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Is any of this neccessarily secret? (peace with GS, furs for wine trade, map for map trade)
As Alva led me through the streets, I began to notice that the local populace was staring in our direction. To my surprise, however, it was not myself that they were staring at, it was Alva. I immediately knew that he must be someone very important within Gathering Storm, someone not seen very often in public.
I was led into a large circular room, a single hole had been cut into the roof, allowing the light to come down in a straight column. When we reached the center of this column, Alva spoke up “Please wait here until the Storm is gathered.”
I watched as Alva strolled quietly into the darkness, and disappeared. I could hear the rustling of many people gathering, but was unable to see into the dim lights that surrounded the circle, made all the worse by the column of light in which I stood. I did not like this one bit, and the warrior inside me began to search for possible routes of escape.
The room suddenly fell silent, and I could hear a single individual stepping forward, obviously this must be the GodGather I had been hearing about. I had long since ceased to be amazed by anything I saw here in the strange lands of Gathering Storm. As such, I was not too surprised to see the largest cat I had ever seen step forth into the column of light. An imposing presence, to be sure, he stood the height of my shoulders, and there was power enough to rip through any man in those massive paws. I could instantly see that this was the leader, if you could claim such a team to have one.
“Greetings UnOrthOdOx” His voice reverberated around the room “I welcome you to Gathering Storm, I am NotYouEither, shall we begin?”
My mind was working, how had I gotten myself into this? To be well behind enemy territory, surrounded, weaponless, in a country where we were currently at war. And what was this strange talk? Of course he was not me, how could he be? “It is a pleasure to be brought before the Storm here, I am humbled at this opportunity and hope that this can be the beginning of…”
A massive paw was raised to interrupt me. “Indeed. We know who you are and your mission. Let us dispense with this trivial nonsense and get right down to business, hmm?”
I could only smile at this. Diplomacy was not exactly my forte, and I was glad to speak plainly about such matters of state as we had to discuss. The meeting raced away and before I knew it the light coming into the room had begun to dim. With little fanfare, we ended the meeting and I was escorted back to Arrian’s Deception. Now well into the dead of the night, I sat down and contemplated all that had been accomplished in this meeting. Not only had a peace been arranged, but I had learned that Gathering Storm would soon be completing harbors. This meant that a new trade route for our now famous wines could be established, and I hoped that the furs we would receive in trade were as excellent as Shiber had been describing. In addition, the highly secretive Stormians had actually decided to share their map with us. We were very proud of our mapping endeavors, and I was sure that such a trade would be greatly agreeable to both parties.
Try as I might, though, I could not sleep, so I began my preparations to leave and soon was all packed and prepared to go. Now, if I only knew where I was and which direction was the coast, I would be on my way. At any rate, I decided to seek out this Arrian and have that discussion about the horse with him. No sooner did I descend the stairs, though, than my heart began to sink.
“Oh, you’re awake! How are you doing? That was some meeting wasn’t it! It’s so nice to be at peace again, we sure do like peace. Why if we had our choice we would have stayed at peace this whole time! Guess what? I’ve been chosen to escort you back to your ship! Isn’t that great? I actually asked for this, I have many questions I want to ask of you. I was just reading in the Glory of News that you slew a dragon! What’s a Dragon? How did you kill it? Can I come see it? No, I don’t mind, I want to come visit now we are at peace again! Wow, a Dragon! Who wouldn’t want to see that? Are you going to kill more? Think I can help? You know, I really am quite a sailor, I am sure that I would be of great assistance to slaying a dragon! Besides, I want to see this ‘ballista’ too.”
Shiber had apparently been unable to sleep either. I highly doubted he ever did.
“You know, we can leave now if you want. I have instructed our forces to allow your ship to land again, and we are loading it now with the first shipment of furs! I picked them out myself! You know, there is nothing better than curling up next to your wife under some furs on a cold night. Did I tell you about my new white fur? The whitest I have ever seen! I bought it just the other day, say, why don’t we go up and take a look, you can see how we make them! Oh, wait, you have some on your ship! I can tell you all about how we make them on the trip over to Glory of War! Picked those out, I did! The ones on your ship are some of the finest in our land! Did I tell you that I am really quite a sailor too? Why during the Inchon invasion I commanded….”
Surprisingly as we headed down the road towards the course, Shiber’s constant babbling seemed to make the time fly by. It seemed to take no time at all as we boarded the ship and set sail. I could see the crew casting angry glances at the distraction that Shiber was creating, but I had actually begun to enjoy such nonsense. It seemed to keep my mind occupied, which also kept me from the dreams that were haunting me.
A stop in Port Isolation let me know that my family had headed back to Camulodunum, and that the preparations had been begun for me to begin training the new commanders there. I decided, then, to continue to sail around northern Bob straight to Camulodunum. An overland route may have well been quicker, but I saw no reason to drag Shiber right through the heart of our continent where he would potentially gain information on troop strengths and locations. I thought for an instant that the crew would kill me for such a thought, keeping them with Shiber for days yet to come, but I assured them that in time they might actually come to appreciate the constant drivel that seemed to spew from his mouth.
As Alva led me through the streets, I began to notice that the local populace was staring in our direction. To my surprise, however, it was not myself that they were staring at, it was Alva. I immediately knew that he must be someone very important within Gathering Storm, someone not seen very often in public.
I was led into a large circular room, a single hole had been cut into the roof, allowing the light to come down in a straight column. When we reached the center of this column, Alva spoke up “Please wait here until the Storm is gathered.”
I watched as Alva strolled quietly into the darkness, and disappeared. I could hear the rustling of many people gathering, but was unable to see into the dim lights that surrounded the circle, made all the worse by the column of light in which I stood. I did not like this one bit, and the warrior inside me began to search for possible routes of escape.
The room suddenly fell silent, and I could hear a single individual stepping forward, obviously this must be the GodGather I had been hearing about. I had long since ceased to be amazed by anything I saw here in the strange lands of Gathering Storm. As such, I was not too surprised to see the largest cat I had ever seen step forth into the column of light. An imposing presence, to be sure, he stood the height of my shoulders, and there was power enough to rip through any man in those massive paws. I could instantly see that this was the leader, if you could claim such a team to have one.
“Greetings UnOrthOdOx” His voice reverberated around the room “I welcome you to Gathering Storm, I am NotYouEither, shall we begin?”
My mind was working, how had I gotten myself into this? To be well behind enemy territory, surrounded, weaponless, in a country where we were currently at war. And what was this strange talk? Of course he was not me, how could he be? “It is a pleasure to be brought before the Storm here, I am humbled at this opportunity and hope that this can be the beginning of…”
A massive paw was raised to interrupt me. “Indeed. We know who you are and your mission. Let us dispense with this trivial nonsense and get right down to business, hmm?”
I could only smile at this. Diplomacy was not exactly my forte, and I was glad to speak plainly about such matters of state as we had to discuss. The meeting raced away and before I knew it the light coming into the room had begun to dim. With little fanfare, we ended the meeting and I was escorted back to Arrian’s Deception. Now well into the dead of the night, I sat down and contemplated all that had been accomplished in this meeting. Not only had a peace been arranged, but I had learned that Gathering Storm would soon be completing harbors. This meant that a new trade route for our now famous wines could be established, and I hoped that the furs we would receive in trade were as excellent as Shiber had been describing. In addition, the highly secretive Stormians had actually decided to share their map with us. We were very proud of our mapping endeavors, and I was sure that such a trade would be greatly agreeable to both parties.
Try as I might, though, I could not sleep, so I began my preparations to leave and soon was all packed and prepared to go. Now, if I only knew where I was and which direction was the coast, I would be on my way. At any rate, I decided to seek out this Arrian and have that discussion about the horse with him. No sooner did I descend the stairs, though, than my heart began to sink.
“Oh, you’re awake! How are you doing? That was some meeting wasn’t it! It’s so nice to be at peace again, we sure do like peace. Why if we had our choice we would have stayed at peace this whole time! Guess what? I’ve been chosen to escort you back to your ship! Isn’t that great? I actually asked for this, I have many questions I want to ask of you. I was just reading in the Glory of News that you slew a dragon! What’s a Dragon? How did you kill it? Can I come see it? No, I don’t mind, I want to come visit now we are at peace again! Wow, a Dragon! Who wouldn’t want to see that? Are you going to kill more? Think I can help? You know, I really am quite a sailor, I am sure that I would be of great assistance to slaying a dragon! Besides, I want to see this ‘ballista’ too.”
Shiber had apparently been unable to sleep either. I highly doubted he ever did.
“You know, we can leave now if you want. I have instructed our forces to allow your ship to land again, and we are loading it now with the first shipment of furs! I picked them out myself! You know, there is nothing better than curling up next to your wife under some furs on a cold night. Did I tell you about my new white fur? The whitest I have ever seen! I bought it just the other day, say, why don’t we go up and take a look, you can see how we make them! Oh, wait, you have some on your ship! I can tell you all about how we make them on the trip over to Glory of War! Picked those out, I did! The ones on your ship are some of the finest in our land! Did I tell you that I am really quite a sailor too? Why during the Inchon invasion I commanded….”
Surprisingly as we headed down the road towards the course, Shiber’s constant babbling seemed to make the time fly by. It seemed to take no time at all as we boarded the ship and set sail. I could see the crew casting angry glances at the distraction that Shiber was creating, but I had actually begun to enjoy such nonsense. It seemed to keep my mind occupied, which also kept me from the dreams that were haunting me.
A stop in Port Isolation let me know that my family had headed back to Camulodunum, and that the preparations had been begun for me to begin training the new commanders there. I decided, then, to continue to sail around northern Bob straight to Camulodunum. An overland route may have well been quicker, but I saw no reason to drag Shiber right through the heart of our continent where he would potentially gain information on troop strengths and locations. I thought for an instant that the crew would kill me for such a thought, keeping them with Shiber for days yet to come, but I assured them that in time they might actually come to appreciate the constant drivel that seemed to spew from his mouth.
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