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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Dallman" data-source="post: 9695867" data-attributes="member: 6999616">Well, that all turned out quite well.The empress came out to address the convocation about 10:00 the day after we arrived. She's in her early forties, with a son in his early twenties. Her husband died in a war about ten years ago. There wasn't much ceremony.She read a speech welcoming the convocation and assigning it tasks, which were nothing to do with the purpose for which it had been formed, and did not seem urgent. A priest of Zeus from her entourage, Comakos, would chair the discussions. Aster responded, explaining the concerns over the role of the Church of Zeus with respect to the other churches, the policy towards the other Greek states, and the prophecy sent by Artemis giving Aster this mission. The Empress was clearly unaware of any of this.Comakos made his first mistake, saying that all prophecy is at the discretion of Zeus. Aster thanked him for the endorsement, and mentioned that she had the Bow of Apollo, which shows truth and deception. The Empress wasn't aware of that either and asked for a demonstration. The crowd were warned not to look at it, and the demonstration was given. Comakos was shown in the form of a drow; several people noticed that and called the Empress' attention to it. The demonstration was repeated with the Empress watching Comakos, and with that confirmed, she had him arrested and taken away for questioning.Aster, Rama, Hamsa, the leaders of the Apollo and Poseidon delegations, and the city's High Priestess of Artemis went to a private meeting with the Empress. The rest of the party started work with the empire's civil servants to move the convocation off the parade ground and into pavilions in the fields and orchards nearby, for the comfort and privacy of the sacred creatures. The Great Swans of Aphrodite did aerial scouting for that.In the meeting, the Empress apologised for her poor briefing. She had been intending to take the smaller Greek states. Aster explained the risk of dissipating military strength, and the advantages of alliance. The Empress has sent for the High Priest of Zeus to ask him what's been going on, although it will be at least three days before he arrives. It is known that church as been infiltrating other churches, so Comakos probably wasn't the sole instigator of the war policy. By the afternoon, there was confirmation that he is human and a Priest of Zeus, and he's admitted to being in the pay of the drow. He remains under interrogation.The empress wants Aster to address her staff to see if there are more traitors. The head of the Apollo delegation approved of that idea. The Empress's guards will also be checked, although she's more confident in them.After lunch, the Empress and advisers come out to meet the convocation, and make plans. The first of the states to work on is Themisia, immediately to the west of the empire. Diplomacy may be difficult, because the adjacent province of the empire was an independent state until the empire took it over in a war about 10 years ago. The Empress' plan is for her son to marry into the royal family of Themisia and live there, at least until the alliance is solid and the war won. The word "hostage" was not used, but that's the idea.The PCs, with some of the convocation and sacred creatures, will take that message to Themisia once the situation with the Temple of Zeus is clearer.There was no violence, the whole session was talking and demonstrating truths. We're on the road to preventing some inter-human wars, and foiling the plans of the drow and minotaurs to enslave the human population. A pretty good day's work!</blockquote>

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