Esstrey sat calmly on the rooftop of the barracks, watg the troops do drills. Her tasks were finished for now, the duchies experieh heretical practices exposed now forces the hand of the o fall in line et chopped up and served in s to the new guard. The military adapted the fastest so far, showing full pliah the new allies, most likely due to the new equipment being handed out ensuring they aren't at risk of being repced. Esstrey reinforced this by making it clear only the guard sisting of civilized races would be training with guns. The guard, which is now being split into four separate divisions, and merged fully with other military institutions. The Malen liquidators, the division in charge of everything gued, and as such all fuards fall uhis category as a standard. Malen Surveilnce, which sists of everything that specializes in speed and stealth. It mostly sists of small and medium-sized demons, small Beyond creatures, and some civil specialists. Malen Devastators, who are to to use in situations where colteral is a . These mostly sist of the rge demons, higher-tier Beyond creatures, and some powerful mages from the keep. The idea is that everyone's capabilities are cataloged, and subsequently given a p one of these divisions, even if not actually active batants. This would make militia's more effective eventually, and refusing cataloging is pletely allowed, even if iivized.

  Currently, Esstrey is cssified as a devastator, along with Sofia. Cathy and Zha'klos are part of surveilnce, while dell and Jake t as liquidators. Jake is no doubt currently helping his mother with the fallout, and trying to keep nobles as far away from Esstrey as possible, while Zha'klos is probably out doing her best to keep her kin in check when it es to civilians.

  "Dammit Bartosz! Move those legs, you will never outrun anything like that! Pestrowe, it's aim and shoot! Not aim and aim and aim! Lazal! Quit looking at the pretty dies AND CLIMB LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!" The drill sergeant below is doing his best to ighe mermaid that cssifies as a general as they are doing drills, mistakes are always made when the generalship is watg after all. It doesn't help that they are now testing their drills in new specialized suits. The biggest threat posed by new-world threats aren't in their physical attacks, but in biohazards. Ahat has spent more than five minutes patrolling the walls will be intimately familiar with what happens to the weak and dying, dragged into the corrupted forest to the west. It's great to know the duchy cares for its mortal men, less great that said suits are practically thisuted raincoats that don't feel great during aher that isn't winter.

  Esstrey isn't too ied iual performance of the troops herself, she's mainly just watg as a form of eai. She knows that in the end, a human would do anything to survive, a trait that is suitirey just fine when it es to the pacification of the riots. Mung on a pieealroot, she plots her move. There are already pns io vict the nobles who are most likely to raise , ahat favored w with Faerune etting donations from the church being on that list. It's impressive so far how the military has cooperated with Esstrey's antics, but iigations by Katerina show a mutual pt between the nobles of Malencia and the average trooper, ae general sorship being enforced, somehow news of the successful revolution of Ri did reach the lower rung people of Malencia... 'somehow'.

  Esstrey grins at the thought, is this how imperialists felt? Pitting poputions against each other, and then favor one side heavily to break the stalemate? She probably won't fully overthrow the duchess, as every resource should be used, the more pliant the better. The duchess herself might plot against her power-hungry doctor iurn, but she's wele to try. Esstrey will make it clear that the price of attempting it won't end at her neck alo helps that Esstrey is actually pnning the best for the duchy, and not just selling the ehing tn is. That Faerune is now cssified as a fn i is hardly her .

  A spatial tear opens up, and Cathy crawls out of it. She spares a few eyes watg her surroundings, but most eyes are focused orey as she chews while staring off into the distance. Without saying anything, Cathy starts retrieving a set of cups, some hot water, some tealeaves, and begins to prepare tea on the roof. She hands one cup to Esstrey, who takes it without looking.

  "This os the heart of the dy's [army/force/war mae] to be funal at acceptable levels, the biggest worry is the ck of wood provided for the carpenters." Esstrey sips cautiously at the tea, in order to not get scalded. The facepte of her helmet isn't lifted all the way in order to stay safe in a situation where disgruntled people are likely to take a shot at her.

  "The trees out west are really fasating you know, some sort of magical iion has pletely hijacked everything in that area, and the trees are a victim of it much like anyone unfortunate enough to step in there." Cathy watches silently as she imitates Esstrey's cautious drinking of tea, waiting for her to tinue.

  "It wouldn't be appropriate to just say anything in that s mutated into some fleshy horror, that pletely dismisses the pnt life being flesh-like, while that should be a much more plicated process. The very cells of the pnts themselves use their own cell-walls to fuel the transformation to the cells of creatures, while somehow maintaining trace amounts of DNA from the pnts. This iio just mutate the living, it turns it all into a crude imitation of animal-based life. As such, the trees are actually rge enough to have quite a bit of bone in them, you believe it? Bones in trees, and every time I think there isn't anything that surprise me, something like this appears. I will now forever have to specify regur trees as 'borees'." Esstrey chuckles a bit at the thought.

  "Wood has historically always been a great material for building and crafting quaint little things, but mainly so because of its avaibility. Wood doesn't run or attack back, wood es in a rge base form, allowing easy manipution. Now we have been granted a goldmine in front of our noses, a ce for crafters who put aside silly things like personal preferences. Bone is a far stronger material than wood, and the only issues with it currently are the danger iing it, aing slightly less of it due to the whole fleshpnt thing, but we get bone in rge quantities now. Tell dell wheurns tanize woodcutter expeditions to cut down trees en masse. The forest will yield its bounty by gunpoint if need be." Esstrey thinks to her st statement, it would be much better if the forest itself cooperated with her. Anything is possible with magic after all, but who could make something like that happen?

  "Say Cathy, do you think you open a spatial portal to the meeting pce of the PMC? I don't think they would invite me after I nearly crushed the neck of an important official, but they certainly still have stuff I could use. I also don't believe for a sed that those hags wouldn't resist holding staings in this situation."

  "As the Lady ands, this one is happy to be of [help/service/aid]." Cathy bows, and already starts proddirey's body for traces of other spatial magic used on her in the past. It would teically be better if she went to the pce where the spatial mage who transported her at the time came a from, but Cathy much prefers this way.

  Prickly