Dust and blood

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa nods, "You comfortable with that, or should we hunt out more?"

[Anastasia]

"Wouldn't hurt to get more," Jarem agrees, "But the more we tell, the more the information can spread and risk getting to someone who makes it harder."

[Iron Dragoon]

"True. Those are fairly weighty reinforcements in any case. If even half of that has to come to the field, it'll be a battle of gods that hasn't been seen in a while."

[Anastasia]

"Which could turn this from a simple mission to a disaster," Jarem points out, "It's ambitious, but if it goes wrong, it goes very wrong."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa nods, "Something to bring up, at the least."

[Anastasia]

"So let's go back and see how sane they'll be about this," Jarem agrees, "C'mon, Alyssa."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa follows!

[Anastasia]

"There you are," Sulia greets once you return, "Is everything well?"

Queen sips her tea, as she chats with Emily. "Oh, and yes, I know them too," Emily says, "You should go to meet them, they're really a lot of fun."

[Iron Dragoon]

"For now, yes. You can't ever tell with Shar if a threat is off-hand to destabilize things or an immediate threat."

Alyssa sits down, "So, what have you discussed so far?"

[Anastasia]

"Oh, entirely social matters, "Empress Sulia says, "We didn't want to go on without you."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Alright. On our way, Jarem and I had a talk. We've got some things we need to lay out and come to grips with. Gargauth is sure to have alliances. We have them too, but the question is how they will play out. If he calls on three, four, or five others for aid, we will too. How far do we want to escalate this?"

[Anastasia]

"We want to eliminate him before it gets out of hand," Empress Sulia says, "If it gets out of hand, the entire enterprise is doomed." She says it frankly, a serious look to you. "We thrive when our enemy is not aware. This is not a triumph we can win if he has time to prepare himself."

[Iron Dragoon]

"If it does get out of hand, do we retreat?"

[Anastasia]

There's contemplation at this, "I think so," It's Emily who speaks up, "But we accept Gargauth as a serious enemy if we do, because he won't forget that, and we won't easily get another chance."

"Then the answer is simple. We do not fail. We triumph." Queen declares, "Defeat is for lesser creatures. Victory is our birthright."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa raises an eyebrow, "I'm not sure you're understanding what it means for the balance if it comes to pass. An all out battle between that many gods will have repercussions we can't imagine. But yes, let's start planning to minimize that chance.

I think the basics, for now, is to secure our emergency back up, make a list of distraction targets, figure out where he is, and figure out his defenses as best we can. After that we can build an actual plan of action."