Negotiation's Not My Strong Suit 〈Mav+ Bril〉

He was selfish, someone with no right to take. He'd learned as much by his upbringing, never speaking out or against what was said. And yet all these objections still stirred silently within himself. Not just about his past but about everything, the war, its peoples, and the variety of other things he had learned on his journey with the Shepards.

Kellam wouldn't call himself a diplomat by any means. When the call came for him to show up as one of the dignitaries it both startled him and warmed his heart.                                                                                      

  ^{(I-I'll do my best Milord!")}                                                               

 So there he was, standing patiently waiting for Elysia.....who was standing right next to him.

                                                                                                ((Things change...

                                                                                                                                     ...and yet they stay the same.)) {_{Notice me!}}

His body screamed for attention, yet none came. Sullen, he reached out to tap upon the tactitian's sholder.

"Miss Elysia, are you ready? I am here." He stated in a gentle tone. He moved himself in-front of her and waved his hand as a secondary measure.

                                                                                                                     "I'm ready whenever you are ma'am."

{{Tag a-brilliant-loser  text colors woo!}}

"Miss Elysia, are you ready? I am here."

The tactician nearly jumped at the gentle touch and the suddenly materializing hand in front of her. Instead she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before turning a bit to the side so Kellam was in her sight, if only barely. "Haven't we already talked about speaking up?" Elysia was absolutely positive they've hashed this out already.

(No matter, maybe it would be amusing to see the delegats worry about "a ghost")

Elysia snickered at her own thoughts, pulling on her cloak to make sure everything's in order. Taking a last fortifying breath, she nodded at Kellam, giving him a smal smile. "Let's go then!" As if on cue, the large double doors opened to allow the duo to walk in. The hall was tense, briming with distrust and something that, to Elysia, seemed almost like fear. On one side of the table was the newly reinstated "Mad King" Gangrel, surrounded by a number of his advisors

(Ah, pity. I was hoping Aversa would have come with him...)

along with Raimi and the others who made up the Ferrox faction. On the other were a contingent of Valmese leaders and nobles who were bickering amongst themselves. The only two she recognized were Say'ri and Virion, whom she nodded to before making her way towards the two open seats at the far end of the table. After sitting at her own, Elysia cleared her throat, hoping to start the talks. Gangrel looked towards them, and quickly shoosed his advisors, but it took two more tries

and one flashy fire spell

before the petite woman had everyone's undivided attention. "Good morning. I, on behalf of the Exalt, thank you for coming to help address the rising threat to our nations -- the Grimleal."

A particularly unpleasant man eyed Gangrel before sneering "And we should care about Plegia's problem why?" 

"I would like to remind you that the Fell Dragon has been defeated once more, by several members of this table, in fact." Her tone took a hard edge as she stared down one of the ambassadors. "And while the Grimleal originated in Plegia, it's believers are far more widespread. This is not a 'Plegian Problem', this is a global problem. Especially since we no longer know who's running the show. No one wants Grima to be awaken again," and here, Elysia grimaced, not wanting to think about how the cultists would try to ressurect the dragon. "Ylisse has compiled data we've gathered on the cult's activities in the Halidam, which Kellam will share." She turned to look at Kellam, giving him a small nod to go ahead with the information the Shepherds had found.

{{Tag Maverick! So, slightly changed my OP because hahaha, continuity, what is. I'm imagining the conference table is set up kind of oblong-ish so Kellam and El can easily sit at the top with no issues}}

"Ah! Er..yes..." Kellam stammered, red already flooding his face. He stood up straight, hoping it would make him look more confident then he felt.

                                                                 {Why am I giving the report?}                                    _{((I don't want to...))}

"From the intel we have recovered, there have been various reports of trying to construct a second Outrealm gate, one that can reach across worlds, finding a Grima unfettered by slumber. Er... at least that is what they say." Kellam blushed, looking down at the table in embarrassment.

                                                                                    ^{{Was that prose part too much?}}

                                                                                                                                    [Why did Fredrick have to put that on the report?] 

"If that comes to pass, this world could face the likes of another Grima or worse. This cannot happen." He commanded with the infintessimal presence he had, fearing it fell flat of its goal. "The Grimleal are currently collecting the materials to create the gate, though they lack the magicians and power source for it to truely work. This will bring them into direct conflict with our nations and therefore we must be ready." He slammed his hand on the table in passion, before immediately retracting it and feeling shameful.

                                                                                                                    "T-that is all we have so far."

His body shaking with nervousness within his suit, he sat back down. He was positively dripping with sweat, even the war was less nerve-wracking than this.

                                                                                                       {Why did I do this to myself?}                                                                                                  _[Idiot.]

He tentatively paused, hoping Elysia would speak up and continue the meeting.

{{ Tag a-brilliant-loser Hope this explanation is good. Umm also should I edit this to include diginitary reactions or is this ok?}}

(Fools, to put me into power again)

Not like Gangrel was complaining, of course, but it still boggled his mind that he was able to regain the throne so easily. Perhaps it was the lack of other candidates, but it was far simplier than it had a right to be. He listened to the tactician's opening remarks, and then openly smirked when some of the others around him started when Kellam suddenly began talking. It grew wider when one of the Plegians next to him whispered about a possible ghost haunting the hall.

(Seriously, how are they missing him?)

"To add to Kellam's report, this version of the Grimleal has been more... aggressive in its recruitment practices," he gave a nod and something like a smile towards his former comrade. "Before, though a state religion, the Grimleal was rather tame -- one could opt to not worship Grima, or at the most give lip service to it. This group has started harrassing non-members, or even those who still revere the blasted dragon, but not their plans to recreate the Gate." Gangrel sneered. "Especially mages. We've been getting startrling reports  A number of powerful mages within Plegia have been attacked by the group in an attempt to recruit them. To minimal success, for some at least. But if they're having so many problems in my country, it's not a stretch to think they'll begin targeting others."

This had a good number of dignataries in an uproar, and he was intent to ignore them until the same man from earlier wondered aloud if the slum dog was helping the cult recruit.

(Pfft, are you serious?)

Grangel's retort was stopped short by the petitie tactician. "Yeah, no," Elysia deadpanned, eyes alit with something dark. "King Gangrel -- and I do remind you to use the proper title while speaking, it's quite rude not to -- is no more a lover of Grima than I or Kellam or any one else here. What we should be focusing on is curbing these efforts not throwing baseless accusations."

"Well, we can always just indiscriminately slaughter anyone who's in the group now, right? That should solve all~ our problems!"

That earned the Plegian a harsh look for Elysia. Especially when some of the others around the table seemed to be actually considering that. 

{{Tag Maverick - sorry for the delay! Also, I'm headcanoning that Gangrel, after joining up, he ended up haunting areas with Kallam while not harrasing the avatar because it's a cute mental image. Umm... So Virion and Say'ri are both also in the room, but they haven't done much yet but nod.}}

Kellam observed the Mad King, one of the few who willingly sought out his presence, even trying to learn from him at times. It warmed his heart that Gangrel wanted those skills which he never desired. It made him kinder to the King than many, many others.

[Gangrel...] 

 Straightening his back from nearly touching the table's surface, he observed the slight man. His speech was always aggressive, but now it felt as if being spoken to by a knife.

           {So..It's worse than I imagined...}

                                                                         ((That is true, we have to stop that.))

He frowned at the dignitaries harsh words, but even more so after the Plegian's last comment.

^{{{He might be right.}}}

                                                             (But is that really the best choice?)

                                                                                                        {{I have to say something.}} 

                                                                                                                                                           [[Speak up!]]

"He is right. Sort of. We need to take out the Grimleal before they collect more qualified members. But we cannot do this indiscriminately. I believe the best path would be several small covert units taking out strategic members. Then replacing those members with moles in order to more accurately assess the situation. If we do this correctly, we can rip the organization out by its roots when the time is right. That is why we must start as early."  Kellam's face fierce as a spooked rabbit with determined brows set.

((Why are you doing this?))

                                                 ^{{{Oh well I can't back down now.}}}

                                                                                                            ((There's time enough to be embarrassed later, I have to act!))

"The best place to start is in Plegia, where the remnants are strongest. We need to take control of one of their recruitment centers. Are there any suggestions for members?" He inquired.

 ((I hope this works...))

                                                             {{At the very least... He might like it.}} 

_{{{Tag a-brilliant-loser orz sorry for the delay I had to think long and hard to come up with something equal to your amazing post. Yeah that headcanon sounds great OwO... Do you want Virion and Say'ri to talk?}}}

Throwing a smrik at the petite tactician,

(Ha, he likes my plan!)

Gangrel nodded along at Kellam's idea.  "Well, it certainly doesn't have the destructive flair my plan has, but it has its merits." Like the utter annihilation of those trying to usurp him. Yeah, that'dbe great.  And there were plenty of places to hide the bodies in the sands of Plegia.

Many of the other dignataries made murmurs of agreement. It was a perfect plan, except...

"There's a problem though," Elysia said with a frown, "several, actually. While I don't doubt we have those capable of great feats of mimicry, there might be things hard to emulate. If we instead placed a mole within the organization, and have them work their way up, it eliminates that problem but opens so many more. We'd need someone who's powerful and intriguing enough for Grimleal, but not too affiliated with any organization, and someone who's all right with not telling their comrades of their latest mission so they won't be comprimised. It's a tall order for anyone, and I'm not quite sure who we have who can go..."

"There's Aversa --" Gangrel paused at the vicious look Elysia sent him. She was already making protests, but Gangrel spoke over her. "But I doubt she'd go for it. Plus, she sort of blasted the last group who tried to get her to return." Here, the Mad King chuckled, "my soldiers are still cleaning up bits of cultists from the town's walkways." 

(Oh yeah, that was a fun report to hear, down to the shaking and quesy looking courier.)

"I quite doubt they'll try again anytime soon~ You, on the other hand, could always join up. I'm sure if any of the old crowd's still there, they'd let you into the planning as soon as you step through the door!"

(Shit, why did I say that!?)

(Why would you say that, you acrophobic idiot!?)

They were saved from an awkward backtrack by Raimi. "Ms Elysia's a bit too well known in Regna Ferox, even though she's constantly traveling. The same, I assume, would be true in Ylisse. It would look too odd for such a well known figure to suddenly turn up with undesireables. I doubt they'd let someone who has so many ins with various rulers."

(Yeah, let's go with that explanation.
Much better than mentioning how my sperm donor was the head honcho
And I was kind of supposed to be the vessel of the damn dragon.)

That still gave them the problem of who to send on such a mission though.

"Elysia," Say'ri spoke up for the first time, "mayhaps Morgan, or even one of the other childes may provide the 'mole' as you say?"

 No, that sounded like a ridiculously horrid idea, but she couldn't say anything without revealing her and her son's connection to Grima.

{{tag Maverick, screw you and your outdated speech patterns say'ri. not giving her a color because she's still pretty much an NPC and I just needed someone who wasn't Gangrel to say that.
Elysia would have throttled him if he suggested her son go out and join the Grimleal lol.}}

No, Morgan would not work, the risk would be too great... But who could do it. He fretted, sweat seeping into his upper layers of padding.

{Who...I couldn't do it.}

                                                                                                                  _{[I don't trust myself like that...and I'm simply afraid.]}

What do Grimleal value other than mages....ah! Wyvern riders are quite valued, they probly need more of those since we did kill most of them.

(To stop the war, of course)

{Poor wyverns...}
Cerche has a son named Gerome right? He already wears a mask, so it wouldn't be so much to as that of him would it?

^{Coward.}
                                                    [What would Cerche think of sending her son into the dragons den?]
                                                                                                                                                                                         _{((What am I supposed to do?))}

"Umm perhaps Gerome would be a worthy candidate instead, Say'ri. I mean, he is a wyvern rider, less know than Cerche, so it would be easier for him to infiltrate the Grimleal." Kellam stated, feeling the heat of his skin radiate in waves.

It was imperative, not only for there to be someone, but for that someone not to be Morgan or Elysia.

_{{I fear what would happen if they got ahold of either one of them.}}

                                                                                                                                                       ^{((That cannot happen.))}                      

{{Tag a-brilliant-loser Ahh its so short, I'm sorry for being so slow as well. Does this work? Ah npcs are cool! Yup Gangrel would be dead. Nooooo}}