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

[wanderwonder]

Hoooly moly she was going to speak with a king. In person. Regardless of her opinions on royalty snatching foreigners away to save their kingdom, there wasn't much room left to be annoyed when standing in front of a king. Which she was doing right now, to her dismay. She had just been waiting outside of the second throne room not even a second ago, Olinda thought, and now she was in front of the throne.

What better way to get answers? Olinda cleared her throat, opened her mouth and said, "Excuse me, your highness. You have taken people from their land to battle 'thorns', yes?"

'Thorns' because she had heard of them, but had not yet seen them.

[offyougonow]

"Quite right! You heroes have been summoned to help battle the great plague that has been devouring our lands!" The king replied, all too cheerfully for the topic.

[wanderwonder]

Quite inappropriate, if even Olinda thought as much. But of greater importance...

"I am neither a hero or a battlesman."

[offyougonow]

"Of course you're a hero! You come from another world, don't you?"

[wanderwonder]

"In my world," and how odd it was to refer to earth as such, "I was a student and a wanderer. Heroes existed, none of them me."

She had been on the receiving end of heroics. Fleetfoot, Ambrosine, Itsuki...

[offyougonow]

"Aaa, but what was true there isn't what is true here!" the King grinned, shifting in his throne slightly. "The spell I had my best mage cast was to call from other worlds those who had it within their hearts to become great heroes! It doesn't matter what roll you had where you were before, here, you're exactly what we need!"

[wanderwonder]

His answer gave her pause. It was encouraging in a way, but troubling also, though Olinda couldn't pinpoint its exact cause of discomfort.

"And you will not allow us to return until your threat is removed?" Very troubling. A frown crossed her forehead. "You have taken me from my sister and threatened her own safety."

[offyougonow]

"If you really wish to return, speak to my head mage. I hear he's still working on how to send people back. It's a little tricky, with the strength of Chaos in these lands getting in the way of the magic we have to use."

[wanderwonder]

Her expression brightened. "What is his name? Where might I find him? Your highness," she added. It was to easy to speak casually with this man. He held none of the subtle intimidations of the Bharquites.

[offyougonow]

"His name is Kori! If he's not at the White Mage tower in the old capital, he'll be at the monastery or the library in the castle. I'd check the monastery first today, since there's been no signs of muffins yet here," he grinned as if at a joke.

[like_a_gerbil]

Steve hung back, listening to the questions the others asked the King and the answers they received. None of it was really helpful, at least until Erasmus mentioned a possibility of going home. It was a something he'd discuss with the others later as soon as he saw them again. They needed to know about that chance.

Eventually, he waited his turn to speak with the King, making sure to keep his reaction to the Eramus' earlier discussions carefully in check and taking his cues on proper etiquette in this place from those around him. "Thank you for the audience, your highness. I was hoping that you could answer a few questions about these thorns we were brought here to fight."

[offyougonow]

"What would you like to know?"

[wanderwonder]

Kori. White Mage, old capital, monastery, library -- muffins? A look of temporary incomprehension your way, King Erasmus! But it quickly settled into one of hope.

"I will check the monastery first, then," she said, and it was spoken with such certainty that you'd never guess she had no idea where the monastery was located, let alone the tower. She'd have to find that map in the library again and give it another go. "Thank you."

[offyougonow]

Muffins. Looots and lots of muffins.

The kind nodded and gave a wave. "Good luck!"

[brosif]

Despite her titles – here and on Asgard – Sif has little taste for the trappings of the court, though she knows the motions of it well enough She knows how to approach foreign dignitaries, knows the right words, the right posture. She knows how to speak to a king.

...a king she respects. A king that is not holding her friends in exile. This is the second time in her life she has come across such a ruler. And thus she walks into the room without airs, an action made easier by her title here. Prince.

"I have reason to believe that you have not been honest with us, highness."

[offyougonow]

There was a sudden hush in the room as the King blinked, looking at her with an oddly serious expression. "In what regard?"

[brosif]

Her own expression, for once, presents no challenge. This is not yet a fight. She has her facts, and she will see how he responds to them. Or who responds to them for him.

“In regards to the threat posed to this kingdom. For what purpose would you say you brought us here?”

[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?"