My apologies for the very long instalment I just posted and for the necessary backtracking there. I also hope that it doesn’t stink too much of DEM since it’s really something that I would have liked to set up over a series of posts. Unfortunately time and other circumstances simply haven’t allowed it. Anyway, I needed to quickly tie up some loose ends in Venice and with SM gone for the weekend I undertook to do it myself.
HG/SM: This seems to be the best “fit” for the current scenario and I apologise also for the unannounced changes. Oh well...
HG: I simply couldn’t come up with a plausible way to work Syban or Florence’s direct involvement into the final framework and timing we required. There's no way a messenger could have traveled fast enough to get to Florence or for an army or supplies to have made the return journey. I meant to include (somewhere in that post) that Sforza had at least sent a fast messenger to Florence on the 13th to tell Syban what he's doing, but I couldn't get it to fit in smoothly without making the post considerably longer...and I think
that would be excessive (even for me). I think it's pretty safe to say that one was sent, though, and should arrive sometime on the 15th. I'll go back and re-read it to see if I can shoehorn it in there somehow...
SM: I think most of what we've discussed via e-mail should still work alright. I'll send you an e-mail later on this evening - or tomorrow at the latest - that explains what I have in mind.
Both: Sorry about that, and I’ll make it up to you, somehow, in Book V.
