was itThe rest of the day is spent largely settling into the accommodations arranged by Crullus and cleaning up after more than a week of grueling footbound traffic through the mountain pass. If there is one thing the fort seems to have an overabundance of, it's flowing water, so the facilities are relatively advanced, at least in that regard. Hot water, however, must be acquired in the usual fashion of heating it over a fire, but even that delay seems luxurious given what the Endowed have been contending with these past days.
When evening approaches, pages arrive to escort each member to the dining hall, where a place has been set beneath a window for Ludwig. As far as state dinners go, it is a modest affair with generous portions of things that can be stored in quantity for considerable periods of time, such as rice and beans, and scanter on things such as meat. Men in gleaming silver armor, their faces concealed by matching helmets, stand at rapt attention around the room as Crullus hears the Endowed relate their tail, interrupting only to ask questions on points of clarification. When their tale is complete, he leans back in his chair and drums his fingers on the table in thought.
"What you describe echoes some of my own experience," he says. "A spire has appeared near the very northernmost part of the valley, but it is not one of ice. Rather it is one of stone and wood and leaves." He gestures at his armored men as he continues. "I took my Shining Guard with me to march on the structure, but we found ourselves repelled. There is some manner of barrier that we were unable to breach. None of this, what was it? Quintessential ash? No, nothing like that, though.
"Now, I'm sure you know that forest that fills Westreach is not some mundane woods from east of the mountains. It is alive with forces and beings that make the forests you are familiar with seem as desolate as graveyards. This spire, it has provoked... a response from the forest. It is like a sliver stuck in the tip of a finger, inflaming the flesh around it. This has caused more than a bit of panic, and the Free Peoples are now banging on my gates, begging for shelter. But I cannot disburse the wealth and resources of Telmur to noncitizens, no matter how I wish otherwise." Holding his hands up in front of him, he mimes them being bound at the wrist. "I am bound by the tenants of our charter of rule as surely as they were fetters." He slowly moves his wrists apart with a wry smile. "But the number of links in the chains of those fetters is a matter of interpretation."
At the snap of Crullus's fingers, one of the armored men steps forward and deposits a rolled scroll in the governor's hand. With a flourish, he unrolls it across the table before everyone, revealing a map of the valley. "Now," he says, staring intently at the map as he indicates positions with his finger, "the Free Peoples had settlements deep in the forest, but they've largely since been abandoned. That's good, arable land. If we were to cultivate it, we could potentially provide for everyone in this valley and then some."
With the tip of his finger, he cuts an arch across the northern tip of the valley. "From what we can determine, the spire and the forest have reached some manner of equilibrium point. Its influence has stopped spreading, dead in its tracks, and what vestiges of its malign power that manage to survive the wrath of the forest are so weakened by the ordeal that they are of little threat. If the Free Peoples can be convinced to return to their settlements and till the soil, then the province of Durmas will gladly pay for our share of their bounty by providing protection along the northern edge to guard against incursion from the spire. In this act, it becomes a matter of transacting trade rather than an appropriation of resources, thus skirting the prohibitions that keep me from acting directly to aid them."
With a grin, he stands akimbo with his fists on his hips, clearly pleased with his scheme. "We are fully confident that we can hold this position indefinitely, a beacon of safety until the crisis has passed from which Telmur can begin anew as necessary."