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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=dc143c][b]Location:[/b][/color] Laughing Worg Tavern -- City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
[hr][color=dc143c]"Nobody's talkin' about lettin' Thorinn burn 'cept you."[/color] Graves glared. Frustration stirred in his chest. They weren't listening to him. Somehow they'd gotten the idea that the only possibly choice they could make was to play by Thorinn's rules or they'd get crushed; to him, that wasn't a choice at all. The current situation was untenable, as far as he was concerned. There were only so many Wayfarers still willing to delve into the dungeons, and their numbers were thinning by the week. How long would it be before the denizens' mistrust turned to violence? It might've already started. That could've been exactly what all those 'disappearances' were about.

Something needed to change, and he couldn't understand how he was the only one that saw that.

[color=dc143c]"You're both talkin' about maintainin' the status quo, but I'm tellin' you it won't last. We've goin' out and fighting the good fight and the situation here at home keeps deterioratin' anyway. If doin' our job would earn their trust then it already would'a worked."[/color]

Graves sat back in his chair, trying to loosen the knot he felt in his lower back. [color=dc143c]"They need us. We know it, they know it, everybody does. And much as I don't like it, we need them. You're right. Denizens and wayfarers, we're stuck together. In a shared ecosystem there's gotta be give n' take, yeah? But they aren't givin' us [i]shit[/i]. You wanna negotiate with the queen, Kazuki, right? You do it from a position of strength. Use our leverage as the only ones able to protect Thorinn to demand better conditions for our fellow wayfarers. She's gotta acquiesce, 'cause the alternative is..."[/color] He motioned in the direction of the Rat King's final resting place.

After a moment's pause, Graves sighed. [color=dc143c]"Maybe we can convince some others guilds to get back in the field. That oughtta earn us some good will. We've already cleared two dungeons post-Glitch. I don't think anybody else can make that claim. That's gotta count for something."[/color]
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