Ties that Bind - Silverymoon - Chapter 1 "Diplomats?"

[Rystil Arden]

"Well, unless the dwarf seeks to ambush any delegates and kill them himself, surely he can't protest to walking all the way but Teleporting back for the night each night and Teleporting back in the morning to where they stopped?"

 

[Shayuri]

Jonas just stares at Cassandra, aghast, for a moment, then breaks into an infectious peal of laughter.

"If you do, lady, you will be leaving me behind. I for one enjoy nights in the wild, and I have more than adequate means to make sure we rest safely and comfortably. To be honest, I almost hope he does send forces to ambush us. If he does, we can throw that dishonor in his face before the whole Great Hall. An easy win for us."

"But I doubt he is that foolish."

 

[Erudite]

"He may be, Jonas" comments Corund. "If he is truly in a fit of pique, then his dwarven nature will allow him to provide for such behavior for decades to come." The mage quietly adjusts his seat before proceeding. "I am still of the opinion that doing as asked with no duplicity will give us added weight before any dwarves at Adbar, despite obstacles fair and crooked. It is stoicism, it is dwarvish."

The wizard unwinds his legs with a bit of a stretch. "But we must travel mostly at night."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"You call it duplicity, but it isn't. You can't be a strict constructionist on the sense of 'traditional' or else you'll run into problems. If you follow strictly, you can't travel at night because 'traditionally' they travel during the day, you can't change shapes or use flight magic because traditionally dwarves travel on their own two legs, you can't cast magic because dwarves traditionally rely on martial skill alone. You can't just say you are going to follow 'exactly what is asked' because he wasn't specific and there will always be room for him to complain."

"Oh, and I don't travel at night--I'm a human, you see, and we can't see in the dark. I'm sure you'd agree that travelling at night with a big light is worse than travelling during the day."

 

[Erudite]

"Enough!" cries Corund. "I'll not quibble words with you when you bandy and pout so. A simple objection would have sufficed. I erred in assuming that your level of talent included overcoming elementary obstacles such as darkness without using mundane means. Evidently, I was mistaken. Sir". Corund addresses Jonas. "Have you a means to overcome darkness, or are you also limited to waving about torches, and such? I am rather more hopeful in your case, since you seem to demonstrate a sufficient pool of common sense."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"When I bandy and pout so? I'm not the one who has yet to fail to include an insult to my fellows every time I open my mouth. Why don't you try being civil for a change and see if we can discuss things instead of making snide remarks and being dismissive?"

 

[Erudite]

Corund simply temples his fingers together, waiting for an answer from Jonas regarding his night seeing capabilities.

 

[Shayuri]

"Peace!" Jonas cried, spreading his hands. "Both of you, peace! If we can't close ranks between ourselves, we have a poor chance of mending ties with a recalcitrant dwarf!"

He waits just a moment, then continues. "We are all beings of some personal power, and seem to be used to working alone and having our own preferences catered to. I think we're all worthy of each other's respect."

He looks at the shade wizard, "Cassandra's right in that you've been more condescending and hostile in expressing your opinions than was strictly necessary."

He turns his gaze to Cassandra, "But he has a good point in saying that it's unlikely that a person of your obvious power would be dearly inconvenienced by such a trivial thing as an absence of light. Wheras moving in daylight would, if I'm not mistaken, cost him dearly."

Finally he settles back. "For my sake, I can operate by day or night, so I represent a neutral party. Now...can we come to an agreement, based on greatest need?"

 

[Rystil Arden]

"I can't target my powers if I can't see. If I can't target my powers, all I can do is sit there. Thus, unfortunately, I am quite inconvenienced by the dark. However, normally this wouldn't be a problem, if not for the dwarf and his idiot traditions. If you travelled at night without me, for instance, I could wait in Silverymoon and Teleport in with light when I am needed, thus avoiding the problem that light presents...I'm sure he's weakened during the day or something, but if he can use his magic, then he's better off than I would be at night without any light."

 

[Shayuri]

Jonas looks nonplussed. "Well. What if a means for you to see in the dark was provided for you? Would that quiet your objection?"