OOC: RL has caught up with GoW, so I will RP his characters until he returns.
"Of course we're not conducting operations here - " Varelsa snapped at Rowhaine, before being cut off by Akela.
"Why don't you say that to my slaughtered sisters?" she hissed, "many have fallen to the Triumvirate's servants here today. Your assassins came for the Sisterhood in great numbers, with an army of undead and chaotic servants to boot! I surmise that you have been sent here to finish off those who remain and you are no doubt playing the fool now to ensure my guard slips. That's not going to happen."
Varelsa couldn't help but detect a note of confusion in Akela's indignant voice. Her account was ambiguous to say the least, and he rummaged through his mind attempting to solve the mysteries hidden within it for a few seconds.
Then he came across an answer.
"Ah," he said, and then paused, deep in thought.
After a few seconds of silence, Akela said, "What do you have to say for your masters? This was an unprovoked attack which you must account for quickly, or one of the two of us is going to lose a head."
Varelsa raised his hands in objection, and asked calmly, "These assassins...did they claim to work for the Triumvirate?"
"Of course! Why else would I have attacked you?" She left aside her opinion of him as one of the most insufferable vampires on the planet when asking this question.
Varelsa sighed, and explained, "To let you in on an imperial secret, which I wouldn't be doing unless I thought it was absolutely key to our plans to continue on the path that you are obstructing, I must give you a revelation about these assassins, which might clarify today's events at the Pinnacle to a degree." He glanced to Sigmund and Jäger briefly, waiting for nods of affirmation before continuing, "we've had a bit of an...ah...rebellion, amongst our assassins.
"I believe you may have come across vassals of the dissident faction, masquerading as loyalists, who, unlike the Triumvirate, are aligned to the chaotic forces you have apparently encountered.
"You mean it was a tri - " Akela said, flabbergasted, before Varelsa interjected.
"Yes, a trick, Akela, and one I'm surprised you fell for. We thought that the covens serving the Queen of Mysteries would have already known about this rebellion, and been able to put two and two together when they saw vampire assassins working alongside chaotic forces.
"It appears you are much more incompetent then we initially calculated."
Akela, by this point, was furious. Not only had she been fooled, she was now being insulted.
By a strigoi.
The embarrassment was too much to bear, and was about to be followed by an enraged outburst, but the Lahmian was once again halted as Varelsa rumbled on. He was slightly enjoying the sensation of annoying Akela whilst carrying out the necessary task of explaining the situation to her, she knew it, and he knew that she knew it.
He suppressed a grin, and continued: "We have arrived here today seeking an audience with Queen Neferata, to forge a military and diplomatic alliance with her that can be used to support the collective struggle of vampire kind against chaos. The second vampire council, endorsed by the Triumvirate, is the entity seeking this alliance. Its members, arrayed behind me, are in agreement that chaos is the force behind our waning power over the undead.
"Even your covens must surely be aware of this waning of vampiric power."
Akela had detected a hint of relish in Varelsa's last words, and was further infuriated by them. In fact, Neferata's covens had known about the waning of necromantic power for a number of years - we've probably been aware of it longer than his masters have - and did suspect that the gods of chaos were behind this decrease in the potency of the undead. The Queen herself had even assigned a team of her most trusted followers to investigate chaotic activity further to the North for this very reason...they had only been missing for a few months before the attack had happened, Akela remembered.
Covens within the Empire had also reported assassins previously loyal fighting against the Von Carstein ascendancy, but they had only recently begun to suspect that such rebellions might be part of a wider organised assault on the Triumvirate. For a number of years, they had simply assumed that these vampires were simply rogue agents.
"My covens are aware of the vampiric decline over the past ten years," Akela hissed through gritted teeth, "and frankly, we found that the facts surrounding the Triumvirate assault on the Pinnacle today contradictory.
"It just didn't seem to make sense for Mircea to attack us here and now," she admitted, "I am loath to take your statements at face value, Varelsa, but I am willing to humour them now in light of our situation."
Her Lahmians were outnumbered by the forces of chaos roving the Pinnacle, and she return to her queen and preserve honour without an army or a larger group of fellow vampires behind her. She had, in fact, been ordered to break through the lines of the enemy by Neferata to find any military aid in the Pinnacle's vicinity, which the Queen needed when Akela had left. Other groups of Lahmians had been sent elsewhere, and no doubt had returned to the Queen with reinforcements. In all likelihood, they were retaking the sections of the Pinnacle lost to the vampiric assassins, undead and chaotic forces as she spoke.
Aid came to Akela in the form of this so-called council: no doubt its members, including Varelsa, were despicable, but they were also useful.
"The Queen's forces are - or were - under siege in the Pinnacle, and although she has called for aid from the covens closest to this fortress - which is why I'm out here - her vengeance will swiftly fall on Triumvirate dogs in her vicinity once she has retaken her castle," Akela stated, her eyes scanning the council members surrounding her. There was a seemingly sentient wight king, a number of blood knights and templars led by Sigmund, Jäger the assassins, the hated Varelsa, a shadow mage who had previously held a blade to her throat and a Kislevite who reeked of chaotic corruption.
In short, a rag-tag bunch of nobodies. They were little better than worthless to her cause, but little better was still better than nothing at all. Akela was devoted to her queen, who needed allies despite apparently holding most of her territory in the face of the chaotic assault. These council allies would be required to help in later battles against the forces of chaos, and Akela had no choice but to accept any aid being offered, although she would not say this out loud, of course.
Akela raised her voice, and addressed all the council members present: "Your vampire council seeks an alliance with Neferata? That's all well and good, but you will not get one if she finds you before she is done cleaning up with the chaos scum attacking the Pinnacle. Her vengeance will crush you, no matter your protestations, no matter mine."
"You are asking for us to assist you in battle?" Rowhaine asked.
"Yes," Akela said, "if we come to her aid and find her, instead of her finding us, she may yet spare you your lives and an audience with her. No doubt you could prove yourself by assisting in the cleansing of the Pinnacle of chaotic forces. Then, you may have your alliance with her...or you may not."
She smiled, enjoying the fact that it was Varelsa, not her, who would not be confused. "I can't make any promises as to her intentions," she proceeded, "but if you fail to come to her aid, I suspect she will not be willing to come to yours, regardless of how desperately you plead for her to regard it."
Glancing around to ensure that no weapons were being moved towards her (she was still suspicious of Varelsa's intentions), Akela looked towards each of the council members standing before her, and then asked, "Are you with me?"