By the morning, a few information reports came in related to the troops that we had sent out as a distraction. While they successfully drew away enemy troops, it also resulted in pretty bad losses due the sheer size of the enemy armies and the lack of a significant amount of already prepared traps. A little over one hundred troops were killed on our side. After that, a few dark elves were sent out to deliver a letter to the enemy to schedule a meetup to discuss prisoner exchange demands. We really want these negotiations to go through, otherwise we'll soon be resorting to hiding in our bunkers to wait out our enemies.
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Two days later the time for the meeting arrived. Myself and one of the dwarf commanders were the representatives for our side, along with an entourage of thirty soldiers. The enemy's representative was, in fact, Darius, The Baron of Compfur. He was accompanied by his own group of thirty soldiers. The meeting location was in the ruins of the village that was destroyed during the dwarven invasion years ago. Although the area was in disrepair and overgrown, some of the buildings were still intact.
The negotiating parties and a small number of soldiers from each side entered one of the most intact buildings in the rundown town to begin the negotiations. The Baron started the conversation before we could, and surprisingly he spoke in the demon language. Something no one from our side was expecting.
"Alright, lets get these negotiations over with, so we can both leave with what we want," he said. When the translator got ready to translate, The Baron shook his head to stop. "I'd rather this conversation not be overheard by anyone potentially listening in from my own side, so I'd prefer if we kept this to the demon tongue." He pauses then speaks in Dwarvish, "I apologize if this is inconvenient, but I hope you can trust your compatriot to keep you informed afterward, I'd rather this conversation only be heard between me and him."
The dwarven commander sighs and sits back in his chair, "Alright, but we obviously reserve the right to start talking about anything on the spot if we feel it's necessary."
The Baron replies in Dwarvish again, "Of course, that's fair enough, though I'd ask your translator also leave the room. You can summon him back at any time you want." He pauses again and waits for the dwarven commander to relieve the translator temporarily, and then he resumes talking in the demon language now, "So, as I was saying before, lets keep these negotiations brief, and we can both leave with what we want."
I eye him up suspiciously, "Forgive me if I'm not necessarily willing to keep this particularly brief. There are many questions that have come up recently, and you speaking demon isn't particularly comforting related to that information. Normally, in a situation like this, we'd ask for reparations for the damages done to the island, but I'm not foolish enough to think we can win if your country truly wanted to wipe us out. Instead, we'll settle for a full withdrawal from our island, and a formal verbal proclamation that you recognize our sovereignty."
He lets out a long sigh, "Well, those are some demands. Lets discuss what I want, and then see if we can meet somewhere in the middle."
"I imagine you want us to release your King and the four commanders we captured. They're all alive, in case you were wondering."
"Yes, well, that is probably what you'd think. Really though, capturing our King at this stage has put me in quite the predicament. Yes, I suppose I would want you to release our King and commanders to our custody. However, I want it done in a particular way. See, I'd much rather the King perish. You can think on that information on your own time. It's unfortunate he didn't perish in either of your initial attacks, either the sinking of our dreadnaught, or in your interesting surprise at the beach fort. Had he died then, I could have signaled a general retreat, and we'd be done with it."
"Hold up, why do you want the King dead? I mean, I can imagine reasons, but it makes it hard to trust someone who says they plan on committing regicide to hold their promise of retreat. If you tell me why though, then I can hold on to that secret as a guarantee of security."
"Clever, I'll give you a deeper secret than that as a guarantee, that should satisfy you. Well, it's been a long plan, one dating back to Besmond I, the current King's grandfather. Nearly twenty years ago, Rathland was a small nation ruled by an old King. Eventually a demon invasion came, and thanks to our skilled soldiers, Rathland was left relatively unharmed while our neighbors suffered heavily. Besmond II and myself were close friends and I convinced him that, for the security of all the neighboring countries, they should exist under our leadership, rather than their own leaders, who had lead them to such devastation. Besmond I disagreed, and believed we should simply send aid to our neighbors.
"So Besmond II committed regicide and, not long after, many neighboring nations fell. I found myself in the position of chancellor. Besmond II was frequently on the battlefield, but entrusted his heir and only son, Besmond III to me for his courtly training. Besmond II eventually grew content after having captured the most mismanaged of our neighbors, and returned after ten some years at war. By then, Besmond III had become a man. I raised him on more ambitious ideals than his father. Further conquest was the goal.
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"Soon, the father was once again killed by the son, and Besmond III lead the armies of Rathland further, expanding our territory to new heights. Still retaining my position as chancellor, I played both sides. The anti-war nobles found me verbally supporting them but their plans would never quite materialize thanks to the strong military central powers of Rathland's crown, all the while I encouraged Besmond III to go further. Ultimately, Besmond III has no heirs, having spent most of his time on the battlefield, and having only sired three daughters. I have, in recent years, gotten somewhat desperate as Besmond III has somehow managed to survive wild war after wild war. Should he die, I have more than enough support to claim control of Rathland for myself, along with a few thousand fully loyal troops of my own here with me on this island.
"We have an interesting opportunity presented to us, you and I. You see, on the way here, well over a dozen ships were completely wiped out by Leviathans. So I propose that we send most of our side's troops home, along with all four of the commanders you have captured, save for the king. Myself and one-thousand men will remain for an extra two weeks, at such point you will release the king to us. Since two weeks is the transit time back to the mainland, surely you're probably aware our logistics have been quite severely hampered by your efforts, so simply keeping our troops at sea for two weeks to ambush you again would mean they'd likely have to starve themselves to pull it off.
"Then, I'll organize the few remaining ships such that the king's loyalists will all be on his ship with him. At sea we'll sink the King's ship, then claim a Leviathan sunk his ship, and that your side was honorable in returning him. We'll remain for a few days in the area to make sure him and his crew are dead, claiming we were searching for the king when we return.
"Before you get ahead of yourself and think about immediately blackmailing me with the secret I've given you, know that no soldier here will care. The troops I've brought with me are loyalists. The reason for speaking in demon isn't for my troops, but to keep the dwarves and any potential dark elves from the direct information. After the King's unfortunate death, though, then your story would probably hold some water. Before it, however, only Besmond III himself would potentially believe you, but he's currently a captive and not in charge of the military.
"If you release the four commanders tomorrow, then I'll have the vast majority of our troops retreat, and the rest of us will relocate back to the original landing beach. At that point, the majority of the troops remaining will be my own loyalists, and Besmond III knowing anything wouldn't matter much, other than us having to kill him on your territory, and leaving you to clean up that mess after we tell our population that you killed him rather than returning him to us. If you don't release the four commanders by tomorrow though, then we'll begin burning all the forests and attempting to flush you out properly.
"I'll send loyalist troops up the mountain to the scouting fort that the dark elves were using to pick the commanders up. If they're spouting any nonsense about how I'm a traitor, or the King is there, or any other oddities happen, then we'll simply kill them directly and claim you did it. A demon's word against my own, I wonder who's would win..."
As the Baron speaks, his physical performance doesn't actually match what he's saying, and I realize after a short while it's so that no one else in the room would realize anything other than an animated negotiation was currently happening.
"I see, so we've all just been dancing on the palm of your hand. I take it you've always known that we weren't the pirates too?"
"Honestly, it took a lot of effort to keep Besmond III himself from realizing it, though I did raise him to be quite prideful, so it wasn't that hard to convince him that you were all just mad demons and your illogical action was just like a starving animal biting someone attempting to feed it.
"The steam cannons were quite ingenious, though. I hope you appreciated our own version. I had our head alchemical researcher study the design, and they came up with their own design utilizing the blood of Rathgores, a creature that breathes fire that our country takes it's name from, to allow for rapid firing through mana infusement. Of course, now that design sits at the bottom of your own bay..."
"Well, I suppose we don't have that much of a choice, considering how forceful you are in your demands, but I do have two additional demands. The allegations that we were the pirates has done quite a bit of damage to our reputation, as I imagine you are aware. I'd also like for you to make a public announcement that after your invasion, you found no evidence that we were behind the piracy. To quote yourself as to why, 'A demon's word against my own, I wonder who's would win...'. Second, although reparations to us would likely be unpalatable, especially after the King perishes in transit, both the dwarves and us will need some degree of recompense for our losses. Especially after you publicly state that we weren't the pirates. I believe that is the current justification for the war, after all."
The Baron lets out a chuckle, "Fine, I'll do that as well as part of our formal recognition of your sovereignty. Though don't expect it to be a large sum, and it'll probably take years before we can actually pay you, as I'll need to solidify my power in Rathland first. Any complaints?"
I think on it for a while and reach out to shake hands, "No, if everything goes as you plan, then I suppose we can agree on those terms."
The Baron shakes my hand, "Pleasure doing business with you." He turns to the dwarf commander with me and says something in Dwarvish before giving a brief bow and leaving.
After the humans leave, I talk with the dwarf commander through our translator. I leave out the actual details of the negotiation, but tell him the agreed upon terms, and what our demands are. When I make it back up to our fort, I'll want to inform both Zeb and Zaka about the full details though, in case I'm killed in some kind of betrayal, then we'll at least still have the blackmail bargaining chip.