Oh?

The Doom. We should still emphasize that what they said was ambiguous, but– It covers both hosts, plus anyone who left against the Valar's will, plus their descendants. I'm sorry.

It is what I understood them to mean.

That doesn't make it less bad.

There's also more fate. It might not apply anymore; Ulmo didn't know if humans can derail it or not. But what there is is bad. Do you think you'll be able to hear it if I say?

Depends whether I can do anything about it, supposedly.

According to fate, the war lasts about sixty Years. We lose. Fëanáro dies very early, but Ulmo didn't know how early, so if he stays alive very long we can conclude that I can change fate after all. We build several kingdoms, of which the one in the place he left the house falls last unless we're reckless. The Enemy is Doomed by Eru, so at least he loses too.

I could have pressed Ulmo for more, but he considers averting fate to be rebelling. Didn't want him to think that clearly that means I need to be got rid of before the Sun rises.

Okay. That sounds like a very productive visit. And - well, Fëanáro's still alive, maybe somehow he'll stay that way.

Shall we go get the contents of our stolen library?

Yes. We might need practitioners in case Rose Thorburn is there, diabolists are scary at the best of times. Which this isn't.

What do we do if it comes to a fight?

Avoid it coming to a fight.

The trick we're using on the Enemy should work on a human practitioner, easily, but demons can make for a really effective deadman switch. Best chance might be to knock on her door and try to convince her to help. 'Sorry about the unexpected summoning, but we needed big guns and you're the scariest person I could get.'

And are you likely to be dead if that works out badly?

I doubt it. Killing me wouldn't help anything, and anyone with a policy of killing anyone who aggresses wouldn't last long as a diabolist. The bigger worry is that she might try negotiating with the Enemy.

That is a very very big worry, yes. Okay, how many people can we take, flying -

Everyone, if we wanted to. Unless the number of practitioners multiplied while I've been gone I guess.

If we take a hundred, that's an absolute army by the standards of people who don't run literal armies and would be massive overkill for anything that's not just unwinnable.

Then let's do that. We are Doomed, though. 

Yeah. I'm not, but I did kind of steal her entire house by accident so she's got the high ground. Even if diabolists have really bad luck in general.

I should probably do the talking, karma's less of a guarantee than Doom sounds like.

Probably, yeah.

They have five or six practitioners come to knock on the door. It'll look like they came out in force, but since the house did land in the middle of nowhere it's that or pretend Amber came alone. (They did come out in force, but the massive overkill is waiting in the wings just in case.)

Hillsglade House is three stories tall with a short tower extending above that. It's imposing, but not in a way that screams EVIL. It's probably mostly remarkable for human architecture reasons and what-is-that-roof-made-of.

Amber knocks. No answer.

Is there a way to check if she's here?

I would have expected an answer. I'll knock a few more times, then maybe osanwë?

All right.

They wait.

No answer after two more rounds of knocking and calling hello.

Rose Thorburn? 

Also no answer.

Might be Ulmo left her. Or she was not at home.