Jackal Among Snakes

The following days were an incredibly complex dance of interwoven plots. They prepared for Sophia’s business in the background as their machinations over the Great Chu began to take effect. Elenore decided to be bold with her isolation of the information leaks, and Argrave was more than willing to help her. Her boldness rested in the fact that she intended to both probe for leaks and carry out their plans simultaneously.

Elenore’s probes were quite sophisticated, yet they had the execution necessary to carry them out. She used Argrave as an instrument to subtly convey different courses of actions to each and all divine ally at their back. Each was different enough to be easily identifiable, yet not enough to arouse suspicion if shared among the others.

Argrave stood on the coast of the south Great Chu, another towering figure with him for a private meeting. “The bottom line is this—before we can assault the sky tower, we need to take the Palace of Heaven,” Argrave said, staring up at one of Law’s Justiciar’s. “And you… I want you to be prepared for a direct assault. It’s central.”

A robust agreement, a few more exchanged words… then the next god, Rook.

“The bottom line is this…” Argrave began identically as he spoke to Rook, who wore wholly black. “We need to take the Palace of Heaven. And you… I’ll need your subterfuge capability for that. It’s central.”

“The bottom line is this,” Argrave spoke next to Almazora, defending Vasquer from continental siege in Dirracha at the perfect center of the kingdom. “We’ll need your magic to take the Palace of Heaven.”

Next, he looked to the wizened Lira. “The bottom line, Lira, is that we’ll need your connections to take the Palace of Heaven.”

He came to the young blond boy that was Anneliese’s patron, speaking all too-familiar tones. “Bottom line, Yinther, we need to know the Palace of Heaven completely to take it.”

“Bottom line,” he began time and time again, for each and all god involved in his plans—even Hause, though her conversation was far removed from the others in light of her stay-at-home role.

deity of the Blackgard Union the ‘bottom line,’ Argrave told each god that they were central to his plans. Each and all conveyed

to Governor Zen and see if any of that information had made its way to him. Governor Zen seemed to make a habit of letting them know what

was the perfect excuse to enact something of a rebellion in the armies. The remaining commanders that they had under sway were instructed to emerge from lockdown and take the armies on strike. It put them in an incredibly treacherous

Gold Scribe for the Grand Imperial Bank, and a few other of Zen’s children and grandchildren, used their position to enact a fabricated order from the imperial court. That order was simple; suspend pay for the rebelling soldiers, and refuse to transact gold or silver notes for them and all their family members. Debanking entire armies was an incredibly alarming and overt move for

Zen Ming hadn’t truly suspended pay. He instead redirected it to each of the four commanders that were taking their armies on strike, making everything appear as normal in the Grand Imperial Bank. These commanders then distributed this pay to the soldiers, claiming it came from their personal vaults. That was a suspicious move, granted, but in time Argrave intended to validate that suspicion with yet another fabrication; he would claim

using his vast array of family and business contacts. His commander and grandson, Zen Da, publicly and loudly spoke about the imperial court and Grand Eunuch Hao dragging this regency on for extended periods of time. This

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audit of the Grand Imperial Bank. To their credit, they did isolate Zen Ming as one of the

they’d been

discreetly recalled since the regency began, and that several branches of the banks in prominent cities didn’t even have half of the money necessary to cover withdrawals.

The action of these few caught the attention of many, and paranoia bred like disease as people contemplated the possibility of the bank genuinely losing all of their money. If there was ever a line at the bank, after all, the

within days. Despite the fact soldiers, as government accounts, could still withdraw money, the already-sown animosity between the army and the Grand

announced they’d be adding to the precious

Argrave and Anneliese once again sat with Emperor Ji Meng for talk. They delivered to

his tongue. “He was always martially gifted. But emperor? I don’t

Argrave looked at Ji Meng. “The emperor, returned to quell this madness that’s arisen in his absence. Recovering from a wound, and so relying upon his Grand Commandant Sun. Even still…