Dyelli Beybi

Empire of the Clouds

Arkadios

Thankfully perhaps for everyone involved, Arkadios, upon hearing the message that an attempt had been made on the gold reserve, decided to don his uniform and head straight back to the airship. As the senior Inburian officer it was his duty to secure the gold. Everything else could wait.

A few moments after his announcement, another call through the speakers, "Private Aden, this is Captain Arkadios. Thank you for your zeal in defense of the property of His Imperial Majesty. You may stand down. There is considerable confusion at the moment, but please rest assured that the Mittelanders are assisting in security at this stage."

"Now," he half turned around in his position next to Captain le Marinier to make sure everyone knew they were included, "Can someone please give me a clear and concise picture of what is going on?"

There was a brief pause, before one of the police officers spoke up, stepping forward to hand Arkadios a piece of paper, "Telegram for you, Captain."

He opened it up, reading through it, his lips pursing in concern. He ran a finger through his moustache, "This is from the Inburian Embassy, but it applies to everyone. Prince Maximilian is going to pay us a visit. I understand he is a Mittelandische Marshall? In any case, it would be good if someone could brief me on the situation before that happens."

Paradise Lost

Divaldo & Velia

While the group was speaking, the electric whirr of a mobility scooter sounded as the Grendari Gloriont made his way onto the bridge. He drove into the centre of the bridge as if assuming he was the Captain though, perhaps wisely, he didn't offer an opinion on anything, looking rather bored by people's opinions.

"So we're looking for the Sol system now?" Velia asked with a raised eyebrow, then shrugged, "Sure... why not. It's as good a destination as any, though wouldn't it be easier to just find an uninhabited planet near here and set down?"

"Stupid!" Divaldo grunted, "Perhaps you can tell me how the metacer jump from planet to planet? Any sane person would rather be on the opposite side of the galaxy to where we are right now."

"Nobody cares what you think," Velia snapped back, though more out of irritation at his tone than anything else, "Though, like I said, Sol is as good a destination as any."

Smoke and Steel

Sidskold (Black Army HQ): Coralie D'Ambois and Momin Assinger

Coralie was getting fitted for a suit of armour when Assinger read the letter from 'S' to her. She winced slightly as the aid fastened the breastplate to the backplate, "It's a bit tight across the chest," she commented.

"It's a good fit," Assinger replied, from where he stood, propped against one of the wooden pillars in the manor house they used as their headquarters, "But I suppose the armour is designed for a man rather than a woman and you aren't used to wearing the stuff either... were you listening to what I was saying?"

"What? Oh... of course. Someone has given us the order of battle for the Red Army. Useful, but not something we couldn't verify with scouts anyway," Coralie replied distractedly, as the armourer approached her with e blackened lobster-pot helmet, "I'd rather just wear a secrete under a hat," she informed him, "I find the others rather heavy."

"It does imply the Reds don't field too many more troops than we do," Assinger commented, bringing the conversation back to the letter.

"It does... though I don't like the means by which we received this information," she pursed her lips, shaking her head slightly, "I don't like people who sell out their liege. If this 'S' will give up Ariana's secrets, there's no reason they wouldn't do the exact same thing to us if the wind blows in a different direction."

"True enough," Assinger nodded, standing up properly and stretching his shoulders as he prepared to depart, "So what do you want me to do with it."

"Nothing... for now," Coralie replied, "If the battle goes our way and this 'S' decides he wishes to join with us, he may. For now though, we assume every man marching under the Red Wyvern is an enemy."

Chronicles of Minadra

A few lazy snowflakes began to land about them as they spoke. It didn't turn into anything more than a scattering of snowfall, but it served as a reminder that the weather could change quickly in the mountains.

"Those creatures fear the light more than most of the Host of Darkness," Hagen commented nonchalantly, "I'm still in favour of coming back in the morning when we've had some sleep and are ready for a fight, but I also see the point of setting up in a sheltered spot," he finished, conceding the argument.

"If we do a scouting mission," Aderynel piped up, "We'll need to take care not to collide on our way out of the ruin, if we find trouble inside, with the one door still on its hinges the opening isn't much wider than my wingspan." She unfurled her black wings by way of demonstration.

It was followed by a dry chuckle from Tárwen, as she shuffled from foot to foot on the snow, her feet never truly sinking in like those of the other races. She hugged a thick shawl around her shoulders, clearly cold, "I'm Firindorian: I don't wish to sound like I love to blow my own trumpet, but I can move more quietly than a mouse. It is one of the Blessings of the Sidfir that has not diminished with the younger fair folk... I'd like to volunteer to help."

She looked between the Sylpharim. Aderynel looked to Síobhra whom she seemed to have assumed would be the one to organise the vanguard of the expedition.

Paradise Lost

Velia

Velia's eyes seemed to glaze over a lit at mention of 'observatory spectrometry' though, to her credit, she didn't try to pretend she knew what Ginny was talking about. Instead she stepped away from her station, motioning for Ginny to take over from her, "I have the charts up. Do you want to pick one? Fihlyn can plot our route, once you've picked out a good one."

She seemed more than happy to evade that particular job.

Smoke and Steel

Sidskold (Black Army HQ): Coralie D'Ambois and Momin Assinger

"Well I suppose these months of peace were going to be broken sooner or later," she shook her head, offering up a confused shrug, without pausing in her pacing of the room. The Iktani Halberdiers who formed her personal guard were impassive, as always, "But by Ariana? I'd have thought she might have worked to create a chokehold around the city rather than try to dig me out."

She gave an exasperated sigh, then stopped, turning to face Assinger fully, forcing a smile onto her face, "I am sorry, old friend... we still have no word back from the mission to the Doel Union and the war chest is beginning to look a little light. Did you have a chance to take a look at the army that has come down here to face us?"

Assinger nodded, "I did... I didn't get a good count, but it seems large, larger than us. There is a core of veteran troops, ex-Owned men, from the looks of some of them, though most are enthusiastic peasants. We have better arms, equipment and training... though I would caution you from assuming that gives us an insurmountable advantage. The Empire had better arms and equipment at Rodelkog."

Ariana nodded, "Send word to the Colonels to make the troops ready to march out tomorrow at dawn," she paused momentarily then hurried over to a table in the corner where a map of the local area was laid out, "Momin!" she called, and Assinger followed her, looking to where she was pointing, "Am I correct in saying they are here, approaching from the North down this road?"

Assinger nodded, "As far as I am aware."

"Then tell the Colonels we march for -" she tapped a small town on the map, "That place... Katalani. We should arrive before the Reds, which will give our men time to rest before the fighting. Also, send a messenger to General Viryarus, see if he is willing to join us. Even if he sees conflict between us as inevitable, having Ariana breathing down his neck with her horde of peasant rabble, would be a far more concerning prospect for him than we are. Let him know to meet us at Katalani."

"As you wish," Assinger gave a polite bow, retreating from her company.

D'Ambois remained hunched over the maps, studying them. Another bloody day for her people lay ahead. One she had not expected, "Damned stupid girl," she muttered, eyeing the spot on the map where Ariana's army was supposed to be, "You could have gone for the jewel in the crown, but instead you go for me. Do you even have anywhere to retreat back to if this goes wrong?"

Ariana paused, the cogs in her brain whirring like those of the pendant-watch she wore around her neck, a small smile forming on her lips. As corcerning as it was, Ariana's rashness also provided an opportunity.

@Bingelly

Chronicles of Minadra

Chapter Two: The Mountain Hall

theme music

The first week out of Ealdormuda was easy. Well beaten roads cut through farms and villages with pleasant roadside inns where a weary traveler could rest by a cheerful hearth and enjoy a warm meal. The group drew more than a few looks with its odd mixture of peoples though Hagen was able to invariably able to charm the locals.

However after the first week they began to work their way into the foothills of the Grey Mountains and villages gave way to rugged hills with increasingly scattered farmsteads and scattered flocks of sheep. It became necessary to find shelter in the wild and set up a camp fire. Aderynel was clearly impatient, unused to travelling with people who couldn't fly.

Flight became a useful skill as they reached the mountains proper, with the Sylpharim needed to scout a route that was walkable between the jagged peaks and plunging valleys.

On day fifteen, with dusk approaching, the group finally reached a snow-filled valley that looked up to a massive hole in the rock face where once a colossal door had hung.

"Where is that door?" Aderynel fussed, digging into the snow with the heel of her boot, skipping back and forth as she tried to remember the exact location of the fallen object that had drawn her attention from the sky.

"Shall we go up to take a look?" Tárwen suggested. Despite being, probably, one of the oldest in the group, she was filled with a, sometimes foolish, youthful enthusiasm, that she had demonstrated on several occasions during the trip, most memorably when she'd tried to skip across a series of stones that she figured would allow her to avoid wading a stream... and ended up falling in.

"One moment," Quintus called from where he was standing staring up at the door with a furrowed brow, "Dusk is fast approaching and we will need to rest. We know there are troglodytes in the cave. I would advise, that unless we want a midnight battle, that we move as far away from the cave as we can, then make camp."

"Maybe not so far," Hagen chipped in, stepping over to the main group, his thumbs hooked into his belt, "I don't like the look of some of the clouds on the horizon and if it comes to it I'd rather have to fight a few trogs than freeze to death."

"Thoughts, everyone?" Tárwen called to the group at large, "If it's a big enough system the trogs might have movd away from the entrance by now anyway." She cast a wistful glance up the hillside, towards the entrance.

Smoke and Steel

Some Miles North of Kalendri: Marius Panayi, Konrad Louffen, Ariana Hasikos & Momin Assinger

"I don't know why we don't simply hang the man and be done with it," Payani grumbled to Louffen as the privateer approached the tent, flanked by several guards. They had the look of people from the South of the Circle Sea or, perhaps even Iktani. Either way, Marius did not like the way the man strutted as he approached the tent they had set up for their Queen. He was an imposing figure and looked like he thought he owned the camp.

"Now, now," Louffen whispered back, "If we hang him and, somehow, we lose the forthcoming battle, then his mistress will seek vengeance on all of us... hanging an emissary is not the done thing."

"He's a damned pirate," Payani shot back, though they left the exchange at that as by then the pirate was within earshot.

To their rear, still seated sat Ariana on a nice, carved wooden chair. It wasn't quite a throne, but it did give some semblance of regality to the girl.

The pirate stopped, sweeping off his hat in a well-practiced bow, "M'Lady Hasikos, it is an honour to meet you. General Momin Assinger, at your service." Addonian, Payani decided, though he still wasn't sure about the guards. They had an exotic look to them.

Ariana smiled, reacting instinctively to the man's courtesy and without thought for the likelihood of bloodshed in the near future, "The pleasure is all mine General Assinger." There was a moment's silence, that stretched on for perhaps a moment too long while both parties seemed to expect the other to say something, before Ariana realised he was waiting for her to speak first, "To what do we owe this honour?" she asked, a lot too politely for Payani's taste.

"The Empress Coralie sends her regards to her cousin and asks why you come to these lands with armed men? The Empress wishes it to be known that she has no quarrel with you, M'Lady. Haltian forces still oppress the good people of Inbur, forcing them to work as slaves in the fields and mines. Haltian Lords and merchants keep the profit of their endeavors. The lands you enter are already liberated from the Empire." He paused, though not long enough for anyone else to start speaking, "The Empress suggests that you go North. Save our people there."

Ariana started to open her moth, but Payani got there faster, feeling his cheeks redden at the gall of the Addonian pirate, "Coralie D'Ambois is no Empress; she is a damnable pirate. We march to put an end to her raids on the coast and her ludicrous claims to the Crown of Inbur. Her head is far more suited to adorn a spike atop the walls of that fair city than to wear its crown. What is worse, she openly dines and makes deals and arrangements with the very same Haltians she claims to be liberating us from! For shame, the hypocrisy!"

Assinger looked a little taken aback by the tirade, the corner of his oiled beard twitching as if he sought to grimace or form a smirk - it was hard to tell which. He paused for a few moments, before responding, his tone perfectly level, "The Empress," he said, emphasising the title, "Has a treaty with the local Imperial Commander to ensure that peace is preserved on the coast and to ensure the Calarian menace is kept in check. This is not a Treaty with the Haltian Emperor, just one man and it has prevented the Calarians from constructing their own Empire in the rubble of the Haltian one."

"You are pirates, nothing more," Payani declared dismissively.

Assinger's dark eyes flicked from him, to Ariana and back. There was a faint gleam there that Payani did not much like, "In that case, M'Lady," he addressed Ariana, "I fear we have very little more to discuss. If we must to battle, then to battle we will go and may God favour the righteous."

---

The Palace at Alveby: Arel Elmys & Andronika Hasikos

The young princess was not at all what Arel had expected. Not only was she headstrong, and clear that she was in command, but she received his note asking her to meet him on a balcony overlooking the rose garden and came without bringing backup, though he noticed a dirk in a prettily decorated white scabbard, nestled amongst the skirts of her prettily embroidered white dress.

He allowed his eyes to take her in, the dark intelligent eyes, the sun-kissed Inburian complexion, the low cut of her dress. On a warm summer's night, with the heady sweet scent of roses wafting up from below, it was always a pleasure to be in the presence of a beautiful woman.

"Good evening Sir," she greeted politely, moving to lean over the balcony next to Arel, almost daring him to try to push her. Though if she expected that treachery, she did not know him that well... or understand the value her Alliance brought to the Court in the West.

"Good evening M'Lady," he replied, moving to stand next to her, "It is beautiful is it not? Perhaps a sign of Imperial decadence, but beautiful nonetheless."

She laughed dryly, "I sometimes find a little decadence can be fun, though don't tell your Emperor that!"

Arel paused a moment, then laughed with her, shaking his head, "I guess you need to get out of the saddle sometimes... listen, I know you'll be meeting the Emperor in person together. There will be pageantry and bluster, but I wanted to be sure you know what, under all of that, is being offered."

"You don't want me to give a knee jerk reaction to being asked to bend the knee?" she asked, turning to face Arel, one eyebrow coolly arched, "And throw a match into the proverbial powder store. You needn't worry. Perhaps surprisingly, given I'm styling myself a royal, pride is not my sin."

The comment drew another laugh from Arel, "Well that is good to hear. Yes, that is what I was concerned about, truth be told... but since I have you here, I'll give you the details of what is on offer anyway. Mitteland is yours. Inbur is yours. We will keep the old Empire and Krain. You will acknowledge the suzerainty of Emperor Orrian and pay us some nominal amount in gold which will increase once the war is over. We will give you arms and a war chest to start your campaign and we hope you will raise a significant force in Mitteland... enough for us to pursue a joint campaign against Voron in Inbur, once he is driven out of Mitteland. Our spies suggest he is considering moving his court to that city if this summer's campaign does not go in his favour."

"You think the Mittelvolk will flock to the banner of a liberator?" she queried.

Arel nodded in confirmation, "And, truth be told, we have no desire to rule the human lands either. Yes, conquest is glorious, but managing these territories has degraded the Elgafolk way of life. We are becoming something we were not meant to be."

Andronika nodded slowly, thoughtfully, "So we both win? I just need to curtsey and kiss Orrian's ring," she smirked slightly, "I think I can manage."

"We'll also need your army to meet up with ours on the march to Elvesland to face the pretender," Arel added, "I know your force is currently small and won't make a huge difference, but it is symbolically important your forces are there."

"I'll get Kreznik to send work back to get moving immediately," she said, raising her voice a little, for some reason.

"And I fully expect that, in ten years time, when your Kingdom is properly established, you'll refuse to pay us the gold you agree to pay tomorrow and we'll end up meeting on the battlefield where either we'll win, and impose an even greater tribute or you'll win and declare yourself Empress."

It was Andronika's turn to laugh, "Is that right?" she asked, though the hint of amusement in her voice suggested she had already planned to do exactly that.

Chronicles of Minadra

All good... I was a bit AWOL because of the Christmas season as well

Paradise Lost

Velia

"They're all unexplored systems," Velia repeated, stepping back away from her console to let Ginny take a look at the charts, "Were you a surveyor or something?" she asked.

"To be honest," she added for everyone on the bridge to here, "I'd rather be anywhere but here at this point. I don't think those bugs can do a jump across the void of space and burrow into our hull... but I'd rather not take the chance. Uurgh... they must have been breeding in the station for weeks."