[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FjVCFoQ.png[/img][/center]
[center][color=cyan][h2]Etoile[/h2]
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"[color=cyan]Bah, if only you were all trained soldiers. I suppose I have to lay it out for you.[/color]" She began pacing, hands held behind her back as she spoke. Her voice, while of course slightly vexed as usual, was calm, collected. She was in her element here, and almost wanted someone to interrupt so she could put them in their place.

"[color=cyan]Our main advantage in this situation, such as it is, is that we know this mysterious magi's motivations. Twisting birds and krovar like that and using them to attack a land barge is a fairly clear-cut message: "I don't care about morality." And once we determine that morality is out the window, the motive presents itself.[/color]" She stopped pacing and paused (perhaps for dramatic effect, though she would never admit it). "[color=cyan]Power. Whatever this magi wants--vengeance somehow, sacrifices, solitude--all of it circles back around to them wanting to acquire [i]power[/i]. Power over other life forms, power to attack the Imperium, power to kill a lot more people than are on a single land barge. And the great thing about knowing someone is motivated by power and only power is that they start to add predictably: acquire. More. Power. And so, my suggestion is simple: we give them what they want.[/color]"

She pointed her sheathed sabre at Pythia's sword. "[color=cyan]Whatever enchantments are on that thing, there are a [i]lot[/i] of them. It's by far the most powerful thing that we have on us, and lest we forget,[/color]" she motioned off in the vague direction of the barge, "[color=cyan]we're running out of time. So, in plain terms: we put your sword down in the forest. We let the insane magi or a servant thereof take the sword. Then, depending on whether the magi or a servant, we either do a basic ambush or tail them until they lead us straight to their master.[/color]" As she continued speaking, her voice began to grow louder, a touch less under control. As much as she wanted to project the air of being the calm strategist, this magi had made it personal once she'd ripped Etoile's thigh up. There was a grudge there now, and she relished the thought of popping an insane magi's head straight off.

"[color=cyan]And then, once we have them where we want them, we go in for the kill, break the nexus of the circle, end the enchantment, and the Eoldysseus starts to move again. No matter how powerful they are, an ambush will catch them off guard, and there are enough of us that it would very difficult to mount an immediate counterattack as long as we're all operating under a relatively similar time frame. Simple.[/color]" She thrust the sheathed sword down to the ground point-first with a sharp clacking sound, first directing an armor-piercing look at Pythia, then panning her head around to take in all of the different magi that she'd found herself working with. "[color=cyan]Any questions?[/color]"