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The Undercity (frightorflight and Jeufufns)

Nelia tried to take a slower start, perhaps that would help. She still didn't quite know what these alleged attacks were so best to start there. "To stop committing a crime it is helpful to know the law. We have in our entire history consciously avoided Roc settlements in fear of retaliation, such like we've seen as you've captured our people. Now you have retaliated, but why? We haven't changed our ways. If I knew what attack you're referring to it would be easier to find a proper compensation. It is true we regularly conquer slave trading settlements, but none affliated with the Roc and we do not recall the Roc declaring solidarity with any of the local slave traders."
 
"Your organization has ambushed our patrols or soldiers sent to aid our allies three times in the last two weeks. Last time we captured one of them and interrogated him. He confessed that he was hired by your people. We knkw he was telling the truth because he was scanned. So do not try to denied it. So you will give us some insirence against future attacks or we will insure ourselves. "
 
"If the ambushers were mercenaries, I see no reason to drag the entire organisation into this." Nelia stated bluntly, adapting the other woman's course of business. " If a single man hired them he must be found. That is in both our interests to clean our name and to avenge both our fallen. Once we find the traitor you may do to him whatever he want and for anyone wounded in the ambushes we shall of course provide full medical attention. Would that be a fair course of action?" Nelia was extremely pissed that someone in her group would hire mercenaries to ambush Roc, something that carried over in her voice.
 
"No, you will offer am insirence of no future attack, or we wil keep the prisioners. You will offer sons and daughters to marry ours as recompence, or we will extract that recompence from the prisioners." The woman would not budge. For all she knew this woman was responsable for it all. She would give her no ground at the moment.
 
"Have you no interest in keeping your patrols safe?" Nelia asked bluntly, able to play iut her rhetoric now. "You already said it's a rogue element in our organization that hired these mercenaries. Insurance from us won't mean anything as we didn't hire them. After getting our insurance your patrols will be be in exactly the safe danger as before because you didn't pick the traitor from our ranks."
 
"I do not know there is a traitor in your ranks. As far as I know it is just a cleaver lie and I will treat it as such. So again insurence. Or I will end this parlay of you continue to dodge the question." She was getting annoyed and you could hear it in her voice
 
"You can take your tax, though unless we deal with the problem it would be wrong to call it insurance. Consider asking your mercenary contact for better information. And if it's such a lie maybe you shouldn't give me the information to come to such a conclusion as mine. Unless your other representatives have something to add. If you bear no interest in actually solving the issue we can do nothing else but fight you, as no matter what we choose our survival is at stake." The other representatives that were a little more susceptible to her figure mught add something, yet she doubted it and was already mentally preparing for a fight. She was strong, she could take on this entire room by herself.
 
The woman smiled, "Your a fool, which means whatever this is it is not your fault. However what is going in amongst your people is no concern of ours. For that mater it has nothing to do with this negotiation either. If you want your people back you will agree to our requirements, or make an equally acceptable author, any traitor among your ranks has nothing to do with us."
 
Nelia was frankly fed up with this negotiation, any kind of 'peace' was creating a satrapy. Whatever happened her gang was about to be assimilated by the Roc. "If you have no interest in hunting the traitor and simply want t enslave us the answer is clear. With such a reasoning there's no peace to be found at the table. May we agree to disagree." Her face had a stubborn expression on it, extending her hand for the representative to shake it and give her own answer.
 
"If you wish, but you will not get your people back that way, and while we have them you cannot attack for fear of their death." the woman stared int her eyes. "This is not the upper city, I will not negotiate like it is. come back latter with an offer I can accept and we will talk." She stood up and left the room than Neila was escorted out.
 
Nelia let herself be escorted from the building and immediately left the vicinity. She knew where the Roc prison camps were. All that needed to happen was a rescue mission, free the men and stage an attack. While the Roc concentrate on the riot, the slave army appraoches from behind and squashes the Roc in-between them and the prisoners.

She arrived back at their base, looking rather stressed as she talked to the remaining imprtant members of the gang, telling them to prepare everyone and get a scout to send word to the prison.
 
The Scout came back, he didn't have a good report. He wasn't able to get into the camp, security was to tight. Having seen the heavily armed Roc he wasn't confident that enough of them would even make it out alive for it to be worth while.
"There's a reason why no one messes with the Roc." He said, they got a lot of hardware, more than we've got, more than any gang in the areas got. the only people with bigger guns are the cops." he was about to leave, than had more news to report. He sounded grim this time, "I saw five guys giving the guards a little trouble one of them tried to run so they shot him. They thought his four friends had been helping him to so they shot them."
Then he left he seemed very uncertain about all this. Sure enough five bodies were dropped near their door step with a note that said, "We are returning these prisoners, they tried to escape, so we decided to let them go."
 
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