Ian says Wonderful, dear! he has a gleam in his eye, as if thinking of a happy memory. *Null* Shiny, like Sara. A giant grin seems to break across his face.
It was a long journey. Once every 10 miles or so is a guard outpost. All of these guards make you ask yourself "What is so important that requires all these guards?" The farther in the kingdom you go, the more guards you find. Each outpost larger than the last. Each guard wears white and shining armor, incredibaly similar to the armor of the knight that you found in the neather world. The lower tier knights are wearing Chainmail, while the higher ranking ones wear Breast Plates. Once in a while, though, you see a few wearing Full Plate. The sheer number simply boggles the mind. Border Guard after Border Guard, you manage to get to the castle that is listed on your invitation. The castle is absolutely . Even the doors are gigantic. The entire decor is white and blue, with the emblem of the Golden Rule everywhere. Knowledge Nobility will tell you who owns this mansion. (You can make up to DC 10 Knowledge checks untrained.)
Upon arriving to the entrance of the mansion, 3 guards pull up. One of them wears a Breastplate, the other two wear Chainmail. The one with the breastplate asks "Do you have an invitation?" to the caravan.
Ian steps down from the caravan, and greets the man with a smile on his face. We do have invitations, sir guard, but those with them are currrently inside getting ready. A bit more quiet, he says You know how the lady-folk are with parties.
"Entrance is not permitted unless you show proper invitations. Go get them and show them to me, or I will be forced to ask you to leave." says the guard.
After hearing the last bit, he says "I can't give you a lot of time, but if you tell them to hurry it up then all will be well."
From inside the caravan you hear eleven yelling at you to hang on I'm just about dressed, then you see a slender arm reach out the door holding up a pair of passes to the party.
Ian takes the tickets, and hands them to the guard with a smile. Will these do?
Viewing the tickets, he is about to say that they work, when suddenly a man with a longbow and white overcoat on his back approaches. His eyes are fierce, focusing on Moone. He puts a hand on the soldier and says "Do not let them in."
"But sir!" says the other one, "They have invitations adressed from Lord Raven!"
"From Raven?! I'm not surprised now." says the man. He glares at Moone, saying "I don't trust you. I don't trust your lord, either. Just know that if anything happens, I'll be coming to you first."
With that, the man leaves and goes back to watching the various caravans that are heading in to the mansion.
"I'm dreadfully sorry, Sir Deckard isn't usually so worried about our parties. I wonder what got into him about you."
Ian is smiling, still, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. He stares at "Sir Deckard" as he walks away, a cold stillness emmanating from him. It is perhaps less obvious to the guard, him having only known Ian from this encounter. His party would not recognize his stillness either, having never shared combat with Ian, never seen this stillness before he kills. I'll try to... speak with sir before we leave, perhaps help belay his worries and...calm himself... The stillness seems to shift, and Ian seems to brighten, to warm up. Thank you, sir! Should we pull our caravan ahead to the stables or perhaps there is another location assigned? The smile on his face seems happier, meant to calm the guard, and hell, this smile even seems to reach his eyes, however slightly. A little closer, quieter, Ian speaks to the guard. I wish to warn you ahead of time, sir, that one of my party is a Tengu, a very gentlemanly fellow, and I think the Master of the Keep would be displeased over any...threatening reactions to his appearance at the party.
"Sir Deckard is one of the High Paladins, the newest one to join. By High Paladin standards, he's pretty green, but by any other standard he's stalwart and powerful. I'd hate to anger him!" says the Guard in a low voice, low enough so that Sir Deckard doesn't hear him, but loud enough for his followers to snicker at his responce.
"I don't think a Tengu will be any problem in the ball. Just make sure that all of you are on your best behaviour. If you'd be so kind as to lead your Caravan inside, we'll have people tell you where to go. Have fun." and with that, the Guard moves on to the next Cadre of nobles.
After leading the caravan to the assigned lot, Ian pops his head into the caravan. While I seek out information, perhaps you both can plan something of a guideline for tonight's... festivities. Oh, and, if at all possible, add the 'High Paladin' to our...'gift' list The last he says with the same fake smile, the same cold stillness, before retreating to gather information.
With a 23 Gather Info, you know that all the lords of the land are asked to join in this celebration once a year, and that it's a prestigious event. You also know that the host is Deep Thought, and is supposedly very stoic. Finally, you know that Deep Thought is extremely strong, and very wise.
With a 10 Knowledge Nobility, you know that this mansion belongs to Deep Thought, one of the 3 main rulers of the Golden rule, and also the wisest of the three rulers.
While you guys are setting yourselves up in your caravan, a man walks up to you all.
The man is wearing a purple Gi with a white scarf that wraps around his neck and leads to his shoulders and runs along his back. His hair color is very odd, mainly because it's purple. It runs in a pony tail over one of his shoulders and is tied with a white piece of string. His eyes appear as though they are looking straight through you.
The first person he sees, he says "Greetings! My namd is Ishiguro, and lord Corbeau would like to see all of your company. If you would retrieve them and follow me, then that would be appreciated."
Upon retrieval, he leads you through the grand hallways and gigantic doorways to a relatively small room. In this house, it's a coat closet of sorts, but to you it is as large as a tavern. The room is adorned with pillows and soft chairs, all of them have a black tint to them. Upon the largest chair in the room is a strangely dressed man.
The man sitting on the chair is wearing a large feathered headress, and all of the feathers are jet black. He is wearing a black bird mask that covers his entire face. The rest of his clothes are loose and feathered as well. At the base of his clothes is a green motif depicting birds flying.
"Good afternoon," says the man with the bird mask, "My name is Lord Francis Corbeau, but you may call me Raven. The lot of you had called my attention a while ago, but it would seem that you have lost many members since I last wrote you. But that does not matter. I fear that it has become dreadfully boring since you last caused a stir. I should have you know what exactly I want to be done tonight so that you shall be ready for it. My plans are quite simple really. I am going to kill the leaders of the Golden Rule, and then I shall take control of it. You have proven faithful to me, and thus I shall have you be the ones to kill Deep Thought. Now, I expect you shall do this unwillingly, so I will have to make you want to kill him. How does this sound... 1,000,000 Gold pieces? Ishiguro will accompany you."
Ian walks forward, approaching the raven with a cold neutrality in his eyes. The same looks from the courtyard, when meeting the High Paladin. My Lord Raven, you know that I have been with you since you found us with Sara. I am with you because you allow me to kill, for joy and profit. There is a steel in his voice, a hatred, but as well, a calm, business-like demeanor. I will do as you will, if my friends will agree. But think this, we might have other reasons to be here besides the fact that, you willed it; because you wanted us to be here. Null seems to bleed through Ian again, and from what his party has gleened of him, it was only because Ian allowed it. Nulls rasp seems to whisper, to mutter, and echo all at once, "We. Are. Hungry."
KAH!!! He pulls his feathery arm up to his mouth and lets out a cough as if clearing his throat. Lord Raven when you offer 1 MILLION gold, that is split between everyone yes? equally? And what of HIM!!!! His all seeing bird eyes glare at the purple clad servent of the raven. How do we know his intentions are not to turn around and slay us after the job is done? This deal you give seems almost too good to be true... forgive my sceptiscism... but...I unfortunatly know how the world around me works....
Raven sits ontop of his chair unflinching to what Fitheach has to say. Your Sense Motive cannot tell a single thing about him, for he is covered head to toe except for his hands, which sit in his lap, and he is not moving in the slightest.
"I do not know you, Tengu. Be glad I have graced you with my presence. There will not be a million gold to be split between the three of you, because there will be a million gold each." Raven is unnattached to Fitheach and Myali, but doing this... favor shall grant you his attention. Moone is the only one who has Raven's respect.
"Ishiguro is loyal to whichever side he sees fit. For now, that is my side." Says Raven. Ishiguro nods slowly, as if to reiterate the fact that he will not sway from his neutrality on the subject.
"Show them to their room. Inform them of their duties, and prepare yourself as well." Raven says to Ishiguro.
Ishiguro leads you to a small room with 3 beds in it. "I hope you don't mind, but with so many people we can only afford you 3 to be in these beds tonight. I'll leave the 3 of you to settle for a little bit, then we'll retrieve your gear. Afterwards, we'll discuss the battle strategy. I hope you all are ready for war!"
When Ishiguro says "War" you see a very familiar look. The reason you recognize it is because it is used frequently by our lovely Moone. The gleam in his eye shown, his grin genuin, and his excitement could not be contained. Because of this, he accedentally slams the door.
Myali has been silently watching what is going. She let Ian take the lead on dealing with the Raven. "So let me get this straight. I do the Raven's "bidding" and he pays me well. But I thought this was the man who the lot of you no longer wanted to exist? Damnit all. I need a drink." Myali says as she pick out a bed in the corner and begins to hang a large sheet for privacy.
I have my reasons to work with him. I no longer feel the need to kill him, when another will fill his place, and we shall be well rewarded for it. *Null*Sounds like fun.
Remember dragon...I am here because of that damned snake. To be on an assassins list as long as I have I felt as if he was finally running out of names and would be coming after me next.
Ian sees you watching him, and seems to close off, his face becoming a smiling mask that doesn't quite reach his eyes.
Is there something on my face, or would you like to ask me something, Fitheach? His face is unreadable, his body language relaxxed, giving you nothing to go on, beyond the fact that he is VERY good at controlling himself.
Yes...your face is on it sir. Tis a good face. Do not lose it. We may be in requirement of it later...
Among the reckage of the mansion, you recall what had happened to you during the past few hours.
You first remember that when you were ready, Ishiguro led you back to the caravans to grab weapons and armor. On the way back, you saw Sir Deckard preparing all of the guards for the ball later tonight. He was frantic about making sure everything was in order. After retrieving your weapons, armor, and... violin... you returned to your room to rest for the night. When you got up, you went with Ishiguro to learn how to properly dance. Ishiguro and Fitheach found dance partners, while Moone and Myali danced with each other. Moone and Ishiguro danced wonderfully. Myali had problems, but Moone had danced fine enough to recover. Fitheach shook his tail feather and started rumors about how good Tengus dance.
After the dance sequence, everyone prepared themselves for battle. Ishiguro led them to one of Raven's personal mages who put a Disguise spell on them to make it seem as though they weren't wearing armor or had any weapons. The mage was dressed a lot like Raven, except not nearly as fancy. After a close inspection, it turns out that the mage was actually a woman. After casting the spell on you all, she bowed to Ishiguro and left.
Once in the main ballroom, you see Deep Thought himself. The man is absolutely huge. He was wearing a large blue~ish grey robe, and had long white hair. The look on his face was sad, though no one knew why. At his sides were 4 Golden Dragons. These dragons looked absolutely bored, and would probably fly if given the slightest reason. At Deep Thought's left was Sir Deckard, and at his right was Raven. All around the room were Guards. The room was completely packed with nobles dancing.
When you enter the ballroom, the main dance was about to start. Ishiguro was clearly more comfortable in his armor, even though it didn't look like he was wearing any due to the spell.
As soon as the dance had stopped, Raven shouted Everyone immediately stopped, and watched Raven intently. Raven started raising in the air, and he put his left hand in the air. A small black orb appeared in his hand, and it started absorbing air and other matter into it. Necklaces, paint from the walls, and silverware started flying into the orb. Deep Thought looked into the black orb sadly, not doing anything to stop Raven. Suddenly, a blue~ish skeleton started to be ripped from Deep Thought, the only thing keeping it in Deep Thought was his hands and his knees. People started to scream in pain, dropping to the floor. Soon, skeletons started appear to come out of everyone. Some people were affected much more severly, including Moone and Ishiguro.
The guards started to flee from their posts, the Dragons flew through holes in the ceiling, obviously created from the vortex that Raven had created. As a few of the guards were fleeing, Ishiguro pulled out one of his Tetsubo and clubbed one of the guards. The ensuing fight had merely distracted some of the guards from attacking Raven. During the fight, Myali fired off one of her arrows at Raven to get him to stop. The arrow flew right into the void, missing Raven completely.
After clearing most of the guards, Sir Deckard had gotten up from his anguish, and decided to take it out on you four. His holy bow did some serious damage, almost knocking out Myali and Fitheach. Ishiguro decided that Deckard had to die. He dropped his Tetsubo and used a technique that has been lost to all but a few: The Iaijutsu Strike. He pulled out a Tetsubo, stronger than his other one, and brought it down on Deckard's head. During the fight, debris from the ceiling started to fall, landing on Myali.
Once Deckard had died, Ishiguro had shouted "We must get out of here!" While everyone was fleeing towards the exit, Myali was crushed under a support beam. Luckily, she wasn't injured too much, but she was trapped. After many futile attempts, Raven appeared and lifted the beam with his potent magic.
"Before I give you your money, you must make sure that Deep Thought does not come back. Inside you killed a Paladin named Deckard," says Raven, "There is another one nearby named Mirabelle. She is a potent healer, and can bring Deep Thought back. She needs to die. Kill her, and I shall reward you with your money. Ishiguro shall accompany you. When you are done, Ishiguro shall lead you to me."
And with that, Raven flies away with his mighty magic. Everyone is not thinking everything clearly, as if they were rushed or new at doing whatever they're doing. When Myali was trapped, Moone would rather have had a bit of her hair than try to get her out of it.
Well...that was neat. So, where's this person we have to kill? Ian seems... sporadic. His seems warmer, or at least more of a person than he usualy allows. He also has a weird look to his eyes, slightly crazed.
Myali sees that Ian has changed and she is not sure what to think of the events of the evening.
Ian turns his slightly crazed stare on Myali. Is something wrong, my dear?
No, not really Ian. I'm ok. Just a little shaken from the evenings event. Come let's go get cleaned up., She says holding her hand out to Ian.
Ian takes it, a gleam in his eye. Fitheach might be able to tell; it is not a happy gleam. Ian stops, shakes his head wildly as if trying to stop a train of thought. Yes, let's
Ian, you ok? That was not an easy fight., Myali asks as they walk back to get cleaned up, It almost looked like Null was looking at me and not you.
Physical shock, stress, tension, anger, fear, extreme blood-lust. I feel all of that. I DON'T feel much. Control is...a little hard, right now. Can I be completely blunt with you for a moment? Ian seems to have completely lost the mask. He is looking at you like a drowning man watches the last search-boat leave him to the sea.
Yes, Ian you can. She answers and stops to face him.
I can't tell what I want to do more, f*ck you or kill you. And I'm also not sure which of those is Null, and which is me He looks near tears, near breaking, then shakes himself, and leaves ahead of you to the river to clean up.
Myali follows Ian and stops behind him once they reach the river. Ian if you're protecting me, then what or who are you protecting me from, you or Null? Because, I do enjoy your company and I would hate to have to use the divine against you to save my life.
Ian is shaking, crying, and laughing. That's the thing! I have NO IDEA who I'm protecting you from. Every time I'm sure what I want, and what he wants, sh*t gets screwy! Right now, I'd say I would take equal delight in taking you against that tree, and taking you under this river and leaving you there! Ian is on the ground now, shaking with laughter, sobs, breaking sanity.
I don't think you have the ability to do the second, however I know Null would., Myali says with a challenging look in her eyes, Ian if you want me then by the gods come and get me. I'm ready for what ever happens. She finishes with a growl and braces herself.
Ian approaches. He gets right in your face.Clean yourself,then Wait. Right. Here.He moves downstream, past a bend in the river and out of site.
I'll be RIGHT here when you get back. And Ian I have a surprise for you as well. She calls as Ian walks off.
Ian waves over his shoulder to you in response. He turns the motion into a removal of his tunic, giving a long glimpse of the pale, twisted string of scars across his back as he disappears.
Myali stops and watches Ian walk off and catches sight of his scar. Something inside her aches for she know what a shirtless Ian means.
Ian proceeds to the river, and cleans off, then he casts Bull's Strength upon himself.
While Ian is gone Myali removes her clothes and places them in a neat pile under a tree. She then walks into the water to bathe herself. She unbraids her hair and lets it flow around her.
When Myali is finished, Ian is waiting by the previously mentioned tree. His hat of disguise is off, and thus his real form is shown.
He motions to her, Come here.
Myali braids her hair back as she walks towards Ian. She takes a moment to take him in. To her knowledge she has never seen him without his hat on. Ian is that the real you?, She as as she reaches Ian. Myali stops arms length from him and looks into his eyes. She notices that they are green. I don't know whether I should prepare to smite you or embrace you.
Ian stalks toward Myali, moving as if he had muscles in places that don't exist. He picks her up, one-handed, using the other for more exciting things. Myali can feel an inhuman strength to his arms, among other things. As Ian elicits joyful noise from Myali, he whispers Your choice, but would you want this to go away?
Myali lets out a squeal as Ian picks her up. I think you know what my choice happens to be. she says in a husky tone.
I am sorry Myali, I thought the spell had worn off. I didn't think the tree would just collapse like that. Do those marks hurt too badly? Ian looks tired, happy, and concerned.
Laughing as she pulls twigs and leaves from her hair, Ian its nothing that I can't fix. Are you ok? Myali's hands have a soft glow to them as she heals her bruises and cuts. Let's go find the others and go after that paladin. I want the woman's head.
Bloodthirsty, even in the afterglow? Wonderful! Perhaps I'll conjure the Black Tentacles to hold her while you take the head. It would be...interesting to use them for something other than the little trick you so enjoyed. Ian seems happy, if a little ruffled. He has yet to stand from lying on the tree.
Those over grown holy pains in the rear have made my life a nightmare. The sight of one sickens me to the core. I want them all gone. Do you hear me GONE!!! She finishes with a wild look in her eyes.
The bird, who has been listening to the ENTIRE conversation that was just had but was silent suddenly squawks out. I do not think that would be a wise thing...We seem to have...upset something. That and the local population is going rather mad right now. He feels his own effects but he is strong enough mentally to hold them back. Just like their female cleric.
What do you mean, my little voyear? Ian seems in no hurry to dress himself.
Myali reaches for a shirt, she doesn't care if its her's or Ian's.