Fantasy RP

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "Aye, your majesty," Wallace says, and goes to carry out your orders. As you head to your tent, you see him rallying your archers.

About an hour after you return to your tent, you get the news that you wanted to receive. "Your majesty," Said the gruff-but-awkward voice of Sir Barrian Murton at the entrance, "The prisoner surrendered herself just recently and is asking to see you. She's... Uh... The prisoner's a woman claiming to be Baroness Vena and said something about a secret letter that you sent. She's just outside now. Should I send her in, your majesty?"

@ Verous: "Aye, your majesty," Perrin said.

Once you returned to the castle, and were shown to the Count, you saw Count Ballus, Prue and three clerks going over a number of books and figures.

"Those rations are too harsh to live off of," Prue said, "Especially for the children."

"It's not ideal, but with the amount of time that you said we have to wait for supplies, it's that or star... Your majesty, welcome back. What have you found?"

@ Kainer: "Not always," One knight said in response to your question, clearly mistaking it for being directed towards him. "Some people are much poorer than this, and others choose to live like they're poor because they have an even worse fate - being priests or monks." That joke was met with a laugh by a number of other knights, though you don't recall the faeries ever having any priests or monks for you to know how accurate a statement that was.

[Leggo]

Jonos

“Aye, thank you Sir Barrian, send her in.”

It’s time to finally meet the Baroness. I doubt I have much convincing to do, seeing as she surrendered herself to my camp. She’ll be willing to join me, at least I hope.

[Tikobe]

Kainer

Monk?

Is that short for monkey?

I was amazed for a bit. I had heard of apes but being in the location we were I had never seen of one outside of pictures from old books taken from places far, far away.

I didn't know that human chose to become monkeys. How was that possible? Maybe humans were once monkeys themselves?

Nah, it's ridiculous.

Well anyways, I decide to laugh along with the rest. I don't know what we're laughing about, but hey, we're laughing right?

"Even still, there sure are a lot of knights gathered here," I reply. "Is this all of the ones in the kingdom?"

(I decided to put in a story of Kainer almost discovering evolution as a joke. Not that I expect such concepts to actually exist in this world.)

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: The baronness was much younger than you expected her to be, no older than 25. She was amber-eyed and raven haired, but dressed in clothes more practical than what ladies of her station normally wear. Something about her looked familiar, but you couldn't tell where you saw her before. Probably at some diplomatic function or another under your father's rule, when he thought her a foreign power and not as Thasian.

"Your majesty, it's an honour to meet you at least," She says, giving a brief curtsy. "I hope that you won't be offended when I say that my men have orders to send riders to Count Arnil if I'm not returned safely by nightfall. For once, my intelligence was better than Cirthil's... Oh, and sorry about the dagger, I hadn't thought that I would need to use it, it was just in my boot for your men to find to feel good about themselves."

@ Kainer: "It's about half of the knights who are in Calbourne right now," That same knight said. "Are you new here?"

"Aye, he's a friend of Trihem's," Said Sir Llydan of the Stratmark. "Where'd Trihem find you, lad? I swear he brings the strangest people he can find to these events... Meaning no offence to you, of course, you're far from the strangest he's brought along."

"After that incident in Smiterre with those pixies, didn't he spend a month introducing his horse to people as his wife?" Another knight said. "Unless you're another horse, he's done much worse than introduce you to the king."

[Leggo]

Jonos

I care naught for her appearance. Quite foolish to bring a dagger just so it can be found, as well. Nonetheless, she’s much younger then I had anticipated. Where is the silver-haired, sharp-tongued matron I pictured?

“Yes, yes, a pleasure, and so on. Let us get straight into business. Why are you here?”

I don’t know why I ask this when I all but know the reason, yet I feel obligated. Best let her explain, I suppose.

[Tikobe]

Kainer

"Well, I'm pretty sure that I'm not a horse at least," I shrug in reply. "As for where, it'd be here in Calbourne. Just last night, in fact. I met him in the inn, and then this morning I went to deliver a letter to the king and he helped me sort out some of the fine details. It sure was fortunate, I'd have been stumbling around like a total fool otherwise."

[Duck14]

Verous

I shook my head. “It’s no good. The situation may be worse than we otherwise suspected. Groups of thugs are killing shopkeepers and using their produce to exploit the people. Well at least that’s the case where we went, but it means any given place could be held by more bandits.”

My hand trembled slightly. The event had shook me. “But no one starves. Perrin, Ballus, unless either of you disagree and if you do speak up, I need you to discuss the takeover of that store. Prue, I need you and these clerks to come to decide on a ration distribution.”

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "I'm here because of the letter that you sent, saying that I should defect to your side and have the chance to save my titles. I wanted to see how big your army is right now, for one thing, to see how much merit there was to the threats. I also came because I have a question for you, your majesty. Now, I believe in your idea of a united Thasia - it's an admirable goal, and you'll find that my ancestors fought alongside Balon Dawburn during the Battle of the Greywood, only defecting after that defeat.

"My question is, why should Thasia be united by you when there are hundreds of descendants of Ramsey Dawburn's loins running around, claiming to be Count of Aflaria or Count of Mescor or, until recently, Count of Atrekara? Why should it be you and not, say, Count Othye of Sciania, who has strong alliances with Tivell and very strong ties to the church? Why should you be the leader that Thasia rallies behind?"

@ Kainer: "Then he spent the whole day with you to get a measure of who you are, right?" Asked the third knight, the one who mentioned the horses to begin with. "Trying to get you to lower your guard so he could find out if you were going to assassinate the king?"

"Please, ignore Galardin the Cynic here," The first one said. "Unless you actually are an assassin, in which case, please tell me so that I can be the one to get the glory for apprehending you!"

@ Verous: "The problem is that the books indicate that in order to not run out of food days before Darryl arrives with the supplies and men we need, we'd need to ration so heavily that the people would basically starve the whole time anyway," Prue said. "Half a loaf of bread every other day won't feed a family, even though that's how much we have."

"Then it seems we have no choice but to seize the inn run by a criminal. Are you certain that he was a killer? Can you prove it, if I'm to put him on trial?" Ballus asked.

"I think I could, if given the time," Perrin said, "But you'd want to start distributing his food even before we can prove that he's a killer. And probably also a public hanging for him, to reassure the people that we're here to help them right now."

[Tikobe]

(I think after this post I won't post for Kainer again until I (finally) finish Othan's post. Time to kick it into high gear.)

Kainer

"Well, he did at least spend the day with me," I say, shrugging. "And really, I wouldn't say that assassinating the king would be a good idea for me. It'd reflect quite poorly on my benefactors after all. It's like raising a dog only for it to bite your hand. Only that I'm not a dog and hands have an awful taste from what I hear."

[Duck14]

Verous

For a moment, I considered just ordering his death. It was as much as he and his lackeys derserved. They had already killed someone else and a trial would only give him a chance to escape. I passed on that. These weren’t thoughts I usually had. But today had shaken everything I believed in my people. There were bad people out for their own gain. And maybe they needed to disappear without hassle.

“First of all we need to put our minds to his capture. There are three of them and we need to capture all three in the safest possible way.”

[Leggo]

Jonos

“Well, you don’t see anyone else actively trying, do you? I’ve devoted my life to training and preparing for this campaign. I waited my entire life to begin the reunification of Thasia. I will give my life towards this cause, for without it I have no purpose.

Not to mention, I’ve got a large army, and am arguably the strongest tactical mind in all of Thasia. I’ve got momentum, I’ve got two counties, and I’ve got the support of my people. There is no other option. I’m the only person campaigning to reunify Thasia. You can wait for Count Othye to do something if you’d like, but we both know he’s a peacetime ruler and nothing more.

I’m young, in my prime, and I’ve been Duke for a month and yet I’ve accomplished more towards the reunification of Thasia then anyone ever has. The list goes on and on.”

Whether that sways her or not, I don’t particularly care. She can join or she can die.

[Bannanachair]

@ Kainer: They chuckled at your joke, and the feast went on with the hours. As the sun set, it shone through the stained glass window and onto the floor, the colours stretching out and then going dark. By that point the stars were shining through, giving the stained glass a beauty that it didn't have previously (though it was already quite a sight to see). About an hour after dark, after the deserts have been served and the final digestifs drunken, the knights and ladies all began making their way out of the hall. After it was largely empty, the king approached you.

"Sir Kainer, I shall grant you that private audience now," King Arthel said. "Well, it won't be truly just you and I, as I will have some advisors with me, but close enough that you will have no reason to complain. I'll show you to my solar. Do you still have the letter on you?"

@ Verous: "At least three," Perrin said. "I'd put some money on there being a man at the back door as well, plus a few more to swap around for when the shift changes."

@ Jonos: "On that note, you've said that you'd die for this cause, but from my understanding this cause will die if you do. You don't have any heirs aside from your sister, whose children don't even speak our language. As much as I hate to make you dwell on the macabre, what are your plans for if you die in battle tomorrow, or fall off your horse and hit your head? You need an heir who can actually reign or all your work will be for naught."

[Leggo]

Jonos

I’ve given the subject of my successor some thought recently. I cannot name Daela, as her children are not Elusian and my vassals wouldn’t accept it. I refuse to name anyone not of my own blood. Either the Dawburns reunite Thasia or nobody does. I suppose, however, that eventually I assumed I would marry in a political match to net Thasia a strong alliance. But I always thought that would happen after the reunification.

Call me bold, but I never planned for an after-death scenario because I don’t plan to die anytime soon. I’m at a crossroads. Lying sounds like a splendid idea.

“Aye, I’ve given it some thought. Recently, I’ve been actively searching for a suitable wife. I understand that I need an heir, an Elusian heir.”

[Duck14]

Verous

I nod. “I wouldn’t bet against you on that one. So there’s potentially four or more armed men in that building. We need equal to that to stand a proper chance. Bellus, how many men can you spare for that period?”

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "In that case, your majesty, at the risk of sounding greedy, might I nominate myself? Duchess Vena of Thasia has a nice ring to it. In addition to bringing seven hundred loyal men into the fold for you, I will offer my full services in the realm of diplomacy and statesmanship... Er, stateswomanship, I suppose. You'll likely want some lands for your second and third sons as well, so unless you have anything else in mind, Norven would work for that as well. Also, unlike most women, I'd have no qualms with accompanying you into war so there will be no waits in trying to produce an heir, having to go back to Thasi between campaigns."

@ Verous: "Five or six, I think," The count says. "Berig, how many do you think?" He asks one of his advisors, a bearded man who looked like he'd be more at home on a battlefield than in these quarters pouring over ledgers.

"Seven, by my count," The bearded man, Berig says gruffly. "My lord, I'd say that the benefit of gaining the extra resources outweighs the minor inconvenience of putting some to work fighting instead of dealing with other things. We could probably spare Falson, Hersworth, Osthir... Probably the twins as well, there's his majesty's man and myself."

"That's me, I'm assuming?" Perrin asked.

"Aye," Berig said. "You've been there and scouted the place already, so we could use that."

[Tikobe]

(And now for a 3100+ story that I kind of regret writing (But it was already too late to change things) all about Othan's bad idea)

Kainer

"Oh course, you majesty," I politely say as I give a small bow. I take my letter out of my bags and follow the king into his solar.

Othan

I look around and sigh. It appears that the little story time session had drawn some number of children. Thankfully, the youngest of them weren’t present. I didn’t want to inconvenience Northan too much.



“Now where to start this?” I say as I take a moment to think. “I suppose I’ll begin from shortly after the Second war began. If you remember, at the time I was a strategist as part of father’s war council, and I had done a fair bit in the name of Orevod. I had pulled off a trick that left the Galbror Forest exposed and gave the fairly sized force made of Nargon’s and Mallowater’s troops such momentum that it was almost worrisome just how well it worked. This and a few other major contributions made by other lords as well as an astounding amount of luck on our part and stupidity on Eredal’s made our goal of claiming Galbror much more of a reality than we’d ever dream of. In the end, we had all but the center of the forest claimed with the city of Galbror at its heart. With the forces there trapped and cornered in the city, the Earls hatched a plan to finish the war with our victory: Nizeston himself would lead the troops of Ostcliff boosted by regiments from each of the earldoms to Galbror and lay siege to the city while the main forces from the other Earldoms would band together and secure the borders of the forest from other dukedoms coming to support it. We who led those detachments weren’t expecting victory, nor were we desiring it. The goal was to buy time for our lord to achieve his goal, and we didn’t need too much either since Galbror wouldn’t hold for very long with a dragon and a force of the size that Nizeston lead attacking it.



“However, Mallowater had hit an unfortunate snag at the time: Father’s illness was beginning. He returned here to Orevod to rest and left myself in charge of Mallowater’s operations. The troops which I now had to lead were given charge of the southern section of the forest, a place called Arlan’s Field and where a decently sized fortress lied. As such I lead Mallowater’s troops along with some small detachments loaned to us by Clearden and easily captured the fortress and prepared myself for the defensive battles ahead. That was when the truly unfortunate came in: We were targeted by Darrien Gast, who had called in a force larger than ours as well as some additional mages from Belgate to assist him.



“Really, Darrien’s presence isn’t much of a surprise when one thinks of it due to how close we were to Estermere. However, I had already met his forces previously during the course of the Second and there was the matter of Treehold so I had more than enough time and headaches to realize just how bad of a situation having to face him again truly was. And furthermore he was calling in wizards to assist him, which raised even more concerning questions over why Belgate, which was on the other side of the forest, would think about sending mages all the way down to rendezvous with Darrien rather than someone up at the north sections of Galbror. There was some plan in motion, but I didn’t know what, and I decided I wouldn’t give Darrien the chance to let me find out. I had began to set up trap after trap and prepared the army to decimate these Eredalians.



“The first bout of combat between Darrien’s forces and mine could be considered standard warfare. However, I was considerably disadvantaged at this point. Darrien’s number had just simply outmanned us to the point where there was little we could do. Really, the only reasons why Darrien had even chosen to focus on us and not walk past the fortress in Arlan’s Field entirely was that we was afraid of leaving his back to me and that in order to accomplish what he and Duke Palron had planned to do it was better to fight my forces head on with his full number. Even still, there were attacks from all but the back of the fortress which connected to the forest. Something had to be done, and, though it may bragging a bit, I’m pretty good at finding solutions in troublesome moments.



“One evening, after the wave of sieging was over for the day, I had some men sneak out of the fortress with the aid of a ladder and the dark of night and made them collect Eredalian corpses that were left on the battlefield due to various reasons such as practicality or sometimes even grudges held against them by the people who were nearby. The next morning when Darrien started his raid anew, I had my men throw the corpses at the attackers. Now soldiers, especially those of prideful nations such as Eredal, have a certain ego that can be fragile in the most peculiar ways. And when that ego is poked in the wrong manner some will lose their head, and after those few then others will think the same way, and then more, and then even more. All the way until all of a sudden the entire group shares in the fury and throws it’s commands and orders out of the window with a wrath like none other. In that state one can’t even order them to retreat. They will charge until they die or their enemies do. This was perfect, since on that day they lost so much reason they practically walked into every single trap we set up, resulting in a great loss of Darrien’s forces. And even after that day they were in such a frenzy that they often times forgot that it was myself in charge and dropped their guards and paid the price. After a while, even though our forces still were far from equal in number, after certain considerations such as we were the ones holding the defense it all evened out. And then some good news arrived.”



I take a breath while secretly looking at Raethus and Northan and confirming their agreement to stay silent about our little ally of sorts.



“The wizards from Belgate met with an ill fate. As they were making their long journey around the forest and towards Arlan’s Field, they were ambushed by a necromancer. Evidently this person was operating near Galbror to work with the corpses of the fallen soldiers. We don’t know why, but evidently when the wizards were near his location he sent his undead to attack them in the dark of night while their guard was down. Some of us theorize that he was probably just scared he’d be discovered and took pre-emptive actions. Of course, the undead aren’t enough to stop a large gathering of powerful wizards, but the Eredalian mages let their confidence get to them and in the end most of them were wiped out in the resulting massacre. The casualties numbered so highly that frankly speaking everyone thought they would turn tail and return to Belgate. Well, they didn’t and actually pushed on to meet with Darrien with more haste than they had before and that they didn’t do what we expected was frankly speaking a miscalculation on our part but at that time we weren’t aware of what Estermere was plotting. However, the surviving wizards aren’t relevant until the end of Arlan’s Field.”



However, and my apologies for back tracking, that the necromancer was there by chance wasn’t the truth. The truth was that I seemed to have acquired his interest due to both the large number of corpses that follow in my wake and some, should we say, financial persuasion, especially since such a man works for gold and gold alone. Or at least he seemed to when we met, but if he had ulterior motives I certainly couldn’t tell and frankly I wouldn’t want to. Either way, I had him secretly hired as a mercenary for me, with only those trusted working as a liaison between him and myself. If I remember right I used Sir Taran Gulyard, a man who I now employ for a somewhat close vassal thanks to his ability to remain silent about such things, for these purposes. Perhaps even the message I had Forlon send to Taran was the order to attack the wizards before they reach Arlan’s Field.



Oh well. That doesn’t change anything. While I still have the means to contact him I don’t intend to employ him again unless absolutely crucial, otherwise I risk causing far too large of a scandal. Besides, I don’t even know what he’s doing right now, he might be busy currently being someone else’s dog as I think about all of these matters.



“We were finally gaining an edge. There was hope, and we had even received word that Nizeston was making considerable progress with his siege on the city of Galbror. However, Darrien recovered. He called for reinforcements and sent the new men to lead the men from before. While it caused conflict since the soldier’s ability was being called into question from this choice, there was now a party who was not involved in the corpse dumping from before, and they were not as angered as the ones before and was even able to reign in their comrade’s rash actions. At this solution of his, I was a little, ahem, cornered. I bought us an advantage but lost it and now had to figure out how to move. In the end, I did something I would’ve much rather prefer to have avoided.



“To explain this, we must first know what the advantage that Eredal has over us is. We’ve lost two wars to them, they must have something for sure. The answer is quite simple: Their numbers far overwhelm our own in sheer quantity. So how do we counter this? There’s a group of us who’ve been working towards answering this question, with various solutions coming up here or there. And of course, I’m also a member of these men. At the time of Arlan’s Field, I had a certain, err, ‘gift’ of sorts from that group. In short, one crazed man from near Eriport proposed a certainly volatile idea. If they had numbers, turn their numbers against them as a weakness. How you ask? Disease. When one gets sick, more get sick, and then eventually with numbers as large as Eredal’s the whole lot of them get sick at an absurd speed. Of course, I advocated against it, and quite strictly at that. While the concept isn’t bad, the practice is impossible. The number of scenarios that disease as warfare could be used in is very, very few. You use it on an enemy soldier, and while his allies would certainly get sick your own soldiers risk catching the plague you made as well. Even then, despite my complaints against it the group still sent me a few boxes, all safely and magically sealed, with some things like parts of diseased corpses or certain kinds of rot and feces, all of it for use in the Second. They're not around anymore thankfully, I’ve discarded them since long ago and eventually everyone began to see my side of things and realized just how disgustingly impractical such weapons truly were. Even then, that doesn’t change that I had those boxes with me at the time, and I wound up choosing to use them as my next card against Darrien.



“Put simply, I had some men sneak into their command tents. While it’s a dangerous task, and I as well as the men sent did it full well knowing that those men may be captured and even killed for this, and most of them did indeed meet that fate, I had those men bring the boxes of disease and open them on some key functions of the command. Namely, ones that you’d only see the commanding officers use, such as the special provisions some of the lords bring to avoid the standard military rations. The goal was to avoid having the plague reach the common soldiers who could come into contact with our own, the officers alone, who would sit back away from the fighting, were my target. My thought, at the time, was that if the officers were sick and dying then their command would be so far gone that we’d regain the initiative. And it worked. The commanders lost their heads, with a large number losing their lives, and the soldiers wound up losing their organization. In the end, it was truly a shame that Darrien had totally avoided the plague. Perhaps if we had also gotten him caught up in the disease things would’ve gone differently. Hmm. No, the result would have been the same. Yes, I’d have victory over Darrien, maybe even claimed his life, but we lost the war when we chose to only focus on the forest and those who tried to stop us. We hadn’t realized how much we played into Eredal’s hands at that point.



“Darrien, having lost most of his command, put up an astonishing resistance. I often look back on it and wonder what things would have been like had he been sensible and was on our side. However, it was at that time that the wizards arrived. When the report reached us, we were shocked and surprised, and it was at that time that it occurred to me we weren’t going to be victorious. We had our own mages that came with us, sure, but they numbered in the single digits, meaning that now the Eredalians outclassed us in spellpower as well as manpower. And with Darrien at the helm, our chances of winning were, practically speaking, void.”



I explain as I take a deep breath.



“However, I absolutely, positively couldn’t just simply accept that, and that was my final mistake here.



“Now, allow me to repeat what I just said: that I’d stoop so low as to simply allow Darrien Gast of all men on this earth victory was far too bitter a pill to swallow. So, I began to think up a plan, an idea that would by any means necessary ruin my foe. I spent three days formulating a pyrrhic victory for Darrien Gast, unable to come up with a solid answer. And then one day, I heard a conversation from amongst the soldiers, unaware that I was close enough to them to hear. They complained aggressively about the Eredalians, that they wished for nothing more to, and I will quote this verbatim, ‘give them hell.’ That moment was almost similar to the moment that an artist experiences where such a great idea came to them from the simplest thing. I had a flash of inspiration, and immediately had a list taken of our supplies, which came out favorably.



“Two days after my plan, a retreat for our side was organized. We planned to fall back to the Galbror Forest and under the cover of the trees we would regroup with the army from Clearden eastwards from our location at the time. As we began our evacuation I stayed with the rearguard and began to organize the foundation for my little trap. As we finished setting things up in the fortress we rushed to finish the field behind where we planned to cross to reach the forest and once that was completed we ran into the forest proper, where I had our mages left in waiting for my signal. As one would expect, the Eredalians took the land and charged in behind us, unaware of what I was about to do. All I simply had to do was those mages who knew how to throw some fire.



“There was oil, you see, that we left on the field, which connected to the oil we spilt in the fortress. A small flame grew and grew and eventually the field and the fortress were enveloped in fire, with a poor army of Eredalians in the middle of it all. It was the day I set fire to an entire army, and sometime later I had discovered that I succeeded in accomplishing my men’s wishes since the Eredalians to this day still know the event as the ‘Hell at Arlan’s Field.’ Of course, Kallian was unhappy about the waste of oil, and honestly in retrospect it was an impractical and foolhardy decision. Had I the chance, I would most definitely opt to just run with our tails between our legs rather than do that thing again. But at the time I was internally discordant, with the frustration of conceding to Darrien with the euphoria of knowing that we of Orevod were so close to claiming the region with Nizeston at Galbror’s doors. But that didn’t change a thing. The Eredalian soldiers were so excited as we ran that most of them were caught in the fire. A large number of their lives were lost under Darrien’s command that day and his forces were damaged to the extent that it would most definitely haunt him and the entirety of Estermere for a decent number of years.



“But once more I had completely miscalculated. I had thought that I had given Darrien a meaningless victory, and had things gone differently I would’ve. But Darrien, like us, was not out for victory. And like myself, he can bear a grudge against those who pose a problem. His forces managed to calm down the fire and then pushed onwards in pursuit. We were taking our leisurely time thinking that it was finally all over and so they managed to ambush us, wiping out a great deal of our own forces. We repulsed them indeed, but at considerable costs. I had Mallowater’s forces pulled out of the war and returned to the territory and had left for Galbror to join to the assault on the city in its final stages as an advisor to an associate of Father’s. I had stayed there for two days before Eredal sprung its trap: In our focus on Galbror, on Darrien, on keeping Eredal away from our final assault, Duke Palron had moved in a blind spot that Eredal created and made dealings with Lemmurath. We had no choice but to fold to their ultimatum. This was why the mages pushed forward after the necromancer’s ambush, and why Darrien had pursued us after his forces were burned alive. There was no intent for victory and glory on Darrien’s front, he was merely a smokescreen and he did damned well at that.”



I sigh at the memory before staring Thander Marthus at the eyes.



“Take to heart your father’s mistakes, my son. You won’t be able to avoid your own but at least you can prevent yourself from repeating mine. Though really, it’s a bitter lesson to have to teach.”

[Duck14]

Verous

“That’s a good number. Enough to ensure we at least equal them in strength if not outnumber them. Will you need me?” I offered myself to the cause. I served no further purpose in the manor with the Duke and Prue at that time. If my sword would prove useful in getting the people food then I would offer it. Father wasn’t around to shelter me from such things anymore.

[Leggo]

Jonos

I had hoped to marry someone... more important? Marrying Vena would certainly eliminate a big problem within my relationship between myself and my vassals. It would mean not worrying about it anymore. Then again, she’s a mere Baroness. I’d consult Wallace.

I quickly shout, “Guards!” then when one appears I tell him, “Bring Wallace here.”

[Bannanachair]

(Othan is back!)

@ Othan: It wasn't just you, Raethus, Northan and your son in that room, and the first person to speak was Galad. "You forgot about those mercenary companies that Darien was hiring. With the wizards and mercenaries he had everyone, even those old buggers Hedrek and Hartwig, convinced he was planning something major instead of simply acting as a distraction for Palron of Estermere." Galad was particularly bitter about some of the mercenaries because of the particulars of how he lost his hand.

"Why didn't that necromancer raise the dead wizards, father?" asked Thander Marthus. "Why else would a necromancer even attack wizards?"

"That's not quite how necromancy works," Raethus said. "I don't understand more than the very basics about how it works, but it's rather difficult to give undead the ability to use the magic they had in life. My father would have been able to tell you the specifics had he not finally died."

@ Kainer: The king's solar was much less grand than the feast hall that you just left. There was a desk with some books on it, and some parchment and a quill. There was a large fireplace and a bearskin lying on the floor before it, and a number of soft, cushioned chairs to sit down on. There were also three other people - Sir Trihem you recognised, but the old man with the long white beard was unfamiliar to you, as was the other knight with a goatee.

"So, sir Kainer, I would like to see the letter that you have for me now," The king said.

@ Verous: "More men couldn't hurt," Perrin said. You noticed that he seemed like he was choosing his words very carefully, as if he were still deciding between adhering to your requests and your father's orders. "I trained you to use that sword, and it would be better to get a taste of real battle in a setting like this where it's about as safe as a fight can get for you."

@ Jonos: Vena jumped when you shouted for the guards, and relief washed over her face when you asked for Wallace instead of her imprisonment. A few minutes transpired until Wallace arrived, but not particularly long. He knelt immediately upon entering your tent, clearly choosing to stick to being as formal as possible while you were negotiating with a foreign ruler.

"Your majesty, you summoned me?" He asked, still on one knee.

[Leggo]

Jonos

“Rise, Sir Wallace. Baroness Vena here has decided to throw her hat in the ring for Duchess of Thasia. What do you think of that?”

Wallace, being my chief confidant, has some weight in his opinion. Vena seems like a shrewd women, and I’m sure she would benefit me. Yet, I’d like to hear Wallace.

[Tikobe]

(Othan didn't say that he hired the necromancer, that was just a back thought of his (There wasn't a " at the beginning of the paragraph) but oh well, we'll just say that there was and in case you want to rewrite it I'll reply in a way that works with him confessing his connection to the necromancer (Whose name I'll still keep silent about for respect to you (As you're the one who made the character)) and works with him not confessing at all. That was probably my fault since the format does appear to be confusing at a second glance, so next time I write a story like this I'll italicize the non-speaking lines.)

Othan

"Well, from what I've heard from some of my men he did actually do just that, but like how Raethus explained they had none of their capabilities. I suppose that's something to be thankful for, actually; If the undead could do what they did in life then their presence would be much worse of a catastrophe on this world than some kingdoms who already fear the art say it is. In the end, I think he was just trying to replenish some of the number he lost when he had the undead attack the wizards. Practically speaking, they were unarmed and in clothing that's poor for defense, so they'd be a much worse zombie than others."

Kainer

"Of course, your Majesty," I say.

I have the letter in my right hand, which I present to the king. Well, here's hoping that nothing goes wrong.

[Duck14]

Verous

Good, he felt no need to protect me from this conflict. He was right though, I would face tougher fights in the future. “Alright then.” I pat my sword enthusiastically. “We have no time to waste, let’s remove those men and get that food.” Wait, we weren’t actually ready yet. “Oh, you should probably go and tell the others that we need them. Then we set off.”

[Bannanachair]

@ Jonos: "There are benefits and disadvantages, as with any political match, your majesty," Wallace said. "In truth, I haven't given the issue of your marriage the thought that it deserves. Either way, uhh... Could we speak in private?"

"I'll be waiting outside, your majesty," The baroness said as she left the tent.

"Either way, it seems like it could be a trap. If you want to marry her, I'd arrange a betrothal first for until Mescor is conquered. If her plan is to assassinate you, what easier place to do it than in your bed while you're asleep? On the other hand, she's from an old family, is known to have brought wealth and prosperity to Norven specifically and Mescor as a whole and clearly has some military competence, as evidenced by what's across the river from us. Not to mention that you'd get a whole barony directly under your control, whereas if you marry, say, a daughter or sister of the Duke of Datha you'd just get some lands as a dowry, but likely not an entire barony."

@ Tikobe: (Whoops, I'll edit my post now.)

@ Othan: "There's worse ways to be unarmed than that," Galad said, prompting a laugh from several people present.

That night your sleep was dreamless, and the next day, where you travelled from village to village rallying peasants to fight against the bandits, was uneventful aside from successes in that regard. You ended up being able to get nearly forty men in total armed and prepared for the next day's outing, in addition to the knights and squires you're already familiar with. That evening, you discussed strategy and the findings of Raethus's party.

"There turns out to be two entrances, not just one," Raethus said. "Maybe more, but the one that I found yesterday wasn't the same as the one you went to yesterday. I suggest splitting the forces in two, once again, and attacking from both entrances to more easily and quickly surround them."

@ Kainer: The king reads through the letter and smiles. "They didn't tell you what this would be, did they?" He asked. "It's a letter of recommendation, basically. Recommending that I take you into my service as a knight. The way that you were talking earlier was that you wanted to enter my service in addition to delivering this letter..." He began to laugh a bit. "Well then, sir Kainer Adderant, I hope that you're pleased to know that I've decided to grant you this position as a knight that you seek."

@ Verous: "We should probably also formulate a plan," Perrin said. "Knowing our numbers is just the very first step in doing that. Berig, is it? Could you go get the men that you spoke of, so that we can begin preparations? I want to deal with these bastards by the time the sun sets tonight."

"Aye, your majesty, my lord, sir," Berig said, addressing your order, Ballus's order and Perrin's in turn, though they were all for the same thing.

[Leggo]

Jonos

I’ll count that as Wallace’s seal of... skeptical approval.

“I could certainly do worse. I’ll arrange the betrothal now, have her fight with us to take Mescor, and then after Mescor is conquered, we’ll marry. After that, it’s off to take the next county. However, no more worrying over marriage and heirs. Bring her back in here.”

[Duck14]

Verous

Of course we needed to have a plan. It was always best not to jump ahead like this despite plans rarely surviving contact with the enemy, at least that’s what one of my mentors had said.

“Right. So, we know there’s a front entrance that had two guards. We assume the back entrance will have at least one other guard. That makes that the weaker point of entry.”