"Aohdan, old chap!" Alasdair approaches the elf who was carving another of his dragon-chess figures, a beautiful Sylph with filigree details for the upper level. Amazing how he could use the grain of the wood and the structure of his knife blade to texture the Sylph's clothing. "Huh?" Aodhan seems to emerge from a trance. "Not quite awake yet?", asked Alasdair. Aohdan looks a bit confused, not sure what the old man is referring to, and starts: "No, I was..." "Ah, you guys are not so keen on this sleep thing. I forgot.", Alasdair interrupts, "Fancy another round?" "Actually, I'm in the middle of..." "But make it a real one this time. A battle of intellects. No shenanigans.", Alasdair cuts in. Aohdan rubs his face and looks at his Lord. "It is customary to let people finish their answers if you ask them questions. You would do well to remember that if you hope to rule one day." The Eladrin shakes his head as he rises. When would this geezer learn some manners? Would he ever? One day he would need to address this. "Well, you're on.", he says and sets up the board.

The game starts a bit like the previous one, Aodhan going into a standard opening. Only this time, it is not known for being flawed. While the idea behind it - feinting at the upper board to draw your opponents defense off your real strike at either the middle or lower one - is known to almost all players, it usually comes down to execution and realising on which board the actual attack will come. As the somewhat scripted opening moves draw to a close - Alasdair knows the strategy well enough to also know a good response that leaves him plenty of options - Aodhan picks up the conversation again. "While we're being frank, we need to talk about your daughter. We do have a strain of magic running through the family, but her situation is different. You are a typical example. Even Glenn is, in his own weird way. But Gwenn is a different story. After all that happened and after the events at the mage tower, I don't think her particular talent is related to ancestry. Our ancestry is fey, and Deep Speech is certainly not part of it. I fear this is more connected to recent events than to ancient history." He looks at Alasdair across the board.

"Apologies about before. All these social norms. They are hard for me. I'm not meant to rule. I never asked for it, it should have never been me.", Alasdair says to Aohdhan as much as to himself. "Also...", he hesitates, "I have never told anyone. But magic scares me. Fey too." He looks Aodhan briefly in the eyes. "I know what you are doing is, bottom line, helping the family. Whether I like it or not. But I can't wrap my head around all these supernatural things." Alasdair pauses for a second. "I understand a hammer. It has a heavy end. I drop it on the bad guys. The end. But piercing beams of light? Tentacles? Eldritch to me. I'm too old for this. Even my own powers I find uncanny. Luckily these are not too wild." He moves his warrior on the second board one step forward. Aodhan subtly raises an eyebrow. An unusual move. Is the old man distracted or is it tactics? He stays silent, while Alasdair continues. "Raising a kid, too, Aohdan. Hm. Kids. Just when I thought I can connect with Glenn, he turns even weirder. All this sparkly, starry stuff. By the way, did his mother name him similar to my daughter so I would more easily accept him? And Gwenn, Gwendolyn should have been someone else's problem entirely by now." He sighs. "Well. But here we are. I'll do my best to keep everyone alive. Fix the damn curse. And make the little ones decent people, if I can. Well. Not so little anymore, actually. It goes so fast. End of rant." Alasdair reaches out to another chess piece, about to move it, before he realized that it is not his turn to play. "So, yeah. I have no idea how to handle Glenn. She seems indeed different. She does not understand herself - who can blaim her! - and I can't explain anything to her. I so hope that we find answers to the curse and her condition." He looks again at Aodhan. "You have been around for a while. Have you seen anything like it before?"

Aodhan continues his feint even as the Alasdair moves his pieces on the middle board forward threateningly, moves his forces onto the upper board. "No. I think something similar to this has happened once, but back then I was ... indisposed. I had to settle some important matters for the family elsewhere, and by the time I came back it had blown over. Still, I don't recall any daughters of the house turning into tentacle fiends back then. I've pretty much exhausted our history by now. Without access to Candlekeep I won't get any further." Alasdair continues to move forward on the middle board while Aodhan continues to drain it of his figures. Does the old man really not realise his counterattack is about to hit hard? Or is there something else he missed? "Oh, and while we're at ruling one day: Don't apologise. It's not so bad with me and the crew, but it's a bad habit to get into for rulers. You don't want people questioning your every move, least of all yourself. You will be forced to make many decisions, and not all of them will turn out well. Second-guessing will only drive you mad. And we have enough madness right now." Aodhan starts forward on the upper board, and finally Alasdhair realises. This is no feint. There never was a feint. Aodhan is launching an attack on the upper board and simply made its opening moves look like one of the classic feints. After a few more moves it becomes apperent that it is far too late to deflect the attack, so Alasdair switches to his offensive on the middle board. "You know", Aodhan says as Alasdairs forces move in on his king, "there is far more in that shrivelled head of yours than you let on. You act the brute, but you're far from it. No brute would have spared that goblin a second thought." The game actually becomes very tense, both sides only a few moves away from claiming victory. "Fearing magic is not a bad thing per se. Admitting that to yourself is even better. Admitting it to others - there it gets dangerous." Aodhan looks at Alasdair. "I think you won't make such a bad ruler. Even etiquette is somewhat optional once you're on top. You'll mostly need to get yourself straightened out a bit." Aodhan continues his offensive with no regard for his losses, on the top board or in Alasdairs counterattack. Alasdair, having played slightly more conservative, finds himself just a few moves short in the end. "Ah, and while we're being honest, I believe Glenn is named after 'glen', for reasons you really don't want to get into." It is only after the game that Alasdair realises he might well have one had he not wasted those few moves trying to mount a defense on his upper board.