be as good as your word | Glowfic Constellation

The war began nine days ago and it has, really, been decided.

(The two women are dueling in the streets, blades clashing, fire raining down from the battlefield.)

There were a few assassinations that might have made it go differently, if they'd succeeded, a few bombs that might have gone off better, a few hirelings who might have said yes.

(The ordinary soldiers fight with anti-tank rifles and poison gas grenades and the deadly dreams of madmen.)

But that didn't happen.

(Few of the soldiers are ordinary. One side favors the Steelstorm Industries Mk. VI Levy and Livia's Legion. The other puts its faith in knights and monsters.)

The odds were always against it.

(Lightning whips across the battlefield, hissing through the soldiers whose symbols aren't blue and silver before striking the blue-and-silver armor of a woman who does not expect to ever be mistaken for anyone else.)

There's just not enough, on the pretender's side; not enough knights, not enough brains, not enough money.

(The red-and-purple armor is a bloody bruise and would be too stained to be recognizable if the speed at which the stains grew did not distinguish it all on its own.)

Maybe if she'd managed to bring down the shield, maybe someone would have come to help.

(The shield is a dome that cleaves sky and sea to shroud Novapest in an impenetrable bubble, misty grey to allow just a little light in, but not enough to burn.)

The numbers are now almost ten to three, and smart generals don't fight at ten to three.

(Artillery shells strike every clump of men, and the men are unclumped, fighting in the streets behind cover and in the houses.)

Some would say that if she'd been more sensible she never would have taken the risk.

(The frozen woman does not fight often. She fights now for the student she has chosen, for men and metal both shatter where she walks, should she will it.)

Others that she shouldn't have taken them at any odds.

(Here and there the sky will blacken and a pillar of flame will strike, as the eye of the gods opens and the sun's wrath smites the ground.)

Some fights you just can't win.

(The knights of Ilderia die in the streets, and the armies of the rest of Novapest advance.)

Most fights, when you're up against the Titanium Tyrant.

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Century

up-and-rally

"Ilderia says go with your plan."

Well, He's Evil, But He Could Technically Be Worse

my-fathers-command

"COME OUT SO YOU CAN TALK. WE WILL NOT SHOOT YOU."

not-yet-strong-enough

"Send the unarmed construct in!"

my-fathers-command

"THE MIDDLE OF A FIREFIGHT IS A VERY BAD PLACE FOR DIPLOMACY."

not-yet-strong-enough

"I CANNOT OFFER YOU A CEASEFIRE BUT I PREDICT I COULD GET ONE IF YOUR ROBOTS STOP MARCHING AT US."

my-fathers-command

"WE ARE NOT OFFERING ANY TRAITORS A CEASEFIRE. WE ARE OFFERING YOU A CHANCE TO LEAVE."

not-yet-strong-enough

"SORRY, WHY WOULD I CARE ABOUT THAT?"

The Titanium Tyrant

proven-and-skilled

"I like her, Julius! Finish the conversation, then withdraw the drone, then kill her."

my-fathers-command

"THIS IS A VERY STUPID FIGHT TO DIE IN."

not-yet-strong-enough

"IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT PEACE, I WANT TO TALK. IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT WHY YOU ARE NOT EVIL, I WANT TO TALK. IF YOU ARE EVIL AND DO NOT WANT PEACE THEN WE WILL HAVE TO SEE WHO DIES IN THE STUPID FIGHT."

my-fathers-command

"BOTH SIDES IN THIS CONFLICT ARE EVIL. NEITHER WANTS PEACE. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT MY FATHER IS HONORABLE AND ILDERIA IS A TRAITOR."

not-yet-strong-enough

This is a fascinating conversation she would really really prefer not to be having while explosions are flying everywhere and people are dying because she's conserving her remaining lay on hands.

Ilderia's probably not evil. You can beat Detect Evil, obviously, but you'd have to know you need to, and they didn't know. Or claimed they didn't know. She arrived unexpectedly and some people on that battlefield were Evil and Ilderia wasn't and that is - significantly informative.

Aroden probably wouldn't've handed her the truth spell if it were defeasible - reasoning like that makes it more expensive for Him to give it to her but she thinks that's actually worth it under the circumstances.

Iomedae isn't good at diplomacy even in her own world. In a new one - it's probably hopeless. But she's not in fact going to be the one to stop talking.

"THAT IS AN IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE IF TRUE. I HAVE STRONG REASON TO THINK ILDERIA ISN'T EVIL BUT NO INFORMATION ABOUT WHETHER SHE IS HONORABLE." It is slightly discouraging that Iomedae had to explain not shooting down the envoy drones but probably there are lots of things like that, nonobvious if you haven't encountered them and there are no paladins.

my-fathers-command

"IF YOU LEAVE, WE CAN TALK. WE WILL NOT LET ILDERIA USE NEGOTIATION AS A SHIELD, OR TO ASSIST HER IN WAR. WE WILL NEGOTIATE WITH YOU. WE WILL NOT NEGOTIATE WITH HER."

my-fathers-command

Robot army continues to advance! The really big robots continue to deflect bullets and explosions!

not-yet-strong-enough

"IS THERE A THIRD PARTY WE CAN APPOINT TO ARBITRATE WHETHER ILDERIA IS DERIVING ASSISTANCE IN WAR FROM THE NEGOTIATIONS

I WILL PAY FOR IT

I AM NOT CLEAR ON WHAT YOU ARE WILLING TO NEGOTIATE WITH ME ABOUT. IT SOUNDS LIKE IT IS NOT 'AN END TO THE WAR'. IF IT IS 'HELP WITH ANOTHER EVEN MORE IMPORTANT WAR WE WILL BOTH AGREE IS NECESSARY' THAT IS THE RIGHT KIND OF THING."

my-fathers-command

"IF WE STOP ATTACKING, SHE BENEFITS FROM THAT. THERE IS NO THIRD PARTY ACCESSIBLE TO NEGOTIATE. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF OTHER BETTER THINGS FOR A GOOD PERSON TO DO AND YOU SHOULD GO AWAY AND DO THEM. ILDERIA IS JUST TRYING TO CONQUER A COUNTRY THAT ISN'T HERS."

not-yet-strong-enough

"IF YOU ARE LYING ABOUT THAT OR JUST WRONG ABOUT IT IT IS NOT NECESSARILY AS IF I CAN COME BACK AND HELP THE REBELLION LATER.

IF ILDERIA WAS AN HONORABLE PERSON OF MY WORLD SHE COULD PROMISE NOT TO BENEFIT FROM THE CEASEFIRE BUT I EXPECT THAT IS NOT AN OPTION HERE. I AM BARELY QUALIFIED TO DO IT MYSELF AND WOULD NOT DARE WITHOUT MY ADVISORS." And no one but Iomedae and some high-ranking Abadarans could do it at all.

Century

up-and-rally

He would like to snap that Ilderia is an honorable person but in fact nobody would do that, nobody could do that, and nobody else would do it back if they did.

my-fathers-command

"IT IS NOT AN OPTION. IF YOU DO NOT WITHDRAW I WILL END THIS ATTEMPT TO START NEGOTIATIONS." And then he will blow her up.

not-yet-strong-enough

"UNDERSTOOD. I APPRECIATE THE ATTEMPT."

And she turns back to Century. "I can't fix your robot problem. Paladins are good against single tough targets, and better today than tomorrow when they've had time to prepare. Where should I be."

Century

up-and-rally

The single tough targets aren't here. "Are you tough enough to get in there and kill them close-up?"

my-fathers-command

Steelmind will withdraw the unarmed drone. And then -

The Titanium Tyrant

proven-and-skilled

"- Start with the simple solution."

my-fathers-command

Fire a mid-sized missile into the bottom floor of the building Iomedae and Century are in. Just a mid-sized one, there's still enough shields left that it won't take out too many robots or adjacent buildings or anything.

not-yet-strong-enough