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[Swordstar]

Brann hesitated, staring at the bodies around him and then sighed.

"I... do not wish to be a part of more Worus deaths. But the idea is sound. Perhaps we can remind Worus of what they could be in the process."

[Powder Miner]

Jago, slipping his Elthunder under his armor and strapping his crossbow across his back, shook his head.
:"Right, uh, if I'm the be honest. You're suggesting we kill Yondell for the sake of our safety, right? Is tracking him down and going out of our way into enemy territory at all safe? Hell, is getting into a fight to the death with him and then booking it out of here with the probably enraged other council members bright? I think it just... doesn't serve any actual purpose.

I did taunt the pegasi, yeah, but I knew what I was doing; we didn't wanna run up into them, right? Here, we're running into a fortified position, and... I'm not convinced that it's going to do anything except satisfy spite."

[Swordstar]

"It's not just our safety. It's... We'd be hurting Ansel. If we destabilize his power here, Worus may rise up against him and maybe force him to send away some of his men to here. Which could help our campaign against him."

[Blade Master Model 42]

"I don't know that I'd go that far. Getting rid of Yondell is more likely to force the entire country into a lockdown sort of thing rather than send out military might against Exsten when two council members are dead. We're leaving a power vacuum as it is- Worus will work to fill it before they do anything else, I'm willing to bet."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"It's a power vacuum that could work in our favor, though. At the very least it likely would prevent Worus from sending even token aid against us. I'm still undecided because of our resources, mainly, and Jago's concerns are legitimate. If we do go, we will be attacking him at the heart of his territory, and it will be well-defended."

Diana considered.

"Perhaps the problem of our remaining resources - money, weapons, aid like staffs for Ciel - could be solved simply by killing Yondell and sacking his home. But on the other hand, that feels like mere common banditry to me."

The princess was still unsure, though it seemed the party was currently leaning toward 'yes.'

[Swordstar]

Diana's mention of weapons and Ceil reminded Brann. Glancing down at the tome in his hand, he walked over to Ceil and hesitantly held it out to her.

"Uhm... I found this and... it made me think that maybe you could use it? Only to defend yourself of course but... Enemies will naturally target the healer. They let the fighters continue to fight after all and... _{I can't always be there to protect you so I wanted you to have the ability to protect yourself if you need to.}"

The last part was quiet and a bit jumbled together, and he found himself fighting against a blush spreading across his face.

[Praefectus Screptum]

Otiros reached for the Orion's Bolt once more and nodded to himself, mumbling something in the lines "It is time". And as apparently the others were still distracted with their own plans and didn't ask him anything yet, he approached  Pataphrax's corpse, only to carefully remove a few parts of his armor to add to his own. Even if he wasn't too proud of doing something like that, he was going to need that extra armor for the next confront, it was time to prove his worth as a soldier. A soldier above the average.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Diana looked among her companions; many seemed to still be thinking it over.

"Then let's use this time to rest before we follow either plan. Let's find a good place to start setting up camp."

The princess led the party off of the roads and into the deep forests to the southwest of where they had fought Pataphrax. Once she found a good sized clearing, she called for a halt.

"We'll bunk down here and continue this discussion in the morning. Everyone, if you have any private concerns or things you wish to discuss, you can come find me. Now, as for setting up camp... Ciel will tend to our wounded, of course. Jago, Oscar, you two go hunt for food. Otiros, Brann, and Tyrn will guard the immediate perimeter. Felicia, scout around a bit and see if there's anyone looking for us. Enoch, Anita, and Lucas will set up our tents. Neeya, I hope you're a good cook. Ursa and I will go and gather firewood; we've got the only axes anyway. Wilfort... you can help any group you like."

Diana turned to Ursa.

"Now that we've all got our orders, let's go get that firewood."

[Xanmyral]

By then, Enoch had removed the strip of leather and the poison had wormed its way out of him. He nodded at his orders and set about attempting to pitch a tent, but it was rather obvious this was quite outside of his realm of expertise.

The inept mage finagled with the wooden spikes, the linen for the covering, all of it. The spikes were set in too early, then once dug up couldn't be set straight again when they were actually needed, the tent leaned  dangerously to the left, and when finally accommodated for (which required resetting the whole thing), it now instead leaned to the right.

Enoch stared at what could kindly be called an unstable tent at best silently, before taking in a deep breath and sighing. Then knocked it over rather easily with a bat of his hand at one of the supports. The strange mage looked around at his surroundings before finding what he was looking for, two large, old trees close together in the clearing. He moved towards them and extended both bare palms to the trees, touching them, and stayed in this position. Those close would hear mumbling.

[Sirus]

: "Lead the way, Princess!" Ursa hefted his axe and followed Diana in search of some dry wood for the fire.

: "By the way, Princess did good in the fight. You natural with axe!"

[Haspen]

Did she forget?

Was she just busy?

Or was she going to tell him later?

Oscar rode off to hunts for the small game.

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Well, it wasn't all me. I'll admit to being a good student but I also had a good teacher."

Diana looked up at Ursa as the two of them walked together, only taking her eyes off him every now and again to make sure she wasn't going to run into anything.

"...I wanted to thank you again. For everything. I really owe you a lot. I don't mean just for rescuing me and teaching me."

"...When you're near me... things don't seem so bad. It's... easier to fight on, to believe we can win. I... I need you around. Not just as a soldier, but as someone I trust."

That... wasn't quite what she had intended to say. But every time she started to get near the idea, she couldn't bring herself to outright say it.

Why should I care what anyone thinks? Either I'll be the queen and my word will be law, or we'll all fall against Ansel and it won't matter anyway.

But then, she had always had some difficulty expressing what she truly thought and felt. That royal blood she was just thinking about had always separated her from everyone who wasn't family; she was expected to do this, say that, always present herself regally and always, always keep her emotions to herself.... a little like Beltana, in that way, she imagined. She wondered if the way the Empress had acted toward them had been her own way of guarding herself, and she felt a little more empathy toward Wilfort and his mother.

[Powder Miner]

Rrright, hunting! Jago'd done that before with some frequency, so he knew what he was doing. Well enough that hunting gave him a chance to think things through.

Jago really didn't want to go at Yondell. He had a feeling that not only would the castle be, just... buckets of fun, but how many other Pataphraxes would they have to fight along the way...? Urgh. Jago'd still go, though, if they decided to.

[Praefectus Screptum]

Otiros turned around as soon as he heard his name being mentioned,  and nodded at the task. At least he was already done "improving" his armor.

"Understood."

[CrimsonEon]

Before even responding, Ceil wasted absolutely no time in healing Brann's wounds in quick order with only a quick swipe of healing energy over each of the individual cuts.
Then her eyes locked on the tome in Brann's outstretched hand.
: "A light tome?" Ceil craned her head to look at the cover, "Third Order Holy Incantation: Divine." Ceil stretched her hand out to tilt the tome to another angle, but after a moment's hesitation, lowered it again.
: "Brann... This is from one of the fallen Worusian soldiers, isn't it?" Ceil shifted her gaze down and away from the tome, "I can't take this in good conscience..."