accumulated slowly and deliberately within a construct protected by the circle. It glowed with more energy than Amdirlain thought she could gather by herself. It was a power that spun in the air between them, glowing in True Sight, making the maze-like patterns Mirage had mentioned showing in the power’s form.
Only the ritual’s leader kept her eyes fixed on the Gate, as the rest continued to provide energy to the stabilised construct. The energy rose and fell in cycles as the leader released the energy in sharp targeted bursts that struck the event horizon of the Gate. Each impact of the energy caused the Gate’s rotation to shift its speed. It was hours of work before the end, and it wasn’t the dramatic result Amdirlain had expected. The energy of the Gate simply swirled into the stone, and True Sight showed it dispersing into the Plane’s fabric.
When the last of it vanished, Erwarth nodded to Amdirlain from where she’d been watching. The succubi standing in the circle, began the work of carefully dismantling the construct. The amount of Mana they’d spent far outweighed what Amdirlain currently possessed, yet still enough for multiple Lightning Storms hissed in the air between them.
And they say they’re crippled. Guess that makes sense. They’re crippled and I’m just a toddler. They at least know where and how to step delicately.
“Let’s see what Nûr and the others have found in the records,” suggested Amdirlain.
* * *
Erwarth had burst out laughing when they found Nûr playing mother-hen with the stacks of books, journals, and paperwork she’d found. “This from one that hated library duty.”
“Cleaning up after someone else pulling books out at random is far different to sorting through for information,” Nûr retorted, adding another journal to the largest stack. “So far, the only information I have is counts from three locations they hit. Their first raid hit the outpost, and they captured more than you’ve rescued. Also, they already sent out all the captives from the first village. I can’t give you an exact number because the counts don’t match for whatever reason, but between three-forty-nine and three-sixty-two.”
“What is your end goal, Lady Amdirlain?” Sírdhem asked as she passed Nûr some more journals. “Are you looking to rescue all the Erakkö, or just whoever was here before we closed the Gate?”
“I’d like to rescue all the Erakkö, but the way you ask that makes me doubt the likelihood,” replied Amdirlain, and winced at Nûr’s bland expression. “Is that your default face for 'I’m about to deliver bad news'?”
“I would suggest you don’t count on finding them,” Nûr replied softly. “Fainil’s working on their staging area, but there have been a few Portals opened.”
“Which brings us back to deciding an end-goal,” stated Sírdhem. “We got lucky today. I had expected at least one of us to be hiding on Ijmti.”
“You all have a home Plane of Ijmit, we should change that, at least.”
“Furnace is ugly, but worst case, you can hide in lava flows to lose someone,” suggested Nûr.
“Not my first choice. Most succubi there, outside the armies, are brothel workers. We’d stand out or have to blend in, and they don’t want the Planar Locked among their forces,” Erwarth countered.
Nûr’s gaze flickered to another team member searching through documents, before she replied. “Let’s not suggest that one to Fainil then. I’d forgotten that aspect of Furnace.”
“No rush, but something to be considered. It doesn’t have to be the same for everyone,” suggested Amdirlain. “I just thought we should set up a fallback location if something goes wrong. Since we’ve got lots of fighting ahead on Ternòx, having that as a Home Plane isn’t safe.”
“Doesn’t have to be out in the open. We could establish our own safehold similarly to your circle room; larger, of course,” suggested Sírdhem. “Stock it with gear for training and have a library. I’m sure Nûr would love a library.”
“Just shut your beak,” growled Nûr in a mock huff.
Reaching out, Amdirlain tapped her foot against the top of a discarded journal. “Do these fellows have a city in common? They might have shipped them out to there.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Nothing that I’ve spotted in the journals so far. I’ll keep an eye out,” Nûr replied after a moment’s thought.
Sírdhem leaned over and picked a bundle of parchment from the top of a stack. “The empire has hundreds of cities, and thousands of towns. Let alone smaller outposts like that mine you talked about. Have a think about your end goal. You won’t change the Dao, so will you use them as a punching bag until the end of time?”
“Honestly, I don’t know at present. I just need to curtail the misery they’re causing. I can’t save everyone, but I’ll just focus on saving who I safely can,” responded Amdirlain.
“Then we’ll just have to increase your capabilities to help,” declared Erwarth. “There are lots of Planes in the Abyss that don’t have even semi-rulership. Though one is just as bad as another. If we build something underground, we can ward it, and stay out of others’ plans; we’ll want somewhere that doesn’t have a lot of burrowing wildlife.”
“Put a bunch of acceptable names in a box and draw one out,” Nûr suggested. “Though only the first hundred that pass muster, no point needing a massive box.”
“There are a couple I can think of with lots of options for pushing someone’s Resistance development,” Erwarth said, giving Amdirlain a Cheshire cat smile.
Amdirlain sighed and waved her hands in surrender. “I’ll be good. I don’t need to keep getting smacked over the head. Let’s pack up all these, including what we’ve already checked, and take them elsewhere; no idea how much time we have before someone shows up here. If we don’t find any leads once you’ve checked the lot, then we’ll start with Fainil’s list.”
“Go tend to your Domain for a while, before someone comes looking for you, Lady Amdirlain,” Sírdhem said, ignoring Amdirlain’s raised eyebrow as she deliberately started packing.
Letting them get on with organising, Amdirlain tossed up who to send the message to and opted for Svenja. “Please let Vāriyāka know the following. We’ve rescued survivors from the second village they attacked and closed the Gate the Dao were using. It was a natural gate that had been there for centuries, just a matter of when they’d found it. We’re missing prisoners taken from the outpost, and the first village, but we’ve not found anything yet to show where they were sent.”
“We’ll send you a message as soon as we’ve got a place to start,” said Erwarth. “We’ll also do some testing to see if our speed of advancement stays improved.”
“You mean it worked? Did any of you advance?” asked Amdirlain.
“Some did, but what levels we gained aren’t important. I know it worked. The rush of energy I normally feel post battle was far stronger than I had expected, even on the first floor we cleared,” Erwarth stated. “Just working co-operatively—it seems—is the trigger. I spoke with those whose classes hadn’t been purged and they also felt a noticeable difference to past energy.”
“I hadn’t helped them with any affinities,” Amdirlain murmured.
Erwarth gave her a sharp nod. “Indeed. I’d be very careful of any Celestial you work with; if you’re still looking to keep this a secret.”
“Thank you for letting me know, Erwarth,” said Amdirlain, clasping her hand. “That’s some good news.”
* * *
Amdirlain’s shift back to the Outlands placed her in a spot she knew she’d never seen. A ridgeline of hills stretched along either side of her, and veins of crystals reflecting sunlight painted the air with various shades of purple.
[Planar Shift (Self) [B](17->18)]
Approaching the nearest outcrop, Amdirlain ran fingers across the wind-polished rocks and considered all the choices she had running around inside her head. Sidero had insisted she take time out to heal, and others ordering her to tend to her Domain had her on edge for all the people that would abandon. More people who she couldn’t even find, left at the mercy of others, twisted and churned her emotions.
“Darn, I think I need a golden headband. Everything I start lately is leading onto another distraction,” Amdirlain muttered and tapped her fingers against the crystals. “I need to focus on one thing for a bit, a goal I can hold, not run around.”
Curious about the crystals, she gave in and checked them.
[Purple spinel vein:
Purple spinel is normally only found in gem gravel deposits or within other minerals. The odd conditions in the Outlands have caused this vein to be formed along a Mana layline in the Plane.]
You’re not on my list for the Artificer item, but Jaixar might have a use for you.
I need that item for the Giants, but I could have made use of it to find the villagers. I’m sure they’d have relatives among other nearby villagers that could have provided a focus sample.
“Need, need, need—I don’t fucking need any of this. What I need is to get free from Balnérith, so I can get out of the Abyss,” growled Amdirlain, before groaning and closing her eyes to block out the light. “But I also need to look myself in the face at the end.”
Sighing, she shook herself and considered the veins before her. Gemstones that would have been a lottery win in life, now just pretty stones. Life always had a way of shifting one’s perception of value.
“What do I need? What do I have?” muttered Amdirlain, tracking the visible stones to where they dipped below the rock face again. “If I keep digging for more to do, I’ll find it. That means my help is more scattered, and my problems feel bigger even for things simple to handle. So, I need to consolidate my strengths and increase capacity, before spreading myself thin rips me apart.”
Perched on a boulder, Amdirlain created a clipboard and paper, before snorting at her earlier advanced form of writing notes on her palm. A normal pencil was simple enough to create, and she set about putting her list down where she could see it, to determine need versus noise. Oddly enough, away from the peacefulness of her Domain, it was easier to think about herself and not the needs of everyone around her.
Allies/Friends:
* Sidero.
* Isaac.
* Livia.
* Torm & Týr (don’t want to drag them into my messes but happy to help them both).
* Verdandi.
* Yngvarr & Alfarr (I hope they are still friends).
* Team Celestial—Can help with Domain, and non-Abyssal Activities.
* Team Lómë Succubi—Can help with Abyss, and elemental planes (but keep clear of dwarves).
* Petitioners—Only for internal domain activities.
* Faithful.
* Jungle Giant Clan.
* The Lady of the Forest (I still don’t know her actual name) & Rana.
* Dwarven Pantheon (Don’t want to drag them into my messes).
Co-operative individuals:
* Azex??? (plus Morgana and co?) - What’s in it for him?
* Jaixar - not assuming more than a business arrangement.
* Others in Norse Pantheon? (Lots of question marks around some)
* Adventurers’ Guild (need to determine if still interested in helping post Set’s purge)
* Elven Courts?
* Farhad?
Need List(Only absolutely musts):
* Get unhooked from the Abyss. (Well, yeah!)
* Get free of Balnérith.
* Free Laodice! Why is it a need? Because I couldn’t stand myself if I left her.
* Be able to move about on lower Planes of Abyss. (If Ijmit equals bad for my health, than most Primordial levels equal very to extremely bad)
* Be able to talk to the Cloister of the Fallen (Requirements: Move about on Ijmit plus potentially be free from Balnérith). Why? Path of Redemption information/process they follow.
* To know more about my Domain. (Berronar said it’s unique to each Power, but she at least provided tips)
* Get in touch with Isaac.
Want (Nice to haves but really want to get them done—anything not on here is more icing on the cake):
* Kill Balnérith. Why? Because she stuck a spike in my hand. Payback is a bitch! Plus, big bad must die!!
* Free Ebusuku’s ancestor. Why? Because it would piss off Balnérith, and that thought makes me smile.
* Abolish forms of slavery in the Ten Kingdoms (Norse: Thralls. Others just call them Slaves). Laodice said: What others do is their (choice). Am I trying to provide a light of hope, or force a cure? Focus on one step at a time! Economic causes of slavery? Wasn’t my area of study.
* Safehold for Team Lómë
* Find the Lómë Royal Tower
* Cemna. Why? Demons having control over a world just gives me the creeps.
Possible list:
* Kill Lêdhins. Why? Honestly, because having him lurking around scares the crap out of me.
* Kill, or at least hurt, Naz’rilca. Why? Do I bother other than hurting the Sisterhood? She cut me up, but I’ve done worse to myself. Her groping me in front of Usd’ghi is what turns my stomach the most when I think of her.
Contacts
* Lorrella.
Items only I can handle:
* Gaining more levels.
* Improving my skills.
* Increasing my resistance.
* Learn more about my Domain.
* Understanding my Harmony / Psi Focus relationship. (Do I need to spend time with the Githzerai studying?)
* Getting Lómë Souls out of the Abyss prior to rescuing the living. (I want to do this—do I need to do it?)
* Unlock Team Celestials’ ability to get better experience progression.
* Getting initial access to Cemna.
Delegate items:
* Punching Dao. Why? It frees slaves (who’ll add to my list) but I don’t need to be the one punching them.
* Resources for arrangement with Jaixar. (Team Celestial could do that while gaining experience)
* Get in contact with Isaac. (Rach—Ebusuku asked me to let her investigate approaching her)
* Cemna—Demon hunting ground for Team Celestial so they can get stronger.
Essential Resistance list: (Ijmit needs them into ‘Greater’ ranks)
* Abyssal.
* Acid or Ooze.
* Decay.
* Poison.
* Primordial.
Things that scare me the most (more than just losing my shit scared):
* The constellations—I didn’t want Viper taking the memories, but losing myself to them truly scares me, despite what the others say (ffs).
* Never be free of the Abyss. (Stare too long into the Abyss, and the Abyss looks back.)
* Screwing up relationships. (He makes me the good kind of nervous. I need to get past my stupid baggage)
* Letting people down.
“Do the one item I can do quickly,” muttered Amdirlain, and focused on a Gate Spell.
The landscape before the Gate boiled under a midday sun, and Amdirlain stepped through, careful to not contact Mercury’s dark grey rock. The heat that would have cooked her instantly in life didn’t even make her break a sweat. In the deadly sunlight, the shadow vine’s material writhed happily against her skin.
The material’s alive, not just enchanted. Well, gosh.
* * *
Viper’s PoV - Usd’ghi Fortress - Abyssal Plane: Caverns of the Skull
“Cast it again,” Viper purred, watching the Spell shape within his mind. The moment it rushed outwards, the Lightning Triad’s triple lightning bolts left a thick scent of ozone in their wake, but the chamber’s stone drank the power on impact. “Again.”
Inkaúko looked back at her and found her stretching on his silk-covered couch. The corset she wore now was in a dominator style, loops of thin chains offered the potential to reveal more of her lush breasts at any moment; the contrast between their black links and her ivory white skin very much alluring. Dark leather long boots seemed cut to draw attention towards her barely clad crotch. A tiny piece of leather was the only concealment her outfit provided there. The arc of the cord holding it in place rising high above bare hips, the muscles of her stomach rippling with her feline-like motions. Her Elven features and lush lips were inviting, but her jet-black eyes held an edge that was disconcerting of late.
“I have things I need to be tending to for your superior, Viper,” snarled Inkaúko, grabbing at anger to push back the lust she was always so clumsy at projecting. “I’ll be back later. In the meantime, you could try casting some spells instead of continually observing my efforts. You need to get your Mana Manipulation out of the Apprentice levels.”
Viper smiled from the couch as the Incubus Wizard stalked from the chamber. The tight leathers he wore showed off his broad shoulders, along with the muscles in his back and arse. There was a vague sensation, a flicker of instability, absent memories that made her grind her teeth. A tidal wave of emotions battered against her, the negativity and self-doubt she’d whispered in Julia’s subconscious to cut at her control and confidence, dug into her again. Viper had expected to consume them when she’d found Julia had cast them off with her; Instead, they were a poison in her veins. Caught up in the internal conflict, it was the door slamming that broke her free of drowning in rage and self-doubt.
“When I dug at her hard early, the bitch did that finger flexing. I remember that, but not why.”
Viper slipped from the couch to follow a vague half memory and knelt on the floor with her hands palm up on her knees. It took some fidgeting about, but she finally ended up in a position that felt correct; one Amdirlain would have recognised as seiza. She let her form follow habit rather than trying to seize a phantom memory and watched her fingers slowly flexing. Trying to find the importance of their motions, she let the irritations that rose to distract her flit away, and when it all seemed unimportant, time drifted.
[Meditation Unlocked!
Meditation (1)
Synergy with Mana Manipulation Detected.
Mana Manipulation Rank Adept Detected.
Meditation (1) -> [B](1)]
“It relates to a Skill? She spent so much time on it. Why? How is it connected to Mana Manipulation? Is this what she used to form the ice? Well, not like she’s around to ask. I’ll just need to get good at it; its strengths might make themselves obvious.”
Feeling oddly calmer than she could ever remember, Viper moved to the wall that had served as Inkaúko’s target. He hadn’t reacted to it being a good twenty centimetres closer. She hoped it was because the spell-casting chamber’s length had been enough to conceal it, not because he was playing her. The stone of the wall looked to seal around her arm when she reached through the illusion and drew out a mace-sized rod. Gesturing with the empowered weapon, she let the energy crackle around the spiked prongs that formed its end before she stored it away.
“Time to go make a killing.”
A quickly shaped Spell ripped across the chamber. Her Lightning Triad left the floor blackened by Abyssal flames and turned Inkaúko’s couch into ash.
“Oops. I’m such a clumsy slut.”
Viper left the door open behind her and stalked down the marble hallway. The thud of her thick-heeled boots and the tinkling chains fell silent from one moment to the next, though her movements never slowed.