Rolled 9, 12, 4, 18, 15 = 58 (5d20)
>>5658584“I cannot speak to the, ah, political situation in the East, of course… But in the Northwest, we have had no wars between races, or between human subraces, in three hundred and forty-eight years… And the last one was barely a decade long, and had casualties in the low thousands!”
“Surely there are conflictsss?” you ask, a little surprised at this.
“With the Southern nations, sometimes… or with bands of orcs and goblinoids, or against individual bad actors such as, as demonologists or necromancers—”
“Hm,” you grunt, remembering your own troubles with those exact same elements in the past.
“—but at the closing of the last Dragon War, the Paladin King channeled the very voice of the gods and proclaimed it a sin against The Heavenly Realms and the Gdos of Light for any two peoples who worship them to make war against one another.”
“And yet you all have armiesss, mercenariesss…”
“…Yes,” Ekaterine admits with a sigh, setting the book in her lap and again sitting beside you. “Some… Skirt the laws, with what they call, ah, ‘undeclared conflicts’… But these are exceptions, and the deaths are few, and innocent people and their property are not brought into it.”
“Innocentsss of your allianccce,” you correct her.
Eka looks at you in confusion.
“Goblinsss, orcssss, occultissstsss, the foreign men… Their women and children, their homesss, what happensss to them? To their young, their noncombatantsss?”
Ekaterine fidgets uncomfortably, and looks down.
“It is… A shameful oversight, yes. We MUST improve, be BETTER. But still, these… these demon-worshiping lizardmen, these ‘reptoids’…”
“They are not a part of your allianccce,” you interject. “They do not worship your godss. They do not have acccesss to your diplomatic channelsss. They are doing what they mussst, and asss their own Godsss command them.”
“They work with demons,” she shoots back. “Creatures of pure malevolence and violence.”
You think of Irinnile, and counter: “Dangerousss creaturesss and dangerousss men are useful, in war. They need merely be directed properly. Maybe it alssso goesss this way for demonsss, yess? Even the Hawkssong Mages’ Tower oncce employed a Demonologist, yesss?”
“You sound almost sympathetic to them,” Ekaterine notes quietly, scrutinizing you.
You hesitate, then shrug.
“I have lived in difficult tiemssss, and placesss. It makesss it… Difficult to apsss judgement sso easssily. Where I come from, sstrength iss key... Whatever itsss source.”
