The Summit 3 - Tentative Alliance

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Beth bemoaned as she leaned against the wall. “Being stuck out here not knowing what’s going on, or having those talks going on with none of us in there.”

With the Order engaged in private discourse, Verida had led their party out into the hallway and down to the chamber at the other end, where Beth, Vivian and Lynn had elected to wait. Far enough to not be considered some underhanded attempt to have more numbers, but close enough that if things did break down violently, they could get into things quickly.

“The latter,” John answered as he paced, trying to burn away the nervous energy that vibrated through him. It was an odd thing, it made him want to move, but left his limbs shaky and weak, like a strong enough wind could easily knock him down. “At least while we were there, we could refute any accusations or correct any assumptions. Now, things are going on auto and we have to hope our inputs were good.”

“I think things will work out,” Verida calmly interjected. “Them bringing someone who can see the underpinning of reality gives me hope they will be more willing to trust our words. Nothing we said was a lie.”

“Even if we believe everything one hundred percent, doesn’t mean they will,” Harker rebutted. “Their seer might be able to tell we were being honest, but might not be able to definitely say it is what happened to her boss.”

“Which puts us back at square one,” Aeolia remarked dully.

“We’ve told our account of things,” Verida said. “And presented the proof we could. We can only hope the threat Phantom Reach poses is enough for the Order to at least factor in what we’ve presented into their plans.”

“Maybe,” John muttered, his pace slowing down as a thought entered his mind. “What if we offer to take the bulk of the Amarlis investigation so the Order can focus on tracking down Phantom Reach?”

“So do the same thing we already were doing just with us and the Order exchanging info and sharing some resources,” Martius hummed. “I wonder if the tracker can be adapted to work with that sword fragment you have. Will definitely need some retooling to shift from picking up Yerda to Amarlis as a whole, but it is possible. From there, it would be easy to pick out discordant frequencies that are similar to the ones we recorded and zero in on the ones our enemies are seeking.”

“And possibly use the Kingdom as a relay back to the sword,” Harker said. “If my understanding is correct.”

Martius nodded. “It would be a hard trick to pull off, given the distance and variety of magical signatures in play. Not to mention the relative power of the artifact between its active and inactive states will make finding it when not in use difficult.”

The gnome shuffled away a bit, muttering in his native tongue as he worked over the problem.

“What can we do to get the Order to agree to this plan?” Vivian wondered. “They’d still be doing the groundwork.”

“The obvious is my ability to generate real items,” John said. “Gear for fighting, resources, even just things to sell for funding.”

“The same could be said for here,” Verida added. “Right now things are simply in their natural state, but I believe we could produce some, what was the term? Farms?”

“Doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the boring sort or the gaming sort, both could be useful,” John mused. “The hard part will be trying to justify what might be a long lead-up time before getting anything worthwhile.”

“We are at a disadvantage,” Vivian admitted, biting her knuckle. “We have potentially a lot to offer, but little to bring to the table right now. An I.O.U. isn’t something the Order will just take without something to tide them over.”

“So they’ll want us to work for them,” Aeolia surmised. “The most basic transaction. We pitch in manpower so they can focus on hunting Phantom Reach.”

“I think it’s foolish to try and gauge what the Order will want,” Lynn interjected. “They operate at a level way above what any of us are used to. They may want something we won’t expect.”

“Great, more walking into the unknown,” Beth complained.

“You chose to walk this road,” Lynn said in a flat tone. “Don’t go and flake out because it's a hard one.”

“I’m not running away,” Beth heatedly spat. “And I reserve the right to complain about stuff I’m willing to do.”

‘I suppose that means she’s going to complain about us at some point,’ Senka chimed in, causing John to snort and draw everyone’s attention to him.

Before anyone could ask what he found amusing, the door to the conference room opened as Moira stepped out into the hall, her expression giving nothing away.

“We are ready to reconvene,” she promptly announced before marching back into the room.

“Well, let’s not keep our guests waiting,” John quickly said before addressing Senka, ‘Can you not make comments right now?’

‘I’ll keep from doing it during the important bits,’ Senka replied. ‘Though I’m not sure why you’re so panicked over that little bit of wordplay. It’s not worse than anything else we’ve said.’

‘It’s more who was nearby,’ John thought back as he moved towards the door. ‘I don’t want to piss off Lynn anymore than necessary. Flaunting that I’m fucking the sister she’s over-protective of is sure to not leave a good impression.’

‘Ah,’ Senka intoned. ‘I see. Suppose I am a bit lacking in some social graces. I’ll refrain from allusions to the bedroom until I have a more concrete grasp on them.’

‘When we’re with company, please do,’ John thought. Senka hummed in assent and fell silent as they entered the conference room. The Order members were all seated, their expressions unreadable. John found himself wondering if their emotions were as schooled as their bodies and if Teri could infer anything. A glance down the table to her didn’t give him any clue if she could.

“I take it you have reached some consensus?” Verida asked once everyone had been seated.

“Yes,” Lord Brighton replied. “Our goal of dealing with Phantom Reach has not changed. The information you have provided will likely make things easier. However, it has also become far more complicated knowing that an artifact is in play. Defeating them will be meaningless if it slips out our grasp to continue to cause problems.”

“And I presume your solution to that would be to either destroy it or inter it to your care, correct?” Harker asked, his voice restrained.

“Destroying it is too dangerous,” Lord Brighton said. “Between the charge of blood magic and its role in binding you believe it to have, it’s far too risky to unmake. So sealing it away is the best option. And I believe you’ll find the Order’s record of safekeeping impeccable.”

“And I would prefer to retain the artifact my family was entrusted to keep,” Harker shot back, his voice growing icy. “I’m sure you are familiar with how important tradition is.”

“Does tradition trump security?” Lord Brighton asked, narrowing his eyes as he turned to look right at Harker. “You have lost possession of it. There’s no guarantee a situation like this won’t occur again.”

“And can you claim it would sit undisturbed under your care with certainty?” Harker asked.

“At least I can attest there would be more than enough to deter any thieves,” Brighton calmly answered.

“Gentlemen,” Verida interjected, cutting off Harker before he could retort. “We are a long season away from reaching that point.”

“I disagree,” Lord Brighton said. “While whatever path we take after today may be unpredictable, having a defined end goal will keep us from falling too far off it.”

“That we agree on,” Harker added, though his words came out slowly, like he didn’t like the taste of them. “The question of who will safeguard the blade is something we need to square away.”

“Then perhaps a compromise,” Verida offered. “The blade can be sealed here.”

Lord Brighton scoffed, “Not much of a difference between this Kingdom and wherever he would hide it. Though I suppose there is a much larger selection here.”

“Perhaps you would feel more secure if you had some of your men act as guards?” Verida suggested. “A joint effort between us. We provide the location and you the security.”

Lord Brighton raised an eyebrow in thought, a tick mirrored by Moira in the same instant.

“An interesting suggestion,” Lord Brighton mused. “However, a simple guard of a few men hardly seems like a good enough solution.”

“Are you suggesting having a large permanent **** stationed to ease your mind?” Verida asked and John felt a small trickle of satisfaction bleed through their connection.

Lord Brighton hummed, “It wouldn’t be inappropriate for us to exchange embassies. Though, given both the current size of your forces and proximity between us, I wouldn’t expect you to need a permanent office near our headquarters.”

“An embassy you say?” Verida asked, her thoughtful expression a far cry from the amusement she was broadcasting to John.

‘Should we be worried about how well she’s manipulating Lord Brighton?’ John asked Senka.

‘She does have a few centuries of second-hand experience,’ Senka pointed out. ‘Does make me wonder what her mother got up to, though.’

“It would serve both our desire to keep the weapon secure once we recover it and ensure we maintain coordination both during this endeavor and in the future,” Lord Brighton explained, interrupting John and Senka’s brief conversation.

“That does sound like a fair compromise,” Verida murmured before turning to look at Harker, a question clear in her eyes.

“I can abide by this,” Harker slowly said.

“Well, with that settled, I believe we can get to ironing out the details,” Lord Brighton announced, only for his next words to be stopped by Verida lifting a hand.

“Not quite, Lord Brighton,” the goddess said. “There is one more pertinent issue we must discuss before drafting our agreement.”

“And that would be?” Brighton asked.

“It concerns our ability to accept settlers,” Verida answered and John managed to catch Teri’s posture shifting slightly. “When the seed was planted, a covenant was made to offer residence to a displaced group we had encountered a few days prior.”

“I see,” Lord Brighton said, his eyes drifting over to Teri. “This displaced group wouldn’t have happened to suffer a loss of members sometime around Wednesday last week, would they? Because we became aware of a natural barrier with a number of dead within it. A barrier that after some further investigation, showed to have some sort of amalgamated monster as the culprit. One that had been reduced to ash.”

“That was us,” John spoke up, seeing no point in playing dumb. “We heard about the barrier from a friend and went to help in scouting it.”

“And we were already there,” Teri added in a quiet voice. “For much the same reason. But all we found was a monster made up of wood and animal parts.”

“It locked up the barrier somehow,” Aeolia cut in. “So we had to fight our way out.”

“And afterwards, John and the others offered my people aid,” Teri said.

“Which includes an offer to settle here,” Verida finished. “One their elders have already accepted.”

“I see,” Lord Brighton said, a hand coming up to rub his beard in thought. “While I don’t want to come off as a tyrant, given the circumstances, you’d forgive me for being wary of unknown groups moving about. You are not from around here, correct?”

He turned towards Teri as he asked the question, his gaze stern and intimidating.

Teri, unflinching under his stare, nodded. “That is right. We were driven out of the barrier we had been living in for four generations by a rival clan. One we thought had been dealt with many years prior.”

“So it may be safe to assume they could be tracking you to further their ****,” Lord Brighton plainly said, with no ounce of compassion in his voice. It was the chilly tone of a warrior leader, one that had no room for sentiment. “With Phantom Reach already causing havoc in the area, we can hardly afford some roaming band coming in and increasing the danger.”

“So we’re supposed to turn our back on them and spit on our deal?” Aeolia spat.

Moira turned to glare at Aeolia but a sharp motion by her father’s hand stayed her tongue.

“I have no intention of forcing you to do that,” Lord Brighton calmly addressed. “Just making sure the implications are known. However, I can’t say that simply letting anyone in would lead to good outcomes.”

“At this moment, we only have Teri’s people as prospective settlers,” Verida said. “We don’t have a waiting list.”

“Then that should make my suggestion more palatable,” Brighton proclaimed. “Until we’ve settled this whole Phantom Reach affair, I think you shouldn’t allow anyone else to take up residence.”

John caught Aeolia tense out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t really blame her, he really didn’t like how the Order was trying to control who they let into the Kingdom. He certainly didn’t like the implication that they would fall for some deception or have their location leaked and end up under attack.

“I can understand your concerns,” Verida diplomatically said. “And given the circumstances, I’m inclined to agree with you. Between the risk from both Phantom Reach and whoever might still be after Teri’s people, it would be safer to limit access. Though having more people would mean a larger pool to draw upon should the call to arms be needed.”

Lord Brighton hummed. “There are a number of people under our aegis that don’t really hold a concrete alliance with us. Simple people trying to live an honest life.”

“If they aren’t gungho about picking up the sword for you, what makes you think they will for us?” John asked, not seeing how these people would help with what Verida pointed out.

“There is a difference in being asked to face the darker aspects of the Abyss and defending one's home,” Brighton answered succinctly. “Although I doubt many would simply join if it was only a call to join a military.”

“Not that we could compensate them at the moment,” Verida added. “Perhaps this is a topic that would be better served at a later date, once we have more than a day to organize things.”

Lord Brighton nodded. “Of course. However, your comment on compensation does bring me to my next point. You are aware of how valuable natural barriers are, yes?”

“Generally,” Verida replied, her eyes narrowing. “Are you suggesting we turn Pruzonia into some kind of resource extraction operation?”

“I am merely pointing out that having untapped resources is a great boon," Lord Brighton explained. "Since we are operating without knowing just what our enemy can bring to bear in terms of funding or material, being able to quickly match them as needed would help."

"I see what you're suggesting," Harker interjected. "You'd like first go at anything we dig up, grow or otherwise find."

"It's not an unreasonable request, I feel," Brighton calmly said. "If nothing else, the Order would likely be able to negotiate a more equitable trade than someone new to the table."

Harker grit his teeth. "That is a good point," he admitted.

"I believe that is a topic we would need to reach a consensus on," Verida declared. "If we could recess for a time, I believe we can present something to you regarding this topic."

"By all means, take all the time you need," Lord Brighton said. “Shall we leave the room or would you prefer to step out?”

Verida tilted her head in thought for a moment before smiling. “I believe I have an idea that will allow us to, what’s the saying? Ah, yes, ‘kill two birds with one stone.’”