Collab of Spleen and Gold, Harnia and Kunland The mighty stone construction of Harnia's Keep was as intricate as a hive of wasps, with many cold stone chambers fit for every occasion. Deep in the heart of the fortress is the generals quarters where General Frederick of Sacrosanct conducts all the tedious paperwork the minotaurs seemingly purposely avoid. With Darmckin gone north all the weight of the business end of the Horns fell upon Frederick's aged but capable shoulders. The balding man sat straight in his oaken chair by his large desk that was pulled as close to the rugged stone wall as it could without becoming scratched, leaving a perfectly annoying amount of space for the stray pen or bobble to slide through and onto the cold carpeted floor. The aging soldier cleared his throat every so often as his pen scritched and scratched the bleached parchment he so anxiously wanted to be finished with. The man wore a fine red silken wardrobe that hung off his once muscular body quite nicely, though you could tell it was worn under the occasional coat of mail and plate from time to time. The white streaks that littered his short beard and remaining hair told of a very heightened age, coupled with the crevices that dug deep into his wrinkled face, one would assume this man a washed up desk general from this point forward. As much as some would try to agree with stating Frederick was all out of tricks, he wasn't and he would prove any man wrong with a youthful swing of his sword at a moments notice, but for now he sits alone in his brightly lit chambers swinging a pen rather than a polished blade.
There was a knock at Fredericks door, a knock that managed to make the thick door jump from its hinges for a split second, the type of knock Frederick has grown to recognize as a sign of a polite minotaur on the other side. With pale eyes the General scanned the door as if expecting more before responding in a remarkably unexpected strong voice, "Come in."
The old mans eyes returned to his work and he scratched off a few more letters as the door gently swung open. The door was twice the size of the average human door, renovated for the comfort of the minotaurs, but even with this size Freg Gerntef found that his entire body matched the frame of the door a little too perfect, causing him to fold his broad shoulders as he entered.
"Well met, Freg," The General noted as he settled his pen in a vial of ink, and turned sideways in his seat to face the giant, and glacing at the mighty axe of the High King that the famous minotaur leaned on.
"Well met indeed, Hinan Frederick," Freg said as the consonants boomed out of his mouth in the typical Harnian accent.
The term Hinan, or Human as it is translated to in the common tongue was not a term Frederick was free of, but still not one he particularly enjoyed, however over the years he has grown used to it and realized that the Harnians use it more as a term of endearment and recognition than a racial segregation. Frederick cleared his throat, "So I have heard about your plans, in fact I'm pretty sure the entire world is pretty aware already."
"Such is the way of things as of late," Freg added, "I do plan on an expedition, but I am not above manners, and wished to discuss it with you first."
"Very well, I appreciate the sentiment, as I know very well how many Harnians you could convince to abandon their positions with your," The General motioned at the High Kings axe, "Well you know, I won't pretend to know Harnian politics, but I appreciate it as always Freg."
Frederick gave the minotaur a thankful smile and leaned back in the chair, "However, it would appear you are not the only one here to talk to me today about your expedition, Kunland is waiting outside."
"Yes, I passed them on my way in, I had them wait," Freg said, looking up at the stone ceiling, "Why did you have them wait, though?"
Frederick just slapped a lazy hand on the paper and looked up at the minotaur with a tired look.
"Understood, Hinan," Freg said softly, or as soft as a minotaur would comfortably get, Frederick could have sworn the Heroic minotaur had a tinge of amusement lacing his words.
Freg poked his head out of the door and made a motion for the Kunlanders to come in.
The first of the Kunlanders to enter made quite the noisy entrance as the greaves of his heavy armor clanked on the floor. The man, if one wanted to call him that, swept his gaze over the room, briefly pausing as he looked at Frederick, before stepping to the side of the doorway and saying “Announcing Dame Marshall Alarch and Dame Loreley of Kunland.” As he spoke two women stepped into the room. The first, a human, swept into the room with an air of authority. The second woman, sporting the body of a snake below the waist, was definitely not human.
The human women regarded Frederick and Freg for a moment before speaking “As Thanos,” She gestured at the armored Kunlander, “said, I am Lynette Alarch. I have heard that you have a bit of an expedition planned.”
"I do indeed," Freg said with a nod of his head, welcoming the entrance.
Frederick had an annoyed expression on his face, the whole world had heard of this plot before it had reached his commanding ears. Of course, Frederick kept the annoyance to himself, as there was little for him to say about it with the course of how things were going, after all another country had already answered the call, it was hardly in the Generals hands now. Luckily, Frederick knew Freg was more than capable of handling his own, still it would have been nice to have been notified a long while ago.
"Ladies, would you please have a seat," Frederick said as he pushed past his annoyance and motioned towards two softly used wooden chair that sat against the wall. The General then looked once again at the woman with the snake coils under her humanly torso and questioned his own courteous request as he chewed on the inside of his cheek.
Loreley raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid that's verily impossible, milord" Her silky voice seemed to hold a hint of humor.
Frederick nodded attentively at the expected reply and figured it was probably the best strategy to just let the guests speak for themselves at this point, and he raised his chin in question, "So what are your plans with Freg?"
"You mean besides loaning him a large formation of my soldiers?" Lynette asked as she waited for the armored Thanos to retrieve one of the before mentioned seats. She gave the man an appreciative nod as she lowered into the seat. "Look," She said after a moment, "We need information. And we need it now. There are two portions to strategy. Knowing yourself and your troops, and knowing your enemy." She trailed off for a moment before continuing. "I know nothing of my enemy."
Freg listened carefully at the woman's words as thoughts darted to and fro in his ever active mind. A sharp stabbing pain would burn across his head at every mention of the word enemy, as if the Darthlukian were there in the room listening with Freg. After the last burning sensation wore off, Freg lifted his ear commanding voice that erupted from his grizzled face, "The enemy are very well known to us, and we are known to them. I have copies of my unfinished book if you ever wish to read my previous findings."
Freg paused as if thinking deeply, the whispers were shouting at him and he urged them to go away with his own minds voice. They shouted again but this time Freg managed to suppress the whispers through sheer will.
"My plan is to go to the center of the lost lands, to the commanding spire," Freg continued, receiving the surprised glances of even Frederick as he announced this.
"You see, the Darthlukian think off of a thartag, or evil mind, like a hive of super bees. In every spire they have an elder brain from which the signals of the thartag are sent out. Where do these signals come from in the first place, I often wondered in my youth. However now I know, the largest spire of the Darthlukians, the one in the center of the lost lands, the center of the world, holds the origin of the thartag, and upon reaching it, I theorize, one could tap into it. I could learn all their secrets, weaknesses, everything, and possibly even reverse or control it, the dead one willing," The rare minotaur smirk couldn't help but wrestle its way on Freg's face as he finished his short speech.
Frederick nodded in thought throughout the entire pitch, up until the mention of the dead one, in which he couldn't help but suck a little air in as he made a tight cringing face, as if he had tasted something sour. After a split second of cringing, Frederick regained his posture and spoke approvingly, with a hint of a generals skepticism, "A brilliant idea, but how can you be so sure such a thing exists in the center?"
Freg just glanced at Frederick with his coal eyes, as if the answer was plainly obvious, "Decades of study and first hand experience."
"But what if," Loreley's singsong voice held a hint of worry, "this spire you speak of somehow manages to gain control over you? To control these... Darthlukians? Yes, to control these Darthlukians over a large area it must be using some verily powerful magic."
"It's not magic," Freg said plainly, "They feast upon magic as starving wolves, for they do not possess it."
"No," Freg continued, "For them to gain such control it would be through a disruption of natural magic, a taint so to speak, a taint which I as well as many Harnians have already wrestled. You speak a sound warning, but one that must be taken lightly, as the reward of the expedition or at least trying would be wiser than a slow ignorance driven defeat."
"I agree" Lynette leaned forward slightly, "the risk is greatly outwayed by the potential reward. If nothing else we need knowledge. What these Darthlukians can physically do. How they fight. If they are a monolithic force or not. Anyone of these questions answered would be worth a grand sum of gold drachma."
The seasoned General spoke up, "They are very adaptive fighters, much like strategists they change their approach when they find that their current tactics are failing them, however they do this much quicker than any earthly general."
Frederick snapped his finger as if sealing his point, "To over take them is to first overtake their way of communicating, this much I agree with Freg."
"Milord general,"Loreley spoke up, eliciting a glare from Lynette, "while familiar it pains me to admit that I can't place your accent. Would you mind telling me where you came from?" Something about her tone indicated that she actually knew more than she was letting on.
Frederick's pale eyes studied the serpent woman for a split second, a habit he had grown accustomed to while commanding field drills, his glazed look was soon rebuked as he formulated his answer, "I was born in the Holy city of the West."
"Sacroscanti!" If tone could kill, all who heard Lynette's exclamation would have dropped dead that instant. She bolted to her feet, and her hand reached for a sword that was missing from her hip.
"A slow ignorance driven defeat," Freg reiterated as he faced the racial explosion with emotionless eyes.
"Ser Minotaur is correct" Loreley placed a restraining hand on Lynettes shoulder. If Lynette hadn't known better she would have sworn she saw a glimps of amusement spread across the lamia's face. "Methinks," Loreley continued, "it is past time we let bygones be bygones."
Frederick sighed as his typical annoyed visage reermerged, "Back on track," The General said with a dismissive tone, "How much do you wish to pledge to Fregs expedition?"
Lynette narrowed her eyes as she looked at Frederick. “Five hundred troops. One hundred of which are cavalry.” She paused for a moment before adding “No mages.”
“Dame marshall” Loreley said with just a hint of reproach, “I believe we had discussed sending an entire tagma, not a single numeri.
Lynette closed her eyes as she shook her head. “I simply will not release so many troops under the commander of a… a sacrascanti or one who affiliates with a sacrascanti.” She let ample emotion into her voice to make it clear she was not going to budge on the point. “I believe I am being quite generous anyways.”
Loreley simply shrugged. “Ser Minotaur, would you mind disclosing how many have signed up to join your expedition?”
The old minotuar took a moment to watch Fredericks brow furrow at the displeasure Lynette was expressing about his origins, and with his curiousity satisfied Freg turned his gaze to Loreley.
"The eager masses of Harnia have shown interest, too many in fact to take with me. Therefore, I have chosen four hundred highly skilled and seasoned Harnians to accompany Grotag, Jernkin, Silini and I, as well as fifty to scout around as the main force marches for comfort," Freg said before he cleared his throat and looked expectingly at Frederick, who sat with his fingers in a thoughtful pyramid.
Frederick looked up at the giant and folded his fingers, " You may take two hundred high end archers and five hundred diciplined troops with you, but I feel we would need more pledges of nutrition and supplies, most of which I can provide."
The General returned to his thoughts, "If this expedition goes well enough, I can see a possible funding of a supply train to go into the lost lands directly, allowing fresh ventures and bases to pop up in enemy territory."
Freg nodded at the Generals thought, and with a clear voice he recounted the numbers as well as the investive idea, "An interesting side effect. Very well, there will be five hundred Kunlanders, four hundred and fifty Harnian Horns, and seven hundred Crusader Horns, with supplies being provided by the General, and I assume Lady Lynette?"
Lynette lowered herself back into her seat, her eyes glazing over for a moment as she lost herself in thought. She tapped her foot twice on the ground before turning to regard Freg. “We will provide supplies for approximately one thousand soldiers as well as assign a kentarchia to help provide protection for any supply trains the expedition will use.” She paused for a moment before adding “In exchange I expect Kunland to have equal ownership and full access to any bases that might be set up.”
Loreley leaned in and whispered something into Lynette’s ear. The word ‘mage’ was just loud enough to be overheard by the others in the room. Whatever it was that Loreley had whispered, the only response she received was a simple shake of the head.
“Are these terms acceptable?” Lynette asked, her attention apparently fully on Freg and pointedly ignoring Frederick.
"Acceptable, yes," Freg said thoughtfully, "However I would put any ideas of bases out of mind until the expedition is done."
"There is one last concern I have," Frederick said abruptly, "Will you be leaving anyone in particular in charge of the Kunland troops, or shall we arrange commanders and heroes?"
“You need not worry about our chain of command. Knight commander…” She crossed her arms as she searched her memory for the man’s name, “Harbin shall in command of all Kunlander troops present, unless and until a higher ranked officer is sent. Our chain of command is sophisticated enough to handle any situation in which he is no longer able to lead the troops. As for heroes we-“
“Will be sending two” Thanos spoke up for the first time since the conversation had started.
“Excuse me? I believe-“
“That your emotions are getting the better of you.” Lynette scowled as she was interrupted for a second time. Thanos didn’t seem to mind raising the Dame Marshal’s ire, although given that his face was hidden behind a helm it was hard to discern his emotions. “The Emperor made it clear he wanted this expedition to be a success. If you will not full heartedly follow his orders then I shall champion his cause. I presume Loreley is of like mind.” A slow nod from the lamia confirmed his belief.
Lynette sighed before slowly rising to her feet. “Very well then. I shall leave any further details to you two. Good day Freg, Sacrascanti.” She looked at the two men in turn before turning and exiting the room.
“I beg you forgive the Dame Marshal for her puissant… prejudice towards you milord.” Loreley said to Frederick. “The history between Kunland and Sacrascant has been one of wanion. Fear not, the two of us,” She gestured at Thanos, “shall be most liefest in our dealings with you. Now tell me: is there anything else you wish to discuss at this time?”
"If this is all you pledge, then with appreciation due, we may end our conversation and revisit further details after we rally the troops and take account of supplies," Frederick nodded his balding head at his own words as his right hand pinched his quill and held it to the paper that sat before him.
“I shall see to some final preparations on our end then.” Thanos stated. “We shall be ready to leave on your word.” He gave a curt nod before turning and leaving.
“Ser Minotaur. Ser Frederick” Loreley gave a deep bow, “now I will take my leave as well. I look forward to working alongside you.”
"likewise," Freg grunted in his minotaur fashion.
-Kunland has joined the expedition
-The expedition is now rallying
- FREG
