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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 1:18:14 GMT -5
Post by Tobias Lysand on Dec 31, 2010 1:18:14 GMT -5
He had been standing by the window overlooking the castle grounds when he saw them come in. Once a force of over one hundred and fifty soldiers, a mere twenty or so dragged themselves in through the gates. Lysand braced his hand against the side of the window, heart thudding in his chest as he reaffirmed what he saw when they drew close enough.
Banez wasn't among the twenty.
He stumbled back from the window going absolutely numb as his gaze just fixed to the wall, almost noncomprehending. "B-Banez..." He felt a stinging in his eye for a moment before he straightened, managing to banish the devastation from the face. Swallow them... He needed to swallow his emotions. Now was not the time. He needed to get their report he needed to- his knees gave out as he turned to go and the heels of his hands pressed against the carpet. Suddenly, and without his consent, tears began to flow, a choked sob escaping his throat.
That had been hours ago. Now he stood in front of a small crowd of politicians, his usual blank expression back on his face. He must have listened to those soldiers reports one hundred times before dismissing them. This was a disaster. A complete and utter disaster. Their forces slaughtered, the vampires, organized...
The only glimmer of hope he had was the report that Banez had left to have his wounds tended to by a ranger, but then, the uncertainty of his fate even now gnawed at the edge of his mind.
His hands clasped behind his back as he addressed them, voice loud to be heard, but still devoid of emotion. "We seem to have a bit of a situation on our hands."
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 1:45:37 GMT -5
Post by Alerick Brenthor on Dec 31, 2010 1:45:37 GMT -5
"Bit of a situation? A bit of a situation? Lysand, this was a disaster! A complete and utter disaster!" Brenthor slammed his palm onto the table in front of him for emphasis. "A score of soldiers? A single score! Our forces were decimated nearly ninetimes over! That was no battle, it was a massacre!" His lips pressed into a thin line. "Where were the wereanimals? They went back on their word and left us to be slaughtered! Slaughtered like fattened calves!"
He was quiet a moment, staring at the advisor for a moment. "They're crawling all over the mountains, and all over the halls of the castle! Care to remind us where you got that bandage you wear, Advisor?"
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 9:03:21 GMT -5
Post by Tobias Lysand on Dec 31, 2010 9:03:21 GMT -5
Lysand remained quiet for Brenthor's tirade. He couldn't say he blamed the ambassador for the outburst, but this was no time for that. "This bandage? Why I got it from the infirmary of course." A weak joke, but it earned him a small chuckle from the assembled group, who were seeking relief for the tension within the room.
"Ambassador, I thought you assured me that the wereanimals would be present," he began, fixing his cool stare on Brenthor. "I as certain that you maintained that you were able to meet with both leaders in Yina and was able to negotiate with them both." He was taking the blame for this one; Banez had carried out the negotiations technically, but who was the one who decided to take the credit for it? "If there was the slightest inclination that they wouldn't actually show up, you should have informed me immediately."
"Why wouldn't they show up?" One of the advisors asked. "What's the chances that they would both go back on their word?"
"Considering that that is in fact what happened, apparently the chances were very large. Perhaps we overestimated their ability to work together. Perhaps they backed out of the deal, unable to work with each other. Ambassador, I believe you would have more of an idea, yes...?"
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 9:15:18 GMT -5
Post by Alerick Brenthor on Dec 31, 2010 9:15:18 GMT -5
Brenthor's eyes sparked when the blame was suddenly thrust onto him, but his face managed to stay under control. "If you may recall, Advisor, Captain Gladpath ran off during our travels together, leaving me stranded while he apparently handled the negotiations." His hands pressed against the table, but he stopped himself from rising. "He gave me his assurances that everything was under control. We have no way of knowing what exactly was negotiated with them. For all we know, this could all be a mistake and the captain simply gave them the wrong date." He studied Lysand for a moment, searching his eyes for any sign of redness. "But I suppose... We should not blame the dead for our problems, right?" He had not been informed that Banez my actually be living.
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 9:34:03 GMT -5
Post by Tobias Lysand on Dec 31, 2010 9:34:03 GMT -5
Some of those assembled shifted nervously a Brenthor's not even veiled attack on the guard captain. They watched the advisor carefully for any sign that he was about to throttle the man. There were no signs to be seen however, his face entirely blank. The feeling of cold rage that filled him was just one more emotion that needed to be swallowed- needed to be hidden from view. He could feel it threatening to crack, but he couldn't let that happen. Not here i front of these men. He wasn't even entirely comfortable with the thought of crying everything out in the privacy of his own room.
Brenthor's efforts to study his eyes would have yielded just a tad of pinkness surrounding his eyes from his earlier tears.
"You are the ambassador." Lysand kept his voice as cold as ice. "It was your duty to find the werewolf alpha and to affirm the negotiations anyway. However, as you did not... We are stuck in the situation at hand. No matter what the cause of it was, we must find a way out of it. Now the question is, what should we do?"
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 9:47:23 GMT -5
Post by Alerick Brenthor on Dec 31, 2010 9:47:23 GMT -5
So it had affected him. The smallest of self-satisfied smirks appeared on his face before it vanished at Lysand's words. "You cannot pin this on me, Advisor. Your precious guard captain was at fault, and you know it!" This time when his palms hit the table, he half-rose from his seat. "And he left his troops woefully unready for the slaughter they faced. One hundred fifty... How much was he planning on relying on the werecreatures?"
A member of Brenthor's staff rose as well. "And what of your intelligence, Advisor? The vampires possessing such a large force! How could it possible have gone so unnoticed?"
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 10:00:19 GMT -5
Post by Tobias Lysand on Dec 31, 2010 10:00:19 GMT -5
There was a brief glint in Lysand's eyes- a murderous one, but it was gone in an instant, and most wondered if it had only been imagined. "I cannot account for the good Captain's actions," he replied coolly. "I can only assume that he acted to the best of his abilities." His lips twitched slightly as he forced himself to swallow more rage. He could not crumble now. Not until he was certain that the kingdom wasn't in too much danger... "My intelligence was unaware of this infestation," he replied coolly. "What did you expect them to do? Walk into the heart of the mountain itself? We know that they're present now. The numbers we cannot be sure of. However, there's one thing we can be sure of.... They're not interested in hiding any longer."
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 10:07:07 GMT -5
Post by Alerick Brenthor on Dec 31, 2010 10:07:07 GMT -5
Lysand's last statement struck the room, a heavy silence falling upon them. Even Brenthor had no retort for him, mind weighing the situation at hand. His eyes dropped to thee ground, then raised, flickering to the map that was stationed behind him. So that was why it was brought out... "So then I can assume that this is not merely a council of advising. This... is a council of war."
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 10:13:45 GMT -5
Post by Tobias Lysand on Dec 31, 2010 10:13:45 GMT -5
"Yes ambassador," Lysand replied quietly. "This is a council of war." He waited a moment before he raised a hand to silence the chorus of murmurs in the room. "We must prepare ourselves for a war with the vampires."
"But they slaughtered us so easily in the mountains," one advisor protested. "How could we hope to stand against them? Let them stay there and rot!"
"And leave the people of Tiaelde to suffer?" Lysand pointed out. "Not only to suffer, but to breed more of the unholy beasts? The vampires cannot be allowed to sit and fester. Don't you understand what will happen the longer we wait?"
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 10:20:20 GMT -5
Post by Alerick Brenthor on Dec 31, 2010 10:20:20 GMT -5
"The longer we wait, the larger their army grows," Brenthor concluded. "The harder it will get to defeat them. And I suspect that the good advisor is thinking... That the vampire's goal is not to simply hold the mountain." His gaze swung around the room as he studied the gathered group. "I'm sure you have all considered the instability of the vampire's population. They require humans to feed upon, yet with one bite, their food source is now gone, whether the human is dead, or whether they are turned as well." His hands clasped behind his back. "Tell me, with so many vampires gathered at that one mountain, how long do you think little Tiaelde could possibly assuage their hunger? It is entirely likely that they'll drink the place dry and then turn their eyes to a new target... Perhaps the most populous city in Thrunalhin."
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 10:29:43 GMT -5
Post by Tobias Lysand on Dec 31, 2010 10:29:43 GMT -5
"Cados, are you quite sane, Ambassador?" an advisor asked. "They wouldn't dare lay siege here! What of Issilt and Riyer? They're much more likely targets."
"Perhaps," Lysand replied. "Or perhaps not. It's only a matter of time before they strike at Cados. The towns you mention are far too small for them to sustain the vampires for any sort of time. If they began striking at small villages, our forces could start whittling them down. I do not think they would risk this. Instead, I think they would try to finish us in one fatal blow. If they control Cados, after all, they control the entire kingdom."
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 10:45:00 GMT -5
Post by Alerick Brenthor on Dec 31, 2010 10:45:00 GMT -5
"But we cannot ignore Issilt and Riyer entirely," Brenthor pointed out. "See here." He got up, gesturing to one of the maps that was hanging in the briefing room. "Riyer. Issilt." He pointed to each respectively. "And the mountains." He pointed to those too. "Suppose they did not take a dirct route to Cados." He began tracing a route on the map. "Suppose they curved here and followed the river. They would come upon Issilt. They could feed and turn there, strengthening their army. Then they could continue on to Riyer, repeating the process. They might very well do this to bolster their numbers."
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 10:51:47 GMT -5
Post by Tobias Lysand on Dec 31, 2010 10:51:47 GMT -5
"If they had any tactical sense at all, they would not attack Riyer," Lysand pointed out. "It is surrounded by a plain; they would be spotted from miles away. I am not so certain that they would move town by town. It would give us much time to prepare," he said. "And..." His lips pressed into a thin line. "Even if that may be, we cannot afford to spread our forces out so much. We could not afford to dispense them to Issilt and Riyer if they end up attacking Cados instead."
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 10:57:07 GMT -5
Post by Alerick Brenthor on Dec 31, 2010 10:57:07 GMT -5
"So we must leave them to their fates," Brenthor said slowly. "We have no other choice, I suppose." He took a moment to consider this. "I agree that we must prepare our defenses immediately. However, what of the wereanimals? Surely if we explained the plight to them they would be forced to offer us some sort of aide. After all, it was their abandonment that caused us such heavy losses in the first place. We cannot factor in their help with our own plans of course, but the effort could still gain us something."
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Fallout
Dec 31, 2010 11:05:59 GMT -5
Post by Tobias Lysand on Dec 31, 2010 11:05:59 GMT -5
The fact that he and Brenthor were on the same page was hardly a comfort to Lysand. In fact, it just pounded in the dreadful situation they were in. One so dreadful that the ambassador had only mildly attacked him at the beginning. "I will dispatch you to the werewolves at once, Ambassador. Their pack-like mindset would allow them to move more quickly. From the werewolves you can move to speaking to the werecats."
"Advisor, why don't we simply attack the mountains?" one of the others asked. "We could destroy them at the source and save the lives of those in Issilt and Riyer if the vampires made them a target..."
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