Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Digital Hellhound]

Ah. Perhaps that time would come soon, after all. He smiled as he spoke.

'I've never met a lizardman before, Master Milon. I know so little of your kind; I do apologize if I make some error of conduct. Why, the only thing I have heard of your kind is that it is beyond painful for you should someone rip off your scales. I heard of someone who did so, taking them one by one, keeping one of you screaming for hours! It must've been quite dreadful for him,' Amon said. He gave a short laugh. 'But I admit, that tale might be just an imaginary one. It would be interesting to know - I do love learning of other races.'

He frowned. 'I don't suppose you have any relation to the common lizards that scurry at the feet of higher species? I saw a group of children roasting one on a stick as I came here. It cannot be good eating, I agree, but there was something quite skillful in the way they kept it alive for so long even as it burned!'

He shook his head. 'My most humble apologies. I get so easily distracted. In any case,' Amon said, pointing at a trio of irregulars at random. 'You three! Come with me. I will be responsible for your training from here on.'

---
Take three of the irregulars.

[Taricus]

"You three, stay right where you are. Until any of you prove able, you get no respite in this. Now, Amon, you'll leave here, without a single henchman. If you want a few thugs to be your own cronies, you'll have to find them yourself outside of here. Now, begone."

[Shootandrun]

A shadow fell over the elf as Maekar stepped across the room, but he glared at the lizardman as he joined the conversation.

"You are training the irregulars, Milos. That does not make you their commander, or the cabalist responsible for assigning them. Only their master-at-arms. If the elf wishes to take soldiers on a mission sent down by the higher ups, you have nothing to say about it. Petty provocations and squabbles are below us."

He shifted his gaze, watching Amon now.

"With that being said, there's no reason for you two to have a dispute over this. The lizard has a point - these weaklings we call soldiers can barely hold a blade. Muirgen, on the other hand," and as he said this he pointed towards her, across the room, "is armed and armored, and one of our finest combatants. Why don't you and her go to meet the bandits, and Milos will be free to continue his training?"

[Digital Hellhound]

'I think not,' Amon replied. The languid pleasantry was gone from his tone. 'You must see how fundamentally self-destructive this is, lizardman. To the abyss with your vanity. You have your skillset, and I have mine - this Cabal is not solely you, nor are you its sovereign ruler. Do you really think you would accomplish anything alone? Our plans will not be fulfilled by half a hundred of brutes, no matter how hard you think you can make them! Not here, not in the Capital.'

He shook his head. 'I will work with you, lizardman, but I will not serve you, and nor will the rest of our little coven. I require the services of our followers. They are not yours to command,' he continued. 'They will come with me, and I will make them of use as something more than thugs. I do not think bloodshed at this stage would be looked upon kindly.'

His hand was ready to take the knife. This lizard could fight, he had no doubt - but gods willing, it would also see sense.

The giant interrupted them, however. He nodded to the man.

'If Muirgen wishes to accompany me, I will be glad to have her. Yet I must insist on these three, at the least, for reasons I have laid out.'

[Deep Waters]

Muirgen sighs, looking at her drink, before standing up with a slight creak of her leathers. Moving closer to the three arguing cabalists, she glances at Maekar, then more lingeringly at Amon. After a moment, she shrugs dismissively, "If you don't mind a pause in your training, Maekar, I don't mind pausing it. A little fresh air would be good for me, I think."

"That said..." Muirgen turns, stepping back so that she's standing beside Milos, facing the smith and the elf. Her stance is deceptively relaxed, one hand resting casually on her sword. "Amon, I've no gripes with your kind, but do try not to take the high ground right after making thinly-veiled threats of torture to a fellow cabalist."

[Shootandrun]

Maekar nodded at Muirgen's comment, although he groaned internally as she took her position. The last thing we needed was a standoff, woman, he cursed - but he cursed in silence, and instead sided with her for her last argument. "That we can all agree on," muttered the smith. He turned his gaze from Muirgen and frowned at the lizardman.

"Now, Amon came asking for ten men, and now he is willing to take three. That is called a compromise, Milos, and I would advise that you agree with it. There's little need to waste more time on this, while we could be doing something productive, yes?"

He could feel a headache growing in the back of his mind as he spoke - the group was so young, and already trouble was brewing. This would not do.

[Taricus]

"As much as your plan makes sense Maekar." Milos said, turning to face the new entrant, before continuing on. "But at the same time, it also lacks substance. There is no commander, nor a master at arms, thus reciting those positions is useless unless they are filled. If you fill them, and the persons with them give an order, I will be content with their decision." He said, more or less ignoring Amon's speech for the moment.

[Shootandrun]

The smith ground his teeth and frowned, and when he spoke there was a dark edge in his voice. He had no time for these idiocies.

"All right, let me reformulate. You and the elf have the same rank. By right, if your orders are conflicting, you should split the troops equally and carry on. In truth, he is acting on behalf of Nargoth, while you are doing your own thing, so I'd say he deserves to have the majority of the troops - but that's disputable. So in theory since you have the same authority he should have twenty five, and you should have twenty five.

He is asking for three, Milos. I believe that is more than agreeable. We can discuss ranks at a later date - now, what I'm asking is that you stop making a fuss over three thugs when you still have over forty with you, and that we all go back to work."

[Deep Waters]

"Missing a few days of training won't hurt them much, Milos." Muirgen agrees a tad reluctantly, glancing back at the irregulars in question. She had no compunctions about defending a fellow warrior, and didn't really believe that the extra men were necessary even if she wasn't planning on accompanying Amon whether he liked it or not-- but it wouldn't do to let this escalate too far while said men were watching. Nothing broke discipline faster than seeing your superiors bicker amongst themselves. "I can even try to squeeze in a little drilling while we travel, although I can't make any promises."

[Taricus]

"And I cannot, and will not, accept a compromise on this. I am not about to sacrifice the quality of our men just so that one would-be noble can feel comfortable on what is basically a courier run. There's literally no danger to him so long as he doesn't fuck up in dealing with the bandits. Unless there is actual proof of it being dangerous, the troops stay until they're finished training."

[Azthor]

"Amon. This is a tenuous arrangement that we have and, if you cannot be bothered restraining your attitude, I assure you, it will quickly go sour. While I wouldn't trust you with any men, all the more so those so called thugs which, nevertheless, are human and hence more valuable to us than a hundred score of your elven kin, Muirgen can be trusted". Maldarion rises from his seat, a tired gaze donning his visage.

"However, Nargoth was willing to take a single individual for this task; that goes to say that, under what is expected, five are hardly necessary. My patience grows short, there is no lost love between your species and Gerl and, in all likelihood, Muirgen and Maekar couldn't be bothered interceding for you if it came down to it; Milos' own view should go without saying".

"The lizardman warrior has certainly been more useful than the incompetent fop of an elf that I had the displeasure to learn had nearly damaged a component of our library. I don't care how you truly see humans; in our presence, you will drop the attitude, or we will quickly tire of it at the expense of your continued existence".

"Muirgen will have to be on alert during the mission, and that is no situation to train men in; meanwhile, if the men are to be able to fight with any degree of cohesiveness, they must train together. Three men with no notion what they should do breaking formation are enough to tip the odds against a cohort."

"Myself, I must go and aid Darius with sorting a Cair commission involving the local graveyard. It is hard to tell what it is, but if he thought it worth mentioning, it probably has some potential. Between the guards and the two of us, it shouldn't be too risky, as long as we aren't reckless.

Take on the Cair commission with Darius, favoring caution.

[Digital Hellhound]

'My words were ill-advised, perhaps,' Amon said. 'But lack of respect should not be met with groveling. Master Milon treated me like one of his thugs and made threats to assault me. I suppose his race gives him the right, somehow?'

He eyed the scholar. What a tiresome fellow. 'I will not stand insults to the High Kin too much. Nor to my own person, from someone who knows nothing of my work. I don't believe you have done anything of use, but I am sure you simply did so discreetly. As a token of my friendship, however, I will endeavour to improve your library any way I can.'

Amon looked at the irregulars, waiting all this time. 'Perhaps I should explain. As I said, these men should not be made into simple thugs. I will train them in specialist arts - interrogation, to begin with. Spywork, assassination, poisons, all such crafts. If you believe these skills useless... I do not know what to say. This is not a Cabal of brutes. I would ask you simply to see reason.'

What crime had he done to end up with these halfwits, he did not know.

[Taricus]

"Hah, I made threats towards you? As much as your ill-built mind may say otherwise, I did not say a word that could even be mistaken as such. Furthermore, these men would be ill-suited to subterfuge, and given that they all have seen and know us, makes it far too risky to allow one to be caught. If you want spies, go do some recruiting yourself. That way, if something happens, it's only that particular group that's taken down, rather than the entire cabal."

[Digital Hellhound]

'You must realize you know nothing of subterfuge. Or, it would seem, instilling loyalty. No, Master Milon, I will have my servants out of this lot sooner or later,' Amon said. He scowled ever-so-slightly.

'You speak of this task as a thing of no importance. Do you not see? Nargoth could have sent any thug if it was truly so simple. He asked for one of us - that would imply complexity beyond simple 'courier duty'. If you disagree, we may as well send any messenger and be done with it. Otherwise - Lady Muirgen, I hope to meet you aboveground as soon as you are able. Master Milon is correct in one thing - we should not waste time.'

[Shootandrun]

Squabbles, immaturity, threats and now racism. Terrible way to start off the day, but Maekar forced himself to smile.

"Well, I'm glad we've gotten this over with." He turned specifically to Amon and Muirgen as they prepared to leave. "Good luck with the package, try not to kill each other along the way."

With that he turned around and left the room, heading for his forge. After this, iron against iron and the roar of fire would be music to his ears.

Study magic in the library.
Craft a sword for Milos. If that can be done quickly enough, spend the remaining time sketching a design for a warhammer adapted specifically for my size.