“First impressions leave the biggest impression”
*=====*
Mori turned her attention back to the man, Fara’s father, and eyed him critically. He was worried. Mori always thought she was able to discern emotions from people easily, with one or two mistakes, and being Connected with Unio for days, feeling the emotions flutter around his simple mind and across the Connection, she felt like she was able to understand the emotions of others much more effortlessly than before.
That understanding was telling her that the man was worried. It was also telling her that the woman sitting beside him was interested in him, but it was not her place to judge his romantic life when even his wife did not.
“Fara,” she said, pulling the woman back to the group, “We’ll talk to him later. For now, we have a meeting. Come on.” Fara closed her eyes, opening them with determination and giving Mori a curt nod. She had not prepared herself a moment too soon, as they reached a center table. It was, to her mind, massive. It spanned over a quarter of the hall, with seats of sandstone placed at regular intervals.
Mori took a seat next to Yutrad and Fara sat beside her. Aetra sighed as she pulled two chairs out from the table, laying her wolf-half down where the chairs were. A pair of men grabbed the chairs and sat at another table with them, leaving the spaces between tables clear. The little old lady Ushkia seemed to have trouble pulling her seat out next to Aetra, the lycant finally sighing as she pulled the chair out for her. Ushkia gave Aetra a sweet smile before sitting down and slowly scooting into her place.
The table began to fill with people. Mori saw Eaner, Helga, and a kobold man sit somewhat close to them. The seats beside them were taken up, so Mori simply shrugged and let it go.
Apart from familiar faces, there were a good number of people who she guessed were simply unimportant. Grizzled captains of some skiff or other or wandering mages powerful enough to earn a seat at the big-kids table, but not powerful enough to have a say. Before long, however, Mori began noticing less reputable-looking people walking in.
At first, a small group of men and women strode in, taking the closest table and whispering amongst themselves. Before long, similar groups followed, a few even making their ways to the main table and giving everyone else the stink-eye.
Then a few ‘knights’ began to file in. The majority of them crowded around a small table to the side, but three made their way to the large table, sitting down. That was when the next big player strode in.
The human was fit. Much more than simply reaping the benefits of the Sa’rk system. Mori could guess that he must have put no little amount of effort into the body he had, and he was obviously proud of it. With his show-off gait, perfectly trimmed blonde hair and mustache, piercing blue eyes, and ornate clocksteel armor with red velvet tabard, he was the picture model of a knight.
Mori almost immediately hated him.
He gave a quick, almost dismissive sweep of the hall, his eyes barely seeing the relatively normal people crowded around tables. Instead, he immediately focused his attention on her armor, made of green metal, and scoffed. She did everything in her power to stop herself from glaring at the man as he sat down at a seat at the table. Behind him, a small retinue of retainers sat around him, pulling out ornate folders and books to transcribe the meeting.
After another few moments, a small crowd entered the room. There were three smaller groups that made up the crowd, and Mori took the chance to observe them. The head of the first group was short. It was, perhaps, not the most kind thing to identify the man with after first meeting, but Mori could almost feel his smug acceptance of the fact. He almost dared the rest of them call him small with his proud glare. He wore a fancy shirt, pair of pants, pair of shoes, and overcoat, with charcoal black hair and a horn on his forehead, something she was upset at herself for not noticing.
Beside him, staying far away from anyone else while heading her own group, was a woman wearing a simple robe with little to no decorations. Her group was made up of men and women wearing the same attire, but there was something in their eyes that Mori, having spent so much time around Jel after getting [Chaotic Adept], was familiar with. It was not the same as Jel’s dreamy, different way of thinking about things conceptually that she saw. It was madness.
At least it was a fun kind of madness. The one that made people do funny things and have a fair bit less self preservation instinct. Not the mental health kind that was just bad for everyone involved.
The final group was led by a rock. Granite, more specifically. It was as if a vaguely man-shaped piece of cliffside was carved out, then was given life. The only things that made Mori think it was even the leader was the nice clothing it dressed itself up in and the sharp eyes that took in every detail of the room. They finally rested on her, and she felt something try to worm its way into her mind. She grinned behind her faceplate and slammed back with a quick use of [Psychic Flail II].
The rockperson was not using psychic powers, like she was, but was using some sort of magic. She smiled as she realized that anything that tried to reach her soul was easily dealt with if she made liberal use of [Psychic Flail]. As a bonus, the rockperson was left obviously confused as it looked at her with a new, cautious expression. The procession behind it was a standard mix of humans, chimerics, orcs, and the like.
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The three groups sat down, very pointedly away from any of the others, and they were left to wait for a while longer. During the interim, Mori noticed a small group of black-robed people walk in, followed by a similarly sized group of blue-robed people. They each sent one person to the table, the two leaders eyeing the other with ill-disguised hatred. There were also a few strays from each of the big players. A young woman darted into the room and took a seat beside Ushkia, panting. A young orc man walked quickly in and took a seat beside Yutrad. Oddly enough, Mori never saw anyone accompany Aetra, which was odd to her— she was the only representative from Mount Averus, after all, not anyone with much authority if her introduction was to be believed.
Finally, the door opened, and two groups walked in. They both glared at each other, not even bothering to disguise the hatred between themselves and the other. The leaders of the groups were very normal-looking people, each with blackish-gray hair and somewhat tanned skin. Each of them sat at opposite ends of the table, and Mori knew that every player had arrived.
Yutrad was the first to stand, “I would like to skip the pleasantries, but we all need a sense of who is who here. As most of you know, my name is Grand Admiral Yutrad of Green Oasis.” Each group took turns introducing themselves, only the leaders giving introductions. In the process, Mori began to learn the names of her soon-to-be allies.
“I am Duke Jiklac, the Military Overseer of this expedition.”
“I’m Dan West,” the short man began, “Private fleet owner of Nolus.”
“I am Ajex. Leader of the Chaotic Disciples, the alternate faith of Nolus,” the robed woman said. Mori had to give points for the brevity, but took those points back because of the stupid name for the gang she led.
A rumbling of rocks accompanied a rough voice Mori attributed to the rockperson, “B’yldynl,” it said, “Tinkerer.” That surprised Mori; she pegged him as much more of a fighter, but she realized that she had been profiling him.. ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’
“Germy”“Jermy” the two Affex men said at the same time, standing, and drawing the vicious glare of the other. Before they could start a fight, their assistants begrudgingly calmed them down. Soon enough, everyone at the table introduced themselves, including the Bishop of the Blue Robes, Ahdalhar, and the Necromancer Supreme of the Necromancer’s guild, Gradel.
With everyone else introduced, it was Fara’s turn after the mage to her left. She glanced at Mori, looking for advice, and Mori simply nodded. Fara did the same, and stood, “Fara Notchings of Hard Sands. I am a mechanic,” she said, sitting down. Mori glanced over to Fara’s supposed father, and saw how he stiffened and snapped his attention to Fara’s back. He stopped after a few seconds, but there seemed to be new determination in his eyes.
Mori stood once Fara sat, and did a small flourish, “Mori Athanatos. Necromancer,” she said as she sat down. Some of the people around the table glanced between her and Fara, but none seemed interested enough to make a fuss about both of them introducing themselves.
A short silence descended on the table once she had introduced herself. To Mori’s eye-flames, none of them knew who was supposed to run the meeting once they introduced themselves.
In the end, it was Duke Jiklac who eventually stood and spoke to them, “I believe we are working on a tight schedule, no? Let us begin. I believe a good place to start would be with our forces. I have brought approximately five hundred skiffs with me, and I have about fifty thousand men on those skiffs. We have enough food for our forces to live off of for over five months. I have brought about eight nobles with me, the finest of spellcasters, and nearly thirty knights, just as proficient with the blade as they are with mana. Now then, who is next?”
Dan stood, “I have brought nearly all of my fifty warskiffs to this venture. Although I am unable to provide ground forces, my units specialize in heavy armor and large guns.”
“My believers have come in force. We have nearly two hundred small boarding skiffs. Unfortunately, we were only able to bring a few thousand with us, due to the small cargo holds of our skiffs, but my believers are highly skilled in boarding and melee combat,” Ajex said as she smiled.
B’yldynl was next, but he did not even stand, “Five hundred scrapships. Five thousand fighting troops. Five thousand trained skiffers,” he said in a gruff voice.
Aetra decided to go next, straightening her spine a bit as if standing, “Mount Averus has devoted twenty five skiffs to the cause. We have also brought nearly five thousand men to this venture. Of our skiffs, seven are devoted to food production, allowing for extended deployment; with our greenhouse skiffs, we could feed seventy thousand indefinitely.”
Fara leaned over to Mori, tapping her shoulder, “They have special arbolmancers on their skiffs that are able to work nearly around the clock nurturing plants. She might be underselling the number of people they can feed with seven of those things,” she explained. Mori nodded, turning back to the meeting at hand.
Yutrad chose to go next, “We have brought a hundred skiffs with us, with nearly ten thousand battle-ready men and women. We also traveled with a group of Hunters, but we did not learn how many traveled with us.” Mori thought for a moment that his admission of ignorance was putting them in a poor position, but her worries were pointless; no one else seemed in a rush to tally the Hunters.
“Two hundred skiffs,” Ushkia stated, “fifteen thousand fighters, fortification mages excluded.”
The two Affexes bickered back and forth for a while before they disclosed their forces, both bringing an equal force of three thousand men and fifty skiffs each. Then, the smaller groups told of their own forces. All in all, there were over a hundred thousand troops stationed in the small fortress. Mori was floored at the sheer quantity of people put into the extermination, which was not to mention the number of undead and robots that the Necromancers guild and a few mechamancers brought with them.
Eventually, Mori and Fara were the last ones to speak, so Mori stood and looked them all in the eyes, “I only have one skiff, but I have nearly five dozen zombies, a greater revenant, and eleven death knights-”
“Eleven!?” the Duke shouted, grimacing, “Stop lying, necromancer, and tell us what forces you have for yourself.”
It was as if the previously amiable atmosphere, bar the two Affex representatives, had been shattered at once. Some glared at the Duke, annoyed at his blatant insult to an ally and his obvious mistrust of her. Others, in fact, sided with the Duke, thinking her claim was preposterous. Mori noticed that the Blue Robes were glaring at her, and could only wonder if it was due to her history with them or their support of the Duke. The only other odd thing that stood out to Mori was that the Necromancer Supreme stayed silent, observing her.
“Do you really not trust me?” she asked Jiklac.
He simply shook his head, “You are trying to embellish your forces, and it is quite annoying.”
Sighing, Mori unlocked her faceplate, letting it fall and gazing at the room with her eye-flames, “Do you think I’m lying now?”