>>5323868>>5323850>>5323826>>5323728>>5323605>>5323574>>5323538>>5323516>>5323380>>5323351>>5323312>>5323255>>5323228>>5323219You gather those of your retinue whoa re present here in the Bloodrise—The Novice, The Translator, the Cartographer, the Bastard, the Thief, both Merchants… And Ivno, who shuffles about and keeps his eyes low, aware of his odd-male-out status. Only Glowie is absent, still resting up… Well, and Agno, due to his rebellion and subsequent demotion from the retinue proper.
“We will raid the dwarves,” you announce.
The Thief is trepidatious, made wary by his last encounter. The Cartographer, despite similar experiences, seems excited. The rest have mixed or ambivalent responses: the Novice is exasperated but resigned to your bravado; the Translator accepts your decision, but quietly voices the opinion that your resources would be better focused on studying and further uncovering your own people’s history and treasures; the Merchants do not grow giddy at the thought of combat, but certainly do at the notion of gemstones and rare earth metals; Ivno and the Bastard both show enthusiasm (Ivno’s more muted) at the thought of expanding your holdings here.
“We’re already weakened, stretched thin,” the Novice sighs. “Can we not report back and await reinforcements?”
“We will seize victory, or be deemed failures,” you explain. “Do you think your father, the Chaplain of the Northern Forward Base, will deem our mission a success if the kobolds revolt or rebel anew? If the dwarves sweep in, or Redwell’s humans rise up, and we lose the territory we just retook to MAMMALS? We have to leave them with a lasting victory—one to frighten off contenders.”
“And what of the barbed devils?” the Novice asks, uniquely willing to challenge you.
You grin, as much a grimace as a smile.
“I have a plan for them,” you say, “and for the Drow, too.”
Her eyes widen, as you explain your gambit: a three-way alliance, of reptiloid races, outcast elves, and the strange, spiky men from the deep-earth.
