In the middle of a fight is when Shinra felt most certain. He wasn’t thinking so much as assessing and deciding in real time.  It was happening faster than thought, and it was addictive.He looked at the wand, death in a slim package, bearing down on him.‘I just need to be somewhere else,’ he decided.  His vision highlighted vectors for diving, rolling, and jumping to avoid an attack originating at the sword tip and covering an area of 2 metres around it.  He couldn’t just avoid the attack though, he had to finish this one off before the other 4 combatants got their shit together.He jumped, hard, into a forward twisting flip, easily clearing the guard.  Even in Daemon time, he could see the surprise on the man’s face as a powerful green blast made a crater in the f

Brightbough steepled his fingers as he stared ahead at the impressive bulk of Lord Jala. The man was enormous, but, with magic, always appeared at ease. ‘How did I wind up here with a minor player like Jala?’ Considering how wealthy they were, it was almost surprising how little influence the Jala family had. Brightbough had always thought it was just a family in decline, and the latest head was a decadent lush. ‘He is a crafty one though, or we wouldn’t be meeting now.’“As I was saying, Advisor Brightbough, my network has uncovered several incidents that, on their own, appear random, but, together, hint at sinister tidings,” Jala said. He took a moment to look at his aide, Solus, and then back to Brightbough and Wintersbane. ‘All the players are here,’ he thought.“My family has a long history of steadfast loyalty to the Empire, but in the last few generations we have focused on trade and commerce. This has let our house grow in wealth at the expense of influence…” he paused b