[X] Ask Deis where another fun or interesting nearby location is while we wait for the Imperial Army to mobilize a force against us.
"… Hey, Deis. Is there a fun place nearby we can wait at while the Empire gets its army together?" Ershin sits still before turning to you.
"Emperor Fou-Lu's Tomb is in the mountains to the west -" Your eyes light up.
"And he's the first Emperor, right? So if we go there … what does it look like?" You take out Laevateinn and begin carving on the ruined wall as Deis describes the tomb. If you're going to leave, you're going to want them to know where you're going, after all! It would be terrible if you went to all this trouble and they decided to attack the Eastern Alliance.
"What are you doing?" You wait for a moment, but it doesn't continue with its customary specification, and you turn to Ershin.
"It's all a part of my master plan, of course! The Imperial Army, once it finally assembles, will come here first - unless I go after them, but I want them at full strength and not spread out defending crummy little farming villages. That's why I held back and let them escape instead of killing everyone in Astana. Anyway, they'll come here, and they'll see this and realize we went to the tomb. Between the fact that he's the founder of their Empire and the fact that I just razed one of their encampments, they'll have to come after us! They'll want revenge, and they can't take the risk that I'll destroy such an important icon and keystone." You nod your head emphatically and continue drawing on the wall, then cock your head. "Any chance you can make some kind of magic circle that will make it incredibly obvious where I am? Just in case they're really dense?" Ershin chuckles mirthlessly.
"Something may be possible. Says Deis." You sigh, aware that that's probably the best you'll get out of them for now - but you don't really care. You take out your blue parasol and start walking down the road. It's shaping up to be a nice day, you might as well enjoy it. Ershin follows you. There's a gentle wind, a few clouds, the sun is rising in the east … and, of course, you can still smell Astana. Such a wonderful morning!
"… If you do not mind, Deis would like to speak with you," Ershin says, and you drop down to float above its head as it halts.
"Hm? What does she want?"
"I do not know," the armor says, and its helmet flips up, revealing the empty suit. "If you will speak with her, I can carry you." You nod for a moment, then shrug and put your parasol away and drop into the armor, drawing your legs up against your chest and wrapping your wings in front of you. You take a breath and relax, closing your eyes as the helmet clangs shut and the armor continues on.
… And then you're back in Deis's mental world, although it's rather different from before: there are no monsters, the path is direct, and the mountain where she was held prisoner is much smaller, with a temple of some kind on top. It's not that bad a building, really, white bricks and a red tile roof - it almost reminds you of Greek architecture, for some reason, although without so many columns. You fly up to the building and head through the doorway, entering a lush indoor garden, and you drop to the floor, staring. The room is packed with people, several dozen well-toned men wearing black trousers … and little else. Some are wearing jackets without undershirts, a few are wearing skimpy vests, and a lot simply aren't wearing shirts at all. You blink, confused, and notice Deis lounging on a gigantic canopy bed on a dais, laughing as several of the constantly-smiling men fawn over her. Two men lift you up by the arms and place you on their own interlinked arms before carrying you over to her; your head slowly turns left and right as you take in the scene. All the men have dark blond hair, they're all smiling and baring glittering-white teeth. Deis half-rises as you're carried over to her, a grand smile on her face.
"Ah, my young friend! I'm so glad you decided to join me! I hope you don't mind my letting myself go a little. Would you like some company? I don't mind sharing …." You blink at her, look at your porters, and slowly shake your head. You lift yourself up just enough to move to the floor gracefully, and Deis mock-pouts. "I see. Not your type, hm? Well, perhaps …." She vanishes, appearing right in front of you and drawing you into a romantic embrace. Her eyes gaze into yours as she whispers. "Is this more to your liking?" Fortunately, you don't react, even as she leans close.
"Deis," you say in a warning tone, and she sighs and stands up, arms raised in surrender.
"Alright, alright! I was just having a little fun." She sits down on the bed and shrugs. "Sit next to me? Chair? A bed of your own? What sort of company would you like?" You snort and float over to the bed, dropping down to lean against the wall.
"Did you want to talk about anything in particular? Something besides whether our tastes are remotely similar?" She sighs again, but her mischievous smile is replaced by a more proper expression.
"Tut-tut. All work and no play makes Flandre a dull girl, you know. But, yes, I did want to talk about some things. Your plans here, your plans for the future, and a bit about the immediate future. Care to start?" You steeple your fingers and tap them together for a moment before responding.
"My plans here … well, fight the Imperial Army, for starters. Depending on how that goes - whether or not it's a fun fight, mainly - I may not have any further goals here. I'd kind of like to visit the cities, see if there's anything interesting, but I don't know how high a priority it is." You shrug. "I mean, you gave me some descriptions, but you're … biased. You want to leave, so it's in your best interests to give me truthful, but … somewhat deceptive … descriptions if you want me to leave soon. Or they could be as boring as you make them out to be, or you might just not care enough about them, or we might just have different views on what constitutes 'interesting.'" She stares intently at you for a moment, then chuckles.
"I bet you're underestimated all the time, huh?" You stick your tongue out at her, and she shakes her head.
"I've been known to surprise people who based their actions on my appearance, yes. Anyway, long-term …?" With a bit of effort you alter the mindscape to show Deis the portals. Her eyes widen and she reaches out to the shadowed street. "They're just illusions, my memory of the portals the devices I have will show me. Do any of them look familiar or seem interesting?" You weight the option for a moment, then tell her about Patchouli's note. She wrinkles her nose as she pouts.
"Well … I'm curious about that shadow-war for the mages' desires. There are … quite a few ways to take that, though. I mean, even more than getting home I'd like to get my body back," she gestures at her voluptuous form, "or at least a good-looking replacement. Being stuck in that armor is irritating and I hate being weakened. It's just not a good body for magic. And once I'm more or less at full strength, I should at least be able to reverse what the Empire did and get back home." She sighs.
"I'm not sure how much use they'll be, though - she specified magi and not magicians, which means she doesn't have a good impression of their abilities. And why that would be … too many reasons. Especially with her." Deis raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything about it. It's good, because while she's growing on you, you aren't quite at the point where you're willing to share family matters with her. "Anyway, what did you mean about the immediate future?" She sighs and looks away, troubled.
"Okay, so I'm an Endless. You aren't, for all that you're quite similar. Endless have a … a pull on things - there's an old song about it, but it's a pain to sing and the gist is that mortals are attracted to the pull of gods. Yours is … inconstant. Sometimes the world warps to accommodate you, and I suspect that you'd have a similar capability in other worlds, at least in some cases - with those who are close to you, or if you exert your power." She frowns, then shakes her head. "… Anyway, I bring this up because Endless are sensitive to the actions of other Endless. And to the west I can sense one. It's weak, probably either a fading dragon or another failed Imperial summoning, but there's something, and we can probably learn something from it." You nod as she takes a deep breath A new ally, maybe a pet or potential enemy?. "Also, there's the matter of Fou-Lu's Tomb. Fou-Lu founded the Empire and set it on its path. He's revered as a hero, and if the Imperials thought you might even be considering going there, they'd almost certainly move as much of heaven and earth as they could to stop you. More importantly, Fou-Lu isn't human - he's a god, an Endless. If we go to his tomb, not only can we definitely get the Empire's attention, but we might be able to wake him up, and he was called to rule. … That's what I was thinking about doing, really - waking up Fou-Lu would almost certainly light up everything and tell the Empire that you - or something, anyway - is at the Tomb." Your eyes light up. A god called to rule, the one who founded the Empire, would be able to direct it much more effectively than any human, and that could mean a lot for you ….
What do you do?
[ ] Keep heading for the Tomb.
[ ] Head for the weak Endless.
[ ] Other?
