Alright. So, the Plan (TM).
Our immediate goal is to stop the escalation of hostilities, and by the looks of it, it is the Seekers who want to start throwing fireballs. We should direct our efforts there first before switching attention back to the Hunters.
- Tell the Old Man that Cropper is not lying about Mazzarin and that we have met the mage personally. Tell him that it was Mazzarin's presence that the mages felt back in September. Tell him that if Cropper is telling the truth about who sent him, and if he is indeed acting on Mazzarin's orders, then attacking him would be tantamount to going directly against the Great Mage and the Hero of the Light, with all the consequences that it entails.
- Remind him that he has signed for the job of protecting the Kingdom from the Dark. If Cropper does not seek the destruction of the Kingdom, but the Watcher, and is not serving the Dark, but Mazzarin instead, then the efforts of the Seekers should be best directed to the ones that we know for a fact do seek harm to the country and its denizens, or the ones that want to turn it into a puppet state for the Dark Gods.
- Explain to him that as he has a duty to watch over his people, so do we over ours. We are not authorizing the attack until our scout is retrieved, be it to save him or to execute him if he is a spy, and we will not endanger the rest of our soldiers for nothing.
- Tell him that Copper's claims about hunting the Watcher's agents are easily verified. We are mentalists, and the Old Man himself has experience with interrogating techniques, even though we've only seen him using it on demons. We might be able to determine where the Hunters' allegiances lie and act from there, rather than act on impulse.
- We serve King Albrecht and we oppose the Watcher and the Dark. We will take no part in attacking the mercenaries the King chose to hire for the protection of the Kingdom, and we will not interfere with Mazzarin's plans if that is indeed what the Hunters are carrying out. Make this known, this has nothing to do with 'conspiring with the demons' or some such nonsense.
- Tell them both that we are marked and observed by Mazzarin. Should there be a fight between the forces that are both opposed to the Watcher, it will be regarded as a sabotage of our common mission, and the survivors will be held accountable for it and will have to answer to the Great Mage himself. There will be no winners in this one. They both have an option to ignore their grievances - the Hunters can simply withdraw, and the Seekers can choose not to attack without due justification (as in, actual evidence that the Hunters support the Dark) - so if it comes to battle despite that, it will be considered a premeditated defiance of the Great Mage's will, regardless of who started it.
- If they are impressed by our reasoning or implied threats (not from
us, of course, we aren't threatening anybody, we are just stating the facts
) enough to hold off the immediate hostilities, take the Hunters on their offer and ask them to release our scout. Tell the dwarf to head back to our positions and politely, but decisively disarm and detain the pursued soldiers for the purposes of examination. Be careful around them and take precautions as they might really be the Watcher's agents, but be respectful, as they might be innocent or only a few of them might be spies. If we find our wounded scout innocent, heal him.
- That said, if Cropper is really serious about us not being enemies and serving Mazzarin, we ask that they leave us in peace. They have their mission, and we have ours. They have delivered the agents of the Watcher to us, and we have a reputation for not leaving any of the servants of the Dark live. Their work is done here. Thank them for their assistance and ask them not to intimidate our soldiers and not to provoke the Seekers further with their presence. It does our respective forces no good, and it endangers the task that is set before us. Surely they do not wish that to happen and besmirch the reputation of their Master? Should they want to lend us aid when we are fighting the legions of the Watcher, have them tell us how we may contact them in the future. So, would they
please go away and take their Lord with them? It might end badly for everyone involved, though we imagine Mazzarin will be less forgiving to the ones who are directly in his service as their actions reflect on him to a degree.
- Tell the Cropper that if the soldiers the Hunters pursued are guilty, they are as good as dead. If they are found to be innocent, however, we will have to report this to the Great Mage. We understand that
accidents can happen, but we will leave it to Mazzarin to determine their responsibility if an unfortunate mistake have occured. Imply that if they have mistaken, they do not want to compound their mistake even further and invoke the mage's wrath to the point of no return. Basically, leave them an out even if it turns out they are lying should they just pack their things and go away, don't scare them with visions of torture and punishment to the extent they would want to get rid of the witnesses and hope no one will know.
- If we find the scouts guilty, cross-check them again after the demons leave to ensure it is not some magical influence, extract all useful information from them, and give them to Hamundr (as he is the closest thing we have to a military commander) to determine their fate. Or if he does not want to be held responsible, execute them yourself.
- Thais should handle the more tricky part of the negotiations, while Derryth should largely have a supportive role and follow her lead. We are equals in everything we do, and this situation calls for a persuasive leader. I see no problems with interchanging our protagonists to get better results depending on what their goals are.
- While Derry and Taide are busy talking out of their sexy asses, Lys should concentrate on calling out to Mazzarin through our necklaces. We have absolutely no idea what it will do, if anything, but knowing the creator of these things I hold out hope that it is our Awesome Button. I don't care what it does as long as it is sufficiently Awesome. It serves two major purposes - first, it proves our point that
Kane Mazzarin lives, which might be important to the Seekers, and second, it shows that Mazzarin pays some degree of attention to what is happening around us, so it might make the present parties wary of involuntarily stepping on his toes, and less sure of the fact that they can do whatever
they want instead of what the Great Mage wants. I don't think Maz would miss a chance to demonstrate that he is the top dog here.
- And tell Berty to keep an eye on the scouts at all times. If there really are Watcher's spies, the reveal of our affiliation with Mazzarin (I don't know how many of the Watcher's servants actually know this, aside from TWM who was driven to insanity and thus was not a very reliable agent) will paint yet another big shiny cross on our backs. We don't want
everyone distracted by the Awesome.
If Lys alone doesn't cut it, we should try it all together. That might catch Maz' interest.
We'll see what happens. The goal is to provide both sides with an incentive to be on their own way. We might miss on some information from the Totally-Not-Demon-Lord, but I think getting out of here in one piece and with the Seekers intact is more important.
I will call it
F: Operation: Boogeyman.