A pointless cutscreen?
Meanwhile, Isokla was doing what Isokla does best. That is to say, be herself. In any given situation, she holds a knack for maintaining her dignity, and that is exactly what she was doing at the present moment in time.
Faced with several of the Lords of Vision's henchmen, all fairly middle ranking bandit-cum-officer types, and a fair few priestesses (all clad in crimson) of 'the Master', it was no surprise (to those that knew her) that none of them cowed her. Indeed, she cast her regal gaze upon the gathered masses and a good portion of them shrank back; those that did not beheld her with respect, or at the very least, as an equal. Only the ranking priestess attempted to peer down her nose at the silver-haired young woman and that had not the slightest effect on her.
Eventually, Isokla addressed those gathered with a rousing speech that stirred most of them to stare blankly at her as they lost all track of her eloquent and wordy language. Many, it seemed, were not able to follow words that contained four or more syllables; even three was pushing it. She spoke at length of 'the Master', 'His Return' and many and varied unrelated and related things, mostly to do with her displeasure, the state of the camp, banditry, raids on local outposts by non-LoV forces, construction of new outposts and the priestesshood's influence. Finally, she finished with a toast to 'the Master' and those that did not retire, such as Isokla and the other priestesses and highest officers, continued to celebrate long into the night and ended up drunker than Nivram with a cellar full of ale. Hard to imagine.
The priestesses and officers had several private words with Isokla, and some sort of challenge took place with the head priestess eventually surrendering to her second; whether she still breathed after the sun rose was another entirely unrelated matter; who seemed more at ease with Isokla and named her as one of her right hands. Obviously, Isokla had been sent to aid her in renewing their efforts in the region. The officers knew better than to get involved and left shortly thereafter with 'pressing issues' of their own to attend to. Quite wise, really, all things considered.
And so, Isokla got settled in.
Of course, it was possible that the ale was tainted but probably unlikely. After all, when had she had time to spike the barrels? So, when a good number of the men were sick, it wasn't her fault. Unless of course, the excessive drinking could be attributed to her. This time was a coincidence, surely? Lots of coincidences occurred around Isokla. Coincidence? Perhaps.
|