Interlude One

Snud led the warriors back to the settlement. They had done well defending the holy tree so Snud decided to reward them with a speech

“Warriors do good. Protect holy tree from invaders. Now celebrate. Food and females for all.”

Snud waited to hear the cheering that normally came with his speeches, but there was only silence. He repeated the important part saying “Food and female for all!” and was confused when there was still silence. Then one of the stronger warriors spoke up.

“No celebrate. Many warrior die. Unlike Snud we hurt”

Since the speech didn’t work Snud decided he would have to follow through to stay popular as the chief of the tribe. As soon as they got back he ordered around all the drybolds that stayed behind and got a feast set up. He called all the warriors and offered it to them. Then he watched as they ate and then started to leave without praising him at all.

“Why no praise Snud? Snud make great feast! Snud lead warriors to kill defenders. Snud best. You praise Snud!”

The warriors ignored him. One even went so far as to walk away with one of Snud’s favorite females. Snud jumped up and down while shaking his fists as he yelled

“No leave with him. Snud here. What you doing?”

Snud was about to lose his cool entirely when he saw Mav gesturing to him to come with her. He said

“Mav smart, Mav still like Snud.” and then he followed her into her tent. She took off her clothes slowly as Snud watched, and then she gestured for Snud to do the same. Snud ripped off his pants and then started to pull his shirt over his head while eagerly anticipating his time with Mav. Unfortunately for Snud, he never got to experience it. While his vision was still blocked by his shirt Snud felt a sharp blow to his head, and then everything went black.

When Snud woke up he heard cheering going on outside. He pulled his shirt back on and looked for his pants only to find they were missing. He put on some of Mav’s clothes despite them being too small and then rushed out to see what was going on.

When he got outside he saw Mav in front of all the warriors. She was giving a speech. That alone was already enough to annoy him and then he listened to what she was actually saying

“Snud is stupid coward. Lead many warriors to death and no fight. Mav is smart. Mav lead drybolds better than Snud and make everyone happy. Mav speak with holy tree for tribe. Mav chieftain now.”

Snud wanted to charge in and stop Mav’s coup attempt, but the warriors had already started cheering. They were already on Mav’s side. Snud clenched his fists, slunk back to his house, and swore that he would be so good they would beg him to be chieftain again!

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2nd Prince

The prince frowned as he listened to his spies report. The dungeon wasn’t tamed, all but two of the tier two adventurers he sent were dead, and the Sanguine empire knew exactly where he was getting his blood river flowers from. The only good news was that an entire squad of blood mages was killed in the process.

If he wanted to turn this to his advantage he would need to act quickly. The first thing he needed to do was talk with his father.To do this he had to arrange a meeting and wait a few days, but that was still faster than anyone outside the family could meet the emperor. He walked into an opulent hall that had so much gold and crystal that most would call it gaudy if outside of the emperor's earshot. He kneeled in front of the throne and said

“Greetings royal father”

The emperor looked down on him from the throne and responded “Oh do stand up Niles. You know I don’t care about pleasantries when the prying eyes of the court aren't around. What did you want to see me for?”

The prince stood up and dusted off his pants “I have come to request additional resources father. I killed an entire squad of blood mages at the cost of one of my teams of tier two adventurers. I’m hoping you can replace them.”

The emperor raised his eyebrows “Oh? How many mages were in the squad you dealt with?”

“There were eighteen father”

A sigh slipped out of the emperor’s mouth “I remember when your brother killed his first squad of blood mages. Just fourteen years old and he charged in leading his adventurers from the front. Twenty one blood mages killed with only one casualty.”

The prince bit his tongue and kept his head down while his father reminisced. He ignored everything his father was saying until eventually he got to the end

“Anyway, that’s enough basking in memories for now. How many men did you lose? I’ll replace them all.”

“Thank you father. There are four dead and one crippled.”

The emperor waved his hand and said “I’ll send you a full team of six before the end of the week. Is there anything else you want to talk about?”

The prince shook his head and left while thanking the gods he didn’t have to listen to any more praise for his siblings. He went straight to his office and started to plan how he would use the adventurers. The first thing he would use them for was to gather more blood river flowers. Those flowers could be used to gain more merit, which he could use to recruit even more adventurers.

The next thing he needed to do was get control of the settlement. The Chancellor had proven himself unreliable one too many times. To accomplish this he called for one of his best fixers

“I want you to talk with the Chancellor for me and convince him to give me settlement thirty seven.”

The fixer nodded and asked “Want me to do it any particular way?”

The prince shook his head “Whatever way is most efficient works for me. As long as I get the settlement and he isn’t going to be an issue anymore than I don’t care what happens to him.”

The fixer started to walk out of the room and the room and the prince said “One more thing. The Chancellor caused me to experience significant losses. The settlement is the number one priority, but if you can convince him to pay me back for what I lost then there will be a nice bonus in it for you as well."

With that said the fixer left the room and the prince focused on the third and final thing he needed to work his way towards the throne. That was to avoid attracting attention until he had enough power to crush his perfect older brother and cement his place as the first prince.