Eternal
You made the gesture, but you aren’t going to press the issue if you aren’t specifically ordered. Like the Emperor, you’d prefer to get on with attacking the Felkans.
After Jacob leaves, the Emperor goes back to speaking with you. He tells you in the next few days he’s going to call for a major meeting to begin battle plans against the Felkans. He warns you in advance that Mistress will be there and tells you to ignore her attempts to taunt you or any other pettiness she may indulge in. You’re glad that the Emperor told you, so you could mentally prepare yourself.
Then that day arrives…
“Captain Gruz shall lead the initial attack. Basically he’ll be making the frontline assault with the full intent on breaking through and marching onward into the Felkan heartland pillaging, burning, raping, you know the usual thing orcs are best at. While his rank doesn’t denote it, he’ll be in charge of three battalions of orcs, which is nearly all of them in the Empire.” The Emperor explains.
“Three battalions? Sheesh, I hate the very idea of that many orcs being together. They tend to get unruly in large groups. Isn’t that why we usually keep them in small groups away from each other?” Jacob replies.
“We won’t have that problem thanks to my son over here. Thanks to him, the orcs haven’t been giving us much discipline trouble at all. Besides, I fully expect that most of them won’t survive this war, which will eliminate their drain on the economy due to their pay increase. Now coming in to support the orcs will be our golems. We’ve got the battle mages ready on that front.”
“How come he doesn’t have a higher rank?” you ask.
“I was told he didn’t want it. Said that captain sounds more hands on than major or anything higher. I don’t think he cares what his title is really.” The Emperor replies.
“What about Fort Soot? Who’ll be leading the attack on that place, because from my understanding its one of the Felkan’s best defended forts.” Jacob asks.
“General Ackerson. I took into consideration your Captain Roldan, but I think you’ve got enough to worry about apprehending Cyrus rather than any of your other eternals being involved in this war. As far as I’m concerned the only thing I want you to even worry about is internal security during this war. Best leave this to the professionals.”
Jacob looks disappointed, but doesn’t argue the issue. You actually did try to help Jacob by suggesting Roldan in the first place, but as the Emperor said, he doesn’t want any of the other eternals involved. As far as he’s concerned, you’re the only true Eternal he wants involved in this important task.
“Okay so the third prong of this attack will be coming more from the southern front. Since the Felkans have weaker defenses there, we will be primarily using traditional troops though some of Marik’s weapons will be used there as well.” The Emperor continues.
“Is that one being lead by that female captain?” you ask.
“Major now actually. Major Alison Krozer. Her previous assignment was Fort Destiny in Rask until Kane replaced her.” Jacob replies. “From what I know she was efficient at her job and due for a promotion.”
“Well this position is a good opportunity for her to prove if she was worthy of it. Though just in case she isn’t, I have plans to have you assist personally on that front.” The Emperor says to you.
“Wherever you feel I would serve best.” You reply.
“Oh I have a few ideas of where you’d serve best.” A familiar voice suddenly says and you wince when you hear it.
“Easy. Easy there son.” The Emperor whispers when he notices your discomfort of Mistress suddenly entering the room.
“I’m fine.” You whisper back, nodding at the Emperor.
“How good of you to be on time as usual.” Jacob remarks.
“How cute of you to attempt sarcasm. I’ll arrive when I please Jacob. Besides I don’t see Marik here. I swear that rock eater could at least crawl out of his hole for one moment just to attend these big meetings.”
“Marik’s duty is being served in other ways, he doesn’t need to be here. He’s designing our new weapons. Now did you do as I asked?” the Emperor asks Mistress.
“What? Rile up the gnoll tribes on the western borders of the Felkan Kingdom? Yes of course though I don’t know how effective they’ll be given that they’re a bunch of idiotic gnolls.”
“As long as they cause enough trouble for the Felkans’ western front it’ll be worth it. The more the Felkans have to stretch their resources the better.”
“So is that it? Was that all you needed from me?” Mistress asks.
“I’ll also be needing all the current svelk mercs in the area.”
“And I’ll be needing a large sum of gold to convince them all to actually get involved in this little war of yours too and even then that might not be enough.”
“Since when do svelk turn down gold? Profit and pain are all your race cares about.” you say.
Mistress stares at you with those cold eyes of hers, still not accepting you as an equal.
“You humans truly know nothing about our race. Of course I hardly expect a mewling baby like you to know anything anyway.”
“Mewling baby? I would’ve expected a better insult coming from you.” You respond in a half bored tone.
“Oh? Have you missed my verbal humiliation then? Well perhaps we can meet after this little gathering and I can once again subject to you REAL humiliation for old time’s sake. Would you like that? Is that what gets you going?”
“Sorry, but I’m afraid I’m fully aware of most of your best material now and it would be lost on me. I wouldn’t want you to strain yourself in thinking up new ways to futilely try to make me mad.”
“Ah yes I imagine you would be beyond such things now. I suppose I’ll just have to take joy in your continual torment that you know that you experienced my flesh intimately yet will never experience it again.”
“Considering you offered your body so freely in exchange for your life last time, I’d say my chances are still good that I could experience it again if I really wanted to.”
“Do you fancy your chances then? Do you wish to continue our engagement from last time? Because as I remember it was ultimately I who had the advantage and it’s only due to Jacob stopping the fight that you still live…”
“Enough! The pair of you!” the Emperor orders. “You’ll get your damn gold in abundance. Just make sure you gather all the svelk in the area, I’ll tell you where I want them later.”
“I’ll relay the message to the main captains, but I can’t promise you that they will stick around. Well at least not until they’ve been paid. Now is that all?”
“Yes, yes, that’s all.” The Emperor says and waves his hand dismissively at Mistress which visibly irritates her and amuses you.
As Mistress starts to leave she can’t help but get in the last word.
“I hope you realize that ultimately this war against the Felkans is pointless. Even if you win, the Empire will still fall eventually. Its time is coming to an end and the sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”
“Watch your acid tongue svelk bitch. I tolerate you because you’re useful, but I won’t be spoken to in such a manner.” the Emperor remarks in an annoyed tone.
Mistress stops and turns her head slightly to answer.
“I wasn’t speaking to you, I was speaking to the one who is currently watching my ass as I walk out the door. The one having lustful thoughts about the ways he’d like to violate my supple body and then slit my throat with the very dagger I gave him. I’ll let you figure out who that is.” She remarks and leaves.
“I…I…wasn’t!” you protest when the Emperor and Jacob both look at you.
“Don’t worry about it son, she’s just messing with you again. Let’s get back to business.” The Emperor remarks.
As the Emperor continues talking about battle plans, it takes you a little longer to get your head back into it. You can’t believe you managed to let her get to you again with such a crude remark.
Of course maybe it wouldn’t have gotten to you if it hadn’t been true.
Year 22
Ever since the war started, Cyrus has still been on the loose much to the detriment of the Empire. If anything he’s been a greater nuisance than ever.
Shipments of Marik’s new weapons have been getting hijacked and even sabotaged. This has had several negative effect. For one, the stolen weapons are now in the hands of Cyrus’ followers, making them even deadlier. Its also created shortages of these weapons to use against the Felkans.
The sabotage is the worst of it however. At one point several shipments were unknowingly tampered with and across the battlefront, muskets and cannons either wouldn’t work at all or blew up in the hands of Empire troops. It was during one of these unfortunate incidents that Major Krozer was standing near one of your brand new cannons and fatally injured when it exploded, putting you in complete control of the battalion.
You’ve been doing your best to keep up the fight on the southern front, but your soldiers have had to rely on the old melee weapons and bows rather than the gunpowder weapons that would at least even up the odds a bit. You’ve taken up the slack when possible by using your magic, but even you don’t have the energy to cast powerful spells all the time.
The Emperor as you might expect is furious about Jacob’s failure to take care of this problem. To a certain extent you’re blaming yourself for not insisting on helping Jacob with it before though. You’ve even received a message from the Emperor recently that if you feel the southern front can handle being without your leadership he wants you to return to the Empire so you can lend a hand in hunting Cyrus.
After Jacob leaves, the Emperor goes back to speaking with you. He tells you in the next few days he’s going to call for a major meeting to begin battle plans against the Felkans. He warns you in advance that Mistress will be there and tells you to ignore her attempts to taunt you or any other pettiness she may indulge in. You’re glad that the Emperor told you, so you could mentally prepare yourself.
Then that day arrives…
“Captain Gruz shall lead the initial attack. Basically he’ll be making the frontline assault with the full intent on breaking through and marching onward into the Felkan heartland pillaging, burning, raping, you know the usual thing orcs are best at. While his rank doesn’t denote it, he’ll be in charge of three battalions of orcs, which is nearly all of them in the Empire.” The Emperor explains.
“Three battalions? Sheesh, I hate the very idea of that many orcs being together. They tend to get unruly in large groups. Isn’t that why we usually keep them in small groups away from each other?” Jacob replies.
“We won’t have that problem thanks to my son over here. Thanks to him, the orcs haven’t been giving us much discipline trouble at all. Besides, I fully expect that most of them won’t survive this war, which will eliminate their drain on the economy due to their pay increase. Now coming in to support the orcs will be our golems. We’ve got the battle mages ready on that front.”
“How come he doesn’t have a higher rank?” you ask.
“I was told he didn’t want it. Said that captain sounds more hands on than major or anything higher. I don’t think he cares what his title is really.” The Emperor replies.
“What about Fort Soot? Who’ll be leading the attack on that place, because from my understanding its one of the Felkan’s best defended forts.” Jacob asks.
“General Ackerson. I took into consideration your Captain Roldan, but I think you’ve got enough to worry about apprehending Cyrus rather than any of your other eternals being involved in this war. As far as I’m concerned the only thing I want you to even worry about is internal security during this war. Best leave this to the professionals.”
Jacob looks disappointed, but doesn’t argue the issue. You actually did try to help Jacob by suggesting Roldan in the first place, but as the Emperor said, he doesn’t want any of the other eternals involved. As far as he’s concerned, you’re the only true Eternal he wants involved in this important task.
“Okay so the third prong of this attack will be coming more from the southern front. Since the Felkans have weaker defenses there, we will be primarily using traditional troops though some of Marik’s weapons will be used there as well.” The Emperor continues.
“Is that one being lead by that female captain?” you ask.
“Major now actually. Major Alison Krozer. Her previous assignment was Fort Destiny in Rask until Kane replaced her.” Jacob replies. “From what I know she was efficient at her job and due for a promotion.”
“Well this position is a good opportunity for her to prove if she was worthy of it. Though just in case she isn’t, I have plans to have you assist personally on that front.” The Emperor says to you.
“Wherever you feel I would serve best.” You reply.
“Oh I have a few ideas of where you’d serve best.” A familiar voice suddenly says and you wince when you hear it.
“Easy. Easy there son.” The Emperor whispers when he notices your discomfort of Mistress suddenly entering the room.
“I’m fine.” You whisper back, nodding at the Emperor.
“How good of you to be on time as usual.” Jacob remarks.
“How cute of you to attempt sarcasm. I’ll arrive when I please Jacob. Besides I don’t see Marik here. I swear that rock eater could at least crawl out of his hole for one moment just to attend these big meetings.”
“Marik’s duty is being served in other ways, he doesn’t need to be here. He’s designing our new weapons. Now did you do as I asked?” the Emperor asks Mistress.
“What? Rile up the gnoll tribes on the western borders of the Felkan Kingdom? Yes of course though I don’t know how effective they’ll be given that they’re a bunch of idiotic gnolls.”
“As long as they cause enough trouble for the Felkans’ western front it’ll be worth it. The more the Felkans have to stretch their resources the better.”
“So is that it? Was that all you needed from me?” Mistress asks.
“I’ll also be needing all the current svelk mercs in the area.”
“And I’ll be needing a large sum of gold to convince them all to actually get involved in this little war of yours too and even then that might not be enough.”
“Since when do svelk turn down gold? Profit and pain are all your race cares about.” you say.
Mistress stares at you with those cold eyes of hers, still not accepting you as an equal.
“You humans truly know nothing about our race. Of course I hardly expect a mewling baby like you to know anything anyway.”
“Mewling baby? I would’ve expected a better insult coming from you.” You respond in a half bored tone.
“Oh? Have you missed my verbal humiliation then? Well perhaps we can meet after this little gathering and I can once again subject to you REAL humiliation for old time’s sake. Would you like that? Is that what gets you going?”
“Sorry, but I’m afraid I’m fully aware of most of your best material now and it would be lost on me. I wouldn’t want you to strain yourself in thinking up new ways to futilely try to make me mad.”
“Ah yes I imagine you would be beyond such things now. I suppose I’ll just have to take joy in your continual torment that you know that you experienced my flesh intimately yet will never experience it again.”
“Considering you offered your body so freely in exchange for your life last time, I’d say my chances are still good that I could experience it again if I really wanted to.”
“Do you fancy your chances then? Do you wish to continue our engagement from last time? Because as I remember it was ultimately I who had the advantage and it’s only due to Jacob stopping the fight that you still live…”
“Enough! The pair of you!” the Emperor orders. “You’ll get your damn gold in abundance. Just make sure you gather all the svelk in the area, I’ll tell you where I want them later.”
“I’ll relay the message to the main captains, but I can’t promise you that they will stick around. Well at least not until they’ve been paid. Now is that all?”
“Yes, yes, that’s all.” The Emperor says and waves his hand dismissively at Mistress which visibly irritates her and amuses you.
As Mistress starts to leave she can’t help but get in the last word.
“I hope you realize that ultimately this war against the Felkans is pointless. Even if you win, the Empire will still fall eventually. Its time is coming to an end and the sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”
“Watch your acid tongue svelk bitch. I tolerate you because you’re useful, but I won’t be spoken to in such a manner.” the Emperor remarks in an annoyed tone.
Mistress stops and turns her head slightly to answer.
“I wasn’t speaking to you, I was speaking to the one who is currently watching my ass as I walk out the door. The one having lustful thoughts about the ways he’d like to violate my supple body and then slit my throat with the very dagger I gave him. I’ll let you figure out who that is.” She remarks and leaves.
“I…I…wasn’t!” you protest when the Emperor and Jacob both look at you.
“Don’t worry about it son, she’s just messing with you again. Let’s get back to business.” The Emperor remarks.
As the Emperor continues talking about battle plans, it takes you a little longer to get your head back into it. You can’t believe you managed to let her get to you again with such a crude remark.
Of course maybe it wouldn’t have gotten to you if it hadn’t been true.
Year 22
Ever since the war started, Cyrus has still been on the loose much to the detriment of the Empire. If anything he’s been a greater nuisance than ever.
Shipments of Marik’s new weapons have been getting hijacked and even sabotaged. This has had several negative effect. For one, the stolen weapons are now in the hands of Cyrus’ followers, making them even deadlier. Its also created shortages of these weapons to use against the Felkans.
The sabotage is the worst of it however. At one point several shipments were unknowingly tampered with and across the battlefront, muskets and cannons either wouldn’t work at all or blew up in the hands of Empire troops. It was during one of these unfortunate incidents that Major Krozer was standing near one of your brand new cannons and fatally injured when it exploded, putting you in complete control of the battalion.
You’ve been doing your best to keep up the fight on the southern front, but your soldiers have had to rely on the old melee weapons and bows rather than the gunpowder weapons that would at least even up the odds a bit. You’ve taken up the slack when possible by using your magic, but even you don’t have the energy to cast powerful spells all the time.
The Emperor as you might expect is furious about Jacob’s failure to take care of this problem. To a certain extent you’re blaming yourself for not insisting on helping Jacob with it before though. You’ve even received a message from the Emperor recently that if you feel the southern front can handle being without your leadership he wants you to return to the Empire so you can lend a hand in hunting Cyrus.