Isolt will go to the knight's barracks to poach their recruits

"The barracks seems a sound suggestion," Isolt agreed with Madwick. "Converting the senior knights who have long served the Knightly Order would be difficult, especially considering that an unknown quantity of them are probably deserter demons wearing some sort of disguise. Dyna and... who knows how many others. The rookies, on the other hand, are certain to be pliable. A proper demonstration of authority and the opportunity to join my order will have them abandoning the foolish task of aiding Dyna soon enough. We can get a vampire or some similar creature to convert them for our Lord later."

"Mm, yessssss-s," Madwick leered, rubbing his hands together excited. "Young ones. Virgins, maybe." His slit, yellow eyes went half-lidded from the sides as he allowed himself to daydream about the youthful, athletic bodies of rookie knights that awaited them.

"I've got a different task for you altogether, you damnable snake-skin," the purple-caped captain chastised her unfocused underling, rapping one fist on the table to get his attention. "You get to work on the church. I will meet back with you tonight and at that time, I expect a fruitful report. So if you goof around sticking your little snake into any woman who will take it, I may just sever it; we'll learn if it regrows."

"Bah! Who opened the barrier for all of us? Me! And yet I'm subject to threats and **** at every turn! Where is my gift showing the Dark Lord's favor?" the angry channeler grumbled... though, if he knew what gift the Dark Lord had given Isolt, he would have no reason to covet it.

Luckily, the barracks was one of the few places in Merridan that Isolt readily knew how to access; she'd seen it on the way in. They'd expanded it a few times since establishing the order, to make room for more and more recruits; now, the structure loomed large against the town wall, with several sub building surrounding an inner courtyard. That inner courtyard was her stop; she knew there would be recruits training out there, the kind of fresh faces who'd never laid eyes upon the finest sword in the kingdom before. The Lord Herald suspected she'd make quick work of whatever paltry motivations they had to serve the knights, then leave with many new recruits. Of course, this would only put a small dent in the knight's forces and wouldn't get her any worth-while fighters, but the more important factor would be the strike against the morale of the knights as a whole.

Once she put the idea of defecting to a real defense **** into their heads, it wouldn't be long before others followed suit!

The courtyard of Merridan's barracks was nothing to her; the capital had many knights' barracks and each of them had a larger courtyard than this. Still, she had to admit that the knights fighting out here showed a certain surprising spirit in their training, as though they were each highly motivated to succeed. Even when she trained with her fellow faithful, she found that they rarely showed this kind of fervor. "Hmph. I suppose I should have suspected some level of ambition and zeal from these fighters, given the knights' ability to repel our demon armies on the regular. If it was that treacherous Dyna alone, she could never bolster such a persistent defense," Isolt mused to herself, while mentally noting the few flaws in the techniques of the knights in training.

Isolt tossed first her hair over her shoulders, then her cape off one arm, before clapping her silver gauntlets to gain the attention of all of the various rookies. To her annoyance, one group continued fighting in spite of her efforts to speak; she clapped again, then again, over and over, until they finally stopped. "Companions of the Knightly Order of Dyna! I am Isolt the Lord Herald, Captain of the Royal Knights of the Capital! Today I approach you with a fortuitous proposition. You see, I am here in your lovely town for the sake of a recruitment drive. I'm scouting the best and brightest knights for the sake of taking them under my wing. That's right: this is an opportunity to join my personal regiment!" the celebrity knight announced pressing one hand to her breastplate and smiling winningly at all of the assembled students.

"Royal Knight, huh?" a large, orange-haired boy with suntanned skin, shirtless and dressed in just his belt and leathers, spoke up. "If you're looking for folks to enlist, you're kinda late. Maybe if you showed up like, way earlier, but you missed a generation. We're all knights in Dyna's army now."

"Ha ha, I understand, but you must know that it is not too late to enlist," Isolt responded, pressing one hand to her hip; the boy vastly outmatched her in size and physique, but she still felt confident of her chances to best him in combat, should it come to that. "Your town has done admirably in light of our inability to outfit this remote location, but know that the time has come! This day is the day the Royal Knights begin to set up a presence within your city!"

"Don't need it!" the guy laughed, crossing his arms proudly across his glistening pecs. "We're the future of the Knightly Order! Like I said, you missed your chance! You can go replace the church, though, if you want."

"Now, hold on just a minute!" Isolt bristled, stepping towards the unflinching boy and jutting out her chin; it was hard for her to look intimidating when he so outmatched her in size. "At least hear what I'm proposing: a tournament of strength! You knights like tournaments, just like any other knights, right? I'll be using this tournament to scout great warriors and test your skills. I'll enter as a regular competitor and fight by whatever rules you knights feel most appropriate. If I make it to the end-- and I plan to-- my challenger will taste the glory of fighting me one-on-one with a full audience, for glory and honor! Doesn't that sound appealing?"

Another student, this one blonde and, frankly, far too frail-looking to be a knight, spoke up. "You said we get to pick the rules? So you would submit to whatever rules we came up with, if we decided them together?" he questioned, his eyes shining with some devious purpose.

"Of course. Well, the basic idea is combat. But beyond that, I have no issues with whatever rules you knights vote upon. I understand that codes of chivalry may be different out here in... Merridan," Isolt finished with a smile, barely avoiding saying "the sticks" instead. Next, she produced a small scroll from the pocket at her hip, then a black quill pin along with it. She grunted for a moment, looking for some place to sit down and place her ink well... Finding none, she dipped the pen back inside her pouch, fumbling for a moment, then brought it out wet. She scrawled writing over the surface of the scroll, then presented it. "Here is the sign-up sheet. Please fill in your name if you wish to participate."

The students took turns doing so, while Isolt watched. Gradually, their lack of decorum or respect for the royal knights was increasing her desire to humiliate them, while decreasing her desire to take any of them into her forces. Finally, she received the scroll back, unrolled it, and signed her own name. She checked over the entrants as she addressed the crowd once again. "We shall draw lots to determine the arrangement of the ladder. If we have odd numbers of combatants, I will pick one at random to advance by forfeit. Let us see..."

Isolt's Inaugural Tournament of Prospective Royal Knights
Entrants:
Harvey Dustaine
Medelyn Rozen
Liam Baldwin
Alia Baldwin
Harley Dustaine
Ro Wulder
Roi Wulder
Isolt

Eight total... It had worked out perfectly, though it was a little bizarre there were so many sibling pairs. It seemed like after the orange-haired young man who had so far been the spokesperson had signed his name, the most ambitious of the group had taken their turn next. Now that she counted them, there were two boys and five girls, besides herself... One of the students she'd originally taken to be a boy was actually just a flat-chested, short-haired girl with a boyish frown. "Isn't this a strangely feminine group of knight trainees?" she thought to herself; although she was obviously a woman, the truth of the royal knights was that they tended, by and large, to be men. It was unusual to see so many female fighters in one place. "Perhaps this is because they take inspiration from Dyna. But then... why don't I have more female recruits?" Isolt considered, narrowing her eyes in irritation. "You there, blonde boy. Please tell me what rules you all decided upon, while I busy myself assigning the brackets."

"That'll be my pleasure, Substitute Teach," the suspicious boy responded with a grin and a lack of respect in his voice, bowing in a manner that was more like an officious nobleman's than a knight's. "Just know that these rules aren't anything our knight captain herself would object to! We agreed on them with a vote of 5 to 2!"

"I didn't even want to be in the tournament..." The boyish, blue-black haired girl grumbled, crossing her arms and pouting. "Let alone submit to these stupid rules..."