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Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 25: The Road to Jerdon


Phoenix
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Tessa's expression dropped as the lancer's guess scored a bullseye. There was no point in denials. A resigned calm entered her voice, and she slowly replied to the accusations.

"Yes. Yes, I was curious; yes, I saw; and yes, it was wrong of me. I'm not keeping away out of fear though," she stressed, while a momentary flitting thought crossed her mind, challenging that assertion.

"I know you'd never do something like that," she paused, the unspoken right? wafting in the silence, while she phrased the next words. Was she completely confident in what she was saying? She felt that she was, but...

"It's more... disgust and anger at what you've had to suffer through, and... I guess maybe there is some fear. Even if you didn't do it, if something like that happened... the imagery... was awful."

The healer turned her eyes to the ground. "Please. I said I don't want to talk about it, and I think I just need a little more time. Please don't... Don't force me to see it again. Let me go, for now. I won't... avoid you forever, I promise. But, until..." she bit her lip here, and didn't finish the sentence.

OOC: Adding other characters later, probably. Needed to get this committed to paper now, though.

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"Tessa... what you did wasn't wrong. I hope you don't think I'm accusing you of anything." Damian said flatly, looking at Tessa with apologetic eyes.

"You did what you did in an attempt to help a comrade, a friend, through a tough time. You did what worked before, with my best interest at heart. I could never be cross with you for that." Damian told her with a solemn tone.

"The only anger I feel is at myself. If I had handled it better, you would have never grown curious, you would have never went in... if I had been strong enough to keep myself calm, you would have never had to see something... that I wouldn't wish on even my foulest foe." Damian continued, his tone growing apologetic again.

"Of course I would never make you see that again... I can't believe I messed up to the point where you had to see it once..." Damian looked down with dejection, his voice solemn again.

"...if you never felt the need to think of it again, it would certainly bring no harm to either of us. It is my cross to bear, my burden. There is no reason you need to involve yourself with it."

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Charlotte

"I suppose Zaftra is a bit different than most other countries in the way it chooses to rule things," Charlotte responded to Isotov, somewhat subdued. "In any case. all I can do is wish you the best of luck," she said, resuming eating her porridge.

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Iris had seen to stabling Drake in the aeries, and had then taken a few moments to lean up against the hitching post trying to figure out what she needed to pursue next. There were obviously a lot of avenues. She wanted to talk to the druid, Morgan again, as they did share common interests regarding Isotov's safety, and were unresolved matters from the morning. She also urgently needed to sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with Kelas, but that would be best in an environment where the other woman would actually possibly open up about things. Maybe over drinks after the summit business for today wrapped up? There were also loads of other members she still needed to meet and become familiar with, Lev and them had named several important members of nobility and royalty, and the lieutenant was interested in ascertaining whether the heirs had already poisoned the well as far as international relations with them went, or whether there could still be something salvaged.

A low rumble from her stomach cut short the introspection though, and she raised a hand to brush aside a few stray hairs from her eyes. With a light sigh, she looked around the aeries, preparing to leave for what her body had decided was a priority: Breakfast. In doing so, however, something caught her eye. Or more accurately, a lack of something. A certain something that had been their whole reason for winding up in the Halton embassy last night in the first place. Had Her Highness too also gone for a ride?

...Well there was nothing she could do about it now. Might as well grab breakfast and inquiry from any others about the matter.

--------

Strangely enough, when Frederikov arrived at the dining hall, the person she was seeking was actually still there, leaving behind other questions. Now quite curious, she passed by the table where Isotov and Kelas had been joined by another party for breakfast, sparing only a brief nod as she did so, and made her way straight to where Irina and the female officer from last night were seated. Tas was standing nearby, and so too was some unfamiliar Halton officer. Definitely not the colonel from last night, though, someone new. There didn't seem to be any pressing matter of conversation ongoing at the moment, so after waiting for a convenient break, she interjected.

"Excuse me, Your Highness, but I just came from the aeries. When I noticed that Kiev wasn't there, I had assumed perhaps you had taken him out for a ride... but it seems that was not the case. Did you set him loose to hunt then? That might not have been the best idea, given the circumstances. We should probably be reuniting with the Zaftrans before the summit begins, and if we have to wait until he returns..."

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Iso

Iris had shown up again before Iso could reply to Charlotte and he immediately expected the subject to change if she sat with them. He'd do it himself if he had to, really. That sort of issue wasn't something he was willing to let Iris know about. When she didn't end up sitting with them however, Iso still couldn't find the energy to carry on about Zaftra or his place in it.

Iso: Thanks, I guess ...

He lowered his head down to the table again immediately after taking another bite of his food.

Irina

She shook her head negatively.

Irina: Hadn't finished talking with her yet before that other captain showed up.

Next came the news about her missing wyvern. She wasn't terribly nervous, but only because it wasn't the first time that he'd been at the center of some worry and everything came out fine. She did have some obvious concerns which immediately gained words.

Irina: Oh no ... I didn't send him to hunt. I haven't been out to the aeries at all yet this morning. Did someone let him out, or ... (Wait, it's all coming back to me, now ... or rather something that should be coming to me isn't. I never put him in the aerie, did I? I thought someone else was going to do it, but all I can remember is him making those really loud calls and running off. I'd ask how I could have been so careless but I already know how; I was tired and distracted.. I figured someone would catch him ...) ... yeah I messed up, again. I was too distracted to go put him in the aeries last night after he ran off. He must still be out exploring, then ...

She put her head down as she began comparing the troubles she suspected him to get into to the ones he could potentially get into and it prompted a deep grimace. She would have to hunt him down as quickly as possible, it seemed. Iris' mention of the looming summit didn't escape her, either. What was making her a bit sad was that her plans with Tas were feeling a bit threatened by the whole thing. She was already used to that kind of thing, but that only served to make her feel worse.

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The implications of the summit struck Tas as well, though more subtley. His immediate concern was the missing wyvern. So, he was an odd mix of relaxed with a slight sense of urgency. Kiev, after all, seemed to be the type of wyvern who wouldn't cause too much troube in an urban environment, nor would he be too much of a danger to himself. "Do you want me to go look for him?" he asked Irina, "If you have somewhere to be, you should go. Do you think he'll be in town or outside of it? If he's more likely to be in town, I can run my errands while I look for Kiev."

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Septimian Embassy

"The General hash a point. Never good to do politicsh on an empty schtomach," Tristan said to Luc from a nearby table, his mouth full of scrambled eggs and toast.

"I'll be attending the aummit too, assuming the Councilman doesn't take it as some grave offense. Not my usual arena, but with Isolde indisposed I figure I better at least make an appearance. We'll need someone to mention that demon that attacked Anglenar and Directus at any rate," Brigadier General Brunhilde chimed in before voraciously devouring her bacon.

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Breakfast

"Ah, yes," Luc replied, hiding his surprise. He hadn't noticed the Prince--or anyone. He really was out of it.

Mendozza let out a hearty laugh at Brunhilde's words. "Trust me, the only thing Richie's gonna take offense at is all the other factions plays for control." Mendozza picked up his plate again. "Oi, sit Altair."

"Ah," Luc realized he had frozen up again. "Yes sir." Luc did as ordered, helping himself to a few scrumptious morsels of food. He didn't have much of an appetite, which was a shame because of the taste.

Not Breakfast

Councilman Richtor had other matters to attend to. Not that anyone outside of Directus would believe that considering they only arrived the yesterday. But he had to consolidate reports and replan and repurpose as he always did every day. With Paul and co having vanished, the subterfuge capabilities they had at their disposal were greatly reduced. Larry and Fleia--proteges of Paul and Rall that they were, still could not replace their so-called mentors. Paul had been so complacent these past few months, he should have expected something was amiss earlier. But now he was paying the price for foolish belief. Stretching the duo's responsibility to over-exhausting coverage. They had confirmed the safety of the surrounding area, but were unable to locate any traces of the Hurricane spies before promptly falling asleep standing up in Richtor's quarters.

The leader of Directus finished marking the last of his papers and followed with a victory stretch. He had fallen asleep later then anyone, and awoke earlier he'd reckon. Partially because of the differences in the mattresses between his home and here. And also because of the bizarre nighttime antics of the two blue spies. But he had plenty of experience in rushing off to nation-changing meetings with little sleep back in his real Councilman days. His, darker years. And that was saying something with how callous he still was.

But that was then and this was now. He stood up, stretching a bit more, slipped his papers inside his coat and walked over to the spies. "Wake up." he prodded the male.

"Yeah, yeah," Larry spoke half-asleep.

"Good," the Councilman stared at the male spy as he slowly opened his eyes. "After I leave wait ten minutes and wake her up. Ten minutes after, locate Fargo and have him lead you to the Halton Embassy. Do it publicly."

The male spy was instantly awake at the mention of a mission. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"If it is, good," Richtor commented. If only things would be that easy. "Hopefully they'll allow the three of you into their to assess the Crimson group."

"Right-o Chief." Larry said. "And if they don't?"

"Return," Richtor told him. "No use wasting your time." Larry nodded. "Good, then I'll be off." Richtor stepped past the standing spies and over to and out the door.

The Color Guard, standing two men in each direction of the hall, both some twenty paces down, turned and faced their charge. Richtor closed the door and waved for them to begin following again. Mendozza had already reassigned their shifts, so the ones who were his guard were fresh out of sleep by an hour. The Councilman made his way down the hall, the scent of a fresh, warm meal wafting into his nose. It would be good to eat actually. He was always a tad hungry--owing to his old days--but not having eaten due to all the excitement and unfortunate surprise of the Inn just made him hurry all the more to the dining hall.

He was not the first, indeed everyone of relevance had already made it to the table before him. "Ah, it seems I'm the latest, my apologies," he said and hurried over to the table. His extreme experience in eating allowed him to gorge an entire plate before the Color Guard even finished collecting their food. It earned some odd stares. "When we're all finished enjoying our meals we can return to our business from last night." He paused for a second. "Hopefully without any atrocious interruptions." The Councilman glanced behind, him. Enough time hadn't passed for the spies and Fargo to leave. He was just impatient, especially after last night. "Specifically, the current plans are to provide estimates of the various factions at play, those that might be at play, and the possible outcomes of this summit."

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Tristan quickly finished up what was left on his plate after the Councilman's speech. "Yes, we should uh, discuss all these important matters so that we can formulate a strategy for the summit," he said, attempting to appear as princely as possible while resisting the urge to scratch his head.

"Well Halton tried to take us over, Jace already took the country, and Elysimia's twiddling its thumbs. Add in the demon attacks and we've got ourselves a nasty situation. Our goal should be return Septimus's rule to my sister I think. Isolde isn't exactly the most likable person in the world, but she's pretty good at the rulership thing from what I hear. Plus, she's my sister so I kind of have to support her," Brunhilde said candidly, laying out her position right there.

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Irina

Irina: One person's probably not going to be enough to find him, quickly. I've got to go, too ...

Irina wasn't certain how they would go about this going to be done, as a small group or spread out over the town. She felt an urge to go retrieve Nikita, though, as she would prefer to search for her wyvern while airborne, almost as much as Tas might.

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Planning

Richtor smiled to hold back a chuckle at Prince Tristan's attempt to be assertive. "Indeed," he said, "Marduke?" Richtor glanced at his compatriot.

"Me?" the General sighed and placed his plate down. "Sure, why not. Here's the short of it, much as we'd all like the good Queen Isolde back in power it isn't exactly happening under current circumstances. Jace isn't giving up anything in the bargaining table and any attempts to wrest back control by force will just have him turn whoever he can against us. Halton is a big fat sack of hog-all-the-credit. If that Kleine boy works well enough Halton will be the core of the alliance which we don't want. Elysimia is a fat sack of useless, though Altair's told us that General Jackson is willing to cooperate, which would be good news if we didn't fully expect a lot of empty promises from them anyway. Whatever regime rules in Zaftra is gonna be too mired in their own self-indulgent crap to do anything. The smaller nations or broken ones like Jerdon can't do much, even if that Derek guy gets everyone there in the overthrow Jace mood is own forces will be bled out considerably. And that's not even getting into how everyone feels about the Crimsons and all their load. Except for the whole burning seething hatred from the church."

"In essence," Richtor took over. "We have our four major human factions: Loyalist, Jace, Halton and Elysimia. Jace will not allow Queen Isolde back on the throne, he worked too hard to get here. Any attempt to free her publicly would be disastrous, both Septimum sides would be whittled down and Halton may step in again in the self-righteous attempt to peace-keep us. Any attempts at stealth--which are our best bet--would require people I don't actually have at my disposal right now and would actually have to be executed right now while Jace has no doubt shifted his attentions here. In fact one of the main reasons we've contracted that unorthodox warping method was to return to Directus immediately after the summit in an attempt to launch a rescue attempt before Jace returned."

Mendozza spoke up again "Halton's gonna worm their way into making this whole thing about them, just you watch. Though the real question comes, should we care? They take the brunt of the fighting they take the brunt of the casualties. They'll use that to gain favor and prestige after the war, but hell, do we care? Jace is a hero and we sure plotting his downfall here, no gratitude and all that for crimes and such. The main problem will come from their troop deployments, if take themselves as head of the army they can just ploy to station troops every which way and backstab us all when they feel like it."

"They're no doubt going to headlock with Jace during the talks," Richtor explained. "Which I have every intention of capitalizing upon. Elysimia," Richtor took a downtrodden look. "Their neutrality in this whole war makes them the natural and obvious choice for impartial leader of the cause. But that same neutrality is also a sign they don't want to interfere with things. So unless the demons go rampaging around the country tearing up major cities we'll have to rely entirely on General Jackson's efforts for them."

"Zaftra, and hell I'm only mentioning this because there's a bunch of the annoying bastards traveling with the Crimsons and one of them so yeah," Mendozza said clearly annoyed. "New rulers old rulers, don't expect help from either. Hell, we probably can't expect help from that Fire Tome Crimson if he was even let back to the group. And honestly, if it's a new regime I don't trust'em two ways from a demon since they're working with the bastards." Mendozza resisted the urge to spit. "And the old just play "defend the castle!" all day every day. Useless idiots."

"And we come back to Jerdon, which ends up being one of the keener points in one of my unexplained plans." Richtor took a deep breath. "Jace can't face dealing with demons, a Jerdon uprising and Loyalist forces at once. I fully plan to bluff him with the threat of the latter two at the summit if he proves unreasonable. Of course, I fully expect him to call that bluff. But if," Richtor took an obvious pause, "there was someone Jace believed wasn't bluffing..."

Fargo and Company

"What!?" Fargo shouted his question loud enough that the spies asking him the question were pretty sure anybody with hearing within the building heard. "Why do I have to do work?" this was significantly quieter--almost a whisper. "Spy work even?"

"Because you have spy training?" Larry half-asked half-stated.

"No," Fargo sighed. "This isn't some elaborate act to make everyone drop their guard. I am not a spy. Why do all you spies think that? It's bad enough with all of Dusty and Balthor's father things."

"Oh yeah," Fleia smiled. "Nothing like a "Fargo I'm Your Dad!" joke to get a spy cackling hahahaha!" The two spies cackled manically.

"Can we just get this over with?" Fargo whimpered in resignation to his fate. "I won't even complain if you don't tell any of those jokes."

"So a priest, a demon and Harold walk into a bar..."

Fargo sighed.

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"I'd really prefer to do this all legally if possible, it would be a lot less bloody that way. Then again, Jace doesn't seem to like to go the legal route too often, despite being a lawyer..." Tristan mused.

"I'd rather not be fighting my own countrymen or Haltonians while there are demons about, but I'll do it if I have to," Brunhilde said, shrugging. "I agree that we should push for Elysimia to lead us against the demons. No one's going to want our scattered forces to be leading this thing and everyone else has already shown they're willing to stab us in the back, so they win by default. Hopefully Triton will be running things, not Harold and Percy. I still wonder how those guys beat the demon king in the first place frankly."

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Prayer:

“If you were to beat and whip these men into shape, they would be moving ten times the faster,” the voice interrupted. “I know. But they come of their own free will, and it would not do for us to tire ourselves out before the fight has begun,” the templar responded.

“Do my eyes and ears deceive me, or has Sir Doran become a cautious man? I can hardly recall the days of a meandering shaman, and I a foolhardy youth,” the loiter reminiscenced. “But,” he hastily added as the druid made to speak. “I insist on accompanying your travels, and for now our goals remain similar. If you refuse, I shall follow on horseback,” Heinrich affirmed cheerily.

“….. Very well. I cannot stop you from acting as you wish,” Doran sighed. “We head to Ursibus,” he called out behind, flicking the reins and speeding the pace.

Augustine:

"Never forget you are serving in the name of the Goddess, boy. You'll make a fine Templar one day." The boy’s eyes grew lighter, and a small smile crept onto his face. That day would be here soon.

Conrad:

"It is fine. Go about your business, and take care not to forget about the boy . . . Tobe, was it?" He questioned politely, listening to the remainder of his subordinate’s exposition. Good I came downstairs expecting such a delay. This detour may hinder my arrival time significantly.

"What kind of peppers were they? I assume Percy didn’t eat the peppers as well since only one voice is yelling,” the general paused for confirmation. “In the future I trust you will use more.... appropriate methods of ignoring his advances. In the meantime however, I'll resolve this matter," dismissing the officer curtly. General Jackson strode into the dining hall and opened the kitchen door.

“At least two buckets of water, please,” Conrad commanded firmly.

Town Traveling:

The woman woke from slumber and retraced her footsteps. If the people were to fear the Lord’s call, they would also learn to love. As the Lady had once. Simply two imperfect entities joined by something too alien for the villagers to understand. Bonds by one name, or chains of enslavement. It mattered little to her how others viewed it, as long as they eventually came to an agreement. An understanding, so to speak.

And then theirs would be happy, and so would the worlds. A symphony of chaos to create divine light. Purity, cleanliness, holy. Contaminants, plague, evil. Light and dark. The sun and moon. For the Lord to be loved, so the Lady must be feared.

Doubted.

Hated.

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Stuff

"Legal action?" Richtor replied mildly surprised. It was something he had not given much thought, but it was certainly maximum gain for minimum risk. "Few do like to go that route, even a lawyer. With sword and spell you can at least strike a blow against those who wrong you. Lawyers will do what they can to settle out of court because it is such a tedious thing." Richtor tapped his chin a few times after finishing his sentence. "But then again, tedium might perhaps work. If mired in enough legal trappings, Jace could entirely try to settle with us..."

"Or smash everyone's head into a wall," Mendozza bluntly said. "Save us all the trouble."

Luc spoke up for the first time in the meeting. "That monstrous strength of arm I witnessed," he crossed his fingers, "if Jace looked upon the other Heroes as equals, or something even close to equals, I could solely say they beat the Lord into submission."

Richtor sighed, in response to both Generals and the Captain's words. "I'll do my best to drive support towards Elysimia it seems. But that brings up another matter regarding their position on the Crimson-Weapons group, General Jackson included. Captain Altair has reported they were once know as... what was it?" The Councilman's mind drew empty.

"Fire bandits," Luc recalled what Reika once told him so long yet so shorty ago.

"Ah, yes," Richtor covered his embarrassment with enthusiasm. "Silly name. But even with the General vouching for them, I'm sure they've earned quite a few detractors in the Elysimian high command. Ones that I'm also sure the Church are contacting, instigating. It may make things ever more dangerous to their continued survival, and... anyone attached." The way the Councilman worded it was not an order, it was not direct advice, it was simply stating a fact.

"Granted that's only the... whaddaya call it? Reformist faction I think? Or was it Lunaism?" Mendozza scratched his head trying to recall whichever religious group was at odds with the Crimsons. "Eh, whichever. But if they're here, we can fully expect them to raise some ironic sorts of hell. Nothing like clergymen death to get any normal person riled up."

Not Stuff

"Are you two done yet?" Fargo knocked on the door where the two spies were changing clothes into something "less conspicuous". Or so they said. Which meant they were...

"All done," the boy said and opened the door. And Not to Fargo's surprise at all less conspicuous meant just changing their colors. The make stood cheerfully in a black cloak. The female in a gray one.

"Ahhhh," Fargo moaned. "You'll be pointed out as spies immediately."

"But spies for whom?"

"Us obviously!" Fargo slapped his forehead. Why did he have to be the voice of reason in an argument. It was just unnatural.

"Me," the boy put on foppish airs. "A spy? Why, my garb is simply to not ingest your common air!"

"And I?" the girl said, "Am just a simple merchant with burn scars. No spy am I!"

Fargo sighed, too depressed to even put up his pitiful resistance. "What are your names?"

"We'll see," both said and laughed.

Fargo sighed again. "Alright, whatever, fine, let's just," he paused in depression, "let's just get moving before anything more bothersome happens."

Tempting fate was a specialty of Fargo, as the bothersome pair of Jeanne and Merigold round the nearby corner. The resigned cavalier simply took it in stride with yet another sigh. Before they day ended he was gonna sigh more then an entire poor peasant village.

"Fargo," Jeanne said, a bit cold. What did he do now? "And where are you off to with them?"

"Errr," Fargo stuttered. He probably shouldn't answer that.

The black-cloak spy laughed. "Just going out and about! Fresh air, sunshine the whole shebang!" That last word confused all of the normal people before they just shook it of as some peculiar turn-of-phrase. "I'd ask if you'd come with,, but it's very importat, dangerous, fresh air and sunshine. The shebang's relatively tame though." The black spy laughed again.

Jeanne looked at te spy and shook her head. "If you're going somewhere, at least remove your hoods, it will make you less suspicious."

"Good idea!" the black spy said in a way that sounded like it was the gray spy's idea. Which was really quite a feat considering how difficult that would be to pull off with just two enthusiastic words.

"So," Fargo looked at the two girls--Merigold in particular. She eyed him back. It sent shivers down his spine. "Are you hanging out with Merigold to avoid your brother?"

"Oh," the gray spy spoke up. "A little family trite is it? Tell us, tell us?"

"Hohoho," Merigold did a haughty laugh, hand to mouth and all. "Think what you will with those poor flabby arms of yours."

That didn't make much sense as a segue-in... She was obviously taunting him about all those arm-wrestling matches they had,... and he lost. No mage should be that arm-strong! "It's better if we all just pretend we never saw each other. No reason to have Captain thinking I beat him to the punch or something."

"You do that," Merigold replied with a creepy smile. She looked at Jeanne, "come Jeanne, let us get back to important business!" The younger girl nodded and the two walked past Fargo and his spy escort.

Once they were out of hearing range, Fargo whispered. "I hate this job."

"I love it!" the spies said in unison and slapped Fargo on the back in unison. Fargo sighed, placed his hands on their shoulders and began walking out of the embassy.

CHASE! The Not Stuffest Stuff Ever.

The young archer didn't have much to do still. He saw Helios at one point, probably waiting to ambush him. So instead the young archer simply watched and waited and spied on the annoying wind mage.

Which was a poor use of time. And boring. He wasn't even close enough to eavesdrop on his conversations.

So, having done nothing for yet another day, it took Chase an annoying amount of time to fall asleep. So he ended up oversleeping and waking up after way too many other people. Too many others were already at the breakfast table. Heck, it was pretty much everybody. Including, hey, Isotov and Irina were back! Which would be good news for Morgan.

Secret Stuff

It's a secret. From atop some building looking at another larger building.

"Got any threes?" the green-cloaked spy said.

"Go fish," the pink-cloaked spy said. "Got any sevens?"

"Go fish," the gold-cloaked spy said. "Got any threes?"

"Dammit," the brown-cloaked spy swore. "I'll get my revenge!"

Edited by Script
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Septimian Shenanigans

"The wielders seem like a nice enough bunch from what I've seen. Well, there was that issue with General Alex over at the border, though I think the whole incident was more of a misunderstanding than actual criminal activity. In any case, they do seem to genuinely want to stop the demons which is a good thing. If Altenau was any indication, we'll need all the help we can get," Tristan chimed in.

"I guess the question is why we need these Crimson Weapon things in the first place. From personal experience, you don't need any fancy holy relics or hellfire whatevers to kill demons. Slicing off any vital looking parts usually does the trick," Brunhilde commented afterwards.

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More Septimian Shenanigans

Once the rendezvous with the Directus troops was canceled, due to compromised security, Alex followed the others to the Septimian embassy, where they remained for the night. Her rest was fitful, for the first time in a while.

In the morning, the halberdier rose later than usual, but she made it to the meal hall before most of the Directus officials. After only eating a light breakfast, she turned her attention to the arriving councilman, who began the meeting with quick estimates on the factions. It was Jace - it wasn't getting any easier thinking about him like that- versus Halton, with Elyisima essentially a bystander. At one point the idea of standing up to the dictator came up, but that would need someone who could lie convincingly to him... And that was where Alex began to have a bad feeling about this summit business. It went away, partially, but the woman paid closer attention after that.

Now, the Prince was vouching for the Crimsons. It was noble of him, and all, but the group was not exactly the saints he painted them as.

"The knife wielder, Reika, is a monster," The Comet said, "She's more likely to put a knife in everyone's backs than fight with an alliance with Halton. The sword wielder is unstable, and Colonel Kleine and his officer have no idea on how to run a military unit. Aside from those four, the lot in general is reasonable. The religious zealots are an issue, though."

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Terrible not-what-I-wanted-to-post Stuff because this is the worst type of posting window I've ever seen and or used and also that only happened because firefox is terrible and lagged and closed this tab because it took too long to close other tabs so I over-clicked and the one with the decent post filled with not-RAGE went kerblamo and when I revived the tab through history there was no hour-long post but glorious blank screen which leads us back to worst posting window.

"I see," Councilman Richtor replied to Tristan's statements.

Brunhilde's words came next, and Luc felt he had some insight into that. "Councilman, if I may?" Luc spoke up. Richtor gave him a nod to continue. "Yes, as you've mentioned General, the basic demons don't require any sort of speciality abilities to slay, we've all seen that by now." Some of the Color Guard glanced at Luc, but he paid them no mind. "The Lieutenants, the higher-order of demons are terribly more resilient thought. The Crimsons hold a fearsome strength that I've witnessed myself. They have already succeeded in slaying one Lieutenant with only one Crimson, with multiples, it would prove the safest option to remove the demonic leadership, their strongest forces."

"Not that we can't kill the big bastards with good old steel," Mendozza said, "But we don't exactly want to play crush them under the weight of our own dead again."

General Alex spoke next, offering her reports on several of the Crimsons and the attached. Certainly correct, but Luc needed to offer his own insight into the matters. "Yes, indeed," he nodded in approval. Luc desired the advice he offered the Crimson Knives girl in Jerdon to take hold, for her to learn subtly and play a longer-game. it seemed to be working, as she didn't instigate any riots when mention or presence of Halton was mentioned. "Reika is untamed, possibly uncontrollable. That she didn't go berserk immediately upon Damian's leading the group to the Halton gate, to the embassy was rare. If she has any sense, then she'll keep herself in control here or there, but if she's to take part in any larger operations, well, we steer our influence to Elsymia so that should placate her some." Luc moved next to Esphyr, and her continued circumstances. Her constant fights. "Esphyr--the sword-wielder--seems to have calmed considerably recently, almost becoming... apathetic. Where before she was loud, and drastic, she seems almost... resigned to things. It's possibly even more dangerous then how she was before." Damian and Aiya. The man who had damaged his house not insignificantly, but had showed the power the Crimsons held, both his and Helios'. "Colonel Damian Kleine was until recently very... vengeful. He says he has calmed his inner turmoil, and has agreed to devote what he can to cooperation, but he has earned quite the ire amongst the group, and there is the possibility of relapse. His lance is the first Crimson I truly saw in action, and it wielded an unorthodox, but clear power." and Aiya... "His subordinate Aiya is very devoted to him, and like so many others is divided amongst her national duty, personal desires and noble intentions. As for both, I've seen no measure of their military acumen, but trying to enforce military discipline upon the Crimson group is a futile endeavor, and no battles of regiment size have taken place within my knowledge."

"Ha," Mendozza let out a single laugh. "No military control eh? So this is all gloriously futile to control them."

Luc fell silent at Mendozza's assertion. He had no answer for that, the best the Crimsons would do was cooperate or agree to let either Conrad or Damian act as a figurehead. But even then, it wouldn't be a unanimous decision. But then, should some even get a choice? "I have another concern with the Crimsons beyond the ones General Alex brought up," Luc brought up. He kept his head low, and his voice level. "Two of them knowingly and did willfully cooperate with a demon for the advancement of their machinations. And in those schemes did the demon already betray one. I believe this of paramount importance, and further reduces those in the group who can be labeled as sensible." If he wanted this to go quickly, efficiently, he would have held back. But this was the time to be against demons. "Of the remaining, the Wind Mage Helios is trurtworthy, the Thunder Mage Arrain is young and has no grand plans, and the bow-wielder Chase is indoctrinated with the Shamness Morgan."

"It's always something," Mendozza hung his head and shook it. "Well, we're just gonna have to deal with that at the big table." Richtor chuckled in response. "What?" Mendozza asked a tad annoyed.

"Ive already set things regarding that in motion."

"Of course you did."

Fargo stuff which was the reason I closed those tabs because those tabs were to keep previous posts relating to Luc open and I didn't need them anymore since Fargo-time requires no thought.

Fargo and his spytastic escort left the safety of the Septimus Embassy for the not-safety of the whatever-this-place's streets. Fargo, of course, wouldn't know it was not-safe if his escorts weren't inclined to point it out every second to harass him.

"Look, that one's writing notes on us."

"Three pairs of eyes following."

"We got a stalker~"

"That guy has a lotta knives!"

"I love it when they think we don't notice their tricks."

So by the time they reached the Halton Embassy, Fargo was more tired then the one times he had actually done work. Which was when he couldn't remember. So this was the most tired he had ever been. Which didn't help his thoughts as he tried to think of why he was even sent on this mission. Or what excuse he was supposed to use to get back inside. "Ummm," he stuck his hand up like one would do in a school class. "Hi. Can I go in?"

CHASE!

He sneezed. Luckily he caught it with his elbow so no one got a load, but still, ewww.

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