After a nice rest, we packed up and got back on the way to the site of the conclave. We hadn't specified where it would be, but the most reasonable place to meet was the flat area on top of the mountain, so we kept going up, enjoying the brisk mountain air and NOT getting frostbite thanks to the summerspark crystals. I could see why Anna-Marie negotiated so hard for the things, they were life savers.

We hadn't set any specific time for the meeting, though I'd been planning for somewhere around sunset. Arriving at the mountaintop though, we obviously had plenty of time left before that. Even the several hours of hiking the mountain only put us at midafternoon when we arrived.

We were greeted by a small gathering of people, all sitting in what appeared to be furniture they brought themselves. It was a motley assortment, some of whom I recognized from descriptions, some of them completely new. One of them, a girl with absurdly long golden hair, was sitting on a canopy bed, reading a book while several other girls held up and brushed her voluminous locks. Another of them was a dark skinned girl with purple hair and eyes, sitting at an easel painting the faded form of the still huge moon in the daytime sky.

"Ok." I said slowly. "Guess some of them beat us here. I wonder if all ten of the teams will show up?" Between the two of them, Bethany, us, and Gabriel that was a full half of the represented forces. Fifty people all told. Of the other teams, I knew the identity of two of them, my distant relative Alistair and the team with the twins, Flicker and Blink, that left three more mystery attendees and their own teams. Possibly ones with Raul and Christina, assuming they weren't part of one of the ones we'd already seen.

Speaking of Gabriel, looking off to one side I noticed the man sitting on a padded red couch with Archimedes and a dark haired woman with what appeared to be a frequently broken nose. I'd never seen that before on an Ascendant, but I supposed it must have healed slightly wrong. She had delicate features, but her shoulders and arms were thick in a way I'd seen in boxers. The gloves she wore had no fingers, but they were plated at the knuckles.

Heading over, I nodded to the big Crusader. "Gabriel. I see you made it pretty quickly. You bring one of those others with you?"

Sipping gingerly at a teacup that looked WAY out of place in his big gauntleted hands, the blonde man nodded. "I did. My friend Valsa is at the easel over there. She's an Imperial noble. The one with the long hair is from the Fairyland. Her name is Annalise, and I believe she's some kind of fae." his eyes flicked behind me. "I see you found the Vampire."

Bethy cleared her throat. "That's DOCTOR Vampire. I didn't spend five years in Vampire medical school for nothing." He just stared at her, face stony, and she rolled her eyes. "Ouch, tough crowd. Shame, you're kind of cute. I always like the driven, warrior of faith types."

He cracked a small smile. "Get thee behind me, Vampire."

She just winked and said. "That IS where I prefer to bite from." Flouncing over to sit on the opposite end of the couch, she gave an expansive yawn, showing off her fangs. "So, when are we starting the meeting? Do I have time for a nap...maybe a quick bite." She grinned at Gabriel, but the Adamant cultivator didn't rise to the bait, ignoring the Vampire and drawing a pout from the charismatic girl.

"Well, Alistair isn't here yet." I said, searching around. "At the very least having another candidate in this would be useful. I'd also prefer to confirm he hasn't been torn into tiny pieces by some millennia old corpse."

Nat nodded. "I'm betting his people are probably pretty scary. Most candidates have an impressive retinue. Not all of them, of course, but a few people with serious power." She gestured to her own minions. "Perit and Valk are mine. I find keeping it to two makes the process faster, though as you know people vary in that respect."

Bethy, who had given up on teasing Gabriel when the situation got serious, frowned thoughtfully. "I don't mind a bit of a wait, given the severity of the situation, but we'll have to start eventually. Not everyone will necessarily show up, and some of them may have died." Seeing her switch back to her serious mode was a bit jarring, but I'd seen the overly formal and remote behavior already so it didn't throw me too much.

Aida and Tracey were standing behind the couch, remaining almost perfectly still as they stood guard, and their presence gave her a sort of gravitas, like some ancient queen. It was kind of weird to see funny, silly, admittedly scary Bethany look so poised. Her comment made me think of something else though. "You ran into one of the conduits didn't you? They're ancient, if somewhat stripped of power. You said you killed it right?"

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

She grimaced. "Yes, though not without some difficulty. The one I met wasn't particularly well protected against enthrallment. I hypnotized him like I tried to do to you. He stood there monologuing as we surrounded him and impaled him with a variety of dangerous high ranking instruments. Most of them coated with poison." I shuddered a bit. That was...terrifying. Being unaware as ten people ran you through all at once. She gave me a toothy grin, her voice slipping back into her usual friendly chirp. "It's so much easier to take down the baddies when they sit still and let you work, huh?"

Aida cleared her throat. "That said, most of the weapons we used on him were single use. Bloodbound stakes that Lord Lark provided us. He tends to be...sensitive, to the possibility of undead. Many of them hold grudges against him for his purge of vampiric cultivators. The stakes are single use consumables designed to inflict a great deal of damage on undead. We have more, but not many."

Bethy's eyes snapped up to Aida, and the woman flinched slightly under the ruby glare before she sighed dramatically. "I suppose that would have come out regardless. But watch what you share Aida. That information was not yours to disseminate." Her tone wasn't formal this time. It was cold. I hadn't seen her like that yet, and I found myself almost as scared as the thrall appeared.

Lowering her head, Aida curtsied to the girl. "Apologies, mistress." Weirdly, her voice wasn't shaking or frightened, it sounded more...ashamed. Bethy's face softened and she offered her thrall a soft smile, which seemed to placate her. I got the impression the relationship there was much more nuanced than it had seemed. The thralls weren't her keepers, not really, she just liked people to think they were.

It occurred to me that ditzy Bethy was as much of a mask as Vampire Bethany, maybe more. Whatever her real personality, the girl was clearly more dangerous and focused than she liked to appear. I saw Gabriel studying her too, clearly taking in the same things I was, and probably learning even more.

"If possible." I said, waiting so I didn't interrupt and give up possible information. "I'd love to get my hands on one or two of those stakes. If not I get that, if your dad made them, even if they're restricted to your own rank, they must be special items."

She bit her lip. "I can't...those aren't mine, exactly. They're emergency measures to keep me safe. Using so many of them was problematic. I'm not saying no, but it would need to be something we negotiate. I'll reserve judgement until we see who comes to this."

Speaking of who was coming, I noticed a form resolving itself off in the distance, a familiar form with red hair and a beard. Craygen. The big man spotted Abel and grinned, waving over at us, and Cady joined him as he made his way over, leaving their team with Chad.

"Apollyon, my friend!" He boomed as he came in close, holding out a hand to grab Abel's and pull him in for a slap on the back. "We got your team leader's message. We appreciated the warning. One of our own had located one of those damned temples not long before and we'd already entered. Thanks to you we dodged the inevitable dust up with the super zombie. We owe you one."

I realized Callie had been in charge when we met them, but I didn't see a reason to correct them. We were partners, if they wanted to treat her as the leader that was fine. She deserved it, and still did plenty to help me with running things. I nodded to him. "We appreciate you making it here. Must have been a hell of a run."

He guffawed loudly. "That it was. The climb was even more irritating, luckily one of ours had a set of enchanted spelunking gear that made things MUCH easier." I grimaced. I should invest in something like that. It would have been so much less tiring than the way we actually got up here.

I also considered the shape of the mountain and winced. we'd come up the back of the fist, up between the knuckles, since we hadn't seen anyone else, they might have had to climb up the front which seemed like it would have been...aggravating. "I think we should wait on the others. I want to explain the details as few times as possible, so we can just tell all the groups as they show up."

"We saw one of them on the way up." He said casually. "Recognized one of them from the party. Raul. Short guy. Dark hair, carries a big axe. They should be here soon." He pointed off into the distance, and I looked out to see a series of figures. The one in the lead wore a dark cloak, and Raul and another smaller figure were trailing him in a way that seemed familiar. They followed him like Perit and Valk did. Alistair most likely.

They didn't approach as they reached the flat expanse we were all standing on, walking over to speak to Annalise where she sat reading on her canopy bed. Three teams left then, one of whom was probably whoever Christina worked for, or possibly the woman herself. That might be...tense, but we'd get through it. This was bigger than a bit of petty squabbling, and hell, we might have been doing her a favor.

Speaking of. "Any of you guys find any more drops?" I asked of the collective allies I found myself amongst. "Because we didn't run into any."

They all shrugged, except Gabriel, who nodded. "I came across a field of lightblooms. We collected the Dew and are keeping it in reserve until we all discuss the circumstances. It might be worth using it, trap or not, assuming we can actually find out the details of this little plot. I had some ideas about that, by the way, once everyone arrives." He looked at Nat and I, and I understood where he was going with that.

Wishes. Wishes weren't great with secrets, hidden information had a weight to it that drove up the price, but there would be ways around that, and I was sure between the three of us here we could get SOME kind of outline of what Suvaya was going to do and when, especially since we already knew a decent chunk of it. Or at least suspected. So, with that plan in mind I reached into my spatial ring and pulled out a chair, albeit a much less comfortable one than most of the others, and sat down. Now all we had to do was wait.