"Yeah. Things do seem to have led that way."

"Let us make the best of it, then."

They'll need to make Glint a new staff of office - but that's something Glint will have to do alone. Still, she thinks she can get it done quickly, at least.

Anything to be done while that's happening?

The invasion by Order seems to have picked up quite dramatically, though Glint's main concern right now is covering evacuations of the populace to more defensible positions. It's decently easy to remake the Daedric servants, but the people who moved in will be harder to replace. Also, Glint has a plan to force the confrontation with Jyggalag to happen on their terms, and that involves some carefully planned strikes against the Knights of Order.

Elatra and the others can employ carefully selected violence towards various ends, certainly.

And then Glint returns with her staff of office. "So, found one of Jyggalag's old librarians who Sheogorath kept alive all this time. He was willing to tell me Jyggalag's weaknesses - he thinks his old boss losing here might free Jyggalag from the whole cycle thing."

"Interesting. I suppose it might."

She nods. "Yeah. Unfortunately I can't reshape the world yet - I've got some of Sheogorath's powers, not all - but I think I can help prepare our chosen ground. Make it harder for Jyggalag specifically."

"That is good. Where shall we lay our trap?"

The Fringe is highly defensible, a natural and recent entry point, and decently far from the places they've gotten civilians to - and Order's been making enough inroads there that she thinks it's the 'logical' place for Jyggalag to enter. Order: not much for subterfuge.

Something they'll come to regret, she's sure.

Since Order currently has footholds in the Fringe, they need to be careful while laying their traps - but 'gaining control of undead, which then hold still until the word' (including the longer dead Gatekeeper further in the Fringe) and moving Glint's forces into place both work, as do seeding in traps, fall back positions, and bombs.

Jyggalag is probably going to be weakest to the out-of-worlders - his librarian said he created a chronicle of everything that would logically happen from the beginning of time to the end, but only involving this set of worlds (which Sheogorath had burned). The librarian had known Glint would come - but not that she'd have foreign allies.

Always a pleasure to disrupt the carefully-laid plans of others.

Exactly!

And then, after carefully seeding the Fringe with traps...

They're ready for Jyggalag.

Jyggalag's appearance is marked by the sudden crystallization of everything in the Fringe. Glint's forces freeze, turning to statues.

And a crystal man, bearing some distant resemblance to Sheogorath, begins to walk from the edge.

Glint taps her staff on the ground, and the crystal shatters, her forces moving once more, flowers blossoming, trees turning into butterflies that swarm for Jyggalag.

And the battle is engaged.

Elatra begins with summoning some blood to get Eliana started, then begins directing her undead minions to cause various havoc, looking out for opportunities to to turn the enemy against themselves.

Narrowing down what things turn into what's a bit hard, but -

Her forces bleed human blood when they're cut, and they leave behind bodies, and the most useful of those are raised at Glint's side or at pre-prepared fonts to rush back in, rather than being returned straight to where they left their corpse. The butterflies explode in a shower of blood when Jyggalag destroys them, splattering him (and the mess sends cracks through his crystalline fields). The flowers start screaming (and weeping blood), at a pitch that shatters any Knights running by them. Glint hums and spins and gathers storm clouds, that don't rain a single speck of water nor flash a single bolt of electricity. (She makes an umbrella over their group when it starts raining knives, and sound dampening when the musical thunder grows a bit too loud). Trees lash around, groaning, slamming into the crystals nearest them when they can't reach Knights. She throws colorful bolts at Knights; the ones hit are turned into her own forces, or ten foot tall chickens, or sweet rolls, or butterfly swarms, or showers of golden coins, or (after some muttering and focus) showers of blood.

Mora has a book open and a ritual long since begun, mostly empowering her allies and the land itself, seeding chaos and madness into the ground alongside Glint's efforts.

Eliana is having, approximately, the time of her life. Vast swathes of elemental destruction rip across the battlefield at her command, tossing enemies like ragdolls and occasionally running into each other to erupt unpredictably.

Every eruption is met by a delighted laugh from Glint! And rather more blood for Eliana to work with as she figures out appropriately chaotic and mad ways of generating it.

And yet Jyggalag doesn't falter in his even, measured approach, a trail of stubborn crystal fanning out behind him.

Looks like he needs some personalized attention. The ground around and in front of him shakes erratically and bursts open in gouts of flame while lightning swarms above him, striking at the crystalline formations with concussive force.

A crystal path forms before him. Safe. Orderly.

His expression seems tight.

Under the onslaught - the lightning, the randomized rain, the blood, the corpses grasping at him, the ridiculous butterflies -

He misses a step.

He recovers.

He continues on.