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Assassination Plot Thwarted. Brigands Captured or Killed.
By WarderDragon
When? Tuesday the 30th of March at 7:30PM Pacific (10:30 Eastern)
Where? The Dawn Royal Palace; The Kingdom of Dawn (Felucca)
On Saturday, the 27th of March, a handful of individuals began to assemble within the Royal Senate Chamber of Castle Britannia. Their purpose? A Council of War. Those who had come had done so at the behest of Lord Nicholas Tarrant, once a Knight of the Silver Serpent, who had recently received word of an imminent attack upon the Kingdom of Dawn in the Old World.
The Dark Knight arrived just after sundown and was greeted by the few arrayed within: Grand Duchess Wildstar and Sir Zackarias of Dawn, Guardsman Yalp and Guardsman Strider of the New Britain Town Guard, Newt Longbow and Snow Drake of the Covenant of the Dark Moon, Thorin Ironbeard and Kita Talith of the Golden Knighthood, and Proserpina. It was, as he would later remark with an amused smirk, less than one might hope for but far more than he would have expected given the very poignant animosity between the Kingdoms of Britannia and Dawn.
Nicholas, wasting little time, proceeded to explain their purpose and the events having led up to that point. He detailed how three months before he had come upon a lone Corporal Brackus of the New Britain Town Guard wandering the wilderness of Dawn. It was not more than a couple hours following the Siege of Castle Orobas. He remarked how strange it was for the Guardsman to be so far from his post; wandering the outer edges of the aging city-state as though he were touring the place, but wearing his uniform as if he were there on official business. Nicholas had tracked him through the woods; and described how the Guardsman had been set upon by a group of eight thugs brandishing crude knives and cudgels. He would appear from the shadows of those trees, wielding his own weapon of choice, Broad Sword and Halberd spinning together in a proverbial Dance of Death.
It would be on the form of a gutted, dying brigand desperately trying to stuff his entrails back into his body that the Corporal would discover a contract. A contracted written by a Lord Nemus. It contained all the usual drivel; do not fail me or I shall have your head. These increased attacks, as they would later confirm, had not been the work of roving bands of brigands and thugs aimlessly raiding the countryside; but instead was the product of an organized plot to infiltrate the Kingdom and terrorize its citizenry.
Brackus pointed the contract out to Nicholas. But when the Knight knelt down to inspect the bloodied piece of vellum; the bodies and the parchment burst into flame and were consumed in the conflagration. The last dying screams of the failed assassins echoed through the night air. Someone didn't want them to know about Nemus.
The next few months would remain auspiciously quiet. Nicholas had warned the Grand Duchess of the thread poised by this Lord Nemus; but no further signs of the brigands sponsor seemed to emerge. It was not until this last week that, by pure trick of fate or happenstance; Nicholas and Lindae would overhear a small group of drunken ruffians describing the job' they would soon perform in the Kingdom of Dawn.
Nicholas unrolled a map depicting the Hyperborean North; namely the Kingdom of Dawn, the nearby region of Avalon, the Hordelands, the Duskwood, and the Valderian Wilderness. He then explained the importance of their task. The increased attacks had come swiftly on the heel of threats made against Dawn's Crowned Prince Riain by the Britannian Purity League. The League was not at all pleased with the Kingdom's open support of the Holy Empire of Tel Mur; and was willing to threaten and harass Dawnite citizens in an attempt to punish them for their heresy.
And if Britannia continued to allow its citizens to threaten the Kingdom of Dawn, it could be taken as an indirect act of aggression against the Throne of the Blue Rose.
Meanwhile, the Nine arrived at the Southern Gate of the Kingdom of Dawn & Avalon; otherwise known as Wrath Guard Keep. No guards were present. No watchmen. No defenders. The Kingdom no longer supported a full garrison of armed Knights. This was like stealing candy from a youngling in New Haven.
Wandering into the Vale of Dusk, they encountered no resistance. Sid Vicious, that traitorous spy, would soon pay for his defiance of their employer. And they would be paid well for their efforts.
Or so they thought.
The War Party arrived through a Waygate in the midst of the Avalonian wilderness. The party rode East; and upon their arrival in Dawn they split into three groups. Yalp would lead his men into Southern Dawn, while Zackarias would guard the Sorceresses Wildstar and Proserpina in the Northern Duchy. Nicholas alone would ride north to the Rouvale Coast.
If he came upon the brigands; it was better no one see how he intended to handle the situation.
Yalp's men would encounter the Brigands near the Vale of Dusk; the malefactors startled to see two Britannian Guardsmen and two Covenant Bowmen emerging from the tree line. Some fought. Some fled. The sounds of battle would summon the others south.
Several of the brigands were killed or wounded; most unwilling to be taken alive. But Yalp, Newt, Strider, and Snow managed to round up several and began to lead them north to the Royal Guard Jail.
Asha the Brigand studied Nicholas, the Silver Fox,' with a hint of surprise and contempt. The man from the tavern had orchestrated this. But how could they have known some aging swordsman would interfere in their plans? Not willing at first to give herself over; Nicholas managed to convince her that if she surrendered, he might be merciful. The alternative was certain death. She dropped her weapon.
Nicholas didn't hesitate. With a quickness that would have shamed the spring of a ravenous panther, he swooped, grasped the girls arm just as she began to reconsider; twisting her arm behind her back and binding her hands with a black silken cord he had taken from his throat.
The Brigands were led one by one into the jail. Nicholas dismissed the others; and remaining with Zackarias and Proserpina, he began to question the group.
Mark the Brigand stepped forward. He had admitted that they had been employed; but he would say nothing of his employer or his purposes without assurances of their safety. In an apparent act of loyalty, he offered his full cooperation in exchange for the release of his companions; most notably the woman.
Nicholas smirked and revealed the contracts he had collected. It told him what he needed to know. To Proserpina and Zackarias' surprise, the Knight told the Sorceress to drag Mark back to the Dawn Royal Palace and extract a confession from him. To show no mercy. And he warned the other brigands that they were next.
He spent the next couple hours studying them. At first they turned on each other like rabid dogs; and it was easy to see who would turn on another and play themselves against one another. But slowly they began to gather themselves against their common foe. It was startlingly sweet. But Nicholas' patience had grown thin.
He threw open the doors; heavy metal bars slamming against the opposite wall. Flecks of amber danced across his vision as he strode into the room. Leaf, their apparent leader, barely had a moment to scream before he was slammed against the wall.
Who is your leader!? Nicholas snarled violently. Not waiting for an answer, he grabbed the brigand by the hair, smashing his face into the bars with a sickening crack. Who is Nemus!? The brigand felt himself being thrown against the wall like a rag doll. Where is he!?
Asha screamed. Bria watched in horror. And Leaf cracked. He revealed where he intended to meet their employers Chief Seneschal, Alexander O'Shea. The Theater of J'helom on Tuesday, March 30th at Sunset (8PM PST). And he revealed their purpose. To punish Sid Vicious.
The Knight turned and strode out of the cell. He had the confession he wanted. Looking back at the startled group, he curled his lips into a smirk. Yes, they would prove useful.
More...
By WarderDragon
When? Tuesday the 30th of March at 7:30PM Pacific (10:30 Eastern)
Where? The Dawn Royal Palace; The Kingdom of Dawn (Felucca)
On Saturday, the 27th of March, a handful of individuals began to assemble within the Royal Senate Chamber of Castle Britannia. Their purpose? A Council of War. Those who had come had done so at the behest of Lord Nicholas Tarrant, once a Knight of the Silver Serpent, who had recently received word of an imminent attack upon the Kingdom of Dawn in the Old World.
The Dark Knight arrived just after sundown and was greeted by the few arrayed within: Grand Duchess Wildstar and Sir Zackarias of Dawn, Guardsman Yalp and Guardsman Strider of the New Britain Town Guard, Newt Longbow and Snow Drake of the Covenant of the Dark Moon, Thorin Ironbeard and Kita Talith of the Golden Knighthood, and Proserpina. It was, as he would later remark with an amused smirk, less than one might hope for but far more than he would have expected given the very poignant animosity between the Kingdoms of Britannia and Dawn.
Nicholas, wasting little time, proceeded to explain their purpose and the events having led up to that point. He detailed how three months before he had come upon a lone Corporal Brackus of the New Britain Town Guard wandering the wilderness of Dawn. It was not more than a couple hours following the Siege of Castle Orobas. He remarked how strange it was for the Guardsman to be so far from his post; wandering the outer edges of the aging city-state as though he were touring the place, but wearing his uniform as if he were there on official business. Nicholas had tracked him through the woods; and described how the Guardsman had been set upon by a group of eight thugs brandishing crude knives and cudgels. He would appear from the shadows of those trees, wielding his own weapon of choice, Broad Sword and Halberd spinning together in a proverbial Dance of Death.
It would be on the form of a gutted, dying brigand desperately trying to stuff his entrails back into his body that the Corporal would discover a contract. A contracted written by a Lord Nemus. It contained all the usual drivel; do not fail me or I shall have your head. These increased attacks, as they would later confirm, had not been the work of roving bands of brigands and thugs aimlessly raiding the countryside; but instead was the product of an organized plot to infiltrate the Kingdom and terrorize its citizenry.
Brackus pointed the contract out to Nicholas. But when the Knight knelt down to inspect the bloodied piece of vellum; the bodies and the parchment burst into flame and were consumed in the conflagration. The last dying screams of the failed assassins echoed through the night air. Someone didn't want them to know about Nemus.
The next few months would remain auspiciously quiet. Nicholas had warned the Grand Duchess of the thread poised by this Lord Nemus; but no further signs of the brigands sponsor seemed to emerge. It was not until this last week that, by pure trick of fate or happenstance; Nicholas and Lindae would overhear a small group of drunken ruffians describing the job' they would soon perform in the Kingdom of Dawn.
Nicholas unrolled a map depicting the Hyperborean North; namely the Kingdom of Dawn, the nearby region of Avalon, the Hordelands, the Duskwood, and the Valderian Wilderness. He then explained the importance of their task. The increased attacks had come swiftly on the heel of threats made against Dawn's Crowned Prince Riain by the Britannian Purity League. The League was not at all pleased with the Kingdom's open support of the Holy Empire of Tel Mur; and was willing to threaten and harass Dawnite citizens in an attempt to punish them for their heresy.
And if Britannia continued to allow its citizens to threaten the Kingdom of Dawn, it could be taken as an indirect act of aggression against the Throne of the Blue Rose.
Meanwhile, the Nine arrived at the Southern Gate of the Kingdom of Dawn & Avalon; otherwise known as Wrath Guard Keep. No guards were present. No watchmen. No defenders. The Kingdom no longer supported a full garrison of armed Knights. This was like stealing candy from a youngling in New Haven.
Wandering into the Vale of Dusk, they encountered no resistance. Sid Vicious, that traitorous spy, would soon pay for his defiance of their employer. And they would be paid well for their efforts.
Or so they thought.
The War Party arrived through a Waygate in the midst of the Avalonian wilderness. The party rode East; and upon their arrival in Dawn they split into three groups. Yalp would lead his men into Southern Dawn, while Zackarias would guard the Sorceresses Wildstar and Proserpina in the Northern Duchy. Nicholas alone would ride north to the Rouvale Coast.
If he came upon the brigands; it was better no one see how he intended to handle the situation.
Yalp's men would encounter the Brigands near the Vale of Dusk; the malefactors startled to see two Britannian Guardsmen and two Covenant Bowmen emerging from the tree line. Some fought. Some fled. The sounds of battle would summon the others south.
Several of the brigands were killed or wounded; most unwilling to be taken alive. But Yalp, Newt, Strider, and Snow managed to round up several and began to lead them north to the Royal Guard Jail.
Asha the Brigand studied Nicholas, the Silver Fox,' with a hint of surprise and contempt. The man from the tavern had orchestrated this. But how could they have known some aging swordsman would interfere in their plans? Not willing at first to give herself over; Nicholas managed to convince her that if she surrendered, he might be merciful. The alternative was certain death. She dropped her weapon.
Nicholas didn't hesitate. With a quickness that would have shamed the spring of a ravenous panther, he swooped, grasped the girls arm just as she began to reconsider; twisting her arm behind her back and binding her hands with a black silken cord he had taken from his throat.
The Brigands were led one by one into the jail. Nicholas dismissed the others; and remaining with Zackarias and Proserpina, he began to question the group.
Mark the Brigand stepped forward. He had admitted that they had been employed; but he would say nothing of his employer or his purposes without assurances of their safety. In an apparent act of loyalty, he offered his full cooperation in exchange for the release of his companions; most notably the woman.
Nicholas smirked and revealed the contracts he had collected. It told him what he needed to know. To Proserpina and Zackarias' surprise, the Knight told the Sorceress to drag Mark back to the Dawn Royal Palace and extract a confession from him. To show no mercy. And he warned the other brigands that they were next.
He spent the next couple hours studying them. At first they turned on each other like rabid dogs; and it was easy to see who would turn on another and play themselves against one another. But slowly they began to gather themselves against their common foe. It was startlingly sweet. But Nicholas' patience had grown thin.
He threw open the doors; heavy metal bars slamming against the opposite wall. Flecks of amber danced across his vision as he strode into the room. Leaf, their apparent leader, barely had a moment to scream before he was slammed against the wall.
Who is your leader!? Nicholas snarled violently. Not waiting for an answer, he grabbed the brigand by the hair, smashing his face into the bars with a sickening crack. Who is Nemus!? The brigand felt himself being thrown against the wall like a rag doll. Where is he!?
Asha screamed. Bria watched in horror. And Leaf cracked. He revealed where he intended to meet their employers Chief Seneschal, Alexander O'Shea. The Theater of J'helom on Tuesday, March 30th at Sunset (8PM PST). And he revealed their purpose. To punish Sid Vicious.
The Knight turned and strode out of the cell. He had the confession he wanted. Looking back at the startled group, he curled his lips into a smirk. Yes, they would prove useful.
More...
