#guideblogging

oof, yeah

rip

jesus

she has part of a point. I wonder if cat's reading of her has any holes

she has more than part of a point. although it’s still not enough for “you should have just abandoned the third army”

the emphasis on the lack of name is interesting, because indrani DOES still have one

it’s also interesting that she doesn’t have one anyway. she’s got more story weight than ever, but it’s... all tied up in knots, I guess. too convoluted to add up to a new name yet

:x

:D

nice

<3

well put

:D

I love the way this stuff just keeps coming back

:x

nice

I’m not sure which example of the story failing she’s thinking of. possibly something like the exiled prince, but that doesn’t sound significant enough?

<3

<3

:x

speaking of things she learned from her father

:x

same thing akua said :D

:x

I guess the whole “priests are good at blocking scrying” thing holds even when they aren’t Good priests

technically it’s coming directly from the sisters rather than through cat but it’s the same power source. does cat have that power herself now? in the same sense of “herself” as the rest of the night stuff she can do

political details

oh dear

this sounds eerily like the time that demon showed up

is cordelia’s angel or whatever it is already active

or them, whoever the hell they are

that’s... not a familiar description. they’re approaching from the south, so levant?

also, finally confirmation that cat is not named anymore

process of elimination is useful!

oh yeah, that’s a thing she can do, isn’t it

anything she can see, no matter how improbable

easy to forget that on top of being a walking ballista, she’s also a sniper

is there a term for someone or something that shoots ballista-size projectiles at sniper range, or is that just not a thing if you don’t have magic powers

sounds about right

don’t forget to include yourself, as well :D

holy fuck

that’s actually even more ridiculous than I was expecting

I really love cat

w h o o p s

if I had a nickel for every time a protagonist in this story ran into problems because of neglecting to add a levantine language to their extensive repertoire, I’d have two nickels

which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice

that works

wait, why didn’t you use chantant from the start? was your first line to them in lower miezan? for shame, cat

cat is terrifyingly good at this

<3

in fairness, four of them can’t understand you

god, all three of the big forests on this continent are home to something terrifying

nice

:D

rip

good thing she didn’t misunderstand where you wanted her to aim

well, someone is misinformed

<33333

interesting

?????

we’re near the titanomachy, but I don’t think legionary giants are a thing

oh, east is the issue. near callow. juniper’s army

...that raises at least THREE questions

what the hell happened between them and the league, why are the vales back open, and why is callow’s army on this side of them

nice

there’s a way to solve a problem

<3

so the first scene was before hakram saw her

kinda like the return to cat’s perspective after the previous battle

omg

<3

there it is

oh my god

he’s been sitting on that for months, hasn’t he

more complex than you want to explain? now you’re just giving him an out

some skin, and nauk :x

the priestess of night stands before you!

and wait, what do you know about that? I thought that title only came up after the party split

look, I’m pretty sure she already counts as an honorary orc AND goblin. and fae, for that matter. why not add drow to the list?

asgjkhsdjkglhkjdshgkjdf

it’s great seeing hakram loosen up again

hey, we finally get to this!

hah, that’s not the answer I expected

pretty sure she’ll still be skeptical, lmao

<3

nice

trust is very valuable <3

WELL THEN

if I had a nickel for every time someone grabbed liesse and flew away with it,

oh dear god

welp

I’m sure akua will be able to help with that, too

<3

:x

kill the horses, let the soldiers go?

yeah :x

what happened to all those lessons

cat didn’t you outgrow revenge killing

:x :x :x

c a t :x

oh, good, another idea

hopefully it’s a better one

nice

least of fear, huh

I wonder who the others are. malicia and akua, certainly. I feel like the dead king was too brief to count

:D

there’s a better lesson to take from him

interesting. I’m sure I’ve seen that name, but I forget what was said

looks like it was this, from back in 1.6

nice

history lessons are fun

...oh

longbows, huh

nice

there’s a proper cat solution

oh my god

okay, looking back, apparently not. right family, wrong brother. guess good looks run in their family

anyway back to the new chapter

well, let’s see what cat has to say about that

:D

I forget who the marshals are

that’s quite an if, and the odds don’t look great for you without it

with that much information, I’m surprised they haven’t identified them

I think big players in the east know enough about drow for that, but I can see the west being a lot less familiar with them

you should ask what’s-his-name how well that plan went for him

pilgrim and saint are both preparing to battle, huh

where the hell is amadeus?

in any case, looks like we’re going to see cat’s staff trick sooner rather than later

jesus lmao

rozala has had Enough Of This Shit

holy fuck

“marshals” seems to be what they’re calling the callow and/or praes army, but I’m not sure why

nice lmao

rozala: “thank god”

“win one battle, then let them escape”

she wants to make that win as quick and low-stakes as possible, but she doesn’t have a great argument for it

or maybe she does

she’s not exactly the type not to think this through

:D

very astute

nice

this part, she can be straightforward about

nice

and here’s hakram! ^^

aaaaand that’s not great, lol

lovely

cat isn’t the only one who can sow chaos and then ride it

:x

loss of scrying is quite an issue

dormer? with the fucking immortals?

nice lmao

where is pickler, anyway

:D :D :D

now THAT looks like an end to this interlude arc

welp

so, what does she want

fun :x

l o v e l y

:x

:D

the party just keeps growing

he’s right!

good thing cat agrees :D

hoo boy

:x

politics

:x :x :x

hanno! hope he’s alright :x

he’s gotta be, right?

welp

jesus

:D

fun

kjasfhkjjksd

so a timeskip, not a perspective change, huh

rip

good call lmao

well then lmao

omg, this whole situation

“when in doubt, blame cat” is a surprisingly effective approach

:D

nice

sure sounds like a good plan, which means we’re about to hear the issue

rip

cordelia this is a really idiotic fight to pick

what are you doing, you’re smarter than this

:x

the augur, who’s suspected to be compromised

fantastic

lovely

omg, well then

put on a show and let them get away

much more sensible plan, really

course, that “win a battle” plan may be a challenge

yeeeeep

there’s one problem with this plan

whatever the hell ends up happening, it seems set to include the “princes’ graveyard”

okay I was confused for a moment but thankfully this is still rozala’s pov, not arnaud’s

I don’t want his

welp

hi drow!

mercy, huh :x

holy fuck

huh. one weird loophole, but it’s something

:x

l o v e l y

jesus christ

wait, what? I don’t know how to make sense out of this timeline. wasn’t that tariq’s sister?

gotta love politics

huh, this is new

oh dear god lmao

and huh, they’re referring to him as “bestowed”. that’s interesting

are... are you trying to play league politics as if they make sense

:D

there’s a more appropriate reaction to her

jesus christ

the league, levant, procer, praes... so many of the nations here are quite keen on eating themselves. more literally, in the case of the everdark and the chain of hunger

nice lmao

:D

this is gonna be fun

juniper!!!!!

nice

interesting, indeed

nice

how long has he had that banner?

probably a while, but it hasn’t been brought up before

huh. my first thought was hakram and vivi, but hakram isn’t here and this isn’t really vivi’s area of focus.

grem has to be one of them. the other is probably hune?

nice

also, :(

and hey, it is vivi!

welp

interesting that “lady-regent” seems to be her actual title, not just a robberism

omg

:D

omg does he have deals with EVERYONE

politics <3

well, about that,

not quite lol

interesting

:x

cat you know how important this is

so that’s what the discrepancy was about

:x

omg

<3

indrani knows to believe cat but that doesn’t mean she’ll admit it

:x

:(

:D

tbf this isn’t THAT unusual a level of compartmentalizing, I’m pretty sure

I wonder if he considers indrani an honorary goblin

rip

I’m not actually sure what topic she’s going for now

unless it’s the everdark?

welp

interesting

I imagine you don’t still have a mark from him cutting your head off though, lmao

lover, huh. didn’t you say that WASN’T the right word?

looks like akua was right about you lol

nice

omfg

you’ve gotten to know her well

^^

it’s IS legion protocol, that’s how it became army of callow protocol

wait. early thirties, decades in the legions?

:o

elvera is back! ^^

ahh, logistics

this feels like a bit of a reverse of what nauk did to the procerans way back at the start of book 4, lmao

:x

much better perspective than she had on him back after dormer

nice!

rip

:D :D :D

a show of good faith

I imagine it’ll get some success, but not a complete one

this reminds me of taylor’s talk with alexandria lol

the first of the two, huh

so, now it’s nauk time

:x

:x

sounded like he did find out somehow, though

well, it’s something

man. burned once by summer, again by lanterns, and now a third time

:D

time to see about that other oath, huh

so the three months thing was just a small chunk of the levantines here, huh

:x

I’m picking up on the relevance of that epigraph lmao

more face paint, huh

omg

nice!

not missing a chance to talk to him after all

nice lmao

:D

nice

earlier it worked on civilians, too!

cat no

rip

nice

jesus lmao

omfg

the problem with escalating too fast

<3

hoo boy :x

nice

:x

:D