80. Court

I’m not certain how I would have reacted had Tarisha not warned me in advance that she would be in attendance.  Not very well, probably.  Even forewarned, I was forced to clench my fists during her introduction.  She was the only Traveler in attendance with an aura of red, although it was fainter than I was expecting.  She didn’t have the marks of the [Brand of Sin] on her face, and I don’t think she had been actively completing quests that would have earned her negative reputation with me, judging by her hue.

Her name was Rowena, she was a shadowmancer, and she danced into the throne room with the poise of an experienced courtier, bowing deeply before me in the proper fashion.  Not the backwards way that Irvine was spreading.  If it wasn’t for her aura and her guild affiliation, I would have thought nothing of her.

“Lord Hail, thank you so much for extending your invitation to--”

“I did not invite you,” I said, interrupting her.  “Not willingly, at least.  I’m told that you have recently begun putting pressure upon my friends through back channels and cutouts.  The goal of this pressure seems to have been an attempt to get you in a room with me.  So let’s get it over with.  What do you want?”

Rowena blinked in surprise.  “Have I done something to offend milord?”

“Your guild is sheltering Nial Kingslayer,” I said simply.  “So, yes.  Consider me offended.”

“I see.  I did not realize that was a consideration.  Does that also account for the difficulty our members have been experiencing in attaining your faction quests?” she asked.

I did not respond to the probe.  “What.  Do.  You.  Want?”

She sighed.  “We don’t have to be enemies, Lord Jeoran.  Much of our guild is planning on exploring the new factions which are opening up in the frontier lands, but it hasn’t been a smooth transition.  Gathering Reputation with the Nostantan and the Undead factions isn’t as easy as we thought, and our Branded players are mostly cut off from resources like the auctions.  The majority of our guild is simply dedicated to supporting them, and--”

“I don’t care,” I said, interrupting her.  “You are here for one reason, and one reason only.  You threatened to put a bounty on members of <Nethersong Mavericks> if you did not get a representative at this meeting.  Do you honestly have the gall to propose an alliance on those terms?”

Rowena sighed and looked away.  She had the grace to look ashamed.  “I wasn’t actually informed how my spot in this meeting was obtained.  I apologize on behalf of my overeager companions.  I shall have a discussion with my guild leadership about the matter, and I promise to do my best to prevent it from reoccurring.  Bullying a casual guild like yours is a very bad look, from a Pee Are stand point, and they should know better.  We were simply desperate to try to get a foot in the door with you.”

“Why?” I asked.  “You said yourself that you are pursuing opportunities with the Adversary.  I and my allies are literally doing the antithesis of that.  What --”

“I’m here to persuade you to create more battlegrounds,” she explained.  “The largest limiting factor in our exploration of the darker factions in the game is the limited number of players with [Brand of Sin].  Just with last night’s battlegrounds, thousands of new players have joined the dark side.  Many of them have already applied to <Branded Exiles>, and even those who have not applied to our guild directly will be helping us indirectly by gathering intelligence and exploring the new zones and factions.  We are hoping that future battlegrounds will continue to reward the brand for the forces that oppose you.  We are willing to go so far as to offer remuneration for any resources or opportunities you require, and to actively sandbag during our participation in the battlegrounds themselves.”

I held my silence for a moment after she finished speaking.  “I have heard your offer.  Now hear mine.  Bring Nial Kingslayer to face the justice of the high court in Zhesa city, and then I will consider listening to further negotiations from your guild.  Until then, my faction will consider itself at war with you and your allies.  You are not welcome in my lands, and those loyal to me will see you as their enemies.  Killing your guild members will grant them Reputation with my faction, and providing you aid will come at great cost to them.  Now leave.  You are not welcome here.”

Rowena bowed deep, a smile on her face despite my pronouncement of enmity.  “I shall share your words with the leadership of my guild,” she promised.  Still mid-bow, she Fast Traveled away.

I unclenched a great many muscles, and spent a moment studying the other guild leaders who had come to my court.  None of them had an aura indicating that they had negative Reputation with me, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that meant they were my allies.  These were the Travelers who had kept Tarisha so busy from the time since the battleground had closed.  They were in the leadership of their respective endgame guilds, and as I had been warned repeatedly, endgame was ruthless.

“Are the rest of you here for the same reason?” I asked.  “To persuade me to create more battlegrounds?”

The guild representatives exchanged glances, and a young man with glasses stepped forward.  “I wouldn’t say that we speak with a unified voice, My Lord,” he began.  “Although I do believe that I can speak for my friends here in saying that we are mostly here because we feel that a meeting with you is long overdue.  I am Cedric Ravenshadow, of the <Phoenix Talons>, and like many of my compatriots we have been following along with the events that have unfolded since you became known to the public at large.  Until recently the <Talons> have mostly held ourselves back from approaching you on the advise of your other allies, but with recent events, I believe it is time to step forward and make our stance known.  I would like to discuss the possibility of creating an alliance between my guild and your faction.  And if possible, I would like to discuss the possibility of obtaining deeper knowledge of your goals and aspirations so that we may help you achieve them.”

Another representative, a woman who had chosen to be a catkin, stepped forward.  “I think we’re more or less on the same page on that front.  <Starlight Eclipse> is also seeking an alliance, and greater involvement in the cyclone of events that surround you, Lord Hail.”

“<Shadow’s Valor> is also seeking an alliance,” said an older rogue, “Although I’d be lying if I said we weren’t hoping you would also start spamming whatever button you press to create battlegrounds.  Last night was loads of fun.”

“It’s not something I can do without cost,” I admitted.  “I need a … a precious resource is consumed every time I create a battleground.  While it is possible for me to generate more of this resource, they’re not easy to farm.  I have several more, but I’d prefer not to spend them all on battlegrounds unless absolutely necessary, as they have other functions as well.”

“What could be better than a battleground?” The rogue inquired.

“Complete the quest to become my ally, and maybe I’ll tell you,” I teased, and I shared the quest I had written for that very purpose with all of the remaining guild representatives.

The other five representativesalso stepped forward, introducing themselves and their guilds, formally accepting the quest to become my allies, and thanking me for the opportunity.  Tarisha had, apparently, informed them of the existence and goal of the quest, and many of their members were sitting on completed quests, just waiting for the guild quest before claiming credit.  They were a little dismayed that none of them were able to immediately complete the alliance, but then they had only been preparing for the quest for a few game-hours.  They were all quite certain that it would not take their particular guild long to complete the requirements, and went so far as to wager with the others which of them would complete it first.

My Native subjects were the next order of business, and that was a complicated subject.  I announced that, effective immediately, everyone who had been appointed to an official position of authority by Arkan was suspended pending a review, and were in general advised to begin looking into alternative career opportunities.  Also effective immediately, I was freezing the shire’s financials until a full audit could be performed.  I announced that I was using my authority to order Ebbyvale and the surrounding villages to hold new Alderman elections, which actually received a round of applause.  The current village leaders were, apparently, unpopular appointees.

I announced that all property in the shire would be reassessed for taxation purposes … eventually.  Before the next collection at least.  This was met with a surprising amount of enthusiasm as well.  Most of the attendees were significantly more in favor of paying taxes on their current level of prosperity, compared to how their families had been faring three decades before.  Nobody liked paying taxes, of course, but they liked paying taxes on property they were forced to sell years ago even less than usual.

Not everyone was happy.  At least two of the Merchants had grim expressions on their faces; they had likely come into their wealth recently and were enjoying paying very little in taxes.  And many of the other citizens believed that my stated plans fell short of my obligations to them.  One went so far as to demand compensation for the losses they’d suffered due to the bandits and the corrupt officials.  I advised him that any such payouts would have to wait until after the audit had been completed and the bandits had been apprehended, and I suggested that if he wanted to speed things up he could join the bands of Travelers who were scouring the countryside.  He didn’t like that answer very much.

I had, at this point, completed two thirds of my goals for the morning, but what came next was … experimental.  And not something that I wanted the new guilds to witness until I knew whether it would work like I thought it would.  I announced that the court was entering a strategic session, and asked everyone not in <Nethersong Mavericks> or <Peasant’s Revenge> to leave.  The Natives left readily enough, but some of my prospective allies looked like they wanted to push the matter.  Fortunately, they were wise enough to withhold their complaints.

Once the throne room was secure, with only my staunchest allies remaining (plus Randal, whom I had extended a special invitation to remain behind), I slumped a bit in my throne.  “That was exhausting,” I complained.

“Does your magic throne thing sap your strength or something?” Potatoad inquired.

“No, nothing like that.  I just haven’t had to fake smile for that long in a while.  I wonder how my grandfather managed to do this sort of thing Every.  Single.  Day.  For decades.”  I sighed and banged my head against the back of the throne in frustration.  “How goes the hunt for the bandits?”

“It’s a mess,” Lloyd of <Peasant’s Revenge> admitted.  “They didn’t get nearly as many new recruits as our side did following the battleground, but they did get quite a few.  But more importantly, their established forces are all in hiding.  Even when we find one of their strongholds or camps, they fade away before we can encircle them, and we’re left holding empty ground.  Adding to the problem is the fact that we can’t actually tell for certain whether a Traveler is affiliated with them or not.  With all of the new people stomping around, we’re stuck trying to find Native bandits and bring them in, but they seem to be quite adept at hiding.”

“Don’t the new Traveler bandits have [Brand of Sin]?” I asked.

“Not many,” Lloyd explained.  “Only Travelers above level eighty were branded to begin with.  Lower level Travelers who signed up to fight for the bandits got a quest item which they can use to gain the brand once they reach an appropriate level for it.  There are a number of bandits who are still wishy-washy on whether or not they’re going to use theirs; a lot of them are saying that they wished they only signed up for the bandit side because the queue was shorter and are wishing that they’d gone the mercenary route instead.”

I blinked in surprise.  “What kind of quest item is it?”

“Some sort of dark religious artifact,” Lloyd answered.

I grinned, because I had an idea.  One that would, maybe, keep any number of Travelers from going over to the adversary.

“Initiate Quest Writing Protocols.”