"The Song of Circles has been kept in chorus for the Austraeoh, and now the Austraeoh has heard the Song of Circles." Merula's abdomen shook—this time dappled with a shiny red glint. Emotionless marble eyes reflected Rainbow and her pendant as the silk voice box continued vibrating: "We do not understand the confusion you appear to be proclaiming."
"That's just it..." Rainbow Dash stood beside Kepler and Ariel. Several hours had passed, and now the All Singer sat before the Heraldites atop the enormous tunnel-weaver, flanked by several large Spindlers. "It's not so much that I'm confused by what Abaddon told me. I'm just... I was only..." Rainbow sighed heavily. "Well, shoot, now I just feel friggin' selfish saying it out loud to her pedipalps."
"Just be honest with her, Rainbow," Ariel suggested.
Rainbow cleared her throat before smiling nervously. "I was expecting to learn more from her... y'know? More about... about..." She waved a hoof. "The history of Urohringr. The dirt behind Ilrifa. What's up with her codex and how it relates to me and the Elements of Harmony and... and... and..."
"The message given to you through the Song is precisely what the All-Singer predetermined," Merula said. "You partook in the venom?"
"Uhhhhhhhhh... yeah." Rainbow nodded. "And... okay... you got me there." She gestured. "I felt more... witnessed more than the two companions I brought down with me." She pointed nebulously towards the city buildings in the distance. "Neither Wildcard or Seraphimus saw the stuff that I did. So... I guess Abaddon's Song didn't mean as much to them as it did to me. Even still—"
"The Austraeoh possessed much of the Song's knowledge prior to meeting with the Ever Songstress?"
"Yeah? Kinda sorta?"
The tiny translucent hatchlings perched on Merula's forelimbs squirmed with glee. "It is to be praised," the vocal construct shook. "The Austraeoh has obviously garnered far greater knowledge and wisdom than the Song anticipated. Perhaps the Melodic Mother's strings pierced even the body of the Curve itself."
"I... dunno..." Rainbow winced slightly. "A lot of the big stuff I learned was given to me by you... er... the other you's." She cleared her throat. "Merula and Company."
"Rrainbow One." Kepler stepped forward. "If I may."
Rainbow motioned towards Merula with her fetlock.
The wyvern approached the spider company. "Dearrest allies, we arre most thankful forr the knowledgeable gifts that yourr Queen has bestowed upon us—and the Austrraeoh in parrticularr. This news of the Sharrds of Endrrax is most distrressing, but we can easily see how the imparrted forresight can be to ourr advantage."
Merula's abdomen shook. "Then the Winter Children have played their part."
"Oh, I do believe you have done much morre than that." Kepler smiled suavely through his tusks. "As loyal prrotectorrs of the grreat Lyrricist, it would seem that you have evidently garrnered much of herr wisdom and prrestige overr so many eons of exposurre to the Song. This is quite commendable."
Merula replied. "In life, we adore the Silk Mother, and dwell within the pulse of her harmonic emanations."
"Mmmm... yes, quite." Kepler adjusted his spectacles. "And assuming that you have—indeed—osmotically gained much knowledge by keeping herr in yourr carre, would it be that grreat a strretch of the imagination to suggest that you could elaborrate furrtherr on the chorrus she bestowed upon Ilrrifa's gift?"
"It would be dishonorable to proclaim any ownership over the Eternal Song."
"Ach! No ownerrship to be prroclaimed whatsoeverr!" Kepler smiled. "You dwell within the Song of Abaddon, and herr music sustains. Now that the Austrraeoh has hearrd what she has hearrd, perrhaps you would be so kind as to help illuminate the naturre of the chorrus that was sharred?" He pointed at Rainbow Dash. "It would prrove yourr loyalty to Austrraeoh... yourr loyalty to Ilrrifa..." He turned to focus his vision on Merula yet again. "...and yourr obedience to Abaddon, who—no doubt—would desirre clarrity and underrstanding above all in this... most trrying Winterr."
Ariel and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances.
Merula's fangs shifted. There was a twitch to her abdomen. A shake. Then—at last—she vibrated the construct. "But of course. If the Austraeoh has any questions to ask, it would be our part to aid her in the interpretation."
"Glorrious!" Kepler nodded, then turned to grin at Rainbow Dash. "I do think the floorr is yourrs, good frriend."
Rainbow cleared her throat. "You'd make a great lawyer, Keps." She stepped forward, closer to the spiders. "If I return to Equestria and get into trouble—like, destroying a weather factory or something—I'd choose you to represent me."
"Carreful..." The wyvern raised a claw. "I've got a rreputation to maintain."
"Destroying a weather factory?" Ariel squeaked.
Rainbow waved her off and looked ahead. "Yo Merulz."
Merula shook curiously. "Who are you addressing, Austraeoh?"
"Uh... you. That was... that was just..." Rainbow shook her head. "Never mind. Can I ask some questions about what Abaddon talked about?"
"If you believe it is prudent."
"So... as you probably know.. she spoke about the Shards of Endrax." Rainbow pointed in the vague direction of her tent. "Courtesy of Gardez's daughter, Axan, I actually possess a dragonstone that—I think—will give me the general direction in which to find these fragments."
"There is much logical sense to that assumption," Merula stated. "Gardez bestowed the stones as gifts to her hatchlings—to facilitate communication and comraderie among the Divine Brood. If Axan has perished and Endrax's Shards are the only remaining substance of draconian origin that are still enchanted on this side of the plane, then it stands to reason that Axan's dragonstone could locate those pieces."
"Yeah, and that's sexy and all..." Rainbow Dash nodded. "...but it would be good to know more about where they are located." She gulped. "So I'll know precisely what we'll be getting into."
"Then you have chosen to pursue the acquisition of these Shards?"
"Let's just say for the moment that I might." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Abaddon made it clear to me that each of the three Factions has one. Tchern and the Changelings have got one. The Night Shard have got one. And then the Bloodwings have got one."
"That would be correct."
"Do you know where exactly they're being held?" Rainbow gestured. "The closest Shard—according to the Dragonstone—is somewhere towards Omega... towards the closer edge of the Curve. The other two seem to be located more towards the Midnight Armory. But... if I went after this closest one, where would it be exactly?"
Merula hesitated.
"You..." Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "...you and your siblings used to populate the entire plane. Even if Winter and the violent campaigns of the Trinary War have forced you all into this city, couldn't you at least remember where they were placed before? Even if it was years ago? I mean... you carry that knowledge via the strings of the Song, don't you?"
"In fact we do, Austraeoh," Merula declared. "But you must understand. Endrax's death was several equine lifetimes ago, and the dispersal of the Shards happened shortly thereafter. While the Song is permeating, there is very little guarantee that the Shards are located in the same spot they were in before Abaddon's Winter Children were forced into a retreat."
"Still..." Rainbow smiled. "Gimme something to work with. Anything. I... I'm begging you here."
"It is not the function of Ilrifa's Gift to beg," Merula said. Next, she vibrated forth: "The piece of Endrax possessed by the Night Shard is not located within a place. Rather, it is located in a vessel."
"A vessel?" Ariel remarked.
Rainbow as nodding. "One of them big glass floaty thingies, yes?"
"It is no ordinary attack construct," Merula explained. "But rather the central focus of their magical armada. Even if the treasured piece of Endrax was not heavily guarded, its location within the complex lattice of crystalline bulwarks makes it extremely difficult to procure. In addition to that, the central armada of the Ruby Song is constantly on the move—so as to throw off the tracking of both the Keepers of the Flux and the Bloodwings."
"Right..." Rainbow gulped. "...but, fact of the matter is, the Night Shard's piece of Endrax is in a big friggin' floaty thingy."
"It is... located in a constantly mobile construct, yes."
"Gotcha. So that one's gonna be the hardest to get, I bet," Rainbow thought aloud to herself.
"You sure about that?" Ariel droned.
Rainbow blinked at her, then looked at Merula again. "What about the Changelings? The Keepers of the Flux? Where would they be keeping their Shard of Endrax?"
"In the lair of the Leech Queen, Tchern."
Rainbow shuddered. "Well, of course..."
"Arre we corrrect to assume that the Queen of the Keeperrs is also constantly on the move?" Kepler asked.
"From the collective knowledge of those who preserve the song," Merula spoke. "Yes. That would most likely be the case." Her abdomen shook. "However, the territory possessed by the Keepers of the Flux isn't as expansive as that which is patrolled by the Night Shard. While the Leech Queen's drones and soldiers infiltrate all portions of the plane, they require dense nesting grounds in order to breed and resupply their army."
"Where are they situated, mostly?" Rainbow asked.
"Much closer to the Sarcophagus of Ages," Merula replied. "In a swath of subterranean chambers that stretches between the nearest edge and the location of Petra."
Rainbow Dash did a double-take. "Wait... Petra?" She blinked at Ariel and Kepler. "Uhhhhh..." She looked at Merula again. "What's Petra?"
"An urban sprawl owned by the goblins and all other imp-kind," Merula said. "For hundreds of years, it has served as the focal point for sapient trade by neutral factions non-aligned with the three armies of the Trinary War."
"And... and this kind of a place exists?!" Ariel leaned forward, jaw agape. "Right here on the Dark Side?"
"Indeed."
"You... didn't mention anything like this before," Rainbow Dash said.
Merula's abdomen shook with the voice box's vocalizations: "It had not been relevant to any discussion before now. The imps—much like the Dihmers—do not possess any might outside the limits of their central city and the mechanizations thereof. To venture outward from Petra would threaten exposure to the Keepers of the Flux, who encroach on all sides. However, the Keepers do not appear to have an interest in consuming or assimilating the imps of Petra, presumably because Tchern is too terribly encumbered with combating the Bloodwings and Night Shard. Because of this—and their distance from the other factions of the Trinary War—the denizens of Petra have been allowed to exist. However, the Bloodwings have been known to take particular pleasure in eliminating imps on the spot, especially this close to the Edge. They will spare Dihmers, but goblin kind—much like the Winter Children—are prime sport for the Lunar Hunt."
"Why... do they single out goblins while not touching Dihmers?" Rainbow asked.
Merula shook. "We do not know. The Bloodwings' violent ways have only ever vexxed us. It is because of their actions—more than any other faction—that the Winter Children have been forced to retreat to the last auditorium of the Song."
Rainbow and Ariel exchanged glances.
"Well..." Ariel smiled awkwardly. "...the Dark Side got a bit more crowded." A gulp. "And depressing."
"What of the sarrosians?" Kepler asked. "The Bloodwings? Where could they be keeping their Shard of Endrax?"
"In the tree, of course," Merula replied simply.
"Tree???" Ariel made a face.
"That's right..." Rainbow Dash exhaled. "I do remember a tree in the vision Abaddon gave me." She looked up at Merula. "The Shard—it's held deep within a thick vault of unbreakable moonrock... guarded with runes."
"That is knowledge only available to the Austraeoh."
"Yeah... but what's up with this tree?"
"It has been the home base of the Third Penumbral Invasion for countless lifetimes," Merula said. "The Bloodwings have a name for it, but their tongue is not congruent with the Songstress' melody. Nor do we know much of how the Bloodwings have chosen to defend their lofty abode, because any member of the Great Lyricist's chorus who ventures within a string's echo of the defiled grounds is instantly tortured and murdered by the Lunar Hunt. Those lands have been vacant of Song for ages, and we fear that much has changed since that we cannot convey to the Austraeoh."
Ariel sighed. "Figures..."
"One thing's been bugging me..." Rainbow Dash paced before the spiders. "Abaddon's message spoke of... of a new and merciless strategy that the Bloodwings have been using..." Rainbow arched an eyebrow. "Some sort of... bold style of warfare that's been giving them leverage against the other factions... enough to compete with Tchern's flux and the Ruby Chaos'... uh... immortal fart magic. Whatever it is that they do."
"Perrhaps with morre eloquence, Rrainbow One," Kepler insisted.
Rainbow took a deep breath and looked squarely at Merula. "What's the big deal with the Bloodwings? What is making them so strong as of late?"
"It is not so much a strategy," Merula said. "But rather a strategist... and in a single lifetime he has forced Winter into is coldest and bleakest for the Children of Abaddon and more..."
Rainbow blinked. "... ... ...just who are we talking about, exactly?"
A cold shudder ran through the silken construct and the webs beyond the platform. Violin strings scratched discordantly across the empty city, and one name echoed chillingly between the spiders and their guests:
"Lexxic."
Lexxic. I don’t think I am going to like that name at the end of this.
Excellent. Here's hoping for another Shell.
I have just come back and realized that Imploding Colon was not, according to popular belief, dead.
IC, it's good to have you back writing these! I missed this story.
These last few chapters seem to be kind of a mixture of exposition and rehash to set up the next book, which is going to start the quest for the shards. But there's still 4 chapters left. And now there's a new character from the bloodwings. It seems obvious that they are going to be whom Rainbow targets next, but I wonder what his/her deal is. Although I bet we're going to find out. Also maybe we might get a little more on this Ilrifa character, because that's what the next book is going to be called. I used to have some theories on him/her, but I kind of forgot about them and I don't really feel like filtering through past chapters to figure something out. That leaves me only with the hope that we find out who he/she is.
8762645
Shell 2: H’Luunic Boogaloo
8762672
I dunno about that "four chapters left" thing. The 200 chapter limit isn't a sure bet after Utaan. And while this does feel like a good spot to start a new book... I dunno, this hasn't followed the "hugely climactic" pattern that most books have ended on. But you could be right--we've learned a bunch and things are certainly going in a whole new direction soon. And Sera joined the party... Huh. The more I think about it, the more I think you might be right.
I guess I just hadn't considered that we might be nearing the end of a book
We'll find out soon enough I suppose.
I like to read Merula's voice as being all monotonic, like it's computer generated but organic-like.
And her voice echoes inside of her box thingy, so it sounds like 4-5 voices simultaneosly.
Oh yes it's back (and I'm also late to the party I suppose)! Got caught up about two months ago and glad to see it back! This Lexxic character seems intriguing too.
Lexxic, the Fury of Winter.
And I too get the distinct impression he's gonna be our "big bad" for the foreseeable future.
(God, I hope he gets offed before can pull a Shell.)
Reminds me of that one arc.
A vessel? Ooo this is gonna be epic.
Oh, boy looks like we are getting a new Shell! YAY! I bet this guy is going to be a barrel of laughs.
Oh hey more exposition!
Lexxic: We have an army.
Dash: We have a murder turkey.
Achoo! Umm, I mean H'rhnumm!
"I heard you like spoders, so I put some spoders in your spoder so you can spoder while you spoder!"
And oh boy, we're gonna have another Shell aren't we?
A strategist huh?
pm1.narvii.com/6452/33037ac655c43ca6144f0b56de07edb65f23866a_00.jpg
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Now let's see here, what new tidbits do we got for info? The gobos got themselves a city, and a hint that there's neutral factions that trade there. Sweet, here's keeping my fingers crossed they got themselves some stompy steampunk mechs. Life is always better with those.
Night Shard has a big crystal Star Destroyer floating around. Which means to get into it the Herald is gonna be needing an airship of their own. Looking forward to that. Steal it from the bat pones, I say!
And speaking of bats, they've got their own wonderbat general with a snazzy "bold" strategy do they? Don't tell me, he's enforcing a new dress code among the Bloodwings that focuses on sex appeal to distract the enemy? They discovered the hypnotic power wearing socks has on the pony form and the changelings just can't handle it!
Anyway in terms of options I'd almost say it makes sense to try to make for this Petra place where the group could potentially gather more intel on which faction they want to make a go for first, while also possibly upping their arsenal with crazy steampunk weaponry. Just saying, Seraphimus with dual chainswords, man.
Seraphimus x Logan Ship Confirmation Chapter Count: 3
8762855
*deep breath*
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
8762855
8763024
Which story arc? What should i be dreading?
8763042
THE Petra. Killer of EoP, clogger of the word fountain.
Slayer of Skirts.
Leech Queen, am I?
Should i feel insulted?
Another Big Bad to look forward to, though I think I'm more excited to see Petra than anywhere else.
"is" to "its" - Courtesy of your newest human spell check. I will catch everything.
But is Lexxi con, which is their survival strategy?
Kludge Town comes The Dark Seid.
No Piscines?
Fishman got Dropped.
You know, with the things that Rainbow has done in the past, these bases are not impossible to crack. Crashing military ariships? Check. Leveling a settlement? Not a good memory, but check. Entering and prevailing in an organic lair? Check. They will find a way.
8762666
A batpony Shell begs for lunatic puns.
As brutal as the Bloodwings are, it’s nice knowing that the Herald—or rather 4/7th of the group—might get enough of a chance to discuss matters with them without fear of immediate death.
ih1.redbubble.net/image.440429580.7168/flat,800x800,075,f.u1.jpg
Nor with any existing being's vocal chords.
It is sounding like the first stop is going to be the Bloodwings, as they are stationary and most likely to listen to Rainbow. After that comes the Changelings at or near Petra (looks like those goblins so long ago were right about being part of something so much more, and last the night shard. Once again, easier than it sounds.
8763083
May I get your permission to call you Leechy?
Now, to hope that Lexxic doesn't turn out to be a murder batpon.
In the second book of east horse, including gave to me enter to Kompanion‘s, and a rain bow that’s why yelling easiest.
Okay, so speech to text did better this time around, but not good enough.
In the second book of East Horse, Imploding gave to me
Two companions,
And a Rainbow that’s flying East.
I created this song before Christmas but never had a chance to post it. I spent many hours working on it, and I physically sung it aloud countless times in order to make sure that it matched the actual rhythm of the original song. More verses are coming in the following chapters.
In other news, this new villain sounds most intriguing. Like a potential hybridization of Shell and Verlax, creating another villain we will love to hate.
Oh dear... The first big bad has been named! Prep the headsplosions!
Lexxic is a name lifted from a fellow commentator as is usual for new characters, but im not sure how far back in the comments i would need to search to find their last post.
....great
8763121
I would say you're wrong. Namely cause none of the situations before come close to this situation.
The closest, is breaking into the ice fortress and being hunting by the entire nation's common soldiers who hasn't seen fighting in thousands of years. Which she didn't even have to fight as the Windigos froze and killed most of them.
There is also another situation. Namely, the ENTIRE MILITARY FORCE is guarding ONE SINGLE OBJECT. Unless this object is the size of a pen and can hide in a saddlebag, it is going to be spotted, and EVERYTHING is going to try and kill Rainbow for it. Including 3 bloody veteran armies that have been fighting for thousands and thousands of years, fighting for longer than Equestria has existed. With Unlimited supplies, unlimited man power, and unlimited tactical genius on all sides.
I honestly can not see a way for Rainbow to win, without a Deus Ex. It's impossible. Everything she has experienced and been through up to this point, would be novice childs play to even the children of any of the 3 sides in this war. She doesn't have the experience, the tactics, the smarts, the resources, power, nor the manpower to come even close to fighting 1 side, let alone all 3.
Especially since, with that object being so very important, that thing is going to be under guard 24/7, and as soon as it's missing, they are ALL going to freak and swarm everything looking for it. There will be no where to run and no where to hide. Especially from people that know every rock, hole, and hiding place for eons of living there.
Can't wait for some good ol' fashioned bat murder to lighten the mood in the hopefully near future.
8764025
You raise a some fair points and I think I should have worded it better. Yes, you are right, a direct military assault is pointless in every way. And the stakes are much higher than ever before, both in terms of consequences and individuals involved. However, joining the war and mowing everything down was not an option which I tried to imply here (granted, my wording is poorly chosen in this regard), not only because of its sheer impossibility; it would also not fit into Rainbow's modus operandi.
What I tried to say is that Rainbow has proven her ability to win by destabilising her opponents in the long run and to improve the general situation in favour of more harmonious solutions. Ledomare is a good example: she led the Jury through a warzone, stopped an ongoing war between two bitter enemies, downed a respectable amount of war material in her wake, and indirectly toppled an uncaring monarchy while being hunted as wanted high priority criminal by a crazed unicorn and his army. Of course, it involved some massive fights, including killings, yet those clashes were mostly for self-defense or to rescue others in need (in which Rainbow and friends were ultimately victorious).
I would not be surprised if Rainbow can pull something simiar off here: figthing only if there is no way around it, looking for essential assets that may help her and the Herald, weaken the armies involved, and to use the general confusion as an advantage. As I have said, she has done similar things already. But I agree, the scale is enormous this time.
With all of the obstacles ahead, I think we may be seeing Dash's dark side a lot more often in order to win fights. I imagine Dash as a distraction rampaging through the base while her companions steal the shard.
That said, I wonder what Discord's "sense" is, considering every ghostly companion to Dash has one.
Also wasn't Dash's monster form only held back by a chaos metal sarcophagus? What if that works differently on the dark side.... After all, we haven't seen what exactly that monster can do when it is truly exposed to chaos.
Another possibility is getting some REALLY dangerous wildlife to follow Dash into the enemy.
What if Dash managed to tame one of those giant carnivorous forest worms...
There could even be some deadly artifact that Dash would embark on a quest to obtain. Hmm, an entire dark side's worth of unexplored plot twists...
8763405
Your avatar is hot!! Plus I don't hate this story. Only thing I hate is how much I have to read to catch up. The fanbois are just a perk .
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Thank you! It's by this amazing artist: https://ende26.deviantart.com/art/Princess-Twily-454014663
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Oh no, I understood your point, which is why I pointed out lack of experience of RD's side, and lack of Tactics. It was just revealed that the bat ponies are weaker than the other 2 sides in terms of power and numbers, but are winning because they have someone who is single handedly stratagizing for the entire nation worth of soldiers. RD would never be able to slip through him into Bat Pony territory.
The Red Crystal ponies seem the most mysterious, as we know so very little other than that their base is constantly moving, they have power over the souls of the dead, and that they can view the memories of the dead. Which is very bad, as they now have access to the memories of... Umm... Axem I think was her name? Been a long time since last update with her name. The Fire Dragon Sister. They will have access to all of her memories, they will know everything about RD, her goal, her powers, her group and their powers, and their motivation and thus weakness.
Then there are the changelings. Who can feel emotions, and would be able to track RD easily and melt her face off long before she could sneak into the main Hive, which again is also constantly moving. Also remember, everything on the Dark Side, EXCEPT the Bat Ponies, are Chaos Beings. The Prison and Artifact inside are the ONLY 'Harmonious' thing on the 'Dark Side' of the plate/planet/plane. So RD won't be able to do anything in the name of Harmony, like she did with the other ponies she has come across.
And don't forget experience, and what would happen if RD somehow DID get access to 1 of the 3 keys. Everyone being from that faction will be hunting to MURDER her and get it back. And they have had eons of experience, bloody warfare, and violence just to survive let alone keep pace with the other factions. RD wouldn't be able to sneak by, talk her way out of or into their hands, and they wouldn't care about her and kill her on the spot like everything else that isn't one of their faction.
Hmm, i doubt this Lexxic is going to be a 'new Shell'
8764607
I'm not sure about the changelings and crystal ponies being chaotic creatures in general. They are tainted by chaos, but, originate from the Light Side (correct me if I am wrong). Maybe there is a chance to apply harmony, even if that does not result in peace treaty and amendments between the factions. Rainbow has always been more keen to change systems, rather than taking down individuals, except for extreme cases.
And I have no idea what might be the best way to retrieve the shards. Gaining them one by one from the bases sounds impossible, and even if they can do it once, the other sides would be alarmed in an instant. Plus (I have mentioned that in earlier post), the strategic balance would be completely off, because these shards are said to bolster the armies with some kind of power. So losing the own shards means losing that asset and , most likely, the fight.
Personally, I think manipulating the opposing sides to act in certain ways might be a plausible solution, e.g. to make them bring their shards to the armory on their own, then quickly swoop in, retrieve the prism and to bolt like there is no tomorrow afterwards. If this works, then they got the prism, can return home and removed any reason to fight. It is a horribly risky suicide mission, but then again that's pretty much the tune of the journey as a whole.
8763083
Well, that's better than lech queen... Or is it?
8764025
Obviously she has to make friends with them all instead of stealing from them. She's made friends with bat ponies and changelings before, how hard could it be?
"Thanks. I think."
Well, she sounds cuddly.
8765674
DAMN IT, HAP
I see what you did there...
Actually, I see a good opportunity of winning for Dash. She need to make Bloodwings her friends/allies.
And I don't think we are get a new Shell. Too obvious to be true.
>Petra
aayyyy its that place again
>Lexxic
aayyy its that guy.
Woooo city of goblins and chaos here we go.
Kepler's been leveling speech, I see.