"I do not pray. If gods exist, they do not serve us. Some do pray - or have little rituals, holidays. It does not seem to cause miracles. As for transport, it's walking under a march spell until we get to the pass, even with prisoners. There ought to be a truck there. We have to burn everything here first but my men can handle that."

"I am not familiar with the term "march spell". I'm guessing it's a type of healing to reduce fatigue? Or does it increase people's speed? In any case, I will be happy to discuss things on the road. I'd rather get out of here sooner rather than later. Staying in a place full of cultists like this is just asking for Tonos to throw something creepy at us. Like a new kind of undead that is hiding in a locked room somewhere, for example. Or a demon in the guise of a mortal."

Lilian believes that pointing things like this out makes Tonos slightly less likely to actually do it. Academics are divided on the topic, but her personal experience suggests that Tonos does not like being too predictable.

They set about destroying all the cultists' work, including thoroughly smashing the orrery-things, and the undead, after trying to identify the elfanoid, or rather humanoid, with the word elfanoid used since elves are the most populous species, ones for the record. They pick out some crystals and coins from the bodies and devices as loot but leave the rest.

Outside the cave, it's a craggy lightly forested mountainside looking out over a wide plain that's nothing but forest, and more forest. There's more soldiers waiting outside. One of them is a short person with pale milky blue skin, with short pointed ears and artificer-style goggles as well as a bulky toolbelt. Something about his body shape is off from an elf or human. Not ugly or deformed, but just slightly off. He's sitting in the gunner's seat of of a miniature wagon of some kind with another large orrery-looking contraption sitting on top. This one has an obvious front end, that's pointed at the cave, which pans to track Lilian until Lt. Sokolov says that they're escorting her for now.

Katarina smiles and gestures towards him. "Mr. Smashngrab there handles heavy weapons for us. Unorthodox, but we are an unorthodox unit."

Lilian takes in the wagon as it aims its cannon at her. She does not get a feeling of shock from the soldiers with her through her telepathy, so this is just a precautionary measure. She is proven right seconds later, when the Heroine tells the driver to stand down.

She assumes that the driver is a goblin, since that's the only thing that fits, in her experience. Goblins on Hyd are the most diverse species and highly susceptible to all manner of transformative effects. Seeing a blue one would not be out of the ordinary. The name sounds very strange though.

"Mr. Shmashngrab? I take it that is a nickname? What makes it unorthodox for him to handle heavy weapons? And what is that thing he is riding? It looks like the ancestor of a tank. Did that word translate correctly?"

"Blastcart. Built it meself!" The goblin grins at her. "Most of us don't like the Chels but I have my reasons to hate necromancy. Am volunteer. And yeah, just call me that." The goblin's feelings show old pain and a hint of well worn anxiety.

"Yes, there are few Goblins in our army, regrettably. They have a predisposition to chaotic brilliance. And yes, I have heard of tanks. I'm not sure I can tell you too much about the Union's military situation, you understand."

Lilian wonders why Mr. Smashngrab can't speak properly. Then she remembers something from history: In a world where people do not have a single standard language, that's something that can happen if you aren't a native speaker. Presumably the goblin is not used to this language.

"I understand that you can't talk about military secrets of course. It's just fascinating to me: My homeland had weapons very similar to this one, before the cataclysm."

Telepathically, she then adds: "It just occurred to me, are we keeping my background secret? It can't be every day that someone teleports in from another world, and I do not want to attract the wrong sort of attention."

"Yes, the rainbow of weaponry is a fascinating topic."

Is this how telepathy works? Or am I just being silly? I may as well think about it at any rate. I don't really know. Gossip is unimportant. I do have to report any occurrences of interest to my superiors, nothing at all would even vaguely work if I didn't. But if the word spreads between Interior, Intelligence, Diplomacy, and the Army, the idiots in Economy, to say nothing of the Party itself involved, I have no godsdamned idea who would jump in which way. No doubt there would be a huge fucking mess when really we should all be preparing for the war everyone knows is looming. I don't know if Boss would cooperate with keeping things quiet.

"Yes, my telepathy works like this. You have to want to respond, and then I can hear it in my head. You can't initiate conversation, but I get a vague sense of it when you try, so that I can start the connection.

Politics is not one of my favorite topics. I have found that honesty is often the best approach, but I will trust your judgment on this."

Lilian is being half-honest. She really does prefer being honest, it's just that the reality of her situation means that being honest is rarely a good idea for her. She thinks it's hilarious when it does work though: Nothing is better than derailing one of Tonos' incredibly annoying political plots by just getting everyone into the same room and openly telling them that they are all being manipulated by the god of stories. Lots of devious schemers suddenly change tracks when you can convince them that they are the pawns of an even greater schemer. Screw you, Tonos!

Case in point: What she explained about her telepathy is a half-truth. She can only talk openly if the other person allows it. But with enough skill and luck, she can read surface thoughts even against someone's will. This is not something she wants to publicize until she knows what the fallout will be, however.

She purses her lips and starts directing her people to get ready to march as she continues the telepathic conversation.

If you prefer to operate with open honesty, that could be difficult. Particularly if interesting stories tend to happen around you. The safest place might ironically be a dangerous one, where the struggle is known, or at least one with relatively petty drama. Local tragedies, not national politics. I am thinking about whether I want to try to stick to you, or rather get you to stick with us, assuming honestly about the risks and rewards here...

I get your point. Frankly, the difference between different kinds of stories is exactly why I am quite happy to follow you around. You are a soldier with a flaming sword who just defeated a bunch f cultists. I know a protagonist when I see one. And yours is the kind of story I understand very well. Much better than political intrigue.

Well, I joined the Army because of my father. I wanted to be a paper-pusher. Climb the ranks, work in a training or logistics group somewhere safely behind the lines. But it turns out I am good at fighting and they're never going to let me sit in Harkon shuffling papers, now, so perhaps I AM a protagonist.

Mind you, the only reason that stories hold power in my world is because of the god Tonos. I am pretty sure that he sent me here, but I don't know if he is still influencing things. I guess we will have to wait and see if unlikely but story-like events continue to happen.