Herbert was sitting by himself at the corner of a table. He was the only one his cult had sent, but he didn't let that get him down - he'd been whistling to himself as the others squabbled, playing with a piece of string. Over his rough travelling attire, he was wearing a robe, entirely purple just because he could. There were a few others there from other Old One cults, but Herbert's knowledge of their favoured deities was generally little more than superficial, and their customs were definitely beyond him. Few of them spoke to him, or made any signs of greeting - mostly, they simply looked at him strange when they thought he wouldn't notice. The mage didn't mind, though - he was used to being seen as a strange person. All of a sudden, one of his gnomish hosts started speaking. Herbert listened attentively, though he couldn't help but keep fiddling with his string. Towards the end of the speech, Herbert for once found that he had something in common with the other cultists - they all traded smirks and knowing looks; those fools, thinking the fate of the world rested with feeble trinkets. Once even a single of their Elder masters was summoned, the world would be plunged into madness and despair, the likes of which the nine hells themselves had never known.

Still, until then they might as well settle for the next best thing. Twiddling his thumbs, Herbert waited for the gnome to finish. As the idea of adventuring bands was brought up, the madness mage was staring blankly at the table top before him, his face mostly concealed by his hood. His pupils started shrinking as he began to sink into visions of blood - of himself tossing lightning and madness into masses of densely packed humans. His palms started sweating and his breathing slowed - he might have been romanticizing, but an adventuring band didn't seem like such a bad idea. Not being the sort who questioned his superiors, Herbert simply assumed that everyone would go along with the idea, and was deeply disconcerted when a self-assured, female voice cut through the air. Of course, he thought as he was brought back to reality, there was bound to be some whining - he felt some aggravation, and decided to rise, himself. Why not get a word in before everyone started yelling in each other's mouths. His purple robes swirled as he left his chair. "Always, complaints. Something has to be done, and this is as good as anything. Where it comes to choosing who goes, picking straws is the best solution, or each group will consist only of worthless cannon fodder like myself. Not that everyone won't try to cheat, anyway, but I can a least hope that will see our hosts incinerate some of our more disagreeable higher-ups".

Leaning forward, he spread his hands on the table and looked out across the room. "This is obviously a dangerous undertaking, and one of the most distinguishing attributes I've discovered in most of you is cowardice. If I didn't know better, I'd wonder how you ever achieved the power you have!". More than one angry glare was levelled at him right there and then, and one particularly large orc rose and growled at the mage, who raised an eyebrow. "I can see your scars, fool - I'm obviously not talking about you! Returning to the issue - the woman here said that everyone has qualms about going with everyone. All the better! It won't matter who we're paired with!". Several snickers, a few amused sighs and some stifled laughs cut through the silence of Herbert's pause. Smiling, he spread his arms and nodded. "You also asked how this sneak-thief had planned to accomplish it all - as they always do: sneak, steal, rinse, repeat. This isn't a military strategy, or even a strike against the nations of self-righteousness, but a collection of adventuring bands. There is no plan - we simply go out there, draw steel, kill monsters, gather artefacts, power and experience. You know how these bands operate. What we are hoping for is that we will be met with enough success that at least some of our bands become powerful enough to counter these... "heroes" that are giving us so much trouble. In short, our superiors have devised a plan that will give them fighters with much power and no authority. It's pretty clever, but will probably collapse from the same infighting that has always plagued us".

Yes, he'd gotten caught up and gone a lot farther than he originally intended. Luckily, no one here would have more than the faintest idea who he was, so there was a chance he'd survive once he ditched the purple robes... unless he got killed right then and there.

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