Ultstadt wrote:
Jaafan had felt encouraged at the warrior woman's amused look, as it bode better than disgust or disdain, but her words doused that ember before it could catch flame. He kicked dust up, not directly at her, she was speaking the words of the 'generals', but the words struck him none the less.
"Better to lose commoners than soldiers, bah. who feeds the soldiers? Who leaves their homes to become soldiers. Better to lose all the generals than one commoner." the young barbarian growled, knowing full well his people would be considered expendable to the high and mighty leaders, "Anyway, we've bested the dangers of the forest of storms. We cover ourselves in animal dung to hide our scent, we climb the trees periodically to chart our course around the herds, and we strike the Volucreth where they least expect your forces. Those that die will be honored in tales, and those that live will have the glory of striking down the volucreth in their own lands."
Jaafan drew his volucreth blade and stabbed it in to the ground, "If your forces are not up to the match then we can go to my home and the commoners who dwell there will surely have the strength, though they would likely expect some reward for saving your empire from your southern enemies. Perhaps they could replace your generals." he laughed at the end, entertained by the idea of his tribe proving their worth above the soldiers of this Prince and his warriors.
Bathandwa regarded Jaafan cooly and there was a tiny flicker of anger when he mentioned her forces not being up to the challenge, but she chuckled when he mentioned replacing the generals.
" Ah, but then you will no longer be a toned and fiery warrior of the borderlands but a sleek and comfortable general yourself.", she grinned then looked at his captured weapon,
" It is a good blade...Perhaps, if the Prince permits we can test it against my mothers in a short while..."Kharille wrote:
(Assuming that we're all comfortably seated, or at least, Kuublu is...)
Kuublu raises his hand, as he wishes to speak.
" Igosa Bathandwa , we have taken our share of the harvests, our share of the livestock and yet our patrols were not frequent enough to prevent this..."
Kuublu gestures at the surrounding burnt out village.
"...We must do what we can do to rebuild this and other villages that have been raided. Our main priority is to defend what we have. However we are all in agreement. I am reluctant to assign warriors to enter the Forest of Storms, their greater numbers will be vulnerable to Volucreth raids and the beasts that reside there. A large force with no clear goal will likely be destroyed"
"However, are there skilled sappers who can assist us? When we explored the forests we saw all manner of hostile beasts, but one thing we could not overcome was the walls of the prison. I would request for any volunteers who may wish to join us but we are unfamiliar with the ways of breaching walls."
Kuublu describes his encounters to all. After the meeting he'll also describe some of the events that have taken place to a runner except the long dead Queen encounter. Will ask the runner to update the garrison and from there the capital on recent events.
" Those who build the garrison defenses and the city walls should know such things...though from your words these walls of the Umntu Ukhozi are beyond what they have formed in terms of scale..."
" I brought as many as I could but the garrison has a scant dozen or so defending it at the moment, others are patrolling the trade road and the outer villages as they have always done."