It was only because of Lord Deswin Murror that Ash was still alive today. And, okay, so she might have wasted his sacrifice of his arm when she had carelessly thrown herself off a cliff. But that wasn't any information that he needed to know. Anyway, she had been by to see him a few times throughout his recovery. At first she only brought some food as thanks, but as her skill in Naturamancy slowly, slooowly improved, she offered to help take a look at any of his wounds that were still bothering him. Visiting his house had often brought her into marginal contact with some of his acquaintances, a few of them quite important in Stokbon's noble circles. So may this could be her chance to maybe change a few opinions. She knew it would be a touchy subject, especially since it was the Yladian siege that directly led to the chain of events that cost Deswin his arm. But as information about the plight of the Yladians trickled in through the game chat, Ash couldn't idly stand by, not when she had this chance to help. And that was exactly why Ash was now here in Stokbon, a veritable mountain of packed foods and fresh snacks in her arms. No better way than to get people more open to your ideas than if you came bearing gifts. Though maybe she went a bit overboard on the gifts, given that she was barely able to see where she was going past all the food. Luckily for her, she had run into another woman who agreed to help her carry the food towards the Murrors' manor. Ash and her companion arrived soon enough, and the attendant at the gates let them in, obviously recognizing Ash from her previous visits. Or perhaps it was just because of the rose pin she displayed rather prominently at her collar. Either way, they were led into a small dining room at the manor, and Ash gratefully set everything down, unpacking everything and getting things ready for Lord Murror's arrival. Thrown die: 63 63 / 320 @Lucia Mierz
Lucia smiled, following along with Ash having met her in the market. It was in Lucia's nature to approach anyone who was cute or beautiful, any woman who could fit into her strike zone after all was worth spending some time with to test the waters. When she heard Ash's goal though, Lucia's gaze became a bit sharp. Helping the Ylandin's was important, though Lucia's reasons were a bit different then Ash's. Lucia had commited a great many atrocities against a variety of sides, Fareldans and Ylandins no doubt suffered because of her indirectly for a variety of things. Despite her efforts of being good and supportive, in the end she still used dark magic that often had unintended consequences. Fortunately thus far, it was a bit difficult to connect these things back to her, purely because even she didn't have the ability to see just how far her carelessness might have damaged the innocent villagers here and there. The Ylandins were different though. While she no doubt placed many of them at risk as well, in the future they would be able to trace a particular incident back to her which was why she felt the need to support them now. Her efforts to lay a foundation today would allow her to smooth over that confrontation in the future as water under the bridge-- after all, everyone does things they regret during conflicts right? Lucia carried a particularly heavy looking backpack all the way with her, as if it was a traveler's bag, when asked, Lucia would always explain that she didn't have a home and that inns wouldn't be suitable for her, she used the large bag for camping normally. It was only when she began helping to arrange the food that things would take a faintly bizarre turn. "Well, I suppose this is a good start for a Lunch in for pursuasion-- We only need a hook now." Lucia mused thinking about what would be the best way to proceed. Despite her warm and gentle demeanor, the welcoming atmosphere around her typically only applied to players. NPCs would often only be intimidated or frightened from whatever dark magic residue they might find wafting about her. The death energy was particularly strong after all, Lucia didn't think that a soft approach would work since it would be impossible for her to establish trust like that. "Sylvanas, find some of their children and take them away gently. We'll give them to Ylandia as hostages under the guise of studying abroad-- This sort of tactic worked well in Asian history." Lucia commented, despite Ash being the only other visible person in the room, Lucia gave a particularly vicious order. It was only at that time that the bag on her back began to ruffle and the flap would begin to open. From the bag a corpse would slowly crawl out, a monstrous visage of rotted flesh and bone, half of it's face had been worn away, it only seemed to have one hollow dead eye left but it's armor indicated it was a woman of a higher then average military position though. Though it was missing one ear, the other stretched upward in a fine point making it's heritage easy to identify. When the corpse reached the ground, it did so with an inelegant flop, crumpling briefly before lifting it's tattered body once more. The puppet only cast an indifferent and icy glance about the room before starting to head towards one of the side doors, it's movements were a little jerky but despite it's strange movement method it was surprisingly agile as it tried to leave the dinning hall to accomplish the mission Lucia had given it. "We'll start with a normal lunch when he arrives." Lucia spoke with a gentle smile, glancing towards Ash contently. "Once Sylvanas finishes, we'll be able to move to the next step of pressuring him for support if he doesn't agree initially."
At first Ash couldn't really understand what she was hearing. What was Lucia saying? But then the corpse crashed to the ground out of the other woman's backpack, and she nearly dropped the bowl of soup she was setting at the table. Though it was also probably the shock that kept her still as stone when the obviously elven body stood up and quickly moved out of the room to carry out the orders that Lucia just gave it. "W-wait, Lucia! You don't have to- to kidnap his children! I know him, sort of, maybe I can..." Her protests faltered as the door swung open, and in stepped Deswin Murror himself. Either the corpse was faster than it looked or he approached the dining hall from a different direction, as he didn't seem as if anything was amiss. "Ms. Evretto," Deswin greeted. "And your... friend." His gaze turned briefly towards Lucia, and then he quickly looked away. Ash was suddenly aware that the atmosphere in the room had gotten tense, and that wasn't only just because she was still anxious about Lucia sending a zombie to kidnap children. "Sir," she said, trying to ease the tension. "It's, um, good to see that you're doing well. Um. Should we begin lunch?" That helped, but only somewhat. Deswin took his place at the table and Ash silently thanked any higher being that was listening when he began making small talk, as strained as it was. Ash did her best to return it, asking after... his family... Oh. Right. Well, she soldiered on with the conversation. Eventually, she found an opportunity to steer it towards the invasion of the keep. Though perhaps with the vague air of hostility in the room, it wasn't the best decision. Maybe she would have been more successful if she put off this conversation to another day. But it was too late for that. "You are saying that you want me to stand aside when the king calls Falderen to war," he said slowly. "To let the elves run over our kingdom and drive us out of our homes." Ash winced. Well when he put it like that... 'Sir, you were with us when we escaped through the tunnels. We were escorting the weak, the injured, those that couldn't fight, and we helped them flee from an immediate threat to their lives. That is the reality that all the Yladians face. Their home has been destroyed, their lives threatened by the demons from the north. But there is nobody to protect them. If you cannot rise up to be their protector as you did for us, then at the very least don't become another threat to their lives.' She's practiced those words, she'd written down a whole script to try to convince him. But now actually faced with the man, the words escaped her mind and she was reduced to nervous stuttering. "Um, I, uh..." Thrown die: 14 79/320
Lucia only chuckled a little when Ash seemed so concerned. After all, most characters would merely assume the worst from her, it was only ever players that took her to be what she really was at face value. She didn't want to press things with the woman though since the noble had arrived himself. Lucia sat at the table, enjoying a drink casually when the topic of demons and the elves came up she shot the man a glance casually, Lucia wasn't all that involved in this part of things, no if she spoke up here, she imagined things might only get more tense. Instead, she waited until Ash began to stammer before finally setting her cup down with a pinky to the table to stop it from making a sound as it touched the saucer. "Suppose we look at this from a point of profit as well. In what way would attacking a bunch of refugees help you down the line? Inevidably all that would happen is you would lose out on more of your resources, wasting the lives of good men and losing weapons, tools and whatever they might have taken out on your word to do the work given at the time. These loses are engraved and can't be turned over with simple preparation and tactics, there will naturally be losses in any war or confrontation." Lucia began, her tone neutral and her demeanor as kind and gentle as always. She could only hope that the death energy wasn't locked on too hard. She couldn't help but feel her presence was somehow making this more difficult then it needed to be. "In truth, by not fighting, you can not only save these resources, but rise above those silly enough to waste their energy fighting a meaningless war. After all, should you even be successful at all, you must know that at the very most you'll merely acquire a few slaves? And then after which what would your next move be? Wasting human lives defending your territories from the northern devils instead?" Lucia proposed with a blank expression as if the math had done itself. She didn't really feel the need to go deeper into detail, after all any kind of stat or probability had largely been outlined, while some things might be different here or there, the chances of anything exceedingly different occurring seemed slim to Lucia. Thrown die: 81 160 / 320
Ash let out a quiet sigh when Lucia began speaking. The other woman's arguments were a lot more logical and reasoned than her own planned ones, and it appeared that Deswin was listening, at least for the time being. She took this as a brief break to collect her nerves again. When Lucia was done and Deswin had time to consider her words, she began her own prepared speech. It was short, but hopefully along with the reasoned argument from Lucia, it would be enough to convince him. He said nothing as he slowly returned to his meal, but his expression was thoughtful. Pressing him any more for the time being probably wouldn't do much to endear him to their argument, so Ash did the same. She could barely taste any of the food, though, she was just that keyed up. As the pause dragged on, Ash couldn't help but shoot glances back at the door, and then to Lucia. There weren't any terrified screams or alarmed yells, so she could only assume that nobody had seen the corpse. Was that a good thing or not? Could Lucia be sure that it hadn't wandered off somewhere? She tried to forget about the zombie(...? Was that really a good idea? Maybe not, but it was better for her stress levels if she only had one problem at a time to focus all her anxiety on, so the zombie problem was relegated to the 'not currently in the room with me and thus not important' category) and took a bite out of her sandwich. Which she proceeded to almost choke on when Deswin spoke up. "Your points are fair. It is true that there will be great losses should it come to a war, just as the elves would. But you yourself have seen the destruction that resulted from an elven attack. And that was but one keep. What happens when they reach Stokbon?" He gestured out the window with his single arm, to where the city sprawled out into the distance. "How many more will lose their lives?" She brought out her last trump card: the pin that he had given her. She unfastened it from her collar and held it up. "I'm saying this as an ally of Falderen," Ash said. "The Yladians don't want war. They're not looking to conquer Falderen. They just want a home. And right now, they have that in Astorea. Any further attacks on their part will only be a response to Falderen's actions, just as it has been for a while. The Yladians only attacked Dormont because the king turned them away when they asked him for help." She was going on hearsay at this point and her script had run out long ago, but she was desperate to convince him. "We're not asking you to fight for them. Just not to march against them if it comes to that," she added, emphasizing that it was only a possibility. Thrown die: 57 +100 from Falderen Rosen Pin 317/320
Lucia only continued to wait patiently with a gentle smile, letting Ash do the job of wasting time. Lucia tried not to speak too long, and the reason was naturally the corpse that was ambling about the mansion. It's movements were jerky and sporadic but agile enough to compete with average boss monsters at Lucia's level. It was naturally a monster capable of navigating around staff and guard; from the start, Sylvanas had been a Lieutenant in life, familiar with successes and failures in the battlefield. Combined with the dexterity of an elf, it wasn't necessarily difficult to contort herself into a small shadow or slip into a room without making a sound. Keeping to the shadows, it began with the elder child, a young man by the age of 11. Not yet enough to inherit the family name, but was no doubt being groomed for the roll. Lucia had ultimate faith in Sylvanas's abilities to deal with things quickly, approaching the boy while studying, the only indicator that something was wrong was the smell. By the time he turned his head up, the corpse had already slipped an arm around his neck as it began choking the consciousness from his body. There was muffled banging of the boy's legs kicking, his struggling was truly valiant but in the end, Sylvanas was a living corpse; she would never run out of stamina provided Lucia had magical power remaining, the poor boy on the other hand ran out of steam quickly without oxygen and passed out in the elf's arms. Using the boy's fancy vestments as ties, as if used to abducting others, it began tying restraints using the boy's own clothes making sure his mouth was properly bound as well before thrusting him into Lucia's second bag meant for loot and resources. The second abduction however would no doubt go smoother, the youngest child was a youthful girl too naive to understand the dangers of the outside world. Sylvanas didn't even try to conceal her presence from the poor girl. Being directly welcomed by the innocent thing, Sylvanas stretched a hand out towards the girl's head ending it quickly with a firm grip and shake. Afterwards, it began the tying process all over again, but this time the methods were a lot more cruel. The knot tying experience naturally didn't belong to Sylvanas' memories, but in fact came from Lucia's commands and knowledge as the corpse bound the siblings together in a way where the younger sibling would be injured, having joints hyper extended, dislocated or perhaps even broken if the older brother squirmed too much. They were tied together in such a way that the older one couldn't fight back without injuring his sibling. It was unspeakably vicious to hold hostages for the hostages, but Lucia couldn't split hairs with ethics and morality as she finally set her glass down once more. "Forgive me but I'm afraid it would be in your best interest to participate in peaceful resistance. Not only for your own personal gain, but also for the sake of your family." She explained with an apologetic smile, the sound of glass breaking could be heard as the Elven corpse began it's escape. Lucia wasn't worried about the Elf being able to escape, naturally anyone trying to stop her would be greeted with the threat of the corpse digging it's teeth into the necks of the children to stop them. If they didn't want to lose the next in line for the family name they'd refrain from chasing the corpse too far. "The elves only want to live in peace, naturally, but insurance is important. They've taken it upon themselves to watch over your children in these next few years. I've spoken to a few of them and made arrangements for them to learn abroad. What happens to them while in the Elves' hands though I think will depend on your actions I'm afraid. Whether they learn how to use their titles and abilities for the good of ALL, or whether they're forced to live their lives in cells because they're threatened by your indecisiveness will be up to you won't it?" She asked with a gentle smile, patiently raising from her seat and pushing her chair back in. "Do feel free to put some time and thought into these matters though and all we've said. The Elves are naturally a patient people, and would be fine with you spending a long long time thinking things through." She explained, her tone hinting that the noble could simply spend his time 'thinking' about neutrality to remain neutral. It wasn't all that hard to explain neutrality after all.
If she had a way to see her own reflection, Ash was pretty sure she turned as white as Deswin did when Lucia mentioned his family. He had pushed himself away from the table as the crashing of glass sounded throughout the manor, but despite how tense he held himself, he made no move. Perhaps he was worried that any retaliation would harm his children, or maybe it was simply because he didn't feel like he could hold his own against two others with only one arm and no weapon. "...Do you swear on your lives that my children will be safe?" he asked, not looking at either of them in the eye. Despite the fact that he wasn't quite looking at her, Ash nodded frantically. "Yes," she added, despite having no way of ensuring that. "I swear. They'll be safe." "Then I will... consider your words," he said stiffly, one fist clenched tightly at his side. He took a deep breath and turned his gaze towards the door. "I believe that you both should leave. I will keep what you have said in mind." Ash bit her lip as she rose from the table. The hostility in the air had been cranked up to eleven, and a part of her felt a need to try and ease it. "Uh, sir-" She meekly shut her mouth when Deswin turned a withering glare in her direction. Okay, no further comments would be appreciated. Leaving everything she brought with her, Ash gave a quick glance towards Lucia and then fled the room and the manor, trying her best to stay out of the panicked commotion as people finally took notice of the elven corpse. She had a very strong feeling that that was one bridge permanently burned. But she and Lucia had at least secured a confirmation of neutrality. That was a victory, even if it felt like a hollow one.
