Empires of Ashes Reboot

“So the people believe that the city is still a target?”

"The shadows of the burned still line the streets."

“.......Excuse me?”

Trajan: it happens sometimes when a man is incinerated. His silhouette is left in ash on the floor or wall behind him. It is often all that remains.

Ket: "Indeed. The shadows are forbidden to be cleaned."

Mordred: “Why keep them?”

Ket: "As an example, of what befalls sinners."

Mord: “I see”

"I assume you disagree nephew?"

“I like my cities clean and orderly, ashen silhouettes burned against walls would be somewhat disruptive”

"Since stracia has no citizens, it is not an issue."

“But it will” He looks to Trajan as he says this

"In time"

He nods “You say it is surrounded by savannah? Savannah can make for good farmland, and with the cities position on the vein Stracia could support not only a large population, but feed other nearby cities”

Ket: "You would be driving your hand into the metaphorical ants nest."

Mord: “That’s the dracian way, besides it’s good to plan ahead”

"Meihakuna, Mordred o nobete wa ikemasen. Sore wa ikigiredesu."

Mordred chuckles “Kerutorobi no tamedesu”

"Kare wa anata yori mo toshiue de, hotondo arayuru men de keiken ga arimasu. Kare ni mo sore wa meihakude wa nai to omoimasu ka?"

“Gaiken wa shibashiba azamuka rete iru”

Ket tuts at this disregard for religion.

Trajan: anyway...

Mordred: “What else must we plan for?”

Ket: "Other than the uproar i must endure when you clean the shadows?"

“You think I will clean them?”

Ket: "It sounds as if you wish to."

Mordred: “It’s not my city to clean. I’m just here to learn and grab a little campaign experience. Since being a seasoned admiral does not carry the same influence as blooded general”

Ket: "You will be blooded, have no fear of that."

Mord: “Of that I have no doubt”

Ket: "Well, let us have those maps found, so we can form a plan of sorts."

*Hakon continues to stare down the voldomanians*

Mord: “Uncle?”

"Indeed we can. *he snaps his fingers and a soldier produces them*"

Once they are laid out, ket first points to a irregularly straight ridge, running from stracia towards the vein. "Our first concern will be water. The systems the stracians engineered to carry water from the vein are long gone."

"we have more than enough men to remedy that"

"We must stockpile water, in case of a siege."

"Obviously"

Mordred studies the maps silently, letting Trajan and Ket do the talking

"The walls stand firm in all but a few places, there we will have to fortify ourselves, and will be at our weakest. The gates, and two sections of wall, where dragonfire has melted stone."

"I presume the ground is mostly stable"

"There is black basalt, the same as the walls, not far beneath the soil."

"Excellent...I think a couple of Helepolis are in order"

"those monstrosities? No no, the city walls are not our problem. It is the citadel that is garrisoned." He taps the map, on an area within the walls of stracia, at its centre, with the main roads leading out like spokes of a wheel.

"Go on"

“What sort of garrison would a cursed city carry?”

"The repentant. Willing or otherwise."

“A mob? Or are they organised?”

"Brutally. It is... as a monastery is to voldomanians?"

Akari: pardon?

"A place of rigid routine, in service to gods?"

"hm"

“I see....”