518 Raven Fligh (1/2)

”Better believe it, Shorty. You don't know who I am?” Bali did the quick height gauge in her head; she was at least an inch taller than the wide-shouldered, mandolin strumming Bard.

Duran continued to play his instrument, letting the notes drift into the afternoon air. ”I do not.”

”I'm Nix, the Rat-Queen. From now on, you work for me. How big is your tent?” Bali gave him the once over, his attire screamed vagabond, but he had a certain amount of charm.

”Um... Nix is actually a 'Rat-King.' That's not you.”

Bali's pretty face twisted in her best Pon-scowl. ”The heck you say! Fine, I'm incognito here, half-pint. I'm Duran, the ruler of Eidengal.”

”Duran!” Nix waved from across the camp, where the group of Inferno Officers was forming.

Bali grinned and returned his wave. ”See? Talk to you later, Bard.”

Duran fell in step beside her, a wide smile playing on his face. ”You're Captain Bali, the Ain'Dhassi ranger!”

Bali shrugged slightly. ”Fine, but I'll probably be promoted soon.”

Duran laughed at the ranger's antics. ”I do like a tall woman.”

”Smooth talker, I see.” Bali threw an arm around his shoulder. ”Can you shoot a bow? I'll teach you after my meeting is over. That mandolin won't do you any good in a fight unless you hit someone over the head with it.”

Duran slowed his step when his sister's children approached. They both bowed low when he entered the area.

”Your Majesty!” Edi and Alfie greeted him at the same time.

”Enough of that crap.” Pon's crabby old face scowled at them. ”You two! Thanks for telling the assassin hiding in the woods which of us is the King.”

Bali nodded sagely. ”It's true. If I were hiding in that treeline, Shorty would have just received an arrow in his eye.”

[Whisper: Ronnie to Bali] Hey, Sweets! Question. Why are you calling King Duran, Shorty?

Bali glanced at Ronnie and then back at Duran.

[Whisper: Bali to Ronnie] Half-Pint is really the King? Dang, it... He said he was a Bard!

[Whisper: Ronnie to Bali] Odd, short people, are usually more reliable.

Nix waited while the last of the group closed in. He'd sent Shae back to Colonial to spearhead their budding plans. ”Pull up a chair everyone, or stump, rock, whatever...”

/Officer: Jun Li: Let's get started. I've temporarily invited our guests into the channel so that they can get a general idea of our direction.

/Officer: Semmi: As we speak, Shae is teaming up with Sulane and Caza from the Resolute Guild. The three of them will be getting the Colonial governments behind us.

/Officer: Sharl: Is this new? Toward what end?

/Officer: Semmi: They're strong and well organized. To put it bluntly, we plan to start a war with them. The 12 Pillars will root them out, destroy their buildings, halls, and fleets.

/Officer: Jun Li: We don't really care about the Trifecta, but their interference could affect our final battle.

/Officer: Nix: We'll leave the Trifecta to the 12 Pillars. Tura Raine Xai just passed a docket that puts all of Oasis behind us.

/Officer: Semmi: Our Titan development program is developing rapidly. We could have Titan states in Mid-Everspire by the time we finish here.

/Officer: Jun Li: This brings us to our immediate goal in the Bone Fortress. We have a construct order for a small fortress, but we won't build until we control the Honor (12), Burrough. This will be our pivotal fight; we will have to face three Burroughs at once.

/Officer: Nix: Our intel says there are four thousand troops in the Keep. If the remaining are divided evenly, that means that we'd have a numerical advantage in every Burrough until we are ready to take the Keep.

/Officer: Jun Li: It's difficult to guess what strategy they'll use.

/Officer: Ronnie: Do you think they'll stack up, Honor?

/Officer: Semmi: We've gone through it a few times; no matter what, we have to be ready.

/Officer: Bali: I've seen the map and read the rules. Sorry for speaking out of turn since I just arrived, but I know exactly how I'd beat us.

/Officer: Nix: Spill it, Captain.

/Officer: Bali: If I was running things. I'd empty out the Honor Burrough. That way, the moment you stepped into it, you'd take control of it.

/Officer: Pon: The hell would you do that for?

/Officer: Semmi: Clever girl. They give us Honor and then can attack immediately from the Dawn (11), Misery (10), and Agony (9) Burroughs. They'd have surprise and numbers on their size. One last gamble before falling back to the Keep.

*******Author's Note********

There's a map of the Bone Fortress zone on discord if anyone needs a reference. I wish we could include maps in the text.

**********

/Officer: Jun Li: We could get overrun if we didn't see it coming.

/Officer: Semmi: We need our two crafters to start building deterrents. Please give us any advantage you can.

/Officer: Nix: We'll start building more barricades while Pon and I do our thing. Several more companions have been summoned; Wilo, King Lubo, and Floyd are here.

/Officer: Wind: I'm going to summon Commander Bensic before our next offensive. I can't force him to speak, but I can make him fight his own people.

/Officer: Nix: We're going to do a short bombing run, try and slim the numbers down a bit. Our scout team will use that opportunity to sneak in.

/Officer: Semmi: On a side note, our comm rings for the brooms we confiscated have all gone silent. This could mean that our undercover gig is up. We'll put that aside until we know for sure.