Choro couldn’t contain the anxious wagging of his tail as the group gathered at the edge of the Oaken Elf camp. “Are you sure about this, Shin?”

Woof, was that ever the wrong question. Shin wasn’t ever truly sure about anything. Though he was close to as sure as he could possibly be that saying otherwise would have been a poor choice. “I think so,” he started, giving the archer a comforting pat on the shoulder, “Whoever’s in that fort, I’m guessing they really do want to talk. For now, at least.”

“They may truly want a peaceful way to resolve this,” Momo opined as she worked her way down the line of kobolds, marking a protective sigil on each one. “If so, we need to try and help them find it. It’s the right thing to do.”

“Yeah maybe.” Gero didn’t seem convinced. “But what if it’s just a trap?”

“Doesn’t make sense. There are too many elves here for a false parley ploy to put a dent in their numbers. My guess is they either want to negotiate in good faith, or are just trying to play for more time.” Shin shrugged. “Either way, as long as we mind our manners? I’m confident we’ll walk away from this.”

Gero frowned, shielding her eyes from the sun as she inspected the fortress again. “Alright. Well Momo can look for her peaceful solution, you focus on us walking away from all of this, and I’ll be ready to smash anything within club range if we can’t.”

Shin grinned. “Teamwork. I like it.”

General Wren approached with Ceril and the two Oaken Elf majors in tow, the commander affixing a white banner to a pole. “Is your group ready?”

“Seems that way.” Shin took hold of the banner when Wren offered it. “Is there anything else we should know about what’s waiting for us?”

“Whoever they are, they fire giant trees-damned arrows. So maybe no sudden movements.” Wren reconsidered. “Unless they decide to fire one at you. Then you should try extremely sudden movements.”

“Sound advice.” Shin gave the truce banner an experimental wave, wondering if the flimsy white flag could truly stop a damned ballista bolt. “Can you give us any support through our group link?”

“A little. I’ll be–”

“Actually,”–Prince Ceril cut in–”Maybe it would be better if they left the group?”

Ohho? Was Ceril finally making his play? Interesting. Very interesting.

If General Wren shared Shin’s curiosity, he didn’t show it. “Why?” He leveled his icy gaze on Ceril, a single eyebrow questioningly raised. “You want to send your saviors in unsupported?”

The two majors immediately sputtered in outrage, the taller of the two admonishing Wren. “How dare you, sir! When a Prince makes a suggestion, it is in fact an ORDER!”

To Shin’s surprise, Ceril held up a hand at that. “No no, I understand completely. The General is a fighting man, and he only wants the best for those fighting beside him. I would never give such a man an order that ran against his morals.”

Oh wow. It seemed as if the elven prince had actually learned something about persuasion during his time as Shin’s prisoner. How fascinating.

His tactic certainly seemed effective against Wren, the general clearly unused to interacting with members of Oaken Elf nobility who were capable of more than shrieking demands and pouting. “Why break the group, then?”

“I just thought it would make it all the clearer that we were sending a neutral third party to negotiate.” Ceril raised a hand to indicate Shin and the other kobolds. “If they’re still grouped with us, won’t it seem as if we’re planning to turn their offer of parley into a sneak attack?”

“Hm.” Wren rubbed at his chin, considering that. At length, he turned towards Shin. “What do you think?”

Shin knew exactly what he thought. And he knew precisely how to confirm it. The kobold shifted his head slightly, catching Ceril’s eyes. Too eager, too desperate, trying too hard to hide it. Yup. “It makes sense. Let’s try it.”

Ceril’s eyes immediately flared in a burst of triumph he couldn’t mask quite quick enough. There it was. He may have learned a few things from Shin, but he hadn’t learned enough.

Wren selected something on a prompt, and the bond between the kobolds and the Oaken Elves fell away. “Alright. It’s done.” He extended a hand, offering Shin a nod when he clasped it. “Just get out of there if a fight is unavoidable, alright? Fighting is my end of the bargain.”

If only he knew. Sometimes, Shin noted, being right all of the time wasn’t as fun as it usually was.

——————————————————————————————————

Gero squinted up at the fortress, trying to catch sight of the blurry figures that occasionally peeked from behind the parapets. “Why hasn’t anything happened yet”

Shin pursed his lips. “Not sure. They might not have any clear leadership back there.”

“I think it’s the flag,” Karikari declared. “Bex is waving it too aggressively.”

“Oh shoot!” Bex pulled back on her enthusiastic brandishing of the truce banner, adopting a less frenetic pace. “Is that better? This is trustworthy waving, right? I’ve never done this before but I’m so dang excited to be doing this you guys, for real.”

Maybe it was the more conciliatory flag tone, but soon after a voice called down from the ramparts of the fortress. “You’re not elves!”

Well whoever had taken over the Conquest Node was confirmed to have eyes. So that was a start. Shin cupped a hand around his mouth, calling back. “We’re not!”

“Why are you with them, then!”

This time Momo responded. “We’re not with either side! We want to help mediate a truce!”

That prompted another long pause from the walls of the fortress, several minutes passing before the voice called out again. “If you want to come in, you have to let us take your weapons first. Otherwise, screw off!”

Shin raised a questioning eyebrow at Gero, who offered an unconcerned shrug in response. They’d already suspected something like this, so no discussion longer than that silent confirmation was necessary. Even unarmed, they still had Shin’s Opportunism and Momo’s Channel spells. Plus an unarmed Gero was only nominally less dangerous than an armed Gero.

And there were always the two Royal Coins. But if they winded up needing to burn any of those, it would mean that matters had truly gotten out of hand.

Either way the kobolds all began to disarm, piling their bows and sidearms on the ground ahead of them. The small north-facing gate on the fortress groaned open, allowing two tall figures to cautiously creep out. Bex couldn’t resist a small ‘ooo’ of intrigue as they stepped into the light, her already high level of excitement kicking up another notch. “Oh man, Hobgoblins! Nice! Hobgoblins versus Elves is classic, absolutely classic.”

Huh. So these were Hobgoblins, then? The two men were of a type, tall and lean with features that were roughly between an elf’s and a human’s to Shin’s eye. They may have been able to pass for either race, actually, if not for the subtle wolfish cast to their faces and their brownish orange skin. Both were mostly clad in furs, but Shin noticed with interest the surprisingly neat links of their chainmail tunics.

That wasn’t Oaken Elf work; their mail all used a stupid leaf-shape affectation. These hobgoblins either knew their armor, or had already successfully struck a better-equipped force. Both possibilities made them potentially more dangerous enemies.

One of the two hobgoblins straightened up, one hand dropping to the sword sheathed at his side as he pointed towards Gero. “You. The club. Drop it.”

Gero raised an eyebrow, slowly bringing her weapon down from its spot balanced on her shoulder. She held the massive bludgeon in both hands for a long moment, and then casually tossed it to the ground. “Fine. Here.”

The hobgoblin removed his hand from the hilt of his weapon, eyes still narrowed as he cautiously stepped forward. He held Gero’s gaze for a moment, the big kobold staring back undaunted, before bending down to pick up her giant club.

Only to find her couldn’t move it an inch. “Urf. Friggin’...” The hobgoblin grabbed hold with both hands, his muscular arms straining as he put everything he had into lifting the weapon. “Grah! Rah!”

To her credit, Gero managed not to burst out laughing. Once the other warrior had joined his overmatch companion, however, both hobgoblins unsuccessfully attempting to lift her club more than a few inches off of the ground, she couldn’t resist a grin. “Having trouble, friends?”

Panting with exertion, one of the hobgoblins narrowed an eye at Gero. Then, he raised his voice to call back to the fortress. “GO GET HILDE!”

The gate ground opened almost immediately, another hobgoblin marching out at such a breakneck pace that she was nearly upon them before Shin could take his measure of her. She was every inch as tall and lean as the two men, her thick black hair whipping behind her and her golden-gray eyes piercing twin holes directly through Gero’s implacable form as she stepped unflinchingly into the kobold’s personal space. “Do we have a problem here?”

Shin found himself sniffing at the air, an unexpectedly familiar scent tickling his nostrils. Huh.

Meanwhile Gero stared back, matching this Hilde’s confrontation head on. “I don’t have a problem.” She jerked her head towards the other two hobgoblins, her pale brown eyes never leaving Hilde’s. “They do, though.”

Hilde flicked an eye towards her two underlings, who were still struggling with Gero’s weapon. “Oh for...move.”

Shin took another, deeper sniff. Wait. No. Really?

The two men parted, allowing Hilde to bend down and wrap her hand around the grip of Gero’s club. She shot the other woman another challenging glance before straightening back up, hefting the oversized weapon with only the smallest betrayal of effort.

“There.” She balanced the club on her shoulder, eyebrows raised defiantly at Gero. “Is that all? Or did you assholes want to play around some more?”

Before Gero could respond, Shin cut in. “Is that any way to talk to your old friends?”

“Eh?” Hilde craned her head around to look at Shin, her eyes darting appraisingly up and down the Schemer. “Friends?”

“Oh come on. It hasn’t been that long, has it?” The kobold couldn’t resist a grin, his tail wagging. “You’ve already forgotten your pals Waggle?” He put his hand on Choro’s shoulder, the archer as surprised by this turn of events as Hilde was. “And Crunchy?” He nodded towards Karikari, who was no less lost. “I guess that means you’ve also forgotten–”

“Wait.” The hobgoblin stepped forward, her eyes wide as she allowed Gero’s club to drop from her hands with a heavy thud. “Shh?!”