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Post by Admin on Mar 14, 2023 7:30:25 GMT
"You mentioned him. But if he has spent all his time Pit diving, then he's wasted his potential, like Lorelei, or he might not really be one of us, also like Lorelei. He is useless to us if he knows of Amber but never bothered to try the Pattern.
"What else did you have to say? Something about Sand?"
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Post by Brian on Mar 14, 2023 10:47:43 GMT
"He thinks he can find his mother. So like the Princess....he has a different idea that drives him." I smirk "But yes....Sand and Eshanta. Sand brought Ryland, Edward, and I to her. Then Dalt arrived. I presume she brought us there because she didn't know what sort of a mood Dalt would be in....or possibly so we would observe Dio being brought to her. You know your sister so you can speak to her mind more than that. While we were investigating the remains of Dalt she took Dio off and reassembled her. Dio mentioned Julian being taken apart by people in another shadow and being given his liver. From my experience with Dio and the fact she was disassembled, I believe her story. Sand then took ownership of her as a Slave...I believe she did that for the express purpose of making it harder for us to take Dio with us. We did further investigations of Dalt which confirmed to the best we could that it was Dalt.....unless he is able to make fairly advanced copies of himself. Once that was done Kat called us to Eshanta. "
I scowl for a bit " That was an utter shit show. The army Lord Motius had was well...I feel he would have had a better army if he had the time to prepare a better one. Either that or he is a damned fool. I am willing to be generous and think it's the former. They said a brother of the King of Chaos....a Jurt was leading one of the two armies. The other army....the one Kat knew about before she got there....was led by a Jesby. And that came from Coy's information. I don't know if he told me that because he wanted me to distrust Eivor, or he wanted you to distrust her .....Or he thought I had some sort of a bias against the Jesby house in Chaos. Maeve told me Vada wasn't a Jesby....Sadly I don't know enough about the politics of Chaos to make any theories about how Her house fits into all of this. The castle was weird. Kat's father had killed his nobles. Everyone was paranoid and on edge." I shift in my seat a little bit. "When your in a siege the first thing you need to do is keep your Morale strong. The best way to win a siege is to break the will of the people in the castle. Coy was either a simpleton in how to defend a castle from a Seige or he is some kind of sadist and was encouraging the madness in the place. "
I laugh a little bit " Everything in the castle felt twisted up.....like a funhouse Mirror. My emotions we amped up. Though that may have been from the journey into the castle. The king of Eshanta had heard of Ayalos....but I hadn't heard of Eshanta till I met Kat. And he and Coy had some bizarre ideas on how Ayalos's laws of war work. "
I shrug "You will have to ask Ryland, Edward, or Eivor about the battle outside the Castle. Eivor sent me with Kat because we had rumors and tales that suggested to me Leonil might have been in the castle. That didn't pan out. They might have more information about any encounters with Leonil. I believe something was there other then the mirror maze. But Coy's men were armed well enough to bypass my armor...so I wasn't in much of a shape to investigate that more. Kat handed me a trump and I stumbled to the courtyard. I think the guards who drug me to the church took the Trump."
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Post by Admin on Mar 19, 2023 5:02:54 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/j5FLskF/Florimel~jpg "Whatever they think that they search for, it would be better done using the Pattern rather than all those inferior tricks.
"Sand and I never got along, and I could never understand her ways. She and her brother were quite mad. Their mother too. I don't know where Oberon met such a woman. It has been many decades since anyone has seen or heard anything from either of them, so why reveal herself now? And if she's meddling, we can be sure her brother is involved somehow. There used to be a few trump cards of theirs floating around. I wonder what happened to them; they could come in useful very soon.
"Now we come to Eshanta. Coy's men attacked you. Why? Did you battle any of the forces from the Courts of Chaos?"
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Post by Brian on Mar 19, 2023 5:12:36 GMT
"We had a few probing skirmishes before Kat and I went to the Castle," I say answering first. The second group of chaos forces that stormed the castle I didn't fight. The King of Eshanta's men stabbing me sort of took some of the wind out of my sales. They had weapons that were strong enough o make it past my armor." Brian takes a moment and is silent. "I want to Blame Coy because of his previous interactions with us. However....Truth be told the whole place was mad. It was a siege where everyone was ill-disciplined. The guard attacked me as I was trying to find a way to go outside and help the people. They didn't really care if their people lived or died. They were haughty and arrogant. I tried to disable them. Because they were just following the orders of fools. And killing men who followed the orders of fools was a sour taste in my mouth. However once it turned into a them or me situation I made short order of them. They wanted me to go into the Dungeon and be disarmed....when I volunteered to help them. I wonder how many of the people who were in the Pyramid of Skulls the King of Eshanta had in his throne room were good men who wanted the best for his kingdom and her people." I say to her "How many Amberites stumble into the courtyard? How many lose their trumps? I think some of your guards might have trumps....maybe someone in the church possibly as well. After a long enough time frame....there might be a few suitable Trump Decks in collections of people in Amber found in scraps."
"I am also sure Sand thinks you are using and Manipulating me. She is mistaken but its an honest mistake. I am being helpful to you for a variety of reasons. Most importantly because the safety and survival of Amber is in the best interests of everyone. I tell you what I think you need to know....presuming out situations were reversed....I would expect the same of you. And if problems came and you held back and cost people their lives....well....Thats how I view the nature of the Honor of the Throne. And I couldn't expect to be respected if I do not provide to other thrones the same respect."
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Post by Admin on Mar 20, 2023 5:54:06 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/j5FLskF/Florimel~jpg "So, in one misadventure, you managed to make enemies of the Courts of Chaos and the Eshantans..Eshantii...Eshanters..whatever they call themselves. Eshanta is of no concern, of course, but the Courts are another matter. A shame you had to be involved in 'probing skirmishes' - Merlin won't like that - but since you slaughtered the castle guards, he might be in a more forgiving mood. The Jesbys will be less easy for you to placate.
"A more important question is how did you manage to get a hold of a trump card? Did Lorelei deal you a few from Gerard's deck?
"Brian, you are a big, strong brave man more likely to use his sword than his wits. Of course I'm using you. But for the good of both our realms, I assure you."" I cannot for the life of me understand what you are talking about. Eshanta? We have no agreements with them, and their land is in the Courts' sphere of influence. Why would we get involved? And more importantly, why did you and your friends throw yourselves into the fight?"
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Post by Brian on Mar 20, 2023 8:29:14 GMT
I look oddly at Flora for a moment.
"What i said to you that you failed to understand is well this....I tell you things I feel you need to know because I respect the job you are doing. As for some of the odder questions you asked me...Why in the world would Lorelei compound her situation with Trumps by giving me one? That is not the sort of thing she would do. And why do you think she would give me something that you believed she would steal? That isn't really in the character of her relationship with me. I like her and she's a friend....but not the sort of friend who would casually give me stolen Items. And I'd not take stolen items. Kat gave me a Trump card. And I'd imagine she was given it by Eivor when we went off to storm the Castle in Eshanta . "
I shake my head. "I don't think their are Eshantan's to be enemies with at this point. Not how events were playing out in the castle. I tried to use my wits to save their people. That all failed....so I killed people who tried to kill me. If that is the way in the Golden Circle then you have an odd way of handling military issues. As for the probing Skirmishes....we didn't start that either. We were an army in their war zone....probing Skirmishes are what a person the Armies of Chaos would need to do....at least how things are normally handled on the battle field when you show up with an army to a war and you are not one of the parties involved. And being mad at Probing Skirmishes is another bit of oddness that I am surprised of." I shake my head.
I sigh "Kat convinced me to help her. Upon hearing of Kat's need the other's joined in. I was going to need some stout friends to solve a problem of my own that is personal so I went along for that reason. Why Ryland and Edward choose to get involved I can't say. " I shrug " Kat's case was pretty dire and she was convincing. But if Chaosian's want to be upset that I killed one of their own because she refused to yield and in another battle fought back their attack and lost men in the process well....They would have get very upset at foolish things if that upset them. And their actions seem far from Foolish." I laugh a bit.
"They actually seem to have more operational information then we do. And again.....I tried not to kill people. I did my best to try to convince them to act in their best interests. And for my desire not to kill them they tried to kill me. The more I tried to convince them to let me help them the more aggressive they were to me. And I was injured in the process."
I shake my head "Thats why I said Eshanta was a mess. I've encountered lots of people who are aggressively non cooperative with offers of help in this current series of crises...most of them ended up Dead. None of them dead by my hand, all dead by their own foolishness. The only people dead by my hand during this foolishness were people who attacked me. People who were in a war zone and who died because of the consequence of their wars. Wars I didn't start, and Wars I got involved in only because of my desire to help Lady Shelley and Princess Kat. Maybe I need to stop helping desperate women in over their heads. That is how I ended up being made High King, and helping another woman has been the source of my troubles since I came here" I nod a bit
I then stand up "Do you have any other questions you need a debriefing on?"
I sigh a bit at all of this.
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Post by Admin on Mar 23, 2023 6:53:03 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/j5FLskF/Florimel~jpg "Lorelei has said many times that she doesn't consider what she did as stealing. You both are such good friends; maybe you don't believe it stealing either. Hence, you taking a card from her. It being Eivor's is more likely, so I will return it to her when I see her next.
"A shame about Eivor being involved in that mess. The rest of you have it bad, but she was fighting against her own House. Lady Jesby will be most displeased with her.
"No, you may go for now. Once I have heard from the others, there may need to be some other questions for you."She gets back to her coffee and toast. "One more thing: I'd say if you surrendered to them that they would have been more interested in hearing your story and might have treated you better. You might have even been able to save Eshanta."
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Post by Brian on Mar 23, 2023 10:46:40 GMT
I shake my head at Flora
"For all you would know I told her that was a bad idea.....keeping the cards. I care for her, she feels sometimes like a little sister.....but that was not a sound course of action. And Given the King of Eshanta had a large pile of severed heads.....that seems far less likely. Given the fact they were all exceedingly paranoid it seems more likely they would have killed Kat and I. But who is to say, you could be right. Since I have come to the Golden Circle I have encountered people who needed help. They have all refused it. Usually with extreme arrogance and rudeness. Even when I offered people who turned into my enemies the easy path they turned it away with an insult. Usually with less rudeness then the people who should have taken friendship. You say that when I encountered a better-equipped army and the men I brought were all cut down to the man....that they would be aggrieved at me...That seems to be the way of the people from the Golden and Thelbane I have encountered. Even better I wasn't the Commanding officer but one of several seniors. You can certainly understand why I felt Surrendering would have lead to Kat and I both being dead. It makes me feel I shouldn't have taken my wife's advice to come here."
Brian gets up and nods....pausing before going.
"And yet....you are family. For all the pain this brings me.....all the pain you lot bring me.....not being there for family hurts me worse. If I am lucky the not knowing pain will be solved before I die. You have been generous with your counsel and I do appreciate it."
With that I make my way from Flora's company.And I go to seek out the religious folk of Amber....to get tidings on Matthew.....whose story has been on my mind. Or check with the City guard to see if he had lived through the fight. Also go to the Rebman Embassy as I wish to inform Queen Moire of my intent to enjoy her hospitality
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Post by Admin on Mar 24, 2023 8:48:34 GMT
OOC: Probably time to shift into a new thread in Chapter 4.
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Post by Brian on Mar 24, 2023 10:27:04 GMT
Ooc: indeed
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