>>5453477“King Theral arrives!”
You are thus announced among elves, whatever your true feelings about the matter. You turn your mind from nomenclature to matters of state and spirit—the conversion of the Queen of Elves. Your second visit ahs less fanfare than your initial one, though you are still offered food and drink; you accept the former, and politely decline the latter in favour of water, still nursing a lingering regret in your skull and stomach from the night prior. After the dinner, Olu and Jazkarmel join you—and Karz, also, though he speaks no elven. The Queen awaits you in the same fountain-garden courtyard where you met her previous; the same butterfly or moth creatures flits about as before, and you wave them away.
“I have slain your ‘Ghoul Supreme’,” you note.
“Yes,” acknowledges Queen Myrymma, “And we thank you…”
You tilt your head at her ambivalent tone.
“Is something wrong?” you ask.
“You made quite the show of your… Piety, Theral.”
“The Dark Gods guided me, strengthened me, and made my victory possible,” you state plainly. “One does not invoke their wrath by denying them their due.”
“Ah, the capriciousness of gods… Who you now wish me to pledge allegiance to?”
You nods. Olu nudges Jazkarmel with his elbow, a wide smile upon his lips. The Princess… Seems less enthused, looking worriedly to her monarch.
“The implications for my house’s political futures are not ideal,” she admits.
Your muscles tighten a little.
“I went on this quest to prove the worthiness of myself and my faith,” you say levelly. “There was an UNDERSTANDING that this would prove the merit of the Dark Gods.”
“Yes,” Queen Myrymma admits, “but what do you truly GAIN from such a thing? I will gladly convert…”
She doesn’t SOUND glad of it, you note.
“…But then, when I step down, the King who follows will surely renounce such… Religiosity.”
You snort, and cross your arms… But consider her words.
What do you propose?
>Bid Queen Myrymma to convert quietly, and slowly spread the faith to her house and her allies—a classic Reptilian subversion campaign>Call upon Myrymma to arrange a meeting with that prince whom she preferred—the dragonfly-breeder, of House Lahlabar, that you might impress upon HIM to convert as well, and discuss how best to win him the crown>Frankly, the whole damned elven system of ‘seasonal’ rule befuddles you with its backwardness and periodic instability—Myrymma will convert, and then you will arrange for a civil war and coup to keep her in power>You’ve had enough of elven politicking, and have been away from Bloodrise too long; announce that you will be offering sanctuary to any who announce their conversion to the Dark Gods, and offer all these converts a place in the Bloodrise>Write-in 