Thanks for making it here.

Just had some small business to attend to elsewhere. What did you want?

What’s happened to us?

What?

Why are we so useless now? We used to be, well, important.

I honestly… I don’t know. Not long ago, we were up with him…

And now he’s gone off to explore the world, while we?

Hell, we may as well not exist.

He’s not just a big shot either. He’s not seeing anyone he used to. Who’s he with?

I heard he’s looking foreign. He got shit on at Sentinel, but he’s already recovered.

That’s gonna come back to bite him in the ass, just you wait.

At least we won’t have anything to do with it.

But isn’t that the problem? We’ve fallen out of relevancy. We need to find our way back in there.

True. But look at us! We couldn’t stand a chance against him. We’re tiny, he’s got everything.

Oh man, what if we got the four together again? Of course, we would have to take care of, well, him.

But the fourth… I guarantee she’s pissed. Would she ever try something this harsh though?

You’ve got a point there. She’s passive. But she’s large enough to take him on. If we can convince her this is just something small, she can hurt him enough where we can come in and wipe him out.

What if we got outsiders of our own?

Too risky. They’re too close to him. This has to be us, and only us.

I don’t really like this. We could be risking our own destruction, and for what? What happens when he’s gone?

Don’t second guess yourself here.

He’s huge, but not in a good way. Even if we destroy him, his… friends will just come to his rescue.

So we just get more people on our side.

No, you don’t get it. He’s huge. I don’t even know if he can die.

Mongols almost got him.

Almost.

Plague cut him down a lot.

He was still twice as large as us at his weakest. He just gobbled up a ton of his smaller neighbors and now… He’s huge.

Are you with me or not?

I’m… I’m with you.

Fantastic. I’ll go arrange the event.

Wait a second, you had all of this planned out before I even came?

Well, of course. I couldn’t risk you not following the plan, so I had to make other arrangements.

So… I wasn’t even needed?

Of course you’re necessary. You’re in the perfect position to strike and hide. You’re small, not many know who you are, your defenses are incompetent-

I don’t want a fucking war on my streets!

There won’t be, if you join us. We will make quick work of him, and restore our former glory.

I… Give me a day to think.

We don’t have the time.

Then I’m not with you.

I would not personally recommend that decision.

Is this a threat?

Whatever you think of it. Now, I’ll ask one last time: Are you with us?

…

Unfortunate--

I’m with you.

You would have surprised me otherwise.