Story Progression: A Diplomatic Incident

A sharp wind blew through the Regalian harbor, as the winter air whistled through the alleyways leading to the waterfront. An Asha crunched through the layers of snow across the cobbles, clutching a paper bag to his chest tightly as he hurried back to the docks and the many foreign ships still docked there. He crosses the gangplank back onto one of the Medes fleet’s boats, the one he had called home for as many years as he could remember out at sea, and greets his awaiting crewmates with a cheer, hoisting the bag up high. The cheer is echoed by his compatriots, all roaring in anticipation for the food he had returned with. He shakes off the snow still clinging to his fur, before digging into the bag to get the first taste of it, assaulted with a friendly and heavy arm around the shoulder to try and steal this first delight.

Laughter and cheers continue into the early night as the Asha enjoy one another’s company and relish in this ‘holiday’, able to comfortably partake in all of Regalia’s seaside luxuries. The Asha en masse start pouring over the gangplanks and into the city together, all wrapped up in their winter attire to find places to eat, drink, walk and laze on dry land for a change. The Corsairs, after much of their work had concluded, always reserved a single night before they set sail once more to all enjoy whichever port they had landed in to its fullest, specifically what tonight’s event was. Bickering Ibeth and hearty snickers constantly warble out from the mass of bodies streaming into the city, as a few eyes turned upwards to a shooting star blazing through the night sky. As one particular Asha wished upon it--

A burning streak of flame crashes down onto the deck of the last lined up Ashal frigate, sending each of the ten boats rocking from side to side and grinding hull to hull. Nearly all at once, silence filled the air as countless eyes turned back to the fire dancing around the hole in the top of the struck ship. The sickening scraping of metal rings out through the ruined night sky and a deafening clang follows a huge crunching of wood repeatedly. One of the Kheper machines used to dig out Eriu-Innis previously was launched through the hull of all ten ships like a bullet fired from a rifle, before it plummets into the water in a dented, deformed mass. Water begins to rush into the hull of each ship, and each folds in on itself, collapsing into the water in a flaming mess.

All ten Ashal ships had fallen in an instant. The army of Corsairs sat there in dumbfounded silence, unsure of what they had just seen. Some hurried over to the edge with teary eyes, seeing their longtime homes eradicated in an instant. Horror, sorrow, confusion, panic - the entire crowd slowly broke out of their stupor and broke out into a mix of all of the aforementioned. Something digs into the stone sea wall that they all hung over from below. An axe buried itself into the edge, cleaving through cobblestone like it were ice, as a colossal figure hauled himself up and out of the depths. Wet blonde hair was pushed back off of his tattooed face, revealing two eyes burning far brighter than the inferno that had consumed the sea-vessels behind him. He sneered down at the Asha, bellowing out to the crowd, “Where the Sleeping Horror’s webs are not enough, I am sure to follow. Cadwyn Mhartain’s plea for help against our enemies has been answered, and Eriu-Innis has been avenged.”

The diplomatic response from the Ashal Kingdoms was immediate. A clamor that rang out from the lowest halls to the highest offices of court, their delegates were infuriated (and rightly so) that one of their Corsair fleets had been so humiliatingly sent to the bottom of the ocean by what they considered a Demon, while in Regalian harbor, no less. While no explicit demands were made of the Regalian government, a mixture of trust and coyness to see what would happen leading the Asha to not be too clear in what they wanted out of this situation, they made their anger on the whole very clear. Importantly, the Asha kept all protests to diplomatic channels, and did not call citizens to arms for retribution. They seemed intent on coming out of this looking like the more restrained party, and the more valuable ally to the Regalian Government.