CH. 9: Winter is Coming

[Haahque]

"On the contrary, we had very limited success. We discovered and destroyed the cultist hideout, we killed well over a dozen of the heretics, likely the large majority of their number and we destroyed the object that kept you from tracking them. I have full confidence that with all the spies and eyes at your disposal you'll have no trouble tracking down one scaly mage who doesn't have a hole to hide in anymore."

"And we destroyed their super weapon."

"Really, I'm rather disappointed that with all your great law and order you allowed two thieves slip into the city and wouldn't even offer help to track them down in the name of justice."

[HorizonsDream]

"My name is Kendra Greylock," she says. "And you have a very keen eye," she says, looking somewhat surprised if not a little impressed. "I was hoping that the warrior side of me would be somewhat hidden," she admits with a light smile. "Though, you seem to flaunt the fact that you are a battle veteran. You certainly don't look like you are about to attend a dinner party. Though, I suppose, this is a different type of battle."

[mgbevan]

Feeling hard done by, Gregeddin counter's with his own take on things, "High Priestess, I cannot help but feel that you would have chided us either way things went. Had we returned to ask for support I calculate that you would have told us to get packing and sort this out ourselves. The whole point of asking for help, was to conserve your resources, so I find it difficult to follow your logic of sending a large task force would still be conserving your resources." The bard's tone is exasperated as he attempts to convey his point as diplomatically as possible. "Lest you could have just sent the large task force searching and destroying in the first place. I'm trying to say here that it feels like we could not have met these expectations from the start."

Letting out a breath of air before continuing, unlike Haahqae's mystery lung capacity, Gregeddin concludes, "So will you now scry and locate Belzor and tell us where to find him, or use your own Acolytes to finish this?"

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin, Tulbas and Shima (Temple of Takhisis)
"If you wish to report a crime, then I'd suggest you speak with the army," the high priestess says. "That you got robbed has nothing to do with me. But you are right...you did slay his people, at least, even if you did let the leader escape. But that was not the job. The job was to find them, nothing more. Trying to fight them all was a result of your ambition."

To Gregeddin, she says, "I scryed for him before you arrived and he is still missing. He is not a fool. He'd have to be quite clever to evade us this entire time. The statue you destroyed may have concealed his base and his people, but I am sure he had a backup base in case something like this happened and it, too, is protected. Had you reported earlier, we may have had the chance to end this once and for all. As it stands now, while you have robbed him of some of his resources, he will attempt to rebuild. I suggest you sleep with one eye open. Once he is able, I am certain he will seek revenge against you."

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion, Ballroom)
Tethys chuckles. "True enough. I hold many titles. I am marshal, warrior, sorcerer, tactician and now prefect. I suppose I am something of a Renaissance Man. But in any case, that you are a warrior is nothing to hide. A woman who can fight is much more alluring than a dainty maid who swoons at the sight of blood." A servant walks by holding a tray of glasses filled with wine and he plucks two off as he passes, then hands one glass to Kendra. "The Fire Snakes? Ah, yes, Commander Mouna's division. Speaking of warrior women...she is something else. Highlord Verminaard recruited her from the Green Dragonarmy a couple of years back." He chuckles again. "Suffice to say, Highlord Salah-Khan was not pleased, but the orders came from Emperor Ariakas himself."

Arulia Seroth (323 Three Forks, Seroth residence)
"You can come, if you like," Thoron says. "But I barely get more than 5 or 6 customers a day now, so I'm afraid there won't be much for you to do."

He steps out and a few moments later Cassilda and Camilla come in to clean up and change for bed. The bandages around Cassilda's hand make things difficult for her. Neither girl says anything.

[chese780]

Felran looks around the sketchy pub.

(OOC: Been busy)

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra takes the glass from Tethys, and takes a drink from it. She manages not to do a spit take upon hearing all of these names, and learning there is a green Dragonarmy somewhere in the world. "Ah," she said, flushing with embarrassment. "Aside from Commander Mouna, I have no idea who all of those people are," she admits. "And I didn't know there was a green Dragonarmy. My concern has always been centered around Haven, so I don't know much about the world outside of here," she admits. "Though, I am curious," she adds.

[TristenC]

Grubnick takes a seat at the bar a bit away from the hooded men, his rumbling stomach reminding him how little he has eaten today. He orders a meal and an ale from Green Tears. How is business today? It seems the crowd of dracs changes every night, any trouble? The last he says quietly.

[djhyland]

Arulia smiles weakly for her sisters when they come in, but says nothing about the dinner. After seeing Cassilda struggling with her injured hand, she asks, "What happened to your hand, Cassilda? May I see it?"

[BishGada]

Tulbas listens to the exchange of words saying nothing up to the end but then, "isn't ambition one of the characteristic the goddess preaches to us to have? You were not wrong to send us on this mission. On my first encounter with them I almost finished five of them single handed. The others did consider reporting to you but indeed feared it would look as greater failure and therefor continued. If you give us another task you can see how competent we are, and if we fail, well, we will probably end up dead, and won't trouble you again. As for Belzor, I think he won't seek revenge. He now knows his place and his weakness, and he is the one sleeping with one eye opened. "

[Haahque]

Well at least one of us seems to have some confidence left. These last few days have been quite humbling for Haahqae, to put it lightly, and he has no doubt that there's probably a team of assassins sitting in his poorly maintained bedroom in the Steel Tankard, ready to stab him in the back as soon as he falls asleep. And by the look of it, this blasted temple and their deity seem to represent genocide and economic collapse, not ambition. Really, rather poor things to base a creed on in his now humble opinion.

He only has to stay here through the winter, then he can move to somewhere the dragonarmy hasn't conquered yet.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin, Tulbas and Shima (Temple of Takhisis)
The woman looks at Tulbas and smiles slightly, her mouth the only feature visible from under her black cowl. "Indeed, we do value ambition. But ambition without wisdom is like a boat on dry land. Still, I am willing to offer you an opportunity to redeem yourselves. We will be posting this announcement soon, but I will let you four have a head start on it. We have received intel that the renegade who calls himself Belzor is not the only false cleric in our fair city. There are others...those who follow other, lesser true gods."

She leans forward. "Any who can find and turn in these heretical clerics will be offered 5,000 steel pieces and be given permanent weapon permits and made full agents of the church, placed on retainer with a weekly stipend, be immune to all new taxes, and be given first choice among all jobs." This strikes Tulbas with surprise, in particular. If he were to become a full agent of the church, he would no longer need Magnus' protection; he'd have the church's instead.

"You will know these heretical clerics when you find them. They will be capable of magical healing and will often speak blasphemy against Takhisis," she continues. "They seek to subvert our goddess' will, but they will fail. Still, we cannot have them leading good people astray with their lies and false promises. Find them, turn them in, and you will be richly rewarded."

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion, Ballroom)
Tethys gives her a look of mild surprise. "You don't know...but...wait, you said you were with the Fire Snakes?" He eyes her with new insight, as if seeing her for the first time. "That is a draconian unit. Mouna is the only human in it...which means...you must be a local recruit. A citizen of Haven? How very interesting! You know, when we first arrived I thought we would be hailed as saviors. Sadly, few in the city seem to appreciate how much we've done for them. This city was falling apart when we arrived. Poverty was everywhere, the government had no power, mad cults swept through the city, hurting innocents with their riots and causing chaos in the streets. We put an end to all of that, saved this city from its own self-destruction. If you have joined us, then you must see that, too, yes? I can't tell you how refreshing it is to meet someone who actually appreciates what we have done here."

He conjures up some kind of magical illusionary map in the air of Ansalon. "In any case, the Emperor of the Dragonarmies is Duulket Ariakas. He is the chosen champion of our Queen, Takhisis. He controls the five Dragonarmies--Red, White, Green, Blue and Black. Each Dragonarmy is run by a Dragon Highlord. We are, of course, the Red Dragonarmy and our leader is Highlord Verminaard.

Tethys then begins to 'draw' colored circles on the map with his talon. First, he draws a large white circle around Icereach to the far south, then another one far to the east encompassing Goodlund and the Blood Sea Isles. "The White Dragonarmy has taken the far south and far east with little difficulty. The minotaurs of the Blood Sea Isles happily joined up with us, as they recognized the vision of our Emperor."

He then draws black circles around Balifor and Blode, then a large green circle that covers all of Nordmaar, Estwilde, Khur and Neraka. "The Black and Green Dragonarmies have taken central Ansalon. Here, in the city of Neraka, is where our emperor resides. You might consider it our homebase."

Next he draws a blue circle that covers most of Solamnia, leaving only a sliver to the west. "The Blues have made good work in taking Solamnia, but now they have settled until winter passes. In the spring, they'll take Palanthas and the rest of Solamnia will fall shortly thereafter. From there, they have a launching point to take Ergoth and Sancrist, the home of the gnomes."

Finally, he draws a big red circle that encompasses southern Solamnia, Schallsea, New Coast, Silvanesti, Abanasinia and Qualinesti. He then puts another circle around the city of Haven. "Here we are," he says. "Now Silvanesti is a bit of an exaggeration. We don't 'have' it, per se. We have the borders, but nobody can enter without going mad. But we drove out the elves, so there's that. We are taking Qualinesti as we speak. They won't be able to put up any kind of real fight. Well, nobody can. We have true clerics and dragons on our side. Once we're done there, we'll move south. The hill dwarf lands, Thobardin, then start working our way through the Plains of Dust." He steps back to admire his art and to let Kendra take it all in. "And once all of Ansalon is under our control, and we've brought peace and stability to the land...hmm, who can say? There are rumors of other continents out there, after all. They are as likely as war-torn and chaotic and in need of our stability, as well."

Conquered Ansalon Map.jpg (301.89 KiB) Viewed 7354 times

Arulia Seroth (323 Three Forks, Seroth residence)
Cassilda jumps slightly, turning to Arulia, but then quickly turning back away. "Uh, oh, it's nothing. I was careless...was burned at the forge. It was my own fault. I shouldn't...daydream on the job." She chuckles slightly. "Don't worry, it's all patched up. But it will take time to heal. Just lucky it wasn't my good hand, I guess."

Grubnick (High Hand Inn, common room)
"They like to drink. And to spy," Green Tears answers quietly, bringing him a meal and ale. "Different ones in every night. Same in all taverns, I hear." Grubnick pays 3 silver. "No trouble today. Quiet since they took a thousand men to the elflands."

Felran and Ne-Chanz (Grinning Goat Tavern)
While the barman and Ne-Chanz chat, Felran takes the time to scope out the area. There aren't many people here and the few that are present are passed out drunk. This includes a couple of draconians. There is one person, however, who is conscious and quite sober. She is a human woman with short blond hair and wearing leathers. She keeps her eyes on her drink, but she tilts her head every now and again, as if listening.

[Haahque]

"Now finally that's a job I can get behind. Turning them in might be rather difficult without weapons, but I'll cross the bridge when I get to it. You can never count out gnomish ingenuity when it comes to figuring out how to catch something. I'll be very interested in the finding part. Trouble is I doubt they'll just be preaching in the streets with the new laws in place. Hmm, this might require some thought."

Well if nothing else, at least Haahqae has a short memory when it comes to being stinted.

The money was, in Haahqae's opinion, far too much money for him. He's very keen on getting some money, but getting five thousands is more then he wants or even knows how to spend. The weapons permit would be rather useful and get him by a lot of hassle. Meanwhile being made agents of the church sounded rather scary, Haahqae doesn't want to settle down, here least of all places, but it might be a little useful to find people who need helping in this city which seems to be falling apart. The trouble will mostly be finding clerics of other gods in the city, more specifically finding one that he actually wants to turn in.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra hopes that Tethys can't read her mind magically because on the inside she is terrified of what she is seeing. It was bad enough that Tethys is under the illusion that he is the "savior" of Haven. Though, to learn there wasn't just one army, but five is enough to crush what little spirit she had when the Red Dragonarmy took over. ~Stay calm, Kendra,~ she tells herself. "Ah, forgive me," she finally says. She almost seemed to be in silent awe in all that she was told, and upon realizing that she was quiet, she finally spoke up. "I'm just trying to absorb it all," she admits. "But," she finally says. "If you have true clerics on your side and dragons, why aren't some of those clerics here tonight?" she asks innocently. "Aren't the army and church working together?"

[djhyland]

"May I see it anyway?" Arulia asks. Pulling her chest from beneath her bed, she begins to rummage through it. Taking some bandages and herbs from it, she adds, "If it's a burn, I can make a poultice for it...it will heal faster, and with less pain."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin, Tulbas and Shima (Temple of Takhisis)
"That you found the Belzorites at all shows that you are resourceful, if nothing else," the priestess says. "If there is nothing more to report, the purple lights will lead you back to the entrance of the temple."

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion, Ballroom)
Tethys chuckles. "We all serve Takhisis, that is true. But it's a little more complicated than that. Tell me, Kendra," he says, using her first name, "do you have any siblings? Then you understand what it is like to have to vie for your mother's attention against others, to prove you are the one most worthy of her love. It is much the same way with our Queen. We all want to earn her respect--the soldiers, the mages, the clerics. Even we draconians want to prove ourselves special in her eyes. And she encourages this. After all, she wants her followers to be the best they can be, to constantly struggle for improvement. However, sometimes the only way to reach up high enough for her to notice you is to climb over the backs of her weaker followers. Thus, it is always a competition between us."

The bozak shrugs, a distinctively human gesture. "As for the clerics, well, they have spies everywhere. Which is why I was quite selective about whom I invited here." He leans toward her and says conspiratorially, "In truth, I have plans to snatch that brothel project out from under them. They're hoping to use the income for themselves, but if I could control it, it would be a great boon for soldiers such as yourself." He winks, another strangely human gesture. "This is just an example, of course, of the many rivalries that go among us."

Arulia Seroth (323 Three Forks, Seroth residence)
With some reluctance, Cassilda acquiesces. Arulia unwraps the bandage already on the burn and looks it over. Almost at once, she realizes something is odd about it. She is a skilled healer and has an eye for such things. But she has also spent a little time around forges, due to her father's profession, and has seen accidental burns before. This looks quite different. It looks more like someone took a hot poker to Arulia's hand. There's just no conceivable way a burn like this was inflicted by Cassilda herself, accidentally or otherwise.