NameIess

I had the impression that she was going offworld, possibly to start a Shadesmar trading company.

When Windrunners fly near a storm, are they not flying above the storm? I assumed they would be flying above the center of the storm, which could explain the discrepancy.

Worth noting that Dusk didn’t form a symbiotic relationship with the worms, consistent with the WoB. They were already dead, and his powers were just fueled by them as a source of investiture.

What are you writing?

I picked Scadrial, because I don’t want high gravity or the Everstorm and the political climate seems a bit more stable for living, at least in Elendel basin. for powers I picked Twinborn, A-pewter and F-gold would be my choice. I’d like A-steel, but I think Pewter would be more practical. and for mortal enemy, obviously Kelsier and Ruin are nonstarters being on Scadrial, so I picked Hoid. My logic is: Hoid can’t kill me personally, and since everyone else besides him is presumably free of the irrational desire to murder me, it will be difficult for him to convince anyone else to kill me. Especially with Design possibly running interference for me. Odium might be far away, but I don’t want to constantly worry about his devoted unquestioning followers assassinating me. Hoid doesn’t have those, so yeah, he’s my pick.

Maybe? I don’t know the catholic doctrines on sainthood that well. I think that’s part of it though. Personally I don’t know that I believe in the distinction of canonical sainthood, although certainly many of the saints have been exemplary servants of God. And since the Holy spirit does inhabit all Christians, I believe God can work miracles through any of us.

I’m don’t dispute that you believe Jesus to be a God. I was arguing that point because based on what Frustration was saying, it sounded like it wouldn’t be right for Jesus to be worshipped exclusively in the time of the old testament. However, it really sounds like that’s exactly what the nation of Israel did, without being rebuked by any of the prophets for doing so. Genesis 1:2 says: That’s a clear reference to the spirit of God. Also, throughout the OT, God’s spirit is described as coming upon various prophets, judges, and kings for limited amounts of time. Then in the New Testament, the Spirit came and remained upon Jesus. And before He returned to heaven after His resurrection, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples, which it did on the day of Pentecost, emboldening them to preach the gospel and working miracles through them.

I wouldn't say he would have to forget. He doesn't have to recount word for word what happened in order to get the important information across to his wives. But still, in the first case the angel is still a messenger of God, bringing a message from God to Jacob. Not making a claim to personal divinity.

Thank you for the correction. I had heard about the rejection of ex nihilo, but it does raise some questions for me, such as: in what form did we exist before creation? I guess this might be getting into your footnote, but what form did Jesus exist in before he was God’s spirit child? Where did whatever it was we were come from? Is there official teaching on whether God always existed in the same way as he does now? To the question of whether Jesus claimed he would be made perfect, I would have to argue towards innacurate translation there. I think the word translated ‘I shall be perfected’ would be better translated as ‘I shall (perfectly) complete my work’. And an eternally perfect Jesus is different from a Jesus who was once less than God, and only became equal with him at his resurrection. (If I am understanding your view correctly) I agree that the Israelites were not fully informed of God. For example, the afterlife was discussed very little in the Old Testament. And even today, there are questions we have about God that are not answered. We have what is needed to follow God and to be saved. However, worshipping the wrong being as God is not the same as not knowing everything about God. And indeed it seems to me that for the entirety of its history the entire nation of Israel (those who were not falling away to worship idols, at least) was worshipping a being who was not God, to the preclusion of worshipping God. The temple was Yahweh’s house: The psalms proclaim Yahweh as God. The people of Israel stopped speaking the name Yahweh out loud, due to the commandment in Exodus 20: It seems clear from the Old Testament scripture that Yahweh is God. The names are used interchangeably. I don’t think you can make a case from the Old Testament that Yahweh is not God, and so going by the revelation of the Old and New Testament, it seems that when Jesus identifies himself with Yahweh, he is claiming to be God. That said, I would like to add that this by no means disproves your faith. Again, please correct me if I am wrong, but LDS teachings are that portions of the Bible were lost which would have explained the distinction between God and Jesus. However, I would ask, considering the Old testament identifies Yahweh as God repeatedly, and Jesus identifies himself with Yawheh in the New, if that helps you understand why we who do not accept the book of Mormon or any of Joseph Smith’s revelations as inspired scripture wholeheartedly affirm the trinity. Because Yahweh is the name God gives to Moses at the burning bush. The name Jesus is identifying Himself with by saying ‘before Abraham was, I Am’. Is that what you meant by the question? I would say that in this verse, we don’t see the angel speaking. We see Jacob recounting the event to his wives. Now, one could say that Jacob was mistaken about what the angel had said, but that’s not what I’m trying to get at here. I would like to point out that if an angel appeared to me in a dream and said ‘I am God’, then based off of the context I probably wouldn’t say that an angel of God had appeared in a dream, but that God had appeared in a dream. So, either Jacob was able to distinguish between God and an angel, which is possible, or he just didn’t mention the part about how the angel first said something like ‘I am a messenger of God, here is the message.’ Regardless of whether that is what happened, the bigger point is that the angel brings Jacob a message from God. If I write a letter, I will sign my name on it. Just as the postman delivering that letter is not claiming to be me, the angel was making no claim to divinity by delivering God’s message.

Thanks for the information! I understand not wanting this to devolve into an Atheism vs. Christianity or Atheism vs. religion thread, that sort of discussion would be better held elsewhere. To answer your question, probably not. I understand some parts of an atheist worldview. I can understand and agree with wanting to base a worldview on evidence, even if I don't agree with where the evidence leads. I don't, however, really know what it would be like to live as an atheist. Did I come onto the thread to build my understanding of the atheist experience? I was curious about a specific point that had come up here related to the atheist experience, so, yes, probably.

Problem: I don't think Vasher needs Stormlight. He can probably feed off of Towerlight, Warlight, Lifelight, etc. So there's no extra motivation to kill Taravangian. Henceforth, he'll probably target Endowment, for reviving him in the first place.

The identity of God is more important than the authority of the church. I can call someone in the catholic church my brother or sister in Christ because we believe in the same God, three in one. I might disagree with them on many important beliefs and doctrines, but we worship the same God, place our faith in the same Jesus, and the same Holy Spirit indwells both of us. The Jesus I believe in is equal with God the Father, co-eternal with Him. The Jesus you believe in (and forgive me if I misrepresent your beliefs, if I do it is out of nothing other than my ignorance) is a created being, the firstborn of God. All things (aside from himself) were created through him, and he is divine, immortal, uniquely inheriting both spiritual and physical 'essence' (probably not the right word) from God the Father. These are different. Whether Jesus is eternal, equal, and one with the Father is an important distinction. I had not heard of that view before. I suppose that would make Jesus's words in John 8 consistent with your view, but I do think that causes some problems with the Old Testament. For example in Exodus 20:2-3, God identifies himself by the name Yahweh or Jehovah, then continues to tell the Israelites they shall have no other gods before him. How would you explain this?

It’s not merely because it’s a majority view. The identity of Jesus Christ is very important to the religion named after him. No, it would not. At least not from me. Not sure if it would be entirely accurate (like Matell, I’m not an angelologist) but certainly not offensive. There are more sources than just John 10:30. John chapter 1 is one of the most explicit examples of Jesus and God’s oneness, though I believe you would dispute the translation and/or the interpretation. John chapter 8 is another great example, where Jesus identifies himself with God. The critical verses are 24: 28: and finally 58: the phrase ‘I am he’ in verses 24 and 28 are actually the same greek words used in 58, translated word for word it would be simply ‘I am’ all three times. Jesus’s wording here is clearly intentionally meant to hearken back to Exodus 3, when God speaks from the burning bush to Moses: As evidenced by the Jew’s immediate response of attempting to stone Jesus for heresy, they understood his meaning.

My thoughts: Focused ones can presumably break Radiant Shardplate, especially since it doesn’t seem to feed off their Stormlight. Thunderclasts could do a great job of breaking down the fortifications from afar, with thrown rocks. In an aluminum-lined fortress, it seems it would be difficult to recharge spheres. Presumably they would have to hang them outside or at least have them be exposed somehow. So that’s a potential target. You could airdrop in masked ones under cover of darkness, allowing them to infiltrate and begin doing all sorts of sabotage. Unmade. We’ve only seen Yelig-nar on-screen one time, and Amaram barely even figured any of the surges out. We do know a host is incredibly dangerous, and a competent one would be capable of taking Fifth-ideal Radiants. Other unmade are also likely capable of similar battlefield feats, we just haven’t seen them on screen. The midnight mother, for example, could send endless waves of midnight essence at the fort to wear them down and drain their stormlight reserves. Better soldiers. In an era with very poor metallurgy, having soldiers that grow armor comparable with modern steel is an incredible boon. The average singer soldier is dramatically easier to equip than the average human one. Invested troops aside, humans would have a very hard time winning a war against singers. Any point on the wall where there’s not Radiants, there will be problems if Singer troops get up. And they might be able to simply leap up to the top of the wall if it’s not tall enough. Remember that they can leap Chasms.

On your side note, I would say that the council codifying Christian beliefs about the trinity does not mean that those beliefs were not held before then, nor that they are not evident in the scriptures. As to calling Jesus Satan’s brother, I’ll admit I’ve never heard that said about LDS before, but I think its’s so objectionable beyond rejecting the trinity because to us it’s like saying God and Satan are brothers. Like @Mattel said, it’s either elevating Satan, the original fallen angel and a created being, to the same level as God, or lowering Jesus to the level of an angel. It does feel like a step beyond rejecting the trinity, because it’s not just saying that Jesus and God are not one, but also that Jesus is basically just like an angel, and not even that but he’s similar to Satan.

@Pathfinder, you'd mentioned a kind of harm related to people deconstructing back on page 2. could you perhaps PM me some more information about that? I looked at the website you linked, and there seems to be quite a lot of information on a great many topics, and I couldn't narrow down exactly what you may have been talking about. @Verdance, if you were making a group PM do continue the discussion, I'd be interested in being there, although I'm not certain if I'll be very active in it.

Glyer gasped dramatically as the dagger went in, coughing blood onto Skylight's hand. "You... don't... know... what you've done." He rasped. "I... could have... stopped this..." He reached convulsively for his sword, then his arm fell still. His eyes staring upwards, Glyer stopped breathing. Across the stage, Glyer's sword seemed to shine with anticipation. The creature in the sky's response was simple: an unthinkably large spear of dark Dynessence fell from the sky towards Afterimage's general location. This was rather hard to detect, as the sky was already pitch black, but suffice it to say that the sun would have been "You can't stop the invasion." the woman behind him said. She had long brown hair and bore no weapon saved for a dagger sheathed at her side. "Not unless you can fight tens of thousands of withergeists, Witherbound who actually know how to use their powers, and... whatever that is in the sky." The Witherbound dragon roared nearby, disappointed to realize that most of the living in the room had vanished. The woman held out a hand to the Outlier. "Come on. I'll get you out of here, you've done all you reasonably could."

Withergeist after withergeist was destroyed, but their numbers seemed endless. Worse, as Afterimage extended his influence towards the sky above, stars reappeared. Or rather, the sky's eyes opened towards him, peering down at the disturbance in the Witherlord's invasion. The shooting star's light died, consumed by the dark force surrounding the planet.

The Witherlord tilted his head. "Good? I seek not good. I am Evil, and seek evil continually. I have done so from the beginning of time, and will do so until time and all things have been brought to destruction." The Witherlord turned, seeing a small town before him. Its inhabitants seemed to be living peaceful lives, doing their best to eke out a comfortable existence in the grassy green hills of their world. "Come." The Witherlord said. "I will show you the first step in my destruction of Heaven." "I bear no responsibility for their deaths!" Glyer retreated before Skylight's attack, making no attempt to parry his blades. "I may have conned the Witherlord, but he is the one who sent the Wizard to kill me, and the Wizard is he who decided to kill everyone here. I am not responsible for the actions of those who are evil!" He stumbled on a fallen corpse, falling onto his back, sword clattering out of his hands and across the stage. The silent one ran up to Enna, dodging a blast from the dragon as he grabbed her arm. He gestured to himself, then to the others in the room, then pointed out the broken wall, indicating that they should be brought elsewhere. Those remaining adventurers were reduced to cowering behind piled chairs and tables, hiding from the Witherbound dragon's wrath. The dragon bellowed, turning and sweeping at Enna with its great barbed tail. The Void isn't a layer of reality, I would say. And space, generally speaking, is formed from the fundamental essences. Regular TLT is composed of Chaotic Light, with the foundations of reality composed of Ordered Light. A woman stepped up beside Matias. She grabbed his shoulder, pulling him away. "Come on." She muttered, sparing a glance for the dragon. "Let's get out of here. There's nothing more to be done." Jim the Enuller Stand-in felt the cough coming on with horror, still trying to hide as he was. Fortunately, he was quick of wit enough to touch one of the Nullite spheres, Silencing his coughs before they gave him away. Inkwell's blade clashed with the dragon's darkened scales and was deflected harmlessly. Those scales, it seemed, where growing to become Mordite themselves as the dragon's transformation continued. The Witherbound dragon, for its part, looked down at Inkwell with empty sockets, clearly confused that he was attacking it. With a shake of its massive head, it turned back to consuming or destroying the remainder of the living within the room. The rift opened to a scene of utter terror. Withergeists ran rampant through the streets of the city, swarmed over buildings, seeking any who still lived. The stars in the night sky were extinguished, or perhaps simply blocked out. The seminar, it seemed, had not been the only target of the Witherlord's ire this night.

The Witherlord smiled. “What about impractically? I can think of several plans to destroy heaven, the first of which is most certain to work, though also less… satisfying than other alternatives.”

It flew away once the fight started, but was caught by a few withergeists offscreen. The Witherbound dropped, cursing as his withergeist began healing him. The one with claws stood up from where he’d been knocked to the ground, only to be annihilated by the dragon’s breath attack. The dragon roared again, stomping further into the room. It snatched up a passing adventurer in its jaws and swallowed her whole, then reached out with shiny black claws and tore a gash in reality. the hole into the Void competed with 9/10’s rift to suck everything toward it, and, aided by the large concentration of Chaotic-dark aligned entities, began to slowly expand. The dragon turned to face this threat, firing another blast of boiling breath. The Witherlord growled as the fabric of this reality struggled to banish him. As he was expelled, he saw the gates of Heaven for what they were: not a mere physical construct of gold, but a construct of glowing lines of Ordered Light, the foundation upon which Heaven’s reality was built. Even he could not destroy such a construct from the outside. ”Fear me, angel.” Hissed the Witherlord as he began to fade. “You think your gates will protect you? I will destroy everything you are sworn to protect.” And then he was gone, leaving only the echo of his threats and a stain of darkness. The Witherlord noticed the orb’s struggle, and also that it was not immediately expelled as he had been. The conflict, it seemed, allowed the sphere to persist, at least until that conflict was lost. — Glyer’s eyes snapped open, and he turned to face Skylight with a muttered oath. As his concentration broke, every Aide still fighting immediately dropped like puppets whose strings were cut. ”Idiot!” Glyer exclaimed. “You think you deserve my Plotblade?” He stepped forward, brandishing his plain sword dramatically. “You can take it from my cold, dead body!”

The aide stumbled, but did not fall. Nor did it bleed. A misty grey substance leaking from its chest, the aide turned to glare at Vlanis. The Witherbound, meanwhile, was focusing. With effort, he was able to make his hands corporeal again. triumphantly, he turned towards Vlanis, seemingly not realizing that his entire body was now physical, not just his hands. As if noticing the brightening hopes of the living, the situation decided to worsen itself. There came a great roar from outside the building, followed by the impact of something very large against the far wall. Cracks formed, then the entire wall imploded. The dragon from earlier thrust its head into the building. Its hide was desiccated, with great gashes exposing grey flesh from its fight against the withergeists that had pursued it. The dragon's scales were shiny and black, its eyes empty sockets bleeding dark liquid. The dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a torrent of boiling black liquid at 9/10 and Vlanis, burning away aides, adventurers, and withergeists alike as the blast shot across the room. Though the withergeist was not formed of molecules, the concentrated heat and light worked nonetheless. The withergeist wailed as it was burned into nothing. That left only about eighty withergeists, as well as perhaps a dozen Witherbound, and the massive Witherbound dragon that had just destroyed the far wall. @Through The Living Grub @Through The Living Star -- Jim the Ennuller stand-in was having a particularly bad day even before one of the most dangerous Witherbound in the entire Thread dropped from an inexplicable portal right in front of him. For one, he'd been stuck on cataloging duty. Jim hated cataloging duty. Counting things all day? Doing countless pages of paperwork that basically amounted to 'we have this much of this thing' and 'yes, I really did check to make sure'. It was worse than torture. If he made just a single mistake in the paperwork, his supervisor would get onto him about 'keeping to proper standards of documentation' and 'not taking the solemn duties of an Ennuller stand-in seriously'. Perhaps, he reflected, this was why he had never made a very good Ennuller. Ennullers were orderly, as a rule. with an orderly organization, and orderly powers. There was so much order, so much paperwork that no one could ever get anything done. Why, the Witherlord had returned, and they'd done nothing about it! Sure, the Wall would hold, but what about the Thread, and those living in it? Jim kept these thoughts to himself. His superiors likely would not respond well to an Ennuller wash-out like himself voicing such critical concerns. Besides, he didn't always hate his job. Sometimes, it was fun. And the benefits were rather nice, sometimes. Still, even if Jim had loved cataloging, he doubted he'd have enjoyed this assignment. An entire vault filled with Nullite, just given to a random Ennuller in the form of a paper bag? Besides that, the place was just... empty. no darkness, no light, nothing. It shouldn't even be able to exist, for there was no fundamental force making up its reality! All that to say, Jim was filling out paperwork as quickly as possible, counting the Nullite spheres and cataloging their purity and density, when a rift opened in the air. Terrified, he'd leapt to the side, hiding behind one of the racks of Nullite. The figure who'd dropped through glowed with the dark power of the Void, and was clearly very angry. Eyes widening, Jim recognized him from a warning sheet he'd read. This was the Great Wizard! Or, the Dark Wizard now, he supposed. A wizard who, long ago, had bound a withergeist in order to have greater power to help people. He'd been involved in some plot involving Protagonist and Antagonist, back when no one had been sure how someone actually getting one of those Blades would go. More recently, he'd shown signs of fully succumbing to the withergeist within him, and with the Witherlord returned... Jim gulped softly, and began rifling through his clipboard. Where was it, where was it... there! He pulled free form ID #4217, Request for Immediate Aid due to Imminent Danger of the Void. Hurriedly, he uncapped his pen and began checking boxes, signing, and initialing as quickly as he could. Are you an affiliate of the Ennullers? Answer: Yes Are you in an Ennuller-affiliated locale? Answer: Yes Have you, or any close associates, been infected with any serious magical diseases in the past thirty pages? Answer: Jim counted back the pages, struggling to remember when exactly that had happened. He risked a quick glance up at the Wizard, who seemed to be examining the wall of the pocket dimension. He looked back down at his form and scribbled in an answer in the negative. What is your mother's maiden name? Answer: Greene In how many business days do you need your help to arrive? Answer: ZERO 0.002 or less What dangers are you currently facing? Answer: An extremely dangerous Witherbound has inexplicably infiltrated the Ennuller-claimed facility I was cataloging. I am hiding, but will doubtless soon be discovered. Jim continued filling out the form, checking countless boxes and writing countless answers. Finally, he finished the form, signing, initialing, and dating it. The form vanished, leaving Jim to wait, trembling, hoping for a quick answer. @xinoehp512 -- The Witherlord appeared before the gates of Heaven. It seemed a good time, with some of his foes distracted, and the others absent. There were a few defenders here, but he had made his rift too close to the gates for any of them to stop him. He rested his hand against the glowing golden gates, and pressed his will against them. Open to me. He commanded. Let me in, that I might kill, ravage, and destroy all that is good within you. @Through the living keigs

The aide turned, taking the dagger in the shoulder instead of the chest. It caught Skylight’s other dagger on its left ark, not flinching at the pain such a wound should have caused as it rammed the Mordite dagger towards Skylight’s own heart. Glyer, for his part, remained in his trance-like state. He still did not show any visible reaction to the attack. The clawed witherbound was knocked to the ground, but the chair simply passed through the incorporeal one. That witherbound bellowed in triumph, grabbing Vlanis’s head in his hands to drain the life from him- or tried to. His hands passed through Vlanis’s head with nothing more than a slight sensation of cold. Clearly, the witherbound had not quite mastered his newfound power. The Dark Wizard was once again caught by surprise, and fell backwards into the rift , arms flailing to the sides. The rift snapped shut behind him, leaving the room populated only by a haggard group of adventurers, a disorganized mass of withergeists, and a few gleeful Witherbound. The adventurers guarding the exit looked to one another, clearly coming to a similar conclusion about the chances of those still in the room. They turned and vanished into the night. Shortly after, screams, crashes, and horrific crunching noises sounded from outside. Perhaps the outside was not so safe as they had assumed. Ennalee didn't have much time to consider these things, as the withergeists continued their onslaught. Ahead of her, the silent adventurer fought his way towards the exit, blade flashing grimly as he led a small group of surviving aides and adventurers towards the exit. One of the witherbound worked her way around this group, and moved towards Ennalee. Dark mist emanated from her, eating away at the fallen weapons, the floor, and anything it touched. The witherbound outstretched a pale hand towards Ennalee, smiling with intimidating grace. Then she tripped on a hole in the floor her mist had created. Lyric frowned. “Yes. How could I forget?” His eyes grew distant. “It seems so long ago now. Though surely, it cannot have not been more than… ten years, perhaps? I… wonder how my family is doing. How they reacted to…” He seemed to realize where he was abruptly, blinking rapidly. “Er, how much… did I tell you about my past?”

The withergeist screamed in rage as it was dragged down into the pit. Its cries continued as it fell, removed from the battlefield but not slain. The possessed adventurer's head was ripped cleanly off, withergeist within expelled from the now truly dead body. -- The withergeists screamed in pain and terror at the incredible flash of light. Those nearest to Vlanis were burned away in the flash, destroyed by the light. Those further away survived, though weakened and wounded by the light. The withergeist-bonded adventurers were briefly dazed and disoriented, but recovered quickly and continued to attack the remaining living adventurers. Two such ran through the battered crowd of withergeists to attack Vlanis. One's hands were overgrown with dark claws, and the other's body seemed to be taking on some of the insubstantiality of an unbound withergeist. 9/10, aided by the disorientation caused by the flash of light, easily cut through the withergeists between him and the dark wizard. The wizard, not so vulnerable to light as his minions, sent darkness through the floor at 9/10's feet, causing tendrils to grow up and grasp at the flaw's legs.

Ah, I’d thought the acribe was projecting himself while Afterimage fought. the ethereal withergeists were easily captured, but those bonded to adventurers fought their way free of the Nullite containment with various dark powers. Still, Afterimage made good progress, capturing withergeist after withergeist as the battle’s tide began to turn. The wizard flinched, caught by surprise by 9/10’s lunge for the weapon instead of him. The staff burned with darkness that left deep burns on 9/10’s hand, flaring with power as it resisted his efforts to break it. Still, he felt it weakening, bending before his will- *CRACK* The staff shattered into a hundred splinters of darkness, knocking both 9/10 and the dark wizard to the ground. 9/10 perhaps felt a moment of accomplishment, but that would likely be cut short once each of those splinters rose up as a withergeist and joined the fray against the dwindling numbers of surviving adventurers. The wizard struggled to his feet, expression almost pitying. “You cannot win.” He repeated. “Light and life are fleeting things. In the end, darkness will reign.” He raised a hand, and a dozen withergeists swarmed 9/10 from all sides. Glyer’s eyes were half-closed, and he gripped his sword tightly, muttering to himself. The single aide turned at Skylight’s approach, bringing up a Mordite blade in a defensive posture. The silent hero cut down a withergeist just before it sank its claws into Skylight’s back. The creature hissed as it retreated to the Void to heal. The quiet man put his back to Ennalee’s, sword glowing with a pale blue light that gave withergeists pause. Around the room, the adventurers rallied. Though the possessed adventurers showed terrifying strength, they and the unbonded withergeists were still outnumbered by the living. One small group fought their way through to the door, then instead of fleeing, formed a semicircle and fought back the withergeists, providing a potential avenue of escape to the others. “Come on!” Shouted one foolish adventurer. “Let’s fight our way free of here and be away from this cursed place! Me, I’m looking forward to getting back to my wife and child. In fact, I think I’m done with this adventuring nonsense. It’s about time I retir- *CRACK* On the stage, 9/10 shattered the Dark Wizard’s staff. The unfortunately foolish adventurer got a particularly large shard in the chest, dropping dead with barely a whimper. Others screamed in pain as smaller shards pierced them, their deaths slower and far more painful. Over a hundred withergeists arose from the shards of the staff, much to the adventurer’s dismay. Joining the newly replenished ranks of withergeists were six adventurers bonded to withergeists, armed with Mordite blades they’d plundered from the slain aides. The Silent Hero glanced to the Wizard on the stage, taking a step in his direction. Then, reluctantly, he turned and pointed to the door. The possessed adventurer stumbled as the bullet hit him in the side of the head, but did not fall. Tendrils of darkness sprouted from its skin, pulling the bullet free. The undead adventurer turned towards the Outlier with a deranged grin and raised a hand. Dark spikes shot forth, seeking the Outlier’s heart. — There was a sharp *crack* from the stage, and Vlanis found himself isolated amidst a field of dark metal shards. Dark smoke rose from the shards, forming into withergeists. Screaming in outrage, these withergeists leapt for Vlanis with outstretched claws.