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Post by Admin on Oct 17, 2022 2:31:23 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/KNcD60p/Dorian~jpg "Power, I suppose. They didn't tell me anything and didn't often talk in my presence, but the Mirror Maze and Courts of Chaos were mentioned more than once."
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Post by Hammett on Oct 17, 2022 16:20:09 GMT
Hammett sighs, "Well I can't think of anyway of getting you back there "undercover". So either we can trump back and try and join in the war against Leonil and the Courts and try and stop them that way, or you should return to Amber and give Flora a full report of events and see if she, Bleys and Fiona would be willing to step in and try and stop them. The fact that we know where Leonil is right now is our greatest strength and best opportunity. Once the war there is over and he moves on, we will lose him again."
Option three, he thought, was to return to the Steam Pump station, and option four to trump Edmund and try and capture/negotiate with him.
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Post by Admin on Oct 19, 2022 2:15:17 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/KNcD60p/Dorian~jpg "You would send me back to Amber while not trusting me? While keeping me bound due to your fear of hidden imperatives? Aren't there already enough black marks next to your name?"
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Post by Hammett on Oct 19, 2022 5:00:30 GMT
"You are no longer bound, and are free to travel as you desire. While I do not know if there is still some residue of Leonil's influence upon you, it is beyond my abilities to determine. Princess Fiona would be better suited to that task, or if rumors are to be believed, you could walk the Pattern again, that would clear you of any outside influences as I have been told. As for black marks, I am afraid one more would hardly matter at this point in time. But my conscious is clear. I have fulfilled you wife's request, and my loyalty to your father's memory, by saving you, even if it was not what you wished, nor apparently what might have been best, but we can only work with the information we have at hand. If you have a better course of action for us to take, then please share it."
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Post by Admin on Oct 20, 2022 17:28:34 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/KNcD60p/Dorian~jpg Dorian sits quietly in thought for a few minutes. And drinks a few shots more. "Aside from my personal preference, returning to Amber would cause a whole scene with all the aunts and uncles interrogating and bossing me around.
"I can't see how we'd have the time to raise an army and march to fight in Eshanta, and Mytorran will have fallen long before we could arrive in force.
"It is said that you have contacts in the Courts of Chaos. Could you use them to intervene in the conflict?"
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Post by Hammett on Oct 20, 2022 23:10:15 GMT
Hammett shrugs, "My friend's in the court do not belong to a Great House, as the political and power is structured there. I doubt they would have the clout to even arrange a meeting with King Merlin or anyone of major importance, let alone intervene. At best they would bring us through to the courts and point us in the right direction, but that could be a risk as we might find ourselves captured, and you at least, held ransom to allow the Courts to do whatever they want in Eshanta."
He ponders what else he should tell Dorian, then decides the hell with it. "There is one other option we might consider. Before I arrived in Eshanta I had met a... Place? Being? Of some power. It tasked me with finding and walking the Mirror Maze in Eshanta. When I completed that I was to return to it and it was... going to do something. I am not sure what. It implied it was on the side of order, or good, or whatever, and that it needed the Mirror Maze power to stand against a greater threat. I had planned on returning there after saving you, but then at that time I did not know about Leonil's location, plan or the war in Eshanta. Maybe venturing there would give us more information, or at least another ally. And maybe if it is protective of the mirror maze it will defend that shadow as well? Or maybe it was trying to use and manipulate me and once I give it what it wants it will destroy Eshanta and the Mirror Maze. But maybe that is a risk we will have to take."
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2022 5:44:57 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/KNcD60p/Dorian~jpg "Trouble on the home front will end foreign adventuring. An assassination of someone important in the Courts, or even Merlin himself, would save Eshanta. If your contacts could get you in, would you be able to do the job?
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Post by Hammett on Oct 23, 2022 7:50:42 GMT
Hammett hides his surprise at the suggestion, "Could "I"? Maybe. Would "I"? Hell no. Kill some innocent stranger and potentially start a war with the courts just to stop a war in some place I've never heard of until recently? Plus all my friends there would be skinned alive, probably literally, when it was discovered they helped me. Besides, finding the right person to bump-off that would cause that chain of events, and then secretly killing them, would take more time then we have. From the looks of it when I pulled you out of there, the last battle for Eshanta is going on right now. We have hours, not days."
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2022 20:10:41 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/KNcD60p/Dorian~jpg "Pity. But you are correct; it would look like an obvious ploy. Assassinations start when a war is lost, not when it is on the verge of success. Our best plan may be to defend Eshanta long enough for a >Lord or Lady of the Courts to join the siege. Kill them on the battlefield and wait for the repercussions to unbalance the Courts of Chaos."
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Post by Hammett on Oct 24, 2022 0:07:40 GMT
"Again with the unbalancing of the Courts. To what end, I ask? Leonil is our target, or more precisely whoever is pulling his strings. I'd settle for preventing him from getting whatever he is looking for in Eshanta. In Kasaba they invaded all to get a chest with something important inside of it. I can only assume they are after something similar in Eshanta. That is what we need to focus on, not saving the shadow. If they follow the same tactics they used last time, they will overrun and sack the capital city, then a smaller group will move on to acquire what they are really after. We have to be ready for that, or already beaten them to the prize. But, I have no idea how to do that. You?"
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Post by Admin on Oct 24, 2022 10:40:30 GMT
"Can't say that I do. We don't even know the prize or where it would be hidden. If we are lucky, then it is in the city. With even better luck, the defenders will be using its power, making it easier for us to grab."
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Post by Hammett on Oct 24, 2022 22:47:49 GMT
"Right. Well then, should we return to Eshanta? I can do up a quick sketch of Lady Katerina, and we can attempt to trump to her."
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Post by Admin on Oct 26, 2022 5:23:25 GMT
"I suppose we should get back to Eshanta and try to cause as much damage as we can while searching for Leonil."
Just then, there is a loud knock on the door.
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Post by Hammett on Oct 26, 2022 5:46:05 GMT
Hammett freezes, stunned for a moment. Then confused. Then worried. That shouldn't be possible.
The staff also look around and at each other. This had never happened before.
Hammett slowly gets up and gives a signal that his crew should be ready for trouble.
He looks at Dorian, "Get your sword."
He then walks over to a few feet away from the door, his own sword in his hand and ready.
He pushes out with his intent and unlocks the gateway, then calls out, keeping his voice casual because he has a reputation to protect, "It's open."
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Post by Admin on Oct 28, 2022 0:16:43 GMT
Edmund walks in with a purple fury about his head.
"Where the hell did you go? We had a plan!"
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