He is laying on the floor of a corridor. The walls seem to be carved into stone, the floor looks metallic, but is not cold to the touch. The weather is incredibly hot.

There is shouting above him, steel swords clashing, and shouting in an unfamiliar language. People dressed in black with face-covering helmets are trying to push past a muscular man who is surrounded by some sort of field, and protecting a door. If he looks through the door he'll see three people standing in the next room.

One of the soldiers notices he's still alive and makes an attempt at stabbing him.

The heat makes him think that he's in Avernus, but he realizes that Avernus does not have metal floors and also devils do not look like that.

Instinctually, he draws his dagger to parry. It doesn't look like it will intercept the soldier's blade, but it suddenly shifts to being a five foot long greatsword.

The soldier is surprised when his blow gets parried, and hesitates for a second before trying again, from a different angle.

He is going to totally let go of the sword, and the sword will fly out to stab the soldier in response! Now swordless, he will roll over and get up.

The flying sword gets blocked by the soldier's shield. He thus doesn't pay any more attention to it while trying to get the weirdly dressed person for the third time, which is why he doesn't notice that the sword is still pushing at his shield, and slowly getting through it. He is dead before his sword has a chance to connect with his enemy.

Who is that? How did he? Is that a sword sized Hunter-seeker?

He had to use Sword of the Mage – that's what he calls it – twice, but it seems that it was worth it. He's mildly surprised the soldier went down in one hit. Maybe he hit a vital organ? He wasn't really aiming.

The sword returns to his hand, and he adopts an actual fighting stance.

Does he have spells?

No. He still has his three open spell slots – one at first, one at second, one at third – but all his other spells are expended. And he can feel that his sword doesn't have the energy in it to let him cast an extra spell.

It seems he'll have to go through this entire fight without spells. Hah. He, a wizard, has been reduced to a below average fighter. A small part of him is glad that the martial skills – which he knew everyone mocked him for for training – are paying their due.

The door to the other room closes. There are 11 of the black clad warriors in the corridor, beside him and the man who is protecting the door. Four of them are on the floor, dead or dying.

"That's a fancy sword you have there."

He's speaking to Conrad, but it doesn't sound like any language he knows.

He's...aware that the man is speaking to him, but it's not like he can understand him, so. And it doesn't sound like what he's saying is important, based on the tone. He responds by just staring at him for a little bit.

Do the other soldiers try to come at him? He doesn't think he can take on eleven soldiers, but if they're also coming from the other person, and they all only die in one hit, then it could be doable? He feels so...exposed without his spells. It must be what having no armor is like, for a fighter. Indeed, that's literally the case for him. He always goes out with Mage Armor, and now he doesn't have it. He has learned to conjure something like Mage Armor not as a spell, but it seems he's exhausted that ability.

The soldiers are protected by some form of... shield, or barrier, such that he can only hit them if he does so slowly. They will all die on a single hit, if he hits critical organs, or two hits if he doesn't.

Duncan is used to fighting that way, and can easily kill five of the remaining warriors, if Conrad protects his flank.

Conrad is very much not used to fighting like that, so he will mostly take up space vaguely near Duncan so that none of them try to go in that direction. Truly, Conrad is Helping.

What kind of magic item or spell is this??? He has never seen anything like it before. A shield that only deflects fast things???

He could use Sword of the Mage again – it worked last time – but the core issue with that ability is that the sword has to leave his hands for several seconds while it flies to the target, stabs, and comes back. He will only try using it if any of them try to advance towards him.

Do they have any ranged weaponry? He is very much fine with just stalling if they don't, but if they start shooting at him, he will want to very aggressively eliminate that person as fast as possible.

Working together, they manage to kill or incapacitate the remaining soldier without any major wound. They don't seem to be using ranged weaponry at all. When things seem to be looking up, six more warriors appear, with heavier armor and one of them is handling something that could possibly be an heavy ranged weapon.

"Come get me boys!"

Conrad has never seen a rifle or a gun in his life but he knows the body language of pointing and shooting. He has seen crossbows before.

He will send his sword flying towards the person holding the big heavy long thing!

The person holding the big heavy long thing is now on the floor, wheezing, while the other five charge. They split into two towards Conrad and three towards the other guy.

Duncan quickly dispatches one of them, and is trading blows with the second, when his knife gets stuck in the man's armor, and the third soldier takes advantage of the momentary distraction to sword him through.

He falls to his knees, then on his side.

Shit. The greatsword will return to him faster than the two can get to him, but he still barely has enough time to get both his hands around it until they're in range.

Not having spells is So Awful.

He'll be able to kill one, but not without getting wounded first.

Then the two who were fighting the muscular dude join the remaining soldier, and it's three against one.

His odds don't look good.

Ow. It's...painful, but it's not lethal. He once got gored by a vrock and survived. Well, that was with Mage Armor, Shield, False Life, and Mirror Image on. But still. He's really proud of that one.

He would run away, but. It doesn't seem like he'll be able to.

He will fight until the very end. Against whoever these people are. And for whoever this person is.

They're closing in, going for grapples if they can, and trying to stab him in that weird fast-then-slow movements designed to go through shields. He might be able to kill one, but it's going to be difficult avoiding the other two while doing that.

His odds don't look good. At all.

He's confident he can take one of them in a grapple, but there are multiple of them. So he's going to avoid that.

He doesn't have a shield, so the movement they're doing is entirely redundant. He's not sure if they haven't noticed, or if it's too ingrained in them for them to attack in the normal way.

Can he stall? Thought that's pointless – no one is coming. Can he make a run for it? Probably not. Not without getting stabbed more. He might or might not make it through that. Is there anything around he could use? Something to throw?

There isn't really something he could throw here, the soldiers are between him and the rest of the corpses. He manages to stall for a bit, mostly due to the attackers moving like he had a shield, but he's now cornered.

Surprise!

His legs are shaky, and his breath is wheezing, but he manages to stand up again.

Two of the Sardaukars are suddenly distracted by swords unexpectedly jutting out of their guts, while the third one gets a kick to his knees that makes him tumble to the ground.

Oh. The dead guy was actually still alive. And quick enough to attack both of them at once.

In that case, he'll simply sink his greatsword into the chest of the remaining one – but slowly. Conrad is capable of learning.

Are there any others? If there are none left in the room, he'll stick his head out the corridor.

There are no more soldiers here in the corridor.

"You fought well. Thank you for helping protect my Duke."

And then he collapses on the floor.

He doesn't understand what the guy is saying.

Is he actually dead this time? He'll check to see if he's breathing.

He's wheezing. Still alive, but not for long.

Ah. Does he want to save him? Probably...yeah. He's kind of already thrown in his lot with these people, so.

You don't get to choose which side to fight for. What would his life have been if he was born in Lastwall and not Cheliax? The only thing you can do is make the most with what you have.

He'll sit on the floor cross-legged next to him, take out his spellbook, and prepare Infernal Healing in his remaining first-circle slot. It should take a minute.

Is he still alive by the end of it?

Somehow... yes. He's really stubborn.

In that case, he'll touch the man on the forehead and he will get...a very sinister and doomy feeling...but will also feel a lot of his wounds resolving over the course of a minute. Provided he didn't get any parts amputated. The spell can't fix those.

He thinks that he's pretty strong, so he doesn't think that it will fix all his injuries. If he was one of the weaker soldiers from earlier, then it would cure him completely. Still, it will work to stabilize him.

Uh, that's an unfamiliar death farewell.

He really expected to be dead by now, except... he isn't?

Doom feelings aside, he's not feeling bad actually? What?

He tentatively gets into a sitting position, and coughs up some blood, but upon checking the wound in his guts he finds that he's not bleeding anymore.

"Are you some kind of Bene Gesserit witch? I'm pretty sure I was dying, then you touched my forehead and I don't seem to be dying right now. I'm not complaining, mind, just - confused. Who are you? Who sent you? Why are you dressed like that.

... pardon me, I'm being incredibly rude with the person who just saved my ass."

He extends his hand.

"Duncan Idaho."

Oh no the person is talking aaaa.

Yes, Conrad does indeed look very out of place in his thick twill uniform meant to be used in the frigid arctic Worldwound. It is drenched in sweat and blood – both of his own, and others. He doesn't seem to have noticed.

He has no idea why the man is putting his hand towards him. He looks at it, and then at the man's face, and then back at it again. Cultures on Golarion don't really do touching for introductions – that's how you get touch spells cast on you. Even village peasants know that.

Right. Should he prepare Tongues? It's third circle, and there are many useful and powerful spells he can cast at third-circle. But speaking to this man seems like it would also be very useful. He could compromise and prepare Comprehend Languages instead, except that only lets him understand, and it's less of a good deal than it normally is, because he no longer has any first-circle slots and has to use a second-circle one for it.

He looks at Duncan some more and then decides to sign 'one' at him, with a fist with the index finger extended. Hopefully he understands that as meaning he should wait. He will open his spellbook again and starts to prepare Tongues. He is so glad he learned how to prepare spells quickly. He didn't actually learn it because of the battlefield utility – he learned it so that he could spend the remainder of the one hour allotted to spellcasters for spell preparation working out.

It looks like he's playing a lyre, but also weaving, but also making shadow puppets. It looks very complicated and intricate.

The dude's not shaking his hand. Rude. But also, he saved his life, he gets some slack for that. A lot of slack.

He's... asked him to wait (?) and now doing something weird with that book? What's with the hand gestures?

You know what, he'll wait. It's fine. Still beats bleeding out on the floor.

It finishes, and he closes the book. He casts Tongues. It involves saying a few words – different words from when he cast Infernal Healing.

"Hello," he says in Galach.

"Oh, so you do speak. Did you get anything of what I said before or were you still concentrating on whatever you did to save my ass?"

"No. I don't speak this language. I cast Tongues so that I could speak it."

The name of the spell comes out in the original Taldane.

So he's outing himself as a third-circle wizard and not a fighter, but he doesn't think him knowing that about him would be bad. And it's already very obvious that he's not from here.

"I have no clue what you're talking about, seems like you're speaking it fine to me. And I don't know what Ton-gs is.

Anyway, I'm Duncan Idaho and I'm in debt to you. My life is already pledged to my Duke, but you have my respect and support.

Now.

Who the hell are you, and where the hell do you come from - dressed like that? You didn't come with the Sardaukars, that's for sure."

Fortunately, 'hell' doesn't register to Conrad as 'Hell', or he would have had Feelings.

"I am Conrad Ferrer, unit wi...just Conrad Ferrer. I'm from the Worldwound," he says, as though the black and red uniform with the insignia of Cheliax on it doesn't give away where he's really from.

"I think I am from very far away." He doesn't feel like explaining that he came here somehow after dying after he defected.

"Never heard of Worldwound, must be far from the usual routes." He tentatively stands up. He's bruised but... mostly fine?

"Well, if things go well we'll have plenty of time later. Right now we should get out of here. When they get no news back from their advance team they're going to send reinforcements, and I don't know about you, but I don't feel very optimistic in taking twenty or forty more of them.

There are probably going to be a couple more guarding the thopters, but if we disguise ourselves we might be able to fool them long enough to get into melee range."

He removes the armor and uniform from one of the dead soldiers, then starts undressing.

"And I bet even Sardaukar's uniforms are going to be more comfortable than what you're wearing right now."

The usual routes...? The Worldwound is not on any major shipping routes because it's the Worldwound. Though perhaps that's just his ignorance. Cheliax supplies its soldiers in large part via teleporting wizards carrying Bags of Holding – it has enough wizards for that.

He also has no idea what a thopter is. Tongues is giving him the impression that it's a...machine? A vehicle? Okay.

"Where are we going? Are we going the same way the people who where running away behind you were going?"

The adrenaline rush of the fight has started to fade, and he now realizes that he's boiling inside his uniform. And his knife wounds are starting to hurt. He follows his lead and undresses, and looks at the bodies and picks one that seems similar in size and shape to him. And also isn't cut up in inconvenient places. How intuitive is the uniform? Can he figure it out? Also, he wants to Prestidigitate both himself and the uniform clean before putting it on...he doesn't have Prestidigitation anymore. And he's not going to spend another minute putting it into a second-circle slot. Okay. He'll deal with cleaning himself up tomorrow.

He realizes belatedly that he doesn't have his ring of protection or his locked gauntlet anymore. Well, better to lose them than to lose his sword or his spellbook. Those are irreplaceable.

The uniform is pretty intuitive, except for the helmet, which is made of some weird material, transparent as glass but clearly not glass to the touch. If he looks at Duncan he will be able to put everything on on his own.

"We could try that, but they're probably gone now, and I prefer to give the Sardaukars a very obvious target so that they chase us instead of them. I think if we get back to the entrance we'll probably find three or four thopters, or possibly a troop transport. Try to copy how I'm walking and pretend everything is fine, we need to get close enough before they have a chance to shoot us. And let's hope there's only the pilots there."

Not to worry, Conrad was looking a lot at Duncan. So he will definitely be able to put everything on on his own. He'll revert his greatsword into its dagger form.

"I can do that. Who are they? Are they – is one of them the Duke you're pledged to? Also, my Tongues will only last for an hour. Do you think the mission take more than that? I assume we're going to try to commandeer one of the vehicles for you to drive."

They get walking. "They are my Duke Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica his mother and the Imperial Planetologist Kynes. Still don't know what Tongues is, but I definitely hope the mission takes more than one hour, because if it doesn't it will be because we're dead. My plan is to commandeer one of their vehicles, yes, and then draw the heat on us to allow Paul, Jessica and Kynes to escape safely. If for some reason we manage to not die, I know how to find the Fremen villages, and then we can reunite with them."

There are three ornithopters circling above, and a troop transport on the ground. There are only two Sardaukars next to it, sitting and having a conversation.

"Tongues is what lets me speak your language.

I am very interested in not dying. What does drawing the heat on us entail? I don't know how to drive the vehicles."

"Well. We get that thing -" subtly pointing at the transport "- off the ground, and when they -" pointing at the ornithopters "- notice something is wrong they will want to chase us instead of chasing after Paul. And don't worry, the transport is going to be empty, so we can actually outrun the thopters. If I'm flying it. Now we should shut up, Sardaukars don't speak Galach between each other."

One the pilots shouts at them. "Why are you two back alone? Where are the others?"

The language sounds different from what Duncan was speaking, harsh and guttural.

Conrad stiffens.

"The others have been killed, Sir. Duncan Idaho escaped with Paul and Jessica," he says in the same language. His accent is perfect. "We have been ordered to retreat and do an air search."

The pilot is suspicious, noticing something... off about the phrasing. As he's thinking about it, he hears the sound of metal scraping on metal, and then of an ornithopter taking off.

"Quick, you two, get on board!"

What. Why does Conrad speak Sardaukar like a native? And yet, he fought beside him, and they are getting on the transport, not attacking, so he must have given the correct answer.

Oh, that sound is probably Paul! They need to rush.

It turns out that being below average in Bluff for a Chelaxian still means you're above average in...wherever this place is. Or he just got lucky. He will take all the luck he can get, now.

Duncan said that the troop transport will be empty. Is it empty? What's inside?

Beside the two pilots, there is nobody there, just rows of seats and some trunks below the seats. The doors close immediately after they get on board, and they take off.

He signals with his hands. :I'll take the one piloting, you take the other. Ok?:

Tongues only covers spoken language, not sign or written language. Still, he can get the gist of what he's saying. He will change his bonded item from a dagger to a sword. It is silent.

He'll wait for his cue.

Good, he got the message. :Now!:

The two soldiers are not wearing armor, and were definitely not expecting to be attacked, so they go down without a fight.

Duncan shoves the pilot out of his seat, and slows down enough to get behind the ornithopters.

"So. Tell me about your vacation on Salusa Secundus."

"I don't know what Salusa Secundus is. I told you that Tongues lets me speak your language – it lets me speak and understand any other spoken language too. If you know other languages than Galach, I can speak to you in them. Try me."

He supposes it's too much for a fighter to know Tongues – it's not the most flashy or popular of spells. It's no Fireball.

Sure. Why not. There's no way he knows the Ancient Battle Language. Duncan can barely remember it from his studies.

"Hok skias dubito vere."

"Noli dubitare, quia lingua tua loquor."

Conrad looks very smug about it.

What. He knows the Sardaukar language. And Conrad just spoke with a better accent than Gurney has.

"Well." He aims at one of the ornithopters.

"Aren't you full of surprises." Fire!

"We really need to survive this, because I want to hear your story. I'm sure I won't believe a tenth of it, but I still want to hear it."

His target goes down, and the other two split, one keeping pursuit of Paul, the other turning back on him.

He's the better pilot, but the ornithopter is more agile, and he can't avoid being hit.

"Damn it, that was a bad one. They hit the left engine. I'm not sure we'll be able to..."

With a loud bang, the left engine stops working, and they begin to lose altitude.

"... YOU UNCLEGRABBER." He manages to down the second thopter, but the sand is getting closer.

"Ferrer, brace!"

"Ouch." He's... still in one piece, but pretty bruised. "You alright there?"

Conrad is aware that he has to brace, but he's not sure how one is supposed to brace in this specific case. He will simply curl up into a fetal position and hold onto himself tightly. He tumbles over to the floor when the transport crashes. It's painful, but it's not a big deal.

"I've survived worse. What about you?"

"Well, I survived being stabbed through the gut today, it's not like a bumpy landing is going to kill me!"

"Are there enemies around? Can you see or detect them?"

"I don't see any, no. Do you?"

*Thump*

*Thump*

*Thump*

*Thump*

"No."

He should probably explain a little about how wizard magic works.

"I have limited uses of my abilities, and I have one use remaining. I can choose to prepare an ability now, and this will let me use that ability without any lead time, but this will fix the use to that ability. Alternatively, I can continue to leave it unfixed, but this will mean that when I need to do something, I have to prepare it using my book for a minute. Which I can't do if we're fighting.

If there is no one around, then it would be good to think about what ability would be useful for me to prepare."

"I sure hope we won't fight again today. Not sure I could take another hit.

I see no one around so... might as well go through the options. What are your "abilities"?"

"Oh, there's a lot." He smiles.

He's not going to talk about all his spells, only the ones that he thinks could be useful. He also won't talk about buffs that don't apply to multiple people. He also won't talk about third-circle spells because he can't cast any more of them today. He also won't talk about his cantrips because none of them seem worth it to put on a second-circle slot in this situation.

"I can protect..." this language does not have words for Lawful or Chaotic that he likes. Okay, never mind then.

"Er, I can do the healing I did on you, but that's only for one person. I can put a bunch of people to sleep for several minutes, but it can fail. I can make a hologram," good, they have a word for that. "I can make horses for people to ride on. I can arrest people's falls and make them land softly. I can see invisible entities and objects. I can make someone a lot stupider for an hour if I touch them. I can make a hiding and resting place for us that will last six hours. I can transmit a message through the wind someplace less than six miles away."

He won't talk about Detect Thoughts.

"Duncan, do you trust this man?"

"GAH! Where did you come from?"

"No time. Answer me. Do you trust him?"

Is that a Sandworm coming? Fuck, they need to get out of the sand!

Does he trust Ferrer? Not really, but... "I owe him my life."

"See that ridge? Stay there and do not - for any reason - move until I tell you so."

"There is a Sandworm coming!"

"I know. I called Him."

He is also startled! He puts his hand on his dagger, but doesn't draw it.

Okay. One of Duncan's allies.

"What is a Sandworm?"

"What is says on the tin. Giant worm, burrows and moves under the sand. Attracted by any rhythmic sound, and by shields. The biggest can reach up to 400 meters in length, and their mouth can easily span more than 60 meters in diameter. If they hear you - and you can't get out of the sand - you're dead, they are faster than a running man and absolutely relentless in their pursuit. And apparently Dr Kynes just fucking summoned one. There is no use in running now, it's too close and this transport will not fly without repairs. Kynes seemed to know what they're doing, and it's not as if we have alternatives." He will move to where Kynes told him to, and gestures for Ferrer to follow.

Conrad was not taught this in bestiary class!!!

Right. Presumably, Dr Kynes has some way of controlling the beast.

Conrad will follow.

Is it faster than a horse? No, Duncan said that it would relentlessly pursue, so it didn't matter.

*Thump*

*Thump*

*Thu

As the worm emerges to swallow the thumper, Liet just jumps on it, and uses the hooks to lift two scales from the worm's armor, controlling it and preventing it from burrowing back.

"Get ready to jump, you two!"

...

Ok. Well. That explains a lot of things actually.

They're really doing this. He should have prepared Cat's Grace.

He makes sure all the items on his person are secure in preparation for jumping.

It doesn't look like Kynes is using magic to bind the beast? Not obviously, anyway. It's possible they have spells on them, or that the hooks are enchanted, or that the spell doesn't have visible effects – lots of spells don't. If they are...it would be a ninth-circle spell to cast Dominate Monster. Maybe there's an alternate form of it? Or, Kynes is a druid, not a wizard, and so has a more efficient spellform for it, or has a specific variation of Dominate Monster that only works on Sandworms, which stabilizes at a lower circle.

Whatever the case might be, it's clear that they are very powerful. If it wasn't magic, well, he can't imagine it being any easier to do it mundanely.

*Jump*

Jump!

"Glad you both made it. How many Sardaukars are left in the station?"

"About 40 or so. Of which none is alive, to be clear."

Conrad will be Very Quiet and not speak unless he's spoken to by the archmage or their ally.

"Good. I saw you down the thopters. The third one crashed when it got too close to the storm. Idiots. Your Duke just went right into it. I would call him an idiot too, but I don't think he is. I hope he'll make it to the Sietch. I'll send some people to do a discreet cleanup, but right now we should get going."

Your Duke. Not my or the or our Duke. Which implies that Kynes isn't beholden to or formally a vassal or subordinate of Duke Atreides. Which makes sense – they are an archmage. Or an archdruid. He doesn't know druid titles. Can he learn how to ride a Sandworm. He knows that some wizards take on familiars – he has never wanted a familiar more in his entire life. Can he have a Sandworm familiar. Can he ride a Sandworm into battle. Can he apprentice under Dr Kynes. What is a Sietch. Presumably a Sietch is good, because Paul is meant to go there...it could also mean that Paul just suicided himself and Jessica and the Sietch is what they call one of the afterlife planes, and Dr Kynes hopes he makes it there even though suicide is Evil. Maybe it's a Neutral afterlife and Jessica is Good, so even if she commits suicide, it will just drop her down to Neutral, whereas Paul is Neutral and risks Evil. It would explain why they said 'he'.

Conrad is being Very Quiet.

"We were talking about your vast abilities. I think the most useful one could be creating the resting and hiding place, and we wouldn't need that during combat, so it's probably fine if it takes a minute to prepare it. Dr Kynes, how long until our destination?"

"Probably one thumper or less."

"In hours?"

"Four or five, depending on how tired He gets."

Who is 'He'. Is the Sandworm an avatar or incarnation of a god somehow???????? And what do they mean by 'four or five'??????

Oh he should clarify how Rope Trick works.

"I can create a hiding place that will last for six hours, but it needs to be attached to a piece of rope or some other kind of thick string. The rope should be hidden, because anyone that pulls on the rope can access the place. However, anything or anyone inside is undetectable from the outside – only the rope is visible."

"Could we hide the rope under the sand?"

So that doesn't really work, but it's possible they have some tools that could make it work, and also he doesn't want to directly contradict the archdruid's companion in front of them.

"When I cast the spell, one end of the rope will be fixed in position and can no longer be moved. Where the rope is determines the opening to the space – think of it like a trapdoor. We could hide it in the sand by burying it, but this means that the opening would open into sand."

"We could bury a tent into the sand, put the rope there, get from the tent to the opening, collapse the tent. But then it would be annoying to get out, as you said. Well, hopefully we won't need it."

Conrad nods. He has a complicated relationship with hope.

"So. We haven't had a lot of time to talk so far. Tell me more about yourself! You said you came from a world called Wound or something?"

"My world – the planet – is called Golarion. I was born there, in the country of Cheliax. I am – was – part of its military. We were deployed at the Worldwound, which is a portal to the..." no word for Abyss "...dimension of conflict, from which pour out lots and lots of evil creatures that have to be prevented from escaping. Many countries contribute to its containment."

"Never heard of Golarion either. Which House controls it?

A permanent portal... " would make the Guild obsolete! "How was it created? Pity yours leads to somewhere inhospitable, but if the technology to create it hasn't been lost..."

"...no one House controls Golarion. Um...Cheliax is ruled by House Thrune, Mendev by Queen Galfrey...I'm not sure what Lastwall's doing...but in any case all of those are only in the continent of Avistan. I know even less about the the other continents like Tian Xia.

Areelu Vorlesh, a...um...a very smart person, claims credit for creating the Worldwound. I don't know whether she is capable or willing to create permanent portals to other places. There is another permanent portal I know of, but it's also connected to an equally inhospitable place. I know somewhere in...I think Osirion? Or one of its neighbors? There is a portal that connects to the...dimension of death."

He also wants to ask questions but doesn't know whether it's impertinent of him to.

"Must be quite the scientist this Vorlesh. Maybe we could see if she's willing to work for us. Well, it will have to wait until we can get any form of interplanetary communications back.

You've never told me the story of how you got to that corridor. Were you with the Sardaukars and suddenly decided you preferred my company? Why were you dressed so heavily?"

Oh, 'scientist' is the word for archmage. After thinking about the word in his head with Tongues for a moment, it makes sense. He doesn't know whether 'scientist' is also an appropriate word to archdruids.

He himself has no idea and thinks that trying to explain it would...make him seem crazy...and in some cases it is wise to only give the minimum amount of information to answer the questions given. It is one of the pieces of advice Damian gave him which he uses frequently. He might regret it...do druids have Detect Thoughts?...but that's Future Conrad's problem.

"I have never been affiliated with the Sardaukars. The Worldwound is very far north, and it is very cold."

"... ok, fair, but. How did you get from Golarion to Arrakis?"

How to answer this question.

"I died, and when I woke up I was in the room with you."

"Uh."

Ok. He doesn't want to tell the truth. Well, Thufir will probably find the answer. If he's still alive.

"One of your abilities?" Not that he'd believe him, but it's always interesting to see how people contradict themselves.

In what sense? Resurrection, or interplanar transport? Well, he neither has any revivification spells nor Plane Shift, so resolving the ambiguity isn't necessary.

"No."

"Well, try not dying again before I save your ass first. I don't like having debts." Plus you're good with the sword, and Lord knows they could use any help they can get.

"If you just arrived on Arrakis, you must have a ton of questions. I have answers! Not necessarily right answers, but definitely answers!"

OH GOOD he can ask questions now!

"I will try."

Ah, that plus the other mention confirms that this planet is named Arrakis. Most likely the planet. It could be just – the region.

"Arrakis is controlled by a single House? How is it that one family can control the whole planet?" Well, it could be a family of scientists. Or...what's the word for sorcerer? The Thrune family has sorcerous blood.

"Up until yesterday I would have said that it is controlled by House Atreides, but I fear the answer today is that it's House Harkonnen again. The fuckers. A family controls a planet because the Emperors wills it so, and because we have our armies. And the atomics. Not to be used but to remember the others that they can't mess with us too much if they don't want their capital to become a flaming crater.

To control a whole planet you can be like the Harkonnens, and just try to grip it with an iron fist, quelling rebellions as they pop up, but letting the fine sand escape from your hand, or like we did - with actually good laws that make the people understand you care about them."

Ah. So Conrad was, essentially, helping to stop a coup.

Conrad is a perfect soldier devoid of political opinions and so will not comment on the policies of the Harkonnen or the Atreides.

"What about Arrakis makes House Harkonnen want to contest the claim House Atreides has on it? Is the Emperor planning to intervene?"

"You... really don't know? Golarion must be... very far away.

Arrakis is the only known planet in the universe where the Spice Melange is produced. The Spice prolongs the life of the people who use it, and if assumed in big enough doses, gives limited prescience to some people. It is how the Spacing Guild navigators are able to safely fold the space between star systems. It is the most precious substance known to man, by far.

The Emperor took away Arrakis from the Harkonnen, who had held it for decades, and gave it to the Atreides. It was a trap. My Duke knew it was a trap, the Harkonnen knew it was a trap, everyone did. My Duke thought he could escape it, having seen it in advance, but he couldn't foresee the scale of the attack, the Harkonnens must have burned decades of profits just for the transportation costs.

And don't worry, the Emperor has already intervened! He... sent the Sardaukars. His personal militia. To kill us all!"

He also thinks Golarion is very far away!

He has never heard of the Spice Melange. Or the Spacing Guild. Oh! They use it as a material component for Interplanetary Teleport. So it is a real spell!!

"I am utterly lacking in context – the Atreides could not refuse? How was it a trap? If the Emperor wanted to be rid of the Atreides, couldn't he just...order them executed? Since he's the Emperor and all."

He hopes none of that was potentially offensive.

"I mean, not really. If the emperor gives your House a different fief, you do what you're told. It was a trap because Arrakis is incredibly profitable, and why would the Harkonnen leave it without a fight if not to attack us when we have just moved in and still unprepared with no stable power base?

Oh, and if you don't know anything about Houses you may have missed it but, those were Sardaukars wearing the Harkonnen uniforms. The Emperor cannot be seen helping the demise of a Great House. Which means that if we survive this... things are going to get interesting.

The Emperor can't just execute people willy nilly, he would have all the Houses revolting against him. Uh, to state the obvious, the three main powers that keep each other in check are the Landsraad - the organization of Noble Houses, the Emperor, and the Spacing Guild - who have the monopoly on interplanetary transportation."

So the Emperor can give someone your land, except you can fight them to prevent them from taking it? How does this make any sense.

"I did not know they were wearing Harkonnen uniforms."

What is even the point of having an Emperor if he can't execute people willy nilly?????? Isn't that the definition of being an Emperor??????

Ah, so only the Spacing Guild knows Interplanetary Teleport. And why Duncan was so interested in the prospect of permanent portals.

Also, he realizes belatedly – the Spice Melange gives prescience?????? Prophecy works here??????

"How does consuming the Spice Melange allow one to prophesy?"

"It's not a prophecy really? It's just... being able to see some seconds in the future, allowing the Navigators to... uh, avoid obstacles I guess?

I'm not a scientist, really!"

Oh. He thought they were talking about long-range prophecy. He doesn't actually know whether short-range prophecy still works on Golarion – now that he thinks back on it, all of the examples given were of long-range god prophecies.

"The spell that lets me speak your language will expire in thirty minutes." He isn't going to suggest a plan of action given this information because he's not sure whether he's allowed to do that.

"That's inconvenient! And you said you can't use it again, right?

I haven't asked, by the way, but what do you use to... uh be able to use your 'spells' again? Spice? Electricity? The blood of your dead enemies?"

"Yes, I have no more uses of the spell remaining.

I need to sleep for eight hours uninterrupted. I have a limited number of spells per day, regardless of the amount I sleep. I need my spellbook to prepare spells." He hopes Duncan or Liet realize that they need to come up with some way of communicating before Tongues expires or Conrad will have to delicately – and he is not known for delicacy – suggest that they do so.

"And I guess you can't sleep while on the sandworm?"

Oh, he totally can! Wizards with sleeping issues do not last long.

"The sleep has to be uninterrupted for eight hours, but we have to make several stops to change sandworms."

"That's inconvenient. Let's hope we'll be able to catch some sleep when we're at the sietch then. Until then, do you have more questions? Things you think we should talk about before you magically* lose to ability to talk?"

*this translates as "whimsically" more than "magically"

Okay, this is probably a good opportunity to speak up now.

"We should figure out some way to communicate once the spell expires. I won't be able to cast the spell until tomorrow, and only after I've prepared my spells using my spellbook."

"Do you know the standard battle signs?"

"No, but I can learn. My spell only covers spoken languages – sign language and written languages aren't covered."

Duncan teaches him the standard sign language and - after some internal deliberation on whether to do it or not - also the Atreides dialect of it, although only the part that all soldiers get taught, not the inner ring's own cant.

How many signs are there? Conrad successfully completed Chelish public wizard school Infernal class, but there is a limit.

I mean, the full sign language has 20 thousand something words. Officers are required to know at least the most common 1200, privates can get by with approximately 100, and 20 or so will probably be enough until tomorrow comes.

Ferrer will be able to learn them in no time, Duncan has faith in him!

"Any further questions before the Kit Fox gets your tongue?"

Well, a lot, but none that are immediately relevant. He feels tempted to ask about his current status given the...events...and what sorts of entitlements and responsibilities he would have as a Prospective Retainer Of House Atreides, but he thinks he doesn't want to open that topic right now.

"No pressing questions."

Then they'll ride on towards the sunset, in peaceful silence.

"Duncan??? I thought you lost!"

"I'm pretty hard to kill, you know? Plus this gentleman here" - pointing at Ferrer - "decided to use some magic to heal me and save my ass.

Oh, and apparently he can't speak our language again until he sleeps eight hours, but I've taught him the basic sign language."