[hider=Lycaon and Claus' Meeting]

There was as of yet no sign of Nizaar. Despite everything Lycaon had been told, there was no sign of the old King’s body. They had searched the dungeon, and what they had found surprised them. His soldiers went to the place that Fenick had placed Nizaar, and found it full of  blood, but it was unlikely to be Nizaar’s own, since besides Nizaar’s empty cell were several of the corpses of Fenick’s soldiers. However, all that had been overshadowed in the midst of the assassination attempt by Rendon. Rendon was one of Alasdair’s lackies who had been sent to spy, disrupt, and assassinate him. It showed Lycaon just how foolish he had become. He had thought it was possible to reason with Alasdair, that he might be able to coexist with him. But he had been reminded that a Snake is always a Snake. The reason Lycaon could never support Alasdair as Emperor was because Alasdair, naturally treacherous and apt to assassination and intrigue, was not fit to rule Formaroth. He could no longer trust any of Alasdair’s advisors. He would cancel his agreements with Alasdair’s mage, Lady Dionisa. The Church never gained anything from anyways, and as both a loyal Circle mage and close advisor to the so-called Emperor she could not be trusted. Just then, as Lycaon was thinking what his next step would be, a scout entered the throne room.

“Grandmaster, there are men approaching the castle,” the scout said. “They bear the flag of the Emperor!”

“Then we shall have to welcome them,” Lycaon said. “Prepare a delegation to meet them, and have the gate opened for them. I will go to meet them myself.”

[u][i]To the south.[/i][/u]

After their field battle with the heretic forces and technically the forces of lady Grim, even though not a single blow had been exchanged between them, the imperial army had made great headway through the barren lands of Uzgob. The Steel Fist and some of the other groupings were prepared and didn't suffer much from the march, but as always the militia were ill equipped and prepared and many didn't even have field flasks.

Claus pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to ignore the pleadings from the Telmarian lieutenants.
He had arranged as much water as he could spare from the other forces, but being a practical man, he simply wouldn't direct resources from important skilled elements to keep an ill equipped section going.
He was very much of the school that with the right men in the right place, numbers don't matter, the force cannot be beat. While it was never as simple as that in practise he held to the ideal of the idea.

After days his scouts were reporting them as closing in on the capitol, the church forces had done a number on the heretics and all over were proof of that.

Biggest proof of all was that he could march upon the capitol unopposed.

He began to march his army into the city, the open gates and the eerie near silence of the place got to the militia, whom became paranoid and jittery, compared to the Steel Fist as the polar opposite were a finely tuned force of destruction with their synchronised footfalls.
In truth Claus was a bit spooked as well. This big of a city usually isn't this silent, even after a hostile takeover, he began to wonder what the church actually did here, but dismissed the thought.
As Claus was entering the city, Lycaon was there to meet him. Dismounting from his horse, and accompanied by a handful of his knights, Lycaon approached Claus and his soldiers. 

“Greetings, emissary of our Emperor,” Lycaon said. “I do not believe we have had the opportunity to meet before, but I welcome you to the city of Andromeda. As you can see, we have retaken the jewel of the desert from the heretics, but that is where our blessings end. I hope you bring good news from out west.”

Quickly eyeing him, Claus tried to get a bearing on Lycaeon, but he seemed to be the very icon of the church the rumours had him to be, tall, handsome and stern.

Claus being slightly cautious of religious types wouldn’t let his looks deceive him though.
-”Greetings to you grandmaster, heard a lot about you. Seen some of your handiwork on the way up as well.” He extended his hand for a handshake.

-“Names Claus... Lord Claus Rotstein, advisor of war.”

Lycaon took Claus’s offer, and shook his hand. “Lord Claus Rotstein, it is an honor to finally meet you. We fought together at Telmarion, though I did not have the chance to meet with you in person. You do me too much honor. Though I was present, it was the armies that our Emperor sent that took the city, not my small force. It is good that you are here. I am afraid that Lord Rendon shall not be joining us. The inquisitor that the Emperor sent has betrayed us, and tried to assassinate me, and in the confusion he died. Rendon’s Knights of Nidanke have been put into custody. Unfortunately, that was not all the ill luck that occured. The rightful king of Uzgob, Nizaar has disappeared, and the cell he was being held in was empty. Yet at least the heretic behind all of this is safely behind bars, and I can assure you he will not be going anywhere until he faces justice, which gods’ willing, will be soon.”
Claus had trouble processing all of that information, first the in his eyes humbling of himself on the part of taking over Uzgob, then the news of the betrayal and deaths. He was silent for a few seconds.

-”That’s certainly a lot to take in. It’s very worrying to hear of treason and assassination, it’s good that you escaped unharmed.” Claus was earnest and it was easy to see.

-”It seems my arrival was well needed, even if my forces don’t seem overly important rest assured that an ally has arrived.” He smirked happily until he realized he’d never sounded so corny in his life, that was a lie, he’d been way more corny before.

“Then it shall be good to have you by our side,” Lycaon said. “It is to my hope that this fighting is over. Since the Battle of Telmarion my Order has been beaten and weathered, and I have lost many of my best men. Lady Grim herself took out nearly a sixth of my entire Order. I am glad to have your aid, and the aid of the Emperor. I can show your men to the palace. I’m sure it will make better quarters than the desert.”

-”I’m sure it will.” Claus was visibly relieved about realizing he didn’t have to camp in the desert any more, at least until he moved out again.

But there was much to discuss and he knew that a session of serious strategizing was needed to get a good feel for the situation and their next objective.

-”Please show the way.”

Lycaon began to escort Claus and his soldiers from the entrance of the city to it’s center, where the palace was. A pair of knights guarded the doors of the palace of Andromeda, and they opened up the wide doors to the palace when Lycaon approached. Lycaon and his knights, with Claus and his soldiers following behind him, entered into the palace. Though it did not compare to the palaces and castles in the west, the palace was indeed spacious. 

“There is plenty of room in the palace here. Your officers and your most worthy soldiers will have plenty of room to stay here comfortably. Other places shall be prepared so that the rest of your soldiers shall be able to rest comfortably, and be free from the desert,” Lycaon said. “Tell me, what news do you bring from our Emperor? The rebellion is dead. The emperor’s soldiers keep the peace for now, but they cannot stay forever. We shall have to set up a new regime, so I am anxious to know what orders I can receive."

-”I am sad to say, there might be a problem. I was instructed to reinstate the rightful ruler Nizaar. Seeing that Nizaar is missing we’ll indeed need to find a new leader.” Claus stroked his chin in thought and turned to his staff.

-“Katriana, i’ll need the papers on the mission detail, but i doubt there’s much more in there.” She turned her gaze away from Lycaeon as Claus spoke and responded with a sharp nod before looking again at Lycaeon.

She was studying his handsome features and angelic features, he appeared more like a deity than man. She got stuck looking for a few more seconds before getting the papers Claus needed which didn’t take long.

-”Yes, this is the papers… sirs.” Katriana spoke as all eyes were on her. For some reason Lycaeon made her nervous.
-”Excellent, looking through it. The emperor of formaroth… Yadda yadda... the task i give to you… yadda yadda… to reinstate the ruler Nizaar in Andromeda… much love and kisses, the emperor.” With a massive smirk he handed the document to Lycaeon.

-”Some parts might not be like that. Read it yourself, the task i have been given is to reinstate Nizaar to the throne of Uzgob and vanquish the rebels. So i guess we’ll have to try and find the sod.”

“I hope that it will not be long before we find him,” Lycaon said. He noticed that Katriana could not take her eyes off of him, and her stares were clearly not through infatuation. Claus was clearly less fearful. “Nizaar has been chosen by the Emperor to rule, and so he is the only choice. But we have no idea how long it will take to find him. My men have so far been unable to find him, and we have no idea how long it will take before he is discovered. In the meantime, someone else shall have to serve as a provisional leader, but I see no obvious solutions as to who that would be. The easiest way, I suppose, would be to summon the nobles to Andromeda. Have a council of nobles rule over Uzgob while Nizaar is missing. The one who stands out the most could be provisional leader, if we still cannot find Nizaar by then.”
Claus nodded as Lycaeon spoke, the man knew his stuff.

-”Agreed, since none of us have any real authority nor time to lead here, getting hold of a temporary ruler is probably the best option until we can find Nizaar and see Uzgob free of any rebels or dissidents.”
[/hider]