[center][h2][color=lime]The Emerald Empire[/color] & [color=40e0d0]Olira[/color]  [/h2]
3 days after the battle of Fort Cher 
[/center]

The vessels sent to the island nation of Olira had arrived the day prior in the capital city of Rilk. from there varios ambassadors were sent out to contact minor kings the empire had favorable trade dealings with to attempt to gain their support. During this time the Dreaming forest discussed and adjusted plans to take into account the fact that their ship’s return to the warfront would be face unexpected opposition. This debate, while mainly about whether a mass troop convoy that risked a battle was a good idea, or wether they should unload troops in safer ports and to then march them south.

 Safety vs speed where the main initial sides of the argument, but some saw the armada plan as a golden opportunity to draw the deep dewlers into a trap, a decisive battle that would end, or at least temporarily halt, their raiding. This line of though eventually prevailed, because if there was anything worse than the pyromaniac Matathrans getting access to the ocean, and as an extension the Evergreen Isles, it was the Morj getting their hands on Matathans fire oil. If they could be crushed in a failed convoy interception, or cowed by the might of said convoy, then they could perhaps drive them out of the war before the Matathrans reached the coast and provided their allies with their alchemical terror weapon.

This was the plan discussed with the kings in their castles and the one that would be brought to the Black Band. Once the convy plan had gained steam a reasonable sized expedition was formed to bring the wealth of the empire to Svawad Castle. This expedition made its way out of the capital, traveling west through the storm devastated landscape as swiftly as the ents bearing the expedition could run. 

As the envoy drew closer to Svawad, the expedition came upon a group of men, bearing shields, armor, weapons, and a long, black banner, blocking the road. They stared straight ahead, lacking any sort of intimidation or threat, while at the same time clearly not intent on moving. In front of them stood the only person who seemed to have expressiveness; a grogar bearing no shield or helmet, but still with a full suit of armor and a blade. When the caravan drew closer, he shouted, "HALT!"

Not wanting to trample the band the expedition gradually slowed to a halt, becoming stationary two meter from their lines. While the expedition did contain a dryad bearing a potted shoot of Yaval similar to the one that had been present at the meeting with the Lynn-Naraksh a day prior, it was not this individual who responded to the man in charge of the blockade, but instead it was a Dryad woman sitting on the shoulders of the front most ent. She wore the standard Ironbark mail that most Dryads wore, but was marked out from the others by her leafy autumnal hair, a golden choker wrapped around her neck and the highly detailed nature of her face. The Dryad, known as Arianna the golden, shouted back down from her three meter high perch at the grogar.

“For what purpose do you stop us?” 

"You approach the castle of Svawad, home of the Black Band," he shouted back. Despite the immensity of some of these foreign creatures, the members of the black band seemed unfazed by their encroachment. "If you seek to attack us in our comrades' vulnerability, know that it is an excercize in futility."

“You have misjudge our intent. We do not aim to attack the black band, but rather to hire them.”

The Dryad points back at a large bestial ent that is shaped roughly like an ant. Its back was covered by a tarp, a tarp that is lifted briefly by one of its passengers to reveal several large, tightly locked, chests that were clearly implied to contain valuables of some kind.

“We mean you or your comrades no harm, nor did we know of this... vulnerability?”

For a while, the grogar simply stared back at the tree people with scrutiny, until he eventually said, "Hurricane. Wrecked the village, much of the Band is outside the castle walls helping with repairs." He then looked over the locked chests. "Alright, we shall escort you to the General." The grogar then turned and nodded to the men to march on, as the members of the Black Band surrounded the envoys on all sides.

The Treekin accepted this escort without comment, though within the dreaming there was a little conflict of emotions between those who felt threatened being surrounded by so many dreamless and those who were dead shure they were more than capable of taking on the escorts in a fight. Arianna mainly focused on the upcoming negotiations, ignoring the internal conflict as best she could.

When the caravan had pushed past the forest, they came upon the sight of Svawad village, with the castle hanging watchfully on a hill above it. While the wreckage of the storm was still eminant, many buildings were now standing, and the air of commerce now breathed throughout the townsfolk, while many members of the Black Band worked side by side with the villagers. Many of them stopped their work, the simple folk watching the Treekin with eyes wide and mouths open.

Most of the delegation where traders and travelers in their off season and such gazes where a constant presence wherever the winds took them. In major cities this had died down as the continent trotting Treekin became a more familiar presence to the populace, but out here far from any major port it was unsurprising that their presence drew attention. The Treekin bore the weight of the peoples gazes with an indifference that came from having been subjected to such looks many, many times over their long lives.

As they marched closer to the castle, a man riding atop a Karkadann approached the group, and, after being informed by the grogar of the purpose of their presence, rode quickly up to the castle. When the group had made their way up the hillside, the iron gates of Svawad Castle creaked as they opened. Inside were assembled dozens of Black Band warriors standing at attention, forming a pathway which led to Gultar the Stick, who was dressed in a black robe, and bore his titular staff. At his side was Sula, his lieutenant. The escorts saluted as they approached, and broke off.

Before they entered the gateway Arianna absalded down from the shoulder of her ent companion using a vine trailing from the branches at his back. After that the two larger ents of the delegation had stooped in order to get through the gateway, they and the other treekin walked forwards between the assembled rows of warriors. It was, in Arianna’s opinion, an impressive display of order and discipline to have set this up so quickly. In contrast her own party seemed rather disorganized, yet they possessed a strange fluidity that allowed them to get everyone where they needed to be quickly and efficiently without need for words. Arianna and the ent who had transported her gilded their way at the front after the brief delay caused by the dismounting process, the pair matching the Mercenary general and his lieutenant. The ant ent and the Yaval cutting carrying Dryad positioning themselves just behind them while the rest positioned themselves as best they could to watch the surrounding warriors, forming a haphazard counter line behind the two groups’ representatives that lead back towards the gates.

“Greetings Gultar the Stick, I am Arianna the Golden and this” she briefly indicated to the vast bulk of her ent comrade ”is my second in command Vargrar the Poet. Thank you for seeing us on such short notice”  

The general grunted in response, and looked at the display in front of him. "Seems like we've all got a title." He paused for a while longer, looking carefully at the arboreal nature of Arianna's face, having to squint his aging eyes, and looking into her eyes as well. "What are they saying?"

“That is literally the case for our kind.” Arianna informed the general before cocking an eyebrow, unclear as to who he was referring to “ and who might they be?” 

"The Dreaming," Gultar nodded. "What are they saying?"

Arianna blinked a few times in surprise at the question. It was not unheard of for the dreamless to take interest in the Dreaming forest’s shared mental connection, but that was most often an academic or militarily framed question. The nature and manner of Gultar’s question struck her as rather uncomfortably invasive, even as she could recognise the hypocrisy of thinking it so. 

“Ah. hmmm. Summing up the thoughts and feelings of all of us present into meer words is… difficult. I suppose we are all now wondering why you ask?”

This was, of course, a gross simplification of the mess of debate an emotion swirling around behind her, but a summary was the best she could give. It was like being asked what a hall full of people engaged in lively discussion where talking about. Attempt to explain it all in detail and you would be left behind as the conversation raced on without you, all you could do was dip into the noise, sample it briefly and then come back out to summarise what you had heard in the moment.

He grunted again, before shouting out an order in Olirian. Suddenly, every single soldier of the Band dropped to the floor and began doing push ups in unison, the full weight of the armor attempting to pull them down in vein. He watched their form for safe measure, before looking back to Arianna.

"They could be faster." He gestured for her to follow as he moved into the Great Hall of the Castle, the guards opening the doors before them. The hall was usually host to the meals of the Band, but now, Gultar simply took a seat at one of the tables. As Sula entered behind him, she shouted for the soldiers to stop and relax.

Arianna and Yaval’s mouthpiece and a third Dryad carrying a saddle back full of papers  followed after Gultar while Vargrar remained outside both to remain in charge of the rest of the delegation and as to not damage the ceilings of the meal hall. The Treekin where all a little frustrated with the generals questions and showboating, which Arianna supposed might be the point. The three dryads took up seats opposite the general, Arianna in the center, her kin on either side of her.

"I heard about the Dreaming Forest a while ago, before I founded the Band. I wondered if with so many others' thoughts in your mind, could the lines of your own personhood become blurred? But I realized that the pressures of society are already others' own thoughts, and to what extent you lose [i]yourself[/i] is a choice." He sighed as he sat back, looked between the three dryads. "Would you like food? I am not entirely sure what your kind eats."

“That is an interesting way of thinking about it” while Arianna was not much of a philosopher the Trees most certainly where, and once the generals musings reached the evergreen isles via Yaval her progenitors slowly began to mull over this little insight into the world of the Dreamless. “As for food, we eat much the same as you do.” 

"Ah." The general motioned to an attendant, who went off towards the kitchen, while Sula scrutinized the foreigners with her one eye, the other socket covered by an eyepatch. "So," Gultar began. "How goes the war?"

“Word of it travels quickly I see. Worse than hoped obviously, otherwise we would not be here seeking to employ you. Matatharan has breached our border guard and is preparing to make what is expected to make an incredibly slow march to the coast. A march we intend to make a living nightmare. They have also enlisted the help of the deep sea dwelling Morj, which is both a frustration and a here to ungraspable opportunity.”

Gultar nodded, contemplating what she just said. He inspected the stick in his hands, and then looked back up to Arianna. "I will not lead my men into a massacre."

“Nor do we intend to send you into one. We believe we have learned the breath of Matathran’s capabilities and any additional secrets should be uncovered before you arrive in our homeland. There will be no charges into unknown dangers. To throw your men into a meat grinder would be pointless, and expensive, waste. What we initially required from you is the training your men have so aptly demonstrated. For you to drill some of that discipline into our militia forces. We may have additional, more involved, work for you but that depends on what you see as the most useful application of your men.”

The General seemed to relax somewhat at the treekin's words. "There has never been an army I couldn't train. I'd be glad to inspect your men. But as for making use of mine..."

"We have a debt to repay," the lieutenant chimed in. "There is a deal with the village of Svawad, they care for us, we care for them. I don't know if you heard, but a storm recently struck Olira, and it is our duty to help rebuild the village. As long as they are not properly taken care of, the Band has no place overseas." Gultar nodded in agreement.

"This is true. The Band has never taken on a full expeditionary invasion before, anyways. There is no way we could provide our own transportation, what with...Morj being in the water now."

“The damage it causes is hard to miss” Arianna commented, in relation to the storm “Do you know how long said repairs will take? We may able to offer assistance to expedite the process of reconstruction if it will allow completion of your duty in a timely manner.”  

“As for transport, our seafaring kin will be providing transport should you accept. They have the capability to repel the sea dwellers more effectively than a deadwood craft can.” before she began to lay out more details about the journey the saddlebag wearing Dryad retrieve a, large map of the Emerald empire and used it to help illustrate the route Arianna subsequently described.

“They will bring us to the southern Evergreen Isles, where we will join the full might of the Emerald navy. That armada will be transporting additional forces south to the war theater, skirting along the coast in. It on this leg of the journey we believe the Morj will engage us, rather than trying to find us on the open seas, or attacking the home islands directly. If the merfolk can be crushed in this engagement it will be a boon to all coastal nations. If however they prove too much of a threat then our traveling close to the shore will allow our craft can safely beach themselves and we will then make the rest of the journey on foot or beat the morj on solid ground with the assistance of local land forces. Considering the fact that they have never been so brazen as to enact a direct assault upon our forces before, we expect the former situation rather than the latter to occur, if they dare engage such a massing of our might at all.” 

Gultar brought his staff to his chin and began contemplating the situation at hand. "For the village, simply paying for the assistance of local laborers should be sufficient. I do not expect any more than this, nor should I.' He turned his attention to the map. "We shouldn't march any too great a distance; I can't see Matathran being all too slow in their conquest." He thought for a moment longer before continuing, "No, destroying the Morj is a necessity. But they'd be unlike anything we had fought before. Do you have a strategy in place to fight them?"

“Repair costs can be added to your payment then, we have an initial payment with us that should cover that. Matathran’s reliance on small cart bound warmachines leaves them both slower than a traditional army and more vulnerable to road sabotage, so we have slightly more time than you might imagine. Time is always at a premium in war of course, so the navel rout is still preferable. A victory at sea will also make it easier for smaller convoys to follow up the main one for supply purposes. As for methods of combating them, we have several plans, but the one that you could be involved in the most directly involves these.”

The carrier dryad retrieved a simple leather belt from their satuca, one that featured 6 amber charms at equidistant points around its length as well as a single sapphire scale at its buckle. It was placed on the table while Arianna explained its function.

“These are air belts, an innovation we developed with the assistance of our Koirari citizens” amphibious denizens of Gweldgale island “it forms an air tight seal around the wearer, letting them both breath and protecting their equipment from the rust normally caused by seawater. They have some issues, such as a limited air supply for those who can't charge the enchantment and you still sink, but near the shore this shouldn’t be as much of an issue. Also we don't have that many of them, they were mainly a curiosity till this situation arose and as a result larger scale production has only just begun. So it will have to be a crack force bolstered by a Koirari militia force who take to the waters while our ships and mages support them. Training these that militia would be your first job and joining them in the battle is a possibility.”

"Interesting, could work," Gultar stated, thinking for a moment longer. "But training this militia would take time. Do we have the time to spare?" That questioned seemed somewhat rhetorical, as he didn't care to stop and listen, while he picked up the air belt and examined it closely. "To throw humanoid soldiers into the water to fight the morj seems foolish. I will not allow my men to partake in this action. What other strategies have you considered?"

“Without forces beneath the waters the morj will have free reign to attack from where they please, but we can appreciate you not wanting to personally take the plunge.”   

The belt was retrieved and placed bag as Arianna continued.

“On the sub surface combatants end of things we have ents and ships that have adapted themselves to take the forms capable of operating beneath the waves, along with various beasts native to our shores we have bound to our will. Hydras will be brought from the north, sea drakes from the south and some of our number believe they might be able to weave a sirens call of sorts, drawing in native carnivorous like sharks, vileshrips, leech fish etc. into an impromptu flanking manoeuvre once the Morj engage.“

“For more mundane weapons we will be making use of harpoons, heavy arrows, vine bombs and weighted nets to bombard them as they approach and once they are among us. We have a height advantage, any who show themselves above the water's surface can be picked off with ease, while those below will have to contend with gravity assisted progeticles. Magically we have highly adept water and ice mages who will be providing arcane firepower. Water’s application is obvious, but ice has the potential to create a pincer maneuver of firepower, with ricing ice from below intersecting with mundane artillery from above.”

“Some of Olira’s lord’s, in appreciation of our mutual trade treaties, will be providing harpooners trained in combating the Morj to our cause. We have also had a tentative pledge of some indirect support from the Rayneid natives of the Bay of Lights. Presumably intel, as it was they who tipped us off to Morj presence in the first place.”

“We have also had discussion of polluting the water in some areas to reduce their visibility and to make breathing difficult. Some options are poisons or alge. But here I am getting into plans that are in the research phase”

At this point the dryad who had been sitting silently with the Yaval shoot spoke up “There are also other mechanisms for combating them in development, experiments to create new forms of life and warfare are ongoing. Which prototypes are successful remains to be seen. We have survived this long through rapid adaptation to new challenges. We observe. We adapt. We overcome.” 

Gultar nodded, somewhat impressed by the Empire's preparedness in combatting the Morj. "I underestimated your capabilities. I do hope you understand that I am by no means an expert in naval combat, but my men will assist where we can. The men of Khasibuil who shall be acting as harpoonists...they would be far more attuned to your...air belts." He thought for a while longer.

"Have you spoken to the Freishannese?"

“Some of our kin and progenitors enjoy war game thought experiments, which comes in handy for times like these. The dreaming then lets us rapidly coordinate ramping up production of specific materials necessary to implement their ideas. We would go down ourselves en masse, but our favored armaments are not suitable for aquatic warfare, too much drag. Also there's the issue of buoyancy...”

“As for the Freishannese, Tenzin the Discerning is in talks with them as we speak.”

“But they are not going well” Yaval once again interjected “the high king is not interested in sending troops our way and has initiated time consuming debate over minutia in our defence pack that won’t be sorted out till it is far too late, even if they come up in our favor” 

"Your head is under a crown that is far too heavy. I have many friends among the nobles of Freishann, allow me to reach out to them. The Band has conducted much business in that country to insufficient payment; payment which I do not expect to recieve. If I offer a forgiveness of debt owed to the Band," Sula's one eyebrow became knit in consternation, "then I can promise you a Freishannese army of no small fortitude."

His lieutenant spoke up. "General, this isn't a debt that can just go away..." The General seemed to ignore her, and looked back to Arianna.

"Could we see the portion of our payment currently at hand?"

Arianna smiled at that. While all Treekin where warriors grown, she was a merchant through and through, and at last they were down to business.

“That assistance would be appreciated. I am also sure you will not find us to be like your debtors.”

At that a small, two meter tall ent, entered the room escorted by 3 dryads. She was carrying the one of the hefty trunks born earlier by the ant shaped ent under one of her arms. The chests was deposited on the table in front of Arianna, the wood audibly creaking at the weight of it, who proceeded to first unlock it and then then turned its round to face the general for inspection. Inside where neat, tightly packed stacks of silver and gold coins from various nations. “I apologies for the international origin of our payment, we peddle our wares far and wide. This represent what a day of your time in our employ will be worth.” 

“We have seven of these with us as a retainer and you will begin to accrue payment once we set sail. Said payment will be received upon arrival first to the emerald isles and again once we arrive at Crinwaley, after which you will be paid daily til the war is over. You also get rights to battlefield plunder if you participate directly, and specific payment for that can be negotiated after you know the details. We can guarantee you a month’s payment, which you will receive regardless of when the war ends, after which we will renegotiate any subsequent employment based on performance.” 

“Once your service under our banner ends, whether it be at the end of the month or at the end of any subsequent period, you will be paid 30 more of these trunks and will then be provided transport back here as soon as we are able to do so.” 

Sula's eyes widened at the prospect before her. "I guess...some debts [i]could[/i] be forgiven..." she said. Gultar began to chuckle, as a few Black Band soldiers came forth with plates of food; roast duck, a keg of beer, dried dates, and various other food items.

"I will send a letter to the Countess Sliagie shortly. This payment seems...sufficient. I will need some time before the Band can mobilize. This is on very short notice, and we aren't currently readied for war. I'll need to put an order in to the weaponsmiths and armorers in Shasur, but they are quick, and relatively close by; we should be ready fairly quickly."

“Excellent. Then it’s a deal.”  Arianna slid the ring of keys for the payment chests over the table and then sat back in her seat. “And a well timed one at that” she mused in regards to the arrival of the food. “I imagine we can leave things like discussing logistics and getting our deal down in writing till after we enjoy your hospitality. We have time to spare for you to prepare your soldiers and arms, our other support will be needing the same after all.”

The General grunted, and said, "Right. About your militias. Give me an hour or so, I'll make a training regimine, have your commanders learn it through the-uh, dreaming, put it to use. Best start the training now." He smirked, and asked once again, "What are they saying now?"

“We’ll see it done. As for what they are saying… what we are feeling… thankfulness that this journey was bore fruit.“ 

After a breif pause she added

“Also hunger.”