[color=72C515]["Hey there, Miss Goddess, it's been a few years. Do you remember me? Chatak of the Claybitah Tribe? I've come to negotiate the release of the captured townsfolk, if you'd be so kind as to listen."][/color]

A group of goblin knights escorted a human guard kicking and screaming out of the tower as Chatak walked in. “SCREW YOU BITCH!” he spat. “I’LL NEVER JOIN YOU! NEVER!”

The Witch looked on as they dragged the man out. When his screams faded to a tolerable volume, she turned to Chatak and motioned for him to follow. She led him back to the coffin room, which had been retrofitted as a makeshift office. Most of the coffins had been turned into temporary filing cabinets, while two coffins had a stone slab laid over them to form a table. The Witch tapped a panel to close the door behind them.

She gestured for him to take a chair at the table, and sat herself cross-legged atop the table next to him.. [color=violet][“Chatak of Claybitah, you said your name was?”][/color] she began. [color=violet][“Chatak...that name sounds familiar. Is Chitak any relation?”][/color]

[color=72C515][“My brother. If I’m not mistaken, you’re the one he took me to to heal me as a baby, right? Made me a ‘new person.’”][/color] Chatak said as he sat down.

She cocked her head and stared at him.

The Witch silently chalked up a small magic circle on the table, offered a drop of blood, and touched her hand to his forehead. She let out a small gasp.

[color=violet]["You're that child from before! Who...are you? Before, I mean."][/color]

[color=72C515][“Just some dumb Japanese kid, same as everyone else who ends up reincarnating in fantasy land.”][/color] He said casually as he leaned back in his chair, before his eyes narrowed in a piercing gaze, accompanied by a fox-like smirk. [color=72C515][“Or were your circumstances a little different perhaps, Otherworlder?”][/color]

She chuckled and waved her hand. [color=violet][“Oh, not so terribly different. Back on Earth, I was a computer programmer making robotic machines for manufacturing companies. God, it’s been so long since I last touched a line of code! I can barely even remember the names of the programming languages anymore. I think one of them was called C? And that other one, the stricter one, what was it called...Pascal? No- Ada I think it was. I liked that one. I remember because I argued constantly for its use in the company projects. When people’s lives and millions of dollars are at stake, you want something that won’t break just because you forgot a semicolon.”][/color]

The Witch chuckled and let out a longing sigh. [color=violet][“Oh, I would give much to return to those days. Not everything, but much. What about you, Chatak? What did you do in the old world?”][/color]

Well [i]that[/i] was interesting, Chatak thought to himself. He’d heard The Witch had been around for over five hundred years, and yet here she was, saying she was from a time that had [i]computer code.[/i] This could be important… However, he’d keep it to himself for now.

[color=72C515][“Not much, I was either a cook, a shut in, or a criminal in the making, depending on who you asked. My family owned a small diner attached to our house, so I worked in the back as the chef. Had to tell everyone it was my sister though, because I had a bad face, which in turn led to me getting a bad reputation.”][/color]

He shrugged.

[color=72C515][“Eventually, it ended up that my only option when I wasn’t doing that was to stay hidden away in my room to avoid getting caught in any more fights. Useless til the end I guess.”][/color]

[color=violet][“Oh, surely that's not true. You just had...I believe the term for that now is [i]resting orc face[/i],”][/color] the Witch remarked with a hint of mirth in her voice. [color=violet][“I vaguely remember having a colleague like that. Are they angry with you? Are they fine and just can’t show it? Are they still deciding? It can be difficult to tell sometimes. So I can certainly understand why that would make your life difficult. I’m sorry to hear it. If it’s any comfort, your new face isn’t so bad.”][/color]

She patted him on the shoulder as she got up to pace the room. [color=violet][“But we digress. You wanted to negotiate the release of the captives, yes? I am amenable to the idea. I was holding them in order to recruit any strong people among them willing to join our cause, but as you have just witnessed, such efforts have been going poorly. Nonetheless, I still feel it would be worth the effort to try, and as such, I am not inclined to let them go for free. What can you offer me in exchange for their release?”][/color]

[color=72C515][“Well, I’m afraid we don’t have much at the moment.”][/color] Chatak sighed. [color=72C515][“Our village is still quite small, infrastructure is a work in progress. But what I [i]can[/i] offer you is a bit of perspective. Tell me, what was all this actually for?”][/color]

[color=violet][“To save the world,”][/color] she answered immediately. [color=violet][“Specifically to prepare it for the coming Voidspawn invasion. There are approximately...10 million of them, by my estimation, and their numbers are growing by several hundred thousand every day, possibly exponentially. The Sealed Tower controlled them with a sacrifice of 1 billion. There are...countless...variables that could influence the weakening of the Seal, but what I can say for certain is that they have begun to break free within the last 10 years or so. And this world is [i]not[/i] ready. There are fewer Bane weapons than you can count on one hand, a mere handful of devices able to stop Greater Voidspawn at [i]all[/i], and not [i]nearly[/i] enough individuals of minimum caliber required to face them on equal footing, let alone superiority. We will be wiped out. I think- no, I [i]know[/i]- that humanity is capable of defeating them. It’s been done before. But it will require the world to be united, and that’s the one thing humanity is incapable of without strong leadership.”][/color]

[color=72C515][“Well, what a noble goal. I might’ve been inspired to join up with you myself if I hadn’t watched you so thoroughly cripple it.”][/color]

The goblin sighed.

[color=72C515][“Do you really not understand what you’ve been doing? You aren’t uniting the world, you’ve made it more divided than ever. By embarking on this crusade the way you have, all you’ve done is convince the population of the world’s biggest superpower that you’re a threat. That you can’t be trusted. You’re not some great queen uniting this world against an ancient evil, you [i]are[/i] the ancient evil. The Dark Lord.”][/color]

[color=violet][“Tell me something I haven’t heard before,”][/color] she mumbled. [color=violet][“You do have a point, Chatak. You’re wiser than I expected. I will certainly take your words to heart and consider them. If you have the time-”][/color]

She paused to touch her left ear.

The Witch narrowed her eyes at Chatak. [color=violet][“You are not here to distract me, I hope? I received word that the Reincarnations have returned and slain several of my warriors.”][/color]

[color=72C515][“There are more of us?”][/color] Chatak asked, his eyes widening for a moment.

[color=violet][“You were not aware?”][/color]

[color=72C515][“I had some suspicions that there might be a few others, maybe the emperor, or some high ranking members of the other countries’ governments, but none close by. Either way, why would I shoot myself in the foot like that if I wanted to release the hostages? I’d be putting myself in danger for no reason, and making it harder to achieve my own goals in the process.”][/color]

The Witch hung her head as she mulled it over. [color=violet][“...I want to believe in you, Chatak. Come, then; show me your resolve. Negotiate with the Reincarnations, and let there be no more bloodshed today.”][/color] She touched the panel to open the door and beckoned him to follow, leaving her spear behind.

She paused in the doorway.

[color=violet][“Before we go, I want to make you a deal. If you can persuade even one nation to prepare for the coming apocalypse, I shall call off my invasion.”][/color]

[color=72C515][“Ideally you’d end it now, before you weaken both sides beyond the point of recovery, but fine. I’ll do you one better. You want an empire that can hold off the Void, I’ll do it myself.”][/color]

His eyes narrowed as he stood.

[color=72C515][“I’ll show you the path you should’ve taken yourself.”][/color]

And with that, the two of them strode out of the room, flanked by the alchemist, Patches, and a no doubt rather confused Melvin.

[color=72C515][“Oh, and stay out of sight, will you? If they’re here to fight back against your forces, I’d rather not have you setting them off.”][/color]

[color=violet][“That can be arranged.”][/color] She pulled her enchanted cloak around her body, enshrouding her form in a veil of shadows. [color=violet][“I shall wait for you nearby.”][/color]

Chatak didn’t have to travel far before he saw the scene the Witch had been describing. Two humans, a man and a woman, surrounded by goblin corpses. Flying overhead was a wyvern-rider, quickly closing in on the pair.

[color=72C515][“Alright, first things first, call off your troops. Hard to negotiate under fire, as I’m sure you’re aware.”][/color]

The goblin knights began to retreat toward the Sealed Tower. There was a sharp whistle, and the wyvern ceased its assault to fly back to the airships.

Chatak nodded at the slightly improved situation, before turning to his companions.

[color=72C515][“You two, go get Shaktak’s attention and bring him back here. He’s better at common than me, I might need him to clear up any misunderstandings. And hopefully not cause any new ones.”][/color] He said, before turning to Melvin. [color=72C515]“Melvin. You with Chatak. Humans less fighty if see other human here.”[/color]

The goblin girl nodded and took Patches to go find Shaktak.

Melvin made an Imperial salute. “You can count on me! Nobody’s better at standing around doing nothing than I am.”

Chatak nodded again. He wasn’t entirely sure he’d understood the guard correctly, but if he had, he could relate with that kind of self deprecating confidence.

And then, it was finally time for what might be the most difficult part of these negotiations.

[color=72C515]“Humans! No more fighting, you make worse. Chatak already talk to Witch. Free humans of town.”[/color] Technically, she hadn’t actually said she was going to release them yet, but it was pretty clear it would only make things worse if she didn’t at this point. [color=72C515]“No be stupid, yes? No waste new life so quick.”[/color]