>>5355115>>5355120The Cartographer hails you, before you can even track him down—he has apparently been seeking you for some time.
“Oh Superior One, we are a week’s travel, or less, from the northern forward base,” he reminds you, speaking of the operational centre where you were hatched and reared, and where you received your marching orders which led you here, and to Bloodrise. “Perhaps, given the AMBITIOUS expansion of our original mandate, it would be wise to request proper, Reptilian reinforcements as well?”
You consider his words. You ARE quite close to home… And, as thing are proceeding now, you should return with rations and rangers well ahead of your troops running out of food. However, a return trip to the Reptilian base would take you through dangerous territory, which could delay you; even without such a delay, it would extend you journey by at least another week or two.
There is also the matter of that original mandate, and how very far you have diverged for it in so many ways: you subjugated the kobolds, yes, and you seized their misbegotten artefacts of the ancient days… But you also experimented on the sacred remains of the Red Dragon King’s hatchlings, including using their blood to augment your own (highly illegal) hybrid offspring. Then, rather than returning the mountains to a state of peaceful quietude to avoid attracting mammalian attention, you slaughtered and enslaved several humanoids, forged two alliances with mammalian peoples, and began the conquest and slavery of another such race.
You’re not certain how the Chaplain will respond to this. Will you get reinforcements, or a reprimand and orders to abandon this entire enterprise? Or… Worse? Much of what you’ve done borders on insubordination. you didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms with He of Seniormost Authority. Every action you have taken knowing it could risk exposure of your race's existence (and you secret machinations) without so much as notifying or consulting your masters is a strike against you, digging that hole deeper. You have been gone a long while, though—if you do not report SOMETHING, the worst will be assumed. It may well come to pass that they DO indeed send someone to complete your job for you… And discover all that has transpired, and that you have deliberately kept these monumental happenings from the Priesthood. It will look like mutiny.
What do you do?
>Journey home, to tell the Chaplain (most) of what transpired, and to request material aid and reinforcements>Send no word back yet—not until your work is done, your success undeniable, and your position unassailable>Send a messenger [who?] to send a specific message [what?] for the Chaplain, avoiding direct conflict and interference>Write-in 