[@BrightSteel] [@Fury Panda]

Nephish's grin remained unwavering, but internally, he was kind of relieved that someone had actually [i]asked[/i] what phase two was.

[color=00746b]"See, the elves are a monarchy, and a damn tightly controlled one at that. Their loyalty belongs..."[/color]

Nephish removed a vial of odd, blue sand from his satchel and smashed it on the ground. The sand swirled and spun before settling in a formation that appeared to be the likeness of an elven man, proud and noble.

[color=00746b]"Is this spoiled little rodent, Arathion Tassarion. The elves hold him in very high esteem."[/color]

A sudden breeze blew the impromptu portrait away, leaving nothing, not even broken glass, where it once lay.

[color=00746b]"My finest polymorphists will take advantage of the disarray caused by our attacks and infiltrate the local governance of the crown's holdings. From there, we can arrange a meeting between one of my embedded agents and this arrogant fop, and ambush him."[/color]

Nephish gestured grandly, arms flung out to both sides.

[color=00746b]"Here, we deliver an ultimatum: cut all ties with the crown of Adarla and tear their forces to shreds or your beloved prince gets the axe."[/color]

Nephish lowered his arms and showed three of his claws, a sinister smile once again crawling up the sides of his face.

[color=00746b]"This can lead to three possible outcomes:"[/color] Nephish said, gesturing to his index finger [color=00746b]"One, the elves cannot come to a consensus and their disagreement escalates to a civil war, tearing both them and their allies to shreds."[/color]

Nephish gestured to his middle finger. [color=00746b]"Two: the elves turn on the crown and our combined forces crush them utterly."[/color]

Finally, Nephish gestured to his ring finger, his tone positively giddy. [color=00746b]"Or, three: The elves refuse to comply and we off the brat, leaving them confused, leaderless and cut off in a foreign land, and the crown without its trump card."[/color]