>>5693382While you know the time has at long last come to step into the light and formally acknowledge your Dark Kingdom, you are less certain about revealing the true face of its King. Queen Ekaterine is an asset in her true shape, of course—the greatest you have—but eve if you are to come forward as ‘Theral’, you somehow feel that Long Wang’s face is likely a better first impression.
Ekaterine, surprisingly, disagrees.
“You should have more faith in people, and in yourself,” she tells you gently. “I know you have been, ah, ostracized… But it is better that they see you as you TRULY are than to begin negotiations with this… this IMMEDIATE lie.”
You humour your Beloved One, promising to consider the Human Queen’s words… But your mind is already made up. Your skilled team of elven tailors and dwarven armourers modify your armour to fit your human guise and, once more, you don the Amulet of Disguise and assume the form of the mysterious (but vitally still HUMAN) Easterling, ‘Long Wang’, whose false face you wore when first you met your bride. As you look into the mirror and smile—a charming expression rather than an unnatural and forced bearing of carnivorous teeth—you know you’ve made the right choice.
Whatever the Fleshweaver might believe f you, you are no naïve fool. Whatever Eka might believe of the world, you know the truth: deceit is the better part of diplomacy.
