>>5884864An unknown mercenary company assisting the Count at Akzeriuth. Another headache to deal with.
>“Assuming you were able to take over Akzeriuth and even arm the miners there, what then? You know as well as I do the Castle is well-entrenched. Neither your men nor I possess anything in the way of siege equipment.”“The answer to that question lies at Akzeriuth.” Gerald smiles smugly. “All of the Empire was relying on Rusalka to supply the ore for their war machine, and new methods were required to ensure that flow was both steady and in great quantity. Eventually, Hoff hired some bookworm from the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery to work at Akzeriuth. He developed some sort of new powder that is…extremely volatile. I’ve seen that contraption of his blow chunks of ore the size of boulders to pebbles. No matter how durable the Castle walls are, they won’t stand a chance. We take Akzeriuth, and then take that man, or if need be, just his powder.”
>“Interesting. If it works half as well as you say, it’ll be of great help. Even if we can just use it to lure the castle’s defenders out, I’ll feel much better in a field battle than a siege. You should know though that I’m here on orders of the Knights of Seiros. We’ll free those trapped in Akzeriuth, but afterwards, we’re to destroy the mine and shut it for good.”“Be my guest.” Gerald says. “Plenty of other mines. You won’t find a fucking soul in Rusalka that would hold it against you.”
>“One last question. Say all this works. We knock down the castle’s walls, take out the defenders, and capture or kill the Count. What then? Who picks up the pieces and rules?”Gerald smirks, unhooking a flask from his belt and taking a swig, before offering it to you. “Good question, and one in which the answer has only just recently changed. Originally, I wasn’t intending on killing Charles. Doing so would only invite the rest of Adrestia onto our ass. I’d just wanted to remove Hoff and Wedge, and then ‘gently’ suggest the Count alter his course of rule.”
>“Turning him into a puppet.”“Correct. But the Empire lost the war. Things are going to change all over Adrestia. There’s even talks that there may not be an Empire anymore. That we may all split up and turn into individual territories. The way things are shaping up, I don’t think we’ll need to keep Charles around.”
>“What are you suggesting?”“Well…we have a few options in front of us. And we should probably settle on them now rather than later. The first is that we kill Charles and settle on something new. A reputable merchant or minor noble, or even an affluent local warrior who the people can rally behind.”
>“Someone like you?” 