The Chaos Marches

Chapter 10, Preparing to Disconnect Last Valley

We send for the leader of the Marginalia and relay Memory's instructions. Soon, we have the valley evacuated. Now for the hard part -- tearing down the interdimensional tunnel. Since it was put up by Daewen, we turn to her daughter Mithriel for the tearing down. Entering the tunnel and examining the seams, Mithriel announces that we have two fairly real places, Last Valley and the Special Place, linked by a much less real tunnel. Last Valley, being closer to Chaos, is less stable and real. However, the tunnel is still very real, for a construct, since it's been here for a vast number of years and gotten into the habit of existence.

Salimar and Tom join forces with Mithriel and examine. Tom recognizes Binding, Second-Order Glamour, and Witchwalking in the psi signature of the tunnel, along with other goodies. Salimar concurs with Mithriel's judgment that the two areas joined by the tunnel are very "far apart," in dissimilar worlds. Mithriel says it will be easier to detach the seam at Memory's End, then retreat down the tunnel and detach the other seam, leaving us in Last Valley.

Mithriel's first effort at taking down the glamour fails. Kate suggests removing the Marginalia from Last Valley to Memory's End, since this might make Last Valley less real and easier to detach. Yes, but might this attract the Lilim to the Memory's End and the Special Place? Robbie asks. Finally, where do the Marginalia want to be?

We summon the leader again and ask. They very much want to be in Last Valley, certainly not in the Special Place.

So we try again. Tom tries to un-bind the magic that makes the tunnel and gets the distinct impression of kicking a mountain. Kate X-rays the walls of the tunnel with her clairvoyance and sees rock that fades out into mist after a few feet. Mithriel's efforts to de-glamour also fail. She turns to Tom and points out that the tunnel is something of a pocket universe, and Tom is the group's best authority on these.

Tom denies it, but Mithriel reminds him of his experiences manipulating Turtle World, disposing of the diadem, running the pantope, and fighting the Eilythry. Tom splutters exceptions, but grudgingly accedes to taking the job. He says that, if he's to indulge in amateur cosmurgy, he's going to need tools -- in the present case, Chaos' Rim.

The sample of Chaos' Rim on the high side of the valley is the obvious choice, but it presages the coming of the Lilim and is twilit with their advancing darkness. Also, mucking about there might attract the notice of the Lilim. So, first, Tom casts triggers for invisibility and clairvoyance cloak on everybody, then has Robbie toss a psilencer up the slope into the twilight, in the hopes that this will suppress the Lilim's bad psi for at least as long as a psilencer lasts in dilute chaos.

Nothing obvious happens. Tom goes up the hillside and tries wishing up a self-containment zone. More nothing happens. When he tells the others what he's trying to do (planning to use the self-containment zone as a base of operations for re-routing the tunnel), Mithriel remarks that she's never been allowed to try witchwalking out of self-containment, which rather blows Tom's plans anyway.

So he tries wishing up a teleportation portal, opening into the tunnel. This succeeds, and certainly makes for a short trip back to the tunnel, as well as impressing Fr. Paddy. But what's Tom going to do with it? His plan is to break the seams of the tunnel by superposing the portal over them.

We'll see how that works.