A Conjuror's journey

"Is it right?" You ask your apprentice. "Is it acceptable for a leader to abandon their men to save themselves?"

Once more attempting to rub away her tears, Louise shakes her head violently. "Of course not, cowardice is unbecoming of a noble!" She recites automatically as the scent of burnt flesh and voided bowels drifts across the battlefield.

"Ah, but what if you are the only thing keeping your armies from falling apart? What if you are such an important figure that without you, everything is lost?" You push. "What would you do in that situation?"

Standing on shaking legs, Louise paces in thought, stumbling over the rubble a few times. "No. Nothing can justify cowardice in battle... Mo- I-I wouldn't... couldn't run away like that. I-" Pausing, she covers her mouth for a few moments, failing to suppress her urge to gag before swallowing heavily. With clenched fists, glares at a nearby body. "T-they were traitors and commoners... Why can't I stop shaking?!" She demands, not really speaking to you anymore as she kicks a stone at the corpse.

"Maybe you feel guilty?" You supply, tossing a stone of your own.

"Me? G-guilty?! Traitors deserve the sword, I did nothing wrong!" She shouts at you, not looking away as another stone bounces off the dead guard.

"Your mother's teachings, yes?" With a chuckle, you respond, "I would not worry about the shaking then, your body is probably tired from all the exertion." Of course, she hardly did anything physically tiring, but it isn't like encouraging emotional weakness will help her. Better to play along with her denial until it becomes part of her truth.

Growling lowly, she stalks up to the body and glares down at it. "Mother wouldn't be shaking like this. She'd be disgusted if she saw how pathetic I'm acting right now. 'Of course you can't even control your own body, my little disappointment.'"

"Everyone reacts to stress differently Louise, I doubt that she would be so cruel as to berate you for this." You say softly as you stand and walk up beside the young woman as her shoulders join her legs in rebellion.

Still refusing to meet your eye, Louise points her sword at the body before her. "You... you don't know her. M-mother has expec- expectations." She says between what sound like hiccups. "I n-never live up to them."

"Louise." You say, putting a hand on her arm to lower the weapon as you kneel down in front of her. Rubbing at the tears and snot running down her face, she tries to turn away from you. "I'm proud of you." When she looks back at you, you continue. "I told you before, I believe in you." Against your better judgement, you don't resist when the girl latches her arms around you. "The past few days have been strange and difficult, but you stayed to help, just as I knew you would. You fought against trained soldier, brought low a rebel fortress, and most importantly... you stayed by my side, even though you could have flown away at any time... Does that sound like something to be ashamed of?"

"N-no?" She mutters into your robes as she soaks them with her crying.

Ignoring the disgusted feeling building up within you, you ask, "Does that sound like something a coward would do?"

Shaking her head, coincidentally smearing her mucus around further, she repeats, "No."

"Then there is no need to be upset." You say, slowly guiding the two of you toward the castle as the undead horde gathers up the freshly killed bodies.

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With Louise sleeping like royalty, you spend the remainder of the evening sorting through the accumulated paperwork in the master's study while your minions pile the assorted valuables of the city into the palace entryway for your later perusal.

Several hundred love letters find a new home in the fireplace before you stumble upon some interesting information. The leader of Reconquista, one Oliver Cromwell, had apparently been pleading for more direct assistance from the Gallian King Joseph... only to be rebuffed by someone named Sheffield. This would imply that Gallia is supporting the local rebellion, rather damning information if it were worded right by somebody with political power.

Stuffing the letter into your pocket, you continue your search. None of the remaining letters are of any use, so you move onto maps. Disregarding Londinium, the rebels seem to have seized the Northwestern portion of the... Island? Whatever it is, the cities of North and South Gotha on their respective sides of the central mountain are the front line of the war. Minor towns in the region have been taken and retaken so many times that the whole area on the map is littered with pinholes from map markers.

Turning from that, you inspect the map for the most likely place to find Cromwell and his group. Obviously the man won't flee toward the front-line and he prefers luxury if Louise's current bedroom is any clue. This leaves him with two likely destinations based on the borders the map shows. Ariconium in the center of the Northwestern half of the floating landmass or the furthest North city of Cheddar.

Choose 1:
[] Persue Cromwell

[] Fortify your holdings.

[] Return to the Valliere estates.

[] Write in.

Seeing as how Ariconium is the closer city, you decide to head there first. Extinguishing the fireplace, you instruct the skeletons to occupy the decorative armors that line the hall and head to an unoccupied chamber to rest for the evening.
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"I-I apologize for my outburst yesterday." Louise says as she wanders into the dining hall.

You off her concerns before filling a plate with eggs and sausage for her. "You have nothing to apologize for, combat can be quite exhausting, both physically and mentally. Give it time and you'll be cutting down whole armies without batting an eye, you simply need more experience." You say encouragingly as you pass her the plate of protein rich foods.

Taking a seat close to you, she pokes at her food a bit. "Thank you." She mutters with visible discomfort. "What are we going to do now?"

"I intend to pursue this coward of a revolutionary. Th-" The girl slams her hands on the table as she jumps to her feet, rattling the silverware.

"I'm going too!" Your apprentice interrupts, staring at you with determination as she waits for you to voice your disapproval.

Calmly, you retrieve your staff from the seat beside you and then swiftly rap her knuckles. "It is rude to interrupt your master, especially to state the obvious." Louise rubs her hand and blushes in embarrassment, but she smiles anyway as you continue. "As I was saying, the enemy has most likely retreated Northward by air. In order to chase after them in a timely manner, we will be leaving the chaurus here-" Her smile grows wider at that. "-where they can eat and grow." Your own grin appears as her own turns sickly and dies.

After finishing your meal while the pinkette grumbles about 'disgusting creatures', you begin making preparations to leave. Retrieving Louise's humongous travel bag and the insects from your previous hideout, you empty the palace larders of all food-like substance and pile it all in the wine cellar. Tearing the door from it's hinges is a simple matter for a pair of zombies and soon enough, the chaurus are chirping in delight at their new home. Hopefully they will have molted and begun laying eggs by the time you return.

Walking past the ever growing mound of valuables that the undead horde has been accumulating from around the city, you find your apprentice and her personal zombie in the courtyard with her pack. With a nod in her direction, you grab the familiar and lift off into the sky.

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Upon your arrival in Ariconium, one fact immediately presents itself. This is the single largest collection of active smithies you have ever come across, almost rivaling a Dwemeri Forge-city. Of course, it is highly unlikely that this city comes anywhere close to Dwemer production quality or quantity, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.

Like a several mile wide spider's web, the city forms a network of streets that branch off of eight main roads that converge in the center. The center of the city contains a large staircase that leads underground, congested with dirty men constantly entering and exiting. The outward layers of streets alternate between residential blocks, refineries pumping out large quantities of molten metal, smith shops producing all manner of item, and long shaded benches where children assemble small mechanisms of tubes and delicate pieces. All but one of the main roads stretches out into the surrounding forests, the odd one out connects to a large series of docks in the river. At each intersection there appears to be a wide-mouthed well, but not once do you spy anyone fetching water from them.

Unable to find any opulent palace or other such obvious destination for your target, you turn to ask if Louise has noticed anything. Once again, your apprentice cannot hide her excitement at her surroundings from you, but at least she remains quiet this time and attempts to maintain her dignity... managing a rather impressive look of disinterest if one failed to notice her constantly roaming eyes filled with wonder. She probably spent so much time studying that she never got to travel much, assuming that her parents would take their children anywhere. Sighing, you continue down the street.


Create a plan of action:
[] Write in.

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A/N: I know it was close, but the winning vote was to go to Ariconium. I might start cross-posting this on Spacebattles as well, depends if any of them are interested. If I do, I'll be sure to quote any plans they come up with so you guys can take their ideas into account and vice versa.