Finally, the group comes into the main hall of the Royal Castle in Rysallis, the hallway leading to the main hall resembles the main arc of a cathedral, a series of pearly green arches making the ceiling, very light and with windows everywhere, the flickering of a thousand lamps playing with the shadows prohected by the carved, forest like designs on the walls and columns. Then one comes upon the main hall, an extrelemely large and lavish circular space, with ten columns marking another circle half-way to the center, probably echoing the druidic circles in the deep Rysallean forests, several golden chandeliers hang from the ceiling and the walls are covered with paintings and carvings depicting the history of the long gone Rysallean royal family. A recent adition, the huge pearly statues of late Falco Orator and his sister, the empress Claudia, standing on each side of the entrance from the hallway, looking into the main hall and holding hands over the arch. On the side opposite to the entrance, a large closed golden door, heavily decorated,separates the inner chambers from the main hall. On each side of the door, long white staircases lead to another, semi-circular hall that envelops the main hallway, where tables and bars and the sort are set up for the nobles who do not fancy dancing, from this top hall one can clearly see the great hall in all its splendor.
The Hallway
Lord Faulfurn and Lady Nethea walk gracefully amongst the miriad of nobles and regal looking body guards, stepping into the Great Hall.
Ungracefully striding close behind the two nobles,
Rei's senses were completely on edge as the Ignean kept an ever vigilant eye out for anyone he knew amongst the crowd. Aware that the Deck knew he was here, he didn't bother trying to blend in with the populace, instead using his ferocious appearance to try and make space between himself and everyone else.
Some time after Faulfurn, Nethea, and Rei's arrival,
Virul Bassior slowly stepped into the hallway and took in the sights of the numerous nobles and guards walking about. Although slightly nervous, he was an actor by heart and quickly adapted to his surroundings, walking with dignity and nodding his head amiably enough toward whatever lovely damsel caught his eye.
Toda Hiro-Matsu entered into the hallway, looking to obtain a better understanding of his surroundings. The building was certainly lavish and grand, but Hiro-Matsu shuddered as his thoughts drew inexorably towards the battle. Not that he was afraid, merely that there was too much opportunity for innocents to get in the way.
Amadea did his best to keep an eye on the Falfurns and his comrades in addition to looking for any threats, or anything that looked out of place for that matter. Checking his crossbow, the archer replaced his current bolt with a Wind Shear one and went back to his watch.
Ke'an entered the hallway, glaring around the room. He lingered longer than necessary in the hallway, watching the guests enter, trying to make sure the way was safe.
After a few minutes, he moved on into the Great Hall.
Tylien, not really having an agenda of its own, had decided to stick around with Hiro-Matsu, since he was its designated partner. Therefore, it walked gracefully beside him and concentrated on keeping its form and admiring the decorations and well as the building, not even thinking about what others might think of it, its costume in general and the contrast between its elaborate costume and Hiro-Matsu's robes.
Saris walked into the hallway, some space after Rei, leaving him the place he needed, and contrary to him, trying to pass unnoticed. Silently she examined the people walking into the castle while approaching the Great Hall.
Hiro-Matsu turned to Tylien. "We should move to the Great Hall. That's where Falfurn and Jiro-Li-sama will be, or at least I hope they will be." he commented quietly.
"Hm? Yes", said
Tylien, somewhat distracted. "I agree." It started heading towards the Great hall and didn't manage to avoid taking a glass of wine that was offered to it. It ten held it and was slightly puzzled as to how it was supposed to drink it with the veil on its face.
"Oh MY!" said a voice behind Tylien and Hiro-Matsu, as they turned, they noticed a large, fat noble woman escorted by her bald and diminute husband, a nobleman with a huge moustache, coming towards them. "Was that costume, by any chance, made by Meia Roguaria of Decima city?" she asked pointing at Tylien's costume and leaning in to look at it closely. Tylien immediately noticed the fat woman's costume was nearly as horribly designed as its own. "Now don't lie to me dear, I can recognize her work anywhere!"
"Geez... talk about a gentleman..." said
Elise to herself, rather disappointed, as Ke'an sped into the main hall leaving his date (Elise) behind. "Mayb I should've come with Hiro..." she sighed walking. Suddenly she noticed a catfolk eye that had been staring at her for second or two, from under a cloak and a hood. She turned to Saris and looked back at her, remembering the Deck members were supposed to be disguised as bodyguards. She then noticed Rei moving into the great hall, he looked quite out of place, but what drew Elise's attention was the crest on Rei's cloak, the same one as Saris's. Without another word, and noticing no one of her group around, she walked elegantly towards the main hall, hoping to find one of her team mates, or maybe her "date".
Gaius scanned the guests as he walked in, a Lynx girl caught his eye and he watched her walk into the main hall, when he snapped out of it he noticed Darius was nowhere to be seen. "What the?!... that moron! I told him we should stick together." he hissed to himself as he sped into the main hall, trying to meld into another group of body-guards and maybe catch another glimpse of the Lynx girl.
Tylien nearly jumped as it was shouted at and was slightly worried whether the people would think something of its startling, but figured that with a voice like that, the fat lady would make anyone startle. Looking at her costume, Tylien had slight dificulty not making a face of mockery and disbelief, but remembered soon enough what it was wearing. It also glanced at the man, but really had to ignore him somewhat since he wasn't addressing it. "Greetings, madam and sir", it said shortly. "Yes, indeed this costume was made by the fine woman, who else?" it managed to say with a joyous enough voice, though it still sounded somewhat quiet and shy.
"I shall continue on to the main hall mi'lady," said
Hiro-Matsu to Tylien before excusing himself from the group. "Please don't take to long."
"Oh my! I'm sorry dear I didn't mean to scare off your date! oh well, I just wanted to compliment you on the wonderful outfit." glowed the fat woman with a big smile as she turned back to her husband and walked off into the crowd.
"As do I,"
Amadea whispered back, briefly glancing at some fat lady harassing another guest over costumes. He found the waiting tedious, almost hoping for the action to begin, but knew full well patience would be the key to this game until the cards were down.
Tylien gave a smile (though mostly unseen again) and replied: "Oh, you know how... they are. Thank you", it said and walked off as well, following Hiro-Matsu's trail and trying to locate him.
"Do you see anyone you recognize,"
Amadea whispered to Liliah as he leaned over her way to make certain he was heard. He checked his crossbow yet again to make certain it was in working order.
Darius came into the hall and found the other two, "Gaius and I have spotted a group from the deck from the upper level, he wants you to meet him up there, from where we will launch an attack against the group, Rei and I are to be stationed by the exit to keep them from leaving."
Amadea nodded to Gaius and motioned for Liliah to follow him. Checking his crossbow one last time, he headed for the Great Hall.
The Great Hall
Once in the Great Hall, Faulfurn and Nethea walk under the the shadow of the upper hall and meet some noble friends of their, with whom they start a cordial and bucolic conversation.
Entering the hall,
Rei tensed up and slowly stalked around the area, muttering quietly, "Ah'right yuh' scum, where are yuh...."
Some of the other bodyguards gave side-glances at Rei and whispered amongst themselves.
Ke'an swept into the hall, trying his best to keep a low profile. He quickly positioned himself against a wall, and near enough to the door for comfort. Somewhat nervously, he lowered an arm to where his belt was secured underneath his costume, and patted the sword underneath.
Abruptly, his attention was drawn to the tense, skulking individual in the hall who seemed to be looking for someone. Intregued, he kept his gaze on the strange, wild-looking man.
Saris entered the Hall following Rei from the distance, and couldn't help but to think the castle was a beautiful construction. She looked for Faulfurn with her gaze, seeing everything looked to be alright. She stood besides a column where she could have the Faulfurn couple in sight. Her eyes then noticed Rei. If he continued to act like that he was going to scare the guests, she thought... and on the other hand, the deck was easily going to see him. She doubted for a minute, but then decided to let him be. At least for now. Carefully she watched the people around, trying to find someone who looked like the people from the deck Rei had described.
Right behind Saris,
Virul walked in and gazed about the area evenly for a while before his eyes wandered toward the general vicinity of Lord Faulfurn and Virul's sister, Nethea. Not wanting to take any action yet until his comrades were around, the thief looked about for a second before spotting Ke'An not too far off. Walking up to the panther, the thief nodded his head in greeting before taking a glass of wine offered to him by one of many hurrying servants. As he took a sip, he noticed Ke'An staring straight at something far off and felt the need to ask, "I take it thou have seen something suspicious already, sirrah?"
Ke'an silently nodded back to Virul, and gestured across the room with another nod of the head. "an ignean who thinks he's a tiger, behind you. Acting quite suspicious, yes. I say we should keep an eye on him." He grinned slightly, adding, "In any other circumstances I'd go up and talk to him; I'm sure I'd be quite amused by his deranged mumblings..."
"Aah, so that unruly chap is an Ignean, hm? First time I've seen a member of the race."
Virul replied back as he also observed Rei for a moment, "He looks nervous, I see. Interesting. In any case, Lord Ke'An, we will have to keep an eye on our more... 'vulnerable' allies as they come in. The Lady Lunai is but a child and may be swept away in this mass of masked men and the Lady Elise has been acting strangely ever since we've arrived."
A young man in a dark blue suit, carrying a silver platter with Rysallan wine and empty wine glasses, approached Virul and Ke'an. "Would you like some wine, M'lord?"
Gaius sped into the Great hall and looked around for Gaius, unfortunately, the cloaks they had devised as disguises made them easy to spot amongst the sea of color. He quickly found Saris and Rei, he knew Amadea and Liliah were in the hallway, at least the teams were sticking together, with the exception of Darius. As he noticed Darius's cloak moving in the upper hall, Gaius made a mental note that the upper hall, being elevated, would be a great position for the archers. Without a word, he climber up the stairs.
Elise walked into the Main Hall and was dazzled with its beauty, she had seen it some time as a child, but she didn't remember it like this, it had probably been remodeled quite recently.
"Excuse me, Miss." said a young, chubby noble gallantly dressed approaching Elise. "You seem to be on your own, may I interest you in a dance?" he asked, extending his hand in a deep bow.
Ke'an started, surprised by the presence of the man with the wine. "Oh, ah, yes. Thank you." He took a glass, sniffing suspiciously at the contents.
Darius returned to the lower level and looked around for any of his teammates. He spotted Rei and Saris in the large room, but he debated moving, and waited by the staircase for Gaius to return to the lower leve.
Noticing that he was being stared at,
Rei felt that he should just ignore them all and go about his business. A second later, that feeling gone, the Ignean figured the direct approach as the best approach and, with a thought of
Dammit, I gotta' be me!, growled out to the closer ones who can hear him, "Wut' the hell yuh' looking at, scum bags?"
Noticing the young man offering him wine,
Virul politely declined, "No thank you, sirrah. Trying to cut back on my consumption, you see." Spotting Elise speaking with a fat nobleman, the thief raised an eyebrow in amusement before gazing about for the rest of his allies, "Now now.... where the deuce could Tylien and Lady Lunai be?" Excusing himself, he left Ke'An alone and quietly walked about the Great Hall in search for the two. Not seeing either yet, Virul sighed before looking in the general direction of Lord and Lady Faulfurn,
It's been well over five years and I've changed dramatically since then. I doubt either will recognize me... I hope.
As Virul scanned the hallway, he suddenly noticed Faulfurn and Nethea chatting with a grup of nobles, flanked by two body-guards with cloaks similar to the ignean's, probably the undercover Deck members he had heard about.
Walking into the Great Hall,
Hiro-Matsu looked around carefully for his master. Weaving his way through the crowd, He passed by Falfurn and his group, not recognizing the noble at all, nor caring in his search for Jiro-Li.
Saris remained somewhat away from the people, watching. She worried their bodyguard suits made them too easy to see. She found Gaius with her gaze and wondered why wasn't he right behind Faulfurn with Darius.
"This isn't working good" she thought with a sigh, and then she saw Rei, scaring people away. She approached him and placed a hand on one of his shoulders. "Calm down" she said with a neutral voice. "We don't want people to panic for no reason, do we?", Saris asked lowering her voice and letting Rei's shoulder go. "Now, did you see anything interesting?"
Darius got a little worried that the Deck would attack Lord Falfurn as he just stood there, looking for Gaius. In his slightly worried state, Darius walked off towards the noble, following him with a 10 foot distance between him and Falfurn, so as to not seem so suspicious.
Gaius walked down from the second floor and stood next to Darius, half-guessing what the lynx was thinking he whispered. "We're bearing his crest and came with him, no one will find it odd that we keep an eye on Faulfurn." having said this, he looked around without moving from his position, trying to spot Amadea or Liliah so he could tell them to move to the second floorm where their archery skills would probably be better.
The music began to play and several dancing couples took over main hall, pushing the chatting groups towards the walls or to the second floor. Faulfurn turned to Darius and nodded as he walked upstairs with three more nobles, followed closely by Nethea.
Elise looked at the chubby noble and blushed, she looked around trying to find someone from her group to help her escape the situation, but she found no one. "U.. uhm... I.. eh.." she stumbled as she tried to make up an excuse to avoid the young nobleman.
Suddenly, Elise felt someone put an arm around her shoulders, as she turned, she noticed a tall, slightly older looking nobleman, with a stance that betrayed a military past,smiling gallantly. "You are not asking my date for a dance are you? little man? I might have to duel you if you are?" he asked in a joking tone, tightening his grip around Elise's shoulders.
Gaius quickly followed after Faulfurn.
Darius followed shortly after the group, shaking his head to what Gaius had said.
Ke'an watched Elise from across the room, apparently being harrassed by tho men. Sighing, he muttered to himself, "I'd better make sure she's okay."
He made his way towards her, squeezing between nobles.
Standing behind them, he coughed to get the man's attention. "Ahem. You aren't asking my date for a dance, are you?"
Elise sighed as Ke'an approached, she actually didn't mind the tall noble. It was kind of annoying of him to come rescue her when she had already been rescued.
Not finding Jiro-Li,
Hiro-Matsu shifted his concentration to finding members of the deck. (Detect Disguises)
Rei scowled as whatever fun he had went down the drain, "Yeah, yeah, yuh' pooper." Inhaling deeply once, the Ignean exhaled afterward in a lackluster attempt to relax. After a second of silence, he decided to give Saris a noogie all the while responding to her latter question, "Haven't seen shit worth talkin' 'bout, though there's there's lots uh' people carrying weapons that aren't in our group. Way tuh' many fur' mah' liking. Can't shake the feelin' somethin' deep'll be goin' down soon." As he said this, he noticed two of his companions going up the staircase. Watching them for a moment, Rei turned his eyes back to Saris and motioned toward the others with a claw, "That Faulfurn clown, his wench, Dario (who's name Rei mispronounced), and that scumbag priest're going upstairs. What say yuh', chum? We go up there too or stay down 'ere n' continue looking 'round?"
Meanwhile, his targets spotted,
Virul frowned somewhat as he noticed the similar cloaks worn by the two bodyguards following Faulfurn and Nethea. Firmly believing them to be part of that Deck organization he's heard about, the thief knew better than to pursue them alone. Deciding to fetch Ke'An, he barely took a few steps before spotting the panther heading toward the direction of a distressed-loo
king Elise. Raising an eyebrow in curiousity, Virul walked toward their direction and merrily said, "My my, does there seem to be a problem?"
Saris agreed with Rei about the people with weapons, that hadn't escaped her eyes. Hopefully they were just silly nobles trying to appear powerful carring a sword around. "I know something's gonna happen. We don't need to hurry it, though", she said, sharing some of Rei's the nervous feelings, but trying to keep cool. "I think we should stay down here. Faulfurn has enough people upstairs to take care of him... and if anything happens, we'll be fast enough to get there", she answered to the ignean's question. "Now, what's going on over there?" she said watching several men aparently discussing over a lynx girl.
Tylien, now rid of the fat lady, stepped into the hall and looked around for Hiro-Matsu. Having seen him, it moved to him again and looked around for its other comrades. It saw Elise and the noble as well as Ke'an and Virul, thinking that it might be a bit abundant if it went to mess with the situation as well. It kept, however, watching the situation as much as it could between the dancing couples.
Rei glanced over toward the direction where Saris was looking and narrowed his eyes slightly, suspicion rising up from his usual paranoid self, "Keh, 'nother panther, 'nother lynx, a scum with a mask n' a straw hat, some bum with a stick up his ass, and a fat fuck." Mentally declaring Elise and the chubby nobleman as harmless, the Ignean instead gazed at Ke'An and the soldier-like nobleman with distrust before setting his sights on the heavily disguised Virul. Lowering his voice to a half growl half whisper, Rei muttered, "That shrimp with dah' hat is cov'rin' himself up a bit too much, don't yuh' think? Seems like a Deck member tuh' me."
Hiro-Matsu sighed as Tylien walked up beside him. "I can't stand all this waiting," he commented. "How do you feel about all this?" he asked of Tylien.
Tylien took a very short moment to focus on its concentration again so as to not lose the physical form it was keeping up. Hearing Hiro-Matsu's question, it looked at him and answered: "Well, there is certainly much to see there, so I enjoy the sights. I've never been a fan of parties, but even waiting doesn't bother me if I can otherwise keep myself occupied." Keeping on eyeing the dancing group, eventually its eyes set on an Ignean who seemed quite out of place. For that moment, Tylien just felt good at seeing another planetarii around after such a long time.
As Ke'an approached, the chubby noble scurried off into the crowd, the tall noble, however, turned to the panther, still holding Elise. "Hahah, excuse me, but the lady was alone when I got here" he replied with a dashing smile and a dismissive tone. As Virul approached, the noble laughed out loud, still holding Elise and not giving any signs of letting go anytime soon, "Oh my! more dates?" he asked. In the meantime, Hiro-Matsu gave up trying to find Deck members in a room filled with people in disguises, eh did notice, however, a pair of cloaked men standing on the second floor, pointing towards Elise, who was being embraced by a tall, slim noble, Ke'an and Virul, who were talking to the pair. Saris had also notice Darius and Gaius pointing towards the group where the Lynx girl was in."
However occupied Tylien was keeping itself, it started to feel slightly uncomfortable. On the other hand, it thought it could also admire the decorations from a higher floor, which soon became the best idea in its head. Also, seeing from its eyecorner that at least one person seemed to leave Elise alone, Tylien thought it wouldn't have to bother with that so it paid no attention to that anymore. It turned to Hiro-Matsu to say: "I think I will go upstairs." After that, it slowly walked toward the stairs, but listened to any interesting conversations (specifically anyone mentioning Jiro-Li, Faulfurn or Deck) while on the way. (Listen)
Virul calmly stared at the nobleman in front of him for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. Time was limited, there were suspects all over the place, and he really didn't need this, "Nay sirrah, I have little interest in catfolk. The Lady Elise is still a good friend, however, and I do not approve of random strangers claiming young women for their own without the female's consent. Surely a true nobleman like yourself would consider such an act beneath him." As he said this, the masked thief narrowed his only visible eye and followed it up with, "Well then, sirrah, Lord Ke'An here, Lady Elise, and myself have some important matters to attend to, so if you may kindly leave. Now."
Darius walked through the crowd, trying to find his teamates that were scattered through the crowd, he walked up to Saris, and whispered to her, "That group there, with the Lynx and that man in the green, they are members of the deck, and as soon as this song is over, Gaius wants you to attack them and lead them towards the staircase, but if you must, we are trying to set up an attack pattern so we can take them out with as little trouble as possible, so we are going to have Liliah and Amadea, and Gaius upstairs, and Rei and I are going to guard the exit, so they cannot escape," he then proceeded to Rei, "You and I are going to guard the exit while Gaius and everyone start taking out those three members of the deck, let's go, I have to tell Amadea and Liliah."
As Tylien climbed up the stairs, it was unable to hear any particular piece of information that would be useful over the loud music and the several dozen conversations going on all around it. On its way up, a cloaked man bumped into Tylien and continued down the stairs without saying a word. Following the man, Tylien noticed it went towards two other cloaked figures, talked to them, then continued towards the exit.
Tylien was slightly miffed and a bit startled at well after it had been ran into. It looked after the man and found a it a little wierd that they were dressed similarly and all, but didn't really think too much of that – after that fatty with a similar costume as Tylien's, it wasn't really that surprised. It continued up.
Hiro-Matsu watched as Tylien acended the stairs. He was growing increasingly impatient. Others could stand the waiting, but not him. Walking around, he finally gave up and lent on the stair-rail, attempting to settle his nerves.
Keeping an eye out for anything suspicious or out of place, Amadea made his way as inconspicously as possible through the Hall. Figuring Liliah would soon follow, he departed for the Upper Hall.
Ke'an nodded silently, his voice sharp and business-like. "Yes, more dates, and so long as you do nothing to make Elise uncomfortable, you will wake up in the morning." His hands slid almost imperceptibly to the kukri hidden around his waist. From the outside, though, he looked merely as though his hands were on his hips, as the weapons had been expertly hidden.
Elise noticed Ke'an reaching for his weapons, she had seen where he had hidden the kukri's while they were deciding what they would be taking. "Ehhh... no need to get aggressive eh?" she said to both of them gently pulling the noble away from the dance floor. "Don't worry Ke, I'll be fine" she said as she and the man walked away from Ke'an.
Saris observed the group everybody seemed to be pointing at. "Seems you two agree" she said to Darius and Rei after listening what the first said. If they both said so, they had to be Deck members, she thought. Saris wasn't sure about if it was a good idea to attack in front of everyone, but didn't question the idea. "Alright, time for some action" she said, walking away from Rei and Darius and adjusting her hood. She prepared to jump with her rapiers unleashed towards the group, hoping to scare most people away, as soon as the current song was over.
The song lasted a few more minutes, an entire orchesta playing behind a curtain on the side of the hall opposite to the upper hall. As the song ended, the couples began moving away from each other and the rumbling of small chats filled the room.
Hiro-Matsu looked around as the song ended, watching the people mingle and chat. Had he not more important reasons to be here, Hiro-Matsu might actually have enjoyed himself. Moving to support himself on his own two feet again, Hiro-Matsu walked up the stairs to the upper hall
Ke'an dropped his arms, feeling defeated,. Shrugging, he made his way to the upper hall, keeping his eyes trained on Elsie.
Saris was ready to attack but just then she felt confused, since the suspicious group got separated. "Who should I follow?" she asked turning to Rei and Darius, seeing the panther walk away from the lynx girl, leaving just a noble standing there.
Rei stared down at Darius as the lynx spoke to him for a moment before huffing and was preparing to walk to his designated spot before hearing Saris speak to the two of them. Looking around at all of their possible targets, the Ignean gruffly responded to the panther, "Try that bamboo hatted bastard over there." Rei pointed to Virul, "A'right, guess I'll do wut' that stuck up bastard priest says, then."
Virul, relieved that conflict was avoided, eyed the others with a lazy expression, though he inwardly was getting nervous, Hmm, we've most likely attracted far too much unnecessary attention... and no one is doing their respective jobs, not even myself. Blast it all, better organization is needed. Seeing that Elise and Ke'An had gone away somewhere on their own, the thief sighed before turning around and spotting three similarly cloaked figures not too far off, staring at him. Seeing the angry-looking Ignean pointing a finger toward him and muttering something to the panther nearby, he knew that things were going to go downhill very soon. Adjusting his hat slightly, Virul gave a small grin and nodded his head before walking toward his nearest ally's direction, which happened to be Elise, "Pardon my intrusion, madame..." He said, "but unless you haven't noticed, I'm afraid those cloaked Deck members are on to us. Three of them are gathered nearby and I'm sure there are a few others around. We will have to inform the others soon and prepare ourselves."
Elise who by now had no idea why she had lead the noble on, seized Virul's appearance to excuse herself and walk away with the fencer. "Uh? which hooded figures?" she asked, after all, it was a costume party and about a fourth of the people in the ball, not counting the bodyguards, were wearing some sort of hood.
Saris mumbled something, unhappy with the move she was going to make, but she didn't see many other options. "Get yourselves ready for this" she murmured to Rei and Darius before approaching Virul and taking out her rapiers. "We found you, Deck members!" she shouted, hoping the nobles would leave the place soon enough.
Ke'an landed on his feet from the balcony, both Kukris pointed at Saris. "Today you fall, Deck!"
The Upper Hall
Darius walked through the upper hall, scanning the guests, hand near the ready to grab his mace if needed to defend himself.
"Darius you dimmwit! how'd you get here in the first place, you didn't go through the hallway.. in any case we have to stick with Faulfurn, if you're caught isolated you're a sitting duck, especially up here!" whispered Gaius getting close to Darius and tugging on his cloak.
Darius was jerked backwards as Gaius began pulling on his cloak, "Ok, I get your point, I can walk on my own, thank you," he said, shortly after getting tired of being pulled aropund which was shortly after it had begun and proceeded to the great hall.
Gaius sighed and walked downstrairs, following after Darus.
Faulfurn slowly walked upstairs chatting with some other nobles, as Nethea and the nobles's dates sat on a nearby table, sipping wine delicately, Faulfurn and the other males leaned against the handrail on the edge of the second floor, where they could appreciate the dancing couples, pointing towards girls they found attractive as they laughed, safely out of the reach of their wifes's ears.
Gaius, once more, walked up and stood in a guarding stance near the staircase, paying attention to the moves of the nobles around Faulfurn.
Darius came up the staircase and took posistion next to where Gaius was standing, at the ready, with an eye on the other nobles.
Darius took advantage of his posistioning, slightly above the rest of the crowd, to look out over the crowd without drawing suspicion to himself, looking for anyone who seemed familiar, other than his comrades.
"Psst. Gaius, If my eyes don't mistake me, that man in the green, that panther, and the lynx are all part of the deck, what do you suggest you do, seeing as you don't seem to like my decisions," Darius said to the acolyte, with a bit of a joking manner behind the part about not liking his ideas.
"If you're sure..." replied Gaius with a smirk. "Ok then first off we need to make sure we make our move before they do... Darius, go downstairs and guard the exit along with Rei... Tell Saris that as soon as this song is over she should attack and then withdraw to the staircase, also.. get Amadea and Liliah to come up here, they'll be more useful from high ground and Saris can prevent them from getting to us and Faulfurn. Once Saris attacks, chances are most nobles will flee in panic, that'll hold the guards at the entrance for a while, trying to control the mob..." he said as he pointed towards the small group Darius had indicated, and then the exit. "Let the nobles run away and keep them from getting hurt... but use your entangle spell to make sure those 3 don't escape... if we get caught along with them, we can have them confess their allegiance to the deck, that ought to be enough to free us. What do you think of that plan?"
"I like it, Ok, get the nobles out of the way and I'll be on my way," Darius said, starting down the stairs.
Tylien climbed up the stairs and didn't really mind too much attention to the other people there, it looked like it wanted to relax a bit. It walked over to where it could see down into the great hall and looked around for Elise as well as the cloaked figures.
Amadea entered the Upper Hall and looked around. He immediately spotted Falfurn kibbitzing with his fellow nobles near the rail overlooking the Great Hall. Gaius was nearby, apparently keeping a watchful eye on two catfolk and a human. As casually as he could, he walked toward the cleric. "Found something," he asked as he stood next to him.
Tylien found a comfortable spot near the handrailed where he spotted ELise, he noticed three hooded figures together in the main hall, who later broke off in different directions, what bothered it the most though, was the other three hooded figures who were on the second floor with it.
"Darius says he found people from the Deck... best thing right now is to take care of them swiftly... if we let them attack first we might not live to tell the tale." replied Gaius with a shrug as he lowered his hood, no much use for disguises right now.
Tylien glanced briefly at all the people on the second floor before retrieving to sit on a chair for a moment. All the while it tried to listen to whatever the hooded figures had to say as it was getting slightly worried about them. (Listen)
Amadea followed suit, lowering his own hood. "Where are they," he asked Gaius.
Walking into the upper hall, Hiro-Matsu ran his hands over his head. "Jiro-Li-sama, I really hope I find you before the commotion starts," he muttered.
Ke'an emerged at the top of the stairs, in time to hear Hiro-matsu's whispered statement. Leaning on the bars, still watching Elsie and the noble, he silently agreed.
With growing concern that was not outwardly visible, Ke'an watched the cloaked figures who looked like a group. Muttering under his breath, he said, "I think we have our targets." Anxiously keeping a cool posture, he scanned the floor below him, searching for the others, and for anyone who might look like a Xiadomian noble.
Hiro-Matsu sidled up beside Ke'an. "Find anyone of intrest?" asked the fencer in hushed tones. "I have not yent found Jiro-Li-sama."
"Me either, it seems your master is most adept at hiding himself." Ke'an replied to Hiro. "However, I hope you have noticed the intreguingly-garbed people around us. They look suspiciously like Deck members to me. I would keep an eye on them..."
Gaius remained silent, watchign his team go into position. "One of them got up here, but he shouldn't be so hard to deal with." he whispered back to Amadea. "The others..." he said simply pointing towards Virul and Elise. "Darn it... Saris was supposed to have attacked already."
Amadea nodded to Gaius. "I will go after the one here with us once Saris makes her move." He began tracking his target out of the corner of his eye, waiting for the action to break out.
Hiro-Matsu nodded at Ke'an's words. "Let us hope they make the first act. I don't want to act unless I'm sure."
Before he responded, Ke'an saw a sword pulled on Elsie and Virul below. Unflinchingly, as though he had expected it, he jumped over the railing and pulled out his Kukris. "Today you fall, Deck!"
Amadea, startled by the swordsman sudden maneuver, leveled his crossbow at the remaining opponent. "Drop your weapons, Deck fiend, or perish," he warned as he stared down his weapon.
Combat has started!
1st round: http://elftown.eu/stuff/p3_03_01b.jpg
The turns and positions are as following!
Saris (J6)(15/28 HP)
Tylien (H10)(7/16 HP)(Poisoned!)
Amadea (F5)(Divine Inspiration! 4 turns left!)
Phy'ramcis (B9)
Virul (K2)
Hiro-Matsu (J10)(9/20)
Ke'an (G8)(2/20)
Horn-bar (K11)
Elise (L10)(MP 13/25)(Entangled! 3 turns left)
Darius (L10)(MP 17/20)
Rei'zel (H9)
Gaius (G10)(MP 11/20)
Saris's turn! -
Saris didn't say anymore words, but growled instead and attacked Virul with her new rapiers, convinced he was part of the infamous Deck.
Initially confused at what was going on, Virul's eyes narrowed in frustration and he spoke out to the panther just as he attempted to dodge the attack (lightning speed), "My business isn't with thee, woman!"
Saris slashes Virul through the chest with her first Rapier, ripping his costume open and dealing 7 damage. She brought up the second rapier to pierce the fencer's chest, but Virul managed to move out of the way and find an opening to counterattack!
Virul counterattacks! -
Hissing in pain as Saris's blade struck home, Virul, with uncharacteristic tenacity, swung Zorro D'argent violently in an attempt to slice open her stomach.
Saris couldn't avoid a little chuckle as she did strike the costumed man. As she saw he was attacking back, she quickly tried to block his epee with her rapiers.
Quickly crossing her rapiers in front of her, Saris used the two swords as a pair of scissors to trap and deflect Virul's attack!
Tylien's turn! -
Seeing the fighting start, Tylien was quite unsure as to what it should do, what with both its friends and the weird cloaked people calling each other deck members. However, the grouping of the others made it a bit nervous and it thought it would be a good idea to blow them off the balcony structure. So Tylien ran toward E6 or as far as it could go before its attack, hoping that the cloaked people wouldn't notice it from all the stampeding nobles. Once it was as far as it could go, it casted Wind Blow straight at Amadea, wishing that it could somehow drop them both down at once.
Tylien stood behinf the pair and caster wind blow on Amadea, pushing a couple of nobles to the floor, the archer was almost pushed over the railing, but the power of the wind was not enough to lift him or his equipment!
Amadea's turn! -
Staggering at the unexpected gust of wind, Amadea steadied himself. Seeing too many nobles between himself and his Eolan attacker, he decided to target his original opponent. Placing a poison bolt in his crossbow, reaimed at Hiro-Matsu and fired. In an effort to get away from railing, the archer attempted to move away from it after making his shot.
Hiro-Matsu dropped to the ground to dodge the bolt, already focused on Amadea and what he had yelled. "I am not your enemy! I am not of the deck!" shouted the fencer, hoping his opponent would bother to listen
Hiro-Matsu tried to drop to the ground and was half-way through saying "I am not..." when the poison bult struck him like a hammer in the chest, dealing 11 damage and knocking himn backwards. Lying on the floor, he felt his breathing grow heavy, the bolt had probably pierced his lung.
Phy'ramcis's turn! -
Standing still where it had before chaos erupted, Phy'ramcis watched as nobles fled while others engaged into battle. As much as it judged it should also leave as well while it still could, it felt as if this might actually give it a lead to its search. Pulling out its Cho Ko Nu and loading it, it made sure to be ready in case it was assaulted. Carefully watching each member of the conflict in sight, it attempted to pinpoint the conflict source that seemed to have started it all.
Virul's turn! -
Not particularly enjoying the injury he was given, Virul focused his attention on Saris and pulled back his blade for a moment before aiming to pierce her thigh with the epee's sharp tip.
"Who's your business with, then?" Saris answered Virul's previous exclamation with a question, after trying to dodge the fencer's attack.
"'Tis none of thy concern, fiend of the Deck." Virul replied back with impatience. He couldn't let Nethea get away.
Virul quickly lunged forth with Zorro but Saris was able to jump up in the air in the middle of the fencer's attack, her cat reflexes barely saving her from the blade's tip!
Hiro-Matsu's turn! -
Hiro-Matsu forced himself to his feet, but refrained from drawing his blade. There was no honour in fighing a mistaken opponent. "We are not deck!" he yelled to any around him. "We have all been lied to!"
Ke'an's turn! -
Ke'an ran towards Rei'zel, kukris raised. He immediately swiped at the Ignean's chest with both.
Looking up at Hiro-Matsu as the Xiadomian yelled something out, Rei growled back, "Shut the hell up, yuh' scumbag!" As he said this, he spotted Ke'an running toward him and attempted to block the panther's attack with his Cestus.
Rei'zel easily stopped the first Kukri knife with his Cestus, but the second knife caught him off guard, having used his weapon to parry the first blow, the second Kukri slashed the Ignean's side, dealing 5 damage!
Hron-Bar's turn! -
Hron-bar, noticing the commotion and hearing the sounds of combat, Immediately ran up to the edge of the hall, watching the fight's progress. The first thing he was was Ke'an attacking one of Darius's men. Immediately, he hefted his War Shark, throwing it towards Ke'an.
Ke'an noticed the war shark, and immediately dodged, falling onto his back.
The War Shark flew towards Ke'an, who dropped to the ground desperately trying to dodge the incoming projectile. The axe, however, dug into the Panther's shoulder as he fell, dealing 10 damage!
Elise's Turn! -
Taking out two glyphs and holding them out as cards, Elise tosses them towards Virul. "They're everywhere!" she yelps as she sees Ke'an take a hit. "Ke!!"
The Glyphs stick to Virul's back and begin to glow, suddenly the fencer feels an upsurge of speed and strength like never before in his life!
Darius's turn! -
Darius, seing his target move, snuck around behind where Elise was standing, which was a bit of a hassle with the on-rushing crowd of noble's, but it wasn't hard to do it stealthily, He then attempted to cast his entangle spell on here, trying not to attract too much attention to him.
Completely unaware of Darius, Elise was surprised when she heard the marble under her feet crack, vines and roots began shooting out of the cracks and entangling the Lynx girl, wrapping around her legs, arms and neck, in a few seconds, she was reduced and completely tied up by the plants!
Rei'zel's turn! -
"Keh! Wut' a bunch uh' pussies." Rei growled as he kept his sights on his nearest opponent, Ke'an, "Weak shits like yuh' shouldn't be breathing!!" Running in a berserker's rage (H9), the Ignean attempted to cut through Ke'an's throat with his Cestus.
Ke'an growled, trying to rise and deflect Rei'ziel's attack at the same time, not speaking.
Ke'an started to get up as Rei'zel towered on top of the panther, rising his fist, Rei punched downwards as hard as he could, Ke'an half turned and tried to bash away Rei's fist but his Kukri cracked like a twig under the ignean's fist. Punching Ke'an's stomach with his Cestus, Rei'zel bashed him back into the floor, dealing 17 damage and knocking him out. A few seconds later the marble around Ke'an was cracked and the panther's legs and right arm could be seen poking out of a small crater in the ground.
Gaius's turn! -
"Well done Rei!" yelled out Gaius as he saw Rei'zel crush one of the Deck warriors into the floor. Putting his hands together, Gaius elevated a prayer to Nesha and turned to Amadea. "May Nesha guide your steps!" he yelled out as he cast divine inspiration on the archer, illuminating him with a sacred glow.
Amadea's stats change
HP - 34/30
MP - 14/10
Str - 7/5
Con - 9/7
Int - 7/5
Mag - 7/5
Dex - 10/8
Car - 9/7
Saris's turn! -
"I'm not going to let you escape" Saris said to Virul as she charged against him once again with both her rapiers.
Virul gave the panther an annoyed glance as he attempted to dodge both attacks. Seeing Ke'an being taken down so quickly was not lifting the thief's mood at all.
As Saris approached him, Virul noticed the panther girl seemed to be moving in slow motion. He tilted his head, avoiding the first rapier, and as Saris attacked again, he had time to calmly walk around her and stand behind the catfolk!
Virul counterattacks! -
Virul shook his head in annoyance at Saris's tenacity before attempting to pierce her lung with his epee.
Saris watched in disbelief the way Virul moved, and tried to block his attack as soon as she could.
Saris turned around but before she even managed to place her rapiers in front of her to block, Virul slashed her across the chest, dealing 13 damage!
Tylien's turn! -
Tylien, hearing clearly how each side accused the other for being the Deck, was more than a little confused now. It said to the two people in front of it: "Stop attacking! We're not Deck! And if you aren't – –" Tylien cut its sentence right there as the idea hit it. If the cloaked ones weren't the Deck, the real Deck members would be free to do their business. Tylien then decided that it should better to make sure the nobles weren't attacked by an unknown party while the cloaked ones were being stubborn. Thus, Tylien started running out with the last of the nobles (though it jumped over the railing to save time), trying to locate Faulfurn or if not, just trying to see if there was somebody trying to stab nobles. All the while it wished that if there were more of the cloaked ones along the way, they would think Tylien was another noble and not attack – after all it didn't even have a weapon drawn. Tylien made its way to J11, glancing a bit frightenedly at Ke'an's body along the way.
As soon as Tylien reached the entrance to the hall, he witnessed how the last few nobles escaped in panic, and immediately after they left, a swarm of body guards and city guards flooded the hallway. Every single soldier in the Royal Grounds seemed to have come to the palace. A rumble worthy of a thunderstorm was caused by the hundreds of armore feet, which could be heard by everyone now, coming from both entrances to the main hall. Looking around, Tylien figured if it had enough strength it might be able to close the huge doors that separated the hallway from the main hall before the guards got to the two fighting groups.
Amadea's turn! -
Amadea, now very confused by both his opponents on the upper level crying mistaken identity, very nearly held his fire. Seeing Saris and Rei injured from the unabated attacks below, he narrowed his eyes, seeing Tylien's flight as a deceptive escape. Raising his crossbow, he fired another poisoned bolt at Tylien.
Tylien, surprisingly terrified at the sight of the rumbling soldiers, shouted: "Close these doors!" As it turned to look at the others to be sure of them, it saw Amadea shoot at it and tried its best to evade.
"Amadea stop!" yelled out Gaius who, even if he didn't trust the other group, realized if the guards came in neither group would have much chance of survival.
Amadea heard Gaius but it was too late, he had already fired two bolts, reloading and aiming as fast as lightning. The first bold struck Tylien in the stomach, dealing 5 damage and the second one on the right leg, dealing 3 damage!
Phy'ramcis's turn! -
Phy'ramcis watched the scene of confusion unfold with out a word. It took it little time before figuring out the big misunderstanding between the two groups. The rumbling sounds of the guards flooding the hallway were the only thing that finally allowed it to make a decision on what it would do next. Fighting was the last option on its mind, especially since this wasn’t its fight after all. Dashing for the nearest entrance hall, right next to Tylien(I11), it gave the Eolan a light smile. "Will you be alright?" Dropping the smile rather quickly, it reached out for one of the doors wanting to pull it closed like it had been suggested. "Stop your pointless battle and open your eyes a little! If you wish to leave as you came in you might consider helping closing these doors!"
Virul's turn! -
Virul, who by now was growing nervous with the time wasted fighting here, decided to step up his offensive attacks and get rid of his nearest opponents as soon as possible. Firmly gripping his epee, the thief lunged forward and tried to run Saris through.
Saris murmured some kind of curse and tried to jump away from Virul. She wasn't liking what was going on.
Saris almost managed to evade the incoming blow, but Virul's accuracy and speed seemed to have increased greatly and suddenly, the blade pierced Saris's side, dealing 4 damage!
Hiro-Matsu's Turn! -
Seeing that no-one was listening to him, Hiro-Matsu turned his attention, if not fully, to finding his daimyo. Figuring that drawing his blade would confirm the current case of mistaken identity, he left his beloved katana sheathed, hopping the rail to reach the lower floor.
Hiro-Matsu quickly sheathed his blade, a gesture that could be interpreted as either a surrender or simply announcing that he did not desire to fight. Though wounded, he managed to jump over the railing and ran around for a few seconds looking for his master, the nobles, however, had just finished fleeing the room as Tylien desperately tried to close the door to prevent the guards from entering.
Ke'an lost 1 HP due to bleeding!
Hron-Bar's turn!
Hron-bar burst through the doors before they could be closed, and stopped himself to assess the situation. He pulled a warshark out, and looked around for somjkeone to throw it at.
Elise's turn! -
Elise struggled to move but the vines had her firmly imprisoned. "Everyone! Stop it!" she cried out and then turned to Virul. "Virul! Tylien! Ke needs a potion fast! and I can't move!" she continued nodding towards the dying panther.
Darius's turn! -
Darius quickly wrapped his hand around Elise's mouth to keep her from shouting and picked her up from where she was entangled and quickly scrambled for the closest way out.
As Darius approached Elise, the vines recognized their master and detached from the ground, keeping the girl bound, though. Darius placed a hand over the other Lynx's mouth and quickly headed for the door.
Rei'zel's turn! -
After looking down at Ke'An for a moment, Rei shrugged his shoulders and turned around, looking at the others. Throughout the entire fight, he had not recognized a single one of these so-called Deck members and he didn't like it one bit. Stopping his lust for battle for the moment, the Ignean ignored the dying panther next to him and instead headed for Tylien's direction, "Wut' the hell's goin' on, scumbag?"
Tylien winced badly when it was hit, but it was totally astounded by Phy'ramcis when it moved next to Tylien. It just started at the Ignean for a second before Rei'zel came at it from one direction and Darius from another while carrying Elise. "Put her down! We're not Deck! We thought you were Deck!"
"You lie, you winged-beast!" Darius yelled at Tylien upon request of him letting go of Elise.
"I don't! Close the doors! They're going to get us!" Tylien panicked as it looked back at Phy'ramcis and Rei'zel, not being able to be amazed at seeing two igneans at the same time and rather randomly at that.
"So yuh' really weren't part uh' the Deck!? Aah, fuck." Rei'zel shook his head at the major blunder both sides had made, before the rest of the words of the creature in front of him began to click, "SHIIII-!" Adding in his own strength, the Ignean tried helping Tylien close the doors as quickly as he could.
With Rei's strength added to the mix, Tylien and the Ignean quickly managed to close the doors, now, they had to find something to bar them if they were to prevent the soldier's entrance.
Gaius's Turn! -
Noticing Rei cooperating with the enemy, Gaius decided to help as well. The panther right underneath him and Amadea seemed very hurt, unable to jump over the railing like some of his team mates, Gaius ran to F11 and down the stairs onto G10, hoping to make it in time to heal Ke'an.
Saris's turn! -
Saris's ears heard some of what was going on with the rest of the group. "You're not the Deck?" she asked as she observed Rei was helping the other people to close the doors. She backed away from Virul, worried he might continue attacking her, and mantained a defensive stance.
Tylien's turn! -
Seeing as Rei helped it to close the door, Tylien was a little confused and wasn't quite sure what to think of it. Nevertheless, acknowledging Elise's words, it turned to see Ke'an bleeding and immediately dashed over to him, giving him one of its potions.
Tylien quickly ran to H10 and had Ke'an drink one of its potions, the potion immediately went to work on the Panther's mangled body, restoring 10 HP!
Amadea's turn! -
Amadea had tried to stop his previous shots, but had heard Gaius' warning too late. Seeing his comrades being to cease their attack against the enemy, he reloaded his crossbow and walked to the balcony where he could observe both levels and fire if necessary.
Phy'ramcis's turn! -
Seeing that things were finally settling down and that a point of understanding was starting to form, Phy'ramcis eyed Rei and Tylien as they shut the door. “We need something to hold the doors and a way out now!” Seeing that Tylien was already taking care of the ones in need, it nodded to itself. It knew it couldn’t really do much to hold the doors or help anyone around and found that the only way to be useful was to try and shake up everyone into cooperation. Glancing around, it attempted to find a way out.
Phy'ramcis quickly noticed a shadow behind one of the large vitral windows. Upon closer inspection, it discovered this was most likely the shadow of a tree, if the group were to break some of the lower window, they could climb out the tree and escape the castle from the back.
Virul's turn! -
"Hm hm..." Virul eyed Saris with a mixture of confusion and annoyance before warily lowering his blade and looking about at the others. Seeing everyone else halting their attacks, the thief frowned slightly and muttered to himself, "We have all been played for fools, I see. No matter." Ignoring the panther girl in front of him, he quickly dashed toward K2, believing Nethea to be not too far away.
Battle has ended!
"But where's the deck then?" Saris asked to herself after Virul run to somewhere else. She then turned to Amadea, who was upstairs and shouted, "Where's the noble? Did you see where did he run to?", she asked, remembering their mission.
Tylien watched Ke'an get better and eyed around itself, making sure the opposing group didn't try anything. It couldn't help but stare at Phy'ramcis for a bit longer, though. "Are you okay?" it asked Ke'an before turning to the others again, seeming rather worried and not having an idea what it could do, since there was a whole army coming their way.
"I do not know," Amadea shouted back down to Saris. He turned to Gaius and spoke more quietly, "He must have fled with the other nobles. Should we try and locate him?"
Hiro-Matsu ran up to Tylien and Ke'an. "Jiro-Li-sama has aleady gotten out, we should make sure he is indeed safe outside."
"But... how about all the guards?" said Tylien, obviously very uncertain of everything and wondering why the others didn't seem to be concerned about the fact that tens of soldiers were stampeding toward them. It turned to look at Phy'ramcis now, wondering what it was doing.
Ke'an moaned and tried to sit up, but flopped back down where he lay.
Darius, with Elise lung over his shoulder, continued to the nearest exit, heading out the door and towards the nearest carriage he could, being as discreet as possible so he could finish his business he had been sent to do.
As Tylien and Rei tried to hold the main door closed before the soldiers got to it, they realized they had to find something to block the entrance soon, or they would be overpowered. The doors to the inner castle, in J and K2 were locked, probably to prevent people from wandering into the inner castle during the ball. Darius found himself trapped in the room, as well as everyone else, while Elise struggled with the vines that were holding her and gagging her and wondering why none of her friends helped her while she was tied up and over some guy's shoulder.
Gaius raced down the stairs, there would be time for introductions later. "Quickly! bar that door, I doubt the soldiers will give us time to explain if they get in here!" he yelled out, trying to communicate to the others the urgency of the situation. So far it seemed that the Hauken on the other group was the only one that realized that if the soldiers got in they would be in serious trouble. "Darius, what the hell are you doing?" asked Gaius as he cast Mass Heal 1 on the entire group. "Ger Hron-Bar and find us an exit, quick!"
Virul now has 21/22 HP
Saris now has 18/28 HP
Ke'an now has 7/20 HP
Rei'zel now has 29/29 HP!
Amadea looked over at Darius and wondered briefly at what exactly he was doing before returning to the immediate task at hand: blocking the door. He looked around the room for something that would suffice to give them time to escape.
Virul let out a silent curse as he discovered he was unable to get through the door. Completely unaware of the situation, the thief blinked in surprise as he felt his wound heal up all of a sudden and looked around for the source. Spotting the priest yelling out some orders to his allies, he narrowly was about to turn away before Darius caught his eye, "Now now, that won't do at all." Dashing as fast as he could toward the lynxes, Virul raised his epee once more, pointing at the plague bearer, "Unhand the lady this instant, lest I run thee through here and now."
Rei growled at Gaius in response as the acolyte gave his orders, but otherwise did as he was told, looking for anything sturdy and heavy enough to block the door with (search, obviously).
A few seconds after he began his search, Rei spotted two large iron braziers, tall as two men and as thick as a man's leg, to the left of the door.
"Gud' enough." Rei muttered aloud as he eyed the two containers before approaching one of them. Cracking his neck as well as his knuckles, the Ignean then attempted to drag one over, if not carry it outright, to one of the doors.
Tylien, not that far from panicking, looked frantically around was about to give Ke'an another potion, seeing how he couldn't get up. However, it stopped when it saw his wounds heal more and the acolyte casting a spell. While looking that way, it saw Darius still trying to take Elise away, and that was something it needed to do something about. Tylien left Ke'an a bit reluctantly and ran toward Darius and Elise, from a slightly different angle than Virul so that the snatcher would be half surrounded. "Let go of her!"
Darius saw as the two people rushed him and set the other Lynx softly on her feet once more, "As you please, sorry for the confusion. And if you would, would you please lower your weapon before you end up wound up like she was, as I believe there has been a mutual agreement to end the fighting."
Saris smiled as her wounds healed somewhat. She tried to make herself useful and approached the door. Seeing what Rei was doing, she tried to help him to carry the iron brazier towards the door. "Hello partner", she said and grabbed one end of the thing to distribute the weight somewhat.
Amadea, keeping his eye on Darius, stowed his crossbow and went to the other iron brazier. Taking a deep breath, he began trying to move the thing towards the door.
Stiffly, Ke'an sat up and waited a second for his head to clear. Quickly, he jumped to his feet, reaching for his weapons, but pausing to look around. Seeing everyone working together, he dropped his hands and called out to Virul, "What's happening? Why has the fighting stopped?"
Slowly lowering his blade, though eyes still focused on Darius, Virul calmly responded to the reawakened Ke'an, "It seems we have all been deceived, sirrah." Darting a glance toward Hiro-Matsu momentarily, he continued, "Even our Xiadomian friend here has been fooled as well, by the looks of it. That is a relief, somewhat, though I had my suspicions that he, himself, was a Deck member come to spy on us. If thou remember well enough, it was Lord Hiro-Matsu here who explained to us about the whole ordeal involving the Deck and this ball." At this point, the thief stayed silent for a moment, ruminating over the circumstances before firing a question at Hiro-Matsu, "Tell us, sirrah, who was it that delivered this false information to thee?"
"I believe that would be myself who had said of the false information, as I too had though you to be deck members," Darius said in response to Virul, trying to answer as quickly as possible, "I am sorry for the misunderstanding, Sir."
Watching the group for a moment longer after its discovery, Phy'ramcis let out a small sigh and moved over to the tall vitrail window, pressing up against it slightly. It figured that by the looks of it they would need a way out now or they'd be caught fighting several dozens of royal guards in no time. Glancing around, it searched for an object it could use to break through the window to get a better look outside.
With a simple glance around, Phy'ramcis spotted another large brazier that would have no trouble going through one of the windows, and could double as a bridge towards the nearby trees, so the group could climb down.
Hiro-Matsu walked toward Elise and the rest of the group. "It was my sensei, Makayi Daren-san, or someone who had taken his form I believe," he responded before drawing his wakizashi. Moving next to Elise, he began cutting at the vines, freeing her. "Are you alright?" He asked the Lynx.
"Thank you", said Elise as soon as Hiro-Matsu released her from her bonds. "What exactly were you trying to do carrying me off like that?!" she growled at Darius as she stood up. "I'm Elise Marass, just a travelling shamaness", she added, talking to the people she didn't know with a small bow.
Seconds after Rei and Saris had barred the door with the braziers, the guards arrived and started to try to break it down, the braziers and the doors held, however. The yells and voices of the guards could be clearly heard inside the room and every now and then the door shook as they bashed it.
"I guess we might as well introduce ourselves... seeing as neither or us is the Deck. My name is Gaius Varro, I am a humble servant of the Empress Orator." replied Gaius as he walked near the door. "Is he with you?" he asked before waiting for the other to introduce himself as he noticed Phy'ramcis moving around on the second floor.
Virul seemed fairly satisfied with Hiro-Matsu's response and decided to put away whatever related thoughts he had in the backburner for the moment. Glancing over at Gaius, the thief decided he might as well follow through, "Virul Bassior, humble thief and minor acquaintance of the Lord and Lady thou had to protect. As for this new fellow, I do not know him." The thief gestured toward Phy'ramcis as he spoke.
"Hmph." Rei gave a small nod to Saris in reply before turning toward the others and growling out, "Yuh' want tuh' introduce yur'selves, then do it in a place we wun' get killed."
"I agree", said Saris to Rei's last words, looking worried at the door. "That won't hold forever. We need a way out of here", she said while thinking, hoping she would get a brilliant idea.
"I'm sorry, Miss," Darius replied to Elise, "And as for finding a way out of here, we may have to make our own way out. And as for an introduction, I am Darius Kontar, consumate green mage and guard of the Lord Faulfurn."
Seeing as the offender let go of Elise, Tylien remembered the bolts still sticking on its body and pulled them out with a few winces. It was about to start demanding the plague bearer to release the vines since for some reason he didn't seem to be doing that, but Hiro-Matsu got around cutting them before that, so it just looked around, scared. It couldn't believe its ears as the others introduced themselves when they should've either been trying to get out or trying to figure out what they should do. It recalled Phy'ramcis running back up and decided to run after it. Tylien ran to it and stared with "What..." before starting to eye the window the ignean was next to.
"That there is another one of Faulfurn's bodyguards." added Gaius pointing towards Hron-Bar. "Though I do not recall his name." as he spoke, another loud thump was heard on the other side of the door, "God... every guard in the city must be out there.... we must find a way out..." he said, walking towards the locked doors on the other side of the room, the started trying to force the giant iron lock with his staff, obviously this would not work very well. Then, he noticed Tylien walking up the stairs towards Phy'ramcis. "Where is your odd friend going?" he asked the other group from the other side of the room.
"I am unsure, though that Ignean chap she.... erm... he.... ugh... 'it' is heading for might know something." Virul replied with a slightly raised eyebrow before hailing out, "Have thou found a possible escape route, Tylien?"
Amadea, apparently unable to move the iron brazier by himself, gave up. "We must leave now," he said to no one in particular as he returned his crossbow to his hands.
Turning its attention over to Tylien as it got close, Phy'ramcis offered a light smile. "Ah, I believe I've found a way out, but I will require some help from your frends down there to move the large brazier there to break some of the window and maybe get to that near by tree we can see a little through the window." It motionned over to the brazier as it spoke, turning its attention towards the stairs for a moment before looking back at Tylien. "Forgive me, I am Phy'ramcis Ek’tashi, you may simply call me Phy'ramcis if you wish."
Tylien seemed completely satisfied at Phy'ramcis's explanation. It took enough time staring at the ignean, so that just as it was about to shout back to Virul, Phy'ramcis asked the question and effectively confused Tylien. "What? Oh, uh... I, um... I, my name is Tylien." Having said that, it hesitated a bit and then finally replied to Virul: "We can break this window and climb down a tree. Can you bring one of those braziers to break it with?" Tylien turned back to look at the ignean, seeming quite a lot like asking something, but it kept quiet, obviously because this was not at all a place for conversation.
"I have an easier way if you don't mind," Darius said, climbing the stairs at his cat-like speed, and pulling his mace from his belt, "I will climb onto the tree and help everyone from the room, as I seemed to be one of the best footed around," and thus waited for a response before swinging at the window.
Hron-bar who had been silently listening at the same time as holding the door, growled warningly at Darius. "If e have a plan, Kontar, I suggest you get to it! The door is a'ready beginning to give." He pressed his weight against it as another jarring thud made the door shudder.
"You be quiet there, Hron-bar," Darius said to the Lion, "I just don't need people to catch on to us before we can all get out, and if I shatter this window now, they will hear it," He said, waving his mace towards the window and pointing at the door behind Hron-bar.
"My name is Hiro-Matsu, samurai in the service of the daimyo Jiro-Li," said Hiro-Matsu, "And where will we go after leaving the room?"
"We can discuss that once we're out of here" Saris said to Hiro-Matsu. "My name is Saris, by the way" she introduced herself before turning to look at the window everyone was standing around. "Maybe with the noise they're making at the door they won't hear the window break. We've to try anyway..." she said approaching the brazier Tylien had pointed before. "I need a hand here" she said, having problems to carry that heavy thing by herself.
Hiro-Matsu ran to the brazier to help Saris. "I must ask, just what did you think we were doing when you thought we were deck?"
"We were supposed to protect one of the lords here, named Faulfurn" Saris said. "I guess we got too paranoid and since your group looked suspicious, we just attacked", she spoke while dragging the brazier. "If you're not the Deck either, what were you doing?" she asked the xiadomian man.
"We were told Falfurn was to commit treason against his queen, as well as bringing in members of the deck to assassinate my lord Liro-Li-sama," responded Hiro-Matsu, thinking it better to give all he was told than conceal something. The more information given, the more clues he had to avenge the slight on his honour.
"That is opposite from we have been told," Amadea stated as he moved away from the door and towards the window. "We are operated under the idea the Deck has been plotting to assassinate Falfurn."
"I must ask," said Hiro-Matsu, "was my lord Jiro-Li-sama implicated in any way?"
"No, we had no knowledge of the Deck using the local nobility to further their plot," answered Amadea. "From our information it was strictly a Deck operation."
"Excellent. It is bad enough my honour has been insulted in all this, I do not wish my lord suffer the same," said Hiro-Matsu, extremelly relieved.
Tylien turned at Darius as he ran to them, rather suspicious, both because he'd been trying to carry Elise away even after the others had stopped fighting and because he seemed a bit out of his element. It heard Hiro-Matsu's words only barely, but what it heard made it wonder why he lied, unless he truly didn't know what they had been attempting to do, which was possible since he'd joined the group later and Tylien hadn't bothered to make sure that he knew every single thing. It did, however, finally speak to Darius: "If you are sure." It was about to suggest that it jumped first due to the fact that it was probably the lightest and otherwise fastest person around and could jump further easily, but thought that if the plague bearer wanted to take the risk, then let him, since it would probably reduce the risk on its part.
Hearing an ominous-sounding creak from the door, Ke'an rushed over to help Hron-bar to hold it.
"Alright, here we go, Everyone get ready to load out as fast as I break the window," Darius said, preparing his mace to bash through the window and pulled back, then letting loose and attempting to shatter the window.
As Hron-bar and the others blocked the door with two braziers, Saris and Rei held one to the window to bridge the gap between the window and the nearby trees once Darius broke it. With a powerful swing, Darius broke one of the vitral secions of the window, which didn't make nearly as much noise as they had expected.
Ke'an held onto the door, waiting for everyone to get out first.
Hron-bar did what Ke'an did.
"Blast.... it seems the fates shall not grant me an encounter with Nethea." Virul sighed as he neared the window, looked around cautiously for guards, and then hopped outside.
Rei, meanwhile, dusted his hands off in satisfaction before turning to Saris and growling, "Ah'right cat, ladies first."
"Ya think?" Darius snapped at Rei, having more manners than to go before the women, "Alright ladies, watch your step."
Saris chuckled. Suddenly these guys had manners. "Just hurry up, that door won't hold forever" she said as she jumped outside as graceful as she could.
Tylien seemed preoccupied with staring at Phy'ramcis while the others broke the window and only noticed that they were leaving as Virul, Saris and Hiro-Matsu jumped outside. Still eager to get out, Tylien was next in line to climb and so moved swiftly to the window, got outside and climbed to the tree, eyeing the ground to check if there were any guards there and wondering how they could make it back to the streets. For the moment, it just wanted to run away, get out of the horrible clothes and sleep for a day. (Spot)
Tylien noticed the group seemed to be coming out from the side of the palace, into a cluster of trees that seemed to extend through the sides and the back of castle. It could hear the commotion on the front, every single guard in the city seemed to have come over. The Brazier held up alright as Tylien and Saris walked through, but then again they were both pretty light. It shook and bent a bit as Virul passed onto the tree though.
Elise climbed through the brazier using her cat like agility to walk through. She was worried about how the acolyte or the archer from the other group would fare on the way to the tree.
Hiro-Matsu moved to the window and exited the building. Making his was carefully to the ground, he moved up beside Virul. "Where to now?"
Taking one last look at the ballroom, scene of their aborted battle, Amaedea stowed his crossbow and headed out the window.
Hearing the guards outside, Virul frowned a little before turning to Hiro-Matsu, "We shall have to find a means of quietly slipping out from this city, it seems. Alas, there are far too many forces currently pursuing us and no doubt all of Deepwood will be on the lookout." As he said this, the thief turned to Elise and Saris, "The two of thee most certainly have better eyes and ears than most of us, madames, especially in the dark. Can thou spot anything worth heading for?"
While Virul spoke, Rei'zel stretched a bit and angrily stared at the brazier while muttering, "Shit, I'm 'tuh heavy fur' this stupid thing." Walking toward the window, the Ignean looked out and, after a bit of thinking, decided, "Fuck it." Relying on his brute strength to help him out, Rei began to climb down the castle walls (climb).
"Don't we just need to get out of the castle yards and to the inn unnoticed?" said Tylien to Virul, not intending to address any people of the other group. It went by the logic that they had at least disguised themselves so rare people would recognize them in their normal clothes ...at least on Tylien's part. "Shouldn't we give that letter you have to authorities now? I mean, not today but... later." It spoke fairly quickly and didn't mention anything extra.
"We still have to look for the noble we wanted to protect", said Saris after Virul had spoken. Even though she didn't like Faulfurn much, she hoped he was safe. Still, she thought the wisest thing to do right now was to get out of the place. Doing as the thief had suggested, the panther looked for a safe passage out of there. (Spot?)
"yes, Jiro-Li-sama," responded Hiro-Matsu. "We still don't know if he is in danger or not. I know not of the rest of you, but he is my hightest priority. And do not forget of the man what decieved us."
"Your Jiro-Li-Sana or whatever," Darius said, obviously not very pleased, "Is no the one we are to be protecting, any of your own personal problems you are after, but Lord Falfurn must be protected!"
"Correct me if I am wrong sir, but as I recall you were recently trying to kill us," retorted Hiro-Matsu, "So why should we be listening to you now."
"Feel free not to listen to him, but he speaks the truth," interceeded Amadea as he climbed to the ground. "Our job is protect Lord Falfurn primarily. The question is how safe it is for us in the city with what has transpired."
"Yes, that is your job," responded Hiro-Matsu, "but that doesn't make it our job."
Amadea narrowed his eyes. "Then stay out of our way unless you want another bolt between the ribs." With that he turned to Darius. "Where is the best place for us to catch up to Falfurn?"
Once everyone else was out, Ke'an ran to the window and jumped, rolling on the ground.
Hron-bar growled, and steeled himself. With one motion, he pushed against the door, propelling himself across the room with a running start. Thundering through the windowframe, he thudded heavily onto the ground outside.
"That I am not sure, Lord Amadea. I would normally say back at his manor, but that may not be the best after what has happened tonight," Darius said, trying to think of the last place he saw Lord Amadea at, "Where was the last place anyone saw Lord Falfurn?"
Phy'ramcis watched the others as they went through the process of breaking through the window and moving outside, giving the door an occasional glance before finally stepping up to get out as well. Moving up onto the side of the window, it proceeded to make its way across the brazier and down the tree to join the others and watching them as they argued. It had no knowledge as to what all of the commotion was about and doubted saying anything at the moment would help. It gave Tylien a glance, having noticed the occasional stares it seemed to be giving it and tilted its head to the side.
Tylien, having mostly been trying to see when Phy'ramcis would get out, started speaking again now that it knew the ignean was with them as well: "We really shouldn't argue..." Looking down again, it went on: "We should probably go down and run between those trees so that there's less chance of them noticing us. And then just run off. This whole area isn't surrounded by huge walls, is it?" It was obviously still very concerned about getting out at the moment.
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