Bartelby directs you back downstairs and into the palace's western wing that contains the royal apartments you stayed in during the jubilee. At the far end of the hall, the doors open up onto a plush waiting room just outside the royal tower's entrance. Lord Titus Lotheed-Casava, Dame Hellebore, and Syras Cockleburr, Esquire are all here, drinking wine.
When they see you, they quickly get to their feet, Titus reaching for his sword. "Cousin! I'll rescue you from these vile wenches!" he slurs.
"Titus, stand down," Bartelby demands. "I've surrendered. There's no need to fight."
Titus gapes in shock. "You... surrendered? No! A true Lotheed man never surrenders! They must be magically coercing you!"
"You're only a Lotheed by marriage, you ingrate," Bartelby grumbles.
"Don't worry, cousin, I'll cut down your captors, licketedy-split!"
"Hello, Ass," Zhi says, slowly drawing her weapons and stepping forward.
"How about just you and I settle this? You know that you want to put me in my place. Just a stupid little girl that deigns to think that she's as good as a man. Although you probably won't be able to handle me on your own - that would take a real man. Someone like Baron Okerra, perhaps? Someone who's knocked you on your ass every time you've faced him. You can't handle me all by your little self. I'm going to fill you with so many holes that you'll be the envy of every whore from here to Oppara."
She takes a formal ready stance, lowering herself into a ready position.
Titus laughs, and his cronies titter behind his back. "Ha! You're on, girl." With great drama, he slowly draws his long, curved blade from his sheath. "Ever seen one of these before? This is an Aldori dueling sword, the best weapon in the world. Paid a pretty penny to get it straight from the swordlords of Restov. Get a nice look at it before I use it to cut you open!"
Titus moves a moment before Zhi, charging forward and swinging his sword in a defensive pattern. The edge slices into Zhi's side. "Ha! First blood!"
Zhi taps her boots and darts past the gloating noble ...
and instead of stabbing with her blade, she slams it against the pommel of his sword.
Zhi smiles, ignoring the blood running down her side.
"Looks like a piece of shit to me, Ass. Perhaps you should ask for your money back," she says.
Titus takes advantage of the gap in Zhi's defenses, cutting her open again. The pain from the wound distracts her enough that he's able to avoid her sunder attempt.
"Dumb girl! You should be trying to stab me, not my sword!" He flicks his sword against Zhi's wrist, knocking the rapier from her grasp. He follows up with another wide sweep, which the rogue narrowly manages to dodge.
Baka! Baka! Baka!
Zhi's hand shoots out to grab her rapier.
"Fine, I wanted to do that anyways!
As Zhi bends down to recover her rapier, Titus slashes his sword across her chest. The rogue falls to the floor, bleeding. Hellebore and Cockleburr cheer as Titus flicks her blood off of his blade. "Amateur. Who's next?"
Sara volunteers herself, wanting to punch his smug face in. "I'll go against you. Hand to hand. Should be easy to overpower an unarmed woman, shouldn't it?"
"Should be!" Titus says. He sheathes his sword and puts up his dukes.
Sara steps on his foot with her heel and punches him in the gut a handful of times.
Melodie, after watching Titus nearly kill her fiancee, is in no mood to play fair and hurls her mind at Titus, attempting to lock his limbs in place.
"No-one hurts Zhi! No-one!"
Titus sidesteps Sara's heel, but he takes two punches to the gut. Grunting in pain, he jabs at her, his left hook narrowly missing her jaw.
Then his body goes rigid as Melodie casts her spell. "Hey, that's cheating!" Dame Hellebore declares.
Understanding what's happening, Sara moves to Dame Hellbore and slashes her forehead with her nails, hoping to blind her.
She follows up with a knee to the stomach.
Dame Hellebore shrieks as blood pours into her eyes. Sara's knee bounces off the mage armor that surrounds her.
Syras Cockleburr, Esquire, draws his short sword and stabs at Sara, but she backpedals in time to avoid it. Titus remains paralyzed.
As soon as Syras Cockleburr, Esquire, draws his short sword, he finds it ensnared by a whip and yanked!
Syras barely manages to maintain his grip on his sword.
Hellebore casts a spell defensively, surrounding herself with mirror images.
Melodie steps forward to stand protectively over Zhi's body as she draws her chakram. "No-one hurts Zhi!" She hisses as she throws the chakram into Titus's neck from point blank range.
Sara changes her attention to Syras and, as with Titus before him, steps on his feet before attacking his front.
Melodie's chakram embeds itself in Titus's neck, blood pouring like a waterfall down the front of his jacket. The light fades from his eyes as he dies--only Melodie's magic keeps him from collapsing immediately.
Sara drives her heel clean through Syras's foot, and as he screeches in pain, she delivers a devastating punch that shatters his breastbone. He falls, on the brink of death from the brutal injuries.
Dame Hellebore clears the blood from her eyes, only to scream to see her friends dead or dying. She falls to her knees, and her illusory doubles follow suit. "Please, don't kill me! Have mercy, I beg you!"
"There's a reason we wanted you to stand down before. Titus should've listened."
Maria was disappointed that it had ended in an all-out fight; she was hoping they could do this bloodlessly and that option was out the window now.
Zileska immediately moves to stabilize Syras. He may not deserve it, but it is, after all, going to be Melodie's decision to make about his fate.
Melodie drops to her knees besides Zhi, trying her best to remain calm and not panic at all the blood. "Come on sweetheart, you can't go away on me now!" She whispers, pressing her hands to the worst of her wounds.
"Zileska! Help!"
Zileska sashays to Zhi and says, "It's fiiiine." She crouches down and touches her wand to Zhi's forehead.
Titus's paralysis finally wears off, and his lifeless body topples to the floor. Bartelby seems nonplussed by his cousin's murder. "He was an annoying parasite. No great loss, there."
Carodd Hellebore is sullen and silent as you strip the trio of their valuables.
Zileska helps Zhi back to her feet and liberally applies her other, lesser healing wand as needed to the injured ladies.
She also spares a glance for the corpse of Titus and then says, "Vengeance taken."
The waves rock the ship gently as Zhi takes in her surroundings.
She's standing on the deck of a ship. It seems familiar somehow, but it should have people moving about and there's only one person on deck. The man stands calmly looking over the water.
*F-Father?* she says, her voice breaking.
The man turns to face her, his face showing just a hint of a smile. The smallest indication that he was pleased. How that little display filled her with joy.
*Oh, little Zhi, why do you do this?* he says. His gentle recrimination bringing tears to her eyes.
*Father?* she says, confused. As if in answer, his brown eyes look her up and down. She looks down at herself to see her garments slashed and bloody.
Memories wash over her of Titus' taunting and the searing pain.
*I tought you to be smarter then that, little one. You are smarter then that.*
Shame fills her.
*I have to show her I can p-protect her, Father,* she says as tears run down her face. *I have to show her that she n-needs me.*
*She loves you, little Zhi. You know this.*
*But I h-have to show her, Father. She has to know. Otherwise ... otherwise she'll leave,*
*Why do you think she's going to leave?*
*Because that's what everyone does. Mother left ... you left ... Sara ... *
She turns away and tries to wipe the tears.
*Where are you, Father?*
*Oh little Zhi. Where I am, you cannot be.*
*But where is that?*
Silence.
Zhi turns back to see that she's alone on the deck of the ship.
pain
~~~~~
Zhi starts upright.
"Chichi?!" she calls out.
It takes her a moment to remember where she's at. Once she does, she closes her eyes in shame.
"I'm sorry, Mel. I was ... It was stupid. I don't know why I did that."
"You just have to stay alive and safe, that's all that matters to me." Melodie whispers as she cradles Zhi's head in her arms.
After a few moments of holding Zhi close, she lets her go and stands to glare at Dame Hellebore. "We cannot risk Count Bartelby any more. We must leave and go to the Archbank, it's the only appropriate place in Lotheedar. These two" She jerks her head at Hellebore and Cockleburr "can leave once we're off the grounds. Then we return and finish our mission."
Hellebore thanks Melodie profusely, promising that you'll never hear from her or Syras ever again. Bartelby clucks his tongue. "How quickly they abandon their loyalties once their meal ticket is dead. Good riddance."
You march the count out the front doors of the palace, but you don't get far before the Night Swan and the half-orc Hood approach.
"And so, the mighty Count Lotheed finally gets what's coming to him. Let's take him to the center of town and string him up for all to see! Woe that we don't have a Final Blade to send him to Hell in style!" the Night Swan gloats.
"Where's Gusairne? You promised us his head," the Hood snarls.
"He's in the observatory last we heard, we didn't encounter him but we'll be going back in for him presently - I assume you still have people watching the other exits from the house, just in case?"
After the Hood answers, she turns to the Night Swan. "Lotheed surrendered to us and formally relinquished his position as Count of Meratt. Until Princess Eutropia arrives, he will be confined to the Grand Bank under the custody of the Church of Abadar who will ensure his surrender is abided by. We are doing this for the benefit of the people of Meratt, not for revenge. We gave him our word and going back on it now makes us no better than him. He will face justice but it will not be the mob justice you have in mind."
"Don't worry, we won't let him get away," the Hood assures Maria.
The Night Swan, however, is deathly silent. Her knuckles turn white as she grips her chain spear. "Princess Eutropia. You work for Princess Eutropia. So this was your plan all along? Oust an aristocratic pig from his palace and install the biggest aristocrat in the land in his place?!? The bloody princess?!? Heir to the Stavian legacy of decadence and corruption?!?"
"And who holds that legacy in almost as much disdain as you. And even if she doesn't then I certainly do and have no compunction about calling her out on it if necessary. Your whole crusade - drowning this nation in noble blood - is doomed to failure even if you seem to succeed. What do you think would happen if all of Taldor's nobility were wiped out? Do you think the other neighbouring nations would not take notice? You might get your anarchist's paradise for a time - maybe a generation or two - but then outside interests will see the expanse of now-unclaimed land that was once Taldor and start taking it for themselves. Then it will be their nobles in charge and we'll be right back to square one but with the added complication of the cultural barrier."
"But let's say they don't invade. Let's say they leave Taldor alone for whatever reason. How long do you think it will be before people take charge of towns or cities even with genuinely noble intentions - ensuring the roads are safe for travel, that there is enough food and water for everyone. And how long after that happens do you think it will be before a new nobility rises and your wholesale slaughter is undone? A world without decadent nobles may come in time - and I honestly hope that it will - but it certainly will not be within our lifetimes and certainly not when achieved through social genocide."
The Night Swan glares silently at Maria for a few moments, then she calmly turns to Sara. "And what say you?" she asks quietly, the slightest of quavers in her voice.
Sara looks down, ashamed. After being prompted, however, she moves forward.
Standing by the beautiful vigilante, she speaks softly, pleading with her face. "Swan, I'm sorry. But I believe in the Princess. Taldor will fail if no one takes the throne in this moment. The Princess is nothing like her father, and Pythareus is worse then the whole lot. Please. Trust me."
She starts crying, fat hot tears, spilling her makeup down her face.
"Please, Swan. This isn't easy for me but I think it to be the morally right path. I'm not used to being on the straight and narrow," she begins. "When I was younger, I was so blinded by the promises of decadence and prosperity pushed out by the nobility that I damn near sold my soul to be in the company of their glut and excess." The taller woman brushes her lily white hand along Swan's, displaying her ugly scars. "As punishment, I was jailed, and had the mark of Urgathoa cut into my flesh, to warn others of my dealings with necromancy. I only avoided death through my testimony."
Sara stares up at the sky, desperately wishing this conversation were more private, perhaps on the rooftop of a strange cathedral, as before. She blinks the tears out of her eyes and, with a sniff, continues. "It wasn't til I met the Princess that I figured it out, Swan. I had idolized her all my life, a woman politician who got into duels in the streets and convinced all of Oppara her mutt was the last of an ancient breed of hound, but when I met her, it just all sort of collapsed. I realized that she was exactly as scared as I was. I freaked out, I told her that I was unwilling to help if my class of people would continue the way they had, and she promised me change. I would not believe that from a senator, but I believe it from her. If anyone has the power to correct thousands of years of oppression, it is the people and the Emperor.
"Swan, if you care about the Unbearded as much as I, please, trust my judgment. There will never be another ally like this. And if not for that, I beg of you. Do it for me."
Her own eyes wide and longing, she finds herself unable to escape the weight and gravity of the woman's blue eyes. Eyes locked, she breathes in deeply, quivering, weeping. At last she chokes out, "Please, Swan. I love you."
Zhi looks away as Sara pours her heart out to someone that Zhi considers unworthy of the woman's adoration. Unconsciously she reaches down and takes Melodie's hand and squeezes it tight.
The Night Swan's gaze never wavers from Sara's eyes. "I admire your optimism, Sara Burke. Mockingbird. But it is tinged by delusions. The empty promises of nobles hold no sway over me. The only way we can achieve true freedom is to rise up and take it for ourselves. The princess will say and do anything to preserve her power and status. She doesn't care about you. She doesn't care about anybody but herself. There is no difference between her, Pythareus, or any of the other swine scrambling for the throne.
"I thought we were kindred souls. How can I trust you after a betrayal of this magnitude? And how can you love me when you barely know me? Is it me you love, or is it the idea of me? Without the mask and the spear, would you have even noticed me?" A few tears escape her mask, slowly rolling down her cheeks.
Melodie returns Zhi's squeeze and bites her tongue. There is a lot she would like to say to the Night Swan and none of it would help at the present moment.
Silently, Sara begins to weep, wishing ever more that this encounter was private, feeling vulnerable, as if their sanctuary had been violated. "I don't know," she breathes. "I can make you no promises. I can't answer your questions, I can only hope, can only ask we can work together to rebuild our trust. I regret it, but I believe concealing this from you was necessary.
"Would you have trusted me if I approached you as an anarchist lobbying for a new emperor? I agree with you that the only way we can hope to ascend is to demand to, but if one hand is reaching down, ready to uplift us, why should we spit on it? How does that possibly benefit us? You may be a cynic, Night Swan, but I need to believe there is this chance, and I will fight, I will to protect its path. The offered hand does not mean we should sit idly by, but we cannot refuse its presence or its help simply because it is the hand of a noble. Tell me, if a peaceable solution is possible, is it not then preferable? We need all the help we can get, Swan, and to believe otherwise is-"
She sits down, weeping into her hands. "I'm sorry," she starts, her voice quaking, wavering. "I am, I am so sorry. Lying to you was wrong, and I hate that I did it, but there's no way to change it now. I beg you, please. Let me work to repent for my missteps."
Sara reaches gently for the woman's face, cautiously, waiting to see if she would be allowed. "Sit with me," she breathes out, a slow desperate whisper. "Show me your face, privately. Offer me this one glimpse at what it would be like to know you, before you leave my life. I will still be here."
The Night Swan gently catches Sara's hand. She studies Sara quietly for a long time, conflict evident in her eyes. Then, at last, she speaks quietly. "Not here. Not now. The Count's Cravat, tomorrow evening. Come alone."
She releases Sara's hand and swiftly whirls about, her cape and braid whipping dramatically. She says nothing more and doesn't look back as she strides away.
Sara stays seated for some time, trying to rein in her tears and be in control of her emotions.
"Take Bartleby," she says to the group. "I'll wait here. I, I, I can't, just, just, please. Leave me. For a moment, at least."
She pulls out a handkerchief and a makeup compact, cleaning her face before reapplying everything.
Melodie simply ushers the Count on, feeling that honoring Sara's wishes is the safest thing to do at this precise moment.