The chaos... the reprocussions.... We were not prepared.
Disheveled, bloodied, worn, I returned to the news desk to try to put some semblance of order to the tale of what had transpired over the weekend. To say that, perhaps, the recent wave of defiant denouncements against mercenary demands for surrender had brought retribution was an understatement beyond belief.
And Trubo Saius...!
Sitting down, I began to put quill to parchment. It began, after all, with a note:
Missives like these had been found outside the Royal Palace of Dawn, the Girl Scouts, Elf Clan Zanthes, indeed, all who had earlier made declarations refusing to surrender to the mercenary attackers. Chilling, but the banded forces of those defending the gargoyle supporters had proven capable. The defenses held.
Then, yesterday morning, I had gone to the Royal Palace in Britain to visit a potential witness to the treasury robbery when I turned corner to find a winged balron at the door to Trubo Saius's sealed room!
I called out in alarm to any in the palace who might be within earshot. Several of the palace guard heard the commotion and approached the beast, but were quickly overpowered.
The Queen...! Must summon help!
I fled the palace as quickly as I could, to rally the cry for help and summon aid to the royal palace, but found my path blocked!
Turning back the way of the Fountain of Life, my shaking hands flipped pages of a runebook as quickly as they could and I felt the shiver of Kal Ort Por effuse from my body as I whisked away from my pursuers to the bank, where similar chaos had descended.
All around, the heat of flamestrikes and the sounds of clanging steel competed for attention in a sudden furor of adrenaline. Putrefiers chased citizens around the bank and about town, scattering bodies and envenoming combatants with a toxic bile. Was the whole city under siege??!
Then, from the direction of the Royal Palace, an unguarded Queen Dawn herself ran with wielded blade, descending into the melee!
Without a hesitation, the former Royal Knight and now ruler of Britannia hurled herself between the nearest balron and the citizens it chased, wielding the sword given to her grandfather by Lord British. No stranger to combat, for she fought in the great war against Blackthorne alongside Dupre and Clanin, Dawn maneuvered her blade as though she'd never set it down. With the hand of Justice, she carved the putrefier inert, then tore the hem from her dress so as not to become tangled and ran to join the next fight.
When the bank was secured, the Queen rallied citizens surrounding her to join her in reclaiming the Royal Courtyard.
Balron after balron fell as the Queen and her gathered companions reclaimed first the courtyard, then the halls of the Palace. Turning the corner, the Queen's hand jumped to her chest when she saw that the door to Trubo Saius's room stood open, the Anti-Magus crystals securing its barrier shattered!
Citizens will well recall Trubo Saius, the former Lord Emissary to Casca, was declared by Queen Dawn to be a criminal and fugitive wanted for questioning by the Crown, suspect to the murder of a castle servant and assassination of the late Captain of the Guard, Aino Nystad.
A defiant Trubo Saius, in what would be a bloody conflict in the Exodus Dungeon in Ilshenar
He had been captured by vigilant citizens and brought to the palace, secured in a room by anti-magus crystals with armed guards and the ex-disciple, Zephera (whom some suspected may be very close or even romantically involved with Trubo Saius).
As Queen Dawn surveyed the scene, citizens interviewed a shaken, tearful Zephera, who insisted that Trubo was kidnapped and had not gone voluntarily....
The palace reclaimed, Dawn thanked the citizens who had gathered to defends its walls, and proclaimed that she believed the hooded stranger to be responsible before retreating to private council with her advisers to discuss the recent events and plan for further incursions.
What connection did this have to the recent mercenary attacks?
What purpose would anyone have for Trubo Saius?
Did Trubo go voluntarily, or was he indeed kidnapped as Zephera insisted?
Little did any of us know this was only the beginning....
To be continued....
Disheveled, bloodied, worn, I returned to the news desk to try to put some semblance of order to the tale of what had transpired over the weekend. To say that, perhaps, the recent wave of defiant denouncements against mercenary demands for surrender had brought retribution was an understatement beyond belief.
And Trubo Saius...!
Sitting down, I began to put quill to parchment. It began, after all, with a note:
Missives like these had been found outside the Royal Palace of Dawn, the Girl Scouts, Elf Clan Zanthes, indeed, all who had earlier made declarations refusing to surrender to the mercenary attackers. Chilling, but the banded forces of those defending the gargoyle supporters had proven capable. The defenses held.
Then, yesterday morning, I had gone to the Royal Palace in Britain to visit a potential witness to the treasury robbery when I turned corner to find a winged balron at the door to Trubo Saius's sealed room!
I called out in alarm to any in the palace who might be within earshot. Several of the palace guard heard the commotion and approached the beast, but were quickly overpowered.
The Queen...! Must summon help!
I fled the palace as quickly as I could, to rally the cry for help and summon aid to the royal palace, but found my path blocked!
Turning back the way of the Fountain of Life, my shaking hands flipped pages of a runebook as quickly as they could and I felt the shiver of Kal Ort Por effuse from my body as I whisked away from my pursuers to the bank, where similar chaos had descended.
All around, the heat of flamestrikes and the sounds of clanging steel competed for attention in a sudden furor of adrenaline. Putrefiers chased citizens around the bank and about town, scattering bodies and envenoming combatants with a toxic bile. Was the whole city under siege??!
Then, from the direction of the Royal Palace, an unguarded Queen Dawn herself ran with wielded blade, descending into the melee!
Without a hesitation, the former Royal Knight and now ruler of Britannia hurled herself between the nearest balron and the citizens it chased, wielding the sword given to her grandfather by Lord British. No stranger to combat, for she fought in the great war against Blackthorne alongside Dupre and Clanin, Dawn maneuvered her blade as though she'd never set it down. With the hand of Justice, she carved the putrefier inert, then tore the hem from her dress so as not to become tangled and ran to join the next fight.
When the bank was secured, the Queen rallied citizens surrounding her to join her in reclaiming the Royal Courtyard.
Balron after balron fell as the Queen and her gathered companions reclaimed first the courtyard, then the halls of the Palace. Turning the corner, the Queen's hand jumped to her chest when she saw that the door to Trubo Saius's room stood open, the Anti-Magus crystals securing its barrier shattered!
Citizens will well recall Trubo Saius, the former Lord Emissary to Casca, was declared by Queen Dawn to be a criminal and fugitive wanted for questioning by the Crown, suspect to the murder of a castle servant and assassination of the late Captain of the Guard, Aino Nystad.
A defiant Trubo Saius, in what would be a bloody conflict in the Exodus Dungeon in Ilshenar
He had been captured by vigilant citizens and brought to the palace, secured in a room by anti-magus crystals with armed guards and the ex-disciple, Zephera (whom some suspected may be very close or even romantically involved with Trubo Saius).
As Queen Dawn surveyed the scene, citizens interviewed a shaken, tearful Zephera, who insisted that Trubo was kidnapped and had not gone voluntarily....
The palace reclaimed, Dawn thanked the citizens who had gathered to defends its walls, and proclaimed that she believed the hooded stranger to be responsible before retreating to private council with her advisers to discuss the recent events and plan for further incursions.
What connection did this have to the recent mercenary attacks?
What purpose would anyone have for Trubo Saius?
Did Trubo go voluntarily, or was he indeed kidnapped as Zephera insisted?
Little did any of us know this was only the beginning....
To be continued....