Blake stood with Annie and Seul-ki at the huge double doors of 'Clan Ambereyes’ white tower, a small army of goblins behind him. It did occur to him that there was a small possibility he literally couldn't bring the goblins inside…

This was a 'dungeon', after all, with whatever rules of physics their wise robot overlord decided on. And maybe goblins just couldn't enter orc dungeons.

Maybe something ridiculous would happen. Or maybe the orcs or goblins would have their wills bent to prevent it from happening at all. Blake allowed for all possibilities, but as ever, trusted in his own ability to manage whatever happened.

He touched the door and watched the prompt.

"I'll speak with my ally first," he explained. "As I'm sure you can imagine, she'd likely appreciate a bit of explanation before she lets a horde of goblins through her gate."

Chillik, the goblins’ high wizard, tossed a plump, dismissive hand and gestured him on, grunting as he eased his bulk onto a chair always carried by his servants.

Blake decided against leaving Annie and Seul-ki outside, including them in the prompt acceptance. It wasn't that he expected the goblins to try something...sneaky. But they were all very tired and cranky and probably not thinking at their best. Far better not to leave them any...temptations of betrayal.

But he had to leave his other, rather stranger ally for now.

Pliny the half-dead goblin engineer glanced with nervous eyes. Fortunately the wizards didn't seem that interested in him, and hadn't since the start of their journey. Blake decided he'd be fine. Probably.

So he accepted the prompt and grinned as the tower entrance materialized. The place had been transformed in his absence.

Where before it had largely been empty and unfurnished save for the rooms, now the walls were covered with tapestries and some kind of hide. Two of Blake's statues were waiting as guards. They perked up like those big robots in the original robocop, staring at Blake and the girls as if in inspection.

"What an interesting thought experiment," Blake said, clucking his tongue. "Can my own creations attack me? They aren't technically under my control. So I don't see why not." He had the impulse to pick a fight just to find out, but he supposed the timing of such a thing was...not very good.

"Come along, my dears," he said, walking forward with his own constructs lumbering behind. He activated Mental Influence to find Ilya, feeling a slight resistance from the tower itself. But then it seemed to recognize him and diminished, and his mind flew through the walls to find Ilya and see through her eyes.

He saw himself. She was watching him through the kind of scrying orb she'd first used to see him running away from the orc king. He refrained from actually exploring her mind and trying to figure out what she was thinking, breaking contact instead.

"She's in the lowest audience chamber, fortunately. Right this way."

He felt suddenly nervous seeing the orc lady again. Not 'afraid', or worried about betrayal, because he knew her well enough now to know she cared for him and trusted him. But he was also sleeping with her. As he had been sleeping with Seul-ki. And both women were about to meet for the first time. In an orc tower. With an army of goblins outside.

It wasn't exactly the first such entanglement of Blake's life, so he wasn't entering completely uncharted waters. But the stakes were definitely higher. And weirder.

Ilya's audience chamber was tastefully decorated in a style that might best have been described as 'by Conan's orc witch wife'. There were decorative weapons and furs, with orc guards and maybe nobles or caster types lounging about. Two more constructs waited near the entrance, just the right position to look menacing but not blocking the path.

Blake was impressed.

But his attention soon turned to the lady of the tower. Ilya looked...glorious.

She wore a white, open robe with most of her strong legs and body showing, covered in something almost like a leather cuirass. She gave the air of a warrior queen, her skin painted, jewelry hanging from her ears and nose and wrists. Her thick, dark hair rose up in some perfect combination of intentional wildness. She met Blake's eyes but didn't move.

He realized then that Ilya was going to have to be quite careful how she greeted him—how she interacted with him and the other humans. He was part of her council and known here, so he would be accepted by her people. But Seul-ki and Annie...maybe not so much.

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Blake walked to the carpet set out before Ilya's throne, and bowed his head in respect.

"My lady."

"Welcome home, High Wizard," Ilya said with a small smile. When Blake rose and looked in her amber eyes he could see the same longing to come closer and embrace. But he knew they couldn't. "Are these the humans who have come to our aid? Are there others?"

Blake winced, and wondered if it might be better to get Ilya to speak with him alone. But he noticed a strong, young orc warrior near Ilya's throne wearing Stoneblood colors. He touched the orc's mind with Mental Influence, searching for details on who exactly he was. But it didn't take long to recognize a threat.

If not to his body, than very possibly to his love life.

"They are here to assist, yes. But...there's a...more pressing issue." Blake needed to come up with kind of code word that meant 'we need to speak alone'.

But then he realized that Ilya was going to have to explain this to her people anyway. Since she was so new there wouldn't be any entrenched interests, at least he didn't think...but even so, he was starting to realize it might be a bit trickier than he'd anticipated.

Ilya raised an eyebrow and waited.

Blake took a breath, knowing he needed to help her sell this. He could either go with arrogance and confidence, or humble himself and ask forgiveness. He wasn't worried about his own ego, he just wasn't sure which method helped Ilya more. He decided maybe a little of both...

"My people and I have destroyed the Greenblood Order."

He let that hang in the air, and many of the more refined looking orcs blinked and looked at him or at Ilya as if they'd heard something ridiculous. The tower orcs weren't exactly 'allied' with the Order, but it was clear the two had traded and perhaps even worked together in the past.

"Their engineers are destroyed," Blake said with a kind of arrogantly casual tone. "Their prospectors are dead. All that remains are the wizards, and their assassins, most of whom I have brought here to ask for your protection, my lady."

Ilya looked a little stunned, and Blake was beginning to regret not dreamwalking to her to explain and get on the same page. A definite oversight.

"Protect them from what? From you?" Ilya said. "And why should they trust me?"

"From the other humans, my lady. The Order attacked us and failed. We destroyed them for it." Since the orcs had also attacked Blake's settlement and failed, he hoped this was instructive. "And they don't trust us. But they have nowhere to go, and no other choice. I suggest you promise to make peace with the humans and protect them here, but don't give them particularly good terms. Though I wouldn't make it...too usurious."

Blake saw a few orcs grin at that, which was a good sign. But Ilya looked anxious, and Blake was fairly sure he understood.

She had few enough warriors, and wasn't sure she had the raw strength to put down the goblins if they threatened her. He was about to offer a suggestion when the young orc warrior spoke up.

"A suggestion, Lady Ambereye."

Ilya gave no expression as she turned and nodded.

"My father has many idle warriors. He could offer some. But it would cost you. Of course, if we were to combine our Houses, his protection would be free."

Blake withheld the sigh, not at all pleased his instincts were correct. Ilya still gave no expression, finally glancing at Blake with slightly panicked eyes.

"Thank you for the offer. You brought these goblins, wizard. Do you have...your own, alternative suggestion?"

Blake turned to the players behind him.

"May I introduce Seul-ki and Annie. In the short-term, the three of us, and your current warriors and constructs, will be more than enough to...dissuade any treachery." Blake turned back to Ilya and smiled. "For the foreseeable future, I intend to devote my complete and total attention to you, and your protection. To stay here and make so many murderous constructs to serve you, my lady, no amount of goblins, or indeed orcs, will ever worry you again."

Ilya's beautiful eyes glowed with a little water, and Blake couldn't help but smile.

For a moment he didn't care who was watching or what they thought about it. Seeing Ilya had reminded Blake how much he cared for her, and how much he missed her even in a short amount of time.

He still had absolutely no idea how he was going to manage everything. But his intuition was telling him this could work. That there was a path, however precarious and unlikely, that ended in an alliance between men, orcs, and goblins. And maybe even others.

An alliance against far, far worse things.

Mason was a good man, a practical man, who wanted to save the people he loved, and perhaps even everyone he could. Blake was maybe an overly ambitious fool. And yes maybe too full of his own grandiosity. Though he liked to think of it as optimism.

His brother wanted to beat the game, to survive, to stick his middle finger at 'robo-God' and show it couldn't just crush the little guy.

But Blake knew it could.

You couldn't beat roboGod any more than you could beat the sun. You could, however, make solar panels. You could figure out the rules and turn them in your favor. Until every possible outcome meant you won. Until there was no 'competition', only a kind of hidden monopoly. Your monopoly.

Blake answered a few more of Ilya's questions with half his mind, the other already starting on construct designs. When he'd finished he went back to fetch the goblins, knowing they'd bluster and complain but would soon enter the tower with their tails between their legs.

They'd betray, of course, if they had the chance.

But goblins were cautious and cowardly and first they'd get a lay of the land. They'd test Ilya and her court, they'd test Blake and the other players. All the while he'd summon more constructs.

By the time anyone even realized how many and how dangerous they truly were, it would be far too late.

"Come along, my dear," Blake took Seul-ki's arm and smiled. "I'm going to be needing every scrap of your wonderful talents in the days and weeks to come. If that's alright with you."

Seul-ki smiled and squeezed his arm, looking pleased to be part of something so grand. Annie just tapped along beside them, quiet as the grave.