RP:War Games

Part of the Thy Kingdom Come Arc

Summary: Tristram and Hildegarde listen to Josleen's plan for dealing with Balgruuf.

Governor's Estate

The doors burst open in a clatter as the Governor backpedaled into his home, staving off four orphans in pursuit, all of them armed with wooden swords. There was a great clatter in the grand foyer with more orphans pouring in, including a pair of adolescent-esque orcs battling another contingent of children.

Hildegarde had developed a great fondness for the orphans of Gualon. They were quick and sharp, not afraid to scrap and they had a sharp intelligence to them that she found enjoyable. The knight is a small distance away from the children, following them into the Governor’s home as Tristram backpedalled away from them; laughing delightedly as she followed. “Get the dragon!” she points at Tristram, laughing all the while.

Josleen had arrived in Gualon earlier than expected thanks to fair weather and a bit of luck. She went straight to the Governor’s Estate badly in need of a shower and a place to sit. Jacobo saw her to her guest room (or, autohit: guest suite, giggity) and she ran a bath. Unsure of what to do with herself while she waited for the Governor and Hildegarde to return, she made herself comfortable in the cushy library just to the west of the foyer with a line of sight to the main entrance of the mansion. Those who enter will also have a line of sight to her with her wet hair slung in a braid over one shoulder, a tea set and biscuits on the coffee table before her, and a book in her hand. The book cover is illustrated: a dragon curled protectively and passionately around a young maiden in a sheer billowy dress whose breast would be fully exposed if not for the strategically placed dragon’s tail that obscures the good bits. The title is Love Scales. Safe to say the book did not originate in this vast library of importance. She smiles fondly at the governor playing with the human orphans. When the adolescent orcs appear she forces her smile to stay in place though it fades from her eyes. She tells herself they are boys too, and convinces herself admirably though her knee-jerk racism will likely never fade. She waits for the din to die down before waving at the adult dragons, briefly forgetting that they are dragons. “Governor, Steward.” She sets the book down and rises to join them in the foyer. “I made good time reaching Gualon.” Her smile lingers on Hildegarde as she reflects on how nice it is to see the silver have fun again.

Tristram shouted back at Hildegarde, “You aren’t helping!” as he continued to swipe at his pursuers. He made it to the stairs and gained some crucial high ground, managing to get in a few solid blows which made the orphans tumble back in fits of laughter. The battle spilled into the study and Tristram followed, surrendering his strategic position to battle after the others. The orcs, and a couple other children, have gone after Hildegarde now, because she is a legitimate other dragon, and these are what the Governor has been teaching the city to fight against, after repeated invasions from his scaly kin. The Governor removed a young boy from the back of Josleen’s chair and he used his sword to fend off another attack as he greeted his visitor. “Ms., ah, Malovich, is it? Welcome to Gualon. I trust you’re well?”

Hildegarde laughed heartily at Tristram’s shout, obviously quite happy to watch him be swarmed by the laughing children. With a day like this, one could almost forget about the frozen north and the way it was preyed upon by the devious Balgruuf. But then suddenly the orphans and orcs have turned on her and there is no time to think of Frostmaw! The Silver readies her own wooden sword and bats a few blows away, laughing all the while. “I am the mighty Hildegarde! Guardian of the Tundra, roaaaar!” she yells at them playfully and with good spirit, taking a hit here and there so she could ‘yeow!’ loudly for the delight of the children. “I’m wounded!” she yelled, eliciting a laugh here and there. “Are you all here to protect our lovely guest from the fearsome dragons?” she asks the children, glancing briefly towards Josleen.

‘Malovich.’ Josleen‘s smile cleaves like ice. The frozen unblinking moment feels like eternity. The laughing of the boys grows distant. “Yes, thank you,” she says nonetheless, her voice warm and rehearsed. The boys and Hildegarde snap back into focus around them as they rush into the study too. Hildegarde tag-teams Josleen into this game of pretend, and of course Joleen is game. Excuse me, dragons, but she is a creature of theater. She darts behind an armchair, cowers, and points at Tristram. “He swallowed my husband whole!” Divorce and death-by-dragon are effectively means to the same end, though the latter feels more cathartic. Then she points at Hildegarde, “She burned the cows alive!”

Tristram squinted at Josleen for just a moment, because there was something in her smile, or her tone, or general deportment that, as a politician, he recognized. There wasn’t a great deal of time to dwell on it as chaos erupted again in the room. One of the orcs had grabbed a poker this time, and there were a few swords on the walls that had been pulled down. Tristram didn’t try to stop them, really, as the orphans knew their collective ways around weapons, but there was business to be conducted. He was about to suggest a retreat to the gardens when one of the kitchen workers appeared in the doorway with a platter of fresh-baked pastries. It was enough to clear the room in less than ten seconds. One of the orcs growled at Hildegarde as he scampered after the rest of his peers. “So.” The Governor crouched to scoop up a sword, intending to return it to its place on the wall. “We have some business to discuss? Some grand master plan? Or underhanded scheme?”

Hildegarde only growled back at the child, though her growl was more playful. Maybe that orc’s growl was less so. Yet with the children gone and the room left to the adults, the knight held the wooden sword in her hands carefully; glancing between Tristram and Josleen. “Josleen is the master planner, here,” she said softly, “this is her plan and I trust her.”

Josleen jumps in her skin when the orc growls at Hildegarde even though she is in no danger. Racism again, her old flaw. Hildegarde gives Josleen the floor. “I’ve thought about the plan some since I last saw you and have made some changes in hopes of spilling less blood.” She sits down first as ladies should, looks to Hildegarde and Tristram to join her. The scantily clad woman and her dragon lover (book cover) is face up on the table between them. “Balgruuf’s residence in the fort is a problem, as you both know. I believe if Hildegarde tried to reclaim the fort there would be a domestic war within Frostmaw’s walls, and Balgruuf would not leave the fort unless it were destroyed, which is not advisable since assuming a victory for Hildegarde still means the city lost a fort, to say nothing of the countless lives lost in the process and other infrastructural damage to the city. Furthermore if the war is between just frost giants, an internal threat, both sides are more impassioned.” She looks to them to see if they have anything to add to the problem. Then she gets to the solution: “Governor Tristram has a history as a…” Is warlord politically correct? “Successful politician dealing in city-state acquisitions.” Euphemisms! She smiles brightly at him and gauges his reaction. “I think you should declare war on Balgruuf and make a public declaration of your intention to take over Frostmaw. Your reasoning would be that your alliance was with Satoshi and Satoshi’s heirs, and you do not recognize Balgruuf as a legitimate authority. Move an orc army just outside Frostmaw to apply pressure. Once there, it’s a little bit of political theater.” The bard’s specialty. “Governor Tristram challenges Balgruuf to a duel one-on-one. I suspect he may reject it at first, or send another champion. Insist on Balgruuf. If he shows, Hildegarde can intervene by saying that she wants a chance to defeat Balgruuf first, then will defend Frostmaw from any outside threats, including Gualon. At this point Tristram says that if Hildegarde beats Balgruuf, you will no longer invade because you recognize Hildegarde as the sole heir to Satoshi’s line through appointment. Hopefully this legitimizes Hildegarde further and rallies some of the frost giants not yet convinced by Balgruuf to support Hildegarde. If he accepts the challenge, hopefully this can be resolved with very little blood spilled.” Deep breath and wary sigh. “However, I suspect he won’t agree to the duel readily. So! Cut off supplies to the fort and force his soldiers to turn on him eventually. You may need to send a mole into the fort to do some destruction to supplies from the inside. He will look like a coward and either need to accept the challenge to continue to earn loyalty from his followers, or once enough of his soldiers have deserted him, then the army could storm the fort when it is already significantly crippled from the inside.” Pause. “Also, the orcs or other allies may need to destroy a few city outposts to accelerate and intensify the situation. As in, turn Frostmaw into a pressure cooker that instead of losing steam, loses Balgruuf. Off the top of my head I would suggest destroying the fishing community on Lake Frysta. It is easy to replace once Hildegarde takes Frostmaw again, but is enough of an economic and food supply hit to really agitate the residents of the city against Balgruuf. Of course there is a potential for a real battle there. Hildegarde cannot be involved in that battle. It has to look like Balgruuf’s cowardice is leading to destruction of Frostmaw property. Best case scenario: Hildegarde takes the city with a single duel. Worst case scenario, one battle and storming a fort that is already crumbling from the inside. The goal is to keep the fighting off the city streets proper.”

Tristram stopped collecting weapons from the floor of his study to listen to Josleen’s proposal. He leaned against a discarded fighting stick and narrowed his eyes at Josleen as he considered the main points of her plan, internally debating them to pick out the weak spots. When she finished, he glanced at Hildegarde, deferring to her words about the proposal first, although he did mention quietly, “And if I move my whole army to Frostmaw’s gates to rattle this Balgruuf, who remains behind to defend my city from attack and invasion?”

Hildegarde listened carefully as Josleen spoke of her plan. There was tactical benefits to it, that much was clear, but there were disadvantages and things Hildegarde would simply not abide. “Lake Frysta is home to giants and elves who live upon the lake. It is the livelihood for some,” she began, glancing to Tristram and then Josleen, “and unless you plan on having Tristram fly in; there’d be no access to it for an army. If Tristram was your plan, then I must put my foot down. Tristram is a black dragon. His attack is acidic and would prove disastrous for the lake and the local environment… not to mention the people who would undoubtedly run to the scene to recover what they could. I will not see my people burn just to claim a throne,” she was firm but not unduly harsh. The Silver pauses for a moment, as if considering what other part of the plan makes her uncomfortable or wouldn’t work in her eyes. “If you were to trick Balgruuf as such, to make him think he is fighting Tristram and then I step forward… that will be a poor mark on me. Doubly so if Tristram were to fight Balgruuf for me. It would make him the King. It would make me but an exile or a remnant of the past. The culture is only the strongest may rule.” At Tristram’s concern for Gualon, the knight nods her head in consideration, “A valid point.”

Josleen shrugs earnestly at Tristram’s question. “How big is your army? Not all of it has to go, of course. Just enough to establish this choice for the giants of Frostmaw: Support Balgruuf and face a war with orcs and a dragon; or support Hildegarde,Satoshi’s chosen heir, and avoid a war with Gualon. That’s really the message that must be made. Supporting Balgruuf is reckless. The giants may be fond of war, but usually on foreign land. I doubt they would risk their hearths, children, and city for Balgruuf’s sake.” She nods at Hildegarde’s objections, conceding to her points tacitly. The acid was sort of the point of creating a catastrophe to incite a revolution against Balgruuf, but alas, perhaps it is too dark. She says as soothingly as possible, “I too hope Balgruuf accepts the challenge and resolves this with a single duel. There is no need to attack anything in that case. But, *if* he does not, if he waits in the fort and calls Tristram’s bluff, there has to be an attack. If there isn’t, you lose all leverage. No one will take the orc threat seriously. If Lake Frysta is too vulnerable in your opinion, then the orcs can attack the fort directly, but there will be a higher casualty of life on both sides. More orcs will die if they are in the vulnerable position of laying siege. Either way, I agree Tristram cannot fight Balgruuf, it must be you. What you are doing is protecting Frostmaw by answering Tristram’s claim that only Satoshi’s appointment is valid for the sake of his alliance. The idea is that so long as Balgruuf is in power, then Tristram no longer feels bound to an alliance. Only you can keep alliances in tact. Balgruuf needs to look like a poor choice to back, and you the good one.”

Tristram straightened and leaned the stick against a wall before stepping to his desk to sit on the edge of it. After both Hildegarde and Josleen had spoken their thoughts, the Governor cleared his throat, buying himself another moment to collective his own thoughts on the matter. “I agree that it needs to be by Hildegarde’s hand that this internal dispute is settled, and not by mine. Perhaps I am obtuse, but there may be a more straight forward way. As our alliance dictates, Hildegarde has called on myself and my army to defend Frostmaw from this interloper. I have no alliance with this Balgruuf. I bring my army to Frostmaw and enforce the alliance I have struck. Hildegarde is reinstated as rightful commander. If you lose dissenters in the process..” He shrugged.

Hildegarde nodded her head as Tristram spoke. “I have no desire to lose lives in this battle, but it is an inevitable part of war,” she said, knowing all too well the loss one faced in times of war. “I think this is something that will need further discussion. I cannot decide on it right away and there are aspects I am not terribly comfortable with. Frostmaw is a different animal to Xalious. Our ways are not civilised.”

Josleen shrugs at Tristram. “If that is how you want to proceed, then you know your army best. I worry about the consequence of a war in the city, and the damage it will do to Hildegarde’s reputation if she is seen as an invading force to the city alongside you. It may look to some like war as an answer for her to reclaim a throne. My plan is mostly about optics. It looks like she is challenging both you and Balgruuf for the sake of protecting Frostmaw’s people and deescalating a bad situation. That’s the theater, anyway, and as a bard I think theatrically.” She smiles and bows low. “I’ll let you two discuss without any more interjections from me.” She smiles to Hildegarde and squeezes her hand gently as she passes her to leave. “I know you’ll do right by Frostmaw whatever you decide.”