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Guess I need to get to the Roof of the World.  That is the story of how Ariel and Ducks and the crew came upon the Bone Master as he assaulted the Oreads and how they broke the assault and slew him and his bones, zombies and trolls.  At the same time it is the story of how Mom had an interesting fight with a Wendigo who could swallow balefire and spit it back out and how Dad didn't quell the first return blast, but moved Mom out of the way, diverting the blast to strike the thousand eyed kraken (and awaken the Celestial Court Dragons of China).  The second blast he quelled, stifling the thing with its power caught in its throat and imploding, and Mom then took it easily.  She gave Dad a glare that would have killed a lesser man (literally -- it did blast a couple-three score of the Bone Master's bodyguard as they diverted to attack us as we exited the endless stairway, depriving the Bone Master of help he needed and resulting in his fall to Indigo's curses and Duck's sword while Ariel's cold magics shattered his armies and the twins targeted his champions).  Dad just smiled, he can be that way when headstrong people do eactly what he wants, not what they expect. He made it up to her later, anyway.

But, lots of other stuff happened too, including the Oreads allowing us access to change magic, I'll get to it sometime.  Here is some related stuff...

The sky split open as force fell upon our house like the hammer of doom. Above us, Tekken Upharsin, the opener of the way and the forebringer of doom, writhed in the sky at the center of the twelve pointed star that marks his power.

He/She/It named off the points, one by one.

1. "The Shadows"

2. "The Bitter King"

3. "The Seelie Court"

4. "The Northern Master"

5. "The Vampire Lords"

6. "The Master of Kar-Manthat

7. "The Fire Ways"

8. "The Root of the World"

9. "The Roof of the World"

10. "The Thousand-fold Way"

11. "The Champion of the Dark City"

12. "The Sea Master"

Well, It/She/He?! meant the shadow vampires, the basilisk king, the kjjtha cluster, the dragon trolls Mom ate (and not Grey Death), the Kar Manta and its captured ones, the Kar Manta's Master, the Fire Mages and the Fire Serpent from Thera, the great stoorwyrm, the Bone Master & Wendigo, the thousand-eyed Kraken of China, the Witch and Behemoth.

It got the City Spirit and my kin folk, the Cunning King, the King of the Seelie Court, Grey Death (a/k/a Grey sHADOW)(who just snorted with a knowing look at Mom and was gone), the vampire lord Mom redeemed, Robert-Etienne and Ariel (they combined for the killing blow on the Kar Manta's Master), Mom & I, the prince of the snow dwarves and Parakile, the Oread and the frost daemons, a celestial dragon, Ducks and Indigo (they did do for the witch after all), and a girl holding a sword and riding the Dragonshark Leviathan with a pard by her side.

"I command you, the way is opened!"

At which place in the ritual, Dad just coughed, though his cloak was flowing in the wind and the sword of severance was bright in his hand.

"You can not withstand the twelvefold star" Tekken Upharsin sneered in a voice that was between a shout and an obscene celebration. "It can not be done."

"I quite agree, except the star is mine, not yours" Dad said and broke the ritual. Tekken Upharsin suddenly looked in the now, as if She/He/It!? was seeing for the first time what had been done, who had come at the summons. Dad spoke a name (to replace Grey Death with the true King of Scotland, long slumbering on his spear) and there were twelve points filled in the star. He called, and our power poured into him and against Tekken Upharsin, reversing the gate and capturing him/her/it!! in the vortex and the power of light shredded that creature into a thousand fragments that each burst into fire and were gone.

He looked at Mom. "The war is begun."

And that is how I ended up with Ariel in a boarding school in Switzerland with a pat on the cheek and a promise to return some day. This world isn't the staging ground for a powerful flanking move, and is sealed off to the enemy, but Mom and Dad were needed, which leaves us being babysat pretty hard.

Ariel and I plan to catch up with Indigo and Robert-Etienne as soon as the dust settles. They are at college (being older and "more mature" than Mom thinks we are). I just need to see friends. Jean-Marie and her brother seem to fit right in at this school. Parakile loved it, though he got sent on to the university. But Ariel misses her MTV and I need to visit home once in a while.

The missing adventure in the stories is the Roof of the World. Suffice it to say that we got there in time to break the assault of the undead trolls summoned by the Bonemaster and that Mom ate another wendigo who was barring her way. Too bad Mom didn't get there sooner, it was a bloody battle. Winning it broke the slumber of the celestial court, and the Chinese Dragons, once awake, made short work of the remains of the kraken.

The Dragonshark is part of another story about a silver haired man, his daughter and what they accomplished. The true king of Scotland is a companion tale.

After the battle at the roof of the world some of our familiars transformed (my shadow cat became a flame lion, Ariel's ice falcon became a snow griffin), some did not (Indigo's Red Bull remained the same).

I'll fill the details in some time.

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