Oh whoops, forgot to read this earlier. Got chapter two of The Gathering Storm (WAR prequel that was clearly meant to be released during Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance) via email.
* We see Jarad at Golgari HQ, and I realize now that the Golgari didn't actually do much during WAR, did they?
* The Erstwhile have been awakened, but Jarad and other high ranking elves are simply using them as servants, finding them much more beautiful and graceful than their normal rot zombies.
* A troll smashes their way into Jarad's room, and Vraska steps out from behind them, still in pirate gear. Several kraul are with her, including Mazirek and a telepath named Xeddick.
* Jarad's guards attack them, but are killed. Then his Erstwhile servants are sent to attack Vraska and the others, under the command of
Storrev, Devkarin Lich. But he's working with Vraska (something told to her by Bolas, but she didn't know for sure until now), and instead has the Erstwhile kill all the other high ranking elves.
* Jarad says he must be kept alive because of the things he knows that no one else does, but Xeddick extracts all that from his mind. Then Vraska turns Jarad to stone.
* Kaya sneaks into Orzhov HQ, having been hired to kill the Ghost Council by Bolas.
* Not sure what this is referring to, but as payment for this job, Bolas promised to fix "the broken sky".
* While sneaking outside, Kaya made sure to look closely at any gargoyles before stepping on them to make sure they weren't the kind that wake up, but she forgets to do this when sneaking past some guards in a hallway, and this gargoyle moves.
* Through complicated use of incorporeality, she gets a grip on the wall and grabs the gargoyle's tongue so it doesn't sound the alarm. She stabs it in the neck, using her powers to get her knife through its stone skin, then gets back inside.
* She prefers avoiding killing anyone but her targets.
* She enters a room, intentionally triggering a trap to summon a vengeful spirit to attack her. She kills it, to its shock.
* Kaya meets with Teysa and Tomik. Teysa is imprisoned there; I assumed Tomik was too, but it seems like he isn't, and is there to act as Teysa's assistant.
* Kaya's assignment was to help Teysa take control of Ozhov; Kaya doesn't know enough about Orzhov to know where to go from here, so she defers to Teysa.
* Teysa explains that breaking her out at this point would be bad, since if the Ghost Council is destroyed after she's rescued, then everyone would assume she was behind it and that would make her claim to lead weaker.
* Teysa referring to the head of the Ghost Council as "Grandfather" (since he's her biological grandfather) leads to this line: Kaya, whose family relationships could be best described as "complicated," tried to imagine what it would be like if clan elders persisted indefinitely into undeath.
* The Ghost Council meets in the Catacombs, several floors below ground. It will be difficult to get in and out.
* Teysa says that Tomik will provide Kaya with details later.
* Guards rush in, so Kaya phases through the wall and leaves.
This continues to be much more enjoyable than the actual WAR novel.
