"If we can clear a path to it fast enough, it might not have time to react? I don't know, maybe that doesn't matter."

"...it seems risky to bet on the Time card not having time. Also, whatever strategy we come up with can only be used once, if it fails it'll probably be prepared next time. The Maze idea sounds good, but we need to have a pretty solid plan for how to capture it once we leave the Maze, we'll only have the one shot at it."

"Right. Once we get to the top of the clocktower, I'll use the Maze. One of you might have to go through, since I'll be controlling the card...Alistair can do the Shield thing...but only I can use the staff, once we get it to reveal its true form I have to be there."

"Wait I thought we were going to use the Shield instead of the Maze. If we use both and that fails then we've lost two possible avenues of attack."

"We don't have to combine the Shield spell and the Maze, but we have to combine it with something, it wasn't very mobile."

"The Maze still has the problem of the exit. Even if the Maze protects us, leaving it makes us vulnerable, and then we've lost our chance. If we could get the Maze to surround the Time card-"

"It might react to that, though."

"That depends on whether it can even detect the Maze as it sneaks up, and if it could put an exit right on top of the Time so you could capture it from there..."

"We should test the Maze before we confront it. We can do that today, and try another plan on the Time tonight?" 

"Yeah, sounds good. But then there's also the problem that is the Erase."

"We'll have to take care of it on the last day, but maybe not every time." 

"Except we may not necessarily know when the last day is, given we'll be testing approaches for the Time."

"Right, but we can't lose our chance to get it by running out of plans. I don't know how smart the Erase is, but we have to assume it'll remember things we do, right? The cards are definitely magic, and affected by the cards."

"Exactly. So it won't make the same mistakes twice." Pause. "And the Cards get stronger with time, don't they?"

"Yes..."

"So not only will our plans change, but the scope of the Erase's power will, too. Ugh, what a mess."

"The trick is getting close without being affected. We'll probably have to come up with spells for this...Kero, could Sadde change herself into something the Erase can't erase?"

"Not really. But the Erase is slow."

"So it wasn't just luck that Scott captured it before it got him? I'd been assuming he'd almost made a really stupid mistake."

"It gets faster the longer it's active, though."

"Right. And how does Time get more powerful? Will it start doing weeks at a time, until we don't have any of our cards left?"

"It might, but it's very powerful already, it'll take a long time to become more powerful. It might make you forget, too."

"Okay. So we don't get too many shots at this. If we can count on getting the Time soon, we can wait to catch the Erase until after, but then the Erase gets stronger. If we keep catching the Erase, it can still get stronger, but it also learns our plans, which is bad if they would work even when it gets faster. Is that what we're looking at?" 

"Approximately," she agrees.

"Okay. So let's focus on the Maze plan. If Alistair or you activates the Maze, and I go through, I have the staff to capture it with. But even if the Maze keeps it from noticing us, are we sure getting that close counts? Kero, what do you think?"