"So far I've been disappointed, but as you instruct, my lord."

Speaking of someone they don't already know:

"Archduke Ignasi, gentlemen. A pleasure to meet my peers."

There are probably some new nobles in Cheliax who lazily group the new Archduchess Bainilus and himself together, as people who were technically both nobility under the old regime. There are probably some inattentive old ones who assume that the archduchess's position is more precarious than his, having been elevated from an extremely minor position quite recently.

Archduke Narikopolus is not laboring under either confusion. He hopes the new Archduchess at least remembers what it was like to be caught in the middle.

"Archduchess, welcome. You honor us with your presence."

Ah, 'Archduchess'. There's only one of those. Another bow, you can hardly be too careful.

"How fares Kintargo? The city was relatively untouched during the war, was it not?"

"Materially, quite well. Politically, very frustrating. Despite the vast improvement in our Queen, they are nearly as restive as ever."

"Do they have complaints, or are they just restive for the sake of restiveness?"

"They want independence. Without Jackdaw's rabble-rousing I think I could discourage them, but she's even more locally popular than me, and has her head stuck in the Civil War. Never mind that we're entirely economically dependent on the rest of the nation."

"From that I'd imagine she doesn't have much of a plan for Nidal either."

"Likely not, but Nidal hasn't tried expansion in draconic memory, as I recall. I'd be more worried if there's something from the sea; there are some more friendly people near shore, but the deeps could hide just about anything."

"Expansion or no, we've had no shortage of trouble out of Nidal in the mountains. Does Ravounel get fewer problems crossing the border? I'd expect you to get more if anything, down in the plains."

"At least in the plains, they've kept a tight hold on them. I have had to negotiate with them on occasion to resolve problems, but it was more likely to be their horsemen chasing their escapees than anything else. Perhaps I've been luckier than I realized."

"May that luck continue to hold, if so."

"If it doesn't, I know where to look for second sons and unlanded cousins to take the laggard baronies."

Cansellarion is not entirely sure why Archduke Narikopolus is still Archduke Narikopolus and not in a final blade or fled to Canorate or at the very least demoted. The best of the old Chelish archdukes, sure, he's ready to believe that. He's just not quite ready to believe that's enough. Whatever the reason, he's still in power and that makes him probably one of the most influential delegates to the Convention, or at least one of the most connected. So when Cansellarion gets the invitation to stay for the duration of the convention at what was once the Charthagnion house in the city... he has a thousand other things to do, most of which he'd rather be doing than this. But he's a delegate to the convention; schmoozing with old Chelish nobility is part of one of his jobs now, too.

"Archduke. I thank you for your invitation," he says, after being announced and led in by a footman.

Archduke Narikopolus did not gain his position by being incredibly good at talking to people. He gained it by surviving fights his brothers didn't, and by being passable enough at talking to people that none of the other Chelish nobles who had the means decided to murder him about it. All of the current danger is the talking kind, and he hates that, but courage is hardly courage if it only manifests in arenas where your victory is a foregone conclusion.

"You honor us by accepting it." He introduces his other guests, at least the ones who matter. Introduces the Iomedans who he has traveling with him, in the hopes that they matter to the count.

The Iomedaeans travelling with him have certainly heard of Alexaera Cansellarion, though there's nearly no chance he's heard of them, and are very very honored, but they're Iomedaeans about it so they just express it with a brief grateful smile. He is presumably the busiest of men.

The Archduke probably imagines that they are informing on the Archduke to Lord Cansellarion but they're actually not doing that! It's one of those confusions the archduke still has about how Good works.

He is pleased to meet them all. (And especially pleased to see that there are other Iomedans here. He will not have to add "singlehandedly rehabilitate all the notables of the archduchy of Menador" to the tasks he's responsible for.) Alex shakes hands and notes names, faces, titles, and if there's a moment of surprise or discomfort on noticing the helltouched and orcish nobility it doesn't show on his face.

"Now, before your staff are too troubled on my account, I should clarify that while I am grateful for the chance to spend time here with you all, and to meet your guests and perhaps even impose to entertain some of my own - I will likely not be requiring food or lodging while I'm here. I do not need to eat or sleep and prefer to spend the midnight hours back in my county, managing its concerns and those of my Order. I may impose upon you for an overnight private space, if ever some unexpected event requires me to deplete my teleportation boots mid-day, but I won't need a bed."

What the fuck. What kind of man doesn't eat or sleep and spends his nights not with a beautiful woman but on paperwork?

"Well, you are welcome to a space to store whatever things you need here, then," says the Archduke, who looks tired just contemplating that schedule. "We will set aside a room, should you ever have need of it."

"Not even two hours? How is that accomplished, might I ask?"

"There's a Paladin spell for it. Doesn't do you any good if you spend those hours fighting or doing hard labor, but it can make a night of reading or clerical work or keeping an uneventful watch nearly as restful as a night of sleep." You are not supposed to use it every night for months on end, but he really needs the extra hours right now.

(That is Not Recommended On A Long Term Basis. But presumably if you are Alexaera Cansellarion, the most powerful paladin since Iomedae Herself, rumored to have smote three Spawn of Rovagug, the rules are different.)

Damn, Llei wishes he could go back to his county at night. He would not spend this ability on paperwork. Well, not mostly.

     "As some of us do eat, perhaps we should proceed with pre-dinner necessities. Do you shoot, Count?"

"I do." Not as much lately; he's been neglecting his duty to enjoy himself. He puts the pang of guilt aside - here's an option to have some of the required fun and make connections among the other convention delegates at the same time. The Goddess prizes efficiency. "Not usually against still targets, and I don't recall any woods or forests in the city limits, but needs must."