The eting with the ambassadors was going on for a while. Kevin insisted on wasting by speaking in political jargon and having to explain what each term ant. Only after Kadk got too annoyed by that and complained that did the human started speaking more clearly. Rutigan could tell that the council was getting tired. Fethy was here primarily to talk about comrce, and so was Lural, but Telanz had almost nothing to contribute to the discussion. Bringing any type of dical equipnt could only be discussed after the upgrade in the infrastructure. That wasn't all. Rutigan could tell that Kadk and Valyra were holding back sothing. He tried to probe for so answer, but the ambassadors seed guarded about whatever it was.
To help everyone regain so of their energy, the King attempted to offer a break so they could have so coffee and pastries, but Kevin shot that down. According to the human, etings should only stop when their discussions were over. Luckily, Valyra had a better sense and cut him off, agreeing that they should have breaks, but it was better to schedule a specific ti for their coffee break. After that, they went back to discussing what benefits they could get from being a part of each organization.
Unlike what Hera had explained to him, the MAZE was split into three different groups. The Explorers Guild controlled the majority of the rooms and was run by humans. Sothing that Kadk pointed out was that the Guild was also an organization focused on expansion. They wouldn't start fighting other civilizations out of the blue, but their interests were focused on finding more rooms and more resources to send back to their private room. Hera had warned them about Earth and how it was an unfathomably large room where most humans were born and raised. It was just a sha that only humans could visit that place, but no one could explain why. If they agreed to being part of the Guild ant that its rules would be applied to Boothudurn, but it also ant that they would have the best resources and the most advanced infrastructure.
The Union of MAZE Nations, or UMN, consisted of all other civilizations who would rather rule themselves. This didn't an that they were enemies of the Guild or didn't have access to its resources, but just that they opted to keep their traditions and laws closer to what they were. One detail about this that worried and excited the King was that the UMN was ho to most of the various races inside the MAZE, from dwarves to elves, beastn, and even rmaids. All these different civilizations worked together under the sa flag. They also had access to the internet and much of the infrastructure of the Guild. However, those benefits had to be bought or traded for, and more often than not, they wouldn't have the most up-to-date version of a product. Kadk gave one example of this. There was this huge room that could benefit from a better way of transportation. During the negotiations about what kind of transport they would use, the Guild offered to build a bullet train in exchange for having the room under their flag. This offer was ultimately rejected, but everyone agreed with the train idea, but the only thing they built was a train powered by electricity. It still had so luxuries of the modern days such as air conditioning, internet connection and comfortable seats, but it wasn't the most advanced option. For the dwarves of Boothudurn, much of those details were lost, but they were still able to grasp the overall idea.
Lastly, there was the Natural Resource Unit. This group wouldn't deal with things like territory or infrastructure. Instead, they were responsible for logistics and cataloging all the resources that each room had to offer. This helped everyone when in need of supplies or a specific type of product. Still, there were a couple of rooms that were under their direct control. When a place rich in valuable resources appeared, to avoid any conflicts between the Guild and the UMN, the NRU would step in to manage said resource distribution. This part of their discussion also took a long ti since the people of Boothudurn weren't that familiar with the concept of purchase.
What ended up delaying most of the conversation were the explanations of basic concepts that the council mbers weren't familiar with. It was one thing to have Hera explain her society, another to have soone with knowledge about politics explaining what they would need to know. In the middle of one of those explanations, Hera and her group burst through the door.
"Hera? What's wrong? What is that?" Rutigan got up from the chair when he saw the bloodied white corpse that she was carrying.
"This is an issue that everyone here needs to know about," Hera walked to the middle of the room and held the body up, "This is a Wendigo. It's a deadly creature that must be killed on sight. If you don't, it can eat and get stronger with each kill. They can even absorb the skills and spells of people."
Kevin and Kadk were skeptical about what the creature actually was, but a quick use of their [Observe] revealed that Hera was right. Valyra, on the other hand, didn't doubt her announcent for a second. She knew who that human was, and how she was the first low leve explorer to fight a wendigo alone and win. With this new information, the mood of the eting quickly changed. Hera did her best to explain what the wendigo was, and Valyra had a video of what happened during the wall break on her tablet. After showing it to the council, they understood the gravity of the situation.
"Why is that happening now?" Rutigan asked.
"We are not sure… our best assumption is that it's because of the humans," Valyra replied.
"That is just speculation! You have no proof of that," Kevin protested.
"I don't, but this is an inford guess. Rampages only happen in rooms with a lot of humans. It stands to reason that the presence of Wendigos is triggered by humanity as well, but I can’t say for sure," Valyra explained to the council.
"Rampages… Hera told us about that risk. Do you know when that will happen or how many humans have to co here before the red sky appears?" Ogryn asked.
"We can't know that for sure. The number of humans that are required for the Rampages to start varies from room to room. And, after they start, they never stop. Even if there are no more humans inside a room," Kadk explained.
"And on the matter of how often it happens, we also don't know. It can be anywhere from 12 to 24 months. It's never outside that window, and 24 hours before it starts, the red sky appears," Valyra added.
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"So all the people in the city will be in danger once every year because of the humans?" Naka asked.
Kevin slamd his hand on the table and got up, "We are not trying to harm anyone! Even if we humans are truly responsible for the Rampage, the Guild has several protocols in place to protect all the citizens of each room."
"Kevin. Lower your voice. You are in the presence of royalty," Kadk stared at him with an angry expression. In response, the human gritted his teeth and sat back down.
"I apologize for his outburst, but he is correct. We are not accusing the humans of anything. Yes, they might cause the Rampage, but they understand that responsibility and do their very best to protect us," Valyra added.
"Fret not. We understand that this is not sothing humanity has done on purpose. Besides, it seems like a low price to pay for all the technology you are offering us," King Rutigan replied with a smile.
"My liege, are you sure this is worth it?" Naka asked.
"I believe so, yes. Also, we have you and your guard to protect us, don't we? That's the real reason I can be at ease," Rutigan smiled at the captain.
"Of course," Naka replied with a proud smirk.
Hera had to hold back a giggle. Despite all her talk about how Rutigan's father was a better King, all it took was a single complint from the current ruler, and Naka would let it go to her head.
Rutigan turned back to the ambassadors, "With this new developnt, I believe it will be best if we make a decision soon. The council will have a eting, and by tomorrow we shall have our reply to your offers. I have prepared so rooms in the castle for you to stay, and a guard will be stationed nearby if any of you need anything, and do feel free to explore our city. I ask you just to keep our customs in mind. Oh, and if our eting is over by then, you are more than welco to join for dinner. However, I have a rule. No business talk during als."
"Of course. We appreciate the hospitality," Valyra gave a slight bow after getting up from the chair. The ambassadors mainly used their tablets for everything, so there wasn't even a need to clean up when they got up.
"Before agreeing to dinner, let ask you. Do you have any booze around here?" Kadk asked.
"We were experinting with so options that Hera and Blue told us about. I believe we have so wine, beer, and one clear liquid made out of potatoes called vodka, but that is giving so trouble to figure out," Lural replied.
Kadk turned to Hera, "You taught them how to make vodka?"
"Not really, I just said it was a thing. I have no idea how to actually make that, and without the internet, the best I could say is that vodka can be made from potatoes," Hera shrugged.
"That's fair. Most people barely understand how to make wine, much less sothing stronger," Kadk turned to Lural. "If we have so ti, I would love to take a look at what you're doing. I dabble in making my own brews. Maybe I can help."
"That would be great!" Lural got up from his chair but cleared his throat before sitting back down, trying to hide his excitent, "But let's discuss that after the council eting. We must keep our priorities straight. I'll send for soone to get you a bottle of our vodka so you can see where we are at."
"Perfect, thank you very much. It's been a while since I could drink on the job," Kadk laughed.
Valyra joined in the laugher, but Kevin gave the dwarf an annoyed look. The ambassadors left the area, leaving Hera's group and the council.
"I supposed I should've said this before. Hera, I wish to hear your opinion on the offers they made, yours too, Silah, if you wish to stay. However, I would feel more comfortable if your friends were not here so we can talk more freely," Rutigan turned to Helena and the others, "I hope you don't take offense to that. As much as we trust Hera's judgnt, I…"
Before he continued, Helena chid in, "Don't worry, King Rutigan. We understand. Just because you know Hera doesn't an you know us. We can leave you to talk in private without any issues."
"Yeah, there is no offense taken," Alex nodded.
"Trust , the last thing I wanted is to stay in a business eting," Bonnie shrugged.
"Thank you for your understanding," Rutigan turned to Hera, "Can we start now, or do you need to do sothing beforehand?"
"I'll just take them to my house and co back," Hera replied.
"I can do that. Honestly, as long as we get those tablets that let talk to you anywhere, I'm fine with whatever. Besides, deciding this is way too much pressure. I'm good," Silah said.
Hera thanked her, and her party left towards her house. Hera also asked Silah to grab so food for them since Alex and the others didn't know how that worked in Boothudurn. After they left, King Rutigan explained what the ambassadors told them about the Guild, UMN, and NRU. The dwarves weren't used to acronyms and ended up calling the groups by the full na all the ti. Hera found that a bit odd, but endearing at the sa ti.
When all the explanation was over, Rutigan opened the floor for discussion. So people were more interested in being a part of the Guild. The people from Boothudurn were used to frequent changes to their culture, and because of that, the 'threat' of change wasn't sothing they were that worried about. Even the general population was fine with that. After the announcent they were opening the room, Fethy set up a survey to understand everyone's thoughts about the change. The vast majority of the citizens were excited about the prospects of joining a large human civilization, even if that ant a considerable change to their lifestyle.
Among the six council mbers, only Ogryn and Laurel were leaning towards the UMN. Fethy was excited about the cultural exchange among any civilization. So for her, it didn't matter who they picked. Naka's primary concern was how close they were with the Guild. Despite their talks about being friendly, her first thought was what would happen if that peace was broken. They would be too close to the human territory, and that could cause a myriad of problems.
Hera barely said anything during that discussion and when Rutigan finally asked her opinion. Kadk and Valyra sneaked inside the council chamber.
"Is everything ok?" Rutigan asked, seeing the two enter quietly.
"Yes. Apologies for intruding, but we have sothing else to say," Valyra walked forward.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Do not join the guild," Kadk replied.
"Do you have a reason to say that? I thought you were supposed to be neutral," Hera asked.
"Shit, I didn't see you there. This could be complicated now," Kadk scratched his head.
"It may not be so. First, help us understand. Why shouldn't we join the Guild?" Ogryn asked.
"If you do. I fear you might lose more than just your culture," Valyra replied in a serious tone.
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