>>5680087>>5680119>>5680127>>5680211>>5680226The Archer has been a loyal and stalwart friend, so you can forgive him being less than up-front about his (frankly quite transparent) motivations. After all, you are Prince of Love! But can you really afford to be away from Bloodrise any longer?
Well… Yes.
You may have been away from home for some time, but you haven’t been on vacation. You’ve been working to ensure that your kingdom in Bloodrise WOULD be safe in your absence. The adventurers who were to render aid were smashed and broken, and Hawksong’s only surviving prince is your puppet. No help is coming for the dwarves of Bloodrise. Your war may go slowly—there may be losses—but there is no reason to believe that a few more days will make or break the campaign.
“Wise council, Archer,” you reply to Olu, who beams. “We can pass along to the Drow that the conquest is going well and we may be ready to move into a new phase soon, with their assistance.”
“As you say, Superior One!”
You rattle quietly with laughter, and inform the others. The Novice Fleshweaver is indifferent to the delay, save for mentioning that she will have to expend yet more of his magic to prevent Ivno’s body ‘spoiling’ unduly. Princess Ekaterine’s reaction, meanwhile, is mixed.
“There are ELVES?” she asks, trying to hide the excitement which slips into her voice. “underground?”
“Yesss,” you tell her. “They are called the ‘Drow’ in their own tongue—an ancccient elven dialect from before a long-passst sschisssm. They live in thisss marveousss cccity of cryssstal and sssilk, on the edge of a vassst sssubterranean lake…”
Like you, your Eka is an appreciator of elven artwork, culture, and language. While she is more familiar with the surface-elves of the so-called Elflands—Silverwood, Iternagreyn, the Dawnglades, etcetera, with which you have only passing familiarity yourself—she is also a student of history and society, and ever-curious to learn about foreign cultures and new peoples. The barrier which has been erected between you since you revealed your true form and spirited her away begins to break down, and recent unfortunate happenings are briefly pushed away as the two of you share your experiences and knowledge of elvenkind above and below.
“…Though I must admit, I am not looking forward to encountering these, ah, giant bugs.”
Eka shivers at the mere thought of the dark elves’ favourite pets, most especially their spiders. You, who grew up regarding such monstrously-large arthropods primarily as a food source, cannot exactly relate.
“Jussst wait until you meet Glowie,” the Novice taunts Ekaterine.
