sivousplay said:
There are lots of things to discuss. First, I think Suchet needs to be the one to present the "deal" we decide upon to the Duchess as I think she is our most charismatic negotiator ... we should check our Diplomacy skills to verify.
Suchet has no ranks in diplomacy. It's probably Draeca who has the best or a paladin. Diplomacy is only a class skill for Paladins, rogues and clerics, I think. Draeca is full up on diplomacy ranks and has a good charisma.
sivousplay said:
There is no way we can allow these people to fly Mithguard ... it would only result in another flying fortress in the hands of Mottul. I think we would all agree that Mithguard would be in the hands of Mottul were it not for our actions. They didn't even know they were in trouble whereas we came from "halfway across the world" to save them (and just in time).
You can be certain that Orena will not see it this way. Should she even bother to respond to such a characterization of her policies

, she would observe that it was properly garrisoned as the hulk all thought it to be. Now that it is known to be operational, it will be garrisoned accordingly.
sivousplay said:
I'm fairly certain the Duchess would not like to see more huge, old dragons at the heads of undead armies heading her way which will very likely be the case should she try to fly Mithguard. We need to make this point very clear to her ... we shouldn't embarass her or her duchy, but we should sound her out on how willing she is to go "toe-to-toe" w/ the armies of Mottul making it quite clear that the king was unable to withstand such an assault.
Also, not wanting to underestimate or undervalue the work of the Duchess and Severus in discovering these ancient secrets, we should be willing to make sure that they are greatly rewarded for their efforts. The ransom for a dragon such as Acrilug will no doubt be huge and we should allow her to keep all of it. Also, I don't think there's any loot that jumps out as stuff we have to have. So, it seems we could use the loot to sweeten the deal if necessary.
If the Duchess recognizes the soundness of these arguments (she gets lots of money at the risk of very little threat from Mottul), we need to decide what to do w/ the control rods and mercury. My suggestion would be to take them to Castelleon and determine how much more mercury we would need to fly a more substantial fortress ... one that may more easily be able to deal w/ the forces of Mottul (for starters it has Leonus as it's steward as compared to Severus).
How does everyone feel about such a plan?
Princep
Draeca will be happy to present the party's plan to Orena, should you select her as the spokesperson. However, Draeca does not believe it to be a successful argument at present. The Duchess will likely recognize that the fortress will make her a target but against that Draeca notes:
1) She will likely believe that she can garrison it at least as well as the party can. You shouldn't take the current garrison as indication of her A-team. Clearly, Mithguard was a backwater until now. While Severus isn't too impressive, Brytan isn't too shabby and the duchess could afford to put him there.
2) The flying fortress is of immense political value. It will make Orena a major player, not to mention providing her and her family with a refugee and a way to leave Eidos should Mottul prove successful. You shouldn't expect her to hand it over without good reason.
3) You should expect the Duchess to use force to seize the rod and fortress if necessary. It is what any archon would have done (except for the one honorable one, Braugh), and like US Senators who all see themselves as President stature, every Duke and Duchess sees themselves as the next Archon.
See next post for some information that will add some other avenues of exploration.
Marc