Immediately the respective leader of each party followed Hedara An'Yis. To properly discuss a plan of action now that all involved parties are present. Kalid Ligh for the paladins, Hedara An'yis for the council, Adhred Brave-Axe for the titled legion, and Cristal for "mercy's blessing."
Out of earshot of the others, the leaders begin to discuss their plan of attack. Hedara takes the lead as she always does, pressing the issue as she knows how the slaver's soldier will act. It was not necessary to explain the entire story, whilst humans might not know much of elven culture. They were well aware what fate slaves or former slaves had to endure. The kingdom of Sytrich for its many atrocities is one of the most influential of the entire continent. Full-scale wars nearly always a loss for the other countries as soldiers were easily replaced by other unwilling participants whilst they raided every village, causing food shortages and bloodbaths wherever they go.
The three others listened carefully, keeping any objection of note until the elf was done speaking. "At the end it will prove crucial that we manage to trap them, therefore I suggest carefully splitting into smaller groups. Five in total to match the total number of paladins whilst mercy's blessing forms its own party. They are better coordinated than us in that aspect, I would believe." Adhred Brave-Axe raises his hand, the very decorated knight clearly holding something back. "Speak." Hedara orders in return.
"We have horses and are vastly better armored, they will not escape even a single charge. We should not overcomplicate this matter. Simply strike them down before they can react!" The old man says assured of himself and of his legion. Clearly convinced of his own argumentation the older man still seems to be prepared to listen to the inevitable elven retort. Even if she was of a lower class, she still did bear a respectable title. One that not many are able to hold for generations.
"That is assuming that we will be able to engage them on horseback. Slavers are expert skirmishers, such a mistake will be most unlikely. That's why we have this amount of numbers, to be able to create groups large enough to deal with these skirmish forces. Besides don't you think the horse lords of Revay would have obliterated them long ago if they did not know how to handle a cavalry charge?" Hedara says her retort sternly but not necessarily purely crushing the man. He would be after all an important figure in this upcoming battle and someone who has yet to fight a true battle himself.
"Still, he has a point. Splitting ourselves to fight expert skirmishers? Should we not stick to the one advantage we have?" Kalid Ligh asks as someone who has battled before, an experienced paladin. but at the end of the day someone who as well has never had fought an enemy of this kind before. Rather if recalled correctly it was his mother that fought in "The Exalted cleanse" and thus limiting his experience to remnants of beast races or at best stray vampires.
"I trust your paladins will not let us down, they should be able to protect their respective parties using their divinity filled armor." Hedara has to respond once again, her gaze shifts to the only one who hasn't yet spoken." I assume you're able to do the same?"
"I can, but I doubt that it's necessary. My companions are quite independent individuals." Cristal replies, showing her faith in those she calls comrades.
"Has the large one recovered completely?"
"He's been claiming so since before we arrived in Wra'thez, but I do believe he's fine." Cristal says as she thinks about the trip until now. Even though Gunnir is a resilient man, an assassin brought injury had felled many before. Hellas specifically was asked to keep an eye on the large mercenary, and it seems that he truly does seem to have recovered. An experienced hunter such as the pink haired ranger would after all not fail to spot an injury.
"Whilst we're on the topic. Must I believe that there are two mages joining us?" The leader of the paladins asks. The scrutiny in his voice resembling that of when the paladins have to ask the family of heretics if they were aware of the cause. The response didn't actually matter, an already fated consequence as they had to cleanse those who they considered impure.
"TIka and Sol. They have names." Cristal stands up as she realizes what her former mentor is getting at. Her hand ready on her mace which caused Kalid to stand up as well. He raises his hands in the air before he speaks as far away from his weapon as possible.
"Are they registered, Cristal? They must be. You and I are both aware of the consequences. I have taught you them myself." The older paladin says purposefully not raising his voice and keeping his hands raised. Hedara and Adhred meanwhile simply wait. Perhaps they had already assumed that the held back emotions would spill during this meeting. Both seemingly rather annoyed at the inconvenience but not reacting in any way to stop it.
"Tika was privately tutored by an official mage." Cristal replies, not dropping her vigilance.
"What about the boy?"
"...."
"Crissala. What about the boy?" Kal Ligh says his voice more stern and commanding than before. No doubt resembling that of when he taught her in her youth as Cristal has to hold herself from visibly shrinking before the familiar tone.
"Sol is not affiliated with Drearorth, nor do I know who taught him or truly what type of magic he wields." Cristal says, purposefully saying the name of the discussed party member in a loud and clear tone. Warning her former mentor that "the boy" has a name.
"You know what mages are capable of! Especially in this age of decline! At least his mentor should be known!" Kalid's unable to hold himself from berating his pupil. He realized that she began to trust these adventurers far beyond any normal boundry. Something unavoidable, her own form of healing he assumed. luckily she met good people, but for a mage? Not any mage even, a mage wielding some type of darkness? This could be catastrophic for the paladins and the church if discovered or left alone.
"What would that change? Didn't I have you as a mentor? Still I killed an innocent man, didn't I?"
"Crisalla."
"No, listen to me."
"…"
"One of the things I've learned is that you can't define anyone based on their past. It's only the person now that matters. So, i'ill suggest stop trying to dig in the past.... It helped me at least."
The former mentor sighs heavily as he notices the same stubbornest that Cristal even had in her early days. Something that pulled her through the heavy days but also made her impossible to reach an acceptable middle ground with. Still it felt good to see small parts of the girls she was before.
"I'll keep that in mind." Kalid Ligh responds granting the 4 respective leader's permission to arrange the necessary groups for this task.