An audience with the King of Charisma!

[offyougonow]

Characters: King Erasmus the far too jovial Randomly Biased and his non too happy loyal subjects!
Open? To all!
Where: The 2nd throne room in Schwanheim Castle.
When: The 12th of Rebirth's Height, all day


As always when he's entertaining the common folk, King Erasmus had set up shop in the 2nd throne room, the one that looked like the most expensive and comfortable den in the world (and aught to, for what he paid for it!) Sitting in his plush, almost armchair like throne was the King himself, joking with a pair of farmers while his cloud of advisers tended the more serious concerns.

Comments

[offyougonow]

"To defeat the thorns devouring my kingdom, of course!"

[brosif]

Of course. Her gaze stays on him, keeping an eye out for any direction he may look.

“The same thorns that your own villagers told us they are not concerned with?”

[offyougonow]

"They ain't the ones out there fighting 'em," muttered one of the military advisers to the King's right.

"The concerns of my people are varied and often focused on their immediate survival," the king pointed out. "Since the thorns are still 3 days travel from the capital, they are often not an immediate concern, however, it will be far better to defeat them while they are so far away."

"Less mess to clean up here, 's for sure," a farmer pipped up, earning a few laughs from his fellows.

[brosif]

“So a threat in your kingdom looms a mere three days away. And yet there are enough able bodied citizens here to hold parties, staff taverns, and attempt to marry off? I have seen nations on the brink of disaster, and they are not full of young people.”

Even in the king’s own court. Her eyes went to the military advisor – what had he really tried, before resorting to the extreme?

[offyougonow]

"I think you misunderstand the nature of this threat," the King pointed out with a touch of a smile. "Even if I sent every one of my people off to battle these thorns, it would not change the situation. My military has been attempting to beat it back with no progress for quite some time now and have noted that it seems to thrive on the very efforts we were using to beat it back! In fact, they seemed to have a far better time keeping it at bay by not touching it at all! This is why we had to call for heroes, you understand. Heroes have the ability to come up with ways to deal with problems that we couldn't possibly dream of! And we need that far more than we need just more able bodies wasting away at the wall!"

[brosif]

“You flatter me,” Sif said, dully. The king was giving her an answer she’d seen Loki use many times, during their travels. Appealing to the speaker’s ego.

“In your entire kingdom, there are truly none bright enough to face this threat? For how long did you attempt to think of a solution before resorting to kidnapping?"

[offyougonow]

"It's not a matter of being bright or not, but the ability to see things from a totally different perspective and with skills not of this world. As they say, a man with a hammer sees all his problems as nails!" The king pointed out, tone light.

"And the thorns were discovered almost three years ago in the Wilderness. We foolishly ignored them because we did not realize how they were spreading. Not many people travel the Unexplored Lands, so it was not until they had already grown to a large size that we even began our attempts to battle them, all which only added to the problem, as you can see."

[brosif]

"You called a man with a hammer, in fact. You've called gods, demons, and children." Which brough her to another matter entirely. "What do you have to say for yourself, for the children pulled into this? What resources are provided for them?"

[offyougonow]

"All the resources at my disposal!" the King gestured widely. "Youngsters often turn out to be the greatest heroes of all! Just look at little Kori! He can't be more than 12 and he made that wonderful spell to bring you all here!"

[brosif]

...and that statement fully formed Sif's opinions of the King and his judgements. Their lands are being devoured and the King holds parties, content to let the fate of his lands lie in the hands of strangers summoned by the 12 year old. Her expression says passive, however.

"And who brought young Kori to your attention, highness?"

[offyougonow]

"The boy himself! With the disappearance of the previous head of the White Mage Tower, he came to live with one of the monks down in the monastery just outside these walls, and on one of my visits there, he made himself known very swiftly!"

[brosif]

This was all too convenient. But there was one item in particular that stood out.

"I would know more about the disappearance of the previous Mage. What happened to him?"

And how many days did he lay dead before one came to take his place?

[offyougonow]

"That one you'll have to ask Kori himself about." A thoughtful pause. "Or maybe Tom... Yes, better to ask Tom. Kori is still rather a young boy, and it'd do no good to upset him, as he held the previous White Mage in very high esteem, being raised and trained by the man."