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He allowed himself to relax at Zell's words, it didn't prove that there was no influence but at least it gave them time to-

[quote=Zell]
He stretched his neck to one side and then straightened up his posture.  "No worries though. I've got it under control.  Trust me."
[/quote]
At once the tension returned to his shoulders, 'I've got it under control' such innocuous words, were it about anything else he would be calm but in this case? It just reminded him how [i]he[/i] assumed he could handle it when he made the contract, unaware just how quick and subtle the influence ran. He needed to do something, say anything, but just as he was about to speak Wulrick asked if they were ready to leave.

Right, they were on a schedule. He would need a moment to speak with Zell again, if there were no signs of influence yet then they still had time, he just hoped they could deal with it as soon as possible.

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Fuck, it reminded him of the corporate meetings he had participated in, 'course this time it was different being literal life or death. It didn't stop the stuffy feeling that permeated the air and made him restless, to be truthful he was not comfortable, the conversation with Zell was still fresh in his mind and warring about several different topics but it would have to wait until the meeting was done.

At least there were some familiar faces, he stepped up as the High Septum Areleth called for him to recount their story, he tried to summarize it as best as he could, clinical, detached. Half the room was watching them as if they were the new interns to be exploited and the other half was just playing along but desperate enough to use anything. He could sympathize, at least the part of him that was still able to do so, but right now he was on a battlefield that was known to him.

Fucking politics.

He had realized some good time ago that no one was truly free from them but being thrown back into it so suddenly was still jarring, perhaps he had never escaped them in the first place.

Finishing with his story up to current events, slightly edited to omit certain parts, and for quick retelling, he looked back to his party in case anyone wanted to recall the parts he wasn't present for.

Adam was the first to step up.

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After some questions were asked and parts of their story were elaborated on he stepped up again, the bread and butter of politics is power which comes in many forms money, personnel, and of course, information. In this room there was a power imbalance, the locals held all the cards and even if they weren't planning on doing anything against them it was still an unfortunate fact that they were capable of hurting them, so how coule he proportionate the security of his party? [abbr=Hook]"Well, there you have it, our entire journey so far, now, I am aware you want us to help with the siege which we are willing to do, in particular, we possess information about their tactics, mindset, and people of interest, obtained through the use of a Blessing of Lathop so it is from the perspective of an elite in their ranks"[/abbr] Shifting the power balance of course, now they weren't just [i]another party[/i], information was disclosed, personal power was implied and ability was revealed. 

[abbr=Line]"Any questions?"[/abbr] Their position was still weaker than he would have liked, but it was a start. The rest would come in time. But now he had to focus on keeping their momentum, determination flashing in his mind as he saw the looks they gave each other before someone decided to [abbr=Sinker]ask a question[/abbr]