>>6074442
>Yes—you hold out hope that you can find common ground with your homeland, and invite your mother to witness your marriage
I wanna invite our mom to it

>>6074442
>>No—your father will be in attendance, and you’ll have the women you love and the friends you’ve made there, and that is more than enough

>>6074442
>Yes—you hold out hope that you can find common ground with your homeland, and invite your mother to witness your marriage

>>6074442
>Yes—you hold out hope that you can find common ground with your homeland, and invite your mother to witness your marriage

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>>6074465
>>6074489
>>6074507
>>6074641
Your romantic situation is, put rather mildly, complicated at the moment. But then, what else is new?

When you were young, your confusing mix of envy, suspicion, and affection for Izirina Henzler eventually gave way to a somewhat-unconventional romance, only for an impulsive act of dangerous selfishness to stall that progress. It was during that time that yet you first found another love: Costella Fanucci, a former patient of yours whom you cured of a deformative mutagenic plague. In the years since, you reconciled these competing affections—a process made easier by Costella’s own attraction to members of her own sex, and Izirina’s willingness to volunteer for experimental modifications of her mind, body and spirit.

But that didn’t mean things became EASY.

Competing priorities have extended your courtship with both women far beyond the local norm. Between your various missions of peacekeeping and metaphysical exploration, the persistent machinations of Costella’s well-heeled ex-paramour, and the inherent drama of precarious polyamory, you’ve encountered delay after delay in ‘making an honest woman’ out of either of the two women who have been sharing your bed for years now…

And it seems that isn’t about to end just yet.

“It’s just… I really want my mother to be there,” you admit.

Izirina frowns. Before the rather blunt mage-girl can think better of it, she asks: “Do you really think that’s a possibility?”

“Iz!” Costella gasps.

“No, that’s a fair point.” You make this admission with some annoyance, but it’s not really directed at Izirina. “I can’t know for sure. But… there’s a possibility. If these negotiations go well, and we can make the Sylvan delegation see reason…”

You’re being stupidly optimistic, you realize. It wasn’t so long ago that the Council of Elders who reigns from the Sylvan capital of Iternagreyn had attempted to steal your life’s work, and to kidnap Izirina. Form their last correspondence, it’s abundantly clear that they still consider Izzy and yourself a very real threat to the future. This is most probably because of the prophecies of the elven ‘minasien’ sage, Nenaias, who predicted that and elven-blooded descendant of Izirina Henzler would one day reclaim her birthright as the heir to Hawksong’s collapsed House of Yosef, and eventually give rise to a world-conquering tyrant.

(It might also be because your known associates include a lizardman who has taken up the sinister mantle of Dragon King, an outcast elven werewolf, and at least a couple demonic entities, because you smuggled a monstrous invader out of captivity in their realm, because you have been sharing the secrets of the Moon Goddesses with human laypersons, or because you responded to that kidnapping attempt by lethally ‘disappearing’ the squad they sent… But those actions all have very good explanations, honestly!)

>>6074683
Just as your cataloguing of your entirely justified) crimes has begun to deteriorate your morale, Costella brings you out of it. In her characteristic fashion, she takes your hands in hers and meets your eyes with her own beautiful blue-green ones.

“I get it,” she says. “Like, seriously. I mean… I’m still hoping that Mama and Papa can come. Maybe taking a little bit of extra time is what we ALL need?”

You squeeze her hands and smile, grateful as ever for her understanding and support. Costella might not be the most intellectual’ member of your ‘throuple’, but you’d be surprised if anyone, anywhere, can boast a fiancé as understanding or empathetic as she is. But as for Edmondo and Ines Fanucci, you future ‘in-laws’…

Well, the last time you heard from them, it was as collaborators in a rather scattershot lawsuit accusing you of everything from uncompetitive mercantile practices to rape and sexual perversion. Thanks in no small part to your connections with the Royal Family, you had managed to slap that down before the matter ever saw the inside of a courtroom, but it was not without expense; the out-of-court settlement you paid ate into your Mages Tower research advance, such that even with this delay, you won’t be able to afford the lavish celebration which Costella had hoped for… And ever since you defeated this slanderous attempt upon your reputation, you’ve seen neither hide nor hair of the Fanucci family.

“Maybe,” you say, without much confidence.

The elven delegation from your homeland will be here by the middle of the summer, as you understand it. There are myriad reasons for the delay—officials with conflicting responsibilities and such, mostly—but the REAL reason seems to be so that everyone involved can prepare their arguments and angle of approach… And ready their responses of last resort, if the negotiations fall through.

After all, there is a very real possibility that if you cannot make the Sylvan Realms see sense, there will be war, or at least further breakdown in the centuries-old relationship between the elven and human peoples of the North.

What preparations will you make, for the diplomatic talks ahead?
>Get advice—and request a character witness-from your mentor in the ways of Feycraft, The Spirit of the Old Maple
>Pray to the Goddess Miannie, Princess of the New Moon, and offer apologies for your trespasses in exchange for her favour
>Call upon the Dragon King of Bloodrise to attend, in his guise as the Prince Consort of Hawksong, to clear the air over his own ambitions
>Ask the Archmage of Hawksong’s Mage Tower to attend, in case things escalate to an arcane confrontation
>Actually, you might use this extra time to talk to the Fanuccis, and to clear the air in advance of the delayed nuptials…
>Write-in

>>6074691
>Get advice—and request a character witness-from your mentor in the ways of Feycraft, The Spirit of the Old Maple
>Call upon the Dragon King of Bloodrise to attend, in his guise as the Prince Consort of Hawksong, to clear the air over his own ambitions

We’re not praying to the moon goddess. We defended ourselves. We’re not apologizing for that.

We don’t need to talk to the fanucci right now - marriage is of less importance than being taken away.

I decide to involve Long Wang mainly because the sylvan realms are already aware of him - and suspect he is theral - so not getting him involved won’t obscure that either. We also need someone to back us up on why we had to get the prince out (and why we couldn’t just run away without him). Coordinate our excuses.

>>6074774
>+1
good reasons

>>6074691
>Actually, you might use this extra time to talk to the Fanuccis, and to clear the air in advance of the delayed nuptials…

>>6074691
>Actually, you might use this extra time to talk to the Fanuccis, and to clear the air in advance of the delayed nuptials…

>Pray to the Goddess Miannie, Princess of the New Moon, and offer apologies for your trespasses in exchange for her favour

No. Do not take the Sylvan realms mortal enemy with us and solidify our relationship with him in their eyes. Sounds like a recipe for not reconciling and escalation should the talks go wrong

>>6074774
I can get behind that.

>>6074774
>Get advice—and request a character witness-from your mentor in the ways of Feycraft, The Spirit of the Old Maple
>Call upon the Dragon King of Bloodrise to attend, in his guise as the Prince Consort of Hawksong, to clear the air over his own ambitions

The elves are still seething about us freeing natvodsk, they can take u[ their complaints with his father.

>>6074691
>Pray to the Goddess Miannie, Princess of the New Moon, and offer apologies for your trespasses in exchange for her favour
>Ask the Archmage of Hawksong’s Mage Tower to attend, in case things escalate to an arcane confrontation

I wouldn’t mind seeing Long Wang again, but I do want to repair our relationship with the elves and the Moon Princess, and touch bases with the Archmage again.

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>>6074944
>>6074912
>>6074812
>>6074785
>>6074782
>>6074774
[Locking the vote! Gonna' make some coffee before I write, though.]

>>6075216
For the last several months, you have been dividing much of your time between two places: the land reserve set aside by Queen Ekaterine as a reward for rescuing her city from the dragon-pox epidemic, and the demiplane which you seized through (fully-justified, altruistically-motivated) betrayal of ‘Queen’ Banelight and her so-called ‘Unseelie Court’. The latter feels more like a home to you, especially since you constructed an old-fashioned (and very cozy) wizard’s keep there. As more and more time passes, though, the two ‘worlds’ have led into one another.

Even so, you’re surprised to find the spriggan you seek within the demiplane proper, just outside your keep.

“You aren’t at your tree,” you note.

“Oh? Have those Banelight-dark eyes of yours expanded your insight, young half-an-elf?” teases the old fairy.

“It’s just… You’re the Spirit of the Old Maple.”

“Indeed I am, indeed I am,” he agrees, nodding his head thoughtfully with the sound of creaking wood and rustling leaves. “I am such wherever I go, though. Just as wherever you go, and whatever you do or become, you shall be Ezreal Mious of Dappulyet.”

“And Ezreal Van Hotuzmann of Hawksong,” you note.

“And he as well, yes,” agrees the spriggan. “But it’s never stopped you being the explorer and liberator of the Goblin Wastes, has it? Or a student of the Holy Moon?”

You wince a little at the bittersweet memory of that heavenly realm, where once you soared the skies and studied in the Sacrae Scholae Lunae with Divine Princess Miannie’s own blessing.

“Likewise, I thought I would take a stroll, to see this place which you took from Banelight, when you took her eyes,” he continues. “I wished to see it with MY eyes… What you had created.”

You refrain from commenting on the spriggan’s apparent LACK of eyes, since the closest thing to such organs he seems to have are a couple deep pits in his woody face. Instead, you ask: “And? Do you like it?”

The Spirit of the Old Maple is not the only visiting fairy. Rather, much of his court—and many a visiting fairy whom they have invited with them—frolic inside and outside of your keep, enjoying your admittedly-sparse garden here, alighting in trees. To your mild consternation, some even let themselves into your towers to raid your pantry or ogle the Unseelie Star which powers and preserves this place. A simultaneous roar and bleat shake the stones, and several giggling pixies spill out of the upstairs window and nearly hit the ground before they catch themselves with their wings and flit way, giggling.

>>6075270
Muffins, your chimera companion, stares out the window after them with both lion and goat heads. You look up at him and shrug helplessly; allowing the True Fey of Old maple Hill access to this place was part of the deal you made to gain their aid in mapping the place’s network of extradimensional tunnels. Besides, these are friends: they don't just take, but rather they bring seeds to plant and blessings for the soil, the water, and the breeze.

“I think you have done a good thing with a bad thing,” the wizened spriggan answers, “but good does not erase bad, even as bad can spoil good.”

You narrow your eyes a little. “Meaning?”

“If I were to bring you a delicious confection, like one of those cookies your mage-girl is so fond off, you would find it enticing, hm?”

“Uh,” you stammer, confused by the apparent change in subject, “I guess?”

“And if I were to instead bring you a fistful of worms, would that be as appetizing?”

You grimace a little, and shake your head. Worms and bugs may be part of the natural order, but they’ve never been a part you have much fondness for.

“And if I were to grind up those worms, mash them, and bake them into a cookie, what then?” asks the spriggan. “Does the cookie become less appetizing because it’s full of worms?”

You gag a little, and reply: “Obviously!”

“But the worms do not become MORE appetizing just because they look like a cookie, do they?” he asks, leaning forward and regarding you closely.

You take a moment to consider his words, before replying: “This isn’t about worms or confections, is it?”

“Of course it is,” the spriggan replies. “Just as when you asked me my thoughts about this demiplane of yours, you meant the question as you asked it. You just ALSO meant something else.”

You sigh. He knows why you were looking for him.

“So the negotiations, and the peace we’re striving for, is the cookie?” you interpret. “And the worms…”

“Are WYRMS.”

>>6075272
It takes you a moment to understand that he means ‘wyrm’ with a ‘Y’… As in the Dragon King of Bloodrise. To most, human or elf, the tales of monsters in the westerly Bloodrise Mountain Range are simply that: tales. People steer clear of their heights, but no marauding army has come down from them. In recent years, even the conflict with local kobold clans has calmed down, though at the apparent cost of several lucrative dwarven mining operations which have stopped reporting to their respective corporate chiefs. None who remember the fear and the fire which descended upon the land five years ago can rest easy, though, because they know the truth: there ARE monsters in the mountain, and they look very much like the dragons—the ‘wyrms’—of ancient history, who made meals of Men and nearly drove elvenkind to extinction.

Worse yet, the Council of Elders in Iternagreyn knows the same dark truth that you do: that the king of the mountain-monsters, the self-professed Dragon King of Bloodrise, is ALSO Prince Consort Long Wang of Hawksong. In his human guise, he is husband to Queen Ekaterine, and father to her young heir apparent…

And thus Hawksong, however marvelous its metropolis and whatever the virtues of its paladin-produced peace, is a cookie full of worms.

“There has to be SOMETHING I can do,” you whine. “I can’t just… Just give up! They want to take me prisoner! And even if I agreed to that… What then? Hawksong… The world… it will still have ‘worms’. The problem won’t go away!”

“Unless the worms do,” the Spirit notes.

“Not an option,” you snap. “I refuse to believe that the solution is… Is Extermination.”

“Was that not your solution for the Unseelie?”

You hesitate to respond. You did indeed slay scores of Unseelie Fey to claim this once-wretched place. Your own snow-pale complexion and night-dark eyes are the inheritance of the energies you absorbed from Banelight, after you bested and destroyed her, and sent what remained onto The Lord of Endings.

“That was different,” you retort. “She forced my hand. The Dr—The Prince Consort, and even his ‘wyrm’ son, they’re not so unreasonable. They’re… they’re capable of change, of peace. I believe that.”

“When is a worm not a worm?” muses the spriggan aloud.

You groan. Another riddle?

“I don’t know,” you admit.

“Think on it,” the Spirit of the old Maple tells you. “When you find an answer, maybe they will try your recipe.”

The consultation with your fairy mentor leaves you with more questions and fewer hopeful assurances than you’d have liked. It does make one thing amply clear, though: The Prince Consort, or Dragon King, or WHATEVER he is, is central to this negotiation. You need him to be there, too, if you’re to make the case that he and his ilk can coexist with Man and with Elf.

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>>6075275
Are you quite certain?” Queen Ekaterine asks, and not for the first time, once the letter has been sealed. “My… The Prince Consort, he is not an evil man, but he is… His cultural upbringing, and his faith, mean his methods of solving problems like this can be, ah, direct.”

“I thought he was over the idea of making war on the Sylvan Realms,” you reply.

“That was before they were threatening to expose his heritage,” she notes sourly. “And… And implicitly, threatening myself, and his children. Prince Long Wang… Theral… I know he has a good and true heart, he DOES… But I also know he would burn the whole world, to protect his family and his people.”

“Maybe don’t say THAT in the negotiations,” you point out. “They know who is he, though. WHAT he is. We need to address that if they’re going to trust you or me.”

And so the letter goes out, by the Queen’s fastest and most clandestine messenger, to the mountains where the King of Monsters reigns in his hidden kingdom. Two weeks later, the response returns: the Prince Consort is coming back from his ‘adventures abroad’, to support his wife in the upcoming diplomatic discussions.

Now, you just need to decide what to DO about those discussions… And the initial demands their delegation made, in their accession letter:

“We renounce all hostilities against Axios’ issue, and against Hawksong, and the territory called ‘The Old Maple Hill Land Reserve’, and against all therein, and also against Izirina Henzler. In exchange, we ask only three things:

The formal dissolution—eternal and in perpetuity-of The House of Yosef.

A formal renewal of our mutual commitment to our shared Creator Gods and against all our ancestral enemies—foremost, any who would wear the name or fly the banner of the Dragon Kings of old.

And the return of Ezreal Mious, also called Magus Ezreal Van Houtzmann, and various other names, to the land of his birth, for fair judgement in the manner of all Elves of the Sylvan Realms.”

>Do you make any other preparations will you make for the talks ahead?
>Write-in if so

How will you convince the Sylvan Elves to coexist with the Dragon King?
>Write-in your approach

What concessions are you prepared to make, if any?
>Write-in if so

[I think that this situation calls for some discussion and clever write-ins, anons. I can think of a few possible solutions, and have hinted at some. Since this is THE BIG ONE, though, there isn’t only one right answer, and I don’t think it would be fun or meaningful to give one to you.]

[My next write-up will be in about 27 hours or so, but I'll pop in periodically to answer questions if you have them.]

>>6075278
>Pray to the Goddess Miannie, Princess of the New Moon, and offer apologies for your trespasses
I would at least like to apologize, maybe informally talk things out?
>Dragon King and Princess Miannie Peace Union, sealed by marriage?
Probably ain’t gonna work, but I do feel compelled to bring up the possibility- this is the only way to secure peace, after all.
>Our return
I’m willing to concede our return, and potentially a fair trial- anything beyond that, including punishments or confinement, will not be promised.

>>6075346
I don't seen the queen marrying the dragon, specially when he's already married, and might see this as an insult.

>>6075278
Posting the full aggression route

>Do you make any other preparations will you make for the talks ahead?
Learn the fireball spell

>How will you convince the Sylvan Elves to coexist with the Dragon King?
Tell them if they don't, we'll burn all their forests down and finish the extermination the dragons started.

>What concessions are you prepared to make, if any?
Maybe Theral can call himself the Fiery Lizard King instead of the Dragon King, but only if he wants to.

>>6075365
watchout that edge, anon

>>6075356
[Another issue might be that Theral is like 25, and Princess Miannie is some sort of immortal alien deity. Plus he worships her enemies, and the elves are worried about his influence growing....]

>>6075346
[I feel like I must be missing something with this plan, anon. Could you please clarify?]

>>6075365
[Given what a deviation this would be from Tips' established character, I'd need a pretty overwhelming majority to vote for this, to treat it as anything other than a bluff. Or is that the intent?]

>>6075383
Yeah naturally the idea would be to get them to back down. What do they think would happen if war did break out, that Eka would side with them over her husband? They gotta be more realistic.

>>6075387
I think there’s a difference between that and what you proposed

>>6075530
Ok

>>6075278
As a counterpoint to plan total elf death, here's total elf appeasement

>Do you make any other preparations will you make for the talks ahead?
Clean out the demi plane.

>How will you convince the Sylvan Elves to coexist with the Dragon King?
Tell them we'll give them everything they need to guarantee victory if it comes to war.

>What concessions are you prepared to make, if any?
-Access to/Ownership of the demi plane.
-Agreeing to the final request they made of Eka, turning ourselves over to them and submitting to whatever punishment they deem appropriate.
-Teach them our <Final Revelation> spell.
-Anything else we can provide that they feel they would need if their suspicions about Theral prove true.

>>6075365
>>6075537
[Which of these would you like e to count when I'm tallying the vote?]

>>6075542
I thought we had 27 hours! I'm still spitballing here.

>>6075545
[You do, never fear! Just make sure you clarify before the deadline.]

>>6075346
>>6075365
I'll be honest I think both of these are kind of retarded. I don't really have an answer but I'll theorize a little.

>When is a worm not a worm?
Honestly I don't really know the answer to this question. The only way I can think of it is that worms are part of the natural order and serve a purpose as part of it, nourishing plants, and churning dirt. They're a vital part of the ecosystem, and are only hated because they look disgusting. When they're in the dirt doing their jobs they're just a part of the natural order and unnoticed. And frankly when you think about Old Maple hill's analogy about Worms and Cookies it's a pretty narrow one. Of course Worm's are going to be disgusting when you put them into cookies- that's not what they're made for. So I'd rather just reject the entire notion of worms being made into cookies.

So I guess an argument would be to point out the "Wyrms" and by extension the Reptilians deserve a chance to thrive and live. They were one of the original people's to have existed before the Gods of Light and the Elves came and are arguably more a part of the natural order than the elves are. It's just that the Gods of Light decided they wanted a "better" order. To judge and try to enforce on Hawksong by Elvish standards is unfair, just as it would be to use the archaic standards of the Dragon Kings of old to lord over the newer races.

I also think of what Eka said about the "resolution" of the De Gori and Houtzman beef

“It really is wonderful what people—even very different people—can achieve when cooler heads prevail and we approach these things with an open heart and a generous spirit. Isn’t that right?”

I think to get them to Co-Exist we just really need to stress that these are different people, with different morals, but still deserve a chance of Co-Existence and chance to determine their own fate.

>>6075278
>Do you make any other preparations will you make for the talks ahead?
>>Pray to the Goddess Miannie

>Argument below:
>>6075552

>Concessions:
>>Our Return
>>Dissolution of House Yosef in name only to try to avoid prophesy
>>Non-aggression pact
>>+any concessions Theral's willing to give

>>6075552
Alright let me make this a little less homosexual

>>6075278
Plan total Theral humiliation:

>Do you make any other preparations will you make for the talks ahead?
Before the meeting give Theral enough tranquilizers to put him just on the edge of unconsciousness

>How will you convince the Sylvan Elves to coexist with the Dragon King?
Tell them he's not a dragon. He's a fake. A poser. A wannabe. In fact, he will never be a real dragon. He has no natural flamebreath, no natural wings, only mammalian hair. He is a delusional lizard twisted by drugs and surgery into a crude mockery of nature’s perfection.
All the “validation” he gets is two-faced and half-hearted. Behind his back people mock him. His parents are disgusted and ashamed, his “friends” laugh at his ghoulish appearance behind closed doors.
You've seen his lineage. Any true dragon blood in his veins has been weakened and watered down by years of crossbreeding. He's not even a pure lizard, human heritage has further polluted him into a stunted and pitiful creature. Even spiritually he is no dragon. Rather than let his captured child face the price of incompetence he sent multiple scouts and rescue squads to save them.
He will never be happy. He wrenches out a fake smile every single morning and tells himself it’s going to be ok, but deep inside he feel the depression creeping up like a weed, ready to crush him under the unbearable weight.
Eventually it’ll be too much to bear – he’ll buy a rope, tie a noose, put it around his neck, and plunge into the cold abyss. His subjects will find him, heartbroken but relieved that they no longer have to live with the unbearable shame and disappointment. They’ll bury him with a headstone marked with his birth name, and every passerby for the rest of eternity will know a lizard is buried there. His body will decay and go back to the dust, and all that will remain of his legacy is a skeleton that is unmistakably not draconic.
This is his fate. This is what he chose. There is no turning back.
At this point we should turn and slap Theral across the face, then turn back to the elves and tell them how a real dragon would never let us get away with that. If Theral was a real dragon we'd already be dead. It's because he's not a real dragon that he's just gonna sit there and take it like a little bitch.

>What concessions are you prepared to make, if any?
Whenever Theral is getting too uppity, we'll give him another verbal beatdown.

>>6075576
Nigga wtf

>>6075272
>I think you have done a good thing with a bad thing - but good does not erase bad, even as bad can spoil good
>“If I were to bring you a delicious confection.. you would find it enticing, hm?”
>“And if I were to instead bring you a fistful of worms, would that be as appetizing?”
>You grimace a little, and shake your head.
>“And if I were to grind up those worms, mash them, and bake them into a cookie, what then? - Does the cookie become less appetizing because it’s full of worms?”
>“Obviously!”
>“But the worms do not become MORE appetizing just because they look like a cookie, do they?”

Cookies are comprehensible to the common folk as food - worms, in their ‘natural’ state, is not. If we ground up the worms so finely the batter becomes almost indistinguishable from normal batter, and without telling the persons eating that it is made of worms, it would be rather edible. That, or we reduce the amount of worms in the batter.

I’m not really sure of the viability of the two solutions I can find here; the bloodrise folk and Theral isn’t going to be so willing to assimilate with hawksong to such a degree they become the same. And reduction is… not feasible. Theral is just one guy - admittedly royalty - and there’s already enough difficulty here. I’m not really sure about how do we reduce it further.

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>>6075576
[Did you just paraphrase a YWNBAW meme as part of a strategy hinging on racially humiliating a previous quest's MC, as a means to avert war?]

I mean, shit, that's a pretty creative solution...

>>6075628
Not just racial humiliation but genetic, social, mental, philosophical, and ancestorial humiliation as well.
I'd also like to amend my preparations - rather than use tranquilizers we can just cast a 5 mana Calm spell on him.

>>6075576
dude just did a pasta, but tbf it's a fun way to try to convince them, even if I doubt they'd follow it

>>6075383
>[I feel like I must be missing something with this plan, anon. Could you please clarify?]
Sure, what do you want clarified?

>>6075576
Just gonna be real with ya- Theral’s just gonna kill us, and go on a warpath if we commit to this write in. Can you please take this a bit more seriously?

>>6075711
Please review the preparations section of the post, thank you.

>>6075712
Yea- that’s gonna be the first thing that tips him over the edge into total war. You do know he was mind-controlled for a year near the end of of his quest, yea? He will go ballistic, assuming it even works on him.

So, again, can you please take this seriously?

>>6075711
>Sure, what do you want clarified?
[Did you have something in mind for if:
>the personal mismatch
>the religious conflict
>the increase in power/status brought on by marrying Theral to a celestial deity
is brought up? If this one wins, or I incorporate part of it, I just want to know how to approach those objections o I don't need to drag it out across too any subvotes.]

>>6075724
>assuming it even works on him.
Why wouldn't it?
>He will go ballistic
What's he gonna do, invade our demiplane? He doesn't have the expertise.

>>6075727
Ultimately, it’s a political union for peace- personal mismatch would be unfortunate, but not relevant (even though I think Theral would be compatible, with the Moonsword and meditating). This is supposed to help resolve the religious conflict (though it may not)- really, keeping the Anti-Paladin out of play should be worth the power/status that brought him, since he’ll be the one ultimately dealing with the Dark God’s misgivings (and again, the Moonsword meditations and him solving those grievances does lean in favor of him potentially harmonizing the two sides into an uneasy peace, for the moment). Worse case for Theral, he gets disowned by his Dark Pantheon again and the Princess could just simply adopt him as a Moon Paladin, gaining another ally and kingdom. Really, Theral’s the one that has to dance politically here- if the Princess makes the deal enticing enough, it certainly goes a long way to neutralizing him from play, and maybe turning him to the ‘light’ side.

Really, lots of potential to work here- they just have to swallow their pride and be cunningly pragmatic.

>>6075731
He would have resistance to mind control/altering magics- like, he has excessive experience in dealing with mind altering/controlling shenanigans, not including the diadem of clarity (forgot what happened to that) and the literal Red Dragon Godking soul that can either assist him or use the opportunity to retake control of his body and return to the old ways (which means forever religious war).
>What's he gonna do, invade our demiplane?
He just might- he can cut a deal with the Beholder, and he would have the backing of the Sun Stealer and the Mother of Monsters, if sufficiently backed into the corner. And if Big Red ever regains control, we’re toast, demiplane or not.

Plus, you forget that he could exert political pressure as Prince-Consort on the Queen- and potentially the Archmage herself, who may see this as a wonderful opportunity to experiment and bring her way-ward apprentice to heel and permanently in her orbit.

>>6075628
>>6075548
>>6075278
>>6075727
I'm a be real honest with Qm, i don't understand the sylvan council position. Or what their faction realistically hopes to accomplish.

They seem extremely war hawkish, But their geopolitical position and their military hand is pathetic.

The old maple 's response is especially confusing.

He is talking about "exterminating's the worms" like it is even feasible. Theral crushed the rabbit mask true fey who safe guarded hawksong outlying forests, and had him begging for his life after a trivial battle.

And the rabbit mask fey couldn't even challenge the green dragonborn whatso ever and had to abandon his forest to burn.

The dumb tree is talking about fighting both of them and a whole army on top of that, like he has an easy path to victory. (When I'm pretty sure Theral by himself could massacre the spriggan and his whole court single handedly.)

>>6075803
And the elves behavior is also extremely weird, the leader of the elf rangers recognized that they are unlikely to receive aid from the eastern beastmen or the dwarves and that they are basically on their own. Hawksong is far larger and has significantly more powerful army, Hawksong forces would have been their only real hope in destroying the dragons but instead they have deliberately antagonized hawksong and threatened it's monarch whilst also demanding that it follow it's lead in any future war.

They seem borderline suicidal in their reasoning just looking at the forces on the ground.

>>6075803
>>6075804
[Tips isn't exactly privy to every secret of the Sylvan Realms or the True Fey, but based on what he's been told, they believe that their subjugation or destruction is inevitable if they don't stop Theral and his relations from gaining power. As for the threat they present militarily against all of Hawksong's protectorate? Not much... But they're currently threatening to essentially expose Theral and Hawksong's heir as monsters, which would destroy their claim to rule and probably lead to an immediate civil war.]

>>6075789
>He would have resistance to mind control/altering magics- like, he has excessive experience in dealing with mind altering/controlling shenanigans, not including the diadem of clarity (forgot what happened to that) and the literal Red Dragon Godking soul that can either assist him or use the opportunity to retake control of his body and return to the old ways (which means forever religious war).
First of all, Ez doesn't know about most or all of this, so making decisions based on it is metagaming.
Second, excessive experience dealing with it? More like excessive experience losing to it. He needed a physical attack and the help of an entire pantheon of gods to take his own body back after an entire year, and you expect me to believe he'll shake off a high mana spell in a few hours? Cmon.

>He just might- he can cut a deal with the Beholder, and he would have the backing of the Sun Stealer and the Mother of Monsters, if sufficiently backed into the corner. And if Big Red ever regains control, we’re toast, demiplane or not.
Wdym backed into a corner? We're insulting him, not invading Bloodrise. You think the Dark Gods are gonna step in because his feelings are hurt?

>Plus, you forget that he could exert political pressure as Prince-Consort on the Queen- and potentially the Archmage herself, who may see this as a wonderful opportunity to experiment and bring her way-ward apprentice to heel and permanently in her orbit.
The Archmage hates him though. If she was gonna do something like that she'd do it independently.

>>6075552
>>6075553

I like this approach of “everything has its place” but also add in the benefits of >>6075789 (bloodrise and theral is just really useful as an asset)

>>6075553
I’m not sure what you mean by dissolution of house yosef in name only? Doesn’t Izzy not want to take up that mantle in the first place? We can assure the sylvan realms that’s not going happen to begin with.

>>6075962
Anon, you’re whole response is magical drugging and insulting a head of state to his face, and pretending that there won’t be a diplomatic backlash. It’s extremely OC, and expecting this to be a workable solution is insane. All it takes is for the Dragonborn to be ‘fuck it, we ball’ for the Dark Pantheon to support him in his crusade against the Light Gods.

Like, I don’t understand what you expect to get out of this except total war.

>>6075552
I do like this response to Old Maple’s spirit btw.

>>6076014
>Like, I don’t understand what you expect to get out of this except total war.
A VERY funny scene
More seriously, I don't understand why you think Theral is going to declare war over being insulted. Who would he even declare war on? The Sylvan Realms? We don't represent them, hell, they want to arrest us. Us? We're a singular individual and can just hole up in our demi plane. He's got no feasible way of breaking in, like I said the Dark Gods aren't going to help him over a 2 minute diss track and Henzler would plane shift him into the water realm instead.

If you're still so concerned maybe we should use the tranquilizers after all, or develop an amnesia spell. That way Theral won't remember.

>>6075346 1 for apologizing and arranging a political marriage and trial (but a trial with no possibility of real consequences for Tips)

>>6075553 1 for an appeal on the basis of nature and/or morality, with a non-aggression pact and concessions including Tips' arrest and trial

>>6075576 1 to tranquilize and publicly humiliate The Dragon King of Bloodrise so the elves won't see him as a threat anymore

>>6075651 possible +1 to the humiliation plan?

>>6075978 possible +1 to the moral appeal w/ concessions plan

[Am I counting this correctly so far?]

>>6075553
I +1 this

>>6076130
Yes

>>6075553
going with this, sounds saner and tbf it's the only way we can try avoiding war

>>6076130
Wait no, plan total theral humiliation was just a shitpost, I'd rather go with total elf death or total elf appeasement over that one

Ugh, I meant to pull together a good plan after exploring our options but I got distracted arguing for a ridiculous hypothetical.

>>6075278
>>6076130
Ok plan rush to make it in before tallying:

>Do you make any other preparations will you make for the talks ahead?
>Pray to the Goddess Miannie
Sorry I murdered some elves, I plead oopsie daisy your honor

>How will you convince the Sylvan Elves to coexist with the Dragon King?
Tell them he's not really a dragon, but nicely. Point out his hair, his ancestry, the fact that he's almost half human. Bring up his non-draconic actions, the great lengths he was willing to go to for his son, the emotions he feels and bonds he forges. No matter what he calls himself he's not what they fought in the past.

>What concessions are you prepared to make, if any?
>Dissolution of House Yosef
>Turn ourselves in to their judgement
>Teach them our <Final Revelation> spell, as a last card to offer if they're not going for the rest.

>>6075278
>Write-in your approach
>Ask Theral if swear non-aggression towards Sylvan realm if they sign and keep to a non aggression pact as well.

>Write-in if so
>Hand over the unseelie prisoners, offer the star and the demi plane to them.

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>>6076223
>>6076214
>>6076189
>>6076161
>>6075553
>>6075346
[Alright, here we gooooo]

File: Tips, Level 4.png (488 KB, 1541x639)

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Rolled 20, 1, 3 = 24 (3d20)

>>6076238
As you await the arrival of the ‘Dragonborn Antipaladin’, you reflect on what Queen Ekaterine said of him: about his character, his priorities, but most of all his faith. How can the Gods of Evil command such piety from ANYONE, let alone Long Wang? Their dogma is one of selfishness, ruthlessness, and vicious cruelty… And yet they command his loyalty.

…It has been a long while since you prayed.

Oh, you have meditated to hone your mystic senses, and performed rites in honour of nature and the fairy court who share the Hill and frequent your Keep. But prayer, to the Gods Above? Not for many months—maybe for years. Not since you were accosted by Princess Yllarquin of the Three-Quarter Moon. Certainly not since you were driven out of your homeland by the Woodland Rangers. You’ve been telling yourself that this was out of righteous indignation—that you did nothing wrong, and owe no apology, nor fealty. They rejected you first, after all!

…But was that just foolish pride? Are you REALLY more egotistical than the lizardman going around calling himself ‘Dragon King’?

“Ugh.”

The night before the Prince Consort’s scheduled arrival is also, serendipitously, the night of a new moon—Divine Princess Miannie’s holy night, when her faithful share their secrets and seek her wisdom. You find yourself heavy with the former and light on the latter… And so, in a moment of weakness, and of clarity, you pray.

“Princess Miannie, of the black gossamer veil and the thin cared ring, who protects those who walk in darkness with bright hearts, please, hear me. Please… Hear my confession, and my apology.”

No answer comes, and your heart wavers. The shade of resentment shadows your own bright heart once more: why won’t she hear you out? How can she just ignore you, at this dark hour? Doesn’t she understand what’s at STAKE?!

You swallow it, and speak again, head bowed and hands outstretched:

“I have slain other elves,” you admit, “and destroyed my fellow fairies. I have eaten unconsecrated flesh of fish, and fowl, and beast. I have… I have dabbled with demons, and worked with the Forces of Darkness. I have shared sacred secrets of Feycraft with nonbelievers and outsiders, and defied the gods and their agents. And I… I am sorry.”

And you are. You ARE. You never set out to do those things, or at least not ALL of them. While you DO believe they were necessary, even beneficial, but if you could have found another way… A better way, a more peaceful way… You would have. You STILL want to do so. Looking to the future, as if a minasien, you see two paths: the one of struggle and strife, and the one of reconciliation and peace, and you WANT the latter.

“Just help me find a way,” you plead.

Religion check, DC 15

>>6076251
Here I was worried until I remembered we always crit lol

>>6076251
>20 and 1
classic tips

>>6076270
>>6076274
>>6076251

>1
The dark, hidden face of Holy Luna gazes down at you across the black gossamer veil which covers it, like a mirror to your own troubled spirit—like Izirina’s eyes behind his shaded glasses, unreadable. You stare back, with such intense and heartsick longing that your own eyes begin to water, and to well with tears. The silence of the night swallows your hopes, and you bow your head again, and sob.

…But in the darkenss, a light.

>20

You loom up, startled, and see the disk of the moon’s sphere blink and shed tears of its own—tears of light, which fall in a steady stream that becomes a ray. It strikes the earth before you, and a luminous figure rises up and up: slender, fair, and taller than any Man or Elf, with unmatched poise and the deep, dark eyes of the ancient Fey.

Princess Miannie, patron of your clan.

You stare stupidly for a few moment, unable to believe she’s actually heard your prayer. When you are certain it is no desperate delusion conjured from your own spoiled dreams, you bow your head again, and rapidly murmur words of boundless gratitude.

He places a hand upon your head, bereft of your typical wizard’s cap. It feels like nothing to the touch, yet like EVERYTHING to the heart of you—everything you’ve been missing, since you renounced it.

“I never rejected you, Ezreal Mious Van Houtzmann,” she says. “You rejected us.”

“That’s not—!”

You stop yourself, biting back a defiant reply, and instead bow your head again, and take a deep breath… And nod.

“I did,” you admit, at last. “I thought… I thought I knew better. That my way was correct, and your way was wrong. I’ve… At times, I have allowed myself to become so consumed with knowing, understanding, and exploring, that I forgot to be humble before the majesty of nature and the cosmos… And before the elders and ancients.”

“And now you seek a path forward?”

You look up, and say truthfully: “I do.”

Princess Miannie smiles a small, sad smile.

“But how can we guide you, when you walk unseen in deepest darkness, where even I cannot reach?”

At first you think she means your actions, or your allies—that you’ve rendered yourself unforgivable, irreparably ‘Unseelie’. But then, you understand—truly understand.

“The <Final Revelation>,” you whisper.

>>6076290
The Princess of the New Moon nods her shorn head, pale and round as the moon she calls hope, with her tall, thin ears’ curvature forming a thin halo atop it.

“We cannot see you, except by your distant ripples,” she says. “Your actions… Their consequences… They are beyond even our precognition, with all our power.”

You suppress a swell of sacrilegious smugness at the thought that your masterwork can stump even the High Magic divination-devices of Holy Luna, and instead ask: “Is that… Is that BAD? I mean… Isn’t it a good thing, to be free? To free us all from the dark futures which Nenaias and the Noth—and others predicted?”

“Ezreal… You are not free of the future,” she says softly, with an air of apology, as if breaking a cherished childhood conceit. You have weakened your connection to the weave of this realm, this universe. You have obfuscated your passage through it… But The actions you take still matter. Their consequences are no less profound. We simply cannot predict them any longer. Each step you take, takes you and the world further and further down a path uncharted. When we activated the array to amplify our divination, it was not without issue… But we did so that we might freely choose and chart a course which could bring us to a better world. But now?”

She regards you with an expression upon her fine features which you have never seen before in the goddess: fear.

“Each action you take shakes our certainty. We do not see darkness in your future, but nor do we see light. We see NOTHING. And the more involved you become—the wider your influence, and that of your descendants—the less certainty there is.”

You picture what she says—a dark miasma spreading across the span of space and time, blotting it out from even the understanding of ancient immortals who may well be more ancient than the world itself.

…And you still can’t help yourself.

“That doesn’t make it BAD,” you protest.

“It doesn’t,” she admits. “But how shall we know? When last we peered down your path, there lay ruin and tyranny. Shall we assume that has changed, the path cleared, simply because we can no longer see it?”

“Then guide me back!” you plead. “Tell me the way!”

“We cannot,” Princess Miannie apologizes. “You have ensured that. The only path forward which I see is…”

The Fairy Princess hesitates, but you already know. You understand.

“The clearest, safest path is the one which I don’t walk,” you realize. “where I’m… Not a factor.”

Where you’re dead, with no descendants… And Izzy, too?

>>6076292

“Yes,” the Princess agrees sadly.

“And what if… What if I were to turn myself in?” you ask, unable to keep the desperation from your voice. “Submit myself for judgement? For imprisonment, if the Council sees fit?”

“We could never be sure you would not escape,” the Queen notes. “We cannot see you, Ezreal, but we are BLIND to you, not ignorant. When you and Rebecca Vaz-Yosef vanish from this world, we know that you are elsewhere—in a space which we cannot perceive.”

The <Demiplane>, in other words… Your wizard’s keep, with its network of tunnels, which you charted… Specifically to enable your escape, if the trial went poorly and you were detained.

“I wouldn’t…” you mumble, but can’t quite bring yourself to finish the sentence—to speak the lie.

“I will… I will find a way to make the wyrm not a wyrm,” you say instead, raising your voice and holding your head high “For the dragons and lizardmen and the others to fit into a kinder nature. A… A non-aggression pact, the total dissolution of House Yosef forever… MORE! I have the ear of the Queen, and I’m SURE that the Dragon King can be made to listen to reason. He’s not what you think he is. The future doesn’t need to be what Nenaias saw!”

“No,” she agrees. “It does not.”

…If you don’t exist. If you die. Or remain imprisoned.

Or remove yourself another way. Think, Tips, THINK!

“You can chart the future more clearly, where my influence doesn’t reach, right?” you ask, mind turning rapidly now. “If I’m not involved the... the fog, the darkness, it isn’t there?”

“It is so.”

“So if I make a promise—a REAL promise, a promise I KEEP—that keeps me from interacting with anything, or much of anything… Will you see the change, and know I mean it, and continue to mean it?”

The goddess watches you in expectant silence. If realize that this is your last chance to win her favour and blessing—and if you can do that, the Sylvan delegation will be utterly unable to deny you whatever terms you wish to set, without simultaneously defying the manifest will of the Gods Above.

>Pledge truthfully to remain imprisoned by the elves, wherever they would keep you, and to neither seek nor accept your freedom when negotiations conclude
>Promise truthfully to have no offspring nor heir with Izirina Henzler, nor to otherwise intermingle your bloodlines
>Make a pact of physical and spiritual suicide, for the good of the future
>Offer something else to remove yourself from the equation of this world [what?]
>Apologize one more time, for you cannot do what she asks of you

>>6076294
>Offer something else to remove yourself from the equation of this world [what?]
The Final Revelation spell. Not to remove us, but to insert us back in. With knowledge of the spell they can tweak their array to work around it.

>>6076292
so that algorithm of theirs can't see us anymore.

We're not killing ourselves for their sake, no. As for the imprisonment... she already said we have the means to escape it. A promise doesn't mean shit. The offspring thingy, might work? But with the way it is worded, even adoption seems to count, so that's pretty hard. I'm not sure if Veigar - Ayla counts as well.

>>6076294
>>Offer something else to remove yourself from the equation of this world [what?]
We do our future doings through someone else. We remain 'shrouded' but we use agents to do anything beyond this moment. The sylvan realms can monitor and judge them. Tips and Izzy will remain in an advisory role, like instructors. We stay at our star, at our demiplane or at the hill - but travel? No.

>>6076324
also make an addendum we won't use final revalation on them, obviously.

>>6076294
>Offer something else to remove yourself from the equation of this world [Our elven-ness]

Correct me if I'm wrong RQM but didn't the prophecy say that the child would be of eleven heritage? It would functionally mean losing our fey-craft, but ironically getting rid of our elven side could the thing reconcile to the Sylvan realm now. I'm sure there's some soul or some chimeric-ism shit we can do to accomplish removing our genetically elf aspect. I see this as better than being permanently imprisoned or making Izzy not have a kid even though she wants to.

>>6076332
It also feels symbolically fitting. What would make ''Tips" (a named based on our pointy tree-hugger ears) not Tips? Not being an elf and not having those ears.

>>6076332
>>6076334
[That WOULD technically break the prophecy, and you DO already know how to 'remove' or suppress specific biological and spiritual material, since that's how you 'purified' Zith-Zi and Izirina, and healed Costella and the other dragon-pox victims.]

>>6076313
>>6076324
>>6076327

[I'll add that these are also both viable options, if I'm interpreting the top one correctly and you mean teaching the Moon Gods how to cast and remove Final Revelation at will.]

>>6076356
Yup

>>6076332
Supporting.

I dunno guys, removing our elf juice seems like it might have similar effects as adding goblin juice to Veigar. Good chance of losing our fey spells and some max mana.

>>6076515
Yeah but giving the gods our final revelation spell kind of mitigates the entire point of it and makes it useless. The gods will be able to see our every and the worlds move angain and influence it to be “better.” It turns our era of high magic from one where choice reigns supreme away from the guiding view of the gods back to the status quo again. We choose to believe we are our choices and I want to stand behind that.


Also it’s doesn’t really solve the issue of the prophecy either. We’d still technically be on the path towards the predicated ruin- but the gods would be able to see what THEY want us to do to avoid it. Which I doubt we’ll like very much.


I also don’t think we’ll lose all feycraft either given we have unseelie essence in us, probably just some.

>>6076515
sure, but what else we can do to help they trust in us ? like >>6076521 said giving the spell not only defeats it's entire purpose, it doesn't solve the prophecy problem

>>6076521
As long as everyone is aware of the risks. I thought we wouldn’t want to because we didn’t do it for Veigar, but I do recognize that this is more personal and not doing it would affect us rather than him.

>>6076521
We're taking elf juice out. We have banelight juice in. We should remain feyflavoured.

>>6076524
Well from how RQM said it would satisfy her just like the other options would, I think they’d stop bugging us about the prophecy if we do it. Even if that’s not the case I feel like they’ll be able to identify much less unpleasant solutions than eternal imprisonment or suicide with a more accurate prophecy. Plus we can always work on developing a new version of the spell. I also feel Tips would want to advance the field of magical knowledge rather than let the spell die with him.

>>6076521
Yeah thats what I was concerned with too. It’s a stay of execution but we’re still letting them influence or force their school of thought onto us

>>6076529
I dunno, I think in the past she explained that Unseelie were just elves who fell away from the pantheon, and were perhaps twisted by eons living in a dark Demi plane. Banelight juice might also need to be removed to be truly 0% elf.

>>6076294
>you cannot do what she asks of you.

Begging these gods for a path to peace is incredible cringe, We are asking them to guide us when they themselves are brutal warmongers.

This request is just like their predator-less moon garden, they seek to genocide and annihilate any living creature that goes against their alien vision.

This moon alien is proclaiming that WE are an unsolvable problem. When thousands of her fey factions soldiers have essentially went awol and become marauding bandits?

When the crusade they declared against the dragon's culled 99% of the elves population and left the remainder as a divided and dying civilization. And a continuation of that war is about to break out?


That's just Tuesday and is of trivial importance. When a single half elf wizard shields himself from their divination? That's a immense calamity that cannot be tolerated. And the half elf in question needs to get rid of himself as soon as possible.

How did Miannie hear our prayer if we slipped their senses?

>>6076828

I assume Final revaluation spell made our presence extremely muted >>6076290 but the full moon + contacting her probably got through

>>6076828
[They can't divine you, but prayer is... Well, one could think of it as a form of directed, broadcasted psychic communication, only possible with deities suited to your soul. Nobody hears the prayers of goblins, which is why they are fiercely antitheist as a rule Tips 'pinged' them, and even if they didn't know for sure where he was, checking the Old Maple Hill area for likely ritual groves a Sylvan disciple would pray in was obvious and well worth the effort, given the stakes.]

>>6076825
>>6076409
>>6076332
>>6076324
>>6076313
[Locked and writing!]

>>6076871
“W-well I’m not going to kill myself,” you blurt out, before you can help yourself.

Princess Miannie looks genuinely startled for a moment, then smiles sympathetically.

“it’s an option, but not one I would have ever have asked of you, Child of Light.”

“Really?” you ask, your fear and anger fueling your bold streak, like a cornered rat before a lithe white cat. “Then why are there no predators on Holy Luna? And what became of the dragons of this world? I… I wish I had never had to kill, but it isn’t only UNSEELIE Fey who do that’s sort of thing, is it?”

The Princess of the New Moon frowns, and asks: “Is this what you have thought of us? Why you rejected us, Hero of Dappulyet? You think us… Murderers? Marauders?”

“Well Banelight and her warriors got their start somewhere,” you point out.

Princess Miannie is quiet for a while. When bravado fades, fear supplants fury. Did you go too far? And yet—as ever—you couldn’t help yourself. You had to KNOW.

“We… Did kill. We have killed. And I will not lie to you, Disciple… We may yet kill again.”

Your heart stops for a moment, seized by mortal terror as those huge, dark eyes gaze down at you… But then she shakes her head.

“But not you,” she says. “Never one who strives for peace, for freedom, and for the well-being of this world.”

“Then… then that priest who kidnapped Izirina henzler, and stole—retrieved—those berries… That wasn’t you?”

“…It was.”

“Then—!”

“With instructions not to kill either of you, and to harm you as little as possible,” the lunar deity adds, her soft voice effortlessly overriding your louder shout of outrage.

The words snuff out the flame of rebellion, and it is the chill of that traumatic winter which takes that fire’s place in your stomach.

“But… But they drew their swords.”

“Ezreal…” Princess Miannie reaches out again to cup your cheek. “They feared for their lives, as you did. They made mistakes, as you have. But you know the laws, don’t you?”

You do… As the Woodland Rangers did, if they perhaps forgot in that moment, with the terror of a Teir Five summoned elemental towering over them in the shape of an ancestral enemy. As the priest you cast <greater Disjunction> upon might have reminded them, had you not allowed Izirina to finish what you started, before he could recover. As all elves do. You know the law, the great law of peace:

Elves do not kill elves.

“It wasn’t always so,” the Princess says, as if she read your mind. “We made it so… For the sake of the future, for peace, and for a better world. A world… Better than the one we found here.”

Her voice takes on a grave sorrow, and she adds: “Better than the one we came from. I sometimes fear we've failed, but we have not surrendered, nor should you do so."

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>>6076898
You take a moment to recover from this. You tremble, and feel as if you knees might give out and, after that, as if you might fall to the earth below and crumble into dust. But how were you to know? How could you know for SURE? What else could you have done, duner the circumstances?

“It… It doesn’t matter,” you mutter, and force yourself to look up and to meet the gaze of the divinity before you once more. “Please, hear me now: I’ve made mistakes, but if you allow this war to proceed… That will be a far greater mistake. Humans will die… And reptilians, reptilians that can still be better than they are! And others… Elves perhaps especially. You must KNOW that the Sylvan Realms won’t survive another great war, as it is now!”

“Our predictions—those we can still put any faith in—show many such dark futures… But so, too, some which luminesce with light and love, Child.”

“Predictions,” you mutter. “They’re a gamble, aren’t they? And educated guess? Like forecasting weather that’s always changing, even with all your advanced magical devices. It’s gambling with lives!”

“It is,” she admits.

“You would do that?” you demand.

“I… Would not, if there were another option,” she admits.

And so, in that expectant silence, it comes back to this. Even as you try to reclaim your half-forsaken faith, and grapple with the revelation of your lethal miscalculation, your antipathy for prophecy remains undeterred. If anything, the knowledge that all these conflicts were brought about over a couple predictions has made you all the more eager to avoid them—to divorce yourself from divination’s cruel calculus. You cannot, WILL not, give the secret of <Final Revelation> to the Bonum Chaoticum, as much as you revere them. Nor can you withdraw from the world, and live as a hermit, as Izzy might suggest. You have friends, aspirations, a life! And what would such a thing mean for Izzy, let alone bubbly COSTELLA? Abandoning them? Forcing them to dwell in isolation with you?

You run your fine fingers through your raven hair grabbing a handful of it in exasperation. What is the answer?!

And then, as your fingers find your ears, you find your answer.

When is a worm nor a worm, or a wyrm not a wyrm? How can you avoid a prophecy of an elven descendant of Izirina Henzler who brings destruction or dark domination, but still keep your promise to her, to make her a mother? How can you remove your threat, and atone for your actions?

“When is ‘Tips’ not ‘Tips’?” you ask, as you idly tap the sharp points for which you were nicknamed, when first you came to Hawksong all those years ago.

File: Ezreal, Level 5.png (311 KB, 1498x623)

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>>6076899
“Ezreal… Are you certain?”

The goddess sounds concerned, almost heartbroken. Ha, shouldn’t YOU be? And yet… you’re not. Not entirely. You love your elven heritage, and your homeland… But the women you love are both human. Your father, once estranged but no longer, is a Man. And this… This is the best solution.

You wipe the tears from your eyes, and to your surprise you barely need to force the smile as you say:

“Elves don’t kill elves… But I’m not really an elf, am I? Not exactly.”

That night, beneath the New Moon, you and your divine ancestor, creator of your mother’s kind and patron of your mother’s clan, perform a ritual not unlike your <Rite of Attunement>—a <Rite> you’re not sure you will be able to perform the same way again, in the future, with. You sing a complex melody—of sadness, of farewell, but also of safe travels and wonderful new places just beyond the horizon.

The chalk white leaves your skin, which takes on its old, pinkish pallor once more.

The inky black leaves your eyes—or so you assume, for you can’t exactly see them.

You feel your limbs lengthen, and thicken, as your clothes grow tight. They’ll need retailoring, at this rate… A good excuse to visit Nicolette Testa, at least.

Your senses dull a little. Your movement grow more clumsy. The fairy-goddess offers you her hand, and guide you onwards… And guides, eventually, the very soul out of your body. You watch as she shapes it, malleable and ephemeral, with an intense focus, and strips something away—something gauzy, which you can barely see. You stand still, and she dances with this shadow of you, this shade of what you were, and then releases it skyward like a bird, to flutter away to some realm beyond the here and the now.

It goes, and all that’s left…

>-2 Max MP
>+2 DC to all Feycraft spells

…Is you.

You reach up, to touch your ears. Your round, ‘tipless’ ears.

“There,” you say, and your voice sounds brittle even to your ears. “it’s… It’s over. I’m not… I’m really not an elf anymore.”

Princess Miannie hugs you. It’s a strange sensation—weightless, formless, and yet warm, and full of love, and forgiveness. It’s made stranger because, without <Faerie Fire>, you can’t even see the shape of the deity embracing you—not with human eyes.

“You will always be a Child of the True Fey, Ezreal Mious of Dappulyet.”

+1 Religion
+1 Dance

But dawn comes, and night fades and the New Moon vanishes from the sky. The Goddess’ touch goes with it. You are alone.

“Right,” you say, and adjust your tunic.

You start the walk back to the Hill proper. It will take you time to re-master <Wildshape> or <Improved Aethereal Form>, after all.

>>6076899
When you return to Old Maple Hill, Izzy and Costella are surprised, to say the least.

“I can’t believe that… That BITCH made you DO that!” Izirina exclaims, surprising you with the uncharacteristic vulgarity.

“Izzy,” you chastise her. “That’s sort of my patron deity you’re insulting.”

“W-well, I mean—”

You laugh and take her hand.

“It was my choice,” you say, sincerely and seriously. “We’re nothing, if we’re not our choices.”

“You took that rather literally,” she says sourly.

“Well, like… I’m gonna’ be honest with you, Ez: of the two makeovers you’ve gone through these last few months, I think I like this one a little more!”

You look up at Costella, not sure how to take that, only to be blindsided as she grabs your face in both hands and plants a long, enthusiastic kiss on your lips, then stares at you with eyes full of love—love that has never wavered, but perhaps has been tested at times by circumstance.

“I can see your eyes again,” she pints out. “like, SEE see them. They’re not all… Spooky. And you always had such pretty eyes…”

Izzy leans in and, to your embarrassment, takes a long, deep whiff of your scent. She seems to mull it out, as if sampling the bouquet of a fine wine… And then nods.

“You still smell like you, too,” she concludes. “Different… But like you.”

“Oh, good, I’m glad,” you harrumph, flustered and a little annoyed. “what, would you have dumped me if I didn’t?”

“Of course not!” Izirina exclaims, and then her expression shifts. “but I might not have beem AS eager to do this…”

“Do wh—aah!”

Fire Plane-warmed hands slip down inside your moon-made trousers. You instinctively kick your legs at the sudden intrusion, only to feel the press of Costella’s breasts against your back, as her surprisingly-strong arms hold you still, in a loving (and unbreakable) embrace.

“H-hey, wait, I’m—Oh! W-woah… Izzy, I didn’t… Wow!”

“You’ve done something, like, really great or everyone else, Ez… For the world, and for us.”

Costella’s voice is breathy in your ear, and her grip tightens as her hands roam your body, and she watches Izrina’s head and hands moving between your legs.

“Let us do this for you… And show you just how much we’ll ALWAYS love you.”

(Well, what red-blooded human male could argue when they put it like THAT?)

>>6076908
The two delegation arrive on roughly the same day: the one from Bloodrise, followed only hours later by that from the Sylvan Realms.

The Dragon King comes calling in the form most suited to this realm, where he reigns as consort to the Queen: Long Wang, allegedly-eastern adventurer, with his tawny (but not scaly) skin, greenish almond eyes, and his red-orange hair tied back in a braid, wearing oriental armour and with a silk-sheathed scimitar on his hip. He brings with him some familiar faces, even if one is initially unrecognizable: ‘The Thief’, today in the guise of a human man (like you), and Azonia the Drow duelist, dressed in somewhat less-gaudy fashion than usual, if no less imposing with her proudly-puffed chest and deadly, pantherine grace. Others join him also: dark elves from Wevenore, and ark-eyed dwarves from who-knows-where, and even an unsettling Southman, nearly as black as the Drow but of a browner hue, grinning a too-eager grin and with a bow upon his back. If you didn’t know better—and you don’t, actually—you’d think they were here for battle.

The Sylvan Realms sends a no-less-formidable delegation, in fairness. There is Commander Kiirion Qinfir himself, the leader of the Woodland Rangers and a member of the Council of Elders—one you befriended… And, from his perspective you suppose, betrayed, with his fair hair, fine features, and old, grey eyes looking harder and more ancient than ever. With him, he brings what you assume from their flowery regalia and plumed hats to be especially decorated lieutenants of his Rangers. So too does he bring priests: one wearing a sun-rayed half-mask and a robe lined with golden fleece, and another… Another who you recognize instantly even by descriptionas Clanirae, the Moon Priestess of Dappulyet. Other minor noble come, with blades and bows of ceremonial importance but also lethal capability…

And Nenaias, the ‘minasien’ prophet-sage, whose divinely-guided predictions, tortured past, and hatred for the Prince Consort provoked so much suffering for you and others.

Everyone knows what you’re all here for, and Queen Ekaterien—also here, of course—has surely briefed her not-so-secretly serpentine spouse on the plans. But is he on board? How can you know, when his face is a mask, and his body language so inhuman—an unelven—as you be almost unreadable at times?

Do you visit either delegation before the meeting?
>The Bloodrise Delegation
>The Sylvan Delegation
>Neither [skips to negotiations]

Where will the negotiations be held?
>The Royal Palace
>Old Maple Hill
>Your Demiplane
>Write-in

>>6076919
>The Bloodrise Delegation

>Old Maple Hill

>>6076919
>Neither [skips to negotiations]

we don't want to seem favor one side over the other.

>Your Demiplane

We shouldn't hold the meeting in a place where people could be eavesdropping.

>>6076935
>we don't want to seem favor one side over the other.
[Both is also an option, but keep in mind meeting with them can improve OR worsen things.]

>>6076919
>The Bloodrise Delegation

>Old Maple Hill

>>6076919
>Neither [skips to negotiations]
I’d rather keep it as neutral as it can be.

>The Royal Palace

We’re not staying in the demi-plane. That sort of space is too valuable to reveal. The old maple hill is… an option, but I’d rather have Ekaterine’s guards and food on stand-by. Last thing we need is to offend the sylvan attendees by offering the moonberries we took from the moon to them

>>6076324

>>6076919
>Sylvan
>Demiplane

>>6076975
the forces of darkness already know about the demi-plane. Ayla saw it and had been spying on us even after she left. And Ayla is a disciple of the beholder god so he knows as well.

>>6076919
>The Bloodrise Delegation
>The Sylvan Delegation
Meeting with both would be nice- with both Long Wang and Mother.

>Your Demiplane
But I’m willing to switch if convinced

>>6076995
>Mother
[Tips' mo isn't there. Priestess Clanirae was is the eladrin who lives beneath the Dappulyet elves' sacred site. His mom is nobody important, and wouldn't be invited on a mission like this.]

>>6076919
>>The Bloodrise Delegation
>Old Maple Hill

[I'll try to get an update out soon, but I am quite ill and may also have heat exhaustion. Apologies for any delay!]

>>6077551
Stay well and make sure you get plenty of hydration QM, this heatwave is absolutely ruthless.

>>6077551
Take your time. Heat related exhaustion is annoying as hell. Don’t transition from one really cold place to hot too quickly.

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>>6077621
>>6077629
[Thank you for the kind words! Feeling a bit better after a long nap by a blasting AC unit.]

>>6076921
>>6076935
>>6076956
>>6076975
>>6076983
>>6076995
>>6077043
[We have a tie as to where to host the talks, so >>6076975 may wish to change that vote. For now, that remains open. In the meantime...]

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>>6077637
When you receive the reports of the two parties’ arrival, you’re initially unsure whether to visit either. Your fear is that the party you don’t visit will perceive favouritism in the choice, and be less-inclined to hear you out.

“Then why not visit both?” Costella suggests.

Oh, if it only it were so easy! But there is another concern: what if the preliminary discussions grow heated? After your discussion with Princess Miannie of the New Moon, you can’t really imagine that the Sylvan delegation would attempt to KILL you, even if you’re technically no longer an elf… But capturing you, and wielding you like leverage over Hawksong and Bloodrise in some way.

You fully intend to submit yourself to their judgement… But once peace is secured, not beforehand.

“I’d save you,” Izirina says, matter-of-factly.

“Not the point.” You sigh, and then despite yourself, you smile. “But thanks, Izzy…”

With both her powers and yours reduced as of late, COULD she? Maybe. But it is as you said: that isn’t really the point. You don’t’ want to put yourselves in a position of potential struggle with the Sylvan Elves again, while tensions are so high.

“Then… Neither?” pivots Costella.

Again, it would be nice if it could be so… But it cannot. This is mostly because, for all your bold speechifying to the goddess, you don’t COMPLETELY trust the Dragon King of Bloodrise. Oh, you don’t believe the lizardman to be pure evil by any means… But you know that he has beat the drums of war before, and that he serves enigmatic and malevolent forces. What you don’t understand is WHY, if he has the nobility of spirit his human wife attests, he would do so… Nor do you know his expectations or ambitions, in relation to these talks.

On some level you know the Sylvanfolk, because you are OF the Sylvanfolk, whatever shape you are. To create a lasting peace, though, you must know Bloodrise, and its reigning regent.

“Ah, the Archmage’sss Apprenticce. How nicce to ssee you again.”

The deep and oily voice of the Prince Consort suits his human guise. He is tall, broad-shouldered, square-jawed and yet always seems cooly calm—unthreatened, undeterred. He is every bit the ‘barbarian hero’ of some tawdry broadsheet bodice-ripper. When you find him in the familiar confines of his wife’s palatial estate, he occupies them like a conquering king, at repose in his domain.

(Though, you silently note, he is meeting you in the quarters reserved for honoured guests, rather than for the Royal Family themselves…)

>>6077638
The draconic monarch's attendants are rather more ill-at-ease than their master, and somehow even more out-of-pace. There is a taller-than-average, broadly-build halfling clad in black leather, hands clasped behind his back and eyes shadowed, who looks you up at down with a lingering, unsettling intrigue. There is The Thief, of course, occupying a new identity; at least, you assume it is he, for he’s the only Northman in the group, and you’d been told to expect him in such a guise. He greets you with a silent nod of recognition, which you return after a moment. And there is that Azonia elfmaid, and the coil-haired Southman archer you’d been told to expect.

“Greetings, Prince Consort,” you say with a small bow of your head. “Thank you for responding.”

“Iss it not my duty, asss befitsss my title?” Prince Long Wang asks, ith a too wide grin. “When a threat comess sslinking out of the shadowss of the foresstsss, it iss the duty of thisss realm'ss defenderss to sspring to the defenccce of their realm.”

With some mysterious amusement, he adds: "I believe I ssswore an oath to that effect, in fact."

You bristle a little at the characterization of the elven delegation in such terms, mentally noting it as… Well, not the best sign.

“What hass become of you, though?” The Prince Consort leans forward, narrowing his gaze. You catch the quick flicker of some inner membrane, sliding sideways across his otherwise-human eyes, and he adds: “An illusion? No… If it wass, shouldn’t there be MORE magic? You have… Lesss.”

“A sacrifice, made for peace,” you say stiffly.

The Prince Consort leans back, and clucks his tongue in disapproval.

“The elvesss did thiss thing to you?”

“Not exactly,” you say, then stop short. “Sort of. How much has your wife… The Queen… Told you? About the reasons for the Sylvan Realms’ specific demands?”

>>6077639
“You mean to sssay your captivity, the disssolution of House Yossef? That my own wife declare WAR upon myssself and my people, to crush usss while our kingdom isss in itss infancccy?”

He works his jaw as if chewing air, and his smooth tone taking on a dangerous rumble, like the tremulous omen of an imminent eruption

“It isss truly outrageousss! I do not fully underssstand their reasson for thesse SSSPECCIFIC demandss. I pressume it mussst be in part a punishment aimed at you and the Archmage’sss ‘daughter’, for coming to my aid, and that of my sson. You have my gratitude, and condolenccess… And my promisse that these hypocritical, ssself-sssatisfied INVADERSS will never again threaten Hawksssong or Bloodrisse… My family, nor yoursss!”

You grimace a little at his warlike tone, but make a mental note that, by the way he speaks. 'My family, nor yours?' Not 'our family'? It seems Queen Ekaterine has not (yet?) communicated the full scope of the prophecies, of Izirina’s bloodline and yours intermingling with his, to bring about some threat to all the world. Nor have the Dark Gods, you presume… Which is peculiar. Why would they not tell their ‘Antipaladin’, their chosen champion, something so important?

Your contemplation are interrupted as the Dragon King rises, and looms over you. His eyes flit to your shoulder. With a sudden and jerky motion that is plainly unnatural to him, he places a heavy hand upon your shoulder.

“You have come to sspeak with me for a reasson,” he correctly intuits. “Ssspeak it. I am lissstening.”

What exactly is it you mean to say to the Dragon King, or ask of him? Given his posture on this matter, you can’t imagine he will approve of your intentions: to submit yourself for summary judgement, to permit them to dissolve House Yosef to prevent a shared descendant from ever becoming head of that house, and to genuinely petition for a mutual pact o non-aggression. How will you make him see the light, though? If you can’t, this fiery-tempered lizard-king could ruin the talks!

Do you tell him of the concessions you have already decided to make?
>Yes
>No

Do you tell him to whole of the prophecy?
>Yes
>No

How will you convince The Copper Dragon King of Bloodrise to walk the path of peace?
>Talk up the dangers of the Sylvanfolk and the Bonum Chaoticum
>Downplay their threat, and suggest that he really needn’t be worried about them
>Offer him an incentive if he avoids escalation [what?]
>Appeal to his better angels [how?]
>Write-in

Are there any other concessions you would ask of him, aside from a pact of mutual non-aggression?
>Come into the light, and fold Bloodrise into Hawksong’s aegis and authority
>Renounce the Gods of Darkness, and convert to some other (less evil) faith
>Permit you to biologically and spiritually modify his and Ekaterine’s child
>Write-in

Do you have anything else to ask him, related to the peace talks or otherwise?
>Write-in

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>>6077637
In that case, Old Maple Hill, then.

>>6076993
They know of it, but I don’t want to give any of them a thorough exploration of that place. Seeing a part of it and being led into it is a whole different level of knowing.

I am >>6076975
Pic rel

>>6077641
Ugh, this is why I wanted to talk to the elves instead, and not have him here to begin with

>No
>No
>Appeal to his better angels [how?]
Eka will be much happier this way. She doesn't want Hawksong plunged into civil war.

>>6077661
why not tell him about the prophecy ? also there's no way we could do all this without the prince here

>>6077676
>why not tell him about the prophecy
Why tell him?

>No way we could do all this without him here
Why not? What have we accomplished that his presence was pivotal for?

>>6077641
Do you tell him of the concessions you have already decided to make?
>Yes
Concessions Ekaterine, Izzy, and us HAVE made. Be very clear about that - we’re hurt pretty severely by this agreement. We don’t like it either.

Do you tell him to whole of the prophecy?
>Yes
Nenaias tried to kill us.
Their rangers tried to kidnap Izzy. Also tell him their deaths is why they want us trialed.
Be very, very careful of them.

How will you convince The Copper Dragon King of Bloodrise to walk the path of peace?
>Offer him an incentive if he avoids escalation [what?]
Our unseelie star’s passage. We have hidden passages which led to the outskirts of the sylvan realms. Any aggression, any more cloak-and-dagger activity on their part that threatens us, we can invade them through there. In a war, we will have the advantage.

We will permit them to use it only for this reason.

(We promised the spriggan never to attack or conquer unprovoked - not in retaliation to an attack.)

As for the unseelie, if he does ask, Banelight is dead after she tried to kill Izzy. It is literally the truth.

Are there any other concessions you would ask of him, aside from a pact of mutual non-aggression?
>Write-in
In the event Tips is taken to the sylvan realms and unable to return for any reason, ask him to send someone to

1) watch over Costella Fannucci - especially from the carlos family but her own father as well. They might try to take advantage of her or force her into a marriage with someone she does not like.
2) watch over Izzy - to prevent the sylvan realms from taking her again

Am >>6076975

>>6077830
I'll give you my support

>>6077661
>>6077830
>>6077975
[Rather short on votes for this, compared to the last few. I'll leave it open another hour, then write.]

>>6077641
>No

>Yes

>Downplay their threat, and suggest that he really needn’t be worried about them

>Come into the light, and fold Bloodrise into Hawksong’s aegis and authority

>>6077830
>+1
although I'm uncertain about telling him about the secret passages altright

Rolled 2, 8, 4, 16 = 30 (4d20)

>>6078101
>>6078028
>>6077975
>>6077830
>>6077661
You resist the urge to shrug the lizardman’s hand from your shoulder. A part of you bristles at the contact. Perhaps it’s instinct—Men have been as preyed-upon by his race as have Elves. Peace must start somewhere, though, and so you swallow your discomfort and meet his coldly-curious gaze.

“I wish… That is to say, both Queen Ekaterine and I, we BOTH wish… For peace.”

“Peaccce,” he hisses, with a sniff. “Peacce comess from ssuperior sstrength. Ssometimess, it coemss only when thosse who sstand in itss way are… PREVENTED from doing sso any longer.”

You shiver a little at his tone, at the certainty in his voice… At the eagerness with which his hand settles upon the blade upon his hip. Whatever ‘better angels’ the Dragon King might play host to, it is obvious that the dark ambitions which the minasien and the Gods Above feared also nestle comfortably within his chest, like a viper laying in wait. But how to dissuade the snake from striking?

“I agree.”

The warrior of darkness does a double-take at that, surprised at your easy acquiescence. He looks down at you questioningly, awaiting clarification. You take a deep breath, and cast your bait:

“The reason the elves of Iternagreyn want me so badly is… Well, a prophecy.”

“My Queen had mentioned ssomething of the ssort,” the Pricne Consort admits, though by tehw ay he trails off expectantly, you feel confident that you were correct—that Queen Ekaterien has NOT told him much more than that.

So you do.

You tell the Dragon King of that which the elven sage predicted, of what the Gods of Light and the Council of Elders have come to fear: that Bloodrise and Hawksong will give rise to a tyrant king, a true Dragon King like in the days of old, who will raze the lands of his enemies and sit atop a throne of bones to rule the world which remains with an iron fist… Or steely talons, perhaps. That this figure—apocalyptic, all-consuming and all-controlling, will arise when his bloodline and Izirina’s coincide…

“And mine as well,” you add, keeping in confidence only those measures—those concessions-which you have already taken to prevent this.

“Fasssccinating,” he rumbles.

He rubs his spiky, reddish beard as he stares at you—through you, to this distant descendant. He does not smile, but you can see it in his eyes, in his posture: you have him. ‘Fascinating’ indeed—the Dragon King has been fascinatED! His acolytes, too, seem enamoured with this vision of inevitable ascent and worldwide empire.

>>6078119
“It’s just like you said, Master!” says the stout halfling in black leather “A New Age of Darkness, a world united under a new order!”

“Indeed it isss,” he agrees enthusiastically. “Did I not say so? Even the Falsse Godsss recognize our inevitability!”

The cheerful atmosphere in the room is, ironically, deeply discomfiting to you. You pretend it is not, and nod along.

“Which is why we can’t have a war now,” you say.

All eyes are again upon you, and the thick air of enthusiasm starts to thin.

“Exxxplain,” the Prince Consort commands.

“If we play our cards right—ah, sorry, that is a human aphorism, I mean—”

“I know what cardsss are,” Prince Long Wang notes dryly.

“R-right.” You clear your throat. “well… If we do what we need to do, if we forestall the conflict that THEY want, on THEIR terms, here and now when your kingdom is, as you said, in its ‘infancy’… Down the line, they’ll just fall to our descendant. They’ve admitted as much!”

The disguised ‘dragon’ digests this interpretation, drumming his fingers rhythmically upon his sword’s hilt. He again works his jaw and tilts his head, reminding you simultaneously of some sunning lizard or a confused dog. You pointedly do not laugh.

“And how do we know they will not sseize upon thisss opportunity, if we show weaknessss now, and ssomehow avert thiss propheccy? If we ssecure oursselvess, and crush those who sseek to sstp usss…”

You shake your head, and insists: “No! War on the Sylvan Realms… It’s pointless, and it can only disrupt the predictions the sages have made! The prophecy that shows you winning—our grandchild or, or WHOEVER winning—isn’t one that includes a war against the elves here and now.”

You’re lying, of course. Embellishing, rather. The predictions you were privy to didn’t specify what might happen, between the here and now. Even if they did, you’re actively trying to avoid bringing about that dark future which you’ve sold these dark men and monsters on—may have already done so, in fact. But you just need him to believe it… Believe it until the peace deals are made, until you are (safely?) in elven captivity for your trial.

You hold his gaze…

>16
>vs DC 15/18/20…

…And the Dragon King blinks first.

“Ass you wish,” he sighs. “I know that the path to a better future isss rarely a simple or sstraightforward one.”

You release your held breath, and let your squared shoulder slump.

>Partial success

“But I mussst confesss my missgivingss.”

(Fuck!)

“O-oh?”

>>6078138
“If you subject yourssself to the ‘jusssticce’ of the elvess… And their lauded mercccy iss found wanting, asss it SSO often hass across the aeonss… What guarantee do we have that we can sstill ssave you, and thuss our future?”

“Well, um, I guess… I guess you could sue your Unseelie allies’ tunnels, right? Like you did to extract your son, the ‘Unknowable Prince’?”

“I could,” the Dragon King agrees, with a dangerous smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Except that you dessstroyed them.”

(Oh fuck oh shit oh—)

“I can explain!”

“You don’t need to.”

You close your mouth, confused.

“It was an alliancce of mutual convenienccce,” the Dragon King admits, with a wide shrug. “They had no love for our peoplesss, nor we for them. In time, maybe we could have… Well, it isss no matter. Hisstory swallows the weak, that the truly ssstrong might fill the gapsss. Their chaosss was a poor fit to the new order we BOTH sseem to desire for thiss world, yesss?”

“Y-yes,” you say, uncertainly.

“Sstill, if you wish for me to ssign onto thiss peacce, for the promissse of future glory, I will need ssome assuranccce beyond the divinationss of an enemy. I have heard ssuch distant predictionsss before, from those my racce call ‘The Sserpent Priessthood’. ‘When the ssstarss are right,’ they would always tell us, ‘we will rissse again!’ Yet the sstarss are fickle thingsss. It came to me, to USSS, to take their alignment into our own handss!”

(‘Or claws,’ you suppose, inwardly.)

Damnit, you were so close! And, in truth, you still think you can salvage this. The cold-blooded consort wants ‘assurances’? Well… You can give him them, can’t you?

>You tell him of the secret tunnels, which Izzy can access and lead his spies (or troops) through to retrieve you
>You promise to sire an heir before you leave, that the prophecy (as you’ve selectively described it) will proceed true no matter what else happens, and you appoint this creature their godfather
>Write-in

>>6078139
Oh, and...
If this is a bluff or lie, specify, but remember that Theral has a pretty good chance to sense deception

>>6078139
>You promise to sire an heir before you leave, that the prophecy (as you’ve selectively described it) will proceed true no matter what else happens, and you appoint this creature their godfather
I mean, it should be safe now that we've removed our elfness.

>>6078139
>I have a clone out somewhere that could fulfill the prophecy if we die.

I’d rather not have our child be subjected to being the godson of a sociopathic (kind-of) antipaladin of the dark gods. This is kind of throwing Veigar under the bus a little but I doubt they’ll be able to find him given his divination-exclusion. And I think Ayla’s crafty enough to get herself and Veigar out of dodge in most situations. It’d only really be a problem if the Elves imprison us anyways, which is unlikely to happen thanks to our deal with the goddess.

>>6078160
And Veigar can’t even fulfill the prophecy anyways.

>>6078160
It is kinda worrying, but I figured it would be safe as both Izzy and Costella would need to die/be indefinitely absent for him to get custody. We can also tell the elves about it as an incentive for them to make sure nothing happens.

>>6078139
>You promise to sire an heir before you leave, that the prophecy (as you’ve selectively described it) will proceed true no matter what else happens, and you appoint this creature their godfather
revealing our ace or creampieing Izzy (and Cossy) ? trully a hard decision. jokes aside, while there's the problem of Theral being their uncle, Izzy can escape him easily.
btw rentry is your friend if this wins, OP.

>>6078160
+1 to clone
AND
>You tell him of the secret tunnels, which Izzy can access and lead his spies (or troops) through to retrieve you
In the event we are unable to find them

I’d rather not subject izzy to pregnancy and childrearing on her own — we have gotten rid of our elveness but we’re still unsure of how much the sylvan folk will commit to listening to the moon goddess as well.

am >>6077830

>>6078165
Can he not? iirc in the last thread there was like a revaluation about how we are our souls or something?

>>6078294
[More accurately, Tips and Izzy came to the conclusion that what are typically called 'souls' are separate entities which are grafted onto living organisms by the gods, to influence their individual and group development in certain ways, and which sometimes preserve certain aspects of them for the gods' purposes after their death. Unbeknownst to either of them, their clones Ayla and Veigar figured out how to craft a soul to their own specifications, which Veigar used to (among other things) give himself a MP pool to cast from and a means to use Elementalism again.]

>You promise to sire an heir before you leave, that the prophecy (as you’ve selectively described it) will proceed true no matter what else happens, and you appoint this creature their godfather

>>6078301
Doesn’t sound like it would work for the prophecy then, shit.

If Tips doesn’t know it doesn’t work, I’ll back this & secret tunnels option
If he does, just the tunnels.

I really don’t like the sire heir right now option. That is going to complicate things; with costella and her family, with izzy and archmage, and in the event we cannot return home, its just a hassle for everyone, and now if we do return, its a dragonborn antipaladin final thread moment - that kind of fracture in a relationship, like Ekaterine and Theral’s? I dont want that.

>>6078160
>You tell him of the secret tunnels, which Izzy can access and lead his spies (or troops) through to retrieve you

>I have a clone out somewhere that could fulfill the prophecy if we die.


I’ll add the tunnels to my vote too because I think making Theral our kids godfather is absolutely retarded. There are so many ways it could go wrong that I honestly think it’s more likely to go wrong than right for our kid. I don’t want him to be an influence on our kid and I doubt Izzy will either. It’s not about custody, it’s about not having him around at all as an influencing factor at imagine.


Imagine being a little kid and there’s a hypnotically powerful KING telling you you’re going to be the ruler of the world. You just need to follow the darks gods. It could very easily happen that he ends up converting.

>>6078434
if you're suggesting throwing Veigar under the bus as a garantee for Theral, why also reveal the tunnels for him ?

>>6078434
Your acting like god father means he'll own the kid. God father just means he'll watching over him.

And if we do get imprisoned in the sylvan realm i would much rather uncle Theral look out for our kid. Than grandma archmage henzel taking over. (Izzy still seems to fear her and depend on her for validation.)

Henzel serious messed up izzy's social development, her self worth and her perspective on normal people. Theral on the other hand actually seems to have been a positive influence on his potentially cannibal monster sons.

>>6078465
I’m saying either or I just don’t want godfather to win. Not both.

>>6078478
Yes. I don’t want Theral watching over him. And this isn’t a question of who’s a worse caretaker should we die, we’re practically guaranteed to succeed with the elves thanks to our deal with their god. This is a matter of Theral is going to be a terrible corrupting influence to our child with HUGE incentive to try to corrupt our child as much as possible thanks to the prophecy. He will actively have every incentive in the word to undermine us and Izzy when it comes to our child.


And let’s be real here Tips and Izzy are socially awkward and emotionally scarred. It would be easy for a sociopathic Theral to manipulate the kid even with us watching over them. Making him the godfather practically guarantees our child turns out evils

>>6078522
can't the queen try to balance the guy ? like, it doesn't seem he spends much time at home anyway.

>>6078528
The Queen for all her good points is still at the end on Theral's side. When push comes to shove she would do her to utmost to convince our child to trust in Theral and therefore the Nothic. Rather than counter-balance she would just play good cop to his badass-cop and make it even more unlikely our child keeps our morals in the end if she got involved.

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>>6078434
>>6078310
>>6078291
>>6078226
>>6078148
[Some good discussion and thoughtful decision-making here! I was wondering if our more sporadic attendees were going to weigh in, but we can't keep the vote open forever. My coffee's kicking in and I'm less ill, so it's time to cook. Locked & writing!]

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>>6078708

One thing you absolutely CANNOT tell the Prince Consort about is your clone, or Izirina’s clone. It would be easy, oh so easy, to foist this problem off on Ayla and ‘Veigar’… But what kind of person would you be, to do that? To create life (sort of), and to promise them a chance to make a life for themselves, only to paint a target upon their backs and to sic a serpentine swordsman upon them?

Nor are you ready to share the secret of your Keep’s tunnels, and your knowledge of them and access to them. Even now, the Dragon King’s accession to peace-talks is predicated upon a future war; less true peace than patient bloodlust. You’re beginning to think you’ve misjudged how much ‘Man’ is in this lizardman

(…Or maybe, thinking of his ‘cousin’ Izirina, this degree of dangerous and obsessive behaviour is simply characteristic of the Yosef bloodline? No wonder it so worries your one-time countrymen…)

All this leaves you with one option. Thankfully, it’s one you don’t entirely mind, at least at the outset.

“I’ll… I’ll make sure that our bloodline continues. Mine and Izirina’s, I mean. Before I do.”

The Prince Consort stares blankly at you for a moment. Then, he opens his mouth and produces a choking, rattling sound. His throat vibrates erratically, and his chest quakes. You’re concerned for a moment, first suspecting a medical emergency of some sort, and then fearing this is preparation for some sort of… Of breath weapon, perhaps, like a dragon-of-old. But then he puts his hand over his mouth and leans forward slightly. With a pout of displeasure, you recognize the noise for what it is: a burst of lizardly laughter.

“I apologize, Acrhmage’sss Apprenticce,” he says without any actual apology in his tone. “It iss jussst… I believe your people call it ‘déjà vu’? I have been where you are: journeying forth on a quessst, unccertain of itss outcome, and hedging my future—the world’ssss future—on an heir yet unborn. I would not have exxxpected to find ssuch common ground with…”

He trails off, regarding you coldly, but not with disrespect.

“All I ask in return is that, if I don’t come back, or if I’m… Delayed… That you and your agents keep Izirina Henzler safe, and Costella Fanucci as well, and their families… And especially our child. I leave them in your care.”

“Of courssse,” the Dragon King rumbles, almost a purr. “It isss in all our interessstss, iss it not? We are… Family, in a way.”

You try not to let it show how much that makes your skin crawl, and instead nod.

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>>6078753
“I will attend the talksss… And broker thiss ‘peacce’.” The Prince Consort’s confident, jovial tone drops low for a moment, serious and grim. “But asss one who hass been been where you are now, Archmage’sss Apprenticcce… A word of warning?”

You gulp, and nod.

“Do not take too long,” Long Wang tells you seriously, man-to-man, and his eyes drift wistfully towards where his wife—Hawksong’s Queen—must be, elsewhere, on the other side of the expansive estate. “Sso much can happen, sso quickly… And sssome riftsss are hard to mend. The heart of a human female isss … It iss a precciousss, delicate thing.”

He meets your eyes again, and you feel emotional whiplash as the man-turned-monster becomes Man again, recognizable in his sympathy and sorrow.

“Do not break theirsss.”

…

…

You return to Old Maple Hill that night. It is agreed by all parties that the meeting between Hawksong’s and Bloodrise’s leadership, and Iternagreyn’s representatives, will take place on the nominally-neutral ground of the land reserve, under the auspices of the spriggan’s court. With the Keep and its extradimensional network as your ‘ace-in-the-hole’, you can’t very well hold it THERE, after all. Tonight, though, you share your space and your thoughts with only two people: the two who you love most in the world.

“So that’s what I promised him,” you say weakly, with a forced laugh. “He’ll be… Sort of our child’s godfather.”

Costella shares in your nervous laughter.

“Well, like, he’s a big guy. Strong. Has an army. And he’s, you know, pretty much King of Hawksong! That’s not a bad godfather, right?”

Izirina is silent, which is a bad sign.

“Iz?” Costella asks nervously.

Izirina shakes her head slightly, an almost imperceptible gesture.

“You don’t like it,” you infer.

“I… No, I don’t ‘like it’ that the monsters who ruined my… That the SON of the lizardwoman who killed my parents and mutated me into a—!”

Izirina closes you mouth, not trusting herself to speak, and balls her hands into fists. Izirina’s hair rises and whips about in a whirlwind, and the sides of your shared tent bow out with a gust of wind. You feel your hair prickle, and see Costella’s frizz out with ambient electrical energy. The temperature in the space rises. You brace for an elemental explosion, ready to cast <Greater Disjunction> upon her—if you still can!—if she loses control.

But she doesn’t. She instead, she throws herself upon you and, startled, you still instinctively embrace her.

>>6078757
“If it was anyone else, ANYONE else, Tips, I’d…” she again stops short, no doubt having difficult sorting the tornado of tumultuous thoughts in that brain of hers.

You stroke her hair back down, and Costella completes the ‘Izirina sandwich’ as she sometimes calls it. The two of you hold her tight between you, applying soothing pressure to her, holding her down, until she can calm herself sufficiently to speak.

“I trust you,” Izirina says, muffled, between deep inhalations of her (apparently still soothing) scent.

In the back of your mind, you hear the voice of the Prince Consort, the Dragon King, the future godfather of your child, warning you about the fragility of a human woman’s heart.

With your engagement and imminent marriage to Costella, the decision is made to go forward with the strange (but strangely exciting) scheme which Izirina had plotted before: that of the ‘surrogate pregnancy’. With all three of you on board with it, though, it takes a rather different form.

“I’d like to, like, carry the baby myself, if that’s okay?” Costella asks, sheepish. “I just figure that Mama and Papa… If we get things, like, back to how they used to be, they’ll want to feel it kick and stuff, right?”

Izirina frowns a little, but nods after a moment. You’re honestly a little surprised.

“If it’s Costella, it’s fine,” she answers your unspoken query, and THIS time you think she really means it. “But to keep the peace with that damn—the Prince Consort, we’ll need it to still be MY child, too.”

Chimericism, then: a child with three parents, two mothers and a father. It’s hardly the STRANGEST application of your Living Alchemy that you’ve utilized thus far, and the result is honestly likely to be rather unspectacular from a purely academic point of view: in your current state, your child actually be wholly human, rather than some exotic hybrid.

With the agreement struck there is nothing more for it than to get down to ‘production’ on this heir.

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>>6078758
…

https://rentry.org/pw5g4sq7

…

In the aftermath of the coupling (throupling?), you all lie together upon your shared mattress, a sticky and sweaty mess. You, especially—unlike when you were half-elven, you find you sweat much, MUCH more with such exertions now. From the way Izzy is clutching to you, rubbing her face against you with shuddering breaths, you suppose she doesn’t mind.

“What should we, like… Name them?”

You look up at Costella, blinking in confusion. Your mind hasn’t yet recovered from all that you just put your body through.

“Like, the baby?”

You frown a little, and point out: “We don’t’ even know their sex yet.”

“Well, like, YEAH…” Costella admits, blushing a little. “But, like, what about in general?”

“Veigar is right out,” you sigh.

“Ayla, too,” Izzy mumbles, muffled by your body.

“So, like… What are you two thinking?” Costella asks, sitting upright and looking at you eagerly. “I’m serious! This is… This is BIG! And this is going to be ALL of ours, right? Our baby…”

You resist the urge to roll your eyes. It’s premature, sure, but you can’t deny a certain excitement of your own. The sex—getting to ‘finish inside’ like that—was a fine thing. But there was a purpose beyond pleasure, and even if this will be no child of prophecy, you ARE still going to be a father. It’s a daunting thing—an IMPORTANT thing—and it all begins with a name.

What sort of name will you give your child with Costella and Izirina?
>A traditional elven name
>A noble-sounding human name
>A common, humble human name
>A creative name, something fun
>Write-in [a vibe, not a specific name, though suggestions are welcome for any vote]

And what will be their last name, for that matter?
>Mious
>Van Houtzmann
>Fanucci
>Write-in
Henzler is not an option, under the circumstances, nor is Yosef or Vaz-Yosef

>>6078759
>A creative name, something fun
Keeping the lol references, let's call him Lucian/her Lux
Means Light bringer, as a tongue-in-cheek.

I'll keep Fanucci as last name.

>>6078759
>A common, humble human name

Something simple to contrast with his prophecy-child-esque-ness

>Van Houtzmann

>>6078759
>A creative name, something fun
Keep it non-elven though

>Fanucci

>>6078759
>A traditional elven name
>A noble-sounding human name

>Mious
>Van Houtzmann

I like leaning into our heritage- both sides of it

>>6078758
>With your engagement and imminent marriage to Costella, the decision is made to go forward with the strange (but strangely exciting) scheme which Izirina had plotted before: that of the ‘surrogate pregnancy’. With all three of you on board with it, though, it takes a rather different form.
>Chimericism, then: a child with three parents, two mothers and a father. It’s hardly the STRANGEST application of your Living Alchemy that you’ve utilized thus far, and the result is honestly likely to be rather unspectacular from a purely academic point of view: in your current state, your child actually be wholly human, rather than some exotic hybrid.
...why do this when we can just impregnate both of them ?
>>6078759
>A traditional elven name
>Mious Houtzmann

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>>6078981
[For the same reason you can't use Izirina's surname(s): scandal and legal woes. Polygamy is illegal, and you just dodged charges of adultery and bigamy.]

>>6078813
>>6078773
>>6078770
>>6078767
[I'll keep this open a bit longer.]

>>6078767
>Lucian/Lux/Lucifer
[Hmmm...]

>>6078984
>[For the same reason you can't use Izirina's surname(s): scandal and legal woes. Polygamy is illegal, and you just dodged charges of adultery and bigamy.]
oh right, I kinda forgot that for a moment. btw gentledom cossy was a nice surprise for the scene. of course tips gained some inches after turning human as well, kek.

>>6078759
>elven
>Fanucci

A mix of both our heritage. Good enough.

Am >>6078291

>>6079031
>>6078981
>>6078813
>>6078773
>>6078770
>>6078767
As theoretically monumental as the task of child-rearing might seem, then and there, you knew you were a match for it. In the far future, there would be crises of colic, diaper-changes, scraped knees and moral instruction; for now, the simple hypothetical of a name was merely a fun post-coital conversation, a way to pass the time and make the moment stretch on a little longer.

Not that it was without challenge.

“What about something like… Abigail?” Costella suggested. “Or David, for a boy?”

“’David’ ‘Abigail’?” Izirina scrunched up her nose a little. “Aren’t those… A bit plain?”

“Right?” Costella agreed cheerfully. “A plain, boring old name to dodge a prophecy! Smart, right?”

Izirina pursed her lips and squinted her eyes, obvious still nonplussed.

“I was thinking something with a bit more… Uniqueness, “ she admitted. “The conditions fo the prophecy are already broken, after all, but the bay will still grow up to be a great mage, with its pedigree.”

“I mean, PROBABLY, yeah,” Costella concedes. “But what if they don’t, like, WANT to be a mage?”

Izirina looked absolutely befuddled at the notion, as if it hadn’t occurred to her and she still couldn’t quite reconcile it with reality.

“Who wouldn’t’ want to be a mage?” she asked.

“What were you thinking for a name?” you asked, before the conversation could devolve.

“Something like… Lucian, or Lucienne?” her eyes flare suddenly as she snaps he fingers. “Or LUX!”

Costella frowned a little this time, before quickly waving her hands in a uncoordinated gestures of supplication at Izirina’s irate expression.

“No, no no, it’s, like, totally cool! Those are great names! Just, like… It’s just, like… They kind of stand out, you know? Especially if the baby DOESN’T grow up to be a mage. It seems like, I don’t know… A lot of pressure? I mean, you never heard about a human carpenter called 'Lux', right?”

You suppress a small smirk, withholding comment. For all Izirina’s talk of the prophecy being bested already, as if it were a foregone conclusion—and you hope it is!—you saw exactly what she was doing. After all, you were (nearly) as learned a linguist as she. ‘Lux’? ‘Lucian’? How better to stave off The Forces of Darkness than with a name literally meaning ‘Light’. It bordered on superstition, and yet…

“What about Tealcin for a boy, or Taecelle for a girl?”

Both women looked to you, confused.

“That’s, like, elven, right? I think I recognize those…”

“Corruptions of the Sylvan-dialect poetic-archaic words, used to refer to daybreak or dawn.” Izirina looked at you curiously. “But your clan is Lunar, isn’t it?”

“And, like… The aby would be human,” Costella said, wincing even as she spoke the words. “Sorry! I mean, like… I’m just saying…”

>>6079061
You let a small sigh out through your nose, but your smile doesn’t break.

“I know I’m not an elf, anymore. Not even half. But… the Sylvan Realms are my homeland. And it’s not as if any child of ours will be far-removed from the ways of Feycraft, growing up with us as parents, and spending time on Old Maple Hill. Right?”

“R-right!”

“Obviously.”

“It just seems like a good way to keep that part of their heritage alive, I guess,” you admit. “Tealcin—or Taecelle—Fanucci Van Houtzmann.”

“But why ‘dawn’?” Izzy presses.

“Your name’s a corruption of ‘Zarina’, isn’t it?”

“I… I don’t really KNOW,” she admits. “Mother never told me why or how she chose it. How did you--?”

“I studied every aspect of you, down to your name,” you admit, feeling a blush creep up your neck. “Uh, when we were younger, and I thought you might be… A reptilian spy.”

You ignore Costella’s outburst of laughter, as Izirina’s agze turns down a little.

“S-sorry, sorry, it’s just… Heeehehe~… Iz would be an AWFUL spy. No offence! You’re just, like… So direct! Which, you know, I TOTALLY love that about you!”

“ANYWAY,” you continue, “That name derives from the early-modern Near Eastern dialects, meaning—”

“Daybreak, or golden dawn.”

You run your fingers through Izirina’s hair, and turn her face to meet her eyes.

“No matter what names we can or can’t give our child… No matter who’s carrying them… No matter what the world throws at us or tries to tell us we can or can’t do, this is your child, too.”

You guide her hand to Costella’s belly, and the other woman squirms a little, looking down. You take her hand in your other, and guide it there, too.

“All three of us, together.”

Something warm and wet splatters your hand from above. You look up, to see Izzy’s blank faced crumbling, and tears dripping down her face as she sniffles. You panic for a moment, but then relax when she looks up, smiling.

“I love you,” she whispers, as if a secret. “I love you both. Y-you know that, right?”

Costella hugs you both to her, squeezing tight.

“Like, AWESOME picks,” she whispers to you, loud enough for Izzy to hear as well.

The three of you laugh, and remain huddled close until sleep take you each in turn. You remain that way until you’re woken by daybreak, and the golden light of dawn.

…

>>6079064
When the three of you are dressed and fed, you step outside your tent and make preparations for the delegations. For the most part, this means scrounging up what furnishings you can, and summoning those you cannot. Costella has at least SOME knowledge of woodworking as a result of her family business, which has translated into well-constructed (if not exactly ornate) chairs and tables, but they’re admittedly more suitable to the common-folk than to those of noble birth and high office. Those which Izirina summons are mostly ‘scholastic’ in nature, arriving by means of <Teleport Object> from the Tower’s storage areas—which is to say, bare, basic, and not especially comfortable.

“Oh jeez… You don’t think they’ll mind, will you??” asks a flustered Costella.

“What?” Izirina asks, looking between the two of you and then at the furniture, forehead furrowed. “What do you mean? They’re perfectly serviceable.”

“Well, like, YEAH, but—”

“I assure you, Miss Fanucci, they’re quite fine.”

All three of you look up in alarm at the familiar voice. Coming up from the road are a column of elves, clad in the forest greens and browns typical of leafweave leather, or in the fine, magically-spun wild cotton-like fibres of Sylvan horticulture… Or, in the case of both teh unfamiliar masked sun-priest and Clanirae, your people’s lunar priestess from Dappulyet, in the scared white pelts of sacrificed stags. At the head of the column, and presently speaking for them, is grey-eyed, fair-haired, Commander Qinfir of the Woodland Rangers, here representing the Council of Elders.

“We don’t plan to tarry long, and creature comforts are not our chief concern at the moment,” he adds.

His eyes quickly flick to the human woodwork, and then back up. He affects a smile which, you can tell, he tries very hard to ensure isn’t condescending. “Did you make these? They’re lovely. It ahs been some time since I have seen human handicrafts.”

“Th-thanks, Commander, sir,” Costella says with a curtsy. “Um, sorry about, you know, how we… Like, LEFT, last time we met.”

He holds up a hand, and shakes his head.

“What has passed, has passed,” he says, coolly but not cruelly. “It is forgiven, if not forgotten. We hold no grudge for past actions. We’re here to discuss the future.”

“Of course,” you say, transfixed by his curious eyes, locked upon you even as he addresses Costella.

>>6079067
“Ezreal Mious of Dappulyet?" the Commander asks, voice wondering and faintly horrified. "Is that truly you?”

“Mious VAN HOUTZMANN,” you correct, with a stiff, brief bow of your head. “MAGUS Ezreal Mious Van Houtzmann, if you please, sir. Of The Hawksong Mages Tower and representing the Old Maple Hill land reserve, presently.”

"...I see."

Of the rest of the Ranger-Commander’s party, only Priestess Clanirae and Nenaias have sever seen you before. Seeing you now—bereft of your elven heritage, ‘Tips without tips’, provokes rather distinct reactions from each of them. Neither is shocked, as you might have expected. Clanirae looks at you sadly, with instant recognition. Nenaias, the elven prophet whose predictions brought you to this point, looks relieved.

Do you have anything to discuss with any of them, prior to the arrival of the other delegation?
>Yes [write-in if so, and who you wish to speak with]
>No [skips to the peace talks]

Do you invite any of your other available allies or associates to attend the talks?
>List them, if so

>>6079070
>No [skips to the peace talks]

>>List them, if so
>Pearce.

Our most reliable friend.

>>6079070
>Yes [write-in if so, and who you wish to speak with]
Nenaias

>Bring Pearce

>>6079094
>+1

>>6079091
>>6079094
>>6079250
Costella is, as ever, quick to hop to hosting duties. You take a moment to watch as she works: efficiently organizing the fellow denizens of the Hill to set out a (vegetarian, primarily vegan) spread of appetizers. It’s nothing so fancy as a royal banquet, nor as rich in nutrition and flavour as food grown and prepared by an elven specialist might be, but given the relative newness of your community here, you think you did alright. Luckily, you maintained trade with Hawksong—if you’d ceded to the Concerned Association’s full suite of demands, you could never have afforded to feed so many, so well, let ALONE the carnivorous appetites of the lizardmen of Bloodrise.

Just as you are about to step in to aid Costella and the others, though, you catch movement out of the corner of your eye. You turn towards it, and see that while the Sylvan delegates have begun to aid their hosts in setting the table, one member of their assembly has slipped aside. You make eye contact with Nenaias—notable, of course, because it means he hasn’t carved out his eyes again since you healed them with <Monstrous Regeneration>—and he nods. You nod back. You’d been meaning to talk to him…

You look about for a moment, and soon locate your ‘head of security’ Adolf—your rather reactionary, but mostly well-meaning husband-of-a-cousin. You meet his eye, and guide his gaze towards the elven sage. Adolf hops to attention and begins to hurry over, back hunch and jaw square for a fight. Panicking a little, you wave your hands rapidly to regain his attention, and then mouth the words:

‘Get. Pearce.’

The proverbial wind goes out of Cousin Addy’s sails, but he nods, and slaps to a needlessly military salute. You sigh, but not without affection. It’s a big step up from the paranoid xenophobia and anti-magical sentiment which he had expressed back when you lived with the Houtzman extended family, where the two of you first met… But when it comes to real, reliable security presence, there’s someone else you’d rather have by your side than maybe anyone else.

You step over to Nenaias, regarding the minasien with no small wariness. This elfman is a powerful caster, aside from his divination abilities, a master of the old druidic arts of phytokinesis who can thereby shape, move, and strengthen plant-life by imbuing them with the energy and essence of the True Fey. He came upsettingly close to imprisoning—even killing!—you and Izirina when last you met.

“Vendui', kaoveh,” you welcome him, in your shared native tongue.

“Greetings, cousin,” her repeats back, with a nod.

There is an awkward silence, as you both consider what to say.

>>6079345

“I see that you’ve joined the delegation meant to make my arrest,” you break the ice.

“I was assigned,” he says, almost apologetically. “Given my status as… Well, one-time status as a prophet, of matters intimately related to this… Situation… Well, I’m sure you can see why they thought it would be helpful to have me here.”

“You no longer think me a threat, then?” you ask, and you tap your face, just below the eyes. “And… ‘Former’ prophet?”

He closes his eyes and touches the lids gingerly, and nods.

“I can still wield divination,” he points out. “But the sacrifice of my eyes is what made me minasien… What gave me the focus to see further, and with greater clarity, across time rather than merely space.”

He looks at you with interest, and adds: “Usually. There are lately some who, even so close, I can hardly see at all… Except with these eyes, which you returned to me. This is my first time seeing the ways in which you have changed for myself, Magus Mious Van Houtzmann.”

“A-ah, well…”

Before you can stammer out more than that another inetrrupts your conversation. It is a testament to your weakened, dulled senses that you are initially alerted to Logan Pearce’s approach not by your own hearing, but by the subtle twitch of wiggle of Nenaias’ long, pointed ears. Only THEN do you hear the approaching footfalls, heavy and quick, and turn to see Logan Pearce.

“I’m here!”

Pearce arrives in a full suit of layered leather armour, studded and buckled with expensive orichalcum alloy. The magically-conductive metal is key to channeling magic efficiently to augment his physical capabilities—his old specialty, from when you were students. His usual Tower Guardian emblem sits upon a flat-topped, wide-brimmed cap only vaguely reminiscent of a traditional wizard’s hat. He has supplemented his well-groomed blonde moustache with a thin, narrowly-pointed beard, you note. You resist the urge to tease him aloud about the ‘tough guy’ look he is obviously going for—after all, your oldest and dearest friend is here at YOUR request.

>>6079346
Instead of the friendly mockery you’d LIKE to give the mage, you give him a grateful smile and a nod, and reintroduce him to your ‘guest’.

“Nenaias, you remember Magus Logan Pearce, of the Hawksong Tower Guardians?”

“I remember, yes.” Nenaias offers a wan smile and a bow, as he—like you—switches to speaking Common. “You did rather the number on one of our own defenders, as I recall.”

“The one who nearly bled me out like a slaughtered hog?” Pearce sniffs. “Glad to hear I agve as good as I got. He lived?”

“As you did, yes,” Nenaias replies. “I… Am glad. The delicate and dangerous matters which threaten this world shouldn’t bring low good Men, or Elves.”

Pearce’s steady, stalwart presence, and the admittedly ACTUALLY imposing figure he cuts all armoured-up as he is, bring you a bit more confidence. Pushing past the unease which earlier gripped you, you clear your throat to reclaim Nenaias’ attention.

“Right, well… I didn’t call you over here to catch up,” you say.

Nenaias quirks an eyebrow, and asks: “Did YOU call ME here at all? I thought it was the other way around.”

(Ugh, SAGES.)

What did you wish to discuss with him?
>Why did he keep his regrown eyes, and give up the gift of prophecy?
>Why were he and Clanirae so… UNSURPISED by your human form?
>What has he foreseen, if anything, since you left? Have any other prophets made new predictions?
>How have things been, in the Sylvan Realms?
>What is the sentiment towards you among his party? What does he think will happen to you, once you turn yourself over to elven justice?
>Can he find it in his heart to make peace with the Dragon King of Bloodrise?
>He isn’t going to be a… PROBLEM, is he?
[Choose two]

>>6079347
>Why did he keep his regrown eyes, and give up the gift of prophecy?

>Why were he and Clanirae so… UNSURPISED by your human form?

I'm guessing the goddess told them for the second question, but it'd be nice to know anyways and if she did tell them it reflects pretty positively on our chances for lenient elf justice. So it kind of answers two questions.

>>6079347
>How have things been, in the Sylvan Realms?
>What is the sentiment towards you among his party? What does he think will happen to you, once you turn yourself over to elven justice?

>>6079347
>What has he foreseen, if anything, since you left? Have any other prophets made new predictions?
>How have things been, in the Sylvan Realms?

>>6079347
>Why did he keep his regrown eyes, and give up the gift of prophecy?
>What has he foreseen, if anything, since you left? Have any other prophets made new predictions?

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Rolled 13, 12, 8, 7, 11, 9 = 60 (6d20)

>>6079557
>>6079501
>>6079483
>>6079430
“You kept the eyes, even if they’re getting in the way of your divination,” you note, addressing the allegorical owlbear in the room. “Yet you knew I was no longer… That I’d become human.”

“Yes,” he acknowledges.

The ‘how’ seems obvious to you—he, like Clanirae, must ben in contact with the Celestial Gods. But the why…

“Have you given up on prophecy, then?” you ask, trying not to sound like some sort of spy. “There have been no more… Interesting visions?”

Nenaias shakes his head, then stops himself, and shrugs.

“Not for me, anyway,” he says with a grimace. “The gift of prophecy, and it WAS a gift… it wasn’t one I was prepared for. I fear that the… The circumstances by which I attained it, the path that lead me to remove my eyes… This may have tainted my perception of what was to come. I was biased towards negativity… Towards the worst outcomes. I failed to see the light, for all the dark”

To your startlement, the elven sage lowers himself to one knee, and bows his head.

“…Is he proposing to you?” Pearce whispers, staring.

“Humbling himself,” you whisper back annoyedly. “Be serious!”

“I was,” Pearce protests. “You have to admit—”

“Thank you,” Nenaias interrupts your aside. “With the new eyes you gave me, I have seen a new path forward… One without the pain of the past poisoning my future.”

You nod, uncertainly, and wave for him to stand back up. This seventy, eighty, maybe hundred-year-old elf, held in such high regard by a culture you aren’t sure you even truly belong to anymore, it makes you feel faintly embarrassed somehow.

“So you have high hopes for these talks, then?” You can’t conceal your hopeful tone. “You… Or other sages, perhaps, those still performing rites of prophecy… They saw something good, coming of all this?”

Nenaias beatific expression dissipates a little at that inquiry, uncertainty and unease creeping in at the edges.

“I can’t say,” he says.

“Oh, come off it,” Pearce blurts out, tapping his staff-his swordcane, as you know—in impatience. “You just said the Magus here gave you a new lease on life. The least you can do is be straight-forward.”

“Some secrets are sacred,” the (former?) minasien says apologetically. “Magus Mious van Hotuzmann, you understand, don’t you?”

You wince a little, knowing that your moonberry bushes are still planted not far from here, cultivated and propagated by the Attuned hands of Man in earthly soil, all against the wishes of the divine.

“I do,” you admit. “But, even so…”

Rolling Sociability + Sense Motive
Art by our own OlympusQM, of Olympus Incarnation Quest

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>>6079618
Nenaias nods, surprising you again with his sympathy. Is this truly the man who almost smothered Izzy in animated turf, and sicced a treant upon you with lethal violence? You can scarcely believe it when he goes on, even though it was you who asked him to reveal these ‘sacred secrets’. But go on he does…

>13

…albeit in hushed tone and vaguest terms possible.

“I don’t know what you or your party have done,” he says, with a quick-yet-probing look at Pearce.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t do anything!” your larger friend protests, before lowering his voice. “Sorry.”

“...Whoever is responsible, the fact of the matter is that calamity of some sort still seems to be considered.. There is a possibility of it. And a possibility of something else. But above all, uncertainty. I know that visions are still being received, and processed, but the greater clarity which I and other minasien had experienced, it is… Distorted around certain subjects.”

You frown. You already knew THAT much—those are the effects of <Final Revelation>. In addition to not being new information, you get the feeling (albeit not without uncertainty, because this could be your bias against the elfman) that he knows more than he is letting on about the specifics of the foreseen futures.

“But you’ve chosen a favourable interpretation, it seems?” Pearce says. “You’re singing quite the different tune to what we heard from you before.”

Nenaias’ smile returns, and he replies: “I’ve chosen to trust in my cousin, whatever shape his ears, to do what is best for our people, and for the world. You did what was right and good for me, and I will not forget the lesson I learned in the process, about assuming the worst.”

(So he might speak up in your favour! At least, you hope so…)

“Speaking of the well-being of our people, and our lands,” you segue, and then trail off.

Nenaias again nods, and affably avails you of information:

“The cessation of trade and travel through the Sylvanwood has been… Difficult, but not unbearable. Our people are few, and the woodlands are replete with food for those who respect them and treat them tenderly… As you well know, of course, being of Dappulyet.”

You agree automatically, btu without any great certainty, for you hardly ever never really had cause to forage them as an adult, and as a child you were always in the care of your mother.

(Mother… And Sylmare, and all the others of your clan…)

“Surely the elves are all eating well as ever, then?” you suggest hopefully. “We… The Sylvan Realms, they never really imported food anyway, did they?”

>>6079642
“They’re eating well enough,” the sage supplies, “but much of the other wealth—in metals, in fertilizers to grow crops not natively suited to our homeland, in tools and comfortable goods—they came from Hawksong’s protectorate, or from the lands to the East as they passed through to trade with Hawksong. Now, by necessity, we divert their traffic around our lands rather than providing passage through. Our people do not adventure in human lands. We get little from the outside, and the variety and quality of what the elven people possess is…”

He grimaces.

“Peace would do you lot a world of good, then,” points out Pearce bluntly.

“And you as well,” Nenaias answers quickly. “As a mage, the cutting-off of reagents and magical materials from our land and the Eastlands beyond must be keenly felt by the Mages’ Tower?”

Pearce clams up at that, but you recognize his tells—the twitch of his moustache, the shifting of his stance. You hadn’t heard that, but then you haven’t been around the Tower much as of late, and it makes sense. It is true that especially in the wake of the hostilities with the Southlands, virtually every faculty of the Tower’s arcana would rely on the Orient for certain rare reagents, crafting materials, biological samples, and more. In addition to that, Iternagreyn has for centuries been seen as a ‘sister-school’ to the Tower, and a fellow-traveller in pathways of practical and esoteric magic—after all, you were able to secure a transfer from one ‘Tower’ to another, as a child! The closing offof the intellectual exchange must be nearly as stifling.

“I’m glad to hear nobody is starving, at least,” you say dully, keeping to yourself your unfortunate assessment that nobody is flourishing, either.

“Now, cousin, might ask you something in turn?”

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>>6079643
You narrow your eyes at Nenaias request, and rely simply: “Ask away, cousin. I can only promise to be as forthright in my answers as you have been.”

“Fair is fair,” Nenaias mutters, losing a bit of his lustre again as he presses on regardless. “The so-called Prince Consort… The alleged Dragon King… What re your thoughts on him and his race?”

How do you answer?
>Truthfully, you trust him—enough to be the godfather of your child, and to advocate for peace with his people, because you believe they all have the capacity for good
>The Dark Gods remain a serious concern, and any servant of theirs should not be fully trusted, but this peace deal is the best bet to keep them controlled and contained
>The peace deal is a temporary measure at best, and really more of a stopgap—in truth, you believe that measures SHOULD be taken against them urgently, just not at the expense of Elf or Man
>You decline to answer, knowing the unfortunate history between his elfman and the Prince Consort, and not wishing to be seen to ‘pick a side’ before the talks
>Write-in
If you privately feel different than how you are answering him, please specify your REAL opinion in addition to the answer you give

>>6079644
>The Dark Gods remain a serious concern, and any servant of theirs should not be fully trusted, but this peace deal is the best bet to keep them controlled and contained
We do believe they have the capacity for good though

>>6079659
>+1

>>6079644
>The peace deal is a temporary measure at best, and really more of a stopgap—in truth, you believe that measures SHOULD be taken against them urgently, just not at the expense of Elf or Man

>>6079644
>The Dark Gods remain a serious concern, and any servant of theirs should not be fully trusted, but this peace deal is the best bet to keep them controlled and contained

Given answer.

> REAL opinion

>Truthfully, you trust him—enough to be the godfather of your child, and to advocate for peace with his people, because you believe they all have the capacity for good.

Theral hasn't really done anything to us, and unironically has been more open to diplomacy than the elves have.

but it's not in our interest to be looking pro dark god's when nenaias threw a fit the last we seemed to be on their side.

>>6080157
Supporting that.

I'm me of course (>>6074489)

>>6079659
I'll switch to +1 this. I do not trust him enough for this.

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Rolled 14, 3, 14, 20 = 51 (4d20)

>>6080217
>>6080207
>>6080157
>>6079849
>>6079815
>>6079659
“He’s a lizardman who calls himself ‘Dragon king’,” you say bluntly, with a shrug. “I’m not a fool, Nenaias. I KNOW who he serves. I KNOW that Bloodrise is a danger.”

“Yet you work with him?”

You hesitate to respond to that, mulling over how much you should say. In truth, you DO trust Theral, or Long Wang, or whoever… To an EXTENT. He’s been cooperative, moreso than your own countrymen at times, but you’re not so naïve or oblivious as to miss his obvious ulterior motives. After all, didn’t you lure him to these talks with the promise of future invasion and conquest? Whether he is truly a ‘dragon’ as the tyrannical reptiles of old, he has the AMBITION of such a beast, or at least of a Yosef, and he serves the Gods of Darkness.

“Consider it containment,” you tell the elven sage. “This is how we keep an eye on them… Keep them under control, and prevent them from attacking before we’re ready.”

Nenaias seems to relax a little. You know the history between he and Prince Consort Long Wang, or at least have an inkling of it. The one-time minasien carved out his eyes originally not for the sake of any prophetic prowess, but out of anguish at the depravity and horror he had witnessed, including the death of the last Lord of the House of Yosef: the Green Knight, Sir Heinrich, who had been defeated, corrupted, and finally destroyed by some demonic minion of the Dragon King. To position yourself as a secret ally, working ‘behind enemy liens’ to undermine his tormentor, is a winning stratagem.

And yet…

“There is good in them, you know.”

Nenais tenses up again, and you hear Pearce suck in air through his teeth in an audible cringe. Even so, you can’t help yourself.

“I told the Goddess Miannie as much, when we.. When she offered me her favour. They DO have the capacity for coexistence. This peace… It can be a means to help guide them out of Darkness, and into the light. To ‘corrupt’ them, in a way… In reverse!”

>>6080383
heinrich had no need for a codpiece as Irri was protecting that dick with her literal life essence

>>6080383

You can see how intrinsically repulsive this notion is to Nenaias, how every fibre of his being grows taut to spring at you—or away from you. Yet the mention of Divine Princess Miannie and her favour gives him pause, and forces him to heed your words.

>20

His piety outweighs his animosity, and the longer he listens, the more his discomfort turns to curiosity.

“You think such a thing is possible?” he asks, quietly.

“I know it,” you say. “I have seen it. They know love, Nenaias... For their children, for one another. And The—Long Wang, I mean—he TRULY loves the Queen, and she loves him in turn. Not because she is blind to who or what he is, but because of something she sees in him. Something real.”

“Maybe,” Nenaias allows, and shifts his feet, looking off into the distance as if at some distant possibility. “Maybe.”

Now it’s YORU turn to breathe in relief. You feared you’d ruined your rapport for a moment, ahead of these all-important negotiations.

“But not him.”

You tense up again, as Nenaias meets your eyes.

“I see the wisdom in your words, cousin. I do. And your strategy has my support. But know this: if the Dragon King knows what love is, and how much it hurts to lose one you love, and he STILL acted as he did… It makes him a worse creature, not a noble one. If the reptilian races can be redeemed, HE still cannot. Not him. Not ever.”

You purse your lips and watch him leave.

“Well, that could have gone better,” you note.

“Could have gone worse, too,” Pearce counters.

You arch an eyebrow at him, asking: “Since when are you an optimist?”

Pearce claps your shoulder, with a small smile.

“Life’s been good to me lately.”

“If I knew getting you laid would improve your mood THIS much, I’d have found you an elfman years ago,” you wuip, with a rye smile.

Pearce’s grip tightens, and he grins a stiff grin.

“You little knife-eared shit.”

“ROUND-eared, thank you,” you quickly retort.

“Hey, that’s my word, not yours!”

“OUR word, fellow human.”

Pearce’s attempt at a threatening expression breaks, the façade untenable as ever before your teasing.

“Still a little shit, though,” he says.

“So you’re saying I’m still your type?”

Pearce groans, but before he can banter back, something catches his attention. He takes in a sharp breath through his nose, and you see him visibly shift from your old buddy Logan Pearce to Logan Pearce: Shift Captain of the Hawksong Tower Guard.

“They’re here?”

He nods, wordlessly.

>>6080407
You turn, to see two carriages come rolling down the hill. Each of them bears the eagle, shield, sword, and crown which together form the royal emblem of Hawksong’s royal household. The coachmen step down and open the doors, and the tall, broad figure of the Prince Consort steps out, clad in fine garb of Oriental construction and pattern; he extends a hand, genteel, and he helps down the Queen of Hawksong, Ekaterine. She smiles, and to your eye at least it appears genuine; so, too, his relief at her acceptance of the gesture. Of course, you have bigger things to worry about than gossip about the royals’ relationship; as their retinue unload, including both envoys of the dark kingdom and a smattering of Hawksong’s own paladins and senior nobility, you rejoin Costella and greet them, Pearce hovering a step back.

“I must say, the land reserve is really looking quite lovely!” Queen Ekaterine says brightly. “Missus Mious Van Houtzmann, it is truly a marvel what you people have down with such a long-neglected plot of land!”

“O-oh, well… thank you, Your Majesty!” Costella says, with a hurried curtsy.

“You two are full of ssurprisesss,” the Prince Cosnort agrees, surveying the field.

Prince Long Wang squints a little, hiding the quick flick of his inner-eyelids, and you sense a subtle change in his posture as he registers something—perhaps the presence of the elven delegates, or maybe something about the Hill?

“I can only imagine what will grow from thisss palcce,” he adds, and your’e not sure if he MEANS ti to be ominous or if that’s just how it comes out.

“Uh, thank you, Your Highness” you say, hedging your bets.

With the arrival of the Hawksong (mostly Bloodrise) attendees, you set out some of the meats and cheeses which you had purchased from the nearby farms and villages. The elves register subtle distaste for the new additions to the table, but do not voice them—they know well the ways of Man, and they reserve their more obvious contempt and disdain for the black-skinned elves and shapeshifted reptilians. Several elves charms of protection, or refresh warding spells to protect their minds and bodies.

The Bloodrise delegates are plainly amused at this, and much more at-ease, the truly-mammalian among them whispering and chortling to one another, while the one you recognize as The Thief—and a few others, whom you do not recognize but suspect to be of his race—all eat calmly, proudly, and at times hiss and chatter openly in their lisping, rattling tongue. You exchange a look with the Queen, who meets your gaze. Your eyes flit to the uneasy paladin who sits at her one side, and the elderly nobleman seated beside the Prince Consort. She gives you a subtle nod, in turn.

(So they know… Some of Hawksong’s Paladins, and innermost nobility, they KNOW what their Queen’s husband truly is. You’re not sure if that’s comforting, or worrying…)

>>6080411
You sit opposite the Queen and her Consort, with Costella on one side of you and Izzy on the other. Costella is closest to the Bloodrise delegates, with Pearce a buffer between her. Izirina sits on the other side, vibrating with nervous energy and with her gaze fixed upon her plate of uneaten food; you think she might be more agitated than the elves!

You and the girls are the hosts here. It is up to you to start the discussion: to set the tone, the pace, the agenda. Your objectives are clear: a pact of mutual non-aggression, ideally a re-opening of trade, and most of all the prevention of wars between your peoples… or within them, as a result of certain disclosures. To achieve this, you have convinced the Queen of Hawksong to abolish an ancient and important noble-house, a self-declared Dragon King to (at least temporarily) forestall aggression, and even to turn yourself in for arrest and judgement.

How will you begin?
>Open with a prayer to Princess Miannie, as thanks for her blessings, and to the local True Fey of the Old Maple court for allowing you all to be here
>Ask the Paladin in attendance to open the discussion, and to bless this meeting in the name of Moroth and Marese—chief gods of the Northern Pantheon of the Gods of Law, who oversee maters of nobility, of war, of peace, and of security
>Politely (but firmly) suggest that everyone in attendance shed their disguises, in the spirit of openness and truth—get it all out in the open
>Ask Costella to open with a joke—an anecdote about how you all came to be here, and cut the tension a little
>Ask Izirina to get down to take charge, and set the terms on offer—she may be anxious, but you know she can channel her adoptive mother’s direct demeanour when she needs to

Once you’ve said your peace, who will you invite to speak first?
>Commander Qinfir
>The King of Bloodrise
>The Queen of Hawksong
>Write-in

[Write-ins are strongly encouraged, and could go a long way to preventing… Issues.]


>>6080406
More like she demanded easy access at all times, kek

>>6080415
>Open with a prayer to Princess Miannie, as thanks for her blessings, and to the local True Fey of the Old Maple court for allowing you all to be here

>The Queen of Hawksong
let's hope we can get TEL

>>6080431
[Total Euphorious Laughter?]

>>6080415
>Open with a prayer to Princess Miannie, as thanks for her blessings, and to the local True Fey of the Old Maple court for allowing you all to be here
For the old maple court part, maybe phrase it differently. Instead of them allowing us to be here, this meeting wouldn't have been possible without them.

>Politely (but firmly) suggest that everyone in attendance shed their disguises, in the spirit of openness and truth—get it all out in the open
How can we not pick such an alpha chad move? Not like anyone here doesn't know anyway, and any agreements reached will feel less legitimate if done with some parties under disguise.

>The Queen of Hawksong

>>6080415
>Ask Costella to open with a joke—an anecdote about how you all came to be here, and cut the tension a little

>Politely (but firmly) suggest that everyone in attendance shed their disguises, in the spirit of openness and truth—get it all out in the open


>The Queen of Hawksong

>>6080411
I wonder if the novice or the bastrd is among the reptilians who came here?

>>6080489
Ssezty isnt an infiltrator, she literally the queen of Bloodrise and likely acting Regent when Theral is gone given her position, she wouldnt leave Bloodrise anyway she has her own babe to watch over, not a demigod like her half brother, but she is basically the demonic version of one, Im sure had we gone to Wevenore we wouldve checked out Bloodrise too and wed learn more about her but thats not important, Sseztlussth is snobby master of Fleshweaving (chimericism) and devout follower of the Nothic, she'd be making snippy comments and literally no one would be able to stop her not even Theral and the whole of the peace talks would go under because she wants to bite all of these treedwellers with good appetites unlike darkelves and duergar who have to scavenge in the dark or grow mushrooms off magic rocks Theral and her regularly eat the flesh of other races in rituals, could be theyre criminals but most likely just slaves, she is not built for the world above shes built to be an evil queen and relishes in it, finding Therals capacity for love as an unfortunate byproduct of his genetic foundations, that man cant bring that bitch anywhere but she can admit that hes the only one worthy of her

>>6080507
>not a demigod like her half brother, but she is basically the demonic version of one
???

>>6080415
>Politely (but firmly) suggest that everyone in attendance shed their disguises, in the spirit of openness and truth—get it all out in the open

>The Queen of Hawksong

>>6080546

[I believe the anon is referring the 'power sources' grafted onto Hawksong and Bloodrise's heirs apparent.]

>>6080546
Therals daughter (Wadjet iirc)was imbued with the soul of a greater demon, Therals son with Eka is a demigod and technically has 3 parents, as Theral fucked the Goddess and got lethally Mpreg and couldnt bang anyone but a princess or hed fucking die, we had options but the goddess told us it could kill the carrier, pretty sure because of Ekas family and her inherent magics that directly oppose Therals unholy aspects, Theral also has 9 sons with Glowie queen of the Wyrms of Bloodrise who was a gift from the Goddess made for Theral to breed shocktroops, and Theral loves each of his kids and wants a place where they can all live together

>>6080635
[Glowie being a 'gift' might be overselling it. The joke/theme wirh her was that as Reptilian Infiltrators are to humans and such, she was to the Reptilians, because the Dark Goddess had lost faith in the Reptilians and was engineering their replacement. Glowie being sexually/reproductively compatible with Theral was because she was made ro serve as a genestealer, to take the best aspects of the old guard and incorporate them into cannibal hybrid troops who could be used to wipe out and replace reptoids AND the surface races.]

>>6080638
Didnt Theral basically reprogram her though, through his humming and the fact he already had a more powerful godseed blood in him? Like glowies goal isnt so much to replace the world at this point rather shes been domesticated and wants to bring Therals goals to fruition, I still agree that shes a genestealer but I feel as if its her mothers goal to consume the life of all not so much hers anymore, maybe just enemies of Therals and hers, Idk why im arguing with you about your own characters, I just like discourse but I know the thread isnt the place for discourse on previous installments, and Glowie has had little to no impact on Tips story outside of Natovask who Tips was extremely interested in understanably

>>6080439
Total Elf Live

>>6080622
>>6080635
Ok, I missed where the subject changed from Ssetz to the kids.

>>6080684
>Didnt Theral basically reprogram her though, through his humming and the fact he already had a more powerful godseed blood in him?
[Theral is a mongrel, technically a "Degenerate" in the harsh Reptilian Master Race caste system; he just LARPs as a dragon, and the gods back him because he's effective and they have plans for him and his kingdom. Any dragon/demigod ancestry he ha sis negligible to the point of irrelevence, with his appearance having more to do with his mother modfying him in-utero and Irinnile leaving him with the same dmeonic taint that affects Ayla and Carazzi's appearance and behaviour.]

[As for his reprogramming Glowie by humming and holding hands... Kind of? It's only "reprogramming" in the sense that she likes him and, while she thinks he is a silly creature, she will humour his ideas for now because he's cute and he seems to very much want her to do so. The humming and handholding doesn't do anything for her except make her happy. HER humming, and Karz Throat-Singer's, affect her kids because they're both imbuing it with magic (and because as a hive queen, she commands the unquestioning loyalty of her soldiers and drones). Theral's own ability to command his bug-children comes from their (transgenic) dragon blood from the dead hatchlings he dug up, and the fact that he specced into minicking a true dragon's Fearsome Presence.]

>I know the thread isnt the place for discourse on previous installments
[I'm always happy to clarify lore!]

>>6080829
>comes from their (transgenic) dragon blood
so we're not the only one doing chimerism on our kid, zam

>>6080897
[It has, oddly, become sort of a thruline in the protagonists: accidentally or intentionally creating unusual heirs and successors.]

>>6080621
>>6080488
>>6080447
>>6080431
[I'll post tonight if I can, but I really don't want to type it out on mobile, and my computer and router are both coping poorly with the heatwave...]

>>6080415
How will you begin?
>Open with a prayer to Princess Miannie, as thanks for her blessings, and to the local True Fey of the Old Maple court for allowing you all to be here
>Politely (but firmly) suggest that everyone in attendance shed their disguises, in the spirit of openness and truth—get it all out in the open
Let’s get to the point.

>The King of Bloodrise
Mention the unseelie fey. They were the only roadway to get his son back, that was, until our intervention. We can fill in the gaps on what happened after - banelight asking the favors, pearce’s injury, the unseelie star construction, and the termination of our relationship upon her stating her intention to use it to conquer every other country.

Am>>6079031

Just caught up.

>>6080936
>>6080967
>>6080621
>>6080488
>>6080447
>>6080431

“I would like to begin this council with some words of thanks,” you begin. “thank you first an d foremost, Spirit of the Old Maple, and all your courtiers. Udos ph'nin pholor mzilst orthae eairthin, ssin'urn lu'duul'sso, orthae yol l'ze'zhuanth draevalen.”

“Usssstan tlun zh'anni ulu l'lorug's athiyk, vel'ussss kyorlee l'zhaunil wun inbalin udossssa ghil.”

You are taken aback to hear the (admittedly accented) words from the Prince Consort, who bows his head in turn. You think you recall tell of his speaking elventongue, but not that he was so fluent. Immediately, though, you can see how it raises the hackles of every elf in attendance. There is an old saying among your people, a warning to children gifted in the mystic arts which is meant for demons but which applies equally here:

‘The only reason for a predator to speak the language of its prey is to deceive and thereby ensnare it.’

You don’t necessarily believe that it fair to apply here, but you can see the warning signs that this is just what your cousins will do. This, hurriedly, you continue, returning to the Common tongue:

“And thank you, too, to the Gods Above—the Gods of Good, most especially Princess Miannie of the Bonum Choaticum and of Holy Luna. She, who is mother to my mother’s people, and mother to me, and who has personally seen fit to sanction this meeting of peace, as abridge between our nations… All three of them.”

At these last words, you turn your attention to the Prince Consort—to the Dragon King, rather—and to his people.

“Are you familiar with the Lunar Gods, Your Majesty?”

“I am not essspeccially,” he answers, “ssave that the chief deities of the eleven racce dwell there… And that thiss iss the sssecond Ssun they’ve made.”

You squint a little, confused, for you aren’t really sure what he’s referring to, but you can see Paladins and Rangers alike shift in discomfort, some looking disturbed and others gravely offended.

“W-well Miannie, the Princess of the New Moon, is MY patron,” you press on, before things can escalate further at this apparent, subtle jab at some theological or historical controversy. “She’s a daughter of Rianniane, the Goddess of the Moon Itself. Priestess Clanirae, what would you say her ‘portfolio’ is?”

“I wouldn’t use the term ‘portfolio’,” she says in gentle reproach, after she has gotten over the surprise of being suddenly called upon to explain your clan’s faith before ‘the enemy’. “She is the gentle and kind hand which takes your own in the dark of night, and guides you to the light of your family, and friends, and away from dangers.”

>>6080989
You hear grumbling and see rolled eyes among the Wevenore Drow. Clanirae, slight and fair and outwardly fragile, must register their dismissive disbelief as well. Despite this, even now seemingly almost over-relaxed as she continues:

“Holy Princess Miannie is the quiet whisper as one falls asleep, or when one wakes at midnight and needs guidance to return to sleep. She is a keeper of secrets, to whom your fears and desires can be safely shared, and thereby understood and addressed.”

You note that the Prince Consort, and the dark-skinned Southman seated directly beside him, both listen with keen interest, even if the rest of their company seem more annoyed or bored than attentive. Perhaps they suspect—as you see on her face that Clanirae understands-what you are building toward. With the elven cleric having set the stage, you speak again:

“Princess Miannie knew who we were inviting here, into a space made scared and wholesome by the Bonum Chaoticum—the Gods of Freedom. And we all know who we have brought here, too: not just Hawksong, but Bloodrise. And we ALL know who dwells in Bloodrise, and what mantle their King wears… Theral.”

The name (or title?) of ‘Theral’ seems significant here, too. It is literally the elven word for ‘copper’. You hold it up for all to see, as evidence of the common ground here—a basis for understanding, for trust. The Dragon King doesn’t merely speak your language to manipulate, or our of some malicious desire to disturb—he uses it to understand himself, he APPRECIATES your culture and arts, and keeps elves (albeit strange, subterranean elves) among his councillors!

“We are gathered here today because the Goddess of the New Moon, who walks calmly in shadows and invites the sharing of secrets, would rather that we find peace and mutual understanding than invite another War of Elves and Dragons. Perhaps, in the spirit of she and her sisters, and of peace and understanding… We should shed our disguises.”

Clanirae nods and you see a hint of a smile upon her face. From the Dragon King’s attendants, though, there are grimaces, twitches of sword arms, and one burly-looking human (?) male stands up. He is built solidly, but has the colouration of a Northman; only when he opens his mouth does it become obvious he is not.

“Thisss isss outrage! Insssult!”

The disguised reptilian’s accent is so thick, his pace so halting and lisp so lingering, that it almost assaults the ears. You wince, but not JUST because of his rasping imitation of human language; this isn't exactly the heartwarming display of anxiety-assuaging goodwill you'd hoped for. Your hope rebound, however, when the Dragon King places a on his companion’s shoulder. The large ‘man’ immediately flinches, hangs his head low, and sinks into his seat. When his master speaks, though, it isn't exactly in full-throated support of your idea.

>>6080991
“I think what my loyal ally, Ssir Peter Gardien, meansss iss that it sseemss to be a one-ssided requesst.”

To your more-than-mild annoyance, he looks to his wife—the Queen of Hawksong—and not to you or to the other hosts when he makes his petition:

“If we’re to lower our guardsss… To remove the itemsss which shield usss from persecution and prejudgement, just for the way we look, it will put uss at a disssadvatnage, and makessome of uss feel vulnerable.”

“It would go a long way towards making sure everyone feel these negotiations are being held in good faith,” you insist, and look to Commander Qinfir, who watches this all in thoughtfully-stoic silence.

“We have already done much to ssecure thiss, haven’t we?” the Dragon King argues. “We have journeyed furthessst, and ssit here in a sspacece owned by, and filled with, you ancessstral enemiesss. We are outnumbered, in fact, two-to-one, or more!”

“A space owned by your wife, monster,” one of the Qinfir’s Woodland rangers retorts. “a space SHE chose!”

“A space chosen in the spirit of NEUTRALITY, Sir Ranger,” the Queen says, prim yet pointed, and seemingly offended by the implicit accusation.

“A placce conssecrated to YOUR godsss and sspiritss, asss we've all jusst been reminded,” the King of Bloodrise says.

The Queen of Hawksong places a hand upon his, in quiet support. They both seem almost familiar with this situation, as if they’ve been here before. Perhaps they have. It's not exactly the best opportunity for them to find their solidarity as spouses, though...

>>6080992
“King Theral…”

The Dragon King pivots his head sideways, regarding you levelly with one eye. ‘Work with me, here,’ you try to wordlessly communicate. And he seems to understand, are smiles as if he does. The Dragon King lifts his hands to the amulet upon his chest, and the trails his fingers along the thin chain which suspends it there, up to his neck, and begins to lift it… Then stops.

“In the sspirit of magnanimousss cooperation, though, I will exxxtend the olive branch—as I believe you people ssay—one more time… If you will meet me half-way?”

(…Huh? Where is he going with this?)

“We are not the only one here who came with shieldsss at the ready, are we? We will lower ourss… if you do likewissse.”

The hands of several Sylvan elves in attendance fly to their own necklaces, broaches, and other enchantments of mystical warding and physical protection. They are practical defences, and possibly wisely-worn, but they ARE also symbols of their own guardedness and mistrust, just as the false faces of the lizardmen and their king… At least, one could interpret them that way.

A more suspicious individual, less inclined to trust a lizard, might believe that the King of Bloodrise is trying to springboard off of your suggestion to strongarm his enemies into disarming themselves of a vital defence.

“Ssso?” the Dragon King asks.

Commander Qinfir’s expression tightens subtly, but to your shock, he reaches for the emblem upon his breast—that of a soaring bird, and unclips it from his cape and leafweave cuirass. You turn your trained mage’s eye upon him, and confirm that—yes—this is his own protective charm.

What do you do?
>This is absurd—forget it, everyone can keep their charms and trinkets, and various defensive enchantments.
>Single out Nenaias, who promise dot offer you his support, and cash in that promise to have him lead the elves in removing their defenses
>Appeal to Ekaterine of Hawksong to rein her husband and consort in, and to have him unilaterally lower his people’s illusions
>Openly chastise one side, or the other, or both [specify]
>Just caste <Greater Disjunction> on the whole damn table—enough of this!
>Write-in

>>6080994
>>Write-in
>Accept the counter proposal, and have both sides drop their amulets.

If commander Qinfir is fine with shedding his amulet, and he commands the elven soldiers. Then we can just go ahead with this.

>>6081039
[To clarify, Qinfir has touched his charm, and seems to undecided. You don't know for sure that he'll go ahead, and his contingent see against it. If this wins, it'll be a percentile roll, odds unknown.]

>>6080994
Do we need to do anything? If Qinfir is lowering his of his own initiative, will the elves under his command not follow suit?

Plus Theral did raise a good point - starting a fight here and now doesn't seem too viable when he's outnumbered and on consecrated ground. Just in case:

>Make sure that the Bloodrise faction doesn't keep any combat enchanted items while only removing the disguises.

>>6080994
>>6081043
>>6081059
Oh I didn't realize he hadn't actually removed it yet

I guess if the quick amendment that neither side keeps any magical shields doesn't satisfy the elves, we can fall back on
>Single out Nenaias, who promise dot offer you his support, and cash in that promise to have him lead the elves in removing their defenses
He did say he'd never trust Theral, but Theral isn't the only reptilian here. This is the first peace conference between reptilians and other races.

>>6080994
>>Single out Nenaias, who promise dot offer you his support, and cash in that promise to have him lead the elves in removing their defenses

>>6080994
>Single out Nenaias, who promise dot offer you his support, and cash in that promise to have him lead the elves in removing their defenses

>Openly chastise one side, or the other, or both [Lighty chastise Theral for letting his men call our request an insult and for his outburst. While we understand his hesitance to do what we asked, characterizing as at an insult is too far, and frankly he is an attendant and should not so abruptly make his opinion known like that.]

I think we need to make it clear to all the miscellaneous party members on both sides of the aisle that this is the meeting between leaders, and while they can interject, it is on a limited basis. Otherwise I can see this turning into a shit show where the entourages start insulting each other at the slightest provocation and derailing the meeting.

>>6081204
+1 sounds good.

>>6081204
>+1

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>>6081525
>>6081342
>>6081204
>>6081096
>>6081064
>>6081059
>>6081039
[Locked and writing!]

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>>6081675
You stiffly your irritation at the delay in proceedings, not least of which because you can see the Dragon King’s point. A symmetry in disarmament and trust is precisely what you want, even if this isn’t EXACTLY how you’d have gone about it. Initially you hope that the Ranger Commander’s own gesture signifies an intent to comply, for surely as Qinfir goes, so will his supporters. The longer he lingers, though, the more you worry. Finally, feeling yourself begin to sweat, you turn to Nenaias and raise both eyebrows in silent plea.

>Favour: Cashed

Nenaias nods after a moment. In full view of all the others, he reaches into his robes and withdraws a small vial, filled with anointed oils and sacred herbs, and capped with a silver-set gemstone of a raw, milky-golden colour. He removes the thin strand of enchanted elven hair which holds it in place, and sets it down upon the table.

>Result: Instant success

A moment later, the other elves begin to do the same. Commander Qinfir’s Rangers wait until he does so first, but he doesn’t linger long,, whether out of pride or trust in Nenaias’ sagely wisdom. The Ranger Commander makes pointed eye contact with the Dragon King as he does so, though, in a wordless dare.

The Dragon King works his jaw, lowering his head and rolling his shoulders. His eyes flit to Hawksong’s Queen, who gives him a reassuring smile and squeezes his hand. He nods in turn, and completes the motion he started, removing his illusory amulet. The effect is fascinating, and disgusting, and less immediate than you had expected it to be. The tastefully-draped fabric of the monster-sovereign’s garb fills out with muscle, while it grows baggier elsewhere, for his form does not simply grow but SHIFTS in ways that are subtly inhuman. His neck extends, even as his face expands outwards into an elongated muzzle. His mouth splits his cheeks, which peel apart as if sliced at the corners and ripped asunder, and wicked, carnivorous teeth fill his maw. His green eyes flash, and their position shifts, as horns sprout up from amidst the red-orange hair upon his head; the hair, to your surprise, does not disappear., nor does the pallor of his skin—now scaly—change overmuch. His beard recedes, though, replaced by a series of spines along a proud, saurian chin. He shifts in his seat, half-standing, as a long tail ending in a devilish fork explodes forth through an artfully-hidden flap just below the back of his bel. He curls it around the chair, sitting ever-so-slightly sideways to accommodate its back. As he licks thin, lizard lips with a forked tail and crosses his arms.

The effect upon the elves is immediate. No one screams or shouts, such dignity beneath them—the only such sounds are a quick squeal of alarm from Costella.

“I take back the ‘handsome’ part,” you hear her whisper to Izirina, who doesn’t so much as smile, her attention fixed furiously upon the King of Bloodrise.

>>6081712
As one after another of the Reptilians follows their liege’s lead, however, it becomes difficult to deny that there IS something instinctively offputting about these creatures. Each is surprisingly different from the next: one, who arrived in almost monastic robes, has an especially elongated neck and limbs a flat, smooth face with narrow tilted eyes. The Thief is a tawny golden-green, as you had seen once in passing, and after his transformation he replaces the strange, metal half-mask he wears, but only to hide the grisly scarification of his visage—an act you are unsurprised to find nobody takes umbrage with, after seeing the damage wrought upon him. The one who spoke up—‘Sir Peter Gardien’—is the most in-keeping with what you would expect from a ‘lizardman’: large, brawny, green, and almost crocodilian in his natural pelage, though even he has larger eyes and a smoother face and more domed skull than the depictions of the reptilian raiders said to haunt the southeastern sea.

“Are we all satisfied?” you ask.

There are a chorus of not-especially-satisfied-sounding agreement.

“Good,” you say. “Though moving forward, I think it would be best if we kept interjections by anyone besides the delegations’ LEADERS to a minimum, wouldn’t you agree? If everyone decides to voice their offence and insult at every QUITE REASONABLE REQUEST, we’ll be here all day.”

You can hear that ‘Gardien’ character hissing angrily, but he abruptly stops, and sinks into shamed silence as the Dragon King—voice eerily unchanged, even as his form is so wickedly warped—agrees.

“Wisse wordsss, Magusss. You have my ssubordinate’sss apology. Isss it not sso, Pit Guard?”

“Pit Guard?” one of the Rnegr blurts out, before he catches himself.

“Yesss,” the ‘Pit Guard’, or ‘Peter Gardien’, agrees under his master’s coercion. “Am… Ssorry, to mammalsss. Will conssider 'feelingsss' in future, and not sspeak unlesss commanded.”

You shoot a pointed look at King Theral—Or is it ‘Theral Maelthra Valuk’, more properly, you wonder?—and he simply shrugs. His expression is even harder to interpret than ever, but if you had to hazard a guess, you would take it to mean: ‘this is the best apology you’re going to get.’ You sigh, and turn o Queen Ekaterine.

“Your Majesty?”

>>6081713
Queen Ekaterine stands swiftly and smiles brightly, eager to dispel the tension and get things back on track—bless her heart.

“Thank you all for coming here,” she says. “I know that your peoples have a, ah, a FRAUGHT history, to say the least. My own people are no strangers to the predations of the OLD Dragon Kings, for that matter. My family made their name protecting the good people of these lands from them, and most recently, the faction of my husband’s people known as the ‘Serpent Priesthood’ have inflicted a plague upon our city and a burning blight upon the countryside—though not ALL Serpent Priests stand with them, as Mister, ah, ‘The Translator’, in the robs, can attest! The past need not define the future—that is the gift of freedom, of free will, given to us buy the Chaotic Good Gods! Moroth and Marese, too, teach that individual morality and merit should be the standard by which a Man—or Reptilian, or Elf—is judged, not by the acts of his or her ancestors. Now that we have unmasked ourselves and set down our shields… Let us strive to see the best in one another, shall we?”

She sits down, to a chorus of noncommittal mumbles. Even her own Paladin guard and her elderly counsellor offer half-hearted and brief applause.

“Very well, let us address the here and now, then, rather than distant past or far future,” Commander Qinfir states, with a smile. “Though, with all due respect, the past which humans consider ‘distant’ is closer at hand for some of us than others, and it behooves our race to think further into the future than some others might, given our lifespans.”

He looks squarely at the King and Queen of Hawksong, and of Bloodrise, and asks:

“You signaled your willingness to accede to our conditions. Is this the case?”

Queen Ekaterine, to her credit, looks to you and to Izirina before she answers. You nudge Izzy, snapping her out of her furious fixation upon her estranged, inhuman cousin, and she stands, saying:

“I renounce any claim to the House of Yosef.”

“Yesss, and I asss well, for what it isss worth,” the Dragon King agrees. “Let is die, and be no more. It iss asss it should be.”

You see Nenaias begin to rise, but Qinfir glances his way, and Priestess Clanirae guides him back to his seat. You’d expected him to be happier at that declaration than he looks, given it was HIS prediction that the revival of that house would doom the world… But then, given his account of how it ended—of how his friend, the last Lord of that ancient house was brought low by this same ‘antipaladin’—you suppose you can understand his mixed feelings.

>>6081714
“And the other conditions?” The Ranger Commander presses. “I can’t imagine, with your… Husband… Sitting here, playing his role as ‘Prince Consort’, that you mean to separate yourself from him, or from the influences he surrounds himself with? In the past you’re so eager to move on from, our people were united, friends and family under the Gods of Light, united in common cause against the Gods of Darkness. If we’re to speak solely on the present…”

Qinfir leans forward.

“…Can we really afford to ignore the growing power of the Forces of Darkness? That your only heir is fathered by—and is to be raised and mentored by—a being who calls himself an enemy of Paladins, and a champion of the Dark Gods? That proudly proclaims himself the heir the Dragon Kings your forefathers fought against?”

It is, as much a you hate to admit it, a very fair question. The Dark Gods are no friends of yours, either, and it’s their influence that seems largely to blame for a great many miseries which have beset Izirina, Costella, and yourself, not to mention Hawksong as a whole, the countryside surrounding it, and the elven race past and present. The Nothic’s noxious gaze and smug certainty that you and your descendants would follow some unseen path into his evil creator’s clutches is exactly why you bid Izzy to abandon her lessons. How much moral cover are you really willing to provide the Dragon King and his fellow faithful of that awful religion?

But then again, it’s not as if you can just expect them to abandon their religious convictions, which they plainly hold close to their hearts. Hells Below, even the Little Folk and Drow in attendance seem to take umbrage with the way Qinfir is speaking of Theral’s pantheon—it seems he’s even converted the non-Reptilians, to some degree!

Do you have any sort of proposal to bridge this divide, or assuage fears?
>Write-in if so [low DC sociability roll; failure will be a demerit]
>Let it pass [instant demerit]
If three diplomatic demerits are acquired before the quest ends, there will be grave consequences.

>>6081715
[Oh, and I should note...]
You can also take advantage of this opportunity to throw Theral and/or Ekaterine under the proverbial carriage to improve your own standing in advance of your upcoming elven trial

>>6081715
shit, he got us. how do we make it at least seem less bad than it is ?

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>“If three diplomatic demerits are acquired before the quest ends, there will be grave consequences.”
Bro think hes him

>>6081715
Dang, this is a tough one, and I'm not sure how to argue against it even with meta knowledge.

Maybe give Theral a chance to speak up for himself here? Hopefully he doesn't go with "Yes the allegations are true I'm just waiting for my chance to kill you all."

>>6081715
>Write-in: It was during my studies on the moon. I over heard conversation amongst the Eldrin. That the dark gods, the wild gods and the bonum legate have already signed and regularly negotiate on a treaty of non-aggression. In order in avoid mutual annihilation or the destruction of life on this planet. Since we mortal creatures all equally depend on the stability of life on this realm. moreso than the gods do. It is wise that we should avoid any religious wars of annihilation and accept that the dark gods are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

If the gods of light can make a truce with the pantheon of darkness itself. It would make no sense for us mortals to be obligated to declare war on the servants of darkness.

>>6081764
+1

I feel like we do need a proposal to assuage fears here, though.