"It's a balance," he said with a small shrug. "And not one that I always manage to find, either, admittedly. But I can assure that 'not feeling at all' would make you a far worse leader than feeling too much." Indeed, shadows of Zariah turned his expression to a slight frown before he banished it to focus on the other breed of monsters that called the Hollowed Grounds home.
"They may not be able to make use of the portals," he mused thoughtfully. "That would be the best scenario. But you're right, we have no proof yet. I suspect that since their interest is in stripping upgrades from their younger cousins, they'll remain where the largest gathering of Ascended are. If the Ascended all move to, say, Halo for LongNight... the monsters may well try to follow. This first year, at least, we should definitely set guards on the portals." He gave her a rueful smile. "That might be a good use of your power, in fact. If you choose to spent the week in Torchline or Halo, whichever one, set yourself up as a guard over the portal. Both to make sure no monsters come through from the Grounds, and to prevent the locals on that side from trying to get to the Grounds. Either because they don't know about the monsters, or because they don't believe in them."
He looked at her soberly. "Last year a group of us - the strongest, mostly, the fighters and those willing to take a chance - stayed in the Monster Hunter's Guild. We intended to help anyone who was caught out in the dark. We set up an antechamber at the door, so that anyone that came in from outside had to go through two doors to come into the building. We took precautions..." He sighed. "Still the monsters slipped in. In shadows and stolen moments. Not in a flurry of battle, but sneaking in unseen until there were enough of them inside to set the building ablaze and chase us out into the night, protected only by the luxere herd. Not all our power combined could stop them." He smiled wryly. "Not that I'm sure some of us won't try again this year. But power alone isn't always enough. And that power may be needed in places that have no idea what they're up against, if I'm guessing wrong about the portals stopping them." There were pros and cons to her going elsewhere and to her staying put. He offered the lessons learned the hard way last year, but in the end it would be up to her what she did.
"They may not be able to make use of the portals," he mused thoughtfully. "That would be the best scenario. But you're right, we have no proof yet. I suspect that since their interest is in stripping upgrades from their younger cousins, they'll remain where the largest gathering of Ascended are. If the Ascended all move to, say, Halo for LongNight... the monsters may well try to follow. This first year, at least, we should definitely set guards on the portals." He gave her a rueful smile. "That might be a good use of your power, in fact. If you choose to spent the week in Torchline or Halo, whichever one, set yourself up as a guard over the portal. Both to make sure no monsters come through from the Grounds, and to prevent the locals on that side from trying to get to the Grounds. Either because they don't know about the monsters, or because they don't believe in them."
He looked at her soberly. "Last year a group of us - the strongest, mostly, the fighters and those willing to take a chance - stayed in the Monster Hunter's Guild. We intended to help anyone who was caught out in the dark. We set up an antechamber at the door, so that anyone that came in from outside had to go through two doors to come into the building. We took precautions..." He sighed. "Still the monsters slipped in. In shadows and stolen moments. Not in a flurry of battle, but sneaking in unseen until there were enough of them inside to set the building ablaze and chase us out into the night, protected only by the luxere herd. Not all our power combined could stop them." He smiled wryly. "Not that I'm sure some of us won't try again this year. But power alone isn't always enough. And that power may be needed in places that have no idea what they're up against, if I'm guessing wrong about the portals stopping them." There were pros and cons to her going elsewhere and to her staying put. He offered the lessons learned the hard way last year, but in the end it would be up to her what she did.
