After The Council Meeting In The Great Forest

[Script Wrecked]

Not long after Lance comes coursing [POST=1706917]back[/POST] from the Great Forest, there is a post-meeting gathering in Hilm, perhaps attended by those who were present at the Council Meeting in the Great Forest, and perhaps also attended by those who might have wanted to attend said council meeting, but couldn't quite get there in time and only got as far as Hilm Castle[SIZE=10](1)[/SIZE].

An [POST=1706845]account[/POST] is given of what transpired at the council meeting (hopefully by Andrew Reid himself). After everyone is given several minutes to digest the discourse[SIZE=10](2)[/SIZE], Argali addresses those gathered.

"Thank you for coming zis day. What transpirred at the Counzil Meeting in the Horrn Kingdom has the important consequences for all of Layonarra. If Kuhl had made alliance with Horrn, that would have left them in partnerrzhip with two of the three kingdoms on Belinarra[SIZE=10](3)[/SIZE]. It iz not harrd to be imagining the Cult would then be turrning its attention to the remaining kingdom (Hilm) in the morre overrt and marrtial mannerr. And zhould the Cult gain control of Belinarra, who knows where theirr vile tentacles would then be zprreading.

"But, forr the moment, that has not eventuated. The question iz, what arre we doing next? Nice meeting, no alliance between Kuhl and Horrn, but no alliance between Hilm and Horrn eitherr. Howeverr, we arre learning zome important things that we should be acting on.

"Firrstly, although alliance between Hilm and Horrn was declined, that does not mean we should be giving up. It iz like the firrst refusal at the dance, no? Do not be so easily diszuaded.

"Furtherr to that, we believe..." she gives a slight nod to Lance "... we should be making contact with the tigerr-walking motherr halfling. Larrina iz the Drruid of the Hilm Protectorrate. She has zimilar pozition to us conzerrning the Cult. She hopefully gives us betterr access to Belinarra drruid hierarchy and to Horrn Kingdom. Argali hopes through herr we will be able to forrge alliance between Hilm and Horrn.

"Zis brings herr two zecond point. The Mortimerr, Drruid of Kuhl. He iz obviously being squeezed between rock and harrd place. We zhould not abandon zis man to zuch a fate. She iz surprised otherr high drruids have not interrvened on his behalf. Howeverr, if they won't, we zhould. Firrstly, we need to deterrmine if he iz still alive after his outburrst.

"She proposes we zend drruid sponsorred delegation to be zpeaking with him within Kuhl, assuming that iz where he iz to be found. Hopefully, the Larrina will make such a sponsorrzhip. The Kuhl will be harrd pressed to refuse such a request. And if they do, it furtherr undermines theirr position with the drruids and with the Horrn.

"Zo, arre therre any drruids prrezent who can contact the drruid Larrina on ourr behalf?

"Alzo, does anyone know what became of the Aerimorr zpeaking with the High Drruid?[SIZE=10](4)[/SIZE]

"Oh, and by the way, the 'woman with eye patch' who was talking to the Listerr, iz likely the [POST=1466542]Cyn Chen[/POST], head of the Drrach Tesak, the Cult's secret police.

"Oh-alzo, arre therre any zcouts prresent? She has job forr you."



[SIZE=10](1) yes, that's your "in" ; also, those attending Hilm Castle can see it is at a heightened state of readiness, with increased activity in and about the castle walls
(2) if you're like me, you may need to read it several times; there's a lot of good stuff in there
(3) Nesar being the other partner
(4) at the end of Andrew's account[/SIZE]

[LordCove]

Trouble, standing in the back and listening quietly, suddenly steps forward.

" I can't speak for her... but Larrina should "not" sponsor this idea to go to Kuhl and demand of Lister the return of Mortimer's daughter."

He looks around at any Druids that might have attended.

" I'll remind you all of the High Druids words. We should "not" antagonise or aggrevate the Cult at this time. This was an order."

Trouble looks at Argali.

"And I'm sorry Argali, but requesting of us to do such a thing, against the High Druids wishes, to go to Kuhl and accuse them again of kidnapping and destroy any remaining relations Horn has with them, simply to ( here he uses Argali's own words) undermines theirr position with the drruids and with the Horrn and further your own need for an alliance with Horn... is just bloody wrong."


He seems about to leave at that, but instead remains, propped up against a pillar, bouncing a red rubber ball off the floor and listening to what is said.

[Script Wrecked]

"Zorry if she causes offense. Argali was not therre forr meeting and does not have all the worrds of what was zaid.

"She wanted to vizit the Morrtimerr to make zurre he was ztill alive, and perrhaps help find his daughterr. It iz the terrible thing to have yourr loved one held and thrreatened, no? He iz stoic man to be facing zuch perril on his own.

"She underrztands you arre having orrders frrom higherr up, but how long iz the Morrtimerr to be left languishing in clutches of Cult?

"She deferrs to yourr preference in zis matterr, but ztill looks to yourr zupporrt for contacting the tigerr halfling, if you arre ztill agrreeable to zis?

"And, by the way, at zome point, Cult arre going to be serriously antagonised by what we arre doing, and people arre going to die, and forrests arre going to burrn. Zis iz the prrice we arre having to be paying forr allowing Cult to get zo established. It iz unavoidable."

[LordCove]

She underrztands you arre having orrders frrom higherr up, but how long iz the Morrtimerr to be left languishing in clutches of Cult?

Mortimer has already shown he is not in the clutches of the Cult. He stood up to them, even though he knew he was giving up on ever seeing his daughter.
Everyone has lost someone or something to the Cult, and though I might sound like a nasty bugger saying it, Mortimer is no different.
I can't speak for her, but the High Druid isn't going to risk imminent war with the Cult and massive loss of life, just to save one mans daughter.

She deferrs to yourr preference in zis matterr, but ztill looks to yourr zupporrt for contacting the tigerr halfling, if you arre ztill agrreeable to zis?

I'll go and see if I can contact her now, but I'll wager her answer will likely be the same as mine.


And, by the way, at zome point, Cult arre going to be serriously antagonised by what we arre doing, and people arre going to die, and forrests arre going to burrn. Zis iz the prrice we arre having to be paying forr allowing Cult to get zo established. It iz unavoidable.

* Trouble simply shrugs at this, on his way out to find Larrina the "tigerr halfling", murmuring as he leaves*

That much we already know.

// Trouble attempts to find the "Tiger Halfling" via Druidic messaging and requesting her to come to Hilm to speak to Argali

[Lance Stargazer]

*Lance is seen listening to Argali's voice, and nodding , pondering on the report he has been done and nodding in agreement with Argali, when he looks at Trouble heading out he just shakes his head a bit to himself , before getting himself busy on the preoaration of the company of the star *

[Jilseponie Wyndon]

Jil takes care of matters at the Orphanage, at home leaving notes for her husband and daughter, not knowing what the outcome would be, but left assurances she was taking every precaution necessary.  She threw a pack together, unloaded unnecessary equipment and set out immediately.

She arrives back two months later and wastes no time sending words to Lance, Argali, Trouble and others present at the council meeting at the Great Forest and more personal ones to her husband and daughter letting them know she is back and whole.  Then immediately finds the closest hot bath and hot meal while she awaits everyone’s arrival.  She heads to the place of the arranged meeting and does not say a word until all have arrived as she does not wish to repeat herself.  

Her face seems a bit gaunt, and tired looking.  You can see she wears a borrowed dress, telling you her leathers must be quite abused as she had traveled very light.  She doesn’t sit very comfortably in the seat, but a bit stiff from her extended run.  You can smell aloe about her over the top of standard soap; her face carries a light sheen of it. A glass of wine in hand, she speaks to those who showed up.  

“I do not need to tell you how difficult my path was, but I will say I was very careful and slow in my movements, thus my long absence. I spoke with many animals along the way and they were so upset and nervous, all they could speak of was danger massing, pushing them further from their homes and food sources.  Even though they could speak little, their actions were helping in helping me know when to find cover from flying dragon patrols, skirting the tree tops.  Always, two riders sat upon their backs, one using some type of seeing eye glass to help them see things better, the other controlling the dragon. I will not tell you what I did to avoid their scent.” Her face wrinkles in distaste at the memory, but continues on.

“Three weeks I slowly maneuvered the ground cover, avoiding being sighted from above and circling many patrols of humans.  Many of them scouts.   Soon I reached large cleared out areas in the wood, where they had ripped out trees to create what appeared to be Landing Areas for the Dragons.  They seem well used.  On the outside edges of each area were large piles of boulders, stacked high, well rounded boulders.  A score at least in each area.  Folded near each pile were stacks of heavy silk netting.  I could not get close enough as they were all guarded by Drachs and other humans and left me no room to get closer.  I am sure you understand what this set-up means.  They will load these nets full of the boulders and drop them upon us.  If they apply the Al’Noth to these, It could be devastating.  Or to drop groups of their army behind our lines putting us within a pincer. “
She takes a long sip of wine, clears her throat and continues.

“Knowing there had to be more to see, since I was having such good luck staying undetected, I traveled deeper in heading towards Swarm Lake.  The patrols were more frequent, I figured I was getting close, so I did what I had to, to get closer.  Moving much more slowly I moved on.  What I saw would make your spine shiver.” She takes another sip of wine. “I saw a break in the trees ahead, and crawled ahead on my toes and elbows, staying quite low, crawling under thick brush til I made it to the edge.  Before me was the HUGEST camp setting I have ever seen.  Silk nets were tied from tree to tree, interlaced with boughs and leaves to provide camouflage from prying eyes overhead.   There were merchant stands lined up, each plying their trades in weapons, armors, foodstuffs, stockpiles of equipment.  Racks and racks of weapons, pens filled with cattle, cages of other animals, food stores of all types and ... “ Shakes her head at some thoughts. “ ... at the minimum, MINIMUM mind you, three thousand troops.  And I could not count the many different types of Drachs I saw.  I gave up counting after 200.  I am telling you, that this is not something that has been just put together recently, no.  It had the definite look of being set up for quite some time.  Long before our meeting in the Great Forest.” She nods a couple times in personal acceptance of this revelation.

“It was all arranged very carefully.  The Type of planning required that would take some time to assemble and lay out all this ...“  She waves a hand in the air, with a small negative shake of her head.  “I knew there was nothing more to see that would tell me much more, so I slowly made my way back until I made it to the outer perimeter of all the patrols where I dared pick up my pace to make it back as soon as possible.  

Now, I urge you all to take this information and pass it on to others that would help in this matter immediately.  I was gone two months and I was moving extremely slow.  Imagine how quickly those troops I saw can get here moving at a steady pace.  Sure, they may have a few thousand troops to to move and that could slow them down, but think about this ... You heard how well organized they are.  They have scouts patrolling, finding the most accessible lanes for heavy traffic, and dragons flying overhead, possibly doing the same, I’m sure they can move at quite the pace.    Now if it was me directing at this point, I would send out runner scouts, spaced out miles between watching for the advance, not getting too close mind you, but at a position they are hidden from the skies and can see a great distance, that can send warning as soon as their march comes within sight.  Now dragons have a good sense of smell, I would suggest masking their scent unless they want to become an appetizer.

So lets not debate this too long, we do not know exactly how much time we have left before they start their march.  I’m sure you do not want to get caught with your pants down.  There is much preparation to do in little time.  They way you humans bicker and argue, they lose so much ground to the enemy as they make their way closer.  That and I am quite worn out.  Reverie was stretched quite thin over the months, but I want to hear what you folks have to say.”

She finished off her glass of wine, and waves a waitress over and points to her glass indicating a refill.

[Script Wrecked]

Argali takes a moment to commend Jilseponie for her outstanding work.

She dispatches a messenger to invite the Lord Protector to join them.

"Hmm... Falling rocks frrom the sky. Zis iz quite the development, no? When we taking to the battlefield, they arre raining ztone down upon us beforre we arre clozing with theirr arrmy.

"And if we do not take to battlefield, they rain ztone down upon ourr castles.

"Mmm... One defense iz not to mass in open. If we arre fighting in the forrests, it iz not zo easy to be drropping rocks upon us. Howeverr, only real forrest iz overr the borderr, in Kuhl," she says pointedly.

"To defend castles, we must preparre deep bolt holes, zo we arre not zmashed to zmitherreens beforre fighting.

"Drragonriderrs..." Argali pauses for a moment in thought, "Wherre arre they getting the drragons frrom? Argali sees hide norr hairr of drragon. Wherre arre our drragons to ztand against menace in the sky? Perrhaps they arre all hiding on the Molten Island."

"Oh!" she exclaims, as a thought pops to mind. "Magickerrs become drragons with the trricky zhape changing, no? Maybe ourr magickerr drragons can be defending sky against theirr drragonriderrs."

She refrains from mentioning 'druids' specifically in relation to the above, despite it (perhaps) being obvious to all that they are capable of a similar feat, lest they are offended or have been given prior direction or something similar.

"Zo, do we wait forr Kuhl to act? Do we launch full zcale attack now? Orr perrhaps the zpoiling foray? We need only to zteal theirr rocks, no?

"A larrge camped arrmy, though powerrful, iz vulnerrable. It iz massed, and iz prrime tarrget forr zingle devastating blow. Magic has left its marrk all overr Layonarra. Perrhaps now iz time forr zimilarr event. We need to... blow up bloodpool underr them... zomething like that."

Argali looks to the others to see if they have comments to make.

[miltonyorkcastle]

Assuming Steel has been allowed to meet with this group of would-be heroes, and he would remind those of Hilm of his direct hand in the rightful Queen of Kuhl's rescue and subsequent safe arrival in Hilm, he addresses a few of Argali's queries.

"The dragons allied with the Molten Isle will not directly attack the Cult unless they have a cure to the poison in hand, and a victory assured. And I agree that a sitting force of the enemy is ripe for a devastating surprise attack... if only we had the means. Even if we had a blood-pool at our disposal, no self respecting Lucindite would dare use it, not that such things are easily moved from one location to the next. They stay where they are created. Still I'm certain the Lucindites can conjure a spell devastating enough, but it would take months of preparation and the circle of magi would need to be close enough and protected enough to cast the thing. The Black Wizards could do it, but their services are..... expensive. No, our best chance now is to target supplies and weapons rather than the army itself. An attack should be devised, a significant and brazen enough frontal assault so as to draw their army away from their supplies depots long enough for secondary forces to come from the other direction to raze the food and weapon stockpiles. If such an attack is devised, I may be able to call upon a few favors to bring in additional forces to add to the number of troops you summon for the task. As it is, I work the border between Kuhl and Nesar, ideally to keep eyes to the south. You'll need to hit on more than one front if you want a chance at disrupting the Cult's plans for war."

[Script Wrecked]

Assuming Steel has been allowed to meet with this group of would-be heroes, and he would remind those of Hilm of his direct hand in the rightful Queen of Kuhl's rescue and subsequent safe arrival in Hilm...

Argali frowns at Steel's presence.

"Yes, she iz zurre you have had hand in the many things.

"[THREAD=281261]Rangley[/THREAD].

"The trip into Krrashin."

She looks pointedly to Steel.

"The drragons ensconced in the Molten Isle arre likely to be finding Cult banging on theirr door with theirr harrpoons and theirr poisoned cows ready forr the eating. Then they can be wonderring, 'Oh, what if we werre doing something the little earlier...'" Her eyes flash her annoyance.

"The Black Wizarrds. Arre they not owing you the favourr orr two by now?" she emphasizes her inference.

"She iz zurre we do not have trroops enough to zacrificing zome of them in brrazen frrontal aszault to be making distrraction while we arre attacking zupply depot. Zuicide squad iz morre yourr ztyle, no?

"In meantime, if you arre having idea of how to deal with juggerrnaut that iz about to roll all overr the Hilm, be zurre to be letting us know."

[Jilseponie Wyndon]

1stly, I do not think stealing their boulders is the right idea.  each area is well guarded and not far from patrols and the front line with the added flying patrols over head.  Imagine those flying overhead with the ability to cast hell balls.

2nd, I have no idea where the dragons are coming from.  I tried asking the wildlife, but they were too skittish and scared to reply in a manner I could understand.

3rd, an antidote for the poison ... speak with Xora.  Unless Argali, that was for a different affliction?

[Lance Stargazer]

*Lance looks at the scene frowning at the scenario*  

Indeed its a dire situation we have here,  No, I don't think we have the means for a frontal asault right now, But this proves us that we have to move fast, Its time to call over our allies and set a common front against the Cult,  

*he then regards towards Steel * I know what you are saying, despite our diferences your words carry wisdom blade, Nessar is to be looked upon as well, since we are most likely facing this with no allies on the continent.

Raiding the camps for the boulders doesn't seem to be easier, it would be easier if the said camps were near the frontier, but how could we manage to take their stones and take them to our castle . seems hard enough to me.

Its obvious that we need to do anything and fast, since our options are gettng short.

*If Alexander is on the room he looks over to him , then speaks again *  We need to start to gather our forces, this is not going to be a short or cheap war, this war is going to ripe the land and probably it won't ever recover fully. But sadly that is preferably to let them take our castle and do their whim, we here have been set to defend the kingdoms of the worse things this continent has seen before and that is why we'll stand against this attack. I'd start calling for troops , the scarce we could gather. Any extra sword is available is an extra sword near we are to defend succesfully our kingdom.

*he looks at Jill* Could you please set in a map where are the points where the nearest camps are ? Maybe with that we could guess the entry point for their army.

*Lance looks at the others with a  reasuring smile *

[miltonyorkcastle]

"In meantime, if you arre having idea of how to deal with juggerrnaut that iz about to roll all overr the Hilm, be zurre to be letting us know."

"I have lots of ideas. Doubtful you will like many of them. The fact of the matter is that you're out-numbered, which means you have two options: get more fighters, or keep the enemy too busy and wounded to ever attack you with their full force. Destroying their supplies, whether it be rocks or food, is one way to do that. Worse, the Cult's warriors are overall superior to your own, which means you'll need even more warriors than they do to win a stand-up fight. That's why you avoid a stand-up fight at all costs. You go for the back, the hamstring, the kidney. Denounce my methods all you like...."

Steel pauses, looking around the room.

".... but it is inactivity by the other powers that be which hampers your survival, not the measly actions of a single Pit-blood. Hilm is on its heels. Nesar will not come to your aid, nor will Horn. Even if the initiatives I am working on to convince Mistonian powers to send an aid of troops pans out, those troops have to get here, and you would still be outnumbered. The Cult recruits everywhere and everything- I've even seen evidence of beholders being recruited. I have it on good authority that the Cult is planning something special for Rael, though I have no idea what that special thing is. They've set their sights high, and they are tireless. And unlike most of the rest of the world, they will and have resorted to utilizing everything, sickening, twisted, and otherwise, that they can get their hands on to win. Because you're not willing to do those things, even though the reasons are good ones, you're already at a disadvantage. The Cult is poised to eat up this world one sovereign kingdom at a time.

Your only chance is to strike hard and fast and before they strike you. I still say you should assemble every bit of muscle you can find for a multi-target attack that uses a large force to screen the hits on the supply targets. Attack from the sea, attack from the south. Make them run to the borders to defend them. Then start setting fire to their supplies on the inside. The Cult will be successful in routing you from its borders, but it will also be weakened, and in no shape to start kingdom stomping without building up supplies once again.

If Hilm can survive long enough, we may have a better target than the army or its supplies. There have been hints in recent months that the location of a Cult stronghold, possibly even the location of the fallen green dragon, the Broken One, and the Cult leader, is in a cavern complex with connection to the Deep, and it is in an area once and perhaps still claimed by Rael, but now abandoned. Supposedly, this location is near a lake, though whether that be an underground lake or a surface lake, I do not know. It's a small lead, but it does narrow down the search area, though I admit I do not know of all the places Real has controlled at one time or another, but I have plans to find out."

[Jilseponie Wyndon]

He is right Lance.  We can not expect to take them on frontally and against the army as a whole.  We do not have the numbers or the resources.  In war, Honor becomes a gray area, especially when the enemy fights so dirty, they take advantage of "Honor".  But if we do the hit and runs as he explained, the sabotage within their ranks, really weaken them, we WILL have a chance.  Recall our war with Blood?  We did the same.  We hit the different generals holdings and gatherings, weakened him greatly and won.  I fear this is no different.  We wll need to make a call to the different archer groups to fight against the dragons patrolling the skies, sure mages can help there too, but we'll need them in other places as well against ground troops.  

As for a map, I can sketch out my path, but beyond that, I can not.  I was too busy watching my back trail and where I was going to sight see.  I suggest speaking with some helpful druids that can turn into birds and fly from treetop to treetop to get a lay of the land or pay heavily for some scrying.  Time is short my friend, and there is nothing "Fair" about the rules of war, for there are none on the enemies side.