Vignar and Simus scanned the room, taking in all of the faces, new and old. This was less than they really needed but more than they expected. However, as Alice said, it was a start. Simus would leave Alice and Arillious their moment: they needed this. He had come to love Arillious like a son and he had brought so much joy into Alice's life. It was all Simus could ever want for his little girl. Of course, Alice wasn't so little anymore and she could certainly take care of herself, but there are no days off from being a father. Simus had gotten a certain amout of satisfaction from seeing Arillious bust Idolaf's nose open. The boy knew how to throw a puch, and he was just as passionate as Simus was at his age.
He then refocused himself. They had business to conduct and Vignar's imatience was mounting. Eilene had voiced her concerns, and he was happy to address them.
"Chased by Stormcloaks eh?" Simus asked. "Were they two burly Nords with scaled helmets? Got angry at arillious for beating a comrade? Chased him down here to run him through? Don't worry about it. That was all a ruse to get him down here."
Simus looked at Arillious' face, with a smile. "You mean you didn't know? I'm sure you would have recognized their faces by now!" He then turned to the doorway and shouted. "Hey guys! Arillious totally though you were trying to kill him! You can come down now!"
Friga, Stefan, Erik, Ralof and Elsie, Simus' personal squad and the first Stormcloaks Arillious ever called friends came down the steps. An imperial was trying to leave, but they blocked his path. They were unable to contain their laughter after they saw Arillious' face. Simus and Alice joined in their laugher as Arillious looked totally confused.
"Welcome brother." Friga said warmly. "I'm afraid we decieved you at the gate. We had to put on a good show so you really thought we were trying to arrest you while herding you to the Hall of the Dead to join the party. Sorry about that, but we had to keep up appearences just in case we missed any of Ulfric's spies."
"I told you he'd buy it." Erik sad to Stefan.
"You did not! You said he'd recognize us!" Stefan said back. "That's not fair!"
"I changed my mind. Now pay up." Erik said.
"Alright fine." Stefan said, handing Erik a bag of twenty septims. He then turned to Arillious. "Sorry about trying to pretend to kill you shield-brother. You've got to understand you're just so much fun in a fight, we couldnt' resist. The next time we have a secret meeting that everybody but you is in on, we'll be gentile."
"Maybe. Now then, as our robed friend said, we're not here to watch two lovers catch up." Simus called to the rather femenine looking man in the robe with the long red hair. His voice was loud enough to get Arillious and Alice to focus. "And no one leaves until they've been fed and watered! That way you're all too drunk to tell Ulfric on us!" He said, raising his voice to the Imperial that was about to walk out the door. "Vignar, I think they're ready."
"Well it's about damn time." Vignar said, getting up from his chair and clearing his throat loudly. "Everyone settle down! May I have your attention please!?"
The room started to quiet down. Alice directed Arillious to a chair before situating herself into his lap, their full foot of difference in height letting him conviently see over her head. She was wearing her favorite strawberry scent today, knowing he would love it. The three Battle-Borns had found seats and had been able to stop Idolaf's bleeding nose, albiet with a rag.
With the room mostly quiet, Vignar had the floor.
"Good evening and welcome to our little resistance meeting! For those of you who are too stupid or too ignorant to know who I am already, I am Jarl Vignar Gray-Mane. You may remember me from my exploites as a member of The Companions or how I booted that milk drinker Balgruuf out of Whiterun with his attendents holding their tails between their legs. Or maybe you just know me because I'm that old skeever that talks too much, doesn't really matter. Anyway, you are all here because you hate Ulfric Stormcloak, our "True High King". Some of you have hated him from the beginnng. Or maybe you're like me and you saw something in him that didn't really exist and that's why you supported his cause. Or maybe you're like Simus and his beautiful daugher in the front row, who fought and bled for Ulfirc, called him Shield-Brother and then realized his vision of Sovngarde on Nirn was all a lie. My heart goes out to both of you, you've suffered far too much. I don't really care why you're here, only that you're ready to set things right. We've all got our own reasons to be here, but we have a plan to take down Ulfric as one. I'll let Simus here outline our objectives and strategy so yes, I'm finally done talkin'. You can all wake up now, and please help yourselves to some food and drink. Simus?"
"Thank you Jarl Vignar for that inspirational speech." Simus said. "I'm General Simus Psyrakon, and I command all of Ulfric's forces in central Skyrim. This includes Whiterun, so don't worry about us being infiltrated. Between Vignar and I, you are all safe. As Vignar said, this is a resistance movement to stop Ulfric Stormcloak. As of now we are all traitors. If Ulfric finds out what we're doing, we are all dead."
He paused for a second in order to let that sink in.
"Now, the goal fo this meeting is not to have us all ride to Windhelm and chop Ulfric's head off. Movements like this take time, secrecy and careful planning. That's much more than can be done in one night. We're all here to plan basic strategy. Our current proposal is this: First off, we build our movement. There are a lot of deposed Jarls in Solitude who would be happy to take down Ulfric. We need to find a way to convince them to help us. If they can get back in power, they can steer the people away from Ulfric. Secondly, help from the Empire. As you may know, tensions between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion have been boiling ever since the Civil War ended. War is inevitable. We need a way to get the Emprie to spare some Legions and the best way to do that is to deliver the body of General Tullius home as a show of good faith. His head is decorating Ulfric's wall, along with Legate Rikke's, while their bodies adorn Windhelm's walls. I've already made plans with some friends in Riften to "liberate" those bodies and bring them somewhere safe. All we have to do is pick them up and take them to the Imperial City. That leads to the last and most fun part of our plan: Use our new legions and our new armies to sack Windhelm."
Simus paused for a moment and took a sip of mead.
"That's our basic plan. Vignar here is going to work on the details of training an army in secret across the holds. What I need from you guys is to form a strike force that will follow my orders, execute the fist two parts of our plan and cause as much trouble for Ulfric as possible. Questions?"
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