[b]Amazonia, Naream questions and arrogance...[/b]

Naream pondered for a moment, he knew enough that he seriously did not want to get close and personal with this drake, finally a thought occurred to him and he voiced it out loud. "I have a question, several even perhaps. The scales of a regular drake are tough, yes, but do drakes often fight each other? Perhaps over territory or mates? If so, can their own claws pierce their scales? Or are there simply weaknesses that your own people know off we can focus on when we face the beast." He gestured to her armour, either fashioned from a beast they had slain or collected from a dead carcass perhaps.

Princess Ethlinn blinks, somewhat confused with some of his questions. "Of course, they're like everything else in the Amazon." She looks him over, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. "I already told you the throat is a weakness when they attempt to attack with their acidic spit. I also told you they are slow to turn but fast in a charge. And, yes, their claws will pierce their hides, why?" Her staff glowed a little as she waited for his response.

He ignored her irritation, she looked somewhat attractive, for a surfacer, when angry. "Do you happen to have any claws in your possession? I think I, or perhaps with some assistance." He glanced at Esyllt Boudica for emphasis before he continued. "Create a construct, or several, that might be of great assistance in subduing or slaying the beast. What better way to arm them then what is sure to pierce it's tough scale hide."

"No." The amazon replies, shaking her head regretfully. "We only keep what we need. Their claws unfortunately do not mold well into weapons nor last long when separated from their corpses." Remarkable, the fact that they wanted to create a monstrosity didn't seem to bother her visible.

"A pity, I had hoped that perhaps some trophies remained, ah well, perhaps the idea still has merit, I have also a idea of a snake creature perhaps that can choke our drake friend and impede it's movements by wrapping itself around our prey."

With a sigh, Ethlinn rests her hand on Naream's shoulder and motions around the interior of the tree they were standing in. "We do not have giant snake corpses, or wolf corpses, or any corpses simply lying around. We cannibalize and use everything we possible can, we have to. I'm not sure if we have the kind of resources you are looking for."

He smirked, taking the hand slowly from his shoulder, giving it a light caress, before letting it go, he didn't mind being touched by a beautiful woman, but on his own terms. "I have access to a great wealth of corpses and other discarded materials." He idly traced over his amulet and then shrugged, "And thanks to the lessons of a fellow queensblade, a golem creature can be constructed as well, merely the imagination and our skill limits the resources we can use, metal, wood, plantlife, stone, all can be used."

The princess again appeared somewhat confused, uncertain as to how to respond she steps away from him and towards Queen Alexandria. "That is good, then."

"Well that can be discussed later, as for the potential demon infiltrator... I think I can help with that...." He glanced at his glove and sleeve covered arm, or more importantly what he had hiding beneath the cloth. "All it needs is me touching each candidate... your true Amazons... will be weakened... the demon... will be easily noticed."

"Do these demons not specialize in disguising themselves?" The princess retorts, now obviously uncomfortable with the idea of weakening any of her people. "The demon could simply feign the same response it witnesses from the others."

Naream smirks, "Not if we separate each candidate beforehand, and only have the queens blades and loyal warriors be present during the testing. Or would you tell me it is impossible to have each suspect come one at a time in a secluded area or room and after testing prevent them from contact with the other suspects? Of course keeping them under watch still till the succubus is found." He then shrugged, "That or if I am given preparation, we can create a ritual circle where each suspect stands in and I let my power flow into it and test all suspects at the same time."

 Ethlinn's look turns icy as her teeth clench in anger... And frustration. Not necessarily even directed at him. "My people are not subjects to be pushed, tested, and weakened on a suspicion. Not by a man who speaks of creating monsters." Biting her lip she stops herself from saying anything more, then looks with a little desperation to Queen Alexandria. "Even mentioning we might do a 'test' like this would cause half of those suspected to demand fair trial by combat. The other half's family would be enraged enough to do it for them."

Naream raised his brows, "You yourself believes a succubus is among your people, yet you do not want it to be found? Or do you have any other way of quickly discovering the demon among the suspects?" He looks at queen Alex, waiting to see where apparently she will take this discussion since the Amazonian princess had decided to have her enter the conversation.

Alex grunts and shakes her head, "How about no, Naream. As much as I hate dealing with succubi... I've learned of something I dread far worse in my time dealing with the nobles." Her face pales just a fraction as she shudders, "Cultural sleights, ugh. No... I think this idea of duels is a good idea, unless we can come up with a better plan, though none come to mind that does not pose a far greater risk when dealing with their kind."

"Inefficient but I will bow down and submit to one of the queens I serve I suppose." He bowed stiffly.

Bowing her head respectfully and in thanks, the princess turns and faces Naream once more. "I am happy to have your assistance, but I cannot ask my people to do that which goes against their wishes. We survive on trust, honour, tradition. Without these things we are quickly reduced to nothing."

"Is that so? Have these suspects been informed there is a succubus among them?" Naream asked lightly. "No matter, if you want to be truthful about it all, just tell them there is a traitor among them and we have a way of finding out who are true of heart and who is the falsehood if all other methods fail, a burst of negative energy will make us spot who is human and who is not." He bowed again, this time to the Amazonian princess. "My humble contribution to ferreting out the traitor among your midst."

 "No." The princess states plainly. It seemed she was done discussing that question.

Alex tenses and looks to Naream, "Enough is enough, Naream. May I remind you, that it is with luck that your practice is even permitted. If I recall, there are some who contest against your arts being allowed at all," she adds a warning growl under her breath. "They have enough to worry about without exposing them to your tests, Naream, as helpful as you intend them to be."

He narrowed his eyes but remained silent, curtly nodding his head in acknowledgement to queen Alex's statement. He wondered how they would think of his 'practices' when the demons became more of a threat. But for now, let them have their precious honour and culture be interfering with efficiency and getting the job done, all he did anyway was being a virtual slave to the queens till he got what was rightfully his regardless.

 "Finally." The princess says with a sigh of relief, smiling softly as she looked at Alex with a thankful look in her eyes. "Do you have any other questions?"

He shook his head and merely gestured to the other queens blades if they had any other questions. Mentally he was already preparing and going over negative energy spells and rituals in the, in his mind, likely case of the failed testing of these duels they were considering. She said herself a succubus was a perfect infiltrator, so how would a duel reveal it? It boggled his mind.

Alex nods, "If any of mine are affected by the corruption of the succubi in this attempt to weed them out, that we do all we can to keep them from being made victim by the effects. As well, I have my wonders of how your amazons feel about duels of fighting constructs. There are some in my company whose strengths lie not within but in the things they create.

 "Our shamans can fight with their spirits, we could allow golems and skeletons to take the place of their summoners." She mulls it over for a few moments before looking at the elderly woman still in the room. With a single motion, Narina clears her throat, and speaks with a tone that made her sound at least twice as old as she was. [b]"Our core belief is in passion, in all things. Even in duels this is present. If a person excels by using magic, or has an ally substitute for them, this is perfectly acceptable. Our duels are rarely lethal, these duels would be no exception to that. No killing blows, no real weapons, replicas will be used in the place of real weapons. Magic, too, must not leave any kind of serious damage. The point of a duel is to show the passion the combatant has for their chosen art and in how much they believe in themselves and respect their opponent, not in how good they are with any particular weapon."

Naream merely smirked upon hearing that, why fight himself when he can raise the dead to fight for him, or now thanks to his new school of magic create golems that will serve in the same regard. He did respect actual warriors of course, to disrespect them or disregard them was to invite a pointy, sharp object to be stabbed between your ribs. Still that only proved they were mortal, his undead creations do not tire, do not rest, they keep fighting until they are physically destroyed. And that was why his creations were superior to mortal warriors. But he wisely kept that to himself.

Time would tell...