Chapter 46 – Conference room

After the room filled up, we walked in.  The break room was directly attached to the conference room, making that easier.  Making the wait was just a strategy, showing the collected people whose time was more valuable.  Fenris and I both looked perfectly composed, and prepared.  

The Duke looked positively furious with how the building was run, so I gave a point to Fenris.  I wasn’t above being petty if it served my interests.  The rest of the table was divided into halves.  On my side were the expected crew, including all of the officers from the Army of Windfall as well as SueLeeta and Sir Dalton.  Technically I had installed both of them as officers, but they were both operating in special capacity and didn’t really fit into the chain of command conventionally.  

I thought of them as troubleshooters.

Julia was in the same boat and had chosen to sit at the foot of the table.  She was trying to put on a brave face but almost everyone at the table was ignoring her.  The Falconians thought of her as my pet, and the Windfallians thought of her as a Falconian first.  

By placing herself at the foot of the table, she got out of their line of sight because everyone was looking at me.  This was the first time I’d stood in front of them in a position of absolute authority and I could tell the Duke was already itching to speak.  As commander of the armies of Falcon, he was the highest-ranking person here not in the Army of Windfall’s direct chain of command.    

The Duke was already surveying this battlefield and trying to pick his line of attack.  He was far more comfortable in this political aspect of military leadership than he was in the field.  He was quite a skilled fighter, but he didn’t see the actual application of military force in the same light as he saw a meeting.  

I wasn’t sure about my tactic of leaving Badgelor waiting in the wings but I never expected him to be this much of a political factor.  Now that Badgelor was about and talking, the Falconians were practically swooning at the badger.  While my respect was grudging, if earned, his respect was absolute.  The Duke was using my connection to Badgelor to argue that I was ‘borrowing’ the war badger’s authority and couldn’t handle the title on my own.  He was attempting to undercut me with the Falconians, many of whom only knew me by reputation, in an effort to increase his own standing. 

I hadn’t summoned Badgelor here, instead I was standing as Mayor getting ready to do battle with someone who didn’t realize that the world was about to enter into a fight for survival and all his petty political maneuvers were going to get his people killed.  

“The Dark Overlord is coming, soon,” I said.  “After our last battle, where the city of Filly was badly damaged, he will come here to try to get to Windfall Castle.  This is a planning session on how to stop him from doing that. ”

The Duke considered and settled on his line of attack, “My Liege, how do you know the Dark Overlord will come for the castle directly.”  Attacking the castle was the standard strategy for the Dark Overlord, everyone knew that.  No one knew why, and at best I had a strong idea.  

“Grebthar’s plan is to take over the castle and open a gateway to destroy the Dark Overlord forever.  I support that notion, but the end result of this will likely be the destruction of Ordinal,” I said looking around the room to a group of wide eyed adventurers.  

“The whole planet,” asked Lance, dumbfounded.

“I have given the calculations to someone I trust and he is convinced that is the most likely outcome,” I said with as much gravitas as I could muster.  “As I am unwilling to destroy Ordinal to stop the Dark Overlord.”  

“Why is the Dark Overlord coming here if you could destroy him,” said Sir Dalton.

“The energy to open the portal would be tremendous,” said Melissa of Riverside.  “I can’t even calculate how much.  Presumably the Dark Overlord will use it for another purpose.”

“And we are going to stop him,” said Fenris utterly non-pulsed.  

“How do you expect to stop the Dark Overlord, with your dinosaur shield,” spat Lance, who was also here.  Fenris stood to calmly explain where he was going to shove that shield and I zoned out.  

“Why is Lance here,” I thought to Badgelor, but was intercepted by Bashara.  

“He is a member of the armed forces, so of course he can be there,” she replied, and paused for just long enough to pique my interest before continuing.  “I’ve confirmed he also worked with, not for, my Mother.  Quite a few Falconians did, of course.”

“Is that going to be a problem?” I asked.

“Probably not, the Sphinx just wanted to keep everyone from getting too powerful.  That was something the nobility could work with.  The Dark Overlord wants to end everything, and everyone I’ve talked to is not so keen on that,” said Bashara.  “After the war you’ll want to discuss things with a few people, but that’s for later.”

“I hate politics,” I grunted.

“That’s because you still have all of your soul,” said Bashara.  “Not all of us do, and that leaves a lot of room for evil to take root.”

“I hope you are speaking metaphorically,” I groaned, but consulted Mystical Lore.  She wasn't.  Shadow energy could latch onto a person’s soul if they weren’t careful.

Bashara laughed, giggled really.  That was just so out of place for her that it was somewhat pleasant.  “Anyway, Lance is just lashing out.  He’s acting like a chicken with his head cut off without support.”

“A chicken you say,” I said as the two sides began yelling at each other in earnest.  

By the time half the table was on their feet, I cleared my throat.  Brass lungs did wonders to amplify my voice and it was the equivalent of me standing behind everyone’s head when I did it.  Everyone paused.

“One,” I began.  The Windfallians instantly sat down in spinal reflex but it took the Falconians a moment to realize I was counting down like they were children. The Falconians sat in waves.  Lance bristled, but sat down anyway.  The Duke considered his options for a moment before sitting, he was the last person in the room to do so.  I continued, “And the Dark Overlord will attempt to hold the city.”

“Siege it,” asked the Duke, “As he advanced on the castle?”  

“There is something in Windfall he needs, and will stop at nothing to get,” I said.  “Unfortunately, I am unsure precisely what that is, though I know it has to do with the Shadow Ley Line.”  Raising an eyebrow questioningly, I looked at the collected Falconians.  

“And you expect us to know that like some heroes of legend,” pouted Lance.  

“I assumed you scholars of Grebthar might have hidden knowledge about something located in Windfall that Grebthar might be looking for,” I said.  

“The mighty mayor,” began Lance, but I cut him off.

“Excuse me, why are you here?” I asked.  

“Because I’m a proud member of the Falconian armed forces,” said Lance, suddenly defensive.  As Bashara said, his support in this chamber wasn’t as broad as before, and talk of the Dark Overlord actually planning on destroying the planet while you insulted the person fated to fight him tended to quiet your allies.  

“Do you have anything constructive to add?” I stated.

“You are the Mayor, aren’t you supposed to just know this stuff?” hissed Lance.

“The Mayor must fight the Dark Overlord,” I said, noticing all of the discouraged and some frankly terrified people around the room.  This wasn’t something normal adventures could handle, I was talking about fighting the Dark Overlord.  That was the stuff right out of the stories.  In their mind, only Grebthar could do that.  Grebthar and his…

 “The Mayor has always relied on his companions.  Right now, I consider every person in this room my Companion, people who will fight with me against the ultimate evil that threatens this world,” I said, staring him down.  “Are you ready to fight the Dark Overlord?”

Lance wilted.  He could spout something, but doing so would be tantamount to admitting he couldn’t help.  

I continued looking around the room.  “Constructive criticisms I can handle in spades.  Tell me I’m wrong and how we can do better to my face, and I’ll listen.  If I agree I’ll even implement your idea and give you full credit.  If you sit there and bitch.”

I opened a portal to the city of Union where a surprised Quick Julia, the rogue, stared at me wide eyed.  Since she was so damn fast, I’d sent her on ahead at the Princess’ suggestion with a portal key.  Quick Julia stepped through the gateway and saluted.

“You can either help, or go back to Falcon,” I said.  “The worst thing anyone can do is simply and only criticize; it never accomplishes anything useful.” 

People nodded at me.  Understanding the ground rules gave them something they understood how to work with.  Hopefully I could further increase their confidence.  

“Give me the Rod,” I said next, holding up my hand.  The Duke looked horrified for a moment, then unsheathed the Rod of Rulership and handed it to me.  When I examined the rod, Fenris began discussing strategy.  

“Our primary defense will be at the Western Gate Fortress,” began Fenris.  Most of the junior officers were paying full attention to Fenris, the ones that weren’t I quietly noted as I continued working.

I began rubbing out several runes on the Rod with my thumb causing the Duke to flinch.  I ignored him, puzzling over several unbalanced runes.  

“Why did Grebthar do that?” asked Shart as I started rebalancing the power on the rod.  Normally removing the runes would have required a bulky tool, I could just focus and wipe them away with my thumb which was considerably easier.  

“Those runes are powerful, but configured like that they would actually weaken the rod,” said Shart.  

“They were the anti-Grebthar enchantment,” I replied, examining my handiwork. 

“How did you figure that out on the fly?” asked Shart as I worked.  

“Walker told me,” I replied.  “Also, what runes he intended on putting there.”

 The Duke looked terrified, but I didn’t care.  After I rubbed out the runes I etched two more in with my finger tip to act as a bridge and examined the bottom of the rod.  There was space for a demonic orb here, but one had never been placed.  I could expand the power of the rod if I chose.    

I glanced up at Julia and decided that was enough for now.  

Tossing the rod back, I prepared to continue the conversation, but the Duke immediately empowered the rod, and it started glowing brightly.  Shock flashed across his face,  “It's more powerful than ever.”

“We are fighting the Dark Overlord.  You need the best possible weapons,” I explained, causing the Duke to look ecstatic.  “I already upgraded the Duchess’ staff similarly.”  The smile faded, slightly.  

Then the duke turned his head, and I caught his eyes flashing over to Melissa of the River Side and Plasma Julia, who were whispering between themselves.  I waited patiently for a moment, as Melissa noticed me watching her and the Duke.

“We might know something,” Melissa began, shakily.  “In ancient lore, Grebthar the Grebtharian was working on something called the Dimensional Highlight Device.  He spent enormous amounts of resources on it before he vanished.”  

“Why did a giant stargate just appear in your mindspace?” asked Shart.  

“The DHD was used there to dial home,” I said.  “Charles was working on getting home before he became the Dark Overlord.”

Melissa produced a book, and there were several pictures.  Even though she was a dozen logs away from me, my Master Perception skill made the book clear as day.  

“Those are technical drawings from the Soul Sucker,” I said.

“A tiny part of it at least,” said Shart.  “He might have been using the device out in the lab to do something.”

“Notice the ring on the left,” I asked.  Shart whistled.

“I didn’t think Charles was that skilled in demonic script.  He was working on modifying the Dark Overlord’s amulet,” said Shart.  I didn’t quite understand how that would help with the upcoming fight, but every bit helped.  

“I noticed the last time I fought with the Dark Overlord, the Amulet looks different than in the drawings,” I said.  “There appears to be a piece of that device where the dragonhide strap was, turning the amulet into a collar.”

Melissa considered that, “I don’t recall a time in the stories where the amulet was ever described differently than this art.”

The Duke sat uncomfortably, then spoke.  “Toomen mentioned that the Amulet was different when he saw it last.”

The room quieted as everyone tried to remember the last time Toomen saw the Dark Overlord.  They were all going to be wrong.  They didn’t know Toomen and the Companions defeated the Dark Overlord by locking him in the chamber.  

“Why didn’t they kill him,” I wondered.

“Only the Mayor can destroy the Dark Overlord,” replied Shart in spinal reflex.  

That left me in an odd position.  I didn’t want to tell them that the strap might have been what caused their god to fall, best not to put that hope into them quite yet.  However, It wouldn’t be bad if they figured it out while researching something I asked them too.

“There is a lab outside of Windfall,” I began cautiously.  “That must be the remains of the DHD.”  

Then there was a gasp.  I assumed that it was because I dropped such a special piece of their history, but instead someone figured out there was a Companion title.  Plasma Julia was no more, her title now read ‘Companion Julia’.  Almost instantly every Falconian followed suit, as any title was less than Companion, almost.  

The Duke was fiddling with Duke Companion or Companion Duke, but Princess Julia figured out the best solution faster.  The Companion title granted a unique font and color that was distinct to the Companions of Grebthar.  She retained the title Princess Julia, it just looked much fancier now.  The Duke copied her.  Jealousy, I realized it used the same style of lettering as my Mayor title, but as an adult I wasn’t going to complain that they used the same font as I did.

Even if it was my font.  

Companion Julia cut in, “I believe that the device needed to be in Windfall to function, it may have been attached to a Mana Tap, based on some of the materials required.”

“That’s conjecture,” began Companion Melissa.  “But the barrier existing means there is a mana tap here somewhere.”

“The one Grebthar used is in the Engineer’s workshop,” I said, assigning the two of them a quest, as well as Margwal.  Beakatrix was already on a similar quest so I didn’t have to assign her one to continue working.  “Figure out what that was for.”

Companion Julia looked shocked for a moment, and was about to say something when she looked over at Melissa and stared over her head.  Then it hit her.  This was the kind of task a Companion of the Mayor did.  There was no one else.  Indecisiveness vanished on both of their faces and they nodded at each other.  

“Right away, Mayor,” they both said and turned to leave the room, before Melissa shrugged and walked over to the portal and raised her eyebrow at me.  There were portals in the town square of Windfall and Union, so I redirected this one back to Windfall.  She hopped through, and a moment later so did her partner.  

The Duke stared at his rod for a moment, then looked around at the companions in the room.  “So, Mayor, how can Falcon assist you with the Dark Overlord.”

“Here is the broad strategy, but I’ll need your help with the particulars,” I began.  “We have deployed the Army of Windfall to the Western Gate Fortress.  It is my belief that based on past battles, the Dark Overlord will strike there first.”

“And the Falconian forces,” asked the Duke.  “I have several Fast Action Transports ready to move additional forces to the front.  I have our Extended Reconnaissance forces going through additional training for Puma checks.”

“What about the Direct Universal Magical Bombardment unit that was supposed to be here,” asked Fenris.

“They are still enroute,” said the Duke.  

“They will all be used,” I stated.  “As the Ruler of the Falconian Union of Crown and Kingdom, I will ensure each group gets their honor on the battlefield.”

The Falconians seemed impressed enough, their conventional army was concerned that they were going to be left behind while Windfall got all the glory.  

“I’m flat out amazed that no one noticed this for all these books,” said Shart.

I frowned at him before continuing, “Okay, the FAT Fucks will be bringing in additional troops from Windfall.  The Fuckers will be deployed to scout on this side of the wall in case anything sneaks over the mountains, with elite squads venturing over searching for the Dark Overlord’s army.  We will have to wait on the DUMB Fucks to show up, when they do, we’ll deploy them at need.”

“You heard the Fucking King,” said the Duke.