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Samson and his team celebrates their conquest of Briggid Island, with it leaving only minimal pockets of Imperial occupation on some assorted isles people are already planning to take care of, a few of which are even surrendering on their own. It's taking a little while for the Dory agents sent to Oswald's little hideaway to do their thing, but hey, he has no idea where to look. It could just legitimately be a lengthy trip. Adelais has sort of chilled out since losing an eye, though she's still more than a bit of a nutcase at times, and she's taken to training harder than ever to compensate for the loss. He'll honestly feel pretty bad for her when the time comes to safely double-cross the Dories.

Dyrus, meanwhile, continues crossing through the mountains with the rest of the revolution in tow. This range is thinner by a significant margin than the range separating the entire easternmost third of the Empire from the desert and beyond, and while Felix warned that the group ought to be prepared for attacks from bandits patrolling the area, his luck-loving aunt's insistence that they're not stupid enough to take on the entire revolutionary army at their size, no matter how well they know these mountains, proves correct, and it's determined to be wise to just deal with them after the bigger fish have been fried.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVypFNGAHO0

You become Dyrus as frustration with this feeling of having plateaued grows and grows. You're approaching one of the most important battles of your life, and you just can't seem to go up in rank! This... can't really be your limit, can it? Everyone else only seems to be going up and out, smashing their old limits, putting themselves in classes of their own!

>A. Vent your frustrations to [specify]
>B. No, you just need to train harder! (skip ahead..?)

>>47668566
>A. Vent your frustrations to Darren

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>>47668693
You find your grandfather, sharing with him your concerns about your lack of real progress of late. "Am I legitimately not cut out for this?" You ask.

"Dyrus, just because you've hit a snag doesn't mean you'll remain that way forever," your grandfather promises. "And even then, I bet your lack of progress is all in your head."

"Yeah, but... I want to be useful to this army!" You insist, frowning. "If I can't get stronger before our most important battle, why should I even show?"

"Dyrus," your grandfather starts yet another sentence with your name, "do not forget that you are still quite young, barely a man. While you've grown immensely stronger in the last several months, you cannot forget that you've your whole life ahead of you to pursue... Anything, honestly, considering the station you'll be in."

"So we know that my mother's going to be the new queen, then?" You ask. "I wasn't sure if she'd decided or not..."

"Pretty much all of our allies have been clamoring for it," your grandfather says, "so she felt she could hardly turn down such an important role, at least for the capital region, and the Tarvosians are strongly in favor of giving her dominion over the valley. She's not interested in having responsibility for the entire Empire thrust upon her, though, so it will certainly be divided up in the coming months... I suppose the convenient little regions they've already set up will each become their own fledgling countries."

>A. Sounds complicated
>B. Why wouldn't she want it all?
>C. That makes sense, you guess
>D. Write-in response

>>47669000
>A. Sounds complicated

>>47669000
>A. Sounds complicated
I would have thought that all of them would want to become independent nation-states, instead of having a new emperor on the throne. Maybe they will push for a much weaker central government, a la Holy Roman Empire.

>>47669316
"...sounds kinda complicated," you say, tilting your head to one side.

"Political affairs very often are," Darren responds. "This is yet another thing you'll need to come to understand in the coming months, but both by observing your mother's example and the advice finest tutors in the land."

"Ugh, it's gonna be weird being back to sitting around in one place, doing all my training and learning things..."

"See?" He asks. "You're acting like a child now, treating this like like it's been an extended vacation. The fact that you could still say that after all we've been through, the losses of Gerard and Denim and Tien and many others, tells me with certainty that you've still very far to go."

"Eheh, sorry... Guess I was in a hurry to mature," you say, rubbing the back of your head sheepishly.

"All of us were one time," Darren answers. "Even your mother was once in an improperly fast hurry to grow up."

"Why do you say that?" You ask.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISPsXGlyxI

"...it's simply a general thing," he answers, oddly dismissively, "I've known my daughter-in-law since she was younger than you are now, so of course I've seen some of her... Let's call them phases."

"Ahah, really?" You laugh a bit at the thought of your mother's weird teenager phases. "Come on, I need to hear about this!"

"I can't say anything more," Darren answers, turning and leaving. "If you're feeling better about yourself, I'll be off now."

"H-hey, wait..!" You scrunch up your face, turning around and kicking the dirt. "Now I'm even more curious..."

>A. Talk to someone (specify)
>B. Skip forward
>C. Find someplace private to train awhile...

>>47669330
>A. Talk to someone (Laurise)

>>47669330
>A. Talk to someone (Laurise)

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>>47669418
You decide to seek out Laurise to discuss what your grandfather almost mentioned. She's been traveling with mother much more than you, so she'll surely have more dirt, right?

For a brief moment, you reconsider bothering her when you track her down and find her and Felix sitting by a mountain stream, the latter seemingly rubbing her shoulders.

"Ahh, yeah," she says, sighing, "that's been bugging me since the desert... Say, where did you learn to do this?"

"Aunt Fortune showed me a lot of little tricks like this... I'm hardly the pinnacle of physical fitness now, but as a little kid I was even sicklier, got injured really easily... I guess I was a fast learner for things that ease stress. There's also this breathing technique I use where I store air in my ribs, and..."

"A tactician, treasurer, and now this? I swear, Felix, you've got so little to be shy about!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHfz6zIVVFw

That's your cue as a responsible and loving brother to interrupt the mood, absolutely making your presence known as obnoxiously as possible. Loudly approaching, you ask, "hey, Laurise, what's up?"

The interruption leads to Felix jumping up in startledness and nearly falling over, with Laurise catching and standing him back up before turning to you and huffing. "I was simply talking with Felix. What do you want, brother?"

>A. Does she have any dirt on mom?
>B. Does she feel like she's hit a roadblock lately or is that just you
>C. Nothing important. You can go.
>D. Just passing by!
>E. Write-in response

>>47669626
>A. Does she have any dirt on mom?
>B. Does she feel like she's hit a roadblock lately or is that just you

>>47669626
>A. Does she have any dirt on mom?
>B. Does she feel like she's hit a roadblock lately or is that just you

>>47669740
"Do you have any dirt on mom?" You ask.

"Do I.. what?" Laurise asks, not really sure what you're going on about.

"Come on, grandpa says that she went through a bunch of weird phases at our ages, and I wanna know if she's ever talked about them?"

"I... Don't, actually," Laurise says, tilting her head to one side.

"Is this really a strange thing?" Felix asks. "Most people won't talk about embarrassing parts of their lives..."

"No, not that... I mean in general, I don't think I've ever heard anything about mom's life before she married dad and had us," Laurise says, curiously. "That is a bit... weird?"

"Do you think she ever had a phase where she thought she couldn't ever get any stronger?" You ask. "Like, uh... I dunno, have you been feeling like that lately?"

"Again, I really haven't put much thought into it..." Laurise taps her chin. "But... Yeah, you have a point. I haven't gotten that much stronger in a long while. I've just been preoccupied with everything else and it didn't really stick out for me..."

"Grandpa says we have plenty of time to get stronger," you explain, "but I don't wanna be holding us up against the Emperor's finest men!"

"This is why no one fights alone," Felix says, "the fundamental concept of an armed force is that a hundred people with swords united are more likely to survive and thrive together than they would alone or in smaller number. I, for example, am... Easily the frailest person in the Lords of Chance company, perhaps in this entire army, but guarded sufficiently, my tactical and magical knowhow have been invaluable."

"Exactly, Felix," Laurise says, turning to you. "So... You don't need to worry about being the strongest guy on the field, Dyrus. Just worry about doing what you do best?"

>A. You guess...
>B. Yeah!
>C. But you're losing your edge with that!
>D. Write-in response
>E. ...

>>47670051
>A. You guess...

>>47670051
>A. You guess..

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>>47670108
"I mean, I guess..." You say, looking to one side. "I'll get out of this funk eventually, yeah."

"That's the spirit, bro!" Laurise cheers you on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JfLfwWWk80

Soon enough, you approach the end of the mountain range, though you do find out that, even without bandits making your day worse, at the end of the mountains and the start of the capital valley is certainly a fight. Pegasus-mounted scouts inform your lot that the Emperor himself is, in fact, riding out to stop their advance here with much of his cavalry in tow. Riding by his side is Lady Rene herself, and the rest of her entourage is certainly going to be in on the fight themselves.

"And Methodius?" Hauteclere asks.

"He's not been spotted among the enemy's number," the scout responds, "and it's likely that he's been tasked with defending the capital in his liege's stead."

"Good," your mother remarks, "then that's one less thing we need to worry about. Marduk, I'll need your sister to lend me Iote's Shield, only for this fight. I'll lead the charge against his cavalry myself, since Emperor Ximeno has given us the same courtesy, but I'll need to be wary of his archers."

"I'll go ahead and tell her," the elder wyvern brother remarks, face free of any unkempt hair follicles for the first time in a very long time, but face still troubled-looking. Facing Rene can't be easy for him, you figure.

>A. You wanna be with your mother's forces!
>B. What's there for you to do?
>C. Write-in response
>D. ...

>>47670292
>Head with Marduk

>>47670345
Care to clarify the wording on this?

>>47670359
Never mind, I thought Marduk was going to fight Rene. I'll do
>B. What's there for you to do?
instead

>>47670292
>B. What's there for you to do?

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>>47670406
"Er, what should my group do?" You ask.

"There's more to the Emperor's forces than just his cavalry," Hauteclere explains, "infantrymen, mages, and even the rest of Rene's people. Our strongest forces may be with me, standing against the Emperor and his elitemost cavalry, but that doesn't make the others any less vital to defeat."

"So, uh... Am I with your most trusted and powerful forces or with the everyone else?" Marduk asks. "I know, recent turncoat and all, you might have your reservations about putting me on team regicide, so... Do whatever you want with me."

"You, your sisters, and their wyvern squadron will be with the same group as Dyrus, yes," Hauteclere says. "With the bow Rene wields alone, any fliers who aren't carrying this shield would be mincemeat until she could be forced to retreat."

"No need to use euphemisms with me, sir ma'am," Marduk says, frowning, "I know what happens to strong enemies who lose in battles."

No one mentioned to him that Hauteclere would strongly Rene being taken alive? Ah, whatever, he's not fighting her anyway.

That being said, with this information gained, you've only a very brief time before you and the rest go out to fight the Emperor. The lot of you hurry to take down your current encampment and hurry to meet the impending battle.

>A. Talk to someone (specify)
>B. Skip ahead

>>47670572
>A. Talk to someone (Marduk)

>>47670572
>No one mentioned to him that Hauteclere would strongly Rene being taken alive?
What?

>Talk to Marduk.

>>47670627
Strongly prefer, my bad.

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>>47670624
In the time leading up to your departure, you speak with Marduk, an idea apparently shared by his sisters.

"Marduk, you made the right choice," Nia assures him. "We heard about how you tried to save as many Vautou as possible when Director Cato ordered an innocent villageful massacred just to reclaim the town. Even beyond me and Nia's sakes, you've known in your heart that the Empire was..."

"Hah... That was mostly Omar's idea," Marduk says, looking to the ground sadly, "and he didn't turn his back on his friends over it."

"You really shouldn't be talking like that," Winona says, concernedly. "It's already hard for people to trust a turncoat, and if too many people hear you regretting your choice, then..."

"Regret?" Marduk shakes his head. "Oh, no, I wouldn't go back on what I did for the world. Just... I dunno, it hurts to know that good folks like Omar, Veiz, and Saye are goin' through all this..." Marduk looks up and sees you. "Oh, hey, Dyrus... You been listening awhile?"

>A. Just wanted to check up on him
>B. Any chance of talking these friends to another side?
>C. His friends made their choices, he made his
>D. Write-in response
>E. ...
>F. Sorry, you'll go

>>47670849
>A. Just wanted to check up on him
>B. Any chance of talking these friends to another side?

>>47670872
"I just wanted to know you were alright," you say, honestly, "since you just seem... Well, like you've been in a perpetual state of upset."

"No, no, I'm alright... I'll feel good about myself when this is all over and done, I'm sure."

"Is there... No way that the people you mentioned could be turned over to our side?" You ask.

"Not a chance," Marduk says. "Hal's a dummy who doesn't seem to care what he's supporting, Alfred's pretty much Veiz' boy-toy with a killing edge, Cicero wouldn't even dream of ditching Rene, of course Rene's out of the question, and as for the folks you mentioned... Omar's convinced that bloody rebellion's only making everything worse. Saye had every chance to join us when Cashmere showed her true colors and threw her in jail, but ran ahead anyway, even when her entire REGION declared its neutrality. And Veiz..." He shakes his head. "That's honestly more laughable than Rene turning coat."

"I see..." You frown.

"Just, uh... Leave me alone for a little bit, won't all of ya? I'll have my stuff together by the time we shove off."

You, Winona, and Nia comply, going elsewhere.

The middle sister says, frowning, "I'm... Worried about him, honestly. Marduk says he'll get better, but he's a sensitive guy. All of this is getting to him harder than he's letting on."

"Well," Nia says, hopefully, "when he makes some new friends in these ranks, it'll make it easier for him to deal with all this fighting!"

>A. Yeah, probably
>B. He can't just replace people like that
>C. Maybe we could set him up with somebody after this! (suggestion/s strongly preferred)
>D. They'd know better than you
>E. Write-in response
>F. ...

>>47671167
Vote time renewed. Laptop's being super shitty and laggy, so I'm resetting it again in the meantime.

>>47671167
>B. He can't just replace people like that

>>47671167
>A. Yeah, probably
but
>B. He can't just replace people like that
While Marduk may make new friends among us, but they won't replace the friendships that he made with he made with the empire.

>>47671498
"I mean, yeah, he'll probably gain a better outlook on everything when he gets closer to people," you say, "but that doesn't mean he can just... Replace people in his heart. He'll be upset about this for awhile, but it'll lessen over time. For now, all we can really do is wait for that."

"I guess..." Nia actually looks a bit caught off-guard by your point. "I mean, I guess it's different when I have a lot of okay friends instead of any close ones..."

"You have close friends, Nia!" Winona tries to reassure her.

"You don't need to make me feel better about it, sis. I'm fine with how it is."

Eventually, despite hideous amounts of laggy computer, the lot of you are headed out to face the Emperor and his men. He awaits at the end of this mountain pass, and your mother, along with several of your finest knights (you only recognize Biff, Byron, and Nahuel out of her number, but especially everyone with a horse is going out to meet the enemy), are the first up to face his own cavalry.

As soon as your first wave breaks ahead to do their thing, however, you find yourselves blocked off from them by a suddenly-appearing bunch of foot-mounted foes that literally warp in.

"What in the-" Your grandfather looks taken aback. "But... How could they warp there without Methodius?"

"We overlooked a very simple possibility," Felix starts, before noticing Laurise was about to say the same thing and letting her take over.

Thus, your sister says, "why did we assume he couldn't just give the pendant to someone else?"

"Grh... At this point, they're poised to attack the whole of our cavalry from the rear!" Darren gripes.

"Then I propose a change of plans," Belle says, raising her Silver Sword, "we cut them down now and... stop them from doing that."

"Very eloquently put," Via says, "and I agree, we can't exactly afford to have our imminent queen beheaded from behind."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GkMZRd0-iQ

>A. Advance
>B. You'll stay back
>C. Write-in action

>>47671817
>A. Advance

>>47671817
>B. You'll stay back

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>47671835
>>47671854
Think it's fair to roll a bit earlier than the usual vaguely-defined, flexible cutoff time.

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>>47671854
"I'll hold back here," you say, being among the few to not immediately rush forward. "This could easily be playing into their plans."

"Regardless," Darren says, "there's not much else we can do. You do have a point, though, so I suppose a small group ought to hold back..."

A few assorted Lords of Chance, Laurise, Felix, Via, and yourself are the only ones to stay back, while everyone else rushes forward, immediately greeted by an even MORE abruptly-appearing lot of Bael.

"Well," Veiz says with a frown, "that is a... Concerning venom hazard. Perhaps we should, in fact, step forward?"

"Er, yeah," you say, "I think this constitutes a change in-"

Whoa! With similar abruptness, a short-haired woman with a glare on her face, witch pendant dangling around her neck, appears before you, by her side a white-haired, shades-wearing swordsman, white-haired archer clad in dark-colored light armor, that weird green-haired guy you briefly met in the desert, and...

"Hey, Saye, hey, Omar," you say, waving at them.

"I wish this was under better circumstances..." The wolf-girl says, transforming into her beastly form. "We're taking the tiny-looking kid."

"What do you want with Dyrus?" Your sister asks.

"Hey! You're not any taller!"

"...the, uh, one with a light tome," Hal clarifies, pointing out Felix. "Er, hey, is that him?"

"S-sir Felix will not be taken!" Two Lords of Chance-employed soldiers step in front of the light mage, spears raised.

>A. Attack someone! (specify who, whether with Royal or Hand Axe)
>B. Seriously, why do they want him?
>C. Write-in response
>D. Do nothing

>>47672094
>A. Attack someone! (Hand Axe, Kristina)

>>47672094
>A. Attack someone! (Hand Axe, Kristina)
>B. Seriously, why do they want him?

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>>47672297
You waste no time in chucking your Hand Axe at the short-haired woman, only for it to be wrapped in dark magic and strike the ground ineffectually.

You turn to the source of the magic, noting the white-haired archer now holding a tome. To her, you ask, "why do you guys even want Felix?"

"Emperor's orders," she responds quite freely. "We've found a diary a decade and a half old that explicitly mentions him and his late family."

"Wait... What are you talking about?" Laurise asks.

"We're talkin' about your long-lost dying uncle leaving you and four other heirs his fortune," Hal says, chuckling, "all you gotta do is come to his castle."

Felix, confused, starts, "wait... Are you trying to imply that I'm-"

"Are you two certain it's wise to give such information freely?" Alfred interrupts.

"Come now, what child doesn't dream of being a prince?" The archer asks. "We derive... No pleasure from this whatsoever, but one can't defy the Emperor's direct order."

Alfred's disgust looks particularly palpable, but he stays loyal to Veiz, even gets between a double-blast of Laurise's Dime Thunder for her sake.

"A-Alfred!"

Omar rushes over to heal him, and the summoner-girl tosses several floating eyeballs in Laurise's general direction.

Saye, meanwhile, has already ripped through one of the Lords of Chance and is in the middle of punching out the other, seemingly not registering Felix's light magic blasts in response.

"This is... Quite the situation, sir," Via says to you, frowning. "What shall we do?"

>A. We both attack (specify)
>B. You go for (specify target), Via does (specify task)
>C. Her call!
>D. Write-in response
>E. Keep trying to talk! (suggestions required)

>>47672485
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSZXlp7lcDU Whoop, forgot battle theme change.

>>47672485
>B. You go for Saye , Via does engages Veiz (her nimbleness should match Veiz's fighting style more than our run up and hit things with our axe style).

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>>47672541
"Alright, here's the plan..." You quickly whisper, before pulling away. "Got it?"

"Yes, sir," Via says, nodding before heading in Veiz' direction.

You step in, trying your best to save the skin of that poor spear-wielding mercenary by striking Saye from the back, Laurise and Felix joining you in trying to taking the hulking werewolf down. Dime thunder and light tomes do the trick fantastically, leaving her barely able to stumble back to Hal for a quick heal-up before reverting and passing out.

"You know," Veiz says as she approaches Veiz, drawing her daggers, "when I briefly knew Sir Alfred, he was quite the gentleman. He seemed particularly appalled, in fact, by the notion of taking hostages."

"What is your point?" Veiz asks, holding up her light-magic bow. "He knows how little pleasure this gives me as well."

"My point is that a maid must sweep such an unsightly person away, of course," she says, tossing her knife and striking Veiz directly before she's even pulled back her bow. With a yelp, she goes down, and Omar hurriedly heals her up too.

Honestly, you think, you should've attacked Omar earlier than this, but he's just too nice for you to think "IMMEDIATE TARGET."

Another wave of the eyeball-monsters are attacking you, Laurise, and Felix again, more than a few mercenaries being cut through with its rings of dark magic.

Meanwhile, Kris slams open a Ray tome and sends light magic Viaward, connecting and knocking her to the ground. "You aren't laying one more fuckin' hand on Veiz, you got that?!"

"Er, I, uh, concur!" Hal agrees, fumbling around his things. "Where'd I put that Elthunder..."

Swinging her sword as Felix blasts the eye-monsters with light, Laurise looks at you expectantly as a hole is made in the ring of monsters around you.

>A. Attack Kris again
>B. Attack Omar
>C. Attack Hal
>D. Attack more Mogall
>E. Write-in response

>>47672775
>B. Attack Omar
real sorry dude

Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>47672817
I feel ya, Omar's easily one of the more likable party members across the board. But when you're in the line of danger, sometimes you must be in danger.

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>>47672817
You feel bad about this, you do, but they've got two active healers here, and he'll be the easier of the two to take down. Breaking through the ring of Mogall, you hurry towards Omar, not hesitating to raise your axe up and swing it down onto him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgZJ3TnFzDQ

"No peace can be... achieved through the sword," Omar reflects as the axe buries itself in him, being drawn out with a similarly swift motion.

"Oh... Oh, shit," Hal says, physically stepping back and trying to fumble back to his staff from his tome, waving it over Omar's still-bloodied form... "Shit, shit, oh shit... Kris, come on, we need to get OUT of here!"

"But what about Felix?" Kris asks. "Did we come out here for nothing?"

"We came out here for we're all going to die if we don't go NOW!" Hal responds, gathering up his unconscious allies and Omar.

"Fucking fine, gods!" Kris shouts, the lot of them vanishing as quickly as they disappeared.

"Wait, is... Is he dead?" You ask no one in particular. "Did I just..."

"I... Couldn't tell for sure?" Laurise says, ineffectually trying to cheer you up. "Er, stronger people have survived worse..."

Felix, meanwhile, helps Via up, handing her a vulnerary. After she drinks it down, she silently looks in the direction of the rest of the battle. "It would appear that the bael have vanished. Perhaps now would be a good time to push forward and join your grandfather's forces?"

>A. Yeah...
>B. They can go on
>C. ...
>D. Write-in response

>>47673109
>A. Yeah...

>>47673168
"Er, yeah," you say, shaking your head. "Can't cry about it now!"

"...precisely, sir." Via pats your shoulder, giving a small, reassuring smile. "If it's any consolation at all, I'm certain there were plenty of other Imperial soldiers no less pleasant in demeanor than..." She frowns. "No, that's not going to console you at all, is it?" A moment of silence, and then, with none of her usual 'unnervingly smiling' upsetness persona, she adds, "...it'll be alright, sir."

"Y-yeah... Let's finish this war before we grieve, alright?" You say.

"Yes, sir," Via responds, giving you a more earnest, sad smile. "Should you at any point require a shoulder for crying upon..."

"Later, Via, later," you say, the two of you following Laurise, Felix, and the remaining Lords of Chance who stayed behind with you.

>to be continued next thread
It was hard for me to write, but "hit fragile curate with axe" tends to have one result. Least I left myself JUST ambiguous enough writing to reasonably chicken out of this one, potentially. I dunno, though, it does sort of bug me how easily I let people not die when we get into the latergame of my quests.

Next Dyrus or Rene thread'll show the rest of the battle, and if it's Rene also going back to a little bit before it to show the pregame from her POV. Next Samson thread will be your regularly scheduled island adventure.

Thanks for playing, as always. Update twitter and ask.fm are qmgrandflocto, and I'll be around in-thread to chat for awhile.

>>47673263
Thanks for running.

I'm not too surprised at that outcome, since I expected someone on the Imperial side or the Rebellion side to die there as soon as the ambush sprang, but it's still a terrible shame. Here's hoping Omar doesn't become the sacrificial lamb that makes Rene do something stupid (much less likely that would happen than if Veiz had died, at least - that would've been a bad scene).

>>47673365
Always a pleasure.

I'd actually been very strongly considering having Omar turn to team Hauteclere since his character began to come into its own during Rene's desert arc, but ultimately reached the conclusion that it made for a more interesting character if he stayed on her side despite his many problems with the empire.

All in all, one of my favorites to write, so this is quite the loss, but maybe Alfred'll get more than two lines in per six threads now. Ahah, remember when he was the focal/connecting point of the first 3 full chapters, then of a moderately-important subplot for Rene and Veiz? That first-three-chapters run kickstarted Samson's entire plotline, too...